Naruto Fan Fiction / Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Every Light on this Path is For You ❯ Take the Good with the Bad ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: The characters, items, places etc of Naruto are property of Masashi Kishimoto. These objects are used without permission for entertainment only, not for making money. No infringement is intended.

Chapter 5: Take the Good with the Bad

Itachi awoke to the alarm on his googly-eyed clock to find the day was starting in reverse to the last few days- for once he was alone in the bed, and he felt a sudden pang of guilt once more for how lonely it was without his partner beside him.

He shook it free and forced himself up, reminding himself only a month ago he'd woken up alone every morning of his life.

He expected that Deidara was off getting breakfast, so when he pushed open the living room door to darkness he frowned in confusion. The curtains were still drawn, only a tiny bit of dusky sunrise flitting through around the edges, leaving him to reach for the light switch.

The strike of a match halted him, the room lighting up in firelight from over by the table. Itachi's eyes moved to it, watching in the flickering illumination as Deidara lit two candles and softly blew the match in his hand out.

Itachi, being the organised person he was, kept candles under the sink in case of a power cut. There was no other reason he could see for such an action, so his logical mind concluded that must have been what had happened.

"Is the power out?" He asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes and blinking a couple of times to try and bring things more into focus.

Deidara exhaled lengthily before beckoning with one hand. "That's so naive it's actually cute, yeah. Come over here."

Itachi did as asked to see the table had been set, pancakes awaiting him along with a freshly made coffee. Realisation dawned on him and he glanced up with widened, soft eyes.

"You...?"

"It's called a romantic gesture," Deidara filled in as he sat down in front of his own plate.

"But why?" Itachi asked when he was also seated, confused. The night before he'd left his boyfriend to panic because he had the selfish desire to vanish for a while from the world. This morning, he was greeted with such sweetness that he didn't even realise the artist possessed?

"Because I'm pretty fond of you," Deidara responded with a smile. "When you went missing last night I was thinking to myself that we hadn't had a proper date or anything, yeah. I wanted to change that. I know it's not that fancy, but-"

Itachi silenced him with a finger to his lips across the table, gently cupping one hand to his cheek. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, yeah. Food's getting cold."

Itachi took the hint, feeling just a little awkward as they shared the meal together. He had never experienced anything like this before thanks to his lack of relationships, and there was a tiny part of his mind that screamed at him that his father would likely disapprove. Likely was disapproving of the whole thing, in fact.

The candles in front of them flickered and twisted, casting shadows to the walls in beautiful patterns that were impossible to recreate artificially. He cast his eyes to them and the candles instead, watching the flames dance and wondering if he was still asleep and dreaming.

"I'm really sorry," he murmured. "I'm trying to be the person you want, but it's hard."

"I want you to be you," Deidara told him firmly. "The only reason I complained about your complex is because it rules you, yeah. It was more important than anything and that isn't a healthy start for a relationship. I care about who you are underneath all that more than anything."

"I don't know who I am anymore, Deidara," Itachi admitted, a touch of shame in his voice. "I've always defined myself on my ability to be perfect. Without that I feel completely lost."

"I'm going to help you find that out, yeah. I'm not going anywhere just because you aren't over a lifelong complex in one month."

They finished the meal together quietly without any more words on the subject, Itachi feeling a little disappointed that there was now sunlight streaming beneath the curtains. The room was lighter now, making the candles unneeded, but neither of them moved to blow them out and end the encounter.

It was Deidara who did so, eventually standing and gathering their plates as he extinguished the candles in one easy breath. Itachi watched him head out into the kitchen, following and hugging him from behind as he dropped the plates into the sink.

"Leave that," he whispered in Deidara's ear, planting a soft kiss on his neck. "Come back to bed."

Deidara didn't argue, letting himself be led back to the bedroom and under the soft duvet. He opened his mouth to question Itachi's intention, unable to read his eyes to find out instead, when he found his boyfriend's tongue quickly silencing him. He didn't complain, melting into the heated kiss- passionate and almost frantic, it was different from the other more chaste kisses they had shared.

