Sasuke's shoulders tensed momentarily at the easy mention of Itachi's constant presence -- they had nothing close to an entire cabinet full of sweets at home, though that was mostly the result of Mikoto's being in charge of the grocery shopping. In all fairness, if she'd left the job to Itachi and Sasuke, the fridge would probably have been a disaster zone within a month.

Not that that meant Itachi needed to leave his stash at someone else's -- but Sasuke forced himself to relax. He hadn't exactly been tracking Itachi down of late either, for reasons he didn't relish visiting himself.

"I doubt you want the third wheel baby cousin hanging around when you've finally got your own place," he said dismissively instead, feeling an inordinate amount of pride about keeping his voice light. "Or that Itachi wants home chasing him down when he's not trying to be there.

"Anyway -- no," he shook his head, returning to the professional topic at hand. "It wouldn't have tested the skills of a second-year Academy student. The most action we saw was when we accidentally busted something shady for the client by walking into a room while armed."

And for that they now had one lifetime onsen membership each, which was still something Sasuke wasn't quite sure he'd wrapped his head around yet.