Title: Ice Cream Smears

Summary: Lost precocious boys are the cutest. Perhaps even cute enough to win over Sakura.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Prompt: Monster

Warnings: None

Comments: Happy Birthday Sasuke! Lol, so I was planning on connecting this to the previous one, but I couldn't come up with any good ideas. Hence, why you get this ultra fluffy chapter. Someone asked if my prompts were still connected—yes, they are! Consider them in the same universe, just moments in their lives as they build up their relationship!

"Oops."

Sasuke glanced down at his now sticky, blue-stained shirt and then at the little midget he'd just run into. The boy giggled good-naturedly, as he tried to wipe off (smear) his ice cream from Sasuke's shirt.

"Sorry 'bout that, mister!"

Sasuke chose to ignore the boy and continued on his way. At least, he'd been headed home before anyways.

The pitter-patter sound of small feet following him made his eye twitch. A glance behind him confirmed that the boy was now following him. "What do you want?" he grunted.

"Well, I'm lost," the boy said cheerfully, licking his blue abomination with an even bluer tongue. "And Kaa-san always said if that happened, I should get help from a shinobi. You're a shinobi, right? You have to be! You look so cool."

Sasuke was left at a loss for words. He settled for snorting in annoyance.

"Fine, let's go," he said shortly, switching directions to head towards Ichiraku.

"Yay!"

Much to Sasuke's annoyance, the boy didn't stop talking the entire way there. He learned that the kid's name was Seiji and that he was eight and he wanted to be the most powerful shinobi ever like Naruto-sama! (Sasuke bit his tongue rather hard.)

"Sakura."

Naruto and Sakura looked up from her bowl of noodles. "Hm? Oh, hi Sasuke-kun—Kami, what happened to your shirt?"

"Teme, how come you greet Sakura-chan and not me, ya—"

"I need you to find this kid's mom," Sasuke bit out.

Sakura blinked. "Huh?" She leaned back in her stool slightly to look past Sasuke. Sure enough, Seiji peeked out shyly from behind Sasuke's legs, clutching the older man's pants in his small hands.

"Is that Uzumaki Naruto-sama?" he gasped.

"Tch, don't call him that," Sasuke griped. "It'll go to his head."

"Ne, ne, Sasuke-sama," Seiji began, tugging on Sasuke's shirt. "Are you guys teammates?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Woah," the boy breathed, eyes round and large with wonder.

"Who's this, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked as she knelt in front of Seiji, prompting the boy to shift further behind Sasuke.

"Seiji," he grunted. "He ran into me on my way home."

"That would explain the blue stain," she teased lightly.

"Hn."

"Sasuke-sama? Is that you're other teammate?" Seiji asked.

Sasuke observed him for a moment before saying, "Aa."

"She's pretty," he whispered.

Immediately a blush bloomed across Sakura's face. Naruto roared with laughter from his seat at the bar.

"Looks like Sasuke's got competition from an eight-year old!" he chortled.

"Tch," Sasuke scoffed, annoyed. "He says he can't find his Kaa-san."

"Oh, well we can't have that, can we?" Sakura said, gently coaxing the boy to take her hand. "C'mon, I'm going to take you to the police office. They should be able to pull up your file from their system."

But as Sakura made to lead him away, the boy resisted. "Where's Sasuke-sama going?"

"He has to go and change his shirt," she explained. "Remember? It's all dirty right now!"

"Oh… Can't we go with him and then go to the police station?" Seiji pouted. "I want Sasuke-sama to come!"

Seeing that the boy was quite set on dragging him along, Sasuke resigned himself to walking around town in a sullied shirt as he came up to walk on Seiji's other side. Squealing with delight, the boy instantly grabbed his hand, swinging it in synch with Sakura's hand.

"Naruto! Are you coming?" Sakura called over her shoulder.

He contemplated it for a moment, but then glanced at her and Sasuke's interlaced hands with the boy. "Nah, I wouldn't want to interrupt anything. And besides, I have a date with Hinata-chan later!"

"Suit yourself!"

Together, Sasuke, Sakura, and Seiji made their way in the growing dusk to the police station. Seiji was very energetic, always talking about his friends or his dreams. Both Sasuke and Sakura noted, however, that he never spoke of his home.

"Seiji-kun, when did you last see your Kaa-san?" Sakura finally asked.

"Mmm… In the marketplace, after she got me the ice cream," he said, face screwed up as he thought.

"And how did you get separated from her?"

"I ran away," he said simply. "It wasn't hard. Kaa-san is always focused on Onē-san. She's gonna be a chunin soon, and she's only thirteen! But I'm normal, so Kaa-san doesn't spend any time training me."

His shoulders slumped, eyes downcast. It was a pose all to familiar to Sasuke.

"Then get stronger," he inserted. "Train until she notices you. Don't go running off like that. It's pointless."

Immediately, Seiji straightened, and his eyes lit up. "Okay, Sasuke-sama! I will!"

They stopped at a street vendor some time later to buy drinks. As the man handed their beverages out, he commented, "My, my, what a lovely thing to see such a young family out on a night like this."

Sakura blushed and immediately made to rectify him. "Oh, we're not—"

"Thanks," Sasuke grunted, cutting her off. He paid for the drinks too, much to Sakura's annoyance.

"Sasuke-kun, I was just about to pay for that!" she complained.

"What kind of husband would I be if I let you do that?" he shot back. She stopped in her tracks, mouth agape with surprise. It was only after she saw the glint in his eyes that she realized he was teasing her.

"Mou, Sasuke-kun, why are you so mean?"

At the station, they were quickly ushered to an available officer. It helped that the boy had been accompanied by two of three fearsome members of team seven. In no time, they were knocking on a plain door. A young woman opened it anxiously, and the moment she saw Seiji, she enveloped him in a hug.

"Seiji! Don't you ever do that again!" she scolded, though the bite in her words was dampened by how tightly she held him.

"Okay, Kaa-san," he giggled, trying to wrestle out of her grasp. "I wanna introduce my new friends." He pointed to Sakura, then Sasuke. "This is Sakura-sama, and this is Sasuke-sama. He's an Uchi-uchiha, but he promised me he's not gonna hide under my bed like a monster."

Sakura stiffened beside him, but Sasuke ignored it.

"Your son is a very good boy, ma'am," he said quietly. "He's very smart, and I'm certain he will do well at whatever he tries. Have a nice night."

With that, he turned on his heels and walked away.

"Wait!" Seiji ran after him, wrapping his short arms around Sasuke's torso. "Thanks for everything, Sasuke-sama."

"Aa."

Seiji reluctantly let go of Sasuke and made his way back to his mother. Just as the door was about to close, Sasuke called out, "Seiji."

"Yes, Sasuke-sama?" the boy answered.

"When you graduate from the Academy… I'll put in a word with the Hokage to be your teacher."

Never had a smile so wide or so genuine spread across Seiji's lips.

"Thank you, Sasuke-sensei!"

"Sasuke-sensei, huh?" she commented softly.

"Hn. He's a good kid," he grunted.

"Yeah… I never would've pegged you for a kids' person, Sasuke-kun," she teased. "You did a great job handling him today."

They walked on further in silence before Sakura spoke again. "When did he ask you about monsters?"

"Before we got to the ramen stand. I told him I was an Uchiha, and he asked if I really hid in closets or under beds to scare people. I told him that was a stupid notion concocted by half-witted fools."

"… I see," Sakura said, nonplussed by his attitude.

Later that night, Sakura fell asleep with a smile on her face and the knowledge that Sasuke, whenever he should decide to have kids, would be a great father.