A/N:

Thank you for your reviews!

To Zuzu: homie is short for both homeboy and homegirl (yup that term exists) :DAgain, please keep the reviews coming. They are the incentive that keeps us writers producing stories for your enjoyment.

Uchiha Sasuke didn't often visit the city. He didn't particularly hate it, but felt a wrongness to it. In his mind, a hidden ninja village was supposed to be, well, hidden.

And Konoha city proper was bigger than the Fire Country's Capital City, housing most of the population in the entire world, with its 3 million people (half of which were children under the age of ten, all born after the war).

But tonight, he navigated the rainy streets towards the seedier part of the city, on the outskirts opposite the old village district.

He ran in a daze, fury, anger, disappointment and fear clouding his vision. Soon he saw a flickering neon sign, and entered a small, dirty, run-down bar.

He went straight to the counter, pulling his wallet.

"Three bottles of vodka to go," he ordered.

The bartender raised his eyebrows, but quickly went to the back to fill his order after the one-armed man glared at him.

Sasuke paid and left the bar as quietly as he had gone in, and made his way out of the city and its offending bright lights, running without a set destination in mind, aiming only for the wilderness. Ninja felt safer amongst trees.

He ironically found himself in the Valley of the End, turned into a national park a couple of years ago.

The broken remains of Hashirama and Madara's statues greeted him in the darkness at the same time the rain stopped falling, and he took refuge halfway up one of the few ancient trees left alive by the relentless hunger of progress.

He forced himself to drink an entire bottle before allowing his thoughts to surface.

Not for the first time since the war, he wondered if it hadn't been better if he had allowed Naruto to kill him.

Not that he hadn't tried, he thought, mindlessly touching the stump of his left arm. But no. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to stop his final attack and let the rasengan blow his body to smithereens.

And he had even believed the pile of shit Naruto had poured on him, about needing him, about him having a place in his plans, in his life.

Of course, he hadn't had any. His one and only friend had completely ignored his existence after the last time they had met, when he had left for his atonement voyage. He had just abandoned their bond as if it were nothing, not even bothering to let him know when he married the Hyuuga girl, much less thank him for defending Konoha while he was busy saving the useless woman's even more useless sister from a travesty of a villain in the moon.

Of course, together with their bond, the son of a bitch abandoned the promised reparation for the crimes committed against the Uchiha clan.

Not only that, but he had turned the ninja profession into a mockery of the old days. The "peaceful world" he and the other useless Kage had created was just as rotten as the previous one, with the exception that now, instead of openly killing people, the elite ate their lives away with low paying, thankless, useless jobs that only fed the meat-grinding machine that was "economic progress".

Sasuke chugged from his second bottle and hn'd. In the end, Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi would have been better than this, he mused. At least people had the fantasy of being happy while they were being transformed into mindless zombies. Now, they didn't even have that.

He tried to drown what had happened tonight with more vodca, but the images kept coming back to him.

The irony of it all was so obvious, it made him laugh out loud.

Of course the last Uchiha had to screw up even trying to keep the bloodline alive.

It had all started a couple of weeks after Naruto's wedding. Sasuke had come back to the village, pissed beyond belief that the piece of shit that he had held as his only fucking special person hadn't even cared enough to tell him about it. He had been hell bent into beating the shit out of the blond, but Sakura found him first, and dragged him off to drink his sorrow.

She had told him that Naruto had married the Hyuuga girl out of spite, because she had rejected him, so Sasuke's anger-ridden, alcohol-impaired brain had the brilliant idea to fuck the pink-haired kunoichi to spite the usuratonkachi back, to which she had enthusiastically agreed.

The trap had become obvious the next day, when Sakura's angry father had broken into her room and demanded reparation of her virginity by marriage. Sasuke had swallowed it like the complete fool he was, hook, line and sinker.

And so he married his old teammate, for which he had no other good feelings except a faint sense of obligation due to their past in team seven, which was quickly dispelled by her blatant manipulation. Even so, if he was forced to participate into this sham of a relationship, then he'd at least try to get something out of it.

So he fucked her once more before staying in the village that had destroyed his clan became unbearable again, and she got pregnant.

He had been gone through her entire pregnancy, but came back to see the birth of his first child.

He had cooly regarded the baby girl. Of course the useless bitch couldn't produce a boy to carry on the Uchiha name. Still, it was better than nothing, he could at least hope the bloodline limit would go on. Even so, Sakura kept pestering him to try for another child, promising to him it would be male this time.

