Chapter 28 – A Sharing of Interest

A blond child sat on the sofa with nearly crossed arms. He was trying to hold his arms together, but they were a bit too short and his baby fat was blocking him. He was angry and was attempting to show it, but really, he just ended up looking silly. For the fourth time now, Itachi tried to bring the mad child up into his arms. The kid kicked violently and punched Itachi's face as soon as he could reach it. Afraid to hurt his best friend's little brother, Itachi put him down on the sofa yet again. He did not need Yuna to unleash her fury on him, and he knew Shisui hated people for being late. Though it was very rare, Itachi was getting impatient. He knew he must think fast. Watching beseechingly as the infant turned away from him and sputtered around in a rather displeased manner, he thought worriedly to himself:

He sure picked up her attitude….

Itachi doubted that it was a positive aspect for young Naruto to acquire his sister's temper. Despite all that she did to look out for those she cared about, Yuna could be extremely forceful at times. She would use any method that worked. Her sibling was the first person to experience it. But he would never say that to her face, for he did not dare.

Naruto was very irritated. He was promised ramen and he got none, after eating all those veggies, as well! It only happened because the person in front of him had eaten it, although unwillingly (not that he cared). He wanted his ramen.

Itachi had cleared his breath before he was able to apologise sincerely. "Naruto, I'm sorry."

He still felt really bad for what he did. But eating that cup ramen was not an option… Yuna would have severely injured him right there and then, byaccident, and he might not be able to defend himself, since he would have no idea when she would make her move.

His weary eyes were scanning around the house, before he whispered tentatively to the baby boy, so quiet that it was almost inaudible, "You know what your sister's like."

Itachi hoped that Naruto would come to understand his difficulties, just as the infant found difficulty in evading having to eat the vegetables in his okayu (congee). They both failed. Yuna would never allow any of it. He was sure Naruto knew that about his sister already, but he must stop his pet now. Itachi was very cautious about what he had just said - just in case her sharp ears managed to pick it up - despite her being some distance away from them in the crowded street, amongst the flock of shopping maniac.

Not likely, but just in case. Yuna was always full of surprises. She might have made a clone, hiding somewhere in the house, spying on them, suppressing her chakra signature as to not be detected. Then she would jump out of nowhere and catch him in the act. It did not surprise Itachi anymore these days. He had learned to expect the unexpected.

He wished the infant boy would stop fighting him and then they could head off, just as planned. Itachi liked it very much when everything went as he had planned, and he got anxious when things did not turn out that way. Itachi was right 94.9% of the time, anyway; though granted, he was also very good at dealing with the unexpected when it struck.

Mikoto had gone to visit her maternal grandparents in the capital city, leaving Sasuke at home under Itachi's care, since Fugaku would be busy with his work, and Itachi was not on a mission currently to prepare for his upcoming chūnin exam. Shisui was looking after Sasuke just as Itachi headed to the Namikaze residence to collect Naruto.

Shisui had said that he would need to meet up his fellow jōnin instructors to talk about the examination procedure. This was the first time he had entered anyone for the exam, and it would make him the youngest jōnin ever to enter his students to take the Chūnin Exam. He had no doubt that they were going to pass. In terms of abilities, Itachi and Yuna were border-line Jōnin standard, and that was already two years ago, when Kushina was alive to teach them all.

Shisui was always on time with at least a good ten minutes to spare, unless he had a good excuse for it, unlike Kakashi, who would just give people crap about "losing his track of life" whenever he arrived late. It was quite surprising at how the two could be such good friends, with one of them always late and the other always early. Although they, too, had many other things in common… like their ways with the ladies, for example. Apart from that, making fun of Itachi and Yuna in any way possible was their second major common ground, the third being the excessive consumption of alcohol when they had their days off. They had so much fun and they would never stop. Itachi shuddered lightly at the thought ofit.

"Right. How about this?" Sighing, Itachi stared at angry baby Naruto and made him an offer. He did not think this was a good idea at all, but they must leave now for Shisui to be on time. He knew his cousin would get him back with more teasing and play even meaner jokes on him if he made him late. Valentine's Day was bad enough, just because Itachi pressed a sore spot on Shisui, briefly mentioning how he was dumped by one of his girlfriends a week before the day. Shisui got him back by shamelessly reading out almost two-thirds of the love letters he had received from his… fangirls, as Yuna called them, in front of his mother, too. He did not need a take two.

