Dare

Summary: They are twelve, and they think life is a game.A Team Seven drabble.

Set: Pretend Sasuke never left. Just do it^^ Or, if you prefer, pre-timeskip. Not that it matters much, this time.

No spoilers.

I don´t own Naruto. But the fact that I´m allowed to create my own Naruto verse is something that keeps me alive daily^^


They´re twelve, and they think life is a game.

"Come on Sasuke! I bet you can´t do it!"

Naruto grins at his teammate challengingly; his blond hair messy and his orange jumpsuit biting at anyone who dares to look at it too closely. Sakura is there, too, her pink hair neatly arranged and held by her hitai-ite and her eyes fixed on the last member of their team. Sasuke, in his usual attire, is sitting opposite of them, his arms crossed and his jaw set, his whole stature one picture of superiority.

"Of course I can", he says in what girls use to call his regal voice. "I just don´t feel like it right now."

"Coward", Naruto tells him and throws a look at Sakura. "Don´t you think he is just making excuses?"

"I´m not making excuses", Sasuke interrupts before Sakura can tell them she thinks Sasuke never makes excuses because he is a genius and he´s oh-so-good-looking and oh-so-brilliant.
"I just don´t see the point in taking up every single one of your stupid challenges whenever you feel like one. It´s not only pointless, it´s the exact thing an idiot like you would do. And thanks God I´m not you."

"Come on, just once! I bet you can´t outdo me this time! You´re bound to lose once; you know that as well as I do!"

"I bet I can outdo you anytime with only using my little finger", Sasuke replies haughtily and turns his attention to the window as if Naruto wasn´t existing at all. The blond boy jumps up.

"You can´t! Just try it this time and you´ll see…"

"Idiot." Slowly, Sasuke turns his head back to throw Naruto a pitiful look. "I said I don´t feel like playing dare today, and that´s it. Get over it and finish up."

"He´s right, Naruto", Sakura tells him and smiles at Sasuke, which takes a lot of credibility from the tone of understanding directed at Naruto she puts into her voice. Naruto is used to it. But only when Kakashi-Sensei pokes his head through the entrance and calls out for them, he returns to his ramen, quickly finishing the bowl, and then follows his teammates out of the restaurant.

They´re just twelve, and they´re still kids. Life is a game to them, and because Naruto never bothers to read the undercurrent in his friend´s words and because Sakura believes that Sasuke walks on water when he wants to, neither of them realizes the black-haired boy has deliberately skipped this challenge. The one great secret Uchiha Sasuke hasn´t been telling them will die with him, or that´s what he believes because neither of them has seen Kakashi eavesdropping on them in the restaurant earlier. The jounin smiles to himself under his mask and puts both hands into his pockets while his three students follow him, bickering and arguing. They´re only twelve. Let them believe life is a game as long as possible.

Uchiha Sasuke just can´t eat spicy food.