Don't Remember

AN: My god, this is a long chapter. XD Enjoy!


Itachi sat on the couch; grumpy, sick, and oh so very sober. None of which made for a pleasant time. His brother had disappeared to the shower and then his room, getting ready for his date. Having a full stomach, and able to relax for once didn’t help sooth his annoyance. For some reason, he was jealous.

A knock on the door promptly dragged Sasuke out of his room. He was sure that Itachi wouldn’t answer the door, and even if he did, he knew his grouchy brother would try to scare Neji away. They had been... sort of dating for awhile now, even though Sasuke never wanted to settle on just him. There wasn’t anyone that he liked that much. Well, if there had to be someone he’d choose to settle down with, it would be Neji. Jogging to the door to answer it quickly, he turned then yanked hard on the knob; the wet weather had made the wood swell.

“Looking good,” Neji smiled at Sasuke, eyes wandering over his long time friend.

Brushing the bangs out of his eyes, Sasuke returned the look over. “Thanks. You, too.” As always; Neji rarely left the house looking less than neat. That was part of the fun of having sex with him, being one of the few people that would get to see his perfect looks tousled for a bit.

“Can I come in? Or are we going out right now?”

“You can come in, if you want.” Sasuke stepped back, pulling the door with him. His date entered his home, then frowned as he noticed Itachi. “Oh... Neji, this is Itachi, my.... brother. Itachi, this is Neji.” That oddly sounded more quaint than he thought his life could sound.

Neji blinked slightly, “I didn’t know you had a brother.”

Tearing his eyes from the screen, Itachi sized up his brother’s date. Sasuke could do better, in his opinion. Making obvious of his dismissal of Neji’s importance, Itachi shot the man a look then turned his attention back to the screen. Pretty boys were always annoying.

“Ah well... neither did I. I’ll be right back, I need to grab my coat.” With that said, he hurried to fetch his coat from his room.

“Well you two look alike...”

“That’s a rather brilliant observation, Sherlock,” Itachi grumbled, not bothering to look up at him.

Neji raised an eyebrow at Itachi’s sarcasm. “Similar temperament too.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

As if he sensed the ensuing argument, Sasuke reappeared, coat over one arm. “Ready?”

“Very.” Neji smirked at Itachi, “don’t wait up for him.”

If the remote wasn’t so useful, he would have chucked it at Neji. Don’t wait up for him indeed. It shouldn’t have been any of his business, Sasuke could date whatever and who ever he wanted. At least when he wasn’t around, he could picture Sasuke happy with someone else. Now that he was close to the boy again, that same old possessiveness reared its ugly head.

Sasuke linked his arm with Neji’s, “see you tomorrow, Itachi.”

“Right. Have fun fucking.”

Sasuke twitched and looked back at him sharply. “What the hell is your problem?”

“Nothing.” Itachi waved, still not looking away from the tv.

Tugging lightly at Sasuke’s arm, Neji pulled him toward the door. “Just ignore him.”

As he was pulled away, Sasuke grabbed the door and slammed it after him, turning to lock it as well. “I don’t know what’s with him! He’s been acting like that all day!”

“...And how long have you known him?”

“Ah... well, I found him yesterday.”

Neji chuckled, “so he’s been a prick half the time you’ve known him.”

“Yes.” His humor was lost on Sasuke, he was too busy fuming over Itachi’s attitude. Who did he think he was? What would make him act like that, all of the sudden? True, it had only been a day since his mood had switched... Though now that he thought of it, there were two other factors to contribute to Itachi’s bad mood. He was sobering up, and he was sick. Neither had to be fun. Still, he shouldn’t take such things out on him.

Neji knew when Sasuke would lose himself in thought, and wrapped his arms around his waist, kissing his neck as a pleasant distraction. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll make you forget him, for tonight at least.”

“Mm... sounds good.”

“Dinner’s my treat.” Neji stepped to the side, one hand dropping while the other slid into his back pocket.

“Thank you,” Sasuke smiled, leaning against him a little. They walked to Neji’s car in silence, his presence calming Sasuke’s nerves.

“You’re welcome,” Neji said as he unlocked the car, opening the door for Sasuke.

Sasuke slid into the passenger’s seat, feeling grateful for Neji’s presence. It was nice to have someone being kind to him after Itachi was being such a bastard. He knew he was pouting, but didn’t care. The first time he had ever been drawn like that to a stranger, and not only was Itachi his brother, but a brother that didn’t care that much.

