I'll Be There

A/N: When I finished writing this short fan fiction, I honestly didn't know whether to classify this as some sort of yaoi fic or just a story of good friendship. You decide for yourself when you read this fic. I was pretty inspired by the ending animation for the Shippuden…it was super kawaii, man. XD

-Dedicated to NaruKyou-

Think back around…oh, say, about ten-ish years ago (I'm talking timeskip time), when Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and all the other ninja were in their Academy days. Naruto and Sasuke were around six or seven years old, and the two were obviously completely opposites, with Naruto failing and Sasuke succeeding with everything they're doing at the Academy. Every soon-to-be kunoichi at the Academy were drooling for the raven-haired loner (disregarding Hinata), whereas Naruto sits on the swing being held by the tree in front of the Academy, all alone. One day, things began to change.

It was a normal day at the Academy…

"Hmph," Sasuke, as usual, flatly and quietly said when a herd of little girls were giggling and eyeballing him. "Do they honestly think of something else other than me? What a shame."

From a distance, there stood little Naruto, training and working his butt off to become a greater ninja. He was throwing kunai at a tree a few feet away. The determined ninja turned around, where he saw Sasuke turning his back away from all those girls. He scoffed, saying "show-off" under his breath. He continued training consisting of throwing kunai at a tree and climbing the tree using the kunai or his hands, until sunset. By then, he was pretty beat up, lying on the ground, staring at the clouds fading in the sky.

"Why…why does he have to reign over me…? I'm the one that wants to be Hokage…" Naruto strained to say, his arms spread wide across the blanket of green grass. His sight of the sky disappeared when a towel was thrown over his head. Naruto wiped his forehead with it, and removed it from his head. There, he saw Sasuke looking down at him.

"Because it's natural for me," Sasuke answered back. He held out his hand, and Naruto reluctantly grabbed it, and stood up. The two of them bought some juice and sat together under the tree Naruto was training on all day.

"Hey Sasuke…?" said Naruto suddenly.

Sasuke looked at him.

"Do you think that I'll become Hokage someday?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow and gave him a half-smile. "Yeah…when pigs fly."

Naruto grumbled, clenched his now empty juice box, and threw it away to a trash can nearby. Sasuke followed him grabbed his wrist, then looked at him in the eye. Naruto stared at his dark eyes, showing some sort of sincerity of what he's about to say.

"I promise to protect you though…" said Sasuke, "So you might become Hokage someday…or at least live to an old age."

Naruto lit up like a light bulb, and randomly hugged Sasuke. Sasuke was slightly frightened of this gesture, but accepted it.

"Now, go home, you loser…" Sasuke ordered.

Naruto nodded, and the two went separate ways.

Six-ish Years Later (Before the ninja all went their separate ways with the Sannin…I'm bad at timing x.x)

Sasuke and Naruto were (for some VERY odd reason) lay on the grass, staring at clouds on a warm day. They hardly said a word to each other, being that they were still rivals to a certain extent.

"Sasuke…?" Naruto said.

"What," replied Sasuke. "This better be good."

"Remember when we promised each other a long time ago that you'd protect me…are you still keeping that promise?"

Sasuke turned his head over to Naruto's face, which was looking at him straight in the eye. Sasuke half-smiled, and said, "Yeah."

Naruto smiled again, and they continued staring at clouds. A rustling noise was heard, and there came Sakura in a very happy mood…well, until she saw her two teammates lying together.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS DOING JUST LAYING THERE?!" Sakura shouted. "We have to get going!!!"

"NARUTO BETTER NOT BE FLIRTING WITH SASUKE…CHA!!! THAT'S JUST GROSS!!!" Inner Sakura yelled inside.

"Oh! Right…" Naruto sprang up from the ground, and Sasuke got up by himself. The two then followed Sakura right behind her. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, and gave some sort of smile indicating that Sasuke would keep that promise they made so long ago.

A/N: Well…what do you think? Reviews of any kind are accepted. La la la!