Author: Lyricale
Summary: What really happened that night five years ago when Itachi murdered everyone in his clan, except Sasuke? Is he a cold blooded murderer, or is there something beneath the surface?
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own the characters Itachi or Sasuke or any of the Naruto universe, which belongs to its creator, Masashi Kishimoto.
Author's note: Hello, everyone! This is my first Naruto fanfic, focusing on the relationship between Itachi and Sasuke. In this story we will find out the real reason Itachi murdered his clan, and if Sasuke will be able to forgive Itachi after dedicating his whole life to his destruction. This will be strictly a brother relationship/family fanfic, no slash. However, other romances may appear as the story continues. It takes place after Sasuke and Itachi's first encounter in Otafuku, but before Sasuke leaves with the Sound Four. Also, Naruto and Jiraiya have brought back Tsunade, and she has healed both Sasuke and Kakashi. Hope you enjoy it. :)
A SINISTER PRICE
Prologue
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The pleasant dream was a switch from the normal recurring nightmares Itachi was accustomed to. It was more like a memory, one that Itachi hadn't thought about for some time since becoming a member of Akatsuki. Perhaps he felt he didn't deserve to view such a happy, carefree moment, one he would reluctantly admit was one of his favorite recollections of the time when he was a young teenager--which wasn't saying much, granted, since there weren't very many to choose from.
He was with his little brother, Sasuke, before he slaughtered his clan. It was a normal day for the Uchiha family. Their parents were out of the house for the evening, and Itachi found himself in charge of dinner for the both of them...
"Nii-san, nii-san! What are we having for dinner?" Sasuke asked as he ran into the kitchen.
Itachi didn't look up. He currently stood in front of the counter, staring intently at a thawed chicken, inspecting it. This continued for another thirty seconds until Itachi wrinkled his nose and flung the chicken into the garbage without a second glance. Sasuke watched with horror.
"Nii-san! Why did you throw out our dinner? What are we supposed to eat now?" Sasuke whined, punctuating the statement with a hungry rumble of his stomach.
Itachi knelt down to Sasuke, gave him a small smile, and poked him on the forehead, to which Sasuke responded with a flinch. He sent his older brother a glare. Sasuke never understood why he did that; in truth, it was his own way of showing affection to his younger brother, rather than through a more open gesture, such as a hug. Uchiha men did not hug.
"If I had cooked that and we had eaten it, then three hours later we would both be hunched over the toilet, emptying the contents of our dinner," Itachi replied with an indifferent shrug.
Sasuke did not fully understand that he was referring to the both of them getting food poisoning but knew well enough that he did not want to spend the rest of his day in the bathroom. Itachi rummaged through the contents of the refrigerator, grabbing some pork and a couple other basic contents needed for home-made ramen. He placed them all on the counter, in order of what he would begin to prepare first. Sasuke sat expectantly at the table, eyeing all of the delicious ingredients, so hungry he would have consumed them all raw if it had meant he wouldn't have to wait.
"Sasuke, I need you to leave the kitchen while I cook dinner. It will only take about a half an hour," Itachi ordered his brother.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sasuke preparing a retort. But before he was given the chance to protest, Itachi walked over to Sasuke, picked him up, threw him over his shoulder, and set him down outside. Sasuke kicked all the while, complaining about how unfair he was being.
"Come on, nii-san! I never get to see you cook. I remember when you cooked onigiri, and it was the greatest thing I've ever tasted. It was so good.…" Sasuke trailed off, lost in his thoughts of Itachi's delicious cooking.
Itachi merely walked back into the kitchen and closed the door, leaving Sasuke to sit and sulk while he waited.
Hm, he thought as he began to prepare the pork. Unlike the chicken previously on the counter, it did not smell horribly spoiled. Itachi sliced the pork into smaller pieces with needle-fine precision, seasoning it with several herbs. Once the meat was cooking, Itachi focused on chopping up half an onion and a clove of garlic, knife moving with such speed and accuracy that if one were to blink, they would be unable to find where they had left off watching the swift, fluid movements. After this was finished, the finely sliced vegetables were placed to cook with the meat.
The next step was to create the broth, and although it came from a can, with the right ingredients added to it, Itachi could make it taste more like his style of cooking. But first...
"Sasuke," Itachi said quietly, acknowledging the small crack in the door with only one black eye visible, "if you don't go find something to do for the next fifteen minutes, I'll find something and eat this ramen myself,"
The door slowly slid closed to its original position, and Itachi could hear the retreating footsteps of his little brother. He felt a small smile surface on his face, and he resumed cooking.
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"Wow, nii-san, that was great!" Sasuke exclaimed, patting his belly, content now that it was filled with delicious ramen cooked by his brother.
Itachi sat quietly next to Sasuke, pleased that his little brother enjoyed the meal, though he didn't express it out loud.
Together, they started cleaning the dishes. It was Sasuke's job to rinse off the soapy dishes while Itachi dried them and put them away. Sasuke smiled mischievously to himself, and when Itachi came to collect another dish, Sasuke made his move, squirting him in the face with a spray of water. Itachi stood there blankly for several seconds, which worried Sasuke. He didn't want his brother to be mad at him.
