(sighs heavily) Hi guys! Damn, it has been such a long time... it really saddens me, but college has just been keeping me so busy! I tell you, I can't wait until my exams will be over at the end of January - because in the three weeks of vacation that will follow them, I am determined to spend a fair share of my time writing (and with a new laptop and Windows 7 instead of that darn Vista, it will be an even greater pleasure ^^)!
In case some of you are wondering: I haven't forgotten about PIE, not at all, but those darn teachers swamped us with projects, and I haven't had much time to gather inspiration. However, I have written part of the next chapter, so at this point I'm hoping that writer's block won't be a problem when I can spend more time on the story. I'm still hanging in there...
Anyway, I've finally managed to write a fic for a holiday! It might not be much, considering that I've been writing on such an irregular basis, but I hope it's somewhat enjoyable anyway! :)
Note: AU, ItaSasu... and I'd say Sasuke is 15 or 16 years old.
"We're home!"
A stampede seemed to have broken out in the living room, judging by the sounds that reached Konan's ears. She knitted her brow as she discarded her traveling cloak.
"Um… hi Konan! Be with you in a minute!" a voice called hurriedly before a door slammed shut.
The blue-haired woman sighed. "What are they up to this time…?"
"Maybe they have a surprise for you," Sasuke suggested.
"If that is the case, then they must not be done with it yet. Come on, let's go ambush them."
Sasuke grinned. "I'm with you."
Together, they went to the living room, where there was such a ruckus going on that there was no need for them to sneak up. In fact, they didn't even need to press their ears against the door to hear a fair deal of what was being said inside:
"…I told you to get it three days ago!"
"Zetsu kept getting in the way! It isn't my fault!"
"Can't we just use him instead, un?"
"You know he hates candles, moron."
"What about electric lights, then?"
"Have mercy on our budget; we've already spent enough money!"
"Are you kidding? It's hard to get a decent present with the lousy sum we're allowed to spend! You're getting stingier every year!"
"Wait a minute! How come we have to do all the fucking work? Where's Itachi?!"
Sasuke perked up at the sound of his brother's name. Noticing this, Konan smiled.
"…Say, that's a good question. Kisame?"
"Um… uh… he said he wouldn't be back for… er… a while…" the shark-man answered carefully.
"That fucking weasel!"
"No fair!"
"What's so important that he can't lend a hand? A date, un?"
"Will you all just shut up?! Konan will hear us…!"
When Sasuke fidgeted uneasily, Konan took a deep breath.
"I think this has gone on long enough. We're going in."
Looking rather concerned, Sasuke nodded, and Konan took this as her cue to open the door in a rather dramatic fashion.
"…so if we can head them off, we –" Pein paused when the jaws of all present members dropped. "Hey, I'm still talking! Hello?" He snapped his fingers impatiently.
Deidara shakily raised one hand and pointed just past Pein's shoulder.
"Shit," Hidan whispered.
"What?" Pein snorted, then spun around. But when he did, all the color left his face. Like a goldfish, his mouth opened and closed several times with no sound escaping his lips.
Konan stood in the doorway, looking around the room. The others demonstratively refused to look her in the eye. Sasuke too was looking around, but undoubtedly only to make sure that his brother really wasn't there, whereas Konan took her time to take notice of everything in the room. When she was done and put her hands on her hips, the others cringed.
"Something is missing," she said in an almost quiet tone of voice. It was the signal that whomever it concerned, they were in trouble.
"M-Missing?" Pein repeated.
"Why, yes. What day is it again, Sasuke?" she asked the teenage boy right behind her.
He raised an eyebrow, wondering why she was asking, for he was pretty sure that she knew the answer to begin with. "December 23rd."
Konan hummed in agreement, then stared at Pein in a silent demand for him to explain himself. One could tell that he was trying to come up with a good excuse, and fast. But when he failed to provide her with that in time and none of the others made any attempts to do that in his place, she narrowed her eyes.
"What have you been doing all this time? I see no decorations, no mistletoe, no Christmas tree, and it smells as if something blew up not too long ago instead of like cookies. Well?"
Despite her rather menacing tone of voice when she spoke the last word, nobody provided her with an answer. This in turn made her cross her arms and begin to tap her foot impatiently.
"Three… two…" she counted down.
Finally the others cracked, and everyone started talking at once.
"We didn't forget, un –"
"– so much to do –"
"They never listen!"
"– money –"
"– Zetsu went into tree-hugger-mode –"
"– run out of flour –""
"We did? I thought we still had some…"
"Psst!"
"Time sure does fly…"
"Silence!" Konan yelled. The others shut up instantly. "Much better. Listen, all I asked of you was to make the place look festive. Get a tree and put it up in the living room, bake some cookies, hang up decorations, the works. We gave you nearly a week to do this, and the fact that nothing got done at all is incredibly disappointing. We're trying to avoid last-minute-stress, not create it! I sure hope you're happy…"
This elicited some mumbling from most, and Pein fidgeted. He reckoned he would be lucky if he managed to get along with her again over these holidays. "Sorry, Konan…"
She sighed. "Oh, we might as well get started – there's still a day left. Kisame, Hidan and Kakuzu, you're responsible for decorating the hideout. Deidara and Sasori, you go get the tree; and if you see Zetsu, tell him to let you in work in peace unless he wants an early Christmas 'present'. Is that clear?"
