The Lost Fan of the Hokage
By: Shozetsku
Disclaimer/Warnings/ Authoress Notes:
See chapter 1 for disclaimer, I don't feel like typing it again. Disclaimer in chapter one goes for rest of the fic.

Cursing,Shonen-ai stuff, bashing of some characters, definite OOCness, and Naruto is married and has a kid -- PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I beg you, please don't kill me!

I left this for a long time and just recently got inspired in it again. No one really made suggestions on how to continue so I sorta got really stuck and gave up for a few months. MagicMoon was the only one who asked for a plushie so she get’s her Gaara Plushie, and as an added bonus he’s in his uber cute outfit that he wears in the Shipuuden! Eh, you probably all hate me anyways… but I feel bad that this got left alone for so long so! Here goes! - Vocab rundown at end of chapter as needed.

Chapter 3: Parties Are Only Half The Fun

Kokoro and Sasuke sat at the front of the table. Sasuke sat quietly and a bit humbly at the head of the table, though Kokoro seemed to be in her element. Sasuke found himself surrounded by familiar faces, Gaara and his two siblings, Lee, Neji, Ten-ten, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Kurenai, Kakashi, Gai, Sai, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and there was but a single unfamiliar face, a young boy of about eight or nine years old. He sat next to Kurenai and wore a hitai-ate that looked very old around his neck.

Sasuke felt weird, but at the same time he felt strangely comfortable. Kokoro was the life of the party next to him, and she did everything she could to keep him included. Sasuke learned what everyone had been up to since he left.

Everyone had reached jounin level. Kiba and Neji had been in and out of ANBU. Shino headed most high ranked stealth and tracking missions. Hinata applied for a desk job and sometimes taught at the ninja academy, but was always a proctor of the Chunnin exams. Ino and Sakura dealt mostly in the hospital, Ino had become Konoha’s first psychiatrist, though Sakura never liked to be in only one place and she became the medical ninja in some of the more dangerous missions. Ten-ten, Chouji, and Lee spent much of their free time training, and doing missions. Shikamaru also took a desk job in strategy and interrogation. And of course Gaara and Naruto had achieved the rank of Kages. Temari and Kankuro were highly ranked ninja on Suna’s council. Which left Sasuke's story as the only one left to be told..

Sasuke had spent years with Orochimaru, deftly slipping away every three years or so for about seven years, he’d quietly assassinated Orochimaru, Kabuto died in the fight. He spent the next few years training himself and tracking the akatsuki. It hadn’t been an easy fight, it had lasted three days and it was by Itachi’s express orders that Kisame leave before the fight had actually started. If Kisame had stayed Sasuke was sure he would have been killed. He’d hidden out in wave country for a while, visiting Tsunami and Inari, and then he’d wandered around for a few days before finding that he’d wandered right into Konoha’s training grounds.

Kokoro drank in the appearance of Sasuke Uchiha, his face was awkward, like he wasn’t used to showing much emotion; she wondered if he was like Sai-kun. He seemed nice enough, if hiding something. what was the word that Ino-san would use? Guarded? Everyone around her looked happy, and yet some of them looked worried. She wondered why...

And then her father stood up, and every sound hushed as he raised his glass. “Friends! Because you are all my friends, we are here because today is a good day, no, a great day to celebrate!” There was a break in his speech when he allowed everyone to cheer, “My daughter is eight years old today and will be going into the ninja academy very soon. I would advise everyone to hide their breakables.”

“DADDY!” Kokoro shrieked, much to Sasuke’s chagrin, but everyone laughed and Naruto continued, “It’s for days like this that I am glad I am Hokage, not to throw an overly large party for my daughter, though that is a perk,” there was another small giggle that rose up through the crowd, “But to see our children grow, not just mine but everyone’s children. For what reason do we, as adults, exist but to care for our children? To better the world we live in now for them? Our children, all the children of Konoha are the future of Konoha, and as such I, the Hokage, am charged to protect each and every one of them. And I can stand before you right now in full honesty and say not only as your Hokage, but as a parent and a man, that I would give my life one hundred times over to save any one of you.” He raised his glass, “To Konoha’s brilliant future, our children. Kampai!”

