Naruto's P.O.V.

"Owe Dad! That hurts!"

"Hold still."

"You're doing it all wrong! Look there's knots!"

"I'm sorry Mikoshina, but I didn't go to beauty school."

"Karin does it so much better!"

"Because she's a woman, she's done it her whole life. There it's done."

"It's lop-sided!"

"Get in the car, we're gonna be late. Maybe Karin can fix it when we get there."

"Okay."

"Don't forget your tights!"

"I got them! Lets go Dad!"

I grabbed my keys and we got into the car and drove to the high school gym. Sasuke was standing a few feet away from the entrance, smoking. When he saw us he put out his cigarette, put gum in his mouth, and walked over.

"Hi Daddy, where's Karin? I need her to fix my hair."

"She had to work today baby girl, sorry about that."

"Ugh, I'm gonna get in so much trouble! I'll see you guys after."

"Good luck!"

"Dance pretty!" I called as she ran through the doors.

"No Neji today?"

"He's got clan stuff going on this weekend."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, lets go inside." We walked in and took our seats on the bleachers. Spending all day in a hot crowded gym to see my daughter dance two dances for a combined four minutes is less than exciting, but that's life I guess. After an hour of watching kids I didn't care about preform, finally her team went out. They killed it! We'll Chocho dropped her poms and their kick line was a mess, but well my daughter looked good. After two or three more dances Sasuke stood up.

"Where are you going? She still has another dance."

"Yeah in like four hours, I'm gonna go have a smoke." I really didn't want to be here either...

"Can I join you?"

"You wanna smoke with me?"

"No, but I did hide a flask in my car, that'd be real nice right about now." He let out a small chuckle.

"Well alright then." We walked out and he sat in the bed of his truck while I got my flask. I took a sip and handed it to him.

"Man that sake is strong."

"Jiraiya gave it me after his trip to the Mist a few weeks ago."

"Well Jiraiya knows his alcohol."

"He certainly does."

"Did you ever think we'd be doing this? Going to dance competitions and cheering for the mediocre at best all for our daughter?"

"Not at all, honestly I never thought she'd pick up dance like she has."

"I miss soccer, we used to be in and out, none of all this waiting around for no reason."

"Yeah but she was way too competitive, I thought one day she was just going to explode and kill one of those girls."

"She probably gets it from me."

"Of course she did, you're always boarder line about to kill someone." Neji specifically.

"Gee thanks dobe." I laughed and took another drink. "This is nice."

"What is?"

"You and I just talking like this. Without your husband trying to tell me I'm a deadbeat."

"He really has a special way of pissing you off doesn't he?"

"You have no idea."

"How's the wedding planning?"

"Ehh... We've been busy. Probably will put it off till next summer. Or even the one after that."

"Ohh..."

"Any baby news?" None whatsoever. In fact, Neji and I haven't slept together since Miko's birthday a while back.

"I've all but given up."

"That sucks, I'm sorry about that."

"Eh, it's life I guess. Are you and Karin gonna have kids?"

"Umm... no. Yeah that would be a total disaster." He scoffed, inhaling his cigarette.

"Yeah well you're marrying her so..."

"Yeah..." He took a deep breath from his cigarette, holding it longer this time. I felt myself fidget a bit as I took another sip.

"What?" He asked taking the flask from me.

"We have a court date next week, yet we're sitting here being civil." He took a big swig then handed it back.

"I'm sorry about that, but come on, would you really let me move her to the Sound if I didn't force you to?"

"Probably not, I just wish you didn't go about it the way you did."

"If I didn't your husband would have steam rolled me."

"I wouldn't have let him."

"You give him all the power, he treats you like a woman and you're just okay with it."

"At least he doesn't lie to me." His scent changed to annoyance.

"I've made some mistakes, I'm still making mistakes, but one day you'll realize that I did all of it for you and Mikoshina."

"Going to prison for seven years and leaving me to raise a two year old by myself wasn't exactly in our best interest."

