Chapter Text
Itachi and Shisui closed the door as quietly as they opened it.
1:09am. Three hours past curfew.
Shisui had already called Mikoto and Fugaku saying that they were going to be late. Truth be told they got caught up on a case and then afterwards decided to hit the movies, then, after that they decided to get ice cream but the parlor was closed so they had to drive across town to the McDonald’s.
So it totally wasn’t their fault and it was Itachi’s cravings that made them late.
They may have gotten questionable looks from the drive-through worker but it was worth it.
Shisui nudged Itachi slightly, “You think there’s some left overs? I’m starving.”
“We already ate.”
Shisui let out a silent groan, “Ice cream doesn’t count as a meal.”
Now it was Itachi’s turn to huff in disagreement. “Kaasan likely assumed we would’ve eaten while we were out.”
Shisui sighed and walked over to the fridge, his eyes squinting at the light. The only thing in there was leftover vegetables, so yeah he wasn’t having that. They really should’ve gotten burgers or something. French fries at least.
Itachi made his way to the cabinets and stopped when he heard rustling up stairs. Shisui and he both turned their heads and looked at each other unsure of what to do.
Itachi slowly started creeping towards the stairs meanwhile Shisui seemed to have a completely different idea. When Itachi turned back to look at him, Shisui was carrying a steak knife and had it held tightly to his side.
“Shisui, what are you doing?” He asked in a stern whisper.
“What do you mean what am I doing? There’s someone upstairs.”
Itachi inhaled sharply at his cousin's stupidity which was somewhat surprising considering Shisui was unfortunately one of the smartest people he knew (When he wanted to be) . “You mean Sasuke, Kaasan, and Otosan?”
Shisui blinked and wiped away his obvious exhaustion, obviously needing a few seconds to process Itachi’s words. Once he realized that maybe he didn’t want to scare his aunt or uncle, he settled the knife back into place.
He tip-toed towards Itachi, who was still giving him a judgmental look.
To be fair, the movie they just watched was a horror and the case they were working on was a robbery so he wasn’t taking any chances.
Also, he was tired. Like super tired. And starving because ice cream was not filling despite Itachi’s argument.
They ascended up the stairs in near silence except for the few creaks, Itachi startled back near the top, almost falling back were it not for Shisui pushing him forward.
“What the hell ‘Tachi?”
“There was someone running across the hall”. Itachi's response was quick and serious, as if he wasn’t scared at all.
Just as Shisui was about to call bull, he saw it too. A small child-like figure running through and then another following behind.
By then, Shisui’s heart was pounding and it was the only noise applicable in his ears. Itachi was unmoving but his grip on the railing tightened and his skin paled around it.
They both exchanged glances with fear hidden behind their eyes. Their hair and clothing blended in with the darkness and the only thing visible was the slight movement in the hall. They heard giggling and footsteps that sounded too familiar but foreign from exhaustion.
Itachi’s frights seemed to have completely vanished the moment he saw the door to Sasuke’s room closing. He ran towards it carefully with Shisui falling in step behind him.
Both teens carefully slid open the door. “Sasuke?” Itachi asked in a whisper, just in case he was hallucinating and his little brother was actually sleeping. Behind him, Shisui knocked on the door as if trying to get his attention. When they were met with silence, Shisui anxiously flicked on the lights only for Sasuke’s bed to be empty and his blankets and pillows missing.
Itachi immediately went over to the other side of the bed and of course he found nothing. Shisui suddenly turned back when he saw his bedroom door slam shut.
Shisui’s face lost color and he didn’t even wait for Itachi before rushing over to check it himself. He swung the door open while Itachi was struggling to keep pace.
The only light came from his blue lava lamp but it was enough for him to see blonde hair sticking out from behind his bed.
Suddenly, the pieces began falling in place and he could see Itachi coming to the same conclusion.
Naruto suddenly fully peeked his head out and put his index finger to his lips. “Shisui-nii, Itachi-nii, you have to be quiet.”
Sakura peeked up as well, but shot back down with a squeak when she saw Shisui’s unamused glare.
The only one who had yet to show themself was Sasuke and Itachi wasted no time in trying to find him. Itachi continuously called for him while looking around the room until Shisui heard a giggle from behind the door. With a sigh, he pulled it forward and revealed Sasuke covering his mouth to prevent himself from from full on laughing and waking up his parents.
