When Nawaki woke up, it had begun to rain. He looked blearily around the campsite. What had happened after he fell asleep? Suddenly, he became aware of the rain pouring down on him. He yelped slightly, and ran for shelter. Unfortunately, the nearest tent happened to be Hisa's and she was not a morning person.
"Almighty Push!"
The ensuing racket was enough to wake everyone up. Sasuke was the last to crawl out of his tent. Nawaki noticed him wincing slightly, and his hand was covering his stomach. Something had happened last night. Nawaki would have asked, but Sasuke looked like he would kill anyone who dared.
"Pack the tents." he said shortly "We're going back to Konoha."
Nawaki and Konahamaru seemed to understand that something had gone down last night. Hisa on the other hand, did not.
"Why?" she demanded. "I thought our mission was to wait until we caught this missing-nin."
"Things have changed." Sasuke snapped "Just do it!"
Hisa looked like she was about to argue some more, but Oki quickly dragged her off to pack. Once they were gone, Sasuke pulled Konahamaru away from the site and began to whisper to him. Nawaki studied Konahamaru's face as Sasuke whispered. Shock, confusion, disappointment, frustration, worry, consideration. Konahamaru said something to Sasuke, then he walked over to Nawaki.
"Sasuke woke up last night and met the missing-nin." he explained. "Unfortunately, she got away. There's no point in staying here any longer."
It all fell into place for Nawaki. He could have kicked himself for not realising it sooner. Sakura was the missing-nin they were tracking. No wonder she had been worried about his mission. Suddenly, Konahamaru's words registered. Sasuke had talked to Sakura last night. Panic swept through him. What had happened? Was his mother ok? Judging by Sasuke's condition, there had been a fight. If Sasuke had gotten hurt, then logically his mother would be hurt just as badly. Nawaki forced himself to calm down. She was a medic-nin. She could take care of herself. Some strange little voice in his head was yelling Domestic violence! But he was doing his best to ignore it.
Soon they had the tents packed up and were heading out. The rain got heavier, until everyone was cold, wet and miserable. After two hours of walking, Konahamaru persuaded Sasuke to stop and take shelter under a bunch of trees. Once they were all sheltered under the thick branches, Nawaki began squeezing the water from his hair.
He had been drying it for five minutes when he noticed Sasuke staring at him. The look on Sasuke's face scared him. Sasuke was staring at him with wide unblinking eyes, he looked frozen in shock. Nawaki moved slightly, and gave a little half wave. Sasuke remained frozen.
"Um…" Nawaki pointed at Sasuke.
The others stared at Sasuke, then at Nawaki. Once their eyes landed on Nawaki, they too began staring.
"What?" he asked nervously.
"Eh, well… Your hair is pink." Oki explained.
Nawaki felt his insides freeze up. No no no this can't be happening. Not now. Not with him!He slowly reached a hand up and brought one of his bangs in front of his eyes. It was indeed pink. It was streaked with grey dye, but the pink was definitely showing through. He could only imagine what the rest of his hair looked like. This was bad.
Luckily, he was saved by a most unlikely source.
"So you had another 'accident' with paint?" Hisa asked mockingly.
Yes! his inner self screamed(Yes, he had an inner self. It just didn't appear unless he got extremely nervous).On the outside, he tried to look embarrassed.
"The paint must have leaked all over my hair." he said, trying to look sheepish.
Sasuke just kept staring at him. Hisa had lost interest and Oki was examining her bag. Konahamaru was looking sceptically at him.
"How did it get in your hair if you weren't sleeping in a tent?" he asked suspiciously.
Think Nawaki, think! "Um… because…"
Hisa saved him again.
"The idiot probably rolled around in his sleep and knocked it over."
Nawaki nodded quickly.
"Yeah! That's exactly- I mean probably what happened."
"Riiight." Konahamaru drawled. "So, why exactly do you carry pink paint around on missions?"
"Because… No one else does! And… and I like to be prepared for anything. So, that's why I have paint. Pink paint. Yeah."
Sasuke was still staring at him. (Congratulations, you broke Sasuke Uchiha! his inner self cheered) Konahamaru looked like he was about to ask something else, but Hisa saved him for the third time today.
"The rain's stopped. Can we get going?"
Nawaki would never get angry about her impatience again. Seriously, he was buying her a new book when they got back.
They set off. Nawaki walked next to Oki and Hisa and quickly began a conversation about the rumour going around that Hinata had finally found out about Hiashi's use of the curse seal on Hanabi.
"Seriously, I can't believe she only found out now. It happened three years ago and everyone in the village knows."
