This chapter was made possible thanks to 00-night-eyes-00 for reminding me I had not updated in quite some time now. Wow, I really did let time pass me again. Sorry Everyone!

Whatever It Takes

Chapter Twenty five

"Where were Itachi's legal papers placed?" Queen Kushina asked the lead guard that had been in charge of the mission, in stealing Itachi's papers from Sasuke.

In the event that Sasuke might have quickly found out that Itachi was gone, Minato had had the papers immediately stored away. The king had not even looked at them, and it didn't seem like he planned to ever look at them either. In fact, Kushina was sure that her husband was so wrapped up on what he thought was his brilliant plan that he was forgetting that Itachi was a regular human being. Minato could always be counted on to be very absentminded to tying up loose ends. But already, she and Tsunade were both curious about whom Itachi was and where he came from. Not only because he seemed a bit off as a servant, but for Sasuke's sake as well.

They wanted to read the boy's papers and hope that they could learn something about him from them. It was the least they could do in case Itachi had health issues or some medical record that would keep him from being any help in the war. They didn't want to find out to late that Itachi had gone into battle with an illness or anything worse. Kushina doubted that Sasuke would ever forgive them if his servant was killed.

The guard bowed to them as soon as they asked and immediately spilled. "Yes, the king asked us to stash them in the royal vault. The papers had been filed, and placed away for safety," The guard then looked up them respectfully, "Now if you please excuse me," he started to walk away, scared that he was going to be asked where Sasuke was. Right now he had all his men searching for the boy. He didn't need the King and Queen getting mad at him for being taken in by a blow job. Only now it hit him how easy and how stupid he had been to just open the door and let Sasuke out.

His job and reputation was now in jeopardy!

Kushina and Tsunade both watched him leave, a little surprised at the speed that he left in. "Do you know the number to the Royal Vault?" Tsunade asked, turning her eyes to Kushina.

Kushina nodded her head. "Not much of a royal vault, almost everyone knows the number to it." Kushina said and started to lead the way to it.

"Really, what does Minato keep in there if not the Royal jewelry?"

"The jewelry is stashed somewhere less obvious. What is kept in there are Naruto's and Sasuke's old clothes, toys, old homework, drawings, and photo albums." Kushina smiled ruefully and shook her head. "Minato always did enjoy Naruto and Sasuke as his biggest treasures, neither of them could do any wrong." Kushina then frowned, "but you can tell that he's trying to be extra careful with Sasuke. He's always tried to be, even if it's not his best judgment at handling the situation"

"Huh, what do you mean?" Tsunade asked, taken aback by the sudden words.

"Well, Minato never said anything, but he had loved his sister, Mikoto, so dearly. Although it never seemed like they were close because of the different paths that they lived, Minato had cherished his sister more than anyone else, even their own parents. He often regrets not spending much time with her, or even stepping in to help her when she needed it," Kushina sighed, running a hand through her fiery red hair, "he said all he did was stand back with everyone else and watch her slowly bring upon herself her own death. That it was his fault that she often exploded and pushed people away, because he never did anything to help her. It's almost sad that he had to see his sister always in pain, always so unhappy with whom she was, and doing things that were degrading like sleeping with someone else than her husband." Kushina came to a stop at a large painting, one of both Minato and Mikoto when they were younger, around ten, "All Minato has left from his beloved sister is Sasuke. He doesn't want Sasuke to die or live like Mikoto did, so I'm sure he's trying to do good by it, but that doesn't mean it's easy to understand, you know" Kushina tilted her head. "I often think that he compares Sasuke too much to his sister that he forgets that Sasuke is his own person. Or maybe he thinks that Sasuke is Mikoto, I don't know, but sooner or later, I'm sure he'll see that Sasuke is not Mikoto."

Tsunade hummed to herself, watching as Kushina neared the picture, and then reaching for its sides to pop it open. The hinges on the picture squeaked in protest as she pushed the picture away, to reveal a large metal door, with a combination digital lock. She walked over to it and punched in five numbers. After that, there was the sound of the lock unlocking and the door swung slightly open. Kushina reached for the edge and pulled the door further open, and revealed a messy room, with pinkish tile floors and green walls.

Tsunade distastefully wrinkled her nose at the color scheme, "Nice place," she sarcastically said and Kushina rolled her eyes.

