Summary: Uchiha Fugaku: an uncaring, sadistic father? Well no, not really. In fact, not at all. He just made some mistakes while raising up his boy. So he enjoys those little moment when Itachi puts his guard down.

A quiet sound makes him wake up and analyze his surroundings. The room is dark and silent, the rain drops are hitting the windowsill making a lot of noise. But it's not the rain what woke him up.

He focuses some chakra in his ears and eventually catches a sound of foot pats in the corridor. The steps are almost inaudible, as expected from an ANBU agent.

He considers two options he has: whether to stay in bed and pretend not having heard anything, or to get up and greet the newcomer, who is now heading to the kitchen. Finally he raises from the mattress and follows the corridor with quiet steps.

There is a little lamp lighted up when he enters the kitchen. It gives enough light for a man not to make a mess around while looking for something to drink or eat. A boy, twelve years old, dark-haired and visibly tired, stays in front of the fridge with his back turned towards him.

"Gomen, tou-san. I didn't mean to wake you up" the boy almost whispers, sending an apologetic look over his shoulder.

"How was your mission?" Fugaku ignores the apology, because there is nothing to be sorry about.

"Accomplished" Itachi closes the fridge and leans against its door, holding a pot with the dinner leftovers from this evening. He doesn't bother to look for sticks, he simply uses a big wooden spoon found in the dryer. "Do you want me to give you a full report now?" he asks after a while, when he doesn't get any answer.

"It's three in the morning, I'm sure it can wait" Fugaku shrugs dismissively, watching his heir who's consuming a late meal in a very uncivil manner. He considers telling him off for it, but dismisses the idea, as he would probably do the same in such a case. "When was the last time you slept?" he asks.

"More than forty eight hours ago, I think" the boy answers with his mouth full. "I'm going to bed just after I eat something."

Fugaku doesn't have to ask, he knows that there have been at least two days from the last time his son got some rest. He is his father after all and he knows Itachi well enough to be sure that the boy wouldn't act this casually if he wasn't exhausted. It's long past the time when Itachi could afford to be casual in front of him. Fugaku made sure his son would act properly in front of anybody… and now he has to deal with the consequences, whether he likes it or not, because his direct, smiling Itachi is gone. Forever.

That's why he loves to greet him after exhausting missions. Itachi puts his guard down and doesn't bother himself too much with formalities.

"Do you know when your next mission starts?" he ask his early-adult son. Well, Itachi isn't adult in his opinion, because he observes him at home in everyday situations, but everybody claims he is.

"In two days" he says blankly. "Will last three, as far as I remember."

Itachi doesn't like ANBU missions. Fugaku knows it, even if his son has never told him this, but he is his father and he can tell when something troubles his boy. There was a time a year ago when it was fine with Itachi, when he has just joined the organization and didn't care that much about S-ranks' nature, but now it starts to disturb him quite a lot. But the boy says nothing because he knows his clan needs him. He knows that he is simply a tool in the Uchiha elders' hands and that he can't quit. He accepts that and doesn't ask any questions. A perfect heir, indeed.

In those moments Fugaku wishes that there was no clan to lead or politics to care about. He wants his son to be happy and carefree, because that's how twelve years old Konoha boys are like, now in the time of peace. But Itachi's innocence is long gone now and Fugaku knows he took a big part in taking it away from his son.

"Make sure to spend some time with your little brother" he says eventually, observing him calmly. "Your mother said that he pouted about your constant absence."

"Like always" Itachi mumbles and continues eating. "How is his training going?"

"Mikoto says his shuriken jutsu improves everyday" he informs in a careful tone. He doesn't train Sasuke himself, as he has enough duties anyway. He's happy to entrust the boy to his wife, a former jounin, an ex-ANBU. He's sure she will do it better than he would. After all she doesn't want her second son to be a soldier-like formal child. Fugaku failed once with Itachi and won't take the unnecessary risk this time. Sasuke may not be as fearfully talented as Itachi was, but he's skilled enough for them to worry about his future.

"He's good at it" Itachi agrees. "But you didn't see him yourself, did you?"

Itachi must be awfully tired if he's talking to him in such a manner.

"I didn't" he admits, waiting for the boy's next words.

But they don't come and Itachi puts the empty pot in the sink and opens the fridge again. He searches though the shelfs for a moment and closes the door again, directing himself to a nearby cupboard. After five seconds he takes out a pack of chocolates and starts to eat them one by one.

"Itachi, are you sure chocolate is something you should eat in the middle of the night?" Fugaku smiles slightly.

"It's filling" he shrugs and put another one in his mouth.

"You will struggle with falling asleep."

"I won't" he opposes, a pouting tone in his voice. Fugaku smirks a bit.

"If you say so" he says a little daringly. And he's satisfied for the first time this night, because he sees a little smile on his son's lips. "Your fondness of sweets is only second to your mother's" he states with a sigh. "She bought ten dango sticks just two days ago and ate them all in one hour."

"She's never let me eat this much at once" Itachi makes a face and Fugaku laughs shortly, because he just can't help the amusement at the moment. He watches in fond silence his son putting another three chocolate pieces in his mouth and thinks that Sasuke would've already vomited twice if he had eaten this much.

"I'm going to bed" Itachi tries to hide a yawn, as he approaches the door. "Could you please tell kaa-san not to wake me up until noon?"

"I'll tell her" he mutters, nodding. "I will be home around four tomorrow and I expect you to give me a full mission report then."

"You mean today" the boy smirks slightly locking his own gaze with his. Fugaku raises an eyebrow but says nothing for this little joke, because it's been a while since Itachi made any joke in his presence. And it warms his heart, it really does.

So he squeezes his shoulder tightly, tugs his ponytail a little and observes him disappearing around the corner.

Fugaku hopes that in a couple of days Itachi will return home as exhausted as tonight, because he misses such careless moments with his son awfully.

A/N: I hope you liked this little piece of art:) I don't like how people consider Uchiha Fugaku to be a sadistic, uncaring father, I want to believe that he loved his boys. I'm curious what you think about it;)