Time flies when you're having fun, right?

Chapter 10

By the next afternoon, Shisui had finally woken up, and Itachi was right there waiting for him when he did. It wasn't every day that you got to share the exciting aftermath of a death, after all.

"Wait, wait. So, tell me again how Danzo's property suddenly caught on fire. The image alone is priceless!" Shisui laughed from his hospital bed as he ate a pudding cup that Itachi had brought him from the cafeteria.

"Yep, up in flames and everything. Of course, I did a bit of snooping before letting loose, but salvaging all of the ROOT files on all of the kids Danzo had managed to corrupt was really half of the battle. Now that they've mysteriously appeared on the Hokage's desk, there's nothing but to truly enjoy such a glorious sight to behold. Maybe when you get out of this place I'll show it to you in a genjutsu. I'd do it here, but the staff tend to frown upon overstimulation in the hospital environment," Itachi chuckled from his side of the small room. It was hard enough trying to finagle the nurses into giving Shisui a private room so that they could speak without the possibility of a spy sitting in the next bed.

"I just feel like a huge weight is off our shoulders now. Without having to worry about being intercepted by ROOT we should be able to get way more done. Plus, that guy is under my Kotoamatsukami and will probably get wind of Danzo's death from someone around this village, so not having to worry about the creepy Sharingan collector is a bonus!"

"It is indeed," Itachi said just as the smallest of knocks was heard at the door before it swung open to reveal none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi. "Lord Third, what brings you here?" asked Itachi as he quickly pushed himself off of the wall to bow.

"Relax, my boy. It's only a friendly visit to check on young Shisui's, uh… training injuries," Hiruzen assured as he stepped further into the room and stopped at the foot of the hospital bed. "So, how exactly did you manage five broken ribs, three cracked, bruised kidney and liver, several deep stab wounds on your arms and legs, a broken arm and wrist, and a concussion in a training accident?"

The Hokage's skepticism was there, but the two young men were experts at training their facial expressions and simply shrugged in response. "It's like you said, Hokage-sama, it was an accident, and wouldn't become us if rumor spread otherwise. We wouldn't want the Uchiha to become even more suspicious than they already are and then bump up their plans on the village, hmm?" Shisui said as he moved to make himself slightly more comfortable. The breaks and such were well mended, but he would be staying in the hospital for a few more days so that the doctors could ensure that all of his body was strong enough to get back to what it needed to be as a shinobi.

Hiruzen shook his head in amusement at just how clever the Uchiha boys had become over the past year. He certainly hoped they succeeded in their mission to protect both Konoha and the Uchiha. "Well, I certainly do hope you recover quickly. Seems that I have quite a bit of work to do myself now that this mysterious ROOT agency has been disbanded, and I have many unfortunate cases to deal with in the aftermath. I'm just amazed that even after Danzo died, someone still managed to set all the buildings within his compound on fire despite the supposed number of people meant to be loyal to him. I suppose some roots run much deeper than others in any case."

"Maybe it was a grass fire," Itachi supplied knowing that the year hadn't been that dry at all, but the Hokage seemed to go with it anyway.

"Perhaps," he mused before turning to leave the hospital room once more. "Continue the good work, young Uchiha."

Itachi and Shisui watched as he walked out and the door clicked shut behind them. "That was odd," Shisui said as he smoothed away a wrinkle in the blankets.

"Not really. He seemed like he was just telling us that he knew what we did and wasn't going to reprimand us for it but that we should probably watch our backs. I'm sure that he's not the only one to assume that we are responsible for ROOTs disbandment and whomever else knows will probably be hunting us," Itachi said as he leaned back against the wall he had been propped against before the Hokage had arrived

"Yeah, maybe," Shisui said before a nurse bustled in and shooed Itachi out of the room saying something about how 'visiting hours were over' and 'patients needed rest.' Shisui simply laughed at him as the door slammed shut in his face.

Now, Itachi was many things, but rude was not one of them and he hated when other people were ill-mannered towards him when he had done nothing to warrant it. Luckily, he wasn't one to hold grudges so it simply rolled off of his shoulders when the door slammed in his face. But, just to be sure, he figured that it wouldn't hurt to go out and find Kakashi to spar with.

