ON THE ROAD

Chapter 1

"Oh, come on, Sasuke! It'll be fun!" Naruko had following Sasuke around all day, trying to convince her lifelong friend to go along with her idea.

"Of course it'll be fun," he said, rolling his eyes. "For you two at least."

He included Hinata, Naruko's friend, in the equation, of course.

The two of them were studying at the same university, while Sasuke was training to be a private investigator. The three of them were hanging out as friends since high school, but since Sasuke started his career as a freelance investigator, the time they had together started to reduce.

"What do you mean by that?", she asked.

Sasuke knew he couldn't be up-front. Hinata had been in love with Naruko for years now...the poor girl was just too shy to say anything; and though it was obvious to all but Naruko, their blonde friend was simply too dense to understand.

To Naruko, they were best friends. Bisexual best friends, which both of them had admitted to, but simply best friends in the end. Hinata begged Sasuke to not say anything.

She wanted to confess and overcome her shyness. It's been almost a year now and even if Sasuke was giving support, things were in stalemate.

"Well, I don't want to become your butler while you two have all the fun".
Sasuke actually wanted to say that he didn't want to end up in a "three's a crowd" situation, but he also wanted to respect Hinata's wish.

"What's with the third wheel thing again? Are you afraid to be left behind or something?", Naruko blurted out. Sometimes she was getting so close to the truth, and yet… Sasuke was getting used to it, so he simply sighed.

"Why...", Sasuke continued:"Why do you want this vacation with the 3 of us all of a sudden?".

"I told you already, I want to have fun just like when we were in high school… OK we never had a car, but that's the fun part, right? We can go wherever we want. Anywhere, anytime. Fuck the planning."

"First of all, we always programmed our travels, since we always travelled abroad and such. It's the anywhere, anytime part that is troubling me the most...but…", Sasuke started reflecting about it.

He still had some boxes left to move to his apartment, but she might have asked just in time for a change of plans.

Naruko asked as she pressured him, "what were your plans anyway? I bet it was something boring".

"Basically nothing. I still have to take some stuff from my parents, but…", Sasuke replied.

"Boooring, you can do that another time. Come on.", Naruko pushed.

Sasuke remained silent until he found another issue to base his question on. He asked her, "What about your training? Wouldn't your Olympic bid be at risk if you slack off too much?"

Naruko was a great athlete. Her house, or to be more specific her mother's house, was studded with medals and trophies since she was little and able to run. This year she was aiming for the Olympic triathlon tournament. Sasuke was a little worried that what she was proposing could actually take away precious time for her training.

"Don't worry about that, Grampa. I know how to keep my body in shape. Also, I have 5 months for training", Naruko replied.

If even her bigger dream can't dissuade her, Sasuke knew nothing could stop her until he gives up.

"Alright.", Sasuke replied sighing.

"FUCK YEAH", she instantly screamed. As she noticed she was getting inquisitive looks by strangers, she recomposed and cleared her throat

"Ok. Let's talk about it tomorrow with Hinata and…", Sasuke said as he was interrupted.

"No. We leave tomorrow.", Naruko interrupted.

Sasuke couldn't have the time to say 'what?' as she started running while shouting,

"Gotta go talk to Hinata. See you tomorrow at your house".

Sasuke sighed and started thinking on what just happened, what's gonna happen, what was necessary for a travel without destination.

A few hours later.

"Hey, Sasuke. How's it going?", that's how Suigetsu answered to his previous young master.

"It's good. I wanted to ask you something, but first, how is it going there?", Sasuke replied. He wanted to make sure that nobody of his family would bother looking for him in the next few days.

"Everything's calm here. Your parents already left for business or leisure trips. Nobody's here besides domestic staff, so you can come take the boxes anytime…", Suigetsu replied.

"Well, I think I might delay that, but what I wanted to ask is something different.", Sasuke told him.

Sasuke was in good terms with Suigetsu. While his parents, including his brother, were always busy for work, they could play games like normal children would, forgetting their status. Suigetsu was someone who would easily drop his facade when playing with him. It could've been because he has the same age of his young master, but he was a butler only in front of other members of the family.

That was the main reason Sasuke had a good relatioship with him even when he left the household.

"What is it?", Suigetsu asked.

