Suffocate

By Kady-sensei

Yo! This is my long-awaited SasuNaru chibi fic! This is a little one-shot ficcie I wrote up for when they were both 7 years old. Directly before Itachi killed the clan. It's got some ItaNaru in it, therefore, its dedicated to my friend, Shawny, who LOVES ItaNaru and SasuNaru.

Rating: T

Author: Hmm..I wonder.../Rolls eyes./

Disclaimer: Do you see Itachi constantly dancing? Do you see Sasuke in a rabbit suit? Do you always see Naruto followed by a giant hippo, screaming about "Hungry, Hungry Hippos"? Does Shino run naked through Konoha? Is Iruka making out with me? Is Kakashi making out with me? Is Zaku constantly being hugged...by me? Do I follow Jiraiya? Is Orochimaru the main character for 105 episodes straight? When you watch your Naruto episode or read your Naruto manga, is there a giant "Attention!" screen that says; "I'm very pleased to inform you that the main character of Naruto has been switched to "Ingelbert Arkanuba", and his sidekick is Jiraiya, the overly perverted amazingly attractive uber-powerful ninja who is madly in love with Kady-sensei."? If so, then you're ethier me, you're crazed, or I've somehow gained ownership of Naruto, and if you don't see these things, then you see I don't own Naruto. I rest my case.

Itachi: /breaks into the "Macarana", "YMCA", and "Thriller" dances/

Shino: /runs naked through Konoha/

Zaku: AHHH! /is suddenly jumped on by me/

Naruto: AHHHHH ITS A HUNGRY HUNGRY HIPPO! /runs away/

Jiraiya: What the...? /looks back/

Kady-sensei: /hides behind a tree/

Your computer screen: Attention!...

Naruto: O.O Oh. My. God...

Oro: Yaaay! I'm the main character for 105 episodes straight! Thank you! /Hugs Kady-sensei./ (A/N: LOL.)

Kakashi/ Iruka: /makes out with me/

Sasuke: /walks up in a bunny suit/ For the good of us all, Kady-sensei doesn't own us. Don't even pretend! Or I'll kill myself.

Kady-sensei: Woah, Sasuke, don't go all emo on me...

(Naruto's POV)

(7-year-old Naruto, by the way.)

Sigh. I've always been completely lonely. LONELY! I tell you, lonely! I am lonely...

I'm a new student at the Konoha Public School. Today's my first day. I hope I make some friends, 'cause before now, people have been avoiding me. I've heard kids at the park, whispering things about me...

/Flashback/

I ran to the park, across the street from my house. I sat on the swing, pushing off with my short legs. I look around as I go up slightly. I see other kids, playing in the sand. I dug my feet into the ground, stopping the swing and I hop off, running over to the other children. I stop in front of them, and most of them keep playing. Playing, driving their little toy cars through the dirt, shoveling sand into little buckets and flipping them upside-down to make a small structure. These were ordinary kids, playing ordinary kid games.

"Hey," I asked shyly. "Can I play with you?"

They looked at eachother, before a little, brown-haired boy wearing a hooded jacket with odd triangular marks on his cheeks stood up. "Aren't you that monster?"

"I dunno..." I mutter. I had been called a monster before...

"My mommy told me not to talk to you." A boy who's brown hair was in a spiky ponytail said. "She said you would hurt me."

"My mommy said that too." Quietly commented a dark brown-haired boy wearing sunglasses. "She said he was a mean, evil fox or something."

"Yeah," replied a chubby boy with red swirl patterns on his cheeks.

"We shouldn't play with him..." Mumbled a black-haired boy with white eyes.

"Let's go home." Agreed the first boy.

"Yeah." Everyone else agreed, and left Naruto standing alone in the park. The only other people in the park were a group of girls playing dolls. Eh, make do with what you've got.

I walked over to the cute little girls, asking "Can I play with you?"

"Why don't you play with the boys?" Asked a little pink-haired girl with big, sparkling, green eyes.

"They wouldn't let me play with them.." I replied sadly.

"Those boys are just mean!" Squealed a little brown-haired girl who's hair was in buns.

