Dwindling Inferno

“I don’t like this.” Suigetsu huffed and kicked at the forest floor.

Sasuke spared the second in charge a glance, but didn’t comment. Splitting up was the fastest way to cover more ground and get a lead on either Itachi, or those closest to him that would give them vital information on his whereabouts.

The baby cooed and reached his hands out to the alpha, asking to be held without being capable of truly communicating it quite yet. Sasuke ignored everyone’s weighted stares.

“Sasuke, we don’t need to split up. We can cover more ground, sure, but all four of us alone? What if you run into trouble- you literally have a pup tied to your chest. Take Karin at least. She’s a sensory type, she can warn you of trouble and take Otter if things get heated.” The swordsman tried again.

His sword glared at the omega from where it was strapped to Suigetsu’s back. Harsh sunlight beamed into Sasuke’s eyes from the reflection off of the foreboding metal. The Uchiha clan had always had an appreciation for weaponry. Not in the embarrassing way that many idiots went about their intrigue by getting into arguments over whose tsurugi or tachi were bigger, but in the way that the clan passed down the teachings of respect and maintenance that came with the more traditional weaponry.

One day, when the baby was older, perhaps Suigetsu would be one of those uncles who happily rambled about his own blade and told stories of using it in battle.

The breeze was dying down all around them, and oh, the rustling of the trees reminded Sasuke of running around the training fields with Naruto hot on his tail. The sooner that this was over, once and for all, the sooner that Sasuke could go back home.

“I can take care of my own child.” the omega replied. His patience was beginning to wear thin, and Sasuke already had very little to start with. The faster they got this done, the better. Why didn’t the pack understand that?

Suigetsu sighed in exasperation and threw his hands in the air. “I can’t- Juugo you try.”

The omega’s eyes flashed to Juugo’s face coldly in a silent dare to go against his wishes. Sasuke might have felt bad at the way Juugo’s eyes shifted and his shoulders hunched, but he wouldn’t let himself. Not when he was in leader mode with a goal in mind. He could be a friend and pack member later.

“Sasuke, what if we just go in teams of two? It’s still more ground covered-” Karin started, but Sasuke’s patience had dwindled to nothing by that point.

“No. We’re already behind schedule. We continue the plan as originally stated. The rendezvous point is the same.”

He inhaled and drew the hood of his cloak over his spiky hair. After a test on the baby carrier’s handle, he looked up at them again. Sasuke had opted to put his son in the baby carrier he’d procured months ago instead of the sling for safety’s sake. At the speeds Sasuke was about to be traveling at, the baby’s neck would be in danger of being injured if he were tied so closely to Sasuke’s body with no real head support.

Sensing that their leader was ready to leave, Suigetsu stepped forward only to crouch down to the baby carrier’s level. The alpha reached out and mussed up the baby’s hair- that Sasuke had spent far longer than he would have liked brushing it that morning.

“Be good little guy, keep your mom out of trouble for me, ‘kay?” Suigetsu murmured fondly.

Otter pointed his little finger at the alpha, causing Sasuke to almost smile, and shouted with all the authority that a three-month-old could possess, “BA!”

Sasuke took that as his sign to get moving.

“Disperse!” He commanded as he turned and leapt onto the nearest tree branch. He would be going north, covering the known areas that the Akatsuki had been spotted in within the last few weeks.

Karin would be checking out the towns in the area for similar reasons, but Suigetsu would be tracking down any known associates that were Akatsuki adjacent. They would likely know where Itachi was, or at least of any plans to where he would be going next. Juugo would have the most difficult part, he would be using his affinity for animals to use them to physically track Itachi down with his scent.

Quietly, as he jumped to another tree branch, and then another, he narrowed his eyes. Each step was one step closer to putting this nightmare behind him.

