Chapter 10

"You found me. How?" Sasuke asked. He had stopped in the middle of the road on the way to Orochimaru's hideout or at least he presumed as much since his curse mark seemed to be leading him in that direction.

Suddenly he felt the pain of it sear through his body and he fell to his knees. The curse mark was throbbing. The pain would ease once he made his way forward again. He slowly got to his feet and began moving towards his destination. He wouldn't fight it. Orochimaru promised him strength and revenge. He would avenge his clan through Orochimaru.

A shadow shimmered in front of him and enveloped his tired worn out body. "I will always find you, little brother. It's time we went home."

"Home." It hurt to smile but Sasuke did anyway. It sounded so good, so nice. He must be dreaming, he thought suddenly and tried to wake up. He had to get somewhere, but where? He thought. His mind was muddled.

"Shhh. Don't fight it." Came the voice once more. He felt cool lips on his fevered brow and darkness claimed him.

::

The dream again had awoken Sasuke up early this morning. No manner how much he tried, he couldn't remember the exact details of it, only the feeling of urgency that he had to get somewhere quickly. He knew that sleep would be impossible now that he was awake. He decided to get up and take a walk. The river near their cottage drew his attention. He picked up a pebble and threw it across the surface of the water. He watched it as it skipped, one, two and then plop.

"Looks like the fishing is no good today." A voice observed through the morning mist from further up the riverbank. His brother Itachi came towards him.

"Another dream?" He asked, peering closely at Sasuke's face.

"Yes" he answered shaking his head. "I still can't remember the details. Just the feelings of pain and such deep sadness.." Sasuke subconsciously put his hand up to rub the back of his shoulder and shuddered outwardly.

Itachi's eyes narrowed at the gesture. He thumped his brother on the forehead and said, "Don't think so hard on it. Come on, we need to take that harvest to market. No shirking on your duties!'

"Ow!" Sasuke said, now rubbing his forehead. "I hate when you do that!" Then he ran ahead of his brother back to the house. "Race you back!"

Itachi smiled and started to run after his brother. Yes, he was still competitive. It was so embedded in Sasuke's persona that no amount of rewriting history could erase it. As usual though, right before they reached the house, Itachi inched forward.

Itachi turned with a smile on his face and was about to console his little brother when he felt the spasms wrack his lean frame. He started coughing uncontrollably and blood spewed from his mouth.

"Brother!" Sasuke said concerned. He reached over and helped his brother inside their house.

Itachi tried to alleviate the tension in the room by saying, "I guess I should of let you win that one." His lips twitched into a smile before another round of coughing spasms took over.

"We need to get you to a doctor. I heard that they can do miracles in the Konoha village."

Itachi grabbed Sasuke's arm tightly, "Who told you that?" He asked with a sudden intensity.

Sasuke misunderstood his brother's meaning and smiled brightly, "I knew that you would be interested. Yuki, in the village, was telling me all about it. They have a hospital and their Hokage is the best medical specialist in the land. It's not that far away either. We could be there in a few days. Maybe they could do something for you."

Itachi seemed to calm down and patted his brother's arm. "I'm fine. I do not need a doctor. Let's get that hay to the village and get back before the weather starts to turn bad."

"But..." Sasuke said looking at his brother with such worry.

Itachi wiped the blood from his lip with one hand and thumped his brother once more on the forehead with the other as he went by.

"Ugh! Stop doing that!" Sasuke cried out.

"Then get moving!" Itachi called back.

::

Itachi remembered when he first had taken his brother and gone on the run. The curse mark had such a hold on his brother. It was a strong symbiotic relationship. It fed off of Sasuke's fears and in return it gave him the strength that he thought he needed. Neither wanted to give up the other.

The only way to break the bond was to remove the fears. To remove the fears, he would have to block the memories. He only meant to seal them away for a few weeks or so and then start to reintroduce them. However every time he tried to remove the memory blocks, the curse mark would reassert itself.

One night Itachi found Sasuke naked outside in the midst of winter trying to find his way to Orochimaru. That had been the last straw. Sasuke was not strong enough. Itachi didn't know when he ever would be so he sealed away his brother's first twelve years of life. In doing so, Itachi himself felt reborn. He reconnected with his brother in a way that he could never had done without the burdens of the past. Sasuke had no memory of being a shinobi. He had no memories of his past whatsoever. The memories were not gone, just buried deep within his psyche.

They had been happy these past three years living as hay farmers on the outside of a obscure little farming community which bordered the Lands of Fire and Frost. Itachi wished that it could go on forever. However that was not to be….

::

As they made their way to the village, Itachi spied Kisame standing within the shadows of the trees. Kisame was one person that Itachi could not evade. Within a few weeks of being in the village, Kisame had come by to give his regards. He turned out to be a good friend as well as an excellent confidant.

