Doctor Love
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 4
A few hours later, Fugaku finds his eldest son, Itachi. Generally, Mikoto took care of Sasuke and he took care of Itachi during times like these. Yes, they had two sons. It worked out rather nicely. They could just divide up the parental interventions. An intervention was apparently necessary in this case.
"Itachi, would you care to tell me what you and your brother discussed at breakfast?" He inquires.
Itachi gulps. It might be phrased casually, but Fugaku Uchiha was anything but casual. He made Itachi look like a cuddly, newborn puppy in comparison. When he asked you a question, you had better answer. Otherwise, things would get unpleasant for you and quickly.
"Well I suspect that it may be too early to discuss such things." The Hospital Administrator replies cautiously.
Oh he was never physically abusive. Fugaku had ways of making people talk though. He'd never raise a hand to either of his children, but he would employ psychological warfare.
"Itachi, if you do not immediately inform me about what happened, I will release your baby pictures all over the Internet." The Uchiha Patriarch threatens him.
"You wouldn't!" His son protests.
"I would and I will, if you do not tell me what happened. Now, I suggest you make things easier for yourself and start talking." Fugaku says firmly.
Itachi sighs. Damn it. He was so not going to deal with his baby pictures being plastered all over the Internet.
"Alright. I think Sasuke has a bit of a crush on the new nurse. Kabuto behaved inappropriately towards her and Sasuke reacted more strongly than expected." He answers.
"Of course he reacted strongly. We shouldn't tolerate that type of thing here. What did Kabuto do?" The elder Uchiha demands.
"Oh he placed his hand on her waist. Unfortunately, it'd be difficult to fire him. He did remove his hand, when she asked. I doubt she would have, if Sasuke wasn't there. Hinata tends to avoid conflict when possible." Itachi tells him.
Fugaku frowns. He certainly didn't like it. He quickly makes a mental note to watch the silver haired doctor more closely from now on. This news was most distressing. He didn't want his staff to feel uncomfortable.
"So you think that he likes Hinata. Well she seems like a sweet girl and who hasn't had a few naughty nurse fantasies here and there?" He asks.
"…" Itachi is speechless.
He was now moderately traumatized to know more about his father's sexual preferences than he ever wanted to know. Itachi couldn't believe that Fugaku had actually said that. How could he say something like that in front of him?!
"Oh don't look at me that way. You know that it's true. In any case, I shall monitor Kabuto's behavior and keep your mother abreast of the situation." Fugaku continues.
"I don't know if it's a good idea to tell mother. You know how much she wants grandchildren. She'll try to play matchmaker and they are barely in the flirtation stage, if that." The young Uchiha warns him.
Fugaku considers that. Itachi may have a valid point there. If the relationship was still new, Mikoto might try to push things too quickly. Hmm. What to do?
"Well almost every woman wants grandchildren. You can hardly blame her for that. While we are on the subject, are you certain that you should be giving your brother love advice. You are also a bachelor." His father notes with a chuckle.
"By choice. If I wanted to get married and settle down at the moment, I would easily be able to do so." Itachi notes smugly.
The Uchiha Patriarch shakes his head in amusement. Well his sons certainly didn't lack confidence. Then again, why should they? They were Uchihas.
"Well perhaps I shall stress that caution is necessary when giving them a helpful push." Fugaku muses.
"I know that you don't believe that mother is capable of being subtle when it comes to matchmaking." Itachi says.
"Mikoto can be quite the sneaky woman, when she wants to be. How do you think that we ended up together in the first place?" He inquires.
Itachi blinks. He wasn't sure that he wanted to know. Wait. On second thought, he definitely didn't want to know. He was already still traumatized by that sexy nurse comment.
"I don't want to know. We should get going though. The hospital isn't going to run itself." Itachi states and the two men walk off to perform their respective duties.
"Nurse, can you hand me the stethoscope?" Sasuke asks Hinata a few minutes later.
"Of course, Dr. Love." She replies without thinking about it.
This was much to the amusement of their patient. A middle aged woman who just started laughing. Hinata feels her face heat up.
"You do make a lovely couple." She says between laughs.
"It's just a nickname the nurses gave me. You should hear what they call some of the other doctors. Believe me, I got off lucky." Sasuke mutters as he checks the woman's heart rate.
The woman giggles and nods. Hinata was glad that she was just giggling. She had never been more embarrassed. The bluenette couldn't believe that had just slipped out.
Maybe it was okay though. Sasuke had made that crack about everything being fully operational. He might not care that she had slipped up. Either way, it was so embarrassing.
