Itachi's POV

I was pulling up at home when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I slipped it out and glanced at the number. The school? I hit answer.

"Hello?"

"Itachi." It was Tsunade. I felt a bit of fear creep up my spine. Had something happened to Sasuke? I'd only been away from him for what, an hour?

"What is it? Is Sasuke alright?" I couldn't conceal the worry in my voice.

"Maybe a few bruises, but he's fine. He started it actually."

"He got into a fight?" I asked, although from what I was learning about his personality, it didn't exactly surprise me.

"He did. From what I gather, he attacked Naruto. They've fought before, but this was in a classroom, and he involved another student. Luckily a teacher stopped him before he did too much damage."

"At least he's alright." I was surprised a high school teacher managed to stop him. I knew he had taken martial arts up until recently, and he was really good. I'd helped him practice when he was little, and I'm sure he'd only gotten better.

"Itachi! Take this seriously."

"Don't worry, I am." I frowned, wondering how on earth I was going to deal with this.

"I'm suspending him. I need you to come pick him up," she continued.

Great, that's just what I need. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." I pressed end and stuffed my phone back into my pocket, then restarted the engine.


A blonde boy was slumped on a bench outside Tsunade's office, staring off into space and holding an icepack to his chin. When he noticed me he scowled.

"Itachi," he called in an accusatory tone. "Leave Sasuke alone, you've done enough damage already."

"What I do is none of your business, Naruto was it?"

He looked indignant. "I'm his best friend, it is so my business!"

"I am his brother." I replied in a superior tone meant to intimidate.

He snorted, unfazed. "Some brother you've been."

"What sort of best friend gets punched in the face?" I retorted.

He looked incredulous. "Have you met Sasuke?" I suppose he had a point. "Besides, I'm the one who's always been there for him," he added.

"Naruto, I am deeply grateful for everything you've done for my brother in the past, however I will take it from here."

"You'd better not hurt him again, or else!" he said in a voice filled with such passion I couldn't help but laugh.

"Was that a threat?" I chuckled, and then took on a serious expression. This boy did seem to genuinely care about Sasuke so I should be nice- even if he was irritating. "You don't need to worry. I screwed up in the past, but I fully intend to make up for it. Sasuke needs support right now, and I am in the best position to provide it."

He continued to look at me with skepticism, but seemed to accept my answer.

I turned back to the office, and jumped back as the door nearly hit my face. A man stepped out, and I immediately recognized the head of spiky white hair. He was holding some paper towels to the side of his face, apparently in a half assed attempt to stop some bleeding.

"Kakashi," I said, pleasantly surprised.

"Itachi. It's been a while." He raised the hand not covering his face and assumed his usual cheerful smile.

"Last I heard you quit after losing an eye… Are you working here now?" This was the last place I would have expected to find him.

He rubbed the back of his head. "Tsunade offered me the job, so I thought hey, why not give it a try?"

I smiled. More than likely, he'd been too lazy to find another job after that. I glanced at the towels covering his face again. "Anyway, what on earth happened to you?" I'd seen Kakashi's skills first hand, and they were top of the line.

"Eh, well… your brother happened."

"Sasuke did that to you? How?" I asked.

"What can I say? He blindsided me- quite literally." He chuckled gesturing to his left eye. "I guess I should have expected it seeing as he's your brother."

I snorted. "So that explains how a teacher was able to to restrain him."

Kakashi shrugged. "You have a lot of work on your hands when it comes to that kid."

I nodded, but to me Sasuke didn't seem like a kid anymore. He had been innocent and cheerful as a kid- two words that in no way described him now.

I groaned as I realized how hard this was going to be. He'd been giving me enough trouble already, and it was starting to get frustrating.

"Speaking of which, there's somewhere I have to be." I gestured to the door.

"Catch you later!" Kakashi said, holding up a hand in farewell. I turned back to the door as he walked away. I tried to come up with some sort of plan, but nothing came to mind. I took a moment to compose my features, and knocked.

Sasuke's POV

I opened my eyes and saw Tsunade standing over me with her arms crossed, tapping her foot. I was lying in her office with my back on a hard wooden bench. As I sat up, I saw Kakashi behind her, standing against the far wall and covering the part of his face where I'd stabbed him. I felt a little bit of guilt. My problem had been with Naruto, not him. Oh well, he was the one who chose to get in the middle of it.

Kakashi, noticing I was awake started towards the door. "It looks like Sasuke's calmed down, so if you don't mind I have a class… I'm rather late."

Tsunade sighed and gestured for him to leave. When the door clicked shut she turned back to me.

"Sasuke! What were you thinking?"

I folded my arms and leaned back, frowning in much the same way she was and kept my mouth shut.

