Stockholm Syndrome

Sasuke's POV

"How about this?" Sakura asks, showing me a black stocking cap with a red cloud on it. "Do you think that Itachi would like it?"

I give it a look, not really sure that my brother would be into that sort of thing. Sure, he likes black and red, but I don't think he would be interested in something so... cultish. Not that a black hat with a few red clouds is cultish... maybe I'm overreacting.

"I don't know. Go with your instincs." I offer. Sakura purses her lips. She studies the hat in her hands then at me, a thoughtful look on her face. Then she frowns.

She looks at me, again. "He'll never wear it."

I smile sadly. "Yeah, probably not. He's real anal about his hair."

Sakura snorts loudly and throws a hand over her mouth a nose. We share a dumbfounded look before both of us start cracking up. Sakura's snort comes back and that makes us laugh harder. Naruto, who heard us laughing came to join in the fun.

Naruto and I both start making snorting noises to tease Sakura, she surprisingly takes it well and we laugh for about 10 straight minutes. Everyone around us giving looks that might suggest their worried for our sanity. Sakura throws the hat back on the rack and pulls her gray Donegal cap over her pink hair.

I do a quick check of my black fleece hat. Until the case with Itachi blows over and something more interesting happens in the town Sakura, Itachi, mom, dad and I have to be hidden in public unless we want the people to be all, "Ooh... it's those people. The ones from the Uchiha vs. Institute case..."

"Anal about his hair," Sakura snickers looking around for something else to buy my brother. I grin at my joke. It's more truth then anything else but it was nice to laugh with Sakura and Naruto. Itachi would not have liked what I said. He'd probably of retorted something equally as mean and as embarrassing like bringing up my adolescent years. Ha ha.

After hours of depressing shopping we all meet up in the food court. We all sit in a circle table and discuss our trips without revealing our gifts. Hey, that rhymed.

Sakura told him the failed attempt at a gift she was going to get him and we all laughed. A split second before Itachi and Kisame joined us, they shared a look.

"I'll remember that Sasuke." Itachi says after the joke lost it's luster. A teasing glint deep in the depths of his midnight black eyes, "Don't forget, I helped change your diapers. And when you were a baby and noticed what you had between your legs-you cried." Ah ha! I knew he was going to attack me in my baby years.

Wait what?

"Huh?" I ask over Naruto, Sakura and Kisame's laughter. "What the hell do you mean, I cried?"

"Sissy!" Naruto laughs, "Come on! You were scared of your own pe-Ow! Sakura that hurt!"

Sakura glares at him. "Well, sorry Naruto but your voice travels."

Kisame takes a bite of his pizza and gives a snicker like he thought of something funny. "Seriously, brat. Be considerate of all the people here who don't want to hear about Sasuke's dick."

Naruto laughs and wiggles his eyebrows at me. "Think about the people that do! Sakura!"

I blush as Sakura does. "Idiot! I'm over that! Gaah!"

I clear my throat and look to my brother who looks at me with half lidded eyes, leaning on his hand, elbow supported by the table. His long black hair dipped over his thin shoulder onto the table. While looking at my brother, I noticed that not only is he really petite but he also has a strong look to him.

My brother has a big friend like Kisame who looks like he lifts weights heavier then my brother and I combined, but Kisame isn't in control when it comes to the two of them. My brother is able to make people, like his friends, listen to him and turn to his side of the situation.

Oh my god, he could be a politician!

"What are you thinking about?" I ask softly, leaning close to my brother so we can speak privately. Naruto notices and instead of making a big deal about it, he gets Sakura and Kisame into a conversation of their own. Sometimes, I love Naruto. He's loud and obnoxious at times but he is a true friend and I don't know what I would ever do without him being a light in my life.

Itachi stares at my vacant area, lost in his thoughts. I watch him blink slowly and admire his long eyelashes brushing his cheeks. My lashes are long and so are mom and dad's but none of ours are as long as Itachi's.

