The warnings below are really spoilers for this chapter's plot… But I've put them in, just in case.
Warnings: Suicide references, shounen ai, a highly distressed Sasuke, illegal driving –gasps-
Time skip of a week since last chapter.
Chapter 2- An Eventful Morning
I was sitting at a small rectangular table in a rather uncomfortable chair. I looked to the clock and saw that it was only six thirty in the morning. I moved the weetbix around the bowl of milk with my silver spoon. I listened to the television as I tried to make my food digestible.
In particular I listened to a middle aged man's spiel about our, and the world's, receding economy. An economic recession was not good for anybody, but I knew it would be affecting my family's company in particular.
Our once prestigious company had been losing value over the last decade and a half, ever since my mother had died in a car accident. My father, Uchiha Fugaku, had taken out loan after loan, trying to restore the Uchiha name. He had borrowed a lot of money and was now up to his eyes in debt.
Normally, this would have been fine. He would have been able to pay it all off eventually. But this economic recession had thoroughly discarded any thoughts of paying the debt off. Our once well off family was now practically flat broke.
Truthfully, I didn't particularly care all that much for my father. I was more concerned for my little brother.
Last year I had been kicked out of my home for "disgracing the family name". In other words, I had told my father that I was homosexual. It didn't help any that my boyfriend/ fiancé/ whatever happened to be the CEO of one of our 'rival companies'.
As if to rub salt into my father's wounded pride, Kisame's sector was holding up about ten times better than the Uchiha's. I sighed as I spooned the soggy weetbix concoction into my mouth. According to the numbers running along the bottom of the television screen, my family's company had lost even more value. Soon no one would want to own any of our shares…
I wished that I could have taken Sasuke with me when I had left home… But I knew my father would pull through during this trying time. He was too stubborn not to.
"What are you so depressed about? I've actually gained points today!" Kisame suddenly announced from behind me.
"Well obviously I'm concerned about my brother-" I began to answer before a soft ringing interrupted my speech. I quickly checked my phone to make sure that it wasn't an emergency. Why was Sasuke calling at this hour? "Speaking of which." I said for Kisame's benefit before answering the phone.
"What do you want at this hour?" I asked unceremoniously, more than a little curious.
"Itachi, it's dad…" Sasuke answered in a strained voice. Coupled with uneven breathing and an inability to make complete sentences, he definitely sounded like he had been crying only minutes ago. I also faintly hear sirens in the background on Sasuke's end.
"What happened?" I asked urgently. "Are you hurt?"
"No, it's dad…" he repeated, "He's dead." I heard yet another shaky breath pass through him. "He committed suicide last night…"
It felt like the bottom had dropped out of my stomach; so much for being too stubborn not to pull through. "Do you want me to come over? Are you at the house or did he end up selling that?" I asked, trying and failing not to be blunt about our father's death. To tell the truth, the news of his death was actually rather… relieving.
"Yeah, I'm going… to the other property soon. I can't stay in this house…" Sasuke replied in a quiet murmur.
"Of course, we'll be there as soon as possible." I assured as I stood and impulsively made my way towards the door. By 'we', I had meant Kisame and I. I would need him to drive me there.
"Please hurry…" My little brother muttered before hanging up.
"Where are you going?" Kisame asked as he watched me pull my black leather shoes on. I thought they matched my black office pants and shirt rather well…
"It appears that my father has committed suicide. I need to help my brother get over whatever emotional and psychological problems may have resulted from this event. We are going to my father's old house." I explained as I waited expectantly for Kisame to put his shoes on as well.
He knew that I was being serious because I hadn't left any room for questions. "What am I going to do with you?" He eventually replied as he finished putting his shoes on. He was asking himself more than me, but I replied anyway.
"Love me, feed me, shelter me and… comfort me." I replied somewhat dryly as Kisame passed through the front door. I followed him outside.