"Do you remember that old cottage we used to go fishing?". Sasuke asked trying to remember all the details of a childhood memory. It was an old fashioned cottage where sometimes the men of the family would go there fishing or enjoy the quiet atmosphere given by the lake and the forest surrounding it.

"Woah, that surely feels nostalgic, man.", Suigetsu replied.

"Well, I wanted to go there for a few days. Is it still there intact? Is it free until this weekend?", Sasuke asked.

Suigetsu hummed a little before giving the answer, "Well, I don't remember last time someone went there, but it should be still there. I can't guarantee for it's condition though".

Sasuke wanted to stay in the cottage for at least one night. "It's alright. Are you sure nobody is there? I want some time alone for myself.", he replied. He wanted to keep it secret from his family.

"Yeah, everyone is abroad and won't come back for a week at least.", Suigetsu remarked.

"Ok.", Sasuke replied to him. He then proceeded to ask the most important detail:
"Are the keys hidden at the same spot?"

"Yep. You still remember the location, right?", Suigetsu asked. He had a point, since they never went there by themselves.

"More or less.", Sasuke admitted.

"Don't worry man, I'll send you the coordinates.", Suigetsu ensured him.

"Ok, thanks man.", Sasuke replied.

Sasuke wanted to hung up, but Suigetsu continued the conversation, "Hey…".

"Hmm?", Sasuke asked.

"Do you mind if I join?", Suigetsu asked him.

Sasuke wondered if his interest was genuine or not and gave a sarcastic reply, "Yes Suigetsu, you can surely join in my 'private time'. Sarcasm aside, No! I want some time alone with...ehm...silence.".

"Hehe, yeah right.", Suigetsu replied laughing, while on the other side Sasuke knew where this was going and mentally facepalmed.

"Please stop it.", Sasuke tried to keep his tone of voice as normal as possible to not make Suigetsu even more suspicious.

"Ok, boss. Anything else?", Suigetsu taunted.

"Do me a favor and stop calling me boss.", Sasuke told him rolling his eyes.

"I don't think so, boss. Technically you're not my employer anymore, so…", Suigetsu retorted.

"I hate you for that, but I should thank you for everything.", Sasuke replied.

"Of course you should...Nah, it's no big deal man.", Suigetsu told Sasuke.

Sasuke thanked again and hung up, while Suigetsu had a wide smile on his face.

The next day

A message just arrived on Sasuke's phone:

'Sorry Sasuke, change of plans. Can we meet at the Kyuubi? Mom wants to give us some free stuff ;)"

Sasuke replied with a thumbs up emoji.

Kushina was the owner of the Kyuubi store. It was basically a supermarket with every food brand you would find in any other store. The main difference was in the good social media marketing and the stuff uniforms, orange aprons with a 9-tailed fox logo and fox ears on their heads. The fact that there was also an all female staff added some maid-cafè vibe to it.

Kushina started and created everything from zero since her husband died 20 many years ago, when Naruko was newborn. Her cheerful personality in front of clients and social media kept her business going smoothly. Naruko worked there as part-timer.

Since, Kyuubi store wasn't too far from from Sasuke's apartment so it didn't take too much time for the 3 of them to meet up and enter it to meet the red-haired lady.

"Welcome! Oh it's you guys", Kushina greeted them.

Sasuke gave her a nod while Hinata gave her a nod accompanied with a smile.

Naruko, on the other hand, asked directly in excitement, "Hey mom! How's it gooing be? Are you going give me card or...?".

"I'll swipe my card at the checkout for you… but no instant ramen and no alcohol.", Kushina answered.

Naruko's world crashed at that. She then proceeded to complain like a child, "OH come on mom! You must be joking, right?"

"Of course, I was joking. You can take some beers.", Kushina teased.

"I was talking about the ramen!", her daughter complained.

"Hinata, make sure she doesn't fill the cart of ramen, ok?", Kushina told Hinata to which then the dark blue-haired girl simply nodded.

"Sasuke, do you mind helping me with some heavy lifting?", Kushina then turned to Sasuke and asked him with a smirk. Sasuke gently gave her a knowing smile, as he knew the show was going to start.

Just like always, Naruko started the act by pointing at her mother like a typical tsundere and yell,
"MoooM! Are you hitting on my childhood friend again? Aren't you ashamed at all?".

