Playfighting

Naruto moved his hand to his forehead to block out the sunlight as he ogled around the courtyard, looking for his favorite flash of pink. He saw everything but that. Sakura-chan must still be in the classroom. She's probably sleeping agai- Naruto jumped. Sakura-chan's not like that anymore! She's back to normal! So Naruto dashed back indoors.

As he was running inside, Sasuke was walking smoothly past Naruto outside.

Within that millisecond they were beside each other, Sasuke's smirk widened as his hand reached out and grabbed Naruto by the back of his atrocious jumpsuit and using the momentum, swung him to the floor.

Naruto landed on his butt and gasped up at Sasuke. Then, he processed exactly what happened and jumped to his feet, pointing at his bastard rival. "Teme!"

Sasuke smirked, "dobe."

With that, they got into a physical fight that had them wrestling around in the floor. Sasuke was sustaining punches to his face, neck, torso, arms, and all over his body while Naruto was getting about equal the amount of damage, which was rare, as Sasuke was the Number 1 Rookie and Naruto the Dead Last. One would think Sasuke was holding back, purposely taking the hits.

..One would be right.

He was,

Because of Sakura.

She was the last straw of the ignorant villagers, who treated him with false, undeserved respect just because he was the last Uchiha. Sasuke hated it. He hated Sakura, and he hated everyone else. But most of all, he hated the man who was the cause of it all.

...

Naruto was different.

Naruto saw through him, saw past his Uchiha status. Sasuke was amused, he should have expected it, the dobe was too dumb to care about any of that. Naruto acted upon his true emotions, aggression towards Sasuke himself, not some 'last Uchiha.'

He took another punch to his jaw while thrusting his knee into his opponent's gut.

Sasuke would never admit it, but he acknowledged Naruto's existence more than ever that day.

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Back inside the classroom, alone, Sakura curled her knees close and hugged them.

What have I done?

She looked down. You took every one of the Uchiha's eyes.

"I know that!" Sakura snapped at her Inner.

Then you felt ashamed of what you did, tried to repent by being nice to Sasuke.

"No, he deserved it! His family is dead, I'd do the same for Naruto!"

Then why haven't you...done the same for Naruto?

...

Exactly. You think, since you took so much from Sasuke's clan, you should return what you can. That's why you let him push you around just before, even though you can hold your own. But you know what, Sasuke hates that.

"As it seems," Sakura allowed mournfully.

Sasuke isn't his clan. Sasuke isn't the old geezers you loved. Sasuke isn't Obito.

"I know that!" Sakura snapped.

Then why have you not once looked him in the eye until he forced you to? Because his eyes...

Are the same color as Obito-kun's eyes. Sakura finished her Inner's thought.

Sakura gasped, her hand flying over her mouth. "How could I have- I'm such a hypocrite!" Sakura realized. She was a hypocrite in many ways, from her past annoyance at Naruto's pestering when she did exactly the same to Sasuke, and now...She could almost laugh. "Just last month I hated how I reminded everyone of someone else."

To the elders, I'm Obito. To Obito, I'm Rin. "I wanted it all to stop, for them to see me as just Sakura!" She threw her arms up. "It did stop." Because now they're gone.

That's right, Forehead. You're treating Sasuke the same way they treated you. Your kindness isn't for Sasuke, it's for Obito and the elders..! I'll say you deserved to get beat up and spat on.

"He's right, I'm the worst person ever," Sakura admitted. She sat there sulking for a bit more before shaking her head and trying to wipe off the moisture in her fogged glasses.. She picked herself up. "That's it, from now on, I won't try to pretend that Sasuke is Obito-kun anymore."

No "-kun?"

"Because he's not Obito-kun," she explained, completely forgetting the fact that she added the honorific to Sasuke's name long before she met Obito.

Yes, start small. So you're going to stop thinking of Uchihas every time you so much as look at him, and start treating him normally?

"Yes, I'll treat him like Naruto. I don't let Naruto push me around, so why should I let Sasuke? Just because he's an Uchiha? That's unfair to Sasuke, and Obito-kun would be ashamed that I'm doing exactly what I hate being done to me."

Inner smirked, finally allowing herself release. SHANNARO! that's the me that I know! So, everything's okay now? Since you won't be busying yourself with your stupid suck-up-to-Sasuke repentance anymore and Obito-kun's not here to force you to study ninjutsu...

Sakura smirked back cockily. "Deface the Hokage Monument?"

Forehead, it's been done. Think of another prank.

"I'll only pull one if Naruto's in it." Don't wanna get into trouble by myself.

Then find him. Naruto's way better at coming up with pranks than you could ever dream to be.

Sakura's eye twitched, Oi, I'm still smarter than him. She huffed at her subconscious attitude, and walked out the classroom, heading out for recess. No doubt Naruto was still outdoors looking for her.

As she walked down the hall, she did a double take long before reaching the exit. The sight that greeted her was of the two boys she was just thinking about wrestling on the floor for each other's lives.

Naturally, a vein burst in her forehead as she clenched her fists and made her way over to them. "NARUUUTO! Fighting is against the rules!" Raising her fists, she thumped both Naruto and Sasuke's heads away from each other. As they laid splattered on the floor rubbing their heads, too out-of-it to process what just happened, Sasuke jeered at her.

"You too, Sasuke!" She stuck out her tongue at him for extra measure.

Sasuke felt his anger flare, but it was a different type of anger, unlike the one he felt for her just before. Astonished, his anger was overtaken by surprise as he just stared at her with widened eyes of disbelief.

Naruto too, but he recovered first as a grin broke out. "Finally, After all these years! Sakura-chan sees Sasuke-teme for who he is! A dumbass bastard!"

Sakura grinned back evilly, cracking her knuckles. "Oh he's dumb alright, for breaking the rules too, but not as stupid as you are for name-calling!"

Sasuke's wide eyes only widened as he watched Sakura tackle Naruto and start wrestling with him, albeit less intensely. Heh, what a hypocrite. She complains about us fighting yet instantly starts fighting Naruto? Then he frowned. Did she just call me dumb? And hit me? Sasuke rubbed the bruise forming on his head,

For something Sasuke himself did.

Against his will, the corner of Sasuke's lip twitched into a mockery of a smile. It was a rush of pride and achievement. His father had always saw him as Itachi's runner-up. The villagers, his teachers, classmates, they saw him as the Last Uchiha. The fangirls saw only his talent, appearance, and status.

Naruto was the only one he would allow himself to get close to. Even if Naruto only saw him as a rival, Sasuke would refuse anyone else, Mangekyou Sharingan be damned, because the only type of person his pride would allow as a friend was someone who judged him by his own actions, and Naruto was one such person, the only one in fact, until...

Sasuke's eyes slid upon the dress of red clashing against the dobe's orange.

He wanted more, and they were the only ones who had it, so he'd taunt them more. "Hn. Such losers."

"What did you just say?!" They chanted simultaneously.

Sasuke's smirk couldn't widen more without splitting his face, and it became a three-way spar.

By by the time recess was over, that part of the school building was utterly demolished, and three kids were thrown before the bemused Hokage.

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