A confused Naruto meet his friend promptly at nine with a set if tiny cloths in his hand. The shirt was a little too long and the pants were a horrendous shade of orange, but it was better than animal skins Sasuke surmised.

"Mr. Sasuke, I don't like these," the child complained, but Sasuke choose to ignore it. Naruto, who was standing in his front room laughing, received a dirty look from the unhappy father standing in the hallway.

"He calls you mr. Sasuke?" The blonde asked, stifling a further outburst.

"What am I supposed to call him?" Little Itachi asked, putting his hands on his hips and sticking out his lower lip in a pout.

"I dunno, dad?" Naruto suggested, no longer amused by the bratty child. Sasuke seemed slightly mortified and the boy seemed to be considering it. Riruko hadn't raised a constant complainer but Itachi was none the less an indecisive child that hated change. This house, those cloths, the food and manners, he hated everything. Especially when it came time to leave and Itachi realized he had to deal with this all day.

Sasuke hadn't lay his eyes on Karin in months. The two avoided each other like the plague and never spoke, though in a village it's nearly impossible to never run into each other. They'd been fortunate enough that they'd never been forced to work together on a mission or had to be in the same place for very long, but that didn't mean Sasuke didn't know where the red haired woman lived?

The ruby eyed boy was excited, unaware of the problem between his parents, little Itachi wore a smilie as he made his journey across town, much more excited than his father was to see his mother. Sasuke was less than thrilled. Naruto accompanied them, smiling awkwardly and lagging behind. Sasuke had been and still was his best friend and Sasuke needed support, though this situation was less than desirable and that was proven to him upon arriving at the five story apartment building.

"Maybe we should just send him in alone, I mean, if your this scared," Naruto joked, elbowing his black haired companion, but Sasuke was in no mood for jokes. Scowling, he took ahold of his sons hand, and lead the way down the hall to apartment three, home to one Karin Uzumaki.

It was Naruto who decided to man up and knock on his cousins door, because after all, bravery is an important trait for the Hokage in training. Karin came to the door after a few moments, her hair wet and a cigarette in her hand, and nearly slammed the door on the three of them if it weren't for Naruto's shoe.

"God damn it! Go away! I don't want to see any of you here ever fucking again, get lost!" She shouted in a tone so hot it could have branded a bull.

"Karin, open the door!" Sasuke returned, his tone short and annoyed. With enough force from himself and help from Naruto, they pushed back the door and invited themselves it, dragging little Itachi along with them.

"Oh no, get him out of here, he's the fucking last thing I want to see," the woman seethed. She'd seen her son, no, the product of her rape out of the corner of her eye and seeing him was enough.

"Karin, Stop it, something has got to be done about him," Sasuke started, but Karin cut him off.

"He's your problem, fucker! Get out of my house before I call the police!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, and she continued screaming until a vase hit the ground and shattered, the noise catching the attention of all the adults in the room.

"I'm sorry I broke your, uh, whatever that is, but, uh, I just have a question," Itachi looked very humble for as brash as he was, his arms hanging by his side as he looked at them with pleading eyes. Karin did not respond, she only folded her arms and glared at him, a deep scowl set on her face.

"I just, um, well your my mom aren't you?" The boy asked, stepping closer to the woman, but she only backed away with her eyes set on his features.

"Aren't you?" He asked again. This time Karin sighed, adjusted her glasses and answered,

"I am."

"My name is Koton, I'm happy to meet you," the boy smiled as best he could. Even Karin had to admit it was a pretty good poker face for an eight year old.

"Karin," she returned. Something inside her didn't feel right being mean to him, after all it wasn't really his fault. It was silent for what seemed like an eternity. She couldn't look away from him, no matter how hard she tried. Those were her eyes in his head, he was half of her, quite litterally, and it was all she could do to hide her tears.

"Karin, we have a problem, as you can see," Sasuke began after clearing his throat, "I'm sure that the village already knows he's here, and it's not like anyone listens to a thing Tsunade says anymore."

Sasuke spoke the truth. Though Tsunade had always been a just Hokage, the village council was having a harder time with her not only because of her aging state, but her ever growing alcohol problem. The group seemed royally screwed at this point. Sasuke's only option to save his son was dead and though Karin was being civil now, it still couldn't do a thing to help their case. Team hawk was, and would probably always be, on the outs with the village.

"So just explain what ever is wrong, it's not like he's a weapon of god damn mass destruction," the red head sighed, finally taking a seat at her kitchen table.

"I don't think the council be willing to listen to reason now if they wouldn't before, there's got to be someone else we could place him with, er," Sasuke paused to spare a glance at his son. He'd already said he wouldn't send him away, but if he had no other choice, what was he to do? Sasuke sighed, putting his head in his hands, "I need to find a scenario where I could parent him."

"Can't I talk to them Mister, uh, oh... Dad?" Itachi murmured, his bold works quieting as he furthered his sentence. Sasuke raked his fingers though his bangs as he turned to look at his son. He was a dad, wasn't he? God that made him feel old, but he felt proud too.

"No, ita- uh, Koton, no I don't think that's a good idea," Sasuke answered, but when his son asked why not, the orange haired idiot in the room piped up.

"You feelen' pretty alone and confused right now little buddy? Yeah, I know that feeling exactly. But you've got more fire in yu than I've ever seen! Let him stand up for himself Sasuke! We had to when we were kids! "

Sasuke set his jaw and examined what his friend just hold his son. Both he and Naruto had been alone at this point in their lives, and indeed it was very confusing having to do adult things when your just a child, but unlike either of them, Itachi had gone from having no parents to two, well, one and two helpers in a matter of twenty four hours. Little Itachi had no barring on parents, he didn't assume the forest or his 'auntie' had treated him like a child, no, his now dead childhood friend would have expected the upmost maturity, to pull his weight to help them both survive.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Sasuke muttered again, Itachi hadn't had much contact with other humans up until now, he wouldn't know what to say.

