Chapter 9

The Illusion of Composure

Sasuke had to seriously resist the urge to just hang up.

"I'll explain when I see you." He bit out and was rewarded by an exasperated sigh.

"The phone's aren't tapped you know, and even if they were, I doubt the government really cares that you can't have tea with our parents due to the fact that you actually want to attend one of Ino's parties in order to see a girl you fancy, who also happens to be both Ino's and Naruto's best friend. Talk about ironic? Sounds to me like the plot to one of those convoluted soaps; is this the part where I'm supposed to break it to you that you're adopted and that you have an evil twin that everyone thought was dead but is actually planning to kidnap this girl you like?" His brother was not known for his talkative nature, and for good reason, for Itachi was never one to use a great deal of words when only a few to none were needed. Yet Sasuke had found that, in the pursuit of making the youngest Uchiha's life a misery, Itachi could keep going for as long as it took for Sasuke to seriously consider murder.

Time seemed to pause as Sasuke stared, utterly perplexed, at a section of wall in his small flat. It was light blue and had managed to dry lumpy where too much paint had been applied and left to run. He could remember painting it with his brother and Naruto whilst his mother unpacked some of his belongings and his father sat on an upturned box (it had been placed in the middle of the room and promptly forgotten about, thus suggesting it had been designated to Naruto to move) and sipped his tea, occasionally pointing out places that Naruto had apparently missed.

His father was a stern man, who had been made soft by the passage of time, like a banana, as his mother had once said (naturally, this had made everyone in the room at the time choke on air for a good half hour). Like with almost all Uchihas, Sasuke's father enjoyed maintaining the illusion of composure and sophistication. He did however, immensely enjoy teasing Naruto (Sasuke briefly wondered if perhaps this was an hereditary trait), principally due to the way in which the blond found it hard to distinguish between his teasing and his seriousness; such teasing often lead to much spluttering before Naruto realised the man was not being serious.

Sasuke assumed that this particular section of the wall had been painted by Naruto without proper supervision of a responsible adult…

And then time stared again.

"I'll kill him." Sasuke seethed.

Unknown to Sasuke, at this precise moment Naruto was sitting at the bar of his favourite restaurant, eating ramen with his long-term girlfriend. After noticing the odd look on her boyfriend's face, Hinata asks if everything is okay.

"Yeah, the back of my neck just twitched. I wonder what that means…" he replied rubbing the spot that had jolted him out of his musings.

"Means in what way?" Hinata questioned softly, her lavender eyes becoming gentle at her boyfriend's antics.

"Like when your hands are itchy it means you're coming into money, or when your ears burn, someone's talking about you." Naruto explained giving her a lopsided grin which she had always found endearing.

"My auntie's psychic says it means someone's planning your death." the waitress behind the bar said casually as she wiped down the hard wood.

Nothing more was said as the two paid the bill and left, sharing a slightly baffled smile as they went.

"Now, now, Sasuke, I would have figured it out on my own sooner or later." Itachi said, huffing in amusement.

"Don't tell mum." Was all Sasuke could say in reply, knowing his brother was probably correct.

"Hm…What are you going to tell mother?"

"I have a work thing…" Sasuke ventured, knowing he would have to come up with more details for his mother.

"That won't hold up for long. But I'll do what I can to help, provided, of course, that you tell me everything."

"Whatever." Sasuke huffed, regretting ever having a brother or friends like his.

"Ok, well I have to go. Because I actually do have a work thing."

Sometimes Sasuke really hated his brother.

Author's Note: It has been a long time and so much has changed since I started writing this, but here I am!

Getting back into writing has been a bit tough but I'm staying positive and with any luck things will get easier. Again this isn't my best chapter but to be honest I'm just glad to get something out again, plus there's some real good shit to come ;)

Thanks as always.

Chia