December 24th
Title: The Christmas Rush
Author: rot_chan
Word count: 2,562
Genre: Humor & Fluff
Rating: T
Summary: Shisui, Itachi, and the wonders of department store shopping last-minute during the Christmas season.
Notes: Itachi is 13. Shisui is 14 going on 15. I was inspired by the RL disasters that have happened to me during the shopping season at Christmas. Also, this is AU due to the mall. [I wanted them to really celebrate Christmas, complete with cookie making and gift shopping.]
Shisui good-naturedly hummed a few lyrics to a Christmas carol he'd heard one too many times on the radio as he loped ahead of Fugaku and Itachi.
It was December 20th, and despite the fact it was very close to Christmas, they'd decided to go to the one place that seemed to carry everything: the mall.
The mall, which as it's commonly known, is swarmed at the holidays.
A woman angrily shoved a stroller through the exit doors not containing a baby, but about half a dozen shopping bags. Itachi stared at his father, who looked rather uncomfortable. "Well then - I suppose we should go inside." Itachi nodded, curling into his down jacket as he shivered from the cold.
It just so happened that Fugaku, apparently due to 'massive paperwork overload' (or maybe watching too many sports re-reruns on the DVR) had forgotten to get two of Mikoto's most important presents. Itachi was chosen to go with him, as it was obvious that Fugaku knew nothing about the mall - and Shisui ended up going too, as he knew even more about the mall than Itachi.
"What is it we are supposed to be getting for Mother?" Itachi asked, as Fugaku, annoyed, continued to press the handicap button again, and again...and again, as the door refused to open.
"A necklace and some face cream," Fugaku said, not sounding sure as he pressed the button with intensity, as it's obvious that pressing a button harder will make something work. Itachi wordlessly walked over to the door and with one mittened hand, pulled it open. Fugaku blinked before quickly walking through and muttering something under his breath. Itachi followed after.
And where was Shisui, anyway? That ball of hyperactivity - or so he was secretly called by Fugaku - had disappeared about ten minutes ago, because to Shisui the mall was a haven of mystical, materialistic wonders. It was a little sad, considering he was almost 15 already. After walking past a hair cuttery and a cell phone store, Itachi spotted Shisui. He was crouching on his knees, splashing a hand idly into a fountain adorned with fake ducks strung with white Christmas lights while a few nearby mothers with children stared.
"Hey Uncle Fu," Shisui called over his shoulder, "Can we go get some soft pretzels? I'm really hungry, I didn't even have breakfast today."
Fugaku sighed. Perhaps it translated into, Why did we have to bring that other kid too?
-
After getting lost through the vast Juniors department, Fugaku finally located the women's cosmetics department thanks to Shisui, who was useful with a map. But as it was filled with an abundance of assaulting, nauseating perfumes and dozens of counters showcasing everything from acne treatments to brow combs, it was one place Shisui was not going to be. Itachi, in all his loyalty, stuck by his father's side. Or as close to it as possible, as he ended up on the opposite end of the makeup counter.
Fugaku was now trying to find Mikoto's...facial product. "Yes," Fugaku read off of the list once more ,"it's a 'retin-A repairwear cream'."
"What kind of bottle is it?" The woman assisting him asked, batting her gem-studded false lashes.
He paused and answered carefully, "Round. Cylindrical. About half a foot tall." Itachi swiveled around a tiny makeup caddy, pretending to observe a multitude of sparkly eyeshadows.
"And what color?" She asked.
To which Fugaku responded, "...Purple."
"Does she have dry skin or oily skin, OR a mix of both skin types?" She asked, grabbing a handful of bottles. Fugaku balked. Itachi carefully poked at a cake-y neon green shade. It was rather awkward shopping with his father, who became agitated with employees at the drop of a hat. Itachi was just...staying out of it.
"How about," Fugaku said, "You ask me what month she'll be using it, and the day also? How about that?"
The woman at the counter blinked furiously as the other saleswomen tittered with amusement.
"I'll take this," Fugaku said, pointing to the nearest bottle that most closely resembled Mikoto's product. The saleswoman pursed her lips in distaste, ringing it up.
On the other end of the counter, Itachi was keeping himself carefully removed from the situation. Suddenly a middle aged woman politely approached him.
"Hello dear. May I help you try that on?" She asked.
Itachi looked up, rather caught off-guard. The woman smiled cheerfully. She was wearing a festive holiday sweater; apparently she was employed there. Itachi, thoroughly surprised and vaguely affronted, said uncomfortably, “No....Not today.” He walked back to his father.
Fugaku grabbed Mikoto's present from his saleswoman. Itachi walked over, a strange look on his face. "Let's go," Fugaku said brusquely. They walked over to the escalators.
Suddenly, someone called, “TRAITOR."
