Itachi walked through the Uchiha compound, his younger brother, Sasuke, on his back. It was a late summer evening and the paper lanterns that had been hung for the summer festival were glowing dimly, casting beautiful light into the streets.
Itachi smiled sadly, his mission was to be fulfilled tonight, he'd been putting it off for as long as possible, but he'd finally been given a deadline. "Sasuke, you know I love you, right?" Itachi asked, his younger brother looked at him in childhood exasperation.
"You tell me all the time Itachi." Sasuke said.
Itachi went silent again, taking the longest road back to the main house. As soon as he got home, he'd put Sasuke to bed, wait for the others to head to bed, then strike, fast and harshly. By morning everyone but Sasuke would be dead, and he'd be running for his life, forever branded as a traitor.
When the house came into view, Itachi slowed his walk even more, savoring his last moments with Sasuke. He squeezed his brother's ankles, and smiled when Sasuke wrapped his arms a little tighter around his shoulders.
Itachi took Sasuke to his room, and helped him get ready for bed. Even though Sasuke insisted that he could do that by himself, he was six after all, Sasuke reminded him.
"I know." Itachi said sitting on the edge of Sasuke's bed as he snuggled into the blankets. "Sasuke, I love you. More than anything else in the world, you know that right?" Itachi asked again.
Sasuke yawned tiredly, then flashed a smile up at Itachi. "I know big brother, I love you too." Sasuke said.
Itachi leaned down and pressed a kiss to Sasuke's forehead, which his brother quickly wiped away. "I'll be gone in the morning." Itachi said.
"You have a mission?" Sasuke asked.
Itachi nodded solemnly, his hands clutched a bit tightly in his lap.
"When are you going to be back?" Sasuke asked.
"I don't know, but be brave, and be strong for me, okay?" Itachi replied.
"Okay, be safe." Sasuke yawned again, and no longer to keep his eyes open, he fell asleep.
Itachi ran his fingers through Sasuke's hair, and gave another sad smile before leaving the room. He closed the door and padded down the hall to his room to wait.
Itachi had just finished the last house before his own. His clothing, hair, skin and weapons splattered with blood, none of it his own. He walked into his house, and went into his parents bedroom. He quickly slid his blade over his father's neck, taking him out before he was even awake enough to open his eyes.
His mother did however wake enough to scream. Itachi took her out mid-scream, and she slumped to the floor at his feet, her blood soaking into his shoes.
The sound of feet padding against the wood floors made him look up from his dead mother's face, his eyes went wide in horror as Sasuke slammed opened the door.
"Mom! Dad!" Sasuke rushed forward, only to freeze when he realized it was Itachi standing in covered in blood. "I-Itachi?"
Itachi schooled his features quickly into smug disgust. "You're to late Sasuke, all of them are dead." Itachi stalked towards Sasuke who stumbled back until his back hit the wall. Itachi grabbed his neck, hating the fear that filled his baby brother's eyes. He lifted Sasuke off the floor, and to eye level, and made his voice as hateful as he could muster. "I'm leaving you alive Sasuke, get strong, come fight and kill me, get revenge. If you're not to weak." Itachi said and tossed his brother across the room and into the pool of his parents blood.
Itachi turned in time to see Sasuke try to push himself up, only for his hands to slip in the blood and make him fall face first into it. Itachi flinched, watching the horror fill Sasuke's innocent black eyes, his innocence forever lost in that second. Sasuke looked up at Itachi, who couldn't help but allow a small sorrowful smile grace his pale lips, he mouthed 'sorry', before vanishing.
As Itachi passed over the wall that protected the Leaf Village, he could still hear the blood curdling screams coming from Sasuke's mouth. It broke Itachi's heart to hear it, he wanted to be caught. He wanted the village ninjas to find him, and kill him for his crimes, but he had his orders, his mission was not complete yet.
He also promised his life to Sasuke, and he would wait until the time when Sasuke was strong enough, so that once Itachi was finally dead, Sasuke could still hold his head above water.
Itachi watched Sasuke run down the hotel hallway towards him, chidori sparking angrily in his hand. He's growing stronger, but he's not there yet. Itachi thought, dodging the fatal attack and grabbed the back of Sasuke's neck and flung him like a rag doll into the wall. He didn't want to do this, but Kisame was watching, if he didn't prove that he was as evil as they all thought, then he would loose his standing, and would be dead before he knew it.
Itachi moved down the hall towards Sasuke as his brother forced himself to his feet, nursing the injuries he had from before the fight. Itachi grabbed Sasuke's clothing, and pulled him off his feet. Sasuke's still small hands wrapped around his wrists, nails digging into his pale skin almost to the point of drawing blood. Within the red depths of Sasuke's eyes, beyond the swirling of his sharingan, Itachi could still see his little brother's innocence. Itachi's brow furrowed slightly, and he hesitated. Sasuke growled at him, trying to get loose in order to attack. Itachi set his jaw and slammed Sasuke up against the wall harder, and grabbed one of Sasuke's arms, and broke it with a few shots of chakra. Sasuke screamed in pain, then whimpered, trying not to show defeat. Itachi didn't want to go farther, but when Sasuke continued to struggle, his eyes swirling dangerously as he tried to pull Itachi into a jutsu, Itachi knew he needed to be more forceful.
