Disclaimer: Like I say all the time, I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!
Part 1: Meeting Father
Sasu-chan's Point of View
I have always known I was different, from the moment I was born, I was not like other children in Konohagure. Not like any Ninja child that was ever raised, I was the child of a psychic and a Ninja. My mother, Hitori lived outside the village and has never really enjoyed my long track to school, but usually I live with my uncle, my name sake.
My name is Uchiha Sasuke, or Sasu as my uncle calls me. I am the son of an S-Class Criminal, but I am not proud of it. I look nothing like my father, though I do resemble my uncle most of the time, I have cobalt blue eyes, but they have recently turned black showing that I am a true Uchiha. My hair is short and black, usually my uncle is the one who combs it out straight, but otherwise I keep it wild. I am of average height for a boy my age, which is five.
I was born in the early spring, and was given my name by my father before he fled the village. I never really met my father, but that could be a lie, sometimes I would see a man in black and red walking about my mother's house. He will motion to me and I would go up to him, he would give me toys and sometimes even tell me things. Once before my birthday he gave me a puppet that a friend of his made, the man had dark orange hair that was short and this man knelt down showing me how to use it. Then just as quietly as they appeared they vanished leaving me alone with my new toy. I never really told my uncle where it came from, all I know is it hung in my mother's home.
I never really spoke much about it to Uncle Sasuke, I could tell it bothered him, he goes on missions and from time to time, he brings me toys to play with. He never says a harsh thing toward me, but I know he resents me.
On the eve of my fifth birthday, my father was caught, I was half awake when my uncle received word and soon dragged me out of bed. I was dressed and was soon being brought to the prison, inside was the man who brought me toys, he sat in a cell, looking dazed and almost pale, he just asked for his son. "I just want to see my little boy," his voice was deep and strange to me, he never struck me as one who spoke with emotion. I walked into the room and my uncle was between us.
"He's very sick," a doctor whispered and looked at my uncle who blinked. "We don't know what he has, but he's dying."
My uncle pulled me behind him as if to shield me from some illness. I finally escaped his grasped and walked up to this man, I saw through the darkness. "You are not To-san," I turned to walk away, the man changed and was standing very close to the bars coughing violently, then I saw blood. "I know, but I taught you how to play with my puppets."
I remembered him now, I walked up and looked up at him. "Where is To-san?"
My uncle pulled me behind him, his voice was cold as he spoke to me about speaking with strangers. "He's no stranger, ask Haha!" Then I covered my mouth, I knew that my mother would never answer it directly, she never once answered a single question of mine with a straight answer.
The next morning I saw Ka-san, she was standing at the gate waiting, that was when Uncle Sasuke did his questions, as usual she just whispered. "All this over a child's toy, Itachi visits his son only once in awhile, he cares nothing for Sasu-chan and you know it!" She pulled me toward the house while my uncle just watched from the gate telling me to come to school tomorrow on time.
I once had a prophetic dream, it was during a time when Kakashi-sensei was watching me, he would sit reading stories to me from a book of fairy tales. When I told him that my mother was going to be very sick and I would not see her again. "I wouldn't say that, Hitori-sama is very strong as a psychic."
Ka-san fell ill during the winter and was forced to move to the house with Uncle and I, she became even more silent. She moved about the house like a ghost, I would watch from my room, soon I learned about my other abilities, the ones that Uncle never liked, but put up with. My abilities to have prophecy made me even more sought after by people outside my home and for whatever reason, I just refused to even give a meeting to such people.
When I went to talk To-san's friend, I became ever more interested in finding my place and wondering why I was forever tormented by the feeling that Uncle hated me. Sasari would listen, every now and then coughing. "It isn't easy to be a psychic and your father knows it, that's why he stays away from you," he looked around the cell and came to look me over. "One day you'll understand why your uncle will forever resent you."
"Is it because I'm the way I am?"
"No, its because of your father and what he did."
I knew why my uncle avoided me when I asked about To-san, I would never spend much time asking anymore. When I realized it upset him, I was only punished with silence, he would glare at me, which was uncommon, but when it came right down to asking about my origins, he never said a word, pointed to a door and I was soon standing in my bedroom. I never cried, I didn't know how, ever since I could remember, I never shed a tear in my life, Uncle Naruto always thought there was something wrong with me. He compared me to this person named Gaara, when I met this Gaara, he said he used to cry a lot, but that was only until he realized that sometimes it never worked.
"Never let people say you're strange," Gaara told me when he left a meeting with Uncle Naruto.
He was right, I should never let people think I am strange, at least that was how I felt about it. I was strange though, I had the Sharingan now, well, sort of, Kakashi-sensei never once let me use it, he was not afraid of it, but more worried I was developing too fast for my own good. "You should never rush things," that's always what he told me when he caught me using it. He would roll up a paper back book and swat my head, then would smile through his mask. "I hope your uncle doesn't make the same mistake your grandfather did."