Two years later, the girl's eyes proved to be defective. Her eyesight had deteriorated, and she had to wear glasses. An Uchiha with poor eyesight before even developing the Sharingan.

Sasuke could hear his ancestors mocking him from their graves. Obviously she had to be a completely useless kunoichi, just like her failure of a mother. Who had, of course, enrolled the child in the Academy, as another excuse to rub the fact she was married to an Uchiha on the other village women's faces, without regards to Sasuke's shame at his loins having produced such a laughing stock to the clan's name.

That had cooled even more a relationship that hadn't been warm to begin with, and Sasuke had spent the next six years away, wandering aimlessly in search of a purpose to his life.

He had returned to Konoha at the beginning of this year, fulfilled his marital duties, and left again, only to receive news of her new pregnancy a couple of months later.

Apparently she had resorted to tampering with the condoms he had taken to use whenever they had their obligatory intercourse.

Sasuke snorted at the futility of it. He had given her everything he could, his name, his status, his wealth, a child. He dutifully fucked her once whenever he could force himself to return to that odious village. What else did she think she could drag out of him by having another child, if the first had proven to be a failure?

Still, as the legitimate father he had obligingly come to witness the birth of his second heir.

Which, to add insult to the previous injury, had turned out to be a hideous, deformed monster.

He stood on the tree branch, his bloodline limit activating in his rage, and descended to the ground to start systematically destroying the trees around him, gritting his teeth as the night's previous events replayed in his mind, his photographic memory as ironically perfect as ever.

He recalled Tsunade's pitiful glance at him, when she showed him the misshapen product of his loins.

And Sakura's screams.

And that one abnormally large eye in an otherwise perfect reproduction of his own face as a baby.

(he started to scream as he kept blowing the trees to splinters with Chidori)

And that motherfucker barging in through the window like some stupid movie superhero.

And pretending to be all reasonable and caring, as if the last ten years hadn't happened at all!

(he attacked a boulder with his bare hand, his chakra control lost, foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog)

As if he hadn't abandoned him!

As if he could understand what that thing meant to the future of his clan!

Sasuke threw a last, knuckle-crunching blow at the rock, and let his sweating, bloody body slide to the ground, laughing hysterically through his sobbing.

Future?

What future?

No future…

The guards at the Hyuuga compound looked strangely at Naruto, but opened the gate to him nevertheless.

He had asked Tsunade to make him a sling for little Menma, so his hands would be free to carry the baby's meager baggage. He wore it under his robes to keep him a little warmer in the chilly October night.

He opened the door to his home quietly, and awkwardly slipped off his sandals, trying not to jostle too much.

"Naruto-kun?" he heard the soft, sleepy voice coming from the living room, and a soft light went on by the couch.

"Tadaima", he said in a quiet voice, and came over to kiss a sleepy-looking Hinata, sitting next to her with a tired sigh. He knew it wouldn't be easy to make Hinata understand his decision, what with her embracing her clan's traditionalism - which, to him, had been a way to cope with Neji's death more than a natural decision - but he hoped she could accept it.

"Okaeri… what's that?" she asked curiously, and then frowned at his serious expression. "Are you ok?"

Naruto put a protective arm over the bundle pressed against his chest and breathed deeply. "Hinata… something important happened tonight and I need to know if you can support me."

"Oh!" she interrupted him, and smiled. "Happy birthday, Naruto-kun", she said, and gave him a red scarf. She had knitted him a new one every year for his birthday, since they had started dating.

"Thank you," he said, taking it, but keeping his eyes on her. "Hinata please, this is important. I have done something… something serious."

She gave him an uncomprehending look, and he continued. "This… this is Menma. He was born today, and I have registered him as my son," he said gravely, and opened his robes to pull down the sling, exposing the newborn's face.

Hinata's pearly-white eyes went as wide as saucers, and she paled.

Naruto waited as she processed what he had said. A couple of minutes passed before Hinata's face set in a determined look. He was beginning to feel hopeful, but then,

"No, Naruto-kun."

Hinata's response had a final sound, but Naruto tried to reason with her nonetheless.

"He doesn't have anyone, Hinata. His parents tried to kill him, called him a monster. I couldn't just leave him, nobody would want him."

"And you thought I would?" Hinata asked in an uncharacteristically cold voice. She looked at him with the same determined look she had given the deformed child. "How could you do this without asking me what I wanted? You shouldn't have meddled with the parents' decision, Naruto-kun. Please, please return this child to where it came from."

