Some wounds never heal, Some tears never will

[kin_slayer]

Characters: Alphonse Elric (bloodseal_soul ), Uchiha Itachi (kin_slayer ) and Uchiha Sasuke (avenging_raven )
When: Saturday, September 20th
Where: Al's house than Vincent's.
Rating: R for Fucked up. Also for pantsing. And evil Uchihas.
Summary: Sasuke is staying with Itachi, but Itachi is hearing voices neither of them want to deal with. On an expedition to pick up earplugs Itachi makes a

Comments

[kin_slayer]

Itachi didn't ask Al to let go, didn't protest the slightly uncomfortable grip pressing into his ribs. He simply stooped a little and swept Al's legs up into his free arm, holding Al as easily as if the boy weighed nothing. He was using a bit of chakra to help make it easier--he was naturally strong, but as disease ate at him, he had to use chakra more and more for things that had once required only his physical abilities. He doubted Unohana would scold him for using chakra for this, however.

"Yes. An event." Itachi confirmed, settling Al as comfortably as possible before stepping up onto the window ledge and jumping down to the ground as lightly and easily as if he were stepping down some stairs. The landing wasn't even jarring, Al would barely be able to feel impact with the way Itachi used his body and chakra to cushion the fall--again, simple, basic shinobi skills.

"We are going to Vincent-san's." Itachi explained as he straightened, starting at a light trot. By all reason he should have just walked, but that would take to long. He could burn a bit of chakra and stamina to get Al back to Sasuke. He picked up the pace, standard shinobi travel pace; leaps that would have them back at the house in very little time. It wouldn't be that much of a toll on Itachi's lungs if he rested once they got home.

Itachi tried not to consider why he was doing this, bringing Al back to his haven when by rights the only person he should be at all emotionally attached to was his little brother. Bonds of friendship were too complicated, and the more you cared the more they could be used against you.

They arrived at Vincent's in barely any time. Again, Itachi seemed allergic to using the front door, even of his own house. Though this time it was more from a desire to give Vincent privacy if the man wished it. Instead Itachi entered his own room from the window, walking up the wall and using his knee to nudge it open before dropping into the room. His own voices had gone mostly static-y and silent along with Al's, the only persistent thing was his mother's voice humming a lullaby.

"Tadaima." Itachi said quietly, wondering if he would be able to put Al down or if the blond was going to stay stuck to him a while longer. Not that he minded too much, the boy had definitely looked in need of a long hug.

[avenging_raven]

Earplugs were an unfortunate necessity in this particular situation. Sasuke had been awakened by the first round of voices, which happened to be ones that he never ever wanted to hear; who the hell really wanted to hear their parents die? So he'd stuffed his head under his pillow and tried to make it all go away, or at least die down. Fortunately Itachi had offered to go get him some earplugs, and taken the voices with him. He'd taken advantage of the interlude to go back to sleep and try and get his mind back to a semi-decent place. He didn't really notice that Itachi had been gone for longer than he'd initially planned until he came back through the window -- and he wasn't alone.

Pretty much the only thing that kept him from going into combat-crouch was the fact that it was Itachi, and he had faith that his brother wouldn't haul in anyone who would trigger him wanting to skewer something. He wasn't on the greatest of terms with the world at the moment, after all. Instead of trying to shock hell out of the intruders he sat up, eyes red in the darkness as he focused on just who was descending on him. It took him a moment to identify the other person, probably a little longer than was strictly necessary -- but he had been asleep a second ago so he could probably be forgiven a little bit of sluggishness.

"...Alphonse?" His voice was distinctly quizzical as he regarded the blond boy. This was random. He wasn't quite sure exactly why his brother had detoured to pick up a blond along with the earplugs. Eh. He supposed there was a good reason for it. "So apparently we've got a guest for the night then, Itachi?" He yawned, stretching and letting the blanket fall and sort of pool in his lap. A moment later, though, he frowned and gave his brother one of those Looks. "Did you use chakra to get back here instead of walking? Unohana-san is going to feed you your head on a platter, possibly with a nice gravy on the side."

Funny how he was starting to look out for his older brother. Fate worked in strange ways sometimes.

[bloodseal_soul]

Al gave a soft gasp when Itachi swept him up, but ended up just clinging around his shoulders and burying his face almost into the side of the older man's neck. He didn't want to hear or see anything, not now. Had his mind been working properly he would have questioned Itachi's health and whether or not it was a good idea for him to be carrying Alphonse around - Al wasn't heavy, exactly, and Itachi looked healthy enough, but he would still worry.

