Konoha was a small country located in a remote island in the outskirts of Japan, which was one of the reasons why it was not well known. Konoha has been ruled for generations by the noble clan Kazama. Now the late King’s son, Arashi-sama, has become the new King. Arashi-sama was a kind ruler who cared very much about his people.

This was the home country of one Uchiha Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke, 7 years old, was the youngest member of the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha clan has been one of the older clans of Konoha and loyal servants to their King and the royal family for generations.

Sasuke was very happy and excited that day, because it would be the first time he would see the mansion where the royal family resided. His parents were busy with their work since in a few days time there was going to be a meeting with the clan heads, so the task fell upon his elder brother, Itachi, who was 13 years old. However, Itachi worked at the mansion doing things that little Sasuke didn’t know of, so he had to take him.

The mansion was located in the middle of the city, close to the Uchiha compound. Sasuke looked at his surroundings in awe since he’d never seen such a huge place before. The Uchiha compound was big, but this particular mansion was ten times bigger. His young mind concluded that it would be the perfect place to play hide-and-seek.

‘Niisan, can we play, please?’ Sasuke asked, teeth biting his lower lip and looking at his big brother with wide eyes. However, his brother shrugged him off saying he was too busy. Sasuke pouted, and waited patiently for his chance to sneak away when his brother wasn’t looking.

When Itachi was busy talking to one of the maids, Sasuke saw his chance and sneaked away quietly. He began walking around, and soon he became amazed at some of the paintings and structures of the great hall. Sometimes, he had to hide when he saw maids coming his way, but other than that, he didn’t get caught.

He kept walking forward, not paying attention to his surroundings, since all he wanted to do was explore such a huge place.

So he kept walking and walking, until he reached a dead end. He started looking around until he realized he didn’t recognize where he was or his surroundings. He was totally lost!

‘Aniki is going to be so mad at me’

Then he came up with his brilliant idea and thought to himself, ‘Maybe if walk back the same way, I’ll find aniki.’

And with that thought, little Sasuke walked back and kept walking until he reached a hall which had three different ways. He didn’t know if he was supposed to turn left, right, or keep going straight, so he followed his instinct and turned right.

Alas, poor little Sasuke was wrong. He didn’t count on the mansion being this big or his sense of direction being wrong.

He kept walking and he still didn’t recognize anything!

He kept walking and soon took notice of there being no people in this corridor.

‘I wonder where the maids are…’

He then noticed a big, white door at his right. He was curious since this door was different from the other ones he’s seen before. His curiosity got the better of him, so he opened the door and walked in. To his surprise, it led to a beautiful garden. The garden was full of flowers of different kinds and colors, a small playground and a fountain located in the middle.

Of course, after his moment of awe faded, he remembered he still didn’t know where he was.

Fat tears began to fall down his face at the thought of never finding his way out of this place, and he definitely didn’t want to stay lost for the rest of his life!

He walked towards the fountain and sat down on the edge, head bowed down, sniffing and crying every few minutes whispering ‘aniki’ every few minutes, hoping that his elder brother would come and rescue him.

He didn’t know how much time passed, but suddenly his miserable thoughts were interrupted when he felt a small hand patting him on his head. He looked up and saw a boy of his age, or close to it, bent over and looking at him with a cute frown on his face. The boy had blond hair that covered part of his eyes, three scars in either side of his face, tan skin and a pair of the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. He was wearing a red kimono, and had a golden pendant held in a necklace around his neck. ‘He looks like an angel…’

The unknown boy looked worried at him, biting his bottom lip and with a sad voice asked, “Umm, are you okay?”

Sasuke kept looking at him, sniffing every few seconds and trying to stop himself from crying. “I’m lost…I’m supposed to be with aniki but…” Tears ran down his cheeks again.

The boy kept looking at him and then smiled. “I can help you find your way! Here.” He held his hand in front of Sasuke, waiting for the boy to take it.

