For those of you reading manga that you bought, meaning you've only read up to about book 9, major spoilers. Foranyonewho just got tuned into Naruto awesomeness by CartoonNetwork, bigger spoilers. Nevermind, you should be grounded from life because you watch that shit Naruto on Toonami. They ate it, threw it up, raped it, pissed on it a bit and then put it on the air. Go to and watch/read the real stuff and stop failing.

So anyway, I randomly started writing this one night, enjoy!

The cold wind whipped through young Sasuke's jet black hair. All the leaves had long since fallen from the trees. He gave an involuntary shiver, and clutched the back of Itachi's shirt tighter. His brother had lived up to his promise for once, and gave him a lesson in using kunai. Sasuke's chest still held the balloon of pride and satisfaction. At last, he had hit the center of the target. More than that though, his brother, a genius among ninja, had told him that he was proud of him. Sasuke often watched Itachi practice in the woods, always tried to copy his motions, but he had never succeeded before today. It was a perfect day. What he enjoyed most though, was Itachi carrying him on his back. When they walked home like that, it was like they were in their own little world, and nobody could touch them. Maybe Father won't mention ninja business tonight, Sasuke thought hopefully. That would complete the perfect day. None of those long, silent glares between Itachi and father. No bad feelings racing around the table. Sasuke usually felt horrible when this went on. It was always, 'Itachi, Itachi, Itachi...' Not that he blamed his brother for it. It wasn't his fault. Maybe now though, father would see that he, Sasuke, could do amazing things too. None of the other children can hit the center of the target...he thought defiantly.

"Sasuke, we're home." said Itachi, rather sourly. He set Sasuke gently on the ground. Sasuke's heart fell. It was always a bit disappointing when the walk had to end...

"Mother, Father, we're home." Itachi called as they stepping into the house.

"Did you boys have fun training?" Mother said when she and Father entered the room. Sasuke ran up and hugged her leg.

"I hit the middle of the target with a kunai!" Sasuke told her excitedly, grinning widely. He looked hopefully to his father, but he was already engaging Itachi in a conversation.

"And you, Itachi?"

"It was practice Father." responded Itachi in a bored, yet biting voice.

"What about school?" Father asked, this time more sternly. Itachi rolled his eyes in a way that indicated he would much rather be somewhere else, but said,

"When I got to school our sensei asked for the homework; I took it up. He then explained the nature of a surprise examination. We were tested on a five mile course that consisted of rapids, forest beasts and taijutsu. I had gyoza and a rice ball for lunch. Then, we received the results of our test. I was awarded a 100. After that I practiced with Sasuke, and we walked home together. Is that specific enough for you?" Itachi's voice grew more and more acid as he spoke.

"Well, a 100 on a test, that's really good Itachi." Mother finally said to break the silent, poisenous gaze between Itachi and Father.

"It's very good." Sasuke added brightly.

"Dinner." growled Father.

Dinner was a quiet one, except for the occasional 'please' and 'thank you' as food was passed around. It was not at all what Sasuke had hoped for. It had been false hope after all...it was always like it at dinner, why had he thought it might be any different tonight?

After the dishes had been cleared, Sasuke went with Mother to get ready for bed.

"I'm very proud of you Sasuke." she said softly, "There are very few children your age who can accurately aim a kunai. You did well."

"What about Dad? Is he proud too?" Sasuke asked. There was a very short pause before Mother said,

"Yes, he's proud too." However, that hesitation, no matter how quick, had not escaped Sasuke's attention. He headed off to bed feeling worse than he had in ages. Maybe, if he worked harder, he could get Father to be as proud of him as he was of Itachi...he wondered if Itachi would be more willing to help him now that they had a lesson together. Sasuke jerked upright. He should go thank Itachi for teaching him today. He raced out from under the covers and down the hall to Itachi's room

"Itachi, I wanted to–what's that?" Itachi was bent over three or four open scrolls on the floor. He jumped up.

"Sasuke, get out!" he shouted.

