Sasuke nodded, burning with questions. He looked back at the man then back at his brother a second time. He could tell it had been a bad day for Itachi, and he didn't want to make it worse by asking questions his brother didn't want to answer, so he stayed quiet.

He longed for yesterday, at the mall, where he had been able to spend time with his Aniki... When Itachi hadn't been ticked off at the world and he could talk to him without worrying about angering him. It wasn't like Sasuke to worry about whether people were angry with him or not, but... this was his brother... his Aniki. The one person who's opinion mattered more than their parents.

The younger Uchiha leaned back in his chair with a sigh, closing his eyes. Of all the people to fall in love with, why did it have to be his older brother?

"He's an alumni of the school. We were still children when he made a name for himself then. Or perhaps we weren't even born yet. I don't want to bother with people who don't matter to me. His name's Orochimaru, Sasuke."

Itachi decided to be a little merciful and spilled some more information about the man they had just ran into. He could tell Sasuke was curious. Then again if he were in his brother's position he would to. Considering how emotionally charged his response was to the sight of the creepily pale man.

"If you pay attention to father's work, you'll find that he's actually amongst all those paper work Kaasan calls waste of good Japanese trees. Though I'm quite sure the paper they use in government are imported from some third world country. The man is into dirty business."

The more the raven continued, the faster he drove. Although he was still within speed limits, the control he had over his temper was beginning to waver.

They almost sped through a suddenly changing red light and made a loud screech against the asphalt.

Sasuke clutched his seat, lurching forward with the momentum of the car as they screeched to a stop. "Aniki! You're going to get us killed!" He snapped, despite himself.

Thank God the breaks worked... Hopefully no cops saw that, or they would probably be pulled over. That was the last thing they needed right now.

"I'm sorry," he said regretfully as he watched the speed meter drastically move downwards, "Maybe you should have just took the bus home."

Then again if it weren't for the presence of Sasuke, Itachi would have gone faster and truly not care. It was an abuse of discretion because he was the son of Fugaku Uchiha, chief of police.

Considering his temper was threatening to spill over and was even showing itself, he turned to Sasuke, "I'll be the responsible adult companion, you drive. I'm in no capacity to do so. I'll pull over to the nearest corner so we can switch."

The raven seriously needed a moment to think and calm down.

Sasuke nodded, agreeing with his brother that that would be best. "As long as we don't get pulled over or get into a crash, I don't really care."

The younger Uchiha had gotten his permit several months ago and hadn't gotten many opportunities to drive, but he didn't find it too difficult. Besides, being the son of the Chief of Police meant that if he ever stepped out of line, his father would most definitely hear about it. That was enough to make almost anyone afraid to mess up while driving.

Itachi pulled over to the nearest corner and then gave the boy the reigns to drive. He wordlessly trusted him with his life at the moment as he was too upset to deal with it at the moment.

The teenager casted his gaze outside of the car, almost glued to his own corner of the car which was formerly occupied by Sasuke. He was brooding, almost sulking over the bad day that just transpired.

Then again the raven was rarely upset over things.

An all too familiar scent greeted Sasuke the moment he took his brother's place at the driver's wheel: Itachi's scent.

Sasuke breathed in the scent for a few moments before driving off again, at a much more legal pace then what Itachi had been doing.

But the man's scent was driving him crazy! It was all around him, surrounding him... almost like being in Itachi's bed, his nose buried in his pillow. Not that he'd ever done that.

He shook his head and focused on the road. He was a new driver with rather low experience, he needed to concentrate.

Itachi chose to remain silent for the rest of the trip, wanting to keep himself at bay in fear for an outburst. He knew he was very much capable of violence but he didn't have the heart to show it to the boy. Sasuke did nothing wrong to deserve his wrath.
Not to mention, he was trying to desperately calm down and gain control over his feelings. From his side of the convertible, it was relatively easy to hear his short and hurried, angry breathing eventually mellow down to longer, deeper intakes of breath with a more regular rhythm. Inhale...exhale. Inhale...exhale. You could practically count the meter of his breaths.