"Yeah!" The other three agreed.

"You can play with us," The pink-haired girl began. "What's your name?"

"Naruto."

"You're the.." A blonde-haired girl gasped. "--monster!"

I felt tears well up in my eyes, but I wiped them away with the back of my sleeve.

"H-He's...C-crying..." A little purple-haired girl with light purple eyes mumbled shyly. "M-Maybe we s-should let him p-play..."

"No, Hinata. We already made a "No boys Allowed" rule!" The blonde girl yelled. Hinata quivered slightly.

"Ino's right! Lets go to my house! We can play there!" the pink-haired girl suggested.

"'K!" The others cheered except the shy girl, Hinata. Hinata looked at me sadly before turning around to join her friends.

/End Flashback/

They rejected me then...what if they reject me now? I just...Hope that I won't be alone this time.

I sit on the swing in the schoolyard, as lonely as ever. Pushing off with my still short legs. Still unaccepted by society. Still lonely. The bell rang and the students were herded into the doors.

"Alright class," Our male, brunette teacher began, "I'm Umino Iruka. In the other classes, you're supposed to call your teachers by their last names, but I want you to call me by my first. I'm just more comfortable that way. Today, the first thing we're gonna do is a "Getting to know eachother" activity. Everyone sit in a circle." Iruka was at the head of the circle, and he began explaining. "First, if you get picked, you say something about yourself. You say your name, favourite colour, favourite animal, and what you wanna be when you grow up. I'll start. My name's Iruka. My favourite colour is blue. My favourite animal is a dog. When I was little, I wanted to be a superhero when I grow up. But now I'm a teacher. To get picked, the last person who introduced themselves, picks someone in the circle who hasn't been picked. Then they hafta introduce themselves and so on,"

We all looked clueless.

"Okay, I pick...Sakura." Iruka began.

"Umm...My name's Sakura. My favourite colour is pink. My favourite animal is a kitty. When I grow up, I wanna be a doctor." The pink-haired girl said proudly. Yes, the same pink-haired girl from "way back when". "I pick...Ino!"

"My name's Ino. My favourite colour is yellow. My favourite animal is a cute little blue birdie. When I grow up, I wanna be Barbie. Umm...I pick Shikamaru!"

"That's troublesome...My name's Shikamaru. My favourite colour is white. My favourite animal is a deer. When I grow up, I wanna be smarter than Ino. I pick..Choji." He never took his eyes from the clouds out the window.

"My name's Choji. My favourite colour is red. My favourite animal is a butterfly. When I grow up, I wanna be a cook." Choji said in a bored voice. "I pick Kiba."

"My name's Kiba. My favourite colour is brown. My favourite animal is a dog. When I grow up, I wanna have lotsa dogs." The brown-haired boy chirped enthusiastically. "I pick...Hinata!"

"M-My name's H-Hinata...M-My favourite colour i-is purple...M-My favourite a-animal is a-a p-parrot...W-When I grow up, I-I wanna be a-a bookstore o-owner.." she muttered shyly. "I-I pick S-Shino..."

"My name's Shino. My favourite colour is black. My favourite animal is an ant. When I grow up, I wanna collect bugs." The quiet boy murmured. "I pick Sasuke."

"My name's Sasuke. My favourite colour is dark blue. My favourite animal is a wolf. When I grow up, I wanna be a ninja just like my big brother Itachi." The dark-haired boy said in a soft voice. "I pick him." he pointed to me.

I was angry because nobody knew my name. "My name's Naruto. My favourite colour is orange. My favourite animal is a fox. When I grow up, I wanna be Hokage. I pick Neji."

"My name's Neji. My favourite colour is black. My favourite animal is an eagle. When I grow up, I wanna work at K-Mart." The quiet black-haired boy muttered. "I pick Lee."

"My name's Lee. My favourite colour is green. My favourite animal is a snowman. When I grow up, I wanna be a snowman." The boy with a black braid in his hair (A/N: Lee from long ago!)said happily. "I pick Tenten."

"My name's Tenten. My favourite colour is light blue. My favourite animal is a giraffe. When I grow up, I wanna be a door-to-door saleswoman."

