04. Sasuke's smiles and Naruto's small crush

Strangely, Sasuke wasn't irritated.

It was widely known amongst his acquaintances that he was a man who quite liked his surroundings to be peaceful and quiet and would only tolerate Emi making unnecessary noises. But for some reason, Sasuke didn't mind the radio being turned on in the kitchen whenever Naruto was in charge of preparing breakfast for his daughter – which was almost everyday lately because of his busy schedule – while tunes of obnoxious pop-songs flitted up the stairs and into his room as he went about his morning routine. He didn't mind the increased amount of laughter in the house either – mostly because Emi seemed very happy, but Naruto's loud laugh wasn't unpleasant either. He was also entirely okay with coming home to bustling sounds in the kitchen and Emi's never ceasing babble about what had happened during the day as she watched Naruto work from her position on the counter while he answered her every now and then.

Nor did he really mind the humming Naruto and Emi were doing at the moment while sitting and coloring in her color book while he poured himself a cup of coffee. He had intended to bring it up to his home office to continue his work as he waited for his brother to come so they could plan next week's meeting together, but found that their chattering and laughter at the moment were not as bothersome as he would have thought. It made him lean against the counter, mug in hand, and watch as Emi instructed Naruto on exactly what color should go where on his side of the page instead of going back up to work.

After a few weeks it had become a thing that seemed normal – expected even – to come down every morning to the sight of Emi and Naruto together in the kitchen either cooking something, coloring in her book together or Emi patiently sitting still as Naruto tried to put her hair up the way she wanted it for the day. Naruto had even started coming on the weekends since Sasuke really had no time to spare anymore and didn't want Emi to feel lonely.

It was slightly frightening, albeit reassuring, how well Naruto had acclimated himself into their everyday life. It felt so normal to have him there, playing with Emi, sitting at the coffee table reading his textbooks while she watched cartoons or moving around in the kitchen while making food, sometimes serenading her as she would sit on the counter and watch, her face glowing happily and proudly. If Sasuke didn't know better, he would say his daughter had developed a little crush on Naruto – and maybe she had, since she wanted him to be family, which took Sasuke by surprise because they really hadn't known Naruto for all that long.

"No, not the blue one," Emi instructed as she took the pencil away from Naruto and brought Sasuke out of his thoughts.

"I thought the blue was pretty, matching her eyes," Naruto said but accepted the pink pen handed to him.

"Her dress has to be pink because she's the princess," Emi explained wisely and he smiled at her in amusement.

"Oh, really?"

Emi nodded seriously, picking up a yellow pen and starting to fill in the princess's hair, her tongue poking out of the corner of her lips.

"And her hair has to be yellow."

Sasuke couldn't help the quirk of his lips as he watched the scene. His daughter had always been a very determined and thorough child.

"How about the prince then?" Naruto asked and pointed at the figure next to the princess, indulging Emi in her knowledge.

She looked at the prince thoughtfully for a while before searching through her color pencils.

"Princes have black hair and green eyes," she decided.

Naruto chuckled and glanced up at Sasuke, who raised his eyebrows at him in turn.

"So, your daddy's not a prince then?" he chortled, shaking with laughter at Sasuke's indignant look.

Emi frowned and looked up at her father as well.

"No," she answered. "Princes sing and dance and daddy doesn't."

This made Naruto burst into real laughter and he clutched his stomach, bending over the table to rest his forehead on it while he laughed. Emi stared at him confusedly and Sasuke just sighed, trying not to let the corners of his lips lift into something that would look too much like a smile.

"But Na-chan can be a princess," Emi suddenly uttered which made Naruto's head shoot up and his laughter cut short. Sasuke couldn't help the snort that left him and only smirked as Naruto sent him a small glare. "You just have to get long hair and wear a pink dress. And you sing."

This actually made Sasuke chuckle and Naruto stared at Emi, his cheeks turning pink and his mouth opening and closing, seemingly at a loss for words. He glanced at Sasuke again who only raised his eyebrows for the second time in amusement, managing to hide his small smile as he took a sip of his coffee as he watched Naruto try to find the right words.

