"It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."
- Anne Frank

WARNING: Spoilers probs all throughout the story!

Our Bleeding Hearts

Chapter 1

The sky was bleak.

The emotions and thoughts I thought I had suppressed until they were almost nonexistent were trying to break apart.

I was a terrible son, brother, and shinobi. Tired of my clan's demands and selfish wishes, I did not know the deceit of the clan until it had grown till it could not be stopped…

Maybe I had known but refused to acknowledge the pitiful and delirious state the once proud clan had become.

Every day and night I was pushed into battle.

Every day and night, as more and more of my enemies fell, more and more of my allies fell. I hated war for every fiber of my being. For the glory of Konoha, to protect the village I had grown to love and care about… I would remind myself when my hands were covered in blood and when I would wake up with a start, coughing, hoping for the pain to end.

But that was never truly enough.

"For Konoha," my masked self would say to Hokage sama, to the elders of the clan, and to father. Although my actions and my words never left them room to doubt my intentions, I could not help but feel slightly empty.

I said it was all for Konoha, but that could never be, and never was the entire reason.

Sasuke… my little brother whom I had cared for ever since he was little and the only one I could say that my actions were all for Konoha without my mask. To him, these words never seemed empty.

His existence, his pure gaze alone pushed me into jumping into the battlefield to protect Konoha, to protect him.

When I saw how father and the elders would push him into becoming an efficient tool for the clan, a killer with no honor, I made my decision. I finally decided to understand our pitiful clan, all for a better future of Sasuke, who knew nothing and deserved much better than to be ensnared by the dark hearts of our clan. I went to Hokage sama and the elders of the council with Shisui, who was also against the wishes of the clan, and we became double agents. We reported our clan's conspiracies.

But as time passed, we realized that the Uchiha clan was delirious. It desired for power and honor with uncontrollable passion. If they had never experienced such fame and glory in the past, the clan would never had made such decision. Both of us got more and more desperate as time passed.

Shisui, my brother and best friend, made his desperate attempt to pull the elders into his kotoamatsukami. However when I had gone out to the battlefield, Danzo had stolen his one of his eyes.

Shisui, my brother whom I could not save and whose promise I could not fulfill, consigned his remaining eye to me, saying that Danzo would not trust him any longer and that he would protect the village his own way no matter what.

His last words: "Please protect the village, and the honor of the Uchiha clan." Shisui had died with a smile on his face and left me with an unwilling gift, the Mangekyou Sharingan.

It was amazing how I, who was regarded as a prodigy, could not have the power, however minimal, to save my clan. It was scary how powerless and useless I was.

Danzo gave me two options: to do nothing about the Uchiha's coup and have the whole clan, including Sasuke, killed or to wipe out the clan before the coup started and be allowed to spare Sasuke.

It was laughable how a clan with such "all-seeing" eyes could be so blind. No matter how powerful the clan thought they were, they would not last against the entire village that was prepared. Danzo gave me those options, fully knowing which option I would choose.

Sasuke… my little brother… Although you do not know this, it was the only option to save you.

My teeth were clenched as I swung the sword against my parents. My father who could not see anything other than power and glory, my mother who was powerless and ignorant, by choice, of the clan's greed as her husband became more and more obsessed over meaningless power…

My father and my mother who died smiling, who knew the decision I would make, who thought I could protect my brother.

That day, my heart died for the second time. I had nightmares every night, where my hands were stained with the blood of my family and my heart ached and ached...

I finally understood why Shisui was smiling before he died. With my death, Sasuke would be considered a hero. With my death, the burden of my parents' death, the clans' death would be gone. I would finally be free of the pain.

But why did my heart hurt so much? I, who did not have anything left and deserved nothing, desired something to fill my empty heart?

I painfully walked towards Sasuke with the desire to see his face. I could barely make out the outline of his eyes and his face. Although time had changed his appearance, he still seemed like the little boy I cared for.

"Forgive me, Sasuke, but this is the last…" wish of mine… to be free

The sky was bleak. It was starting to rain. This is the end of Itachi Uchiha.

I loved and loved. It was a rather troublesome problem of mine – loving too much. I loved the morning sunshine, I loved the children and their laughter, I loved jumping on puddles after rainy days, I loved star gazing… basically, I loved everything.

Oh of course, loving hurts. Love means that I want to do everything to make those who I treasure happy. Love means that I would risk everything to help them. Love sometimes means being betrayed for loving. When that happens, it hurts a lot, of course.

But you know what? It does not matter anymore… because I am happiest when I love.

Even those who have fallen to the deepest black.

My name is Jiyu, a girl who was broken and shattered multiple times but managed to patch herself back with just love.