Dedicated to : Daime Guiral Thank you for taking the time to read, I'm glad that you are still enjoying the story. I will do my best to see about updating my other stories, but for now one at a time.
Whatever It Takes
Chapter Forty Three
As a furious man, Lee had some funny ticks about him.
The man muttered angrily under his breath, his left foot tapped insistently on the floor, his arms crossed and uncrossed repeatedly, and his face set in a glare that told everyone he was ready to kill someone. That someone was more than likely the wayward husband he had come looking for. Everyone regarded him silently, thinking it was best not to further agitate him.
"Lee… Uh prince Lee," Minato found himself confused, but sure that by association Lee had to have a high title now seeing as he claimed to be married to Prince Hyuuga Neji. A man that not too long ago had been here trying to court his precious nephew and he couldn't help but feel incredibly angry at that as well. His anger probably rivaled the angry husband who puffed out his cheeks and glowered.
But unlike him, Minato was more reserved in his anger. His mind was running a million thoughts about how he would punish the Hyuuga prince.
"It's King Consort, my dear King Minato," Lee corrected respectfully before closing his eyes and trying to calm his anger. He seemed to take a deep breath, his foot still moving up and down rhythmically but overall he seemed to compose himself for the moment. "I have to apologize for barging in like this, I know it unexpected, but I feel as though the youths of my days are slowly being drained by the high blood pressure my dear husband is causing. If you don't mind me asking, where is he?"
Minato pursed his lips, "I am afraid that he was here to court Sasuke not long ago, but he was kicked out of the palace after he tried to tell me what I should be doing. He was unhappy that Sasuke had not chosen him, he hasn't been seen since he was thrown out," Minato looked at the man apologetically, "I must apologize. Not only to you, but to my nephew as well, I didn't know that he was already married."
"Again, with prince Sasuke, again and again is like he can't forget him how could he do this to me, when I love him so," Lee huffed as he began to cry, doubling over himself as he sobbed. His tears fell hard. "I've given him everything, but it seems like he does not feel the same way. I want to end him so bad!" the man kept sobbing, rambling as to how much he had worked, sacrificed, and how he had believed in Neji.
Tsunade and Kushina flinched, feeling sorry for the sobbing man. Sasuke on the other hand was angry.
"You have no one to blame but yourself! You knew what kind of man he is. How could you let yourself be fooled by him?" Sasuke snapped, making everyone flinch at how cutting his words were. "You have to be a complete idiot to believe anything that comes out of his mouth!"
"The days of my youth are ending, and I believed in his sweet words, I fell in love. I couldn't help myself, please have mercy my prince!" Lee sobbed, moving to get on his knees before Sasuke. The raven haired prince flinched, moving himself closer to Itachi. Lee looked up, faced stained in tears and mucus as he babbled, "When he left, he had claimed that it was to make a trip to Mist, he said that he could be picking up a weapon from there, a sword by the name of Kubikiribocho," This immediately got Suigetsu's attention, he really like swords and he had heard of this one. It was an expensive blade, of course someone as rich as Neji would want their hands on it, "I assumed he would be gone for some time, but it's been too long now, and when I heard gossip that Prince Sasuke was getting courted again, I had to wonder…if he had decided to come here and lied to me,"
"I see," King Minato muttered, "Well, he was here, I am sad to say,"
Lee cried more, rubbing at his eyes furiously, "I figured. I had thought that by now he would have grown out of his obsession with the young prince, especially when he worked to get me, but…" His eyes couldn't seem to stop crying. His words and sobs weren't making any sense either as he blabbered on about something that sounded like cheating men and death to all.
"King consort Lee, think, where would your husband have gone after he was kicked out of here, is there a way for you to know?" Kushina asked. They were willing to get any idea as to where Neji was, seeing as the man had come here fooling all of them. The man needed to be punished.
"I'm afraid I wouldn't know where he is," Lee whispered sadly, for a person who had come here all fiery and angry he was quickly becoming a watery mess. Everyone sighed, watching the man as he pathetically continued to cry his eyes out.
"Why don't you try to calm yourself, we can provide you a room to stay until you are ready to leave, and if you can recall anything please let us know," Minato offered, his thoughts running on if he could get Lee to recall anything that would help them it would be worth letting him stay momentarily. Lee looked appalled for a moment, shaking his head.
