Fortuitous

Chapter Four

-Tail-

Hikari sighed happily as she left the shop, her bag of purchased items in tow. "I love buying new clothes to show off to Noriaki." She smiled over at the brunette with her, who rolled her eyes.

"You mean you love buying things for Noriaki to rip off of you." Vitani smirked. "I don't really see the point, if you're just gonna have to go and buy more."

The pale haired woman shrugged. "It just means I get to go shopping again. Besides, he doesn't rip them all off. The ones we really like we preserve for future occasions."

"You two are terrible." Vitani shook her head.

"You're saying if Kanamé ripped your clothes off you wouldn't love it?" Hikari smirked, raising a delicate brow.

A blush came to the younger woman's face. "Well…he did do it once…or twice. I think he really likes it when I wear red outfits for him. That seems to be the common denominator."

Hikari snickered. "See! It's fucking sexy when they just get all animal-like and dominating."

Vitani's blush darkened to an almost unhealthy color at the visual she was getting of her husband. "Can we talk about something else now?" she nearly whispered.

"Yeah yeah. Prude." She chuckled, waving off her friend's embarrassment. She looked down the street to see if there was anything else she wanted to buy, and blinked when she saw a blonde woman walk out of a local grocery store. When the woman turned and began to walk towards them, Hikari noticed her amber eyes, and gasped. She grabbed Vitani's arm and dragged her off.

"Hikari! What's gotten into you?!" Vitani asked, looking around in slight alarm.

"Sh!" Hikari said. "Look, there's Talia." She pointed at the oblivious blonde, who was now browsing some of the street vendors.

Vitani followed her friend's finger, and her eyes widened. "It is!" she looked back at the pale haired woman. "Should we follow her? Maybe we can learn some stuff about her to help Sanosuke out."

"I just wanna stalk her and see what she's all about." The violet-eyed woman said. When Talia turned down a different street the two women rushed after her, intent on following her trail.

Talia looked around, admiring a few crystal statues. She headed off once more, before catching something from the corner of her eye. Now she'd been followed before, so she knew the tactics, and these two were definitely up to something. That was when she noticed one of them had white hair. She continued walking, her brows knit together in confusion. Why was Sanosuke's brother's girlfriend following her? Not to mention she was pretty sure the brunette with her was the Hokage-to-be's wife.

Hikari peeked around a vendor stand and watched as Talia continued to browse. "Well, we know she has good taste." She whispered to her companion.

"And why is taste such a big deal? Shouldn't we care more about whether or not she's good enough for Sano?" Vitani asked.

"Please." She scoffed. "Every Uchiha has good taste. So she's now passed the good taste test."

"The…good taste test?" the brunette raised a brow. "Man, you're lucky you have huge breasts, cause' I don't know how Noriaki stands you." she shook her head.

Hikari hit her in the arm. "Oh shut up." She said, before grabbing her friend's arm. "Look, there she goes! We can't lose her!" she said, and they resumed following her around the marketplace. She turned a corner then and disappeared from their sights. Hikari cursed once more and rushed forward, Vitani close after her. But when they came to the street, Talia was gone. The white haired woman blinked, searching around. "What the heck? Where did she go?"

"Do you guys make a habit out of stalking other people? Cause' technically that's harassment." Someone said from behind them, making both girls jump. They turned to see none other than Talia behind them, clearly not pleased with being followed.

Vitani pointed to her friend. "It was her idea." She said, earning another hit.

"Way to go Vitani, now she thinks I'm a freak." Hikari huffed, crossing her arms.

The brunette gave her a nonplussed look. "I'm pretty sure she already thinks we're both freaks." She pointed out, before smiling at Talia. "Sorry about that. We heard that Sanosuke liked you, and were curious. But we didn't want to just come up and talk to you out of the blue, because that might have freaked you out."

"And stalking seemed more interesting." The other woman said.

"So you thought that following me was less weird than just introducing yourselves?" Talia wondered, arching a curious brow.

Hikari laughed a bit awkwardly. "Well…we didn't actually think you would catch on." She admitted, scratching her cheek in her embarrassment.

