Log: Complete

[relimited.livejournal.com]

When; 23rd December (AM)
Rating; PG
Characters; Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Itachi
Summary; Naruto decides to try and rid the City of a threat by doing as his father had done. The only trouble is that said threat happens to still be a child.
Log;
Itachi yawned and stretched, the sleeve of the over-sized shirt falling over his small hands. He shook his head, long black bangs falling into black eyes. Glancing around, he noticed his big/little brother wasn't around anymore. Well, maybe Sasuke was in the other room. It was funny that his younger brother was bigger then him yesterday. He didn't really notice that he was still a child, it seemed the more time he spent as one, the easier it got to accept. Either way, he was hungry. He got up from the futon and wandered into the kitchen, tugging on the heavy door of the fridge.

It was clear, just from the look of him, that Naruto had a lot on his mind. Thanks to the curse that'd hit him the previous day, that pile had grown. And today's curse only served to make things worse. He'd only thought to mention things, and so, an entire speech had worked its way out. Questions had followed, both to and from him.

But at least he'd been given the chance to think. Which was why Naruto was making his way back inside Sasuke's apartment in search of one of the four problems. Now to just hope he was still in the same state he was this morning.

Itachi frowned, tugging harder on the door. When it refused to budge, he clamped both hands onto the handle and put one foot up on the counter beside the fridge. With an abrupt jerk, the door flew open and the fridge teetered, dumping roughly a third of it's contents all over the pint-sized Uchiha. He sat on the floor, looking quite surprised, a large mixing bowl that had once held chocolate pudding on his head, said pudding now all over him.

Hearing the crash, Naruto moved swiftly toward the kitchen in time to see the door slam shut, pushing the fridge back into place. Looking down at the chocolate-covered Uchiha, Naruto's eyes widened for a brief moment. "........." He really didn't have a clue what to say, so instead, Naruto made his way inside the kitchen. Crouching down alongside Itachi, Naruto pulled the bowl off of the childs head, before turning his attention to salvaging whatever had fallen out.

Lower lip quivering, eyes tearing up, Itachi started to cry. As completely out of character it would have seemed to anyone who knew him in his normal state, right now he was simply a small boy who had made a mess of his new playmate's home and was afraid of getting into trouble. "Gomen!! Naru-nii, i dint' mean to, I just wanted some pudding..."

He blinked. Then he blinked again. And one more time for good measure. Itachi, the same Itachi who had been threatening him for years. The same Itachi who had killed almost his entire clan, was sitting there, as a child, and crying over the fact he'd dropped some food. Well, weirder things had ha-- Nope. This was about the weirdest actually.

Turning his attention back to the child, Naruto gave a weak smile...which disappeared at Itachi's words. And numerous double-takes later, he was still in shock at the name Itachi had used. "...forget it. Go have a shower, and I'll pull out some new clothes for you, alright?"

Itachi pouted slightly, wiping his eyes and smearing pudding all over himself. "Can't. My hair's messy. Momma usually washes it for me. Don't know how..."

A sigh. "Then just go into the bathroom and...we'll sort something out." The last thing he wanted right then was to have to spend extra time around the runt. But from the look of things, it was one wish he wasn't going to get granted.

Itachi nodded and got to his feet, running off to the bathroom. Fully intending to show Naru-nii how helpful he could be, he climbed up on the lid of the toilet and reached over to turn on the faucet. Dropping the drain plug in, he picked up the big box of soap and tipped it over, watching as the powder poured into the water, dissolving as the bubbles started to form.

Waiting until Itachi was out of sight, Naruto began picking up the rest of the mess, tidying it away as slowly as he could. He really wasn't in a rush to spend more time with the Uchiha. Once the mess was cleaned up, he stood back up, siply staring at the floor for a few moments. Now he was able to think properly, he knew exactly what was meant to be done. But...to a kid...?

The sound of water eventually snapped him out of it. Enough to make him turn his attention back to the bathroom. Right, he'd just go in there, and do what he had to. That was it! And so, he headed to the bathroom.

Itachi was currently pulling off the pudding-encrusted shirt. But the bubbles were spreading across the floor. Frowning, he scooped up an armful of them and put them back into the tub. Which was made all that much more difficult by the fact that the tub was full. Pushing the bubbles back, he decided it would be best to shut the door. That would keep the bubbles in the bathroom.

