Ｓｅｌｆｉｓｈ Ｐｒｉｎｃｅ

II

"Welcome home, Your Highness!" Sasuke had barely stepped out of the limo. A gathering of maids awaited his arrival and they greeted him just outside the palace doors, at least ten lined perfectly on each side as to not block his way. Smiling, Sasuke greeted them with a wave. He took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh wood-scented air provided by the woods surrounding the palace.

"Young Prince," While Sasuke had been greeting the staff one by one, the head butler himself made it his mission to get the young boy's attention and deliver a message from the King. "Your brother, His Majesty, waits for you in his bedroom."

Nodding, Sasuke excused himself and followed the elder man up the remaining stairs and through the great mahogany doors of the palace. Once inside, the butler took his coat, bowed, and disappeared, leaving Sasuke to once again inhale and take in the elegance that was the lobby of the grand palace.

A massive chandelier many feet above him was the main attraction. Its glass was a specially made glass imported from a neighboring country and what made it even more special was that it was custom made for the late King and Queen. A present, apparently, from the once King of the Country of Sand for one of their anniversaries.

The ceiling, dome shaped, was decorated with intricate drawings made by only the finest of painters chosen by past royalty and the stairs were decorated by hand-carved designs. Sasuke remembered they had to be restored once as they were certainly a lot more older than his elder brother, his parents, even.

Smiling, Sasuke came back to the task at hand: finding his brother. Cheery, he trotted upstairs, humming along to a song that might have gotten stuck in his head but was no bother to him at all.

"Sasuke? Is that you?" Itachi's voice was heard through the open doors of his room. "Come in, little brother." He had heard Sasuke tapping along with the suits of armor lined on the hallway—Sasuke, since he was little, could never leave those things alone and this was how Itachi knew the boy was always nearby.

Smiling at his brother's voice, Sasuke hurried his pace and ran towards the open doors, almost bumping into his brother as he made the turn and falling over had Itachi not grabbed him to pull him in for a hug. "I've missed you." The elder Uchiha stated, giving the boy a tight hug.

"I've had longer trips before," Sasuke hugged his brother back.

"Long or not, I worry." Itachi separated from the hug, patting Sasuke on the shoulders before heading back to his bed where his laptop had previously been set aside. He adjusted his glasses before getting comfortable against a pillow. "You have a knack for getting away from your guards."

Sasuke shrugged sheepishly, walking over towards the bed and, unlike his brother, pounced on it to make the pillows fall on the floor and make a mess of the sheets.

Itachi only lowered his glasses to the bridge of his nose and raised an eyebrow. "Happy birthday, Sasuke." He then smiled, ignoring his brother's childish action and smiling a lot more when Sasuke rolled over, looked up, adn grinned like a child.

"You remembered!" Sasuke boasted.

"Of course I did," Itachi said. "Are you ready for tonight?"

"Will everyone come? Did Anko get the things I asked for? You did invite your friends, right? Please tell me you did, I really don't like having old people over. It's no fun and they always end up trying to talk business." He pouted, jumping off the bed to open the large windows in Itachi's room and let the sun in. Doing so made the fresh air dance through the curtains and give Itachi a much needed sence of relaxation.

"You're too excited," He laughed, closing his laptop once finishing whatever emails he had to tend to and getting up to stretch. "But, to answer your questions, yes, yes, and yes. In fact, Deidara's taking care of that. They'll be landing in a few hours."

Sasuke jumped at Itachi's confirmations. One of the many things Sasuke admired about his brother was that he had friends as where Sasuke, well, he had none. Most of Sasuke's 'friends' were sons and daughters of the noble clans and most of them were either raised to hate him or simply go along with him because he had money, power, and a blood connection to royalty. Itachi's friends, on the other hand, were true. They were loyal and just like they were to Itachi, they were the same to him. Itachi's friends were the only friends Sasuke decided he'd ever need.

"Can we go out before anything starts?" He questioned, noticing Itachi was done with his activities and was up and about. Itachi stretched his hand out towards him and Sasuke took it, both walking out of the room and downstairs where preparations were being made.

"You just got back from a long trip, Sasuke. Aren't you tired?" Itachi asked, Sasuke shook his head. "I'd love to, but perhaps another time. The maids aren't the only ones busy and I have planners to meet with if we want this party to be succesful. What's more, I'm needed with the—"

"I get it," Sasuke pouted. "It's whatever."

Itachi looked down at his brother, noticing the evident emotion though Sasuke tried hiding it. Reaching out, Itachi poked his brother on the forehead and smiled. "How about you go see what the chef is cooking?"

Although he was let down, a mischievous grin set itself on Sasuke's face as the thought of stepping into the kitchens crossed his mind. Sasuke had a long history of pranks with the Chef and there was something about how the man always got mad that made Sasuke's little heart jump in excitement.

Nodding, Sasuke wiggled his eyebrows and began walking away. Itachi let out a chuckle and shook his head. "Don't mess too much with him. He's not exactly too happy about you returning this early in the day."

Sasuke only looked back and grinned. "Me? Mess with him? My dear brother, I would never." And just like that, Sasuke bowed to his brother and innocently walked towards the kitchens.