"Oh no, I couldn't impose on you as much as I have already," The man then turned red, "I'm sorry I yelled at all of you so angry, I am not angry at any of you just that husband of mine,"
"Please, king consort Lee, it would be an honor for you to join us for dinner and spend the night. You can leave tomorrow with a calmer mind, it's better not to do things so irrationally when you have a wavering heart," Minato offered once more. Lee looked like he was about to refuse, but stopped himself when he saw that the king was pleading with him to give him more answers.
He finally nodded his head and muttered, "The honor will be all mine, my king,"
"Thank you, king consort Lee." Minato smiled at him, "Why don't I have one of my guards guide you to the room you will be staying in. Take some time to wash up and calm yourself before dinner."
Lee nodded, smiling. A guard approached him, and Lee silently stood to follow him. Once he was out of the room, everyone began discussing what had just happened.
"He was already married, Minato how did you not know that?!" Tsunade demanded, anger flashing in her eyes.
"I swear that I was not aware, nothing had been said. Nor claims of a celebration to a prince's wedding were even made! If anything this is taking me by surprise just like anybody else." Minato defended himself, but even in his ears it sounded like an excuse. He should have known, damnit, something had told him not to allow Neji back.
"Uncle, that man has never been good news." Sasuke hissed, "for all we know he is the one behind Kidomaru's death," There Sasuke said what he hoped everyone was thinking.
"We will find out, once that man is found." Minato finally responded, his eyes solemn. He had no one but himself to blame for not doing his research before agreeing that Neji could court Sasuke again. The man had been so persistent. He had even overlooked the fact that Neji had been attacked here in his own palace before. The man really was bad news. "I gotta figure out where the Hyuuga is, so for the while please be careful around Lee." Everyone nodded in agreement.
Minato moved to leave, Kushina following close behind him.
Tsunade sighed, "Make sure you two remain close to Sasuke, and guard him at all times," She hissed at Suigetsu and Juugo, who both nodded in agreement. She huffed in frustration, leaving to her room for a while.
Itachi on the other hand remained silent as he took everything in. He already knew that Lee was lying, but that could only mean that there was a bigger reason as to why he was here. Letting him in could be dangerous, he understood, but something told him that they otherwise wouldn't be getting to the bottom of this.
He had to figure out what was going on and fast.
Just as Itachi was considering everything, he felt Sasuke's hand fall into his, his fingers tugging at his hand. "Let's go to our room, please?" Sasuke silently asked. Itachi nodded his head, intertwining their fingers together and allowed Sasuke to lead the way.
"I'm so pissed!" Suigetsu raged as he followed behind Itachi and Sasuke. Juugo raised an eyebrow at his outburst. "Do you guys really think that he went to go get the Kubikiribocho, because if he did that's unfair, I have wanted it forever!" The white haired male bemoaned.
"How about if he did get it, you can skewer him with it and keep it," Sasuke smirked at the thought.
Suigetsu's eyes sparkled. "If you so allowed it, my prince, I would gladly Shish Kabob him for you."
"By all means, please do so," Sasuke offered his consent to Suigetsu who whooped happily. This was one of the reasons he so gladly served Sasuke. Itachi on the other hand ignored the conversation as his mind was calculating everything that had happened today and what he already knew. Sasuke glanced over at him, knowing fully well that his fiancée was distracted plotting something and it bothered him a little that he wasn't being told what it was about.
He wished Itachi would include him a little more in his ploys, but for now he decided to leave him to do what he pleased.
Lee smiled kindly, dismissing the guard once he was in his room, saying that he would freshen up and take a nap before dinner was served. Once the door was closed behind him, his smile dropped and he looked sadly to the floor. Tears were piercing his eyes once more, a dead animal sound escaping his lips as he sobbed in distress. He wished that he had not lied to such wonderful people, but he had no choice. Right at this moment, Hyuuga Neji had his precious wife, Sakura locked up in their own home along with the threat that she would die if he didn't do as he was told.
He could still remember his beautiful Sakura's tear stained face as she called out to him for help and how he couldn't do anything. He'd been pinned beat, pinned down, and forced to watch as she tried to fight off their attackers. The pain he felt couldn't be compared to how her face twisted with it as she was punched and kicked, subdued. A flower like her taken down and slammed into the floor like she was nothing but dirt-and he couldn't do anything!
He was outnumbered by the guards, as Neji had stood before him, condescendingly.
He had left them unguarded, he had gotten to comfortable in his marriage—but he never thought something like this could happen.
