HACHI

"You're going to go to sleep right now," Sasuke commanded, eyes hardening in absolution. "No wonder you've had persistent bags under your eyes. I thought it was just your coursework usurping your sleep, but it was actually me," he muttered almost disdainfully.

Itachi's eyes softened as the boy latched onto his hand and tugged him toward Itachi's room. "My sweet Otouto," he murmured softly, placing his free hand on top of Sasuke's. "I'm okay. I don't need sleep right now."

"You're kidding," Sasuke deadpanned. "You're standing there looking pale as a ghost with heavy bags under your eyes, your hand feels clammy in mine, and you're clearly delusional since you're saying you're okay when you look worse for wear than I've ever seen you, and you've got the balls to tell me you don't need sleep right now? Are you kidding me?"

It was the cutest thing watching his Otouto lecture him. The way his eyes gleamed as irritation and worry set in them, the tightness of his grip around Itachi's hand as if he refused to let go, and the way those round reddened cheeks puffed out: it was all so unbelievably adorable. Like a little chipmunk who got his acorn stolen.

He stared into his Otouto's expectant gaze and found a warm smile growing on his own lips.

"Did you hear what I just said?" Sasuke growled.

Itachi's smile widened slightly, further irking the boy. "I won't go to sleep right now, Otouto," he said.

That just ticked the boy right off. An irk mark popped off on his temple. "How dare you tell me–"

"…unless you sleep next to me. I need special treatment if I'm going to fall asleep."

Itachi reveled in the startled expression on Sasuke's face. He wished he could take a picture of his "Oh" face. God, his beloved Otouto was a national treasure.

"Then, go get in bed and I'll be there when I'm done putting away the rest of the groceries," Sasuke said, giving the man a little push toward the hallway. But he was met with heavy, unmovable resistance. Sasuke blew a breath and threw his hands up. "Now what?" he grumbled.

Itachi's smile dropped slightly. "I'll wait here for you, Otouto."

"Fine." Sasuke grumbled some more after the man's unwavering tone reached his ears. "It's not like I'm going anywhere anyway."

Itachi kept his smile tight-lipped, but his eyes veered off in the distance.

There's no way to guarantee that, Otouto.

With how skittish Sasuke had been acting over the last few weeks, there was no way to guarantee anything anymore.

H.J.

Lying down next to his Aniki with his conscious knowledge was, surprisingly, a mesmerizing experience. As soon as Sasuke climbed into the man's bed, Itachi had tugged him to his chest and locked him in place with an arm and leg.

Sasuke had yelped and thrashed at first , muttering little side comments, but his Aniki merely chuckled, pecked his round cheek, and sunk more comfortably into his position.

"Wish me sweet dreams, Otouto," Itachi said, staring expectantly at the boy.

Sasuke's jaw had dropped at how crazy that sounded coming from his Aniki, but when his lack of response led to Itachi's refusal to go to sleep, Sasuke, with a slight flush, muttered those words rather shyly.

"Sweet dreams, Aniki."

"Mhmm," Itachi uttered, eyelids fluttering closed. Appeased.

When Itachi's breathing evened out less than a minute later, Sasuke was left wondering if Itachi's earlier confession held too much veracity than he thought. That thought nearly made him frown. He sighed aloud to release a puff of heavy air that had been sitting atop his chest for quite some time now and settled in.

Now that Itachi was asleep, Sasuke was able to take his time to admire every aesthetic detail of his Aniki's face. The beautifully sculpted dark brows, flourishing lashes, high cheekbones, dainty soft skin, firm lips, and gorgeous hair that had fallen out of the man's usual ponytail.

His Aniki was a work of art. Someone drawn to perfection on paper and reanimated to breathe life into him. There could hardly be any other explanation for how stunning he was. His appearance did play a role in Sasuke's attraction toward him; however, it wasn't the main reason Sasuke fell in love with Itachi.

He had thought about this for a good portion of his adult life, stemming from the first moment he realized his undeniable love for his Aniki. He couldn't figure it out for the life of him and had attributed it to mere physical attraction until he started thinking about how Itachi treated him his entire life.

To put it into perspective, Sasuke had narrowed it down to a few examples throughout his life and what they ingrained into him about what he should look for in an ideal partner.

Itachi (7)/Sasuke (2):

"Otouto, it's not safe to walk so close to the sidewalk," Itachi chastised gently to an extremely stubby Sasuke.

