Panthera Lupe: I would like to welcome you to On The Road. A fic of happiness, loss, problems in the real world, and of course, utter crack at points! Ikari is my best friend in the whole world: EmogirlS2. She's awesome and I love her to death! (gives her internet hugs) Anyways, Kit is Leo Vulpes. It's just this one will be totally dedicated to this fic! And I will appear later in the story!

Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, Shounen-ai (guy-love), and a spazzy authoress with a multiple personality disorder... it's true

Dedication: This goes to Lunar Chasmodai, the creator of the fic that inspired this one!

Diclaimer: I only own Kit, for she is me. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sama, and Ikari belongs to EmogirlS2, with the help of me!

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On The Road

Day I

Rescue Mission

Sage Creek, Louisiana

"Junkie say what now?"

"I am not a fucking junkie!" The loud voice screeched through the speaker. "Anyways, Oh Deaf One, you and your little emo brother are invited on a road trip with us for three months." The man said, running a hand through his shoulder length crimson hair, his golden eyes dancing like wildfire.

"You know we can't. Even asking something as 'stupid' as that will get us-"

The red head screamed loudly, slamming his fist that wasn't holding his cell phone in his hand on the table. "I'm getting you two out of that house. If you don't come I'll call the fucking cops on you Uchiha, I'll call them to take that bastard away!"

"You can't do that Kyuubi, he'll move us away from here before the cops can even ring our doorbell."

Kyuubi sighed, a stray tear slipping down his cheek; he wiped it away before anyone packing up saw it. "Damnit, then run away, we can let you live here."

"He'll charge you for kidnapping."

"Sneak out, I want you two to come on this trip, Itachi. Kit knows both you and Sasuke need it." Kyuubi pleaded, gaining the attention of a girl with blood red hair and foggy blue eyes, who ran over and snatched the phone from Kyuubi's hands.

"That's right I do know, and if I have to godamnit, I'll sleep with a fucking cop so he'll inform the police station that when we take you, it's not kidnapping you." She yelled into the phone her extra hand moving around frantically.

"Kit, put Kyuubi back on."

Kit hung her head dully and forked the phone over to Kyuubi, who chuckled. "See, Kit is willing to give up her virginity ("Shut the hell up Kyuubi!") to get you guys to come with us."

There was a sigh on Itachi's end. "Be ready to pick us up at four."

Kyuubi clicked his phone shut and sighed, he had ten minutes until he had to rescue the Uchiha boys, and luckily the rescue team was all loaded up in the double long, plus an extension, RV and ready to go. Said rescue team consisted of himself, his little brother Naruto, Sai, Kankuro, Gaara, Temari, Shikamaru, Haku, Kit, Neji, Kiba, and Ikari.

"Temari, Haku. Come on, we're going to go get them. Ikari… I'm trusting you to make sure everyone is ready to go when we swing around. We're not going to wait five minutes while everyone goes to the bathroom." Kyuubi instructed, leading the blonde girl and the silver haired boy out.

The rest of the group stood there looking like a bunch of idiots in a photo. That was until Ikari, a girl with raven hair down to her waist and soft coal eyes, yelled "You heard the man! Move it, move it!"

Kyuubi pulled up in the large RV like thing and saw Itachi walking out after shoving Sasuke out. He had a chair and propped it under the screen door that was there and silently shut the door so he wouldn't wake his drunk father up. He jumped in the car, the shotgun automatically his. "Drive." He ordered, the van lurching forward suddenly.

Temari held tight to Sasuke when the van was in motion. She knew how Kyuubi drove when trying to get them away.

"Hey Temari?"

Said blonde girl looked down to the little raven haired boy she held against her chest. "Yeah?"

Sasuke coughed and sputtered. "One, do you think you could remove your breasts from my face, and two can you keep a secret?"

Temari grinned, releasing Sasuke slightly. She would have rather kept him there to torture him, but secrets were so much juicier than torture.

