Konoha-Suna Union High School

AU: Itachi-OC and Sasori-OC

Chapter 11: In the Spring Breeze

The weather was quickly warming up as winter ended and certain flowers were blooming again. Spring had begun as did the spring term at KS. Some weeks passed since the couples got back together. Their schedules were pretty much the same with the new term, and a few new classes as they finished up, and spring extracurricular groups started up once again.

Itachi joined the swimming team with Kisame. Itachi did the search and rescue event where he has to dive, swim, and hold his breath to find specific things in the water and bring them back in the fastest time. Kisame was doing the endurance and speed swimming events for the team.

Raven was in archery, fourth year in a row now for her, as she hoped to get on the official ninja sniper squad after high school. She recently received an offer from the interrogation squad, and she had until graduation to decide whether or not she wanted to join that too.

Suki was no longer on the cheer team for spring term. Instead she joined the tennis team like she did last year, because she had a lot of fun last year when she did it. As an intelligence and stealth focused student, she was hoping to get a paperwork job after high school, maybe something where she can organize, because she liked organizing.

Sasori was elected president of the Arts and Crafts club, much to Deidara's disappointment. Deidara had wanted to be elected this term and Sasori didn't even want it anyway. For after high school, Sasori got offers to join either weapons development or the lab to work with poisons among other dangerous chemicals and solutions. Even though he was a combat and stealth focused student, it appeared that the factions that remain behind the battlefields wanted to make use of his skills. He had a lot to consider and think about before graduation.

Sasori had taken Raven out on a real date shortly after they became official not long ago. It had been a simple dinner and an evening stroll until they reached her place. He felt that he owed her a few dinners anyway from the times she either made or brought him dinner when they were working on various side projects.

While that couple was getting slightly more public about their relationship by going out on official dates together every now and then, Itachi and Suki had to pretend to be just friends as much as they could in public and keep a mindful eye out for anyone that might tell Fugaku of Itachi's disobedience. Itachi had found that he a lot more support in this than he first thought. Not only did he have Shisui on his side, but all of his friends covered for him, and even Sasuke was covering for him at home. It appeared that his younger brother wasn't approving of their father being so controlling either, especially when it was effecting him as well. Sasuke knew better than anybody that Itachi could handle just about anything, including having a girlfriend and being responsible about it, but he didn't understand how their father was ignoring that fact.

It wasn't long after the couples had got back together when Itachi and Sasori got Pain's permission to tell the girls more about their group and what really happened the day the guys had each got a bruise. The girls were naturally surprised that they were really the infamous Akatsuki that people whispered rumors about every once in a while. Even Mr. Kazuku, the school's accountant and financial adviser, and the Ag teacher, Mr. Zetsu were a part of it. They were even told how it was Pain that got them all together, but each member of the group still had their own goals as they cooperated with Pain's goal of peace through power from the shadows. Suki was sure that this was another thing that Itachi was hiding from his father.

At the end of the third week of the spring term, everyone seemed to already be busy with everything going on with school, final projects, and getting prepared for what to do after graduation. After school, Sasori and Deidara wrapped up a quick Arts and Crafts club meeting to make sure people were working on their piece for the art show. Right after that, Sasori had gone looking for Raven in the library. They had received their survival hiking trip team assignments that day right as classes ended and he finally got around to looking at his assignment and found that he got his first choice for teammates. The week before, they got to request their teams, and Sasori got his choice to be with Raven, and they were also on the same team as Itachi and Suki.

It appeared that Raven wasn't in the library, and he even checked their little hiding spot in the back corner among the shelves of books that hardly anyone used anymore. They had only gone back there a couple times for some privacy, but he thought it was worth a shot to check there anyway.

Deciding that her archery practice must still be going, he headed over to the lower field to see her. He got there in time to see her shoot her last arrow from the other side of the fence by the gate to get into the field. It was a perfect shot and her team applauded as she lowered her bow.

"Hey Raven, your boyfriend is here again," one of her female teammates giggled.

Raven looked over at him and waved and he waved back. After she retrieved her arrows from the target, she approached him. "What's up?" she asked him through the chain linked fence.

