Fate's Garden

Part 3 - Inked

Chapter 2 - Selfish

"So, Ru is short for Naruto?" Sasuke asked him from his place in the stroller.

"Yes, apparently so."

"That doesn't make any sense though."

"I know, and you're Kay, so don't feel too good about yourself."

"That woman is crazy."

"Okay, you need to shush now, no talking like a fifty year old."

Sasuke clamped his mouth shut and leaned back in his stroller. It was time for them to go to Sasuke's appointment for his nightmares. As the day had progressed they had learned many things from Naruto's rapidly increasing amount memories. They'd had so many problems in the past life and yet they were functioning just fine. Sasuke knew it was just for the first few days or weeks it would be like this. They needed to work together to find their niche in this life and then settle in to it. After that they would drift away again.

Apparently the events of their first life were pretty much the same just in jumbled order and with slightly different outcomes. The Kyuubi incident occurred twenty one years earlier than it had in their first life. Coincidentally all of the normal rookie nine were born earlier as well. So by the time Sasuke's peers were all jounin (or in Naruto's case in the university), he was just being born. The Uchiha massacre took place shortly after Sasuke's birth instead of when he was older and instead of being exiled Itachi was executed. Though one of the memories of the massacre that Sasuke was choosing not to believe was that Itachi was really a good person. It was the clan that was at fault, as they were staging a coup d'état that would ultimately spawn another ninja world war. Itachi was acting as a double agent and was ordered by the hokage to kill the entire clan. But when it came to killing the newborn Sasuke Itachi couldn't do it and handed over the baby to the hokage.

After that the third tried to find a family that would take in the young Sasuke but everyone refused. Word spread quickly of the Uchiha conspiracy and no one wanted to raise the spawn of such a terrible clan. That was when Naruto stepped forward, a young artist barely able to take care of himself while attending university, and said, 'I'll take him.' This was something that Sasuke couldn't understand, each life they'd been in so far Naruto had gone to the ninja academy and strove to be the hokage one day. Granted in the fox life he'd abandoned that dream (because of Sasuke), he had still been a ninja. In this one, Naruto had elected to attend the civilian schools instead. He went through elementary, Jr. High, and high school. Now he was attending the one university in Konoha to earn a degree in fine arts. He often visited the small towns outside of Konoha for gallery shows and was becoming quite well known.

It was taking all of Sasuke's will power to not glare at the world around him. He was being pushed up to the front desk in his stroller, and all the people in the room were staring at them. Naruto hadn't been the attention seeking prankster that he had been in the previous lives, but he was still known as the Kyuubi's jailor. Of course, the Naruto of this life had no idea why he was hated, he just knew that he was and had accepted it. No lasting resentment or drive to be accepted by his village had grown in him. He'd just wanted to have his own life and that was it.

"Yes, I scheduled an appointment for my son Uzumaki, Sasuke with Dr. Hyuuga," Naruto told the secretary.

"Oh, of course, right down that hall, sir."

"Thank you."

His stroller was turned to point down a hallway leading out of the lobby to the right. The old thing's wheels creaked every few minutes against the shiny linoleum, and the bright track lighting hurt his eyes. He grumbled, holding an arm over his eyes. It was a good thing Naruto knew where they were going, because all the doors and signs looked the same to him. Abruptly his 'father' opened one of the tall white doors and pushed him inside. A tall, rather elegant woman was waiting for them, sitting on a small swivel stool next to a counter, idly looking through the contents of a manila folder.

"Ah, Naruto, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Hinata, thank you for making time for us today I know you have a busy schedule."

"It's not a problem, anything for an old friend."

Sasuke gaped at the woman he now recognized as the shy little Hyuuga failure from the rookie nine days. She'd grown into quite the beautiful woman, her hair long and pulled into the traditional knot, her pale white eyes surprisingly warm. She gestured to the examination table and Sasuke was plucked out of his stroller and set upon it. The crisp sterile paper was crinkly and he twisted about on top of it, confused as to why he relished the sound it made.

"Now, you said that this was about Sasuke having trouble sleeping?" Hinata asked Naruto.

