Here's the long chapter! I was really looking forward to getting this out for you guys. Super psyched that it's finally out! This is part one of two- maybe three. I hope you like it as much as I did.
~Raven
13th February, 2017, Uchiha Corporation, San Francisco
He was standing in a white corridor, the smell of antiseptic in the air. To the outside eye, the place could easily be mistaken for a hospital.
A small boy with spiky black hair broke into a run in front of him.
His actions were not his own. He remembered making them. But at this point in time, they were conditioned reflexes.
"Sasuke! Don't run so fast! If father heard you and found out that we were here.." he hissed, looking around to see if there was anyone who had seen him.
"But I wanna go see them!" the little boy pouted, tugging at his elder brother's sleeve. "Hurry up 'tachi!"
"We need to find mother to do that. If you keep running around like that, then we'll be found before we find her." he said, turning around another corridor.
"Hey! Hey! That's the room isn't it!" the little boy said as he pointed at a door which became visible on the wall ending the corridor.
Itachi's whisper of, "Be quiet." died on his lips as he watched his brother sprint towards said door, nudging it open before edging his way enthusiastically inside.
But Itachi was frozen on the spot.
"Deep in the meadow
Under the willow
A bed of grass
A soft green pillow"
Sasuke was already inside. Safe.
'Just ignore it.' He told himself.
'Ignore the voice and go and join Sasuke.'
"Lay down your head
And close your sleepy eyes
And when again they open
The sun will rise"
'Just a few more steps. Move, Itachi.' He told himself. 'Ignore the voice. You can't chase after everything you find here.'
But he couldn't stay away from that.
A soft voice.
Filled not with sorrow.
Or greed.
It was selfless.
At least that was the way he heard it.
Peaceful.
And filled with nothing but love.
"There it's safe
There it's warm"
He moved. But he it wasn't in the direction of the door Sasuke had disappeared behind.
He moved in the direction of the voice.
One small, unsteady step to begin with
"There the daisies guard you
From every harm"
Curiosity led him forward. He couldn't resist the pull of her voice.
"There your dreams are sweet
And tomorrow brings them true"
His feet led him to another door. White. Pristine. No different from the countless others lining the corridor. The voice was near inaudible. But not to him.
Her voice spoke volumes. It wasn't a forlorn cry of longing for the one who held her heart. It wasn't an envious wish for freedom which she couldn't have. It was a wish. A wish to protect whoever she sang for. A wish for them to stay safe. Safe from everything which she couldn't protect them from.
His hand shook as it reached out and turned the knob.
"There is the place
Where I love you."
He saw her. His eyes widened as he saw her.
She was a frail little thing, really. She couldn't have been any older than he.
A soft, pale, heart shaped face with round, icy blue eyes, rosy lips and a mane of long black hair which framed her face as she turned to face him from her position, seated cross legged on a bed.
He couldn't bring himself to look away.
25th April, 2032, 18: 32, San Francisco
The sounds of horns blaring as the traffic light switched to green jolted him out of his thoughts.
Droplets of rain splattered on his windscreen blurring the outside to a mass of dark sky and flashing lights.
When had it started raining? He hadn't noticed.
Flipping the switch to the window wipers, Itachi pulled his car out of the standstill it had reached, watching in amusement as several impatient drivers attempted to overtake him when he had failed to move with the changing lights.
He had been too caught up in his memory to realise. It was foolish, really, for him allow his memories to take hold of him. Even after so many years.
He pulled onto the relatively empty freeway, as the rain began to pour down harder.
28th June 2017, Uchiha Corporation, San Francisco
Her name was Cynthia.
And for whatever reason, he couldn't bring himself to stay away from her.
She wasn't that much younger than him- both of them were fifteen. And both of them were far more mature than their age let on.
It had been several months since he started frequenting his visits to her room. While Sasuke ran off to play with the younger kids who his mother often visited, he would find his way to wherever she was.
It was as though his center of gravity had changed. Before, nothing mattered more to him than his brother. That hadn't changed. But he found himself gravitating towards her. Compelled to find her again and again.
