Naruto Fan Fiction / Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Every Light on this Path is For You ❯ Ninety Percent Happy, Ten Percent Imperfection ( Chapter 14 )

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 14: Ninety Percent Happy, Ten Percent Imperfection

Itachi deliberately attempted to seek out his little brother, much to Deidara's amusement. Considering he bumped into him a reasonable amount of times at college usually, to not see him at all was unusual.

Almost as though his little brother was avoiding him for some reason. Itachi was refusing to believe he had skipped- horribly naive perhaps, but it worked in helping lessen his concern.

He knew why Sasuke would avoid him, too- it was the same reason he hadn't been open to talking. He was afraid Itachi would attempt to convince him to make up with their father, even if he didn't want to.

Little did Sasuke know that wasn't Itachi's intention at all. He was aware that even though it would be nice to play happy families, if Sasuke didn't want to genuinely fix things then it would be fake. Itachi had had enough of facades and false pretences.

Walking through the hall with Deidara at his side deep in thought, he stopped when he encountered someone he really wished he hadn't.

The smirking face of the boy he had unintentionally begun to clash with standing ahead of them made him sidestep in an attempt to avoid the confrontation, but apparently now they had come into contact the boy wouldn't be letting that happen.

"Uchiha Itachi. Where's your pussy of a brother today?"

Itachi hid his alarm well. He needed to get in contact with Sasuke, and he needed to do it now, end of the day ideal be damned. He ignored the call and continued his walk, hand on his pocket to pull out his mobile.

"Oi! I'm talking to you, girly boys."

Itachi stopped, sharing a glance with Deidara. Deidara gave him a nod, knowing exactly what he was being asked.

"Excuse me a second," Itachi muttered, handing his bag over before walking straight up to the kid in question.

"Going to fight me now, are you?" The brunette asked menacingly, the smirk growing ever-bigger as Itachi walked up to him determinedly.

Itachi counted to three before grabbing the boy by the arm and dragging him bodily into the classroom they were standing by. Pushing him up against the door by the scruff of his neck so they couldn't be disturbed, he spoke with more force than he'd ever heard his mild voice contain.

"I suggest that you drop this meaningless rancour," he suggested. "If you are insistent on threatening me then I will take any necessary measure needed to show you that I am not a person to mess with."

"Right now you're all talk and no action," the boy taunted.

Itachi sighed. He really didn't want it to come to this again, but he was being forced into a corner. In one easy motion he grabbed hold of the boy and slammed him into the floor, knocking the wind from him as he once again pinned his wrists above his head and straddled his chest.

"I'm going to resist hitting you," he declared. "I'm not willing to sink to that level."

"Like your brother?"

"Leave him out of this. You brought the problem to me, so it's nothing to do with him now."

The boy struggled and shoved Itachi off, leaving him to land on his hands and knees messily to one side before quickly bringing himself to his feet. On the floor before an opponent was not a very safe place to be, after all.

He felt a hand on the back of his hair once again but this time, he grabbed the boy's hand and wrenched it off, backing him up into the wall once more with a hand dangerously close to his throat.

"I'm going to give you one warning," he growled. "Stop fucking with my hair."

If the boy had known anything about Itachi, he might have realised that pushing him to the point of such cursing was a very bad sign indeed. As it was, he didn't know that piece of information, and continued his smirking taunts.

"It isn't my fault your hair is girly-"

The boy didn't finish his sentence, finding his words restricted by the impact of pain that came with Itachi's fingers in the nerve on his neck.

"I'm not going to hit you," Itachi repeated. "But there are many ways of issuing warnings that don't involve such acts. Consider this warning number one. If we have to get to warning number three, I won't be so kind."

"Says the pacifist."

Itachi exhaled lengthily, looking skyward. "You're not making this easy," he declared. "It's almost like you're trying to get me to hit you."

"Bring it, girly boy."

In one swift movement the boy was once again on the floor, leaving Itachi to wonder with a hint of amusement when he was actually going to bother guarding himself against the same obvious defensive move. He'd put a little more force into this time however, needing his threats to be heeded.

"That was warning number two," he declared evenly as the boy put a hand to his ribs and pulled himself to his knees.

"I'm going to give you ten seconds to get out of my sight. Stay away from my brother, myself, and anyone associated with us. You are also to keep your mouth closed about this little meeting, got it?"

The boy looked as though he had a smartass response, cocky as he always had been, but he closed his mouth as Itachi spoke again.

