Right. Disclaimer first. I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in aforementioned anime. I own Natsuri, she's my OC, just go with it and pretend. She's not a major part, just for one minute pretend that Team Seven contains four genin and one of them is a red-head named Natsuri. Okay? Okay.
And for you strange people reading this because you think it's an Uchihacest, it's not. I'm not that awesome.
"Nii-chaaaaan?" No answer, unless you count Itachi pausing in his scribblings so he didn't feel the need to stab Sasuke in the arm with it. "Itaaaa!" Closing his eyes, Itachi inhaled deeply for a second and regained his composure. "Itachi! Quit ignoring me, I'm talking to you!"
"I know, Suke, and it's taking every ounce of my considerable strength to not stab you with this pen," the older brother growled, not taking his eyes off his notebook. The six-year-old Sasuke stamped his foot petulantly and crossed his little arms over his chest.
"If you don't quit ignoring me I'm gonna fire justu you so bad they'll need your dental records to identify you." Grinning, Itachi put his pen down at last and lifted his little brother up onto his knee. "That's better," he told him. "Senseless violence solves everything, Sasu, always remember that," Itachi joked, knowing his little brother wouldn't take the comment to heart. Sasuke grinned and high-fived his brother's upheld hand. "Now what d'you want, runt?"
"Mom and Dad went out, and they said you were looking after me."
"... your point being?"
"I'm tired. You have to tell me a story." Itachi sighed. Sasuke was impossible when it came to bedtime; he wouldn't sleep unless someone told his some ridiculous story. He had no imagination whatsoever, and his father would have no part in it anyway, so the duty nearly always fell to the boys' mother. However, tonight Fortune had obviously decided to go on vacation to Bermuda, and he was stuck with Sasuke Duty. "Sasu, you know my stories are terrible, why don't you just wait till Mom gets in and-"
"I'm tired NOW!" Sasuke yelled, in a voice that most definitely did not sound tired. Sighing again, Itachi stood up, with Sasuke still attached to his hip, and climbed the stairs two at a time, walking into the young boy's room and dumping him unceremoniously onto the bed. Sasuke just laughed at the new game.
"What kind of story d'you want, brat?" Itachi asked wearily as his brother clambered under the bed sheets and snuggled into his toy snake, another thing he was unable to sleep without. "Scooch up," he added, pushing Sasuke along so he could sit down next to him.
"Tell me one about a ninja!" the younger boy demanded. "A really cool ninja with looooooads of special powers"
"A cool ninja with special powers, eh..." Itachi grinned. Sasuke was notorious for his ambition to become a great ninja. He was obsessed with it. After a moment's thought, the older boy began his story. "Once upon a time, there was a young ninja, and his name was-"
"Sasuke?" the boy interrupted impatiently.
"...Yeah. His name was Sasuke." Itachi decided to humour his brother. "And Sasuke had three very special friends who were ninjas as well. These four ninjas were the very best in their whole village, trusted with the most secret and important missions. Know what they were called, Sasu?"
"... No, but there was two girls, and a boy besides Sasuke."
"There were, well done. The boy was called Naruto, a blonde ball of pure energy who was always up for a prank on their sensei, but who wouldn't desert his friends for anything. One of the girls was named Sakura, with pink hair the colour of her namesake and just as beautiful. He talent was healing, and she always made sure her team mates were healthy before she even though about healing herself. The other girl was a fiery redhead named Natsuri-"
"That's a weird name," Sasuke cut in again. Itachi held back a growl: his creativity had dried up at 'Naruto', and he really couldn't be bothered coming up with real names.
"Don't let her hear you say that, otouto-chan, Natsuri was deadly when she was angry" he warned. "She was a genius at elemental jutsus, but her favorite was fire. Just like you, eh?"
"I bet she wasn't as good as Sasuke, though, Itachi, I bet none of them were!" the real Sasuke smirked confidently. "I bet Sasuke was the best ninja in the entire village!"
"Hey, don't get your hopes up, small fry. Sasuke was a skilled and determined ninja, for sure, but he was only a genin. Still, his sensei, a very wise and powerful jounin by the name of...." He left a pause, letting his brother fill in the jounin's name.
"Kakashi?"
"You're good at this," he grinned encouragingly. "Kakashi saw true potential in Sasuke, and went to the Hokage himself to see if he could move Sasuke up to a higher level. But the Hokage said that the team of four had to advance together. Sasuke got angry at this, he thought he was better than his teammates and should move up the levels anyway."
"Why couldn't he?" the young ninja-to-be demanded. "Sasuke was better, he was the best genin in the village, wasn't he? He should have become a chunin!"
