A/N: Hi guys! It's Itachi's birthday! Happy Birthday, Itachi! Today, I have this two-shot dedicated to both him and Sasuke's birthday next month. I have a feeling that it might be kind of more leaning towards Sasuke's way but it's going to be all about Itachi, in a way. You'll understand once you read it.

I do NOT OWN ANY of the Naruto Characters or the story itself. If I did, I would write it similar to my What Would You Do Now, Sasuke story; especially when I feel like claiming ownership right now for those who are update know why. Thank you all for all of your support in my other stories and I hope you enjoy this one, too. Thank you and enjoy!


Because He Marked Me

Bang, bang

Uchiha Sasuke panted after firing those shots at the vampire's head. It wasn't the fact that he just shot something and he was scared out of his mind. There isn't a scrap of fear inside of him since this isn't the first time he's killed a vampire. He's just exhausted that it took him so long to kill him. He had spent a great deal of his time and life to hunt this one down and now it's finally over. He can at last breathe easier.

Lowering his gun along with his adrenalin, Sasuke watches as the long haired vampire starts to disintegrate right before his eyes. The body first lets out a steam and his body deflates and flattens to the ground. Almost like someone popped holes into his body like a balloon and what's leaving his body is visible oxygen. Technically, Sasuke did fire bullets through the vampire's skull but he plunged other bullets into other places before this moment.

It takes more than bullets to kill a vampire. All those stories about wooden spikes, holy water, and garlic are all bullshit. If you really want to kill a vampire, it'll be sunlight and silver bullets in just the right places. For Sasuke, his weapons consist of a silver samurai sword that's at the other side of the room while his gun was loaded with UV bullets.

Seeing for sure that the vampire is dead, Sasuke walks over to his sword to pick it up and puts it away in its sheath behind him. However he keeps his gun in hand just in case. This vampire wasn't the only one he killed tonight and he needs to keep his senses up until he can get out of this hideout in case there are still some other small fry. The one Sasuke had just killed, and very luckily with only a dislocated right shoulder with a broken wrist on that same side, had been one of the most dangerous vampires in the city. There were probably a lot more out there in the world but this one, the one Sasuke wanted, is finally dead. He has no other purpose here and so he decides to leave.

Though as he leaves, Sasuke can still remember what started all of this. How his life came to be this way and how it was all caused by that vampire.


As soon as the young seven year old peeked his head out, he quickly looks left and right down the hallway for anyone who might be there. It's way past his bed time and he will get into big trouble is he's found out of bed; even more so if his father finds him after he just came out poking through his office. But the young Uchiha Sasuke was on a mission and he was going to accomplish it no matter what!

Once the coast was clear, he darts straight for his room after softly and quietly closing his father's office door behind him. Once in his room with the door closed and locked, the little boy darts for his bed and hides under the protection of his covers before happily opening his father's phone and looking through the contact list. Excitement bubbled inside of him as he found what he was looking for an anticipation gripped him as he started to hear the ringing sound once he has the face size device to his ear.

After the third ring, it's answered. Probably because the person Sasuke called was debating about answering.

"Evening, father. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Uchiha Itachi answers; first son of Uchiha Fugaku and Sasuke's 23-year old brother.

"Nii-san! Good evening!" Sasuke cheered into the phone. He almost lost it there. If he had cried out any louder, his parents would likely have heard and his time to talk to his brother, who he rarely sees, would be cut short.

"Sasuke?" Itachi probably pulled the phone back for a minute to check the time since there is a small pause before the man asks, "What are you doing up, otouto? It's almost midnight."

Even though Itachi was trying to sound like he was scolding his little brother, the little boy almost risked a giggle from when he heard the man's usual stoic voice have a little bit of lightness in it when he started speaking to him. Because Sasuke knows his brother loves him best. When his brother first answered, the little boy could clearly hear his older brother's distaste in the man he's forced to call father. He doesn't like him too much either. Always so strict.

"I wanted to talk to you. Father promised me I could tonight but when I asked, he told me you were still in work. So I waited until I could steal his phone."

Itachi chuckled on the other side. "Sneaky little guy, aren't you?"

"Yep! I'm a ninja!"

"And ninjas are supposed to be quiet when completing their secret message. You don't want to be caught do you?"