Opening the driver’s door, Neji ducked down and got in the car, shutting the door after settling into the seat. “I managed to get reservations at Fire.”

“Really?”

“Yup. It so happens that a friend of mine knows the owner, so they got me in early when there was a cancellation.”

“Nice.” Sasuke leaned back against the seat. Being able to get a reservation there took lots of money, or a few months on the waiting list. The evening was already turning out better than he had thought it would have. As he pulled out of the drive way, Sasuke laced his fingers with Neji’s and closed his eyes. Oh yeah, much better way to end the day.

Neji kissed the back of his hand, smirking lightly. “It’s for you. Work seems to be getting to you. And now a brother. A bitchy one at that.”

Sighing, Sasuke ran his free hand through his hair. “He was sick today, too. I stayed home from work.”

“Hm... Do you think he’s pissy because he’s sick?”

“Maybe... I don’t know. He’s been weird since we woke up around noon.” After waking up with his hand down Sasuke’s pants... As well as after calling him otouto. That sounded so eerily familiar.

“What if he’s just crazy? You should be careful, Sasuke.”

“I know, I know...”

“Really... did you just find him on the street or something?”

He had said it jokingly, but that only drove home just how odd his actions were. “Well, actually... yeah.”

“And you picked up a bum and brought him home? Do I really need to tell you how dangerous that is?”

“I know... it’s not like I do it every day... but something about him...”

Neji shifted the gear, eyes on the road despite wanting to look over or offer Sasuke some sort of comfort. “Yeah, there’s something about you two... you can tell you’re family.” They argued like family, and Sasuke resembled Itachi in too many ways. “Still is weird, to run into him.”

“I know, and I think he knows more than he’s saying.” Itachi had to know more. All that he knew about his younger years was that his father wasn’t a very nice man, as his adopted father put it. Most of it was a total blank, even the first few months of his life with his new parents. His real parents; whatever his family had been before that didn’t matter. Sasuke had never been curious until he met Itachi. It made him feel empty and frustrated when he looked at the man, but could not remember who he was.

“What do you mean?” Taking his hand back from Sasuke, he made a left on the street that eventually would leave them to the restaurant.

“Well... he says he doesn’t remember me at all, but when he was really sick, I asked if he remembered who I was, and he smiled and said ‘otouto’.”

“Maybe he’s mad that you forgot him.”

“Maybe... but I asked him about it, and he insisted that he doesn’t remember.”

Neji took his hand from the wheel again, hooking his fingers with Sasuke’s slender ones. “You know, if you ever wanted to find out about those things you forgot, I’ll hire someone for you to look. Maybe then you’ll know what he remembers.”

“Who would you hire?”

“A private investigator,” Neji shrugged; he knew plenty of them, in his line of work. “You’ll be surprised what they can dig up on someone.” He turned into the parking lot, finding a quick space near the exit. Turning the engine off, he glanced at Sasuke. The boy stared at his dashboard, lost in thought. “I’ll give you awhile to think about it. Maybe you forgot for a reason.” Usually traumatic events made one forgot about their past. That wasn’t something he wanted Sasuke to go through again, or feel the pain of remembering. If it helped him fill in the gaps, though... He would be right there with him.

“Maybe so... thanks, Neji.”

Flashing a quick smile, he opened the car door. “No problem.”



Life passed by more quickly when he was drunk. Thank god for liquor, he grumbled to himself as he fell back on the bed. Well, he wasn’t completely toasted, but he was pleasantly buzzed. The ache in his throat went away with half the bottle of whiskey, and so did most of his annoyance with Sasuke.

Sasuke... he grew into a smart boy. Man, he was old enough to be considered a man. It was hard to picture his brother as anything but the little boy who he would protect, and then would kiss his bruises to make them ‘better’. Sooner or later, he would demand to know more about him, and how they knew each other. If it wasn’t for his slip, it would have taken a lot longer for him to figure out, if at all. Some how that stung more than he thought it could; his little Sasuke didn’t remember a thing about him.

The door closed loudly, drawing Itachi’s attention to the clock. Six in the morning? They could have been out partying, or doing something other than... Sasuke opened the door, peeking inside to check on Itachi. His clothes were rumpled, several of the top buttons to his shirt undone.

“How do you feel?”

“Better,” Itachi scowled, resisting the urge to see if Neji was still in the living room, and rearrange his face for him.

“That’s good. Need anything?”

“Nothing I can’t get myself. Go sleep, I’m sure you’re tired from your date.”

