Five years, five years he sat still, watching his life unfold. Sasuke smiled at the way he clung to his mother, and how he was so obsessed with her. He also noticed many things that he didn't remember from his childhood. Sometimes his brother would take him from his mother and carry him to the garden. He could tell his brother was trying his hardest to distract the child from the fighting that was going on. His brother would flick Sasuke's forehead and that would snap his attention to his older brother and forget about the fighting. He remembered his parents having a better relationship to that of what he saw but, then again, Itachi did do a nice job of distracting him. He felt the emotions of jealousy and anger towards his brother, and would often demand to fight against him. Not that the way his father treated him was Itachi's fault butt at the age he wanted someone to blame. Sasuke sighed at the way he acted, so suitable for his age but so embarrassing having to watch himself act that way. Especially as his brother would just flick him on his forehead time and time again. He also felt something unnerving about the way his father acted. He would touch his brother, a bit too affectionately. But he was the only one that noticed that. The way his father would touch his brother's cheek and the way he would rub his brother's thigh. But no matter how much he wanted to do something, he just couldn't control his body. He just sat there, wanting to do so much, but able to move a muscle.

"Are you going to do it?" A familiar voice whispered into Sasuke's ear.

"What the!" Sasuke turned around to see the demon from five years ago with a little boy at his side. Upon closer inspection, the little boy turned out to be him. It must have been the baby that the demon locked up in that room when they first met. He glared at the demon, not willing to do the deed.

"Why should I?!" Sasuke watched carefully, making sure the demon wouldn't do anything to his other self. The demon merely scoffed and pushed the little boy to Sasuke.

"Because, you can't use your body unless that kid's gone." He said as matter of factly. "I told a while ago, five years is the maximum time I'm going to give you." Sasuke gripped the little version of him with his hands, then pulled him in closer as he wrapped a protective arm around him.

"Why is the maximum life span of this child five years?" Sasuke asked, half curious and half trying to buy time.

"Why must I explain everything dear?" The demon spoke, annoyance evident in his voice. "Because, this is the time where you can change your brother's fate."

"What...?" Sasuke was beyond confused, and afraid.

"Look at me." The demon spoke, stern and fully annoyed. There was even a slight slur to his speech. Sasuke looked at him and the demon began unraveling the bandages that covered his face.

"Father?!" Sasuke let loose of his smaller self and lost his footing. He dropped to the ground with a thud and stared at what was supposed to be a demon in shock. "But, how?!"

"Look kid, I'm not really your dad." His 'father' laughed, "But here's the thing." He bent down to be face to face with Sasuke, suddenly very serious and said, "I'm your guide to this time skip. When a demon agrees to let a human such as yourself take his mind back to the past for something like personal gain, we just sent them back you know?" The demon spoke, as if Sasuke was comprehending anything right now. "But, you on the other hand, you're different. You want to change someone else's life and that takes a bit more steps. So here you go, this is the jutsu's way of saying you're going to have to do something with this father of yours for your brother's fate. And since you're cute, I added in a bonus for you." The demon smiled almost sadly as he approached the child version of Sasuke.

"W-Wait!" Sasuke called out to him but he was too late, the demon and his younger conscious was nowhere to be found. And he felt himself drifting, drifting...

"Wait!" Sasuke flinched at the sound of his voice. It was high pitched and gentle, and definitely not his, right? He looked around and sure enough, he was the only one in the room. Sasuke sighed, how he managed to pull off such a girly voice at eighteen was beyond him and he rubbed his forehead. He paused when he saw his hand though and almost screamed. It was tiny, soft, and still had baby fat on them. Sasuke jumped up with a start and everything came back to him. The demon that looked like his father, the disappearance of his younger self and the meaning behind the words he last heard. What was so important about today, and why was his father such an important factor? As Sasuke was thinking through these unresolved questions he heard hurried footsteps coming towards him.

