"Alright, now who gets to play me next?" Tsunade growled threateningly, shaking her fist in the air, and overall acting like the winner. People whispered happily, practically fighting each other for the honour to verse Tsunade. Men tried to trample him just to get to the front.
"Shut up," Sasuke's voice echoed throughout the room. Being a ninja had its perks, in which two stern words were enough to chill civilians. He strutted to the table, met Tsunade's amused eyes (she looked awfully happy for someone who just blew through a fortune) and signaled the dealer to start.
"You're awfully generous with your money," he commented offhandedly just before the game.
"Well, I've got a lot of it," She waved him off, eyeing her cards. Sasuke glimpsed at his. Yeah, Tsunade had the worst imaginable luck. She probably earned her nickname of the Legendary Sucker. Sasuke just hoped it applied to gambling and gambling only.
Barely five minutes had passed before Tsunade suffered an overwhelming defeat and Sasuke had all the money he needed. He rose from his seat, unwilling to extort stupid women any longer. Sasuke got frustrated when she rose too. They walked out of the casino together.
Tsunade sipped from some flask,
"You're a Konoha ninja. Why're you here?" Her tone was accusatory.
"Don't flatter yourself," Sasuke said, "I'm not here to haul your arse back to Konoha." Frankly, it was just a happy coincidence that he'd run into a human cash cow. Tsunade was so sparing that it was pathetically sad.
She visibly relaxed.
"Shizune!" She called out, taking another swig of alcohol. Sasuke supposed that swig carried her from 'slightly tipsy' to 'hammered', because she collapsed. His pockets were heavy with stacks of money, and now, his arms were heavy with the dumb blonde version of a Sannin. Maybe he should just leave her on the side of the road.
Shizune sprung into view, immediately taking the passed out Tsunade into her arms and apologising profusely.
"Oh my God, I am so sorry!" She bowed her head several times in apology. Sasuke watched her try to haul Tsunade's full body weight and fail miserably. Sometimes, he could be a heartless bastard, but this was not one of those times.
"It's fine," he muttered, scooping up Tsunade in a bridal carry.
"Lead the way," he said. Shizune was awe-struck, failing to suppress a violent blush. She gawked at him.
"It's impolite to stare." He cleared his throat. Shizune had the sense to look embarrassed.
"Um, sorry. It's this way," She averted her eyes. Obviously, she was too embarrassed to look him in the eye.
He dropped Tsunade off at the hotel she was staying at, which was weirdly enough, the same one Yugito and him were staying at. Somehow, she snagged a five-star, not that Sasuke was complaining.
The Snow Daimyo was as pompous and portly as Sasuke expected him to be, and approximately three times stupider. The man didn't even try to treat his employees with respect, which included him (further proof of stupidity, since as a civilian, you were only rude to ninja if you had a death wish).
"And you can't wear your unsightly apparel," The Daimyo wrinkled his nose in disgust, "You must wear something classy, not like a peasant. And don't stand out. All the attention should be on me, not you." Sasuke suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
"Yes, Daimyo-sama," He gritted his teeth, biting back several insults. This was another reason he hated these types of missions: he'd have to kiss some schmuck's arse. Said schmuck adjusted his robes haughtily.
"Go get ready, the party starts in an hour! It's time for my fitting." Before he stood up, he plopped a dumpling into his mouth, which would no doubt help him fit into his clothes better, and resumed yelling at his employees.
Sasuke had little choice but to wear something formal, classy, and entirely impractical: a fucking suit. It was a better alternative than a bow tie, however. He even slicked back his hair. Just five minutes before the party actually began, he was done getting ready. Suffice to say, he put in as little effort as possible (of course, he still wanted to be the best looking, because he was petty). Because he only cared about the cheque at the end of the mission.
As the Daimyo began his candied, superficial, probably-not-prepared-by-himself welcome speech, Sasuke found himself half-assedly listening with boredom, part of him hoping that something would go horribly amiss and he'd have something interesting to do.
Like magic, things did get interesting when somebody tapped him - specifically him - on the shoulder. His heartbeat accelerated when he made out Yugito. She managed to sneak in after all.