Itachi activated his own sharingan, quickly pulling Sasuke into a pain and horror filled illusion that soon had Sasuke screaming and writhing in pain until he fell limp and unconscious in Itachi's grip. Itachi dropped his brother to the floor.
"Weak." Itachi grunted boredly, and turned his back on his brother, looking at the blonde boy at the other end of the hall, Naruto. He was a few months younger than Sasuke, Itachi remembered his parents talking about him, the Fourth's son, and the host for the Nine Tailed fox. The boy's eyes were still filled with the innocence Itachi was trying to destroy in Sasuke's.
Itachi tisked, knowing that with Jiraiya and more Leaf ninjas on the way, even with all of his and Kisame's powers, they'd be outmatched. "Kisame, lets go." Itachi ordered, and the blue skinned man behind him grunted in answer and with one final look at Sasuke who was slumped against the wall, they were gone.
He knew he was going to die, Sasuke was powerful enough now, there was no need for Itachi to hold on any longer, and he had accepted his fate the moment Sasuke turned his blade on him. This fateful night was one he had waited for and dreamed of for years.
Itachi didn't mind the pain so much, each wound was nothing compared to what he'd done to Sasuke, to the rest of his clan. He swallowed the blood that was filling his mouth with difficulty, and as he pretended to steal Sasuke's eyes in order to get close, as he reached up, extending his hand and instead of plucking his brother's eye, Itachi smiled and poked a bloody finger against Sasuke's forehead, and watched his brother's eyes go so wide in confusion.
"Forgive me Sasuke. . . It ends with this." Itachi let his hand fall limply to his side, his nearly blind eyes lowering to look at the blade cutting into his stomach. He realized he'd gone numb, he couldn't feel anything, not the dozens of wounds that littered his body, not the pain in his head from using his eyes to much, nor the cold from the rain.
He took in his last breath of fresh air, knowing full well he was going to hell, that the fire would lick his lungs for the rest of eternity. He dropped to the ground, Sasuke reaching out to grab him as he fell. Itachi looked up, and saw blood drip from the corners of Sasuke's eyes, like tears, and it was quite possible that they were bloodied tears.
"Brother." Sasuke whimpered, laying Itachi back carefully in the grass. "Why?"
Itachi never got to answer, as finally his wounds took hold, and everything went black.
Itachi's brow furrowed as he came into awareness, he opened his eyes only to see black over them, bits of light peaking for the edges of what Itachi figured were bandages. He reached up with difficulty to touch what covered his eyes, bandages, damp with medication, he frowned, straining to hear anything, but he couldn't hear anything.
Itachi forced himself to sit up. His body ached terribly, and he put a hand against his stomach, only to find it wrapped thickly in bandages as well, his entire body was covered in bandages, from foot to head, and he couldn't figure out why.
"You should still be resting."
Itachi turned his face towards the voice, he knew who the owner was, but what he didn't know was why of all the people who had saved him, it was Sasuke.
"Why?" Itachi asked as he listened to Sasuke's footsteps coming closer. Itachi jumped a bit when he felt Sasuke's index finger pushing against his forehead.
"He told me, everything." Sasuke said. "My sharingan went nuts when he tried to get close to me, you did that? Even though you were dying, you still were going to try to protect me from beyond the grave."
"Someone had to." Itachi said. "You're reckless, I needed to keep you safe."
Sasuke pushed harder against Itachi's forehead. "You don't make any sense brother. You beat me up more than anyone else." Sasuke said and Itachi turned his head away.
"I'm sorry." Itachi whispered. "I would give anything to take it back."
Sasuke didn't answer, but instead said. "You need to let me change your bandages." Sasuke's hands moved to the back of Itachi's head where he undid his bandages carefully, tossing them onto the floor where he'd pick them up later. Itachi grimaced in pain when the light rushed over his sensitive eyes. His vision was extremely blurry, but he could tell his vision was improving. "Tilt your head back." Sasuke ordered, and Itachi did as he was told, allowing Sasuke to carefully apply ointment to each of his eyes, then rewrap them.
"I didn't know you knew medicine." Itachi muttered.
"I learned a lot when I was living with Orochimaru." Sasuke answered somewhat cryptically.
Itachi fell silent, just letting the feel of Sasuke changing his bandages sooth him.
It was the first time Itachi had been out of the bedroom in almost a month. The farthest he'd gone since coming to was the bathroom. Sasuke seemed apprehensive about allowing him from the bedroom, worried he wasn't healthy enough, he had almost died a month ago after all. The bandages had been removed and he was surprised that he could see. Yes it was blurry, but he had been all but blind not to long ago.
Itachi looked up at Sasuke who was standing in the middle of the room nervously, and tilted his head slightly. "I'm fine Sasuke, I'm not going to fall over." Itachi said, a bit of amusement in his voice, and he smiled slightly as he walked towards the window. He took in what part of the city that he could, trying to figure where they were, but he got nothing, it looked like every city in Fire Country.
Sasuke came up behind him and leaned forward, resting his head against Itachi's back. Itachi looked over his shoulder at his younger brother with surprise clear on his features. Sasuke however never saw the look because by the time he looked up, Itachi had calmed his features into a barely there smile.
"I missed you, so much. I hated you." Sasuke muttered, showing vulnerability he'd kept so well hidden for years.
"I'm so sorry Sasuke, I had to." Itachi whispered back.