Edited by the ever wonderful Kyarei
First day of spring-
I keep thinking about
the end of autumn.
-Basho
It had been over twelve years since they saw each other again for the first time.
Sasuke still remembered the musky smell of his skin, when he buried his head in the crook of his neck while Itachi gave him a piggyback. The smile, he didn't remember quite so well, but their album is full of photographic moments to complete his memory.
Mikoto was extremely excited. It was like she was going to marry again, except without the dress and the guest list. But she had the ring, one that Fugaku gave her about a week ago, when he confessed that his love for her after all didn't completely die and it was a good time to restart a family of strangers. And only three weeks had passed since they met each other again. It was too sudden, Sasuke warned her, but you know how women are. And within two weeks, Mikoto spent more on clothes, hairdressers, manicures and pedicures than in half a year.
Sasuke didn't remember his father at all, but he knew he was somewhat of an authoritarian. His mother used to say that he respected him a lot, but he doesn't remember that. The family pictures gave him the impression that Fugaku was a very sullen man, with lack of motivation or something. Yet never did Sasuke spend enough time looking at his father's pictures as he did looking at his brother's pictures.
And then the bell rang.
Mikoto jumped enthusiastically and ran to the door. Sasuke was also a little nervous (maybe as nervous as her?) but he didn't want it to be noticeable. He preferred to stand still in the middle of the stairs, with his feet glued to the floor, while he watched his mother opening the door anxiously.
Two men, with deadpan expressions, revealed themselves before the entrance, dressed in fine elegance. One of them brought flowers.
"Oh baby, you brought me flowers!"
His mother excitedly accepted the bundle, sniffing intensely the smell of fresh roses.
'Tsk, typical' Sasuke thought. Fugaku brought a huge bundle of red roses, to show how originally romantic he could be. It didn't matter though, Mikoto was ready to forgive him of all the anguished nights he caused her and she would try to make the flowers last as long as she could.
Itachi was…well, recognizable. Even the hairstyle was the same, with his lank hair gathered in a ponytail, now a bit longer than his old pictures. His face had elongated, his jaw line widened and his expression hardened. And being the good observer that Sasuke was, he didn't fail to notice how his black T-shirt enhanced his well formed chest and how the jean fabric clutched perfectly to his groin and ass.
"Sasuke, come down! Come say hello to your father and brother!"
In hesitant steps, he went to the door, slightly bowing his head in a polite introduction. Fugaku let out a brusque laugh and patted his head, disheveling his hair while commenting his physical resemblance with his mother. Sasuke didn't quite understand if he was complimenting him or mocking some feminine trait, but either way he didn't pay him much attention. He was too busy staring at his aged brother, whose expression revealed a sort of emotional detachment. Itachi didn't waste much time scanning Sasuke though, instead he looked like he was trying to get accustomed to Mikoto's presence, glaring at her with falcon eyes, the mother that he hadn't seen for a decade.
Mikoto ordered him to show Itachi to his room, and Sasuke obeyed, a little anxious. There were so many things he wanted to talk about with him – all the little things they didn't share over time – but at the same time he was invaded with an uncomfortable shyness. Itachi kept himself safe in his mute shell, and when they arrived at the room, he just limited himself to put his bag down and scanned the room with his falcon eyes.
"So… you're taking Astronomy huh?"
Itachi looked at him askance, as if the question itself didn't make any sense, and then he turned his back on him and walked slowly towards the window. "Yes." He solemnly replied. There seemed to be something outside that caught his interest, more than staying there making casual conversation with his lost brother.
"Are you going to college here? I didn't know they had Astronomy degrees."
"Apparently, they do." He sighed. He opened the window, and stuck his head outside.
Annoyed, Sasuke let him be in his corner and decided to go back to the other room, with his hands in his pockets. What was with that guy, didn't he feel the slightest bit of curiosity to know him? After all they were brothers. Was he upset that their family was finally together again?
What if he hated him?
