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Sasuke felt cold.
Something was definitely off.
"Sasuke-kun..." A voice whispered. He glanced on his side to see Sakura looking scared.
He silently gestured for her to get ready. She nodded back, gripping her weapon in front of her. Sasuke tried to analyze their situation. It was just the two of them now in this wild forest. Naruto, their idiot of a teammate had been separated from them after the blast. He was sure there was an enemy. He could feel it. He braced himself for an attack. It could come from anywhere, but he was determined to protect Sakura.
He was rather surprised to see their enemy show himself, walking aimlessly towards them with an almost lazy grin.
It was a man with an eye like that of a snake's. One look at him and Sasuke knew he was bad news. They needed to escape. Now.
But before he could do anything, the man suddenly lunged forward-- no, only his head lunged forward toward him and his teeth, also much like a snake's made its mark on his neck. Immediately he was paralyzed with pain.
He vaguely heard Sakura shout his name. Everything was turning black. The last thing he heard was Sakura's voice.
"What have you done to him?!"
And everything disappeared.
-
Sasuke was running towards their home, excited to show his parents his report card from the Academy.
But when he was already inside the Uchiha compound, he faltered. It was much too quiet and somewhat eerie.
No one was there. None of the usual greetings from his aunts and uncles. And his cousins were no where to be seen. It was as if everyone was gone.
He hurried to their house. Surely, his mom and dad would be there. They would have told him if they have to go somewhere. His brother might also be home. He had been busy recently, it was bound he was given an off soon enough.
Opening their front door, he hesitantly said, 'Tadaima!' hoping someone would answer, but he was disappointed.
After taking off his shoes he had proceeded to their living room.
The sight that welcomed him had made him dropped everything he was holding.
"Mom, dad... Niichan?" He softly said, not taking his eyes off them.
His mom and dad was kneeling on the floor right in front of his brother who was holding a katana over their parent's throats.
"What are you doing?!" Sasuke shouted at his brother but too late, Itachi slashed with a swift movement of his hand.
Sasuke's eyes widen, tears falling freely. It was with horror when he realized that his brother was making his way towards him with an insane smile on his face.
"Foolish little brother..." Itachi had muttered now only a few feet away from Sasuke. Sasuke dropped to the floor, his knees giving in. He tried to scramble away, but was abruptly stopped by the wall on his back.
Itachi smiled manically at him, raising the katana over Sasuke.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"
Sasuke woke up with start.
"What happened?!" Itachi, who had just woken up, said, frenzy but still half-asleep.
"Sasuke! Are you okay? Did something happened??" Itachi said, fussing over his little brother.
Sasuke at first, cringed away from Itachi. But after a while, when he calmed enough, he had tackled Itachi in to a fierce hug. Itachi, by then, was already fully awake.
"What happened?" He asked again.
"Nightmare." Sasuke said. "It was so scary... y-you were scary. I don't want to see you l-like that..." And Sasuke told him everything, even the little bit about little Sakura-chan. He had amusedly noted his little brother's ears turning red when he had told him that part.
Itachi sighed in resignation as his brother finished his story. He tried to reassure and calm him down. When he was finally calm, Itachi had looked at him sternly.
"You watched that ninja anime after bedtime, didn't you?" He said. Sasuke's head lulled, looking guilty. Itachi sighed. "Sasuke, you should stop watching anything after 9. Seriously." He told him.
In truth, this wasn't the first time this had happened. Itachi wasn't really sure how or why it happens, but he had figured the formula that leads to this situation after the third incident: anything Sasuke watched after 9 o'clock, he will dream of but with more familiar faces.
He sighed as he recalled the first one.
That, at least, had been a bit amusing. Well, no, not really, but compared to the other incidents... Anyway, he had just gotten back home when it happened.
