Well, hello.

This is my going to be the first Fanfiction that I actually upload (I've definitely written a few before now that will probably go unpublished).

I haven't been an active part of the Naruto fandom for some time, but I've been getting back into it through Boruto, and got a sudden burst of inspiration, so I decided I should probably, y'know, actually post something I've written for once.

So, here's a Naruto/Sasuke Bro-mance. I'm not sure where I'll go with pairings, but keep in mind nothing will be going too crazy.

Without further ado, enjoy.

Chapter 1: A Trip down a hill

It was late, and Naruto was alone.

This wasn't new, of course. Naruto was alone far more often than not. His only real relationships were with some of the other kids in his class, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba. At the very least they allowed him to hang out with them, which Naruto supposed was something, given that most people who saw him treated him like a disease.

He couldn't really call them friends though, they always left at the end of the day, when their parents came to get them, and Naruto was left behind, forgotten.

Alone.

He had to admit though, things had been getting a bit better lately. It seemed like some of the villagers didn't beat him as hard whenever they caught him, whether that was the repetition of said action finally getting the better of them, or some strange form of empathy developing, he didn't know, but it was certainly an improvement, and he wasn't going to complain about that.

He was walking next to the river that snaked through the leaf, glittering in hues of red's and oranges as the sun gradually descended in the sky.

It's pretty, Naruto thought.

He saw him a second later.

The black-haired boy who had been the star of their class for as long as Naruto could remember sat at the end of the pier, staring into the water, with a sad look to him.

He hadn't truly figured out what it was that had happened, Naruto had never been smart enough to finish his homework without Iruka Sensei's help, let alone figure out a mystery with nothing but vague rumors, but he had certainly been able to piece one thing together.

Sasuke was different.

He was quieter, though Naruto thought he'd said maybe 3 or 4 sentences the entire time he'd known the boy, and more reserved, even if the only time Naruto had heard him raise his voice was when he had 'accidentally' set the boys pants on fire in class.

And he would've gotten away with that one, had Iruka Sensei not found the matchbox in his desk.

Despite their misgivings, Naruto didn't truly hate Sasuke, despite what he might've said to the boy. He was annoying, the same as all the other kids in his class who never really got to know him before they made their minds up about him, but indifference was still better than the looks of pure hate he got from the adults in the shopping district.

Yes, Sasuke annoyed Naruto, more so than the other kids, but he supposed that was to be expected, they seemed like polar opposites.

But all of a sudden one day, after having been absent from classes for nearly two weeks, Sasuke had returned, and he had come back changed.

Naruto hadn't liked him, the new kid who had walked in that day and sat in Sasuke's seat.

Sasuke seemed to hear his footsteps, and the boy's head swiveled up to gaze directly at him. His curious eyes almost immediately narrowed into a look that Naruto had to admit nearly mirrored his own

They didn't speak as Naruto passed by Sasuke's position at the dock, and if Naruto had his way, then they never would.

He seemed sad.

Naruto was almost blown away that he had thought that. He didn't care what Sasuke was going through, he just wanted to get home, eat some ramen, and sleep.

Maybe I should talk to him.

Naruto slowed, he was parallel with Sasuke now, the shadow the sun cast directly covering the boy on the dock.

He kept walking. He didn't care, not about Sasuke.

Maybe I should go down there.

It didn't matter, he'd just forget about this tomorrow anyway.

I should go.

He didn't, Naruto kept walking.

Directly into a root.

\-\

He was falling, that much Naruto knew for sure. It wasn't graceful, he was rolling end over end, trying desperately to regain his footing, to no avail. By the time he rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill, a foot or so from the water, he was covered in dirt.

Nothing felt injured, with the exception of his pride.

He pushed himself up and sat cross-legged on the dirt.

"Are you okay?"

Naruto glanced in the voice's direction, but clearly the fall had jostled something in his brain, because he thought he'd just heard-

"Naruto?"

The black-haired boy had come over to check on him, and Naruto thought that nothing would ever truly be able to surprise him again, because it seemed to him like Sasuke Uchiha actually cared if he was hurt.

