AU: Hello my dear readers! Chapter 2 is here, a bit later than planned, but if all goes well and you enjoy it, I will upload more very soon.
Enjoy and REVIEW!(pretty please? :) I would love to hear your opinions/suggestions )
Chapter 2: Vanity
Sasuke's morning wasn't at all as quiet as he would have liked it to be. A lot of people gathering around to say goodbye to him and so many promises of keeping in touch in the future, promises that would have been broken even if Sasuke had actually cared about keeping them. He looked around at the crowd. Some people he knew, some people he had never spoken to in his life and that wasn't even strange considering the size of the orphanage, the number of people in it and Sasuke's introverted nature. What was strange, however, was the sudden interest everyone seemed to give him now that he was leaving the place.
He struggled to evade the people surrounding him and in the end made it to the comfort of his own room. He had hoped that he'd be left alone for a while, but his roommate had other plans. The blonde boy looked at him, with a mixture of happiness and sorrow in his eyes. It didn't take much to understand that he was equally happy because of Sasuke's new found family and wealth, and sad because he'd be sort of left behind, alone. Of course, they were still going to attend the same university, but now Sasuke had a real family, whatever that meant for Naruto.
"So… I guess I'll see you at school then…" he said and Sasuke simply shrugged.
He sat on his own bed, trying as hard as he could to ignore his depressed roommate, but his constant pouting made it hard to concentrate on more pressing matters like, let's say, Itachi.
"You know…" Naruto started, but just as he did someone knocked hard on the door.
"Sasuke, your brother's here for you" the old woman said just to leave immediately afterwards.
Sasuke grabbed his bag from the bed and quickly moved towards the door just to hear a whisper behind him.
"I am happy for you" Naruto said smiling, but again Sasuke just nodded then he left the room.
The crowd outside foretold Sasuke of something really really flashy going on near the building and as he made his way through the rows of people gathered in front of the gates, his guess became a hard fact.
Itachi was standing outside a black BMW, that looked like it'd be worth the entire orphanage and the people in it, but although he knew his fair share of cars, he couldn't put his finger on that particular one. Maybe it was something made especially for Itachi? Considering everything that he had seen until then, that was a possibility.
After his initial amazement allowed him to, he started walking towards his older brother who was casually waiting, like no one had noticed him or his car.
"Well, hello there Sasuke" he said flashing him a perfect smile, which looked awfully sincere.
"Uhm, yeah, hi." He answered obviously uncomfortable.
"Is something the matter?" his smile was suddenly gone and a worried expression took over his face. He couldn't quite comprehend Sasuke's displeasure.
"Well, you're waiting in front of an orphanage, with a car that could have all of us sold as slaves in order to have enough money to buy it. How do you think I'd feel about that?"
Itachi's face suddenly changed to something that couldn't be read and then an evil grin took over.
"I wouldn't mind one or two slaves myself." he said and then winked playfully to a baffled Sasuke. "I'm just joking of course, no need to sweat it. I won't sell you on the black market."
Sasuke felt completely amazed. This man was just unbelievable, flashing his perfection around, and then making a joke like that, but he got into the car with him nonetheless, not looking back to the place that he was leaving behind. He stared at the man in the driver's seat for a while, still baffled at how easy it came to his brother to just exhibit his ridiculous amount of money and charisma.
After he started driving, Itachi went completely silent and Sasuke forced himself to stay so as well, but in the end curiosity took over him.
"So, how about you tell me something about yourself as well? I take it you are well informed about me, but I don't know anything about you. It seems kind of weird."
Itachi turned to face him with a smile that went as fast as it came and Sasuke was really worried about the possibility of having a car crash.
"Hmmm, let's see. What would you be interested in knowing, little brother?" he said and Sasuke wasn't sure if his smile was genuine or just a mockery.
"How about your age? What do you like to do? How did you find me? Where do you live? How did I get separated from you in the first place?" Sasuke realized his questions were all over the place so he just decided to shut up and wait for an answer which didn't fail to come. He sounded like a teenage girl who has been given the chance to interview a pop star.
"I'm 23, don't worry. If I am old enough to be running a business and driving a car, than I can host you for some time as well."
"That wasn't why I asked. I don't really care if I am proberly being taken care of or not."
Itachi looked at him with a curious expression which kind of told Sasuke that he did not believe him. He raised an eyebrow and put on a questioning smirk.