"I do all of that already!" He pretended to complain as he unlocked the driver's side of the small, also black, car.
I remember the time he told me that he'd bought it because it reminded him of me. I had of course told him that he was the most horrid kind of male, one, which would compare their partner to a machine.
Kisame had, of course, answered that the machine couldn't compare, simply act as a reminder. I hadn't been able to come up with a witty reply for that one, so he'd kept it ever since then.
Despite the obvious fact that Kisame was a multi-millionaire, he certainly didn't spend, act or live like one. I respected him because of that and it was probably why I had been attracted to him in the first place. Somehow I doubted the initial attraction occurred because I had a fetish for blue skin…
Kisame had an odd genetic mutation, which made him appear to be some kind of shark-human hybrid. But I wasn't so shallow as to judge him purely by his appearance like most other people did. After all, if I hadn't given him a chance I would never have discovered that his surprisingly large build applied to all of his body…
But at this point in time, there were more important things to be doing than reminiscing. It would take at least fifteen minutes to reach my father's- my brother's house. I stared out of the window uncomfortably, not wanting Kisame to speed, but still wanting to arrive faster. I wished that I could just teleport…
Noticing my distress, Kisame briefly placed a hand on my knee before turning his attention back to the road and his hand to the steering wheel.
As soon as we arrived, I quickly exited the car and ran towards the large gates, which my father had deigned was 'necessary for security'. The house itself was ridiculously over sized considering my father had been practically broke. It also surprised me that he still owned another property apart from this one. Undoubtedly his pride hadn't allowed him to sell it.
In the wide, paved driveway a police car sat in front of the gates. A gloomy police officer was leaning on the bonnet and glancing through the car windows every now and then. I stopped in front of him as I continued to gaze at my old home.
I noticed that the surrounding garden was terribly overgrown as well. Obviously there was no more money to hire people to tame it.
The officer stood up straighter when he realized that I was going to talk to him. Kisame had chosen to remain in the car. He didn't like being seen in public for obvious reasons. When he had to be seen in public, he usually hired a limousine so that he fit the 'rich stereotype'. It avoided unnecessary questions...
"Is my little brother, Uchiha Sasuke, still here?" I asked him as soon as I was close enough.
"Uchiha Itachi I presume?" He replied as he briefly glanced back into the tinted windows of the police car. "I'm about to escort your brother to the previously-" His speech was interrupted by the car door opening.
My brother emerged from the vehicle rapidly and flung himself at me. "Niisan…" He whispered and smiled weakly when I put an arm around his shoulders. He looked incredibly shaken up and disheveled. His hair was sticking out in all directions and his eyes were bloodshot and swollen. He'd obviously been crying earlier.
My brother wasn't hysterical very often, but when he was it was to an extreme extent. It surprised me that he was still in his pajamas. As I embraced him he began to babble at high speed. He was definitely shell-shocked.
"What are we going to do? Does this mean I have to look after the company? How will we pay off the debt? How-"
"Shh… just calm down. Don't worry about that right now." I muttered as I rubbed his back to comfort him. I knew that by tomorrow he would be acting as if he'd never been this hysterical.
"I-I'd better get going now… The first thing I'm going to do is sell of this property." He laughed weakly before retreating from my embrace.
"If you're sure." I replied and tried to straighten out his hair a little. "Call me anytime if you need anything, alright?"
Sasuke nodded and sat back down in the police car. I waved once before turning around and returning to Kisame's car. After putting my seatbelt on, I rubbed my forehead and sighed.
"So, what's going on?" Kisame asked as he started up the car and made an illegal U-turn.
"He's going to stay at the other property that Fugaku owned. Also, that is illegal for a reason, you know." I replied as I continued to stare out of the window.
Kisame tactfully remained silent until we had reached his house again. It had been a very eventful day and it was only seven o'clock in the morning.
I would love a bit of feedback. Anything you particularly liked or disliked? Well, bye until next chapter.