With a smile, Itachi kneeled down to the baby's eye level. "I'll buy you ramen, but you will not let Yuna know about it." Then, for the next moment, he could only imagine the consequence if he got found out…. An image of Yuna sprung on his mind. She looked completely blank, emotionless, but he could sense the disturbance piling in the air…. Her hunt began… Kōri-hime (Ice Princess)… Dismissing his unhelpful thought, Itachi shivered in fear.

"Ever."

Naruto stopped his riot and screamed in excitement.

"Wamennnnnnnnn!" Naruto couldn't say "ramen", but "wamen" was good enough for now. They all knew what he wanted and was trying to say.

"Right." Relieved, he let out another sigh. Something told Itachi that he was going to regret this later. "We have a deal here. Let's go." He picked the baby in his arms, as Naruto was no longer grumpy, and headed to the Uchiha compound. They dropped by Ichiraku on the way, which was Minato-jisan's favourite food shop. The shiny blond hair, the bright blue eyes, and the ramen addiction…. Naruto was definitely the Fourth Hokage's son.

Not many people actually knew Naruto was their village's jinchūriki in his infant years. For the shinobi who did knew about Naruto, they saw him as a monster and not a hero. The baby was "fortunate" enough to be raised by the Fourth's daughter, while they somehow managed to not work out the fact that their late Hokage's adoptive daughter was looking after his legacy, his son. Although Yuna and Kakashi were doing their very best to live in avoidance of the public's eye, their closest friends who knew kept the S-rank secret with much professionalism. The Third had also prohibited anyone from talking what happened with Kyūbi on that night, especially for those who knew what had happened, to their understanding. That did, in fact, stop people having discussions. It was for the better that people didn't know.

The choice Itachi had at that moment was to satisfy Naruto's want: ramen. He didn't think casting a genjutsu on Naruto to put him to sleep was an option at all. On the other hand, Shisui would have done that already, regardless of Yuna's rage later when she learned about it. Itachi made a mental note to himself. Shisui was careful about her temper, too. But then, like Kakashi, he always managed to find a way out of her wrath.

As Itachi locked the front door, Naruto continued to clap his hands and chant about ramen giggly. The kid was not angry at his sister's best friend anymore. He was going to get his ramen. He was going to get the real stuff as well, not just a cup ramen.

With his sudden change in mood, it was safe to say that Naruto was definitely Kushina-sensei's son, too. She was a scarily spontaneous woman. Itachi shook his head in defeat before running to the ramen shop, carrying Naruto in a sling, while he merrily applauded their way to the shop.

Flashback –

The Uchiha heir arrived to see everyone eating breakfast. Naruto sat on a high chair with a platform table guarding around him, wearing a bib on his neck. He was using a gerber spoon to feed himself. His head practically dove into his plastic bowl. When he glanced up at Itachi for a moment, thin slices of orangey red and bits of green were seen splashed on his face. Naruto must have been really hungry. Resisting the urge to laugh, Itachi went to finish painting the last wall unfurnished in Naruto's room, as he was told.

He came down the stairs when he had completed what Kakashi had started, and saw Yugao holding the bowl and spoon to a baby who was turning his head away. Yugao ate a spoonful of the stuff and gave an exaggerated approving smile.

It didn't work. Naruto pouted displeasingly; Yuna was not there anymore. She must have eaten already and then went to change clothes. He walked over to see what was happening. All that was left in the bowl was okayu, strewn with finely chopped broccoli, along with the strips of carrot. It was common knowledge to Yuna's friends that her baby brother refused to eat vegetables. She complained about it quite often.

After that, Yugao tried something else. She knew the younger girl would stress if she saw her brother in a fit for not eating vegetables, a meal that she had carefully prepared for him. She went into the kitchen and put a few more cubes of chicken into the bowl and returned to the baby with hopeful anticipation. She picked up the spoon from the table, which Naruto probably had discarded there, as he was growing impatient that there was no food left for him to eat (or rather, no food left that he liked). Yugao picked up a bit of everything from the okayu and leaned forward with an encouraging smile.

"Come on, Naruto-chan. I know you're still hungry."