"Now we're done." Iruka said, clapping his hands together with glee. (A/N: OMG! When Imagined him doing this, he was soooo cute! XD) "Now, I'll pair you up and you can talk with your partners. Okay? Hinata and Kiba. Neji and Tenten. Sakura and Lee. Sasuke and Naruto. Ino and Shikamaru. Choji and Shino." Iruka instructed, sitting on his desk as our class of clumsy 7-year-olds found our partners.

(A/N: Woah...((Is amazed by Bullet in a Bible.)) You: WRIIIIIIIIIIIIIITE!)) Okay! Eheheh. Random moment!)

(Normal POV)

Naruto walked over to Sasuke and sat on the floor beside him. This boy looked new. Naruto had never seen him in the village before. "Are you new?" Naruto asked curiously.

"No. Why?"

"I just never saw you around the village all summer. You're Sasuke, right?"

"Yes. You're Naruto. Sorry I didn't know your name."

"That's okay! So, what do you like?"

"I like my big brother Itachi."

Naruto's eyes widened cutely. "You've got a big brother!"

"Yeah! His name's Itachi and he's my hero! He's soo cool! He can do anything!" Sasuke said enthusiastically, his eyes also widening cutely. "Do you have a brother?"

"No."

"Sister?"

"No."

"Then...What do you have?"

"I...haven't got a family." The blonde boy replied sadly.

"You...don't?"

"No. I...never have." His eyes went downcast and he frowned, looking on the verge of tears.

"Do you...Do you wanna come to my house for...supper?" The cute dark-haired boy asked quietly, not liking seeing the normally smiling blonde boy like this.

"Really?...You really want me...To come over...To your house...And..Eat with your family?" Naruto asked in a small voice.

"Yes," Sasuke replied. "My big brother, Itachi, will come and walk us home from school tonight."

"Thank you Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing his arms around Sasuke.

"Its time for reccess!" Iruka announced.

"Yay!" The children cheered, stumbling out the door.

Naruto and Sasuke spent most of the rest of the day together. They sat next to eachother, ate at the same table, were constantly partners in games and activities, and played together at recess. They were fast friends before school ended. They played on the monkey-bars until...

"Sasuke," Called a dark-haired stranger who just locked the door to the yard. He looked a lot like Sasuke. He had black hair that was long and tied back in a ponytail. His eyes were blood red and glowing, like crimson orbs in the dark of night. His skin was very pale, and he was about 12 or 13 years old. "Time to go...Oh." His eyes traced over Naruto. "Who's your little friend?"

"Hi Itachi! This is Naruto! Can he come over for supper tonight?" Sasuke asked, making big, cute, black puppy-dog eyes.

"Sure, Sasuke." he replied calmly. Sasuke made a motion that he wanted to be picked up, so Itachi lifted him up and seated Sasuke on his back.

"Umm...Mr...Sasuke's-Big-Brother? Where do you live?" Naruto asked curiously, looking straight into Itachi's eyes.

"Just a little farther." He stopped walking a kneeled beside the blonde. He placed one hand on Naruto's shoulder and pointed ahead of them. "See that roof sticking up above the rooftops? That's our house."

Naruto blushed at how close Itachi was and how affectionate and kind Itachi was being to him.

"Now let's go! Yah! Niisan, yah!" Sasuke cheered, pulling gently on Itachi's ponytail as if it were reins.

"Alright, Sasuke." Itachi said quietly and straightened back up to his full height before taking a long step and walking again. Naruto jogged to keep up with the long-legged, elder Uchiha's steps. When he finally caught up, he panted from the extra effort. Itachi looked down at the heavily breathing little boy.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Itachi asked.

"You'd do that?" Naruto asked in an exited voice.

"Sure." Itachi replied. "Sasuke, you gotta get down for a second."

Sasuke looked at him with hurt eyes. Itachi gave him a stern glance and Sasuke automatically hopped off.

Itachi picked Naruto up and seated the blonde fox-boy on his right shoulder. He seated his little brother on his left shoulder.