Each step was a step closer to Naruto.

~~~

Sasuke sensed the chakra before he actually felt the person’s presence. It wasn’t Itachi- Sasuke was far too familiar with the older Uchiha to mistake it for anyone else.

“Whoever you are, show yourself. I might grant you leniency.” He called out. His back was to the trees to shield his pup from the view of whomever the newcomer was. The omega wasn’t exceptionally worried about possibly defending both himself and the baby from the stranger. If he could kill Orochimaru while in active labor, he could protect himself and a helpless little pup with no sweat.

“Sasuke Uchiha! My oh my! It is you!” An overly enthusiastic voice responded, completely ignoring Sasuke’s callousness.

The omega whipped his head around to come face to face with the alpha who hid his face with the orange mask. Orochimaru’s extensive knowledge on the Akatsuki members had prepared the omega somewhat beforehand, but the page with information on this guy hadn’t been filled out- almost like this guy was either too new for any information to be truly gathered, or he was unimportant to the degree that Orochimaru had thought it not necessary to gather information on him. Given the dead beta’s obsession with knowledge, it was clearly the former.

The oversized sleeves of his Akatsuki robes caught in the air as the masked man flailed his arms above his head. Sasuke watched with distrust and annoyance as the alpha did a little jolting dance, hopping from one foot to the other and turning in a circle.

“The rumors were right! You do look just like Itachi- although, between you and me, I think you’re prettier.”

Sasuke cocked his eyebrow and tightened his hold on the baby carrier. He flexed his jaw, irritated to be hindered by some moron, “Who are you and why should I care?”

The masked man gasped theatrically. He clutched his hand to his chest, just over his heart and heartbrokenly replied, “I’m Tobi! Surely, you’ve heard of me, right? Everyone always talks about Sasori and Hidan and Itachi but never about little old Tobi! Well, I’m important too ya know-”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “Why are you following me? I’m beginning to run out of patience.”

The masked man, ‘Tobi’ as he called himself, stopped instantly and cocked his head to the side. It was jarring to see him so still compared to how barely a moment prior, he’d been dancing around and flailing like an idiot.

Hairs on the back of Sasuke’s neck stood up, and even his usually carefree pup let out a small whine. Only crazy people were able to switch their emotions like that. Just who was Sasuke dealing with?

“Following you? Why- what makes you think that? It couldn’t possibly be because- oh, well, from your perspective I guess it would seem that way, huh? Oh, well isn’t that just hilarious-” Tobi instantly went back to his cheery self, but Sasuke didn’t forget about the glimpse of this Tobi guy’s true self he’d seen.

“Tobi! You were supposed to hold my hair back while I was vomiting! Seriously? I know you’re useless, but you couldn’t even do that?!” Screeched another voice. It was high pitched and tinged with petulant irritation.

Tobi twisted around and called back to the trees, “S-Sorry Deidara! I thought I would try and make us a new friend!”

Deidara. Just who Sasuke had set out to look for. The omega shifted to look over Tobi’s shoulder and over to the shaded underbrush of the trees. Just beyond the tree line was the person who would lead him to Itachi. His fist tightened its hold on the baby’s carrier.

“It had better not be another squirre-YOU!” A blonde man with long hair and painted nails stepped out of the trees, his eyes crinkled at the corners with rage and his nostrils flared. Deidara. He looked exactly like Orochimaru’s information book had described.

As far as he knew, he’d never met Deidara, so he didn’t quite understand the enraged blonde’s reaction, but if rumors were true, and Deidara and Itachi were very close, then it was probably outrage on Itachi’s behalf. Sasuke had learned that powerful omegas tended to feel protective over those that they felt some sort of bond with.

“Deidara, your manners! That’s not how we make friends!” Tobi gasped, clasping his hands together in the air to plead with the blue-eyed omega.

Omega, that’s right. The data books in the hideout library had talked at length about how Deidara’s abilities had impressed the Akatsuki that they allowed the first and only omega to join its ranks.

The weight of the baby carrier felt even heavier in his hold. He would need to stay on his toes if things got too violent.

“Tobi, would you shut up for once, you fool!” Deidara redirected his rage.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He didn’t have time to waste. “Tell me where Itachi Uchiha is and I’ll let you go.”

Deidara turned rigid and icy, so much so that even his partner jumped a few feet away from the omega. Not Sasuke, though. No, he was rooted to his place, unwilling to back down under Deidara’s ire. Even if Sasuke had been put off, which he wasn’t, if he moved, then his cloak would shift and reveal his pup. So, instead of buckling under the blonde’s challenging stance, he activated his sharingan in a silent challenge of his own.

“I’d never betray Itachi like that!” Deidara shouted, not giving Sasuke enough time to move before he performed the hand seal for his signature jutsu.

But Sasuke had a few tricks up his sleeve too. Right as he felt the explosive clay hurtling towards him through the air, he summoned one of the great snakes to create a protective barrier around himself and his son. The impenetrable scales would keep them from harm.

The bomb hit and a giant slithery creature wrapped itself around them. For a moment, there was silence.

Then, his son began to cry.

“Is that-?!” Sasuke heard Deidara shout, though his ears were still ringing from the explosion.

The smoke cleared and Sasuke found himself standing in the middle of a sizable crater. Both he, the baby, and the snake were untouched outside of a few soot marks on the snake’s skin.

Well, the jig was up. It had to have happened sooner or later.

The snake slithered away and poofed out of existence, leaving Sasuke to glare with his red swirling eyes. He tore the cloak off, tired of it being in his way if it wasn’t going to provide coverage for his son any longer.

Deidara blinked and looked down to the crying pup, still fastened snugly in the carrier.

Then, he burst out laughing.

“I can’t- Tobi can you believe this?! He didn’t bring a kunai to a sword fight- he brought a baby to one!” the blonde’s arms shot up to hold his stomach as he bellowed out a laugh.

Tobi did a double take and then proceeded to cartwheel to where Sasuke was standing to get a better look at his pup.

“A baby oh my! Sasuke, I’m not sure if anyone’s told you, but babies don’t make good weapons. They’re too squishy- oh, but look how cute! Deidara, look come see, she’s so pretty!” Tobi shrieked with glee.

The protective omega watches as the alpha’s gloves fingers lingered on the air, seemingly about to try and pinch his son’s tear stained cheek.

Sasuke bared his teeth and held out his sword, keeping the masked idiot at a distance. No one would ever get their hands on his pup without his approval. No one.

“He-,” Sasuke grit out, annoyed that Tobi was far from the first person to mistake his son for a girl, “-doesn’t like strangers.”

Deidara called out, only chuckling minutely now, “Tobi you better get away from there! Omegas are no joke when it comes to protecting their pups!”

Tobi stomped his foot on the scorched earth and whined, “But Deidara! I can’t fight an omega who’s just protecting his pup! It goes against my highly developed code of ethics!”

Deidara crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, “Tobi, you’re part of a terrorist organization that wants to end the world.”

Tobi tapped the area on his mask where his chin would be, “Hmm, good point. I guess I don’t have any code of ethics after all!”

Sasuke bristled again and began to form a plan in his head. Deidara’s skill set was all about explosions and attacking from a distance. If he could get close enough to attack the other omega directly, then Sasuke had more than a fair shot at beating him. He’d seen the earth signs that the blonde man had been weaving- the lightning style would be a natural deterrent for any of Deidara’s attacks.

To get close enough to Deidara to attack him meant sitting the baby carrier down, though, and Sasuke couldn’t leave his pup in such a vulnerable position.

“I won’t continue this fight unless you agree to my conditions.” Sasuke glowered, peeved to not be taken seriously as a shinobi-especially by another omega.

“Conditions? I don’t think you’re in the position to be making demands!” Deidara laughed.

“Then we are at a crossroads.” Sasuke responded, making sure to seem as uncaring as possible. It was never a good idea to give any true thoughts or feelings away to the enemy, and certainly not enemies as cunning as the Akatsuki members were known to be.

Sasuke watched them pointedly while the two partners shared a look- obviously communicating silently with their shared gazes alone. Then, after a pause and Tobi crossing his arms at Deidara, the blonde man harrumphed and rolled his eyes.

“Fine,” The other omega called out, “What are the conditions?”

Sasuke spared a glance down at his sweet little pup, hating the way that his eyes were red rimmed and miserable. Then, like any good parent and seasoned shinobi would, he steeled himself. And, when he raised his head, he did not blink as he met Deidara’s gaze head on.

“No harm comes to the pup. Nothing comes near him.”

The mother watched as Deidara scoffed, but his Akatsuki robes did not allow Sasuke to read his body language that might give away his answer.

Tobi, on the other hand, shrieked, “Deidara! Deidara! That’s so cute-even on the battlefield, Sasuke puts his baby first! You have to agree, it’s just too cute!”. The masked alpha clapped his hands and danced in place giddily, making Sasuke wonder how the rest of the Akatsuki hadn’t murdered the man yet due to his annoying nature.

“Oh, fine, whatever, Omega’s honor.” Deidara threw his hand to his forehead in a mock salute to Sasuke, who didn’t appreciate the sarcastic tone one bit.

Perhaps it was due to his long and torrid history with being betrayed, but Sasuke didn’t believe the blonde so easily.

Seeming to sense this, Deidara threw his hands up, “What? I’m insane, not evil-”

Tobi interrupted Deidara, “Uh- Deidara? Weren’t you just saying we were terrorists?”

Deidara shrugged, “-Okay, so I’m a little evil, but fine, nothing bad will happen to your little crotch goblin. My fight’s with you anyway. Babies can’t appreciate my art!”

Sasuke didn’t like the crazed look in those blue eyes.

“Tobi! Go babysit the pup, I wanna show our new ‘friend’ here my latest masterpiece!” Deidara screeched.

In a second that was almost too quick even for Sasuke’s sharingan, Tobi poofed into existence directly next to the omega and gestured for Sasuke to hand him the baby carrier.

Sasuke weighed his options. He didn’t trust this Tobi guy at all, but then again, what could an Akatsuki member possibly want with a baby? Plus, Deidara did give his word as an omega, which, despite being on opposite ends of the battlefield, actually did mean something.

What did omegas have if not the baseline support of one another? Nothing.

With great turmoil, and even greater regret, Sasuke released his pup’s care into this malevolent stranger’s. It would only be for a few moments, he told himself as he watched the masked alpha poof in and out of existence, this time with his baby in tow. The man landed safely a good few meters away, at a presumably safe distance.

Only a few moments. All Sasuke had to do was fight Deidara and win, then extract the information about Itachi’s whereabouts, and he could get his baby back safely in his arms. No problem.

It would be easy.

“Let the games begin!” Deidara shouted maliciously.

Sasuke drew his sword and allowed his red irises to spin menacingly.

