The Agreement

The Agreement

Chapter 14: Whisker Marks

Sasuke woke up feeling strangely pleasant the next morning only to realize that he was spooning Naruto, and he remembered that he’d dragged Naruto onto the bed last night. Sasuke opened a bleary eye and noted that Hinata was no longer in bed with them. He raised his head up groggily and also noted that the cribs were empty. 'Hinata must have gotten up to feed the quads,' Sasuke mused as he laid his head back down against Naruto, falling asleep again.

The next thing Sasuke knew, he was being pushed roughly off the bed.

"W-where am I?" Naruto asked almost panicked as he bolted up right, looking around. He turned around and seemed to freeze at the death glare Sasuke was giving him from having woken him up.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto. Naruto quelled under the Uchiha glare, before muttering an apology. Sasuke almost smirked as he could see Naruto’s thought process upon realizing he had woken up Uchiha Sasuke, something that was never a good experience for anybody. Naruto had once mentioned to Sasuke that it was now well known throughout Konoha that he was not a morning person. He explained how Sai had gone around telling everyone that Sasuke had blown up his entire room in the Sound base because he had been woken up. Sasuke could tell that Naruto thought that waking him up accidentally was a dangerous thing. It would have been too if he’d been anyone other than Naruto.

"Uh, sorry, but why am I on your bed?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"You fell asleep last night before even hitting your own futon. I pulled you up here," Sasuke said as he stretched, allowing his shirt to ride up to show his midriff, and was pleased to see that Naruto was actually watching his actions as he looked at his exposed stomach. Naruto actually began to blush slightly.

"I-I was in bed, with you and Hinata?" Naruto asked, his blush getting deeper.

"No big deal. We're all family," Sasuke said as he stretched some more before standing up. He began to pull off his shirt, and then his pajama shorts followed by his boxers.

"What are you doing teme?" Naruto asked in a high-pitched waiver. Sasuke rolled his eyes, but smirked nonetheless. He was feeling rather bold for some reason. When feeding the twins early this morning, he’d been thinking how he hadn’t really had an opportunity to chase after Naruto. Perhaps he ought to take this chance to gauge Naruto’s reaction to him.

"Getting undressed," Sasuke said, turning around to face Naruto. "It's not like you've never seen me naked before in the hot springs. Besides, we're both guys. Do you have a problem with it?" Sasuke wondered as he watched Naruto's reaction.

"N-no, it's just, I mean," Naruto stammered, but Sasuke got no coherent or solid reason why Naruto seemed so flustered at seeing him naked. It had been months since Sasuke had touched Naruto sexually. Still, the memory of how Naruto had acted afterward still played in Sasuke’s mind. When Sasuke had turned their experience into a genjutsu dream for Naruto, Naruto had responded strangely upon waking. It had been as though Naruto had wanted to kiss him then. With the way Naruto looked at him now, Sasuke decided to see how far he could push his luck.

"What's the matter? Deciding I look better than Sakura in the morning?" Sasuke smirked as Naruto muttered something unintelligible. 'Well, well, well,' Sasuke thought, elated beyond belief, 'the arrow isn't as straight as I thought it was.' "What did you say, Naruto?"

"You're not bad looking, for a guy," Naruto muttered, his face blushing. Sasuke, who was still naked, walked up to Naruto boldly. Naruto gulped as Sasuke reached a hand to the waistband of Naruto's shorts. Sasuke's heart hammered wildly in his chest. 'Do I dare?' he asked himself.

Sasuke snaked his index finger inside of Naruto's pants, holding his finger there as he looked into Naruto's eyes, realizing that he was completely flustering his friend.

Leaning forward, Sasuke pressed his face close to Naruto’s. He slowly moved even closer, resting his cheek slightly against Naruto’s cheek. He pressed his lips close to Naruto’s ear, feeling Naruto’s breathing coming faster at Sasuke’s proximity. Sasuke moved his finger slightly around the edge of Naruto’s boxers.

"You should get dressed," Sasuke murmured huskily. He merely tugged on the waistband of the boxers, pulling out the elastic and snapping it back into place before walking away, making sure to turn around quickly before Naruto saw his awakening arousal. With his back to Naruto he headed into the shower walking slowly to allow Naruto a good view of his naked backside. Sasuke turned the shower onto cold. Sasuke let the icy stream of water wash over him, while he wondered what the hell he was doing.

'He's married to Sakura,' part of his mind said.

'He's also married to you and Hinata,' the other part said.

'Exactly. There's also Hinata. What about her?'

'What about her? You never promised to share him if you got a hold of him.'

'Now's not the time to try and seduce him. The quads were just born. And...I don't want to force him ever again. That was a stupid and selfish thing for me to do.'

