Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AN: In advance, I want to apologize for the ugly numbers I put in as separators. The line breaks the site has provided isn't working for me.

Dandelions

After the fall of the mighty Uchiha clan, Sasuke was left to fend for himself. Of course, there wasn't much a simple young kid like him could do but live off the rations of food that the third Hokage had been kind enough to give to him each day.

But what was food to him? What was living to him? His older brother, whom he had idolized, had just killed his entire clan. Not just their parents, the whole clan. This had sent Sasuke into a shock. The mere idea of his own brother killing the clan was horrifying; but it actually happening is an entirely different story.

The news had spread like wildfire. It swept through the mouths of many people, and headlines across the countries.

Uchiha Itachi, at the age of 16, murdered the entire Uchiha clan, save for his little brother.

Missing-nin Uchiha Itachi is now considered to be an S-rank criminal after the massacre of the entire Uchiha blood, except for one person: his little brother.

Uchiha Itachi will go down in the Bingo Book as one of the most dangerous criminals of all time, causing what is now and forever will be known as the Uchiha Massacre.

Sasuke sighed as he read the latest headline about his brother. He knew it was very selfish of him to admit it, but even after Itachi had killed his entire family AND run away from Konoha, his older brother was still getting all the attention. The last headline didn't even mention him. In fact, no one had spoken to him, besides the Hokage, since the massacre, which had almost been a week before. None of the kids at school talked to him. They whispered and pointed. When he walked through the crowded streets of Konoha, no one acknowledged him. They whispered and pointed. No one took pity for him. They whispered and pointed. No one comforted him. They whispered and pointed.

He would have taken the pity, too. Right then, he didn't care; he just wanted to feel better, he didn't want to be alone anymore. He didn't want to be pointed at like he was a bronze third place trophy that someone had left behind.

'Am I invisible? No one would understand anyway. The pain I'm feeling, right here,' he thought, clutching at his heart. 'Mom would understand. She always did. But she's not here. No one's here.' His eyes burned with unshed tears as he looked out of his bedroom window. The sun seemed to be smiling at him.

He didn't smile back.

111

Sakura sat against a tree, enjoying the slight wind blowing through her hair. Ino sat beside her, happily collecting flowers that had grown next to the tree. The blond hummed a tune as she arranged the flowers in her lap.

"Hey, Ino-chan?" Sakura said. Ino stopped humming.

"Yeah?"

"You heard about what happened to the Uchihas, right?" Sakura asked, picking a dandelion from the ground.

Ino nodded. "Yeah, I heard. What about it?"

"Well I was thinking of Uchiha-kun," Sakura said, not noticing Ino's slight blush, "and I think we should see if he's okay, or something. I mean, he's all alone and…"

Ino shook her head. "Sakura-chan, we can't. My mom and dad told me that Sasuke-kun needs to be left alone for a while. They said that leaving him alone will make him feel better."

Sakura twirled the dandelion around in her fingers. "Really? But…well, I know that if my family was just killed…I'd want someone to talk with…"

Ino frowned at her. She snatched the dandelion. "I'm sure you would but…maybe Sasuke-kun's different…" she said, blowing the dandelion's seeds.

Sakura frowned as well. 'When I was alone, and being teased, all I wanted was someone to talk to. Then Ino-chan came…and I felt…so relieved.' She swept away the hair and dandelion seeds that were blowing into her face. While doing so, she noticed someone walking down the road about ten feet away from her, looking solemn, sorrowful. 'I wonder…would he be the same way?' Sakura noticed him glance at her, and she started to stare at the ground intently.

"Ino," she said out of the blue. "Why is it…that when you blow on a dandelion, the seeds blow off, but when you blow on any other flower, nothing happens?"

Ino looked at the half-gone dandelion in her hand. "Well, dandelions are a different kind of flower. They don't have petals, see? And their seeds are all over the place. I guess it's so more seeds can be spread around, and more dandelions can grow. That's why you always see dandelions, and they never disappear, see?" Ino gestured at the dandelions scattered all over the park.

"They…never disappear? So what would happen if…an animal came to this park and ate all the dandelions here? Would they still grow?" Sakura asked, curiously.

Ino laughed. "Of course silly, there would still be dandelions all over the world."

"No, no! That's not what I meant…I meant…just here, in the park," Sakura said.

