Morning. I'll have you know I was up in the wee hours of the night, and early, early morning to have this out to you. I guess I just care so much about you. Look at this, we already have seven chapters. What are we going to do with ourselves? YOU'RE WELCOME

"I kind of knew you liked the dude from private school/ He's waiting for the time to move/ I knew he had his eyes on you/ He's not the right guy for you/ Don't hate me cause I write the truth/ No I would never lie to you/ But it was never fine to lose you."

"I feel like writing a book/ I guess I lied in the hook/ Cause I still love you and I need you by my side if I could/"

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO (Yeah I know, you know...)

AU

External Affairs

Chapter 7: Unfurled


Ino walked into Sasuke's office in a huff, thankful that he was no longer on the phone because she had resolved to barge in anyway. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, almost as though she had been chased there by something rather vicious.

Dark eyes rose from papers on his desk to the panting girl standing before him and he quirked an equally dark brow. "What's going on?" He inquired curiously, sensing something was bugging the blonde.

"You know that new woman who's working for you, the one with the strange colored hair?" Ino asked him quietly.

Sasuke nodded, and motioned with his hand for her to continue telling him what she had come to say.

"She called Tenten a wench.." Ino bit her thumb, not wanting to sound like a complete tattle tale, but also not wanting to keep the information from Sasuke.

Yesterday she was not so subtly hitting on Itachi, and she calls Tenten a wench today? "Do you know if there's any past altercations between she and Tenten?" He asked, standing to his feet.

Ino frowned her perfectly pink lips, "I guess I never got that far," she said, sighing.

"Don't sorry, it'll be fine." Sasuke assured with a smile, closing the distance between he and a Ino.


Itachi had finally come into work, a few hours late. Punctuality was incredibly important to him, but his wife was even more so. He slept in a bit with her, making sure she was okay. She had told him she was seeing a counselor, he wasn't sure at first how he felt about it, but if it helped her. He didn't mind. As long as she didn't drag him along.

"Well I was beginning to worry something might've happened to you." Deidara said with a smug look upon his face as he watched his friend walk by his desk.

"No, nothing's happened." Itachi replied cooly.

"Is Tenten okay?" Deidara knew his place, and he knew he had just overstepped a boundary, but he didn't care. If Tenten was being mistreated, he wouldn't stand for it. And he would do the same for Ino.

Itachi froze, wondering how much Tenten might have told Deidara about what happened. This was not his business, nor was it anyone else's but his and his wife's. But he couldn't sound suspicious either by demanding Deidara to tell him what he knew. He'd find out. "She's doing well, staying home to catch up on some rest today." He answered, still fighting the urge to bark at Deidara and demand that he tell himm exactly what Tenten opened up to him about, but Tenten wouldn't have told him anythihng, right?

"Oh, that's good." Deidara offered him a small smile. "See ya, boss." He dismissed Itachi with a wave before looking back down at his computer and letting out a small sigh. He really didn't know any details, he simply knew that there was a little trouble in paradise of late.

Itachi made his way up to Sasuke's office and he was about to intrude when he thought he heard the sound of a muffled moan, and the sound of things being shifted around. He smirked slyly, realizing exactly what was going on inside that office, and he turned quickly to walk away. He and Tenten had been like that once. He frowned deeply, it had been a while since the two of them even had sex. He didn't want to hurt her, she must've been completely traumatized by that bastard, surely sex was the last thing on her mind. But certainly, the older Uchiha was a little bent out of shape. He sighed quietly, putting it out of his mind and decided to check on the new employees.

Amber eyes darted up when she saw the tall man walk through the door of her office, and she swore up and down that her heart stopped beating. He was certainly a prize, a delectable succulant hunk of meat. Tall, muscular, dark, and mysterious. His eyes were peircing, and his features striking, this Uchiha man could make any woman melt under his gaze, and right now, Konan was doing everything she could to keep herself from becoming a puddle.

"How is everything going?" Itachi asked quietly, looking at her with an inquisitve expression. He found himself curious if the girl's hair was naturally that color of periwinkle, or if she colored it that way. He wouldn't know the first thing about that sort of thing, either way, but it was intriuing.

"It's going well." She gave him a soft, but slightly sultry smile as her eyes trailed up the length of his body and met his. Target locked. She thought hungrily to herself. "I think that I may have an interested client based out of Kusagakure, I'll let you know more when I know more, Mr. Uchiha."

