The SEAL'S Kiss

Celestia193's Author's Note: Alright, and here, we grant another of the requests, the beach/bikini chapter. Or, as I like to call it, the couples' chapter. Yes, couples plural, as in more than one. Which means that there's going to be a healthy dose of Itachi x Neji. And…Itachi has a VERY bad hair day.

Silver's Author's Note: There is also a rather long scene with Neji and Itachi. For those of our readers who don't particularly care for reading about the yaoi scenes too much, I've put up warnings before and afterwards. For those who are Itachi x Neji shippers, those warnings will let you know when the fun begins. Oh and there is also quite a bit of Hinata x Sasuke development in this chapter as well. Happy reading!

Chapter 13

Two weeks later, Itachi was released from the hospital. While his brother was trying to insist that the man should take it easy, Itachi wouldn't listen. Besides, he was fairly certain that a certain lavender eyed man wanted to go to the beach and well, he would do anything to make Neji happy. Even going going out in public like this.

Which played into their plans perfectly. It was time to give Sasuke and Hinata a helpful little push. "Mikoto, did you remember to pack extra sunscreen?" And a marvelous invention known as a bikini would likely do the trick. "I know how easily our families burn up." Besides, it would give Hinata an excuse to get Sasuke's hands on her. Applying sunscreen could be surprisingly sensual when done right.

"Of course." Mikoto reaches into her bag for five whole tubes of it. "Never underestimate an Uchiha when it comes to being prepared for the beach." Luckily for them, this far south, beach weather started early in the year. Which meant that spring was the perfect time to be out and about and playing in the sand.

Though it seemed that her eldest was going to need less of it than usual, considering the hat he insisted on wearing. But that wouldn't stop her, no! Mikoto would make sure that the prospective couples would be firmly together by the time summer came around. "It seems to me that Itachi will be the stubborn one today." And it would be a miracle if he forgave Sasuke for his latest 'stunt'. Or maybe revenge would be a better way to put it.

Emiko giggles at that. "Oh don't be too hard on him." The boy had just gone through a horrible ordeal after all. "I imagine that Neji and Itachi will get together on their own." It was Hinata and Sasuke who were too shy to stop dancing around each other.

Mikoto shoots her friend an exasperated look. "Yes, but I'd like grand-babies sometime within the next five years, thank you very much." Honestly, she wanted to be a YOUNG grandmother, not an old one with no energy for keeping up with her grandchildren. "And besides, Itachi is being ridiculous. His wounds have healed, and I know that he doesn't care much about scars. But he still insists on wearing that hat!" Honestly, Sakura's work wasn't THAT bad. Itachi was still one of her beautiful babies. If Sasuke could handle it, his older brother really shouldn't be fussing so much.

"Patience, my friend." She smiles at Mikoto and pats her on the shoulder. "I'm sure that we'll have our grand-babies soon."

Right. Yes. They were doing this for the grand-babies, nothing mattered but their children's happiness…and grand-babies. Itachi's issues could wait. For now… Mikoto flips one of the tubes of sunscreen over in her hand, waving over to her son. "Sasuke, Sweetheart, aren't you forgetting something!?" It was time to put the plan into motion.

From over near the private changing rooms, on this private stretch of beach, Sasuke raises an eyebrow at his mother. Sunscreen? Well, it's not like he never used it. You got a lot of sun, working on a navy ship, and that did not agree with his pale skin.

So he approaches the two women warily, not trusting the gleam in their eyes. Something was definitely up, and not knowing what freaked him out. Why? Because one was the First Lady, and the other used to work for the CIA. Bad combination. "Really? Handing out sunscreen like party favors, now?"

Emiko giggles at that. "Well it's a good idea." She smiles at Sasuke sweetly. "Everyone here looks like they would burn pretty easily."

Well, that was true. Pale skin was something that ran in both their families. A curse, really, if you wanted to go out and play in the sun. "Alright." He holds up a hand as he catches the tub tossed to him by his mother. "I'll make sure to get Hinata, then."