'Will there ever be a good time? You've already taken something from Naruto. There is no right or wrong time from here on out. You didn't think this through. You just took what you wanted from him, and then expected him to fall for you. He seemed flustered enough back there! You should have just taken him. And you're a complete hypocrite – this nonsense about now's not the time to try and seduce him, what was it that you were just trying to do? He looked like he would have you let you do more to him!'

'But that's just it! I didn't think it through. I need to think it through before acting any more. I thought I knew what I as doing when I started this, but I didn't. I didn't think of what would happen when children came into the picture. They're important now, and I don't want to lose this relationship I've developed with Naruto. Naruto adores the children beyond belief. He could hate me – and Hinata – and never want to see the quads again. I could screw everything up.'

'All you need to do is screw Naruto up, or down, or-'

"Aaargh!" Sasuke yelled, frustrated. He couldn’t believe he was having an argument with himself.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's muffled voice came through the bathroom door.

"I'm fine!" Sasuke hollered back.

'Liar.'

'Shut-up,' Sasuke thought, feeling ridiculous for still arguing with himself.

He really needed some mental help.

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

While Sasuke would have loved to dwell on Naruto longer, preparations for the naming ceremony took up most of his free time the next few days. Then, something even more pressing had been brought to his attention.

Sasuke hadn't been wrong to worry about the marks on the children's cheeks. The morning of the children's naming ceremony, Hinata came up to Sasuke, holding his daughter in her arms. Sasuke looked down at little Seiryuu. (He had decided to use the names that Naruto had picked for their three children, and especially liked Naruto’s name for Seiryuu). There was so much hustle and bustle at the Hyuuga complex that if it weren't for the fact that Sasuke had developed a sense for where his newborns were, he might have missed Hinata trying to get his attention all together. But Sasuke rarely let his eyes off his children, and as Hinata held Seiryuu, he’d spotted her trying to gain his attention.

"Sasuke-kun, look at her cheeks," Hinata whispered as she pointed to the very noticeable lines on Seiryuu's cheeks that looked like whisker marks. "I noticed that the others have them as well, but Seiryuu's seem so much more prominent than her siblings, and they seem to be getting darker by the day," Hinata whispered frantically.

Sasuke frowned. He hadn't been able to see if Seiryuu had had whisker marks from where Naruto had been holding her across the room the other night, but now he could see them very clearly.

"We can't hide them with a genjutsu. We have too many ninja friends who will be able to see right through it," Sasuke said wisely.

"I thought that too. I have some make-up," Hinata said, turning to head up the stairs, but Sasuke gently grabbed her shoulder.

"It will only wipe off, and that will look even more suspicious when it becomes obvious that she and the other children have Naruto's marks," Sasuke said thoughtfully. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He wasn't sure what to do. Was it too soon to tell Naruto? Would it be better to tell Naruto now and see how things went? Somehow Sasuke didn't think telling everyone during the naming ceremony that all of the children were a mix of parentage was a good idea. The Hyuuga family had gathered there to celebrate four Hyuuga births when in reality there was only one child with Hyuuga blood. Nevertheless, Sasuke would remain steadfast by all of the children, and he knew that Hinata would always claim all four as her own. She had given birth to them after all.

"What do we do?" Hinata asked. "Why do they have his marks? I thought it was just the influence on Kyuubi that gave him them! There's so much we d-didn't think of w-when we started this. I-I wanted to be close to Naruto-kun, but I feel like I'm g-going to bring his world crashing down around him at any m-minute," Hinata said breathlessly. "This isn't how I wanted to help," she said sadly. Sasuke closed his eyes, understanding what Hinata meant.

"But he wants a family Hinata. You've seen this. Look how happy he's been since he's been here with us. For a while I was beginning to doubt my actions before the children were born, but as I see how he seems to glow when he comes over here with us, I know that we're giving him what he wants," Sasuke said quietly, reassuring himself just as much as he was reassuring Hinata.

"Still – what about Sakura-chan's feelings?" Hinata asked, rubbing Seiryuu's back meanwhile looking around (like Sasuke was) to see who happened to be holding the other children. That was one thing about having a large family; babies were passed around a lot, and it was easy to lose track of who had who. Hinata even frequently used her byakugan when one of her family members took one of the quads outside so she could check up on them.

"Sakura can be a part of the children's lives if she wanted. She has chosen not to be as involved. That's not our decision," Sasuke said coldly. Hinata looked like she was about to argue more, but Sasuke cut her off. "We will just wrap their blankets up around them so it brushes against their cheeks. If people see them, they see them. However, no one will be able to deny that the children are mine. I think that will make people hesitate to say Naruto is their father. I don't think people will piece together that two men can have children, and there is a definite resemblance to me. People won’t want to cross me," Sasuke said rather smugly.

