Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Naruto and some of the quotes were taken from other places.
"Will you go back?"
Silence.
"…No."
Empty red eyes watched as the younger one turned down a different path and walked down it without looking back at the Hidden Village down the other road.
…A road diverged in a yellow wood…
His eyes were once so blue, Itachi could see his reflection in them. They had been so full of something. Something Itachi felt that he had never had, or at least, had lost so long ago that he could barely remember what it was.
"So long ago…the memory beyond…"
Itachi supposed it had to do with a series of events, starting with the revelation of the creature inside him all those years ago. He had seen something that day that had broken something. After that, it was just one thing after another, ending with Sasuke's second and much worse betrayal.
"Death. Destruction. Return to nothing-ness. I wish for these, and yet I fear them."
That was what he had said to him once upon a time, his blue eyes dim and tired, the…something in his eyes flickering like a candle in the wind, about to go out in a graceful stream of smoke.
The missing nin moved off down the path after his partner, turning his back on the village they had both once lived in.
Your cruel, deep eyes. Your blood like ice. One look could kill. My pain. Your thrill.
Itachi had probably been the very first person to show the timid little blond child anything resembling kindness. It was mere hours before the massacre. Itachi had always pitied the child hated by all.
"Don't you know anything? If you let them see that they hurt you, it makes them pleased with themselves. Ignore them and they'll go away."
"What if they don't?"
"Then cut out your heart and make it so you have no heart to hurt."
"…Okay…"
Itachi felt something akin to regret, but it quickly faded. True, he had give the child a way out, but all the stupid, faceless dolls in that place had made it so the child had no other option.
'Love may be never; a denial. Love may be forever; a promise. But never forever is not love. No; not never.'
They had all thought the boy with the blue eyes had a great heart of gold. They were wrong. They had all thought his heart touched everyone he came into contact with. They were wrong. They had all thought his heart was so strong that it could bounce back from anything. They were wrong. They had all thought he had enough room in his heart for everyone. They were wrong.
How could they have been so blind to have not seen it? Gaara had seen it. Itachi had seen it. Every murderer, every missing nin, every opponent, even Orchimaru, had seen it. How could they have thought any of those things when there was no heart to begin with?
What I've felt, what I've known, never shine through what I've shown. Never free. Never me. So I dub thee unforgiven.
A mask. Learnt behavioural patterns. Imitated emotions. Lies. A void at the core of his being.
The mask cracked, then shattered as it fell away and hit the floor.
Itachi stood it the doorway, emptily watching the inevitable carry itself out. Sasuke stared blankly from his position in the rumpled bed, blood splattered across his face. Blue eyes closed as his head fell back, a head with cherry-blossom pink hair hanging from his fingers. The naked, decapitated form of their third team-mate lying between the two youths people thought were best friends.
"Well done, brother…"
The younger brother turned his blank gaze at the almost tired tone of the one in the doorway.
"…You broke the mask. Everything has a price."
Blue eyes had disappeared for nearly a year after that. Itachi had found him in Ice Country, on a remote snow-covered mountain road, little more than a goat track. They had stared at each other for some time. The once blue eyes the colour of the endless sky now held the empty mockery of glacier depths. When he had turned to leave, Itachi had followed.
What is it? He lost it. It's lost. Gone. What is it?
Itachi stopped. "…What is it?"
The words were barely a whisper, but blue eyes paused and turned to look at the other.
Misery loves company.
"Life." Naruto turned and continued down another nameless road. Behind them, Konoha burned. But there was no one left alive in there to try to escape.
No one.
"Then cut out your heart and make it so you have no heart to hurt."