"What're those scrolls? They don't look like any–"

"GET OUT SASUKE!" Itachi yelled again, and slid his door across the frame as fast as it would go.

"Ow! Itachi! Leggo of the door!" The door had closed on Sasuke's forefinger. His finger throbbed violently. He started to cry from the pain.

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled again. "Let go! I won't tell, I promise!"

"Itachi!" a more stern voice said. Mother was standing in back of Sasuke. Still the door did not budge.

"Itachi, your brother's finger is stuck, open this door." Mother ordered. At last the door slid open enough for Sasuke to pull his finger out, and then slammed all the way shut. They heard a kunai shoot through the air and land in the door handle, locking it.

"I'll let your father deal with you. Come on Sasuke." Sasuke followed Mother back into the kitchen, covering his wound.

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"Let me see Sasuke." Sasuke unwillingly showed Mother his finger. He flinched at the sight of it. It was bleeding fluently, and the area around it was either black or violet. Mother examined it for a minute before taking out the bandages.

"I don't think anything's broken." she said gently, "The bone might be a little bruised, but you'll live." She dabbed some sticky medicine onto the cut before wrapping it.

"Sasuke, what is it that you promised not to tell?" Sasuke kept quiet for a while. If he told her, Itachi would get very mad, that was his instinct. But he knew he had to tell Mother. Especially since she asked.

"There were a bunch of scrolls laid out. Old ones. I've never seen them before. They looked top secret."

"Oh? Well. I don't think that's anything to worry about. They're probably just for research. The library has some very old scrolls." Sasuke could tell she was lying. She was worried. He couldn't blame her. Itachi had been acting weird ever since two months ago. Weirder than usual anyway. Father had taken him to one of the clan's meetings. It was the first meeting Itachi was old enough to go to. Itachi had come back all quiet. Not the sad kind of quiet, but a mischievous, malicious sort of quiet. Sasuke knew he was up to something. Tonight just proved it.

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Mother and Father were still up. They had told Sasuke to go to sleep. Sasuke tried, he really tried, but he could not sleep. He had too much to think about. Like what was on those scrolls, and what Itachi was planning to do with them. He kept imagining scenario after scenario. Each one seemed more and more unlikely. Therefore, he could not sleep. Plus his finger was still throbbing. And Mother and Father were whispering in their room. Little whispers. All Sasuke could hear was 'ssssssssssssshhhhsssssss'. It was annoying, and it made him anxious. His stomach kept flip flopping for no real reason.

Finally he couldn't stand it anymore. He slipped out of bed and tiptoed down the hall, being especially quiet near Itachi's room, and to his parent's room. The whispers made sense now.

"Did you get anything?" Mother said.

"He wouldn't talk, and I couldn't open the door." Father sighed.

"I'm scared." admitted Mother anxiously. "You know as well as I do that those scrolls are the ones that were stolen from the temple. In the wrong hands..."

"I know the risk! Why would he do this? I don't know what the hell's the matter with him lately. He's become antisocial and spends most of his free time in his room. Why would he do something like this? He knows the dangers."

"That's what scares me." Mother said even more quietly. Her voice was shaking. Sasuke held his breath and listened hard.

"He knows the danger and yet he still took them. What if he finds out about it? He's already ambitious and powerful, if he finds out how to activate the Mangekyou Sharingan..." Sasuke moved as quickly back down the hall as he could. His mind was racing. What was the Mangekyou Sharingan, and if it was so dangerous, why would Itachi want it? He bumped into something soft. He looked up. Itachi was standing over him with crossed arms. He had activated his Sharingan. Sasuke took a step back.

"What're you doing?" demanded Itachi softly.

"I-uh...bathroom." Sasuke lied. Itachi smirked and bent down to Sasuke's eye level.

"Little snitches shouldn't walk around late at night." He stood back up. Sasuke couldn't help but stare at his eyes. They looked different than a normal Sharingan. Sasuke sidestepped his brother and hurried back to his room as fast as he could.

I hope you'll come back for more. I dunno what's going to happen, but it'll be fun.