"Detour on the way?"
Kisame nearly snarled at Itachi's soft question as the pair each carried a child over one shoulder down the halls of the main lodge of the beachhouse, towards the individual, independent beach cottages which were dotted picturesquely down the well-kept boardwalk.
"Like you couldn't have warned us that the main road was closed—first we ended up having to backtrack a good half-hour, and then had to take the local roads at in-town speeds for the remainder… I thought I was going to kill the brats after all their whining…"
"Your wife is well?"
"Don't change the subject, I'm still angry with you. But yes," conceded Kisame, "she's well and she's joining us tomorrow. She didn't want to have to drive on so little sleep, and her flight wasn't getting in until after we'd left. She says thank you very much for the invitation, and she hopes you enjoy the souvenir she's bringing you."
"I look forward to her visit."
"She's looking forward to getting away from the office, too, and seeing everyone. I understand we're sharing the place with your brother and his useless imbeciles for all of Saturday?" Kisame asked unhappily.
"They leave first thing Sunday morning. I will insist upon it."
"That's fine, then."
Itachi held open the door that led to the beach. "Until then, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mind keeping them in line."
"You mean you want me to scare them into behaving?"
"Yes."
Kisame laughed out loud, and his children stirred only faintly in their sleep at the familiar, reassuring sound.
"I can't wait."
Itachi's expression softened with amusement, and he nodded in thanks.
"Ah."
He unlocked the door to the largest cottage and ushered Kisame inside, helping him lay the children down in their bunk beds.
"You stay here, I'll get the rest of your luggage," said Itachi, and Kisame waved him off as he started pulling the covers up over his sleeping children, more tenderly than most would have ever considered him capable. But it was no secret to Itachi that Kisame was a huge family man. In fact, it was one of the things the Uchiha admired about his long-time friend.
"Thanks," said Kisame quietly, so as not to disturb his youngest as he pulled a ragged-looking teddy-bear out from under his oversized short-sleeve shirt and snuggled it into his son's arms.
"Hn."
"Are the others here yet?"
"They arrive tomorrow morning."
Even in the darkened cottage, Itachi could make out the sharp, white teeth that glinted in Kisame's broad grin.
"…Excellent."
The bonfire was blazing cheerfully when Sakura reached their friends, and the stars cast beautiful patterns on the deep velvet plains above as they twinkled overhead. She was raising her hand to greet them when she was steamrolled back behind a nearby dune.
Ino had snagged her elbow and yanked her indelicately beyond even the outskirts of the assembly before Sakura could even call out a greeting.
"Spill. Immediately."
Sakura made a show of sighing in disappointment, waving her friend away as she tried to side-step her. "You're getting predictable."
"Hah! Instant evasion but non-red eyes—something good just happened." Ino eyed her critically, up and down. Sakura crossed her arms over her chest defensively, cocked her hip and glared balefully at her best friend, waiting.
Ino's eyebrows arched over her glinting eyes, and then lowered knowingly. "Ahaaaaa…. So you came close, but didn't go all the way," she mused aloud. "Heh. I knew it. Naruto owes me a beer," she snorted under her breath.
"Excuse. Me?!" Sakura's words had a hard time making it through her clenched teeth. "And how the hell could you tell!?" she exclaimed a breath later, throwing her hands in the air.
Caught, Ino considered her options; a grin followed moments later.
"Well, for one thing, you should know better than to come down after a make-out session with your hair tied back," the blonde said as she strode closer to Sakura, pulling her friend's long hair down from its ponytail and arranging it around her shoulders and neck. "You may also want to pull that hoodie a little closer to cover your front, darling," Ino advised, smugly. "Geez, it's like he was pissing on you like a territory marker with all these… who is he trying to impress?" she muttered. "Did you see this before you left the room? No, wait, never mind, the answer's obviously 'no' because you wouldn't have set foot outside the room if you'd see these all over you… Stupid boys…"
Sakura felt herself reddening under Ino's fussing, and tried to calm her embarrassment. It was probably a good thing Ino had hauled her away before she'd made a fool of herself in front of everyone.
"He left marks? Like… hickeys!?"
"Boy always acts with purpose, gotta give him that. If I didn't know you both better, I'd almost say it looked like he beat you."
"He would never-," Sakura began, but Ino just waved her defence aside, and they looked each other in the eye. They knew. "Thanks," she said, and Ino just smiled.
"Now," Ino straightened and looked her over again critically, before her gaze softened and she looked at Sakura in the eyes. "Is there anything you need to ask, or tell big-sis Ino?" she asked more meaningfully. "Is there… Do you have anything you need to know?... For fuck's sake, one of you brought protection, right?" Ino finally demanded, a hand on her hip while she flipped her hair over her shoulder. Because no soul-sister friend of hers was getting knocked up like a common cat. Or catching cooties.
Sakura felt her heart lodge in her throat. She couldn't help it when she threw her arms around Ino.
"Love you, Pig."
Sniffing dramatically, Ino let her head fall backward and just hugged Sakura back, tightly. "My little girl's getting all grown up and banging a hottie for grad, I'm so proud…."
