A/N: A few typical British insults in this chapter. And a lot of fluff. Oh and people who speak 3 different languages in the same sentence (that's totally normal with immigrants here). And, uh, no lemon in this chapter. You can complain all you want in your reviews, please, but don't forget to tell me if you liked this small development-like chapter.
Meanwhile, the Uchihas and the Uzumaki women were battling the traffic to the airport.
"So there's no subway at your international airport," Itachi stated, and Kushina nodded. "We've been promised a train station there ages ago, but eh, government," she explained, and shrugged as they made their way through the expressway. "Oh I can hardly wait to see Mikoto and Fugaku again, it's been so long since we visited, what with the bet and all!" she squealed.
"Are you two quite sure Naruto and Sasuke won't get mad at you?" Shisui asked. "I mean, damn, they could've met so much earlier and all."
"The fathers were the ones who decided on not letting the kids meet before. Mikoto told Fugaku his idea would come bite him in the ass, but he's always been stubborn… by the way he's gonna need a chaperone around town for a couple of days this week, he's got some fittings to do," Kushina finished with a wry smile.
They arrived at the airport right on time to see the Uchiha couple approaching the arrivals gate after passing through customs, and Mikoto dashed out to grasp Kushina in a bear hug, squealing, while Fugaku rolled his eyes and picked up her baggage cart.
"We're gonna be in-laws!" the women squealed, jumping up and down with hands joined.
"Not so fast, the boys aren't official yet," Fugaku grumbled, after greeting Itachi, Shisui and Karin. "Kushina," he greeted with a grin, and both Itachi and Shisui almost swallowed their own tongues in shock, Itachi actually gaping at his father's demeanor and appearance.
He had never seen Fugaku in such casual clothing. The man was actually wearing black shorts, a white tee-shirt and birkenstocks, with a Kashima Antlers cap and sunglasses. "Who are you and what did you do to my father?" he asked.
"What?" Fugaku said, raising an eyebrow at his stunned son. "You think you kids are the only people who can shred Japanese convention when out of the country? Get used to seeing me in these, I might be losing the bet but on the other hand after we officially retire I'm never wearing a suit or closed shoes ever again," he stated with a sigh and a dreamy look on his face.
"I think I have to sit down," Itachi feebly whispered, and plopped on a nearby seat.
Mikoto finished greeting everyone else and then sat beside him, pulling her son's head to her lap. "You look like your world turned upside down, aren't you happy we're here?" she asked, running her fingers through his hair.
"I feel like my Chichi-ue was abducted by aliens…" Itachi mumbled, and pouted. Mikoto laughed and messed up his hair. "Itachi, we did our best to properly raise you and your brother. Fugaku being strict and demanding was part of that; we didn't want either of you to be hurt by anyone for being weak, and he was your male model. But now you are both adults, well-raised, well-groomed adults who can defend themselves and walk the world with your heads high. Our work is done; we don't need to teach you anymore, we can live without fear of our spoiling you or showing ourselves less than perfect interfering with your upbringing. Do you understand that, my beloved son?" she explained with a smile, and Itachi gave her a long look, before nodding.
"I think I do, yeah," he said, and sat up, looking hopefully at his father, who was standing a couple of feet away, watching with a satisfied smirk. "Does that mean we finally get to play baseball together?" he asked, and Fugaku scowled at first, and then sighed. "Can't you choose a sport I don't suck at? Eh, fine, fine, humiliate your old man all you want, but only if I get to play soccer with my son in law too," he conceded, and Itachi jumped up to hug him.
"I'm sorry about today, I swear I didn't know mom and Karin were coming," Naruto apologized while they were soaking in the Jacuzzi, Sasuke sitting with his lower back strategically in front of one of the water spouts – he really was getting bent out of shape with so little exercise, but then he never really had wiggled his hips for half an hour before - with Naruto laid back on his chest.
"No problem. I actually liked them," Sasuke said. 'And will get that insult list,' he thought with a smirk, remembering he had quickly exchanged contacts with Karin at the end of lunch.
"Would you like to see what the rest looks like?" Naruto asked, and raised his head to look at him. "Just so if, well, we get any other surprise visit this week," he amended.
Sasuke pondered for a second, and nodded. They got out of the bathtub and dried up, and after they slipped under the bed covers Naruto picked a remote control from inside the headboard.
"What's that?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto pointed to the wall across from them, while pressing buttons. A flat-screen TV moved soundlessly down from the ceiling, Naruto selected the YouTube feature and pulled up a channel.
