Hehe, I know I said I'd upload later that night, but I got grounded from the computer, SO... yeah. And, Eeveerocks1997, thanks for feeling me on the whole HP thing :) I'm glad that I'm not the only one.

Once again, Itachi found himself jerking awake late at night. He was sitting up, panting and having hot flashes. He took off his shirt and threw it across the room before hanging his legs off the edge of his bed and staring down at the dark ground.

Suddenly, there was a familiar chakra presence right outside his bedroom. "Hinata?" he silently called.

"I'm sorry," her timid voice came. "Did I wake you?"

Itachi walked across his room and opened the door, only to see Hinata standing there in a tank top and flannel PJ's. "No, I was already awake," he said.

"O-okay, good. I d-didn't want to wake you up."

"Hinata, just so you know, I usually am awake."

Hinata smiled sadly as Itachi clicked on his lamp. "Is something the matter?" he asked, studying her troubled expression.

When Itachi had turned on the light, Hinata noticed that he was shirtless. She blushed and forced herself not to stare.

She looked down. "Just... homesick," she admitted. Hinata felt herself turning redder than a tomato and kept forcing herself not to look at him.

She felt her hands wrapped up in his. "You don't have to stay, you know," he said quietly. "You haven't done anything wrong." When she didn't say anything, Itachi just sighed. "Look, you have a choice to go back," he explained. "Everyone will probably ask you where you were, or keep bugging you about where the Akatsuki is, but you still have a choice."

Hinata shook her head. "W-well," she said nervously. "It would never be the s-same because I'd n-never see you again..." Hinata said.

Itachi couldn't fight the smile that made its way to his lips. Unfortunately, Hinata didn't see this, as she was too busy looking down. "I just don't want you to live a depressed life, knowing that you can't go back home..." Itachi said.

Hinata finally looked up at him, but he was looking away. He looked back down at her. "Hinata, I just... I just want what's best for you. You know that, right?"

Hinata slowly nodded, the blush on her cheeks standing out.

Itachi felt as though there were butterflies in his stomach as he watched Hinata getting redder and redder. Her blushing was contagious. Both of them looked away awkwardly

As Hinata looked around the room, she noticed something on Itachi's dresser. It was a framed photo of him and Sasuke sitting in a tree. Both looked much younger. Sasuke had a large mischevious smile on his face and was holding a kunai while winking at the camera. Itachi was hugging Sasuke, as if he was making sure that he wouldn't fall. But the craziest thing about that picture was that Itachi actually looked happy. His eyes formed crescents, and he had a warm smile on his flawless face. Hinata's heart sank as she looked at the photo.

Itachi glanced at Hinata noticed the direction her eyes had traveled. "That was before Sasuke started at the academy. He was always bothering me to train him and show him how to do all these difficult techniques. He was such a reckless idiot." He shook his head and walked over to the photo and looked at it as though he were looking into his past.

"That day, I don't even know how he did it, but he was stuck in a really high tree. He was gone for over an hour, so finally I went to go and look for him. When I found him, he was so ridiculously high up, and it took me forever to get up to where he was."

xXx

"Nissan! Nissan!" Sasuke yelled excitedly. "Look how high I am!"

Itachi looked up at Sasuke, worry etched into his features. "How did you get up there!" Itachi yelled.

Sasuke ignored his question and straddled the branch he was on, swinging his legs. "Can you get up here, Niisan!" Sasuke asked.

Itachi shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "And can you get down?"

Sasuke stared down at his brother for the longest time before he began to clutch onto the branch, trying to inch across. Soon, Sasuke was hugging the branch and hanging from it like a sloth, screaming and holding on for dear life.

"HELP ME! HELP ME NIISAN!" he cried.

"I don't know if I can get up there," Itachi replied.

"You can do everything! Help me!" Sasuke desperately yelled.

Itachi fought a smile at the ridiculous sight of Sasuke upside down and hanging by his hands and legs. "I don't know, you're PRETTY high up. You might have to live there from now on.