Naruto held back a growl, he didn't want anyone, least of all Sasuke, to see him like this, his cheeks a dusty pink from embarrassment.

"What's it to you!?" Naruto shouted back. His face was red hot now.

Sasuke's formerly concerned expression now morphed into one of bitterness.

"Nothing," the boy turned and walked away, sitting back down at the end of the wooden dock. "forget I said anything."

And now it was up to Naruto to feel bad about how he'd reacted, anger having gotten the best of him.

He thought of how he could best correct this, sitting there next to the dock, maybe a few feet from Sasuke, until he saw the look on the other boy's face.

It wasn't sad, like he'd thought earlier.

It was more like…

Empty.

There wasn't anything there, not truly, it was as if the boy was off somewhere else, barely present at all.

It struck Naruto that he often wore a similar expression, as he passed by the crowds in the village, whispering about him just loud enough for him to be able to pick up what they were saying. It had hurt him so horribly, once upon a time, but you could only let words get to you for so long before you closed yourself off from the world, truly indifferent.

But it wasn't the same, either, the look on the boy's face. It wasn't like Naruto's, which had been slowly stripped away at, bits and pieces coming off until it was nothing. No, Sasuke's looked like it had been ripped apart in one fell swoop.

"Uhm-"

Naruto blurted something out before he even knew what it was he wanted to say. He had simply wanted to make that look go away, it had hurt him to see it on someone else.

Sasuke turned to face him, once again curious, though this time his eyes betrayed the fact that he wasn't really listening to Naruto at all.

Once again, Naruto's face felt hot.

"Sorry…"

Sasuke's eyebrows rose, he looked quizzical.

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry, ok!" Naruto's face was burning, and his eyes were closed, he couldn't bare to see Sasuke laugh at him, of course he would. That was all anyone ever did when Naruto spoke.

"It's fine."

Now it was Naruto's turn to be curious, as he opened one of his eyes, he saw that Sasuke was once again looking down into the water.

He didn't laugh?

He'd been expecting the boy to snark at him, his voice filled with mirth. 'Oh, you're apologizing? whatever for, Naruto?'

Before he really knew what he was doing, Naruto had walked over to the dock as well, standing beside Sasuke.

The other boy stared up at him, now clearly annoyed to have been interrupted from his train of thought.

"What do you want, loser?"

Naruto's famously short temper exploded, and he immediately shouted at the boy.

"Why you little! Why don't I show you my Shuriken Jutsu I've been practicing, Huh!?"

"Go ahead, even from here, it's not like you'd hit me."

Naruto ground his teeth together but found his anger dissipating. He'd momentarily felt that same rivalry he had used to share with the boy before him, but the look in the Sasuke's eye, that 'I'm better than you' look that used to drive him crazy, was no longer present, it had been replaced with a look of apathetic boredom.

"What happened to you?"

Sasuke whirled on him, his eyes widening slightly, as if the question was completely unfamiliar to him, or perhaps that Naruto was the last person he had expected to have ask him about it.

"What!?" He was angry, that much was clear, but Naruto pressed on regardless. He'd never been one for subtleties.

"I heard the other kid's talking about something, I tried to pick up as much as I could from them," he squinted his eyes, trying to think about what it was they'd said back then, but it eluded him, "But no one would tell me what actually happened."

He looked right at Sasuke, trying to decipher the truth from the boy's face. He found nothing there, just a harsh bitterness.

"So, I'm just some gossip piece then? I guess you want to be able to talk about me with them, hell, you might even make a friend."

"Oi!" Naruto was really, really trying his best to be nice to the boy beside him, but Sasuke wasn't helping his own case at all. "I'm just trying to figure it out, I'm-"

A second passed in silence.

"You're... what?"

Naruto knew what he'd almost said, and why he'd stopped himself. He'd never been very good at talking about how he felt, the way he viewed the world and everyone around him.

I'll try.

"It's really hard. Being alone."

Sasuke's eyes briefly widened, and then, a second or two later, they narrowed, as his face contorted in rage.

"What…"

Suddenly, Naruto felt his back hit the dock, the wind knocked out of him, and his head pounding. he felt the pain in the back of his head worsen as the boy forced his head down onto the hard wood, his hand gripping Naruto's shirt as he sat atop him, snarling madly.

