I N S I D E R

Insider; gossip central of Fire Country's rich, famous, bitchy, and shameless. News just in; Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha caught on camera for your viewing pleasure! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show; a tornado just met volcano. SasuFemNaru, ItaSaku, slight KakaFemNaru, KakaRin.

CHAPTER 21
~:: I DON'T PATRONISE ::~

Did you say 'please just follow me'?
I thought you wanted me,
because I can't stay with someone else!
I try and suck it up, I just keep fucking up!
I want you all to myself!

Naruto managed to put the article out of her mind for the rest of the night, and for most of the next day; Sasuke distracted her with cheesy cartoon classics from when she was kid, and various varieties of instant ramen. And some more sex, but mostly the films.

She also took the time to call Sakura and tell her that she really was paranoid, as well as start on the last of those songs she was supposed to be writing for the girl's new album. She already finished the two of them, but in an attempt to distract herself, she now had nearly three times the number of songs she needed. Some of them were even in her own language.

Sasuke was acting strange though; there wasn't quite as much resistance from him. Less complaint for him sometimes. Just little things that didn't happen when she started rambling, or other habits that usually annoyed him. Eventually it became not only irritating, but annoying.

"Sasuke, what the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded, finally growing tired of his odd behaviour halfway through one of those childhood-animation films.

Edged into the corner of the sofa, she had been leaning against him, nibbling at a few strands of her hair as the film reached its climax; he always pulled it out of her grasp. He didn't do that when he should have. It was annoying her, so she turned around to face him, sitting up and sending him a 'no-dodging' gaze.

Sasuke didn't look her in the eyes, and then she realised what it was; it was that damn article. Something in that stupid article had gotten to him. Her mother had gotten to him. Something she said was actually interfering with their relationship. The thought made her blood boil.

Vision turning to a glare, she took her face in her hands and leant as close as she could get to him, ignoring the surprise on his face as she spoke.

"Your imagination I can deal with, but when you start listening to anything my mother spouts off, you actually piss me off Sasuke; what the hell can she even say to you? That you're cheating? If you're listening to that bullshit then there's something wrong with you!" she snapped.

Sasuke stared at her before running a hand over his eyes in frustration.

"That's not it Naruto..."
"Then what is it?" she demanded.

Sasuke glanced up at her, surprised by the demand and her general irritation, before letting out a sigh of frustration, and turning his eyes away from her again.

"She's sort of right though, at least... I mean, she's right about the media thing. It wasn't at the forefront of my mind at the time but... it was still there..." he muttered; he may be more willing to communicate with Naruto than anyone else, but he didn't have to like it.

"Well duh; is that supposed to surprise me or something?" Naruto asked, sounding rather bored; Sasuke stared at her, apparently very shocked by the teasing admonishment.

"Sasuke, everything that woman said is in the past now. I'd have been stupid not to think you had ulterior motives in the back of your mind when I had them myself" she stated pointedly.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, inquiring as to what her subconscious motivation was.
"You really think my mother wanted me getting involved with one of her models?" Naruto asked bluntly.

Sasuke snickered at that, slight anxieties pushed from his mind, if not completely forgotten; he might be on good terms with Naruto, but he didn't have the best of reputations. He couldn't really argue that point away. It had only taken one glance at that stupid articleto figure that out.

Oh how he wished he hadn't posted that last blog instalment.

There were plenty of fan comments, but there had been a large amount of distinctly hate-comments too. Most of them said the same thing, but a call from Izumo had impressed the seriousness of the problem to him. Akimichi were a pretty family-orientated brand, and they weren't fond of having an actual cheater on their employment list.

It was alright to have a manwhore, but apparently not a bloke who may or may not be cheating, and didn't get mummy's approval. If he didn't do some image salvaging, he wasn't the only one who was going to suffer from the bad publicity either. Kushina had played herself as the victim in that article, even going so far as to bring up her failed marriage.

She had painted her own daughter as someone who needed to see a shrink; considering Naruto had subconsciously made herself think she was pregnant even when the mere though freaked her out, she was probably right. It was her own actions however, not those of her ex-husband, that had been the bad influence.

There was also the matter that Kushina had implied Naruto's head to be messed up in a fucking magazine; Naruto had received her own calls from Kotetsu about it, and even if she was calm now... he could tell just how close she was to exploding, and he was half considering joining her.

