Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and Kudozaki Lucine. The rest belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

| Uchiha Sasuke |

I was in a rush that day to get home from the academy. My mother had told me that when I get back from the academy, there'll be a surprise waiting for me at home. I wonder what it is. A tomato pie? A kunai set? Katon jutsu scrolls? It could be anything.

The thought made me step up my pace in excitement. Before I knew it I had already arrived at the Uchiha compound.

Rushing up to my house and almost running over my grandmother, I slid the door and scrambled inside, "Kaa-san! Tadaima! [1]" I chirped, running to the kitchen.

There sat my mother on a pillow while sipping tea by the table. "Okaeri [2], Sasuke." she said with her warm smile.

"What's the surprise-" just when I asked, I noticed that across from my mother, sat a little girl that looked my age. She had long chocolate brown hair in two messy braids and big honey colored eyes. Her face was round like the moon, and her cheeks were rosy, she almost looked like a doll. So cute... I thought, a blush developing on my cheeks. "...Hi." I greeted shyly.

My mother smiled at me, and nodded at the little girl. Said girl stood up from the pillow and faced me, her eyes big and innocent. She bowed, "It's very nice to meet you, Sasuke-san. My name is Kudozaki Lucine." she greeted politely, her voice surprisingly resembling the way Aniki [3] spoke.

Kaa-san stood up from her pillow as well and walked up next to Lucine. "This is our new family member, your father and I were friends with her parents, but after their unfortunate deaths, poor Lucine-chan was left all alone in the world. Therefore, she'll be living with us from now on." Kaa-san explained while smiling brightly. The girl looked at me with an expressionless face, only a slight curious glint in her eyes. "Isn't she adorable! I've always wanted a little girl like this. Look at the dress I got her, it fits her perfectly!" Kaa-san squealed, hugging her tight to her chest as if she was a teddy bear. Lucine was dressed in a pink lolita dress. It looked like it belonged to a porcelain doll, so I'm sure if she stood still, someone would actually think she was one.

Lucine stood still in my mother's embrace, letting her squeeze the air out of her little body. I felt sorry for her, knowing how tight my mother's hugs were. I stared at my new family member, while she stared back with her empty, honey eyes.

I didn't do much for the rest of the day. We all ate dinner together for the first time, so Lucine got to know Tou-san [4] and Aniki. At night we all had a meeting with the rest of the Uchiha clan, so Lucine was introduced to the rest of my family. She's now officially a member of the Uchiha clan. When I asked my mother if they're going to change her last name to "Uchiha", she said that she'll keep "Kudozaki" for now. Although I didn't understand why, I didn't ask more about that matter.

The next day, a Saturday morning, I invited Lucine to play with me after breakfast. She accepted, and we were now playing hide and seek in the forest. It wasn't going so well.

"28... 29... 30! Here I go!" I said excitedly and turned around to look for Lucine, only to find her standing right behind me, looking at me with narrowed eyes. I let out a whine, "Lucine-chan! You're supposed to hide!"

She crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks, "But it's rude to hide from people."

"It's the point of the game to hide! You hide, and I seek." I sighed in frustration. This was the 3rd time I explained, "Let's try again."

She frowned, "I don't like this game."

As I played different games with Lucine, I learned that she's bad at hide and seek (not that she's trying), that she's really good at tag, and that she takes the game House too seriously. She was the baby, while I was the father. In the end I ended up screaming at her that she was being lazy when she didn't help me making the pretend-food, while she argued that babies are unable to cook. Although she was right, she took her role way too seriously.

The next day, we played inside my room since it was raining. We were playing dinosaurs, which again she took too seriously.

"Rawr! Out of my way!" I growled about to push her away, but she surprisingly dodged me, gripped my hands and tackled me to the floor.

She blinked down at me, holding my wrists so tight it actually hurt a little. "Rawr. You're lower than me, I will devour you." she said blankly, while I struggled under her grip.

"What are you doing, Lucine-chan!?" I asked. Slightly unnerved by the serious look on her face, as if she meant every word she said. Is she actually going to eat me?

The teasing, playful glint in her eyes confirmed my suspicion. Before I could even try to kick her away, she grabbed my arm and pulled it close to her mouth, "Itadakimasu [5]." I widened my eyes, and watched as she bit into my forearm.

I let out a startled yelp. S-she's biting me! Although I expected it to hurt, it didn't. She was just pinching the skin between her lips. My face burned with the blush that started forming on my face, it felt like all the blood in my body was rushing to my cheeks.

After a minute she pulled away, licking her lips, "Thanks for the treat." she thanked, looking up at me with that same teasing, sly look.

When I looked down at my arm, I saw that she had left a mark. My blush deepened, if possible. "That's... that's cannibalism!"

Lucine and I played every day, and she never failed to surprise me or take me off guard with her strange personality. I liked her more and more for every day, I even felt my heart beat faster every time she held my hand or got close to me. I didn't know what it meant, but it was a pleasant feeling.

Lucine wanted to be a ninja as well, so she attended the academy with me. The first day was stressful, since many of the other kids started crowding around her and squealing how cute she was. However, I chased them all away. For some reason, it annoyed me when others got too close to her. As a result, I kept her close to me at all times, never separating from her. Lucine didn't seem to mind my possessiveness over her, it's not like she had a choice anyways.

Time went by, two months to be exact, and I was already very close to Lucine. She was mine, and I was hers. We were together every second of the day. We ate together, we played together, we shared the same bed and we bathed together.

Sometimes when I couldn't sleep; she sang for me while petting my hair, and I always went out like a light.

I loved her. She was my best friend.

Translations

[1] - Kaa-san means mother. In this case Sasuke is referring to Mikoto. Tadaima means "I'm home"

[2] - Okaeri means "Welcome home"

[3] - Aniki means older brother, in this case Sasuke is referring to Itachi

[4] - Tou-san means father, in this case Sasuke is referring to Fugaku

[5] - Itadakimasu is something Japanese people say before a meal, it literally means "I receive this". In this case, Lucine was going to "eat" Sasuke