There was a rhythmic beeping in the background as Itachi stared down at the multiplication test. "Times up!" His mom's voice broke his concentration and he glanced up from the paper on the table in front of him.
"How'd you do?" Mikoto smiled and picked up the sheet. Her eyes scanned the page quickly, it wouldn't take long to grade. She lowered the paper and looked down at her son: he didn't meet her gaze and she could see him holding back tears. "We can go over them again tomorrow, it's alright if you don't get it right away."
Itachi looked up and sniffed, "it's been a week… I just can't remember them." He didn't want to cry, he hated crying, but he felt the hot tears slide down his face regardless.
Mikoto sat down at the kitchen table next to him and put an arm around his small shoulders, "not everything will be easy to learn. Some things you're going to have to try at for a long time before it makes sense." She paused as Itachi sniffed loudly, "the 8 times tables are tricky, but you're smart and I know you'll get them."
Itachi was quiet, he didn't believe her. Math was the worst. He bit his lip and tried to hold back another sob, it was frustrating he memorized, he studied, and he tried but nothing worked. If life required him to do anything with numbers it just wasn't going to happen.
"Alright, put your math books away." His mom stood up, "I think you've had enough of that for today." She checked her watch, "you can have some reading time until your dad comes home, he has a surprise for you today!" she smiled.
Itachi wiped the tears off his face and looked questioningly up at his mom. His dad didn't do much when he got home from his office. Normally he was stressed or tired and would either go into the basement or his home office, Itachi wasn't allowed in either of these places. "Ok," he said quietly. He was still upset and reading would make him feel better, but now he was also curious.
He walked down the hall to his room and pulled a book off the shelf: The Three Musketeers. He had just started it last week and it was one of the most challenging he'd read so far. But this was the kind of challenge he enjoyed, it didn't involve numbers. He went back to the living room and curled up on one end of the sofa.
There was a thump and scuffling noise in the corner and Itachi glanced over. He smiled, "Sasuke, aren't you supposed to be taking a nap right now?" he closed his book and slid off the sofa and crossed over to where Sasuke was standing. "Come on, you need to go back and sleep!" He took his little brother's hand and walked him back down the hall to his room.
Sasuke's room was smaller than Itachi's but it was at the front of the house so the windows overlooked the front yard. Sasuke jumped into bed but stayed sitting up, "stay and play!" he said and held out a toy dinosaur.
Itachi smiled at it, it used to be his but Sasuke had gotten attached to it so he'd given him the toy. "I have to read right now, so maybe next time." He walked back to the door and glanced back at his baby brother. It had been exciting when his parent's had come home with another kid. It made the house feel more full and lively, before it was so quiet with just him and his mom mostly.
When he reached the sofa he picked up his book again and got lost in its pages. The story was long and complicated with lots of political intrigue and adventure. He mostly liked the adventure part since the politics were a little boring. In the background he heard the microwave beeping, his mom was probably starting to make dinner.
Itachi got so distracted by the story drawing him in that he never heard the front door open. Out of nowhere something soft hit him on the nose and jumped. His book flew out of his hands and across the sofa and he slipped sideways onto the floor where he sat panting, letting his nerves settle.
"Surprise." His dad stood across the room. He bent over and picked up the odd roll of white material that had scared Itachi.
Itachi laughed, "I didn't hear you even come inside!" his dad was tall and broad in the shoulders. He almost always looked tired or stressed but it hid how strong he was. Itachi knew, though. When he was smaller someone had tried to break into their house and he had woken up at the sound of loud banging and thumping. He'd walked into the hallway to see a crumpled figure trying to crawl away from his dad. The figure hadn't gotten far. Itachi remembered not seeing much, he was only there for about 30 seconds before his mom had hurried him back into his room but he'd never forget that night.
"Having your nose buried in a book is a good distraction from what's happening around you." He half smiled and walked over, "I have something for you" he dropped two white rolls of bandages onto Itachi's lap.
"But I'm not hurt?" Itachi looked sideways at his dad.
"These aren't for healing injuries, it's for preventing them." He held out his hand to help Itachi off the floor, "I'll show you how to use them." Then he walked over to the staircase that led to the basement.
