Due to the overwhelming response, actually, just do to six reviewers' comments, I have for you, the next chapter. And guess what? This is the fastest I've ever been able to update a story! Though, don't expect updates this fast in the future, I won't be able to deliver. Anyways, here's chapter two!
The little red hand moved quickly, ticking at every second as it rotated around the rivet holding it in place. However, no matter how fast the hand moved, it was not fast enough for one Uchiha Sasuke's liking. Only minutes from the end of the school day, the slow ticking of the clock was keeping him away from his freedom. His well-earned freedom he might add. Sasuke had spent the last week working diligently on the annual science fair, which all sixth graders were required to enter while keeping up with all of his other classes. On top of that, Sasuke had the nightmare the night before, which always made the next couple of day dreadful for him. The fact the given day was Friday, didn't help the problem any either.
Brrr-ring. Brrr-ring. Brrr-ring.
The teacher yelled out last minute instructions; however, no one paid attention as they rushed to gather up their belongs and get out of the classroom. Their teacher's voice was lost among the zippers and velcro of messenger bags and backpacks. Half of the class was already out of the room between the first and second bell rings, and the rest were gone by the end of the third bell, all of them that is, but Sasuke. He was just starting to pack up his stuff when the final bell rang and walking down the aisle at the last bell. With a formal goodbye to his teacher, he was out the door.
He might have been on the edge of his seat waiting to get out of school, but he was in no rush to leave the classroom. Most would find the whole situation a contradiction of opposing ideas, a juxtaposition, but then, they never had Uchiha Itachi as an older brother. Sure, Itachi had been in junior high for two years now, but everyone still remembered the teenager and bombarded the poor younger Uchiha after every one of his classes. His unofficial title at school was 'Itachi's Little Brother' named by the teachers the older Uchiha had and those who still remembered him. Teachers, who didn't have him in class, usually asked him if he was Itachi's Little Brother and some of the older students—mostly the girls—asked him about how his brother was doing. They only really talked to him when they wanted Sasuke to deliver a gift to the older Uchiha. Nonetheless, that was not the only reason Sasuke Uchiha was all but attacked during his free time.
His other unofficial title was the elementary school's Number One Heartthrob. Like his brother, the younger Uchiha had his own fan club, which was—thankfully—not as big as Itachi's, at least not yet. His popularity with the girls was increasing, since he was just starting to hit puberty himself. Some of Itachi's fan club still in elementary school had converted to his—much to Sasuke's displeasure—since he was closer to their own age and had a better chance with him. So, not only was he swarmed by Itachi's fan club, but his own as well. Hence, the reason Sasuke was in a hurry to leave school, but dreading leaving classroom.
As expected, as soon as he left the confinements of the teacher protected room, Sasuke was bombarded with people wanting to talk to him, girls wanting to give him presents—either for himself or to pass on to Itachi—and a few girls who wanted to go out on a date with him. The last category crept him out, they were all still in sixth grade and he wasn't interested in girls in anyway just yet. Hell, Itachi was in eighth grade and didn't care about girls either, so it wasn't just him. Luckily, he had become very artful at getting out of these types of situations by skillfully—and with great stealth—sneaking away. It wasn't like sneaking away was hard for him or anything; the skills just came naturally to him, to the extent that he believed he was some type of shinobi in a past life, letting him effectively ditch the crowd of people within a matter of seconds.
Sasuke stopped by the front office to check with one of the school monitors—useless people who were supposed to make sure none of the students got kidnapped, but never did their jobs—to tell her he was walking home and headed down his usual path he took daily. The walk was about thirty minutes, though he could have probably made it in ten minutes if he really wanted to, there was just no real point though. The extra time would just be spent waiting around and Uchihas were not known for their patience—more like their lack of—and it was better if he took his time walking. After all, by the end of the thirty-minute walk, the Junior High chime-like bell would already have rung and Itachi would just be exiting the school's gates. Sometimes Sasuke would have to wait for his older brother but it was never long.
"Ogenki desuka?" Itachi's voice sounded above the numerous others speaking a totally different language than him. However, that's what happens when one lives in America. As one of the most culturally diverse places in the world, there tends to be a mixture of different languages and customs. Some families held onto their traditions and culture from their homelands, while others integrated in with the American society and gave up their old lives all together. For Itachi and Sasuke—second generation full-blooded Japanese-Americans—they grew up with American traditions, but they still heavily relied on Japanese traditions. Hence, the reason they were both fluent in Japanese and English; though, they tended to mix their English and Japanese when speaking with each other.
"Genki desu," Sasuke replied as his brother came up beside him. "Aniki wa?"