Ino thought for a second. "Well, maybe they would still grow if some dandelion seeds are left over. The wind blows a lot here in Konoha so there are probably tons of seeds in the grass we can't see, right?"

Sakura nodded silently. Then, she suddenly stood up and brushed her clothes off. "I'm going now; I'll see you later, okay?"

Ino stared at her retreating form, not knowing what Sakura was up to. "Sure," she replied.

The soft spring winds gently carried the remains of the dandelion away.

222

Naruto stepped slowly down the familiar streets of Konoha, hands in his pockets. As usual, everyone ignored him and avoided him as much as possible. To him, the reason was not known, but he dealt with it everyday in the same manner.

Ignore them too.

He loved going to school, though. At least, there, the teachers would pay attention to him. And he would give them reasons to pay attention to him too. He nodded to himself. 'Sensei got really mad at the last prank. It was so funny though, he couldn't have known that there were tacks on the seat!' he started to snicker. Not only teachers, but his fellow peers also gave him the much needed attention. Some hated him, some became mischief buddies with him – either way, they acknowledged him, and it was fine with him. He passed by the park and saw Sakura and Ino sitting near a tree. Naruto sighed softly when the pink haired girl made short eye contact with him. She quickly looked away. 'I wonder what she's thinking…'

Sakura was one of his classmates that seemed to hate him, but he didn't think that she really hated him. In fact, she only acted like she hated him when she was around other people, like Ino. Otherwise, she would (almost secretly, Naruto liked to admit) be fairly nice to him, doing small things for him like picking up his pencil when he dropped it, or giggling slightly at his jokes. 'Maybe we can talk sometime when Ino's not around or something.'

He continued his routine walk near the small lake when he noticed a figure sitting at the small port. Naruto suddenly stopped. The figure sat with his chin on his knees. He seemed to stare blankly at the reflection in front of him.

Naruto looked away. 'Sasuke…I heard about your family, but even still, you can never understand how I feel, can you? I've been alone all my life…everyone hates me. Everyone likes you. I've never had a family. At least you had one, even for a little bit. You'll always have your memories. I have none.'

He stood there for a few minutes, staring at the ground in front of him, talking to Sasuke in his mind. 'Why do you get all the attention? Our situations are the same, aren't they? What about me?'

"If I disappeared, would anyone care?" Naruto spoke softly.

"Hey, Naruto! What're you doing there? Are you talking to yourself?" a sweet, familiar voice reached his ears. He looked up.

"Ah, Sakura-chan! H-hi…I'm…not doing anything, really…" Naruto mumbled. He was sure his face was turning red, so he looked down again.

Sakura giggled. She then stuck something out under Naruto's nose, obstructing his view of the floor. Naruto almost jumped back in surprise. He stared at the package.

"What's…this?" he asked timidly, gathering the courage to look at her face. She giggled again.

"It's for you, silly! I thought you might like it," she said, still holding the present towards him. He hesitantly took it, not sure what to do.

'I've…never got a present before…what should I…what should I say?' he wondered to himself.

Sakura stared at him. She seemed to be waiting for something. Naruto just stood there, turning redder by the minute.

Finally, Sakura broke the silence. "Well…open it! I wanna see how it looks on you," she said, smiling.

Naruto nodded wordlessly, and started to open the box. When he looked inside, a pair of green goggles was staring back at him.

"Ah…what's this?" he wondered out loud. He carefully took the goggles out of the box. Sakura took the box from him and threw it in the nearest trashcan.

"They're goggles. You can wear 'em, but they might look funny so I thought you might want to wear them on your forehead, like a forehead protector. You know you get one when you become a ninja, right? Well, I knew you wanted to become a good ninja someday, so maybe you can start early," Sakura said. "I couldn't find anything else that looked good enough so I just got you these!"

Naruto stayed silent for a while after she stopped speaking. Sakura continued to stare at him, and after a while, a hint of disappointment was evident in her eyes.

"Unless…you don't like 'em or anything, if you don't its fine, I'll just take 'em back to the store for you," she said, reaching for the goggles. Naruto broke out of his reverie and snatched them away.

"No, no! I like them, I like them a lot, Sakura-chan! They look really cool; I'll wear them right away! Look, I'll be looking like a real ninja in no time, and soon, I'll become the Hokage!" he exclaimed, putting them on.

"Thank you…Sakura-chan," he said, a little awkwardly. Sakura grinned.

