Chapter Text
Itachi had just finished changing into his causal night time attire and was grabbing a towel for the shower with the expectation that he’d be able to finally clean off all the sweat and grime he’d garnered after a long night of working undercover as his ANBU alias when all thoughts of relaxation were shot out the window as soon as the high pitched scream of his beloved little brother Sasuke broke through the peaceful night’s silence and into all who’s in hearing distance.
The reaction was instantaneous. He didn’t stop to think, he acted on pure instinct – ingrained into both mind and body from a young age. The kunai was as light as a feather in his grasp, sharper than its siblings which made this specific blade Itachi’s favorite. The obvious choice for the Uchiha boy.
He was the first to enter Sasuke’s room with that kunai readied in his trembling hand. He could barely get out the words, “Sasuke? What’s wrong?” in a throat that clenched without his control. Sasuke was sitting up against the back of his bed frame, his face red and blotchy with tears as his chin was tilted upwards. He continued to sob, seemingly unaware of his older brother’s added presence. Itachi got close enough to where Sasuke was where he could sit beside him on the bed and pull the blanket from Sasuke’s white-knuckled grip. After setting his kunai aside – close enough for reaching distance – he replaced the blanket's presence with his own and gently wrapped both hands around Sasuke’s and raised them so they were in front of their faces.
“Sasuke? Sasuke it’s okay, your older brother is here now, nothing is going to get you.” He meant every word of what he said. With his frantic mind being well, frantic, his senses were heightened more so than usual. He could feel the oncoming approach of his parents and soon enough, they were entering the room as well. Itachi looked to his parents with pleading eyes and shook his head swiftly. “I don’t know what’s wrong! He’s not saying anything!”
Itachi’s mother was the first to be by Sasuke’s side before being joined by his father. Itachi watched as Sasuke’s small form became engulfed in a warm embrace, his hair getting brushed thoroughly by their mother’s fingers, and reassurances whispered repeatedly until like magic, Sasuke was calmed down. Itachi wished to stay there longer, the urge to mimic exactly what his mother had done was pulling his body to move before his mind could catch up, but was inevitably thwarted by a big and calloused hand wrapping itself atop his shoulder.
“Let’s leave them alone for now, your mother’s got this one,”
Itachi screwed his lips together tightly. Words of rebuttal on the tip of his tongue but after acknowledging that he wouldn’t be helping and instead just get in the way, he swallowed down everything he wanted to say and stood to follow his father out of Sasuke’s room after tucking his kunai away in a holster he doesn’t recall grabbing. The hand never left his shoulder, as if his father was afraid he’d jump back in bed with both Sasuke and his mother, up until the door was quietly shut behind them.
“Father I didn’t sense any additional chakra signatures in the room when I entered,” And when he was outside it too. “So I don’t understand what could’ve…” The image of Sasuke’s crying face flashed past his eyes and in a blink, he turned his Sharingan off. He hadn’t realized that they had been activated the entire time, and he began to dwell on the possibility of the red and black tomoe scaring his baby brother. His father’s frown grew, and the lines that made his features look aged tightened.
“I didn’t either, so there’s nothing to worry about in that regard. Sasuke had a nightmare, he was just scared of what he dreamt.” ‘He will be okay’ were the unsaid words. But for Itachi, all he heard was how something possibly happened to Sasuke to garner those nightmares in the first place. Was it something he saw in passing? He had taken Sasuke out the day before, he appeared fine and was his normal cheery self. So if anything were to have occurred then he would’ve seen it firsthand. There was also the chance that he’d heard a particularly intense story that left Sasuke traumatized. Then the question would be on who he heard it from. And that would also lead to his last theory; that someone had done something to him.
Itachi’s nails dug into his palm as he glared at the floor. Distantly, he could hear his father sigh. His chakra signature flickering ever so slightly. “Itachi, you must keep in mind that at his young age, the smallest of things could elicit a nightmare.” But for Itachi, it was a war. He’d seen people at their worst, committing the most heinous of acts imaginable. Seeing those and being forced to do the same to an extent was what left him with countless nights where he tossed and turned, each memory playing out with his Sharingan being to thank for that. Has something similar happened to Sasuke? When he was four, right before he was sent to fight in the war, he doesn’t recall ever having nightmares even after seeing and hearing things that would normally give any child night terrors.
He just couldn’t understand what his father was trying to tell him, no matter how hard he tried. He concluded to himself that someone had done something to Sasuke, and in a silent promise only he was aware of, he would find that person and make them pay for making his little brother suffer.
