Sasuke's Secret

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. Well it seems like people are tilting towards a more neutral or positive portrayal of Hiashi. So we'll see if we can't get there. Eventually. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 21

Itachi had never actually been to the Hyuga Estate before. Of course, he had walked by it. Though that was different than actually going inside it.

"It's like a colony of ants." He blinks as he does so.

The Hyuga Estate was grand and vast, but the overall structure of it changed little despite it's size. It was designed with a simplistic elegance in mind. Somehow it managed to exclude an air of grandiosity while still maintaining a fairly simple design.

Probably because everything about it was identical. The floors, the walls, the carpets, and even the paintings didn't vary much, if at all from one room to the next.

"Well at least most of them are asleep at this hour." Itachi had never tried to sneak into a house that had hundreds of Byakugan Users inside it before, but he supposed there was a first time for everything.

After all, he was a man on a mission. The Byakugan meant nothing, if someone was asleep. Even so, he nearly got caught more than once. Like now for instance.

"Lord Hiashi is acting so strangely today." A Hyuga man looks at his companion.

The second man nods his head in agreement. "He's angry. He's been inside his study all day." Ah. So Hiashi hadn't told the rest of the Clan what had happened yet!

That was good! That meant there was still a chance that he could fix things! With that thought in mind while they were distracted, Itachi sneaks up behind them and swiftly knocks them both out.

It was far from his most dignified attack, but as he caught them before the two men fell…he thought that elegance could be sacrificed in this case. If it came down to style or being caught, he'd choose practicality in this matter.

"Sorry about that." He carries the men into the nearest room and shuts the door behind them. "Can't let someone find them laying out in the middle of the floor." After all, his aim was to reason with Hiashi. Not to start a Clan War.

Now, he just had to find the Hyuga Patriarch's Study. That was easier said than done though. It might very well take hours of wandering around before he could find it in this maze.

He loved his Sharingan, but at the moment a Byakugan would have been more useful. "Oh well. There's nothing for it." He mutters on under his breath as he continues on his trek.

"That's right." Sasuke smiles at Hinata as he holds her closely back in his bedroom. "They can't control what happens in this District."

She seemed to be calming down now. A fresh kimono and some cuddling could go a long way, he supposed. That or maybe, Hinata was just too exhausted to sob anymore.

Hinata borrows into his arms as Sasuke wraps the blankets around them tighter. "Makes me just want to hide away here, forever." Now, that sounded like a great idea to him!

He smiles at her and kisses her cheek. "You could, if you wanted." Sasuke really doubted that Itachi would protest and he definitely wasn't. "It'll take awhile to get the fields flourishing again, but until then Itachi and I could handle the grocery shopping." And really, other than that what did they need?

Hinata was a medic. So that wasn't an issue. Well unless she needed help. If that happened though, they could just take her to the hospital. Hinata didn't need to face the village's judgment for no reason.

"You really shouldn't tempt me like that." She sighs and rests her head on his chest. "Besides, I think you just want to keep me in bed all day."

Well that was true. "You say that as if there's something wrong with it." Sasuke smirks as he traces the curve of her hip underneath the blanket. "If I recall you didn't seem to mind being in bed with me earlier or with Itachi and I in the shower."

Hinata blushes deeply at that. "Well no, I didn't and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that." She was so adorable when she blushed.

"Good and I'm flexible." Not nearly as flexible as their princess in the literal sense, but he digressed. "It doesn't just have to be the bedroom." Sasuke smirks as his hand trails up from her hips towards the valley of her clothed breasts. "There are a lot of other options. Together."

That was true. There was obviously the kitchen, his father's study, the library, their own bathroom, the living room, any of the newest walls, and probably a few other places that they could make love on. Sasuke shifts slightly, trying to hide his growing arousal at the thought.

Yeah. He'd be perfectly happy just to keep Hinata here! She didn't really need to deal with her apparently cruel Clan or the judgmental villagers! She could stay right here with them!

Hinata blushes and laughs. "Oh I'm sure there are a lot of options." At this, Sasuke nods his head energetically and the bluenette in his arms giggles. "Though it really wouldn't be very responsible."

