Sasuke ignored the blonde in favor of his brother, though the idea of telling his brother's secrets to his friends sounded promising.

"Yes, I made it just in time. I would have had time to make it to my locker if you had given me a ride, though." He frowned at his aniki, making his displeasure known.

Hidan mimicked Sasuke's statement with a smile before Kakuzu jabbed him in the ribs painfully and glared.

Deidara let out an aww, "I could give you a ride if you like, mmm! Sasori-danna doesn't mind..."

The shark man turned to his partner in crime with a knowing glance, "You...let him take the bus again?"

Itachi lowered the glass which was once full of water and turned to him, "Is it a crime to do so? Sasuke's a big boy. -Deidara snickered at the term- He can take care of himself."

Kisame shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Geez."

Ignoring the reply, he asked another question. "So, wondering why I called you over?"

Sasuke tried to keep the embarrassed flush from his cheeks and gave them all the best Uchiha-glare he could muster. Maybe sitting with his own friends would have been better, but it was too late now. Leaving would be a sign of defeat.

"I didn't take the bus, I walked." He snarled, his black eyes narrowed. "And... yes. Why did you call me over?"

Even worse! thought Kisame to himself as he shook his head and cast a side glance at the uncaring Itachi.

Deidara let out a gasp and forgot about the concept of personal space by taking Sasuke's hand in his. "Evil. Are you okay, mmmm? Do your soles hurt?"

After he was done with his tomato and lettuce salad, the Uchiha put the dish aside and turned to his little brother.

"You looked confused and didn't know where to go. I felt it was my duty to give you some direction."

Hidan paused to think about what Itachi said. Somehow the kid had a point considering that it looked like one of chums were about to stand up and drag the boy to their table had Sasuke not approached theirs instead.

The purple eyed man wondered if the younger Uchiha would have noticed that though.

Sasuke yanked his hand from Deidara's. Now the stupid seniors were babying him!

"I was considering whether sitting with my... friends was worth also being forced to listen to Sakura and Ino gush over me like the idiots they are." He commented dryly, ignoring Deidara's comments.

The elder Uchiha nodded, "Exactly. If you sat on your own, they would still drag you off to their merry table nonetheless." He turned his gaze to the noisy part of the canteen. No surprise it was of the bunch that also wanted a piece of his younger brother. Not today, folks, he said with a chuckle mentally. He watched them rowdily discuss and argue with one another then shook his head.

"So basically we're a lesser evil, mmm?"

Itachi didn't response to the blond's question and turned upon his younger brother, as if hinting that it was his choice to decide upon the answer.

The senior then asked for his calculator. His first period after lunch would be Physics and he needed it. There was no telling when Kurenai-sensei felt like having a quiz especially with her strange moods lately. People theorized she was pregnant. Perhaps.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I suppose... though I'm starting to reconsider my choice." He smirked, returning to his food.

When Itachi asked for his calculator, Sasuke blinked, then nodded. He reached down for his backpack, only to discover it was missing. His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits and he looked at his brother's friends, wondering which one had taken it.

When the boy was taking too long with it, Itachi let out a low sound of annoyance and fully extended his hand to him.

"You still do have it, do you Sasuke?"

Hidan blinked and looked at the two brothers but didn't seem to care.

"I have an extra Uchiha. If you like... but it's..."

Kakuzu took out an extra calculator and wagged it in front of them.

"No thank you, Kakuzu. I don't have the money to pay for the rental fees." The elder raven shook his head and turned back to Sasuke.

"Well?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth, his anger evident.

"It's in my backpack, aniki... The only problem is that my backpack is not here." He glared. "Who took my backpack?"

Today was turning out to be a really sucky day, and Sasuke was really starting to regret listening to his brother and sitting with the man's friends. At least his friends would never even try to steal his backpack, much less get away with it. The fact that he had allowed his backpack to be stolen, right under his nose, ticked him off even more.

The Uchiha blinked at the statement. Who would dare take his otouto's backpack in the first place? Soon Itachi began to glare daggers at everybody which prompted them all to testify their innocence.

The raven signed exasperatedly, "When was the last time you saw it? Did you have it when you were already at the cafeteria?"

He looked at his wrist watch once again... Barely thirty minutes to go will the end of lunch. He really didn't want to end up paying Kakuzu rental just to get a calculator now.

Sasuke gloated silently as his brother lept to his defense. Even if he couldn't intimidate them with the Uchiha glare, his aniki could.

"I set it down next to me when I sat down. I know I had it. Someone must have taken it." His eyes scanned the cafeteria, looking for the black bag. The problem was, his backpack was so generic from a distance. You'd have to get close to see the scuffs, the way the left strap was slightly ripped. Unless it was under the table. He looked, counting the backpacks, seeing if there was one more than there was people at the table, excluding him.

Zetsu began to murmur in his quiet little way, as if arguing with himself. It took Deidara's attention for quite some time before he turned to address the situation.

"I volunteer to close the cafe doors and then you guys can all inspect everybody!," cheerily suggested Deidara.

Kakuzu shook his head, "It's pointless, half of the school's population has already made their way OUT of here. It's already twenty five minutes till the next class."

The blond slumped and sighed. "Geez. Well...I still think we should try anyway. The culprit could still be in the cafeteria."

Itachi who had grown tired of the arguing finally rose up and turned to Sasuke, "Get up. We're looking for it right now."

Sasuke nodded, standing up as well. "Okay."

A frown was set firmly on his face. Whoever had taken his backpack now had two homocidal Uchiha's after them.

