Dear Baby Brother,
Are you feeling okay? Let me feel your forehead. Your skin is burning up. You're mumbling something to me about a headache.
I'll get you some water. There isn't much right now, around four quarts, but at least it's cool enough. Which reminds me that I will have to refill our water supply.
Sit up slowly. I'm supporting you, you're moaning...tiny sips, we can't have you throwing up on an empty stomach...there you go, now lie down slowly. Fluffing your pillow and tucking you in. You definitely have a fever and a migraine. It's probably just dehydration. It could be nothing, but I won't take any chances.
Don't worry, you'll be fine. For now, just go back to sleep and get better. I'll go get some more water...and breakfast.
I'll find some more medicine. Maybe if I catch ten rabbits, or a deer, I can trade for aspirin.
It should be enough.
...
You're getting worse. Your breaths are raspy and your pulse is slow. I keep giving you more water, to drink and wipe your skin with a wet towel, but you continue to burn up. You keep coughing, throwing up whatever I give you, and you're saying you feel sore all over.
It's been a week. I'm really worried now.
You definitely have influenza, and it's gotten pretty bad.
It's probably from outside exposure. Living inside a basement for most of your life, almost free of all germs, and then I let you outside to roam with me years later...you were bound to get sick eventually, and you haven't even had a flu shot.
This is all my fault. If I had been brave enough to let you out earlier, even if just for an hour or two, this probably wouldn't have happened! Or maybe it still would. I don't know. I don't know anything anymore! I just need you to get better. You need to get better, Sasuke. You can fight this.
I'm going need more water. Lots of it. And aspirin. We're already out of those pain killers. Not that there was much to begin with. The medics would only give me five tablets from the trade, and they're not even working! But I can't leave you now. I'm holding you in my lap, rocking you and wiping your skin with water. You're soaked. I'm brushing hair from your face and you're heaving up violent coughs.
It's getting hard for you to breathe. Your eyes are glazed.
You're hyperventilating. Sasuke, calm down! Slow breaths, slow breaths! I'm right here.
You're whispering something. What are you saying? I lean over to listen.
You're...you saying mama. You're calling out for mother. My heart just shattered. I wish that mother was here instead of me, Sasuke. I really do, but...
Wait, if you are seeing her now, while having no memory of her...
Oh gods, help me. This is worse than I thought. Stay with me, Sasuke. You can't give up.
You grow limp in my arms. I shout your name and feel your pulse. You passed out. I'm trying not to panic.
We need help now. I know where to get it, but I was hoping that it wouldn't come to it. But I'm desperate now. If we don't find help, or proper medical treatment, you could die.
I gathered my weapons. I'm wrapping you up in blankets and picking you up. We're going out and we need to hurry.
Stay with me, Sasuke.
...
Don't worry, Sasuke. Your big brother is here to look after you. I promise that I will do whatever it takes to get you better.
Carrying you around the village while trying to avoid outsiders was a challenge, dodging around corners to stay hidden until the infected have passed by, taking the trip longer than it should have been. My arms were full of you, wrapped up in blankets. You were shivering as though cold, even though you were burning up. I press my lips to your forehead to keep checking your temperature. Your breathing rasped against my neck, dry and short. I guess I should have brought a canteen of cold water instead of just my weapons. I could only use one hand to draw my weapons while I'm carrying you, but even that would have made my chances of fighting them off more difficult.
It was good thing you were still small, but you're still getting heavier. But either way, I wasn't going to put you down until I reached the medics. I just really hope that they will agree to help you.
Right now we're hiding a public trash bin. Unfortunately I had to close the top block off our scent from outsiders, but now I'm worried that the putrid stink and stuffiness in here will suffocate us both before we reach the hospital. Don't worry, there's a crack in the corner of the lid that is making it easier to breathe, and also providing a little light for me to write. I can still hear the outsiders crawling around the alleys, but if we keep still, they won't bother to look for us in here. We just have to wait them out for now. You being asleep in my lap should make it easier, but I have to keep checking your breathing every couple of minutes. The stench is also making me a little sleepy, too.
How the hell did we, former highborn heirs of our clan, end up in a place for garbage? I guess its just me: my life was never that lucky to begin with. It is even said that my very name is tabooed.