Normally, he would have asked questions about Vincent and possibly where they were going, but the fact that he kept silent more than said just how hard this was hitting him. The lullaby seemed to relax him even if it wasn't a voice he knew, and the only time he moved was when the vertigo hit, and he found himself staring down at the ground, ponytail hanging over his shoulder. He'd seen Itachi walk up walls before, but god if it didn't scare him when he wasn't expecting it. His fingers clenching on the back of Itachi's clothing, he closed his eyes again, and only opened them after Itachi spoke, wondering who he could be speaking to.

When he heard Sasuke's voice, though, his eyes widened and he turned to him. It was the first time he'd ever encountered Sasuke in person when he wasn't a child, and... they hadn't left off well, considering the fact that Al had gone and left Sasuke in Itachi's care, back when-

It made no sense, it was- Al's feet hit the floor with a bang that he flinched at, but his arm remained around Itachi's shoulders. "Sasuke...? This is where you've been?"

He fell silent when Sasuke scolded his brother, but looked up at Itachi, it suddenly occurring to him that Itachi was sick, and he'd just... it had been so easy to forget, and with the genjutsu in place Alphonse, along with everyone else, was fooled by his healthy appearance. His fingers tightened on the shoulder of the cloak, and an expression of shock, fear and worry came across his face.

"... and you call me the idiot," Al whispered worriedly, and took him gently by the shoulders, nudging him towards the bed to sit down and rest. "... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you carry me like that, and..."

... and not to mention the fight.

[kin_slayer]

Itachi let Al nudge him towards bed, but only so that when they were both at the edge of the mattress Itachi was able to lightly pry the blond off of him and shove him firmly but not ungently onto the bed next to Sasuke. He misjudged slightly, pushing Al a little more firmly then he wanted--not hard enough to hurt, but sending the blond half sprawled across Sasuke as Itachi stepped back, unbuttoning his coat. He didn't really watch the two younger boys try to untangle themselves, fishing the earplugs and music player out of his pocket and setting them on the edge of the bed before tossing his coat over a chair.

Itachi walked to the small little camp stove he kept in his room turning on a burner and setting the kettle to boil.

"Unohana-san can have my head." He said mildly. "You are both over-worrying." And that was all he seemed to want to say on the matter, pulling a cup and his medicine from a small cupboard and preparing a dose for when the water was ready.

Itachi settled into the char he'd tossed his coat onto, braced his elbows against his knees and bowed his head, taking several deep, steadying breaths, releasing the genjutsu that concealed his condition. He looked up after he felt he could speak fairly normally without faking it, watching the two younger men with half a smile. The room was dim enough that the change from health to the pallor of sickness wasn't overly noticeable. And Sasuke, at least, was used to it.

[avenging_raven]

After a moment it processed that Al was sort of clinging to Itachi. That pulled a very slight frown to Sasuke's lips. However, he didn't even remotely get a chance to try and ask just what the hell was going on; he was all set to open his mouth when he unexpectedly got a blond sprawled on top of him. Instead of a question, an entirely undignified squawk came out of his mouth and he flailed. Sure, it was a little chilly in the room but getting Al shoved on top of him wasn't precisely how he'd planned on warming up. "Dammit, Itachi!" This probably looked completely, totally compromising to anyone else but fortunately it was just Itachi and it was his fault they'd ended up like this anyway.

"I am not over-worrying so quit saying I am," he grumbled as he tried to figure out the best way to get himself untangled from Al without sending anyone flying off the bed. Ninja logistics were generally not meant for situations like this, so he was trying to determine the best course of action. He could sense the genjutsu being released, more than he could see it; he'd never get used to seeing his brother ill. It just didn't seem at all right. But then again, even when he was thirteen he'd envisioned Itachi as the strongest person ever. It wasn't any surprise that he'd never abandoned that view, even after seeing him laying dead. Old habits died hard, and that made this sort of hard to take.

"So -- argh -- why are you here, Alphonse?" This was possibly the single most awkward meeting known to man, right here. Someone should put this one up for an award.

[bloodseal_soul]

If there was one thing to be said for Itachi in general, it was that he had a knack for the unexpected, and the shove was certainly it. He might have recovered and managed not to fly into Sasuke, but he was pushed forwards against the mattress, and his legs didn't bend the way they'd need to to catch him. Instead he let out an almost girlish gasping squeak and lost his breath when he hit Sasuke's chest, sprawled bodily on top of him and practically pinning him to the bed. He lost his breath when he went down, the shock of colliding with Sasuke disabling even his reflex of catching himself with his hands, and his face went bright red.

