There had been only one place that he could think to go while trying to find a fix to his situation. He had set the house up in flames and hadn't stayed a second to watch it burn but had made his merry way through the borders of Japan. He relished in the fact that he'd gained his full speed back at such a time because this time running was an option for escape. He could sprint past the civilians on the streets and they would be non the wiser of his presence unless they felt him breeze by.

In his arms –sheltered by a nest of blankets- was his orphan. He'd left the child to sleep in a rocker that he'd spotted in the family's living room and placed the blond into it as gently as he could before proceeding to go through the motions of covering up his tracks.

He had first went upstairs in searched of the nursery and had packed the bare essentials. Pampers, wipes, blankets, toys, pacifiers, and extra clothes were all piled into a large diaper bag. Whatever room was left was reserved to the many bottles of formula that he'd made by following the directions on the back of the box step by step.

He'd made good use of whatever types of oils that he could find in the kitchen and bathroom, and anything that read 'warning; highly flammable, and spread it around the home the best he could. He stood at the back door with the baby in one arm and the diaper bag thrown over his shoulder as he spared one last look at what was to be the child's past before dropping a match onto the carpet.

Sasuke had decided that bringing the child to America was inevitable. He didn't really care about what investigators would think of the fire. It was obviously murder. So long as those bodies burned good –and he'd made sure of that- he'd have no worries. They wouldn't know what to make of the child's disappearance, another miniscule detail that he could care less about, but what did concern him was the fact that the child was obviously full American if the bright blond hair, blue eyes and natural tan was anything to go by. He wanted to give the poor thing an actual chance and knew that he'd be better off around people that he could easily fit in with.

What to do with him when he got to America was what he was currently trying to figure out now as he ran at his fullest with hopes of getting to America in at least two days time, with a one night stop at an In for the child's sake. First thing was to get the boy an identity and he knew people who could do that for him. It was with those thoughts in mind that he pondered what would be the fastest route to Woolwine, Virginia.

oOoO

Sasuke had stopped counting time a long time ago. He saw no point in counting time, days, or years anymore because when someone had an endless supply of time on their hands it eventually became meaningless. He rose with the sun and settled with the sun; story of his life. So he'd never bothered with a watch and if it wasn't for time keeping it sure as hell wasn't going to be for the sake of style. He didn't bother with fashion. So long as he didn't roam around naked he could care less about what decorated his body. He kept clean clothes suitable to the weather as to not attract attention and kept it as simple that; Sequel to his life story. So he wasn't sure of when he'd arrived to his destination of Woolwine, Virginia exactly, or if it would be acceptable to show up on anyone's doorstep with such a situation at such a time, or at all for that matter.

Sasuke wasn't sure about a lot of things. Would the clan of vampires that he'd once belonged still reside in these areas? What would they think of him when they learned of his situation? Would they trust him? It was only as he was nearing the borders of Virginia that he'd thought to question his immediate plan. He had begun in the direction of a small forest that would lead him to a neighborhood of secluded mountain homes -with a squirming and restless infant on his hip- when he'd decided that it was best if they'd stay in a motel for the night and try for help in the morning.

It wasn't hard to find one though Sasuke supposed he might have looked a bit queer walking down long roads holding a child in his arms if the few stares that he'd received where anything to go by. He sighed in relief when he finally spotted a decent building labeled 'Good Ol Hospitality.' The lobby was empty of anyone except the lady at the clerk desk who looked to be in her mid forties sporting the maroon colors that decorated the inn.

She took to the child immediately. Cooing and making ridiculous faces at him trying to coax a smile out of the tiny human had become more of a duty than her job. "Oh he's so cute isn't he? Aren't you little fellow? Hi! Hi! Hi!" Blue eyes were alight with child like curiosity; Sasuke on the other hand found it all painfully annoying to watch. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small plastic card to catch her attention.

He was almost ashamed when he'd had to stoop to stealing a man's credit card at a local shopping center a few states back. But he had no money on him and would be damned if he didn't provide the child a place to rest his head at night. That was how he had paid for his first hotel, for the simulac formula when the kid had ran out of milk, and admittedly just about anything that caught the child's interest whenever they'd stop at a store. And the account had yet to freeze on him.