By the time she was back in the passenger seat to Kumo, all her distractions might as well have been for nought.

The journey had started out calm enough, but by the time the street lights of Kumo were flickering past the car, the atmosphere was icy. She wasn't the only one mad about it after all; Naruto was certain that Sasuke's attempts at distraction were for his own benefit as well as her own.

Naruto kept her temper in the car though. She'd promised Sasuke the day she had read the damn article, and she intended on keeping it. Once her feet were on the pavement (outside maelstrom's main branch building) however was a different matter. An entirely different matter.

Slamming open the front doors, she ignored the alarmed glances from the staff within the shop itself, Sasuke hurrying to catch up with her. Several of the older staff members – a few who had suffered from her sabotaging pranks in the past - quickly moved out of her way, advising the newer ones to do the same.

They didn't really need much persuasion though; heading for the back of the room, she headed up the stairs, and then for the lifts. He mother liked to have her main store in line with her offices, and while the main office entrance was on the other side of the building, she would be told she was coming then.

After getting in the lift – the floors seeming to speed by for a change – she exited on the top floor of the building. Walking through the halls, past the pictures of previous catwalks and examples of particularly shaking designs, the anger just bubbled under her skin all the more. She barely noticed Sasuke at all, and that aggravated her all the more.

Finally rounding the corner, she caught sight of Shizune's familiar desk; the woman was talking on the phone, but one look in her direction had her ending with promises to phone back very quickly.

"N-Naruto! We were expecting you yesterday... Ah, please wait! Your mother's in a-"
"Meeting! I know; she's always in a fucking meeting. Makes it all the better for me when I hang her up with her own skin!" Naruto snapped as the woman tried to stand in the way of the office door.

She'd never liked Shizune much in the first place; she'd often been one of the ones to pick her up from school after pulling pranks or getting into a fight, and she always sided with her mother. She always tried to make her feel guilty; that of course just put the woman on the receiving end of a few of her pranks.

Ignoring Shizune's protests, she slammed the door open; it turned out to be Shikamaru's parents and a few senior designers from Nara and Maelstrom that were having the meeting (Naruto distinctly noticed the absence of her brother, and made a note to treat him to some expensive cakes or something).

Her mother stood up with a sigh as stopped herself, looking the perfect part of a poor mother with a problem child. Technically, she probably was a problem child, but only because of her mother's own doing. She could have just punched the woman there and then, but Naruto wanted to hear the excuses from he own mouth.

"Naruto, I know you're mad but please, can't you be mature about this? I'm in the middle of a meeting and-"

Naruto crashed her fist into her mother's cheek; screw the excuses; when she tried to start the conversation with words like that, Naruto knew she had no intention of listening to anything she said seriously. She'd been a fool to think it would be any different. The only reason she'd even tried in the first place was because of Sasuke and this woman, her so-called mother...

"Mad? You think I'm mad?" Naruto asked incredulously.

She almost laughed for a few moments, before slamming her fist into Kushina's face once again, hoping to god she'd hit the woman's nose; she gave her mother a few moments to recover from the blow, ignoring the shock sounds of alarm and calls for security guards from the others in the room, then pulled her up with the front of her charcoal suit.

"I'm not mad, you stupid bitch! I'm furious!" She hissed, throwing her with as much force as she could against the wall of the woman's office.

Her mother had never been a good fighter, even when she was a kid; mostly she'd never been able to catch her,but even then she had struggled to hold her fists during the worst of their arguments. Apparently that hadn't changed in the past few years; she had the same wild eyed stare, the one she wore when she realised she didn't have any control over her whatsoever.

"I don't care what you say to the fucking paparazzi about me anymore – I'm beyond caring about that, but when you start trying to spread rumours about Sasuke... You crossed the line this time! You'd better have a god-damned good excuse, because if you don't, I won't care if I put you in a hospital!" Naruto yelled, yanking her mother back up so their eyes were on the same level.

Fury didn't begin to describe the emotions that had been running through her for the past two days; it was one thing for her mother to bitch and whine and do everything she could to ruin her life, but dragging Sasuke into it, pretending to give two shits about her after all this time? What gave her the right?

