Author's Note: So it's a little later than normal, however I think we'll be moving to Sundays moving forward as Fridays are just too busy for me these days. Anyway, it's another kid chapter! This is the last one before we get back to Shisui and the adults for a little bit. Not much in the way of warnings for this chapter beyond family tension and drama. There are some hints of past child endangerment, though that's par for the course with ninjas.
July 21st dawns hot and wet with the smell of fresh miso soup and grilling fish. Sasuke blinks slowly, not quite comprehending what that means. By the time he makes it down the hall, dressed for school but hair still mussed from sleep, he's sure this is some sort of dream. Both his parents are in the kitchen. Father is sitting at the table, dressed for work and Mother is at the counter, carefully dicing tomatoes.
He walks into the kitchen hesitantly but stops in the doorway when he notices both Mother and Father watching him. Father nods brusquely, "I hear you're doing well in school." Sasuke isn't really sure what to do with that. He is. He's top of his class. But that's been true almost since he started at the academy a year and a half ago now. Mother clears her throat and Father says, "Good job. Your hard work is clearly paying off." He pauses awkwardly again and Sasuke shifts his weight, not sure if he should continue standing in the doorway or sit down. "You're old enough now to start learning how to be an adult in the family. So I was thinking about taking you to the lake tomorrow, after work, and teaching you some of our fire jutsu."
Father sounds so unsure of himself. Sasuke finds himself wondering if he was this awkward when he taught Itachi, or if he even had to teach Itachi. Maybe Itachi just saw the techniques once and could do them right away. "Thank you, Father," Sasuke says, bowing quickly.
Mother shakes her head at that as she turns around. She's dressed like she always used to be, a dark dress with a simple Uchiha fan embroidered on the back and a curry stained apron on top of it, not the fancy formal yukata she's been wearing lately, when she has to be clan leader and talk to the revered elders pretty much all the time. "Sasuke, could you grab the juice from the refrigerator? We should be ready to eat."
With a quick nod and a glance back at Father, Sasuke does and slips into his regular place at the table. Father is looking at some papers now, probably police reports, but as Mother reaches over him to place the tray on the table, he kisses her briefly on the cheek. Sasuke blinks, and then blinks again. He can't remember the last time he saw his parents touch each other, let alone kiss. Why are they acting like this? Why are they so happy?
Mother doesn't seem bothered, she just smiles and shakes her head again as she sits down. Thankfully, breakfast is silent. Sasuke isn't sure he could handle that much of a break in routine. He also isn't sure what there is to say. He finishes his grilled salmon and soup pretty quickly and is just playing with his rice, unsure if he's allowed to leave when Father sets his chopsticks down and says, "Your Mother and I were thinking of taking you out for dinner to celebrate your birthday. Is there anywhere in particular you would like to go?"
This isn't right. Mother and Father both agreed they would celebrate his birthday at home. They even agreed to let Itachi over to celebrate too. If they go out, Itachi will be waiting at home for hours with no one there. Sasuke freezes, fingers gripped tight around his chopsticks. Mother notices his distress first and says, "What's the matter, Sasuke, don't you want to celebrate your birthday?"
Sasuke's eyes burn and his throat feels tight. He blinks once and slowly unclenches all of his muscles. "I thought we were having dinner at home tonight. I've already invited Itachi."
Mother shakes her head. "You know your brother is very busy. Especially these days with ANBU running more missions outside the village. Why don't we just invite him to come over some other night. You're nine years old today, you deserve to celebrate without having to worry about his schedule."
Sasuke doesn't really understand why Mother and Father have decided not to trust Itachi anymore, but he knows his brother. Itachi promised he would be here for dinner tonight and he will be. Mother must be able to see some of what he's thinking in his face because she just shakes her head again and sighs. "Don't be surprised when he doesn't come, sweetheart. One of these days you're going to have to learn you can't rely on your brother."
"He'll be here," Sasuke says. He will. He promised.