"You do not want me to get to warning number three, I assure you."

With that he began to countdown, leaving the boy to scramble to his feet and swiftly flee the room without another word. Itachi looked skyward and thanked whatever deity that might be listening that his false bravado had worked.

He glanced to the door to see Deidara poking his head around it inquisitively, leaving Itachi to exit the room as though nothing had happened and continue the walk down the hall.

"What the hell just happened?" Deidara finally asked, a hand on his side as he rubbed at it. "He pushed the door open and caught me, yeah. He seemed pretty scared."

"I had some unfinished business to take care of," Itachi replied smoothly as he relinquished his bag from his partner. "It's all sorted out now."

A tiny, slightly cocky smile crept up onto his lips. Deidara didn't question it, simply shrugging and saying no more. He'd been peeking through the glass window in the door just in case he'd felt the need to jump in, but Itachi apparently knew how to handle himself very well.

He'd been wary of jumping into the family fight knowing Itachi would chide him for it later, but if there one thing what he had just witnessed told him, it was that pissing off Uchiha Itachi was an awful, terrible idea.

Itachi was unable to get hold of Sasuke. He wasn't picking up his landline and his mobile went to answer phone when called, but Itachi finally convinced himself not to worry. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense in his mind. He knew exactly where Sasuke was going to be.

"We're taking a detour," he told Deidara as they drove away from the college- at the end of the day too, which Deidara had been surprised Itachi had stayed until upon finding out his brother was missing.

"I'm going to drop you off somewhere first, though. Sasuke won't appreciate it if I turn up with you in tow and it has nothing to do with his pretend distaste for your company."

Deidara didn't argue- and he certainly didn't complain when he was dropped off at the side of an arcade and handed a note to go and 'have fun'. He beamed, grabbing it swiftly and hopping out of the car with the enthusiasm of a child who had just been told they were allowed the whole candy store to themselves.

Itachi thanked that it wasn't raining that day like the last time they had been here. The sea was just as choppy however, and the chill in the air even worse. He walked along the wooden planks of the pier, thrusting his hands deeply into his pockets and attempting to still his jaw. He had more important things to worry himself with than the unpleasant cold for once.

Sasuke was sitting on the edge of the pier, legs hanging off the edge as he smoked a cigarette. Itachi sat down next to him with a concerned sigh, refraining from voicing his aversion to the smoke. Sasuke didn't need the lecture right then.

"You skipped," he finally spoke up when Sasuke took a deep, shuddering breath and averted his suspiciously glassy eyes.

"I told you I was going to. Why are you so surprised?"

"I don't know," Itachi replied truthfully. "I guess I thought maybe you wouldn't."

Sasuke flicked ash off of the cigarette with a sharp, derisory laugh. "Sorry to disappoint."

"Has this excursion been helpful?"

"Yes," Sasuke replied definitely. "I called him."

Itachi waited patiently for him to continue. It took him a few moments, but Sasuke did so quietly.

"I told him no."

Sasuke's voice was small and very unlike anything Itachi had ever heard before. He hated it- it twisted his heart in a way that he couldn't describe, feeling the pain radiating from his brother as his own.

"I can't forgive him," Sasuke continued. "I can't, and it hurts that I can't do it. I want to, but not right now."

"Give it time," Itachi suggested quietly. "You might feel differently. But- Sasuke? Even if you don't, it's alright. You're entitled to feel however you wish."

"Mum said you and her were going to try and get on better."

"That's right."

"So if you're capable of forgiving, why can't I?"

"We're different people," Itachi told him firmly. "Don't compare yourself to me."

Sasuke had nothing to say to that, chaining another cigarette off of his last one. Itachi frowned, but still refrained from commenting.

"Where's Deidara?"

"In the arcade."

"Thanks."

"I respect your opinion, Sasuke."

"I hear you're going to be moving colleges."

Itachi didn't falter in his reply. "Yes. Mum said she was going to try and work something out for you."

"I told her not to," Sasuke shrugged. "I'm happy where I am."

"I thought you'd be upset at losing your occasional lift home," Itachi replied, which was really code for 'I thought (hoped) you'd miss seeing me around'.

"I'm going to learn to drive," Sasuke remarked, earning an impressed nod from Itachi. "I'll be in contact with you just as much, don't worry. It's no different from when I was at school."

Itachi smiled at that, wondering when he'd become so transparent that everyone could see straight through him with very little effort.

