It is undeniable to the majority of those who have met them that the limits of their ability to pretend cease to exist. Just as bitterly unavoidable as the traits that mark them as their parent's sons, it is a distinct disruption of each of their goals that their imaginations go beyond their holding. As Itachi is indecisive whether he prefers death or power and Sasuke over his own choices of family or revenge, they are constantly distracted by their subconscious which has already chosen which path to tread.

It is unmistakably a futile try to regain the situation, because Itachi's power and Sasuke's hatred has been blended to the point it is as much a bodily function as their skins (as much as they were shed, they remain as a literal reminder of their humanity so their souls will not escape their bones in a mistake they both fear that somehow their rapidly decreasing minds will be tricked with death before it is time to die).

Therefore, sanity is a small part of their lives and the insanity becomes a clever piece that is perfectly aware of how any man with judgment would behave. They, despite their own roughly prodded fingers in each other's directions, have only made one mistake in their lives, and that was underestimating the true brilliance of delirium.

They will, years later, admit to the fact that it was not hatred or power or lust of both that caused their mind's to shift in state so unwittingly, but the mixture within their genetics of Mikoto's anxiety and Fugaku's stern air. And yet, they believe it is somehow not factors of their madness. To Itachi, people who have died beneath his own hands have no effect on him in their graves, and to Sasuke, a clan that has stayed more sane then they were even at their births couldn't possibly cause them to function at such states as their own. To Sasuke, his family was perfectly right minded, and to Itachi even if they weren't they were already dead.

The conclusion that is claiming the responsibility to their own selves is little other than impossible, but still utterly wholesome in its truth. And it has almost become acceptable to them.

Therefore, when Itachi fades into the brother he used to be Sasuke can convince himself past the truth while wrapped in a lie- that Itachi was simply trying to hurt him more in the end. And when Sasuke whispers names in a Mangekyou induced sleep, Itachi is able to pretend that it is only the mindless babbling of an unconscious state. They meet at the end with their lips pressed together, anything other than accidental, and somehow they can pretend it was perfect.

AN: So I was trying to write a birthday fic for LucyMonostone, mmkay? And this was supposed to be Ita/Kaka/Sasu like she asked for, right? And then it kind of…melted. And I'm only posting this to rebel against my stubborn mind, whom of which is still claiming that every single piece of the above one-shot is absolute crap. And probably is, I won't deny it that, but I will try every damn way on the face of the universe to get out of this month long writer's block or my name isn't Tobi Siskin. Damn tootin'. I WILL get LucyMonostone's birthday fic out in time, I will, I will, I will. Err…Hopefully. But if you liked this, or any other of my stories listed, please review. It makes me happy.

Summary: Through it all, they can pretend everything will work out in the end.

REVIEW PLEASE!!!

And…The filler arc of the Naruto anime will end?)