Vitani nodded in agreement. "Though, if we weren't walking around with our shopping bags we'd probably have done a better job at being inconspicuous."

The blonde shrugged. "Whatever you say." She said simply. They stared at each other for a while before Talia started to look annoyed. "Well what do you want?" she demanded.

Vitani tried not to laugh. "Man she's just like Sano."

"I still think he's more of an ass." She snickered. "So Talia, since you found us out, do you want to keep shopping with us?" she asked. "We've heard a lot about you from Hayate, and if you were able to catch Sano's eye, then you must be some woman." She gave the blonde a friendly smile.

"Not to mention it'd be nice to have another woman amongst all those men." the aqua eyed woman said, smiling as well.

Talia looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well I'm really done for the day. And I'm just regular. I honestly don't know why he is interested in me."

Vitani raised a brow. "You mean you haven't asked him yet? When Kanamé became interested in me I didn't understand why, and so I asked him. It helps knowing the answer. Right Hikari?"

The pale haired woman shrugged. "Like I needed to ask. I have a rockin' body and I'm great in bed. Of course Noriaki loves me." She said, clearly pleased with herself.

Talia deflated a bit. "Yeah well I didn't nor do I want to ask. He'll probably just say he doesn't know. I'm not a ninja, I'm just average. Average height. Average breast size. I mean…I'm a nurse…"

"Well that's a plus." Hikari pointed out. "You can dress up in a sexy nurse's uniform and seduce him." she winked.

Vitani rolled her eyes. "What she means is that you have something in common with him." she said, trying to help. "Because he knows medical jutsu and stuff, and you know things about natural medicine."

"Because that's what I want to have in common." She sighed, waving them off. "Well anyways. I'm going to go now."

"No! You have to join us for dinner tonight." Vitani smiled.

Hikari smiled. "Yeah, I know Kanamé and Noriaki would like to meet you as well. And it will be fun. Besides, since you're kinda dating Sano, it would help if you got to know his family."

"I dunno…" she frowned. "Sanosuke said to avoid his family for as long as possible."

"That's just because he's an antisocial recluse dear." Hikari said endearingly. "And he doesn't want you to hear anything embarrassing about him."

"And there's a lot." Vitani laughed. "Sano has these weird spazz attacks sometimes when he's really flustered or upset…apparently he's had them his whole life."

Hikari snickered. "And they're so funny to see."

"But-" Talia tried to protest.

"We'll help you home!" they said, giggling as they pulled the blonde down the street. "We'll cook everything and it will be so fun!" Vitani breathed out, looking happy.

Hikari nodded. "No need to worry Talia, we have everything covered."


Talia sat in the living room of the eldest Uchiha child's house. She looked around with slight curiosity. She'd never been to the Uchiha district before, and despite her attempts to get out of the meal, she was excited to meet the two eldest children of her Hokage.

The house was a very quaint one, not overly decorated as she would have thought a wealthy person's home to be, especially not one of two Kage's children. All of the furniture was very nice though, but the entire feel of the place was one of simplicity, and serenity. There were a lot of books on the shelves in the living room, and Talia guessed that this was only a sample of the many the two owned. It was no secret that both enjoyed reading, after all. As well as books, there were pictures on the shelves, mostly of family of course, and some of people she didn't recognize. She just assumed they were Vitani's family back in Kirigakure.

She heard a small explosion come from the kitchen then, followed by a shout. "God Vitani! I just wanted you to slice the vegetables! Not melt them!"

"I'm sorry! They looked kinda funny, so I thought heating them up in the microwave would help!"

"It would help if you'd just get out of the kitchen and let me finish cooking." Hikari said, pushing the brunette into the living room, smoke following after them. "Keep Talia company. It shouldn't be too much longer." she instructed before returning to the kitchen to fix her friend's blunder.

Vitani pouted and sat across from the blonde. "Man, now Kanamé and I have to get another microwave." She sighed.

"You're really bad at cooking aren't you?" Talia asked, her expression not even changing. She could already tell, because the brunette acted just like her mom used to.

