The nightfall came and the stars shone bright. Some owls shrieked a creepy tune up in the high trees and there were some strong howls in the distance.
Yusuke and Boruto silently sat on a log. "Maybe mom and twinkle-bear should've come. They would've loved it here." The young blond stared up at the big bright moon and the stars with loving orbs.
He was so grateful to be blessed with a real mother who loves, supports, & accepts him unconditionally.
Having her in his life was something he thanked the higher power for every day.
Not to mention he also got blessed with wonderful siblings and not once have they ever made him feel like an outsider.
If Boruto could thank them a million times, he would, but for now he settled by being the absolute best for them.
"Sasuke showed me murdering people from the time he was 17..." Yusuke didn't know where it came from but it just slipped out.
Boruto snapped his head at his brother with a shocked expression and Yusuke gulped.
"He's a killer..." The young whiskered blond didn't know how to react or how to respond. His mouth opened and closed but he didn't know what to say.
His brother never went into detail about why he had so much disdain for his uncle and he never pressed him to reveal what it was since it probably would've brought up painful memories.
After what seemed like forever Boruto asked him to explain more so he could make better sense of the situation, only if Yusuke was comfortable enough doing so.
*
Naruto stood from the log with his hands on his hips and he began pacing back & forth. "Sasuke, what the fuck were you thinking?"
He was too stunned to say anything else and it showed with the way he let his head hang low, avoiding all eye contact.
"Beating him for going to the damn bathroom after keeping him in the bar for long hours?"
Naruto just couldn't believe his damn ears. He could count on hand how many times he'd hit his son, though that didn't make it any better.
"And having him around all those dangerous people when anything could've happened? What the fuck!" He rubbed his temple in a stressful manner as he continued to pace.
"Look, I know I fucked up, I know I did." Sasuke finally lifted his head.
"But I was a fucked up person and I risked my son's life to fulfill my habit." Sasuke didn't even reveal this to his therapist because he was too ashamed of himself.
"I know the relationship was torn apart but I didn't know it was this bad." Sasuke stood and Naruto knocked him back down on his ass with a punch. "That's for putting your damn hands on Hinata." He didn't even fight back because he deserved it.
Naruto shook his head and tried to find a way to cope with the news that had just been shared. "This is gonna be harder than I thought." Sasuke just wanted things to be right with his son, it wasn't a small patch but it was something that could be healed.
***
Hiroko had her mother dial her bestie's number and he picked up on the first ring. "Bestie!!" If she could leap through the phone she would. "Baby Doll?" She cutely squealed at her nickname but that was soon over when she began scolding him.
"What took you so long to call me? Do you wanna get beat up again?" She frowned over the phone and he smiled softly.
"I'm sorry, I was a little busy but I'm available now." Hiroko began making sweet conversation with him and he gladly accepted by adding in some sweetness of his own.
Talking to his baby girl made his night better. It took away the pain he felt by revealing such a big thing he's been holding on to for a little while now.
Sometime in the conversation, Hinata called Naruto and merged both calls and she talked to both men. Which ended in all 3 of them falling asleep on the phone.
***
The sizzling heat woke the boys up about early 7 in the morning. "All this damn shade for nothing!" Yusuke groaned annoyingly & unzipped his sleeping bag. When he looked over he went wide-eyed.
"Damn, I forgot about that." Boruto fell asleep last night and forgot about the plan to get some chips so Yusuke just did it on his own.
Of course, he didn't keep his word about not going overboard because he ate the whole bag. Even though it was just one bag out of the 3.
He sighed in disappointment and bowed his head since thought he got over his emotional eating but this just proves that he didn't & there was no way he was gonna let Boruto take part of the blame for something he did.
The young raven unzipped his tent and stuck his head out, looking left and right. When the coast was clear he quickly paced over to the trash bag and threw away the empty bag, being sure to bury it under all the other trash, and then hurried back to his tent.
*
"Maybe we can take the boys swimming in the lake." Sasuke was rummaging through the cooler of food and he looked over to Naruto asking what happened to the classic bag of potato chips. "Did you eat it?"
Naruto gargled his mouth with mouthwash before spitting. "No, did you?"
Sasuke exhaled and grabbed the biscuits and sausages Hinata made for them. They were a day old but after warming it up, the taste wasn't different.
Boruto was giving Yusuke dirty looks the whole morning, trying to will himself not to curse him for not keeping his word.
