It was only twenty minutes later that the three elder occupants of the home heard the sound of tires pulling into the driveway. Sasuke's keen ears listened intently to the sounds of a engine dying, a single door being pushed open and closed shut, keys being shuffled, and light footsteps walking along the pavement.
He was more than a little relieved to find that Shikamaru had come alone. He wasn't exactly sure if he would be staying here once this was over though, he knew it would be best that he did. He considered the promise of being relived from his throat parching thirst permanently without actually having to kill to be sated. One would never know that under that dispassionate façade Sasuke wore to perfection, there was compassion and a torrent of raging emotion that always threatened to better him whenever he fell weak to his primal need.
Whatever his decision though, he wanted to be absolutely sure of it before he barged his way into these peoples lives again so the less that knew of him being here the better.
Sasuke scowled, slightly annoyed as he had to try and gently pry little tan fingers from around one of his own for what had the hundredth time since encountering the tiny human. The little tike had taken favor to Sasuke's fingers in place of his own as a chew toy and it was always a pain trying to loosen his hold without hurting the fragile being. The two had been lounging peacefully in the middle of the queen size bed that Jiraiya and Tsunade offered to their guest in one of the spare bedrooms upstairs.
Sasuke took great interest in simply watching the child in all his simplemindedness as his very short attention span wandered from one object to another. In fact the only thing that seemed to keep the child's interest for any length of time was Sasuke himself. Like now, he seemed to be taking great fun in wrestling his exact opposite for the long index finger that he was just itching to drench in slobber.
The elder shook his head in exasperation but inwardly his was more than a little amused at the squeal of innocent laughter that wrung bells around the spacious room. Sasuke sighed and sat up, lifting the small child with him as he prepared to head downstairs to face the inevitable. "Come on blue eyes. We'd better go a build you an identity. I'm sure you miss having an actual name." Said blue eyes lit up in recognition of the little pet name that Sasuke had taken to calling him for the lack of the boy's actual name.
Blue Eyes grinned at him with the few teeth that he actually had, two little white pearls protruding from his gums at the very front of his mouth. Sasuke almost felt obligated to return that smile but fought the twitch of his lips as he made his way out the room and to the banister that looked out over the living area.
Familiar brown eyes lifted to peer over the rail at Sasuke's swift entrance, gazing up at him along with Tsunade and Jiraiya from where they stood exchanging pleasantries in the living room. All conversation ceased immediately as the three occupant's attention shifted immediately the blabbering child who had given up in his battle for Sasuke's finger and raged a new one with the collar of the man's white button up shirt.
Shikamaru Nara's usually bored eyes sparked with interest as he took in the child, a second later and they were dilating in lust. Sasuke tensed immediately, every single bone in his body locked and readied in preparation to either defend or attack as he glared murder at his old friend with cold unwavering eyes. He wasn't even aware that the usual hard onyx had bled into bloody red until a red tint suddenly made its self visible around his vision. Every last instinct was on high alert.
It surprised him. His grip tightened on the oblivious child in his arms as he gave into this insufferable urge to protect at any and all cost. The feeling was more deeply enrooted than instinct and never has his instincts told him to risk his own being -vampires we're beings that were bred to live strictly for self- for another.
Apparently it was surprising for Shikamaru to because the murder intent reeking from the other was enough to pull him wearily back into his bearings. His own instincts were telling him that the feed wasn't entirely worth his safety especially considering the fact that he wasn't even thirsty. Tsunade supplied them all. So it was with a receding growl that he moved his eyes from the child and leveled them evenly onto Sasuke's own in an attempt to placate the man even going so far as far to take a step back.
Dark bangs swayed with the tilt of the Uchiha's head as his sharp eyes followed the movement, followed every move that Shikamaru made. He didn't spare the other two either; in the back of his mind he was very conscious of the two other occupants below him. Jiraiya frowned but waited patiently as those red eyes slowly receded back to stony onyx. Of all of them Jiraiya had the most faith in Sasuke, there was only a select few of his makeshift family that did not feel the need to be cautious of every single one of the Uchiha's mood swings. Sasuke was quite the intimidator.
