Inbred

Chapter 56
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Neji undertook a drastic transformation over the next few days. Now that she no longer had to suppress her femininity, she was finally able to let her true personality come forth and Naruto found that she could be placid, easy-going and a joy to get along with. She also adopted little quirks that Sasuke found irresistibly adorable. For example, whenever she was mulling over something, she had this habit of resting the tip of her tongue between her lips and Sasuke would always break her train of thought by stealing quick kisses so he could take the little muscle into his mouth. She explained to him it was an old habit of hers she’d had ever since she was little but Hiashi scolded her everytime he caught her doing it and swore he was going to cut her tongue out if she didn’t stop.

Neji also had a penchant for exposing her legs and she took a pair of scissors to a few of her pajama pants and jeans and transformed them into daisy dukes so her legs could finally ‘breathe’. Sasuke didn’t complain about that either, in fact, he loved to touch and stare at her gorgeous gams, but it got so bad that she threatened to wear long pants again just to get him to leave her alone and Sasuke threatened to burn all of her pants in retaliation.

Hinata didn’t think the mutilated shorts were enough and encouraged her older cousin to wear outfits designed for females but nothing the little girl owned fit so they had to go out and get her a new wardrobe. They didn’t purchase anything too elaborate: just a few tank tops, some with spaghetti straps and others cut just above the midriff and some peasant shirts that Neji absolutely adored since they were made of light material and were very comfortable on her. Hinata also tried talking her into buying tube tops but Neji thought they would be pointless since she had no breasts but after giving her those ‘puppy-dog’ eyes she caved but bought only one, and who would have guessed that that would turn out to be Sasuke’s favorite and he kept urging Neji to wear it even though it was in the dirty laundry so she had to hide it after that. He also loved the denim shorts they got in a variety of colours but the collection was much too small for his liking and he wanted to see her in a wider assortment so, after talking HInata into ‘persuading’ her stubborn cousin to go along with it, he took them out so he could increase her sparse wardrobe.

“Sasuke just how many shirts do you think I need?” Neji whined as her lover dropped a red, sequined blouse atop the growing pile that was weighing down her arms.

“This is the last one, I promise,” he muttered in response as he scrutinized a baby-pink top, bejeweled with the word ‘Princess’ in tiny, artificial diamonds.

“Hey, hey! Look what I found,” Naruto bounded up to them, with a wide grin on his face and he presented a metal hanger with what appeared to be some type of purple bra with tassels hanging from it. It was supposed to be fashioned after some type of exotic bikini top but only came off looking like something Jeannie would wear…or a harem girl.

“Naruto, put that back,” Neji ordered him sternly and stepped away so he couldn’t add it to the others and the young teen snickered then left it on a rack with low-rise jeans. Although Neji had no problem wearing revealing and provocative clothes she was still a little self-conscious about her chest, or lack thereof, and many times Sasuke would catch her staring at her flat torso in the mirror with a morose expression on her face. But no matter how many times he told her he loved her just the way she was, and no matter how many times he joked that breasts only got in the way whenever he hugged her, it never seemed to banish her self-consciousness.

“What?” Naruto asked with a wide grin and a playful shrug. “We can just stuff it like we stuffed that one,” and he pointed unnecessarily at the fake breasts protruding from beneath the girl’s cyan-coloured top.

While in the privacy of the Uchiha domain, Neji had no problem parading around with her ‘masculine’ torso but whenever she had to venture out in public, dressed like this, she was forced to stuff a brassiere with toilet-paper. It was the most humiliating task she had to perform while getting dressed but it was also the most necessary. “No, it’s too uncomfortable,” she said with a shake of her head.

“I told you to stuff them with socks,” Naruto muttered under his breath as he shifted through another clothes rack. Sasuke furrowed his brow and reached out one hand to cup the left lump beneath Neji’s shirt and the Hyuuga made a startled sound and hunched over, almost spilling the contents in her arms.

“What the hell are you doing?” she hissed, her face slightly pink as she scanned the store to make sure no one had seen them.

“What? It’s not like they’re real or anything,” and he reached out to examine it again.

“That’s beside the point,” she countered and shied away from his touch a second time. “Whether they are real or not, you can’t just go feeling people’s chests in public.” Sasuke could only laugh as his spun on her heel in a huff, causing the long braid, that Hinata had twisted her hair into, to whip across her back and Sasuke reached out to grab it but he missed just as she stormed off to find her cousin who was collecting an assortment of shorts in her cousin’s size.

