Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto or any of its characters nor am I making any money off these writings.

Warnings – Not many to speak of, Chibis and a risk to overdose on the sugary

sweetness.

Beta'd – Unfortunately this is not beta'd, all the mistakes are strictly my own and I hope that you can overlook them.

This was written to show my love for the talented, amazing and frikkin' wonderful TanukiMara!

Bullies And Velvet Bunnies

Wide blue eyes stared mesmerized at the bonfire. The boy clutched his stuffed fox tighter and took one step closer to his daddy, he'd never seen a fire this big before and it was both awesome and kind of scary.

The dry, brown spring grass crackled under the feat of the people that had gathered to celebrate the coming of spring with this fire festival. People were laughing eating, setting of fireworks and having a good time.

This was the first time Naruto had been allowed to join his parents to sing in spring and he'd had to promise not to wander away from them and not step too close to the fire. It had been fun and exciting at first but know now Naruto was getting bored. His daddies had met up with this man from Daddy's work and they talked and talked and talked about grown up things, it was no fun at all and the fire called to him, roaring like a beast and making funny shapes towards the dark blue evening sky.

The five year old inched further away from his parents but he made sure that he could still make out Daddy's tall shape and Papa's distinct silver hair.

Suddenly there was a loud banging sound that had Naruto jumping high in the air in fright. His heart was pounding and the hands clutching Kyuubi close were trembling. It turned out that some older kids had tossed an entire box of firecrackers into the bonfire. He turned to walk back to his parents but they weren't where he had left them. Naruto looked around fighting back panic but there was no sign of Papa or Daddy anywhere, all he saw was legs everywhere but none of them belonged to the legs…and persons attached to said legs that he wanted to find.

Naruto started running, yelling for his Daddy at the top of his lungs, he didn't look where he was running all he knew was that he needed to find his daddies before they left and forgot all about him. The air was knocked of Naruto as he ran into something solid and he fell backwards onto his butt. Blue eyes looked up and widened in fear when he was who he had run into.

Kabuto and Hidan were ten, big and mean. They used to roam around the playground, tormenting the younger kids; Naruto was terrified of them ever since they'd made Shino eat the bugs that the little brunet had been catching in a jar to study. It had been terrible and Shino had been so sad afterwards, he hadn't smiled once even though Naruto had given him hug after hug. It was bad when not even hugs helped.

Naruto bit his bottom lip and tried to curl into himself, making himself as small as possible hoping that they wouldn't notice him

He knew he'd failed when he felt a larger hand grab the back of his jacket and pull him up off the ground.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A little crybaby out all alone, and squealing too." Kabuto pushed his glasses further up his nose as he looked down at the six year old.

"Look how sad, he's even brought his teddy bear with him, I bet that's the only friend he has." Hidan added.

Naruto scrunched up his face and growled at them. "Kyuubi is not a teddy, he's a feawsome fox demon and you awe jewks!"

Kabuto's eyes narrowed and he ripped the plushie out of Naruto's hands, ignoring the boy's cry. "He doesn't look fearsome, in fact he looks ridiculous." He waved Kyuubi over Naruto's head for a while, laughing when Naruto couldn't reach him. Then Hidan poked him in the side and nodded towards an unsupervised table where a few beer bottles were left. Bored with the smaller child Kabuto tossed the stuffed animal into the fire and walked away with his friends in search of more grown up pleasures.

Naruto watched in absolute horror as Kyuubi was consumed by flames. Kyuubi was dead…the fox had been with him since he was born, protecting him from bad dreams and keeping him safe and now those monsters had killed him!

Naruto heart broke as he fell down to his knees and cried.

oo—oo—oo

Naruto was still crying broken heartedly when he felt someone touch his shoulder, he whirled around with his hands clenched into tiny little fists ready to fight. If those…those imurderers/i came back he was going to go down fighting them.

Instead of seeing the two bullies that he had expected Naruto was met with concerned dark eyes of a boy his own age. Naruto wiped away tears and snot from his face with the back of his hand and glared at the new boy suspiciously.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked him gently. "We saw what happened but we couldn't get here in time."

Naruto sniffled and wondered if he could trust this boy or if he was just someone out to hurt him even more. "We?" He asked and looked around.

The strange boy nodded and smiled broadly, revealing that he was missing two front teeth. "Yup, my brother and I." The boy pointed to a tall, older boy with the same pale skin and dark hair as the younger one making his way towards Kabuto and Hidan with swift steps. "Itachi is eleven and sooo cool." The boy gushed. "He's gonna kick those jerks asses, I swear it."

Naruto's eyes widened, were these boys that he'd only just met really willing to fight for him, help him to get revenge for Kyuubi? "Awe you suwe? I don't want him to get huwt." Naruto looked at the boy worriedly. "Those boys awe mean."

The dark haired boy smiled again and took a hold of Naruto's hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry, Itachi is meaner, he can handle anything." The hero worship shone brightly in the boys eyes. "I'm Sasuke by the way, what's your name?"

"Nawuto." Naruto toed the ground in front of him shyly.

"Come on, let's go watch." Sasuke pulled on Naruto's hand dragging him along, through the crowd until they could hide behind a table and watch Itachi in action.

Sasuke had been right, Itachi really was meaner. He roughed up both Hidan and Kabuto real good but Naruto thought that the acid words that dropped from the older boys lips hurt more that the punches or kicks.