"What the hell would you know about being alone!"

He could hear them sometimes when he was laying down to rest, the voices of the people in the village, shouting names and insults at him as he walked down the streets, trying desperately to validate himself. He both loved and hated them. They'd beat him, loathe him, but at least they looked at him, saw him, didn't forget him.

He made sure of that. It was all he had, after all.

That hate was so much better than being forgotten.

"You said it yourself, didn't you? That I didn't have any friends?"

Sasuke didn't get off of him, his grip on his shirt didn't loosen either, but he was watching him, waiting to hear what he'd say.

"It's… I don't have anybody."

The grip loosened.

"I've never had anyone. Lord Third said my parents died the day I was born. Everyone in the village hates me, and I don't even know why."

The hand on his shirt let go.

"Sometimes I stop and sit a while, and just think about how much it…" He was pouring out his soul a little, but he thought his words were having some effect, so he kept going. "How much it sucks to be alone."

Sasuke was just sitting there now, hands at his sides as he straddled him.

"You just… you looked like you were alone, too."

The boy atop him said nothing as he shifted himself off of his chest, and he sat beside Naruto on the pier, looking out onto the river. The sun sat a bit lower in the sky, the last lingering bits of daylight bouncing off the water as it made the final leg of it's journey.

"You're right."

Naruto sat up, a foot or so away from where Sasuke was sitting with his back turned away from him. It was his turn to listen now, he thought, as the boy in front of him seemed to psyche himself up for something.

"Being alone is the worst hell of all."

He didn't say anything more after Naruto waited a few seconds, so he chose to stand up and walk to where the other boy was sitting.

Sasuke was crying.

Naruto sat next to him, not really knowing what to say. Luckily, Sasuke started of his own accord, his voice scratchy with emotion.

"3 months ago, my brother murdered every single member of the Uchiha clan, I was the sole exception."

Naruto had been expecting the worst, and even still that had managed to surpass his wildest fantasies.

"He wasn't even showing me mercy, he just… didn't bother killing me." Sasuke's fists clenched into small balls, his knuckles white. "I was too weak to be worth killing."

Naruto had no clue what to say, he didn't think that there were any good responses to what Sasuke just said. He was trying desperately to think of something, anything, to say, when Sasuke spoke again.

"I miss them." It was a quieter voice, just barely above a whisper, but Naruto caught it. "There are so many things," Sasuke was breaking down now, his voice quivering, tears flowing freely. "So many things I want to say to them, I just… wanted them to be there for me."

Sasuke doesn't say anything else, the small hiccuping sobs and the quiet churning of the river are the only sounds Naruto can hear.

Naruto decided that he'd listen and wait for Sasuke to speak up again, even if listening and waiting weren't exactly his strong suits.

It's not for a few more minutes of sitting silently that Sasuke speaks again, and by now the sun has set fully, blanketing the two in darkness.

"I don't have any friends in class either." Sasuke says after he's stopped crying. "Everyone looks at me like I'm some animal exhibit."

Naruto almost laughs, because it feels like Sasuke's just described exactly how Naruto's always felt when he walked among the adults in the street, whispering to themselves when they think he's not looking. He felt like an exotic creature, like he didn't belong.

It suddenly clicked into place, they were so similar, the two of them.

"It's settled then!" he shouted out, and it occurred to Naruto when Sasuke jumped about a foot away from him that he hadn't spoken a word in at least fifteen minutes, and Sasuke may have forgotten that he was there.

"W-what's settled?!"

Naruto stood up and gave Sasuke his trademark grin.

"I suppose you and I will just have to be friends!"

This suggestion didn't receive the resounding applause he'd been hoping for.

"You and me? Friends? The hell are you talking about, loser!?" Sasuke looked like he didn't know what to feel, caught between a lot of different emotions.

Naruto had no such problems.

"Would you stop calling me a loser, you loser!" He wasn't quite angry with the boy, he wasn't sure he could be, now, but he couldn't deny being slightly exasperated with him.

