Hello Everyone! Thank you all for your support! The newest chapter is officially up. I hope that you enjoy.

The silence was killing her, she was waiting for him to make the next move to gage his emotions and intentions, but the asshole remained silent. Quietly eating his onigiri and shooting her a sinister smirk intermittently.

"Your house is beautiful." Naruto said quietly, unwilling to bear the silence any longer after the last of her ramen disappeared past her plump pink lips.

"Thanks, do you want dessert?" Sasuke asked casually.

"No, thank you." Was that her voice? It sounded so calm and controlled, when she was anything but. Dessert came at the end of a meal and she was not ready for it to end.

The maids quietly entered the room, gathered their plates, nodded as Sasuke relayed that they would not be having dessert tonight, but they would keep the champagne. Once the maids had finished cleaning the dishes they could go home early if they wished.

"So when did you leave the gang?" Naruto asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. "Question and answer time, dobe?"

Naruto swirled what was left of her champagne, her gaze level. She gazed at him casually. His facial features bore a chiseled look, as if he had been cut straight from marble, and his mouth… her lips tingled as she remembered the touch of his lips as he'd claimed her as his wife, sense the slow sweep of his tongue on her.

"Anything I've heard about you is … gossip. I want to know the truth." Naruto reasoned.

"Will knowing make a difference?" His mocking tone held a cynical edge.

"I'm hoping that it might." Naruto answered honestly.

"What have you heard?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"I heard that you joined the snake gang and that you … walked on the wrong side of the law." Naruto said vaguely, hoping that he'd accept her non-answer.

"The wrong side of the law?" Sasuke said with a snort.

"You don't need to use Disney euphuisms with me dobe. Come on tell me, what have you heard, what do you think that I've done?" The tone was silk-smooth and dangerous.

Naruto studied him carefully, attempting to see beneath the façade. She knew from experience that Sasuke wasn't an open person, he would only allow a chosen few to get close. Naruto took a sip of champagne. "I think that you did whatever was necessary to survive."

Sasuke eyes met hers and she was reminded of the jaguars at the zoo, before they were fed.

"Let's just say I made the decision to walk on the right side of the law." Sasuke said with thinly veiled mockery of her earlier statement.

"Is that all you're going to tell me?"

"For now." Sasuke said, ending the conversation.

Sasuke's life since the moment that he left Naruto in the alleyway had been dark, and he did not want her to know about the details of his actions. He was ashamed of his past actions and he suspected that had it not been for Kakashi he would have gone down a road, where there would be no return. Kakashi had taken his anger and directed it toward oriental combat skills in a back-street dojo that was run by Kakashi's crazy, but remarkable friend, Gai. Kakashi had also pushed Sasuke to return to school, and make something of the raw potential that laid beneath his surface.

"More champagne?" Sasuke asked, breaking the tension.

"No, thanks." Naruto met his gaze and was unable to determine anything from his expression. There was a part of her that wanted the sex part over and done with. Another part of her wanted to fly as far away from Sasuke as she could and hide on a beach somewhere.

Naruto let a slow breath out. How long before he would suggest they go to bed? An hour…less?

"We're to attend a tennis party in a private home at two in the afternoon tomorrow." Sasuke said, drawing Naruto out of her stupor.

"I can leave early and be back by one." Naruto said, mentally going over her schedule.

"Back from where?"

"The bakery, I always help out over the summer. Mom is expecting me, it wouldn't be fair to leave her shorthanded without proper notice." Naruto said.

"I can find someone else to assist Kushina-san, you have no need to work." Sasuke said, taking a sip of his champagne.

"You expect me to sit in this house twiddling my thumbs while I wait for you to come home so I can…service you?" Naruto said, cheeks flushed with rage.

Sasuke let out a dark chuckle.

"Service me? Mmm is that what you'll be doing, dobe? Do I get a catalog of all the tasks that your willing to perform, are going to wear a special outfit? I have a little red lace number that should work, if you're willing." Sasuke eyes twinkled with mirth.

"That's …" Naruto gulped. "I'm just calling it as I see it."

His gaze was unwavering, and it took all her courage not to flinch beneath the silent power emanating from the depths of those dark eyes. The smile that was spreading across his face, could only be described as sinister. "This is turning out better than I could have ever imagined."

"So you intend to enforce conjugal rights?" Naruto asked angrily.

"Did you hope that I wouldn't?"

"Yes!"

"That's your mistake."

"That's –"words failed her, her heart pounded like crazy. "-barbaric."

" For some reason, I doubt that you've experienced the true meaning of the word." Sasuke said, rising up from his chair and approaching the panicked girl across from him.

"You expect me to walk calmly up the stairs with you?" Naruto said, shrinking backwards into her chair.

"You can either walk up on your own two feet, or slung over my shoulder. Take your pick." Sasuke said, running his fingers through Naruto's golden locks and relishing way that she trembled under his touch.

Naruto's heart thundered, she didn't expect for Sasuke to behave like this. She knew that the man standing in front of her was a different from the boy that she knew from her past, but she didn't expect him to enforce the stipulations of the contract so quickly. She thought that Sasuke would give her a few days to …adjust.

"Times up." Sasuke said, jerking Naruto up by her arm and slung her over his shoulder.

"Teme! What the hell! Put me down!"

Good grief, does this mean I have to write a lemon now?

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