R e d W a t e r

C h a p t e r X

She fell into my arms and I caught her, pulling her into a hug. "M…Mom." I heard her sobbing quietly on my shoulder and I squeezed her tighter. It had been a long time since she even came close to letting me hug her. "Mom…I love you." I whispered. Her sobs went silent and I could feel something wet begin to soak my shirt. I quickly pulled away, my mom falling limply onto the ground. Most of the front of my shirt was stained in blood. My mom's blood.

I looked up at Itachi with wide terrified eyes before I began to scream.

How did it come to this?

Flashback-
My fingers inched towards the trigger, my hand shaking violently as I tried to point the gun straight at her. But she still approached me, even as I held the gun to her. "Are you going to kill me, Sasuke?" her voice very unlike the Mom I knew as a kid. Before dad died. Her voice was now hollow. Empty and equally as painful as the blows I received from her in the past.

As she touched my arm, the gun clattered to the ground. She and I both knew I couldn't do it, even if I really tried.

I stepped back further, my back against the wall now. "P…please…"I managed to stutter. "D-don't do th…this."

"I-I have t-to." she cried, holding the knife to my neck. "H-he told me…it would be all better…once y-you were gone. H-he told me to g-get…revenge-" My mom said to me before she jerked around. There, standing in the doorway was Itachi, looking down at Mom with murderous eyes as he pointed a gun aiming at her head. "I-Itachi…"

"Get the fuck away from Sasuke." Itachi told her in a dangerously low voice.

I guess seeing Itachi just made her want to kill me even more. The grip on her knife tightened and she was about to cut my throat before I heard her whisper in a shaky voice, "I-Itachi…why?" I could tell she was crying even harder, seeing her shoulders shake uncontrollably. "Why'd you have to…k-kill my husband?! Your father!"

"Because he hurt Sasuke…" Itachi dared to move close to where Mom and I stood. "…and to me, that is unforgivable. The only reason I've hesitated in killing you is because Sasuke doesn't want me to."

Mom's arm fell to her side, stepping away from me before sinking to her knees. I saw Itachi lower the gun and I sat next to her, trying to stop her crying. Then suddenly, she fell into my arms and I caught her, pulling her into a hug.
Flashback End-

"Mom! No…get up! Stand up, damn it!" I yelled at her angrily. She didn't move. "GET-"

Itachi silenced me, picking me up at that moment. "Wh-what are you doing?! We have to save her!" I cried. I could see the knife sticking out of her chest. I tried to struggle away from his grip. "Itachi, let me go! I have to…I have-"

"Shut up!" he finally yelled at me. "Just…stop, Sasuke! She's dead."

"NO! Sh-" Itachi was ignoring me now. His grip on my body tightened and he carried me all the way out of the house and put me in the car, slamming the passenger door loudly before getting into the drivers seat.

I didn't look at him, staring blankly out the window towards my apartment, but I could hear him talking on his cell phone.

"Kakashi, get over to Sasuke's apartment. Mikoto Uchiha just committed suicide an-" Itachi paused. "No, just call the police and wait for them there. I…I'm taking Sasuke back with me. I…don't want him to be there right now." Itachi paused once more before he snapped his phone shut and started the car.

(Author's POV)

Kakashi arrived at the apartment followed by the police soon after. The body was removed from the house, a thin white sheet covering her corpse. Kakashi watched as the truck with the body left before a police officer approached him.

"Does that lady have a kid?" the officer asked the silver haired man.

"Yeah…she did." Kakashi nodded and turned to face the man.

"Does the kid know? That she's dead, I mean."

"He knows. I sent him to stay with his older brother, Itachi Uchiha. Itachi is Sasuke's legal guardian now that both his parents are dead."

(Sasuke's POV)

We arrived in front of his apartment and he took me inside, but I jerked out of his grip. "Get your fucking hands off of me." I growled and he let go. He didn't make any attempt to argue with me which made me even more furious with him for whatever reason.

"Sasuke…I-"

"Just shut up, Itachi!" I yelled at him. "She's gone! Sh-she's gone and I-it's your fault!"

"I didn-"

I didn't let him finish, my fist colliding with his jaw. I saw blood begin to drip down his chin but I was too angry to care. "She wouldn't have killed herself if you didn't show…" I didn't even know why I was doing this. "It's all your fucking fault!" I fell to my knees, burying my face in my hands. I guess I just needed something or someone to blame.

But then, Itachi knelt down next to me, running his fingers through my hair and eventually calmed me down. Then he picked me up once more, carrying me toward the bathroom. Normally I would have complained to him for being treated like such a kid, but I stayed silent, my thoughts focused on how sick I felt right then. The large dark splotch of blood, my mom's blood, was making me nauseous and I wanted my shirt to come off.

Setting me down on the floor of the shower gently, Itachi turned the water on and sat down beside me. We were both fully clothed but that soon changed when Itachi pulled my bloodied shirt off. I almost smiled, finding the situation I was in, very similar to how it was when I was a lot younger.

Itachi's eyes did not meet mine as he said in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry, Sasuke." And I knew why he was apologizing.

I didn't respond. My gaze slowly moved to my shirt where I saw streams of reddish-pink water running towards the drain. It reminded me of that day Itachi saved me a long time ago.

I shifted from where I sat, feeling the stinging pain from the injury to my right leg but I ignored it and scooted closer to my brother. Then suddenly I wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head against his chest and began to cry.

Images of her dead, bloodied corpse filled my mind. I guess I hadn't thought much of it before now. All I had focused on was all the blood. But now, I could see her, lying on the floor, her eyes staring blankly at nothing and her mouth was opened slightly.

Just like with Dad, the image of Mom's dead body stayed in my mind, no matter how much I wanted to get rid of it.

Itachi stayed silent after that and just held me. The water still fell on my bruised and bloodied body for the longest time. Then finally, Itachi was about to turn the shower water off when I held his wrist to stop him. He looked at me, wondering what I wanted. Eventually I looked up at him and said in barely a whisper, "P…please don't ever leave me again."

Itachi leaned forward, kissing me lightly on the forehead before saying, "I won't. I never will."

T h e E n d

P l e a s e R e v i e w.

Yeah, this is my last chapter. Thank you to all who reviewed. It was greatly appreciated. Oh, and please don't go away. I have the Preface of Truth, the Sequel I might make for Red Water, typed up.

Iluvitachi93