This Game We Play

The morning after Sasuke found out that his father was not biologically related to him, about two years ago, he came out of his room like any other day. He kissed his mother on the cheek as usual before sitting next to the table for breakfast. He threw a fit when his brother poked his forehead and told him he couldn't hang out with him after school like he promised. And he greeted his father with the same politeness he always did.

He played the perfect family game along with them. It wasn't hard to - the rule number one of the game was 'Let's keep the fact that Sasuke is the product of an affair a secret.' That seemed to be pretty easy to follow. If they have done it for the past twelve years, he could do it as well.

And also, Sasuke didn't know what would be his penalty if his parents found out he broke the rule. So, he pretended that he never got out of his room to get some water. He pretended that he never cried in silent until exhaustion overwhelmed his body. He pretended it was all a dream.

The teen played his role with excellence until the second semester of his last year of middle school. It was the time when his mail box and email inbox got spammed with high school brochures and ads. One particular school got his attention, he heard of it before at Naruto's house. If the chancellor of one of the best universities of the country recommended it, it was worthwhile to check it out. While browsing the site, he came across with pictures of students and teachers in some sort of beneficial activity and a particular person caught his attention, the same person he tried and failed to forget. Upon seeing that person's picture, it became difficult for him to keep pretending that he was Fugaku's son and he fought to control his emotion.

If he didn't succumb to the temptation of seeing that bastard in person and basically beg his parents to allow him to attend Konoha Academy (instead of the elite school that Itachi went to), he wouldn't be caught in yet another pretend game.

What Sasuke didn't realize earlier was that the reason why these games were not that hard to play was that no one knew about them except the players. He soon realized that spectators who watched how he played and spoke about unnecessary things could make him lost his concentration and as a result, lost in both games.

Sasuke was sitting in the waiting area in front of the principal's office, with a frown that could meant frustration, anger or fear, and maybe a mixture of all. His uniform was a mess - his white shirt was covered in dirt and blood, his and someone else's. His pale face was covered in cut and bruises. The bruise around his left eye was more noticeable that the other one.

Sitting two chairs away from him was Sai, who was in no better shape than him. Sai had the nerve to smile which made Sasuke wanted to punch him again. He would have done it if it wasn't for the fact that Ibiki-sensei, the discipline teacher who stopped their fight at lunch break, was keeping an eye on them.

The day started out fine, until almost at the end of lunch, Ino shared the news that Kurenai-sensei was pregnant. Sai took the opportunity to taunt Sasuke by commenting that 'she won't be the only teacher who will become a parent' and went on to explain who was the pregnant lady that he was talking to the day before and who was the father of her child.

Sai also explained that if that woman wasn't her social worker, she would have adopted him herself. Noticing how the Uchiha's eyes narrowed a little, he added how close he was to become the big brother to the baby, but considering that he was already Kakashi's godson, he would practically be like a big brother to the baby anyway. More discrete taunts were thrown at Sasuke before he went to get a drink at the vending machines. Sasuke followed him.

"Stop it." Sasuke had enough.

"Stop what?" the other boy said as he pressed a button of his choice on the machine.

"Stop trying to provoke me by bringing up those kind of comments."

"I'm not trying to provoke you," Sai's lips twisted into a fake smile, "Friends share personal matters with each other and I consider you guys as my friends. Why would sharing things about me angers you?" He took a sip of his soda. Before the other teen could reply, he continued, "Or could it be that what really bothers you is the bond between Kakashi and I? If you weren't such a dick towards him, you could have the same relationship. So, there's no need to be jealous of me."

Sasuke snorted in amusement, as if what he just heard was the most ridiculous thing ever. And then he put on his poker face. "The only thing that bothers me about those comments is that if you keep saying unnecessary thing the way you do, you might be stupid enough to make my friends suspect about the matter." He paused, "Oh, I don't know from where you got that ridiculous idea that I'm jealous of you. Why would I envy a pitiful charity case like you?"

