(Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! Remember, if you're reading, please review! Warnings and disclaimers apply to all chapters. I also forgot to mention that the lemon scenes that fit into Chapter 18 can be found on my website. See my profile for the link.)

And the Beat Goes On

Chapter 19: Dammit

Hinata had only been to this part of town once or twice, but she thought she knew her way around fairly well. She was near where Kiba lived, that much she knew for sure, and she guessed she was pointing herself in the right direction.

She stopped in front of a small, gray building, which was even more desolate in the dullness of the weather. Feeling nervous, and even more shy than she normally was, she took a few hesitant steps toward the wreck, then closed her eyes and ploughed inside.

The building was small, and that was the first thing she realized. It was poorly heated, and the cold crept everywhere. A long set of stairs spiralled upwards, and that was all she could see. The walls were painted a disgusting shade of green, and the paint was peeling in some places.

Feeling a little shaky, she headed up the stairs. They creaked and groaned under her weight, and she half expected them to give out and let her fall into the basement. She hated basements. She set her foot on the top step, walking onto the second level of this tiny, forgotten place.

She walked down the dreary hallway, looking at the worn bronze numbers emblazoned on the numerous doors that lined either side of the hall. Nervously, she pressed her index fingers together, occasionally digging one of her nails into the flesh underneath the other as hard as she could.

She finally stopped in front of room 306, and she stood there, looking at that number, trying to decide whether or not to knock. Finally, she lifted her hand, and, despite her shaking limbs, rapped her knuckles against the cheap grain of wood, nearly coming away with several splinters.

Silence followed. She kept glancing at the door, then looking back at the floor, waiting for someone to answer the door. Hesitantly, not wanting to seem persistent or impatient, she knocked again.

This time, she heard someone moving within the apartment, and she nearly fainted in nervous relief. At least she knew someone was there, but now she had to face embarrassment if it wasn't the person she was looking for.

At last, the door opened, and a rumpled young woman opened the door, trying her best not to rub at her tired eyes or yawn. "What do you want?" she asked, and her voice was just as tired as she looked.

Hinata smiled almost nervously. "Uh, yes. I'm. . .I'm.. . . l-looking for TenTen," she managed, her voice starting into its trademark stutter.

The girl blinked, then moved aside. "She's in the kitchen," the older girl said, gesturing for Hinata to enter.

The shy Hyuuga girl walked into the dingy apartment, taking off her shoes at the doorway, then continuing on her way to the tiny, crammed kitchenette.

True to what she'd been told, TenTen was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking orange juice and munching on a bit of dry toast. Hinata jabbed her index fingers together again. "Ah, TenTen," she started, making the girl jump and look up at her.

"Hinata?" she asked, then looked slightly angry. "What are you doing here?"

The younger girl looked at the ground. "Neji. . .was looking for you. And. . .I-I thought I m-might find you here. . ."

The older girl looked around wildly. "Neji's not here, is he?" she cried, the thought of her boyfriend seeming to frighten her.

Hinata furrowed her brow at the curious action. "Um.. . .no, he's n-n-ot. . .W-why did you leave? Everybody's worried about you."

The brown-eyed girl sighed and slumped over the table, resting her head on her hand. "Well, it's kinda. . ."

She trailed off, staring into blank space. Hinata waited for moment or two, before saying, softly, "Kinda what?"

"Difficult," TenTen finished, standing up with a sigh.

She left her half uneaten breakfast sitting on the table, walking out the room, running her hands through her hair in frustration. "I still don't believe it myself," she murmured as she walked by.

Hinata hesitated, before following the girl down the hall, toward her bedroom. The elder stopped before they reached there, however, sighing loudly, and slumping against the wall. "I just don't understand," she murmured, seeming slightly lost and even a bit out of it.

"What happened?" Hinata asked, hesitantly reaching out to put her hand on the older girl's shaking shoulder.

"Oh!" the girl said, biting her lip, in an attempt not to start crying. She was silent for a moment or two, looking for the right words to express herself. " . . .I'm. . .pregnant."

"Oh,"was all Hinata could say, and then she stared dumbly at TenTen, trying to think of what to do or say next in this situation.

She couldn't find what to say or do. TenTen turned to her, her eyes begging and pleading. "Please, please. Don't tell Neji. Don't tell anybody."