“KAMPAI!” was echoed everywhere as every glass rose, and people drank deeply. But Naruto wasn’t done, “And as one of the perks of being the Hokage, another toast! To my daughter, Kokoro. Kampai!”

There was some laughter but a second “Kampai!” resounded throughout Konoha.

“Refill!” Naruto called out, and people bustled to refill their empty cups, when Naruto called for a refill it was usually for something really special. But Sasuke didn’t know this.

“Today,” Naruto stopped, he took a breath and began again, “Today is a day to honor our future, but it is also a day to look to the past, ten years ago, Sasuke Uchiha left Konoha with one thought in his head, to avenge his family that was murdered in one night. He went to the enemy, seeking the power to do this. Many of you will raise your eyebrow at me for allowing him into Konoha. But as he has achieved that goal and has come back on his own accord to face his consequences, I will give him every chance to do so.

“Do not misunderstand me. I have no intention of letting such treachery go by without punishment. But in the here and now, Team 7 sits whole again. And even if only for this night, allow your Hokage this one selfish wish, to celebrate the return of my dearest friend. I know better then most people what Sasuke has done in leaving Konoha, several of my best Nin were pushed to almost the point of death and I was nearly killed myself. But here he sits, among these people that risked their lives to bring him back, and he is welcome. Tonight I ask for a moment of silence, for the loss of a great clan.”

Sasuke wanted to run away, this was much more than he bargained for; his transgressions lay bare before all of Konoha, but at the same time he couldn’t move. Maybe it was because Kokoro was holding tight to his hand. Maybe it was out of shock and sad gratitude that everyone took this moment to share the pain of his clan’s death, he didn’t know, but he sat there all the same.

“To the return of the last Uchiha to Konoha. And to those lost and those hurt by the loss of the Uchiha’s. May this night not become a bittersweet memory. Kampai!”

“Kampai.” The word resounded deep and low, not shouted like before but firmly stated by everyone. Many people were teary-eyed by now.

Naruto drank from his glass and stared at it for a while, as though contemplating it. At Sakura’s touch to his arm he seemed to regain an awareness of where he was again and sat down. Talk began to rise up again and many children flooded the top table brandishing presents for Kokoro. She opened them all excitedly and hugged and thanked every one of them. The crowd thinned out and finally Naruto and Sakura stood up and approached their daughter.

They stood between Kokoro and Sasuke, and strangely Naruto was looking at Sasuke instead of at Kokoro, whom he so obviously loved and doted on.

“Sasuke, as you should be aware of you are a rank gennin.” Naruto fought back his grin, “And as such it’s been decided that you are not to leave the village, and you will be under surveillance for the peace of mind of the villagers. When Shikamaru is done with the work that is already assigned he will personally interview you in true ninja style to deem whether or not you are a danger to the village. I myself, most likely before that time will, with Sakura, be determining the situation of your curse seal. Until such time, you are given the D-rank mission of babysitting my daughter.”

Kokoro’s face split into a huge grin. “You mean Sasuke oji-san’s REALLY my present? I get to keep him? SUGOI! Arigato! Arigato gosai-mashita, Okaa-san, Oto-san!” she hugged them both, and grinned at Sasuke. “We’re gonna have a lotta fun!”

Sasuke doubted it.

---

It irked Sasuke to be followed by a different Masked ANBU every three days or so. They seemed to be on a rotation because soon he started to find familiar masks. The short haired brunet with a blue monkey mask, the long raven haired girl with a green dragon mask, another had messy red hair and a red tiger mask. There were a few more and since yesterday it was a spiky haired brunette in a purple eagle mask. She tended to hang back in a slightly obvious position, as she was mostly there to ease the hearts of worried villagers who would search for her then to actually keep tabs on him.

He spent much of his time escorting Kokoro to her classes at the academy, tailing her as she pranced up and down Konoha’s busy streets. Though sometimes Kokoro tailed him. She liked to watch him spar against invisible foes and practice his Justus. They fascinated her; some even scared her. He’d become a regular of the Hokage tower, as well as a kind of permanent guest of the Uzumaki dinner table.