The man was exactly where he figured he'd be, the Memorial Stone. It was a place that Kakashi frequented often, and though Itachi didn't know the particulars of why he stared at the stone, he would let the man say his peace before approaching.

"I can feel you there," Kakashi said as he turned to look at the raven-haired man standing against a tree to his right.

"I wasn't exactly hiding," said the raven in question. "I just wanted you to have the opportunity to gain your closure for the day before I ask you to come spar with me."

"Spar?" the older captain asked as if he was really going to leave things at sparring. "I guess I could spar for a little while."

Itachi smiled gratefully to his lover before jumping off into the trees followed closely by the silver-haired man he was glad to have gotten so close to.

Though taijutsu wasn't his main fighting style, Itachi always felt the most at ease and relaxed while fighting an opponent. When he used genjutsu or ninjutsu, he found that he always had to think about every little detail of the fight he was having, whereas taijutsu was merely feeling out how his partner would move next so that he could counter it.

He and Kakashi had been sparring for the better part of three hours, and Itachi was certain that he would win. The first hour had been about genjutsu in which Kakashi might as well have laid down before they had even started, but he had come back in their second hour of ninjutsu in which Kakashi was much more versatile with his moves than Itachi. So, they were tied and this was meant to be the tie-breaker for them. Who was going to come out as the ninja on top?

Itachi found himself jumping away from yet another of Kakashi's traps as a bushel of leaves and exploding tags fell from the trees above his head and started exploding. He didn't have the chance to get as far away as he would have liked, and the shock wave from the blast knocked him off balance from the branch he was standing on. He found himself falling from the insanely tall trees that were so common in his homeland and with no safety in sight, he tried rotating so that the impact with the ground would be less damaging for him, but before he could hit, he found himself snatched out of the air by none other than Kakashi himself.

"I honestly thought you'd be able to dodge that," he chuckled mildly as they both landed safely on the ground.

There were small bits of scorched tree and leaves falling from the branches above, and Itachi couldn't help but inhale the sweet smell of burning wood as it fell to the ground around them. "Well, I would have if someone hadn't used too many exploding tags and created a shockwave that knocked me off the branches I was running across," he said gaining a small sheepish blush across the visible parts of Kakashi's face.

Kakashi was about to say something to retort but found his mouth suddenly occupied by another. "Thank you for catching me when I fell," Itachi said when he pulled away. He was smiling that radiant, beautiful smile that Kakashi adored and couldn't help himself when he snatched the raven up in another searing kiss.

To be honest, Itachi knew that things would progress into something sexual the moment they got close enough to embrace, but that still didn't stop him from sending out a murder of crows to watch the area around them in the instance someone decided to stop by. When one of his watch-birds picked up that a dog in a blue vest had sat itself along the parameter as well, Itachi knew that things were about to go well beyond what he had intended to do in the forest that day.

Gaining the signal that everything was in place, Kakashi began unzipping Itachi's shirt to expose the creamy flesh beneath. A wandering thought flittered across his mind as to whether or not the skin beneath his fingers had ever seen the light of day before this moment, but it was there and gone in an instant as he quickly kissed up the raven's neck. He began sucking on Itachi's earlobe and his rough hands started wandering their territory.

Enjoying the attention but not wanting to be more naked than his lover, Itachi quickly rid the older captain of his own shirt and bit down on Kakashi's shoulder. There was a grunt of pain before he hummed with pleasure as the shorter raven licked at the bite marks and then moved his tongue along Kakashi's collarbones to kiss up the other side of the man's neck.

Somewhere in the kisses and clothing removal, Itachi managed to climb Kakashi's body so that they were chest to chest and hip to hip. Supporting his weight while he wrapped his legs around Kakashi's waist, Itachi found the roughness of tree bark digging into his back as the silver-haired man ground their still clothed but very hard erections together. Itachi whimpered at the combined sensations before he felt Kakashi fingering the waistband of his pants and then the coolness of the air hitting his bare behind. He inhaled sharply, but Kakashi already captured his mouth before he could protest or complain about it.

