A/N: Hello, hello people! Finally! I wanted to get this chapter done and out. Now that it's finish, I won't be updating anymore stories until I'm done with my White Day story to you guys. The sequel to my Valentine's Story, 'Chocolates for Valentines'. The next one is called 'Happiness for White Day'. Sounds good, right? Just wait till you read it.

Anyway, I do NOT OWN ANY of the Naruto characters or the story itself. I'm going to trust Kishimoto a little more on what he plans to do with Itachi and Sasuke but I'm going to go insane if he only gives them one chapter together and I have to wait another ten chapters of Madara and the five kages fighting. I care about them, don't get me wrong. But I waited a long time for Itachi and Sasuke to reunite after everything they've been through and I will be upset if they only get one sticken chapter while everyone else got like twenty. Thank you all who have reviewed for my stories, especially this one. I love them all and they help inspire me so much! I hope you guys like this chapter. There is a lot of ItaSasu in it and some of the questions you were wondering about earlier, I know you had them for a while, will be answered. Plus, I have a big twist in the end. Hope you like and enjoy!

Ch. 36: The Secrets We Keep

By the time the moon is up and raised high above in the sky, glowing in all its vibrant beauty, Itachi finally enters his room after more than twenty-four hours since the last time he was in it. As soon as he closes the door behind him, he leans against it and lets out a heavy sigh of distress. It wasn't because of the hours he put into making the reports of every Akatsuki member, writing everything he knows about them from how they became vampire hunters to the numbers of killing down to the last detail. Each report took him almost two to three hours to write each. His father will read them tonight and then give all of the war generals copies of the reports for them to read tomorrow at the next war meeting. Madara said that he would make the copies so his son could go back to his room and rest. He knows he's tired and he has a lot to think about. The reason why Itachi let out that distraught when he reached the privacy of his own room isn't because of all the work he had to do for his father. It was because of their discussion when they reached his office. His words are still echoing in his head.

"Father, is there something you wish to discuss?"

Itachi could have easily done his reports in his room or in the library where no one can bother him, so why did Madara insist that he write the reports in his office as if he's some kind of tutor making sure that his student finishes his work on time? But all during the walk to that one room, Itachi could sense something was just a bit off with him.

Madara had a serious face when his son suspected something. A face more serious than when they were in the war meeting and actually, it was the most serious face Itachi has ever seen him had.

"The members of the Akaktsuki, are any of them decedents of vampire hunting families like Kimimaro?"

"No. Each member has a personal reason to why they hunt vampires. Death of their family, their village, or a precious love one."

"Like you when you lost your human?"

Itachi was more than shock to hear his father ask that. It was like when he heard that Sasuke and Naruto knew about Shisui but his father knew too? Who else does? His mother? Definitely not Kakashi or he might've been more considerate. Itachi didn't say a word after that and Madara had a small understanding smile on his face before it dropped and he became serious again.

"Did you honestly think after we found out you joined a vampire hunting organization we left it at that? Without Sasuke's knowledge, I sent a little spy into the organization to watch over you when you were trying to requite members. He got in perfectly and from how I'm still getting messages from him, none of you suspected a thing. I asked him to figure out why you left us in the first place and he reported that you fell in love with a human and a group of vampires destroyed him and his village. I'm sorry to what happened to him and at the time, I couldn't understand why you didn't come home after taking your revenge. Just because our laws weren't what they are now, didn't mean we wouldn't try to understand that you lost someone who was very precious to you. Did your leader get to you first then?"

It took a while for the older prince to get over his shock. It really was like when Sasuke confessed to him that he killed Shisui – a news he didn't expect to hear and is having a longer time progressing it into his brain.

When he did, he replied, "Y-Yes. He asked me what I was going to do now that I've completely my revenge. He was very convincing that I couldn't just go home and pretend nothing happened. I was young and foolish to believe him."

"It was because you were young and emotionally vulnerable that he had the perfect opportunity to bring you to his side. The council might not be as forgiving about this if they find out but who's going to tell them? You may not believe me but I understand you did something you weren't supposed to and coming clean about it would mean the ultimate consequences. At least that's what would have happened in my day and what you believed would have happened in yours. I understand that very well. Your mother understands that as well. But you know, I would tell Sasuke since you're mated now. He deserves to know that his mate had loved someone else before him. Am I right?"

Madara tried to sound encouraging when he said that but really, Itachi has no reason to feel nervous about telling Sasuke that. Not when he already knows everything about that since he played in an active role in it that little event. But let's keep that a secret too.

"Anyway back on topic, do you know why your leader only wanted a ten-man organization? Why only a handful when a family such as Kaguya had hundreds of hunters that only did half of the damage the Akatsuki caused?"

