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A Goodbye Kiss
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Pairing: Naruto x Sasuke (also Iruka x Kakashi)
Warning: Shounen ai
Summary: NaruSasu One Shot. Iruka and a five-year old Naruto bumps into Kakashi who is babysitting a young Sasuke Uchiha. The two chibi boys play together while the older teenagers talk. But, what happens when Naruto wants to say goodbye to his new friend?
Inspired by: Think about childhood Sasuke and Naruto, and what would happen if they should have met.
Please forgive my bad usages of Japanese terms; I don't speak the language so I have almost no idea how to use them.
Disclaimer: Naruto and anything related does not belong to me. Don't sue.
"Talking" 'thinking'
This fanfic takes place in Naruto and Sasuke's childhood in Konoha.
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"Naruto-kun, slow down," an exasperated Iruka sighed, "your ramen isn't going to run away."
The small five-year old blonde only ate faster at his sensei's words, managing to mumble in between slurps, "I'm not…giving them….time to r…run." Cerulean blue eyes lit up as a grin spread across his small face. "Ah….more please!" Tiny sun-kissed-hands shot out, grasping an incredibly large bowl tightly. Big blue eyes begged behind the rim of the ramen bowl.
Iruka warily glanced at the now empty bowl and at the pleading cerulean eyes. "Gomen, Naruto-kun, but enough is enough. You've had enough for today." The five-year old huffed in mock anger, his tiny rose-coloured lips twisting into a miniature pout as he crossed his arms stubbornly.
Iruka paid for the four bowls of ramen. For such a small boy, Naruto can eat a very large amount of food, especially his favourite dish: ramen. The brown-haired teenager offered a tanned hand to his small student. Naruto refused to look up. Iruka mused on the fact that the blonde was still pouting and whispered softly, "Come on, Naruto-kun, I'll buy you more tomorrow, okay?" Cerulean eyes stared up at chestnut ones, which gazed back at the pouting five-year old. "Really?"
Iruka smiled as Naruto took his offered hand and held onto it. "Hai." The two left the ramen stand and walked in the kind of sincere silence shared only by father and son.
"Iruka-sensei?" The small blonde asked, tugging at the tanned hand of his teacher.
"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Iruka turned to look down at the five year old.
"…Thanks for buying me ramen today." Small arms reached out to hug Iruka's legs. Laughing softly, the brown-haired teenager slowly drew the boy away from him. He ruffled Naruto's shining golden hair fondly and a sun-kissed face smiled up at him. "You're welcome."
Iruka took hold of young Naruto's hand again, leading him away from the bigger crowds. The teenager couldn't help but notice the murderous glares the young boy was catching. He winced, but was glad the young kitsune was oblivious to the looks of disgust. Iruka shook his head sadly and tugged at the blonde's hand, avoiding another large knot of people.
"Where would you like to go now, Naruto-kun?" Iruka asked, facing the small child.
"We've got all afternoon."
"The park!" The immediate reply came as an excited bark.
"The park?" Iruka echoed.
"Hai! I want to go on the swings!" The blonde began to tug his sensei in the direction of the park. Iruka smiled as he caught the grin on Naruto's face and the excited cerulean eyes.
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"P-please, Naruto-kun. Slow down!" Iruka stuttered. He was still being dragged behind the blonde. But now Naruto was running as fast as his stubby five-ear old legs can carry him and even though the kitsune was relatively short, Iruka still found himself jogging to keep up. The hyperactive blonde ran on, taking a sharp turn that left his sensei narrowly missing a young Kiba with Akamaru.
"Oi, Iruka-san!" Iruka turned at his name and Naruto slowed down enough for his sensei to scoop the blonde up in his arms. His gaze settled on a nearby jounin, whom he recognized as Hatake Kakashi. The silver-haired teenager's visible eye was curved into a smile. "Hello, Kakashi-san." The young teacher bowed his head respectfully to the older boy.
"So, where were you headed to, Iruka-sensei? It looked like you were in a hurry." The question was followed by a slight shrug and an inquiring look from the lazy jounin.
"We were just headed to the park. Isn't that right, Naruto-kun?" The blonde nodded his head vigorously, cerulean blue eyes staring curiously at the masked teenager from his seat in Iruka's arms.
"Maybe we could walk together; we were just going there too." Iruka raised his eyebrow at the smiling jounin. "We, Kakashi-san?"