"Can't you at least try to control yourself? For God's sake you nearly took Kakashi's eye out!"

"Somebody else already did that." I pointed out.

"Well what would he have done if you'd hit the other one?"

I didn't answer.

She stomped back to her desk and sat down, jerking open a drawer. She pulled out a bottle of sake and a cup. "Sasuke, school is not a battlefield where we slaughter our enemies." She said as she poured herself a drink and downed it in one go.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, whatever."

Tsunade pursed her lips and continued. "This time you dragged Hinata into it. If if you had hurt her…" She trailed off, shaking her head. She downed another cup and then set it aside, turning her attention fully to me. "Alright, I know you've been through alot recently. You probably just need some more time." She chewed on her thumb as she thought.

"There is only about a month until the end of the term, so I'm suspending you for the remainder of the year. Get yourself together, and I'll see you in the fall." She stopped talking to glare at me for a moment. "Next time I will to expel you," she warned. She'd said the same thing the last time I'd ended up in here with Naruto.

I thought it over. I suppose it was a reasonable punishment, and I was quite glad to be rid of school for the time being. At home, I had Itachi to terrorize. School was quite boring in comparison.

"Itachi will be here to pick you up any moment." She added.

"Oh joy, just who I wanted to see." I said sarcastically, although I did look forward to seeing how he would react to my antics.

At that moment, a knock sounded on the door. Itachi came in with a blank expression probably meant to conceal his frustration. He nodded to Tsunade, then turned on me.

"Sasuke you do realize I have a job," he said, maintaining an impressively calm voice.

I raised my eyebrows and deadpanned, "that sounds like a you problem."

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then turned to Tsunade. A hint of a smile graced his lips as he eyed the sake, but it was thin and fleeting.

I had to wait while Tsunade ran through the details of my punishment again with Itachi. I glared at Itachi's back. I didn't like waiting.

When they were finally done talking I stood up and strode to the door. "Let's get going. There's nothing like spending quality time with someone you hate."

Itachi winced. He exchanged a look with Tsunade filled with meaning that I didn't particularly care about. I yanked open the door, and Itachi shut it gently behind us.

On the way home I was fidgety, restless. If Itachi noticed, he didn't say anything, but when we pulled up, he turned to face me. "You need a change of pace," he said. I gave him a weird look.

We climbed out of the car, and instead of going into the house, he beckoned for me to follow him into the yard. I did, and he took me out to the middle of the grass, a safe distance from the little purple flowers mom had loved.

Itachi gave me a calculating once over, and then in an instant I felt his fist collide with my body. Not hard enough to hurt me, just enough to knock me a bit off balance. And make me mad.

"Geez Itachi, what the fuck is your problem?" I cursed, as I steadied myself.

"Hmm, I was expecting more from you," he said, with a look of pitying disappointment. "I guess you really have lost your touch."

"Forgive me for not expecting you to punch me," I growled, dropping into a defensive stance. I clenched my teeth in an effort to keep myself from rushing at him. I'd known my brother was skilled but that punch reminded me of just how skilled. I couldn't have dodged it even if I'd known it was coming.

Itachi waited for me to make the next move, giving me the option of backing out. Well, fuck that. There was no way I could beat him, but I would not run away. I would do the best I could, and show him my skills- even if they were a bit rusty. I breathed slowly, calling upon what little patience I possessed to focus and figure out a strategy.

Pretty soon he took a step back, "That's it then? I guess you know a hopeless cause when you see one."

I growled and moved forward suddenly, unable to wait any longer. I swung my fist, and he dodged easily. I kept my momentum, next bringing my knee up and into his ribs. He let out a short breath. It had hardly phased him, but at least I landed a hit. I smiled slightly.

Itachi was pulling his punches a bit. Normally it would have bothered me, but I would take any advantage I could get.

I let his next hit land. Pain ran through my side, but again, his blow wasn't too hard. I used the moment to try and catch him off guard. It didn't work. He caught my fist and sent me stumbling backwards.

He moved towards me again, this time knocking me over. I groaned as my head hit the ground, and I suddenly understood why we were fighting on grass. Itachi stepped back, giving me a chance to recover.

I rolled to my feet and came at him with a kick. He caught my foot- which was exactly what I was expecting. I twisted around, knocking his feet out from under him, and with another well timed punch, he landed on the ground. I smirked. Looks like he had been underestimating me.

He covered his mouth in an attempt to hide a smile. I glared at him. "What?" I demanded.

"You really know what you're doing."

I snorted. "Of course, dumbass."

We continued to spar for the rest of the morning. I relaxed, and for once let myself really enjoy the moment.


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