"True, but Hiashi used his influence to silence anyone who tried to tell Hinata. Hanabi was too proud to tell her herself, but I heard Sasuke found out and told Naruto. Naruto told Hinata and Hinata was pissed."
"I'm pretty sure that's what happened. Mother was raging just before she left. She mentioned something about castration."
"She's going to castrate him?"
"No, I don't think so. She's probably going to give Hanabi permission to castrate him…"
!
It all fitted into the puzzle now. Nawaki had pink hair. Sakura's hair. That was the missing piece. He thought over his clues carefully. Sakura's words to him: There's a secret I need to protect. Nawaki sleeping under the stars- he had been waiting for Sakura. Nawaki's resemblance to Itachi. Kakashi had trained Nawaki for the Chunin Exams, hadn't he? Sai… Sai was Oki's father, and he was married to Ino, who was Sakura's best friend. He was sure that Kakashi knew, but did they? It all fit now. No wonder she was so bitter towards him. He had gotten her pregnant. He looked in front of him. Oki had fallen back to talk to Konahamaru, while Hisa was having a quiet argument with Nawaki.
Nawaki. His son.
Sasuke still didn't know how to feel about that. He had a son. One that he hadn't known about for ten years. Sakura was the mother. He didn't know which one of these things shocked him more.
He studied Nawaki closely. How had he not put two and two together years ago? The boy's last name was Hachino. Haruno and Uchiha mixed together.
He shook his head slightly started walking faster. He would worry about his skills later. For now, he had an interrogation to do.
!
Nawaki sighed as Hisa continued to give out to him.
"I mean seriously, I know you lost but that was three years ago. You should have gotten over it by now. You don't want to be a genin for life, do you?"
"No, I don't. I'm just not ready to enter yet. Besides, why do you care if I stay a genin?"
She glared at him.
"I don't care about you, I care about Oki. She can't enter unless you enter with her. You're supposed to be a team."
He felt slightly guilty at that, but he ignored it. He wasn't going to let her get to him.
"I asked Oki would she mind and she said no."
"She was being nice. Neither of us expected that you wouldn't enter for three years. Look, I know you can be an idiot, but don't tell me you haven't thought about how she feels."
Nawaki sighed.
"Look, I just want to enter knowing that even if I lose, I've done everything I could. I can't promise that I'll enter in six months, but I won't leave it for too long."
She sighed, but they both knew he wouldn't change his mind.
"If I hadn't become a chunin, would you still act like this?"
It was an honest question, but Nawaki didn't have an answer. He settled on smirking.
"Not everything revolves around you, Hisa"
She flushed and glared at him.
"I know that! I just meant… you know what, never mind."
She stormed away to talk to Oki, leaving Nawaki to walk on his own. He gulped. He didn't want to be alone, that meant…
"Hello Nawaki."
Interrogation time.
Sasuske fell into step beside him, looking straight ahead. Nawaki copied him, keeping his eyes focused on his team.
"So, Nawaki, I hear your village was burnt down a few years ago. What was it called?"
He knows he knows he knows he knows "Susugaya. It wasn't a shinobi village."
"Oh really? I saw you in your Chunin Exams. Where did you learn those skills?"
"A wandering shinobi came to live in my village. He taught me everything I knew before coming here. I don't think he would want me to tell you his name. Sorry."
"No problem. Did he die when the bandits attacked? A bit strange for a shinobi to be beaten by a handful of common criminals."
Sasuke could try all he wanted, but Nawaki was an expert at lying. Unless he was panicking, then he messed up, but Nawaki was focused now. He wouldn't give Sasuke any more evidence.
"I'm not quite sure what happened to him. He was pretty old, so he could have died. All that I remember are bells ringing and my mother telling me to run and hide. I hid for a full two days, and when I went back the entire place was in ruins. I don't know if he escaped. After I saw my parents lying dead on the ground I didn't want to check on him."
He knew it was working. Sasuke seemed to hesitate slightly.
"I lost my parents at an early age too. Their names were Fugaku and Mikoto."
Nawaki knew what he was asking.
"Mine were called Satoshi and Shiho. I was an only child, and they loved me a lot. My dad was a teacher, and he would often take me places and show me things. It gives me happy memories." Memories that were completely fake, but Sasuke didn't need to know that.
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Nawaki allowed himself to hope that Sasuke was finished with him, but Sasuek began to talk again.
"Have you ever heard of Sakura Haruno?"
"Of course. She was your teammate, right?"
Sasuke gave a curt nod.
"Yes. I still consider her a teammate, but I don't think the feeling is mutual."