With all the kids located, they immediately got to interrogating.
“What are you guys doing in my room?” Shisui asked with his arms crossed over his chest.
“More importantly, what are you guys doing awake?” Itachi questioned.
The children remained silent, it turned into a staring contest of sorts until Sakura decided to break it and still manage to avoid answering. “Well why are you guys coming in so late? Hmm?” She was clearly trying to imitate Rin, even matching her little eyebrow furrow.
Shisui moved to sit down on his bed while yawning. “That’s irrelevant.”
Itachi rolled his eyes and took a seat next to him.
After a few more minutes of silent tension, Naruto blurted out, “We couldn’t sleep and we wanted to play cards but we couldn’t find any downstairs and then Teme mentioned that Shisui-nii had some so we went to go find it.” He was gasping for breath at the end of his confession and the speed of which he said it was too fast for either teen to fully process with their half-asleep minds.
“Idiot! We weren’t supposed to tell them.” Sasuke cried out.
Shisui was fighting back another yawn and Itachi was struggling to do the same.
After a minute of thinking, Shisui finally stood up and walked towards his dresser where he pulled out a stack of uno cards.
As he was about to hand them to Sasuke, he suddenly pulled it back at the last second. “You only get the cards if you play in the kitchen.”
Itachi resisted the urge to slap a palm against his face. “Shisui…”
Shisui gave him a knowing look because he knew his cousin well enough to know that Itachi was just as scared as he was. Neither of them were big on horror movies and to be honest, the only reason they even watched it was because of Rin and Anko insisting on it.
Now, they had to suffer the psychological consequences of it and the only thing scarier than monsters were the three little gremlins who lacked any signs of exhaustion. Perfect for fending off whatever could be lurking while he found the cure for his hunger.
While Shisui was distracted, Naruto jumped up and grabbed the cards out of his hand. When he realized what just happened, Shisui tackled Naruto onto the bed and the two began wrestling over the blankets. Sasuke eventually joined in and jumped onto Shisui’s back to lock his head in a chokehold.
Itachi scooted over and pulled Sakura up and onto his lap, away from whatever the hell was going on across the bed. He patted her head, grateful that at least one of them wasn’t so…animalistic.
On the other side of the bed, the cards had been completely discarded onto the floor but the three didn’t seem to take notice. Sasuke was busy choking Shisui meanwhile he was tickling Naruto into submission. Having lost enough air from his lungs, Shisui fell backwards taking Sasuke down with him as they fell flat on the mattress. He flipped over and pinned the boy down and began his ticking assault on him. Just as Sasuke was about to call it quits, Naruto jumped back up and started kicking Shisui’s side.
Shisui let out a slightly loud yelp and everyone stopped and turned their heads in the direction of Mikoto and Fugaku’s room. They waited for a minute to make sure they didn’t startle the adults awake and then the three resumed their warfare. Itachi tucked Sakura to his side and stood up to close the door which they honestly should’ve done a while ago.
Sakura watched their fight from over his shoulder and gave Itachi a worried look. He leaned down slightly into her ear, “Let them tire themselves out.”
Sakura nodded with an all too happy grin and nestled herself into the crook of his neck.
The fight was presumed over when all three of them were gasping for breath. Naruto and Sasuke didn’t dare to move at Shisui’s threats of more tickling. He pushed the brats off of his bed with a laugh as he heard their bodies thud onto the floor.
Itachi winced at the volume and signaled for them all to get up. He put Sakura down and allowed her to rush for the stack of cards abandoned on the carpet.
As Shisui was about to stand up, Sasuke grabbed one of his pillows and swung it straight for his face. Shisui, despite his exhaustion, ripped the pillow out of his hands and twisted his body behind Sasuke, when the boy turned around, Shisui shoved the pillow into his face and pinned him down on the bed.
“Shisui.” Itachi warned. He had already moved to prevent Naruto from involving himself with one hand while blocking Sakura's mouth with the other.
After a silent chuckle, Shisui gave it up and released Sasuke who gave him an evil scowl the entire way to the kitchen.
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The kitchen light was much too bright for their eyes so Itachi took a lamp from the living room and literally dragged it into the kitchen. Shisui had grabbed each of the kids and placed them onto the countertops with the instruction of finding something for them to eat.
