"Do you have it?" The Aburame boy asked, nestling his chin into the high collar of his jacket, and looking quite suspicious. The question itself was asked in what would be heard as an emotionless tone to all but his closest friends who instead heard the soft note of anticipation behind the question.
The girl standing next to him nodded in agreement, the pale eyes of the Hyuuga peering at him with the same inquisitive look.
Sasuke nodded, noting the slight relaxing in Shino's shoulders, and the slight smile Hinata gave when he pulled it out: Ogres and Oubliettes, Quickplay (No-GM) Scenario 4: Knights of The Crimson Caves.
After opening the book to its start, the three of them pulled out their character sheets and began to equip themselves for a foray into the mystical world of their favorite tabletop RPG… it helped, a little, to keep his mind off of what had happened, his two friends going out of their way to keep their weekly 'tradition' going even after Itachi.
It was all Shino's fault, really. Buying the first book for him as a 'get well' present while he was in the hospital following the massacre and so, having nothing to do but read, Sasuke became intimately familiar with the game and found that he rather enjoyed the setting and mechanics… and so when Shino had visited again Sasuke decided to force him to play with him.
After that, Hinata had walked in on a gaming session and they'd forced her to play too, though she seemed really relieved, and a little happy, to be invited into the game — and that's how their little gaming group got started.
And that was what led to them gathering regularly, secretly, to embark on such glorious adventures with their characters: Sir Alfred Smithsworth the Second (Human, Knight, Saskue); Maid Fes Farsight (Elf, Royal Archer, Shino), and Sara Seawater (Human, Thief, Hinata).
— — — — — — —
"What do you think they're up to?" Kotetsu asked, nodding toward the three children in the secluded area of the training ground.
"Who knows…" Izumo replied, tossing another kunai to his friend and readying his own. "As long as it keeps us out of that hospital, I don't care!"
"Well, keeping an eye on Uchiha isn't so bad, as far as D-rank missions go." Kotetsu replied.
Izumo shorted, "It's just makework for us, and to appease the council that Uchiha has round-the-clock guards… if Itachi came back we'd be lucky to be able to raise an alarm."
"Yeah, politics…" Kotetsu made a disgusted sound, throwing his kunai way off target, "You know how much I hate 'display purpose' missions."
Izumo nodded, throwing his kunai to meet Kotetsu's and knock it into the target dummy at the far end of the field. "And yet you actually _want_ the gate-duty missions!"
"Hey! Gate guard is a great gig, not only do you get to see everyone off, you get to hear all the news first, AND you're the last line of defense for the village before the enemy gets inside!" Kotetsu protested.
"It's a display position: you hang out there, looking good, while the Jounin do all the real work of protecting the village. C'mon, admit it." Izumo prodded, falling right back into their 'great debate' regarding the posting.
"Hey, my dad's not a useless political display piece!" Kotetsu responded, taking the bait… and missing his chance to hit Izumo's kunai.
"You missed."
"Yeah, yeah."
"It means I'm winning!" Izumo couldn't help but smile as he said it, throwing another kunai — this one Kotetsu intercepted and redirected to the dummy.
"Yeah, I'll show you. Jerk!" Kotetsu replied to Izumo's laughter.
— — — — — — —
More reports flooded the office in the tower, most of them containing rumors of "the escaped Itachi Uchiha" — an unfortunate necessity, compromising the image of the village's competence, but mitigated by the stories of Itachi's own genius.
The boy was sowing a lot of false trails, not one in the hundred in the last month gave even as much as a clue as to Itachi's true goals, his final mission, orders that had been given in a small park overlooked by this very office.
The young prodigy was willing to do it, but had extracted a promise from the Hokage — something astonishing, for one so young — one to protect his little brother Sasuke.
The whole thing, which showed how much Itachi loved his brother, was as tragic as it was necessary and as secret a thing as any that Hiruzen, Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, kept. Information like this could easily tear the village apart as surly as the coup that was put down would have.
Hiruzen sighed, sometimes there were no good choices.
