Disclaimer: The characters of Naruto and settings are all owned by Masashi Kishimoto not me.

Ryui: I know the first few chapters will be boring, but please bear with me because these chapters will be bery important in the end and you will link up all the meaning to everything in the end. And thanks for reading! And reviews!

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Chapter 2: Determination

Early birds chirped outside and woke a little raven from his peaceful sleep. He rubbed his eyes and adjusted his view, and his body remembered how to shake in fear when he realized that he wasn't asleep in his room.

When the doorknob turned, Sasuke was already in verge of tears and trembling from head to toe.

But when the door had opened ever so quietly and an unexpected person came to view, it shocked the shaking little Uchiha.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke gasped from terror and relief, "what are you doing here!?"

"Ohayo to you too, Sasuke," Itachi greeted, taking in Sasuke's outburst calmly while setting a tray of breakfast in front of him.

Sasuke's mouth hung open to which Itachi used the back of his hand to snap it back up.

"Its rude to hang your jaw open, Sasuke," Itachi said with a smirk, having enjoyed teasing and getting a little glare from his little raven.

"That hurt!" Sasuke growled with tears in his eyes, cheeks dusting with pink and also tasting blood with a tinge of pain.

Itachi lifted Sasuke's chin not unkindly and asked for Sasuke's tongue.

A little more color rose to his cheeks before he slid his injured tongue out between his small pink lips that looked so adorable to Itachi.

"Hmmm," Itachi said with a thoughtful expression, "I think I did quite the job."

"Nii-san!!"

Sasuke pouted and Itachi smirk widened.

"I guess you can't eat this then," Itachi said and stole a takuwan from Sasuke's plate and ate it, ignoring Sasuke's cry and outreaching hands.

Itachi knew takuwan was Sasuke's favourite side dish and that he only gets 2 slices per meal.

"A------------!! Nii-sa~n!!!"

"Hurry up and eat if you want to keep the other one," Itachi told his dear little brother before taking his leave.

When he was left alone, reality dawned on Sasuke, and he shivered in fear once again.

Sasuke quickly took in his breakfast and picked up his tray, carrying to the kitchen where shockingly, his father, Fugaku was.

The little raven trembled with fear while he tried best not to rattle the objects on the tray.

Oh no... he found out...

"O-ohayou gozaimasu, tou-san..." Sasuke made his voice audible as much as he could do so.

Fugaku turned to the youngest Uchiha frozen to the floor before he turned back, accompanied by a small nod. Sasuke's mouth was agape, forming the words 'Eh?' as he stared at his father's broad back like it was suddenly made of diamond.

Expecting a flying fist turning out to be a small nod was definitely not anything but a miracle to Sasuke. He thought he knew he was done for.

He could still feel the bruise on his temple and his stomach while cuts over his arms were bandaged by Fugaku's DV, and Sasuke had been so sure that that was what he was going to get.

The process of unfreezing himself was excruciatingly slow until Itachi, who was watching this scene, could no longer take it and pushed the little raven forward.

"Move, little one. You are blocking my path, and you're not going to teleport just by staring," Itachi said with a curve playing upwards on his lips. Little Sasuke was pushed to the sink where he put down the dishes in the sink on his tip toes.

"Good. Now, go brush your teeth," Sasuke was told, and dumbly, Sasuke moved towards his bathroom swaying slightly from all the confusion. Itachi smiled and turned on the tap as he started cleaning the dishes as his daily routine, acting like the mother of the house. When Itachi was pegging the laundry on the line, Sasuke came up to him with a pant.

"Nii-san! What did you do to tou-san!!?" the little Uchiha hollered, gasping at Itachi's side.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Itachi asked, teasing Sasuke as if he didn't know what his little shocked brother out of breath was talking about.

Although the little one knew Itachi was bluffing about and so he shook his brother as hard as he could, screaming something along the lines of 'I-know-you're-bluffing-so-tell-me-baka-aniki-or-I'll-shake-you-till-you-lose-your-mind!!!'.

A worried look flashed across Itachi's face but went unnoticed as he kneeled down before the heavily panting you Uchiha with a kind smile, which had a hint of sadness that Sasuke couldn't pick up on.

