16. The Unknown Caller and the Talk Show

"I regret everything."

Naruto looked up from his economics book and at Itachi. He had sprawled out on the living room floor, an arm slung over his face.

"I can understand that," he answered and went back to his book, absentmindedly caressing Emi's hair.

She and her friends had crashed from their sugar high little under an hour ago and had clambered up on the couch only to nearly immediately begin nodding off. Sasuke had asked him to keep an eye on them since Itachi clearly was too exhausted to while he and Sakura cleaned the house up.

Fifteen minutes into their nap, Emi's head had found its way onto Naruto's lap and he didn't have the heart to move her. Yuki was piled on top of Kousuke on the other end of the couch and Emi's feet had ended up in Yuki's lap.

"I don't want to be Emi's favorite uncle anymore," Itachi muttered.

Naruto snorted but didn't say anything. Silence fell, only interrupted by the noises coming from the kitchen where Sakura was washing the dishes and the hallway where Sasuke was putting all the shoes, jackets and coats back in order after the impromptu fashion show the kids had put on.

There was a cleaning lady – though Naruto had never met her because he was always at the university by then – who came three times a week. She was supposed to come clean tomorrow but Sasuke didn't want her to deal with the havoc the kids had wreaked. So, cursing Itachi under his breath, he was doing most of the heavy work. Naruto tried not to find it amusing, however he couldn't help the smile making it onto his lips whenever he caught Sasuke pass the living room, glaring at his brother.

Speaking of, Sasuke just passed the living room for the tenth time, a dirty jacket in his hands. And like all the other times, he threw a vicious glare at Itachi, who remained completely oblivious to the contempt aimed at him. Sasuke turned to Naruto and opened his mouth, but the doorbell interrupted him and he sighed.

"Could you open the door?" he asked and held up the jacket. "I'm going to put this in the wash."

He muttered something else underneath his breath that Naruto didn't catch, but it made Itachi chuckle. Naruto closed his book, gently moved Emi's head from his lap and stood.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

Itachi laughed again.

"Nothing," he said. "It's just so like Sasuke to avoid meeting the nannies. I can't blame him though, if they were fangirling over me the same way I'd avoid them like the plague too."

Naruto grimaced to himself. Sasuke had looked a little stressed once the doorbell rang earlier that day when Yuki and Kousuke had arrived. He hadn't said anything though, only told Naruto to use his office for studying and waited for him to go upstairs before opening the door.

Itachi raised his arm to look at him, clearly still amused, and Naruto rolled his eyes at him. He made his way to the door and steeled himself, trying to put on a friendly face. Then he opened it.

On the other side stood two young women about his age, dolled up and… were they pushing their chests out just the slightest? Naruto tried not to burst out laughing, especially when their excited faces fell and turned to disappointed pouts.

"Hello," he greeted them. "I'm guessing you're here for Yuki and Kousuke?"

They nodded, though they weren't paying him any attention. Instead they were peering over his shoulder, deeper into the house.

"We thought Mr. Uchiha was home today," one of them said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"He is," he answered. "But he is busy at the moment."

The other girl looked him over, eyes narrowed and speculative.

"You're that guy in the papers," she stated. "The one no one knows anything about. What exactly is your relationship with the Uchihas?"

Naruto refrained from scowling and opened his mouth to answer but realized he couldn't. Well, he could, but he couldn't tell these girls.

"Oh, you're here," came Sakura's voice from behind him and Naruto thanked all his lucky stars he was saved from answering. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Please wait here, we'll get Yuki and Kousuke for you."

The girls gave her sour looks, but she ignored them, closed the door and pulled Naruto with her back to the living room. He gave her a confused look and she smiled.

"They aren't allowed inside," she explained. "Sasuke doesn't want to risk the safety of Emi. I swear they think I have something going on with him. You should have seen how they treated me when I was Emi's caretaker."

Sakura grinned at him and Naruto chuckled.

They shook the kids awake and, after some coaxing, they groggily followed them to their nannies. Emi insisted on being carried and Naruto couldn't say no to her bleary eyes and sleepy pout so he picked her up. Sakura smiled at him but didn't say anything. Instead she helped Yuki and Kousuke with their shoes before opening the door. The nannies faces were barely concealing their irritation and Sakura turned to roll her eyes at Naruto. He snorted, which earned him a glare from the girls. He gave them an innocent smile.