Itachi felt his heart beat faster, was he going to the basement? He had always wondered what it looked like. He followed his dad slowly, nervously descending the staircase and squeezing the rolls of bandages. His dad opened the door and went into the dark room. As he entered the light flicked on and he saw a large rectangle of space: a quarter of the room had rubber floor mats and exercise machines while the other had smooth wood panel floors and was wide open space.
He saw his dad motion for him to come over and he stepped into the room, the wood creaking slightly under his feet. The smell of rubber and sweat hit his face.
When he reached where his dad was standing they both sat down in the middle of the floor. His dad unrolled one of the bandages, "let me see one of your hands." Itachi watched as his dad wrapped the white bandage around his right hand in a complicated pattern twisting it between his fingers and around his wrist. He watched as he repeated the same process with his left hand. "Now watch closely," he said as he pulled out another set of bandages except they were brown with age and covered in sweat stains, "this is how you wrap your hands, I won't do yours for you again; you need to learn this. If you do it wrong you could break your hands." Itachi nodded and concentrated on what his dad was doing.
After this was done they stood up and walked to a corner where a punching bag was hanging from the ceiling. "Itachi, from today on you are going to learn how to defend yourself and be strong. Physical strength is the only thing you have to rely on. A man who leads other men needs to be able to prove that he is the strongest at all times. Weapons fail, they run out of ammunition, they get blunt, and they get lost. The only weapon you know you can always rely on is yourself. Do you understand?" Itachi nodded his expression determined.
"To punch you hold your hand like this" he showed Itachi how to make a fist, "and you use your whole body and swing like this," he hit the punching bag. "Now you try." His dad stepped back and crossed his arms.
Itachi took a tentative step forward and made his small hands into fists, he faintly heard the sound of beeping in the background. He stared at the punching bag, his stomach knotted in a twist of excitement and anxiety: what if he hit it wrong? What if he messed up? What if his dad decided that it wasn't worth it to teach him anymore? The beeping got louder in his ears. He set his jaw and drew his arm back and punched the bag with all his strength. Pain exploded in his knuckles like all of them were snapping at once, the world went black, and he felt all the air rush out of his body. The pain reverberated up his arm. All he could sense was the darkness around him, shallow breaths, pain, and steady, constant, loud beeping.
.:.
There was a hissing sound somewhere. The air tasted like metal. As much as he didn't want to, he slowly blinked his eyes open. At first, the world was a white blur but it started to come into focus slowly. He stared up at faded ceiling tiles that were slightly bulging from water damage. He glanced sideways but all he could see was the edge of the ceiling. He made the mistake of trying to move. Pain exploded in his sides and arms. His legs felt like weights and he could feel a dull swollen pain in one of his knees.
As far as he knew, he was the only one in the room. He could still hear the beeping, loud and repeated. He swiveled his neck as far as he could to the side: there was a jungle of tubes and wires hanging out of various machines and monitors, the one beeping showed his heartbeat. He swiveled his head to the other side and saw a blank gray wall with some of the paint peeling off it.
How did I get here, he thought, trying to remember where he had been and what could have possibly happened to warrant hospitalization. No, that's what was odd. He wasn't in a hospital. He wasn't in his house. He wasn't anywhere that he recognized and he was alone. Panic started to rise in his throat, wherever he was he had to leave. The room started to feel like it was closing in and it got harder to breathe. His chest started to get tight. The beeping got louder and faster. He tried to move, to push past the pain, but even still there was resistance.
A door at the front corner of the room slammed open and a girl dressed all in black came rushing in, "what the hell!" she shouted as she tried to flip some dials.
Itachi tried to shout, to tell whoever this was to get him out of this place, but his voice was muffled under the steady hissing of an oxygen mask. He tried to reach for her arm but was cut short by straps holding his wrists down to the sides of the bed. His mind went blank and his eyes grew wide. He struggled, pulling against the restraints. Have to leave. Have to run. Have to scream.
"You need to calm down!" the girl said, pulling a syringe from somewhere Itachi couldn't see. "You're going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that!" She held down the arm that was closest to her and inserted the needle into Itachi's shoulder.