The raven had closed his eyes in midmeditation until he had fallen asleep, leaning slightly against the window. The murderous aura was gone now and he looked somewhat calm in his sleep. The young genius looked human in his sleep, vulnerable to pain and in need of peace too.

Sasuke managed the drive home with no incidents, and he pulled into the driveway, looking over at his sleeping brother. He frowned, unsure of what to do. Should he wake him? Itachi looked so... young in his sleep. He actually looked his age, like a teenager should.

The younger Uchiha reached out a hand to shake his brother awake, but retracted it.

Again he reached out a hand, hesitantly brushing some bangs out of his aniki's face. He leaned in closer, slowly, nearly holding his breath. Now Itachi's scent was practically burned into his nostrils and he was mere inches away from his brother's face, watching closly for any signs that he might be waking up.

The said older brother was deep in his slumber. He looked like he was having a good dream that his usually scowling features were quite relaxed, almost about to smile even. Sasuke of all people should know how rare it was for the raven to break into a smile. Despite that smiling actually took less effort ATP wise than scowling, for Itachi the former seemed to be more strenuous than the latter.

Itachi's face twitched when his younger brother brushed away his bangs from his face. He shifted a little in his somewhat uncomfortable pose and leaned more against the window in his sleep.

Despite the calm about the Uchiha, he was still the same old stubborn soul who once in a position, refused to budge. Still the same old impossible Itachi Sasuke knew.

Sensing his brother's deep sleep, Sasuke decided to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He slowly leaned in, still carefully watching for signs of waking, and brushed his lips against Itachi's soft skin. First the older one's cheek, then his lips. After that, he pulled away, not daring to do more.

To the boy's relief, Itachi did not awaken from such an onslaught on his features. He smiled somewhat after even.

It was as if the teen would have slept forever but when he heard his father's car engine make it's characteristic roar, it was only then his eyes opened and the raven eased into a sitting position on the passenger seat. He groaned a little as he tried to bring some circulation back to his weary limbs then looked around. Surprise was reflected in his eyes are he regarded his surroundings. Had he been knocked out that long?

Moreover, Tousan was home the same time as them?

The Uchiha turned to Sasuke and asked, "What time is it?"

Sasuke looked at the clock in the car, relieved Itachi hadn't woken up from the kiss. "...Five. You were asleep... I didn't want to wake you." The younger brother shrugged, looking away.

The teenager nodded, quickly sitting up and looked at the clock for himself. Wonderful.

After getting his school bag from behind the driver's seat, Itachi turned to Sasuke, "You'll have to cover for me today, little brother. Tousan will no doubt ask for why you're the one driving. I hope you do me well."

He smiled knowingly at his brother.

Sasuke fervently hoped that knowing smile didn't know what his panicked and paranoid brain thought it did. No, that was impossible. Itachi definitely would have said something if he had been awake.

Well... He couldn't let his brother down. So when Tousan came over to ask why Sasuke had driven, he explained that he had asked Itachi to supervise him on the drive home so he could get some practice driving in real situations. His father believed him, it wasn't exactly an unorthodox story.

Upon hearing the little story his brother came up with, Itachi confirmed on the spot and acted out his part perfectly as if it had been the truth. A little white lie, a something that only the brothers would know.
When their father turned to leave and was far from them, he turned to Sasuke, quietly whispering a thank you to the boy's ear, "Our little secret..."

Then the raven patted the boy's shoulder twice before making his way to his own room as well.

He would change into some house clothes and then check if his clothes were done. Being out of his usual attire for the day seemed to be coupled with such an unusual and upsetting turn of events for him.

Sasuke nearly shivered as Itachi's breath ghosted over his sensitive ears. Indeed, it was their little secret... but he kept on worrying. What if Itachi knew what he had done and was hoarding it over him, waiting for the right moment to use it against him? He wouldn't put it past his Aniki to do that...

