A/N: Okay, yeah. I know I don't need to start this when I need to work on "Vice Versa," but the idea came to me while trying to sleep last night, and it won't stop bothering me. I need to write this, even if the idea may be overused or not. I'm not really certain.
Warnings: AU, Yaoi, angst, smut, perhaps violence and Yuri in later chapters.
I'MDISCLAIMINGI'MDISCLAIMINGI'MDISCLAIMING
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Rockabye baby, on the treetops…
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Prologue: Daddy Dearest
Every story has a beginning, middle and end. For Sasuke, his beginning didn't arrive until a series of forms and papers had been filled out and stuffed in the mail, followed by numerous conferences and discussions. Inspiration had been found taped to a light post while walking down the streets on a midsummer day, and as he tore the slip from the wooden pole a strange epiphany came over him.
"You're certain this is what you want?"
A nod.
"And you do know that you must be willing to offer most of your time to us?"
Another nod.
"All right, then. Here are your papers, Sasuke Uchiha. We will contact you when services are needed."
It wasn't exactly excitement, perhaps, that drove him into applying to be a foster parent, but maybe the possibility to discover something within him that only a child could see. Although he wasn't much of a socially active person, he was still good with handling children, he thought. Having a smaller brother when he was younger taught him quite a few things- Things that would be considered rusty, things he would need to brush up on, but he was confident in his abilities. Providing a home for a young child couldn't be too difficult, he always assumed.
For the next two weeks he waited patiently for opportunity to arise; however, as the days slipped through his fingers, not a single opening had been made, and there he was, thinking about how many homeless children were walking along the streets of Atlanta. Nevertheless, his hope dangled out and he waited for a while more, until the fourth week had come and gone with still not a single ring on the telephone.
Sighing, he slipped a light jacket on and picked up a set of keys, opening the front door to exit when something abrupt stopped his actions. Turning around and quickly making his way over to the phone, he answered it with a slightly impatient, "Hello?" If not a little enthusiastic, he had sounded very relieved.
"Mr. Sasuke Uchiha?"
Sasuke rapidly nodded to himself. "Yeah, yeah, that's me."
"We have your first case here," the man on the other line said with a chuckle. "You may come to pick him up whenever it's possibl-"
"I'm on my way."
Hanging up the phone, he darted from the house, slamming the front door behind him and hurriedly sliding into his car. His eyes scanned the rods for a familiar building- the one where most of the children were picked up- and he smirked to himself as he pulled the car into a large parking lot, stepping onto the gravel and sauntering toward the entrance. 'This is my chance,' he thought to himself. 'I have to make a good impression, or else I may not even get the kid.'
Opening the doors to the location, he ambled through the main hall with his heart beating rapidly in his chest. He swallowed a gulp and pushed a particular door open, slowly walking into the room and letting his gaze roam over everything that it contained. There was a woman, he saw, dressed in worn clothing that looked very outdated, a forlorn expression covering the entire expanse of her face. Standing beside her, clutching one of her hands in a smaller palm, was a younger boy who looked to be around the age of seven or so.
He looked up at Sasuke with glistening azure eyes, and his grip around his mother's hand grew tighter. His clothes were tattered and outdated, and his hair was greasy and covered in dirt, Sasuke realized, gazing wistfully at the boy with a sympathetic feeling creeping into him. "Mr. Uchiha?" a man inquired from behind a desk, giving Sasuke an intent look. The brunette nodded wordlessly, keeping his eyes on the blonde child. "This is Naruto- Your first child."
Naruto, the small, silent boy, blinked around in confusion, and his mother stared sternly at Sasuke. "This is who my baby is living with?" she asked spitefully, wrinkling her nose up.
"I assure you, ma'am, that Mr. Uchiha is qualified to tend to your child's needs," the man reassured, grinning at Naruto, who backed away behind the woman. She looked at Sasuke for another long moment, and sighed, pulling her hand away from the blonde.
"Now, Naruto," she whispered, squatting down in front of him. "You have to promise to be good for Mommy, okay?" Naruto said nothing, and she stroked his messy hair. "This is your new daddy," she stated, pointing at Sasuke. "He's going to take very good care of you, but in order to keep a good daddy like Sasuke, you have to be a good boy." Her eyes became moist and she trembled, pulling her boy into a tight embrace. "Naruto, do you understand?" The blonde didn't nod nor say a word, but deep within Sasuke, he knew that the boy comprehended the situation.