"Ah, hai. I'm babysitting Sasuke-kun." Then the silver-haired teenager half dragged, half led a young dark-haired boy from behind his legs. The child looked to be the same age as Naruto. He scowled and crossed his short arms. Ebony black eyes stared up at Iruka and then flickered towards the blonde in his arms. Naruto stared back.
Iruka crouched down and offered a hand to Sasuke, "Hello, Sasuke-kun." But he was ignored as the scowling five-year old turned away from his outstretched hand. The brown-haired teenager laughed softly, "What? Too embarrassed to greet your sensei out of class?" He, like Naruto, is enrolled in the daycare where Iruka was filling in as a substitute for another chuunin while she recovered in the hospital from an unfortunate accident with some building blocks and a few sugar high toddlers.
"Stop being so mean to Iruka-sensei, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted from within Iruka's hold. He trashed about wildly, trying to escape and no doubt pounce on the raven-haired boy. Iruka sputtered at the blonde's use of language, but the Uchiha didn't seem all too surprised.
"Shut up, dobe." The five-year old gave Naruto a death glare and turned away. Kakashi laughed from behind them and called for Sasuke. The dark-eyed boy went to the jounin quietly, still scowling, but stubbornly refused to take hold of the teenager's hand. Iruka placed Naruto on the ground and the pair walked up to the teenager and small child waiting. Together, they made their way to Konoha's main park. This time, the silence was interrupted by shouts of "Bastard!" and "Dobe!" as the two five-year olds bickered loudly.
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"Why don't you and Naruto-kun go and play?" Kakashi told Sasuke, squatting down to meet the dark-haired boy at eye level. The five-year old scowled and his onyx black eyes narrowed into a glare.
"I don't want to play with him!" Surprisingly it was Naruto who protested before Sasuke got the chance. Iruka stammered, quickly covering the blonde's mouth with a tanned hand. The small boy struggled and shook a tiny fist at his classmate. The Uchiha gazed at the squabbling Naruto without any show of interest.
"We'll keep you company, won't we, Kakashi-san?" Iruka glanced at the silver-haired teenager, hoping he'd take the hint.
"No, we won't, Iruka-sensei. I have to talk to you about something, so the two will have to play with each other." Iruka stared. The jounin gestured for the younger teenager to let Naruto go. The teacher obeyed and watched as the two five-year olds wandered off towards the slide. Naruto walked slightly behind Sasuke, still pouting as cerulean eyes shot back to glace at the two older shinobi.
Iruka sighed and turned towards Kakashi. The silver-haired teenager had his visible eye curved into a smile. "What did you want to talk about, Kakashi-san?" Iruka asked politely.
The jounin walked towards a nearby bench and threw over his shoulder, "Meh, I don't bite, Iruka-sensei. Come sit and I'll show you."
"Show me?" The brown-haired teenager murmured. Chestnut-brown orbs eyed the older teen suspiciously as he followed the silver-haired jounin.
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"Hey, Sasuke-teme, what're you doin'?" Naruto asked, peering over his classmate's shoulder. When Sasuke didn't answer immediately, the blonde poked at the dark-eyed boy's shoulder, repeating the question enough times to make even Iruka-sensei annoyed.
Sasuke's head whipped around, his face stopping centimetres away from Naruto's. The blonde stared openly, his cerulean-blue eyes wide and surprised. "I'm building a sandcastle, dobe. Now stop bothering me." The reply was curt and had been said between slightly clenched teeth.
Instead of backing away as most people would have done, Naruto simply leaned over his classmate's shoulder even more. His hands were placed on Sasuke's head as the blonde peered curiously at the sandcastle the other boy was making. "Sandcastle? Where…"
The dark-eyed boy arched his back and sprang up, successfully throwing the blonde off. Naruto landed in the sand with a soft plop, not that the Uchiha cared whether or not the other boy remained unharmed. Sasuke glared once more at Naruto before returning his attention to his sandcastle
The blonde watched as Sasuke's arms went up, down, up and down. He watched as ebony black locks fell onto the other boy's face. Somehow he was content by just watching his classmate. It was something the little boy couldn't explain, but he knew that he would not complain if he could just sit there and watch the Uchiha work all day.
Naruto, suddenly losing interest in this strange new feeling, turned his gaze on the sandcastle and a grin came over his face.
"You call that a sandcastle? It looks like three lumps in the ground." He called to Sasuke. The other boy stiffened, his hands freezing in mid air.