Skilfully, the baby took only the chicken into his mouth, leaving the contaminated congee untouched. He gave a foxy grin. Yugao sulked in defeat.

Naruto ate a lot for a baby. He was growing very fast for an infant. His weight doubled early, showing signs of hunger even after 8oz of milk, and so he started to eat solid food after just seven months.

When Yuna came out of her room, she saw Itachi holding a green dinosaur to distract Naruto's attention from the vegetables, and Yugao holding out another spoonful forward, hoping that he would just eat it already.

Not again…. Yuna knew what was happening right away. She had no time for his picky taste buds. At that, she came up with a cunning plan in her brother's favour. I'll play smart with you, Naruto-chan. They would have to take drastic measures. She knew Shisui would play really mean jokes on Itachi and her, if they were to make him late. Shisui was just that kind of man. He was Mr. Nice Guy until one cut him with a kunai; he would cut that foolish person back with a kunai and sprinkle salt on the wound. Oh, burn. The agony of that pain. She couldn't imagine what was coming at them…. And she had wanted to go shopping!

Yuna walked to Itachi. She took the plush toy from his hand. "Go to the cupboard and make me a cup-ramen." He looked back at her with doubting eyes. She intensified her gaze slightly, so he went to the kitchen. Soon, Itachi came back with a hot pot and a pair of chopsticks. Yuna sharply took the cup ramen from his hand.

With dim eyes and a sinister smile, Yuna tempted her baby brother by waving the ramen in front of the infant. She asked, in a deceivingly sweet voice, "Do you smell it, Naruto-chan?"

His hands were chasing the moving cup, which was diffusing the mouth-watering fragrance of ramen all over the house. She didn't let him grab it, but moved it around him at a distance misleading to his reach.

"Wamen, wamen!"

First step accomplished. Within a second, Yuna turned that face of lurk to sheer blankness. She stood firm and held the cup towards herself, away from Naruto. In an icy voice, she declared her intention clear and spoke emotionlessly.

"You're going to eat up all these veggies before you get to eat it." There was no room for negotiation there. Yugao handed over his meal to Yuna's hands. Yuna help up a spoonful, but Naruto just turned away with an angry "hmph".

She handed the ramen back to her friend. Itachi took it and looked at her questionably.

"Eat it."

Yuna focused her hazy gaze on her brother, but Naruto just puffed out his cheeks and stuck his tongue out playfully.

"Are you telling me to eat this ramen?"

Itachi was checking to see if she was really talking to him. She might have been telling Naruto to eat his okayu.

"Yes."

He was pretty sure of what Yuna was thinking… and it was harsh. He felt really bad for the baby.

"But I'm full," he tried to argue back. He'd already eaten a full breakfast, and though he didn't mind ramen, he wasn't a big enough fan that he could eat it even when he was full.

"Are you eating it?"

That was all he got. A rhetorical question. It would seem that she was serious about it. Itachi reluctantly turned away and started eating. Yuna dragged his arm back when he was walking away. He stopped, afraid to spill the soup in the ramen.

"Stay here," she ordered, "Naruto needs to watch you while you're eating it."

Hearing that his ramen was about to be consumed by another person, Naruto wanted to cry. He dropped from his tantrum instantaneously and tears welled up in his eyes. He broke into a wail.

"Hush, Namikaze Naruto. If you cry, I can guarantee you no ramen for a very long time." Yuna's voice was stern. "Now, now. Eat up." She stared at the fussing baby coldly. Naruto was taken aback; he began eating. With each frustrating bite, he sped up chewing. Soon, he finished his bowl of okayu, including all the vegetables. By that time, Itachi had finished that cup ramen, too, unfortunately for Naruto.

"You should make him another cup ramen," Yugao suggested.

Yuna shook her head and smiled faintly. Now, at least Naruto would have eaten something healthy before eating junk food, if he still had room for any. Knowing that her brother's addiction was inherited from their father, she would not be surprised to find Naruto eating any form of ramen at any given time.

"That was the last one in the cupboard," Itachi sighed. It was for that reason he hesitated to eat the ramen.

"Oh, well." The smile that was on her face just spread wider with each word she spoke. "Better luck next time, Naruto-chan."

