Chapter 2: anniversary

Sakura nervously glanced down at the small bag that swung gently on her arm before she shifted slightly so that she could glance up at her older sister. Hikari wasn't paying attention to Sakura instead she was starring off into the horizon, a distant and dazed look on her face. Sakura looked down at the presents again, her lower lip held firmly between her teeth. Finally she couldn't hold it in anymore and she opened her mouth to speak.

"Onee-chan?"

"Huh?" Hikari asked, startled out of her reverie. "Oh, um, what is it Sakura-chan?"

"I was wondering…" Sakura began hesitantly her free hand traveling up to tug on her short pink hair. "Do…do you think that they'll like their presents?"

Hikari would have laughed at the distraught look on her sister's face if she hadn't known that she was completely serious. "Hai, Sakura-chan," Hikari answered with a gentle smile. "I really think that they will."

Sakura breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. "Good," she replied. "Cause I was really worried!"

Hikari chuckled. "Well I'm glad that we fixed your worries now because we're here."

Sakura gulped as she looked up at the Uchiha mansion. It wasn't that she was intimidated, after all the Haruno mansion was just as big. It was because she was nervous. It was the three-year anniversary of "corner kids" first meeting and it was going to be a big deal. Especially since it was both Sasuke's birthday and the celebration of his mastering the sharingan.

Sakura smile slightly as she thought back to the day when the blood red mirror wheels first appeared in the place of his normally black eyes. She and the others had been so proud of him.

XxFlashbackxX

It was just another day in Konohagakure and as usual the "corner kids" (SasuSakuNaruHina) were once again playing in their clearing. At the moment they were having a very interesting game of hide and seek with Hinata being 'it'. She moved along carefully, not wanting her byakugan to miss anything that could point to the whereabouts of her three well-hidden friends. She giggled happily as she finally spotted a fox-like Naruto hidden in a den among a sleeping family of foxes.

"Got you, Naruto-kun," she called and Naruto groaned good-naturedly.

"You always win, Hina-chan," Naruto whined.

Sasuke, who had already been found, grinned at his male friend. "That's cause she's got cool eyes!"

Hinata blushed at the compliment; she was about to thank him when a sudden scream pierced through the clearing. Instantly, all three academy student's where on their guard.

"That sounded like Sakura-chan!" Sasuke exclaimed as he looked in the direction the sound had come from, his face twisted in panic. "Hinata-chan!"

Hinata nodded and reactivated her byakugan focusing them in the direction they heard Sakura from. Hinata gasped. "She's being attacked by a snake! It's huge!" She shouted in fear. "Oh no! She's going to fall!"

Sasuke took off. "Sakura!"

"Hurry Sasuke-kun!" Hinata urged as she and a pale-faced Naruto followed close behind. They arrived just in time to watch Sakura slip off the branch she had been hiding on and fall, screaming, towards the hard ground below.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted his voice laced with terror. He ran to her even though he was sure he wouldn't make it in time. 'No, Sasuke!' his mind screamed. 'You have to make it! Focus. Focus! FOCUS!' Suddenly it seemed as if everything had gotten clearer. Like he had been walking around with plastic covering his eyes his whole life and suddenly it was gone. He felt his feet speed up even as everything around him seemed to slow down. 'Closer, closer, come on just a little closer!' he stretched out his arms and jumped as high as he could. He felt the weight of his arms increase and he knew that he had caught her. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Sasuke managed to rebound from one tree to another until he landed heavily on the ground about three yards away from his now gaping friends.

"S-Sasu-ke-kun…" Sakura stuttered as she tightened her arms around his neck. "I w-was so s-scared…"

Sasuke set her gently on her feet, unable to support her weight anymore. "It's ok," he said as he pushed her back so he could give her a smile. "You're ok now."

Sakura gasped as she looked up at him, awe clearly written on her face.

Sasuke's nose scrunched up in confusion. "What?"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed. "Your eyes!"

