Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
"..." : speech
Italic : thought
A/N: This took me a while, but I'm in desperate need for some inspiration, so thank you for bearing with me :) And thank you so much for the reviews! I REALLY love those ^.^
Chapter 4.
Itachi: 11 years old
Sasuke: 3 years old
Watching Sasuke grow up was one of the only joys I had in that point of my life. Every day he grew more beautiful and I grew more attached to him. His adorable smiles brightened even the saddest days and never failed to bring a smile to my own face.
Now 3 years old, the boy waddled after me everywhere I went. He was quite the chatterbox as well and his favorite things to say were 'Tachi', 'Nii-san' and 'I love you'. There was hardly a sentence where he didn't use one of these and preferably he used them all. Babbling incessantly about every little detail that caught his curious eyes, he was tightly clutched on my hand as we slowly walked through the busy town streets.
Being the adorable little boy that he was, he was constantly harassed by women trying to pinch his still chubby cheeks and his free hand and trouser pockets were filled with sweets and candy, which he would get rid of as soon as he could. But he endured the manhandling patiently and flashed his winning smile generously at the gushing crowd around him. A little heartbreaker in the making.
I felt a bit sad, as we were on our way to one of Sasuke's babysitters. I would have to leave him there for a few days, seeing as I had a mission coming up. Being 11 years old now, they became more and more frequent and I often wondered if I was doing the right thing with being in ANBU. At a certain point I would have to leave for weeks or maybe even months and leaving Sasuke with any babysitter for that long would be impossible. And I sure as hell wasn't going to leave him at home, where Fugaku ruled.
The man had either drowned himself in his work the last few years, or had found another way to keep himself away from our house until deep into the night. I was grateful for it. Even though Sasuke had learned the hard way to steer away from him, any accidental meeting between the two always ended up in Fugaku's trash talk and sometimes even violence. Sasuke couldn't understand what it was he did wrong with the man and always ended up in tears and bruises. But Fugaku always made sure that it was in places where people wouldn't notice easily.
He still threatened us with his words, stating that Sasuke and I would get split up if we ever told anyone about the abuse. And I believed him. The idea of ever being apart from my Otouto scared me beyond words.
My blood boiled at the thought of my precious Otouto being hurt by the man I had come to hate, but I was still so young, there was little I could do about it besides comforting and consoling Sasuke whenever it was necessary.
Suddenly I was torn from my thoughts when I felt Sasuke being lifted a few feet up in the air.
"Hello pretty little Uchiha!"
The boy laughed happily with his new vantage point and clamped his fists in the messy silver spikes of my teammate. Kakashi gave me a comforting grin from behind his mask, which only showed his upwards curled eye.
"Off to the babysitter?"
My stomach turned a bit at the thought of leaving my baby for so long, but I hid it with a small smirk and nodded. Sasuke never stopped his endless stream of words. His sentences were now concentrated around the words 'Tachi' and 'Kashi', which amused my tall friend to no ends. With Kakashi and myself being the only people my little brother came in contact with regularly, he had come to the conclusion his name had to be either 'Baby', 'Angel' or 'pretty little Uchiha'. I was grateful for my friend's involvement of my efforts to wipe all the words that Fugaku would throw at the boy from his memory. 'Useless little bitch' being the most prominent one.
5 days later the gates of Konoha were finally back in sight and Kakashi had chuckled at my ever increasing speed. I couldn't help myself. These last days had been torture. Even though I knew that Sasuke was perfectly safe with the babysitter, I couldn't stop worrying about him. And I couldn't wait to hold him in my arms again.
As soon as we reached the overly large gates, I could already feel Sasuke's familiar bubbly chakra nearby, making me speed up even more.
About 20 meters inside the village walls, sat Sasuke, accompanied by his babysitter's older daughter, who was around my age. They were playing a self-made game, consisting of rocks and twigs that Sasuke had probably gathered and which had my little Angel bouncing up and down in sheer excitement. I paused to look at him and felt my stomach flutter in the weirdest way.
He always evoked a reaction of happiness and love in me, but somehow this felt different. Like the feeling was magnified in some way. Which was weird, because how could I ever love that little boy more than I already did? I shrugged it off as a result of being away from him for a few days and headed in their direction.
It only took Sasuke a few moments to realize that I was back, which made him cry out and run towards me as fast as his chubby legs allowed him. I kneeled down and extended my arms to catch him, the sheer force of our collision throwing me back on my ass. A pair of dirty arms wrapped themselves tightly around my neck and held me as if he was determined to never let go again.