"Want to head over to Itachi and Kisame's swimming thing with me?" he asked, figuring they could talk along the way and without the whole archery team watching.

"Sure, we just finished up, I'll go put my stuff away and meet you back here," Raven nodded.

Soon they were heading to the indoor pool connected to the gym where they also have their senior class training period.

"So when do you think it'll be our turn to go on the survival hiking trip?" Sasori asked as they walked.

"Depends on when the teams that go before us get back, but since we got our assignment already, I assume our turn is coming up soon," Raven said.

"Yeah, me too," Sasori said, "I have a feeling it will be really easy," he added.

"Yeah, as seniors it should be easy, we are far more advanced than an average freshman," she said. "We could even take the shortcuts and enjoy the scenery."

"I remember doing this trip freshman year and I came home so exhausted, but last year I was just fine by the time my team was done," Sasori said. "Goes to show how much more stamina we accumulated over the years."

Raven just nodded as they entered the pool area. The team's practice and warm up was just finishing up and it looked like the team was making some pretty good times and might win the competition if they keep it up.

The other guys had come to watch the meet too. Pain and Konan were sitting on some bleachers while Hidan, Deidara, and Tobi were standing by them and talking. Sasuke was already there, he was sitting by Suki so he could watch the events his brother would be in. Both Suki and Sasuke were only interested in Itachi's competition that he was participating in.

Sasori went over to his friends to wait for the event to begin. It appeared to be starting shortly. "Hey," he said when he stepped next to Deidara and making his presence known.

"Hey, you came, yeah," Deidara smirked. "Where's your girlfriend?"

Sasori looked over to his other side, where Raven had been moments before, and found that she was gone. He noticed that she tended to do that, just disappear sometimes. It was still taking some getting used to. Sasori looked over behind Deidara to nearby bleachers and spotted Raven talking to Suki. "She's over there talking to her friend, why do you always ask me that? It's not like she has to be glued to my side just because we started dating, dumbass," Sasori said as Tobi wandered over to say hi to the girls.

Deidara merely shrugged as he watched Tobi happily go over there. "Just trying to figure you two out, un."

"Figure out what?" Sasori questioned.

"I dunno, like how serious you are and you how you guys work," Deidara tried to explain, but Sasori's confused expression showed that it wasn't making much sense. "Humph," Deidara said as he folded his arms over his chest and dropped the subject.

Sasori looked over at Raven again as she laughed with her friend at something Tobi said. "Sasori," Pain started and Sasori looked back to him. "Do you know what Raven's focus of study is?" he inquired.

"Yeah, she's both stealth and interrogation," Sasori answered. "Why?"

"I was wondering how those two might be of use in our… organization," Pain said. Sasori, Deidara, and Hidan stared wide-eyed at their leader for a couple seconds. Konan seemed to already know about this.

"You mean… you're considering having them join?" Deidara asked surprised.

"Yes," Pain answered and put his arm around Konan.

"Do you think they can handle it?" Hidan asked.

Pain simply tilted his head to the side for a moment. "I cannot say, not yet," he said, meaning he was still considering it. "You know them better than I do, Sasori, what do you think?"

Sasori looked over at the girls again before looking back and thinking a moment. "Probably," he said and Pain nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hey Raven, what kind of grades do you get?" Hidan asked her, making Sasori and Deidara stiffen for a moment as they realized she was now back at Sasori's side.

"Why?" she asked.

"Don't you get mostly A's?" Sasori asked as he slipped an arm around her waist, making sure he would know when she leaves again.

"Yes," she answered.

From Deidara's point of view, it appeared as though Sasori just happened to know she was standing right there again as he had put his arm around her and began talking to her like she never left. It was bazaar.

"How do you do that?" Deidara questioned them both. They both just looked at him and he shrank back. They both had equally blank cold gazes that looked right into him and he found that look creepy. Individually, Sasori always beat him at everything and made him feel stupid at times, and then with Raven, he was aware that she must be a scary woman to handle and guy like Sasori let alone date him willingly. As a couple, they kind of scared Deidara.