Sasuke sighed, opening the door further and stepping into the room. “What’s wrong with you?”

Itachi smirked, “Heh. You don’t want to pick at that thread.” What was wrong with him? Let’s see, he was a whore that was out of work, he loved hitting the bottle a little too much, he rather liked random acts of violence, and if given the choice, he probably would kick a puppy... Probably not, but that’s what he would tell someone. Puppies were cute, like younger Sasuke, and he couldn’t kick younger Sasuke.... Actually, he had once, but... Really, he shouldn’t try thinking when he was buzzed and on cold medicine.

“And why not?”

“Long story, besides don’t you have better things to do?” Like that jerk.

“Fine, just tell me why you’re being so pissy with me lately.”

“Because...” That was how he treated everyone. There wasn’t an excuse. Other than wishing he could forbid his brother from dating strange men. Since that wouldn’t go well, he picked something he was sure he would hear in one of those women movies. “I’m not used to having someone be nice to me. I guess I’m just used to being bitchy toward everyone.”

“That makes a lot of sense.” Why did Itachi feel the need to sound like a twisted hallmark movie? Sasuke moved closer and pressed a hand to his head to check his temperature.

“I’m trying. I said thank you. It’s been years since I’ve said that.” Telling your pimp thank you generally made people snicker. Unless he was going for the ultra submissive look. Though he would only pull that out when he needed to distract his pimp long enough to steal a pack of smokes, or some money.

“Fine...” Sasuke paused then blinked, leaning closer to him. Itachi looked away as he sniffed the air around him. “Are you drunk?”

“My throat hurt,” he murmured, shifting back on the bed.

“Where’s the bottle?”

“Over there,” Itachi pointed to the other side of the bed. “There’s still a lot left.” As if he didn’t believe his brother, Sasuke walked around and picked up the bottle, examining it. “I’m not drunk.”

“Yes you are.”

“No, I’m not. I can drink a lot more than that and not be drunk. I’m buzzed.”

Sasuke gave him a familiar scowl. Too much alike, really. “Am I going to have to hide this?”

“I told you, my throat hurt.”

“You don’t need enough to get buzzed just because of a sort throat!”

“...It hurt a lot?” Sasuke glared at him, not as easily fooled as he was when younger. “I couldn’t sleep, okay?”

“Why not?” Itachi looked down at the bedspread, suddenly very interested in the patterns. Not giving up, Sasuke raised an eyebrow. If he had to poke Itachi to draw his attention to him, he would.

“I don’t usually sleep a lot... the medicine made me sleepy, but I still couldn’t quite get there and I was tired.”

“You’ve been acting weird ever since I mentioned I was going out. Is this some kind of brotherly protective thing? If so, I’m a big boy, I promise.”

“Right. You’re gown up, I get it.”

“Good. Because Gaara’s coming over tomorrow night, and if you’re pissy with him, he might just pick a fight.” The red head was rather wild in bed, but he had a randomly violent side. Sasuke didn’t mind, he figured they were both pretty screwed up mentally. It was pretty bad that one of the things you have in common with someone you’re dating is a screwed up childhood... and pretty much the only thing that you have in common. Other than good sex.

Itachi looked up, watching Sasuke for a moment. Wait, there was more than one jerk? “So you date other people than that guy?”

“A few.”

A few? “Ah... I see. Well I’m already feeling better, I’ll be going back to work tomorrow night.” The sooner he had his own money to spend on things that would distract him from Sasuke and his dates, the better.

“I thought you were in sales. Who does that at night?”

“Night, most of the early morning...”

“...What? What kind of job do you do?”

“Okay, probably now I could knock off early and settle for just the night.” Now that he didn’t have such a slave driver, a night’s work shouldn’t be so horrible. No cuts for someone who didn’t do any work but keep a semi-clean bed for him. The money he would make in one night ought to be enough to buy some more food for Sasuke, supply some rent money, and probably get a few new clothes. Oh yes... and more liquor.

“Would you stop ignoring me? What kind of job is it?”

“One where I get paid, isn’t that all that matters?”

“Why don’t you want to tell me?”

“Why is it any of your business?” Itachi quickly retorted, hoping that would stop any more questions.

Sasuke tried to get the slightly hurt expression off of his face. It really wasn’t any of his business, but that didn’t stop it from hurting like hell. For no reason he could come up with, but still... it hurt that he wasn’t important enough to be considered worthy of being let in on his life.