"Good." Mikoto nods approvingly. "Oh, and here's one for Itachi and Neji." She tosses him a second tube. It was probably cruel to make Sasuke deliver it, but honestly, her boys looked so cute when they sulked like wet cats.

"Fine." Not on Sasuke's original list of things to do today, but he supposed that stopping his brother from burning in the sun was the least he could do if his brother insisted on not lying around and taking it easy.

"Such a sweet boy." The First Lady smiles as she heads off with Mikoto to watch their plotting, hopefully, pay off.

First on Sasuke's new to-do list was delivering the sunscreen to his brother. He knew the pain of sunburns well, and wouldn't wish that even on his annoying older brother. "Itachi!" Predictably, his brother was with Neji. And Sasuke was more than a little smug, on the inside, at seeing the wide-rimmed hat on his brother's head. "Mom told me to bring you this." He holds out the tube of sunscreen as a gesture of peace.

Itachi calmly reaches for the offered item. "Thank you." He couldn't believe that Sakura had actually done this to his hair, but he would get the brats back when they least suspected it. It wouldn't do to overplay his hand too soon.

Sasuke's eyebrow rises at his brother. "You know, you should take the hat off. It looks ridiculous." He knew perfectly well why his brother was wearing a hat, and it amused him to no end.

"I'd look more ridiculous without it." That was the only acknowledgment he would give to his little brother's baiting.

Neji sighs, shaking his head. "Itachi, it's not so bad. But honestly, the hat truly is atrocious." He could see and understand why Itachi was fuming, but at least now it would grow back out evenly. "It's rather…fuzzy. And there's nothing to be ashamed of." Even if it was…quite an adjustment to see Itachi without his long, raven black locks, it wouldn't be that way for long. The Uchiha seemed to be gifted with almost monstrous hair growth, if their great uncle was anything to judge by.

He tries his best not to look at Neji incredulously. Though it was a difficult task. "I prefer the hat." He'd rather not lash out at his colleague and the object of his affections over something that wasn't his fault. So it was best to stop there, he supposed. Though the fuzzy comment was just another assault to his pride, unintentional as it may have been.

"Itachi, you're such a baby." Sasuke rolls his eyes. "You took a bullet to the head, got a chunk of hair shaved off for surgery, and agreed to let Sakura even it out. What did you expect to happen?" Honestly, he'd lived with short hair for eight years, Itachi could handle it for a few months. "Besides, you're the one who snuck bleached shampoo into my shower because Naruto asked you to."

Itachi rolls his eyes, not even bothering to dignify that with a response. Obviously it was the bullet that he had recovered from faster. But Sasuke…his little brother would pay for this. He should have gotten over that incident years ago, but this was a bridge too far.

Sasuke holds up his hands. "Hey, like you said, there were no unnatural colors involved, that's all that was agreed to. So stop being so pissed off about it."

Oh boy, Neji could see that this was already way out of hand, and Sasuke was just goading Itachi at this point, even if the younger brother had made a few good points. "Itachi…it's fine. It's better than if you'd just left it with a whole patch missing." He motions for Sasuke to go, and with a simple eye-roll, Sasuke shakes his head and takes off back towards the changing rooms.

Itachi was trying his best to regain what little remained of his dignity, but Neji was making it difficult. "I believe it would be best to discuss another topic." Why the other Congressman had taken Sasuke's side on this matter, he didn't know. Maybe, he was attempting to make Itachi feel better about this situation in some strange way though.

"I'm simply being practical and as objective as possible!" Neji throws up his hands in his own defense. "But alright, I'll let you sulk like a wet cat in silence." Honestly, the man could be rather silly at times. Neji was twice the diva that Itachi was, but the Uchiha still had his moments.

Warning Itachi x Neji Confession Scene

"Neji, I love you, but I do not sulk like a wet cat." Itachi sighs in exasperation. "As for being practical and objective, I've had quite enough of that! That's the reason why I've had to deal with far more sexual frustration since I met you than I had to endure in high school and university COMBINED!" Good Lord, he was perfectly entitled to be upset about looking ridiculous!

Neji blinks at the words coming from his love's mouth. Love, not lover, as…could you even say that they'd gotten to first base? But…no way, he must have heard wrong. There's no way that something like THAT would come out of the mouth of the perfectly composed, usually, Itachi Uchiha. "Come again?"