No one answered and the subject was dropped as the events were about to start and everyone sat down. Sasori went with Raven as she went over to sit by Suki.

The girls chatted while Sasori yawned and leaned back on the bleacher row behind him that was mostly empty besides Sasuke, but he was over to the other side of Suki on that row.

Itachi's event came up right after the speed swimming event. Itachi just got up to congratulate Kisame on getting a winning time when a group of girls up in the bleachers started cheering for Itachi, as well as swoon over him when he pulled off his hoodie leaving him shirtless with red and black swim trunks.

"Oh wow," Suki sighed as she watch her boyfriend step up by the pool where he talked to Kisame. "Look Raven, I told you! Don't you think he's hot?" Suki giggled as she pointed out her boyfriend's fit physique.

"Hard to say otherwise," Raven chuckled at her friend.

Even though Raven was just agreeing with her friend, Sasori didn't like what was being implied. Sasori was instantly jealous. Sure, he's known that girls think that Itachi is attractive and it's never bothered him before, just this time it did for some reason. It didn't help that Itachi had a group of fan girls squealing over him. That only furthered Sasori's insecurity.

"Hey, Tobi is cheering too!" Suki laughed as Tobi jumped around with the cheering girls who were just there to see Itachi with his shirt off. It appeared that Tobi just wanted to make noise and wave his arms about and he wasn't particularly sure what he was cheering for as he was just shouting 'splash' over and over.

Raven laughed too until she looked over at Sasori who appeared to be pouting with his arms folded over his chest.

Kisame pointed out the fans to Itachi while they were by the pool waiting for Itachi's event to start. Itachi thought they were cheering because he was getting really good times and is likely to win his part of the competition, and more people always show up to meets when the team is doing well.

Kisame was a little jealous that Itachi was getting all the attention and he hadn't even won yet, but he understood why the girls were cheering and it was nothing new to him. In fact, he found it somewhat amusing since Itachi, being so smart, didn't know what the girls were really cheering about. Kisame thought it was a bit dense of Itachi to not realize that the group of girls were cheering for him because he's got his shirt off and not for his good times.

Both guys saw Tobi cheering and dancing around, just having fun, and so they laughed at that. Itachi waved to his girlfriend right before be got into position to wait for his event to start.

Itachi finished with his best time yet, even his competitors knew they were doomed to lose already. Winning caused the fans to cheer even more and Itachi just waved with one hand as he brushed his hair out of his face with the other and he went to pick up his towel. He didn't bother to dry off completely, and just put the towel behind his neck and over his shoulders and pat his face dry.

Suki sighed dreamingly as she watched him walk by, dripping wet and flushed from the exercise.

After the rest of the events were done, Itachi and Kisame met up with their friends once they were dried and dressed. They were all going to go out together as celebration for starting strong this term. Sasuke was dragged along too, but this time he didn't protest as much. They were only out together for about an hour, they all still had homework to deal with after all.

Sasori got home as it started getting dark. "I'm home," he said while slipping off his shoes.

Chiyo looked up from the kitchen table, "I see that," she said. "I hope you were out with a girl."

"As a matter of fact, I was, as well as my friends," Sasori said. "The swim team had a meet today, a couple friends were participating and did quite well."

"You were watching men swimming? You need to get yourself a girlfriend," Chiyo commented.

Sasori just sighed as he went to the refrigerator. "Actually, I do have a girlfriend," he told her.

Chiyo looked up at him for a moment and then raised an eyebrow. "You? No way, you must be lying," she said skeptically.

Sasori's eye twitched. "What? No, I'm not, I really do have a girlfriend," he said.

Chiyo stared at him, determining whether he was being sarcastic or not. "Still don't believe you," she shrugged.

He threw his arms in the air, frustrated, and then went straight to his room with a bottled water, giving up on the subject. This old woman was impossible.

The next day at school was normal for a little while, but then Itachi, Sasori, Raven, and Suki were told to report for their survival hiking trip assignment. They were told that they just needed to find and retrieve both a blue and red flag with KS's insignia on them and return by Sunday afternoon for full credit, with or without the flags. The group was immediately deployed and given one hour to get their packs and meet at the starting location at the base of the mountain.