"See I told you Itachi could handle anything." Sasuke grinned at Naruto and practically bounced on his feet in excitement.

Naruto nodded slowly. Itachi was great and he was really grateful that someone had stuck up for him but for some strange reason, seeing the bullies get beat up didn't make him feel better at all. Kyuubi was still gone and no matter what he would never get him back again. To his embarrassment he felt the tears start falling again.

"Hey, hey…don't cry, please don't be sad." Sasuke knelt next to him, wiping at his cheeks furiously.

"I'm sowwy, I-I miss Kyuubi!" Naruto sniffled.

Sasuke's eyes softned. "Was he your plushie?"

Naruto just nodded, not trusting his voice to work.

Sasuke let go of his hand to start digging through the pockets of his large blue jacket. Finally he dug up a small, white velvet bunny…well it had probably been white once upon a time, now it was a rather undefined color. "This is Usagi-chan," Sasuke presented the bunny to Naruto. "He's been with me since the day I was born …I know he can't replace your plushie but I want you to have him." He placed the bunny in Naruto's arms. "He's always kept me safe and cheered me up when I was sad and I hope he'll do the same to you."

"I can't take youw bunny." Naruto stared at the treasure in his hands with eyes as wide as saucers.

"It's okay, I'm giving him to you." Sasuke leaned forward and pressed his lips to Naruto's cheeks. "Don't cry little sunshine."

Naruto was about to reply when he heard the panicked shouts of his Daddy and was swept up in his strong arms and hugged tightly.

Sasuke waved at him and walked away, taking a hold of his big brothers hand and disappeared into the crowd.

Naruto wanted to shout at him to wait to thank him and hug him and ask him where he lived but the two brothers were already gone and Daddy was carrying him in the other direction, kissing his hair, hugging him and telling him how worried he and Papa had been.¨

Naruto held on tightly to the bunny…Kyuubi was gone but he was obviously still protecting Naruto, after all, he had sent him a real live angel…

oo—oo—oo

The next morning Naruto woke up snuggled in his Fox and the Hound sheets clutching Usagi-chan close. The little bunny smelled of dirt and vanilla and Naruto stuffed his nose in the velvet fur and took deep breaths.

Daddy and Papa had been angry at him for leaving their side but they hadn't yelled at him and for that he was very grateful. Papa had held him tight as he told them all about what had happened and Daddy had petted his hair when he heard about Kyuubi's fate. Papa had looked very angry when Naruto had told them about the bullies, his visible eye darkening with rage and Daddy had had to calm him down.

The best part though was that when Naruto had told his daddies about the angel brothers, Sasuke and Itachi Daddy said that he thought he knew who they were. He used to do business with their Daddy. Now Naruto had a chance to meet his angel again and really thank him for Usagi-chan and for sticking up for him.

oo—oo—oo

Naruto held on tight to his Daddy's hand as the two of them walked up the driveway to the largest house Naruto had ever seen. He realized his jaw had dropped and he shut it so fast his teeth clattered. It was only right though he supposed. Angels should live in fairytale castles. Naruto clutched the basket he was holding tighter as his palms started to sweat, what if Sasuke wouldn't like his gift…Naruto bit his bottom lip worriedly as they made it up the stairs and Daddy rang the doorbell.

A slender beautiful woman opened the door and smiled at them. "Minato, welcome. Fugaku told me that you were coming." She leaned forward and kissed Minato's cheeks and smiled at Naruto. "Come in."

Naruto toed off his orange sneakers shyly and followed the pretty lady inside the house. He could hear Daddy and the lady talking but he was busy looking for his angel, he strained his neck looking for him in the large rooms.

"Sasuke is out on the patio, right through those glass doors." The lady pointed to a set of doors across the room. "Why don't you go see him?"

Smiling as wide as he could to the lady Naruto ran across the room and slunk out the glass doors. He blinked at the bright sunlight meeting him and noticed Sasuke sitting in a deckchair reading a book. Slowly he walked closer waiting for his angel to notice him.

"Um , hello." He waved timidly.

Sasuke looked up and dark eyes widened. "Little sunshine, what are you doing here?"

Naruto shoved the basked towards Sasuke. "Hewe." His cheeks turned bright red while he waited nervously for Sasuke to look inside.

Sasuke peeked inside and his eyes grew very, very large. Naruto panicked and started to babble. "I know it's not Usagi-chan but I thought you might like him…his name is Yama and maybe he could be youws…if ya want him."

Sasuke lifted the tiny little furball out of the basket and stroked along it's long ears and brown fur. "You got me a bunny? A real one?"

Naruto nodded. "I wanted to thank you, Usagi-chan kept me safe all night."

Sasuke grinned. "You're something special aren't you little sunshine?" He nuzzled the bunny.

Naruto didn't know what Sasuke meant but he agreed anyway. "Do you like him?"

"I do." Sasuke leaned forward and kissed Naruto on the cheek again, causing the little blond to blush even more. "Thank you."

Naruto's smile was like the sun. "I'm happy!" Their hands touched as they petted the bunny and Naruto didn't want to pull his away.

End of part one

AN- There will be a part two with the boys as adults, it's almost finished so it should be up fairly soon. Thank you so much for reading.