Yeah, it was strange. Not only was Sasuke not irritated by the noises that accompanied Naruto's presence, he kind of thought the kid was amusing. And Sasuke never ever thought people were funny, except maybe his daughter. He found that he didn't mind it all that much either, because really, Naruto made it hard not to smile when he danced silly dances and sang in a girl's voice to the parts in Disney songs that required it.

It was also starting to get increasingly harder not to give an answering smile whenever Naruto shot him a grin or he and Emi rushed out from wherever they were to welcome him back home. He was so sunny and cheery most of the time it actually affected Sasuke. And it must be noticeable, because sometimes Naruto would blush when Sasuke would slip up and give him a small smile in return, and other times there would be a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, as if he knew Sasuke didn't really want to smile but couldn't stop himself.

"I think you're the princess, Emi," Naruto said, interrupting his thoughts, and he focused on the two at the table again.

Emi hummed in thought as she continued filling something in with red. As Sasuke watched them continue working his ears picked up the sound of the front door opening and closing and knew it must be Itachi. He was about to push away from the counter to go greet his brother when his daughter's next words made him stop short.

"Then Na-chan can be the queen," she said simply, not lifting her eyes from the coloring book but the excitement in her voice could still be heard.

Sasuke really couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled out of him both at his daughter's words and Naruto's embarrassedly horrified expression, his cheeks so red Sasuke was sure they could light up a dark room.

Just then Itachi sauntered into the kitchen, eyebrows raised as he let his gaze travel over the scene before he looked at Sasuke questioningly.

"What is so funny?" he asked, sounding a little astonished.

Sasuke managed to get his laughter in control – although he was unable to wipe away the small, amused smile on his lips – while Naruto, who hadn't noticed him enter the kitchen or the house even, jumped and turned to him with wide eyes. Emi looked up at him with a bright smile, standing up in her chair to jump into his arms with a small giggle.

"Tachi!" she exclaimed and Itachi smiled, stroking her hair lovingly. "Did you know? Did you know? I just made Na-chan a queen!"

"Oh, did you now," Itachi chuckled and Naruto's blush deepened, inevitably making Sasuke's amused quirk of his lips grow wider.

His brother glanced up at him with mirth shining in his eyes and Sasuke knew he was going to say something very inappropriate so he quickly cleared his throat and put his cup in the sink.

"Itachi, we should start planning the meeting, don't you think?" he said in a steely voice, leaving no room for argument and thanking whatever higher power there was that he had good enough control over himself to finally wipe the amusement clear off his face and fix his brother with a determined stare.

Itachi chuckled but thankfully kept whatever he was about to say to himself and put Emi back in the chair, following Sasuke out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

As they left he heard Naruto mutter something like 'I should be a knight in armor, not a queen, dammit!' which made another forbidden smile he couldn't help creep upon his face. But if his brother noticed he didn't let it show and it was soon forgotten as they got lost in numbers and names.

Naruto rubbed his eyes, viciously glaring at the sentence he had read at least twenty times in his economics book. He was seriously not in the mood for reading. Hadn't been for the two and a half hours he'd been sitting there.

He had moved himself and Emi over to the living room since he had a small test on Monday and needed to study, as he would spend the evening with friends, while he let Emi continue her coloring. He usually spent his time on the floor, sitting on a fluffy pillow while hunching over the coffee table, trying to cram words, math and theories into his brain, and Emi would either sit (more often, sprawl out) on the couch while watching cartoons or, like at the moment, sit next to him coloring as Sasuke either worked or sat in a meeting.

He had to admit; it was kind of nice spending his days together with Emi and Sasuke. He felt welcomed a lot sooner than he'd first thought he would, and it wasn't just because Emi seemed to adore him to bits. Her father hadn't been as rude or suspicious as he had been the first few days and Naruto even caught him smiling a few times. Although it was mostly directed at Emi, he sometimes had to wonder if he hadn't managed to put that small quirk of his lips there himself.

And that thought was kind of dangerous.

