one_long_mission | how did this even happen...

"I can make things that are edible. That does not make them taste like it." It was a low murmur. "She hasn't actually had the dubious joy of my cooking. Nor have you since I stopped charring everything to pans."

He leaned forward in his chair, peering up at Obito and while he noted her look, he wasn't entirely certain what she expected him to do. "Have you actually ever learned to braid Obito-nii?"

"Well. I thought I'd sort of got the gist of it by feel from when you did mine." He gets to the end of the... okay, it isn't a braid. Not a braid at all. But it is sort of like a braid and after a moment's hesitation he winds the tie around it. "Ahem. This is just a... first try."

"You've told us both not to let you cook."

Loath to bring the other hand away from her thigh, she reaches with her free hand to run it cautiously down her hair. ...What there is of it. She goes a little pale and tries for a laugh. "Well... congratulations? Maybe you should watch Itachi do it, do you think?"

Itachi got to his feet, one hand moving to gently push Obito to the side. "Stand behind me and pay attention. This is clearly why you never had long hair as a teen. Other than the goggles." He looked at her hair a moment, then took out the tie, gently untangling the mess he'd made of her hair.

"I never had long hair as a teen because your dad kept making me hack it all off," he grumbled. And he stepped back, watching. He really did want to get this down. It seemed handy.

She stills almost immediately when it's Itachi's hands in her hair, eyes falling closed as she relaxes against the chair. Her hand moves away from her thigh to fold both in her lap, enjoying the light tug of his fingers in her hair.

"Well... until you could manage a spar without getting it grabbed... He was very adamant about that ideal. I kept my hair short until I was nearly a chunin for exactly that reason. You -were- a chunin, so I can see his persistence with you." He carefully worked up her hair, touch gentle. "Then again, the clan never was as nice to you as I thought they should be."

"Yeah. Nobody liked me back then." He remarked, observing. Under and over. It didn't look so hard. "Wasn't this the way I was doing it?"

Itachi's hands in her hair might be enough to lull her to sleep like this, but she glances sideways, trying to catch Obito's eye. "Not... quite. It felt more like you were knotting it than anything else. But hold on." She raises her eyes, trying to spot Itachi now. "How could that be? I thought this was the guy who taught you kunai, and you're pretty good at that. Why wouldn't they like you?"

"-I- always liked you Obito-nii... but when I was that age my parents thought there was something wrong with me too." It was a murmur, and he unwound a bit before rewinding the part of the brain her movement had made lopsided.

"I said he taught me. I didn't say he was as good at it as I am."

"I know," he said, and pressed his hand to Itachi's back. Since there was nobody watching, at the moment. And to Tenten, "I guess... have you met that Naruto kid? Okay, imagine that, but with all of the fire-starting habits and questionable socials skills of an Uchiha. That's why nobody liked me."

"Naruto?" Her lips quirk into a small smile as she nods. "Yeah, I know that guy. Turned Neji into a decent human being, kind of." She just shrugs and glances back. "But he's kind of a brat, too. Isn't family supposed to look past that stuff, though? Especially a clan..."

Itachi shook his head sharply at this, comfortable enough with being touched as to not question it. He didn't realize he was stealth touching or he would have asked. "They're definitely alike... and in the clan there was conformity and then there was scorn. There was a time when I wasn't so different in my approach to everything from your friend Lee, if not as flowery. Then Obito died and that went away with it because he was the only one that -encouraged- me to be so... forward. Inquisitive."

Again, a stealthy touch. How could he not? The hand against his back slipped up to clutch his shoulder and squeeze it, then let go again.

"Really?" The image of Itachi in green spandex was inevitable then, and she bursts out laughing, only belatedly clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. "I'm... sorry, I'm sorry." Her laughter didn't suit the story at all, and she forces herself to sober. "That must have been hard for you, though..." Her eyes flick back again, though she still can't see Obito. "Clearly death was not so permanent, yes?"

There was a pause at that point, and Itachi stilled for a moment. "Some details are better unrevealed. Obito died in my timeline. He didn't in his timeline." There was a flat sense of finality in the way he said it, then his tone lightened. "What made you laugh?"

"Not so permanent," he echoed. And he might have said more--though he would not have spoken truthfully--but he let Itachi end the topic. It was better, anyway. And he wanted to know what had caused that short giggle, as well.

She knows not to mess with that tone, though her lips twist at hearing it used. It's enough to make her drop the topic, a little unhappily, before answering their question.

"Oh, that...? Well, if you know Lee, I'm sure you know how he dresses, right? Him and Gai-sensei?" She can't help but snort quietly through her nose, tilting her head to glance at her lover. "I'm glad you don't wear something like that. I would have to take it off for you~"

"That's hardly incentive to not wear it Tenten. That's just incentive to not wear it -long-." He flashed her an amused little smirk as he tied off her hair. "But no, I have no intention of ever putting on green spandex." He looked back to Obito. "Maito Gai, if he dressed like he does now as a child, is what you should be envisioning."

Now that makes him laugh. Their banter as well as imagining the outfit. And remembering Maito Guy, sweet mercy...

"Maybe black spandex," he speculated.

"No spandex," she's quick to correct, her hand able to come back enough to smack lightly against Itachi's thigh with a frown. "Sure I'd take it off, but you wouldn't enjoy it, trust me."

But hearing about her teacher as a child is enough to perk her interest, and she just tilts her head back, inviting Itachi's fingers to run through her bangs as she tries to catch sight of the other man. "You knew Gai-sensei?"

"He -is- the same age as Kakashi and Gai." It was an amused murmur as he looked down at her, taking the offer as meant and finger combing her hair.

"Also, do you really think it's even possible to manage unpleasant with me Tenten?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "We were all the same year. Me, Kakashi, Ri... all the others. Gai, Ebisu. Kurenai and Asuma." He paused, smirking just a little. "Gai-sensei," he repeated, like he was trying out the way that sounded.

Not appreciating feeling like the youngest one in the room, she starts to frown, but the lure of hearing about him from someone other than, well, him is too strong.

"They're all sensei, now," she says after a moment's pause, eyes falling closed under Itachi's fingers. "Gai-sensei has been mine for the past four... maybe five years now."

"My sensei was a yearmate of yours too Obito-nii." He turned to look at him with an amused noise. "Got old did you? I'm just seventeen, but you? You're at least mid-twenties, aren't you?"

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