Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto.
Author's Note- Thanks for the reviews everyone! Much appreciated.
Two
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Childhood
"Aw, Sasuke-kun is so cute when he's sleeping!"
"Onii-san is cute?"
"Well of course he is! I just wanna hug him all day!"
"Oi, Sakura-chan! You got any ramen?"
"Naruto-kun, why'd you bring your plate up here? You're getting toast on the floor."
"…Ramen?"
Sasuke groaned and snuggled under his blankets, trying to drown out the voices. By the sounds of it there were three, two female and one male. The male voice was loud. Very loud. And the other female voice was high pitched and squeaky. Blech. The voices started talking again. Grr, couldn't a guy get any sleep in his own house? Sasuke snapped up, "Stop talking!"
"Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelped as she launched herself at him, tackling him on the bed and wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Hey," Naruto grinned, "Teme's awake!" Naruto gave him a hearty slap on the back. Sasuke "Oofed!" at him. Sakura giggled.
"Dobe, Ino," Sasuke glared.
"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" they said ever so sweetly.
"Get. Out."
"But-"
"NOW!"
The blondes gulped and sped out the door. But before they left, they turned towards Sakura, "We'll see you later, Sakura-chan? Okay, well, ja ne!" Sakura waved and watched them leave. She then pouted and turned towards her brother.
"Why'd you have to go and scare them away?"
"Because," Sasuke said, "I'm sleepy."
Sakura caught sight of his bandaged hands and suddenly remembered why he was so tired. The corners of her mouth lifted in a cute smile at her brother. "Sasuke-chan…" His eyebrow lifted briefly before she launched herself at him, her arms circling his waist. "Thank you for fixing my doll! I forgive you." She then gave him a peck on the cheek. Sasuke smiled sheepishly and hugged her back. "You know what? I think you deserve some ice cream!"
"What?"
"Well, since you were so nice to fix my doll I think we should go out for ice cream."
"Later," he yawned, "I'm sleepy."
"Who cares?" Sakura grinned and yanked him out of bed.
Sasuke growled, "Sakura!"
"Meet you at the door in ten minutes!" she giggled before running out of the room.
A few minutes later and the two siblings were strolling down the streets of Konoha, past vendors and shops. A few had tried to woo them into buying their products but the two didn't bite. A few girls giggled and pointed at Sasuke, sighing dreamily as he walked calmly past them. A few boys whistled at Sakura and a few adults even stopped to coo at them. Sasuke's eye twitched and Sakura laughed. They were headed towards Konoha Park, where the ice cream was. Something caught Sakura's eye.
"Neji-kun!" Sakura waved at a certain Hyuuga who was currently walking down the street. The coffee haired boy raised his head and acknowledged the two. Sasuke flinched. Please don't let Sakura call him over, please don't let Sakura call him over…
"Neji-kun, why don't you come over?"
Crap.
Nine year old Neji smirked and walked over to the two Uchihas. Neji was part of the renowned Hyuuga clan, which was famous for its bloodline trait: the Byakugan. The Uchiha and Hyuuga clans were the strongest and most powerful in all of Konoha, which made them rivals in a sense. Sasuke winced when Neji came near.
"Hi Neji-kun!" Sakura smiled bashfully. Even though Sasuke hated his guts, Sakura sort of had a little crush on him. You had to admit, Neji was pretty cute. Sakura blushed when he turned her way.
"Sakura-san," he greeted. Sakura let out a little squeak of happiness. Sasuke growled.
"Hyuuga," Sasuke stuck his tongue out at his rival.
"Uchiha," Neji returned the immature action.
"Hyuuga."
"Uchiha."
"Hyuuga."
"Uchiha."
"Sakura!" she grinned and popped up in between the two boys. They sweat dropped and gave her a funny look. "…What?"
Sasuke snorted and pulled her behind him, "Don't talk to him."
"Why?" she whined, "But Neji-kun didn't do anything wrong. Plus, he's fun to play with! Isn't that right, Neji-kun?" she grinned and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Neji tilted his head so nobody would see the light blush that tinted his cheeks. Sasuke growled and clenched his fists. He didn't want that white-eyed freak hanging around his sister.
"Let's go Sakura-chan," the Uchiha boy stepped up and pried his sister off his rival.
"Where are you going?"
"Onii-san was going to take me out for ice cream," Sakura replied. Suddenly, she gasped and got an idea, "Hey! Neji-kun, do you want to come?"
"What!" Sasuke stared at her in disbelief. "We are not taking him!"
"Why not?"
"I said no."
"But Onii-san!" she pleaded. She really wanted Neji to come along, because then it would sort of be a date… except Sasuke would be there. And watching them… and glaring at Neji… Sakura sighed. Oh well. At lest she'd get to be next to Neji-kun!
"No."
