Happy Birthday Itachi!
It had been a long tiring day spent planning and preparing for Sasuke's favourite celebration of the year: his brother's birthday. He locked himself in his room all day, declaring that no one but kaa-chan may enter. She would peek her head around his door every so often to offer him juices and snacks.
Much of his planning included being surrounded in sheets of paper that had all kinds of things scribbled on them. Loads of little sketches and doodles bordered every note and when kaa-chan came and looked over his shoulder to ask what exactly it was he was writing down, he simply turned around, looked up at her and said, "It's a secret!". That earned a sweet smile from her as she left his room.
Thankfully Itachi had been out for the whole day on a mission, directed by their father, which for once, Sasuke had not been upset about. Even though he felt guilty for not caring that he had been sent away, he couldn't help if it played towards his plans. It would have been a lot harder to do all his preparation if Itachi had been in the house.
When the sun fell and the sky outside began to darken kaa-chan came back into Sasuke's room and asked to speak to him. He happily complied, crawling onto his bed to sit next to her, watching her with loving eyes.
"Now Sasuke, you know that it is Itachi's birthday tomorrow and I see that you have been working hard on your plan," she said, her eyes drifting warily over his room that was indeed a mess, "but you still need to remember the rules okay?"
Sasuke knew exactly what she was talking about. Ever since he was little, Sasuke would often wake up in the early hours of the morning and run to his nii-san's bedroom, waking him up and being a general nuisance. So a rule had been put in place by his mother that no matter what time he woke up, he would have to wait until eight o'clock to go and say good morning to his brother. Sasuke understood and gave his mother a nod. She smiled back at him and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"I'm very proud of you Sasuke," she said softly, "You work so hard for your brother's happiness," she gave him another kiss before she shuffled about on the bed some and presented Sasuke with a red box.
"I thought I'd help with your plans," she said, smiling at him. His brows twitched as he took the box from her and looked inside. It was a set of kunai, two of them, sitting proudly together in their box. Sasuke smiled some, they were very shiny and he could see they had something inscribed on them. He looked close and saw it was Itachi's name, "I thought they would be the perfect gift for him," she hummed and Sasuke nodded. "Uh huh, I think Nii-san would like these," he said, smiling up at his mother.
"Would you like to give them to him… Sasuke?" She offered him a fond smile.
Sasuke's eyes opened wide and he gasped, "Really? I could give them to nii-san!?" She smiled and nodded at him as she stood.
He followed her, still holding the box in his hand. "Thank you kaa-chan!"
"Make sure you fill in the card on the side," she said as she left his room, "and also, it's nearly time for bed, Itachi won't actually be back home until a lot later on, so you're going to need to get some sleep before tomorrow… okay?" She said. He felt a little depleted at that but wouldn't let anything ruin his spirits. Now he had the best present to go with the best plan. Everything was going to be perfect.
The little Uchiha rolled over in his bed and peered at his clock. It was 9:07. A small sigh left his lips and he turned over again. It was so late, and nii-san still wasn't back. But it was okay, because he had spent the whole day planning, and tomorrow morning he would wait until eight o'clock and then quietly sneak into his brother's room and wish him a happy birthday.
It was safe to say that Sasuke had a restless sleep, his young mind unable to fully shut down with all that excitement running through his head. He figured when he saw the clock read 07:22, it was an okay time for him to get out of bed and start to gather all the things to take along to Itachi's room. He left his bed and silently padded along to the bathroom where he washed his face, cleaned his teeth and combed his hair. He returned to his room and started putting everything in a pile that he wanted to take to Itachi. His card, (hand made by Sasuke.) A small box of dango that he had managed to buy himself with all the savings he had accumulated over the past few months, and a small bunch of papers that had been tied together with a piece of string that had various drawings of Itachi and Sasuke in them. There was also an orange stuffed kitty that held the box of kunai in between its paw and arm, tied in place by a bright red ribbon.
