AN: thanks to my beta for thic chapter...

Chapter 11

Of Alcohol and Women

It would take three days for them to reach Suna. The first day, they traveled through the mountains, stopping only to rest for the night and to eat. There wasn't a problem with food, for they always made it a point to bring some with them during long journeys. Unfortunately, what they brought was only enough for two days. Whether they like it or not, they needed to stop by a village to get some supplies, more importantly for water, for the third day where they would pass through the desert before finally arriving at the village of Suna.

Luckily, on the second night, they came across a village. It was one of those few villages that were inhabited purely by civilians, which was good for the Akatsuki was known only to the ninja populated countries. Its presence was kept a secret from these villages because almost all of the clients of ninjas came from these places. If these civilians find out that a ninja organization consisting of S-class criminals exists, they might become afraid and not hire ninja's anymore.

It was almost dark when they entered the village. They earned a lot of frightened looks as they passed. Sakura couldn't blame them. Indeed, with the matching black cloaks and the different weapons they carry who wouldn't be suspicious? Add to that the fact that ninjas rarely came to this country.

They ignored them and went on their way. The villagers seemed to relax when the group of strangers didn't do anything and just passed by peacefully.

Itachi stopped in his tracks.

"All of us will meet again outside the village after this," he commanded

With that said, the members spit up into groups and went on their way to do the tasks assigned to them which were to gather food, water, and some medical supplies.

Sakura looked at Itachi, who stood in front her. They were the only ones who did not move off to a task.

"Ne, Itachi-kun, where are we going?" she asked. He didn't assign her a task. When she asked him why, he said that all the tasks were already taken and nothing was left for her. Somehow, there was a nagging thought at the back of her mind that Itachi was only saying that because he thought that she was useless and could not do anything to help the organization.

"Follow me," he said and started to walk away from her.

Sakura walked after and slowed down when she finally reached his side.

"Where are we going?" she asked, aware that he also had nothing to do, which she thought, was so unlike him.

He didn't reply.

She was already tired, but she kept on walking toward their unknown destination when she heard her own stomach rumbled. It was already late in the evening and as far as she could remember, the last time they ate food was this morning, about ten hours ago. Unlike the others who ate a lot that morning, she only ate a little.

A few minutes passed when he finally stopped.

She looked around and noticed that they were standing in front of a small traditional restaurant. For a moment, she just stood there looking at him, wondering what he was up to.

He walked forward until he stood in front the door and pushed it open. Then, he looked back at her and motioned her to come inside. Still confused, she went inside, with him behind her.

He put an arm on her shoulder as he guided her to one of the empty tables with two chairs. Hesitantly, she sat down on one of them. Why did he bring her here? She had no idea. Of course, it's a restaurant and people go there to eat. Well, that was what normal people would usually do. Well, Itachi was not normal. ...It's just that that well… he's different from the others.

"Ne, Itachi-kun Why are we here?" She asked

"To eat. Why, are you not hungry?" He asked as he gave her a blank look.

"Well yes I am, but why now? I mean, we could wait for the others and then eat with them, right?" She suggested. She felt uneasy being with him alone in this place for they looked as if they're a couple out on a date.

"I heard your stomach rumbling a couple of times so I decided to treat you some food,"

She almost gaped at him. Were her ears playing tricks on her or what? No. She really heard him say it. It was strange.

But she was glad nonetheless.

-

"I'm bored," Kisame stated as he and Sasori looked around the place. They finally finished buying some medical supplies so they decided to go back, only to find out that no one else was there yet. They were the first one to finish their tasks.

"You always are," Sasori pointed out dully.

He ignored his comment. "Sasori, let's do something worthwhile. I hate waiting."

He raised his brows "What's your plan?"

He smirked. "Well, I was thinking of going to the bar. You know, the one we passed by a while ago. Do you remember that? There might be some beautiful women in it. Let's check them out,"

He turned his back on him. "I remembered that. I'm not going,"

"Eh? Just a while ago, you looked like you were willing to go. Don't worry. We are not going to do anything wrong. We are just going to drink a little bit of sake and watch some women perform on stage,"

"No," he said firmly.

"You're no fun at all." Then, as if realizing something, he smirked. "I bet you don't want to go there because you're not interested in looking at other women anymore. Am I right?"

He received no reply. "Oh well, people tend to be shy sometimes," he said which earned him a death glare from the man beside him.

