He didn't have many friends. That was something that Naruto Uzumaki was well aware of. For some reason that he couldn't really figure out, the other kids just didn't seem to like him. He tried everything, being smart (well, as smart as he could be), being funny and even trying to be the best at everything that they did in the academy. He was pretty sure that he was getting better at that.

No matter what he did, though, none of the other children felt like playing with him and even when they did show a spark of interest, their parents would show up to take them away from where they were playing.

They always gave him that look, too. It was a strange look that he'd become too familiar with in his life. It was cold, judging and... well, he didn't know why. All he knew was that it made his stomach do something that was weird and it felt a little sick whenever they looked at him.

Grown-ups weren't supposed to make you feel like that. He was pretty sure, anyways. They were supposed to hug you and give you all the ramen that you want and all of the candy that you could eat.

Or so he'd been told. That's what the kids at the academy always said when they were talking about their parents. Naruto hadn't ever had any, so he wasn't sure. He kind of thought that it was maybe why the other kids didn't like him, but he didn't know for sure.

Whatever it was, he didn't like it.

There was only one person who seemed to ever like him, and even he didn't really talk. But then Naruto wasn't sure that he'd ever seen Sasuke talk to anyone in the whole time that they were at school.

He didn't know what happened to him in his past, really, since no one was allowed to talk about it, but Naruto knew that it was something that was bad. Sasuke lived all alone, just like Naruto did. Only his house was a million times bigger and fancier and he had a whole lot more toys.

Not that Naruto liked to play with toys. He was a big kid and he was going to be the best ninja ever! So that was why whenever he visited Sasuke's house he never asked to play with the toys and they just played ninja all day to see who was the best. He let Sasuke win, though, because Sasuke always seemed kind of mad when he lost.

… Even if that had only ever happened once and even if Naruto wasn't so good at dodging the kunai that they were allowed to practice with.

There had been one day that Naruto had wondered about a strange dark stain in Sasuke's house and he'd asked about it, but apparently that had been the wrong thing. Sasuke just asked him to leave and Naruto had been really confused.

So he never asked him questions like that again.

Well, until yesterday.

They were mostly just secret friends. Naruto didn't want the other kids to know that he was friends with Sasuke since all of the girls seemed to get mad at everyone who ever spent time with him and since one of the girls was really super pretty and Naruto liked her a lot, he didn't want to make her hate him.

Sasuke didn't seem to mind, anyways. He didn't talk at school.

That was why they always met at one of the smaller piers almost at the edge of Konoha before they went to Sasuke's house.

Yesterday Sasuke had seemed really weird and Naruto hadn't known why. It was a nice day and everyone else seemed to be having a good day. Sasuke had even gotten the best score on the test they'd had that day (and maybe Naruto had gotten the lowest score, but that didn't matter. He was better at doing stuff instead of writing stuff) and so it seemed strange for his friend to be wearing such a strange look on his face. Maybe they hadn't been friends for a long time yet, but Naruto knew that it wasn't good to keep your face like that.

"Why do you look weird?" he'd asked as soon as he'd ended up on the pier later that day. He'd just wanted to know. He was a curious kind of boy and the old man hokage said that it was good to be curious. He was a nice grown-up. Different from the other ones.

The sound of his voice had seemed to surprise Sasuke and Naruto was proud of himself when the other looked up at him and spoke the most words that he'd heard from him in a long time.

"It's my birthday tomorrow."

Naruto had looked surprised (and it wasn't just because that meant that Sasuke was older than him- no, that wasn't the only reason! He was going to turn seven in a few months, anyways!) and had reached to offer Sasuke a hand to help him up so that they could go to his house. "That's a good thing, though, right? I mean- 'cause you get to be older and that means they'll teach you new jutsu!"

Sasuke's face just started to look weirder and Naruto frowned slightly as they walked in silence and waited for Sasuke to say something else. It was another moment before he finally did and Naruto was still wearing most of the smile that he usually did wear.