He shook his head and entered the house, retreating up to his room until dinnertime. He needed to be alone, to think and quell the sickening feeling growing in his stomach... like something bad was going to happen.

Itachi was relieved to hear that the laundry was done and he could now go back to his usual shirt and jeans. He had gotten too many compliments in his red dress shirt but that didn't mean the usually quiet Uchiha liked them. The attention was so artificial. He hated it.

Dumping his clothes for the day into the waste bin, the teenager did his rudimentary shower after school. This time he switched off the lights and enjoyed the semi-darkness of the room. Only sunlight that streamed from the small window provided light.

Inside, he unwound from such a stressful day. This would be his little gift to himself.

Though the raven wondered. Sasuke was acting strange again. What was happening to his younger brother?

Sasuke heard the shower running and in an instant, his thoughts were filled of Itachi, soaking wet, naked... He groaned and buried his face under his pillow. This was getting ridiculous!

Instead of helping himself by taking advantage of what would most likely be the only chance he'd ever have to kiss his brother, he'd made it worse! Now he knew just how soft his Aniki's lips were, what he smelled like when you're that close... He licked at his lips unconciously, as if Itachi's taste would still be there. It wasn't.

Mikoto came home a little after the evening news had started and was bubbling with such excitement from her whole day out. She took her seat by her husband, commencing to tell him all sorts of things that happened throughout her day. In response, he put the TV on mute and listened to his wife's story telling.

It was so rare that the lady of the house chose to leave for her own reasons really. Often it was for the groceries or something household related so it was no surprise she was happy that day.

Upon hearing his mother's arrival after he had showered, the elder Uchiha grumbled to himself. Striding off to his room in just a towel, Itachi frankly wanted to just shut himself up in his room and listen to music until he fell asleep.

But that was impossible.

At the dinner table, he decided before his mother could even try to reprimand him for not showing up that afternoon, he would tell them the interesting event that happened then.

"Tousan, I saw Orochimaru today at school.

That ought to change the topic.

Sasuke tuned in to the conversation at that point, subtly looking up from his meal to watch the interaction between father and eldest son.

"What did he say to you?" Their father's eyes narrowed, a grave expression on his face.

"He said Hello."

He'd be damned if he shared with his father the rather uncalled for comments that the other had disclosed to him. About his good looks... His charming personality and among many other lewd comments that showed the viper like man's interest in the teenager.

"And that he'd be around. He hopes to run into you some time."

Itachi then continued his meal.

He didn't mention that Orochimaru and Sasuke had met.

"...Hm." Fugaku turned back to his meal, a frown on his face.

Sasuke subtely looked over at his brother. So Itachi didn't want their father to know? ...He wouldn't tell. Although he did wonder what tomorrow would bring, especially now that Orochimaru had seen him.

In mid meal, Itachi couldn't help but smile to himself. He turned his gaze onto his younger sibling, unable to fully accept that today had been quite a day after all. Secret after secret... It seems that their bond as brothers would not only be in blood but in secrets as well.

"Sasuke, can I talk to you after dinner?"

It amused him somewhat that in most cases, he was in control of things. He was the one who called the shots.

All of a sudden, Sasuke stepped in and now possessed some power over his life. It wasn't much but he would not ignore it now. He wasn't afraid the boy would betray him. The boy didn't have the guts enough to do so.

Itachi simply wanted things in order. That was all.

"In my room."

"...Sure, Aniki."

A big ball of aprehension wound it's way tightly into Sasuke's stomach. He almost lost his apetite, but he continued eating. Itachi wanted to talk? About what? Hopefully it would be about Orochimaru, or the drive home, or something that wasn't the kiss.

After about five minutes, Sasuke asked to be excused, then nearly ran up to his room to soothe his frazzled nerves before he could go talk to his brother.