Disclaimer: I do not own these characters they belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Masashi Kishimoto.
It was at times like these that Kagome dearly wished that she had thought to bring her camera through the well. The look of utter shock that seemed permanently fixated upon the wrinkled old faces of the elders was something that needed to be remembered. Her vantage point offered her little view of the dozen other ninja spaced throughout the room, but she could imagine that they shared similar expressions.
She crouched slightly to the left, shifting her weight from her right leg to her left, and settled in on the side of the building. Her right hand twitched and her eyes darted back and forth, inside the Council Meeting Room, chaos was about to erupt.
-Scene-
Sasuke wrapped one arm protectively around Sukayu and jumped backwards to land neatly on one of the filing cabinets at the very back of the room. The look of utter glee that had filled the eyes of Homura worried him slightly and he thought it best to be as far as possible from the crowd.
"Sasuke! That's not possible! It can't be true!" Someone wailed. – Sakura, Sasuke mused, though he didn't shift his view away from the Elder's in front of him.
"Uchiha Sukayu! A son! Wonderful!" The deep-set crow's feet around Koharu's tired brown eyes crinkled together in delight. "We thought it could not possibly be so, but look! Simply look at the resemblance, Homura!"
Sasuke glared, his lips curling into a sneer at the elder woman's antics. "Are you saying that you believed I lied, Elder-san?" His voice was hardened and cold; the word's biting through the tension mounting in the air. Sukayu glanced up at his father, surprised at the utter hatred that seemed to shape the words. His father stroked his bangs once, offering a reassurance, before wrapping it around his waist once more.
"Of course!" Koharu snapped hatefully, "What proof have you given us to believe your word, Uchiha? Especially when how eager you seemed to leave the village merely a few years ago with Orochimaru!"
Homura roared. "Enough, Koharu!" He barked at his comrade; slowly he faced the raven haired nin, twined his fingers together and rested his chin upon them. "It is obvious that your obligation is true, Uchiha. How old is your son? Is he bright? Is he strong? And, more importantly, where is the mother?"
Irritated at being talked about as if he wasn't there, Sukayu spoke up for the first time. "My name, Elder-san, is Uchiha Sukayu, and it's not polite to talk about me when I'm right here!" Sukayu glared at the man, his obsidian eyes a matching pair to the older ninja beside him.
Sasuke smirked slightly, feeling a bubble of pride swell within him at his son's outraged tone. On his right side, a loud snort and chuckle erupted from the loud-mouthed blonde and his former teammate, Naruto.
"God Sasuke, he's just like you! Attitude and all! It's just like I pictured him, a copy of you right down to the tips of his toes!" The blonde chuckled and looked up at the pair. He grinned at the little boy and stuck out his hand. "Hey there, little guy! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Your pops and me go way back when, back before the academy even!"
Slightly startled at the blonde's friendliness, Sukayu blinked confusedly at the man for only a moment, and then glanced up at his father. Seeing his father's nod and slight roll of his dark eyes, Sukayu grinned and shook the offered hand. "Hi Naruto!"
"Naruto! You moron! There is business to be taken care of here!" Tsunade snapped at the eager blonde and rose from her chair. "Sit down! Uchiha, bring your son up here to me, will you? If we're about to lose one of our highest ranking ninja, we're going to make sure it's for a legitimate reason."
Sasuke eyed her suspiciously for a moment and had only just opened his mouth to question her actions when someone else in the room piped up. "Lady Tsunade, if I may ask, what do you mean?" Kakashi, Sasuke noticed, was edging toward him as well, using the question as a means to move slightly through the room.
"There is a simple way to assure everyone that Sasuke is entirely telling the truth. All that is needed to fulfill the obligation clause is to verify Sukayu's heritage and gather the reasoning behind not bringing him to the village." Her voice was very authoritative, and offered no excuses. Her eyes, though, seemed to pierce the Uchiha with their intensity and one phrase seemed to stand out in them, 'What have you done?'
The raven-haired ninja knew that it was risky, riskier even, than it would have been simply to have escaped the village and become a missing ninja once more. The risk was worth it though, for what if Sukayu one day wished to be part of the Village Hidden in the Leaves? What if one day – his demon heritage aside – he wanted to join his father as a ninja of Konoha?
Sasuke glanced at the window and calmed himself, Kagome was here, there was very little the Elders could do with her on his side. She would protect their son at all costs. His resolve strengthened, he grasped his son and jumped gingerly to the front of the room. He released his son's waist and, instead, gripped him tightly by the hand and faced the blonde Hokage.
"Alright, then, Uchiha. Sukayu, I need you to place your hand within mine. Don't give me that look, Uchiha! I'm simply going to test the sequence of his heritage. Then, I'll take yours and compare it to verify that it's the same." Tsunade gently grasped the small boy's trembling hand in her own soft palm. She closed her eyes in concentration for a moment and a blue glow surrounded their joined hands. Tsunade twitched slightly and closed her mouth tightly to prevent her shocked gasp from escaping through her lips. Her hand trembled slightly, just before a series of lines appeared on the top of Sukayu's hand. "There, now, Uchiha, give me your hand." Her voice quivered and the Uchiha's eyes snapped up to peer at her. Her brown eyes were weary and seemed to pierce him. The same question shown through them, only this time it seemed like it had quadrupled in it's intensity. 'What have you done?'
She knows something, the Uchiha thought, she must, or else she wouldn't be so nervous. Has she guessed Sukayu's mother? He placed his palm into the Hokage's smaller one and waited. The blue glow surrounded the joined hands again; only this time there was no nervous trembling. The black marks soon appeared, a perfect match to the smaller version on his son's own hand.