–––
School is harder to pay attention to than normal. Iruka-sensei just keeps talking and talking and none of it really matters because Sasuke is finally going to get to see Itachi again tonight. It's been months since he last visited—well since Sasuke broke into the police records room to find out where Itachi was living and camped out in front of his apartment until Itachi finally came home. But that's pretty much the same thing.
Thankfully today isn't sparring, it'd be a lot easier for Iruka-sensei to notice his inattention if someone like Naruto was able to land a good hit or two. Though maybe sparring would be better. He'd at least be able tomove, maybe burn off some of this extra energy. He just wants to go. He's finally going to see his brother again. And maybe even Shisui-nii too, though Sasuke's less sure about that one. Shisui's Hokage now and that does require a lot of work. He's heard rumors that it's so hard, Shisui never even sleeps anymore. And based on how tired Itachi —who is not even the Hokage— has been, Sasuke's willing to believe it.
After what seems a half eternity, lunch time finally comes around, but he's too excited to eat, so he uses lunchtime to finish up as much of the homework for tomorrow as he can. And thankfully, everyone else pretty much leaves him alone. That's actually been happening a lot recently. He's not sure what caused it, but sometime in the last few months, Haruno and Yamanaka have almost completely stopped trying to interact with him, at least socially. It's been amazing. What's been a lot less amazing is the class dead last, Naruto, trying to tail him. He only noticed it a few days ago, but it seems like the boy just follows him around, watching him. He's even seen him inside the Uchiha compound a few times. It's kinda creepy, and Sasuke's thought about confronting him about it, but he's afraid it'll just encourage him. The one thing he's learned about Naruto is that any form of attention is like adding fuel to a fire.
Even today, once school finally lets outs, Sasuke can feel Naruto watching him from a distance. Sasuke does his best to ignore it as he runs home, but the constant feeling of being watched makes the back of his neck itch. It doesn't even go away once he's inside, because he knows Naruto is perched on some roof, just watching. It's really creepy.
Trying not to think about that, he toes off his shoes and yells, "I'm home!"
"Welcome home, Sasuke," Mother calls back. Sasuke grins. He'd hoped she'd be here, but it's been so long since anyone else was in the house when he came home. This is fantastic, it's amazing. Sasuke wishes every day could be like this. "I'm in the kitchen working on dinner, if you'd like to join me."
And yeah, that sounds fun. It reminds him of when he was much younger and would help Mother make dinner every night. Back when he was too small to spend his evenings training or doing homework.
"Yes, Mother," he calls back, "I can help out once I finish my homework." It shouldn't take too long, so he brings his book and school bag to the kitchen table. They both work in silence for a little while, Sasuke focusing on basic mathematics and history and Mother rolling out the dough for the noodles.
Once he finishes, Sasuke quickly packs his books into his bag and places it by the wall before grabbing his apron and running over, his sock covered feet sliding the last few centimeters on the polished wood floor. Mother raises an eyebrow at him, but doesn't say anything.
They're about halfway done with dinner prep when Sasuke hears slow footsteps outside that halt just before they reach the door. Sasuke grins and runs out of the kitchen, feet sliding as he rounds the corner. Mother sighs and even without seeing her, he knows she's shaking her head. But Itachi is here. Itachi is here! He skids around the final corner and just barely manages to stop himself from falling face first into the shoes by the door.
He opens the door to an almost scared looking Itachi. His brother half turned as if he was thinking about just leaving again. He has a dark shoulder bag perched at his hip and is holding a small bottle of wine.
"Welcome home Itachi!" Sasuke tries to convey as much love and support as he can with his voice, but mostly it just comes out sounding excited and loud.
Itachi smiles a little at him, but it's slow and small. Not at all like he used to smile, back before. "Happy Birthday, Sasuke," he says. His voice is quiet, almost like he thinks if he's too loud Mother or Father will notice he's here and kick him out. Sasuke wants to tell him this is his house too, his home. But he doesn't know if that's true anymore.
