Poking around at his dinner, he knew he wouldn't be able to eat any of the lukewarm food. His head hurt, he was tired, and his stomach was in knots at the thought of the impending meeting he was to attend that grew closer and closer as time passed. Naruto had stopped by once more since the early hours of the morning, just to check on him and inform him of the meeting. After informing the Hokage that Ino had already informed him, Sasuke listened to Naruto say a few more things before briskly making an exit, leaving him to resume his impatient pacing.
He'd wanted to spend more time with Katahana; he'd be lying if he said otherwise. But he didn't want to sit in the same room with one of his ex-comrades while he tried to familiarize himself with his daughter. As he'd left Katahana's room during the morning, he'd just barely avoided an encounter with the Inuzuka man. Turning the corner, he could faintly hear the whining of the man's large dog, just at the opposite end of the hall. But instead of turning to acknowledge the two, he continued walking, disappearing through the doors of the stairwell and swiftly making his ascent towards his room.
He had never been a big fan of Kiba or Akamaru, and he was not about to 'make nice' with either of them. Or at least not yet.
He was still silently thinking of his old comrades, and how—according to Ino—they'd all helped Sakura to raise Katahana. His and Sakura's daughter.
And as his mind shifted to Sakura, his headache intensified. He'd intended on leaving that day, soon after the war, without doing anything of any sort of significance. He didn't want her to remember him or dwell on their final weeks together any more than she needed to.
But not only had he left her with more than he'd intended, it had been a child of all things.
Stupidly enough, the possibility of conception wasn't even a thought of Sasuke's the entire time the two were sneaking off into the woods each night. He felt like an idiot for being so careless and dumb at the time, but he did not dwell on it for long.
Sure they'd been young and irresponsible, but there was nothing that could be done about it anymore. Now, there was a child involved—their child—and there was a situation at hand that was so dangerous, that even within days of being in contact with the child, he'd almost been killed.
And the same people, who were after his daughter, may have possibly even killed Sakura.
Pushing his tray of food away from him and onto a table nearby, he grimaced as his stomach did flips. He refused to think of that. She couldn't have been killed, it wasn't possible. She was stronger than that, damnit. He knew she was.
But once more his mind drifted back toward Katahana as Ino's voiced echoed in his head. What was he going to do now? If Sakura really was dead, would he stay with the child, and try to be a father to her? Even if Sakura wasn't, would he stay, or would he simply leave again to continue his meaningless life of solitude?
Trying to remove the stressful thoughts from his head, he decided that he would think through all of that once the time came. For now, all he needed to worry about was the meeting he'd be dragged to later.
Yet as Naruto opened the door, Sasuke knew he wouldn't have to wait any longer.
"Ready?" Naruto asked, donning his long, orange and white cloak. The Hokage look suited Naruto, Sasuke thought. He'd never tell the man that though. He was sure that his ego didn't need to be boosted more than it already probably was.
Sasuke nodded, not trusting his voice to sound as sturdy as he wanted it to. The sun had set almost an hour ago, and as the two walked up the stairs toward the roof, Sasuke faltered.
"Who's with Katahana?" Since Ino had told him that she, as well as the others, would be at this meeting, he had neglected to think about who would be looking after the girl.
"Don't worry," Naruto said, handing Sasuke a black, hooded cloak, "She's already where we're going. I brought her there myself."
A little reassured by Naruto's words, he threw on the cloak, fastening it at the top before the two exited the stairwell onto the roof.
Wasting no time, the two jumped quickly and deftly from rooftop to rooftop, making their way toward the Hokage monument. Not noticing it before, Sasuke took in the new addition to the monument on the far right. He could understand what Katahana had been telling him before; it hardly resembled Naruto at all. Unsure whether or not they intended for him to look old and bored, the stone-carved Naruto appeared to be sporting a grimace.
Stopping just at the base of the mountain, Naruto walked over to a small divot in the rock, placing his hand over top of it. Sasuke watched as Naruto make a quick series of hand signs before hitting his palm flat against the stone. Slowly, a wide sheet of rock moved aside, revealing a passageway which led directly down a flight of stairs.
As Naruto walked straight down the stairs, Sasuke watched him for a moment, but as the stone began to close once more, he swiftly entered after the man and followed closely behind him.
The stairwell was very dimly lit, a torch lit every dozen or so steps, but Sasuke made his way down the steep stairs carefully, remaining close to Naruto the entire time. Although when the blonde man stopped abruptly, Sasuke almost ran into the back of him.
"What are you doing?" he growled, supporting himself on the hard wall beside him. He glanced around Naruto and down the stairs, not seeing an end in sight.
