"Who are you?"
Sasuke's breath caught in his throat as he took in the sight of this little girl. At that moment he knew she was his... The daughter he didn't know existed until that moment.
Sadness, shame, and a rush of emotions shot him in the gut, knowing that this tiny girl, standing before him, was his daughter...
She had the perfect mixture of his mother and Hinata's mother in her delicate features.
He froze, unable to move or speak, his thoughts racing to comprehend the existence of this child he never knew.
Regret instantly washed over him, stealing precious moments he could have shared with his... daughter.
***
4 Years Ago
Sasuke stumbled into Yusuke's room 1 night, drunk off his ass. He was searching for his son, looking around his entire room and telling him to quit playing childish games and come out from his hiding spot.
But it was when he fadedly remembered that he dropped him off with his mother, that he sighed & sat on his son's bed and stared off into space.
He wondered how his mother feel if she was still here to witness him being a shit husband and father. She'd shame him and remind him this isn't how she raised him.
Tears brimmed in his eyes when he pictured his father's stern look at him. Both arms crossed & both brows furrowed.
Sasuke could no longer contain his tears once he saw his brother in his mind. He only has himself to blame for making his son feel like crap and he's now realized how much worth has gone into liquor and his alcoholism.
That's no way to live.
His deep thoughts were interrupted when he heard his front door creaking open.
From that moment it was all sorta a big blur. But he knows that he had to fight for his life with a bunch of unknown men dressed in all black from head to toe.
But there was 1 man he recognized because the punch he threw him was 1 hell of a blow. It landed right in the middle of his chest causing his heart to stop beating in a sense.
Blood spilled out of his mouth, his breath grew short, and he could only stand on his feet for a few minutes longer.
He quickly stumbled into his son's room, leaving a long trail of blood behind him. After slamming the door he had to use the very little chakra he had left to teleport to the 1 place that could save him.
After having Karin bite him and Orochimaru hook him to the stable equipment he had, he was safe and sound.
*
Those 1st couple of weeks were the toughest for him. He had cold sweats, severe tremors in his sleep, extreme hallucinations, and he was always nauseous.
Detoxing from alcohol was harder than he expected. Sasuke didn't realize how much he grew addicted to this substance.
The nightmares that haunted him in his sleep when he was younger were now intensified with new nightmares he was suffering from.
He finally remembered how horrible he treated Hinata. The sexual assault, the physical abuse, the horrible name-calling, the verbal abuse, and everything else.
All the blacking out & not remembering a thing the next day was just a coping mechanism for his guilty conscience.
Not to mention the terrible treatment of his son. The little boy was innocent and Sasuke did nothing but project his worse fears on him.
It finally took him years to know that it didn't matter if he had a boy or a girl.
The 1st step to breaking the Uchiha 'curse' should've been him working on himself, not looking to another source, an outer source at that, to 'fix' him.
***
During the 4 years Sasuke was away, he embarked on a journey of self-discovery and healing. He dived deep within himself and faced his inner demons, acknowledging the mistakes he had made, and the pain he had caused to his most cherished loved ones.
He finally went toward a path of forgiveness. Forgiving the village, his brother, and himself.
Sasuke realized that those were the steps he had to take to be a better husband and father. He even began loving himself again.
He even went to therapy.
The nice woman helped him to dive deep into his past and address the things that made him act a certain way. Though it wasn't easy.
Sasuke had to open himself up and be vulnerable. He had to allow himself to feel again. After having his heart closed off for so long, he had to find little things that he once enjoyed as a child, to guide him with that.
He read & study the topics of books on communication, relationships, and parenthood, eager to gain the knowledge and skills needed to rebuild the bonds he had broken with his son and wife.
With each passing year, Sasuke learned to love himself wholly, embracing his strengths as well as his flaws.
Now, finally, after 4 long years of growth and introspection, Sasuke returned to his family a changed man.
***
PRESENT DAY
The little girl narrowed her mixed orbs and continued speaking to the stranger. "Hey Mister, I can't see your whole face."
She kept inspecting the long piece of hair over his left eye. Then she gasped surprisingly before tugging on the bottom of his long black cloak. "What's this thing right here?" She beamed, looking up at him once more. "Are you a magician?" She cutely squealed.
Hiroko figured that he ended up on the wrong path, trying her best to give the unknown man her solutions. "Did you get lost, Mister? Wanna come in and make a phone call?"