There were places in the entire village where all the surviving villagers have sheltered (besides places like our basement): there was the Hokage monument, the Hokage building, and the Konoha Hospital, the most secure places in the entire village. There was also the Foundation, run by Danzo, but that didn't count since no citizen or ninja besides an ANBU or council member were granted access. I wonder what secrets the Foundation were holding that would keep the rest of the villagers out. Captured outsiders, maybe? It was very likely since the stadium is currently filled with ensnared outsiders, guarded daily by the ANBU black-ops themselves on top of the walls.
I intend to find out one day, and I'll even tell you about it. I'll tell you everything. It will be good for you to know so that in case you get a little too adventurous. Not that I would ever let you walk blindly into danger, foolish little brother.
Oh, I have to go now. I think the outsiders have gone. Just keep breathing, Sasuke. Keep breathing for me. We're almost there.
...
We made it. Finally. But we have to hurry before the outsiders come by. I lay you against the wall before knocking loudly, keeping my hood up. It's always been that way, hiding my face when trading for medicine.
But I don't have trade with me. No kill or material for an exchange, and the people inside the building are suspicious enough as it is.
A man answers me through the peephole, and I pick you back up, all bundled up. I tell them you are very sick, that the aspirin they gave me did not work, and plead for assistance.
The male medic demands for trade, and by the rasp in his voice, it looks like there are trouble going on inside. I tell him that next time I will bring game if they would just help you, but he interrupts me harshly, saying that they're hands are already full at this given time and will not take in strangers.
"Get lost!" he snaps, before shutting the peephole with a click.
Anger and desperate, I lose my calm and started pounding on the heavy metal door with my foot. "Please, my brother is sick!" I yell. "He needs more medicine! He might die! I'll give you anything you want! I double the meat the next time I come!"
The peephole reopens, and an angry dark eye peers back down at me. "Look, kid, we had an agreement on this! You get game, and we give medicine! We don't take in strangers from the world of outsiders, so you should have thought of hiding yourself among the people then in solitude when this godsdamn disease began!"
"No, please! My brother-"
"Kid, if your brother is that sick, then for all I know the air could've gotten to him! He's probably infected! You could be infected, as well!"
As far as I knew, the so-called medic's words were ridiculous. The air may be polluted enough the diminish our chakra, but it was not strong enough to turn anyone into an outsider for merely breathing into it. Only a bite can do that.
"It's a flu, not an infection! You can't make conclusions unless you check on him!" I shouted angrily, not caring that the outsiders will hear me and will probably be coming to find my voice. I could not believe what I was hearing. "Isn't that what medics are for, to examine and heal everyone, even your enemy?!"
"This is a different world, kid! It's not about determining the good and the bad anymore! We have too many injured and sick ninja taking over the corridors from similar purposes that might not survive, and we might even have to put them out of their misery! My advice is that you do the same to your brother. It would be a kindness. Now get out of here before the outsiders come!"
The peephole shut again, along with my hope of convincing them, while I panicked and shouted desperately in vain, "No, wait, come back! Please! I'll do anything!"
The medic didn't come back. I was helpless. If I had all my power back, I would have been able to break down the door, one way or another.
"'Tachi..." you mumble, stirring in my arms and burying your little face into my shoulder. The intense heat radiated from your skin, burning from your dehydration. You hacked up coughs, and I held you closer, trying to keep the despair off my face.
There was only one more place I could go to, one last chance of saving you. To the only person who still had power over the people of the village, even in these desperate times.
The third Hokage.
The outsiders that heard my screaming had come around the corner into the alley, but I had already slipped away before they would find me.
Running down the streets to the Hokage building, I could only hope that the elder still had a straight mind, because finding a sane and decent person was hard to find nowadays. The medic I had just argued with was proof of that.
If not, then I was already working up a plan. In this world, in order to gain something of high value, you had to give something in return. I already knew what the Hokage and the council of elders wanted, and had for quite a long while.
Me. Itachi Uchiha, the clan prodigee and one of its remaining survivors. They wanted my service.
If its me they want, in exchange for convincing the medics to heal you, then I'll do it.
To be honest, I'm dreading it...but what choice do I have?
...
They have agreed to it.
