Chapter 1

"Shouldn't you be worried just a little? You're about to be killed by my art!" Deidara sneered at him.

Sasuke panted. He was out of chakra. He was just barely able to keep his Sharingan activated at this point and he couldn't move. That chidori blast to his own body had burnt his nervous system and even now his already injured foot was going numb.

But he kept his eyes focused on the blond before him. The one blue eye was wide, pupil dilated manically. Deidara started chuckling.

"That is what annoys me the most about you and your brother!" his opponent growled. "You think you're so cool. Those eyes. Those overconfident eyes always make me so sick! Your eyes have no respect for my art. Always judging me and disrespecting my art! I'll never forgive them for that! I'll never forgive eyes that ignore my art!"

Why couldn't this guy just tell him where his brother was? Sasuke was beginning to get annoyed. This was a waste of his time. Why was Deidara so obsessed with Itachi? It sounded like they almost could be on the same side the way the blond Akatsuki was ranting. He was more annoying than—

"I couldn't care less about any of that," Sasuke said coldly. "I just want you to tell me about Itachi."

He was out of chakra and the world slipped from hyper-clarity to normality once more. He had to be careful though not to lose all of his chakra. His curse mark throbbed slightly. Orochimaru shifted in the back of his mind threateningly.

"So you've retracted your Sharingan…do you really take me that lightly?" Something seemed to snap inside the blond suddenly. He tossed his wild yellow hair, ripping off his shirt. Sasuke's eyes honed in on the seal on the man's chest, right over Deidara's heart.

This wasn't good. He prepared his summoning jutsu just in case the blond decided to do anything drastic.

"Fine." Deidara pulled at the stitches in his chest with a painful shudder. "This is my ultimate art. An art so sublime it will leave a scar on the very earth itself." His smiled was cracked, spreading across his cheeks crookedly. "And I'll sacrifice myself for its beauty and you'll die as well. It's radius is ten kilometers. There is no escape!"

A mouth burst from Deidara's chest and began guzzling the explosive clay.

Fuck.

"And with that scar all will admire my art!"

Sasuke tried to stand but it was no use. The left side of his body was tingling with numbness. Black veins spread across Deidara's skin like a plague, causing a rip in his physical being. A beast took the place of where the man's heart should have been and consumed everything. Deidara began to fade from Sasuke's vision, becoming a bomb composed of his own chakra. That much Sasuke could sense even if he couldn't see the chakra's color anymore.

"Even your eyes will respect this! Because my art is—"

Deidara screamed. His body finally disintegrated and compressed into a small black round beast. The thing growled, generating the energy for Deidara's "ultimate art." A beam of light burst what would have been the top of the man's head if he hadn't disappeared by this point.

There was pause.

The beast inhaled, sucking in all things, all energy in one last greedy attempt to amp up the bomb's power.

Sasuke struggled away. He pulled himself across the grass uttering the words to summon Manda, Orochimaru's giant purple. With the snake he could use a space-time ninjutsu to move them to safety. Sasuke exhaled when the snake appeared and he threw himself into the snake's mouth.

He turned just before the giant lips closed over him.

"KATSU!"

Radioactive light enveloped them, burned the side of his face, scorched his eyes and sent an almost electrical energy through his already fried nervous system. The mouth fell slack and closed over him, protecting him.

Then came the explosion.

He screamed but his voice was lost in the supernova that consumed them. It was so loud that something inside his brain seemed to burst, leaving a throbbing static tone in his ears. He convulsed inside the snake's mouth, vomiting viciously when the world felt like it turned upside down and inside out. He pressed his still functioning hand to the side of his head, feeling thick hot liquid slip between his fingers. His body thrashed into what he assumed was the snake's giant fangs.

He felt the force of the snake being blasted back, its body shuddering violently. Did they jump? Did Manda save them at the last minute?

He was only barely aware that he was clinging to one of the giant snake's giant fangs, trying in vain to stop the world from spinning. The curse mark on his neck suddenly felt like it was on fire, tearing apart his skin in a wild frenzy. Was that laughter inside his head?

Then nothingness ascended like an invisible weight against his weakened body.

…

"Deidara is dead," the black Zetsu announced at the Akatsuki's meeting. "At least he went out with a bang."

Itachi stood silently on one of the fingertips only barely paying attention.

"Who did him in? So sad that we've lost yet another member," Kisame purred. "Was it the nine-tail's jinchuuriki or Sasuke?"