"Indeed," Sai said, "Why envy about something that you already are? I mean, our situations regarding our fathers aren't that different. Except that I knew from the beginning that Yamato and I don't share the same DNA. It must really suck to find out your whole life is a lie. And you are still living it when the truth is right in front of you, not even giving it a chance. Now that's piti-'

Sai was cut off by Sasuke's fist that connected with his face suddenly. Sai recovered from it rather quickly and Sasuke also got some from him in return. Then it all went south.

And that was the reason why both students were in the principal's office, waiting for their parents to arrive. Sasuke's heart started to beat faster when the principal's secretary announced that Mr. Uchiha and Mr. Ruto (Sai's adoptive father) had arrived. How could he be so stupid to start a fight?

"This way." The secretary said, and as the two figures appeared in the waiting area and Sasuke let out a small sigh of relief when he saw Itachi instead of his father. "The principal has to attend to an important meeting. She left the homeroom teacher to attend to this matter."

Then the lady gestured the teens to enter the main office. Even though it wasn't his father, Sasuke still panicked about Itachi meeting Kakashi. There was a high probability that his brother saw Kakashi when he was younger, and given that Itachi had an extraordinary memory, he might remember him. And nothing good could come out of it.

But when they went into the office, Kakashi was not inside. "Iruka-san?" Shizune said in surprise. "Where is Kaka-"

"He's not going to be present in this meeting." the brunet cut her off as he stood up from his seat behind the oak desk with a polite posture. "Since he's a close friend with the Ruto, Tsunade-sama decide it would be more appropriate for an impartial person to host this meeting. That would be me. I'm sure you will get the e-mail that verifies this very soon." He smiled to the woman, who nodded and left the room.

"I'm Iruka Umino, the assistant teacher for class 1-E. So, given the circumstances, the principal left this matter to my hands. Please, Mr. Uchiha, Mr. Ruto, have a sit. As for Sasuke-kun and Sai-kun, since both of you had so much energy to fight, I'm sure you have enough energy to stay on your feet."

As soon as Sasuke saw Iruka-sensei in the room, he let out another sigh of relief. He didn't even care that he had to stay on his feet for the whole fourth period, as long as his brother didn't meet the homeroom teacher. When Iruka asked what caused the fight, Sai just replied that Sasuke couldn't handle that someone brought him to reality and he was just plain jealous that he would play a role that Sasuke was supposed to have. "Not because I stole it from him, but because he denies it. But I think he really wants it though." Sai didn't stop smiling as he explained his side of the story. But one stern glare from his father, (who looked not much older than Itachi) and Sai dropped the sly grin. Sasuke guessed that this Yamato guy was well aware of what the pale teen have said.

Sasuke with his arms crossed and his weight shifted to his left side, merely snorted, "He got his nose into my business, I asked him to stop it, he didn't. So I made him." After that, the students refused to say more about the reason for the fight.

With not much more to go forward with, the conference concluded that both teens were going to have detention after class and on Saturday for a week, starting from that day. Then Iruka asked Itachi and Yamato to sign on some papers. Yamato did while Itachi asked Iruka if he was allowed to sign them since he was still technically under age.

Sasuke started to panicked again, if his dad or mom were called in to sign those documents...

"This is not a problem. We called you because we couldn't contact either of your parents. If you're listed as an emergency contact, it means that you're allowed. There's no need to wait for your parents to come in." Iruka said, and shifted his gaze from Itachi towards Sasuke for a few seconds. "If anything, we'll contact them."

Itachi nodded and gave Sasuke a meaningful look before he left. Sasuke gulped and looked away. He knew that his brother knew something was wrong and he wouldn't let him off the hook easily this time. He would have to worry about it later.

There was something else that was bothering him at the moment. His suspicions grew even more when Iruka ordered Sai had to be at the detention room for the long recess, but not him. The reason given was the mathematical Olympics practice would be held at the same time. And since winning that event was crucial for the school, he had been excused. The problem with what Iruka just said was Sasuke knew for a fact that there was no such practice on that day.