"Boyfriend. He's my boyfriend, Ino."
"Fucking hot boyfriend," continued Ino, sniffing sentimentally again.
A few minutes later, once Ino had deemed her 'indecently decent', they ambled back to the rest and joined in the party again and saw that Itachi had joined them, as had Sasuke. It seemed the two brothers were ignoring each other again; Sakura had noticed them randomly doing so over the past few months. She wasn't sure what it was about, and she didn't think it was the time to ask Itachi. But maybe sometime later that week? She and Sasuke were staying there for a few days once everyone else left, after all. Before, Sasuke told her it was nothing and to forget about it. It was just so strange, though… He always used to look up to (and admire, adore, and hero-worship) his older brother. Was it a family issue? Sakura wondered whether she should ask or not—if there was a real minefield between them, maybe she should let them sort it out? But she knew the Uchiha were proud, and stubborn to a glaring fault; if there was something going on between the brothers, even something minor, it would just fester and continue to do so unless someone else stepped between them and gave them a proverbial olive branch to share. Or beat them senseless with. Whatever worked.
It was strange though, Sakura mused to herself, that Itachi was here if he and Sasuke were 'ignoring' each other… Unless their parents had asked Itachi to chaperone again? Yes, she thought to herself, that was likely it. Hadn't one of them mentioned that earlier..?
Trying to remember what the arrangement was (because she needed something to distract her from just how tempting Sasuke looked with his hair still dripping from his shower and his open polo shirt giving her glimpses of his toned chest, and he'd apparently traded his swim trunks for khaki cut-offs, and damn that boy could rock the preppie look-), Sakura felt eyes on her and turned to look around, wondering if she'd missed someone calling her name. Embarrassed at her thoughts and glad no one could read them (because it really wasn't any of her business why Itachi was there, or what the argument was between him and Sasuke), she searched for whoever had been burning holes through her back. Because she knew someone had. Where was Naruto—hadn't Ino said something about a bet?
Her eyebrow arched suspiciously as she looked for her friend – sure enough, she found him cavorting with Ino in hushed, if expressive, whispers across the other side of the bonfire. Aaaaaand—yep, there was the exchange, she saw, as Naruto pulled out his well-worn froggy wallet, every inch the sore-loser as he apparently tried to argue something uselessly with Ino, who just waited with her hand outstretched and her hip cocked smugly.
When he glanced at Sakura sheepishly, she shook her head at him in disappointment. Of course, he retaliated by pointing vigorously at Sasuke like it was the Uchiha's fault, as if to say, "I thought it was a slam-dunk—who'd bet against an Uchiha in the field of taking a girl's virginity?!"
"Not tonight," she said aloud, so he could clearly understand and wouldn't get any crazy ideas of trying to make certain things happen in order to win his money back from Ino. That would be all they'd need, and going by the crates of booze piled in the ice-filled pit they'd dug in the nearby sand, they needed to put a lid on as many potential outlets for 'crazy' that night as they could.
"Tomorrow?" he called across the fire, his face alight and eyes hopeful. Beside him, Ino just scoffed.
"None of your business!" she called, and couldn't help laughing now as Naruto turned crestfallen. Thank the gods she'd walked away from Sasuke just a bit over an hour ago—though it had been difficult. Otherwise the rest of them would have been lined up outside Sasuke's room with cups against the door! Sakura felt herself fighting a blush at the idea. Geez…
"A private conversation isn't usually yelled across a bonfire party," remarked a deep, sensuous voice from behind her, startling Sakura. She spun around to face the person who'd spoken to her, only to see-
"I'm sorry," Itachi said, raising a hand and offering her a bottle of water. "I only came to see if you needed anything. I'm heading back to the main lodge to pick up a few things, and saw you hadn't had anything to eat or drink. Would you like anything non-red meat or non-alcoholic?" he asked, his eyes expressing a hint of exactly what he thought of those options. It was then that Sakura noticed the hotdogs and burgers were mostly gone, and she really hadn't eaten that much earlier when she'd been so upset—and of course, her stomach rumbled on cue at the mention of food. Sakura tried, and failed to keep a straight face when she caught the amusement shining in Itachi's eyes.
"If you're bringing back some fruit for everyone else, I'd love some," she said as maturely as she could—before her stomach groaned again, louder. "And maybe a sandwich?"
Now she was certain she'd seen his mouth quirk up at the edges, and turned away from Itachi to hide her scowl.
"Would you like to come see what we have? We picked up watermelon and pomelo…"
Composing herself again, Sakura perked at hearing that. "Pomelo?"
"Ah."
"I may be able to help relieve the burden that such a large fruit poses. They take up way too much countertop space," offered Sakura graciously, and Itachi's eyes shone with subtle laughter.
"This way."
And as she left the protective light of the bonfire, Sakura completely forgot about the odd sense of being watched just moments prior.
TBC.
AN: Thank you, nikolita, for the wonderful beta help! (All errors are of course my own.)