~~~

“What do you say, little one?” Juugo hummed sweetly as the small little bird perched itself right onto his finger.

When he’d been young, and he’d still been sane enough to have kept his family, people had often asked him about his connection to animals. At the time, he’d been nothing more than a wide-eyed pup, and he’d never truly learned how to explain it in a way that others could understand.

As time had gone on, and he’d presented as an alpha, his connection to animals had been the only thing that had kept the miniscule bit of sanity still remaining intact.

Now that he was a beta though, things were better. He felt more in tune with the simple creatures than he ever had before. He didn’t have any of those instincts or pheromones to cloud his mind.

If only he felt as in tune with the pack as he did the birds.

They’d been able to form some sort of a pack bond with him, but because of his status as a beta-or really, a lack of a status all together, Juugo was unsure of where he fit into the pack dynamics.

He wasn’t a protector in the traditional sense. His previous alpha instincts had dulled to a quiet nothing, leaving him less in tune with potential dangerous elements of their surroundings.

He didn’t quite have room to fill a nurturing spot in the pack either, despite his calm and peaceful demeanor-when he wasn’t in his violent headspace, that is. Karin took that position with her medical knowledge and status as an omega, and whatever spaces Karin didn't fill, Sasuke did with his subtle scenting and his unique ability to know when something was troubling a pack member before the member even knew themselves.

Sasuke’s personality was nonconforming, though, which added a twisted element to how their unusual little pack worked.

Juugo had noticed that while traditionally, alphas were the leaders of packs, Sasuke was clearly the one who called the shots in theirs.

From what Juugo had known, Sasuke was the omega with the larger gravitational pull surrounding him- by any usual sense, he should have been the pack omega, and Suigetsu should have been the pack Alpha.

However, Suigetsu was too laid back and flighty to stick to the role of pack alpha- and he’d even said it himself, many times.

And Karin had seemed to fill the role of pack omega flawlessly. She had a natural talent for coordination and sorting out trouble before it even began. Sasuke, however, had seemed to fall into the role of the pack ‘alpha’ with uninhibited ease.

He took command with no hesitation. He made sure the pack was safe just as much as Suigetsu. He didn’t nest, nor go out of his way to do any classically “omega” things, but he forced himself to be useful in every other way.

It was almost like Sasuke didn’t quite know how to be an omega comfortably. Karin had tried to get group bonding going, despite her unique relationship with Suigetsu that bordered on violent competitiveness, but Sasuke had shied away.

It didn’t help that with Otter, Sasuke had an easy out for most situations he found himself in when it came to the pack.

Juugo knew that it would take time for himself to truly carve out his place in their pack, but he wondered if Sasuke knew that he could allow himself to belong as well?

The beta sighed and tilted his face to the sky, basking in the soothing sunlight.

It was clear that Sasuke didn’t know how to be part of a pack from an emotional standpoint. His teamwork skills were a touch too rusty, like Orochimaru had trained it out of him.

But, Juugo smiled as he caught sight of more birds flapping their wings in the air, if it could have been trained out of Sasuke, it could have been trained back into him.

They just needed time.

~~~

Sasuke pushed himself away from another explosion with only a narrow time frame for escape to a safe distance. As soon as his heels were planted firmly atop the thick bark of the nearest tree that was out of range of Deidara’s latest attack, he paused to catch his breath.

He could feel the rapid inhale and exhale starting to scratch his throat from the smoke inhalation, but he didn’t have time to pay attention to the burning in his lungs. Nor did he have time to spare to try and cover the burn wound on his arm.

Deidara was attacking with no restraint. The omega’s jutsu was coordinated and awful, continuously going off and rearranging the ecosystem of this forest in such a devastating way. The ringing in Sasuke’s ears meant that he could no longer keep up with whether or not Tobi was shouting his entertained commentary at the dueling pair. His pup’s cries had long since been deafened from his ears after the fifth or so round of blasts.

“Man, Itachi was right, you really are pathetic!” Deidara shouted as his large clay bird of doom soared through the air straight towards Sasuke with the Akatsuki member standing delicately atop the creation, directing it from the helm.

Sasuke used the replacement jutsu and swapped himself with a log. Then, he dove towards the ground and watched from below as Deidara celebrated a false victory. He took the moment of confusion to draw his sword and create another chidori.

He allowed the electricity to coat the blade, and then, with all of the force he could muster, he let the weapon sail through the air. It narrowly dodged various tree limbs and bundles of leaves, but in an instant, it had imbedded itself through the wing of Deidara’s creation.

Only, his sword didn’t stop there. No, the momentum was too great, just as the omega had wagered it would be, and continued until it had severed an entire wing.

“Wha-Damn you!” Sasuke heard Deidara screech.

Despite feeling his own chakra stores slowly depleting the longer he continued to evade Deidara’s violent confrontation, Sasuke readied another chidori. His fingertips were numb with electricity, and one of his shoes was missing, but that wouldn’t stop him from giving this fight his all.

Otter was waiting for him to win.

Deidara lurched forward, but this time Sasuke was prepared.

~~~

Suigetsu felt the sharp edges of his teeth dig into his lip as his face broke out into a sinister smile.

His task of tracking down known Akatsuki affiliates and getting information from them had been kinda boring at first. But, then he’d realized that there was no one with him to witness exactly how he was getting the information.

Sasuke’s rule of no killing didn’t mean anything when the omega wasn’t there to gripe at him. And besides, if these guys were all working with the Akatsuki in one way or another, they were the scum of the earth. They didn’t exactly deserve to be held to the same humane standards of intel gathering as other people.

Though Suigetsu preferred to attack in his water form, there was something to be said about the satisfying feeling of feeling someone’s bones crack under his own flesh.

“Listen buddy, I tried to be a nice guy, but you’ve worn out my patience. Tell me any information you have on Itachi Uchiha, and I might let you live!” The alpha demanded darkly.

His sword felt heavy in the harness on his back, just begging to be unsheathed and used on this whimpering lowlife.

“I-I swear, I don’t know anything!”

Suigetsu rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I find that hard to believe, seeing as though this place reeks of fear. If you weren’t hiding something, you wouldn’t be so scared, now would you?”

Suigetsu’s grip on the man’s collar tightened and sheesh, for an alpha this guy sure was a wimp.

The smell of urine introduced itself to Suigetsu’s nose just barely after he’d finished speaking.

He reared back with his nostrils crinkled in disgust. “Oh man, seriously? Just gonna piss yourself all over the floor?”