Sasuke looked at the hand, and then looked at the boy again. His parents were always telling him not to talk to strangers, but this boy looked nice and safe…After pondering for a few seconds, he finally made his decision and took the offered hand, standing up. He looked over at the boy once again, and had to stop from frowning as he noticed that the boy was taller than he was. ‘Grr…’

“Let’s go! I’m sure we’ll be able to find your brother! What’s your name?”

“Umm…Sasuke.” Since Sasuke was very shy around new people, this time wasn’t an exception. And he definitely noticed that this boy was still holding tightly his hand.

“Nice to meet ya, Sasuke. I’m Naruto!”

‘Naruto…’

“Ummm…nice to meet you too…”

“Don’t worry about your brother! With me helping you, I’m sure we’ll find him!”

“U-Un.”

They began walking away from the fountain and out of the garden, and Naruto was still holding onto Sasuke’s hand.

It wasn’t long before they met Itachi on the way, who had an unfamiliar expression on his face and was looking around for something. The expression lifted when he noticed Sasuke walking towards him with another boy.

“Sasuke! I told you to not get out of my sight!”

Sasuke took his hand out of Naruto’s grasp and ran towards Itachi, feeling happy that he finally found his niisan.

“Gomen, aniki. I got lost while I was exploring, but Naruto found me!”

After listening to his otouto's explanation, he looked at the other boy who brought him, and had to stop himself from gaping at the sight like a moron.

“Forgive me, Naruto-sama. I hope my little brother didn’t cause you any trouble.” Itachi said, bowing.

Sasuke, of course, was shocked. ‘Naruto is the Prince?’

“It’s okay! I’m glad I got to meet Sasuke-chan!”

“Naruto!” A voice called from ahead.

“Tousan! Look, I made a new friend today!” Naruto exclaimed, running towards a blond man who was walking towards them. The blond man took Naruto in his arms and hugged him.

While Sasuke was still amazed that the blonde boy was the Prince, Itachi was mortified. First, he had to play baby-sitter to his little brother, and then said brother gets lost. Finally, he finds him with Prince Naruto, of all people, and now the King caught them in the act. ‘This…cannot possibly get any worse!’

“Oh? Is that so?” Arashi-sama asked, patting Naruto in the head while Naruto held onto his neck, looking at Sasuke with a smile.

“Un!”

That was when the King looked over towards the boy his son was pointing at, who in turn was held by one of the Uchiha servants. He, of course, knew the servant, since it was somewhat hard to ignore such a young, intense kid as Uchiha Itachi.

“Oh? Is that your little brother, Itachi-san?”

“Hai, Kazama-sama” Itachi replied, bowing lower.

"Ahh, I've told you not to call me that, it's embarrassing." The young King said, with his right hand rubbing the back of his head.

Naruto squirmed, wanting to get out of his father’s hold so that he could talk to Sasuke. His father put him down on the floor, so he walked over towards Sasuke and took his smaller hands on his own.

Once Naruto took a hold of his hands, Sasuke started blushing like a tomato. He didn’t know if it was because of embarrassment or giddiness. Probably both.

“He’s my new best friend!” Naruto declared, still holding onto Sasuke’s smaller hands.

Since that moment, Sasuke became Prince Naruto’s official best friend/playmate.

Little Sasuke was ecstatic, of course. The best part of the deal was that he wouldn’t be alone anymore, since all the other kids from the Uchiha clan were older than he was, and he was too shy to talk to other people.

During the next five years, their friendship grew stronger and stronger until they really became best friends. The other nobles of course, found it wrong and distasteful how the Prince was acquainted with such a low-class family as the Uchiha, but the King rarely cared about the other’s opinions and only cared about making his son happy.

On that particular day, Naruto and Sasuke were playing hide-and-seek in the garden when suddenly they were interrupted when two servants walked in.

Naruto, of course, didn’t find it amusing. “What the-?” He was interrupted by a hand covering his mouth.

“Shh. Let’s hide!” Sasuke took a hold of his hand and they quickly hid behind the bushes. Since they were curious, they started to spy on the servants from their hiding place. The servants, a man and a woman, were oblivious to anyone and started kissing.

“What are they doing?” That particular question was whispered by one curious Naruto.

