Note: -throws self on ground and flails uncontrollably- I would say I didn't want to start anything new, but that would be lying. It actually took me a long time in deciding if I really wanted to write this. In the end, I chose to just go with it.

Pairings: NejiSasu, maybe some KibaShika later on, and maybe some NaruSasu/GaaSasu

Warnings: For this chapter? I think there's a little bit of swearing, but not much else. Unless you want to count the fact that the whole Uchiha family is together… -narrows eyes- probably should.

Epitome of Convention

By: Jaiden Lockheart

Sasuke stared up at the tall building in front of him, noticing how the mirrored walls reflected the clear blue sky above him. The fierce wind of a march afternoon caused his hair to stir around his face, effectively obscuring his appearance from any passersby that might have normally recognized him. Not that the blue-black hair, pale skin, and lean frame weren't telltale signs of his heritage. He was just thankful no one from the company had seen him yet. But it wouldn't be long before he had people pestering him. That was what it cost, he guessed, to be part of one of the richest families in Japan.

Not that he'd really asked to be part of this family. He had just simply been lucky enough--or so some called him--to be born into it. It wasn't a bad thing, he'd conceded many times. He just wished that sometimes he could get away from it all.

And that's exactly what he'd done not four months ago.

"Boarding School?" His mom shouted, her pretty face contorting into what could only be called disgust. "But what's wrong with the Academy?"

'The Academy'--as their family had come to call it--was the only school the Uchihas had ever gone to. It was run by a friend of the family and had quite possibly the best educational scores of any private school in Tokyo.

"There's nothing wrong with the Academy, Kaa-san." He reasoned, trying to calm her down. "I just think I would--"

"Oh, you just think?" His mom shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, Sasuke, that's exactly what you're not doing. Thinking."

"But, Kaa-san," He said, his voice rising a little, "Nii-san is away at college, you and Tou-san are always at work, and I'm stuck here doing nothing, with no one around."

"That's not true." Mikoto's voice was calmer now, but she was still shaking her head. "That's not true. You have your friends from school and Kara-san…"

"Kaa-san, the housemaid can hardly be considered real company." He said, glaring at her back as she'd turned to look out the bay window of her office.

She sighed heavily, crossing her arms over her chest.

"The answer is no, Sasuke." She said, her voice holding the sound of finality and he knew he couldn't argue with her.

But the answer wasn't really a no. When Mikoto had told her husband about Sasuke's "crazy idea", his father actually said it was a possibility he would like to look into.

And so, two weeks later Sasuke found himself outside his dorm room at Umino Academy for Boys…

Only to be summoned home four months after that.

He sighed, swinging his bag a little further onto his shoulder and tapping his foot. He really didn't want to be here, in front of his family's company's building, the intricate lettering of the sign outside the door mocking him with his own name. But he knew he had no choice. It's not like he could just run now and not speak to them today, then he'd be risking never speaking to them again. And while, on the one hand that sounded like an excellent consequence, on the other, that would also end with him loosing his funding.

Sasuke never said this out loud, but he depended on his family's abundance of money. He wasn't foolish enough to think that he would live as comfortably as he did now if he cut ties with his parents.

So he agreed internally that it would just be better to walk in there and get this little meeting over with. The quicker he went to talk with them, the quicker he could come back down, get in his cab, and go back to school where he belonged.

Now, if only he could get his feet to listen to his brain.

"Sasuke?"

He flipped around to see who had called his name, though the voice should have given him a clue. His brow furrowed in confusion when his eyes landed on the other. Well, this was unexpected.

"What are you doing here, Aniki?" He asked as Itachi came to join him in front of the building. Sasuke noticed then that he was still quite a bit shorter than his brother, despite how much he had grown in Itachi's absence. He had to look up to see the other man fully.

"Got a call last night, Kaa-san said it was urgent that I get back. I went to the house, but no one was there." Itachi explained. "Do you know what this is about?"

"No idea." The younger Uchiha admitted.

"Hmm."

The two stayed in silence for a few more moments, ignoring the people sending them confused looks. Eventually, Sasuke's shifting from one foot to the other pulled his older brother out of thought.

"Well, shall we?" Itachi said, his comment not really a question, and he started climbing the tall steps up to the building.

Sasuke nodded, moving to keep up with his brother. Itachi opened the glass door and held it until Sasuke followed him inside, letting his little brother take the lead from there. Once fully inside the lobby, they were greeted by a boy not much older than Sasuke with long black hair.

