Happy Turkey Day everyone!
Secrets can't be kept forever
(Present day)
life will move forward
Killing the engine brought a quiet around them that emphasized the tension in the car. Sasuke listened intently as the passenger in his vehicle unbuckled their seat belt, listened as the rustle of hair and clothes settled into quietness next to him. To say that he is nervous would be an understatement. When his mother reached out to extend a dinner invitation to him and Orochi, he had stared dumbfounded at his phone for longer than it really took him to process the text. Orochi had been delighted and seeing the way her golden eyes crinkled in delight made his stomach twist and prevented him from declining the invitation. His last visit with his parents had gone… less than stellar and he had not, in his wildest dreams, predicted that this invitation would be extended so soon after the previous confrontation. He looked towards Orochi, who quietly observed the house they were parked in front of and finally gathered his courage to unlock the vehicle and step out. He walked around the front of the car and opened the door for her, giving her a smirk before taking a deep breath.
"Ready?" He asked, though he was not sure if he was asking himself, or her. She nodded, a small smile playing along her lips.
Orochi took the hand he extended her and stepped out of the car. They had both opted to dress conservatively, he was wearing slacks and a sweater over a button up. Orochi had opted for an ankle length a-line dress that cinched at the waist, her long black hair cascading over her back. For a brief moment Sasuke thought it shimmered violet, but he squashed the thought before it really had time to fully surface. Locking the car behind them he led her towards the door. He wanted tonight to go well. Sasuke wasn't sure if this was a good idea, not when things had not been fully resolved between him and his family, but figured if there was a time to clear up any misunderstandings, there was no better time than now. Instead of opening the door himself he rang the bell, hoping that this show of politeness would earn him points in the eyes of his disgruntled father. While they wanted for someone to open the door, he took a moment to gather himself. Orochi seemed relaxed next to him, and he tried to take strength from the calm air that seemed to emanate from her, though he did not think he was very successful. Before long he heard footsteps from the other side of the Fusuma, and sure enough the door slid open not a moment later. Mikoto smiled at them, but it seemed strained.
"Welcome!" She exclaimed and ushered them inside.
"Mother," Sasuke cleared his throat as he placed a hand on Orochi's lower back. "This is Orochi."
"Oh!" This was less of an exclamation and more of a breath that escaped his mother's lips. She turned to look at the woman standing next to him and offered her a gentle smile. "Welcome dear. Come in, your father is waiting."
The greeting felt rushed and not exactly as he had pictured it, but deciding this was better than his mother just unceremoniously walking away he motioned for Orochi to step forward. Sasuke and Orochi fully entered the genkan and as he began to take his shoes off he noticed a framed picture at the entrance that had not been there before. However before he had time to really study it, his mother was ushering them towards the dining room. He would have expected her to be talking a mile a minute but was quiet and reserved as she escorted them towards the table. Once there Sasuke waited until Orochi had settled upon the zabuton at the table prior to taking his own seat. The table was set for 4 guests, and for the first time since highschool there had been a zabuton placed next to his. Fugaku sat at the head of the table, arms crossed over his haori and mouth set on a strict line. They waited in silence until Mikoto returned with tea and took her seat next to Fugaku, and opposite of Orochi, leaving an empty spot for Itachi, that for once was not on time. Having been too nervous to really say anything, he had instead tried to focus elsewhere, noticing with a small frown that the picture frames that had seemingly been missing during his last visit had found their rightful spots once again. Being too far from them he could not discern fully what was on them, but with a growing cold stone in his stomach he noticed that many of them contained a certain indigo haired woman, accompanied by what he could only describe as a boy that closely resembled both him and his brother.
"This must be her." Fugaku's voice sliced through the silence making Sasuke flinch, and as he ripped his eyes away from the pictures he turned towards his father.
"Yes," he began, his tongue suddenly feeling as though it was made from sandpaper in his mouth. "Orochi, this is my father and mother."
"It's a pleasure," her voice was soft and polite as she bowed her head towards both of them. Neither of his parents reciprocated the greeting.
