Underneath the underneath

It was like this every night. He knew she was watching but he couldn't help it. What was he supposed to do. When the darkness falls and the village settles down, the nightmares come. Could he even classify them as nightmares. He saw them whether he was awake or sleeping. The moment his mind stilled, the images attacked, swift and mercilessly.

Blood smears on walls, lifeless bodies everywhere. Sometimes they weren't lifeless, sometimes they were tortured figures asking him to help them. Other times they were angry demons asking him why their murderer still lived. They didn't have to say it though, the thought already ran through his head daily, why did the monster still walk freely while they suffered in kami only knows what kind of other worldly eternity. Shinobi killed for a living, do ninja even have a lord that looks past their physical deeds to rightfully judge character. Though when he thought about his father he wasn't even sure if that would even matter. Uchiha is a hard family to live in, but they are his family.. were his family. Now instead of smiling faces, and happy moments that should fill his thoughts with wonderful memories to soothe the grief, all he saw, all he remembered was rotting bodies, blood and flesh smeared on walls, faces twisted in pain and fear. The worst ones were the ones who didn't resemble gruesome death the ones who merely looked peaceful, the ones who seemed to be caught in the middle of greeting and old friend. His fist clenched at the thought causing his knuckles to turn a ghostly white.

They were greeting a friend, damn-it.

The doors slid open with a loud thud. Sasuke jerked out of his thoughts, kunai at the defensive, eyes of black cold steel.

"I grow exceedingly tired of this Sasuke," she said, his aunt still masked in darkness. "I have waited for you to come to me. Stupid, I see that now. Stubborn Uchiha." as if she wasn't one herself.

He clenched his teeth but didn't lower his weapon, he didn't know why. She quirked her eyebrow noticing the refusal.

"I have no idea what your babbling about" he conceded icily, finally slipping his weapon back underneath his pillow.

Her eyes flashed red testily. He gulped slowly, weary of any sudden movements from the usually stable minded aunt. Who knows what she was capable of when on the cusp of anger. He had known her for five years and never mentioned a peep about the night terrors, before now. Admittedly she always had a cup of soothing tea for him the next morning, or when sleep deprivation began to show its ugly head every week or so, on regular intervals, he would notice her making him tea before he went to bed. Always ordering him to drink it no matter how much he protested, she would always watch him drink every drop. He would sleep dreamlessly after that sometimes for a whole day. But she never said a peep, obviously she was just as stubborn as he, waiting so long for him to come to her was ridiculous. Then again, she was an Uchiha.

"It's time lets go,"

And just like that she was gone. He scrambled out of bed and outdoors quickly, stopping only briefly to slip on his shoes. Sasuke stared down the streets, not knowing which way to go. He let his feet do the leading.

I refuse to be a coward. He wasn't scared. The streets were dark, foreboding even. But he knew they were abandoned. The thought made him angry. Of course they were abandoned. He wasn't fool enough to think anyone would dare step inside the compound, at least after dark. Stupid superstitious villagers. The boogey-man had already reeked his havoc, what more would he want from this sad little place. Nothing.

Sasuke's eyes widened. He was suddenly standing in front of the Uchiha mausoleum. His throat went dry. His heart seemed to stop and squeeze itself painfully. He had visited this place so much that the very path was embedded into his muscle memory. When he had nowhere else to turn even in death he sought out his parents.

How sad. Itachi's voice drifted into his head without warning.

"They are still with you Sasuke, in your blood, and in your heart." the soft whisper of his aunts voice filled the still air.

"It's not the same" he replied the tears evident in his voice instead of his eyes.

She looked at him. Her eyes curling with sadness. She could see the grief in him was eating him away, steadily eroding his every feeling.

"In time it'll be enough."

"humph" she could feel his eyes roll, "you don't understand..." he could feel the frustration.

"What don't I understand Sasuke, tell me." Kamiko's eyes gazed intently at the multitude of headstones. "My nephew, killed my clan, my family. I thought I wouldn't care if anything happened to the clan of imbeciles who treated me like something the cat dragged inside," Kamiko's voice cracking with every word, "but I want to cry so much at times but I can't. I can't bring myself to cry, They would just hate me more for showing such weak emotions. But Sasuke I'm so numb, I can't take it sometimes." she was kneeling looking into his eyes.

Sasuke was confused. All the emotions swimming so freely in his aunts eyes. She had seemed so unaffected by the massacre, he had thought she didn't care at all, why would she, they all had abandoned her. She was gripping his shoulder painfully, like she was finally releasing something that was held in too long.

"I'm here Sasuke, for you nephew. I suffer with you. Don't let what he said destroy you, I can see it, all the vengeance in you, pint up waiting. He's in your head, poisoning you and your letting him" her voice rang to true.

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.

Sasuke knew who he was. Itachi's last words still rang dangerously clear in his mind.

"oba-chan," Sasuke murmured lightly. "I want vengeance, I want to honor my family by destroying he who destroyed them."

Kamiko sighed loudly dropping her head down as she stood up. "and what will you do after that?"

"What?" the question caught him off guard. Sasuke had never thought of anything else besides vengeance for his once great clan.

"You, who has thought of nothing but the demise of your brother. You who has seen our peoples deaths, refuse to acknowledge their lives. Tell me, where is the honor in that" Kamiko turned away from Sasuke, and gazed at the headstones around them."Look at them Sasuke," Kamiko flung her hands around gesturing at the sea of gravestones. "Do you think they would enjoy watching you walk the path Itachi has laid down for you, and in their name no less."

"You want Itachi to live, you want that monster to walk the ground our family lays here buried under." he spit out.

"No, Sasuke," Kamiko replied softly, "I want you to just realize that the world will bring Itachi back to pay for his crimes, and by the hand of kami himself he will be put down by our blades, but we will not go seeking him, you need to honor your family name here," Kamiko placed a hand gently above his heart, " by just living your life, becoming a great shinobi that brings honor to our family for we are all that is left. Let the pain of their passing go, but hold tight to their good memories Sasuke remember them as they were in this world, not how they left."

Sasuke let the words of his Aunt sink in for a moment before he brushed her hand off, and walked past her, pausing for a second.

"I'll try," and he continued to walk back through the deserted streets of the Uchiha Compound.

A/N: Please review.