Neji smirked and thought about going with them just to annoy Sasuke. He could obviously sense the hateful aura about him. He stole a quick glance at Sakura, who was clutching a doll and staring at him with hopeful eyes. Aw, she was giving him a puppy dog pout.
"Come on," she pouted, "Please Neji-kun?"
"Okay."
"Yay!" Sakura cheered and linked arms with the Hyuuga, dragging him along with her as they entered Konoha Park. Sasuke growled at the sight. For some reason, the sight of Neji being near his sister wanted to make him strangle the boy.
"Hello there," the ice cream man smiled, "What kind of ice cream would you kids like?"
Sakura tapped her chin and thought for a moment, Neji right next to her. "I'll have... strawberry!"
The ice cream man smiled and scooped a hefty helping for the little girl. She cheered and licked it eagerly. Neji dug in his pocket for some money when a hand shot out to stop him.
"I'm paying for her, she's my sister." Sasuke growled.
"Well I'm treating her." Neji replied smartly.
The boys glared at each other, ebony against ivory. The ice cream man sweat dropped.
Sakura sighed and watched as Sasuke and Neji glared at each other. She silently licked her strawberry ice cream. After a few moments, Sakura yawned and finished up her ice cream. Sasuke and Neji were still glaring. Well, it looked like they wouldn't stop for another hour or so. Sakura decided to go exploring.
Lonely... He felt so lonely… A boy, presumably eight, gazed at the ground sadly as he sat by himself on a swing set. A light breeze flushed by, rustling his tousled, scarlet hair. He had sea foam eyes that were lined heavily with dark rings, due from lack of sleep.
His name was Sabaku no Gaara, son of the Yondaime Kazekage.
Gaara's father was here on a political meeting with Konoha, and he had brought all three of his children with him. They were placed in care of an anbu, but Gaara had managed to slip away from his sister, Temari, and brother, Kankuro, and found himself at Konoha Park.
Suddenly, a bush rustled, snapping him form his thoughts.
"Who's there?" Gaara called, his sand automatically summoning around him.
"Hi!" Sakura popped out of the bushes, "Did I scare you? I'm sorry."
"Who are you?" Gaara shrank back in his rag of clothes.
"My name's Sakura Uchiha," she held her hand out towards him, "What's yours?"
Gaara was taken a back at her bright attitude, "A-Aren't you afraid of me?"
"Afraid of you?" Sakura snorted, "Why would I be afraid of you?" Once again, she offered him her hand.
His sea foam eyes stared at her outstretched hand like it was some sort of foreign object. Warily, he lifted his hand and unsurely tangled his tiny fingers with hers. "See? Nothing happened. Now will you tell me your name?"
"It's Gaara."
"Gaara… hm… I like it!"
A faint smile tugged at his lips as Sakura plopped down on the swing next to him. Slowly, Gaara kicked his legs back and started swinging, feeling at ease. Out of the corner of his eye, Gaara saw Sakura struggle with her swing. He quirked an eyebrow at her. Didn't she know how to swing?
Sakura stuck her tongue out and tried to imitate what Gaara was doing, but it was no use. She couldn't get started. Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms press against her back and push her in the air. Sakura squeaked.
Sakura glanced behind her and saw that Gaara was pushing her. "Gaara?"
"Keep kicking your legs," he directed.
Every time she swung backwards, those arms would be right behind her, pushing her back up in the air. Sakura giggled. "Hey, look Gaara-kun! I'm swinging! I'm really- AH!" The pink haired Uchiha screamed as she accidentally let go, falling face first in the sand. "Ooh…"
Then, something unexpected rang through the air.
Gaara started laughing.
"Eh?" Sakura turned around and saw her newest friend snicker. "Hey! That's not funny!" Gaara continued to laugh harder, relishing the foreign feeling. Even though his tummy was starting to cramp, he felt happy. Sakura growled and picked up a handful of sand and threw it at him.
Gaara snapped back into alert mode and immediately summoned a sand barrier. Sakura's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. Gaara looked crestfallen. She probably thought he was a freak now.
"WHOA! COOL!" she jumped up and down, "How'd you do that?" Gaara's brows furrowed. She still wasn't afraid of him? "You know, I thought Itachi-chan was cool, but I think you're cooler. I mean you lifted up the sand! You could become the king of the sandbox! Literally!"
Gaara just stared at her as if she was a ghost. Then he snorted to try and conceal his laughter. "Pbfft, king of the sandbox…" Soon both eight year olds couldn't contain their laughter as they burst out in a fit of giggles.
"Ahem," two voices suddenly appeared out of nowhere and cleared their throats.
Gaara and Sakura stopped giggling and looked up. They saw an aggravated looking Sasuke and Neji, staring down at them. Sakura shyly picked herself up and brushed the sand form her skirt.
