Couldn't sleep; too many energy drinks; wanted to get work done tomorrow so decided to get this update done! (Also, really wanted to write it haha)
It's a bit longer than usual; so I apologise if it's too much; but if you like the chapters longer, then we're all good!
Note: I'm sorry for kinda Karin-bashing. I don't actually dislike her; I just needed her to be like this.
"No! I refuse to spend another moment longer in this god-forsaken house! This place gives me the creeps! It's haunted; these people are psycho and I hate it!"
The door slammed shut with an almighty crash; causing everyone present to flinch.
"I apologise for her," Mikoto sighed, "She's always been a little bit of a brat…I'm sorry that we have to leave so suddenly."
"It's absolutely fine," Kisame replied as she and Fugaku headed for the door.
"We certainly appreciate your hospitality; and we'll definitely be in touch," Fugaku remarked stiffly; parting with a firm handshake, "I'm glad to see my boys are in good hands here."
"It was lovely to meet you both," Kisame assured them with a small smile as they waved goodbye. The door clicked shut behind them and he sighed heavily; setting his jaw and turning slowly to face his children who were all wearing less-than-innocent poker faces.
"Okay; what was that all about?" he demanded to know; hands on his hips.
"What makes you think we had anything to do with anything?" Naruto inquired innocently; batting his bright; angelic eyes at his dad. Kisame stared them down, but they met his gaze evenly; definitely not apologetic.
" –Anyone like to explain to me what's going on?" he inquired suspiciously.
Saturday
By eleven am Mikoto and Fugaku had both risen and were being given the full tour of the house by Kisame. Naruto chuckled to himself as he sat perched on the edge of Karin's bed; watching her sleep rather gleefully. Feeling rather smug; he suddenly dispersed into thin air; becoming an electric current and diving into the nearest plug socket; charging up the radio to full volume.
Rock music blared out through the speakers, and the redhead awoke with a shrill screech. She lunged out at the radio and sent it flying across the room when it didn't turn off with her first hit. Panting and huffing, she sat upright and stared around her. Naruto, still an electric impulse, travelled up through the circuits in the house and emerged from one of the sockets in Suigetsu's room. His brother high-fived him with an explosive laugh, having heard her scream.
"Man, that was fucking genius!" Suigetsu roared, "Man; you gotta come see this; Neji's going to fucking freak her out when she comes out of her room!" The pair of them snuck out onto the landing and peered down so that they had a clear view of both first and second floor landings. Karin had emerged, carrying her towel for a shower. She looked up over her shoulder and started in surprise, apparently seeing Neji standing there in the shadows; just watching her.
"Hey; what do you think you're looking at, creep?" she snapped irritably. Without a word, he vanished into the depths of the house. Naruto sniggered to himself as Suigetsu broke out into a silent cackle.
"Hey, hey; I'll go mess with her while she's in the shower, right?" Suigetsu smirked, thinking back to how the redhead had had the gall to sneak into Sasuke's room the night before and make herself rather comfortable on his bed; only for Sasuke to physically remove her from his room when he arrived back there. The white-haired boy began melting down into the floor.
Karin was about halfway through her shower when suddenly, the water ran incredibly cold. She gave a wild yell and shuddered, trying to adjust the temperature. Immediately, it ran incredibly hot and she leapt back a pace; only for it to temperamentally right itself again. She made an annoyed noise; things weren't going her way were they?
And then she felt it. Something crawling up her leg. She gave another yell and kicked out wildly; only to realise that there was nothing there but water.
"…This small-town feel is making me crazy…" she muttered to herself, beginning to wash off the rest of the soap covering her body. And then something that felt definitely like hands groped her ass quite vigorously and she screamed again; leaping out of the shower and snatching her towel free. She wrapped it around herself in horror.
As she exited the bathroom, she bumped into Sasuke, who had just finished breakfast.
"Something the matter, Karin?" he inquired flatly. He'd heard the scream and had a feeling that one of his housemates was responsible.
"…S-Sasuke…thank god you came…" she simpered in that god-awful voice she put on when they were alone, "I…I think this house is haunted…"
"Haunted, you think?" Sasuke commented in amusement –though apparently she thought it sounded like concern.
"It was awful!" Karin complained, "…I was in the shower…and I just felt this…this thing touching me! I'm sure –"
"You're probably imagining things," he shrugged, "There's no such thing as ghosts, right?" She frowned and gripped his arm tightly; pressing up against him.