Itachi felt his limbs grow heavy. He tried to struggle but whatever she had just injected him with was making him weaker. The less he was able to move the more terrified he became, he felt knots forming in his stomach and his throat constricting. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak, and he couldn't leave.
The girl sighed, "If you keep up thrashing around we're going to run out of haloperidol." She smiled sideways and Itachi noticed she had a piercing on her lower lip, "anyways, he'll be glad to know you're finally awake." She walked back toward the door, "be back soon, my job is going to get more interesting now that you're conscious." Then she left and closed the door behind her.
Itachi stared up at the ceiling. Who was this "he"? Why did he care about whether he was awake or not? Why had she said that he kept on thrashing around? He was being drugged to calm down but this wasn't a hospital, it was too grungy and secure and whoever that girl was? She at least didn't look like any doctor. I'm in prison. He felt the panic rising again. He desperately tried to remember what happened before he had apparently lost consciousness but nothing was coming back. He tugged at his left arm and felt the restraints. There was also something else. A dull aching kind of pain near his elbow. He rolled his head around to look: a needle stuck into his arm and tubing was taped down to his wrist.
He rolled his head around to see his other arm but all he could see were bandages with bloodstains. He stared at the ceiling again, there really wasn't much else to do. He felt like crying but no tears came. He wanted to curl up as small as he could, not be lying flat on his back on a lumpy mattress being pricked with needles and stuck with tubes. He wanted to disappear. It felt like he was living on the edge of existence, being held over the abyss by plastic tubing and ropes, holding him back, tearing him away from the calm quiet darkness that he wanted to engulf him.
The door slammed open and he flinched involuntarily. He shook his head and tried not to think about whoever was walking over. He saw the girl first. This time he actually saw her face: she was pale and had short lavender hair pulled back into a loose messy bun. She had purple eyeshadow on that matched her hair. She walked over and reached to remove the oxygen mask.
"Wait." A familiar voice stopped her. Itachi felt his heart plummet to the floor and almost threw up. He started to gag and cough into the mask. His eyes grew wide and he felt himself start to shake as Madara walked into his line of vision.
"Well well, finally awake." Madara looked vaguely bored and raised an eyebrow. "It's about time. Konan thought you'd never open your eyes."
"Considering where he was when you dropped his muddy bleeding body into my life, it wasn't totally unwarranted." Konan, apparently the purple haired girl, said. "You should pay me extra for bringing him back from the grave."
Madara laughed and looked at her, "we can add all that up later, first I need to have a talk with my nephew." He nodded at Konan who reached for Itachi's head and slipped the oxygen mask off.
The air in the room was warm and stale compared to the crisp pure oxygen that had been flowing into his nose and mouth before. He smelled dried blood and sweat and moldy concrete. His throat was dry and he coughed a few times.
"Welcome back." Madara said folding his arms and looking down at Itachi.
"W-where am I?" Itachi croaked. It was difficult to form words.
"First things first." Madara interrupted, "What do you remember?"
Itachi shook his head, "Nothing. Something happened and I ended up here" his voice was barely a whisper.
Madara nodded and took a breath, "your parents are dead."
The words hit Itachi like an icy blast. Clarity and memories came flooding back all at once. Minato, hiding Naruto, his parents in the basement, seeing Sasuke, running, blood, rain. "I-I k-killed them…" he whispered. He started to shake again. This time he could feel tears gathering in his eyes.
"Yes." Madara agreed, "Though, I don't think anyone will miss them too much. Certainly not anyone in Konoha."
"They were my parents!" Itachi's voice got louder, "I murdered them in cold blood…. They didn't deserve to die!" He was shouting now, angry tears spilling down his face.
Madara snorted, "oh really? You think they were some sort of saints just because they're dead now?" a smile slowly spread across his face, "I found you lying on their grave, cursing them and their existence. Don't forget everything they did to you just because they're gone."
"My mom didn't do anything!" Itachi tried to sit up but fell backwards, wincing in pain.
"That bitch?" Madara seemed to find this even more humorous, "you think she was on your side?"
"She was the only person who took care of me!" he tried to get up again but this time Madara held down his shoulder.