"This is my family's channel, we set it up so everybody can put up their news and other stuff from wherever they are in the world," he explained, selecting the newest video. "Good, Sai's sent us some news, let's start with him. Sai is my brother; he was adopted when I was eight years old. He's two years older than I am, Dad found him living in the streets in Recife, which is the capital of Pernambuco, a state up in the Northeast. He can't remember how he ended up alone, his family either abandoned him or died as soon as they reached the capital, many people from the interior of the state migrate to the capital to escape drought and poverty. He was really withdrawn when we met him, and while the legal adoption papers ran we moved to Recife so we could foster him there. He's totally crazy and a jackass, but I love him. He works as a photographer and film maker for National Geographic, and was sent to a project in Congo four months ago," Naruto explained, and started the video.
The first seconds were a panoramic shot of a savannah, with a few giraffes running away at the end of it, with a guy in a sombrero running after them, camera in hand, yelling. Whoever was filming had a fit of laughter then, and the man in the sombrero threw his hat on the ground, stomping on it before grabbing it and walking towards the camera, angrily waving it at the giraffes in the process.
"Stupid camera-shy stretched horses," he muttered in heavily accented English, and Sasuke saw he had very white skin, lighter than his own, and Japanese features. He wore a light, long sleeved shirt, a photographer's jacket and khaki pants stuck inside a pair of boots. "Oxente*, did you set the camera already?"
"Yeah, started rolling when you were getting ready for the shot, too bad I only caught the stampede after it started," the voice behind the camera said in a humorous tone.
Sai shook his head, and then waved his assistant away before looking at the camera and grinning. "Mainha, Painho, Ispilicute, Cotoco [Mom, Dad, Isprettycute*, Stumpy], and everybody else in the family, here's me in this big savanna da muléstia[amazing]. It's as hot as home but with a lot more dust, e mutuca [and horseflies] everywhere e mais uns bichim da porra [and some other annoying insects], but I got good news, sort of… the country is starting to go into upheaval again and it's not really safe for us to stay, so we'll be going back sometime next week. I'll try calling home before we board the plane, can't guarantee tho, so expect me to show up unexpectedly!"
Naruto gave Sasuke a sheepish look. "So that's my brother," he said apologetically.
"Aren't sombreros supposed to be Mexican?" Sasuke asked with a smirk, and Naruto scratched his nose. "Uh, yeah, but Sai has very sensitive skin, he used to hide during the day when he lived on the streets. So he uses that when he gets jobs in the wild. At least this time he's not drawing, last time he got one of those gigs he spent a month under a rock-shaped tent drawing gorillas up in the mountains and came back so used to it he set it up on our parent's lawn and slept in it for a week after coming home," the blond explained.
Sasuke took a deep breath to hold in the laughter. "Ok. Next?"
Next were small videos from Naruto's grandfather Jiraya and his grand-aunt from his mother's side, Tsunade (who Naruto explained had worked with Jiraya in Doctors Without Borders in her youth and ended up marrying him after both went through widowhood, and that was one of the biggest jokes in the family), his cousin Nagato and his spouses (a woman named Konan and a guy named Yahiko, showing their tattoo and piercing studio), and a Christmas video from about ten years ago, showing the whole family, the three siblings running madly around the house, playing ninja with their father while the other adults sat on the veranda making toasts to the relatives in other countries.
Naruto caught Sasuke's wistful look at the end, and turned around on his lap after shutting off the TV. "You ok?" he asked in a worried tone, and Sasuke nodded.
"Yeah, just comparing. It's unfair, though, different cultures… Itachi as the first son and the family genius had all of my father's attention, especially when I was very little, because Mom would take me with her to work so she could keep her eye on me. I used to envy the hell out of Itachi for it, until one day I watched this western movie on TV and the father took the son out to play catch, and to games, and did all this cool stuff with him… and I realized that even though my dad paid more attention to Itachi, he didn't do any of that with him, either; it was always pressure over his studies, his place as the future family heir. I had a lot more fun growing up, because while he was overloaded with classes and stuff like that I could play with the other kids at the company nursery, or "work" at the offices… I actually started to learn math with the people working at accounting, they'd teach me what they were doing in return for me making copies and bringing them coffee," he explained, and smiled softly.
"When I asked Mama not to go to cram school and stay in the offices after regular school to learn my father almost had a fit, but Mama was all for it. Turns out my curriculum isn't as amazing as Itachi's but when he started at the company I actually had to give him some pointers, because I grew up in it, and he didn't. Plus when I started high school I knew enough about the inner workings to be able to discuss with Mama and Father, and Itachi couldn't, so in the end I think I had more of a Dad/son relationship with Father than he did," he finished.
