Disclaimer: Still don't own anything
Warnings: This chapter is almost a complete filler, only a few aspects will be used in future chapters. It also contains, some blood/violene, coarse language, references to rape, some sexual content, the use of alcohol, incest, yaoi, OOC, and we all know about the canon.
Pairings: ItaSasu, slight KakaIta, references to ShisIta
The sound of the rain hit the window as Itachi laid his younger brother on the bed hearing a gentle moan pass through his lips. The blood was still thick on his body, the tear in his shirt where the dagger hit making the biggest impact on his vision. He almost lost him out there; he made the vital mistake of allowing the senbon to hit him. What the hell happened? That's all he could ask himself. He was supposed to be in control.
He tried to move looking down at his ankle, the muscles still numbed from Kabuto's attack. The bruises were already starting to form. Taking a deep breath, he counted his blessings; he was still alive after that fight. He looked over at Sasuke watching him breathe, his body snuggling closer to the pillow, the sheets getting stained with blood. There was more of it than he thought.
"Damn it," Itachi breathed as he looked out the window seeing the rain continue to fall, taking a deep breath. He looked at his hands seeing the blood that covered them; he had gone through more than he ever had before. The Akatsuki was pretty low key when it came to injures, he never got this hurt before, his partner made sure of it. There wasn't that security anymore; Orochimaru had taken that privilege away the day when they told Itachi that it was all over.
He stared blankly at his ring, closing his eyes as he thought about all that he did. The day when they let him go he was devastated, lost. There was no way that he thought he could go on. Now he knew that they were nothing to him, just like he was nothing to them. He only wore the ring to remind him of the mistake that he made with them all of those years ago.
"Itachi?" Sasuke asked, the sheets rustling under his moving body. "Are you alright?"
He looked over at him with a slight smile on his face. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Sasuke, all of this time that I've been with you, I never wanted anything along those lines to happen to you," he shook his head. "My plan is coming apart right in front of me."
Sasuke sat up in bed looking into his brother's eyes seeing the pain that was deep within the irises. "Itachi, you worry me when you get like this. I always think that you're going to do something idiotic," he touched Itachi's shoulder lightly. "You're not weak; you just were caught off guard."
"I shouldn't have been caught of guard," he looked down at his ring and took a deep breath. "I was in ANBU. I was in Akatsuki. I unlocked the mangekyou sharingan. I should have known what he was up to," he moved his vision to the window. "I guess they were right, I am nothing without them."
Sasuke buried his face in his pillow, letting out an exasperated groan. "Are you always this dramatic or am I just lucky these days? All you do is bitch, Itachi. You look around the house and that damn ring on your finger and all you see are memories," he glanced up at the rain that was tossing through the air.
Itachi looked down at Sasuke, the young boy's eyes filled with so much emotion, his heart melting into a warm bubbling puddle as he gazed into them. He had never seen Sasuke like that before in their whole time together. He was frozen. His palms were sweating as he tried to avoid his gaze.
"I always think I'm second place," Sasuke breathed moving closer to him, feeling the warmth of his body circulate through his body, warming his cheeks with a slight blush. "Sometimes, I feel as though if I close my eyes…" he felt his brother move from next to him, his hands grasping his shoulders, pulling him into a deep kiss, his tongue slipping past his lips.
Sasuke let out a low moan his hands moving down to the bottom of Itachi's shirt pulling at the article, pushing it up a little, his palms kneading the flesh of his abs, hitches coming in his brother's breathing. Tongues clashed harder, Sasuke's onyx eyes closing tightly, tears rolling down his cheeks, his hands moving from the warming flesh, moving back onto the bed to ease their bodies onto the mattress.
"Itachi," Sasuke gasped as his brother's lips touched the throbbing flesh of his pulse point. He giggled as his brother's hands pinned his wrists down to the mattress, Itachi's almost dominating weight on top of him. His breath struggling to pass his lips, sweat forming on his flesh, the pleasure that was surging off of Itachi's lips surging through his body.
Releasing Sasuke's hands Itachi backed away for a few seconds catching his breath, his eyes still locked on the young boy's body. His fingers trail down Sasuke's body reaching to take the shirt that he was wearing pushing it up to expose the trembling flesh of his stomach beneath.
"Itachi," Sasuke breathed his toes curling, as his eyes shut tighter, feeling the cold hit his body as his shirt was removed from his body. Deep in his heart, he knew this was wrong; this was the reason why Sakura was on the dark side. This was why Naruto never looked at him with the same warm eyes. Kakashi was never going to be able to be the same, everything taken away from him so harshly.
