Itachi picked up the next kunai in the pile and rubbed the bloodied cleaning cloth over it. He held it up, examined it by the light of the candle flickering on his desk, and put it in a stack with the other clean weapons before reaching over to the first pile and pulling out another dirtied kunai. This one was in turned rubbed clean, inspected, and placed carefully into the clean stack.

As he reached for a third the sound of light footsteps reached his ears. Itachi's hand hovered in the air over the pile as he listened intently.

Bare feet on wood floor.

Fifty to sixty pounds.

Male.

The footsteps stopped right in front of his door and there was a light thud as the visitor sat down.

Itachi kept still for a few more seconds, but after determining that his guest wasn't going to move anymore, and pulled another kunai out of the pile and began cleaning it. Occasionally, his eyes would flicker over to the door, but the shadow he could clearly see outlined against the paper frame didn't stir. Putting his kunai down on the table, Itachi let out an audible sigh as he stood up and stretched before walking over to the door and sliding it open.

On the floor with his back to him sat Sasuke curled up with his blanket wrapped around his shoulders to keep out the cold air that came with the early hours of the morning. Wide seven-year-old eyes stared up at their big brother with a mixture of fear and questioning. His cheeks were red and moist. Itachi couldn't help but let his expression soften a bit.

"I had a bad dream," he sniffled.

"Go wake mom and dad."

Sasuke shook his head. "I dun wanna."

Itachi exhaled a little chuckle and held the door open wider. Sasuke smiled weakly as he got up and dragged himself in, the blanket still wrapped tightly around his shoulder. Closing the door after his brother, Itachi walked back over to his work table and sat again to finish his work. Behind him, Sasuke sat down on Itachi's futon and sniffled loudly. Without looking over his shoulder, Itachi knew exactly the kind of cute, pathetic, helpless little expression his brother wore. They sat in silence for a while broken only by the soft clang of metal and the occasional rustle of Sasuke's blanket as he wiped his nose.

"What was your dream about?" Itachi asked absently as he put down a shuriken and reached for another.

Sasuke sniffled again and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. For a second it seemed that he wasn't going to say anything and Itachi peeked over his shoulder as he rubbed the shuriken with his polishing cloth to see what Sasuke was doing.

"You went on a really long mission," he finally mumbled. "You were gone a really long time. So I went looking for you."

"Mhm," Itachi nodded as he inspected the weapon in his hand.

"I searched a long, long time and then I found you." Sasuke's voice began to tremble like he was about to cry again.

Itachi put down the weapon and turned around in his chair. Sasuke was pulling his blanket so tightly around himself his knuckles were starting to lose color. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was shaking.

"I-I found you. A-and y-you were…you were." Sasuke let out a little sob and fat tear rolled down his cheek.

Itachi got up from his chair, kneeled down in front of his little brother, and looked at him crying for a moment before gingerly wrapping him in a hug. Sasuke flinched at the contact, but leaning forward anyway and hid his face in the crook of his brother's shoulder.

"Dead?" Itachi asked when Sasuke stopped shaking.

The little boy shook his head. "Killed."

"Is that all?" Itachi's voice was soft, "You know it was just a dream."

"I r-ran to you," he continued, sobbing, "bu-but you were already dead and he…the one who killed you...he...he was still standing over you. He was happy." Itachi felt fresh hot tears against his shoulder.

"You know Sasuke," Itachi began, running his fingers through his brother's spiky hair, "for ever choice that you make as a Shinobi, you make an enemy. There's no way to—"

"He was me! I was the one that was standing over your dead body!" Sasuke screamed. "I was the one that was happy you were dead!"

The shadow of a knowing smile passed Itachi's lips. "Would you ever kill me?"

Sasuke jerked out of his brother's embrace and looked up at him in horror. "No! I would never—"

"Well then what are you crying about? It was just a dream."

"Yeah, but…but…"

"Sh," Itachi pulled back the covers on his bed and nudged Sasuke to lie down. "You're tired. Everything will be better in the morning." Sasuke pouted stubbornly, but lay his head down on Itachi's pillow anyway and let Itachi pull the blanket back over him. "Sleep now."

"I'm not tired."

"Then I'll sit here until you fall asleep."

"But…But you said today you had a mission tomorrow."

"It's not until the evening."

"Does that mean you'll help me train with shuriken tomorrow?" Sasuke's voice was quiet. He was already half-asleep as it was.

A pause.

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Sasuke smiled sleepily. "Yay," whispered as his eyelids finally lost their battle with gravity. An angelic expression fell onto his face and his breath evened out.

Itachi, still sitting beside the futon, reached over and gently wiped a forgotten tear from Sasuke's cheek. "I wish I could keep that promise," he uttered quietly as to not wake him. "I wish," Itachi paused and brushed a few stray hairs from his brother's forehead, "I wish I didn't have to kill you tomorrow. I don't think I could do it." Sasuke mumbled something in his sleep and turned, grabbing Itachi's hand and hugging it to his body. Itachi smiled weakly, and but didn't move to pull away. "No, I'm certain I can't."

The candle on the table flickered warningly, the wax all put melted away. "I'm sorry, Sasuke," Itachi whispered as he leaned forward to plant a kiss to his little brother's forehead.

"May all your dreams come true."