When music melts the heart

Hey Minna,
Please forgive me for not updating in a while,I had a bad case of writers block and had real big difficulties with how to continue this story. But not to fear I found some new idea's and plan on working them out in the plot. I hope you'll enjoy this chappie and I promise you the next one will be here shortly maybe a week or two.

Have fun reading. Oh and please review, I love to hear what you think.


Chapter 16

The next day during lunch, Naruto and Itachi talked about the wedding, discussing matters like: a date, who would be their best man/maid of honour and, of course, the honeymoon.

“I would love to have a winter wedding, I think it would be so romantic with snow all around us,” the blonde said getting a look in his eyes that reminded Itachi of a girl dreaming of her perfect wedding, though he would not dare to say that out loud, he valued his life too much.

“That sounds very lovely and I think it would suit me just fine as long as you are happy,” the raven said, knowing he could never deny his love something like this.

“But the big question is: do we wait for the adoption to finalize and have the wedding next winter or do we want to get married as soon as possible and have the wedding within three month tops?” Naruto looked at Itachi hoping he would come with the perfect solution.

“I think we should ask Hiroki what he prefers,” the raven offered as a solution.

“We’ll have to talk it over with him tonight then,” the blonde agreed.

“Have you decided who you want as your maid of honour?” Itachi asked the blonde with a smirk.

Naruto pouted cutely muttering about stupid fiancé and making him the bride. “I was thinking of asking Hinata as my maid of honour, she is my best friend after all. I assume you’ll ask Sasuke as your best man?” the blonde asked, quickly getting over his irritation with the raven.

“Yes, I could think of no one else taking position,” Itachi said, taking a bite from his sandwich.

“Now all we have to do is set the date, make the announcement of our engagement and ask our chosen maid/best man, make the guest list and about anything else that needs to be decided and arranged,” Naruto said pulling a face at the thought.

“Don’t forget you’ll need to find the perfect dress,” the raven said smirking devilishly.

“WHAT!!! You jerk, stop making me the damn bride in this,” the blonde screeched.

“Ah but Naru, you would look so pretty in a dress,” Itachi drawled, thoroughly enjoying teasing his ‘blushing bride’.

“Kiss my ass Uchiha,” the blonde said aggravated.

“Not now love, we’re discussing your dress,” the raven replied smugly.

The raven stopped smirking when Naruto got up from his seat, fearing he would walk out angry, but was surprised when the blond pushed the table back a bit and dropped himself in his lovers lap.

“Well, we’re not going to discuss the dress ever again so you’re free to kiss it now,” the blonde said seductively, his eyes shining with mischief.

“As appealing as that sounds koi, you have to be back at the studio in thirty minutes and I need to finish up some business before I can head home to have dinner with my family,” Itachi purred regretfully in his ear.

Naruto rested his head against the other’s shoulder and fingered a random button on the raven’s shirt. “Damn it, oh well then you’ll just have to write me an I Owe You for some good ass kissing,” the blonde grinned deviously and got off his lap to return to his seat and finish his lunch.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Saturday came around, both Naruto and Hiroki we’re practically bouncing through the mansion with excitement. The blonde couldn’t wait to tell everything he had in mind and the little boy was just happy he was being involved in the whole wedding too.

Itachi was looking cool and collected but secretly enjoyed seeing his lover and son thinking of all kinds of ideas for the wedding. One thing was for sure Karin would have her work cut out for her.

A little before one, Karin arrived at the mansion. Naruto and Hiroki we’re waiting for her arrival anxiously and before she even had the chance to ring the doorbell, one of the large oak wood doors opened and she was practically dragged into the house.

“I’m terribly sorry Karin. They have been this hyper since early morning,” Itachi said while taking the young woman’s coat.

“That’s okay Itachi-san. I would be this hyper too if it was my wedding we were discussing,” the purple haired girl assured him.

At that moment one of the maids came in to let them know lunch was being served.

“Karin, if you like I could let someone bring your briefcase to the parlour so it won’t be in the way when we have lunch,” Naruto suggested cheerfully.

“That would be great blondie,” she said just as cheerfully.

And while the maid left with her briefcase Naruto offered his arm to Karin and his other vacant hand to Hiroki to escort them to the dining room, Itachi walked leisurely behind them amused at the enthusiasm they all had.