Not liking his own disadvantage in their positions, Itachi managed to swing his legs free and kick off the tree so that they fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and pained grunts.

"What the hell was that for?" Kakashi asked as he had gotten the brunt of the impact. He, then, felt the coolness of the air against his thighs before Itachi held up his pants in triumph.

"Just trying to keep things even," Itachi said with a shrug before one of his favorite parts of his lover's body caught his attention. Like a lithe feline, Itachi wasted no time in pinning the silver-haired man to the ground and quickly taking his length in his mouth and bringing it back to life.

Of course, Kakashi had no more complaints after that as the raven was becoming more talented with each time they got together like this. He remembered the one time that he questioned whether Itachi had been practicing on someone else, and the raven had bitten down with his dick in his mouth. There were still teeth marks embedded in his skin and from that moment on, Kakashi learned to just enjoy his young lover's talents and never to question an Uchiha. The sharpness of Itachi's teeth scraping softly up his shaft brought him back to reality and he glanced down to see the dark orbs looking back at him.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked knowing that the teeth were only used to gain his attention.

"You are getting distracted! Pay attention!" Itachi exclaimed before he dove back into his task of sucking Kakashi off.

The silver-haired man smirked to himself because he was indeed distracted, so he flipped their positions with enough speed to catch Itachi completely off guard so that when he started stroking and kissing the raven's bare chest, it was a raw, beautiful sound caught completely within that moment. Knowing that he should never be unprepared when it came to the raven, Kakashi reached into his discarded pants and found the small bottle of travel lotion he kept there for occasions such as these.

He slicked his fingers and began the slow process of circling the puckered entrance of Itachi's rear end. He had moved his face so that his mouth was level with Itachi's erection before he let his tongue lazily trace the veins on the raven's penis. As one finger entered, Kakashi took the length into his mouth just as Itachi's hiss turned into a wanton moan. Kakashi watched the beautiful man as he bent to every sensation he could provide and as the midnight eyes connected with his own mismatched ones, he slid another finger inside.

Noticing the small pools of tears forming at the corners of Itachi's eyes, Kakashi released the penis from his mouth and crawled so that he had enough leverage to pull the raven into his lap while his fingers continued in their task.

"What is it?" asked Kakashi as he kissed the tears away from his face. He slipped another finger in and Itachi gasped and buried his face in Kakashi's strong chest.

"It's nothing," he grunted, "We just haven't done this in awhile is all."

Realizing this, Kakashi paused in his preparations and started drowning Itachi in apologies and kisses. "I'm sorry, I just got so excited, I forgot how long it's been," he said as he licked at a pink nipple before sucking and pulling on it gently with his teeth.

Soon enough, moans of pleasure came pouring from pink lips, and Kakashi took that as his sign to continue as he began moving his fingers once more. Once he was good and ready, Kakashi, aroused from the sounds Itachi made when he felt pleasure, removed his fingers and positioned himself at the prepared entrance,

"Ready?" he asked and the small nod was all the confirmation he needed to slowly lower the smaller man down until he was seated deep within the tight hole. Kakashi waited for the raven to nod his approval to move, and once that happened, all bets were off that Kakashi would stop for anything but the Hokage himself appearing before them. It truly had been way too long since they'd done anything like this.

Itachi was also being much more responsive this time around. He knew it was because the two Uchihas had been working themselves to their breaking point, but Kakashi didn't realize how much Itachi had been keeping a brave face until the moment his ferocious tiger on the prowl turned into a cute agile kitten that was more pur than roar. Itachi's control slipped entirely into Kakashi's hands and the silver-haired captain wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Tentatively, Kakashi lightly kissed pink lips that responded earnestly, but with less domineering enthusiasm than was typical for the raven.

Kakashi's excitement bubbled as the possibilities flooded his mind. Even as every thrust brought them both closer, he plotted the undoing of the raven beneath him if only to see how Itachi would react in being at the mercy of his seme for the moment. It wasn't every day that Kakashi would get an opportunity like this, after all, and it seemed only fitting that if their private life together was going to change, it only made sense that the change happen somewhere other than his bedroom as well.

