Chapter 14

'Oh god...' Sasuke couldn't think of anything more delicious than the food his Aniki cooked for him. Though it was just the aroma of the stir-fry, he felt his mouth water at the thought of just spooning the rice into his mouth. His Nii-san was such a good cook.

Abandoning his seat in the dining room, which stood only a few feet away from the kitchen, he walked up to Itachi and ducked his head under his Aniki's arm, which was delicately stirring the mixture, and caught a whiff of the fragrant delicacy of his brother's cooking, only to have his senses increase tenfold.

Itachi chuckled as he moved to allow Sasuke in front of him, facing the stove, wrapping his left arm around his Otouto's waist whilst his other continued the repetitive movements.

"Smell good, Otouto?" he questioned. Itachi smirked when the younger Uchiha's head turned towards him. He watched the raven hair swoosh slightly as the boy nodded hastily. Sasuke's eyes were wide and questioning: "when will the food be finished?" It was the powerful puppy-dog stare that, in which, Itachi quite often received from his Otouto. Yes, indeed. His cute, sweet little, baby brother.

"Nii-san, may I eat now?" the boy softly questioned. "I'm starving." Itachi watched as the boy subconsciously licked his lips as he gazed back at sizzling frying pan. The elder Uchiha swiped his tongue across his lower lip and he glanced at his Otouto's smooth, pale column that practically was in his plain view. He licked his lips again. He was starving too.

Uchiha Itachi had self-control. He could handle a little pinch of torture.

"Alright, Otouto. It's thoroughly cooked now," Itachi answered a millennia later as he turned off the heat, his arm momentarily leaving his Otouto's lovable waist.

"Could you bring out the stir-fry out, Otouto, and place it onto our table? I need to reheat last night's leftovers." Sasuke nodded, using both palms to lift the handle up and carefully made his way out of his Aniki's half embrace and into the dining room.

"Be careful, Otouto. It's hot," Itachi added and he heard a "Hai, Aniki!" come from his little brother. He smiled at the sound of his Otouto's cheerful voice. Itachi made a mental note to cook more often as he reached into the refridgerator to pull out a take-out box.

When Itachi entered the dining room to place the food on the table, he noted that Sasuke was nowhere in sight. He hollered out the younger teen's name and waited for the Uchiha to answer him. Estimation around thirty seconds later, Itachi heard Sasuke's muffled voice echoing from the hallway bathroom.

And, in a few quick strides, Itachi's palm was rattling the doorknob when he found out it had been locked. "What are you doing in there, Otouto? Are you okay?" Sasuke, never in his life, had locked the bathroom door while doing anything.

"I'm fine Aniki," he heard Sasuke reply, voice pitched in a quivery tone. Then, the rummaging of items grabbed the elder sibling's attention.

He hammered a fist on the door. "Otouto! I want you to open this door this instant!" he commanded angrily. Was Sasuke... hurt? Another few shuffles of material.

"I'm coming, Nii-san!" the younger hollered, but that 'coming' didn't appear until a minute later when he swung open the wooden door.

Sasuke was greeted with a glare from his Aniki; he quickly looked down at his feet when he felt his cheeks tint back to their usual pink. He also didn't like that look. It scared him. When he glanced back at Itachi, their gazes locked and the younger brother noticed that Itachi's expression softened into a worried glance.

"What were you doing in there, Sasuke?" He flinched. Itachi used his name instead of his usual term 'Otouto.' Itachi's eyes narrowed as his gaze flickered down his Otouto's body, assuring himself that his baby brother was not inflicted in any way.

He knew how much Sasuke hated when he became like this, but if his Otouto didn't tell him what was wrong, then he'd have to find out himself. Itachi felt the fire burn within himself when he saw his Otouto's index finger, that soft, little finger, wrapped in a thin gauze. Itachi's arm slipped out from his side to wrap around his Otouto's wrist. He boy released a startled gasp before he was dragged into the cozy living room and pushed into a sitting position on the soft sofa.

Itachi kneeled down in front of the flustered teen and cautiously lifted his baby brother's wrist to examine the finger. Did his Otouto accidentally cut himself? Burn himself? Scrape himself? He frowned, unwrapping the transparent cloth to examine the wound. And, when the bandage flew onto the ground, Itachi's frown deepened as his eyes were cast upon the huge welt.

Above him, Sasuke gasped softy, biting his lip in hope that his pain could be reduced and kept inaudiable. He didn't want his Aniki to question how he burned himself. His Nii-san had given him clear instructions to watch out for the heated pan and to be careful. But, he had accidentally tripped over the carpet and pressed his finger against the rim of the burning metal material.

"I'm sorry, Aniki," Sasuke whimpered, reaching forward to hug Itachi in means of his apology. He gripped tightly onto his Nii-san's strong bicept and laid his cheek on his upper arm. "I d-didn't t-think I could b-burn myself. I-I wasn't... careful... e-enough." Reduced to tears when Itachi didn't hug him back, the younger teen tried scooting closer, but the abrupt standing of Itachi prevented him from doing so.

"Why didn't you tell me then, Otouto?!" Itachi bellowed; after his arm was yanked away from Sasuke, he pushed his Otouto away with a small shove towards his shoulder.