This day couldn’t get any worse if it tried. First Sasuke decided to go galivanting off with no one to protect the baby if he ran into trouble. And now some worm was pissing himself all over the floor and dangerously close to Suigetsu’s shoes.

A surge of irritation flowed through him. Why did Sasuke have to be so stubborn? They’d become a pack so that he wouldn’t have to do everything alone, and what does he go and do?

Why not take Karin or Juugo? There was no reason why Juugo couldn’t send his birds on a hunt and then rendezvous back to Sasuke and travel with him and the pup.

Sasuke was a hot head underneath all that calm and cool bravado of his. He was easily irritated and could be goaded into a fight if someone made even the smallest insult to his strength or status.

He wanted to do everything on his own so that no one could ever say he wasn’t strong enough to do it all. Suigetsu wasn’t exactly the smartest guy in the world, but even he could see that the omega had developed some kind of complex when it came to power.

Was it because he’d been a child when his clan had been wiped out? Was that why he constantly refused any help that would make him seem “weak”? Was that why he’d chased after Orochimaru at such a young age?

Suigetsu released his prey’s collar with disgust.

He and Sasuke needed to have a talk.

~~~

Sasuke staggered forward. No amount of oxygen to his lungs seemed to be enough, his body just kept burning for more air.

He couldn’t go another round. He couldn’t- he’d electrocuted his own organs to disarm the microscopic bombs Deidara had planted within his body. His body was about thirty minutes from shutting down, and no amount of chakra would be able to save him from it either.

“My art…” he heard the other omega mumble insanely, “My art triumphed! As I knew it would!”

The Uchiha pushed past the singed bushes and into the clearing that Deidara had landed after their mutual fall from the sky.

If his broken ribs hadn’t been screaming at him, he might have smiled knowingly. Deidara still had no idea that he was trapped under Sasuke’s genjutsu. He thought he’d won.

Sasuke had come this far, there was no way he would allow himself to lose.

Something that did have his eyebrows furrowing in confusion though was the scent in the air. There was blood and the ashy undertones of fire and burnt air, but also the very maternal scent of milk.

Had Sasuke lost himself so completely in this fight that he’d stopped masking his scent?

Sasuke crept forward while he dealt with the embarrassment of having spent the entire fight smelling like he was a wet nurse, and then released the genjutsu.

Deidara startled as his vision was clearing up to reality, no doubt. Sasuke took the chance to deal a final blow to Deidara’s cheek from behind.

“That’s for calling my son a crotch goblin!”

Deidara soared through the air only to be caught abruptly by the thick, sturdy stump of a tree. A sickening crack thundered through the forest. Deidara had definitely broken something during his landing.

Sasuke was no better, the force of his punch had definitely broken a finger or two. He hadn’t even realized he’d been that angry over the omega’s comment earlier until his fist was making contact with his tanned cheek.

Sasuke’s skin itched with electricity that hadn’t yet left his system as both the omegas stared at each other, gasping for breath and completely exhausted.

Darkly, Sasuke thought it was funny the lengths he had to go to to get information on Itachi.

“You-“ Deidara broke out into an abrupt coughing fit, “You should be dead- how did you disarm the-“

Sasuke smirked despite the blood that had collected at the corners of his mouth, “For someone who’s worked so closely with my brother, it’s surprising that you haven’t learned that it is best to weave your signs out of the line of sight. My eyes see everything.”

Everything, like how Sasuke could see that Deidara’s chakra network was all out of sorts. His left shoulder was blocked, the flow from his heart to his stomach was still going strong, but the flow was fading, like it was dying somehow.

His last jutsu must have taken an even worse toll on himself than it had Sasuke.

“Damn you!” Deidara shouted. “Damn you- all of you! Itachi was right to kill your clan! You, with those wretched eyes! Those eyes cannot appreciate true art!” He screeched.

Sasuke watched, unbothered by the disturbed man’s shouts. Deidara tried and failed to stand, and Sasuke saw an opportunity to end this once and for all.

He hobbled blearily towards where the blonde was collapsed, his steps uneven due to his missing shoe.

“I don’t care about all of that. Tell me where Itachi is.” Sasuke breathed.

This was it. The moment of truth.

Deidara’s blue eyes swam with hatred. It would have been unnerving, if Sasuke hadn’t already been looked at with such a fierce distaste by people much closer to himself than some lower tier Akatsuki member.

He stopped not even five feet from Deidara. There was no justu he could surprise him with. No words he could say that would be too cruel for Sasuke’s ears. Sasuke would not be leaving without his answers. He knew it, and he could see in his eyes that Deidara knew it too.

This close, Sasuke’s nose began to twitch with something familiar.

“You act tough, but I can see that you’re on your last legs too.” Deidara glared up at him.

There were bags under the blonde’s eyes, and he was skinny, like he hadn’t been able to eat a proper meal in weeks.

Sasuke thought that out of the two of them at that moment, Deidara was the only one who was acting.

“Tell me where Itachi is, and I will leave you be.”

As a show of good faith, because Deidara had kept his word, and kept the fight away from Sasuke’s pup, he deactivated his sharingan to make the omega more comfortable.

Sasuke had never been there for a fight. He’d only wanted answers-something the Uchiha suspected Deidara knew as well.

“No.” Deidara refused, his tone haughty.

“Tell me.” Sasuke forced again.

“No.” Deidara coughed, and this time, the desperation showed through his cracked and insane persona.

Sasuke reevaluated the situation. Deidara and Itachi were known to be close. Deidara was an omega- and Sasuke knew from personal experience how loyal omegas could be. He would have assumed that perhaps there was some sort of twisted romance between the two, but Sasuke knew deep down that his brother wasn’t capable of that kind of emotion.

Sasuke crouched to Deidara’s level. “I bet you feel like he’d never betray you- like your bond is invincible and nothing can break it.” He murmured, allowing a level of humanity to flow into his tone that he’d forgotten he was capable of.

He made sure to hold Deidara’s eye contact as he raised his hands in a placating sort of way. Not at all ignoring the way Deidara nodded his head pitifully in agreement to Sasuke’s words.

“I am proof that Itachi Uchiha has no heart. He has no sense of loyalty- no sense of love or care. He slaughtered our clan to test his strength. He sliced through my scent gland when I was a genin to show me that an omega will never beat an alpha. I am proof that Itachi does not care about you, so please, tell me where he is.”

Their surroundings were silent, save for the occasional delayed fall of a tree branch caused by their path of mutual destruction. It was so quiet, even, that Sasuke thought he could hear the rapid pulse of Deidara’s heart.

He looked away to give Deidara privacy while the blonde shed a few tears at Sasuke’s admission.

“We were a masterpiece, you know…” Deidara whispered, voice catching towards the end.

Sasuke’s nose twitched again. That milky scent from before- it felt stronger. He really needed a bath.

“Tell me.” Sasuke prodded again, this time not unkindly.

He figured that, if it came down to it, he could put Deidara under another genjutsu to get the information from him that way, but it felt like such a cheap shot.

Sasuke would go about this the honorable way. He owed it to himself and to his clan’s memory to do this with honor.

Deidara recoiled at the softness of Sasuke’s tone, proving yet again why Sasuke never bothered with niceties.

“No… I can’t.. I won’t!” Deidara’s fight seemed to surge within himself again, right as the breeze shifted and Sasuke realized that it wasn’t himself that he’d been smelling earlier.

No. It was Deidara. Deidara was pregnant-

“You think I would betray him over a sob story?! You won’t be thinking me so easily swayed after you see my last and final work of art!” Deidara shouted, insane with rage.

Sasuke watched, stunned and injured, as Deidara ripped off his shirt and revealed a dark seal on his chest, right where his heart would be.

The blonde omega snapped the strings that held his seal together and fed it more of that explosive clay. Instantly, his skin began to crack and peel, like clay that had dried for a few days too long in the sun.

Sasuke reached out in a horrified panic. “Wait- stop! You’re pre-“.

But Deidara either was already aware and didn’t care, or was unaware entirely of his condition, because he cut Sasuke off with an crazed shout, “I call this piece ‘Wasted Youth’!”

“For my last and final masterpiece, I’ll turn myself into an explosion! Get it? I’ll be art itself!” The blonde omega laughed giddily.

It was morbid and horrible and for a brief, brief second, Sasuke glanced down at the omega’s stomach. The chakra disruption he’d seen earlier- the one that had been slowly fading… that had been the baby.

Deidara was going to kill himself and his unborn child. And Sasuke too.

“Deidara, think about this-“ Sasuke stood and cursed his drained chakra. He couldn’t summon enough for a jutsu that would disrupt the blonde’s own jutsu.

Several things happened at once. Deidara shouted “You want to kill Itachi?! Well, I’ll just have to kill you then!”. Sasuke lunged forward as the blast went off, only to veer off course before it could actually hit him.

He summoned Manda in a half concussed, half panicked and traumatized state. And then, somehow, his brain hadn’t fully caught up to his body’s actions, he reached Tobi and Otter, and yanked his pup away from the alpha. It was easy, too easy, but Sasuke didn’t bother caring. Not when his pup was distressed and clawing the air to latch onto his mother.

Then, they were sheltered inside of Manda. Sasuke’s chakra was completely and utterly drained, and Otter was exhausted from all of his crying. Only small, traumatized hiccups stuttered out of the fragile little thing.

Everything else was dark. Deidara had killed himself. Sasuke had narrowly escaped with his life, and much more importantly, he’d almost lost his own baby.

He had achieved nothing.