Hinata frowned. "But. . .everyone's so worried about you. And. . .what will you do once you have the baby? You can't come back with a baby. What will people think? And you certainly can't stay here -"

"I'm not having the baby," the older girl said decisively.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked, dumbfounded. "You said you were -"

"I'm not having the baby. I'm having an abortion."

Hinata felt faint. She was appalled. "Y-you can't!" she cried, her stuttering out of anger, rather than fear or shyness. "That's. . .that's cruel!"

"So is bringing something into the world that you can't take care of."

Hinata stomped her foot on the floor. "You can't, TenTen! You just can't! I'm. . .I'll tell Neji!"

She turned to leave. TenTen grabbed her by the arm, holding her fast. "You can't tell him!" she hissed. "You can't tell anybody!"

The Hyuuga girl, with determination set on her features, did something very unexpected. She raised her hand and slapped the older girl. Hard. TenTen let go of her in surprise. She clutched at the wall, feeling tears of desperation burn in her eyes. "Please," she whispered, holding her cheek.

Hinata was crying too. "I'm. . .I'm sorry, TenTen! I really am! But. . .I just can't let you do that! I can't! It's not right, and it's not fair - to anybody!"

"Don't, don't tell him, please," TenTen begged, but Hinata was done listening.

"I'm sorry, TenTen," she whispered. "I have to."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"T-t. . .Temari," Gaara practically stuttered, staring his older sister in the eye.

The blonde girl smiled at him. "Good morning, Gaara," she said. "I didn't think you'd be up so early. Mother sent me to check up on you."

The girl breezed by him into the apartment. She dropped her duffel bag by the door, but failed to remove her snowy shoes. "You know, she worries about you," she said, turning back, clasping her hands and making the most mocking face Gaara had ever seen her make.

The red-head glared at her. "Get lost," he growled. "I don't need you breathing down my neck."

She shrugged and flopped down on the ancient sofa that had been in the apartment before Gaara had been. "Doesn't matter to me. I need to know if you've found that. . .what's-his-name kid. . . yet."

"Uzumaki," Gaara said, quietly, sounding a little bitter.

Temari waved her hand. "Yeah! That kid. Mom's getting worse- keeps asking for him."

Gaara crossed his arms and just looked sulky. "Yeah, I f-"

"Oh, what are these?" Temari asked suddenly, picking up the half empty box of cigarettes. "You smoke? Naughty, naughty Gaara," she chided.

Gaara growled. "What I do is my business. Get out of apartment."

Again, the blonde girl shrugged. "You're obviously not doing a good job, Gaara. I mean, you were supposed to find that kid weeks ago. What's taking so long?"

"We ran into. . .a couple of problems."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Like what?"

Gaara shrugged, not wishing to reveal what had been going on since he'd arrived in the city. "It doesn't really matter, Temari."

The girl frowned, but said nothing more. They were silent for a moment or two, and the silence was both heavy and terse. It was obvious that neither sibling liked each other very much. Finally, Gaara gave, sighing, and walked by her toward the kitchen, muttering, "Would you like something to eat?" in the most bored tone he could muster.

- - - - - - - - -

He couldn't move. He was pinned to the bed, and by what, he didn't know. He was trying to remember what the hell had happened, and what the hell he'd gone to bed with because this was too heavy for Orochimaru, but his mind was fuzzy, and thinking was making his head hurt, which in turn, was making him sick.
Outside, the cheerful sun glittered off the snow, making the world unbearably bright, especially to someone as hung-over as Uchiha Itachi was at that very moment. Something slapped him in the face and he blinked in surprise, feeling the throb of being hit, in a slightly delayed reaction.

Trying not to strain his eyes, as they hurt enough already, but unable to turn his head to the side for fear of being sick, he glanced sideways at whatever had hit him.

That blond kid, Naruto, his brother's boyfriend, was tangled in the sheets, snoring loudly. What was worse, the blond was completely naked. Itachi shifted a little, confirming what he was fearing the most at that moment. He was naked too.

He did the only sensible thing that any naked, hung-over teenager who is suspecting that they just slept with their brother's boyfriend, but were too drunk to remember, could do. He screamed. Then, deciding that wasn't solution enough, he scrambled out from whatever was pinning him down, still screaming, and scrambled right off the bed, dragging a sheet with him.