" –Well…if I wasn't imagining…you'd protect me, right?" she whispered in a soft tone. He just rolled his eyes and shook her off.
"Breakfast's down in the kitchen," he informed her, "Help yourself."
" –Won't you come with me?" she inquired, "What if I run into one of those creepy kids? I saw one of them looking at me; he looked like some sort of predator…God, you never know what country folk are like…I've seen Wrong Turn!"
"…Did you just compare them to mutant cannibalistic inbreds?" Sasuke commented flatly.
"Well; have you seen their dad?" Karin snorted, "He looks like something out of a horror movie!"
"Kisame's a good guy," Sasuke snapped; quick to defend him.
"…Yeah, if you're into aliens…" she sniffed, stalking past him to head back to her room. Sasuke looked up and spied Naruto and Suigetsu laughing from the banister before both vanishing in a flash of light as the blonde teleported them away. This couldn't be good. Then again…maybe it could be.
"Hey, Itachi," Kiba called out, "I was supposed to go help dad give the tour around the gardens but Akamaru really wants to go for a walk; you think you could go instead?" Itachi looked up from where he was absorbed in his book and shrugged.
"I suppose so," he admitted as Kiba gratefully bolted out the door; smugly transforming into a dog just before Itachi's parents made an appearance at the top of the stairs. He placed a bookmark to mark his page and headed over to join Kisame as they headed for the back door.
"You're going to love the grounds, mother," he assured Mikoto.
" –Oh, you weren't lying, Itachi," she commented soon after, as Kisame guided them through the rose gardens, "These plants are so healthy and so beautiful; Kisame, are you sure you don't have a professional gardener?"
" –Just the kids and Hidan to mow the lawns," he chuckled, "But you might say Ino has a bit of a green thumb; she designed these gardens."
"Such a talented young lady," Mikoto nodded approvingly; very impressed by the beauty of the freshly blooming flowers. " –And how does she get these to grow in summer? They're usually winter plants –" Kisame just chuckled noncommittally and looked over to where Itachi was standing on the other side of the pebbled path. Was it just him or were the flowers blooming a lot more prominently around him?
"…Is something the matter, Kisame?" Itachi asked curiously; a little unnerved by the fact that he'd caught the elder man's eyes on him. He blushed a little and turned away; only to notice that Kisame was holding out a flower to him. "…I…um…"
" –For your mother," Kisame quickly explained, rubbing the back of his neck, "She seemed to like them, and it wouldn't be proper for me to offer it to her."
"…Of course," Itachi coughed quickly; brushing his hair back off his face and then scolding himself for acting like a small child. He took the flower gently and nearly died of embarrassment when he realised that he'd let his own fingertips linger for longer than was strictly necessary.
"Are you kidding me?" Ino hissed to Sakura as they crouched behind one of the hedges; peering out from between the branches at the four people moving down the beautiful, immaculate gardens, "What's more romantic than a bloody rose garden?"
"He gave him a flower –" Sakura pointed out.
"Yeah, but nothing happened," Ino sniffed, "They were meant to have like…a moment, or something…"
"We watch too many movies…" Sakura sighed heavily.
"Mikoto; have you noticed anything unusual today?" Karin asked as she sat at the table with the two elder Uchihas and Sasuke; waiting for dinner to be served.
"Unusual how?" Mikoto asked; unsure about what she was talking about.
"…Oh…never mind…" Karin muttered, not wanting to sound crazy. She knew she'd just sound paranoid if she voiced aloud that she'd felt like she was being watched all day; and that she kept sort of hearing things and seeing things in her periphery that were making her doubt that she was even awake. Sasuke, who had a fairly good inkling of what 'unusual' things Karin was talking about; just smirked.
Shikamaru was the first of the teenagers to join the table.
"Evening," he drawled, "I hope you're finding everything to your liking?"
"The property is very valuable," Fugaku remarked sternly, "Your father's taken good care of it…" Hidan, Naruto and Deidara joined the table; Deidara obviously biting his lip to avoid breaking out into some sort of argument with Hidan in the presence of guests. Naruto took a spot opposite Sasuke as Shikamaru coughed self-consciously and relaxed a little bit. He knew that Itachi was in the next room over; preparing dinner, and reached out with his mind; softly speaking to the other man's subconscious.
I wonder if the seasoning is right. And thus, the subtle thought was planted.