"What is it that made you scream little brother?" He looked up to see his brother come pick him up and touch his nose. "Did you fall asleep here while playing and have a bad dream?" He cooed with a small smile, he carried his little brother to the nursery. "We really need to renovate this place, it's hardly fitting for how big you're getting." Itachi sighed and as he was about to place Sasuke into the crib. "Mother really doesn't want you to grow up now does she?" He chuckled softly and brushed his brother's hair out of his face with his hand. Itachi simply stared at Sasuke and Sasuke just stared back. Sasuke wasn't sure how to react. He latched onto his brother's hand and leaned into it, he missed his brother and being able to touch him was something he only thought of as a dream. Sasuke felt tears in his eyes as he remembered the last time he had touched his brother was at his deathbed. And he killed him. Sasuke began wailing and he couldn't help it. May his mind be old, his body and reactions were still that of a child.

Itachi just stared at Sasuke in shock before picking him up again. He ran through anything he might have done to trigger such a response but was confused as he didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Itachi patted circles on his younger brother's back and lulled him. "There there little brother, what's making you sad?" Sasuke only cuddled into the crook of Itachi's neck and kept sniffling.

"Stop that." Itachi and Sasuke froze at the voice. Itachi turned around to face the owner of the voice, their father.

"Ah Father, I was just about to put him to bed." Itachi spoke, still keeping a hand on Sasuke's back.

"No, you were babying him, just like her." Fugaku's face scrunched up at his mention of his wife. He then glared at Sasuke. "Put him in a bed, he's already five and that's pushing it." Itachi did agree with his father that Sasuke didn't need the crib anymore but he didn't like the way his father spoke of it. Like he was a humiliation to him.

"You know how Mother is about Sasuke." Itachi tried to reason, he motioned to place Sasuke back into his crib when he felt a rough hand stop him.

"Why don't you let him sleep in your bed tonight?" Fugaku said with an eerie smile. Itachi didn't notice the vibe his father was emitting and smiled,

"That's a wonderful idea; maybe Mother will be more considering if she finds him able to sleep in a bed." Itachi liked the idea of sleeping with his younger brother, having someone to snuggle with. After all, Sasuke had the most adorable sleeping face and he couldn't wait to wake up and find him snuggled up to him. Itachi smiled at the image and began to head towards his room. He placed Sasuke on the bed and was about to go to close his bedroom door when his father stood in the doorway. "Um, Father?" Itachi asked, wondering why his father refused to move.

"You must be uncomfortable sleeping with your brother on such a tiny bed; you can sleep in my study tonight." He smiled darkly and began to push his son towards his study.

"No, I'm alright.'' Itachi tried to get back to where his younger brother was but his father just shoved him harder.

"Get in my study Itachi, I won't say it again." Fugaku spoke in a stern voice, and his face told Itachi he had no patience for anything other than what he wanted. Internally questioning the reasoning behind this, Itachi simply abided to his father's whim and began walking to the study. There was a bed in the study but it was only there as an accent piece. They had a guest room next to his parents' room so he wondered why he should go all the way to the study.

Sasuke jumped from the bed and was following the pair since a while ago. He was trailing behind them and struggling to keep up. Fugaku was walking like he couldn't wait for something and dragged Itachi to his pace. Sasuke groaned at his little legs and tried to close the distance. Taijutsu seems out of the question for now. Sasuke thought. I do need to check on my chakra levels at some point though. He added as an afterthought.

"In you go." Fugaku pushed Itachi in and closed the door behind him.

"Father?" Itachi's voice was barely audible behind the doors. "Have you been drinking..?"

"Maybe."

"What are you-?!"

Sasuke was hoping to dear god that the demon was just playing tricks on him. That his father wasn't a sexual rapist, and that what was happening now was not the start of Itachi's demise. But what else could it be? The first encounter with the demon flashed in Sasuke's mind and the voices behind the wall were mirroring it.

"You know what I want."

"No,... Why would I?!"

"Sasuke."

"Now don't make me ask again, because maybe I'll have you locked up and witness the tragedy as it befalls on your beloved brother." There was a small pause. "Because I can do that you know."

