Best Served Cold

This chapter was speed edited to quicken my oh so late update. I hope nothing is too terribly out of place or spelled.


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Okibi frozen in place as he blinked wide dark eyes looking over the side of the village wall. He father’s training finally kicked in and he crouched low in the tree. Down on the forest floor he heard the two nin arguing over the outcome of their mission. His heart pounded deep in his chest as footsteps sounded on the ground then faded in the distance. Okibi tried to calm in heart as he listened for any sound that the enemy was still in the area. The wind ran through the tree and he could hear nothing but the soft rustling of the leaves.

Okibi took a deep breath before peering over the edge of the wall. Seeing no one he gingerly climbed on the wall and looked down to see a scroll lying on the ground. Taking a careful look back and forth to make sure no one was hiding, he jumped and tapped down lightly on the ground. Grasping the scroll he took off in a dead run to the front gates of Konoha. They had made their way out easy enough, but there was no way to get over the wall from the outside.

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Sasuke grinned as he perched himself on the outside of the Hokage’s office. Was Naruto really so confident in himself that his security was that lax. He peeked in the window to see the blonde studiously doing paper work at his desk. He bit back a scoff, with his chakra suppressed not even the great Rokudaime could sense him outside the window. Stepping in to the room softly, he make his way silently to the Hokage’s chair. Sasuke moved to turn Naruto’s chair around but winced in pain as his wrist was suddenly behind his back and attempting to touch his opposite shoulder.

“It’s not nice to enter someone’s office unannounced Sasuke,” Naruto spoke behind his ear, as Naruto’s clone swiveled in the chair to face him with a smirk. A slight wave and his disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sasuke growled is displeasure. “But, I suppose you had your reasons for coming here.” He let go of Sasuke’s arm and make his way to the other side of the desk to sit on the edge. “So what do you want?” he asked with a face now devoid of any emotions.

Sasuke rubbed his red wrist as he looked into Naruto’s closed features. “We need to talk about the boy, Naruto. Is it true? Do I have more than one son?”

Naruto’s face twitched a bit as he tried to keep an unaffected expression. “You know the answer to that Sasuke, I can see it in your eyes. Why ask a question you already know the answer for it?”

“Then why Naruto. Answer me why! And don’t give me any bullshit about me leaving. You had plenty of time to tell me the truth,” Sasuke yelled as he rounded the desk. “As I recall you got married before I did. There was plenty of time to stop me and tell me your were going to have my baby!”

Naruto sneered up at the taller man who had moved to stand in front of him. How dare Sasuke be angry with him, though that had been his intent. But Sasuke didn’t have the right to be angry with him, it should be the other way around. Who had betrayed whom? “I believe I told you my reasons yesterday, must you keep asking questions you know the answer to?”

Sasuke grunted in frustration. “Naruto, I can’t think of one good reason you didn’t tell me about him earlier! You already knew about him before you got married, before I was even married! Why would you wait nine years to tell me we had a son!” he yelled, grabbing Naruto’s shoulders.

“Why wait? So I could make sure he had the Sharingan, then I could watch your stupid face when you found out I had the boy and not you!” he spat in the other’s face.

“Naruto,” Sasuke warned.

“And a good reason? You didn’t want us. You didn’t want me!”

“Didn’t want you?” Sasuke’s face scrunched up in indignation. “You know why I left, it had nothing do with not wanting you. If I had known that Tsunade’s procedures had been successful, I would never have left. Do you know how much I have missed you!” Sasuke wanted to shake Naruto till his teeth rattled.

Naruto’s face flickered back and forth between soft and angry. He had to stay angry. Sasuke was beyond forgivable. “You wanting me was dependent on my having your child!”

“And you did.” Sasuke moved his hand up from Naruto’s shoulder and ran his thumb along Naruto’s jaw. Standing directly in front of the blonde he could smell Naruto’s scent much better than the faint scent he could get off the crystal in his pocket. “What did you say our son’s name was?” Sasuke coaxed in a light tone.

