Sorry for the long wait!

Disclaimer: Naruto & co do not belong to me.

Chapter 10: Fitting In

Sae made a funny face when he hopped into the CRV. "What's that at the back, Naruto-san?" curiousity finally won over him.

Naruto laughed brightly. "You'll know!" he winked at the 7-years old.

"Ne, Naruto-san, how long have you been friends with Otousan?" Sae asked shyly a moment later. He'd seen the last time how different his father treated Naruto. But he was also confused at how his father quickly lost his temper with the said man; mainly because he's never seen that side of Sasuke all this while.

Naruto must be someone his father knows really well then.

Right?

The blond man had a fond look on his face now. "Since I was 5." Sae gasped audibly. "That long?"

Naruto nodded and smiled, not an ear to ear, but a small tender one; like someone who was caught in the past sweet sweet memories. "We were really close. I even dubbed him as my 'bestest' best friend," Naruto laughed silly at that.

Sae smiled too.

"Do you have a best friend, Sae-kun?"

"Uh… No…" the child confessed with flushes on his cheeks. He looked down, embarrassed.

"It's okay. I'm sure you'll find one someday," Naruto patted the smaller's head. Sae seemed to agree because his face suddenly lit up.

"Otousan… has always taken me to this place up on a hill near the town centre. He said that's a place where he and his precious person used to spend around in the past…" Naruto turned his full attention to Sae.

"All this while I thought his precious person was Oka…" The boy suddenly sniffed and wiped his tears roughly with the back of his hands. "I really did, even though Otousan has never said it… But…" he brought his hands to wipe at his face again. "But after I met you, I think know that it was you Otousan was referring too…"

"Isn't it, Naruto-san?" Sae asked, hoping that he was right.

Naruto's smile was the only answer. "Sae-chan…" Naruto said afterwards. "You shouldn't be sad every time you mention your Okaasan…"

Big black pools looking back at him, glistened with unshed tears. "I'm sure your father loves you and your mother so much."

"I miss her…" Sae started when the tears fall again. "I wanted to, I really did. But… But how can I miss someone who I've never met before?" Sae wiped the tears roughly again, almost angrily that he cried. "I really want to miss her, Naruto-san…"

Naruto took off his left hand to help wiping the boy's tears. He then brushed some black locks away from the fair forehead. "Don't be guilty, Sae-chan. I've never met my parents too and back then I was feeling guilty too…"

"Y-You did?"

"Un! I was placed under the Orphanage when I was small… maybe since I was a baby. The only things that I have close to parents were Iruka-sensei and Sarutobi-jiichan." The little boy had stopped crying hearing this.

Naruto-san didn't even know who his parents were!

"But whenever I was sad because I didn't know who my parents were, or feel guilty because I didn't miss them, there was someone who always comforted me back then," Naruto grinned. "You know who that person was, Sae-chan?"

Sae shook his head.

"Sasuke… You father, Sae-chan. Most of the time he'd just knocked me in the head, but that's like, the closest thing of comfort he gave me. He was like a brother I never had back then and so I didn't feel guilty anymore."

There was something in Sae's eyes that resembled affection and Naruto winked at him. "So, that's why you don't have to feel guilty or sad everytime your mother is mentioned. Your Otousan comforted me a lot back then, and I am sure he does more with you. You're his son after all," Naruto smiled, but Sae didn't notice that it was strained. Naruto was a good actor anyway.

Sae nodded. His father had always did just that, but he never could shake the guilt away. Sae bit his lips. He would have to change that now, no matter how hard it was.

"In fact, I'd say you should cherish your Okaasan. If you cherish her memories, even if you can't remember her, I'm sure it would be more than enough."

"How can I do that?"

"Hmmm…" Right… Naruto inner-self grimaced. He never thought of that…

"Maybe… maybe you can say a prayer for her before you go to sleep," Naruto suggested. "Even if you remember her, that she has given birth to a lovely son like you, it'll make her proud. She'd be sad too if everytime someone mentions about her and you're sad… Isn't it? And your Otousan will be sad if you're sad too. You want him to be happy, right? So, don't be sad anymore when someone else mentioned about your Okaasan, okay?"

Sae nodded, taking what Naruto said carefully.

The blond pulled into the front yard. "Okay, little man. Time to wipe your tears. Your Otousan would freak out if he knows I made you cry!" Naruto chuckled as the other quickly wiped his face cleaned of any traces of tear. They have seemed to forget that Sasuke couldn't see them.

