Something About Country Boys
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 2
Well Itachi wasn't sure exactly what he had been expecting when he and Sasuke left for Mangekyo Wines, but a sexy red head and a hot blonde hadn't been it. Despite Sasuke's playful teasing that he could lasso up a cowboy while they were at Mangekyo, the elder Uchiha Brother hadn't actually been planning on doing it. That was until he saw the boys next door, so to speak.
"Would you like help carrying your things in?" Gaara's beautiful eyes glance back towards the suitcases in the back of his car.
They really were such beautiful eyes. Aqua in color, but seemingly without pupils and framed by exotic, almost feral like markings. Upon closer inspection, the Economist decides that wasn't mascara around Gaara's eyes, but rather some deep bags underneath the red head's eyes from lack of sleep.
Strangely enough, the farmer in question didn't seem tired though. He must be a natural insomniac , Itachi muses. For someone to get bags under their eyes that dark, they weren't just from a couple sleepless nights. Those were from a lot of them.
Enough to be concerning, but Gaara appeared healthy. "Well I can't speak for Sasuke, but I know that I would definitely appreciate the help." So for now, Itachi was just going to admire the view and not press the issue further. "We weren't really sure how long we were going to be here, so we figured that it would be better to pack too much than too little."
Naruto grins, furthering lending credibility to Itachi's theory about the blonde. "Yeah! That makes sense!" The elder Uchiha could only surmise that his personality was likely as naturally sunny as those golden locks of his.
The blonde was a bit too perky for Itachi's tastes, really. He had that lovable dumb jock thing going for him. That or he reminded Itachi of a puppy. A golden retriever who was eager to fetch things.
In other words, he was the perfect distraction for his foolish little brother. Itachi didn't miss the way that those blue eyes were practically glued to Sasuke. The Brewery Owner didn't strike him as someone who was going to take no for an answer. Well at least not easily.
Naruto bounds over and grabs a suit case. "Yes, we thought so as well." Itachi chuckles as he watches the other man bound off towards the house.
Sasuke needed that really. His foolish little brother was just so focused on academics and now work, that was really the only way he was going to find someone. Someone who wouldn't allow themselves to be ignored and would force his brother to acknowledge them.
He knew that Sasuke would probably slap him for thinking these things. Sadly, Itachi couldn't help it. He wanted his foolish little brother to forge a strong bond with someone who wasn't family and just a friend.
"He's strong." Sasuke blinks. "That thing probably weighed fifty pounds with all of Itachi's stuff in it." That was true.
Itachi did carry a lot of paperwork and technical equipment with him. Mostly laptops and things of that nature. Most people would be shocked to discover how truly heavy that stuff could become in large quantities.
Gaara nods as if unsurprised by that. "Naruto owns a brewery. He's used to lugging about large barrels of whiskey and things of that nature." The red head shrugs. "So for him, that suitcase is nothing."
"Well that's good to know." Itachi chuckles. "I do hope that he doesn't make wine in his brewery. Because if that's the case, he may very well be our competition."
Sasuke tilts his head to the side as if considering that. Only Sasuke. Honestly. The man was going to be old before he was thirty at this rate.
Clearly, it was up to him to look out for Sasuke. He'd probably waste away in his fancy new office, if Itachi didn't. While he admired his brother's work ethic and he shared it, Itachi also knew that burnout was a very real thing. Something that was going to ensure that Sasuke didn't experience.
Gaara chuckles and shakes his head. "He essentially makes anything alcoholic that isn't wine. Naruto wasn't dumb enough to compete with Madara when it came to wine. That was your Great Uncle's specialty and Naruto is something of a novice when it comes to that beverage."
Sasuke nods as he appears to be pondering the matter. "Yeah. He does strike me as a beer and whiskey sort of guy." True enough. The complexities and subtleties of wine would probably elude someone like Naruto, Itachi thinks to himself.