Naruto couldn't help but think 'just like old times' rather sarcastically to herself; it went on and on, only this time she was degrading and insulting something and someone much more important than her rebellious phase.

Every single word she spat about Mei, about her dad was bad enough, but Sasuke? She wasn't going to stand for that, not from her mother, not from anyone else who made snide little comments or blatant ones against him. She was sick of it! She was sick to death of her mother trying to ruin her life!

Her mother had barley said three words to Sasuke, but she'd honestly believed the woman was above something as petty as this! Even worse, she'd thought she'd actually been making progress with the damn woman! She'd rearranged her schedule (which was damn busy!) just so she could have longer in Kumo for her birthday, to do some more work on that progress thing!

She'd thought maybe they could get along for once, and this is what she got in return? A fucking magazine article that told that world her boyfriend, the man she was in love with, was pulling some sort of cheap publicity stunt? That he was like Kakashi, skulking around behind her back? That was the thanks she got for making the first step to a truce between them?

"Answer me!" she yelled; her mother trembled for an instant, and then pulled her face back into her annoying calm.

"I don't need to give you any excuses; I just felt like putting a stop to your stupidity before you ruin my reputation along with your own..." she replied, not a quake in her voice or hint of remorse on her face.

Gaze flickering around the room, the red-haired woman's eyes landed on her boyfriend; he'd been standing in the doorway for most of the argument, slowly easing towards them unnoticed as she exploded.

"I'll congratulate you on your use of the media so far Sasuke, but you might want to rethink your plans after this; I'd suggest waiting a couple of months before you revert back to your senses."

Naruto didn't Sasuke freeze mid step, nor the slight widening of his eyes, or the curl of his own fist. Filling her fist with all her delinquent bred strength, Naruto let go of all the restraint she had been so carefully maintaining and ploughed her fist into her mother's jaw with her full force before anyone could stop her.

"Take that back; apologize right now! I don't get it, here I thought you actually cared about me for once, and this is what I get for trying to get along with you? You think starting rumours like those is showing how good a mother you are? What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded.

She got nothing but that calm stare, that calm snooty one. The woman didn't even listen to her properly; she didn't even care that she probably had a broken nose and a black eye. She still thought she could do whatever she wanted with her life and get away with it, just because she was her mother.

Before she could let fly another fist, someone grabbed it mid-air, pulling her shoulder with another and away from the somewhat battered woman; her back hitting his chest, Naruto wasn't surprised to see Sasuke when she glanced behind her, but his words, for some odd reason, did surprise her.

"Stop it; you don't have to hit her to make her more pathetic than she already is."

Naruto stiffened in his hold, but she was still staring at her mother; Sasuke would have liked to say his intervention came from a desire for the two women to get along, but it really wasn't. Frankly, he'd like to have a go at the woman himself, and that was saying something.

No, the intervention didn't come from an attempt at peacekeeping. He just didn't want all of Naruto's attention on the damn bitch slumped in a pile on the floor. He felt utterly stupid for being jealous now, but he really didn't like being so blatantly side-lined in favour of that... in favour of his, hopefully, previous employer.

He knew it wasn't Naruto's fault; it was her mother's fault she was so single minded about matters concerning the same woman. He was still jealous though, especially since her anger was including him. He'd never seen her really interact with her mother like this, but now that he did, and he could see just how much of her mind was spent thinking anything of the woman...

He didn't want her thinking about the woman at all. He didn't like the anger Naruto was displaying much either; he kept waiting for her to snap, and it wasn't going to happen. It was like the night before his birthday, when Naruto first ran into Kakashi at the première.

He could tell her anger, like her joking attitude back then was just a buffer. However, unlike it had with Kakashi, it wasn't going to come out. She wouldn't let it come out this time, and that... wasn't good.

"Yes, that's how you do it isn't it? Pretend to be... What was it they called you in that article, a 'knight'? You pretend to rescue her and then... How are you going to spin it? Are you going to tell them you were just going in 'different directions' or are you going to say you just aren't cut out to be one-woman-man like everyone's expecting? I'd recommend making a scene – she just can't hold her temper in, so it'll even help you look like the victi-"

Naruto broke out of the (admittedly, not very firm) grasp and, as her mother had accused her of, lost what little control of her temper remained and lunged again; this time, he caught her before she could get any hits in though. It didn't stop her voice, and the slightly more irrational tone was an indicator all her real emotions were threatening to break out.