"I do apologize Sasuke. It has been a while since I've come across a human who could prove a challenge to my self-restraint. I mean him no harm." The Uchiha, now fully composed but still a bit weary eyed the other man as he slowly –very slowly- moved to descend the stairs. "Brace yourself." He growled lowly, the hint of a threat in his voice.
He watched as Shikamaru nodded before he finally made the decline but not before pulling Blue Eyes tighter to his chest. When he made it into the living room he'd literally walked to a corner farthest from the furniture arrangement and sat in it with the intent of distancing the child from Shikamaru. He pulled Blue Eyes into his lap and secured him there in his arms, satisfied that those brown eyes hadn't strayed back to the blond's form.
He might have felt just a little, tiny, miniscule guilt at his actions but couldn't actually bring himself to be sorry. Sure he could sympathize with his friend and maybe he should have warmed him of the child's influence before he'd exposed him to it, but still he would not allow any slip-ups when it came to Blue Eyes' safety.
Still though, Sasuke was all too familiar with the intense burn of a parched throat. He himself had suffered through the stabbing sensation of his fangs desperately pleading to be freed from his gums. It was consistent and nagging and never-fucking-ending, hell he was suffering this very moment but there was something about those azure pools that kept his lust at bay. That forbids even the thought of delivering harm to something so precious.
And maybe Sasuke was the only one who'd caught himself drowning so desperately into those waters that he was able to exercise his self control past it's normal limits, but he'd be the one to come between anyone who didn't feel the same. Who didn't know the boy as well as he had learned in their shorts days together. While Blue Eyes was in his care, no harm would come to this child.
Still though he sent a small nod to his old friend in an attempt to reconcile. Shikamaru had his needs, even Jiraiya and Tsunade –the best of them- had to trail cautiously when it came to the little human that tempted them with his tantalizing mixture of sweet honey and red apples.
Shikamaru only sighed deeply –cautious on the inhale- before shaking his head tiredly as he moved to sit in an armchair that already seated his laptop. "I would say that I'm happy to see you Sasuke but then I'd be stretching it. You were always a troublesome one." He sighed again as he settled his tall frame into the chair and lifted one hand to tug at the brown strands that he kept up in a high ponytail, the other hand moving to adjust his computer on his lap.
No offense was taken to the jab. Pale lips twitched only slightly before Sasuke had schooled his features back into his indifferent mask.
"Hn."
"Hn." Shikamaru mocked with a scoff. He opened the laptop, waiting only a couple of seconds for it to load before his finger were busy typing away at impossible speeds. "You up and leave with absolutely no warning, leaving me to run YOUR company and besides Kakashi's bothersome ass at that. Then you come back with a human child in your care and ask me to break my way into the system illegally to give the boy a whole new identity. To top it all off you were one move away from attempting to rip out my throat and all I get is a damn-" Here he scowled. "-Hn."
Onyx eyes made a full three sixty in mock exasperation. If there was one thing that the passive brunet wasn't too lazy to do it was to complain. Shikamaru had an eternity of life ahead of him and if it were up to him he'd spend it with his lover –Sai- watching the clouds go by until the sky darkened permanently to foreshadow the end of the world. But sadly Shikamaru lived in a commercial world where he had to work that genius mind of his for a living. He couldn't laze about like he wanted to so he simply complained to anyone who'd listen to soothe the hurt.
"One, you find yourself hacking government files frequently to prevent suspicion that could threaten the pretentious life that you all live. Two, there was no attempt because if I was going to make an attempt to rip out your throat, Tsunade would have me cleaning the carpet this very moment."