He almost found himself insisting that she not call him Mr. Uchiha, but that was a mistake. Everone, including his wife, called him that here. That was highly inappropreate, and he scolded himself for it. "Good, thank you." He said briskly, turning his back to her to check on Hidan.


Ino pulled her dress down after returning her black lacy panties to their rightful place, and slipping into her stilettos. "Sasuke," She said shakily as she watched him button up his shirt and glance over at her curiously. Her heart pounded, the man was so incredibly sexy, she was almost ready to go at it again, but she was rather tired.

"Yes?" Came his short response.

"I think that I.." Ino gulped, having trouble telling him what she wanted to, for reasons unknown to her.

Sasuke looked at her with a softened expression before he heard his office phone ring, and he knew exactly who it was. He wondered how Itachi would like the fact that the newest employee called his lovely wife a wench, Itachi probably didn't give a shit. Just thinking about it made Sasuke so angry. "What?" He said, after grabbing the phone and holding it up to his ear.

"Having fun in there?"

"What the fuck, Itachi!? Are you-"

"No, I'm not watching you. I heard you. Pervert."

"Gah, what do you want?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, though he was releived that Itachi hadn't placed a hidden camera somewhere in Sasuke's office. If so, he was in for a real treat.

"Come up to my office, I need to talk to you."

Sasuke hung up the phone and gave the blonde a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, I'll be right back."

Ino looked at him and sighed quietly, "I'm proably going to go out and grab some coffee with Deidara. I'll see you around lunch."

Sasuke scooped her into a hug an kissed her quickly. "I'll see you then." He husked before rushing out and toward Itachi's office.


Ino took this as an opportunity to just bite the bullet and go out and actually buy a pregnancy test. She didn't want to go alone, and Tenten was out of the office, so she would settle for taking her brother instead. She sighed quietly and grabbed her purse, blindly walking out of Sasuke's office before running right into someone and nearly toppling over. She felt her body falling backward in slow motion, until a pair of strong arms caught her, just before she hit the ground.

"Shit, blondie. Your're awfully clumsy!" A low voice rang, and Ino opened her blue eyes only to be met with magenta ones.

"I'm sorry." She gulped, wanting desperately to be out of this man's embrace. Slowly, she found her footing and pulled away from him. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, pretty. Just try to be more careful next time. Someone could probably lose a fucking eye." He teased her, and winked at her.

But Ino wasn't pleased with his behavior, or his language. Sasuke and Itachi didn't ever really swear that much. Only when they were angry, or trying to make a point. But overall, they were relatively good guys. This one just seemed bad to the core. "See you around." She said quickly as she made her way down the stairs to Deidara's desk.

Mhmm, see you around blondie...

"Deidara," Ino whined quietly like a little sister should, and leaned on his desk givibg him large and pleading eyes she just knew he wouldn't be able to say no to. "Will you please take me to the store?"


"So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Sasuke sat across from his brother, tapping his foot below the desk and trying not to feel antsy about whatever it was that Ino was about to tell him.

"I was curious as to how the new recruits are doing?" Itachi looked at his younger brother and for one split second, he felt like he was looking right at himself.

"Shitty." He frowned, waiting for Itachi's reaction.

"Shitty? I don't think so. Konan has already made a contact in Kusagakure." Itachi said, looking at his brother as if to say 'your move'.

"Well you know what Konan also did?" Sasuke smirked and shook his head. "She said your wife is a wench."

Suddenly, anger slowly began to well up inside of Itachi. That was not true, Tenten was far from a wench she was a fucking saint. That woman had put up with so much shit in her life time that she didn't deserve anything but the best and Itachi wasn't even able to give that to her. "Excuse me? Why would she say something like that?"

Sasuke saw it, the flash of fury in his brother's eyes, but he also saw it start to dissipate. "Yep, that's what she said to Ino."

"I won't be part of some catty woman's chatter. But if Konan has a problem with my wife, she can come to me and say it to my face." He warned through gritted teeth.

This is more like it, Sasuke thought to himself. "So what is going on between you and Tenten, have you two made up?"

"We are fine, Sasuke. Drop the subject." Itachi pushed.

Sasuke wasn't going to drop it, not now. He was sure that Itachi was hiding something from him. And he was determined to figure it out, and so was Ino. They were concerened for their family. "Itachi, tell me! Stop hiding everything from me just because you think I can't handle it!" He snapped.

"It's not that I don't think you can't handle it, I know you can't ." Itachi barked.