"Naruto is someone who really likes variety, but you're right. He does love whiskey." Gaara smiles. "Though he has a particular weakness for vodka that got him in trouble more than once while he was still at Konoha State University."
The younger Uchiha snorts in amusement and Itachi knew that he was probably chuckling as well. He could only imagine what sorts of mischief the bubbly brewery owner might have gotten up to while he was at University.
"Good to know." Sasuke grabs a case out of the red convertible. "Well I guess we should probably get the stuff inside." He glances up at the sky. "It looks like it might right." And with that, Sasuke heads off.
Itachi nods in agreement. The sky did look pretty stormy and he didn't want to get caught in the middle of that! So he grabs a suitcase and follows after his brother. Though he notes with a smile, Gaara wasn't far behind.
Meanwhile Fugaku calls up Chidori Legal Services. They specialized in Wills and Real Estate. Sharingan Corp., rarely meddled with Wills. That was just too morbid. So he didn't really think of Chidori as a competitor, but right now Kakashi had some explaining to do.
"Kakashi speaking. How may I help you?" A cheerful voice was heard on the other end of the line.
Fugaku though was in no mood for pleasantries. His wife was giving him a rather disapproving look, but this had to be done. He had to know exactly what the old codger had been playing at.
He sighs as tries to ignore the dark beauty's less than pleased gaze. "This is Fugaku Uchiha speaking .Recently you read the Will of Madara Uchiha to my sons. Itachi and Sasuke." The Uchiha Patriarch would make it up to her later.
He did adore Mikoto. She was his Sun, his Moon, and his Stars. His Celestial Goddess would just have to forgive him though. This was about protecting their sons and Fugaku was not going to make any apologies over that! He'd do whatever was necessary to ensure Sasuke and Itachi were safe.
Kakashi sighs on the other end of the line. "Yes, I did read them Madara's Will." Obviously, Fugaku was not the first Uchiha he had dealt with.
Drafting Madara's last testament had likely not been an easy feat. Fugaku could easily envision the old man driving the lawyer completely mad with eccentric requests. For a moment, he feels a stab of pity for Kakashi.
It didn't last long though. He was a man on a mission. A mission to protect his sons and no lawyer was going to get in the middle of that.
"And what did it say?" He presses on as Mikoto shakes her head at him.
Another sigh, but that was to be expected. "I'm afraid that I can't tell you that, but they did inherit a substantial amount." He could almost imagine Kakashi shrugging. "What they choose to do with it or not do with it, well that's up to them."
Fugaku resented the underlying implication. That he was somehow treating them like children and wasn't aware of their legal status as adults. Honestly, he failed to see what was so difficult about the concept that he was going to protect his family!
"I know that there must be something that you can tell me!" It would be just like Madara to trifle with him from beyond the grave!
If anyone could do it, it would be that man. There was a reason why the family had dissociated themselves from him. He was a wild card. Utterly unpredictable and any morality that he had, well it operated in a very gray zone.
Madara had been hedonistic to the extremely, but he was also a genius. A genius who was more than capable of plotting. What the old man had been plotting at the end of his life exactly, remained a mystery for now. Though Fugaku had every intention of figuring it out as quickly as possible.
"I'm afraid not." The silver haired man sighs again.
Mikoto shakes her head and sits behind Fugaku on their bed. She smiles and begins giving him a shoulder rub. Oh that wasn't going to work!
Not this time! He was not going to be distracted by a shoulder rub! No matter how skilled she was at administering it or how soft his wife's hand were.
How did this woman have such ridiculously soft hands, anyway? "My Love, the man is just doing his job." It was like silk or something.
"I know, but you can't tell me that you aren't worried." Fugaku glances back at his wife. "You know what Madara is like."
Mikoto shakes her head and grabs the phone. "My apologies for my husband." She laughs quietly. "He means well, but sometimes he forgets himself. Please do keep us informed of anything that happens in Madara's case, if you're allowed to do so. Goodbye." And with that, she actually turns the phone off.
