A/N: Severe writer's block with this chapter . Hope it's Ok and apologies again for oocness. If it's too much feel free to think of Naruto's father in this as an OC ^^;

"Oh." Naruto walked slowly into the next room, not relaxing at all on knowing who was waiting for him. He glanced around, noting the open window. "Did I leave it open or did you break it?"

"Does it matter?"

He turned back to the man sitting on Gaara's bed and tried not to let the fact anger him at all. He tried to recognise the man, noting the blond hair and blue eyes staring back at him were remarkably similar to those he saw when he stared in the mirror. The smile, however, he noticed wasn't like his own at all, it was more cunning, more calculating in its delivery. "I guess not, I'd just like to know whether I need to get it fixed or not."

"True, and I would have scolded you for your security measures if I'd just slipped in through the open window." The man nodded as he said this, pondering through it. "But don't worry about the cost; we'll be leaving soon after all." He patted the space on the bed next to him, hoping Naruto would take the hint and sit next to him.

"Leaving?" Naruto came closer but stayed standing, still suspicious of the man in front of him. "Why would I leave with you?"

"I'm your father, that's why." The man smiled again, hoping to win Naruto's trust. "Why not call me it, just once? I haven't heard you say 'Dad' in years."

Naruto frowned as he took a step closer, leaning against his own bed. "Father? Is that what you want me to say?"

"Well, I'd rather 'Dad' but I guess I'll have to wait awhile for that." He gave a little sigh before the smile reappeared. "How am I going to get you to trust me Naruto?"

"Well, first by not lying to me." Naruto tried not to grin as the smile faltered for a second but he kept his face expressionless. "See from what I've heard. You left me at the lab not long after I was born, so how would I have ever called you 'Dad'?"

The smile disappeared again to be replaced by a look of fatherly disappointment, all an act in Naruto's eyes. "Where did you hear such a horrible lie? Just like all the other parents who've now been reunited with their children, I knew nothing about what had happened to you."

"Save it, I know you're a partner of the lab." Naruto frowned for a second as he tried to remember. "You helped pay for the experiments, didn't you? I was the reason for all the experiments. So I'd be much more likely to trust you if you told me the truth." He glared. "So how about we start with why this all started in the first place?"

The man sighed. "I did wonder if we'd have to go down this route, but I'd really much rather we didn't." He glanced up at Naruto's determined face before sighing again. "Fine, but ask a less generalised question."

Naruto pondered for a second, wondering if this was his way of skimming over details if he got the chance. "Why would you put your own son up for experiments?"

"Because you were weak." The man's face was expressionless. "I wanted to make sure you were strong, I didn't want to lose you as well."

"As well?"

"Your mother..." He looked out of the window, his expression painful. "She died giving birth to you." He turned back to Naruto, pleadingly. "I never blamed you, I hope you know. You were too pitiful for me to blame and I was too relieved that you at least had survived to even contemplate it."

"Oh." Naruto frowned, wondering why it didn't hurt as much to know his mother had died as it had to even think about Gaara being hurt a few days earlier, yet alone the thought of him dying which he frequently dismissed in favour of distractions. "Surely there are other ways to make someone strong?"

The man shrugged. "It was the best course of action in my eyes, I'm a scientist after all, and I went for the scientific approach." He leaned forward, his eyes sparkling as he spoke. "Anyway, don't you enjoy your strength? I made sure you were given enhanced healing powers, as I said it was to protect you and make you strong after all." He looked slightly disappointed. "Unfortunately after the prototype experiments I wouldn't have minded having myself blessed with your abilities, however as you've seen from the first experiment, the genetic testing doesn't take to adult tissue very well."

Naruto tried not to shiver at the man's disgusted look as he thought about the 'Dawn' experiments. "Did you do it?" He spoke quietly, hoping his suspicions weren't true.

"Did I do what?" The man's smile slipped back on smoothly.

"Did you kill them?" Naruto stared at him, almost daring him to lie. "Did you kill the 'prototypes'?"

"Yes." The man's smile shifted as Naruto, his face darkening. "Come on Naruto, they tried to kill you. They were using their gifts wrongly and had always been criminals ready for execution, did I really do that bad a thing?"

Naruto stood up again, backing away from him. "It's still murder."

"Murdering people already pronounced dead?"

"You killed them because you didn't like what you'd created." Naruto shook his head, any hope of becoming close to his father disappearing.

"No, that's not true. They were criminals already, son." He stood up, stepping closer. "Nothing I did changed the fact that they were already murderers themselves."

Naruto took another step back. "No, stay there. I'd rather you didn't come closer. So is that what you'll do to us? The children, if we don't do what you hope we will do?"

"Naruto, Naruto." He shook his head as he took a step back again, depressed. "I'd never hurt you or your friends, you haven't done anything wrong."

Naruto's head snapped up at those words. "Me or my friends? Is that a way of skimming around the question? I only ever made friends with one of the other children after all."

"Oh yes, you made one excellent friend, didn't you?" The man smiled again. "Trust me, I'd never hurt him after what he did for you. Is he OK? In the hospital?"

Naruto's face darkened as he took another step back. "Don't go near Gaara, do you hear?"

The man shrugged and raised his arms wide before they flopped back down again. "OK, OK, I'm sorry for keeping an eye on your friend." He gave Naruto an appraising look. "You do know that if he hadn't had his gift he most likely wouldn't have survived that wound, don't you?"

"If you hadn't stolen him away from his family and put him through all those tests, he'd have never been in that situation." Naruto snapped at him, his anger boiling over.

Another sigh echoed through the now quite silent apartment. "I'll take that as a no to leaving with me then?"

"Yes. I'd like you to leave now on your own." Naruto nodded, his arms crossed.

"I am family, you know. Your only family."

"No, you're not." Naruto smirked slightly at the dumbfounded look. "I've made my own family here. I've got at least two great brothers." He smiled to himself at the thought of Sasuke and Gaara. "And I'm hoping to add to that with all the people who have accepted us here." His smile softened as his thoughts went to everyone else. The smile slipped slightly as he realised how he had been acting around them lately when he was only thinking about Gaara in hospital. He nodded to himself as he made him remember to apologize to them but he knew they probably wouldn't accept anyway, they understood what he was going through.

"That's not family, that's friends. You don't choose family." The smile had disappeared completely.

"Why? Why can't I choose my family? I wouldn't choose you given any chance to do so." Naruto looked up at him again before looking at the window. "So, get going. Now."

"Fine." The man walked over to the window, his annoyance showing. "But understand that I will be back, Naruto. Hopefully you will understand then how important I am to you. Maybe when you realise how fickle people can be." He looked over his shoulder as he put one foot up on the windowsill. "When those friends of yours find out what you and Gaara are I don't think they'll be as kind to you."

"So much for your gift being a blessing then." Naruto muttered as he watched his father disappear through the window. He was happily surprised to realise that he didn't really care that his father was leaving him again. After all the time wondering what his family would be like he finally understood what Sasuke had been on about, it was the people in the family that made it what it was. "I think the family I've got now is good enough for me." He smiled before going to the window and closing it as best he could.