Freetime is Tea Time [OPEN]

[uchihasavior]

 Where: Konohagakure, shop area
When: October 6th
Notes: (Totally open; make him share the tea)


A shift over before 4 PM alloted Itachi the time to drift into one of Konoha's better tea shops, where he'd been learning from travel that the better teas were often blended. Chamomile and Jasmine, he found, tended to soothe some of his worse muscle aches, and the flavor stuck with him for quite some time.

He could afford to dish out a little more Ryo, leaving with the neat light blue bag tucked under two fingers, the warm sunlight greeting his skin as he blended back into the traveling crowd. 

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[uchihasavior]

((Haha i found out i can reply from my phone!!!!))

Oh, he saw. How Sasuke flitted into the corner of his vision for a brief instant, and was gone again, almost if he'd just imagined him. He didn't turn his head, nor change his course, allowing little brother to avoid him if he liked.

Was he back from a mission, or going on one?

Things Sasuke would surely answer himself with time, time Itachi would gladly give him.

[not_thedragon]

Of course, for all the time that Itachi might be willing to give him, Sasuke still had to face the reality that they technically still lived in the same house. If he were the type to forgive himself errors he might have pointed out how infrequently Itachi actually slept in said house, but Sasuke had retreated home after checking through Gai's medical records a second time and without a single thought to what he might do if he ran into Itachi in an environment less conducive to vanishing.

So it was that when he opened the door, calling out a subdued I'm home from the doorway, it took a moment for him to register that Itachi's shoes were actually lined up in the hall.

[uchihasavior]

It had been such a long time since he'd left his shoes at the door.

But if it wasn't them that gave away Itachi's current location, it was his voice, gentle as always, coming down the hall from the kitchen.

"Welcome home." he called, but there was no urgency in the tone, which, at this point, he was sure wasn't helping his younger brother's nerves.

His voice wouldn't be the only thing coming down the hall, as the scent of his tea was going to come down with it, perhaps trying to beckon Sasuke into the kitchen with him. He's got more than enough for several cups.

[not_thedragon]

There was probably merit to the concept of luck as something that happened in streaks, Sasuke pondered as he contemplated Itachi's shoes with a certain amount of fatalistic dismay. It wasn't as if he could turn back around and escape, not after Itachi had already acknowledged his presence; that was something that reminded him that he needed to send a strongly-worded missive to Naruto for no reason other than that his absence had removed Sasuke's most convenient excuse for staying out of the house past a certain hour.

He had no other options. The Sasuke that leaned into the kitchen wore a considerably subdued version of his usual excitement to see Itachi at home. "I didn't expect you'd be home."

[uchihasavior]

"I could say the same, concerning myself." It wasn't often he was, and he did usually make off for Shisui's before trying the main compound. But it was only a matter of time, and he couldn't put it off forever.

He hadn't even gone to check his room yet, which was likely still in the same pristine condition as a few months ago (sans dust, unless Mother had been stepping inside to tidy now and then).

"Tea?" He offers, carefully sitting down and taking a hold of his mug.

[not_thedragon]

Instinct wanted to point out that if they were both in agreement about how rarely Itachi was home, perhaps he should be home more often -- but situation meant that Sasuke ended up murmuring a noncommittal hmm instead, eyes scanning the kitchen for signs of anything out of the ordinary that would explain his brother's presence. Nothing seemed strange except for Itachi himself and the fact that he apparently had enough tmie to be sitting around drinking tea.

And offering some to Sasuke.

"What?" Was his first response, accompanied by a blink of surprise. "I --"

Nothing short of apocalypse would make him turn down time Itachi was voluntarily spending with him, but it was a close call. "If you're not busy?"

[uchihasavior]

Itachi had to strike a careful balance between his work and his clan household. Too much time at work, and responsibilities and expectations were thrust on Sasuke. Too much time in the compound and he would be hassled about when he was going to find a woman and settle down.

He surmised he only had a few short years before Fugaku thought about stepping down, or really training him on how to take over the Uchiha clan. That is, provided he isn't pulled from active duty for his heart condition.

"For now, I am free." For a few hours, before he tried to get some sleep before the next shift. He offers a faint smile Sasuke's way.

Let them enjoy the rare free time they both share.