Itachi stopped the wagon and told Sasuke to continue on to the village. Sasuke had seen the strange blue skinned man before. He was a friend of his older brother so he gave Kisame a wave hello. Kisame grinned and returned the greeting.

"Sasuke, I need to speak with my friend. Do you mind continuing towards the village without me?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke shook his head, "No, but I can wait. I don't think that you should not walk too much. Your sickness is getting worse."

Itachi rebuked him, "I'm fine. Go on! I will be there soon, I promise." Itachi hit the ox on the rump and sent it trotting down the road.

Once Saauke was out of sight, Itachi turned to walk over to Kisame.

"Hello, my friend." He greeted him.

Kisame inclined his head and said, "Cute kid. Does he still have no idea who he is?"

Itachi looked at Kisame sternly, "What news have you brought?"

"Tsk. Tsk. Always so impatient. No news which in your case is good news. When are you going to stop this façade and come back to the organization? They're talking about pairing me with Deidara. Deidara! I don't think that he would be long for this world if they did that though which is probably the only thing stopping the order right now."

Itachi gave a slight pained smile in sympathy. Deidara always annoyed him as well. "Would that be such a bad thing, Deidara passing?" He asked seriously.

Kisame started laughing, "I have missed you, my friend." Kisame gazed out at the open countryside before them. "Reconsider this life, Itachi! I know that you think that you are protecting that boy but all you are doing is delaying the inevitable. You will be found and it's best if that boy is trained as an asset instead of a liability. We all know what happens to liabilities." Kisame drew a finger across his throat to emphasize his point.

Itachi's eyes hardened and Kisame put his hands up. "Hey you know that I won't sell you out and those two crispy corpses seemed to convince the world that you and your brother killed each other in an epic fireball. However training that boy to use the gifts that he was given would not hurt either one of you."

"He still doesn't know that he has a Sharingan." Itachi said quietly.

"What?! You told me the last time that you would try to activate it!" Kisame exclaimed.

"I did try, but his Sharingan is somehow tied to his memories. When I tried to activate his gift, I loosened the block that I had in place. He's starting to dream about things from his past." Itachi explained.

"Is that really so bad?" Kisame questioned with a raised brow.

Itachi growled at him and began to pace. Kisame knew that reaction well. He put his hands out to calm his friend, "Okay then can't you just put it back up or something?" He said trying to be helpful.

"It's…not…that…easy!" Itachi bit out. He didn't want Kisame to know that his chakra had waned quite a bit in the last year. In fact he was pretty sure that he was dying. He knew that Kisame was aware of it on some level since Samehada probably would have let him know. However it was not a subject that they spoke about. In the past year, Kisame had been hounding Itachi to train Sasuke.

Kisame replied, "Well you need to do something!"

Itachi sighed, "I know. I will." Then he changed the subject. "How's the hunt for the tailed beasts going?"

Kisame exhaled a painful breath when he said,, "Well Deidara, that bastard, managed to capture the one tailed."

Itachi looked surprised, "I saw his Jinchuriki fight years ago in the Chunin exams. I would have sworn that the boy would have prevailed. That sand defense of his was quite superior."

Kisame nodded, "Yeah I was hoping for the Jinchuriki myself but Deidara took advantage of the Jinchuriki's love for his village. He made him choose between the village and himself." Then Kisame snorted in mirth, "He chose the village. Well we know what that means." He drew his thumb across his neck and shook his head. "You should only live and fight for yourself. Anything else is a burden and will probably get you killed in the end. The one tailed is a perfect case in point!"

"What about you? How was the four tailed?" Itachi inquired.

"Well it would have been a lot easier if you had been there!" Kisame chuckled.

"You wouldn't have let me intervene anyway." Itachi said coolly.

Kisame chuckled again, "You are probably right but I liked knowing that you were there just in case."

Itachi's lips twitched, "Yes I miss those days too, my friend."

"I guess that's my cue to leave. Do something with that boy of yours before it's too late." Kisame advised. He winked out as he teleported away.

Itachi looked at the empty spot and said softly, "I will, my friend. I will."

Itachi sighed and started walking along the road towards the village. He knew that Kisame was right. He was running out of time. He had maybe another year at best, he guessed objectively. He had to make sure that Sasuke was trained. This hiatus in the storm would have to end soon. He was being selfish, he knew. He treasured these memories with his brother. He loved the man that his brother was becoming. He didn't want to face the young boy from long ago.

He entered the village. It was a very busy time because of market day. He waved and greeted fellow farmers and buyers as he went along. He found Sasuke. He had already set out their hay bundles and was talking excitedly with his best friend, Yuki.

Itachi came over to the two boys and greeted them, "What's all the excitement about?" Itachi questioned amicably.

