Where We Belong

Special Chapter - Wedding: Birth Of A New Hope

Four months later...

- Konan-san!

A female voice called, catching the couple's attention, although the first to turn around was precisely the one being referred to. Her fiancé nonetheless turned a moment later, opening onyx eyes wide as he watched Ino Yamanaka approaching them to such a speed that he thought she would stumble and fall at any moment. Without waiting for Konan to give him any sort of signal, Itachi quickly walked over to the blonde woman and took the two heavy boxes she carried in her arms. Realizing in the process that they were actually too heavy for a woman like Ino to carry on her own. She was physically strong thanks to her shinobi training, that was an undeniably fact at this point. However, she had neither Sakura's nor her sensei Tsunade's almost superhuman strength. And those boxes were fairly hard besides being heavy.

- Good grief, Yamanaka; what the heck are carrying in here? Are you working your abs or something of the sort and thus you're carrying your weights here?

The blonde woman laughed heartily before shaking her head and explaining to him that she was actually carrying 'some stuff' his sister-in-law had asked her to take 'somewhere'. Konan lifted her orange gaze at the man now with his Mangekyō Sharingan activated, realizing that he wasn't all too happy with Yamanaka being so mysterious about what the content in those boxes was and what it was for. However, she was sure that what infuriated him the most –so to speak- was the fact that Sakura was in some way an accomplice of that 'plan'. She seemed clearly relieved when, a few minutes later, Itachi's dōjutsu deactivated and the man simply sighed, asking her to forget about that and approaching her once again with the intention of helping her. Konan nevertheless laid a hand on his arm staring at him with concern plastered in her curious orange gaze and then shook her head, reminding him that he had been warned against overexerting himself.

- Okay... -Itachi said finally –We're going to Naruto's place now; go on your way to wherever it is that my dear sister-in-law has sent you for God know what reason...

He giggled almost innocently before walking past Ino with Konan beside him.

Elsewhere, a few minutes later...

- You're gonna explain to me what is all this for, now!

Ino exclaimed as she got to the rendezvous place where Sakura had asked her to bring the two boxes she had collected from the party shop. Her best friend turned to look at her and realized that her anger was only a farce, for she was offering her one of her usual, wide smiles. After a (very brief) moment of silence, Ino gasped as if she had remembered something important and, looking up at her best friend, she explained to her that she'd run into Itachi and Konan on her way there. And that the jade-eyed woman's brother-in-law had even offered himself to help her carry the boxes, the blonde added concluding her 'story'.

- Well, let's forget about that now... -Sakura said after yet another moment of silence –We want to have this ready as soon as possible, don't we, Ino?

The blue-eyed woman nodded and they quickly got to work, unpacking the two big boxes she had brought at the last minute along with those her best friend had already arranged in the small room. They were in what used to be Sakura's apartment when she was still single and also during her first years as Sasuke's girlfriend. The couple had only moved in together after returning from their journey with their new-born baby girl. As soon as their job was done for the most part, they decided to have a snack there before visiting the Hokage's family. At that moment, Ino remembered that Itachi had also mentioned that he and Konan would also go to Naruto's place and thus she asked Sakura, with an arched brow, if she already knew that.

- It was I who suggested them visiting him in the first place, Ino. We both know Naruto must be one of the happiest people in the village since Itachi announced his marriage...