There are Littles and Bigs in this world, Itachi tells Sasuke when he turns six. They are the Littles, Chibi beings shorter than a human hand. Bigs are the humans, Oki people prevalent across the globe.

Sasuke, having heard this already from their parents, scowls and folds his arms from atop his bed. He asked for a bedtime story, not a boring lesson!

Itachi chuckles at Sasuke's pouty face and tugs the boy out from under the covers, settling him upon his legs. "Yes, I know you know this, but there's more."

Sasuke perks up, arms dropping and head angling back so Itachi can see his wide-eyed curiosity. "Really? What is it?"

Itachi smiles faintly at his eagerness. "Well, we're connected, us Chibi and Oki."

Sasuke's head tilts. "We are?" His brow knits together. "But I thought the Oki didn't know about us."

"They don't," Itachi quickly assures. "But that doesn't mean we aren't connected. Just think, where do we get most of our food from?"

"Borrowing from the Oki!" Sasuke chirps, happy to show off his smarts. "'Cause they leave out lots and lots of food."

Itachi nods, smile broadening. "And who taught us our shinobi ways?"

"The Oki!" Sasuke boasts confidently. "Because they leave out ninjutsu books for us to read, and they're always fighting, so we watched them and learned how to use chakra."

"Exactly," Itachi smooths back Sasuke's hair, and the younger boy preens under the attention. "The Oki don't know we exist, but we wouldn't be Chibi Uchiha without the Oki Uchiha."

"Oh!" Sasuke's eyes widen as comprehension lights up his face. "So that's what you meant about us being connected?"

"Yes." Itachi shuts his eyes for a beat too long. "But there's more to it, to this connection between Chibi and Oki."

Sasuke frowns, sensing the mood change. "What's wrong, Nii-san?"

"We Chibi," Itachi turns from Sasuke while his arms twine around the child's middle and reel him in closer, "Copy the Oki not just in regards to the way we live, but also with our appearances."

Sasuke's thoughts halt, then tangle in his attempt to understand his brother's words. "You mean..." He hesitates. "Like Chibi having two arms and ten fingers like the Oki do?"

Sasuke can tell he's guessed wrong before Itachi shakes his head. "No, though that is true." The preteen regards Sasuke coolly and the six-year old cows under the weight of Itachi's stare. "For every Chibi," his brother intones, "There is an Oki who looks exactly like them."

Sasuke blinks very slowly while his eyebrows inch up until they disappear beneath his bangs. Somehow, he finds the strength to sputter. "There's an Oki who looks just like me!? Just like you!?" His naturally pitchy voice rises three notches.

Itachi, unbothered by his little brother practically screaming in his ear, nods sagely. "Yes, and those Oki share not only our looks, but our names as well."

Sasuke's head fizzes, and the wire linking his brain to his mouth goes taunt, nearly snapping in two. He trembles from the idea that there is another Sasuke, an Oki-Sasuke running around somewhere in this too big world.

The small part of his Chibi brain that isn't stuck on—There's two Sasukes! Two me's!—wonders what his larger counterpart looks like, if Oki-Sasuke lives near his home. After all, the Chibi Uchiha live within the walls of the Oki Uchiha compound, and since no Chibi is allowed outside the walls their family dwells in until they enter the Academy—something Sasuke won't do for another week—he has never seen the Oki who reside in the same house as him.

Quickly he realizes it's very likely his family does live in the same house as his Oki counterpart. Sasuke has heard a young Oki boy speaking to an older boy outside his bedroom, and now Sasuke is gasping because he might have been hearing the Oki version of his big brother too!

Soft fingers running through Sasuke's hair coax him into awareness, and he looks up right in time for Itachi's fingers to poke his forehead. Sasuke shuts his eyes reflexively, but when his brother starts laughing he opens them to glare.

"Aniki!" Sasuke wails, though he calms when Itachi hugs him.

"Don't worry so much, Sasuke. You'll get used to the idea eventually. We all do," Itachi says kindly.

