Chapter 20

Sasuke had known that taking care of a dog, not being one, was a lot of responsibility. He just didn't know that training a puppy required a lot of patience. Such as trying to guess when Aoi needed to go to the bathroom. He knew a puppy needed to be let out several times a day, but it was knowing when that stumped Sasuke. Sometimes, he guessed right and other times not.

Such as this time. He looked down at the puddle on the kitchen floor and to the puppy staring innocently at him. Ever since Sasuke adopted her, Aoi had followed Sasuke everywhere he went. Well, nearly everywhere. Sasuke wouldn't let her in the bathroom while he went, but she did a good immitation of a guard dog, yapping at anyone that came close to the door. It was funny at times and Kanon laughed every time.

"No treat," he said.

Aoi whined and placed her head on her paws. Sighing, Sasuke went to get the mop.

"Looks like your taking this like a champ," said Itachi as Sasuke cleaned the floor. Sasuke shot his brother a glare and Itachi laughed. "Did you start training her yet?"

"Naruto's giving me lessons this afternoon," said Sasuke. Sasuke paused before speaking again. "I'm thinking of training her as a service dog."

Itachi looked at him in shock.

"For..for you?"

"For me," said Sasuke returning the mop to the broom closet before walking to the table and sitting down. "For a lot of people."

"Sounds serious. I'll grab the coffee."

Sasuke laughed softly. It was a habit their mother had when they had teenage troubles. She would make a cup of coffee, sit them down at the table, and drink until Itachi or Sasuke felt like talking. Sasuke stopped when he was fifteen. When he started rebelling against his father. It was one of his favorite memories.

Five minutes later, Itachi set two cups of coffee on the table and Itachi sat down drinking his. Sasuke slowly drank his before talking a minute later.

"When I went to the animal shelter Naruto volunteers at, it was so debilitated. I knew the Inuzukas were well off, but that place was standing on a hope and a prayer."

"They lost the majority of their money four years ago," said Itachi. "A fire broke out in their old headquarters. Arson. Lost a lot of dogs. The place their staying at right now was a cattle ranch once, but most of their money went towards trying to find more dogs to start over. Damn breeds were charging them an arm and a leg just to brag that they sold a dog to the famed Inuzukas."

"I want to help them," said Sasuke. "Start up a foundation to help all the dogs. Nobody cares about dogs that had once been on the street. They think they go to the pound to be put down or something. They don't care that some of them can be domesticated and placed in a happy home. Aoi was thrown away because she wasn't the breed a person wanted. How sick is that?"

"The world isn't perfect, Sasuke," said Itachi. "As much as we try for it to be."

"I know, aniki," said Sasuke. "But I just want to make their lives easier."

Itachi paused in thought for a moment before nodding.

"I'll talk to the lawyers and board," he said.

Sasuke smiled at him appreciatively and they heard the front door thrown open.

"Where's my son?!"

Both brothers looked at each other in shock before walking out to see Mikato walking in wearing a sundress, sandals and clutching her large purse. When she catch sight of Sasuke, she dropped her purse and pressed her clutched hands to her mouth.

When Mikato had gotten word that Sasuke had returned, she was still over the Pacific Ocean with no way to return to Japan. She said that she would get onto the first plane to Japan as soon as she reached a city with an international airport. Until then, Sasuke made her promise to enjoy her much needed cruise.

Sasuke smiled at his mother, happy to see her again after so long.

"Hi, Mom," he said.

Mikato walked over to Sasuke and hesitantly reached toward him. Almost as is she was afraid he would disappear any second. Sasuke held his hand up reassuringly.

"I'm here, Mom," he said. "I'm back."

Mikoto touched his hand and after a moment of assurance that he was there, grabbed him into a hug. Sasuke hugged her back as he felt his mother's tears against his shoulder. It surprised him to find that he was taller than his mother, but at the moment he was content in holding her.

Then, just as suddenly as she hugged him, Mikoto pushed him off and slapped him acrosssed the face.

"Mother!" said Itachi in shock.

"No, I deserved that," said Sasuke rubbing his stinging cheek.

"You bet you did!" yelled Mikoto. "Do you know how worried sick we were?! Staying here, hoping, praying, for a call or something just to let us know your alive while you were gallivanting off to who knows where!"

"I wasn't gallivanting..." Sasuke said, trying to defend himself but Mikoto interrupted him.

"I don't care what you were doing, you weren't home! We searched everywhere for you, worried sick, but did you care..."

"I did care, Mom," said Sasuke hurriedly. "I still do."

"Then why didn't you come home?" she asked softly, but still mixed with anger and sadness.

Sasuke desperately wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to tell her what had happened to him. Iruka encouraged him to talk more about his experience on the street, even if he had to keep that he had been a canine.

It still shocked Sasuke that Iruka was a part of the group that had changed him into a dog in the first place. Especially one of the ones that voted for him to have a second chance. The man seemed so normal, which was weird given who his life-partner was. They spoke every other day at the diner and spoke about random stuff. When Iruka heard that Sasuke had taken up a dog and was going to train Aoi as a service dog, he was very approving.