"It was not your fault, Naruto-san!" Sae replied, a sunny smile was back in place.

"Oh, but it is when it comes to your Otousan and me," Naruto winked again.

Sae shook his head and walked into the house. His father and Naruto-san really have a weird relationship.

Naruto followed closely behind Sae. They saw Sasuke was sitting on his usual chair in the living room with a headphone on his head, eyes closed. At first, Naruto thought he was sleeping, but soft flutter of the lids assured him that Sasuke was not in fact sleeping. He sent a questioning look at Sae.

"Otousan usually borrows some classical or temporary piano cds from the library. Then he'll try it out on the piano at school," Sae explained.

"I see…" Naruto put his bag down and walked into the living room, taking a seat opposite Sasuke. The latter seemed to notice this because his eyes were opened despite the fact that he's blind and his fingers automatically pushed the 'Stop' button. He pulled the headphone away.

"Sae?"

"It's me, Sasuke. Sae's putting away his bookbag."

"Naruto," Sasuke nodded, acknowledging his presence. He then put the cd away onto the coffee table.

"So, what's your answer to my question?"

An amused brow shot up. Sasuke smirked. "You may. But there are a few ground rules you have to follow." Naruto's face scrunched up.

"Is it going to involve torturing me in the meanest ways possible? Like, no ramen or the likes of it?"

Sasuke chuckled, a bit mischievously. "I could add that to the list i-"

"NO!!" Naruto automatically hollered, horrified.

The small chuckled turned to a full laugh. "You bastard!" Naruto said accusingly. "You purposely did that, didn't you?!"

"You are so predictable, Uzumaki." The laugher ceased.

"Yeah? Well, you're still a bastard!"

"Enough with that language." Sasuke reverted into his serious self again. "The ground rules," he reminded the other.

"Excuse me, Otousan, would you like anything to drink?" Sae came before Sasuke could state the rules. He shook his head at Sae's question, but instructed the boy to make some tea for Naruto.

"Just plain water with some ice is okay, Sae-kun," Naruto smiled at the boy. He looked at Sasuke's amused look. "What? I'm a country boy too, alright? Don't need to treat me as stranger…"

"If that's the case; and since you'll be staying here for the rest your stay, I'll lay down the rules. First- no story telling with Sae after 9 on school days, and only till 10 at most on Friday and Saturday nights. Two- You'll have to share the house chores. I have to make something up for you to stay here, hmmm?"

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Three- You will accompany Sae to and from the school. What ever you want to do in between that period is your own business." Sae came with a glass of cold water and some ice. He took the seat next to his Father. "Did you catch all the rules so far too, Sae?"

"Hai."

"Good. You'll make sure Naruto-san here abides to the rules, okay?"

"Okay." Sae grinned.

"Hey, I'm not a kid here!"

Sasuke smirked. "It's something to be proven in time, isn't it?" Naruto held back a retort that he sure would start another argument. Sae found it no longer that weird, but just entertaining. He sort of likes this side of his father. He's more open.

"Four-"

"You're not done yet?!" Naruto whined, almost childish like. Sae laughed, which made Sasuke smiled.

"I'm the family's head here." Naruto pouted at this and Sasuke could almost hear the pouting. "Four- No taking Sae anywhere without my knowledge. Five- Make sure that there's no presence of pepparazzi around…That's one thing that I have to make sure with you now… The media doesn't know you're here right?"

"Don't worry about that, Sasuke. Nobody knows I'm here. The only ones know know are some of my close friends in Sydney and in the city."

"Okay… I trust you on that… Next-"

"There's more?" Naruto groaned, raking hand into the blond locks. Sae started giggling.

"Of course! You didn't think that was it, do you?" Sasuke smirked wickedly. "Six- No bringing home woman, ever into this house, understood?" That made Sae burst into laughter again.

Naruto groaned louder, which made Sae only laughed harder.

"You are a celebrity Naruto. I'm sure that bound to happen one day. I just don't want it to be in my house, with my 7-years old son in it."

"So it's ok if it's just you around in the house?"

Sasuke growled. "You know what I mean, Naruto! And no! The answer is still no!" When he still heard Sae's laughing, he knew Naruto wasn't serious, even if his voice sounded like it was.

"And finally-"

"Yes! Finally!"

