Ghost

Prologue

"Sasuke."

His name sounded strange and distant. It was as if he was submerged, deeply, into a pond filled with frozen water that chilled his body down to the very bone and stopped the heart he had no idea was still beating inside him.

Tsunade was in front of him. She sat behind her large, cluttered desk, blonde hair long and luscious and face as youthful as the first time he had seen her. But the usual expression of annoyance she wore every time she had him in her office to deal with his arrogant and emotionless countenance was nowhere in sight. Replacing it was a mask of genuine concern; her amber eyes were fixed on his still figure, watching him carefully, worryingly. For once, there was no bottle of sake standing tall and proud on top of her desk.

"What?" His voice was rough when he spoke. His throat felt parched, as if his tongue hadn't tasted a single drop of water in the last twenty-four hours.

At that point, he would have believed anything—even that.

Tsunade sighed, folding her hands carelessly on top of a yellow envelope. "Sasuke, I am aware of how hard hearing such news must be for you. However—"

"No, no," he interrupted, taking a step closer in his panicked state. "You don't understand. Repeat what you said."

His demeanor was calm, calmer perhaps even than what she was used to, but the Hokage wasn't so easily fooled.

With yet another heavy sigh, she stood and walked over to the large, panoramic window that overlooked a slumbering Konoha. Dawn was breaking, but the heavy clouds that pushed down upon the village impeded the sun from breaking through. The atmosphere had been charged since early evening, and the promise of a thunderstorm was now impossible to ignore.

It was ironic, if not a tad bit cruel, how the weather reflected the mood that had enveloped her office, replicating it so perfectly.

"Repeating it will not make it any less real, Sasuke," she announced, after a lengthy silence. "You heard right."

The Uchiha found it hard to breathe, much less swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. "You mean, my brother…"

"Your brother has a daughter," she announced, her tone cutting through his hesitance abruptly and almost cruelly. "And, as of now, you are her only living relative."

"How is that possible?" he hissed, his vicious glare digging into her back. There she was, turning his life upside down, and she didn't even have the decency to face him. "What do you mean I'm her only living relative? What about her mother? Where is her mother? Who is his mother?"

"Her mother was a civilian woman from a small village in Fire Country whose name I'm not allowed to divulge for obvious reasons. And she…" Tsunade paused, taking in a deep breath as she finally turned to face him. "She left her."

"What?" he breathed, gaping. He wanted to scream, but his voice left him.

"This child is an Uchiha, Sasuke. Her mother knew the identity of her father; she was perfectly aware of who he was and where he came from. Because of that, she came to the conclusion that it would be better for her if she lived here, in Konoha, in her father's hometown… with her uncle."

"Fuck, don't say that!" he snapped, reeling back. "Don't—That's bullshit! You don't just leave your child for someone else to look after!"

"I'm sorry, Sasuke," Tsunade said, genuinely. "I know—"

"I don't know the first thing about a baby!" he exclaimed, the panic clear in his voice. "A girl? I can't take care of her!"

"She only has you, Sasuke," the blonde insisted gently.

"I can't do that!" he almost yelled in response.

In all the time she had known him, from spotting him on the streets when he was a mere child, to dealing with him when he was a rowdy Genin, to watching him broken but still fighting on the battlefield, Tsunade had never once seen him so distressed, and showing so much emotion.

"She's family, Sasuke," she tried to reason with him. Had the situation been another, there was no doubt she would have, by now, already lost her patience. But one had to be blind not to be aware of every single painful implication. "She's your niece—and she needs you. I know this is difficult, but I also know you're not one to leave your family behind."

Her final words seemed to be his undoing; his tense posture relaxed, and the fury in his eyes retreated, leaving heart-wrenching pain in its wake.

"Fine." His answer was a mere whisper in the silent room, but it was there, and that was more than Tsunade could have asked for.

"Come with me to the hospital so that you can meet her, then."

"Hey! Hey, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto's overly-excited voice greeted them as soon as they stepped out of the elevator on the second floor of the hospital.

Tsunade took a moment to wonder whether it had truly been the best idea to allow Sakura to inform him of the current situation.

"Sasuke-teme! Is it true? Sakura-chan told me! Is it true? Is it?"

"Shut your mouth, Naruto," the Hokage ordered before Sasuke could, pushing past him.

The Uchiha acknowledged no one as walked silently at her side, almost as though in a trance; his head was down, watching his feet, and his hands were buried in his pockets. It was clear he never had the smallest intention of sparing even his best friend a single word, and the blond seemed to catch on that, as he immediately quieted and began to follow them—his excitement palpable, but toned down.

It was a miracle he was able to obey her command and keep silent while in that state, and Tsunade was almost certain he was biting his tongue, but she was thankful for that, regardless.

Together, the three made their way down the long corridor that stretched ahead of them; people moved aside as they saw the Hokage in the lead, nodding their heads in respect. Taking a right turn, the blonde-haired woman stopped before a door and swiped an ID card through; one more right turn, and they came to a stop in front of a large window overlooking a small, standard hospital room.

Naruto was with his face stuck to the glass in an instant; Sasuke simply took his stand beside him, hands still in his pockets, onyx eyes unreadable as he gazed forward unflinchingly. The distance he left between him and the window spoke volumes about his true feelings, though; he was hesitant, and, probably without even realizing, afraid.

In all reality, his vision was so clouded and his mind so full he was having a hard time realizing where he was, what he was supposed to be doing, and what it all meant. All he could do was grasp the magnitude of the situation—and it staggered him.

"Dude!" It was Naruto's awed exclamation that brought him back down to Earth. "Look at her!"

His mouth was dry as his eyes seemed to suddenly focus on the sight in front of him.