"Kon'nichiwa, Itachi-san, Sasuke-kun." His words were choppy, nervous and a blush spread across his cheeks while he bowed slightly.

"Kon'nichiwa, Haku-kun." Sasuke replied, recognizing the boy as a senior at the Academy. At least it wasn't another strange fangirl that was sent to meet them.

"You mother said that you'd be coming and told me to have you go on up to her office." Haku said, a small smile appearing on his feminine face, his hand came up to show them the direction of the elevators, though both Uchiha siblings knew this building like their own home.

"Arigatou, Haku-kun." Itachi said quietly and he made his way to the elevators on the opposite side of the lobby. Sasuke nodded gratefully to Haku before following his brother again.

"I don't know what she's up to, but sending one of your former classmates to greet us doesn't seem too good, Otouto." Itachi commented on their way up to their mother's floor. All the younger man could do was nod in agreement.

The elevator bell sounded when they reached the sixteenth floor of the building and the doors slid open to reveal a long hallway, at the end of which were double glass doors leading to the only office on this floor.

Sasuke was pushed out of the elevator before the doors could close again, the hand on his back never leaving the entire journey down the hall. He could feel his palms sweating, and his teeth biting into his lower lip--a nervous habit he'd picked up at school. He knew he must look ridiculous, being led down the hallway by his older brother as if he couldn't walk in a straight line by himself. He was incredibly underdressed as well, he knew that. However, before he'd actually been inside the building it hadn't seemed like that big a deal.

"She's going to torture me." He said softly, though he knew no one but Itachi could here him in the hallway.

"For what? You didn't do anything." Itachi's words were reassuring for a moment, but the ease that settled in Sasuke's limbs at the sound of his brother's voice was only present for a few short seconds.

"That means nothing, and you know it. She doesn't need a reason to torture people." Sasuke protested.

"She doesn't torture people, Sasuke. Stop whining, it's unbecoming." Itachi knocked lightly on the door when they reached it.

"Come in." The sickly-sweet voice of their mother flitted through the door and Sasuke really wished Itachi would wait for him to collect his thoughts for just a moment before opening the door.

But his wishes were never granted, it seemed.

"Ah, Itachi, Sasuke." Their mother greeted them by standing from her chair behind her desk and meeting them in the middle of the room, kissing them each on the cheek. "I was expecting you a little sooner, Sasuke. Punctuation is something they clearly don't teach at this new school of yours."

"Gomen, Kaa-san, the traffic was awful." He excused.

"Yes, well," Mikoto's smile never faded and she moved away from her sons to go back to sit behind her desk again, motioning for the two to sit as well. "You're here now, so no harm done. And I'm sure you're wondering what has happened."

Sasuke nodded, knowing his answer was needed because Itachi rarely responded to anyone.

"Well, of course I wanted it to be a surprise." Mikoto said, sifting through some of the papers on her desk but not really looking for anything in particular. She did that--Sasuke had noticed--when she was explaining things. "But unfortunately I can't get out of the office any time soon, so I'm afraid it'll have to wait until later tonight."

Wait! What?

She'd called both of them just to tell them they had to wait to hear what she wanted to tell them until later? What was that?

"So, I can't go back to school now." Sasuke stated, looking now past his mother and out her window where--thankfully--all he could see was a distant view of Tokyo. He had a slight case of acrophobia and the last thing he needed was to be picturing himself falling from the sixteenth floor of the building.

"I'm afraid not, but don't worry. I've already called the school and told them you'd be staying home for a few days." His mother reassured. He raised a delicate brow at her words.

"A few days?" Sasuke asked, not sure he liked the sound of that.

"Well, I do want you to enjoy your surprise, Sasuke. This is mainly for you, though the whole family will see benefits, I'm sure." She smiled at Itachi who said nothing in return.

"Right." Sasuke agreed, though he wasn't certain what he was really agreeing to.

"Well, if you aren't going to tell us, Kaa-san, what are we doing here?" Itachi finally spoke up, his monotone voice ringing clearly through the room.

"I wanted to see you, of course. Neither of you have been home for months, and I've missed you. Both of you." She said, but Sasuke could tell Itachi wasn't buying it.

"And?" The older man pressed, crossing his arms over his chest.