That didn't make sense. It wasn't Sasuke's fault that their mother left their father and disappeared with him, without a word. It was her fault – or their father's, for being a chauvinist asshole according to his mother's words – but it wasn't theirs. Itachi should be more than thrilled to see him again. He was supposed to be more than thrilled.
Sasuke had witnessed many odd dinners in his life, the majority of them with the crazy boyfriends his mother managed to choose. He even got to live with a second father for a while, which wasn't exactly a father, just a poor immigrant that his mother married and divorced just to get him the citizenship. He even shared his room with a homeless man, back in the last house they lived in that was literary a cubicle, because his mother felt sorry for him and didn't want him to die in the cold outside during those terrible winter nights.
But this dinner was already proving itself to be the oddest dinner of his life. It was almost surreal, eating at the same table with the man that conceived him and the brother that he barely remembered. Like fragmentary pieces of an old movie, brought together to produce an adulterated reality. The memories he had of his childhood home had pastel colors and joyful laughs, but then again, he only remembered well the trees and the toys – and Itachi's hands, he remembered quite well how his brother used to hold him –, not the people that inhabited the house. And now they were all adults and aged, and the tablecloth was bordeau and the conversations strange. Fugaku asked him a lot of questions: I heard you're the best in your class, am I right? (Yes…) Itachi graduated with the best grade of the entire school, did you know that? (Ah….) What college degree are you thinking of taking? (I don't know…) Itachi is taking Astronomy. (Hn.) I also thought it wasn't a lucrative profession, until he received a letter from someone that works for NASA. You know what NASA is, right?
What bullshit. If that was true, Itachi wouldn't be with them in a nowhere little town in Japan, he would be in America. But for the sake his mother, he decided to play along.
(Yes…) Do you play sports? (Sometimes.) Itachi used to be in the kyudo club, but I don't think that's a man' sport. You like weapons?
"Fugaku!" Mikoto intervened. It was only expected; a man in her humanitarian home asking their son if he liked weapons; it was like an idiot in a Muslim home asking if they liked wine.
It was for this and other reasons that Sasuke didn't understand why they got back together.
"What? It's normal for boys his age being curious about these things." Then, he turned to Sasuke and said: "Tomorrow I'm going to take you to the police station's shooting training grounds and teach you how to shoot. How does that sound, huh? Did your mother already tell you that I was transferred as the chief-director of the police station here?
Funny how Fugaku decided for himself that he should like weapons and should be anxious for their father-son moment to shoot at immobile paper targets. Not that Sasuke wasn't curious of knowing more about his father; quite the contrary, curiosity had always been his under-admitted trait. Still, he feared that their future relationship would end up with him disappointed, or even hurt. His mother never spared Fugaku in criticism against him, painting a portrait of an authoritarian man, a bigot of old-fashioned values. Sasuke wanted to believe he wasn't really like that, or that he wasn't like that anymore, because if he was, his mother would have never accepted him back. But questions and statements like those didn't look very good on him either…
Itachi remained quiet, absorbed in his own world as if everything that existed outside of it wasn't worthy of his attention. Mikoto tried to make conversation with him, but only received half-word answers and a complete indifference for his mother's love, which left her a bit saddened.
That irritated Sasuke. After all, Itachi was like a guest in their house, the least he could do was make an effort to socialize. On the other hand, the thought that Itachi hated them, for leaving him and running away, ravaged his mind and left him a bit disturbed and uncomfortable. Maybe it was just a false feeling. Most likely, Itachi was just annoyed with the fact that he was forced to change from a big cosmopolitan city to live in that rural hole, even though – and this is where the irony begins – they were only fifty miles away.
For such a small town, the police station was really big. They had two questioning rooms, a nice waiting room, and they even had the luxury to own a small kitchen with a cook, instead of food machines like any other normal police station.
'Cops here treat themselves good.' Sasuke thought. He didn't have time to take a better look at the accommodations, since Fugaku walked very fast and he didn't even stop for casual chatting with his men. For many of them, the new guy already bringing his son to the station might have seemed odd, but then again, he was the boss.
The training room was likewise privileged, inclusively having a showcase with a barely modest collection of different models of fire weapons.
