Never really changed

Uchiha Sasuke sat on the porch of the inner garden of his old house in the Uchiha estate.

The garden was a calm place with many flowers and a huge oak tree trough which the rays of the morning sun would create patterns on the ground telling everybody to wake up for the day.

But on this cool night of spring there were no patterns of the morning sun, only those of the moon, but even so he was the only one to see them.

This night it had been five years exactly since his elder brother who was heir to the clan had wiped out the entire uchiha clan except for him. Although it happened five years ago when he was eight, he could still hear his brother, whom he admired and loved from the deepest corner of his heart, call him pathetic and foolish and then leave without a trace.

And then four years later he dared to pay a visit to Konoha village wearing the black coat of the Akatsuki, a terrorist organization.

Sasuke was thinking all these events over when something in the garden caught his attention.

It was the cocoon of a caterpillar, clinging gently to a flower. He smiled for this brought up a memory from long ago.

Flashback.

A six year old Sasuke was walking trough the garden of his house in the morning, dragging his big brother by the hand to almost anything. When Sasuke's eye fell on something he had never seen before he quickly forgot his brother and ran to it.

And so Itachi had some relief from his little brother for a few seconds, enjoying the garden himself when suddenly a childlike voice softly reached his ears: "ITACHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Okay, forget the soft part. Rubbing his ears Itachi went over to his little brother.

"What is it?" he said with his gentle voice. Sasuke looked up to him with big eyes and asked pointing "Waz this?" Itachi followed the finger and said with a small smile "That's a cocoon sasuke."

Sasuke knew what a cocoon was, but... "Of what?"

Itachi bent over and had a close look. "A caterpillar I'd say". "you mean those ugly things?!"

"Indeed." Said Itachi as if it was the most common thing in the world. "but why would they need a cocoon?!"

"To become a butterfly."

Now Sasuke's jaw dropped to the ground. "But butterfly's are pretty and caterpillar they're... they're ugly!"

"Everything can change for the better or worse including humans."

Itachi let the words sink into his little brother, but then Sasuke came with a surprising question. "You wont become bad will you?" Itachi was startled by the question and replied after some pondering "I wouldn't know Sasuke, non can tell it's own future but I can tell you this" Itachi then picked up a pebble. "Let's say how higher this rock will fly the worse I will become."

As he said this he threw the rock up and reached very high. In response Sasuke sighed in sorrow. "But remember this Sasuke..." Itachi spoke catching Sasuke's attention "What goes up..." thud "...must come down" He let it once again sink in and waited patiently for a reply.

"But... what about... good?" Sasuke asked. "Ah I thought you might ask so here goes..." He checked Sasuke for a sign to continue, which was a nod. "Goodness is more like a feather, as long as the wind of love and happiness are there to sweep it up it shall never fall, but when it does it is very likely your rock will take flight." Sasuke nodded as a sign that he understood.

When he glanced back at the cocoon he realised that it had open and a snow-white butter fly was sitting on a leave next to it. He slowly reached out and the butterfly jumped onto his joined palms.

"I'll call you Snow" He said obviously proud of himself. He then turned back to his brother.

"Thanks Itachi, now I know a little more." Itachi smiled warmly at him.

"But..." Sasuke continued. "If you ever turn bad I'll drag your stone back to the ground."

"Agreed, but Sasuke, no matter how evil I will become you will always be my little brother and I will always love you." As he finished the butterfly took off and Sasuke ran to his brother hugging him, and Itachi hugged back.

When they broke they watched the butterfly drift away until it was out of sight and then they hugged again. For a mother to see her two sons hugging must be an amazing moment. And this is what Mitoko Uchiha saw. She couldn't help but to smile before calmly look at her watch to see the time. At this her smile turned into a smirk.

"Sasuke!" She called out.

"Hey mom" They both said.

"You know that school starts at 8:30 right?" Sasuke nodded, his eyes still closed and still hugging his brother.

"It's 9:00."

At this Sasuke's eyes shot open. "I' .LATE!" Was all Sauke said before he raced towards the door. His father, who was just rounding the corner, was run over.

After the sound of a door being shut the only things they heard were crashing sounds and screams like: "My chickens!" or "Did anyone get the number of that truck!?"

In the house they broke out into a loud chuckle (except his father who was K.O.).

End of flashback.

A lone tear streamed down Sasuke's face as he racalled. 'I know I vowed to kill you big brother, but if you changed I'd take you back without a second thought.'

Suddenly he felt something brush away the tear. He looked up to see non other then his brother sitting there. He didn't know how long he already sat there and didn't care.

The 17 year old elder named Itachi didn't have his usual expression of pure boredom on his face, for instead he gave Sasuke a warm smile. "my rock has dropped big time." Itachi's eyes snapped wide as Sasuke tackled him in a bone crushing hugg. "I'm sniff glad sob for that." Itachi hugged the younger Uchiha back and after a few minutes hugging he heard a soft snoring from his chest.

Sasuke had fallen asleep. He carefully laid his brother down and disappeared into one of the nearby rooms only to emerge a few second later holding a futon and blanket. He placed Sasuke on the futon and dragged the blanket over himself and his brother. As soon as Itachi lay down sasuke snuggled into his chest and with this they both fell asleep.

The early morning sun created patterns on the floor and ground trough the oak tree. It was in these patterns that Sasuke woke up. He didn't feel like moving at all and simply enjoyed the warm chest he was snuggled up against. 'Hold on... chest?!' He looked up and stared into a set of midnight black eyes. "Morning." Itachi greeted and suddenly the events of last night caught up to him... he smiled "morning" he greeted back as he once again snuggled into his brothers chest. Itachi smiled and looked around. He noticed that the caterpillar's cocoon had hatched. "Well would ya look at that" He spoke. "What?" Asked a surprised Sasuke.

Itachi smirked. "'Snow' has hatched" As he said this a snow-white butterfly landed on a nearby plant. Sasuke grinned and closed his eyes again before asking. "Hey, Itachi."

"Yeah?"

"What's the time?"

He glanced at his watch. "11:00"

Sasuke suddenly sat up eyes wide in shock "I was to meet up with my team at 9:15... SHIT, Naruto's never gonna let me live trough this!"

With that said he rushed into one of the rooms and come out a few seconds later struggling to get his sandals on. During this Itachi chuckled loudly, for he knew what Sasuke was going to face. 'Naruto... Indeed, the blond loudmouth who was Sasuke's best friend would indeed never let him live trough it.'

"YOU STOP LAUGHING!" Was the last thing he heard from his little brother as he ran out the front door.

Itachi stood, stretched and looked around until his eyes fell on Snow. He smiled when it took of into the skies and then turned around wandering of into the house.

'Sasuke...' He thought glancing at the front door.

'Snow...' He thought glancing at the sky.

'The garden...' He thought glancing behind him.

"They..." He smiled.

"...never really changed"

The End

Uzumaki Naruto

Uchiha Sasuke

Uchiha Itachi