"You can say it, it's terrible. But Minato did it to keep Naruto happy,"

"He allowed a toddler to pick out the colors for a royal vault?" Tsunade asked in incredulity. Kushina shrugged.

"Minato can be such a softy… sometimes I think he wanted to give birth to Naruto himself," She haughtily said and looked around. It didn't take much time for Kushina to find Itachi's papers stored away in a box labeled with Sasuke's name. Tsunade stepped close to her and both of them silently began to look over every document. Everything was normal. It looked like Itachi had residency to live in plenty of places. It was quite an accomplishment for him, really. As for Itachi's medical papers, Tsunade looked at them thoroughly and frowned when she read that Itachi had nearly been blinded. But that was not what concerned her the most.

"Psychiatric care," Tsunade said in pure shock, and Kushina frowned when she saw the particular set of notes.

"Yeah, since the age of eight," Kushina mumbled. She swallowed hard and read the first entry. "Age eight, first session. Uchiha Itachi is a very intelligent boy. He is pleasant, but he did not open up. Uchiha Itachi, session two, he mentioned something about a man…a man that he claims fills his mind with the need to hurt people. He wants to hurt people." Kushina couldn't believe the last line.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "What does it mean?" she wondered, and Kushina shrugged. The both of them kept reading until they reached the ended session. "That one," Tsunade said, placing her hand on an entry, "Session forty-nine sounds like he opened up a lot."

Kushina looked at it and read it "Session Forty Nine, Itachi was hinting at a lot of things. There were a few things I really didn't understand. I don't think I did, or at least it sounds unbelievable. There is the possibility that someone was murdered. Someone close to Itachi and I fear that Itachi blames himself for the death. He said that the man was whispering at him again, that everything was starting to become more real. Itachi also mentioned that there was now a blurred line between what is right and wrong. Itachi doesn't believe in sin, he believes that a person lives for the sheer fact that they can live and take as much as they desire from this world and then if so be it, go to either heaven or hell. He doesn't fear death. I wish he would have opened up a little more, but after he said that he seemed to close off again. More than usual," Kushina looked at Tsunade, "What of it?"

"I don't know, I get a bad feeling about it. Everything from there sounded like that person was teaching Itachi, and now, for there to be a mention of death. I wonder if Itachi witnessed it. Death can't be an easy thing for a child to handle. Blurred lines? What kind of a child even thinks that way at eight," Tsunade ran a hand over her hair, "Especially when it seems like Itachi didn't finish his sessions. Or at least we don't know what happened since there are not any other entries written,"

"True," Kushina said with a nod.

Tsunade sighed.

Kushina then looked over every other paper and came face to face with Itachi's birth certificate, "He was born in Sharigan," she said, furrowing her eyebrows. Sharigan that was also Sasuke's birth place…

Tsunade wasn't interested in that. Her eyes went directly to Itachi's last name and his parents names. She frowned, "Uchiha…why does that name sound familiar," she wondered and suddenly there was a scream.

Both of them jolted and rushed out to see what was going on.

When Sasuke returned to his bedroom the first thing he did was go through his stuff.

He needed to find Itachi's papers. They would be enough to force his uncle to bring Itachi back! They proved that every right to Itachi belonged to him, and he alone. But the more Sasuke looked through his desk, and cabinets, the more he saw that his things were out of order and that Itachi's papers were missing. Any legal form that he had with his appropriate ownership to Itachi was gone!

His things had been violated, his privacy ransacked, and his most precious treasure stolen from him and sent away. It suddenly felt like his whole world was crumbling around him.

Where had it all gone so wrong?

Then he noticed it, Itachi's legal birthrights. As soon as he saw them, he clutched them tightly to his chest.

Itachi's legal birthrights would mean nothing compared to what his other legal papers would have meant. If he showed Itachi's future inheritance to his uncle or anyone, he feared that they were going to steal them from him, like everything else was. It was not going to convince anyone to bring Itachi back, especially if they thought they were fake. Right now, Itachi's birthrights was all he had to cling to, and he wanted to protect them. Sasuke sighed and gently folded Itachi's birth rights and placed them like a book marker on the journal that his mother left him. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the devil faced chain that Itachi had given him, and placed it neatly on his desk.

