The course of events.

Uchiha Sasuke had walked in on his brother holding a bloodied katana, a body by his feet. The deadly still body of their beloved mother.

He stepped forward, wanting to call out to her but freezing in place when the katana was raised and sliced through their father's chest without so much as hesitation. His father's body jolted and then fell; landing on the ground with a sickening thud.

Falling to his knees, Sasuke stared at his brother with wide, tear-filled eyes. Why? Why would his dear brother do such a thing? Why...?

"Sasuke..."

The name was spoken so softly it took Sasuke a while to realize that it was his brother who had just spoken. His brother who was covered in blood. His brother who was now walking towards him, the blood-soaked katana in hand. His brother who had murdered everyone...

Sasuke screamed. He screamed and cried and jumped to his feet, turning around and bolting out the door.

Outside, the streets were stained with blood and gore. Everyone had been murdered. Assassinated. All except him.

He was alone. The only one left. And he wasn't about to die!

"Don't kill me!" Sasuke screamed as his foot caught on a rock and he fell face-forward into the filthy ground - scraping his face and spraining his ankle in the process. "Stay away!"

He heard a pair of footsteps behind him before he turned to find his brother standing there, face hidden in the shadows but the katana still clutched tightly in his hand.

Reaching for the rock he had just tripped over, Sasuke wrapped his trembling fingers around it and hurled it in his brother's direction, watching as the object made contact with his shoulder before falling back to the ground. His brother remained still.

Sasuke scrambled back to his feet before continuing to run.


The smell of blood was everywhere. Every alley. Every street. Every house. Every store... It was suffocating him. He had to get away. He had to get back.

Stumbling forward, the Uchiha entered the house that was his home. His body trembling and knees shaking as the smell of blood seemed to be present there, too.

This couldn't be happening. Not here... Not his home!

Rushing forward, the Uchiha opened the door leading to the living room area, his trembling voice echoing through the space as he called out for the people he feared for so much.

"Okaasan! Otousan!"

There, standing in the middle of the room, was his father. In front of him, on her knees, was his mother. Her onyx eyes were glistening with tears as she lifted her head to look at the newly-arrived individual that was standing in the doorway. Behind her, the gleam of a sword was visible.

Her silky voice reached his ears, a small smile on her face as she raised her hand in his direction. "Take care of your brother. Please... Spare him of all of this. I'm so sorry."

Before the situation could fully dawn on the young Uchiha, the sword came down and pierced through her neck, causing her eyes to widen before her hand became limp and fell to her lap, her fingers twitching. She gasped for breath, trying to swallow around the blood that was suddenly in her mouth. She let her eyes fall to his face once more, her lips trembling as they formed his name for the very last time. "... I... Ita..chi."

He was by her side before her body could even hit the ground.


Sasuke was running. Ignoring the throbbing of his injured ankle and the way his vision seemed to be blurred by tears. He had to get away. He had to escape. He didn't want to die! He wanted to just wake up from this nightmare - this couldn't be happening!

His very brother... He had... And now everyone was... They were... No!


He ran his hands over her back, shaking her, gripping her shoulders and pulling desperately. She couldn't be dead. She couldn't have died like the others. This wasn't true. Though the damp, sticky fluid staining his hands was proof enough. She had died. The most beautiful woman in his life had died. The most amazing woman. His whole world. His mother... She was dead.

Finding the blood on his hands to suddenly be disgusting, Itachi desperately ran them over his clothes, feeling his stomach heave as realization struck once again. She was dead. Just like all the others... Everyone... Everyone was dead- No. He was still alive. And... And his... His father...

Looking up, Itachi found the male to be facing the window, face blank and motionless as he gazed at the moon with hollow eyes. He was completely soaked with blood. Both dried stains and wet ones. Old and fresh. Large and small. Itachi found the sight to be repulsive and he launched forward, grabbing his father by his collar as he wildly shook the older male. All of his life he had been taught to respect his elders. To respect his parents. But now he wouldn't. Couldn't! He couldn't even think of the man in front of him as his father anymore.

