Part One of ???
Main Characters: Sasuke, Itachi, Hinata
Supporting Characters: Shisui, Naruto, Hanabi, Neji, Ino
AU. I don’t know what kind of AU, but it’s definitely AU. No Uchiha massacre.
She stood outside of the house for an inordinate amount of time. Enough that through the glistening glass doused in the heaviness of the rain he noticed her, frozen on the pavement.
It caught him by surprise, seeing someone standing resolutely in the downpour. She was no homeless person staring at their home with envy and desire. Her clothing, despite being soaked was well made and fit her suitably. Her hair was long and he thought would have been pretty if it weren’t plastered to her head with the wetness.
She shifted when he froze at the window and he watched with a twist of something mournful in his stomach as water sloshed out of the top of her black rainboots to join the torrent from above.
This could not be borne.
“What are you looking at?”
His younger brother did not bother glancing at him from his comfortable place by the fire’s light. There were dim soothing lamps all throughout the sitting room but he still hugged the flames as though the cold was breathing heavy through the window. Sasuke was prone to chills and Itachi had only just placed a blanket on his shoulders.
By comparison he was a toasty bit of spoiled warmth. Outside the girl remained frozen and staring.
“N…nothing.” Itachi hummed, moving to the sofa. He lowered his tall lanky frame onto it with a slowness that finally caught Sasuke’s attention.
With his brow clear but his eyes clever his younger brother stared.
“Itachi.” A communication of many thoughts, ideas and questions filtered through the one word. Itachi blinked carefully at him.
He had a few options. One was to lie outright and make Sasuke frown. His frown would be like a sapling’s branches above ground with his anger festering root deep and wide below.
Another option was to tell him there was a girl outside, at which point Sasuke would examine the specimen himself and likely deem the situation suspicious. Probably the parental advice of their mother or father would be called for and then the situation would be wholly out of Itachi’s control.
The third option then.
“I may have found an adventure.” His smile was shaky, for the anxiety was getting the better of him. How sick would she be by now, having stood there for who knew how long? And how long did she have to travel to get to their street in the first place beneath the rain’s fall?
This perked his brother’s whole body like a hound to prey’s scent. Back suddenly straight and book ignored in his hands his eyes grew wide with interest.
“An adventure?”
Thoughts of all the times this phrase had been uttered by his older brother puffed in clouds within his head. There was the time they had discovered Shisui had a secret and investigated until it led to a girl he fancied. There was also the time they had followed the downtrodden and angry boy from
Shisui’s
school home only to discover he was living in a shack on someone else’s property and befriended him.
There was also the time they had found two girls sneaking about their property with cameras around their necks. That one had resulted in a discovery that was terrifying as it was hilarious. Hilarious to Itachi and Shisui at least.
Unsure now with that last less favourable memory leaving a sour taste in his mouth Sasuke hesitated. “What kind of adventure?”
“I am not sure.” Hopeful now with Sasuke’s trepidation Itachi stood. “How about I do a preliminary examination of the thing and fetch you after I have come to a conclusion.”
Frowning now his brother sank back into the comfort of his blanket, gripping his book like an anchor to the hearth.
“Yes… perhaps that would be best.”
There was little chance he would be able to contain his temper if another incident of besotted girls had Shisui laughing. He could not afford getting in trouble with his mother but a fist to his cousin’s nose would be in due order if such an “adventure” had presented itself.
“Excellent.” Itachi shook out his wrists as he walked towards the door, running in his head through the many things that would need to happen in the next couple of minutes.
Sasuke watched, a nagging feeling of being left out tugging at his tummy even as his brother smiled at him and closed the door.
Days passed. The rains finally relented and left the world wet and disgruntled albeit clean. Trees who had been clinging to the remnant flourish of red and orange leaves were now naked and tired. Green took over the world in the dark emerald of stubborn grass and even more stubborn winter bushes.
The Uchiha estate shone bright the day the sun finally deigned to show it’s face. Windows were a coveted thing by many of the Uchiha matriarchs to date and walls had systematically been removed and replaced with shining glass through the years so that the house was a twisted mess that glimmered in the sun.
There were elements of more ancient building practices that still clung to the house. Pillars of heavy stone, doors of old oak, metal hinges and marble steps. Corridors still ran within it’s center and the servants hidden halls lining the inside of the house like secret pockets in a coat were Sasuke and Itachi’s favorite places since they could run about freely.
The mish mash of modern and ancient should not have worked. More than once their father commented how his ancestors were likely rolling about in their graves, lamenting the destruction of the Uchiha estate heritage. Still, when his quiet lovely wife smiled and asked if a room seemed too dark he always succumbed and construction began the next day.
Sasuke wandered through the gardens on that morning, nose in a book as was his habit and hand in his trouser pocket. It was chilly enough to merit a jumper beneath his coat and a scarf to breath into as he marched on the round pebbles of the garden paths.
