Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Older Brother: Responsibility

Responsibility. It was doomed to fall upon all elder siblings, Itachi included. He remembered the first time his parents had told him to look after his newly born younger brother, placing the bundle in his arms as they rushed off to fight the nine-tailed fox, telling him to be responsible and protect his brother from any harm that might come their way.

Wise beyond his years, Itachi knew his parents were not only asking him to look after his brother during their immediate absence, but for as long as he lived. It was his job, his duty. His responsibility.

Itachi took his duty very seriously, always watching out for Sasuke, but always covertly. He didn't want to smother the younger. Most of the time, Itachi knew how to keep Sasuke relatively happy and safe, taking great pleasure in his role of older brother. But one day Itachi was stumped and wished to the Gods that he didn't have to play the role of responsible older brother.

On a rare day without a mission, Itachi had been resting at home for most of the day, taking a little time to train and help around the house. Sasuke had gone to the Academy and it had been a peaceful day. By the evening a great torrent of rain had decided to assault the Leaf Village, soaking the ground to a widespread slipping hazard. When the storm picked up, Itachi had felt a brief pang of sympathy for Sasuke who would now be walking home in the rain but paid it little mind. His brother was not fragile enough to get hurt by a little water.

Half an hour later, Itachi was practically glued to the windows, watching for his brother's return. Mikoto and Fugaku had arrived home recently and they had not seen Sasuke. They brushed off his absence, theorising that he may have stayed at the Academy to train until the rain died down. Itachi doubted it very much but tried to act nonchalant about the matter. It lasted a grand total of ten minutes.

"Father, I'm going to get Sasuke," Itachi called, pulling on a cloak and tugging the hood up. He couldn't take it any longer; he had to check that Sasuke was okay. Unwanted images of Sasuke being attacked, lying on the pavement half-dead, waiting for someone to find him plagued his mind. He was beginning to fret outwardly, hands constantly finding something to fiddle with, Sharingan flaring at unexpected intervals.

Itachi had expected his Father to reprimand him, tell him to stop coddling Sasuke and let him find his own way home but Fugaku only grunted in assent, either not paying attention or too tired to form actual words.

The rain pounded Itachi like dozens of tiny fists as he stepped outside, quickly setting off for the Academy. There were few villagers out, scurrying like mice and ducking into every doorway as they tried to make their way home. The sky was already dark with the night setting in, dense grey clouds shielding the moon.

When Itachi found Sasuke, he nearly stopped short in surprise. He had half-expected to find Sasuke at the Academy training, the other half expecting to find him injured on the path somewhere. Itachi was relieved it was not the latter state he found Sasuke in, and neither the first really, as he didn't really want to have to walk all the way to the Academy and back in this weather.

Finding his younger brother struggling through the rain, his clothes completely drenched, was not the shock. It was the box of kittens Sasuke was trying to shield with his small body as he waded through puddles that nearly made Itachi start. However, Itachi was an elite Shinobi, and quickly recovered from his surprise, quickly striding over to his little brother and stopping right in front of him.

"Itachi?" It seemed Itachi's presence was genuinely unexpected but also well-received, a smile engulfing the younger's features.

"What on earth are you doing?" Itachi asked, looking pointedly at the box in Sasuke's arms. There were five small kittens huddled in the box, fur shining and dripping with water. Sasuke clutched the box closer to himself protectively and explained,

"I found them – abandoned - and I couldn't leave them!" Itachi could make out the words 'Abandoned, please take' written in heavy black marker on the side of the box. It seemed someone did not want the animals. Even Itachi, who had taken human lives, knew it was cruel to leave helpless animals to fate. But…

"And what do you intend to do with them?" he asked Sasuke, fearing what the answer would be.

"Take them home," Sasuke said, perfectly serious and sure. Itachi held back the sigh. He was certain his Mother and Father would object to an animal in their house, let alone five. Itachi knew what had to be done and thought he might as well break the news now.

"Sasuke, you know we won't be able to keep them. Leave them, they'll be fine."

They would not be fine. They would certainly be dead within a couple of days. People in Konoha did not take in pets if they served no purpose. If starvation didn't kill them, the messenger falcons would probably pick them off for a snack.

As if sensing the lie, Sasuke hugged the box even tighter and narrowed his eyes defiantly.