"We're almost there," Naruto said, making another small series of hand signs, and once more hitting his open hand against the hard stone, "calm down."
"I am calm," he retorted with a glare. Yet his reaction was stunned as another passageway opened to their left, revealing a long hallway.
Following Naruto through the second hidden passageway and throwing a glance over his shoulder when the entrance re-sealed itself, Sasuke's attention was brought to the opposite end of the hallway. He could hear the low hum of voices, and as they approached the brightly lit end of the hallway Sasuke took note of the multiple voices.
As they walked by one particular doorway, Sasuke's eye wandered into it. Yet before his eyes could focus on one single thing, a small voice called to him.
"Dad!"
Hearing the child's voice, his head turned toward her, as if by an old habit. She sat grinning at him from a long couch, waving her tiny arms toward him. Slowing to a stop, Sasuke stood hesitantly in the doorway, observing the two other occupants of the room. Sitting on the couch by her side was Hinata, and in her lap was the small boy he'd seen the night before.
"Come here! Look at what Kenji can do!"
Sasuke almost jumped as Naruto put his hand on his back and slowly pushed him into the room. Glaring at his old teammate, Naruto only grinned widely before walking around him and toward his wife.
"Look Kenji," Katahana spoke to the toddler, "it's your dad and my dad!" She said pointing from Naruto to Sasuke.
"Dad!" the little boy exclaimed, standing himself up on the couch, bouncing up and down. "Dad dad dad!" Naruto laughed, walking up to the boy and picking him up. Throwing the boy lightly into the air and catching him, the boy let out a shrill laugh, before hugging the blonde man's head, his tiny arms hardly wrapping all the way around.
"Hana play," the boy said, tapping a small hand against Naruto's cheek. "Hana play!"
"Hana's playing with you, huh? Did you miss her?"
The little boy nodded his head, still giggling, "Miss Hana. Hana play!"
Watching Naruto play with his child in awe, Sasuke hardly noticed when Katahana walked over to him. It wasn't until her small hand wrapped around a couple of his fingers when he looked down at her. She wasn't looking at him though; instead she was watching Naruto play with his son.
"I was trying to teach him how to whistle," she said to the blonde man. "But he's not very good at it."
Naruto laughed, "I can believe that. Maybe you can try teaching him once he's a little older? Why don't you try teaching him something simpler? Like… uh…"
"How to throw a kunai?"
Sasuke had to repress a laugh, Naruto's eyes widened, and Hinata gave him a reproachful look. "Definitely not that," Hinata said, "I was thinking more along the lines of teaching him his colors. Or how to count to a certain number."
"Yeah but that's boring,"she said in a whiny voice. "Naruto-san taught me how when I was little like him!"
Naruto winced as his wife glared at him once more. "Yes but do you remember how much trouble he got in?" She stood and retrieved the pale-eyed boy from his father's arms. "Your mother was not happy."
Katahana shrugged. "I just remember her yelling a little."
"Yeah," Naruto laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, "a little."
"Speaking of Mom," Katahana said quietly, hand still gripping Sasuke's fingers, "did you guys figure out when you're going to get her?"
Sasuke and Naruto shared a quick glance, but Hinata was the one who approached her. "We're going to figure that out right now actually," she said smiling at the girl. "You and Kenji are going to play a little more in here and we're all going to go across the hall and come up with a plan."
"Okay," Katahana said, smiling up at the dark-haired woman. "Make it the best plan ever!"
Hinata laughed softly and placed Kenji on the ground, watching him toddle back over toward the couch. "We'll do our best," she vowed.
"Who's going to stay in here with them?" Sasuke asked. Sure, he wasn't very good with kids, and he didn't know the first thing about parenting, but he was pretty sure that leaving a 7-year-old and a toddler in the same room together unsupervised wasn't a good idea.
"That would be me."
"Kaka-san!" Katahana suddenly released her grip on Sasuke's fingers and ran toward the doorway. Sasuke turned and watched as she jumped, running full speed, directly into the arms of Hatake Kakashi. "I've missed you so much!"
The masked man looked down at the child in his arms and gave her a tight hug. "I've missed you too, kiddo," his cheeks lifted in a smile.
Sasuke did not know why, but seeing his daughter's sudden display of affection toward his old sensei made his stomach churn. A sour feeling overtook him and he couldn't help the glare that etched itself on his face.
"I need to tell you something amazing!" she said, wriggling herself down and out of his grip. Sasuke watched as she grabbed Kakashi's hand in the same way she'd held his, and the feeling in his stomach intensified. "This," she said, pulling the silver-haired man farther into the room, "is my dad!"
