Dwindling Inferno

Suigetsu made it about four miles away from the small traveler’s town he’d left the others in before he started to second guess the plan. Otter was screaming his head off right by Suigetsu’s ear drums. His sword and the awkward weight of the diaper bag were already slowing him down more than he’d really ever care to admit.

At this rate, he’d get to Konoha two days later than expected, which meant that he’d have to cut his goodbyes to the baby short in order to get back to the pack before Sasuke had his showdown with Itachi.

The pup let out a particularly harsh wail and the alpha sighed. He had half a mind to turn sharply on his heel and march back to the pack and force Sasuke to change his mind about sending Otter away.

There was nowhere on this planet that this pup belonged other than snuggled right against Sasuke’s chest, being soothed into a cozy sleep by the pale omega’s heartbeat. So what if Konoha was technically safer. The alpha parent couldn’t keep the baby safe like Sasuke could. Hell, Sasuke himself had told him that he was looking for a ‘total loser’.

This other alpha wouldn’t know how to rock Otter to sleep just right, or the trick Karin had figured out to get the baby to calm down when his diaper was wet.

If this guy didn’t care enough to do the proper thing and mate Sasuke before knocking him up, then he definitely didn’t care about putting that ridiculous looking hat on the pale infant to stop him from getting a sunburn outside.

“I know, little guy. I don’t like this either.” Suigetsu murmured softly as he tried to rock the bundle of wailing joy at a relaxing pace.

It took hours for Otter to finally tire himself out. Poor little guy was so exhausted from crying that he fell right to sleep before Suigetsu could even finish rummaging around in the diaper bag to find something for him to eat.

The sun had gone down about an hour after the pup had fallen asleep, and Suigetsu really hadn’t had much choice other than stopping to make camp for the night. It was sparse. Much more humble than the campsites he and Sasuke had created back when it was just the two of them and Otter had still been a fragile little newborn.

Deep orange flames of the fire he’d lit himself stared at him, and he stared back wordlessly. The heat coming off of the fire wasn’t as hot as the ones Sasuke always set. Those were much livelier, with crackling heat radiating to a much hotter degree, courtesy of the Uchiha’s fireball jutsu.

With a dark sky full of stars, and no Juugo to point them out and wax philosophical poetry about the twinkling sky, Suigetsu decided to turn in for the night. He threw some dirt on the fire to put it out. With just himself and Otter, he couldn’t take any chances with any predatory wildlife or others lurking nearby seeing the light of the fire without Suigetsu conscious enough to fend off any attacks.

The ground was cold, but Suigetsu was accustomed to far worse than the inhospitable feel of the earth rubbing its grime onto his clothing as he shifted around to try and get comfortable. Any cushioning or cloth that would be cozy went to the small, makeshift nest he’d made the baby.

That ugly orange jacket that smelled faintly of oranges and sunshine was bright still, even amid the sudden darkness of the night no longer being fended off by the fire’s light. Suigetsu hadn’t missed the way Sasuke had clutched at the small article of clothing as he’d wrapped Otter up in it before they’d parted ways. He didn’t miss the way the pup’s tiny little nose had buried itself within the offending neon fabric creases.

The jacket had to belong to the other guy. The deadbeat. If the jacket was anything to go off of, his taste in clothing was as nonexistent as his loyalty to the omega he’d knocked up.