“This isn’t fair, we wanted to play cards.” Naruto pouted.
“And you will after. But for now, you have to help us because you little gluttons ate everything.” Shisui said while going back to the fridge. As if opening it once more will make food magically appear.
“We could make eggs.” Itachi suggested. The three kids immediately turned to him with mischievous grins.
“We know how to cook eggs! Minato-Ojisan taught us.” Sakura exclaimed. Sasuke nodded while Naruto began explaining it immediately in great detail. He even mentioned the egg…exploding?
Shisui and Itachi looked at them with visible doubt and disbelief. Shisui shot down the idea anyways, claiming he wasn’t in the mood much to Itachi’s dismay.
The search continued, but after catching one too many strays in Shisui’s random side comments, Sasuke grabbed a box of mac and cheese and threw it straight for his face.
The teen managed to move out of the way just in time while Itachi began his silent lecture to his younger brother.
Shisui stuck his tongue out at him and began to examine the box. Suddenly a craving kicked in. “ ‘Tachi, do we have another box?”
Itachi looked at his cousin confused then lifted Sasuke out of the way of the cabinet. “Yes, exactly one left.”
Shisui cheered and pulled out the gallon of milk along with a stick of butter, “Perfect! I know what we’re making” he sang as he stood to turn on the stove.
Itachi sighed and tossed him the other box before carefully lifting each kid off the counter. They immediately raced to the table to start their game.
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“Big brother, we need you to shuffle the cards.” Sasuke said as the cards slipped from his too small grip once more. Itachi moved towards him and began shuffling as the noise of running water and pots and pans clanked in the background a little too loudly for his liking.
Once all the kids were satisfied with his work, Itachi dealt them each 7 cards and left them to their game.
It only took surprisingly two minutes before someone was accused of cheating.
“Naruto stop! No number stacking.” Sakura slapped the boy on his shoulder.
“What do you mean? We never said that.”
“Yeah because it was obvious Dobe.”
Naruto threw his cards face down on the table. “How was it obvious?” He asked, glaring at Sasuke.
“When have we ever played with color or number stacking?”
Blonde and black clashed while Sakura rolled her eyes, annoyed at the interruption. She took their distraction as a way to sneak some of her cards back under the deck without either boy realizing. Itachi watched her do so and gave her an a curious look. She put her index figure to her mouth, signaling him to stay quiet.
Naruto, fed up with Sasuke, noticed Itachi watching the group carefully.
“Aniki! Tell -” he began before being interrupted by him.
“Volume Naruto.”
“Sorry.” He rubbed his neck embarrassed and then, in a more hush appropriate voice, “Tell Teme that he’s wrong pleaseeee.”
“But I’m not!”
Shisui snuck up behind and clamped his hand over both of their mouths because he knew how loud they could get. Itachi sighed and walked fully over to the group.
The teens negotiated with the younger kids and eventually, they settled on restarting with clearer rules. Shisui took one look at the unboiling water and forced himself and Itachi into the match.
Shisui shuffled the cards ostentatiously. The kids watched him in awe while Itachi rolled his eyes across from him.
After everyone was dealt their seven and the rules were agreed upon, the round begun.
The order was as follows: Naruto - Sasuke - Shisui - Sakura - Itachi and repeating.
Itachi kept a sharp eye on Sakura, knowing what the girl did earlier. She gave him an innocent smile right before she put down a +4. Her emerald orbs peering into him for a reaction. Itachi made a noise that could be mistaken as a laugh, “Forgive me Naruto.” Just as he placed his +4 down forcing Naruto to pick up 8.
Shisui began cackling, followed by Sasuke and then Sakura. Naruto’s jaw dropped in disbelief as the unfathomable happened. The boy was still stunned even as the laughter died down so Sasuke kindly took eight cards from the deck and forced them into his still hands.
The round continued and all the arguments were settled in whisper tones. Shisui and Sasuke got into an argument over something not even related to the game. Out of pure will, Shisui kept responding with “What?” Or “Sorry, can't hear you” after each one of Sasuke’s sentences forcing the boy to repeat everything until his frustration became visible.
The watchers snicker from the side until a new argument arose from a +2.