A bark from their feet made them look down to see Aoi barking and wagging her tail. She was looking up at Mikoto expectingly. Mikoto's anger faded at the sight of the puppy.

"Oh, isn't she adorable!" she said bending down and petting her. "What's her name?"

"Aoi," said Sasuke. "I adopted her a couple days ago. I'm going to certify her as a service dog, as soon as I get her trained."

"Well, I can come up with a list of trainers who can..."

"Sasuke already chose a trainer, Mom," said Itachi.

Mikoto looked at her sons curiously.

"Who?"

"Naruto Uzumaki. He's an old friend of Sasuke's that trains police dogs."

"Right now, I'd settle for her going to the bathroom outside," said Sasuke and turned to see Aoi sniffing around the floor. He rushed over when he saw her assume the position. "No, Aoi! That's not a toilet!"

Sasuke grabbed her around the middle and rushed her outside. Mikoto laughed.

"Oh, the potty days. I remember Sasuke absolutely refused to use the toilet," she said.

"I remember," said Itachi with an amused grin. "He was convinced the toilet was going to swallow him up."

"You were the one that told me it would!" yelled Sasuke from outside.

Itachi laughed as Mikoto glared at her eldest son.

"It took him two years to use the toilet!" she said.

"I know," he said laughing. "It made good embaressing stories to tell future boyfriends."

"I will teach Aoi to fetch your balls!" yelled Sasuke.

"I hope that was rhetorical."

Sasuke turned to find Naruto standing by his car with an amused smirk and Kyuubi next to him.

"Naruto, hi," said Sasuke with a welcoming smile.

"Hi, Sasuke," said Naruto.

Kyuubi barked and bounded over to Sasuke, who froze. He had seen how protective the dog was with Naruto and wondered if Kyuubi saw Sasuke as a threat. He doubted Kyuubi would actually attack him. Naruto had trained him too well.

"Kyuubi, don't!" yelled Naruto reaching over to grab Kyuubi but missed. Kyuubi hadn't run after something without Naruto's permission since he had been a puppy. It shocked him that Kyuubi walked over to Sasuke and wagged his tail. He butted his head against Sasuke's hand and rolled over as Sasuke petted him.

"How are you doing boy?" asked Sasuke as he rubbed Kyuubi's belly.

"I'm sorry," said Naruto walking over to them. "He's never done that before."

Sasuke shook his head.

"It's fine," said Sasuke petting one of Kyuubi's ears. "Just getting acquainted, right, Kyu?"

Kyuubi woofed in response and walked over to Aoi who had finished her business. Sasuke reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of dog biscuits and handed her one. Aoi happily ate her treat and Sasuke gave one to Kyuubi.

"I see potty training is going well," said Naruto.

Sasuke laughed softly.

"I wish. She nearly went on the eight billion dollar rug."

Naruto looked at him in utter shock.

"Why the hell do you have an eight billion dollar rug on your floor?! I'd hang it or something."

Sasuke shrugged.

"I don't know. I think my dad bought it. It was all about impressions with him."

"You don't talk about your dad, do you?"

"And there's a reason for that," said Sasuke. The scorn was evident in his voice. Naruto opened his mouth to ask why when a voice spoke out.

"You must be Naruto Uzumaki." Both men turned to see Mikoto walk toward them. She walked over with a grace Naruto would have expected from fashion models, or royalty. He was relieved when she held out her hand to shake instead of kissing it. "I'm Mikoto Uchiha. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you too, Uchiha-san," said Naruto shaking her hand. Mikoto gave an amused laugh.

"Please, call me Mikoto. Anyone who got Sasuke to adopt a dog deserves it."

"You mean Sasuke didn't like dogs?" asked Naruto in shock. He had been such a natural at the shelter and the dogs were taken with him as well.

"I don't hate dogs," said Sasuke defensively.

"Of course not, Sasuke," said Mikoto. "When he was a boy, Sasuke would beg Fugaku for a dog, but his father never let him."

"Why?" asked Naruto.

"Eight billion dollar rugs," said Sasuke.

Mikoto nodded.

"Eventually, Sasuke stopped asking and I thought he must have forgot."

"I guess not," said Naruto watching Sasuke playing with Aoi.

Mikoto saw the look Naruto gave Sasuke and smiled. It would do Sasuke good to have a friend like Naruto.

"May I offer you something to drink, Naruto?" she asked. "Beer? I'm sure Itachi as a few in the refridgerator."

"Coffee would be fine," said Naruto.

Smiling, Mikoto lead Naruto inside, Sasuke, Aoi and Kyuubi following after her.

For an hour, the four talked about ordinary things, that quickly became embarressing when Mikoto pulled out Sasuke's baby pictures. After a hardy lunch and cofee, Naruto took Sasuke to the back yard to begin Aoi's training.

After three hours of trying to get her to sit, and her only doing it once not on command, Naruto called for a break and they sat on a swing in the bonfire area sipping lemonade while the dogs happily drank water from bowls provided by the maid.