Suigetsu scoffed, feeling the exhaustion creeping up on him. Otter deserved better. Sasuke deserved better.

~~~

“Okay little guy, what’d we talk about? You have to wait until you’re older to get to play with swords.” Suigetsu did his best to scold the innocent baby, but to no avail.

Wide, curious blue eyes blinked at him mischievously. Suigetsu sighed, he knew what was coming next. The alpha caught the small chubby hand that had tried to ever so sneakily clutch at the hilt of his sword.

“Ba!” Otter pouted, demanding the sharp blade to be his source of amusement.

“Nope!”, Suigetsu popped the ‘p’.

Man, there was no doubting that this kid was Sasuke’s. Those little eyebrows pinched in such an eerily similar showcase of determination that Suigetsu almost felt challenged.

Almost.

Suigetsu wasn’t too worried about a kid still relying on diapers getting the upper hand.

Otter made another grab for the sword strapped to the alpha’s back, to no avail.

He guessed he should be glad, at least, that the pup seemed to be cheering up some. Now the only time he threw colossal crying fits that left Suigetsu dizzy from the sheer volume was during his feedings. Sasuke had packed an insane amount of milk filled bottles, all kept weirdly cold by some unknown seal placed on the bottles. There was so much, in fact, that it had Suigetsu quietly wondering when the hell the omega’d had the time to express this amount of breast milk without a single one of them noticing- or taking away from his hungry pup’s usual feeding times.

To say Sasuke was insane wouldn’t even begin to cover the laundry list of glaring issues Suigetsu had continually noticed, so the alpha didn’t pay it much mind.

All that effort wasn’t enough, though, because Otter hated the bottles. He absolutely despised them. Any time the pup even had the slightest hint of an idea that Suigetsu was about to start warming up a bottle, he started screaming his little head off like he was being murdered.

As if, somehow, Suigetsu trying to make sure his little belly was kept full was the greatest possible crime the swordsman could possibly even think of committing.

He’d throw his little fists against Suigetsu’s hands and arms in pitiful attempts to keep the offending thing away from himself. Otter had gotten smart about it the last time though- he’d lured Suigetsu into a false sense of security by accepting the bottle, only to take one lengthy suck, un-attach his mouth from the rubber nipple, and spit the milk all over the alpha’s face.

Suigetsu was running out of things to clean himself up with.

He loved the little guy, though. So he dealt with the horrible mood swings that always occurred around mealtimes in the best ways he could think of on the spot with lots, and lots of patience.

It wasn’t even really like the alpha could fault the pup for making his feedings so difficult. Babies, especially ones less than a year old like Otter, were known to require immense closeness with their omegan parent. That was why young pups hardly ever left their mother’s sides, and why sleeping and feeding times were spent so closely together as well.

Suigetsu sighed for probably the millionth time since parting ways with the pack. “You know something, kid?”

The baby babbled at him like he somehow understood the question.

The alpha didn’t even bother hiding the fond smile that stretched his lips. “If a year ago, someone had told me I’d be some ex-leaf shinobi’s errand boy, I’d have laughed and stabbed them in the neck.”

Small giggles bubbled from the baby’s lips, growing Suigetsu’s heart three sizes too large. Maybe it should realistically have been worrying that Otter seemed to enjoy any mentions or acts of violence, but with the village he himself had been raised in, where that was an essential part of the culture, all Suigetsu felt was a deep fondness for the blue eyed pup.

Maybe one day, long after Sasuke and the pack were reunited with Otter, Suigetsu would take him under his wing and teach him the way of the blade. The boy would need an alpha figure in his life as he grew, and while Sasuke could absolutely be enough to parent alone, it wouldn’t be fair for the Uchiha to have to both nurture, protect, and train him.

That deadbeat probably wouldn’t stick around long enough to see the kid take his first steps, much less pick up a sword for the first time. No, Suigetsu would do it instead.

He’d step up because no one had stepped up for his brother nor himself. Not even their frail and anxious mother. Not in the way they’d wanted anyway. If Suigetsu found the baby’s other biological parent and didn’t find any redeeming qualities about the knothead, then Suigetsu would just take Otter and turn on his heels and leave.

~~~

Suigetsu didn’t bother rolling his eyes. The miniscule amount of energy that would take wasn’t even worth it.

Getting through the gates of Konoha had been far too easy for his liking.

The alpha had only needed to pull his hood up over his head, and turn his face downward to pretend to be paying more attention to the pup in his arms than his surroundings for the border attendant to soften instantly.

Suigetsu had made a mess as he’d fumbled trying to juggle the baby and the traveling packs around to find wherever he’d ‘packed their information cards for safe keeping’. The lady behind him, who’d been waiting patiently, had made a small noise of amusement. Clearly, she could empathize, though Suigetsu highly doubted that she, nor the attendants had any idea of his true intentions.

Having a red faced baby who was whining at a delayed lunch time in his arms turned out to be the perfect cover.

“Why don’t you let him through? He’s clearly got identification- he wouldn’t be making such a mess of unpacking his and the baby’s things if he didn’t-” the woman from behind them had addressed the attendant.

The attendant in question, to his credit, seemed to scoff at her suggestion. That guy probably knew that innocent disguises tricked people all the time, but Otter started to fuss, interrupting whatever the man had been about to respond to her with.

Suigetsu turned his face to the sky and closed his eyes to make himself look like a stressed parent. “I’m sorry, I swear I have identification. It could be in the diaper bag, let me check-”.

Otter’s tummy grumbled and a displeased look washed itself over the small boy’s face. He wailed with discomfort as his little feet kicked from inside his blanket cocoon.

The attendant winced and Suigetsu hadn’t blamed him. “Here, just go. I believe you.”

Suigetsu had wanted to vomit as he bit down the irritation of having to be so near wherever Otter’s father was residing in order to flash a hopefully relieved looking smile at the guy and took the approved entry ID from his outstretched hand.

They walked along what seemed to be the main road. Well, Suigetsu did. Otter was happy to simply fuss in his hold and turn attention to the pair.

Shop fronts and food stalls were colorful, if a little faded. The walkways were winding with a few leaves and rocks here and there, waiting for people to trip over them. All around them, children ran along the streets, playing some kind of game that Suigetsu wasn’t aware of. Here and there, they called out to one another.

Women marched along with their baskets full after a morning well spent shopping. If the alpha glanced up, he’d see the faint outline of a mask hidden low along the occasional rooftop.

Suigetsu wrinkled his nose. Sasuke had come from such a whimsy village. There was no scent of fear that clung to the air, leaving a burnt feeling at the back of his throat. Weapons weren’t proudly on display at the hip and thigh of every shinobi. The sky shone bright- as bright as the children’s laughter along the street.

It was nothing like where Suigetsu had grown up. It almost looked… mundane. Peaceful.

Suigetsu winced after Otter let out a rather well placed shriek right beside his ear. Yep. It was definitely lunch time.

He glanced around to try and find the nearest food stall, and wound up looking at a quaint little stall offering ramen in large letters etched onto a white curtain. The curtain hung low enough that Suigetsu couldn’t tell if it was even really being attended by a worker at the moment.

It seemed empty, if the absence of feet dangling down from the stools was anything to go off of.

The alpha shrugged to himself. It was worth a shot. He wasn’t much of a ramen guy, but the place didn’t have any other customers, so no one could give him a hard time about Otter being so fussy. It meant that he’d have enough counter space to dig around in the diaper bag to prepare the baby’s lunch too.

