Querencia

Chapter One

Just read, enjoy, have a good laugh or two. Have a tear slip here and there. Get mad at cliffhangers or late updates, and review. Even if it's just a one word review~

"Are you sure you want that, Sasuke?" Itachi questioned as his younger brother started running towards the check out. Following Sasuke, he said, "Out of everything in the store, you want that?"

"Hmm," Sasuke hummed cheerfully as he placed the brown bunny onto the counter. "It's perfect."

Staring at the bunny's beady black eyes and the red bow in it's floppy ears, Itachi dazely handed the cashier the money. But then glancing at his younger brother's gleaming eyes and big smile, he simply shrugged. Whatever made the little kid happy was good enough for him.

.

The next day, Itachi had figured out why his little brother had decided to buy that stuffed bunny out of everything else in the store as he walked him to school in the morning.

As they reached the elementary school's gates, Sasuke ripped his hand out of Itachi's grasp and starting running. Not even bothering to turn around, little Sasuke shouted a quick 'goodbye' as he ran away. Itachi watched as his brother dashed up the stairs and greeted his group of friends.

Sasuke gripped onto his backpack and turned around to check up on his fluffy passenger before standing on his tippy toes, searching for something - someone actually. Following Sasuke's gaze, Itachi watched as a pop of pink appeared from behind the school's doors. Interestingly, the pastel colored hair belonged to a girl. Who would have thought little Sasuke would have befriended a girl, especially one with pink hair at his age. Itachi continued to watch on curiously.

The moment Sasuke caught sight of her, he hastily bid his friends goodbye and ran over to where the girl was. Beaming, he swung his backpack around and took out the brown bunny that Itachi had bought him. Lips widening into a smile, he thrusted the stuffed animal into the arms of the girl, leaving her wide eyes.

Itachi didn't catch what his younger brother was saying to the girl but he assumed it was something among the lines of Sasuke gifting the girl the stuffed animal.

Sasuke then touched the brown bunny's red bow and pointed to the identical one on top of the girl's head.

How cute, Itachi thought. His darling younger brother decided to spend his monthly allowance on a bunny that wasn't even for himself, but for a girl he liked at school. Very cute indeed.

.

"Ma, can I have more cookies for lunch?" Little Sasuke asked one night at dinner.

Putting her spoon down, Mikoto raised an eyebrow at her youngest son's request. "I thought you hated them? You said that they were too sweet."

He nodded. "They are."

Mikoto sniffled her laugh. Giving her husband and Itachi a glance, she asked, "Then why would you want me to pack you more, Sasuke?"

"Sakura says that they're yummy." He replied back nonchalantly, as if it wasn't that big of a deal.

Eyes wide, Mikoto choked, "Sakura?"

"Hm, Sakura loves sweets."

"And who is this Sakura, Sasuke?"

"She's a classmate and a friend."

"And girlfriend," Itachi muttered quickly in his mother's ear, earning him a confused look in return to which he just laughed at.

.

"Come to my birthday party Saturday." Little Sasuke handed his pink haired friend a dark blue invitation.

Surprised by the invitation, she was left speechless. Cheeks flushing red, she stammered, "O-oh, I can't…"

Glaring at his shy friend, he said, "Too bad. You're coming."

"B-but…"

"It's my birthday, you have to do as what I say." Sasuke countered childishly.

When Sakura didn't say anything back, he grumbled since Uchiha didn't pout. At least that's what his father had told him when he was caught pouting once. Trying to persuade her, he mumbled, "There'll be lots of your favorite cookies…"

.

"Happy Birthday, Sasuke." Sakura timidly handed him a blue wrapped gift. Her face was as flushed as the color of her hair, looking down at the ground, she said, "I hope you like it. I wasn't sure about what to get you."

He accepted it with a smile.

It was a long, slim box carefully wrapped in a dark blue paper and topped off with a matching ribbon. Upon further inspection, he realized that there was a sakura charm attached to the gift tag. At this, he could help but smile a little wider. Sakura was always one to pay close attention to the details in things, and his birthday present was no exception.

Cheeks turning rosy, Sakura stammered, "Open it, what are you waiting for?"

And Sasuke did exactly that.

Unwrapping the gift with care, he let the ribbon fall into her hands while he kept hold of the charm. Behind the dark blue paper, it revealed a slim leather box. Opening it, he found a set of ballpoint pens snugged inside the velvet cushion. Unlike the million other pens he had for school, this one had his name engraved in silver on it in a light cursive font that looked incredibly familiar. There was only one person he knew that would barely dot their i's like that. And it was Sakura.

"I know that you have a lot of pens…," Sakura began, "but I thought you might like this one. Since you're always a little picky with your pens. It writes really smoothly. So you can solve all of your math problems and the ink won't look bad."

Running his thumb over the engraving, he smiled as he felt the outline of a sakura blossom at the end of his name. "Thank you."

And it was a pen that he would always pick over the rest for years to come.

{A/N}: Another story that has been in the draft folder on my computer for the longest of time. Just thought it was about time to post it. Might not be the best but it's something I've been wanting to write for a while now. This is going to be a somewhat drabble series, but they're all connected. At least that's my plan for now~ Possibly some errors, I'm re-edit it another time. But let me know what you guys think with some reviews!

xoxo, KP