Just as Sasuke was about to win, Itachi stood up abruptly, claiming he had to check on the water. As he got up, he placed a hand on top of Sakura and Naruto’s head and warned Shisui to keep an eye on them.
Shisui leaned back slightly and rested an arm at the top of his chair. “Is it boiling yet?”
When Itachi nodded, he shot up and moved to stand beside him. They rotated between mixing the pasta and making sure none of the kids tried cheating in their absence. They caught Naruto and Sasuke once, and both recall seeing Sakura with four cards left but for whatever reason she now only has two.
8 minutes was apparently too long and the kids got tired of waiting so they decided to finish up the game without them. (Sasuke was bound to win anyways but the teens were set on delaying it for as long as possible).
Itachi yawned as he poured in the packet. “Are you guys not tired yet?” He asked, directed to the children.
All of them responded no with Naruto going on about how he could stay awake forever. Shisui had given up on standing and was sitting on the floor leaning against the fridge while Itachi did all the work. He put stuff away and he reluctantly moved with a groan when Itachi asked him to get out the bowls and forks.
He definitely would’ve fallen asleep by now were it not for his pangs of hunger. Even his cousin's stress lines seemed to grow deeper, he didn’t even want to imagine what his own looked like.
As Itachi served the mac n cheese, Shisui poured everyone a glass of water and the kids cleaned up the cards they had scattered around.
Shisui placed the glasses on the table and moved to help Itachi with the bowls. When he went to serve Sakura, the girl asked, “Should we be eating so late?” God why did she have to be the voice of reason?
He sighed and looked her dead in the eye with the largest smirk he could muster, “Are you complaining?”
…
“…No”.
“Exactly.” He ruffled her hair and went to his chair.
Whatever exhaustion the teens had before seemed to vanish as they sat at the table. Likely from the meal and Naruto dragging everyone into conversation about whatever crossed his little mind.
Eventually, everyone found themselves with seven uno cards in their hands. They had no clue who dealt them or how it even happened but no one seemed keen on backing down.
The game played out with arguments of course, most ending because of the start of another or Itachi constantly having to remind the group to not be so loud. Naruto was caught cheating once because Sasuke called him out for dropping a card on the floor. They caught Shisui sneaking his cards into Sasuke’s pile - although he was only caught doing it once the look on his face said he got away with it more times then he should’ve.
Sakura 100% cheated. No one knew how but they all could swear her pile diminished at an impossible rate. You don’t go from taking a +2 and a +4 back to back and then having four cards remaining your next turn; it's just not possible.
Despite the group's deception and schemes, Itachi ironically emerged victorious considering he was the only one playing properly. Naruto, of course, accused him of cheating, along with Sasuke surprisingly. The boy instantly shut his mouth when Shisui moved his bowl and underneath it revealed a pile of the cards he had hid.
They finished up their meal in slow unfocused moves. It was 2:46am and the high from the game seemed to be wearing off.
The crash hit the kids hardest, they were practically falling asleep at the table and it was getting harder to rope them into conversation. If Itachi was being affected at all, he didn’t show it.
Once the bowls were all scraped clean, Itachi brought them to the sink along with the glasses while Shisui wiped down the table. The children were doing anything to stimulate themselves in order to stay awake because they were too prideful to admit they were tired.
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Being in the kitchen itself wasn’t scary, but going upstairs to brush their teeth was a whole different story. The horror movie was still taking its effect and the kids had abandoned them to set up their futons in the living room. They brought the lamp back in there as well, so they had absolutely no light whatsoever.
Shisui had tried turning on the stairway light but it was blinding and was shut off less than a second later.
Itachi shoved Shisui in ahead, seeing that he kept hiding behind him. When the lack of sleep got to them, Itachi may have hallucinated a noise coming from the closet and then after much debate, Shisui was cornered into believing him. They ran back downstairs in panic and when they went into the living room, they saw the kids playing with the stack of cards instead of sleeping.
“What are you guys doing?” Itachi asked.
“We’re trying to create a new game.” Responded Naruto.
They had the stack separated into three for each of them with no set goal or rules.
Shisui took one look at them and then the stairs and said, “I’ll teach you guys a game if you come upstairs with us.”
With no reason to decline, they accepted and led the way to the bathroom upstairs. Naruto sat on the toilet while Sasuke went to his room to get his dinosaur. Sakura was holding Shisui’s hand as he brushed his teeth while Itachi wiped his face.
