Itachi sighed as he walked through the familiar corridors, before standing in front of a door he had to visit several times within this month alone.
Adjusting his crooked black tie, Itachi raised his hand and knocked twice.
"Come in."
Inside was stark white, with a brown table in the middle and plants on top of it which was the only splash of colour in the otherwise dull room. At the table sat a man in his early thirties, adjusting some papers on the table.
Glaring at him was a boy in his teens, his school uniform crinkled and clutching his school bag tightly - was that red paint on his shirt?
The teenager looked especially worn out today, with scratches on his cheek which had been poorly bandaged and dirt in his nails. The older man - his teacher - had trued to get him to change into a fresh pair of uniform or go to the school infirmary only to be met with cold resistance and fiery eyes.
Itachi pondered for a moment on how to approach the student. A glass cannon, no matter how powerful, was still fragile, and Sasuke was already covered in cracks.
So glancing at the teacher for a moment, Itachi received silent confirmation before gently putting his hand on the student's back - careful not to touch any potential injuries hidden by the uniform.
It was as if Itachi's mere touch had expanded the fire in the boy's eyes to his whole body. He jerked violently, his voice hoarse.
"Let go, you shitty brother!"
"Sasuke." Itachi bit the inside of his cheek and forced his own voice to be as even as possible.
"Itachi-kun, make sure to stop by a clinic or something on the way home," the teacher instructed the older brother, who smiled at him in the same polite way from back when Itachi himself used to be his student.
"Thank you as always, Kakashi-sensei."
"...Anytime."
Though it was summer, the atmosphere between the two brothers was as cold as ever. Sasuke pointed avoided looking at Itachi's general direction as he grumpily got into the backseat of his older brother's car. Itachi started the car and didn't bother putting on his usual playlist.
"..."
"..."
Looking straight at the slope forward, Itachi finally decided to break the ice.
"What was it this time?"
"...Just the usual. Those guys Don't seem to get the memo, so we had to put them in their place." Itachi glanced behind him, Sasuke choosing to look anywhere but at the obvious concern written all over Itachi's face.
"Do you really need to do this, Sasuke? Picking fights with guys of other schools-"
"Like I said, they started it."
"But you engaged with them," Itachi pinched his temple with one hand, keeping the other at the steering wheel. This was getting old. "Sasuke, is this how you want to spend high-school? Look, if you channel this energy into your academics instead-"
"Oh, please," Sasuke looked straight at the rear view mirror, meeting Itachi's eyes. Though Sasuke always acted tough and rough like a wild lion, his eyes, to Itachi, still had the naivety of a cub. "Don't start with academics. I don't need you to nag at me after Mr. And Mrs. Uchiha about how bad I am and how I won't be able to pass without cheating."
Itachi swiftly turned his attention back to the road, gripping the steering wheel tightly as he swerved-just barely avoiding a collision.. That was close.
"Sasuke. Address our parents properly."
"I'll do that when they start addressing me as an heir instead of a spare."
"They would never-"
"Oh. You wouldn't get it after all, Mister Golden Child, the Uchiha Prodigy, Itachi-nii-san. There. My respects."
Why? Why did Sasuke only refer to him by this address when he absolutely didn't want to be anywhere near him?
"...You've become so disobedient. You're not a kid anymore, Sasuke."
"Hmph."
Seeing Sasuke's low effort to dish out insults, Itachi pushed a bit more.
"Look, you can still turn around before your college entrance exams. Even Kakshi-sensei would help."
"Yeah, whatever..." Sasuke brushed his words off, but his tone didnt have the same bite this time.
Am I getting through to him this time? Thought the older brother.
"Look, aren't you tired of this? All the fighting isn't good for your body or mind."
"..." Did the younger's silence meant he didn't have a good retort, or did it mean he secretly agreed?
"And Sasuke, if you just stop doing this, playing around, just fighting anyone who you dont agree with, you'll have no trouble in the real world anymore. After all...You didn't use to be like this when you were a child."
What changed between them? Although Itachi wouldn't find out the answer to this question anytime soon, he quickly discovered how Sasuke's entire demeanor changed when their childhood was brought up.
"Sasuke..."
"Stop the car."
"What?"
"I said stop the car! I'm getting off!" Sasuke started jerking the door handle violently.
"Stop, stop! That's dangerous, Sasuke!"
"Yeah - real dangerous - for your car."
"It's dangerous for you!" Itachi raised his voice.
"DON'T PRETEND YOU CARE!" Sasuke spat out the words, his breathing ragged.
The glass had broken.
What did he say? Pretend to care? For the brother whom he made sacrifices for? For the little brother he himself so painstakingly raised?
Red-faced and gritting his teeth, Itachi was about to say something, anything, but Sasuke intended against that.
"You care? Don't joke with me. When were you when the gang needed you? When I needed you? No, you quit the gang like a coward, because you wanted to keep playing the perfect child, because you wanted to keep lying to everyone," Sasuke panted, breathless from shouting and his previous injuries. His shoulder was acting up again. His chest- "You keep lying to yourself, Uchiha Itachi. But I won't."
"And I definitely will never, ever sacrifice myself to the system like you let yourself be. So keep playing a slave to our parents, your boss, and whoever else," Sasuke finished, feeling himself burn. He looked at Itachi to see if he would meet his eyes again, but of course, his older brother disappointed him yet again by hanging his head low, completely speechless.