There was a time when he'd have to draw the line; there were limits that he shouldn't push anymore. Every time he thought he could be completely happy it was at someone else's expense. He was becoming a new person when he was around Itachi, he felt as though his life was finally worth something, he could finally feel like there was deeper reason why he survived.
Tear formed in his eyes as Itachi's lips took his again, he wanted it, he wanted Itachi more than he had ever wanted anything. No matter how much that was true, he could only see the pain in Konoha he was causing. Sasuke knew that if it wasn't for him, Itachi wouldn't be like this, life wouldn't be like this, he would be just like he was before. He'd be miserable, but everyone else would be the same, life wouldn't be so confusing.
"Itachi," Sasuke breathed pushing his brother away from him. "No," he shook his head. "Stop it."
Itachi backed away more licking his lips. "What's wrong?" he didn't sound concerned at all, his eyes almost blank of all expression. "Sasuke?"
Sasuke looked up into his dark eyes. "I think we should cool it for a while. We just got back from a mission; I don't think we're in any condition."
"Okay," Itachi nodded. "God, you make it sound like it's my fault."
Sasuke swallowed hard as he closed his eyes tightly. "I don't know who did this," he opened them watching as his brother adverted his eyes. "Itachi, after what happened in the woods, what I did to Sakura, what she did to you, there's no telling what will happen if we continue this game."
Itachi nodded as he stood up. "Alright," his eyes stiffened with a confusion that Sasuke had never seen. He started to walk away not looking back at him. "I'll continue my mission alone. I'm sorry to inconvenience you."
"Itachi," Sasuke breathed getting out of bed.
"You could have said no when I came back to you instead of playing with me," Itachi looked back at him, his eyes the same red glow of the sharingan that he had grown to fear. "I should have known that you were just like the rest of them. People are all the same, everyone's the same. I was an idiot to think otherwise."
Sasuke watched as his hands moved to grip the Akatsuki robe on the ground, his brother pulling it back onto his body, his other hand moving to pick up his forehead protector tying it around its old spot, the Akatsuki robe pull over his body. Sasuke closed his eyes tightly trying to get that image out of his head. That was the man who had tortured him endlessly by the river. That was the horrifying monster that lived inside of Itachi's soul.
"I'll be out of your way," he picked up the katana, his eyes looking back at Sasuke chuckling at the scared expression on his face. "Oh, Sasuke, I'm not going to rape you. We won't start this again."
He started to walk toward the door Sasuke getting out of bed. "So that's it, you're going to run away from your problems? Or are you going to kill me like you killed everyone else? Itachi, I just think for the best interest of the village it would be the best for me to let you go before you get killed."
"Let me go?" Itachi asked stopping again. "What do you want, Sasuke? What do you want out of life? Is this was you want? You want me to leave you so the village will be proud of you and you'll get a nice big pat on the head? You're a pathetic person, Sasuke, if you want to be a lackey to Konoha, then be my guest. I wasted enough time on you. If it weren't for you, I would have finished this mission before Kabuto came."
Sasuke looked at the ground licking his lips. "Itachi," he heard his brother walk out of the room, his footsteps leading down the walkways to the front of the house where he would leave him forever, not looking back for a second. "I love you…"
He fell to his knees, his eyes closing tightly as he looked around the room. All that they had done, the way that Itachi had said he could finally trust someone, it was all fresh in his mind. Sasuke could still feel Itachi's tears rolling down the back of his neck as he held him closely, his body exhausted from Mystical Palms. Itachi had given him everything that had ever mattered to him.
Burying his face in his hands, he sobbed, wept, cried how he did the night when everyone died, the tears never ending. He felt as though he lost a piece of himself a piece that he was never going to get back for as long as he lived. He was really gone this time, and it would take four years for him to come back to him. It was over.
"Itachi," he breathed as he wrapped his arms around himself. A part of him wished that he had raped him before he left. It would have given him something to remember him by. Just one last time, one last thrill. He didn't want these memories that were left in his head, not this pain that he knew would never go away no matter how much he prayed it would.
"Itachi," he breathed again looking at the dagger on the ground. The misery he thought this would prevent was only caused more as he tried to climb back into the bed, the smell of his brother's flesh still staining the sheets. He was an idiot.
