"Great. Nice going idiot. You totaled my shed the minute we walked in."
"How was I supposed to know the shelf was right here? There's no light!" said Naruto.
Sasuke rubbed his temples in frustration. "Next time wait for me to turn it on before you start touching things. Come on. Let's clean it up before my father sees."
He tugged on the light switch in the middle of the room and signaled Naruto to come over, pointing to the pile of ninja weapons on the floor. The pair plucked up the kunai and shuriken that fell and got stuck to the wooden planks. It was messy work (Naruto stepped on a shuriken once) but they quickly returned the weapons to their respective boxes on the shelf.
"There. That was easy," said Naruto, flashing his trademark grin.
"Hn. Lucky no one came here to check."
"You're lucky it wasn't dad," said Itachi, leaning against the doorway. "We heard you in the kitchen. He thinks it was you who messed up his neat shed. You know how he is."
"Well, tell him everything's fine," said Sasuke curtly.
"Hello, Naruto," the raven said, turning to the blonde in the corner. "Are you staying?"
"Actually, I only came here to borrow some weapons. Mine were lost in a mission."
"That's unfortunate. Take as many as you like."
"Thanks! You know, you're way nicer than Sasuke. I had to beg him to spare some shuriken. He's so stingy."
"It's because of your own stupidity that you lost your shuriken pouch. Why should I give you mine?"
"Sasuke," Itachi nagged. "You know better."
He rolled his eyes.
Itachi moved to the shelf and pulled out 10 shuriken. "Here," he said, pushing the weapons to Naruto.
"Th-thanks," said Naruto.
"Naruto," Sasuke cut in. "you should go home now. You have your weapons."
"Oh, right. It was nice seeing you Itachi. Thanks for everything!"
"No problem. Perhaps we can meet again to talk and eat," said Itachi just as Naruto took off into the night.
When the blonde was out of sight, Sasuke turned to face his brother. "Why are you here?" he snarled.
"I told you. We heard a loud sound coming from the shed and I came here to check it out."
"Thanks for your concern," he said sardonically, making his way to the door.
"Must you make things more difficult?"
"It's not me."
"Come here," said Itachi, signaling with his hand.
"No. I'm not falling for that."
Itachi sighed, making the lines on his face more prominent. It was hard to believe they were inherited.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke," he smiled softly, "You're right."
How Itachi acquired the patience of a saint was beyond him. Sasuke scoffed. "Forget about it. Let's go home. I'm tired."
Itachi nodded and walked with him to the house. Their parents were at the kitchen table waiting for them to come eat.
"Welcome back," Mikoto smiled. "Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine. I just bumped into the shelf," Sasuke said.
Itachi shot him a funny look. The young raven smirked.
"Did you put everything back where it belongs? You know I can't afford to have anything out of place," said Fugaku.
"Yes sir."
"Good."
Sasuke took the remaining seat opposite his brother. He looked down at his plate. A dozen little fish stared back with wide eyes.
"Sardines?" he asked incredulously.
"I came home late and just opened the cans we had in the pantry," his mother said. "They contain calcium! That's good for the bones. Every ninja needs strong bones."
But no matter what she said to convince him to eat the sardines, it still bothered him to see an animal stare at him with gaping eyes. He dug at his plate looking for cherry tomatoes—his favorite. To his opposite, Itachi was calmly eating his dinner. He'd pick two little sardines, combine them with rice, and put them into his mouth, pausing only to drink tea. Not a grain of rice was out of place whereas Sasuke had a couple scattered around his bowl—an embarrassing childhood habit. Everything he does is perfect, he thought. Even his eating habits are impeccable.
"You're pretty pensive today," said Itachi, looking at him. "What are you thinking about?"
Damn it. Did he just read my mind?
"Nothing important," he said.
"Then, tell us about your mission today. I must admit I'm rather curious."
Fugaku slowed down his eating to look at Sasuke.
"Well…" he said, feeling suddenly uneasy." My team and I were sent to stop a band of thieves from escaping with the feudal lord's stash of forbidden scrolls."
"I see. Were you able to stop them?" said his father.
"Of course," said Sasuke confidently.
"Recently, the Hokage made plans to move those scrolls someplace for safekeeping. One of my men was part of the team sent to transfer them, but he couldn't tell me the details. I've been wondering about them since."
"Those scrolls hide dangerous techniques. The Hokage would never tell anyone about them unless it was important," Sasuke reasoned.
Fugaku snorted. "Yes, I suppose you're right," he said.
Sasuke's cheeks reddened.
"Don't worry," Itachi whispered. "Father is just upset over tonight's meeting with the council."
"Why? What happened?"
"They want dad to recruit new members outside of the Uchiha clan, but he doesn't want to."
"What's wrong with having new members?" he asked.
Itachi glanced over to his side. Fugaku was busy eating. "I'll tell you tomorrow. I'm busy tonight."