If Iruka-sensei was unaware of this, then lucky him, but luck was not by his side these days. He soon found out how right he was. After the meeting ended, the said assistant teacher told him that Kurenai-sensei left him the worksheets for today's practice and asked him to go with him to the teacher's lounge to pick them up.

Once in the teacher's lounge, Sasuke tried to stay calm as Iruka closed the door behind them. He could see that the older male was nervous, but determined at the same time. Iruka signaled the teen to sit on the same couch he sat the last time he was there. Iruka sat across Sasuke after offering him a bottle of water. They remained in silence for a few seconds until Sasuke broke the silence.

"There's no practice today." That was obvious, but what else could he have said?

"I know, and I'm sorry I lied." Iruka said, "But you're already under a detention, I can't overrule that."

"Why did you lie, Sensei?"

"I supposed you didn't tell your parents about the unofficial detention that Kakashi-san gave. Am I correct?" Sasuke nodded, "I saw no reason why I should let your brother know."

"I highly doubt that you couldn't reach my parents, maybe my father. But my mom gets too worried when he's on duty. That's why she never stays away from her phone. I notice that you didn't mention his name, and stopped Shizune-san when she was about to. What did he tell you?"

Iruka was not surprised at all to hear this. "He told me that your parents can't know he works here as your teacher. He asked me to suggest to Tsunade-sama to let me conduct the meeting. I've known that there's some sort situation between you two for a while. When I confront him about it, I promised not to repeat what he told me. So I won't." He paused to drink some water. "I wasn't completely satisfied, but I let it go with a warning of reporting any suspicious action. So, today when he asked me for that favor, I told him I wouldn't do it without a good reason. Kakashi-san said it wasn't just his secret to share. That it was up to you. So, Sasuke-kun would you like to tell me what's going on between the two of you?"

Sasuke swallowed hard, he didn't want to tell anyone about it. "If I choose not to tell you?" he asked politely.

"I'm afraid that I'll not be any part of this anymore. This will be the last time I help you both, next time I'll report it."

"If I do tell you, will you promise to keep it to yourself?"

"My primary concern is that whatever that is going on between the two of you, is not harmful to you. If I think you're in danger or something, I'll report it. Otherwise, I promise to keep it to myself."

"Okay," Sasuke said with a shaking voice, still not sure if this would be a good idea at all, but seeing how easy things could go downhill, he might need help later on. "He was my mother's student when he was in high school, they had an affair several months before I was born."

Iruka's attempt of sipping water stopped in mid air as his eyes went wide in shock. And Sasuke looked away "Are you his-" Iruka didn't have the courage to finish the question.

Sasuke just nodded, "I found out two years ago by accident. My parents aren't aware that I know. If they find out he works here, they will pull me out of this school to keep me away from him. I-" He looked at Iruka's face with pleading eyes.

Iruka held a hand up in front of the boy to signal him to stop talking. "You don't have to say anymore. This matter is too personal, and I'll respect the privacy and discretion that it deserves. So, don't worry about it, I won't say a thing." He smiled to the teen in comforting matter.

"T-Thank you." Sasuke replied with a shaky voice.

"No, thank you for sharing this with me. Now it makes a lot of sense why he is so tolerant with you." Sasuke looked at him with a puzzled expression. "In any other circumstances, what you've done, he'd graded you F for the semester, or even expels you from his class. He did it to a senior last year. The student was the former vice-principal's son."

Sasuke didn't say a word. He was so shocked that he didn't even realize that Iruka was standing in front of him, holding a set of papers. "What's this?" he asked while reaching the papers.

"I didn't lie about the worksheets. Kurenai sensei left them before going home. She didn't feel well."

Sasuke snorted in amusement recalling that the fight was partially caused by a comment Ino said about the woman.

Iruka escorted Sasuke to the classroom. Fifth period started ten minutes ago, and the brunet took the blame for the tardiness with the excuse that he misplaced the worksheets. Kakashi made a joke about it and Iruka faked being upset. Yet another player joined the game.