Instead he offers to take Itachi's bag for him and put it in the closet.
"So you did decide to come here, after all." Sasuke startles and turns around at Mother's voice. He knows she's a ninja, but he didn't hear her come over at all! "I didn't think you would." Mother stares straight at Itachi as if daring him to do something, but Sasuke isn't sure what.
"Sasuke asked me to be here for his birthday." Itachi sounds so tired, but he stands up tall and doesn't look away from Mother. It's like they're having some sort of silent conversation over his head. "Will that be a problem?" His brother's voice is even, but Sasuke can feel the challenge in it.
Mother doesn't respond for a very long time. It isn't until Itachi breaks eye contact and looks down at him that she dusts off her apron, smiles and then says, "Welcome to our home."
Itachi bows formally and says "Thank you for having me," before handing Mother the bottle.
Sasuke isn't really sure what to make of that. Itachi is his brother, he shouldn't have to bring host gifts here. But there's nothing he can really do besides try to keep Itachi and Mother away from each other. So, he just grins and grabs Itachi's hand. "I want to show Itachi something in my room, please let me know when it's time for dinner." Then, without giving either of them a chance to respond, he drags a mostly unresisting Itachi further into the house.
Sasuke lets go of Itachi's hand once they're safely in his room and away from Mother, but Itachi just stands there. His posture is stiff and awkward and Sasuke wonders what Itachi did that was so unforgivable he even feels unwelcome in Sasuke's room. They used to play in here, together. Itachi would sometimes hide under Sasuke's bed when he had finished doing homework, but didn't want to go out and train with Father. Sasuke remembers how funny it was that he got to be the one keeping Itachi safe for once, instead of the other way around.
Just being here is making Itachi miserable, and for the first time, Sasuke is glad Itachi moved out. Because even though he's always tired and works too much now, at least he's happier there. Sasuke just wishes he could live with him, or at least see him more often.
"I didn't really have anything to show you," Sasuke admits. He shuffles his feet a little and then gestures at the room, "It's pretty much exactly the same as the last time you were here. Your room is too. I don't think anyone usually spends much time at home anymore."
Itachi steps over to him, ruffles his hair and then pokes him in the forehead. "Is that so," he asks, pointing over at the framed achievement certificate. Ranked first in all subjects last year. Sasuke can feel himself blushing. That is new, but it really shouldn't be framed. "I dunno why Mother framed it. You got one every year you were in the academy. It's nothing special."
Itachi looks at him and it's startling to realize that Sasuke is catching up, heightwise. Itachi has always been taller than him, but now Sasuke comes all the way up to his shoulder. "Sasuke, you shouldn't compare yourself to me like that. I've worked hard for everything I've accomplished, just as you worked hard for this. Don't try to diminish your accomplishments just because someone else achieved them as well. After all, no one looks down on the Second Hokage just because someone else was Hokage first."
Sasuke grins and looks up at Itachi through his bangs, "Weeelll, the First Hokage was pretty great, there wouldn't even be a Konoha without him." His grin widens when Itachi sighs in defeat and sits heavily on the ground.
"You," his brother says, "are a brat." But even as he says it, he's smiling more than he has since he first came over, so Sasuke just laughs and throws himself at Itachi.
He wraps his arms and legs around Itachi as tightly as he can and whispers into his neck, "I've missed you. A lot."
Itachi hugs him back, stroking his hair a little too and whispers, "I've missed you too."
Sasuke holds him for at least a whole minute before he can't stand all this touchy feely stuff anymore and lets go, wriggling his way out of Itachi's grip. "I actually did have something else I wanted to show you, but it's outside." He's not allowed to practice with shuriken yet, at least not unattended, but he has been able to practice some of the flips Itachi used to do, including a pretty complicated flip kick. He offers Itachi a hand up and is almost pulled back down for his efforts.
Itachi's good mood lasts until they pass the kitchen. Mother looks up from her mixing to ask, "Leaving already," and just like that, his brother is hiding behind an emotionless mask.