"Let's go," Sasuke finally sighed, pulling himself to a stand. "I'm fed up with sitting around smoking."

"For something I presumed to be a social habit, you've taken it up quite a lot recently."

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke muttered, but he put it out regardless. "Let's go get the idiot."

They found Deidara at a crane machine, giving them both a gleeful smile as he successfully grabbed and deposited a cuddly fox into the winning box. Pulling it out, he inspected it critically before holding it up.

"What kind of idiot made this?" He sighed. "Foxes don't have this many tails, yeah."

He hesitated for a moment before holding it out to Sasuke, who had been staring at the floor surrounded by an aura of melancholy. He glanced up at it, taking it slowly when it became clear it was being offered as a gift.

"Thanks," he murmured. Deidara gave him a quick smile before awkwardly averting his eyes, pulling another cuddly toy out from under his arm.

"Here Itachi," he said, holding out the shark toy for his boyfriend. "How's this? I thought it was really cute, yeah."

Itachi had to chuckle as he accepted the shark, giving it a once over. "Did you know a close friend of mine is a marine biologist?"

Deidara shook his head, eyes wide with surprise. "How come I've never met him?"

"He lives on a submarine," Sasuke muttered.

"Not quite," Itachi sighed. "I usually hear from him around Christmas- his job does make him hard for me to contact, but he knows where I am."

"It will be our first Christmas together in a couple of months," Deidara pointed out as they headed out to the car. "What do you normally do?"

"See the family," Itachi explained, wishing to change the topic for Sasuke's sake. "How about you?"

"I usually spend it alone," Deidara shrugged, but he didn't seem too upset by it. "Occasionally I see mum for an hour but she has other people to see, yeah."

"I'll make sure you're involved in whatever the plans are this year," Itachi told him definitely, giving him the toy so he could take the steering wheel in his hands. "I'm not going anywhere unless you're with me."

Deidara smiled at that- small and shy, the comment made him feel loved. Considering the person who had said those words was someone who originally wanted to keep their relationship secret, he really did feel Itachi had come a long way.

"Itachi?" He called out to his partner. "You know I'm proud of you, right?"

"What for?"

"I just am, yeah."

"He has a point," Sasuke spoke up. "You've handled everything pretty well lately."

"Running off without telling anyone and threatening to throw out the only person who loves me is 'handling it well'?" Itachi commented, but his tone was amused.

"I think you're forgetting someone," Sasuke told him firmly. He didn't need to elaborate, earning himself a quick flick on the forehead for his comment.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Deidara told him once they were heading up the garden path of their shared home, having dropped Sasuke back home on the way. "You're trying, Itachi. That's the most important thing, yeah. Even if it doesn't work out right all the time, it's a start."

"Deidara?"

"What?"

Itachi closed the front door they were standing by before giving his partner a mildly pleading look. "How about we stop talking about me and start doing something with us?"

Deidara's lips curled into a coy smile. "I get it," he murmured, grabbing Itachi's hand and pulling him closer. "Like this?"

The kiss they shared felt nothing like any they'd ever felt before- to Itachi, it felt like the closing of a darker chapter in his life as well as the opening of a new book. It was an incredible feeling and he melted into it, finding himself up against the wall as the feeling left him weak at the knees.

He quickly shed his coat, barely able to part from Deidara to do so, quickly kissing him once more when the garment was on the floor- then again and again, frantic and urgent. Deidara sensed the aura he was projecting, helping the pile of clothing grow larger before taking his partner by the hand once more.

Once they were at the bedroom door, Itachi halted and shook his head.

"I was thinking that perhaps there are more interesting places than the bed," he whispered coyly into Deidara's ear.

And so it was with those words they found themselves underneath the Christmas tree, as close as they could get to it without banging their heads against stray ornaments on the scratchy branches. Deidara pushed a lock of Itachi's loose hair to the side as he lay over him, arms either side supporting the weight of his lithe body.

"You," he murmured before lowering himself into another kiss. "You are perfect, yeah. Look at you."

"Shush," Itachi murmured. "Don't call me that anymore."

"Alright," Deidara nodded. "I'm not going to call you imperfect though- looking at you right now, I can see that isn't true."

"Why call me either?" Itachi remarked softly, reaching up to cup a gentle hand to Deidara's face before bringing his lips in for another kiss. "I'm Uchiha Itachi," he murmured in Deidara's ear once they parted. "That's all."

Chapter End