Chapter Text
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The Uchiha family is blessed with two beautiful and bright children.
"Nii-san!" The high-peached shout was heard in their house as the front door clicked opened to reveal their older son.
Itachi dropped his school backpack by the entrance, a huge smile appearing on his face as he called: "I'm Back! Mom, Sasuke!" He announces, taking off his shoes and neatly placing them to the side. Then he follow the daily ritual. He runs to kiss his mother in the cheek and hug his little sister, the latter awaits gingerly this specific moment, sitting in the sofa, pretending to not be really excited.
"Wah! Put me down!" She shrieks as Itachi, feeling playful, lifts her by the arms and spin her in the air.
A soft chuckle follows. Mikoto laughs as she watches their antics, putting the book she was reading down. "Your sister is the cutest, isn't she?"
"She is." Itachi agrees, making Sasuke beam. She loves itachi-nii. He is clearly her favorite since she was born, which makes her mother jealous sometimes.
Itachi finally let her go to sit beside her. As he grabs the controller of the Nintendo, he throws her an apologetic look.
He flicks her in the forehead. Sasuke imediatly pouts.
"Sorry, Sas." Its never good when he says her baby nickname, much less when the tap comes. She she is not surprised when he says: "I want to play MarioKart today."
That isn't fair, Sasuke thinks, deflated. He was supposed to play with her today, with her new stuffed toy mom bought to her.
"Itachi." Mikoto intervenes. Sasuke is five, old enough to know that this is the tone of voice she meant to say "Sasuke is a girl and she is a lot younger than you". Sasuke doesn't like it one bit. When mom helps her she feels uncool. And Mom never help Itachi, that is the coolest. Even people say so. They say he is mature, intelligent and sensible.
At five, she wants nothing more than be just like her bother. She sits by him and grab the other controller with meaning.
Itachi smiles to her, and her mother watches fondly. "Are you up to it?" He challenges.
"Yeah!" She cheers. She likes video game just as much, she just doesn't like loosing. But today she will beat him, for sure!
Perhaps reading the competitiveness in her, Itachi brushes a long streak of hair behind her ear and whisper: "Let's play with Mr. Dinosaur after this."
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She knew she was special. It was because she was an Uchiha.
Her parents never said so, not even Itachi-nii, but Sasuke was smart and she could notice people treated them differently. At dad's work, everyone would bow or nod when they walked around the building. And she could get away a lot when messing around there.
Often, relatives she never remembered the name would come to eat in her house, and they would talk about the great things destined to her and Itachi. They were all serious and a bit boring, but she liked hearing them say they would be the pride of the family one day.
Her family was traditional, and they had made history and would again and again.
As much was she heard this, it got stuck in her mind. Every time her mother would bring to the dancing lessons, she would also hear it.
"It's tradition." Her mother would say first with pride, but then apologetically.
Sasuke was bad at ballet and was really embarrassed about it. But she couldn't quit. She laughed when she first saw the dance, thinking the skirts were silly and the girls standing at the point of her feet made her inch to push them to the ground.
When she was the one doing the ballone, there was nothing funny about it. Her feet hurt, the clothing was ugly, and she was really really bad at it. All the girls were better than her.
"Cmon, Sasuke-chan, you can do this." The teacher would cheer her up and so would the other girls when she was out of pace or when she abandoned a position. "Don't give up." The teacher would say, and Sasuke felt terrible because she hated giving up. The encouragement only made her worse each time, and she couldn't focus with the growing tight knot in her throat.
Eventually, she would burst crying out of frustration. Then the class would stop, making it a even bigger commotion.
"Now, now, Sasuke-chan." The teacher, a very thin and tall woman would run to console her.
She's annoying, stop fussing over me like a baby! Sasuke thought, choosing to focus on anger, made easier ignore how crushed she felt. Stop crying! Sasuke ordened to heself as she bit her lips to keep the sobs away, turning her back to the huge mirror that insisted on showing her red faced and running nose. She hated crying. She hated crying when people would notice, most of all.