"Sasuke wished to show me something outside." Itachi's voice sounds robotic; there's no emotion or intonation or anything. Sasuke wonders why Itachi pretends to feel nothing when it's so obvious it's not real. It's much more convincing if you just pretend to feel what people are expecting from you.
He leads Itachi to the lake and strips down to his shorts. He's gotten good enough at the flip that he doesn't need to do it over water, but he doesn't want today to be the one where he messes up and hurts himself.
Itachi raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything. He's relaxed a little now that they're outside the house and away from Mother. Sasuke has to focus though, so he closes his eyes and clears his mind. He thinks about the feel of the wooden dock under his feet and how many steps he needs to run before the jump. The feel of the wind and of twisting muscles and—
He runs. Left foot forward. Jump up and forward. Head tucked to avoid hitting the ground or the dock and arms in to preserve speed. He twists his body and kicks with his left foot before hitting the water. His timing is a little off and his right foot hits the water first, but it's still pretty good.
Itachi is smiling as he drags Sasuke back onto the dock. "That's pretty good," he says, "though I think I might have seen that particular move before."
Sasuke pretends to glare at him and then says in his primmest voice, "Just because someone else has done it first, doesn't make it any less of accomplishment." Itachi laughs at him. A real laugh! And then slips off his shoulder bag, and—without even bothering to remove his shoes— Itachi runs off the dock and jumps. He doesn't bother tucking his head, he has more than enough clearance and his spin is so tight he gets a second rotation before he lands on the water. He's just standing there on the water.
Itachi laughs at him because he is a cruel older brother and a show off. "I guess they haven't gotten to this yet in the academy. There's not a lot of use for water walking in the village, but it's very good for practicing chakra control. Here, I'll show you."
And for the next two hours Sasuke's able to forget about everything. It turns out water walking is pretty easy, once he finally gets the hang of it. It takes a lot of concentration, but doesn't require much chakra. And even concentrating gets a little easier when the lesson manages to devolve into a game of spash tag. In fact the only little mishap at all is at the very end, when Sasuke's tired and his focus slips too much. He winds up sinking almost to the bottom of the lake before Itachi dives down and rescues him. Sasuke had been planning on kicking off the lake bottom to get back up, but he's not quite sure it would have worked. As it was, he wound up swallowing a lot of water and had to half cough, half puke it back up.
The lesson's pretty much over after that and Itachi is really apologetic. Sasuke isn't quite sure why, because he was old enough to watch how father trained with Itachi, and it was definitely a lot worse than this. Sasuke's actually a little nervous about that. Trying to sound uninterested, he pointedly doesn't look at Itachi as he asks, "So, your training with Father, what was that… like?" He fidgets a little with the damp hem of his shirt, still sitting on the dock where he had left it.
Itachi tilts his head a bit, "Father is demanding, but," he pauses for a long time. "He means well. He pushes because he would rather you fail at home, where it's safe, than on the battlefield." Itachi looks at Sasuke and his fidgeting fingers before saying, "He will never push you beyond what you can handle." Sasuke's not so sure about that, but isn't willing to say so. Itachi must read his thoughts anyway though, because he says, "He learned a lot from teaching me, I think. When I was younger, he was blinded by my ability to learn. He forgot about how my age affected my strength and chakra capacity. I doubt he will make the same mistakes again. Mother wouldn't let him."
"I wish you could teach me instead." Sasuke knows he sounds petulant, but he can't help it. It's hard not to think about how after tonight it'll probably be months before he sees Itachi again.
Itachi sighs, "Father really is a better teacher than me." Itachi fiddles idly with the strap of his bag. "I understand the world differently than most people."
"You taught me to walk on water in an hour, that's pretty good."
"I almost drowned you! If anything that should be a reason why I'm not fit to teach you." Itachi's tone is teasing, but Sasuke can tell that he really means it. He feels guilty and it's stupid. The worst that could have happened was Sasuke rescuing himself. And Itachi isn't responsible for Sasuke not paying attention and overdoing a chakra exercise.
