Carrying on
“Okay… whilst that was amazing… can we finish our conversation from before?” asked Sasuke. For the comment, Naruto felt like slapping him. The sooner he realised she wasn’t going to tell him who murdered his father, the better.
“Sasuke, I love you to bits, but ask me that again, I’ll smack you over the head.” She replied slowly. She didn’t want them to have another argument, the last one was bad enough and it was nowhere near as bad as Inaho’s and Itachi’s arguments.
Sasuke’s movements stilled before he slowly turned to look at her, she was in the middle of getting redressed as they had less than a half hour before the other two Uchiha arrived, meaning they had to talk and get sorted quickly.
He kept on staring at her causing her to flush slightly, unsure as to why he was staring, “Why are you staring? Is there a hickey I haven’t covered?” she turned her head in hopes she would be able to see the assumed hickey but found no such luck.
“You said you love me…” he trailed off, eyes wide as he gazed into her eyes. Now that she thought back to what she said, she turned a bright red and swallowed, trying to hide her face from his view yet he got up and went to her. He turned her around gently by the wrists as he looked her in the eye, “Say it again.” He demanded however his voice was soft in its order.
“No.” she stepped back yet his hold on her wrist remained yet never tightened. Her gaze softened, he was afraid of hurting her again. Sighing she looked up at him. It was infuriating, Sasuke was a total of 1.5 inches taller than she was. She wasn’t used to being the short one, she was the tallest in the night shift despite being a girl. Girls can be tall.
She removed her wrist from his hold as she placed the hand to his face, “Why do you want me to say it?”
She toyed with the baby hairs on the nape of his neck as she waited for an answer, “I haven’t heard someone say those words to me and mean them in their heart like you would since my mother. My brother has his own strange way of saying it but it’s not same. Please?”
Sasuke had always been too prideful so with that simple word the tension in her deflated as she resigned herself to repeat herself, “I love you.” She held a defiant gaze, daring him to say something snarky to her yet none came. Instead, he leaned down and picked her up, spinning her in the air causing her to laugh. No one had spun her around like that in years.
He lowered her so she was equal length to him, so she hovered in the air with him as her only way of staying up. He said nothing in reply however his smile was all the words that she needed. True, she would have preferred if he had given her a straight answer in return however she knew, even if he didn’t love her yet, he was on his way.
He gave her a kiss as he slowly lowered her to the ground and allowed her to get redressed. He had already dressed himself however looked thoroughly ravished. It was a good look on him especially in a suit whilst in the board room.
It took her another ten minutes to fix her clothes, binds, and her hair before she sat down on her chair again. Moving her papers to the side she sighed and ran a hand through her hair before looking up with a business mask on, Sasuke followed suit. “We’ll wait for your brother and cousin to come and in the meantime why don’t you tell me how long you’ve known who I am and why you didn’t tell me?”
Sasuke held her gaze and never flinched, “I only found out last night when you asked me to pay on your card, the name was Naruto Uzumaki…”
“You seemed agitated and somewhat angry last night when the pizza guy came, did it have to do with me?”
He nodded and gave a lengthy pause before replying, “I wasn’t angry at you but more to myself. The signs were all there and I completely ignored them. Whilst I acknowledged that you were deadly I didn’t think you would be in this line of work. Last night I could have smacked myself with one of my rifles if I wasn’t afraid of damaging them.” He shook his head, he was rambling and he knew it.
Naruto hummed in response and they both turned around when a knock emanated from the door. She gestured for Sasuke to get it as she opened up her notes.
Itachi and Shisui entered the room, the former quirking a brow and the other looking very giddy. “Why are you in such a good mood? I’ve still gotta whip your ass into shape for not telling me ya’ know.”
At her response Itachi’s eyes gained a glint in them and Shisui turned paler than usual.
“But of course I’ll have to do that outside of this meeting. I wanted to talk to you three together since we’ll obviously be seeing a lot of each other in the foreseeable future and we need to be on the same page.”
They all took seats, Itachi and Shisui on her right and Sasuke on her left. “If that is the case, why not discuss this with the others earlier?” asked Shisui when no one asked.
“Quite simple. I don’t want to air anything we don’t want others knowing. Outside of Shisui the only other person who knows everything is Gaara since we’re in the same age group so it made sense. But this is something we need to sort out. I hate the Uchiha’s and I don’t deny it. Everyone here knows why. However I try to not let it interfere with my work and clearly I haven’t been as good about that as I thought. I should have known who the heads of the clan were by face and not only name. I only know a handful of Uchiha who work for the company but that isn’t enough. I can’t return to Konoha since the nine clan leaders are here and I can’t ask your whole clan to come here.
