Author's note: Many apologies for taking so long with this chapter. I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to make the bridge between certain scenes, which is why this is so late. On the other hand, at least it's longer than the previous one? *clears throat*

Thanks to the following reviewers: Melyway; Guest; babyvfan; KitsuneJen; M4573R; yukino76; SehunsBae37

Warnings: Reference to threats of rape; some violence in the past; some fluff; time skips

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like it! (I apologise in advance if certain scenes come across as awkward)

Chapter 11

"They're saying you have a younger brother," the man called out and he clenched his jaw, his hand tightening around the grip of his gun. "The only one who survived that night unscathed. Did you hide him? That has to be it, right? Big brother told him to hide and he did. But big brother isn't with him anymore, now is he?"

Cautiously he peeked around the corner and saw the man standing near a pile of crates. The guy had a gun in his hand as well and a large knife strapped to his left thigh. There was a large scar running from his left temple down to his right lower jaw, running straight across his nose, making it look like he was missing a chunk of it.

"Maybe we should go back there, hm?" the man smirked, but his eyes were looking around sharply, searching for Itachi. "Finish what we started. Might as well take out the whole family. I'm willing to bet he doesn't have the training you have. Makes him an easy target."

He shuffled alongside the crates, keeping his back to them. "Won't take much to make him scream, I bet. Or hell, maybe we'll find another purpose of him. Rumour has it he's got a cute face." His dirty smirk widened. "How much do you think they'll pay to fu-"

A single precise gunshot rang through the warehouse, blood splattering against the wooden crates …

Black eyes shot open, staring at the darkened ceiling; the echoes of the loud gunshot still ringing in his ears. Slowly Itachi rose up, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes. White and purple flashed across the back of his eyelids and he blinked, lowering his hands again. A look at the alarm clock showed that it was just a bit past a quarter to two and he breathed out slowly.

He hadn't thought about that evening in the warehouse for so long. The guy had been the sixth one on his list to die; he must have been warned by someone else, because he'd known Itachi had been coming for him. They had played a cat and mouse game for the better part of three hours in that depilated warehouse, each one trying to get the first shot in. Then the man had thought it prudent to start talking about Sasuke, spewing the most vile shit about his little brother, and Itachi had lost it.

He'd shot him in the head once and had then gone over to his body, riddling it with holes. He'd gone through three cartridges before the fury had abated at least somewhat. Afterwards he'd called Nagato and the Alpha had made arrangements for the body to be dropped off in front of the clan leader's house.

One hour after the body had been delivered, Itachi had gone over there to kill every single member of the clan present there. He'd tracked down everyone who had known or had been involved with the burglary and had done an additional search for every person who had even caught the smallest hint of Sasuke's existence.

It had been years since that particular night, so why … Then he remembered the date, the twentieth of January, and breathed heavily once through his nose. The twentieth had been the day he'd confronted that bastard who'd run off his mouth about Sasuke. Why remember it now again, though? Because he had Sasuke back?

Everyone who could have been a threat had been long wiped out, however …

He blinked, staring down at the phone he hadn't even realised he had grabbed from his nightstand. For a moment his thumb hovered above the speed dial with Sasuke's number, before he dropped the phone onto the bed between his legs. No sense in calling his brother now. It was too early – or too late however one looked at it – and with a new born baby, Sasuke could use every minute of sleep he got.

He just needed to go back to sleep. It had been just a memory after all, and he knew Sasuke was safe. There was nobody from his past who could come back to haunt him, so there was no reason to worry about his little brother.

Stupid really; there was no reason to linger on that memory when it had happened so long ago.

Yet he couldn't fall asleep again, no matter how long he laid there with his eyes closed, listening to the muffled traffic noise outside. After turning from one side to the other a couple of times, he sat up again aggravatedly. Pushing his long hair back, he grabbed his phone once more and selected another speed dial before he could talk himself out of it.

"Itachi?" Deidara's sleepy voice greeted him muffled. "Why you calling, un? It's …" There was some noise on the other end of the line as if the blond was moving things around. "Fuck it, can't see the clock, but I think it's late."