~~~

Karin had lived through many scary things. Things that would have even the most alpha of alphas wetting themselves like a newborn pup. But some of that paled in comparison to seeing her fellow pack omega collapse into Suigetsu’s arms as soon as Juugo had taken Otter from the struggling teen.

For a second, they’d looked at Sasuke. They’d just looked, startled by all of the destruction and the giant snake carcass mere feet away. The baby was screaming at the top of his lungs. His fists banged and slapped against Juugo’s chest in protest and fear.

It was the wailing that had snapped the woman into doing something. Instantly, she’d demanded for Suigetsu to lower Sasuke to the ground so that she could try some healing techniques. Her hands had nearly failed to stay steady as she’d searched for a pulse, and then a heartbeat.

“He’s alive- he’s alive!” She’d cried after a momen, her raw tone mingling horribly with Otter’s sobbing. She hadn’t been able to see much because her tears had made seeing out of her glasses impossible at that very moment, but she felt the relief that stunk up the air. Her fresh cottony scent and Suigetsu’s salt watery scents mingled in the air to show evidence of the crashing wave of relieved joy that had no doubt been coursing through all of the pack members.

It had done little to calm Otter down, though. His small hands had clutched at the air, desperately clutching for his mother.

“We need to move him. We can’t stay out here like this.” Suigetsu’d spoken up, and Karin wouldn’t ever be able to fault him for the worry in his tone.

“Let me get him strong enough to be moved first.” She’d commanded.

Juugo had struggled with keeping the willful baby close to his chest, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the familiar black marks of Juugo’s bi-polar abilities etching themselves onto his tan skin.

Otter’s crying and the stress of Sasuke being injured were likely the cause, but she didn’t have time to pay much attention when she was trying to stabilize her fellow omega.

She’d kept her head down instead and focused on getting some of Sasuke’s internal bleeding to stop, but she’d heard the alpha kick at the ground in frustration.

“Damn it! I told him- we all told him! We shouldn’t have split up-look what happened!” Suigetsu half-shouted.

Otter’s cries escalated and Karin’s hands had shaken.

“Suigetsu! Not now- Juugo’s on the edge and you’re scaring the baby!” she’d reprimanded, finally finding that fire within herself that her bloodline was known for.

They’d left soon after their small bout of tension.

Suigetsu had picked up Sasuke’s body like it was nothing after he’d watched Karin struggle, and instead, Otter had been placed within her arms. Instincts had won out, no matter how wonky her own omega instincts tended to be, and the red head hadn’t hesitated to scent the scared little pup.

He’d smelled like smoke, from the battlefield no doubt, and spoiled milk from his foul mood. But, underneath, there was the faintest scent of oranges covered up by a thick layer of lightning. Sasuke’s scent.

She’d be a liar if she said that the familiar scent hadn’t also helped to calm her down as she’d nuzzled the weary infant. He was so distraught that he didn’t even try to yank her glasses off of her head. Instead, those watery blue eyes were gazed heartbrokenly over at his limp mother with small trails of snot running down his top lip.

In the end, they’d all made it back to the inn and reserved their room for a longer stay. The woman at the front desk had tried to ask questions when she’d seen Sasuke so deathly still, but Suigetsu had thought quickly on his feet and cuddled the inky haired omega close to himself. “Sorry, new moms need their beauty sleep too, don’t they?” he’d said, implying that he was Sasuke’s alpha and Otter’s father.

Pft, as if. Karin had tried not to hurl, but a cover story was a cover story she’d supposed.

The receptionist had smiled sweetly and complimented the baby, telling Suigetsu that he was lucky to have such an adorable pup and devoted omega.

Karin actually had hurled then, after making sure that Otter was secure in Juugo’s hold, but Juugo had lied for her and said that she was just severely drunk.

After that, Suigetsu had ushered them up to their room quickly, and now, that was where they were holed up still, even after two days had passed. Sasuke still hadn’t woken up- he’d barely even moved in his sleep.

At first, they’d panicked when they realized that with Sasuke out of commission, Otter had nothing to eat, but the stubborn little guy had curled right up to his sleeping mother’s side and tugged at his robe until Sasuke’s nipple had been freed from it’s prison. After that, everyone had kinda shared a shocked but weirded out laugh between them.

Karin had found it disturbing how pups could just… use their mother’s bodies like they weren’t separate beings. She’d vocalized her reservations about ever having pups after having witnessed that, and stupid Suigetsu had fired back that she didn’t need to worry, no one would ever want to give her pups anyway.

