Abandoned

Chapter one

"Mommy, why is Daddy just laying there?" A confused five year old Sasuke asked, not understanding why his daddy wouldn't get up when Sasuke called for him.

"You're Daddy isn't with us anymore." Mikoto answered knowing that Sasuke likely wouldn't understand that answer anymore. She didn't really understand why it had happened either, one day Fugaku had been fine and then a few days later when Mikoto went to wake him up for work, he wouldn't wake up. Mikoto found out later at the hospital that it had been too late to do anything for him, Fugaku had died in his sleep. Now Mikoto wasn't sure what she was going to do, she was left to raise too young boys with a pile of debt that she wasn't sure that she would be able to pay. She wasn't sure how she was going to raise the boy's by herself either.

"Daddy's right there." Sasuke said pointing to the coffin that Fugaku was lying in. "He didn't go anywhere." Sasuke's innocence broke Mikoto's heart, she had no idea how she was going to explain that his daddy wasn't ever going to come back again. No child should ever have to go through this but both of her boy's were looking at the rest of their life without their father.

"Father, isn't coming back." Itachi said from the other side of Mikoto. "He went somewhere that we couldn't."

"But 'tachi Daddy is right there." Sasuke said pointing at his father again. He didn't understand what they were saying about daddy not being there, he was right in front of them so how could daddy not be there anymore?

"I want to go with Daddy." Sasuke said, still not understanding what Itachi was trying to explain.

"You won't be able too for a long time." Itachi replied. "He is in a place that the living can't go."

"Why?" Sasuke asked. "Why did Daddy leave us?"

"Baby, I don't believe he wanted to go, he wouldn't have but he didn't get a say in the matter." Mikoto said gently, as tears filled her eyes. "You're daddy would still be here if he could be, he loved you boys more than life itself."

"I want Daddy back." Sasuke insisted. "Whoever has him can bring him back."

"Oh, baby" Mikoto said hurting for her youngest child. She reached down and picked the small boy up and held him close. She wished this nightmare was over already, she didn't want to be around when Sasuke truly understood that his father wasn't ever coming back. He would be destroyed, and she didn't know if she could that along with her own heart break.

"It's time to say goodbye." Mikoto said softly, hating that they had to do this at all.

"I don't want to say goodbye." Sasuke insisted. "I want my daddy back!"

"Shhh." Mikoto said softly, wishing that she had the power to give Sasuke his wish. "This goodbye isn't forever, just for a little while."

"I don't want to wait a little while." Sasuke whined softly, tears filling in his eyes. Why could she understand that he just wanted his father to come back from wherever he was.

Walking to the front of the room, Mikoto looked down at her husband. He looked more at peace than he had in a long while. Tears filled her eyes, she didn't want to let him go. How was she going to raise her boys? And with the debt they had been in Mikoto knew that the loan sharks would likely be coming after her to make her pay for her husbands gambling debts.

"You were a good man, you just got lost." she murmured, holding Sasuke tightly to her. "You didn't know how to deal with those people without putting your family in danger, but in dying you've only made it worse."

"Daddy wake up." the little Sasuke cried out. "Come back to us." Mikoto glanced at Itachi who stood quietly beside her, tears streaming down his face. Itachi was a good looking boy even at 9 years old, she knew that he would likely be a heart breaker when he got older.

"Father can't hear you, Sasuke," Itachi said quietly, even at his age he understood what death was. He knew that their father had gotten into some serious trouble with some loan sharks and hadn't known how to get out of it. Itachi didn't know whether their father had taken his own life or if something else had caused it, but he knew that his father had only left the debts for their mother to pay.

As Mikoto watched her oldest son say goodbye to his father, she wondered how she would keep both her boys safe. An idea had formed in her head earlier and she knew what she was going to do with Sasuke, but she wondered if Itachi couldn't be a little more useful than his five year old brother.