"Now lets go!" Sasuke repeated, and tugged at Itachi's ponytail again, signalling for him to walk. Sasuke giggled wildly when Itachi gave a feeble "horsey neigh" and started walking.

In short time, they had reached the Uchiha estate. Naruto looked up, beholding the height of the building.

The Uchiha building was huge! On either side of the doorway, there were flaming lanterns above small, red-and-white symbols. Itachi saw Naruto staring at the symbols with a puzzled look on his face.

"That red-and-white symbol is our family's emblem. The Uchiha symbol." Itachi answered the blonde's unasked question.

"Oh. You mean your whole family lives here?"

"Yep!" Sasuke replied happily.

Itachi pushed open the door. Sasuke was greeted by a small boy of black hair and wide, innocent black eyes.

"Sasuke-kun!" The little boy greeted Sasuke, hugging him fondly.

"Oh, hi, Dyon-kun," Sasuke nodded to the little boy.

"Who's that?" Dyon asked, pointing to Naruto.

"That's Naruto, my new friend. Itachi-niisan said he could have supper with us." Sasuke replied.

Naruto looked clueless.

"Naruto," Itachi began. "This is Dyon-chan, our closest cousin. He's our dad's brother's son."

"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed, happy that Itachi had explained that to him. "I'm glad to meet to, Dyon."

"Sasuke and Dyon are really close," Itachi began. "Almost close enough to be brothers."

"But you're my brother!" Sasuke exclaimed, latching his arms around his brother's right leg.

"Yes," Itachi replied soothingly, patting Sasuke's head comfortingly. "I know I'm you're brother and I know I'm you're only brother."

"Yaaaaaay!" Sasuke chirped happily.

Naruto stood there, forgotten.

"Come inside," Itachi suggested. "Mom said she was making ramen for supper."

Naruto's eyes shined happily. "RAMEN!" He exclaimed, darting inside as fast as humanly, no...Narutoly possible. Itachi, Sasuke, and Dyon were left standing in the doorway, blinking absent-mindedly.

"He must like ramen." Itachi shrugged, leading Sasuke and his little cousin inside.

"We're home, Ma." Itachi called.

"Mommy!" Sasuke exclaimed, dashing to the woman who's hair matched his own. "I brought my friend!"

His Mom turned away from her dishes and smiled at Naruto. "And what's your name?"

"I'm Naruto."

Her eyes widened. "W-What?"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Oh!" She blushed. "Oh! Well, its great to meet you, Naruto!"

Naruto beamed. He was glad he was getting accepted. Finally.

The women waltzed over to the smoking pot on the stove. She removed the lid before stirring it contents. She was wishing the boys would just go away.

"Why don't you boys go play in the backyard?" She suggested.

"Good idea, Ma." Itachi stated, looking rather bored.

"Yaaaay!" Sasuke exclaimed, grabbing both Naruto and Itachi's hands and running back out the door. They entered the backyard. There was a set of 5 swings built by Itachi and Sasuke's father, 2 slides, a treehouse that had a rope ladder to climb, a slide to slide down, and a pulley with a bucket to transport things up and down, as well as a tree Itachi enjoyed climbing (Probably because Sasuke is too small to climb it.), a giant sandbox, and a rope-off area that had 16 painted bullseyes, each of which had a kunai or shuriken stabbed in the center of the bullseye, and assorted weapons scattered on the ground.

"C'mon Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed, tugging Naruto's hand as he walked in the direction of the treehouse.

Itachi sat down in the sandbox, placing his chin in his hands in a "I'm-so-totally-cute-but-bored" gesture.

"Aniki! You come too!"

"I would, Sasuke, but-"

"Itaaaaaaaaaaaaachiiiiiii!" Someone called.

"One sec, guys." Itachi said, walking around the side of the house.

(Itachi's POV)

God, that bastard asks for everything. I can't sit down for 5 seconds before he's ordering me around again. I guess it's just 'cause he doesn't want me to get lazy. I turned the corner. "Yes, Dad?"

"Son, I expect that the next time I walk around the house, you'll be training, instead of playing with Sasuke and his...friend."