Why would it, why would anyone wish them harm, it made no sense—and yet there he was Neji standing over them like they weren't even worth the dirt on his shoes.
Lee sobbed, his head thrown back, eyes closed as the memories remained clear in his head.
"I have to say, my precious Prince Sasuke did take a liking to you and your strange words. Do as I say and your wife won't die," Neji hissed, his eyes shining like moons in the dead of the night when he had attacked Lee. Sleep really did make people vulnerable, and he enjoyed exploiting that. He had made sure his guards attacked Lee, while he took Sakura.
He had not expected the pink haired female to fight him, and he had no qualms about hitting her for her resistance.
He knew that Lee was strong, so he went for his weakness. That pink haired bimbo that was his wife was what he had chosen. The woman screamed and cried, and when she dared to punch him, he retaliated. He kicked her several times, bruising her lovely face, tossing her delicate body like it was a doll, before pulling her hair and catching Lee's attention. Lee was already struggling, but the moment that his eyes caught his wife's beaten state, it was enough for him to be pinned down.
"I want you to go to the palace, pretend that I, your beloved husband, have deceived you. Cry and make them pity you, I want you to gain their trust. I want you to open the door for me and let me in!" Neji screamed, demanding of him, "I'll give you a vile with my secret serum; you have to make sure they all take it. All I want is to Kidnap Sasuke, that's it. Once I have him-" He pulled Sakura's hair again, making her cry in agony, "you can have this lovely trash back."
"Stop, don't hurt her!"
"Well, are you going to do as I say!?" Neji roared.
"Yes, just please, let her go,"
Neji laughed tossing Sakura to one of his guards. The guard caught her, and cuffed her. Sakura cried as he arms were cuffed uncomfortably behind her before she was thrown to the floor like she was a toy.
"Lee you don't have to do this, you can't let him hurt the prince. It'll be your head!" Sakura cried, her green eyes flashing with concern towards him. "Lee, my love please no,"
"Shut her up," Neji commanded. The guard knocked Sakura in the back, knocking her out cold. Lee trembled, scared for his beloved wife. Seeing her limp body on the floor only fueled his desire to save her, he would do anything to save her!
"Tell me what I have to do," he whispered.
"Good man," Neji laughed, and started to tell his plan to Lee in detail. Lee simply nodded, going along with it all. And that was how he ended up at the front gate, wearing some of the finest silk, and jewelry he himself could never afford, pretending to be the wounded husband of one Hyuuga Neji.
Pulling out the vile from his pocket, Lee thought once more of his beautiful wife before making his decision. It wasn't that hard it seemed. He loved Sakura more than life itself, and he would do anything to insure her safety. Gripping the serum that Neji had assured him wouldn't kill anyone. He wanted to believe that so badly, that no one would be hurt and all Neji would do was take Sasuke. That didn't seem so bad, the man would just marry the prince, no harm, right?
After a while, sighing, he opened the door, and waited outside. He had been instructed that he had to hand this to a woman special to Neji. Neji had told him to make sure no one was around to see him. HE looked up and down the hall, he was alone. It felt like an eternity, but really it was just five minutes before he spotted her.
A servant made her way over, she had brown hair in two buns and a perky smile on her face.
"Aren't you going to sleep, your highness, Lee?" She smirked, devilishly at him.
Lee trembled, "Your name," he demanded. He couldn't mess this up by making a mistake so dumb by giving the vile to the wrong person.
"Tenten," She replied, that was her. He handed the serum over.
"Prince Neji wants them all asleep."
She looked at the vile with appreciation, "Consider it done," she smirked, putting the vile into her bra, and left. LEe sighed, finding that his knees had gone weak at what he had just set in motion. For Sakura's safety, he thought to himself, he had to be strong for Sakura!
Tenten wasn't a servant that belonged here in the Konoha palace. She was one of the servants that belong to the Bayakugan palace. She had been planted here after Neji had first been attacked and forced to leave the first courting of Sasuke. Neji had asked her to apply, and that when he needed her, she should do as she was told. At the time, he had feared that he had lost his chance and needed to know who the potential husband was going to be.
His plan had been to leave Sasuke a widower, with the untimely death of his husband. That didn't come to fruition, seeing that no one was chosen, making the Hyuuga prince relax as he healed. All he could think was that he still had a chance, and he would wait to see if he would be called once more to try and court Sasuke.
