Unsolicited

Chapter Eight

-Fan Girls-

A fifteen year old Toshiro and fourteen year old Akito walked down the streets of Suna. "That was some training." The redhead sighed, stretching his hands over his head as Akito nodded with a small smile. Both boys had just finished their routine training with one another, and were now treating themselves to lunch, since they didn't have any mission assignments.

It had been two years since Akito had come to live in Suna, and he had to admit, he really liked it. There were so many festivals, especially at night, and the missions were pouring in from everywhere. He was actually given hard missions to deal with. Though, unlike any of the other teams, his Dad, Gaara, had paired him and Natsumi up, as well as Toshiro and Satomi. Seeing as he didn't want to split up his children, and for them, two was more than enough to get the job done.

But the partner assignment had been recent. Right when Satomi and Natsumi graduated the Academy, the four were sent off to the Chuunin Exams, which they aced flawlessly. "Where do you want to eat today?" Akito asked the boy he considered to be his brother.

"I dunno. I'm really hungry though, so let's pick somewhere fast. And maybe some meat." He nodded excitedly.

"Sounds good to me."

The two headed into the district where most of the restaurants were and moseyed around, trying to agree upon the best place to stop. They froze when they heard a shrill yell and glanced back, to see a mob of young girls running towards them. "Oh God!" Toshiro shouted, running off with Akito right next to him.

"Not again!" the dark haired boy cursed.

As they had gotten older, both boys had become increasingly popular, especially with the ladies. It had gotten to the point of them both having fan clubs who had monthly meetings to vote and discover who would get to date who and for how long. Once they'd even been tricked into coming to one, which was a huge mistake. They'd barely made it out of there with their innocence still intact. "Girls are such freaks!" Toshiro yelled at his brother, not wanting to be assaulted again by the young female population.

"I don't understand why they do this! It's not like we're going to pick freaks who chase us on a daily basis!" Akito said. "Let's try maneuver four-sixteen. They won't see it coming."

Toshiro nodded. "Right. Let's do it."

Akito quickly made a few hand signs, blowing a huge cloud of smoke from his mouth that quickly covered both males. While in the cloud of ash, Toshiro made two sand clones of them both, letting them run from the cloud as the real boys leapt away and onto a nearby roof. Just as expected, the crowd of girls continued to chase the clones.

"Whew." Akito sighed in relief. "That was a close one."

"Yeah it was." Toshiro let out an irritated breath. "Man I hate girls."

"I know right? So irritating." The Uchiha looked around with a calculated gaze. "Should we even risk going somewhere to eat now? Or should we go home and just make ourselves something?"

The redhead sighed. "Well we did promise Satomi and Natsumi we'd meet them and go to lunch together. What do you think?"

Akito frowned. "They'll kill us if we don't meet them for lunch. And I don't feel like dealing with the repercussions today."

Toshiro snickered. "Not my fault you got a handful with Natty."

"Shut up." He punched his friend in the arm. "Just find Natsumi's sand with yours and teleport us over to them. That way we have a smaller chance of running into those freaks again."

The elder boy nodded and placed his hand on Akito's shoulder as the sand around them swirled and took them away into the wind. They moved through the village and then formed in front of an older Natsumi. "You're late." She sighed, as they appeared. "Satomi already headed home cause' she was tired of standing here."

"Sorry." Akito said. "We would have been on time, but those psychos chased us again, so we had to escape them first."

"You mean those psychos?" she blinked, pointing behind them to the mob of girls, who looked pissed. Toshiro and Akito glanced back and went wide eyed.

"Every man for himself!" Toshiro yelled, disappearing in a swirl of sand.

"Get him!" they shouted, pointing at Akito. Natsumi looked to Akito and gripped onto his arm.

"How come they won't leave you alone."

"Because they want to have my child and then marry me, in that order." He explained quickly, forming a few hand seals as he pulled away from her. "I'm sorry about lunch Natsumi. Let's just say I owe you." He said, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The pink haired girl let out a depressed sigh and looked at the now angry faces of the girls who had stopped in front of her. Her gaze hardened and she glared at them. "Leave my brother and Akito alone! They don't like you guys and you have no right." She said defensively, as she normally did when she had to deal with Akito's fan girls.

"Stop being so selfish Natsumi. You can't keep them all to yourself all the time." One girl said.

"I'm not keeping them to myself. It's my brother and my Akito." She defended, crossing her arms.

"Not for long. One of these days they're both going to leave you for one of us, and then where will you be?" another girl asked. "All alone, that's what."

Natsumi actually felt her stomach drop from the thought. "No they wouldn't. I know my brother will get married, but Akito wouldn't leave me." She said strongly.

"Why wouldn't he leave you? He's not bound to you, and you can't have him because technically he's your brother." The girl replied, raising a brow.

Her eyes widened. "Akito is not my brother." She said, glaring at them hatefully, her sand swarming dangerously around them. "And he promised me he would always be with me. So back off." She threatened, her emotions becoming a whirlwind inside her. Now she was thinking of what Akito felt for her. Did he think of her as a sister? Then she began to question what she felt. She didn't think of him as her brother, because if she did…Natsumi turned a dark red then, forgetting completely about the angry mob in front of her.