The lazy brunet simply shrugged his shoulders. One learned not to play the jest game with Sasuke if one couldn't handle it. Luckily for him Shikamaru wasn't at all sensitive. "Ouch. Still an ass then Sasuke?"
"You'd be disappointed if I said no." Nara's attempt at hindering the tilting of his lips went in vain and he couldn't help but flash his companion a lazy grin. The Uchiha was always great fun without having to try hard to be, without having to try at all actually. Shikamaru found his attitude to be amusing.
It was even more amusing when Kakashi –a rather strange member of their collective family- would make it his personal mission to annoy the living hell out the antisocial Uchiha. Kakashi harbored no fear of Sasuke, a fact that wounded the bastard's pride. To Shikamaru the whole thing was a sitcom and he looked forward to witnessing the moment when the two would reunite.
…Considering that the Uchiha was planning to stay that long.
"Am I writing you into the system also? Jiraiya mentioned that you intend to part with the child." Shikamaru let his gaze drift back to child in Sasuke's lap, albeit a little cautiously seeing that Jiraiya and Tsunade had left the room a while ago and he didn't want the Uchiha flipping out on him again, forcing an altercation between the two that the couple wouldn't have time to stop.
He risked it anyway, trusting that Sasuke might have a bit more faith in him, and was surprised to find those blue eyes already trained on him. Or rather they were trained on the laptop that he was holding. Interest was obvious to decipher in those deep azure pools along with curiosity. It seemed thought that the ignorant being was at least intelligent enough to understand that there was too much distance between him and his object of attraction to gift it much attention.
In a second his interest had shifted from the MacBook and onto the man holding him. He shuffled his little body whichever way until he had turned to face his darker companion and wasted no time in reaching determinedly for the raven bangs just within his grasp.
Shikamaru was more than a little intrigued to watch the interaction between the two. Perceptive brown eyes taking in the slight downward tilt of Sasuke's lips as he turned his head slightly to keep his hair from the child's wandering hands. The little tike was far from a quitter though. The challenge seemed to warrant excitement for the child if the lighting of his tawny features and renewed vigor to his attempts were anything to go by.
Sasuke's frown deepened as he held the child at arms length. He leveled the tiny being with a weary gaze that softened considerably when the child burst out into a contagious fit of giggles. Shikamaru was reminded of the chipper sound of Christmas bells in December.
"Yea," Sasuke answered dolefully and Shikamaru had to wonder in the Uchiha was even aware of the woeful tone of his own voice. "I'm going to find him a nice family and send him on his way." He pinned that dark gaze on the brunet as he continued. "As for me… I'm not entirely sure yet but, I've been thinking of settling around the area again. I could use the blood and maybe it wouldn't hurt to check in on him every now and then. Make sure he's taken care of properly."
Shikamaru nodded understandingly and then redirected his attention to the computer screen and their task at hand. The sound of his fingers dancing along the keyboard, Sasuke relaying any details that Shikamaru might have needed in his search, and Blue Eyes' occasional mindless babbling were the only sound's to be heard for a short while.
"It was actually pretty easy to find his identity. I simply monitored Nagoya's news feed from the short time before and after your-" He searched carefully for the appropriate word. "-Incident. Since yesterday they've successfully identified the bodies of Minato and Kushina Namikaze."
Sasuke nodded slowly, not entirely sure of how he felt about putting an actually name and identity to the human lives that he'd effectively ruined. He nodded once more signaling for Shikamaru to continue. "From there I simply accessed their permanent records since they wouldn't actually put a name to the missing child yet and found that Kushina gave birth to a baby boy six months ago on the tenth of October. His name is…"
He lifted his eyes to appraise the surprisingly placid child nestled in Sasuke's lap with a slight smile. "Naruto. Naruto Namikaze." Putting a name to the child had a different, more positive affect on the Uchiha. Those dark orbs widened for only a split second before a rare and gentle smile graced his pale features. He tested the name on his own tongue. "Naruto."