"They won't! We have to take care of them." Sasuke would normally obey his brother's and parent's wishes, and rarely pleaded for anything, except maybe to be taught a new technique. Itachi could feel the headache coming and wished he did not have to be the responsible one. If he let Sasuke go back to the house armed with a box of kittens, Itachi would get it in the neck, asked why he didn't take responsibility and cast the things away from his brother as soon as he saw them.

If it was anyone else, Itachi may have stood his ground, but with Sasuke….

He could see how much this was hurting his brother. Itachi didn't want to be the heartless older brother, leaving animals to die in front of his little brother, telling him it was for the best, or that it would happen at some point anyway. Sasuke adored him and Itachi could not bear to betray that kind of trust, at least not now…

But could he give Sasuke the false hope and let him take the animals home, just to watch their Mother and Father cast them back out to the streets? The Uchiha Clan as a whole did have a fondness for cats but Fugaku and Mikoto were never particularly interested in them.

One of the kittens mewed softly, lifting its head and gazing squarely into Itachi's eyes. Itachi spared it a glance and looked back to Sasuke's face and could swear he was looking at the same kitten. Soaked to the bone, looking extremely pitiful with wide, pleading eyes….

Sasuke waited for Itachi to say something.

"Let's…just get out of this rain. We'll take them home and see what Mother and Father say," Itachi sighed. That was the best he could do. Sasuke's face lit up and he trotted after his brother, hunched over the box in a feeble attempt to stop the rain from hitting it.

Itachi hoped he had chosen the lesser of two evils by at least letting Sasuke carry the cats home, but he was only delaying the inevitable. Itachi was no stranger to the cruelty of the world, and could have easily left the animals to die. But Sasuke, who was still innocent and compassionate…something like that could destroy him.

When they got home, Mikoto rushed to meet them, fretting that something had happened to the both of them.

"You look like a pair of drowned – cats!" she exclaimed, seeing the box in Sasuke's arms. It wasn't the happy sort of exclamation, Itachi noted, but only pure unexpectedness.

"I think the saying is 'drowned rats' darling," Fugaku said from somewhere within the house but Mikoto paid him no mind.

"Sasuke, what are you doing with those?" she questioned, looking sternly at her youngest son.

"Someone abandoned them," Sasuke told her calmly, tapping the scribbled note on the box, as if that explained everything.

"But why did you bring them here?" Mikoto asked, sending Itachi a look that clearly said, Shouldn't you have sorted this out? Itachi looked away and peeled off his dripping cloak.

"I couldn't just leave them!" Sasuke said. Fugaku came to see what all the fuss was, stopping mid-sentence when he saw the animals.

"What is-" His face hardened as he saw the mass of fur in his house.

"Sasuke found some abandoned cats in the rain," Mikoto told her husband.

"You know we can't keep them, Sasuke. Put them back outside – outside the Uchiha District." Sasuke shook his head, more disbelievingly than out of defiance.

"But they'll die! I can't let them die!" Sasuke said desperately.

"Sometimes you just have to let nature take its course, sweetheart," Mikoto tried to console her youngest, but Sasuke still looked stricken.

"But we could keep them and save them! Or just keep them until we find them new owners-"

"This is not up for negotiation. Put them outside, and if someone does want them, they'll take them. Although I doubt there's anyone who will take them." 'Ouch,' Itachi thought, 'So blunt.' With that, Fugaku turned smartly on his heel and walked away, not waiting to check that Sasuke was doing as asked; he was confident that he would be obeyed.

Mikoto patted Sasuke's wet hair and left him to it. The look on Sasuke's face almost made Itachi want to cry. His brother looked despairingly at the kittens, and Itachi wanted to mutilate himself for not stopping this sooner. Maybe he should have ordered Sasuke to be rid of them as soon as he saw them. Cruel to be kind and all that. That was his responsibility, was it not? To protect his brother from unnecessary harm, and to help his parents raise him?

Sasuke struggled to open the door with his hands occupied so Itachi opened it for him, following him out into the rain to make sure his brother did as asked. He had no doubt that Sasuke would but he had never seen him so upset over something before.

Itachi expected Sasuke to leave them just outside the Uchiha District but he kept walking until he came to a bench. Sasuke slid the box under the bench, shielding the animals from the elements. Itachi, who had assumed this would be the best they could do, had his expectations thwarted again when Sasuke reached into his schoolbag and pulled out a pen. Crouched on the ground, Sasuke scribbled out the first message and wrote 'Please care for' on the cardboard.