"Do you have any preference, son?"
It was strange being called son by him. Though 'son' is a very casual word. 'Dad', however, was a very hard word.
'Anyone that fires.'he would answer, but he opted to try to remember a cool model he could've heard from TV. Mentally he went thought the list of episodes from detective series that he recently saw, trying to recall the name of a cool automatic, but the only one that came to his mind was the .38 that all American cops use.
Yet in the corner of the showcase, he recognized a gun that he once saw in a Japanese movie.
"Is that a nambu?"
Fugaku laughed, in his brusque and hard way of laughing, and picked up the gun to show it to him. "Yes, but unfortunately, it doesn't have any bullets. Pretty, isn't it?"
Well, it wasn't much different from any other pistol, except less sophisticated.
"Itachi doesn't like fire weapons." He said. He looked disappointed, as a father that dreamt for a whole life to bring his son to watch every movie about war and ends up discovering that his son is a pacifist. "He likes kyudo."
Yeah, he already knows. Fugaku must really dislike kyudo.
"It's a pointless hobby, completely outdated. It's like learning to fight against enemies that don't exist anymore, you know?"
Yeah, he didn't like it at all.
Truthfully, Sasuke had never manifested great fascination for any form of fight that only resolved itself with aiming practice, because that wasn't fighting for him. Fighting was boxing, it was man against man, body-to-body, black eyes, broken bones and the smell of blood. That was fighting.
Artificial means like fire weapons and arches eliminated the raw adrenaline within the purpose of fighting, which ended up taking away all the thrill about nature's brutality. Occasionally, he enjoyed watching wrestling combats, even though his mother would always disapprove of it, but he didn't make it a habit. Occasionally, he would also frequent Kakashi's gym, fighting a bit in the ring, but it was only once a week, to release the stress. It wasn't a passion; it was, however, something he could see the art of its purpose.
But not weapons. Or arches.
"Come on, try this one. It's one of my favorites, the sight is almost perfect."
Sasuke took the weapon. It was heavier than he thought. For some reason, television always gave him the idea that guns have air inside.
"Put on the headphones and aim towards that little red circle."
Sasuke sighed and obeyed. Fugaku didn't need to explain to him the concept of "aiming at a target".
He aimed, closed one eye, and shot. Even with the headphones, he almost jumped at the noise. Really, how cops these days don't go deaf…
The hole he made on the paper was pretty far from the red circle. It wasn't that bad, at least he hit inside the bigger circle.
"Don't worry, you only have to get used to the gun sight. You have to figure out its inclination and correct it yourself with your aim. Go on, try again."
The only thing gained after Sasuke managed to hit the red circle, is that it revealed to be a frustrating experience. Unable to figure out what was the "problem" of the first pistol, Fugaku gave him another one, with a longer barrel. But the result was even worst. With that one Sasuke could barely hit the paper. He was beginning to feel bad, because obviously Fugaku was hoping to see some kind of natural gift for gun firing in his son.
Fortunately, things improved with the third pistol, which was smaller and lighter than the other two. It didn't take much time before he hit the red, and by the fifth shot he was almost ripping the red circle out of the paper. Fugaku smiled, proud, and Sasuke couldn't stop himself from smiling too, also proud of himself. Maybe being the son of a man of guns wasn't that bad.
It was suprising when they arrived home and found both Mikoto and Itachi in the kitchen, talking. Well, not really chatting euphorically, but the huge smile on his mother's face showed that they had shared a happy moment while he helped her wash the dishes. It was unbelievable; yesterday Itachi spent the entire day in his room watching the birds outside his window, without ever showing the slightest interest in family contact. The moment Sasuke and Fugaku leave home, he goes to the kitchen to talk with his mom.
It pissed Sasuke off, and he couldn't control the indignation tone in his voice:
"What are you doing?"
Mikoto muffled a giggle and allowed herself to reply first, "Oh, he is just helping me with lunch! I didn't know you could cook so well, Itachi!"
Itachi gave Sasuke a sidelong glance before he put down the dish-cloth on the balcony and stated: "I'm going to read a book while its cooking."