"He's just being sober today, Sasuke. Nothing's different with him," Itachi answered, which made the little raven cock his head to the side.

"Why sober?" Sasuke asked, trying to remember when it was the last time father ever was sober.

"Let's say, tou-san and I had a slight fight and he lost. So he had to listen to me," Itachi explained to which Sasuke gave a glint in the eye of understanding.

"Ooh, so that's why you had the smell of dirt last night!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"What a sensitive nose you've got there my little puppy," Itachi smiled with a pat on Sasuke's head.

Sasuke smiled brightly and then ran back to the house to get ready for his ninja academy which was a few minutes away before it started classes.

Itachi smiled at the little figure before giving out a little sigh and pulled up sleeve to look at his bandaged arm. He twisted and tested out his movement to which he lets out the smallest cringe to be expressed across his face. The red blood seeped through the contrasting white bandages once again and another sigh escapes the long haired raven as he finds his limit to his movements.

Just as he put his sleeve down again, a little raven jumped on him with a little peck given to him on his cheek.

"Ittekimasu Nii-san!" Sasuke said brightly, jumping back down from his older brother and ran towards the gates out of his massive house, to school where he belonged at day time.

Itachi smiled, eyeing Sasuke's bandaged arms and legs showing through the dark t-shirt and light colored shorts before he turned back to hang the clothes on the washing line.

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Sasuke found the day past weird and was confused to the point he started hitting his head with both his arms in front of the mirror while his toothbrush was in his mouth, still in process of getting his teeth cleaned but was abandoned temporarily.

Sasuke sighed at all the confusion and dropped his arms accompanied by his shoulders before returning to a dull brushing of his teeth and looking a back at his reflection which reflected his slightly bruised temple, his very slightly bagged eyes and dark eyes that looked less dull than any other day that he had.

He quickly spat into the sink and slapped his cheeks twice before the determination of something glinting in his eyes.

Hesitatingly, he went back to where his father was and gave a small greeting to announce that he was leaving to which he once again received a small nod. Sasuke stared at his father who stood up and moved towards him as Sasuke feared and he put raised a hand in front of him to offer it to Fugaku who would do his usual thing, and Sasuke flinched and shut his eyes tight as always when Fugaku touched Sasuke's arm but when he felt his father's hand lower Sasuke's hand, Sasuke shockingly looked up to the bigger arm and noticed the arm having bandage peeping through the sleeves.

Sasuke raised his eyes higher to meet the dark eyes of his father's in confusion, where he only received a stare back before Fugaku actually spoke to Sasuke.

"Be careful," Fugaku said with his low, cold tone voice as if he didn't actually mean those words, but to Sasuke, this was way more than any kindness he had ever received.

And Fugaku walked passed Sasuke just like that, leaving a quite stunned little Uchiha standing on the corridor just outside the living room.

Sasuke definitely had some confirmation that Itachi did something to Fugaku for him to change like that like Itachi always promised that he will one day. A wide smile spreads across Sasuke's facial features and he ran to the back door where it lead to where Itachi was currently hanging the washing, but a frown flit across Sasuke's lips when he saw Itachi sighing and lowering his hand. Sasuke thought it was probably because Itachi had a hard time to convince their father to change, and Sasuke thought it was his duty to show how happy he was so Itachi would truly feel that it was really worth it no matter what the tough charges he had been through were. Perhaps he can ask Itachi what he did to convince Fugaku later when things settle a little better.

He ran to Itachi and jumped up onto him where Itachi caught Sasuke into his arms with his reflex since he didn't see this coming. Itachi smiled at Sasuke who pecked him a kiss of goodbye before going to school.

"Take care, Sasuke. Itterasshai," Itachi said before Sasuke turned around the corner of the gates of the house.

Sasuke smiled to himself for being able to make Itachi smile and although Sasuke was still a bit afraid of having a bright and happy personality for cheering Itachi up, he had to do it. He owed Itachi everything. That was the determination he had in his dark obsidian eyes, ready for anything that will come up to face him.

It's my turn now. I need to save nii-san's smile no matter what!

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