"That's stupid," he says, realizing there's no reason not to just tell Itachi that he's being dumb. "You taught me something cool, you saved me from hurting myself and you've paid more attention to me than anyone else has in months. This is the best birthday gift anyone could have given me." And with that, he hugs Itachi again, because Itachi can never have too many hugs.
Itachi tries to hug back a little, but Sasuke has both his arms pinned to his body and not even Itachi is willing to fight him on this on his birthday. Once Sasuke thinks Itachi's been hugged enough, for the moment, and lets go again, Itachi reaches for his bag. "About your birthday present, I did get something for you. I saw it in the market and thought of you." He hands Sasuke a small potted plant. It looks like a weird, fuzzy, thin, flat cactus type thing. Except curled up and each of the spikes is covered in a clear ball of some sort of liquid or gel. Sasuke looks at it dubiously and Itachi smiles. "I know it doesn't look like much, but it's a sort of ninja plant. See all those little spikes? The clear sap on the end is for trapping bugs and small animals. It then curls around them and eats them."
Sasuke stares at the thing again. "You mean, this is some sort of flesh eating plant? That's so cool!" He's never even heard of that before, but it's probably the best thing ever. "Does it hunt its own food or do I need to feed it? Does it still need to be watered? How much sunlight does it need? Can it hurt me too? Will it try to eat me if I forget to feed it for a while?"
Itachi laughs at him again and shakes his head. "There's a booklet included with the plant," he says, gesturing at the small pamphlet wrapped around the outside of the pot. "I'd start there."
Sasuke wants to push Itachi for being annoying, when Itachi suddenly stiffens and stands up. He hasn't even finished settling his bag before Father is there, still in his uniform and looking exhausted. "It's time for dinner Sasuke, Itachi. Your mother is waiting for us."
Before Itachi can do anything, Sasuke says, "Yes Father. We were just heading back." Father nods and heads towards the house while Sasuke grins at Itachi and says, "Let's find some place to put my new plant and then wash up for dinner, okay?" And, not waiting for Itachi to respond, he starts walking back.
–––
Dinner happens. They're in the formal dining room, which has a low table and cushions instead of the kitchen's table and chairs. It has the option to be open to the courtyard, but the sliding doors are closed and the room only has dim ambient light. Sasuke tries not to fidget too much as he kneels, but he's always hated this part of formal family meals. It takes too much concentration to maintain the proper posture.
Dinner looks beautiful. There's rice, soup, pickles, dumplings, grilled salmon and vegetables, and everything is laid out perfectly. Even the chunks of tofu in the soup are precisely sized. As everyone serves themselves, Father talks a little about his day, but he focuses more on silly arguments between some of the junior officers than anything serious.
Mother just rolls her eyes, "They're grown men, and Uchiha. They should be putting aside these petty schoolboy rivalries."
Father shakes his head and gestures a bit with his chopsticks, "Job's hard enough these days, there's no reason not to let them have their fun. Besides, I don't know how much longer we'll have the luxury of that, with the way the Hokage's been pushing us." He doesn't look at Itachi when he says that, but he doesn't need to. Mother exhales audibly through her nose and shakes her head.
"I do wonder what has ANBU stretched so thin they can't keep up with their regular duties. It makes them seem rather ineffective," mother says, turning then to look directly at Itachi. Itachi doesn't look up from his food and just offers a slight shrug.
Father doesn't seem to notice how uncomfortable Itachi is though and asks, "What has Shisui been getting up to lately? I heard the genin exams will be in Sand this year."
Itachi looks up from his food, but his face is calm and blank. "The details for the Chunin Promotion Exam are still being worked out by the Hokage and his advisors. No formal arrangements have been made at this time."
Father nods, and then says, "Well, if they're going to be held outside the village, I suppose the details would still be classified. You're in a lot of the Hokage's meetings though. Is it true that the Hyuuga are under investigation?"