Sasuke reached between them, clasping Orochi's hand in his own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Right as he was about to open his mouth to continue the introductions he heard the front door open, and a taciturn "tadaima" coming from the entrance. Itachi entered a few minutes later, Sasuke watched as his brother scanned the room and stiffened when his eyes landed on Orochi. There was something swimming in the depths of his brother's eyes that he could not discern, and this made him wish that he had never showed up. Itachi motioned for their mother to stay seated as he walked around and towards his seat to the right of Fugaku and next to Mikoto.
"Apologies for my late arrival." Itachi murmured towards Fugaku. "...Something came up." The glance that they shared was meaningful and spoke of things that Sasuke was not privy to.
Fugaku grunted and took a sip from his tea, as Itachi's graceful fingers reached to serve himself some of his own. Mikoto's gaze had brightened when Itachi entered the room, but soon settled upon her fingers as she held her teacup before her. The silence that settled upon the table once Itachi had finally served himself tea was unbearable, and Sasuke struggled to find a way to break it. Orochi on the other hand seemed completely unperturbed by the silence around them and with a quick glance towards Sasuke opened her mouth.
"It's lovely to finally meet you all." Her voice rang clear, slicing through the silence that the Uchiha family had cultivated over the last few moments. "Sasuke speaks highly of you." This she said to Itachi who had finally looked towards her.
"You must be Orochi." Was the response from his brother, and Sasuke had to fight the physical urge to bristle at his tone. "I see how my brother became smitten."
Sasuke's eyes widened as his brother looked at him, anger roiled inside his eyes and Sasuke still could not understand where it came from. Orochi was undeterred as she laughed. The airy sound in dissonance with the atmosphere around them.
"You have a lovely home," she continued undeterred. "I have always loved traditional architecture." This she directed at Mikoto who smiled tightly.
"My parents have always had a predilection towards the traditional." Sasuke supplied, thankful that his tongue had finally decided to become useless once again. He relaxed at the encouraging smile that she gave him.
"I noticed the pictures that adorn your home, is that your wife and child Itachi-san?" Her golden eyes moved back towards the older Uchiha.
Gracefully she moved a strand of her hair behind her ear and took a sip of her tea after posing the question, seemingly oblivious to the sharp intake of breath that came from Itachi, or how Mikoto's face paled. Sasuke's gaze whipped towards a picture he could just barely see over Itachi's shoulder, ignoring how the gray-lilac eyes that stared back pained him and then again to his brother, who shook his head. The movement was so miniscule that Sasuke thought he had imagined it were it not for his father, whose grim face seemed to be reddening.
"Sasuke never mentioned that he had a nephew," Orochi continued, part of him wanted to be impressed by her resolve to keep conversation going when she had so obviously walked into a topic of contention for his family, from what he could gleam on their faces.
Itachi coughed, and reaching for more tea pinned Sasuke with a stare that clearly said she should drop the topic, but Sasuke's curiosity had peaked and he too began to wonder why there was a Hyuga in the frames that adorned his family home. There was something ugly that also drove him forward, an insecurity he had never bothered to fully address. It reared its ugly head from deep in the dark recesses of his mind, and before he could really ask himself if this was the time and place for such a thing the question that had been nagging him since entering the home finally made itself free from the constraints of his throat.
"I didn't know you married Hinata, brother." There was venom in the way the words left his mouth, but he could not be bothered to curve it. "You finally bagged the prized archer of the Hyuuga. Though, I don't see a ring on your finger. Did she not live up to the expectation?"
Somewhere in the noise that filled his head, Sasuke heard his mother gasp, but whatever had broken free was unrelenting in its advance. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Orochi was frowning, but not at him. Her almost glare was directed at the woman in the pictures behind Itachi as though she had realized who she was. How she knew Hinata was only a fleeting question in the sea that churned in his brain, an afterthought that he didn't even think was fully relevant.
"Is this why you kept bringing her up even when I asked you not to?" He directed this question at his father, who had remained uncharacteristically silent during this outburst. Fugaku pinned him with a glare, but for once Sasuke did not wilt under its weight. "I must say I'm surprised. Did you wait at least a year after we broke up to finally swoop in? Or were you knocking on her door as soon as my ass was on a plane?" Sasuke stood, ignoring the pleading eyes from his mother and walked towards the pictures on the wall, picking one up.