Sasuke lifted an inquisitive brow.
"There's a meteor shower tonight I want to see."
Sasuke blinked and then shrugged. Of course he'd go stargazing, he thought.
"Hey Sasuke," said his mother suddenly, "Why don't you go with him? The sky's awfully clear tonight. If you're not too tired, that is."
"Actually, I am tired…"
"Oh. Your brother has only one more day left of vacation, you know." she said, wagging her index finger.
"I do—"
"It's okay, mom. He and I are busy tomorrow. The next time I get a break, we'll hang out. I promise," said Itachi.
"But when will that be?"
Itachi let out a deep chuckle. "I don't know. When there are no more bad guys to fight, maybe."
Sasuke continued playing with his food, not really interested in his dinner. The fatigue he felt after a long day traveling was finally setting in. He felt his eye lids sink lower and lower until he asked to be excused and then walked upstairs to his room.
He stripped into his boxers and jumped onto his bed, letting the cool breeze from the balcony touch his backside. He tucked his pillow underneath his head and half-listened to the noises happening downstairs, like the running water in the kitchen, his parents talking, and the set of footsteps passing by his room. He listened to Itachi close his bedroom door.
Right, he thought. He has plans.
The door creaked open again. Sasuke heard his brother tread down the hall and into the bathroom, the sound of the shower following soon after.
Sasuke rolled over to his side. Thoughts of the day's events began to wash over him. He closed his eyes and welcomed the images. First, he saw Sakura waiting at the bridge to begin training—or so he thought. The pink-haired girl gave him a quick summary of the mission they would embark on. She already received the news from Tsunade, her master. Sasuke nodded when she finished and then stared off into the distance while he waited for that bumbling idiot Naruto to arrive. He didn't even need to turn his head to look for Naruto. He could hear the blonde huffing and puffing toward them.
"I'm not late am I?" he yelled from down the bridge. "My alarm broke so I couldn't tell!" His jacket was in his hand, flapping in the wind.
Sakura sighed. "You're not late, but you need a mirror. Did you dress in the dark today?"
"What do you mean? I always wear this to missions."
"No, not that," She pointed to the river. "See for yourself."
Naruto glanced down at his reflection in the water, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. He turned himself this way and that, searching for any stains or tears, until he realized the logo on his t-shirt was gone and a shirt tag was poking his chin.
"I guess in my hurry I must have forgotten to put this on correctly," he said grinning.
He took off his shirt unceremoniously; exposing his tan skin and lightly chiseled abs. Sakura blushed and turned her head away to the right, giving him his privacy, missing the tinge of red rushing to Sasuke's pale cheeks.
"What's up with your face?" asked Naruto.
"Shut up, idiot," he said, covering his warm cheeks.
"I'm serious. It's red. You're not sick are you?"
Sakura whipped her head around and eyed him like a mother whose child caught the plague.
"I'm not sick so you can quit looking at me like I'm about to die, Sakura. It's the humidity in the air," he lied.
"Good. I don't want to catch anything from you," Naruto cried. "We have a mission today."
Then, in a cloud of smoke, Kakashi appeared. "Yo."
"You're late!" cried Naruto and Sakura in unison.
"Sorry I'm late. I was helping an old friend find his way home."
"Liar!"
"That's not very nice." he pouted.
"So what's the plan?" said Sasuke, crossing his arms.
"Ah, Sakura must have told you already."
"Not me!" whined Naruto.
Kakashi scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Yes, well, today we are traveling to the fire lord's palace. A group of bandits broke in and stole some valuable scrolls. It's our job to catch them."
"Aw, but that's easy. We're not genins anymore. Why can't the Fire Lord just send his guards?"
"Because, Naruto, the place is under lockdown. His guards are busy patrolling the outer walls. It's also our scrolls that were stolen."
"Our scrolls?"
"Geez, Naruto, you can be real dense," Sakura interjected. "The scrolls! Don't you know that inside the Hokage residence is a vault that keeps scrolls of Konoha's most dangerous jutsu?"
"I still don't get why we have to do it," he grumbled.
Kakashi chuckled. "This mission is probably easy like you say, but it's highly important that we're successful."
"Alright…"
"Okay, here's the plan. We arrive at the palace, gather information, and then formulate a strategy from there. The thieves can't have gone far because even the gates surrounding the complex are being watched. Any questions?"
The three chunin shook their heads.
"Good. We leave in half an hour. Gather any needed materials and we'll meet at the entrance."
Then, in a cloud of smoke, Kakashi disappeared.
End of chapter 3. So I'm starting college in the summer and that means I have more time to write. I know that sounds unbelievable, but creating a portfolio sapped my energy. Now that that's over with, I can focus on this story. Yippee!
As always, please review and/or critique. Message me, even. I'd like to hear your take on this story. Thank you.