"Yeah… Shisui explained how hard it's like in Japan for kids. Which is weird because my grandpa was the one who taught my dad the family liaison business, but he went about it more like your mom did, he dragged Dad all over the world to learn hands-on because he never trusted college education would be enough. But then considering grandpa worked back in the 1970's and 80's, when nobody could understand how the hell we didn't just break in a civil war or keel over*, he had a point. Dad ended up getting a college degree after he was thirty, because he took over the business right as the economy settled down in the 90's and we got a tsunami of Asian companies trying to get a piece of the market here. And then I ended up learning a bit of the job when traveling with him, enough to start calling him Ero-sennin because he'd go to all the red light districts either before or after meetings," Naruto explained, and Sasuke gave him his best "Really" deadpan, "and decided I wanted to work in the same area. But nobody really pushed any of us like that. Um… so… that's the family. What do you think?" he asked, giving him a shy, but hopeful look.
"Hn. At least nobody pees in the refrigerator while drunk like Uncle Madara*," Sasuke said, and gave Naruto a side-look. "It's true, too, nobody ever lets him drink in family parties because of that, do not ask me why, I did go to his house and his bathrooms are not chilly," he explained, seeing Naruto's face change into different colors as he tried desperately to hold the laughter in. "Don't you even dare, I didn't ask you to translate what I assume are nicknames your brother gave you all in the video," he said, and Naruto tried to smother himself with a pillow to hide his face, his body shuddering with the effort.
At that moment, Naruto's phone ringed. He groaned and stretched his hand to grab for it on the bedtable.
"Quem me incomoda?" [Who bothers me?]
"Pode pedir o moleque em namoro que vovô aprova!" [You can ask the brat to be your boyfriend, grandpa approves!]
Naruto jumped into sitting position. "Velho tarado filho da puta, eu te mato!" [Old pervert son of a bitch, I'll kill you!] he growled, livid with rage.
"Mas que violência toda é essa meu netinho, vovô só ouviu vocês conversando um pouquinho depois de aparecer aqui que você entrou na internet pela televisão porque tá preocupado com você, não tô vendo nada não, hehehehe" [What's with all that violence my little grandson, grandpa just listened a bit of your conversation after it showed up that you've used the internet through the TV because he's worried about you, I'm not seeing anything]
"Seu indecente, vou trocar teus olhos de lugar com os seus testículos! Quer saber, eu vou aí! Pode mandar a véia comprar teu caixão porque é hoje que meu pai fica órfão!" [You indecent man, I'll trade places between your eyeballs and your testicles! You know what, I'm coming over! You can tell the old lady to buy your coffin because today is the day my dad becomes an orphan!] Naruto roared, jumping around trying to put on his pants as Sasuke looked questioningly at him, unable to understand a word of what he was saying due to the speed with which he barked the words, and closed the call.
"What's going on?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto gave him a forced smile. "Uh, nothing, I just gotta go check something, stay right here, won't be a minute," he said, and left the bedroom quickly, closing the door behind him.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and quietly got dressed.
Naruto opened the door to their room to leave, and came face to face with Tsunade, who was dragging Jiraya by the ear. "Oh good, won't have to use the staff key then," she said in English, with a perfect British accent, and pushed her way in.
"Que porra é essa?"[What the fuck is this?] Naruto breathed through clenched teeth.
In the bedroom, Sasuke put his hand on the doorknob, but waited as he heard people's voices on the other side.
"I just caught this piss-pot talking to you in the security room, and considering the volume of your voice could probably be heard across the street I decided to come see that he apologizes," Tsunade said, and shook her husband by the ear.
"That… that… tit was hearing me and my… er…" Naruto faltered; on his side of the bedroom door, Sasuke's eyes widened and he stuck his ear to the door as quietly as he could.
"Your…?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. "The oik here said you were talking about the family with your…" she motioned for Naruto to carry on, "which by the way you have not introduced to us yet."
"You want me to introduce him to you here?" Naruto sighed loudly. "Look, I haven't known Sasuke for long, and he lives in Japan… but he's my boss's cousin, you remember Shisui, right?" he said, and scratched the back of his head. "So, yeah, uh, he's on vacation here, and we're getting to know each other, and…"
"Gaki's got four flats and no spare tire*," Jiraya said, and Tsunade shook him by the ear again.
"Cala a boca véio descarado!" [Shut up you shameless old man!] Naruto growled.
"What? You think the boy doesn't know you're in love with him? Mas é burro…"[so stupid] said Jiraya, shaking his head.
Sasuke stuffed his hand into his mouth to stifle a gasp, his heart cartwheeling in his chest.