This was an outrage! How dare she cut him off like?! His Celestial Goddess was in for a Celestial Spanking of the highest order!
The Uchiha sighs and gets off the bed, before shoving him back onto it. She was soon straddling his hips and kisses him. "Fugaku, they're smart boys. They know what they're doing." She kisses him. "Have a little faith in them."
Well he'd deal with whatever Madara had been plotting later. Right now, he had a gorgeous brunette straddling his lap. He had his priorities and with that, he quickly cancels any meetings he had scheduled that day and enjoys some quality time with his wife.
Elsewhere the Uchiha Brothers and their respective country boys had just finished dragging in all the luggage. Naruto seemed rather amused by the amount, but Sasuke wasn't really sure why.
Alright. They might have overdone it on the packing a little bit, but they really didn't go that crazy. Did they?
"Must be a lot of hair care products in there." He laughs.
Sasuke rolls his eyes at that. "I'll just file that under the backhanded compliment category and leave it at that since you were nice enough to be our bagboy."
He could hear Itachi chuckling at their mild bickering, but Sasuke didn't care. The blonde had asked for that one. He seriously didn't try to style his hair that way, it was just that was how it stuck up…if it wasn't soaking wet.
Speaking of soaking wet, he winces as a rather loud thunder clap strikes outside. It looked like they had gotten inside just in time. They would have all gotten drenched otherwise.
"No. I mean it's totally cool!" He grins. "Reminds me of a peacock or something."
Sasuke was pretty sure that was some sort of attempt at flirting in there. Well he supposed there were worse animals to be compared to and well, Itachi had a point. There really was something attractive about a pair of nice blue jeans attached to an even nicer ass.
Normally, such observations were beneath him. He'd always been more focused on school than getting a boyfriend or a lover. The very term boyfriend seemed so juvenile to Sasuke, but that's what it would have been called back in high school and mostly likely, even college.
He was so damn glad that he was done with school. "Whatever." Sasuke had despised the stereotypical high school and college atmosphere that was apparently inescapable, even at a fancy private high school and a prestigious university! Now, he was officially an adult and would gleefully substitute the word lover for boyfriend.
Not that it mattered much at this point. "At least this peacock knows that orange doesn't go with blonde hair." Sasuke didn't have one, but it could be fun to wind the idiot up.
"That's true." Gaara laughs. "I have warned him that it clashes, but it's just so Naruto."
Yeah. There was just something really hyper and bright about Naruto. So maybe, Gaara had a point there. Maybe, the blonde just belonged in bright colors. Anyone else, probably would have looked ridiculous in that shirt ..not Naruto though.
No. On Naruto it looked natural and cute. Well cute or not, there wasn't much of a point in pursuing anything. While Sasuke was moderately confident that Naruto was at least bisexual, he still was taking a job at Sharingan Corp. in the fall and frankly, Mangekyo Wines was too far away from the city for a relationship to be realistic (and Sasuke didn't really believe in one night stands).
Itachi smiles. "You two are welcome to wait out the storm here." Right. Now, his brother was trying to do the country hospitality thing.
Sasuke had heard about it. He figured it was more of a movie stereotype than anything, but whatever. He didn't mind enjoying taunting Naruto for an hour or two longer. The storm probably wouldn't last that long anyway.
"Thank you. That'd be great." Gaara smiles. "Though we should probably head to the living room. There's a fireplace and if the power goes out, the fire would give us some light."
Damn. That was a good point. There was a very good chance that the power might go out.
Sasuke nods in agreement. "Right." He pauses. "Lead the way. This place is a complete maze." And that was definitely the truth. Madara's home was huge!
Naruto laughs as he leads the Uchiha Brothers to Madara's living room. To say the least, it was a pretty snazzy place to be. Half of the walls were ivory cream colored stone and the other half stately earthy colored bricks with an elegant fireplace in the middle. Though of course, Madara hadn't stopped there.