-----
Kakashi walked out of the apartment building Gai following him closely. "I can handle myself, Gai, I don't need you to go everywhere with me," he looked back at the other jounin seeing the look of concern on his face. "I just want to go talk to the Hokage again."
"The last time you went to talk to him you came home shaking," Gai shook his head. "Kakashi, you're not in any condition to continue with these affairs. Your body has become too weak from your encounter with Itachi, you could kill yourself."
Kakashi continued to walk away leaving Gai behind, the other jounin obediently standing there, not chasing him. The last couple of days were the worst for Kakashi, all he could think about was Itachi. Not the way that he thought that he would, he thought of him as a younger Itachi, the one who he used to talk to, ask about the various bruises that were on his body. He thought of the young one who used to smile, but always seemed like he was somewhere else. He thought of him at the age when Itachi started not to trust people.
He kept on walking down the street the light wind blowing up against his face. It was horrible weather these days. How could he have two students out in the world with weather like this? He sighed, it couldn't be helped, Sasuke and Sakura were the two that he always thought someone would kidnap.
A chill ran down his spine as his eyes caught sight of a person walking toward the exit of Konoha. It seemed like a phantom from his worst nightmares something that he wanted to block out but never could. The person kept walking closer, his eyes not looking at Kakashi at all, his vision fixed on the exit.
"Itachi?" Kakashi asked as Itachi walked past him. "Long time no see," he turned to him, the younger ninja was continuing to walk away from him, his movements slow and somewhat pained. "Where do you think your going?"
"What does it matter to you?" Itachi snapped as he continued to walk away. Kakashi could tell what was wrong with him, the look in his scarlet eyes, the outfit that he was wearing. He didn't see him wear that the last time that he saw him. "Leave me alone, Kakashi, nothing I do is going to concern Konoha right now."
The jounin walked after him. "Where's Sasuke?"
Itachi scoffed. "At home, I left him back there where he belongs," he took a deep breath. "I know what you're going to say, and it's true, you won this round. Sasuke doesn't belong to me, he never did. He truly is your student, I can tell by how cold he is to me," he walked faster toward the exit. "Now leave me to my goal."
Kakashi's voice became louder, what passed from his lips making Itachi stop dead in his tracks. "What about Sasuke? What are you going to do with him? I thought that he was under your wing now."
Itachi hissed. "You can have him back, he's chosen his path. I'm not going to stop him, just like I don't intend on him stopping me from what I must do. We made a promise to each other, but we broke those bonds."
Kakashi walked forward the clicking of his cane filling the atmosphere, echoing off of all of the buildings. "So you learned not to trust him either? Itachi, life doesn't have to be like this. It could be different, you could go back to that boy and you can finish what you wanted to do."
Itachi chuckled again. "Oh Kakashi, if only I could, but you see, he's the one who kicked me out. He blames me for what happened to Sakura, he blames me for all of the pain that he's going through. He can't blame himself for any of it. I didn't want him to be like this. This isn't what I planned."
Kakashi scoffed. "So you're going to run again?"
"What else can I do?" Itachi asked. "He said that he didn't want to be with me anymore. I'm going to respect that last request that he made to me. Sasuke was different from the rest. I thought he was. I loved him since he was a young child, I guess I just wished that everything was going to go my way," he continued walking away from Kakashi not looking back at him. "But now I'm going to make it all better. I'm going to get back at Akatsuki, Orochimaru, and then my death will come to me, whether it's by Sasuke's hand or not."
Kakashi clenched his fists tightly. "You're a sick bastard, Itachi, did you know that?" he shook his head closing his eyes. "Do you honestly think that you can do all of this? Are you going to buy into what the Akatsuki is trying to get you to do? They're trying to make you into one of them; they're trying to make you into a monster. You aren't a monster, Itachi, you're not even close. You're mentally unwell."
The younger ninja turned to him. "What are you trying to prove, Kakashi? Do you think that talking to me is going to keep me away from the darkness that I want to go into? I'm not a child anymore, Kakashi; you're too late to stop me. You're always late for everything. You were late look at me, look at Sasuke, and look at this village. It's true, most of the blame for the monster I've become goes to me, but you're not to be untouched. You're the one who didn't save me. You let me drown."
Kakashi dropped his cane as he looked into Itachi's eyes. "You damn brat."
Itachi looked away from him. "Are you going to drag me back to Sasuke? Are you going to smack me across the face and say I'm being an idiot? What are you going to do to stop me, Kakashi?"