Itachi pulled away for air, curling right up to Deidara before locking their lips back again another fervent kiss. He needed to feel, to touch, to experience everything Deidara could give- it gave him the strength to continue on his path to balanced perfection, knowing he had his partner with him every step of the way to guide him.

"Itachi?" Deidara breathed when they parted again. "What are you-"

Itachi silenced his question with yet another kiss, letting the hand that was slowly wandering lower down Deidara's chest continue to do so.

"Exploring," he whispered softly. "It's a pretty innocuous move."

"What does that even mean- ah!"

Itachi's lips curled into a tiny, barely visible grin as he attempted to unbuckle the belt in his way with one hand. "I thought you were more articulate than that."

"Is this your idea of dirty talk?" Deidara asked breathlessly. "You talk in long words instead, yeah?"

"You're just incapable of processing 'long words' right now," Itachi clarified. "There's an expression for that."

"And what's that?"

"It's called thinking with the wrong head."

"What the hell are you doing-"

"Is that a complaint?"

Deidara grabbed Itachi's wrist before it could move any lower than it already was. "Are you sure you're happy with what you're about to do?" He asked seriously.

"I'm exploring," Itachi told him again. "Nothing more. Are you happy?"

"If you are, yeah."

"I wouldn't do it if I wasn't."

Deidara's freed Itachi's wandering hand with a nod of approval. "In that case," he breathed into his partner's ear. "Explore away, yeah."

Itachi was expecting the good mood he drove them to college in to stay for at least half the day. Deidara had spent the drive with a coy grin on his face, looking a little nervous- a rarity, and extremely cute in Itachi's eyes. With that and their previous explorations in mind, he didn't really think he could wipe the smile off of his face, really.

They hadn't crossed any lines just yet, but they were alright with taking it slow- intimate contact of any kind was more than Itachi had ever thought he'd get with Deidara.

Walking straight into a fight in the middle of the college hall took the edge off, however. When he realised one of the people involved was Sasuke, the mood vanished completely. Without thinking he stepped straight into the tussle, standing between Sasuke and the other livid boy, who halted with one fist raised when faced with the elder Uchiha.

"Itachi," Sasuke growled, trying to step round him. "Get out the way."

"Calm down," Itachi told him firmly, sending a quick glance to Deidara. The blond nodded a silent confirmation, making his way over and restraining Sasuke easily.

"Get the fuck off of me Blondie! I'll hit you instead, you know I've been looking for a reason to- don't think I won't do it! Get off, get off-"

"Sasuke, come on," another voice pleaded from the side- Naruto, who was looking troubled and nursing what looked like an injured hand. "Leave it."

"What happened?" Itachi asked, not caring who answered but his tone indicating someone should.

No-one volunteered the information. The angry brunette Sasuke had been fighting with volunteered his fist however, which Itachi quickly dodged. He was a pacifist of the highest order- he'd been enrolled in martial arts classes as a child thanks to Sasuke's incessant complaints that he wanted to join them, but that was all the experience he held.

Their mother had refused to let Sasuke unless Itachi attended as well, which he had been happy to do until he finally withdrew from 'boredom' (which was really the innate feeling that learning to fight when he had no intentions of ever doing so was wrong).

The crowd had already been growing when they had arrived, but Itachi noted now he had stepped in that it had doubled at least. He could hear gossiping, the occasional snippet of conversation regarding himself.

Was he good at fighting, how sweet it was he was stepping in to protect someone who was obviously a relative, how they now feared for the life of the young boy who Sasuke had been fighting.

Why they had such grandiose ideas for Itachi, he had no idea. He might be well known as being academically perfect, but right now he was treading water that was steadily growing deeper. He had learnt how to defend himself and tuned out anything in the classes that was related to offense- he had been certain he would never raise a hand to anybody.

