Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own any of the characters from the franchise. I do not own the series, even though the thought is nice. The original idea of this story belongs to BluBooThalassophile.

Oh my goodness! I'm alive! (*Grumbles about college and boy issues*) And with another new piece? Wait, something doesn't seem quite right…

So, you're all probably sitting there wondering why this piece looks so familiar. I have adopted it from the amazing Blu, who I would like to give another thanks to for allowing me to adopt this piece and continue Sasuke and Sakura's journey together! The first two chapters were both written by Blu, and I'm using them to start the story before I continue it from there.

I present to you the first two original chapters of "Hold Onto Me", by BluBooThalassophile, where I will then pick up the story at chapter three.

Enjoy!

First: the Uchiha were not as scary as her uncle had made them out to be, granted they were a bit cold in the emotions department but Sakura found it fascinating.

Second: she was to be trained as a kunoichi, the mere announcement of this after a month of living with the Uchiha had had her smiling in delight.

Third: Uchiha Madara was not that bad, he was rather quiet, a bit distant, but he was not a monster like her uncle had always told her. Truthfully, Sakura had half expected Uchiha Madara to have horns, fangs, and claws with a foul temper. But he wasn't like that at all, no, he was just… sad.

Now, the day to day life was simple for Rin, she tried to be a good girl; and sometimes failed miserably.

She was under the care of Uchiha Mikoto, a kind woman who was quiet and strict, but kind all the same. Uchiha Fugaku was the one Uchiha she did not mess with and actually avoided at all costs, he would glare at her as if she were nothing but a gnat needing to be swatted.

The Uchiha brothers dragged her along with them everywhere! She loved it! Uchiha Shisui would let her sit on his shoulders, her favorite perch because she could see everything! Shisui was tall, and he also the fastest Uchiha to smile and laugh once he was out of the supervision of their father; Fugaku. Also Shisui was teaching her and Sasuke how to throw shuriken when no one was looking.

Uchiha Itachi was very wise, he had slipped her a few scrolls to read before it was announced that she could be trained, she had liked that about Itachi. Also, Itachi gave her sweets; all the time, aside from her father and herself she didn't know anyone with a big sweet tooth like her; then there was Itachi. She really liked Itachi, though he was a very solemn boy.

Uchiha Sasuke was her favorite Uchiha though; and it was not because they were betrothed! Whatever 'betrothed' was. No, Sakura liked Sasuke because he was fun! He was growly, snarly, snappy, but he was fun! He was the first one to play with her without glaring at her; and that was the first day she had walked out of her room after crying for four days and not daring to come out. He had grudgingly carried her when she had scraped her knee when they had played conceal-n-seek, all the way to his aunt Rin, who had patched her up.

Yes, Sakura found that after a few months here she was really happy. Her great-grandfather had never let her off the compound and she had never played with other kids her age, but with the Uchiha… she was free! She could go off the compound! Also, she was not required to dress like a lady, she got to wear boy clothes! She liked that, liked it a lot.

Which brought her to today as she waved to Madara as she left the compound, he nodded as she skipped by, and skipped a bit down the road to the flower field she had discovered to be at the bottom of the hill. Her short pink hair and bangs bounced, but she was having fun as she hurried to the field barefoot.

Yes, life was drastically different here in the Uchiha lands rather than the Senju lands. For one thing, it was quieter; a lot quieter, there wasn't much laughter, but that was alright. There was a firm establishment of love here, and it was quiet, she liked it a lot.

Making her way to the field she stopped uncertainly when she saw a group of kids playing in her field. Her shyness over took her as she stood there trembling a bit until the kids noticed her. There were four girls, and five boys, Sakura was nervous as she tried to smile, the kids snickered then.

"Look! It's the ugly Senju the Uchiha adopted!" someone snickered.

"I bet her ridiculous hair is fake!"

"I pity Sasuke-kun, he deserves prettier," a girl hissed.

"Stupid Senju is all she is."

"I bet the Uchiha just tolerate her."

"Everyone knows no Uchiha will ever like a Senju."

"Can't blame them, Senju are lying, traitorous, stuck up pigs."

"She's no different."

Sakura ran off before she burst into tears as she darted into the forest furiously wiping her eyes. She wouldn't cry in front of strangers! She wouldn't! She couldn't! Once in the shade of the forest she kept running, she wanted to cry, but she couldn't. Not yet, not until no one would find her.

A scream escaped her when her foot caught on a root and she tumbled down the hill. Trying to cover her head so it didn't get hit she landed with a splash.

Now the tears came, and when they came… they came. The sobs which escaped her were loud, uncontrol and gut wrenching. Pulling herself out of the water; still sobbing, she tried to walk, only to have a shooting pain go through her leg; it nearly collapsed her, instead it just made the tears flow hard.

"I Wanna Go Home!" she screamed.

"What are you doing in here?" a voice asked.

She screamed as she leapt around, landing in the water still (still sobbing), and collapsing when her hurt ankle gave out. The tears didn't relent as she stared at a man and boy; both with black hair pulled in a spikey tail, look at one another and sigh.