"I think one of the boys ate them." Naruto chewed & swallowed his breakfast. "Wouldn't be the first time." Sasuke looked at Boruto grimacing at Yusuke and then he looked at Yusuke who kept his gaze down and refused all eye contact with anyone.
"It was Yusuke." He squinted his eyes while keeping his stare on the little fucker. "He needs to be disciplined." It seemed as if his son was still being disrespectful, still talking back, and still not abiding by certain rules.
Sasuke didn't appreciate Naruto's nonchalant attitude about it. "What exactly do you and Hinata do to supervise him?"
Naruto drank the rest of his tea and answered him. "She takes away his game, puts him on punishment, and makes him work in the garden since he doesn't like it."
"And you?"
Naruto scratched the top of his head and sorta stared off. "Well, I work a lot so she handles all of the punishments with the kids. But I do give him a stern talk."
Sasuke was disappointed to learn this. Obviously, her way of discipline wasn't working because he clearly didn't listen.
He had to find the guidelines between making it up to him and wanting to put him in his damn place, like the child he was.
***
The four guys stepped their way to the lake and Sasuke couldn't ignore what's been gnawing at him. "I know you ate those chips."
Yusuke angrily furrowed his brows and gripped his book bag straps tighter.
"You can't prove a damn thing."
Sasuke pursed his mouth & exhaled sharply through his nose. "I told you to stop your cursing." Yusuke stopped in his tracks, whipped around, and looked at him with activating orbs. "And I told you that I don't care about what the hell you want!"
He wasn't gonna stand for this little boy disrespecting him again, so he grabbed his left arm and clutched Yusuke's right wrist when he pulled out his knife making the preteen's mouth gape and look up at him with mere shock.
"I'm not gonna tell you again."
When he spoke sternly to him Yusuke's heart stopped beating before starting again at an alarming rate.
Naruto broke them up at a perfect time when he caught up with them and once they were apart Yusuke stormed off and Boruto caught up with him.
"Sasuke, what the fuck was that?" His fists were still balled when he yelled out, "That little boy keeps testing me!"
"He's hurting!" Naruto yelled back. "I understand that! But there's so much I can take." Sasuke kicked a tree and started to pace back & forth. "Naruto, it's been 4 months. 4 fucking months."
The blond sighed tirelessly, "I get that but I told you this doesn't happen overnight..." Sasuke stopped his pacing and looked straight at his best friend with weary orbs.
"But how much longer do I have to wait?" His patience was at a true standstill.
*
"Who the hell does he think he is telling me I can't curse at him?" Yusuke was heated & his orbs were still activated.
"He's even lucky that I allow him to be back in the picture! Because if it wasn't for me, mom would've sent him packing!"
Boruto tried calming his brother but he was too angry. "He put his damn hands on me again after I told him not to!" He grunted before speaking again. "I hate him!"
The young whiskered blond asked the million-dollar question. "Do you want him to leave again?" Yusuke's hateful expression instantly switched to a sad one.
"No!"
His lips were pouted, his chakra dissipated, and his body softened. Tears were brimming in his eyes and his heart was sinking.
"I mean... I don't know." Yusuke hung his head low. "I'm confused..."
Boruto wrapped supporting arms around him. "No, you're not, you're just pissed at him still." Yusuke cried into his brother's chest and thought about how Sasuke hurt him badly.
He wanted to be close to him but he wanted to make his life a living hell too.
***
Sasuke and Yusuke kept their distance from each other since they both felt it was best.
But the tall raven couldn't help but think how much his son had the nerve to pull a knife out on him again. There was no denying that the little boy was his flesh & blood.
He didn't know anybody else crazy enough to pull the little petty shit that he did and honestly... It made him a proud father.
To know that little fucker wouldn't hold back on him even though he's his father, showed him that he was willing to give his all & fight.
Despite missing out on so much & dealing with what Yusuke has said and done, whilst knowing that he's gonna do even more shit to piss him off, he's impressed with the young man his son is becoming.
While Yusuke swam in the lake with Boruto, Sasuke couldn't help but inspect his son. He still couldn't get over how much different the little boy looked from 4 years ago.
The shocking resemblance went away as he started to see him as his own person.
Even with the same mannerisms, the same physical look, and some of the same mindset. Sasuke finally saw that he and his son were a lot different from each other.
He has his own personality and he's his own little man. If only he'd known that when his son was born, things would've gone a lot differently than before but that's what healing and forgiveness are for.
