Chapter 8

AN: Hey guys, sorry it's been a while since I've updated the story. School has been so crazy lately, I can barely find time to write. But I will try to find time to write and update as much as I can. Enjoy!

Itachi: age 13

Sasuke: age 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Sasuke was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He's been there for a couple minutes now. He was so bored. Itachi has been on a mission for about a week now and Sasuke missed him terribly.

It wasn't fun when Itachi wasn't home.

Sasuke sighed and sat up. He walked out of his room and headed towards the kitchen.

There he saw his mom preparing dinner. Sasuke dropped himself in one of the seats in the kitchen, and put his head on the table.

"Kaa-san, when is nii-san coming back?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm not sure, honey. But I'm sure he should be back soon." Mikoto replied.

Sasuke sighed.

That seems so far away….. Sasuke thought, sadly.

Mikoto turned around to face her son. She saw the sad and lonely expression on her youngest son's face, and gave a sad smile.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. He will be here before you know it." Mikoto reassured, walking towards him then ruffling his hair.

When the sad expression didn't leave her son's face, Mikoto sighed. She wanted to take that look off his face, but she didn't know how.

Suddenly an idea hit her.

"I'll tell you what, how about you go and train for a bit? Then you can show Itachi how much you've improved on your shuriken training when he gets back."

Sasuke immediately perked up and grinned at his mom.

"Really?" Sasuke asked, eagerly.

Mikoto nodded, giggling a bit at her son's enthusiasm.

"Thanks, kaa-san!" Sasuke said, giving his mom a hug and raced towards the door.

"Make sure you get home for dinner!" Mikoto yelled after him.

"Hai!" Sasuke replied.

After getting his shuriken and kunai, Sasuke raced out of the house and headed towards the Uchiha training grounds.

When Sasuke got to the training grounds, he began training with shuriken. He managed to hit the bullseye every time he threw them, and started to do other techniques he learned at the academy.

After training for about an hour, Sasuke grew tired, but he refused to stop and take a break.

I must grow stronger! Sasuke thought.

Thirty minutes had gone by and Sasuke switched from throwing shuriken to kunai.

He was panting heavily and was sweating profusely.

He threw a series of kunai, two followed by four kunai, then a last group of six kunai. He hit all the targets except for the last 3 in the series of six kunai, making him frown.

He tried again, but missed the same targets.

Dammit! He thought, doing it again, but missing once more.

Sasuke continued to do the same technique until he hit all the targets, but he kept missing the same damn targets. He decided he wouldn't stop until he got it.

Another hour had passed and he still hasn't gotten it. He was practically gasping for air, drenched in sweat, and extremely tired.

Sasuke felt his legs give out and he fell on his knees. He was way too tired to get up, but he didn't want to stop until he hit all the targets.

He forced himself up, stumbling a bit, and got his kunai ready.

He threw the first two kunai, both hitting the bullseye. Then threw the next four, hitting the targets perfectly as well. Now was the hard part, he took out all six kunai, aimed, then threw all of them at once.

Come on….. Sasuke thought eagerly, as he watched the kunai ripping through the air.

Sasuke then heard a clunk! And saw that all six had hit the bullseye.

Yes! Sasuke thought, smiling happily.

Suddenly, Sasuke felt all his strength drain out of him and he began falling. He prepared for the impact that was about to come, but instead he felt two strong arms catch him.

Sasuke looked up to see that it was Itachi who caught him.

"Don't push yourself too hard, otouto." Itachi said, with a small smile.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke exclaimed, giving Itachi a big hug.

Itachi returned the hug, not caring that Sasuke was covered in sweat, he missed his otouto.

"I missed you so much, nii-san!"

"I missed you too, otouto." Itachi replied giving Sasuke a gentle squeeze.

The two brothers decided to lay on a grassy hill that wasn't far from the training grounds. They laid beside each other, enjoying each others company. Sasuke was cuddled up against his brother and Itachi had his hands beside behind his head, looking up at the sky.

"Good job on hitting all those target, otouto. You're getting better, I see." Itachi said, still looking up at the sky.

Sasuke looked up at his brother.

"You saw that?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi looked down at Sasuke and nodded.

"I could tell that you were training really hard because you're drenched in sweat." Itachi said amused, with a smile on his lips.

Sasuke only pouted, making Itachi smile even more.

Sasuke then wrapped his arms around his nii-san and nuzzled closer to him.

"I missed you. You were gone for so long." Sasuke said.

"I know. I missed you too, Sasuke." Itachi said, ruffling Sasuke's hair.

Itachi had been gone for more than a week and had missed Sasuke terribly. He barely had time to spend with Sasuke anymore, and he was so grateful that he got to spend time with him today.

The brothers stayed in silence for a while, enjoying one another's presence.

After a couple of minutes, Itachi realized that it was getting late and their parents were probably looking for them by now.

"We should probably head home now, otouto. It's getting late and kaa-san is probably looking for us." Itachi said

When he didn't get an answer, Itachi looked down to find Sasuke fast asleep, making him smile.

All that training must of made Sasuke extremely tired so Itachi didn't want to wake him.

He gently picked Sasuke up and placed a kiss the side of his head. Itachi began walking home made sure to never forget this moment.

AN: Sorry if this story is short. An idea popped in my head and I decided to write about it. Once again, I'm sorry for the infrequent updates, I can barely find time in my schedule to write, but I will do my best to update as often as I can.

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