Sasuke was having so much fun chasing after a blue butterfly that he had meandered toward the other side of the sidewalk. Upon hearing his Aniki call him, the boy froze and craned his neck backward to locate his Aniki, nearly falling over from the weight of his large head. What he found was a larger hand extended in his direction.

"Come," his Aniki said with a small smile. "Hold my hand so you don't wander off to more trouble."

A smile so bright that it could replace a lighthouse blossomed on baby Sasuke's face. "Ta-chan!" he shrieked happily as he changed courses and ran toward Itachi. Instead of grabbing his hand though, Sasuke jumped his Aniki with glee, bursting into a fit of giggles when Itachi stumbled from being tackled.

"What are you going on about?" Itachi sighed, ruffling his soft spikes before he picked the boy up and set him on his right side, furthest away from the street. "It's Aniki, not Ta-chan."

Sasuke bursted into a second fit of giggles, his onyx eyes sparkling like polished diamonds.

"Are you holding my hand tightly?"

"Mm!" Sasuke nodded enthusiastically.

"Good. Don't let go, okay?"

What Sasuke learned: Itachi liked to hold his hand and prioritized his safety above all else. Plus, his laughter made him feel warm and gooey inside.

Itachi (9)/Sasuke (4):

"You did an amazing job for your first day, Sasuke-chan!"

Sasuke ignored the tall lady stranger wearing a funny looking apron and continued to pat a full bucket of sand with his small palm. The residual heat of the day had died down, and he was one of three children left at the daycare. The boy huffed a small dissatisfied sound.

Where was his kaa-san?

Another minute passed before he decided he was done with the sandbox, which did next to nothing to quell the impatience buzzing through his entire body. Sasuke stood and dusted himself off. He had every intention of stomping back inside, but when he turned around, he caught sight of someone running toward the school from a distance.

"Sasuke!"

"Aniki!"

He didn't need to see to know. The boy could recognize his Aniki's voice anywhere. A few seconds later, he was scooped up in his Aniki's arms and cradled against his chest. Any anger Sasuke had felt previously disappeared in an instant.

"I'm here to pick you up," Itachi huffed out before he slowly began to regain his breath. "Aniki is sorry for being late. Kaa-san just called me and told me she was stuck in traffic, so I came to get you. Are you okay? You didn't wait too long, did you?"

Sasuke shook his head vehemently and kept his tiny arms wrapped around Itachi's neck.

"I told Kaa-san I'll pick you up every day from now on when I walk home from school, so this never happens again," Itachi told him, rubbing his back gently. "I missed you, Otouto. How was your day? Did you have fun? You look so adorable in your first day clothes."

What Sasuke learned: Itachi liked picking him up from school and always did everything in his power to rewrite past wrongs. Plus, Itachi's compliments were the best in the world, because they made Sasuke feel special.

Itachi (11)/Sasuke (6):

"... A-Aniki…."

Itachi's door slowly creaked open and a silhouette filled the frame. Startled awake but not missing a beat, he was on his feet in an instant, padding toward his Otouto.

"What's wrong, Otouto? Did you have a nightmare?" Itachi asked, crouching in front of the boy.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut tightly and nodded. "C-can I… Can I-I…."

But Itachi had already lifted him into his arms and was making his way across the room to his bed. "You can sleep with me tonight, okay?"

"O-okay."

"Everything's okay, Sasuke," Itachi stated firmly as he laid the boy down. "I will be here to chase all the nightmares away."

The whimper hanging off of Sasuke's lips was quelled by Itachi's reassurances. When he slid into bed, Sasuke curled into his Aniki like a magnet. He dozed off minutes later to Itachi's gentle pats and soothing voice.

What Sasuke learned: If he needed comfort, Itachi was the one to go to. Plus, his Aniki had the most soothing lullaby of a voice in the world.

Itachi (14)/Sasuke (9):

"Oh no."

"What's wrong, Otouto?"

"Aniki, please hide me," Sasuke whimpered, suddenly gripping onto the back of Itachi's shirt.

Itachi's eyes suddenly turned curious as they flickered around the park. Simultaneously, the boy began to speak.

"That… pink-haired girl," Sasuke muttered from behind. "She's been bothering me at school. If she sees me, it's going to happen again."

"What has she been doing?"

"Ugh… following me around and grabbing my hand and getting together with her friends to talk about me. She keeps saying that she likes me and stuff."

The nonchalance drained from Itachi's face and his eyes grew cold. "You want me to make her never do it again?"

Sasuke perked up slightly. "You can do that?!" he asked in awe.

Itachi nearly smirked. "I can do a lot of things, Otouto."