Fugaku halted. He looked over his shoulder. It was the saleswoman.
"Nice jacket, traitor," she sneered, referencing Fugaku's sports jacket, which had the logo of another football team instead of the logo of their home team. Fugaku, who openly supported an opposing team, had no qualms about showing it to anyone.
"Come on," Fugaku muttered as he dragged Itachi along by the elbow. "Get your ass over here Shisui," he called sternly. Shisui wandered over from the nearby shoe wracks, an inquisitive look directed towards Itachi as he hurried to catch up with them. Itachi said nothing.
Of course, an Uchiha doesn't take any taunt lightly - and naturally they're serious about their sports teams and their pride. As they rode up the escalator, Fugaku turned around to face the venomous saleswoman and said loudly - in fact, broadcasting it to the entire department- "SIX SUPERBOWLS. Soon to be SEVEN." The saleswoman sputtered; a few nearby shoppers stared with a mix of shock and amusement. And with that, they rode upstairs towards
the women's jewelry.
-
"Itachi, did I already tell you that - "
" - That was the 'one and only awesome thing my father has ever done'? Yes, I believe you have twice already," Itachi replied. Shisui bit back a grin.
"Yeah, Uncle FU! Never knew you had that in you..." Shisui chuckled, but trailed off when Fugaku shot him a withering look. Needless to say, that was a briefly disastrous (and to Shisui, hilarious) incident, but at least they now had one of Mikoto's presents. Now they stood trying to locate the jewelry department amongst the cookware, apparel and toys.
"Let's see...your mother says she wants..." Fugaku looked at the list. "Glass pearls? Where does your mother come up with these things?"
Itachi pointed out mildly, "Father, it is mother's birthstone, after all."
Fugaku said tersely, "Of course I know that. Don't get smart with me."
Shisui frowned. God, could Itachi's dad be any more of an ass? He got a sudden idea. "Hey Uncle Fu...why don't you go over and get that necklace or whatever it is Aunt Miko wants, and Itachi and I'll go over to see the TVs?" Shisui pointed in the opposite direction towards an enormous lit neon sign that said 'ELECTRONICS'.
Itachi looked at his father for approval. Fugaku sighed. "All right, all right, just go - but I'm warning you now, you'd better not go off and get yourselves lost," he called to their already retreating backs.
-
As Shisui raved about amazing new cellphones in a lit up display case, Itachi marveled at all of the Christmas decorations. They stood in the electronics section, which was filled with dozens of aisles and displays of things like laptops and PDAs. Itachi rarely went to the mall, and when he had it was never during the holidays. Huge wreaths with sparkling red ribbons were on the walls, fake snow was everywhere, an inflatable santa was in the corner by the speaker systems blasting carols, and for whatever reason the cashier was wearing antlers sewn with jingle bells.
There was something about Christmas to Itachi that seemed rushed and completely chaotic, but at the same time, it was...vibrant. Warm.
"Hey, Itachi - there's a huge room for flat screen TVs over there," Shisui said, shaking Itachi from his brief reverie. Itachi looked to where Shisui was pointing.
Across the room Itachi could see an entrance that indeed led to a room filled entirely with TVs, their bright artificial glow lighting up the darkness.
"We can go look, if you want," Itachi said.
"You read my mind," Shisui said pleasantly. Shisui was just about obsessed with electronics. His father worked as sales representative and for years he'd tested out all sorts of electronic products. Itachi found it to be almost silly, but to each his own, he supposed.
Shisui strolled over. He walked inside, looking at flat screen TVs that varied between 26 and 58 inches in size, appreciating their high-definition features. Itachi stood next to Shisui as the audio grew louder and a music video faded from black onto the rows of TV screens. Shisui motioned to the largest flatscreen TV in the dimly lit display area. "You know, you deserve to have one of those," he said. It killed him that Itachi used an old, outdated set in his bedroom. Naturally Itachi never asked for expensive presents.
There was a pause before Itachi replied in a painfully sensible way, "Shisui, you know that I am happy with what I have."
Shisui sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're so grown up and mature and everything." He shuffled his feet, looking out the corner of his eyes as Itachi stared at the floor. The hard, bright light from the TV screen cast an eerie kind of glow across Itachi's face; for a moment, he hardly even looked real.
To the sounds of The Waitresses, Shisui impulsively leaned down and kissed Itachi a bit too close to his mouth. Itachi made a small sound of surprise. After a moment Shisui drew away. "...You deserved that too," he said quietly.
There was a silence between them before they heard an almost comical gasp. They turned in unison and caught sight of two middle aged women gazing on at the scene, clutching their purses in shock.
Shisui rolled his eyes. "Wow. What idiots," he remarked as they hurried off in the opposite direction towards the cookware department. Itachi frowned; Shisui just shrugged innocently.