Itachi was holding a boy, they were smiling at the camera, Hinata had her hand placed lovingly on the boy's back, her smile was heartbreaking. There was something about the kid in the picture that pricked at the back of his brain, some forgotten memory that was struggling to surface in the heat of the moment but despite the pain that flared at the happy family staring back at him he pushed through.
"Would've been nice to be told I had a nephew." He said dismissively, and set the picture down. His eyes swept across the walls, noticing a variety of pictures that had been absent in his last visit.
Pictures of Hinata and his nephew smiling, of Fugaku and Mikoto with the boy between them. Candid shots of the kid arranging flowers, sleeping in the engawa, smiling during birthdays. It did strike him as odd that he could only see pictures of him as a child and none of him as a toddler or even a baby. Slowly, Sasuke made his way back to his seat and noticed for the first time that Orochi's face had also gone pale. Confused by her reaction but also far too enraged by the discovery of his secret nephew and the marriage of his brother with his ex, he brushed the confusion aside and sat down once more, now openly glaring at his family.
"He's not my son." Itachi murmured. Sasuke laughed.
"You got saddled raising some other guy's kid? Tch, never took you for a cuckold Itachi." Malice was the only thing that could describe the way words bubbled from his mouth. There was a frantic nature in which they were born, a prophecy self-fulfilled in the situation at hand. Ignoring the way his mother gasped at his words he doubled down. "I didn't think THE Itachi Uchiha would end up taking care of a bastard son."
Sasuke knew he fucked up. Before the words left his mouth as they formulated in his throat, he knew that they were wrong. Before the pain that contorted his mother's face fully registered, he knew that he had poked a bear that was too big for him to handle. Before his father's hand came loudly crashing down onto the table, spilling half forgotten tea cups with the force, Sasuke knew that what he had just said was something that he could not take back. The anger that he had detected in his brother's eyes upon his entry was nothing compared to the cold fury that now emanated from Itachi.
Mayhem erupted.
"I told you to not bring the pictures out!" Mikoto reprimanded Fugaku as she retrieved fallen teacups exasperated. "How DARE you use Haru as a weapon!" There was venom in her voice, something that Sasuke had never heard from his mother before.
"I would never use him as such!" Fugaku defended himself, his booming voice doing nothing to dissuade Mikoto. "Haru is perfectly capable of using his weapons himself." This part was murmured petulantly, and so quietly Sasuke was not sure his mother heard it.
"If I were you, little brother, I would take your poor replacement for Hinata, and get out of this house." The murmured words from Itachi were barely audible as Mikoto continued to lay onto Fugaku. But Sasuke heard them all the same, he opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by his mother.
"This was not the way to do this Fugaku, how could you allow this?!" Her voice had taken a shrill tone, there was anger there that transcended even Itachi's. "I will stand for many things, but I will NOT stand for Haru being called a bastard! And YOU!" She turned her fury towards the youngest Uchiha. "Who taught you to speak like that?! No son of mine will insult anyone's roots! Not under my roof!"
"Haru is HIS SON!" Fugaku roared. This outburst seemed to finally steal the wind from the sails of Mikoto's fury. "Despite my relentless attempts to have a single conversation with our son about this… He left me no choice."
"No choice?!" Mikoto pinned her husband with a deathly glare. "There were a hundred better ways to go about this, but you would not listen to reason!"
"My son?" Sasuke whispered, eyes widening in surprise as he searched within the fury of his brother's eyes for an answer. "I have a son?"
At these words he found himself pinned under the stare of three Uchiha eyes all reflecting different levels of anger and disbelief. Through a high pitched sound that seemed to have come from nowhere Sasuke could have sworn that he heard Orochi whisper "she kept it?" so quietly under her breath that he could not be sure he did not imagine it.
The high pitch squealing was sure to leave him deaf, but despite it Naruto could not keep the grin that spread across his face as he watched Ino and Sakura hug outside the restaurant. When Ino reached out to tell him Sakura was back in town and asked if he'd like to get dinner with them, he could not believe his lucky stars. He agreed immediately, he was staring at them as they greeted each other before approaching them to say hi himself.
"Hey you both!" He tried, but mostly failed, to sound nonchalant. He was sure that Sakura could hear the nervousness in his voice.