Sasuke didn't move an inch, how could he?
Finally, after about 10 minutes Yusuke stopped playing the game. He & Boruto called this their break time before jumping right back on.
Yusuke heard his baby sister speaking to someone as he was coming down the stairs. "You know better than to answer the door." He scolded her. "There's a man here, Big Brother." Once Yusuke went to the front door he couldn't believe his damn eyes.
His orbs widened in disbelief!
All those nights he waited on the steps and porch, wishing and hoping that he would come back & every single night, it would never happen.
Once he turned 11 he just accepted that his father would never show up again.
Sasuke snapped his head at his son, not believing how much bigger he's gotten since his absence. There was an undeniable striking resemblance between himself & his son when he was that age.
If it weren't for the difference in their eyes, he'd believe that he was currently looking at himself.
Yusuke's look instantly turned hateful and he slammed the door then he turned to his younger sister, taking grasp of both her tiny arms in his hands. "Don't you ever speak to that man again!" He stated firmly. "He's a bad man!" He told her, with a serious gaze.
"Who is he, Big Brother?" The little girl was unaware of who the strange man was.
There was a knock at the door again & Yusuke swung the door open, seeing Sasuke open his mouth but he slammed the door again.
Only for there to be yet another knock at the door. Resulting in him flinging the door open again & Sasuke almost saying his whole name before Yusuke slammed the door shut once more. Sasuke took a sharp breath before knocking again, & the angered preteen opened the front door again. "Yusuke."
He was about to slam the door on him again until Sasuke placed his foot in the doorway, stopping him from doing so.
"I wanna speak to your mother." He softly said to him. "She's not here!" He hissed.
Sasuke recognized that familiar expression on his son's face. Hatred, Anger, Rage, Wrath.
He was still disappointed in himself for the damage he caused to his son.
Yusuke wanted to light him up and set him on fire. This son of a bitch has the nerve to be gone without a trace for all those years AND come back, asking to speak to his mother?
"Well, then..." Sasuke's voice was softer than usual than how Yusuke remembered it being. "When she is here, can you tell her I stopped by?" He silently gulped and Yusuke still glared at him with the same disgusting look.
*
"Mommy, there's a bad man at the door." Hinata was freshly out of the tub, now tying the silk robe around her luscious body before slipping on her comfy house shoes & heading downstairs to see who this 'bad man' was.
Once she made it downstairs, she saw her son leaning toward the doorway, looking up at something. When finally making it to the front door she gasped soon learning it was her ex-husband at the front door.
Hinata quickly removed her son from the doorway, swiftly moving in front of him and shutting the door behind her.
Sasuke gazed upon Hinata and couldn't help feeling a mixture of happiness, attraction, and surprise. Her once-long hair was now cut into a short bob, stopping a few inches above her shoulders, accentuating those lovely curves of hers. It brought a more sophisticated look to her smitten appearance.
Though he was feeling all these things, Hina felt the quite opposite. She was taken aback by his unexpected return. Her emotions were mixed with caution, resentment, & confusion.
"You need to leave." She quietly said to him. "." She cut him off before he could say anything else. "I'll contact you when the time is right."
Hinata, sadly needed space to process his return. Even though she's healed from all those wounded emotional scars he left her, she still needed time to wrap her head around the whole situation, which wouldn't be overnight.
Sasuke felt the waves of sad emotions drown him. He understood her request but he wanted to hold her in his arms and grant her a bunch of kisses.
The apologetic man knew he had to keep his patience intact for them to get somewhere.
"O-Ok." He turned around and left his old residence.
***
He paced back and forth in his hotel room. Sad tears roamed from his eyes, down his cheeks. The regretful man kept running his hands through his hair while crying.
How couldn't he not know about having a daughter? They did sleep together, and he did ejaculate inside her, for the whole week she stayed at his new place.
Then he even threw up.
Back then he thought it was the liquor but, now, today. He knows it was him picking up on her pregnancy symptoms.
All the heartburn he was experiencing, the slight weight gain he was having, the puffier his cheeks looked, the increased appetite, and the constant fatigue he always felt should've been a huge coincidence to him!
But the fact she kept him from knowing about her existence, was fucking him up in ways he didn't know could happen.
This was worse than death.