“Shh, it’s okay bud. You’re gonna get your food soon, okay?” The white haired man murmured softly as he dodged two old women gossiping as they walked unmindingly so that he could make it to the stall.

The bright sunlight probably wasn’t helping things. At first, Suigetsu had thought that Sasuke was just going overboard with new maternal instincts when he went crazy about protecting Otter’s skin from the sun, but sure enough, only about half an hour in the sun yesterday had given the pup an extremely mild sunburn. It wasn’t mild to Otter, though.

Although, who could blame the little guy for being so uncomfortable and whiny about the barely there burn? So far, it was likely the most pain he’d ever had in his incredibly short life.

Suigetsu tightened his grip on the pup, making sure to cup his hand on the back of the unruly head of hair to provide an extra set of support as he ducked under the curtain to enter the stall.

A warm aroma of umami infiltrated his nostrils in a heavenly sort of way that had his stomach turning somersaults in hunger. In worrying for the pup and getting through the border guards, Suigetsu hadn’t even registered the fact that he was starving as well.

“Hmm?” A mousy omegan girl with brown hair and eyes to match hummed, startled in a polite way, like she hadn’t been expecting anyone. “Why hello, welcome!” She smiled a smile that led Suigetsu to believe that she didn’t have a care in the world.

Maybe she didn’t. Konoha was strange like that, he was beginning to realize. How were the shinobi from this village so famed and strong, yet its civilians so absent minded and unaware?

Suigetsu tipped his head downward to acknowledge her before hoisting the diaper bag onto the stool next to the one he planned to sit on. Otter’s cries escalated to an even more desperate degree, no doubt because of the delicious smell in the air as well.

The brown haired girl’s eyes were wide as she took in what was probably a very pitiful sight. Suigetsu couldn’t bring himself to care. Instead, he shifted Otter to one arm so that he could free up a hand to rummage around in the diaper bag for a bottle. The baby still hated being bottle fed, but something would have to give because it was all Suigetsu could give him.

The waitress spoke up, grating on Suigetsu’s nerves because couldn’t she see he was already overwhelmed as it was?

“If you’d like, I could hold her while you get settled.” She smiled brightly.

Her kindness didn’t come off the way it should have. If things were different, maybe he would have agreed to the gesture, but things weren’t different. Suigetsu had been the only person to touch the baby in days. Not a single person had been allowed close enough to see the little boy’s face entirely.

Sasuke had trusted him and him alone with the task of his pup’s care, and that had done a funny thing to Suigetsu’s instincts. He’d prided himself on being a fairly laid-back guy until he’d been freed by a sword toting Sasuke with a baby on his hip. Ever since then, he’d been only one internal conflict about nap time vs bath time from having a stroke.

Now, especially now that it was just him and a four-month-old with big eyes and an even bigger appetite, he felt like everything was a potential threat. Where once he wouldn’t care, now he openly glared at old omegas cooing at the bundle in his arms.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Ayame. Alphas are very territorial over their pups, especially ones so young. I remember being in those shoes myself, it’s a very difficult task to let a stranger hold your child.” An old man walked in from what Suigetsu presumed to be the kitchen.

He had dark brown hair, the same shade as the girl’s, but where her eyes were rather round, his were thin with age. He smelled like lotus roots fitting, for someone who cooked for a living.

The old man winked at Suigetsu with a sympathetic half smile. The girl, now known as Ayame, groaned, “Daaaad! How was I supposed to know that?! I was just trying to help!”.

Suigetsu began to ignore the father and daughter’s conversation. He couldn’t find any bottles even though he knew he’d put them in there only a few hours ago, and decided to address the upset infant that was practicing for the championship for strongest lungs on the planet.

He couldn’t believe that this fussy thing was the same baby that hadn’t even blinked from his sling tied to his mother’s chest as Sasuke had somersaulted thirty feet into the air to use the momentum to kick an enemy in the face.

The alpha felt two sets of eyes on him, so he glanced back up to meet them. Then he felt the slight awkwardness in the air, and sighed internally.

“Sorry, I can’t seem to find his bottle.” Suigetsu murmured.

The man, probably the owner going off of how he carried himself, nodded like he thought that was the case. “How old is he?”.

Suigetsu cocked his head to the side, not expecting the question. “Four months.”.

The man snapped his fingers with a grin, startling his mousy haired daughter. “Ah! You’re in luck then! He should be old enough to stomach a little bit of broth! It’s a trick I used to get this one here to quit bawling back in the day!”.

Ayame blushed.

Broth. Yeah. Maybe that could work. Suigetsu could spoon feed some to Otter and hopefully avoid the usual tantrum that came with feeding him nowadays.

Suigetsu nodded and his relief was genuine as his body sagged with it. At this point, he’d take anything if it meant getting the pup fed and cheered up.

“Okay, uh, broth for this little cutie, and for you, sir?” Ayame whipped out a notepad from her pocket to begin jotting down the order.

The omega put her hand on her hip with patient encouragement while she waited.

Suigetsu hadn’t even thought about food for himself. In a rush so that Otter could get his meal, the alpha said the first thing he saw on the menu, “Shoyu ramen please.”.

She muttered the words back to herself as she scribbled them down, and then handed the pad to her father, who winked at Suigetsu before turning on his heels and heading towards the kitchen.