The blonde hadn't realized it, but he had just touched a very sensitive spot. As much as the child prodigy hated to admit it, even the most talented can have something they are really bad at. It just so happened to be that sandcastle building was one of the things the Uchiha couldn't understand.
Sasuke's eyes snapped up as Naruto crawled up on all fours beside him. The shorter boy had started to mould the soft sand into a crude form of a castle. The Uchiha glared. He pushed the blonde's hands away and went back to unsuccessfully shaping the castle.
He felt Naruto's eyes following his hands, but before he had the time to confuse the other boy with a simple question so he could have a moment to himself, Naruto spoke first. "Hn, Sasuke-teme," The boy said casually, cerulean eyes still gazing at pale hands, "You need water to make a sandcastle." Sasuke found amazingly blue orbs rise up to meet his own as the words, "I'll get some for you" rolled lazily out of blonde's mouth.
The Uchiha turned his gaze away, a slight frown marring his otherwise childishly handsome features as Naruto scrambled to his feet and ran in the direction of the lake. Sasuke was sure that, for a second, he felt irresistibly drawn to Naruto's stunning cerulean blue eyes.
Sasuke glared at his sandcastle, which as the blonde had said, did in fact look like three lumps in the sand. Not that the dark-eyed boy would ever admit that by his own will to his classmate. He glared even harder as this feeling deep in his chest continued to pester him. Naruto's brilliant blue eyes floated in the young boy's mind. Sasuke stayed like that for quite some time, staring off into the distance while flashes of beautiful blue danced in his mind.
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He only glanced up briefly as Naruto returned with an old can held gently in one hand, still lost in thought. The shorter boy knelt beside the sandcastle and carefully poured sparkling water on the ground. The golden grains of sand turned an earthly brown. The blonde immediately dug his hands in the damp sand. Sasuke noted how the sand sticks to a certain shape much easier now. Still, he eyed the operation with little interest.
Naruto side glanced at Sasuke. The rave black haired boy's eyes narrowed, recognizing a challenge. He readily sunk his hands into the wet sand and began moulding another castle next to Naruto's. This became a silent battle between the future rivals.
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Naruto made small flurries of movements as he scrambled again to his feet. Sasuke shaded his eyes against the whirlwind of sand grains that went flying in the air. He expected the blonde to go rushing off towards the lake, as his classmate had announced seconds earlier that they needed more water.
When only silence met his ears, the young Uchiha slowly dropped his arm. Naruto stood like a statue, frozen in curiosity at a strange scene before him. "Sasuke-teme," the blonde whispered, the insult sounding unnaturally soft, "what are Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-jounin-san doing?"
Sasuke turned to look. In the distance, it appeared that Kakashi's mouth had been glued to Iruka's. They were kissing. The dark-haired boy quickly turned his head away, feeling slightly embarrassed at watching something as gross as that.
The blonde turned and tilted his head at his classmate. "What are they doing?" He said, repeating the question and raising a short finger at the two teenagers sitting on the bench.
When Sasuke refused to answer, Naruto began prodding the taller boy with his finger. "They're kissing, dobe." The Uchiha snapped angrily, feeling annoyed by Naruto's constant poking. The next question, however, took the dark eyed boy completely by surprise.
"What's kissing?"
Sasuke restrained the urge to smack himself in the forehead. Sometimes the blonde was so dense; it scared him wondering what kind of a shinobi Naruto would grow up to be. How could he not know what kissing is? After all, they're five, not two years old.
The Uchiha went back to working on the sandcastle, which to his satisfaction was looking a lot better. He pointedly made the effort to ignore the stupid question.
"If Kakashi-jounin-san is touching Iruka-sensei like that, isn't he afraid of getting cooties?" Naruto had beaten his own record of idiotic questions. Sasuke was sure he felt his eyebrow twitch.
"Tch, don't be such a dumbass, dobe. Only girls have cooties." The dark-haired boy answered, anger hinted in his voice.
"Hey! Don't call me that, Sasuke-teme." Naruto growled back, ready to pounce on the other boy.
"Sasuke-kun!" Two squealing voices called. Giggling followed after the Uchiha's name as two small five-year old girls walked up towards them. Sasuke cringed inwardly.
"Hi, Ino-chan," Naruto shouted and franticly waved, "Hi, Sakura-chan!" The blonde could be considered to be bobbing up and down with excitement as more people joined in the playing.