That didn't happen, either.
The king had made it clear to everyone that Sasuke would be waiting for his twentieth birthday to be courted. Angry as he was he decided he would play by those rules, bidding his time until he would be allowed back to claim his price.
Being the loyal person that she was, Tenten had done exactly what had been asked of her, and carried out Neji's orders on the inside. She kept tabs on the prince, making sure he remained pure and that there was no one else courting him. Tenten's loyalty was non-wavering; after all, she loved and adored the prince she had served since he was young. She felt like he needed to be the happiest person in the world. He was the best in her eyes and couldn't find any fault in his need to do everything that he could in order to get what he wanted.
If he wanted prince Sasuke, then that was what she was going to get him.
Walking towards the servant quarters, and to the garden outback, she looked around as everyone was cooking on the grills, laughing, and enjoying themselves. Just because the kitchen was out of commission, it didn't mean that they had no way to prepare food.
It was kind of nice, being outside and in the open. It made everything a lot more chaotic, and perfect for her.
She approached the table where the food was being placed as it was prepared, and looked through it all. Plating the food, as it was part of her job, she slowly added the serum to anything and everything that she got her hands on. The royal family would have to eat one or two of either piece of food, but was it going to be enough?
Deidara suddenly called out that they needed someone to prepare tea. She immediately jumped at the opportunity, that will be the best place to drop the rest of the serum.
After all, everyone here enjoyed a cup of hot tea.
Later in the day, Sasuke was lying in bed silently reading a book when he felt it dip with added weight, a sudden kiss to his cheek had him grinning as he turned to face Itachi. The book in his hands was quickly dropped beside him and forgotten. "Where did you go?" he asked, reaching his arms towards Itachi, welcoming him into his embrace. Itachi immediately climbed over Sasuke, straddling him as he kissed his pouting lips.
Sasuke moaned, wrapping his arms around Itachi's neck, kissing him back eagerly. When Itachi's hands went under his shirt, Sasuke gasped and arched into his touch. "Itachi, stop," he moaned, his fingers digging into Itachi's back, "You're just trying to distract me," Sasuke squeaked when Itachi latched onto his neck, sucking and nibbling with that talented mouth of his.
"It's working then," he teased, his eyes were amused as they locked with Sasuke's. The raven haired prince pouted, moving to turn his body away from his lover. "Wait Sasuke, no," Itachi laughed, wrapping his arms around Sasuke's waist, trying to keep him in place.
"No, I don't like that you won't tell me what's going on, no more kisses for you," Sasuke growled, clawing at the bed to try and get away from Itachi. Not that he was trying that hard, moaning when Itachi's mouth found the back of his neck, placing kisses all the way to his shoulder. Itachi's face kept nuzzling Sasuke's soft skin as he whispered sweet nothings to him.
"Yes, please stop, you two are too disgustingly cute with each other," Suigetsu called to them, trying hard not to claw his eyes out of his skull. He sighed, tilting Sasuke's desk chair dangerously back. Juugo on the other hand remained silent, eyes closed as he meditated. Nothing seemed to bother the giant.
Itachi released Sasuke, silently chuckling when Sasuke grumbled to his friend to shut up. He sat back, watching as Sasuke moved to crawl his way into his lap. He smiled at his little brother, nothing but adoration and love shinning in his eyes as the boy settled himself on him. Sasuke's legs straddle him, while his arms went once again around his neck, and he was angrily pouting at him.
"Where did you go?" he asked again, his fingers lazily tangling themselves on Itachi's long hair.
"I went to the kitchen to speak with Deidara and Sasori about the food they will be serving today," Itachi finally confessed. He figured telling Sasuke was better than keeping him in the dark about everything.
Sasuke's face showed confusion for a second before he seemed to place the pieces together, "You think someone will try to poison the food…you think it's Lee?" Sasuke asked, tilting his head.
"Yes, but he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the food, so I think there's someone else that is still in the palace that is a traitor," Itachi explained, his thoughts running on being sure the poison would be smuggled in by Lee. It took Sasuke no effort to know that Itachi suspected a lot of the guards and servants, so there was no doubt that something shady would be happening tonight.
"Was it wise to let him even stay then?" Sasuke asked.
"Wise, perhaps no, but I believe that besides being dangerous it is what is going to give us the answers to what has been happening," Itachi answered.