Naruto flinched at her cold words. "Hinata, I'm the Hokage. I can't just allow people to kill their own children, it's not right."

"The life of a child belongs to their parents as much as the lives of the clan members belong to the clan leaders, Naruto-kun. I thought you understood that when we got married," she interrupted him again, in that strange, detached voice. "You promised to abide by the traditional rules of kinship when we married, Naruto. It is part of the Hyuuga marriage wovs and you said them at our wedding. You accepted that our children wouldn't carry the Hyuuga name because they didn't have the Byakugan. Why would you think I would agree that you meddle in another family's rules? This is not your child to fight for, Naruto-kun. Please return it."

Naruto looked down at the sleeping little Menma, and set his jaw in anger. "No, Hinata," he returned her cool stare. "I accepted our kids to be Uzumaki because I am proud to be Uzumaki. I'm not Hyuuga. I'm not obligated to your family's tradition. And I'm not letting anyone else die for stupid clan rules. Neji's is enough blood in my hands, Hinata."

"Neji and I both understood the reason for our family's tradition. He understood the reason for the division between main and branch families was to protect the Hyuuga clan as a whole, Naruto-kun. That is why he sacrificed himself in my place, and I am proud of him for that," Hinata said in a calm voice, but Naruto could see the fury building behind her pupiless eyes. "It's the same reason why I stepped down from my place in line as the heir to the clan's leadership. The Hyuuga line is important, Naruto-kun. The Byakugan defines our family."

"I'm not asking him to be part of your clan, Hinata. I'm going to register him under my name, without a mother's name. You won't have anything to do with him, he'll be my son alone," he said quietly.

"Naruto-kun, you're a man. It isn't a man's job to raise the children, you know that. And I… I can't raise this child for you. What will Bolt and Himawari think, Naruto-kun? What will my father think? What about my clan's reputation? Bolt and Himawari already made the clan lose face, how can you ask me to further lower the Hyuuga social status by raising a deformed child?" she asked, and her voice was hurt as she looked away from him.

"Besides, do you really think people will believe you just happened to be around when this child was born and decided to adopt it out of the blue? And while we're at it, Naruto-kun, do you believe me to be so simple I can't see whose child it is with my own eyes?" Hot, angry tears began falling from her eyes, and Naruto felt a chill run through his spine at her outburst.

"Why did you do this, Naruto-kun? Is it really because it was going to die, or is it because… because it's hers?" Hinata asked.

"So that's how it is, then," he said quietly, keeping a calm gaze on her. "No, Hinata. I didn't do it because it's hers. For all the gods' sakes, Hinata, look at him. I did it because he's like me. Yes, Tsunade baa-chan called me because it's Sasuke and Sakura's baby, and I am… or rather was, their best friend. But no matter who sired or who birthed him, I'd have done the same thing, because he's just. Like. Me."

Hinata snorted through her tears. "Please Naruto-kun, don't compare having the Kyuubi sealed in you with… with this. It's completely different," she said.

"Why? Because he's ugly and I'm not?" he asked in the same quiet tone.

A long while passed in silence while he held her under his gaze.

"I see," Naruto said, feeling his world crumble around him, as Hinata's silence told him all he wanted to know.

He only realized how strongly he was clutching the child when it cried a small complaint. He looked down to see the single black eye looking up at him, seemingly in question, and ran a finger through the tiny face, breathing through his teeth.

He nodded, and stood up, the scarf sliding to the floor, forgotten.

"I'm sorry I asked so much of you, Hinata," he said in a dead voice. "I'll talk to your father later. For now, we'll be going to the Hokage Tower."

"N-Naruto-kun," she cried out softly, looking up at him. "Please reconsider… for me, for our children," she asked through her sobs. "I love you..."

He stared at her, wondering why he felt only emptiness at seeing her crying like this. It was a bizarre feeling, like coming out of a genjutsu into an even worse reality.

"I know," he said, "and I'm sorry."

He made his way to the door and put his sandals back on with mechanical movements, picked up the bags he had dropped, and left without looking back.

It was only when he sat on his office chair, and looked down at the baby nestled against him, that he allowed himself to burst into desperate tears.

October 10th had become a holiday after the war, and Uzumaki Bolt did the same thing he did every day without classes: he got up, put his clothes on, picked up his weapons pouch, grabbed something easy to eat from the breakfast table and left the house without looking at or talking to anyone.