"Everyone's gone."

The smile faltered a little as he tried to understand what that meant, and he tilted his head to the side in order to think really, really hard about that. He knew that Sasuke's family was gone, but he didn't know why or how or what was wrong or how come they'd leave just Sasuke by himself. Naruto knew that he got really lonely when he was alone so Sasuke probably did, too.

Shaking his head a little, the obvious answer leaving him before he could think on it any. That was what usually happened anyways. He didn't mind.

"Not everyone, I'm gonna be here!"

Shock was obvious on Sasuke's face and Naruto was sure that maybe he was sick or something because he was looking kind of pink, but sometimes that just happened. No other words were spoken between them, but it was okay because Sasuke didn't look so weird anymore.

The next day was a Saturday and so they didn't have to go to the academy for anything and so instead, Naruto spent almost the whole morning in his kitchen cooking to the very best of his ability before finally leaving his little apartment, a small bag in his hand and his face and hair absolutely covered in cake batter of various mixed consistency. He didn't have hardly enough money to buy anything, but he was pretty good at making cakes, he was pretty sure! So it was gonna be okay.

Sasuke was gonna love it!

It took him twenty minutes to make his way to the Uchiha compound and Naruto found himself standing in front of the only house that had anyone living in it and he didn't bother knocking. Slipping off his sandals, he stepped into the house and looked around, leaving the half sunken in cake on the counter as he moved towards the stairs that would lead him to Sasuke's room.

He actually didn't get too far when he heard some kind of sound coming from the room that the stain was in and he beamed brightly as he moved over to the door for that room, pulling it open and blinking a few times.

The sun was really bright in this room and he couldn't help but to think that it was the perfect room to practice ninja in. It took just a minute to finally see Sasuke sitting beside the stain, his legs stretched out in front of him, with that weird look on his face again. Instead of saying something, Naruto moved over and sat across from him, his legs crossed and his arms behind him to prop him up.

He was still beaming.

Sasuke glanced up at him and just stared a moment before nodding in acknowledgment at him and looking away.

"You're dirty."

Well, Naruto would have normally thought that was pretty rude, but Sasuke was like that a lot of the time and so he just sighed a little before remembering something and digging into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a small sloppily wrapped box. "I'm not dirty! I was a baker today! I made a cake that's in the kitchen."

Sasuke's attention turned back to him and Naruto thought that he saw something that was almost like a smile on his face and felt his chest swell a little with pride.

"It's probably going to taste gross," came Sasuke's reply.

Naruto made a face and stuck his tongue out at the other, but didn't get too offended. He knew that the cake was perfect and that was just the way that Sasuke always talked. He pushed out the hand holding the box until Sasuke had no choice but to take it and he nodded a little as he pulled back his own hand.

"It's a present," Naruto insisted, leaning forward now to watch with rapt attention. "It's a really awesome present!"

Sasuke stared at it with some trepidation and moved to unwrap it.

Another moment of silence and Sasuke pulled out a rock, staring at it before looking at Naruto.

"A rock."

Naruto rolled his eyes a little and reached forward to turn the rock over in Sasuke's hand so that he could see it better.

"It's not a rock, stupid! You gotta look closer, because it's a pet rock! So you don't gotta be lonely when you're all by yourself! I have one too. See? You can tell because of the eyes and nose and mouth right there! It's smiling, too, so you'll know that it's like me! I always smile, too!"

Sasuke stared at him a moment before there was a slightly wider smile and he closed his fingers around the rock, pulling it tight to his chest before very, very carefully placing it on the ground beside him.

"Happy Birthday!" Naruto said excitedly, beaming as he jumped up. "Come on! I wanna have some of the cake, I'm super hungry!"

Sasuke moved to stand, too, taking the pet rock with him and following behind his friend. Naruto noticed, with a smile, that he wasn't looking at the stain anymore.