Itachi's ears twitched slightly and he inhaled unperceptively.

"It was Sasuke. But it appears that Tobi has died as well," Zetsu continued.

Itachi stopped breathing.

"Deidara took him with him?" Kisame asked. He always talked too much. Asked too many questions but this time Itachi listened carefully.

"You should feel grateful, Itachi," Pain said slowly. "He saved you a lot of trouble."

Itachi said nothing. He did nothing. He didn't know how to feel anymore. And nobody here expected him to.

"Hmmmm," Kisame continued. "I feel like we've forgotten something."

"Tobi has died as well," Zetsu said. "Deidara had no regard for his partner."

"Tobi is easily replaced," Pain interrupted. "But the loss of Deidara is unfortunate. Let us mourn his loss quietly."

Their holographic projections began to dissipate. Itachi stood for a moment before leaving his perch on one of the giant fingers in the hideout. Kisame was staring at him for sure, but Itachi had turned off his Sharingan for the moment. He knew Kisame wouldn't be able to tell in the gloom of their cave. But he needed a moment in his darkness.

He needed the blurred shadowed.

He was careful as he walked through the tunnel not to trip or stumble. He almost wanted to close his eyes. His heart ached. But that was normal. His chest always ached now and there was nothing he could really do about it. No medical ninja would help him even if he wanted to seek them out.

He liked the pain just as he liked the darkness his eyes were becoming subject too.

They were reminders of his sacrifice, reminders of who he used to be and who he was now.

Though he was not entirely sure who he was now.

He reactivated his Sharingan as they near the opening of the hideout. Kisame followed him silently for once. They paused before the opening watching the rain downpour outside.

"It's odd that it's raining so heavily," Kisame remarked after a moment. "It's unusual for this area."

Itachi didn't answer. He took a small breath and walked slowly out into the rain. Maybe the cold will make him feel something.

"That's harmful to your body," Kisame said quietly behind him. "…you of all people should know that."

So the shark ninja had noticed Itachi's failing health. Itachi wasn't surprised. He looked up at the darkened sky and wished for lightning, something to show that the sky was alive and not in mourning. Zetsu was wrong. Sasuke had a duty to fulfill.

He reached out with his senses. He knew that blast wasn't too far away. He should be able to find his foolish brother if he tries.

"I have no idea what a cold-hearted guy like you is thinking but from here…" Kisame could never shut up. "…from here it looks like you're crying."

Itachi didn't turn. He didn't even blink but some of the raindrops dripping down his cheeks are warm. He couldn't sense his little brother. There was no heartbeat of that familiar chakra in any direction.

He extended his chakra sense farther.

Sasuke couldn't die.

"What happened to your little brother sure is a shame though." Kisame's purred voice carried over the rhythmic sound of the rain almost like a chant.

Sasuke.

Itachi turned away from Kisame and finally closed his eyes.

"Niisan!"

Something forgotten twitched in his hollow aching chest with the memory of his younger brother's voice. He didn't want to remember that time. He didn't want to see the sunlight in his memory.

"Now you've become the last of the Uchiha Clan."

And that lost sunlight flooded his mind's eye as he remembered…

Tousan held his hand as they walked through the hospital today. With his free hand, he clutched the book he had been reading. Itachi didn't like the smell of this place. It was…foreboding.

Itachi smiled at using the new word he had learned.

Kaasan had woken up in the middle of the night last night complaining that her belly hurt her. Itachi wasn't surprised. Kaasan had gotten so fat but he felt like he was missing something and that bothered him. He didn't understand his father's excitement as they rushed through the hallways.

They stopped at one of the many doors. Tousan quickly pushed the door open and Itachi was momentarily blinded by the bright light pouring through the windows. It was too early. The sun was still eye level with the world.

That's when he saw Kaasan holding something small and wriggling in his arms. Itachi couldn't see it because it was hidden in a blanket. Tousan lifted him up and set him on the bed with Kaasan. She smiled warmly at him and he looked away shyly. He hoped she could come home soon.

"Itachi," Kaasan said gently. "Would you like to finally meet your younger brother?"

His younger brother?

He moved closer to the wriggling bundle in Kaasan's arms. She dipped the bundle slightly so he could see two big black eyes staring back at him. Something finally clicked. He'd read up on his facts later…but did babies grow inside Kaasans' bellies?

His breath caught as he took in the sight of his…baby brother.

"Itachi meet Sasuke." Kaasan caught Tousan's eye and her face brightened even more if that was possible.