"You think your mother cared about you? What kind of mother stands by and watches her husband mercilessly hit their kids? What kind of mother ignores her child's screams in the middle of the night as they're tormented by nightmares? What kind of mother says that their dad really loves them after he's tried to twist off their arm? What kind of mother ignores the fact that her kid is sick with her genetic illness and pretends to know nothing about it?"
The words stung. Itachi didn't respond. He just stared up at the ceiling letting Madara's comments wash over him. He was right, of course. His mom had known everything that happened and still tried to side with his father. He really didn't have anyone.
"You didn't murder anyone, you took them down because they were too dangerous." Madara took a step back.
"I killed them…"
"They deserved it."
"With my own hands…"
"He taught you how to be a weapon. You were just following his teaching." Madara glanced at Konan, "he needs more time."
She sighed, "Are you sure?" Madara nodded. "Well, you're the boss." Then she disappeared through the door.
"I deserve to die." Itachi said quietly.
"You may think so, you've even tried. But that's not what I want for you."
"Why do you care all of a sudden?" Itachi snapped, "My life doesn't matter to you, if I want to die then let me."
"No." Madara said, picking up the oxygen mask, "It does matter, because talent like yours shouldn't be wasted." He slipped the mask over Itachi's head, letting the canned air fill his nostrils. "You'll see my point of view soon."
Konan walked back into the room with two IV bags and prepped them. She connected to tubes in with the rest and then watched them start to drip.
"Don't use too much this time, he just needs more rest." Madara said and walked out the door.
Konan sighed and leaned against a cabinet, watching the fluid slowly make its way through the plastic tubing. "I wish I didn't have to put you under again, just watching you sleep and twitch is really not that interesting." The fluid reached the needle in Itachi's arm. "Ah well, you'll be up and around soon enough." Then she followed Madara out and closed the door.
Itachi felt helpless as the drug, whatever it was, slowly started to take effect. His vision started to blur and go dark, his breathing slowed down, and almost as if it were happening naturally, he fell fast asleep.
.:.
"Ow!" Itachi yelled, shaking his hand and trying to ignore the pain ricocheting around inside his bones.
"The first hit is always the worst." His dad smiled down, "remember Itachi, the more you hurt other people the more you hurt yourself. No one makes it through life whole but with enough strength you can survive the blows." Fukaku's face was serious now and he placed a hand on Itachi's head.
Itachi was quiet and he looked up into his dad's eyes, "that means you're hurting."
"Everyone is hurting. But the people who hide it are the ones who are strong. Pain is part of learning how to fight. It's going to hurt, sometimes unbearably, but you need to keep it under control and never show that you feel it." He knelt down so that he could stare straight into Itachi's eyes, "can you do that?"
Itachi clenched his jaw and his face became determined, "I can. I'll make you proud." He clenched his fists, "let me try again."
Fukaku smiled, "alright." He stood up and held the punching bag still again as Itachi hit it repeatedly. He had worried that he started teaching Itachi too late and that he would be too old to learn effectively, but he seemed to picking things up quickly.
Every time he hit the punching bag Itachi could feel his hands shudder. Ignore it ignore it ignore it, he repeated to himself. There was something calming about the motion, it was something he'd never felt before: a strange high that made him want to keep going and to become stronger. He paused to take a breath and glanced down at his hands, the pure white bandages were dotted with crimson spots across his knuckles.
"Let's try something," His dad interrupted his thoughts. He walked to the center of the room and motioned for Itachi to follow. "Attack me."
Itachi frowned, "but…"
"Yes?"
"You're just so much bigger than me… and you've been doing this for years… I don't think it would be very fair." Itachi glanced sideways.
"True." Fukaku nodded, "in reality a fight is almost never fair. And you can learn how to hit someone and you can learn how to protect yourself. The fact is that no matter how much you train you can never be prepared for a battle. Your opponent could be twice your size or half your size, but you never underestimate them. They only have as much power as you give them in your head."
Itachi looked his dad up and down trying to find some weakness to exploit. It's my first day of this what do I know? He asked himself. "Wouldn't experience be what makes the difference in fighters?" he asked quietly.
"Yes." Fukaku half smiled, "which is why you need to build experience. The first thing you need to learn is what it feels like to hit another person." He knelt down to be closer to Itachi's height, "you need to hit me as hard as you can in the face."