Satisfied, Sasuke stood up and walked home. Itachi pulled his brother close to him, the best comfort he could offer at this point. He couldn't find his voice to speak to Sasuke. Maybe it was because, during the whole encounter with their parents, he hadn't said a word.

When they returned, it was like nothing had happened. Sasuke appeared unaffected and the evening proceeded as it normally would. Their parents attended a short Clan meeting Itachi was excused from as it was only about a distant cousin's future marriage, Sasuke did his homework and went to bed and Itachi shut himself up in his room. A normal evening.

And it was killing Itachi. He listened for movement, wondering if his brother would sneak out the house to go and fetch the kittens but all was silent. At first Itachi was glad for this; he didn't want to have to take responsibility and tell Sasuke to cast them out again. He didn't want it to come to that but wished there was some way he could help to clean up this mess he had let unfold. Then it hit Itachi.

Swifter than the wind, Itachi flew out of the house, getting soaked once more by the persistent rain, and found the kittens, exactly as Sasuke had left them. Itachi reached for the box and hissed in pain when one of the kittens, apparently deciding that he was a threat, reached out and snagged him with one of its sharp, tiny claws.

Itachi cursed the thing and dragged the box out, watching his blood smear on the dry ground under the bench. He carried them back to the house and hid the box in under his bed. Luckily his parents were still at the meeting and Sasuke still fast asleep. Itachi dashed to the kitchen to grab a small bowl and fill it with water before taking a piece as large as he dared of the leftover chicken from that night.

Itachi placed the water and meat in the box with the animals and wanted nothing more than to collapse on his bed. His work wasn't done yet though. He switched his wet clothes for dry ones and crept about the house, mopping up any water he had accidently trailed inside. When everything seemed to be in place, Itachi made one last stop to the cupboard concealed inside his Father's office. With ease, he took what he needed and headed back to his room, stashing the goods in his bottom draw.

He saw the food had disappeared and finally allowed himself to sleep.

…

Early in the morning, before anyone else in the District was awake, Itachi heard Sasuke sneak out. He knew where his brother was going and drifted back to sleep, waking again not five minutes later when he heard Sasuke creeping back into the house.

Itachi thought that Sasuke, having seen that the box of kittens was gone, would assume some kind-hearted soul had taken them into their home. When Itachi's sleep was disrupted for the third time, it was by slight sniffling sounds coming from his little brother's room. Mikoto and Fugaku were not as light sleepers as Itachi so would not have heard any of the commotion.

Sparing a moment to check that the animals were still in the box under the bed, which they were, thank goodness, Itachi stealthily made his way to Sasuke's room. Light was already seeping in through the curtains and the rain had stopped, leaving a quiet, dozy kind of morning. Sasuke was sat up in bed, legs pulled under his chin which he was sobbing quietly into, arms wrapped around himself.

He jumped when he finally noticed Itachi's presence and tried to hide the evidence of tears. When the tears kept falling, he opted instead to bury his face in his knees again, like he was willing the world to go away.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Itachi asked quietly.

"I-I killed them," Sasuke hiccupped.

"What? Killed who?"

"The cats. Just now, I went to check if they were still there, if they were still okay and they were gone. I shouldn't have left them out there. Because of me they're dead." Itachi smiled, shaking his head at his brother's assumption.

"Don't you think that someone could have taken them in? Don't jump to conclusions," Itachi said. Sasuke's already trembling form shook harder.

"I thought so too, at first. But then I saw blood on the ground." Ah, that would explain why Sasuke thought they were dead.

Itachi decided that it would be easier if he could show Sasuke. He bid Sasuke follow him to his room, both stepping silently across the hall. Itachi led Sasuke to his bed, told him to keep quiet and carefully pulled the box out from under the bed. His brother's face was priceless. He looked like he wanted to cry, smile, scream and laugh all at once. In the end he settled on a smile and hugged Itachi, looking up at him in awe.

"You saved them?"

"Yes," Itachi said, "And the blood you saw was where one of them nicked me." He showed Sasuke the cut on his hand. At Sasuke's hopeful expression Itachi hastened to add, "But we're not keeping them. We're going to find them a new home."