Sasuke starred at her blankly with two blood red mirror eyes. "My eyes?" he asked. "What about them?"

XxEnd FlashbackxX

When Itachi and Hikari had arrived on the scene they nearly passed out from the shock of seeing a confused Sasuke watching them with his blood red sharingan. That had been a week ago but the Uchiha compound was still a buzz with shock. Everyone had thought that Itachi would always be the youngest to activate the sharingan but Sasuke had beaten him by three weeks. It was astounding to say the least. After all now the Uchiha had TWO prodigies!

Sakura was tense as Hikari reached out to hit the doorbell. She was still rather nervous about her gifts. Sure her sister had assured her that they would like them but that was what sisters where supposed to do. Sakura bit her lip again as she listened to the chime signal their arrival. Oh well. To late to turn back now…

XXXXXXXXXX

The main party had gone well and now it was pretty late. Sasuke couldn't stop grinning even as his parents ushered him and his friends into the room that they would be using for the night. Naruto all but squealed when he saw the large king sized bed they would all be sharing. His eyes turned to stars. 'A bed like that is just asking to be jumped on…' he thought dreamily.

Kohei and Meili anticipated his thoughts and shook their heads fondly. "Now I know it's your anniversary but don't stay up to late, you all have class tomorrow." Meili informed them as she and her husband closed the door.

"Ok!" four voices sounded as the door snapped shut. The four of them listened intently for the sounds of the adult's footsteps to fade before they all jumped up onto the bed.

"Present time!" Sakura declared as she held up her pink bag full of gifts. "Who's first?"

"Ooh, ooh!" Naruto shouted as he bounced of the bed, his hand waving wildly in the air. "Pick me, pick me, pick me!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and nodded. "Ok Naruto-kun. You go first."

"YAY!" Naruto exclaimed as he reached into his over-night bag and pulled out three badly wrapped gifts. "Here!" he said excitedly as he handed them out. "They're from me!"

"No, really?" Sasuke asked sarcastically. "We never would have guessed."

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Shut up, Sasuke-baka."

The girls just giggled as they took their presents and began to open them. At the same time each of them pulled out a delicately carved wooden animal charm dangling on a leather thong. Sasuke's was a wolf, Hinata's was a crane, and Sakura's was a cat.

Naruto grinned at their confusion. "They're your inner animals!" He explained he pulled out his own necklace carved in the form of a fox. "Just like mine, see? It took me a while to figure out what they were cause you guys aren't like me and stuff, but after a little digging I was able to identify them. So, what do you think?"

The others stared at him in shock until Hinata finally spoke up. "This is wonderful, Naruto-kun!"

Sasuke and Sakura nodded swiftly in agreement. "Yeah dobe," Sasuke said, unnaturally choked up. "This is great."

Sakura sent him a brilliant smile. "Your so awesome, Naruto-kun."

Naruto blushed at his friends praise and rubbed his nose awkwardly. "Yeah, well, you guys are cool too."

"My turn," Sasuke spoke up. "Here."

His friends reached over and took his offered gifts. He couldn't help but watch nervously as they tore through the wrapping with as much vigor as they had with Naruto's presents.

"Hey! Cool!" Naruto cried as he lifted up two wristbands with the Uchiha fan printed on them.

Sakura and Hinata both smiled as they each pulled out a bracelet of the same design. Sasuke fidgeted uncomfortably as he watched them all pull their gifts onto their arms. "It took a while to figure out what to get you all, but I eventually decided on making you honorary Uchihas." he paused slightly as he watched them stare at him in shock. "You see, um, as long as you wear those you're as good as Uchiha clan members…" he trailed off. They still hadn't said anything… did they hate them?

Suddenly he felt himself being dog piled. "Oh Sasuke-kun, this is the best!" Hinata exclaimed, unnaturally vivacious.

"Yeah!" Naruto added. "You're the best friend ever!"

