He was so difficult.
Itachi was so -strange-. He did things seemingly for no reason at all-but as Sakura learned, he had a reason for -everything-. She knew. She had asked.
"Why did you destroy that house?" "Why did you kill so-and-so?" "Why did you kidnap me?"
Of course he had reasons. "I was ordered to." "He was a threat." and "I needed information." respectively. He had the answers. He could answer -everything-, and not just questions about himself. Questions about his partner, questions about the Akatsuki, random trivia about whatever village they were passing through...
It pissed her off. She wanted to see him stumped. She wanted him to admit he didnt know. At least a "that's classified" wouldve been enough for her... So she kept asking, and he kept answering.
The first time he said it it caught her by surprise.
She had been shooting difficult questions his way, mostly about the Akatsuki, and gotten frustrated. She snapped "Why do you always answer my questions?"
"Because I can."
Two seconds later she decided he was just being an ass and ignored it.
Regardless, she was running out of questions.
She wasnt expecting him to start saying it so often.
She stopped asking about the Akatsuki's darkest secrets, since it turned out they didnt really have any, but she never stopped asking him questions. And with just a few exceptions, his answer was the same for all of them. "Because I can."
"Why do you put money on the counter even when you just killed the cashier?" "Why do you stir your tea counter-clockwise?" "Why do you visit every pet shop in every town we pass through?"
"Because I can."
That frustrated her even more than when he had been honestly answering her. Because, obviously he didnt have any reason at all, he just wanted to answer her.
It drove her crazy. Even questions that by all logic shouldve had reasons, good ones that were easy to explain. Like "Why do you erase your tracks when you're doing errands, but not when you're on a mission?" "Why do you change this move in the fourth dragon form?" "Why do you still keep me here?" "Why do you help me train?" "Why do you do this and this different from every other ninja?" The answer was still always the same.
Then again, she realized, her questions had changed. Instead of "Why did you", most of her more recent questions started "Why do you". So she asked another.
"Why did you kill your family?"
He didnt answer.
Thinking he hadnt heard, she looked at him and was about to repeat herself, when she saw the look on his face.
Oh, he had definitely heard her.
"Itachi...?"
His eyes looked glazed over, like he was looking past her; like he was seeing something else where she stood.
She stepped back. She shouldnt have asked that. That was...
"Because I could." he answered.
And she understood this time.
A/N
So like, apparently I wrote this a while ago. O_o and never posted it.
Anyways. In case this is confusing,
what he means is "To prove I could."
Kinda like what he told to Sasuke at the beginning, only with a more...pro-Itachi connotation.
So yeah, I guess this is AU. An AU where Itachi was telling the truth to Sasuke...and yet isnt a bad guy.