"But I don't want to hurt you," Itachi stared wide-eyed at his dad.
"It's what you have to do, now hit me."
Itachi hesitated, it felt wrong. Sure he could hit the punching bag but this was his dad, it was different. Yeah he'd told him to do it but it still didn't sit right.
"Itachi, just concentrate and hit me."
"O-ok…" he said slowly and started to make a fist. He picked a spot right under his dad's eye and stared at it. He shuddered, trying not to imagine what it would feel like to have flesh moving under his knuckles. He pulled back. He squeezed his hand tighter. He put all his weight behind his hand and swung as hard as he could. There was a weird squishing sensation then a sharp pain shot up his arm. Itachi fell forwards and avoided stepping on his dad by just inches.
Fukaku laughed, "not bad not bad." He held the side of his face and stood up. "Alright, now attack me."
Itachi paused, holding his quivering hand. The pain had shocked him and the feeling of another human under his hand had been unsettling. He wasn't sure he was ready to full on attack someone twice his size with probably ten times the strength.
Almost as if he was reading Itachi's mind Fukaku spoke, "remember: it's not about size or strength. Experience is helpful but it's not always necessary. Think of a plan to take me down and put it into action."
Itachi frowned and looked his dad up and down again, think of it like a puzzle, he told himself and started to reevaluate. His dad was crouched so his center of gravity was low, his arms protected his sides and his face. His best bet was to find a way to knock him off balance.
He took a deep a breath and sprinted to the right, watching carefully as he saw his dad rotate to accommodate a new angle. It would have to be during this transition that he should attack. He turned left and waited for the shift. He saw it then charged straight at his dad. As soon as his body collided with his dad's knee he saw bright white light and his ribs exploded into shards of pain.
.:.
Itachi's eyes snapped open and he panted into the oxygen mask. He felt sweat drip off his forehead and fall into his hair. The burning in his ribs persisted and he tried to look to see what it was. There were blurry figures in the room, one was touching his side causing the pain; the other two stood in the distance too fuzzy to make out. He let out a muffled yelp as more pain exploded across his torso.
"Oh shit." Konan's voice was distant over the sound of his own heartbeat and heavy breathing. "You had to wake up now?!" She continued to do whatever it was she was doing.
He wanted to yell at her stop and curl up into a ball. He tried to twist away and was reminded of the restraints on his wrists and ankles.
"It'll be over in a second if you stop moving." Konan muttered through gritted teeth, trying to keep whatever she was doing still. "I just have one spot left, I know it hurts but if I don't do this then you won't heal properly." Then she added, "You weren't supposed to be conscious for this anyways," under her breath.
Her hands moved quickly and there was one final burst of pain. Itachi bit back a scream and felt it come out as tears instead. Have to stay calm, can't move, don't let it bother you, he tried to relax and ignore it but failed miserably.
"Done!" Konan exclaimed and stepped back. She wiped sweat off her brow and removed a pair of latex gloves. "It has been a long time since I've reset ribs from the inside." She smiled down at Itachi, "just couldn't be passed out until I was done with the last bolt could you?"
Itachi's eyes widened, I was cut open…. and bolted back together? He tried to imagine what she had done to him. He rolled his head to the side and saw his shirt was rolled up and his torso was bandaged from right under his arms down to his waist.
"I wish we had an X-ray machine here, it would make my life easier, especially on fight night. But nope! I have to go all the way to the hospital to get them done, then those lab techs don't develop them for a week!" she scowled, "just because I don't have residency they think I'm not legit. Assholes."
There was a thud as the door closed and one of the fuzzy figures walked over and came into focus, "At least you were able to fix it before it got any worse." Madara sighed and stared down at Itachi.
"Had to re-break some of them as it was." Konan muttered and started to clean up a pile of bloody bandages and metal instruments.
"Konan, I need you to bring me ACZ-520 please." Madara said.
Konan paused, "now? Are you sure it's a good time…"
"Yes, now. I'll need about five minutes." He interrupted.
Itachi felt his skin start to crawl, every time he opened his eyes there was more pain and uncertainty and it was setting him on edge. As it was he could barely breathe without lightning arcs of pain lighting up his sides. His eyes followed Konan out of the room and he wished she'd stay, anything was better than being alone in a room with Madara.
