Itachi continued to stare at the ceiling in his room. He was on his bed. Counting sheep hadn't worked, and he figured that steady breathing would do the trick. He heard the steps creak a little bit, and he knew by the sound that it probably was most likely Sasuke coming up the stairs. The way that the other was walking up the stairs told him that he didn't want to be heard. He knew that if it was Orochimaru the sound would be louder since he weighed more, and he knew that they would be more deliberate because Orochimaru would want Sasuke and Itachi to know where he was in the house.

Knowing that sleep would not come to him until he saw his brother safely in bed he got out of bed, opened his door, and crept down the hallway to Sasuke's room. He opened the door slowly so he would not make a sound. Walking into the others room, he stopped once he was in the door frame. The light from the moon silhouetted the others still form. He could see the other's steady breathing and he knew that he would be alright.

Walking back to his own room, he got into his own bed and fell into a peaceful, deep sleep.

Sasuke didn't hear his brother come in to check on him. He slept straight through the night until morning. Even then he did't get up until noon. Even then he didn't really want to get up.

But, he knew he couldn't spend the whole day in bed. So, he rolled out of bed, groaning quietly to himself as he left the room and headed downstairs to the kitchen, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Itachi continued to sleep through the rest of the night, while the nightmares stayed at bay away from him. He hadn't slept so peaceful in such a long time. Even before his parents had both passed on. His phone began to vibrate as some song that he had programmed began to play, which snapped him out of what he figured was a nice dream. Itachi groaned as he rolled out of his bed, feet hitting the cool carpet. He glanced at his phone, the tiny numbers indicating that it was well time for him to be up. Maybe he had hit the snooze a few times too many on his phone. They didn't have school to go to, since both Sasuke and himself has been excused for at least the rest of the coming week due to his parents, but still he felt lazy sleeping this late into the day. He padded over to his closet where he donned on a pair of jeans and another one of his trademark black T-shirts before meandering his way into the hallway.

He noted that Sasuke's door was already open, indicating that the other was downstairs, or at least up and out of his room. That was a nice change. He glanced at his old room's door. The door was tightly closed, and he hoped that the other still slumbered. He needed to talk to his brother before the snake woke up. Itachi walked the rest of the way down the stairs, and saw that Sasuke was in the kitchen looking rather tired. "Morning," he mumbled as he glanced at his younger brother.

Sasuke glanced at Itachi before he grunted a reply, to tired to answer. He briefly looked in the fridge before deciding he wasn't really hungry. So, instead, he just got a glass of water. He drank it quickly before leaving the room, heading back upstairs to his room and closing the door behind him.

Itachi eyed his brother as he walked into the kitchen. He knew that the other was going through a very tough time, but with the snake prowling around he needed to be extra vigilant in regards to keeping his brother safe. Itachi rolled his eyes as he watched the other leave the room. He let out a sigh. This was becoming rather taxing on him. He knew that the other had taken their parent's death pretty hard, heck so had he, but he needed his brother to stop moping around. Maybe he was being too crass in regards to this whole entire thing, too uncaring. He just wanted to be seen as strong in front of his brother. Was he coming off as too rash? Too cold, unfeeling? He slammed the cup on the cupboard where it cracked a little on the side. He let out a small hiss of pain as he threw it into the nearby trash can. He glanced at his hand, there was blood beginning to well up from where he got cut. Itachi stuck his hand under the running water, and began washing it with soap as he tried to figure out a next course of action.

Sasuke laid down on his bed and sighed quietly to himself. He knew that he shouldn't be keeping to himself so much considering what happened, but he just couldn't help it. He'd always been a loner. Even around his friends. He knew though that he could call any of them if he really wanted to be around someone. Or, he could just go be around his brother. But, by doing that, it risked the chance of being around Orochimaru, and he didn't want that. So, staying in his room was probably the best option.

Itachi finished cleaning up the blood that had apparently had fallen onto the ground. He was glad that the kitchen had wood floors and not some other kind. He threw the paper towel away as he smashed another wad of paper towel into his hand to soak up the blood that was still welling at the surface. Maybe he cut it deeper than he had initially thought. He knew that he wouldn't need stitches, but some gauze, tape, and band-aids would do the trick. He knew that Sasuke had gone upstairs, probably skulking around, and he didn't know if he wanted to have a run in with the other male. He let out a sigh, as he tried to figure out what to do next. Maybe there were some bandages downstairs. He went towards the bathroom and looked in the cupboard there, finding none there. He trudged up the stairs to the bathroom, noting that his brother's door had been closed again. He would just leave him alone for now. He glanced towards his own room, and noticed immediately that Orochimaru was leaning against the door frame.

Itachi narrowed his eyes as he returned the gaze that he was receiving."What did you do there Itachi-san,"asked Orochimaru with a smirk that would make anyone's blood run cold. Itachi didn't answer the other, as he continued towards the bathroom where he slammed the door, and turned the faucet on high silencing the confrontation that had just happened.