"I said that I'm tired of being practical!" Itachi hadn't even realized what he said. "You don't have to pretend that this style is somehow remotely attractive just to keep me from castrating my brother."

Neji's expression falls to frustration as Itachi unknowingly backtracks on his words, and he shakes his head. "Really, it's not so bad, Itachi. Whatever your hair may look like, you're still plenty attractive. That hat, on the other hand…" He glares at the red, purple, and black monstrosity borrowed from Itachi's mother. "Looks far more ridiculous than short hair ever could."

In any case, Itachi was both fixated and distracted, and nothing was going to get him to calm down now. Well, except maybe… "Come on, lie down and take off the hat. If you'd rather not burn the color of a ripe tomato, you'll need some help." Maybe a massage might help somewhat. It would be a tragedy to let such beautiful skin burn. That, and maybe it would unlock the steel vault that was Itachi's mouth when he wanted to keep a secret. Because that blurted 'confession' sure sounded like a secret.

"That's a good idea." Though there was absolutely no way he was taking off the hat. "The hat stays." He gives Neji a pointed look as he lays down on his stomach.

"Honestly…" Neji sighs as he squirts lotion into his hands, rubbing it between his fingers to warm it a little, before pressing his hands to Itachi's back. His love liked to make mountains from molehills, and then hide them until no one realized that they'd popped out of nowhere.

Love, not lover, so far they'd just…well, they'd gotten in some rather inappropriate dancing, and compliments were in no short supply. But past that…well, there had been frustratingly little progress between him and the senator. Hell, he was fairly certain that even Sasuke and Hinata were closer than he and Itachi, and they'd known each other for YEARS. "You're so stubborn, it's infuriating." And somehow…Itachi had blurted out precisely what Neji had wanted to hear? It might have been a delusion, he wasn't sure. The heat could do funny things to people.

Itachi snorts in amusement. "You say that as though you aren't just as stubborn." He saw no reason to humiliate himself with this horrendous haircut, and have it splashed all over the Internet. Which is exactly what would happen if he took that hat off.

"In most things, perhaps that's true, but not everything." Neji's fingers press deep into Itachi's muscles, working on ridding his love of some of the kinks and knots from all that stress and bed rest. From shoulders and neck, all the way down his back, Neji worked. "After all, you Uchiha are rather famous for being stubborn as mules. I assume that you got that from your father?"

"Actually, my mother is far more stubborn than my father." Itachi sighs softly in pleasure at the attention. "She's just better at hiding it, but he's also rather stubborn himself. So that's accurate enough." That felt nice. Though he did hope no one was paying them much mind. He'd rather not subject Neji to the press.

"I see. Then do you consider yourself to be more stubborn or oblivious?" Neji knew that it was a dangerous question to ask, but honestly, he was getting a little exasperated with his partner-in-crime, his other half, his…ugh!

He considers the question. "Stubborn, I suppose." Itachi glances back at him. "Are you alright? You look as though you want to scream?"

Oh yes, Neji definitely wanted to scream sometimes, but that would be undignified, and it would hurt both their ears. "I'm fine." Poker face. Poker face. Poker face. "I just wonder why you let me do things like dirty dance with you in a club, and yet, as soon as there's a chance that someone could see us out in the open, you act like a marble statue." Even HE wasn't so good at controlling his emotions as Itachi was. "It's very…impressive."

Impressive, but highly irksome. "Well, until your brother goads you so much that you shout at me in the middle of the beach that you love me, and that you've been harboring more sexual frustration since meeting me, than you did during all of high school and university COMBINED." He glares at Itachi pointedly, throwing his own words back in his face.

Itachi gulps, finally realizing what he had said. "Well, I thought I was protecting you. The press would hound you without mercy, if we were to enter an official relationship and I wasn't entirely sure that you viewed me that way." Sometimes the other man would act like his best friend, and other times he could swear Neji was asking for Itachi to ravish him (or maybe the other way around, Itachi was flexible).