He was changing when he heard his brother cried out in his sleep. After calming him, his brother had told him about his nightmare. Sasuke told him how he watched the Dark tournaments on the sidelines, with his Izumi-neechan and her friends; this includes Konan, Hana and Shizune and who according to Sasuke was '"Sasori-niichan's long lost sister!.' (Itachi didn't quite know why Shizune was there as she wasn't really a friend of Izumi, and why she's supposedly Sasori's sister). He said it was a fight between Team Uchiha and the Team Toguro. He relayed that Yahikk was all bloodied up with plants sticking out his hair, and then Sasori being fast asleep, his three eyes closed, and that suddenly Toguro had lashed out and killed Shishi so fast Shuisui wasn't even able to summon his Spirit Sword. After that the 8 years old gave every detail of the fight between her brother and a 2-dimensional Toguro, leading to Itachi nearly dying and Izumi's breakdown.
Just like tonight, Itachi had done his best to comfort his little brother then, trying not fidget at the thought that his brother had an inclination about his feelings for a certain girl.
After that, his brother had confessed that he was watching Yu Yu Hakushu, and had fallen asleep with their player on. Itachi had advised him then, not to watch the anime again.
It was just a month after when the second incident happened, and it was just plain disturbing. They had watched a movie right before sleeping and just about an hour after saying their goodnights to each other, Itachi was unceremoniously woken up by his brother's outburst.
This time his stories had cause the older Uchiha his own nightmares. His little brother had given him all of the details of his nightmare of Itachi and his friends and cousins going inside a literal house of terror. All the gruesome details of how they killed each other and of how he died with Nagato-san running an spear through his head. Itachi had immediately threw their DVD of The Incite Mill away after making sure Sasuke was finally calm.
The third incident, he just didn't want to remember. But remember he did. This time it was Ooku. Of all the movies Hidan could have lent him, it was this. He wasn't planning on watching it with his little brother, but his, ugh, dear old father thought it would be a nice movie for a bit of a father-son bonding. It was too late when he found out. Sasuke was already fast asleep when he had gotten home.
He was prepared for the nightmare this time, and instead of going to sleep, he planned to work on his new song and wait for the third incident to happen. And it did, just after he sat down their study table.
He really really really didn't want to hear it, but he knew it would be better for Sasuke to let it out so he endured. It was just one scene from the movie. The scene where Ninomiya and Tadayoshi tried to kill each other for Tamaki's love. Only, Ninomiya was Itachi, Tadayoshi was Shishi and Tamaki was Obito. He had listen, almost traumatized, as his brother described how Shisui was head over heels Obito but Obito was more interested with Itachi and in the end Shisui couldn't kill Itachi so instead killed himself.
He swore never to leave any movies he borrowed from Hisan at home again. He'd just take it wherever he went.
Itachi didn't really know why in all Sasuke's nightmare, it's almost always that he is the main character; but he set the thought aside for the meantime.
"I'm sorry." Sasuke told him.
Itachi sighed and patted his brother on his head. "Well, it's not entirely your fault. I don't know why you're head is like this. It's like you have a gland that secretes Tracker jacker venom or something." He muttered distractedly, eyes unfocused.
"Tracker jacker?" Sasuke asked curiously.
"Yeah, it's a sort of insect from The Hunger Games-" Itachi caught himself, but too late. Sasuke's eyes was sparked with interest.
"The Hunger Games? Is that a movie?" He asked, perking up.
"Oh no, you don't. You will not watch the movie. Ever." Itachi said sternly. Good grief, he do not want to be a tribute, especially in Sasuke's too vivid dreams. No, he swore never to let Sasuke watch the coming movie.
---
Itachi groaned as he listen to his brother's yet another incident.
"It was so scary! I was picked first, even though I only had my name in there once but then suddenly you ran towards me and then volunteered to be a tribute! Then Izumi-neechan's name was picked! And you went to the Capitol and the arena! It was so scary, and you were separated! You went with the other tributes, Deidara-nii, Kisame-nii and Yahiko-nii but it was so you can protect Neechan! But then Kisame-nii caught on and he slashed through your leg! You were dying but thank God Neechan found you and nursed you--"
"Sasuke." Itachi interupted in a measured tone. "I thought I told you you're forbidden to watch the movie?"
"But I didn't watch the movie! My classmate gave me a copy of the audiobook! I fell asleep while listening to it. It was like a bed time story."
END