Sasuke was glad to have this small time for himself because he could finally hit his weed pen. He calmly exhaled the smoke and looked over to Naruto who kept smirking at his phone.
"Dobe, you've been over there for 30 minutes now." He said aloud & the cheering blond responded, "Mind your business asshole."
He got himself up with one hand and strolled over to him. "What are you looking at?" Naruto quickly locked his phone. "Nothing. Do you wanna get in the water?" When his phone buzzed again Sasuke snatched it out of his hand and unlocked it.
"You would be stupid enough to have your passcode as your birthday." Sasuke's left arm was extended out toward him as he kept his left hand on his chest to prevent him from getting his phone.
He swiped down and clicked on the message Hinata sent him and then his eyes went wide.
Nudes?
Sasuke inhaled more of the concoctions and the corners of his mouth curled into a mischievous smirk of his own. If his wife wanted to be naughty then he'd play along.
"C'mon, Sasuke quit fucking around." He was whining and the tall raven just handed him his weed pen while keeping his eyes glued on the phone. "It's your turn to watch the boys." Naruto narrowed his blue orbs and snatched the weed pen. "Asshole."
***
Yusuke and Boruto were out of the water and they were drying their faces with the towels they brought. "I'm starving." Yusuke agreed with his brother. "Me too."
"Where are those weirdos?"
They heard some chuckling and then they turned around to see them. "Had a good swim boys?" The preteens glanced at each other and looked at their dads again.
*
"Does something seem different about them?" Yusuke looked back at Sasuke & Naruto to see them laughing historically.
"Yeah, I think they're making fun of us." He crossed his arms and frowned. "No, I don't think it's that... it's something else..."
The young raven looked over his shoulder again and squinted his eyes. Something was off but he couldn't put his finger on it.
***
"Sasuke you just have to understand, we're gonna share her." He grabbed the big bag of BBQ chips and opened them and grabbed a handful of them before stuffing his mouth.
"She's gonna be too occupied with me." He grabbed the sour cream-flavored chips and opened them. "I'm trying to be civil," Naruto said while chewing.
"You don't need to be civil. I said what I said." Sasuke stuffed his mouth. "Hinata's mine." Naruto sighed and snickered again. "I don't feel like arguing." Sasuke did the same. "Yeah, me either." - "You're eating all the chips!" Boruto yelled out to them both.
Naruto yelled back at his son. "Come get some." Sasuke noticed Yusuke staring at the bag of chips from the corner of his eyes so he tilted the bag toward him. "Hm?"
Yusuke's face contorted into a nasty grim before he walked over to him and grabbed the bag before eating.
"Hey, you can't eat all of them. I still haven't punished you for eating the last bag."
When he tried grabbing the bag again Yusuke turned his shoulder to him. "Yusuke-" The preteen turned his back to him and cradled the chips against himself.
"Kid, I'm not gonna tell you." They began wrestling over the chips and fell to the ground. "Yusuke, give me the chips!" He grunted loudly. "No!" White smoke appeared when one of Yusuke's clones poofed up.
The carbon copy grabbed the chips and began running but little did he know Sasuke had some tricks up his sleeves too because his clone began chasing after Yusuke's.
Naruto and Boruto were both digging out of the BBQ bag of chips and filling their mouths with handfuls as they watched.
"Those 2 are always doing shit."
Boruto gasped and looked up at his dad. "That's a bad word, isn't it?" Naruto curled a little & smacked his forehead. He thought he was saying that in his head.
"You better not tell your mother about this!"
*
The clones of Sasuke and Yusuke both got a hold of the bag of chips while they were both running but then they smacked into a tree which unfortunately, had a wasp nest attached to it. When they heard the loud buzzing they both shot their looks up at the same time.
"Dammit! - Dammit!"
Yusuke did a hand signal with furrowed brows and Sasuke's were knitted together too.
They both blew fireballs at the same time and destroyed the nest, bursting it into big flames, and they moved out of the way as it collapsed to the ground.
"I didn't need your help!" Yusuke was angry and that ticked Sasuke off. "I'm tired of your damn attitude!" Yusuke pulled another knife and threw it at him & Sasuke dodged it.
"Come on bud, I taught you better than this! You're thinking with your emotions." The clones poofed away, the chips fell to the ground, and the originals were up & ready to battle.
*
"You haven't taught me a damn thing instead of running out when things get tough!" Their eyes were locked on each other and the tension was thick between the 2. This was the perfect time for Yusuke to release his pent-up rage.
