It felt naughty to be sneaking around the house on a sticky summer night like this.

Sasuke grinned to himself, restraining a giggle, and hurried quietly into Itachi's room. Settling down in his big brother's closet, Sasuke used his little fingers to softly slide the closet door almost closed - leaving only a chink so that he could still peek out. From his hiding place Sasuke could see Itachi's well-made bed, and the door which led out to the enclosed courtyard of the family home.

I'll wait 'til he comes back in, then when he's not looking I'll get him! Sasuke smugly thought his plan was ingenious, foolproof, and definitely scary enough to get his big brother good.

Sure, Sasuke had embraced being a big boy now by insisting to his Nii-san that he would no more cuddle up in his brother's bed with him, but that didn't exclude nighttime pranks. Itachi was stewarding the house and his baby brother that night while their parents were away, and Sasuke had spent hours planning how best to spook him when they were alone.

Sasuke stiffened as he heard Itachi's bare feet padding back down the corridor from the bathroom, and he felt a shiver of anticipation run up his spine and fizz behind his silent grin. The little Uchiha swiftly covered his mouth with his hands to keep himself from laughing with glee, and peered mischievously into his brother's moonlit bedroom.

Itachi walked in wearing his usual navy jinbei pants but forgoing a shirt, for the summer that year had been so hot and stifling that the less clothing anyone wore, the comfier they would be. He walked over and sat on the other side of the bed from his hidden brother, with his back to him. Sasuke perceived him lean forward to rest his head in his hands and heard him sigh.

Three…Two…One… Sasuke braced his little plump legs to charge out of the closet at his brother, but a soft knock on the door from the courtyard stopped him dead. Okaasan and otousan are back already! … Should I jump out anyway…?

The door opened, and it wasn't his mother who stepped inside but another lady wearing a pale kimono tied at the waist. She quickly and silently spun around and slid the door closed behind her. Sasuke cocked his head like a confused spaniel pup.

An intruder? iTACHI-

Sasuke was pleased to see that his brother had already torn across to the door to meet the would-be villainess. He stared, anticipating their altercation, but instead his eyes widened to saucers when his brother gently turned the coy young woman round to face him, and lightly pecked her lips.

But Onii-san doesn't have a girlfriend, he'd have told me if he did.

… Onii-san wouldn't not tell me.

The couple pulled back from the kiss to glower at each other, until the girl burst out in soft, joyful laughter. Itachi's young face remained prematurely stern as he watched her, but his eyes softened when she took his hand and pulled him down to sit beside her on his bed.

Sasuke's first thought as he observed the pair was: Who IS this lady?!
Closely followed, of course, by the doleful, childish: I'm stuck in here … and it's too warm.

Sasuke pouted to himself, and proceeded to watch with growing furious jealousy as some woman had a 'moment' with his big brother.

The couple - for all their initial familiarity - simply held hands and looked abashedly at the ground for a few silent moments, before the girl shyly shuffled closer to Itachi's side. Itachi watched her out of the corner of his eye, and, when she'd moved so close that he could feel the silky fabric of her robe on his bare arm, he turned and flashed her a superior smirk to let her know just how unimpressed he was by her ninja stealth.

Catching sight of him, she turned and looked into his face, giving him what might be described as a good-humoured 'oh, shut up' look - a look not uncommon between lovers. While she was still busy glaring at him, Itachi swiftly moved forward and cupped her cheek with his hand before pressing their lips together again in another soft kiss.

Sasuke sat in the hot dark and breathed shallowly as he watched them kiss, silhouetted by the light of the moon through the screens behind them. The furious fire in his chest and in his cheeks grew hotter and more petulant upon seeing his brother being so gentle with someone else.

Hn.

The kid watched the grown ups even more intently from his cramped vantage point as his brother lightly pushed his visitor down until her back was resting on the bed and she was looking up at him leaning over her. For the first time, Sasuke saw his big brother smile at someone other than his doting mother or adoring baby brother. And he wasn't sure that he liked it.

While his brother and the girl continued to kiss tenderly, Sasuke wondered if their parents knew what Itachi was doing with this lady. For all the affection between the pair, Sasuke couldn't help but smile deviously when he thought about how disapproving their strict father would be of her - he'd hate her. Despite himself, Sasuke felt a thrill when he realised that, whoever she was, she was no Uchiha - and she would never be deemed worthy of his brother.

…Good.

Consumed by his thoughts, Sasuke didn't see the couple struggle breathlessly up from the bed. He didn't see his brother's lover turn away from him, shyly slip her robe from her shoulders, and slide nakedly beneath the thin summer bedsheets. She looked up to Itachi from beneath her lashes, and he deftly removed his pants and slid under the sheets on top of her.

Suspended on his elbows above her, Itachi enjoyed the flush on her cheeks and how close he was to her. Closeness was nice, and something unusual for both of them. As he studied her, she embarrassedly snaked an arm around his neck and pulled him down into a distracting kiss. The kisses they shared now grew ever more heated and more passionate, revealing how aware the couple were of just how little time they had together that night.

