Itachi is an artist. (A waste of intelligence and talent, their father said.) He went to college and studied various forms of art before settling on painting. Itachi was known in his small community as a genius when it came to textures. Each brushstroke was carefully planned, meticulously executed. His passion was obvious in his works. (Itachi is going places, his professor said.)

Then Itachi came home to dinner one day and announced that he visited their doctor several months ago, that several tests had been run throughout the course until present, and that there was something he had to tell them. Sasuke bore himself, mentally preparing for the news that was to come, but when he heard it, no amount of preparation could have softened its blow.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. COPD for short. It's certainly a mouthful, Itachi commented lightly, ignoring the blanket of shock covering the room. No one laughed.

Suddenly their mother had stood and shouted (Mikoto's anger is a terrifying and awe-spiring thing). Her usually sweet disposition was replaced with red, hot whips of words that hit the target on the mark. She poked and prodded to no end, interrogated even Sasuke briefly on whether or not he was aware of this. He wisely shook his head and excused himself from the table shortly after that.

He had not wanted to hear any of their argument, and so Sasuke listened to music while trying to fall asleep early that night; ignored the texts from his friends. Instead he found himself researching the disease that was tearing his family apart. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease doesn't just show up one day, which means Itachi must have been hiding his condition for quite some time. It can be caused by air pollution and, as Sasuke read this, his heart dropped to his stomach, chemical fumes. Paint. Itachi will no longer be able to paint. Sasuke scrolled through his phone mindlessly. The damage done to the lungs could not be repaired. More serious cases resulted in coughing up blood. With this, Sasuke felt too sick to continue, and curled up in his bed.

Within the next couple of weeks, moving boxes began to pile in the hallways and in Itachi's room. They disappeared, being shipped to his new apartment. He was moving to the inaka, the countryside of Konoha. There, the air is fresh and will be good for Itachi. He planned on moving to a little town known for its pottery, where one of Itachi's friends from high school lived there. "I will figure something out," Sasuke heard him to say to their mother and father on the night he was leaving, but he hasn't stayed to listen. Instead he was already packing a duffel bag and counting out the money he had stashed in the back of his sock drawer. He got on his laptop and searched the schedules for the shinkansen, and found a route that will take over nine hours to get him to the inaka.

Sasuke will follow his brother to wherever he goes, consequences be damned.

Early in the morning, Sasuke woke and left a note to his parents before slipping out the door, duffel bag in hand and backpack secured. He purchased his ticket for the shinkansen and navigated the crowds that were arriving for work. Sasuke's phone rang. He put it on silent and boarded, pushing his duffel bag in the compartment above his head and his backpack at his feet. No one sat next to him for the next couple of hours or so. Sasuke tried to read a few books he'd brought with him, but couldn't find it in himself to focus. He checked his phone again. Ten missed calls and texts from Suigetsu, Karin, and Jūgo. At some point, Sasuke dozed off. When he woke, they were selling bento, which he declined. He had wanted to save money, and thus packed a few leftover onigiri his mother had made the night before.

When Sasuke arrived, he was utterly underwhelmed. The train station was nearly empty, save for a couple of people, and he was the only one getting off at the stop. Nevertheless, Sasuke shouldered his things and started walking through the small town. There weren't too many people outside (kami, it was hot), but they all stared at him as he passed them down the hill. He was looking for someone to ask for directions when he heard a bell ringing frantically behind him.

"Look out!" someone called, but before he could react, both Sasuke and his assailant were on the ground. "Ugh," he heard them groan, but he stood up and rounded on them. His mind went blank. (Oh. She's tiny. And she had pink hair. And the brightest, greenest eyes he'd ever seen.)

The girl on the sidewalk brushed herself off and stood, ignoring him. "Look at my poor baby!" she griped, then picked her bike off the ground. The old-fashioned bike was now scratched, some of the mint paint having been scraped off from their collision. "God, you suck!" The girl turned to Sasuke and glared heatedly, poking his chest aggressively. "Look, city boy," she sneered, "I don't care what sewer you crawled out of, thinking you could just waltz around in my town (she emphasized the last two words with two hard pokes), but I hope you die (another poke) so I can shove you back to where you came from and leave you there to rot."