"How are you feeling?" Madara asked, his face still expressionless.
Itachi glanced away, it wasn't as if he could answer if he wanted to.
"Konan informed me that you tried to pull out your IV in your sleep again." Madara sighed, "You really turned out to be more difficult than I originally planned, but I have one more card to play." He reached forward and lifted up Itachi's head and removed the oxygen mask.
The warm moist air hit Itachi's face and he coughed softly to not bother his ribs, it didn't work and the stabs of pain made tears form in the corners of his eyes. "What do you want," he rasped. He could smell his own blood in the room and the thought of it made him gag.
"Right now I am giving you a choice." Madara laid the oxygen mask down on the side of the bed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You have made it quite clear that you don't want to be alive and I have made it clear that I want you to be alive." He paused and looked at Itachi expectantly.
"What?" he knew he'd thought about it, it had been on his mind since he'd woken up at the bottom of a staircase alone and in pain.
Madara reached over and grabbed Itachi's left wrist and unbuckled the restraints. He raised the arm up so it was in Itachi's view. Itachi's eyes widened as he saw it was covered in scratches and cuts.
"We didn't think we'd need to restrain you at first." Madara brought the arm back down to the bed and buckled it again. "You were unconscious but succeeded in ripping out your IV at least three times before we decided it would be best not let you hurt yourself further." He walked around the bed and unstrapped Itachi's right arm and held it up, "you have a cut on this arm but you somehow managed to get the bandage off and scratch out the stitches." He put the arm back and buckled it once again.
Itachi stared at the ceiling, his eyes growing wide, "I...I did all that?"
Madara laughed, "That was just the beginning. You had a fever and were thrashing around so much we were forced to give you muscle relaxers and tranquilizers. Konan has had to keep you on 24 hour watch just in case." He walked back around the bed to stand next to the monitors again, "suffice it to say it's taken quite a bit to get you to this point. You're lucky to still be alive."
"Oh." Itachi was quiet.
"Now, I of course wouldn't have done this without a reason."
"Of course not." Itachi muttered.
Madara ignored him and continued, "You have a choice to either die here or work for me." Itachi stared at him. "Before you decide there are some parts of this deal you should know about: first, if you work for me I can make sure you have a place to stay and will be healthy before you begin. You would be doing work similar to what you did for your family. If you decide you would rather not then I leave you here. I'm not going to kill you, that's up for you to do. But know this, you stay here in this bed, strapped down with IV's feeding you just enough nutrients and fluids to keep you alive, no painkillers, no medication for your stomach illness, no visitors. For all I care you can rot in this hole if you really want to."
Itachi broke eye contact and stared at the ceiling. It should be an easy choice, almost a no brainer, except that one of those choices meant working for Madara who had terrorized him almost as much as his father had. It didn't seem much better than what he'd put up with before.
The door opened and Konan came back in carrying a bag filled with clear fluid. "Ah yes," Madara smirked, "There are two more things you should know."
Itachi rolled his head back over to Madara, "What are they?" his voice was hoarse.
"If you work for me I can give you a drug that will take away all of your symptoms from your Menetrier's disease. What the doctor gave you is just temporary relief as you probably know, but this will make your life normal: no more nausea, no more stomach pains, and no more vomiting blood."
"What's the catch?" Itachi scowled, he may be exhausted and in pain, but he knew better than to take Madara at face value.
"This drug, ACV-520, is not available on the regular market because it is highly addictive. If you miss one dosage then you'll experience withdrawal symptoms so severe they could lead to death."
Itachi closed his eyes, this was a lot of information all at once. Though he still couldn't justify why this would be any different from his life before.
"Would you like to know where Sasuke is right now?" Madara's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Hearing Sasuke's name made Itachi's eyes snap open. He'd forgotten. "I left him," Itachi started to panic, something happened to Sasuke and it was his fault.
"He's still in Konoha." Madara mentioned, casually brushing his bangs to the side, "my sources say he has continued his education at his previous school."
"He has no one…" Itachi felt the guilt growing inside of him.
