"Nii-san!" Sasuke called, exuberant as he hurtled through the front door, toed off his shoes and raced up the stairs.

"Tachi! Guess what?!" He rushed down the hallway, skidding to a stop behind his brother's door. Even though they were brothers, Sasuke always knocked before entering. He knocked a couple of times, waiting impatiently for his brother to call him in.

Silence. Frowning, Sasuke opened the door and peeked inside. No one. There was Itachi's plain mattress, a side table, a closet but no Itachi. Disappointed but undeterred in only the way that the young and reckless can be, Sasuke ran back down stairs, put on his shoes and went to search for his missing brother.

Going at full speed, Sasuke slowed when he realized he didn't quite know where he was going. He thought a moment, if he was Itachi where would he be? The answer was obvious and made him scowl. With Shisui, of course. He'd probably find them by the river or training. Knowing Itachi, it would be the latter. With that in mind, he tore off in direction of the Uchiha training grounds.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Itachi sensed Sasuke before he actually saw him. He hid a slight smile and refocused his attention on his cousin. Shisui was telling him about the nine-tailed fox who was supposedly concealed inside a boy.

"Tachi, you've got to see it. It has the bluest eyes I've ever seen!"

Itachi smirked. "It, Shu? Nice."

"Well, it's not human. It has that thing inside him." Shisui seemed strangely fascinated with discussing the kitsune. Itachi shrugged.

"Why, Shu, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were in love. What, gotten tired of me already?" Itachi tried to look hurt but couldn't quite pull it off.

Shisui flushed. "N-no! 'course not. You're not jealous, are you? You know you're the only one for me…" Shisui bent forward until their foreheads touched. Itachi tensed before forcing himself to relax. He could play this game. But not now. He turned at the last minute to avoid an overly energetic Sasuke from running into him. Sasuke kept running.

"Aniki!" Sasuke blinked and looked back at where his brother and cousin were concealing their amusement with varying degrees of success.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Itachi questioned, one eyebrow raised.

"I have to something to show you!" Sasuke told him with a bright smile. He didn't actually have anything to show Itachi. I just wanted to spend time with you, Nii-san.. Sasuke pouted. "But you're always busy." With him. He threw a disgruntled look at Shisui and threw a death glare at the lack of space between the two cousins.

"Sasuke-kun, Itachi doesn't have time to play with you. He's got more important things to do," Shisui drawled.

Sasuke looked at him blankly. "Like what?"

"Didn't you hear? Tachi here's been promoted to ANBU captain," replied Shisui lazily. He wrapped an arm around Itachi's shoulders casually. Sasuke was torn between jumping up and down in excitement and cutting off Shisui's arm. He settled for pointedly glaring at his cousin and jumping onto his brother's back.

"We're leaving, Sasuke," Itachi half commanded. He nodded to his cousin before leaping up into the air.

Sasuke clung to Itachi's back the entire trip home, eager to celebrate his brother's promotion.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Tachi, we should do something special," announced Sasuke as he bounced up and down on Itachi's bed. Itachi eyed him, curious in spite of himself.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, 'cause you're the ANBU captain," Sasuke marveled, once again in awe of his beloved elder brother. He wondered mildly if Itachi was ever going to slow down enough for Sasuke to catch up. But then he shook his head, thinking ruefully that he'd never be as good as Itachi. The thought didn't anger him as much as he knew it should.

Itachi seemed relaxed and Sasuke was glad his brother hadn't asked him what the surprise was. It was more than likely that Itachi knew Sasuke just wanted to be with him, but Sasuke delighted in this small victory. He didn't want Itachi to bring up the subject and thought to distract him. Well, there was this one thing he wanted to get off his chest…

"What do you do with Shisui?" he asked quickly, ducking his head.

Itachi easily hid a smirk. "Nothing, just some things grown up boys like to do."

Predictably, Sasuke was equal parts enthralled and indignant. "Like what?" he prompted. "Can we do them, too?" he asked, all innocence.

Several thoughts went through Itachi's head and he made some fast calculations. It was happening faster than he would have hoped. But Sasuke seemed more than willing… What was the harm?

"All right…" Itachi said slowly, as though he was still considering and not at all as if he hadn't been waiting for this for years.

Itachi's tone turned serious. "But this can only be our little game. You can't tell anyone about it, okay?"

Sasuke was so ecstatic that Itachi was spending time with him that he would've agreed to anything. A fact that Itachi planned on taking advantage of.

"Okay, then. otouto, let's take a shower, shall we?"

Sasuke frowned cutely. "But, Nii-san, I love the way you smell!"

Itachi allowed a small smile to mar his stoic features. "Sasuke, this is the way Shisui and I always do it."

Immediately the pout was back in full force. He practically pulled Itachi down the hallway into the bathroom.

Once there, Sasuke stripped out of his clothes, unaware of his nudity and Itachi's hungry expression. When he was done, he turned back to his brother. "Now what?"

"Now," Itachi said slowly as he began to remove his cloak. The rest of his clothes were soon folded neatly on the floor beside Sasuke's. "Now, the games begin."