AN: After a ridiculously long time, here's chapter four! Yeah, really sorry about that. And to let you guys know, I have a poll in my profile. Please take the time to vote as it will help me loads with forming an update schedule. It always helps to sort out priorities.

Bridal Deception – Chapter Four
by Clow Angel

The pair had thought with the Hyuuga head out of the way, they would have some peace. After all, the elder Hyuuga was Neji's largest and most difficult hurdle to overcome, right? Wrong. They had no idea how wrong they were. Just when they were allowed to relax, disaster hit them at full speed. They had even managed to get life to return to a semblance of normalcy. Neji had returned to the Hyuuga Compound, and Naruto returned to living alone. At first, it had taken some getting used to, but it wasn't difficult. After all, that was how life was before the whole farce. They still saw each other during their free time and even occasionally trained together. Eventually, that farce wasn't much of a farce anymore as the time spent with each other nurtured their feelings.

Most of the shinobi population knew of their 'relationship' by now thanks to the gossip mill, but what of those away on missions? …Exactly. They had no clue.

When one Uchiha Sasuke returned to the village after a month-long reconnaissance mission, he was startled at the pieces of gossip that managed to filter through his automatic mental noise block. He had long ago come to terms with the fact that anything that had 'Naruto' in it would manage to get past his many defenses. He immediately lowered his mental barrier and discreetly listened in on a group of gossiping kunoichi with Ino at the center of the small huddle. They were sitting in a tea house snacking on some dango and gossiping without a care. He slid into an empty booth and ordered some tea.

"—with Naruto! I still can't believe it!" a brunette the Uchiha didn't recognize exclaimed excitedly, practically dancing in her seat. He sneered in disdain. What kind of behavior was that?

Ino rolled her light blue eyes dramatically, but giggled. It was the type of giggle Sasuke immediately recognized. It was the type of giggle girls would use when they surrounded him with hungry looks and pawing hands. It was the giggle of an obsessed fan girl. Just what did Naruto do to gain fan girls' attention during the time he was gone?

"How long do you think?" that same brunette asked again.

Sasuke was surprised to see TenTen in the group. He never saw her as the type of girl to join in gossip. In fact, he could grudgingly admit she was one of the shinobi within his age group that he respected for her professionalism and skill. He supposed that even TenTen had her moments. "I don't even know," she muttered, sounding uncharacteristically put out. "And we're on the same team."

A sandy-haired girl with more freckles than should be allowed turned to the platinum blonde. "D'you have any idea?"

"Not a one, but they're hot together! You should've seen the way Naruto kissed him senseless at the park!" she finished the sentence with a high pitched squeal, throwing the other girls into a squealing fit. TenTen sat back calmly however.

Sasuke's brows furrowed, putting the information together. Naruto had kissed someone in public. Naruto had kissed someone from TenTen's team in public. He immediately crossed out Rock Lee. There was no way the dobe would kiss the Eyebrows of Doom. That left the Hyuuga. The dobe kissed the Hyuuga? He abruptly stood at the realization, knocking his chair to the ground with a loud clatter.

The group of girls immediately stopped in their chatter and looked in his direction. Many eyes widened when they saw who it was.

Sasuke ignored their curious stares, threw some money on the table, and quickly left.

The loud shriek of "Oh my god, competition!" that rang behind him as he left almost had him tripping over his own feet.

"Oi dobe!" He knocked loudly on the door, the door shaking under the onslaught of blows. "Dobe, open the fucking door this instant!" He only went home to change, not bothering to even hand in his report before he made his way to Naruto's house.

When the door finally opened, it was the person he least wanted to see that greeted him.

"Uchiha," the Hyuuga greeted neutrally, standing in the doorway with an apron thrown over his everyday clothes.

Hot angry jealousy coursed through the Uchiha's veins at the sight of Neji wearing the apron he had seen adorn Naruto's figure more times than he could count. His hands curled into fists.

"Where's Naruto?" he asked with clenched jaws.

"He's in the showers." If Neji noticed the unusual tenseness in the Uchiha, he didn't comment or show any outward acknowledgement. He never knew what ran through the self-proclaimed avenger's head anyway, but he had a pretty good guess this time.

"Oi Neji! The food's burning!" a familiar voice called from inside.

"Was in the showers," Neji corrected himself before walking hurriedly back inside. "You've got a visitor," he said to Naruto as he passed him.

Sasuke let himself in, shutting the door behind him with a little more force than necessary.

"Oh, hey teme. Welcome back. How'd the mission go?" the blonde asked good-naturedly.

He completely ignored the question and instead advanced on the blonde who was in the middle of pulling a shirt over his head. "When the hell did this," here he pointed in the direction Neji went, "happen?"

A single blonde brow quirked. "A little while after you went on your mission. Why?"