"Hello Sasuke," Kakashi said, smiling under his mask, "it's been a long time." The older man stood before Sasuke, studying him with a careful eye.
The Uchiha didn't reply, instead he stared back at the man with a blank expression. Kakashi had certainly started to look his age. The lines around his eye which had been faint years before were now more prominent, the stress of everyday life starting to show through his features. Doing math quickly in his head, Sasuke estimated that his old sensei had to be almost 40.
"He's an Uchiha," the small girl said to the masked man with a proud look. "Just like I am!"
"I know," he said, patting her head lightly, "the family resemblance is startling."
"Did you draw the short stick?" Naruto joked as he approached his old teacher. "Or did you lose a bet?"
"Oh no. This is all voluntary," he insisted. "You all can just fill me in when the meeting is over. In the meantime, I'll keep Konoha's deadly duo company."
Katahana giggled at the nickname given to her and Kenji, and stepped in front of Sasuke, looking up at him with a smile. "Are you going to help them bring back Mom?"
Damnit. Sasuke held the child's eyes, not wanting to look around at the other occupants of the room. He could almost feel all of their eyes staring at him intensely, waiting for him to reply. Not only hadn't he thought this through, he'd tried going out of his way to avoid having to think about it. Now he just wanted to kick himself since he was being put on the spot.
Katahana looked up at him with wide, hopeful eyes. He didn't know when, but her hands had gripped his fingers again, holding them tightly in her grasp. It wasn't until she smiled at him, a small, gentle smile, where a whole in his heart almost ripped open.
The child may have looked like him in almost every way, but she had her mother's smile.
"Yes," he vowed in a low voice, paying attention to no one but the little girl before him. "I will."
She looked up at him for a long moment, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, before grinning widely and wrapping her arms around him. The small girl buried her face in the front of his cloak, squeezing her arms tightly. After a few seconds, Sasuke expected her to release him and then skip off to do something else, but when she did not move, he grew uneasy.
The second he realized what she was waiting for, he almost grew embarrassed. Suddenly, he didn't want anyone else in this room with him. He didn't want to share this moment with anyone else.
Ignoring the anxious feeling that threatened to overtake him, he kneeled down and wrapped both of his arms around her, enveloping her in a hug.
After holding onto her father for a few seconds more, she pulled away, smiled again, and walked back over to Kakashi. As Sasuke straightened back up, he watched as his daughter grabbed the silver-haired man by the sleeve and dragged him across the room.
"While you guys are doing adult-stuff, Kenji and I are going to have fun with Kaka-san," she said matter-of-factly. Sasuke watched as she forcefully pulled Kakashi down until he was sitting on the couch and then stood before him, leaning close to his face, studying him.
Sasuke could almost see the man start to sweat as he looked at the two children in front of him with apprehension.
Naruto let out another laugh. "We'll leave you to it then. Katahana," she looked up at him, "you're in charge," he said with a sly grin, winking at Kakashi.
As Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke left the room, Hinata turned to her husband. "Do you really think that was a good idea?"
Naruto shrugged innocently, "Hey, I didn't do anything."
"Putting her in charge? She's going to take that very seriously." Her worried words only cause Naruto to let out another laugh.
Sasuke could only assume that they didn't envy Kakashi's position one bit.
Following the two other ninja, they walked only a short distance before turning into another doorway. Sasuke hesitated at the entrance before slowly stepping inside the room. Surveying his surroundings, he sighed.
A multitude of his ex-comrades as well as a couple ninja he'd never seen before, sat around the room. Couches and tables and chairs filled the room at every end, most of them occupied, and filled with ninja who were engaged in casual conversation.
It was a strange sight for him. The last time he'd seen most of these people gathered together was right before the last battle of the war had started. They'd all been younger then, their faces dirtied and scared, not knowing whether this would be their last day among the living.
For many ninja, it had been.
Upon entering the room, more and more people noted their entrance, quickly ending their conversations and sitting in silence. Sasuke didn't like the amount of eyes that were trained on him. Ignoring everyone, he followed Naruto and only stopped when the Hokage turned toward the rest of the ninja and started speaking.
"Alright," he clapped his hands together in front of him, rubbing his palms against the other, "time to get this show on the road."
"Now," Naruto turned toward Sasuke, "before we do anything else, we need to learn a few things here." His words were directed at the Uchiha. "I need you to tell us how you found Katahana, where you found her, and what happened after that, leading up until you guys arrived here."
"All of it?" he raised an eyebrow.
Naruto nodded, "Everything that you can tell us."