"I guess I have to go now,"

-

After eating, both Itachi and Sakura walked back to the place where they all agreed to meet each other. When they came upon the place, they saw that almost all of the members were there with all the supplies. Only one person was missing.

"Where is Kisame?" Itachi asked once he saw that Sasori, who was supposed to be with Kisame, was there.

"He told me that he will be gone for a while and that he will be back soon," he answered with a few chosen words, careful as to not say anything about the "bar" part. He knew that Itachi would not like it if he found out where Kisame really went. It wasn't that he actually cared, really, but if Itachi found out he didn't do anything to stop the sharkman? That was something he didn't wish to experience.

"We need to find him now. If we want to arrive at the village earlier, we should leave soon. Do you know where he went?"

Well, he asked, can't avoid it now. "He told me he will go to a bar near here,"

"Tell me the directions. I'll be the one to go there," He listened to the crisp directions, before turning and heading off where Kisame was.

Sakura thought about it. A bar? That means there would be people drinking sake and there would be women. If Itachi would go there, she was pretty sure there would be women who would try to flirt with him.

"Itachi-kun, wait, I want to go with you," Sakura ran up to him. She knew he would allow her to. He never refused any of her requests whenever they were in front the others.

He nodded and waited for her to catch up with him.

-

"Ooohhh where are you going? I thought you were going to stay longer," a woman sitting on Kisame's lap purred seductively as she leaned closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I thought you wanted to have some fun with me tonight," she cooed.

Kisame sigh. This was one of the things he was trying to avoid. These prostitutes flirted with all kinds of men and lure them into bed with them for money. Yes, all they wanted was the money they would get for the extra services they would offer. Don't get him wrong though. He absolutely loved attention from the opposite sex. What he hated was women who are too clingy and who still insists on doing something even after he already said no.

"No thanks, but I really needed to go," he needed to hurry or else Itachi would find out about this. He was having too much fun drinking sake just awhile ago that he forgot that he was supposed to stay for only a short period of time.

He decided it's best if he should go now. He began to pry the woman away from him.

-

"He's here," Itachi and Sakura followed Sasori's directions until they came across a bar.

Sakura scooted closer to Itachi when she noticed many women standing around them, all of them wearing revealing tops and skimpy skirts. Most of them had their eyes directed towards the man standing beside her. She didn't like it one bit.

She was grateful that he wasn't paying any attention to them. Instead, he went inside the bar without even sparing any of the women a single glance.

-

Kisame was too busy getting the woman away from him that he didn't even felt two familiar chakras entered the place.

Sakura glanced at Itachi, wondering what he would do. He just stood there and looked at the Shark Akatsuki member. He still had no idea that they were there, for he was too preoccupied in prying the woman off him.

After a few moments, Itachi walked over to the two.

"Kisame, I thought I told all of you to come back on time," Kisame froze. He knew that voice.

"Itachi," he turned his head around and saw him standing there with Sakura beside him. He knew they came for him.

Forgetting the prospect of being gentle, he forcefully pushed the slut away from him, turned around to face them, and laughed sheepishly, as if he was a child caught doing something bad. Sakura stifled a laugh. Typical Kisame, she thought.

"Hey, that was so mean," the woman pouted but he just ignored her.

"What do you think you're doing, delaying the mission like that?" Itachi's voice was laced with danger. He was not pleased with what Kisame did. Sakura looked worried.

"Hey you shark man, you didn't tell me you have such a hot friend." The woman managed to stand up and walked over to Itachi. She stood in front him and gave him a sexy smile.

"Wanna go with me? I'll offer you a special discount..." she said seductively. It seemed she would not pass the opportunity to bed a hot guy. No, that was an understatement. He was one delicious and mysterious hot guy.

Sakura eyed the woman with distaste, wanting to rip her off him but, to her surprise, was beat to it by none other than Itachi himself.

"I'm not interested," he said in a cold voice.

"Lets go back," he looked pointedly at Kisame.

Then, he grabbed Sakura's wrist.

"You're getting too much attention," he said in a calm and collected voice as he pointed to a group of guys who were looking at the pink-haired beauty as if trying to undress her with their eyes.

Then, he dragged her out of the bar with Kisame trailing after them.

Sakura sigh. Now that was finished, they were finally on their way to their next mission to Suna.

Her hometown.