Suigetsu started to rub the baby’s back in soothing, slow motions to help calm him down. He was not unaware of Ayame’s watchful gaze.

“Will we need to prepare a third meal for his mother?” She asked softly.

The look on her face told him that she already knew the answer.

“No.” he said anyway. Otter hiccupped brokenly against his collarbone.

“Oh.” She whispered with a faraway look in her eyes, “I’m sorry.”

Because it really was that abnormal for an omega to be separated from such a young pup, it meant that there was typically only one reason for it: death.

It didn’t matter if Suigetsu knew that it was far from the truth. Not really. Because it was the best cover story he could possibly have for something as insane as being Sasuke’s number one babysitter slash right hand man.

“Don’t be.” Suigetsu responded, and he actually surprised himself by sounding sad about it.

Maybe he was. He wasn’t with his pack. He was here, in Konoha, where people talked to strangers and children played in the streets. He wasn’t there, making sure Sasuke and Karin and Juugo were alive. Hell, he wasn’t even sure Sasuke hadn’t fought Itachi yet.

He damn sure wasn’t certain that Sasuke would have survived the fight. Not in the state he’d been in when Suigetsu and Otter had departed.

Otter…Otter really could have already lost his mother, and damn it all to hell, but Suigetsu was a little worried. Had been for some time.

What did it matter if Ayame was talking about some fictional woman that would never exist, or Sasuke and his very real potential demise? She didn’t need to know.

“And here we go! One serving of Shoyu ramen and our finest broth for the little one!” the old man’s jovial voice interrupted the odd atmosphere that had washed over the small establishment.

Suigetsu felt the baby’s nose twitch in interest. Hopefully this would work.

Otter braced his chubby hands on Suigetsu’s chest to help support himself as he twisted around to no doubt find where the pleasant scent was coming from. Suigetsu couldn’t help but smile. The fondness he felt for the boy was just too much to conceal, even in front of strangers.

His hat was still on, so most of the little guy’s face was still blocked from view, and consequently, his eyes were kept from spotting the small bowl of warm broth that had been gently set down on the counter in front of him.

“I think someone’s ready to eat!” the old man laughed, clapping his daughter on the back good naturedly.

Suigetsu didn’t even bother looking at his own meal, knowing that his stomach would gurgle with want if he did. Instead, he shifted the pup around to lean his back against the inside of his upper arm so that he could spoon feed Otter without risking the baby’s uncoordinated hands snatching for the spoon.

The alpha tested the first spoonful himself, just to make sure it wouldn’t be too overwhelming for the pup, but it turned out to be perfect. Not spicy, but just savory enough. He got a second spoonful, careful to not fill it all of the way so that he didn’t risk spilling any with how messy feeding a young pup could get.

The boy’s mouth was wide open and he himself was giving Suigetsu a rather unimpressed look, like Suigetsu was taking too long to deliver his precious meal. The tears in his big blue eyes and the excited clutching of his little fingers as the spoon neared his mouth made the baby’s glare kind of adorable instead of threatening.

For a split second Suigetus wondered if Sasuke had been like that as a baby. Then he cringed, because imagining Sasuke as a baby felt wrong. Instead of stuffed animals and pacifiers, Sasuke had probably entertained himself with kunai and stamina training in his cradle instead.

At first, not understanding that he wasn’t supposed to, the baby started to suck noisily on the end of the spoon with barely closed lips. As a result, most of the liquid ended up running down the corners of his mouth and dribbling down onto his shirt.

Ayame giggled and handed him a few napkins, which Suigetsu did thank her for, despite the exasperation of trying to get something in Otter’s stomach. It took about three tries for the pup to catch on and figure out how to eat the broth.

Instantly, as soon as he’d gotten the hang of it, his little mouth opened and his eyes turned wide and greedy, looking up at Suigetsu with the largest puppy eyes he’d ever seen in his life.

“Ba!” Otter screeched happily. His chubby hand jerked in the air with his excitement. “Ba ba ba ba ba!” he babbled at Suigetsu when the alpha took too long getting him another spoonful.

Half way through the little bowl, Otter’s face and shirt were an absolute mess. The pup didn’t seem to mind, he was too busy demanding more and even going as far as to trying to latch on to the spoon and yank it from Suigetsu’s hand so that he could shove his food into his mouth himself because apparently, Suigetsu was being too slow.

The alpha was just happy that the little guy was finally getting a full meal. However, the stickiness was starting to get to him, so he set the spoon back down in the nearly empty bowl and shifted the pup around to make it easier to wipe his face down with one of the napkins Ayame had given him.

The two adults gasped from behind the counter, confusing Suigetsu. He didn’t sense any danger around them.

“Wow, father, he looks just like-” the omega’s dark eyes were wide, her hand coming up to cover her mouth reflexively.

Even the old man seemed to falter for a moment.

Suigetsu felt his eyebrows furrow on their own accord. Was it Sasuke they were thinking of?

The alpha found it hard to keep his scent in check. If they recognized Otter’s parentage and linked him to Sasuke, a missing nin-

Suigetsu suddenly felt as though they were swimming in shark infested waters.

The old man seemed to notice Suigetsu’s growing discomfort, but misinterpreted it as something else. “Sorry, his cheeks-” the old man gestured to the baby’s face where exactly three scars lined each cheek, “-One of our regular customers has similar markings. They’re rare, very rare.”