“Instead, I want to conference call the elders and influential personnel’s and discuss what we are discussing here with them. It will also give me insight to them as well as vice-versa. Is that alright?” she looked to Itachi when asking however had been looking between the three of them as she discussed the first thing.
When he nodded she let out a tired sigh, “Another thing is something I hadn’t thought of before but now I know so I thought of this. Sasuke and I are dating, your clan won’t have a problem with they? Because if they do they have to suck it up.”
They all let out small chuckles before he replied, “They will have initial problems with you being a leader outside of the clan however it shouldn’t be a very big problem. I should be able to persuade them to see your two’s side of things eventually but I’d hold off telling anyone back home till the conference call.”
She unconsciously nodded before continuing, “Shisui and Itachi. Care to explain all the secrets you’ve been keeping from your leader and protector?”
She didn’t need to explain which secrets she was referring to, her eyes and general demeanour as well as her adjustment of her ring were understandable hints.
They gave away no sign of what they were feeling but Naruto knew for sure they were ever so slightly frightened. Whilst she usually held back, she was quite a monster when it came to a serious fight.
Shisui didn’t quite care for living apparently as he shrugged, “I was enjoying everything far too much to interfere. That and the both of you asked me to keep quiet so I did.” His smile was that of pure innocence but Naruto knew he was anything but innocent.
She gave him a blank look before looking towards Itachi, “I was simply watching how the situation progressed. I didn’t know who you were at first however once I looked further into you I found out and decided against saying anything. When I spoke to Inaho she cleared somethings up for me and I didn’t wish for my family name to… upset your relationship with my brother. The two of you are a lovely couple and I wish for that to remain if it can.”
Naruto didn’t miss the subtle hint in his words. He was practically giving his blessing over the two of them, however that was most likely to score favours in her book. If Naruto wished to, she could easily order Inaho to never speak to Itachi again and he knew it.
“I may not like you very much Itachi, and that would mostly be because I don’t want to know you very much. I know what I need to know about you and that’s it. Sasuke, Shisui and Inaho have told me plenty of things about you and that also feeds me with more knowledge than I want to know. But… you make my aunt happy, as long as I don’t have any reason to do otherwise, I will not object to your relationship.”
Her voice was monotone as she spoke yet it was enough to ease some of the tension that had made his back rigid as he gave her a smile. Unsure how to respond to the smile she kept her face as it was before allowing them a turn to speak, her back leaning against the seat.
Shisui was the one to speak first, “Given everything you had been told, how could you not realise who Sasuke was?”
She held back a cringe, she hadn’t expected that question. “Well… I know you said Itachi was your cousin but I always just assumed he was, like, a branch family member or maybe someone outside the family. I didn’t think Inaho would want to marry someone related to the people that murdered my parents so that just solidified my thoughts. Then when I was told Itachi was Sasuke’s brother I still thought nothing of it. I mean, sure Sasuke it pretty dangerous ‘tebayo but I didn’t see him as a person dangerous enough to be in out line of work. He always… held back you can say. That and we didn’t really talk to each other a lot when we lived next door to each other.”
Shisui leaned forwards, palms under his chin as he rested his elbows on the table, “Yeah about that. Clearly the two of you didn’t get along very well yet I could see you had the biggest brush on him on the planet.”
Naruto had trained herself to never allow Shisui and his perverted words to affect her face however this wasn’t something she was used to and she turned a feint shade of pink.
Clearing her throat she spoke, “W-well…” she looked to Sasuke only to see him smiling behind his close fist, eyes laughing at her. Traitorous bastard. “I decline to answer that question.”
“On what grounds?” spoke Itachi who had the same glint in his eyes that Shisui had.
“On the grounds that I am your leader and therefore none of you need to know anything about my personal life.” She held her chin up, hoping the two of them would drop the conversation but knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
“You and I both know that won’t work on me. I am your guar and protector. I have to know everything, and I tend to know everything. Like that time you got mad at Sasuke for playing loud music so in turn you played-”
She smacked both of her hands in front of his mouth, red faced and clearly mortified by that incident. “I want to hear this.” Spoke Sasuke however her glare had him shutting up faster than you could say Konoha. She then gave a similar look to Shisui who rolled his eyes and nodded his head.
Sighing she rubbed her face. She was sleepy having had less sleep these past few nights and she still had places to go. She stood up and the boys followed suit.
“Shisui I know you’re meant to be my guard but I-”
“It doesn’t matter what you do, I still need to escort you. Well, me or Sasuke that is.” He gave her a pointed look with defiance lurking behind it so she sighed once again, shaking her head as she knew he wasn’t going to budge.