The room that stretched behind the glass panel was small, with white walls and clean floors. There was a cabinet pushed up against the wall, opposite to the window, where a nurse, scrubbed up in sterile clothing, stood with her back to them and scribbled something on a clipboard. To the left, there was a chair, with a small table beside it. To the right, there was what he could only guess was a small incubator—and there, inside, was an even smaller human being.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head. He could barely glimpse her tiny feet, but he already felt sick to the stomach.

"Kami, she's the smallest, most adorable being I've seen in my entire life!" Naruto continued.

Sasuke swallowed hard in an effort to quench his nausea, and refused to raise his head or respond in any way, shape, or form to his friend's words.

Noticing that, the blond turned to face him, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Are you seriously never going to pull that stick out of your ass?" he demanded. "Not even now? What the hell is your problem?"

Upon hearing that, the Uchiha reacted in an instant, snapping his head up to glare at his best friend. "My problem?" he hissed. "Are you that fucking stupid? I can't take care of a baby!"

"Geez, Sasuke, snap out of your stupid bubble! It's not like you have a choice! She's already here—and she's your family."

"Look, Sasuke," Tsunade cut in before the argument could turn into a physical fight. Stepping in front of Naruto, her body language commanded silence and attention, yet her tone remained gentle and as understanding as possible. "There are options. We can go through all of them if you want. You had to know, because this woman left her child to you and because she is your niece; I thought and hoped that you would want her, but no one is going to force you to do anything you do not want to do. If you don't think you can handle—or for some reason you don't want her, you have enough options to choose from."

Sasuke cringed at the words she had used. His thoughts had never revolved around him not wanting her, but simply…

"If you do decide to give her up for adoption, though… you have to consider the consequences. She may have the Sharingan, and if she does, you won't have any rights over her then."

"I don't…" He tried to speak, but what could he say? He couldn't sort out his thoughts and he couldn't even begin to understand his emotions.

"You don't have to give me an answer now," Tsunade told him. "Take some time to think about it. You need it."

With a shaky sigh passing his lips, Sasuke swung the door of his refrigerator shut with so much force it shook the machine and the wooden structure it was cradled into. Slapping his hands on the counter, he bent down and squeezed his eyes shut, willing with all his might for his nausea to leave him.

He had been searching for a bottle of water; his entire kitchen, however, was devoid of any nutritional substance except for a granola bar that he hadn't eaten on his latest mission and half a box of cereals that he couldn't use because he didn't have milk.

"Fuck," he spat. He didn't have food in the house, and he'd been back for nearly a week. He couldn't take care of himself; how was he supposed to take care of a child?

Groaning, he pushed away from the counter and swiftly turned around. Grabbing his keys and wallet from the table, he stormed out of the house and down the stairs, heading out into the early morning air for the supermarket. He had known it was high time he refilled his fridge and cabinets—he had found out the night before, when he'd actually wanted to cook dinner and ended up ordering a pizza because there wasn't anything in his entire house that he could use.

He shook his head, finding the entire situation cruelly ironic.

There he was, only a couple of hours prior: spread out on his couch, watching television with bored disinterest, munching on a slice of warm pizza, thinking about how he'd have to pass by the grocery store on his way back home from training the following day.

There he was, that very morning: pulled from his comfortable bed by a persistent knock at the door, called in for a meeting with the Hokage by a masked ANBU, thinking he'd have to leave grocery shopping for another time, because he had another mission to head out on.

And now, here he was: with everything he had come to know in the past couple of months thrown upside down by five words and a being so small it was barely visible.

He didn't want to turn his back on her. Not because she was small and helpless and only had him, not because his entire existence had been centered on his family, but because she was his brother's daughter. Not because she was his niece. Because she was Itachi's child.

She was… she was… she was family.

Kami, he didn't want to abandon her, like her mother had obviously already done. But wouldn't it be better for her if he stayed away? Wouldn't it be better for her if she was taken in by someone who actually knew what they were doing? He'd fucked up his entire life, made more mistakes than he could count, and they expected him to raise a child and actually do a good job at it? It was a plan destined for failure, if you asked him.

Too bad nobody ever had.

Walking down streets that were only beginning to sizzle with activity, he stopped right in front of the supermarket.

A moment passed.

He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, resigned. His feet moved, and led him forward.

The hospital was large and busy, and nobody paid him a speck of attention. The door to what he could recall Tsunade had called the NICU was wide open, and although he was aware of the fact that access to the area was restricted, he never even considered announcing his presence. If anything, he had a right to be there.

As little attention as he had paid when he was there earlier that day, Sasuke knew exactly where he was heading.

The window and the room were the same. Inside, there was no nurse, no sign of life other than the small being breathing steadily in the corner.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke let out a long, even breath, willing for his heartbeat to calm; leaning forward, he rested his hands and his forehead on the hard glass. The coldness seeped into his skin and traveled through his body until it seemed to wrap around his heart so completely it froze it for the second time that day.

How could he fail his brother again?

A/N: This idea hit me exactly three days ago, and I was so excited that it was all I thought about. It still is. So, with the risk of falling even further behind with my updates, I decided to post it! Because I am, as I said, so freaking excited.

I have a very clear idea of where I want it to go. There will be twelve chapters, each for one month in the baby's life; there will be drama and there will be cuteness, and I hope you will enjoy!

Sasuke is seventeen here, as is Sakura and Naruto. He did try to kill Sakura, but he turned on Madara and helped win the war afterward. He never had any meeting whatsoever with Itachi or the former Hokage.

Also, keep in mind that I have no real life experience with a baby. I only held one once in my entire life, and I was about ten years old at the time. So, all my information will be taken from the internet.

Please review and let me know what you think! Much love and many cookies will then come your way! :)