He landed with a rather ungraceful thunk on the floor. This was a brilliant start to the day.

Sleepily, someone peered over Orochimaru, who had been lying on top of him, and blinked stupidly. Itachi grimaced as he realized that person was Sasuke. The younger boy rubbed at his eyes, and yawned, murmuring, "What's wrong?"

Itachi was speechless. The two brothers sat there and stared at each other for several minutes, just blinking stupidly. Itachi turned to the side and retched. Sasuke winced, then toppled over as Orochimaru, whom he'd been using as a pillow, shifted, and woke up.

The older boy yawned and opened an eye. "What's with all the yelling?" he grumbled, and from his tone of voice, it was obvious he wasn't a morning person.

Sasuke had landed with a thump on something hard, which happened to be Naruto's shin. He winced, and waited for the blond boy to wake up, but he didn't. He sighed. Naruto could sleep through a tornado.

Orochimaru was on the floor, with his arm about Itachi, trying to get the hung-over one to be rational. Itachi was having a panic moment, and his voice was rising as he ranted on and on and on, which was odd because Itachi normally didn't say much at all.

"What's with all the yelling!" came a rather high-pitched voice from across the hall and all the boys froze, except Naruto who kept on snoring. There was a scamper of feet on the hardwood floor outside the door and both Sasuke and Orochimaru were at the door, trying to barricade it, and shouting at Konohamaru to stay out, and not to come in, and so on and so forth.

Itachi nearly fainted when he realized that both his boyfriend and his brother were naked as well. And they'd been sleeping in the same bed. Dammit, why couldn't he remember what had happened!
"Uh.. . .what did we do last night?" he asked, staring blankly at the wall.

"Well, you were being quite domineering," Orochimaru started with a sly smirk.

"You were drunk," Sasuke added, expression deadpan.

"And, well, you decided it would be fun to have a foursome," Orochimaru finished.

"While you were drunk," Sasuke added, his face still stoic.

"I know I was drunk!" Itachi snapped at his brother, then glared, and turned to look at Orochimaru. "A foursome!"

Both boys, yes, even Sasuke, though the question was not addressed to him, nodded.

Itachi felt a little funny, like he was going to faint or something. He scrambled back to the bed, lest he should do something completely un-Itachi like and faint.

Orochimaru and Sasuke just stood there for a moment, before realizing they were completely exposed. Sasuke dove for the bed, doing a rather messy job as he landed of wrapping himself up in both the sheet Itachi had, and the one Naruto had. Orochimaru just grinned.

The door opened, and that sent the oldest boy running for the bed too, diving behind the other three, in a desperate attempt to hide himself as there were no more sheets. Konohamaru peered into the room, still giggling. He'd thought they were having a fight.

Three out of four of the older boys stared at him blankly. He blinked, then stopped laughing and said, "Hey, how come you're all naked?"

They just stared at him more. He squealed in horror and took off running. "Uncle Iruka! Uncle Iruka!" he squealed and the boys in the bedroom shared a petrified look.

Naruto finally woke up. "Hey," he murmured, still half-asleep. "What's with all the noise?"

"Naruto!" Iruka's voice shouted at them from down the hall.

"Oh shit," the blond said, his eyes widening.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Konohamaru cowered near the door, slightly afraid of his uncle.

Iruka had flown into a murderous rage. "Oh, I'll. . .I'll throttle them! I'll cut them open and string them up by their intestines!"
His hands opened and closed, clenching around some invisible opponent's neck.

Konohamaru seemed to realize something then. "Uncle Iruka! You're naked too!" he cried, clapping a hand over his mouth in mute horror.

Iruka looked down, wondering how the little imp knew, but found he was sufficiently covered. He went crimson, all the way up to his ears. "That doesn't matter!" he barked.

"And so is Kakashi!" Konohamaru chirped. "How come everyone's naked except for me!"

"Please," Iruka said, making a face. "Keep your pyjamas on, Konohamaru."

There was silence in the master bedroom for a moment, before Konohamaru said, almost shyly, "So, are you gonna go murder Naruto now?"

"Yes!" Iruka yelled, and made as if to get out of the bed.

Kakashi threw something at him, and it hit him square in the face. Iruka peeled the offending item off his face, looking confused, while Konohamaru dissolved into helpless laughter.

