Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Brother I Once Was ❯ The Brother I Once Was Pt. 6 ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Itachi threw the door open and ran into the room. His father was holding Sasuke by his shirt while his mother stood silently in the corner with her hands over her mouth. She had a frightened look in her eyes. Sasuke was crying a bit in his father's grasp. He had a slight bruise on his cheek. His father had not noticed Itachi come in.

"Don't worry about your brother! He can handle it! He's not a little boy,Sasuke! Be concerned only for yourself! How dare you beg that Itachi not go on his mission tomorrow? Have you know pride of the shinobi way? Give all you are for your village no matter what! Don't be worried about your brother! Only yourself."

Itachi's eyes widened as he stood where he was in the room. Sasuke had tried talking his father out of making him go on the mission...? He had begged him not to make Itachi go but in the end Fugaku lost his temper and ended up hitting Sasuke. "Father!! Enough!!" Itachi shouted out angrily.

Fugaku turned to face his eldest son. His sharingan was blazing madly. He walked over to Itachi and grabbed him by his shirt, throwing him hard against the wall. Itachi winced painfully as his shoulder hit the wall. Itachi's own sharingan came to life. "Did you tell your little brother to come and beg for you not to go?? You are a disshonorable son, Itachi!"

"I told him nothing of the sort!!" Itachi shouted back at his father.

Mikoto dropped her hands to the side and shouted out at them. "That's enough!! All of you stop it right now!!"

Itachi glanced at his mother. For the first time in years her sharingan was activated. The last time they had been, was when Itachi ended up in a bad fight and got severely hurt. His mother had lost her temper. His mother was one of the few that posessed the mangekyo sharingan. Sasuke was sitting down on the floor looking at Itachi and his father. He had slow little streams of tears running down his bruised face.

Itachi was giving Sasuke a reassuring soft smile before his father suddenly his him as he had done to Sasuke. Itachi fell sideways onto the floor. "Brother!!!" Sasuke shouted out to him. Itachi held himself up on his right elbow. A tiny trickle of blood came from his mouth and down his chin. Mikoto stepped forward and slapped Fugaku hard across his face, cutting his cheek a bit with her ring.

"That's. Enough."

Fugaku rubbed his cheek and looked at the ground. He sighed and turned to each of his sons. "Sasuke....Itachi....I'm sorry..."

Sasuke nodded a bit and wiped his eyes. He stood up and walked over to his older brother. Itachi wasn't looking at them at all. He was staring out of the door and to the outside world. "Brother.....?" Itachi didn't hear Sasuke. He was angry at his father, so angry he could almost just kill him. He had hurt Sasuke. Itachi didn't care that he was hurt or that there was blood staining the floor below him with little drops. But his father had hurt Sasuke...The one thing that had always kept Itachi from hurting someone severely. His brother seemed to hold the key to his sanity.

"Itachi.." Sasuke called again.

Itachi glanced slightly at him, to let him know that he had heard him. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit. His older brothers eyes were full of hate, his sharingan seemed like they would catch fire the way they looked. The three odd shapes had never looked so cold and mean. Sasuke backed away from Itachi a little.

Itachi's eyes widened. He didn't mean to scare Sasuke. He sat up and held his hand out to his little brother with a loving smile. Sasuke was hesitant but eventually took it with a smile and was pulled into Itachi's tight embrace. "I'm sorry, Sasuke...."

Mikoto's mangekyo sharingan had vanished but she still looked angry. "I'm going to make dinner now...." and with that she walked off.

Fugaku stood where he was, not looking at at his sons or at Mikoto as she left the room. Itachi let Sasuke out of his hug and sent him to follow after his mother. After a few moments of silence, Itachi looked at his father with hateful eyes. "I will never forgive you..."

His father looked over to him. "Because I gave you a slight bruise and made you bleed? Itachi I really expecte--"

"You hurt, Sasuke." He cut his father off. Itachi stood up and left the room without another word or even waiting for his fatehr to reply.

Dinner was quiet. Only Sasuke, Itachi and Mikoto ate. Fugaku didn't come to the table that night. Itachi himself didn't eat much. Mikoto reached over and touched Itachi's hand from across the table. Her eyes were full of worry as she looked at him with her onyx eyes. Itachi gave her a reassuring smile before standing up and ruffling Sasuke's hair. He walked back to his room.

Itachi almost tripped over his Anbu uniform. He reached down and picked the armor up, placing it at the foor of his bed. He stared at it for a while. Itachi gripped the blanket of his bed angrily as he thought of everything his father was doing. He then thought of the next days mission, then of Sasuke. Would Sasuke have to go through the same things as Itachi did? The pressure of being in the Anbu, some of the police cheif and a shinobi? He hoped not.

Itachi climbed up on his bed and for the first time in a while, pulled the blankets over top of himself and laid his head on his pillow. He actually slept better than he had in the past few days. When he woke up he felt like he had slept all afternoon. It was 10 am. Itachi got dressed and pulled on his Anbu uniform.

"Hey, Itachi!" Shisui called out to Itachi with a smile as he walked out to meet them.

Itachi smiled weakly and waved to him a bit as he walked to join him. "I thought you were on a different mission?"

"Well, yes but I thought it would be alright for me to come with you instead. Do you mind?" Shisui frowned a bit, his dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail on the back of his head.

Itachi shook his head and they hopped off twards the woods. A heavy rain began to pour down as they stopped by a river to take a break. "So, Ita...Little trouble with your father again?" He questioned pointing to Itachi's lightly bruised cheek.

Itachi frowned and nodded. He reached into his pocket and realized there was something there that he hadn't noticed before. He pulled out his hand and noticed that there was a small white pill in his hand. "Sasuke..." he whispered to himself. He put the pill in his mouth then knelt down to the river, cupping up some water and washing the pill down.

"Must be rough for you, Ita. Your dad wants you to be so many things...you should really show him someday what you can really do. I'm sure he'd LOVE that..."

Itachi stared down at the water. He looked at Shisui's reflection in the water. Shisui smiled a bit. "He wants you to be able to do everything...." he went on talking for a few minutes. Itachi smiled a bit to himself. Shisui could always lift his mood. He was like an older brother to Itachi and always knew exactly what was wrong with him. Shisui knew what pressures his father put on him and how much Itachi hated Fugaku. He was his best friend. Best.....friend.....

Itachi thought about the sharingan, his hate for his father started to build up without him even noticing. He stood up and looked at Shisui. His expression was emotionless as his wet hair stuck to his forehead. Best friend...Mangekyo...hate....these words ran through Itachi's head. He smirked lightly.

"Itachi.....??"