What Sasuke learned: His Aniki was very protective of him, and that made Sasuke happy. Plus, Itachi had a potty mouth and could be really mean when he really didn't like something.

Itachi (15)/Sasuke (10):

"Kokoro."

Sasuke's nose scrunched up. "Is that what you're going to call me now?"

Itachi chuckled in humor. "Do you not like it?"

"..."

"You leave me in a tight spot, Otouto. You didn't like babycakes or honeybun or poobear or chubby cheeks. What am I supposed to do when you keep turning down all of the nicknames I've spent so much time thinking up for you?" Itachi sighed dramatically.

Sasuke's cheeks puffed out indignantly. "Aniki! I do NOT have chubby cheeks."

Too late. Itachi had doubled over in laughter.

"Okay. Okay. I won't say that again," Itachi wheezed, out of breath from laughing. "How about watashi no kokoro then?"

What Sasuke learned: Itachi's use of pet names meant he cared for Sasuke and often thought about him. Plus, Itachi's sense of humor was not like a bottle of scotch; the main difference being it soured with age. The man was NOT funny.

Itachi (16)/Sasuke (11):

"Otouto, what are you doing?"

His Aniki leaned against his bedroom door frame and stared expectantly at Sasuke for an answer.

"Just finishing up an assignment for English class. Why? Are you bored?"

"Let's go on a date."

Sasuke looked up from his laptop with an arched eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're practicing how to ask someone out with me?"

"Ridiculous."

"Pfft. Okay then. What did you want to do, Aniki?"

"Watch a movie in theaters and go get a huge waffle cone."

Sasuke finally took Itachi seriously and slowly closed his laptop. Then, he proceeded to turn his desk chair fully in Itachi's direction. "You speak my language, Aniki."

"I thought I might…. I also speak Japanese."

Sasuke's face scrunched up immediately at the terrible joke whereas his Aniki started laughing as if he'd told the world's greatest line.

What Sasuke learned: Itachi enjoyed spending time with him. Also, he still had an awful sense of humor.

Itachi (17)/Sasuke (12):

Itachi walked out of his bedroom moments after Sasuke entered the house.

"You didn't say, 'Tadaima,' Otouto."

Sasuke paused next to the entrance. "Yeah, I did."

"I didn't hear you, so you didn't say it." Itachi brought his near empty glass of water to his lips and leaned against the archway, raising an expectant eyebrow in the boy's direction.

"Is that my problem?"

"Sassy. Geez, Otouto."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. They both stared at each other with attitude, allowing a brief moment of tension to pass, before they cracked up into obnoxious laughter simultaneously as if on cue.

"You're so dramatic, Aniki," Sasuke snorted.

"If knowing the exact moment my Otouto comes home safely is considered 'dramatic,' then color me dramatic," Itachi responded.

"Yeah, yeah," the boy said, waving the man off as he pulled off his hoodie. "I'm going to go take a shower."

"Mhmm. Kaa-san and Otou-san are going to be home late today. Is curry for dinner okay?"

"Sounds good," Sasuke responded as he made his way to his room. Just before he ducked inside, he paused. "Aniki?"

"Yes, Otouto?"

"…Tadaima."

Itachi grinned. "Okaeri, watashi no kokoro."

What Sasuke learned: His Aniki never stopped showing how much he cared about Sasuke's well-being. Sasuke looked forward to being greeted by Itachi daily when he came home.

Itachi (19)/Sasuke (14):

"Hey, shitstain."

One of the great things about Japan was that everyone had the decency to keep subway cars quiet. No gossiping, no talking on the phone, and no rowdy behavior, but the one thing about subway cars was the insane amount of perverts, one of whom Itachi was glaring down.

"Yeah, you fucking heard me, you pea-brained, pedophilic horseshit."

Itachi's voice drew the attention of everyone in that subway car and even some of those in the connecting one. The man, who could possibly have been their dad's age if not older, flinched and took a step away from Itachi's towering form.

Of course, the stranger could not help, but flicker his gaze over at Sasuke, whose body was mostly shielded by Itachi's own. The man's gaze jerked right back to Itachi when his shoulders were pulled forward and a knee came slamming into his groin, directly crushing his balls up against bone.

The man heaved and coughed, doubling over in insurmountable pain, while Itachi's foreboding shadow hovered over his feeble form.

"You keep your disgusting eyes off of my Otouto, and if you know any better, you'd walk yourself into the hospital and grovel for them to saw off your puny dick. Better yet, should I do that for you since you get boners from eyeing middle-schoolers? I'm sure the country would award me a fucking gold medal for that." Disgust covered his words and shrouded his face.