Sasuke waited with baited breath as the clerk swiped the visa to put in his request for a room whilst she threw occasional puckered kisses at the baby who sat on his hip. A barely audible sigh was released when the card was finally handed back to him as the lady gave him direction to his room in a cheerful manner. He thanked her and was on his way.

It wasn't until he had gotten them to their room that he finally caught a glimpse at the time.

10:17 p.m.

He'd been right in his decision to wait for the night. His old clan lived like humans and it wouldn't do to show up at their doorstep so late. He gazed long and hard at the slobbering child lying on the only bed and sighed a long and burdened sigh. The boy was still a bit apprehensive about Sasuke. He had the feeling that he'd have noting to do with him at all if it wasn't clear to even the simplest of minds that Sasuke was all he had at the moment. He figured it might have been fear. Sasuke could only imagine the monster that he'd seen terrorizing his kitchen.

The elder sighed tiredly as he bent to scoop the child into his arms. Big blue eyes regarded him curiously for a moment before a tiny hand drenched with slobber reached out to swat at his nose. Sasuke frowned in distaste and stretched out his arms to hold the child at a distance. The little blond mimicked the slight tilt of Sasuke's lips, his little nose scrunched in displeasure as he reached out both his hands in an attempt to explore the unfamiliar face. "No that's disgusting."

He shook his head in two firm motions to make himself clear. A whimper escaped the child's mouth in what Sasuke had come to know as a warning. His parents might have spoiled the infant because he'd wail insistently if he weren't granted his every wish. In the end he'd given in figuring he had caused the child enough grief already even though he wasn't old enough to understand death, even though his mother might have stood in front of him to shield those innocent eyes from murder, Sasuke couldn't live with himself if he ever found himself being the cause of tears spilling out of those precious blue eyes.

So his face had been thoroughly drenched in slobber by the time he had finished going through the motions of grooming and feeding the child as he prepared them both for bed. He was out only moments after Sasuke laid him on his pillow. It only took a few gentle pats of encouragement before quiet snores would sync with the rising and falling of his chest.

Besides him Sasuke lay pondering on his long blonde eyelashes that rested along ruby tinted cheeks. Those small fist clenching the pillowcase, sunshine locks gliding across the fabric when he would snuggle his checks into its warmth. It made something in his heart stir. He almost felt important to know that he held something so precious in his care and would admit that a part of him was dreading the moment when he would have to part with the child.

Though maybe that was because he'd go back to having absolutely no purpose afterwards. With a heavy sigh Sasuke closed his eyes and evened out his breath as he tried to persuade his mind to shut down for some much needed sleep. But it wasn't for another hour that sleep finally claimed his troubled mind. Burdened by thoughts of the future.

oOoO

The next morning found Sasuke and his little blonde baggage trailing through the wide expanse of forest that leads to the mountain homes where he used to live. It wasn't long before the house came into view. It was a fairly large house, vintage in its build, but sturdy and very well maintained. Four large pillars led a path to the wide oak wood door that Sasuke now stood outside. He drew in a large breath before raising his fist and tapping his knuckles against the glass at the center of door. He was hardly surprised when it swung open barely a second after he'd made contact.

A large shadow loomed over his figure as a equally large man stepped up to the doorway. Grey eyes assessed the two males standing on his porch for a long while, curiosity shinning in their depths. "I was wondering when you'd finally find the galls to knock. You've been standing out here for at least five minutes." He stepped to side, tilting his head in invitation as he turned and walked into the house, his long white tresses swaying behind him. The raven adjusted the sleeping child on his shoulder as he closed the door behind him and followed his old friend down a long hallway that lead them inside the living room. "Well as you can see I have a bit of a dilemma and was trying to piece it all together in my mind before I could even think of how I would explain it to you."