After a while, Sasuke heard his stomach growl and sat up. He didn't want to run into Orochimaru, but he didn't have any food in his room. So, he exited his room slowly and looked around to see if anybody was around. Seeing nobody, he crept downstairs to the kitchen and looked in the fridge. Finding nothing interesting, he just grabbed an apple and heading back to his room, hoping not to run into anybody. Unfortunately for him, he ended up running straight into Orochimaru.

Itachi hissed as he put antiseptic cream on the cut that he had suffered. He gritted his teeth as he dug around in the cabinet again looking for some bandages. Once the blood was cleared away the cut itself didn't look that too bad. It had just looked a lot worse when he couldn't tell where the blood was coming from. He had dripped some blood on the sink area so he washed it. He heard the muffled sound of a door open, and he knew that Sasuke must have been roaming around the second floor. Hopefully, Orochimaru wouldn't be out there, and he had slunk away into Itachi's old room.

He didn't hear much movement outside, but when he opened the door he saw that Orochimaru was outside the door with Sasuke who managed to wedge his way into the corner of the hallway. He could tell that the other male was not doing so well, and he had to think up something quickly. "Sasuke," he said. " Come help me with dinner downstairs. I also need to talk to you about what you plan to do about the remainder of school."

Sasuke was relieved when he heard Itachi, although it didn't show on his face. "Excuse me..." he muttered, pushing his way past Orochimaru and heading downstairs as fast as he could. He went straight to the kitchen, wondering why his brother wanted his help. He never was good at cooking, so it was strange to be asked. But, if it got him away from that creepy snake, then he would help if he could.

Itachi was glad that his younger brother didn't fight him over this matter. He didn't really know what to do with his brother once he got downstairs. It was true that he needed to talk to his younger brother about school related things, but he also wanted to get him away from Orochimaru until he was able to lay some ground rules with Sasuke.

Itachi watched his brother go down the stairs. He then turned to their caretaker and gave him the nastiest look that he could muster before he followed him. " I do not mean to be rude, but do not follow us. We are having a family discussion, and as far as I am concerned you will never be there." With that being said he walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where he saw Sasuke.

"Sasuke," he said. "I am glad that you didn't fight me on this."

Sasuke didn't answer him. He knew that he normally would have fought him on this. And probably would in the future. But, for now, he just didn't care. He just wanted to be away from Orochimaru.

"What do you need help with?" he asked, wanting to just get started so that he could be alone.

Itachi, once downstairs, thought about what his brother had said. What did he need to talk about with the other male? There were so many things that he wanted to talk with his younger brother about, but right now his words stuck the roof of his mouth like glue. "Sasuke," said Itachi as he looked towards his brother. "I think we need to start talking about how we're going to finish the year off strong academically. The both of us." God, he sounded like an idiot! It was true that he wanted to talk to the other about school, but more importantly he wanted to get Sasuke away from Orochimaru. Whatever was going on in that hallway made the hair's on the back of his neck stand on end, and that was never a good sign. "So do you know when you want to head back to school?"

Sasuke thought about it. On one hand, he didn't really like going to school. He just found it to be boring. But, on the other, he had nothing to do here and it would give him a way to be away from Orochimaru. "I'm ready to go back at any time, I guess." He said after a while.

Itachi was glad that there was not a lot of fuss from his younger brother. The last thing that he needed to happen was that Sasuke contradicted himself in front of Itachi, much less Orochimaru. At least he was playing along for now. Then again, it was in both of their best interests that Sasuke went back to school. Itachi could keep an eye on him, and more importantly keep Sasuke away from Orochimaru as much as humanely possible. "Alright," replied Itachi. "Since it is the end of the year there are not many days left of school, but there are finals that you should be studying for. When the weekend is over we will head into school on Monday and talk with the principal to see if there is anything that we can do about them, since we both missed so much school Does that sound good?"

"Sounds fine." Sasuke told him. He then left the room and headed back upstairs. He entered his own bedroom before closing and locking the door behind him and then sitting on the bed. He took a seat at his desk and pulled out his books. After a while though he realized he wasn't really taking in any of the information so decided that he would study later. He got up and laid on his bed, his eyes closing and he fell asleep instantly.

Itachi was glad that the younger Uchiha agreed with him. With the two of them out of the house at least he knew that he wasn't going to be around Orochimaru. Then again, Sasuke was a smart kid, even for his age, he knew that Orochimaru would be nothing but trouble for him and Itachi. At least they were on the same page in regards to that. With that being said he eyed the other male as his eyes followed him upstairs. Itachi went to the fridge and began rummaging around in it to find something that didn't take a lot of time to make that would make a lot of food. He decided that he would make spaghetti. It was basic, but it was filling.

