Year of the Tiger: Perambulate

[flypaw]

Word Count: 1278
Summary: If Rosaline had accepted Romeo, then Juliet would have never known him. As Naruto's hand is forced, he never knows what could have been... but since when is 'Paris' so bad anyway?
World Status: AU
Pairings: Itachi x Naruto

 

Perambulate.

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(To Stroll; to Walk Through or Over)

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19/01/10

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Naruto was in an arranged marriage, courtesy of Daddy Dearest. He sat in his room, hands gripping his head and blond hair spilling from between his fingers. Sixteen and in an arranged marriage so his father could get more money, more power and one up on everyone else. It was just how he worked, planning everything so that Naruto did everything for his money.

Tsunade bustled in, whipping the cutrains shut and pulling back the bed covers.

"Bed. Now."

She was furious, apparently, but Naruto wasn't sure why she was so angry.

"How dare he do that to you? He agreed you could marry who you loved. He promised your mother-"

"She's dead. He doesn't owe her anything." Tsunade fell silent. She paused in her fussing and stared at Naruto.

"Well, be that as it might, you could do a lot worse. The one you're being married off to isn't that much older and I've heard he's a respectable man."

Naruto snorted. "Respectable, sure. To the public face. What happens when we're alone and he ignores me, rapes me or something."

Tsunade tutted and returned to preparing Naruto's room for bedtime. She was silent until a huge sigh left her lungs and she sat down on the bed.

"Naruto, come here. You'll meet him later today, at the party. Maybe he's not that bad, but how will you know if you don't give him a chance? Who else would there be?"

Naruto avoided Tsunade's eyes, knowing she was right. He didn't have a choice, he had to marry this random stranger. No prince charming was going to show up at the foot of his window, praise him and kiss him like in stories.

"The ball is tomorrow. You'll meet him there."

Tsunade left, kissing her charge on the forehead as she did. Naruto lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. Covers pooled around his legs as he pushed them down, while he watched shadows play on the plaster.

Naruto was scared. He had always known he'd be married off someday and had accepted it, but he was sixteen. Hardly an age in which he had thought he'd be striding to an altar and pledging vows to some man who would benefit his father.

Well, he would find out at the masquerade ball tomorrow night. Naruto would be introduced to his new husband and they would live (un)happily ever after.

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Underneath the feathers and glitter, Naruto shifted uncomfortably. Usually he would be meeting and greeting, chatting and laughing like every other person here, except today he was stuck behind a curtain, just off of the dance floor, waiting for his father to return with his new father-in-law and fiancé.

"I'm so sorry," a voice broke the quiet and Naruto's head snapped up to see a man draped in black cloth, eyes glimmering from a purple and deep scarlet mask.

"Don't worry," Naruto replied, wondering how the man had come across him here.

"I was just looking for a toilet and accidentally got lost." A pause and then, "I don't suppose you know the way back to the masquerade do you?"

Naruto looked around him, trying to judge where in relation to the main floor he was. It took a few seconds, in which the man had stepped close enough that he was brushing Naruto's arm. Hairs tingled in response to body hear and Naruto looked directly into the man's eyes as he spoke.

"That way," his arm pointed out. "Follow through the curtains and make sure you're not seen."

The man leant in, brushing against Naruto's lips swiftly and softly. Before he reflexively drew back, Naruto allowed the kiss, nerve endings screaming in joy. Then the man was gone in a whip of black cloth and curtains rustling gently as the only infication he had ever been there.

Naruto waited thirty more minutes before his father and father-in-law joined him, the mysterious betrothed absent, much to the father-in-law's embarrassment. Naruto didn't notice it too much, he was far too enamoured with the kiss.

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There was no romantic seranade, no white doves flying up to deliver equally white roses and no midnight romps with the mysterious man from before. Naruto spent his days inside, looking out onto the veranda and watching the lovebirds pair off, the swans circle the lake together and even the squirrels chitter to partners. It was sickening to someone who was forced into a marriage.

"It's time to get up and go."

Tsunade held out a hanger, on which was a classic tuxedo, for the formal dinner he was about to have with his future family and important people.

"Fine."

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Naruto could see a dark head he couldn't recognise amongst the guests and it startled him. Everyone from his father to Tsunade had drilled everyone who would be at the dinner, from the youngest kid who was put to bed three hours ago to the oldest, richest client his father had invested in.

Except this one man. Presumably he was the dreaded future husband as he was the only one rude enough not to introduce himself thus far, and it wasn't long before Naruto found himself glaring over the silverware at him.

His hair was ridiculously long for one thing, and he had girly features. Well, they were most definitely masculine, but there was a delicate grace to his bone structure and no man had eyelashes that thick. Maybe he was some sort of freak?

"I propose a toast," Naruto looked up as his father stood, at the head of the table and far away. His voice carried in the room, though, as it had been planned. "To my son and his future husband!"

Everyone drank and cheered, as they were supposed to. The man opposite him (his husband, not man) hadn't even looked up during the meal and it was starting to grain on Naruto's last nerves. Sure they were forced into it, but the prick could at least be a little considerate for him. It's not like Naruto had plotted this all out.

After the dinner, the guests moved to one of the entertainment chambers for light tarts and chocolates during their conversations. A dance would be held later, once meals had gone down, but Naruto found himself left with mysterious husband. Alone.

"Um... hi," he began awkwardly.

Finally the man looked at him. He took one step closer to Naruto, who remained still, and brought a hand up to rest on Naruto's shoulder.

"I apologise if I have offended you this evening. I'm in the dog house with my father for my behaviour the other night and I did not wish to provoke... a response before we were alone."

There was something familiar about this man. In the way that he spoke and the way Naruto's shoulder tingled, he was sure they had met before.

"Perhaps you'll forgive me..."

Everything connected when they kissed and Naruto was brought back to the ball, curtains draped around them and the man cloaked in black. He hadn't been rude that night, instead he had shown up on his own terms. They pulled apart and Naruto smiled.

"Naruto," he kissed one cheek as an introduction.

"Itachi," the other cheek was kissed and their hands curled together.

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Tsunade cried at the ceremony. Naruto nearly cried, but he was too taken with Itachi's promises for later, involving a silk bedspread and a tongue Naruto knew to be talented.

When he woke the following morning, Naruto smiled. Itachi was still sleeping, his chest rising and falling slowly. Watching sunbeams highlight the contours of Itachi's chest was a new favourite past time, Naruto decided.

Perhaps it wasn't so bad to settle for an arrangement. There hadn't exactly been romantic trysts and a secret, but they had made it special in their own way.

Itachi stirred and opened his eyes to see Naruto smilling, a routine that would continue for the rest of their lives.

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