Disliking the hurt on Sasuke’s face, Itachi frowned. Stupid little brother and making him feel guilty. “It’s embarrassing, okay? I don’t like nice people knowing what I do.”

“Are you still a stripper,” Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

Technically, the parts of his job did involve taking off his clothes in a sexy manor. It wasn’t lying if it was partially a correct assumption. “Yeah.”

“I don’t care. You still owe me a stripper move, by the way.”

Itachi smirked, imaging all sorts of things that could lead to, but really wouldn’t. Only in porn would it work out that way. “Oh, I’ll show you a move.”

“Oh?”

“Right. Tomorrow. I’ll sleep the rest of the day.” He leaned forward and tried to pluck the bottle from Sasuke’s hand. It was pulled out of his reach, making Itachi glare at his younger brother.

“I’m going to hide this.”

“But my throat....” He knew he wasn’t good at them, but he gave Sasuke the most pitiful look he could manage.

“You’ve had enough.”

“Yes, that’s why the cap was on it and it was on the other side of the bed. I’ve had enough.” Even though he knew he wasn’t drunk, he knew he had to stop or hear it from Sasuke. “Do I really need to beg you every time my throat starts to hurt?”

Sasuke twitched in annoyance, grabbing the spoon off the bedside table, pouring some whiskey into it. Damn alcoholic. Leaning forward he offered the full spoon to Itachi.

“I just said I don’t need it right now,” despite his words, he quickly leaned forward and sipped the whiskey off the spoon. Good whiskey shouldn’t go to waste. Sasuke rolled his eyes at him, walking out to hide the bottle else where.

“First thing I’m buying is my own liquor,” Itachi mumbled to himself. He wasn’t a child, hiding things from an adult was just embarrassing. When Sasuke returned, Itachi laid back again, staring at the ceiling. “So do you work today?”

“Not today, no. Why?”

“Just making conversation.”

“Well,” if he wanted to make conversation, he knew he had one that might stir Itachi’s interest. “On a different note, Neji says he’ll hire a private detective for me to find out about my past.” He watched Itachi for any sort of reaction.

Itachi sat up, tensing. “What?!”

Raising an eyebrow at him, Sasuke kept from smirking. “Why is that such a bad thing? Unless there’s something you don’t want me to know...”

“About me. Yes.”

“He’s not going to be investigating you, just my past. So unless you were a very important part of it, nothing about you should come up.”

Itachi glared at him; the little whelp, he was doing it on purpose. “Look...” He had to come up with something fast, or at least figure out a way to explain without Sasuke gaining those memories... “I remember our father. I remember hearing about having a brother. You don’t want to know about him, okay? You seem mostly happy right now. You don’t want to know, and have that ruined.”

“You’re still not telling me something. I know we knew each other, and I’m going to take Neji up on his offer so I can find out just how well we knew each other.” Itachi’s hand snapped out and grabbed his brother’s wrist, pulling him with surprising strength for a convalescent onto the bed. Rolling quickly over, he pinned Sasuke’s wrists over his head, long hair hanging down and tickling his nose. “Nnn!” He stared up at Itachi in surprise.

“Don’t remember me. Okay?” Itachi flipped his hair back with a toss of his head, wanting to see Sasuke better.

“Why not?”

“Do I honestly have to give you a reason? Isn’t it enough that I told you, repeatedly, that it’s bad?”

“Just admit that we knew each other.” They regarded each other silently for a moment. He was not going to back down. No dirty looks would change his mind. As long as he knew those feelings that welled up had a basis, and he wasn’t crazy.

“Fine. I knew you. I... I used to play with you all the time. Your parents were married, dad screwed the neighbor, and your mother didn’t know about it...” The best he could come up with on short notice; it was day time television’s fault.

Sasuke frowned, eyes scanning his face. He knew Itachi was lying. It was, however, closer to the truth. “Whatever.”

“You’re not going to look, right?” Itachi tightened the grip on Sasuke’s wrists to accent his point, making his brother wince lightly.

“No...” Of course he was, but he didn’t have to tell him that.

Sasuke never was good at hiding things from him. “You can’t lie to me.”

“And you can’t lie to me.”

Yet another problem of being siblings. “Isn’t a good lie better than the awful truth?”

“I want to know about you... even if it hurts me.”

Itachi shook his head, “I’m not going to tell you. That was pretty close to the truth, anyway. Except with some fucked up bonuses.”

“Then I’ll find out on my own. And could you let go of my wrists? You’re hurting me.” Not that he minded... and that was probably wrong in itself.