Those grey eyes were immediately drawn back to tiny human who was happily drooling away on Sasuke's shirt. "I can't possibly imagine what you could have come up with." Both men turned at the sound of a new voice coming to them from their left. A tall busty blonde by the name of Tsunade walked over to them with her arms crossed over her large chest. She shared a look with her husband Jiraiya and then they were both eyeing the small child, a million questions in their gazes. Sasuke drew in a deep breath and let it out rather dramatically. "He has no parents...because of me." Shame and guilt clouded his tone. "I burned the house with the bodies inside."

He gave them simple explanation leaving the rest up to their imaginations. Tsunade nodded slowing in understanding. "He has no other family?" Sasuke shrugged. "Don't think so. He's defiantly American though he and his family were living out in Japan. I figure if they did have family they couldn't have been that close. Either way I couldn't just leave him in hopes that he did because if I assumed right then…"

"Then he'd be all alone." Jiraiya cut in nodding his head in understanding.

"Hn, I didn't exactly have time to make other arrangements for him. I could only think to bring him with me because one thing for sure is that they won't be looking for him here."

"And you want Shikamaru to make him a birth certificate?" Tsunade was quick to guess and Sasuke could appreciate that they were taking the time to try and understand and piece the solution to his situation.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes and from there I can find a random foster home to leave him with." Tsunade frowned and stepped forward, stretching her arms out for the child. Jiraiya turned down the hall she had come from with the intent of getting Shikamaru on the phone. When Sasuke had finally handed the child over and into Tsunade's much gentler arms he felt a huge relief wash through him as though a burden had been lifted.

He'd admit that he felt much better knowing that he wasn't alone in this any more. He sighed a tired sigh as he went to sit in the recliner adjacent to the large three seated couch in the middle of the room. He almost smiled to himself when he remembered all the times Jiraiya would banter with anyone who sat in this very seat years ago when he used to call himself apart of this family. In the back of his mind he idly wondered where the rest had wandered.

They had all lived in Virginia, none of them lingering too far from Wool Wine. Everyone had made a point of settling around Jiraiya and his wife after they had deliberately went out of their way to shelter them all when they were lost and bitter about their fate. The couple had showed them how to live as humans and eventually they'd all found themselves content, happy eventually, and after so many years of living they'd all eventually found love. All of them had found peace except for Sasuke of course.

A heavy hand colliding with the back of his head startled him out his musing. He jumped out of his seat hissing and glaring intently at the busty woman who'd struck him. She glanced down at the sleeping child to see that he wasn't disturbed before meeting Sasuke's glare with equal fever. "Where do you go off disappearing on us Uchiha! No warning no goodbyes! Had us all sick on your behalf!"

The young Uchiha was almost caught stuttering as he struggled to retort. He didn't know whether to be angry for being reprimanded like a child or touched that she cared more for him than he'd wanted to admit years ago before he left. Lucky for him he was saved from having to answer when the bundle of blue and yellow began to stir in Tsunade's arms. The child's mouth opened wide in a tired yawn, his little arms stretching out in front of him, and his blue eyes blinking away sleep as he took in his surroundings. Tsunade adjusted the boy a bit for his comfort, a small smile tilting her lips as she watched him adoringly.

"Hey there." Blue eyes widened in alarm at the unfamiliar voice before snapping up to face the hazel's starring back at him. A frowned marred his pouting lips as the boy began searching around the room frantically with his eyes. His blond tresses swayed every which way and Sasuke was surprised to find that his search ended when those eyes landed on him.

A loud wailing summoned Jiraiya back into the room in his eagerness to sate his curiosity about the human who Sasuke had momentarily brought into their lives. Tsunade's head tilted in wonder as the child squirmed in her hold, his little fingers flexing as they reached out for Sasuke.

"Would you look at that? He's attached to you. Who would have thought that Sasuke would be so good with children?" Said Uchiha's eyes widened in slight alarm when Tsunade simply shrugged and carded the baby back into his arms, the crying ceasing immediately.

"It's only been two days." It wouldn't do for the child to be attached to him when they might have had only a day or so left to be in each other's company.