Haruno Sakura nodded a "hello" to Naruto while her platinum-blonde friend completely ignored the hyperactive boy. Ino tuned her full attention to Sasuke Uchiha, batting her sapphire blue orbs at him. "Hi, Sasuke-kun!" Both young girls squealed and giggled again. "Hn" The raven-haired boy grunted, slightly acknowledging their presence.
"Saukra-chan." Naruto called. The pink-haired girl turned and gave the short blonde in front of her a small smile. "Yes, Naruto-kun?"
"What's a kiss?" Cerulean blue eyes inquired, and a golden-haired head tilted to the side still thinking about Iruka-sensei.
"A kiss…" Sakura trailed off and murmured softly as if lost in a dream, "is when you touch lips with another person, to tell them you like them very much." She glanced at the young Uchiha with a hopeful gaze. Her sea-foam green eyes fluttered.
A very confused Naruto sat down on the sand while Sakura turned her attention back to Sasuke, who was busy ignoring both her and Ino.
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A few hours later, after Sakura and Ino had left to go home, a raven-haired boy found himself working in a peaceful silence with his golden-haired classmate. A small smile worked its way up to Sasuke's face as his lips twitched. It was strange because smiling for no apparent reason was rare for the Uchiha. But he felt content just to be here right now.
"Naruto-kun! It's time to go!" Iruka-sensei called to the small boy.
"Same goes for you, Sasuke-kun!" Kakashi's voice followed soon after the younger teenager's.
Naruto scrambled to his feet and stared with wide cerulean eyes at the sandcastle he and Sasuke-bastard had worked hard to make. The walls were a little lopsided and somewhat weak seeming. It was a sorry looking sandcastle. But Naruto grinned at Sasuke and was rewarded with a faint smile from the other boy. They walked back to the two older shinobi waiting. The park was serene as most people had gone home by now. The sun was sinking down behind the horizon.
Iruka took hold of Naruto's small hand, and turned to Kakashi. "I hope we will see you soon, Hatake-san."
"I'm sure you will see me again, Iruka-sensei." The silver-haired jounin answered smoothly, his one stone-coloured eye gazing at Iruka with an unreadable expression. His visible eye then curved into a happy crescent. Naruto stared at his sensei as the teenager blushed. The blonde tilted his head to the side, thoroughly confused at the weird looks that the two shinobi were sharing.
As they were about to walk away, Naruto suddenly tugged at Iruka's hand and dragged the teenager down to whisper in his ear. "Is it okay if I give Sasuke-teme a goodbye kiss? To tell him what a good friend he is?" The blonde glanced up at his sensei shyly. Iruka laughed softly, "Sure it is, Naruto-kun."
The small five-year old boy ran up to his raven-haired classmate. Sasuke stared at Naruto curiously as the blonde smiled at him. The Uchiha felt himself stop breathing as the dying sun rays caught in Naruto's eyes, making them shine brilliantly. The next thing Sasuke felt were two lips pressed against his own. Naruto drew back and grinned, "Bye, Sasuke-teme."
Naruto bounced back to Iruka-sensei, cutely obvious to what he had just done. The kitsune failed to notice two pairs of staring eyes; coming from Iruka and Kakashi. Sasuke stood rooted to his spot until his babysitter, the lazy jounin, led him away by hand. This time Sasuke did not complain. He was glad to be gently guided back home.
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He had never expected to get his first kiss that day, especially not from his dense blonde classmate. True, the Uchiha was talented in many ways, although none of these skills included foreseeing into the future. If he could, then the raven-haired boy would realize how fortunate he was to have been given his first kiss from someone he was destined to spend the rest of his life with. Sasuke could not have known that from this small mistaken form of a goodbye kiss, a long term crush would develop which would later turn into one of the best things that will ever have happened to him in his life. But the Uchiha did know that, as he lay on his bed that night, gazing at the stars outside his window and thinking about those brilliant cerulean blue eyes, suddenly sandcastle building didn't seem so bad.
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I was inspired by (as said in the beginning) reading about the childhood experiences Naruto and Sasuke may have had. This is my first attempt at a chibi one-shot and I sincerely hope you have enjoyed reading the story. Tell me what you think.
Also, a big "Thank-you" goes out to Sweetsong who took the time to Beta my one-shot. (I never realized how many mistakes I've made before!)
Horologii