Sasuke glanced to his brother, who was having a battle with Kyuubi over the thermostat. "I think that Itachi likes Kyuubi. I mean he has tons of friends like you and Haku who know, but he always calls Kyuubi."

Temari nodded at the new information that was held in her head. As the oldest female of the group of friends, she was normally told most of the secrets and seen as a mother to them. "Well, if there's anything going on there, it'll work itself out in time." There was a pause of silence except for the two teens in the front, now arguing over who got the middle armrest. "Hey, Ikari's coming with us!" She suddenly chirped.

Sasuke glanced up to the blonde. "Seriously?"

Haku finally spoke. "Yeah, your sister is coming with us. I mean, why wouldn't she? She still loves you guys."

Temari leaned finally released Sasuke and leaned back, sporting off her dark purple and yellow arm warmers that went up past her elbows and her matching tights. A long sleeve fish net (even though you couldn't see the sleeves) was worn on her torso along with a black corset and a jean skirt. Temari had odd fashion sense… it was like punk, rap, and alternative mixed together. And her hair, tied up in four dirty blonde pony-tails, completed that look. But, the look fit her entire persona.

"We're all going to work on our projects during this time. I'm doing music's effect on teens." Temari said, looking over to Haku who was now messing with Sasuke's hair. "What about you?"

Sasuke looked down to his feet, which seemed to be his new object of vision-love. "I don't know what I'm doing yet."

Haku smiled and pulled out a camera, flashing a picture of Sasuke's 'oh shit that's a camera!' face. And then taking one of Temari in her relaxed pose. "I'm doing photography. And I'm helping Kit with hers."

And soon enough, after Kyuubi and Itachi had started fighting over who the middle air-vent should be pointed to, they arrived in front of the Uzumaki Mansion and the RV lurched to a stop.

Next thing the occupants of the RV knew, Kit had flung herself in the doorway with a thud and attempted to hug the RV. "Fred!" She called out.

Kyuubi turned and snapped on his younger sister. "Hey, Kit, no rapping my RV!"

Kit ignored her brother as others stepped on, and around her to get inside. The second to last one in nearly tackled Sasuke out the window. It was Ikari, and she was happy to see her little brother was still living.

"Aw!" Temari cooed at Ikari strangling Sasuke in a loving death-hug. "That's so sweet." She suddenly whipped around and glared at Kankuro. "How come we never hug like that?"

Kankuro looked taken aback for a few seconds. "Because you always beat me. And what about Gaara?"

"Gaara doesn't give anyone hugs, and I always beat you for two reasons. One, you always do something to deserve it, and two, because no one else will."

"I'm bored!" Naruto suddenly whined, glancing over to Sasuke and Ikari who were talking about one thing or another.

"Look put the window then." Neji stated dryly.

Naruto sat up and looked out the window. "Line. Tree. More lines. Little yellow reflector-thingers. Trees. Bush. Cloud. Oh, something dead. Flower. More trees. More lines-" He shut-up as he was 'thunked' with something in the head. Looking to the floor he spotted a soda can that was crushed like someone squeezed it. He glanced up and spotted a pissed off Kankuro and Temari who was on a cell phone, talking to someone.

"Yes. We'll be fine, but what about you two? So you can keep down the fort? Sure you won't be lonely? Oh yeah. No, everything's fine here. Kankuro's just mad because he won't get any ass for a while. Yeah, love ya' too babe." She hung up and slid the phone back into her pocket. "Uzumaki."

Kyuubi 'hmed' to signal that he was listening.

"Your house is being well kept while we're gone."

"Good." Kit said, flopping ungraciously onto the floor with a loud thud. "Man, it's so boring! Didn't anyone bring anything to do?" Crickets answered her question. She sighed and lay down once again, paying attention to what everyone else was doing.

Temari was relaxing in all her alternative-punk-rap-save-the-earth-turntablist-self, her feet propped on Kiba who was being forced down as her slave for the moment. Kankuro was slowly simmering to a crispy emo setting with all the angst waves he was radiating. Gaara was content with having a stare-down with a spot on the wall of the RV. Sai was staring out the window occasionally as he doodled something in his (in)famous notebook. Haku was snapping some pictures here and there, but fully intent on annoying the most of Neji by blinding him continuously with the flash of the camera. And Naruto was looking out the window like a puppy.

