𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚎 • 𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

10 - Sasuke's Birthday

July, 1992 - Japan

Coincidentally, the day after the first term of school finished was Sasuke's birthday. His family celebrated birthdays by having sit-down dinners that lasted more than the typical 20 minutes, and currently Sasuke lay on his bed, his feet on his pillows, throwing a baseball up and down. They would be having dinner soon.

As it was his seventeenth, he had finally gotten his license and a car, which he had been waiting for ever since his older brother Itachi had done it first. He now finally had the freedom to go places out of skateboarding distance, and he wouldn't need to carpool with Naruto and be the third wheel to him and Hinata anymore.

After he had passed his driving test, Sasuke had spent the greater half of the morning cruising around wherever he felt the need to go. He had total control of the radio and the AC, and it felt nothing short of wonderful. Even though he had made sure to be home in time for dinner, his father and his brother were running late, (which didn't surprise him, of course) so he had some time to kill.

Eventually his father came home, followed soon after by Itachi, and dinner started. The usual conversation that focused around the company that Sasuke's father and Itachi worked at ensued, making Sasuke want to smash his face into his plate of food. He could handle it nine out of ten times, but sometimes it was just so boring.

Sasuke's mother, who knew her youngest son better than most did, interrupted the conversation with, "So, Sasuke, how's the car? Good?"

Sasuke looked up from his food and took a second to realize that the table was focused on him for once. He did his best maintain his stony exterior as he spoke, but a little excitement slipped through as he answered, "It's great. It rides a lot smoother than Naruto's dad's truck."

"I bet," said Sasuke's mother, smiling. "Where'd you go with it so far?"

"The skatepark in Suna. It was a drive but it was so worth it."

"Did you wear your knee pads?" Itachi asked casually, making Sasuke roll his eyes with as much irritation as he could muster, which wasn't much. When was the last time Itachi had actually joked with him?

The gods must have been rewarding him for something, because his whole family had a conversation that both interested him and included him for about a half hour. It was only spoiled slightly by his mother asking if he had met any girls at the dance the other night, as if she didn't know he was awful at talking to most everybody, girl or not.

Just as Sasuke was about to go on about his car's engine and his mother was ready to pull out the dessert from the fridge, the phone rang. His father jumped to answer it, and as he spoke, Sasuke's eyes hardened ever so slightly.

"You must be joking," Sasuke's father, Fugaku, spoke sharply into the phone. The intensity of his voice announced that there was a problem at work, a common occurrence. The phone conversation continued, and by the end of it, the dinner's atmosphere was entirely ruined.

"The deal fell through." Fugaku announced, hanging up the phone.

"The Ayame Branch from Wednesday?" Itachi asked suddenly, calmly, but of course he too was troubled.

"Seems so." Fugaku grabbed his car keys and said to Itachi, "We need to go."

Itachi remained seated, his eyes on his mother.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, dear," Mikoto said in a tone that she almost never used. "But today is the one day that you better stay away from that office."

Fugaku's gaze landed on his youngest, whose eyes were unreadable. Sasuke said, "If it's really that much of a deal, just go. I get it."

"What? No, it's going to have to wait." Mikoto demanded. Fugaku sighed loudly in frustration.