Sasuke had become so familiar with Neji’s face framed by her glossy, black hair and he’d never really seen it in other styles, save for that day they went to the festival, but looking at her now, with her hair pulled away from her face, revealed so much more of her natural beauty that he’d been cast under some kind of erotic spell when he watched her descending the stairs and it was only when Naruto made his comparison between her and Tomb Raider did Sasuke snap out of it.

He had to admit though, that she did somewhat resemble the adventurous heroine. Besides the similarity in hairstyle, she did have on a tank top and a pair of Bermuda shorts, white, as opposed to khaki and instead of boots, she wore a simple pair of white, Reebok sneakers. Subtle differences aside, the resemblance was still there, and Sasuke couldn’t help but entertain all sorts of naughty role-play fantasies, especially since he knew Neji could do a pretty decent English accent.

Hinata’s pile of lower body clothing was almost as large as Neji’s but she didn’t have any trouble maneuvering with it since she was usually the one stuck with laundry detail at Hatsumomo’s. Realistically, Neji didn’t need to have so many outfits since this lifestyle of hers was going to last for a few weeks but she adamantly refused to try on any of the articles in the changing rooms to see if they even fit so Sasuke had to buy in bulk variety, just in case something was too large or too small. Neji was also paranoid that the store might have hidden cameras or one-way mirrors installed and as silly as Sasuke thought that was, the probability of it being so was still slim and he didn’t want to take that risk. She also didn’t want to utilize the private rooms because she knew very well that her pushy boyfriend would only try to initiate public sex.

Not that she had a problem with that, in fact, she’d dreamed about it on several occasions. The memory of that day she took Hinata shopping for kimonos came back to her and she remembered the fantasy she’d had when she was trying on that particular kimono. A delightful shiver coursed along her spine and she had to give herself a mental shake of the head before she changed her mind and gave into the temptation.

Once Sasuke was content with their selections they headed over to the cashier who stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the heaps of clothing they put on the counter. He knew better than to say anything though and he recognized Uchiha-sama so he knew that they would be able to pay for it and that they weren’t playing some practical joke.

As Neji watched the display on the cash register her frown deepened with each item that the clerk dragged over the scanner in the check-out counter which caused the green numbers to rise significantly. She’d done that at every store thus far and Sasuke was getting annoyed although he couldn’t blame her for feeling the way she did. She was so used to handling her own finances and paying her own way that it was hard for her to just sit back and let someone spend their on her especially when it was such a substantial amount.

“Will you stop that?” he hissed softly while giving her wrist a painful squeeze.

“Mm…” she started to say something but turned her face away, unable to look him in the eyes. “I’m sorry Sasuke. I promise I’ll pay you back everything.”

The younger man swore and Hinata and the part-time store-clerk winced at his harsh language. “You don’t owe me anything. Even if you had the money with you right now I wouldn’t make you pay for these things.” He didn’t want to sound so furious but he really wished Neji wouldn’t act as if he were treating her like a charity case sometimes. “I’m doing this because I want to, it was my idea, and it wouldn’t be fair to make you pay for them if you can’t keep them indefinitely.” He took her by the shoulders and forced her to look up at him by tilting her chin back until their eyes met. “Look, if it will make you feel better why don’t you tell yourself that I bought them for my benefit even though you’re the one who’s going to be wearing them? I’d buy the whole damn mall if I wanted just so I can look at you wearing something different every few hours. Let me enjoy what he have now to its fullest, okay? Because when it comes to you, money is no object.”

Neji’s face flushed a deep red and she hid her embarrassment behind one hand. Even Hinata was so touched by his words that her cheeks turned a light pink and Naruto thought he was going to gag. “Sasuke, you’re embarrassing me,” she whispered, but he was unable to see the tiny smile from behind her hand.

“If you’re embarrassed now, wait until you get home and Sasuke makes you change clothes,” Naruto said on a loud laugh and the cashier silently agreed when he tried to imagine the girl in the more racy clothing.

