Sunny Side Up
by Diana-san
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
03. Fish
"Let's go fishing, Sasuke."
Sasuke glanced up from his afternoon playdate with Sarada. He had the day off from missions and was lounging in the backyard with Sarada climbing over him as he took a nap. Itachi had somehow wandered inside his house and was now sitting on the bench that accompanied the picnic table.
"Nii-san, do you always just come and go as you please?" Sasuke asked as he closed his eyes again.
"Fishing, Sasuke. By the lake," Itachi repeated.
Sasuke sighed. His brother was going to continue to insist on fishing until he got up. "Sakura's working at the hospital. She won't be home until later. I have to watch Sarada."
"Of course Sarada should come with us," Itachi said.
Sasuke sighed again. The excuse to watch Sarada was not working.
"Sara-chan, do you like fishies?" Itachi asked as he walked over to pick up his niece.
Sarada smiled as she clapped her hands. "Wait, I have to change into my outfit!"
Itachi smiled. At age four, Sarada had about a hundred different outfits. Many of them were designed by Sakura and Ino. Sakura had told him that Ino created a bunch of outfits for Sarada since she didn't have a daughter to dress up. Itachi was only pleased to help add on to the collection by buying new outfits each time he visited.
"Which outfit this time?" he asked.
"My fishing outfit, of course!" Sarada exclaimed as she hopped out of Itachi's arms and ran back into the house.
Sasuke sat up. "Have you even fished before nii-san?"
Itachi stood up. "No."
Sarada ran out ten minutes later, dressed in a green long-sleeve shirt paired with a khaki vest and pants. She was carrying a small toy fishing pole that had a magnet on one end with a fake magnetic fish attached. "I'm ready!" she declared.
Itachi smiled. "You look very cute Sara-chan."
"Oh wait, my boots and hat!" Sarada ran back inside to fetch the rest of her outfit.
The two of them walked to the lake with Itachi carrying Sarada on top of his shoulders. Sasuke grumbled as he ended up carrying the equipment for fishing which included the two fishing poles and the bait box.
As the brothers sat side by side on the edge of the dock with their two lines, Sarada ran around behind them with a small blue bucket as she collected pebbles.
"This is nice, Sasuke," Itachi commented with a smile.
"Ah," Sasuke replied as he smiled in return.
They were quiet for a few minutes as the afternoon sun shone brightly above them.
"So do we just wait?" Itachi asked as he broke the silence.
"Yes," Sasuke murmured.
"This isn't as fun as I thought it would be."
Sasuke turned to look at his brother with a look of disbelief. "What did you expect? It's fishing."
"I thought it would have been more exciting than this," Itachi murmured.
"Didn't you fish before with Kisame?"
"He only looks like a fish. He doesn't fish."
Sasuke tried to contain his laughter as he pictured the image of Kisame fishing. Sarada ran up to the spot between the two men as she sat down with her blue bucket.
"What do you have there, Sara-chan?" Itachi asked.
Sarada smiled. "Rocks!" she claimed excitedly.
Itachi smiled. "Ah, that's wonderful." He glanced down at his fishing line as he noticed a few bubbles on the surface. "Oh, it looks like I might have a catch soon," he turned to Sasuke.
Sarada grinned as she stood up with the bucket. "Rocks go boom!" she cried out as she tossed her bucket out towards the lake. All the pebbles she had collected inside flew out of the bucket as it plopped down into the lake, causing a disturbance to the tranquility of the lake.
"Sarada!" Sasuke exclaimed as he jumped up to catch Sarada before she ended up falling into the lake.
Itachi pulled back the end of his line and saw that the bait at the end of his hook was gone and there was no fish attached.
He tossed down the fishing pole to the ground as he stood up.
"Where are you going?" Sasuke asked as he watched his brother turn around.
"Home. Fishing is no fun."
Sarada ran up to her uncle as she grabbed his hand to place something in his palm. Itachi looked down. It was a small magnetic fish. The eye of the fish stared back at him.
"Yay, you caught a fish!" Sarada giggled.
Itachi smiled as he scooped Sarada up. "I caught the biggest fish of all."