"Yes and for two days you've been all that he's known. He's been exposed to a new country, new sceneries, and new faces. For two days the only thing that's been consistent has been you. You're barely even a stranger." Tsunade frowned as she gazed at the child in sympathy. "It's going to be an heart breaking experience when you desert him." Her tone of voice, her eyes, her words were all accusing.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "It has to be done regardless. There's no other option."

"There are always options Sasuke." He frowned deeply already knowing where she was going with this. "You've lost you mind completely if you're suggesting what I think you are." He gave her a long pointed look as if expecting her to deny his assumption. She simply stared back and that was all the answer he needed. He strolled up to her with -his gaze cold and unwavering- and held the child up to her face. He studied her with a slight turn of his head to eye her in a manner that was almost condescending. He pushed the baby even closer. Her nose wrinkled and before she had even known what she was doing she had taken a step back.

Sasuke's answering smirk was cold –damn near artic- and if Tsunade were human she was sure her arms would be breaking out in goose bumps. She almost forgot how intimidating Sasuke could be but was quick to be reminded. When Jiraiya had first welcomed the loner into their home, the others had been a little weary of him. The man's entire persona was intimidating from his dark features, his strong but lithe build, and the elegance and grace portrayed in every single precise move that he made. Sasuke was precise at everything especially in his instincts. He was the perfect hunter and the perfect killer. And if that wasn't enough to intimidate the few of them who had less experience in a vampire's natural savage way of living. It was only a bit more disconcerting when one witnessed the sheer dizzying speeds that the Uchiha could travel that guaranteed no escape.

Sasuke was defiantly more deadly than most and at first Tsnade had been a bit reluctant to take him in but Jiraiya was unbothered by the man's aloofness and was unyielding. Over time though, they were able to take Sasuke's impassionate demeanor for what it was. The man was lonely. Of course there was more to it but the Uchiha was a puzzle that they weren't going to pretend to understand. They only accepted him for what he was and eventually warmed up to him.

Of course now, as Tsunade starred into that cold ebony gaze, she couldn't help but be reminded of the time where they all had to question Sasuke's sanity. Because the slight tilt to the boy's lips at that moment, wasn't entirely sane.

"You have no idea of just how badly I've wanted to rip into his throat for the past few hours. My last feed, it's wearing off. And even you with your constant access to blood cannot deny him. Hazel eyes narrowed dangerously in denial but she just couldn't stop them from traveling to where she knew the boy's pulse pumped under the cotton blue onesie that he wore. To be completely honest, that strange mixture of warm honey and green apples was strangely appealing and it forced her to exercise a bit of that self-discipline that she'd installed in herself in her many years of walking dead.

But as her eyes roamed their way back to the dark being holding him she could tell that the scent and the allure was something else to Sasuke completely. His nostrils flared as he breathed in a deed and suffering sigh. A growl brew deep in Sasuke's chest immediately catching the child's attention that had previously been on the little fingers that sat collecting slobber in the boy's mouth. He squirmed and strained his neck trying to look behind himself to determine where the noise had come from; his blue eyes alight with curiosity.

"I don't know what the hell this kid is made of but damn if I've ever come across anything that smelt so divine." He scowled hatefully and Tsunade was tempted to grab the baby out of his arms. She would have done it to, but then those pale lids were closing over hazy onyx and they stayed that way for a full minute -much to the child's impatience- before they lifted to show that Sasuke had gotten himself under control.

He sighed again –a burdened sigh- before pulling the fussy child into a gentler embrace against his chest. He looked down into those blue eyes and shook his head wearily as the boy began to suck on his own knuckles. Tsunade watched the two, pride swelling her chest as she witnessed Sasuke suppress his most urgent need in place of an even higher priority. Keeping that child safe and well.

"I will admit, even with all of my practice he can be a bit... tempting. But you're stubborn enough to resist him out of sheer will if I provide you with a consistent supply of blood. Here the Uchiha was starting to get irritated that Tsunade was genuinely pushing this idea. The fact that she could hold true to her word of a consistent feeding due to her actually owning the town's main emergency hospital didn't apply to Sasuke and his many obvious reasons of being so against raising a human child.