"I'll lay out more rules when I find fitting." A smirk was thrown at the now gaped Naruto.

"Y-You can't do that!" Naruto yelled.

"Of course I can, this is my house."

"Control-freak!" Naruto pouted again.

"Seven- no rude or crude words inside my house and in front of Sae."

"W-What?! That's not even a curse, Sasuke…!!" Sae chuckled lighheartedly. Yup, he could live with this.

"That boy is 7, Naruto; not 12 or 15, or 19." He smirked arrogantly again when no reply came from Naruto. Oh, isn't it good to be the head of a family? Especially when he could feel that Naruto was trying as hard as biting his lips not to curse anymore.

"Understood, Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Yes, Maam…" Naruto stuck out his tongue.

"Eight, no calling me 'Maam'," Sasuke was about to add 'No sticking tongue also', but he knew he'd go too far.

"Alright! Alright! I got your point already! Stop mocking me!"

The smirk softened. "Good. Now go and get yourself comfortable. I take it you borrow a mattress from someone?"

"Kiba."

When they had dinner that night, Naruto knew he'd just taken the first step to make Sasuke to trust him again.

000

It was only little things at first. Naruto dropped Sae off at school and then he visited Iruka at school, wanting to volunteer for anything. Iruka just laughed and shook his head. "If you want to get to know the town people again, Naruto, you will have to be somewhere in the town, not with me in this school."

"Eh? But what can I do?"

"I'm not sure…. What about helping Moegi-chan in her father's shop? You'll meet a lot of people…"

And so Naruto spent his days with Moegi; in a way bringing more customers.

And fans. The lad was only too happy to oblige picture taking and autograph signing. Most town people that he met were more than open to let him back home and start trusting him again. He was relieved that at least one task was easy.

Then, realizing that Sasuke woke up as early as half past six to make breakfast and Sae's lunch, Naruto woke up around the same time. The only reason that the raven haired woke up as early was because of his lack of privilege to see. When Naruto helped him out in the morning, the task was easily done in 10 minutes; 15 at most.

Surprisingly, Sasuke not only prepared packed lunch for his son, but for Naruto as well. When Naruto asked what for, the elder man replied because he knew that the blond would like to re-acquainting with the town and he couldn't do that if he's at Sasuke's place all the time, right?

The routine progressed to that he shared some of Sae's workload and to some points, Sasuke's as well. But, since it was working well with the trio, they, especially Naruto didn't mind about it. Sae was only too happy that he had more play time and less works.

On Thursday morning though, the Uchiha head wanted Naruto to take him to the school compound as well. "I want to try the pieces I've heard from the cd I borrowed." He stayed to watch Sasuke played on the old vertical piano, but when Sasuke asked if he has no where else to go, the blonde sheepishly said that he had been helping Moegi at the shop. Sasuke scolded him by sending him away to help the poor child.

"But I want to watch you play!"

"You have a month to do that, idiot!" Naruto pouted. Sasuke sighed. It was not dealing with a grown man at all. "I'm going to ask you to take me to Bridgetown this weekend for piano lesson anyway, so you can still watch me play."

"Piano lesson only has simple pieces isn't it? But now you are playing real songs…" The blond almost whine.

Really… how hard was it to handle a grown man? "Drop by this room when you pick Sae up. I'll still be playing then. I think I missed a few notes and I'm going to practice more, so by the time you come back, I can play it flawlessly."

Naruto's face lit up and Sasuke could literally feel the brightness surrounded the room. "Okay!" the younger male floated out. Sasuke shook his head, partly disbelieved, partly amused.

That late afternoon when Naruto came back to the school music room, he felt like capturing the moment. Sat on the stool were Sasuke and the small version of him, playing the piano together. He leaned on the door frame, looking at the duo playing a simple piece, and then the older stopped the younger to correct his mistakes and they started playing again.

Was this how it felt to have a family of your own?

Naruto clapped as they end their piece. Both males turned to his direction.

"Naruto-san!" Sae smiled brightly. Naruto grinned back and moved towards the duo. He noticed that there was a book opened in front of the duo but he didn't think they were playing that piece on the book.

"You were playing from this book?" Naruto asked, not knowing where to start from.

Sae shook his head. "I heard Otousan played 'Canon' a while back, so I wanted to learn that. We've finished today's lesson." The little boy gingerly closed the book on the piano.

"But there's no music sheet of Canon I see here?"