Itachi had the slightest intuition that Yuna must have known it was the last cup ramen in the cupboard. That was deliberate - he was sure now. Yuna was a prodigious actress.

End of Flashback –

After her essential spring shopping with her BGFF, Yuna headed to her other best friend's house. In the garden, she sat by the pond with Toshiro, Itachi's cousin, next to her. It was theweekend and so he had no academy that day. Itachi ended up looking after Toshiro, too. In their first encounter, they met when he was a toddler, and Yuna had not set a good first impression on him. She nearly killed him by accident…. She regretted her actions, certainly, but what was done was done.

From then on, it took the young boy a long time to get used to being around her. He gradually discovered Yuna was actually a "very nice" person, in the child's own words. Their shared interest in drawing helped to resolve the misunderstanding in their first meeting. Sometime later, Yuna even found out that the T-shirt with Fugaku's cartoon face sold in the compound's clothe shop was drawn by him. This six year old had immense drawing talents, although most of the Uchiha did not consider it to be a notable skill to have, as a member of Konoha's most prestigious battle-orientated clan. Itachi admired people who had an artistic hobby, because he didn't have one. He liked reading a lot and that was about it. He encouraged his younger cousin to not give up his hobby just because he was told to concentrate on his shinobi training. Toshiro showed capacities of becoming a powerful shinobi at a young age, too.

Yuna was showing him how to use shades to bring out the light in a piece of drawing. She was particularly good at that, as she was an expert at sketching. They were drawing the baby ducks that were lined up, following the mother duck, and swimming in the pond.

"That's so cool." Toshiro's eyes were enlarged as he riveted at how the same outline of an object could look so different, just by adding darker colours at various angles to shape its form. "Can I try?"

"Sure." Yuna quickly drew another duck's outline and passed her sketchbook and pencil to him. "You can use my pencils, too," she added.

"Really?" Toshiro's eyes got even bigger as he sifted through Yuna's precious collection of graphite pencils. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're the best, Yuna-neesan." He gave her a big smile.

That was completely different from what they were like two years ago. Back then, Toshiro would have run for his life every single time when he saw Yuna. She smiled, knowing that many things had changed for the better. There was the tragedy of her parents, but even that brought a bit of light in. If Minato and Kushina did not sacrifice their lives to Konohagakure, none of this would have happened. The people of the Land of Fire would have probably all died out, whether it was because of an inevitable civil war, or Kyūbi's further destruction. She was happy to know that things were looking bright again.

"Where's Itachi-niisan?" Toshiro asked when he finished his shading.

"With Sasuke and Naruto."

It sounded as if it was only natural that he was looking after their little brothers. Those two babies fought with each other so much that it was giving her headaches, Yuna thought. It was Itachi's turn, anyway. Mikoto was visiting her grandparents. She had been gone for a whole month already. Fugaku was busy. Itachi ended up looking after Sasuke, like always; Yuna had to look after Naruto, too. Sasuke got bored easily and Naruto liked being around friends. They fought, but at least they could keep each other's company. That was what they thought. Since Kakashi was out on a mission, Itachi and Yuna had decided to look after them all together, taking turn to alternate between looking after Toshiro and the two babies, and so neither one of them would get too stressed after long periods of time.

"Oh! -" Toshiro remembered something "- but he said he was going to train me today." His father had told him that he would receive tutoring from the prodigy, the heir of the Uchiha clan.

Fugaku saw great potential in his sister's son. In remembrance of his younger sister, Fugaku would do his part for being the child's uncle to honour his status as the head of the clan. He gave Toshiro the best education and training he could receive, although he did not like the child's father. On the other hand, he saw Toshiro's interest in drawing, which he had inherited from his mother was nothing but a useless talent. After all these years, Fugaku was still disapproving of his sister's choice in mate. He was a commoner, too futile to become a shinobi, a working-class man with nothing special in his view. He never understood what went on in his sister's mind. She was a highly praised kunoichi of her generation and a war heroine. Not only had his sister diluted the Uchiha bloodline by marrying a weakling half-bred Uchiha, a man who was dying slowly of a genetic illness – blood cancer – she had also passed away during the difficult labour.

Yuna stopped her tracing. She knew that Itachi and Toshiro both would get scolded if Fugaku learned that they let Toshiro skip his training. "I can train you, if you want me to."

