Itachi has always been the prodigy; the heart, soul, and pride of the Uchiha clan.

Everyone can list off his accomplishments: graduated from the Academy when he was 7, mastered the Sharingan at 8 years old, became a Chuunin at 10, and became ANBU Captain at 13. And that's only the beginning of his life.

Everytime he enters the Uchiha compound, people greet him and compliment him on a job well done on whatever mission he had just completed.

Even Fugaku, his usually emotionless father, praises him and tells him how proud he is of him.

He is recognized, even at a young age, as being one of Konoha's most powerful shinobi.

He is destined for greatness, they say. Perhaps he may even be one of the next Sannin.

Even with all this attention and praise, Itachi does not feel happy in the least.

He knows the time is coming when he will have to choose between his family and his village; to test what matters more to him – loyalty to his family or loyalty to his village. Either way, he'll be marked as a traitor.

So when Itachi makes the decision to turn his back on his family, he keeps his emotions in check and almost has no regrets. Almost.

He doesn't regret mercilessly slaying his distant relatives, slicing their bodies in half and sometimes thirds with his ANBU-commissioned katana; after all, they just used their connections to him to boost their social statuses.

He doesn't regret stabbing his father, time after time after time, until his father's body resembled a training post that had been used for target practice. After all, he had always neglected his second son, who he didn't seem to give a damn about.

He doesn't regret breaking every bone in his mother's body, and he doesn't know why.

But when he turns to face the sound of Sasuke, with tears streaming down his cherub face, asking – no, demanding to know why Itachi had done this, Itachi feels himself regretting ever taking this mission in the first place.

Itachi knows he can't tell Sasuke why – "Sasuke, our clan was planning a coup'd etat so I was given orders by the village to stop it, and I had to kill our entire family" – Itachi knows that Sasuke won't even comprehend what he's saying – so he says the next best thing that comes to his mind.

"Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way, run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me."

And Itachi left; he left Sasuke wailing and wondering why his wonderful, caring nii-san would do something like this.

So when they finally face off, and when waves of hatred, anger and power roll off of Sasuke, showing Itachi how strong he has become, Itachi smiles. This time, Itachi is proud of Sasuke, and feels no regrets when he dies. Itachi dies at the hand of his brother with a smile on his face.

A/N: Yes, it is true; Itachi dies! D:
So for anyone who didn't get what I was writing about when I said that Itachi was given orders by Konoha to kill his clan, it goes like this: the Uchiha clan was planning a coup'd etat, and Konoha was trying to stop it. However, the Uchiha wouldn't stop, so eventually, Itachi was given the task of completely wiping out the Uchiha clan. He saved Sasuke because he loved him too much to kill him (awww...), and lied to Sasuke so that Sasuke would have a reason to become powerful. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? See, I always knew Itachi was a good person xD.

And if I just spoiled the manga for you guys, I'm sorry D: But on the bright side, I just saved you the trouble of reading through an extra chapter in the manga! Lame excuse, I know.

If anyone else has read those particular manga chapters (forgot which ones), isn't it heartbreaking how Sasuke keeps trying to deny that Itachi's actually a good person, and it takes forever for Sasuke to finally acknowledge that his brother loves him? Oh Sasuke, you stupid boy. I never liked you anyway.

xyingniex

P.S. I may have given myself a bit too much creative freedom with the ways that Itachi killed his clan - I'm pretty sure that Itachi only used kunai & shuriken to kill his family members, and I know I'm kind of making the Uchiha clan seem like a whole bunch of bad people, but hey, tell me what you think. ;)