"Itachi!" he gasped out, almost directly after Sasuke, putting himself up on his hands in order to glare at him, though there wasn't any real fire behind it, just a bit of righteous indignation. The man just seemed to live to cause trouble, honestly. "You need to take care of yourself, you know?" He let out a lightly frustrated sigh, hanging his head, and at that particular moment realized that he was still on all fours, practically pinning Sasuke down. He flushed and sat up, then scooted backwards, the movement as awkward as it could possibly get, to get off Sasuke's legs. It was obvious enough that the whole thing was awkward in general, but to top it all off, he was visibly flustered with the contact.

He cleared his throat from behind his fist, eyes darting to one side as his PCD crackled, choosing that precise moment to let off another round of the Joker's maniacal laughter. He visibly flinched, but offered no explanation, looking to Itachi.

[kin_slayer]

Watching Alphonse and Sasuke sort of flail at each other was endearing. And amusing. Itachi didn't even try to hide his smile as the two tried to maneuver around each other, completely awkward. It probably wasn't helping Al that Sasuke was shirtless, and it likely wasn't helping Sasuke that Al was straddling him. Having them both sort of scolding him while in the middle of trying to right themselves actually made him laugh, a low, content chuckle. It was a really pleasant, warm laugh--the fact that the Joker's laughter overrode it and swallowed it sort of ruined the affect, however, and by the time the Joker's laughing was done with, Itachi was coughing, a hand to his mouth as his lungs made sick noises and he half choked on blood.

The fit was over fairly quickly and Itachi straightened, wiping his blood-flecked lips with the back of his hand almost casually as the kettle began to rattle and whistle.

Itachi stood, turning his back to the two boys and pouring the hot water into his cup, stirring the tonic and letting it steep, inhaling the smoke and gaining his composure before he turned around to face the two again.

"Alphonse-kun is here because I was not going to leave him alone to face his voices, Sasuke." Itachi's voice was rough from coughing, but the tone was mild. "And I take care of myself quite well, Alphonse-kun, Sasuke is almost a nuisance about making sure of that."

[avenging_raven]

'Awkward' really didn't even begin to describe it. Al falling on top of him would've been bad enough. Al pinning him down and straddling him was a whole different ball of wax. Sasuke was having some minor issues processing this one. Very minor issues. No, really. Minor, minor issues. Seriously. You believe him, right? Right. You should believe him. Even if he was lying right through his teeth. No. Only minor issues. He was a bit dumbfounded, an uncharacteristically poleaxed look on his face as he stared at Al. Eventually the blond scuttled away from him and he could heave a sigh of relief, tugging the blanket up over his lap a little bit more. Ahem.

"That's annoying," was his only comment when the Joker's laugh came over Al's PCD. Obnoxious. Didn't scare him, just...obnoxious. Then again, that pretty much summed up his reactions to just about everything these days. If it interfered with his little bubble of recovery, it was obnoxious. Go figure. He glared over at his brother when he heard Itachi coughing. He'd grown to hate that sound with an unholy passion in recent days. The less he heard it, the happier he was. "I am not a nuisance," he grumbled under his breath as he rolled on his side, propping himself up with one arm. Dark eyes eventually slid over to Alphonse thoughtfully.

"So you're camping out with us tonight then?" Another set of voices. He was pretty sure he was the only one in the house who wasn't hearing them at this point, though that was probably an enormous blessing -- Itachi's voices were bad enough for the both of them. Thus the earplugs. He didn't need to make anything worse on them.

[bloodseal_soul]

Thankfully, although Alphonse was a sharp person in general, that sort of thing didn't enter his mind enough to be suspicious about Sasuke's reaction. He was having enough to deal with on his own, between the epic amounts of awkward and the fact that he'd always found Sasuke attractive (not to mention the fact that he'd had only a few months to get used to being already through the puberty thing), but he was too nervous and flaily and blushy to attempt to think THAT one through, so he decided not to touch it with a ten-foot pole.

Al would have deeply appreciated the laugh, had he been able to hear it properly. He only managed a little before the clown had to rudely interrupt and ruin a moment that Al would have treasured, otherwise. Instead, the effect was rather frightening. However, Itachi's laugh seemed to soften the nightmare a bit, make it less real. The cough worried him deeply - he'd only heard the barest edges of it before, since Itachi turned off the feed when it started. They sounded wet, and like something inside might be dislodged. How worried he'd been before was nothing to now.

"He's not, he's just cares," Al said gently, almost sadly.