"Yes honey, this will still take a while. It was great the help you gave me!"
Promptly, Itachi left the kitchen, walking by Sasuke without sparing him more glances. What the hell…
Lunch was another odd occasion. Fugaku took the leadership of the topic conversation, commending the police station building and how he could adapt himself better in that place than in his old city. Mikoto commended the seasoning that Itachi made. Fugaku commended her hairstyle and her dress.
Great, he wasn't planning on commending Sasuke's performance in the shooting practice. After all he hit the target. He didn't even talk about their time together. Even greater – rather, annoying – was that Itachi finally decided to intervene in the conversation only to ask:
"So, how was the shooting session?"
Itachi eyed Fugaku, and then dropped his eyes back on his food again. Well, at least it was nice for him wanting to know, even if Sasuke was right now too irritated to care.
"Well…he had some trouble at the beginning. But then he managed, with a .9mm." Fugaku explained. "It seems like it's his gun. It was actually impressive, he hit the red half a dozen times."
Wow, a compliment. He even used the word "impressive".
"Really? How nice!..." Mikoto didn't know if she should be happy to hear Fugaku complimenting her son, or disappointed that Sasuke revealed to be skilled with things that could kill a person.
"Oh. Didn't you used to say that .9mm were women's guns?"
That was completely unnecessary, and Sasuke had no fucking clue why Itachi would say something like that, unless for the sheer pleasure of annoying him. His voice, however, didn't show any trace of sarcasm or mockery, just the revelation of a pure statement. He kept his nonchalant expression, but when Sasuke caught him side-looking at him he showed him that he didn't appreciate his impertinence with a pissed glare.
Fugaku cleared his throat before he replied:
"I didn't mean that. I only said they weren't as heavy as traditional handguns. But it's true that .9mm's are not as easy to manage, it takes some skill. But really, he wasn't that good with the other two…"
"At least I hit the paper." Sasuke groaned, drinking some water.
"Ah… and that's good, right?" Mikoto asked.
"It means that if someday a walking paper card threatens me I can kill it twenty feet away."
Nobody seemed to have caught the sarcasm in his comment, and Fugaku went back to the police station topic. Itachi was, however, looking at him, with a smile hidden between his lips.
Then he looked back at his food again.
His friends wanted to go to the new bar that opened near the town exit. He wasn't very willing to go, but then there wasn't much else to do at home. Itachi had just left after dinner, and his mother was uttering strange noises from the couch living room, where she and Fugaku sat.
In fact, he didn't very much like going out with his friends. They were too different from him. Everybody was different from him. They liked going to parties and going on dates, and Sasuke didn't like dating nor going to parties. That was the major difference. But he would always put on his mask and pretend that he liked it; that he liked having a girlfriend and was interested in hearing Kiba's jokes on sexual topics when inwardly he just wanted him to shut the fuck up.
Pretend. A whole life of pretending, that's what his pathetic existence summed up to. And the only way to keep his sanity in that town was to entertain himself with discreet glances at the other guys' bodies.
He wasn't the only homosexual in town. He knew there were two others, but they didn't show themselves either. Small wonder, in such a conservative town like that it was like asking to be stoned. Not that he actually believed that his friends would be capable of something like that, but he knew a couple of teenage gorillas from the gym that thought violence was the answer to deal with things they didn't agree with, and he was sure they weren't the only ones in town with a one-track mind like that.
But he didn't let it depress him. At the first chance he got, he would get the hell out of that place. He was thinking of applying for college in Tokyo. Or somewhere else. There wasn't the problem of leaving his mother alone anymore, because she found Fugaku. And he would send letters to his mother, saying he loved her very much, because she liked to hear those sorts of things.
"So, what's your brother like?" Naruto asked. He already had a beer in his hand, and they had barely arrived at the bar. Kiba was on his way to finishing his.
"An asshole."
Of all his friends, Naruto was the most tolerable one. He didn't spend hours talking about girls and making sexual jokes. Maybe because he had a girlfriend and, oddly as it seems, they were really in love. On the other hand, Naruto loved videogames too much, and when he bought a new one he started talking about it like there was no tomorrow. He could be more annoying than a noisy fly in your bedroom.
