It was a miracle the two brothers were even related, beyond their similar appearances they seemed to have almost nothing in common, a prime example being how each interpreted the sentence 'Clean up the puddle your friend just dripped all over the floor' You see, Itachi would have gone and gotten a mop from the kitchen closet and cleaned the shallow body of water up properly. Sasuke however, was another story which Itachi noted when he passed by the spot the younger boy was supposed to take care of and saw a single loan dish rag from the kitchen drawer simply floating on the surface of the still puddle like a fat woman lounging on a blow up pool toy in the middle of a hotel forty pool.
Not wanting their company to slip and hurt themselves, Itachi made his way to the tastefully marbled kitchen and over to the closet in the connecting hallway. Opening the plain white door, pale fingers wrapped around the dull yellow neck of the mop and drew it back into his now closed fists before removing it from it's place in the well organized storage space and heading back to the greeting room to take care of what already should have been dealt with.
Plucking up the somehow still magically dry dishtowel he placed it in his back pocket so it stuck out ever so slightly and began his work. As he cleaned he allowed his mind to wander back to his younger brother's strange behaviour and the even stranger blond, it was a curious thing for Sasuke to leave in a seemingly pleasant mood with a friend and then return with his mood that somewhat reflected the weather of the day, without the boy he had left with. Of course it only got weirder when one took into consideration Naruto ended up walking to the Uchiha estates, surely Sasuke could have just given the other a ride and spared him the drenching rain but if the younger Uchiha had done that Itachi wouldn't have known so well what was causing his little brother's problems.
There was obviously something between Naruto and Sasuke however, Itachi found it unusually hard to describe. Sasuke had had friends before but none of the relationships seem to compare to what was currently going on between his brother and the blond, the only time Itachi could remember the younger sibling having such a seemingly close friend was when the raven was still in grade school and an older boy began to pal around with him, but when he found out about the Uchiha fortune he took advantage of the little boy's naivety and tried to take all of the money Sasuke had inherited after the accident. He was punished, sent to juvy by the best lawyers, but that did nothing to repair the damage it had done to the boy and ever since it seemed no matter how much Sasuke wanted to trust someone, he was purely incapable of even coming close to letting them in.
Now finished with his work Itachi took note of the stark silence that plagued the Uchiha household, while he was used to the quiet when it was just Sasuke and himself the older man didn't fail to notice the oddness in the volume level when a guest was present, and he decided it was his older brother duty to go check up on the two boys. If there were any sort of fight, which there was likely to be when sticking Sasuke in a room with someone who upset him, there would no doubt be yelling and seeing as Itachi heard none his mind began to lean towards thoughts of his brother ambushing the blond the second he walked into his room and perhaps strangling him to death or at the least until he passed out and was no longer able to speak.
Itachi headed up the stairs and then down the hall to his brother's room, when he reached the door he didn't bother knocking before turning the knob and pushing the wooden slab open to allow his curious crimson eyes in, what he saw was not his brother holding a pillow over the curious Naruto's face, what he saw was worse. He observed the two boys silently as they didn't seem to have noticed him yet and that allowed the elders more time to process all of the incoming information that was currently bombarding his usually so well composed mind. The two teens were on the bed, Naruto was on top of the thinner raven, straddling his waist and their faces seemed to be suspiciously close.
"Sasuke." Came the man's dangerously smooth voice from the threshold, it was the kind of voice a parent used when about to scold a child in front of very important guests, a tone that screamed 'when we get home you're so dead.' Ah, that had gotten their attention.
Sasuke was currently trying to make sense of the emotional shifts he had just undergone, the serious atmosphere the brooding boy had created with his feelings of worthlessness and triviality had dissipated like fleeting fog in the glowing light of the sun the second Naruto had initiated the childish volley over whether or not the raven was actually 'immune.' It was during that time, that small snippet of the blond's visit to the Uchiha's home, that it seemed as though there were nothing wrong, Sasuke forgot all about being in such a low position on the others priority list and it was then the ebony eyed boy found himself in a comfortable place. However, the more he thought about it the quicker the dark clouds came back to populate the momentarily blue sky.
The Uchiha had always figured himself to be a gracious loser, despite not ever having lost at anything before, that could take something like coming in third with some dignity, but he now realized why sore losers existed; Bronze would never be as good as gold. Of course he only realized this when the copper coloured medal was practically implanted in his flesh, it wasn't just a loss he could throw into a junk drawer and never think about again, shrug it off as a fluke and say something losers always say like 'I'll do better next time' because when it came to positions in someones heart there were no second chances.