Just a few more years and maybe his dream could come true.

He could runaway and maybe then he would be allowed to get married to Itachi. They would be together and have children, and everything would be fine! But right now Sasuke couldn't really think much about that as anger filled him.

He needed to make someone pay, but whom?

As Sasuke asked himself the question, there was only one answer that came to mind- That ugly servant girl, Erin- that's where it had gone wrong. She was the one that he had to make pay!

Enraged, Sasuke's eyes shifted themselves to their glowing red color. Before long Sasuke was walking out of his bedroom, and there was strict confidence in his every step. Any conscious thought of what he was doing was long gone and there was one promise that he wanted to keep before the night was over.

And that was to destroy Erin.

He had promised Itachi that he would be good, and that he was never going to hurt anyone with his sword, or using any of his training. But this was not going to take any of his skills, and he was not even going to use his sword for this, no. This was going to be a straight kill with any blade he could get his hands on. Sasuke smirked, the small switch blade in his hand, swiftly being protrude out and snapped back in. He just had to find her now.

Sasuke first looked in the servants rooms, nothing.

He looked out in the backyard, where the servants had their bond fires, nothing.

He looked in the kitchen, and there she was.

She was hanging out with Yuki and Yahira, all three of them giggling to themselves. Once the doors of the kitchen closed behind him, the sound was loud enough to draw all three females' attention towards him. Yuki and Yahira both gasped, and Erin smirked at Sasuke, tauntingly. "What's the prince doing here? Looking for Itachi to cook him a meal, Ha! He's gone." She crossed her arms and tried to seem big. After all, even though she had wished Sasuke punished, she was feeling good that she had torn both of them apart by having Itachi sent away.

Sasuke looked at her serious for a few seconds, before a shilling smirk crossed his lips, and his eyes flashed in a deadly way as he raised his head slightly so she could see his eyes, "and whose fault is that?" he asked, in a literal way.

Erin dropped her arms, and looked at Sasuke with a frightened look. "You're eyes," she whispered.

Sasuke flicked his wrist, and her eyes snapped to the sharp small knife in his hand, "I seem to have made a promise, I intend to keep." Sasuke said, taking a step forward. Yuki and Yahira both jumped, looking at the young prince in utter shock. He wouldn't really kill Erin would he…? Suddenly Sasuke moved forward, his knife aimed for Erin's throat, but being her cowardly self, Erin jumped and moved under the table, Sasuke's blade barely nicking her arm.

Sasuke growled, ready to follow her.

Yuki and Yahira both let out high pitched screams in hope that someone would come to Erin's aid.

Ignoring them, Sasuke dashed down and wrapped his hand around Erin's ankle and pulled her out from under the table. Erin let out a frightened scream, and Sasuke moved to stab her on her shoulder, if not there than any near part that would make her suffer before she died. She needed to feel pain before she died. She needed to know how much it hurt! Sasuke angled the knife, and was about ready to dig it into Erin's throat when his wrist was caught.

Sharply turning to look over his shoulder he saw the familiar blond woman from before. "Let go of me," he growled. He would kill her to!

Tsunade frowned, "Sasuke, you've got to stop. This isn't right,"

"I said let go you hag!" Sasuke pulled his hand away, and threw his knife in a careless fashion to the side, but the little blade skillfully managed to dig itself into Erin's stomach. Sasuke smirked, and moved away from Tsunade and anyone else trying to stop him.

"You two, get this girl out of here now!" Tsunade growled, and turned a glare to Sasuke, ready to stop him if he dared impede in their task of getting Erin out.

Sasuke flicked his wrist, and another knife was there. "Don't tempt me to kill you off as well, no one moves!" Sasuke hissed.

"Stop this at once Sasuke!" Kushina snapped, and Sasuke tensed. He looked over Tsunade's shoulder to his aunt and his hold on the knife tightened. "You are not about to become a murderer! It won't get you any closer to Itachi and you know it. By killing her you are sealing your own fate of never seeing him again, and I know you don't want that"

Sasuke clenched his teeth, "You lie" he snapped. Sasuke moved his hand, one more hit and it had to be to Erin's heart, and he would end her life. The sobbing shit would die! But the moment that Tsunade noticed his movements, she moved and punched Sasuke in the gut, making the blade land off the side, and slide across the kitchen floor, and hit the cabinets.

