Chapter 4

"Oi, Uchiha." The boisterous male voice belonged to his friend but Itachi didn't even glance up from the book laid out in front of him. A heavy body banged against the open window frame but Itachi ignored that too.

"Come on 'Tachi. We're forming teams down on the green. Come pitch a few for us, won't you?" Yahiko leaned over the metal windowsill from the outside lawn where he stood. His body, broad-shouldered and muscled, blocked the afternoon light. Itachi frowned at the shadow on his book. The library he sat in was dimly lit. The old campus of ivied stone and grassy terraces had been wired for electric lights but Itachi had tucked himself into an alcove without any fixtures. The stacks around him were old and dusty and the air smelled of damp paper. But it had been quiet before Yahiko showed up.

Itachi looked up at his red haired companion. Fugaku had outdone himself when he sent Itachi away. The boarding school wasn't only far from Itachi's childhood home but it was far from his native country as well. A ship had taken him across the sea to the Briol Empire and he'd yet to return home, even for a visit. He received mail from his father, growing more courteous and business oriented throughout his school years, but none that summoned him back.

"You're in my light," Itachi said.

Yahiko laughed and leaned in further to tug at Itachi's hair. He tugged the end and let it swing to brush Itachi's cheek. Itachi glared at him before pulling the ribbon from his ponytail. His hair cascaded around his face but he thrust it back quickly and redid the bow aware of Yahiko's eyes. In the all boys' school, Itachi's fine features and rare exotic beauty garnered constant attention even from his friends. They handled their admiration towards the quiet but authoritative youth differently. Some joked around what they really wanted and some worshipped him. Yahiko treated it as a never-ending game.

"If you don't come play ball, I'll come in there to play with you." Yahiko grinned and glanced around the deserted lines of cramped, winding bookcases. "Quite the spot you've picked Uchiha. Nice and quiet. Lonely."

"You'll miss the game if you waste your time trying to persuade me," Itachi pointed out.

"We can do other things," Yahiko said. He swung up onto the windowsill and leapt down near Itachi's table. "What's got your attention anyways?" He hauled Itachi's book up by the front cover and skimmed the title, raising a slim pale brow as he did so. "The Greeks?" A leer crept onto his lips. "Don't tell me you're finally interested." His eyes challenged Itachi and something dangerous and careless lit his pupils.

"I'm not," Itachi replied evenly.

"Hm." Yahiko bent over Itachi and laid his lips to the younger student's mouth. He moved slowly, caressing the Uchiha's lips carefully. Itachi allowed it all, even when Yahiko's pushed in further, spreading Itachi's lips open to suck at the warmth of his mouth. Itachi's lips slid against his own patiently until Yahiko had to draw away for breath.

Yahiko's chest heaved. He could feel his hot erection pressing the front of his trousers. Itachi on the other hand was composed. His eyes were bright, his cheeks and lips flushed, but his mask was still firmly in place. His grey eyes caught Yahiko staring and he poised an eyebrow. Yahiko chuckled, breathlessly and just a little. Itachi was an arrogant asshole and he looked the part of a young prince lounging regally in a throne.

Yahiko turned his gaze outside. It was sunny, blue-skied. The lawn was a lush green and he could just see the sparkling river that bordered one side of the school's campus. The baseball game was starting down that slope without him but he didn't care much then.

"How many boys have you let kiss you?" Yahiko asked. His breath was back even if his groin was still heated.

"Some," Itachi shrugged.

"And how many have you let-." Yahiko's mouth moved in close enough that his lips brushed Itachi's earlobes and his voice dropped as he whispered a dirty, explicit phrase into Itachi's ear. His older friend laid out the situation graphically, ignoring Itachi's discomfort. Itachi stared down at his book as he listened to every word Yahiko spoke but none of his thoughts were displayed on his beautiful, cool face.

Yahiko mouthed Itachi's ear, licking down sensitive skin and making him cringe. A hand tangled in Itachi's hair, stroked his neck and held him still as a wet tongue coursed down a stressed tendon to the base of his throat. Itachi shivered before pushing his friend away.

"Won't you consider it with me?" Yahiko asked. "I'll be good to you."

Itachi paused. It wasn't the first time Yahiko had given him such a proposition, although his lust for Itachi was usually better hidden. The pause was long enough for Yahiko to get excited. Itachi's rejection was always immediate, polite and painfully courteous but firm. Seeing him hesitate made Yahiko's heart – and erection– throb. His hope crashed when Itachi finally shook his head.

"It would be inappropriate."

"I don't get you," Yahiko decided, a little bit frustrated. "You're headstrong enough to disobey your father when you really want but you still try to win his approval."

"As an only child it is my duty," Itachi said.

"Maybe your father should have another kid," Yahiko suggested. "Someone less stubborn that he can control."

"No. I am my father's only child."

"What, do you want all your old man's attention?"

"Not at all," Itachi said. "I wouldn't have any of it, were it up to me. But it's not possible…"

"Oh!" Yahiko exclaimed. "Do you mean he's sterile of somethin'?"