After having a wonderful lunch the company moved to the parlour for some coffee and to discuss the wedding arrangements. Karin opened her briefcase and got out a note pad and a brand new laptop, courtesy of Sasuke who, after finding out she was going to plan his brother’s wedding, decided she needed at least that piece of office equipment to make her job a little easier.

“Wow Karin, that’s a nice laptop you got there,” the blonde exclaimed.

“It was a gift from Sasuke-kun, he said something about a brother demanding perfection and that pen and paper wouldn’t cut it,” she explained smiling.

“Well I wouldn’t have cared if you carved it in stone, as long as you get it done,” Naruto said smirking.

Hiroki held up a book that fell from Karin’s briefcase; “Did Sasu-nii give you this too,” the little boy asked in
all his innocence.

“No, that was Suigetsu trying to be funny, he thought I wouldn’t know how to handle a computer,” she said lightly scowling, then she started grinning and said; “I showed him I could find another way to use his book.”

“You wacked him on the head with it, didn’t you?” Naruto asked, Karin just kept grinning.

“And that is why I’m marrying your Tousan. Girls are just way to violent for me,” he whispered into his son’s ear, who giggled at that.

“What was that blondie?“ she asked Naruto, who gulped afraid of the woman’s retribution.

Karin just smirked and proceeded to start up her laptop while they chatted a bit. She got everything she needed ready, including some websites about planning a wedding. The threesome gave all their idea’s and visions for the wedding, Karin typing furiously. They told her they would have the wedding next winter, giving them a little over a year for planning and arranging.

Karin started with making a checklist with everything that needs to be dealt with. She was very thorough and the couple knew they had made the right decision in asking her to help.

“So a little recap, you want a small and romantic winter wedding preferably with lots of snow?” she asked the couple.

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” Naruto answered.

“Okay next, do you have any idea about what you want to wear?” she asked the men sitting opposite from her.

“Not a word, Uchiha,” Naruto growled when Itachi opened his mouth to say something.

“But Naru it’s my wedding too and it would really make me happy,” he said smirking.

“Too bad, it ain’t gonna happen,” the blonde practically snarled.

Karin was getting pretty confused and turned to Hiroki; “Do you know what this is about Hiroki?” she asked.

“Tousan wants Chichi to wear a wedding dress, but Chichi refuses saying he isn’t a girl,” Hiroki explained patiently.

“I see,” was all she said and made a note on it. There had to be a compromise both could agree on and she would find it.

Karin coughed gently to get the quarrelling couple’s attention. When they looked at her she continued; “There is one more thing I need to know in order to come up with a first draft and that would be a colour scheme. Any idea’s for that?” she asked patiently.

“Well I was thinking of white with blue’s, varying from light blue to midnight hue’s,” Naruto said, looking at Itachi to see his reaction and the raven nodded slightly in approval.

Karin diligently noted everything said about the preferred colour scheme. The fact that they already had ideas about their wedding made her job a lot easier and would give her time to look into the ‘wedding dress’ problem.

“Okay guys, that’s all I need to know for now, give me two weeks and I will show you some of the idea’s I came up with,” she said turning off her laptop and placing it in her briefcase.

“I can’t wait to see what you come up with, I’m so excited,” Naruto exclaimed, practically bouncing in his seat.

Karin smiled warmly at the blonde’s antics just like his lover. “Well I’ll be taking my leave now so I can start working on some ideas. I’ll call you when I have some things ready for you to go over,” with that said she got up and Naruto, Itachi and Hiroki walked her to the front door.

Itachi retrieved her coat and helped her put it on like the gentlemen he was, making her blush. Naruto and Hiroki couldn’t stop the giggle at seeing this and Karin blushed even more. She grabbed her briefcase and after saying goodbye left the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On Wednesday morning Sarutobi Asuma wasn’t happy when he hung up the phone. He wasn’t someone who scowled, but if he did this would be the perfect moment, instead he opted to stroke his beard. Never in his entire career as social worker had he felt more troubled than he did this moment.

That call had been from a woman named Yamanaka Ino and said to be the counsellor appointed to Kitano Somaru, Hiroki’s uncle who is currently in prison for his crimes against the boy.
She had made a request which troubled Asuma greatly and he had made clear that in his professional opinion he didn’t think it a good idea. But after some urging from the counsellor he had conceded to talk with the boy’s new foster parents and that he would let her know the outcome of that conversation as soon as possible.