"You are bad at it, all right." A girl with blond hair and blue eyes had keeled before her. It was Ino Yama-something.
"I know." Sasuke snapped, facing away.
"We are all bad before we get better, you know?." Ino said, smiling, making Sasuke dislike her more. Even she, the best dancer, was doing the cheer up. "You can keep crying or you can get up and try again."
"Shut up!" She snapped, making the girl gap, and the whole class alarmed. Curses weren't allowed, there were unheard-of there. Sasuke's sobs dyed down, just by knowing that they were shocked by the curse word. Right then she found that she could finally talk without sounding like a mess.
"I don't want your help. This is stupid." She muttered, rubbing her running nose with all the dignity she could master.
Sasuke was fed up, she looked all around gesticulating: "Ballet is stupid. I don't want to look... " she hesitated, she don't know much curse words, so she repeated, heated. "I don't want to look stupid like all of you!"
Ino blue eyes glistened with tears and the teacher's too. Unbeknownst to Sasuke, she feared for her career, since she owned it to the Uchiha.
And thus, this was the first time she made girls cry. It was also the first time she went against the tradition of the family. It would be a recurring trend. Her father was very disappointed.
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Even after the ballet fiasco, Sasuke couldn't drop out. Because of Tradition.
She suffered thought it in Mondays with the dignity of a martyr, somehow she could perform better when she stopped feeling like she was out of place. She was certain of it now. The problem wasn't her, it was the dance that was stupid. All of them were suckers for liking it, she wasn't going to pretend otherwise. The girls attitude changed after that, they left her alone and stopped trying to encourage her. Which was just fine by Sasuke.
On Tuesdays she played tennis, and Wednesday she had piano classes. She was really good at both. On Friday she had classes with Kurenai-sensei, that taught her different things than she learned at school, like painting, other times just helped her with the homework. Sasuke liked doing all of this activities, except dancing of course, she would do it because it was the tradition and she wanted to make her family proud, but part of her was upset that didn't have much time to play with Itachi-ni anymore because of her tight schedule.
"I don't want to go."
Sasuke woke up one morning and said she was done with school. Logically, it was the weakest link in her routine, since all the kids went to school and it wasn't a special Uchiha thing-y. Plus, Kurenai could teach her anything, why did she need to go to that noisy place?
"Let's play, Nii-san" she proudly announced as she descended the stairs, brandishing her pajamas as symbol of revolution. She met Itachi in the kitchen, just when he was eating breakfast.
It was perfect, since he studied in the afternoon, so they had the morning to themselves. She had it all planned out! Itachi wasnt so thrilled by the idea.
"But... Why, Sasuke? You dislike the school?" He asked, bowing down to her height, deciding the very thought out decision of hers boiled down to this. It wasn't about liking. Not even itachi-nii would get her sometimes, Sasuke thought, looking down as she played with the ends of her dark, shoulder-lengh hair.
"Its just boring. I just sit all day." She mumbled, arms crossed over her chest. "I don't need to go to school-"
Itachi frowned.
"Sit all day?" He echoed, interrupting her. Then he gave her his older-brother knowing look. "You don't have friends to play with you during lunch break?"
When Itachi put it like that she felt ashamed, even if she thought she wasn't bothered by it. Before she could reply, they heard steps approaching by the corridor.
"What is she still doing here?" Father's voice was closer and following it there was the maid's.
"I just couldn't make her change into the uniform!" She was a bit panicked. "She ran to the kitchen when I went to call you."
Father appeared in the hall, dressed in a dark suit, frowing. "Sasuke, I'll take you to school." He said, his tone not leaving room for argument.
Usually she would be thrilled to spend time with her father, but just looking at his face she knew she was in trouble. They left without her putting in any resistance.
The ride to her school never appeared so long in the silence of the car. She expected him to ask what happened, so she could explain that she didn't need to go to the school at all, Kurenai could teach her! She expected even more for him to say he was disappointed, but he just kept silent, and in a way it only made her feel worse.