Letting go, Itachi moved away from his brother quickly, sitting beside him on the bed. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay...” Sasuke pushed himself up onto his elbows, considering his options. It obviously bothered Itachi for him to look, but that made him all the more curious as to what had happened.

“You’re being completely inconsiderate, fucktard.” When in doubt, resort to bickering.

“Excuse me,” he asked, twitching in irritation.

“Did you ever stop to think I don’t want to know some of our past? No. You just want to charge ahead, not caring if it screws someone up in the process.” There were just some things he didn’t want to live through again, those memories had been carefully buried under years of drinking and whoring.

“It doesn’t have to have anything to do with it.”

“It does,” Itachi stood, head spinning. Okay, so maybe he was a little beyond buzzed. “You aren’t my brother anymore, he wouldn’t have insisted.” He walked to the door, glad he didn’t fall over. Either it was the liquor, the cold medicine, or some wicked combination that he knew better than to try again.

The last of what Itachi said struck Sasuke hard. He tried to ignore the sharp pain he felt at hearing Itachi say that. There was something much more between them than a simple ‘I came over to play with you’ or whatever crap Itachi attempted to feed him. “So... just because you don’t want me to, I shouldn’t want to know about my past? Don’t I have a right to know? All I have is this big blank, I don’t have a childhood at all. And I’m the bad one for just wanting to know something?”

Itachi spun to face Sasuke, instantly regretting it as he fell back against the door. “You want to know something about our childhood? Our father was an asshole. When he wasn’t drinking, he was beating us. Happy now? Want to know more?”

“...Itachi...”

“What?”

Sasuke sighed, “come here.”

Stumbling forward, Itachi eventually made it to the bed, kneeling on it next to his brother. “What?” Sasuke wrapped his arms around him, rising to his knees as well to bury his face against Itachi’s neck. That was the last thing he expected the brat to do, and it caught him off guard. After another moment of hesitation, Itachi returned the hug, closing his eyes. One hand stroked his back, another relic of their past. Since it wouldn’t have been a weird moment to do so, Itachi took the opportunity to lean his cheek against Sasuke’s hair, taking in his scent.

“This... I remember this.”

“Yeah... When he was on the war path, I would hold you. And then I would take it for you. You usually hid in the closet.”

“Thanks,” he kissed his neck lightly.

Itachi shivered, resisting the urge to grope in response. It was a touching moment, but not that sort of touching. Damn his luck. “Can you see why I don’t want you to remember our past? Why I don’t want to remember?”

“I guess.”

“It’s better not to remember me, Sasuke.” He kissed his hair, wrinkling his nose a little at the feel of whatever it was that Sasuke put in his hair against his lips. “I’m here now. Let’s make new memories.” Itachi scowled to himself. It had to be the liquor and cold medicine combination that made him loopy. There was no way he had just said something that mushy. He turned his head to cough, covering his mouth.

“Okay... ‘m tired.” With the argument over, the actions of the night reminded him that he needed sleep, muscles sore from the fun he had with Neji.

“Yeah, I bet.” Itachi frowned, disliking to be reminded of that. Dropping his hands, he tried to lean away, but Sasuke wasn’t letting go. “We should sleep. I’m tired too.”

“Alright.” Being lazy, Sasuke decided that he would just sleep where he was. Lazy was the only thing that had to do with why he wanted to stay.

“If I grope you in my sleep,” Itachi laid beside him, nuzzling his pillow, “just wake me up.”

“You must be awfully touchy feely when you’re asleep.” Sasuke snuggled against his brother’s chest, feeling better after hearing that the bond he felt with a man he didn’t remember wasn’t so far fetched. It didn’t make him crazy, thankfully.

“Well mostly, I guess.”

“What do you mean?” Sasuke peered up at him curiously.

“You just smell good.”

“And... that causes you to grope me in my sleep?”

