"A condition causing spastic paralysis and other disabilities, caused by brain damage before, after, or during birth." Sasuke had read the medical definition of cerebral palsy at least a hundred times, but it didn't really matter. The reality of it was that his mother kept at least a dozen family scrapbooks, but Itachi was only in one of them-a couple pictures taken shortly after he was born, before Fugaku realized that his oldest son could never be a shinobi.
When Itachi was five, his mother had another baby. This one did everything right on time-Sasuke rolled over, sat up, crawled, walked. He could shriek a few words and cram dry cereal into his mouth. Itachi watched his little brother grow up and wished he could do everything he saw Sasuke do-run and talk and go to school. Sasuke was going to be a shinobi one day, but Itachi knew that he would never be anything more than the police chief's crippled son.
Sasuke was seven when he started spending less time with his brother and more time with his friends. In the past, he hadn't cared that Itachi drooled on himself or that he couldn't support his head; he hadn't cared that his big brother's dark eyes were unfocused or that he had to wear diapers. But after he started going to the ninja academy, he heard the other students talk about their older siblings and what they did. "My sister's a chunin!" "My brother's a teacher!" "All my family are jounin!"
Itachi loved his little brother. He shrieked and kicked when Sasuke got home from school, and made excited yelping noises when his brother came over to talk to him. It was the only time he smiled-random vocalizations and movements were commonplace for Itachi, but he could control the muscles in his face, and he always beamed when Sasuke was talking to him.
Sasuke was the one who took care of Itachi. At breakfast and dinner, he carefully spooned food into his brother's mouth, and held a sippy cup to his lips so he could drink-if he used a glass, more liquid would end up on Itachi's chest than in his mouth. He changed his brother's diapers, bathed him, got him dressed in the morning. And he was always kind during those interactions, but outside of acting as caretaker, Sasuke didn't speak to Itachi all that much.
Itachi couldn't help but dislike Sasuke's friends. When he brought them home for the first time at age twelve, he had tried to steer them into the kitchen and away from the living room, where Itachi was sitting in his wheelchair. But the pink-haired girl noticed him and ran over, stopping a few feet away, almost like she was afraid of him. "Hello," she said, as slowly as she possibly could. Itachi wanted to get away from her, but he kicked slightly instead. The girl stepped back. "Can he understand me?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Of course. It's his body that doesn't work, not his brain."
Sasuke didn't bring friends to his house anymore. They just stared at Itachi like he was an animal in the zoo. Sometimes they tried to talk to him, and a few kids had stroked his hair as if he were a dog. Ino was the only one who didn't talk down to him. She came over without being invited, to say hi to Itachi and ask about his day, tell him about hers, complain about her parents. Sasuke wasn't sure why she did it, because she wasn't getting paid or anything.
Itachi liked Ino a lot. She was sweet and pretty, and most of all, she spoke to him like an equal. She came over to talk to him, not his brother-a few girls had tried to impress Sasuke by showing that they were nice and non-judgmental and could bond with his poor handicapped brother. But Ino seemed to genuinely enjoy his company. It was nice to have a friend.