Part 8: The Place Uchiha Call Home
Sasu-chan was no longer small, Sasuke had to pinch himself just to make sure that his little nephew was now five and not four or three. It had been two years since Sasuke made the promise to raise the boy.
"First day of day school," Sasuke announced putting a shirt from the clean clothes in a basket out and shaking it. He saw the carefully stitch Uchiha family crest was still on there. He saw his nephew staring up with dark almost black eyes, Sasu-chan's eyes started to change to the Uchiha onyx when he was four. His face was thin and rather different from his uncle's and from his father's even. There was strange look in his eyes too, like he knew something that normal five year old children shouldn't know. "Come on, do you want to be late for your first day?"
"Uncle, do I have to?" Sasu-chan was still a little weary of the people outside, they always seemed to stare at him and it scared him. "Can't I stay home with you?"
"Out of the question," Sasuke walked out of the bedroom and put some cereal in a bowl. "Come on, you can't always hide behind me, and anyway, you'll make new friends."
"But you're my friend," the little boy sat down at the table staring at his food. "Why do I have to make new ones?"
"Well...er...." Sasuke had to think of an answer for that one, he had never made friends that well either. "Just do it for one day, if you like, you can go back." This was the easiest way to get the little boy to do just about anything for anyone.
****
A crowd gathered around the day school, it was a smaller building than the Ninja Academy and it was far less crowded. In fact many of the children that were brougth to this school were from outside Konohagure. The day school was set up as a sort of testing ground to decide who would be best suited as a Ninja.
Sasu-chan clung to his uncle's right leg and gazed out at the group of people, his seventeen year old uncle just blinked down at him. A bunch of other children from the different Ninja families were running about a playground and were looking rather excited. It was possibly their first time with children their own age, Sasuke lifted the child into his arms and quickly brought him to the playground. "Go on, just play for a little bit before I have to take you to the class."
The little Uchiha boy just stared around him as he walked around the playground curiously trying to figure out the games.
"I take it, its his first time out," a woman looked over at Sasuke who was watching the little boy who was dashing from one part of the building to another.
"Well, yeah, he's a little terrified that I might leave him," Sasuke sat down at a bench.
The woman nodded. "Well, it looks like he's getting the hang of not having you there to run to. I always like seeing my new students in the playground its a lot easier to figure out what they are good at." She leaned back and smiled at him. "I'm Konoko Sae, nice to meet you. The little boy is..."
"My nephew," Sasuke finally whispered. "Uchiha Sasuke, also better called Sasu-chan."
"Good to know that," she took out a small notebook and wrote something down. "I am sorry, I'm the teacher and usually this is how I meet all the parents and relatives. Now let me see," she seemed almost surprised to see that she knew Sasuke from before that time. "Oh, I remember you, Uchiha Sasuke, you were scared too on your first day here, it took your mother forever to get you to let go of her legs, of course the next day your brother brought you. You had more confidence with him."
That was true, Sasuke realized when he thought about it. He knew that Sasu-chan was going to have face this too. He walked from the meeting with the teacher to the gate of the playground. "Sasu-chan, come on, let's go into your classroom."
****
Konohagure's Day School had once been the older Ninja Academy, what the second Hokage prized was education of children. He had been a teacher long ago and he opened the first Ninja Academy, the following that a day school for children who were abandoned by wars. He believed highly that children needed a good grounding in education, even if they were not cut out to be Ninja.
It was clear that the Day School was his idea, the rooms were situated into three grades, first being the first year children's programs, second year, then third year, also known as Ninja Prep.
Sasuke brought Sasu-chan into his classroom and knelt down. "Don't be scared, first days are always little rough around the edges. You do everything the teachers tell you, you hear me?" he smiled touching the child's forehead.
A group of other children trailed in and soon were lined up by their parents, they were put into four lines. The teacher walked in and smiled at them. "Good morning," she greeted and touched chalk board. "I'm Komoko-sensei and welcome to your first day of first year Day School."
Sasuke left, he was a little nervous about leaving Sasu-chan there by himself, but found when he came to get the child the little boy was smiling. His eyes were bright and he was holding pictures and a bunch of other things. "UNCLE SASUKE!" Sasu-chan ran up and looked very happy holding up a picture. "This is us!"
The picture was drawn with crayons, Sasuke smiled at the picture of himself and his nephew standing in front of their little apartment complex.
Walking home, Sasu-chan was telling him about his first day. "I met, Keiko and Teiko, they're twins, they're cousins to someone called Hinata-sama. We had so much fun, then we played with blocks, then we played tag. We played Ninja Tag, that was hard, everyone was jumping around and using jutsu, but you said I can't until I'm older, why?"
"Just a little while longer," Sasuke unlocked their apartment door and they sat down. "I'm going to make you a snack."
"I want to learn..."
"Sasu-chan, no until you're at least seven or eight, its just too dangeorus right now," Sasuke said softly and sat down holding up a sandwich.
"I'm not scared!"
"Sasu-chan, please, just be patient."
****
He wouldn't let it drop, Sasuke found himself saying no, then putting his nephew in time out for five minutes. The whole day he dodged around teaching Sasu-chan jutsu because he didn't feel it was a good idea to teach a five year old such things. He put down his nephew for a nap and saw the little boy gazing at him. "Uncle Sasuke, Teiko and Keiko don't take naps."
"I'm sure they do," Sasuke sat down on the bed and looked at him. "Just because those two know jutsu doesn't mean that you should. Even if they are distantly related to us, we can't always follow in their footsteps. Sasu-chan, believe me, as much as I would love to teach those things, you're still too young and too inexperienced to know them. Just understand, I'm doing what I think is best for you."
Sasu-chan's face seemed unchanged, he still seemed almost upset. "You're scared I'll turn into him."
"Sasu-chan, just take your nap."
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