Sorry about where the last chapter left off. Things generally get worse before they get better. Song this round was I Want to Know from the Kill la Kill soundtrack. Kind of a short chapter.

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Hinata, Naruto, and Kakashi sat around Hinata's table, staring at each other without a word. What could one say after the things they read. The Uchiha and the Senju... the formation of the village and the tension between Hashirama and Madara... the truth behind the Uchiha massacre... There were so many things swimming through their minds.

Kakashi was the first to speak up, his single exposed eye downcast, "I guess we can safely assume now why Shizune didn't want to be caught with these." He lifted the folder for a brief moment before letting it drop to the table again.

Hinata swallowed a bit and nodded, feeling more tired than ever under the stress, "This is a lot to take in... I can't belie-"

Naruto's fist came down hard on the table, making both Hinata and Kakashi jump a bit, "I can't believe the elders were lying all this time about this!"

Hinata put a hand on his shoulder, grimacing at the loud noise, "N-Naruto... please..."

The three seemed to give a sigh in unison before the room fell into silence. Naruto was the first to break it, of course, getting uncomfortable, "I wonder where Sakura and Ino went."

Kakashi stood up slowly, tucking the folder of documents into his vest, "I'd leave them alone. They both seemed rather determined." To be perfectly honest, he planned to check on that development himself, but he knew there was a low chance of Naruto being covert about it and Hinata looked ready to collapse on the spot from exhaustion.

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It was three days since that night. Itachi had been less than cooperative and a little over twenty-four hours after Sakura last spoke to Itachi, his execution was announced.

Sakura had been restless since that night. Truthfully, she didn't know what to think of him. Lies. Lies on both sides and it was so hard to distrust both sides when she wanted to trust them so badly.

Her village was her village. She didn't want to believe they'd lied about so many key points. She'd been living for her village, the same as he had. She wanted to have unerring faith in them.

But, she didn't want to distrust him either. He'd lied to her just as badly, if not worse. He'd erased memories, even. She couldn't shake what Naruto had said the other night specifically, though. That he had every opportunity to get Naruto and yet never did. There had to be a reason.

Regardless, by the time the third day rolled around, she had a determined expression on her face. Despite everything, he deserved to have someone there. He needed her there at the end. That's what she told herself.

She looked at her watch and saw that it would be happening soon, heading out to the execution grounds. Things were about to get a lot more stressful.

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Itachi was chained in his cell like usual, awaiting his fate. It was strange. He'd always thought this moment would bring him some sort of peace. Granted, he'd really wanted Sasuke to be the one to kill him, but that plan had backfired horribly. In making his brother the avenger of their clan, he'd set him on a path to become quite cold and bloodthirsty. In truth, had he given the situation more thought back then, he might have parted with different words to his little brother. Words to encourage him, not isolate him. Words that would serve Sasuke's best interests, rather than selfish words spoken out of a desperate need to atone for his sins.

Thus why he couldn't let Sasuke kill him in the end. He wanted it and his body had screamed with all its might to just let it go, to let it end. But, he couldn't just leave Sasuke like that. He couldn't let him get his revenge in his current state. He'd never go back.

Itachi had been right, too. Sasuke didn't return, even after he thought himself the victor. Itachi had started dropping breadcrumbs in the hopes that Sasuke wouldn't do something stupid like kill himself when it was over. He also hoped that, in light of his failures, maybe he'd turn to his friends for aid this time. It was a sad, pathetic hope, but it was one of the few things he had left.

In light of his realization that he didn't want Sasuke to kill him as he was, he would think that dying as a martyr for the sake of the village would work out, too. Strangely, it didn't help. He felt regret and resentment. He couldn't help but wish and hope for things far outside his reach. Things he didn't deserve but desired with all his might. He closed his eyes tightly to try to block out the images, but they sprung up worse than ever in the darkness of his eyelids. Brilliant green eyes and a soft smile. Her face in rest, eyelashes pressed to her cheeks and lips slightly parted as she dreamed. Her body arced gracefully as her fist connected with her opponent. He felt irritation in his eyes, insisting to his brain that it was merely the rather rough contacts they used to suppress his sharingan.

He didn't have to mind it much longer. Soon it would all end and he'd be devoid of sensation. His touch, his taste, his smell... smell?

His eyes opened slowly, not having paid enough attention to realize there was a different smell in his cell. It was extremely faint but he couldn't help but look behind him. His eyes traveled up to the tiny, barred window at the very top of the wall. He was barely able to see over the windowsill, finding a small potted plant up there, small white and pink blossoms sprouting among its leaves.