His left eye radiated with the Byakugan while his right eye eerily glowed with the Sharingan. In a hot flash, Yusuke began unleashing a mass of jutsu, aiming it right at Sasuke, determined to land a hit on him.
But Sasuke evaded each attack. "If you quit being so fucking stubborn and allow me to apologize, then we could talk it out!" Even while gracefully dodging his son's attacks, he couldn't hide his hurt feelings.
"We don't need to talk!" Sasuke caught his sharp knife and threw it to a tree. "Yusuke, what the hell do you want?" He screamed out to his son.
"I WANT YOU TO SUFFER!" He sent a spurt of fire to him and yet again, Sasuke dodged it. "I've been suffering all my life!"
A clone emerged from behind him and tried punching him but Sasuke grabbed him and locked his arms behind him.
"And whose fault is that? You're trash!"
Sasuke's heart stopped beating and tears rolled down his eyes. He's always thought these things about himself and he believed that he wasn't supposed to live for a long time.
But never in a million years, he thought he'd be hearing these words coming out of his son's mouth. "Yusuke, you don't mean that..."
The little boy could feel his heart beating outside of his chest. "The hell I don't!"
He was still lounging at Sasuke and missing. "Yusuke, I'm sorry for hurting you." He began crying. "Just... just shut the hell up!" Both of the guys were now bawling their eyes out.
"You don't get to make me feel sorry for you, I..." He sniffled. "I don't care about you! I... I hate you." His voice started to break.
"The only reason I allow you to be around is just for Hiroko." Yusuke had to say these things out loud but even then, he didn't truly believe them. "You don't mean that!"
Yusuke's clone poofed away and the original was too tired to try anything else.
His eyes were unactivated and his chakra bubbled down. Yusuke wiped his eyes with his forearm. "Take me out of this genjutsu."
Sasuke granted his son's wish and when the ultimate fight was over Yusuke walked away behind a tree, to get himself together.
***
"Dad, we gotta help them out..."
Boruto shared his concern with his father.
"Yeah, I know kiddo..."
***
"I can't let this go on for another minute," Naruto said. "Instead of bonding you both are just arguing like fucking enemies." It was nighttime again and all the guys were washed up and fresh. Sasuke and Naruto were a few feet away from where they were sleeping.
Sasuke was rolling up a fat blunt while he listened to his best friend voice his opinion. "It's been like this since he was young."
Yusuke always had a strong personality and it constantly clashed with Sasuke's a lot of times.
"That little fucker has been trying me since he was born!" A wave of memories came through Sasuke's mind when Yusuke was only about 8 months old. He'd angrily grunt in his baby voice whenever he was told something and he would hit him a bunch of times whenever he'd come into contact with Hinata.
If anything, Yusuke was more possessive of her than he was around that time but then again, he was just following after him so he really can't blame him for picking up his traits...
"Sasuke, he's the child in this situation. You need to stop acting like one." Sasuke was now hitting his blunt and keeping a tight inhale before exhaling.
"Yeah, I know but he's just so damn stubborn, I can't tell him shit!" It was like talking to a brick wall. He took another hit of the blunt and realized that he was the same way at that age.
He passed the blunt to Naruto and he took a hit of it before speaking again. "Look, I know he's being a pain in the ass but he's trying to sort through his feelings of frustration." Sasuke was surprised at how much sense the dobe made.
"You know what it's like. You went through the same thing with Itachi, remember?" Sasuke shot him a pretty serious look but it wasn't for any harm, it's just that's when it all finally clicked. He remembers everything.
The only thing he lived for was killing his brother. He honestly thought that was his only life's purpose but truth be told when Itachi did die, it didn't make him feel any better.
That actually sent him off into a spiral of hate. If it weren't for him stalking Hinata and being her sperm donor, which turned into something more beautiful than he could imagine.
Then there's no doubt in his mind he would've been the coldest and nastiest mf alive who did nothing but kill and slaughter whoever, whenever. Eventually though, in his sick head, he probably would've just kidnapped Hinata.
And as bad as it sounds, he also would've taken her against her will, and honestly, no woman would want a baby born from chaos.
Yusuke really was born out of love but Sasuke found a way to fuck it up since he wasn't over his trauma and it turned out to be shit anyway.
"Maybe I can write him a letter?" Naruto coughed up smoke right when he was inhaling and passed the blunt back over to Sasuke.
