This idea was born in my head like...a year ago. It involved Deidara back then, but this works far better. I think this is like the darkest thing I might have ever written, fanfic or original. Also, Keiji means, according to a nifty Japanese names database, "respectful second son." The bunny didn't tell me what Dear Sasuke wanted the kid named, only what Sakura and Kakashi call him. If you don't pick up on it, Kakashi is spitting angry because he feels powerless in this situation, and has for a long time. Shinobi feeling powerless is not something I feel that they generally like.

Enjoy...?

When the village had finally taken him back, an irate Hatake Kakashi was waiting for him. The ANBU he'd known as Hound had been left with too many broken pieces to clean up, and he had about had it with stupid Uchihas. Itachi didn't know if he should sympathize until the Godaime had forced Kakashi to take him into his home—the Uchiha district having been demolished, and some shinobi not quite trusting of the true last Uchiha. Kakashi was the safest bet for Itachi's safety, and unfortunately Kakashi knew it. As they sprinted over the rooftops, Itachi could only wonder what had happened to make Kakashi loath him in such a manner. Surely it hadn't been the subjection to the nightmare realm? He'd explained why he'd had to do that within that place—for pretenses. He hoped Kakashi understood.

The reason for Kakashi's hatred was revealed almost as soon as the two of them stepped through the doorway to Kakashi's home. Two children, one of around six with silver hair and one of around two with jet black Uchiha hair, were literally attached to the apron of the pink haired girl Sasuke had been teamed with so many years ago. The hate in Kakashi's eyes was for the name Uchiha rather than for Itachi himself.

When the woman, obviously married to Kakashi, took the two kids to bed later on, Itachi was left alone with Kakashi for the first time since arriving home to the village. He didn't press for what had happened, knowing from the unspoken conversation between Kakashi and his wife that Kakashi was about to reveal that information. The woman was going to stay out of the room for this, whatever it was.

"He raped her, Itachi, he kidnapped her on her way back from a mission. All there was for the team to find was a note, saying she was being kept alive, not to worry too much. She was missing for eleven months, and when she fought her way home, she was like that. She had that. There was this little monster which had come out of her, a monster I didn't remember putting into her. I went missing. I went missing for three months, and when I found him, I murdered him for it. I made your brother suffer, Itachi-kun, I used Kamui to rip his limbs from him, I stuck him with enough senbon to make a Rain shinobi proud, and then I ripped his eyes out with my own hands," there was a mad gleam to Kakashi's eye as he recited how he killed Sasuke for revenge. His body exuded a tense anger which begged for a violent release—deep frustration at the thought of being unable to protect his wife.

"The real reason I'm being kept alive is to champion the child and teach him to use the Sharingan when it manifests, then?"

"Oh no, they'd still keep you alive. Assign you as a mission to a willing kunoichi—but because of Sasuke they don't need to. You've already got a stem of a clan to work from, you've got time to find your own woman while Keiji grows up," the madness flares in Itachi's old comrade's eye, "you are, however, never to look at Sakura. If I catch you at it, I'll murder you damn the consequences. No Uchiha besides Keiji is ever going to touch her or look at her, ever again."

Itachi believed him. This was the way that most shinobi reacted to such events, because when shinobi had family to defend, they were at their most powerful. The next day, when he emerged from the small guest room of Kakashi's home, he kept his eyes firmly closed. He was good enough to not run into anything or embarrass himself, and, with the muttered cursing he'd been privy to the whole night and the pacing he'd heard in the living room, it was just safer that way. If Kakashi still felt this way almost a year after taking his revenge, Sasuke's death hadn't taken nearly long enough, and that information was something to be wary of as Itachi tried to restart his life as a shinobi of the Leaf.

He wondered what Sasuke might have named the boy, because "Keiji" was certainly something the girl and Kakashi had decided on—Sasuke certainly wouldn't have chosen to name his son "respectful second son," not after being named something as flashy as "warrior."

When the woman set a plate down in front of him, Itachi made very sure to not even let her hand brush his sleeve—Kakashi was at his left, radiating a killing intent meant only for him, for he was the real reason Sasuke had felt he needed to revive his clan.

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