"Now that the heritage is settled, it's time for Sasuke to tell us the reasoning behind his resignation, especially since his son could only excel in the presence of Konoha!" Homura sounded gleeful, much more so than he should have sounded now that he was losing his only remaining Uchiha.
Sasuke hid a snarl; this bastard was toeing the line. "It is very simple, Elder-san." He bit out, his voice dripping with icy sarcasm, "My son and his mother live nearly a day's journey from here, away from the hustle of Konoha. He has been raised away from the city and his mother is largely protective over him. I've missed over three years of his life doing my duties as a ninja of Konoha and I have an obligation, as his father, to see that he grows into a proper young man, away from any negative influences."
Sasuke heard Homura take a sharp intake of breath, a clear sign that he had understood the implications behind his words. He smirked slightly and nearly gave himself a mental pat on the back – that is, until he noticed the slight smirk that the old man was also wearing. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Is there something the matter, Elder-san?"
"Nothing at all, Uchiha. Please, give Koharu and I moment to discuss this privately." Homura's smirk widened slightly and he helped Koharu to her feet. "We'll only be a moment, please, feel free to catch up while we are gone." Then, he crossed the room and followed Koharu through the doorway
Sasuke grit his teeth, but realized there wasn't anything that could really be done, and placed his hand back on his son's head and steered him around to the curious group of nin-onlookers.
"So, Sasuke, that's quite a cute kid you've got there. Why don't you finally introduce us, properly?" Kakashi chuckled slightly at the heated glare the younger ninja sent his way. The raven-haired Uchiha sat his son down on the floor and allowed him to stand on his own two feet.
"Sukayu." He said calmly, "The people here are people that I have known for a long time. They are ninja, like me, and are bound to the Land of Fire and Konoha."
Sukayu's mouth dropped open into an 'o' of understanding before he smiled widely. "Hello!" He bowed to them politely and popped back up with a grin of happiness.
Sukayu was introduced around the room of ninjas, his bright personality and cute face a welcoming calm amongst the tense ninja. Kakashi bent down onto one knee in front of him and held out his hand. "Hey, kid. I'm Hatake Kakashi, and your father was a student of mine for a long time." The silver haired ninja winked at the boy and shook the small hand.
"I have to say, bastard, if it wasn't for the paternity test and the matching looks, I'd never think that this cute kid was yours, he's nothing like you!" Naruto laughed, his blue eyes twinkling as he teased his former teammate. He squatted down next to the boy as well, to the right of his former sensei.
"Neh, neh, Naruto-san! Daddy and me are more alike than that!" The child blinked up at him with large, obsidian eyes. "We both love mommy and mommy's food and daddy loves my drawings. Oh! And mommy says we have the same 'special eyes'. See!" Sukayu grinned at the two and activated his sharingan, which swirled as he looked up at them.
Kakashi sucked in a breath and abruptly looked up at the older Uchiha. "Sasuke?" The raven grunted and raised a brow at his former sensei, pride shining in his eyes. The other blinked his uncovered eye up at him, and Sasuke nodded once. He understood, it was dangerous for his son to be here, especially after what had happened with Itachi.
It was this moment that the Elders chose to return, a tall man wearing a crisp black outfit and a bird-beaked mask trailing behind them.
An Anbu? They had brought an Anbu with them? "No!" Sasuke growled, and whirled around to grab Sukayu and pull him away. It was at that moment, however, that the Anbu grasped the little boy by the waist and picked him up to look him in the eye.
"Rambunctious little brat, aren't you? Feh, let's just hope you don't end up as much of a bastard as your dad." The Anbu chuckled when the small child squirmed.
"No! Put me down!" Sukayu cried, "Put me down! Put me down!" He wiggled and squirmed, clearly uncomfortable in the man's grasp. "You look like them! Put me down!"
"Woah, there brat. Be still for fuck's sake!" The man held tighter, trying to get a good look at the child before he activated his technique.
"No! LET ME GO!" Sukayu screamed, his sharingan flaring to life. A small burst of his demon yuki launched the man away, sending him crashing into the wall at the adjacent side of the room. Sasuke grabbed Sukayu before he could fall to the floor and hugged him tightly, but the little boy wasn't through it seemed.
"You are a bad man! A bad, bad man!" He snarled as he cried, small tears streaming down his rounded face and his eyes – the white's had gone a startling yellow with the sharingan flared to life in the center. "Don't touch me! And leave my daddy alone!" His sobs suddenly overtook him, his voice breaking and hoarse at the end of his tirade. He clutched at his father, and buried his face into his clothed chest.
"Do you see, Elder-san?" Sasuke growled out in a huff, "My son would never be safe here, he would just be a novelty to you, a trophy, and I would never put him through such a life." He spat out angrily. "He would never be truly accepted, not by the likes of you."
"You're right, Uchiha." The Elder spat in return, "We would never accept the likes of him! Never!" The Elder snarled with an animosity that Sasuke had no idea he could produce. He glanced down at his son, and realized with a growing dread that Sukayu's hat had slid off at some point in the chaos, revealing a twin set of solid black ears, and that his son now faced the Elder, directly looking at him with his intimidating eyes.
The Uchiha turned, intent on signaling Kagome and leaving as quickly as possible. This was a mistake, a stupid, absolutely stupid, mistake. Did he honestly think that the Elder wouldn't pull something to cause him trouble?
"A monster." Sakura whispered, petrified at the sight of the glowing eyes and red, sharingan irises, and the window beside her shattered, spraying a symphony of glass around the dumbfounded nin. She choked slightly, realizing with horror that she was pressed against the wall, small shards of glass digging into her back and a sharp blade pressed against her jugular. She looked up, right into the glowing eyes of a very pissed off mother.
"Don't you ever call my son a monster, you bitch." Kagome snarled, her fangs snapping slightly at the other woman.