"Well your heart rate is good. Laughter really is the best medicine. Do you have any concerns that you would like to talk about?" The Uchiha asks.
"No, I feel fine. Dr. Love." The woman replies with a giggle.
"Wonderful. We'll see you in six months. Have a nice day." Sasuke says and the patient heads off.
Hinata was sure that her face was redder than a tomato at this point. Oh dear God. How was she ever going to be able to look her boss in the eye again after that?
"Hinata, it's fine. It was just a slip of the tongue. No real harm done. Besides, if you can forgive me for running you over, I can forget about that small mistake." Sasuke assures her with a small shrug.
"Okay. I really am sorry though. I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of your patient." She mumbles.
Sasuke shakes his head in amusement. He knew that Hinata didn't mean to do it. He would have preferred not to be giggled at by a patient, but he'd get over it. Though he was wondering just how red her face could get at the moment.
"It's alright. Don't worry about it. It would be a good idea for you to ignore anything my brother says about me though. Itachi is Itachi. He likes to meddle." The youngest Uchiha warns her.
Hinata blinks. The former heiress wasn't sure what Sasuke meant by that. He had warned her about Itachi being CIA/FBI like before though.
"Should I be nervous?" The bluenette asks in a voice barely above a whisper.
"I don't think so. He just likes to embarrass me. That's all. It's what big brothers do." Sasuke states.
"Oh. I wouldn't now. I only have a little sister." Hinata replies.
Sasuke casts an envious look at Hinata. She had no idea how lucky she was. Sometimes it truly sucked to be the 'baby' of the family. It just gave everyone license to 'help' you. (Usually by embarrassing the hell out of you).
"You're lucky then. You can take your break now. I have to check in with my parents anyway. They are going to want to see my patient log." He states as he heads off.
Hinata lets out a sigh of relief. That could have ended in complete disaster. Thank goodness that Sasuke had a sense of humor. She vows to watch what she said more carefully. She didn't want another embarrassing incident like that to happen again.
Meanwhile back at Neji, Hinata, and Hanabi's house, a certain Hyuga genius was doing some snooping. Yes, Neji was performing a background check online. No one got near his cousin without being vetted.
"Neji, what are you doing?" Hanabi asks.
"Oh just some research." He replies smoothly and tries to hide the screen from her view.
Hanabi raises an eyebrow. Her cousin was clearly up to something and she was going to find out what it was. She walks over and looks at the screen. A background checking site?
"Neji, who are you snooping on?" She demands and crosses her arms.
Damn it. Hanabi would be like a dog with a bone now. Once the young woman got an idea into her head, there was no getting it out of there. He sighs and decides, it was probably better just to fess up.
"Sasuke Uchiha." The lavender eyed man answers honestly.
"You mean Hinata's boss? The doctor that she's working with? Why are you spying on him? Did something happen?" The young woman asks.
Hanabi wouldn't let anyone hurt her big sister. She had already been through enough with their crazy family. If this guy was harassing her, she would kick his ass.
"Yes, Hinata's boss. Yes, he's the doctor that is working with her. I don't think anything is happening yet. Though I suspect they may wind up dating. That's why it's imperative to ensure that he is a suitable match for her. We don't want Hinata to get in over her head." He says firmly.
"You're background checking a doctor? Um Neji, I think that's kinda going overboard. If he had done anything illegal, I doubt the they would have let him keep his medical license." The younger Hyuga points out.
Neji shakes his head. One could never be too careful. That was his motto. It was probably the only reason he had survived his childhood with his sanity intact. Hyugas were perfectionists to the core.
"Yes, I am background checking a doctor. Don't you dare tell Hinata about this. If you do, I won't take you clothing shopping this weekend." He informs her.
Hanabi gulps. That just wasn't fair. Well she supposed it didn't really matter. It wasn't like Neji was going to find anything on the hot doctor anyway. Honestly, he was being rather silly in her opinion.
"That wasn't fair." She pouts.
"It might not have been fair, but it was effective." Neji tells her with a smirk.
Hanabi couldn't argue with that. She loved shopping. It was way more fun now that the rest of their family wasn't monitoring ever purchase they made too.
"Well if she really does have a thing for her boss, we should probably get Hinata something nice while we are out. Maybe some lingerie." She says with a smile.
"HANABI!" The young man exclaims in outrage at such a scandalous suggestion.
"What? I'm just saying that he might like it and we should surprise Hinata with something nice." Hanabi continues on as if she had been discussing whether or not they should have a picnic.