Responsible? Who needed to be responsible when he had the woman of his dreams in his bed? Responsibility could take go take a long walk off of a short cliff as far as he was concerned!

"Probably not." He sighs and kisses her. "But I'm sure that Itachi and I could keep you from ever getting bored." Sasuke smiles slyly, after Hinata returns his kiss.

"I'm sure that you could." Hinata smiles at him. "I'm a medic though. The hospital needs me." Well yeah.

That was true. Well maybe, the hospital staff would be more professional than most of the Leaf. Sasuke doubted it, but one could hope.

Like most villages, the Leaf was currently understaffed when it came to medics. There was a chance that the hospital simply needed Hinata too much to make a big deal out of her love life. Well at least to her face. Behind closed doors was likely another matter.

He sighs as though resigning himself to something. "Alright. I wouldn't keep you from your work as a medic, if that's what you want." He personally would have been quite happy to keep her hidden away in the District where Hinata wouldn't have to worry about the villagers, but that just wasn't who she was.

Hinata wanted to help people and being a medic let her do that. That and it would be wrong to ask her to give up her career as a ninja. The woman had trained hard to make herself strong and not every woman was content with the path his mother had chosen.

"You think that I'm being foolish." Hinata sighs as she looks up at him. "You think I should just stay in the District."

Sasuke shakes his head. "You're not the one being foolish." He was. Itachi was right. He really was foolish. "I should know better. As much as I'd love to do it, I know that I can't just hide you away in the District." It wouldn't be fair. "The village needs medics and you're the best medic in that hospital. I'll just have to learn to share."

Hinata nods and kisses his cheek, sighing softly in pleasure as her lover continues to caress her breasts underneath the blankets. "I'm glad that you understand." She looks at him almost apologetically. "Believe me, I want to. It'd be nice just to stay here and let myself be spoiled by the two of you, but it'd also be incredibly selfish."

That was true. It would be incredibly selfish. Though Sasuke couldn't bring himself to regret the thought. The three of them could be happy here. The rest of the world could fuck off as far as he was concerned.

"Well if you change your mind, you know you can stay here." Sasuke smirks at the sight and caresses her more. "And you know that we'll take very good care of you."

Hinata more at the rather scandalous implication. "I'll k-keep that in mind." Sasuke wasn't exactly being subtle.

That blush really was irresistible, Sasuke decides. Ever since returning the Leaf, they'd had precious little time alone together. The three of them hadn't been able to enjoy each other as much as they had while traveling.

Their time together in the Leaf had been tame in comparison to that! He could still remember everything in vivid detail. The taste of her kiss. The feeling of her soft curves in his hands as he took her against the wall. Her sweet moans and Itachi watching them.

"Good." He smiles and slides his hands away from her breasts. "I love you. You know that, right?" He was only torturing himself.

Besides, it wouldn't be right. Itachi wasn't here and they hadn't really discussed that particular aspect of their relationship. Was it fair to be with her, when the other wasn't around? He didn't really know and Sasuke didn't want to risk a row over that.

Hinata closes her eyes and snuggles against him. "I know." It looked like she was going to try to get some sleep.

"Good because nothing will ever change that!" He assures her.

The bluenette mumbles something unintelligible as she yawns cutely. Beautiful, Sasuke observes. She looked so beautiful right now, sleeping in his arms without a care in the world.

Exhaustion must be kicking in. A self-defense mechanism. Hinata likely wouldn't look nearly as peaceful when Itachi came back and told her about his meeting with Hiashi.

"That damn bastard." Sasuke growls. "He's lucky that Itachi went and not me." Hiashi had hurt Hinata, after all.

That wasn't something that the youngest Uchiha was likely to ever forget! He had cast aside his own daughter for the sake of appearing proper!

Itachi had been right when he decided that Sasuke should stay behind. Sasuke never would have been able to control his rage. He would have done something unforgivable. Itachi on the other hand, well maybe somehow he could reason with the patriarch.