Neji sighed loudly, but not because she was dreading being Sasuke’s life-sized dress-up doll. She was still exasperated about the money issue and fished her debit card from her pants pocket to examine it for what was probably the hundredth time that morning. She tried swiping it at every single store they’d been to but the results were always the same. The transaction was declined. She knew she had money on her account and it was embarrassing, not to mention infuriating that Sasuke always had to come to her rescue even though she really wanted to make the purchases on her own. It also made her look like she was broke when she knew very well that was not the case.

“Maybe you kept it near a magnet or something,” Naruto suggested. “Jiraiya used to have problems with his card and had to get a new one like everyday until the guy at the bank told him that magnets erase the information on the strip,” and sure enough, when he emptied his wallet on the table he found a magnetic earring he usually kept with him to put on whenever he wanted to look ‘cool’.

“I find people with many cards run into that problem a lot,” the young clerk interjected. “When the strips rub against each other that can cause problems too.”

Neji seemed to ponder this and surmised the boy was onto something. The card was working fine up until yesterday and as far as she knew she didn’t keep it near anything magnetic. She was very particular with her possessions and she made sure to return it to its rightful place. Neji did have more than one card though but each had its own slot within her wallet and she always made sure to put them in face up. She’d have to take his word for it however, because no matter how meticulous she was, mistakes did happen. She just hoped her credit cards hadn’t suffered the same fate. She never really those, only when she made purchases that would qualify her for the campaign bonuses and while these would have certainly generated quite a bit of points she didn’t want to use them while she looked like this because her name was printed on the card.

For some reason, that Neji Hyuuga and this one, although they were the same person, were not allowed to share the same body at the same time and she pocketed her card again while making a mental note to take them all to the bank to get replaced once she went back to classes.

They were patient while the boy rang up their items but the shoppers in the line behind them slightly agitated even though no one had the gall to say anything and when he was finished the cacophony of relieved sighs that reached the ceiling made Naruto chuckle.

“Can we go home now?” Neji groaned and took the bags from Hinata, once again, leaving her with empty arms while she, Sasuke and Naruto barely managed with their loads. She wasn’t complaining about having to tote around so many bags, she just wanted Sasuke to stop spending so much of his money on her and when she was given a curt ‘Nope’ she made a noise akin to a cat that wanted its master to stop yanking its tail.

“We still need to get shoes,” he pointed out as he led them to a shoe-store conveniently located nearby.

“Don’t forget sexy underthings,” his best friend reminded him.

“And make-up,” Hinata chimed in excitedly.

“Not you too Hinata-chan,” Neji sighed. Everyone was against him today.

He thought they were being cruel when they got her sparkling jewelry, exotic hair accessories, perfumes laced with pheromones and now highly revealing clothing but Sasuke seemed to want to add insult to injury by choosing for her the shoes with the highest heels. “Sasuke I can’t wear these,” she gaped as she hefted the heavy platforms with transparent heels. “These are the kinds of shoes porn stars wear,” but no matter what her argument was, her beau was determined to see her in them and he got down on his knees to untie and slip off her sneakers so he could put them on her feet.

Sasuke helped her stand and Naruto had the audacity to laugh when her legs wobbled as she tried to steady herself but what he found even more hilarious was that the already tall Hyuuga was now dwarfing her boyfriend. Neji would have loved to kick the insensitive blonde in his cheek, especially since she had on six-inch stilettos but she was too afraid to move and clung to Sasuke’s neck for her dear life.

Why was he subjecting her to this humiliation and torture? And how on earth did women walk in these damned things?

“Neji, you have to let go and try to walk with them on,” Sasuke rasped. He was finding it a little difficult to breath with those strong arms around this throat. Neji shook her head and only clung to him tighter.

“Nii-chan it’s easy,” Hinata tried to encourage her and reached up to take one hand from around Sasuke’s shoulders. “It just takes a little practice but you’ll get the hang of it. Just try to keep your back straight.”

She put her faith in her little cousin and reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled away from the sturdy foundation that was Sasuke. Hinata led her with baby steps and kept giving her advice as they walked a scant two feet across the carpeted floor. Many times she felt she was going to fall and she expected to fall over at any second but Sasuke was so concerned that she would sprain her ankle if she did that he stayed nearby to catch her should that happen.

“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” the Uchiha smiled once they’d stopped and were now turning around to walk back to the bench.