Right now you are being tended in the infirmary, and I'm currently sitting next to you in our futon. They mixed the right herbs to make the right medicine, kept replacing ice on your skin until your fever goes down, and I have to keep giving you sips of water to stay hydrated. You're still coughing, but the medics say that you'll be fine in no more than a week. They're even giving us more medicine before I can take us both back to the basement.
You have no idea how relieved I am to see your health improving, even if it's slow, but you'll be fine.
But our life is going to be more difficult from now on. In exchange for your health, I made a deal with the Hokage, like I mentioned before. I had made it to the building while shaking off outsiders, but was instantly surrounded by ANBU. I surrendered, but refused to let them take you. They took us to Lord Third and the council of elders, which were in the meeting room with other surviving leader of different clans, though there weren't many left.
They were suspicious of us, which was expected, but I could still feel you shivering and coughing in my arms as I fell to my knees and bowed low before Lord Third, begging that they would help you. I begged for your life, and even offered to do anything in exchange for their help. Right then and there, I offered what they would have wanted from me at the start: my service to carry out missions for ANBU and the village, if only they would give you medicine and allow me to take you away into hiding once you were better.
Like the medic from before, most of them suspected they you were bitten by an outsider. Lord Danzo even suggested to the Hokage that you should be put out of your misery and have Root members take me into custody. It took everything I had not to snarl at him like some crazed animal, because that would have definitely sealed our fate. Whatever happened, if they didn't agree to my offer, I wouldn't have let them touch you, but being surrounded by more ninjas much older than both of us combined had lessened any chance of escaping unscathed.
Fortunately, Lord Hokage seemed to look at you with gentle pity and dismissed Danzo's statements, instead suggesting that they first check you for any outsider bites before continuing any negotiations. If you had been bitten, then they would follow along with Danzo's plan...but if not, they'll agree to listen with what I have to say.
Letting them search you was sickening, but I was thankful that we did it in the interrogation room. They summoned a female medic named Shizune, who had once been a follower of the famous Lady Tsunade, a legendary sannin and best medic in the world. She had been gentle with you, feeling for any bite marks while I was the one who unclothed you. The Hokage and Danzo had to be there as witnesses. Once it was proven that you weren't bitten, there was this sense of relief in the air and the Hokage ordered Shizune to take you into a separate room where she can examine you, but I had been forced to remain with the Hokage and Danzo during that time to discuss the matters of our bargain.
I guess to put it shortly, I am now part of ANBU units, and in payment for my services, the Hokage agreed to provide needed supplies like food and medicine. Danzo protested at this, saying that you and I should remain under close surveillance within the organization, that we couldn't be trusted. Even Lord Third asked me for a reason to be trusted, and I swore on the honor of the Uchiha that he can trust me. Lord Third seemed to accept this, maybe a little relucatantly, while Danzo didn't seem the least convinced. It seemed like they didn't really value the word of an Uchiha lately, though I didn't really see a reason why.
Either way, the deal was made and all we can do now is see how long it will hold. Break it, and we'll be hunted down for treason against the village. Whatever happens, I can't screw this up.
I have been given my gear, my mask, and my weapons. And when you get better, the Hokage has agreed with my plea to let me take you "back to where we came from," because I didn't trust anyone else around you. I especially don't trust that Danzo wouldn't strike at the first opportunity to hold you for ransom in order to control me, no matter what the Hokage orders, and I would do it without hesitation.
I'll be starting as an ANBU agent as soon as I'm able, when you're better and safe in the security of the basement, where no one can reach you. I'll be going on missions from now on, so you won't be seeing me as much, but I will never leave you, Sasuke. If the deal stands, they'll keep giving me supplies in exchange for value of my service, so I better make it worthwhile. I plan to tell you this once your flu goes away, and I'm already dreading your reaction.
I'm still not sure if I have made the right decision, but I don't regret going through with it if it would help you. You can take care of yourself, Sasuke. I know you can. I'm so terrified of this new arrangement, that when I'm away, something terrible would happen to you. Or that something would happen to me and that would leave you alone to suffer in this miserable world.
I guess I'm going to have to put my faith in your abilities to survive. I hope my lessons taught you enough. But for now, get better and we'll see where this leads us.
I really hope you'll forgive me for this, little brother.
Love,
Your big brother Itachi
Sorry for the wait, but college barely gives me time to think outside the work zone.
Hope you liked this!