Okay... this is when they're seven (hence the title...) i think i've made it a bit OOC but.. it's AU so i suppose it doesn't matter THAT much...

Warnings: um... implied yaoi... children messing with other peoples things... fluff maybe?

Disclaimer: uh-uh.

SEVEN YEARS – Time of Befriending

"Sasuke, should we really be going through your brother's things?" Naruto asked nervously as he and Sasuke continued rifling through papers on the elder Uchiha's desk.

Itachi's room had a dark aura to it; though it was just a normal room with white walls and blue carpet, it was eerily clean and organized, everything was perfect but it was ice cold as though the room was situated in a freezer and Naruto had heard rumors at school that the devil slept in here.

"Shut-up Naruto and keep looking," Sasuke ordered.

"What are we even looking for, though?"

Sasuke frowned, he wasn't about to reveal the real reason; that his brother had absolutely no time for him and he was trying to figure out why. No, even as a seven year old, he had more pride then that, so he said nothing.

Since that day at the park, Kushina and Mikoto had spent an awful lot of time together and since their husbands both worked an excessive amount, they tended to bring their boys along and leave them to their own devices while they got caught up – though what they still had to talk about was beyond the boys.

Naruto and Sasuke had slowly become friends once they realized that no amount of destruction or bodily harm would get them out of this situation and so Sasuke utilized his friend b getting him to help with tasks like this. He had to admit the blonde was pretty helpful, and he was a good friend as well because even when Sasuke treated him like crap, he still stuck around.

"What are you smiling about?" Naruto asked, catching the Uchiha off guard.

"Nothing!" Sasuke immediately insisted, looking down and trusting his bangs to hide his blush.

"You're blushing!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the boy's face. "Were you thinking about that girl?"

"What girl?"

"Sakura, she likes you, ya know."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "yeah and so do half the girls in our year," he said.

In all honesty, Sasuke didn't know why he had blushed or why he had smiled. Damn this blonde and his big blue eyes! He knew Naruto had a crush on that Sakura girl though he couldn't fathom any reason why. Her pinkness was annoying to the eyes and she was just another one of his fangirls. Though being friends with him, Naruto had condemned himself to that for the rest of his life.

"Just, keep looking," Sasuke said.

After they had cleared the desk and placed everything back in perfect order, they moved onto the bed, searching beneath the mattress, under the pillows and sheets but still finding nothing. They put the bed back together.

Next they rifled through his clothing and finally, finally found something; a photo.

There were ten people in the photo but they could only identify one which was of course, Itachi himself. Standing beside him was a tall boy with skin that seemed almost blue, smiling a very toothy smile, there was a guy with silver hair and an insane glint in his pink eyes, a tall tan man with scruffy black, a girl with a friendly smile, blue hair adorned with an origami flower and amber eyes, a guy with orange hair and piercings everywhere, a kid with green hair and an uneven skin tone, a kid with black hair and an eye covered by a patch, and finally a redhead and a blonde who were lip locked.

"Are these your brothers' friends?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure; I didn't know he had any."

They looked in the same spot for more pictures and found some before long. They all featured at least two of the people from the first photo. There were pictures of them all at various places; at a fair, at a beach, – Sasuke was sure his brother hated the water – eating dango and other places as well. Though the picture that stood out the most to both boys was a picture of Itachi and the tall blue boy standing in front of the school holding hands.

"Hah, your brother has a boyfriend!" Naruto yelled, pointing a mocking finger at his friend.

"Does not!" Sasuke shouted, "Take that back!"

Naruto held the picture and began running around the room shouting, "Itachi's got a boyfriend!" over and over in a sing-song voice.

Growling, Sasuke tackled his friend, once again and began hitting him only to be hit back by the blonde.

"Take it back!"

"No!"

"Take it back, dammit!"

"Sasuke?"

Both boys looked up in horror, having not heard the door open or the footsteps of Sasuke's older brother making his way towards them. He frowned as he took in the mess they had made and his eyes skimmed over the photos they'd found. It wasn't such a big thing, he supposed, as the real ones he didn't want to see those photos, were his parents.

"B-big brother…"

"What were you doing going through my things?" his eyes betrayed no emotion and his voice didn't waver at all, only working to scare the children that much more.

Naruto jumped up and yelled, "it was his idea, all his!"

"I-I'm sorry Itachi… I just…" Sasuke considered telling the truth but found no benefit in doing so, "who are the people in those photos?"

"Those are my friends, Sasuke."

"And what about in this one?" Sasuke snatched the photo out of Naruto's hands and held it up to his big brother, "Naruto says that you're gay. Tell him it's not true!" Sasuke glared at his blonde friend who smiled back sheepishly.

"And what if I couldn't tell him that?" Itachi asked, frowning down at the picture for a few moments. He considered lying to his little brother, but in the long run it didn't benefit him at all. "What would you do?"

Sasuke was surprised when the only feeling he felt in light of this revelation, was anger. Not disgust or disdain or sadness or anything besides anger and that made things easier on him.

"Why didn't you tell me!? Did you think you could just hide this from me and I would never find out? Don't you trust me, big brother?" he yelled.

"Of course," Itachi said calmly, "I just wasn't sure of your reaction. But now that you know, I need you to do something for me. I need you to keep it a secret for as long as you can, can you do that?"

Sasuke nodded and Naruto nodded as well, feeling the obsidian eyes of Itachi watching him.

"Good, now both of you get out."

Both boys complied and basically ran from the room and all the way down the hall to Sasuke's room where they closed and locked the door and sat down on Sasuke's bed.

"That was close," Naruto breathed.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"At least we found what we were looking for, right?"

Sasuke nodded, he had a reason for his brother's avoidance now and felt closer, knowing that he had been trusted with a secret that could ultimately ruin Itachi.

Once again, he found himself smiling.