Sasuke's eyes quickly scanned the room once more, taking in the faces staring back at him. Some of them glared at him, most likely not too excited over his reappearance in Konoha after so long. Others looked at him curiously through narrowed eyes, eager to hear what he had to say.
"A few days before I took her in, she'd been wandering around the streets." Sasuke faced Naruto as he spoke, choosing to ignore everyone else in the room. "I figured she was another orphaned street child, so I didn't pay much attention to her," Sasuke shrugged. "After I caught her digging through my trash she started following me around." He narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "She later told me that she trusted me because I didn't know who she was."
"Sakura had been telling her to avoid any people who paid any attention to her for more than a few seconds," Ino said, chiming in. "It started out more as an eye-contact thing—not to stare at anyone who stared back. They didn't want to risk being found."
Sasuke nodded as he listened, "After I took her in, she told me that she knew I wouldn't kill her." He ignored the mocking sound the Inuzuka made, standing at the far side of the room, arms crossed. "She told me that I would've done it already if I wanted to."
"When did you find out who she was?" Another voice asked. Glancing behind him, Sasuke noted Shikamaru leaning against the wall by the doorway.
"She wouldn't tell me anything," he admitted. "She wouldn't answer a single one of my questions. All I knew was her name and age. But after a little while she started to let some things slip."
"Like?" Shikamaru said, urging him on.
"Well, for any child to mention the Kazekage and the Hokage, by name, in casual conversation, seems a little odd. Besides that, all I knew was that her mother was a ninja and that there were people after her."
"What about Sakura?" Another ninja spoke up. Sasuke recognized the voice as Rock Lee's. The man's question was not directed at him, but at Naruto. "Have we found out any further information about what happened?" He asked, worried.
Naruto frowned, letting out a long breath. "We tried talking to Katahana about it, to try and see what she could tell us, but when we asked her, she broke down and got a bit hysterical."
"I know we need to give the child some time," a ninja who Sasuke did not know spoke up next, "but we also need to gather as much information as possible. And soon."
"I'm aware of that," Naruto said, agreeing with the light-haired man. "But we also need to take Hana's emotional well-being into consideration."
"You can't just expect a 7-year-old to tell you every little detail about a traumatic event like that," Ino said, snapping at the young nameless ninja. "We need to give a couple more days. At least wait until she's settled down a little."
Naruto shot the blonde woman a sad smile, understanding the root of her frustration. "We'll try again tomorrow night, but until then we'll leave her out of this," he offered, trying to appease both sides of the argument. He turned back toward Sasuke, nodding at him, waiting for him to continue.
"A few nights back, a few men broke into my apartment and attempted to abduct her," he paused, not wanting to go into too much detail, "I took care of them but then a man appeared in the window and killed both men before I could get much information out of them."
"What did he look like?" Shikamaru asked, leaning forward a bit, suddenly on alert for some reason.
"I didn't see his face, he was wearing a green mask—" Sasuke paused as multiple ninja reacted; some swore, others let out a gasp or an exasperated noise of some sort.
"Damn," Naruto muttered under his breath. "What happened afterward?"
"Nothing really," Sasuke said slowly, still observing the occupants of the room, and their respective reactions to his information, "he looked at us and then disappeared." He raised an eyebrow, "Am I to assume that this guy is important?"
"We stayed in close contact with Sakura over the course of the past few months. And in most of her messages, she reported a green-masked man following them. She never reported any sort of violent behavior from him toward them, but she was always worrying about it." The Hokage ran a hand down his tired face. "She tried to lose him several times, using multiple attempts to shake him off their trail, but nothing ever worked."
He sighed, pausing for a moment. "In her last message, she told about how he'd addressed her for the first time. He apologized for something that he said would 'happen soon enough' and he wished her a good night, telling her that she 'should enjoy her last few sunrises'."
The Uchiha couldn't ignore the sudden fury he felt at hearing this information. "How much longer after the threat was it?"
"We don't know the exact day is happened on, but it was between 2 and 4 days after he contacted her last. She was supposed to have arrived in Sunagakure five days after she contacted us last."
"We're assuming that they were attacked somewhere between the Hidden Rain and the Hidden Stone villages," Shikamaru approached the table in front of Naruto, smoothing out a large map that lay before them. Sasuke moved to stand next to the strategist, watching where the man circled an area with red ink.
"I'm guessing you've already searched there?" Sasuke asked, studying the map.
"Thoroughly," Shikamaru frowned.
Thinking back to earlier in the week, Sasuke recalled the man's words.
"To be honest, I'm just running out of places to look."
"We need a new plan of action," Kiba said, making his presence known as he approached the table. "We need to get the information from Katahana, regroup, and send out another team."