His father had sat down in one of the chairs pressed up against the wall opposite the examination table. He was facing Hinata, glancing at Sasuke every few minutes as if to make sure he behaved himself. Sasuke snorted, lifting up his feet and letting them smack down onto the paper, making that sound again. Before they'd left, Sasuke had gone through his dresser and picked out something other than a onesie to wear to his appointment. He'd managed to find a pair of shorts, a plain blue t-shirt, and some smart looking green sneakers that were infinitely fun to walk with. The shoes had light up things in the bottom that glowed orange when he stamped his feet. That's why he was kicking the table, he got to see the lights and make that sound with the paper at the same time. Endless amusement filled him.

"Yes, he's been having pretty terrible nightmares every time he tries to go to sleep. Maybe if it was a scare every now and then I wouldn't be as worried, but it isn't normal for kids his age to have this problem, is it?"

"You aren't exposing him to any scary movies, or stories or anything like that?"

"No, not at all."

"Hmm, no, that's definitely not normal," Hinata agreed, making notes again in Sasuke's file, "I'm gonna recommend you see Yamanaka-sama about this, maybe she can poke around in his head and see about these nightmares. If she can't find a way to stop them then perhaps we should have him see the child psychiatrist."

"Alright, that sounds good."

Sasuke took in all of this, wondering if Yamanaka-sama was Ino or her father. He kicked at the table again, this time particularly loud and Naruto shushed him, gently reprimanding him for being so 'busy'. Sasuke stuck his tongue out at him and then settled down, not pleased with being chided. He hated this life, he hated being a toddler. He wanted to go back to the burrow and let god's child just finish out his lives by himself. Crossing his arms over his chest, Sasuke glared around the room, trying to find a means of escape. Aha. Lying on a shiny metal tray next to the examination table was a sealed packet containing a pair of tweezers, a scalpel, and a needle and syringe. He stared at it, trying to calculate how he could get it open, take the scalpel and kill himself with it before Hinata or Naruto could stop him. Maybe…could children his age control their chakra? Maybe he could make a henge, just for a few seconds. He closed his eyes and pulled together some chakra, even the littlest bit would be good enough…and…there.

Sasuke dove for the packet, tearing it open and floundering for the blade inside. His pudgy child hands were making it difficult but he found it, and as quickly as he could found the vein in his wrist. He drove the scalpel into the vein and cut upwards towards his elbow, and started on the next, just as he was about to find that one vein in his leg he could never remember the name of his fragile henge had worn off. Blood was pouring from his arms, and Hinata was staring in wide eyed horror, whereas Naruto merely appeared livid.

"You idiot!" Naruto shouted, and Sasuke's eyelids grew heavy and he slipped off the table, falling to the floor. He was gone before he could feel his skull crack.

"Little one, are you with us?"

"Ugh…" Sasuke groaned, his eyes opening. He was surrounded by the In-laws, or rather, his uncles and aunts. They did not appear happy with him.

Standing directly before him was the grandfather, who did not appear too upset, just…disappointed?

"That was quite selfish of you, little one," the grandfather said, "now, you are going to try again, in a parallel to the life you ended too soon, and you will not make such a foolish choice again."

"What?" Sasuke asked, "What's going on?"

"I'm sending you back, and you shall have a lesson to learn, little one, and it is one you should learn well," said the grandfather.

"But…but, grandpa, I'm sorry, I just didn't want to be so…"

"Helpless?" offered the grandfather, "little one, it makes me sad that you are so afraid, but there is no need to be. When control is far from your reach you are afraid, and unhappy, and so I am unhappy, but you will be fine."

Sasuke stumbled backwards, staring around at the many faces that were so displeased with him, and he felt momentarily ashamed. He stared down at the grandfather, a figure who knew him so well, and yet was such a mystery to him. The old man approached him, took him by the hand and led him from the circle of adults. They were in the garden, yet it had been so dark in the circle that Sasuke had not noticed. The sun was warm and forgiving, and the soft dirt underneath his feet made him feel so at home. The grandfather led him down the path, not saying a word, and offering no clue as to their destination. They walked around the garden, and into the field of Shukaku's home, and his nervousness, his frustration slowly faded. As he relaxed they slowed, and slowed, until they came to a stop in the middle of the field.

"Alright little one, learn, learn, understand," grandfather said, "and perhaps…perhaps you should try building a bridge, hmm?"

Sasuke eyed the old man whose hand he was holding and he sighed. A bridge, and a lesson…he had a feeling he wasn't going to enjoy either, but that they were things he needed to do. So it was that the field disappeared and he fell back into a life. One could not give up, and abandon, when there were so many loved ones determined to help.

TBC...