sunshineverse | It's not love without bruises

Where: Various places in and around Konoha
When: April 19th-30th (End date only approximate)
Notes: Closed to Sasuke at the moment. Itachi decides to test his little brother and see if he's ready to try for Jounin.

Despite the bone grating exhaustion and the lingering head-ache, Itachi wasn't going to allow himself to put this off. He had already gotten leave for a few weeks from Obito. It hadn't been hard to get, between the reason for asking for leave and Obito's concern about his health. It didn't help that Itachi had definitely lost any and all weight he gained after catching some kind of stomach sickness in a small, remote village. It didn't really show, except on a scale. In any case, he'd slept for the majority of the past twenty hours, which seemed like more than enough rest for now.

Itachi took the time to make himself tea and eat breakfast. That also meant the assortment of vitamins and supplements he was supposed to be taking. ~~Wasn't he a good kid?~~ It wasn't even dawn yet, and the light across the garden was an eerie grey. Itachi's sleep schedule was, perhaps, a little messed up. Then again, he never really had a set sleep schedule anyway, but it did mean Sasuke was most likely to be in his room, sleeping. Itachi still had to formally ask Sasuke if he still wanted to be recommended for Jounin. It seemed like an obvious question, but Itachi still needed to ask.

Maybe he should let Sasuke sleep until after sunrise.

Itachi slid open Sasuke door, mug of tea still in hand.

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"Sasuke, don't break the cup," Itachi admonished as he took his time setting out the warmed food for his brother.

"Finally? You're only going to be sixteen this year. That's hardly old for being made Jounin," Itachi replied as he sat down, face perfectly neutral as if they were discussing the weather. "And only if I think you're ready. Consider the next few days a pre-test of sorts."

Itachi was already thinking he should wait until next year. Sasuke was still young, and would it really hurt him to take another year as Chuunin?

"I didn't," he answered, on auto-pilot, and lifted it to check without any real registering of the actual state of the cup. The information actually settled in a moment later and he could feel the beginning of a grin starting on his face, Itachi's less-than-encouraging deadpan notwithstanding.

"That's more than a year older than you were," he countered, spirits only slightly dampened by the added knowledge that Itachi intended to level some kind of test at him first.

"So what's the test?"

Itachi had been in ANBU by Sasuke's age. He should drop a small hint to Obito about what would happen if the man ever put Sasuke in ANBU. He loved his cousin, but Sasuke was not going into ANBU as long as Itachi had a say in things.

"I was, and you were there when the medic gave me a run-down of everything wrong with me," Itachi replied a little tartly.

"The test is everything you do for...let's say a week. Or more." Itachi looked at his little brother, wondering if Sasuke would ever be taller than Itachi. "I've set up a training ground for us for today, after that initial test, I should know better what we need to focus on." After all, it wouldn't just be a test. It would be a learning experience.

"Yeah, but you don't take care of yourself," Sasuke said, waving Itachi's words off with the blithe unconcern of someone who had much more important things on the table for the day. The somewhat cryptic explanation of the test was nothing unexpected from both Itachi and a jounin assessment, and the fact that today would be starting with a practical assessment was only an encouragement.

"That's perfect," he said, starting up from the table with every intention of heading out without remembering to eat the food that Itachi had set down. "I've been stuck helping out at the hospital for a few days in a row; being outdoors will be good for me."

"Breakfast will also be good for you," Itachi pointed out. He was bother pleased and guilty Sasuke seemed ready to spend time with him. He should spend more time with his brother, but at the same time, he probably wasn't the best influence on him.

"It's unfortunate I lack the expertise to test your medical skills," Itachi added.

Breakfast -- right, Sasuke remembered late, sitting back down with something approaching embarrassment. Even the reddened tips of his ears didn't dampen his mood, though, and he tucked into the reheated food with every sign of teenage gusto.

"My medical skills get tested just fine," he muttered in between bites, giving an expressive look in the direction of the hospital. "You know what medic-nin are like. I'd get kicked out of the third-floor windows of the hospital if I weren't keeping up."

"So if I should happen to forget some pills and go into cardiac arrest, I should be assured you'll be more than capable of saving me from my own incompetence?" Itachi asked, more to see Sasuke's reaction than anything else. Itachi liked having a regular heart-beat. He never missed his calcium.

"You're not likely to go into cardiac arrest with the symptoms you've been presenting," Sasuke pointed out absently, figuring that Itachi would have assumed long ago that he'd be checking in on Itachi's progress with Tsukiko at the hospital. "It'd be more likely that you'd get faint or go into seizure, in which case the only thing any medic can do is remove sharp things from you and wait it out."

He paused, then, reflecting on the fact that this was supposed to be a test, and added after polishing off his miso: "But if you were to go into cardiac arrest, I could resuscitate you."

"You obsessive concern and knowledge of my health is heart warming," Itachi responded a little dryly. Then again, he would be doing the same thing if he were in Sasuke's situation, wouldn't he?

"Maybe we can find a volunteer so I can observe your technique," Itachi suggested with the same sarcasm, only because he was sure no one would let him so that to them, sadly.

Sasuke shrugged one shoulder, as much as to say obviously I keep tabs on you, wolfing down the remaining portion of his breakfast with teenage gusto before turning his full attention back on Itachi.

"If you seriously want to find out about my progress at the hospital, you can talk to the people I've been working with," he said, tone serious despite the sarcastic edge in Itachi's voice. "I'm not a full medic-nin, but I don't intend to be. Cous- sensei suggested I turn my medical knowledge to combat use, and that's what I've been studying to do."

"I'll let them know you're going through testing," Itachi said. He was sure the medics could think of some creative ways to test Sasuke skill and tell him how he was doing mentally. Itachi chased down the last bit of rice in his bowl and ate it.

"Go get your things and we'll go. The training ground is already set up." Iatchi stood up slowly, then paused. "And bring a medical kit."

If there was a way to look excited about what medic-nin thought was an assessment, Sasuke didn't want to know it. He was reasonably certain that even Tsunade had hated it. That had to be the reason she was so delighted to administer testing when she was around.

The prospect of a practical examination on his combat skills -- by Itachi, no less -- easily outshone the dread of what the medic-nin would cook up, however. Sasuke was already halfway up the stairs by the time Itachi added the his last sentence, shouting a wordless acknowledgement down as he scrambled into his usual gear and packed a medkit. He was back downstairs in just a few minutes, grateful that missions had so quickly taught him how to be prepared in as little time as possible.

"I'm ready."

"Are you really?" Itachi replied automatically as he tied off his hair with a hair tie that still smelled a little of lavender.

"I'm not going to go easy on you," Itachi warned as he grabbed his own bag of supplies.

"I wouldn't expect you to," Sasuke retorted, traces of a grin still on his face before he turned toward the training fields, standard-issue sword slung comfortably over his shoulders. "That's why I wanted you to be the one to recommend me."

That, and -- if he couldn't meet Itachi's standards to rank as jounin, what right did he have to eventually serve as his brother's protector and backup? Sasuke had never had any other path before him but to support Itachi; it stood to perfect reason that Itachi had to be the one to decide whether he was worthy or not.

It's not love without bruises

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