Disclaimer: not mine

Warnings: male/male pairing

This is the beta-ed version, thanks to Lazy-Hime

Naruto: 17

Itachi: 13

Sasuke: 7

Kakashi: 18

Minato: 25

Chapter 6

Itachi was puzzled. As far as he could see, the blond teen crouching in front of Sasuke was not only wearing hospital pyjamas, but also clearly not well. The clothes didn't quite hide the blonde's emaciated frame, and the slight trembling of clenched hands betrayed his exhaustion.

How could that teen have taken out highly trained shinobi, most of whom had the added advantage of the Sharingan?

Itachi remained still and unmoving. The other might be exhausted and ill, but the fire in those azure eyes told him that the other would fight and kill him at the slightest provocation. And it wouldn't do to repay his brother's saviour by hurting him. Sasuke would be upset with him for weeks if he dared do that.

Still, it was difficult to suppress the need to simply knock the blond out and grab his brother. Trying to look past the clearly guarding teen to his brother, the question slipped out of his mouth without thinking, "Is my brother alright?"

Sasuke stirred in his sleep. He was certain he had heard his brother's deep voice. Opening his eyes, he was surprised that all he could see of his surroundings were the rock walls of a cave and the back of someone in a white shirt with sun coloured hair.

Sleepily blinking his eyes, he sat up and tugged at the shirt to get the other person's attention. He was surprised when the person tensed, but didn't turn. Then a small hand sneaked behind the crouching person's body and landed on Sasuke's head, trying to keep him down and out of sight.

Irritated, Sasuke resisted the insistent hand and tried to steal a look at the rest of the cave.

"Damn it, would you keep down already, kit?" growled a deep, hoarse voice at him.

Sasuke stilled, momentarily, in his attempts; he trusted that voice and wanted to obey it. Then he heard another voice, "Sasuke? Are you alright?"

Renewing his attempts to look past his saviour, Sasuke called, "Nii-san? Nii-san? Damn it, Naruto, let me up already!"

Giving the back of the blond a desperate shove, Sasuke finally managed to stand up and peek over Naruto's shoulder.

"Nii-san! You found us!" Tears gathered in Sasuke's eyes. It had all been so horrible and now his brother was here, just as Sasuke had wished for the entire time.

"Sasuke, are you alright? Are you hurt?" There was real worry in Itachi's voice, for once not covered up.

With a hiccupped cry, Sasuke launched himself at his brother, "Nii-san!"

Despite his quick reflexes, Itachi bowled over when his little brother jumped at him. Ignoring his instincts that screamed at him for being in a vulnerable position in the presence of a person with unknown abilities, Itachi gathered the sobbing bundle in a tight hug. Burrowing his face in midnight black hair, he took a deep breath of his brother's scent.

The agonizingly tight feeling around his heart was finally lifted.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke," he repeated the mantra that had been playing in his mind for the last twelve hours out loud.

After a couple of minutes, he remembered where they were again and shifted his focus to the blond haired, half-starved teen again.

"Thank you for saving my brother. Please follow us to the village, where you will receive medical treatment," he said, once again using his emotionless voice.

It was obvious that the other teen didn't want to take him up on his offer. Then azure eyes looked at Sasuke, who was still sitting on Itachi's lap, his face burrowed in his brother's shirt.

Slowly Itachi stood up, lifting Sasuke onto his hips. The movement seemed to catch his brother's attention because he raised his head and turned his gaze to Naruto.

"Naruto? It's alright, my Nii-san's here to help us," Sasuke wasn't usually one to trust or care easily, but it was obvious he wanted the blond to come with them. Yet the teen still remained in his crouched position, distrust written all about his face.

Sasuke tugged at his brother's shirt to let him down. Itachi complied, if that Naruto person had wanted to hurt Sasuke, he wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of saving him.

He watched interestedly as his brother walked up to the crouched teen and touched his face with one of his chubby little hands.

"Come on, Naruto, let's go home, yes?" crooned the pale boy.

Naruto was torn. On one hand, he was exhausted and Sasuke obviously trusted the newcomer. On the other hand, that newcomer was Uchiha freaking Itachi, psychopath extraordinaire and he wanted to take them to Konoha, the most untruthful village of all.

The inner tug of war ended when a new voice called in from the entrance, "Yo, Itachi, did you find them? Or do you need help?"

Naruto's eyes widened in recognition, he knew that voice. It sounded a little younger, perhaps, and certainly livelier, and there was a touch of aversion in it he had never heard before. Nonetheless, it was beyond the shadow of a doubt the voice of one silver haired, one-eyed Jounin instructor.

And while he might distrust Konoha in general and Itachi particularly, his former sensei was one of the few he would entrust with Sasuke's safety.

Standing up was more painful than he would have thought, his body protesting further abuse. Taking Sasuke's hand firmly in his, he took three unsteady steps toward the entrance, before collapsing.

He didn't hear Sasuke's frantic cry or Itachi's call for Kakashi. He didn't feel the latter one picking him up and carrying him on his back. His last chakra reserves had been used up and the last traces of it that remained were frantically trying to keep his heart beating.

O

I

O

Itachi's gaze once again wandered from the peacefully sleeping form of his little brother, to the other room's occupant.

Charcoal eyes took in the pale face, the sharp cheekbones, the sun coloured hair, the strange whisker like faint scars. Cleaned of dirt, blood and mud the boy had a striking resemblance to the Yondaime.

It wasn't just that they had the same colouring. The boy's face looked like a more delicate version of Minato-sama's. And then there were the eyes. They had the exactly same shape and colour.

No one knew who the boy was. Well, they knew his name, since Sasuke had called him "Naruto", but they didn't know where he came from.

The blond boy's clothes had just added to the enigma. The white pyjamas he had worn were identical to the pyjamas Konoha's hospital clad its patients in. The reason that the boy had been in medical care made sense; he was dangerously thin.

Yet there were no records of him ever attending Konoha's hospital.

The medic-nin had told Itachi that there was nothing to be done but wait and hope that the boy's chakra would recover from the near burn out.

Sasuke's cuts had been healed in a matter of moments. Itachi feared that the wound inflicted on his brother's mind would take much longer to heal, if they ever healed at all.

Anger surged through him again, his eyes changing to raging crimson, his Sharingan swirling dangerously. How did they dare lay a hand on Sasuke?

Itachi had read Ibiki's report in the hours he spent in this room and he knew what his parents had done, what his mother had done. His father he could understand; the man had always been a power hungry bastard, but his mother had been gentle, understanding and loving.

He felt tears of frustration well up in his eyes and harshly swept them away with the back of his hand. His head hurt terribly. The Sharingan's enhancement, the weight of his new position, and the duties and responsibilities that had been heaped onto his shoulders and the worry about Sasuke finally were taking their toll on him.

A tired sigh escaped his lips. He would have to leave his position as ANBU captain. Hell, he would have to leave ANBU altogether, at least until Sasuke was older. Money wasn't a problem and he was sure the Yondaime would be very understanding. Itachi would probably assigned guard duty and the likes.

And then there was still the matter of one blond haired, enigmatic teenager.

Itachi had been surprised when the medics estimated the boy's age at sixteen or seventeen. The boy didn't look like he was older than Itachi. They were approximately of the same height and build. If anything the blonde's slender form made him look even younger than Itachi.

There was only one thing Itachi knew for sure: he owed the boy a huge debt for saving his brother's life.

TBC

AN: Feed my muse ;-)