"It's ten past two, sorry," Itachi replied, still feeling a bit too off to feel actually guilty about calling up the other man so late.

"Huh." A pause. Fabric shifted as Deidara moved around. After a short bout of silence, Deidara spoke again, "Did something happen, un? Are you okay?"

Itachi shook his head, starting to regret this. "Yes, no, honestly I don't know," he answered annoyed.

"Okay," Deidara said slowly. "You want to talk about whatever's bothering you, un?"

"Just dreamt of a memory, something I haven't thought about in years," the Alpha murmured, rubbing his left cheek.

"Bad memory?"

Itachi breathed out softly, wondering how much he could tell. "About someone on my list back then," he started haltingly. "He'd been warned that I was coming after him. When I got there, he was ready."

"What did he do?"

"Not much," Itachi answered. "He started trash talking me before …"

"Before what?" Deidara asked softly.

Dark eyes stared at his free hand, clenching on his leg. "He started talking about Sasuke," Itachi replied flatly.

A sharp intake of breath on the other side.

"About how he knew Sasuke had got away and how he and others would go after him to finish the job," Itachi continued blankly. "Then he – threatened to sell my brother, taunting me about how he would ra-" He cut himself off, disgust filling his mouth like bile.

Even so many years later, just the memory of that bastard uttering the vile filth about his brother was enough to make him enraged all over again. It had been one of the very few times in which he'd completely lost his cool. Most of the time he had entered the place and had finished off everyone who had been a part in taking his parents from him. Clinical and quick, that had been his way.

When they had dared to take his brother's name in their mouth, however …

Nagato had actually have to hold him back during one particular time before he'd gone too far. Not that Nagato had cared about him going too far – unlike some of his employees, he seemed to possess an iron stomach, remaining unflinching even when blood had literally been dripping off the walls – but they had had to leave on time in order to remain undetected.

Nagato's men had quickly learnt never to mention Sasuke around Itachi.

"You know he's safe now, right?" Deidara said softly. "They can't get to him."

"I know that. I made sure they didn't have the chance," Itachi muttered and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Knowing that, though, didn't really help in taking away the growing ball of anxiety in the pit of his stomach.

"But knowing that isn't really helping right now," Deidara said knowingly.

"No, it's not," Itachi said curtly and sighed. "Sorry for calling you up this late, I just …"

"Needed to get your mind off the dream, I get that," Deidara said soothingly. "Guess it really doesn't help that this dream is actually a memory."

"No, it doesn't. I just … It's been so long since I last thought of that guy – I've never had a dream about any of them before."

"The brain works in weird ways, un," Deidara said simply. "We still don't know how it fully works. My guess, though? I'd say that finally being out of that world is giving your brain now the time to work through everything that happened. That's only me guessing, though. I'm not a brain expert."

That elicited a small chuckle out of Itachi. "Well, that might be so, but I could do with my brain not working through everything in the middle of the night."

"What better time to brood than at night, un?" Deidara laughed softly and unconsciously Itachi relaxed a bit. Then the Omega grew serious again. "Have you talked about this with Sasuke-kun?"

"Don't really see the need," Itachi answered honestly. "It's all in the past anyway. Telling him might only make him worried for nothing."

"Maybe, but he's your brother, un. I think it might help if you talk to him about it. You could work out a system even for when you have another nightmare, un. Something that would prove to you that he's okay," Deidara suggested.

"Aside from either calling him in the middle of the night or going as far as living with him, I don't see how we can work out a system," Itachi admitted, leaning back against his pillow. "And I can hardly call him during the night. I don't think he's been getting much sleep with the baby."

"Hm, I suppose," Deidara hummed. "Though I don't think he would mind having you call him if he knows why, un."

Itachi furrowed his eyebrows when his ear picked up the sound of traffic noise growing louder. "Are you outside?" he asked perplexed.

"I mean, you've both been through a lot," Deidara continued, ignoring his question. "That's bound to leave a mark behind. You're not alone anymore, Itachi. You've got your brother, you've got Naruto-kun, you've got me – even Sasori. Though he's rather shit at comforting someone, un," he added, humour lightening up his voice.