"Sasuke?" he said timidly and then he smiled. "I'll be the best big brother ever…I promise."

Kaasan pulled him close and kissed his forehead chuckling softly. "I know you will!"

He could feel Sasuke's quick infant heartbeat between them.

"No," Itachi said suddenly wrenching himself from that painful memory.

"No?"

"Sasuke isn't dead." He turned to face his partner. "I'm going to go find him."

"You're…what?" Kisame walked out from under the cover of the cave.

Itachi's expression was emotionless and cold as he stared at his partner. "Sasuke has a duty to uphold. I'm going to make sure that he remembers why he cannot die."

"Itachi-san…" Kisame was obviously trying to comprehend what the Uchiha was saying. "Pain-sama needs us to stay here until we are called out."

"I am going." Itachi's voice was clear and saturated with authority. "I don't really care what Pain thinks. You can tell him that Deidara created a lot of trouble for me instead of relieving me of it. This is a matter between the last of the Uchiha Clan."

He moved farther out into the wilderness.

The rain stopped.

"I need to do this."

"I think this the most you've spoken since we've became partners." Kisame laughed. "So you're going to fight Sasuke finally?" Kisame followed him. "That is if he still is alive."

Itachi exhaled and paused. "You're going to stay here." He turned his Tsukuyome on his partner, paralyzing the shark ninja in his tracks.

In the inverted world of his all-powerful illusion Kisame shrugged, finally backing off and letting Itachi go. Itachi released him watching emotionlessly as sweat dripped from Kisame's forehead.

"I haven't sweated this much in a long time," the shark said submissively. "But it is sad parting with you like this after everything we've been through together."

Itachi nodded almost undiscerningly. He proceeded to continue into the wilderness. He could sense signatures from Konoha going out to explore Deidara's explosion site. He tried to discern who they were.

He stopped.

And that's when he felt it.

A small heartbeat of familiar chakra.

Sasuke.

Three other chakra signatures surrounded his brother's chakra. But there was something wrong about them. Itachi couldn't sense what it was exactly but he could feel the anxiety…the sadness.

He needed to hurry.

…

Jugo ran to where Suigetsu was standing before the giant and quite dead Manda.

"Sasuke!?" Karin screamed. "Where is Sasuke?"

Suigetsu blinked slowly as if trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Manda was supposedly untamable. Even Orochimaru had a hard time with the beast and here he was still, cold and dead. Half of its body was burned and ripped apart especially near its head. The white of the skull glinted in the sunlight and reminded Jugo of his long lost friend.

For Kimimaro, he would find Sasuke.

"I just did what he told me to do," Suigetsu said eventually. "I used his blood and summoned Manda when the snake disappeared on the scroll but…"

Karin closed her eyes and focused her chakra.

A bird landed on Jugo's shoulder and tweeted sadly.

I think the one you're looking for is…

"I can't feel him!" Karin panicked. "I can't sense his chakra!"

Jugo walked around the front of the snake, prodding curiously at his mouth. The bird tweeted and encouraged his efforts. He had to find Sasuke. Sasuke was his shield against the uncontrollable rage within him. He gritted his teeth.

Manda's mouth opened just enough for them to hear a distinctive thud.

"Sasuke!" Karin screamed and shoved Jugo aside, wrenching the snake's mouth open further. The smell from inside was foul and even further defiled by his death. She dragged the body from the rank cauterized insides of the snake's mouth and laid him carefully on the grass.

"He's not breathing," she muttered. Jugo saw something flash in her red eyes right before she leaned down and pressed her lips to Sasuke's and began pumping his heart.

Suigetsu rolled his eyes but didn't move.

Jugo held his breath as Karin beat upon Sasuke's chest and breathed life-air into his lungs. Two more birds landed on his shoulder and tweeted sadly. Jugo ignored their pessimistic thoughts considering the nature of the world. He didn't believe in the nature of the world. He couldn't or else he wouldn't exist since he was Orochimaro's experiment. All four of them were.

Sasuke was badly burned especially on the left side of his body. His left eye was glassy and swollen with cauterized skin. Jugo winced looking over the Uchiha's body, his clothes in tatters clinging to his skin. What had happened to their leader? The curse mark on Sasuke's neck pulsed with life dangerously.

Sasuke suddenly sputtered against Karin, blood slipping from between his lips.

"Shit," Suigetsu said and leaned forward, pulling Karin away. "Dude, can you hear me? Are you all right? What happened?"