"Troublesome," she heard the boy mutter, but the man was already crouching over her and picking her up.

"Come on," the man huffed as he gathered her up. She tried to say she wanted to go home, she wanted her father to hug her and tell her everything was alright, but she couldn't stop crying as the stranger cradled her like her father had. He also kind of smelled like her dad.

The problem with being the youngest Uchiha; at seven, and not being a remarkable prodigy; like his older brothers: Shisui, who was fourteen, or Itachi, who was twelve. Was that everyone overlooked him, his father always had a disappointed scowl on his face whenever Sasuke preformed his jutsus and tried; desperately tried to please him. But he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

His grandfather on the other hand had always beamed with pride; despite his indifferent façade, which was what had led to Sasuke doing everything he could to please Madara. However, he also strove to please his family. Not that he could, but he tried; he really did try.

But then there was Sakura.

Sasuke didn't want to like the Senju; he really tried to dislike her, despite his grandfather's request that they know one another before it was decided he didn't like her. Which was why after her crying pathetically in her room he had decided go and greet her. He did not expect her to be so… annoying, or likeable. She was annoyingly likeable. Even his brothers liked her; and that was not an easy feat to do, so Sasuke had been watching her from afar trying to figure her out.

Then he figured out he liked her. It was a shock to him, but he only noticed because he dragged her everywhere with him. He was being completely serious about that, he took her everywhere with him: training, the field, the forest, training, the lake, the river, around the Uchiha compound, and to his own room even. She was a bright person, and he found he really liked her.

And this both annoyed and flustered him because honestly, he didn't know how to feel about this revelation. At least he didn't until today as he returned from training with his mentor; Hatake Kakashi, who was an honorary Uchiha because not only did he have Uncle Obito's right eye, he had saved Obito and Rin. The Uchiha clan had adopted Kakashi in a way when it was known what Kakashi had done for them. Besides, Sasuke considered his mentor to be of the few people he wanted to please, the quiet, laid back man was the sort of man Sasuke wanted to be when he grew up.

That or like his brothers or his grandfather.

Sasuke looked around when he walked onto the compound that evening, he hadn't been able to get Kakashi to agree to bring Sakura for his training today; stating that she wasn't the same type of user as he was and she would be receiving different instructions. Sasuke had been miffed about this, but he understood, he was fire and lightning release, right now, and she was water; very different and they couldn't train together. Still he looked around for his pink friend; because she was a friend, and found… she wasn't here.

His grandfather was standing at the entrance of the compound; something he only did when a member of the family had yet to return, and Sasuke had bad feeling in his gut.

"Grandfather?" he asked as he walked up to his grandfather and looked up at him.

"Aa," Madara nodded. Sasuke froze, the unspoken question had just been answered.

Without thinking he ran down the road, his grandfather shouted for him, but Sasuke wasn't going to slow down until he found his friend.

He didn't have many friends, he had his brothers; but they were prodigies and older than him. He had cousins, but they were competition. He had his disapproving father, his approving grandfather, his loving mother, and his uncles, but Sasuke did not have friends. The village children were far too ridiculous to contemplate befriending, and the other, smaller clans, heirs were busy. So, he did not have friends; real friends, and the one he did have he wasn't losing. He had come to count Sakura as a friend since she was the first child; around his age, who actually wanted to play with him and wasn't worried about him skewering her.

Skidding a halt at the field she liked he looked around, the other kids immediately gushed at him, saying they were so sorry he'd have to marry the pinkette who had run away, but they were there. Sasuke immediately noticed the Nara forest, and he could figure the rest out as he ran for the forest.

A hand caught him then.

"Let go!" he snapped as he struggled against the grip.

"We do not invade other's territory," his grandfather said harshly.

"Hn," he grunted and then he was released, he looked at the forest then. He had heard the stories, the tales of the Nara family's connection to their forest.

"Come, we will speak with Shikaku before entering his lands," Madara said evenly. Sasuke reluctantly followed his grandfather.

"Let this be a lesson, you must take care of those you hold dear, but you must respect your allies to keep them as well," Madara said softly.

He nodded in response as they walked the dark road. Sasuke was only followed his grandfather, it was very dark by the time they made it to the small Nara compound. The gate sentry stopped before them.

"Uchiha-sama," the sentry greeted.

"Nara, we have come to speak to Shikaku," Madara said.

"At this hour?"

"My grandson's friend is missing," Madara replied. Sasuke just stood there feeling impatient to get on with the formality so he could search the forest for Sakura. She shouldn't be out at night.

"Come," the sentry said and Sasuke followed his grandfather then. They walked through the compound and Sasuke stopped.

"That's cheating!" a boy exclaimed.

"Is not," a girl snapped, Sasuke bolted before they could stop him.

Racing through the halls he skidded to a stop to see Sakura with a bandaged head, sitting at a board with a boy. She looked up then, and he finally felt…

Calm.

Walking over he sat beside her and looked at the board.

"Who are you?" the boy demanded.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke answered.

"Troublesome," the boy muttered.

"That's Nara Shikamaru, he's really smart," Sakura grinned then.