Neji shakes his head. Only Hanabi would ever dream up such a deviant suggestion. She truly did believe in fairytales, though with a fair naughtier twist than he was really comfortable with.
She was far too young to be thinking about such things. In his opinion, Hanabi shouldn't even be thinking about boys until she was at least 30. Hinata was an exception. He knew that his other cousin wasn't as wild as Hanabi. Hinata was less likely to get into trouble.
Back at the hospital, Hinata had just finished her break and headed back to Sasuke's office. It didn't take long for the youngest Uchiha to join her. He smiles.
"There. That should keep them busy for awhile. So are you going to the Halloween office party?" He asks.
"There's a party?" Hinata replies in surprise at this revelation.
"Of course there is. It's Shisui's favorite holiday. He loves hamming it up and seeing the nurses in their costumes. I assume you've met him by now?" Sasuke inquires with a smirk.
Now it was Hinata's turn to giggle. Oh yes, she had. The others weren't kidding when they said he was a flirt. Still she got the impression it was all rather harmless, especially when compared to Kabuto.
"I'll have to get a costume, but I would love to come. It sounds like it will be fun. Have you decided what you are going to be yet?" The bluenette asks.
"I have. But I can't tell you. That would take all the fun out of it. Maybe you can help me pass out some candy to the hospital bound patients later on." He suggests.
Hinata nods. She knew that some hospitals did that during Halloween. They passed out candy to trick or treaters and gave some to patients. It was a fairly widespread practice really.
"I'd love to. I didn't know you liked sweets." She muses.
"I make an exception for Halloween. Besides, half of it is chocolate anyway." He observes.
That was true. About half of the candy, she ever got on Halloween was chocolate. Oh she wondered if there would be any popcorn balls. Those were always fun.
"Are we going to put up any decorations for the party?" Hinata asks.
"Have you met my mother? Yeah, there are going to be lots of decorations.
A few days later, Hinata found out exactly what Sasuke meant. She blinks. Somehow Mikoto and her army of minions had completely transformed the hospital in less than a week. Now it looked like the inside of a fairytale castle.
"Mikoto." Fugaku says.
"Yes, My Love?" Mikoto asks and twirls around in her baby blue princess gown complete with a tiara.
"What did you do to our hospital?" Her husband asks.
Mikoto smiles. She kisses his cheek. He'd get into the holiday spirit soon enough. She knew he would.
"I decorated it for the party." She says happily and was clearly quite pleased with her own cleverness.
"You essentially completely remodeled it. How are we ever going to get it back to normal afterwards?" He asks.
Mikoto shrugs. Everything was removable. He didn't need to know that though. It was fun to see him fret sometimes. She wouldn't be cruel though. She'd let him know that…eventually.
"Don't worry about anything. Come. Dance with me." She says and offers him her hand to the 'police officer.'
"Are they always like that?" Hinata asks with a giggle at Sasuke.
"Pretty much, yeah. My mother has him wrapped around her finger. No one else would dare talk to him like that." Sasuke muses.
Sasuke had decided to go traditional. He was dressed as a vampire. He smirks when he saw Hinata's costume. She was an angel.
"I thought you were going to get a costume?" He asks.
"What do you mean? I did." Hinata says as she gestures to her silver halo, white fluffy wings on her back, and the pale blue dress/robe she was wearing.
"You're an angel every day. It's very pretty, but not much of a costume in that respect." Sasuke tells her.
Shisui chuckles. Well that was actually rather smooth by Sasuke standards. He gestures for Itachi to look over at Hinata and Sasuke.
"He learned from the best." Shisui whispers proudly.
Itachi just shakes his head at his cousin's antics. Silly Shisui. If Sasuke had learned from the best, it was clearly him. Oh well. If Shisui wanted to delude himself into believing that he was the Casanova of the family, he supposed he could humor him.
"Of course he did." Itachi muses.
"OWE! Naruto, you are stepping on my feet." Sakura says as she dances with the blonde.
Sakura had dressed up as a zombie bride and Naruto was her zombie groom. Sasuke smirks. Naruto was good at many things. Dancing just had never been one of them.
"What are you smirking about, bastard?! You think you can do better?" Naruto demands.
"Oh I KNOW that I can do better than that. Hinata, would you like to help me prove it?" He asks.
"Um sure?" She answers before being lead to the dance floor.
Mikoto smiles as she wraps her arms around Fugaku's neck. She glances at Sasuke and Hinata. They just looked so adorable together.