"I didn't think you'd be here," he muttered. This was a pleasant surprise. Yugito smiled reluctantly, her glossy pink lips showing off her pearly white teeth.
"Neither did I," She tried to put her hands in her pockets before realising pink dresses didn't usually come with any.
"How did you get in?" Not that it would've been particularly difficult, Sasuke was just curious. Her dress made it impossible for her to be sneaky in any way whatsoever.
"I have my ways." Yugito winked teasingly.
She fiddled with the tulle of her dress, muttering about how women's clothes never came with pockets. Yugito looked so good that Sasuke nearly regretted not putting more effort into his own look. Though, she did look like a bit like Barbie, with all her pink blondeness, but he kept quiet because he couldn't figure out whether that was an insult or compliment. He averted his eyes just before she caught him staring.
"You're the second best dressed person in the room, by the way. Not bad." She whistled coyly.
"Anybody tell you that you give great compliments? Not arrogant at all," He teased back, smirking. Sasuke and Yugito started several conversations, from light topics such as the decor to the hors d'oeuvres.
At some point, a plethora of ballerinas danced into the room, performing some elaborate, fancily-choreographed ballet. Sasuke had to admit it was good. Not that the whole party wasn't the most expensive set-up he'd ever experience. One of the ballerinas furtively winked at him. Oh God. Sayu was a ballerina.
After ten minutes, the ballerinas exited, but he noticed they came back in different outfits to mingle with the party. The Snow Daimyo remarked that it added splendour. Sasuke hoped against hope that Sayu would leave him and Yugito alone. He was sorely disappointed when she skipped over to them, beaming psychotically.
"Hey, Sasuke!" Sayu put her hands on her hips, and while she did greet him, her gaze was clearly fixated on Yugito.
"What's the pretty girl's name?" She twirled a lock of her hair, regarding Yugito with curiosity, who smiled back politely.
"My name is Yugito," she held out her hand. Sayu shook it with surprising gentleness.
"Sayu. Nice to meet you," Sayu winked charmingly, briefly kissing Yugito's hand. To Yugito's credit, she didn't seem offended nor surprised, because Sasuke knew he'd kill her if Sayu did that to him.
"Damn, Sasuke, she's gorgeous. I have no idea how you convinced a girl like this to hang out with you," Sayu whistled.
Sasuke was mortified. This was mortifying. For five agonising minutes, he kept quiet as Sayu shamelessly flirted with Yugito, and Yugito didn't mind as much as he'd like her to. His salvation came when Sayu decided to pester a more interested girl and leave them alone.
"Sorry about her. She's awful," Sasuke bit his lip in mortification. Yugito shrugged.
"She seems nice," Yugito crossed her arms contemplatively before motioning for Sasuke to follow her to the cocktail bar. They talked for a few minutes before a slow dance started. Ugh. He hated slow dances, and dancing in general.
"We really don't fit in here," Sasuke commented, sipping a mojito, eyeing the flurry of dancing people. He just couldn't figure out if it was necessarily a bad thing. I mean, he was so much cooler than all these naive, fictitious people.
Yugito finished off her cosmo, smirking.
"No, but it's fun to pretend we do."
Yugito sent him an easy-going smile, presenting her well-manicured hand.
"Nevermind that. Do you want to dance?" Sasuke slipped his hand into hers, but reluctantly eyed the literal ballroom floor.
"One of us may end up with a broken toe, but sure," he decided, ignoring the fact that he hated dancing.
Dancing wasn't exactly a skill set among ninja, so both of them were a bit sucky, but no feet were trod on. He did accidentally step on Yugito's dress though. Shame.
"Why'd you ask to dance if you're so bad it?" He asked her teasingly. Yugito gave him the classic dumb blonde grin, shrugging her shoulders.
"It was on my bucket list."
"What, to dance with an enemy ninja at a party hosted by an idiot Daimyo?" He joked, smirking. Yugito giggled, barely stopping herself from stepping on his toe with her horrible high heel.
And that's when the bomb went off.