The Festival (V)

"You haven't changed in the slightest, have you?" Her words could easily be misunderstood as criticism considering she said them as a reaction to him staring after the serving girl, but her voice and the smile on her lips proved that she was more amused than anything else.

"Oh, c'mon," the man in front of her whined in an overly dramatic fashion. "Give me some slack, will you? We're celebrating our reunion! Allow me to have at least some fun!"

Their sensei chuckled. "That doesn't excuse that you pay more attention to every woman that walks by than to your team, Jiraiya." Then he turned towards her. "Though, as you said, he hasn't changed in all these years, so it's probably better to just let him be. I doubt you would prefer him gawking at you instead, would you?"

Tsunade snorted before taking a sip from her drink. "Even a thick-headed idiot like he is smart enough to understand the consequences should he dare to do so."

"Indeed," Jiraiya added with a big grin, "and as I think you would prefer to leave this fine establishment intact at the end of the night, it's probably better for me to study the other guests here instead."

Sitting with her former sensei and teammate like this... She could almost forget that she was in a place she had sworn never to set foot in again. All that was left was Orochimaru, sitting opposite of her and looking at them disapprovingly while hiding his amusement at their antics, and it would feel as if she travelled back in time.

"Well, Tsunade," Jiraiya said. "I'm sure you must have some stories to tell after travelling all these years. Say, how many debt collectors are after you these days?"

She rolled her eyes at him, but she had apparently already enough alcohol incus to not mind his jibe about her famous losing strike. "Where to begin, where to begin… Oh, I know!" She let out a loud laugh before starting to regal them with her tale.

She might not necessarily be happy to be back in Konoha, but if it allowed her to enjoy evenings like that…

Well, maybe it wasn't all bad. She might even stay a bit longer than she had initially intended.

Sasuke really didn't know why he ever thought it would be great to be allowed to these kinds of events.

While his father said that he was old enough to participate, he now knew that what he truly meant was that he was simply too old to stay away. That, in turn, did unfortunately mean that there wasn't anything interesting to do for him. He couldn't even listen to some interesting conversations because the adults started to change the topics as soon as he came close! If he needed to listen to one more woman telling him how much he had grown or how much he started to resemble his mother, he could not be held responsible for what would happen!

And the worst? He wasn't even allowed to go around on his own! Instead, there was always either one of his parents or Itachi around to 'keep an eye on him'. Seriously, he was little more than a piece of decoration.

At least they considered Shisui a responsible enough 'guardian' to leave him alone with the older boy without a second thought. It was much more enjoyable to be with him because he wasn't forced to go around and entertain their guests like the rest of his family.

It was also much more entertaining.

"Do you see the one over there?"

He looked towards the man Shisui was pointing, trying –and probably failing- to be just as subtle as he. What Sasuke saw was a middle-aged man with a big belly at the buffet that his mother had prepared with several other members of their clan. "That is, ehm… Takahashi?"

Shisui chuckled. "Takijami, but close enough. His name doesn't really matter anyway. You see, a few years ago during your brother's fifth birthday, he ate a lot and had a little bit too much to drink as well, so he threw up all over the table!"

"Seriously?!" He knew that adults sometimes acted stupidly when they drank too much alcohol –and why did they even do that? That stuff was gross the one time he had sneaked a sip!- but that it made them also throw up was new to him.

"Seriously," Shisui confirmed with a big smile. "He almost hit your mother, actually. It was fortunate he didn't, of course. I doubt she would have forgiven him and you really don't want to be on her bad side."

That thought was similarly amusing as it was terrifying. Even his father avoided her when she was really angry!

"And he still gets invited?" While these celebrations were technically open to all members of the clan, he knew that there were a few people that would not be welcome if they bothered to make an appearance. He didn't know the reasons, though, because no one was willing to tell him.

"Well, he's a pretty important figure," Shisui said as he furrowed his brows in consideration. "On that note, I take back what I said earlier. His name does matter and you should absolutely remember it. He might not be a shinobi, but he has a very high position in Konoha's Merchant Guild. There are even speculations that he will become its Head very soon."

They had talked about the structure of Konoha just a few weeks ago at the academy, so he knew that this was a pretty big deal for a civilian.