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"So what's happening?" Mikoto asked, worried.
The teacher sighed, looking at the paper she held. Outside of the room, the children were having PE class.
"Your daughter is very bright, Ms. Uchiha." She said.
Mikoto knew that starting with a compliment asked for a but, so she held her breath awaiting for the teacher to continue: "She is isolated though. She isn't shy to answer aloud in class, or to participate in the exercises. But when comes time to play with other kids she never takes initiative to join. I've seem kids trying to befriend her and she usually brushes them off. She acts very reserved and aloof."
Mikoto was appalled. "But she is so energetic at home! She loves playing with her brother and with me."
"Maybe that's so because she feels comfortable at home. She'll never be comfortable here if she doesn't try. My advice- tell her to put a bit of effort into it."
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Itachi-nii and her mom wouldn't let this subject drop, and it was ruining Sasuke's plans.
"So, did you make any friends today?" Mikoto asked her conversationally during dinner, like clock-work, oblivious to the tension in her daughter.
Not this again, not today! She thought, frantic, looking into her father direction.
He had his eyes downcast, looking at his meal, but he had heard, no doubt. She was crestfallen, what would dad think of her? He had just returned from a month trip and she was eager to try to impress him, and not to disappoint him further!
She had by now understood that not having friends at school was also a failure. So she replied, curtly. "I talked to two girls." It wasn't a lie, she talked to them in the group project they were doing, still she felt guilty at her mom excited smile.
She quickly changed the subject, this wasn't supposed to be the focus of tonight. Today she should be feeling good.
"They gave us our report cards." She announces, neutrally, as if it's no big deal.
Itachi smiles. "I've seen it already, you two will be proud!"
Sasuke grins at him, grateful, as she gives her parents the paper she had in her lap since the beginning of the dinner.
"Aw, look at this, honey!" Her mom squeaks, showing it to him. "Top marks in all subjects. Congratulations!"
Sasuke beams, but she is still anxious about her father feedback. He finally glances at her. "Well done, as expected of an Uchiha."
Sasuke smiles again, but something feels wrong. It didn't make her feel as glad as she thought it would. She eats her dinner in unusual quietness and heads straight to her bedroom. When she opens the door, Itachi is crouched at the ground, beside countless pieces of a puzzle.
"Finally, you've come to help me!" Sasuke exclaims, sitting down by him. It was a 500 pieces puzzle, the biggest she had yet to play with. It was the image was of one smiling Pikachu.
"I thought you looked upset at the dinner." Her brother says as he fits a piece into the frame Sasuke had done on her own. "Is it because of dad?"
A pause.
Sasuke felt her face hot at his mentioning of it, her eyes filled with tears.
"I wanted him to say "as expected of my child", just like he says when you make him proud." She said, tone wavering, she tries to put a piece in many places but it refused to fit. Itachi immediately went to her side and put a hand in her back.
"He never looks at me." As Sasuke kept talking, all the feelings of rejection she had swallowed down came to surface. "All he talks is about you."
Itachi sights. "Dad isn't good at expressing himself. But he loves you too."
Sasuke blinks back her tears. She doesn't tell her she thinks he loves Itachi more because she doesn't want to upset him. Dad is always asking questions about Itachi's school, and praising him to relatives. He looks excited to hear what Itachi has to say. He never seem to care about what Sasuke says or does, even when it's a accomplishment. It's proof enough- isn't it?
"Now he will think I can't even make friends right." She complains, tears finally streaking her face.
Itachi flickers her in the forehead. She looks up at him and he's smiling.
"Don't be so gloomy, little sis. Before you know it, you'll have lots of friends."
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Despite Itachi's and her mother's incentives, it was only in the middle of her second school year that she found her friend. Her best friend actually.
Sasuke knew that girls usually moved in groups, pairs, at the least. So it was very easy to realize her position was different in class. But as of late, she was comforted by the fact she wasn't the only one always by herself.