It actually did. For reasons he hoped Sasuke wouldn’t remember, and for the one bit of semblance to happiness he had after he was taken from Sasuke. “At one point I was used to sleeping with someone I cared for, and he smelt good.” The first foster home he had been in, wasn’t really a foster home. It was just his luck to be plucked out of one hell hole and plopped right down in another. On the outside, they made it look like they loved taking in the kids no one wanted; people only wanted to adopt babies, generally no one wanted teenagers. Not only were they notoriously hard to work with, but if there had been a reason to take them from their parents, they were also a bit mentally wounded. Like himself, though mentally wounded was a nice way to put it. Sounded much better than crazy. When the officials went away, their real purpose was revealed. Providing much more mentally wounded people than himself with children to play with, no fear of prosecution. Nice of them to teach him how best to be a whore. Really, it was a stable source of income, they did him a favor in the long run. Never mind that their ‘home schooling’ was anything but, and he still hadn’t attained a high school certificate. He didn’t need them to learn, the kids older than him taught him enough, from what they remembered in school. Then he would read after whatever pervert he had been sent to was asleep. One was almost kind, giving him lots of things to read, and learn by. Now that he thought of it, he probably had some sort of teacher fantasy. “So I knew it was safe to grope, by his scent.”

“Mm... oh.” Sasuke closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against Itachi’s chest. “Who was it?”

“Just someone dear to me. He died when we were still pretty young.”

“...Oh.” Why he felt relieved to hear that, he didn’t know. It was sad, he should feel bad for Itachi.

He snorted, closing his eyes. “Yeah. They tried to say I did it.” Yet another murder charge against him. Really, he had horrible luck with that. “Stupid. Lucky for me that time, someone was paying attention and that I had an alibi and no motive.” His alibi even provided a means of taking down the people that had killed him, and a few of their clients as well. “My foster parents were taken to jail for the exploitation of minors, and killing on of ‘em. Probably others, but I didn’t know of them.”

“Ah...” Despite his attempt to stay awake and hear more of his brother’s past, he was half asleep already. Gentle fingers stroked his back, relaxing him further. He would find out more later, as to not feel so guilty for falling asleep on him.



“I’m home!” Sasuke shut and locked the door behind him, tossing the keys onto the table.

“Welcome home,” waving from the couch, Itachi half noticed him. Going to a movie without him, how rude was that? Well, he was still coughing a little, and Sasuke would have had to pay his way... He would settle for a rain check.

Sasuke flopped down next to him on the couch, “feeling better?”

“Actually, yeah. Working tonight, so you can bring home your fling.”

That reminded him of something he wanted a little too much. “Oi! You owe me a stripper dance!”

Itachi chuckled, “I said a move. If you want a dance, pay for it.”

Sasuke pouted, leaning against his shoulder. “Not even for your little brother?” He ignored how strange that sounded, considering he was begging his brother for a lap dance. “Fine fine, a move then.”

It wasn’t lost on Itachi, though. So his brother wanted a lap dance... He might have to oblige him on that. Putting the remote down on the table in front of him, he took the card that was nestled between the pages of the magazine and folded it. “Hold this here,” he held the folded card up to his lips. Sasuke blinked, but held the improvised money between his lips. Itachi shot his brother one last evil grin before pushing his legs apart, hands on his knees. Bending between them, he rose slowly, chest and stomach dragging over Sasuke’s groin. Really, he wasn’t supposed to grind against him, but how else was he supposed to see his brother blush? Sasuke didn’t disappoint; his face quickly flushed, letting out a surprised grunt. Tilting his head slightly, he took the card from Sasuke’s lips with his own, pulling away. His hands pushed up his knees to his thighs, thumbs dangerously close to areas he shouldn’t be touching.

At some point he had forgotten how to breathe. Sasuke’s hand was clenched on the armrest, body feeling a little fuzzy. What in the world was wrong with him? Why hadn’t he been to a strip club before?

“So would you have bought a lap dance from me, if I did that?” Itachi smirked happily, tossing the paper to Sasuke’s lap.

“Uh,” his brain ceased to function. “Ah...”

“I could give you a lap dance later. Just as a test.” Itachi shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage. “Or a thank you... but I’m sure you wouldn’t want that from me.”

“What... what kind of test?” Good, he could mostly form a coherent sentence now.

“To make sure I still have it.”

“You could... erm... do a test.”

“Yeah?” This was just too good to be true. A free excuse to further befuddle Sasuke’s mind with lust. Over something he did. Itachi leaned closer, “think you could handle it, Sasuke?” The only response he received was a obvious hard swallow. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“I can!”

“Are you sure? I mean if it makes you uncomfortable...”

“I’m fine,” he answered readily.

“Lean back then.”

Oh... he wasn’t doing that already? Sasuke found that he had shifted closer to Itachi some where through the lap dance. He leaned back as Itachi instructed, watching him expectantly. Itachi’s eyes were on him, licking his lips as he looked his brother over. Like eyeing a meal, Sasuke noted some where in the part of his brain that still worked. Bracing himself against the back of the couch, Itachi put both hands next to his head, knee sliding between his legs. It was far enough away to not touch, but close enough for him to want to slide closer. This time, Sasuke remembered to breathe earlier on.