"Sasuke, this is important to the kid! You can't do anything for him that he can't himself!" Naruto pointed out, getting excited enough to lean foreward and push his arms on the table. That was true, it was Sasuke that had a problem with the village, not his son. The elder Uchiha looked to his once lover who stared back at him with a blank face. Karin knew her ex-partner, and she knew he was silently asking for her opinion.

"I suppose he doesn't have anything to loose," she sighed, putting out her burned cigarette butt.

Xxx

"The village elders will see you now," the meek woman aiding Sasuke murmured, holding a thick file folder to her chest with worried eyes. She motioned for him to fallow her and Sasuke motioned for his son to join them. The meeting room wasn't particularly large, but it would have been easy to hear a pin drop. Aged faces stared Sasuke down, and he stared right back as his son cowered behind him. The doe eyed woman lay down a file folder in front of the decrepit, living remains of the oldest village elder. He remembered her from when he was a child. Tsunade, sat in the middle, drunk as ever with the rest of the council including the leader of the leaf special ops and the man who ran interrogation.

"Sasuke Uchiha, before we begin, we must remind you we have ruled on this matter perviously, we have condemned your son to exile, why have you brought him back?" The elder woman said, her senile, crochety voice running in his ears.

"I'd like to begin the meeting actually. It's all very relevant," Sasuke tried to explain in a way it wouldn't offend her, however she still seemed just as annoyed.

"Very well, I call this meeting to order on March nineteenth, at twelve noon. Now please, explain," she droned though creeping bones. Why hadn't she just retired already?

"My son has returned to the village on his own accord, he found me, and he is unaware of his banishment. I've brought him here to discuss the problem of his care. The woman I placed him with is, unfortunately, dead," Sasuke did not take his eyes from the elders and he didn't want to. He didn't intent of telling his son that his 'auntie' had passed at all, but when the information was relevant...

"Well, I'm surprised you've even done that, with your ill track record of breaking the rules. We watched him last night and we watched you visit another apartment this morning, care to tell us about it?" The a man to his left rasped.

"I took him to meet his mother for the first time, that is all," Sasuke replied cooly, and he thought that his lack of emotion might be hurting his case rather than helping.

"Yes, well, our ruling still stands. Your mistake is not our problem, may we remind you. We will give you one hour to vacate this boy from your possession and our village," the elder woman leading the meeting grunted, catching Tsunade's eye. She was about to intervene when Little Itachi beat her to it.

"Excuse me, uh, Mr. Sir, and uh ma'am, I'd actually like to talk," Itachi's voice began sort of meekly, but gained strength as he continued, coming out from his hiding spot behind his father. Ten seconds of courage was all he needed o change their minds.

"What is it boy?" The woman hissed, but the boy refused to back down.

"I ain't got no where else to go, see. My mama don't want nothing to do with us, and it ain't Mr. Naruto's job to help, and my auntie can't take care of me no more," Itachi tried to explain, repeating what was already known to them, but what was a surprise to him.

"Your father shouldn't have burned his bridges then, should he?" The woman replied, picking up her items and laying them in a pile, this meeting was over in her eyes.

"No, ma'am, that ain't what im saying. I'm saying that my daddy needs me just as much as I need him, I gotta stay to help him. He's real flustrated and sad, and worried, I can see. My daddy didn't raise me, my auntie did, and auntie wouldn't never teach me lie. She taught me how to not believe them too. Ain't you never had a responsibility before? It's real hard, even if you don't wanna you gotta do it. I gotta be here. This is my responsibility," the kids speech had Sasuke almost blowing a gasket and the elders were near flabbergasted, "I won't hurt nobody, if that's what your scared of. I know better."

Sasuke supposed that his kid would have had better luck than him no matter what, after all, he had betrayed the village not his eight year old innocent son.

"I motion that we give them a trial period," Tsunade slurred, and the rest of the council was quiet for a long moment

"If I hear so much as a squeal about ether of you! And I'm drawing up a list of restrictions as we speak!" the elderly woman threatened. A smilie spread wide on Itachi's features.

"You won't regret it ma'am."

Xxx

Later that night, sitting around the table drinking some sort of special ginger soda, eating bowls of take our ramen, father and son found their first peace together. The time was not bombarded with questions, worries or other, annoying people, just quiet companionship.

"You were very brave today," Sasuke muttered, taking a sip of his drink after. With the glass over his face, we wouldn't have to look his son in the eye.

"Thanks! Auntie always said you gotta stand up for yourself. She had to anyway, after our, er, her family died," the ruby eyed boy replied. He hadn't taken the news of his auntie's death so well after all,and he was having a hard time with the fact they weren't actually related.

"I don't want you to feel like you have to take care of me, I am an adult" Sasuke told him, looking down to stir his noodles with his chop sticks.

"But I do, it's what family does," the boy announced. His personality and bold words were really going to take some getting used to. Truthfully the boy sounded a lot like his name sake. The real Itachi wanted nothing more than to care for him, his only remaining family, even if he had don't it totally with lies.

Things were so simple to little Itachi, he was still an innocent child, and Sasuke wanted to keep it that way.

"You ain't gotta be worried daddy, we're gonna be just fine," Itachi smiled, and Sasuke mocked him.

"We certainly will."

Xxx

So I'll be drawing up a larger, more complex plot here coming, this is not the final chapter!