"Crystal," they answered in unison and immediately went to get started. Pein was the only one left now.
"Pein, you're coming with me," she instructed him.
Hesitantly, he approached her. "Listen, Konan, I really tried, but –"
The somewhat miffed expression on her face faded away, and she raised a hand to silence him. "I know, I know. Let's forget about that now and make some more cookies instead." She grabbed his hand and led him away. Pein remained unsure until Konan kissed his cheek reassuringly. Relieved, he calmed down and squeezed her hand warmly, which made her smile in that way he simply adored…
x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x
As soon as Konan had finished giving out orders, Sasuke deposited the bag of newly-purchased ornaments on a chair and hurried after Kisame, who was shooing a now bickering Kakuzu and Hidan along.
"Kisame, wait! Where's Itachi? You know, don't you?"
"Actually, I don't. I only know that he isn't here," the shark-man hastily replied, looking around if he expected Konan to swoop down on them any second and catch him dawdling. Sasuke gave him a look that was a cross between skeptical and begging for an answer all the same. "Listen, I really don't know! He should be back soon, though."
"Did he miss me?" Sasuke asked as he had to trot to keep up.
"Um… sure, why wouldn't he? You're his brother and all…"
"But he didn't say so?" Sasuke concluded disappointedly.
"He has been kinda silent lately, but don't worry too much about it. Now I really gotta get on with it unless I want Konan to make sushi out of me," Kisame said nervously.
Feeling rather put out, Sasuke stopped so they could get their job done in peace. "Okay, then," he muttered, then headed for the door again while Kisame quickly became very busy as he tried to stop Hidan from fiddling around with the lametta and thus drive Kakuzu crazy.
After all the commotion in the hideout, the outdoors was almost eerily silent, Sasuke thought as he stepped out into the cold again. Since it was nearly evening, it was quite dark, yet one could still see the snowflakes softly falling to the ground, adding to the whiteness under which all grass had vanished by now. Hanging from many tree branches were icicles of various sizes, some of which could be broken off without much effort whereas others were out of reach or couldn't be obtained without the aid of kunai or shuriken. It could only be described as a winter wonderland. And yet… no matter how beautiful the sight was, Sasuke felt like something was missing. Or rather, someone.
He recalled what Deidara had said. His brother and a date? With whom? Itachi had never mentioned anything about some romantic interest – why would he, Sasuke thought with a hint of pride, when he had repeatedly stated that his little brother meant more to him than everything else, including his own life? Then again, the younger Uchiha figured as he rubbed his arms a bit when he got goose bumps, who said that that he hadn't met some lovely girl while on his numerous missions? The thought filled Sasuke with jealousy and anxiety alike, for he wanted his undoubtedly often sought-after brother for himself. Recently, however, Itachi had awfully little time for him due to missions, and like Kisame had said, he also was silent, so of course Sasuke began to have serious doubts about his ambition. If only he could –
"Mmmmmph! Mmmmpf!"
Sasuke temporarily abandoned his train of thought when an odd humming noise reached his ears. Curiously, he spun around himself once in an attempt to determine where it had come from.
"Mmmmmmh!"
There it was again… and Sasuke wondered if he had just gone nuts when it seemed to be coming from the snowman.
'Wait, what? Snowman? I didn't even notice it before, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't there when we left,' Sasuke thought, bewildered.
Suddenly, the snowman's arms began to move. Stiffly, but it moved! Sasuke jumped back, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. The coal eyes of the snowman continued to stare unseeingly at the world while it now seemed to be trying to wave its arms frantically. Warily, Sasuke stepped up to the snow sculpture and poked its face. When it didn't lash out at him, he began to brush away the snow. Noticing something orange buried beneath it, he raised an eyebrow. Either this snowman was extremely poorly built, or…
"Hi, Sasuke-sempai!"
"Tobi?!" Sasuke asked in disbelief.
"Tobi is very happy to see you!" the man greeted him (though some members seriously questioned whether Tobi really was a man or simply an overgrown boy).
"What are you doing?" Sasuke inquired as he hurried to free Tobi from his snowy prison.
The masked member was remarkably unfazed about this. "Being a good boy!"
When all he got was a baffled look in return, he explained: "Deidara-sempai said that he needed a model for his snowman, so Tobi agreed to help!"
"How did you know I was here, anyway? You couldn't see me, after all," Sasuke said.
"Tobi could sense your chakra."
"Ah… But why didn't you, um, make yourself noticeable when Konan and I came back? You would have spent at least a little less time under the snow."
As if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Tobi replied: "You were talking to each other, and Tobi didn't want to interrupt."
"Oh, brother…"
Minutes later, Sasuke had removed enough snow that Tobi could break free for good by himself. Sasuke watched him hop around to get rid of some snow that had gotten into the collar of his cloak.
"Weren't you freezing?"