Sasuke's ivory pale cheeks blossomed red when he heard that. That last burst was pretty loud. Quickly, he hide the phone under his bed to listen to his surroundings for any disturbances. So far…nothing. Phew.

"We're clear, nii-san."

"Good job. You're a top-rank ninja, otouto."

This time when Sasuke blushes, it's only because he's complicated by his brother. Compliments he always gets in school and hardly gets from his father, but the compliments he gets from his brother are always extra special.

"Are you in your new apartment close to the ANBU Headquarters?"

"Not yet. I missed my bus after I finished work so now I'm walking back."

Sasuke was almost horrified when he heard that but he tries to keep his voice down as he asked, "You missed the bus? Nii-san!"

"Gomen, gomen."

"Why couldn't you take a cab back to the apartment? Walking in the middle of the night in the city is dangerous. You don't know what kind of monsters there could be out there."

"I promise you, otouto, I will be safe. You'll see me back home at Christmas."

Lifting up his pinky as if the man was right in front of him, Sasuke asks, "Pinky swear?"

Doing the same on the other end of the phone, Itachi replies, "Pinky swear." They both curl their pinkies and shook, just as if they were shaking hands and just as if they curled their small fingers together. Both brothers laugh after they did that.

Usually if the age difference between two siblings is so great, it's hard to get close to a child; especially when you're eighteen years older than him. However when their mother was pregnant with Itachi, it was when she was sixteen years old and their father had no choice but to marry her for both of their honor. So Fugaku had to grow up to be the stingy, strict, arrogant father that he is now. He's mostly arrogant because ever since he impregnated Mikoto, members of his family spoke ill of him if he should be the head of their family. It was lucky for him that his first born son would be a genius who graduated from college at the early age of fifteen. His son's achievements had overlooked his foolish mistake as a teenager and he had hoped that his second son would be as much of a prodigy as his first born but that wasn't what a child needed.

A child needed love, care, and attention. The kind of attention that comes from a boosting father who just wants to show off the results of his sperm that prove he deserves he title as head of the Uchiha family.

So before Fugaku could completely get his hands on Sasuke, Itachi had protected his little brother from the said man and gave the child the love, care, and attention he deserved. He was eighteen when the child was born and for some reason when he saw the baby, he just felt greatly attached and didn't want to give his little brother up to anyone. That's why they're so close and to Sasuke, Itachi is just the most amazing, most perfect person he has ever met. He is his role model and his idol.

"You need to go to bed now, otouto. A growing boy needs plenty of rest."

If Sasuke were a dog, his once happy waggy tail would drop and so would his ears. "But nii-san, I finally got to talk to you. I haven't seen you in so long. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too and I blame father for convincing me move to the city to be close to work."

"Because I'm a distraction, right?"

"And what have I told you about that?"

"That I'm not a distraction and that I should live my life as any child my age should."

"Exactly. The only reason why I allowed father to move me out of the house is so I could make Konoha safer for you."

"But nii-san, does it have to be so far away? And does it have to include the two of us spending less and less time with each other."

"Hey, listen to me alright? You're my little brother. You're very important to me and when you need me, I will be there. I will pinky swear again that I will dedicate my life to you and only you. Okay?"

Sasuke is close to tears. As a child, he's always been one to cry easily and that's mostly because his brother is a very sensitive topic for him. Without his brother in the house, he feels completely and utterly alone. Compared to father, his mother was the only other person in the house who would give him a smile and be the kind devoted mother she should be. But no one can compare to his brother.

Making sure he doesn't sound like he's about to cry on the phone first, Sasuke raises his pinky again and asks, "Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear."

Again, they curl their shorter fingers together and shook it up and down. The invisible promise made.

And then that promise broke.

Ring, ring, ring

The phone had rung early the next morning. Sasuke was eating breakfast while reading The Worldly Philosophers book about the lives and ideas of great philosophers throughout history. He was reading it like how his father was reading the morning paper at the table. Figured since his brother wasn't here to 'protect' him at home from their father, the boy had to do what he needed to do in order to survive in this household. One day, he's going to graduate early too and then join his brother in the ANBU force. The only problem with that plan is Itachi had told him not to graduate early because he, again, wanted his little brother to enjoy his childhood.

Unfortunately big brother, it's either do or die in the Uchiha home.