The mother stood up straight again, and she took Naruto's hand and placed it on Sasuke's, the Uchiha flinching slightly at the touch but not making an attempt to remove his hand. The man gave a curt nod. "Okay, then. Mr. Uchiha, you may take Naruto Uzumaki home with you after these papers are filled out. This one here is his certificate, and on it is any information you must know." He paused until Sasuke nodded, looking down at Naruto, who's bottom lip quivered. "Thank you for agreeing to be of service. We will give further contact in a short few days."
Sasuke took a file that held several papers, and looking at Naruto's mother he felt pain, seeing her suffer so much in front of him, having her own child torn from her to be spirited away by a stranger. "Ma'am," Sasuke began, "I will do everything I can for him. He'll be safe with me- I promise. Nothing bad will ever happen to him, so long as he remains under my roof." The woman nodded at his statement, but he was positive that she was very uncomfortable with leaving Naruto in his arms.
The downside of it all was that he felt the exact same way.
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He drove home in complete silence, Naruto sitting in the backseat with a blank look on his face. Not once had he mustered a single word, and to Sasuke it was merely the shock of having to live with an unfamiliar person. "You know," said Sasuke with a grin, "when we get to my house- Home, I mean, we're going to get you a bath so you can be clean again." Naruto looked at him but didn't open his mouth to speak. "And tomorrow we can go shopping to get you new clothes, so you don't have to wear those old ones anymore."
Naruto looked out a window and closed his eyes, rubbing his fingers together nervously as Sasuke pulled the car into his garage. "Here we are," the brunette declared, opening Naruto's side door and making an effort to pull the boy from the car. However, Naruto backed away from his hands, and when Sasuke moved away from the vehicle with a bemused look, the blonde stepped out, closing the door behind him. Sasuke grinned. "…Very good, Naruto."
Once they were inside the house, Naruto had been sat on a small chair while Sasuke jotted down the information on one of the forms, pulling out Naruto's birth certificate as he finished filling out what was required on the papers. "Naruto Uzumaki," he read aloud, under his breath. "Gender: Male, Birth date: October tenth…" He paused, dumbfounded at the print before him. "1995? Naruto, you're twelve?" His question was filled with shock by accident, and Naruto turned his head away, focusing his eyes on a brick wall.
"Twelve," Sasuke muttered to himself. "Who would have known?"
Replacing the paper into the file, he approached Naruto, who didn't make an effort to look at him. "Naruto, we have to give you a bath. You're old enough to do it yourself, so I'll get the things you need and leave you be." He gestured for the boy to follow, and Naruto gave a small sigh and stood from the chair, walking behind Sasuke into a nearby bathroom.
Sasuke set a towel on the counter, putting what Naruto needed to get washed on the side of the tub, and he exited the bathroom as the blonde stepped inside and waited for him to leave. "You going to be okay?" he asked. Naruto nodded and waved his hand as an indication for him to leave. 'He's an independent one,' he thought, looking at the closed door, listening to the sound of running water. 'And he doesn't speak much… At least not yet from what I've seen.' Giving a shrug, he walked into the living room, falling back onto a comfortable couch and closing his eyes. 'I think… I think I like this kid…'
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Sasuke was awoken by the touch of someone else- A person shaking his shoulder softly. His eyes snapped open, and there Naruto was, hovering not an inch from his face. Suddenly, he felt his heart leap to his throat. The blonde was clean now, wearing a very large shirt that Sasuke had given to him for the night, and he looked almost like a different person, hair clean and the dirt scrubbed from his body. He kept his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, and the Uchiha gulped. It was only a touch- A small one at that, but it seemed to dig deeper than his skin, as if it were fire resting upon him.
"What is it?" he asked, shaking the thoughts from his head with a yawn, standing from the couch. Naruto grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room, stopping in front of the bathroom door. The older male gasped when his feet met the cold chill of water, and his eyes grew wide as he realized what had happened. 'Oh, God…' The bad part about being a parent kicked in at that moment, and Sasuke found that it wasn't going to be as easy as he had wanted- At all.
Opening the door, there was, as he expected, a room flooded with water. He quickly turned the faucet off, pant legs instantly becoming drenched with water, and Naruto backed away, standing out of the room and biting his bottom lip as Sasuke threw a number of towels onto the floor, rubbing his temple and standing in silence for a moment. He peered at the young boy with sturdy eyes, and Naruto returned the look with shimmering pools of blue.
"Naruto, did you not-"
"I hate you."
It was all that Naruto said.
"I hate you for taking me away… I hate you."
A/N: Love it? Hate it? Want to choke or strangle it? Yes, Naruto's first words were sweet as can be, eh? It's very short, I know, but I wanted to leave it there. Sorry. -rubs back of head- I'll continue it shortly, but I needs encouragement. -flails- Reviews always make me want to update faster!