Glad for the fact that Itachi had spared him the explanation, Al nevertheless covered the PCD in his pocket with a sigh. "I-I'm sorry about this, Sasuke," he apologized. There was no way to turn his PCD off, and oh, he'd tried all sorts of things with it. It was a mercy it was being as quiet as it was right now. "I-Is it okay with you if I stay?" He smiled sheepishly, but adorably, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. For such a polite young man, he was having a bit of trouble with this.

"Itachi never mentioned you'd be here," he said softly, and then turned to look at the older brother. "This is what you wanted to talk to me about earlier, wasn't it...?"

[kin_slayer]

Itachi sipped his tonic quietly as the two managed to sort themselves up. He did notice Sasuke's reaction, even if Al didn't, and he gave his little brother the briefest of amused looks, one eyebrow quirking before his attention returned to his drink.

"I know." Itachi said, almost reassuringly, as Al defended Sasuke. "That doesn't make him less of a nuisance." He smiled just slightly at both of them, finishing the contents of his glass.

"Some of it, Alphonse-kun." Itachi agreed without preamble, setting the now empty glass down and toeing off his sandals, moving to the chest he kept his sleeping clothes in. Al could borrow a set of Sasuke's pajamas... He fished a loose shirt and drawstring pants out and tossed them at the bed. "Al will use these." He commented over his shoulder, not a question, just an assured statement of this is how it will be.

Itachi fished out his own loose black sleeping shirt and nondescript grey pajama pants. He was taking off his shirt, apparently not caring who was in the room with him, when his own voices decided to chime in.

"Wanna make out?" Lazy masculine voice.

Itachi froze with his shirt half off.

"Shisui what the hell is wrong with you?" It was Itachi's young voice, early teens. "We're on surveillance."

"Yeah but it's boring. Nothing is happening."

Itachi threw his shirt off and stripped to his boxers, almost aggressively. He pulled on the shirt and pants, back turned towards the other two as the voices continued.

"Do you work at being this much of a moron?" There was a soft gasp in Itachi's voice, followed by an annoyed growl.

"You are so uptight." The other voice purred. "Relax."

[avenging_raven]

Silently, Sasuke was thanking every single deity known to man that Al didn't see his entirely unconscious reaction. There were times when it was very lousy to be a sixteen-year-old boy and since he'd gotten here Sasuke had let his usually iron control over his hormones and instinctual reactions slip. Really, really slip. He caught Itachi eyeing him and glared, eyes narrowing in what he intended to be menacing and what really came out as much more of a pout.

"I am not a nuisance," he grumbled, stretching a bit as Itachi stole some pajamas for Al without so much as asking. He narrowed his eyes more and glared, and it just came out even more pouty. He wasn't doing very well with the menacing right now, despite his best intentions. "Fine, fine, fine," he bitched as he settled down in the bed. "But I'm not giving up my--"

He cut right off at those voices.

First reaction? One of the more spectacularly impressive what-the-fuck faces in recent memory.

Second reaction? Snickers. "Well damn, Itachi, you got started young," he mocked, well aware that he was probably going to be seriously asking for trouble when his brother turned back around.

[bloodseal_soul]

Of course Sasuke wasn't a nuisance, Itachi was just bad in general with having people care about him, but the pouted insistence was enough to get Al to smile genuinely, which was likely going to be a rather hard thing to do, at this point. He caught the pajamas and started to apologize to Sasuke, but then it degenerated to a stutter before and blush before he even got the first word out.

"I-Itachi!" He pointedly turned his back and blushed like hell when Itachi started to get out of his clothes. Itachi might have been comfortable with stripping in front of Al, but it made Alphonse's face light up like a tomato.

Then, they were all cut off by something rather interesting coming from Itachi's PCD, enough to cut Sasuke off mid-complaining, and make Al's head snap to the side to look at Itachi, never mind the mostly naked appearance, and he clapped both hands over his mouth. If he had been red before, it was nothing, NOTHING, to now. For a moment there was dead silence in the room, and then Al snorted before he started laughing hysterically.

It wasn't the nicest thing in the world to do, and he'd feel bad about it later, but Itachi's broken cool followed by Sasuke's expression was too much for him, and he tried unsuccessfully to stifle the giggle fit that erupted at Sasuke's teasing.