Iruka glared at Kakashi. The silver-haired man shrugged. "I just thought it might make a better presentation if you went charging in there somewhat clothed. . ."

Iruka sighed. This was going to be a long weekend. . .

- - - - - - - - - -

Lee was just coming back from his morning jog when he saw both Ino and Sakura emerge from the Yamanaka household. They were both dressed for the weather, with heavy coats, and mittens and scarves wrapped about their necks. They had two pairs of skates with them.

"Morning girls!" he called waving, winking at Sakura, who glanced at Ino nervously. The blonde girl seemed to shrug it off.

"Morning Lee," Ino called back, giving him a little wave with her left hand as her right hand was. . .

Lee nearly fainted. Ino was holding Sakura's hand! Holding it!

In all the time he'd known either girl, he'd never seen them hold hands. That they were doing it now could only lead him to one conclusion and that was a bad thing. His beloved Sakura couldn't. . .

How could he be her knight in shining armour if she was?
He gaped, like a fish out of water, watching as they walked away, heading toward the park, where every year, an ice rink was set up.

Noting that Shikamaru was still outside, sitting in a snowbank, having ditched his shovel, deeming it too much work to shovel the driveway, Lee jogged over to the other boy, and tried to start a conversation.

"Shikamaru -"

"Go away," the Nara boy said, looking at him, bored. "You're troublesome."

"Did you see Sakura and Ino!"

Shikamaru shook his head. He'd had his back turned the whole time, staring at the neighbour's dog, who was contemplating trying to make the snow on Shikamaru's front lawn turn yellow.

Lee ploughed on. "They were holding hands!"

The younger boy shrugged, not really caring about whatever Lee was blathering about now. "So? Girls tend to be more. . ."

He waved his hand and looked at Lee, as though he was willing him to go away. Lee sighed. "Sakura and Ino have never held hands before. Why should they start now?"

Shikamaru flopped back in his snowbank and stared at the cloudy sky. "Why should I know? Now, stop bothering me."

Lee shrugged, seeing that Shikamaru wasn't going to be much help, and continued on his way.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Kiba glanced around the corner, letting the phone ring, and ring and ring. He kept glancing back over his shoulder, checking lest his parental should decide she needed to use the telephone. So far, no sign of her.

Finally someone picked up. A very small, girlish voice said, "Hello?"

He nearly jumped at the sound, and cleared his throat nervously. "Um, hi. Is Hinata there?"

He could practically hear the little girl shaking her head on the other end of the phone. "No, she's not."

"Oh," the dark-haired boy said, putting his foot on his puppy's head to make sure he didn't run off anywhere. The last time he'd taken his eyes off Akamaru, he'd ended up in the garbage, looking for something to eat. "Could you tell her to call Kiba when she gets in?"

"Nope."

He almost swore there was a smirk in whoever had answered the phone's voice. "Huh? Why not?"

"She's not allowed to talk to you. Papa said so."

And with that, and without so much as a goodbye, the phone was hung up and Kiba was faced with the dial tone. He sighed and hung up the phone. Great. Hinata wasn't supposed to talk to him. He could only imagine why not.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Itachi was roused from his much needed sleep, early Tuesday morning, by a persistent knocking at the front door. Groggily, he sat up, and looked around, trying to find his housecoat, a pair of underwear and a shirt, anything. No such luck.

He glanced at the time. If that was any damn sales person at his door at six a.m., heads were going to roll. He kicked Orochimaru on his way out of bed, purposely of course, just to be spiteful. If he had to get up, so did everyone else.

They'd gotten back from Iruka's cabin late last night, after Konohamaru had nearly broken his neck and they'd had to come home. They had the rest of the week to screw around and do nothing, and Itachi had been planning to sleep in, but noooo. . .

He threw on a pair of boxers that appeared to be clean, only to find they weren't his. The knocking was getting louder and more frequent. He grumbled and threw on his robe, which had been lying under a pile of dirty clothes. Trying to hold Orochimaru's underwear to his frame, he wrapped himself in the housecoat and headed downstairs, grumbling about people.

Orochimaru just rolled over and went on sleeping.

Itachi wished he had brought his slippers, because the floor was freezing. Another reason he hated winter. Everything was cold. Freezing. He'd have given anything to be warm, instead of letting the blood in his feet freeze.