"He explained once that a smaller organization could be more effective than a larger group. A group of that size would be as obvious as a child taking away a cookie right in before your eyes. Something small, like a mouse, won't be notice so visibly."

"A wise answer. However, I know the real reason why he has a small organization."

Itachi wasn't expecting to hear that news either but he wasn't as shocked by it as he was before.

"Itachi, tell me. Knowing all of the members personal history, is there something else you noticed that they all have in common."

"I noticed that when we first requited them, their reputations were well-known but not as frightening as they are now. They were dangerous before and just like with me, our leader was able to use his words to convince them to our side and join our organization."

"What about their abilities? From what my spy told me, what they're capable of cannot be considered human. Don't you agree?"

"I agree with you, but each member has their own explanation as to how and why they can do what they can do."

"Did they tell you themselves or was it your leader who told you?"

Itachi became speechless then. He heard their personal stories but never the explanation from their own mouths. Leader was the one who always told him.

"Itachi, what I'm about to tell you is something your mother doesn't even know and she doesn't need to. This is something that I have done in the past and may I remind you, it is something I am not proud of in the least. It's something I think about every night before I sleep, even when I didn't want to, and it is something I naively wish I can revert time to fix it. I am telling you this now because as the only person who knows and cares for this organization, you deserve to know more than anyone."

"Father, tell me."

"This was when your grandfather ruled as king. I, his eldest, followed, respected, and believe in him and everything that he did or said to me. Your uncle, Izuna, was the only one who saw what I was too blind to see. Your grandfather was cruel, selfish, and power hungry. I only wished I had seen that sooner before everything went so horribly wrong…."

Click-clack

Itachi's thoughts are interrupted by the sudden sound of his window door opening and closing in less than a second apart between each sound. By the time he looks up to see who just entered his room, Sasuke's arms are wrapped around his shoulders and his body pressed close against his. "If I have to look at one more table set, I think I'll go insane."

This is a bit unexpected. Itachi wasn't expecting to see Sasuke at all tonight, nor for the next two days until their pre-mating ceremony.

"Sasuke, did you run away from mother?"

If it's a yes, then this is the first place she'll look and Itachi better hide his little brother or take him far away – away from their mother's rather. He knows what it's like between her and party planning. For the two princes, it's like accompanying during shoe shopping or clothes shopping. You just sit there and watch as she goes between the peach pink and rosary pink outfits. It's torture and even if you say you like one choice when she asks for our opinion, she'll choose the opposite of what you said. It's a torture neither of the princes would wish upon anyone.

"Don't be ridiculous. She sent me off to bed to get my beauty sleep, but I took that as the perfect opportunity to come here." He snuggles closer against Itachi's chest after that and just relaxes in the warmth and calming scent that is his brother/mate. "I've missed you."

Usually Sasuke wouldn't show such sweet affection like this, not with his older personality anyway. But there's a reason for this. Besides the acceptance that they love each other with all of their hearts and soul despite everything that's happened between them, Itachi and him have just become mates. The time after mating is the same as humans going on a honeymoon. They still believe that they live only for each other, when one moves so does the other, and if such things would allow it, they would wish to be the hearts of their loved ones so they can always be together – they cannot live without the other. However for vampires, such feelings last forever. Only right after mating the 'I-want-to-be-a-part-of-you' syndrome is really bad.

Amused by the boy's snuggly behavior, Itachi holds the boy back with his arms wrapped around his upper back and tells him, "And I've missed you. These next two days are going to be torture."

Turning his head up to look at Itachi's face, he says, "Hear that," and then reaches up to kiss him. Surprisingly, it only became a simple fast kiss. Not really a peck but not a kiss that would have lead to a full on passionate kiss, but like those simple, perfect first true love kind of kisses. In a way so simple, they express all of their love, all of their affection, devotion, and all of their adoration for the other. Five seconds. That's all it took and the two of them simply stare and enjoy the warmth between their bodies and foreheads when it was over. Itachi sweetly smiles at the boy before him but Sasuke looks like he's searching for something. "What where you so stressed about before I got here?"

That slightly took Itachi off guard. His smile drops for a moment and now he's observing Sasuke as he wonders how he figured that out. Did the boy stare at him before he came charging in? Or could he just tell?

In truth, he didn't want to say anything concerning what happened in their father's office and he's not too sure if he should tell Sasuke about it either. Besides Madara telling him what he personally knows about the Akatsuki, there was another meaning behind the king's words that Itachi knows Sasuke would feel greatly distressed about when he finds out…if he finds out. Exhaling out another deep breath, Itachi replies, "I know this is the right thing to do, and yet I still feel like I'm betraying my family."