Itachi frowned to himself; licking his lips. Was the seasoning right? He took another spoonful of the sauce and looked across to Kisame.
" –Kisame, would you try this?" he inquired curiously; holding the spoon up to mouth-level for the bigger man. Kisame paused for a moment, and then slowly leaned in to lick the sauce off it; eyes locked with Itachi's black gaze the entire time. The raven felt himself growing a little warm at the intensity of Kisame's stare.
"…It's…maybe a bit more pepper?" Kisame coughed self-consciously after a moment had passed; stepping back a pace. He hadn't realised he'd moved closer to the younger man. He looked over and saw that Ino was looking over her shoulder at them. Caught; she immediately got back to work with organising serving utensils.
Shikamaru! Not good enough! You should've been more obvious! She snapped at him telepathically. Shikamaru, in the dining room, flinched at the volume of the mental shout.
"Dammit Ino!" he snapped out loud; clamping his hands over his ears; only to realise that he'd spoken aloud. He paused. "…Um…Damn…I just realised that…Ino…didn't get enough forks out…" There was an awkward pause.
" –Everyone has a fork, yeah," Deidara frowned, only to be kicked under the table by Hidan; who promptly swiped Deidara's fork and chucked it on the ground. The blonde glared at the elder man and then realised what had happened, "…I mean…yeah; I guess she forgot to get me a fork…I'll go…get another one…" Naruto was apparently trying very hard not to laugh, and Sasuke just glared at him across the table for being so obvious that something was up.
Again, dinner was polite; Mikoto engaged in conversation with them all while Kisame and Fugaku traded gruff conversation about politics, the economy and how Kisame had come to be the owner of such a fine property. Fugaku apparently seemed quite impressed with how knowledgeable the other man was.
Sasuke was part-way through his dinner when he could've sworn he heard Shikamaru's voice. He looked across the table, but saw that the other boy wasn't speaking.
Put your left hand under the table, the voice was saying, and Sasuke realised with sudden shock that the voice was simply in his head. Since this had never happened, despite having two psychics in the house, the feeling felt foreign and well…strange.
Trust Shikamaru. It'll be funny, Ino's voice added; and Sasuke was uncomfortable with the fact that it was very possible that they had used this method of conversation to talk about him. In any case, he decided to humour them this one, and dropped his left hand casually under the tablecloth. Sakura immediately began giggling, but clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Something funny, Sakura?" Kisame inquired suspiciously.
"No…no dad," she assured him; biting her lip.
A few minutes later, Karin started feeling something running lightly up her thigh. She looked over to her right and saw that Sasuke's hand was concealed underneath the tablecloth. She blushed and looked at him sideways; winking at him. The hand on her leg slid a little higher and rubbed a little harder. She took an unsteady breath and licked her lips.
Sasuke saw the wink and her blush. He also saw Deidara rolling his eyes, and Hidan looking very pleased with himself. Karin giggled a little to herself; a little excited that Sasuke was finally responding to her advances.
"…Is something the matter, Karin?" Sasuke inquired curiously, raising his left hand up from underneath the tablecloth to run through his hair. Karin's eyes widened in horror as she continued to feel that same massaging pressure on her leg despite Sasuke's hand being above the table. With a shrill yell, she leapt backwards, wrenching the tablecloth up; only to find nothing there. The teens at the table; all having known what had happened, chuckled into their food as she stared around; wide-eyed.
Sasuke winced a little and reached under the tablecloth to grab at the severed hand that had decided to leap for safety into his crotch. He wrestled with the fingers for a moment before it scrabbled down his legs and obviously over to Hidan.
"…Karin, what's wrong?" Mikoto inquired in a worried voice.
" –I…there was something on my leg!" she squealed in horror.
"…Maybe it was a rat," Kiba commented, taking a drink of water to hide the fact that he was trying not to laugh, "…Sometimes we get rats." Kisame looked over at his son suspiciously. Hidan rested both elbows on the table and rested his head in both hands.
" –Maybe I can give you a hand with those rat problems," he chuckled pointedly, and Naruto promptly spluttered into his water and asked to be excused for a moment. Even Neji was struggling to keep a straight face. Karin; still panting heavily, reluctantly took a seat once more.
"This house is weird," she muttered under her breath. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk a little.
Sunday
Itachi was busy enjoying his morning coffee when Karin dragged herself downstairs. She looked like she hadn't slept a wink.