My thoughts travel into a deep dark, untraveled area in the deep crevis' of my mind. A sudden thought comes to me, something that never accured to me until now.

Why would a man such as that want to rape my brother, a witness to his crime, instead of just kill him?

My eyes run over my brother's petite form. His thin arms and legs. His long thin fingers. His long hair hidden, besides his bangs and a little on one side that needs to be fixed, in a black hat much like mine, and lashes. His thin face. His deep slow voice that seems like a lullaby. Those sensual deep black eyes and his pale silky white skin. The necks of all his shirts, just low enough that you can see his protruding collarbone and long pale neck.

"Quit staring."

I blink and look to my brother's eyes. The ones that are now staring at me.

"Your making me nervous." he says softly, though he doesn't look nervous at all. I offer a light smile.

"Sorry..." I mumble, "just admiring your good looks."

Itachi's dark eyes sparkle and his lips part. "Sasuke..." he frowns slightly then his eyes intensify. "Don't... just... just don't move."

I do as told as my brother leans closer, so slowly. I knew instantly that he was going to kiss me and my breath caught in my throat. Was this really happening? His breath sweeps across my face and then his lips are hovering over mine. Dimly I notice that Itachi and I are the same height- where had the years gone?

My heart pounds loudly as Itachi's eye waters up slightly but his lips press lightly against mine. The tear escapes and slides out of his closed black eye. His lips only lay against mine for a moment before he pulls back slightly, laying his forehead against mine. "Sasuke..." he breaths lightly, voice thick, "please... forgive me..."

I can't possibly fathom the need to forgive him for anything. Then I realized.

Itachi doesn't want to love his brother so much. The tear was one of pain. He loves me so much that at times, like this, it's painful to him. He's disgusted with himself for loving me, his baby brother who he did in fact take care of since I was a baby. He could never be grossed out by me loving boys, but merely cannot fathom how someone he loves so dearly could ever love him just as much in return. That was why Itachi went silent to protect me... cause he never had a chance to believe otherwise.

He loved me more then his freedom.

Tears leap through his closed eyelids, sliding down his thin face. I bring up my hands and wipe the tears away. His eyelids part and his black eyes appear, eyelashes wet.

When those sad eyes looked at me I remembered all the nights I held my sobbing brother. I thought he was crying because his tormentor took his voice away... but now I realise that as I held him he wanted so much to speak to me again but he couldn't. Not if I was in danger. He swallowed the words he could never say.

I love you.

I want to hold you.

I want to love you.

I want us to be together forever.

We belong together.

No one can have you, I wont allow it.

I want you to love me.

I open my mouth to speak but no words come out. There is nothing I could possibly say that could make up for the years my brother has loved and taken care of me. The nights that he sat up alone, crying because he didn't know I would comfort him. This is why when I proclaimed my love to him he took it so bad. He thinks he's a monster older brother manipulating his baby brother.

To everyone else, that's what it will seem like.

But no one knows how much my brother truly loves me. I might not even be able to fathom it. Who in the world could ever love someone so much that it physically hurts them to be near said love but is life threatening to be away from?

Finally, the words come to me. "I love you." I whisper so softly, I don't think he even heard me. More tears fall but his face remains unchanged.

"Forgive me." he whispers back just as lightly.

I smile tenderly. "Never." I kiss his lips as hard as I can, his tears wetting my face. I feel his hand rest on my chest, right under my collarbone. I pull back and place it over my heart. "I'm alive, Itachi," I breath, "and it's all because of you. I will never forget that." More tears fall from his eyes but he doesn't pull away.

I notice that Sakura, Naruto and Kisame are looking at us, but looking away and continuing their conversation on crappy airline food (even Naruto has only been on an airplane once) and pretending not to see us. They are good friends. Naruto and Sakura are my best friends in the whole world and Kisame would never betray Itachi. They have been best friends since they were little kids and have been inseparable ever since that first day.