"Really? So you don't get along?"
"I think he talks more with birds than with people."
"So he's, like, messed in the head?
"I don't know. But he's weird."
Of course he omitted the fact that he thought Itachi was extremely attractive, because it didn't matter either, and Naruto would probably be shocked if he heard him say something like that. Sasuke wondered what would be the most shocking part; the fact that he was gay or the fact that his own brother turned him on. He found it hard to understand the incest taboo, since he himself was used to feeling like a taboo in that town, due to his sexual orientation.
"Sasuke, I ordered your usual drink…"
Hinata brought him a glass of whisky that he cordially accepted. Of course they weren't allowed to drink, and no barman of sense would be willing to risk his license by serving alcohol to underage boys, but the same wasn't true for girls. Maybe the center of a male's brain was really located in the groin like Ino used to say, but either way, it worked sending their girlfriends to get the drinks.
Sasuke was kind of happy to get Hinata as a girlfriend. They were the perfect cover, because she wasn't interest in him either. It was a curious story, theirs: she offered to be his pretend girlfriend to give Sasuke a good pretext to visit her house, when he and Neji, one of the few homosexuals in town he knew about, wanted to try some things together. Of sexual nature of course. But things between them died soon, and for some reason, Hinata always remained as his "girlfriend". She was too shy to break up with him, even if their relationship was completely artificial.
"There are no seats left!" Sakura showed up after a general bad inspection, with Kiba and Ino behind her. She enlaced her arm around Naruto's: "This place is completely full!"
"Who cares, we don't need seats." Kiba said. And while he ogled the back view of three giggling girls in mini-skirts, he added: "Music is cool here."
"I don't want to be standing all night!" Ino complained. "If I knew I wouldn't have brought these shoes!"
Sasuke didn't know what she exactly meant with that, since Ino only wore high-heels when they went out for the night, regardless if they were dancing all night or sitting at a table all night. Kiba replied that she was a pain and that she was always complaining every time they went to a new place, and Ino told him that if she was the one picking the places, that wouldn't happen.
While his friends bickered, Sasuke noticed a familiar figure sitting across the room, when a group of college guys moved to the right and cleared his view field. It was Itachi, in a group of three more people. They were occupying two entire sofas, and the only girl in the group was using a stool just for her bag and jacket. What nerve. A lot of people were standing and those idiots had all that space just for themselves.
Wait, what was Itachi doing there? He had already made friends, so soon? No, they were certainly old friends, that possibly came to visit him for a night out. The city wasn't that far, an hour of driving at most.
"What are you looking at?" Sakura asked, and she tried to follow his gaze. Sakura was always like that, very observant, very nosy.
"My brother is here…" He mumbled. Itachi caught him looking at him, and for a moment they made eye contact before he turned his concentration back to his friends.
'Idiot, he ignored me…' He groaned silently. He could've at least waved at him, it would be nice.
"Your brother?" Ino processed that detail pretty quickly, for she was already scrutinizing the room trying to find someone remotely alike to Sasuke. He could tell she was excited, after all she had once tried occupying the place of his "girlfriend", obviously in vain.
"Where?" Naruto asked, curious.
"There." He pointed. "He's occupying the best seats with his friends like they're kings of the place."
"You could introduce him to us, Sasuke!" Sakura suggested. "Then maybe they could offer us some place to sit down and Ino would certainly stop complaining…"
"Yes!" Ino begged. "Oh my god, it's that one with the long hair, isn't it? Wow Sasuke, I love your family's genes…"
"Yes Sasuke, why don't you introduce him to us?" Kiba echoed.
Sasuke frowned his eyebrow. "Why are you so interested?"
The brown-haired boy shrugged. "To watch Ino behaving like a slut ag-"
"You idiot, you're the one that wants to flirt with the girl that's with them! You know they're older, and she doesn't care about kids like you!"
"I doubt they care about puberty girls like you either."