Naruto didn't deny the fact that he had been attracted to Sasuke ever since he met him, but during the past few weeks it had developed into something more of a crush. It wasn't a small crush either, sadly. It was one of those crushes that would quickly develop into something stronger the first chance it got, and Sasuke wasn't making it easier for him to not let it grow.

Sasuke had this pull on Naruto that made it hard for him to concentrate sometimes, especially when he was caught of guard, and Naruto had to force himself to not just stare at him whenever they were in the same room. He failed miserably a few times, which earned him weird looks from Sasuke, but he thought he was managing quite well, all things considered, because he didn't act nearly as much of a mess as other people did.

With a heavy sigh, Naruto gave up trying to read when he reached the bottom of the page without remembering anything and leaned his elbow on the table, head in hand, as he watched Emi continue coloring carefully while humming quietly.

He had been out with Emi and Sasuke a few times, to go shopping or to the park or whatever else Emi wanted and he wasn't really all that surprised at the amount of starry-eyed women (and a fair share of men as well) that seemed to gravitate towards Sasuke, almost unknowingly, and the way their cheeks would flush and their body language just screamed 'come and get me'. It was awkward and a little frightening.

Sasuke, on the other hand, completely ignored them and always focused on Emi. It made Naruto smile. Sasuke could easily have whomever he wanted, but his only love seemed to be his daughter and that made him extremely happy to see.

And it made Naruto try very hard not to let even a simple look last too long, because he really didn't want to make things awkward since he needed the job and he really, really liked Emi and wanted to be there for her.

"Does this not paint a pretty picture?" someone suddenly said from the direction of the entrance and both Emi and Naruto looked up to see Itachi watching them in amusement. "The queen and princess, spending their afternoon together."

Naruto felt himself blush once again and would have snapped at Itachi if Emi hadn't grinned so brightly at his comment. He chose to ignore him instead and went back to try and read his book.

"Oh, Sasuke, I think I might have upset the royal highness over there," Itachi chuckled and Naruto saw from the corner of his eye how Sasuke was stopped by his brother on his way to the kitchen.

"Itachi, let's just get the coffee and return to our planning," he said tiredly and Naruto was ever grateful that Sasuke didn't indulge his brother.

Itachi shrugged and thankfully left the doorway. Emi hurried to draw a few last, quick strokes before she got to her feet, bringing her color book with her.

"Look, daddy!" she said. "I finished the page!"

Sasuke smiled at her fondly and Naruto forced himself not to stare too long, his heart doing a weird thump-skip-thing.

"It's pretty," he said and stroked her hair. "You are good at picking colors."

Emi beamed proudly and turned to Naruto for his approval as well. He tore his eyes away from Sasuke's face just in time and turned his attention to her.

"Na-chan, look!"

Sasuke was right; Emi really had done a good job. She was quite a meticulous little child and it showed as not a single color or line was out of place in the coloring of the princess and prince's hair and clothes.

"Oh, it's very nice," Naruto complimented, pinching her cheek with a grin. She grimaced at him and he laughed. "You did good, Emi."

She grinned back at him happily.

"That's incorrect," Sasuke suddenly stated and they both looked at him questioningly. "Emi did well."

Naruto frowned up at him in confusion.

"What?"

"Superheroes do good, volunteers and doctors do good," he explained as he turned and started towards the kitchen to join his brother. "Emi did well. I'd rather my daughter learns the correct grammar."

Naruto grimaced at his back before childishly sticking his tongue out in retaliation, as he really didn't have any better comeback, which made Emi let out a bubbly giggle.

"Daddy!" she called and Sasuke turned back around.

To Naruto's horrified amusement, she pulled at the corners of her mouth with her fingers and stuck out her tongue, waggling it back and forth. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly in surprise and he shot Naruto an annoyed look.

"What exactly have you been teaching her?" he asked and Naruto wrinkled his nose, giving half a shrug. "She has never done such silly things before."