"You're welcome! Naruto, I'll talk to you later, okay? I have to give something to Uchiha-kun, too!" she said, waving as she walked down the path to the lake.

Naruto watched her as she made her way to Sasuke. He glanced once more at the Uchiha before starting to make his way back home. 'But Sasuke…even though I hate your guts on the outside…I…I wish I could be…just like you.'

He stuck his hands in his pockets again as he walked down the familiar street to his house.

"Naruto, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

There was something about her…

"Naruto, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

…that gave him a warm feeling in his heart. He couldn't describe how it felt…

"Naruto, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

…he just knew it was there.

He touched the plastic lenses of his makeshift forehead protector carefully, wanting it to last a long time. "Okay, Sakura-chan. I'll talk to you later, then."

333

Sasuke heard it all happen. As he sat there next to the lake, arms tightly wound around his knees, he'd heard it all. From the time Naruto arrived, Sasuke felt his presence just there, just lingering there. Sasuke didn't know what to do or say, or if he should even have said anything at all.

Then, he felt Sakura's presence as well. At least, he had heard Sakura greet Naruto. He heard the entire encounter, everything from Sakura's surprise present, to Naruto's silent astonishment. Then he heard the sentence, "I have to give something to Uchiha-kun, too!"

At that statement, Sasuke froze. He gripped his knees tighter. 'Is she coming to talk to me? And give me something too?'

He waited, silently staring at his reflection. He looked away with disgust. Every time he looked at his reflection, it reminded himself of Itachi. He tried to force himself to look at himself without cringing every time; he couldn't hide from himself forever. "Itachi…" he growled.

"Um…Uchiha-kun?"

Sasuke almost yelped. He quickly turned around and jumped at the same time in shock – and abruptly lost his balance and fell into the lake. Sakura gasped.

"Uchiha-kun! Uchiha-kun? Are you alright?" she asked, setting the package down. Sasuke sputtered as he reached the surface.

He sighed, embarrassed. "I'm fine…I'm sorry," he said. He was about to grab the edge of the port, but Sakura suddenly stuck out her hand.

"Here, grab my hand, it was my fault, I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that," she said with a smile. Sasuke stared at her hand for a second before grabbing it.

"Thank you…it was my fault...I guess I was thinking too much..." he said, pulling himself up. He grabbed the port with his other hand and hoisted himself up with her help.

"So…what did…you want?" Sasuke asked, wringing out his shirt. Sakura blushed slightly, and then picked up the package she had put down.

"Oh, Uchiha-kun, I just wanted to give you this…I know it's not much but…I was in a real big hurry when I bought it," she said, hurriedly. She shoved the package towards him. He graciously took it, although he didn't show his gratitude as much as he would have liked.

"Thanks…" he mumbled while opening it. Inside, he found a picture frame. It wasn't a very fancy picture frame, but it was simple, and that's really all he needed.

"I got you a picture frame because…well, maybe I thought you'd want somewhere to…put pictures of…erm…I mean…" Sakura squirmed. It was clear that she was uncomfortable talking about the subject. Sasuke let out the tiniest smile.

"It's…all right. You can talk about it," he said.

Sakura looked relieved. "Oh…well I thought you might want to put a picture of your family in here, you know, to remember them by, of course. I don't think you'll forget them but you…know what I mean…right?" she said, shyly.

Sasuke nodded. Sakura sighed in relief. "Well that's good. I have to go now; it's getting kinda late, isn't it? I'll see you around, Uchiha-ku…"

"…Sasuke."

"What?" Sakura looked surprised.

"It's alright…to call me Sasuke…I mean," Sasuke said. Sakura blushed again; only this time, it was a little more evident than the last one.

"O-okay…Uchi…I mean…Sasuke…kun," Sakura said, fidgeting. 'I feel... weird…' she thought.

"Sasuke-kun…I'll see you in school," she said, walking back up the path where she came. Sasuke nodded, even though she already had her back turned. He felt a great weight lifting off his shoulders. 'What is this…feeling…inside of me? It doesn't feel heavy anymore…I don't feel…burdened…'

And he realized. 'She…understands me. Mother, father…Itachi…she understands. She understands even when I don't.'

He lightly touched the glass of the picture frame, almost afraid it would shatter. "I'll…I'll see you…"

444

Years later, the picture frame would fall. The goggles would be abandoned. But one thing was for certain; they would never disappear.

Because that one extra little dandelion seed would always be there to restore them.