Sasuke shook his head, bringing his legs up to his chest. "I... don't k-know." His bottom lip quivered. He did know. He knew all too well why.

His Nii-san was angry. He buried his face in to his knees and cried quietly to himself. His Aniki wouldn't... disown him... would he? Sasuke gulped. However, Itachi's next set of words hurt him.

"Well," he heard Itachi growl, "when you think you know, we will talk. I don't have an Otouto who hides everything from his own Aniki."

It hurts so much.

Itachi wasn't acknowlegding him as his Otouto. He said... he meant that he didn't have one. Not him. Not anyone.

He looked up to find his Aniki storming to the door, but Sasuke knew he couldn't speak because his voice didn't work.

The door slammed behind Itachi. Did his Nii-san still want his Otouto?

Sasuke was alone... by himself. Crying.

The food was left cold in the dining room.

-

1:18 a.m.

The loud pounding at the main door startled Sasuke before he quickly jumped up from the sofa and ran to answer as he heard Deidara hollering his name. His Nii-san was... home? He quickly wiped away his tears before opening the door.

He was greeted with a saddening sight. Sasori and Deidara had their arm around his Aniki's waist and neck, and his Nii-san was nowhere near conscious.

"Aniki," he murmured, lifting a hand to swipe away the fallen bangs on Itachi's face before Sasori and Deidara lifted Itachi upstairs and into his room. Afterwards, they came downstairs and wre greeted with a depressed little brother huddled in the corner of the black sofa.

Sasori ordered the blonde to leave. Deidara, for once, listened, seeing as how the bad aura lingered around the brothers in the very house. The front door was slammed, once again, and Sasori watched as the younger teen visibly flinched. He slowly walked over to Sasuke and slid gracefully next to the, abonormally, quiet boy.

"What happened, kiddo?" he questioned softly, laying a palm on the boy's head. He was quite astonished to find himself with a lap full of the sobbing teen after his inquiry. It just happened. Sasuke just seemed to pour out his heart to him as Sasori was busy soothing the boy.

Sasori was suffocating in the tightest hug he'd ever gotten from Sasuke, and even as his oxygen was cut off, he continued to rub soothing circles upon the kid's lower back, hoping Sasuke would calm down enough to explain to him what happened. It was, no doubt, related to Itachi.

The boy could not find any comfort from his own Aniki, as he decided to seek another's comfort, and that person had been Sasori himself; Sasuke's next best person.

"Calm down, kiddo," he murmured, balancing the teen by wrapping an arm around the boy's waist while his other moved forward to wipe away the tears that continued falling.

"S-Sasori!" Sasuke choked. "I'm s-s-scared... Nii-san says h-he doesn-n't want m-me anymore..." he sobbed into the red-head's neck, wetting the column. He lifted his head again to stare at Sasori. "He s-said he didn't w-want me!!"

"I'm scared... I'm scared... Nii-san s-said he didn't h-have a-an Otouto w-who didn't tell h-him the t-truth.. I'm scared... N-Nii-san doesn't want me anymore... I'm scared... scared.."

Sasori could feel Sasuke tremble violently in his arms and he could feel the tightening the boy's arms had done to his neck. "Don't worry, Sasuke. I'm sure your Nii-san was just angry. He'll be back to normal when he wakes up. He didn't mean anything he said."

If that was meant to calm the boy down, it worked. The sobs slowly reduced to small quivers as Sasuke looked up at him with huge, hopeful eyes. "Really?!" It was so difficult to say no, even if it were true. Sasori nodded and brought the boy down onto his chest.

"Why don't you go to sleep, kiddo. I'll be here until after your Nii-san is better, okay?" He felt the boy nod into his chest, and slowly, but gradually his breaths came out in slow steady puffs.

Sasori had not been lying when he asked Sasuke what had happened. He only knew half the story, yet, he knew that Itachi's innnocent little brother was still as innocent as ever. He did not do anything wrong, but he thought he had. He had a flashback as to what happened and what Itachi said when they were at the club.

"My baby brother fuckin' burns his finger and runs away to the bathroom just so he could avoid me and take care of that welt! And, you know what else?! He tries to come out and act like nothing's happened!

"I fuckin' told my Otouto to open the god damn door, but he didn't open it until it was all wrapped up. I didn't even know he'd hurt his finger!" Around this time, Itachi threw his hands up in the air; his speech slurred as he tumbled in his seat.

"I was so worried! Scared even... but he just evaded my question, until I found out all by myself! Seriously, am I his Aniki or not?! He was hiding that from me! Why?! I fucking asked him and do you know what my Otouto said? Huh... He said that he didn't know! He was lying again!"

Itachi drowned down another shot. "You know, I could've made it all better Otouto! Yes, all better. But you didn't want me to, did you?! You're all grown up now and you can take care of yourself, right?!" Itachi spat it out as if it stung him.

"My baby brother's all grown up and he's pushing his Aniki away, huh?! Little brother's grown up and doesn't need his big brother anymore, right?!"

That was when Sasori knew. Itachi wasn't just angry. He was scared. Scared of losing Sasuke, his baby brother. He was afraid of his little Otouto growing up, his baby brother not needing him anymore. He was afraid that his angel would push him away.

A/N: Oh, Kami; how long has it been? Over five weeks... yeeah..

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