Now, it was Kushina's turn to reply, "Not at all, my dear. Even though, he doesn't mind…", She said with a wink while getting close to him and grabbing his arm. It was Sasuke's time to jump in. He simply gave Naruko a look and then at Kushina. Kushina bit her lower lip while looking back at him. Then she winked at him accompanied with a wider radiant smile.

Sasuke dramatically put his free hand to his chest and grinned and proclaimed, "Anything for you, my dear."

Naruko gasped at this, while Kushina smirked mischievously at her daughter.

"Hinata, Mom is stealing my chilhood friend, say something", Naruko complained to Hinata.

Hinata usually didn't like this acting. She would usually disappear before getting involved, but this time she wanted to take part of it.

"ehmm… get a room you two?", Hinata tried.

"You're not helping here!", Naruko replied instantly.

Kushina pushed herself on Sasuke more while replying:"Now now Naruko, I'm not stealing your childhood friend, I'm just borrowing him for 10 minutes...or 20". Then she gave him a look while her fingers were playfully walking on his chest...slowly passing through his shoulder. Sasuke couldn't stop looking at her thin, red parted lips. Even if he doesn't have much knowledge in the area of lipsticks, he'd bet she used a slightly glossy and deep color type. A good mix of sensuality and elegance, if not perfect. The more he glanced at them, the more he was imagining to actually kiss them.

Kushina broke him from his state of charm, "Is that alright for you, my dear?"

Sasuke closed his eyes avoiding any eye-contact that could transpire anything suspicious. He immediately answered while doing his best to keep a poker face, "Of course...Honey.".

He was used to all the acting, but every time Kushina would cling on his arm that way, he was afraid to show any sign of fluster. A pleasurable fluster, yet still dangerous, since he could feel her breasts on his arm. And today she seemed to look more...genuine on her roleplay.

"Hey Mom, stop with the flirting, he's not your boyfriend.", Naruko interrupted. Maybe even Naruko understood that things were getting borderline, yet she didn't want to drop the act, which it meant something like a defeat.

"My boyfriend?", Kushina asked looking at Sasuke. "That doesn't sound so bad. What do you think? SA-SU-KE?", she commented.

Sasuke was mischievously smiling in his own way. After all, he could still act and yet indirectly admit that she' a hot MILF. Yet, he chose not to by saying, "I think we should discuss this in private.".

Their hands were now finger-crossed as Kushina softly smiled back and bit her lower lip before accepting his proposal, "That's a good idea, Dar-ling".

Their eye-contact was soon interrupted by a 'HUH?' from Naruko.

Kushina laid her head on his shoulder while sensually humming , "Unless my daughter has some feelings for you of course". Kushina then proceeded to give Naruko 'the look'. Naruko's mouth refused to open. She always hated this part, the checkmate situation. Why? because this is the part where she would say, 'I-it's not like i like him or anything' and lose to Kushina. And the red-haired beauty knew it very well.

"Wooof, it's steamy here, is the A.C. not working or what?", That was the comment by one usual client who assists at the act while passing through them. Some affectionate clients were smiling while watching at them and laughed heartily when the client commented like that. Naruko kept her mouth jaw-dropped for resisting the contagious laughter and keeping the act at the same time.

There were even two employees enjoying the show while whispering themselves if the duo was serious this time or not.

Before Naruko could say something, Kushina put the act to an end by telling to Hinata: "By the way, I think we have some cinnamon rolls on sale today".

Hinata's eyes widened at this revelation. She immediately grabbed one of Naruko's hands and pulled her towards the carts saying, "Let's go!".

Naruko was caught off guard and could only complain, "Heh? What? No fair mom, that's a dirty trick".

Kushina shrugged while replying with a sly smile, "All's fair in love and war...Please, follow me Darling.". With this, she dragged Sasuke away with her.

"No, don't do it Sasuke.", Naruko yelled while being pulled dramatically by Hinata.

Sasuke simply replied to her:"I'll be back soon.". He said that without caring to have actually lost for dropping the act. Naruko won the competition but she had also lost.

She went on screaming "NOOOOOOoooo…!" as she was dragged away in slow motion.

Kushina brought Sasuke to the storage. They always dropped the act by this time. Sasuke started the conversation, "I actually wanted to talk to you Kushina. It's about Naruko".

Kushina replied back, "Same for me, but if you don't mind I'd like you to bring down some water bottles for me?" Sasuke just gave a nod and went to work.

"Do you have any idea why she wanted this trip?", Sasuke asked her.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing, actually." Kushina replied, That was not the answer he was expecting.

