Brotherly Love
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. The manga belongs to Kishimoto-san, the anime to Jump. (?)
Summary: You may not believe me, but my brother loves me. Ita/Sasu, Sasu/Naru.
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No one will believe me (except for maybe Naruto, but then he'd believe me if I told him the sky was really purple, not blue) but my brother loves me.
I can see your stunned face already…or maybe you're thinking, "maybe when they were young…?"?
No.
My brother still loves me.
He loved me then, and I loved him back more than a brother should.
Itachi…
Memories…of piggyback rides and leapfrog games…of sneaking food from the kitchen at 2 AM…then, later, sneaking kisses at 2 AM…then whenever our parents weren't looking…
They caught us.
They caught him.
I don't know what they told him then (now, I have a pretty good idea) but first he cried. For a whole day and the better part of a night, he cried. I could hear his sobs next door, (my brother! Sobbing, he who'd barely shown emotion!) my mother trying to console him at first, my father screaming about how he'd brought dishonor to our name, how this was not what was expected of his elder son…then, my mother, swayed by my father's words, screeching at him for violating me.
They didn't let us meet for weeks. We didn't see each other for weeks.
But Itachi found a way. He found me, and he'd been angrier that day than I'd ever seen him. I've still never seen him so angry. I was leaving school, and he caught me by my collar and dragged me away to the forest. He shoved me against a tree and we stayed there for almost twenty minutes (I was watching his wristwatch) before he finally said something.
"Do you love me?"
I nodded vigorously.
"Do you know its wrong, the way we love?"
More vigorous nodding.
He relaxed a little.
"Didn't you start it?"
Very vigorous nodding.
"Speak, damn it, I don't want your head falling off," he said, a note of amused despair creeping into his voice.
"Ok."
"Do you like it?"
"Yes."
"Even though it's wrong? Your friends won't like it. Okaa-san and Chichi-ue don't. They think it's gross."
I was confused. Loving Itachi was the most natural thing in my world. How could it be gross? I said so. He laughed.
"Anyway. I'm ok with this. With loving you, and only you, even if other people try to stop me, or stop loving me. Are you ok with this?"
"Yes!"
"Will you promise to always love me? Always, always, no matter what I do, or how bad you feel?"
"Yesssss…" I was a little boy, quickly growing impatient with my brother's persistent line of questioning. I had never considered the possibility of stopping to love him.
"Good. Well then…I'm running away. There's this club, for big boys, called Akat—well, never mind. There's a club for big boys I'm joining and…but…oh, Sasu, don't—"
I'd started crying.
"I'll come back!" he said exasperatedly, "I'll come back. When you're old enough to leave, a little older than I am now…when you're older I'll come back. Then, we'll love each other all the time. Who knows, maybe our parents will be ok with it by then…"
But he didn't look me in the eye when he said the last bit.
So he left. Killed the clan, left me drowning in loneliness, so that there was no one left to change my mind, so that I would wait for him forever, he killed everyone, and left Konoha.
He came back, like he promised. But he hadn't counted on one tiny but very significant detail.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Naruto of the blue eyes, Naruto of the Nine Tails' chakra, Naruto who shook me out of my loneliness, Naruto who showed me the world and showered me in life, Naruto whom everyone believes to be my first kiss, Naruto of the sexy no jutsu, Naruto of the ramen stand.
Naruto, whom I love.
Not more than my brother. Never more than my brother. But our bond is different. He and I were both victims of fate. I cannot leave him. We are friends, and also so much more.
Itachi understood. I don't think he'd ever expected me to wait as long as I did. He'd found Kisame, in any case.
So that is the story of us Uchiha brothers…on the surface, broiling with hatred, an inch beneath it, drowning in our love for each other.
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I'm so proud of myself! But never mind me, go on, what did you think??