Author's Note: Hi again everyone! ^^
An official answer to a review I got: Actually, there will be more than 15 one-shots. :D New ideas keep popping up all the time, and as I mentioned earlier, my mind never run out of new ways for Itachi and Sasuke to show their love for each other. So, unless something happens to me within this year, there will be more than 15. I had to increase the numbers slowly as time passed by, but I can reveal that right now it's around 18.
And, about this story: I had such problems with in which order I should put the chapters. You see, when it comes to this I'm quite of a perfectionist and I don't want to put too similar scenes/themes next to each other. I had to get a perfect mix of the various things, but it's harder than what I thought. So yeah, I'm sorry that some chapters may have similar themes in a row, but it's so hard to find a better solution. It's a real difficult puzzle! xD
I can reveal, though, that much Uchihacest is coming up :D (Not in this chapter, though) Also brotherly fluff, of course. I'll try my best to get you a varied mix. Now, on to the next one-shot.
11. Game
Most inhabitants of Konoha despised this kind of weather and stayed in so much they could. But two boys were still running around and played in the wet grass outside of the Compound. Sasuke threw himself in the direction of the ball and almost stumbled on the slippery ground when he turned around too fast.
Everything around them was glowing, velvet green like a painting of nature; the colors were enhanced by the weather. Itachi was closing in on the soccer ball from the other side and easily kicked it away. He approached Sasuke's goal and the younger boy turned around and used his last energy to defend it. They were both soaking wet and cold but Sasuke had insisted on finishing the game.
Itachi made a well-aimed kick and the ball rushed past his sibling's outstretched arms and into the goal.
"So I lost again", Sasuke panted and ran up to his brother, pouting a bit. It seemed to be impossible to beat Itachi in anything. His brother ruffled his hair. "Well done anyway, otouto. Better luck next time."
Sasuke suddenly shuddered and his teeth were shaking. "Y-y-es."
"Your lips are about to turn blue, let's go inside", Itachi urged. Together they rushed home through the rain, longing for the warmth inside.
It was a gray day without much light. The sky cried and dark clouds painted it with swirling shades of darkness. Sasuke would rather have spent the day indoors with Itachi but their family had other plans. He became rather surprised when found out that Shisui had come home to them while they were out playing. Their cousin's parents were also there and talked with Sasuke's, so it probably meant that their whole family was visiting them.
Oh no, the tomato-lover thought as he dried his black spikes with a fluffy towel. It must mean that she is here...
That poltergeist of a girl had not shown herself yet but the effects of her presence were already clear. Sasuke sighed and went into his room to study. His brother and Shisui had already been involuntary engaged with some boring conversation with the grown-ups and he had nothing else to do. He had wished that he and Itachi could have spent the day for themselves, just the two of them, but of course something would come between. It always did. Pouting childishly Sasuke entered his room but suddenly screamed loudly in shock.
Itachi was at his side a second later with a kunai in his hand, ready to defend him with his life. It soon turned out to be unnecessary, though. Shisui came into the room to see what was going on just in time to hear Sasuke accuse the culprit.
"Natsumi! Take that spider away right now! Ugh!And when did you attach all those cockroaches to my pants? Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Where the heck did you get them from!?"
Even for an Uchiha it could be hard to not panic sometimes, especially when a spider large as your hand was lying on your pillow.
The one who apparently had made the prank remained hidden God-knows-where in the room. Only a mischievous giggle was heard. "Sorry, itoko, I couldn't resist to see your face."
The both older brothers found this to be very amusing. Itachi calmly put his kunai aside with raised eyebrows. "That was quite a false alarm."
"It seems like she's on it again", Shisui chuckled.
Sasuke was just sparing the room a scared glare, hoping that she would understand his discomfort without saying it out loud. But maybe that was too much to ask for. He had made a fool of himself again, in front of his brother and cousin no less. He hated it when she turned her tricks against him.
"That was not fun", he stated angrily.
"Those insects are made of plastic!" she giggled as if he had missed an obvious fact, which he actually had. A thud was heard when the girl stumbled out of Sasuke's wardrobe and fell down on the floor. She got up and smiled a pure Shisui-grin. "That was fun. But –"
Sasuke glared at her halfheartedly. "I knew they were made of plastic, by the way."