"Have a nice evening!" he called as they turned to leave. They didn't answer him, not that he expected them to.

"I really don't understand how they got their jobs," Sakura sighed and closed the door. "They're so rude. But at least they know how to keep their mouths shut and not create scandals. Otherwise, they'd never be hired again."

Naruto shrugged with one shoulder, the other supporting Emi's sleeping head. Sakura reached up and stroked her hair gently, a smile spreading on her lips.

"She really loves you, doesn't she?" she said softly.

Warmth blossomed in Naruto's chest and he couldn't help the fond smile spreading on his lips.

"I love her, too," he whispered and hiked her little higher in his arms. "I think I'm going to go put her to bed."

Sakura nodded.

"I'll finish in the kitchen," she said and, after kiss to Emi's cheek, turned to leave.

Naruto stole a quick glance into the living room as he passed and shook his head. Itachi had fallen asleep on the floor, breathing so heavily he was close to snoring. He decided to deal with him later and ascended the stairs.

Emi fussed a little when he brushed her teeth, trying to get all the sugar off, but was compliant enough to put on her pajamas by herself. She fell back asleep as soon as Naruto pulled the cover over her. He kissed her forehead and quietly exited the room, leaving the door open a little. He turned to the stairs just as Sasuke took the last step up.

"Emi's in bed?" he asked.

"Yeah," Naruto murmured.

Sasuke stopped in front of him and reached out to tangle their fingers together.

"Itachi and Sakura will spend the night here," he told him quietly. "I don't trust my brother to drive right now and I don't want to force Sakura to wait for the bus since it doesn't come as often to this part of town."

Naruto nodded.

"Of course," he said. "I'm not carrying Itachi anywhere, though."

It drew a small laugh out of Sasuke. He tugged on Naruto's hand and pulled him back downstairs.

"He's old enough to get himself to bed," he said. "Sakura's going to take your old room and Itachi will get the couch."

Naruto grinned.

"Sounds fair."

They arrived in the living room and Sasuke squeezed his fingers.

"I'm going to go find sheets and pillows," he said. "Could you wake Itachi up? He knows where to find his sleeping clothes."

Naruto nodded and Sasuke shot a scowl at his brother before letting Naruto's hand go. Naruto watched him leave. Then he sighed and turned back to the living room. He approached Itachi slowly, stopping as he rolled over onto his side, before getting closer again.

"Itachi?" Naruto said in a half-whisper. "Wake up."

Itachi didn't move or give any sort of indication he was aware of Naruto's presence. Naruto sighed again and crouched down to shake him a little.

"Itachi," he said a little louder. "Come on, you're not a kid."

A soft snore left Itachi. Naruto considered just kicking him when a phone rang. Itachi's eyes flew open and he bolted into a sitting position.

"I'm late!" he exclaimed and nearly knocked Naruto over as he tried to get up.

Naruto grabbed his arm and made him sit back down again.

"You're not late," he said. "It's nine in the evening."

Itachi rubbed his face and lay back down.

"Oh," he muttered.

Naruto stood up to find the phone but froze when he realized it was Sasuke's. It was lying on the coffee table but he couldn't see who the caller was from where he stood, and he couldn't bring himself to go closer and check.

"Is something wrong?" Itachi asked and Naruto blinked, looking down at him. "Why do you look so terrified?"

"I… um…" Naruto said. "Well… I don't know."

Itachi raised his eyebrows at him. Then he sat up again and reached for the phone.

"It's father," he said and threw Naruto a weird look. "If I didn't know better I'd say you're afraid of my father."

Naruto shook his head.

"It's not that," he said.

"Then?"

Naruto took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"There's been an unknown number calling Sasuke," he explained. "Several times a day. And I have a really bad feeling about it."

Itachi frowned and unlocked the phone to scroll through the call logs.

"Huh," he said. "This certainly is unsettling."

He looked up at Naruto.

"I have a friend who knows a bit about hacking and tracking. He might be able to find out who this person is," he said. "But why hasn't Sasuke said anything?"

