"Even a complaint. May I know what the hell was on your mind this time, Sasuke?"
Kisame looked at him with his large hands propped on his hips and leaning on the kitchen counter. His tone had been stern.
Sasuke, sitting at the table, had deflated with a sigh. The dejected look towards Itachi.
The older brother read the registered letter in silence.
"I didn't think I'd have to go through all this again, Otouto. I thought you had grown up, but instead you break your wife's cousin's nose" Itachi had taken off his reading glasses to observe his brother.
"But did you even listen to me, Nii – san? Did you understand what he told me? He considers everyone beggars, not enough to be in his precious family."
This time it was Itachi who sighed. Sasuke had always struggled to accept senseless injustices. He had fallen in love with Hinata and they had both moved forward with their heads held high, they had married despite the conflicts created by her family. They had succeeded. But unfortunately Hinata came from a noble family, the so-called blue blood, she certainly couldn't mix with a common mortal. Go and explain that to two guys in their prime with the energy of their twenties at most.
Hinata's cousin Neji had intervened. He had sent Sasuke for an aperitif to explain to him once and for all that Hinata should have joined a family of his rank. Sasuke had jumped up and shouted in his face that arranged marriages were barbaric and he had knocked Neji out with one punch. Then he disappeared.
"Otouto, I know it hurts, but unfortunately you have to accept that you and Hinata are not meant to be together, we've already talked about it. It's not your fault."
Itachi sat next to his brother and hugged him. Sasuke's gaze was low, Itachi's was sweet.
"Itachi, what do we do now?" Kisame had crossed his arms nervously.
"Luckily Neji didn't suffer any permanent damage, if we talk to him maybe we can convince him to withdraw the complaint" Itachi's calm always had something extraordinary, he transmitted it to the people close to him whatever the situation.
"You're right, Nii – san. I'll go right away."
"Not at all, Otouto, you're still too shaken. You stay here calmly. I'll handle that."
Itachi fell in love with everyone except himself. If the person in question was Sasuke, he would also have jumped into a meat grinder.
He had talked to Neji, but it hadn't solved anything. Hinata's cousin hadn't listened to reason, it had been too great a disgrace for him to have his nose broken by any person. He would never have mustered the strength to see Sasuke suffer again, the situation had to be resolved. The only hope remained Naruto, the mayor of the city.
Itachi and Naruto were childhood friends and had remained close, Itachi had written to him and then sat down in his cousin's room to enjoy a sip of fresh orange juice. He had swallowed two pills, the heart problems he was born with returned to make themselves felt in moments of tension. Itachi couldn't give in, too many people were counting on him. His husband Kisame, whom Itachi wanted to protect from a suffering he had nothing to do with. And Sasuke, already feeling the pain of an impossible love.
"Itachi, I demand explanations!"
Kisame had rushed into the kitchen waving the cell phone that Itachi had forgotten in the room. Itachi had jumped, the glass had almost slipped from his hand, but his face remained calm.
"I don't understand, Kisame" The calmness with which Itachi had responded while continuing to sip the juice had made Kisame even more inflamed.
"I understand very well, however. You and Naruto wanted to finish something you started when you were young."
Yes, something had happened when Itachi and Naruto were at university. A few outings together ended in a night of sex, but then nothing more happened and they remained just friends. Kisame had arrived later in Itachi's life, he had made his way into his heart never to leave again.
Kisame had a fiery temper and Itachi fell in love with that too, he liked how he took him forcefully during sex. But when Kisame was angry it was difficult to calm him down.
Itachi's gaze had darkened: "Kisame, I intended to talk to you about it today. Naruto agreed to intervene for Sasuke's troubles, I had contacted him about this. He's the mayor, Neji will be forced to listen to him. "
"Do I count for nothing? Do I always have to be the last to know? Itachi, I didn't think I'd end up so low in your thoughts" Kisame had teary eyes and a frown. Itachi's cell phone, still in his hand, was in danger of being crushed.
"Stop it, Kisame. You know I love you" Itachi stood up calmly, his chest hurting.
But Itachi never said he felt bad until the situation became unmanageable. They all knew about his heart problems, it was useless to repeat it continuously and make everyone worried.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"In the bathroom" Itachi didn't lose his peace, Kisame had grabbed him by the arm to stop him.
The medicine made him dizzy. Kisame was pulling him to make him turn, although his strength was not excessive, Itachi had lost his balance by hitting his forehead on an edge of the table. He had gone down like a sack of potatoes with an eerie sound.
Kisame gasped as he saw a red stain spread across the floor. He knelt next to Itachi to lift him to a sitting position: "My darling, I'm sorry."