“Kiss my ass!” Neji panted and shifted her concentration back to watching how she was putting one foot in front of the other.

“Later,” he promised with a wink.

Have you ever had to pee so bad you could taste it but had to hold it in because there was no bathroom nearby, but when you get there, even though you’d been holding it in for nearly an hour, your bladder fails just at the moment before you even get the chance to sit down properly?

Well, that was how Neji felt right now. She was just so relieved that she reached the bench safely that she let her guard down on the last few steps and both girls shrieked when they went crashing into the ground.

Neji quickly scrambled off of her cousin just as Naruto jumped up from his seat and Sasuke rushed to her side. “Are you alright?” they asked of their respective girlfriends and a store clerk hurried over as quickly as she could while hoping that a lawsuit wasn’t afoot.

Hinata was just a little winded. Her ribs hurt where her cousin’s chest collided with hers but she was none the worse for the wear. Neji came out unscathed as well, although she could have been better since she sprained her wrist trying to push Hinata out of the way but failed to do so.

“Is everyone alright?” a young woman, the definition of professionalism, asked and bowed low before the group. “I am so sorry something like this happened inside my store. Is there anything I can do to compensate you?”

“No, it’s okay,” the eldest Hyuuga assured her but winced when she dried to wave it off with the same afflicted hand and Sasuke took it from her so he could massage it with her thumbs. “I’m just not used to high-heels. It’s…the first time I’m wearing them.” Her voice trailed out as she made that low admission. For some reason, she felt embarrassed about it.

“Then you need ‘training-heels’,” the woman suggested with an empathetic smile. She was fairly tall as well and was, even now, wearing black, leather flats with heels no higher than an inch.

“ ‘Training heels’?” Naruto echoed incredulously, voicing everyone’s thoughts. Neither of them had heard of this phenomenon.

The woman giggled lightly and began to explain. “They aren’t really called ‘training-heels’ they are just shoes with shorter-heels. Like training bras, they let girls become accustomed to wearing them.”

Naruto nodded in understanding but his mind was already wandering when she said the word ‘bras’. She disappeared for a moment and returned with a pair of comfortable white pumps. “Here,” she said and handed them to Neji who was now standing with Sasuke’s help. “Practice walking in these for a while and when you think you’re comfortable with them then wear another pair with a slightly higher heel. Before you know it you’ll be sashaying like a professional model.”

Neji thanked her, but highly doubted it. Sasuke believed she could do it though. She was a fast learner and very elegant by nature so she would get the hang of it in no time and, taking the clerk’s advice, he bought different pairs with different heel sizes ranging from two inches to six. The woman was still very upset about the fall and generously gave Neji the ‘training heels’ for free and once again, she construed it as being a ‘charitable act’ and Sasuke had to drag her out of the store because she kept trying to change the clerk’s mind even after the other shoes had been already paid for and were bagged off.

“How do they feel?” Sasuke asked for the third time when they left another store after stocking up on lip-glosses, nail-polishes and other toiletries which left the owner smiling all the way to the bank.

Neji considered the shoes on her feet for a moment. They were by no means uncomfortable yet and she found that, unless Sasuke asked, she wouldn’t remember she was even wearing them. “My feet are fine, but my arms are killing me,” she admitted, finally giving in to the unbearable weight in her hands. Naruto chimed in his difficulty with his load as well and Sasuke agreed with a nod. The only person who didn’t share their pain was Hinata since Neji didn’t want her to carry anything even though she genuinely wanted to help.

“We’re pretty much done here,” he said after running through a quick check-list in his head to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. “Let’s put these things in the car and get something to eat.” Everyone was in agreement with that plan and they dumped the bags in the trunk of the vehicle, and what couldn’t hold were tossed into the back seat. Neji searched through her new clothes for a white, embroidered poncho she was eager to put on. It fit her nicely and she was glad to have something that would cover her ‘breasts’. Sasuke thought she’d had enough practice with the two inches and looked for a pair of threes. He found white, ankle high ‘baller-heeled boots’ with laces and made her wear those. She had a little trouble with them at first but Hinata helped her practice in the parking lot for a few minutes until she was able to walk on her own.