"Wow." Itachi blinks as he looks up. "That's one Hell of a Chandelier." And indeed it was.
There was more though. There was also a beautiful Chandelier lighting up the room and a handsome brown and white Persian Rug on the floor. Not to mention tan lazy chairs and the gorgeous cream colored couch that was staked with pillows. A lot more.
Sasuke nods in agreement. "This place really is amazing." Yeah. Sasuke was definitely right about that.
Madara hadn't stopped there though. There were a couple expensive paintings on the wall with mythological beasts like dragons and griffins on them and a cute oak coffee table in the center. Naturally, Naruto had put a vase full of sunflowers in the center said table to add a little something extra special to the place.
"The flat screen and laptop is also fully operational." Gaara smiles. "Though whatever you do, don't look at his browsing history."
Naruto laughs. "Yeah. We did that once. Never again." And the red head nods in confirmation as a particularly traumatizing memory flashes across his mind.
"Whoa!" Naruto grinned as he stared at Madara's laptop.
Gaara raised an eyebrow. Common sense told him that he probably didn't want to know, but curiosity was a powerful force. Too powerful to resist, apparently.
He shook his head and proceeded with extreme caution. "Naruto, did Madara say that you could use that?" It was a rather expensive looking laptop, after all.
Naruto nodded. "Well yeah. I asked." Good. "He said that I could, but I just happened to glance over his browser history."
Oh boy. Gaara really didn't want to know now. He needed to make a quick exit. That was the logical thing to do in a situation like this1
He most assuredly, did not want to know what a man Madara's age had in his browser history. This was especially true, when whatever it was, made Naruto grin like an idiot!
"Right. Well I'll see you later." The horse ranch owner raced towards the door.
Naruto grinned and dragged Gaara back there. "No, seriously." He beamed at his best friend. "This shit is gold! I didn't know the human body was this flexible!"
Gaara shook his head. He loved Naruto like a brother, but he could be such an idiot sometimes. He supposed it was his job to set him straight. Pun intended.
"Not to throw cold water on your discovery, but that's all straight adult entertainment." He shrugged. "So I fail to see what good it will do you."
Suddenly, he heard a loud chuckling as Madara strode into the living room. "Well that's the straight version. It has a sister website for those who are a bit more exotic in their preferences."
Righttt. Exotic in their preferences. Apparently, that was Madara's way of saying a site for women who liked women or men who liked men. That or maybe, that was just a small slice of it. The red head half expected the companion site to be even weirder than the original.
"Good to know." He face palmed. "Well that was enlightening. Let's go get some dinner. I hear that seafood place is having a Sushi Special today!"
It had been utterly mortifying then, but Gaara chuckles at the memory now. Madara had truly been one of a kind. He had to give the Uchiha that much.
Nature appeared to be laughing alongside Gaara though. Soon enough, several loud roars of thunder and brilliant flashes of lightning were heard/seen outside the window and just like that, the power went out.
"Awe man!" Naruto sighs as everything, save for the fireplace's flames went black.
Well they had known it was coming. It was a good thing that they had retreated the living room when it did. Oh well.
This was actually a good thing, really. It gave him a decent excuse to spend more time with the Sexy Peacock! This was going to be great! He just had to turn on the charm was all.
Of course, that was made a bit difficult by the fact the guy's older brother was hanging out with them. "So I guess we should probably take you up on that offer of waiting out the storm." That was a minor detail though.
It would be challenging, but Naruto was damn sure that he could manage. After all, an Uzumaki never gave up. Besides, he still was pretty damn sure that Sasuke was actually gay.
Gaara might not be sure about the brothers, but Naruto was. Once again, he prided himself on his ability to sense these sorts of things.
"Probably a good idea." Sasuke nods. "We wouldn't want to send you off and then find out you got electrocuted by lightning. "
Yeah. That wasn't a pleasant thought. Naruto knew that the odds of such a thing happening were low, but still. Why take that chance?