"Uh, well… you know… kids will be kids?" he tried but couldn't keep the laughter from his voice.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously but he said nothing, only shook his head and left for the kitchen, although Naruto could have sworn the corners of his lips twitched slightly as well. Emi grinned at Naruto, the mischievous glint in her eye making him think she wasn't as innocent as she seemed. He laughed and ruffled her hair, making her laugh as well before they both went back to what they were supposed to do.

Itachi was leaning against the counter while he waited for the coffee to finish brewing, watching Sasuke with an amused glint in his eyes as he entered the kitchen with a small smile of his own. He quickly wiped it off when he noticed his brother looking at him pointedly and ignored his knowing smirk as he opened a cupboard to bring out two cups.

"Doesn't Naruto want a cup?" Itachi asked, seemingly innocently, however Sasuke knew better. "He's been studying for a while, hasn't he?"

"He doesn't drink coffee," he answered. He had learned that Naruto absolutely hated the drink the second week of his employment and would mostly only drink orange juice. "And please stop annoying him, I don't want Naruto to leave just because you can't help amusing yourself at the cost of others."

Itachi gave him a look of mock hurt.

"I would never," he said dramatically.

Sasuke scowled at him.

"The company Christmas party, two years ago," was all he said and Itachi chuckled.

"I paid for that, you know," he informed him. "With a slap to the face."

Sasuke smirked at the memory of Itachi standing completely dumbfounded in the lobby to the hotel they had had the party in, clutching his right cheek after Sakura had stalked up to him and slapped him so hard it almost echoed around the wide space, turning a few curious heads in their direction. Sasuke would forever be thankful for her strong and sturdy personality, which finally managed to shut Itachi up for once.

"Either way," Sasuke said, "please leave Naruto alone."

Itachi didn't answer him as he watched him pour the brewed coffee into the cups with a small smile.

"You've softened, brother," he commented gently as Sasuke opened the fridge to take out the milk for him. "Well, you already grew soft when Emi was born, but Naruto has started to bring out another side of you, hasn't he?"

Sasuke frowned.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered.

"Really, Sasuke," his brother chuckled. "You've been uncharacteristically positive lately. It's only been, what? A few weeks and already you're different. You actually smile. Genuinely. That's something I've only seen you do around Emi before, but now Naruto too? And you care enough to ask me to leave him alone. If this had been anyone else, you'd have let them deal with me on their own. Like Sakura."

"I…" Sasuke started but trailed off. He really had nothing to say to that.

"I don't know how he did it, but Naruto broke through your defense at the speed of light without even trying," Itachi continued. "And I think you should cherish his friendship. God knows you need someone, a friend, to rely on other than your precious older brother and that hot tempered childhood friend of yours."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Itachi chuckled and turned around to go back upstairs, patting his shoulder gently on the way and leaving Sasuke to his thoughts.

Well, Sasuke hadn't really put up much of a fight against Naruto because he had proven to be a genuine, honest person. And he liked Naruto, even if he made him act a little uncharacteristic more often than not. But that was to be expected, since Sasuke let his guard down around him and was no longer afraid Naruto would betray him and Emi. He also found that he didn't care all that much about how easily Naruto had wormed his way into his and Emi's lives so effortlessly. It actually made him a little happy since – as Itachi had pointed out – he didn't have many people he trusted and he could use someone to actually talk to.

"How's the job?"

Naruto looked up from the screen on which he had watched Kiba and Choji play Mario Kart and at Shikamaru who hadn't raised his gaze from his phone. He glanced down at his two playing friends on the floor in front of the couch he and Shikamaru were sitting on, but they were too immersed in their game, so he concluded the question was aimed at him.

"Well," he started slowly. "It's nice. The girl's really cute and her father's okay too, although he was a prick the first day."

Shikamaru glanced up at him but was interrupted by Kiba who apparently had been listening in on their conversation after all.

"You know, you never really told us who you're working for," he said. "The way Ino spoke about him, you'd think he and his family hung the moon and stars and molded the entire freaking universe."