He didn't even notice his mother's absence at the table, since the servants actually cooked their meals and cleaned the house instead of her.

He made his way to the training grounds in silence, stopping only when he reached the small bridge that spanned over a rivulet that separated the village proper from the training grounds.

"Fuck off, Uchiha," he said, and kept going.

Honestly, when would that stupid girl stop with her pointless stalking? It gave him the creeps. He had complained about it to his mother when it had started a year ago, on the first day of school no less, but she had only laughed and said girls were like that, she herself had done it to his father, and it meant she liked him.

Bolt still thought it was gross, and his mother's speech had only furthered his contempt for The Scumbag, as he secretly called his absent, self-absorbed, hateful father. Trust The Scumbag to like having a stupid girl shadowing his every step, probably made his stupid ego even bigger than it was, too.

He stopped in front of the training dummies and sighed, rubbing his face with a hand, before turning around and resolutely stomping to the nearby trees, and yanking Uchiha Salad out from behind one of them.

"Do you know why I don't punch those stupid glasses into your face, Uchiha?" he asked in an angry voice, and she flinched. "DO YOU?"

She shook her head with a frightened face.

"Because if I do, The Scumbag will beat the shit out of me and mom will ground me for a year for beating up a stupid girl," he said, nearly spitting the last word at her. "That is the only reason I haven't done it. I. DON'T. LIKE. YOU. You're gross. You're stupid. You're useless. I would rather date my sister than you, and trust me, I don't like her either. Is that clear?"

She nodded, but Bolt noticed a rebellious spark in her eye, so he made sure to shake her roughly before pushing her away in disgust.

"Get the fuck AWAY from me, or so help me I'll take my chances with The Scumbag," he growled as she stood up, and she backpedaled a bit before turning and running away.

Salad wiped the tears that were threatening to fall. She wouldn't allow herself to cry, even though Mama had told her it helped: crying just made her glasses dirty.

She kept saying to herself that she was doing the right thing, all the way to the hospital. After all, Mama had taught her that a girl's most important dream was to marry her first love, wasn't it? And Bolt had been the first boy Salad had noticed. It had to be him.

Mama had also told her that in order to have the boy she wanted she had to be persistent. She had used her own story as an example: hadn't she endured over a decade of abuse, multiple attempts against her life, and had gotten her prize in the end?

"It doesn't matter what the boy says he feels, or wants. If you really persevere, he'll recognize your feelings and marry you. Look at your Papa and I. He married me, right? And he made love to me, you're proof of that," she had said. "That means he loves me more than anything, no matter what. So you have to be persistent, and keep going after the boy you want, no matter what he says or does to you. It might seem as if he doesn't like you, might look like he even hates you, but you'll win in the end. And that is all that matters."

She walked into the hospital and asked quietly for her mama's room at the reception, and then made her way to the maternity ward.

She was nearing her mama's room when the sounds of an argument made her stop.

"You can't do that! She's your daughter! Her father already abandoned her, now you're going to do the same?" her grandma's voice was heard clearly, and then some lower voice responded. Salad knocked on the door and entered quietly.

Her grandmother and grandfather looked at her, clearly distraught about something, but Salad ignored them. They were always arguing with Mama about something or other, usually Papa's behavior or absence, or Mama having given up her work as a medic-nin, or how Mama had no friends.

Mama didn't care about what they thought, and Mama was always right, so Salad didn't care either.

She went to her mama's bed and looked around curiously.

"Mama? Where's my brother?" she asked in a polite voice.

Her mama looked at her with a strange, unfriendly face.

"Salad, you are to go live with your grandma and grandpa now," she said in her serious voice.

Salad looked up at her, startled.

"Your brother didn't survive the birth. And your papa is very, very mad. He wanted a perfect child like him, but neither you nor your brother were perfect, and now he's upset at me. So you have to leave, because Papa is my most important dream and I can't lose him because of you." Salad's mama smiled, and caressed Salad's cheek with her pointer finger.

Salad's eyes filled up with tears.

"Mama… you don't want me anymore? What did I do?" she asked.

Salad's mama looked at her with the same smile on her face.

"Of course I want you, Salad. But I want your papa more. You know that."

"Sakura, that's enough," grandpa said, and pulled Salad away. "Come on, baby, let's go get your things and go home. Don't worry, it's going to be all right."

Salad kept her eyes on her mama as grandpa picked her up and left, with grandma trailing after them.

Mama waved goodbye at her, still smiling.