The evergreens were high in the outskirts of the gardens, threaded through with twisting vines that during the spring bloomed a varied pink and purple that always made his mother sigh in admiration.
In the winter there was only the freshness of pine on the air to admire as one walked the paths. He knew them too well to get lost in the maze but it was still an enjoyable trot compared to the endless days he faced inside the house during winter.
Itachi had been less available of late and it had got him in a grump. Where he was usually keen to play a game of chess, or to break out in a sweat fencing he had instead been cooped up in his rooms or out on the horse trails. Any time Sasuke had suggested he come as well his brother had claimed a need to “clear his head”.
Theirs was a relationship healthy enough to respect one another’s privacy but being fifteen Sasuke still found himself annoyed.
Intrusive thoughts about his brother’s lack of attention of late were loud enough to make Sasuke sigh, closing his book with a snap at the realization that he had in fact read the same page twice and still was unsure of what it said.
Determined now to return home to discuss this strange behavior with his older sibling he paused, listening intently.
A sound he did not know how to interpret rippled through the cold. A bird chirped right after it with a sardonic sort of exclamation and tilting his head to listen the youngest Uchiha moved forward again over the crinkling stones.
“Hello?” His call was low, lower than he had anticipated. His voice had been flip flopping of late between his more familiar tenor and a darkness that he did not know how to manage. His mother often burst into tears at the sound of a man coming out of her boy’s mouth.
Another sound replied, muffled but definitely human and frowning now at the thought of trespassers once more on their property he moved forward turning the corner to find a deserted path covered in breadcrumbs and thickly populated with birds.
On the wooden bench beneath the skeletal slumbering grape vine a scarf hung abandoned in stripes of red and black.
Blinking rapidly through his confusion Sasuke lifted the material in his hand, mouth parting slowly.
This was his scarf. From several years ago.
His mother had made it.
Raising his eyes back to the evergreens and birds he frowned deeply before spinning around to head back home.
“Have you been enjoying your education then, Shisui?” Mikoto smiled as she pushed her food around on her plate.
The table was set for five, with Fugaku and Sasuke occupying two other seats. Empty, and glaringly so was Itachi’s spot beside his father on the left, across from where his mother sat.
Sasuke made it a point not to look at it. Itachi was in enough trouble without his eyes landing on the empty plate and clean wine glass in confusion every few minutes.
Sitting near the middle of the enormous table and rather uncomfortable was Shisui, who could not help but bring attention to the fact that Itachi was missing. His very presence was an imbalance to the familiar equation at the table and nervously he lifted his head from his soup to blink at his aunt.
“Oh, yes rather.” He supplied, offering a smile that Fugaku acknowledged but did not return. “I have found it very engaging to be amongst my peers.”
This was a dangerous topic to touch on and Sasuke’s mild wince had him scrambling, setting his glass on the table with a bit of a jerk at the sight of it. “A-although, I do miss the ability to be in charge of my own learning.” He laughed weakly. “There are always pros and cons to all things, yes?”
Fugaku nodded sagely, as did Mikoto and Sasuke licked his lips at the near miss. He and Itachi had been consistently pushing for a chance to attend school. There was nothing in it but curiousity. In fact, Sasuke suspected that once out in the chaos of a classroom he would probably slink back home exhausted and glad that he had the option of being educated alone.
His father and mother however found the request both amusing and categorically naive. Their sons were exceptional, as Uchiha’s were prone to be and they found the idea of giving reigns of their training as people to some teacher a disagreeable suggestion.
Shisui himself had been raised and educated at home under the strict eyes of his parents but after a time they had found even their higher learning was beyond what they could offer Shisui’s hungry mind. There were still debates about the merits of their decision at family reunions.
The silence wore on for a long extended moment in which Sasuke scrambled to find something to say that might alleviate the tension. This was usually Itachi’s role. Always ready with a question his older brother had the ability to guide conversations like toddlers with a steady gentle hand. Sasuke was rarely required to tax himself at family dinners with anything other than answering questions honestly and politely.
And even that, he found sometimes difficult.
Opening his mouth, unsure of what he was about to put forth as a conversation starter he paused, relieved when the dining room doors were flung open and a disheveled Itachi flew in.
And fly he did. With a choked gasp that might have been a cry aborted he stumbled, nearly lost his balance, righted himself at the last moment and paused, breath held in his chest as he surveyed his family.
Fugaku did not turn to look behind him, instead closing his eyes as he waited for his son to make a move. Mikoto lowered her spoon to her bowl slowly, lips pressed together in what might have been an attempt to keep herself from grinning.
“Son.” She finally dared, cutting the silence. “How nice of you to join us.”