"You say that as though we aren't already barraged by reporters about our personal lives." It was just part of being a politician. Neji presses his fingers hard into Itachi's back, working out some of his own frustration, as well as the knots from Itachi's muscles. "Though considering the nature of our current 'relationship', and the fact that we've done…essentially nothing worthy of even a mention in the tabloids, I find it hard to believe that continuing this situation where you hold me at arms length will arouse their interest at all. And THAT is what makes me feel like screaming." Frustration.

"I suppose that Sasuke isn't the only one who is foolish in our family." Itachi slowly sits up and turns around, pulling Neji into his arms. "Forgive me?" He brushes his lips against the other man's.

Neji pouts, but returns the chaste kiss. "Maybe. But only if you stop being an oblivious idiot, and leave all the diva behavior to me. Honestly, it really doesn't suit you." He pulls the giant, wide-brimmed hat from Itachi's head, using it as a makeshift wall between them and any nosy members of their family. The next kiss…not so chaste.

He would have protested the loss of the hat, if he hadn't gotten lost in that kiss. Itachi would yell about the hat later, for now...he'd rather focus on this. This pure bliss that Neji's kiss brought him.

And, well, since Neji was already mostly in Itachi's lap, he simply climbs the rest of the way in, tossing one arm around Itachi's neck as his knees slide around the slightly taller man's hips. He'd waited way too long for Itachi to kiss him like this, and well…he'd never been a big wrestling fan, but that's about what his tongue wanted right about now.

Itachi returns the kiss happily. "We should have done this a long time ago." Somehow the words flow between the heated kisses.

Neji pants from the intensity of the kisses, his other arm curling around Itachi's neck, not really caring now about decorum. "I blame you for missing the hints." He'd given Itachi plenty of them. Hundreds, in fact. But perhaps Neji's inborn knowledge of the art of subtlety, which he did not employ often, or to a great extent, had backfired on him in this case. "I suppose that the first hint should have just been two words, instead of several dozen. Or maybe just three."

"Well allow me to make it up to you." Itachi smiles and caresses his cheek. "For missing your hints."

"You'd better." Neji surges forward to kiss him again. "Or next time, it will be a demand, instead of a hint."

Itachi kisses back. "Perhaps that doesn't sound bad." It all depended on the demands.

"Good." Neji was going to need a cold shower later. "Because by this time, next week, I want you intimately familiar with my bedroom."

"I like the sound of that." Itachi smirks.

End of Itachi x Neji Confession Scene

Over by the changing rooms, as Hinata emerged from within, dressed…well, barely dressed, but covered by a rather fetching lavender jacket, Sasuke was thinking about the same as his brother. Cold shower, he was definitely going to need one, and only just depending on what Hinata was wearing under that jacket. He stares a little dumbly at the sight of…VERY long legs. "I…have the sunscreen."

Hinata smiles at him, seemingly oblivious to his growing problem. "That's good. I tend to burn pretty easily." Thank goodness for her jacket though. She wasn't exactly sure she was ready to prance around in her bikini just yet.

"I can imagine." And imagine he certainly was, his fingers already clenching around the tube of lotion. Why oh why was she testing him like this? "There's a blanket, if you'd prefer to lie down." Of course, he could get it on her standing up, but that might be a little too…well, it would get him going more than was safe.

"A blanket is good." She smiles at him as she slowly slides out of her jacket and onto the blanket.

Tiny, absolutely tiny. The lavender bikini covered barely anything but the most important parts. And Sasuke's brain was doing its best not to short-circuit at the sight of all of that creamy skin laid almost bare before him. "…Good." Right, lotion, he needed to put that on her.

Shaking himself out of the trance he'd nearly put himself into, Sasuke squeezes some of the lotion into his palms, rubbing his hands together before pressing his fingers to Hinata's soft skin. "That's a very flattering swimsuit." To say the least.

"I'm glad you like it." She smiles at him as she relaxes on the blanket. "My mother got it for me awhile ago, but I've been so busy with work and everything that I haven't had a chance to wear it before."