For a good measure, Itachi slammed his foot into the man's groin once more before he turned, wrapped his arm around Sasuke's shoulders, and ushered him into another car. "Come, Otouto. Let's get off at the next station and find something yummy to eat, shall we? I want to get rid of this awful taste in my mouth and wash the stench of pervert off of my shoes."

Sasuke snorted. "Aniki, that was a bit much," he muttered.

Itachi rolled his eyes even though the tension in his hand around Sasuke's shoulders did not ease up. "He's lucky I didn't kill him."

"I'm lucky you didn't kill him."

Itachi paused. "I don't have to kill him to make his life miserable."

"What does that mean?"

"Don't worry your cutesy self over it," Itachi stated with a grin as he booped Sasuke's nose with his finger.

Little did Sasuke know that, when the train stopped and the doors opened, the stranger on the train was entitled to a welcoming party.

God, it was good to have friends with connections.

What Sasuke learned: His Aniki never hesitated to protect him from anyone and anything. He was fiercely protective of him and never sought to hide it. A real life knight in shining armor.

Itachi (22)/Sasuke (17):

Sniffle.

Itachi's footsteps paused, backtracking a few steps until he was standing in front of Sasuke's bedroom door.

Sniffle. Sniffle.

He barged in immediately without a second thought. "I didn't realize you missed me so much that you broke down into tears, my dear Otouto!" he announced.

Any humor in his tone dissipated at the sight of Sasuke's tear-stained gaze and flushed face. As he approached the boy who was curled up into a tight ball, Itachi noticed that the boy began to sob harder.

The bed dipped underneath his weight, and his fingers naturally entwined with Sasuke's. "What happened, watashi no kokoro?"

Gone was the teasing tone and any humor.

"I-It's g-gone…. I- It's g-gone! I-I c-can't find i-it!"

Itachi's brows drew together. "What's gone?"

Sasuke opened his mouth, but his eyes filled with more tears, which caused his sobs to overtake his words. His gaze trailed over to his backpack on the ground. All of its contents were a mess on the floor and every single pocket had been ransacked.

"I-I don't know h-how I could h-have lost it…. I a-always have it o-on m-me…." Sasuke was inconsolable. "I-I'm s-sorry, A-Aniki. I'm s-sorry!"

"Oh, Otouto," Itachi murmured, patting the boy's head with his free hand. "What's there to be sad about?"

Hick.

"You g-gave i-it to m-me. I a-always h-have it with m-me, b-but I-I lost it. It's g-gone."

Itachi's eyes softened. "Are you referring to the keychain I bought you?" he asked gently, nudging Sasuke's tear-stricken face up to meet his own.

A flood of tears welled up in Sasuke's eyes, confirming his statement. The boy nodded his head hard whilst biting down on his trembling lower lip.

Itachi's sudden smile threw him in for a loop. "You mean THIS keychain?" he asked, slipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out a sterling silver chain with a letter "S" and three charms dangling from its center.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he reached out for it. As soon as his fingers wrapped around it and it didn't budge midair, he shot a questioning gaze at the man.

Itachi grinned. "You ALWAYS have it on you?" he asked cheekily as if confirming something he already knew would inflate his ego further.

Sasuke's tears came to a standstill. Then, his face flushed as he muttered a heated "Shut up", and he jerked hard on the keychain, finally retrieving it into his lap. His sobs disappeared into sniffles until his low, quiet voice echoed in his own eardrums.

"… Where'd you find it?"

"In your jacket while I was doing laundry."

"Oh."

"Mhmm." Itachi patted the boy's hand. "Even though I'm honored, there's no need for my precious Otouto to cry over something like that. If you lose something I gave you, then I can always help you find it, or buy you another one."

Itachi smiled sweetly.

And Sasuke's heart fluttered.

What Sasuke learned: If he lost his heart to his Aniki, then how could the man possibly help him retrieve it? It simply was not possible. Therefore, he learned that, what he thought was an initial crush, was something that muddied the waters and could never be washed clean again. He was stuck.

For life.

Time and time again, his Aniki was the perfect gentleman, the perfect example of a kind and thoughtful soul, and he was the perfect reminder of everything Sasuke should look for in a partner. There was no one more loved than Sasuke in Itachi's presence. So it didn't matter that there were lots of fish in the sea or whatever people told others who had their hearts broken. To Sasuke, there was only the one who made the cut: the one man who showed Sasuke what it was like to be treated like an absolute treasure.