"He's fresh from Japan, I don't wanna scare him off! And ok, fine, I think he likes me at least, I mean, he's been living with me for almost a month and," Naruto said, but nearly swallowed his own tongue at the glare both grandparents gave him.
"You're living together and you didn't introduce him to us?" Tsunade hissed.
Sasuke really wanted a paper bag to breathe into by then. What with all the sex, and fun, and cuddling, and more sex, and talking, and going out, and having even more fun arguing with the idiot, and that fantastic sex, and visiting the company branch pretty much every day, and with Shisui's apartment having only one bedroom, and more incredible sex, and Naruto being just so damn comfy to be around, and sightseeing, and just enjoying a book in the hammock with the cozy idiot hugging him, and shopping for groceries together, and cooking together so Sasuke could avoid that ever threatening disgusting ramen, and all that hot, amazing, mind-blowing sex…
'Oh fuck we've really been living together like a newlywed couple,' he thought, and his knees wobbled when he remembered his talk with Itachi earlier in the week. 'Oh double fuck, I said I was going to talk to Mama to find a way to stay with him at the end of the month. That means Mama is coming here! And I'm going to have to explain to her and Father that I pretty much moved in with him out of the blue! And Itachi didn't even say anything, that… that weasel!'
He didn't have time to go into full hysterics tho, because he heard a loud huff and heavy steps coming towards the door. He jumped rather acrobatically away from the door, landing on the bed, and gave Naruto a nonchalant look when he came in.
"Sasuke could you come here a second please?" Naruto asked seriously, and Sasuke stood up, thanking all the Shinto gods, Buddha, and Jesus (for good measure) for his family's genetic ability to keep their faces blank under stress. Naruto stretched his hand and Sasuke's eyes widened microscopically before he took it, and was dragged to the small living-room.
"Sasuke Uchiha, my grandfather Jiraya, my grand-aunt and second grandmother Tsunade," Naruto introduced them, and Sasuke bowed. "Um, I'm sorry to do this in such inconvenient circumstances, but my grandparents are cra-"
"Protective of our youngest Uzumaki, yes," Tsunade said, returning the bow and dragging her husband, who she still clutched by the ear, along with her. "Welcome to our humble place of business, Mr. Uchiha," she said, pointedly ignoring said inconvenient circumstances while extending a hand to him.
"Delighted to meet you, Tsunade-sama," Sasuke greeted, and kissed her hand.
"Yo you get yo lips outta my woman's hand you" Jiraya started in archaic, almost pidgin Japanese*, but Tsunade knocked him to the floor with a flick of her wrist. "Please don't mind my nitwit of a husband, his albinism must've affected his brain*," she almost growled, and for a moment her smile had way too many teeth. "May I ask you how long do you plan your stay on our sunny country to be?"
Well, that kidney shot proved the woman was definitely British, Sasuke mused. "I am here on an extended report mission on our Brazilian branch," he said. Wasn't even a complete lie, either, after all Itachi was an employee of Uchiha Co. and he was going to start as one soon enough, Shisui was the head of the Brazilian branch and they had gone to the branch office to know how it worked, damn it. The facts that the trip had started out as a simple vacation and that he didn't have anyone to report to were minor details in his opinion. "So before we, uh, get all the data we need we have no estimate to return. For all I know we could be here, er… indefinitely," he concluded, flashing a smile.
"Marvelous. We'll be eager to see you again at Minato's party then," Tsunade said, and bowed to signal her leave. Jiraya bowed curtly and hobbled out hurriedly after her.
"I am so sorry about this Sas-" Naruto started, but halted as he was shoved against the wall, and tried to huddle all by himself under Sasuke's stare.
"Naruto, are you in love with me?" Sasuke asked bluntly in English (he still didn't know how to ask that in Portuguese and wild horses wouldn't make him just ask him 'Boku no koto suki?'[Do you like me?], he wanted to be absolutely sure it was a lot more than just a tiny crush, but didn't want to go as far as asking him if he wanted to be with him forever* – nope, no way, not yet, not dealing with that one now, thank you very much, curse his native language for its indirect ways), and pressed their bodies together against the wall.
Naruto gave him such a deer in the headlights look he had to hold back a snort. "Uuuuuuh… yes..." the blond meeped quietly. "I didn't want to scare you because you're supposed to be leaving soon and I didn't know how you felt and didn't want to put you under any pressure and-" Sasuke interrupted his blabbering by attempting to suck his tonsils out in a thirsty, almost desperate kiss.
Meanwhile, the Uchihas and the Uzumakis had parted, leaving Shisui and Itachi at home before taking the road to the Uzumaki farm.