"So, so bad." Vitani laughed slightly. "It was intimidating at first, when Kanamé and I began to get serious, to be the only one that couldn't cook." She smiled then. "But Kanamé thinks it's cute that I still try. He even lets me help him sometimes. Just the small stuff. I helped make a beautiful salad the other day, so we took a picture of it to put on our scrapbook of the things I haven't destroyed." she giggled. "It was his idea."

Talia smiled, that was absolutely adorable. "You guys must really love each other a lot. Plan on having kids anytime soon?"

She shrugged. "We haven't really talked about it. I mean, we'd both like to have kids some day, but it's not a huge issue." She said. "So as it is, I guess you could say we're waiting to be surprised." She smiled.

"That must be nice." She giggled. "He seems really kind."

Vitani nodded, but before anything more could be said, the front door slid open. "Vitani!" Kanamé called. "I'm home." He announced and then they heard rushed steps. "Sweetheart! I thought we talked about you cooking by yourself!" he called, sliding to a stop in the living room, a bouquet of purple lilacs in his hand. Kanamé blinked, taking in the scene. "Um…hello." He said, his gaze falling on Talia. "Wait." He sighed with relief, "Okay, Hikari's in the kitchen."

The brunette haired woman smiled and got up from her seat, going over to her husband. "Of course I'm not alone in the kitchen honey." She kissed him sweetly. "I know the rules." Then she looked at the lilacs. "Are these for me?" she asked, looking up at him with hopeful aqua eyes.

"Yeah."He smiled, offering her the flowers. Kanamé looked around his wife before kissing her forehead. "So who's our guest?"

"This is Talia." Vitani said, taking the flowers and smelling them. "You know, Sano's new girlfriend." She looked up at the blonde. "Talia, this is my husband, Kanamé."

"Oh." He said, looking quite surprised. Talia got up as Kanamé came over and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you Talia, we've heard loads from Hayate about you, since Sano doesn't seem to want us in his business." He chuckled, making the blonde smile.

"Nice to meet you too." She said. Looking between the two, she couldn't help but be a little jealous. It didn't seem that Sanosuke would ever be that adamant with his affection.

Vitani walked over and placed her hand on her husband's arm. "Dear, why don't you keep Talia company while I put these in some water?" she kissed his cheek. "You guys can get to know one another." She smiled, before going towards the kitchen and leaving the two alone.

Kanamé nodded and watched his wife leave the room. He sat down with Talia as she took back her spot on the couch. "So you work in the hospital with my brother Hayate?"

The blonde coincided. "I usually assist him in surgeries and cases where he needs a good extra pair of hands." She explained.

"Interesting, I've dabbled in healing for a bit, but it seemed not to be my strong point. I can heal just fine for myself and others to patch them up, but nothing like my brother and aunt. It's amazing what they can do."

"It really is. I am in utter awe of that man. Plus he's so nice and caring about everyone. I used to have a little crush on him when I first started, but he loves Chitose so much it's hard to even think of them as anything but perfect." Talia giggled. "Though, I think he was a bit too nice for me anyways. Sometimes I don't know how he doesn't get mad."

"It really is a mystery." Kanamé chuckled.

They were content to just sit with one another, but they heard the front door slam open. "Hikari! Where the fuck are you!" they all heard yelled from the front.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Hikari shouted back.

"Why aren't you in my kitchen!" a man stormed in, stopping at the sight. His pale jade depths landed straight on Talia, and an evil smirk made its way to his face. "Oh no…" he chuckled and then looked around. "She's here? And Sano isn't?"

"We invited her over for dinner!" the pale haired woman called.

Vitani came out of the kitchen then, and seeing the look on her brother-in-law's face, she pointed at him. "Nori, be nice to her. I won't have you scaring her off before Sano can get the chance to date her." she said sternly.

"He had two dates with her already!" the triplet exclaimed, walking over and plopping down on the other side of Talia. "So…I hope you know that Sanosuke's a virgin and has no experience whatsoever in the sack."

Talia turned a dark red, trying not to let the comment affect her too much. But she honestly couldn't believe he had never even used a woman for her body yet. "Well I-"

"Noriaki!" Kanamé scolded.