Maybe he had just opened a window in whatever room he was in now. That would explain why traffic sounded louder even with the phone acting as a barrier. "Does Sasori-san know what I've done?" he asked carefully.

He had only met the red haired man a few times before, once in that café and then a couple of times in the apartment he shared with Deidara, when the blond man had invited him over to watch a movie. The last couple of times had involved some aimable chatting between them, but Itachi had no idea how much Sasori knew about his past, except for the feelings he harboured for the blond man.

If Sasori did know what he had done, he was remarkably good at hiding his opinion about it.

"Not really," Deidara answered. "It's not my story to tell. I only told him you had to lie low for several years after the break-in, un. It's your decision whether or not you tell him what happened."

"Hm." He didn't think he would ever tell Sasori the full truth. Perhaps once they knew each other better and Sasori asked about it … Now he was more than content to let the past be the past. Nothing was gained by rehashing it over and over again anyway.

"It's getting late," he realised after looking at the clock and seeing that it was inching close to three o'clock already. "You should go back to sleep."

Deidara ignored him for the second time and just said, "Open your door."

"Open my – what?" Itachi repeated bemused, glancing at his open bedroom door. Why would he need to open the door?

"Open your front door," Deidara repeated. "Before someone sees me standing here like an idiot."

"You're here?" Itachi asked stumped, but nevertheless left his bed quickly and flicked on the light outside his bedroom before going to the door.

A wide grinning Deidara met him when he wrenched his door open, the blond man lowering his phone. "Good night, good morning, whichever one you think suits this time of the day the best, un," he chirped, wriggling his way past the Alpha and inside his apartment.

Feeling incredibly confused, Itachi could only close the door again and watch Deidara meandering deeper into his apartment, looking completely at ease as if he lived here himself. He was wearing a thick jacket and a bright yellow scarf, but the dotted patterned trousers he wore indicated that he wasn't completely dressed and had driven over here in just his pyjamas and a coat.

"You're here," Itachi remarked, unsure what to think of Deidara's surprise visit.

The blond man turned around and smirked, unzipping his jacket. "Astute observation, un," he drawled, shrugging off his jacket. "No better way to comfort someone than being with them instead of through a phone."

"But what about Sasori-san?" Itachi asked dumbfounded. "Won't he be worried?"

"If you want to try dating him too, you might want to consider dropping the 'san'," Deidara told him casually and hung his jacket away together with his scarf, before toeing off his shoes. "And don't worry, I left a note on my pillow to tell him where I am."

"You think he's going to be okay with this?" Itachi asked warily. He didn't want to get on Sasori's bad side before they had even got to know each other properly.

"Why wouldn't he be, un?" Deidara asked genuinely surprised. "I'm dating you too, so it makes sense that I would come over to comfort you."

"Yes, but what if he thinks we're … doing something else instead?" Itachi formed the question carefully, the middle of the night not seeming like an appropriate time to discuss whether Sasori would suspect them of having sex or not.

Deidara cocked his head to the left. "You know, first thing we're going to do this weekend is sit together and make it clear where we stand on the subject of sex, un," he stated frankly, resting his hands on his hips. "We probably should have done that already, but well, trial and error, I suppose. As for your question, I'm ninety-nine percent certain that he wouldn't mind if we did sleep together. But we're not, because you're not feeling up to it, right?"

"Right, but ninety-nine percent isn't a hundred," Itachi couldn't help but point out, frowning slightly. The last thing he wanted was to get into an argument with Sasori about this.

"No, it isn't, which is why we're going to sit down and have a proper chat about it, un," "Deidara answered pointedly, raising an eyebrow. "At the moment, though, there's no reason to worry about that, seeing as we're not planning on having sex anyway. I don't even know why you're so worried; we've been kissing for a while now, do you really think Sasori expects us to remain chaste about everything?"

"We're a triad, no?"

Deidara's quick smile was like a flash in the dark. "We are, yes, but that doesn't mean we have to do everything constantly together. If you and Sasori want to spend the day together without me or so, you can. If you and me want to spend time together, that's allowed and so on. In the end we'll still be a triad, but just like in other relationships that doesn't mean we have to do everything together, un." He shrugged and then stretched his arms, yawning. "But that's a discussion to be held when it's not the middle of the night. Where's your bedroom, un?"