Kakashi moved closer to Itachi wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug pulling him closer to his body, hearing hitches in the younger ninja's breathing. He held onto him tighter, feeling his bury his face in his shoulder; his arms hugging back at him. The wind blew against Itachi's back, pushing against Kakashi's face.
He didn't want to let Itachi go, the second that he did, there would be no future for Sasuke. Sasuke saw something in Itachi, something that he couldn't live without. Kakashi didn't want Sasuke to lose that security. He was always worried about him the most out of all of the ninja on his team; Sasuke needed someone to allow him to unleash his potential.
"Please don't leave him," Kakashi breathed holding onto him tighter. "Or I'll kill you, Itachi. I promise that I will destroy you if you even think about leaving that boy behind, whether he wanted you to or not. You two need to start thinking for yourselves, you especially. You're alone now, there's no organization to tell you what to do anymore. You can choose your own destiny."
The younger ninja loosened his grip backing away; his face was once again unimpressed. "I have no choice but to leave, Kakashi. I would love to stay with him, but all I do is put him in these terrible situations that I can't get him out of. That's why I'm back in this outfit, that's why I'm wearing this forehead protector, it's because there's nothing here that I want or wants me."
"You're going to give up all emotion to leave?" Kakashi asked with a scoff. "Are you going to do that to yourself again? There's nowhere for you to go, Itachi, there's nothing for you. All you'll do out there is live lonely and die. Is that what you want?"
"I'm not scared of death," Itachi breathed.
"Itachi," Kakashi yelled as he curled his hand into a fist. "Quit screwing around and tell me what you really want. Forget Sasuke, tell me what you want out this plan that you came up with."
The younger ninja started to walk away again, not answering Kakashi's question. Finally he took a deep breath, his voice sounding back to the older ninja. "I wanted him to finally be recognized as a ninja. I wanted him to finally have the power that he craved so his soul could be in peace. Now all I want is to forget him, forget everything that I wanted. I'm a fool this was something different. People are all the same."
"People are not the same!" Kakashi breathed. "I'm not going to let you two believe that you can't control your own lives. It's true that your father was far from allowing you to have independence, but there was something deeper than that. You're scared that you're going to lose him. You fear that you don't have enough power to save him, or that you have too much power that you won't even care about him."
Itachi turned to him, his eyes closed tightly. "What are you trying to do, Kakashi? Are you trying to make me go back there to Sasuke and pretend that I can take a backseat role? Do you want me to forget all that I've done to him in the last couple of days? What do you want me to do?"
Kakashi touched Itachi's face lightly. "Something that you've never done before, I want you to follow your heart. I want you to do what you what makes you feel alive; I don't enjoy seeing you as a walking shell. Seeing you with that organization didn't make it any better, you weren't human."
Itachi pushed him away scoffing as his eyes closed again. "You think you know everything, don't you, Kakashi? You think that you've got me all figured out, you think that I'm doing all of this because I'm scared," he curled his hand into a fist and drove it into Kakashi's cheek knocking him to the ground. "Don't you even think that you know me, you'll never know."
Kakashi grabbed Itachi's ankle squeezing on it tightly, the damaged muscle from Kabuto's attack burning as he did so. "For God's sake, Itachi, turn around and go back to Sasuke. He's only saying all of this because of what his peers think of his behavior. If you leave him, you're going to kill him. Take off that robe, take off that forehead protector and please reconsider what you're going to him. You're only going to hurt him if you do this."
Itachi closed his eyes, he hated to admit it, but Kakashi was right, he was only going to kill Sasuke if he continued with what he was doing. Sasuke was confused, just like he was with Shisui when he was twelve. Only this was going to be different, Itachi wasn't going to turn his back; he was going to be there. No one was going to go through the pain that he did when he was with Shisui, no human deserved that.
Itachi looked down at him. "If he gets hurt, it's on your conscience now. I tried to save him from this dark fate. If anything happens to Sasuke, I'm going to come back to you and I'll destroy you. For now, I have to go," he continued walking forward. "I have to see a man about a young girl that I have to kill."
"Itachi," Kakashi continued. "Don't do this, you could be killed by whoever has Sakura, he's not going to let you off easily. Just turn around and go back to Sasuke before I have to take desperate measures."
"Desperate measures?" he felt a sharp pain fill his arm, a senbon lodged within the skin, stinging sensations surrounding the wounded area. His vision was clouding as he tried to look over at Kakashi. "You son of a bitch…" he fell to his knees. "What did you do to me?"