"I'll get it," Mikoto announced to her boys, even though they said nothing in returned. Sasuke had watched his mother rush to the phone while wiping her wet hands on her apron since she was in the middle of cooking. But one glare from his father and he was back to the book.

Why? Why does he suddenly have this really bad feeling?

"Hello…Yes…Yes, this is Uchiha Mikoto speaking…What?"

When she said that last word, she suddenly sounded shocked to nearly being speechless, her voice soft, and extremely frightened. That caught both Fugaku's and Sasuke's attention when they heard that.

"Wh-What are you talking about? What do you mean 'missing'?...Oh my god, and are you sure it's…oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god, NO! No, are you kidding me?" Now she's beginning to sound hysterical and that is enough for Fugaku to drop the paper and rush over to his wife.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Then she slams the phone down and collapsed to her knees with tears exploding out of her eyes so fast it was like someone jerked the faucet on instead of gradually doing so. It wasn't three seconds passed before she started sobbing.

"Mikoto," Fugaku called, once kneeling by her side. He grabbed her arms and tried to rub them to calm her down. "Mikoto, what happened?"

She didn't answer him right away. She just turned towards his body and started bawling her eyes out on his chest. This is something Sasuke has never seen before in his life but he didn't put too much thought into that as he too waited for his mother's reply. The reply itself and the anxiety it brought when it instantly brought his mother to tears was not helping Sasuke's nerves at all. He tried to wait as patiently as his father as Mikoto took several long minutes before she answered.

"Th..That was the police…They sniff…They said that in the ally way, they found blood. Lots and lots of blood. Enough to make up a body…" She starts tearing again, for she could not bear to say the rest but she had to. She couldn't stop in the center of it and hope her boys would figure it out on their own. Uchiha or not, they couldn't think of the horrifyingly impossible unless it was actually spoken to them. "…they…they tested the blood…and the results said that it was Itachi's blood."

Both male Uchihas gasped when they heard those words, but something snapped inside of Sasuke.

"They haven't found the body but they're saying Itachi must dead because the blood was all his. My baby's dead…my baby is…" And finally she continues her wailing and all Fugaku could do was hold his wife and autopilotly try to calm her down. The shock is too great for him to comprehend and as for Sasuke…

that tiny part of him is still broken.


Sasuke was underground. His target's base he had discovered tonight was in the sewers and when he had to chase him, he went deeper and deeper down as if he were going down to hell where the vampire truly resigned from.

He was in no rush to leave. He felt exhausted from head to toe, body and mind, and just wanted to find his way out and go back home to rest. After all, he attacked during mid-day. By the feel of his body, it must be near sunset and when he arrives home, there is going to be a lot of questions asked and answering those questions are what's really going to suck the life out of him. As he walks through the tunnels, he can see some specs of dust on the ground and in the water from the other vampires he had killed running down here.

But they weren't the only things Sasuke sees down here.

On the way back, the young Uchiha has also passed the bodies of humans. Those that are still whole and are starting to stink due to the blood they've spilt risking their lives to do what they've been trained to do. The bodies of these vampire hunters in a way affected Sasuke but he only paid them all a moment's glance as he turned the corner or enter a new tunnel in order to leave. From how silent and deserted it all sounds, Sasuke might be the only moving creature in this hideout. It saddens him to think that but with his higher-than-any-vampire-hunter senses, what is there to deny him that possibility?

In his guts, no matter how tired his brain may be, he really hopes he's not the only one.


It had been over six months since the police called in about Itachi's death. They still haven't found the body and that became more heart retching for Mikoto because they couldn't burry anything in honor of her first born. For almost a month, she was even denying the possibility of Itachi being dead. If there wasn't a body, just a lot of blood, then how can he truly be proclaimed dead? It may have been out of denial that one of her child was dead but even Sasuke came to accept it. Or did he?

It wasn't weird to any of their relatives to suddenly see the once optimistic boy suddenly act distant and unapproachable. It was understandable but to act in such a way so quickly and to not show a scrap of emotion at his own brother's funeral, it was shocking. Many were complimenting that the boy truly was an Uchiha while others were slightly concerned until the first idea infected their minds and took over. But even after the funeral, Sasuke continued to act that same way. He usually didn't get along with people at school before but then he started giving off vibes that were like 'don't you dare come within five feet of me'. His grades were always the top of the school but afterwards, all he does is study, study, study. The teachers are even suggesting that he skip two grades due to the material he has learned on his own. Fugaku would have been proud to have another prodigy, if the entire Uchiha manor wasn't still filled with despair and sorrow for Itachi's lost.