"Right…" Sasuke's eyes drift across her skin, appreciating the sight of her curves as his hands glide across her back, smoothing the lotion on and rubbing it into her skin. "I…probably like it a lot more than I should, to be honest."

She sighs contentedly at the massage of sorts. "Well then I'll be sure to wear it more often." If she had known all that was required to get his attention was a bikini, she would have drug him off to the beach sooner.

"Please don't." Sasuke didn't know if he could handle that sort of 'attack'. "At least…not in front of our families." Thank heavens he'd worn loose shorts. He didn't think that he'd be able to stay discreet otherwise. A cold shower was very much on the to-do list today. "They still don't know about us yet, and I'd rather not have to explain myself to them."

"And yet you're putting sunscreen on me?" That seemed counterproductive. "You don't think they're going to ask about that?" She shakes her head. "Nevermind. You're right though. We p-probably shouldn't say anything until after everything has settled down, anyway."

"Being your bodyguard probably includes guarding you from the harsh rays of the sun." That much, Sasuke found reasonable. "So it's not the sunscreen that's the problem. Besides, my mother gave me an entire tube, and people are doubling up, so it only makes sense. As for saying something about it all…" Well, his family was going to find out one way or another. "We'll just let them find out whenever it feels right."

Speaking of feeling right, that felt really good. "Alright. I kinda wish she had given you more than one tube though." She shivers at the feeling of his hands on her.

Sasuke chuckles, moving down from her back to her legs, knowing how much she liked being massaged there. "I'm sure that one tube will be more than enough."

"Not really." She liked swimming, but Hinata liked his touch more. "Feels good." If she was actually a cat, she'd probably be purring right about now.

Now THAT makes him smirk. "Oh really?" His fingers venture to the insides of her thighs, continuing the increasingly sensual massage, while still spreading the lotion thoroughly. "How good?"

She shivers at the seductive touches. "Good enough that I really wish we were alone right now." It might have sounded wanton, but it was true.

Yeah…Sasuke was going to need to drown himself in a bucket of ice water later. He was torturing himself with these questions, these advances. "Me too." And despite his better judgment, he leans down to kiss the back of her neck softly, disguising it as just leaning down to get the tube of sunscreen. "But that'll have to wait until after our families decide not to stalk us everywhere." Well, and until it was a little safer.

"Mmm I feel like I'm in high school again." She giggles at the thought. "Sneaking around behind my parents' back."

"Good times, huh?" Sasuke chuckles at the thought of Hinata sneaking around at all. It was hard to imagine someone so like a princess sneaking around and doing naughty things. "Turn over and I'll do the rest of you."

Hinata blushes and turns around. "Mhm. Though not nearly as good as now." Kiba had been sweet, but he just couldn't compete with Sasuke in this area when he was in high school. Then again, that was only to be expected. The clumsy touches of a high school boy couldn't compare to a grown man's.

"I see…" Sasuke felt an irrational prickle of jealousy. "Well I would hope that I'm better than whoever was with you then." His hands move over her possessively, rubbing a thin coating of lotion into her skin as his eyes not so secretly examine her. She was… "Beautiful…"

"Much better." She discretely kisses him and smiles. "In so many ways." It pleased her to see that jealous look on his face. Though she was suddenly glad that he didn't know who Kiba was because Sasuke was a Navy SEAL and Kiba was not. "And I'm glad you think so." He wouldn't stand a chance.

…Okay, Sasuke knew that he should really be on the lookout right now, but Hinata was slowly making him lose his mind. Maybe it was time to throw a little caution to the wind. At least when surrounded by other people who, as Sasuke had reluctantly admitted over the last couple of weeks, could pick up the slack. He was not a one-man army, no matter how much he tried to be.

So, a smirk on his face, and his hands traveling slowly upwards, Sasuke leans down to press a hard kiss to Hinata's chest, right between her breasts, leaving a very visible mark there, before letting his fingers travel to the spot. He was satisfied to see that the red mark stayed beneath the lotion. "And THAT makes you even more beautiful."

Hinata squeaks and blushes. "So much for keeping it a secret." If anyone saw that mark, they were going to ask.