Looking at that beautiful little girl was almost too good to be true. He instantly felt connected to her. His heart skipped a beat as he relived the scene of her opening the door.
The innocence in her mixed orbs shimmered like the bright moon and stars in the sky on a clear night.
He couldn't help but be captivated by her small stature. This delicate little being already held the key to his heart.
She ignited a fierce strength of will within him to be the best damn father to her. She deserved for him to be present in her life. He didn't wanna miss any more time being away from her.
Sasuke was now determined to plan his next steps. He vowed to himself to commit to his wife and his children. The courageous man was on a mission to win his family back.
***
"Mom, why is he back?" Hinata sighed heavily as she prepared dinner. "What does he want?"
She was under stress due to the constant pestering questions her son gunned her down with. "Is he here to hurt us?"
Hina finally turned to her baby boy and blew out an uneasy breath. "Yusuke, please. Give me some time to figure it out...."
Yusuke was anxious. "But why did he come back to us?" He asked her again, desperately needing an answer.
"I... don't know!" She shouted before shutting her eyes quickly and taking in a long sharp breath. Yusuke pouted while still keeping his orbs on his mother. "I'm sorry." She looked down at her worried son.
"I know your father's return is shocking but-" The youthful boy cut her off. "He is NOT my father! A real father wouldn't abandon his son!" An angry whine was expressed from him.
"Yusuke, please. Just give me some time to figure it out..." She gently told him.
He pouted again. "Fine!" He began stomping out of the kitchen. "Where are you going?"
He kept his back turned toward her. "I'm not hungry!" Was the last thing he said before disappearing upstairs.
All Hina could do was sadly keep her gaze on the floor and breathe softly.
***
"Mommy, who was that man at the door?" Hiroko was unaware of the painful history that her big brother and her mother had to endure during their earlier years with Sasuke.
Hina looked down at her baby girl with tender orbs, comfortably stroking her hair. "He's an old friend of mine." The little girl was curious about the identity of Sasuke.
"Why did Big Brother say he's a bad man?" Hinata was not yet ready to discuss the important conflict of them with her. Her being so young and all.
"Just get some rest, sweetheart." She tucked her daughter's favorite blue teddy bear in bed with her. "Goodnight, pretty girl. Sweet dreams."
Once she kissed her on her forehead, the little girl closed her eyes and drifted off.
*
He stared down at the picture of him and his father. The once-fresh pic was now all burnt and torn around the edges from his indecisiveness on wanting to destroy it altogether or not.
When his mother softly knocked 2 times before entering, he quickly shoved the photo back into his drawer. "Yusuke..." He turned to her.
Hinata sat on his bed and patted the spot next to her. Once he was seated she began speaking in a soft tone.
"I don't know why he's back... but you know that I would never keep you from him, don't you?" They were eye to eye as he nodded.
"Just tell me how you feel about him being here and we can go from there..." Hina was allowing her son to choose on rather or not he wanted Sasuke around.
"I need some time to think about it..." Yusuke finally spoke his peace and his mother accepted it. "I understand, sweetie." She leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Get some sleep."
***
That night Sasuke got a knock at his hotel door. He wondered how Hina knew which room was his when he never told her where he was staying. Once he opened it, he frowned.
"What... are you doing here?"
When she reached in for a hug he dodged it, leaning to the other side to purposefully miss her greeting.
The pinkette didn't notice his disappointment, walking into the room and untying the long coat she had on.
Sasuke shut the door and turned around to see her in some sexy lingerie. He noticed how much more define her body figure has gotten.
Her short hair highlighted the new curves that greatly painted her body. But even with how attractive she looked, his body couldn't find itself to react...
"Sakura, why are you here?" He asked again and she cocked her head to the side before lowering her emerald orbs.
The serious tall man, waited on her to answer him as she scoffed. "I have on this." She pointed to the sexy clothes, she currently wore. "And you're asking me why I'm here?"
Sasuke kept his cool demeanor. "I'm not into that stuff anymore." He respectfully told her. "I'm trying to get things back on track with my family." He picked up her coat and handed it to her. "So if you'll kindly please leave."
He walked over to the door, stepped to the side, and opened it. "Goodbye Sakura."
She puffed and rolled her eyes. "She's already moved on, Sasuke." He sighed and disregarded what she said, still holding the door open for her. Sakura then walked out and he shut the door behind her.