“Ready?” Sasuke asked and extended an elbow for Neji to wrap her arm around and she accepted it graciously to use as a crutch to help maintain her balance should she stumble. Naruto took his girl by the hand and both couples headed back inside the crowded mall towards an even more crowded food court. Naruto’s keen, turquoise eyes scanned the many signs, looking for the familiar letters that spelled ‘ramen’. He was sorely disappointed when he didn’t see them but a familiar yellow ‘M’ caught his eye and he made a beeline towards the McDonald’s stall.

When they got up to the register he began to prattle off a large order and everyone else was under the impression that he took the initiative to order for them, that was, until he stopped speaking, turned to face the group and asked “What are you guys having?”

“Jeez Naruto, you’re not going to eat all of that are you?” Sasuke asked in disbelief.

“Hmph, why don’t you just take a syringe and inject the grease into your arteries?” was Neji’s snide remark but she knew she was only being a hypocrite since she was really looking forward to sinking her teeth into a cheeseburger.

“Just you guys wait,” Naruto said, taking it up as a dare. “You’re in for a real treat.”

Sasuke didn’t think sitting and watching Uzumaki stuff his fat, empty head with fast-food was viewer-worthy but he soon changed his tune once they were seated and he was subjected to the astonishing sight of Naruto shoveling french-fries into his mouth between bites of hamburgers and gulps of soda.

“Twenty dollars says he doesn’t finish it all,” Sasuke challenged his lover and Neji made a face when she looked at the many foods strewn before him.

“Twenty dollars says he gets indigestion,” was her gamble but after he polished off his boxes then proceeded to pick at some of Hinata’s meal they realized that they’d both lost.

“How can you eat so much?” Neji asked in a mixture between awe and revulsion as she handed him the remains of her onion rings. The little scientist in her was experimenting with his bottomless, cast-iron stomach to see how much he could consume before it finally became full and the little devil in her wanted to see if she could give him some kind of stomach ailment.

Naruto shrugged and popped two rings into his mouth. “I only had a light breakfast this morning so I’m really hungry,” was his simple reply. It made a lot of sense since they’d spent the majority of their day here and it was already a few hours before sunset, so between his first meal and now, Sasuke assumed he must have been starving. “You know, we should come back here tomorrow morning. They have a wicked breakfast menu, provided they have the same things here as they have back home.”

“Yeah, everything’s pretty much the same,” Sasuke said with a nod and dragged Neji’s legs into his lap so he could affectionately caress her knees and thighs.

“Great…Hey, what do you guys call MacDonalds here in Japan?”

“Makudonarudo,” the three natives said in unison.

“Maka-donu-wha?” he asked them to repeat it and leaned closer so he could listen more carefully.

Hinata giggled as Sasuke broke it down for him and had to do so a maximum of six times before he got the enunciation correct. Impressed that he’d learned a new Japanese word, Naruto sought the need to keep repeating over and over…and over again until Sasuke had enough and threw a ketchup packet at his head and he barely had enough time to bring his arms up to protect himself.

“Damn Sasuke, do you always have to be so abusive?” he laughed. “Neji, I hope he isn’t beating on you.”

She was sorely tempted to tell him about that morning when she was doled out her ‘punishment’ for the things she and Naruto did to Orochimaru’s and Hatsumomo’s residences the night before, and she would have told him if Hinata wasn’t here. “No. Sasuke may seem like a bully but underneath that brutish exterior he’s really just a harmless teddy bear,” she said in a child-like manner and stretched out a hand to stroke his hair.

“Let’s keep that between us shall we? I have a reputation to protect,” he joked and took Neji’s hand in his so he could plant a kiss on her fingers.

“Umm…Naruto, what the hell are you doing?” Neji asked, her face screwed up with disgust as she watched the teenager sucking from the little white bag that dangled between his lips.

“Hmm?” he replied innocently as if drinking an entire packet of ketchup was not an odd thing to be caught doing.

“That’s disgusting!”

“What? It’s just ketchup.”

“Yeah, but you don’t just eat it out of the pack like that.”

“So what? Eating it plain or putting it on chips, it’s the same thing Hyuuga…and I thought you were the smarter one,” and he stuck out his tongue that was still slightly coated with the red paste.

Neji put up her hands in defeat. The idiot would only end up causing her to lose her temper and lose face by bringing him down to his level and beating her with experience.

“Here,” Sasuke tossed him another bag of ketchup and dropped a few yen in the middle of the table. Neji and Hinata were curious as to the meaning of it but Naruto’s eyes lit up and a large grin split his tanned cheeks.

