Inaka

itachi

Itachi is an artist. (A waste of intelligence and talent, their father says.) He went to college and studied various forms of art before settling on painting. Itachi was known in his small community as a genius when it came to textures. Each brushstroke was carefully planned, meticulously executed. His passion was obvious in his works. (Itachi is going places, his professor said.)

Then Itachi came home to dinner one day and announced that he visited their doctor several months ago, that several tests had been run throughout the course until present, and that there is something he must tell them. Sasuke bore himself, mentally preparing for the news that is to come, but when he heard it, no amount of preparation could have softened its blow.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. COPD for short. It's certainly a mouthful, Itachi commented lightly, ignoring the blanket of shock covering the room. No one laughed.

Suddenly their mother had stood and shouted (Mikoto's anger is a terrifying and awe-spiring thing). Her usually sweet disposition was replaced with red, hot whips of words that hit the target on the mark. She poked and prodded to no end, interrogated even Sasuke briefly on whether or not he was aware of this. He wisely shook his head and excused himself from the table shortly after that.

He did not want to hear any of their argument, and so Sasuke listened to music while trying to fall asleep early that night; ignored the texts from his friends. Instead he found himself researching the disease that was tearing his family apart. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease doesn't just show up one day, which means Itachi must have been hiding his condition for quite some time. It can be caused by air pollution and, as Sasuke read this, his heart dropped to his stomach, chemical fumes. Paint. Itachi will no longer be able to paint. Sasuke scrolls through his phone mindlessly. The damage done to the lungs could not be repaired. More serious cases resulted in coughing up blood. With this, Sasuke felt too sick to continue, and curled up in his bed.

Within the next couple of weeks, moving boxes began to pile in the hallways and in Itachi's room. They disappeared, being shipped to his new apartment. He was moving to the inaka, the countryside of Konoha. There, the air is fresh and will be good for Itachi. He planned on moving to a little town known for its pottery, where one of Itachi's friends from high school lived there. "I will figure something out," Sasuke heard him to say to their mother and father on the night he was leaving, but he didn't stay to listen. Instead he was already packing a duffel bag and counting out the money he had stashed in the back of his sock drawer. He got on his laptop and searched the schedules for the shinkansen, and found a route that will take over nine hours to get him to the inaka.

Sasuke will follow his brother to wherever he goes, consequences be damned.

Early in the morning, Sasuke woke and left a note to his parents before slipping out the door, duffel bag in hand and backpack secured. He purchased his ticket for the shinkansen and navigated the crowds that were arriving for work. Sasuke's phone rang. He put it on silent and boarded, pushing his duffel bag in the compartment above his head and his backpack at his feet. No one sat next to him for the next couple of hours or so. Sasuke tried to read a few books he'd brought with him, but couldn't find it in himself to focus. He checked his phone again. Ten missed calls and texts from Suigetsu, Karin, and Jūgo. At some point, Sasuke dozed off. When he woke, they were selling bento, which he declined. He wanted to save money, so he packed a few leftover onigiri his mother had made the night before.

When Sasuke arrived, he was utterly underwhelmed. The train station was nearly empty, save for a couple of people, and he was the only one getting off at the stop. Nevertheless, Sasuke shouldered his things and started walking through the small town. There weren't too many people outside (kami, it was hot), but they all stared at him as he passed them down the hill. He was looking for someone to ask for directions when he heard a bell ringing frantically behind him.