"No, you didn't!"
"Yes I did!"
"No, you didn't!"
"Yes I did, end of discussion!"
She glared back at him with the typical stubbornness that all Uchihas possessed. "No, itoko! You should have seen yourself when you saw them!"
"Hey, no need to fight about this, ne?" Shisui broke in and ended the discussion.
Natsumi Uchiha was nobody less than Sasuke's contemporary cousin, actually the one he got best along with after Shisui. It could seem strange due to their constant quarreling, but both of them had a hard time getting along with other people outside of the clan. Natsumi was a real mischief. If a clan meeting was abruptly canceled, if the river was inundated, if the houses were on fire or if something really important suddenly had disappeared she most probably was the case to it. But what else to expect of Shisui's little sister?
Nobody ever forgot when she – at the age of three – played with some dogs and a cat and then happened to lock them away inside of aunt Misu's greenhouse, causing all the lady's unique plants and flowers to be destroyed. Moreover, there was a real movement when the animals were released from the greenhouse some hours later and the cat rushed into five kitchens with three barking, filthy dogs after it, scaring toddlers from their sanity and overturning porcelain and tables. The adults had gone mad but none of them wanted to be the one punishing a mere toddler. As she grew she was often punished and harshly reprimanded for her hoaxes, but that didn't stop her.
Natsumi was like a ticking bomb and the most clan members despised her. But she was a happy girl, always inspired to think up new hoaxes and tricks, sometimes really mean ones. She was not mean to her nature; she only had troubles with expressing herself in the right way. It was quite interesting to be in the young girl's aftermath as she could anger the whole clan any time during the day. Sasuke had agreed to cooperate to some of her ideas now and then, mostly because he didn't want to be viewed like a coward. It was lucky for him that the adults always blamed her.
After the cousins' dispute that Itachi and Shisui interrupted by talking with respective sibling, Sasuke continued to do his homework while the elder boys were called back to the conversation and Natsumi left his room.
Not long after she returned this rainy afternoon, without knocking. She wore a mischievous smirk on her face that only meant one thing – trouble. She sat down next to her cousin on the floor and showed him the scroll she was carrying.
Sasuke frowned. What now? Natsumi hated to read.
"I've got the world's most perfect idea, itoko", she announced, smiling like a mad scientist.
The tomato-lover eyed her disbelieving. "Your ideas are always weird."
"No, no. Listen, Sasuke. I know the best way to fool our Nii-sans!"
His interest perked up. "What?"
Natsumi smiled wickedly and held up the thick scroll - Nine Forbidden Jutsus.
Sasuke gasped. "Where did you get that from?" he hissed. "It's…"
"I broke into the Hokage's office, what you think?" she said. "No, I found it in grandpa's room, silly. He had a lot of stuff there. The book contains…"
"It's a scroll, Natsumi."
"Whatever. It contains a lot of good things and we're gonna use it."
"Forget it! Can't you read? It says 'forbidden'!
She shrugged. Then she leaned over and whispered: "We're gonna switch places!"
"That's impossible!" her cousin gasped. "We can never…"
"Yes we can. We're of the same age, and pretty similar."
"… I suppose so, but…"
"Didn't you say the other day how much you've wanted to be better than Itachi? Fool him instead!" She was excited by her new idea and Sasuke hesitated, knowing fully well that when she was in the picture, anything could happen. But the opportunity to deceive Itachi was priceless.
"We can try..." he finally admitted, not so convinced that this was a good idea.
The cousins were very similar in many ways. Not only they shared the same raven-black hair and black eyes like most Uchihas had, they also shared the very pale skin color that not all clan members had. Their heights were identical and their weight and body types were also very similar since both of them were kids.
Seeing them from behind, only Natsumi's longer and flatter hair could show which of them that was a girl. Their faces was a bit more different though, she had the same round face as Shisui while Sasuke was more similar to Itachi, having a semblance to lines below his eyes.
The girl's eyes shone bright. "Let's change clothes and hairstyles! They will never found out which one who is the real you and the real me!"
