Songs For The Heartbroken: That's What You Get

Chapter 7

"I'm sorry Akane-chan. We tried to ask someone else to do it, but they were all very busy." My brother stood at our door with both Itachi and Sauke in tow.

Shisui, as well as Itachi were fully geared up, and with Sasuke carrying a bag as well, one didn't have to be a genius to figure out what was going on. I thought about simply refusing, but seeing Sasuke himself was pretty disgruntled with the whole situation, I decided against it.

"You both owe Sasuke and me dango and training for an entire week." I said as level as I could. They were not getting out of this one without giving us something in exchange.

Shisui sighed in relief and agreed instantly, showering me in empty compliments. I knew I was the best sister ever; he didn't have to say it. But Itachi hesitated. He didn't know if he could keep that promise, but with how things were going, he would have to make do. Knowing his tendency to bail out on Sasuke, I stared at him, hard. Act like the older brother your brother wants you to be.

Itachi sighed as well.

I had won.

He nodded his agreement and I flashed Sasuke a triumphant smile. The six year olds eyes brightened in awe, not believing I got his brother to promise something like that. I knew for a fact that older brothers could be difficult, we young ones had to stick together. I put an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and started dragging him into our house. It would be good to have an ally, Shisui and Itachi wouldn't outnumber me anymore.

"Okay, great! Now that that's settled, you can be on your way boys!" I smiled, and my spirits flew higher when I saw Itachi's disapproving face. "Come back in one piece."

As I closed the front door, I held Shisui's gaze for a moment. My brother nodded gravely and made the unspoken promise. They would both be back. When the door was finally shut and locked, I turned to the boy who would become my ally. Sasuke stood in the hallway, not entirely sure about what to do or where to go. We hadn't seen each other in a while, and I found his awkwardness very much like Itachi's, but unlike his brother, Sasuke was much more obvious about it.

"Okay let's get the basic rules established." I said setting my hands on my still undeveloped waist. "Morning training starts at five, breakfast at six. You can skip training if you want and only do the evening one at seven."

I continued to lay down the rules of our household with all the authority a ten year old could have. Meals were at six, twelve and nine; all of them compulsory. One training session a day was the minimum allowed, schooldays or not. He could bring friends home but only if they were well behaved. He could go anywhere within the village if and only if he let me know about it beforehand; and his curfew was at six.

Sasuke stood before me, attentive at everything I said as if it were a mission briefing. He let out a little annoyed scoff when he was told about his curfew, but made no further objections. He was smart enough to know he wasn't the one in charge. Not like he could complain either, since I had ensured an entire week of training with his brother.

"So, I wasn't finished with my morning training. Do you want to join me or would you rather I made you something to eat?"

It wasn't unusual for shinobi to leave on missions at the crack of dawn, but I didn't want to risk Sasuke not having had any breakfast. Turns out he had, and we ended up extending the hour long training session up until seven. Being it a Sunday, Sasuke didn't have to attend the academy, so we decided to push ourselves a little further. Or more accurately, the kid decided. Sasuke was so excited to have someone to train with, that he asked me to keep going for a while longer; and I couldn't bring myself to refuse him.

An hour later, we were both covered in sweat and he was panting like he had just ran a marathon. I couldn't help but notice the immense smile on his face, and my heart sank a little when I realized that one of the reasons why Itachi didn't spend much time with Sasuke, was me. I sent him away to take a bath while I prepared breakfast, and when he replied with: yes, nee-san! I couldn't help but smile myself. This, I realized, was Itachi's precious brother; and I could now understand why. His energy and enthusiasm almost entirely obscured the huge pride that had been imposed on him by his father. And to see such thing in an Uchiha- with the exception of Obito-nii- was very rare. He was pure, unbroken by the ways of shinobi lifestyle, and I found myself wanting to protect that.