"And we will," Ino glared at him from her side of the table, "once Katahana can talk to us without freaking out."
"Look, I'm just trying to make it so that we're not wasting any more time," he said defensively, throwing his arms up in over-exaggerated exasperation. "If you guys really want to find Sakura, then we need to act quickly."
"I know that time is important here, Kiba," Naruto said, addressing his comrade sternly, "but we also need to figure out what to do with Hana."
That not only silenced Kiba, but the rest of the room as well. Confused, Sasuke turned toward Naruto, "What needs to be figured out?"
"Once these people find out that she's here—which they will soon—they'll come by the dozens." Naruto shook his head, a frustrated, angry look on his face. "One of the main reasons Sakura opted to leave with Hana initially was because civilians were starting to die. We'd get multiple attacks each night, all because people were trying to find her. Of course, before we let Sakura even consider leaving, we tried setting up a plan of action. She was to travel to a few designated villages—where we had a safe house waiting in each one—and from there they'd lie low for a week, and then move to the next."
"As soon as they were discovered in one town, they'd have to move quickly or else they'd get attacked," Ino's expression was as grim as Naruto's.
"Eventually, after sending messages back and forth for a couple weeks, Gaara offered to help them. But, as you know, on their way…"
"They were attacked." Sasuke finished the statement for him. "Katahana had mentioned that the two of them had been split up during the attack, but she never told me how she escaped without being detected."
"That's one of the main things we're curious about, too."
"You guys do realize the only way to find it out is to actually talk to the kid?" Kiba chimed in once more, growing impatient. "I talked to her for hours earlier and she seemed fine. Let me talk to her," he offered, "I'm sure she'll tell me some things."
"Kiba, I don't think that's a good idea," Hinata rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to deter him.
"If no one else is going to take charge with this," he said stubbornly, brushing her off, "then I will." He turned toward the door and began walking.
Anger filling up in his chest as he watched the interaction between his old comrades before him, Sasuke glowered at the ninja's retreating form. Naruto and Ino had both informed all of them about Katahana's sensitivity when it came to the topic of Sakura. Not only was he disregarding all reasonable thought, but also the wishes of the damn Hokage.
Without even thinking, Sasuke moved, in the blink of an eye, to stand directly before the Inuzuka, blocking his path.
Stopping at the sudden appearance of the Uchiha before him, Kiba scowled as he halted his movement. "Oh please," he scoffed, "what?"
Sasuke didn't reply. Hell, he didn't even need to. The glare he was shooting at the man should have been a clear enough message: back off.
"What? Nothing?" he scoffed, "You're wasting our time, Uchiha." As he made a move to step around the ex-Leaf nin, he found Sasuke moving to stand before him again, still standing between himself and the door. "You've gotta be kidding," he laughed. "You're not seriously doing this right now? You of all people?"
"You're not going anywhere near her," Sasuke spoke in a low voice, too quiet for most of the occupants in the room to hear.
"Wow. Look at you," he laughed, "father of the year."
"Kiba," standing a few feet behind him, the Akimichi man, Choji warned his fellow Leaf-nin. "Come on," he urged, a nervous look on his face.
"I will not repeat myself," Sasuke advised, staring icily back at the man, not breaking eye contact.
"What? You wanna talk to her instead? She knows who I am," Kiba sneered, looking Sasuke up and down with a look of distaste, "You're practically a stranger to her." He let out a short laugh, "You're hardly her father." Turning again and stepping around Sasuke, he barely took two steps before he was stopped again. Appearing in front of him once more, Sasuke sported a red glare, grabbing Kiba roughly by the shoulder.
Over the course of a few seconds, the room erupted in movement and was stilled a moment later.
Grinding his teeth, Sasuke shot a deadly look at the Nara man, who was currently binding him with his shadow possession jutsu. Standing directly before him, and in between the two men was Naruto, glowing a bright yellow, each of his hands grabbing the fabric of either man's shirt.
"This is fucking ridiculous," Kiba growled as he was held immobile by Choji's powerful grip. "You must be crazy Naruto, to let this guy back into the damn Village."
"Quiet," Naruto's voice held such power with it, even Sasuke found himself dropping his glare and focusing on the Hokage that stood before him. This man was a far cry from the idiotic buffoon that Sasuke had been teamed up with as a child.
"I don't care what you guys may think of each other; I don't care what any of you think about one another," he addressed the whole room, "but if we don't work together, then nothing will get done."
"He's a criminal," Kiba snapped, "and you're just going to let him walk around here as if he's one of us?"
"Sasuke's charges were dropped years ago," Shikamaru was more annoyed with the current situation than angered.