Sasuke frowns, refocusing on what he's learned. "Have..." He looks away, pink sprinkling over his cheeks and hands wringing together. It's a stupid question. He shouldn't ask, lest he look stupid in front of Nii-san.

"Yes?" Itachi waits patiently.

It takes a minute, but soon Sasuke's head swings up and he blurts. "Have you ever seen my Oki?"

Itachi nods, and Sasuke's eyes double in size. "Really?" He sits up so fast his head nearly bops Itachi's chin. "What's he like, I mean, is he like me? Or does he act scary like most Oki? Does he like the same food as me? Have you seen him eat tomatoes? Do you like—" He hesitates, but forces out the question whose answer he desires most. "Do you like him?" Sasuke looks down, too nervous to watch his brother's expression.

Itachi hums before responding in order of Sasuke's asking. "Yes, no, yes, yes, and—" He pretends to mull over his last answer, soaking up the anticipation brimming in Sasuke, but then his eyes crinkle and he grins. "Yes, I like him very much."

Something cold and thorny uncoils from Sasuke's heart while Itachi gives him a squeeze, saying, "Because he reminds me of you."

"G-good," Sasuke stutters in relief, snuggling up against Itachi's chest and muttering into his brother's neck. "I was worried you'd say he was annoying."

"How could I find him annoying?" Itachi notices Sasuke's eyes drooping as his mental exhaustion finally takes its toll, so grabs the discarded bedsheet and drapes it around his little brother, "When he's just like my favorite otouto."

"I'm your only otouto." Sasuke grouses, his eyes fluttering close as the blanket's warmth seeps into his skin and fatigue sedates his mind. "I wonder..." Sasuke talks more to himself than Itachi now. "If I'd like Oki-Sasuke...or Oki-Nii-san..."

Itachi stiffens at the mentioning of his Oki counterpart, but soon relaxes. "I hope..." He waits for Sasuke's breathing to even out before whispering, "I hope you never find out."

Sasuke doesn't pick up on the undercurrent of warning in the eldest's tone as sleep overtakes him.

—

It's a decade later when Sasuke finally grasps his brother's concern.

He and Shisui are out forging for medicinal herbs in a lush thicket within the Oki Suna greenhouse while Itachi and Izumi keep watch outside the glass building. They are far from home. In fact, this is the farthest Sasuke has ever been, but the Chibi Uchiha clan is running low on poison antidotes, and they can only borrow so much from the Oki Konoha Hospital without making the Oki shinobi suspicious. This wouldn't be an issue if they could still borrow supplies from their Oki counterparts like all the other Chibi clans do.

But the Oki Uchiha died when Sasuke was seven.

Sasuke had been heading home late, having lost track of time throwing shuriken at the leaves hanging off the end of the tree branch he stood on. The Chibi Ninja Academy has target boards and training grounds right outside the building, but the school is underground and Sasuke has been stuck indoors all day, so preferred to practice out in the sunshine.

Yet now the sun is gone, and his brother's crow summon is getting antsy, so Sasuke gathers his shuriken and mounts the crow.

The ride to the Uchiha compound is as smooth as ever, the full moon glinting off the bird's coal black feathers while she weaves through the air. Sasuke is enjoying the brisk breeze after working up a sweat when the crow dives straight into an electrical pole.

A deep swerve saves them from a violent collision, Sasuke just barely holding onto the bird's saddle, and it is now that he finally notices the pale moonlight is the only light source in the entire compound.

That's weird... It isn't even close to bedtime yet.

Regardless of what Sasuke assumes is a power outage, crows don't have night vision, so he has no choice but to dismount and dismiss the summon.

Now on the ground hiding in a patch of grass, Sasuke's feet groan at just the idea of walking all the way to his bedroom within the main Uchiha family's home. However, in a stroke of good fortune, Oki-Sasuke runs past Sasuke's hiding spot, and the Chibi doesn't hesitate to jump onto the giant's shoe, scaling up the other boy's leg quickly and leaping onto the Oki's satchel.