Stopping outside the bathroom, Naruto took a deep breath before pushing the door open...only to step into a bathroom filled with bubbles. "What the...?" Looking around, he soon spotted the reason. Namely one midget and a bath filled with bubbles...and possibly some water in there somewhere. Moving to the taps, he was quick to turn them off, a frown returning to his face.

Itachi looked up at Naruto and grinned, covered in bubbles. To his credit, he actually WAS in the tub, and there WAS water in it. it was just hard to see it because of all the bubbles. "Naru-nii, look! I helped!"

"...stop calling me that," he muttered off-handedly. Another glance around the bathroom and he shook his head. Well, at least he'd managed to get his own bath ready. Even if it was swamped in bubbles. Kicking the bubbles out of the way, he actually managed to smile a little at the boys enthusiasm. "Yeah, I guess you did."

Itachi's face fell, smile fading. "Why? Does...does Naru-nii hate me?" His lower lip started to quiver, looking as though he might cry again.

He couldn't answer the question for one reason; he didn't want to upset the boy, despite who he was. "We need to get you cleaned up, alright?" Pulling out a flannel, he dropped it into the bath, before turning round to pull off his coat and roll up his sleeves. Dropping down beside the bath, he grinned at the boy, albeit a little forced.

"Ok!" Itachi nodded and closed his eyes obediently, waiting to get his hair washed. "Ne, Naru-nii...can i come and play again sometime?"

"...sure." Of course, that invite would disappear the moment that Itachi changed back to normal. But there was no point upsetting the boy before he had to. Taking the jug off the shelf, he dunked it into the water, before holding it up to pour. His other came up to cover Itachi's eyes to protect them from...from... 'So close...'

Itachi giggled at the water splashing down over his head, grabbing Naruto's hand to hold it in place. "That's cold, Naru-nii."

"You didn't put enough hot water in the bath then," he replied, forcing himself to stop thinking about those few inches between his hand and the boys eyes. If he just...moved...things would be so much easier. The spalsh of the jug hitting the water caused him to blink, once more dragging his attention to the moment. A blob of shampoo and he continued cleaning Itachi's hair.

Itachi hummed a little song as Naruto's fingers massaged his scalp. "Naru-nii, you're nice. Can you be my real big brother?"

His hands paused for s few moments, a mixed feeling passing through him. As a kid, Naruto could honestly say he enjoyed being around the Uchiha. But everything about his life as an adult told a very different story. "I can't do that." For more reasons than one.

"But why not?" Itachi peered up at him, eyes shifting between black and red as if they had a mind of their own, Sharingan appearing to whirl lazily before fading back into fathomless black.

"I'm not your brother. ...Sasuke is." As much as he hated that fact. The shift in Itachi's eyes reminded him, yet again, of what he had come back to do. And getting sidetracked by things like this...

"Want TWO brothers."

His eyes narrowed, before he continued rubbing the shampoo into Itachi's hair. Dunking a hand into the water to clean it off, his fingers moved up to Itachi's eyes again, this time actually hovering over the black and white orbs. Another deep breath and his hand moved...to cover them once again as he pulled the jug up to wash out the shampoo.

Itachi winced, rubbing his eyes. "Naru-nii, there's soap in my eyes.."

His hand dunked into the water again, pulling out the flannel. Wringing it out, he quickly ran the tap and rinsed it, before turning back to Itachi. ...and yet again...he tried. He really did. But he just couldn't force himself to do what he should be doing. Instead, he was dumping the flannel into Itachi's hands, rising up onto his feet and heading out of the bathroom. "Finish up and I'll leave you some clothes in the bedroom." He had to get out of there, and so he did.

"Ok!" He wiped off his eyes and continued to splash around in the water a bit.

He didn't understand why Naru-nii seemed different then he'd seemed yesterday. Itachi wrinkled his nose up, trying to figure out what was different. Maybe Naru-nii wanted to play the game again. He couldn't really remember WHY he was playing it with Naru-nii, but he remembered something about capturing and something called a "kyuubi". Climbing out of the tub, he wrapped the towel around himself like a cloak and peered into the bedroom.

