𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙

Chapter I.

It was a warm, and breezy day on the streets of Konoha. The trees were shaking from the soft whip of wind and you could hear small birds chirping in the distance. The birds weren't the only ones socializing as you could hear faint chatter, and laughing from various people in the village. There was a small child laughing while playing with an animal and chasing it. There was a small row of various apartments that were aligned in the back of the village, mainly for  ninja who were considered of "adult age" and were allowed to live on their own. The Sakura blossom leaves fell gently over the structures, giving a serene surrounding for the village —- Beep! Beep! Beep! 

17-year-old Sasuke Uchiha's alarm clock shrieked repeatedly which led Sasuke to let out a groan of annoyance before firmly slapping it to turn it off, almost breaking it. He rolled over and looked at the time. 6:03am. He let out another groan before forcing himself to get up and shoving the the curtains open. Sasuke groaned, covering his face from the blinding sun. He mumbled something under his breath as he made his way towards the bathroom.

Sasuke hopped out of the shower and began to brush his teeth. He took mental notes of the things he had to do today which included doing tedious tasks such as going grocery shopping. Sasuke sighed, it seemed as though he was buying food every other week. He understood Itachi was a growing child, an Anbu at that. With the vigorous training the child has on a daily, it wouldn't be a shock that he would have quite the appetite. Speaking of his brother. "I wonder if he's up," Sasuke verbalized with a mouth full of toothpaste. Itachi usually was the one who woke Sasuke up since he was the early bird of the household. However, he hadn't seen the young weasel yet. Sasuke rose an eyebrow and spat, heading towards the brat's room.

Sasuke pushed the door open and took a look inside, all of Itachi's lights were on. Odd, he usually kept them all off for the exception of his night light, which too was on. Sasuke smirked seeing the bundle of blankets which surrounded his kid brother. Sasuke called out to Itachi.

No response.

"Itachi...?"
Sasuke said a little bit louder stepping inside of Itachi's bedroom, still no response from the younger Uchiha. Sasuke rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. 'Poor thing must be tuckered out.' He thought before towering over Itachi's bed.
"Uchiha." Sasuke said firmly as he lifted the blankets off of him.
"It's time to get up." He patted his back gently, earning a slight whine from Itachi.
"What time is it?" Itachi asked groggily and in a slight babyish twinge to his voice which amused the older Uchiha.
"Time for you to get up," the elder Uchiha replied, patting his brothers back urging him to get up. Itachi simply turned over and shut his eyes, burying himself under the covers. "O-okay.. give me a minute..."
"No Itachi, up." Sasuke urged again, pulling the blankets back off of Itachi. "We have things to do today."
Itachi didn't move an itch from his spot as he hugged his knees to his chest.
"Can't we do them later?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Itachi..."
"I'm tired..."
"You had a full night's sleep. Why are you so exhausted?"

Sasuke was now curious, his brother didn't usually behave this way. It was starting to grow on his nerves, especially the back talking. Sighing, Sasuke began to let it go. Maybe he was overwhelmed by all of the missions he'd been receiving. It would be a surprise if that were the issue, Itachi was able to execute his missions flawlessly without a hair out of place. Sasuke sat beside Itachi and rubbed his back.
"Are you working too hard? Do we need to slow down your missions?" Sasuke asked, continuing to rub his brother's back. Itachi simply shook his head "N-no. I'm okay. Just tired..." he said without turning to look at Sasuke. Sasuke's concern grew. Sasuke lifted his pre-teen brother into his lap and forced him to look at him. Caught off guard, Itachi let out a little startle of embarrassment, but allowed himself to be held in Sasuke's arms.
"Are you going to bed at a reasonable time?" Sasuke asked, stroking the raven's hair.
"Y-yeah..." Itachi looked down at his fingers. Sasuke wasn't convinced.
"Am I hearing the truth?"
"....." Itachi had no response, he had been staying up all night to be perfectly honest but he didn't want his brother to know that.
"Itachi, look up at me." Sasuke gripped his younger brother's chin and looked into his face. He had quite a bit of eye bags and his eyes were droopy as well. This looked like weeks of sleep deprivation, not a few days. Itachi pulled away slightly, "I'm okay."
"You sure?" Sasuke pulled him back and continued to look into his face, furthering annoying the younger Uchiha as his big brother examined him as if he were a molecule on a lab table. Itachi figured Sasuke was getting too suspicious so he tried to change the subject.
"Yes Aniki, I'm sure. I-I'll get up."