"Why? He's a fucking Hyuuga!" he snarled as if that explained everything. And it really did. Although Neji was a Branch member, he was still a member of the prestigious Hyuuga clan. And Branch member or not, it didn't change the fact that Neji was their precious prodigy. What would the Hyuuga elders say?

As if reading his mind, Naruto replied with an amused, "We got the clan head's blessings."

Sasuke momentarily lost his steam at the unexpected declaration. "You what?" he asked stupidly, completely stumped. "You did? How?"

"No idea. I lost my temper, yelled at him good and stormed out of the room. Then Neji tells me everything's fine and that his uncle gave the okay. No idea what goes through that old geezer's head."

Sasuke was dumbfounded. "It isn't a trap?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nah." The blonde patted his best friend's back. "Wanna have lunch with us? Neji can cook a mean meal!"

Sasuke was quickly getting steamed again. "You live together?" he hissed, one second away from yanking the blonde by his hideous orange shirt and shaking him good.

"Wha? No. Well, not anymore. He moved back home last week."

Even Sasuke had to blink. That made no sense—even coming from the blonde.

"What?"

Naruto smiled widely. "I'll tell you all the details later, not now. We got food we need to eat."

The meal passed in stifling awkward silence. Sasuke grudgingly admitted the food was excellent, which only further enraged him. His scowl grew more pronounced as the meal went on. Anything Naruto tried to say to liven up the atmosphere was met with even heavier silence, if that was at all possible. The blonde swore that at one point, he could see ice and fire clashing when the two dark-haired males' eyes met. After the most uncomfortable meal Naruto had ever sat through, and that was saying something since he often dined with Tsunade and the stuffy council elders, he escaped to the kitchen to wash dishes.

It didn't matter that he had a dishwasher.

With the blonde gone, the atmosphere became even heavier, with sparks almost visibly flying about as the two sized each other up.

Neji decided to break the ice first. "Uchiha."

"Hyuuga," he replied stiffly. "What are your intentions?" he asked after a long silence.

'My intentions?' the Hyuuga wondered in amazement. 'Isn't Naruto the one who randomly dates people?'

"I assure you I have no ill intentions. Perhaps it's best if you ask Naruto for the details." He didn't want to explain his own embarrassing situation.

"I intend to."

…And silence resumed. It wasn't as if the two were talkative by nature.

…

…

…

"I'm back!" Naruto announced his entrance cheerfully and plopped down next to Neji, throwing an arm around the man. Sasuke just barely managed to keep himself from standing up and ripping the arm off the long-haired Hyuuga. He crossed his arms instead as a physical reminder to keep calm.

"So," he said instead, training his eyes on the blonde's eyes instead of the friendly arm, "How did this happen?"

"Well…" Naruto drawled hesitantly, exchanging a glance with the Hyuuga (which only served to further enrage Sasuke), and proceeded to explain in detail.

Surprise and some disgust ran through the dark-eyed male first. He wouldn't want to be in the situation Neji was in just weeks before. Forced to marry your own cousin? Not that he had any of those left, but still. Then came more anger, at Neji for having asked the blonde for help, Naruto for accepting, or the Hyuuga Clan Head for actually giving the okay, he didn't know, but he was angry. And then the emotions became so jumbled, he all but just gave up identifying them. He'd sort through them later.

"And then in the end, we kinda really started dating, so yeah…"

"I see…" he said slowly, brows drawn together in a contemplating expression.

"So teme, how'd your mission go? You never answered me."

Shit. The mission. He still had to turn in the report. Sasuke quickly stood without a word and made his way to the door and left.

Naruto shook his head fondly. His best friend could be so cute sometimes. "Heh, that guy."

Neji chuckled. "You realize he's jealous right?" he questioned, more amused than anything else. He didn't know what Naruto really thought of Sasuke, but he wasn't feeling too threatened. Yet.

Naruto shrugged, curling up around the pale man. "He's my best friend. I mean, we did go out for about a year, but it didn't feel right. He's like the brother I never had."

Neji allowed the affectionate gesture, wrapping an arm around the blonde, drawing him closer. He didn't voice it out loud, but he didn't think they'd be getting a lot of time to themselves now that the sort-of-last Uchiha was back in the village.

"So wanna go train? I haven't had any missions lately, so I'm getting kinda out of shape."

"Later," he mumbled against Naruto's clothed shoulder. "We just ate."

"Sure."

The pair eventually dozed off, as comfortable as they were, wrapped around each other.

AN: And there you go! A short chapter, but I wanted to get something out to you guys. I'll be writing the next chapter soon. Be prepared for a lot of mayhem now that Sasuke's in the picture. I'm tempted to stir things up even more later. I almost feel sorry for Neji and Naruto.