Maybe Sasuke's always-busy, unemotional, unapproachable attitude is just his way of sulking over his beloved brother's death.

Six months after the funeral, it's Christmas time. Usually, Sasuke and Mikoto would get all excited during Christmas. Then Sasuke would pull Itachi into helping with decorations and Fugaku would slightly be less of an ass than he usually is. Father and son would sometimes glare at each other but one smile from the wife and child and everything was calm. Usually they would even have a family Christmas party and that would be when Itachi would steal Sasuke away for them to hide so they wouldn't have to deal with those pesky relatives that want nothing more to do than ask thousands of questions about the heirs of the clan. But this year, there is no decorations, there is no Christmas party, and there is no Christmas joy bouncing off the walls of the Uchiha manor. It's just Sasuke studying in his room, Mikoto silently making dinner, and Fugaku staring at the burning fire in the fireplace.

Half past eight, the door of Sasuke's room is knocked. "Sasuke?" Mikoto calls with her fragile voice. "Dinner is ready."

Not even removing his eyes from his notes about fractions, the boy replies dryly, "I'll be down soon, mother." Even his way of speaking has changed since six months ago.

"Sasuke, I know it's hard, but it's Christmas Eve. Won't you come down and eat with us like we used to?"

His pencil stopped writing then and a short silence fills the air between them. "I'll be down soon, mother."

Hearing the repeated words, nothing is going to change the boy's mind. Mikoto knows that Itachi's death was harder on Sasuke than it was for him. She can proudly say that Itachi raised the boy better than her husband and the one sure way to know who is more broken about the death of the love one, is how drastically their personality and mind set has changed.

Knowing that she won't win this one, she turns her heel to leave; ignoring the aching throb in her heart for walking away. Once she was gone, Sasuke didn't restart on his notes. He dropped his pencil and just stared at his notes. All of a sudden, he felt this great wave of anger flowing through him like a shock of electricity surging through his body. He wanted to release it. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to break something.

All of these notes are useless.

Wham

The eight-year old boy slammed his notes and book off his desk and they flew through the air for a moment before either tumbling on the ground or swaying from side to side as it glided down.

What has been the entire point of taking these notes? To finally make his father proud to have the boy as his son? For his own benefit? To stop being compared to his brother and to prove that he can be greater than him? What was the point of distancing himself even more from the other students at school? To say that they were beneath him? To say that they weren't worthy to even be in his presence? What the fuckin hell has been the point of it all? As far as Sasuke knows, it was all to distract him from the pain. The pain of loss for losing his brother. He didn't want to believe it. He wanted to join his mother's rampage of believing Itachi not to be dead since the police, and ANBU, failed to find a body. Some ultimate police force. They didn't deserve to have Itachi as part of their headquarters. He was far above these simpletons! They haven't even found a clue to how exactly Itachi was murdered and who the murderer is. They actually made it a closed case! So then…has everything been up till now for Sasuke's need for revenge? To graduate early so he could find clues and reopen his brother's case and bring that murderer to justice? As far as the boy feels right now, he doesn't want that murderer put to justice. He wants him dead.

"I'll find him…" Sasuke mumbles. Gripping his fists on top of his desk and his once innocent and coy eyes now full of angst and utter hatred, he declares, "I swear I will do everything in my power to avenge you, nii-san. I will find him. I will find that son of a bitch and kill him with my own hands!"

"Sasuke!"

And then his rage disappeared just like that. Did he…did he just…?

The child turns his head sharply to the window where he was sure he heard his name being called…by that voice. But it couldn't be, could it?

"Nii-san?"

It's impossible! It's completely impossible but a small light appears in Sasuke's heart at the hope that he wasn't just imagining that because of his outburst of rage. He rushes to his windows and opens them, he looks out to the world outside his window and call he could see is snow covered grounds, the road partially included, snow still falling, and the darkness of the night being killed by the light of Christmas lights bordering the houses next door.

"Nii-san?" he calls to the night. All logic sense escapes his mind. He knows what he heard but he just has to be sure.