"Sae could play by ears too, Naruto; though he needs to brush it up a little," Sasuke answered, ruffling the child's black hair. "Otousan!" the boy complaint and fixed his hair again.

"Geniuses ran in family, huh?" Naruto teased. Sasuke only smirked. "Come on, Sasuke. Play that piece you promised me! You don't think I'd forget it, do you?"

Sasuke sighed. "That's exactly what I was hoping for…"

"Just play that piece, Sasuke…" Naruto whined.

000

True to his words, Naruto drove Sasuke to Bridgetown on Saturday afternoon. Sae came with them. It turned out that the boy partly learned the theory from the Sasuke, but what Sasuke could not teach him, he'd learned it from the qualified teacher. With Sasuke helping the teacher to supervise the other classes, they got a discount for Sae's learning. Naruto thought it was an ingenious idea.

They went out quite earlier than normal. It was because Naruto insisted they have a lunch at Ichiraku, so they did just that. Sasuke just didn't want to hear more nagging from the blond; while Sae, Sae was hooked with ramen on the first try!

"I can't believe you have never taken him for ramen before!" Naruto looked at Sasuke, horrified. "It serves you right, now woudn't it?" Naruto snickered then.

"This is troublesome, Naruto…" Sasuke complained. Naruto looked at Sasuke in shock at that statement but seconds later he burst into loud laughter. When the former asked what was so funny that he laughed like that, the other just dismissed it, saying one of his good friend back in the Eastern state uses that statement in everything.

This week, the piano teacher from the city was present. Naruto sat at the back, looking at the event that unfolded before him. Somehow, he felt like strangling the female teacher. There was a one piece that Sasuke wanted to practice and asked for her help for any mistakes.

'That woman! Even has the nerve to touch his fingers! Can't you just tell him which key to press? Bitch!!'

Naruto was seething alright.

On the way back, the blond was in such a dark mood that he shut his mouth. Sae grasped his father's hand and squeezed it, asking silently what was wrong with Naruto-san. Sasuke just shook his head, he himself not knowing why.

"Naruto. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You're awfully quiet…"

"Just drop it, Sasuke."

Sasuke shrugged it off. It was no use, forcing something out of Naruto when he himself didn't know what to look for.

That night, after Sae has gone to sleep, the two adults were sipping tea at the dining table. Naruto was still sulking and truthfully, it started to drive the other man crazy.

"Just what the hell is going on, idiot?"

"Like you care!" Naruto hissed after a minute.

"I'm asking you what's wrong, am I not?" Naruto sulked even more at that. Sasuke rubbed the upcoming headache. It was even worse than dealing with Sae. Hell, Sae was easier to handle than Naruto!

"A few days ago, you said you wanted to earn my trust again. Or is that is just another empty promise, Naruto?" Naruto's head snapped at that.

"I mean exactly what I said, Uchiha."

"Then what's this now?"

Naruto gave an exasperated sigh. "You wouldn't understand…"

"Try me," the taller man challenged.

Naruto's face flushed. He was thankful –though admittedly feeling guilty- that Sasuke couldn't see his face right now. Blue eyes trailed everywhere, from the kitchen, to the living toom, to the corridor leading to the rooms; but he still wasn't sure where to start.

"Well?"

"I- Do you always let that… piano teacher… touch you like that, Sasuke?" He refrained hard from referring the lady as 'bitch'.

Amused dark brows arched. Even his tone had amusement in it, "She… touched me?"

"Like you didn't know!"

"Remind me when then?"

"When she corrected your mistake back then, after her class!"

"If I'd know better, Naruto, I think you are jealous…"

"Like hell I am!" Naruto glared, the pink tints became darker.

"Are you not, now?"

Naruto was quiet, not wanting to repliy. His voice would give anything away anyway. "Whatever, Sasuke," Naruto pushed the chair back, heading into the kitchen to wash his cup. "I'm going to sleep," he said.

Was that hurt in his voice? Sasuke mused.

As he heard the footsteps walking away from the kitchen, Sasuke said softly, "If you must know, dobe, I warned her not to… make such bold moves anymore again…" Naruto stopped to listen at this, but he didn't offer any reply.

Sasuke however, could hear lighter steps walking away; the atmosphere wasn't as tense. He let a small smile decorated his face before he retired into his room.

TBC
Next: I'll come clean, but please, you have to let me in… Can't we have a second chance?