Sasuke wasn't jeopardizing his chance to win Hinata back. Believe it or not, he hasn't had sex in 4 years. To say that he would be celibate for that long, was something he thought was impossible.
But he needed to be cleansed from all things that were keeping him from healing.
***
A month went by and Sasuke was growing impatient, he understood they needed time to decide whether or not they wanted him back in their life but he didn't wanna wait any longer.
And unfortunately, desperate times called for desperate measures.
Sasuke couldn't help himself.
He snuck into the gated backyard of his old residence and inspected the built-in playground and the nice built deck behind the patio.
A little thought wandered inside his mind.
Should he break in? That was cut short when he saw the patio door sliding open and the curtains being parted.
The little girl stuck her head out, squinting her different colored orbs at the stranger before gasping. He started backing away until she said something. "Hey, Mister. What are you doing here?" His eyes went wide and his cheeks got red. Sasuke's shyness prevented him from speaking to her as his heart pounded with nervousness and happiness.
Hiroko furrowed her brows and hung her bottom lip, looking like how Yusuke did when he was younger. "Hey!" Her smooth squeaky voice turned stern. "It's rude not to answer somebody!" The stunned man rose both his brows & still stayed silent.
She grunted and came out on the deck in her purple pajamas and her piggy slippers.
"Hey! You wanna get beat up, Mister?" When she balled up her small right fist, he couldn't help but fawn over the beautiful little girl.
There was no denying that she was his daughter. She was more fierce than him at that age. It left him wanting to get to know her even more. The desire to build a close, loving relationship with his daughter grew stronger.
'Hiroko, get in here!'
They both gasped at the same time at the sound of Hinata's voice. "I gotta go, Mister." The little girl rushed back inside the house & shut the patio behind her.
Sasuke was left smiling from ear to ear. That small encounter he just experienced with his baby girl had him feeling refreshed & happy.
Just when he was about to hop the gate, he felt a pair of eyes on him. Turning his head in the direction of his son's window.
But Yusuke quickly hid behind the wall, panting heavily and failing to slow his erratic heartbeat down. Sasuke stood there for a few more minutes.
He felt a sense of longing to reconnect with his son. Even with Yusuke's rejection of him, he still felt a certain pull toward him & there was no doubt in his bones that Yusuke felt the same way also.
***
Hinata and Hiroko came home from grocery shopping when they heard some slight commotion upstairs.
"Yusuke?" She called out to him. "I'll be right down mom." While Hina and her daughter began putting up the groceries, Hiroko couldn't stop asking about Sasuke.
Baby girl was interested in him and it made her heart ache every time. "That man is really tall, mommy."
Hinata stayed silent. "Does he have any kids like you?" The petite girl almost made Hinata choke on her water, causing Hiroko to rush by her mother's side.
"Mommy, are you alright?" She checked on her mother in a concerned state. Hinata quickly cleared her throat. "I'm fine sweetheart..."
Yusuke finally came down the stairs and when he entered the kitchen, Hinata's mouth dropped open in sheer shock.
"Hahaha." Hiroko laughed a funny tune. "Big Brother, you look like a blueberry."
Hinata's eyes have never been as wide as they were at that moment. Yusuke ignored his baby sister's comment and smiled at his mother.
"So, mom. What do you think?" She instantly narrowed her clear orbs at him. "Yusuke!"
She sternly said his name with her hands on her hips.
*
"And you better not put that crap back in your hair ever again!" She firmly stated before walking out of his bathroom as he stood at the sink, washing the dye out of his hair & frowning at his mother's demand.
Yusuke felt daggers of sadness when he gazed at his reflection in the mirror.
***
April 1st
"Are you sure about this?" She asked her son for the umpteenth time. His eyes held many emotions within them and his voice was filled with vulnerability.
"Yes, mom." He reassured her. "I'm sure..." Hinata grabbed him and held him in her arms, cradling him against her.
"Ok, sweetheart. I'll contact him and tell him tomorrow." For the rest of the day, she held her baby boy in her arms as she hummed a sweet tune to him. Yusuke's gaze was on the floor as he thought about finally seeing Sasuke.
***
An: Don't ever let kids answer the door. 🥴 Y'all see how quick she was to invite this mf in the house?
Also, it might be like 4-5 days till I can upload a chapter, not b/c I'm not writing but b/c I wanna give y'all chapters back to back. 🥺💜