By some miracle, Oki-Sasuke doesn't notice, and the Chibi is relieved as he slides under the bag flap and falls in among the Oki's schoolbooks. He knows this is risky, all Chibi know better than to get so close to an Oki-nin, but Sasuke is seven-years old and tired, and it's not like his counterpart is a fully-trained shinobi. He won't notice a thing.

It takes a little work to avoid being squashed by Oki-Sasuke's schoolbooks, but eventually he finds his balance atop one of the thicker texts. Sasuke crosses his legs and holds onto the lip of the book beneath him, preparing for a somewhat bumpy ride.

Only for Sasuke's ride to skid to a stop, nearly pitching him off the book as his Oki counterpart gasps. "This is—!"

Sasuke doesn't get what made the boy stop until the stench hits him. His little nose wrinkles at the putrid smell wafting through the satchel, reminding him of raw fish. He assumes it's coming from a trash can until the larger boy cries. "W-what is this?!"

Curiosity getting the better of him, Sasuke stands up and peeks out the space where the satchel doesn't touch the flap.

With all the streetlights off, Sasuke can't tell the difference between the dead Oki littering the earth and the usual litter, but he does see the weapons. The kunai, the shuriken, and blood gleaming scarlet along the silver metal.

His horrified gasp goes unheard as Oki-Sasuke breaks into a run and sends Sasuke tumbling back onto the textbook.

"Uncle... Auntie..."

The breathy, horrified whisper the Oki child releases when he stops again chills Sasuke to the bone, and his breath grows uneven while his larger counterpart sprints ahead.

"Father... Mother..."

Tagging along was a mistake, Sasuke realizes when he hears Oki-Sasuke slide open the front door to their home. He needs to get out now, leave the satchel right now.

Yet Sasuke is frozen with dread for himself and his counterpart because something is wrong, horribly wrong.

"Father? Mother?"

No one answers the Oki child, and though Sasuke wants to call out for his own parents, all he can do is whimper as Oki-Sasuke slowly steps forward.

"Move." Sasuke whispers to himself, knowing instinctively that Oki-Sasuke is walking into something terrible and will consequently drag Sasuke with him unless he leaves the satchel quick.

Move! He mentally screams, getting his shaking body to rise.

Move! The mental screech finally gets Sasuke scrambling out of the bag, and he's sliding down its side when Oki-Sasuke rips the satchel off.

Sasuke loses his grip and free falls, but when his arms flail, he happens to latch onto the Oki's shorts pocket. However, the Oki boy is already in motion, running through his house with shoes and satchel now off, so all Sasuke can do is cling for dear life.

By the time the Oki stops, Sasuke is gasping for breath and his arms are trembling so hard he's losing his grip. Looking down while his larger counterpart hesitates in front of a door, Sasuke realizes the ground is too far, a fall from here would kill him, and the Oki boy is shaking too much for Sasuke to safely climb down.

So Sasuke uses the last of his strength to tumble headfirst into Oki-Sasuke's pocket right as the larger boy pushes open the doors.

"Father! Mother!"

The stench of fresh blood assaults Sasuke even through the pocket's thick material, and the Chibi huddles as deeply as he can inside the pouch, shaking so badly he's certain if the Oki wasn't shaking too he would have definitely noticed him.

The ominous clack of Oki shinobi sandals striking wooden floorboards has Sasuke covering his ears, but he can't block out the Oki's low, deep voice. Nor ignore the sound of a shuriken slicing into Oki-Sasuke's skin, or avoid the heart-wrenching screams when Oki-Nii-san tortures his little brother.

Sasuke's eardrums burst, and he's sure he's screaming too, but his little voice merges with his counterpart's until Oki-Sasuke collapses, inadvertently pulling Sasuke to the ground with him.

Sasuke is mercifully knocked out when his head hits the floorboard, and it isn't until he wakes up the following morning on a bed within the Chibi Konoha Hospital that he's told the fall also ejected him out of Oki-Sasuke's pocket. His brother found him three hours later, half-drowned in the blood pooling around their Oki-parents' corpses.