Sasuke scowled, "I still think Neji is the one we should be locking up already, there's no doubt he is the one that has caused all this mess. Why can't we just go hunt him down and end him already!" He demanded.
"I don't doubt it either, but we can't blindly accuse, Sasuke, patience." Itachi smiled softly at him, making Sasuke drop his scowl. He wasn't one for patience, but he had to wonder how Itachi did it. He seemed to be fully in control of everything, and that just made Sasuke feel strangely, even more attracted to him.
"Itachi, fuck me," Sasuke breathed, leaning to place a kiss on Itachi's lips.
"Okay no! too much!" Suigetsu called back, breaking the moment.
"No one is telling you to stick around." Sasuke snapped at him. "In fact you are free to go!"
"Hello, there's a psycho killer on the loose, besides, the people fucking are the first ones to die! No way nuh-uh, you guys can screw all you want once this is over," Suigetsu snapped.
Itachi sighed, "Suigetsu's right, we should wait until we have settled everything," Itachi caressed Sasuke's cheek, once more asking him for patience. Sasuke groaned in frustration, but agreed.
Silence settled over the room as they waited for dinner time. Sasuke found himself easily entertained with Itachi's hair. Itachi silently watched him, making Sasuke blush when he noticed how closely Itachi was looking at him. Sasuke smirked, reaching his hands towards Itachi's forehead. Itachi blinked when he felt that Sasuke had placed something there.
It was the jeweled crest made of black stone that Sasuke wore to signify that he was a prince. Sasuke stared at Itachi in awe, thinking that he could definitely have made a better prince than him.
Itachi reached for the jewel, returning it to where it belonged, on his little brother, and kissed the tip of his nose.
Sasuke smiled, shyly looking away from Itachi's intense gaze. That was when there was a sudden knock at the door disturbing the peaceful silence.
Suigetsu huffed as he got up to answer it, only to be rudely pushed aside as Naruto burst in happily. Suigetsu cursed as his face was banged on the door, and he angrily rubbed his forehead.
"Sasuke, look, Nakoru can blow bubbles!" The proud blond cheered as he came to show his cousin what his son could do now. The little one laughed, reaching for Sasuke.
"Guys, let's get going, it seems the king wants us all to attend." Kyuubi walked in next, smiling happily. "We will all be eating outside!"
"Outside, why?" Sasuke asked, trying his best to keep Nakoru from pulling his hair. His nephew was really a handful.
Naruto shrugged, "Dad said something about entertaining our guest." Naruto and Kyuubi had not been around when Lee had first come so they were barely hearing the news about him. Either way, both were always easily accommodating to any guest that came their way.
Sasuke got to his feet, waiting for Itachi to do the same. He looked towards him for assurance, before they walked out of the room. Naruto kept proudly talking about his son. Sasuke frowned at his cousin, "Yeah right, he's still just a baby Naruto, there's no way he can already read,"
"My son is smart Sasuke, I'm sure pretty soon he will be talking as well!" Naruto proclaimed. Sasuke glared at him.
"He's not even out of diapers and you're acting like he can do everything! You should enjoy him more while he is still small,"
"What do you mean?" Naruto paused, looking at Sasuke curiously.
"I mean soon he will be telling you about how he no longer needs you, and will be leaving to marry some other prince or princess," Sasuke smirked. Naruto got a horrified look on his face.
"No way!" he screamed, panicked.
"Well you did it, why wouldn't he."
"He's still my baby," He snatched the little one back into his arms, praying that he would never grow up. His son was too pure, too innocent!
"Relax Naruto, that won't happen for years still," Kyuubi tried to assure.
"But it'll happen." Naruto murmured sadly. Everyone sighed because they couldn't tell him no on that.
"Hey look, it's been all decorated," Kyuubi suddenly said, trying to find a distraction. Outside there were lights, and several tables scattered around. The sun was barely sinking away in the horizon, painting the sky in beautiful oranges, pinks, and purples. Naruto gasped at the beauty, and followed Kyuubi happily so they could take a seat.
There was no seating arrangement, and it looked like Minato was engaging loudly with the servants serving the food.
Sasuke allowed Itachi to lead him to a quieter table, gladly taking a seat far away from his uncle. It already seemed like it was going to be a long evening.
Tenten smirked as she added the finishing touches, sure that their plan was going perfectly.
"Soon my dear Prince Neji, you will have prince Sasuke all to yourself," She whispered, chuckling evilly to herself.
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