ClockRepair Message: I was bored and came up with this. I'm sorry if I caused any brain cells to malfunction and die. By the way, this is not yaoi.

"Big brother, what does it feel like when you're in love?"

It was a simple question but had several different answers and it left Itachi completely speechless. To make sure his ears weren't deceiving him Itachi turned around and looked at his younger sibling. Sasuke was sitting at a table resting his head on his fist which was tightly clenched around a pen. He was supposed to be doing his homework but it was obvious there were other things on the little Uchiha's mind.

"I'm sorry Sasuke. I can't answer your question right this moment. I'm very busy tending to Anbu related business."

It was a total lie but Itachi thought his naïve five year old brother wouldn't be able to tell the difference. What was he doing anyways, pondering over such trivial nonsense? However, Itachi's response made Sasuke's eyes narrow.

"You know, mom said it was a bad habit to fib. You don't even have an Anbu mission for another whole week!"

Okay, thought Itachi. Maybe he's not as gullible as I originally believed.

After some more awkward silence accompanied by the intense stare he was receiving Itachi sighed and motioned Sasuke to come over. Sasuke, satisfied that he was finally getting a proper reply, ran over to his brother only to get poked on the forehead by Itachi's two bony fingers.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Ignoring the complaint Itachi knelt down to get to eye level and said in a serious tone, "Love cannot be summed up in a few short words. The way people feel about one another is different for everyone and all you can do is follow your instincts. For example, there are many types of love and nowadays the word is easily thrown around to emphasize someone's adoration. Like how you love tomatoes. It's not the same feeling as the way you love a family member is it? And that feeling isn't the same type of love you feel for another person. But do tell me, Sasuke, why the sudden interest in love? You're awfully young to be thinking about such matters."

"Well, I'm just curious that's all."

By the look of his flushed cheeks that wasn't the case and Itachi was running out of patience.

"Like you said earlier, fibbing is a bad habit. Now, tell me what's on your mind or else I'll be taking my leave."

Itachi took a couple of steps towards the door to prove his point.

"No, no! Wait!"

"Yes…?"

Sasuke's face and ears turned an exceptional dark shade of red but he gathered up all of his courage and confessed.

"Well, since I've started attending the Academy all the girls have been acting really…weird." Right then and there Itachi knew what his brother was going through. "They've been giving me flowers at recess, following me around after school and I can't even read a passage from the text without causing a chain reaction of dreamy sighs! I didn't know what to do so I told mother-"

Holy crap! Itachi thought in horror. You didn't!

"-and she said that's what girls did when they were in love with you. She also said that I should be polite to girls if I like them back or not. But I don't know if I can return their feelings. I don't even know what love feels like."

Itachi was quite surprised with his mother's civilized answer. When he was younger and came to his mother with a similar situation, she just rambled on and on about safe sex. But remembering the fact that Itachi, at the time, was only eight years old she had to go back and explain what sex was in the first place. It was true what some people said about the first child being the trial and error experiment. Clearly Mikoto Uchiha had said the wrong thing to her eldest son so she carefully constructed a right answer for her youngest child. And to think the majority of the Uchiha clan wondered why Itachi preferred not to socialize with others.

"Sasuke, firstly, I would like to mention how the feelings those girls have for you is not love. Those girls and you for the matter are too young and immature to fully understand such a complex concept. Even if love has no boundaries in age there is a limit. You and the other children at the Academy are only five. They only think they're in love with you but in reality it's merely infatuation."

By the look on his brother's face Itachi's vocabulary was too big.

"In Layman's term, what I'm saying is that they don't love you, they like you. They just have those two feelings confused."

"But why?"

"…what?"

"But why do girls like me?"

Itachi wanted to hit himself with a shuriken. Why did little kids have to ask so many damn questions?

"It's because you're cute."

Wow, that didn't sound odd at all. But he couldn't help it; the words just came stumbling out of his mouth.

"I-I-I'm what?!"

Itachi let out another sigh. Might as well let him know at an early age so he could prepare for what was in store for him.

"Yes, little brother it's sad but true. You have the grave misfortune of having a rather adorable face, big, round eyes and quite and unusual hairstyle which suits you. And when you're older and go through puberty your shoulders will get broader, you'll grow taller, your voice will lower to a nice deeper tone and as a ninja you will train your body until it's rippling with muscles. Very much like me. And in the future, many girls will chase after you and pine for your attention. Now if you don't mind, this is getting uncomfortable. Farewell, Sasuke, I've spontaneously decided to accept any random or mundane task the Hokage is willing to assign me."

And then he left leaving Sasuke more puzzled then ever. After all, Sasuke didn't even know what puberty was. Looked like he had to ask his mom again because Itachi didn't seem capable enough to handle the pressure from one simple question.