"It's unlikely, but anything is possible." The young ninja sighs as he watches his beloved sleep.

She looked so peaceful now. It was so tempting. Tempting to seduce her into just staying in the District. Here the rest of the world couldn't hurt them, but sooner or later, she'd want to leave.

Hinata would need to leave. She wasn't the sort of woman who could sit idle for long. Her desire to help others was too strong for that and as much as Sasuke personally thought her staying in bed was very helpful towards his recovery, he knew that Hinata had more practical matters in mind.

"It's hard to share an angel, sometimes." He kisses her temple as he settles in for some rest.

Itachi had lost track of how much time had truly passed, but he estimated about an hour. It took him an hour to find Hiashi's Study. He knew that it was Hiashi's because he could hear angry muttering inside.

The mutter was familiar. Familiar enough that the eldest Uchiha was able to determined that it did indeed belong to the Hyuga Patriarch.

With that in mind, he quickly heads inside. "I believe that it is time you and I had a discussion about Hinata." The door had been locked, but that was no matter.

Itachi wouldn't have been a very good ninja if something as simple as a locked door could keep him out of places. And despite everything, he prided himself on being exactly that. A good ninja.

"There is no need for us to discuss anything." Hiashi's eyes narrow. "Other than how quickly you are going to leave my family's home." He was angry and justifiably so, but so was Itachi!

"Tsukuyomi!" He activates his strongest Genjutsu.

The transformation was immediate. Suddenly, they were no longer inside Hiashi's Office, but in a red and black version of the Uchiha District. Unfortunately, it was one that he knew all too well.

"I knew that she was foolish to trust you, but I never thought that you would be this suicidal!" Hiashi's eyes narrow. "To attack me in the middle of my home! People will find out and you will be punished!"

Itachi shakes his head. No this wasn't an attack. Well at least not exactly.

"My intention isn't to attack you, only to remind you of a few essential facts." The other man circles around the pole that Hiashi was tied to. "The first of which is that in this Jutsu I control everything, even the perception of time and pain itself." His own eyes narrow. "That means if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."

Hiashi seethes in outrage. "You're sealing your own doom." No. he was not. "I will not overlook this offense!"

He'd overlook it. Itachi would make him do so. Sadly, it looked like such an outcome was not going to be as easily achieved as he had hoped though.

"If I desired, I could kill you or turn you into little more than a vegetable." A cruel smirk adorns his face at the thought. "I know how to utterly destroy your mind, but that is not my intention."

Hiashi was fuming. The man had his pride, but the Hyuga in question obviously knew what was going on. He must have heard about Itachi's flare for Genjutsus.

That was hardly surprising though. Once, Itachi had locked Kakashi inside this very same Jutsu. The CopyCat Ninja had likely told others about the torture that Itachi had inflicted on him.

He did feel guilty about that in retrospect. "So you're intention was not to kill me, but merely to defile one of my daughters! To turn her into your plaything!" Itachi didn't necessarily feel as guilty about doing it to Hiashi though.

On one hand, his anger was understandable. Itachi likely wouldn't have been happy to discover his daughter had taken two lovers. On the other hand, the man had abandoned that daughter as soon as she did not meet his standards of what he considered to be proper behavior. That was something that Itachi wasn't entirely certain that he'd ever be able to forgive.

"She is not our plaything!" Itachi bites back a snarl. "Hinata is the woman that we love and while our relationship with her may be unorthodox, I assure you that it is consensual." Consensual and a very happy one!

Well other than the backlash that their Byakugan Princess was currently being subjected to. A backlash that he intended to minimize. By any means necessary!

"It is not natural!" He growls. "It's deviant for a woman to take two lovers. The reverse is true as well, but you've ruined her!" Itachi feels himself twitch and he had to fight down the impulse to punch Hiashi. "After the rest of the village discovers that you and your brother have marked her, no man would ever dare look at her again! She'll never have a husband! She'll never have a family!"

It took every ounce of his self-control not to do it. The patriarch obviously had a death wish. Did he not realize whom he was addressing?