"Yo, DJ-Mari, mind passing your fruitful selection of music up here so we can give these people something to do?" Itachi called from his shotgun seat. He sat in the shotgun of all of Kyuubi's car all the time. So much even that there was probably a butt print around there somewhere. No one else dared to ride shotgun while Kyuubi drove.

Temari lifted her feet slightly and looked to Kiba. "Get me bags, whelp."

Kiba scoffed. "Would you stop freaking talking like that."

"Like what, mate?"

"A fucking pirate!" Kiba shouted as he tossed the heavy bag to Temari who caught with ease.

Temari snickered and dug through her bag, pulling out six CD holders, each having a label and design of their own. "So which ones you want Itachi? We have, 1980's to 2000, metal/hardcore/rock, rap/jazz, Gifts of Oh Beloved Friends, and DJ-Mari's favorite mixes."

"DJ-Mari's!" Kyuubi cried out quickly, not trusting Itachi's choice (of which would have most likely been metal/hardcore/rock). This action earned a huff from Itachi, who pinched Kyuubi's arm harshly as payback, causing the redhead to cry out in pain as the case was thrown their way.

Itachi swiftly caught it and began to riffle through it as the complaints of abusive people went on beside him. He found a semi-calm song in DJ-Mari's and popped it into the CD player before Kyuubi could see, therefore, have no objection.

Warm yourself by the fire son,

And the morning will come soon.

I'll tell you stories of a better time,

In a place that we once knew.

Kyuubi glanced over to Itachi as the song continued to play and sighed to himself as he saw the pain and longing in the coal eyes. He wanted to get him and Sasuke away from there, out of that man's hands. He could support them… hell, he was supporting a lot of people. It helped when your house was already paid for- fully, your cars- multiple- were already paid for- fully, your parents were freaking awesome lawyers of their times, and you had an entire bank-full of money that belonged to you.

We had a place that we could call home,

In a life no one could touch.

"We're coming up on the hotel soon." He informed everyone, looking out towards the horizon where it was starting to get dark. They had left Sage Creek, Louisiana, a little suburb outside of New Orleans, and they were now going to see every single state in the attached forty-eight states.

Don't hold me up now.

I can stand my own ground.

I don't need your help now.

You won't let me down.

Down.

Down.

Haku turned to the group with four sets of keys in his hands and a grin on his face. "We've got five rooms, but each room has two full-sized beds. Who's with whom?" He asked.

The rooming had turned out with Itachi, Kyuubi, Shikamaru, and Kankuro in one room. Temari, Kit, Ikari, and Kiba in the second. Neji, Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto in the third. And Haku and Sai in the fourth.

"And why are the roomings as such?" Kiba complained, having to be stuck with the girls.

Ikari grinned evilly. "Well, the first one is because they all keep each other in balance. That and Kyuubi and Itachi are inseparable, and Shikamaru will ignore Kankuro's angsty mood. Our room is because you won't rape us and we have no where else to stick you-"

"What about Haku and Sai's room!?" Kiba yelled frantically, not wanting to see what Temari's like when she wakes up in the mornings.

Ikari slapped his on the back of his head to get him to shut up. "I was getting to that. It's because Haku and Sai are the only non-gay men here."

Kiba's face faltered. "Your gaydar's broken."

"Puh-lease. We used Temari- she's a walking gaydar." Ikari retorted. "And we got some complaints about you from the others, so you're stuck with us."

Kiba flipped the bird.

Ikari smiled evilly again.

Kiba got slapped… again.

"Yeah, she yells at me… of all people!" Kankuro grumbled, pulling out the couch as a protest to sleeping in the same bed as Shikamaru.