Sasuke couldn't deny it any longer; this was the exact scene he was supposed to stop from happening, but how?! And then he realized it, he realized everything. He couldn't do anything with his body as it was right now. But the only thing he could do was to trade places. He was killing that conscious right now as he was opening the door. He was going to give up his innocence for his brother. And that part of him would die today, on his fifth birthday. He took in a shaky breath and asked like he was oblivious to the situation right now,

"Father, brother?" He asked, walking in like he didn't understand what was going on. He inwardly winced as he saw his brother try to wipe his eyes without being caught; his hair was out of his pony tail and was still tangled in Fugaku's fingers. Fugaku merely just yanked his hand away and stormed up to Sasuke.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He fumed at the child, raising his hand ready to backhand him. At this Itachi tried rush to his brother's aide, but before he could Sasuke said something that he knew would scare Fugaku.

"Mom told me to?" Fugaku paused and stared wide eyed at Sasuke. Sasuke only blinked back like it was the most blatant truth that everyone should know.

"What do you mean, mom you to?" Fugaku muttered, bringing his hand down from the air. Itachi could only breathe a heavy sigh of relief.

"'Cus, I told her to get me some water and she asked to check on you guys." Sasuke was lying through his teeth right now and could only hope that in his father's drunken state, he'd believe him.

"Fuck." And he did. "Tell her I'm taking a walk and none of you speak of this or I swear it'll hell." He snarled and shoved Sasuke out of the way and left the house to take his 'walk'. Sasuke fell to the ground with a thud and Itachi ran over to him.

"A-Are you o-okay?" He spoke, his voice proved how shaken up he was but never the less put his brother first. He sat Sasuke up and patted him on the head softly. Sasuke stared back at his brother with sad eyes. Itachi was about ten years old, and was still very much a child. He ran his tiny hands down Itachi's hair and put every hair back into place. He then just hugged him tightly and Itachi could only do the same. Itachi then picked Sasuke up and headed for his room. "Let's get some sleep little brother." His voice was quiet and wasn't back to normal yet, but at least he stopped the stuttering. Sasuke just nodded into his brother's embrace.

Its okay brother, I'll protect you this time.

It was the next day and Sasuke woke up to a half dressed Itachi. He just ogled his older brother as he got dressed and put his hair into a pony tail. Itachi turned to check on his brother only to see him sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning little brother." He smiled at the cute sight before grabbing the hem of his brother's shirt, planning on getting him dressed for the day.

"B-Brother?!" Sasuke yelped and yanked his shirt back down, "What are you doing?" Itachi just laughed a bit,

"Getting you dressed, or is this a privilege only for Mother?" Itachi joked, and continued to undress and redress a quiet Sasuke. When he was done Sasuke couldn't help but instinctively latch onto his older brother.

"Thanks big brother!" Sasuke smiled happily, "You're the best!" Sasuke internally was red with embarrassment; the impulses his five year old body wanted to do and say were carried out but not without blushing. He is after all, eighteen.

"Anything for you little brother." Itachi smiled back, and kissed Sasuke on his forehead. "Come on, let's get some breakfast." Itachi grabbed Sasuke's hand and walked him to the kitchen where his mother laid out the food.

"Boys, do you know where your father went?" She asked, not really caring where he was but annoyed at the lack of earlier notice. Both brothers froze. Sasuke looked up to see his brother flash emotions of confusion, anger, and terror across his facial features.

"Ah, he said something about a walk last night!" Sasuke chirped, squeezing his brother's hand and pulling him to the table. This snapped Itachi back into reality and he just nodded in agreement. The three ate their breakfast in peace, having idle chatter here and there.

"So, Itachi, I heard you're going on a trip to Kyoto tomorrow?" Mikoto asked. Itachi just nodded again, he knew his mother care so much more for Sasuke then him so he found it pointless to speak. He just came to terms with it and didn't hate her for it. It was only when his father was around that it was bad anyway. However, Sasuke froze at the mention of this. Kyoto..., the trip to Kyoto! Sasuke just remembered that when Itachi was supposed to go on with their father. And after the trip he changed. Sasuke shuddered, he knew just one thing, he had to make his father take him to the trip instead of his brother. But how?!

"Sasuke deary, what are you thinking about so intensely?" Mikoto laughed, after all, a five year old's troubles weren't anything to actually worry about.

"Huh?" Sasuke decided to figure that plan out later and instead try to enjoy that last normal meal he would have. "Oh, nothing!" Sasuke smiled at his mother and brother and happily finished breakfast. But he knew because of the pain in the pit of his stomach, that he was scared.