(A/N) Hello! How're you! I hope you've had a good three weeks since I updated! Welcome to the new year!

When they did get back to the place they were staying, a quick shopping trips worth of meat in a bag currently hanging from Tenten's elbow, and they were ready to summon a kestral.

Tenten bit her thumb, drawing blood, then placed her hand on the floor, a puff of smoke appearing, then disappating as quickly as it had come to reveal a small falcon of some sort.

"Hello Aiko," Tenten said, crouching down. "Aiko, this is Shisui Uchiha. Shisui, this is Aiko, she's a peregrine falcon. Fastest birds in the world."

"In all the worlds," Aiko corrected, preening. "You needed something delivered?"

Tenten offered the letter they'd written out with the needed information. "We need this taken to the Hokage. It's very important."

Aiko preened again, but offered her leg for Tenten to tie the message to. "It'll be there and I'll have a reply back here in under a day."

"I know you will," Tenten replied, pulling the entire fish from the bag. "Here you go. Please don't eat it right here."

Aiko screeched in delight, taking the fish in her beak and flying right out the open window.

"Now we wait," Shisui said, sitting down on one of the beds.

"Now we wait." Tenten echoed.

The message was back in just under a day, as Aiko had predicted.

"You read it while I preen her," Tenten sighed when Aiko demanded to be preened in payment.

Shisui took the offered paper, then watched in amusement as Tenten unsealed a thin beak-like comb, then sat down and started picking through the bird's head feathers.

He scanned the paper. "Oh, they just want us to come back, they'll organize a second mission to do it."

"It'll probably be an ANBU mission," Tenten hummed, patting down the feathers and shifting them into place. "Are you molting Aiko?"

"Maybe?" She replied cheekily.

Tenten just chuckled. "We should probably be heading back then. This is the official last day of our mission after all."

Shisui hummed in agreement. "Let's go then."

Itachi met them at the gate.

"Ita-chan!" Shisui declared, scooping up his cousin, who didn't bother stopping him. "Missed you!"

Tenten snickered behind them, although composed her expression when Shisui finally put Itachi down and both turned to her.

"I need to talk to Father," Itachi said, shifting slightly. "However Sasuke is accosting me any time I enter the house, might you be able to distract him for an afternoon so I may talk to Father in peace?"

"The squirt hates me though!" Shisui complained. "He keeps glaring at me any time I so much as talk to you!"

"He's had my attention constantly for the last week," Itachi replied cooly. "He will live."

"I'll help," Tenten said, not even bothering to keep the amused grin from her face. "After all, doesn't he like shurikenjutsu?"

"Yes, but good luck getting him to actually care," Itachi informed her blithely.

"Oh he will," Tenten muttered, her grin taking on a sort of malicious tilt.

"Don't hurt him too badly," Itachi replied, turning. "I will lead you to where he is now. I will need to leave before he sees me however."

"Of course," Shisui said quickly, running after Itachi as he walked away.

Tenten caught him when he tripped over a loose cobblestone. "How is it, that when we were in the capital, you didn't trip once, and now that we're back here, you trip four seconds into getting into Konoha?"

Shisui shrugged, grinning at her cheekily. "I'm just that talented I guess!"

"Sure, talented, that's definitely the way I'd put that," Tenten informed him, steering him around a tree he was about to walk into.

"Very talented at running into things and people," Itachi offered.

"Is this how I'm going to forever be remembered?" Shisui said, over dramatic as usual. "The clumsy genius?"

"You hate the genius tag," Itachi said blandly, looking very slightly confused.

"He's being overly dramatic. As usual," Tenten told him, laughing. "Ignore him."

"Do not ignore me!" Shisui protested, puffing up. "I am not to be ignored!"

"Of course not," Tenten replied innocently. "You'd manage to kill yourself and half the trees in Konoha becuase your hard head kept hitting the poor things."

Shisui squawked in mock offense. "The trees are more durable than that!"

"I dunno, your head is pretty hard," Tenten mused, tapping her lip. "And don't think I didn't notice you didn't refute the other part of that statement."

"Excuse you, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself! I would not accidentally manage to kill myself via braining myself on a tree!"

"Sure you wouldn't." She patted his arm, glancing around the area. "Huh, I used to practice here as a kid."

"It's a good place for target practice," Itachi allowed. "Here I leave you. Delaying him by an hour or two is ideal, if you do not mind. Although all afternoon would be nice."

"You're taking us for dinner afterwards," Shisui informed Itachi. "In return for dealing with the small brat."

"Deal," Itachi agreed, shunshining away right after speaking.

Tenten entered the clearing she had always used as a kid, catching the shuriken thrown at her face. "Woah there Ssauke, just me and Shisui."

Sasuke pouted. "I didn't hit you."

"I have too fast reflexes for you to," Tenten said, handing him the shuriken back. "And your aim was off, it would have curved at the last second to nick my ear."

"Woah, how could you tell?" Sasuke asked, taking the shuriken and staring at her in amazement.

"It's spin," Tenten said, pulling out her own shuriken. "As long as you can control it, you can make shuriken do all sorts of things."

"Like the fancy maneuvers that make all shuriken hit targets far away and at weird angles!" Sasuke said, eyes glittering. "That nii-san is the best at!"

"Hey I taught him those!" Shisui protested from behind her. "He's not bad at them though."

"He's the best!" Sasuke protested.

"Shisui," Tenten said, noting him ready to respond. "He's nine. Don't bother."

While Shisui sulked like a five year old, Tenten turned back to Sasuke. "Want me to teach you how to properly control the spin?"

He eyed her for a bit. "Fine."

Tenten sighed internally. Alright, step one done. Now she just had to teach him. When she'd worked it out herself by trial and error. Fun.

(A/N) She'll manage. She'll be fiiine. This fic finally has an ending point, so that's good. We're getting there. 8ish more chapters. Probably. Should be that. See you in three weeks!