Suigetsu bristled and didn’t bother to hide it. “His mother was from a rare clan, deep in the mountains. Perhaps they were distantly related.” He lied through his teeth.

Ayame gasped and smiled wide, “Father! Maybe Naruto does have a family somewhere out there after all!”

Naruto. So that was the dead beat’s name.

Suigetsu smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. He caught the old man’s gaze, and he knew deep down, the man was hiding something from his daughter.

He knew Suigetsu was lying.

The alpha, so to not raise further suspicion, continued to feed the pup until all of his broth was gone. He didn’t touch his own dish, which had long since grown cold. He paid for it anyway, tossing a few coins on the counter that were much more precious than what the meal had cost.

And then, he shouldered the diaper bag and the responsibility of keeping Sasuke’s pup safe once more, and vanished back into the busy street.

~~~

Once he’d heard the name ‘Naruto’, it was like he couldn’t stop hearing it.

The middle aged owner of the inn Suigetsu had found to lay low in had said the name as if it were a curse, a blight upon the Hidden Leaf Village. “Now, you’ll find that the water pressure in the bathroom on your floor is weak. It hasn’t been right since that Naruto tried to fix the plumbing as a genin mission. What the hokage was thinking, assigning that boy to anything, is beyond me really-” the man had continued to grumble, but Suigetsu had tuned him out because Otter had yawned and it was too cute to ignore.

The next time he heard the name was when passing a young male omega with his three pups, all of whom had to have been born within just as many years judging from the visibly miniscule age gap they had. “Now, why do we look both ways before we cross the street?” The blue haired parent asked in a warm, instructional tone.

“So we don’t get run over by ninja hounds and market carts!” the shortest of the three pups hollered with an excited jump.

His sister, who shared her mother’s blue hair, pushed him away from her, clearly upset that he beat her to answering, while the third, and tallest of the lot, was too entranced by a rock on the ground to care about the conversation.

The male omega bent down to his loudest child’s level and patted him on the head. “That’s right- and what else? There’s one more!”

It was the boy playing with the rock that answered with no hesitation, as if the answer had been ingrained in him and his siblings far more than the part about watching out for ninja hounds and carts coming down the road. “So if we see Naruto, we can move away from him!”

The omega nodded, “And why do we do this?”

His daughter finally got a chance to answer with a proud grin on her face, pleased before she’d even gotten the words out, “Because Naruto is bad and always makes a mess!”

To say it had been a jarring interaction to eavesdrop on would be an understatement. Sasuke wouldn’t shack up with an alpha who could be neglectful. Suigetsu knew the Uchiha had a screw or two loose, but his loyalty and care were incredibly deep. He wouldn’t ever get tangled up with a guy who would be that bad of a person.

Though…he had sought out Orochimaru on his own free will to be his sensei. Orochimaru, the war criminal. The terrorist. The mutilator, the mad scientist. The beta, against all wills of nature.

Suigetsu had simply moved past the small family unit and held Otter more securely in his arms for the rest of the morning, as if protecting him from the idea of an alpha that he didn’t even know was in the village at the time.

The bad things Suigetsu was learning about this Naruto guy were snowballing into a glaring issue. He’d learned that the guy was dumb, having failed the academy exit exam multiple times.

He was disrespectful and a nuisance, having wasted the village probably thousands in property damage over the years.

He was loud and dangerous, if the looks of fear and mistrust in the people’s eyes who dared to speak the name were anything to go off of.

This Naruto guy had to be strong. Incredibly so. Because Sasuke loved power, but he hated bad people, and Naruto seemed pretty bad so far, so being strong was the only way Suigetsu could see someone like Sasuke Uchiha not only having some sort of twisted relationship with, but bearing a child for.

The puzzle pieces kept fitting themselves together, but Suigetsu felt more lost than ever. How was giving Otter to Naruto a better option than keeping him with the pack?

~~~

“One more day, bud, just one more day, and then if I don’t think you’ll be okay here, we leave, okay? We wait out the stuff with your mom and Itachi in some seaside village, and then meet up with the pack afterwards, and you’ll be safe.” Suigetsu kissed the crown of the drowsy pup’s head.

He’d taken to conducting his little recognizance missions while the baby took his naps. The alpha had found that walking around this village where the tree leaves never seemed to sleep helped lull the boy, making him more agreeable than the stuffy atmosphere of that inn.

Otter was used to the outdoors. Having a roof over his head was noticeably confusing to the pup. The hum of electricity in the walls and ceiling of their temporary accommodations had the little guy on edge. Every time a door shut in the distance down the hall, Otter’s head would snap in the direction of the sound, startled and uncomfortable.

He sniffled and sneezed a lot more now, too. Too many scents of the other inn’s inhabitants were no doubt irritating to his sinuses, especially without a mother’s nest to be bundled tightly in to keep any other scents away.

So, nap time had come with much less fuss once the alpha had taken to rocking the pup amid the open air and the distant soothing sound of rustling tree leaves. It seemed to always be slightly windy in this place. Sunny as well. Both things Otter enjoyed apparently, almost if his genetics knew that this was supposed to be the village he belonged in.

The infant’s eyelids finally drooped closed with a small, airy little sound escaping his already drool covered lips.

Perfect. Today was the day he had decided that he would track down this Naruto and tail him, and what better way to do that than with a sleeping baby in his arms that he could use as an excuse to shoo people away from himself?

