It had felt like such a short time ago, but in truth, it had been so very far into the past. Most wouldn't consider six years or so 'far into the past', but for them, it was practically a half of their entire lives. He was so angry back then, no, so sad and hurt; his rage was quiet, it boiled beneath the surface, and only when he grew old enough to grasp what this rage really was. Annoyance? Yes, he'd felt annoyance - that was what he could use to describe that time.
The time that they first met.
He was sitting alone beneath one of the large shade trees in the field. All the students of the academy were given their freedom amidst their lessons, a time to go and be free from the confines of the classroom and those suffocatingly constant pushes for social interactions. There was a time that he didn't mind these things, and a time when he would actively partake in the class discussions or proudly proclaim his answers when questions were posed. So eager, he was, wanting to show everyone that he could be the best; that he could be better than the best.
That he could be better than him.
Somewhere along those string of painful days and sleepless nights that followed the tragedy, all of that changed.
How was he supposed to strive to be that man when he now existed as the sum of everything he rejected? He didn't know what he wanted to be anymore, who he was anymore. All he knew was that if nothing else, he had to be an Uchiha. It wasn't a choice, and now with everyone gone, he had to carry that title in isolation.
These were the thoughts that passed through his mind every second of every day, sometimes more expansive and depressive than usual, and sometimes subdued whilst playing on a quietly internalized agony.
Isolation became all he knew. It was the only way he knew how to cope. It was all he wanted to know.
Leaning against the trunk of that shade tree, he tilted his head back against the cool bark, staring out from his perch atop the small hill to look down at the stretches of open, empty fields. There was nothing occupying it but a few birds, a couple of butterflies, and a wide grove of flowers as far as the eye could see. Somehow, though, his dark eyes seemed to look even further beyond them, starinng out into the empty, natural paradise until the sight of it was lost on him: staring at a fuzzy white plainness that overtook his sight in a captivating daydream.
This too happened often.
He hadn't even paid any mind to the lunch he had yet to eat, tucked beneath his hand that lied limply over the lunchbox. He wasn't hungry.
Most importantly, he wasn't lonely.
"Hey, there you are!"
But it seemed somebody didn't know how to take a hint.
Snapping him out of his stare down with the void, the dark haired boy fell back into reality, incidentally flinching from the sudden remark. He shook his head free of those cursed and distracting thoughts, recovering his bearings and coming to realize that he was sitting out under the tree that he had forgotten about just that quickly. He rose his head up to catch the patient stare of two large, brown eyes. His eyes next lowered to the faint pink markings against her cheeks, drawing diagonally in towards her nose in three short strokes. It was kind of... cat-like in a way. He bypassed the tanned skin of her face and checked instead to the deep brown locks that seemed to carry a hint of red in tow.
Okay, yes, he remembered this girl. She was a classmate of his - how could he forget? They had rarely spoken, maybe just in a couple of passing comments, but she was so talkative that it made her easy to identify in most cases.
His brows pulled in, however, because what business would she have with him?
"What do you want..?" Lacking bite from the small voice of such a young child, his rounded face knit tight together with the expression of a mustered scowl with hints of confusion.
She seemed not bothered, instead only tipped her head off to the right, another gesture that only seemed to more closely liken her stare to a bewildered kitten. "Sasuke Uchiha," She bent down from her standing point now, locking her hands around her knees that settled at her chest, "that's you, isn't it?"
Was it him, or did she just completely bypass his question? Why did she come here in the first place - he could have sworn that was what he prompted, not inviting her to go right ahead asking another question. His already somewhat short stretch of patience beginning to wear, he upturned his lips into a steep pout, his scowl deepening as his arms crossed aggressively across his chest. "Yeah? What of it? I asked what you want."
"Geez," She remarked, still exuding a quiet calm, though the way her lips rose at the corners gave the illusion of a cat's muzzle, but also most-annoyingly, of mischief, "you're really testy, aren't you?" She tilted her head now to the other side, her brown bangs toppling over into her face -not that she seemed to care. In spite of his huffy temper, she did little but smile his way, even after practically antagonizing the young boy just then, "I can't tell you what I want, because I don't want anything."
Now, he was even more confused, even more annoyed. Was this how she always acted? Why did so many people hang out with her if this was what she was like? He sucked in a pocket of air that he stowed in his cheek, "Who're you calling testy? If you don't want anything, then go away"
"Nope," She casually began again, now rocking back to sit down as she crossed her legs out in front of her. "I can't do that, see?"