Sasuke rushed to his seat, avoiding all the eyes that followed him. What he couldn't avoid but decide to ignore, was the annoying smile on Sai's face and his friends' curious and worried faces. But they knew better than talk to him when he was in foul mood like he was at the moment.

Before his friends left for the long recess, he could hear Gaara and Sakura telling Naruto not to start a fight with Sai, who was exiting the room with Ino clinging to his arm. When his friends gave him questioning look, Sasuke just replied that he was fine, and he would tell them about later.

As usual, Sasuke gathered his things and walked towards the teacher's desk. Neither of them said a thing for the longest time. The sound of scribbling and rustling paper stopped when Sasuke's cell phone vibrated, notifying the Uchiha that he got a new text message:

'Just to be on the same page, every1 kept askin' y we fought, i told them that i asked u if ur dad was corrupt as the officer that got on tape accepting a bribe and u didnt like my joke.'

Another text message arrived soon after that:

'BTW, Im doing this for Kakashi not u :)'

Before Sasuke could tell the guy to go to hell, his phone was yanked off his hands. "You can text your friend later, now keep working." Kakashi said in his usual bored tone as he put the phone on the other side of his desk.

"That fucking idiot is not my friend." Sasuke mumbled not low enough for Kakashi's ears.

"Back to be disrespectful so soon?"

"I wasn't insulting you. Or are you going to write me up for insulting your almost son too?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Did he just sound a little bit jealous there? It made him happy. "Oh, so that was Sai?" He didn't confirm or denied the teen's accusation. "Now that you mention him, why did you two get into a fight?"

"Why don't you ask him? Since you two are so close to even share secrets that don't belong to you alone?" Sasuke asked, quoting what Iruka had told him.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow once again, but this time out of shock. That was exactly what he told Iruka early. Which meant that, Sasuke was implying that he had told Sai about their blood relation.

"I haven't shared that secret with him." He finally said with sincerity.

Sasuke scoffed in disbelief, "Oh yeah, then how does he knows?"

The older male was clueless. There was no way Sai could have known. He did let slip he had a son, and had to explain a little further, but he simple said that his son didn't know about him. He would never be so irresponsible to let a child to meddle in such delicate topic. "Are you sure he knows?"

"Don't play dumb with me. Since his first day at school, he didn't waste time to shove it to my face. "

"I have no idea how he found out."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"I'm serious, Sasuke. If I knew it, I'd have given you some heads up."

"Like how you warned me about Iruka-sensei?" The teen replied with sarcasm.

"That's completely different, kid. I didn't tell him anything about who we are to each other. I just told him that I knew your mother and I owed you both a favor." The teacher bit back.

A favor? He was just doing him a favor? Not because he was his... "You want to do me a favor? Then please don't do me any. I don't need you. So stop pretending you're helping me, when in reality you're helping yourself."

"I didn't gain anything for talking Iruka into helping me to hide it from your parents and contact your brother first. I'm not the one who would be sent to a boarding school as the consequence. Your father can't do anything to me anymore. So stop being a spoiled brat and be grateful. Iruka and I could lose our jobs because of what we did today."

"I didn't ask for your fucking help, so don't blame me if that happens. I told you I DO NOT WANT YOUR HELP."

"Fair enough." Kakashi said with his blank face while searching in his pile of book reports until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed a red pen and started to mark on it. Then he handed to the boy next to him.

Sasuke recognized the paper as his book report. The only one that he didn't turn in late. The one that was going to have a full A. However, he saw a big red C. An unfair C. He turned his paper in on time, and the content of the assignment was perfect. The raven haired boy wasted no time in demanding an explanation.

"I was going to let it pass, but since you don't want any favor, you left me with no choice. If you thought you could fool me to believe that you read a book that long in two week, you're dumber than I thought. It took me a moth to read it. This report and the other ones are from books that you've read before. The assignment is to read a new book. The reason for the reports is to prove that you read it. You've basically cheated. For your next book report, I want a receipt of the purchase of the new book as proof as well." Kakashi explained with no emotion or whatsoever.

