Ibiki's daughter

17: Fugaku's heart

I love that picture.

A relaxed Itachi is on the right, a playful, teasing Shisu in the middle, and an adorable, pouting Sasuke in Shisui's lap. Awwww.......

Author's POV 

Fugaku's hurtful words pushed Sasuke deeper in pain further than ever. 

Sasuke's confidence dropped completely, and his outstretched arms that held the books and scrolls slackened, and he nearly dropped the precious family treasures.

"Careful!" His mother scolded. Luckily, not a single book or scroll dropped, but Sasuke just stood there looking discouraged.

"Come on, Sasuke," Itachi spoke up. "I'll help you with the shuriken technique I promised I show you."

In a few quick movements, Itachi had deposited the precious books and scrolls non-too-gently on Sasuke's desk and took his brother outside towards the forests. Sasuke didn't even notice another person was following the, until Itachi stopped walking and said, "Why don't you walk with us instead of behind us?"

"Oh come on, 'Tachi!" A familiar voice whined. "You're no fun."

"Shisui-nii-san!" Sasuke brightened up considerably when he spotted the familiar mop of black hair and unkept clothing in the tree branches above them. Shisu jumped down and picked up Sasuke who yelped.

"How's my favorite lil' bitty cousin?!" Shisui teased, rubbing his cheeks with the younger boy who tried to get away.

"I'm not little! Or bitty!" Sasuke's protest caused Itachi to chuckle at the scene.

"Come on, you two. Let's climb the Sakura trees."

"Aren't we going to train?" Sasuke asked, stopping his struggle.

"Nope."

"Ohhhhhhhh.....'Kay!" Shisui said loudly.

After telling Shisui what happened back with Sauke and Fugaku, Shisui reacted quite comically, his eyes wide, and head nodding slowly.

"Wow, talk about a dramatic father," he said, which earn him a sharp jab from Itachi. "Sorry! Sorry! It's just that sometimes Fugaku seems like that." Itachi shut his eyes and listened to his cousin talk.

"Huh?" Sasuke sat confused in his cousin's lap. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's always stern-faced, but if you see right through him, he's actually a big 'ole softie!" Shisui said smiling. "He doesn't show it, but I once asked Aunt Mikoto, and she told me he was a super nice fellow! He even helped your Ma cook too!" 

"Really!?" Sasuke couldn't believe it. "Father helped Mother cook?" 

In noble clans (like Uchiha or Hyuga), they followed the usual tradition of having the mother cook for the household. As the leader of the clan, Fugaku was expected to be doing more important tasks than cooking. However, it seems Fugaku likes cooking...

"Yup!" 

"But don't tell other people about that," Itachi warned, his eyes still shut and relaxed. "We don't want Father's reputation as strong powerful man to tumble."

"Oh.... But he always praising you, Nii-san," Sasuke sighed. Shisui smiled widely while slowly reaching his hand towards the unsuspecting Itachi.

"That's 'cause he wants to push you to be even stronger. Itachi also going to be the heir to the clan, so Uncle Fugaku has to make Itachi seem great and big," Shisui said, his smile getting bigger as he suddenly shoved Itachi off the tree branch.

"Nii-san!" Luckily for Itachi, he is the heir to the noble Uchiha clan, so he easily landed on his own two feet and sent a half-hearted glare up at his cousin who laughed at him. 

"But right now, let's have fun!" Itachi immediately leaped up from the ground tackled Shisui off the tree.

"AHHHHHHH!" Shisui screamed frantically. "I'm so sorry! I won't ever do it again! Run Sasuke, run!" Sasuke seemed a bit too slow for Shisui's liking, so Shisui broke free from Itachi's grip, grabbed Sasuke, and began running away from the semi-angry older Uchiha cousin.

The three boys played around in the forests for an hour, tackling, wrestling, fighting, and running all included, before Itachi said it was finally time to go home.

"What?!" Shisui looked so distressed, eyes wide and mouth hung open, Sasuke couldn't help but laugh. Itachi gave his brother a gentle smile before raising an arm towards him who bounded to his side eagerly. "W-wait! Don't GGGOOOO!" Their cousin wailed as the brothers walked away.

"Bye Shisui-nii-san!" Sasuke yelled as Shisui dropped the depressing act and waved back eagerly.

"Bye bye Sasu pie!"

"I'm not a pie!" 

Itachi walked Sasuke home slowly, trying to stretch the sparse time they had together. Itachi wasn't able to spend time with his brother, much to his disappointment. 

"Feel better?" Itachi asked. 

"Yeah!" 

"That's good to hear." 

The boys headed home, washed up, and sat down to dinner. Fugaku was already there, eyes closed, while waiting for his sons to come in. Mikoto was at the sink, washing dishes. 

"Welcome back," she greeted in her motherly way. 

"Father, Mother," both boys said respectfully. Fugaku said nothing, so the brother sat down and dinner started. 

Suddenly, Shisui's words came back to Sasuke, and he turned to look at his father's hands. 

"He even helped your Ma cook too!" 

Although he observed closely, Sasuke was disappointed to see there were no signs of his father's hands touching any kind of cookware like his mother's hands. 

However, if Sasuke was standing behind Fugaku, he would have spotted a tiny bandage strip covering a light burn on his father's right wrist. 

Half an hour ago, Fugaku did indeed help his wife with some of the cooking, only to accidently burn himself. Mikoto laughed at his pained face, which he never showed to anyone else other than her, and tended him gently before finishing up dinner.