It took a moment for their mother to respond. At first she looked on at them innocently, as if she had no idea what Itachi was talking about. Then finally she let out an exasperated sigh and her shoulders slumped a little.

"Alright, fine, I need you two to work on a project for me." She said. "I don't have enough time to finish it and the deadline is next Tuesday."

From one of the drawers in her desk, Mikoto pulled out two items. One she placed on the desk in front of them and the other she held in her hand. Both Uchihas focused on the folder laying before them, knowing it held the contents of the project that was quickly approaching it's end.

Itachi picked it up, opening it and thumbing through some of the papers inside. He read the top one quickly before setting it in his lap.

"You want us to do an advertising project?" Itachi asked, his brow wrinkling.

"I told you I don't have time to finish it." Mikoto said. "And I trust the two of you most to get it done even when I'm not around. You have access to every room in this building unlike the employees that have time to do it."

Itachi shook his head, something that all Uchiha's seemed to do when considering just how crazy the people around them were. His jaw tensed for a moment in thought and Sasuke could only stare at him in amazement. He wasn't actually considering doing this, was he?

The two of them had other obligations. They didn't have time to waste on a silly advertising job for their mom's department.

Something else was put on the table in front of them that pulled Sasuke's attention back to the room. He stared wide-eyed at it for a moment before fully comprehending what he was seeing.

It was the company camera.

"You're going to let us use it?" Sasuke asked, his mood rising considerably.

"If you agree to do the project, yes." Mikoto replied. Now there was an interesting twist.

Sasuke had been trying to get his mom to let him borrow the camera for a very long time now, each time getting shot down because "he had his own camera and it worked just as well". But his didn't work just as well, and his mom knew it. She was just too reluctant to let the camera be in use for something that wasn't work related.

"Nice bribe." Itachi commented as Sasuke reached for the camera, turning the sleek black device over in his hand and turning it on. Sasuke sent him a glare, though it wasn't too harmful as he'd picked up the expression from the very person at which it was directed.

Sasuke smiled fondly down at the camera, peering at the small digital screen as he pointed it toward his own jeans. He clicked it back off a moment later to place it carefully in his bag.

"I'm on it." Sasuke said, ignoring Itachi as the older sibling shook his head once more.



It was close to eight o'clock that evening when Sasuke got a call over the intercom in his room saying that he was needed downstairs. He had forgotten how much he'd loved his bedroom at the Uchiha estate, the large room somewhat of a sanctuary to him. When he'd gotten home from his mother's office he'd come straight to his room to drop off his things and call his roommate at school. Naruto had said that he'd already been informed that he was taking a small vacation and told him to consider himself lucky. Sasuke had said the same thing back to Naruto and had gone on to remind him of the horrors of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, horrors that Naruto hadn't argued with.

Since then he'd been lying on his king-sized bed in the middle of his room playing with the camera he'd be getting to use for a few days. The white down comforter felt familiar against his skin and he relaxed easily into the routine that he'd left when he'd gone off to school four months ago.

So it didn't really come as a surprise when Kara's voice sounded from the little box near his door telling him his mother was waiting for him.

"Arigatou, Kara-san." Sasuke said, standing up from his bed and setting the camera down on his nightstand.

"Oh, and your mother said for you to wear something appropriate for the guests." Kara said, leaving then with a click on the other end of the intercom.

Sasuke's brow wrinkled in confusion. Wear something appropriate for the guests? What did that mean? What was going on? He knew he should have just run when he had the chance earlier.

He quickly changed out of his clothes, his loose jeans falling to the floor next to his black t-shirt. He walked to his closet at the other end of the room, opening the door and walking inside. He pulled the small chain hanging from the light and looked around.

Though not as large as his actual bedroom, Sasuke's closet was bigger than his dorm room at his school. It was filled to the ceiling with the clothes he'd collected over the years, and he knew most teenage girls would envy him if they ever got the chance to see the extent of his wardrobe. The thought made him chuckle, an image of one of the girls that went to the Academy coming over to steal his clothing popping into his head. He'd never shared his clothes with anyone, save occasionally with Itachi when the older man insisted that they hadn't been a gift and would need to give them back.

He chose a simple black button-down and black slacks. The shirt fit snuggly at his small waist, clinging to his curved abdomen, and the pants hung loosely from his thin hips, falling past his feet and dragging the ground. He would have to wear shoes with a heel to keep himself from tripping, which he found a moment later. He replaced the ring in his lip with a small stud, and took some of the more eccentric rings from his ears, pulling his hair down around his face to cover the gauges in his lobes.

