(A/N) Hii! Miss me?

"So I know I'm late but I swear I have a good reason," Shisui said as he slid into the seat left for him.

"You'd better," Tenten replied. "I keep getting sympathetic looks, I think they think a date stood me up or something."

Shisui winced sympathetically. "Sorry."

She chuckled, what was presumably a privacy seal lighting up their table and the surrounding area with chakra. "Right. If they're going to assume this is a date, I've programmed the seal to show a date. It's what they'll see while we're actually talking."

Shisui tried valiantly not to turn as red as his Sharingan, although probably failed based on her snickering.

A waitress approached their table. "Ready to order?" She winked at Tenten. "Now that your date is here?"

Tenten didn't seem particularly flustered, although Shisui definitely was. She shot him an amused smile before nodding to the waitress. "Yes, we're ready to order."

Shisui just picked whatever looked best, he wasn't a picky eater or anything, and he was pretty hungry. And besides, he doubted Tenten picked somewhere with bad food.

Tenten waited until after all food had been delivered to ask. "So, what did you overhear?"

"A plot against the Daimyo," Shisui admitted, sighing. "They seemed to have a plan? Didn't talk about it much while I was there. They also didn't know we are here in the capitol."

"They're relying on there not being any ninja around to stop them," Tenten said, frowning. "A dumb decision, but makes our job easier. Do we leave them be? Or try and stop them."

"Ask the Hokage?" Shisui offered. "He's the higher authority here."

Tenten hummed in agreement. "How fast are your crows?"

Shisui shrugged. "Fast enough, would probably take four days round trip."

"Alright we'll use mine then," she said, chewing on her food thoughtfully. "I have kestrals and falcons, the smaller ones that usually do messaging type stuff can probably manage it in a day at most. I can summon one to take the message after this."

Shisui was suddenly very glad he picked the falcon knife from the shop. He'd originally figured because she was really fast and so were falcons, but it appeared he's also managed to choose what were her summons. Go him.

"We'll have to pick up some raw meat of some sort though," Tenten continued. "Most of the smaller and fastest ones are the young ones, and they like getting paid in food. And if I keep them happily fed during their stay here, all the easier on their parents."

"What do the adults usually demand?" Shisui asked curiously. His crows weren't a proper summoning clan or anything, they lived in Konoha and didn't really leave except for when he summoned them. As such they didn't usually ask for payment, although he tried to give them treats whenever they did something well. They appreciated it.

Tenten hummed. "Babysitting sometimes? Food is a common one, sometimes it's a 'if you let me summon myself here whenever I need quiet time from the chicks I'll do what you want.' Depends on the bird and their stage in life. And whether it's hatching season or not."

Made sense. Sometimes the adults in his flock would do that too. Shisui scarfed down the rest of his food. "They have good food here."

"Well I'm glad to know I picked well," Tenten sounded amused.

"Eh, I'm not very picky," Shisui said, shrugging.

"Most shinobi aren't," she pointed out. "Comes with the job."

"When you've tripped and landed face down in sewage, anything tastes good," Shisui said firmly. "Trust me."

"I'm not planning on testing it out myself," Tenten reassured him. "I'll pass, thanks."

"I was a very clumsy teen," Shisui agreed solemnly. "Do not repeat my mistakes."

She reached across the table to pat his shoulder. "I have my feet under me just fine thanks."

Shisui attempted to wrestle his blush back under control. It was a valiant effort.

"Alright, we should probably go steal the thing if we're done here." Tenten stood up, leaving money on the table to cover her meal. Shisui quickly fished out enough to cover his own, and they left quickly after Tenten removed the seal.

Shisui was almost laughing at the security measures of the place they were 'borrowing' the thing from. At this point, it was just kind of ridiculous and straight out of a spy movie. He wouldn't laugh, because that would kind of ruin the mission, but he'd definitely be doing it later.

They walked along the ceiling and walls most of the way, it was just safer that way.

Tenten poked him, so he looked over. 'I bet I could do get around all of those glowing lines without touching any,' she signed at him.

Shisui debated whether he could see her do that without blowing up. Metaphorically of course. Ultimately he decided he could handle it, and gave her a thumbs up to go ahead. It wasn't like this was that strict of a mission. They could have a bit of fun.

Tenten grinned, and dropped to the floor in between two of the beams.

Shisui did not implode, luckily, that would ruin the mission, but it was close. Why, why was she so competent. And pretty. And deadly. His hopelessly ridiculous Uchiha genetics were betraying him here. She was too pretty and competent for his heart. (I'm not laughing at him, I swear) No, stop laughing, this was a serious matter and it impacted his health. (SHISUI! NO!)

When Tenten did rejoin him on the ceiling, she was definitely laughing at him. "Come on, let's go grab the thing then get out so I can send off a kestrel."

Shisui managed to smile hopefully without looking too dopy. "Yep!"

(A/N) Shisui is no longer my favorite character. Tenten can keep the title. At least she listens to me. *sticks tongue out at Shisui*

So, Greetings. It is that time. I have loads of empty update spots, either check the most recent chapter of either Silence of a Shinobi, or Scarves Hide Scars. Oooorrr… you can join my discord server with the code pnQAF39!