The Agreement

The Agreement

Chapter 6: Wedding Day

Sasuke felt like he was watching a ping-pong match as Naruto bounced back and forth inside one of the rooms at the Hyuuga compound while the two of them waited for the final preparations for the wedding. The two of them were separated from everything else so they didn’t accidentally see the brides before the wedding. It was all rather foolish to Sasuke, but he knew that Naruto was taking all the marriage superstitions seriously. Honestly. What was the big deal if a groom saw the bride before the wedding? Even so, Sasuke was trying to act as though he cared for Naruto’s sake.

Even so, Sasuke wished that Naruto didn’t believe the particular superstition of seeing the bride before the wedding so that way Naruto could get out of the room since he was not doing well cooped up. Sasuke’s eyes continued to dart back and forth across the room as he watched Naruto’s ceaseless pacing.

"I'm getting married. I'm getting married," Naruto chanted, pacing back and forth quickly, repeating his phrase over and over again. Naruto was showing an unusual amount of nerves instead of his normal overly cocky, ‘I can do anything’ attitude.

"Naruto," Sasuke said softly, and Naruto practically jumped as though he had forgotten Sasuke was there.

"What?" Naruto asked anxiously, looking around as though Sasuke were going to tell him that he had forgotten to do something.

"Sit down," Sasuke demanded, pointing a finger at a chair. Naruto did as he was told, still wringing his hands back and forth while Sasuke continued to lean carelessly against the back of a wall.

"How are you so calm?" Naruto muttered. "We're about to get married. Our lives will change forever!" Naruto said now relentlessly smoothing the fabric of his black pants. It was then that Sasuke saw that Naruto's hands were even sweating in his anxiety. Sasuke frowned at Naruto.

"This isn't like you dobe. What's the matter? You've wanted to marry Sakura for ages," Sasuke said, resisting the urge to turn his face away from Naruto as he mentioned Naruto's desire to marry Sakura. He half hoped that Naruto wanted to back out, but the other half wanted to go through with what they were planning. It would be all well and dandy if Naruto confessed that he really wanted to be with Sasuke for the rest of his life (which Sasuke sincerely doubted was the case at the moment), but if Naruto were backing out from marrying Sakura, there was still the problem that he was going to have to still go through with marrying Hinata – or call his wedding off too. He did not imagine the Hyuuga family would take too kindly with practically leaving Hinata at the altar. And even if she decided to leave him at the altar, he didn't think his ego would take to that too kindly either.

"I-I don't think I can do this," Naruto muttered, putting his head between his knees. "I don't know how to be a good husband for Sakura. I don't know what a family is supposed to be like," Naruto's voice came out slightly muffled as he spoke to the floor. Sasuke sighed.

"Naruto, you know better than anyone else what it takes to be a good husband," Sasuke said firmly. Naruto looked up at him, as though he was going to reveal a hidden talent that he didn't know that he had. "You take care of your precious people, and you know your own worth to those who you care about," Sasuke said.

"Wow. You gave me a compliment without calling me a dobe, baka, dunce, or anything else mean," Naruto said actually surprised, his eyes almost comically wide in his surprise. Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Dobe," Sasuke hissed out the word. He loved Naruto, truly he did, but there were still some things that made Sasuke want to strangle Naruto. Then again, tying him up and doing other masochistic things to Naruto when his friend irked him might be fun too.

"And thanks," Naruto said, sighing, rubbing the back of his head. "I know the comment must be true if you said it Sasuke," Naruto said, grinning at him. Sasuke couldn't help but give him a small smile back. It felt good to know that it only took a few of his words to calm Naruto. He was sure Sakura could give the blond no such reassurances.

Still, Naruto kept relentlessly rubbing his hands on his pants as though having nothing better to do with them. Sasuke moved away from his cool looking pose against the wall, walked over to where Naruto sat, and placed his hands firmly overtop of Naruto's hands to make them stop moving.

"It will be fine," Sasuke said again soothingly. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just my hands keep sweating. Can't help it," Naruto grumbled. "This suit is way too hot," Naruto elaborated. Sasuke gave a curt nod. It was hot in the tuxedo, Sasuke mused. He and Naruto really should have pushed harder to wear their normal shinobi clothing.

Naruto finally stopped wiping his hands on his pants, but then his foot began to practically shake with how fast he was bouncing it. Sasuke shot him an exasperated look, but said nothing. He wasn't angry at Naruto for feeling restless, but he felt annoyed that he wasn't able to console his friend as quickly as he had thought he had.

