Chapter 2
After sparring with Shisui to get his mind off things, they both made their way back to Itachi's house. Apparently, Shisui invited himself over for dinner. Again. This action was something the household was familiar with, and no one had any problems with it. Except sometimes Sasuke. But today he didn't seem to have any complaints about his ''too annoying and mean'' cousin.
"Thanks for the meal, Auntie Mikoto," Shisui said to Mikoto as they were all sitting around the table.
"Honestly Shisui," Mikoto huffed. "Why do you never inform me beforehand that you will be staying with us for dinner? I could make you your favorite meal, but no. You insist on being difficult."
Shisui grinned in response. "You know whatever you make, makes it in the list of my favorites, Auntie." Mikoto chuckled at that.
Satisfied with the interaction, Shisui focused his attention on Sasuke. "So what has the little gremlin been up to?"
Sasuke didn't respond. Instead, quietly kept eating.
"Oh my God, when did you learn to ignore people?" Shisui said with a gasp, pretending to be offended. Sasuke actually cracked a smile at that. Again, the smile didn't look like any of the other smiles Sasuke would ever wear in Itachi's opinion, it looked more like a smirk than anything, an expression he'd never seen on Sasuke before.
"My oh my is little Sasuke finally taking a liking to me??? about time you little brat." Shisui goes to ruffle Sasuke's hair. Itachi notices that this time, Sasuke doesn't flinch, even though the movement of Shisui's hand is faster, and for all intents and purposes, Sasuke should trust Itachi's touch more than Shisui's. he doesn't even back away instinctively, something he always did because Shisui would always mess up his hair.
Itachi felt conflicted about that. He was a bit relieved. Maybe the flinch today was nothing. Maybe Sasuke had a bad dream, and it was the lingering effects of that. Maybe Sasuke was not hurt by anyone... but he also didn't want to dismiss the problem like this. It didn't feel right. For some reason, Itachi was sure someone had hurt his baby brother and he wasn't going to let the matter go so easily.
Shisui keeps messing Sasuke's hair until the boy finally bats his hand away and Shisui lets out a little laugh. "Well, it seems little Sasuke is much too cool to even grace his unworthy cousin a few words."
Sasuke shows no outward emotions to Shisui's words, but Itachi notices a slight reaction he doesn't know how to interpret. Deciding that Shisui has had enough fun for today he intervenes.
"Shisui stop pestering Sasuke. He's still a child. When he grows up he will get back at you for causing him so much trouble. Right, Sasuke?" Itachi has a soft smile as he addresses Sasuke.
Sasuke paused his eating for a moment, looking at his food contemplatively. "getting back at the ones who have caused me trouble huh? ... seems like a good place to start."
Shisui's expression turns a bit serious. "Is someone bothering you Sasuke?... someone from class maybe?"
Itachi waits with bated breath for Sasuke's answer expecting Sasuke to go quiet then burst into tears and ask him, his big, strong, and amazing big brother to help him to get rid of the bullies who hurt him. But the boy doesn't even pause when answering "Yeah, the girls keep following me around."
Shisui bursts into laughter and Itachi feels a pang of disappointment. He should be happy his brother isn't being bullied, but bullies he can deal with immediately. Also, bullying seems like the most innocent thing that could have hurt his brother. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice that sounds suspiciously like Shisui says or it could be nothing at all.
He ignores that voice and asks. "And um... these girls are they just... just following you or are they um... trying to hurt you?"
Sasuke snorts. "Do you consider me so weak as to be beaten up by a bunch of little girls?"
Itachi feels a little panic crawling up his chest. Oh, this is bad. Sasuke is going to be upset again because Itachi just had to imply he saw Sasuke as weak, and Sasuke wouldn't talk to him about who hurt him to prove he wasn't weak, or something childish like that.
"Sasuke your brother is just worried about you," Shisui says gently.
"Yes well, I don't think he needs to be worried about my safety against a few 6-year-olds." Sasuke seems more amused than offended, which equally relieves and confuses Itachi.
"yes well considering you are 6 yourself, I don't think it'd be unreasonable for Itachi to be worried." Mikoto chimes in, with a small smile of her own. This makes Sasuke scowl.
"yeah Sasuke anyone could be beaten up by a large number of their peers. it doesn't matter if they are 6 or 20 when you are also -" Shisui tries to say but is cut off by Sasuke's cute angry voice. "Itachi was also 6 but he could beat -" Sasuke lets out a sigh and cuts off himself. His expression goes back to neutral. "You know what? You're right to consider me weak. I don't blame you." he gets up. "but I also don't particularly care for this conversation. so if you would excuse me."
