Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Ryoshin Dolls ❯ Ryoshin Dolls ( Chapter 1 )

Sasuke was still too young to quite understand that no self-respecting boy would be caught dead playing with dolls. He sat on the living-room rug, babbling happily to the cloth figures, blissfully unaware that someone else was in the room as well.

Itachi watched silently as Sasuke bounced the dolls in a semblance of walking. They were going on a walk.

Sasuke didn’t seem to notice when a shadow fell over him, but he definitely noticed when Itachi plucked the dolls from his hands. His eyes immediately welled up with tears, and he grabbed for the small cloth figures now in Itachi’s possession.

They had no faces.

He stared at the dolls for a moment, then turned and walked into the kitchen. Sasuke stopped crying to watch him go, then clambered to his feet with a puzzled expression on his face. In the kitchen he found Itachi rooting through the art cupboard, and his eyes lit up when he pulled out a bucket of permanent markers. He hurried over, thrusting out his hands for some, but Itachi shook his head.

“Pen!” he cried, flap pinging his hands. “Pen!” Itachi ignored him, turning away.
“Pen!” Sasuke repeated, stubbornly following Itachi to the table. He’d completely forgotten about the dolls in his sudden desire for a pen.

Itachi lay the dolls he’d taken on the table, carefully uncapping the red permanent marker as he picked up the male doll. He stared at it for a moment, then carefully pressed the marker tip twice to it’s head. He then did the same for the female doll using a black marker.

Sasuke was still crying for a pen when he turned and knelt beside him, but he immediately quieted, black eyes watching Itachi with sudden solemnity.

“Mikoto,” Itachi said, holding up the woman. “Fugaku.” He held up the man, and Sasuke smiled as he reached for his rediscovered toys. He examined them carefully, strangely intent, and the smile faded to a concentrated frown as he traced his fingers over the dolls’ faces. Itachi had drawn two small red marks on either doll, exactly where the eyes were supposed to be.

“Look!” Sasuke cried, holding the dolls out before him with a vaguely mischievous smile, as if he were about to burst into giggles and throw himself backward onto the floor. “Look Nii-ya, look!“ His smile suddenly widened, and he smashed the dolls together happily.

“Bang!” he yelled, giggling. “Bang bang!” The dolls were dashed together again, cloth bodies folding in unnatural places like broken bones, his fingers tight around their abdomens.

Itachi smiled.

Exactly right.