"Naruto!" She exclaimed, smiling prettily at him. "Oh gosh, it's been so long since I last saw you! How are things?"
"Let's head inside to talk." Ino interrupted, ushering them both towards the restaurant for their reservation.
"Sure," Sakura said, smiling. She followed the blonde inside with Naruto bringing up the rear. "How has work been?" She asked him as they waited to be seated.
"Oh, you know, working with Sasuke has its perks…" he said noncommittally.
"And it's downsides, I'm sure." Ino chimed in. They followed the Maitre d' towards their table as Naruto chuckled.
"It's not as bad as you think it is." He relented. "How has work been for you Sakura?"
"Oh, it's been wonderful! I did some time in the ER, but I think I'm finally ready to settle into family medicine." She said excitedly.
"You make it sound like you served time in prison." Ino joked.
"The ER feels like prison." Sakura said with a smile as she ordered her drink. "How about you Ino?"
"Oh, you know… Busy helping people prepare for their perfect day." She said with a shrug. "The only excitement in wedding planning is all the gossip you get to hear."
"I bet," Sakura said with a glint of excitement in her eyes. "I can only imagine all the dirty laundry that gets aired during these events."
"I'm really hoping that doesn't turn out to be the case when one of us gets married." Ino said, smiling innocently.
"Girl, you better spill anything that comes up if that's the case." Sakura sounded thirsty for information.
"Speaking of upcoming nuptials, I hear that the bells are ringing for someone in our group." Ino raised her eyebrows at Naruto as she learned forward, their drinks had arrived and then immediately took a sip.
"Wait! Naruto? You're getting married?" Sakura asked, a dramatic gasp the only prelude to her question.
"W-what? N-no!" he chortled as he choked on his own drink. "N-no! I'm single. Sasuke's engaged."
"Ugh, who is the poor soul?" Pity lined her brows, whatever crush she had on the reticent Uchiha was nothing but a ghost of Christmas past now.
"Uh, I think her name is Orochi? Apparently she went to our school." Naruto said, a small blush adorning his cheeks at the obvious disinterest from the pink haired doctor.
"Orochi…" Sakura said pensively. "I seem to remember someone with that name…"
"Do you? Because for the life of me I can't seem to recall anyone with that name from school." Ino said, she was far too focused on the menu for it to be anything but staged.
"She has long black hair, super pale and golden eyes." Naruto supplied distractedly, as he was actually reading through the menu, unlike another blonde.
"The president of the Sasuke fan club?" Sakura asked incredulously. "She was super creepy though! How did that happen?"
"Huh? That Orochi?!" Ino gasped. "Didn't she like… Try to steal a lock of his hair like sophomore year?"
"Wait, what? No way! Really?" Sakura asked, staring at Ino as though she had grown a second head.
"Girls, please, she's not that weird." Naruto said frowning, he was certainly confused at this point, he couldn't even recall going to high school with this girl, and now they claimed she had a weird obsession with her now fiancee. "Maybe you have her confused with someone else?" Both girls shook their heads.
"No, I'm sure the only Orochi I know from Highschool is her. She's a year younger, yea?" Ino asked Naruto.
"Uhm. Yes, I believe so. They met at a bar… I think." Taking a moment to place his food order, Naruto reconsidered what he had just said. "I'm pretty sure she's a year younger, though I really haven't spent a big deal of time with her."
"I can only imagine the dirty laundry that'll be aired at that wedding." Sakura said conspiratorially.
"Well," Ino took another sip from her drink. "Maybe something like… Sasuke has a 14 year old son he ignored?" She supplied innocently, taking a bite from the bread that had been recently supplied to them.
There was a moment of silence while Ino innocently chewed on the bread as Naruto and Sakura stared at her wide eyed and confused.
"Stop." Sakura said in a whisper. "No… Ino?!"
Naruto chuckled nervously as he stared between Sakura and Ino, completely flabbergasted by the information that the blonde provided. She shrugged at their reaction and smiled at the server as their food was brought to them. Neither Sakura nor Naruto made a move to touch their food, unperturbed Ino grabbed her napkin and set it on her lap.
"What? Don't tell me you didn't know." Finally looking at both her friends she asked innocently.
"OF COURSE NOT!" Sakura roared. A few people turned to look at them and her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink.