"Shut up! You don't have the right to say shit me, never mind Sasuke! I'm sick of you! Even when I try to clear the air with you, you still can't stop yourself trying to mess thing up for me! You just can't help spitting all over me when I'm actually happy! I'm sick of it! It was a mistake to think I could ever understand you! Get out of my life and don't bother coming back into it!"

Kushina watched them both, listening to her daughter with remarkable calm, before another sneer crossed her face.

"You're so stubborn, you know; you're exactly like me. I said all the same things when Shizune told me your father was having an affair. You should listen to your mother, especially when she's saving you heartache from personal experience" she said, almost irritably rather than in the offhand tone she used.

Naruto stopped struggling as his hold on her waist, and he was somehow glad he couldn't see her face; he could see Kushina's and even she looked stabbed by the cold words that parted from his girlfriend's lips.

"You are not my mother; you were nevermy mother."

Naruto didn't know how she got back down the lift and out to the step leading up to the main branch of Maelstrom, but even her self-control couldn't get her stop shaking, and she clattered down onto the steps moments before Sasuke caught up with her.

Slowly he pulled her to her feet, and led her down the steps away from the building, her fingers clamping around his own. She was glad he'd pulled her up; if one of the photographers lurking nearby (as she suspected there would be) had snapped a picture of her losing it again, it really would d have been the last straw.

Especially when it had started snowing again, and her trainers were wet from all the slush; she was dimly aware that Sasuke wasn't leading her back to the car, and even as she took sup[port from the feel if his fingers amongst her own, he mind was still whirling.

She'd really said that? Had she really said that? Blind rage had been orchestrating her then, but she liked to have a smidgen of control... Had she really said that? Her mother was the worst of her kind, that she didn't question but... there always been a line she'd never crossed in her arguments before.

Then again, she'd never hit her mother before either, and her mother had never tried to involve anyone else in their problems unless they intervened directly. The thought of what she had said to Sasuke, it brought her anger back immediately; where did she think she got the right to pass judgements like that?

She knew nothing about him, nothing about her; didn't she have any idea how much even hearing suggestions like the ones she been making stung? She should, considering her father had been having an affair, but she used that as justification? She didn't understand it.

She didn't understand any of it, and she didn't want to try anymore. Not when her mother spat all over her like she had by insulting Sasuke in such a disgusting way. She meant what she had said, Kushina had never been a mother to her. What kind of mother posted stories like that to the media, tried to undermine the best relationship she'd had?

She wasn't her mother. She wasn't her mother at all; something about the woman's expression still bugged her however. She had always had a line, and she had already crossed that with her first punch. For all the woman's bad points, it was because she was such a bitch that she'd been so desperate to get out, get her name up beside her father's off her own back in the world of show-business.

It was probably the one good thing the woman had ever done for her, because she'd never have met Sakura, Itachi... or Sasuke. She still had plenty of problems because of her (Naruto knew she was responsible for the pregnant-but-not-pregnant thing somehow), but she was at the very least grateful for that.

She wasn't going to apologize for the comment for a long time, but she would. Eventually, but she had no plans of ever seeing the woman again if she could avoid it. For good this time.

Finally woken from her daze, she squeezed Sasuke's hand and leans into his shoulder as he directed them through the streets. He was talking on the phone to Izumo, asking him to start the motions of trying to get his maelstrom contract revoked (or lessened if Kushina was going to be a bitch about legalities), but it soon finished.

"Your head's screwed back on now, right?" he asked.

Naruto nodded, leaning a little closer as he moved his hand from her own, and placed an arm on her shoulders; she'd left her coat back in the car and forgotten to pick it up when she started walking again. She should have; the snow was showing signs of turning from a light fall to an annoying, blustering blizzard.

"For the most part; I don't think I'm going to be punching anyone anytime soon, but I don't really feel all that great either" she replied, sneezing as she linked her opposite hand up with his own as if for emphasis.

Sasuke tightened his fingers in her own again, his eyes searching for something along the shops lining the cobbled street of Kumo's town centre; they finally landed on the coffee chain she usually bough her breakfast from, and following his line of sight, her stomach growled.

