Order And Chaos

Pesky Delay

He can barely see the person standing in front of him. It is not due to something being wrong with his vision, or because it is too dark. No. Sasuke can barely see the man standing in front of him because his eyes are narrowed so harshly, so angrily, that they can barely be called open at all, save for the slight light glinting off of his orbs hiding behind his lashes.

He is, to say the least, very irritated. Beyond irritated, perhaps even meandering closer to the brink of irate. He clenches his fists at his sides, his chin rocking up somewhat into the air as he stares down the length of his slender nose at the man before him, who manages to look both uneasy and unconcerned at the very same time.

Sasuke grinds his teeth together, feeling a tick begin in his jaw as a small vein pops out on his right temple, covered by the raven locks that fall just so across his forehead. He takes a deep breath, attempting to calm himself, aiming to push down the beast that is lurching inside of him.

"What was that?"

His words are eerily calm, quiet, and the man before him shifts from foot to foot, chewing on his bottom lip as his eyes dart around the room, as if searching for a way to escape should Sasuke lose his temper. Which is very possible.

The man squeaks out his answer.

"I was told to let you know that we must finish some business here before we can go with you to meet Itachi."

So Sasuke had heard right. He takes another deep breath, holding it in and counting to five before slowly letting it out over his barely parted lips. "And how long is this business going to take?"

His voice has a harder edge now, his nails biting into the flesh of his palms. His right hand itches, signifying that, indeed, he wants to reach for the gun hidden beneath the waist of his pants and show his displeasure with this entire mess by blowing the man's head off.

But that really won't solve any of his problems, so he refrains.

"About another week, or so."

Breath in, breath out, steady. Steady he keeps his breathing because otherwise he really would lose it. Flexing his hands open and then shut again to allow blood flow through his appendages once more, he closes his eyes fully for the first time, feeling the headache blooming up behind his eyeballs.

"Fine. I shall wait a week, no more. But if it is any longer than that, I will leave without you both." He opens his eyes slowly to see shock on the other man's face. Apparently he had never been spoke to in such a way.

It makes Sasuke want to laugh.

"A-alright. I will let him know." The man turns to scurry out of the hotel room, stopping only when he has the door open and his body half out of it.

"I will give him your cell number, so that he can call and make arrangements on when to leave." And then the man is gone, not waiting for Sasuke to answer. Good riddance, in his mind, as he stalks to the large king sized bed and flings himself down on it while pulling out his cell and dialing Itachi's number.

It takes five rings. Five very drawn out, very irritating rings, before Itachi's smooth voice lulls out over the phone in a greeting.

"Little brother. I trust everything is going well?"

Sasuke wants to fling the phone across the hotel room, but again he keeps himself under control, and prides himself in the fact that he cannot hear the irritation in his own voice when he finally speaks up.

"There has been a bit of a delay, it will take a little longer for me to get back. Probably a week and a half, maybe more."

He can hear a sigh over the line and Itachi shifting, and then a cling of a bottle against a glass.

"I suppose it can't be helped, can it? And it's already been, what, a week and a half? They have been pulling you around, Sasuke. I do hope you finally put your foot down?"

Sasuke grinds his teeth again and holds the phone away from his ear as he whispers curses to himself directed towards his brother. The man had known this would be a fool's errand when he had sent him out here. That much is, painfully, obvious.

Finally he regains his composure. "Yes. I gave them another week to be done, or I would leave for home without them." He pauses here, considering his words. "You understand my abruptness."

There is a chuckle over the line, like poisoned honey. "Oh yes, I very much understand. By the way, sas-" he cuts off in the middle of his sentence and Sasuke, who has never heard him do such a thing before, raises a brow as he blinks.

He hears soft mumbled words from the other side of the phone, and he doesn't butt into whatever is going on, despite his curiosity. The voice is male, lighter than Itachi's but notably gruffer. And whatever is being said makes Itachi laugh low and husky.

Sasuke is immediately startled. Itachi has a man there with him, wherever he is, and by the sound of it, a very close man as well. His brother's voice comes back over the line in a decisively more wicked tone.

"I'll leave it to you, little brother. I'm sure you will do me proud. Call when you are on your way back."

Sasuke grunts in acknowledgement, because he can't muster up the words to speak, and stares at his phone as the connection goes dead and it beeps to signal the severance of their connection.

A man?

Hope you enjoyed. Next chapter coming soon, hopefully.