"You're really planning on staying with me," Itachi murmured, a tad wondered.

"Of course. No offence, un, but you did sound rather rattled on the phone," Deidara said, offering him an apologetic shrug. "If there's one good thing about being an Omega, it's the ability to calm people down – or so they say. So, bedroom, where?"

Well, if he was completely certain that Sasori wouldn't make a problem out of this …

"This way," Itachi said and beckoned the other man to follow him; his stomach in the meantime performing several funny flips.

He was hyperaware of Deidara following right behind him, all his senses tuned towards his presence it felt like. The light was switched off, blanketing them both in darkness instantly. Almost automatically Itachi reached out to grab Deidara's hand so that he wouldn't walk into anything, and couldn't help but smile faintly when warm fingers tightened around his.

It was when they were both in bed, Deidara's arm resting warm across his stomach and his head against Itachi's shoulder, that Deidara murmured, "You don't mind me being here, right?"

"A bit late to ask that, no?" Itachi huffed amused and ran his fingers through loose strands of blond hair, marvelling at how soft the locks felt. "But no, I don't mind."

Far from it even.

"Good night," Deidara whispered, dry lips brushing a kiss against the Alpha's cheek.

Inhaling deeply had him catching a whiff of Deidara's scent and unconsciously Itachi relaxed; his thumb rubbing circles on Deidara's shoulder.

"Yeah, good night."

He expected it would be a while before he could catch some sleep again; the last time he had slept with someone in the same bed had been when he was six and his one year old brother had been crying his lungs out until Itachi had laid him next to him in his bed.

After that he hadn't slept with someone else near him, especially not an Omega, but before he knew it his eyes closed and he fell asleep, Deidara wrapped around him.

"Would you mind if Sasori comes over so we can have that chat, un?" Deidara asked the next morning. His hair had been pulled back in a messy ponytail and he was still wearing his pyjamas, one leg bent underneath his arse.

He was eating the scrambled eggs Itachi had prepared for them both, his phone in reach next to the plate.

Pausing in bringing his cup of coffee to his mouth, Itachi eyed the other man. "Doesn't he have work today? Him coming over would be out of his way, no?"

"He's got an appointment at one thirty with an art dealer, but it's close to your place, so it would work out if he comes over here first," Deidara explained. "Only if you're feeling up to it, of course, un. Otherwise we'll just get together on another day."

"No, we might as well have the conversation today, clear up everything," Itachi murmured, going over his assignments mentally. He was nearly finished with the first one and the second one wasn't due for another three weeks; he could take some time off to talk.

"I'll send him a text," Deidara said and grabbed his phone.

"Not calling him?"

The smile Deidara gave him was both mischievous and exasperated at the same time. "Calling Sasori this early in the morning isn't a good idea, un, trust me. Despite how he may come across, he's definitely not a morning person and calling him before ten o'clock guarantees a bitching fit."

Itachi blinked, a bit thrown off by the unexpected answer. Sasori had actually struck him as a morning person of sorts, so it surprised him to hear this.

He supposed the old adage 'don't judge a book by its cover' suited the red haired Alpha perfectly.

The conversation which ensued once Sasori had arrived – "Your handwriting really turns into shit in the dark, doesn't it, Deidara?", "Oh shut up, you could still read it, no?" – felt rather clinical, even somewhat detached, but it felt reassuring to have some guidelines set into place finally.

They would still need to decide what they would do once Deidara's heat arrived next, whether only one of them would join him and who would it be then, or whether the both of them would be present, but that was something they could decide on later, a distinctly red faced Deidara had stated.

They did decide that everything was allowed, including sex, as long as they let each other know where they were. That meant that Sasori didn't have any issue with Deidara staying at Itachi's place, possibly even sleeping with him, as long as Deidara let him know where he was. It went in reverse as well: if Itachi decided to spend time with Sasori, all they needed to do was send a quick text, just so Deidara wouldn't get worried.