All things considered, maybe Sasuke was on to something when he’d brought the little guy along on his quest for revenge. Having a pup snuggled so close to himself often meant that people turned a blind eye.

A blind eye that Suigetsu had no problem taking advantage of.

“Naruto!” A soft voice shouted nearby.

The white haired man’s attention snapped to the sound. There, on his left, about sixty feet away, was a woman with dark hair waving to someone in the distance. She had pale skin and weird eyes that stood out, even from a distance. The way she carried herself obviously screamed omega.

Suigetsu followed her line of sight, though, to find a blonde guy about a foot taller than she was, waving back.

He had half a mind to look away to protect his eyesight from the horrible shade of orange that seemed to glare under the comfortable afternoon sunlight. Yep, that had to be Naruto. It was the same orange as the jacket Sasuke had sent along with Otter. Gross.

What a loser. Who would actually wear such an awful outfit-

“Hinata! Oh man, am I glad to see you!” The deadbeat’s voice was annoying and bright. His smile was just as irritating, blinding as it was.

Suigetsu’s stomach began to churn. There, only a few feet away, was the guy who’d abandoned a pregnant omega and left him to fend for himself against the likes of Orochimaru and Itachi. And he had the nerve to be so carefree, going around, waving at other omegas with equally dark hair and pale skin, smiling like he had not a thought in that head of his.

The alpha looked back down to the pup in his arms. This was the man who’d willingly missed his son’s first months of life.

His back felt lighter now more than ever with his sword being carefully hidden back at the inn and not attached to himself. He could have just shifted the baby around, gotten hold of his blade, and then dealt a few lethal blows to this bastard, and then walked far, far away from this village where people greeted each other on the street and laughter carried on the wind.

Suigetsu clenched his jaw as he watched the bastard jog to the omegan girl and throw an arm over her shoulder carelessly- too carelessly. To be an alpha and willingly touch an omega that you weren’t related to or mated to in that manner, so publicly- that was rude. Beyond rude.

Did Naruto know, or did he just not care?

He watched with a piercing glare from afar as the two began to walk farther away, deeper into the heart of the village. Had Naruto moved on with that crazy eyed girl? Sasuke had to be unaware, otherwise he would never-

Unless he knew Naruto was with someone else, and didn’t plan on surviving his fight with Itachi, and wanted Otter to be raised in a traditional home, even if that meant being replaced as his mother.

An inky, dark and poisonous bile raced up and along the back of his throat. Acid filled his mouth and his heart. Had Sasuke sent him away with the pup instead of Karin or Juugo because he knew that Suigetsu would try to talk him out of it?

~~~

It wasn’t hard to find out where Naruto lived after he knew a general description of the guy. Based on comments the villagers made, the deadbeat would have lived somewhere that not many people were willing to populate as easily, unless they had no other options. That had led him to two different run down, shabby apartment buildings, and when Suigetsu had asked around at the first about a loud blonde guy living there, he’d been given rather uncomfortable ‘no’s, like the people he’d asked were too uncomfortable with the idea to even entertain it.

So, he’d found himself choosing to walk up and down the hallways of the second building. The guy was a shinobi, that much was obvious, so the alpha kept his guard up for any chakra signatures in the building, just in case the guy was home.

Then, he set to work trying to sniff out which apartment it would be- literally. Pups carried the scents of both of their parents for the first part of their infancy. Suigetsu had come into Otter’s life just as the second scent was fading away, but he couldn’t forget the bitterness of oranges that had nearly made him sneeze, if not for the soothing overtone of milkiness and soft electricity.

On the fifth floor, Suigetsu had just rounded the corner to access the flight of stairs, when he sneezed.

Citrus hung ever so dully in the air- like a small current that flowed along with the breeze.

Apartment 507. That was where Naruto lived.

Breaking in had been easy. The door knob was rusty and old, and the hinges were loose on the door.

Nothing could have prepared him for the death trap he’d walked into.

Clothes, all in various shades of orange or black or very, very rarely white, were strewn across the floor. Ninja tools littered the counter as well as the dining table. A blue sandal was in the kitchen sink. Three frog pillows were propped up in the corner, far away from any furniture.

What little furniture there was, was shabby at best. Patched holes that were held together with either duct tape or poorly coordinated threads of an uneven color were sporadically placed along the sagging couch. There was a book underneath one of the chair legs to keep it even.

A rug that once had probably been a pretty vibrant color was dull, like it had been cleaned, but not in the correct way.

Suigetsu had peeked into the kitchen cabinets, hoping that at least this guy might be able to feed himself since cleaning was obviously not his strong suit, but all he found was an unhinged, nearly nauseating amount of cup ramen stacked from the bottoms to the tops of the cabinets in an uncharacteristically neat fashion.

“What a loser.” Suigetu muttered under his breath.

He hated alphas like this. His own father had never been one to pick up after himself, nor cook anything other than instant meals from convenience stores. And if Suigetsu’s mom had been out, his old man hadn’t even shared his shitty food with him and his brother to keep their stomachs from rumbling painfully.

Suigetsu rolled his eyes and went to check out the bedroom, but suddenly, the doorknob to the front door was rattling as it was turned from the outside, and Suigetsu had to make a quick getaway from the window.

~~~

The cards had seemed stacked against Naruto. At least, in Suigetsu’s book they were.