"That's bullshit!" Sasuke shouted.

At the first sign of disrespect, Kakashi took the paper back and crossed out the C and wrote a D. "Keep up with the attitude and I'll keep lowering your grades. This is my last warning, Uchiha." He didn't change his tone, but the way he said Uchiha was meant to establish a difference. If the brat wanted to be treated like a regular student, he was going to be treated as one.

This could not be happening. That was the first time he got a D, he got a C once and that caused him grounded for a month. He and his damned mouth. He kept making mistakes after mistakes. How the hell was he supposed to get a B with such low grade? He kept staring at that piece of paper with teary eyes. He was so frustrated that he bit his lower lip, at the same spot where Sai had punched him and left a cut earlier.

Sasuke was so focused on the paper in front of him that he didn't notice that the already sensitive wound started to bleed again. Kakashi took the paper out of his hands and stood up to get closer to the child. He took a gentle grip of the boy's chin. Immediately, Sasuke pulled away. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"You're bleeding." The teacher said as he once again held Sasuke's face. In his other hand, he was holding a handkerchief. Sasuke read the intention of the teacher, and tried to fight the hold by grabbing the older man's wrist. But Kakashi said with a kind voice, "Just let me clean you up." And the raven haired teen let out a sigh and relaxed, but he didn't let go of the hold he had on Kakashi and mumbled a okay. So Kakashi started to clean the blood with soft pats.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, Sasuke knew that much for some reason. But when said man leaned towards him, he noticed a glint of sadness in his eye and he quickly looked away and tried to ignore the pinch of pain in his chest. He didn't understand why it hurt him to see the man sad, or why would the man be sad.

"All done." Sasuke heard Kakashi said, and he felt horribly empty when Kakashi let go of him.

"That was unnecessary." Sasuke said and then he notice how bad that sounded and tried to fix it. "I mean, thank you. You didn't have to. You ruined your handkerchief with my blood. I'll get you a new one."

"You don't need to do that, since it was my blood as well, Sasuke." The student made an 'I don't get it' face and Kakashi added. "You are my blood." he finally added while grading papers.

Sasuke's heart started to beat faster, and once more a turmoil of emotions danced in his stomach. The way Kakashi have said those words made a huge impact on the teen. This was the first time Kakashi had ever acknowledged him as his son openly. It sounded sort of possessive although he was sure that the older man only meant he didn't mind the fact that he was his child.

Had he been unfair to Kakashi all this time? Maybe he should put his pride aside and asked him why he had walked away. Maybe there was a reasonable reason. He could ask him now, right? But the words that Kakashi told him long time ago, that he didn't regret anything, floated in his mind. Now he couldn't ask him because he was being proud and he was scared of the answer.

"I don't want to fight with you." Sasuke blurted out without thinking, but really meant it. He began to see that all these fighting were quite pointless and only made matters worse. He was so angry all the time and he didn't know why. Kakashi clearly cared for him and he wasn't as impassive towards Kakashi as he liked to think. And he suspected that Kakashi knew it too. He could really do both of them a favor and stopped playing the pretend game. Because honestly, he was getting quite tired of it.

"Excuse me?" Kakashi looked at him and asked, not sure if he heard him right.

"I don't want to fight with you anymore." Sasuke repeated and looked away.

Kakashi couldn't help but to feel overjoyed and smiled happily, he didn't care if it showed. That was the first time Sasuke was taking a step towards a better relationship.

"Then let's not fight anymore."

It was a truce and he couldn't be happier.

TBC

A/N: Hello, first of thanks for the reviews and fave. Especial Thanks to yara9292 for the huge support she's giving me.

I also would like to thank my beta een nihc to the infinity and beyong. She's is also a great support. She also put a lot into this chapter. A awesome writer as well, you should check her work.

If you like KakaSasu father/son relationship check my community 'Kakashi and Sasuke Father/Son relationship obssed', you can find the link in my profile. Also check out yara9292's 'Kakashi and Sasuke moments' is a collection of one-shots about those two as father and son.