With packs and enough supplies to last a couple days, they were hiking up the woody mountain in no time. The trip is usually long, lasting a couple days, but as seniors they have much more skill and stamina to walk up cliff sides and across water to get to their destinations without getting as tired easily.

"The weather is so nice!" Suki commented. "Perfect for a hiking trip, not too hot and not too cold…"

"And the breeze is just right," Raven added. "I was actually looking forward to this trip, I enjoy hiking."

Itachi and Sasori nodded, agreeing that it was actually a very nice day. They couldn't have asked for a better time to do this trip. Instead of a jacket, Sasori had on a vest over his plain white shirt and Itachi's jacket was shoved into his pack. Raven had a red tank top over a gray shirt and Suki had a on a pink tank top with her usual pink skirt, but opted to leave her usual pink hair ribbon at home so she wouldn't risk losing it.

"Two years ago it was raining when on one of my survival hiking trips, the entire time," Itachi said.

"The last time it rained when I went was back in junior high, but that was when we only did one day trips in groups of three and with a teacher," Sasori said. "Last year my group was one of the last to go, so it was almost summer break and really hot. Deidara wouldn't stop complaining, I seriously thought about murdering him and burying him somewhere out here," Sasori grumbled at the memory.

"The rain isn't so bad," Raven laughed softly as she shrugged slightly. Sasori blushed at Raven's rare cute moment, and he remembered their first kiss which was in the rain. "Of course, that is coming from a water type ninja," she added with a sidelong glance.

"You water types," Sasori chuckled.

"Hey, I'm a water type too!" Suki raised her hand.

Itachi laughed and put his arm around Suki's shoulders and walked with her. "He knows, I think he means it as a compliment," he smiled.

Sasori nodded, "I find you water types to be an interesting breed," he added with a smirk while Raven rolled her eyes. "Though I think all of us here have some water type," he said.

"That's right," Itachi nodded and they continued walking for a bit. "This trip is going to be easy isn't it?" Itachi sighed.

"How boring," Sasori said.

"Doesn't mean we can't have fun while we're out here," Raven said.

"Hey, I know!" Suki jumped and turned to face them with a smile. "Let's have a picnic!"

"Huh?" Both of the guys questioned.

"Sounds like an idea," Raven nodded. "In fact, I thought someone might suggest something like that so I came prepared with a few useful items."

"Huh?" Sasori said confused. He was still stuck on the idea of a picnic while on a graded mission.

"Well, if that's what you want to do, I don't see why not," Itachi said as Suki nodded happily.

"I'm sure we have plenty of time," Raven said.

"Alright, guess all we need to do is find a good place by lunch time," Itachi said.

Lunch was still a couple hours away so they were able to cover a lot of ground by then. They cleared the woods and was crossing though a plain on their way to the lake. Before reaching the woods that would come before the lake, they found a large grassy area with scattered trees. In the shade of one tree, where the grass wasn't growing as high, they laid down a picnic blanket and rested.

Suki shuffled through her bag and pulled out a couple containers. "You see, I had just made these brownies and cookies so I thought it would be a shame to let them get stale at home while I'm away, so I brought them along to share," she said.

"And I brought napkins and sandwiches for everyone," Raven said and opened up a container packed with sandwiches. "And here's some water flavoring and a couple other snacks," she said.

"How did you know you might need all this?" Sasori asked.

"Had a hunch," she shrugged. "Here," she said offering him and water packet. "Trust me, it helps on the refilled water from out here since it sterilized and flavors it," she said and he took it to add to his water bottle. "You should have a brownie too," she said while Suki offered him some.

He took one and nodded, "Thanks," he said.

"There's plenty more where that came from," Suki smiled.

It wasn't long until they were done eating. The girls put the leftover stuff away and in their packs and left them off to the side of their shaded picnic area. Everyone even decided to take off their shoes and leave them with the packs for awhile to not dirty the blanket and help themselves relax for awhile.