"Well while we're here, why don't the two of us tell us about Madara." Itachi smiles pleasantly. "Honestly, it was a shock to find out that he put us in his Will. We've never really spoken to him before." It was such a disarming smile.
It made Naruto wonder what Sasuke's smile looked like. He was probably more of a smirker though. That was okay. Sometimes, smirks could be sexy!
Naruto laughs at Itachi's request. "Well Madara was definitely one of a kind." He couldn't help, but grin at that thought.
Gaara seemed to agree with him. He had no idea what the red head was remembering exactly, but it must have been a doozy. Then again, most things with Madara were.
There was never a dull moment with that guy. It was a shame that he had apparently never gotten a chance to get to know Itachi and Sasuke, but well…at least his memory lived on.
"We got that impression when he put a winky face in his Will." Itachi chuckles.
Not to be outdone, Sasuke decides to chime in. "And mentioned how beautiful women were in France." Yeah. That sounded like Madara.
For some reason, Itachi and Sasuke were exchanging rather amused looks at that last part. Hmm. That was interest. Naruto didn't get it.
"Which was ironic." Itachi shrugs, but smiles. "Since neither of us has any interest in French women or women in general." He pauses and clarifies. "Well at least not romantically."
Naruto beams. That was awesome! He had totally been right. The blonde couldn't help, but give Gaara a rather smug look at that declaration.
"Itachi!" Sasuke rolls his eyes at his brother. "That's not the kind of thing that you say, within an hour of meeting someone!" Well Sasuke kinda did have a point there, but Naruto was really too elated to be worried about such things.
He felt like he was literally walking on sunshine or something. This meant that Sasuke was gay and well, so was Itachi. That was cool. Gaara could have Itachi. He'd take Sasuke and it'd all work out beautifully! Believe it!
"Don't worry." Gaara smiles reassuringly. "That's not going to be an issue. We have no problem with the two of you preferring men."
Damn fucking straight, they didn't. Naruto snorts at the irony of that statement in his head, but presses on anyway.
Sasuke looks more than a little relieved at that. "Well that's good." Sadly, Naruto was pretty sure that Sasuke must have run into at least a couple of jerks who weren't too happy about his sexual orientation at some point. Hmm.
Maybe, Naruto would have to deal with a couple of idiots. The whole Knight and Shining Armor thing could work on his favor. Then again, Sasuke looked like a guy who could handle himself.
People didn't get that kind of body, if they were exclusively paper pushers. It was a shame that said body was covered up by entirely too many clothes at the moment though. Oh well. Naruto would just have to fix that later.
"Wonderful." Itachi smiles. "I don't know, if we'll end up keeping this place or not." His smile only grows. "But it would be nice to get along with the neigbors, if we do."
Oh yeah. Naruto agreed completely. He was more than eager to get to know Sasuke. Particularly, what Sasuke looked like without his clothes on and maybe, enjoy some snuggling up by the fireplace when his brother and Gaara weren't around.
He loved Gaara and Itachi seemed cool, but there were some things that you just didn't really do in front of other people. Actual snuggling might be been okay in front of them, but not the sexy kind of snuggling!
Sasuke nods in agreement. "Yeah. Well it looks like we're going to be here awhile. I wonder, if there's anything we can make to eat without the power on."
"Don't worry! I'll show you where all the good stuff is!" Naruto grins. "Madara liked to keep a lot of fancy snacks around to impress investors."
He loved ramen, but Sasuke struck him more as a fancy chocolate covered strawberry type of guy. Which was cool. Naruto liked those two and he knew that Gaara loved them. Itachi probably would as well.
Whether Madara had intended it or not, he had just sent his two very hot Great Nephews to Mangekyo Wines and Naruto intended to make the most of it. After all, why look a gift horse in the mouth? Pun intended. After all, his best friend owned a freaking horse ranch!
There was just no way that he was not going to make that joke! Well at least inside his head. Gaara would probably kill him, if he actually said it out loud. That was one feisty red head!