But looking at the tree right across the street from him, he sees a sudden movement. It was so sudden, he almost missed it but he saw it. He saw someone who was peeking out from behind a tree and said person quickly hide behind it – as if he was just caught with something he knows he shouldn't be doing. Who is that? Is that the murderer stalking the Uchiha family now? Or is it…

Knock, knock

"Sasuke? Sasuke, sweetie, are you okay in there?"

The boy ignores his mother's cries. Right now, he needs to know for sure. He doesn't care if he gets put into a crazy house for this. He just has to know!

He closes his windows and rushes to the door, closes the light, just out of habit, and darts out of his room with the speed of light – completely ignoring his mother.

"Sasuke!"

He needs to hurry. Because whoever that is behind the tree, he needs to know who it is before it runs away. His father probably called for him but Sasuke rushes to the front door, steps out without his shoes, and walked in the snow regardless. Once in the middle of his yard, he has a better view of that tree across the street but he sees nothing. No, no, no, no! Was Sasuke too late?

"Sasuke!" his father bellows. "Get back in the house, this instant!"

"Sasuke, baby, what's wrong?" Mikoto asks, as soon as she arrives to the front door beside her husband.

Not even thinking of the consequences for answering, Sasuke replies almost breathless, "I heard him…I heard him call my name…"

"Who, sweetheart?"

"Nii-san! I heard nii-san calling for me."

As Sasuke continues to frantically search his surroundings, both of his parents looked at each other; both in surprise but one in great concern and the other in irritation. It didn't take a simpleton to know which surprise combination was whose.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you come back inside this house and stop this rubbish! Haven't we suffered enough? Now get inside before you worry your mother." Might be too late on that note, Fugaku.

Turning around, Sasuke tries to tell them, "But I heard him!" Then looking back at the surroundings, which he has still found nothing, the best option he has left before he agrees that he might have gone completely insane is to search that tree himself. Maybe whoever was hiding is using its width and height to great advantage. So without looking, he runs towards the tree, right as a truck is driving by.

"SASUKE!"

The last thing the boy feels before he blacks out is big strong arms wrapped around him and then he's pulled away.

"I am going to leave something with you that will keep us connected…I swear to you with this."

"Sasuke…Sasuke! Sweetheart, please wake up! Open your eyes!"

"Sasuke!"

That's…his parents?

Opening his big onyx eyes, sure enough the boy sees his mother and father looking over him while he's lying on the snowy road. His mother is on the verge of tears with eyes full of panic and extreme worry. Strangely enough his father actually looks like he's scared for the boy's well being as well. Though once they see his eyes looking at them and fluttering to gain back more of his vision, his mother starts breaking down in tears of relief and his father lets out a breath of relief. What…in the world happened?

"Oh my baby!" Scooping Sasuke up in her arms, Mikoto holds him close and tight against her body. "My baby boy…My Sasuke…" Then she starts sobbing.

She was so scared. When she saw him running into the road right when that truck came, she was so scared she'd lost another child. Her heart literally stopped when she saw him lying there after the truck passed by. There was no blood but who's to say if Sasuke didn't get hit. He must have ducked and because his body was so small, he was able to hide under the vehicle. But he must have fainted since they ran to him and he was unconscious.

Moaning, Sasuke barely says, "Mom…" as he cringed in pain of how tight her hold is and a sensitive spot on his neck.

Fugaku goes back to being all stern and serious as he tells the boy, "You ought to be ashamed for scaring your mother like that. Do not do anything reckless like that again."

"Fugaku!" Mikoto snaps at her husband. Yes, he's supposed to be the all-great hard-headed, proud Uchiha head but when your son nearly just got run over by a truck, show some concern instead of lecturing him. That was his problem with Itachi before.

Sasuke is still in a daze. He honestly does not know what happened. He ran into the streets and then…nothing. Nothing else comes to mind about what happened afterwards. Did he really duck under the vehicle and fainted? It sounds sort of unbelievable but his parents appear to have accepted that fact.

But there is one thing that's absolutely certain. That spot on his neck is really sensitive.


Ooh! Something happened and Sasuke's neck is sensitive. You guys all know what that means right? Now the next part is definitely going to be all about Sasuke and what happened after that little truck incident will be explained in the next chapter as well.

But what do you think? Bad? Good? Definitely sounds more Sasuke than Itachi? Let me know! Till next time!