The Uchiha could kill him with ease right now and yet, Hiashi couldn't bite his tongue. He supposed in some twisted way, this proved that the Hyuga man did care for his daughter. He cared enough to get upset, but that wasn't enough.

"That's mostly true." He shakes his head. "No other man will look at her that way, but that is because she will be our wife one day."

Hiashi's eyes widen in disgust. Ah. Interesting. So the other man did know about those old laws.

"If you are intending to invoke some sort of archaic laws to share her as your wife, forget it!" He snarls at Itachi like a rabid dog. "I will never give my blessing!"

That meant little to Itachi. "Seeing as you have disowned her, your blessing isn't required and it wouldn't have been, even if you hadn't." What mattered was Hinata wanted to be with them. Hiashi's opinions were of no real significance to him.

The only reason why he had bothered with the patriarch at all was because of Hinata. Hinata loved her father and Itachi knew on some level, Hiashi felt the same way. It was just his damn pride that was standing in the way of them all being happy.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" The hatred in Hiashi's voice was positively venomous. "This is all your fault! You're probably manipulating the both of them!"

It was tempting to kill him. "Remember on this day, I could have easily killed you. I did not though." He glances at him. "You've disowned Hinata and while I would encourage you to reevaluate that decision, I can not force the issue. Though your Clan will not cause that woman more pain!"

Furious. Hiashi was absolutely furious. "You're the one that is causing her pain!" Perhaps to a degree, but not as much as Hiashi was. "She would still be a member of our Clan in good standing, were it not for the likes of you and your deviant brother!"

SMACK! Itachi shouldn't have done it, but he couldn't help it anymore. "I will endure all your insults, but I will not have you insulting Hinata or Sasuke." That was the one thing he wouldn't tolerate. "The same goes for the rest of your Clan. Have them ignore her existence if you must, but if I hear of even one Hyuga issuing an unkind word or look in her direction…I will respond accordingly by returning the favor tenfold."

Itachi meant it as well. He wouldn't allow it. The eldest Uchiha wasn't going to allow Hinata to suffer needlessly over some misguided notions of modesty and propriety!

"If you leave now and never come back, we can avoid a Clan War." Hiashi eyes him. "Because if it comes to that, Hinata is the one who will suffer most. So get out of my sight! Demon!"

As much as it pained Itachi to admit it, Hinata's father was right. She was the one who would suffer most in a situation like that. He had no doubts that he and Sasuke would win any such war, but Hinata would lose her family. That would crush her.

"Very well." I'm glad that we have an understanding." Itachi releases the Genjutsu with a smirk. "You should ask Kakashi remind you as what usually happens to those unfortunate enough to be stuck in my Tsukuyomi by the way." He glances at Hiashi heads towards the door. "Just so you know, I never make idle threats." He was gratified to see that for all his bluster though, that Hiashi Hyuga was shaking at his knees as Itachi took his leave.

A short while later, Hinata awakens to the sound of a door being opened. Instantly she wakes up, with her hand on a kunai she had hidden in a drawer by the bed. She was just about to throw it, when she hears an amused chuckle.

"Relax, it's only me." Itachi! Itachi was Itachi! "And Sasuke was already awake ready to fire off a Chidori, if need be. You're perfectly safe here, Hinata."

She feels her face burn crimson red in embarrassment. She had almost thrown a kunai at her lover. Nevermind that he was Itachi Uchiha and it would take a lot more than a mere kunai to actually hurt him, it was the principle of the thing!

"He's right." Sasuke sits up. "I was about to fire off a Chidori." He kisses her cheek. "You should know that neither of us would ever let anything happen to you."

Hinata blushes more at the action. "I k-know, but someone was coming into our room at dawn's first light." That usually didn't end well. "My training kicked in."

Itachi chuckles and strides over to them. His every move was poetry in motion. Hinata had no idea how it was possible for anyone to be that graceful, but apparently it was.

"You never have to apologize for being a good ninja." He kisses her forehead. "You should know that."

Sasuke was watching Itachi warily though and Hinata knew that it wasn't because of jealousy. The three of them had made love together. So it wouldn't be very rational for Sasuke to get jealous over something as simple as a kiss to her forehead.