He stood his ground though- what kind of older brother would he be if he didn't, after all? He'd been protecting Sasuke since his sibling was a year old and exploring the world, learning the dangers of a common household. Just because they'd aged now didn't mean he felt any differently about doing so.

Sasuke had stopped struggling against Deidara, sulking instead while Naruto attempted to calm him down quietly. Itachi turned his attention from them, satisfied they were under control, and turned it to the heated boy in front of him.

"What happened?" He repeated his question.

"That your brother?" The boy spat instead, bringing a hand to his split lip. Itachi gave him an impassive look, refraining from answering until he had received an answer to his question, first. "He's a fucking jerk," the kid finally snapped, glaring at Itachi with no hint of fear.

Itachi found it quite impressive- he might be considered a nice person in general but he was capable of giving off Sasuke's typical pissed-off-Uchiha aura if needed. It generally earned him glances of trepidation or outright fear. This time it earned him a raised hand, beckoning in a taunt.

"Answer the question," he asked firmly, standing his ground.

"Why don't you tell him what you said?" Sasuke called challengingly, yanking himself free from Deidara finally and stalking across towards them.

"Talking tough when you have your family to protect you? I'm so scared."

"You're embarrassing me," Sasuke growled when he reached Itachi's side, pushing past him roughly with one arm raised. Itachi grabbed his shoulder, digging his fingers into Sasuke's neck tightly so he halted and hissed in pain instead. "Whose side are you on, Itachi?!"

"Yours, as always," Itachi intoned, his voice low and sharp. "I don't care why you're fighting but I'm not going to sit by and allow you to continue."

"Sure, I'll repeat what I said," the brunette finally spoke up once more, a smirk on his face that Sasuke threatened once more to smack off of him. "I called you and your boyfriend there a couple of homos. Are you going to deny it this time, or just prove I'm right by hitting me again?"

Sasuke's reaction made sense in Itachi's mind immediately and he closed his eyes angrily, his own hackles raised just slightly at the comment. Sasuke wasn't offended by insults usually and had it been any other one, he would have kept his cool indifference and kept walking.

However, his brother was acting like a bull that had seen red because of Itachi and his relationship- he hadn't said as much, nor had he even hinted it, but the elder Uchiha could feel the aura of defence radiating off of Sasuke as he stood in front of him with his arms outstretched just slightly in protection.

That said Itachi was never quite sure what was going on between Sasuke and Naruto, if anything, but really that wasn't the point. Sasuke was a protective of him as he was of Sasuke, which was all that mattered in that moment.

He released his grip on Sasuke's shoulder, roughly pushing him to one side and neatly grabbing the other boy by the collar of his shirt. A couple of girls in the crowd gasped audibly as he took a couple of steps to the side and planted the boy firmly against the wall.

"Hi there," he greeted viciously. "I'm Uchiha Itachi. That's my younger brother, and if you think I'm going to stand there and let you beat and insult him then you are insane."

"You are such a hypocrite," Sasuke groaned from behind him, hiding his eyes in his hand. "I'm not a five year old anymore, let him go and I can handle him."

The boy in Itachi's grasp chuckled before reaching out and around the back of Itachi's neck, grabbing hold of his long ponytail. Before Itachi could react he yanked, earning his freedom as Itachi hissed in pain and loosened his grip, one hand flying up to the back of his neck in an attempt to pry the boy's hand away.

"Don't you touch him!" Sasuke snapped sharply, anger at Itachi forgotten as he tried to rejoin the fight. Once again, he found himself restrained by the joint effort of Naruto and Deidara. "What the fuck is wrong with you both?!" He yelled at them sharply. "Blonds really are stupid aren't they? Let me go to him- he's hurting him!"

A mantra was murmuring through the crowd of 'fight'- Itachi attempted to block it out, wondering where the playground mentality had come from. Colleges were supposed to be full of more mature people- yet he supposed he was a hypocrite, for currently being one of the stars in the current show.

