Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

warning: Foul language, extreme deviation from plot, first time fic.

Little Naruto was sitting in the small red swing in the playground. The dark and overcast skies matched his mood perfectly. He could feel fat drops of tears slide down his cheeks. He wiped them with his chubby hands, and then the sleeve of his hand-me-down shirt when that wasn't enough. He saw the front of his shirt which had a big yellow circle smiling happily, and down to the small creature lying motionless on his lap. He could feel fresh tears coming up. He couldn't cry any anymore. He thought his tears had dried up after crying for hours, but he couldn't stop sobbing painfully once again.

The little hamster lay dead on his lap. The blonde's best friend, who never said mean things to him or ignored him and never ever hit him. The little boy could feel an immense feeling of loneliness surrounding him from the outside and threatening to choke him from the inside. He stroked the soft fur carefully; afraid he might hurt his friend, unmindful of the fact that the creature was dead.

It was getting dark, but Naruto refused to move from the swing. He couldn't remove the incident from his mind. The way Naruto's usual group of bullies tortured his little friend. They wanted to get back at the creature because it wouldn't come near them, but go instantly to Naruto when he called it. It was the class pet, it should go to everyone, not to a dirty orphan. It was a completely silly reason. But that didn't stop them from grabbing the fragile thing and squeezing the life out of it.

Naruto couldn't do a thing to help his friend, the one he would talk to when all the other kids went out to play during recess, the first one to whom he shared his dreams of one day becoming the Hokage. Two other boys held little Naruto back while the leader, the meanest of the lot hurt his friend. Poor Naruto couldn't help his friend being hurt right in front of his eyes.

The bullies let him go and Naruto rushed to the hamster. They hadn't meant to kill the it, and were feeling guilty seeing Naruto crying right there holding his friend in his small palms.

Naruto sighed and rested his head on the cool chain, holding up the swing, on his right. His head was hurting and fogged up, and he was feeling so sad.

"Hey", Naruto gasped and looked to where the voice came from. Sasuke Uchiha, the class favorite. Naruto really hoped he wasn't there to bully him, though he's never bullied him before. Never spoke to him either, but at least he never bullied him.

"You ok?" Naruto eyes blurred again and he quickly lowered his head, afraid to be called a cry baby, hoping that the boy would leave, and at the same time hoping that he wouldn't.

The other boy crouched down in front of him so that he could see the blonde's face and spoke, "I'm sure he loved you"

Naruto burst out crying, "It's all my fault. He'd still be ok if I wasn't his friend." Naruto hid his face using his too big shirt.

Sasuke stood up and looked the blonde, wanting to calm him down, but not knowing how. He held the blonde's wrist, meant as a calming gesture, to show him that the other boy wasn't alone. He knew how much the class pet had meant to the other boy. He'd seen him spending almost all his time with the little creature, taking care of it, talking to it, feeding and playing with it. He'd also seen they way the bullies hurt both the boy and the little rodent. He could have stopped them. He should have stopped them. He didn't, and now one defenseless creature was dead and another one was crying over it.

"I'm not defenseless!" Sasuke looked down to see the other boy glaring up at him. He hadn't realized that he had spoken out loud and wondered if the blonde would have punched him if he hadn't been holding his wrist. And having a dead hamster in his hands, he added in his mind.

"It's getting late. Shouldn't you go home?", normally Naruto would have a ready retort for that, but today, he just looked down at his dead friend.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath of air. "Come on. Let's give the rat a funeral."

Naruto glared again, "He's not a rat you jerk. He's a hamster and my best friend". He swallowed. " – and now he's gone."

Sasuke saw the sad, sad face and felt his guilt acting up again. Crap."I'm sure you'll find another best friend". Naruto peeked up through his lashes and into Sasuke's eyes. Seeing that the other boy wasn't mocking him, he gave him a small smile.

Sasuke helped Naruto bury the hamster, and then walk with him to Iruka sensei's house, all the while ignoring said blondes protests.

Sasuke woke up from next morning, cranky as all hell. While he wasn't a morning person on any given day, he was particularly irritated today, seeing as he had to sleep in the fucking holding cell. For the safety of the innocent people of Konoha. Yeah right. This is probably a revenge plot by the fucking insane Hokage of the innocent people of Konoha, for hitting on that blonde. Naruto, his mind supplied. And along with that thought, his mood lifted considerable (not completely). Pretty Naruto, soft as hell looking blond hair, big blue eyes, and a heck of a body. He wasn't all that tall though, came just up to Sasuke's chin at the most. But Sasuke didn't mind that. Not at all.

Just as Sasuke was starting to embrace his inner pervert, he heard a loud clanging sound near the cell entrance. "Uchiha, the Hokage wants to meet with you."

Right, Time to get this show on the road. The sooner he could get this issue resolved, the sooner he could get back to ogling the blonde. Somehow I don't think it's going to be that easy.