He shook his head as if to dismiss the conversation actually getting that message across as he turned his back to her in search of the baby blue diaper bag he had come in with. He completely disregarded the piercing glare that he could literally feel being aimed at the back of his head. "If you think that dismissing me is going to equal to you dismissing your problems Uchiha-"

"-I'm not dismissing you I am simply taking him upstairs so that I may change and feed him, he's hungry," said Uchiha interrupted.

A frown of slight disbelief and suspicion marred her ageless face. "I haven't heard a single cry out of him to suggest that he's hungry. That's a shit ex-"

"-He is sucking on his knuckles," Sasuke interrupted again. "That means that he's hungry and if I don't feed him soon we'll all be getting an earful." He grabbed the bag off of the edge of the coffee table that sat in middle of the large room before making a full 360 on his heels in the direction of the stairway that led to the guest bedrooms.

"Sasuke do you hear yourself," she breathed as he passed her. "A couple of days in each others company, and considering the fact that he had no one else at this point, you already know him better than anyone."

Sasuke sighed tiredly but kept on walking by not stopping until his left foot landed on the first step. "Tsunade, a vampire can not raise a human child. I am not father material. I cannot parent him nor will I ever be able to provide him a mother. He deserves parents; normal human parents and he should belong to a normal human family. This family is not normal. If I settled down and allowed this child into my life then consequently, he'd have to be surrounded by of all the vampires that have attached themselves to you and your husband. I would be putting his life in jeopardy every day not just with the test of my own will but everyone else's also. You all sit here and you pretend to be something you are not. Me, I face the reality of the situation. We are monsters that fact is to not be overlooked. I haven't overlooked it and as he grows older he'll grow suspicious and he wont over look it himself. Where would we go from there? How would he handle the knowledge that his whole life has been full of secrets and lies? I will not do that to him and if you are so cruel that you'd be willing to subject him to such a life then you should keep him for yourself."

And with that he had disappeared from their sight in less time than it took for them to blink. Tsunade was left to stare after him in frustration for only a second before she turned troubled eyes to her husband who had been silent this entire time. He gazed back at her levelly and could tell that she was frustrated that all of her efforts had gotten her nowhere. "You must have a reason as to why you are so insistent with this." He wondered aloud. "Would you like to share?"

His wife sighed wistfully before moving to sit next to him on the couch.

"Its just that… I don't know what it is in his past that he's holding on to but I do know is that Sasuke is lonely." A scowl pulled at her lips, "stubborn, down right rude and arrogant, but still lonely. And that child, he's alone. I think that under all that indifference Sasuke has a lot of love to give. I think that if he'd just consider it then he would realize that he could love that child a hundred times more intense than anyone else could. And with Sasuke being all that he has at this point I think it would be good for Sasuke if he could have that child's full and undivided attention. Everyone else has found themselves someone to call our own." Here Jiraiya gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "It would do him a lot of good if Sasuke could have something to call his own to."

Jiraiya nodded his head slowly as he took in and considered everything that she had said. "I can understand your point but at the same time I can defiantly understand his also. There's a lot of backlash that can come with what you are proposing. It's an enormous risk for him to take and it's his risk alone. If he decides to take it it'll have to be by his own means and not your own."

Hazel eyes bore hard into the grays of her husband's, her scowl deepening.
"How inconvenient is it that you decide to be uncharacteristically wise at this exact moment when I need it less."

Her gaze immediately softened though when a all too familiar grin stretched his lips wide as he gazed back at her with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "You're talking about me acting out of character?" He almost laughed when her eyebrow gave an irritated twitched as he jabbed his pointer finger in the middle of her chest.

"Who knew that under all that bust, there was a heart buried deep-"

*Poke*

"deep."

*Poke*

"Deeeeeeep!"

*Poke poke poke poke poke*

From the corner of his eyes he could see her left hand curling into a fist, her eyebrow now twitching at an alarming rate. His grin widened even more to the point where his eyes were forced to squeeze shut, and nervous but genuine chuckle flowed from his lips. In his head he started a slow count down from three before he was up and speeding his way around furniture, his wife hot on his ass.