Sasuke groaned but didn't respond. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment; his right hand twitched, rose slightly, and fell back weakly against the ground.

Karin shoved Suigetsu back. "What the hell, asshole!? Can't you see that I'm trying to heal him?"

"Psh, I think he needs more than just CPR, Karin." Suigetsu smirked. "Right, Sasuke?"

Jugo watched Sasuke silently as the Uchiha screwed his face up against the pain. He didn't answer but the other two didn't notice. Karin punched Suigetsu. But it failed as it always did as Suigetsu simply let his features become water and Karin simply punched through him.

Some of the water splashed on Sasuke's cheek, the side that was not burnt but he winced anyway. He turned toward the two squinting his good eye at him. "Suigetsu…?"

The two froze and turned toward their leader.

"Hey man you look like shit." But Suigetsu smiled. "You probably rest a little."

"I can't believe you were the one to defeat Orochimaru." Karin crossed her arms and turned away, tossing her long red hair.

"I…" Sasuke groaned again. His body began to tremble slightly. He coughed and more blood sputtered from his cracked lips.

"Anyway…" Karin moved quickly over to Sasuke and offered him her arm. "You should drink my blood and regain some strength so we can get you out of here—"

Sasuke's eyes rolled back into his head.

Jugo knelt down beside the shaking Uchiha. Sasuke's body was covered in sweat, saliva, blood and other gunk that had been growing inside Manda's mouth. The birds on his shoulders fluttered their wings.

He is going to die. His wounds have become infected. You know this, they chirped.

"Karin, you need to do something," he said urgently, feeling Sasuke's forehead. "I think his burns are starting to fester."

Kimimaro's sickly face floated in the back of his mind. He remembered hose sunken green eyes staring helplessly up at him unable to voice his thoughts anymore. There had been blood on his lips then too. This had been right before Kabuto had taken him away forever to chain him to a hospital bed until his friend's body finally gave out.

Sasuke was Kimimaro's successor. There was no time for Karin to be stalling. Jugo grabbed her arm, bit into it and let the blood drip into Sasuke's mouth. The Uchiha's body glowed with the healing green chakra but he knew it wouldn't be enough.

The birds told him so.

The moments slipped by painfully as Karin shared her life energy with Sasuke. Jugo watched worriedly as the Uchiha's bodily wounds healed somewhat, at least enough so that it would prevent scarring. But the fever didn't subside.

"Suigestu, get some water," he ordered and immediately the white haired ninja was off to fill his cantina.

"We can't take him to a hospital," Karin said slowly, the blood loss causing her mind to become hazy. "They'll find us and Sasuke would kill us for getting him caught."

Jugo swallowed. He wasn't meant to be making these hard decisions. Maybe he should just go back into hiding in a cave where he couldn't hurt anybody. Even the people who were supposed to be his shield were dying around him and he was useless.

"I know," he said finally trying to ignore the birds' woeful songs. "We'll go to the nearest town and hopefully your blood will be enough."

Sasuke's head fell back.

"I can't give him any more," Karin said, her crimson eyes clouded. "It's too dangerous for both of us. That's the most I can do."

Most of the burns had been healed though Sasuke would still need bandages. But the fever was still apparent in his flushed cheeks. Suigetsu came running back with water.

"Good your back!" Karin snapped at him. "We need to move Sasuke. He's got a high fever that won't break."

Sasuke moaned weakly as Jugo lifted him carefully.

Hold on, Jugo silently spoke to him.

…

Naruto ran through the forest and froze.

"Uchiha…Itachi?"

The Akatsuki member stood passively before him but something felt off. His face was paler than Naruto remembered. He readied himself against them man. He knew it was dangerous to go up against Itachi alone but Sasuke was so close and if he captured Itachi—

"I just want to talk to you for a moment," the Uchiha said calmly.

"There won't be any talking," Naruto countered avoiding the Uchiha's eye. "I will capture you and find Sasuke."

"Why do you care so much for my brother?"

The question caught Naruto off guard. "W-what?"

"Sasuke is no better than a missing nin," Itachi continued calmly. "Why are you so persistent on finding him?"

Naruto smirked, oddly aware of a warmness in his chest that he usually ignored. "That's because I think of him more as a brother than you ever could! He's my best friend and you set him on this path!"

Itachi's lips twitched.

Naruto readied a kunai and ran toward the man but his eye saw the Sharingan. Fuck. The world's color scheme inverted into Itachi's Tsukyome.

