Honest mistakes

''Sasuke-kun!''

Sasuke turned around to see his former team-mate running towards him.

''Are you busy tonight?'' Sakura asked, not even trying to hide her enthusiasm.

''Maybe.''

His response wasn't a lie, it was a precaution. He couldn't risk to get involved into something boring and long-lasting, especially not with people he could barely stand, in case he agreed to a party of some kind, and all of it only because he was honest!

''Why do you want to know?'' he asked to find out more details.

''You see, Ino and I have a proposal for you!'' Sakura said, smiling for no obvious reason.

''Ino and you?'' Sasuke repeated, a bit doubtful what kind of proposal two mortal enemies have when it would come to spending the night with him.

''Yes! You see, we recently rented a flat together and-''

''Too much talking, Sakura!'' impatient female voice interrupted Sakura in explaining something about real-estate.

Sasuke couldn't concentrate, thinking about an excuse to decline whatever they had in mind. He wasn't in the mood to watch pathetic attempts to seduce him while he could use his time doing something useful, like training. Because more training meant more skills and getting closer to Naruto and, of course, his brother.

''Sasuke-kun,'' Ino interrupted his train of thoughts, ''here is the set of rules for a card game we want you to play with us.''

Saying that, blonde handed him over a piece of paper and he observed it for a moment. It really looked like a card game.

''If you don't have something better to do, stop by after dinner time!''

Before he could say anything, Ino put the smaller paper in his free hand.

''But-''

Sakura also wanted to say something, but Ino grabbed her elbow to walk away.

''That's all he has to know, Forehead! Now give the man some peace!''

That's the last thing Sasuke heard because they soon disappeared out of his sight. He glanced at the smaller paper in his hand. There was an address. He didn't even know they moved out of their parents' house. They should have put a phone number on it too. Or they wanted him to come so badly they purposely didn't give him a chance to call and make up a reason for not arriving on time. Or at all.

Not having a better solution, Sasuke folded the bigger paper and, along with the smaller one, put it in his pocket. He actually didn't have plans for tonight since he got back from a mission couple of hours ago and Sakura ran into him after he delivered a report to Hokage.

With both of her sons at home, which was a rare occasion, Mikoto was expectedly preoccupied with laundry and dinner, just like every mother.

''Itachi, would you be so kind and inform your brother about the dinner?''

''Sure.''

Itachi didn't have other responsibilities this evening, so he was chilling in the living room, waiting to have dinner with his family. Climbing the stairs to get to Sasuke's room, he's been trying to remember when was the last time he went out. Like out of the house, to relax, have fun, hang out with other people. Time filled with missions, training, clan's duty was all Itachi could think of.

He envied Sasuke a bit. It was great to hold a title of Uchiha heir, but with that name came many duties that weren't allowing Itachi to be something else than shinobi. He needed a hobby that would make him feel as if he was a normal person, only for a few hours. Sasuke had his best friend who wanted attention and friends, so Sasuke, with Naruto by his side, had some kind of social life. Itachi didn't. Even when he would meet people, all he would speak about were missions and training. Every now and then celebration to congratulate shinobi for accomplishing missions. Or training among the clan members. Spending time at home meant father's questions about missions. And training. Not to mention clan's duty was an every day subject.

It wasn't complicated; he simply wanted a time for himself, when he wouldn't be around people who saw him as Uchiha heir, but a simple man. He was too well-known to make that happened and it was depressing sometimes. He would only greet an acquaintance, while trying to be nice, and the conversation would imminently turn into a training tips.

Giving compliments to a girl was impossible; every single one would spread the word around the village that Uchiha heir had serious intentions and he was getting tired of explaining those misunderstandings to his mother. So he simply stopped interacting with other people more than necessary, being polite and reserved, only then people thought he was conceited and vain. That led to a lonely and uninteresting private life, which was bugging him only on a free night like this one.

Itachi sighed deeply before knocking on Sasuke's door.

''Dinner's ready,'' he said plainly after knocking.

''Come in for a second!'' Sasuke ordered and Itachi entered his room.

''What's new?'' Itachi asked out of courtesy.

''Check this out!'' Sasuke said, taking something out of his backpack. ''We received it as a reward!''

Itachi nodded instead of admiring to a sapphire stone.

''We had to bring back a stolen chest and the rich guy-''

Sasuke was blabbering, but Itachi wasn't listening. He went through dozens of similar missions where the local rich man was harassing everyone, so when the people tried to bring some justice into the world by retrieving their own treasure, the loaded merchant would be the only one who had enough money to hire shinobi to do the dirty work for him.

Those kind of missions were making Itachi sick, the only problem was they were well paid missions which inexperienced shinobi like Sasuke was looking forward to accomplish.

What caught Itachi's eye was a folded paper, left sloppily on Sasuke's bed.

''What is this?'' Itachi asked, picking up the paper.

''Nothing,'' Sasuke replied, uninterested into matter, still mesmerized with a gem stone.

''Can I take a look?''

''Sure,'' Sasuke shrugged, heading to the door. ''What's for dinner?''

During the meal, Sasuke was entertaining their parents by retelling details from his mission while Itachi was impatient to read the paper his brother had let him take. He had a moment to look at it before he had sat down at the table, and those were rules for a game of some kind. Itachi also found a smaller paper with an address. The place was located in a new neighbourhood, where many new houses and store-buildings had been built in the last couple of months. Address paired with the rules for a game seemed to Itachi like an interesting way of announcing the opening of a new gaming place, so they probably wanted to attract more customers by giving around simple promotional material. Rules were crucial for playing, same as the address of the gaming place. At the first sight, the game was interesting enough, but not too complicated and, since Itachi wanted a reason to leave the house, he decided to give it a shot. Sasuke obviously didn't need it, putting both papers aside, and Itachi did ask for a permission to take it. Maybe people with the same interest, and that was cards, would forget who Itachi was and for this one time simply play the game without competing, talking about missions or feeling uncomfortable around him for the unknown reason.

After offering their mother his help with washing up, what she declined, Itachi got ready to escape from his everyday life.

He took the rules with him, reading them on his way. The game required at least three players, was including five decks of cards and was played in four different rounds. For a strategy and different combinations of cards he had to start playing and, since he didn't have five decks at home, he needed to get to this new gaming place.

Itachi was a bit surprised when he got to a three-storey building, which all had an apartment, without any sign of a public place. Then again, maybe it was brand new and Itachi rang the doorbell anyway, on the second floor, since that was written.

''It's opened!'' female voice was heard from the other side of the door.

This was confusing. If this really was an apartment, why would it be opened? Then again, if it was a gaming house, why the door would be locked?

Ignoring the odd response, Itachi decided to enter.

''You are a bit early, Sasuke-kun!''

Another female voice revealed the obvious to Itachi. He was at the wrong place and clearly unwanted.