He sat there for a few minutes simply staring at the plant, as if his next blink would cause it to vanish. He finally turned his head away after a moment, his voice barely a whisper, "Fool..." After everything he said to her, she'd still...

He heard footsteps approaching, cutting off his thoughts. It was time, it seemed. He didn't know how to feel about the flowers. On one hand, they gave him a sort of peace. As if she'd found a silent way to show him some sort of forgiveness. On the other hand, his chest ached for her even more strongly, making him that much more regretful that his next step outside would be his last.

He followed after Ibiki, flanked by several shinobi on all sides as he was brought to the execution platform. His eyes were barely open, lightly running over the people who had showed up for his execution. A lot more than he'd expected. He almost wanted to laugh at the hatred shown there. Of course they should hate him. It was just surprising that so many would come. His eyes were only scanning for one person, though.

He thought maybe she hadn't come, until his eyes caught the light reflecting in a pair of emerald eyes, his breath halting in his chest. The two stared at one another for a good while, ignorant to the world even as Ibiki started reading off his charges for everyone to hear.

He once again found himself in that frustrating place where he simply didn't know what he wanted. In a weird rush of irrational thought, he couldn't help but wonder if he should call out to her. To tell her he was truly sorry, to say he loved her. He realized, though, that such a thing might only make it more difficult for her to let go. It was the reason he'd been so cold to her in the first place. The reason he wanted her to believe he used her. He wanted, now more than ever, for her to hate him to her very core. Because as selfish as he was, as much as he desired her love, he couldn't bear the thought of causing her that pain.

His shoulder was grabbed suddenly and he was pushed roughly to his knees, realizing with a sudden jolt that the time had come. Obsidian eyes narrowed coldly toward green ones in an attempt to ward her off one last time, but the response he got was her eyes narrowing in kind, not in hate but determination.

Then suddenly, chaos. There was an explosion from the nearby walls, a blade of lightning piercing through and slicing the thick stone like nothing. His eyes caught sight of two men and a woman... and between them...

"Sasuke!" Naruto's voice rang above everyone else's panicked shouts, but Sasuke didn't bother to look in his direction. All of his attention, all of his hate and malice, was directed at the man about to be executed. Killed, by someone's hands that weren't his. No, Itachi was his! He was the one that was supposed to take his brother's life.

Many shinobi tried to take down Sasuke but his partners seemed more than capable, keeping the shinobi at bay as Sasuke made his way through the crowd toward Itachi.

No... this wasn't the way Itachi wanted it. He wanted his brother to be a hero of the village, not to be the same kind of villain he had been. He gritted his teeth, unable to go anywhere under the bindings holding him, Ibiki's strong grip still keeping him in place.

At least, it had been. He had to release Itachi when he realized that not a whole lot stood between him and Sasuke at this point. Granted, letting Sasuke kill a condemned man wouldn't be too bad, but Sasuke himself was a criminal and he wasn't about to condone vigilante behavior, not even from someone as young as Sasuke.

The bigger one of Sasuke's partners, the one with orange hair, got into the fray, too. Things got hairy after that, Ibiki finding himself pushed back, much to his surprise. Before he could raise his chakra and get serious the one with sharp teeth was upon him, too. Was that sword Hoshigaki Kisame's?

In the time Ibiki was distracted, Sasuke took that time to break off, heading for Itachi with his sword raised, lightning crackling around the blade. Their eyes locked, one set full of sadness and the other full of hatred. Time seemed to slow for Itachi. He could see the shinobi spread about, not dead but unable to fight. Ibiki was still being pinned down by two of Sasuke's partners. He could see the Hyuuga that was always with Ibiki jumping into the fight to help. In another direction, he could see the hokage and her aid trying to approach to control the situation. They were very late, however, and too far to make a difference at this stage.

In his last moments, his eyes scanned desperately. Just once more... once more, he wanted to see her.. to see those eyes... just once, he prayed...

He got his wish. And, in that endless moment, he found himself praying in his head, screaming that he didn't mean it. That he didn't want to see her.

Because in a thousand years, never would he have asked to see her one last time if it meant like this. If it meant her body hunched over his, her green eyes open in shock and pain as they gazed down at him. Blood ran from the corner of her mouth and from her chest, the lightning blade piercing her so that he could see the tip exiting where her heart should be.

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