"Yes Dad."

Obviously, Mom told Dad who Naruto was. Dad probably despised the thought of one of his sons hanging out with the Kyuubi Vessel. It likely made him feel like Sasuke was hanging with the wrong crowd. And now, I'm associating with him, too. Must be a total let down to him.

I walked back into the backyard, heading to my usual training area with the bullseyes.

"Aniki!" Sasuke called from his place up in the treehouse where he was using the pulley-and-bucket system to pull Naruto up. "Naruto's too heavy to pull! Can you help me?"

"Sorry, Sasuke. Dad told me I had to train."

"How 'bout after?"

"Sure."

Sasuke smiled and continued to pull the rope.

I went about my usual training routine, hitting each bullseye dead center with a kunai or shuriken. I began treating a tree as if it were a dummy, throwing rapid punches, earth-shaking kicks, and slashing at the tree every now and again. By the time I had finished, there was an elegant-looking, slashed-out drawing of a sharingan eye. I had always wanted to be an artist, selling my drawings and paintings to collectors and decorators throughout the village. I wanted to find my fortune by creating pieces of art I could really be proud of. It was true that I liked power, and dreamed of being a great ninja, but that came naturally. Drawing was something I had learnt, I had to work at it to perfect it. Of course, with all talent comes some downsides. My father had highly disagreed of me becoming an artist. He had said; "A ninja would do better in this town than any artist would. No matter how talented you may think you are, drawing your stupid pictures and painting with your cheap paints is not going to suffice in making ends meet! You need a ninja education. I refuse to send you to this art school in Oto. That village is full of bad people and negative influences. Who knows what might happen to you there? And for 2 whole months! Do you know what could happen in 2 months! You could join a gang, start using drugs, get hurt, or even get killed!" And that was the end of the issue. I had stuggled to sneak out, but only got beaten by my father when he had found me. A great ninja like me, I should be happy! I've got girls swooning over me whenever I walk by, the village views me as a prodigy, I have a little brother who loves me, I have a mother who loves me and is proud of me, but it's my father that is reason to be unhappy with my life. You'd expect I would retaliate, and I have before, but he had told my mother that I was turning against him, and I had been grounded. I don't see why my father should be abusive, he should be proud of me and support me in whatever I choose to do, but no, he rejects anything that doesn't shine on his reputation, and beats me if I suggest something he doesn't agree with. My life is a truly sad one, but life sucks, and you have to live with it. (A/N: EMO MOMENT!) Life won't just go away, but it feels like it does when I draw. That's why I draw. Its some form of escape. I daydream in my tree in our backyard, imagining fantasy worlds up in the clouds, and I draw my beautiful surroundings. I sometimes show these drawings to my mother or Sasuke, but never to my father, because I know, through experience, that he'll rip it up, give me a slap in the cheek, and yell at me. People always wondered why I came to school and went out in public with black eyes, a cut lip, or perhaps a bleeding or bruised cheek. I don't want people messing with my affairs, so I'd just say "Sasuke got me pretty good when we were wrestling last night." or "My neighbor shot a stray kunai and I dodged it, but I just skinned my cheek." or something of the like. I've become positively professional liar. Yet another unfortunate talent of mine. I can't belive I even stand living here, I mean, seriously-

I was snapped from my thoughts by a blood-curdling scream, unlike anything I had ever heard before, even of citizens in wrecked villages near their time of death. I had experienced a great many disurbing things on my ANBU missions and such. I turned toward the source of the sound, spotting Sasuke hanging from a high-up branch he must've managed to climb up to from his treehouse. I sighed. Sasuke always managed to get himself into these kinds of situations...

"ANIKI!" He screeched, fumbling with the branch, trying to hold on tight.

I walked underneath where he was hanging. "Let go, Sasuke. You can trust me. I'll catch you."

Sasuke chewed his lip nervously before finally letting go, falling into my arms gently. Sasuke wrapped his arms around my neck and wrapped his legs around my waist, never wanting to let go. He burried his head in my chest, feeling warm and safe.

"Let go."