"That's strong venom that will temporarily knock you out," Kakashi grinned beneath the mask looking down at him in a mocking tone. "You won't be able to resist my remarks. I'm going to take you with me."
Itachi shook his head trying to clear his vision. "What are you going to do to me? Rape me? Is that part of your great plan?"
Kakashi knelt down next to him. "I'm going to take you away from here; I'm going to take you some place where you're going to see what you're doing wrong. You have to stop thinking about yourself and start understanding that you're the only hope to some people."
Itachi coughed lightly, his grip on his arm starting to loosen as he looked over at the jounin, his breath becoming heavy, his body falling forward onto his. He was losing control of consciousness; Kakashi had outsmarted him this time. He should have been able to see that needle coming. He wasn't focusing the way that he should.
Kakashi held onto him. "I'm going to bring you somewhere where you could think all of the time, a place where you once thought that everything was going to end. A place where it could all end…"
He stood up holding onto Itachi tightly, moving forward, away from the destination where the he was going. He had to make sure that his student's life was the most important item on his agenda. Sasuke spoke of love when he was in the hospital room talking to him; he wasn't going to allow Sasuke to lose that feeling because of a teenage testosterone fit that Itachi was having.
Please don't let Sasuke be like this when he's seventeen, I don't think I could handle a second Itachi, he sighed as he kept walking forward looking down at the shivering body of the teenage S-class criminal. He wasn't as tough as he thought that he was. This was simple.
-----
Sasuke poured more liquid into his glass as he looked through the books that Itachi had left behind. Whether Itachi was coming back or not he was going to continue what he started, he was going to get stronger the way that his brother would have wanted him to. With the help of the alcohol that Itachi had left behind he was starting to understand what the books were saying.
He took another sip from the glass almost gagging on the taste of the liquor. How the hell did he drink this stuff? It's disgusting; he turned the page looking at the splashes of blood on a few of the pages.
Itachi was really intense about it; he could feel the frustration that he must have felt as he tried to find his way out of a corner every single time. Itachi only wanted to learn this to help Sasuke's survival rate go up on every mission that they went on. He was only trying to look out for him.
"What do you want out of life? Is this was you want? You want me to leave you so the village will be proud of you and you'll get a nice big pat on the head? You're a pathetic person, Sasuke, if you want to be a lackey to Konoha, then be my guest. I wasted enough time on you. If it weren't for you, I would have finished this mission before Kabuto came."
He closed his eyes tightly as he thought back to when Itachi left him. Sasuke was wrong to think that he was the cause of everything that was going on. If it wasn't for him he wouldn't even be here right now. He was only in the way the last time that they were in a battle together; he was the reason why Itachi had to take on both Sakura and Kabuto, the reason why he was so exhausted afterward. Yet after that Itachi never looked at him different. The only disappointment was because he had shut him out.
" People are all the same, everyone's the same. I was an idiot to think otherwise."
He had to keep trying, one day they would find him, to show him that he was an outstanding ninja. It was going to be difficult and lonely with him gone. He wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight, not after over a month of having him by his side. Itachi had unlocked a strength that he thought he would never be able to come up with. He wasn't sure he could do it without him.
His eyes looked over at the window; there was nothing but silence now, nothing but the regret. He hadn't even been gone for more than three hours and already Sasuke was going out of his mind. He should have kept his mouth shut; he should have just continued being with him not caring what the village had said to him. He was an idiot.
"Itachi," he breathed looking over at the dagger that was resting on his pillow. Itachi was going to come back, he was hopeful for that. Itachi got like this from time to time. The day that Asuma Sarutobi came to mind, he came back to him. He wouldn't leave him alone like this.
He took another sip of the alcohol; Itachi said that it made all of his pain go away, it made life seem easier to live. Also it was Itachi's alcohol; his lips had touched the top of this bottle, the closest that Sasuke would ever get to those lips in a long time. He had no right to say those words to him, not even after all that he heard Sakura and the rest of Konoha say.
"Then why do you love him? If he treats you so badly, then why do you bother with him? Why do you go to him for comfort? What is the point of this pain that you're causing yourself?"
Why did he even listen to her? What was she to him now? She was the reason that there was a blade run through his chest, the reason that tears fell from Itachi's eyes. Sakura had done nothing but destroy Itachi, yet Sasuke found it necessary to chase him away because of what she said.
