Roses are Red

Something Worth Fighting For

Recappy From the Last Chappy: Naruto gave Sasuke an angry look as he closed the cell door behind him. "If anyone‛s the loser, you are! I‛m not the one who ended up in prison, and look at all the stuff I used to do!"

"They just found me worth being confined." Inwardly, Sasuke had to admit that he missed these little arguments between himself and Naruto. It simply was not the same with anyone else. He did not mind so much being babysat by the jonin, either, as there was nowhere for him to run-off to anyway. With Orochimaru dead, he should have been trying to track down Itachi, but even he knew he did not have the strength yet. Staying in Konoha all of a sudden seemed to be a good idea, maybe, if even the dunce had become strong enough to beat Orochimaru. Maybe he could get even stronger than he thought.

Maybe, staying just a little bit wouldn‛t be so bad . . . .

Chapter Seven: Something Worth Fighting For

Just like any other Summer‛s day, that July 23rd eight years ago was a hot and humid one; Konoha experienced some of its warmest temperatures. The newly seven-year-old boy spent the day wondering if he would pass out form having to evade his fangirls the whole time. Unfortunately for him, those girls were persistent . . . and he may have to begin investing in anti-perspirint.

Panting as quietly as he could, Sasuke found a good hiding place in a small thicket of trees. Thankfully, there was plenty of shade and it helped cool him down as the fangirls squabbling dissipated from his hearing. Little Sasuke leaned up against the tree and plopped into the dirt. Finally . . . I lost ‛em.

"Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun!" called a loud and shrill female voice.

Surprised, Sasuke opened his eyes and yelped, searching for the fangirl, but seeing nobody until the same voice urged him to look up. What he saw was Little Krystal dangling upside down from one of the branches above, using her legs to keep her suspended. Quickly, as he heard the "what was that" and "I think someone found Sasuke-kun"s, he jumped to a standing upright position and covered Krystal‛s mouth to quiet her down and stop drawing unwanted attention. With stealth, he peeked around the tree trunk.

"Oh, it seems it was a false alarm . . . ."

"Where do we look now? I think Sasuke-kun left . . . ."

"Maybe he ran back towards the Academy!"

"Yeah!"

He smirked after the retreating figures of the day‛s greatest enemy and felt something wet on his hand. In disgust he realized that Krystal was licking him and quickly retracted his hand while Krystal was in mid-lick. She smiled cheesily with her tongue hanging out as he wiped away her saliva onto his shorts. "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"No way!" Sasuke retorted pridefully. "What‛re you hangin‛ upside down trees for, anyway?"

"Tryin‛ to give you you‛re birthday present! I knew you‛d be runnin‛ from fangirls all day, so I waited somewhere shady," she said and wriggled around a little as she tried to get something out of the pocket of her capris. Amongst her struggles, two red rose pendants produced themselves from under her shirt, hanging on silver chains and dangling in front of her face. He did not remember ever seeing them before.

"Don‛t you think maybe you should get down, Krystal-chan? I‛m‛a laugh when you fall." Sasuke warned.

Krystal puffed her cheeks angrily and glared at him. "Laugh and you won‛t get your present—Oh there it is!" Trying to jump for joy, she conveniently forgot she was hanging upside down, and accidentally released her grip on the branch. The impact of her falling on top of Sasuke left swirling effects in both of their eyes.