Kisame had taken a towel, dabbing the blood from Itachi's forehead while he held it to his chest.
"May we know what's wrong with you, Itachi? Is not you."
When the blood stopped, Kisame went to the bathroom to get what he needed to treat him.
But the only trace of Itachi left was the red stain on the floor. Bandages, plasters and alcohol spilled onto the floor as Kisame panicked.
"Itachi!"
His anguish made his head spin, it didn't matter if the neighbors thought he was crazy when they heard him scream. Itachi's bicycle was no longer in place for him.
"Itachi, damn it!"
"Where is my brother?" Sasuke had dropped into Kisame's house at dinner time. He had done this often since Itachi had given him the keys.
"I do not know."
"What would it be like if you don't know?"
Kisame had collapsed in his chair: "We had an argument and he fled on his bicycle. He started feeling sick again. I called him several times, he answers the phone but then remains silent."
Kisame tried to hide his annoyance in front of Sasuke, Itachi's radio silence was getting on his nerves. He had started ghosting like kids, Kisame would never have imagined such an attitude from someone as intelligent as Itachi.
Sasuke's face was pale and sullen: "Why did you argue?"
Kisame kept his gaze down, "It's about Naruto. He and Itachi exchanged messages. Itachi says that he contacted him to help you, but it seemed like something else. I asked him for explanations. Itachi fainted and injured his forehead, then ran away while I was in the bathroom getting the supplies needed to treat him."
"He came out in that state? Let's go look for him, Kisame."
Kisame had felt reprehensible for letting Itachi's ghosting stop him, but he had no desire to discover a relationship between him and Naruto.
"Itachi's bicycle!" Sasuke ran towards Kisame who looked petrified.
Both had noticed the drops of blood on the asphalt.
"We have to look for him, something happened to him" Kisame was trembling. Perhaps the silent calls had been a cry for help.
Kisame felt like crap. How could he not trust Itachi?
Itachi couldn't have gone far wounded and drugged. Kisame and Sasuke had split up to do it first.
An empty parking lot eaten away by desolation. Cracks in the asphalt, weeds gnawing at the sidewalks from the inside. A house was nearby, the fence of the courtyard touched the tangles of brambles that grew in the corners of the clearing. Sasuke knew that no one would ever intervene even if they saw something strange from the windows. It was his turn.
An old black car, faded by the sun, was parked at the back, behind the rubbish bins. Sasuke's adrenaline burned as he silently approached the car. His hair glued with sweat.
Although the car appeared empty, a light condensation had formed on the window frames. Sasuke wanted to call Kisame, but he didn't want to make any noise.
Sasuke would never have thought a moment of horror would be so long, a few seconds staring at the terrible scene had seemed like an eternity.
Itachi, naked from the waist down, sprawled prone in the back seat of the old car, his legs on either side of the passenger seat. A big guy, kneeling with his face buried between his buttocks, his hands inside his unbuttoned jeans. Itachi didn't react, his face was buried in the seat. His right arm fell limply from the seat and landed on the mat.
With his face distorted with anger, Sasuke was about to open the door, but it was locked from the inside. The maniac had raised his face in amazement. Sasuke had disintegrated his hand by punching the glass, the guy was struggling towards the driver's seat.
With his knuckles dripping blood, Sasuke had unlocked the door. He had pulled Itachi off the seat in time to retrieve his clothes. The rapist had sped away.
Itachi was barely conscious, his forehead bruised and blood everywhere.
"I'm here, Nii - san" Sasuke put on his boxers, pants and shoes.
Itachi's pained eyes stared at Sasuke's knuckles filled with shards of glass. Then he looked at Kisame who had come running attracted by the commotion. Itachi was crying, Kisame and Sasuke knew how much it cost him to let go of tears in front of others.
"Darling, I've been anxious since you left" Kisame knelt down to hug Itachi "I walked back and forth for hours, every noise on this damned street made me jump. I was calling you, couldn't you hear me?"
"Kisame, I tried. But I could only move my finger to answer."
"My love, I'm sorry" Kisame held him tight "I would like you to tell me everything, okay? Problems included."
"Thank you, you saved me. I would just like to go home and have you close to me."
Kisame got up taking Itachi in his arms,-
"Nii - san, rest now or I'll tie you up like a salami. You have to eat if you don't want to end up with a funnel stuck in your mouth" Sasuke stroked his brother's head.
Itachi had capitulated curled up against Kisame's chest, he had let himself be carried home.
"Nii – san, I'm not leaving you. Thank you for what you are doing for me. I don't need noble families, I already have you."