A Weakness, a True Strength

by Sirvy-cat


Prologue

A secuence of many dry thuds cut through the air of a nearing sunset as several razor sharp kunai embedded in the dead center on each of the targets circles; even the one in the blind spot behind a rather large boulder.

A young boy who was crouching behind a rock, stifled a cry of awe at the amazing feat that his older brother has accomplished with such ease. Lowering his small hands from his mouth, little Uchiha Sasuke quickly hid behind the rock and held his breath in order to avoid being spotted by his brother. Though Sasuke usually followed Itachi to his training area, Sasuke had the impression that his brother considered him a hindrance and Sasuke simple felt out of place, being always at his brother's shadow, crawling desperately to reach him.

"Sasuke, come out, you'll choke if you hold your breath any longer." The older Uchiha's voice woke Sasuke from his thoughts, automatically obeying his brother's advice. The seven year-old boy felt himself flushing ever so slightly at being discovered by Itachi.

Sasuke's brother had his back turned to Sasuke while he picked up his kunai, making it impossible for Sasuke to see his expression. He's probably angry and annoyed at me, he thought sadly, lowering his gaze.

Itachi's voice snapped him out of his trance again. "You know, if you wanted to come with me, I could have taken you out for training."

"You never take me out to train, nii-san," Sasuke mumbled indignantly, watching Itachi withdraw the last kunai. "You said long ago that you would take me out for shuriken training, yet you haven't," the boy pointed out accusingly.

"Did I?" Itachi said, his voice laced with mild amusement. He motioned to Sasuke to come near him and his little brother complied promptly. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, maybe next time." Itachi poked Sasuke lightly on his forehead as he usually did while he said that frase, making Sasuke to recoil a bit. "Let's go back, it's getting late," Itachi added. He turned to leave, but suddenly stopped when the sound of metal cutting air reached him. Swirling around, Itachi saw his little brother positioned to throw his kunai.

"Just watch this, nii-san!"

Itachi found himself warning his little brother not to push himself to do something he couldn't do just yet. He watched motionlessly as Sasuke jumped high, making some kind of pirouette before landing clumsily on one foot. Itachi's expert eyes told him from the odd angle on which Sasuke placed his full weigh at his ankle, that it was certain that the joint had sprained.

Quickly reaching his sibling, Itachi brought out a roll of bandages he kept in his pocket just in case of emergency and began to wrap the injured joint. Even though Sasuke was holding back his yelps of pain while his brother treated his ankle somewhat roughly, it was easy to tell that he was in pain. He just didn't want the person he looked up to to consider him weak. But deep inside him, Sasuke had gathered from the cold looks and the indifference his older brother sometimes implied to him, that Itachi did think of him as a nuisance.

"Done. How does it feel now?"

For the third time, Sasuke awoke from his thoughts. He quickly realized that most of the pain had gone, leaving a more bearable throbbing pain, now that his ankle had been firmly bandaged.

"A lot better," he managed to choke out through the lump in his throat. The boy tried to stand up, and was doing quite well until he heaved some of his weigh on his sprained ankle, causing him to stumble forwards, closing his eyes waiting for the impact. Sasuke opened his eyes when he didn't feel the harsh ground colliding with his face; instead, he found himself facing Itachi's back as the older Uchiha picked his little brother up effortlessly. Instinctively, the boy threw his arms around Itachi's neck to keep himself from falling backwards this time as Itachi began to walk back to the Uchiha District.

Just then, Sasuke found his voice again. "Hey! Who are you and what have you done with nii-san?!" he demanded loudly, making Itachi stop in his tracks.

"What do you mean?"

"Nii-san has been acting very weird for some days, and nii-san has never allowed me to ride on his back," Sasuke pointed out stoutly.

Itachi's eyes darkened for the briefest moment. "I can drop you if you don't want to ride on my back," he said then, his voice stoic and smooth as usual, though Sasuke could've sworn that it held some amusement.

The boy grinned widely as he hugged his brother by the neck. that was one of those pretty rare moments that the teenager would allow Sasuke to hug him.

"Now, how can you be smiling when you've just sprained your ankle?" Itachi asked, turning his head slightly as he began to walk towards the Uchiha District again. "Are you trying to get an easy ride?"

"Of course not!"

A smile found its way to Itachi's lips at the childish retort. But as soon as that smile had appeared, it was gone. Itachi suddenly felt disgusted with himself —he had allowed Sasuke to break through his emotionless mask; he was no longer pretending to be a good older brother, he was being it. Itachi cursed inwardly at his failure to keep at bay his emotions. They just made him weak —he had no use for them; emotions always got in the way. They interfered in the task he had dedicated himself wholly for some years now —the testing of his capacity.

Everyone in the clan was just a mere lifeless puppet in his master plan —and the final piece was right there, on his back, completely oblivious to his true intentions. Itachi had to make Sasuke hate him, not get himself attached with his little brother.

To make Sasuke hate him... The mere thought sent a foreign sting to his heart and for a second, Itachi hesitated. He quickly pushed those feelings into the darkest corners of his mind and buried them from all light.

Itachi felt Sasuke heaving a soft sigh before falling asleep, his light and small body relaxing. Itachi's thoughts were erased from his mind at this. Every bit of tension, desperation, hate —they just faded away at the comforting presence on his back.

At every single clam breath his little brother took, Itachi began to awake from his numbness and for some moments he felt the unwavering appreciation and affection that his sibling felt for him, and he was content with that fleeting moment of peace in his inside turmoil.

Looking back at the forest, he felt a tingle of pride as he remembered seeing one of the kunai that Sasuke had thrown being firmly lodged on the dead center of one of the targets.


Hi there! Just two things:
One, English isn't my first language, but I'm working hard to correct spelling and grammar errors.
Two, thank you for reading this. Yes, just that x3

EDIT. 06.30.2007. Spelling errors corrected.