There was a girl with green eyes. Sakura Haruno, as in for spring - kind repetitive, Sasuke thought, but it wasn't the girls fault, not everyone had awesome moms to pick their names. Sakura, despite her name, was quite gloomy and forgettable. That's why Sasuke took a while to notice her, she wasn't very observant of other people in general, but the girl seemed to be hiding at all the time in the lunch breaks.
What also caught Sasuke's attention, was that Sakura also didn't play with anyone just like her. The girl usually spent this time reading, when she was not being picked on because of her large forehead. When that happened, she cried a lot, Sasuke could tell, because of the way her eyes would remain red even after class.
Since she started to notice Sakura, an indignant feeling was building in her chest. She wasn't supposed to care, but bullying was just so lame. One day she decided to intervene. She crossed the patio and looked at meanly at the three girls surrounding Sakura.
"What are you doing?" She asked them, very serious and a bit wary, not that she would ever admit the latter.
Sasuke couldn't understand why she wasn't picked on like Sakura, she was a loner, but instead the girls seemed afraid of her. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the popular Ino hated her guts and avoided her like plague.
Her question itself was already enough to break their formation surrounding their target. "We and the Forehead here were just chatting." One them said mockingly.
"That's good, bullying is punishable by suspension, you know." Sasuke replied, her tone cold and sure to her ears, even though inside she was nervous because she was bluffing.
The girls were rendered speechless, perhaps it was the first time someone questioned them. Their reaction made Sasuke feel more confident.
"If you were really chatting, she doesn't seem to be liking it." She added, before one of the girls could try to explain themselves. "Let's ask Sakura what she wants to do." Sasuke then looked the first time in her eyes. "Do you want to stay with them or do you want to leave with me?"
" I.." Her voice was horse by crying, she looked at the girls behind her, and then met her gaze again. "I'll go with Sasuke-san." She muttered.
Sasuke smiled, feeling incredibly proud of herself as she held Sakura's wrist and pushed her away from the girls, they just watched them go, seemingly shocked.
Much to Sasuke's surprise, the girl didn't stop crying at all, not even after they were far away from the bullies.
"Don't worry, I won't pick at you." Sasuke tried to reassure her, lost.
"I know, thank ahh-you" Sakura replied, between sobs that didn't seem to be quieting down. Sasuke was both dismayed but also a little more warmed by the fact she wasn't the only one in crying fits that didn't seem to stop at the most odd times.
They sat by the shadow of a large willow, Sasuke's favourite spot in the patio. The silence lingered for a bit more, and she decided to cut the chase.
"Let's be friends Sakura." She told her, suddenly feeling shy. She was surprised how the idea never occurred to her before, it was such a great idea. Then she added, more sure of herself. "If they decided to pick on you again I will be there to stop it"
Sakura immediately stopped crying, she didn't even seem to be breathing for a second. Then she gasped, a huge smile appeared in her tear streaked face.
"Yes! Yes!" She agrees, beaming. "I've always wanted to be friends with you, Sasuke-san!"
She was taken back. "Why?"
Sakura smiled at her, eyes shinning with admiration, an expression she would earn to see every time.
"You like reading just like me. And you are really smart. You are also the cutest, and the coolest girl in our class! You seem so mature and confident, and the thing you just did for me, talking back to Immi, Kioko and Lily was awesome!"
She said it in just one breath, showing a bubbly side Sasuke didn't get to see yet. As for Sasuke, she felt bashful but immensely proud of the praises, it sounded just like people would fuss over Itachi, excepted maybe the "cute" part, but hearing it warmed her chest a bit too.
Looking at her shiny black shoes, Sasuke decided she liked having a friend.
"You are wrong, Sakura, you are the cutest in our class."
Sakura did a thing that made Sasuke curious, she went red, almost matching the color of the shirt she wore. She was almost worried, if not for the fact Sakura was smiling again.
"You are really nice too, Sasuke-san", she said modestly, as if she couldn't believe her.
"Tch." She clicked her tongue, floored by the compliments. "Just call me Sasuke."
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