"Don't worry," Shisui said reassuringly. "I'm sure your father will soon start to teach you things like who is important and who is not. You're getting old enough, after all."

Now that were finally some good news. Then he would at least do something more than just standing around and look like a good little boy.

Sasuke had a sudden thought. "Hey, Shisui, did Nii-san ever do anything embarrassing?" He found that idea hard to believe because he was always so frustratingly perfect, but there must be something, right? If someone would know –and be willing to tell him- it would be Shisui.

Going by his chuckle and the big grin on the older boy's face, his thoughts were pretty spot-on. "Oh~? Don't tell me no one ever bothered to tell you about the time-"

"Please refrain from telling my little brother one of your fairy tales, Shisui."

He almost jumped out of his skin by the sudden sound of his brother's voice, but Shisui didn't seem surprised. "What do you mean with 'fairy tales'? I will let you know that everything I say is the truth and nothing but the truth!"

"You mean like the time you told Izumi that you would go on a year-long mission that turned out to last only two weeks?"

"Oh, c'mon! I was only teasing her a bit, that's different!"

"Which resulted in her not speaking to you for nearly a month."

Shisui mumbled something under his breath, but even Sasuke could see that he was only acting annoyed. "I still think she was overreacting. I mean, it wasn't impossible that something unexpected could happen that would prolong the mission, right?"

His brother chuckled. "I'm afraid that's not how this works."

"Still!" Shisui straightened up and he thought he might have made some silly pose if they weren't still at the party in sight of most of their clan. "Do you think it's fair to keep the story of when you did you-know-what from your brother? Your own flesh and blood? He deserves to know!"

"Yes!" he instantly chimed up. "Come on, I want to know! Please, Nii-san!" While he hated to act childish, he decided that this was worth it and put extra effort into widening his eyes and pouting his lips.

Itachi grimaced, the gesture so minuscular that it would have been missed by everyone who didn't pay very close attention to him, though the fact that he even reacted as much as that meant that his strategy was working.

"You don't need to-"

"Are you seriously going to deny your precious otouto something?" Shisui exclaimed in mock surprise. "Who are you and what have you done to Itachi?"

"It's for his own good."

Before he could argue that point, another voice spoke up. "I see the three of you are amusing yourselves, at least."

Sasuke thought these surprises were getting old even while he jumped around with wide eyes, coming face to face with his father.

"Ah, I was just telling Sasuke some stories, Fugaku-sama," Shisui said with a smile that was much more polite than everything he had seen from him the entire evening so far. "In fact, I just wanted to-"

"-leave and get something to eat," Itachi seamlessly chimed in. "I recommend my mother's casserole, by the way. It's delicious."

His father spoke up before Shisui had the chance to reply. "Really? And here I was thinking he was about to tell the story from when you-"

"Otou-san, please don't encourage him even further."

Fugaku's lips tucked upwards upon hearing Itachi's somewhat exasperated tone but –to Sasuke's disappointment- said nothing more about the incident everyone aside of him appeared to know about. Instead, he turned towards him.

"You have behaved exemplary these last few hours, Sasuke," he said genuinely. "However, I'm sure you're growing tired from listening to boring grown-up talks, so you're free to go and meet your friend now."

"Yes!" He immediately regretted throwing up his arm in such a childish fashion, but no one seemed to mind. In fact, Itachi and Shisui smiled amusedly while his father chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"How many of your friends are going to be there?"

"Ehm, let me think for a second," he said with furrowed brows. "There is Naruto, of course, and Kiba, Shino, and Chōji said he would convince Shikamaru to come as well."

His father nodded. "Six altogether, then. In that case, you're allowed to stay out with them till midnight as long as you're at least three people. Under no condition are you allowed to walk around on your own, do you understand?"

"Of course, Otou-san," he said eagerly. It wasn't as if they planned to split anyway, so he felt it alright to just ignore the last part.

He waved him off. "Then run along now and have some fun."

Sasuke didn't need to hear anything else before turning around to walk away as fast as he could without looking hurried, ignoring the chuckles of the three family members he left behind. Who cared if they found his behaviour amusing? He was finally getting away from this boring 'celebration', of course he would hurry!

The evening had only just begun, after all.