So Sasuke laid there in the man's arms for hours, nuzzling against Itachi's chest, as he soothed himself with Itachi's scent. His Aniki's warmth nurtured his soul twofold. First, it comforted him physically like the human version of Xanax, quelling any form of anxiety that manifested. He felt all the jumpiness and anxious madness that had gradually built in his being just disappear in a fellow swoop. Second, it blanketed his soul with a kind of reassurance he would not find no matter how far and wide he searched. He felt safe, comforted, and unconditionally loved.

His Aniki made him feel important.

By the time he ascertained that his destiny could not be altered by any means, he had hit rock bottom. At least that's what he thought until the moment he voluntarily and greedily committed a form of adultery that made the heavens weep. Then, when he repeated his sins as easily as drinking a cool glass of water on a summer day, he found out that he had overestimated himself; he had found his new rock bottom that he personally created for himself.

If he had the dammit-all-to-hell attitude and factored in that Itachi would one day find out and shun him with irrevocable rejection and hatred, then everything else would be easier to accept: his emotions, the predicament his greed placed him in, and even his Aniki's suffocating presence and moodiness as of late.

If Sasuke was a strong and independent person, he would have had an easier time accepting everything. But he wasn't strong. He was sheltered growing up by the one man who loved and cared for him.

Pfft.

Sasuke nearly scoffed into Itachi's sleeping embrace. What kind of an asshole complained about being loved too much in his childhood when there was so much shit in the world parents, who should never have been parents, subjected their own children to?

Maybe he'd officially lost it.

Sasuke finally shut his eyes and willed his brain to stop thinking. He inhaled deeply and nuzzled closer into his Aniki's chest, using the man's scent and warmth as his own personal sleeping pill. If he continued down the rabbit hole, there'd be no end to his madness.

It took a matter of seconds for him to drift off, and it was then that Sasuke realized that he, too, had been missing out on sleep for weeks now.

H.J.

Sasuke had always been very special to Itachi's existence. He embodied everything that Itachi gave a damn about in his life. The daily thoughts that occupied his mind included whether Sasuke ate lunch or drank enough water that day, whether he had enough money in his pocket to buy what he needed, what expression he wore when he sat in class, and even how many times he yawned in a day.

Frankly, Itachi lived for his Otouto. So when he received attention from Sasuke, he was like a puppy. When the boy fussed over him, Itachi felt warm. When Sasuke spared him even an additional glance, he would grin like a maniac at the attention. When the boy would crawl into his bed on a particularly off night, Itachi felt like he was the most important person in the world. In Sasuke's world. He would then overdo the affection, earning him an eyeroll or a scoff or, on occasion, even a few affectionate words or gestures in return.

However, the boy had been acting strange lately, and the oddity of his actions gave the man a start. In fact, it rubbed him the wrong way in every possible scenario he could think up.

At first, he thought the boy had been lonely. The nights he spent at the university library had extended till the late hours. Initially, he thought that if he could finish his research sooner, he could spend more time at home with his Otouto while writing his thesis, but that backfired in his face. His Otouto grew restless and worried about him when he didn't return home till the early hours of the morning. Whereas Itachi felt pleased he was on the boy's mind, he did not like leaving his Otouto anxious and waiting at home.

Ever since then, though, something never quite sat right in his mind. It started with Sasuke treating him like a solicitor, or better yet an ex-boyfriend. It was like his Otouto woke up one morning and decided to shut Itachi out of his life like the plague.

Itachi tried to think of what he'd done wrong to receive such a treatment, but the more he thought about it, the more obsessed he got. It was like Sasuke was throwing mixed signals his way. The boy told him that he loved him, but then, he ignored him, avoided him, refused his touch, and pushed him away.

Itachi hated his Otouto's rejection.

It caused his anxiety to multiply like fucking cancer, spreading into his organs like poison until all he could obsess over was what his Otouto was thinking and why he was pushing away from Itachi.

Itachi had bit his lip to refrain from going off. It lasted a total of two seconds before Sasuke's refusal to acknowledge him burned that bridge.

"You are treating me like I don't exist, Sasuke. You won't talk to me, you won't go anywhere near me, and you can't even look at me. You are the only person in the universe who is not allowed to ignore me. So you're going to tell me exactly what happened. And you're not going to leave any details out, or so help me God, I am going to pry it out of you. Do you hear me?" Itachi had snapped.

"I… um, I had a fight with someone I'm seeing," Sasuke finally told him.