"What are you thinking?" Asked Itachi as he had been watching the man think around their intimacy for some time. "Am I not stimulating enough for you?"

"Contrary, I was simply admiring your pliability in this moment. It's not everyday that I'm presented with such opportunities," Kakashi leered as he amped up his pace. "I mean, I don't think you would have ever let me do this to you in public before this moment and here we are in the middle of the woods with only the warnings of our trusted summons to warn us of incoming company. Do you think you'd be able to dress yourself that quickly if someone were coming in at ninja speeds?"

Itachi, not really enjoying himself with the looming thought of being caught stark nude having sex with a man in the forest, stopped their movement and shot Kakashi the coldest of glares he could muster. "That was the dumbest thing you could have said. Why would you kill the mood like that?"

Realizing his own faux pas, Kakashi quickly tried to rectify his meaning, but back pedaling got him nowhere with Itachi, as he well knew, and soon enough, Itachi was standing and redressing himself leaving Kakashi laying naked and fuming in the dead, dry leaves. He wasn't made at Itachi for leaving. In fact, he welcomed it considering just how angry he was at himself, but he was unsatisfied as well, and sooner or later, that would need to be taken care of in some way or another.

Itachi's mind, now that it wasn't focused on sex, was rapidly consumed by the coming months ahead of them. Not only did they need to ensure that everything went according to plan, but he knew that soon enough, the whole village would know of Danzo's passing, and that sudden void left in the power dynamic between the Uchiha and greater Konoha would expedite the plans for everyone involved, which meant that he and Shisui would need to be extra prepared for anything to happen whether from the Uchiha side or the masked man himself.

It infuriated him, honestly, as his one distraction in life was ruined by none other that that silver-haired distraction himself, but that life would have to be put on the back burner anyway. There could be no room for error once things started heating up in Konoha.

Thinking to himself, he barely noticed one particular shadow lurking in his peripheral vision as he ran. Knowing that it likely wasn't Kakashi, and Shisui was stuck in the hospital for at least another two days, this sneaky figure probably wasn't there with good tidings. Ricocheting off of one of the many huge trees in his path, Itachi quickly launched himself at the dark figure who had little time but to protect himself from the raven that used his momentum to flip feet forward as he spun rapidly through the air only to torpedo himself into the person with a force that knocked him at bone-breaking speeds into the nearest tree. There was no way the shadow could have avoided it, and there was really no way that he was going to regain consciousness anytime soon afterwards.

Examining him to make sure he wasn't actually killed when he hit the tree, Itachi took the moment to study the person that had been following him. He was certainly young, maybe even as young as Sasuke, and his hair was an inky black that rivaled any Uchiha he knew, and Itachi was positive that the child had lived his entire life indoors until that moment because his skin was ghostly. Despite all of those factors, his skills were honed based on the way he'd been following Itachi which meant that Itachi could not underestimate him no matter what age the kid seemed to be.

Deciding to wait things out, Itachi pulled out a spool of wire and quickly tied the boy to a tree being careful to avoid the few fractured ribs and broken clavicle on the kid's left side. He'd help the boy reset it if that's what the kid wanted, but it'd be a waiting game until then to see if the boy would wake up before nightfall. It was unlikely, but it served as a nice break from everything else happening in the young Uchiha's life.

Even by morning, the child had not woken up. Itachi decided that if the kid had some sort of concussion, which was likely, he better make sure that no immediate brain damage was setting in and gave the kid a quick jab to his fractured ribs to see if he could force the boy into waking up. He merely groaned in protest of the pain Itachi was causing him, but he wouldn't open his eyes until Itachi became so annoying that it forced a physical, alert reaction out of him.

"Ah, there you are, Sleepyhead, I was beginning to think you'd be down for good," Itachi joked as he crouched beside the child's smaller frame wire-wrapped to the tree. "So, you thought you could get a jump on me, huh? Shame you didn't think that one through a little bit better or you wouldn't be in this mess. Now, tell me, what do you want?"