Honk!
Itachi's head snapped up, looking around. The car had stopped in the middle of the road from their argument, creating traffic and dissatisfied drivers all around them.
Sasuke took this opportunity to run out of the car. It was this action that gave Itachi a burst of energy to shout after his little brother.
"Sasuke, stop!" Honk! "Get back! At least let's go to the..."Honk! Honk!
"...Clinic..." Frustrated, Itachi started up the car again and helplessly watched from his car's mirror as Sasuke became smaller and smaller until he couldn't see him anymore. His brother just disappeared among the cars and the setting sun far back. This being a one-way road, all Itachi could do was hit the pedal and drive forward.
"Hello."
"Sasuke! Thank God! You didn't get in trouble with your homeroom teacher did you?"
"I got bailed out."
"Oh thank God!" Suigetsu, a fellow gang member of Sasuke, perked up through the phone. Though he couldn't see the other's face,with the enthusiasm in his voice Sasuke swore he could see dog ears and a tail behind Suigetsu.
"Whatever, what did you want?"
"Agh, so cold. But hey, we got a job tomorrow. Or a teensy weensy bone to pick, you you say."
"Time and location, Hozuki."
"Same time as today, and," Suigetsu checked something before promptly replying,"Wait, let me check..."
Sasuke grunted a bit. His injuries were slowly catching up to him. Agh, as much as he hated to admit it, the other party had really done a number on his body this time around. Maybe, just maybe, he should get his wounds checked properly this time...
"...Okay, it's the clinic!"
Unknown to Suigetsu, for the first time that day, Sasuke cracked a smile. The universe did like to play jokes on him, it seems.
"Okay, fine, I'll be there."
If someone asks Sakura how the clinic sounds on a Wednesday afternoon, it will always be "hectic." Crying children in the waiting room, angry parents, impatient people, patients who take more than an hour asking filler questions. Not a moment to breathe, not a moment to question why a group of teenagers in black and red hoodies with masks obscuring their faces were occupying the waiting room. In hindsight, they were quite strange. They weren't impatient, didn't fidget or check their phones. They waited and watched.
And when she did, it was already too late. The damage was done.
The loud blaring of the fire alarm cut through the air like a jolt and broke Sakura out of her state of autopilot as she got up swiftly. There was no smoke, no signs, no smell of burning. A mistake? A child set it off while playing? Regardless, she got out of her seat to investigate.
No smoke. No heat. No telltale scent of burning. Just the shrill wail of the alarm and a gnawing sense of unease tightening in her chest. Her steps slowed as she neared the shattered glass.
Their clinic wasn't a very big, posh one. They never focused on profit; it had been the tiny single-story structure for five years now, ever since it first opened. The fire alarm humbly hung near the door to the basement, glass broken-no, it was shattered. Not only the glass, the box was shattered, and so was the alarm. It wasn't a child; it was someone with a lot of rage and a baseball bat-a gang. Of course, the gang.
"Sakura!" She was jolted back into a hug, into the warm presence of someone much larger than her.
"Dr. Tsunade! I-"
"Shhh. Are you hurt, baby?" Tsunade pushed her forward slightly and started examining her, fussing over her like a concerned mother. The fire alarm had stopped blaring at this point; the smoke detectors never went off. There was no fire; it was triggered manually.
"Doctor-there are intruders!" A wave of panic flushed over her as the realization of what must have happened dawned on her. Her stomach dropped. Her breath caught mid-inhale. Of course. It wasn't an accident. It was them.
"Shhh, Sakura. I know. They tore up my office." Tsunade's voice was calm, although Sakura could feel the rage emanating from her, but it was not targeted toward her.
"Dr. Tsunade, I'm so sorry. I thought there was a fire. I abandoned my counter." This time, Tsunade glared at her.
"Sorry? Sakura, I thought they took you." Tsunade's voice wavered in a rare display of vulnerability. "I couldn't find you when I got out of my office, my dear. I was so scared." Once again, Sakura found herself engulfed in a warm hug.
The motherly warmth of her mentor calmed her nerves as she hugged back. It was strange. They were a tiny clinic off the side of the street-why was the gang targeting them? First, it was stealing pain medication-they brushed it off as a group of teenagers looking to get high. Then for a week, they would turn the "Open" sign to "Closed." Last week, the police had to get involved when they smashed the windows, got in, and trashed the inside.
The stolen painkillers. Then the signs. Then the smashed windows. And now this. It wasn't random-this was a message.
Their moment was broken by the sound of loud footsteps and deep, exasperated breathing.
"Guys? I just came in, what happened?" It was Naruto, the assistant receptionist.
"It's them again," Tsunade answered, her voice like steel.
For a second-just one second-Naruto's face burst into a look of cold perplexity before his animated reaction kicked in. His brows shot up, his mouth fell ajar, and his hands flew to his head.
"AGAIN?" He groaned, crouching down.
"We have to do something about it, doctor. It's been long overdue." Sakura turned to Tsunade, who gave her a half-nod.
"Let's check what they did to my office first."
Naruto let out another exaggerated groan, crouching down dramatically. Sakura exhaled, steadying herself. The damage was done. They just had to be more alert, more on edge. She followed Tsunade, her heart thumping with an uneasy feeling.