"Charges or no charges. That doesn't matter. He's a murderer, and a traitor to the village. And you're going to let him hang around Katahana? I don't give a damn if he's her father. That's not a good idea!"
"Kiba! Enough," Naruto's voice overpowered Kiba's. Glaring down on the ninja, he spoke slowly and loudly. "He is her father, so whether he wants a relationship with her or not is none of our concern. Nothing you say will change that. Now, if you want to remain a part of this mission, you better cooperate." He then turned to Sasuke, "That goes for you too, Sasuke. If you're going to help, you need to get along with everyone else—now I don't mean you have to be friends with everyone, but you need to control yourself."
Sasuke glared, "I have plenty of self-control," he snapped.
"Wait, he's part of the mission, too?" The Inuzuka yelled in disbelief.
"Yes," Naruto sternly addressed Kiba once more. "And I'm going to assume that it won't be a problem. Cause if it is, then I'll just have to assemble a new team." He glared at each man before taking a deep breath and letting his chakra dissipate. "Now, tomorrow we're going to meet here again, at the same time. Then we'll go over our next step: heading out to search for Sakura once more."
As Naruto stepped away from the two, both Shikamaru as well as Chouji released their holds on the two feuding men. The two did not stop glaring at one another, although they did stand still.
"Hopefully we'll have a group put together and sent out within the next few days. We have no time to waste." With a wave of his hand, Naruto lazily dismissed the ninja, rubbing a spot next to his right temple, as if trying to ward off a headache.
Turning on his heel, Sasuke headed straight for the door, the last thing he heard before he entered the hallway being Kiba making another snarky comment.
"This is a bad idea," he mumbled to someone behind Sasuke's back.
Working to keep his temper under control he stopped in the doorway of the room he had left only a little while before. And upon looking into the room, his anger immediately faded away.
"Hi dad!"
The dark haired girl currently stood on the couch, waving at him eagerly. In front of her, sitting on the floor, Kakashi sat, leaning his back against the couch. In his lap sat the toddler who was currently in a hysterical fit of laughter.
Sasuke stared at Kakashi with a blank look on his face. His silence not due to his quiet demeanor, but due to the fact that he was literally at a loss for words.
"We gave Kakashi-san a make-over!" Katahana giggled, covering her mouth.
"Kaka pretty!" The toddler screeched, laughing loudly. Sasuke winced at the noise; that was Naruto's son alright.
Kakashi sat, looking up at Sasuke with tired distress. His hair was tied up in every direction with bows, ties, and various ribbons.
"You look ridiculous."
"Shh!" Katahana held a finger in front of her lips, shushing her father. "It's okay Kaka-san, you look wonderful I promise!" she said, trying hard to contain herself as she spoke to the man. "My dad is just jealous that he doesn't look as nice as you do."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked into the room, approaching the couch.
Kakashi looked up at him, "I take it the meeting is over?"
He nodded once, crossing his arms across the chest and raising his eyebrow at his old sensei. He may not have been on good terms with the man, but he had to hand it to him: he had an incredible amount of patience to sit by as the two children tormented him.
"Seems a little early?"
"There was," Sasuke paused, breaking eye contact, "an… issue." He looked at Katahana, who was currently adjusting a bow in Kakashi's silver hair.
"Hm. Well I'm assuming it wasn't too much of a problem."
"And why do you say that?"
"Because you don't look like you've been in a fight."
"Looks can be deceiving," Sasuke muttered under his breath, causing Kakashi to sigh. As he felt a tugging on his arm, he turned his attention back towards Katahana, who was gripping his hand tightly.
"Sit," she insisted, a stern look on her face, pulling once more. Grimacing, not enjoying having his arm yanked on, Sasuke gave in, sitting himself on the couch beside her. "Do you want a make-over, too?"
Sasuke almost stood right back up as she asked him, but instead he held his position. "No." He couldn't see it, but he could hear the sound of Kakashi chuckling to himself. He glared at the back of the ninja's silver head. "Why are you laughing?"
The older man shook his head, a loose tie falling from his hair to the ground beside him. "It's nothing."
"What's going on in here?" Naruto asked from the doorway. But he'd taken no more than two steps into the room before he paused, stared at Kakashi with a blank expression, and erupted in howling laughter. Hinata walked in the room behind him, glancing at Kakashi and letting out her own small laugh.
"I'll take him off your hands now," she said to the man as she leaned down to lift the child out of his lap. "Thank you," she gave him an apologetic smile as she glanced at the state his hair was in.
"Don't mention it," he closed his eye, smiling up at the young woman.