It was the only time he wasn’t tailed by ANBU, when he was with Naruto. He’d not yet decided if it was because they had that much faith in their Hokage, or if Naruto had ordered it but all the same, he was grateful for the reprieve, however brief.

The seal around his curse mark was reinforced. Strongly. It was understandable, but it felt weird all the same. Shikamaru took his time finishing the duties assigned to him before Sasuke’s so called ‘interview.’

As it turned out one of the duties Naruto had given him was to finally marry Ino. The wedding was lavish and covered in flowers to say the least. Ino wore a many layered (many-layered) Kimono of white, her long blonde hair twisted in intricate knots, and her face like a china doll. Shikamaru had been forced into a rather dashing outfit that looked like a hybrid of a tuxedo and a kimono with his hair down in a low ponytail at the base of his neck he somehow looked different.

Kokoro was the flower girl of course; she constantly waved to Sasuke who stood by Chouji, the best man, as one of the groomsmen. The ceremony was beautiful he had to admit. Sakura, the maid of honor, looked so happy and excited. The reception was something else; Kokoro needed almost constant watching because she wanted a taste of the ‘grown-up juice’. Sasuke was blackmailed into dancing with her several times because he knew Naruto would kill him if she got into the liquor.

By his fourth drink, he didn’t mind dancing with someone less then half his size. And the party was suddenly REALLY enjoyable. Kokoro knew how to spike a drink, even if she didn’t know what exactly she was doing. She did know that Sasuke would be more fun if she did it though.

There was heavy drinking all around and Ino was mostly trashed by now; she kept making random toasts, not always with a drink in her hand, and the mostly sober Chouji was having quite a time keeping the microphone away from her. Sakura and Lee were dancing, Sakura was drunk, Lee as sober as one could be. They were made to be dance partners it seemed, Sakura was so klutzy drunk, but Lee’s training desensitized him too much to notice.

Naruto was dancing all out, managing to stay in beat with the music and look ridiculous at the same time. It was a “Dobe Talent” Sasuke told Kokoro, who giggled at the nickname Sasuke always referred to her father by. The party died down and somehow Sasuke was conducting a completely smashed Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru singing “Kami-sama save the Hokage” laughing lazily all the while. Shikamaru passed out, and the still mostly sober Chouji hoisted him up onto one shoulder, Ino on the other, and carried them off to the small flat in which they lived. Ino cried out, “After party at Naruto’s!” weakly, trying to take a drink from a glass that was not there. In response someone cried, “After party! In my pants!” to sparatic laughter.

Kiba was being lead away from the party by Shino who literally had to make a leash around the inebriated man’s waist with his kekai insects. Lee had taken Sakura home with Kokoro, who’d stayed up waay past her bedtime. This left the almost drunk Sasuke to negotiate the completely trashed Naruto somewhere else so the cleaning crew could finish their job. Sasuke thought of the stairs in the hokage tower and the long walk to Naruto’s home next to it and thought better of maneuvered Naruto down the road to his small apartment, thankfully on the ground floor.

It was slow-going to say the least, and the swaying and meandering did nothing for Sasuke’s creeping nausea. They finally reached his place and he’d just gotten the door open when Naruto slumped, unconscious onto Sasuke’s right shoulder. ‘Brilliant. Just flipping perfect Hokage-baka-sama. As if I weren’t already lugging your heavy ass across Konoha.’ He thought.

He gently laid Naruto on his sofa, grabbed the largest bucket he had and placed it by the blonde, threw a blanket over him, and ruffled the sunshine gold hair.

“Idiot.” He mumbled, not really meaning it. He walked to his kitchen to grab one of several bottles of eki-kayabe and a large glass of water. He grabbed a second set of eki-kayabe and water and placed it on his bedside table, he made sure his curtains were shut tight and collapsed on the bed.

What a night.

End Chapter 3

Sorry the chapter sucks but there was a lot I needed to get past, it picks up after this though, Don’t utterly kill me for the sucky update. You are well within your rights to do so but if you do I can’t write the good stuff.

Nevermind. You can kill me if you wanna.

Man, I suck.