Whoever was out there was still knocking and he was now sure that this wasn't any damn sales person, because they would have given up long ago. He padded across the floor, and dreaded opening the door to the cold outdoors.

Too bad for him. Whoever was out there was laying on the doorbell now, and kicking at the door too, or at least, that's what it sounded like. "What the hell do you want!" he partially screamed, flinging open the door, and glaring like there was no tomorrow.
A wooden cane was pushed dangerously close to his face, and waggled threateningly. "Respect your elders!" a short, elderly woman, who'd been holding the cane, scolded, then hobbled by him into the house.

All he could do was blink in surprise. To his left, a young, dark-haired woman smiled, almost apologetically. "Uh, you'll have to excuse Grandmother, Itachi. She's very cranky without her medicine."

"Uh," was all the Uchiha boy could say. Finally, he pointed and said, "Do I know you?"

The woman blinked her red eyes and looked almost insulted. "Why, you idiot, I'm your aunt. Kurenai, remember?"

He could only look slightly confused, before she said, "Never mind. Let me in, it's damn cold, and Gran has to take her medicine."

She brushed by him, into the house, calling, "Gran! Gran!"

Itachi shut the door, looking completely befuddled. "What the fuck," he muttered, walking away from the entrance, back into the house, where it was actually semi-warm.

What the hell were his relatives doing here? His parents had died over seven years ago, and since then, not a damn Uchiha had seen himself and his brother, except each other. And now, his aunt and his great-grandmother were in his house on a holiday at six fucking a.m and. . .

Oh fucking no.

He dashed up the stairs, driven by a sudden anxiety of his relatives - especially his old, senile, half-blind and cranky great-grandmother finding out what - who - was in his room. He remembered his great-grandmother somewhat, now that he was thinking about it, and he knew that she was very, very old fashioned.

She'd have words if she found out that he was sleeping with another guy. Willingly sleeping with another guy. Fuck, she'd have more than words - there'd be actions.

He slammed the door to his bedroom and locked the door. "You!" he nearly shouted, then remembered that he had to keep his voice down, or his aunt would be up there, asking what was wrong. He remembered Kurenai a bit now, and he knew that she was that type of aunt who was very nosey, and very annoying, but also a better aunt than some, because she was younger, and not as parental.

Orochimaru stayed asleep. Growling, Itachi decided he didn't have time for this and hopped up on the bed and started jumping up and down as hard as he could. Eventually, he managed to nail Orochimaru in the gut.
The older boy woke with a startled gasp, trying to catch the breath that had just been knocked out of him. Itachi stopped jumping and glared.

Orochimaru glared back at him, then looked down. "Um, Itachi? Why were you wearing my boxers?"

Itachi noticed then that said garments had fallen down, probably during his jumping. "Never mind," he growled. "My aunt and my great-grandmother are here and-"

"You have relatives?" Orochimaru asked, yawning, then looking fascinated.

Itachi sighed. "Yes, and-"

"Cool! When do I get to meet them?"

Itachi grabbed the older boy the shoulders and shook him. "You don't!" he hissed, then looked around, as if the room was bugged or something. "At least, not as Orochimaru."

"What do you mean not as me? Have you lost it? You've completely fucking lost it, haven't you?"

Itachi shook his head violently. "No!" he hissed. "The old lady's old-fashioned. It's like a religion to her. I can't go down there and tell her I'm sleeping with a guy."

Orochimaru grumbled something.

"Where'd that brat get to?"

As soon as he heard the old woman's voice, seemingly coming closer, Itachi flew into a practical panic.

He was across the room to his closet as fast as he could, and he threw the most feminine top he could find at Orochimaru. "Put that on! Pants - pants - skirt! A skirt would be better!"

Itachi looked desperately around for something he could make a skirt out of, while Orochimaru just watched in utter stupidity. Itachi cursed under his breath and threw something at the other boy. "Pants," he hissed, then paused.

He seemed to be listening for something, and he heard that something he dreaded - the old woman hobbling up the stairs. He grimaced. Goddamnit, he wished he'd had a little sister, instead of a little brother!

He threw two pairs of his socks at his boyfriend. "Down your shirt. Now!"
Hastily, he found his pocket knife in one of the desk drawers and cut the elastic waistband out of an old pair of pyjama pants he didn't use any more. He threw it at Orochimaru. "Use it as a bra," he hissed. "Those'll fall, and you'll look weird."