Even today Sasuke is ashamed for screaming the first time Itachi visited his hospital room, having last heard his brother's voice while he cooly tortured his Oki counterpart. It takes weeks for him to look at Itachi without a haunted, hooded gaze, and even longer for his older brother to forgive himself for not personally picking up Sasuke from the Academy that night.

It takes even longer than that for the Chibi Uchiha clan to accept that Oki-Sasuke is the sole survivor of the Oki Uchiha.

And it takes no time at all for Chibi Uchiha life as they know it to fall apart at the seams.

Yet, Sasuke isn't thinking about that night, tries very hard to never think about that night, when he plucks a plump red berry off a shrub and stuffs it into his satchel. Shisui, pouches and backpack overloaded with medicine leaves, waves him out of the thicket.

"I think we're done here."

Sasuke nods, lifting his backpack off the dirt floor and shrugging on his burden of roots and berries his clan so desperately needs.

Shisui elbows Sasuke while they're heading towards the exit, whispering. "Think we should slow down? I wouldn't want to interrupt Itachi and Izumi's private time."

He waggles his eyebrows and Sasuke's face scrunches with disgust, thoroughly grossed out by the mental image of his brother and Izumi doing anything...unseemly.

Shisui laughs without a sound, knowing Oki shinobi's senses are usually sharp enough to pick up Chibi voices. "Don't worry," he clasps Sasuke's shoulder. "Some day when you're older and have a special someone—"

Sasuke's teeth grind and he's growling—I'm fifteen, don't treat me like a child!—when a large shadow covers them. Shisui's grip tightens and Sasuke's eyes widen as the elder Uchiha shunshins them out the greenhouse.

Itachi and Izumi whip around, kunai at ready and brows raising when they see it's just them, but neither can get out a word before Shisui shouts. "Hawk!"

Sasuke doesn't have time to register the warning before that same shadow blocks out the scorching sun and then he and Shisui are diving away from talons smashing into the area they'd been standing in.

Sasuke's ankles sting from the awkward landing, his baggage throwing off his normal grace, but he still easily shifts into a fighting position with a shuriken in hand while the giant bird rears back like it's planning to peck him. Yet, there's no need to defend himself as Itachi spits fire into the bird's face.

The hawk screeches, and shoots up to the sky with singed feathers. They watch it fade into the blue heavens, and only once they can't see it anymore do they all calm.

"Where did it come from?" Izumi lowers the kunai in her hands, straightening from the crouch she fell into.

"And how did it follow us outside?" Sasuke turns to the greenhouse, eyes darting around in search of a break in the glass. "The door was closed and there's no windows."

Yet, the hawk had definitely been inside with them, Sasuke felt its talons brushing over his head until Shisui shunshined them out.

"It doesn't matter." Itachi strides over to them, taking half of their burden with a hint of a frown marring his face. "My jutsu was likely noticed by nearby shinobi, and Chibi or Oki, we don't want Suna-nin on our tail."

It's clear Itachi isn't worried they can't take on the foreign ninja, all four of them ranked near or were the top of their Academy class. However, if a fight were to ensue, it's highly likely their precious provisions would get damaged or be lost, and the Chibi Uchiha clan cannot afford anymore setbacks.

"I'm on it." Shisui quickly summons an ebony hawk while Itachi summons a crow.

Sasuke mounts Shisui's bird, getting situated behind the older male while Izumi and Itachi board the other bird. Both summons take off at the same time, and like that night so long ago, everything goes well until it doesn't.

"Wha—"

Shisui's head whips back less than a minute after they've ascended and Sasuke follows his line of vision to see the same hawk from earlier swooping down at them from high above. The bird's singed and blackened face makes it recognizable, but apparently the fire didn't impair its vision because its sharp talons nearly behead Shisui before the man ducks low.

Sasuke immediately forms the hand signs for a fire jutsu since Shisui is busy steering, all the while being stumped by the bird's determination to attack them. Most animals, even really big ones, can sense a Chibi-nin's strong chakra signature and know better than to mess with them. Also, while some hungry animals might risk attacking a Chibi shinobi, rarely do they return after receiving a fireball to the face.

