The dango shop in Konoha.
It did not have the special flair of the legendary Ichiraku Ramen said to be opened by Otsutsuki Ichiraku.
Even so, a quirky shop always drew certain people.
Uchiha Itachi was one of them.
Inside, Amane and Itachi sat across from each other.
Steam still curled from the skewers on the table.
Amane could not wrap his head around the cuisine of this world. Sweets served hot were beyond his expectations.
Still, they tasted pretty good.
Looking at his brother, Itachi's expression was complicated.
He had always believed that, besides Uchiha Izumi, no one knew he liked sweets.
Yet this brother seemed to know him well.
He had known for a long time.
Somehow Amane always steered them to this shop. Then he would eat one piece from the plate and push the rest his way with some excuse.
He knew Itachi loved dango.
Beyond that.
This brother could view Uchiha and Konoha through his own lens.
Amane and Sasuke were entirely different kinds of little brothers.
One clung to him with endless questions. The other showed a calm far beyond his age.
"Tasty?"
Watching Amane pop a dumpling into his mouth, Itachi asked with a mild fondness reserved for a younger brother.
"Sticky."
As usual, Amane dumped the empty skewer, slid the plate toward Itachi, and calmly nudged his glasses.
"I am full. The rest are yours."
If your appetite is small, do not order so much.
Itachi wanted to say it in a big-brother tone. Every time, he met Amane's gentle gaze and the words would not come.
I am the older brother.
Itachi felt a strange powerlessness.
Powerless before his own brother.
As Amane had said, if it were Sasuke, he could endure the sorrow and make Sasuke hate him.
That was a brother's love. Twisted, yes, but he had done all he could.
If it were Amane.
Itachi had no idea what to do.
He could not stand in Amane's shoes, nor could he arrange this brother's life as an elder.
He ate in silence, a hint of enjoyment on his face he himself did not notice.
Perhaps coming here with Amane let him forget, for a little while, the village, the clan, and the question he kept worrying like a bone, what life's meaning was and where his own lay.
A different kind of brother.
Only...
"Itachi, do you see me as your brother?"
When Amane said this, Itachi's hand trembled. A skewer rolled onto the table.
He had not expected that.
Why would Amane ask such a thing here of all places?
Do I see him as my brother?
Itachi drew a deep breath and looked seriously at the shorter boy across from him.
"Did something happen?"
As he asked, his fist had already tightened under the table.
Some people, faced with an event, would spiral into a chain of thoughts. Itachi was one of them.
His brother's sudden, strange question made him think of those who might act against his family to force his hand.
It was a small possibility. For Itachi, any possibility had to be weighed.
Silence spread through the small shop.
After a while, Amane smiled at him.
"Nothing. Relax your hand."
He was his brother.
Nothing would change that.
There was no point in testing it.
"I only mean this. Since I am your brother, if one day, while you hunt for the meaning of life, you see two roads behind you, I will walk through them with you and judge which is right."
In one smooth hop he stood on the table, rubbed his chin, then reached out. Under Itachi's startled gaze, he flicked a finger to the center of Itachi's forehead.
This...
Did he learn that from me?
Itachi offered a rueful smile.
He rubbed his brow where the touch had landed and felt the warmth linger.
"My foolish brother, eat. The dango are getting cold."
"That blockhead Shisui is probably waiting half the day for you at the Naka River."
Amane stretched and dropped back into his seat.
He could not say why, but landing a forehead poke as the younger brother felt very satisfying.
Chances like this were rare.
The man before him was ANBU steel. Even without the Mangekyo, he might already surpass Kakashi in a fight.
That was Amane's guess. If memory served, Kakashi was Itachi's captain in the ANBU at this time.
"I am heading back. Enjoy."
Amane stood and walked to the door. His body paused, head tilting so his gaze slid back to Itachi. Though his eyes narrowed with a smile, Itachi felt a chill crawl over his skin.
Something was off.
Men who smiled with narrowed eyes were all monsters.
"By the way, in a few days, take me to enroll."
Just school?
Yes.
The brothers were reaching Academy age.
Itachi let out a breath and was about to agree, but Amane was already gone.
"This kid."
Itachi shook his head, packed the dango, and left the shop.
He had important business to discuss with Shisui.
"Uchiha's enemy is not Konoha. It is a leadership that lacks vision and only knows infighting."
On the Hokage Rock again, Amane stood with the breeze in his hair. A leaf drifted before his lenses.
Fire flashed. The leaf burned to ash.
A red gleam stamped itself on his glasses and vanished.
"Where the leaves dance, the fire never dies."
"This fire belongs to the Uchiha."
"Itachi cannot see. I will see for him."
"Itachi and Shisui are the sort who will not understand the path is wrong until failure breaks them. Only when he knows he is wrong will he change his mind and judge everything with a wider view."
He adjusted his frames. His face was calm.
Spotting a figure in the distance that might be Itachi, Amane murmured.
"Itachi."
"Being your little brother is not easy."