"Well…" Sasuke glances over in the direction of his brother and her cousin, finding them locked in a rather heated make-out session. And their mother's attention was quite focused on the two men too wrapped up in each other to care that the hat wasn't doing anything to hide them anymore. "I think they're a little preoccupied right now."

"Maybe, you have a point." Hinata blinks as her gaze follows Sasuke's. "Well I guess that's what happens, when you try to fight your attraction for too long."

"Yeah…" Sasuke tilts his head, considering their position. "I think Neji jumped him." Itachi was way too self-conscious right now to really want to jump Neji, but it looked like the Hyuga didn't care about that. "That's…going to be interesting…I wonder who wears the pants?"

She swats him playfully. "You're horribly stereotypical." Though there was no real chastising to it.

Sasuke chuckles, catching her wrist and pinning it to the blanket as he hovers over her. "Is it stereotypical to say that Itachi fusses over his hair and clothes like a gay man?" Because Sasuke was pretty sure that was damn accurate.

"Very stereotypical." Hinata laughs softly at that. "Though in their case, it really is accurate."

See, he was right! "Well, I give it three months before Itachi stops complaining, and I give it a week before either Neji starts using Sai to disappear, or the White House starts getting rather loud." Yes, Sasuke thought that those estimations were accurate. "Itachi is not as patient as he pretends he is." And from the looks of it, Neji was offering no sort of resistance whatsoever.

She shakes her head. "And how long do you think it will be before we also make the White House louder than normal?" Her eyes dance with mischief at her question.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow as he lies on his side beside her. "Well, I'd like to think that I'm at least half as much a romantic as my brother, so maybe after a dozen or so dates. Unless you have the sudden urge to confess that you're secretly a nympho."

"Well I wouldn't say that I'm a nympho, but around you I might have slight nympho tendencies." She really was going to have to pace herself though. "Maybe." It was hard though. She had a gorgeous SEAL for a boyfriend and well...he was really good with his hands.

"Duly noted." Well, that was good to know. REALLY good to know. And it made Sasuke feel all tingly…in just the wrong place. "Then I will enter that into my considerations when I'm taking a cold shower tonight." He wraps an arm around her, pulling her onto her side underneath the large beach umbrella placed over their blanket. "Glacial cold."

She blushes at that and smiles. "Keep talking like that and I'll suspect that you're just trying to butter me up." Though Hinata certainly didn't mind.

"Oh, trust me, when I'm buttering you up…" Sasuke leans over to nip at her ear. "You'll know about it. And who knows…maybe I'll butter you up in many ways." He smirks as his teeth close around the soft lobe, teasing it with his tongue.

"G-Good to know." She shivers and her blush only grows, spreading from her cheeks all the way to her breasts.

What a lovely color. Sasuke had long since grown used to the color pink, but seeing it now on Hinata was…very alluring. "You're so innocent…" His fingers trail up and down her sides, finding the perfect places to squeeze. "You make it so hard not to scandalize our families right here."

"S-Somehow I doubt that's the only thing that's hard." She blushes more. Sasuke had never really been this bold with her before, but she liked it.

"And you're right." Sasuke didn't usually let himself be led around by his dick, but right now, most of him really didn't care. "But I'll leave it to tomorrow for me to be appalled at my own behavior. After I take my Arctic dip."

Her face was likely going to be stained a permanent shade of red. "Wish there was a female equivalent right about now." Something like a cold shower that she could use to wash away some thoughts that she shouldn't be having with their parents so close by.

Now THAT, Sasuke just couldn't bring himself to resist. "Oh really?" He smirks, pulling her flush against him. "Let's see just how many shades of red you can turn." He kisses her, just as he'd done many times over the past few weeks, the kiss growing hotter by the second.

"S-Sasuke!" She squeaks and was probably on shade number four or five at this point. "W-We're going to get caught." Hinata's words were half swallowed up by the passionate kisses.

"Fine…fine…" Sasuke rolls his eyes, laying his head back down against his arm. "But you like it, don't bother denying it."

She blushes more. Make that seven or eight, most likely. "Well yes. I can't deny that." That or at least six.

Sasuke smirks. Today was a good day.