Sasuke occupied the lowest level, ramen on the higher platform, and that stupid pink haired fanbitch even higher than the noodle dish. How could he lose to those things? Sure, you could say he had a bit of an ego but how could he not be awesome and have his own fan-club? People obsessed over him, all the girls wanted to go out with him and all of the boys made it their main goal in life to attempt to knock the Uchiha off his thrown, why was it that all these strangers focused all of their attention on him but the one person he actually bothered with treated him as something for getting what he wants?!
Yes, he was being irrational. . . Ok, irrational is an understatement.
Naruto focused on the silent small frame beneath him, they had come so close to their distorted normalcy but it seemed that Sasuke had regressed back into the grieving mood he had been in when the blond first entered the room. The blond leaned in a bit closer until he could feel the others breath on his face, sapphire eyes searching the inky reflecting pools desperately for any sign aside from breathing that the other was still alive. What had crossed the ravens mind to make him stop so suddenly, To keep him from calling the blond a dobe or just pushing him off and grumbling about how he didn't allow idiots in his personal space?
He heard the door open but paid it no mind, after all the consequences of their current position were as far from Naruto's mind as flying fish sticks taking down the death star with bunny beams, after all there was a much more important matter at hand and Sasuke didn't seem to care, well at least Naruto assumed the other didn't care because he'd yet to do anything in response. However, a moment later when the presence in the threshold granted itself a voice chaos ultimately broke loose and the blond found himself glad he had such a high pain tolerance.
Sasuke hadn't heard the door open, he hadn't noticed the face drawing so near to his own, it was only when a familiar voice greeted his ears that he was ripped from his thoughts and his mind transplanted into the harsh dry soil of reality. Blue eyes were the first thing he noticed, then the warmth of the boy's breath, then that Naruto was currently on top of him and lastly what had been so crucial as to so roughly cause his mind to switch from neutral to fourth. The second he registered it was his brother he had heard at the door Sasuke pushed Naruto off of him, hard enough to send the blond off the edge of the large bed right onto the floor, and then shot up into a sitting position inwardly fearing for the worst.
"Will your friend be staying for dinner?" Itachi asked in a satiny voice, his frightening crimson eyes seemed to be locked on Naruto with a look that the blond couldn't make heads or tails of. Hey, why was he looking at him when he was talking to Sasuke anyways?! The blue eyed boy ignored the minor throbbing of his skull, where a lump was no doubt well on it's way to achieving mountainous proportions, in favor of closely observing the interaction between the two Uchihas, when the brothers spoke to one another they seemed to go off into their own little dimension where apparently no one else had the capability of hearing and or comprehending any word that left their mouths.
"No, I'll take him home when his clothes are done drying."
Wait.. Why didn't he just take Naruto home now and then bring his clothes with him to school the next day?
"Are you sure?" The older man's voice held it's usual tact, the kind you would expect to hear at a business meeting not at home.
"Yes, Itachi."
"So be it then, I'll bring up his clothes in a few minutes." Itachi spoke before exiting the room, his footsteps disappearing down the hall only to softly return as he traveled down the stairs.
The time passed by quickly, the older Uchiha had returned with the clothes Naruto had arrived in without so much as a word being exchanged between the two teens during his absence, the blond excused himself to go to the bathroom to change, and he gave the black outfit back to Sasuke before they left the large mansion-esque home. The ride home was a discomforting blur, all that really stood out in Naruto's memory was the song playing on the radio that was partially drowned out by the heavy rain drops making contact with the black stylish car's exterior. In fact, when Naruto left the car and entered his small disheveled apartment he found himself reciting the words under his breath to himself,
"I know a place where the sun's always shining,
with lovely flowers around everywhere.
Come take my hand , I'll show you I'll guide you.
I know this place it's deep down inside you.
I know a place where people not fighting,
with smiling faces around everywhere.
Come take my hand , I'll show you I'll guide you.
I know this place it's deep down inside you. "
Yeah, in case you couldn't guess Sasuke's radio had been acting up and refused to let the raven change the station, turn it off, or even lower the volume. You seriously didn't think he listened to that kind of music of his own accord, did you? Naruto yawned, his mind was still knee deep in stressing thoughts but he hadn't eaten yet so hunger over rode his system and he made his way to the kitchen to prepare himself some instant ramen. After the three minutes were up the blond slurped down his dinner and mentally rejoiced at how he would finally be able to have the real thing soon, sure instant was good and everything but the type from restaurants was absolutely positively heavenly.
Well, this chapter took me a grand total of three go's to finish seeing as my computer decided to eat the first two drafts. That's why it took so long to get up, I really lost the steam required to write somewhere in the middle of the second draft and I had to twist my own arm to get it done and saved the third time around.
The song used is "Come take my hand" by 2 brothers on the 4th floor.
Review and I might feel loved enough to update again.