Now all Asuma had to do was talk this through with Naruto and Itachi, but he knew that the news was not going to be welcomed in any way, shape, or form. He expected Naruto to react the most emotional in the scenario, but it would be Itachi that would be the hardest to convince. He knew that if Uchiha Itachi didn’t want this to happen, it would not happen.

Thinking things over he knew that he would have to find support from others close to the boy in order to convince the counsellor that her idea would not be in the boy’s best interest. Beside that he was convinced that he would need all the help he could get in the conversation with the adopting couple. That made him decide to call Tsunade and ask for her assistance.

He conveyed to her what had happened and all had been said in the phone call. He also got confirmation from her that Naruto would be the emotional one. She agreed with Asuma that this would not help the boy in any way. They talked about how to bring the news to them and agreed it would be best if Asuma and she would go over to their home to discuss the matter, then she came up with the idea of taking Iruka with them, because he was the closest thing Naruto had to a father.

Asuma found this acceptable and they agreed to have the ordeal over with as soon as possible. She would inform Iruka of the situation in the mean time she would let Asuma make an appointment with the adopting couple and she would await his call for confirmation. His next call would be to Itachi to set up the meeting.

He picked up the phone and waited to start the conversation: “Good morning Itachi-san. I’m sorry to disturb you this early in the day, but I would like to ask if we could meet as soon as possible,” the bearded social worker asked politely.

“Are there problems with the adoption,” asked a slightly surprised Itachi, normally Asuma would not ask for a meeting outside the required visitations for the adoption.

“Not exactly, but there is something Tsunade and I want to discuss with you and Naruto and unfortunately it is rather urgent,” Asuma answered.

“May I ask what this is about,” though Asuma had assured that there were no problems, the raven had a feeling that he wasn’t going to like what the man had to say.

“I would rather not discuss this matter over the phone Itachi-san and I was hoping that we could meet this afternoon, though I understand that you are bound by your work.”

“If this is so important that you would request a meeting on this short notice, then I will make sure that Naruto and I are both available this afternoon.”

“Good, I was hoping we could meet at the mansion,” Asuma said.

“Hn, very well. Can you be at the mansion at one?” the raven asked.

“Yes, that would be fine Itachi-san,” came the short reply.

“We will see you at one then,” Itachi said politely and ended their conversation.
Itachi buzzed his secretary on the intercom; “Yes sir, what can I do for you,” came the slightly distorted voice of the pink haired woman.

“Sakura, I need to have the rest of the day cleared, I have to be home for a very important meeting, try to reschedule as many appointments as you can and those who need immediate attention can be dealt with by Kakashi,” the raven ordered.

“I’ll see to it sir,” was the reply she gave her boss. She knew better than to argue with him.

The young pinkette was fully aware off the fact that her boss was in a relationship and that they were trying to adopt Hiroki. Sakura had met the blonde young man and the auburn haired child on a few occasions and she had to admit she was enamoured by the two.

After a short pause she asked; “Is there anything else I can do for you sir,” knowing that her boss would have told her so if there was, but she always felt the need to ask.

“No Sakura, that will be all for now. I need to call Naruto so I don’t want to be disturbed,” was all he said before releasing the button and end the short conversation.

He rubbed his temples, a habit he had, in an attempt to relieve some of his stress. He picked up the phone and called Naruto. He waited till he heard the sweet voice of his lover.

“Koi, it’s me,” he said after the blonde picked up.

“Hey Tachi,” came the blonde’s cheerful voice.

“Asuma just called to ask for an emergency meeting with us. He assured me there were no problems with the adoption procedure, but wouldn’t tell me what he did want to discuss on the phone,” he took a deep breath and before Naruto could interrupt he continued; “Because he said it was urgent I told him we would both be home at one, so he would come to talk to us.”

“I wonder what this could be about, if there are no problems with the adoption,” Naruto said contemplating the options and Itachi could just hear the frown the blonde was wearing on his face.

“Let’s try not to worry about it too much koi,” Itachi said and rolled his eyes at hims
elf knowing that was exactly what both he and his lover would do until things were cleared up.

“Okay Tachi,” was all Naruto said in a very timid and worried voice.

“I’ll be home around noon, so we can have lunch together,” he said in an attempt to cheer his lover up a little.

“Okay, I’ll see you then,” was all the blonde said before hanging up.