"You are already inside my genjutsu."

No shit, Naruto thought bitterly and slashed at the endless amount of crows flying around him in this suspended illusion. "Damn it!" He focused on Itachi's phantom-like image before him.

"You want to bring Sasuke back, right? You would do anything to help him, right?"

"Did you not hear what I said?" Naruto countered. "He is one of the first bonds I ever made! I will do anything to protect him and bring him home!"

"Even by force?" Itachi's red eyes held his own blue ones penetratingly. "If Sasuke returned with you willing that's fine. But what if Sasuke doesn't. What if Sasuke posed a threat to the village?"

"That would never happen."

"It very well could. Don't be naïve."

Fuck these people and trying to force him to make impossible choices. Naruto straightened his back. "I will protect my village and bring Sasuke home. I made a promise and I never go back on my word."

"You can't always do everything. Sometimes a ninja must make impossible choices. You would risk the safety of Konoha for Sasuke? What you've said is nonsense and childish."

"Someone told me the exact same thing before." But the weight of the man's words hit Naruto. What was he talking about? This didn't seem like a question Itachi would ask. It almost seemed like—

"But I never go back on my word. It's my ninja way," Naruto said confidently. "It would never happen." He pounded his chest. "I would find a way to protect Konoha. I always protect Konoha…and I will always protect Sasuke."

Itachi's face relaxed and his lips curved upward.

Naruto's eyes widened. Did he—did he just smile?
Suddenly something feathery fought its way into Naruto's mouth and into his chakra system.

"I've just shared some of my power with you," Itachi said. "I hope the day never comes when you have to use it."

Naruto hit the dirt in the real world, shaking and sweating considerably. "What…what is the meaning of this?"

Itachi's face was still relaxed, as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "I will always be able to find you…but also as a last resort if things ever go astray."

"So you are going to come for the kyuubi!" Naruto tensed trying to ready himself for battle. What was up with this guy? And god he looked so much like Sasuke it hurt.

"Not anymore," Itachi said with a finality Naruto couldn't deny. "I just wanted to know if Sasuke still had a place in Konoha. I'll be going now. I have something important to do."

"Hey!" Naruto yelled. "Let's settle this right now!"

But Itachi was gone.

Naruto rubbed his head. He had forgotten how frustrating Uchihas could be.

…

It was so hot when Sasuke awoke again and he was covered in sweat.

He struggled against the nothingness and the sweet released of unconsciousness. He needed to stay awake even if it hurt. And it did hurt. His body throbbed and stung with burning agony. He was aware of bandages wrapped around half his head, over his left eye and cheek.

He moved his left fingers a little and sighed in relief. At least he wasn't so numb but he worried over his left leg. It still felt like it was filled with pins and needles. His stomach clenched nervously when he began to focus on forces outside his body.

Like that static that continued to buzz in his right ear.

He wrenched his right eye open desperately trying to look around and gauge what had happened. He seemed to be in a hotel room in a bed. The linens were rough and cheap. It was dim though, obviously evening. His eye watered and blurred his vision. He thought Jugo was sitting nearby.

His memory swam when he tried to force it to clarify the recent events. He was vaguely aware that Suigestu had been nearby. He remembered the familiar splash of Suigetsu's chakra on his cheek. And Karin…

Had he died?
He couldn't breathe suddenly and struggled to sit up. The figure he thought was Jugo came over to him and pushed him back against the pillows gently. He squinted at the man's face. It was Jugo…and his mouth was moving.

Sasuke closed his eye for a moment.

He was not stupid. He maybe feverish and his memory may be fuzzy but he was not an idiot. That sick feeling in his stomach twisted into a knot.

"I'm deaf." He thought he said it but he couldn't hear his own voice. He felt the vibrations in his throat. For all he knew, his words could have been unintelligible. He gritted his teeth, anger burning through his veins. That damned Deidara! All he wanted to know was where his brother was so that he could finally kill that bastard!

Jugo was prodding his shoulder.

Sasuke squinted again but all this effort was exhausting his consciousness again. His vision blurred even further. He wished that it wasn't so hot. His head started to throb when he realized that Suigetsu and Karin were also hovering over him.

He tried to look at their lips but it was just so blurry.

And beyond them, he thought he saw the sun setting through a window…or something. It was a deep maroon mixed with dark blues in the distance.

It was so beautiful…

"I can't…" he thought he said but then he passed out.