"Why are you here then?"
"Curiosity I guess."
"The past?" he asked, and for the first time his voice sounded harsher. The past was obviously something he did not want to discuss as eagerly as his age.
"Not really, no. I don't actually want to remember anything. I was just curious as to what kind of person you were." Sasuke admitted. It was true, and it wasn't something to be hidden. His brother was intriguing him so he might have just admitted to it.
Itachi's face was a mixture of unpleasantness and delight and Sasuke really wished to hear what was going on in his mind right then, but before he could say anything more, another ravishing smile was flashed at him.
"I am happy to hear that my little brother has taken such a keen interest in me." he said while chuckling and Sasuke felt a very light trace of embarrassment.
Why was Itachi making it sound as if it were something to be proud of? Wouldn't anyone be interested? Did he say anything to imply more?
"You still didn't answer my other questions." He said after a while and looked straight at the man driving.
He was looking ahead, not moving to face Sasuke. His smile was also gone and after a while he just said a few words.
"It was night, everything was chaotic and no one truly knows anything, but you. Anyway, this is not something to be discussed now. We should have some other type of chat; after all it's been so many years since we've been together like this." Itachi said, looking nostalgic and sad.
The expression of resignation on his brother's face made Sasuke wonder what he had been through and thus he decided it might really be for the best to change the topic of their talk. They spent the rest of the journey listening to the soothing music on Itachi's radion and talking about whatever small things they could think about.
It was night already when they got to Itachi's house, or something more appropriate, Itachi's gigantic house. The sight made Sasuke almost jump out of the car to take in the needlessly spacious building in front of him.
The design was modern and somewhat cold, with lots of one way glass walls. Sasuke thought it was just like his brother, mysterious. You could see everything from inside, but nothing could be seen from outside.
"Do you like it?" he said, with a cunning smile on his face.
Sasuke jost nodded, knowing an answer would be pointless. He was after all staring at the house in front of him.
"After you" Itachi said, snapping him out of his reverie, and opening a huge door for Sasuke to enter.
He led him through a long corridor, explaining him everything about the house, telling him what to do to reach the kitchen and so on, and only stopped when they entered a big living room. One particular item caught Sasuke's attention and he stared at the photo for some time.
"Is she your girlfriend?" he asked, looking at the beautiful long haired woman who was smiling at the side of his brother.
"She's my fiancée" Itachi said with a somehow bitter smile. "Maybe you will meet her one day. As you can see… she's not here."
"Did you have a couple fight?" Sasuke said and then realized he should have kept his mouth shut. The woman was after all his fiancée. Things must have been pretty serious and if they did have a fight, Itachi must have been depressed over it.
To Sasuke's surprise, his brother simply smiled idly and looked at the photo.
"You could call it that I suppose. Or you could say that if it doesn't work out, it was never meant to be."
He seemed to be talking about someone else's life and Sasuke was astonished. Did he even care about the girl? Like always, his mouth started running without his consent.
"Do you love her?"
"Hm?" Itachi said raising a suspicious brow. "Why do you ask little brother? Did you already set your eyes on her?" he joked and then added. "If she wants you, you can have her. Now, how about I take you to your room?" he said then turned around to walk up a long set of stairs.
"This one here is your room and the one next is mine. There's a bathroom for each room so no need to go downstairs or anything. Are you following me?" he asked when he realized his brother seemed quite far away, both physically and mentally.
"Uhm, sure." Sasuke said, still astounded at his brother's attitude concerning his potential future wife. It seemed that each second he spent in his company made him look even more unbelievable.
"Do you want me to help you with those?" he said pointing towards Sasuke's luggage.
"No, thanks but I'll be ok" he answered, knowing he had so little belongings it wouldn't take him too long to place them all somewhere. "I'll go to sleep now. Good night." He said, hurrying to enter his room and have some time to rethink the events of that day when a hand grabbed his wrist.
"You forgot this." His brother said, smiling in a glamorous manner and placing a fast kiss on Sasuke's forehead. "Good night." He then turned around to walk to his own room.
Sasuke stood there in the doorframe, watching his brother disappear in the darkness of his own room and only after a while did he notice the set of keys that were now resting in his hand.
So that was it. Slowly but surely things will start moving! Also I apologize for any grammar errors. I did not really get the chance to edit this properly and it might feel a bit unpolished, but I promise to do a better job next time!
Have a nice day!