It had been a while since they’d played this game.

Naruto locked eyes with the instigator and he didn’t look away, blinking only when he had to as he tore off one corner of the white bag, brought the opening to his mouth and drank from it as easily as he’d done the first. Once it was empty he showed it to the other boy for validation then pocketed the loose change on the table and it was only then did the others understand what was going on.

“Sasuke, don’t encourage him,” Neji tsked just as Naruto threw a bag across the table and dropped a few coins where Sasuke had placed his.

He did the same and had no trouble downing its entire content and Neji stared, dumbstruck, when he tossed it aside as if it were nothing, completely flat as if nothing were in it to begin with. “I can’t believe you two,” she chuckled with a shake of her head as Sasuke retrieved his winnings and set-up for round two. He took his cup and removed the cover to see that most of the ice had melted already, he then took the salt shaker in hand and sifted a generous amount into the soda and stirred it with the straw before handing it to Naruto to drink.

If there was any history of high-blood pressure in his family then Neji half-expected him to fall out of his chair and collapse to the floor in a lifeless heap but there was no time to issue a surgeon general’s warning anyway because he’d finished the entire thing in one gulp.

Naruto gagged and Hinata rubbed his back while he hacked all over the table and Sasuke tried his hardest not to laugh because if he did Naruto would only retaliate by daring him to consume something unreasonably gross, like gum he found stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

It was his turn now and he copied the Uchiha’s recipie, only because he wanted to put him through the same suffering he just endured but he added a slight twist this time and dumped his favourite condiment into the mix.

“Oh God!” Neji clapped one hand over her mouth and tried to keep her lunch down while he stirred the concoction with his straw.

“Naruto-kun…” Hinata started, but didn’t try to talk him out of it even though she thought what he was doing was a bit unwarranted and she really felt sorry for Uchiha-sama.

Sasuke reached out to take the cup like it was nothing but before he could pull it towards him, Naruto snatched it out of his hand. “Wait,” he said at the last minute and opened another bag of ketchup. “I’m not done yet.”

“Come on Naruto, you’re going overboard,” he protested but Naruto shook his head.

“I didn’t put the money on the table yet,” he argued after emptying the bag and stirring again. “So it’s still my turn.”

Those were their rules and Sasuke could not contest them so he clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth and told the boy to ‘do his worst’ and no sooner had those words slipped out of his mouth did he regret saying them. He was going to stop at the second packet of ketchup, really he was, but Sasuke’s arrogance always brought out the most stubborn part of him and Naruto worked hard to create the most unedible, most undrinkable potion he ever made.

Neji and Hinata sat helplessly, pleading and interceding on Sasuke’s behalf for him to stop already and everytime he added something new Hinata would cover her mouth and Neji would groan as if she were ill. A few curious eyes were now on their table because of the commotion but the only eyes Naruto was interested in were Sasuke’s. He wanted to see apprehension, disgust even the slightest hint of reluctance but the Uchiha’s expression remained indurate, save for the glittering amusement in his eyes and the tiny smirk that tugged at one corner of his mouth.

Ingredients were limited, much to everyone’s relief but the blonde worked well with what he had and after he was convinced that there was no way not even a participant on Fear Factor would drink this he handed it over to Sasuke and slapped a large sum of money on the table. It was only fair to bet such an amount because of the type of beverage it was and he was sure his money was safe because he knew Sasuke wasn’t going to drink it.

Neji moved her legs out of his lap so she could sit up and watch to see if he was really going to do it and Hinata didn’t want to look but couldn’t tear her eyes away.

“Holy shit!” Sasuke exclaimed when he took a whiff of the substance and Naruto pointed and laughed at the repulsed, yet comical, look on his face. Sasuke had a tried and true strategy for winning these games. Never look at what he was eating. But he broke that credo when he took a glance into the cup and his countenance became one that could only be described as ‘what the fuck’?

Sasuke couldn’t believe that Naruto had made, what was probably a highly radioactive material, from common items he found on this very table and even though he had sat there and watched him put it all together he could never have fathomed that it would end up looking like something a camel shat out. He really thought he was going to throw up then and there, and the half-eaten pickle that was floating on top of the thick liquid did nothing to ease the queasiness in his stomach.