"I feel so Uchihaish!" Sakura finished with a giggle as she jiggled her wrist and watched the band move around.

Sasuke blushed. "I'm glad you like them." He mumbled stiffly even as a smile began to make its way across his reddened face.

Once they had all settled down again Hinata reached behind her and pulled out her own gifts, the Uchiha bracelet on her wrist jingling as she did so. "H-here," Hinata said, her face red with embarrassment.

"Thanks, Hina-chan!" Naruto grinned as he accepted his. He shook it gently. "What is it?"

"Baka," Sakura said half-heartedly. "Open it and find out."

"Ok!" He said before he viciously ripped the packaging apart. "Ooo." He said eyes wide. "It's a sticker!"

Hinata blushed. "A-actually, Naruto-kun. It's a tattoo seal."

Sakura cocked her head to the side. "A tattoo seal?"

"Y-yes," Hinata nodded. "M-my family makes them. They have a whole lot of different uses but these ones I made m-mys-self. They, um, they will help us find each other if we get s-separated. S-see, you, um, you put then on your body some where and then do the hand seal and then they attach themselves. Then you do the personal hand seal of the one your trying to find and they glow. You get a kind of, um, kind of mental picture and it leads you to the person you're looking for."

"Wow," Sasuke said in surprise. "That's really cool."

"Where should we put them?" Sakura asked as she looked at her pink tattoo.

"Hmmm, How about our arms?" Naruto suggested. "Then we can all match."

The others shrugged. "Ok."

The next five minutes was spent applying and activating the seals, when they were all done they each had a kanji tattoo on their right arm that said 'friend'. Sasuke's was navy blue, Naruto's was Yellow, Sakura's was pink, and Hinata's was purple.

"This is soo cool…" Sakura giggled.

Sasuke smirked, Naruto nodded, and Hinata blushed in agreement.

"Ok!" Sakura exclaimed. "Now it's my turn! Here!"

They each opened their boxes to reveal a small silver ring with a thin multicolored band running through the middle. "They kinda look like mood rings," Sasuke said as he pulled his out.

"Well almost," Sakura responded. "They're element rings."

Blank stares.

"Oookay," Sakura continued. "Well, hm, how do I explain this…? Ah. You put them on and whatever element you're best suited for is the color that your ring will turn. See?" Sakura showed them her own ring only instead of having a multicolored band, her's was solid pink.

"Oh," Sasuke said in response. "I got it." He placed his ring on his right ring finger. Almost instantly it turned a bright fiery red. "So I'm best suited for fire?"

"Uh-huh," Sakura nodded proudly.

Sasuke grinned. "Cool."

Naruto and Hinata immediately followed his example. Hinata smiled softly as her's turned blue. "I'm water I suppose?"

Naruto's turned a dull purple-gray. "Hey I'm wind, right Sakura-chan?"

Sakura nodded to them both.

Hinata yawned.

"Come on guys," Sasuke said as he yawned as well. "Let's go to sleep."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning when Itachi walked into the room to wake the kids for breakfast he couldn't help but smile at the sight of them lying in a circle their right hands all intertwined in the middle, each of their ring fingers glowing a different color.

Itachi slowly backed out and closed the door. "I guess I could give them a few more minutes." He told himself as he ran his hand through his hair. Just as he turned from the door the light caught the reflection of a fire red ring resting happily on his right ring finger.

End Chapter 2

So? What do you think? Oh yes, thank-you all for the reviews that you have sent me. They really mean a lot. And in case your wondering, yes, the rings are important, No Naruto does NOT have Kyuubi, and the 'corner children' is referring to the four clans' youngest main house members (SasuSakuNaruHina)

Ja ne!

Review Answers:

Susan: Heh heh. Is this soon enough?

Dragon Man 180: well you sort of did. When I had my disclaimer up (which took off saying it was an infraction) chapter 1 was number 3. Anywho, about Yume-sama, I can't tell you……..cause I'm not sure --;