"It won't work", Sasuke remarked. "Have you forgotten something? Our chakra signatures? They will give us away immediately!"
She didn't seem affected. "Why did you think I woke up 4 AM to steal the book from grandpa?" She opened the scroll and showed him the description. His eyes widened.
Chakra Signature Switch.
"You mean we could –"
"That's exactly –
"But –
"I know –"
"But –"
"What?"
"How are we –"
"Don't worry itoko." She smiled mischievously. "They will be so damn fooled!" She burst out in laughter, overexcited by her new idea. Sasuke reluctantly agreed.
The following hours were spent in his room where they prepared everything. Sasuke was hesitant at first, but he couldn't resist a perfect opportunity to fool his prodigy of a brother.
"But it isn't permanently, I hope", he said. His cousin just laughed and brought a scissor. She cut her hair down a great deal until it was as short as Sasuke's and almost as spiky. However, she couldn't manage to get his trademark 'duckass' hair, to her great annoyance. That was something that only Sasuke was born with.
"What are we going to do with my hair?" he wondered, not so happy with the idea of wearing a girlish wig.
"It can be as it is, they won't suspect a thing. I have to cut down my own hair quite often anyway, when I have burned it or chewing gum has being stuck in it. But you'll have to wear some make up though, to make you look more like a girl."
Sasuke frowned. "No way!"
After having an angry stare competition which Sasuke won, she shrugged. "At least make your hair a bit flatter, itoko. You're known in the whole village as the only duckbutt-hair kid."
"Stop calling me that!" Sasuke exclaimed.
Although Natsumi was known for her Naruto-ish attitude she could be rather organized when the situation – the prank - required it. Some hours later they were done with the preparations. Seeing her from behind, there was no doubt about it that Natsumi was Sasuke. She could easily change her voice - one of her most common pranks was to imitate other people on the phone - and she always behaved like a boy normally, so she had no problem with that part. But behaving politely and respectfully to the elders, as Sasuke always did, would be a real pain for her.
Sasuke on the other hand was more insecure. He had no problem with wearing her boyish clothes and having his hair like she did, but he totally refused to wear mascara.
"You're so cute, itoko, that you don't need make up to look like a real girl", Natsumi had giggled, really pissing her cousin off.
Locked into Sasuke's room they did the jutsu; Chakra signature switch, which was exactly what it sounded like.
"Our chakra will not disappear; it will only change appearance for a while. The effect will only last for a few days", Sasuke read. "And we can't mold chakra or use any jutsus during that time." He stopped reading and looked at his cousin. "This jutsu must be really great in case of ambushing somebody. If someone senses our chakra, they will think that I am you for real, no matter how I look. Even the Sharingan would be fooled."
"Man, that is a really cool jutsu. I wish I knew some more."
Sasuke glanced at her. "If you'd do your homework, you would. You should be happy that I'm capable of doing this, because I do what I'm supposed to in school."
She quickly changed subject instead of arguing back as she used to. Probably she was too impatient to start her new prank.
"You have to do at least ten pranks every hour", she told him gravely. "Never stay still, talk a lot and annoy other people and such. Make sure to get really filthy so they can't examine you too close."
"The same goes for you", Sasuke muttered. "But the other way around, of course. And behave!"
"I'll try. But I'll probably just mess it up."
With that they parted the same afternoon, going to their 'own' homes.
xxxxxx
Damn it. Sasuke was locked into Natsumi's room, punished for a prank she did before they switched places. Now he had to take the punishment. That really sucked.
He knew that they expected him – her – to try to break free from the room anytime and he was going to do just that. He smiled to himself as he began to undo the locked window. This was going to be fun. I wonder if Nii-san has noticed anything yet? he wondered.
Damn it. For how long was she supposed to kneel for those stupid elders? Natsumi wanted to shoot phlegm in their faces or something. Most of all she was bothered by Sasuke's father. He was really annoying. Such a jerk, she thought bitterly as she bowed her head for her 'father'. How can Itachi and Sasuke stand living with him? She was expected to be utterly polite to Fugaku, never spoke unless she was being told to and never ask about anything.