No something else was bothering him. Something far more curious than a chaste kiss and she knew what it was. Her father.

As if sensing her thoughts, Sasuke asks the question that was on everybody's mind. "How did it go?" He pauses and clarifies. "With Hiashi?"

Hinata gulps and feels her heart sink at those words. There was no way that Itachi's discussion with her father had ended well. Though at the very least, Itachi wasn't covered in blood. That was something, right?

Her older lover would never stoop so low as to kill Hiashi in a rage, but that didn't mean that her father wouldn't attack him. And if that happened, Itachi would have been forced to defend himself. And that, wouldn't have ended well.

"He infuriated me, but that was only to be expected." Itachi sighs heavily as he looks at Hinata. "I may have slapped him, but he deserved worse than that. Suffice to say, he is not happy with our relationship." He takes a deep breath and continues on. "Though I doubt that your kin will give you any further trouble."

Hinata blinks. Itachi had slapped her father?! Oh Gods and Goddesses, her father was never going to forgive him for that!

Any hope of her ever reconciling with him suddenly looked a lot more dim. "You shouldn't have done that, but I understand." Goodness only knows what Hiashi had actually said to her lover. "What about my Clan though?"

Upon hearing that, Sasuke's arms wrap around her waist possessively. "Forget them." Though she probably should have seen that coming.

Hinata was quite certain that her younger lover had been sincere about inviting her to a life of pampering inside the Uchiha District. She didn't really have to leave, but the bluenette knew that she would at some point. If nothing else, she wouldn't give up her position at the hospital that easily.

"Sasuke, it's not that simple." Itachi sighs as he rubs his temples as though he were trying to ward off an impending migraine. "And you know it." Which he probably was.

This entire situation had to be enormously stressful on the both of them. For different reasons though. She doubted they cared much about what the village thought of them, but they were still sharing the woman they loved with another man. And with their brother at that!

"I know, but she doesn't need them. "Sasuke smirks her as he nips her ear. "She has us." Well that was true. "And if Hinata wants to be part of a Clan again, we can just revive our own."

Hinata squeaks at that and blushes ruby red. She knew exactly what Sasuke was implying with that! Of course, she always knew the topic would eventually come up. She had just never dreamed that it would be broached so soon.

Itachi rolls his eyes and pokes Sasuke's forehead. "Forgive him, Hinata." He chuckles. "You know how foolish my brother can be." He shakes his head at the other Uchiha. "I believe she's got quite enough on her plate to worry about without factoring children into the equation for awhile."

"You're right." Sasuke sighs and frowns at that thought. "I'm sorry, Hinata. I didn't mean right now, of course." Uh huh. "I just meant in the future." He smiles at her apologetically.

Right. In the future. How would that even work, she wonders to herself? Would they both want children with her or was that just Sasuke's dream?

It would be understandable, if Itachi didn't want any children of his own. After everything he'd been forced to do, Hinata wouldn't be shocked at all, if he preferred just to be an uncle. If they both wanted children though, how would they raise them? Would they even want to know who had sired which child (or children)? What would they tell their sons and daughters when they were older?

"It's a-alright." She stammers out. "Maybe, later." Hinata's head was now spinning with the possibilities.

What would it be like? To carry either of their children. What would they look like? Would they be boys, girls, or both? Would they only have one or many? And more importantly, how would such a child (or such children) be treated by the rest of the village?!

Itachi chuckles and looks at her reassuringly. "Yes, later." He smiles at Hinata. "Don't worry about such things. We have all the time in the world."

Sasuke nods in agreement. "That's true and don't worry about anything." He kisses the back of her neck. "We love you and you're safe with us. That's what matters most." Hinata nods in agreement.

Well that was true. Though she had no delusions. "That's true." Hinata was perfectly aware that her father would likely be far from the last person to raise objections over their relationship.

"I love you." At the moment though, she didn't care because she meant what she said. "Both of you." She loved them and in the end, Sasuke was right. That's what mattered most. The rest would get sorted out in time.