Tag: damnedflame

damnedflame:

He finds a black shirt and turns around to face Itachi. Like his back his chest is littered with pink scratches, in addition his neck is covered in small bruises. Slipping on the shirt, Sasuke takes his old one and dumps it with his other dirty clothes.

“Alright,” he says glancing at Itachi,” what kind of training do you want to do?” He walks over to his desk and grabs his weapon’s pouch. His leg holster is already in place. 

“…you could’ve sat on the bed or at my desk,” he mentions with a frown, finally noticing just where his brother decided to wait. He ignores the small flare of guilt and walks back to the door. With a wave of his hand, he gestures for Itachi to go first. 

Training gone wrong, maybe…? Sasuke wasn’t treating them like serious injuries, at least. If he was given time… they’d heal up. 

He lights up when Sasuke is ready, asking him what he wants to do– and immediately deflates when he’s scolded for sitting in the wrong place. Biting his lower lip to maintain his composure, he puts his  brain to work. Where did his answer go? 

“Kenjutsu.” Is his answer, scrambling to get up and out the door, waiting for his brother to step out and keep a line of sight on him. 

damnedflame:

He stops by the entryway and glances at his brother. Then with a ‘tch’ he inclines his head inside.

“Let me change, come in.” Sasuke steps inside his bedroom and pulls off his shirt, revealing a back with faint pink scratches. 

“Sit somewhere if you want,” he mutters while walking to his dresser to find a new shirt. 

Where did those come from, he wonders. They don’t look to be that old, and he didn’t see them on Sasuke the very last time. The question is in his eyes alone, however, as he’s quickly learned it’s  best to not ask Sasuke too many questions. He may lose his chance to train.

Itachi sits himself near the door, so they won’t waste anymore time when Sasuke’s ready to go. Hands on his knees, kness tucked under his legs neatly. 

He looks over the pages then back up at his brother. History? He wrinkles his nose. “Sounds boring,” he comments while leaning back against his brother’s chest. “Do you like it? Who is the Daimyo?”

Ah… that’s why he loves Sasuke. 

Sasuke doesn’t have to trifle himself with learning things like this in great detail. And if Itachi has his way, he never will.

A hand pats Sasuke’s hair, three times in succession.

“The Daimyo is the man who owns our country. The village answers to him and it’s where we shinobi get our funding.” 

Sitting behind his big brother, Sasuke reaches out and plays with the ends of his brother’s ponytail. “Ne ne nii-san, why do you like keeping your hair long?” Sasuke gets on all fours and crawls closer to Itachi. He slips under his arm and claims a seat on his lap. “What are you reading?”

Why does he…?

He never really thought about it before. Itachi reaches up, draws his hands back, from his bangs to the end of his low ponytail. Was there truly a reason behind it? Maybe not.

But he doesn’t need to answer the question it seems, as Sasuke’s found something far more interesting. 

“The history of our country’s Daimyo, Sasuke.”

damnedflame: 

Sasuke eyes his brother from the corner of his eye. A part of him doesn’t believe it, he swears Itachi stayed to keep an eye on him and his dad. On the other hand, he is relieved that Itachi did stay. It certainly helps when he gets into it with his father. Well not that they fight per say, it’s just their ‘discussions’ leave him feeling like fucking shit most times. 

It certainly doesn’t feel bad when he sometimes vents to his brother. 

Still he doesn’t express this, he leans back in his seat and looks out his window. 

“We’re brothers, we’ve spent our entire lives together,” he decides to say instead. 

He has no idea what to say in response, really. What was it supposed to mean? That that was enough time, and they were to separate? Itachi won’t certainly stop Sasuke if he decides to move away, and live on his own. That’s his own choice to make freely. But Itachi won’t leave on his own. Not as long as his Father is in the area to get to Sasuke. In this area only, he felt that Sasuke needed his protection. 

Nothing comes to him, gazing outside his window. 

damnedflame:

Sasuke takes a few seconds to process his brother’s words. 

“You should’ve gone aniki,” he finally responds with a frown, picking at the leather of the steering wheel.  

“I don’t need you to babysit me. I can look after myself,” he says a bit too sharply. He sighs afterward. Damn why does he keep snapping at him? Perhaps his brother did have a point. He can’t control his emotions as much wants to. Annoying. He ignores that thought for now and reaches to skip the song currently playing. Not in the mood for The Weekend, but he settles on Post Malone’s “Psycho”. 

He taps on the steering wheel and looks ahead to see if he can spot the traffic jam. Nope just a long endless line of cars. Damn. Maybe he should’ve stuck to the streets.

“Do you enjoy what you’re studying right now?” 

“It’s not about babysitting. I just…want to spend the time with you.” He did enjoy his current major, it involved a lot less risk, but that was besides the point. Being away from his little brother was difficult– more so knowing, in his own opinion, that his Father was effectively terrorizing Sasuke. He couldn’t live with himself if he just flew across the country and left Sasuke with no one to talk to, to reassure him, and then there are small moments where he thinks staying here is also doing some harm, as opposed to helping.

He doesn’t want to answer the other questions yet…clearing up this misunderstanding was more important. 

damnedflame:.

Once he’s settled in the lane, Sasuke lets himself relax some. The thoughts in his head prompt him to turn down the volume. The music is a low hum. He exhales a breath.

“Sorry.” His adjusts his grip on the wheel. “I didn’t mean to start shit with you aniki,” he admits. Traffic up ahead slows them down until they come to a complete stop. Sasuke takes a moment to look over at Itachi and nudges his brother’s arm.

He tries to find his next set of words, but none of them sound right. Or they feel like they’ll expose him too much. Letting his fingers hang off the bottom of the steering wheel he looks ahead and inches with the long line of traffic.

“So was he disappointed in you when you choose a different major than he intended,” he asks quietly. 

“Yes.” The answer just for now.

He too, is trying to choose his words carefully. He doesn’t want Sasuke to shut him down again, as it would defeat the purpose of him freeing up his day to spend it with him. And in the end, he’d blame himself. What a good big brother he is, isn’t he? Constantly upsetting his younger sibling.

“The career he envisioned would have meant I’d have to apply for a college halfway across the country. I don’t doubt I could’ve gotten in.”

A very brief pause. 

“But it meant I’d be too far away from you. So I reelected my major and applied for a local college.” What his Father thought be damned.

But maybe…maybe that was a mistake? Was he at fault for the pressure on Sasuke getting heavier?