Sarada pout. "I'm not a fish. I'm a fisherman!"
"You can be a mermaid."
Sasuke smiled as he gathered up the rest of the equipment and followed behind them.
As they reached the top of the steps, Itachi turned suddenly to Sasuke. "You go on ahead. I am going to make a short detour."
Sasuke began to open his mouth to say something but Itachi was already walking away with Sarada in his arms. Sasuke sighed as he turned in the other direction to go back home. Sakura should be returning shortly from her shift at the hospital.
"You're back!" Sakura chirped as she kissed Sasuke on the cheek as he stepped inside the house. She glanced down at the fishing equipment in his hands. "Ah, I see you went fishing with Itachi. Where is he? He said he was going to bring home a fish for dinner. Did you catch any big ones?"
Sasuke smirked. "Was that what he said?" he asked.
"Yes, he came by the hospital during my shift and mentioned something about fishing with you."
Sasuke nodded. "Ah, well he's out with Sarada now. I think they'll be back shortly."
Sakura nodded as she went back to the kitchen to prepare for the "fish" dinner. Sasuke shook his head as he watched his wife's retreating back. "How are you going to explain this to Sakura, nii-san?" he muttered under his breath.
Itachi walked into the fish market as Sarada held tightly onto his hand.
"What are we doing?" Sarada asked as she swung her blue pail back and forth in her other hand.
"We're going fishing," Itachi replied as he walked towards one of the stalls with the large fish tanks in front.
"Fishing? Again? But Papa took the fishing poles home."
Itachi nodded as he crouched down in front of one of the tanks. "Shh, Sara-chan. Don't tell Mama that we came here today. I'm going to catch a fish for our dinner tonight."
Sarada set her pail down on the ground as she crossed her arms. "That's lying uncle Itachi! Mama said we should never lie."
Itachi glanced over at his niece. "You're right. But I'm really going to catch one. Watch!" he said as he pointed to the tank. Itachi stood up as he exchanged glances with the stall owner. He held up a hand and asked if he could personally pick out the fish on his own. The owner said nothing as she eyed the young man and his determined gaze before slowly nodded and gesturing towards Itachi to just go ahead with whatever he was planning to do.
Itachi stared at the tank as the tomoe in his eyes swirled to show the activated Sharingan. He zoned in on one of the fishes in the tank that was exceptionally large and darting around the tank at a fast pace. Quickly, with a swift move of his right arm, he dunked it into the tank as he grabbed onto the fish he was eyeing. He held it up triumphantly as Sarada gaped in surprise.
Slowly, Sarada clapped for her uncle as she realized that her uncle did indeed catch a fish. Straight from the tank.
The stall owner stared in awe as she held up a plastic bag for Itachi to drop the fish in. Itachi glanced around and spotted the blue pail on the ground. He quickly let the fish go into the pail. The pail would be more convincing of telling the story of how he went "fishing" and brought home a large fish. He scooped up some water from the fish tank as he filled the pail part way.
As he paid the lady, Sarada stared at the fish in the pail. The fish flopped up and down as it splashed in the water. Sarada smiled as Itachi picked up the pail with his right hand.
"Let's go home Sarada," he said as he took Sarada's hand in his other hand.
As they arrived back at the house, Sarada ran into the kitchen to yell out loudly, "Uncle caught the biggest fish in the whole wide world!"
Itachi smiled as he followed behind Sarada with the blue pail in his hand.
"Oh my!" Sakura exclaimed as she peered into the bucket to see a large fish still trying to jump excitedly out of the bucket. "I didn't think you would get one this big! For your first time fishing too!"
Sasuke glanced up from the book he was reading as he arched an eyebrow at his brother. Sarada began to excitedly ask her mother questions about the fish as the two went over to the kitchen counter.
Itachi turned to go back out into the hallway but Sasuke went to follow after him.
"You went to the fish market, didn't you?" Sasuke accused in a low whisper as to not attract the hearing of Sakura.
Itachi only smiled. "Fishing is simple, dear brother. You just have to know the right place to go."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "If only you went there first so we didn't have to sit out on the dock like two idiots for the whole afternoon."