He was finding it difficult to concentrate on much but stinging pain however, currently on his knees as his ponytail was still being harshly pulled. Every attempt he had made to pry the boy's hand away had failed, leaving him simply wincing in pain with his hands on the floor so he didn't hit out in reflex. He really didn't want to get any more physically aggressive than he already had done.

Sasuke was yelling in the background, currently declaring rather loudly about what a pacifist Itachi was and how he stood no chance unless Sasuke went to help him. Itachi let a wry smile cross his features. Well, he supposed he deserved the returned embarrassment.

"Pacifist, eh?" The boy muttered in his ear, apparently listening to the conversation. He gave Itachi's hair one last yank before letting him go and stalking towards Sasuke. Itachi immediately put a hand to the back of his head, eyes closed in pain, before he registered where the boy had been headed.

Scrambling to his feet and ignoring the stinging, he turned in time to see Sasuke wrench from Deidara and Naruto and lash out once more. His punch was avoided and he took one in return, earning cheering from the crowd.

"Don't you dare touch him again," Sasuke threatened, one hand raised in a fist. He was ignoring the hit he had taken to his cheek, despite the thin line of blood that was beginning to form on the surface.

"Your brother isn't going to step in, then?" The boy snarled as the fists flew once more. "Or is he too much of a pussy? Or sorry- pacifist?"

Itachi was merely observing, mentally trying to work out how he could break this up without getting violent- which, really, he rather wanted to do considering Sasuke was being injured before his eyes.

Rushing in and bodily shielding him wasn't sensible as much as his mind kept urging him to do so, and Sasuke would probably just yell at him again anyway- so what could he do?

He attempted to ignore the part of his mind that screamed he was trying to be less perfect these days, eyes flicking to Deidara. Being less perfect meant beating the guy senseless would be just fine, right?

"Leave him out of this- it's not his fight!" Sasuke warned harshly, snapping Itachi back to a more sensible reality.

"He stepped in so it's his fight, too. Come on Uchiha Itachi! You're going to let me wipe the floor with your brother? I'll take you!"

"You cocky son of a bitch! Ignore him, you're fighting me!"

Itachi disagreed with that, contradicting Sasuke by stepping up beside him and sighing heavily. He couldn't do anything else- he couldn't stop or shield his brother, so whatever action he took needed to be against the other boy.

He had shown no fear earlier, but Itachi intended to change that. Narrowing his eyes sharply, he let the protective feeling that had been engulfing him take over, leaping forward to knock the other boy to the floor.

Straddling his waist and pinning his wrists above his head in one smooth motion Itachi was surprised he could still pull off, he glared down at the younger boy with a touch of shame, a hint of pride and a lot of anger.

"Listen to me," he whispered, leaning forward so his lips were at the other's ear. "Being a pacifist means I don't want to fight you- not because I'm a coward or because I fear you, but because I find such ventures meaningless."

He tightened his grip on the boy's wrists as he struggled, the throbbing pain he was feeling on the back of his neck fuelling his desire to squeeze just a little tighter than necessary. "However, if you touch him again I will not hold back on you."

"What on earth is going on here?!"

The crowds began to disperse immediately, leaving one very angry looking teacher in their wake. Itachi mentally damned his bad timing, quickly clambering to his feet and releasing the brunette.

"Itachi?" The teacher noted, hiding his surprise well. "You aren't the type to be picking on people, let alone those younger than you."

"He isn't," Sasuke snarled, kicking out again against his human restraints that had once again grabbed hold of him. "Let go of me you fucking morons, the show's over anyway."

"Language! Itachi- a relative of yours?"

"My younger brother."

The teacher nodded, sighing heavily as he realised the connection and why Itachi was likely to be involved. "All of you, follow me. I want some explanations and they had better be good."

Chapter End