I'm not sure if I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out, but hopefully it's okay~ It's kind of filler-y, but I was trying to set up stuff for future chapters, so.
I won't be able to update again probably til Monday or Tuesday because beach and stuff this weekend, so I really wanted to leave you guys with something before I left. ^-^
Thanks so much for the reviews and birthday wishes, hahah!
Enjoy c:
"You seem distracted."
Itachi glanced up from the plate of food he'd been poking at to look at Konan. She seemed extremely worried if one were to judge by the crease between her eyebrows, the tone of her voice, or the way she was leaning forward in her chair.
"I'm sorry," he said as he shrugged and continued to push around the unappetizing-looking food on his plate. "I've just got a lot of things on my mind."
Konan nodded, and took a small bite of her own food.
"Want to talk about it?"
Itachi shrugged again. "I don't think it's anything that would interest you."
Konan pouted a little, although she still managed to look terribly beautiful while doing so.
"I wish you'd talk to me about the things that are upsetting you, Itachi. I'm your girlfriend. That's what I'm here for."
The raven cracked a weak smile in response.
"You wouldn't understand, Konan. I'm sorry."
The blunette furrowed her thin eyebrows and huffed a little bit.
Why is he being so difficult? Wait…could it be?
"Is it about Sasuke?"
Itachi froze for the briefest of seconds, but Konan noticed it. She smirked slightly to herself.
So it is, is it?
"What happened between you two?"
"Nothing," Itachi responded quickly- too quickly, in Konan's opinion.
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not," Itachi replied while staring intently at his plate.
"Itachi, I know you better than you know yourself," She said. "I can tell when you're lying. You won't look me in the eye."
Itachi tried his best to look her in the eye and tell her that there was no way that was true, but found he couldn't.
"Damn." He muttered in defeat, still staring at his plate. Konan giggled in response, but soon returned to being serious.
"Seriously, though. What happened between you two?"
Itachi sighed, and put down his chopsticks. "It's rather personal."
Konan pouted again.
How rude.
"Too personal for your girlfriend of three years to know about?"
Itachi flinched slightly. Well, when she put it that way, he really felt like a bit of a dick.
"It's just…rather odd. It's nothing against you, it's just that I feel it would be best for Sasuke and me if it remained private."
The pieces clicked into place in Konan's head, and her eyes began to widen. There was only one thing in the world that she could imagine Itachi would have trouble telling her about.
No way! Did he confess?
"Itachi," she began. "I…I think I may already know of what you're referring to."
Itachi's eyes widened and he locked gazes with his girlfriend.
How on Earth could she know about this?
Konan bit at her lip and averted her eyes. Should she tell him? What if he got angry? This was way too complicated for her liking.
"I'm more perceptive than most," she said while staring down at her hands in her lap. "I notice things a lot of people would simply overlook or deem as unimportant."
Itachi quirked an eyebrow and hoped that her keen eyes (which thankfully weren't pointed towards him) wouldn't notice the fact that he broke out into a cold sweat.
"What are you getting at?"
Konan took a deep breath. "I…I know that Sasuke has romantic feelings for you. It wasn't really anything he said- I mean, in a way it was- but…" She trailed off, and stole a look at Itachi. He was completely frozen in place, and his mouth was hanging slightly open. She gulped. "I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about…"
"There's nothing going on between us," Itachi said. "It wouldn't be right. I told him that, so there's nothing for you to worry about. I'd never cheat on you."
Konan's eyes widened. "That wasn't exactly what I was worried about…" She took another deep breath, and soon continued. "He's in love with you, Itachi. I'm sure he's felt that way about you since he was a little kid. Remember the first time I came over and how he automatically disliked me?"
Itachi's eyes grew unfocused as he tried his best to recall that old memory, but soon he nodded.
"I remember. Then he locked himself up in his room for the rest of the night, and he was…crying." Itachi's eyes widened in realization. He figured Sasuke must have felt that way about him for awhile, but that long?
Konan nodded. "I knew there was a reason he disliked me, but I could never put my finger on it- at least, not until I started paying more attention to the way he acts around you."
Itachi tilted his head slightly. "How exactly does he act?" He asked.
Konan couldn't resist rolling her eyes. How oblivious could he possibly get?
"Well, he acts like a love-sick puppy for one. He blushes constantly…" She held up her fingers to begin counting off. "He begins stuttering, he smiles more, he clings to you, he hangs on to every word you say…"
Itachi held up his hand as a signal for her to stop. He heard enough.