Sasuke whimpered before unwillingly sliding off me. He ran back to his treehouse, climbing quickly up the rope ladder. He hung out up in the treehouse for about half and hour while I trained more, before asking;

"Aniki? Where's Naruto?"

"What?" I asked. "He's not up there with you?"

"No...He was climbing the tree with me..."

"Did you ever think that he might be further up the tree?"

"No." I looked upwards. I saw no bright orange suit or yellow-blonde hair. He wasn't there. I worried for a second. What if he had fallen from even farther up in the tree? What if he had've died from the fall? Dad would be relieved, Mom and Sasuke would probably cry, and I would be responsible for it all. I searched frantically, finally remembering...

The river.

I darted past the treehouse, hearing Sasuke yelling after me "What're you doing!"

'Saving a life.' I thought. As I ran, I ripped off my shirt and kicked off my shoes, leaping into the river behind my house. I had already spotted the drowning orange-yellow blur, he was traveling at a frightening pace down the river, his body completely submerged underwater. I swam to him, blinking the water from my eyes. As I finally reached him, which felt to me like a century, I pulled his small body to me, hugging him into me, to prevent him from being swept off by the current. I paddled to the bank, pulling the drenched, unconcious boy out with me. I pushed his chest down, trying to rid the child of the water in his lungs. The boy coughed up a massive amount of water, but still remaned breathless. By that time, Sasuke was kneeled beside me, bawling his eyes out. He was a real ray of sunshine...What was all that crap I had learned when I was taught first-aid! Oh yeah, the last resort, artificial resperation. I pinched his nose shut with my index finger and thumb. I held his mouth open with my other hand and breathed into his, seeing his chest rise slightly. I released his nose and removed my mouth from his, hoping to God that he would start breathing. To my relief, he coughed loudly, spitting out water, and gasping in all the precious oxygen he could inhale. I stood up and began walking away, wanting to get out of there before he started getting emotional, before Sasuke started getting emotional, and before they might attract attention. I walked back to where my shirt and shoes were, before I was hit in the back of the leg and knocked to the ground by 2 small children. I sighed. Here I am, the child prodigy, amazing ninja, knocked down by two seven-year-olds. They both hugged me tightly, tears streaming down their cheeks. When they got off me, I sat up, pushing my hands in the dirt behind me to hold me up.

"Aniki, you're my hero!" Sasuke exclaimed, hugging me tightly once again.

"Sasuke, Itachi, Naruto!" I heard my mom call from the kitchen. "Supper!"

"Alright!" Sasuke exclaimed, leaping off me and running to the house. I sighed. Classic Sasuke. I was about to pull on my shoes and shirt before I heard a timid, shy voice from behind me.

"Umm...Itachi...?"

I turned around. It was Naruto, his hair was soaked and pushed back, full of twigs, and his clothes drenched.

"Yeah?"

"I just...Wanted to thank you..."

"It was no problem. No skin off my back."

"But, really, you saved my life. It worth nothing compared to yours, so why did you do it?"

"I could never leave an innocent boy to drown, Naruto-chan."

"Thank you again." Naruto said quietly as he wrapped his arms around my bare chest, pulling himself onto my lap. I messed with his hair.

"I'm glad you're safe."

"I'm glad you saved me."

The End

Good? Bad? Wonderful? Terrible? Adorably cute? Repulsively hideous? Review and tel me! I need to know what everyone thinks! Everyone has a different opinion, and (I hate to take this off a comercial..Oh, well:P) why not speak up when you're being listened-to? You can say anything. You could tell me that I got AIDS from Orochimaru, but I wouldn't mind it, 'cause it's still a review.

This was fun to write...I liked it. Hope you enjoyed it much as I did. I wrote it for Shawny, and I hope, if she reads this, that she had a happy birthday, great Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that jazz. And that goes out to MK aka Momo, Jono, Vall, anyone else who's coooool enough to be in my posse.

BTW, title Green Day song. Eh, I love my Green Day. . But yeah, it's called, (Believe it or not!) "Suffocate", and it's from the album Shenanegans.

This has been The Sensei!

--End Transmition.--