Itachi looked at his phone and felt like throwing it out off the window. He had seldom heard Naruto this depressed and he wished he could just hold him to comfort him. He hated not knowing what was going on around him, especially when it involved his family or him. He sighed in aggravation and knew all he could do now was wait.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Itachi came home he found his little brother entertaining Hiroki in the living room, but the worry was clear in his eyes, well at least to Itachi. Hiroki leapt into his Tousan’s arms when he saw him and cuddled close to him.

“Naruto went upstairs a while ago, said something about having a headache,” was all Sasuke said to his brother, but Itachi clearly heard the question underneath those words; ‘What the hell is going on.’

“Hiroki, you stay with Sasuke, then I’ll go and check on your Chichi to see how he is feeling now,” the raven said, trying not to worry his son too much.

“Hai Tousan. Give Chichi a kiss on his forehead from me and maybe he’ll feel better then,” the boy said cheerfully and Itachi felt his heart warm with the innocent affection his son was showing.

“I will,” he said, while walking out of the living room and upstairs to their bedroom.

When he walked into the bedroom, he found his lover curled up on the bed hugging one of Hiroki’s stuffed animals, that the boy probably had forgotten there. He was sleeping, but by the pained expression and the tearstains on his cheeks, you could tell he had been crying for awhile before dozing off.

He sat down beside his blonde and rubbed the one exposed arm to gently wake him up. It didn’t take long before the blonde opened his eyes, looking around he saw Itachi sitting next to him, his face expressionless but love and concern showed in his eyes.

Naruto turned to lay on his back, the stuffed animal still in his tight grasp. Itachi leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. “Hiroki asked me to do that, hoping it would make you feel better,” he said smiling softly.

Naruto sat up and wrapped his arms around the ravens neck, he sniffed trying to keep himself from crying but to no avail and soon he was sobbing onto the raven’s shoulder. Itachi just held him tight and let his fiancé cry while he gently rubbed his back to comfort him.

After a few minutes Naruto dried his tears and took a few shuddering breaths to calm down. “I’m sorry Tachi. I shouldn’t be crying like this but I couldn’t stop thinking that maybe we wouldn’t be able to adopt Hiroki after all and they would take him from us,” the blonde tried to explain his crying.

“It’s okay koi,” he said still rubbing his back. “Why don’t you freshen up a bit so we can have lunch with Hiroki and Sasuke? I’ll wait here for you.”Naruto nodded, then got up and walked into the bathroom to wash his face with some cold water, he put on a clean shirt, walked back to Itachi and together they went downstairs.

When Hiroki got sight of them he calmly walked over to his Chichi and grabbed his hand looking up. “Did my kiss make you feel better?” he asked sweetly.

“Hm yes it did, but I bet I would feel even better if you gave it yourself,” Naruto said slyly. Itachi and Sasuke just rolled their eyes, something they only did when they were with just the four of them, at the blonde’s unsubtle way of begging his son for hugs and kisses.

And Hiroki, well he happily gave his fathers and uncle all the affection he had, so he nodded and when Naruto bent down the boy was happy to indulge his Chichi and placed a kiss very gentle and sweetly on his forehead.

“I knew it, my headache is completely gone,” the blonde said grinning and picking up his son and Hiroki giggled at his exclamation.

“Well, now that your Chichi is cured, how about we go and eat lunch,” Itachi asked, knowing that Naruto and Hiroki would be hungry.

“Yeeeeah,” both shouted happily at the prospect of food.

“Why don’t you two go ahead, then Sasuke and I will clean up the mess here,” he said gently guiding the two out of the living room.

As soon as the two were out of earshot he turned to Sasuke. “Asuma called this morning asking for an emergency meeting with Naruto and myself. He said there were no problems with the adoption but he wouldn’t tell me anything more on the phone. He and Tsunade will be arriving here at one to talk,” he explained sighing almost inaudible.

“Hn, no wonder Naruto seemed so upset. Would you like for me to keep Hiroki busy till you’re finished talking,” he asked frowning a bit.

“If it’s no problem, then I’d appreciate it very much,” the older raven replied.

“No problem at all,” the younger one answered. And with that said they walked to join the other two for lunch.

After lunch Sasuke swept Hiroki from his chair and hoisted him over his shoulder. The boy screamed in laughter and waved joyfully to his parents as they left the dining room. A few minutes later the doorbell rang and both stood up to walk over to the parlour where they would receive their guests.

TBC