"If you need anything, you know I'm here," Sasuke said quietly, and Naruto's bouncing foot stopped abruptly. He looked at Sasuke, really looked at him. Slowly, Naruto began to smile.

"Yeah, I know," Naruto said, and his body finally stilled. "You know what I regret most right now?" Naruto asked Sasuke. Sasuke turned to Naruto, looking at him intensely. What could Naruto possibly regret?

"What?" Sasuke asked, hardly able to suppress his curiosity.

“I wish we'd had a bigger bachelor party.” Sasuke’s eye nearly twitched at the strange revelation. “Last night with just you, me, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Yamato-sensei, Sai, and all the males from the original rookie nine and Gai's group kinda sucked. We could have at least tried to invite Gaara and Kankorou,” Naruto sighed. Sasuke's eye did twitch.

"I thought you said watching Neji defeat Shino in their drunken and stupid fight was the funniest thing that you'd ever seen," Sasuke said, trying to forget the bachelor party that had happened. The “highlight” of the night had been Shino and Neji’s fight, and even Naruto didn’t know the real reason why that had occurred. A bunch of guys hanging out, drinking and talking was not Sasuke's idea of fun, and it had caused a few problems that Naruto had been unaware had popped up.

"Hahahaha...oh yeah! That was good. Who knew that bugs could get drunk too?"

"I guess it makes sense that if Shino has a little bit to drink, then just that little bit will affect the ability of his bugs," Sasuke said. That would have been a somewhat funny match to watch if Sasuke hadn’t known the cause of the argument. Neji had been extremely drunk, and while Shino had only had a little bit to drink, it appeared that even just that small amount in his bloodstream affected his bugs. The bugs, after all, were much smaller. It clearly took a lot less alcohol to get bugs drunk.

The fight had actually been indirectly started through a series of events, the first starting with what Sasuke could only deduce had been a poorly concocted (not to mention drunkenly stupid) plan on Neji’s part. Neji had attempted to offer Sasuke drink after to drink to “congratulate” him on marrying his cousin in order to try and get Sasuke drunk. Needless to say Sasuke could see what types of problems would arise if he were to drink, and thus Neji’s “plan” had failed. Sasuke knew better than to accept any drink from Neji. Neji was not happy that Sasuke was marrying into the Hyuuga clan, and Sasuke recognized Neji’s drunken, hashed together plan to get him drunk. If the two of them were to fight on the eve of the wedding, then it would be dishonorable for Sasuke to marry Hinata. Sasuke point blank refused to take anything from Neji, and instead watched bemusedly as Neji was forced to drink the few glasses of alcohol he initially offered to Sasuke. Five glasses in addition to whatever Neji had had before ended up getting him quite smashed. Talk about not handling alcohol well.

Sasuke had watched Neji sulk miserably for a time before things really went down hill when Shino had engaged Neji in discussion about Hinata’s wedding. It had led to their “comical” fight.

Naruto, of course, was unaware of what had sparked the confrontation between Neji and Shino. Naruto assumed that it had just been a friendly (or perhaps, drunken) spar. Sasuke knew better. Shino, clearly jealous that Hinata was getting married, had made a comment about how Naruto wasn't good enough to even be attending Hinata's wedding, let alone being married at the same time.

Neji hadn't taken kindly to this. Sasuke was almost positive that Neji had been trying to get Sasuke to fight with him to at least stop Hinata from marrying him. With Neji’s frustration of not engaging in a fight, and his obvious inability to handle alcohol, Neji had snapped. Sasuke had a feeling that it was due to jealousy that Shino had made the comment about Naruto. Naruto had never taken much interest in Shino, and Sasuke had a feeling that the fact that Hinata had liked Naruto for so long without giving Shino, her own teammate, a second thought had bothered him greatly. Shino probably had feelings for Hinata, but Sasuke was slightly surprised that Shino was bashing Naruto. Sasuke wasn't quite sure why Shino hadn't said anything negative about him. He was marrying Hinata, not Naruto. It struck him as odd that Shino would verbally attack Naruto instead of himself. Then again, Shino probably had said something negative about him earlier, but just had not said anything within his hearing range.

Neji had taken great offense to Shino’s comment. He was still showing how much he wanted Naruto to marry his cousin rather than Sasuke, and despite not having Lee’s great drunken fist style Neji had managed to beat up Shino quite effectively.