"But Father said no one would want to take them," Sasuke said sadly, reaching out to pet one of the kittens behind its ears – the same kitten that had scratched him last night, Itachi noted sourly.

"That's why we're going outside the village."

"Huh? But what-"

"You just let me handle everything and play along, okay?" Itachi sent Sasuke back to his room and he hid the cats back under his bed, wrapping a thin blanket around the box to discourage the cats from wandering.

At a more decent time in the morning, the Uchiha family rose as usual. Itachi was off missions again and, it being the weekend, Sasuke was not expected at the Academy. Itachi knew that their parents had Clan business that morning and missions later on. After breakfast, Itachi asked Fugaku if he could borrow some poison for his kunai, intending to tip the edges in the toxic substance. Their Father easily obliged and went to get a bottle from his office. Itachi sent a wink to Sasuke when they heard their Father's stunned shout of,

"What on earth?"

"What's wrong?" Mikoto asked as Fugaku walked back into the kitchen, looking like he had seen a ghost.

"All the poison's gone."

"Gone? Have we used it all up already?"

"We can't have. No, I know we had several bottles left, I saw them, just a few days ago."

"Well it doesn't just disappear. You didn't sell it or lend it to anyone?"

"No, I would remember if I did. Maybe, when Shisui came round he took a bottle…."

Sasuke and Itachi listened to their parents argue and accuse various members of the Clan that had set foot on their property the last few days. Itachi and Sasuke's name never came into speculation; their parents seemed certain that neither of their sons could have been responsible for this. The missing poison stored in Itachi's room was not particularly well-hid, so Itachi was grateful of his parent's blind trust.

"I know it wasn't my sister – she would ask if she needed some."

"Oh, we haven't got time to track down who took it, we'll be late for the meeting if we don't hurry up. Itachi, would you mind going to the hideout and restocking our supplies? You can take Sasuke with you."

"Yes, Mother," Itachi said seriously. Mikoto and Fugaku finished getting ready and headed to the meeting, still muttering about who the culprit could have been.

"Maybe it was your aunt. She's been acting suspiciously lately…"

Itachi and Sasuke went out soon after, taking turns carrying the box of kittens. It was not a long trip and soon they were stood outside the Uchiha hideout. This was where the Clan got their tools, not trusting any of the village merchants to sell them anything with quality.

"You're sure they'll be okay here?" Sasuke asked in a small voice, looking down at the box in his arms.

"They'll be better than okay. Granny Cat takes good care of her cats." Granny Cat was delighted to receive new additions to her 'family' and promised that they'd be happy with her.

"It's a noble thing you boys have done," she commented as Itachi searched through the poison supplies while Sasuke played with the cats, running pieces of string across the floor for them to chase. "Most people would just walk right on by if they saw abandoned animals." Itachi had ended up telling the old woman exactly what happened, including the part about their parents knowing nothing about their ploy and not to mention it to them.

"It was Sasuke that picked them up and wanted to take them home," Itachi said, a surge of modesty hitting him.

"But, as far as you've told me, you took responsibility."

"Not really. I'm sure I was supposed to let the cats die and teach Sasuke that it's a cruel world and that some things you have to let go. That's the kind of responsible my parents want me to be. And I haven't done any of that."

"Itachi…There is the responsibility that is placed on you and the responsibility you can choose to take. You chose to do this and you chose right. I think you saved more than just five lives in this act."

At first Itachi thought she was making a half-hearted attempt at a joke, about cats having nine lives thus more than one life being saved. He smiled politely as he handed her a wad of money but it dropped when he saw Granny Cat was not smiling herself.

"You've saved a part of yourself, and a part of Sasuke too, that would have been torn away had you let things play out as your parents wished." Itachi, a little stunned, nodded mutely before recovering himself and thanking the woman.

The two brothers headed home, Itachi feeling better about himself than he had in days. If responsibility was doing what you knew was right, then he didn't mind being a responsible older brother.

But there was a day looming ahead, where a third type of responsibility would come into play: the kind where you have to acknowledge your actions and take the burden for them.

Edited 2/7/15

So yeah, this one was just kind of about the different kind of responsibilities we all have to face, picking between doing what's expected, what's right, and if it all goes downhill, taking the burden of your actions.

A huge thank you to justin4dafan for reviewing, I'm glad you liked last chapter

Thanks for reading,

Cipher.