"On the contrary he seems to have taken up living with this man," he pulled a photograph out of his pocket and turned it towards Itachi, "Does he look familiar to you?" Madara's voice was almost mocking.
"No!" Itachi tried to sit up, "Not him!" he felt his heart tear, after everything it had still happened. He couldn't do anything about it.
"Ah so I was right." Madara put the photo back in his pocket, "this is Orochimaru. The one haunting your nightmares."
"I swore he'd never get him… I promised… I said he'd be safe…" Itachi felt the weight of hopelessness fall on his chest.
"Work for me and I can show you the only way to save him." Madara smiled and stared into Itachi's eyes.
"What do you mean?" Itachi glanced up.
"I know about his curse mark, I've seen what it can do." He raised an eyebrow, "With training you can use your eyes to undo it." he paused again, "of course that's only available to you if you work for me."
Itachi looked at Madara warily, it seemed odd that he would want to help. Of course it wasn't for free, that was a given. But then again was it? Somehow Madara had found him and decided it was worth it to help him. It almost felt like just working for Madara wasn't enough.
"So, what will it be? Work for me or stay here and wish for death?" Madara's face had become expressionless again.
Itachi closed his eyes and let out a breath. "I…I'll do it." If he still had the chance to save Sasuke, he had to take it. Sasuke had been the reason he didn't give up before and he wasn't going to forget that now.
Madara smiled, "in that case, let's see if we can't take care of the stomach pains first." He nodded at Konan, "let's get him his first dose."
Konan nodded back, "you're the boss." Then started to hook up the bag of liquid.
Itachi watched as she prepped a needle and stepped over to the side of the bed and found the vein on his arm. She quickly cleaned the area then plunged the needle in. he felt a small pinch. Itachi felt his lids grow heavy, being woken up in the middle of minor surgery and then forced to choose a life of working for Madara was exhausting.
"Relax, kid." Konan's voice sounded far away, "From here on out, things will get better."
"Give a full dose and then let him sleep." Madara's voice drifted from the side. Slowly everything melted away and Itachi receded back into his dreams and memories.
.:.
Itachi winced as the alcohol stung the abrasions on his knuckles. He glanced over at the pile of bloodied bandages next to him on the Bathroom sink. "Aren't they were supposed to keep you from getting hurt?" he asked.
Fukaku glanced up from swabbing alcohol, "they do. The way you wrap them prevents the bones in your hands from breaking. Small cuts are always expected after a fight."
"Oh." Itachi replied. He was tired. It had been an oddly thrilling experience fighting with his dad. He was excited for being able to learn more things and to try and figure out a way that he could beat his father. He'd tried but in the end he was just too small.
Fukaku put a band aid over a particularly large abrasion, "so, tomorrow will you be ready to go again?" he asked looking into Itachi's eyes.
Itachi smiled, "yes! And tomorrow I'm definitely going to take you down." If he did nothing else he'd find a way to beat his dad. Size didn't matter, strength didn't matter, and he'd gain more experience with time.
"Is that a promise?" Fukaku asked, raising an eyebrow. Itachi nodded in response. "Good, now it's your bed time." He smiled and ruffled Itachi's short hair.
"Ok!" Itachi jumped down from the edge of the sink and grabbed his bandages then ran down the hall to his room.
Fukaku walked out of the bathroom behind him and continued down to the Livingroom where Mikoto was reading a horticulture magazine on the sofa.
She glanced up as he approached, "well? How did he do?"
"Exceptionally." He smiled, "what I would expect from my son."
Mikoto smiled back and closed her magazine, "so, this is going to be an everyday thing?"
"Yes. It's very important that he learns as much as possible and as quickly as possible." Fukaku sat on the sofa and wrapped his arm around Mikoto. "I'm glad we started this, he's always been so…" he tried to find the right word.
"Flighty?" Mikoto asked.
"Well, yes. He's so withdrawn and obsessed with books. Tonight was the first time I ever felt like I could connect with him." Fukaku glanced at his wife, "he's a lot like you in a way, quiet and smart, but that doesn't mean he can't use those things to his advantage."
"He's smart enough to figure out how." Mikoto laughed.
"Yes, yes he is." Fukaku smiled.