Disclaimer: I do not own
Chapter One
Insanity
He turned endlessly each closing of his eyes brought on a fresh wave of images, so much of it all. He could feel the blade heavy in his hands as he cut down his opponents, their warm blood occasionally spraying him in his face covering his hands in the slick substance.
He felt almost as if he were on high, watching his enemies flounder or falter as they either fled from him or tried to strike him down. The way his blood would run with adrenaline forcing him to move faster strike harder, become more brutal showing less mercy.
The sick pleasure coiled like claws in his chest, he never wanted it to stop. But when it did, he was reminded of the tragedy his father as he fell protecting his mother who was killed as soon as he had entered the home.
The instinct that something was happening helped him save his little brother, who was currently in a self-induced coma. He could see all the faults that could occur once he woke, for he had not been merciful to the man who dared cut down his parents in front of his dear brother.
But he would shake such thoughts off as he entered the clan's compound, focusing merely on getting home. The home no one but Shisui bothered to visit, that is if he stayed long enough to call it a visit.
Shisui knew what was wrong with him, he thought with a crooked grin. He knew his fragile state of mind was slowly breaking, almost as crooked as his once gentle smile had become. He was fractured, and the way he was looked upon fueled his resolve to keep fighting. To keep his head above the black oblivion that threatened to claim him each night.
Yet no one seemed to know, even if they had would it had changed anything at all? He frowned the sheets clinging to him like a second skin as he recalled the way the village and his clan now looked upon him. No longer were there any warm smiles or pride filled glances, not that he needed any pride or arrogance which his very family and clan had once emitted.
The villagers would turn away from him however, leading the children into a different road, one where they would not cross his path. Even as he walked the very streets he would hear them whispered of him, how inhumane he had become. How a demon had taken the place of the Uchiha prodigy, the gentle warrior.
When they turned his way, realizing he had heard every word he would try to smile as he once had. Only for it to become that crooked grin once more, before he turned away from them. Trying not to reveal how hurt he had become, even if he had no idea of just who was speaking of him.
It hurt him, because what would those close to him think of him now? What would his little brother think of him now? The broken Shinobi, his broken older brother who now led the clan with a fractured mind?
The tears were leaving ridges in his face as they had done so, so often before. Deeper and deeper the ridges became, he raised his hand over his face staring at the spider like appendage.
No muscle was easily seen, but to a trained eye was easy to see how lean the muscle there had become. He was not even done growing, yet his hands had been drenched in blood more than anyone, including himself, dared to count.
His Sharingan activated out of reflex as the shadows there in his room, became something more sinister. His father's final shout reached his ears from the back of his mind, his mother's scream as she fell into her own blood.
He shot up instantly as his brother's agonized cries reached his ears, his hands clutched over his face as he reminded himself over and over again that it was over. But it still haunted him, and he knew it wouldn't stop.
His humanity was slipping away, and before long he would be killed for the safety of the village. He needed to keep his hold on his sanity, but he wondered dimly what sanity was left to contain?
His lips twitched and that crooked smile took its place on his face, as if it belonged there ever since the beginning. This was who he had become, the demon. This was Uchiha Itachi, and this is what he had become. The broken shinobi, the demon, the broken brother, the insane one. All of those titles were his to take and more, why? Because he thought as his laughter echoed in the room tears carving their ridges in his face.
He deserved them.
Author's note: I know I shouldn't be doing another story but this wouldn't leave me alone! All will be explained for Itachi's sanity or lack there of later in the story.