They had another house rule; ‘No holding your nose’ and Sasuke wanted to slap himself silly for ever agreeing to it in the first place.

He closed his eyes and blocked everything out: Neji’s horrified look, Hinata’s nauseated expression, Naruto’s over-confident grin and the stares of patrons at nearby tables. The one thing he wished he could ignore was the smell and with his eyes closed it only seemed to amplify his other senses and his mind reeled within the darkness. Sasuke brought it closer to his lips and heard his lover groan, he opened his mouth and tried not to breathe as he tilted his head back and let everything slide down his tongue. Pickle and all.

His throat convulsed in protest to the taste, and his stomach went on strike because it didn’t want to digest the slop, but Sasuke’s will-power (and pride) took precedence over his body’s demands and his stomach lurched as if his fluids huddled to one side to avoid substance from landing in it.

He slammed the cup on the table and squeezed it tightly while gritting his teeth and forcing everything to stay inside. The light applause and good-natured cheering was a bit premature since Naruto’s round wasn’t quite over yet. After consumption there was a waiting period in which the victim had thirty seconds to hold it in and if he tossed his cookies before the time was up then he automatically lost and once that time was up then he was free to throw up all over Naruto’s shoes if he wanted.

This was quite easily the longest thirty-seconds Sasuke had ever endured and those three little words ‘Okay, time’s up’ made up the sweetest phrase he’d ever heard in the English language before he jumped up from his chair and ran into the men’s room. Neji got up to follow him, leaving behind a hysterical Uzumaki and her worried cousin and when she was met with a disapproving stare from a man that had just emerged from the men’s room did she remember that men’s rooms were now off-limits to her.

She could hear her boyfriend retching loudly from behind the door and she frowned, helpless to go in and comfort him and she supposed, even though she had her ‘freedom’ there were still some limitations that she would have to abide by.

She waited patiently by the door for the better part of five minutes and was about to go in, everyone else be damned, just as the door swung open and Sasuke stepped out. He was unnaturally pale and his face was damp with water from washing it. His eyes were listless and appeared sickly and if they ever saw another slice of pickle it would be much too soon.

“Tch, aww. Poor baby,” Neji cooed and wrapped one arm around his waist then dragged his over her shoulder and walked him back to their table where Naruto was making Hinata blush by whispering and nuzzling against her ear.

“You okay, Sasuke?” the boy asked even though it was pretty obvious Sasuke was anything but okay. In fact, he felt like he wanted to throw up again but kept it down because regurgitating was not an experience he wanted to relive any time soon.

“Yeah,” he rasped, his voice rubbing against his tender throat like sandpaper, as he collected his winnings.

”Okay, it’s your turn now,” Naruto said excitedly.

“What!” Neji exclaimed with outrage. “I can’t believe you two are still playing this stupid game. You almost poisoned Sasuke.”

“It’s not a stupid game,” the Uchiha managed in their defense and snatched Neji’s container of her garden salad left-overs. “This is a man’s game.”

“It’s juvenile, that’s what it is,” she frowned and as much as she didn’t want to come across as a nag, Neji was very worried about him. What if Naruto won this round and his next concoction put Sasuke in the hospital?

He sent her a sly look, one that told her not to get worked up over it and that he had a plan. Naruto didn’t like that look.

He sat there waiting to see what his friend was going to add to the plain salad to ‘grossify’ (his word) it, but when he dropped his bet on the table and leaned back in his chair to wait for the results, Naruto knew that this was it.

For some reason, the blonde had no problem with vegetables as long as they were served with something else, but once they were chopped up, tossed together and served on their own, they became the most unappetizing meal he’d ever had the displeasure of eating.

Sasuke didn’t pervert the already distasteful lunch by adding ketchup, or any other condiment for that matter, and Neji hadn’t even put salad-dressing on it and the thought of anyone eating raw vegetables, no matter how fresh, or how good they were for you, made his insides churn. “Okay, you win,” Naruto pushed the salad far from him and muttered quietly, afraid that if he opened his mouth too wide something green and leafy would jump inside of it. “We should probably head back now. You don’t look too good Sasuke,” he said in an attempt to shift the attention from his humiliating defeat and over to his somewhat ill friend but that still didn’t stop Neji from teasing him for most of the ride back home and now Sasuke had a headache on top of his stomachache.