"F.Y.I. all my past boyfriends were older and always told me how cute and mature I look."
"Wasn't your last boyfriend a bishoujo game otaku?"
"Ew, no, where did you get that! Jealously is really ugly Kiba."
This was one of the reasons why Sasuke wondered why he allowed himself the trouble of socializing with them. Ino and Kiba argued more than an ill-loved couple, but the others found it amusing. He failed to see the fun of it.
He eyed the group in the corner again and this time he caught Itachi looking at him. Sasuke didn't know if it was some sort of family curiosity or if it was just the loud bickering between Ino and Kiba reaching the corner of the room, because Itachi immediately turned his eyes away and pretended to ignore him again. He really didn't know what that guy's problem was.
"So Sasuke, can you introduce him to us or not?" Ino asked again. She decided to ignore Kiba's last reply, which in Sasuke's opinion, was always a judicious thing to do.
He shrugged, and glanced back at their table again. He could almost swear that Itachi had been gazing at him again, during those two seconds that he distracted himself with Ino's question. Really, he was asking for it.
Sasuke wasn't of the social kind. Neither did he know very well how to start a conversation, much less introducing a group of his teenage friends to a group of adults that, unlike them, were allowed to drink. Certainly Itachi's friends didn't want to be bothered by high school kids; but, Sasuke didn't want to be standing for the entire night and it wasn't fair that four people occupied seats that could lodge at least seven people. Besides, whisky was an inhibition freer, scientifically proven.
"Fine. Let's go."
He started walking, opening his way through the standing bodies that crammed in the bar space. Hinata followed him immediately, seizing the sleeve of his shirt as if she was afraid that someone would kidnap her in the middle of the way. He could almost hear Ino jumping behind.
Itachi lifted his head when Sasuke reached near them, seeming somewhat surprised to see him so close. His friends raised their heads too, but Sasuke initiated the dialogue before they had time to react.
"Itachi, I see that you already know the village attractions." He smirked. "How about introducing your family?"
Itachi lifted an eyebrow, his usual stoic expression revealing obvious puzzlement. Inwardly, it amused Sasuke seeing him like that.
One of his friends, one that had very long hair of a gaudy blond color, widened his eyes and exclaimed:
"Is this your brother Itachi? I didn't know he was already a man." Sasuke didn't really understand what he meant with that. "I thought he was just a kid."
He let out a piercing laugh, but fortunately nobody followed his personal joke. Sasuke was ready to turn around and walk away from the table, feeling like an idiot for even going along with his friends' whines. Itachi kept himself stilled, and his friends eyed Sasuke like one watches a pedigree in a pet shop, in their snobbish superiority of adulthood that was starting to irritate the young Uchiha.
Yet the blond clown finally stopped laughing; he then stood up from his seat, and with a surprisingly polite bow, he introduced himself: "I suppose you're Sasuke. I'm Deidara, nice to meet you. Are those your friends? Come join us, nights are better with more people."
'What a two-faced…' Regardless Sasuke's first impressions of the man, his friends were convinced. Ino almost jumped in excitement and immediately introduced herself. She seemed delighted with Deidara's convivial stance. The others followed Ino, introducing themselves too, because Sasuke was going to serve as spokesperson of the group. They were the ones that insisted in seating there.
Deidara introduced his friends; aside from Itachi, there was Konan and the piercings guy named Pein. Odd name for a person, but Sasuke assumed it was some kind of online chat nickname. Konan herself didn't have a very normal look either, with her hair dyed in a very bright blue, heavy make-up and a piercing on her chin. But she seemed nice, as she immediately took her bag off of the stool to let Hinata sit. Deidara had disappeared for a while, while Ino tried to make conversation with either Itachi or Pein, and he reappeared again with two more plastic stools. One has to wonder how he managed to get them so quickly.
Naruto and Sakura sat on them, while Kiba conquered the free seat on the sofa near Konan. Ino chose the strategic seat between Deidara and Itachi. She had always been a very determined girl.