"Why would he stay with you, someone he could never really be with, when he could go out and find some woman to sleep with and have his kids? He's the last Uchiha, and he'll need as many heirs as he can get. That's why we've all volunteered. He's bound to pick one if us some day, but not you. Never you."

"How come he wouldn't pick me?" Natsumi asked worriedly.

"Duh, he obviously doesn't think of you the way you do him. I bet he only stays with you because he feels obligated, not cause' he wants to." She sneered.

Rage erupted throughout Natsumi and she moved quickly, slamming her palm into the girl's diaphragm and knocking the wind from her. "Don't you ever say that! You better back off!" she warned, pointing at all of them. She disappeared then, landing on the roof of her house. She held her head between her hands and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. It couldn't be true. Akito couldn't think of her as a sister. If he did…then…

She crouched down and tried not to cry. "No." she shook her head, feeling old, dark feelings resurface.

"Natsumi?" Akito's voice asked. He had teleported home, since it was the only place he was truly safe, and had been in the kitchen making himself some lunch. Then he'd felt Natsumi's chakra appear here, but not inside. Concerned, he'd gone out to look for her, and had found her on the roof. But she didn't looked good, and his concern turned to worry.

He rushed over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Natsumi, what's wrong? Did those fan girls attack you? Because if they did I swear I'll make them regret it." he frowned.

She smacked his hand away and covered her face, trying to stop the tears that were streaming down her face. "I don't need you to protect me out of obligation!" she yelled, growing angrier by the second.

His brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Natsumi stood straight and glared at him. "I don't need your help. I can take care of myself! So you don't have to be with me anymore! Ok! So go away!"

Akito actually looked hurt. "You…don't need me anymore?" he asked softly, searching her face. "But…I thought we were a team. We were always going to be a team, like we promised."

"Look." She let out an irritated breath, because the only emotion she was okay with displaying was anger, and even though it wasn't at him, he was the only one there to take it. "I don't want you to do the things you do because you have to, okay? So you don't have any obligations anymore."

"I don't understand where you got this idea from." He said, frowning. "It may have started out as an obligation when I was younger, because Dad said that that's what older brothers are supposed to do, but it isn't any more. I do the things I do because I want to. And it makes me happy to make you happy."

She stared at him warily, looking at his posture and then his face once more. "Really?"

"Yes really." He told her. "My day isn't complete if I don't make you smile at least once." He gave her a devilish grin, something he had picked up a while back and did occasionally, now that he was getting older.

A soft pink blush spread across her cheeks from the look and she swallowed. "Those crazy stalkers said that you would leave me for one of them one day." She said sadly.

Akito sighed and cupped her cheek. "Natsumi, why would I ever spend the rest of my life with some psychotic loser when I am perfectly happy spending my time with you?" he asked. "Those girls are just lying to themselves because they know that no other guy will ever want them."

"So you're never going to leave me?" she asked hopefully, smiling slightly.

"Of course not." He smiled. "We're family, and family always sticks together. Besides, I'd be a terrible brother if I just up and left you all by yourself."

Natsumi's smile fell from her face and she gave him a hard stare. "…My brother…?"

"Well…yeah." He said, not understanding her reaction to his words, since he was expecting something else entirely.

"You're my family Akito, but you are not my brother." She said seriously. It felt like her whole world was crashing down once again. "Okay?" she sniffed, her eyes watering from the knowledge that what those girls had said was true. He would never see her as anything more than a sister, and she didn't want that.

He blinked, and his hand fell from her face. "…Why not?" he asked softly.

She shook her head and tried to breathe even. "Because I don't see you like that ok!" she said, blushing a dark red. "I have to go and start dinner. Mom's going to be late tonight." She jumbled out, hurrying past him. It was odd, she was ok with them both referring to her parents as mom and dad, but she couldn't see Akito as her brother. She knew why, and the thought made her heart ache with sorrow of what would never be. And as it usually did with her sorrow, it slowly turned to anger at how unfair the world was.

He watched her walk away, incredibly sad. Normally he would have asked her if she wanted help with dinner, but he didn't feel like being rejected any worse than he already had today.

Why didn't she accept him as her brother? Toshiro did. Satomi did. Gaara and Sakura thought of him as their son, and even the entire village referred to him as the Kazekage's son. But why wouldn't Natsumi? Her words didn't make sense. She thought of him as family, but not as her brother? It was just strange. What did she think of him as, her cousin?

Determination welled up inside him then. He would just have to work harder to make Natsumi see him as her brother. Because without her love, his family wasn't complete. And since he'd always wanted a family like hers, even when his father was alive, he would get it. Nothing would keep him from his goal, not when he was so close.

Those thoughts in mind, he went inside in order to get a quick shower while Natsumi was making dinner, plans on how to win her over forming in his head as he did so. It might take a while, but that was a challenge he was willing to take.