one_long_mission | {open} It was a beautiful morning.

"I think you should just stare at them a bit more and let your eyes adjust. But... I'll get you ice cream, okay Niisan?" He put his hand on the man's head, then swept out of the room before he could be further waylaid.

"I think he's a little overwhelmed by your reaction."

That didn't stop Minoru from bouncing up to follow him, though.

"Can I have ice cream too? I want ice cream! I love ice cream!"

Itachi just smiled and shook his head.

"He can have the ice cream... I was just... I'd completely resigned myself to the fact that I was going blind. Nothing was going to change that... And something did. How else could I feel?"

Isamu, unwilling to be parted from his mother, tugged on his shirt. "You can stare at me mom! You're better than some sugary ol ice cream!"

Laughing, he settled himself next to the two. "Now don't be like that Isamu, you'd be out of here in a heartbeat for sours." He petted the back of his partner's neck. "I didn't say it was a wrong reaction."

"I can't help but stare at all of you..." Itachi just shook his head with a smile. "I can see so much of us in you. It's... amazing. That's what it is. And for identical twins, I can hardly believe how different you look."

Minoru came running back with a small bowl of ice cream, and plopped right back where was in the middle of things.

Isamu jabbed his brother with his foot for almost dumping the bowl on him. 'Careful!"

Itachi just laughed. "Identical is relative."

"I'm not gonna drop it!" Minoru shouted with a big spoonful in his mouth. "Who'd waste ice cream?"

But his partner's words struck a chord. And Itachi suddenly realized that it had been many years since he'd even seen what HE looked like clearly.

"We're not exactly identical either... are we."

"No. We have slightly different scar patterns and I seem to be aging a bit more... gracefully."

In truth, when he saw Itachi's face, that was pretty much how he imagined he still looked. Apparently, that wasn't quite the case.

"What do I look like, then?"

It was kind of a rhetorical question that was best answered by a mirror. But children, being children, don't seem to know the meaning of the word rhetorical.

"Older than Papa. Definitely!" Minoru pointed with his spoon. "Um... Your hair is flatter and not as black. Your face is thinner. Actually, all of you is thinner and you kinda hunch over more. Papa's eyes used to be brighter too, but now yours are bright too."

And he was still thinking of more he could say.

"Uh huh! And you do this thing, where you try to sit super still a lot, and have this line, right here." He touched his mother's forehead. "That happens when you're irritated that daddy doesn't have. His are here."

And the little hands poked the corners of his eyes on the outside instead.

Itachi couldn't help it, he started to chuckle.

"Oh yeah! And you're whiter too!." Minoru added. "And sometimes you get these dark spots under your eyes like you got punched twice. But I don't think anybody punched you."

Isamu beamed at him. "And you're taller than Daddy, but only a little. I think he's almost caught up to you. It's hard to tell though cause you're always slumpy."

"Anything else?" Itachi was almost afraid to ask.

"And... um... actually, that's all I can think of..." Minoru resumed eating his ice cream.

Isamu thought about it. "You cry more!"

Minoru nodded eagerly, the spoon still in his mouth.

"Oh! And when you smile, it's not as big! Sometimes it's kinda sad. And your teeth aren't as white either."

"Yeah! But it's okay mommy, I love you!"

Itachi was, of course, crumpled to the side by now, continuing to laugh.

"Yeah! I love you too, Mama!" Minoru grinned, dropping his spoon in the now-empty bowl of ice cream before lunging at his mother for another hug.

Itachi made a note to himself to actually look in a mirror at some point. But for now...

"Maybe you should tell Papa what he looks like."

"Papa looks like a tomato!" Isamu beamed at his father. "Right now anyway..."

At that, Minoru started laughing too. His father really was bright red!

"He's bigger than Mama. And a lot more fun to poke in the middle!" he exclaimed, and went about to prove that point in the most ticklish way possible. "Mama, you're too hard and not squishy enough."

Itachi promptly snagged little fingers and pulled the boy into a hug. "Only because I -eat- when I'm hungry."

"You eat -everything- daddy! Mommy can't ever get any."

Itachi snickered a little. He was actually surprised Isamu wasn't saying that about his brother too. Minoru, of course, was too busy trying to tickle his father to even notice the afterthought, should it even come up.

"And your face is all like... Grr..." he made his best 'stern Hokage' face, but couldn't hold it for very long. "Especially when you do that thing where you walk back and forth across the floor over and over and over again!"

Isamu jabbed his brother. "It's called pacing! And daddy doesn't do that, Uncle Sasuke does that. Daddy does that thing where he sits and pretends he can float."

"He does so do it. Usually when Mama's sick and then Mama says he's gonna make a hole in the floor." Minoru jabbed Isamu back. "I know. I've heard it."

"OH! That. I thought he only did that cause he couldn't sit still, like youuuu."

"I can too sit still..." Minoru pouted, sitting as still as possible on top of his father. It lasted about half a second before he tried tickling him again. He could hardly stop laughing. "Okay, so maybe I can't."

Itachi had to laugh when Minoru actually agreed with Isamu.

"Okay, okay, so we're both pretty different." he smiled. "I get the picture."

"Good." It was laughed as he twisted to hug Minoru to his chest. "I just know you were trying to get them to insult me too."

"I wasn't insulting mommy!"

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