Kyuubi chuckled and tossed Itachi his clothes from his bag, which he went into the bathroom to change into. "Don't be angsty. Cheer up. If you want, call him, have phone sex."

"And you know this how?" Shikamaru asked skeptically from atop his bed after saying something about it being 'too troublesome' to get under the covers.

"I never know, only assume. And don't get perverted ideas like that! That's why no one wants to sleep with you, because you'll mentally rape them in their sleep.!" Kyuubi screamed, suddenly diving underneath the covers, only peeping an eye out as Itachi sat on his side of the bed in his grey sweatpants and tight black t-shirt.

Itachi tugged harshly at the blankets, wincing as he did so. "Come on Kyuubi, share the warmth."

Kyuubi semi-frowned before flopping himself in Itachi's lap with the blankets following behind him. He gave the raven a pointed look, to which the Uchiha sighed and nodded at.

He knew that look.

That was the look that had caused him to skip school on more than one account.

That was the look that had gotten him to stay out a little longer.

That was the look that had gotten to stay for just one more song.

That was the look that meant Kyuubi wanted to help him.

He sighed and turned over to click off the lights, knowing in a few hours, Kyuubi would be waking him up anyways.

Kyuubi's eyes clicked open as he felt the soft vibrations coming from his phone that he'd set to wake him up. He sat up slowly and looked over to where Shikamaru was sprawled on his bed, and Kankuro was snoring lightly in the other room.

Then he turned to right and saw Itachi sleeping peacefully. He turned around and reached over, beginning to lift Itachi's shirt up. He noticed the change in pattern in the raven's breathing as he tried to roll over and make it seem like just sleep-tossing, but the hitch in his breath gave it all away.

"Stop it, you're going to hurt yourself, and you know I'll see it. One way or another." The redhead hissed, stopping as Itachi sat up and faced him. "Off." Kyuubi demanded, tugging lightly at the edge of the black shirt.

The Uchiha swatted Kyuubi's hands away as he began to slowly remove the shirt himself, hissing when his arm twisted in a certain way. Kyuubi mentally noted that as he looked over the pale stomach.

Reaching tan hands forward, Itachi mentally scolded himself for leaning into the touch.

"What happened this time? Why'd he do it this time?" Kyuubi asked softly in a whisper, tracing a scar down the back.

Itachi shivered at the touch. "We were two minutes late, it was because no one was there to get him his 'four o'clock beer' for him. But I got the worst of it because I tried to protect Sasuke when he tried to kick his head. It was because 'you can only fend for yourself, everyone else leaves you.' I wonder what we're going to get when we get back." He commented dryly, not paying attention to the movement on the other side of the spring mattress.

It was only when he felt a warm, clothed chest against his bare back did he register the fact that it was Kyuubi who now had his hands splayed across his pale chest.

"Let me see it." Kyuubi demanded softly against the broad shoulder.

As Itachi turned around, he smirked inwardly. No one, and absolutely no one (not even his own brother and sister) ever saw this side of Kyuubi. The side that showed deep care and tenderness. As Kyuubi's gaze roamed his chest he suppressed an oncoming shiver.

The redhead sighed and got up, walking silently into the bathroom, getting a damp towel. He returned and gave it to Itachi who placed it over the nasty bruise on the left side of his abdomen. "Itachi, your arm is knocked out of its socket. It's going to hurt when I push it back in, please be quiet." As the raven nodded, Kyuubi took Itachi's arm, twisted it and pushed it back in place quickly.

Itachi dove forward and let his muffled cry go into the sheets of the bed. When he looked up he spotted Kyuubi gazing down worriedly at him. "I'm okay." He weakly spoke, laying back down on his other arm.

Kyuubi smiled sadly and lay right down next to him, soon falling back asleep.

Panthera Lupe: I hope you enjoy this fic! I plan to take this to places I've never gone before! The song in the middle of this is Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against. I would like to take credit for this entire fic, but I have to give the credit of it's birth to Lunar Chasmodai and her fic Road Trip I must give her many congrats and say that it was her fic that inspired me to write this one.