"What?! He hasn't." he laughed, wrapping an arm around the blonde's shoulders. "He also is a little bit of a freak and a spazz. Also a perfectionist. I mean, no disrespect to you or anything, but I honestly don't know how he'd be interested in a civilian. He's all about training and strength, and you're average. Hot," he said, giving her a once over. "But average."

Talia glanced down, now extremely uncomfortable since she was trapped between the males and fiddled nervously with her fingers. "Well, I…um…" she sighed.

"Noriaki!" Hikari's angry voice said. The violet eyed woman stomped into the living room, a wooden spoon in her hand. "Don't make me shove this up your ass. Because I will." She threatened with narrowed eyes, pointing the object at him.

"Baby, none of your threats affect me. I'd have you on your knees and be behind you before you could even reach my pants with your sweet little hand." He smirked.

Talia shook her head and started to stand. "Maybe I should just go…"

"Nonsense!" Noriaki smirked, pulling her back down. "I have to find out why you are so captivating."

The blonde let out a tired breath. This was going to be a long night.


Sanosuke let out a slow, even breath as he carefully went through his katas. He could perform them a lot quicker, of course, but by doing them slowly it helped him gain more control over his body. And bodily control was very important when being a ninja. At least, that was what his grandfather had always taught him, and the oldest Uchiha had yet to be wrong. He usually went through this series of exercises to help clear his mind, but thus far, all he'd been able to do was clear his mind of every thought but Talia.

She was something else. They'd been out twice, and he couldn't wait for the next time. Her view on things was fresh and interesting, and some of the words she used made no sense at all to him, but coming from her sounded like a word everybody should use. And he liked that she was a civilian, because she was normal. And in his chaotic life, a sense of normalcy was more than welcome. Her golden hair shined so beautifully in the light, and the way the amber of her eyes sparkled when she found something amusing was simply enchanting. Not to mention that her laugh made him want to act like a fool just to hear it again, though he never would.

He let out a sigh as he slid gracefully into the next move. Thankfully enough she hadn't asked him about meeting the rest of his family yet. He wanted to lay some more groundwork with her before doing so. That way her chances of breaking off their relationship were less. He still didn't know how far he wanted this to go, but the thought of just going with it made it all the more interesting.

Finished with his first exercise of his training regimen, he was about to begin his weapons training when he felt his sister nearing. Sanosuke straightened and walked over to his patio to drink some water, knowing that if she were coming to visit him, it was for a reason. As if on cue, the air shimmered and sand swirled until a form took its place. The usual smile on her face was gone and her face was hard. "Sano. Are you aware of where your friend Talia is at this moment?"

His brow drew together in a small frown. "No. Is she in trouble?" he asked, feeling panic begin to swell in his chest.

"You could say that." The dark haired woman sighed. "She's at Kanamé's house…with Noriaki and their 'innocent' little wives."

Sanosuke's eyes widened. "What?" he breathed out. "I have to save her!" he said, using his speed to run out of his yard and over to his older brother's house. What was she doing there? He'd specifically told her not to hang out with any of them unless he was around. Did she want to be driven insane?!

When he arrived at Kanamé's house, he didn't even knock, instead bursting through the door and marching straight into the living room. And the sight that awaited him did not make things any better. There was Talia on the couch between his brothers, and Vitani was sitting in one of the chairs. Hikari, he assumed, was in the kitchen. But the worst part was that Noriaki's arm was wrapped around Talia's shoulders, and the poor blonde looked extremely uncomfortable. "What the hell is going on here?!" he asked, before pointing to Noriaki. "You! This was your idea, wasn't it?"

Every eye was on him then and Talia's gaze was practically screaming 'save me'. Noriaki scoffed, "Whoa little bro, take it down a few notches. This was far from my idea. I was looking for Hikari and found Talia over here with everyone. I just thought I would give her a little in depth summary on you." He smirked, which only made Sanosuke go red with rage.

But before the bomb could go off, Talia pointed at Vitani. "Hikari and Vitani stalked me like crazy people and practically kidnapped me."

Sanosuke's deadly glare moved to Vitani, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "It was Hikari's idea!" she squeaked, pointing to the kitchen. His gaze slid to the kitchen, and suddenly Sanosuke was gone.