“Ryuu,” Naruto left out softly in a bit of a daze. What was wrong with him, wasn’t he mad a Sasuke?

“Ryuu...I like that. You thought about Uchiha fire when you named him.” Sasuke allowed himself a small smile as he looked down into the blue eyes that haunted his dreams. His thumb continued to rub softly against the tan jawline.

Naruto stood stunned looking into that smiling face he hadn’t seen for nine years. It wasn’t fair. He was mad at this man but for one who never smiled, he was just too damn good at it. Somewhere he heard the soft sounds of a commotion, but it dulled with the sound of his blood pounding in his ears. For one moment he had the insane impulse to lean into that hand on his face. “Sas...”

Suddenly the door bust open and the two men jumped apart with their hand hovering over their weapons pouches. Both were stunned to see the small angry Uchiha, with one red eye spinning, that was quickly grabbed on the shoulders by two huffing ANBU.

“I’m sorry Hokage-sama,” one apologized as he tried to secure his grip on the wriggling youth. “At first I thought he was Ryuu-sama but then tried to sprint passed us and bolted through the door. We’ll find out who he is.”

“Let go of my son,” came a threatening rumble.

Both ANBU looked up into the face of the furious Uchiha. With a quick darting glance, they looked at the Hokage before releasing the boy and holding up their hands. “Uchiha-san, we didn’t know you were here.”

Sasuke growled in response. Quickly finding his arms full of a sobbing boy he glared up at the two ANBU. Making a hasty decision they quickly fled the room and closed the door behind them. Sasuke looked down at the hysterical boy then looked back at Naruto at a loss.

Naruto knelt by the boy and spoke in cajoling voice, “Uchiha-kun, it’s okay. If you don’t tell your father what’s wrong he can’t help you.” Naruto rubbed his back lightly till his sobs subsided somewhat and he looked back and forth between the Hokage and his father.

Okibi looked at the Hokage’s warm face and choked back a sob. He had never cried this way in front of his father before. Wiping at his face with one sleeve, he handed his father the scroll with his other hand.

Sasuke took the scroll and saw that it was simple marked, ‘Uchiha.’ Naruto look quizzically at him and he decided to read it out loud. Unrolling the scroll cautiously he read, “We have your wife and son. If you want to see them again, bring one million in two days time to falcon ridge. We have no qualms about killing them both if you do not show at the appointed time.” Sasuke looked at Naruto, then they both looked down at the sniffling boy. “Okibi, how did you get away?”

“I didn’t,” he said in a small voice. Both men look down at him then back at the note in confusion. “Two of them took Mom and Uzumaki then ran into the forest,” Okibi said with a crack in his voice.

“Ryuu? They took my boy!” Naruto yelled, as he bolted up right. He moved toward his weapons cabinet with a determined look on his face but felt a hand on his bicep pull him back.

“Naruto, wait.”

“Teme, let go of my arm,” he warned darkly.

Sasuke could tell he meant business but he held firmly as he tried to calm down the other man. “You can’t just go running off, we have to think of a plan,” he tried to rationalize.

“You can sit here and think of plans, that’s my boy out there! You don’t even care about your wife!”

Naruto winced as Sasuke’s hand tightened around his arm and Sasuke growled out, “You may not like it but she is my wife. I may not love her like we once did but she is my responsibility and I do care for her.” Sasuke flinched at the pain in Naruto’s eyes, maybe it was good to remind each other that he was married. “And I’m also worried for Ryuu, he is...”

“MINE!” Naruto interrupted. “I raised him, I cared for him. He’s mine and I’m going to get him back! What was he doing with Ino anyway?” he growled, ripping his arm into his own control as the thought finally occurred to him.

Sasuke turned and looked at his son who had been watching the exchange with confusion and worry. “Maybe you better start at the beginning, son,” he encouraged softly.