Keeping one arm by her head to support himself, Itachi stroked the other one down her neck. He briefly traced the lines of her shoulder - gritting his teeth and ignoring the ANBU tattoo which marred her bicep, just like it did his - and then let his hand softly stroke down her side until it rested on her hip. The sensation was strange to her, almost ticklish, and she had to break the kiss and instead press her lips to his shoulder to keep from giggling again.

Regaining composure, she kissed his shoulder before kissing his lips again and closing her eyes. She sighed into the kiss, and her breath caught in her throat when Itachi bit softly on her lip, her neck, her shoulder.

Sasuke heard that, and looked up to see them sharing the same bed that he normally shared with his brother - albeit in a more innocent way. In despair and frustration, the boy threw his head down onto his knees, which were bent in front of him to fit into the tiny, cramped hiding place which just minutes ago seemed so much more exciting than it did now. Oppressed by the heat and by the tiredness of such a late night, Sasuke resolved to keep his head cushioned on his knees and to try his best to sleep until morning. He yawned.

That girl can't stay much longer, it's late already. When she leaves, I'll sneak back to bed - I'll prank Nii-san another time…

Itachi leant back and stroked a stray piece of hair behind his lover's ear, before he gently moved her legs slightly further apart. He looked into her eyes before he entered her familiarly, and he couldn't restrain a groan, despite mistakenly believing that his baby brother was sleeping only a corridor away. His partner pressed her face into his neck, and both gasped as they moved together on the bed.

They moved slowly and rhythmically together on the bed, all the time pressed closely against each other and breathing softly but increasingly erratically. Itachi's movements eventually came to a stop, at the same time as Sasuke from his closet cubby-hole heard indistinct murmured communication which interrupted his attempt to sleep.

Careful not to hurt his bedmate, Itachi rolled onto his back and looked slyly up at the girl, who was overcome with sudden and crippling embarrassment and attempted futilely to cover her bare chest from the clammy night air. Itachi swiftly rearranged the tangled bedsheets from her waist to around her shoulders, giving her bare back and shoulder some modest cover before encouraging her to move with a thrust upwards. It had the desired effect, and she was forced to cover her mouth with her hand to suppress a moan, and looked down at him with lust-filled eyes. Quietly she set about maintaining the pace they had set earlier, and as she moved above him Itachi let his head fall back against the pillow and his eyes close as his breathing became more laboured.

His hands slipped down from where they had rested on her arms to instead take a light hold of her hips. When he heard his lover's breaths become ragged, Itachi's eyes opened again, he tightened his grip on her and moved now to meet her hips with thrusts upwards. He watched her intensely with dark eyes, and when he perceived her to be very close, moved one hand up to take hold of her chin.

Her eyes fluttered open in distracted surprise, and he encouraged her to hold his gaze with a piercing glare. Before she climaxed he committed to memory the sight of her like this, for when he would inevitably never see her again. When she finished he moved his hand and replaced it again on her hip, and she fell lightly forward onto his chest - keeping herself suspended on one willowy forearm by his head.

He thrust slowly and deeply only a few more times, then cradled her head against his chest with one hand as he came breathlessly. They remained that way for a moment until she moved to change from straddling him, but he held her there with his face turned towards her. She waited long-sufferingly until his hold on her hip loosened and she could shift her weight so that she was lying next to him. Itachi's lover gazed at him with silent fervour in her dark eyes, and while his eyes were still closed, she leaned over to kiss his forehead and run a soft hand over his cheek.

Itachi's eyes, when he reopened them, were harrowed.

Before long Sasuke was woken again by their hushed, gentle murmuring. Oblivious to the intimate scenes he had slept through, he peered from the closet to see Itachi speaking ever so quietly to the girl laying beside him. Part of what he said now visibly alarmed her, and she lifted herself up on one elbow to meet his eyes. Annoyingly, Sasuke still could not tell what was being said but could tell that the stranger was speaking desperately to his brother; maybe to reassure him or convince him, he couldn't tell. Sasuke could not help but think he could see his Nii-san's shoulders shaking, and he saw the strange girl's expression jackknife from one of seriousness to one of horror.

"…Don't cry, please don't cry," her eyes widened like a child's as she watched. She could never previously have conceived of Uchiha Itachi crying, and her voice became suddenly clearer:

"…How bad a mission is it?"

Sasuke heard that she received no answer, so she instead placed a light hand on her lover's shoulder to steady it and watched with a now remote expression as he stopped shaking. In the quiet dark Sasuke began to drowse. As his eyes lidded, he lost more and more of what her soft voice was saying.

"You have so far always been loyal to two things: your brother, and the village..." For the last time, she stroked his face tenderly.

"I won't tell you your duty to your clan, but we have both given our lives to the village: whatever it is, if it's right for the Leaf, carry out the order… You don't need to cry anymore."

He has another mission. That's all, Sasuke thought sleepily, oblivious to the dire reason for his brother's behaviour.

In the time Sasuke slept, the stranger had left his brother alone in bed, and morning had come. By the time he had woken, his brother had gone too - and Sasuke scarcely saw him before Itachi embarked on his next mission.

It would be his final mission as a ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.