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Sasuke poked and prodded at the meal his mother prepared. He’d eaten only a small portion of what he’d been given if only to keep up appearances so his family wouldn’t worry, but he knows he wasn’t doing all that good a job of it as his older brother’s constant glance in his direction with a frown ever present was evidence of that. He wanted to eat, truthfully. His mother had made him his favorite, Miso soup. And on the side placed on a napkin was a tomato. The tomato looked especially ripe and ready to be bitten into but the moment he placed anything on his tongue he had to withhold a gag from coming out.
He was reminded of the dream he had – not so much a dream but more so distant memories he just barely recalls – and felt his stomach flip itself more ferociously the longer he dwelled on the thoughts. They felt real and he knew deep down that they were. He hadn’t gotten the person’s entire life story, just glimpses of details here and there. It was enough, however, for him to feel the grief over their – his? – death and the acknowledgment of losing the things he loved dearly forever.
But how does he explain that to his family? He hasn’t figured that out quite yet, and if he were honest, he doesn’t want to. So he won’t. The rest of breakfast was spent in tense silence. Now and then his mother would ask him questions about how he was feeling, if he thought he could finish his food, or if he’d like to go out with Itachi into the village. He’d replied as honestly as he could, which resulted in his older brother getting excited and leaving the table first to go and prepare for their outing. Sasuke sank further into himself and frowned. How can he be sure everything he gained knowledge of was accurate? Because if it was, then…
Sasuke looked between his parents with heat gradually pooling behind his eyes and quickly blinked back his tears. He focused his attention on his food and silently forced himself to finish as much as he could.
Will his big brother really kill their parents?
Just as he was going over the possibility he felt a hand place itself on his head. He was quick to jump away, a loud yelp breaking loose as he landed on his elbow hard enough for it to tingle and numb the rest of his arm down. Just as he was beginning to cradle his arm to his chest, he spotted the horrified expression of his brother. Itachi looked between him and his hand, guilt fogging over his eyes as he resigned to staring at his hand with his mouth agape.
“Sasuke! You shouldn’t move away from your brother like that!” His mother scolded, no real heat behind the words (there never was) and worry evident in both the wavering of her voice and the distressed look her expression held. His father on the other hand watched on in silence and made no reaction when he witnessed his son jumping away from the other in alarm. But Sasuke knew his father– or at least he’d like to say he did, but he could tell his father was scrutinizing him intently.
“Itachi?” Sasuke whispered. He too felt guilty for making his brother feel bad. He never had a reason to be scared of him before, Itachi’s presence always made him feel safe and secure. He blamed the dream he had for this. And he blamed himself for letting everything he recalled in his past life excuse his actions for hurting his big brother’s feelings. It was… unfair to judge Itachi based on things he hasn’t done yet. He wasn’t sure if they would even happen after all. So for now, it was best he judged Itachi’s character in the present rather than the possible future for him.
His big brother was snapped from his reverie upon hearing his name. He regarded Sasuke with drawled-out actions and made it known to him what he would be doing before he did it. As Itachi got closer Sasuke huffed with impatience. So he got up and grabbed ahold of Itachi’s hand and pouted.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”
Itachi forced a smile and made a move to touch the top of his head again but stopped halfway. Sasuke didn’t want this to be a regular occurrence so he grabbed ahold of the hand and placed it on top of his head for him.
“You can touch my head, I don’t mind.” Itachi’s eyes widened but he recovered quickly from his surprise and ruffled his hair.
“Tell me whenever it isn’t, alright? Touching others without their consent is never okay. Only bad people do that.”
Sasuke didn’t want to dwell over his words for too long but he had done it enough for him to call the Itachi of his dream a hypocrite if he believed those words too. Sasuke shook his older brother’s hand off of his head and grabbed the tomato to take a bite out of it, his appetite having returned briefly.
“I’m gonna get dressed and then we can go,” Sasuke announced. Itachi nodded, a smile forming on his lips as he looked down at him fondly.
“Just don’t take too long, the longer you take–”
“--The less time we have for fun, I know so I won’t take long!” Sasuke felt relieved when his older brother’s shoulders finally sagged in relief. “And while we’re out I promise to eat more than this tomato!” He turned toward his mother and moved closer to Itachi, his head tilted downward. “I’m sorry I didn’t eat a lot… it was really good, I promise.” He mumbled. He heard his mother giggle right after dismissing his apology as long as he kept his promise to eat while he and Itachi went out.