Sasuke looked down at his brother, eyes widened with shock. "WHAT!" he yelled. "No! Don't leave me here!"

"Don't worry," Itachi said. "Maybe a bird will make her nest up there and adopt you. Then she can teach you how to fly."

Sasuke looked hopeful. "Then I can come back and live with you!" he asked happily.

"Oh wait... I forgot. You don't have wings. So you'll never be able to fly," Itachi teased. "Looks like this is your new home." And with that, Itachi turned to walk away.

"NO! NIISAN! COME BACK! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Sasuke's cries rang throughout the forest. He hung on as tight as he could and squinted his eyes tightly shut. "NIISAN!"

"I'm right here. You don't have to yell."

Sasuke popped open a dark eye and saw Itachi's feet. He was standing upside down on the branch.

"Whoa..." Sasuke breathed.

Itachi picked up his brother and sat him down on the branch. He sat next to the young boy, hugging him for support. "Sasuke," he said, thinking about his future mission that would take place in only a month. "You shouldn't do reckless things like this. I won't always be around to save you."

Sasuke looked crossly up at his older brother, then pulled a kunai out of his pocket. "You don't have to save me," he mumbled.

Itachi smiled down at Sasuke. "When you're a ninja, then I won't," he agreed.

"Niisan," Sasuke said, suddenly brightening up and turning his large eyes up to Itachi. "I'm gonna be as great a ninja as you someday!"

Itachi beamed down at his younger sibling. "Maybe even better," he said.

At this, Sasuke smiled even bigger. "You really mean it!"

"I mean everything I say."

"Niisan, you're the best!"

xXx

Hinata smiled sadly. She knew that he had never asked for any of this, and he didn't deserve to be hated and detested by everyone in Konoha.

"The only problem with having this," Itachi said, picking up the photograph, "is that when anyone just randomly decides to walk right in, I have to hurry and stuff it in my dresser drawer or something. It's ridiculous."

Hinata giggled. "Y-yeah, privacy doesn't seem to exist around here."

"I know that all too well, especially with Kisame. But, he knows, so it doesn't matter as much." He set the framed picture back on top of the dresser and then sat down on the edge of his bed. "Have a seat, Hinata," he said.

Hinata made her way over to where Itachi was and sat beside him. "Hey, Itachi?"

"Yes?"

She fidgeted with her fingers before looking up into his eyes. "Even if I could go back to the way it was before I met you," she started, "I wouldn't. Because I love you more than anything..." Once again, she was madly blushing.

"Hinata?"

"Y-yes?"

Itachi pressed his forehead against hers. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Hinata felt his hands on her waist. As she looked up at him, she saw the craziest thing.

He was smiling at her.

xXx

Itachi was in a dark, depressing room with none other than Madara Uchiha, Konan, and Pein.

"So you're saying that Sasuke has his Mangekyou Sharingan?" Madara asked in surprise.

Itachi nodded. "Yeah, I couldn't believe it either."

Konan gasped. "How? Does that mean he really killed his best friend?"

"No, you fool!" Madara said, and a vein popped in Konan's head. "The Jinchuuriki is still alive! So how else could he have gotten it?"

Pein thoughtfully stroked his chin. "Is it because he killed Orochimaru?"

There was a silence. Itachi wanted to throw up.

"I refuse to believe that," he said. "The Mangekyou Sharingan is only acquired through the death of the one closest to the Sharingan holder."

"Yeah," Konan scoffed. "How could anyone besides that Kabuto freak care about Orochimaru!"

"Augh! That's just freaky!" Madara said.

Itachi wanted to facepalm. Man, if that's really how Sasuke got his Mangekyou, I swear I really WILL kill him for this...

Pathetic...

Okay, so this last thing is pretty much saying that I'm about to wrap things up with this story...

OH MY WIZARD GOD! I'm gonna be sad! I've been working on this story for a whole year! :'( So review review review while you can! Thanks!