It took no time at all for him to find something for Itachi to wear. The remains of his last try at using the washing and drying boxes they had in the building. Slightly shrunken, and yet he'd kept them. It was probably just as well. Dumping a shirt and a pair of trousers onto the bed, he stared down at them for a moment.

Why couldn't he just do it? It was simple. Destroy Itachi's eyes to stop him from using them against the others. But it wasn't as easy as that anymore. Itachi was now a little boy. A little boy that was peeping into the bedroom after him.

A curse. It was just a curse. Just a curse. Just a curse. "There's something there." Just a curse. Just a curse.

"Yay!" Itachi tossed the towel behind him and ran over, pulling on the pants that were still rather big on him, and sticking his arms through the shirt. But his head got stuck trying to find the neck. He turned towards where he assumed Naruto was. "Naru-nii, I'm stuck."

Just a curse. It was still Itachi. Still the same murder from before. Just a curse.

Gritting his teeth, his hands clenched into fists as he repeated the three words in his mind, over and over. It was 'just a curse!' Yanking the material of the shirt over Itachi's head, Naruto stared seriously into the others eyes, his grip on the material tightening as he pulled the boy closer.

"It's just a curse. You're still Itachi!"

Itachi's eyes widened, eyes shifting from black to red, to black again before they shifted into the three-spoked wheel of the Mangekyo. Small hands grabbed at Naruto's larger ones as he struggled, whimpering slightly and trying to pull away. "N..N..Naru-nii! You're hurting me!"

His free hand moved, the fact that Itachi's eyes now bore the Mangekyo was all the proof he needed. Pulling a kunai out from his holster, he held the sharpened weapon in a tight fist, the blade glinting maliciously between them. "You're a murderer. You killed them. You killed your family. You killed the other Jinchuriki. You hurt Sasuke!" And the blade was turned toward Itachi's left eye.

...before falling out of his fingers and clanging on the floor as he collapsed back onto his rear. He just couldn't do it. It was still a kid.

Itachi yanked himself free and backed up, scooting across the floor on his bottom to huddle in the corner. Eyes still red, Mangekyo whirling rapidly, he curled himself into a tiny ball, tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes.

He stared down at the kunai, reaching out shakily for the cold handle. Fingers wrapped loosely around the weapon, a moment before he sent the kunai flying, imbedding itself into the wall, barely a hairs breadth from Itachi's cheek. "Get out of here," he muttered, eyes narrowed as he forced himself not to look away.

Itachi flinched, tear-filled eyes focusing on Naruto's with a look of hurt and betrayal. "But...Naru-nii..."

"Get. Out!" His hand dropped down to his weapons holster once again, drawing out yet another kunai. It was held up, ready to throw, but as a threat alone. "I'll only warn you this one time. If you don't get the hell out of here, I'll kill you."

His lower lip quivered and he stood up, tears running down his small face. "I...I love you, Naru-nii....you're the best big brother ever...." With a sob, he turned and ran, the door slamming behind him.

The kunai imbedded itself alongside the first, the very moment that Itachi had left the room. Why had that actually...hurt...to do? This was the same guy that had done so much against him and his friends, and yet... "...shit."

There was a slight scratching at the door, and a piece of paper slowly worked it's way through the mailslot to drop on the carpet.

The sound of scratching pulled Naruto's attention back. If the boy hadn't left, he really would follow through on his threat. He didn't care right then. The situation was already bad enough! Standing up slowly, he made his way out into the main room, following the sound to the door. Yanking it open, he scowled, expecting to see Itachi still standing there. Instead, he found a piece of paper beneath his foot. The door slammed shut as he picked it up and turned it over.

It was folded up into a square, with "Naru-nii" written in scratchy crayon letters on one side in hiragana. On the inside was a simple drawing, the kind any chiild with crayons might make, of three people smiling and holding hands. On the left was a black-haired figure wearing a blue shirt, holding the hand of a taller person in orange with spiky blond hair, whose other hand was held by another black-haired boy, this one with red eyes. At the top, written in childish scrawl was "Me and Sasuke-Baka and Naru-nii". At the bottom corner, in smaller writing, it said "To Naru-nii, Love Itachi".

And his fist met the door a moment later. "...I hate these curses!"