Itachi's nose flares slightly. "I don't know where you would have heard something like that. To my knowledge, the Hokage has not opened any new investigations into any of the great clans." Sasuke wonders how many investigations Shisui's continued though, and how many have been opened into smaller clans. Itachi is always very careful with his words.
Mother doesn't look upset exactly, because Mother is too profesional to ever look anything less than pleasant. But something about her feels furious. Sasuke can't stop himself from shivering a little. It takes all of his courage to look at her face and say, "Mother, can I go get the cake. I think everyone's finished eating and it looked really good." He pastes on the brightest smile he can and Mother's… coldness dies down a little. Sasuke can feel his heartbeat starting to return to normal. The cake really did look pretty. It's a shame Mother never remembers that he likes savery more than sweet — sugar was always Itachi's favorite — but the little sugar ninja on top looked really cool.
When no one objects, he jumps up, thankful to finally be off his knees. His legs feel tingly and stiff. He isn't used to kneeling for long, though he supposes it's something he's probably going to have to get better at.
He lingers a little longer than he has to in the kitchen. He can hear Mother and Father talking quietly in the dining room, but he doesn't want to know what they're saying. He's glad Itachi came, but he's sorry it turned out this way. He didn't think his parents would act like this.
When he does come back in, cake in hand, everyone looks upset. Mother's jaw is tense and Father is massaging his forehead. Itachi is kneeling with his back perfectly straight and his hands clasped in his lap, no emotion on his face as he looks directly at Mother.
"I brought the cake," Sasuke says, trying to sound happy, but he thinks it comes out more like a question.
Mother smiles at him and quickly clears some space in the center of the table. Father shakes his head, but is looking at Itachi, not Sasuke. "This isn't complicated," he says, clearly continuing whatever he had been talking about before Sasuke got back. "The clan can't afford a clan head whose loyalties are split. The clan head represents the best interests of the clan. You can't do that if you continue living with Shisui and putting the needs of the village above those of your own kin." Father sighs and clasps his hands. "The clan deserves a leader who will prioritize them above everything else. Even their friends."
Itachi looks upset. "Is the clan not part of the village? How is working for the benefit of Konoha working against the clan? We prosper together." He pauses to look over at Mother. "The Uchiha are weak without the village, just as the village weakens without the Uchiha. By serving the village, I am serving our clan."
Mother shakes her head. "No, you aren't. You may believe you are, but the clan has been held back for generations. By serving the village, you are betraying my clan. The fact that you can't see that is proof you don't deserve to be our clan heir. Resign your commission as a ninja and from ANBU and take up your responsibilities as clan heir, or we will have to relieve you of that role."
Itachi looks shocked. His eyes widen as he looks over at Father. Father hangs his head and nods, "Your mother and I talked this over last night. The clan deserves someone who will always put it first. You have twenty four hours to decide. If you want to stay with Shisui, that's fine. But you'll forfeit your place within the clan. Entirely." Father takes a breath. "Think about it son."
Sasuke wants to say something, but he can't think of anything. It sounds like— But Mother and Father love both of them. They're not really going to… to kick Itachi out? Because he's friends with Shisui? None of this makes sense.
Itachi stands up and bows briefly before excusing himself. Sasuke goes to follow him, but by the time he manages to get to the door, Itachi is gone.
"I love you, Itachi," Sasuke calls out into the night, knowing Itachi probably can't hear him. "And don't worry about what Mother and Father said. No matter what you choose, I'll always love you and you'll always be my brother and the best ninja who ever lived!"
Sasuke doesn't cry as he heads back inside, because he's a ninja and an Uchiha, but that doesn't stop his shoulders from shaking or his throat from closing up. He stares back into the night waiting for Itachi to come back, to say it was all a joke. But that doesn't happen.
Eventually, he heads back into the dining room to find everything cleared away. All that's left is Itachi's bag, next to the pillow he had used. Sasuke grabs it and hugs it to his chest as he walks back to his room and goes to bed.