"Ino, I know you like to exaggerate things but this isn't funny." The icy glare he pinned on her was so unusual for the blond that Ino grimaced.
"I wish it was a joke." She sighed and feigning dramatics she withdrew her phone from her purse. Taking her time to unlock it and find exactly what she was looking for, Ino slid the phone towards the two. "Haru's turning 15 soon."
Both Sakura and Naruto stared at the picture on the phone too scared to pick it up. Haru looked bashful holding a small plaque, his Kyudo uniform was impeccable and adorned by a purple ribbon around his neck. Hinata beamed to his right and Gaara looked taciturn but proud to his left. It was obviously a competition picture, taken to commemorate the win. Their eyes searched the picture, with trembling fingers Sakura touched the screen with her thumb and index fingers pinched together, before spreading them apart, zooming the picture onto his face. Naruto studied the bashful smile, the tilt of the eyes, the jawline and proud cheekbones. He took note of the hair, a shade of raven, the almost unruly fringe, and how much he resembled Sasuke if the Uchiha ever bothered to grow his hair and tie it down. The eye color caught him by surprise, gunmetal, too light to be Uchiha and then recognition struck, this was unmistakably the young man he ran into with Gaara that day. Betrayal spread hotly through his veins, his friend didn't bother to tell him.
"Hinata has a son?" Sakura murmured in awe. "With Sasuke?" She looked at Ino who shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as she took a bite of her fish.
"I mean, kid looks Uchiha." Ino said between bites of her food." You think the fiancee knows?" She asked in a dramatic whisper.
"No!" Naruto finally found his voice, the word came out much stronger than he intended. "She couldn't… They only started dating after Sasuke graduated."
"Orochi is a year younger than us," Sakura murmured, her eyes still glued to the picture on the phone.
"She graduated at the same time. Something about accelerated track?" Ino took a sip of her drink as she stared intently at Naruto.
Naruto made eye contact with her, swallowing hard. He had never given much of his attention to the pale woman that had suddenly appeared next to his friend, and he racked his brain to try and remember exactly when she had appeared. Slowly trickling through his mind like sand slipping through his fingers the memories came back. There had been a time at a party where he had seen her with Sasuke's phone in her hands, were they freshmen back then? There were also times that he had seen her at the dorm. Hadn't he?
"Well. Sasuke must have known." Ino said dismissively.
"No!" Sakura gasped. "How could he?"
"Hinata sent letters, you know her." Ino motioned the server over for a refill of her now empty drink with a smile.
"S-Sasuke would have told me." Naruto stammered out. Blue eyes big and searching, desperate to find answers in the picture before them. "He would ha-"
Like sand piling in an hourglass, the memory came to him as the last few grains settled. He had seen her before. Much earlier than that party. She had been in the mail room at the dorm. He hadn't thought much of it, lots of people went to the mail room. What had caught his attention was the letter in her hands, the ultrasound in her pale and trembling fingers, the color that had drained from her face. He had asked if she was alright, and with a startled laugh she said her friend was expecting. Naruto had not thought it important, but the handwriting on the letter had struck him as awfully familiar. The memory was so vague, so buried within the confines of his mind that even as he met her months later at that party, where he thought she had Sasuke's phone it did not resurface. It had not even crossed his mind until right now as Ino mentioned that letters had been sent.
"How did you manage to keep this secret for so long?" Sakura asked, Naruto was still lost in the memories that flashed through his mind, and only half paid attention to the conversation happening before him.
"Haru is… so incredibly precious. I didn't want my big mouth to… He deserves to be happy." She said miffed.
"W-wow, you are really a grown up." Sakura said with a smirk as Ino pouted. They both turned their heads towards Naruto whose breath was now coming in quick gasps. "Are you ok? Naruto?" Concern lined the pinkette's green eyes and a glare adorned the blonde's face.
"O-orochi… She knows."
Uhm... Hi! I'm leaving this offering to the review gods.
The second part of the chapter gave me a hard time, I had to tie up a lot of loose ends that I had written at the start and wasn't sure how I was going to make it work. Somehow I think it does work? Hopefully?
I hope you are all having a lovely holiday! The Nala Council awaits your contributions hahaha
Much love,
Emi