Broken Heaters Warm Hearts, a naruto fanfic

Hi all! This is a bonus fic to celebrate the 52nd chapter of "Itachi: The Early Years". It was originally in a previous chapter, but I cut it because in the story Itachi is starting to distance himself from his family and this scene was way too "fluffy" for that. However, it's too cute to delete… or at least I thought so xD

This is a stand-alone one-shot, so you don't have to read the main story to understand the action.

Description: Sasuke's heater is broken, but Itachi will fix it because big brothers can do anything.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto

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Broken Heaters Warm Hearts

"Itachi? Big brother?" A small voice spoke as something pulled on Itachi's blanket. "I'm cold. My heater broke."

Itachi quickly woke up, fully alert, but spoke without opening his eyes or pulling his blankets away from his face, "Go tell mother." As he slowly opened his eyes he could see through the blanket that Sasuke had turned the lights on.

"I don't wanna bother her. Can you look at it? Please?" The young boy was speaking through clenched teeth and Itachi poked his head out of the covers, curious about why his little brother would talk that way.

The brightly lit, immaculately clean room was quiet except for the humming of the heater. Sasuke stood stiff, in his striped white and blue pajamas and blue robe. His bare feet were firmly planted on the floor. Arms wrapped tightly around his torso, Sasuke shivered and his face was very pale.

"Shit Sasuke! How long has your heater been broken?" He grabbed his brother and pulled him under the blankets then quickly climbed out of the bed. Wrapping the blankets around the small boy, he pulled up on the black comforter so it covered his head. Sasuke pulled his legs up to his chest and buried his face in the warm blankets.

"I don't know. I just woke up. I kept having nightmares about being alone in the cold. I was an orphan and it was snowing and then I fell asleep in a snowdrift and I was wondering if it was warm when you died. Then I woke up and I really was cold and scared!" Itachi watched as Sasuke continued to shiver; his teeth chattering as he rapidly answered the question.

Itachi grabbed his own gray robe and put it on, tying it securely around his waist. He then dipped his feet into his matching gray slippers. Squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head he tried to chase the sleep away. He had returned from an ANBU assassination mission only a few hours earlier. The assignment had taken three days and in all that time he had only gotten about four hours of sleep. The soldier pills were starting to wear off, making him groggy and a little nauseous.

He sighed as he looked down at his little brother. Sasuke always tried so hard to be independent, but still, he wasn't ashamed to ask Itachi for help. Their father practically ignored his youngest son and Itachi had cursed him several times behind his back for that. It put him in a position of having to play "father" to his little brother. Training him occasionally, or talking, or even praising his accomplishments. Itachi could see how promising Sasuke's future was, but it looked like Fugaku didn't. Or perhaps just ignored it. As much as Sasuke sought his elder brother's attention, if was the acknowledgement of their father that he desired the most.

"I'll take a look at your heater." Itachi walked silently out of the room and into the cold hallway. Through the window he could see the bright stars, full moon and the thick white frost covering the garden. It was so bright out, it almost looked like it had snowed.

Itachi decided to first heat some tea for his brother. Entering the kitchen he was surprised to see Fugaku sitting at the table. He was wearing his police chief uniform, reading a scroll and yawning. Itachi assumed he was on a break from the nightshift and came home for a snack. Next to him was a thermos and a cup of steaming tea.

"May I take some tea for Sasuke?" Itachi asked politely, glancing at the thermos.

"Sure. What happened? It's almost 3am." Fugaku poured some tea into one of the cups Mikoto always kept on the table.

"His heater is broken and he's got a mild case of hypothermia." Itachi took the tea cup and quickly excused himself, returning to his room.

Holding Sasuke up he lifted the cup to his brother's lips and smiled when the boy shuddered as warmth returned to his insides. After a couple sips Sasuke was able to hold the cup himself.

"I'll go look at your heater now." Itachi smiled at Sasuke, who grinned back in relief.

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Walking into his brother's room Itachi paused when he saw that Fugaku had beaten him there and was bending over the heater, frowning. He hadn't expected their father to show any interest in a broken heater. The household was usually left to their mother.

"It's broken alright. In fact, I'd say someone kicked it." Fugaku sighed in annoyance and stood up, clenching his fists. Itachi looked at the heater and saw that there were several large dents on all four sides of the unit. It was an oil heater and Itachi repressed an urge to shudder. It could have caught fire.

"No wonder he refused to go to mother." Itachi shook his head, realizing he was going to have to sleep on the floor. There was no way Sasuke could return to his room tonight. He looked around at the messy room. Clothes were strewn around, a couple stuffed animals were shurikened to the wall and his school books were thrown on the floor by his desk, which had also been kicked several times. It looked almost like he had thrown a huge tantrum and taken it out on his possessions.

"I'd kick him for doing this, but hopefully getting cold taught him a better lesson. Don't fix it. I think I'll have him buy a new one out of his allowance." Fugaku walked out of the room, stifling another yawn.

Itachi nodded his head once, acknowledging his father's comments then followed him out of the room.

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"Why did you kick your heater, Sasuke?" Itachi said as he laid out his bedroll next to the bed. He lay down and tilted his head back on the pillow, trying to get comfortable.

"I was mad."

"Obviously."

"At school, Naruto keeps challenging me and these girls keep following me," Sasuke's voice was very quiet as if he were admitting something he was ashamed of. It was a couple minutes before he spoke again, "Especially this pink haired girl and this blonde haired girl. It's so annoying. Everywhere I go, there they are."

Itachi almost laughed, but he knew it would make things worse. His class had been older than him so he didn't have a lot of the problems his brother was facing. And he was out of the village so often that he didn't really even know many villagers outside of his ANBU comrades. Sasuke, on the other hand, was in a class of children his own age and came into contact with many villagers.

"Why don't you kiss them?" Itachi teased.

"Icky! They're girls Itachi!" Sasuke said with disgust.

"So says the six-year-old." Itachi continued to tease his brother, smiling under his blankets.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you kiss Sheeta then?" Sasuke said sarcastically.

Itachi smirked, then countered using the same tone Sasuke had used a minute ago. "Icky! She's a girl!"

Sasuke didn't respond right away. Finally, in a serious voice, he asked, "You mean you haven't kissed her yet?"

"Sasuke!" Itachi was shocked by his brother's tone and question. "We're only eleven. Why would we be kissing?" Curiously, he had a sudden vision of Sheeta's mother catching them and washing their mouths out with soap as punishment. 'Where did that come from?' we wondered silently.

"You hold hands, though. I saw you. Mother said it was cute." Sasuke was pleased with himself; he had found something to tease his brother about.

"That's… that's different." Itachi was wondering how he let himself get into this conversation with a little kid.

"Uh-huh." Sasuke responded, smiling. "Auntie said she hopes it's a boy. What did she mean by that?"

"Sasuke… Go to sleep." Itachi sighed, he could feel his cheeks turning red and was very happy that the lights were off and the heating element on the heater was not bright enough to see with.

Sasuke closed his eyes and snuggled into the blankets, very warm, and very happy. 'Maybe I should break my heater more often.' He thought as he drifted off to sleep.

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In case you didn't catch it, Sheeta is Itachi's girlfriend. She is also an Uchiha.

Yeah, well, big brother didn't fix the heater, but Sasuke doesn't care xD

Reviews always welcome! Anonymous accepted.