“You promise others too easily, Sasuke.” Their father’s austere voice rang out. Sasuke swallowed back the rebuttal on the tip of his tongue, wanting to say that he only makes promises he knows he can keep, but not wanting his words to come off as him talking back and being disrespectful. Sasuke nodded his head and soon after walked towards his room to change with Itachi following closely behind him.
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“How come you always carry that kunai around, big brother?” Sasuke asked quietly. Itachi held his hand, ensuring that he wouldn’t stray far in the crowd they navigated through. Though Sasuke was sure that if he had somehow gotten lost, it wouldn’t take Itachi all that long to find him. He was amazing like that. Capable of so many things that Sasuke could only dream of being able to do someday.
And in his dream, he would be able to. Just… he used those feats against the people he cared about just like his brother had to their family– to their clan… And that in itself brought along issues Sasuke still needs time to himself to process, and if he can, find solutions for.
He’s also hoping to meet his future genin team sometime soon. He knows of them but doesn’t know them personally. Almost as if he were reading a book about a character, just with the addition that he is that character. So he didn’t retain any of his feelings towards those people the Sasuke of the story had, just the knowledge of who they are and what he’d be doing to them in the future.
He… didn’t want that to happen.
“A ninja will, if not always, carry a form of weapon on their person in the case of an emergency.”
“In the case of an emer– emergingsy?”
“Emergency. And yes, it’s never bad to be careful since you never know what will happen.” Sasuke coughed.
“Oh I see, then do you have a name for your kunai?”
“No,”
“Do you want to name it? It’s special to you right?”
“Not in the slightest. I wouldn’t feel comfortable naming a ninja tool that has the capability to take a life.”
Sasuke’s eyebrows knitted together as he pursed his lips. “But aren’t we also capable of taking lives? We have names, so why can’t your kunai also have one?” Itachi’s grip suddenly tightened, and startled by his older brother's abrupt change in demeanor, Sasuke remained silent.
“But we’re more than that. You’re more than that, Sasuke. You’re capable of becoming more than just a tool.”
“Like what?” Sasuke had been watching his older brother’s face the whole time while being mindful of where he stepped, careful not to trip over anything and his own two feet for that matter. So he saw a smile tugged at the corners of Itachi’s mouth in a way that was genuine and Sasuke couldn’t help himself from mirroring it.
“You can do or be whatever it is you desire, Sasuke. As long as it makes you happy, I’ll always be here to support you.”
“Then I want to be your little brother forever!” Itachi laughed, his face flushing a faint shade of red that was rare for the Uchiha.
“Silly, you’re already going to be that. I’m talking about careers, is there anything you like to do? That doesn’t involve me.” Sasuke pouted as he was forced to close his mouth to think over something else to say after Itachi’s last words. Anything he liked to do…
In his dream, the person he used to be had a passion for gardening. It was something they did on the regular, a time of the day they genuinely looked forward to as it helped distract them from everything else in their life. Sasuke wanted something like that, and if what his brother said was true (which he knows it is since his brother wouldn’t lie!) Then in the future, he wants to plant a big garden he can go to every day without worries.
“I like plants! What if I become a garden… garden person?”
“Gardener. That’s a wonderful aspiration to have, do you have a favorite plant?”
“No, I like them all. So I’ll plant them all!”
Itachi’s smile never faded. It grew after hearing Sasuke’s words. “How about we head to the library and get you some gardening books, does that sound fun? And I’m sure if you asked, father and mother would be more than pleased to know that you want to help around in the garden.”
Sasuke jumped up and down. “Yes! Yes! I wanna learn how to be a garden person and help grow the tomatoes!”
“Gardener. When we get back home let’s bring it up to our parents, and after we leave the library how about we grab something to eat?”
“Ramen!” If only for the chance to run into the boy from his dream. “With the pork,”
“Ramen? I wasn’t aware you liked the dish,” Itachi could piece together why he’d like pork though, knowing that it's one of the meats his little brother happens to favor.
Sasuke shrugged. “I wanna try new foods.” And to gain the opportunity to meet his future genin team sooner than later.
“Ah, I see then. We’ll head there after we get those books,” Sasuke would grab only one or two books, for the time being, gardening not being the main thing on his mind. What Itachi implied was that the sooner they’re out of the library, the sooner they can get ramen. And the sooner they get ramen, the sooner he gets to meet his future friend! Though… Sasuke doesn’t really know the first thing about being a friend. He imagines it’s something similar to his and Itachi’s relationship. And if not then he’ll just ask Itachi about it later.