It kind of reminded Itachi of his parents; whenever either one of them had gone out for the day, they would let the other one know by either sending a text or leaving a note behind. Even when simply leaving for work, father would still leave a note behind for mother if she had happened to be still asleep by the time he left the house.

It made sense, didn't it? Instead of just one person, Itachi just had to think of two people when he needed to let them know where he was. It would take some time getting used to it, but he thought he could do it.

Talking with the other two, putting down the guidelines, also allowed him to let go of the guilt he'd been feeling every time he'd kissed Deidara and had even thought of doing more. Even though rationally he knew he was allowed to kiss him, because they formed a triad, a part of him still had felt guilty somewhat. Probably because he hadn't gone on anything close to a date yet with the red haired man while he and Deidara had shared quite some moments with each other already.

He had time however, he reminded himself. There was no fixed date by which he had to have gone on a date with Sasori. Relationships took time to develop and this triad was just as new for him as it was for them. There was no need to rush or force himself into situations he didn't feel ready yet for; nobody would be happy with that.

Their relationship wasn't like his job where he had deadlines looming over him. He could take the time to explore what was between them, knowing that the others would give him that. For the first time in his life, he had the time to explore and figure things out.

Now he did have the luxury of taking things slow and he was going to take advantage of that. Not everything would go smoothly from the start, he knew, not when all three of them were trying to figure out how exactly this triad would work, but that didn't automatically mean they were set up for failure.

They just needed to take their time to figure everything out at their own pace.

"You're good at French, right?" Sasori asked as soon as Itachi picked up the phone, forgoing the actual greeting.

Sasori tended to do that a lot, Itachi had discovered early on; not introducing the call with a greeting, but getting straight to the point of the call immediately.

"Yes," Itachi answered slowly, a bit befuddled why the other man needed that confirmation. "Fairly fluent in it, though I don't dare to claim I'm perfect at it. Why?"

"I've got a meeting with an artist tomorrow afternoon," Sasori said. "Some up-and-coming modern guy. He wants to show me his art portfolio so that I can decide whether or not to give him an exhibition, but the problem is that my grasp of French is shit at best and the guy doesn't speak English or Japanese."

"If you don't speak French, how do you know what he wants to show you then?" Itachi inquired amused.

"Google translate," Sasori answered frankly. "I can hardly use that during the meeting tomorrow, however, so would you mind acting as my interpreter for a bit? I know that you're a translator and not an interpreter, but I was hoping you could help me out with this. Unless you're too busy?"

"No, I don't have any pressing deadlines tomorrow," Itachi replied after checking his calendar. "I can translate for you, no problem. When's the meeting and where?"

"It's from three to five at the local art gallery. I can pick you up if you want."

"Sure, that would be fine," Itachi agreed, finding that easier than having to use his GPS to get there.

His phone started buzzing then, signalling that he had another incoming call. "Sorry, someone else is calling me."

"No problem, I'll see you tomorrow then," Sasori said easily. "I'll come pick you up at two thirty if that's okay with you."

"Sounds good, I'll see you then." The call had already ended before he could lower his phone and he shook his head amused.

A quick look at the screen showed that Sasuke was calling him and he accepted the call. "Hey, otouto, how are you doing? How are Naruto-kun and Itarou-kun?"

"They're doing fine," Sasuke answered, his voice notably soft. "Itarou does have quite the set of lungs on him when he starts screaming, though."

"Reminds me of someone else I know," Itachi teased, recalling all the times Sasuke had started shrieking like a banshee as a baby whenever someone else but his parents or his brother had tried to hold him. "I think poor Izumi still feels rejected to this day."

Their cousin especially had nearly got her eardrums ruptured the one time she had tried to hold Sasuke.

"Oh, shut up," Sasuke huffed and Itachi snickered. "I'm not calling you to have you make fun of me."

"Just reminiscing about the old days, otouto."

"I'm calling because I want your opinion about something."

"Oh? What about?" Itachi asked intrigued, leaning back in his chair. This ought to be interesting.

"About my proposal to Naruto."

His proposal to … Well, this definitely was going to be interesting.

AN2: In case anyone is curious, we're at the start of February now in this fic :)

I hope this wasn't too awful! Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.