The village the vacation house was near to had a large festival at New Year's, and the two of them had been out late. It had been cold, but there had been dancing and good drinks to warm them, and they rose late the next morning. Fugaku and Mikoto had gone back much earlier, just after nightfall, and it was their noise that woke Itachi and Neji from what had been a very sound sleep.
"Good morning!" Mikoto chirped as she set some boxes down on the floor of the main room. "There's still some food left over for breakfast. Help yourself, it's on the counter." Hungry, they drifted into the kitchen and ate their breakfast while waiting for water to boil for tea. Fugaku came in at one point, glared at them and told them to sit at the table like civilized men, and left again under Mikoto's orders.
"Oh—boys, come out here!"
Putting their used trays in the sink and pouring tea, Neji followed Itachi to where Mikoto was surrounded by a pile of dusty photo albums, looking triumphant. "I've found Itachi's baby pictures—"
"Mother…"
"—and I thought you'd like to see them, Neji. Here!" She put an album in his lap and got on her knees, opening it and turning the pages. "He always looked more like his father than like me—Sasuke was the one who took after me. And his expression was always so serious, even as a baby. When he was born, he didn't cry at all—it's true!" She giggled, giddy as a schoolgirl.
Amused, Neji shifted his cup to one hand and turned the pages of the album, coming across one of a five-year-old Itachi holding his brother; Sasuke could have been about a year, but was probably just a little bit younger. He looked over at Itachi, who was scowling into his tea. "You looked a lot alike."
"We still would, if it weren't for his ridiculous hair."
"Itachi," Mikoto said warningly. "Sasuke's hairstyle is his choice."
"He looks like the back end of a chicken."
"It's not polite to tease your brother, Itachi. Look here, this was at his graduation…"
They spent the better part of the afternoon going through the old albums, until Fugaku told them to stop being slothful and help clean the rest of the house.