"Daijoubu," the taller boy answered as they began to walk side by side down the road that the younger Uchiha had just came from. "Anything interesting happed at school today?" Itachi asked, his Japanese flowing with a rhythmic fluency that came from constant use.
The elementary school student shook his head negatively. "Iie, nothing. Everything was normal, went to class, took a big test which I got a hundred on and spent all of lunch hiding from people in general."
The two brothers continued talking until they reached their destination, The Children's Memorial Park. It wasn't a small park, but it wasn't vastly large either, considering some of the other parks in the city. This one just happened to be the closest to the Uchiha's house, and the brothers would spend their afternoons in the park, doing whatever they felt like that day. They stayed until four or five in the evening since their parents didn't get off work until four themselves, so it was a way to pass the time.
As for the park itself, there was a playground with a swingset and junglegym for the smaller children and a soccer field for the teenagers. A pathway was built for the older generation to walk along and enjoy the greenery that was well taken care of. However, the park was widely known for the crystal like stone memorial wall that surrounded a bronze statue of two young children playing ball with each other. This was the wall dedicated to rising awareness of child abuse; every name carved upon the crystal-like substance was a child who died because of abuse.
Everyday, the two Uchihas would walk by the memorial stone on their way into the park before going about their business for the day. Today was no different, the brothers walked by the crystallized wall and headed straight towards a cluster of trees. For some reason, Sasuke always liked to climb the trees and hide inside the leafy foliage or just try to reach a new all-time high. When his mother first saw him in a tree, climbing so high, she freaked out, thinking her little boy would fall and hurt himself. But as she found her little boy in trees more and more, Mikoto stopped caring and started to call him a little monkey, which Sasuke hated and told his mother he wasn't a monkey but a ninja.
Itachi was right beside his little brother as they trekked over to the tree area; however, Itachi preferred the ground beneath his feet and never climbed any trees. Instead, as Sasuke jumped and grabbed a hold of the lowest branch on one of the trees. Before the boy pulled himself up, the older of the Uchiha brothers began searching the ground. Picking up the occasional stick and examining it before discarding it when the branch didn't meet his examination.
"Here," Sasuke's child like voice said from above Itachi's head. Looking up, the older Uchiha found his brother laying on a sturdy branch, holding out to him a limb of the tree that was straight and had no other twigs growing from the sides.
"Arigatou," Itachi thanked the boy as he took the branch from his brother and moved into the beginning stance. He heard the rustling of the tree as Sasuke started to climb higher up into it and when he couldn't hear his brother anymore, Itachi began to practice his katas with the limb. While Sasuke was the shinobi of the family, he was the samurai. Kendo was one of his hobbies, Itachi's most cherished hobby at that, and he took it very seriously. However, at the moment, his parents wouldn't let him have a real katana to practice with; however, he has been trying to convince them to get him a bokken to practice with if not a real sword.
"Oi, Aniki, what do you think Okaa-san will make for dinner tonight?" Sasuke asked from his perch halfway up the tree.
Slashing the limb down, Itachi looked up out of the corner of his eye at the tree's high branches. "I think Okaa-san mentioned something about having Kitsune-Udon tonight before we left."
A thoughtful expression crossed the little Uchiha's face as he tried to remember what his mother had said before he left for school that morning. Faintly, he remembered his mother saying something about Udon before he left, but he wasn't feeling like himself because he had the nightmare last night.
"And she mentioned something about onigiri as well," his aniki continued, catching Sasuke's attention and perking his interest. Onigiri was one of his favorite foods, because his mother didn't make it that often. Usually, they would have American food more often than Japanese cuisines. He liked both styles of food equally, but most of his favorites were from Japan. Itachi was the same way when it came to food, but he was more of a picky eater.
"Are you serious?" the excitement of the child showing through. "Okaa-san's really going to make onigiri?"
This time, when Itachi looked up upon at the tree, he could see the raven head of his brother's head stick over a tree branch halfway up the tree with an eager expression on his face in anticipation of the promise of onigiri.
A smirk could not help but spread across Itachi's face. "Hai."
After she finished setting the last plate on the table, Mikoto went back into the kitchen and checked to see if she forgot anything. When she found nothing, the woman took off her red apron and hung it back on the inside of the pantry door with a slight smile on her face. She may not have been able to help her youngest son when it came to his nightmares, but she could make him feel better by cooking him his favorite food. Hopefully, Sasuke was having a good day and he forgot all about the nightmare like he could sometimes, but they were rare as of lately. It was probably the increasing amount of nightmares he had been having lately and how long they had been going. Mikoto herself couldn't remember when the nightmares began, and she wasn't sure if Fugaku could either. Fugaku, who was currently up in his study researching more about nightmares and their causes.