“Gaara’s called me to have a meeting with him over tea with his siblings so I need to attend that. In private.” She emphasized the final sentence as she spoke.
He simply shrugged, “I can stay in the background where I can’t hear, but I need to be able to see you.”
She gave a resigned sigh as she knew no matter what she said, he wasn’t going to relent. The four of them made their way downstairs however she took no notice that she was being watched by many members of the assassination company watching her as she gave Sasuke a kiss goodbye, stating she would be home in time to cook them dinner.
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Right that’s the end of this chapter and I know it’s been a long time and this is a short chapter. I intend to make that up with the short omake underneath. Enjoy but keep in mind this is not actually a part of my story but just a little thing that came to my mind a short while ago. Oh and I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Year.
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Naruto smiled as she looked at her photo album. It was an early gift Sasuke had demanded she open the night of Christmas Eve and she loved it. It was full from front to back of pictures of herself, himself and their family.
She looked up when Sasuke sat himself next to her and took a hold of her hand before kissing her knuckles. “It’s nice to see that you like it.” He gave her one of his rare smiles his kept for her only, refusing to smile in the company of others.
She leaned forwards and gave him a gentle kiss, “I love it.” She leaned back and allowed her fingers to brush the corners of the album cover, “I don’t know when you took all of them though…”
He moved the photo album off her lap as he raised her across his lap, his chin resting on her head as they looked at the fireplace. Neither of them spoke a word and in this case it wasn’t necessary, quiet times like these had become rare making the couple cherish such moments for as long as they had them.
The grandfather clock struck twelve causing Naruto to chuckle, Sasuke as well as they both recalled different past Christmas’ back when they were neighbours.
Naruto detached herself from Sasuke as she moved to get a long but thin box neatly wrapped. He had no doubt in his mind she had requested a friend to wrap it for her, Naruto’s wrapping was appalling and this was neatly done.
She raised a brow and spoke, “My wrapping is not appalling and as for this one. I did wrap it myself, with direct supervision and help from others.” She threw it over to Sasuke and sat down on the coffee table.
He furrowed his brows so she rolled her eyes before gesturing for him to open it. Slowly and carefully he opened the neatly wrapped present unsure what to expect. It was in a box the size of Naruto’s hand roughly and a few centimetres wide so he assumed it was a pen or something similar, however he was unsure as to why she would get him something like that when he had many pens he never used.
He removed the lid of the box and blinked at the contents. It wasn’t a pen. It was long, not very wide, white and had a pink lid. It also had two very prominent pink lines. He looked up to Naruto, certain his face looked like that of a fish out of water before looking back at the present.
He pointed to the box before pointing to her, “You- we- me?” clearly this amused her greatly as she leaned forwards, clutching her stomach as she laughed loudly.
It took a moment however he gave her a smile despite his shock. Hearing her laugh freely like this was also something that had become rare as of late.
However he didn’t dwell on that thought for very long as he resumed gaping at her present. His blonde girlfriend was showing no signs of calming down so he placed the present down before gently grabbing a hold of her upper arms, eyes wide as he looked at her.
“Is that what I think it is?” he asked her, already knowing what it was but he really needed to hear it from her.
She gave a large smile before nodding vigorously and placed a hand over her belly, “I’m pregnant.”
Despite his pause her smile never wavered, however after five seconds her got up and picked her with him, spinning her in the air as he did so. For the first time in a while he let out loud laughs as did Naruto, both clearly happy about the news.
Placing her down she took a hold of his elbows to calm herself down, a hand placed over her belly. He shook his head for being an idiot, he should have seen the signs earlier.
“How long?” he had a distinct idea how long but needed her to clarify in case he was wrong.
“Seven weeks. I’m honestly surprised you hadn’t put two and two together already.”
“Don’t worry, I’m berating myself as it is. It makes sense though, you haven’t asked me to get you your monthly essentials and I haven’t seen you getting any either. Then there’s the sickness you’ve been having the past two weeks… Well your present has outdone my main one which I had planned to give later but where’s the fin in that eh?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, causing her eyes to widen in understanding and recognition. A few weeks ago Shikamaru had requested the two of them come with him to select Temari and engagement ring and he had seen Naruto’s eyes transfixed on the ring in his hand.
It was fairly simple, oval shaped white diamond held in rose gold with a paisley pattern from the Milgrain collection. He had wanted to get her something that stood out more since it would have suited her personality a bit more however he knew she liked it and had stated it was beautiful at the time.
“Naruto… Will you marry me?”
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