"Holy shit!" Hikari screamed, before they all heard a loud clatter.

Almost every head popped into the kitchen, but Noriaki was in there in a second. There stood Sanosuke, not a foot away from the pale haired woman, who had her hand placed over her heart. On the floor was a mixing bowl and spoon, its contents spilled on the kitchen tile. "What is wrong with you?!" Hikari glared at the younger man. "You don't just sneak up on people while they're cooking! It's creepy!"

"As creepy as following Talia around the marketplace while she shopped?" he asked lowly, taking a measured step towards her. "And then kidnapping her? After I specifically told all of you to stay out of my personal affairs."

She blinked, seeming to realize how angry she'd made him, and laughed awkwardly. "Well, you see Sano, we just wanted to meet her. And it was only polite to inv-"

"It would have been polite to mind your own business for once you nosy woman!" Sanosuke shouted, his eyes turning to their sharingan in his rage. Hikari's eyes widened in alarm, and she quickly scooted over to hide behind Noriaki for protection.

"Don't ever bare your sharingan at Hikari." Noriaki seethed, his own red gaze meeting his brother's. "Or I'll do worse to your little pet."

Talia deflated even more. If she learned one thing tonight it was that she really hated being around the middle triplet of the Uchihas. Sanosuke glared at his brother. "Well you would know about having a woman for a pet, wouldn't you Noriaki." He nearly spat the elder's name.

"She's not a pet if she can fight and defend herself like a real woman. You disgrace mother by even affiliating yourself with someone so trivial." Noriaki snapped. Talia looked down and pulled away from the doorway. Kanamé and Vitani looked after her as she walked off towards the front door.

"Um…" Kanamé began. "Sano-"

"Shut up Kanamé!" both brothers yelled, glaring at him and then back to each other.

Sanosuke pointed at his elder. "You think I disgrace mother? What do you think you're doing? Here you have a woman that cooks for you, cleans for you, lives with you, and keeps up with your libido. But you haven't married her yet. Heck, you don't even like to talk about it." then he smirked darkly. "You're just like grandfather, using a woman for your own means as it suits your fancy."

Everyone's eyes widened at the comparison. Hikari, being right behind her love, saw him stiffen. "Noriaki…" she said softly, reaching forward to place her hand on his back to try and comfort him. But she touched air, because Noriaki had Sanosuke pinned up against the wall, his hand clasped around his throat.

"Don't you ever compare me to the selfish, heartless bastard ever again! I am nothing like him!" Noriaki screamed, making the smirk fall off Sanosuke's face, but not because he was scared. It was because he could see the small amount of water gathering in his brother's eyes. "Don't ever." He reiterated, disappearing in a swirl of sand, which in turn caused Sanosuke to land.

He stood and brushed himself off, his face grim as he deactivated his sharingan. "I have to go find him." Hikari said in a panicked whisper, turning and rushing out of the room.

"Talia, let's go." Sanosuke said, looking over to the doorway. He frowned when he didn't see her. "Where is she?"

"She left," Vitani sighed, watching Sanosuke disappear as well. "Just like everybody else." She looked up at her husband then. "Well, this was not how dinner was supposed to go."

"It never goes as planned sweetie." He sighed. "It was a nice thought, but you two really should have left Talia alone until Sanosuke was ready to introduce her himself. Now Noriaki is probably not going to turn up for a few days and Sanosuke will have nothing to do with us until my mother intervenes."

The brunette frowned. "I'm sorry. " She said, leaning against him. "Um…we need another microwave…" she trailed off, looking up at him with as innocent a face she could muster.

All the Uchiha did was sigh. "Alright. I'll pick one up tomorrow, but that means you are no longer allowed to use the appliances in the kitchen." He raised a finger to silence her protest. "Remember what I said, three strikes."

She pouted. "Okay." She said, before grabbing his hand. "Well then you finish dinner, and I'll clean up the mess." She smiled.

"Alright."

The two did so then, though both were worried about their previous guests. Because nothing good ever came of having multiple upset Uchihas. Nothing.