Title: Guessing Game
Summary: In which Itachi shows his love for Sasuke through a very simple guessing game. Oneshot.
Genre: Family, Angst
Fandom: Naruto - Featuring: Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha. Other character(s): Obito Uchiha/Tobi. Mentioned: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Mikoto Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha
Words: 1132
Age 5
"Sasuke, come," Itachi signalled to a five-year-old Sasuke as he sat down a little way away from his brother's play area.
The raven-haired boy perked up and immediately dropped the toys in his chubby hands, running over to his aniki with unparalleled elation.
Seeing the younger boy dash towards him, Itachi smiled softly as he brought his index and middle fingers together and poked Sasuke's forehead, the "brotherly gesture" the Uchiha siblings had agreed on. "Let's play the guessing game Sasuke."
He grinned as he watched his younger brother pout cutely, crossing his arms and grumbling, "But you always win Nii-san. You should at least let me win once in awhile."
The older sibling laughed as his younger brother climbed into his lap and ran a hand through Sasuke's hair. "Well, guess what this is…"
Age 7
"Nii…Nii-san…what is this…" Black orbs met black orbs as the seven-year-old Uchiha stared unblinkingly at the teen standing unscathed with his parents at his feet, crimson blood pooling around the base of his sandals.
Holding up two fingers, he yet again signalled to the child as he had done countless times before, commanding, "Sasuke, come."
As if in a horror-induced trance, he scrambled over to his older brother, nearly tripping over the outstretched bloody hand of his kaa-san, only to be poked in the forehead by the man he had a growing hatred for, whereby the hatred was nonexistent the day before.
A deep, edged voice shook Sasuke as he registered the words escaping the lips of the mass murderer. "Let's play the guessing game Sasuke. What do you think happened?"
As tears escaped his closed eyelids his voice trembled as he choked the sentence out, "You... you killed everyone... aniki..." He shook his head furiously, denying his very own words. "But I always lost to you in the guessing game... so you couldn't have... you couldn't have..."
He could feel a hand stroking his soft hair as the deep voice chuckled grimly, "Seems like you got better at the game then, Sasuke." Before the younger boy could pull away from the monster he no longer recognised, his chin was tilted upwards gently as he faced the very familiar features of his brother, coupled with a pair of very unfamiliar, spinning eyes.
As the boy slumped to the ground and black seeped into the edges of his vision, he thought that maybe, just maybe, he had seen tear-stained cheeks beneath those soulless eyes.
Age 13
"Itachi." A low, rumbling growl could be heard from the teen sporting a Uchiha fan on the back of his shirt. In a flash the boy had charged at the older copy of himself before him, only to find himself pinned against the wall, lifted off his feet, faster than the blink of an eye.
With an unnecessary "Sasuke, come," Sasuke could feel two cold fingers being pressed into his forehead.
Eyes wide open in shock, the boy recovered quickly and before his victim-turned-attacker could utter another word, the boy snapped, "I don't want to play the guessing game Itachi. I have guessed your actions, your motive, I have guessed everything, and I win. I win the game and I am sick of it." A pair of Sharigan blazed as the young prodigy opened his eyes and narrowed them at the man before him.
The corner of Itachi's mouth twitched upwards a bit. Leaning forward, he whispered into the boy's ear. "Well then, let's play the guessing game. Guess what I'm about to show you."
As the unfortunate boy stared once again into the world of the Tsukuyomi, he could have sworn, though he denied otherwise later on, there was a hint of apprehension, sorrow and guilt mixed into the man's powerful eyes.
Age 16
"So you're here." Sasuke was met with the sight of his most hated man lazing on a stone throne in a relaxed position. He knew just what was about to happen as he slowly stalked towards his fellow Uchiha, cautiously unsheathing his katana as he heard a phrase repeated over again from the past.
"Sasuke, come." Expecting what would happen right after, while not letting his guard down, he felt two fingers against his forehead, which he thought felt somewhat sore from the brotherly gesture.
A sudden thrust of the katana sent it stabbing into the heart of the clone before him, as a spiral of fury erupted from the frenzied boy. How dare he use that gesture, he's not family, he's not a brother, not in any way.
"You seem eager Sasuke. I would love to play the guessing game with you but…you're not good enough." Puzzling words left the younger sibling bewildered as he once again stabbed into another clone, crows flying in opposite directions as it was dispelled.
He didn't dwell on it much, though, and with a simple sentence, "I won," he swivelled around to meet his opponent.
The fight began, a battle of revenge, of hatred and dead family, and a battle of sorrow, or guilt and the will to die.
"Sasuke... come..." Blood spurted as the broken man struggled to force words out of his throat, raising two trembling, bloody fingers slowly, wincing, to the level of his brother.
When had he grown so tall?
Deciding that the man before him was going to gorge his eyes out, to take them for his own, Sasuke snapped his eyelids shut and and shook in fear, fear that he had not felt in years. He was powerless to stop the advancing man, soon, anytime now, his eyelids will be pried open, and his world will go dark.
He will never see the bright yellow of the boy or the luminous pink of the girl anymore.
The horror never came, however, as two ice-cold fingers were pressed heavily into his now sore forehead.
Eyelids flew open as shock adorned his features. Stammering, he tried to reason out his brother's behaviour. "I…Itachi….You…"
He was quickly silenced by a low rumble vaguely resembling a chuckle, before more blood spurted out from his mouth. "Sasuke let's…play the guessing game…"
More blood.
Tear-stained features mirrored tear-stained features.
"Guess…guess why I did it…I'm sorry Sasuke."
The hand went limp.
"…so do you understand now, Sasuke?" A rather irritated-sounding voice questioned the young Uchiha as Tobi clenched his teeth. He swore, if he heard another "no", he was going to kill the boy, Uchiha or not.
The reply he got from the boy was far from expected.
The boy was silent for a moment, and Obito could see him inconspicuously moving his left hand to cover up the tear stains on the sheets.
Sasuke smiled wryly as he lifted up two fingers, and pressed them against his own forehead.
"You'll always win at the guessing game...Nii-san."