He slammed the book shut as he got out of his bed, placing the bottle of alcohol to the ground. He made a mistake doing that, now it was time to correct it. He was going to have to fight the source, the reason why this all was happening, he was going to have to find Sakura. He was going to have to do what Itachi had always wanted him to; he was going to have to kill her for what she did.
"Sakura," he breathed grasping the blade in his hand placing it back in its sheath. It was the only way that his soul would be able to be at rest, if he was able to kill Sakura. This time there would be no Itachi to stop him. It was going to be all up to him. His choice and he chose death.
It was too late; he had already ruined all of his life, he had already broken his heart. All of his dreams were in tatters, he had let all of them go to accommodate his growing feelings for Itachi; he was starting to cope with the loss, his masochism getting the better of him. Now he was overcome by sadism, Sakura was going to die by his hand; she was going to pay for what she had done to him.
He walked out of the entrance of the house looking straight into the distance, the wind blowing gently in his face, he was going to understand that everything that Itachi had already done was worth it, even if they never met again, everything was going to be worth it. There was no way that it was going to be wasted not after all of the weeks that he had lived in this pain. Nothing was in his way anymore, nothing mattered.
Itachi, I made a mistake, but I swear, I won't make the same mistake again, he looked back at the place that he was leaving behind. Even if I don't come back, I'm always going to be part of you, because that's what brothers are, Itachi. That's what I am to you, even if you hate it.
-----
He groaned as he opened his eyes, his body feeling completely numb, not even able to move. His vision was blurred, swirls of color dancing in front of them as he looked straight at the person who was next to him. Where did that bastard take him? The last thing he remembered was taking a senbon to the arm.
"You're awake," Kakashi beamed looking forward into the horizon. "I thought that you were dead for a second. You've been out cold for two hours. I was starting to think that I gave you the wrong poison," he glanced down at him. "How do you feel? Are you still going to leave?"
Itachi tried to rise from his position; he was laying face up on the riverbank looking up at the cloudy sky. He never thought that Kakashi was capable of such a heartless act, injecting him with a dangerous poison that could have destroyed his heart muscles. It was after all a paralysis poison.
"What are you trying to do?" Itachi asked taking a deep breath. "There are missions that I need to accomplish, you know. I have goal, I have a dream, and sitting here down by the river isn't going to help."
Kakashi snickered. "You came down here with Shisui all of the time. You never bitched at him as much as you do around me. I know for a fact that it always made you feel better to talk to other people."
"Yeah, it's great to talk to people, until they have a dagger in your shoulder saying that they're going to kill you unless you do it first," Itachi scoffed looking away from him trying to block out the pain that his body was in. "Don't talk about him, Kakashi, you don't know why he came closer to me."
The jounin sighed. "Was he the one who taught you not to trust people? Because you loved him and all he saw in you toward the end of his life was another gate that he had to open to get power?" he looked down at the water. "Itachi, there are people in this world who aren't like that. Sasuke's not like that."
Itachi sighed. "I know…" he struggled to sit up, yelping lightly at the pain. "Sasuke's a lot like you, and he's a lot like Shisui, that makes me uneasy, that makes me believe that he's going to form into you two. I'm trying to liberate him, but he's going in more of a Shisui direction. There was no way that I could save that bastard before he went down."
Kakashi touched Itachi's hand lightly. "Do you have intentions of going back to him? Do you have intentions of going back to Sasuke to save him? Or are you just going to continue to act like an idiot and sacrifice your life for all of the wrong reasons?"
"I intend to go back. I have to. There's a man that's after him, a man who wants him as his own. One of the legendary sannin: Orochimaru. He's after Sasuke's body as his next host for his immortality technique," he looked over at Kakashi. "He wants the sharingan, he wants that power in his hands," Itachi closed his eyes struggling to take a breath as the poison was starting to give way. "I was the original sharingan body of his desire, but I grew too strong. If I train Sasuke to be like me then he too will be too strong for that man, and then I win."
Kakashi looked down into the water. "Damn Orochimaru."
"He's not a threat, some Sannin he is, I can beat him with no trouble at all," Itachi looked over at Kakashi. "He's scared of me. That's why I'm here. That's why I was the one that they got rid of. That's why I'm going to be the one to destroy Akatsuki and the Sound Village; no one messes with me and gets away with it. They're going to pay."
"So much hatred," Kakashi sighed as he closed his eyes. His soul is already too deep into the darkness, even after I thought Sasuke could get him out of it. They made a mistake when they got rid of him. He'll kill them.