"We do not talk about things like that," Itachi informed his foreign friend stiffly.

"Hey, you're in my country now. So what, can he not," Yahiko waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "you know."

"He just can't have kids is all."

"But he had you," Yahiko pointed out.

"Yes well." Itachi trailed off and refused to say anymore on the subject. It wasn't something to be discussed outside the family. In fact, Itachi himself only knew about it because of his childhood habit of eavesdropping under the porches. Looking back he was surprised he'd never been caught as a kid. It disturbed him now how much information he'd gained concerning his own parents merely because he'd enjoyed listening for secrets when the servants were chattering or gossiping relatives were visiting.

He didn't know if the story he heard was true, but his aunt was certain Mikoto had poisoned Fugaku with a mountain herb that made him sterile. It would have been after Itachi was born but before Mikoto was banished to the inner gardens. Itachi wondered if that was why she'd been banished but he'd never asked for more information. He had only a few memories of Mikoto living with them in the main house.

Yahiko pulled him from his thoughts, disproving of Itachi thinking of his home like he always did. It wasn't rare for Itachi's eyes to glaze with memories and thoughts, as he tried to sift through his own past and whenever Yahiko was near he would distract him from thinking too hard. Yahiko didn't know Itachi's complicated family history but he did realize Itachi was frustrated with his own hazy memories and lack of information. The older student coaxed Itachi from the dim library and pulled him over the windowsill into the bright afternoon light. Itachi protested but Yahiko grinned and muscled him into moving.

The game was well into the second inning. Yahiko wanted to join in anyways but Itachi didn't so they watched for a while, Yahiko jeering at every mistake and taunting both teams. The sun was beating down on their backs as they leaned against a short wall. Itachi drew his dark hair, burning under the fierce sunlight, over his shoulder. He caught Yahiko glancing over at him but he ignored him until a play drew Yahiko's attention back to the game.

He heckled the fielding team until the loudmouth catcher got fed up with it. He shouted back at Yahiko obnoxiously but he took it grinning. The furious player had a mask of thin metal bars covering his face, the only protective equipment he wore. His long blonde hair was caught under it, covering one eye, and Itachi didn't know how he saw to catch the pitches. Yahiko must have thought the same thing because he mocked him for being blind.

Deidara stalked across the field but his teammates groaned at his aggression and called him back, exasperated with him. Itachi hid a smile. It certainly wasn't unusual for these two to get into fights especially when Yahiko was actually on the field. Itachi and Deidara's teammates both interfered before anything could happen between the young men, Itachi by laying a hand on Yahiko's back and Deidara's teammates by holding the fiery blonde back.

Yahiko threw Itachi and cocky smile over his shoulder. The raven rolled his eyes but he wouldn't deny the feeling of his stomach turning over at his friend's ignited expression. Itachi could admit that he found his face handsome.

He eyed his friend's back as he turned back to watch the resuming game. Yahiko's wide shoulders strained his shirt and a line of sweat marked his lower spine. His powerful back tapered down into a trim waist. When Itachi caught himself staring at his friend's butt he looked away, hoping Yahiko hadn't caught him staring.

What would it be like? he wondered. He'd come a long ways from researching centuries old sex manuals. He knew now what two males could do with each other's bodies. He knew too that he was one of the types of males who wanted just that. In this country it was an acceptable endeavor, at least as a pastime. Back home it was not. Now that he could recognize the type he was sure he was not the only man from his country to feel such a way, yet no one was forthright about it. There such a looked-down upon act would cost him what little of his father's approval he had gained, and probably his inheritance and family name with it.

A memory tickled the back of his mind, reminding him of how he'd ended up at this boarding school. He thought that his father had probably always planned to send him away to school eventually but he still remembered how abrupt his departure was. He remembered his father's disappointment. His own action that warranted such anger was forgotten but he'd realized that, at least to some degree, he cared about his father's approval. He knew vaguely he'd been caught sneaking into the inner gardens but beyond that his memories were locked away by the years of study and foreign tongues and companionship. The only thing he did remember was the view of sakura trees and then later being among their branches, not alone, he felt– but he could never remember the other person and recalled only another's presence.

"You're doing it again," Yahiko broke into his thoughts.

"Hm?" Itachi murmured, feigning innocence. He made sure his eyes followed the next play, but he knew he wasn't convincing Yahiko.

Yahiko snorted at him. "Has he written you lately?"

"No," Itachi replied.

"It's been months now."

"Yes," Itachi confirmed. He didn't have anything else to say on the matter. He didn't miss the letters because he was homesick or lonely. His father didn't write often anyways and when he did it was about business matters and his expectations for Itachi's schooling. Still, it had been longer than usual and Itachi didn't know what that meant in regards to his father's attention to him. It worried him.

Yahiko didn't push the issue and returned to watching the game. "It'll come," he told Itachi. "The weather's been bad lately," he added, offering it up as an excuse.

Itachi smiled as the sun beat down on them. "I guess it has," he agreed with a deceptive serenity.