Call Me Dad

18. Uchiha

Sasuke Uchiha was...lost.

He was confused, and angry, and sad, and a whole mess of things. As he sat in the home of a dead family, surrounded by bare necessities because the only things he ever grew attached to he kept in the Hatake household, he fought with himself over what to do.

For God's sake, he was twelve. He couldn't handle making these decisions.

It was something he had been resigned with since he woke up and fully processed what happened that fateful night. He would kill, destroy Itachi Uchiha to avenge his fallen clan.

He knew this is what he had to do.

So why did it feel so wrong?

But if he didn't kill Itachi Uchiha, this was purely hypotethical, what then? He just...lived his life? Stayed in Konoha, a loyal shinobi serving his Hokage, and live out his days without poison in his heart? He'd move up in the ranks, maybe become an ANBU Captain one day, maybe he'd rebuild his clan and become the head, but what then?

What would become of Itachi Uchiha?

Sasuke tossed and turned in his bed, confused and utterly terrified of any major descision, so he settled for sitting up from his bed, slipping on a sweater, putting on his shoes, and walking towards the Hatake household.

He knew the path like the back of his hand. He scaled up the wall, because knocking on the front door might wake up Kakashi, and rapped his knuckles against the window gently.

As he peered inside, Naruto was sleeping rather peacefully. Sasuke might have felt bad for ruining his sleep, but he had no time to dwell on it as Naruto was already awake and padding towards the window. He had always been a light sleeper.

He didn't ask any questions. He just yawned, greeted him sleepily, and let Sasuke inside. "There's a futon already rolled out next to my bed." Naruto mumbled.

With that, he crashed right back to sleep, snoring lightly.

Sasuke didn't even try to fight off the smile that bloomed on his face. With a self satisfied hum, he crawled onto the futon Naruto had mentioned and snuggled under the covers.

Within seconds, he was asleep.

::

Sasuke Uchiha woke up to the smell of crepes and the sound of laughter.

And all he could think was that this was so much better than his empty house full of ghosts.

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he descended down the stairs with a yawn.

"Sasuke! Come on, sit! Dad has a savory crepe with tomatoes for you, so get it before it gets cold!"

Sasuke blinked the sleep out of his eyes and smiled at the sight that greeted him. Kakashi stood by the stove with a frilly pink apron on, one that said 'Kiss the Cook.' At the dinner table, Naruto excitedly watched Tenten paint his nails orange.

Silently, he sat down on the empty chair in front of his tomato crepe, across from Naruto. "Morning." He said sleepily, eyeing Naruto's nails and the skillful way Tenten painted them.

Naruto noticed his interested stare, and his eyes lit up happily. "Sasuke, you want to try? I'm pretty sure Tenten's got black or dark colors, and if you want to get rid of it it's pretty easy to wash off."