Is that it? Despite the righteous decision he's about to make, he's feeling the guilt of it all now? It's understandable, really. Even though Itachi has been living most of his life as nothing but a doll with no emotions or remorse, he still became attached to that organization. If he didn't, even Sasuke would question if Itachi still has any compassion or love at all to give to him. Sasuke releases one of his hands and raises it up to cup Itachi's cheek and moves it back to him, since Itachi practically was talking to the ground when he answered his little brother's question. "Everything will be alright. You'll see. The information you provided will save hundreds of lives and thanks to Kyuubi's assistance, we have the full support of the council – as twisted and cynical his method was. Just think, things would've been a lot worst if you didn't say anything. With me especially."

Very true. If Itachi had kept quiet about the entire Akatsuki organization coming to attack, then not only would it mean many lives lost in this kingdom for not being properly prepared but it would mean the ultimate betrayal on this end as well. It's just one betrayal after another for Itachi. It's almost as if he can't really be classified as whose side he's on. Both sides are, in some way, his family and he cares for both – even though one side wanted to rape him most of the time because it was weird he was the only virgin among them and the other side is just his down-right plain weird blood family.

Trying to lighten the mood, Itachi tries to smile at his lovely mate and agrees, "That would be terrible. But I'm still uneasy."

Another one? "Why? What else is there for you to be worried about?"

When Itachi was asked that, a true pained face appears on his face. Not a face created from physical pain but from a deep wound in his heart that burns and stings like salt poured onto a wound. Before Sasuke could see too much of that expression, Itachi hides his face away by leaning over the boy's shoulders and his hands gripping the boy's arm as if to steady himself. "What I saw at the war meeting…you getting hurt." Even his voice lacks that strong-willed confidence he usually has. It's as if the mere memory of what he saw earlier today was the most horrifying thing he has ever seen and his body is not reacting properly to try and stay calm and collected. This memory is something he truly wants to forget and banish completely out of his mind but forever will it haunt him for the rest of his existence. The more he tries to forget about it, the more he thinks about it and the stronger the memory becomes as it burns forever into his mind.

Sasuke just shakes his head in disbelief and with the same expression he usually gives to Naruto – the 'are you stupid or something' face.

"You're just as thick-headed as everyone else, aren't you?" he asks. Then leaning his head to the side so his cheek can at least touch the hairs of Itachi's head, Sasuke tells him again, "I told you already I don't die that easily. I'm going to survive because I don't just mate with someone and die the next day."

This boy. This foolish little brother of his. From that last comment, Itachi lightly chuckles to it. "Please don't. Sparing their lives and making peace between both kinds would seem meaningless to me it means accomplishing it at the cost of your life."

"You don't have to take care of everything on your own, you know. I'm not doing this just because you want to and I support your decision no matter what." Itachi lifts his head up slightly and now the two of them have a slight look at the other's face as Sasuke continues, "The Akatsuki are my responsibility just as they are yours. If I didn't send that kill-for-hire Sound Vampire group, you wouldn't have left."

Releasing one arm and raising it to Sasuke's soft locks and warm cheek, Itachi chuckles again. "Now who's being thick-headed? If that didn't happened, I would have mated the wrong person." Lifting his head up completely first, he rests it again against Sasuke's forehead and he tells him the same words he heard long ago. "We vampires mate to one person for the rest of our existence, but what if you realize too late that the person you mated is not your true love? What if you mated with the wrong person and when you finally realize that, you can't mate with him because you've already mated with someone else? If I had mated with Shisui all those years ago, I'm sure that would have happened to me when I realized my other half has always been you. You were always by my side so I never noticed until I came back here. Without you, I was truly living life as a doll – no real purpose and no will to enjoy life."

Before the last part, Sasuke recognizes those words. He knows who said them first and he has this need to catch Itachi on it but this is a really emotional moment for them both. The younger prince can mention Shisui later. Right now with no one else here to disturb them or to prevent him from being so openly affectionate, Sasuke raises both hands this time to cup his love's face and stroking his cheeks and keeping him so close, he tells him as if it were the last words he can say to get his point across. "It was the same for me. Maybe I was the one who inspired Kakashi to live his existence as a bitter old vampire. Always so angry and always wishing things would have been different if I had made one little change in the past. I was so fixated on my happiness at the time, I never thought about yours."

Moving that one other arm, Itachi places his hand on Sasuke's waist and leans just a little closer for their nose lines to just barely graze each other. "I thought we decided not to dwell on the past any longer. No matter what happened in the past, it has led us to where we are right now – me holding and touching you and my mark on your neck claiming you as mine." His hand that was on Sasuke's face, moves back down to the boy's mating mark – stroking it gently like it's one of the most precious gem in the world.