Sasuke figures out what's so off with the hawk only once it pulls up alongside Shisui's hawk faster than he can blink. A normal hawk can't fly that fast, Sasuke thinks right as the fire is extinguished in his lungs when rough, scaly talons coil around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides.

He thinks Shisui calls his name, maybe Itachi does too, but the rush of air as the hawk zooms up with him in its clutches covers the sound. Then there's a dizzying change in altitude, so fast the sky is a blur of blue and white and it feels like his stomach has plummeted to earth while his body soared up to the stars.

Sasuke can't breath, the wind pressure is crushing him, and though he wants to scream, nothing comes out except a silent wheeze. Mercifully the hawk slows after ten seconds of outmaneuvering Shisui's hawk, and it quickly escapes the others' attempts to follow.

Now that they're alone, the hawk's eyes fall on Sasuke, and unable to free his hands to form a hand sign or risk wiggling and falling to his death, the Chibi-nin suddenly registers the intelligence in the bird's gaze.

This isn't a normal hawk...it's a summon!

Much like that horrible night eight years ago, Sasuke only has a second to realize he's probably going to die before the hawk dives down to the sandy earth below. Its talons tighten around him until Sasuke is certain his ribs are cracking, but then black spots take over his vision and soon darkness is all he sees.

.

Sasuke wakes up to his brother's voice asking if he can get up.

Wondering why Itachi would ask such a strange question, Sasuke tries to show Itachi he's fine by rising, despite his eyes being glued shut and his arms shaking as he sets them under him. However, the heavy weight atop Sasuke's back has him pinned so tightly he can hardly breathe, so even when Itachi's gentle yet firm hands guide him into a stand, Sasuke's legs fold beneath him and he lands on his palms.

"Sorry, Nii-san," he whispers as his hearing dims and he falls under sleep's dark curtains once again.

.

The next time Sasuke awakens, a glass wall is pressed hard against his spine and he's freezing despite the thin, black cloak wrapped around his body.

There's something wrong with his chakra, Sasuke can tell immediately when he throws it out in search of nearby enemies and his chakra barely reacts to his call, never leaving his body and instead swirling inside him like a puppy chasing its own tail. Sasuke tries again, and the results are the same.

"Sasuke?"

Itachi calls him, but he's too focused on his right leg. It's stiff and the only part of him that's warm—burning really—and when he tries to lift it, a spike of pain shoots up to his hip.

"Stop." Itachi touches his shoulder and Sasuke forces his eyes open to take in the blurry image of his brother kneeling beside him. "Your leg is broken, don't try to move it."

Sasuke nods because his throat is dry and his tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth. However, his sight has started to clear up and Sasuke sees they are on a wooden shelf in an Oki store he doesn't recognize. Beside them, a lamp illuminates the nearby area, but its light is dim so most of the store is covered in darkness.

"Where..." Sasuke sits up, eyes roving about the place while the glass jars filled with jams and oddly colored liquids on the other shelves come into focus. Though it's the hamsters, fish, and other little animals in cages across from them that grab Sasuke's attention, particularly when he realizes he and Itachi aren't just on a shelf, they are in a glass cage upon a shelf.

Sasuke's breath hitches and his eyes widen as he realizes they are in a store sitting on a shelf like an item on display. Yet, that's impossible, right? The Oki don't know the Chibi exist, and even if they did, they wouldn't sell them.

"What..." Sasuke can't get out the rest, but Itachi picks up his meaning.

"We've been captured by an Oki."

Something cold and needle-sharp like a senbon left in the snow strikes Sasuke's heart while Itachi continues. "He's a missing-nin from Suna, and seems to own this establishment from what I can tell." Itachi's voice is flat, and that calms Sasuke because it's something familiar in this unfamiliar situation. "He frequently conducts black market exchanges here with other criminals."

Itachi pauses, gauging Sasuke's reaction, and Sasuke swallows to moisten his tongue before he asks, "Then why are we here?" He can't keep the quiver out of his voice because every Chibi has heard the stories, the tall-tales of Chibi who got captured by an Oki and were never seen again. Sure, Sasuke doesn't believe all of the stories, and can't imagine any Oki thinks something as small as them makes for a tasty meal or that all Oki are mad scientists bent on dissecting them. However, Chibi captured by Oki really aren't ever seen again, and now it seems Sasuke is going to be one of those never-seen-again Chibi.