"Have a good sleep?" he asked sarcastically. She glared at him. The two of them had never really been on very good terms, even when he'd dated her brother. She liked to think that she was above everyone else; and claimed to 'love' Sasuke; when what she really 'loved' about him was his money, his fame and title, and the fact that his children would likely be beautiful. She'd also quite openly claimed that Itachi was a gold digger –since Nagato was at least fifteen years older than him –despite the fact that the Uchihas were by far richer, more powerful and more famous.
"This house…" Karin growled darkly, "I barely got any sleep!"
"Oh; what was the problem?" Itachi inquired innocently; not particularly caring, but intrigued as to what Kisame's children were inflicting upon her.
"My lights wouldn't stop turning on and off –"
Well, that would be Naruto…
" –My door would keep unlocking itself and swinging open…"
Shikamaru.
"And I kept hearing like tapping on my window from like the trees!" Karin complained.
Ino.
"Well, it's an old house," Itachi reminded her casually, "It's bound to be a bit faulty."
"Faulty? It's creepy! It's haunted! These people are weird and not like us! One of them keeps staring at me in like the shadows and they seem like losers!" she snapped.
"Interesting," Itachi remarked as though it was the least interesting conversation he'd ever had. "Coffee?"
Karin, with coffee in hand, stalked back up towards her bedroom; hoping she could maybe get in a daytime nap. Suddenly feeling that same sense of being watched, she spun around; only to find that there was nothing there but her shadow. Frowning, she turned back to head up the stairs; not noticing the way that Shikamaru slowly began to slink up from where he had hidden himself as her shadow.
"Oh Sasuke!" Karin exclaimed with a bright smile, "How about you show me around town today? I promised our friends I'd get them a souvenir."
"Our friends," Sasuke scoffed; noticing Shikamaru rising out of the shadow; only half of his body fully formed. He chuckled to himself. Karin spun around; looking over her shoulder again; still seeing only her shadow.
"What?" she snapped, staring up at him and continuing to ascend the stairs. Suddenly, she stumbled and nearly spilled her coffee as she lost her balance, "Oh my god; Sasuke! Something grabbed my foot!"
"…I didn't see anything," he remarked flatly as he grudgingly helped her to regain her balance.
"B-But…" she stammered, and then blinked a few times. She could've sworn that she just felt something grip her ankle. "Okay…I just didn't get a very good sleep."
"Sleeping in a new place will do that to you," Sasuke commented disinterestedly; continuing on down the stairs. There was a sudden sharp barking from outside and the door opened; followed by a large white dog sprinting in; carrying something in its jaws.
"Oi, ya mutt! Give that back!" Hidan's voice snapped angrily as he and Kiba chased Akamaru into the foyer. Akamaru growled; gripping the object even tighter.
" –Is that a human hand?" Karin shrieked in horror. Sasuke flinched at the piercing scream. Kiba and Hidan exchanged looks and then looked at Akamaru. It was very obviously Hidan's hand; held limply in the dog's jaws.
"Tch, what are you talking about? It's a dog toy," Kiba rolled his eyes, "Clearly!" As if to prove this; Akamaru tossed the hand into the air and viciously caught it in his jaws again; gnawing on it. There wasn't any blood; but Hidan was looking incredibly uncomfortable and gritting his teeth angrily. Karin panted a few times; staring hard at the 'toy'. It looked very realistic; but…but there was no way that could be something belonging to a human! Letting out a sigh of relief, she turned her back again and stumbled off to her room; flinging a dirty look over her shoulder.
As soon as she was gone, Hidan stalked over to Akamaru and snatched his throbbing hand from the dog's mouth; swatting him with it.
"Stop biting off my fucking limbs," he snapped at the animal.
For Karin, the rest of the day proceeded in much the same fashion. She would see that weird, white-eyed guy watching her from around corners; she could swear that shadows were following her; lights would turn on and off; taps would turn on and off; it even felt like the flowers were watching her! She hated it! And then…she even had a weird dream that night…where that bitch of a pink-haired girl told her to leave Sasuke alone! Like she ever stood a chance with a stud like Sasuke!
Monday morning: present
At the very mention of spending another few nights; Karin had burst into a tantrum; leading to her storming from the house.
"What am I going to do with you kids?" Kisame sighed heavily when he heard the car pulling out of the driveway, "Shouldn't you be at school?"
"Teacher only day," Suigetsu informed him smugly.