"Until you stop being a loser," Sasuke was standing, his hands balled into fists, and with a monstrous pout on his face, looking like he wanted to fight and hug Naruto at the same time, "I won't stop calling you a loser!"

Naruto was wrong, he could easily get angry at Sasuke.

"Grr, Dummy!"

"Idiot!"

"Crybaby!"

That one seemed to really set Sasuke off, because his cheeks went red. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes at the same time, and Naruto thought just for a moment that he was going to call him some incredibly bad name.

"Dirty Fox!"

And suddenly Naruto was just confused. He watched quizzically as Sasuke visibly deflated and looked down at the ground.

"S-sorry…"

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

Sasuke looked borderline mortified.

"I'm sorry I called you that, I-I didn't know what it meant," He was fidgeting, like that time Kiba hit him, and his mom had dragged him into the classroom the next day to make him say he was sorry, "The people in the village call you that sometimes, I just…"

They did? He'd never heard them say that, and nothing came to mind when he thought of a fox, other than two red eyes and a snarling mouth he'd seen in a nightmare or two when he was younger.

"Err…" Naruto was at a loss, but figured he might as well milk this for all it was worth, "Well, I'll forgive you, just this once..."

He paused dramatically, before a grin spread across his face.

"But, only if you agree to be my friend!" Naruto extended his right hand, offering it to the boy in front of him.

Sasuke gave him a skeptical look, but it was gone a second later, replaced with the first honest smile he'd seen from the boy in what must have been months.

"I guess that's fine."

The black-haired boy reached out, and grased Naruto's hand in his own. They were both children, but in that moment, they both felt like they'd made a very small, very important change.

\-\

Class the next day was an odd affair.

Everything seemed normal to the 3 or 4 students who arrived earlier than Sasuke Uchiha as the boy walked in the room that day. He sat by himself in the middle-left row, taking the window seat, and aimlessly stared outside. He was lost in his own little world within a minute.

Things were normal.

Most of the other children in the class filed in as per usual, going about their day to day activities, making fun of each other, gossiping, seeing how many rubber bands they could shoot at Shikamaru before he woke up, but everything changed when Naruto burst into the classroom.

Not that him bursting in wasn't normal, because it was easily the most predictable part of the day.

No, it was what the boy did upon entering that turned heads.

He walked to the left of the room, and immediately took the seat next to Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto gave the other boy his trademark grin, and started working on getting everything he needed for the day set up on his desk.

The boy in question didn't respond, but he did break out of his own head long enough to give Naruto a single, small "Mm" of acknowledgement.

Several students eyes widened, but they were interrupted from gossiping as Iruka Sensei arrived, opening the door and greeting them with his traditional "Good morning, class", the students gave him the same in response.

The morning passed by as normal, Iruka was giving them a very basic lesson on the natures of Chakra, Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. He also noted that some families had special chakra natures or skills unique to them.

"A good example of this," Iruka stated, as he was walking around the classroom, gesturing to a small diagram of an eye he'd made on the board, "Would be the leaf's very own Hyuga clan, they have an inherited Dojutsu known as the Byakugan."

Naruto liked to pretend he knew what some of those words meant.

"Why, our very own Hinata is the heiress of the Hyuga clan," He gestured to a small, shy girl sitting in the front-middle row, "Hinata, do you know anything about the Byakugan?"

Naruto, along with the rest of the class, turned towards the Hyuga in the front row, and watched as she began to fidget, casting her eyes down at the table.

"I… I don't know all that much about it, Sensei."

Iruka seemed to realize he'd made a mistake, putting Hinata on the spot, as the nervous girl's face reddened, and she tried to make herself smaller in her chair.

"Ah, my apologies Hinata," Iruka smiled gently, and the smaller girl seemed to sit up a bit, "Here I am, trying to pass off my duties as a teacher, how lazy I am."

He got a few laughs for that, including a light giggle from Hinata herself. She wasn't hiding herself in her seat anymore. Naruto thought she was cute when she laughed, he liked the sound of it.

He was daydreaming now, remembering when he ran in front of her to stop her getting bullied, something he'd had a lot of experience dealing with, and how they'd just beat him up instead. They'd even ripped the scarf he'd been wearing, he'd gotten a cold later that day from its absence. Hinata herself, however, had been nice to him, going as far as to thank him.