Naruto shrugged.

"Maybe he thought it would stop?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes at him. Just then Sasuke entered the living room with sheets, pillows and a blanket in his arms. Itachi turned his piercingly calculative stare to him.

"Well, hello little brother," Itachi said calmly and Sasuke frowned at him, dumping everything in his arms onto the couch. "What is this I hear about an unknown caller?"

Sasuke's face went blank and he glanced at Naruto. He gave a small wrinkle of his nose in apology and Sasuke raised his eyebrows ever so little. Then he sighed and turned his eyes to the ceiling.

"Were you planning on telling me anytime soon?" Itachi asked when Sasuke gave no immediate answer.

Sasuke looked back down at him.

"Of course I was," he muttered. "I was going to tell you if the caller didn't stop after tomorrow. I know you have shifty friends who can find the weirdest things."

Itachi's eyes narrowed even further and Naruto cleared his throat. He felt an argument coming, but with both Itachi and Sasuke as tired as they were, it wouldn't be the best for them to fight right now. It would most likely escalate and could wake Emi up.

"Maybe you should talk more about it tomorrow," he suggested and they both turned their irritated glares to him.

He shrugged but didn't let himself be intimidated. They could be scary when they wanted to. Sasuke's gaze softened and he nodded, turning to Itachi.

"Let's prepare the couch so we can all go to sleep. Unless you want to sleep on the floor?"

Itachi muttered something underneath his breath and Sasuke shot Naruto an exasperated look. Naruto smiled a little and began pulling the couch pillows off. It didn't take the three of them long to make the couch.

Sakura had apparently already gone to bed. Sasuke and Naruto bid Itachi a good night and it wasn't long until they were in bed as well, Naruto rolling into Sasuke's side and Sasuke letting him use his arm as a pillow. He buried his face in the crook of Sasuke's neck, breathing in his scent.

They were quiet for a while, their breathing synchronizing, and Naruto's muscles relaxed one by one.

"Hey Sasuke?" Naruto murmured into his sleeping shirt.

"Mh?"

He wondered if it was a good time to bring up getting another job, especially since there seemed to be a problem with some unknown person, but he decided he might as well. If he didn't do it now, he didn't know when he would.

"You know," he began slowly. "It's a little weird that you pay me when we are in a relationship."

Sasuke stilled for a moment and pulled back to look at him. Naruto could barely make out his features in the dark, but it looked as if he was frowning.

"So I was thinking," Naruto continued before he could say anything. "Maybe I should find a new part time job?"

Sasuke was silent and Naruto began worrying he had offended him somehow.

"What?" he finally said. "You might be right about me paying you, but you can't have another part time job."

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto propped himself up on one arm to look down at him.

"Why not?"

"Because," Sasuke said, "the media would find out and hound you. And you wouldn't have much time over for… for studying either if you had to work after classes and then come back here."

Naruto was almost certain Sasuke had been about to say something other than 'studying' but decided not to bring it up.

"Besides, I have enough money for all of us," Sasuke continued.

"But I can't just live off of you!" Naruto protested. "And I don't want to be paid for looking after Emi."

Sasuke fell silent for a moment, clearly deep in thought.

"How about you pay me back when you finish university and get a job?" he offered.

"I have like two years left of uni!" Naruto exclaimed. "We might not even last that long!"

Sasuke snorted.

"Well, if Emi gets to decide we will," he muttered. "She's been bothering me to marry you."

All air left Naruto, his heart skipped a beat and he froze, staring at Sasuke's silhouette in disbelief. Sasuke didn't seem to realize what he had just said.

"M-marry?" Naruto clarified, just to be sure.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you yet," Sasuke said and Naruto heard his breath catch as if his words had just caught up to him.

Naruto wished he could see his face, because he was quite sure it was red by now. His own face was burning up, though he couldn't help the silly grin spreading on his lips.

"Really, Sasuke," he said, barely able to keep laughter from his voice. "When were you planning on asking me then?"

Sasuke groaned.

"Shut up," he muttered. "I didn't mean to say that."

