I want to sincerely thank all of you for your love for this story. This community has been a bright spot in a crazy couple of weeks. Thank you for reading, putting this on your alerts and favorites, and for commenting. I hope you all continue to enjoy. : 3

Also thanks for letting me indulge my Team 8/Hyuga love. Now, the Uchiha cousins get the same treatment. :)

oOo

Day 9 Prompt: Hyggelig (Danish)

"The warm pleasure taken from gentle and comfortable things or activities."

Sasuke adjusted the visitor tag clipped to the breast pocket of his navy bomber jacket. He stopped at the open doorway to Iruka's classroom. Sasuke knew Iruka sensed him, but he knocked to be polite all the same.

Iruka did not look up from his marking. He only smiled and waved at Sasuke with his unoccupied hand.

"Come in! Come in!" he prompted.

Sasuke obeyed. The classroom looked just like it did in his time, except for a few different diagrams on the wall. He eyed the desks. Were they always so tiny?

Iruka put down his pen and focused on Sasuke.

"Hello, Sasuke-san. How are you today?"

Sasuke shoved his hands in his uniform pockets and slouched slightly. The combination of Iruka sitting and the small desks made him feel a little too tall and gangly.

"Not too bad. How are you?"

Iruka shrugged a shoulder. His smile still did not fade from his face. "Doing well. Better that I get to see you. It's been a while."

The tips of Sasuke's ears felt hot. "Didn't know you'd like visitors," Sasuke murmured.

"I'd love to see all my former students," Iruka chided good-naturedly. "I'm glad Hinata told me you were coming." His grin turned teasing. "You came sooner than I thought."

Sasuke cleared his throat and glanced away. "She said you'd tell me what was going on."

"Ah-uh." Iruka wagged a finger. "She did not say that."

Sasuke went to the windows and rested on one of the sills. "No, she didn't," he admitted with amusement. "It was worth a try."

Iruka held out his hands in a helpless shrug. "Even if I could tell you everything without intruding on the Hyugas' privacy, I never got the whole story."

Sasuke crossed his arms and kicked out his feet. "What can you say?"

Unable to sit still, Iruka arranged the papers on his desk while he talked. "A few months ago, the Hyuga forewarned me that at the end of the year, all the Hyuga children who hadn't graduated would be homeschooled for at least three months. Hinata asked me if I'd be willing to help her develop a curriculum for them."

Sasuke's brows furrowed in thought. "Is she teaching them herself?"

"Unknown." Iruka shrugged again. "And that's all I was told."

Sasuke recognized the dismissal. It was late, and Iruka probably wanted to go home. He stood and sketched out a little bow. "Thank you for your help and for letting me disturb you."

"It wasn't an imposition." Iruka stood and walked Sasuke to the door.

Sasuke paused and fixed a suspicious gaze on his teacher. "That's all you were told… but do you know more?"

Iruka beamed like the morning sun rising from behind the trees. He tapped the side of his nose with a wicked expression on his face. "I figured it out. You will as well."

Sasuke shook his head and left. He smiled too.

oOo

"Another beer?" Shisui asked.

Sasuke held up his half empty can and shook it so his cousin could hear the liquid inside. Shisui shrugged. Downing the rest of his own drink, Shisui stood and wobbled over to the cooler propped on the flattest part of the roof. He picked his way down the slippery tiles but still stumbled and almost toppled off the side.

Itachi sighed. He yanked on the chakra wire anchored on his thigh holster. The end attached to Shisui's belt went taught, pulling him upright.

"Oops," he said, then giggled.

He opened the cooler, stuck his empty can in the melting ice, and retrieved three more beers. He stumbled back up the slope and handed each man another drink. Sasuke tucked it into his pants pocket, so it did not roll away. Itachi plopped his can in Sasuke's lap. Sasuke glared at his brother.

"I've already had three," Itachi explained. "I have duty tomorrow."

Sasuke scoffed and downed the rest of his open beer. He pitched the empty can at the cooler lid, and it landed face down but perfectly upright otherwise.

Shisui cheered. The two brothers shushed him. Even though her room was in a different wing in the house, Izumi slept lightly. If they woke her, there would be hell to pay.

"Sorry," Shisui yelled in a whisper.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He sipped at his drink and watched the stars for a minute. Shisui broke the silence first.

"How goes the hunt for the spy?" Shisui covered a burp with his hand.

Itachi hummed vaguely.

Sasuke paused, drink halfway to his lips. "Spy? Why haven't I heard anything about a spy?"

Lips pressed tightly together; Itachi shook his head. "We don't even know if we have a spy or if our information is getting intercepted."

