Watch Me Die
Why does he break me? A 13-year-old prodigy watches his younger brother as he trains, as he sleeps, as he exists. Itachi is so shattered because of his shoutei.
"Nii-san! I've gotten top marks on my report!"
"That's good Sasuke. Go show Father."
Still he watches as Sasuke dashes off to locate his father. Oh how pitiless life is. Father will never accept him.
"Father! I did well in school!"
"Not now Sasuke. I have to talk to Itachi. Go tell your mother."
Once again little Sasuke is shot down. Itachi still watches the disappointment.
Why does he get everything? Sometimes I wish nii-san was never born.
Itachi saw the budding abhorrence Sasuke had for him.
"Do you hate me Sasuke?"
"What kind of question is that, nii-san?!"
"It's ok if you do." It's because I hate myself.
Every mission, every kill meant nothing. Let it rain blood, he didn't care. As long as he had his shoutei, life would be bearable. Nothing can destroy that last innocence he possesses. So blackened his soul, yet so bright his love. It kept him sane and alive, but it kept others dead. So long as Itachi lives, cadavers lie in his wake. It isn't that he enjoys butchery, far from it. There is no sense of self. He only clings to that thread of love for Sasuke. The words he spoke to Sasuke on that night were meant for himself. It is how he survives.
"Hate me, detest me, and survive in such an unsightly way. Run and cling to your pathetic life." Catch me as I fall, brother.
Sasuke does with small hands. But what can he understand about existence? He suspects that his aniki is hurting, like any little brother should. But what can he do about it? After all, Sasuke hates his brother. He must. Itachi told him to. After all these years, after all the lifetimes, Sasuke still follows his aniki. The life he clings to is his brother's, not his own. Now Sasuke has lost his sense of self. As the two finally lay their blood eyes on each other, time stills.
It is the moment, Sasuke, for me to die at your feet.
Sasuke is the one who watches now. Yet he is blinder than his brother ever was. "You don't have to go, aniki." "God doesn't forgive murderers, Sasuke. He burns them." Swiftly do the black flames take him. His feeble body turns to blank ashes, all except for his eyes. They remain staring, watching over his shoutei.