Nii-chan

Arc 01

Somersault

The young boy opened his eyes, immediately catching sight of the slumbering person next to him. It was a rather quiet morning in spite of the fact that it had been the rustling in the kitchen that had awakened Sasuke. There was an extravagant chirping going on outside the open window. When the bird first started singing, the sound it produced was very much comparable to the sound a microphone made when being held too close to the speaker. But as it gained momentum, it sounded more like the bird was madly calling for someone. The black haired boy turned his head to look out the window. There sat a Japanese bush warbler. Sasuke knew that because it was a common bird. His brother had taught him the names of several birds.

"Breakfast's ready." The boy guided his tired eyes towards the door where a short woman with long red hair stood with a wide smile adorning her face, though her expression changed when she saw that Itachi was still sleeping. "Oi, koibito, Sasuke needs to go to school soon. Don't you think it's time to get up and get ready?"

The pale boy looked down at his brother whose body started moving under the kakebuton.

"Just a minute," he answered lazily and grabbed his brother, forcing him down again just as he was about to follow Mei into the kitchen.

"Nii-chan! I'm gonna be late for school." Sasuke was not too happy about being pulled around against his will so he put on a pout.

Itachi just laughed at the face he made. "You don't even mean that. Come here." The young boy giggled when his brother pulled him closer and wrapped his arms around him.

Sasuke could not help but nuzzle up against his brother's warm body. He inhaled the sweet scent of the other's hair and buried his nose in it. There was nothing like Itachi's hair. It smelled just as good as Mei's, probably because they were using the same shampoo, but Itachi's had not gone hard from several bleaches or hair dyes. No, Itachi's was as soft as a kitten's fur. Sasuke liked that.

Five minutes went by before Mei called again, this time in a more serious tone. She was not the strict type at all, in fact, after Itachi, she was the mildest and most gentle person Sasuke knew.

Itachi finally dragged his body out of bed, leaving Sasuke's small form without a source of heat. The young boy groaned with dissatisfaction and curled up into a ball. He was on the verge of sleep yet again.

"Otouto, we better get up now." The black haired boy cracked open one eye and watched his brother get dressed. But when Itachi turned around to see if Sasuke had gotten up, the boy instantly closed it again to pretend to be asleep.

Itachi sighed loudly though far from fretful.

"What am I gonna do about you?" he chuckled and went to the footer of the bed to tickle Sasuke's feet.

Sasuke could not hold his mask and burst into laughter right away. "S-Stop, Nii-chan, ple-please!"

Itachi smiled heartwarmingly as he granted Sasuke his wish, patting his feet lovingly a few times before walking out the bedroom. Sasuke was on his feet in no time and followed right behind his brother to the kitchen where the bright green eyed Mei stood waiting.

Itachi followed Sasuke to school as he usually did once both of them were finally ready. Before they parted ways, Sasuke had overheard Itachi talking over the phone. He knew it had something to do with work when Itachi told the man to come to the given location alone. The young boy was not completely sure what his brother's work actually were or what it was he sold to all those customers, but he had figured out a while ago that it was not all legal because of the many visits the police had paid them over the years.

Sasuke was an excellent student and he did not mind going to school at all, but occasionally, his mind would drift away from kanji characters, math tests and similar things to think of what awaited him at home instead. He was a pretty popular guy with both genders in his class because of his charms and brains, but still, Sasuke did not have many friends. The only one he really needed in his life was his brother.

At two o'clock, Itachi came to pick up Sasuke from school. They took the short way home that day. Instead of walking through the park to watch some of the elders play ping-pong or bet on which of the older ladies would run cold first, they crossed the Sora bridge and the broad road Itachi always told Sasuke not to cross without him or Mei by his side. It felt like they were in a hurry, but Sasuke had no idea why.

He noticed that a small yet unmistakable smile was playing on Itachi's lips. It had been ever since he came to pick him up. Itachi usually wore that imperturbable smile whenever he and Mei had gotten some alone time. But that day it seemed somewhat different. Sasuke could not put a finger on it, but something was definitely different. Perhaps it was the way his brother's eyes sparkled with blessedness?

They arrived at home earlier than normal that day. Mei was waiting by a table stacked with all sorts of delicious food. Sasuke especially noticed the juubako with osechi-ryouri that was placed exactly in the middle of the kotatsu.

Itachi quickly switched from his shoes to his slippers and walked over to his older girlfriend who tilted back her head to give him a welcome-home kiss.

Sasuke raised a leery brow as he went to sit down at the table. What was different?

"Sasuke?" Itachi said suddenly when they were done eating. Well, everyone except for Sasuke. He was still busy with gorging himself on all the fish within his reach. The young boy's stuffed face looked up at his brother, signaling that he was listening.

Both Mei and Itachi chuckled happily when seeing Sasuke was enjoying the festive meal.

"There's something we wanna tell you." Sasuke's eyes wandered from Itachi to Mei. She had that same smile. What was going on?

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, nearly spitting out some of the fish he had chewed thoroughly already. He was getting impatient. All they did were smile at each other.

"I'm pregnant." Mei's smile then went from ear to ear and she blushed slightly when Itachi started petting her thigh.

That night Sasuke slept in his own bed. He lay wondering what it would be like once the baby came. Would it feel like having a younger brother?

He bit his lip and turned in his bed. He just hoped that things would not continue with feeling so different.

oOoOoOoOoOo

So far, I have six arcs written. I plan on making a seventh arc, but that would just be an epilogue.

Anyway, the chapters are not going to be particularly long, but they will vary in length. Most is around one thousand words while two are over two thousand words and only one chapter is under a thousand words. But instead of getting long chapters, you will get an update everyday till the story is over, which will be in approximately seven days – if I write the epilogue. Well, I guess I'll wait and see...

I had a lot of fun writing this, though it's been an intense couple of days – almost three days straight and finally, I finished it.

The fic is an exclusive to my longer story, Anything Else?, but even if you aren't familiar with it, it shouldn't really make a difference when reading this. The only thing you won't be able to - when not knowing the other fic - is compare Itachi's characters: discover how he acts when he isn't at parties. So it really doesn't have anything to do with the story itself.

I hope you enjoyed it and will be back for more tomorrow :)

PS: My friend, Adamantyne, just finished another story called "A Child" with Yamato, Kakashi and Naruto. You should read it. If the pairing doesn't sound very compelling, you should still go and check out some of her other stories. She's a GREAT writer^^!

See ya' tomorrow :D