"I never actually thought I'd get caught."

"I just don't know why you fell in with them." He was silent for a few seconds.

"Maybe part of me was still pissed off at you for cheating on me, maybe subconsciously I wanted you to feel the pain I felt from that, I don't know." My jaw dropped.

"Uh, well shu cha auh, you won! Jesus Sasuke."

"Yeah, I sure did win, won at being the biggest jerk on the planet."

"Look I understand why you did it, for the money at least, I've forgiven it and moved on, but there's just one thing that's always just pissed me off, even after all these years."

"What's that?"

"That you never said you were sorry. Or even showed any type of remorse at all."

"Because I'm not sorry. I feel bad about how it all went down, and I regret with all of my heart that I left you high and dry like I did. But I'm not sorry, I did what I had to do to give my family the life they deserved." I know he was being honest, but it just made me so angry.

"You didn't have to do any of it. You graduated college, got a good job, but because that wasn't enough for you, you just keep on doing what you were doing. You know, I totally understood why you became a prostitute, in fact I supported your decisions, even defended you to my parents. But the lying, the faking everything just so I wouldn't find out? That's what hurt the most. The fact that you wouldn't tell me, me! The one you were supposed to tell everything to! The one that wouldn't judge you and would always be in your corner no matter what! That's what hurt the most."

"Would you have listened? Would you really have accepted that I got in with those guys? That I literally gave them every piece of my body over and over and over again. In the worse ways possible at that. You would have never understood."

"I would have tried!"

"And then realized you couldn't handle it. You had no idea how much in the hole we were. My C-section, Itachi's surgeries and medications, Mikoshina's well baby appointments? We couldn't afford any of it! If I didn't jump in with them the three of us would have been out on the street a week later. What was to stop you from dumping me, leaving with Mikoshina to your parents, and never seeing me again? If I didn't contribute or show any progress at all, you would have been gone." Shortly after the trials I went over the numbers with Shikamaru, he wasn't lying in his testiomony, with our finances at the time, we were going to crash and burn maybe a week or two after he handed Itachi that first envelope of cash. I'm not sure he gets it even after all this time…

"But did you ever even think to ask me how I would feel? No you just made that decision all on your own! And you know why? Because you're selfish! You think the world revolves around you and no one else matters! No regard for anyone else but you! Just you and your 'I'm gonna handle everything on my own because the world is always on my fuckin shoulders and no one else can help me' attitude. You're just so fucking selfish Sasuke! " He went silent, just inhaling his cigarette. After a long silence passed I just got all angry again, but then he spoke up.

"You done?" Ugh that... that... bastard! I couldn't control myself; I slapped him. I slapped him so hard across the face my hand hurt. He touched his cheek softly.

"I deserved that."

"Yeah… you did." I said taking deep breaths to calm myself.

"So… are we good now? Water under the bridge?"

"No yet." I slapped him again, harder this time, on the other side of his face. "Now… we are good." I said adjusting my collar with a huff, then fixing my disheveled hair.

"You've sure been holding back some anger at me."

"You don't know the half of it."

"I know I'm a selfish person, Dr. Iruka made that very clear to me."

"He… he did?"

"Yup. I'm trying to work on it. Really… But it's not exactly easy… trying to change every aspect about me that I used the think made me… me."

"I didn't think of it like that."

"Well now you know. So we can be civil now? No hard feelings?" I took a few more deep breaths.

"Yeah, yeah we can."

"Well alright then." He said leaning back in his truck, finishing off the sake. "That freakin hurt dobe."

"Good, you deserved it teme."

We ended up having a pretty good day after that. Just talking, catching up like old times. We went back in later to see Mikoshina's last dance. Her team ended up getting third, so the three of us went out for pizza to celebrate. It was really nice, exactly how a family that's separated should be getting along; Just the three of us. It was everything I could have hoped for... Too bad all of that might change after we go to court in two weeks.