Suddenly Itachi walked off. "Hey, come on, you know you know you liked it - Itachi, don't be such a girl!" Shisui called exasperatedly as he ran to catch up. At this remark, Itachi paused near a mini toy display and grabbed the nearest stuffed santa, throwing it at Shisui's head. It bounced off of his right shoulder.
Shisui stopped in his tracks as Itachi just stood there, burning holes into the floor with his eyes. In disbelief, Shisui laughed, "Did you actually just throw a stuffed animal at me?"
Itachi frowned. "It was not a stuffed animal. It was stuffed a santa claus." Shisui stared incredulously. Leave it to Itachi to be completely fastidious.
Shisui picked up the doll and put it back onto the display wrack - but not before quickly kissing Itachi on the cheek. Smiling impishly, Shisui dragged a slightly bewildered Itachi off towards the jewelry. "Come on, you Grinch. We'd better hurry - you know your dad's a hard-ass."
-
By the time Fugaku finally found a strand of pearls for his wife, Shisui had already asked five times if they could please go to the pretzel store, because he didn't have breakfast, remember? Itachi, for whatever reason, had a slightly dazed look on his face - and Fugaku was losing his patience.
Eventually they did end up going to the pretzel store, as Shisui could be rather persuasive. Really, there was something about the shopping mall that disturbed Itachi's father to the point of almost being agreeable.
After finding the entrance Fugaku was completely out of breath and had a horrible migraine, only worsened by the sound of Shisui slurping soda through his straw. "Wait here - I'll get the car," Fugaku said tiredly, as Itachi worriedly watched him go.
Fugaku walked to the car. He sighed heavily, throwing himself into the driver's seat. Rubbing his hands together, he turned on the ignition and started to pull out of the parking lot. He was grateful for the silence compared to that ridiculous free-for-all in that shopping center -
But wait a moment. It was awfully quiet. That nephew of his never shut up. Fugaku looked into his mirror and - they weren't in the back seat.
SCREECH. That was the sound of Fugaku slamming on his breaks, turning around and driving to the front of the mall, back to a subtly confused Itachi standing outside beside a rather pleased Shisui, who was completely unaware he'd been accidentally forgotten as he ate another cinnamon butter pretzel stick.
Fugaku breathed heavily. He rolled down his window. Itachi started to ask, "Father...did you forget - "
"Just get in the damn car," Fugaku wheezed. He needed to take his Sectral.
-
It was a quiet drive back. The roads were filled with on and off traffic, and Fugaku found that it helped his headache to concentrate on the road. Mikoto's presents were safely tucked in the trunk. On the way home, Itachi inevitably thought about what had happened in the department store. Remembering how Shisui had kissed him like that; how afterwards his heart had beat unevenly, and his wrists shook. Itachi couldn't understand.
When they got home, Sasuke ran out of the house grinning and breathless - followed by Mikoto, who was scolding him for going outside without socks in the cold. "Nii-san, nii-san, come and see, I made cookies!" Sasuke called. At eight, Sasuke still appreciated all the simplistic fun things about Christmas.
Itachi and Shisui walked in to a total mess: flour on the counters, pots in the sink, baking sheets on the stove filled with warm, delicious sugar cookies just begging to be eaten -
"Ow! Aunt Miko, that kind of hurt," Shisui said offendedly, rubbing the back of his hand where Mikoto had given him a tiny slap.
"Shisui-kun, you're like a vacuum!” Mikoto chided. “These cookies are for Christmas.” She ignored Shisui's pout, shooing him out of the kitchen.
As they walked into the living room, Fugaku threw his coat onto the chair. Itachi sat on the couch, strangely tired. After that shopping trip he could not understand why anyone truly enjoyed going to the mall.
Shisui sat down beside him, turning on the TV and finding some Christmas special. As Fugaku walked upstairs he called, "Thanks for taking me shopping, Uncle Fu. Glad we could get in touch with our feminine sides."
Fugaku only muttered something under his breath about disrespect from kids and a 'smart mouth', as he went off to hide Mikoto's presents. “I just love making your dad hate me,” Shisui joked with a sigh.
As they settled in for an hour of mindless holiday cartoons, Itachi propped up an arm on the end of the sofa and smiled to himself. What happened was confusing and unexpected, but that was Shisui. And maybe it wasn't so bad.
Fin.
The lesson learned: Never buy your gifts last-minute at Christmas. I can picture Fugaku as a dad who'd become so stressed, he'd accidentally drive off without his kids. I made the woman in the cosmetics department suggest to Itachi to try on the eyeshadow, because I find it humorous to read fiction where Itachi is mistaken for a girl for his ‘feminine’ features. And if you were wondering what Sectral is, it's a blood pressure medication (haha). Anyway...happy stress-free holidays to everyone! I hope 2011 is a better year.