He couldn't get enough of her.
She was so different, really. So different from the others. From the people his father would prefer he mix with. She was like him, really. She could understand him. They really were similar. And yet, still, she was so different from him too.
Like a bird. Meant to be free, yet caged.
"Why do you sing?" he had asked her, one winter night when he had snuck away from a corporation party his father was holding.
The people he was expected to mingle with were shallow, vain and annoying. He had left at the first opportunity.
It was quite rare of her to sing. But when she did, they were always the same. Enthralling.
"I sing..." she said turning to look away from him, her gaze lingering on a point on the blank white walls, but her thoughts traveling much further, as a small smile settled on her face. "I sing for my sister."
This was new. He hadn't known she had a sister. "Your...sister?"
"She's a lot younger than me." she said.
"You sing for her?" he asked his thoughts straying to his own younger brother Sasuke.
"Orphanages have changed since the pandemic happened." she said, sadly. "You can't trust anyone. Anything. My sister is just a child. I protected her there. It wasn't much we had, but we were safe."
He had never had to face anything of the sort. He never knew what it was like to fend for his life, if only to gain his next meal, or a further week alive. But hearing her talk about it was worse than experiencing it firsthand to him.
He wanted to take her far away, to a place where whatever horrors she had faced before could never hurt her.
He wanted to protect her.
To take her away from that place, that room, in that building, which still hurt her. That place, which kept her away from the only family she had.
He wanted to take her to a place where she could be loved. Because she was so very lovable.
He wanted to be the one to love her like that.
"She meant the world to me. She still does. It doesn't matter if I never see her again...never know how she becomes. I just need to know that she's safe. That she's happy. From the second she was born, it's always been that way. Its like-"
"Like nothing else would ever matter to you. No amount of pain would ever be too much for you. So long as they live on." he finished for her.
He sat, shocked as he looked at her, who looked back at him with an equally shocked expression.
He had always thought that nobody would ever be able to understand how he felt about Sasuke. Nobody would ever know about how deep his care for his younger brother. But here she was, breaking down yet another barrier to his heart.
She made him lower his defences. She made him feel at ease. She made him feel complete.
And perhaps, in his heart, in the order of who he holds most important to him, a new space had opened up besides his brother.
As though she had found her way past his walls, and led herself into his heart, staking claim on it.
25th April, 19:37, Roads of San Francisco.
He gripped the handle of his steering wheel tighter as he realised he had driven straight past his exit on the freeway.
The rain was messing with his vision, the memories messing with his head.
Who was he to chide Sasuke for engaging himself emotionally with their target, if he couldn't stop thinking about one girl from a past long forgotten?
Sighing, he pulled a U-turn at the next exit, speeding down the wet roads once again.
25th January 2018, Uchiha Corporation, San Francisco
"You are to stop meeting her."
Itachi looked at his father, a tall sturdy man, who was pacing behind his desk in the large office. An office which could belong only to the head of the Uchiha Corporation.
Fugaku Uchiha was an imposing man. A shrewd one too.
Standing in front of the desk, Itachi sighed. It had been almost a year since he had met Cynthia. He should have known his father would find out eventually.
Feigning an air of ignorance, he said, "Meeting who?"
"You know who I mean- that brat in the basement."
He bristled at his father's spiteful tone. "She has a name. It's rude not to use it."
His father stopped pacing and stopped at his desk. "Do I look like I care about being rude to scum like that?"
Cynthia was the farthest thing possible from so called 'scum'. Not that it would help Itachi to mention that.
"I don't see the harm in meeting-"
"I told you to stop meeting with her. You will listen to me."
"Why?"
Itachi wasn't one for being irrational. Or indignant. But hearing his father talk against her with such conviction moved him to pose questions that could easily land him in a precarious position.
"Why? Why shouldn't my word be enough for you to listen?!" he hissed.
Itachi raised his head, his dark, calculating eyes locking with the equally dark orbs his father possessed. "Why should it?"
