Chapter 14: Road Trip

"Do you have everything you need?" Tokiya asked, setting down his blue duffel bag next to his sister's red one. It was Monday, and Recca had called to say that they would be picking him and Tanya up at around ten.

"That's the forty-seventh time you've asked that. Yes, I do have everything." Tanya grinned at him. She put her knapsack next to their duffels.

"You've been counting?" Tokiya ruffled her hair playfully and glanced at his watch. Five minutes to ten. Any minute now. He knew Recca wasn't dependable on time, but his mother was. Kagerou had probably dragged him painfully out of bed this morning.

Tanya pulled out an elastic band from her pocket and combed her hair up into a ponytail, much like her brother's. She turned to face him and copied his stance, crossing her arms for effect.

"Very funny." Tokiya reached over to tickle her as they went outside their house. They set their bags down on the driveway. Tanya sat down on the curb as they waited.

"This is my first vacation, you know." She looked up at him. "I never really got to accompany our parents when they would go for a holiday. It was always training with my Sensei every summer vacation. The closest thing I got to spending some time with them was a weekend when I was five. They took me to a carnival."

He watched as a wistful look overtook her face. He sat down next to her and pulled her close.

"Neesan?"

"Hmm?"

"Promise you and I will spend time together whenever we can? I've lived with our parents for seven years and I feel like I barely got to know them. I only have photos and my baby book. I don't even remember talking to them much."

"I'm sure all that time you spend away from them hurt them so much too, but I guess they knew all that training would help protect you in the future. That's how much they love you." Tokiya gripped her tighter. "And I promise we'll spend a LOT of time together."

"Thank you." He felt her hug him back.

A van suddenly turned down the corner and onto their street. Tokiya saw a familiar head of spiky raven hair stick out the passenger window.

"Hey!" Recca called as they pulled up. "You guys are the last ones. Hop in! This van's huge, so it won't be much of a squeeze."

"You sure about that?" Tokiya nodded toward the trunk of the van. It was crammed with an assortment of backpacks, duffel bags, coolers and baskets.

"I said it won't be much of a squeeze." Recca grinned. "You two get in. I got these." He got out of the front seat and heaved Tokiya and Tanya's duffel bags into the trunk.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry Fuuko!"

Fuuko rubbed her head as the impact of the two duffel bags Recca tossed into the back caused a small Caboodle kit to fall forward and hit the back of her head.

"Ganko, did you really have to bring all that make-up?" She nudged her sister, who was sitting with Kaoru in the seat in front of her.

"Yes." Ganko said, firmly.

The Mikagami siblings climbed into the van, greeting everyone. Tokiya saw (and a tingle raced down his spine) that the two unoccupied seats were the ones next to Fuuko.

The rest of the people in the van seemed to notice too. Or rather, they had been the ones to plan it out….

Kagerou gave Yanagi a wink as she saw Tokiya swallow and take the seat next to Fuuko. Tanya sat down next to him.

"Hey, Mi-Chan. Hi Tanya." The purple-haired beauty smiled up at them. "Glad you decided to come."

"I was under the impression you were going to barge into my home and make us go if I didn't accept the invite." He quoted Recca's sentiment over the phone.

"Wha- who-?" Fuuko's eyes widened.

Recca started to whistle loudly from the front seat.

"RECCAAAAAAA!" Fuuko looked around her for something to throw at him.

Tanya let out a silvery laugh. "But would you really have done that if Neesan decided that we wouldn't go?"

"Maybe." Fuuko turned to the little girl and grinned. "For all his famous intelligence, your brother doesn't seem to know he needs a vacation or an outing once in a while."

"Being dragged off to a hot spring resort by a monkey doesn't sound like a vacation or an outing." Tokiya said, snidely.

Fuuko whacked him on the side of the head. "Haha, Ice Boy."

Shigeo had already driven out onto the highway. The slow traffic made him grimace.

"We're in for a looooong trip, everybody."

Domon looked nonplussed as he opened a can of Pringles. "It's not so bad. Let's all do a sing-along! One hundred bottles of beer on the wall, one hundred bottles of beeeeeeer….. Everybody!"