"I'm an idiot," he whispered as he shook his head with a sad smile. "A complete and utter idiot."
Konan half-heartedly smiled in return.
"You're not an idiot. You just don't see all the things I do." Her smile turned bitter. Although she was glad that Sasuke's feelings were finally realized, she couldn't help but feel jealous considering Itachi was her boyfriend. "What are you going to do?" She asked quietly. She wasn't positive of whether or not she really wanted to hear the answer, but it was a question that needed to be asked.
"I already told you…nothing's going on between us. He's my little brother and that's how it's going to stay."
Konan didn't miss the way his face scrunched up as though he was in pain, even though it couldn't have been there longer than a second.
So, he has feelings for Sasuke as well? She thought sadly. Well, it wasn't like she didn't see this coming. Itachi loved his brother more than anything, after all.
"How come?" She asked. She sounded more hopeful than she meant to, but she doubted Itachi noticed it.
Itachi's eyes widened and he shot her an incredulous look.
"It's incest, Konan. It's immoral and wrong. Plus, I'd be taking advantage of him…he's just a kid. I'd feel like…like my father."
Konan nodded. She hadn't thought of that, but it did make sense.
"I'm sorry."
Itachi shrugged, and once again picked up his chopsticks. "I'm just hoping he'll be able to get over it and move on."
I know I won't be able to.
"Dobe, you really suck at this game, you know that?"
"Can it, Teme! It's not my fault I'm not good at these stupid ninja games," Naruto pouted.
Sasuke scoffed, but leaned forward to shut off Naruto's game system and put his controller back on the shelf. "We should probably go to sleep. It's almost two in the morning," he said. Naruto groaned in response, but soon put away his controller as well.
"Fine, fine," he grumbled as he crawled into bed. Sasuke soon crawled in along with him.
"Night, Dobe."
"Night, Teme."
And soon both boys were fast asleep.
"I'm home!" Sasuke called as he shut the door behind him. It was Saturday morning, which meant that he and Itachi would spend the day together. That thought would usually make the young raven smile, but now it only made him grimace. Would things be awkward between them if they were alone together for an extended period of time?
"Welcome home, Sasuke," Itachi called from the living room. Sasuke soon made his way in there as well and tried his best to smile at his big brother. "How was Naruto's?"
Sasuke shrugged and dropped his backpack on the ground then sat on the couch next to Itachi.
"Same old, same old," he muttered under his breath. He briefly considered telling Itachi that he told Naruto about his feelings for him, but soon decided against it. He really didn't want Itachi getting mad at him again.
"Did you do anything last night?" Sasuke asked, obviously trying to strike up some sort of conversation.
Itachi nodded.
"Konan and I went out to dinner."
Now, ever since Konan had mentioned the things Sasuke apparently did around him, Itachi had decided to pay more attention to his Otouto's actions. So, this time, he didn't miss the slight pout or the way Sasuke froze when he mentioned the name of his girlfriend.
"How did it go?" Sasuke mumbled.
Itachi sighed. "It was fine, I suppose. She could tell that something was bothering me."
Sasuke smirked slightly.
"Yeah, so could Naruto."
Both brothers sat in silence for a few moments.
Where are we supposed to go from here? Itachi wondered to himself with a sigh. He knew it was going to be difficult living together and having to be around each other all the time now that their feelings were out in the open. Hell, Itachi hadn't even known that he had feelings like that for Sasuke until a couple of days ago. It's amazing how quickly things can change.
"So…what would you like to do today, Otouto?"
Sasuke simply shrugged in response.
"Can we just stay in today? I don't really feel like going anywhere."
Itachi nodded. "That's fine. Would you like to watch a movie or something?"
Sasuke shrugged and got up to sort through the DVDs they had in their collection near the television. He wasn't aware of the fact that at that exact moment, the sleeve of his dark blue hoodie slipped up just enough to allow Itachi a decent glimpse at his left wrist.
"Ow!" He exclaimed as his arm was roughly grabbed. Itachi shoved his sleeve the rest of the way up and regarded his Otouto's injured wrist with a mixture of concern and horror.
"Sasuke…"
He stared at the small gashes in his wrist. They were definitely worse than the faint red lines he'd seen the other day. Just how hard did Sasuke scratch himself? He tried his best to pry his wrist away from Itachi's grasp, but just like before, he found that he was unable to. Damn his brother's grip.