The child remained cold-faced and silent in a way that any Uchiha would be proud of, but the kid was not an Uchiha, which meant that he definitely had his breaking point in there somewhere. Itachi just needed to find it.

"Quite the mute, I see," Itachi tsked as he stood and leaned against the tree above the kid's head. Itachi wondered if he were the child, what his possible weaknesses might be. "Are you after me because of your family? Maybe, I've wronged one of your relatives and you're here to strike vengeance upon me?" The child remained stoic, which meant that Itachi wasn't even close at this point. Hmm, what could it possibly be?

After a solid three hours of getting absolutely nowhere, Itachi decided it was time for a good meal and a break. If the kid wasn't going to talk through pleasantries, perhaps he would talk through torture. It was the least he could do since the kid decided to pick a fight in the first place and wouldn't even tell him why. That childish stubbornness was the exact reason Itachi couldn't stand almost every child in Konoha. In fact, he currently had a strong dislike for all of the children in Konoha, except for one.

In that moment, Itachi had a brilliant idea. Of course, he couldn't figure his captive out, he didn't much like him, but he did like Sasuke and that was the key in all of this. He certainly wasn't going to involve his precious brother in any of his higher calibre ninja work, but he could certainly ask him hypothetical questions about it, which Sasuke would happily answer if it meant that he got to spend time with his Aniki. Taking off into the forest without a word to his mini prisoner, Itachi ran in the direction of the Academy hoping that Iruka-sensei wouldn't be too angry with him for taking his brother from class for a bit.

"Aniki!" shrieked the pint-sized raven that dropped everything he was doing to run headlong into Itachi's stomach for a hug.

Itachi smiled down at his brother before glancing up to speak with Iruka-sensei. "I'm sorry this is unannounced, but would you mind if I took Sasuke out for a bit?" Itachi asked as he rested his hand atop Sasuke's head.

Iruka, being the kind and patient man that he was, typically tried to limit the amount of class time his students missed no matter who came knocking at the door, but Sasuke never had interruptions, and since he was top of the class anyway, Iruka couldn't see the harm in letting him step out for awhile if he was coming back before the end of the day. "It's no trouble at all. Just know you'll have a bit of classwork to make up when you get back, alright Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded enthusiastically as he would do anything for even a moment with Itachi, and despite the protests of one yellow-haired nightmare child at the back of the class, the door slipped quietly shut behind them as they went to exit the Academy.

"So, what are we going to do today, Nii-san? Training?" He asked as his eyes grew large and twinkly at the very thought of being pulled out of school to play ninja with Itachi.

"I suppose it's something like training, but not in the way you think. How about we get some lunch and you tell me all about school so far, okay?" Itachi suggested casually as he steered them in the direction of the restaurant district of Konoha. "Go ahead and pick anything you want."

With each moment, the day skyrocketed to one of the very best days Sasuke had ever had, and with all seriousness, Sasuke gave a salute to his older brother before marching ahead to find the perfect place for them to eat. Thankfully, it was a small place and they were alone. After ordering, Itachi waited for Sasuke to calm down a bit from his enthusiastic high before asking him the questions he'd hoped the child would have the answers to. There were never any guarantees, of course, but it was worth a try anyway.

"So, Sasuke, what have you been up to in school? Tell me about your classmates," Itachi began as Sasuke sat happily across from him.

"Well, Iruka-sensei has us learning throwing techniques, but those are super easy. My classmates are okay except for this stupid, annoying one called Naruto who always wants to fight me. It's a waste of my time, honestly, but it happens without fail at least once a day. The boys are better than the girls, too. The girls like to follow me around everywhere and it gets annoying after a while," he scowled at the very thought of girls, and Itachi could say he knew the feeling, but he also knew he hadn't had to deal with them long since he'd graduated early and was promoted through the ranks just as quickly after that.

"Well, I wanna say it'll get better, but not for quite some time at the rate you're going, so I guess my advice it just to ignore them until they all move on," Itachi suggested as their food arrived at their table and they spoke their thanks before digging in.