"You sure? Didn't you notice anything different? In her behavior or anything else?", He asked her keenly.

"No, but I still get the feeling that something's off, but it's just a hunch.", Kushina replied.

Sasuke asked her like he was investigating a case, "What is it?".

"Maybe it's a mother instinct but she looks a little down when she's alone and starts talking normally when she knows I'm there." she explained.

"Something's on her mind then.", Sasuke inferred."I'll keep a watch on her in that case, let's hope it's nothing serious.", he followed up.

"If it wasn't serious, she would've talked me about it or at least with Hinata.", Kushina pointed out to him.

"Let me guess, Hinata doesn't know either, right?", Sasuke asked without any surprise on his face.

"That's right, I asked her yesterday and she had no idea what. Moreover, she hadn't noticed anything suspicious.", Kushina replied.

Sasuke just finished bringing the packages to the trolley. He concluded, "I'll try talking to Naruko then.".

"I hope you can stop her before she does something stupid. Thank you…", Kushina told him as she got closer both to Sasuke and the trolley.

Sasuke's eyes stealthily checked on her body, while he answered her: "I'd have done it anyway.". Silence fell upon them as she was setting up the packages on the trolley. Sasuke's mind was experiencing again all the emotions he felt during their act. He realized that he was behind her, checking her sexy ass out and before he could divert the topic, he cleared his throat. Kushina noticed this and gave him a mischievous look smirking.

'Ooooh shit', that was Sasuke's first thought while looking away from her body.

"Has someone gotten a little bit flustered out there?", Kushina teased smiling. Just as Sasuke thought it was going to happen, it did.

Sasuke said as tried to find an excuse, "I didn't…".

"Oh, you didn't like it then?", Kushina teased him more with a sultry tone.

"No, no, I mean…", Sasuke replied sighing in embarrassment.

' I liked it a lot actually',was what Sasuke wanted to say.

"Oh, so you did like it… Dar-ling." she teased him, but it brought him to smile. By that 'darling' he knew she was acting, and that made him feel at ease and admit everything, by making a joke about it. The only difference was the absence of Naruko and the audience.

"I mean, who wouldn't?...Honey.", Sasuke replied.

They both smiled as their first private acting started. "You can't be serious, Darling...who would be interested in someone old like me?", Kushina replied, pulling the 'age-gap' card.

"Well, the world is big Honey...I'm sure lots of people would be interested in you." Sasuke claimed to her.

"Oh, Stop it.". Kushina told him in a playful manner.

"I mean it...Honey". Sasuke's tone seemed rather serious for an act.

"Ok then…Darling...", Kushina said as got even closer and asked:"Let's hear it!".

"Well…" Sasuke started getting even closer as he thought 'two can play this game'.

They were almost embracing each other. Sasuke listed to her: "People of your age?". Kushina shook her head in rejection.

"Never heard of the term MILF?", Sasuke asked in a teasing tone. This received an inquisitive look from Kushina.

"Red Hair lovers?", Sasuke mentioned.

She slowly nodded at that with a comment, "That surely narrows it down". Sasuke knew he couldn't give indirect compliments about her body, so he thought a little before remembering a fun thing that happened in the past.

"The love letter kid?"He mentioned.

She laughed as she commented: "Poor boy, he was so sweet". Sasuke laughed with her but only he knows a secret that was behind that incident.

"Well, you'll always have me...Honey.", Sasuke gently smiled as he stated. Her laughter got calmer as she heard that.

Then she almost whispered to him, "Thank you...Darling.".

"Anything for you, Honey", Sasuke followed her tone of voice.

"Anything...Darling?", she asked looking into his eyes.

The silence was growing between them as they went back and forth.

"Yes...honey." Sasuke admitted while staring at her eyes.

Kushina's asked reciprocating the action: "You...really...mean it?".

"Yes...anything…", Sasuke replied reaffirming her.

She asked him again in a whisper: "...Anything?".

"...Anything." He tuned his voice to her whisper.

"…", Sasuke stod silently as her hands clinged to his body. Sasuke did the same until they held their hands.

"...Anything?", She asked him again as her gaze lowered to his mouth. Sasuke's eyes alternated between her eyes and her lips.

"Yes…...Anything", His answer was almost imperceptible. Silence prevailed in the room.