Toshiro thought for a bit.

"Nah!" he answered. He was not very keen on fighting. He was good at combating, but he saw no point of being strong, unlike all the other Uchiha. "I prefer drawing."

"Good." Yuna smiled from the bottom of her heart. Well then, she would just have to find a way to not let Fugaku-jisan learn about this. "Me, too." Namikaze Yuna always had her ways.

Itachi decided it was time to head into the garden to see what Yuna and Toshiro were up to. He hoisted Naruto into his right arm and held Sasuke's hand to help him walk, though still wobbly. It was getting late and the sun was setting.

Seeing how all she was doing at the moment was just giving Toshiro some drawing suggestions, Itachi couldn't help but smirk a little. "You have it easy, Yuna." Aside, Toshiro proudly admired his drawing after it had been brushed up by his drawing 'teacher'. He was very pleased with his progress in drawing; on the other hand, he did nothing about his training in shuriken-throwing that day.

Itachi stared monotonously at Yuna and let a complaint slip. "Looking after Toshiro's probably much easier than looking after these two."

To the ears of any other, it might have sounded like he was making a causal comment. To Yuna, she knew that was definitely not the case. Itachi rarely made any form of complaint. Over the years, he had grown to express his emotions from time to time, some more than others. It was certain that his was forged by that emotional cracker, Uchiha Shisui. In fact, when Itachi's eyes were 'too plain', it was the equivalent of someone squinting his or hers.

"Because I'm cool!" Toshiro's cheery voice jumped in, earning him a gentle smile from the older boy.

"Yes, you are."

Yuna stopped moving the pencil in her hand. She turned to face Itachi, who was behind her. "I don't mind," she told him slowly, "We can swap."

It might have sounded genuine, but Itachi knew better. The plainness of her speech highlighted how unwilling she really was, the translation being, "No. I'm drawing. Don't disturb me", through the distant tone lying in her crystal clear voice.

Itachi tensed up immediately, formed a rigid smile on his face. "It's fine. I've got it."

"You sure?"

He couldn't read her at that very moment. He didn't like it when he didn't know what was coming at him. Itachi was getting really scared.

"Of course." His face paled and forced his cheek muscles to stay where they were, maintaining that smile.

Yuna looked over at the two babies. Naruto was now on the stone bench that she was sitting on. Sasuke was on the ground, trying to take the plush toy from his pal's hands. He got it. He was older than Naruto by a few months and so he was physically stronger. Naruto tried to fight back. It was in vain. Yuna held her brother up before he tossed himself in a losing fight. She giggled.

"Just buy another dinosaur. Sasuke won't have to tear Naruto's face to get it off him, then." Yuna proposed.

"I don't think it is a toy problem." Itachi saw the origin of the fight was something else. Whatever Sasuke had, Naruto wanted it; Naruto got the equal amount of attention from Sasuke's older brother, and he was still not happy about it. Itachi at least had deducted this much.

"What is it, then?"

Taking a pause, Itachi finally settled to tell her. If he told her what he thought it was, he knew what was coming next.

"Rivalry."

"Huh - you see," Yuna smirked, "I'm always right." Before Naruto was even born, she had predicted that competition would occur between the two, and how right she was.

As time went by, he was starting to get the vibe of competitiveness from Yuna. For his pride's sake, he couldn't let her win all the time. Not that he truly cared about that, but it was fun. These days, they knew each other so well that Itachi could tease Yuna in any way he could think of to get her back for manipulating him. He knew he could never turn down any of her countless requests; Yugao called them "orders" from her Royal Highness. If her friends didn't go overboard with the jokes, Yuna wouldn't mind most of the time. But really, why did he tell her that, if he knew what was coming at him? He was disappointed in himself.

Because she's going to tear your head off if you don't give her an answer.

Admitting his defeat, Itachi chuckled lightly and nodded his head.

"Hai, hai, hai, hime-sama."

It was unnecessary flattery; he waved his hand up and down like she normally did, to assure her that "everything will be just fine" to quote her father, Yondaime Hokage-sama. The fact that Yuna was the Hokage's daughter and her demanding attitude practically made her a literal princess figure, and she was brought up like one as well… and she was a pretty girl, like any description he had read of a fairy tale's princess, but he would not tell her that. That would be a sure win for her.