Turning the light off on his way out, he noticed he'd taken a little too long getting ready and hoped the guests hadn't arrived yet. Sasuke's tendency to be later than she expected was one of his mother's biggest annoyances, but she would not tolerate him being anything less than punctual when it involved guests.

He made his way quickly to the stairs at the end of his hall, taking them two at a time down to the first level. The steps ended in an elaborate dining hall--of which the Uchiha family was immensely proud--and he walked to the side door to enter the formal living room. Right where he expected them, his family was waiting there, seated in various furniture around the room. His mother stood when her gaze landed on him.

"Oh, Sasuke, you look wonderful. You really do clean up nicely, you know. Now if only I could get you to wear things like this more often." Mikoto commented, wrapping her arms around her son in an embrace before pulling back to look at him again.

Sasuke just nodded, not really wanted to say anything that would keep this conversation going.

He was saved the embarrassment by the ringing of the doorbell. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, though that was short lived when he realized that whomever was at the door was probably the 'guests' for his surprise.

"Oh, they're here." Mikoto said, motioning for the rest of her family to follow her into the large foyer where Kara was opening the door.

"You're going to love him." Sasuke wondered exactly what his mother meant by those words.

"Hyuuga-san!" Fugaku said as two people made their way into his home. One was an older man, who Sasuke imagined was who his father had addressed, the other was a younger man, though clearly related to the first.

"Konbanwa, Uchiha-san." The older man said, bowing slightly. He was tall, taller than all of the Uchiha's, as was his companion. The two men had very long hair of a dark hue and the palest eyes Sasuke had ever seen. He shivered as a pair of those eyes were turned on him.

He stared back at the man, the younger of the two. The gaze made him feel uneasy, as if those unnaturally pale eyes could see right through them. He missed the smirk that appeared on the young man's face when he turned away though, looking to his brother for some sort of explanation. Itachi just shrugged.

"Well, it is very nice to see you both. Neji-kun, I think you've grown even taller than the last time I saw you." Fugaku said, taking the younger's hand in his and shaking it quickly.

"Oh, I doubt that." The man Sasuke guessed must be named Neji said, returning his father's smile with one of his own.

"Why don't we take this into the living room." Mikoto suggested, coming to stand behind Sasuke and turning him around. She guided him back into the living room, turning back to make sure everyone was following her. "We have some introductions to attend to, I think."

"Oh, yes." Sasuke heard the older stranger say from behind him. When everyone had made it back into the formal room, Sasuke tried to sit down on one of the armchairs, but his mother prevented him from doing so. He wanted so much to glare at her right now.

"Sasuke, you can't sit just yet. There's someone I want you to meet." She said and steered him back to the middle of the room.

He was met once more with Neji's eerie gaze. Though this time he was determined to not look away. He stared back defiantly.

He didn't know why, but he instantly decided he didn't like the other man. Neji seemed stuck up, like some of the people that went to the Academy from some of the richer families in Tokyo. Those had been people he'd never really gotten along with, thinking them fake and overall annoying.

"Neji-kun, this is my son, Sasuke." Mikoto said, her smile apparent in her tone. She was feeling smug, Sasuke could tell.

"Konbanwa, Sasuke-kun." Neji said politely, but Sasuke knew that the other was having similar thoughts about Sasuke as Sasuke had been having about him.

"Konbanwa." Sasuke replied. Even if he wasn't too fond of the person he was speaking to, he was also always polite.

"Sasuke, this is Neji Hyuuga." His mother said, her voice seeming to grow even more fond. "He's your fiancé."

Note: Alright, I went over and over in my head about this pairing. Really, I think with the family circumstances and things Neji is the best person to pair Sasuke with in this story. Because who doesn't love two genius rich boys fighting non-stop until they realize that they actually love each other? I know I love it! And I know Sasuke's mom seems a bit… psycho. But don't worry, she's still lovable Mikoto Uchiha, she's just now business Mikoto Uchiha. And I don't normally like using Japanese in my stories, save for a few honorifics here and there, but the language seemed to fit more in this story than it does with my others, so we'll see how that goes. It's pretty basic right now, if anyone has questions though, go ahead and ask and I'll put some translations up.

Well, leave me some feedback.