A couple of hours later, after a great deal of cuddling and another round of tender lovemaking, Naruto found his way to Sasuki's preferred bathroom. Finding winced in worry finding it empty. The bedroom being empty as well only furthered his dread and fear, leading him to search all her usual favorite spots in the new estate. A quick look through the windows showed that she wasn't outside training, and with the kitchen empty, that left only one more plausible option.

The library wasn't a place he spent much time, for obvious reasons, but he had to admit it was impressive. The shelves and tables were a nice polished wood; a beautiful owl-shaped window on each wall allowed ample daylight in, to say nothing of the books themselves.

There had to be at least a couple hundred, and books weren't fucking cheap.

One was in the hands of his raven though, still being stared intently at by her too, even as he entered the room and clearly passed her line of sight. She was wearing the dress. That stark black thing with the blood-red flowers highlighting her in family colors, the only one she owned to his knowledge despite the great increase in wealth. Her long ebony locks were freshly washed, brushed, and beautiful as well.

Not that any of this put him at ease. Aggressively staring at her book as he took a seat across from her told him all he needed about her current mood. The young man sighed before he spoke.

"Hey Sasuki, sorry I didn't catch you in the bath,"

"Oh you're sorry for ignoring me the better part of three hours?" she bit back, still not looking up.

"Yeah, well, Chocho, my wife, was really rattled and sad after breakfast. I felt like I needed to comfort her a bit," he defended, sighing at the way she tensed yet further, squeezing the leather-bound tomb in her hands with ferocious force. "We're going to be on the road together soon anyway, just the three of us,"

"Five," she corrected tersely, finally raising her black orbs to stare at him.

"What ar- oh right, Hinata too," he mumbled, glad for the solitude they enjoyed. "Still though, Sasuki, can't you have some sympathy for the poor girl? She was about in tears when I talked to her, just a wreck of insecurity; she always is around you,"

"She should be!" Sasuki bit with sudden ferocity. "She should know that I matter more than her, both in the general sense and in this very specific sense. You barely know that damned cow compared to me; you only married her with my permission!"

"Sasuki, don't insult Chocho. That hurts me to hear, and especially don't mention her weight; that's a big thing with her," he insisted. "We both agreed this would be best for our interests, and you didn't mention anything about how you were going to be insulting or lording over her when you gave your permission,"

"IT SHOULD GO WITHOUT SAYING!" she roared, furious beyond words at the way her idiot kept arguing with her. That he'd done anything but apologize after disobeying and slighting her by leaving her waiting for two hours in a damp bathrobe! Did he not think for a second how she felt?! "I am the goddamn Uchiha princess, the future queen of this land and ten times the woman she is besides all that! You should be honored to have time with me let alone chance to touch me!"

"I am honored that you let me touch you," he began delicately, trying to bring his fuming love down. "But I don't ask you for a lot Sasuki, and asking you to be nice for what brief time your with Chocho really doesn't feel like much of a request to me," he pressed, frustration growing as her eyes only hardened further. "Look, Sasuki, I'm not going to tolerate you being like this, and I'm definitely not going to tolerate you antagonizing or insulting someone I love,"

"Tolerate," she spat with a haughty laugh. "What possible authority do you have to tell me what to do? You honestly think that you can exert any control over me you peasant?"

Naruto took a deep breath at her latest words, frustration mounting, so much so that he actually played the only card in his hand. It was as she said; he had little control over her, but not none. He bore his eyes into hers as he spoke.

"Sasuki I love you, and I want you to be happy," he began, earning a minuscule softening of her fiery face. "Still, I love you a whole lot less when you act like you're the only person in the world who matters, and if you keep acting like this around me, I am just going to leave,"

The threat gave her pause, even made her stammer her next words a little, even as they remained so heated.

"Leave? Really?"

"I'm not going to follow you around if it's making me miserable; you aint queen yet," he quipped, immediately regretting it as she sucked in her breath to scream.

"FUCK YOU! I am your future monarch, you have obligation to follow me by law! I will not be turned away like some court mistress and I will not be told how I may speak to someone I have every right to despise!"

"Okay. Alright, I think I'm going to take Chocho back to the manor in town, we'll stay there for the time being. You can come pick me up on the way out of town if you still want me to come along," he said in a tone of utter defeat. Feeling like a wretch for making her so mad, feeling like a failure for being unable to calm her down like normal, feeling so utterly worthless. On top of that, he was angry, of course, both at Sasuki and at Sakura for enabling this attitude on their long trip together.

He assumed that was a factor.

At least she said nothing else as he turned to go and collect his things; an overnight bag didn't take any time to pack, and Chocho was more than enthusiastic about the idea. Both relieved and flattered by his remarks that he thought it was the best way to keep Sasuki from antagonizing. That is, she seemed touched that he was going away with her, not just sending her off.

The only thing that was any effort to carry at all was the two small boxes of jelly donuts.

Just a little something he wanted to drop off to some friends on the way in. That's the way he worded it to his wife at least, and best he could tell, she bought it. Tsunade was supposedly an old woman who helped raise him back at the mine; Chocho didn't think anything about that, but Temari was a little more uncertain in his mind. True she was married, but he saw her a lot and he was bringing her gifts, though the excuse that she was thin as a twig seemed to hold for the day.

Chocho was dropped off, the vehicle was sent home, and he was off to visit his beautiful blonde lovers.

Perhaps for the last time in a long while.

Temari seemed to have some idea that it was a special visit; she'd worn the sexiest ruby-red dress he'd seen on her yet, a stark color that matched her lips and her eyes. Moreover, she'd done some damn sexy things with the goodies he brought. Tearing some open to spread messy red jelly over her naked body and insisting he lick it off. That was a lot of fun.

Though it paled in comparison to when she slathered some on his cock and cleaned him while moaning like a fucking engine!

Naruto could almost smile as he strolled out of her cramped little office, over an hour later. Sasuki still lingered in the back of his mind, but he left her there. After all, there were plenty of extraordinary, gorgeous women that he could spend his time with if she wanted to be stubborn. For fucks sake, Tsunade wound up being his fourth woman of the day!

They ended up having a little brunch together, washing down the donuts with fresh, creamy milk that made them all the more delicious. Then they worked off the sugar, as Tsunade put it. An enthusiastic, frenzied romp that did a lot more to lift his spirits; something about that woman's shameless giddiness was just so wonderfully infectious.

Naruto had a real skip in his step as he made his way back to the main manor of the humble village. The large stone home built beside the mine where his mother-in-law and unborn child lived, where nobody would be harping on him or making demands like he was a slave. It would be nice to spend a day with his family.

Whatever tomorrow brought, the rest of his day looked to be extremely pleasant.

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