"We have twenty-five minutes... We can find it in that amount of time. I'll get my friends to help." He stuffed his hands into his pockets coolly, walking over to the group of sophmores.

"Oi, dobe!" He called out, and the blonde looked up at him, a frown on his cherubic face.

"Teme! Why didn't you sit with us?" He pout/glared at his friend.

Sasuke shrugged. "I decided to sit with my brother. Someone took my backpack, help me find it."

Neji smirked. "Can't keep track of your own stuff, Uchiha?"

"Shut it, Hyuuga. Either help or don't."

Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Hinata and Neji all agreed to help in the end. Shikamaru was "asleep" and Chouji was still eating, so they declined. Soon they had a search party, all looking for the missing backpack.

The raven quietly stood by as he watched his brother ask for the help of his peers. He folded his arms across his chest as he turned his gaze back on the table he occupied with his own set. They were gone save Zetsu who seemed to be with every body else's belongings. Had they gone off to also look for Sasuke's backpack?

How charitable.

Itachi turned to Sasuke, "It's twenty now."

Sasuke nodded, the frown returning to his face. "Plenty of time. Whoever has it couldn't have gotten far."

The brothers wandered the lunch area, occasionally bumping into other people in the search party. Sasuke spotted a black backpack out of the corner of his eye, frowned, and walked towards it, his hands still in his pockets.

He leaned down, inspecting the bag. A tiny smile found it's way on his face as he identified it. It was most definetly his. He reached into the front pocket, taking out Itachi's calculator.

"I found it, Aniki."
---
Oh god! The Emo Song by Adam and Andrew started playing while I typed this! xDD Have you heard that song? -cracks up laughing-

The older teenager took the calculator and then turned back to Sasuke, "Be careful next time with your things."

Itachi slipped the cover off and checked. It was functioning and well. Good. He still hadn't changed the batteries yet. Perhaps by the end of the day or so.

He turned towards the assailant and simply let his eyes do the talking.
__

"I must be emo... XD" That one?

Egads... Who doesn't know that song?

Sasuke inwardly winced. He couldn't help but feel like he'd let his aniki down somehow. He tried to shake the thought away but it kept on bothering him.

The brunette girl who had stolen his backpack nearly burst into terrified sobs as Itachi glared at her. Sasuke didn't care. She was just another one of his fangirls. He quickly checked his backpack to see if anything was missing, then looked up to glare at the girl.

"I'll be needing my binder and text book back, right now."

She handed them over, her hands trembling, before running off, her eyes wet with fear.
---
That would be the one. xD Oh, I almost feel sorry for the poor fangirl they just tortured.

Itachi through out his life had never lost a single item. At least not to fan girls. Looking at the situation happen before him was a little unsettling.

It bothered him so to speak.

After inspecting the calculator, he slipped it in his vest pocket. Watching the girl's tears, he seemed unmoved by it and felt that she brought this upon herself.

"What's her name? Do you feel like filing charges?"

"Aniki, do you honestly think I know the name of all my fangirls? This won't happen again, no need to bother." Sasuke frowned; that unsettling feeling had yet to disappear.

"I don't know how she managed to steal my backpack, Aniki, but I won't let it happen ever again." He shouldered the bag, facing away from his brother. He could feel that penetrating gaze on his back and he shivered slightly.

Itachi paused in mid stride and looked at Sasuke then continued.

"I see," he replied, "If I were in your position, I would make an example of her so no one would follow after. But we'll see."

The raven turned to look at his wrist watch again.

But didn't announce the time. Instead he asked, "Sasuke, you didn't have the backpack stolen so I'd worry over you did you?"

...And chose to tease his brother.

He could always walk in half a period late and still understand the lesson nonetheless.

Sasuke inwardly cursed as a pink blush rose on his cheeks.

"What? Aniki, don't be ridiculous. Why would I do that?" He lifted an inquisitive eyebrow, looking at his brother curiously.

His eyes turned to the crowd of people leaving the cafeteria and he shifted the backpack on his shoulders nervously. "We should get going Aniki, or we'll both be late to our classes."

"I don't know. Children these days tend to be quite creative creatures these days," replied the teenager cheekily.

Itachi felt like snickering out loud when he saw his brother blush that way.

"And yes. You go on your way to the class or would you like me to walk you back?" Before the "child" could reply he added in, "Maybe I should... Least you yourself could get stolen. Tch."

Kisame then walked in on them and then playfully tossed his bag at him. "You forgot. Zetsu frankly wanted to eat it or something. What the hell do you have in there anyway?" Then he waved and went on his way to class.

Sasuke scowled, turning away from his brother. "I can make it on my own, thanks." He willed away the blush from his cheeks, walking towards the crowd of students.

"Maybe you should remember to take care of your own things, Aniki!" He called over his shoulder, a smirk on his face.

His Aniki still thought of him as a child... That thought made him scowl. Did he really think of him like that, or was he just joking? He could never tell; his brother was too much of an enigma to him.

Itachi chuckled quietly as he received the bag from Kisame. The kid managed to get back at him now! Interesting turn of events...

"So I'll see you after school? Unless you prefer to actually walk from here back to the house?"

The elder Uchiha always seemed to find himself daring the younger to grow up already. Teasing him endlessly.

But then wasn't that what older brothers for to begin with?

"Let's meet at the front gate. I don't feel like walking home." The young Uchiha disappeared into the crowd, heading to his next class with Gai-sensei.

The rest of the day passed as normally as his morning had, though his friends were angry with him for not telling them that he had found his backpack himself. Naruto spent a good five minutes yelling at him for that.

Soon enough the day was over and Sasuke rushed to his locker, eager to get to the front gate before his brother did.