"What have you done!" Itachi seethed, shaking the man harshly and growling at the fact that he didn't even bother to acknowledge him; hollow eyes still fixated on the moon.

"They didn't even fight back," the man finally whispered, gaze shifting away to land on the face of his oldest son. "They were too weak."

Itachi felt like someone had just kicked him in the stomach as those words reached his ears. "Wh... What?"

"They just stood there and... Died. So easily. Even your mother - my own wife! - merely waited for it to happen. Weakness had corrupted their souls. But I fixed them. I healed their sickness. I fixed everything."

Itachi couldn't believe what his father was saying and so he found himself unable to do much more but stare - confused eyes meeting disturbingly empty and hollow ones.

"You..." His father spoke then, as if just having noticed his presence. "You...! I need to heal you. It's the only way. You need to be fixed."

The sword was once more lifted, the moonlight reflecting off of the blade as if it were a mirror stained with red paint. "Let me heal you, boy. Let me fix your weakened soul."


Heart beating impossibly fast, Sasuke ran until his small body had finally had enough and his legs gave out in pain, causing him to crash to his knees with a loud yelp.

He turned around as fast as he could, sitting down on the ground and crawling backwards, still attempting to get away as he watched his brother still advancing forward - face like a mask of red as the color of blood clashed against the red of the Sharingan.

"Stay away, aniki!"


"Stay away!"

Training and pure basic instinct kicking in, Itachi kicked his father's legs out from underneath him before grabbing the katana from his father's bloodied fingers. The katana that was used to take the lives of the people Itachi cared so much for. The katana that was coated with their blood.

Lifting the sword, Itachi didn't hesitate in slashing it across his father's chest; the space he knew ones heart would normally be located. But he knew better than to think of his father as the owner of a heart.

The smell of blood once more filled the air as the weapon cut through the soft tissue of flesh, causing Itachi to shiver at how easy it went.

He watched his father's eyes widen in surprise before a small smile curved his lips. Itachi recognized that look, and it caused him to feel sick to the stomach. It was the same look he had always striven hard for to get. The look that his father used to express his pride...

He was proud now, dying by his son's hands. Itachi couldn't help but feel his heart ache as his father's body fell to the floor, landing by his feet. How did it come to this? Never would Itachi have thought of such a thing to happen. Who possibly could?

It was then that a small gasp reached his ears and he looked up in surprise to find a form to be in the doorway, on his knees.

The form was small, clad in dark and sporting what looked like a book bag. A book bag that Itachi would recognize anywhere. He had bought that book bag himself, after all.

Turning his gaze, Itachi walked into the direction of the form, legs trembling shakily and heart skipping several beats in happiness that his younger brother had at least been spared the cruelty of death.

"Sasuke..." He breathed the name, finding his voice to be lost. Finding himself to be lost and dazed; he still couldn't understand what had happened. How it could have happened.

He snapped out of his daze, however, when suddenly the form in front of him let out an agonized scream, halting Itachi completely as he watched the small boy jump to his feet and rush out of the door, his distant scream of "Don't kill me!"reaching Itachi's ears.

He couldn't believe it. Sasuke thought... He thought that he had done this? He thought that... That he could be capable of such a thing? That... That he... He could-...

Their mother's words suddenly surfacing in his mind, Itachi couldn't help but tighten his grip on the sword still in his hands. His mother had said to protect his little brother of all of this, and that was exactly what he was going to do. Never was he going to let Sasuke know of the madness of the man that had raised them. The man they had always striven so hard to seek approval of.

No, it was better to let the young one think that it was him who had done this. Maybe then, Sasuke would be able to move on and live his life at least remotely peaceful.

He would do whatever it takes.


The end.

My thoughts on what could have happened that night.
I'm unhappy with it, to be honest, but I hope some people will like it none the less.

As for the title... Eh... I drew a blank.

Please review if you think that it was worth your time.

Thanks for reading!