“Baka. You should know by now, we’re 12 years old!”

“Shut up! It’s not my fault that I’m not told this kind of things! Now answer me!”

“Shhh! They’re kissing, dobe!” ‘Ugh, gross!’

They kept looking until the servants left, then they came out of the bushes and sat down on the ground; one boy had the tip of his ears red and cheeks, while the other one was looking pensive at the ground, arms crossed.

“Kissing?”

“Yes, kissing. It’s what grown ups do when they care for each other.”

“Hmm. Hontou?”

“Hai. Aniki told me, so it must be true”. That was one conversation Sasuke wouldn’t forget in years to come. He still remembered asking his aniki about kissing when he was younger, and Itachi’s response was an explanation which he didn’t understand half of what was being said, only that it involved locked lips, lots of spit, and that it should be done when he’s older like say, 30.

“Hmm. It looked nasty though!” Naruto said with a sour look on his face.

“Well, married people do that a lot, so I guess for them it isn’t.” He knew what he was talking about, since he’d caught his parents in the act many times. And doing other things. ‘Ugh. Best to STOP thinking about it. Just thinking about IT makes me want to gag.’

On that day, Uchiha Sasuke was mentally scarred for life.

“Really?”

“Un.”

“Nee, Sasuke! When we’re older, I’m going to make you my bride! And when we’re married, we can try the kissing bit!”

….
….

“W-what? You can’t do that! I’m a boy!” Sasuke sat up with his back straight, his face turning into a deep shade of red.

Naruto didn’t see anything wrong with that. “So? I’m a Prince and I can do what I want!”

“Baka! Not this kind of stuff!”

And so the conversation went back and forth until it was time for Sasuke to go back home, and Naruto to go back to his duties as a Prince. However, before Sasuke left for the day, Naruto stopped him with a look and took his ring from his finger, giving it to Sasuke who was staring blankly at him.

“Here! So that you don’t forget our promise!”

“Our promise? What are you talking about?”

“I told you! I’m going to make you my bride!”

“What? It was you who said it, I never agreed for anything!” Nevertheless, Sasuke took the ring in his hand and hid it in his pocket.

“Yea well, what I say goes! Besides, I’m leaving tomorrow on a trip, so you’ll have my ring as company!”

“You’re leaving tomorrow?” Sasuke tried to keep his face as blank as possible on the outside, while on the inside he was feeling sad that his only friend was leaving.

“Un! It was decided at the last minute. Anyways, keep it with you at all times!”

“Sometimes, I don’t understand how your mind works. How will a ring keep me company?”

“Just keep the ring, so that every time you look at it, you’ll remember me and our promise! Nya! God knows you’ll probably be bored, since you practically ignore everyone else!”

“Hn.”

After saying goodbye, Sasuke went on his way to the kitchen to look for his brother. If anyone noticed the silly smile on his face, his flushed cheeks and his hand holding something in his pocket, they didn’t mention it.

When he got home, he quickly went to his room and after locking the door; he sat on his bed and took the ring from his pocket. He held it in his hand, heart beating faster and he was sure he had that silly smile. It was a simple ring, but to him it held so much significance and a promise. He took the ring and placed it on his necklace so that he wouldn’t lose it, and like Naruto told him, have it with him at all times.

That night, he went to sleep with a gentle smile on his face and his right hand covering the ring.

Alas, for Sasuke, his happiness was cruelly snatched away when he woke up a few days later.

He was helping his mother make breakfast that morning when he heard the news.

His dear friend, Prince Naruto, was missing, and people were saying he was dead. Once he heard the news, he ran to his room and threw himself into his bed, silent tears running down his cheeks.

And this is where this tale begins...About two souls that have been separated by circumstances and time...but meet each other by chance in the near future...

I have a thing for YonIta so I'm debating on whether to add it as a secondary pairing. Chapter 1 is being written as we speak and will probably take place 3 or 4 years later. Feedback is much appreciated (and will definitely make me update faster!). Though it will probably take some time in updating this one, because I'm starting school on July. ;-;