WANTED: Itachi Uchiha

Sanjuuichi

"Where do you think they could be? Do you think something has happened? Do you think Reina is alright? What if going home was too much for her?" Mikoto rambled on, wringing her apron in her hands absentmindedly. There had been a time when her hands were usually occupied by a cluster of senbon needles as opposed to an apron or a teatowel. 

Oh how times had changed. 

"You worry too much." Fugaku murmured, pausing from his morning paper to comfort his wife. "I'm sure Sasuke is already bringing them home." He placed a gentle kiss upon her brow. "Perhaps they stopped for lunch or a quick sparring match. The boys have been helping Reina get her strength back up after all. I'm sure they're all fine."

"Hm." Mikoto mused, sighing and fiddling with the corner of her apron, the fabric almost threadbare with her constant worrying. Have children they said. It will be a joyous adventure they said. Noone mentioned the endless anxiety or the infinite palpations she would have any time they stepped outside the door. 

Her boys were all grown up and yet she still dreaded them leaving the house for missions in case they never came back. She was lucky her boys were capable of looking after themselves; yet even the Uchiha weren't impervious to death. They were just as susceptible as any other shinobi in the land. 

"We did the right thing - making Reina stay here, didn't we?" Mikoto asked her husband, her delicate brows furrowing together. "You don't think she resents us do you?" 

Fugaku took off his glasses and folded his paper in half. "That girl is alone in the world. She has a clan, yes. But her family is gone. If she were not here she would be alone in a house full of ghosts." Fugaku sighed, taking Mikoto's hands between his own. "Hidekazu and Tomo would have done the exact same for our boys if anything were to have happened to us. And I know for a fact that the three of them would have bickered just as much there and they do here."

Mikoto smiled and blinked away the tears that had collected on her lash line. "I knew there was a reason I married you." Fugaku grinned lazily, his usually dark eyes glinting with an ordinarily hidden mischief. 

"What? For my charm and tenacious wit? Not to mention my kunai skills were unparalleled and made you swoon back in the day." Fugaku whispered against her knuckles, bringing her hands to his lips. 

Mikoto laughed, taking her hands from his and shoving him playfully. "You're terrible." She chided. 

"You love it." Fugaku huffed a chuckle, donning his glasses once again and resuming his paper after flicking out the creases. 

"Okaa-san! We're back." Sasuke hollered from the genkan, kicking off his shoes with Itachi and Reina following suit behind him. Immediately Mikoto was on her feet and ushering her youngest in her arms, trapping him into a bone-crushing embrace. 

"Sasuke-kun! Where have you all been I've been worried sick!" Mikoto said in between fussing over Sasuke’s hair and hugging him. "Itachi-kun! Reina-chan! Was everything alright last night? You didn't feel too overwhelmed going back home did you?" 

Reina smiled and shook her head, huffing a chuckle as Mikoto pulled them both into a hug, she fussing over the three of them like a hen would her chicks. "We're fine Mikoto-san, I just wanted to check if there was any post that needed my attention and by the time we had our supper it was late and Itachi was gracious enough to stay the night with me." 

Reina lied through her teeth, the words flowing so fluidly that Itachi even forgot she was making them up. Even Sasuke mentally appreciated her talent for fabrication. 

"Well, as long as you both ate and rested - that's the main thing." Mikoto beamed, relinquishing her hold on the trio, only after adjusting Itachi's shirt and holding Reina's face in her hands; she noticing how the Hitori Leader's face had regained both fullness and colour.