"Neji-nii-kun might," Hinata mumbled.

"He still can't deny the resemblance of the three quads to me," Sasuke nearly growled.

"And my baby?" Hinata asked quietly. Sasuke didn't have an answer for her immediately.

"It will at least seem like he's mine because the other three clearly are. We need to finish getting ready," Sasuke said. Hinata nodded but didn’t look fully reassured, and the two of them walked off.

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

With everything that could have gone wrong with the presentation of the children into Konoha clan Society, Sasuke had not been prepared for the source of the problem.

Hinata and Sasuke had proudly and formally presented their quadruplets to the people gathered at the naming ceremony, finally revealing their names late in the afternoon. It had been quick and to the point. Sasuke would have loved to end things there, but he knew that this was now the part where people mingled (unnecessarily in his mind) for several hours while the babies were passed from person to person. This part also didn’t sit too well with Sasuke as he would much prefer no one but a select few handle his children, but he didn’t think it would look so good to snap at people and tell them that.

Despite his misgivings about the evening, everything had been going well enough as Sasuke and Hinata held their little party for the assembled "higher-up" Hyuuga clan members, fellow shinobi, and several well-to-do friends. Sasuke had known that he looked like a proud father, despite once thinking he'd hate fatherhood and despite having little ones to look after. Hinata practically glowed as she held her babies throughout the night, and Sasuke noticed the little extra hold she had on hers and Naruto's biological child. He didn't blame her in the least.

Sasuke mused that of the female ninja that he had ever known, he was sure that Hinata fell into the common stereotype of what type of woman would be more likely to become a mother than a shinobi. He smirked to himself as he saw the possessiveness with which she held Tenpi, since she had named her baby after Naruto's suggestion as well. If there was one thing he was sure of about Hinata just by the change in stance and aura around her was this: he'd rather go against a hundred trained male shinobi than an enraged Hinata when protecting her little ones. She was definitely that kind of scary mother. It was always the quiet ones after all.

He mused how most people thought that having bonds with others made you weaker, having once thought so himself and noted just the opposite. He was quite sure an enraged mother-Hinata was much scarier than anyone had ever seen before. If it weren't for the fact that he'd probably be just as pissed off and deadly if something were to happen to his children, he almost wanted to see just how deadly Hinata would be protecting her children.

His musings were cut off when he heard Naruto's voice through the group of people that were mingling in his home.

"Hey! Look at this!" Naruto said excitedly to no one in particular as he peered at the baby he held in his arms. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw Naruto was holding Seiryuu. He pointed to her cheeks. "She has birth marks just like mine! Look, they’re really, really faint. The marks are just a light brown color, but they’re definitely there, and you can see them okay if there’s enough light," Naruto said. Sasuke's mouth formed a mental "no" in his mind as Naruto brought attention to exactly the thing that Hinata and he weren't sure if Naruto was ready to go through. Much to his chagrin (though somehow Sasuke had expected it) Neji was the first to come up to Naruto after Naruto had called out. Neji looked intently at Seiryuu.

"Seiryuu does have some of your other features Naruto. She seems to have your nose as well," Neji said looking at Seiryuu. Naruto peered down at her thoughtfully.

"If she didn't have Sasuke's scowl, I'd say she was my baby," Naruto said. If Sasuke himself hadn't been holding Muchuu, he would have smacked his forehead – or Naruto's – at the comment.

"Yours Naruto?" Neji asked, his eyes widening slightly, alert and curious for any clues he might have missed.

"Well, yeah. I mean," Naruto began as he held Seiryuu up at arms length to get a better look at her. "Something about her is just too cute to be Sasuke's, but she has his scowl."

"Too cute to be mine?" Sasuke growled, butting in on the conversation. It was one thing for someone else to question his children's parentage; it was an awkward and almost insulting matter for Naruto to question it.

"Yeah, look," Naruto said, and he turned Seiryuu around so that her wide eyes stared directly at Sasuke's. She gurgled happily at her father. Her, er, other father. Sasuke adjusted Muchuu in his left arm and took Seiryuu in his right. She blew bubbles at him and giggled. "See? Too cute. I just can't see you blowing bubbles like that with your own spit, even as a baby," Naruto said, and Sasuke frowned, and almost pouted. He’d been told he’d been a very cute baby.

"She is definitely mine," Sasuke said firmly and possessively.

"Yeah, yeah. Poor Hinata, having to deal with kids that have her cuteness yet that can revert to your scowl in a matter of moments," Naruto said, grinning. Sasuke knew that Naruto was just teasing with him, but it still irked him. He almost wanted to say that it was Naruto's cuteness and not Hinata's, but thought better of it with Neji looming right there. Speaking of Neji –

"You think Hinata-sama is cute?" Neji asked. Naruto flushed.