Kisame keeps Itachi laid back and protected while Itachi keeps Kisame company and helps him get out of trouble. A tight friendship that both hold dear. Almost always are the two of them together. I never noticed how much Kisame really cared about Itachi until this day.

When Itachi and I pull back, I start putting his long black hair, besides his bangs, back up while he tries to compose himself. Kisame instantly turns to him and starts talking like nothing was happening just a moment ago. Itachi whips the last of his tears away and takes a weak bite of his salad and answers in a thick voice.

Naruto and Sakura catch on to the older more experienced friend and starts up their own conversation with me.

Once we call it a day and decide that there have been enough gifts bought, we all hop back into the car and Itachi drives us home, now completely under control. He chats with Kisame about a chemistry test and how if Kisame doesn't study then he's gonna fail it and drop a whole letter grade.

From what I gather through this rather obvious observation, Kisame doesn't care nearly as much about his grades as Itachi does. When I voice this thought, Kisame agrees right away and Itachi glares at me lightly in the mirror. He drops Naruto off fist, then Sakura, then Kisame and when we get to our house, mom and dad are ushering us in for dinner.

"How was the mall, Sasuke?" mom asks.

I take a bite of my chicken and shrug. "Fine. Apparently Itachi is anal about his hair and I'm scared to be a boy."

Mom nearly chokes on her water and bursts out laughing as dad turns away to hide a chuckle. Itachi buries his head in his hands, apparently embarrest with what I just said or for me. I smile and proudly toss a tomato into my mouth, chewing with raised eyebrows.

"Not appropriate language for the table, Sasuke." Dad says in a low, uncontrolled voice. Mom gasps for breath at the end of her laughing session and chugs down her water before asking the maid to get her more. All the hired help in the room try to smother their laughter as well and the maid gratefully rushes from the room and burst out laughing when the door shuts behind her.

Once our dinner is done we all go to our separate corners of the house. Dad goes to his office, mom goes to her art room, Itachi goes to his room, and I go to the bathroom. I take a shower and think about the day I just had, wondering if it is real. In just a few hours I learned more about Naruto, Sakura, Kisame, and Itachi then I ever knew. How is that when you think you know someone, when you take the time to really look at them and their actions, you realise that there is even more to them, then what you see.

Once I'm done showering and in bed, I close my eyes and try to sleep. An anxious, itchy feeling worms it's way into my gut. I roll over and look out to the moon, curious on how it feels... to always watch the world beneath it without being able to reach out and interact with it.

How would I feel?

How do I feel?

There is a creek from my door. I look over to see it open slightly. After a moment longer, it opens all the way and Itachi steps in, and closes the door behind him. His long black hair is released from it's confounds and glitters a light gray color in the moonlight. I move back as he crawls into bed with me.

"I want to talk."

"About today?" I guess, gazing into those dark eyes.

He nods, looking ashamed. "Yes," he looks back at me, "Sasuke... I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't right. You're my little brother and I shouldn't have encouraged your love for me..."

I wait for him to continue but he doesn't so I say, "There is nothing you can do that could possibly stop me from loving you, Itachi. Kissing you today made me so happy. It made me feel special and complete and just... the most lucky person in the world. I wouldn't take it back for anything."

Itachi shakes his head, dejecting. Almost like he gives up. He scoots forward a little and kisses my lips lightly. I intertwine my fingers into his hair and pull him closer. He doesn't seem to mind. I run my tongue along the bottom of his lip and he opens up so we can fight. Running our tongues along one another. He and I pull back for a breath and stare at each other. Some kind of silent understanding between us.

This is what I want.

You are what I want.

You and I are perfect for one another.

I love you more then can ever be put into words.

I pull my fingers from the silky locks and lay my forehead against his as he and I wrap our arms around each other and close our eyes.

I could get used to this.

A/N: How was that? A lot longer then I thought it would be. I thought of ending about 600 words ago but my account hasn't been letting me update so out of boredom I came back and wrote more and had to force myself to stop. Enjoy the long chapter! Rate, Review and have an awesome day!