The ANBU agents left Sasuke at the compound just as they had taken him from it days before: without a word. It's late, Sasuke noted as he stared at the carved doors to his fami- to his home before taking his eyes of it. The sun is setting. The sky isn't wholly red, white, and black - the colors of Tsukuyomi, the colors of blood, kunai, and of clouds (he hasn't seen any clouds since that day. ANBU kept him inside the entire days they had him and when they finally let him go today it was evening). There's yellow from the disappearing sun and an orange color a few shades lighter than the red. Sasuke doesn't know how long he stares at the dusk. He should. He really should because staring too long at the sun is bad for his eyes and Sasuke needed to get stronger not to damage his eyes by being a foolish child. (Because that was what Sasuke was now. Just a foolish child. Sasuke didn't have a brother anymore not after what Itachi had done so Sasuke could no longer be a foolish brother.)
Eventually Sasuke departed from his thoughts to notice that the darkness of night had blanketed the sky. Finally, he goes inside. The doors are not locked and, like the courtyard, there are no corpses littered about. Sasuke wondered what was done to them when he had been interrogated.
('Why did he spare you?' They asked over and over as though doing so would make Sasuke answer differently. As if he would suddenly know why his brother would murder their parents and family for.
Spare. Of course spare. Sasuke couldn't have survived Itachi (yet) but the word spare to describe the situation is wrong.
This - living, abandoned, alone - is not what being spared is.)
Sasuke then wondered when they're funerals would be held. How many funerals would there be? Sasuke didn't know how many members there wer- had been, Sasuke corrected, of his clan.
Sasuke's legs carried him without his permission. It's not his bed, the kitchen, or the place to wash off he found himself at. Sasuke stared in silence at his big bro- no, at the man's door. He pushed it open because it too wasn't locked. The door is as silent as it's former owner as it opened. As silent as Sasuke needs to be one day. The academy, and one day the Jonin of his team, will teach him to be that and more. They have to. Will it be enough? A part of Sasuke's mind thought. It wasn't a traitorous part of his mind. It was the practical part of him that wondered such. Itachi had already graduated from the academy at the age of seven - the age Sasuke was now. Sasuke's teeth dug into the inside of his left cheek as he thought of all Itachi had accomplished. A few days ago he wanted to be just like his older brother (̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶I̶t̶a̶c̶h̶i̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶)̶. Now all of Sasuke desired was become better than Itachi had been. He had to be if he ever wanted to avenge the- his family. (They're not yours. Not after what you've done to them. To me.)
Maybe that was why he doesn't make his way towards the kitchen despite the hunger that gnawed at his stomach. (He doesn't know where any money is it at to order take out from the pamphlets his uncle kept hidden in a drawer because his wife was a horrid cook who insisted on cooking instead of having a servant do so. Sasuke didn't know how to cook either but surely mother had had the servants already working on dinner that night. Maybe there was some in the fridge.) Instead Sasuke started rummaging through his brother's room; first the closet then he would search everything else in the room. A part of him didn't want to have anything to with what was once Itachi's but the reasonable part of Sasuke knew he needed more weapons to practice on. That and Sasuke doesn't know where his father kept the money. He couldn't buy himself anymore weapons till he did and Sasuke doesn't have time to waste. Itachi had already graduated from the academy by now while Sasuke was still enrolled at it. Sasuke who already missed a few days of teaching and probably would miss more when the funerals for his clan were eventually held. So Sasuke didn't have time to waste.
In the end he collects a pile of weaponry and Itachi's mask, the Weasel, is already gone. Had the ANBU taken it along with the bodies or had Itachi? It didn't matter. Sasuke's fingers slipped around the handle of the kunai he had picked. They weren't suppose to practice inside the house but there no longer was a they. Slowly he twirled the kunai before he threw it at the futon in the room. Now it was no longer perfect. Itachi had left it made. Of course he had.
His mother would have scolded him for such damage to the furniture, for practing indoors. His mother though was murdered by the person whose property he was damaging.
Sasuke picked up another one of Itachi's kunai and began again on further destroying Itachi's made up futon.
A/N: Originally posted on ao3 under the pen name youngjusticewriter. If you want quicker updates keep any eye on the series over there. Part two of the Spring Cleaning series.
Confession time: I do feel terrible for Itachi but at the same time he isn't the saint some of the fandom treats him to be. Because, yes, he's a thirteen year old child solider that's fears are manipulated by adults around him and slaughtered his clan to save his brother's life and Konoha from a civil war but at the same time what he's done to Sasuke was terrible. Before someone opens their mouth and says Itachi loved Sasuke and that's justifies why he did what he did.
Yes, I absolutely agree Itachi loved his brother but loving someone doesn't automatically give a person a pass on harm they inflict on their loved one whether it being intentional or unintentional.