But, if that blonde girl kept gossiping any louder from the street below, maybe Suigetsu could see why Sasuke would have made the decision that he did.

“-Should have seen him at the orphanage, Choji! Naruto was like a completely different person- He was asking questions and learning and he really seemed to not want to leave when the mission was over-” The woman’s voice carried on the wind up to where Suigetsu was lounging near the edge of a rooftop.

Otter was in his sling, napping away without a worry in the world.

The guy that was with her, Choji apparently, was a large guy. Had to be an alpha, because no omega could ever be that bulky. Both of them were shinobi then, because the blonde girl had mentioned something about an orphanage mission and this Choji guy carried himself like he could pack a punch if he wanted to, but not a second before.

“Maybe he just feels bad for the kids, Ino. Naruto could probably relate to them.” The alpha male mentioned calmly.

Suigetsu watched as she swatted Choji on the arm, “That’s not the point!”

“Ow-then what is the point?!”

The blonde girl, Ino, sighed, and Suigetsu was getting tired of her dramatics getting in the way of his information gathering. “I think Shikamaru’s wrong, I think Naruto is still depressed about Sasuke leaving, but he’s hiding it by trying to bond with other things instead. The kids at the orphanage, Konohamaru…He’s even been third wheeling with Sakura and Rock Lee now too.”

Suigetsu sat back, stunned. There was no way Naruto would care about Sasuke leaving-he’d abandoned his omega and pup for crying out loud!

Still, he listened on.

“Why do you think Lady Tsunade keeps denying Naruto’s request to go find Sasuke?”

Ino shrugged. “After Asuma sensei…Naruto’s too valuable. She’s not going to risk the Akatsuki getting their hands on him.”.