The audacity!

“I’ll be back soon, I’m going to pick up more supplies.” Juugo stood from his place in the corner and stretched. The beta’s back popped fiercely amid the quiet aura of the room.

“Hey, take your time. It’s nice that at least one of us will be getting some sunlight.” Suigetsu hummed tiredly from his guardian position near the sliding door balcony.

The alpha had been there ever since they’d arrived more or less. His sword never leaving his side either. The Uzumaki had a feeling that it was his instincts getting the better of him and needing to feel useful by keeping watch over his injured packmate.

Karin had been in a similar state, she’d built a nest without having even realized it to entertain Otter in while Sasuke was still comatose.

The two shinobi watched Juugo leave. Once the door clicked shut, they both breathed a sigh of relief. Since Sasuke had been put out of commission, Juugo’s moods had been fluctuating, and it was only the baby that kept him from going berserk.

“Hey, Suigetsu, come here for a minute.” She stage whispered, trying not to wake the snoozing infant.

He was getting slobber all over her shirt, but it was adorable so she’d allow it.

“Me? You’re inviting me into your nest? How uncharacteristic of you Karin- at least ask me to dinner first.” Suigetsu smirked teasingly and she really wanted to punch him in the face and claw his kneecaps.

However, unlike that heathen, she was civilized, and refrained.

“Not like that you idiot! It’s about the baby!”

That was all she had to say before Suiegstu was stumbling over, thinking something might be wrong.

“Calm down, moron, everything’s fine!” She huffed, but made room for him regardless. He accidentally knocked a pillow out of place, but she figured she’d throw a fit about it later.

“Have you noticed anything strange about Otter?” She asked.

She watched the alpha think for a second as his eyes raked over the sleeping baby. To her, because of her abilities, it was obvious, but for a less sensory oriented ninja, it might actually take a moment to see it.

His brows furrowed, “That’s odd- he has a chakra signature-”

Yes, indeed. Little Otter had a vibrant green chakra that pooled throughout his tiny body. It was unrefined and underdeveloped, sure, but the strange thing was, pups didn’t develop chakra signatures like that until well after they’d started their ninja training.

For an untrained, barely mentally aware pup, it was unheard of.

And, even more surprising, Otter had so much chakra that he was practically bursting at the seams with it. Not enough to compare to an actual adult shinobi’s, but Karin could see the potential even now.

“Have you talked to Sasuke about it?” Suigetsu asked, still not tearing his gaze away from Otter.

She shook her head ‘no’. It seemed like every time she tried to bring it up, something else got in the way.

“No, maybe when he wakes up I will.” She hummed, adjusting her glasses.

For now, she would just be glad that at least someone else was aware of the oddity as well.

~~~

Bleariness and blinding light greeted his tired eyes as he blinked himself awake.

Everything hurt. His arms felt like small fires had been sewn in between the layers of muscle and skin. Sasuke had been injured enough times to recognize the fever that came with his body healing. But, what was unfamiliar to himself, was the weight of a damp cloth on his forehead and the wooden ceiling that his eyes were slowly coming to focus on.

Itchy fabrics prickled at his sensitive skin, but nothing he couldn’t handle. A bed, he was in a bed, in a room. The inn- the pack had found them and taken them back to the inn. The omega could vaguely recall falling and Suigetsu’s worried face.

The image of the carefree alpha’s face so pinched with concern and apprehension yanked the previous events to the forefront of Sasuke’s mind. Them splitting up. The agreement to keep the fight away from the baby. The explosions and the lightning. Deidara’s rage.

Deidara’s scent- Sasuke realizing- Deidara dying and then Sasuke barely saving his pup and himself from the same fate.

Deidara had been pregnant and he’d still chosen to fight- to die.

Had he been like Sasuke? Caught between a rock and a hard place, forced to carry on with business as usual with the small budding hope of the future growing within his own body? Or had he been in denial?

Had he even known? He had to have known- Sasuke had known so early on.

But, Sasuke’s self awareness and control of his body was top of the line. Any average person would have missed the signs.

Deidara could have missed them- that Tobi guy hadn’t mentioned anything, and Deidara had seemed indifferent to Sasuke’s son.

Still, there was a tightness in his chest that wasn’t caused by his injuries.

That could have been himself at any point in the last year. When he was still in the early stages of his pregnancy, going on mission after mission on Orochimaru’s orders. When he was training severely, trying to get as powerful as possible in such a shorter time frame. When he was fighting Orochimaru, narrowly surviving the violent exchange.

At any point, Sasuke could have died, and his baby along with him.

Only, by some stroke of insane luck granted by the universe above, he hadn’t.

But Deidara had- by Sasuke’s own inciting hunt. What did it matter that technically, it had been the Akatsuki member’s own final explosion that had done himself in? Sasuke had pushed him to such extremes.

But, if he hadn’t, then he could have been killed, and his son would have been left to fend for himself in this world with no mother to guide him, and certainly no father, seeing as though Taka had no idea who the baby’s father was and wouldn’t be able to introduce them to one another.

Suddenly, the words from three years ago that had sent him packing his bags and deserting the leaf village began to echo in his mind. Master Jiraiya, an experienced man in the shinobi world, had essentially said that it was unheard of for most omegas to not be mated with children by the time they’d reached sixteen years of age.

And what had Sasuke done? Gone, and gotten pregnant before he’d even completed his quest for revenge at sixteen, just before his seventeenth birthday.

Sasuke blinked, angry for a long moment as he pondered everything that had led him here.

Had Orochimaru been right all along? Was it all just an inevitable fate for omegas of Sasuke’s caliber to meet such terrible fates like Deidara’s? To survive through the cruel wreckages of all that came with the shinobi world, only to be rewarded with the harshest circumstances imaginable?

If Jiraiya was right, and omega shinobi shouldn’t succeed very far into their careers, then what about Tsunade, the first hokage’s granddaughter, and the fifth hokage herself?

The longer he thought, though, the quicker it became apparent that Sasuke couldn’t name any other active omega shinobi past the age of twenty, much less their thirties or forties. His own mother had been given the choice between becoming a chunin or mating with Fugaku Uchiha and settling down and she’d chosen the latter.

Maybe if she’d kept up with her training, she would have been able to save herself that night.

For the first time in probably years, Sasuke thought about Ino, who had always gone on and on about omega’s rights and mission pay disparities between dynamics. He hadn’t listened then, thinking that his status would never actually interfere with life as a shinobi, because that was all in the past, wasn’t it? His power would speak for itself.

He didn’t know what was worse, the fact that back then, he hadn’t understood what she’d meant, or that now he knew all too well.

Was that something Deidara had also felt? A sharp contrast between being an omega and a key component to the Akatsuki lineup? Had he struggled with it? Was that why he’d chosen to go out the way he did-

There was a rustling sound and quiet footsteps that accompanied the noise. Sasuke let himself continue to lazily stare at the ceiling. His body was so depleted of chakra that if he tried to shift or sit up, he’d probably pass out again anyway.

“Sasuke? Are you-you’re awake!” Suigetsu’s surprise felt out of place in the still room.

Suddenly, the ceiling was gone and replaced by the alpha’s face, wrinkled with worry and shock. Sasuke blinked.

“You’ve been out for days- how are you feeling?”

Sasuke’s blank stare continued. His arms itched with the need to wrap themselves around something, but what? His mind was still a mess-

Then he scented the air. His pup, Sasuke was needing his pup. His little baby who smelled like oranges and lightning and milk.

Suigetsu must have seen it written across his face, because the next moment he was gone, and Sasuke was looking up at the ceiling again. He heard careful footsteps, then a freak of something, and then Suigetsu’s face was blocking his vision again, only this time, he was leaning down to place the pup onto Sasuke’s chest.

“I’d be quiet if I were you, Otter finally went down for a nap a little while ago.” Suigetsu murmured as Sasuke’s injured body naturally adjusted to the weight of his child splayed across his front.

“Thank you.” Sasuke rasped meaningfully. Suigetsu seemed to understand that the appreciation was for more than just handing him his pup.

“The others are out getting supplies, probably won’t be back for a couple hours.” Suigetsu shrugged, like Sasuke hadn’t just bared a fraction of his soul.

The alpha, omega, and pup sat there. Suigetsu picked at his fingernail while Sasuke tuned in to the small rise and fall of his baby’s chest as he breathed sleepy little breaths.

Sasuke shifted with minor difficulty. His limbs were uncooperative from the days he’d spent unconscious, but his stubborn will won out in the end. The omega was able to sit up on his own in the end, despite Suigetsu’s half hearted attempts to help him.

He sat there, with bandaged arms, and rocked his pup gently. He took a good, long look at the thick lashes that fanned out pristinely. He memorized the way the little boy’s pale skin turned rosy on his fat cheeks, where three marks adorned each cheek. He noted the way his pup’s fist clenched and unclenched in his sleep, along with the very weight of him in his arms.

Sasuke could have lost this perfect, innocent little creature.

“Suigetsu.” Sasuke whispered, finally feeling like some of the fog was clearing from his mind.

“Yeah? Everything okay?” Suigetsu responded immediately, craning his neck to search the Uchiha for any discomfort.

“I have a favor to ask.”