Nawaki kept his surprise hidden. It was exactly what Sasuke was looking for.
"You see, I wasn't always loyal to Konoha. Having my brother kill my family affected me badly, and I became obsessed with revenge. Once I found out that my brother was actually good, I didn't know what to do. Revenge had dominated my life, what was I supposed to do now? Unfortunately, Obito Uchiha convinced me to destroy Konoha to 'avenge'Itachi. I went along with it, and after the war I decided to strike. Naruto managed to stop me and convinced me to come back."
He paused for a second to glance at Nawaki. Nawaki was drinking in every word. He was probably the only person (apart from Naruto) to have heard Sasuke talk about this.
"I won't go into detail about what happened next. Konoha weren't too happy with me, but Naruto convinced them to go easy on me. When he became Hokage, he made me Chief of Police and his Second in Command. He and Kakashi spoke to me every day, and although some of the villagers weren't very happy with me, I was content. The only thing missing was Sakura."
Nawaki tried to control his excitement and kept the mildly curious look on his face. Sasuke was still glancing at him every few seconds.
"You see, I had broken Sakura's heart back when we were both very young. After I had returned, she didn't trust me. In fact, she didn't trust a lot of people. She had… issues. Basically, by the time she left the village I had only talked to her five times."
Sasuke looked as if he was caught in memory, and part of Nawaki knew that Sasuke was telling him this for more than a reaction. He knew Nawaki was his son, and he wanted Nawaki to know how he felt. Maybe, just maybe, he was hoping Nawaki would tell this to Sakura. Nawaki couldn't be sure of this, as he didn't want to tell Sasuke what they both knew.
They walked in silence for a few more minutes. At any moment, Nawaki expected Sasuke to accuse him of being his son. Instead, Sasuke struck up another conversation.
"Do you know how the Fourth Shinobi World War ended?"
Once again, Nawaki hid his surprise.
"Yes. Obito Uchiha turned against Madara at the last minute. Naruto managed to take Madara down, and stop the Ten Tails. That's all I know."
Sasuke nodded thoughtfully.
"It's a bit more complicated than that, but yes, that's the gist of it."
Nawaki waited for Sasuke to continue, but instead, Sasuke walked ahead and started talking to Konahamaru. Nawaki breathed a sigh of relief. The interrogation was over, and he hadn't given anything major away.
He smiled as he saw Konoha come into view. Soon, he would be back in his apartment with a fresh bottle of hair dye and this entire fiasco would be behind them.
!
Naruto ran into his office just in time to see Sasuke pin Kakashi to the wall by his throat.
"You knew." Sasuke was snarling. "You knew for three years and you didn't tell us anything."
Kakashi remained calm, even though Sasuke was half strangling him.
"It wasn't my secret to tell. If I told you, what would you have done?"
"I'm his father. I should have known all along."
"What's going on here?" Naruto yelled.
Both men froze. Sasuke released his hold on Kakashi, and moved to stand next to Naruto.
"You tell him Kakashi." he said coldly. "I only found out this morning. Maybe you can tell us more about why you've been withholding information from the Hokage."
Kakashi sighed. First Iruka had yelled at him, then Anko had tried to stab him, then Ibiki had tried to interrogate him for some reason and now this. This was not his day.
"All right Naruto, sit down and get comfy." he said dryly. "This is a going to be a long story."
!
After Kakashi had finished (With some help from Sasuke) Naruto just sat there.
"Wow." he said at last "How did I not know anything about this?"
Kakashi shrugged.
"It's pretty complicated alright. The big question now is what to do with Nawaki."
Naruto thought long and hard about it. Eventually, he reached a decision.
"We have to act like everything is normal." he said. Sasuke tried to protest but Naruto held up his hand. "If we confront Nawaki, he'll run away and join Sakura. We have to handle this delicately. My guess is that Sakura was the one who decided not to tell us. Nawaki's a good kid, and he's happy here. I don't want to ruin that."
Sasuke stared out the wall sized window. What was Nawaki doing now? Was he planning to escape?
"So we do nothing." Sasuke said, calmer then he felt "But for how long?"
A/N There will be another time skip next chapter. I won't be able to update as quickly as I have been for the last few chapters. It could be a few days, it could be a few weeks.
There are two ways this story could go. I can make it slightly angsty, but a happy ending. Or I could stick with my original plan and make it very dark. Possibly killing a few characters. I'm not sure yet which one I'm going to pick. (I'm leaving it vague so I don't spoil it) If you have any prefrence, leave a review and I'll take it into account.
Thanks again for all the reviews.