Laughter bubbled out of Naruto and he flopped down beside Sasuke again. Sasuke smacked the side of his head gently.

"Stop," he said. "It's not funny."

"It's a little funny," Naruto chuckled.

Sasuke sighed and pulled Naruto closer, pressing his face into his hair.

"Anyway," he mumbled into his strands. "Just let me take care of you for now and then when you have a job, you can take care of me and Emi."

Naruto let out a deep breath, but decided not to argue right now. Soon they both drifted off to sleep.

The elevator slowed to a stop and Sasuke watched his distorted reflection in the blank polished doors for a second before they opened. He made his way down the corridor and to the small waiting room outside Itachi's and his offices. Itachi's secretary was out, but his own was currently piling three magazines in a neat little pile on the spotless glass table by the black leather couch where guests and clients were required to wait if they showed up early.

At the sound of his approaching footsteps she looked up and smiled.

"Good morning, sir."

Sasuke nodded at her.

"Good morning," he said.

As he continued on his way to his office, she turned the TV on to a talk show with three women often discussing family life and childcare, lowering the volume until it became just background noise.

"Oh, sir!" she called after him and he stopped, turning back to her.

She hurried to put the remote behind her desk and shuffled some papers.

"I have a message to you from your father," she said.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows for her to continue.

"He wanted me to let you know he and your mother will be picking up Emi and Naruto today for dinner and would like you to join them," she said. "I've already notified the driver at his request."

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment and tried not to groan.

"Thank you," he said and opened his eyes again.

His secretary smiled and he gave a tight one of his own before he once again made his way to his office. As he turned, his eyes caught on the TV and his insides twisted.

There was a picture of Emi on it.

He gasped and his secretary looked up, startled.

"Sir?"

He held up a hand to stop her from talking and listened intently to what this talk show possibly could gain from talking about his daughter.

"–me to our attention that she currently has no female role model," one of the women said. "This might pose great difficulties for her development in later years, especially her teens, as men simply do not know women as well as women do."

Sasuke swallowed hard.

"Apparently, even her caretaker is a man," another of the women said. "One has to wonder what Mr. Uchiha was thinking when he hired him."

The last woman nodded in agreement.

"Yes. All that confusion and excitement about this foreign, unknown person, and he's just a manny," she bemoaned. "You don't think he seduced Mr. Uchiha, do you?"

They all laughed, clearly finding it utterly hilarious, but Sasuke thought he would pass out. He couldn't breathe. His insides were twisting in on themselves and his heart beat painfully fast against his ribs.

"No, obviously Mr. Uchiha is straight," the first woman said. "Emi's proof of that."

Nausea washed over Sasuke and he turned away.

"Please change the channel at once," he ordered his pale-faced secretary, voice trembling.

She nodded and scrambled for the remote, switching to a documentary on whales. Sasuke didn't look back as he hurried into his office. He locked the door behind him, threw his briefcase onto his desk and sank down into his chair, elbows on the desk, and head in his hands.

This was bad. This was so very bad. Even if it wasn't very serious at the moment, things like this could spread like wildfire, the stories would grow wilder and wilder and Naruto would end up being targeted.

Sasuke's entire body grew cold.

And he knew all to well what a relentless, uncaring media could do to a person.

"Fuck!" he growled.

And Emi. Was that really true? Would she need a mother? Sasuke had never thought of it in such a way, but of course he wouldn't be enough. Emi was a girl that would grow into a woman. Sasuke knew nothing of womanhood.

He pulled his laptop from his briefcase and threw it open, drumming his fingers against his desk as he waited for it to wake up. As soon as his desktop came into view he clicked the Internet icon and threw himself into research about parenting and children's psyche. The more articles and statements from well established children's psychiatrists he read, the further his heart sank. Why had he never bothered to look this up before? How could he have done this to Emi? She needed a woman in her life.

His phone rang and startled him out of his thoughts. He brought it out of his pocket to glare at it, having half a mind to chuck it across the room, but the caller ID made him pause.

Unknown.

Yeah, um... so shit's gonna go down soon I guess... Surprise?

Also, I had no energy to edit this, so the chapters a mess. Sorry about that. But I hope you liked it anyway!

See you in the next chapter!