He studied the soft features of the boy's face, watching in fascination as recognition of the name passed over his visage. "What a strange name. Fitting though as you are very strange yourself… Naruto. Of course nothing could be more fitting than to call you blue eyes for obvious reasons."
A gratifying feeling of warmth fluttered in his chest at the almost toothless grin that he received for his conversation. The child –Naruto- would always grace him the softest of smiles whenever he was able to draw out that gentle side of Sasuke in a way that apparently only he could. "Or perhaps," continued Sasuke, "It would be more fitting to call you angel… for obvious reasons."
"Sasuke?"
The Uchiha's gaze snapped up to meet Shikamaru's own intense one. Having being caught up in such a moment of emotional vulnerability, he had forgotten the other man's presence entirely. Naruto definitely wasn't good for his reputation.
"Are you sure that this is what you want? Because as soon as he's in the arms of another family its going be to much a hazard to even consider getting him back. I can cook up birth records any day but I can not erase memories."
A firm line stretched out Sasuke's pale lips tightening the strong structure of his jaw. "Of course I'm sure Nara. What other option is there?" The skin above Shikamaru's brows wrinkled as he took in the defensive tone of Sasuke's voice. "It wouldn't shame or kill you to admit that you feel for the child. No use in denying it after the many different sides to yourself that you've introduced to us today. You just called him an angel for God's sake."
"Well that was on account of me forgetting that you were sitting there listening. You tell no one."
Shikamaru smiled lightly. "He's obviously attached himself to you." Sasuke nodded while casting the gentlest look that he'd ever witness to pass over those pale features to the baby Naruto in his arms. "Which is entirely the reason why I have to make the decision that's best for him."
His decision was final, that much was apparent to the brunet who saw no point in trying to reason with him. The truth was that Sasuke was right anyway. He was not what Naruto needed. He was the exact opposite of what was best for the child. "Okay then." Nara rose swiftly from his seat and tucked his computer under his arms as he prepared to leave. "I'll have the documents here for you tomorrow. The next step after that would be to find him a nice family. The last thing you would want is for him to fall victim to the system."
Sasuke nodded and stood with him, walking over to him –still a bit cautious of Naruto's influence- to shake his hand appreciatively. Shikamaru actually had to stop breathing completely as the child was brought closer. It was a wonder that the Uchiha hadn't lost his sanity by now with all his time spent with the boy.
The three males soon found themselves out on the porch, Shikamaru walking towards his car and wondering where his companion planned on going at seeing his walking in the opposite direction.
"Nara?" Shikamaru paused with his hand on the door handle. "What's happened to my old house?"
"Well it's only been blank years since you've been away so technically you're not dead yet and ownership rights are still yours. It's still sitting there where you left it. Definitely not livable though." And with that the lazy brunet was speeding off down the road.
Sasuke watched him go until the car had disappeared around the corner. He sighed and turned his attention back to Naruto, adjusting him to lie nestled in one arm. "How bout you and I take a walk hum?" He made his way around the fence that led into Jiraiya's backyard and hopped it easily in one smooth jump before making his way to the back of the home.
Their house up here in the mountains was nothing too different from the typical neighborhood with houses lined up side by side in rows. The Sennin couple actually lived in the very last row at the top of the hilly area. Behind the gated 2000 square feet of land that bordered their property was nothing but deep forest.
It was about a mile and a half into the maze of green that the apparent endless number of adult trees diminished significantly into a more open area. There on the west side of the mountains was a neighborhood of more secluded homes. One couldn't actually say that they had neighbors living out here because of the sheer amount of acres that some owners purchased for the sake of their private living.
Sasuke was definitely as man who enjoyed his privacy, having owned half a football field of this property himself when he'd lived here. Apparently according to Shikamaru this 28,800 square feet of greenery was still his. He could remember when on occasion he would stop by the Sennin's home from his own by foot through the forest. For someone of his nature, the mile and a half distance was a walk in the park that Sasuke had made frequently enough that he'd become more familiar with using their back porch door than their front.