"He plans to sell us."

Sasuke's head whips up to stare incredulously at his brother's impassive face. "What?"

Itachi closes his eyes briefly, then says, "There are rumors that the Oki shinobi who have managed to glimpse, or even capture a Chibi shinobi, believe us to be like summons." Sasuke's mouth falls open while Itachi clarifies. "They view Chibi as beings that can be used to aid an Oki shinobi in their missions."

Sasuke's hand clutches at the cloak around his legs, unsettled.

"Our captor seemed quite delighted by our headbands, and this container already had a chakra-restraint seal on it before he put us in." Sasuke follows Itachi's gaze over to a large black seal painted on the glass lid covering their cage. "I suspect he often sends his hawk summon out in search for Chibi ninja, and when his hawk saw our headbands and attire, it sought to capture us."

Sasuke struggles to wrap his head around the idea that he has not only been kidnapped by an Oki, but the Oki plans to sell him and his brother like they're nothing more than ninja hardware. Yet, it's not that hard to picture why an Oki might find Chibi ninja desirable. His kind is far less detectable than their Oki counterparts, and it would be easy for them to steal from or assassinate an unsuspecting Oki.

However, one thing remains unclear. "How did you get here, Nii-san?" Sasuke has a good idea, and dreads he's right.

Itachi turns away to stare at the lamp above them. "My crow caught up with the hawk summon, but the ensuing struggle caused both birds to crash. You were barely awake and couldn't stand, so I ordered Shisui and Izumi to leave without us. We might have managed to catch up with Shisui if the missing-nin hadn't arrived so quickly."

Sasuke's heart sinks to the floor. "You—"

Itachi turns back, but his tone is even as he shakes his head. "Shisui's hawk could not have carried me regardless, not with him, Izumi and all the supplies." Itachi smiles suddenly and Sasuke is too stunned to move away before two fingers poke him in the forehead, and his eyes close.

When he opens them, Itachi's smile is fading, but he sounds warm as he assures. "We will get out of this, otouto. As long as you remember our most important rule."

Sasuke squints, recalling the rule's vague mentioning back during his Academy days. "Never speak in front of an Oki, act like you don't understand what they're saying, and no matter what, don't communicate with them."

Itachi nods, grim as he stands and looks off into the darkness where a clock hangs on the wall, undoubtedly already forming an escape plan. Sasuke straightens up, shrugs off Itachi's cloak and examines his injured leg—it's splinted and tied to a twig by bits of cloth, which explains why his brother's cloak is torn—before following Itachi's gaze to the clock.

It's 10 PM, and if this were a normal shop, that would mean Sasuke and Itachi had until morning to escape, but this store is owned by a missing-nin and it's main clientele are criminals. Therefore, as a black market establishment, it likely opens late, perhaps around midnight.

So Sasuke, weaponless and injured, only has two hours to form a plan with his brother and escape their glass prison before they fall into the hands of any missing-nin with the right amount of money.

Just great.

For now I'll leave this as an one-shot, but I'd be happy to continue this story if a lot of people want me to.

If I did continue the story, the next chapter would deal with human Itachi and Kisame entering the shop to buy a min-nin for the Akatsuki to use, only for them to realize the min-nin look identical to Itachi and his younger brother. Meanwhile, the Chibi shinobi would be trying to escape...

Here's a prelude of that potential second chapter:

"You don't know what a min-nin is?" A hint of genuine surprise laces Kisame's voice while they traverse the dark stone corridor.

Itachi stares evenly at him over the rim of his cloak collar.

Kisame smirks. "No need to glare, I just thought a smart guy like you would have heard of them."

Itachi doesn't say anything for a long moment, but eventually relents. "I heard of them once, but dismissed them as mere children's tales."

So let me know, who wants to see what happens next? ;)