There was a warm breeze in this area. It was very relaxing so their break lasted a bit longer than they intended, especially when half of the team fell asleep. Suki had been leaning against Itachi when she drifted off. Itachi was just leaned back on one of his hands, very relaxed as he watched the leisure sky. Sasori had taken the opportunity to lay down for a bit to relax, using Raven's lap as a pillow. After a somewhat stressful week and staying up late, the warm air just kind of lured him asleep.

"This is pretty nice," Itachi commented quietly, aware that the two were sleeping and thought it would be best to let them rest.

"Yes it is, very relaxing," Raven said quietly as the breeze moved through her hair and past her skin gently.

"It's like… we don't have to worry about anything out here," Itachi added.

Raven looked over at him for a moment, "I guess that would be true, there's no one out here but us, all we have to do is get the flags and return in two days, we have plenty of time relax," she said.

"Yeah," Itachi nodded. "I wonder… if it'll be alright?" he muttered, mostly to himself.

"Hmm?" Raven looked at him briefly and found that he was now focused on the sky again, so she let the silence that followed continue for a bit longer.

It wasn't long until Sasori jolted awake. He hadn't meant to fall asleep and was a little embarrassed until he found that he wasn't the only one.

Suki just kind of opened her eyes and stretched. "That felt great," Suki sighed. "Nothing like a good cat nap to get you energized again."

Itachi chuckled softly before helping her up. After they all got their shoes and packs, they continued moving until it was time to set up camp. It had taken a while to cross the lake on foot, and once they did, the sun was starting to set.

The girls set up a tent while the guys set up another tent. Then the guys gathered up some wood and sticks so Raven could start a campfire and Suki got some water from the lake to begin sterilizing. All that didn't take very long so Raven volunteered to patrol the area before coming back to rest. Sasori went with her since he had nothing to do at the moment beside maybe stand guard, but there wasn't any real threat out here. There was also the fact that he didn't want to feel like a third wheel if he was left alone with Itachi and Suki.

"What do you think they talk about?" Itachi asked absently as he watched Sasori and Raven walk away from his place near Suki at the campfire.

"I think comic books, art, television, jutsu, cats, and whatever else they like," Suki answered.

"That can't be all they talk about," Itachi said.

"Well, what do you think they talk about?"

"Probably us and the others too, and Sasori is likely complain about his home life," Itachi said.

"His home life probably isn't as bad as yours from what I know of," Suki said.

"Well, it's not that my home life is bad, just…" Itachi trailed off.

"Just what?" Suki urged.

"We're alone," Itachi said in a completely different tone. The thought just dawned on him. He had hoped for some alone time with Suki during this trip. In fact, he was even thinking about asking Raven if she could distract Sasori for a little while so he and Suki might get a few minutes of privacy.

"…Yeah?" Suki said, not getting it. Itachi just smirked at her as he continued to think about it. "Oh!" she laughed. "You're right, it's so weird, we haven't been alone together in a while."

"I know, and I say we not waste this opportunity…" he said and came closer to her and capturing her lips in a longing kiss.

Sasori and Raven weren't gone for very long, so they found it strange when they returned and found that their friends were no longer by the campfire and nowhere to be seen.

"How odd," Raven said as she approached her tent and then looked inside. "She's not in here, guess she went out for a bit too," she said not worried about it. Raven moved to pick up her pack and take in inside her tent so she could get really to sleep for the night.

Sasori scratched his head but did not think much of it. He wasn't worry about it either, they could take care of themselves. Sasori went of to his and Itachi's tent and opened the tent door to check if Itachi was in there sleeping already.

As soon as he opened the door he let it fall closed again and backed up quickly. Sasori found them, they hadn't left the campsite after all and were currently making out in one of the tents. Sasori rolled his eyes and moved to pick up his own pack to take with him to Raven's tent.

He wasted no time in letting himself in and rolling out his sleeping mat. Raven just looked at him wondering what the heck he thought he was doing.

"Itachi and Suki are in the other tent," Sasori said.

"Ah," Raven said, understanding what happened. She wasn't surprised.