He had watched in fascination as Naruto expressed his own as Sasuke practically flew through the forest, dogging tress effortlessly, until soon they had reached the raven's desired destination. He was always interested to witness those azure eyes dart around almost frantically in wonder as he watched the world pass in a blur of color. The child seemed almost dizzy when they came to a smooth stop and his world came back into focus.
What he saw next didn't impress even his simple little mind. His nose scrunched up in distaste as he eyed the old and pathetic ruin of what was a decaying house. It defiantly stood out amongst the old tress that littered the otherwise open area. Though it was true that Sasuke owned a large portion of land he had relented with nature and had only cut down a few trees to make room for the small house that he used to occupy. He didn't exactly need much room for just himself.
It was a small, one story, white –or at least it used to be white- wooden home that once had been beautiful in its simplicity. Now though it looked to be barely standing on its own and Sasuke worried that it might actually fall into the slight descend of the hilly area without immediate support. He couldn't even be offended that Naruto of all people was looking down his nose at something he couldn't even understand. The exterior looked like shit and he could only shudder in imagining how the inside might have looked.
It didn't matter though because he hadn't come here to access what Shikamaru had already deemed unlivable. To the south and east of the small home there was significantly more tress lined so closely together that they pretty much blocked the view of what lie beyond them. The calming sound of rushing water reached his keen ears and reminded him of exactly why he'd come here. Because he had emerged from woods in the back of the home, he was already south of the building and only had to turn left to set off into the very slight opening in the trees that could only allow one-person passage at a time.
Sasuke only had to walk a few feet before the gentle swishing sounds of water reached Naruto's ears, grabbing his attention immediately. A sense of ease and familiarity swelled in his chest as the sounds, smells, and sights as this one particular miracle of nature washed through him. He feasted his obsidian gaze on the beautiful mountain stream that twisted its way here a there down the long hill.
Being higher up the mountain granted Sasuke a lovely view of watching the rushing water weave its way around and in between large boulder whilst running over smaller rocks and pebbles. A gentle breeze swayed strands of yellow and black simultaneously and Sasuke suddenly found himself overwhelmed with the scent of pine and the natural aroma of the leaves and wood that surrounded them.
A sudden weight lifted from his chest replaced by nolgastic warmth. This place, from the moment that Sasuke had laid eyes on it has been his favorite of any he'd ever come across in his extended lifetime. And to brighten his mood even more it only took reminding that he owned this particular piece of land to ship him to cloud nine. His property rights extended to this portion of the beautiful gift of nature. And besides the occasional interest from the rare visits that his clan made to his property, he didn't really care to share this place with anyone else.
But as he finally turned his appraising eyes away from the stream and to the child in his arms, for the first time the grace of nature found itself competing for Sasuke's attention. Naruto's charm, as he marveled along side of Sasuke with those wide blue eyes full of fascination and mouth formed in a small O, was a force to be reckoned with. Blue Eyes was definitely a beauty worthy of Sasuke's rarely given affection. He could clearly imagine sitting out here everyday on one of the large stones in the mist of bustling water. Blue Eyes would be sitting on his lap eyes alight with childish curiosity as he took in the ever-going flow of water. The wind would blow a gentle breeze through his sunshine locks bringing with it the smell of honey, sweet apples, and pine.
Sasuke sighed wistfully as he moved to an ideal stone to sit with the hopes of living out that fantasy just this once. The blood lust still remained along with the truth that this couldn't be possible along with other complications. Those apples and pools of honey brought pains to him that pine never would. So while he was able to treasure one… the fate of the other was left for questioning.
Sasuke had finally found an angel to bare him through this hell that he lived and hated every second,
of every minute,
of every hour,
of every day,
of every month,
of every year,
of every decade.
Too bad.
He couldn't even keep him.
