Author’s note: The drabbles have no relations to one another, so don’t ask for a continuation.

Words: 326

Summary: Itachi despises Naruto’s laughter.

1# Laughter.

To Itachi, laughter was just the easy way to run from something.

Therefore, when he heard the sound of Naruto’s laughter echoing in his ears for the first time, he thought that maybe there was more about the boy he would let on.

The harsh, loud sound never seemed much attractive to him, nor was it pleasurable to his ears.

Because it was the sound of Naruto’s despair.

Naruto laughed to run from what others threw onto his shoulders, their words, and their stares; from the shadows that kept pursuing him. Laughed, because if he stopped laughing his sanity would slip from his closed hands, just like water slips from your fingers.

And Itachi, since the first time he heard the loud, reverberating sound of his laughter, found out that he couldn’t despise it more. (Just like Naruto also seemed to hate his silence with all his heart.)

However, unlike him, the Uchiha had never voiced his discontent; never gave any indication away that that sound could have ever been unpleasant to him.

So Naruto, inadvertently, kept laughing. And Itachi had to find some other way to prevent his laughter from leaving his throat.

He filled Naruto’s mouth with his name.

There was no room for cheap talk, no inadequate jokes, no laughter; only the unceasing repetition of his name. Like a mantra.

But those were fast, ephemerons moments.

Naruto’s life was a constant run away; his laughter never dies, it’s just put aside for a while before it is called back on again.

He runs from the truths he can’t ignore; from anything he doesn’t approve. Just like he laughs before any and everything that displeases him, showing his complete lack of respect for the things he can’t comprehend.

The first time Itachi heard Naruto’s laughter, it was directed to him.

And now, hearing him laughing after having repeated his name for so many times that night, he wondered if Naruto was laughing of himself.

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