"It's not a big deal, okay, Itachi-nii? Just don't worry about it."
Itachi's eyes flickered up to meet Sasuke's, and he was overcome by guilt.
"Did you do these…because of me?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He could tell they were a couple of days old, but they still had awhile to go before they would be completely healed. They looked painful.
Sasuke shrugged and averted his eyes.
"I do them for a lot of reasons. It's no big deal. I've been doing it for a while, anyway…"
"What?!"
Shit. Sasuke internally cursed.
"Sasuke…Otouto, when did you start hurting yourself?"
Sasuke shrugged again and allowed himself to be dragged back down onto the couch. He leaned his head on his big brother's shoulder and sighed.
"Since I around the time I turned ten…I think. I don't really remember."
"Why did you start?"
Sasuke groaned. He didn't want to tell his big brother that he started out of self-hatred for having feelings for his Aniki and to help overcome the sadness that came from knowing they could never be together. How would Itachi take that?
"I was just sad about some things and I heard about it at school from some of the older kids. They said it helped. It's really not a big deal, Aniki."
Itachi wrapped his arm around Sasuke, and held the small boy against his side.
"What things were you sad about, Otouto?" Itachi had a feeling he already knew the answer, but he still felt as though he needed to ask.
"Nothing important," Sasuke grumbled. Why couldn't his Nii-san just leave it alone already?
"It's my fault, isn't it?"
"N-No, it's no-"
"Don't lie to me, Sasuke."
Sasuke's eyes fell downcast and he shrugged yet again.
"It's not entirely your fault."
Itachi hugged Sasuke closer to himself. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke. I didn't have any idea how much pain you were in. I feel terrible." .
Sasuke shook his head. "Don't feel bad. I'm fine," he said with his most convincing smile. But Itachi wasn't convinced. He caused his little brother to hurt himself. How was he supposed to live with that?
"I'm a terrible big brother," he sighed.
"No you're not, Nii-san. You're the best big brother I could hope for," Sasuke said. His Aniki was the best brother. He was kind, and gentle, and beautiful, and amazing, and perfect…
Sasuke buried his head in Itachi's shoulder. He really didn't want his big brother to blame himself for his self-harm. It wasn't like Itachi meant to flaunt Konan in front of him and he had nothing to do with Sasuke developing feelings for him other than being, well, everything Sasuke could ever hope for in a man. But really, whose fault was that?
"Let me clean them, Sasuke. I don't want them to get infected."
Sasuke nodded into his big brother's shoulder and Itachi soon got up. The younger raven trailed after him and soon they were in the downstairs bathroom. Itachi sorted through the medicine cabinet until he found some rubbing alcohol and cotton balls and Sasuke sat on the toilet seat. The elder raven rolled Sasuke's sleeve up to his elbow and began gently dabbing a rubbing-alcohol soaked cotton ball on his wounds.
"Ow!" He hissed through clenched teeth.
"Sorry, Sasuke," Itachi said. He dabbed carefully until he was sure the wounds were clean enough, then he got up to throw away the used cotton balls and put away the rubbing alcohol. Sasuke rolled his sleeve back down and peered up at his older brother.
That was really…nice of him.
"Thank you," he said with a slight blush.
Itachi noticed that his younger brother was blushing and it caused him to frown slightly. How had he been oblivious for so long? He sighed and patted Sasuke on the head.
"It's what big brothers are for, Sasuke," He muttered.
Sasuke beamed up at him, and got off his place on the toilet seat.
"So, want to go watch a movie now?" He asked. Itachi shrugged, and followed his baby brother out of the bathroom back to the living room. Once there, Itachi took a seat on the couch while Sasuke went to pick out a DVD. He soon decided on some random anime movie, and popped it into the DVD player.
What happened next is something Itachi definitely wasn't expecting. Sasuke took his hoodie off over his head, and it caused his shirt to bunch up as well. Itachi got a great view of Sasuke's bare upper body and it caused his over body to react in weird ways, though he was able to suppress it for the most part. The elder buried his face in his hands with a groan. It wasn't like he hadn't seen Sasuke without a shirt before…it was just, well, different now that he knew how Sasuke felt about him. It was like he was seeing him for the first time, and he had to admit that he liked what he saw. His baby brother really was beautiful.
Shit.
I'm sorry for how short the chapters have been lately. I just...I really have no other excuse except pure laziness. But at least I update multiple times a week, yes? c:
Thanks so much for reading, and please review, follow, and favorite :)