He was sobbing, pressing his wet face against my neck and trembling all over. For a moment I was worried something was wrong and glanced up towards the girl with raised eyebrows.
"He just missed you terribly, Itachi-san. All he could talk about today was how you would come back for him and he insisted we waited for you out here. We have been here since early morning."
She grinned and dusted off her skirt while she stood up.
"So if you don't mind, I will return home now to help my mother with the cleaning. I will make sure to bring Sasuke's clothes by this evening."
With a thankful look I nodded at her, while Kakashi actually did the polite thing and walked her home. But with the muddy mess of little arms and legs wrapped around my body, there was nothing else that could take up too much of my attention.
I pried the chocking arms away from my neck and placed my hands on his cheeks so I could shower his face with my usual kisses. His gorgeous eyes were sparkling with both joy and the remnant of his tears and his little mouth was already in the process of spewing forth a bumbling pile of words. I just smiled at him and stroked his silky hair.
Only listening with half an ear, I wondered why my heart was beating this fast. And why my stomach felt like it was on fire. And why my fingers were trembling as they curled around the black spikes. I looked into the large onyx eyes that were so diligently focussed on mine and noticed that it had been way too long since I had breathed properly.
I gasped for air while I felt myself falling, drowning into those bottomless black pools. What the hell was happening to me? There must have been a hint of confusion visible on my face, because Sasuke suddenly stopped talking and looked at me worriedly.
"Don't be sad Nii-san, I love you..."
Somehow, that adorable sentence helped me break out of my weird moment. Sasuke saw the world in such a way that made him firmly believe in the fact that love could fix everything. And in a way he was right. His love could fix me. I ruffled his hair and grinned widely.
"Then I won't be sad anymore Otouto. Because as long as you love me, I know everything will be alright!"
Sasuke's eyes grew impossibly wide before scrunching up in an annoyingly familiar upwards curve that complimented his killer smile. I forgave him instantly for obviously imitating my silver-haired friend and stood up with the boy still in my arms.
"So where do you want to go baby? You want to go to the sports field? Or maybe to the playground?"
I knew I didn't really need to ask, but I still thought I should offer him other options. But again, the outcome was clear and resolute.
"I want to go swimming of course! Silly Nii-san!"
He pouted and pulled on a loose strand of my long hair. I feigned shock and anger and lightly tapped his forehead, making him giggle and squirm.
"Silly? I am silly? Oh, you are in so much trouble now, Otouto. You better start running, before your SILLY Nii-san catches you!"
With a high-pitched squeal of both happiness and a tiny bit of excited fear of being chased, Sasuke wriggled out of my grasp and started running towards the shallow pond near our house. I made sure to stay near him, but not too close, so that I could hear more of those semi-frightened yells and laughter.
As soon as he reached the pond, Sasuke splashed in the water, drenching his clothes and hair. I hunched down and stretched out my arms to him, while wriggling my fingers.
"Are you ready for your punishment, naughty little Angel?"
Knowing what kind of punishment awaited him, Sasuke waded backwards, away from my fingers and began his countermeasures to avoid the inevitable.
"Noooo Nii-san... I'm sorry! Please! No punishment, I love you Nii-san!"
I grinned at his antics of trying to sweet-talk his way out of it, while he desperately tried to give me his best sad-puppy-look in between his excessive giggling. At only three years old, he already knew exactly what my weakness was. So promising...
"Oh no Sasuke, you are not going to get away from me this time! Come here!"
I lunged forward into the water and pretended to almost grab him, making the boy laugh even harder while he fell back on his bum. Backing away even further on his hands and feet, he still pleaded for mercy and even batted his long eyelashes at me.
"I'll be good, I promise Aniki! Please!"
His words were almost incomprehensible with his choked laughter and the splashing water around us. I decided to end our little game and grabbed his lithe frame to pull him against me and tickle him mercilessly. I moved my fingers over his tummy and sides, firmly holding him up with my other arm and playfully bit his neck.
"Aaahhh Niiiii-san! Nooooo! I love you...! No more pleeeaaase!"
I released him and gave him a few seconds to catch his breath. The ragged panting started to calm down when Sasuke realized his 'torture' was over and I could feel his little body relax against me. Hugging him tighter, I pressed my lips against his soft, wet cheek and murmured in between the kisses I gave him;
"I love you so much little Angel."
To Be Continued...