“I… I apologize.” Itachi replied, straightening the cuffs of his sleeves and then the edges of his navy jumper before walking towards his place at the table.
Eyes down he tucked in, murmuring his thanks to the servant who moved forward to ladle soup into his bowl.
“And?” Fugaku prompted after the silence stretched several heart beats. “Where have you been?”
“I am afraid that Susanoo suffered a sprain on one of the horse trails.” His eldest divulged easily, stirring his soup with care so as to not clink the metal with the porcelain unnecessarily. “I had to walk him back for a rather long stretch. I’m only glad it was not raining. The clouds look heavy with another downpour and I do not care to catch another cold.”
“Yes.” Mikoto nodded. “You just barely got over the last one. Have you been tired lately? You have been out on the trails a lot perhaps you should spend more time at home more.”
“Perhaps.” Itachi agreed, taking a mouthful of soup. “Oh, this is delicious. Shisui! I am so glad to see you. When did you arrive?”
And the conversation rippled out from Itachi. He was the stone dropped into the slowly freezing pond, bringing movement and interest to the table with his mere presence. Sasuke watched, mouth pursed and appetite gone as his brother smiled and laughed and entertained.
Meanwhile he let his fingers drift to his chest, patting there with a hand subtly from time to time as if checking that whatever hung on the necklace around his neck was still there.
Sasuke frowned.
His brother had never before worn a necklace.
Their rooms were across from each other in a wing of the house that had yet to be redone. It was on his mother’s wish list and he knew that eventually his room would be ripped apart as architects and specialists moved in to widen the windows, to add skylights, to brighten everything.
It did not much matter that he rather liked his room, and the ancient way that the cold seeped into it during the fall and winter. It was a strange thing to like, considering how his fingers and toes seemed determined to fall off one day from poor circulation but being cold often and having a cold room gave him an excuse to always have a fire.
And Sasuke Uchiha rather loved fire.
It was roaring that night, and with his favorite chair shoved right near the flames he was in an oven. Legs crossed and with a book splayed on his lap he stared at the flickering light in the grate thinking.
Itachi had taken to staying home a bit more the last few days, certainly since Susanoo’s sprain which when Sasuke had inquired at the stables the hands had said was minor.
“No swelling, no limping either.” One of the hands had shrugged feebly. “After Master Itachi brought him back we thought he would perhaps need a vet but it must have seemed worse out there with the mud all over him because we could hardly see an issue. Lucky horse.”
Lucky horse or fibbing brother.
A knock on his door made him start, turning to the shadowed edges of his bedroom where the frame was.
“Sasuke?” Itachi’s voice called, followed by a handful of coughs that grew more sharp as they fell from his mouth.
Jaw working with worry Sasuke flung the door open, rolling his eyes at the sight of his brother in his pajamas and barefoot on the marble floor.
“Where are your slippers? You are coughing up a lung on my doorstep.”
“I’m fine.” Itachi croaked as he cleared his throat before stepping in and closing the door. “I forgot them. Do you hear this wind?”
Sasuke glanced at his window, small compared to the floor to ceiling monstrosities over taking the rest of the house. With the blinds heavy over it however he could see nothing. “No. Is it storming again?” And he froze, remembering a few weeks ago when his brother had looked out a window in the sitting room.
An adventure, he had said.
“Yes, it’s blasting.” Itachi sounded concerned, his voice still hoarse from coughing as he marched over to the curtains and flung them open.
Only the tops of some of the tallest oaks could be seen from the second floor along with the impenetrable black slashed with rain. A cloud lit up abruptly, filling the room with it’s brilliant whiteness and Sasuke breathed in, counting in his head.
He only got to two before the boom assaulted them both.
“Wow.” He breathed, coming to stand by his brother. Kicking his slippers off he nudged him with his shoulder and Itachi put them on, sighing with relief at the warmth.
“I would not want to be out there in this.” Sasuke admitted, although a surprisingly large part of him rather would. There was always something about lightning, thunder and screaming winds that appealed to him.
Like the fire. It was wild and frantic and free.
“No.” Itachi agreed, shoulders tensing. “No, I suppose not.”
Something was coming. He studied his older brother with his hands loose at his sides only by sheer force of will. Like the space between the flash and the boom of the thunder and lightning he waited, holding his breath.
“Sasuke, I need your help.”
There was the flash.
He swallowed, watched as his brother turned to look at him and finally realized there was sweat on his brow, and pink on his cheeks. A fever.
“I need you to sneak someone into the house.”
And there was the boom.
It never occurred to him to say no. They were Uchiha. For each other, they would do anything.
This is…
I don’t know what this is.
It’s been hanging out in my head for about…uh… three months? And I just complied today. I don’t have a lot of room in my head to spare so, something had to give.
Much love to you all!
Inky
Ink Child Writing 