"You," Naruto struggled to speak through his laughter, "look ridiculous!" He exclaimed, pointing a finger at Kakashi as he tried to remain upright.
"Yes, yes, Sasuke already told me."
"Oy, are you getting your hair done next?" Naruto asked Sasuke, still laughing.
"Definitely not."
"I can do your hair too, if you'd like Naruto-san," Katahana said, glancing over to him, a ribbon in each of her hands.
He held his hands up in front of him, his laughter turning nervous. "No thanks, uh, maybe next time."
"I'll remember that!" she said, putting her hands on her hips and sitting back down on the couch beside Sasuke. Letting out a long yawn, the girl stretched her arms over her head. "I'm tired."
"It's almost bedtime," Hinata said softly, walking over to the couch and extending her free hand. The dark-haired child rubbed an eye with a tiny fist before grabbing a hold of the Hyuuga's hand. They had just begun to make their way towards the door when Ino appeared in the doorway.
"Hey there," she said as she leaned against the doorframe, smiling down at the child, "you ready to go?" The little girl nodded as she let go of Hinata's hand and instead grabbed hold of Ino's. "I'll take her back," the Yamanaka said to the few occupants of the room. Her eyes landed on Sasuke's sitting form, staring at him for a quick second. She then looked back down at the child, "Say goodnight."
Katahana turned back into the room, waving a tired hand at everyone, "Goodnight," she said tiredly. The blonde woman then led the sleepy child out of the room and into the hall.
"Wait, I forgot something!" They heard her urgent statement a few seconds later from down the hall. As quickly as she'd left, she ran back into the room and right up to the couch.
Sasuke watched as the child stood before him, her hands gripping the hem of her shirt nervously. Before he could ask her what she wanted, she sprung herself forward, wrapping her tiny arms around his torso. Once again left speechless and stunned from another one of her sudden embraces, he tried to—yet again—ignore the stares from the other occupants of the room as he anxiously returned her hug.
"Goodnight dad," he heard her mumble into his shirt. Then without another word, she scurried back out into the hallway, to a shocked and waiting Ino.
"I'm going to head home too," Hinata said, sensing the awkward tension in the room. She walked up to Naruto, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, "I'll see you later." And with a smile directed toward the other two men in the room, she turned and left as well, the young boy already starting to fall asleep in her arms.
Sasuke couldn't stop staring at his hands before him, resting in his lap, palms facing upward. He was not an emotional person. He did not like displays of affection. He could count the amount of people he'd ever hugged in his entire life on one hand. It was rare when something took him so off-guard where he didn't know how to immediately respond. And to top it all off, he wasn't particularly a fan of children either.
But when it came to this small girl—his daughter—he didn't know how to feel. He wasn't even sure if he was responding correctly to the child's questions and embraces. An uneasy feeling began to settle in his stomach; he had no idea how to handle emotional situations, let alone be the father to a seemingly over-affectionate girl.
"I'm assuming she's going back to the hospital?" Kakashi's question brought Sasuke out of his thoughts. The older man backed himself up off the floor and onto the couch beside Sasuke, lazily pulling bows and ribbons out of his hair.
Naruto grimaced, "She'll have to stay there until we figure out what to do next. We already have all the hospital staff keeping a tight lip about all this. We can't have the village know that she's back here."
Kakashi nodded in understanding, "So we need to find somewhere that she won't be found for her to stay."
"That's just one of the things we're trying to figure out."
"Can't you guys just keep her here, in the village?" Sasuke asked, chiming into the conversation. "I can't think of anywhere safer for her to be."
"Trust me Sasuke, I want to. I mean I really, really want to." Naruto ran a hand through his blonde, messy hair. "I want nothing more than to keep her here where I can personally look after her. But," he sighed, "as Hokage I need to do what's best for the village. And with her being here, once people find out she's back, the village will start being attacked again."
"So you're just going to send her off?" Sasuke asked, almost angry.
"The Kazekage has already agreed to help," Kakashi said, trying to placate the Uchiha. "Sending her to Suna is our best bet at this point."
"The real challenge is simply getting her there, undetected." Naruto walked over to a table on the side of the room, pulling a chair out and sitting in it, facing the two with a thoughtful expression on his face. "In the next couple days we need to assemble a team to transport her there."
"Put me on that team," Sasuke demanded sternly.
"That wouldn't be wise," Kakashi spoke apologetically. "You were the last person that any of those men spotted her with. Putting you both together while travelling will just make it that much easier to be identified and tracked down."
"I thought you were helping us with locating Sakura?" Naruto inquired earnestly. At this statement Kakashi glanced at Sasuke, seemingly surprised at the revelation.
"I am," Sasuke growled.