He found an extra pair of shoelaces somewhere - he didn't quite remember where afterwards - and grabbed his hairbrush off the dresser and hurtled back to the bed. He roughly brushed out the older boy's black tresses, the shoelaces clenched in his teeth.

He grabbed a handful of black hair and yanked it up into a half pigtail, then bound it up with half of the pair of shoelaces. He repeated the process with the other side.

"There," he practically growled. Orochimaru glared at him. Itachi grimaced. Orochimaru made a very, very ugly girl.

"Ugh, make-up," he muttered, and dragged the other boy out of bed.

He glanced around the hall, then snuck into his parents' bedroom. No one had been in there since their death - neither boy could bear it, and none of their relatives had been around - so he was sure that his mother's make-up, no matter how old and disgusting it might have been, had to be there.

He grabbed some of the make-up from the vanity, and started smearing purple eyeshadow over Orochimaru's eyelids. He could almost hear his mother screaming every known curse at him right then and there.

He grabbed mascara and wrinkled his nose at how clumpy it was, then proceeded with applying it to his boyfriend anyways. He found some lip gloss and smeared it onto the older boy's lips. He then decided to go digging in his mother's jewellery box. He dug out some ancient earrings, then proceeded to try and stick them into his boyfriend's ears.

"Hey!" the older boy protested, pulling away.

Itachi growled and drove them in, managing to pierce the skin. Orochimaru winced, and raised his hand, as if to pull them out. Itachi slapped him. "Leave them alone!" he hissed, then dragged Orochimaru back to his room.

He threw the boy the Cosmo magazine he'd been sensible enough to leave in his room, and Orochimaru deftly caught it, and assumed a rather girly position, pretending to be reading it.

Itachi hastily clothed himself, and tied his hair back. Luckily, just as he finished all this prep work, there came the knock on the door from the old woman, and then it was thrown open and the cranky old lady hobbled in.

"Well, I've never!" she exclaimed, her face scrunching up. "It's not polite to leave company waiting, young man! Who raised you! Wolves! Where's your mother! I'll set her right!"
Itachi winced, and Orochimaru saw it, but said nothing.

"Who's this?" the ancient woman demanded, shaking her cane at Orochimaru, who kept thumbing through the magazine, hoping he didn't have to speak.

Itachi paused. Shit. He'd forgotten to think of a name! He nearly tore at his hair in frustration. "Uhm, that's my girlfriend, Gran," he said, glancing back at Orochimaru, tucking his arms behind his back.

"Girlfriend?" the old woman said, leaning forward a bit and squinting. Then, she recoiled in horror. "Gah! Boy, what were you thinking! You're an Uchiha - you can do better! You will do better!"

Orochimaru glared intently at the magazine, pretending it was the old woman and he had laser vision, so he could incinerate her.

"I love her, Gran," Itachi explained, and Orochimaru, under all his makeup, blushed. Itachi had never ever freely admitted to loving him.

"Huhn. I don't care. She's not going be part of this family, so you'd better smarten up and get yourself a pretty girl."

Orochimaru muttered something under his breath, coughed and turned a page. Itachi glared. He turned back to his great-grandmother. "Erm, well, nothing really to see here. Let's go downstairs and get breakfast. You must be hungry! I mean, you must have driven all night to get here. . ."

The old woman brushed the teenager's hand off her shoulder and glared. Orochimaru wasn't sure whether to be comforted that the patented Uchiha-glare ran in the family or to be frightened.

"Now, just you wait a minute. You aren't cooking, are you? That's a woman's job. I'll do the cooking around here."

She glared at Orochimaru. "That one there ain't feeding you, obviously. You're so thin. You're a growing boy, you need your nourishment. . .Where's your brother? You're the one with the brother, right?"

Itachi threw a startled look back at Orochimaru, as the old woman practically pushed him out of the room and herded him to the downstairs.

Orochimaru sniggered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was ten o'clock a.m. and the winter wind was brisk, and it burned at Naruto's cheeks. Sasuke had spent last night with him, and this morning, they'd gone skating. Sakura and Ino had too and Naruto had been practically breathless when he'd seen how enthralled the two girls were in each other. They'd held hands tightly, and Sakura had been all smiles.