"Are you boys ready?" Mikoto asked softly, she wasn't going to take the boys to Fugaku's burial, because she had the feeling certain goons would be there demanding immediate payment. Obviously, she didn't have the money to pay them.

"I guess so." Itachi said softly, glancing back at his father once more as they started out the door. When they made it to their car, Mikoto could Sasuke situated in his car seat.

"Are we going home now?" Itachi asked. The whole experience had been draining on him. He was ready to rest, and maybe help Sasuke try to understand what he had meant when he'd said that their father was in a place that they couldn't go.

"Not yet." Mikoto said as she climbed into her drivers seat, her heart aching with what she was about to do. She didn't want things to be this way but she didn't know what else to do. She wouldn't be able to keep both of her boys safe, as it was she knew that the goons would still likely try to claim one of them. She wouldn't let them have both her boys. "I have a stop I need to make." she said as she pulled out of the funeral's homes parking lot.

An hour later she pulled into the parking lot of a large building. After parking, she got Sasuke out of his seat, and told Itachi to stay put that they would be back in a minute.

Upon entering the building, Mikoto and Sasuke were led into an office, where a large man sat behind his desk.

"Is this the boy you told me about when we spoke earlier?" the man asked, eyeing the small boy.

"Yes, this is Sasuke." Mikoto answered as the man handed her a clipboard with some paperwork to fill out.

"You do understand that you are completely terminating your parental rights to him, and that if someone wants to adopt him that they would be able too?" Mikoto nodded and turned her head from Sasuke's questioning look. She didn't want to have to explain to him that she was giving him up to keep him safe. It was killing her to have to do this to begin with. For a moment a flash of anger went through her and what her dead husband was forcing her to do. If Fugaku had made better decisions about their money, then she wouldn't be here now.
"I understand." She told the silver haired man. "I'm doing what I think is best for Sasuke."

"What's adopt mean?" Sasuke asked, not liking the masked man. Something told him that this man would be taking him from his mommy, which only made him wrap his arms around her leg and hold on tightly. When Mikoto didn't answer his question, Sasuke knew something was going on and that he wouldn't like it very much.

"Also if he hasn't been adopted by the time he is thirteen he will be moved to the foster care system. I don't have to tell you that will be harder on him to deal with." The man who had introduced himself as Kakashi said.

"Sometimes we have to make decisions that we don't want to make." Mikoto answered, as she handed the clipboard back to Kakashi.

"Iruka?" the silver haired man called out to a man with a scar across his nose.

"Yes?" the man asked, frowning when he saw how the child held onto his mother's leg. The panic in the child's eyes made his heart hurt. He probably doesn't even realize what's going on Iruka thought.

"I need you to show this boy to his room." Kakashi said, and Iruka nodded and went to over to the boy and kneeling down so that they were eye level.

"I'm Iruka." Iruka said. "What's your name?"

"Sasuke." the dark haired child replied, looking at Iruka suspiciously before tightening his grip on his mother's leg.

"Would you like to be shown around your new home?" Iruka asked.

"Not my home, my home's with Mommy and Daddy." Sasuke answered. "Daddy went on a trip to somewhere I couldn't go, but he'll be back soon. I want to home when he gets there."

"Sasuke." Mikoto said softly, her son's answer breaking her heart. "Daddy won't be home for a long time."

"Then I want to wait with 'tachi for him" Sasuke replied. "Where is 'tachi and why isn't he in here?"

"There are plans for Itachi." Mikoto said "you're going to stay here and be a good boy."

"I don't want to stay!" Sasuke protested as Iruka reached out and grabbed him underneath his arms, pulling him away from his mother.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but this is the way things have to be." Mikoto said softly.

"Take me with you!" Sasuke screamed as Mikoto started towards the door. Tears streaming down his face. "I'll be good, I promise. Take me home with you!" Sasuke watched helpless as Mikoto disappeared through the door of the orphanage.

So what do you think? Should I write more? Thanks for reading and reviewing! Liz!