She ignored Sasuke's snigger as her steered her in the direction of the place.

With Sasuke taking charge of the food, Naruto peeked through the tables in search of one that was a little more out of the way. She was in luck; there was a pair of sofa's with a coffee table between them at the back that were free.

Probably because no-one could be bothered to move the old trays still occupying the coffee table, but she wasn't going to complain. The sofas were usually taken whenever she came in here, hence the reason she got her food and coffee to go most of the time. Sasuke soon found her, and took a seat beside her rather than on the opposite sofa, depositing her own food in front of her along with a large coffee mug.

God she was starving; she hadn't eaten anything all day, being in too much of a rage that morning and more focused on giving her mother some of her mind to worry about food. Judging by the way Sasuke was gathering his own food about him, he hadn't been completely chivalrous in his choice of rest stop, but she was too hungry to care.

She had her usual breakfast; Sasuke still remembered what it was, even if he'd only bought it once in an attempt to soften her up before the première; caramel macchiato, mozzarella sundried tomato and basil Panini, and a white chocolate-raspberry brownie. She had to wonder if he had a photographic memory.

Taking a long gulp of coffee, she watched him scarf down a falafel and humus wrap, before picking up his small black coffee and sprinkling a little bit of salt into it; she knew he didn't like sweet things much, but she really didn't get the need for the salt in black coffee. How could he even taste the difference?

Turning back to her own food, she almost raised an eyebrow as he started babbling; well, it wasn't really babbling. He just made odd disparaging comments every now and them, observing a passing hair horror or fashion monstrosity (of course he would choose clothing first - typical model). The comments weren't odd by themselves, but three in the space of as many minuets?

That was odd. She tried broaching him into conversation, but it was like he had reverted to when she had first met him. He was usually more open to conversation now, but...

"Sasuke, are you okay? If it's something that... that she said then I already said it's bull crap..." she asked, hesitantly picking up her brownie; he was really beginning to worry her now.

"No... I'm fine" he replied between a gulp of his salted coffee.

Naruto didn't believe him for a minuet; she knew when he was lying. She was a frigging actress. Acting was pretty much the same as glorified lying sometimes. Well, most of the time. No wonder she had chosen it for a career path. Still, she knew all his lying habits, and she could see them right now.

Apparently he knew too, because when she didn't call him out on it and took half-hearted bites of the brownie instead, he snapped. He didn't lose his temper, he didn't get frustrated, or something like that, he just... snapped. It wasn't loud, but in terms of his calm, quiet personality, it was definitely a snap.

"Oh for the love fire, fine! You win! You were right, I was wrong! Are you happy now, you pink haired monster?"

He muttered the words to himself (unless Sakura was hiding somewhere nearby and she just couldn't see the blatant pink hair), leaning back against the sofa, running his hands over his eyes and through his fringe. Naruto blinked in alarm, and even looked around for her best friend, as stupid as the action was.

"Sasuke...? You do realise Sakura isn't here, right?" she asked.

Sasuke moved his hands from his face, stared at her for a few moments, then muttered a curse to himself on Sakura's name, before sitting up again. He scratched the back of his head, glancing down as his slush-soaked jeans and trainers, the stared around at the coffee house, and at their plates.

"Screw it, I give up..." he muttered, digging around in the pocket of his jeans.

Give up? Give up what? Was he talking about...? Naruto shook the thought out of her mind before it had a chance to form; not even Sasuke was that cold-hearted. She still didn't have a clue what he was muttering to himself about though, and it wasn't her language barrier for once.

Finally he turned to face her, meeting his dark eyes with her own and he slid an open box along the leather seat towards her; of all the things she had been considering, the words that spilled from his lips were not the ones she had been expecting.

"Marry me."

Naruto stared at the box on the leather of the sofa; was that really a...? No, it couldn't be, that was insanity right? But it certainly looked like it was a... a do-whopper-thingy.

Naruto wondered if she was mistaking his terminology again (it had happened on their first date – why not now?) but... Glancing at his face, she saw nothing but mad sincerity there. He really meant it. He was actually asking her to... to...!

"C-Could you repeat that?" she asked, somewhat tentatively.
"You heard me" Sasuke replied, not sounding fazed by her shock; he seemed rather stunned himself.