Soon the pasta was boiled, and the sauce was heated. Grimacing, he looked at the stairs. He didn't want to talk with the snake, but he also knew that he should try to be hospitable to the other male in the house now. "Orochimaru." He paused. "Sasuke, dinner time." He hoped that Sasuke would come running down the stairs first, and the two would not meet on the steps.

Sasuke didn't hear Itachi when he called for him to come to dinner. It was the smell that woke him up. But, he was still slow at actually completely getting out of bed. He wasn't very hungry, but he felt he shouldn't leave his brother to deal with Orochimaru on his own. Event though he himself would rather stay far away from the man. Just something about him made him uncomfortable.

He stretched as he got out of bed before leaving the room. Then, not paying to much attention to where he was going, he headed downstairs. But accidentally ran into Orochimaru at the top of the stairs.

{{I am SOOO sorry I haven't replied to this!! I'm also sorry that this might not be a very good post. I wanted to have something posted. I honestly thought I had and I was waiting for a reply.. Please forgive me??}}

((I haven't been that good of an RP partner either. So I'll accept your apologies if you accept mine)).

Itachi continued to busy himself downstairs as he put the final touches into the meal that all three of them would be sharing. Albeit, he liked spending meal times with his brother, he could do without the evil snake that currently resided in his old room. He smiled as he began contemplating ways to make Orochimaru disappear. He had some good ideas cooking, but the majority of them were overly cliched and he was bound to get caught. Then the responsibility would truly fall into Orochimaru solely taking care of Sasuke on his own, and that was something that Itachi was not going to chance. God only knew what the snake would do to his brother if he was out of the picture.

Orochimaru had heard the final binger signaling that whatever the older Uchiha was making was done. Stretching lazily, he got out of his bed glanced at himself in the mirror, and then opened his door. He was about to head down the stairs, but then he heard the door from the end of the hallway open. Smirking, he glanced towards the end of the hallway. Sasuke had just come out his room. A shark-like grin began breaking his perfectly smooth mouth as he eyed the other."Well hello there," said Orochimuaru as he let his eyes rove over the other male. "Perhaps you would like to join me for some dessert after dinner." He then laughed at his own joke before he began the descent down the stairs.

Sasuke felt a shiver run down his spine when Orochimaru spoke. He wasn't completely sure what was so funny about what was said, but knew that there was no way he was going to be alone with Orochimaru if he could help it. That guy made him feel uneasy and extremely creeped out.

He waited for the man to go down to the kitchen first. Once he was sure he was gone, he headed down himself, entering the room. The smell of the food instantly made his stomach growl. "Dinner smells good, nii-san." he said, addressing Itachi.

{{I accept your apology. I have one request though. If I take longer than a week to reply, could you let me know because it might have slipped my mind or I might have thought I did post.}}

((Of course I can I used to have it set, for my own personal use, when someone posts in a thread that I am subscribed to it sends me something to my E-mail))

Itachi eyed Orochimaru as he walked into the kitchen. He was very flippant as he turned towards the entrance to the room. With spatula in hand he said ," Just sit anywhere you want I suppose." Dinner was almost ready. He was currently mixing the pasta into the sauce rather than putting the pasta sauce directly on top of the pasta. It was something that his mother had taught him when he had showed an interest initially in cooking. Itachi heard a second of feet coming down the stairs, obviously that was Sasuke. "Sasuke," said Itachi. Against his better judgement he added. "Can you get the drinks for everyone so I can finish up in here?" This would also give Itachi a front row seat to figure out how Orochimaru would be behaving in front of his brother.

Sasuke didn't really want to get the drinks, but he knew Itachi was working hard with dinner. So, he should at least help with that. "Alright.." he told him. After thinking for a moment and a quick look in the fridge to see what they had, he decided to make some tea to go with the meal. He knew it wouldn't take to long. He immediately got started, keeping his eyes on what he was doing so that he wouldn't have to look at Orochimaru. He just hoped that the man wasn't watching him. The tea was soon finished and he brought it to the table, pouring out three cups and serving them.

Once everything was set at the table Itachi sank into one of the two empty chairs. The one directly in front of Sasuke, which meant that Orochimaru was to Itachi's right and Sasuke's left. There was no point in saying grace or anything since his parent's had never been all that religious, nor did he intend on becoming religious at all right now after their parent's untimely death. He began eating the food on his plate, the silence in the room could have been cut with a knife as well as the tension. "So," said Itachi. "School has just started, and we know that we need to get back to it as soon as possible. What do you say about going back sometime next week?"

Sasuke ate slowly, thinking about what Itachi said. He really didn't like going to school. It wasn't that he didn't like the classes, since they were easy. It was that he couldn't stand being around so many people for long periods of time. The only person he could remotely stand that long was maybe Naruto since the blonde was his closest friend. But even that had its limits. But, on the other hand, he didn't want to stay at home. Home was where Orochimaru was and there was definitely no way he was going to be here with him longer than necessary. "Yeah.. That's fine." he eventually told his brother.