A Shift Between Dimensions

Hypocrite

"Yeah, I saw him," she muttered on the other end.

"You saw him?" Klaudia responded.

"I saw him, he didn't see us," Sarah answered.  "I'm leaving Klaudia... I can't let him take Strider from me."

"Damn it, Sarah, don't you dare go running off.  I told you, he's not going to take Strider.  As much of an asshole he has been, he's not cruel that way."

"Not cruel?  Are you kidding-"

"Sarah damn it, stop!  Now think back to before you were hurt, think about the man you fell in love with.  Why did you love him?"  Silence.  "Now you think Sarah not with your heart but with your head.  When has he ever done something that would intentionally hurt someone?  So he didn't love you, couldn't fall in love with you.  That's still his child.  You made the choice to sleep with him and you got pregnant.  Be the bigger adult here.  Don't be like him by running."

A long silence followed before Sarah muttered, "I hate it when you are right.   You know, you hit below the belt when you come out of that sweet, passive shell."

Klaudia grinned at the words, "I don't know if this will help or not but... you know even if you ran off, he would just find you and drag you back like he did when you tried to avoid him before."

Sarah groaned, "Ugh... you're right about that too I'm sure.  Okay, I won't run off this time.  I can do this... I can.  I mean, I'm not the first woman to have to share a child with someone they hate, right?"

Klaudia rolled her eyes.  Sarah could think she hated the man all she wanted but Klaudia knew it wasn't true.  "To be fair to him, Sarah... He didn't know.  Hell you didn't even know until Hinata looked inside of you.  Do you think he would have left if he had known?"

"Yes," Sarah said forcefully then sighed.  "Probably not but not for my sake, for Striders."

"Hmm," was all she said.  "Sarah, promise me you will try to deal with this with your head not your heart."

"I promise," she muttered.

Sarah sat down hard on the side of the bed after hanging up the phone.  The itch to make a run for it was riding hard on her but Klaudia was right.  Kakashi would find her and he would drag her back to the Leaf.  Not for her but for Strider.  She was not going to get out of having to deal with him... to allow him in Strider's life.  Her heart hurt and she rubbed her chest.  She would never forget how frightening it had been giving birth alone.  How hard it had been working three jobs and never having a day off.  Now even her evenings were busy, taking care of her son.  She was so tired... exhausted beyond measure.

She shifted a glance over to where Strider was sleeping, deciding she needed to sleep while she could.  The opportunity didn't come around very often.  She pulled his crib closer to the bed before laying down and closing her eyes.  She slipped her hand through the bars and held his little one, feeling better touching him as she drifted off to sleep in emotional exhaustion.

Kakashi's mood was darkening as he walked down the neighborhood that Iruka had told him Sarah lived.  It was not a good place to live at all.  She should have stayed in their apartment not turned to this.  He was a father.  A father... he felt sick.  She'd never forgive him after all this.  He had run into Yamato on his way in that direction and almost got punched again.  This time he was expecting it and had dodged the swing.  Two of his best friends had taken shots at him.  Might Guy was probably the only friend he had left at this point and that was because during the debacle with Sarah, he had been gone from the village on a long range mission of his own.

"I should beat you into the ground," Yamato had growled at him.  "What the hell is wrong with you?  You're not the man I used to know, that much I damn well know."

"Settle down, Yamato," he had said wearily.  "I've done the unforgiveable.  I know this.  I thought I was doing what was best for her, stepping aside so you or someone else could give her what I was too scared to do."

Yamato had glared at him, "Well plan backfired.  She's determined to do this on her own.  Trust me, I tried but that spark she had for you wasn't there.  Never will be.  Three jobs, Kakashi.  She's been slaving over three jobs to live in a ghetto."

"I gave her the apartment when I left," Kakashi spat back at him.  "If she's been living in a ghetto it's because of her damn pride, not because I didn't leave her a decent place to live.... and before you try to hit me again, I didn't know and if I had, I never would have left.  Give me some credit, I'm not a complete bastard."

Yamato had given him a narrowed eyed look then sighed.  "You better make this right somehow, Kakashi, or all you've done for the village will be forgotten and you'll forever be remembered as Cold Blooded Kakashi.  When people would see her around the village, they knew that baby was yours.  You were the only person she'd been seen with.  You know... she worked clear up until the day she went into labor.  She almost had Strider right there in the middle of the restaurant where she was waiting tables."

Kakashi shifted his glance around to the people on the street.  They were a thuggish group from a mixed mashup of different villages.  Many of the people that lived in this area of the Leaf were outsiders and struggled to get by.  They were all giving him dark looks and he knew that they knew why he was there.  It didn't take him long to find the run down building or determine which balcony was her own.  He could see baby clothes on one of the lines that ran between the buildings, drying in the sun.  He ignored the protests of a few watchers as he leaped up between balconies before reaching the one on the third floor.

"Hey you, just leave the girl alone," an old woman yelled at him.  "Haven't you done enough already?"

He raised his brows at the old woman who was not scared to voice her opinion.  Sarah must have made quite an impression on the neighborhood because he was beginning to wonder if he was going to get lynched by them.

"Mind your own business, woman," he called back to her.  "This doesn't have anything to do with you."

"You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us," A man called back from across the way.

For the love of everything!  He really was going to have a mini-mob on his hands.  He gave them all a dark look and ignited his Chidori for effect, "That's my woman and my baby and you have no say in this, now go about your business."

He extinguished the Chidori before turning towards the balcony door and easily disabled the lock before slipping inside.  The inside of the place was very clean, painfully so, but it was old and run down.  He had so much pain welling up in him as he looked around the studio apartment which would have fit in his living room.  He didn't have to look far to find her.  She was passed out on the bed, not even stirring at his arrival.  Dark shadows were under her eyes and she looked... very thin, unhealthily so.  He then shifted his eyes to the crib, her arms was through one of the slots and holding a much smaller hand.  The baby inside was moving around a bit, obviously having woke up from a nap but not enough yet to have stirred his mother.

Kakashi quietly walked over to the crib and looked down at his son.  Strider... Yamato had said that was the baby's name.  The baby's eyes were still that dark blue of newborns but he could not deny that he was his son.  The silver hair was very telling but he could also see many of his own features in his son.  Strider was grunting and kicking his little legs, no doubt just about ready to start making a fuss.  He hesitated for a moment before leaning over and picking him up, carefully cradling his neck as he looked at him.

The little hands swung at him in excitement and he shifted his glance back to Sarah for a moment before quietly moving over to the low couch to sit down.  His son was making a face at him that melted his heart and he almost laughed as his little arms went swinging again.  So there is your mother... all attitude.  He leaned down and kissed his forehead, lamenting missing out on the last ten months.

"I'm sorry little one... I failed you too," he whispered.  "But I won't again, I promise you."