A/N: Whoo... a new story for you from me. Hope you like it.
Warnings: None for this chapter, but future installments will contain some heavy smut.
Disclaimer: I do not own, I do not earn, I just write. All characters and rights belong to Misashi Kishimoto
Tales of Casablanca mansion
Prologue
Down a one-way street, where branches of ancient oaks and willows gently sway in the wind, is a mansion. It has been there for 200 years, regal and timeless as it had been built just yesterday. It is said to be haunted by ghosts of the past, filled with memories since long gone. It is also said to be a magical house, that the ones entering the doors will be either blessed or cursed.
Uchiha Itachi always smirked when he heard those rumors. While he believed that they did indeed contain a grain of truth, he had as of yet to see it with his own eyes. Though, there had been strange tales told about people that had been connected with the house throughout the years.
Casablanca Mansion had belonged to his late – and semi-crazy – uncle Madara, and when the old coot died, he left the house to Itachi and his younger brother, Sasuke. Itachi was secretly convinced that Madara had been one of them who'd been cursed by the house, instead of blessed, given the man's utterly horrible personality.
It had been in their family for generations, built during the beginning of the industrial revolution by the infamous Uchiha Katsuro, who had been a libertine and bon vivant extraordinaire, and also totally in love with anything European. It hadn't been looked upon kindly when he took half of his inheritance and hired an English architect to build the "monstrosity" as the other members of the renowned Uchiha clan still referred it as.
Itachi couldn't see how a house that beautiful could earn itself such a nickname. It was a marvelous building from the Georgian era, a masterpiece of red bricks with small baroque and rococo elements, elegant and proportioned as had been the custom back then. Contributed by a small column portico and an actual tower – added by Madara, as he had been an avid fan of the Victorian era – it wasn't bad at all. The leaded French windows reflected the setting sun, making it seem like inhabited and giving it a welcoming atmosphere.
Sasuke huffed beside the older Uchiha, scowling as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"I don't get it." Itachi glanced at his little brother, who caught it and gestured at the house with an elegant wave of his aristocratic hand. "Why is it called Casablanca Mansion? I don't see any Casablanca lilies around here." Itachi smirked and gently cuffed his foolish little brother over the back of his head, ruffling the spiking hair and earning himself a cold glare.
"Because, my dear fool for a brother, it was named after the flower beds filled with those flowers 200 years ago. I guess the name stuck", Itachi answered and began to walk, quickly followed by Sasuke.
"Okay so I can get that. What I can't understand though, is why Madara left it to us. He hated our guts", Sasuke argued as they walked up the tiled aisle leading up the three, wide steps. The shadows cast by the four columns on each side fell over them when they neared the door, the shiny wood twisting their reflections as they stopped in front of it.
"He hated every human being on this planet, Sasuke", Itachi offered when he put the key he got from the lawyer in the lock and turned. The door swung open with a slightly, ominous creak that seemed to spook the younger Uchiha.
"I know. That still doesn't explain why he wanted us to have it." They stepped into the lobby, a wide, open space with what seemed as a sea of marble floor and a wide, curved stairway with intricately, carved banisters. Their steps echoed as they slowly looked around, marveling at the high and painted ceiling.
Itachi smirked again when he noticed that the scene up there was from a famous painting. Made of the artist Tiziano Vecelli all the way back in the Renaissance, it had been to decorate the Duke of Ferrara's study. It was simply called Bacchus and Adriadne, and Itachi marveled over the cheer likeness with the original as his smirk widened.
Trust the good ol' Katsuro to have something like that in his house, something that embodied his free spirit. He wondered to himself how much his ancestor had paid the artist, because whoever made it deserved all the praise he felt.
"Whoa…" Sasuke's impressed exclaim said it all, while Itachi simply agreed with a simple:
"Hn. Let's go and check out the rest."
"But what should we do with it? I'm only 17 and you already have your condo. We don't really need it", the younger brother pointed out as they took left, into what must've been some sort of living room. A fireplace big enough for Itachi to stand upright in caught their eyes, the mantelpiece in black marble a beautiful work of art with carved cherubs at the corners.
"I plan on moving here as soon as the remodeling is done", Itachi replied absently. At the other side of the lobby was a dining room big enough to fit at least 50 people with no problem, three windows from ceiling to floor letting the sunlight in.
His fingers left a trail in the dust accumulated on the long mahogany table in the center of the dining room, and once again he marveled over the cheer size.
"Yeah that's what I – wait what? Remodeling?" Sasuke trotted after his older brother as they explored the bottom floor, discovering the huge kitchen, a laundry room, a pantry as big as Itachi's whole apartment and something that must've been a caretaker's room behind the kitchen.
The French windows didn't stop in the living or dining room, but was all over the place; giving the already huge rooms the illusion of being almost endless.
"I plan on remodeling the upper floor to five, small condos. I'm going to rent them out." Sasuke stopped behind Itachi, as the elder briefly stopped to look out over the garden outside the kitchen, admiring the way the willows framed the sunset.
"…and you didn't plan on discussing this with me?" Sasuke frowned. They went back to the living room and discovered a door that let them enter into a library still filled with books, something Itachi eyed with barely hidden giddiness.
Sasuke rolled his eyes at his brother and asked himself, not for the first time, whether he was adopted or not. How else could he explain the differences in their personalities?
"As you just said, you're only 17. And I also didn't think you were interested in this place", Itachi answered a little distractedly, only keeping half of his attention on the conversation while he scanned the books lining the walls.
"But it's still mine too, I should have a say in it", Sasuke protested, getting annoyed when Itachi only hummed noncommittally. "And why do you even want to rent it out in the first place?"
"Obviously because I don't need the whole space to myself, little brother, and also because it's a shame for a house like this to be allowed to stand empty and fall into decay. It's going to cost me to run this place by myself too, so I thought it wasn't such a bad idea to rent some of the rooms out." Sasuke scoffed again as he put his hands in his pockets.
"We're not poor you know, and even without the Uchiha fortune you make enough by yourself to live a life in luxury until you die."
"Yes, but where is the fun in that?" Itachi turned on his heels, leaving his brother behind as he headed for the stairs, curious to see what was on the upper floor.
"So… you're going to rent it out?" Sasuke's voice behind him stopped Itachi, and he made an effort not to sigh when he turned around to look down on the younger boy, who actually looked a little lost in the lobby due to the space.
"Yes. I'm going to rent it out."
"Che… you're going to need a caretaker. You're not the homiest guy out there." Itachi smirked and turned his back on Sasuke as he climbed the stairs.
"True. But I happen to be the owner of a mansion with 16 rooms and 5 bathrooms and I also happen to know just the right man for the job…"
Casablanca Mansion is said to be a magical place where the ones entering the doors will be either blessed or cursed and this… is their stories.
TBC…
Teaser:
Of course he'd heard of love at first sight but never believed in it. Hell, he hadn't believed in love at all. By meeting Nara Shikamaru's calm gaze Neji was proven wrong, even though he wasn't aware of it right away...
A/N: Sooo... gimme your thoughts by leaving a comment or two ^^
