Sasuke didn't like Sakura.

He didn't like her pink hair. It was weird and long and always fell over her eyes. Whenever his hair fell into his eyes he'd push it away because mother said it was silly to cover his face. So why did she? In fact, she tended to put them there like she wanted to hide behind them. She was so weird! He also didn't like how she always had a book with her. He liked his stuffed dinosaur but who the heck carried around books? He especially didn't like that his older brother commended her for that.

And what did 'coh-mend' mean anyway?

So what if she knew her colours and her ABCs and how to count to some number Sasuke didn't know? So what if she knew that one plus one equalled two?

"A window?" she'd repeated when he gave his response to the question. Then she giggled her stupid giggle, "Sasuke-kun is silly."

Sakura Haruno irritated him most when she came over with her mother – the lady who gave him lollipops at the hospital (though he didn't like candy so he fed it to his dinosaur) with hair just like Sakura's. But Sasuke didn't mind her hair. She was okay. She wasn't annoying like Sakura.

"Hello, Sakura-chan," mother greeted. She bent down and picked Sakura up and Sasuke scowled from where he hid behind the kitchen counter. She never carried him anymore! Mother didn't even notice his frown. She kissed Sakura on the cheek. "How are you, darling?"

Sakura didn't reply though. She stared downwards to the point that her chin was touching her chest. Then she smiled and her face turned red and she shook her head wildly. What did that mean? God, she was so weird.

"Would you like to play with Sasuke-chan?" mother asked her. Then Sasuke grew stiff. He looked at Sakura with wide eyes. She looked too happy. Ugh. She nodded. "Why don't you go up to his room?" Then she put her down and Sakura ran off.

Sasuke stayed very still. He could go up and deal with her company

"Want to play hide-and-seek?"
"No."
"Want a lollipop?"
"No."
"Sasuke-kun, are you sad? Do you want a hug?"
"No!"

or he could stay down in the kitchen. He hid under the sink one time to hide from mother when he accidentally (it really, really was an accident) broke one of her vases. It took her ten minutes to find him. But if he stayed there then Sakura would probably touch all of his stuff. She'd go through his shinobi gear that Itachi gave him. She'd probably play with his brand new kunai and get her cooties on it or something. Great.

Grumpily, Sasuke scurried out of the kitchen and took an alternate route up to his room. He managed to get there before Sakura so he stood in front of the door and spread his arms protectively.

Sakura just walked closer to him. "Hi, Sasuke-kun," she mumbled, looking at his feet.

Sasuke frowned. What was so special about his feet? He was about to ask her but she finally raised her head.

"Do you want to see my new book?" she asked. She took a small paperback out of the canvas bag she'd been carrying around and practically shoved it in his face. There was a big, purple snake on the cover. He only noticed that when she moved it away from his eyes and held it under her chin. "My mommy bought me a book about snakes!" she told him cheerfully.

Again with the books, Sasuke thought irritably.

"My mommy bought me a book about slugs!
"My mommy bought me a book about min-er-als!
"My mommy bought me a book about pandas!
"My mommy bought me a book about stars!"

Then she pulled out another one. It was bigger and didn't have any pictures on the cover. In fact, it didn't have that many pictures at all! It was all words and very few photos. How odd, Sasuke thought. This was obviously not hers.

"This one is my mommy's," Sakura said, holding it open to a page with a body drawn on it.

Sasuke frowned, noticing how the man didn't have any skin. He could see the man's ribs and heart and liver and— Sasuke's cheeks reddened when he saw his wee-wee. Scowling at Sakura, Sasuke took the book and closed it.

"I'm telling!" he shouted. When her eyes widened and she reached for the book, he raised it above her head knowing he was taller.

"NO!" Sakura yelled back. "Mommy will get mad if she finds out I've been reading her books again!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Of course Sakura would freak out over a book. Sighing, he handed the book back to her and she scurried to put it away. "You're so weird."

She pouted. "I just like books… My mommy bu—"

"Your mommy buys them for you," Sasuke interrupted. "I know! But books are stupid."

"No they're not!" Sakura protested.

"Yes they are," Sasuke continued. "And they're boring."

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him in an unexpected show of courage. "Well I bet you don't have anything better."

Sasuke snorted. Of course he did. He had toy swords and dinosaurs and ninja action figures. His eyes widened. Ninjas! He smirked triumphantly. "Well my father buys me shinobi stuff!" When he noticed her shoulders slump and her cheeks turn away, Sasuke didn't feel as proud of his shinobi stuff. Mother did tell him a few times that Sakura didn't have a father because her father saved his father so he should always be nice to Sakura.

"I don't have a daddy," Sakura said quietly. Her eyes were on the floor and Sasuke felt the emptiness in his tummy that he usually got when he broke one of his mother's favourite dishes or he made a mess in his father's office by accident because he was playing Police Chief. When she started playing with the hem of her shirt, Sasuke scratched his chin awkwardly.

"Um." Sasuke poked her to make her look up from the floor. "Um. Well, we can share the shinobi stuff… I guess."

Sakura smiled shyly. "So we'll both be shinobi then, Sasuke-kun?"

He shrugged. "Sure, but I'll be stronger."

"Well, I'll be smarter."

So he handed her the dulled kunai and they ran to the backyard, ignoring his mother's silly order to not run with sharp objects because mother, didn't shinobi do that all the time? He showed Sakura how to hold it and how to throw it and when it turned out she was actually sort of kind of a little bit good, he promised he'd teach her the Goukakyuu no Jutsu after his daddy taught him. Then Sakura smiled and Sasuke realized that maybe, just maybe, she was oh-kay.

He still didn't like her though.

fin