There was a collective groan from everyone in the van as Domon continued to sing while passing around snacks.

It was fortunate that Domon had stopped at "fifty-one bottles of beer on the wall" as he had fallen into a slumber. His loud snores prevented anyone else from falling asleep, except for Tanya, whose head was nestled on Tokiya's lap.

He sat quietly, stroking his sister's hair and observing everyone else in the van. It was good to be around his teammates again, watching them in this state…..

Well, he might as well take advantage of the opportunity seeing them this quiet. (except for Domon, obviously.)

Recca had taken over driving after the temper-raising traffic on the highway. Now they were rolling along a country road, passing into a small town. He kept on winking at his Hime in the rearview mirror, which Yanagi would respond to with one of the charming smiles she reserved only for Recca. Kagerou seemed to be deep in thought as she sat, staring at her lap.

Shigeo was cranking up the radio, trying to drown out Domon's snores. Kaoru and Ganko were deep in whispered conversation, or rather deep, intimate conversation, since every now and then, Ganko would blush and playfully swat Kaoru's hand.

And Fuuko…..

Well, Tokiya didn't know what to think as he sat next to her. She had been as silent as him for a while. She had turned up the air-conditioning a while ago, and now, she was staring out the window. She lifted a hand to rub her eyes and scowled at Domon who nearly kicked Kagerou as he continued to snore away.

"Tired?" Tokiya asked aloud.

She nodded. "I stayed up late helping Ganko pack practically half her closet." She nodded to the pile of baggage behind them. "It's all in the pink fluffy, five-piece luggage set Mom gave her for her birthday."

Tokiya reached over and pulled her head down onto his shoulder. "Sleep."

Fuuko looked up at him, surprised. "Y-you sure you don't mind?"

"Not at all." He replied. He adjusted Tanya's position so both girls could sleep comfortably on him.

"Thanks, Mi-Chan." Fuuko smiled as she closed her eyes. "You can rest on me when we drive back."

Tokiya smiled at the thought.

Yanagi turned to Domon, who had just woken up, and placed a finger to her lips. Everybody else either twisted their heads or leaned forward to look at her. (Recca settled for watching through the rearview mirror.) She pointed to the very back seat, where the Mikagami siblings and Fuuko were sitting.

They all smiled widely as Yanagi took a camera from her purse and took a picture of the sweet scene:

Fuuko's head rested on Tokiya's shoulder and his head was resting on hers. Tanya was curled up, her head on her brother's lap.

All three were sound asleep.

"They look like a family." Kaoru whispered. Ganko giggled softly in agreement.

"Get that shot developed, Hime." Recca grinned, taking a right as they passed an intersection. "You never know when it'll come in handy….."

The Hokage Gang stopped for lunch at a restaurant in one of the small towns on the way. Neon had sent along a group coupon for a free buffet with the driver who had brought the van to the Hanabishi residence that morning.

When they got inside the restaurant, Domon, Recca, and Fuuko, pulling Tanya along, immediately got in line after Kagerou had handed the coupon to the mait're d.

"Me first!" Recca elbowed Fuuko out of the way. "Driving works up an appetite!"

"Tough luck!" Fuuko grabbed two plates and two sets of silverware and ran ahead, clutching Tanya's hand.

Domon smiled and shook his head and chose to get drinks first . He picked up a water goblet and a glass then followed Yanagi and Ganko to the appetizers.

Tokiya got in line behind Kaoru, who was scooping pieces of chicken fillet onto his plate. He passed Tokiya the serving spoon and moved down the line to the next delectable dish.

Tokiya looked over at Fuuko and Tanya as he placed a couple of slices of chicken onto his plate. His sister was laughing as Recca made jokes about the food garnishings, even picking up the large piece of swan-shaped vegetable that decorated one of the pasta selections and pretended to chase Tanya with it.

Fuuko laughed along with the two and Tokiya couldn't help but smile at the way she scooped out servings for Tanya first before getting some for herself.