Itachi never thought he'd grown so deaf in his entire life. Ice water washed over his entire soul, and fire burned down the shell and replaced it with a kind of warped betrayal he had never experienced in his life.

Sasuke was… seeing someone? His Otouto? His kokoro was seeing someone?

What kind of cosmic joke did Sasuke think he was telling Itachi? Did his Otouto expect him to just sit there and accept it?

"No. You are not allowed to 'see someone.' You are not allowed to see anyone. If anyone fucking touches you, I am going to kill them," Itachi snarled, palms slamming onto the table as he rose from his chair. The dinnerware rattled underneath his brute strength, but he didn't spare it a glance.

"A-Ani- I… w-what?" Sasuke's eyes widened inexplicably as if he thought he'd heard wrong.

Itachi's glare was so cold that his eyes froze over as his fists bunched at his side. "Did you hear me, Sasuke? I don't fucking care who it is. Break up with them. Now."

And then, Itachi noticed the turtleneck sweater and demanded the boy to remove it, and when Sasuke did, the man almost wished he could take back what he had asked for.

His Otouto's precious body… his beautiful skin… was marred by blue and purple, yellow and green. There were grotesque diversities of the marks, with bite marks littering his body as if he was the main course of someone's sick fantasy.

At first, he was too shell-shocked to move or say anything. But when it finally hit him, he lost any ounce of cool he had in him as his system shut down and he couldn't control the shitstorm of emotions that blasted his entire being.

He had never felt so physically ill before.

Everything about it felt wrong. Was this why Sasuke had been sitting oddly all day? Was this why he couldn't even look Itachi in the eye? Did he not realize that Itachi would never allow him to do such a thing with anyone?

No. He knew. That's why he hid it.

"Who was it?" came Itachi's first whispered words, his voice rising like a crescendo the more words he pushed out of his mouth. "Who did that to you? Tell me. Who the fuck did that to you?!"

The insides of his palms had felt sticky, and when he realized his nails had dug into his skin so hard that it bled, he sunk them in deeper, opting to release some of the pain he felt in his chest.

"No, Aniki. No. I'm o-okay. I'm not hurt," Sasuke had said automatically.

"This… This is not okay. Not okay," Itachi had begun to mumble to himself as he paced back and forth in the dining room. His hands had been threading through his hair and messing up his once neatly groomed ponytail as he muttered to himself.

So his Otouto wanted that to happen to him? Was that it? No. Absolutely not.

Itachi couldn't even begin to comprehend why his precious Otouto would not put an end to something like that. Not when his body looked like that. Not when… not when he- ugh, fuck.

Sasuke must have been lying to Itachi. He knew Itachi would go berserk and choke the life out of whoever did that to him, so he opted to protect that person. That had to be it. Itachi growled. That person didn't deserve his Otouto. He didn't deserve anything his Otouto gave him: not his kindness, his sweet words, and definitely not his most precious thing.

It was not okay. Nothing about this was conceivably okay.

His mutterings filled the room. "Fucking piece of garbage. What right did you have to take away my Otouto's everything? I can't fucking take this. Fucking shit. My baby angel. I'm going to kill that little shit when I get my hands on him. How dare he? How fucking dare he do that to what's mine? What am I going to do now? My Otouto… watashi no kokoro, he's… he's… fuck."

Itachi grew nauseous and he finally stopped floundering.

No. He needed to get his shit together.

Sasuke needed him more than ever now, and if his Otouto saw him out of control, then he'd feel bad about himself and distance himself further from him.

People always whispered about how he was the epitome of what a brother complex would be personified. Sure, he was nonchalant and stoic at the university, but whenever Sasuke was around, it was like he turned into a completely different person. His classmates would tease him when he would go home early for the sake of his Otouto. Some, who have been in the presence of the two, would even comment about how Itachi appeared to be Sasuke's guard dog.

Itachi never felt feral to the degree he would abide by that description, but dire circumstances called for extreme measures.

His Otouto had suffered grave injustice when he relinquished his body. Someone had assaulted him to a degree they left their mark on him in more ways than one. As a result, he no longer felt safe and grew wary in the presence of other people. Even with Itachi. The harder Sasuke's memories hit, the more uncomfortable he became. The more Itachi pushed, the more Sasuke wanted to avoid him.

His Otouto was the only person he gave a shit about in his entire life, and at the rate that his Otouto was acting, he'll be damned if the boy chose to cut Itachi out of his life. Just the thought of never being able to see Sasuke again made Itachi go crazy.

That can't happen.

He had to make sure of it.