Itachi finally managed to move from his stiffened position on the ground as he looked into the water of the Nakano River. He shivered slightly, the ache becoming greater, the arm where the senbon hit lacking all feeling that it once had contained. His black eyes gazed into the dark murky water, a sigh passing his lips.
"Kakashi," Itachi breathed. "I know why you're doing this…"
"Hmmm?" Kakashi asked looking over at the teenager.
"You did this to show me that you care about me, you're treating me like a child again. I don't know whether to feel belittled or to feel relieved. All I know is that you brought me out here to get some more information about Akatsuki," a smirk graced his lips as he looked over at the Konoha jounin. "I'll give you any piece that you want. Their deaths don't need to be at my hand, I just have to be the one who made it all happen. Think of it as a parting gift to a few good friends."
Kakashi took a deep breath as he moved his arm wrapping it around the younger ninja's shoulder's gently. "Itachi, I don't want to see you get hurt in this either, the last thing that I want is for you to die because of that organization."
Itachi moved closer to the jounin as he felt the pain start to melt away from his body. Kakashi was doing to him again, he was trying to take all of the pain that he had held so close in his heart and break it into small pieces. It was ironic how every person he had been around would have turned on him except for the one that he had given the reputation to. The warmth that was in his body as he moved closer still allowed a sigh to pass through his lips, his cheek resting up against his shoulder.
"Itachi Uchiha," Kakashi sighed. "There is a reason why I didn't want to hurt you in that hospital room until you insisted that I did. I didn't want to screw you up more, I know what you've been through and I know it was tough. It doesn't justify anything, but it shows that you are not mentally well. I wanted to see you finally do something about that Goddamn organization; you're the only one who can stop them. You're the only one who knows how they operate."
Itachi snickered, moving closer to Kakashi. "You do want information."
"I want you to go back to Sasuke," the older ninja stated. "It pains me to say this, but Sasuke needs you. He's going through some issues right now," he coughed lightly, Itachi backed away.
"What's wrong?" Itachi asked as he looked into the jounin's eye. "What's going on with you?"
"Your damn genjutsu, that's what's wrong with me," he looked into Itachi's eyes as the younger ninja laid him on his back. "Itachi? What are you?"
"I seemed to have disturbed a lot of the muscles around your heart and lungs, it's upsetting your vitals," Itachi pressed his hands up against Kakashi's chest as he closed his eyes tightly. "Kakashi, I'm going to try to undo some of what I did to you. I could use the practice with this technique."
Kakashi looked up at the shaking teenager. "So I'm just your guinea pig? There's the Itachi that I know, the same ass who has no respect for the human body whatsoever. I was wondering when we were going to meet again," he looked at the hands. "So what technique is this?"
The glow of Itachi's hands filled the area around them as the user was taking short breaths through his mouth, panting lightly. Kakashi could just sit in awe looking at what Itachi was doing to him; he was trying to fix what he had done. He had learned a jutsu that most people can only dream of, all of this time when Itachi was by himself, this is what he was working on: Mystical Palms. That jutsu alone showed that he had changed, he was no longer the arrogant boy in the Akatsuki robe, the one that he faced when Sasuke was in the hospital. Nor was he that cocky emotional wreck the second time they met in the hospital, he was finally a ninja to be proud of.
Kakashi took a deep breath as he watched the glow start to fade, his eye closing slightly as he felt the hands start to move away from his chest, his eyes reopening catching a glimpse of Kakashi's as he quickly adverted his glance.
"Itachi, when did you?" Kakaski looked at Itachi's hands. "When did you learn Mystical Palms?"
"Just recently, I perfected it yesterday," Itachi looked back into the water. "I did that because I need to keep you alive for when Sasuke needs a sensei after I'm gone. Besides, you're the one who can help me destroy the Akatsuki, you can get the whole village of Konoha to make sure that they never get in here. I also feel as though killing you isn't quite on the agenda yet."
"When will it be?" Kakashi asked, looking at the younger ninja.
Itachi shrugged. "I don't choose when it comes time to kill you, you get to choose that. You've been well behaved, Kakashi. You've been playing a backseat role this whole time," he nodded shakily. "Thank you for that," he stood up looking down at him. "I'm going to be off now, I have to make sure that kid hasn't done anything reckless," he looked back at the sitting ninja. "Goodbye," he started to walk away from the jounin not acknowledging him. "Kakashi."