"You know what I mean!" Naruto said defensively.

"No, not really. Enlighten me," Neji said, smirking slightly.

"Naruto, I need your help. Will you come with me?" Sasuke said as he tried to get Naruto away from Neji. He handed Naruto Muchuu this time, and then regretted doing so immediately.

"Hey, Muchuu has my whiskers too!" Naruto said. Sasuke ignored the comment and began to walk away, hoping Naruto would follow. Thankfully he did. Sasuke could feel the questioning gaze of Neji follow them. He knew Neji could use the byakugan if he wanted to spy on them, but as he saw Hinata go to talk with him, and he hoped she would distract him enough that he wouldn't be able to do so.

Sasuke walked through the Hyuuga complex, weaving his way through people who greeted him and congratulated him on his fatherhood. Sasuke merely nodded as he led Naruto up to his and Hinata's bedroom. Seiryuu continued to happily coo and blow bubbles at him. As soon as they entered the room, Naruto began talking.

"Sasuke, don't you think it's weird that both Seiryuu and Muchuu-"

"Naruto, shut-up," Sasuke growled. Naruto's face went from curious to furious in .03 seconds flat.

"What do you mean shut-up? What's wrong with you?" Naruto demanded as he held Muchuu closer to him.

"Naruto, think. You are at the revealing of the Hyuuga heirs at the Hyuuga complex. You just stated that the children look like you when I am-" for three of them, Sasuke added mentally, "-their father."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, his mouth forming the shape of an "O" as he realized what Sasuke was trying to get at.

"I didn't mean to make it sound like they were mine. Everyone knows they're yours. I mean it's obvious that they have your scowl. It's just," Naruto paused, trying to find the right words, "don't you think it's weird that Muchuu and Seriyuu both have the whisker marks on their cheeks like I do?" Naruto asked curiously. He then looked at Muchuu closer. "And, there's something about all of the babies that I can't help but think resembles me."

"I don't think it's weird," Sasuke murmured. Naruto raised his eyebrows at Sasuke in clear disbelief.

"Why not?" Naruto asked, a hint of skepticism in his voice.

"There is absolutely nothing weird about my children's appearance, and I am sure that Hinata would agree with me," Sasuke said. Naruto frowned.

"That's not what I meant! I meant-" Naruto cut off, shook his head. "Forget it. I just think it's weird that the children look kind of like me."

Sasuke debated with himself on what to tell Naruto. He wanted to tell Naruto everything, wanted to confess. It was just that now was not the most opportune moment. Sasuke wanted Naruto to fall for him, wanted Naruto to love him before he confessed how much he loved Naruto. Doing so now would just make everything he had worked for fall apart. Naruto was happily married to Sakura (or so Naruto still claimed thought Sasuke didn’t fully believe that), and that would open up an entire can of worms. No. Sasuke would wait, as he had planned, until Naruto finally realized that Sakura was not the one that would make him happy in the long run. Things weren’t necessarily going the best for them now, and Sasuke would bide his time. Naruto had responded to him in the bedroom just a few days before. He wouldn’t throw that away now. Naruto just needed to be persuaded a bit more to leave Sakura.

Sasuke closed his eyes. He wouldn't ruin anything else for Naruto. He'd already been too selfish and interfered far too much. It was best to wait for Naruto to come to him.

Sasuke chose his words carefully in order to influence Naruto not to say anything in regards to the children's appearance.

"And if you keep going around claiming that the children look like you, don't you think you will be putting yourself and Hinata in a poor light if they think that you are the biological father?" Sasuke asked. Naruto's eyes widened. Sasuke was being cruel to play on such an issue, but he knew it would make Naruto stop from saying anything else. Sasuke knew he was being a manipulative bastard. He promised himself that he would make it up to Naruto later.

"I didn't even think of that! I mean, yeah I said they looked like they could be mine, but it didn’t click that it would mean having an affair. I didn't mean it like that! I would never cheat on Sakura with Hinata; you know that! I mean, what I said was just an observation; there's no reason for anyone to really think I was the, you know, biological father," Naruto rushed out.

"Just don't mention it again," Sasuke said firmly. Naruto nodded. "Good. Now let's get back to the party."

Seiryuu happily gurgled and blew bubbles to show her agreement to the idea. Muchuu even added a few bubbles of his own for good measure.


Next Chapter: The Green Eyes of Jealousy


Now that Neji knows that the children have whisker marks like Naruto, what will Neji do with that information? Nothing that will benefit Sasuke, that’s for sure!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really do appreciate all your comments. Leave me some love! ~ Jelp