Sasuke, of course, thought that Shino deserved it. He had insulted Naruto after all. No one was allowed to do that but him.

Sasuke shook his head. He regretted that they had even had a party.

"Other than that, any regrets?" Sasuke asked, pushing the unpleasant incident from his mind.

"Nope!" Naruto exclaimed jovially. "You and I are going to make today the happiest day of our lives!" Naruto said, suddenly remembering that his wedding was supposed to be a happy event. His nerves forgotten, he stood up and shot his fist into the air. "Yosh! Let’s get this wedding going!"

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


Sasuke and Naruto walked down the wide aisle, Naruto first with Hanabi on his arm. Sasuke couldn't help but noticed the somewhat smug look on Neji’s face at seeing Hanabi on Naruto's arm, as though this signified he'd be marrying into the Hyuuga family. Sasuke hoped Neji had a killer hangover.

Still, even Sasuke could tell that Neji wasn’t the only one non-too thrilled that Sasuke was marrying Hinata.

With the way that Ino was clutching to his arm, it felt as though she believed that he'd be marrying her later on. He sighed. In all reality, he wasn't that upset with Ino and her attempts to get his attention. From what Shikamaru had told him, the last words Asuma had said to Ino before passing away had been to make sure that she beat Sakura to win his heart. He supposed she was trying to drag out the fact that she was at least the one on his arm as he walked down the aisle instead of Sakura. It was honorable to an extent to help fulfill Asuma's dying request, even if Ino was really beginning to annoy him.

Sasuke redirected his attentions from Ino to Naruto. Naruto's nervousness from earlier was completely gone. Naruto stopped in front of the altar, Sasuke stopping next to him shortly after. Both Hanabi and Ino let go of their arms and stood off to the side in preparation for the two brides to arrive. Sasuke hardly noticed as the two brides walked down the aisle, instead watching Naruto as his face radiated happiness and joy as he looked at Sakura. Sasuke did his best not to scowl as his jealousy roared upon seeing Naruto so happy just gazing upon Sakura. Sasuke was sure that Naruto was drinking in the sight of Sakura in her wedding dress, but Sasuke didn’t bother to look at Sakura at all. Instead, he averted his attention forward and noticed Hinata smiling at him shyly.

Hinata really did look quite nice for a woman, and Sasuke was somehow relieved to feel that his family would have been at least pleased with his choice of a bride, even if his efforts were all to marry another man. Still, Hinata would be the surrogate mother of his and Naruto's children, and he was quite pleased with his choice. Sasuke finally allowed a small smile to grace his lips as he imagined Naruto's indignant response to "choosing" someone as a spouse for non-romantic reasons, rather than to be in love.

Sasuke was only partially listening to the details as the holy man or monk or whatever he was recited the standard vows as per tradition. Sasuke’s mind was on other things, and he was concerned whether or not there would be any attacks at such a politically binding union. With all the arguing they had had to allow Naruto to carry weapons, he almost hoped that there was an attack to rub it in Sakura's face. Sasuke glanced over to where Hyuuga Hiashi and Neji were standing side by side and saw them watching him. He knew that Neji was quite hell bent on having Hinata marry Naruto, but he wasn't sure how strongly Hiashi wanted Naruto to marry Hinata. Hiashi had made it clear when Sasuke had asked for her hand in marriage that he would have preferred Naruto over him, but he had also agreed to let him marry Hinata. Sasuke knew Hiashi would have refused if he had had any issues with him.

Still, with the way that Neji was smirking, and the way that Hiashi seemed to have set his face in such a disconcertingly unemotional mask, Sasuke wondered if at least Neji wasn't up to something that Hiashi knew about. An uneasy feeling began to grow in the pit of his stomach, and Sasuke was only dimly aware that the monk was just about to ask whether or not anyone objected to the union of their marriage when it happened.

Sasuke's body went rigid as he could feel the sudden bursts of chakra before he saw them. At least 100 ninjas appeared on the rooftops facing the inside of the Hyuuga complex, and Sasuke activated his sharingan, ready for battle.

He’d been getting bored with the wedding anyway.


Next Chapter: Pathetic Attack For A Surprise Mastermind


Attack! Who’s behind it? Hmm…I wonder. Well, no I don’t. I know. But you might be a little surprised.

And yes, this story will now be updated on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Feel free to leave your e-mail with me if you want me to remind you when there are updates. Let me know what you thought! ~ Jelp