"You can't do both, Sasuke," Naruto smiled at him. "Look, we're going to make sure we get a good, solid team put together to transport her. And how about this: I won't make any team official until you give your approval. Sound good?"
Rubbing the back of his neck tiredly, Sasuke knew that the offer was the best one he would get. He nodded once, finally deciding to let Naruto handle the situation fully.
"So, Sasuke," Kakashi said, the tone in his voice now much more upbeat, "what've you been up to for the past few years?"
The dark-haired man glared at his old teacher. "Nothing," he spoke bluntly. He wasn't lying either.
"Now that you know about her, what do you think of Katahana?"
Swallowing the lump in his throat that always decided to appear when he thought of the child, he thought to himself quietly. "She's very… affectionate." He said, finally finding the right words. "Too trusting," he added, his voice concerned.
"She's a lot like Sakura," Kakashi chuckled lightly. "She always has good intentions, and she's very sweet, but also extremely naïve."
"Is she like that with everyone?"
"No, not really. Only if she feels comfortable around them."
Sasuke tried to ignore the vague sense of gratification he felt at those words. That meant that he was one of the few people she was comfortable around. That made him special to her.
"She's very smart," Naruto added, "especially for her age. And she can throw a kunai with unbelievable accuracy," he grinned widely.
"She wants to be a ninja. I think Sakura was finally going to put her in the academy this fall."
Naruto laughed, "Yeah after I convinced her!" Sasuke looked at the two men, slightly confused. Noting his expression, Naruto explained. "Sakura used to be completely against Katahana ever becoming a ninja."
"What? Why?"
"Sakura has always been very overprotective of her. Always insisting that it was 'too dangerous' for her."
"Naruto called her a hypocrite once and she broke his nose," Kakashi mused, grinning beneath his mask.
"Yeah whatever," Naruto glared at Kakashi. "She really likes you a lot though, Sasuke. I've never seen her attach herself to someone so quickly."
"It's…" he trailed off, not able to find the right words to fit his situation.
"Strange, huh?" Naruto grinned. "It's alright, I'm sure you'll adjust eventually. She's a pretty independent kid so she's really easy to take care of."
Trying to avoid the thought of potentially taking care of the girl as her father, Sasuke stood up, prepared to separate himself from the entire conversation. Walking towards the door, he paused, realizing he didn't know how to get out of these rock-enclosed series of rooms. Cursing himself mentally, he waited by the doorway, not saying anything.
Kakashi and Naruto shared a look before they both stood up as well. "I'll take you back," he said to Sasuke, answering his unspoken question. "We're scheduled to meet back here tomorrow. You don't necessarily have to come along, but if you want to—"
"I'm going."
"Alright," Naruto said, a little put off by Sasuke's bitter tone.
The former Team 7 members said nothing more to each other before they all departed from the room, and ultimately from the mountainside base as well. After arriving back at the hospital, Sasuke wordlessly walked away from Naruto, escorting himself inside and finding his own way back to his room.
Closing the door behind him, he turned off the light, kicked off his shoes, threw the heavy cloak on a table in the corner of the room, and unceremoniously climbed into the bed.
This had definitely not been an ordinary week for Sasuke. He smirked dryly to himself, face down in his pillow, as he thought about it. The one time—the only time—he ever decided to take in a street kid, it ended up being his missing daughter who he'd never once known about. But he couldn't even bring himself to be surprised at the circumstances surrounding these events.
He had been thinking about how boring his life had become these past few years, and he'd been secretly hoping for something to appear and make his life just a little bit more interesting, a bit more exciting.
Maybe he should have specified in these thoughts just how much excitement he was really looking for…
A/N: This is the longest chapter so far. I hope you're enjoying the reappearance of some more characters. And just for the record: I don't dislike Kiba. I actually really like his character. But if I had to imagine anyone antagonizing Sasuke, for some reason I imagined Kiba being the one to do it.
About the last Naruto chapter (*possible spoilers*): So then. Madara is apparently fucking terrifying. And I'm very worried about my poor baby Kakashi. We need them to all get to the battlefield and reunite; and soon, before I have a heart attack due to stress.
Anyways, I'm very happy (and flattered) with the feedback I got from the last couple of chapters. I will admit, it's a pretty nice feeling to see so many of you enjoying it. I also appreciate the criticism, too! And it's awesome to see so many of you make predictions about the future chapters; one of you did get something right, very surprisingly! (Now, I'm not going to give away who made the correct guess, or what it was, but kudos anyways.)
Let me know what you think. I'll update again sometime after the next Naruto chapter is posted. Fingers crossed for a battlefield reunion!