Naruto blinked, noting the calm seriousness in his contemplative head scratch; he... was being totally serious. He really just...! He asked her to...! Not as something to shove in her mother's face, or to aggravate the media with, but really...! What happened to him? Had he eaten something funny? No, he was stickler for use-by-dates... he was really asking!

"I...You... That...?"

She really, really didn't know what to say... She didn't know where this was coming from at all! It was nonsensical! Absurdly nonsensical! What about Kyuubi's Mafia friends? Naruto mocked Sasuke's fear of her brother, but there was no denying that if anyone had Mafia friends, it was likely to be her brother! Where in the hell was this...

For the first time in her life, words were failing her. Words were forming in her mouth, but none of them made sense. She knew two languages, and neither of them were working. She had no idea what to say.

The safest term to describe Naruto's mental state at that point, if it could be described fully in one word, was confounded. At least Sasuke didn't seem to mind her shock. He seemed just as flabbergasted at his own question for a few moments, before forming a vague attempt at rationality.

"I know, I've lost my marbles. I didn't even know I said that, but now that it's said, I'm not taking it back. When you were arguing with that woman... I don't know, I just felt jealous. Of your fucking bitch mother; how sad is that?" Sasuke asked rhetorically, staring off into space instead of meeting her once again shocked eyes.

She knew Sasuke had jealousy problems, she knew them very well, but to be jealous of her mother? Her mother, who was trying to spread nasty rumours about him with the press? Her mother, who had made her early life nothing but an mostly unpleasant memory? He was jealous of her?

"I hate the amount of time you spend cursing or just hating her in general – its bloody fucked up, but I'm still jealous. More jealous than when you're talking to Sakura or Itachi, or other people. Even more than Kakashi. See? It's fucking nuts, I'm off my bloody rocker, but I'm not taking it back. I want you all to myself, and that's the only way I'm going to get anywhere close to it so..."

He stopped pulling on his fringe, and stared her straight in the eye; holy shit, this was no joke. He wasn't going to do the knee-thing, but he wasn't joking around.

"...marry me" he finished.

Hesitantly, her fingers picked up the box and stared at the... at it's contents.

Holy crap on a cracker, this was no joke. Sasuke was asking her to get married. No jokes, none at all. She'd seen this ring before; Mikoto always took it off and put in the trailer safe during costume changes and make up sessions on the Blue Bridge set. It was her engagement ring. Either that, or an incredibly close carbon-copy...

Glancing back at Sasuke, she found a matched expression of surprise on his face again; damn it, she'd told him at Sakura's wedding not to get any ideas. Stubborn idiot. Stupid idiot who didn't listen... Naruto glanced down at the ring again, and bit her lip; craziness aside, she felt like... She just...

Sasuke was right; he probably was loosing his marbles, but at least it made two of them. She was probably loosing her mind for finding that admittance so... so horribly romantic. But how else was she supposed to take that? Considering just how their relation ship had progressed to its current state, there was no other way for her to take it but romantically. In which case...

"...okay."

Sasuke stared at her, his fingers still tugging the strands of hair that framed his face, but the grip had slackened in his shock; apparently, despite his request, he hadn't been expecting an answer from her. Or maybe he hadn't been expecting a positive one. In any case, he was as stunned as she had been. Or still was.

"...pardon?" he asked, frozen to the sofa.
"I said okay; I'll marry you Sasuke." Naruto replied, beginning to grin at the unexpected euphoria slowly replacing any lingering dissension from earlier.

Sasuke stared at her for a few moments, and then the beginnings of a smirk began curling the corner of his mouth, building slowly into a a full-blown smile, teeth and all. Naruto found herself mimicking him, despite the lingering shock.

She would even admit to giggling for a brief moment as Sasuke dragged her into his arms and planted his lips on hers.

Aaaaaand, Sasuke finally caves into the bullying Sakura gave gave him out of story.

This chapter started out a bit grim, but this is my happy story! I had to turn it into fluff! And what better way to fluff a story with a somewhat childish, unplanned, and completely selfish proposal from Sasuke? Jealous git. He's not really very good at this sappy-mush-business, but he tried his best. ^^

There was a lot going on in this chapter, but I hope you all liked it; Chapter title is 'All To Myself' by Marianas Tranch. Go worship it.
Nat.
xxx