"This isn't the olden days." Naruto looked at him silly and Sasuke came up with another idea. "Maybe I can write him a song?"
Naruto snickered at that terrible idea.
"You can't sing." Sasuke's face became stern.
"I can have his mother sing it." Naruto had the blunt in his hand again. "So it'll look like her gift, not yours."
Sasuke exhaled sharply through his nose. "Okay, then maybe I can buy him a new toy." The tall whiskered blond coughed up smoke again which turned into laughs.
"He isn't 5. He doesn't play with toys anymore, only game systems." The grown raven had a mean expression on his face as he looked off to the side. How long has he been away to not know that 12-year-olds don't play with toys anymore?
Game systems?
What does that even mean?
"So I should buy him some board games and learn the system on how to play it?" Naruto coughed again and this time it brought tears to his eyes. He was howling with laughter.
"Why is that so funny?" Sasuke narrowed his brows while giving his idiot best friend a jarring look. It was funny because Sasuke's way of thinking was still back then when they didn't discover updated technology.
"You have a lot to learn, asshole."
*
"You 2 make me sad." Boruto finally spoke after an hour of silence as he and his brother sat on the log. "A father and a son should never fight that much..." Yusuke could feel the tears threatening to spill from his watery eyes because his brother was right...
"I'm sorry Boru, we can't seem to get it right," Yusuke responded in a saddening tone and his lips were sadly pouted while his gaze was on his feet. "How can I help you 2?"
This was more hurtful to Boruto than it should've been because he remembers the petty arguments he and his dad kept having and for a strong minute he thought it wasn't possible for them to ever get along.
"I don't know if you or anybody else can help us..." He spoke out in a soft tone. "I'm always screaming how much I hate him but truth be told is... after everything.... I...." He stopped his sentence and began crying and sniffling.
"Yusu, I know. K? I know."
Boruto threw an arm around him and pulled him in for a brotherly hug.
He understood his confused feelings because he went through it. But deep down inside his heart, he knew that Yusuke and Uncle Sasuke had would it took to get better.
***
It was the last official day of them camping and Sasuke decided to make amends with his son.
He couldn't believe he was agreeing on this with his dumb best friend but Naruto's right.
If he wanted things to progress between him and his kid, then that meant he was gonna have to quit acting like one and be patient.
Yusuke,
I'm sorry for how I acted over the weekend. I had no right to touch you and scream at you when you asked me not to. I'm willing to make it up to you, just tell me what you want and I'll do it. No pressure or no hesitation....
Sasuke,
The young raven read the small sticky note a bunch of times. He was a little annoyed to see that their handwriting sorta matched and he was a little disappointed with himself when he caught himself smiling at the small note.
He shouldn't be happy about this small thing. That was nothing! But he couldn't ignore the warm sensation coming from the center of his chest nor the happy tears that spilled over.
But he wasn't gonna make it that easy for him, so he wrote him back and left the sticky note on his tent while he was using the shower tent.
*
Sasuke was all fresh and clean when he walked back to his tent & he gasped lightly when he saw another sticky note stuck to his tent.
Go fall in a ditch.
I want the new ninja game by July.
- The boy who doesn't like you.
He should've been infuriated with the disrespectful ass note his son wrote him but oddly, he was ecstatic.
At least he got something back with a request which was a start. "That little fucker."
He mumbled to himself with a warm smile radiating from his cheeks.
His hand held the note close to his chest and he went to bed happier than ever.
Sasuke was beaming to have another chance with his baby boy...
***
"So... you wrote a note to him... how did it go?" Naruto asked when they were walking on foot now finally making it back to the village.
"It went better than I thought." He replied with a noticeable grin on his face. "Good..."
*
Hinata swung the door open and attacked her sons with bright hugs and kisses.
"Ohh, my babies." She snuggled them into her bosom and began kissing their cheeks more. "Did any of you get hurt? Stung? Bitten? Hit?"
The worried mother knelt in front of them, spinning them around from front to back while checking for any sore spots and the 2 boys just blushed. "Mom..." Boruto groaned.
"Did you boys remember what I said?" She snuggled them more into her chest and blessed them with more comforting kisses.
Hiroko ran from inside the house and jumped on both of the boys. "Big Brothers!!" Her tiny hands happily clutched to both of them. "Where's daddy and bestie?" Hinata moved to the side for all the kids to come in. "They'll be here in a little while sweetie."