Naruto wanted that, and he wanted whatever they had done to achieve that. He clung tightly to Sasuke's hand now, cutting off the circulation in both of their hands. He didn't care though. He wanted it, he wanted it, he wanted it. . .

He was so excited that his heart was tripping in his chest when he saw that they were approaching Sasuke's house. Sasuke stopped him and placed a hand to his lips, smiling slightly. "Sh," he whispered. "We'll go in the back way. They're probably still sleeping."

A few minutes later, they were standing at the back door of the massive Uchiha house, while Sasuke fished in his pocket for his key. A moment or two later, they tumbled into the house, still holding hands and giggling lightly.

Sasuke pulled the blond closer to him and tilted his boyfriend's face up, then gently pressed their lips together. He parted Naruto's lips, and slid his tongue into the other boy's mouth. Naruto made a noise indicating gratification and wrapped an arm about Sasuke's neck. The other one snaked down to grabbed Sasuke's ass, making the other boy jump an little bit. They parted, smiling and rubbing their noses together.

Someone cleared their throat. Both boys stopped, smiling instantly, and glanced over, to see four pairs of eyes staring at them. Orochimaru, who was for some unknown reason, masquerading as a girl, simply stared at them. Itachi looked like he was going to die. A red-eyed woman stared at them in something that looked like fear and shock, and an old woman was staring at them with horror and anger written all across her face.

As much as Sasuke wanted to ask who the hell the people in the kitchen were, he felt that this really wasn't the time.

The appalled old woman stood up, banging her cane against the ground. "Uchiha Sasuke!" she thundered. "What the hell are you doing!"

Sasuke and Naruto hastily disentangled themselves. Sasuke said nothing, but hastily looked at the floor. Itachi sighed and stood up. "Sasuke, this is our great-grandmother," he said, gritting his teeth and glaring at the younger Uchiha.

Sasuke went scarlet, as he realized just the depth of what he'd done. He was going to die, wasn't he?

The woman pointed at Naruto. "Who the hell is he and what the hell were you doing!" she boomed, and Sasuke winced.
"It's none of your goddamn business!" Naruto roared back, slamming his foot down and pointing right back.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the arm, hissing at him, trying to get him under control. Itachi really looked like he wanted to die. The old woman had fire burning in her eyes. "How dare you talk to me like that you. . .you!"

"Aw, shut up, you old hag! You've got no right to tell Sasuke what he can and can't do!"

"Naruto," Sasuke hissed, his voice desperate and angry at the same time.

"You brat!" she cried, then lunged at him, moving surprisingly fast for such an elderly person.

Sasuke closed his eyes, waiting for the impending carnage, and dragged Naruto out of the way. He ran to the other side of the kitchen, dragging the blond with him. Naruto was rolling up his sleeves. "No!" Sasuke told him firmly.

Naruto just glared at him.

Sasuke turned back to his great-grandmother, sighing. "I'm really sorry," he murmured, unsure of what else to say.

The elderly woman scowled. "You were kissing him, Sasuke. Kissing him. Are you going to explain that?"

Sasuke toed the floor through his socks. Naruto was silently fuming beside him. When his boyfriend remained silent, the blond spoke up. "It's none of your business what he does. He can kiss who he wants."

His voice was trembling as he spoke. Sasuke glanced sideways at Naruto, wondering what was wrong. The blond ploughed on. "And. . .if he loves the person that he's kissing, then what right do you have to question it? You can't stop him. So just leave it alone."

Sasuke watched in wonder as Naruto scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his arm, then turned and fled the room. The dark-haired boy sighed, then went after his boyfriend.

Unfortunately, he left his brother to deal with the old lady. "Itachi!" she howled, and the elder Uchiha boy winced.

"What the hell is wrong with that boy! He's not gay, is he?"

Itachi bit his lip. "Erm. . ."

"He's gay, isn't he? Well, I'll fix that! I won't have him. . .ruin the Uchiha name by. . .doing things like that!"
"Gran!" Itachi yelped. "Leave it alone! He loves him - just let him be happy!"

"Not while he's soiling the Uchiha name!" the ancient woman cried, and then she stalked out of the room, her cane banging hard against the floor.

Itachi stared for a moment, then sat down, shaking his head and rubbing his temples. "Shit, shit, shit. . ."

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