Suigetsu’s stomach flipped. He turned away, ready to leave. He’d heard enough.

~~~

“Hey stop it! Give it back!” Some snot nosed kid’s high pitched voice cut through the quiet hum of bees and blades of tall grass rustling.

Suigetsu had taken a break from the hunt for information on Naruto- Uzumaki, he’d learned yesterday- to let Otter play in the grassy area near Konoha’s park.

He’d dressed the pup in lighter clothes, since it was so sunny, but had made sure to lather the kid up in sunscreen and fasten his little sun hat atop his head. The alpha felt silly laying on his stomach on a spread out blanket next to a bunch of flowers and weeds, but Otter was eating it up like he was born to be among such vibrant displays of nature.

Since both of his parents were from the Leaf village, Suigetsu figured that he kinda was.

The alpha chuckled as he watched the pup yank at a wildflower. “Oh, what’d you find, bud?” Suigetsu asked with feigned curiosity.

Otter craned his neck to look at Suigetsu with determined little eyes. “Bah!” The pup explained, like Suigetsu was an idiot for asking.

“I said give it back!” the kid from earlier screeched again, this time somehow louder than before. Suigetsu ignored it though. The only kid he was required to care about was happily terrorizing a section of weeds, completely at home among the chaotic atmosphere of the park.

The alpha shifted to lay on his side and propped his head up with his elbow. He let Otter explore, though thankfully the pup was still a ways away from crawling, so most of the mischief he could get himself into was limited to whatever Suigetsu had sat him down next to.

He was glad he’d had the foresight to bring a blanket to place on the ground beneath them, though. The pup was by no means a messy child, but even Otter wouldn’t be able to resist shoving his little fists deep into the dirt and smearing it all over his clothing.

Although… Now that Suigetsu was thinking about it…it would look kinda cute-No! No, he couldn't entertain the idea. Not when he was in charge of bathing Otter these days. It wasn’t worth the headache.

“Stop it or I’ll-I’ll punch you!” That same kid from earlier carried on.

Suigetsu rolled his eyes and turned his attention to where the nuisance was making his presence more than known, finally irritated. The sight he was met with was laughable, all things considered.

Some kid that looked a little short for his age was hopping up in the air, trying to grab at a weirdly long blue scarf that a kid nearly a foot and a half taller had raised over his head, way beyond the runt’s reach.

The alpha glanced around for any other adults that might have been the parents of either gremlin, but unfortunately, he couldn’t spot anyone that seemed related to either boy.

He sighed, deciding to just let the situation run its natural course, but felt Otter’s innocent gaze. Cement weighed his stomach down. Suigetsu couldn’t just sit by with Otter watching. What kind of lesson would that be to the little guy?

Sure, he was too young now to really understand anything, but the alpha knew with a deadbeat that an entire village hated, and a mildly loving yet mentally unwell mother, Otter wasn’t likely to get too many decent examples on how people should behave. Hell, Suigetsu himself wasn’t exactly winning any awards. He never involved himself in anything if he didn’t have to, but still, Otter didn’t need to know that.

“I won’t give it back until you take back what you said in class!” Suigetsu heard that larger kid shout.

He heard the ground thud pathetically, clearly the runt had just stomped his foot. “I’ll never take it back! I said you were stupid and I meant it!”.

The brunette boy had guts at least.

“I’m not stupid just because I said the truth! Sasuke Uchiha IS a traitor!” the boy withholding the scarf boomed.

And for the first time since stepping foot in this goddamn wishy washy village, Suigetsu wasn’t haunted by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. No, he was haunted by Sasuke’s in a weird turn of events.

The ends of the scarf swayed high above both boys, ever so slightly in the breeze that never seemed to die. Otter attempted to roll over, something that he’d taken up as a small hobby as of late, to see what the escalating fuss was about, so Suigetsu swiped him into his arms as the alpha sat up to further assess the situation.

The short kid’s fists shook at his sides. “He’s not a traitor!”

Suigetsu had grown up in the hidden village that had children fight death matches against each other before graduating their own shinobi academy. He knew when a brawl was about to break out between two pups, and this was headed exactly in that direction.

The tall kid leaned down but still managed to keep the scarf high out of the short kid’s reach and got in his face. “I don’t know what’s more pathetic, the grandson of the third hokage pining over his killer’s apprentice, or the fact that your pack only included you because they felt bad for you. No wonder your parents are never home. They don’t want to have to look at someone as embarrassing as you-”

And the brunette lunged, taking the taller one by surprise. He was small, but incredibly fast for such a young kid. He had to be around what, ten, eleven years old? He packed quite the punch too if that sickening crack was anything to go off of.

The scarf, a shock of blue among the dirt now that it lay forgotten by both boys, glared at Suigetsu.

Another crack sounded, along with an enraged growl- or well, an attempt at one, because they were still pups- and a pained cry accompanied it.

Okay, yeah. Suigetsu probably needed to do something. Role modeling was hard.

“Hey,” Suigetsu groaned, feeling his back pop as he picked Otter up and stood all in one fluid motion, “Knock it off. There’s other kids here tryna play.”

Otter snuffled, looking longingly down at the spot where he’d just been laying on his tummy, playing with the wildflowers. He kicked his legs to persuade Suigetsu to let him continue, but the alpha unfortunately had to stop two kids from killing each other.

“Not now, little guy. You can play in a second.” Suigetsu mumbled under his breath, though it was pointless because Otter couldn’t understand him.

The baby continued to fuss, and Suigetsu suddenly felt very exhausted.

“Konohamaru!” A grown male omega with a scar across the bridge of his nose came jogging up. The patch on his vest signified that he was a chunin.

The kids continued to brawl.

“Konohamaru, do I need to go get Kakashi? Or Naruto, for that matter?” The chunin put his hands on his hips.

And just like that, the fighting stopped.

The short kid whined, a far cry from the animal he’d been seconds before. The other kid collapsed backwards onto the ground, probably unconscious. Served him right. That kid was a little asshole in the making.

“No, don't tell them! They’ve both been telling me to stop fighting my classmates.”

“Well, you should have thought about that before you beat poor Daisuke ten feet into the ground! Honestly, you’re just like Naruto when he was your age-”

The kid grinned. “That’s not exactly a bad thing, is it? When he was my age, he took care of me! Sasuke too!”

The chunin sighed, like that wasn’t the first time he’d heard the kid say that. “Yeah, well, you don’t need to repeat their bad habits. You’re smart and strong, use that head more than your fists, okay?”

They continued talking, or, well, the omega continued scolding and lecturing, and the kid huffed and puffed, but with a smile on his face regardless. Suigetsu let his shoulders untense.

Otter continued to grow more fussy, and judging by the rough calculations in his head, Suigetsu decided that it was about time to put the little guy down for a nap. He’d had a big afternoon yanking weeds and trying to catch bees after all.

What that pup with the scarf had said still hung around Suigetsu’s neck like an ominous noose, waiting to snap his neck with the truth. Naruto and Sasuke had taken care of him at some point in his life. The kid was smart and strong, according to that chunin. He didn’t seem underfed and like he had a decent head on his shoulders, if a little bit of a temper.

Maybe Suigetsu was starting to see just a little bit why Sasuke had sent him to deliver Otter to Naruto. Whatever bad blood had happened between the jackass and Sasuke, at least Sasuke had verifiable proof that Naruto could keep a pup alive.

In truth, he didn’t know what to think. The owner of the ramen shop and his daughter had seemed fond of Naruto, but the old woman in the seamstress’ shop seemed to detest the name. The name was such a taboo topic that omegas warned their children to avoid anyone with that name and blonde hair walking down the street. But, two of his fellow shinobi seemed to respect him, even care enough to worry about his confusing relationship with Sasuke.

And now, here was this random pup getting into a fight at the playground over a scarf and the topic of Sasuke Uchiha as a whole, proving that Naruto might not be as terrible as Suigetsu would have first believed. Still terrible, yeah, because that apartment was where hopes and dreams went to die, and he still was a little too touchy with people that weren’t the mother of his pup for Suigetsu’s liking. And the obvious part about him missing the first four months of his son’s life and presumably the entire pregnancy as well.

He needed to decide, and he was running out of time.

What would Juugo do? Karin? Maybe not Karin, she’d very clearly never part with anything that she’d set her obsessive sights on. Juugo wouldn’t even question it, he’d hand him off to his alpha parent without a second thought because of his devotion to Sasuke.

He weighed the pros and he weighed the cons. Otter looked at him with those eyes of his, little eyebrows furrowed and mouth in a serious frown. So much of Sasuke was there in this little boy. But, after gathering the evidence that he had, he could see more minute details that hinted at his other parent.

Otter was clearly tired and upset, but when Suigetsu reached out to offer his pointer finger to entertain him with, the baby’s chubby fist clenched around it like he’d been silently willing Suigetsu to do so from the get go.

And then Suigetsu made his decision.