"Yuki here swears he saw some Leaf shinobi come through the village." Sasuke said in disbelief.

"No, for real, man! I recognized them by their headbands." Yuki insisted.

Sasuke snorted. "What would Leaf shinobi be doing in a backwaters place like this?"

Yuki shrugged, "I don't know for sure but I think they were looking for someone. They said Atikus. No, I don't know. Maybe it was Akat. Oh I don't know but they were asking around."

Sasuke shrugged, "Never heard of anyone by that name."

"Yeah me neither." Yuki agreed.

Sasuke turned to his brother and told him about some of the transactions that had occurred while he was away.

Itachi looked at their cart and saw that half of it was gone already. "Yeah Mistress Raina was upset that she missed you." Sasuke wiggled his eyebrows at his older brother to get his meaning across. Itachi smiled a bit back. Raina was a widow that was quite explicit with her advances. She had her eye on the young hay farmer.

"Glad I missed that." Itachi said dryly. The two boys laughed.

"Hey don't forget Farmer Dartha's wife, Vien. She was VERY sad to not see you as well." Yuki piped in.

"I'm VERY sad that I missed her too." Itachi said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Farmer Dartha wasn't!" Sasuke said deadpan and the three shared the joke.

"Okay. Enough making fun. You go off and make the rounds. Sasuke you have the list, right and you know what we need."

"Yep already made a few deals. We'll go pick up the stuff and bring it back. Right Yuki?" Sasuke gave Yuki a playful shove. Yuki decided to play back and said, "Alright!", giving his pal a playful shove back.

"Okay. Go!" Itachi said shooing the exuberant boys away from the cart.

The boys left down the busy market street. Itachi got busy unloading the rest of the bundles. His back was turned when he felt the prickling sense of a genjutsu. He turned slowly and came face to face with a man wearing a leaf headband.

Itachi looked the man over. He didn't recognize him. Itachi had heard that the village was recruiting from the outlying areas so it didn't surprise him. He was even grateful. He really hated killing people if he didn't have to.

"What can I do for you?" Itachi asked warily.

The man flashed him a picture of Kisame. "This man is a known Akatsuki member, a rogue ninja. He's been seen in this part of the country. Do you recognize him?"

Itachi took his time viewing the picture. He could tell that the man was using genjutsu on him to see if he was telling the truth. Itachi let his mind go blank and shook his head, "No. I'd definitely remembering seeing the likes of him around here. Hay? For your horses?" Itachi asked.

The ninja stuck his nose in the air, "I don't have any need for hay!"

"My mistake." Itachi said simply. The man moved along to the next vendor. Funny, thought Itachi, there's usually three. Where are his teammates? Itachi searched the crowd discreetly but the man seemed alone. Very odd indeed, thought Itachi again. His gut was telling him strongly to flee. However his mind knew that to leave after just arriving would seem suspicious.

Within a few hours, Itachi had sold all of his cart. It helped to use a little subtle genjutsu at times like these. A farmer might want two bushels but you suggest three or four and get him to agree. He was just packing up the wagon to go search for Sasuke when he felt the familiar prickle of genjutsu used by that same shinobi from earlier.

Itachi planted a smile on his face and turned to greet the man, "Did you find your man?" Itachi asked. He started steering his ox to exit the market.

The man stared at Itachi, "No I didn't I'm afraid."

"That's too bad." Itachi replied and began to leave. The man followed him. Itachi was trying to decide his next course of action. He really did not want to kill the man but perhaps he was seen with Kisame earlier and he would have no choice.

"I see that you sold all your hay. That was fast." The man continued to follow him as he exited the market.

Itachi said nonchalantly, "The villagers know that I carry premium stock."

The man snorted, "Or you used genjutsu on them to make them buy."

They at reached a solitary part of the road. Most of the people were still enjoying market day. It was more than just a chance to market your wares but more of a dovish day for all in the area.

Itachi turned and faced the man. He still kept the slight smile on his lips but his eyes were steel.

"Listen, I don't know what you are talking about. I'm an honest vendor. Now I really need to be going." Itachi turned to leave.

The man snapped his fingers, "Itachi Uchiha" He said suddenly.

Itachi felt himself still for a moment and then he continued on his way. The man, however, was not done.

"I knew that there was something about you that was familiar. I thought that you were just a low talent renegade shinobi gone domestic. However, I find that I am standing in the midst of the great Itachi Uchiha. Wait, aren't you dead? In fact both you and your brother killed each other. So if you are alive….that must mean that kid I saw running around is Sasuke Uchiha."

Itachi kept his back to the man. He steadied himself and closed his eyes. It had been a long time since he sought that cold, unfeeling part inside him. He connected with it, turned and unleashed his Sharingan.