"Are you going to stand there all night?" Deidara asked Sasuke, with a stamped grin on his face. Truthfully, the introduction part passed pretty quickly and by the time Sasuke realized, everybody was comfortably installed in their seats while he was the only one still standing. Though there were no more stools left and the sofas seemed already occupied with three people in each. Deidara dragged his body to the left, pushing Ino against Itachi – which only delighted her even more, and those details didn't escape Sasuke's observing eyes – and opened some space for Sasuke sit between him and the sofa arm. Sasuke took a glance at Itachi before accepting the tight seat, noticing that his brother was the only one there that didn't look very pleased with this new socialization occurrence.
"Oh my God, you are all from Tokyo? So what are you doing here?" Ino asked, in her euphoric voice. It was a reasonable question; after all, what souls from big cities are doing in a small town like that?
"We came to visit Itachi, of course." Deidara replied. "And I already knew the place. I know all places in Japan."
"All?"
"Even your houses."
The girls laughed, and Kiba let out one of this obscene comments. Deidara right away had conquered Sasuke's friends. Truth be told, the guy knew how to make people like him at will, even though Sasuke didn't forget the first impression he gave him.
He tried to adapt himself to the tight space, trying to find a more fitting position while Deidara gesticulated enthusiastically as he talked, which wasn't very comfortable. Still, he supposed it was better than being left standing like a clown. He tried to take a peep behind Deidara and Ino's heads to see if he could catch his brother's face, but Itachi seemed to be buried in his corner, bored.
Well, Sasuke couldn't say that he was having fun either, but then again, he couldn't remember a time when he really had fun. Being with his friends was something he did more out of habit than out of will. So the nights out ended up becoming a habit, almost a weekly routine, that he no longer found it difficult to endure.
He eyed Hinata, again, more out of habit than out of concern. Perhaps there was a bit of concern too. He sympathized with her. She wasn't talking as usual, but it seemed like she was having fun.
Sighing, Sasuke lifted his liquor glass to take a gulp, but an uncontrolled gesture from Deidara, a result of some crazy story that was melting the girls, hit him and made him spill the drink on his lap.
"Damn." He groaned, jumping from his seat to take a napkin from the table.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry."
Deidara also grabbed a couple of napkins and started helping Sasuke absorb the liquid out of his pants, an action not very typical even from your average Japanese gentleman. Sasuke stared at him, somewhat bewildered, eventually muttering: "I-it's fine…", but Deidara insisted. It was rather uncomfortable and embarrassing, since part of the liquor wet his groin and he wasn't sure that Deidara would have the discretion of leaving-
"Really, it's fine." Sasuke snapped his hand before it deviated further. He heard Deidara chuckling, and caught his suspicious smirk before he arranged himself back in his seat and clapped his hands saying:
"I owe you a drink. But before," he paused, "the next round on this table is on me!"
The friends approved in joyful interjections, yet they were immediately interrupted with Itachi's sudden intervention:
"They are underage Deidara."
His voice was grave, as if he was scolding Deidara. Sasuke stooped a bit to look at him and found the same falcon eyes glaring him back. Was he mad, or something? Somehow, his heart started racing and the incident of the spilled drink came to his mind, giving him a strange sensation of guilt. Was Sasuke's reaction to it natural? Sometimes it's hard to pretend to have a heterosexual attitude towards certain slightly intimate actions, but straight or gay, Sasuke didn't like that intimate level of friendly contact. It was just weird.
Deidara just shrugged at Itachi's reprimand, and waved at the barman. "Don't be a kill-joy. I remember you were fifteen when you had your first drink."
They had had quite a few drinks, and by the time he realized one hour had passed already. The general group spirit hadn't changed much, except they were talking louder this time. Deidara lead the main conversation topics, and occasionally Pein and Konan participated, echoed by Ino's laughs and Kiba's stupidity. Naruto and Sakura seemed to have turned themselves off from the surroundings, having only eyes and mouths for each other. They weren't usually that affectionate in public. Must be the alcohol.
Even Sasuke felt his head spin. He wasn't much of a drinker – in fact, he only drank with his friends, and most of the time one glass survived the entire night. Now this was his third. How in the world had he managed to drink so much in such a short period?