The most fun thing was to fool Itachi, of course. She was rather surprised when he suddenly beckoned her to come to him although she had seen Sasuke receive the same treatment many times before. Suddenly she had two fingers in her forehead and she didn't like that.
"Hey, what are you doing?" 'Sasuke' complained rudely.
Itachi looked shocked. "Otouto?"
"How would you feel if somebody flicked your forehead all the time?" she said before she ran into Sasuke's room and laughed her ass off at her cousin's stunned facial expression. Behind her she left a rather confused Itachi.
xxx
Early that evening, Sasuke was lying in Natsumi's bed. He already started to feel homesick. He didn't like his cousin's room. It was so messy that he practically had to wade through the stuff on the floor. He had found a pile of homework below her wardrobe and distractedly wondered if she intended to burn it up. He knew that she had big troubles with doing her homework and she really hated the academy.
Only Shisui believed in his little sister. "She has potential", he had told his mother once. "Trust me, that kid will scare all enemy ninjas away as soon as they get sight of her war-zone of a room, her collection of dried snails and…"
"Enough, Shisui!" his mother had snapped. "Don't remind me…"
Natsumi's parents sometimes talked with Sasuke's about her substandard performances and what a shame she was for the prodigy clan. The girl had thrown a tantrum after one of those conversations and she had cried. "I just can't understand that stuff! I hate school!" Then she hid below her uncle's and aunt's double bed and sulked and refused to leave her hideout until Shisui had begged her for at least an hour.
Sasuke only got more depressed by thinking of that episode; it reminded him of his own Nii-san and what his brother always did for him. He pitied himself and wondered why he had agreed to his cousin's idea. There in the darkness fears that Itachi had kept away for so long started to approach him again. Who was going to comfort him if he woke up from a nightmare? Who was going to be there for Sasuke then?
Itachi was in the other end of the district and the tomato-lover couldn't exactly go to Shisui if he couldn't sleep, that would just feel wrong. Shisui wasn't his big brother. Who was going to hold him tight when he was scared, who was going to mumble comforting things to him and kiss his forehead? Who was going to slowly stroke his forehead until he fell asleep? Sasuke wondered on the verge of tears.
Only Nii-san could. But Nii-san wasn't here now. He almost wanted to interrupt the whole thing and go back to Itachi. His older brother wouldn't be angry with him, but their father would when he recognized his son's changed chakra in the morning. Neither Natsumi would appreciate it; she would think that he was far too childish and weak if he couldn't be a night away from home.
Sasuke knew he must stand this, even though a part of him longed to be with his brother. He felt really bad for himself. He clenched the sheets and remembered all the times when he would wake crying and run to his brother's room. He suffered a lot from nightmares, but Itachi was always there to make it better. Sasuke would snuggle close to his sibling's body and cry a bit as Itachi told him that he was safe.
The red-eyed malicious skeleton that lived in Sasuke's wardrobe stayed hidden and the growling beast underneath his bed didn't dare to follow him to the elder's room. Even the intimidating, smiling bear with wheels – a horror he had gotten after watching Teletubbies when he was younger – fled. Nothing could hurt Sasuke when he was lying in his brother's strong arms. Itachi would listen patiently as the child rambled about his illogical, absurd and rather embarrassing dreams in the middle of the night and then say things like: "How would a skeleton ever be able to move on its own? It would only turn to a pile of bones. There's nothing to worry about, otouto."
Once when Sasuke continued looking miserable he said: "I also had lots of nightmares when I was in your age. But Shisui comforted me and taught me that dreams are only projections of our subconscious, not something real and living. As you grow you will learn to deal with your fears and eventually keep them away on your own."
That had made Sasuke wonder. He had a hard time imagining his brother being as scared as he had been when he woke up. He also wondered if he ever would be able to fend for himself. Even the darkness itself was a big fear of his. Itachi used to say: "There's nothing to fear, Sasuke. You know I'm here for you and I would never let you be hurt."
The young Uchiha missed his brother terribly. He was used to have his bigger body lying next to his as an island of safety in the night's darkness. He got more and more convinced that this was a stupid idea but then mentally slapped himself; he was an Uchiha and he must stand this. What would his father think if he knew about his doubts?