~~~

They were standing in the shadow of a smaller building that was just on the cusp of the town they’d been staying in. The atmosphere was still sleepy and mundane. Not enough civilians had woken up to start their days, so if they spoke loudly, their voices would still echo off of the building’s discolored walls.

Wind that had usually danced so flippantly in the trees that grew sporadically along the walkways was silent, almost out of respect for Taka’s somber mood. Even the early morning sunlight felt dimmer somehow- as if the sun was pained at what they had to do.

Karin had lived through a lot. She’d been used and abused for her unique chakra abilities by the Grass village for her entire childhood. She’d seen the corpse of her own mother, bitten and bleeding to nearly being unrecognizable if it weren’t for her bright red hair. She’d willingly gone to Orochimaru to save herself, and ended up working through the ranks until she’d been given leadership over one of the hideouts.

Nothing had prepared her for this moment, nothing.

“-and make sure that you burp him after feeding him, otherwise his stomach will hurt.” Sasuke’s voice had a somewhat muted layer of urgency to it as he continued to rattle off a list of information for Suigetsu to follow.

“If he’s crying just to cry, he loves it when his foot is tickled. And keep him out of the sun -make sure he wears his hat.”

Karin crossed her arms, trying not to show just how much the scene was affecting her. Juugo, who usually stood like a peaceful oak tree, fidgeted beside her. He didn’t like this either.

“Sasuke, I’ve been traveling with you guys since Otter was two weeks old. I know when to burp him and how to keep him from getting a sunburn.” Suigetsu sighed as he hoisted the rather bulky diaper bag onto his shoulder.

It was a good thing that the alpha had a holster on his back for his annoyingly giant sword. Otherwise, he would have struggled to hold the diaper bag, sword, and Otter.

Sasuke ignored him in favor of rubbing soothing circles across Otter’s back. Since waking up three days ago, the pup had refused to separate from his mother. Sasuke had been no better, in fact, he might have been worse. He’d been so beside himself with the ferocious need for closeness with the baby that Sasuke hadn’t even bothered to keep up the pretense of being their cold and heartless leader.

It didn’t matter that Sasuke was still healing and was barely able to stand on his feet without swaying dangerously. He’d made sure that he was the one who bathed the baby, who rocked him and burped him and soothed him and entertained him.

In hindsight, it made sense now, the closeness. Sasuke wasn’t the type to just do things on a whim. He’d definitely decided that this was the outcome from the moment he’d woken up from his coma- or even days before the incident with Deidara.

Juugo coughed beside her, “Maybe it doesn’t have to be like this.”

The beta had taken the news better than Karin had thought he would. If anyone was as close to the baby as Sasuke was, it would be Juugo. There was something between them, some unique little connection they shared that the rest of the pack couldn’t quite figure out. Suigetsu had nicknamed Juugo the ‘baby whisperer’, but Sasuke had gotten a little bit jealous over Juugo’s natural talent for caring for the pup, so Karin had smacked Suigetsu until he’d dropped the nickname all together.

She pretended to yawn to cover up the strangled, saddened sound that had broken free of her anxious stomach and escaped her esophagus.

It was for the best. The redhead knew it was the most logical option. But-damn it! It shouldn’t have to be this way. Sasuke hadn’t been quite right since that fight with Deidara. Something had to have happened- no way would he actually choose this as the best possible option!

She watched as Sasuke’s eye twitched at Juugo’s desperate half plea half suggestion. Suigetsu shot her a look, silently urging her to say something to shift the conversation, but for once, Karin was tired. She had no energy for playing nice.

All Karin could do was watch as Otter giggled lightly. He was still somewhat sleepy from waking up, so he was mostly cuddly and pliant in Sasuke’s hold. He had no idea what was about to happen.

The worst part was that they couldn’t just sit him down and explain it, either. He’d be confused, and scared, and sad, and it would just have to be something that he dealt with all on his own, without his mother, or pack, to fix it for him.

Karin knew exactly what he’d be feeling, and it was only the fact that Otter was so young that he wouldn’t remember it, that she hadn’t argued Sasuke into oblivion when he’d shared his decision with them. She’d been older-much older, when she’d been separated from her pack, and even older than that when her mother had been ripped from the world at the hands of those weeds that the Grass village called ninja.

“People will be waking up soon.” She said, lowering her gaze to the ground. Karin didn’t bother keeping the bitterness out of her tone.

It was almost time to say goodbye and depart.

“And don’t forget to wash behind his ears.” Sasuke added onto the increasingly long list of instructions he’d been giving Suigetsu ever since they’d all woken up that morning.