He hadn't shown it at the time, but it had meant a lot to him, his cheeks hadn't just been red from the cold.

"Naruto, did you hear me?"

And suddenly he realized that everyone was looking right at him, snickering to themselves, and Iruka was giving him those eyes that show he was annoyed, sure, but mostly just disappointed in him.

He hated those eyes, more than anything.

"Er…" He tried to remember what it was that Iruka Sensei was saying, but all he was getting was the lecture he received after he had nearly broken his leg trying to do a backflip.

"It's Fire."

Naruto glanced beside him, to where the whisper had come from, and was surprised to find Sasuke Uchiha, hands crossed in front of his mouth, trying to act inconspicuous.

Naruto wasn't sure if he should trust Sasuke, this could all be a trick, after all, just yesterday afternoon they had been bitter rivals, intent on grinding each other into the dirt.

But hey, Naruto thought, Better than nothing.

"It's fire, Iruka Sensei!"

His teacher's expression instantly became one of surprise, and then, with pride, he smiled.

"Yes, Naruto, that's correct," He walked over to the board, and wrote out two words, and an arrow connecting them, "Wind's natural counter is fire, as Naruto pointed out for us."

'As Naruto pointed out for us.'

Even if he hadn't really come up with it himself, Naruto couldn't help the swell of pride in himself at hearing those words, along with the surprised, and slightly disappointed looks of his classmates. They'd probably hoped to see him make a fool of himself.

Naruto turned to the boy sitting next to him and smiled widely.

"Thanks, Sasuke!"

The other boy didn't say anything, but he did give him a small smile.

\-\

It was late, but for once, Naruto wasn't alone.

He was walking just a bit ahead of Sasuke, as they crossed through the middle of the village's shopping center. This time in the evening, there was the most traffic of the day, as people were getting off of work, or coming back from missions, and coming here to eat, shop, or run errands.

Naruto was excited, he'd never walked with a friend, even if it was just to the small Uchiha's new apartment that Lord Third had rented out for him, thinking correctly that it was probably best for Sasuke not to have to live in the house his parents were murdered in.

"I know this really great place, Oh man! Their ramen is the best, you've gotta try it!"

Naruto skipped ahead a little, and turned back around to gauge Sasuke's response.

Sasuke had this look on his face that screamed that he was uncomfortable, and even in his excitement, Naruto couldn't miss it.

"Um… I'm a little tired…" Sasuke's voice was quiet, like he felt a little bit bad about what he said.

Naruto had never been very good at picking up on social ques, but even he could catch that one. He frowned slightly, Ichiraku was only a few minutes from where they were, and it was in the direction they were going, so it wouldn't exactly be a huge detour.

But if Sasuke really didn't want to... well, Naruto didn't want to force him or anything, especially since they were just getting to know each other.

He was just about ready to give up and skip the Ramen tonight, when he felt something wet drip down his back.

"Woops, sorry kid," It was a shinobi, at least Chuunin, if the vest was to be believed, and he'd just poured his drink all over Naruto, "Looks like I need to be more careful."

Naruto wasn't really sure what to do. He'd gotten better at learning not to react to these things, that was what they wanted, a reaction, a reason to keep doing it. At the same time, however, Sasuke had never seen him get bullied like this, hell, he was pretty sure no one from his class had, and if he'd thought it was humiliating alone, it was nothing compared to this.

It went from bad to worse as several people in the crowds around them started to point and laugh to themselves.

Naruto was broiling, beneath the surface. He felt hot, he wanted to scream, and yell, and beat the crap out of this ninja for daring to do that to him, but instead, he just lowered his head and kept walking. He heard laughter come from behind him, and ground his teeth together, but otherwise said nothing as he and Sasuke left the scene.

"Um, Naruto?" It was Sasuke's voice, quiet, like he didn't want to set Naruto off, but also couldn't bear to see him like this either, "I'd like to go to that ramen place, if that's alright with you."

And suddenly Naruto's smile was back, perhaps slightly dimmer than before, but no less real.

"Awesome!"

End Chapter 1