But Sasuke couldn't keep away the mental images of himself climbing in through Itachi's window and falling down in his arms.
xxxx
In the main Uchiha household, Natsumi was fast asleep in Sasuke's room. She had been up late trying to find something useful for her following pranks but the only thing she found was some tape and a scissor. She had been very irritated that Mikoto seemed to have hidden all useful things – plastic insects, fake blood, make up, strings, evil masks and other stuff. Maybe they didn't even have those things in their home and in that case she would have to sneak home and get it.
Itachi was lying in his own bed and felt a strange feeling of loss. He knew that his brother was in the room next to his but he still couldn't suppress the feeling of loneliness. It seemed like Sasuke wouldn't come to him this night and somehow he wished that he would. His bed seemed so big and cold and empty without his sibling. He missed that smaller body that sometimes could cling to him during the night and yelp and whimper slightly in his sleep. And most of all he missed the comfort he himself got from their contact.
The next morning Natsumi had already given in to her needs and had rigged some traps in her cousins' house. But there was not much she could to with only a piece of tape. She managed to pull the prank just in the nick of time before she was caught out.
She started with watching Fugaku who was going to pour water from the sink in the bathroom. She had placed tape over the tap and when her uncle opened it the water spurted in all directions and moistened his clothes. She had hid well for Sasuke's sake and giggled as Fugaku threw a minor tantrum that his wife had to deal with.
"How did that kid get into our house?" he rambled as if his niece was some kind of insect. That bothered her, but she tried to shrug it off. She wanted to be respected, but when she only got bad reactions on everything she did she became even worse. She started to think up some kind of twisted revenge when another thought hit her.
She wondered if she should steal Itachi's boxers and hang them up on the telephone pile, but soon decided that it wasn't worth it. It would take her at least a half of the day to get up there and Itachi's reaction would not be worth the efforts. But anyway, the thought was tempting. It had been a while since she did something against her oldest cousin.
The fun was soon over when the tiredness from the night before caught up on her. Natsumi stumbled out of her hiding place and hit her head a couple of times when she couldn't get the damn locker to open. As soon as she with great difficulty had managed to sneak past Fugaku who was sitting in the living room she made it to Sasuke's room and fell tiredly asleep on his bed.
xxx
No matter how distant the morning could seem for the scared Sasuke, it was soon there. When he slowly got up and began putting on his clothes, he realized that he would have to pull a prank now or the whole clan would be suspicious. After much hesitation and debating with himself and his good nurture he put a bucket filled with ice-cold water over a slightly open door and waited. After a while, he heard a cheerily:
"Bye, I'll –"
"Shisui! Get back here and clean the dishes right now! This is not a hotel! Shisui!"
"Too bad, mom–"
With a loud splash, Shisui got the liquid all over him when he carelessly flew the door open as he used to. Temporary blinded and shocked by the ice-cold water he struggled to get it out of his eyes. Sasuke chuckled a bit. He had held a minor grudge against his older cousin because he used to tease him and occupy Itachi. This was his perfect little revenge.
Shisui looked wildly around with Sharingan activated. "Natsumi! You little shit, where are you – I'm already late! My boss will be pissed off! "
Sasuke's laughter gave him away immediately. Satisfied by his cousin's fate he got up and ran like hell. But Shisui was Shisui of the Mirage, the body flicker and another genius of the clan. Sasuke was soon caught by a flight of crows that all possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan. He had to pick off feathers from his hair and clothes quite a while after that.
A while later when Shisui had left the house Sasuke left as well in order to find Natsumi. This had been fun but enough is enough. He didn't have to search long though; she appeared right outside the door.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed. "I thought we switched places!"
"I went here to bring some stuff", she replied. "Man, your family doesn't even have any fake blood!"
Sasuke sighed. Suddenly he noticed his aunt coming this way. It was best to not be seen around here, because they would probably betray themselves if she started talking with them. And if they would reveal themselves, they would both be punished.
"Quick! Get down!" He pulled his cousin down and they hid behind a bush. "I want to interrupt this technique", he whispered forcefully.
"It will go away by itself."
"I want to change back right now anyway."