He could tell instantly that something was not right. The man laughed and pointed to his eyes. That gesture reminded him of something in his past, "You are not with the Leaf, you are…"

The man finished for him, "Sound. Yes I'm one of Orochimaru's agents. He is going to be so pleased when he finds out about you. Here I was sent on a crummy mission to tail Kisame and I stumble onto a gold mine. And yes, your Sharingan won't work on me. I have these special contacts from Kabuto."

Itachi tilted his head to one side, "Interesting. Why would Kabuto bother if he thought the Sharingan was indeed dead and gone?"

That stumped the man. Itachi took advantage of the man's hesitation and shimmered in front of him. Hitting him in key target areas of his body. The man blocked some of Itachi's moves and jumped a good distance away. Itachi was amazed at how out of breath he was by these simple moves. He was indeed out of practice. The man made the sign for shadow clones.

Itachi looked at the man dispassionately, "I can see through shadow clones so this is pointless." However as he said it, he realized a bit late that they were not shadow clones but indeed two more shinobi that teleported to the fight. Itachi slowly turned in a circle assessing the situation.

"These aren't clones at all. You are identical triplets." He surmised.

The trio laughed in unison and said as one, "Yes thanks to Lord Orochimaru. We are his creation. We may be housed in three separate bodies but we share the same consciousness."

"How very much like him?" Itachi replied dryly.

Chakra webbing shot from their hands to capture their prey. Itachi shimmered behind one of the men and slit his throat quickly. The other two howled in pain and anger.

"Does this mean that you share each other's pain as well?" Itachi continued his analysis.

The two shinobi jumped him as one, throwing kunai as they led into their attack. Itachi spun and unsheathed his sword. He chopped one cleanly in half with one swipe. The sword had also managed to cut the arm of the other. The man held the stump of his arm and muttered, "You cannot hide from Orochimaru!" He shimmered and teleported away before Itachi could finish the job.

Itachi took a step back towards his cart and felt the world spin. He looked down and saw that he had actually been cut by one of the thrown blades. Poison, he thought. He couldn't believe that he had actually been pushed to his limits by such a pathetic display. Kisame was right, he needed to train Sasuke soon, he thought. Then he closed his eyes. First however he needed to rest. He was so very tired.

Itachi got into the wagon and steered the ox towards his home. Then he succumbed to darkness.

::

"Itachi, can you hear me?"

Itachi slowly opened his eyes. He noticed a worried Sasuke leaning over him as well as the face of the local village doctor.

"Itachi I'm afraid that you were injured in an attempted robbery. Looks like you took out the ruffians but they knifed you in the gut. I've cleaned the wound but I'm worried about infection."

Itachi turned to thank the doctor but a sudden coughing fit hit him. Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.

The doctor put his hand on his chest to keep him still. He looked at Sasuke concerned.

"Is this a new development or has your brother done that before?" The doctor questioned.

Sasuke closed his eyes and nodded. "It's been getting worse. Before it was every once in a while but now it's daily." The doctor beckoned Sasuke over to the other side of the room.

Itachi closed his eyes. He didn't need to listen. He knew what the doctor was saying. He heard his brother's cry of anguish. The door opened and closed, the doctor left.

Sasuke came over to Itachi's bedside. His face was gleaming with tears. Itachi tried to raise his hand. He thumped his brother's forehead weakly and whispered hoarsely, "It will be ok. You will be ok. Listen Sasuke there is something that you need to know…" Itachi started coughing more and more. He was desperate to get the words out.

"Shhh!" Sasuke said and uncorked a bottle of elixir that the doctor gave him. "This should ease your pain and help you sleep." Itachi tried to fight his brother but found that his limbs would not move. He closed his eyes to darkness once more.

::

Itachi awoke to rumble of the cart underneath him. He groaned weakly and tried to open his eyes.

Sasuke was driving the cart, "Brother, we are almost there. Hold on!"

Itachi realized that his mouth was dry and he barely was able to ask, "Where?" He rasped.

"Konoha. The gates are right ahead."

Itachi started to panic, causing the worst coughing spasms of his life. He suddenly couldn't breath with the blood that exploded out from his mouth.

Sasuke whipped the ox to a trot and Itachi could hear the sound of the Konoha guards being alerted.

"Emergency!" Sasuke yelled, "Emergency! My brother needs a doctor right away!"

He heard one guard, the voice sounded like Kotetsu, "Sasuke? Sasuke Uchiha? Is that really you?"

He heard his brother reply in a surprised voice, "My name is Sasuke. Sasuke Hajimari"

::

Hello everyone! This chapter took a while because I was at a fork in the road plot wise. I decided to go a whole new direction than originally planned. The ending will be the same but the journey to it will be quite different. I hope that you approve. If so then shoot me a review, follow/fave. Thanks for those who follow/fave.