"Hey, Tokiya?" Kaoru's voice interrupted his thoughts. "That's a lot of sauce you're putting there…"

Tokiya snapped his head back down to his plate and saw that he had practically drowned his chicken fillet in gravy. He mustered up a smile.

"I …like it with a lot of sauce."

"Uh huh….." Kaoru glanced at him, then at Fuuko and gave him a meaningful grin. He went off to join Ganko and Yanagi.

Tokiya added some more chicken fillet to his plate to sop up the gravy and then walked over to the pasta section. He came up behind his sister and pointed to her full plate.

"Will you be able to finish all that, or should I just wait for your leftovers?"

"I'll eat it all." Tanya assured him. She stared at his plate. "That's a lot of chicken. May I just share with you?"

"Of course."

"Okay." Tanya turned to Fuuko and Recca. "I'll go get a drink now."

"Sure, honey." Fuuko patted the little girl's head and Recca put back the swan-vegetable they had been playing with.

Tokiya started to follow her when Fuuko suddenly reached out with her fork and picked out a piece of chicken fillet from his plate.

"Mmmm!" Where'd you get this, Mi-Chan?"

"Over there, on the left table, Monkey. May I remind you that you have your own plate to eat from." Tokiya replied, resisting the urge to feed her another forkful himself.

Fuuko just grinned and raced Recca to the said buffet table.

Tokiya selected a couple of pastas and got himself a glass of water before going over to the long table Kagerou and Shigeo had been saving on the restaurant's balcony area. The two adults stood up to get in line for their food when he sat down.

Tanya came over, balancing a small bowl of soup on her plate and holding a glass of juice. She sat down next to her brother.

"Itadakimasu!" She grinned, before starting on her soup. Her full plate attested to her big appetite.

Tokiya started to eat too, Fuuko set her plate down on his other side. She scooped a forkful of pasta into her mouth.

"The gravy boat was nearly empty. Recca almost didn't leave me any."

Tokiya felt himself flush as he stared down at his plate, which was half flooded with the said sauce.

Fuuko ate up some of her chicken fillet next. "Hmm… it tasted better from your plate, Mi-chan."

Before Tokiya knew what he was doing, he had speared some of his fillet and held up his fork to her lips.

"Here."

Fuuko stared at him for a moment, but then obediently opened her mouth and allowed him to feed her. She smiled after swallowing.

"Oh, here they are." Recca suddenly appeared in front of them, Yanagi behind him. He pulled out his Hime's chair for her and sat down next to her. Ganko took the seat on Fuuko's other side.

Tokiya put down the next forkful he was about to feed Fuuko, and they both hurriedly returned to eating from their own plates.

"Both of you slow down, your food won't run away. And it's a buffet. You can go back as many times as you want." Kaoru sniggered.

It was apparent that they had seen what happened. Tanya was trying her best not to smile widely along with the rest as her brother swallowed his mouthful of food and passed some of the chicken from his plate onto an empty portion of her plate. Fuuko took a long drink from her water goblet hoping it would help stop the blush rising in her cheeks.

Domon came back with three full plates and a large glass of water and another one of juice. Despite the fact he had eaten half the snacks during the drive, he was still famished.

"Very nice of Neon to treat us to a lunch here." Kagerou commented over Domon's loud chewing, when she and Shigeo returned from the buffet line and sat down.

"The view is nice too." Shigeo ate up a spoonful of rice before staring out at the mountain scenery. He turned to his son. "Well, you got this far without us getting into any trouble on the road. I suppose I can drive the rest of the way to the hot spring resort."

Recca nodded, shoveling more pasta into his mouth. Yanagi stopped eating her salad long enough to hand him a napkin.

"Thanks, Hime."

All of them just had to have second helpings of the homemade ice cream from the dessert choices before leaving. Even Domon admitted to being full.

"Somebody roll me back outside." Tanya rubbed her stomach as they got up to go. Tokiya laughed and scooped her up. She leaned against him. "I feel like a puffed shrimp, Neesan."

"Come on, you all." Shigeo called cheerfully over his shoulder. "We still have quite a ways to go."

Team Hokage piled back into the van and they set off once more.