"Deidara-sempai said that builds character, so Tobi built lots of character today!" Tobi answered proudly.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and shook his head, but smiled all the same. Tobi was so naïve… Deidara could ask basically anything of him, and he would always nearly trip over his own feet to please the blond and prove that he was a "good boy". Come to think of it, it occurred to Sasuke, he was surprised that neither he nor Konan had noticed that Tobi was missing when they had come home.
"Deidara-sempai will be unhappy that we broke the snowman, though," Tobi commented, eying the snowman's remains guiltily.
"I believe it's better to sacrifice a snowman than have you freeze to death," Sasuke said.
"We probably should rebuild it anyway, or else we'll be bad boys." Tobi sounded worried now.
"Don't you want to warm up first?"
"I mustn't disappoint Deidara-sempai!" Tobi quickly struck a valiant pose before he eagerly began to rebuild the snowman.
"Well, I guess I'll help you, then," Sasuke offered.
"Thanks, Sasuke-sempai!"
"No problem."
And so Sasuke helped Tobi rebuild the snowman. He still missed Itachi and couldn't wait to see him again, but on the other hand, if his brother were here, maybe he wouldn't even be spending this quality time with Tobi. Itachi didn't trust him, claiming that he was an old, evil Uchiha, but Sasuke couldn't believe it. Tobi was one of the most harmless people he knew, and he also hadn't seen him use the Sharingan. Besides, Tobi didn't look old, didn't sound old, and he certainly didn't act old… Itachi wouldn't like this at all, Sasuke thought as he helped Tobi heave the snowman's head onto the body. But what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him…
Later, when the snowman was rebuilt, they went back inside, where Konan ordered them both to warm up at the fire with some hot chocolate and freshly-baked cookies.
x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x
On Christmas Eve, Sasuke awoke to the feeling of something warm on his cheek. Blearily, he opened his eyes, blinked… and noticed a human hand. Gasping, he jerked away, pushing himself against the head of the bed in an attempt to scramble away.
"Easy there, otouto. It's only me," a familiar deep voice spoke.
Sasuke snapped out of his brief state of panic and began to breathe easier again although his heart was still pounding. Standing beside his bed was not Orochimaru licking his lips with his purple tongue, but Itachi instead.
"…Itachi," he said faintly.
"I didn't mean to startle you like that. Perhaps I should refrain from doing this in the future," Itachi remarked concernedly.
Sasuke allowed himself to relax with a sigh. Smiling, he gazed at Itachi. "You're finally back, aniki."
With a sly smile playing on his lips, Itachi sat down on the bedside. "I could say the same of you, you know."
"So you missed me?"
"That's a rhetorical question, Sasuke."
"I just thought… you know, because you've been rather silent lately, and Deidara wondered if you were on a date… It could happen, I guess…" Sasuke trailed off.
Offering him his best smile, Itachi shook his head. "I can assure you that I am seeing no one… no one but you. Therefore, of course I missed you, very much in fact. However, if you desire confirmation anyhow, I believe I can provide that," Itachi offered, shifting until he was effectively pinning Sasuke beneath him.
His sibling's eyes glinted with anticipation. "Sounds good."
"Splendid," Itachi purred, then he bowed his head and tenderly kissed Sasuke. In no time at all, the younger one of the two hummed delightedly and grabbed the collar of Itachi's cloak, giving it a tug. Itachi gladly deepened their kisses, silently thanking God for granting him moments like this despite everything he had done. He had vowed to do his very best to always make Sasuke happy, no matter what it took. Which reminded him…
"Otouto, you never told me what you want for Christmas. Surely there must be something that you want, hmm?" he whispered before kissing Sasuke very lightly on the forehead.
"There is one thing," Sasuke admitted.
"Well then, perhaps you should quickly tell me what it is, otherwise I'll be empty-handed this evening."
"There's no need to hurry, because all I want is you, aniki."
"That's all? Are you sure?" Itachi asked reassuringly.
"I'm positive. What more could I want than being with the one I love?"
"Sasuke…" Itachi sighed, lovingly running his fingers through Sasuke's hair.
"Hey, you never said what you wanted either," Sasuke pointed out.
"That's because I already get presents throughout the year. Hearing you say that you love me, when you kiss me… and simply being with you; I couldn't possibly ask for more."
"Then I guess we're already giving each other our presents," Sasuke chuckled.
"Indeed. Merry Christmas, Sasuke."
"Merry Christmas, Itachi. I love you so much…"
"And I love you just as much, otouto."
Feeling that no more words needed to be said for now, they kissed again, picking up where they had left off. And as passion overcame them, they figured that they could afford to show up a bit later for the last-minute Christmas preparations…
I hope I haven't lost my touch too much, so I'll be interested in your feedback.
I've still got several projects that need to be completed, but all the same, I'll try to reply to everyone's PMs and emails as soon as possible! I just hope I'm not trying your patience too much... ^^; (This goes especially for SS and CC... I swear I'm feeling so horrible about it...!)
Other than that, the only thing that is left to say is: I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and I wish you all a Happy New Year! Good luck for everyone in 2010!
Season's greetings,
~devotedtodreams