"Huh?" His eyes narrowed to suspicious slits, "Sure you can. Just get up and march back the same way you came!"
"Nope!" She chirped again, "that's not possible."
Was she baiting him? All of the irritable nerves were screaming at him that this was her way of pushing him into conversing further. He took a precautionary look back over his shoulder in the other direction, and like he suspected, students were grouped together everywhere back that way. This was his spot, where he could be in quiet, but this girl was here now. He clicked his teeth in annoyance - maybe if he just entertained this, she'd go hang out with somebody else.
"Why?" He blandly inquired, the 'questioning' sound very-nearly leaving his voice entirely.
"Huh?" She perked up as if completely clueless.
This wasn't a bait!?
Great! Now he had gone and opened this can of worms back up when she possibly would have just sat in silence! Wait! No! If that was the case, what was the point of her vague excuse for not being able to leave!? A tick mark swelled at his temple, "I said why! Why can't you leave!?" What was she just stupid or something!?
"Oh," She rose her knuckle against her lip, peering directly up thoughtfully, "Well that's an easy one."
'then say it already,' he found himself internally mocking her.
"Hi, my name's Eri," She abruptly offered, holding her hand out towards the raven haired child, "it's very nice to meet you."
What!?
He was past the point of rage - somehow all of his anger had evaporated and the only thing that was left was an incredulous stare. He was so confused - inexplicably frazzled and unbearably puzzled. Maybe his assumption was right. Maybe they all just hung out with her because she had a screw loose and they felt bad for her or something. "Yeah a-"
"That's why I'm here."
Momentary silence caught the young academy boy, his inquisitive look borrowing from his exasperation. It was hard to keep his thoughts locked up in his head now. His patience had worn so thin and what little filter he had dissipated with it, "You came here to introduce yourself? Are you stupid or something?"
"Hee," she ducked her head down to smother her mouth into her knees, muffling her quiet laughter in the process. "A little," she put simply, "but I don't think it's dumb at all." She lifted her head just enough to now settle her chin against the top of her knee. "Introducing people is how you make friends."
That was her goal..? She really had a terribly roundabout way of doing that, didn't she? Her approach was so fumbly and awkward, not to mention it had quite possibly raised his blood pressure dangerously high, and he wasn't even in the double digits yet. He breathed out a hefty sigh from the corner of his lips, settling back against his tree and turning his head firmly away. "Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not really looking for friends."
It was a bitter, somewhat harsh response despite its softness, one that drew the young Eri in. Her expression did little to dullen or recoil, instead it seemed his answer only provided her with more energy, "Really? That's too bad. You look really lonely."
"Just because I'm alone doesn't mean I'm lonely," He shot back just as her sentence ended, defensively covering his tracks without ever turning to peer back at her.
"I know," She tilted her head, "that's why I said you look lonely, and not alone."
Was she still talking? No, beyond that. Was she still there?
"Sometimes..." She drew out again, trailing as if almost prodding at his assumption that she would stop and fall silent or leave, "the people that really need friends don't want friends." She tilted her head, lifting the tips of her toes from within her sandals, "that's what I was told. So I'm going to have to be your friend now, those are the rules."
"I said I don't want any, and I don't need any," he grumbled back in reply. He didn't know why he kept dignifying her with a response. He could have just stayed quiet, but then, if he did that, then there was no guarantee that his lack of participation would drive her off either. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, and he couldn't quite say either of them seemed like a less terrible fate than the other. He simply loosed another sigh, waiting to see if she took his response and finally by some miracle decided to give up.
"Hey, Sasuke? Was your lunch gross or something?" Nope! Instead she completely disregarded him. Again.
Though, at least this time, it wasn't completely troublesome. It managed to pull his attention back to his untouched lunchbox for the second time. This time, despite his unconvinced stomach, he slowly untied the lunchbox, ignoring the way she looked at him so curiously.
"That's okay," She began again, urging her own lunch box out, "mine was kind of gross too. I accidentally took the wrong one..." She lifted the top of her box, showing an untouched slices- specifically thick slices of tomato and rings of red onion. Her tongue stuck out in disgust, just from having seen it again. "Euch... Tomato salad... What kind of monster can eat this?" She murmured - it had to have been her sister. No doubt and no other explanation.