"Shishi, how does one address their romantic feelings for another in Portuguese?" Itachi asked out of the blue, as they relaxed in the bathtub. Shisui huffed.
"Hn. Let me see: if you want to date someone, it depends on how serious you wanna take it: if you just want to flirt and mess around, no strings attached, you ask them if they want to stay with you; if you want them to be your boyfriend or girlfriend, you ask them in namoro, which is a courting relationship pretty much equal to going steady. Same thing with feelings: if you like someone, you say you like them, if you're in love with them you say you're 'apaixonado' for them, that translates into being infatuated with them but it's got a lot more meaning than a simple crush. It pretty much stops right there until you're absolutely sure you're serious about the person, like marriage serious; then you can say 'Eu te amo' which is 'I love you' in English but it's got a lot more seriousness to it in Portuguese."
"How come you never said that to me yet then, you piece of shit?" Itachi complained, and huffed.
Shisui stared at him with a poker face. "Not yet."
"What?!"
Neither Naruto nor Sasuke knew how the hell they ended up on the bed, but they didn't care.
"Say it again, dead last," Sasuke demanded huskily, rolling them around and grabbing Naruto's nape with his left hand.
"I'm in love with you," Naruto breathed out in English, and chuckled. "Even if you're a mean bastard kitty with possessive issues."
"Good for you that I am, you're too stupid to be around on your own, the wrong people would walk all over you."
"The wrong people?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you mean there are right people for that?"
"No," Sasuke said, shaking his head and giving him a smug smirk. "Only one person, me."
Naruto snorted, and covered Sasuke's face with his hand. "Now you're just being mean," he complained. "And I'll let you know that since you pushed for it when I was being all considerate of your own feelings and whims you can't run from me anymore, I'mma gonna demand you take responsibility for this even if I have to go to Tokyo to file a complaint on you."
"Oh really?" Sasuke asked, and made himself more comfortable on top of him. "You're gonna tell my Mama on me then?" he taunted, and Naruto went serious.
"No," he said, and sighed. "But I don't want to lose this… with you. And yes I know I'm being totally selfish, after all you haven't even said what you think about me."
Sasuke deadpanned, and Naruto snorted, rolling his eyes. "I know you like staying with me, I'm not dense," he said.
"Could've fooled me," Sasuke rebutted, and Naruto blew him a raspberry. "I meant I don't know what you want from me. After all, you don't live here. I do. So I'm gonna give you a fair warning, if you don't say otherwise I might just believe you want an actual steady relationship with me. And I'm a disgustingly clingy boyfriend."
Sasuke studied Naruto's features, willing his heartbeats to slow down. "I can't promise anything yet, but… I like you a lot. All about you. And this… with you, I like it very much too. I need some time though. Just a couple more weeks, to… think about stuff," he said, lamely. How the hell was he going to explain his obligations to the family to him? Naruto had two siblings living in the country to take care of his parents; Sasuke had one that would definitely be leaving Japan and his own parents in his care. "Would you really come after me in Japan, though?"
"I'd hunt you to the ends of the world," Naruto said, and pulled him down for a kiss. "Hold that thought then. Two weeks," Sasuke said, holding two fingers up. His eyes softened, and he rubbed their noses together.
A/N:
· Oxente is an interjection used to express surprise used by pretty much everyone in the Northeast states of Brazil.
· Yep, "Is pretty cute" turned out into Ispilicute which is a real nickname for pretty girls in some areas of the Northeast (especially those areas with heavy US influence like Pernambuco, where there was a US Navy base back in WWII). It's pronounced Is-peely-cou-tee.
· See chapter 7 – jeitinho.
· Yep that one is one of my friend's uncles, dude's all prim and proper while sober, thinks the refrigerator is the toilet when drunk.
· Brazilian saying for people who are hopelessly lovestruck.
· Migrant Japanese who moved away from the country when they were very young often lose track of the current neologisms, so their speech sounds outdated and heavily accented from the person's original region.
· Meaning he doesn't have gray matter (which is the part that actually does the thinking).
· Ok here's the thing with the Japanese language: though the Japanese are a lot like the Brazilian when addressing their romantic feelings, they have a lack of in-between terms. For the Japanese, it's either suki, which means like and is equally used for friends, family and romantic partners, or koishiteru, which derives from their term for possessive love, koi (which is the opposite from ai, which is selfless love – the western notion of romantic love encompasses both terms into a third one, renai, but nobody uses that) and though it does mean "I love you" just like aishiteru, because it's a possessive sort of love it means more "I want to spend forever with you."