She sighed slightly annoyed. "Don't take all of the fun away from me already, itoko. But if you want to, let's meet outside of your house later."
"When?" Sasuke demanded.
She shrugged.
"Two hours", he decided.
"Two hours? Then I've had no time to-"
"If you don't agree I'll go to Nii-san right now and have him change it back."
She frowned. "Sure, we'll meet there then. Don't you enjoy this at all, itoko? I think it's pretty fun!"
Sasuke didn't want to admit the real reason for his uneasiness, especially not to her.
"I have homework to do", he lied. His cousin gave him a look as if to say: Really? C'mon you crammer! before she started to crawl out of the bush.
The cousins met outside the Compound among the trees a while later. Sasuke had to wait for a good half of an hour before Natsumi showed up.
"We said two hours! What were you doing?"
"Nothing in particular, itoko", she giggled. "Do you know that you sound exactly like your father right now? And hey, wasn't it a good idea?!"
Sasuke refrained himself from giggling too when he remembered his prank. "You should have seen Shisui's facial expression!"
She frowned. "Or you should have seen Itachi's when I refused to let him poke my forehead!" She burst out in laughter. "He was so shocked!"
Now it was Sasuke's turn to frown. "What did you do to him?"
" Don't worry, itoko. That was so fun; can't we prolong the chakra switch?"
"No! It's enough!"
"Why are you so anxious? Did you have problems with sleeping without Itachi?" she teased.
Sasuke's cheeks adopted a slight pink color. "Stop it!"
"I'm just saying", she said and sounded exactly like Shisui. Sasuke was reminded of said person and frowned.
"I still don't get how we're related", he sulked.
"And I still don't get how you managed to fool us", a voice said from behind them.
Shocked they turned around. "Shisui!" Sasuke gasped and saw the person standing next to him. "What are you two doing here?"
"Nii-san! How did you find out?" Natsumi asked surprised.
Itachi was standing beside his best friend, looking at the kids. "I just came here to get my little brother back. The foolish, adorable, tomato-obsessed one also known as my otouto."
"I am right here", Natsumi lied.
Shisui ruffled her hair. "You've already revealed yourself, imouto. Too bad." Natsumi bit her lip. "But I must say that you look very similar to Sasuke. Man, who would've known that Konoha could hold two duck-ass-hair kids at the same time?"
Sasuke glared at him.
"That moreover decided to switch place with each other?" Itachi added, smirking a bit.
He looked straight at 'Natsumi.' Sasuke knew that he was revealed as soon as he met his brother's gaze. Itachi knew it too. "Better luck next time, Sasuke."
Itachi's sibling pouted and his facial expression immediately gave him away for them all. Sasuke stepped over to his brother and took hold of his hand. "I'll stay close to you from now on, nii-san. I didn't like being away from you", he confessed. Itachi smiled down at him tenderly.
"I missed you too otouto, although I didn't know that you were away. I just... felt strange." He remembered the odd feeling of loss he had gotten the other night.
"That explains everything", Shisui said, half grinning, half muttering. "I must admit that I was fooled by you brats for a short while."
"Me too", Itachi said and looked at his contemporary cousin in silent agreement. Sasuke let go of Itachi's hand and exchanged a glance with Natsumi.
"You're going to get it for this", Shisui muttered. He didn't accept that two brats like his little cousin and little sister had managed to deceive him. "Don't think you can escape, kiddos. No one fools us and gets away with it." He smiled significatively at Itachi who returned the gesture. It would benefit to teach their little ones a lesson...
The kids weren't able to escape the awaiting cuddle and tickling session with their big brothers but trust that they were going to try.
"Run, itoko!" Natsumi exclaimed. To her, the new game had already started. She and Sasuke rushed off, laughing and squealing in excitement. "You will never catch us!"
"Let's see about that." Shisui and Itachi smirked at each other for a moment before they set off after their siblings.
.
Note: Itoko means 'cousin'
Imouto : (little) sister
Otouto (little) brother
I'm not completely satisfied with how this chapter turned out, but I guess I'm just in a mood when I don't like anything I write. But anyway, feedback is greatly appreciated!