"Sasuke, can I ask you something and pray you don't hit me," asked Naruto after a minute of sitting.

"Go ahead."

"What happened to you, Sasuke? You were always so angry in high school, and then you took off. Why? You had the perfect life..."

"Perfect?" spat Sasuke angrily. "Nothing about my life was perfect. My entire life was a lie."

Naruto gulped at the intense hate and anger coming from Sasuke's voice. Placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, he moved to make Sasuke face him.

"Sasuke, tell me, what happened?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke took a deep breathe and was silent for a minute before talking again.

"You know that my brother is six years older than me, right?" Naruto nods. "When he was three, he was diagonosed with cancer. His only way to survive was a constant stream chemo, blood transfusion and a bone marrow transplant. They tested everyone in the family. None were a match. They told my parents, 'It's okay. You're young. You can have another son'."

"But Itachi's alive," said Naruto.

Sasuke nodded.

"Because of me," he said. "Father-Fugaku-never liked the idea of failure, and he viewed allowing your only son to die as a failure. So he decided to create the perfect donor."

"You're a savior baby?" said Naruto in shock.

He had heard of them, but never thought parents would go so far as to sign one of their children's lives over in favor of another. The process was done by in-vitro ferlization and genetic tampering to make the child as healthy as possible. When the child was old enough, the operations would begin. The child would be forced to give up blood, bone, even their lives to save their sibling.

Sasuke shook his head.

"No, but I'm a perfect genetic match to Itachi," he said. At Naruto's confusion, he explained further. "They tried twice. The second time, the baby was still born and Mother had to have an emergency hysterectomy. She couldn't have more children."

"Then how are you here?" asked Naruto.

"As luck would have it, Fugaku's mistress became pregnant. Her name was Chiharu. She was my mother's sister. Fugaku used every bit of the power he held to make sure no one knew that he was about to have a bastard. He moved her into the mansion and made the house staff sign confidenciality papers. He was very thorough.

"During the nine months of her pregnancy, Chiharu start to become unhinged. She started to believe that Fugaku would leave Mother and start a family with her. By the time I was born, she was tried to kill Mother twice. He had to put her in a mental instituation and swept everything under the rug."

"How did you find out about this?" asked Naruto.

"When I was twelve, Chiharu was supposedly rehabilitated and placed in a half-way house. A week later, she escaped and tracked me down. She kidnapped me, and in her depleting mental state, she told me everything. How she was my real mother and that we were going to be a family. For a week, she kept me with her, and I had a front seat of all of her delusions. She firmly believed she was married to Fugaku, and that we were a family. When the cops finally found me, I knew everything. She was placed in a high security mental prison and I went back home."

"But, she didn't kidnap you," said Naruto. "She's your mother, so she technically didn't kidnap you."

"Remember when I said Fugaku didn't want anyone to know he was having a bastard? He forced Mother to wear fake pregnancy bellies for months and when I was born, he paid the doctor to write Mother's name on the birth certificate. Biologically, she was my mother. Legally is a different story. Fugaku wanted to sweep it all under the rug again. Told me to never tell anyone ever, and that when my acting out started."

"Oh, God, Sasuke." Naruto hugged him and Sasuke returned it. "I'm so sorry. Fathers should never do that."

"It's okay," said Sasuke. "I stopped considering him my father years ago. My only family was Mother and Itachi."

Naruto was silent for a minute. He never heard of anyone having to grow up in such an uncaring way. He had grown up with a mother that loved him and people to take care of him. Sasuke had nearly no one.

"When I was thirteen, Itachi went into liver failure," continued Sasuke. "Since he had a rare blood type, there was only one available compatible donor."

"You," said Naruto and Sasuke nodded.

"Itachi sued Fugaku for medical emancipation. He got a lawyer and became medically independent. He could refuse anything going into his body without Fugaku's influence." Sasuke looked down with a hint of sadness and revernce. "He did it for me. He didn't want Fugaku controlling my life over his, so he took himself out of the equation."

Naruto wrapped an arm around Sasuke and held him close. It was hard for him to think that a father put one child above the other. All his life, he was taught that parents loved their children unconditionally, but time on the force proved that wasn't always true.

"As luck would have it, a motorist had died in an accident and was an organ donor. He was a biological match," continued Sasuke. "He's lucky to survive. I'm glad he did and can have a life of his own."

"Well, I'm glad both of you are okay," said Naruto. "And I'm glad you trust me enough to tell me. I know it couldn't have been easy."

"Just another way my life is completely and utterly FUBAR. I want to change my life around, and I think I need some help."

"I'll be there to help the whole way," said Naruto. Sasuke smiled at him gratefully before Naruto stoodback up. "Now, let's get that pup under control."

Sasuke laughed and got up to returning to training.

TBC

I revised this because after I posted the previous entry, I realized I needed to add more to the story, and here it is. I would like to say thank you to all my loyal readers and hope you like this chapter as much as the rest.