What's in a Name?

Itachi swore the villagers giving him a wide berth could actually see his anger roll off him in waves.

He didn't care if it was rude. He didn't care if word got back to his parents. He didn't care if they grounded him for the rest of the week, month, or year. He didn't care if his face permanently froze with a scowl like his mother always warned him it would. He didn't care if he never got a girlfriend because of it. He didn't care if he never got laid. (Okay, he cared a little). But he really didn't care if he ever procreated.

He didn't care.

Because kids were mean. Kids were little shits who didn't know when to shut up. And when they didn't know to shut up, Itachi had no choice but to make them shut up.

Then... Then people got hurt.

People, and his right hand.

Itachi growled under his breath, digging his hands in the pockets of his school uniform further. There was no way he was going to be let off the hook when his mother found out what had gone down at school. No way was she going to go easy on him, even if he was her "baby boy."

Not that he cared.

"I'm ho-" He didn't even get the chance to finish that sentence before Sakura was on him with a glare to rival his father's.

"Unbelievable," she said with a slow shake of her head. "Unbelievable, Itachi! I can't believe you hit a student!"

That's why you said it was unbelievable in the first place. He didn't dare say it out loud. He knew he wasn't suppose to care, but damn could his mother pack a punch for such a tiny thing. He never wanted to be on the receiving end of one of those coma-inducing hits.

"He deserved it," Itachi muttered. He may as well have said "He started it" for how childish it sounded.

"I don't care if he deserved it, young man, you do not go around knocking people to the ground unless you're either sparing or training. What was it that he did you thought was deserving of such punishment?"

The question he had been dreading.

"Hm? Did he bad mouth your little sister?"

He shook his head.

"Did he insult me or your father?"

Another shake.

"Did he-"

"He said I... That I..."

Sakura came closer to her son. She knew if Itachi was having a hard time getting the words out it must have been serious. Itachi was the kind of person to tell you anything, good or bad; the boy loved to talk. In so many ways, he was like Sakura -who also wore her emotions on her sleeve. It was a different story entirely if this had happened to her daughter, Sakura thought. Rei was many things, but talkative was not one of them. It was like pulling teeth. She was so like her father in that department, aside from many other things.

"What?" she gently coaxed. "What did he say?"

"That...th-that..." Itachi bit his bottom lip and finally looked up at his mother. "When will Dad be home?"

"Itachi-"

"I have to talk to him. Only him," Itachi added quickly before his mother could open her mouth to protest that she was here for him too.

She sighed. "Shortly."

The minute he sensed his father's chakra approaching, Itachi stepped out from behind the corner he had been waiting, slouched against the wall, and said, "Can we talk?"

Sasuke neither stopped nor slowed his pace as he merely nodded and walked right past his home. Given how tense his son was, the older man guessed the matter was not something Itachi wanted his little sister or mother to overhear. And when Itachi didn't protest, Sasuke led the way to Training Ground Six.

As luck would have it, no one was in sight. Itachi visibly relaxed. It would have been a good day to spar with his father -what with how beautiful the weather was and how he felt like punching something so badly. But in his current state of emotion, Itachi knew fighting his father was a bad idea.

"You wanted to talk?"

The younger man was in the process of trying to think of a way to say what was on his mind when his father's voice caused him to jump slightly. It had been quiet up until now. "Uh, yeah..."

Sasuke rose a brow, silently telling him to go on.

"It's about...about my..." He squeezed his eyes shut tight. "It's about my uncle."

Still with eyes closed, Itachi could only imagine how infuriated Sasuke must have looked at that moment.

Itachi knew enough about his uncle to know that it was somewhat of a painful subject for his father. He knew that he was named after his uncle, and that the man was also a hero in his father's eye. But not much else, until...

"What about him?" Sasuke's voice wasn't terribly angry or irritated or annoyed or sad. In fact, he sounded...confused?

"There was this guy at school... He was saying something messed up things about him and I... I hit him. Hard." Itachi suddenly looked at his feet, the grass, the way the training field dummies looked like Kakashi sempia. At anything that wasn't his father.

Something warm was around his neck. Itachi realized it was his father's hand, leading him further off from view and under the shade of a huge sakura tree. The petals fell all around them as the breeze whisked by and they sat. If Itachi hadn't been so scared of what his father was up to he might have enjoyed the outing.

As it was, not so much.

"My brother, your uncle was...unique," Sasuke finally settled on, nodded, and began again, "He was unlike others his age. Itachi was always quiet, reserved, a prodigy at a young age." Sasuke paused long enough to brush off a petal off his shoulder and look down briefly at his son. "He once told me that up until I came along, he mostly kept to himself. He surpassed many twice his age, it didn't help much in the way of making connections.

But then I was born and..." He paused, as if steeling himself. "He began to smile more. Laugh more. He began to interact freely with others, even if it was just to talk about me," he smiled fondly. "Itachi would take me into town and show me off like I was some sort of trophy. Mother would get so flustered trying to find me and then realizing Itachi had taken me without a word."

"He sounds nice," Itachi whispered. The man his father was talking about didn't sound at all like the monster that creep Yuhi Manta pegged him out to be. But then it slowly donned on the teenager.

Why his father was always sad when talking about his brother. Why he himself knew very little of his uncle. Why people, especially new people, always looked at him strangely at first.

It was because the first Itachi Uchiha wasn't a nice guy at all.

But how...?

"Son, your uncle wasn't entirely a...nice guy," Sasuke said as if reading Itachi's train of thought. He hesitated, barely managing to get the words out. "He hurt people along the way growing up. A lot of people. He made mistakes, but tried doing the right thing under the circumstances he was dealt, but ultimately, it also served in his downfall. But what you have to understand, Itachi, is your uncle was a hero. Even if others say differently."

Itachi sighed in relief. He was still very much confused and he got the feeling there was more to the story that his father wasn't telling him, but at least Itachi had an answer. His uncle was a hero. And maybe, someday, when Itachi was ready to hear it, he'd know why.

"Still," Sasuke said once they had picked themselves off the ground and started moving for home. They had been talking for almost an hour and Sasuke had het to greet his wife and daughter. "You're grounded for punching that student."

Itachi nearly tripped over his own two feet.

He didn't care... Right?

I know I should be writing something heartwarming and fluffy and adorable after last chapter's events but, my brother gave me this idea. He was asking our parents of how exactly we got our unique names and it got me thinking... So I whipped this out.

I know it's not terribly long, and the ending may need some work -I apologize!- I just wanted to get something out there before you started thinking I was dead Haha

R&R