AN: New chapter.
As Head of the Uchiha Clan, copies of any report from the Shinobi Kekkei Genkai Classification Board concerning a Kekkei Genkai of a member of the Uchiha Clan was delivered directly to Fugaku Uchiha.
Itachi had silently delivered it before leaving. The same way he had done for the past three similar reports in the past three days.
The report laid unread on the table. Just like all the others. The string keeping the envelopes closed hadn't even been unwound.
Neither Fugaku or Mikoto could bring themselves to read a single one of them.
"You two should've never had children."
Ever since meeting the girl who had become Sasuke's guardian, it felt impossible.
"I didn't mean to hate him." Mikoto's voice reached him but he could barely hear her. Not through the haze that had settled over him. "I didn't. I'm his mother. I know I love him. He's our son. I was supposed to love him. And I did. I do. I love him. I love him." She spoke her words to no one but herself. Tried to affirm them as the truth to herself most of all. "I tried to love him. I loved him when we thought he wouldn't enter the Academy. I loved him when we thought he couldn't perform Ninjutsu. I loved him when we thought he couldn't become a Shinobi."
She stared at the picture in her hand.
The last picture the four of them had taken together.
Before.
Before Sasuke showed them his Kekkei Genkai.
Before the rumors had begun in earnest.
"Have you heard about Fugaku's boy?"
"I knew Mikoto was a bad fit."
"Why else would Fugaku spend so much time at the office?"
"There was that mission she went on to the Hidden Mist…"
"I'm surprised Fugaku stayed with her."
"I heard she's still sleeping around."
"Can you imagine? Taking care of a boy that isn't yours?"
"She should be ashamed of herself."
"No wonder Itachi's like that. He must've known."
"The poor boy doesn't even know."
"Shameful to raise a son like that."
"Fugaku should do something about her and that boy."
"How long do you think she kept it up?"
"I can't believe she's still showing her face."
"I knew that family was bad. Just look at Itachi."
Day after day.
Week after week.
Month after month.
Year after year.
The same rumors.
That she had been unfaithful, that she and Fugaku's marriage had turned paper-thin, that Sasuke was nothing but an unwanted remnant of an affair, that their family was falling apart.
Of all the rumors, only the last was true. The divide between parent and offspring had grown truly insurmountable over the years. Even if one side dared to attempt to cross it, such effort was all but doomed to end in complete failure.
"H-He had to know I loved him. I love him. I showed him. I showed him? I had to. I didn't mean to make him think I didn't. I was supposed to love him."
Fugaku could think of nothing to say. His words wouldn't change the situation. It was what he had known since this all began, since Sasuke had begun to struggle with even the simplest of Ninjutsu, failed even the simplest of training exercises to learn the Great Fireball Technique. He had entrusted his training to Itachi, had allowed his eldest son to guide the boy, to see if he was even capable of becoming a Shinobi with his lack of talent for a pillar of the life.
He had stepped away from it all. Had thought it the best idea at the time.
What solution could he provide that Itachi couldn't? What would disappointing his father with continued failures do for Sasuke besides further drag him down? What could he had possibly done?
What good could be gained if he had involved himself with his son? All he would've done was to increase the pressure on Sasuke, would prove my harm than good. So he had remained away.
It was his excuse at least. He hadn't known what to do, how to help, so had sent his brother to him, had thought it had been enough. Once Itachi had helped him through the initial hurdles, if he proved capable, Fugaku would've taken Sasuke on as a student, would've taught him the many techniques of the Uchiha Clan.
He would've taught him everything he knew once had had mastered the Great Fireball Technique.
He would've played his role to see Sasuke become a powerful Shinobi.
He would've encouraged Sasuke to become a respected member of the Military Police Force.
He would've done everything he could've done once Sasuke had mastered the Great Fireball Technique.
"I thought he was just a quiet boy. He would come to us if he needed anything. He should have come to us if he needed something. If he was so alone." Her words echoed his own thoughts, his own justification for him to step away from his youngest son.
After the first, it had been easy to take another step. And another.
It had become so easy to abandon him. To create this vast distance between them, let him stand alone when he should've been there, when he should've been able to rely on someone beyond Itachi.
All because of his Kekkei Genkai.
It had been so easy to distance himself from the source of the rumors. It had been easy to step away "to allow them to run their course" instead of acting.
It had been easy to say "I'll speak with him tomorrow" when it should've been "I'll speak with him today".
When his family should've rallied around him, provided him the support he had begun to so desperately need, only Itachi could claim to have done so. Only Itachi had stood with him. Only Itachi had stood against the rest of the Clan and their whispered words, their contempt for the boy so different from them all.
How often had he stood outside his door? How often had he been such a coward to leave a note instead of speaking with his son.
One note had turned to two. Two to ten. Ten to dozens. It had been easier then.
Because it had been easier to lie. "I'll speak with him tomorrow" had become a comforting lie, a way to ignore the present. A way to ignore his own conflicted feelings on it all.
Shame. Rage. Confusion. It had burned in him for years.
Why did it have to be his son?
Why couldn't Sasuke be normal like the others?
Why couldn't he stand by him like Itachi, like Shisui could?
Why did he let the judgment of the rest of the Clan drive him to push away his son?
Why did Sasuke have such an ability?
He had known the answer to none of the questions he had, could find none, and so he had tried to push them away. He had told himself "I'll find the answer tomorrow". It had been another lie.
It had been easier to tell himself so many lies.
And every step on such a path had widened the distance between himself and Sasuke.
The Uchiha Clan had all but pushed him away, tossed him aside.
"Did I hate him because of them? What they said? I thought I loved him. Love him. I'm supposed to love him. He's my son. He didn't know what they were saying. He couldn't know about any of it. He shouldn't. Does he? Does he know? Does he think I blame him for what they said? I did. A part of me. I didn't know."
Her words were to a picture. To the past.
A time lost. A time they had let slip by.
"He wasn't supposed to…I wasn't supposed to…He's my son. I love him. I have to love him. I'm his mother."
The picture fell on the table.
Her eyes turned to the reports.
And to the blood test.
It was protocol to perform a blood test on any Shinobi presenting a Kekkei Genkai to the Shinobi Board. To compare the sample to immediate family. To search for outliers.
Depending on the results, further steps could be taken. It normally took four days.
Reading it would prove what she already knew.
Sasuke was the son of Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha.
The thought was enough to make her collapse if she wasn't already sitting down.
She had allowed baseless rumors to turn her against her son. She had let the rest of clan turn her against her son and hadn't dared to notice it.
It had been easier to think that something was wrong with Sasuke.
It had been easier to think that he had brought all of this suffering on himself.
It had been easier to think that he was stubbornly refusing to change, to be normal.
It had been easier to think he deserved such treatment.
It had been easier to step away.
"The combat exam takes place on the fifth day." Fugaku spoke a fact. His words earned a blank look from Mikoto. She heard him but that was all. Until now, he would've been the same, would be incapable of responding to a word she said.
He sat down across from her.
"Tomorrow."
Fugaku took up the first of the reports.
AN: You know? These two may be bad parents.
Review/PM if you want.
Peace.