Another monster lurking within the nearby raven haired boy, however, took to letting his eyes flicker over at the strong scent of the familiar meal. It was like the smell of his favorite, garden fresh food combined with the heavier scents of soy sauce and rice vinegar. Though quietly -stealthy- and without detection, he put a hand over his small stomach to keep at bay the beginnings of a growl that spurred seemingly out of nowhere. He could have sworn a few moments ago he wasn't hungry. He peered back down into his unwrapped lunchbox, staring at the lackluster, simple dumplings settled there. Dumplings? He would have been fine with just a couple of rice balls, in fact he would have preferred it even, but given his situation, he couldn't be picky.
Still, his lips twitched into a pout as his gaze hovered over the tomato salad held by this persistent, talkative thing. She didn't want it anyway, right?
"Hey," He spoke up, dragging through his words as if having to choke them out, "If you don't want it... trade me then."
"Hm?" She bat her eyes, tipping her head, then taking a peek at the dumplings in his lunchbox. Mm. They smelled like pork dumplings too. Despite this interest that shone through her eyes, her smiling face deceived her response as she uttered a simple, "Sorry, but I can't!"
"What, why!?" He huffed, "it's just going to go to waste then - that doesn't make any sense."
"I'm not supposed to take things from strangers," She responded so simply and unperturbed that the young Sasuke felt a solid ton of exasperation crash into him.
"Then just give it to me and I won't give you anything!"
"Mmm Sorry. I can't let you take things from strangers either..."
Oh, this was hopeless. Why did she bring it up if she wouldn't want to find a way to fix it!? He rubbed against his forehead with the palm of his head, desperately quelling the tension whilst messying his own bangs.
"Buuuuuut~," She added in a sing-song tone, "since we're friends, it would be okay, right?"
His eyes practically shifted to the size of tiny dots. That conniving little weasel. He narrowed his eyes - and somehow he could feel a twinge of eagerness. Was it at the prospect of being her friend? Oh, no way, but it felt like he could finally win one of these altercations or verbal spars that had happened so frequently in the past ten minutes, and he was all for an upper-hand no matter how brief. His lips upturned into the façade of a disappointed, dull contemplation, "I dunno." He scooped up the box of dumplings in one hand, pulling them closer to him as he turned away from her partially now, "if that's what it's gonna take, then I'll just eat the dumplings myself."
"Hah?!" Eri bounded back from her sitting position up onto her knees, lifting now to try peeking over his shoulder as he turned. "You don't really mean that, do you?"
"Yeah, I do." he scoffed at her question, wedging his chopsticks between his fingers, "I changed my mind." She shouldn't have tried to play this game with him then - he liked both the dumplings and the tomatoes, he just preferred the tomatoes. She, on the other hand hated the tomatoes, so if he changed his mind, it was really her loss, wasn't it?
"Wha- No! You're just kidding right?" She sat down onto her shins, pressing her palms together in a praying fashion, "I'm really really hungry! I don't mind trading!"
"Oh yeah?" He peered back again through skeptical eyes, "I thought we couldn't give stuff to strangers."
"But we're not straaaangers!" She was trying this again, her eyes large and wobbly as if pleading despite the way her smile faltered from desperation, "We're friends right?!"
Yep. She totally missed the point. It seemed pretending wasn't enough to make her give up. He lifted the dumpling up at the pinched corner, letting it hang down affront her before he bit into it. Honestly, this was fine by him. He could get to eat something, and if she gave in, he got a whole tomato salad to himself too.
Or so he thought.
"Fine!" She huffed, puffing her own cheeks out with air. She sat back cross-legged, plucking up her lunchbox and setting it roughly in her lap while scooping up a fork between her fingers. "I can do that too!"
His eyes bugged out for a moment, head snapping back to her. "You don't like tomato," he shot, "you're bluffin-"
With a large forkful, she lifted up several of the tomato slices - a much more sizable amount than a normal person would eat at once, and way more than he had bitten from the dumpling to tease her.
She wouldn't. There was no way.
But she did.
She stowed the whole forkful in her mouth, puffing out her cheek. Her shoulders rose and a deep pink tint began to spread, starting at the bridge of her nose and reaching through her entire face. She was suffering. Really, she looked like she was in agony, or like she was about to pop, but stubbornly chewing through the less than desired dish, she swallowed the whole forkful as she aimed to. "SEE?!"
Sasuke. Well. he wasn't impressed, just astonished. What kind of stupidity would compel her to do that? It was messing with his 1-up! That was fine, even if he finished his lunch, he wouldn't be suffering nearly as much as her. Though before he went to eat the rest of the dumpling to further tease her after she had to endure such a painful mouthful of food, he caught sight of her going back for another forkful -hand quivering with reluctance but continuing nonetheless. He likewise now lifted two dumplings, stuffing his mouth as if just as stubbornly having to prove his point.