Okibi looked back at the adults who where staring at him intently and timidly began giving them a recap of the day’s events. “Uzumaki came into the garden where I was practicing and asked me if I wondered why we looked alike, then he called me his brother. I... I hit him.” He saw the men’s eyes widen and quickly explained. “Because he was saying bad things about you,” he directed at his father. Sasuke nodded for him to continue and he tried not to look into the blue eyes of the Hokage. “He... he got mad and tried to hit me back but Mom came out and jumped in the way. I don’t know why, but she followed him when he jumped over the gate. I followed them to the outer wall but they jumped over it. I climbed a tree but by the time I saw them, two nin had them thrown over their shoulders.” Okibi took a deep breath and looked at each man for some sigh but each were staring somewhere behind his head.

Finally each man’s face set with grim determination, as if they had each come to a decision. Rounding the table, Naruto pulled out a map and Sasuke leaned over to study it. “Here’s Falcon Ridge,” Naruto pointed out.”

“It shouldn’t take us more than a day and a half to get there.” Sasuke said. “If you get there quick enough we might be able to surprise them before the expect us.”

“And they are only expecting you,” Naruto agreed. “We might be able to get a jump on them if we do this right.” Naruto looked up and frowned, “But what are we going to do with him?”

Both men looked at the little Uchiha, who assumed a confident pose. “I can go with you.”

“Absolutely not,” came Sasuke’s immediate response.

“But I can help,” protested Okibi. “I can help you get Mom back.”

“I said no,” Sasuke clipped sharply. He turned to Naruto with a thoughtful look. “I’ve never left him with anyone other than Ino. And... we don’t really have many friends. I’m not sure who we could leave him with.”

“We can ask Sakura,” Naruto suggested.

“Um, no,” Sasuke dismissed, not making eye contact with the blond.

Naruto frown. “Well, what about one of my ANBU?”

“Naruto, if you ask one of your ANBU we’ll have to explain where we are going. Do you assume for one minute that the village is actually going to let their Hokage leave to go rescue his abducted son alone. They would want to send a team, leaving you inside the village wall, and we really don’t have the time to let them prepare for any of that.”

“True.” Naruto crossed his arms and scrunched his face to think while perching on the end of his desk. How could they leave the boy without alerting anyone to the fact they were leaving the village unaccompanied?

“Father, I am not a child,” came Okibi indignant reply. Naruto swiveled his head and smiled slightly at the sight the boy presented them with. He looked just like his Ryuu when he was in one of those ‘Uchiha moods.’ “If you’re going to leave me here, I certainly do not require a babysitter.”

Sasuke’s mouth set in a grim line and he was ready verbally sit the boy down, but Naruto stopped him. “Maybe he’s right, Sasuke.”

“The boy is only eight!” Sasuke protested.

“Konoha has has eight year olds doing B-Class missions or better,” Naruto countered. “Listen Sasuke. He’s not going to leave the village, he can continue going to classes and no one will get suspicious. This may be the only way.”

Sasuke crossed his arms, displeased but nodded. “Fine. You go straight to school and straight home every day. Stay inside the compound, and if there is an emergency you go straight to Grandma Yamanaka.” Okibi nodded. “Then get going, we have to prepare.”

Okibi ran out the door and Sasuke sighed heavily. “I don’t like it Naruto.”

Naruto chewed his bottom lip for a second then held up a hand. “I know, I can leave an order for someone to check on him in the evenings. I’ll just put that you are out of the village and won’t let on that I am.”

Sasuke frowned but nodded in agreement. “Let get what we need and get going then.”
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Okibi grumbled under his breath as he shoved items into a sack. “They think I’m a little kid and can’t help. They think I need someone to look after me? I’ll show them. I don’t need a sitter and I'm going to help get Mom back.
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Let me know what you think. Comments keep me going and get me restarted when I hid myself off track. Thank you for comments that encouraged me to update.

-Tereshi