"Yeah, so if she's taking my spot, whatever, I'll just sleep here since I'm not going to wait around until their done, I hate waiting," he said. "And I'd rather sleep by you instead anyway," he muttered but she still heard it and laughed softly at his comment.

"I suppose that makes sense," she said. "And don't worry, I don't snore either."

"Even if you do, it can't be as bad as Deidara…" Sasori grumbled at the memory of having to share a campsite with him, and they didn't even share a tent. "And each of his mouths drool…"

Raven laughed. "Wow, that must suck for him," she said.

Sasori decided that he actually kind of liked this sleeping arrangement better. Sleeping near another guy seemed weird now that he's older. And this way he gets to be closer to Raven. He arranged his things by laying out his mat, removing his vest and shoes, and setting his pack where his head would be and placing his vest over it to make a pillow.

He sat down and looked over at Raven, who was brushing her hair. Sasori had only even seen Raven with her hair down once and that was at the winter formal dance, but even then it was curled. He didn't realize how long it actually was when it was naturally straight.

"What?" Raven asked when she noticed he was watching her.

"You have really long hair," he said eying the dark blonde locks that slipped through the brush.

Raven blinked confused as to why he just stated the obvious. "I know," she said and he blushed slightly feeling embarrassed as he realized how stupid he sounded. She then tied her hair in a low ponytail and laid down. "Night, Sasori," she said.

"Yeah, night," he said and laid down. They had just closed their eyes for less than minute when they heard some sounds coming from the other tent nearby. "Hey, do you want to take a walk?" Sasori asked suddenly.

"Yes, very much," Raven said sitting up quickly. As soon as they got their shoes, they got out of there quickly.

Sasori and Raven walked to the lake and sat down in the sandy rocks. "I like the country night sky, you can actually see the stars without street lights and stuff. Do you ever wonder how many stars there are?" Sasori asked.

"They're countless," Raven said.

"Heh, I know," Sasori chuckled.

"Bring able to cross this lake sped up our travel time a lot," she said.

Sasori looked out over the blackened lake. "Yeah."

Raven stood up and walked out onto the water. "I wonder if Itachi and his team have ever practiced in a lake before?" she questioned.

Sasori felt his jealousy rise again at the thought of the kind of attention Itachi gets from girls, including Raven, when he's on the swim team. "Doubt it, why would they do that?" Sasori muttered.

Raven raised an eyebrow at him, hearing his sudden change in attitude. "Practical application of their skills," she said simply.

"Oh, right," Sasori said and looked away.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing."

Raven glared at him for a moment. "Fine then," she said. "Want to see a new jutsu?" she asked.

"Sure," he said.

"Come here." Sasori sighed and stood up and went out onto the water too. "Okay, you might get a little wet," she said and he looked at her shocked but before he could say anything else, he felt the water hit him. Then he stood there and looked annoyed for a few second while she laughed. "Sorry, sorry, that was a lot more water than I thought," she said.

Sasori just smirked and shook his head before he started walking back to where he had been sitting. "And what was that supposed to do besides get me wet?" he asked.

"Well, normally it's a lot more water and it would force the opponent back, just now I tried to take only a tiny bit but it was still more than intended," she explained and then raised as eyebrow at him again as he started taking off his shirt. "What are you doing?"

"I kind of don't want to catch a cold out here," he said after taking it off. He then looked at her and noticed her blush in the darkness, causing him to smirk smugly. Since he was still jealous over her agreement to Suki's comment about Itachi, Sasori didn't mind showing off a little for his girlfriend while he had the opportunity.

"You think the other two are done sucking face? I want to sleep," Raven said, averting her eyes as Sasori rung out his shirt.

"I hope so," he said while examining his shirt.

"Here, I can dry that for you," she offered. He just gave it to her and she used a jutsu to pull the water out of it, the jutsu was meant to use on people as a lethal attack, but it worked on clothes too.

"Thanks," he said and instead of putting it on right away, he threw over his shoulder, gave her a quick kiss, and then put his arm around her so they walk back to camp. She blushed at the contact while he was still without his shirt. He had put his shirt back on once they got to the tent.