Then of course I had my little accidents that warranted a good scolding, like the one that had happened one afternoon during my kunai practice. I was allowed to learn self defense before I was allowed into the Ninja Academy, I was supposed to be going in upon my sixth birthday, but Uncle wouldn't hear of it, he stated that he entered at eight and then so should I. I never understood his reasoning, but when I suddenly started mimicking Neji-sama's moves when he was doing a jutsu, I was suddenly hit upside the head by Uncle who was standing right behind me.
"I don't want you to ever use the Sharingan like that again," Uncle stared me down when I walked into the apartment after Kakashi-sensei told him what had happened during my practice training. "Do you hear me?"
I nodded and looked away. "It is just going to happen again and again, I can't help it."
"Yes you can!" Uncle pushed me toward my room. "Just stay in there until dinner."
"You're being a bit harsh, it was an accident," I could hear Kakashi-sensei telling him as I walked into my room. I never eavesdropped, but something about the way Uncle was acting never added up. "Accidents happen, you know that no matter how you hide it and how many ways you restrict Sasu-chan, he will be forever Itachi's son. He will never be like his father. I can just do a little training with him, he might…"
"That's what I worry about, he's just like Aniki. I don't blame Sasu-chan for what his father did, but I am only trying to protect…"
"There is protecting and there is hiding."
They never really argued about me before, but somehow I felt out of place in their world. I knew for a fact that within a month or two, Ka-san would be dead and I would be alone. I pulled out a backpack and started to pack it, I wanted to know the real reason I existed, even if it meant running away, I had to know who I was.
Sasuke's Point of View
When I woke that morning, I found my nephew gone, he wrote he went out to find himself, that was when I started my own personal search. I was partially angry, more than that I was scared for his life. I had never really liked being pushed to raise my brother's son, but when I held Sasu-chan for the first time, I felt no real anger toward my nephew. Now I was going to look for a boy who was possibly in danger of being killed.
He did not make it too far, a five year old child could never make it that far, I caught him by the arm and pulled him back toward the apartment. "You little idiot, what do you think you're doing?" I wanted to yell this when I brought him to his room for punishment, I never raised my hand to my nephew, but this time, I just spanked him and he stared up at me in shock, he never cried until now.
"I want to know why you hate me!" his eyes were filled with such anger and sadness. "What have I ever done?"
I broke down after that, I knelt down and stared at him. "Why would you think I hate you?"
"Because of To-san, I'm his son and he hurt you," his words were just as I feared they would be, I never wanted Sasu-chan to feel like I hated him. I held him close and shook my head.
"I never hated you, from the first time I held you as a baby, I never felt anger. I never wanted you to ever know what happened to our family because you're the only future the Uchiha have. Sasu-chan, never do that again, just think about how Ka-san would feel if you left her by herself," I whispered this and put him back in his bed. "Just sleep in today, just stay a little kid for a little while longer."
I once thought that all I cared about was revenge, but when Hitori and Sasu-chan came into my life, things went upside down, I became a parent at seventeen. Hitori never could take care of Sasu-chan, she became very strange after my nephew's birth. Also I knew that every now and then Sasu-chan would have visions, he would have this dreamy look in his eyes and his face would be stark white like a sheet, he would hold my hand and tremble as he said what he saw.
I considered that for once I became more concerned with my nephew's life more so than my own and hunting down Itachi. When I looked at Itachi's son, I found that I could never bring myself to harm him, even with all Orochimaru had taught me, I was the only future that Sasu-chan had. He was named for me, when I found out his name, my eyes had widened and there I stood in the hospital's small room holding my nephew for the first time in my life as I looked into the clear cobalt blue eyes.
Sasu-chan's eyes started to change color when he was four, now they were as black as mine, but there were times I would see Hitori staring back.
Sasu-chan's Point of View
Uncle never really saw me cry before, but when I did, it was because I was really hurt, I whimpered and cried for the first time in my life. I loved my uncle, he was the only family I ever knew and if I had hurt him I would leave.
"I don't ever want you to do that again, you scared me half to death, Sasu-chan," his voice was soft as he put me to bed.
Days would pass again and I would hear Uncle calling out about some mission, I was sent to live with a man named Iruka-sensei. I had come to know him pretty well, he was surprised that I was not fussy about my uncle leaving. "All right, according to this set of rules, your bedtime is eight, you're still in primary school," he looked at me as I sat down and shook my head.
"I'm home schooled, I'm too advanced for primary," I whispered and looked up at him curiously. "And Uncle does not want to put me in the Ninja Academy until I'm eight."
"I can understand his reasoning for that," Iruka-sensei was looking at my workbook and then down at me in surprise. "Are you sure you're only six?"
I had turned six about a week ago and for all intents and purposes people were kind of asking about my age.