"OKAA-SAN! We're Home!" Sasuke's little voice rose above the sound of the door banging open.
"Tadaima," Itachi's soft voice was covered by the sound of shuffling heard, what Mikoto could only assume was her two boys taking off their shoes and leaving them by the door. Coming from out of the kitchen, she met her sons halfway in the dining room.
"Welcome home," she greeted them, giving each a welcome home kiss on the cheek and a hug while ruffling Itachi's hair affectionately. "Dinner's already ready, so both of you need to run upstairs and clean up."
"Hai," the two brothers answered simultaneously, heading back to the living room and up the stairs to clean up. Sasuke rushed up the stairs in front of his brother.
Before they could get too far away, Mikoto called out to either of her two boys, "And tell your father that dinner's ready, he's in his study."
"Hai." She wasn't quite sure which of her children answered her, his voice muffled through the vast house, but she had a pretty good idea that it was Sasuke. He was in a good mood, the affects of the nightmare not effecting today. If only it would always be like this…if only the nightmare never existed, only then would Mikoto truly find peace in her life. With the knowledge that nothing was plaguing her family, that was her true peace of mind.
Pushing those thoughts out of her head for the moment, Mikoto watched as her boys—all three of them—made their way downstairs. Sasuke was tucked into the arms of Fugaku and Itachi at his side, all three of them chattering away animatedly. They seated themselves in the chairs surrounding the table and waited for her to take her seat before picking up their chopsticks. With a synchronized itadakimasu, the Uchiha family began their evening meal and the usual dinner conversation took its routine course. Talk about how everyone's day went before going everywhere else.
Today's conversation seemed to be centered on Itachi's ongoing quest for his very own katana for his kendo lessons; however, he seemed to change his tactics and was going for a bokken at the moment. Sasuke was trying to help his brother convince Fugaku that their oldest son needed a sword to practice with, and a bokken was perfect since they didn't want him to have a real sword. Mikoto could see her husband look at them very seriously while shaking his head at the boys, having a counter for every reason the two came up with. The glimmer in his eyes going unnoticed by the children, but not by her. Noticing his wife looking his way, Fugaku gave her a wink before putting down another reason. Mikoto couldn't help but chuckle softly, thinking of the wooden bokken currently sitting inside her closet. Her husband just brought home earlier that day along with a new art supplies for Sasuke.
"Koishii, it is not nice to tease the children," Mikoto finally spoke up, watching as the twinkle in Fugaku's eyes went slightly dim at not being able to torment his children any longer. "Let Itachi have his bokken already." A smirk only the Uchiha clan had ever owned spread across her oldest son's face and a dangerous gleam glittered in his eyes. "He deserves it after getting straight A's on his midterm. But-" a meaningful gaze forced Itachi to be humble out of fear of his mother, "-if anything end's up broken in this house, and I do mean anything, then the bokken goes. Am I clear Itachi?"
The teenager nodded his head positively, the smirk back on his face. "Hai, Okaa-san."
"Good, and since Sasuke also got perfect scores on his midterm, I think he deserves that new art set that he's been eyeing. Don't you think so too, Koishii?" Mikoto asked, a sweet look on her face as she looked her husband in the eyes. Unseen by the children, one of Mikoto's hands–hidden by the table–began running up and down her husband's thigh. Seeing the man take a big gulp of nothing, the woman gave an enticing smile just begging for a response.
Another gulp was heard before Fugaku quickly nodded his head positively. "Of course, and once your plates are empty, you can have the presents. They're wrapped and sitting in the closet in your mother's closet." No sooner had the words left his mouth, both Itachi and Sasuke disappeared—racing upstairs towards the main bedroom—their plates already devoid of food. A thank you echoed off of the walls from both boys.
"You did a good thing by getting them those presents, Fugaku-chan," Mikoto giggled, as she began eating again, acting like nothing had happen only seconds before. It didn't take long for Fugaku to react from her obvious disregard of his presence.
A slight, possessive growl escaped the older Uchiha's throat, before the evening was out. His next comment almost caused Mikoto to choke on her food, but being married to one of the best prosecutor nationwide and being a lawyer herself, she had learned to hide her emotions quite well. "Since I was so good, does that mean I get a present tonight too?"
"Only if you behave yourself," was her quick-witted reply. It was accompanied by a passionate kiss, only a taste of what was promised, before the woman got up and left to do the dishes, leaving her husband in her wake with a not so slight problem.
Okay, so I want to try something new. Each chapter I post, I'm going to ask a question, and for those of you that do review, I hope that you will answer my question. Here's this chapter's question:
What do you think of my versions of Fugaku, Mikoto, and their relationship?
Thanks to all those who have reviewed and who will review in the nearby future!
Shi no Tenshi 902