"I have to go now," she said to Gaara. His face fell and he nodded. A bit of guilt stung at her heart, but suddenly Sakura got an idea. She had a red ribbon in her hair that Ino had given her as a sign of their friendship. Well, now she was passing it onto Gaara as a sign of their friendship. "Here," she said while untying it and handing it to him, "Keep this."
"Why?" he eyed it.
"We're friends now, silly! I need to give you something as a token of our friendship."
Gaara gazed at her with large, green eyes. She could see them shine with some foreign emotion. "…Friend?"
"Mhmm," Sakura nodded and thrust the piece of cloth in his hands. Sasuke and Neji told her to hurry up, "I've got to go now, Gaara-kun. I hope we meet again sometime!"
The redhead watched as she ran after her brother. What was her name again? Oh yeah, Sakura Uchiha. He smiled and tucked her ribbon away. "Friend…"
Sasuke beckoned her to hurry up, scolding at her for running off like that and making them search. They walked silently along the sidewalk, with Sasuke too flustered to talk. They had spent ten minutes worrying and looking all over for her. Sasuke was known to have a relatively short temper. Sakura looked downcast. She didn't mean for them to worry like that…
She felt a hand intertwine with hers and peeked up to see Neji, giving her a reassuring nod. Sakura's face turned a deep crimson as she bent her head, letting her bangs fall in front of her face.
Inside her head, she was squealing with delight. 'Oh my gosh! Neji-kun is holding my hand- and I made a new friend!' Sakura grinned silently to herself.
It was about eleven at night as Itachi trudged through the door of the mansion, muscles screaming in agony. He sighed and plopped down on one of the nearby armchairs, removing his mask and unloading the anbu gear. He felt an immense amount of weight lift from him and buried his exhausted face in his hands. Today had been an extra rough session.
It was always rough. Each day's session seemed to beat harder and harder on his thirteen year old body; sometimes so hard that Itachi wished it would just all go away. Everyone praised him and expected him to do so much… as if he was some sort of god. He got attention, praise, any girl he would ever want… but he still felt so empty.
He didn't want this. Always being pushed to do more, never having any time to himself anymore. He was only 13 for Pete's sake! Itachi groaned as another jolt of pain shot up his leg. His ebony eyes suddenly caught sight of a kunai peeking out from one of his pouches, the metal gleaming at him in a tantalizing manner.
He picked it up and eyed it. Itachi traced his finger along the sharp sides and scraped it lightly over his arm. Many a time he pondered if he should purposely harm himself, and right now this kunai was provoking one of those moments.
Just as he was about to sink the tip into his skin, he heard the faint rise and fall of someone's breathing.
The elder Uchiha looked up and saw his imouto curled up in an armchair near the door, a little purse clutched between her tiny fingers. His face fell. She was waiting for him to take her and Sasuke out… another promise left broken. Itachi's face fell as he silently crept over and scooped her up, getting ready to take her to her room.
The sudden movement caused Sakura to stir, "Aniki?" she whispered groggily.
"Shh," he said, "Come on, we're getting you into bed."
"Aniki… what's wrong with your arm?" she peered curiously at the red welts caused by his kunai.
Itachi made an attempt to hide it. "It's nothing." Soon they arrived at her room, and Itachi gently tucked her into bed.
Just as he was about to leave, Sakura whimpered. "Itachi-chan… stay with me, please?"
He thought for a moment. He did skimp out on his promise to her, so if he stayed then that would sort of repent for his broken promise. Itachi sat down on the edge of the bed and watched his sister get comfortable. "Sakura-chan… do you sometimes feel sad?"
"Sad?" she pondered for a moment, "Well yeah I felt sad yesterday when Onii-san broke my doll."
"No," he cut her off, "No not like that. Like, you just feel sad for no reason."
Her pink brows furrowed, "I don't get it…"
"Like people want too much from you; that you just have to keep doing what they say to keep them satisfied. You don't want to though, like you just want it to all go away…" Itachi's eyes dulled as if he was in a trance.
"Aniki," she sat up and cocked her head at him, "Are you okay?"
"Why would you care…" he said with a distant voice.
"Well I'm your sister, I'm supposed to care!" Sakura retorted.
"You're not old enough to understand."
"I'm eight and can reach the kitchen counter without using a stool- I think I'm old enough to understand."
He chuckled at her, "Not in that way, imouto."
"Well," she crawled out from under her blanket and hugged her big brother, "If you feel sad then you can always come to me. Then we can have a tea party or something. That always makes me happy."
The elder Uchiha smirked at her innocence, "Okay. Go to bed now."
"Itachi!" Sakura perked up.
"Hm?" he turned and faced her.
Sakura blushed, "Love you…"
He smiled and kissed her on the forehead, "I love you too, Sakura-chan…"