Their sarcastic insults had become a full-blown argument and neither of the two noticed when Sasuke abandoned them downstairs to trudge wearily up the steps. He was too drained to mediate their conflict right now and his throat hurt too much to tell them to shut the fuck up. Their voices escalated to the second floor and he quickly sought out the solitude of his bedroom.

His tired body dropped to the bed and it was even too much of a hassle to kick his shoes off so he left them on as he climbed onto the mattress. There was a soft knock at the door that echoed loudly inside of his head and he bade them enter, praying, for his friend’s sake that they weren’t planning on bringing there argument in here.

It was Hinata. She had been very concerned about his health from the moment her returned from the men’s washroom and seeing his pale face, mottled with perspiration from the rear view mirror she hoped his condition hadn’t worsened.

“Uchiha-sama?” she peeked from behind the door, cautious about intruding within his personal domain.

“Mmm?” he hated that he had to be so curt with her but forming words with his lips and sounds with his voice was suddenly the most tedious task he could make his body perform.

“I, I’m sorry to bother you but…are you alright?”

He sighed and rolled over onto his back so he could look at the girl with fatigued, black eyes and Sasuke shook his head. “To be honest, I’m not feeling very well.”

The girl frowned but her knitted brows and disturbed expression did not subtract from her natural beauty. She took a brave step into the dark room, leaving the warm illumination of the hallway behind as she stepped closer to the bed and kneeled next to it. “Uchiha-sama please get well soon. Nii-chan will be so unhappy if you become ill…and…she will hate Naruto-kun for being the one responsible.”

A low ‘hn’ hummed within his throat but it wasn’t used in a condescending manner this time, and if he could, Sasuke would have smiled down at her.

He lifted a very heavy hand to stroke one side of her cheek and he marveled at how silky-soft her hair was. There was so much compassion in those large, violet eyes and he was willing to do, or say, anything in that moment to put all her fears to rest. Hinata leaned into the hand that cupped her face and noticed that his fingers were slightly cold against her warm skin. She didn’t pull away but instead, took that hand into hers so she could share her body heat and as their eyes gazed deeply into each other, Sasuke finally came to see her as a little sister.

“I’m fine Hinata-chan,” and he forced a smile then, just for her. “I just feel as if I drank a gallon of spoiled milk, that’s all. And Neji would never hate Naruto, but if she ever says she does I’ll make sure to change her mind,” and he reassured her by giving her hands a light squeeze.

That made her smile as well and she leaned over to throw her arms around his neck and lay a sisterly kiss on his forehead. “Can I do anything for you, Uchiha-sama?”

He nodded twice. “Yes. Could you please stop calling me that? I’m your cousin’s boyfriend, and you’re my best friend’s girl. There’s no need for you to remain so formal because of my status.”

Her decorum advised against it but this was a request from someone of great nobility and as disrespectful as she thought it was she could not dishonor it. The girl nodded, “O-okay, Uchi- Sasuke-san.”

“ –kun.”

“Okay…Sasuke-kun.”

She remained by his bed side and although he would have preferred to be alone he did not send her away. She removed his shoes, wiped his forehead and rubbed his hands in hers, tending to his every silent need while she waited for him to doze off but it was Hinata who first succumbed to sleep and Sasuke pulled her onto the bed so she would be more comfortable.

She was adorably cute and her features were so ethereal that he was sure Heaven had not accounted for one angel. Neji was beautiful too, there was no denying it, but hers was better described as alluring while Hinata’s was more cherubic.

The sandman visited the Uchiha a few minutes after he made sure the little Hyuuga had safely traverse into dream-land and a few more minutes after Sasuke was having dreams of his own, Naruto and Neji finally buried their hatchets and found their loved ones resting peacefully on the bed. It was truly a sight to behold and one of those moments that made you went ‘Aww’, and Naruto didn’t fight the urge to do so but he was silenced by a sharp ‘Shh’ from the girl next to him.

It wouldn’t be right to disturb them, so instead of taking Hinata into the next room, Naruto kicked off his shoes and crawled onto the bed behind her, possessively throwing one arm around her waist and Neji did the same, placing her hand over Sasuke’s chest and nuzzling her head into the crook of his shoulder to use it like a pillow.

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