“Hm...” Since Sasuke had obviously not been in a strip club, he supposed he could take some artistic freedom and do some things that would get a stripper kicked out of a decent club. Just a few, and nothing too... obvious. Itachi cupped Sasuke’s cheeks, as he knelt between his legs, body slowly pressing against his brother.

Unconsciously Sasuke licked his lips, eyes on the similar ones of Itachi. The older brother slid his hands down Sasuke’s cheeks and neck, leaning down, lips close to his. Sasuke lifted his chin ever so slightly, caught up in the moment.

Bracing himself on the back of the couch once again, he used it to support his weight as he moved his knees to either sides of Sasuke’s waist, straddling him. Sasuke let out a very quiet groan, hands twitching to touch him. Itachi noticed happily, deciding to go back to the usual moves. Knees pressed against Sasuke’s hips, Itachi crept his body along his brother’s until he was fully kneeling in front of him. Then he leaned back slowly, muscles sore from constant coughing making loud protests. He touched the floor behind him, knees holding tightly to Sasuke.

Too much, it was too much. Sasuke couldn’t hold back any longer, and stole a caress. His hands slipped up Itachi’s thighs, wanting nothing more than to pull him back and do horribly naughty things... To his brother. A brother he didn’t remember, so really his mind was acting normally to an attractive man doing things in his lap that would make the strong of heart whimper. It was all normal.

Feeling the touch on his thighs, Itachi sat back up, leaning against Sasuke again. “Hmm... you do know that you get kicked out for touching the stripper.” Unless one paid for that. Not in legal clubs, but then again, there weren’t that many clubs that followed the rules. At least not in the areas he’d been in. Sasuke flushed further, pulling his hands back. Itachi shot him an innocent look. “So, would you say I could get back into the business?”

“...You said you were still in the business.” Sasuke considered it an amazing feat that he could remember his name at the moment, let alone speak clearly.

Itachi shook his head, “it was a test to see if I still have it. After being sick, out on the streets and all... Do I?”

“Yeah.” Oh god yes.

“Good. Thanks for letting me warm up on you.”

“Mm.”

“You have... nice reactions too.” Itachi smirked and hopped off his lap and into the seat next to him. Sasuke quickly stood, turning away from his brother. Of course, he did just make his brother horny... before sending him along on his date. Damn, he should have thought ahead a little more clearly.

Sasuke walked to the bathroom, blood roaring in his ears. His date wouldn’t be there for awhile and... he needed something. Not that he would admit to it later.

Sighing, Itachi raised his voice, hoping Sasuke would reply before he disappeared to take a shower or whatever it was he was doing. “Where’s the liquor?” He needed a good stiff drink... stiff...

“I’m busy! I’ll get it in a moment!” Sasuke dove into the bathroom and shut the door, locking it shortly after. His body felt hot, breath coming in short gasps. Turning on the shower to at least have a viable reason for spending a long time in the bathroom, that wasn’t bowel related, he plopped down on the edge of the tub. He closed his eyes and replayed what had just happened in his mind, hand wandering closer to the source of tightness in his shorts.

Itachi rolled to his knees where Sasuke had been sitting, sniffing the back of the couch. It smelt like Sasuke; the musky, almost vanilla scent of his hair. He had been so close. All he had to do was lean a little more toward him, and they could have kissed. By Sasuke’s reactions, it probably wouldn’t have been unwanted. Itachi licked the back of the couch then settled his forearms across it, resting his chin there.

Once finished and cleaned off, Sasuke emerged from the steamy bathroom, shutting off the light. The weight of what he just had done in reaction to something his brother did was starting to sink in with the slowly ebbing pleasure.

“Why isn’t your hair wet? Didn’t you take a shower?”

“Uh... I didn’t wash my hair.”

Itachi raised an eyebrow and snickered. “What, was I too hot for you, had to go fix yourself?” He smirked, waiting for his brother to roll his eyes and call him a pervert.

“Shut up!” Sasuke’s cheeks felt like fire as Itachi’s words hit a little too close to home.

“I was joking,” Itachi blinked, tilting his head. His brother was blushing, too... Did he really do what he had hinted at? “Hmph. Aren’t you going on your date tonight with some guy? You could do it then.”

“Do what?”

“Aren’t you going to fuck this one too?”