The next morning they woke up facing each other and very close. Her arms were tucked between them and he had one arm over her as his nose was touching her hair.

The other two woke up in a similar way. Suki was using Itachi's shoulder as a pillow and he was on his back with his arms around her. They hadn't been kissing all that long the night before, but he didn't originally plan to move to the tent. He hoped it didn't irritate Sasori, but he was also glad that Sasori hadn't interrupted them. In that case, it would have been Itachi angered instead.

They didn't talk about the sleeping arrangement that morning and just got straight to work on finding the flags. Itachi and Suki headed off one direction and then Sasori and Raven headed off the other direction. The plan was to meet back at the campsite by lunch.

Itachi and Suki found the blue flag, which was much further away than they thought. The flag was on the side of a cliff. On the way back down, Suki had stumbled on the very last step where she meant to hop to the ground, but her toes caught on a rock instead and she would have fallen a long way if Itachi hadn't caught her.

"Are you okay?" he asked and started to put her down on her feet slowly. He noticed the instant she winced as she put pressure on her foot. "Here, I'll just carry you on my back," he said. It wouldn't be a problem since he left his pack at the campsite.

"Are you sure?" Suki blushed, she was kind of embarrassed from nearly tripping.

Itachi just turned around and lifted her onto his back effortlessly. "Not a problem!" he smiled and started walking. "Just hold onto that flag," he said and she nodded.

It wasn't long until they started talking. He told her about how he was planning to move in with his cousin, Shisui, after graduation so he wouldn't be with his father all of the time once he starts working for him in the Uchiha police.

"Do you know why your father hates me?" Suki asked.

"He doesn't hate you," Itachi told her.

"Do you know that for a fact?"

"Well no, but he approved of you before," Itachi said.

"Then why doesn't want us to be together?"

"I don't know, but all you have to know Suki, is that I'm willing to risk harsh punishment from him if means I might get the chance to find out if this is love," he smiled at her over his shoulder for a moment before looking at in front of him to watch his footing.

Suki blushed at that thought. Love. She certainly hoped that's what this was. He sure seemed willing to go through a lot to try to find out though. She could do the same for him.

The rest of the survival hiking trip was very uneventful. They had met up with Sasori and Raven at the campsite and since they had both the blue and red flags, they had a quick lunch and got home by dark. The check in was very brief, but Itachi was going to make sure Suki got home alright and Raven walked with Sasori, saying bye to him as they passed his house and she continued on to her apartment.

The moment Sasori had opened the door, he was met by his grandmother. "Sasori, you need a girlfriend!" Chiyo demanded.

Sasori's eye twitch. "Didn't I tell you? I have a girlfriend!" he shouted.

"I don't believe you," she said folded her arms over her chest.

"Well you know what? I can prove it this time," he said and ran back out and came back seconds later with Raven in tow. "See, her."

"Sasori, you shouldn't be a creep and grab some random girl off the street," Chiyo scolded.

"What?" Sasori shouted. "She really is my girlfriend, official for a over a month now."

"Prove it," Chiyo said, knowing there was really no way to prove something like that. Then Sasori shocked both of them by kissing Raven right there.

"See? She's my girlfriend or otherwise I would never do that," Sasori said.

"Hurm… guess it must be true, why didn't you just say so?"

"Grah! I did!"

"I don't believe you," Chiyo said. Sasori was fed up so he dropped his head against the wall in frustration. Then he dragged his feet on his way to his room. As soon as he closed his door, Chiyo burst out laughing, surprising Raven who was still there. "Don't worry, I just like messing with him," she laughed. "I've known for a while, but I don't really care if he has a girlfriend or not, as long as he's happy, I just know it bugs him to keep asking."

Raven laughed softly. "I see," she said slightly amused that someone could get such kicks out of their grandson. "Well good night," she said and waved goodbye so she could continue heading home.

This was probably the best survival hiking trip any of them experienced. Not only did they pass and get the flags before they had to head back, but they had a great time too. Really, that's exactly what they had hoped for.