[kin_slayer]

Itachi's shoulders actually hunched a bit, a little defensively, and his neck was just a tinge pink. He didn't really have his guard up around these two, and he couldn't for the life of him spoil the mood and make a comment about how Shisui had merely been trying to take advantage of his youthful hormones to get Itachi to let his guard down around his cousin--in short, that Itachi had been Shisui's mission. Neither of the younger boys needed that kind of a downer. So he piped up, voice dark as Al's laughter rang through the room following Sasuke's dry teasing--and Sasuke was going to pay for that, and Al too if Itachi could swing it.

"Shisui, even as a disembodied ephemeral voice, apparently continues to have the most inappropriate sense of timing." He pulled the hem of his t-shirt down fully and turned to regard the other two. In regular PJs and looking slightly sulky, Itachi actually looked his age, eighteen and young.

"Anyway." Itachi approached the bed, manner shifting subtly to a menacing stalk. "I don't see what you're both so amused about." He crossed his arms, standing at the foot of the bed and glaring at them both, one eyebrow arched challengingly. "Considering I am going to make you both forget you ever heard that." There was definite threat in the voice, a moment of controlled silent anticipation, and then he lunged foreward, catching Sasuke's foot under the covers and one of Al's feet.

Itachi threw the covers away from Sasuke's foot, caught his little brother's calf securely under his arm, keeping hold of Al's ankle in one hand, pulling off Al's boot and sock efficiently and then going to work at tickling both their feet with determined vengeance.

[avenging_raven]

Itachi blushing was quite possibly one of the most fun things that Sasuke had ever seen in his entire life. He hadn't known Shisui all that well, beyond that he was Itachi's best friend when they were growing up; he'd been too busy in the ANBU for the most part to spend much time playing with his little cousin. That was okay with Sasuke though, he was so wound up in spending time with Itachi when he got the chance that sometimes he forgot he had other relatives. Besides, Shisui was quite a bit older.

"He's haunting you and probably will continue to haunt you," he snickered. It was weird seeing Itachi like that; it hammered home that no, right now they were not particularly far apart in age. Almost twinlike, but not quite. It was positively eerie.

As Itachi stalked forward he snorted, just lounging there like it was no big deal. He was in bed! What was his brother going to do to him that would even remotely threaten him? Honestly now. "Oh and just how are you going to--ack!" He tried to pull himself free, but a moment later he was howling with laughter as Itachi exploited his greatest weakness -- the fact that he was horribly, horribly ticklish. This was not something he admitted to, pretty much ever. Damn brother for knowing that.

[bloodseal_soul]

It was very, very hard for Alphonse to contain his laughter, mostly because Itachi being flustered and blushing, even in the slightest, most insignificant of ways, was enough for Al to get started, and when he started into his gigglefits it was very hard for him to stop. Although he didn't know who Shisui was, by the way the interaction sounded, well... it also helped that with the way Itachi was dressed now, he didn't look quite so forbidding; just someone's slightly annoyed older brother, which made him much easier to tease.

Alphonse wasn't normally the 'teasing' type of person unless he felt very, very comfortable with someone, so the fact that Itachi got it at all was a mark of how close they were unintentionally becoming.

"What do they, say, Sasuke, about getting someone ba-ACK!" Al let out something that was just this side of a squeal when his boot was yanked off, and fingers assualted the bottom of his foot. Alphonse had always been horribly ticklish, but the bottoms of his feet were the worst place. He liked being tickled in general but that was a dangerous area -

... namely because of the reflexes.

Though mostly disabled by laughter, his body attempted to twist away. Outside of Al's control, he cocked his leg back, attempting to pull away, and then his foot shot forward,

Nailing Itachi in the face.

[kin_slayer]

Itachi knew from when they were kids, with some sort of instinct inherent in big brothers, the best ways to harass Sasuke, and where all the younger Uchiha's most ticklish spots were. He'd gambled that Al had a similar weakness, especially with the blond already trapped in a gigglefit.

Itachi was grinning as he reduced both boys to helpless laughter, a sort of mix between insufferably smug, entirely wicked, and genuinely happy.

Then Al got him in the face.

It a fairly hard kick, it grazed his jaw and cheek, jarred his nose and smashed his lips against his teeth. It was more of a shock to be hit, than actually damaging though. He hadn't expected it and he should have been able to anticipate and dodge. He let go of their legs and sort of slumped against the edge of the bed, hand raising to his mouth, eyes wide for a moment before his shoulders started to shake, and he leaned heavily on the mattress, dissolving into a fit of outright amused laughter.

"I'm never.." Itachi wheezed, slumping to his knees and leaning his elbows on the mattress. "Going to live... this down.. ha!" he was grinning rueful and amused and completely momentarily open as he looked at both boys, happy even as he kept laughing. For once the voices didn't chime in.