Sitting beneath in the shade of another beach umbrella, Fugaku holds a book in his hands, barely paying attention to it at all as he holds back a smirk at the sight of his sons…enjoying themselves. "It seems that this little field-trip was just the push that Itachi and Neji needed." Though Sasuke looked far too comfortable for this to be a new development. "And it would seem that Sasuke and Hinata are coming out of their own closet. I had a feeling that something was going on these past few weeks."

"Well I suppose that if nothing else, swimsuits and trunks tend to be rather motivating." Hiashi shakes his head. "It's about time. Perhaps now, our wives will be less frantic about grandchildren."

"Yes, provided that Itachi doesn't attempt to castrate his brother." Fugaku could already see the war breaking out once again within his own family. And he was determined to stay the hell out of it. "I am not looking forward to seeing a repeat of Sasuke's teenage years."

Hiashi shakes his head. "Well Sasuke did ask for it. I'm well aware of how much time goes into caring for hair like that." He almost pitied the SEAL. Almost.

Fugaku snorts. "It will be 'normal' again soon enough." Honestly, it was difficult to understand his son's views on it at times. "Although, until the last few years, Itachi was never so immensely concerned about it. I think your nephew made him self-conscious."

"I suddenly realize that we are spending far too much time discussing Itachi and Neji's obsessive behavior regarding hair." Hiashi shakes his head in amusement. "Back to Executive Order 69, then?"

"Yes…we'll leave the impending war in my household for later." Though Fugaku knew he'd never hear the end of this from either of his sons. "Neji is clearly enjoying his…not so private time with Itachi, and it seems that Sasuke and Hinata are quite comfortable being intimate. Did you want to encourage them further?" He raises an eyebrow. "I mean, I suppose it depends on how quickly you'd like grandchildren."

He pauses as he considers that, feeling sorry for Fugaku who was soon going to get caught up in the sibling rivalry. "Well I suppose just enough for them to tell their mothers." After that, it looked like nature was going to take its course.

"A small push, then." Fugaku nods. "And then…I give it a week before Neji's bedroom begins to get loud at night." He doubted that his eldest son could hold out longer than that, plotting revenge or not.

"Yes, that sounds reasonable." Hiashi nods in agreement.

"I would advise that you invest in earplugs." Fugaku smirks. "Neither of my sons seem to enjoy having silent lovers." No matter how composed Neji or Hinata might be…well, he was confident that neither Sasuke or Itachi would allow their Hyugas to stay so composed for long.

Hiashi was more than moderately traumatized hearing that. "Um yes. I'll take that into consideration." Dear Lord, the man had absolutely no boundaries!

"Consider that to be a fair warning, from one father to another." After all, Fugaku refused to be accused of foul play when it inevitably came to light that what was keeping the household up at night was none other than their children having their alone time.

"Understood." Well this was awkward. "Anyway, I think he'll be good for her. Sasuke is certainly not someone who will wilt under the public spotlight."

Ah…Hiashi was squirming. Fugaku did so love that part of his job. Making people squirm… "No, Sasuke is not someone who generally caves under pressure." He might internalize guilt, but that was a far cry from giving up. And the circumstances of two weeks ago were after the fact, not in the midst of a crisis. "Although, they should make their relationship known as soon as they are comfortable. I would worry for the safety of anyone who unknowingly, or worse, persistently flirted with her while Sasuke is watching."

Hiashi rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Yes, generally I would say it's a very bad idea to engage in such behaviors with the girlfriend of a Navy SEAL." He could see that ending very, very badly.

"Well, more to the point that Sasuke reacts very badly to anyone trying to take the people he cares about away from him. Generally, he is disciplined enough to refrain from violence, but…" Well, Fugaku could honestly say that the violent reaction to a threat against an Uchiha's lover ran in the family. "His training only makes his naturally possessive disposition more dangerous. If someone were to hurt your daughter, they would be better off dead, seeing as Sasuke would hunt them to the ends of the Earth."

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to reassure me or make me nervous, but I think I need a drink." Hiashi shakes his head.

"And earplugs." Fugaku passes his friend a small glass full of whiskey. "Never forget those."