He nodded to himself as he saw everything laid out in front of him, feeling butterflies in his stomach. He giggled quietly to himself and picked up the kitty, looking back over at his clock. It was now 7:57. That was good enough. He carefully picked up every item, overfilling the space in his arms. He had to carefully balance all of the papers with the dango. He walked as quietly as he could to Itachi's room, taking extra care as he passed their parent's room.
Itachi's door had been left open slightly, almost as if he predicted for him to come creeping in. He squeezed through the door and tiptoed over to Itachi's bed, quietly placing everything at the foot of his bed.
He tugged gently at the blankets that covered Itachi, who lay quietly awake yet feigned sleep.
"Nii-san..nii-san! Happy Birthday nii-san!" He whispered in his softest voice, feeling Itachi stir underneath his hands.
"..Hm?" he questioned sleepily, sitting up. The covers fell down to his waist, exposing a simple mesh shirt. He had arrived home only an hour ago, exhausted after pushing his team very hard. He had rushed in order to finish the mission in time for his birthday, not because he cared about it at all but because he knew Sasuke did. If he hadn't been home in time, his little brother would have been extremely upset.
"Happy Birthday!"
His lip curled in a faint smile as he looked at his overexcited little brother and then the pile of items on his bed. He reached out, placing a hand on his head.
"Thank you."
"But you haven't even seen anything yet!" he shouted a little too loud.
His smile became more obvious now. "Show me."
Sasuke first reached over to the bundle of drawings and placed them in his hand. There were many different pictures, drawn from memories of thing they've done together. There was a picture of them sitting on the porch, sitting at the dinner table, walking home from the academy, and other simple things like that. And then there were a couple of them training, mostly with kunai. These were almost like a story, showing a very little sasuke who had little skill, then making him older and older as his skill increased. Itachi spent much more time, however, looking at the very last one. It was a picture of an older looking Sasuke (Granted, that pretty much meant the same face with a bigger body because Sasuke was by no means an artist) standing next to Itachi. They both looked happy. That in itself was not a big deal, but he instantly noted what they were wearing. It was a picture of both of them together in anbu.
Sasuke was too naive to understand the horrors of anbu; all he knew was that their father expected it of him and Itachi always encouraged him to get stronger. This drawing made his throat constrict, however, because he knew this would never happen. When Sasuke made anbu..they would not be alongside one another. His hold on the paper tightened as he sucked in a sharp breath.
He refused to think about it. Nothing would ruin this day.
He slowly put the papers down beside him, looking back at Sasuke afterwords. "Come here."
Confusion spread on the younger Uchiha's features, not understanding. His brother opened his arms, and Sasuke's eyes widened. "Nii-san..?"
His brothers arms were around him in seconds, holding him tightly. And Sasuke couldn't believe it. Itachi never hugged him. He had run into his arms and held him before, but Itachi never really responded..and now he was hugging him! He wrapped his smaller arms around his waist, half crawling on top of the bed.
They held each other like this for a bit as Itachi attempted to relax into such an emotional thing, and when he finally did he ended up stiffening, hardening himself once more. He really was happy and proud of his brother; he just couldn't say it.
Sasuke somehow knew he had enough of the hug and pulled away, smiling brightly. Itachi, in return, smiled back at him.
He allowed himself to be distracted by the other things his little brother had done for him. There was a stuffed animal, a box of dango (his favorite sweet snack), and kunai. He thanked him for each one. When he had thought he'd seen everything, Sasuke suggested they go out into the kitchen, saying he and kaa-chan had made him a cake. However, he shook his head, a growing smile on his lips. A smile he would only ever give his brother.
"These kunai need to be tested first. I'll need a partner for it.." he suggested, watching as his beloved little brother lit up with a new kind of excitement. Itachi almost never offered to train with him; it was always Sasuke who asked. But this time it was different. This time, Itachi wanted to spend time with him. And on his birthday!
"Really!?"
"Get dressed first."
"Okay!" he shouted, running off in a hurry.
This birthday would forever be etched into his memory because the of the smiles on his face. If Sasuke was happy, he would be too.