The paranoia didn’t end there as they left the kids waiting in the hallway while they changed into their pajamas.
With their nightly routine finished, the group decided to head downstairs. Sasuke turned the corner the minute they stepped outside giving the older Uchiha’s mini heart attacks.
Only after their pulse had settled did they actually go back to the living room.
Both Itachi and Shisui could’ve very well slept in their own rooms, it was just a little bit too dark and too quiet for them to do so and the kids seemed very good at fending off the nonexistent monsters which is why they sent Naruto to gather their blankets and pillows.
Itachi and Shisui had claimed both sides of the couch for themselves and had set up their makeshift beds on it.
Just as Shisui had settled down and gotten comfortable, Sasuke jumped him and demanded he show them the game he forgot he promised.
He reluctantly sat up and realized he had to make up or he wasn’t gonna be allowed sleep tonight. The children circled around him while Itachi, the lucky bastard, was lying down with his eyes closed.
Shisui shuffled the cards, building the growing anticipation, “Okay…wanna play 52 card pickup?”
“Shisui do not.” Itachi’s voice came out muffled from exhaustion but the message was there.
The kids ignored his warning and awaited Shisui’s next move. When that damn smile crept onto his face, they knew they messed up and only a second later, did the cards purposely slip from his hands.
The deck scattered across the futons and the kids’ initial shock turned to anger when Shisui went back to his pillow and told them, “Now clean it up.”
“What!” Naruto shouted, not caring about his volume.
“You heard me, that's the game.”
Sakura and Sasuke had their jaws dropped and out of their dismay, picked up a dozen cards and tossed them on top of him. Shisui was in a state too close to sleep to even notice and if he did, he didn’t care.
Itachi was not going to involve himself. He fully expected this and he did try to prevent it. He could’ve done more, but he deserved the sleep.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all fell asleep in sour moods, unhappy with so obviously being tricked by a fool bigger than them. They didn’t clean up the cards - even if they were uncomfortable to sleep on - because they decided the entire situation wasn’t worth their breaths.
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Fugaku was usually the first one awake. He had built himself a routine of waking up early to make coffee for himself and Mikoto before leaving for work. If he had the time, he would leave out breakfast for her and the kids and then watch the news or do the daily crossword.
The house was a tranquil quiet and the morning cold was finding its way through the windows. The white rays shone through the curtains and sprinkled itself across the ceiling and the walls.
Fugaku wrapped his robe around himself and kissed his wife’s sleeping head. As he was walking down the stairs, he recognized the breathing and soft snores coming from the living room.
He knew the kids were sleeping over but the two additional noises sounded mature and deeper than a typical 6 year old.
As he stepped into the living room, he saw the three children bundled and nested together, the two boys were pressed against Sakura who was sleeping peacefully in between them. Naruto was sprawled out and his blanket was sliding off nearly his entire body. Shisui’s limbs were hanging off the couch and his blanket was dragged towards the floor. Itachi was slightly shivering and his comforter was settled on only his lower body.
Fugaku’s expression softened and he moved to readjust their sleeping situations. He fixed Shisui first as he was the closest and then repositioned the kids. He pulled Sasuke and Naruto away from Sakura just a little bit and put Sasuke’s dinosaur back into his arms. Sakura had looked like she was genuinely being suffocated considering all three of them had a tendency to latch on to each other.
When he finished fixing Itachi, he turned around and saw that the three were once again tangled together. The sigh he released held no weight and his mouth turned into what could only be a phantom of a smile.
Mikoto came approaching down the stairs yawning and rubbing at her eyes. She walked into the living room when she started wondering what had her husband so amused.
When entered, she saw it too, the love between her biological and bonus children although at this point, the line between was stretched thin and nearly invisible. She moved to press a kiss to their sleeping cheeks but as she did so, she found an uno card resting underneath them.
She showed Fugaku her discovery and they looked at each other with confusion before taking in the surroundings. The closer they looked, the more cards they saw. Some were on the cushion next to Shisui and on the floor near the couch. The kids seemed to be sleeping on top of the bulk of them.
A soft sound escaped Mikoto along with questions but those could wait. The children were still sleeping and she and Fugaku had breakfast they needed to make