"So, uh Sasuke… Mind if I ask you a few personal questions?" the older raven asked between bites of his meal. Sasuke nodded as he slurped up his soup giving Itachi the okay to continue. "I know, I'm older and we haven't spent much time together, but I just wanted to know who you are. What are your likes and dislikes? Who are your most precious people, and who would you do anything for no matter what?"

Sasuke paused with another bite halfway to his mouth to think. He let his chopsticks slacken and the food slipped back into his bowl. "You, Aniki. I love you."

Itachi had to stop himself from choking on his dumplings. Just the innocence in the words and the way his adorable little head tilted slightly as if it was dumb of Itachi to even ask such a question, as if it were the most obvious of answers. It was more than Itachi ever thought he deserved to hear.

"It's true, Nii-san. I would do anything for you no matter what, and I don't care if you wouldn't do the same… you would do the same, though, wouldn't you?"

More than you possibly could ever know, Itachi thought as he took another bite of his meal. "Of course, I would do anything for you, Sasuke. You are my little brother, after all."

Satisfied with that answer, ten-year-old Sasuke happily went back to eating, as well, waiting on the next question that Itachi might ask.

After returning Sasuke to Iruka and the Academy, much to the boy's chagrin, Itachi felt he had a pretty good grasp on how to continue with the boy being held captive in the woods. It was probably a long shot, but if he and Sasuke had a greater bond with each other than with their parents, then maybe the boy had a similar situation and could be broken in that way instead.

Landing amongst the dry leaves, Itachi watched the boy startle from his napping before scowling at Itachi, again. The kid may have been just as ballsy as Sasuke in his audacity to shoot off looks like that to his captor, but kids never seemed to gauge what was best for them.

"Well, I didn't find much, but I found out about your brother," Itachi casually mentioned as he pulled out a kunai and a sharpener to pass his time. "Shame, really."

"You know nothing about him!" growled the boy which made Itachi grin internally. Instead, Itachi merely raised one curious brow at him which made the kid's pale lips snap shut as if he could quell his anger just by shutting up. Itachi knew better than that having Sasuke as his example.

"Oh, yeah. It's a crying shame. And now you're here all alone. Pity."

Itachi watched the emotions dance through the boy's eyes as if he were fighting the urge to burst out right then and there. "Perhaps, if you'd been a little stronger, things wouldn't have gone in the direction they had."

"It would have been the same, except I would have died. That's the only difference because I was so weak, I am so weak! Damn you!" screamed the boy as he grit his teeth and attempted to wriggle himself free of his binds for the first time Itachi had seen since he'd been captured. No doubt, to get away from the truths Itachi was forcing him to face here.

"As far as I can tell, I don't think you are weak," Itachi told him now that it was time to play on his loving brother nature. "In fact, you survived, right? That counts for something, and I'm sure he would appreciate that."

"Sure, I survived because Shin was going to die anyway. He was sick! He forced me to go on without him, and he would be so angry with me for getting angry on his behalf in front of you!" he spat as he struggled a bit more before giving up and going limp against the tree. "You told me to stop feeling, and I'm trying, but it's so hard to do…"

Itachi took that moment to study the boy before him. He was truly only a child, yet he was one of the strongest people the young Uchiha had ever laid eyes upon. Itachi wasn't even sure he'd be able to go on like that if something had happened to Sasuke. It was a wonder how the boy could even function.

"What's your name?" Itachi questioned as he put his tools back in one of his numerous utility pockets.

"Sai," mumbled the boy giving up entirely on his personal mission to quell his behavior and emotions in front of his captor.

"Well, Sai, why were you chasing me?"

Sighing heavily, the boy took the moment to let his head fall back against the rough bark of the tree to throw a sardonic grin at the sky before answering. "I figured that if I could kill you then I might be able to bring my master peace and possibly reform ROOT in the process. Maybe that's what Shin would have wanted, too."

Itachi had to take a moment to reprocess everything he knew about Sai until now. If the boy was a part of ROOT, then that meant that he was likely a part of one of the higher families in Konoha as that seemed to be the case for almost every child Danzo had under his control. If that were true, then perhaps there was hope for this child as well! It was a small moment of hope, but he would latch onto it, none the less.

Deviating from the norm...

Until next time,

ItalianPirateGypsy