Yeah, that didn't end well. As long ago as it was, the feeling of a stomachache was clear as day.
The two of them had been so locked in competition over something so trivial, that they then had to endure each others' presence while sitting across from each other in the academy's infirmary. Something about that day told him that he was just as painful to be around for her as she was for him then.
Still, maybe it was because he had something else entirely to anger him with her around, that he became aware when they went their separate ways. All of the gloom that he had forgotten came back to him whenever he found himself in silence again. It wasn't painful, just familiar.
From that day on too, she always seemed like she had to make it a point that she announced him as her friend. Even if it wasn't necessary, or even if he wasn't involved in the conversation, he could hear her shout it from across the room, with the specific, exaggerated intent for him to hear her. It annoyed him at first, and he gave her the satisfaction of striking her with wit or irritation. After some time, though, he simply realized that the best way to combat her in most of those scenarios was just to ignore her.
It always made her annoyed instead.
He couldn't help but feel satisfied with his handywork at those times.
To pinpoint the exact time that the dynamic of theirs began to change, well that was probably impossible. Somewhere down the line, getting under each other's skin became a game, and the time that they spent together, a routine. It wasn't entirely unbearable.
Though, he could live without hearing her consistent remark echo through his head over and over, seemingly without end:
"So we're friends then, right?"
"We're friends, aren't we Sasuke?"
"Sasuke?"
"Sasuke!"
His eyes peeled open, furrowing towards the rays of light that poured in from his window. He sat up reluctantly, pressing his palm against the inner corner of his eye to wipe outwards. His eyes were hardly adjusted, but his ears could hear the sound of persistent knocking against glass. He leaned back onto his arm that supported him, shifting his head to the window of his solo apartment where a familiar silhouette stood.
She had her hands cupped around her eyes, peering in through the window like an idiot, and only recoiling when she noticed that he was finally sitting up. She raised her gloved hand, waving it urgingly. Could she have knocked on his door like a normal person? No, of course not.
"It's the squad assigning day, dummyyyyy," She dragged out. She recoiled to set her hands promptly against her hips, "Hurry up, or we're gonna be late!"
He peered over through focusing vision at the clock by his bedside. Yes, why wasn't he surprised? He had no danger of being late, she was just so eager that she probably didn't get any sleep the night before.
"What an idiot..." he muttered groggily under his breath, shifting to turn and swing his feet over the side of the bed. His gaze rose, still seeing her standing right there outside the window. Her hands were still planted on her hips as if she truly expected him to hop up and change right there in front of her. Quite frankly, he probably would have begun to, just to send her packing like the fear-stricken, bristling feline she was. Just waking up, though, he felt less than playful. Instead, he merely approach the large window, looking her in the face, since she appeared to expect him to lift the window for her.
Nope. Instead he stretched out his arms, gripping the edges of the curtains and pulling them closed.
"Seriously!?" She huffed from the outside, "I hope you stub your toe on the corner of your bed again!" She cried out in vengeance, "It's a fate worse than death! Worse than deaaaaaath!"
How dramatic.
Of course he paid that noisy stray outside his window no mind, he had to get ready, after all.
A/N: Here we see a bond between a smol boi and his cat.
No, but. LOL. I'm so excited to get this out! Since 'The Boy Called Trouble' is running up on its ending chapters, I've started 'Then We're Friends' , and plan to run it in tandem until Naruto and Kinomi hit their finale. This story may be a little longer than theirs though, just because this one has a lot more DRAMA AND ANGST that Eri may be directly involved within the canon storyline.
I really love writing these guys' dynamic though. Like, of course Eri completely made him loose his little seven-year-old mind, but it could only go up from a dumpster fire! :D! So considering they've mellowed out a lot (debatable that Eri has mellowed out at all), I'm excited to start fleshing out their dynamic further.
Also! In terms of most of the other Canon x Oc ship stories hinging on my challenge, I'm writing them in a very plain way that just kind of focuses on major plot points and the light build-up stringing between them. As a result, I expect a lot of them to hit a median length of about 10 chapters each -give or take some, depending on the canons involved and their relevance to the canon-, then I'll be doing some side stories and one-shots and just some fun what-ifs and spins on the ships and stories. So no worries that they're so short.
ANYWAY. After that long-winded author's note! We're all done here. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and O look forward to writing more for you guys! Thanks for reading! Byeeeee~!