Note: I brought in another character for a moment, but I would not be against getting suggestions for other characters and their hybrid types. I have Sai, Kakashi, and Sakura if I decide to through them in, but how about the others?

Same warnings as previous chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters.

Glaring at the blinding snow, Sasuke followed silently behind his brother, Kyuubi, and Naruto—who happened to be dashing ahead of the group—following some weird tradition set up by their parents to be sent out into the freezing world while they got to stay in the warm house drinking wine. He really didn't understand how the forced tradition was never overthrown, especially by Naruto's complaints about the cold by the end of the outing; however, it wasn't until Naruto's excitement died down that he realized how cold he managed to get.

To say that Sasuke was annoyed by the whole thing would be correct, but that wasn't to say that he hated it. Although he would never admit it, he would never say that he resented the tradition; he just thought it was pointless to be shoved off into the cold in order to spend time with the other three. It was who he would run into on these trips that he wished he could avoid.

"Hey! Naruto!"

Sasuke sighed as the blonde turned his head in order to see the wolf hybrid struggling to run through the knee-deep snow in order to get to the group. Then again, Sasuke figured that he should feel relieved that it wasn't someone who would bother him that showed up.

Continuing forward, the younger white tiger caught up with his brother—Kyuubi having fallen slightly behind at this point as he was chatting with Kiba and Naruto.

"Sasuke."

Blinking slowly, and feeling the strange warmth covering his eyes before the harsh cold bit at them once again, Sasuke wondered what his brother wanted.

"Hn?"

"Never mind."

Narrowing his eyes at his brother, the younger of the two Uchiha brothers knew that Itachi was trying to bother him. Sadly, no matter how much he told himself that he wouldn't fall for his brother's tricks, Sasuke always took the bait.

"What do you want, Itachi?"

Seeing the sly smirk that made its way across his brother's face, Sasuke knew that he fell right into his brother's trap.

"So…it's winter again…and he was in your bed…again."

"What are you getting at?" Sasuke demanded. "I thought you were on my side of this weird belief of Kyuubi's."

Sasuke felt increasingly more uncomfortable at the gleam in his brother's eyes. Itachi could be scary if he wanted to be…and if it involved Sasuke's personal life…that was definitely something to fear.

"Kyuubi isn't exactly the smartest hybrid out there, and all he does is spout out things I already know."

"That you know?" Sasuke questioned. "I'm not in love with his idiotic brother."

"Denial."

"Shut up," the younger of the two demanded, thankful that the fox hybrids were still occupied with chatting with Kiba. "What about you and Kyuubi?"

"What about us?"

"You two might as well be mates."

Sasuke didn't like the look of contemplation on his brother's face. He was just trying to annoy his brother back for what he said, but it looked like his plan was going down the drain.

"We are."

Sasuke stopped moving as if he had been struck by lightning. WHAT?!

"Kyuubi just doesn't know it yet. Like you and Naruto."

Resuming his walk, Sasuke decided to ignore his brother. If he didn't already think so, Sasuke would have sworn that his brother was insane. Though, it was interesting to know that Kyuubi was doomed to a life of being stuck as his brother's mate because once an Uchiha decides what they want…it rarely slips from their grasp. He almost felt sorry for Kyuubi.

~*~*~*~

The four almost completed their designated time outside and were heading back. By now the sun was setting, and Naruto was constantly complaining about the cold, to which Sasuke seemed to be ignoring. Oh well, Itachi knew that his little brother just needed a push in the right direction in order to understand what was going on.

Even Itachi, though he wouldn't admit it out loud, had been unaware of the purpose of relationships until he was a teenager. At that time he had finally agreed—silently—with Kyuubi about their brothers, and he also had come to the conclusion that Kyuubi would be his mate. Sure, he never mentioned this to the red fox, but he really didn't think that he had to. Other hybrids would understand, or learn the hard way, that the other was the mate of an Uchiha.

Now he just needed a chance to direct Sasuke before he was too late; the little fennec hybrid needed to be caught before someone else snatched him as a mate. This concern was purely for his little brother. Ever since the day Naruto blamed Sasuke for making him lose the butterfly, Sasuke had never reacted so actively with anyone. Naruto was the only one who was able to get Sasuke to actually live once in a while, so Itachi dubbed it his job to get the two brats together.

"Why does it have to be so cold?!" Naruto complained.

"Where almost there, Naruto," Itachi stated calmly.

"But Itachi…" Naruto whined while giving the older Uchiha puppy eyes.

Itachi was about to tell Naruto that they would be back to the house in a few minutes, but spotting the look of annoyance coming from his brother, the older white tiger realized that he had a momentary chance to annoy his brother. Pulling Naruto flush against him, Itachi mentally smirked at his brother's narrowed gaze. He wasn't worried about Kyuubi's reaction since, from what he could see, Kyuubi was also amused that Sasuke seemed annoyed.

"Warmer?" Itachi questioned.

The fennec nodded with a flush that was obviously from the cold rather than embarrassment. Naruto was such a hyperactive and contact-loving person that simply being held by someone he had known for most of his life wouldn't bother him; however, Sasuke might be getting the wrong idea…and that would be fun.

"Yeah, thank you, Itachi. You're nicer than, Sasuke."

He pretended that he didn't hear his little brother's growl at Naruto's comment.

"Come on, let's just get back to the house," Sasuke grumbled while stomping back toward the house.

"Hey, stop being a bastard," Naruto shouted while ripping out of Itachi's grasp.

Chuckling to himself, Itachi watched as the blonde darted after Sasuke. It was amusing that Naruto was so single minded, his thoughts always going back to Sasuke, that he ignored the warmth offered by another. If he wasn't trying to get the two younger boys together or didn't know Naruto's nature, Itachi might have felt offended by the sudden abandonment, but that was obviously not the case.

~*~*~*~

Rushing past the others, Naruto darted into the house while pulling off his jacket. The mentioned article of clothing was of no use to keeping him warm at this point, in fact, the insulation that had attempted to keep him warm outside, was keeping him cold once he entered the warm house.

"Naruto, go change into some of Sasuke's old clothes," Mikoto told him, like every year before. "You know where they are, and when you're done with that, you can have some hot chocolate."

Doing as the white tigress said, Naruto faintly heard her greet the other three before he shut and locked Sasuke's door. One year he forgot to lock it…and Sasuke seemed to avoid him for a while after that. The fennec hybrid wasn't sure why Sasuke had avoided him, they were both boys anyway, it's not like they had anything different from each other, but he knew enough to keep from being the subject up.

Opening the closet door, Naruto immediately pulled a long sleeved shirt and a hoodie before heading over to the dresser drawer and getting sweatpants. All of the items were horribly dark colors that the blonde would normally complain about, but he was too cold to care about that. Quickly getting into each article of clothing, while keeping his own undergarments of course, Naruto also grabbed a blanket off of Sasuke's bed for more warmth. He then unlocked the door and found himself face to face with the owner of the room. Sticking his tongue out at the slightly older hybrid, the blonde bounced off to get his hot chocolate.

Naruto had to say while he hated the cold, he had fun running around all day, especially when he got hot chocolate out of it in the end.

"Damn you, Itachi!"

Stopping to blink, Naruto wondered what Itachi did to bother Sasuke so much, but he was more concerned with getting his warm beverage than with the Uchiha brothers' issues…and he knew they had a lot of those.