"Stop it! Stop beating around the bush and just tell me!? All this strange behavior from you started happening right after we dropped Orochimaru as a contact, does he have something to do with this?" Sasuke hissed, angrily. Things had certainly escilated quickly and grown heated in a mannor of seconds. But like a great man once said, that's what happens when a tornado meets a volcano.

Intuitive and observant little shit.. "Fine," Itachi swallowed that pill called pride and he stood up. "Orochimaru was the one that killed our parents, and so I killed him. Happy?" There was absolutely no way he would let anyone know of the horrors that Orochimaru had done to Tenten, that was just not something you tell people, family or not, casually.

Sasuke's eyes widened, and his heart sank to the pit of his stomach. All this time he had spent wondering who would've murdered his family in cold blood, but now... And now that he thought of it, he knew exactly what was wrong. He was in the car after that whole incident had happened. He knew that Itachi killed Orochimaru why did he buy the lie that they 'dropped' him as a client, but he didn't know why Orochimaru had Tenten. How foolish he had been for not piecing it together sooner.

"Itachi, he hurt Tenten.. Didn't he?"

"Don't provoke me," Itachi looked down, and suddenly he looked sick.

Sasuke stood in a panic, glaring at his brother. "Why the fuck have you been treating her so badly then?! Oh my God, Itachi!" His fists balled up tightly, and he could hardly even look at Itachi. "Orochimaru raped her, and yo-"

"Stop talking." Itachi warned, looking back up at his brother.

That was it, Sasuke lept over the desk and swung his left fist hard, making contact with his brother's right cheek, causing him to stumble backward. Sasuke didn't stop there, finding his feet, he grabbed Itachi's shirt and yanked it, bringing his brother closer before punching him again, earning him a one way ticket to pain.

Itachi growled and shoved his little brother off of him before punching him right in the stomach, causing Sasuke to double over in pain. He'd punched him so hard, he was gasping. "This isn't your business!"

"Tenten needs you!" He said between gasps, holding his stomach painfully before finally standing up straight. "You're an asshole if you think she can deal with that type of trauma on her own."

Itachi looked away, blinking away something that looked to like a tear. His little pesky brother was absolutely right. Tenten did need him. He was so foolish, he was just so angry. Angry with himself for not protecting Tenten like he always vowed he would. She'd belonged to him since she was a mere teen. That was his job, his sole responsibilty to her was to keep her safe and he had absolutely done the opposite. He blamed himself for what happened to her, and he couldn't deal with the truth and the fact that he had failed her.

"You can still fix it, Itachi. But you can't blame yourself."

He looked at his little brother for a moment before walking over to him briskly, for a moment Sasuke thought that he was going to be beaten, but instead, his body went riged when he felt his brother's arms wrap around him.

Surely he's gone mad. Sasuke thought to himself as he slowly, ever so slowly returned the embrace, eyes wide and body still stiff. Itachi was not an affectionate man, not when it came to Sasuke or anyone other than Tenten and Tidus, so needless to say, the guesture frightened Sasuke a little. But he was glad that Itachi had finally broken down. "Will you go home, and fix the mess you made between you and Tenten?"

"Yes, I will." He let go of his brother and struggled to form the words, "Th.." He cleared his throat. "Thank you."

Sasuke smirked so wide, and puffed out his chest. "Ah, well you're welcome!"

"Don't get prideful." Itachi teased, ruffling his little brother's hair. "I can still kick your ass."


Ino stared down at the third pregnancy test she had taken. The first two had been positive, but the last one she had taken was negative. She couldn't possibly know what that might mean, and she didn't feel like drinking any more lemon water. Sighing exhasperated, she tossed the last test into the trash with the others and fixed her dress before washing her hands and walking back out of the bathroom to Deidara who was happily reading a magizine about sexy and tattooed women.

"What are you reading, you pervert?" Ino frowned at her brother's actions, and apparently she had startled him, because he dropped it quickly.

"Well, what's the diagnosis, doc?" He asked cutely, tilting his head to the side.

"The first two tests I took came out positive," She started as they made their way out of the drug store. "But the last one was negative, I'm just really confused."

"Hm," Deidara frowned. "Maybe you should go to the doctor and find out for sure, but with the two positive tests, I'm fairly certain that means you are."

Ino wasn't really sure how she felt about it. A third child? This could be difficult. She thought by now that Tenten and Itachi would be trying to catch up to them. And what if she happened to conceive twins yet again? Could she even handle that? She couldn't be sure. "You're right." Her soft voice cracked a little. "I'll make a doctor's appointment."