“I suppose, but that’s still a few hours from now.”

Itachi smirked, “so you’re saying you had to relieve yourself before then. Heh.”

“You’re such a pervert,” Sasuke mumbled, running a shaky hand through his hair.

“How am I a pervert? You just went into the bathroom and whacked off after your brother gave you a lap dance, which you begged him for.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened as it was all driven home. Yes, he supposed that now he was a pervert. Turning on his heel, he walked back to his room. Orochimaru was rubbing off on him in unpleasant ways.

Sighing, Itachi stood. Sometimes being a smart ass didn’t pay up. “Sasuke!” He winced as the door to his brother’s room slammed. Fine, so he was a little mad. Probably embarrassed at being caught. Jogging down to his room, Itachi knocked on the door, coughing. “Sasuke.”

“Let me know when Gaara gets here.”

Itachi flinched, “fuck that, get your own damn date.” He didn’t want to meet whoever was up next on Sasuke’s list of screw-ables. Striding to the short distance of his room, Itachi slammed his door as well. He wasn’t sure why he really was mad. Sasuke had every right to date whoever whenever he wanted to. The little boy who clung to him was no longer his.

Hearing Itachi slam the door, Sasuke peeked his head out. Good, if Itachi was going to be bitchy in his room, then Sasuke could sit in the living room and wait for Gaara. He sat down on the couch, sighing. After finding a living blood relative, he alienated him by groping himself over thoughts of his brother.

Pacing was never Itachi’s strong point. He rather hit a wall, which he didn’t want to do and damage something his brother had worked for. Liquor helped him, but he could be an angry drunk when it was bad enough, so booze wasn’t the answer. He needed to buy a walkman, or a stereo... something to do in the room. A tv, maybe, to distract him. Sounded like a good idea. Yep, he would buy a tv, that way Sasuke could have his fuck buddies and he could jack off to porn in his room.

Laying back on the bed, Itachi laid an arm over his eyes. The clothes Sasuke had lent him were old, and too big for him. They didn’t look too horrible. Worse came to worse, he could have just taken his shirt off. Since they were whore-able, Itachi decided to clock in early to work. Not many hookers would be out this early, it was a better way to get more money, even though he had to be more wary of cops. Sitting up, Itachi half lunged toward the door. The cold medicine still made him a little out of it. Turning the nob, Itachi opened the door.

Sasuke sighed, putting his chin in his hands. He had no real reason to get mad at him. The one that was sick was him, and Itachi just pointed it out. If he wanted to be stubborn about it, he could still cling to the ‘attractive man, don’t remember him’ myth. Maybe it was true, but Sasuke was slowly doubting it.

“I’m going to work.”

Itachi’s voice made him jump in surprise, then blush at the sight of him and reminder of the lap dance. “Alright... I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. Have fun on your date.”

“You say that a lot.”

Itachi had a good reason to say it a lot. He was being sarcastic. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Sasuke. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want you to know if I had done that either.” Leaning over the couch, he gave Sasuke a brotherly kiss on his hair. “I’ll be back in the morning. Oh,” when Sasuke looked up at him he continued, “do you have a spare key?”

“Yeah.” Standing, Sasuke walked into the kitchen and pulled out the junk drawer, searching through it to find the extra key. Itachi plucked it from his fingers, shoving it into his pocket.

“Thanks. I’ll come home with some food.” He scowled, challenging Sasuke to tell him no, “and booze.”

“Mhm.” Ignoring the drinking remark, Sasuke returned to his seat. Really, who was he to judge?

“Are you still mad at me?”

“No. I wasn’t mad in the first place.”

“Then what?”

“I’m sorry.” For a lot of things, mainly for making himself look like a fool.

Itachi shrugged, “it’s my fault for being an ass. I’m good at that.” He liked being that.

“I’m apologizing for what I did before that. It was wrong. I’m sorry.”

“What did you do before that?” Itachi was mildly confused. Did he not hear Sasuke say anything rude?

“What I did In the bathroom.”

Itachi tried not to smile, knowing it would be taken wrongly. What Sasuke did in the bathroom would give him good dreams for a few months. “That didn’t bother me at all. Everyone does it. I take it as a compliment that I had that much effect on you. Means I’m still good at dancing.” Though that wasn’t technically a dance, it was just part of the dancing/stripping profession. Sasuke shook his head, turning the channel. “I’ll buy you something nice, ne? All better.” Itachi opened the door, wincing at the bright sunlight.