5th of January, 2015

Itachi woke up in the bed, next to Sasuke, who was still sleeping, hugging his little bear friend. The raven rubbed his eyes and let out a small groan, feeling his stiff muscles. He supposed that he fell asleep during the movie with Kisame last night and was brought in the bed by him. This happened too often these days. He was too tired, too weak. It was starting to scare him.

His phone suddenly vibrated. Groaning again, he turned around and saw it on the bedside table. Kisame was thoughtful enough to bring his phone to the bedroom too. The light coming from it blinded the still sleepy boy for a little. He had a message from his mom. Seeing this, he immediately felt a bit more energized. They were coming home today. He wanted to see his parents so bad, since their last live interaction was three months ago.

- Nii- san, why are you smiling?

A cute voice made him look away from the message. Sasuke has moved closer to his brother and was trying to see what was so interesting on the phone. Itachi got up and started tickling the little boy.

- You know what, Sasuke?

- What? -Sasuke said through his laughing.

- Mom and dad are coming today!

^^^

- Mama!

Sasuke shouted as he jumped in his mother's arms. She hugged him and smiled, seeing how much her little boy has grown in just three months. After Sasuke loosen his grip, the beautiful woman moved her sight to her older child, reaching her hand to touch his hair.

- Itachi...

There was a concern in her voice. He was trying to hide his sickness well, but she could feel that something wasn't right. She was his mother after all. He had to do better.

- How was your ride?

The raven asked, trying to distract her from her thoughts. He couldn't let her know. She would pity him, dragging him around hospitals and the worst, she might consider taking Sasuke with her, away from him. No, he preferred dealing with this alone. He would never let his little brother in the care of someone with a job like his parents'.

- It was good.

She answered without emotion, still looking into his deep black eyes, trying to read him.

- Mama, come on, let's go to my room to show you something!

Sasuke was pulling his mother's skirt, dragging her inside the apartment. Itachi was left facing just his father. Fugaku was looking at his son with a stone face, from which Itachi could never understand what was going on in this man's head.

- After lunch, we are training.

- Yes, dad.

His father was teaching him how to throw knives, how to hold a gun, how to fight and other useful things for protection. He and his wife worked as murder investigators, but not an ordinary ones. Their job was far more dangerous than the average investigator. They were known as the best among their kind. Every criminal had shivers down their spine when they heard the name Uchiha. That's why they had a lot of enemies. Fugaku was worried for his sons' safety, so he turned Itachi into a killing machine. He had to make sure that his home and children are safe and sound.

The training lasted for something like an hour, but Itachi felt it like a whole day. He did pretty well, but was totally exhausted.

- You seem off today.

Fugaku got closer to his son, who was now kneeling on the ground. The father lowered down so that their eyes could meet.

- If you are having a problem, feel free to tell me.

Itachi did his best to pick himself up.

- Sorry, dad...

Fugaku clenched his eyebrows and looked at the raven once again. He had never seen his son showing weakness. Something was definitely not okay.

- Go get some rest.

Itachi just nodded and got back into the building. The old Uchiha sighed. His son didn't have a great childhood. He wasn't lucky enough to have an older brother like Sasuke has. Itachi was always carried on missions, countless times left alone, countless times being in life- threatening situations, countless times scared as hell, kidnapped, hurt... Itachi had endured a lot of stress. Fugaku blamed himself. He knew he was a bad father, ruining his child's life like this. It was no wonder that all of this has started taking a toll on his boy.

- Good afternoon, Fugaku- san!

The old man turned around and saw Kisame behind him.

- Hello, Kisame.

Fugaku was grateful for Kisame's presence around his sons'. He was a great help for them and Fugaku knew that he can rely on him for almost everything in regards Itachi and Sasuke.

- Itachi is upstairs.

- Thanks, Fugaku- san.

Kisame got in front of the raven's room and knocked. He had waited for this moment all day.

- Come in.

Itachi's deep beautiful voice was like a medicine for Kisame's ears. Everything about this boy was perfect. He couldn't last a day without hearing that voice.

Kisame got in and saw Itachi sitting on the window. He was looking somehow different, somehow sad...

- What's up? -Kisame asked, getting closer to the raven.

- Nothing.

The big boy sighed and tucked a piece of Itachi's hair behind his ear.

- I know you better than I know myself, Itachi...

The black haired moved his gaze to his best friend. His onyx eyes pierced through Kisame like a knife. One look from the raven was enough to make his legs soften up.

- I messed up the training.

Kisame was confused. He knew how good Itachi was in the things his father was teaching him. He also knew that the smaller boy absolutely loved it.

- I doubt it, you are a monster in these.

- Not anymore...

Kisame looked at his best friend with sad eyes. He couldn't bear seeing him in this state.

- Do you want to take a walk with me?

Itachi nodded barely noticeable, but enough for Kisame to see. He got up from the window and put his jacket on. On the way out, Mikoto kissed her son softly on the cheek.

^^^

The two boys had walked around for awhile now. Kisame was pretty good at making the raven relax and brighten up. Itachi needed just that, someone to share his thoughts with.

Sometimes, Kisame was amazed by what was circulating inside Itachi's head. This boy was highly intelligent, but sometimes, this intelligence was doing him bad favours. He was always thinking about something, always worrying about something, always keeping his brain working at full speed. He often thought about life, death, purpose of living... his mind was continuously occupied. Kisame didn't know how someone so beautiful, so amazing and so pure could overwork his head like this.

- Do you want to go home? – Itachi asked.

- If you want to, then yeah.

- I think I'm going to sleep early today.

Kisame insisted to walk with Itachi back to his house, but the raven refused for unknown reason. Kisame respected his decision and left him alone, even though he wanted to be sure that Itachi would be okay on the way back.

The black haired reached his home. He got off his shoes and entered the apartment. Sasuke was already asleep. Entering the kitchen, he saw his parents sitting silently on the table. They seemed worried. Their eyes were desperately avoiding his, which was concerning enough for Itachi to be sure that something bad happened.

- What's going on?

- Sit, Itachi, we need to talk.