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. He knew Sasuke and his family were rich and quite well known from what Sakura had told him and what he'd seen himself, but he hadn't really bothered to look into it. Neither had he really had the time, as he was at their house most the time and only went home to sleep, otherwise occupied by classes and taking care of Emi. Sasuke hadn't mentioned anything about his work other than he had a lot of meetings and people to please and Naruto hadn't really felt like asking too much as it seemed to tire him out. Sasuke's own home should be a work related free zone at least.

"I don't know," he answered with a shrug. "I haven't really asked him about his work."

Kiba paused the game and tilted his head back to look at him. It caught the attention of Choji as well, and even Shikamaru's interest was piqued.

"What's his name, then?" Kiba asked.

"Sasuke," Naruto answered simply, not sure he should mention his last name judging by how people had reacted on the street when they saw him.

Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru exchanged thoughtful frowns of their own as they seemed to come to some mutual conclusion and Naruto raised his eyebrows at them questioningly.

"It wouldn't be… Sasuke Uchiha?" Choji asked slowly as Kiba and Shikamaru watched Naruto, one with thinly veiled anticipation and the other with moderate interest.

"Uh…" Naruto glanced between them, still quite confused. "Yes? How'd you know?"

There was a beat of astonished silence, his friends looking at him with stunned expressions, and Naruto started feeling like he was missing something very big.

"Dude!" Kiba suddenly yelled, getting onto his knees and facing him. "Dude, way to go!"

"What?" Naruto blinked, feeling exceptionally dumb.

"You do know who that is, don't you?!" Kiba said excitedly, slamming his fist onto the cushion next to him. "It's Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Yeah, thank you captain obvious," Naruto said, irritated. "I work for him, so I know his name pretty well."

The other three still watched him like he was an alien.

"I knew you were clueless, Naruto, but this is just insane," Kiba mused.

He scowled at him but was interrupted by Shikamaru as he sighed and put his phone down.

"Take your phone out, Naruto," he said.

Naruto did as he was told, bringing out his phone from his pocket hesitantly.

"Okay…?" He held it out to Shikamaru, looking at him questioningly. "What about it?"

Shikamaru reached out and turned it over so that the back was upside and pointed to a small red and white circle with a silvery 'U' in the middle of it.

U?

"Wait…" Naruto looked back up at his friends with wide eyes. "Are you tying to tell me this is his company?"

"Yeah," Choji said, bringing out his own phone and showing the logo on the back. Kiba eagerly did the same and Shikamaru waved with his as well. "Not just phones either. Computers, TVs, MP3s, practically anything electronic and even cars have something to do with the Uchiha family."

"Wow," Naruto mumbled, staring down at his phone unseeingly.

Sasuke was someone a lot more unattainable than he previously had thought. Not that Naruto thought he could attain anything with him in the first place, but it still made him feel extremely self-conscious all of a sudden. He really needed to work on that crush-thing, didn't he? Otherwise things would start getting out of hand.

"You did good, dude," Kiba laughed, slapping his leg and bringing him out of his musings.

Naruto had to bite his lip in order not to smile as he was reminded of Sasuke's very helpful correction from earlier and refrain from correcting Kiba. Then he remembered; crush-thing. Right. He quickly wiped the smile off his face.

"Maybe he has some hot, single cousin you can hook up with! Or hook me up with!" Kiba continued excitedly and Shikamaru rolled his eyes at him.

"As if," Naruto said and shoved his friend with his foot, smirking a little while Choji chortled. "They'd be way out of your league."

Kiba gave him an indignant grimace and turned back to the game with a huff.

"Just don't hook up with the father," he commented wisely as he unpaused the game again, earning a dirty look from Choji as he got a head start. "Wouldn't that be awkward, right?"

Naruto forced a laugh at that but couldn't help his cheeks warming up. Thankfully, the only one paying enough attention to notice it was Shikamaru and he either didn't see it or was just kind enough to leave Naruto alone.

This could potentially get very tricky.

Sorry about the wait! But I hope you like the chapter either way :) Although it's not properly proofread and I can't be bothered at the moment since it's really late, so sorry for that too, haha.

Anyway, I hope you liked it! And your comments really make me happy, you're all so nice :D

Bye, bye!