"We keep having skirmishes with other nin," Shisui explained. "In the last ambush, our investigators determined it was Lightning."

"We think it's Lightning," Itachi corrected. "We have no concrete proof."

Shisui scoffed and waved it off. "Oh. Sasuke. You were on that one. You didn't see any nin did you?"

"The one where Hinata got hurt?" Sasuke's brows rose.

He had not caught a glimpse of the enemy combatant. Naruto and Sakura dealt with the ambush. Sasuke had been too preoccupied.

The night air went still. Sasuke looked up just as two heads whipped to the side to stare at him. Shisui, sitting on Itachi's other side, leaned forward to smirk at his cousin.

"Hinataaaa…?" Shisui grinned. "Very interesting."

Scoffing, Sasuke hunched his shoulders. He wished his hair was down to cover his ears. The low ponytail did nothing for him now. "I went to school with her, you assholes."

The excuse did not do much. Both men knew Sasuke did not have any close relationships with his pre-genin classmates other than Naruto and Sakura.

Itachi blinked slowly. His expression was one of an entomologist studying a very intriguing bug. Shisui did not stop giggling.

"Anyway," Sasuke continued. "The Hyuga are doing something strange."

"Like what?" Itachi asked, tilting his head back.

Sasuke took too large of a gulp of beer and grimaced. "They're recalling all their kids to homeschool them. And their surgeon is taking a break. I don't know what they're doing, but it's weird, yeah?"

Shisui gestured with his can. "Hey! One of my genin students is also going on leave. I told her she'd miss out on the Chunin exams, but she said she couldn't stay."

Itachi hummed thoughtfully. "All my Hyuga ANBU subordinates are still on duty."

"It's weird. Right?"

"I think…" Itachi said slowly, "that you're the one being 'weird.'"

"What?"

Shisui chortled. "Yeah! Why are you so interested in the Hyuga all of a sudden?"

Sasuke threw out his hands, almost splashing the contents of his can. "Because they're being… weird! Ugh! I can't think of another word for it!"

Shisui shook his head and lay back, closing his eyes. Itachi picked up his abandoned beer and finished it. He also tossed his can towards the cooler lid. It landed face up.

Itachi smugly winked at his brother. Sasuke scoffed but grinned.

"Are you staying the night?" Itachi asked.

He disentangled the chakra wire from Shisui's belt. With practiced movements, he rolled it up and tucked it in its holster. Shisui clumsily patted Itachi's shin. Itachi slapped his hand away and poked Shisui on the forehead. Shisui jerked back and hit the back of his head on the roof. Itachi smirked.

Sasuke finished his drink and handed the unopened one from his pocket to Itachi. He stood and widened his stance, trying to gauge how drunk he felt. He watched Shisui's eyes droop.

"Might as well," Sasuke sighed. He did not look forward to walking through the village after dragging his cousin home. "Thanks."

"Of course," Itachi murmured.

He walked to the cooler, stuck the empties and one full can inside, hoisted it up to hold it under one arm, and deftly hopped off the side of the roof. Sasuke meandered his way to his cousin.

"Come on. Let's go."

Shisui sighed, not opening his eyes. "I'm good here. Let me sleep."

Sasuke snorted. "I'm not dealing with Auntie if you roll off the roof and break your neck."

Shisui groaned but stuck his hands forward. Sasuke grabbed them and hoisted the deadweight upward. Playfully, Sasuke stuck his shoulder in his cousin's ribcage and lifted him up.

"Sasuke," Shisui gasped, sounding fully awake. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna throw you in the pond. I've just decided this right now."

Shisui protested and slapped at Sasuke's back. Sasuke hopped to the ground and landed on one foot. He laughed as they leaned precariously.

"I'm gonna throw up," Shisui groaned.

Sasuke stumbled forward and kept his momentum as they careened towards the pond. He could not help but laugh the whole way.

"Sasuke, please. Have mercy on me."

"Nope!"

With a clumsy hop, he threw Shisui over his shoulder and to the front. Shisui screamed like a stuck pig and grabbed Sasuke's vest. They both landed in the water with a mighty splash.

Once they surfaced, they laughed and exchanged a high five. Nearby, a light turned on.

"Excuse me?" a pissed off voice yelled from inside the house. Familiar chakra flared.

"Shit!" Sasuke hissed.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Shisui chanted.

Scrambling out of the slippery pond as fast as possible, they took off running towards Shisui's house.

"I'm gonna need to crash with you," Sasuke said breathlessly.

Shisui clapped Sasuke on the shoulder as they finally escaped the killing intent. "Don't blame you."

oOo

Coming up: The Hyuga have been making friends in sandy places.