"I know what you are thinking. I already talked to Itachi about it. It is our opinion that any meddling should be measured at this point. They are still in the beginning stages of their relationship and we don't' want to push them too hard." He whispers in her ear.
"Am I that obvious?" She asks with a pout as Fugaku dances with her.
"A little. Mostly it is because I know you though. We have been married for over thirty years." He reminds her as he twirls his wife around.
Mikoto giggles. Well that was most certainly true. She enjoys the twirl and decides to be patient for now. Though if she saw a good opportunity to meddle, she most certainly was going to take it.
"Have you ever danced before?" Sasuke asks Hinata.
"Sasuke, I'm a Hyuga. I was taught to dance almost immediately after I could walk." She informs him.
Sasuke blinks. Hmm that was surprisingly feisty by Hinata standards. He laughs and spins her around.
"Good to know. What else did they teach you in that house of horrors?" The young doctor asks.
"You don't want to know. The lessons were endless. It was particularly important to know which fork was the proper one to use at state dinners." The bluenette says as she spins underneath him.
Sasuke felt a flash of pity for the beautiful nurse underneath his arm. He likely would have gone crazy long before he was old enough to move out. Truly, he had no idea how she had put up with it, for as long as she had. Hinata must have the patience of a saint, he muses.
"Did you ever learn which was the proper fork to use or did you fail that lesson?" He asks.
"I'll have you know that I passed all my charm lessons, but now I can use whatever utensil I want. It's really liberating." Hinata says with a sly smile.
"Oh I imagine it is. Itachi generally doesn't bother with any utensils unless it's soup or something like that. He prefers to use his bare hands." Sasuke contributes.
Hinata laughs. It was hard to imagine the elegant elder Uchiha brother as having anything less than impeccable table manners. Her family would have lost it, if she had ever done such a thing.
"The barbarian. They would have put him in the stocks." She replies n amusement.
"Did your family actually have stocks? They are so old fashioned, that it's not completely outside the realm of possibility." Her partner questions her.
"I don't think they had stocks. Then again, I was a good girl. So they didn't have to use them, if they had them." She replies.
Sasuke chuckles at that explanation. He had no doubt that she had been a very good girl around her family. You couldn't be anything else when you were part of that family.
"Well sometimes it's fun to be bad. I imagine they would be very scandalized to find out that their innocent angel was dancing with a vampire." He muses.
"Oh yes, quite scandalized." Hinata agrees.
Kabuto shakes his head as he leans against the wall by the punch bowl. Honestly, he would have thought Sasuke would be at least somewhat more original. A vampire? Really?
"Kabuto, if you continue to glare at them in such a way, they are bound to notice." Orochimaru chides him.
Kabuto was dressed as ghost. Orochimaru was dressed as well, Kabuto wasn't really sure what his mentor was supposed to be. Some sort of giant snake.
"I can't help it. They are so ridiculously sweet, that I fear I may get cavities." He mutters in disgust.
Orochimaru shakes his head. He would really prefer it, if Kabuto didn't get himself fired over his spat with the youngest Uchiha. It was dreadfully hard to find suitable lab assistants.
"I would just leave them be. That is a nice ghost costume by the way. Drowning victim?" He asks.
It was a ghost costume, but it was original. Kabuto hadn't just thrown a sheet over his head. He had applied a lot of makeup to give himself an almost transparent appearance. Some of the makeup was blue, purple, and gray to mirror what a drowning victim might look like.
"Yes, a drowning victim. What are you supposed to be?" He asks.
"Oh that's quite simple. A Hydra. I wanted to come dressed as something no one else was going to go as." Dr. Sannin replies.
It was a giant purple snake costume with three heads. Kabuto mentally slaps himself. Of course it was a Hydra. What other snake had more than one head?
"Did you make it yourself?" The silver haired doctor as in a desperate attempt to distract himself from watching the "happy couple."
"Yes, I made it myself. I find that produces far better results than buying something. Have a drink and enjoy yourself. There are plenty of other pretty nurses for you to chase after." He muses.
Kabuto pours himself a drink and sighs. To Hell with that. He might have initially been attracted to Hinata for her looks, but now it was personal. Now it was about denying the Uchiha something. For once, he was going to get the upper hand over Dr. Love.
The bespectacled man had had it with the way the female members of the staff would fawn over him. It was quite frankly sickening. He was tired of being considered second best, whenever Sasuke was around.
No, he was going to beat Sasuke in at least one area. Romance. He just needed to come up with a suitable plan in order do that. That was all. Kabuto was certain that he would manage it. After all, he was a genius.