"Yeah?" Kakashi asked, looking at him, his voice not much above a relaxed tone. "What is it Itachi?"
He glanced over his shoulder. "Don't think this changes anything, I'm never going to forgive you, I'm never going to forget. I'm always going to remember what you did, and no matter how much you want me to just pretend like it never happened, I can't live like that."
Kakashi watched as he disappeared into the darkness of the setting sun. I guess he'll never change completely. Then again, that wouldn't be very like him at all. Itachi is always going to hate, but now he's incorporated more into his being, he now knows how to love. That kid's starting to become a better ninja, criminal or not.
-----
Sasuke walked through the pass where he and Itachi had followed Kabuto and Sakura before. He picked up the speed as he scanned the area for any traces of the two medical ninja. They were going to pay for what they did to them, they made them look like beginners, they made Itachi lose all of the dignity that he had held so dear to his being. There were only a few more steps until the edge of Konoha.
As he ran he looked to his side seeing a familiar figure pass him by not paying attention to him, the terrifying red clouds on the dark black robe drilling holes through his sanity. It was him; he didn't leave the village after all.
"Itachi?" he asked as he looked over at him. "It's been a while hasn't it?"
Itachi still ignored his presence. "Only a few hours."
Sasuke watched as he continued to walk in the opposite direction than him clenching his fists tightly. "Itachi, wait!" he looked over his shoulder at his brother. "I know that I was out of line this morning. I shouldn't have said all of the things that I said. I should have thought before I wanted to hurt everything that you tried to create for so long. I didn't want to sound ungrateful. I can't live without you."
Itachi scoffed as he kept walking. "Sasuke," he glanced over his shoulder, "you wouldn't have hurt me so determinedly if you couldn't live without me."
Sasuke shook his head. "Will you listen to me?"
"Why?" Itachi asked in a condescending tone. "Sasuke, I know that you were using me to begin with, and I was fine with that. But now when we were so close to winning this together, when I was so close to fulfilling your purpose, you chose to tell me that you were…"
"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "You know that I would never hurt you like that on purpose. I would never want to drive you to do anything on your own. I know that the path that you chose is a dangerous one…"
Itachi looked back at him. "Sasuke, I know that you care, I know I've made mistakes, but when you see me stabbed in the chest, you tell me how you feel afterward knowing that it was your fault. I just wanted to make sure that you were still with me," he turned away. "You were…"
Sasuke watched as he continued to walk away. "Itachi…"
He felt a heavy pain in his soul as he watched that man walk away again, this time he could have stopped him. He was trying to raise his voice to ask him to turn back and come to him, but it only wounded him more. Could he disappoint his brother like that? Would he allow himself to be the one who destroyed everything?
"Are you coming or not?" Itachi asked, looking back at him. "We've got a lot of training to do. I see that you were going to go after him. In your current condition, Kabuto would obliterate," he smirked lightly. "That's why we're going to beat them at their own game."
Sasuke beamed. "You mean you're coming back already?"
"We had a disagreement, I'm not going to let that bring me down," he looked back. "That is if you won't let it get you down. This is after all your choice. Your life, your choice, I'm not into forcing you to do anything anymore."
Sasuke's eyes lit up as he walked toward him. "Depends, are you going to teach me how to fully master that clone technique?"
"Always my clones," Itachi breathed. "Yes, I'll show you the clone technique, that's an important one, there's no telling when you'll need that. However, I'm going to teach you the most important technique when fighting a medical ninja: Mystical Palms."
"Only two days ago you didn't even know how to harness that technique yourself," Sasuke taunted. "And now you think you can teach me? I'm not like you; things don't come easily to me."
"I understand that, but I know that you are only a half decent ninja, but you are decent," Itachi continued walking on. "There's no way that I'm going to throw you into a full scale battle with such little experience."
Sasuke closed his eyes tightly as he let a smile roll across his lips. I knew you wouldn't be gone for too long; after all, you're the one who needs me more than I need you, Itachi.
Author's Note: I know that this chapter was bad (wasn't too proud with it myself) but I had to do something for it. I also want everyone to know that the next chapters are also fillers (I hope that doesn't upset anyone). As for the questions about the KakaIta, the answers will come soon, please don't yell at me, I'm trying the best I can. I also want to apologize to eveyone who is disgusted by my story, I'm sorry that you all feel that way. So on a lighter not, what did you all think? Good? Bad? Give up on this piece of shit? Honesty is always good.