Bloodlines

chapter 3
Snake Heart

“I am disappointed in you Sasuke.” Orochimaru’s voice slid like molasses in the darkness. Sasuske however, didn’t look away from his contemplation of the candle flame.

“I had thought such . . . nostalgia . . . to be long forgotten.”

“I served my duty to my clan. Now that I am free of that, nothing stands in my way.” Sasuke replied, hiding his shudder when cool hands touched his neck, sliding up into his hair like the unwelcome touch of large spiders.

“Indeed. I suppose I will just have to find a new subject. . . Kabuto was quite upset however, I think he was quite eager to see the experiment to its outcome.”

Sasuske stood, pulling away from the snake sannin’s wondering hands.

“I am sure Kabuto will find something new to torture soon enough.” Sasuke murmured.

“Then perhaps I should congratulate you instead. My sources say Naruto gave birth to a son today. A son that favors his sire quite dramatically.”

Sasuke paused in reaching for his sword, slanting a glance at the smirking figure in the doorway.

“I am going to train.” Was all he said, retrieving the katana and walking past the sannin.” Orochimaru’s laughter echoed down the long hallways.

Evening had fallen outside, and Sasuke contemplated the pink striped sky. He didn’t stop to think about why, as he flew over the tree tops towards Konoha. Something inside him just insisted he had to see for himself.

It was easy, slipping past the guards and towards the hospital. Finding Naruto’s room was less easy, but he found the blond deeply asleep in the third floor, a small white pram at his side.

More worried of an interfering nurse than waking Naruto, he softly opened the window and moved towards the object of his visit. Naruto could sleep through anything if he recalled.

He hesitated at the edge, before peering over.

He lay, tiny and scrunched, bundled in blue frog printed blankets, a yellow rabbit at his head sleeping the exhausted sleep of the newly born.

Sasuke had hoped that Naruto’s genes would have been as stubborn as the blond himself, and would have produced a more Naruto-ish looking child. This infant however, with his tuft of ink black hair and milk pale skin was the very image of himself as an infant.

The baby made a soft noise, a tiny foot kicking free. Sasuske held his breath when two tiny almond shaped eyes of a murky midnight blue opened. Father and son regarded each other in silence both expressionless, before the infant’s eyes slid shut with a tiny hiccupping sigh.

Something inside him crept up into Sasuke’s throat. A deep emotion not unlike what he felt when he thought of his past, of his mother . . . of his brother before his betrayal.

One pale hand crept down to cup the small velvet soft head, the curled fingers, the green socks covering the tiny feet. A bracelet there had the name Uzumaki Haku.

“ Haku.” He murmured, wondering at the naming of a child after an old foe. Naruto, folded around his pillow like a koala bear stirred, blond hair half covering his face. Here, between them, was something that linked them forever. A beating heart that held both their blood.

He wasn’t sure if he should be grateful, or hate the boy more. Of all the things for Naruto not to fail at, bringing this child into the world had complicated many of Sasuke’s plans.

For certain, Orochimaru could not continue to live. When Sasuke was done with him, he would have to be eliminated, or his son would never be safe.

Steeling himself, he touched the full cheeks of his sleeping son, and looked upon Naruto with new eyes, but quickly choked back such a tempting and dangerous emotion. Child or no, Sasuke still had a mission. His brother still drew breath, and that took precedence over anything else.

He leapt out the window without a backward glance, though when the nurse came in the check her patients, she was surprised to find Haku’s little bracelet missing.