" –Don't look so pleased with yourself, young man," Kisame scolded, running a hand through his hair, "I should ground you all –and don't even begin to claim that you had nothing to do with this! I told you to behave yourselves!"
"We did," Naruto pouted, "…Around the Uchihas…" he added as a mutter.
"Okay, that's it; you're all grounded," their father growled sternly; folding his arms, "Two weeks. You probably traumatized that poor girl –don't complain. You're lucky I'm not making it longer."
"She was a bitch," Sakura pointed out.
"…She was a bitch," Itachi agreed with a slight chuckle.
"Don't side with them," Kisame scolded the raven playfully, "They'll think they've won. I have to punish them for misusing their abilities!"
"Of course, Kisame," Itachi apologised, but when the bigger man had turned his back, he secretly flicked a thumbs up as a 'job well done' to the teenagers, who all chuckled to themselves. "The thing with the hand at dinner?" Itachi whispered, "Genius."
"Itachi; stop congratulating them on their scheming, thank you," Kisame remarked dryly; though there was a trace of amusement in his voice.
Sasuke headed over to the living room to get on with some of his homework as the others dispersed into the house. It was interesting; over the past two days, he'd actually come to appreciate a little, how difficult it was for his housemates to live a normal life. When they weren't terrorising Karin; they'd really put in an effort to make a good impression on his parents.
That was no easy feat; especially when Shikamaru was napping; he'd seen Kiba and Deidara pretending to be playing catch with various books in the living room to hide the fact that some of them had been levitating.
Naruto and his sneezes; they'd come close to not being able to distract them in time. Suigetsu tended to melt all over the place sometimes if he didn't concentrate; that led to a lot of watermarks on the carpet. Kiba couldn't help but go chase the mailman; he'd immediately shape-shift if he got wind of a squirrel; and he tended to subconsciously growl when he was around someone he didn't like. Sakura's strength got in the way if she wasn't careful (he'd seen her accidentally break at least four plates and three doors by accidentally ripping off the hinges). Not to mention that Deidara had a temper that was often barely controlled; hence fires, and Hidan had a bad habit of his limbs just randomly disassociating from his body.
Normal wasn't really their thing. It wasn't made for them.
"Oh, by the way," Kisame commented curiously as he and Itachi both headed for the kitchen, "How did you get Hidan to behave all weekend? He didn't swear; he didn't put his…well…he didn't leave limbs in the guest rooms…He didn't even provoke Deidara!" Itachi just chuckled.
"I twisted his ear a little," he admitted with a smirk, "Quite literally –he hates that, by the way; and I may have threatened to confiscate his car if he didn't do as he was told."
"…Did you assault and blackmail a psychopath into obedience?" Kisame exclaimed in surprise.
"A little," Itachi admitted with a smirk.
"Feel free to discipline my kids," the elder man chuckled, "For that, you are completely forgiven for supporting their behaviour this weekend."
"I'm glad."
"…Are they…are they flirting?" Suigetsu remarked flatly; staring incredulously at their backs and inclining his head in confusion.
"Of course they are," Ino sighed heavily.
"Damn it, this is infuriating," Sakura grumbled; watching their father laugh at something else that Itachi smugly commented. She smirked and stalked past Naruto; eyeing Sasuke who was sitting in the living room with his books. "…But at least she'll never be coming back. Now he's all yours," she added as a cheeky smirk.
"W-What are you talking about?" Naruto exclaimed in a squawk, "That's what this was about? You guys are assholes! I-I'm not…What did Shikamaru tell you?" When his siblings just laughed and stalked off, he folded his arms crossly and pouted like a child.
"No. I do not like him," he grumbled, "It was just a weird dream." He looked over at the raven, who looked up with his uninterested black eyes.
" –Oi, idiot; do you want help with chemistry or not?" he snorted, "I have much better things I could be doing than helping you." His words were mocking, but Naruto knew there wasn't much bite to it. He just stuck his tongue out at him teasingly.
"Jackass."
Aw, Itachi and Kisame are being cute but not acknowledging it. Maybe they just need a bit of a push. . . Or maybe a bit more of a push. And maybe Naruto just needs something to push him out of denial. . . . . Things will get moving along a bit faster soon :)I don't know how long this will go for; you guys are the deciders I suppose; you keep reviewing; I'll keep writing until I figure something out! Hope you're enjoying: There's SasuNaru in the cards, don't you worry. xx K
Life's never boring at Samehada Manor; that's for sure!