Fugaku looked at him, internally deliberating how much information he should divulge to his son.
Sighing, he said, "She is an experiment. Her individuality was forfeit the minute she set foot in this place. You would do wise to do nothing that could interfere with the laboratory proceedings."
Horror. That was the first expression that crossed his face as he registered his father's words. How could someone so nonchalantly talk about human experimentation with no injury or guilt layered on their conscience? Rather, how could his father stoop as low as to strip a person of their humanity and reduce them to nothing more than an experiment?
Disgust at his father followed. How his father's biggest concern had been that the experiments were being 'interfered' with. Disgust at the whole process.
And outrage. Anger on behalf of the girl he had grown to care for to such extremes.
All this lay behind his impassive mask- one which years of living in his father's world of corruption and greed had taught him.
"I hope you understand what I mean. You are to no longer meet with her." his father said, sighing and turning towards the large window behind his desk. "You can leave now."
Itachi turned and left.
But he didn't listen.
Rather his father's words only served to fuel his actions.
His feet took him to the elevators.
They took him to the floors below.
The laboratory floors, he realised with distaste. How many others were like that? His mother had never answered his queries when he asked about the mass of kids she kept visiting.
His feet led him to the white door where he knew she should be at this time of day.
He didn't wait for anything.
Thrusting open the door, he walked inside.
She lay on the bed, propped up by several pillows.
Nothing seemed wrong about her, if anything she looked slightly more pale or sickly than usual.
But he saw her in a new light. More delicate. Like glass. Like she might break if he weren't careful. Like she might disappear if he didn't act soon.
Seeing him come in, she sat up, rising to her feet and moving towards him.
Her voice called out to him. "Itachi? Is something wrong?"
He didn't reply. He couldn't. His actions spoke for themselves.
He walked up to her, his arms circling around her as he pulled her into a tight embrace.
One hand moving to her chin, he tilted her head upwards, and gently pressed his lips to hers.
Gentle, not too rough, but strong. Trying to show her just how much she meant to him.
His actions always did speak louder than words.
25th April, 2032, San Francisco, Time- 21:03
He suddenly came to a screeching halt as he floored the breaks.
A dead end. He had been so distracted he had made his way into a dead end.
Sitting back and bringing a hand to his forehead, he sighed heavily.
It had been so long since he had last let his emotions grip him so strongly.
He sat there, calming his breaths, in his car, as the evening moved into early night.
17th August, 2018, Uchiha Corporation, San Francisco
He decided that he hated seeing her in pain.
Of course he did.
But if he thought she had been in pain, it was nothing compared to the first time he had seen her in the laboratory.
When he went to find her as per his usual visit, she had been nowhere to be seen.
Not in any of the rooms she was frequently placed in.
But he had looked past that, searching for her in the vast expanse of tiled hallways.
Eventually he had found a door to what must have been one of the laboratories. He hadn't been able to make his presence known. He had watched from the doorway, hidden in shadows.
He had watched as they hurt her. Tested her. Injure her.
He had watched every small expression of pain on her face. Pain which she tried desperately not to show. But he knew better. He knew her better than anyone else ever could.
He had watched. But he couldn't do anything to help her.
And that was what hurt the most.
25th April, 2032, San Francisco, Time- 21:18
At this rate, he wouldn't get back home before midnight.
Bur at this point, he no longer cared.
It felt so much more alleviating to sit and let the memories flood him. Rather than keeping them locked away all the time. It reminded him of why he was doing everything. Why he even helped Sasuke continue with the experimentation. What he was working for.
Because in light of recent things, he had found his resolve wavering.
26th December, 2018, Financial District, San Francisco
"What if they find us? What if they find out I'm gone?"
"I spoke to my mother. She said she'll cover for us. Don't worry. Just relax." he reassured her.
"Where are you taking me, Itachi?" she asked, curiosity filling her voice.
"When was the last time you saw the world outside?" he countered her question.
She had no answer to that.