The omega poked at the baby’s earlobe to highlight his point. Was it normal for a new omega parent to be so.. commanding when discussing parting with his pup? Sasuke was running down his list of demands and concerns like he was a military general going over the preparations and supplies needed for his troops before shipping out.

Although, for someone as rare and damaged as Sasuke, that was probably as close to being emotional in front of an audience as he would ever get.

“Sasuke…” Suigetsu gave him a look that, in Karin’s opinion, didn’t belong on the alpha’s stupid face. It was a pitying flash in his eyes and the small, sincere downturn of his lip that just had her itching to smack the expression off of his face.

No one should ever look at Sasuke Uchiha with pity. He was above it, as he was most things.

“Just give him a little longer, Suigetsu.” Juugo murmured with an underlying warning.

Karin and Juugo had already said their goodbyes when they’d left the inn. They were pack, yes, but Sasuke was Otter’s mother. Everyone had understood that Sasuke would need the longest time for the send off.

The pup had been groggy from sleep, but awake enough to not fall back into a slumber after his morning diaper change that he’d been fairly pliant with being passed around the pack for some extra scenting and cuddle sessions. He was still too young to understand why Juugo couldn’t scent him back, so the pup had gotten a bit stubborn at that point, but Juugo, as much as it had pained him, had at least done the motion of scenting to appease the little Uchiha. It had quelled the baby’s minor upset just in time for Karin to snatch him away to warn him of how stupid Suigetsu was, and to not trust his single caretaker while they were separated. It was only partially true, though. As much as she loathed to admit, the lazy moron was actually very capable when he needed to be.

There was a reason Sasuke had chosen Suigetsu to be the one to look after Otter while the others went after Itachi. Out of all of them, he was the best option besides Sasuke himself. Sasuke needed Karin as medical support as well as for her sensory abilities, and she’d herself acknowledged that she would not have been able to defend the pup from any real dangers as easily as Suigetsu and Juugo, when Sasuke had explained his plan to them. Juugo was a powerhouse, and incredibly close with the baby, but his moods made him unreliable to take care of him all on his own.

That had left Suigetsu to be the babysitter.

Though, she mused, she had a feeling that Otter was going to be the one babysitting Suigetsu, if anything.

~~~

Sasuke knew it had to be this way. He did. But that didn’t mean the stabbing feeling in his chest was going away, nor did it mean that there wasn’t a foreign sort of moisture in his eyes that threatened to form into tears the longer he scented his pup.

He’d made sure to scent most of the baby’s things- even that ugly orange fox toy that the baby loved so much. He’d cleaned all of the diapers and folded them neatly in the bag he’d packed. Every blanket and toy and outfit were cleaned and fresh. Sasuke had even put a list of instructions on pup care into the bag, knowing it would be of good use at some point.

The omega had even gone as far as expressing enough milk for a few bottles and storing them away in a scroll after placing a jutsu on them that would allow them to stay cold so that the baby would have ready available meals while he was taking care of Itachi.

He’d done everything to make sure his baby would be comfortable and safe, so why did he feel like a failure still?

“Ba!” the child in his arms smiled gummily at him. His wild black bangs were sticking up in every direction possible, and Sasuke loved each and every little strand.

Sasuke could tell that Suigetsu was ready to depart for the safer location Sasuke had instructed him to take the baby, and that Juugo and Karin were guiltily ready to hit the road as well, but his feet remained anchored to the spot that they were planted firmly.

This was goodbye. He was saying goodbye to his baby- the only thing that had kept him from dying or worse for a year now. The entire reason for Sasuke’s continued existence, despite every obstacle he’d been facing. The reason that Sasuke had to be saying goodbye at all.

He knew he had to separate from him. Itachi was far more powerful than Deidara, and after the reality check the omega had received, he was not going to chance his child on another battlefield at such a young age.

“I love you.” he whispered to his son as he tried to blink away the tears that were forming.

He bounced the bundle a few times, eliciting such a joyous sound from such little lungs. Small, pudgy hands reached up to try and pat at Sasuke’s eyes in response. Oh, what a smart pup he had. Only three months old and he was already starting to understand emotions.

Sasuke raised his head to address Suigetsu. “If I don’t make it back..”, he breathed a shuddery breath, “Don’t let it hang over him.”

Sasuke knew what it felt like to grow up with the weight of a dead mother hanging around his neck. Otter didn’t deserve that. Sasuke himself was an avenger, he was always going to have ghosts of the past pushing himself forward. But his son? With sunshine in his eyes and laughter in his heart? He wasn’t like Sasuke, the omega could already tell. Growing up with Sasuke’s demise on his shoulders would do nothing but torment the boy.

Suigetsu bobbed his head and agreed with a dry throat.

Sasuke hugged the baby to his chest and scented him for the sixth time that morning. “You’re going to love it there.” He spoke softly, just a hair away from a cooing tone. “You’ll never be alone.”

And with that, he steeled himself and kissed the pup’s forehead. Then his chubby cheeks. Then his small button nose.

He closed his eyes tightly as he held the baby away from himself, knowing that if he watched Suigetsu take his pup from him, he would have no choice but to snatch him back.

One moment, the weight of his son was there, and then the next, he wasn’t. He felt nothing but air in his place. The omega turned his back on Suigetsu and opened his eyes to see Karin wiping tears off of her glasses and Juugo’s somber, pained face.

They all heard his pup whine in confusion. Sasuke could picture it in his mind, his son reaching out for his mother who would not take him.

“Just who am I looking for, anyway?” Suigetsu called after him.

Sasuke had given him an address written on a piece of paper earlier, but with no other real descriptions. It would have been too painful. It was painful now, yes, but how could he explain a part of himself that he’d locked away for so long, so audibly to other people, even if they were his pack?

“A total loser.” Sasuke smiled through the pain as his pup whined again, growing more upset.

Juugo stepped forward to put a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder to try and comfort him. Then, just as the beta was squeezing him sympathetically, Suigetsu’s footsteps sounded along the dirt path. His pup’s cries escalated once he realized that he wasn’t being brought to his mother, but rather, being taken away from him. Sasuke’s heart broke like never before. Not at all like it had when he was eight years old, not like when he’d been walking away from Naruto’s freshly electrocuted body without a lead headband tied around his forehead, not like when Sasuke had needed to redirect Naruto’s mouth from biting his mating gland when they’d shared his heat.

It was worse in every single way.

“Sasuke!” Karin gasped, pointing urgently over his shoulder.

His reflexes kicked in, either his omegan ones or his shinobi ones, he didn’t know, but he turned around swiftly, as if reacting to a jarring slap to the face to see what had Karin look so stricken.

It took a moment for his vision to focus out of panic. His baby’s wails had reached a crescendo of agonized misery, just in time for his eyes to lock on to what karin had seen.

There, screaming his head off, reaching out pathetically for his mother over the alpha’s shoulder while Suigetsu tried to bounce him as he carried the pup away, was a set of two identical red irises, blearied by fat tears, but locked on to Sasuke’s face all the same.

His baby had unlocked the sharingan.

And it was all Sasuke’s fault.