Sasuke held his stomach, and looked up only to get slapped across the face. "GET IT TOGETHER BOY!" Tsunade snapped with strong command. She believed Sasuke was good, and knew he would stop as he realized what he was doing. She had that hope that he would.

Sasuke felt his entire being hurt, and he closed his eyes, a frown at his lips as tears ran freely down his softly rounded cheeks. It wasn't fair!

With caution, Yahira and Yuki had moved to help Erin out of there. Tsunade frowned at Sasuke, and then moved to follow the girls. She was going to have Erin taken away from here. She should have made sure the transaction got done sooner, so this was also partly her fault. She would see to it now and not later.

Kushina who had watched the whole thing felt her heart, for the first time, clench in pain for Sasuke. It had been a long time since she had actually seen Sasuke cry his eyes out. She couldn't take it. She moved towards him and pulled him into a tight embrace.

Sasuke gasped his eyes wide at the sudden action from his aunt.

For as long as he could remember, he had always known there to be a distance between him and her. That small boarder that she seemed to keep up and reminded him that she was not his mother. The reason why she would never love him like she did Naruto- Yet as she hugged him and whispered comforting words to him, he couldn't help but feel that those walls crumbled. She really felt like a mother hugging him, and he for the first time in so long actually felt like a real child.

Sasuke let go of all of his inhibitions and cried, his arms wrapping around her and clinging to her like a child.

"I know you're hurting right now Sasuke," She whispered, soothingly running her hands through his hair. Sasuke continued to cry. He felt guilty. He had hurt someone when he had promised Itachi he wouldn't do that. Sure she deserved it in his opinion but it had not brought Itachi back. Had it really been worth it, Sasuke didn't know, he didn't care anymore he had done it for his own selfish needs to blame something. I'm so sorry but I love you Itachi… that's why I had too…

After a while Sasuke fell asleep in his aunt's arms, but before he had let go of himself into the delightful abyss of darkness, he had promised himself something. Tomorrow, he would be back to himself, and he will not allow anyone to get so close to him, ever again.

"You have got to eat kid; I don't think that the prince will like it if you died of starvation!" Suratobi partly joked, but partly worried as he looked at Itachi. They had been travelling for a week now and Itachi had hardly eaten much of anything. The reason being that Itachi was not fond of the stale bread nor the sweet meats that they were cursed to eat through their journey. Besides, Itachi was not to keen in admitting that he was also partly not eating because he was sulking over the fact that he was missing Sasuke.

"Quit bugging him already," A man named Ikou harshly grumped in his gruffly voice. He was cowering in a corner, obviously well aware of Itachi's bad mood as well as frightened by him. It was just his fear to tell Suratorib to leave Itachi alone in his mood.

It was amusing to Itachi.

Suratobi pouted, and Genma smiled softly and patted Suratobi's back. "Kids as rebellious as Itachi need to be bugged, or nagged, or whatever," Genma pulled out a cigarette and was about to light it when Itachi suddenly reached out and took it from him. It surprised everyone, but the raven was suddenly on alert, looking around him.

"Something isn't right," he said, and this worried the others slightly.

"You are just messing with us, aren't you kid!" another male, Hanawa, said with a frown on his face.

Itachi didn't even waste his time trying to tell him that he wasn't joking.

The result of his words showed when suddenly their wagon was attacked, and they were blasted from the damn thing. Itachi being on alert landed on his feet, with his things in hand and ready to face any challenge that came his way. While the other knights were either groaning in pain or spitting out dirt, Itachi glared at the small army of five that was standing over them, smirking smugly, and sniggering triumphal. Obviously they found it rather amusing that they had been able to attack a wagon from Konoha.

"Well, our first victims, what are you guys? Back up to the war?" The man sneered, "Sorry sorry though, I don't think either of you will make it out to the party," The man pulled out his long blade and swung down to the nearest person to him, cutting their heads off. There was an insane amount of blood that came spraying out of that one body. The bloody red color, and the metallic scent, had thrill running down Itachi's spine. He wanted to see more.

For a moment the line between who was a foe and who was a friend nearly blurred on him, but Itachi maintained control as he watched the laughing men before him. Itachi ground his teeth and forced himself to make the distinction. For the sake of everything he was going to have to.