"Just let me do something for you." he said, tugging at her hand. "Trust me. Okay?"
She fell silent, nodding as he slipped them out of the building.
He watched her intently, noting the mix of her expressions of happiness, awe and wonder upon seeing the night sky, feeling the cool breeze blow in her face, and seeing the tall, sleek buildings that had risen out of San Francisco's financial district. How her clear blue eyes widened at the breeze which toyed with her now waist long black locks, and the small red tinge that dusted her high cheekbones. It was likely her first time outside in almost seven years.
Beautiful was too weak a word to describe how he found her.
Pulling his arms around her with a light kiss to the forehead, he handed her a smooth black helmet and said, "Put this on. Come on I'll show you my bike."
He had taken so much pleasure in seeing the pleasantly surprised expression which crossed her face once she realised that he was the owner of said motorcycle. Considering the nights could easily become chilly, he had made sure that she wore a thick jacket before he brought her out.
"Where are we going?" she asked, as she took his helmet and followed him to his bike, straddling the seat behind him.
Taking hold of her arms, he wrapped them tightly around his chest and said, "You'll see."
"You don't need to do this much, Itachi. Coming this far is really better than anywhere I've been for ages. You don't need-"
He turned around to face her, cutting her off with a kiss. Pulling back, he said, "I don't need to. I want to."
The drive took about an hour- an hour which they both enjoyed - for being in each others' company, and for her being re accustomed to what San Francisco had become.
When they finally arrived at their destination, all she was faced with was the crystal clear, inky black sky above, dotted with myriads of stars in clear focus and detail uncanny and near unnatural.
He watched as she stood transfixed, staring at the skies. He had chosen a new moon night for a reason. It was worth it to see the expression on her face as she mapped each star.
He knew she knew more than she technically should have been given her background. She knew things. She knew things which could easily count as meaningless details. But she knew them nonetheless.
She turned to him, seemingly at a loss for words.
He smiled. Genuinely smiled . Not his trademark Uchiha smirk
And then, he pointed downwards.
They were at some point near the summit of Mound Diablo; it was little more than an hour till sunrise.
From their vantage point, they could see the entirety of San Francisco stretched out before them- up until the San Francisco bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.
He heard her gasp in surprise.
"Any words now?" he asked.
She was speechless.
"One day. I'm only sixteen now. One day I'm going to become the head of the Uchiha Corporation. I'll hold the reins to that sick experimentation they have going on. I'll shut it down. Every last part of it. I'll make sure nothing like that can ever happen again. And I won't ever let them hurt you again. We're together now. I won't let anything change that."
He may have been getting carried away. But he couldn't help it. It was rare of him to love something so much. But when he did, he would never let it go. He would never let her go.
"Itachi-"
"We can get married. We'll have kids. We'll find your sister- wherever she is- and make sure she's okay too. We'll grow old together. We'll be happy. And nothing- none of this can ever hurt you. We can grow old to the smell of eucalyptus, and watch the sun rise over the mountains every day. Or...Or if you want, it doesn't have to be in San Francisco. We can go anywhere you want. As long as we're together, right? We'll have a future. A happy future. I promise."
She stood transfixed, looking at him.
Had he said too much? Had he done something wrong?
She broke into a smile. The same forlorn smile that he had grown so enamoured with. But it was more than forlorn. Anguished. Shattered. Heartbroken. But why? His arm urged to reach out and destroy whatever it was that brought that smile to her face. To incinerate whatever stood in the way of her happiness. Their happiness.
Slowly, hesitantly, she walked over to him, and wrapped her arms around him, nuzzling his neck and leaning into his embrace. He held her tightly, breathing in her scent. She slowly lifted her head, looking at him, and pressed a slow, lingering kiss to his lips.
He felt the warmth of her lips on his. But also saw the glistening tears that had pooled in the corner of her eyes.
Dare he say it, tears of love. But far more than that, tears of pure sorrow.
"Itachi... " she said, pulling away as he saw the silvery lines the tears traced down her cheeks.
"I'm dying."