Summary

They find they have a little more in common than they thought...

A/N: Ta-da! Lookit what I did! A new update! Of course, it took me long enough! But I had a lot of things to do. And, I'm a little brain-dead right now as far as The Red Sin goes. I'm so close to being done that it's driving me insane. So, to keep you guys occupied, I'm going ahead with this next chapter. It's just a little short, but I thought it was cute. And a little neccessary. But anyway, here you go!

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She hummed an indistinct tune as she cooked whatever it was that smelled delicious. His stomach rumbled and he discreetly put a hand over it in embarrassment. Really though, she was the only person that willingly cooked a full out meal that he was willing to eat. After all, he didn't have to worry about her poisoning him. Deidara, on the other hand, would probably try to poison his cereal, if he even took the time to eat the stuff.

The last time that kind of kindness had happened to him was... back then. Swift memories of his mother standing at the kitchen counter chopping vegetables made him slightly dazed with remorse. He was lost in thought enough that he didn't hear Kagome step in front of him.

He did however, notice her waving sticky fingers in his face. Blinking languidly, Itachi leveled a minor glare at the priestess. She giggled and smiled charmingly at him.

"You finally make it back to earth, Space Cadet?"

"I never left it." She sighed, gracing him with a deadpan stare, before whirling away and sauntering back over to the oven.

"I was actually asking you a question when you zoned out there."

"I see. What was it?"

"Do you like tomatos?"

"Occasionally. My brother prefers them more, though," he replied easily, biting his tongue in shock and whipping his attention back to her when she dropped her spoon.

"Wait! You have a brother?" Kagome spluttered, goggling at the Uchiha in shock, "Why haven't you ever told me about this? Is he older? Younger? What's he like?" He cursed himself for the slip-up, and resigned himself to explain about Sasuke to her.

"Yes. He's younger than I. He'd be... 12 or 13 now. Sasuke's... a little rash. He gets that from... father."

"I've got a little brother too! He's probably about 11 by now. He was always such a brat." But the way she said it was so tenderly, he immediately knew that she loved him anyway. No matter what.

"They... do that. A lot. Little brothers always seem to want to be like the older child," he replied, watching the sky out the window idly and thinking back on a time when things were just a little easier.

"Yeah. But you always tell them to just be theirselves."

"They never understand that there's no need to walk in the older sibling's shoes."

"Exactly!" Kagome laughed, then launched into a dramatic story about how Souta had tried to roller skate shortly after she'd gotten a pair for her birthday one year. The image of a small boy that looked similar to Kagome rolling around on pink skates made him grin in amusement, and Itachi told her about Sasuke's attempt at the shuriken practice that he'd shown her several months ago.

"He ended up with a twisted ankle, and I had to carry him home," he sighed, thinking wistfully of those times. He really missed them occasionally.

"You sound like he means a lot to you," Kagome stated, tilting her head at the self-mockery that flickered across the male's face briefly.

"He's... my brother. I'd do anything for him."

'Even turn him against me to keep him safe.'

"I... I know what you mean." She talked easily about Souta all through dinner, regaling tale after tale about the younger Higurashi. It was a little harder for Itachi to talk about his brother, but with all the interesting things the priestess spoke about, he eventually gave in. Soon, they were comparing and differentiating between the two boys. They'd both agreed that it would be interesting if one met the other, and agreed to disagree on which one was the cuter one.

Itachi hadn't felt this light in years. Maybe... talking things out with someone wasn't such a bad idea after all. The pain in his heart lessened with each laugh that Kagome expelled, and he made a note that it wasn't that he'd talked about Sasuke, but that he'd told her.

He'd never felt closer to someone. Not even his parents. They were never interested in what he thought, or what he said. All they'd wanted was for him to do. They'd wanted a controllable puppet. Well, that had backfired beautifully in their faces. Because, in the end, they'd created a monster.

Kagome furrowed her brow slightly when it seemed like her friend had jumped on a space ship and blasted off again. "Itachi?" He snapped out of his funk immediately, the dark look in his eyes flickering away. Inwardly, she was happy that she'd chased that darkness away. It didn't suit him. At all.

"I'm fine."

"Do you want desert? I made cake?" She rose and started to the kitchen before he could protest.

"I don't like sweets."

"Well, too bad! You're too skinny!" Kagome argued, throwing a cheeky grin back at him. There was a twinkle in her eye that'd he'd come to associate with her teasing remarks.

"It's called a high metabolism!" Itachi countered, crossing his arms and leaning back gracefully on her sofa.

"Still too skinny!" she sang out, dancing into the kitchen and out of sight.

Huffing slightly in resignation, he settled himself to be accosted by her ridiculous sweet tooth. He wasn't that skinny, was he? Glancing down at himself, he took a vague note that his clothes did fit just slightly differently than before. Maybe she was fattening him up?

He wasn't surprised. After all, she sent cookies back with him almost everytime he went back to base. He was going to be a diabetic at this rate.

Really though, he'd never had someone care that much for him.

It was... nice. And for once, he decided against taking back the word.

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A/N: Awww! Another bonding session for our favorite two! Also, for those of you that didn't know yet, I have posted the first chapter of Hot For Teacher. If you're interested, check it out!

So, I've got a little secret for you guys... -looks around-

I finally finished the outline for this story. And, I have to say, I'm a little more than half-way done with the whole thing. Things are about to get very dramatic very soon. This story is going to total out somewhere between 35-40 chapters, give or take a few. I appreciate the support you guys are giving me. Hope it continues until the very end. You guys are great!

Also, NEW POLL! And this one is a just little more serious than usual, so I would really appreciate your votes on what you think.

I like those reviews. They're really nice.