Itachi drew his own blade.

For a final time, he had to remind himself that there was a difference between enemy and friend. "Ah, a challenge, look and it's just a foolish little kid," The men all laughed, thinking that the idea of Itachi standing alone was almost hilariously ridiculous. It was even more ludicrous since Itachi was the only young one amongst elderly looking men.

Suratobi, Genma, Ikou, Hanawa, and several others stood up to try and help Itachi. They couldn't allow the youngest knight to outshine them in battle!

But before they knew it Itachi had moved dangerously close to the enemy, and had already hindered the leader. There was a momentary pause of gasps as they all looked shock at the sudden loss of their leader's right hand. Then painful screams filled everyone's ears and brought their senses back down to what was happening.

The others got mad at seeing their leader in pain, and Itachi dipped and moved away from every swinging sword from the burly men. Right in the center of it all, Itachi had driven his knife deep into the dizzy faced leader's neck, and cut right through him. The man gasped blood, eyes wide, "Babo," Itachi said with a smirked and kicked him away, drawing the knife again and the swing was enough to bring it to another of his opponents, cutting through their stomachs and dropping them in half.

The other three suddenly backed off, not knowing what to do now. In a matter of seconds Itachi had already brought down two of their men. Then again, Itachi didn't leave them much of a choice to think of running away. "Devils spawn," One of them spat. Itachi tilted his head to the side, but decided to put the poor bastard out of his confused misery and let him believe what he wanted. Itachi drew his blade back and drove it into the poor soul from under his jaw to his brain, slowly spinning it to carve as much of him as he could. It was easy to do when the person was shaking and hesitating with pure confusion on their face. The sickening amount of blood only made him eager for more, and his fingers itched as he thought of all the ways he could make blood spill once again.

The other two decided it was time to fight and tried to hit Itachi, but every time it was like the boy would vanish from their line of sight and it was starting to scare them.

It was impossible! No normal human being could move like that! No one! "You're a monster!" one man screamed, there was no other rationality as to how this one boy had avoided all their blades and managed to kill his fellow knights.

A kick and it was enough to rile them up. The other man being incredibly scared and fearful that he no longer could see Itachi had swung and killed his own partner. Itachi appeared before him, making the man fall on his ass. He was about ready to get up and run, but he found himself under the grip of red colored eyes that were suddenly staring down at him. "WHAT ARE YOU!" he screamed, frightened. Itachi's sword went in through his opened mouth to the back of his head, and then out, as he kicked his head hard to send him flying away.

Meshed flesh flew out as Itachi drew his blade back and then looked towards his fellow knights. They were stunned and cowering back as they were faced by his fierce look.

Itachi for a moment thought about how easily he could kill them, but at this point he knew he had to get a better hold of himself. Since he let go and killed the others, he remembered that he had made the conscious decision not to touch them. They were on his side! Sighing to himself, he turned his back to them and continued to walk on. He needed time to cool down.

They were still a day away from reaching Suna, and now that they had to walk, it would probably be two or so. They had no time to waste.

When the others saw that Itachi was walking on ahead, they relaxed and looked at each other with uncertainty. Could they really trust Itachi after they watched him kill those men? They weren't sure. Itachi scared them more than he intrigued them, but there was still a bit of awe in them at Itachi's powerful skill in battle.

It was flawless and it even looked effortless in Itachi's part. It was almost too good to believe that he was that good. Either way, before long they were following behind Itachi, chatting up loudly at having survived.

Itachi on the other hand didn't share in their happiness, as his mind kept wondering back to Sasuke and if his little prince was alright. It had been a week now since he left, and Itachi was not sure why he still felt so freshly worried about Sasuke. All he knew was that he had to get back to him as soon as he could.

Itachi clenched his both his hands and sighed.

I'll see you soon, Sasuke.

[TOP] Days passed without you can't forget you
Letting me be the cloud hanging above me
Raining on me missing your touch
Nights get longer and it's hard to clutch
We're apart breaks my heart
Its all for the best girl, you're my world
In time my love unfurls
'Till then wait for you girl

Koe Wo Kikasete (Let Me Hear Your Voice) ArtistBig Bang

Aww, An update I can't beiieve it's been so long. Hope you all enjoyed It!