"Oiii," another voice called from over the hill, "that was crazy Sakura-chan! Let's do that again!" Another figure in orange zoomed down the hill, but this time, stopped in front of Sasuke. (What. The. Fuck. These people were crazy, with their weird-ass hair. This guy was blonde and had blue eyes.) "Woah. Who are you?"

"City boy," Sakura responded, throwing him another warning look before pedaling away on her bike. "See you, Naruto."

Naruto, Sasuke learned, was much more open to people than his counterpart. ("Sakura-chan's just a little grumpy because she saved up for that bike." Way to make a guy really feel bad.) He's dense, but had good intentions, so Sasuke let him lead the way to Itachi's new apartment complex. Naruto talked a bunch, too, but they mostly had the same interests, so it was okay. Sasuke stayed silent most of the time, listening to what he has to say about right-fielding in baseball, when Itachi came running up to him.

"Sasuke, you're an idiot!" He grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders and shook him. "Our parents were worried sick. What did you think you would accomplish by coming here?" Itachi stared angrily into Sasuke's eyes before sighing and drawing back. He massaged his temples before noticing the blond. "Hello, Naruto-kun."

"Itachi-nii!" Naruto responded brightly. "I didn't know you had a brother. He almost killed Sakura-chan, y'know." He hit the back of Sasuke's head, earning him a withering glare. It had no effect.

His brother only sighed again, disappointed, then ushered the two inside.

Sasuke was greeted by the air conditioning, quickly slipping his shoes off and dropping his bags on the floor. He looked around. It wasn't anything fancy, really. There were still boxes piled up in the small living room, to where Naruto pushed past him and flopped onto the couch face-first.

He was a bit confused when it came to manners, Sasuke ruled, and instead turned to his brother. Itachi seemed well enough to his satisfaction. He was leaning against a sputtering refrigerator with one arm, surveying Naruto's antics, and wearing a pale yellow button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Then Itachi turned to Sasuke once more.

"You are heading back to Okaa-san and Otou-san on the first shinkansen back, Sasuke. It was a mistake to come here. Do you know how many times they called me? What were you thinking?" he demanded, face marred with anger. Worry.

Sasuke forced himself to look back into the intense stare. He shrugged, trying to ignore Naruto, who was obviously eavesdropping on their conversation. "You were leaving," he responded lamely. You can't leave me alone.

Itachi stared at him some more before sighing. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's out of my hands."

Sasuke's blood thrummed. He wasn't sure he could handle being alone with his parents. Not without Itachi there. Sasuke paled. "Nii-san," he begged quietly. Even Naruto in the background had awkwardly pretended to not hear him by quietly fake-snoring on the couch.

Itachi stared at Sasuke, into his pleading eyes, internally debating with himself. After a long moment of strained silence, Itachi turned away and sighed for what seemed like the millionth time. "I'll see what I can do."

Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha had not taken Sasuke's little act of rebellion lightly. Mikoto herself had told Itachi to pass the phone to Sasuke, who then proceeded to have his eardrums blown out for the next ten minutes. His mother went on a tangent about how irresponsible he was, and how much he had worried her. It ended with her crying and his father taking the phone from her. At first, Sasuke thought he had just hung up on him, but after a pause, his father spoke. "Are you sure?" he had asked gruffly. Sasuke imagined his father's set jaw and crossed arms.

"Yes," he replied. Then he waited with bated breath.

Silence. "Okay."

Sasuke, wide-eyed, passed the phone back to Itachi as per requested, sat in the chair closest to him, and sighed, relaxing his whole body. He closed his eyes as his brother shuffled into the next room and shut the door behind him, Sasuke unable to tell what his muffled voice was saying. Outside, the cicadas buzzed on. The fridge still sputtered weakly. And the couch shifted, groaning in protest, reminding Sasuke he was still not alone. He looked up.

Naruto was now hanging from the couch upside down (kami did he have any manners) and snickering. "I guess you've officially made one friend! Congrats, Teme! You're lucky I'm a cool kid." The blond nodded sagely to himself. "Although, you've also made one enemy; Sakura-chan. So I guess they cancel out, 'cause like, PEMDAS." Naruto shrugged. "Sakura-chan really likes holding grudges, though."

Sasuke groaned and threw a pillow at him.