He looked at Hinata, and she didn't have a very nice face. She was paler than usual. Her lips were twisted in a forced way, and her eyes were opened so wide they seemed to jump out of their sockets. She had one arm gathered around her stomach, and from Sasuke's point of view, it looked like she was about to vomit.
Maybe it was all that time of pretending to like her that contingently lead him to develop honest care for her, and instinctively, Sasuke jolted from his seat and went to her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Come, I'll take you home."
She rose her head; he could see the despair and relief stamped on her face. He didn't know how much she drank, but she must be feeling really sick. Unfortunately, Hinata was always too shy and polite to express her discomfort to her friends, as she would rather wait for Sasuke to announce the time to go home.
"Is your girlfriend feeling well, Sasuke?" Deidara inquired, watching Hinata standing up with difficulty as she tightened her grip around Sasuke's arm. "You know this bar has a bathroom, if she wants to vomit."
Sasuke glared at Deidara, not really knowing how to respond to that. The natural way he said that made him feel even more uncomfortable.
"We're going home." He announced, making sure to sound loud enough to be heard by the lovebirds. Naruto moaned something, but otherwise ignored him. One more drink and he and Sakura would be on the floor.
"I'll give you a ride." Itachi stood up, surprising Sasuke. Deidara protested something, but Itachi ignored him and skirted the table, grabbing his jacket and walking towards them with his usual unexpressive face.
"Thanks, but we can walk."
Sasuke had no idea why he said that. It's not that he didn't earn any opportunity to get closer to Itachi, but there was also this stubbornness that he couldn't avoid, now more evident whenever Itachi came into the picture.
"I'm sure you can. But she," he glanced at Hinata, who was trying to find her balance point. "I doubt."
His voice had again that scolding tone that irritated him immensely, and at the same time aroused him in the most inappropriate way. Maybe it was the alcohol.
Without allowing him a counterargument, Itachi walked by them and headed towards the exit, and Sasuke had no choice but to follow him, with a trembling Hinata clung on to him. Deep down he knew it was better this way. He wasn't sure either that Hinata could make the half-an-hour walk back home in that condition.
He had seen Itachi's car before – black Nissan, rather new, he doesn't remember the model - but naturally, never had entered inside. It still had the smell of new, and Sasuke concluded that Itachi hadn't had the car for a long time. Or, he didn't usually carry people inside. He liked to think it was the last case.
They reached Hinata's place in ten minutes, but it seemed a lot longer by Sasuke's perception. They had spent the journey in silence. Itachi had this frown on his face the whole time, like he was upset with something. Hinata tried to muffle occasional moans from her pained stomach. Sasuke wanted to ask her if she wanted to vomit, but fell suddenly too inhibited and let the rigid silence in the car take control of him.
Yet when Itachi stopped the car, parking right in front of the impressive Hyuuga's household, he got out to help Hinata step out of the car and walk her to the door. He didn't usually do that, but taking her condition, and the fact that she is supposed his girlfriend, it would be otherwise weird and uncaring if he didn't. She thanked him, saying she was feeling better and that she will make a digestive tea for herself, and entered inside her house after quickly kissing Sasuke on the cheek near his lips. Another thing they wouldn't usually do, and even with all that alcohol in their veins it took some guts for Hinata to do it, which surprised him. He figured that she was trying to pull the act since his brother was there, but there wasn't really need to it.
The rest of the journey continued in silence, and Sasuke felt his eyelids getting heavy by the time they arrived home. They got out; Itachi waited for Sasuke to shut the door before he turned the alarm on, and they walked inside their home. The lights were turned off, and they could hear the faint snoring of Fugaku from upstairs. Yet, before Sasuke proceeded to climb the stairs, Itachi grabbed his arm, making him jolt out of surprise. "Sasuke."
His grave voice, calling his name, sent him shivers down his spine, and when he turned around he met those falcon eyes again, staring at him in that threatening demeanor that at that time of the night only served to arouse him more.
"This won't repeat again. Stay away from my friends."