"Hold your horses, small fry, I'm telling this story! Yes, Sasuke was a great ninja, but being a ninja isn't just about skill. It's about working together with your teammates to complete your goals and progress together. It's about having respect for your fellow ninja, and using that respect to help them. You never know when you'll be in a tight spot, and if you've been looking out for yourself all your life, you'll have no-one to help you out when you need them. That's why the Hokage kept Sasuke at genin level; to keep him grounded, and also to help his teammates- having Sasuke on their side was a great asset." Itachi heard his little brother huff slightly from next to his chest. "Do you get it, Sasuke?" he demanded, determined to imprint his point on the younger boy.
"Yeah, yeah..." Sasuke admitted grudgingly. "Sasuke had to stay behind with his friends to help them."
"Even though..." Itachi prompted.
"Even though he wanted to go higher. He had to stay with them 'cause that's what friends do; they stick together like family," the young Uchiha assessed sagely, his voice beginning to show the shades of sleepiness at last.
"Exactly. Like family." Itachi smiled. For a six-year-old, his brother was pretty smart. "Sasuke loved his friends, even though he never showed it. Something... something bad happened to him when he was little. Something horrible, and because of it he thought that showing emotion made him weak. Sometimes it would almost tear him down the middle to hide tears or laughter, but he was always determined to never show his "weakness". And he swore that, one day, he'd get revenge for the horrible thing that happened to him." He paused, expecting Sasuke to demand to know what had happened to the him in the story. But there was no noise at all from the younger brother. Glancing down, Itachi saw that his dark blue eyes had flickered shut, his breathing had become even and deep and his arms relaxed. Itachi had gotten his brother to go to sleep. Grinning at his own triumph, Itachi got up carefully fro the bed and snuggled the toy snake closer into Sasuke's arms. After pulling the comforter over his shoulders, he walked out of the room and turned off the light.
He might be a pain, but he loved his little brother. He just hoped his story wouldn't give Sasuke nightmares.
*********************
There was nothing but mist and the smell of blood. The sixteen-year-old Sasuke Uchiha stood, proud and defiant, in the middle of the clearing that had once been his village, looking down with disdain on the crumpled figure on the ground before him.
"Get up, Itachi." The three words echoed through the damp air coldly, followed by a hollow chuckle from the broken form.
"Why? So you can kill me honorably?" Itachi asked, his lips flecked with blood, shadows of the splatters that lay on the ground around him. "Why should I give you that pleasure"
"I'm going to kill you anyway, Itachi, we may as well do it on my terms," Sasuke told his brother icily. Itachi remained on the ground. "Too tired to stand?" he taunted, the ghost of a smirk pulling at his lips. "Want me to tell you one last bedtime story?"
"You always were a bastard, Sasuke," Itachi growled, angry beyond measure at the condescending tone of his brother's voice. Sasuke stepped a little harder on his leg.
"Don't worry, it's a lovely story. One you've heard before, no doubt, but oh well..." Removing his foot from his brother's leg, he began to tell the story, a sick parody of ten years ago. "Once upon a time, there was a young ninja, and his name was..." He trailed off, wanting to make his brother repeat the name. When no answer came, he hurled a shuriken into the ground, a millimetre from Itachi's hand. "What was his name, Itachi?!"
"S-sasuke..." the older Uchiha grimaced, the pain of the gash in his side beginning to get to him. Sasuke smirked.
"His name was Sasuke. And Sasuke had three very special friends, didn't he, Itachi?" As if they had been waiting for their cue, three figures detached themselves from the mist: a blond boy, his steps filled with energy despite the slow speed, a pink-haired girl whose beauty permeated even this thick mist, and another girl, a fiery red-head with flashes of sparks flying from her fingertips. They all walked slowly up to Sasuke, flanking him in perfect formation. "And Sasuke's three friends were very loyal to him, and had vowed to help him get revenge for something horrible that had happened to him, when he was little." Itachi growled dangerously again. The blond boy laughed coldly.
"Just have it over with, Sasuke," he said.
"Yeah, you've waited long enough for this," the blossom girl murmured almost reverentially, as if she were in the presence of something amazing. That damn smirk again from Sasuke.
"Oh, I would if I could, guys," he drawled, "but unfortunately my only shuriken is in the ground, and I don't really wanna get that close to him."
"You can use my kunai if you want, Sasuke," the red-haired girl, Natsuri, smirked, pulling it from her belt and handing it, handle towards him, to Sasuke. He gripped it gratefully.
"Thanks, Natsu, I'll pay you back," he promised, never taking his eyes off Itachi. "You ready, nii-san?"
"Just do it, you little brat," Itachi spat venomously. Sasuke's smirk widened.
"As you wish," he smiled in an expression that could curl steel, and drove the knife into Itachi's chest. "Night, big brother."
I could not love this story more if I tried. I love it more than Silver Scarlet, and that is saying something.
Please feel free to review, and if you wish to flame, bear in mind that I will only laugh at your noobness and email the comment to my FRIENDS. You know what friends are, flamers? Lol.... I love you all. -hugs everyone-