Fear Doesn't Exist
The Akatsukis' shoes clacked against the cement steps. The two cloak-clad young men were walking up stairs that never seemed to end, but neither cared. With stamina surpassing even the most elite of a village's shinobi, a simple walk up a long flight of stairs was more of a rest for them. There were no battle cries, no hands whistling with their speed as they weaved through hand signs, and no stress to cause headaches. There was simply silence. Beautiful, serene silence.
Itachi was the former of the two traveling Akatsuki, keeping his eyes on the horizon set by the stairs, looking for the first sign of a plateau in the ascent. Talented shinobi as he was, he was fast becoming sickly, something that made him disagree with these stairs. But he did not huff, or slow his pace; he kept his head up, and waited for the end.
Behind Itachi was Orochimaru, literally his partner in crime. With a focus increasing as time went on and his boredom flaring, this legendary Sannin kept his eyes on Itachi's back like the younger boy was his saving grace. And, in Orochimaru's eyes, the Uchiha was. What a splendid ninja, Orochimaru thought with a smile tightening the skin of his face, perfect, absolutely perfect! I want your body, Itachi!
Orochimaru had been taking great pains in restraining himself from attacking Itachi. Time after time, night after night, he had been tempted to execute his Reanimation Jutsu on the boy to take what was his by claim. Immortality. His extended forked tongue slithered out of his mouth as his smile widened, ear to ear like a sinful Cheshire cat.
FshAAAAAAWWWWW!
The red-brown snake flying out of the sleeve of Orochimaru's cloak hissed loudly as it coiled around Itachi's entire body. Both Akatsuki stopped, pausing at the tension of the situation. Any moment, that tension would snap like a stressed rubber band, and the pieces would fall one way or another… The snake reared its head at its victim's level, hissing angrily.
"Someone who's using the precious Sharingan is standing before me. I'm quite the lucky one," Orochimaru began, "now, I'll take that body of yours!"
Itachi's eyes flew open, and suddenly he was facing Orochimaru, unrestrained, and royally pissed.
"Impossible! I've been paralyzed by your genjutsu!" Chuckles racked Orochimaru's shoulders. "The power of those eyes, it's wonderful!"
Orochimaru looked around and saw rusty maroon clouds drifting across a bloody sky. Looking down, his eyes widened at the sight of several titanic iron nails piercing every vital point of his torso, and reaching through his lanky arms to pin him in place. Orochimaru opened his mouth, as if to say something, but was silenced either by pain or elation, because no sound but a small sigh came from between his lips. Shakily, he moved to bring his hands together, desperate to release this genjutsu, mighty and admirable as it was.
A sickening crunch stopped Orochimaru's movements. With a soft thump, a severed forearm hit the ground, forever frozen as it had been when Orochimaru wielded it. Blood spurted from the stump of his mutilated arm, falling with thick sounds to create a puddle beside the gravely injured Akatsuki.
"Orochimaru, before my eyes, all your jutsu become useless."
With spite in his golden eyes, Orochimaru hissed and fled the scene on a whisper of wind. He did not forget his lifeless arm.
Itachi let out a haggard breath, dropping the red kunai in his hands to slap one over his quivering wrist. He closed his eyes and tried to regain control of his body, but all memory of the lessons he had been taught in Anbu fled from his every thought, and he was resolved to a sniveling boy like he hadn't been in near a decade. With a soft sound like the movements of one of Sasori's puppets, Itachi's teeth chattered.
Was I about to…to lose to that man? Itachi gritted his teeth and looked on in the distance, far below the path he had been walking the last hour of his life. With a tight pain in his chest, Itachi could hardly move for the crippling fear. What if he had lost to Orochimaru? What if…
"Sasuke." The name touched Itachi's lips with a soft kiss.
He couldn't die. No, there was no way in hell he would have lost to that bastard snake man. Not before he died at Sasuke's hand would anyone have any say about Itachi's death. He would make sure that Sasuke was the only one with Itachi's life in his hands, no matter how many people had to lose limbs in their quest to stop him.
Still pale and shaking, Itachi bolted through the trees around him, looking for a calm place to rest and catch his breath. Those blood-spattered stairs were no longer guarded by the beautiful trees around them. Now, they were permeated by a thick aura of something Itachi hadn't tasted in so, so long.
Fear gripped Itachi with a hold so strong it reminded him of little Sasuke's fretful clutches. An eternity ago, and never again.
Itachi found his respite at the side of a running brook overcome with rocks and choking roots. He sat on one of the rocks, now shaking and fretting only in intervals, and took deeps breaths to calm himself. Every few seconds, he would glance around the area, examining every inch for tell of that wretched snake man. If he came back for seconds, Itachi would serve him a full plate and one that didn't end with Orochimaru walking away in Itachi's skin. Frustrated with himself, Itachi grit his teeth harder and focused on the small sounds of the water.
He hadn't felt a fear like this in so long. The last he could remember was that longest, darkest night the world ever suffered: the night that took his humanity away. And, ironically, Orochimaru had been the one to rouse the human being within Itachi. He had never once been so grateful for being so afraid. That thought was eye-opening, and Itachi thought he wasn't far off from being right when he inwardly thanked the vile Akatsuki.
Itachi, human?, he thought sardonically. How...amusing.
A soft splashing noise startled Itachi, who opened his eyes to find the intruder. Coming up out of the tiny stream of water like Zetsu out of a wall, Kisame Hoshigaki pulled himself from the shallow brook with a solemn look on his face. Finally, after he stood his full height of well over six feet, the blue monster of a man caught Itachi's gaze, unfazed by the burning instigation in the Uchiha's vermillion eyes.
"What's up with you, Itachi? You look like you've seen a ghost." The words rumbled out of the deep of Kisame's throat.
Itachi watched him with dead eyes. The only part of him shaking now was his soul, but his skin was paler than either rouge shinobi was accustomed to, as unfamiliar as they were with one another.
This fear crawling all over my skin, Itachi thought with a curious emotion, I had…almost…forgotten. No. I will never feel this again. My life is not in anyone else's hands but Sasuke's.
Itachi stood from his place on the rock and began to walk toward headquarters without acknowledging Kisame. The newly revealed Akatsuki, however, fell in tow with the somber Uchiha. The two walked in silence, fresh partners by an unspoken agreement. Fearlessly, Itachi Uchiha traveled through these quiet forests, across green mountains, and never once felt afraid for his life.
After all, fear was a naturally alien emotion to the Uchiha, who did not believe in the lies and folly of man.
Author's Note: I just really wanted to write something with Itachi, and this scene caught my attention when I watched it. The idea just sort of popped into my head. I hope you enjoyed!