Title: Sasuke's First Lesson
Series: Naruto
Pairing: Itachi x Sasuke
Warning: Fluff. Uberly cute Sasuke. Slight OOCness.
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Naruto. (Otherwise there would be lotsa Uchihacest xD)

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The day went by pretty much uneventful. That is, unless you ignore Sasuke soaking his shirt and nearly dropping several plates due to his slippery, soapy hands. Though, before the young Uchiha made a bigger mess of things, Mikoto had ushered the boy out to change into a dry pair of clothes.

Instead of going to his room and change into a dry shirt, Sasuke ran down the hall toward the front door. Even if Itachi now had more responsibilities as a chuunin, he should still be coming home soon. Missions normally didn't take long because of Itachi's superior strength and skills. The cool feeling his damp shirt provided helped keep his worries at ease as well.

A couple of hours after Fugaku's return, an exhausted Itachi finally filed through the front door. The ten-year-old was welcomed by a hug around the legs, courtesy of Sasuke. Blinking down at him, Itachi gave the younger boy a small smile, "Your shirt's a little damp, Sasuke. You didn't make a mess helping okaa-san, did you?"

Sasuke gave a small "Eep." in response and buried his face in Itachi's legs to hide his face from view.

Sighing softly, Itachi gently took Sasuke's arm and removed them from his legs before picking him up. He had no trouble holding his little brother in the crook of his arm. Sasuke was surprisingly light for his age.

Blinking, Sasuke glanced up at Itachi curiously, tilting his head.

"I don't want you to catch a cold while we're out in the forest, Sasuke." It was a simple explaination, but it clearly showed that Itachi cared. Nodding, the younger boy paid no mind to his slightly flushed cheeks.

After changing into some dry clothes, Sasuke energetically ran back down the hallway while Itachi followed at a walk. The chuunin to their father when they passed in the halls. The only words that were exchanged between the two were "We'll be back before dinner."

By this time, Sasuke had already fastened his sandals on before noticing that Itachi had just turned the corner. The younger Uchiha puffed up a cheek, "Nii-san! Come oon!"

Itachi couldn't help but chuckle softly at his brother's enthusiasm. When the older Uchiha reached the front door, he was welcomed by a slightly pouting Sasuke.

"Don't pout, Sasuke, or I'll have to tickle you instead" With a slight smile, Itachi lightly ruffled the boy's soft, dark hair to accompany the tease as he started out of the open door.

It took Sasuke about a minute to realize what had just happened before running after his brother with slightly flushed cheeks, leaving the door wide open behind him, "Nii-san, that's mean!"

Glancing down at Sasuke as he caught up, Itachi only offered a slight smile, "I know. Did you remember to close the door behind you?"

Tilting his head, Sasuke paused to think back. The fading flush on his cheeks returned full-force when he realized that he had ran out of the house in a rush, thus forgetting to close the sliding door after him. Slowly, he shook his head in response.

Nodding, Itachi turned and continued on down the road toward his usual training spot. When he sensed that Sasuke hadn't moved from where he was standing, the chuunin stopped and glanced back at his younger brother.

"Don't worry about it, Sasuke. I won't tell chichi-ue that you were the one who left the door opened." At that, Sasuke looked up from the ground and at his brother. Itachi always took the blame for Sasuke's minor mistakes. Even if he himself avoided scolding from Fugaku, he still felt bad about having Itachi constantly cover for him.

"Hn..." Nodding a bit, Sasuke shoved aside his worries for the time being and continues on. Feeling his small hand being wrapped in something warm, the younger Uchiha curiously glanced down to find Itachi's larger hand wrapped around his smaller one. His cheery smile returned as he gently squeezed Itachi's hand, walking alongside him.

The sun slowly began to dip below the trees and Hokage fakes when Itachi had finished demonstrating how to throw kunai and shuriken. He then carefully gave Sasuke a kunai, hilt first so the younger boy wouldn't accidentally cut himself before he even tried to throw it.

Tongue sticking out in concentration, Sasuke held the kunai exactly how the older Uchiha had showed him how before throwing it...

"Itai!" The kunai lodged itself into the ground just in front of the tree in front of the two brothers, a small trickle of blood rolling down the blade's edge.

"Sasuke..." Sighing softly, Itachi knelt over and took the injured finger into his hand to inspect the cut, "It's just a small cut, thankfully, but you need to be more careful, Sasuke." Offering a quick, reassuring smile, the older boy took the small finger into his mouth to stop the bleeding.

Sasuke blinked, watching his older brother with flushed cheeks. He remained silent, not knowing exactly what he should say, do, or how he should react. The flush never faded even after the finger was removed and bandaged.

"Practice when you can with your toy kunai and shuriken. Those are plastic, so you won't cut yourself if you mess up," Getting back to his feet, Itachi turned his back to Sasuke's pouting face as he went to retrieve the kunai.

"I'll get better if I train with your old kunai and shuriken, too!" Sasuke protested, determined to train with actual weapons instead of toys.

"If you practice with rusted dull and rusted weapons, you'll still end up hurting yourself. You're rather clumsy." Calmly, Itachi wiped his brother's blood from the kunai before replacing it in his holster. "We should head home. It's getting late and dinner should be about ready."

"Hai..." Sasuke wasn't very enthusiastic about practicing his throwing with toys. But he figured that having his hands and fingers in tact was better than losing them trying to perfect his throwing techniques.

Smiling slightly, Itachi ruffled Sasuke's hair once more before starting back down the path that lead to the main roads. Flush finally vanishing from his cheeks, the younger Uchiha quickly followed after with one of his many smiles before he could get left behind.

"Ah, Sasuke, what happened to your finger?" Mikoto asked curiously as she placed a bowl of rice (with hidden vegetables) down in front of him, noticing the bandages around it.

Sasuke shifted a bit, uncomfortable as he felt Fugaku's gaze on him, "I accidentally cut myself, but it's okay now. Nii-san made it feel much better"

Nodding, Mikoto took her seat next to her husband with a smile, "That's good."

"Practice with your toys before you practice with actual weapons." Fugaku stated simply, unknowingly echoing Itachi's earlier words.

Glancing down at his younger brother, Itachi ruffled his hair a bit again to cheer him up, "Don't worry, I'll help you practice when I can."

The younger Uchiha brightened up once more as he glanced up at his brother, "Hontou, nii-san?" A nod was his response. Sasuke greatly resisted the urge to tackle glomp Itachi, but instead gave him a big, happy smile.

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A/N: As much as I liked the idea of writing a pouty Sasuke... This definitely isn't my best. Both Itachi and Sasuke are, if at all, OOC. x.x die Maybe I should just stick to Rping... Mew. And I probably didn't give this thing a proper ending either, but I couldn't figure out how to do that so I just stopped writing. Kill me if you must