Dismay and regret filling his mind, Sasuke was caught off guard when Itachi in turn collected some soapy water with his hands and dropped it over Sasuke's head, drenching his hair and turning it white with suds. Sasuke blinked, both surprised and excited--his brother never participated in such childish games. Sasuke looked back up at his brother and spotted the glint in his eye, and knew it meant war.
The two brothers lost track of time as they continued their water-fight to see who could get who the wettest. For the first time Sasuke could ever recall, while in the midst of their splashing, Itachi let out a genuine laugh. Not a soft chuckle or a mild snort, but a real belly laugh that reached his eyes with a happiness Sasuke had never seen. It really suited his older brother, and he wished that Itachi showed this lighthearted side of himself more often instead of his usual quiet, reserved persona.
After everything was cleaned up and once their parents had returned, Itachi was back to his normal self, and both brothers retired to bed for the night. Before Sasuke went into his room, he was once again in the shadow of his brother.
"What is it, nii-san?" Sasuke asked, confused. Was Itachi having second thoughts about their evening fun and decided that he hadn't enjoyed their water war? Instead, Itachi knelt down, gave Sasuke that same little smile, and ruffled his hair.
"Goodnight, little brother," he said gently, and then retreated to his room.
Sasuke noticed that the smile he gave him exuded more contentness in it then all of his previous smiles, which never seemed to reach his eyes, like this one had. Itachi heard Sasuke reply with a goodnight as well, and lay down in his bed, for once falling asleep with a ghost of a smile on his face.
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Itachi woke to a harsher reality. He found himself sitting atop a flat rock, legs crossed in a sitting position, slumped over himself, apparently having fallen forward when he drifted off. He must have fallen asleep while meditating, he thought to himself.
When he tried to rise, he immediately regretted it. His neck was agonizingly sore and his legs had fallen asleep, forcing him to fold back down to allow his body a moment to wake up. Examining the position of the sun, he realized he'd been asleep for a good eight hours; dusk was approaching quickly, the sun beginning to disappear over the horizon.
"I see you're finally awake, Itachi-san."
The voice came from the right of Itachi. He inclined his head towards the source slightly, cracking his neck as he turned to relieve some of the built-up tension and soreness.
"Kisame, where have you been?" He asked mostly out of curiosity, but with a mild tone of irritation. It bothered him that without Kisame here, he could have been ambushed by any ninja, locked in such a deep sleep that it would have been ridiculously simple for one to slit his throat.
Kisame in turn looked slightly apologetic. "I apologize, Itachi-san. I had a rendezvous with our leader while you slept. I have been given temporary reassignment for a special mission that will take some time. I know you wanted to return to Konoha a second time, but I will not be able to accompany you. Perhaps you should delay your visit until I return," Kisame suggested, remembering the difficulties they had faced before.
It wasn't that they couldn't defeat the shinobi of Konoha, but they just kept showing up one after the other. Kisame was always eager for some heavy action, but Itachi had wanted to retreat, thus ending his play time. He didn't know, however, if Itachi could handle them alone if he encountered them again.
"Are you suggesting I can't handle myself?" Itachi asked, hostility rendering the words frosty as he spoke them, nearly voicing the exact thoughts Kisame had just been contemplating.
"I apologize again, Itachi-san. Forgive me for underestimating your abilities. I just don't know why you insist that we return to your village again after what happened the last time. There's no way your village will fall for the same trick twice, and they'll probably be even more prepared than when we fought the three Jounin. Why are you risking so much right now?" Kisame demanded, anger growing more evident on his features.
Itachi merely stared at Kisame, digesting the information. It was true that he had been requesting that they return to Konoha, but he himself wasn't even quite sure why he was being so insistent, or what he hoped to accomplish. As he thought about it to himself, flashes of Sasuke came to his mind. The scream Sasuke had given after he snapped his wrist during their first encounter since the massacre of his clan still echoed throughout his head, like an un-ending refrain. Itachi shuddered slightly before rising to his feet, wavering for just a second before righting himself.
"I have important matters that I must attend to in my former village. I understand your frustration, Kisame, and I apologize for putting us in such a compromising position. Perhaps this special mission came at a good time for the both of us. I would much rather take care of this business myself. Report back to our leader and take however much time is needed for your mission. I'm not sure how long this will take me..." Itachi trailed off, considering what it would take to accomplish his goal.
Kisame eyed Itachi suspiciously, wondering what exactly it was he wanted to do so badly that he would almost risk being killed to achieve it. The trust he had for Itachi, however, outweighed the suspicion, and Kisame decided that this was something Itachi had to do. He had never seen Itachi passionate about anything during their travels together, so whatever it was he had to do must be extremely important.
"All right, Itachi-san. Take care if whatever business you have. I'm sure we'll both survive going solo for a little while," Kisame said, giving his approval.
The sun had finally set, and Kisame prepared to return to their current base. Before he could leave, however, Itachi put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
"What is it, Itachi-san?" Kisame asked, puzzled.
Itachi removed his Akatsuki cloak and his kasa and handed them to Kisame. "If I'm going to be entering Konoha, I need to change my appearance so I'm not so easily recognized," Itachi replied, answering Kisame's unasked question. He nodded in affirmation, taking the cloak and kasa.
"Good luck, Itachi-san." And with that, Kisame vanished.
Itachi stared at the ground where Kisame had just stood on a second ago, looked back up, and started forward on the path to Konoha…to Sasuke.