(Fic:) Naruto: Love Now, Hurt Later 1/? (SasuNaru, ItaKaka, slight ItaSasu)
Title: Love Now, Hurt Later
Author: iff_u_loved_me
Genre: Naruto
Pairing: SasuNaru, ItaKaka, slight ItaSasu
Rating: pg
Warning(s): none
Disclaimer: Belongs to Masashi Kishimoto
Summary: AU. Itachi and Sasuke have returned at last to their old neighborhood. They're trying to start over. But old memories resurface and confrontations are unavoidable. The Uchiha brothers were looking for quiet, but they might've found love instead. The question is: will they recognize it?
Word Count: 1300
A/N: Here we go again! XD And yes, you read that right. SasuNaru. Comments are love :)
The three of us are running around. Two dark mops of hair and one head of golden curls. I don’t know what we’re doing exactly, but we’re having a lot of fun. The grass is wet beneath our feet, the sun hot and beating down on us. We’re laughing at something, at everything. Itachi throws his head back and sends his dark shoulder length hair flying in all directions. He takes turns giving me and Naruto piggy back rides. We have to stop, panting, and lie down under the tree. We’re young and invincible.
Then the scene shifts. And Itachi is crying. His back is to me but I know instantly that it’s not allergies.
All of a sudden I’m sad, but I can’t remember why.
“Sasuke?”
I hear a voice calling me. Itachi. I blink my eyes a couple of times, yawning. I’m sitting in the front and Itachi of course is driving. I look over at him, trying to subtly rub my eyes and clear the sleep. To make it seem as though I’m awake, I ask, “Are we there yet?”
It’s an irritating question and I half expect Itachi to blow up at me. But he doesn’t, which is nice for a change. Itachi’s known for being cool and collected. Hah. If only they knew. I bet they do, though. Everyone wants to be close to Itachi. Maybe because he’s rich, maybe because he’s obscenely good looking. Whatever. Itachi does that thing with his eyes where they almost squint at you and make you feel very small and unimportant. And people stay away. I’m the only one he’s let in. It’s not a picnic by any means but we’re family.
“This place looks really familiar. Itachi, please tell me that we’re not driving around in circles.” I try to joke with Itachi on a regular basis because the guy’s frigid. Which of course I mean in the nicest possible way.
Itachi has been increasingly silent and surly ever since…well, birth. But seriously, something is definitely up with him. Even as his younger brother, I'm not allowed to know that sort of information. Some might say it's weird- and they'd be right. But I've been playing this guessing game since I was little. So I'm not half bad. And I know when to stay silent.
“We’re here. Take a look at your old home.”
I frown. “Our home,” I correct.
The corners of Itachi’s mouth turn downwards but he doesn’t say anything.
“Hey, I remember that playground!” I’m excited, even if Itachi isn’t. Itachi flinches and I gape. Whoa.
“What, you fall off the swing when you were little?” I’m mystified. Itachi’s unusual, sure, but I’ve always prided myself on knowing the guy better than anyone.
Still, nothing. I really feel like scratching my head, as though that will make the answer pop up. I’ve seen the cartoons where a light bulb flicks on and the answer is realized. I wish that would happen to me. To carry on with the light imagery- I feel perpetually in the dark when it comes to Itachi's matrix of a mind.
Itachi’s not talking and I’m smart enough to know that he’ll talk when he wants to. So I find the head phones and jam them securely back on my head. I press down on the play button on my ipod. ‘Dani California’ by the ‘Red Hot Chilly Peppers’ comes blaring out and I can feel my ear drums almost burst. I must have accidently moved the volume to the maximum. I sneak a look at Itachi’s face and I study his profile. I’m not artist or anything, but even I can tell he’s beautiful. He’s not happy, to be sure. But when was the last time I saw Itachi smile, really smile? Not the half-hearted or twisted or cruel, which are rare enough.
Itachi parks the car in front of our house. We’re home. I unbuckle my seat belt and hurry out of the car. Eager to see home.
I help Itachi unload the car and I breathe in the crisp air. So fresh and chilly.
I struggle with my suitcase for a while until Itachi, having already gotten his stuff out, helps me.
I smile at him in thanks and he looks away. He shuffles up the front porch steps. He opens the screen door and for a moment we just stand there. I don’t know what he’s waiting for. With a sigh, Itachi withdraws a key from his pocket. His long tapered fingers insert the key, pause, and then turn it.
He turns the brass knob and pushes the door open.
The interior is nice. I don’t know what I was expecting, something decrepit maybe. But it’s not. It’s big and airy. It’s well furnished and I can see a staircase. Without waiting for Itachi, I haul my suit case up the stairs and stop. I don’t know which bedroom is mine. So I wait for the sound of Itachi’s slow heavy footfalls.
“Where’s my room?” I ask impatiently.
Itachi doesn’t bother to speak. He merely points to the room to my left. I’m about to leave but then I realize I don’t know where Itachi’s room is.
“What about you?”
He motions with his hand upwards. There’s another floor? Man, this would be awesome for hide and seek. If Itachi was anyone else, I would ask. But I’m a little scared of my brother. I love him and wouldn’t trade him for anyone else, but I can tell he’s unstable. I’ll have to go exploring one day. But not now.
“What are we having for dinner?”
I feel like an idiot. What am I thinking? Itachi gives me a what’s-gotten-into-you look. He’s surprised that I’m asking him these things. He’s used to my accepting and respecting his silences.
And it’s not that Itachi can’t cook, I know he can. He wouldn’t have survived collage if he didn’t know how.
Back in the City, Itachi cooked for us all the time. So what changed? That I asked him, when I should have known better.
I thought that, okay, I don’t know what I thought, just that maybe being here would change Itachi.
I get Itachi’s message loud and clear. Stop trying to be something we’re not.
I’m pretending we’re normal when we’re anything but. We’re just two kids alone in a house, a mansion if truth be told, that’s too big.
I like to pretend Itachi’s crazy and weird. But maybe Itachi has it right and I’m the fool for believing
But is it so wrong for me to want normalcy?
Itachi can survive on his own, but what about me? When Itachi was at collage, I was so miserable. I went to boarding school and our parents visited maybe once a year.
I can hear my question, my naiveté, “What are we having for dinner?”. God, what’s wrong with me?
Why did I think that coming here would change anything?
I’m pretty smart, not as smart as Itachi, but I can put a few things together. I figure that whatever happened here in this neighborhood that is apparently mine is bad enough that it made Itachi change. It took away my brother, his soul or whatever. But I’m sick of his monosyllabic answers, his silences that are always full of distain, his superior attitude. I want my brother back. The one who laughed and smiled and ruffled my hair. The one who poked my forehead and gave me piggy back rides. I want that Itachi who was whole and happy.
Maybe I’m in over my head. But I’ll do anything to make my brother smile.
Itachi has saved me time and time again. From bullies or thunderstorms or our parents’ anger. It’s my turn to save him.