[not_thedragon]

"That's unusual," Sasuke said, a frown developing as he contemplated the various reasons why Itachi would be unexpectedly available. He couldn't see any injury from here and couldn't sense any major chakra disruption that might suggest something internal, though he would have had to be rude enough to activate the Sharingan in a non-combat situation to really check.

The frown stayed in place as Sasuke located his own mug from the rack by the sink, settling across from Itachi at the kitchen table. "Are you well?"

[uchihasavior]

He knows it's unusual. But you can thank Obito for that, whose grown worried about him and taken him off missions. Not completely-- just...not outside Konoha. Not the spy work he's accustomed to.

"Mm, well enough." Though he knows that won't suffice for a proper answer when it comes to his little brother.

[not_thedragon]

As Itachi doubtless expected, Sasuke's expression shifted out of awkward uncertainty into skepticism in the span of a second. Setting his mug down with a firm clink, Sasuke pushed to standing in order to peer critically at as much of his brother as he could see from this angle and without putting him in a hospital gown, mouth set in a stern medic-nin's line of disapproval.

"What exactly does enough mean, nii-san?" He fixed a demanding stare on Itachi's face, satisfied that he still hadn't seen any visible signs of injury. "And when was the last time you filled your prescriptions?"

[uchihasavior]

Perhaps, in a way, he wanted this. To see just how focused Sasuke was on him, after his absence.

Itachi had ridiculous ways of showing that he wanted to be cared for. He was perfectly capable of taking his own medicines on time, and re-filling his own prescriptions, and monitoring himself for his flare-ups. Though he was busy, he had time for quick meals, he could plan out his sleep schedule around small naps instead of basically trying to stay permanently awake.

Yet, for all of his intelligence, wisdom, and capability, he did not.

"Before I left." he admits. Before he left originally. Which means by now, months ago. His excuse was that he was on missions, and he couldn't be taking pills every hour or so and expose himself to being taken advantage of.

Even though he could easily hide them in his drinks and food.

[not_thedragon]

Before he left -- Sasuke's expression hardened immediately, lips drawing thin with disapproval. For all that he could be intractable in singing Itachi's praises to anyone else, he was perfectly comfortable scolding Itachi to his face when it came to things like this, especially given how firm the hospital had been about this exact situation.

"That's been months," he said, both hands firmly set on his hips in unconscious imitation of Mikoto's lecturing stance. "I knew there was something wrong when I saw you hadn't put in a request for a refill yet -- that means you've been out of them for how long now?"

There probably should have been more shame about looking into someone else's patients medical records, but as far as Sasuke was aware, family was fair game when it came to rifling files.

[uchihasavior]

Months, yes, he knew. His gaze calculately lingers elsewhere, hands around his mug of tea as if that is his only security.

It wasn't surprising that Sasuke was watching his records.

"About six months." he admits, that's how long he's been without medication, and he thinks he'd been doing just fine, honestly. It isn't as if his spy work required a lot of stamina unless he was caught, and had to escape...

And a good spy was not caught.

[not_thedragon]

"Six -- that's half a year," Sasuke exploded, hands slamming to the table in disbelief. "You've been skipping your medication for half a year?!"

This was, at least, a much easier topic to focus on than the subject of Sasuke's personal failures, but he might have preferred being cornered on his own shortcomings if it meant that he wasn't discovering his brother's apparent laissez-faire attitude towards his own health.

"If you were busy, why wouldn't you just ask me to pick them up for you?!"

[uchihasavior]

By all means, anyone else would've flinched at Sasuke's sudden outburst. But Itachi was expecting it. Every movement, every inflection of his voice, even the way his teeth ground...he knew it would happen.

"You are not without your pre-occupations." he simply answers. Sasuke had things to do, too. And he was alive. And alright, as far as he saw. He didn't need to bother anyone else with medicine that he was...okay, without. So far.

[not_thedragon]

"Those don't take priority when it comes to you!" Sasuke leaned forward as he spoke, trying to express with body language as much as his words the extent to which Itachi was gambling with his own health. Was it not important? How could his brother, who had always been so precisely right, manage to ignore something like this?

"I work at the hospital all the time, I could have gotten them whenever instead of --" He hunted for words, too angry to think before he spoke. "Instead of you messing up your health!"