Chapter 10: The End of an Age
Sasuke stared into the brilliant red eyes of his brother who gazed absently back, like he wasn't all there, but there enough to kill Sasuke anytime he so desired. Tears suddenly re-erupted from Sasuke's eyes as he threw himself on the floor at his brother's feet.
"At least spare Naruto's life! He had nothing to do with this, everything was my choice! I lured him in, I made up my mind, he had no idea what he was getting into, it was all me! If you're going to kill me at least let him go!" Sasuke yelled when a supplementary dagger was plunged into the thigh of his good leg and twisted in the wound. Sasuke gripped his brother's hands around the dagger and tore it out, allowing a waterfall of blood to spill out onto the carpet.
"You're wrong," he sneered, "there's one thing you're little boyfriend forgot to tell you. He went in my room; you know how possessive I am of my things." Sasuke grit his teeth knowing that he should have done something more than just shoving stakes under the doors. He should have screwed the door shut or burned the entire house down. Sasuke glanced at the puddle of blood staining the carpet beneath him. Itachi smiled.
"You like the carpet color? I don't know about it… I wish it were a bit more red!" Itachi laughed at Sasuke who scrambled to get up off the floor, "Did you really think I would ever let you get away with this? No one who ever deals with me ever gets away with anything! The stolen car dealers, the bank robbers, the assassins, the fraud committers, no one lets any information slip or they die."
"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" Sasuke wailed.
"What can I say?" said Itachi as he stared straight through his little brother, "I'm just too good at being bad." Sasuke lifted a hand to his face to feel the cuts and bruises covering it, he wiped a small but steady stream of blood from his mouth before suddenly turning and vomiting. He gripped his stomach in pain and smeared the filth from his mouth. He heard the distinctive click of a gun and closed his eyes, not even bothering to look back at Itachi.
"If I die here at least I will have died knowing you…" he mumbled. Naruto was already dead is what he kept telling himself, he's not suffering in this place and in a few seconds I won't be either… just don't tell me about Naruto, I won't be able to take it if you tell me he's dead!
Sasuke flinched at the sound of gunfire but felt that no bullet had penetrated his skin. He waited and waited for the pain before finally opening his eyes and slowly turning around, his eyes widened at the sight in front of him.
Itachi was still standing there, a blank look on his face; he'd dropped his weapon to the floor and looked down to touch a small bloody spot in the middle of his abdomen. He looked up at Sasuke one last time before collapsing to his knees and then his face on the floor.
Behind Itachi's body there was a small splintered hole in the door which swung open to reveal Mr. Hatake kneeling in the doorway with a flashlight in one hand and holding a gun in the other.
Sasuke's eyes darted between Itachi's immobilized form and Mr. Hatake's face; he was stern, keeping his eyes on the body lest it get up and move again. His eyes hardly wavered when he barked orders to the other men behind him who Sasuke hadn't noticed before. How many people had come for him?
The others slowly lifted their hands in the air before laying their weapons down on the floor. Mr. Hatake – certain now that Itachi could no longer pose a serious threat to Sasuke's person – looked at Sasuke before slowly reaching behind his back to retrieve a small mauve wallet which he dropped open to reveal a small shining police badge
"Sasuke, I am a police officer who was placed undercover by your Principal Tsunade in order to keep an eye on you in case…" he glanced at Itachi's body, "in case this were to happen, but its over. You. Are. Safe."
Sasuke looked away from Itachi's body when a flare of yellow caught his eye, the next second he was sprawled on the floor in Naruto's arms.
"N-Naruto?!" Sasuke gripped the blonde's tanned arms as though he was making sure that he wasn't hallucinating, "What happened to you?"
"Who cares?!" Naruto tugged uncomfortably at the bloody bandage loosely fashioned around his neck, "You're safe!" Sasuke smiled and cupped Naruto's cheek in his hand as his eyelids closed.
"I'm glad… now I'll even get to die with you right here."
His eyes shut quickly and Naruto's voice faded into the background.
Oh my GOD! I am so sorry for abandoning you for so long! My one week vacation turned into a month's ordeal and… well… whatever… imma finish this up quick so I can get on to the next one. Oh, so sorry. Review, yes?