"Sasuke that's not what your brother means. You're not weak it's just..." Mikoto tries to salvage the situation, but Sasuke doesn't seem to be listening as he walks towards the door.
Before Itachi could ask about where Sasuke was headed, Fugaku beats him to it. "Where are you going Sasuke? It's a bit late for you to be out."
Fugaku is scowling. Itachi doesn't blame him, they are all just worried, finding Sasuke's behaviors odd and leaving the table like that when they have a guest is rude. Especially for an Uchiha. Especially especially for the son of the head.
Sasuke looks back at them, the scowl on his face rivaling that of Fugakus himself. He does not answer. Instead, he holds a staring contest between himself and Fugaku.
Itachi shares a look with Shisui, then his mother but neither of them seem sure about what to do.
Sasuke finally looks away and starts walking towards his room. Itachi can hear faint murmurs that sound suspiciously like "now I remember the annoyances of childhood."
The table falls into silence for a few minutes after Sasuke leaves, just the sounds of quiet eating and Itachi's brain going a mile a minute to find solutions to fix this new problem with Sasuke.
Mikoto breaks the silence after a few more minutes. "I'm sorry about Sasuke's behavior Shisui. You know he's a good and polite kid, it's just... he's not much himself today."
"Oh no don’t say that Auntie. You have nothing to apologize to me about. of course I know how much of a good kid Sasuke is and I'm sure he'll be back to himself in no time. And besides no one can be unsatisfied with how their night turned out when they are eating your cooking."
The table starts up some comfortable chatter once more as Shisui cracks a few jokes and tells a few tales about his missions.
The night passes with no more incident but at some point Itachi thinks he hears something in the gardens, though he feels no abnormal chakra from those parts so he doesn't give it much mind.
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Itachi spend the next few days out on a mission with Shisui. They didn't talk much but Itachi could see it in Shisui's body language that he thought Itachi wasn't paying his full attention to the mission, so Itachi tries to forget. It's hard but he manages to let go of Sasuke's odd behaviors and chopped it up to be a bad dream or puberty. He's heard some kids hit puberty younger than others, so maybe that's just it. Yes, puberty is a very likely answer.
so when he goes back home, even though he is hoping that an angel of joy will jump into his arms, he is not surprised when Sasuke only smiles at him. "Welcome back, Nii-san."
Itachi smiles, he'd rather receive the hug but on his way back he had asked some of the Aunties about treating a child who has hit puberty and they all said that they need their personal space, and mood swings and rebellion are to be expected. which explains a lot. He also heard a lot of the Aunties say that their daughters would ask them for chocolate once a month so he also bought a lot of chocolate.
So Itachi doesn't try to hug Sasuke and instead holds out the bag of chocolates as he takes off his shoes.
Sasuke looks at the bag confused. "For me?"
Itachi smiles kindly. "Yes, I thought it wouldn't hurt to have them around for you even if it isn't the time of the month when you would enjoy chocolate most."
Sasuke looks at him for a few seconds in silence, then looks at the bag before taking it slowly. "Um... thank you?"
Itachi's heart fills up with joy, it seems like this puberty stuff won't be that much of a problem after all. "You're welcome Sasuke."
He moves to poke Sasuke's forehead but Sasuke takes a step back. Right. space. He needs space.
He moves his hand back, not letting the smile slip.
during the entire 2 days Itachi was off from missions he didn't see much of Sasuke except for that first interaction. sure he wasn't exactly home all of that time, deciding long ago that training during breaks from missions is the best way to go, still, he usually saw Sasuke during meal times, and the mornings before leaving for training would be filled with Sasuke's begs to come with him, but Sasuke didn't beg to come with, in fact Sasuke wasn't even at breakfast.
asking his mother about Sasuke's whereabouts showed that he was having breakfast and lunch with his friends for a few days now. Itachi hadn't seen Sasuke hang out with any friends, much less friends he was so close with that he'd rather have his meals with them than his family. it just didn't add up.
he understood why his mother was allowing this, after all, she had always wanted Sasuke to make friends, but Sasuke liked spending time with Itachi more, so in her mind, maybe trading family time and a little of her own time to make bento boxes wasn't a bad exchange for seeing Sasuke be more social.
but Itachi knows that his mother knows that friendships like this don't happen overnight, that Sasuke wouldn't rather eat with someone else rather than his family overnight, and that he wouldn't want someone else's company over Itachi's overnight, but it seems his mother is choosing to ignore this. which leaves it up to him to investigate.