They understood that they were loosing the track of time, yet they didn't do nothing to stop the mood that was slowly increasing. Sometimes, Kushina would break the silence while whispering "anything…".

And Sasuke would reply with another, "anything…".

After a while of whispering to each other, the two of them stood there, silently gazing at each other's eyes. Their lips so close to each other that if they move closer, they would become one.

Kushina asked him,"Anything...for me?".

Sasuke replied, "Anything… for you".

-VRRRRRRRRRR
A note on Sasuke's phone broke the mood and made both of them jump in shock.

It was a vocal message from Naruko:
"HAVE YOU FINISHED FLIRTING WITH MY MOM OR NOT, ASSHOLE?
GET YOUR ASS HERE AND COME TAKE WHAT YOU NEED."

"S-Stop shouting Naruko, ple…", the message ends with Hinata's intervention in half.

Kushina was laughing hard while bringing the trolley to the warehouse entrance. "Come on Sasuke, I promised them to bring you back.", she told him.

Sasuke smiled at Kushina while replying with a thumbs-up emoji to Naruko. Before leaving, Kushina gave a little kiss on Sasuke's cheek as she told him, "Thanks for the help". She followed that with a wink which he simply reciprocated. Then, they separated to their respective destinations, Sasuke to his shopping with the girls and Kushina to the shelf which is to be refilled.

At the checkout

Kushina just swiped her card for their 3-days supplies. Before they could leave after thanking her, she stopped them and started twirling her hair like a teenager and told Sasuke, "I miss you already, Darling".

Sasuke knew she had to work at the checkpoint so he simply said with a hand on his heart and the other extended towards her,"Me too, Honey". Kushina reciprocated the gesture and was about to speak again, but Naruko interrupted before clients could get pissed by the waste of time.

Naruko gave to Sasuke all the shopping bags while telling him, "Here you go. I heard you like lifting heavy things, Simp.".

Kushina gave up on the act and simply told them, "Take care".

At this point, Sasuke could only wink at her and so did she.

"The show is already finished, dear Kushina?", an old white haired man asked her in a joyful tone.

"Oh, it's you Jiraya, how are you?", She recognized her loyal customer/old family friend and started working so quickly the other clients couldn't even complain to her that she was wasting time.

"As usual, as usual.", He simply replied.

At the car park

The trio just put the bags at the back of Sasuke's car. They all get inside the car with both the girls at the backseat.

Sasuke asked the inevitable question:"So...we are we going now?"

Naruko responded,"Just start driving and follow your heart…". This was welcomed by Sasuke as he sighed in frustration until he got an idea to make Naruko regret giving that answer. What was that idea? Well, he put out his and pointed at Kyuubi's, meaning Kushina.

Naruko snapped at his gesture, "Quit the act already".

"You said I should follow my heart, right?", He taunted her.

"Idiot.", Naruko hissed in a low voice.

"Well, your idea is not clever either, I can't drive without a destination, so unless…", Sasuke replied when he got interrupted by Hinata.

"I have an idea", Hinata told them. She took her phone and shared some coordinates to their group chat.

"I thought we could use some camping equipment, so we can go here and borrow some from my family", Hinata added.

"What is this place?", Naruko asked.

"Let me guess...it's a cottage.", Sasuke tried.

"Correct, how did you know?", Hinata asked surprised and curious.

"First, it's close to the lake. Second, it's a coincidence that we had the same idea. I wanted to propose to stay at the Uchiha cottage and stay there for a few days. I haven't thought about the camping though.", Sasuke reasoned.

"We can go first to Hinata's place, borrow the equipment and then go your cottage...wait is it the same cottage we went there for fishing? There was also that white-haired butler calling you boss, right?", Naruko intervened.

"Yes…that's right...that cottage", Sasuke confirmed.

"Hinata has never been there, right?" Naruko asked and Hinata simply shook her head.

"It wasn't possible back then after all.", Sasuke said mentioning the rivalry between the two families in a subtle way.

"It still is, actually...", Hinata emphasized on it.

"Well, nobody knows where are we going, right? Isn't that fine then?", Naruko reasoned. For once in her life, Naruko told something that makes sense.

"It seems they are on the same direction too", Sasuke told hem checking the location.

"Sounds like a plan then", Hinata stated.

Sasuke set the directions for the Hyuuga cottage on his phone and started his car.

This marked the beginning of their life-changing journey.