Sasuke shivers at his brother's stroking touch. The mark, like Kyuubi said, is still fresh and hot but it's also still sensitive and it feels deliciously good as the pleasure moves up and down his spine. He could purr just to entertain his brother but he says first, "And mine, too on your neck," as his hands slide down to Itachi's shoulders and that stroking hand stops to cup Sasuke's head from behind. "So don't go running off on me ever again."

"Agreed."

Then their lips meet again in a heated kiss that didn't waste any time at all to involve tongues and teeth. As mentioned before, if a kiss they share is a simple one or just a peck then the next one needs to be a real kiss full of their dormant passion they've kept hidden for far too long.

Itachi licks Sasuke's now swollen lips and the teenager gladly allows him access. Making those sweet noises his lover loves to hear so much, Sasuke clings to his brother's shirt and pulls him as close as he can. But how much closer can he be when every line of their bodies is already pressed against each other? Because it's never enough. They want to be closer and they want to taste more.

Itachi brakes away from Sasuke's lips, a string of saliva still connects them but that is licked by the older brother's tongue to savor every bit. Sasuke shivers at the feel of his brother's tongue against his skin and lets out a shaky sigh as he can only assume what the older vampire will do next. Trailing kisses down the boy's jaw line, the veins under the skin of his throat, and then when he reaches the area between the shoulder and neck, Itachi's eyes are already glowing red and his fangs extended. Sasuke leans back to allow his brother more access and with a slight movement of his shirt, Itachi leans in and bites that area – causing his younger brother to gasp/moan at the pleasure his vampire venom sends shooting through his veins. It sends fire through his veins in replace of his savory blood and shocks pleasurable electrical currents up and down his spine. Itachi, with one hand holding Sasuke's head to support it, moves his other one down the boy's back to support him there as well while the younger prince's desperately grips his clothes as if it were his life-line.

However when Itachi's hand moves down low enough, he feels something…hard against the back of his baby brother. Hard and rectangular shaped. It's a little thick so is it…a book? Why does Sasuke have a book?

When Itachi extracted his fangs, Sasuke let out a groan of disapproval and disappointment for cutting it short, and believe the fact that the older prince feels the same but his curiosity of what Sasuke has with him is too distracting.

"Itachi," Sasuke growls, in a tone that tells him, 'Don't you dare stop,' as Itachi straightens him up. But the boy blinks in confusion and a bit of startle-ment when his older brother's hand moves from his back to inside his white robe top and moves to his back again. Before he can ask his question, Itachi has the book in his hand and has Shisui's journal revealed for both of them to see what stopped their little fun.

Ooh, that's why.

"Sasuke," Itachi calls, with a curious and demanding tone. "How did you get this book?"

Instead of freaking out about it, since Sasuke forgot to put it away before he came here, the younger prince replies casually but with a little feistiness, "Naruto. He said you dropped if after he greeted you at the front door."

Would it be weird to say that Itachi had actually forgotten about the journal? Or that he was too distracted with everything around him that it slipped his mind? After all from the second he returned home, he was pushed to go somewhere else and each moment he was back at the castle, some kind of drama was happening. First it was pretend fighting with Sasuke, then convincing him to mate with him, then Deidara came, then Kakashi, and then it became the war meeting. Between having sex and then getting tormented by the Kyuubi, Itachi didn't have time to wonder what happened to the journal he brought back with him from his little excursion outside the castle grounds. Heck, he didn't even think about it as he was making the Akatsuki reports – mostly because of what his father said to him.

Ah well, nothing he can do about it now.

Letting out a sigh first as his hand that was behind Sasuke's head lowers to the boy's waist, Itachi then asks less demanding, "Did you read it?"

So…he's not upset that Sasuke had it? Supposedly that's a good thing. Seeing that he's not going to blow about having the journal without his permission, not that he should yell at Sasuke for that since he was the one who dropped it, the younger prince calms his nerves down as well. Releasing his tight grip a bit but still keeping his brother close, Sasuke replies, "When I could. I'm almost done with it, but what I am wondering about is how you got it. I looked through your memories to make sure you went to Shisui's grave like you told me and I saw a human boy. I wasn't able to see past the moment he asked what gender you are."

Hearing that made every few strands of Itachi's hair stick out and a sweat-drop to appear on his head. Of all the times, that moment? Really?

"You had to pick that one moment to stop looking," he asks.

Gaining a bit of his snappiness back, "I used most of the blood to see brief moments you had with your organization, the conversation you had with that bomber, and I used whatever I had remaining for that last moment. So what happened to the boy?"

No use getting upset about it now, Itachi supposes.

Recomposing back his composure, Itachi tells him, "When I answered him I'm a man, he asked me for my name. When I gave it to him, he became excited because he recognized my name from the journal he carried with him. He said it belonged to Shisui and I asked to read it. Sure enough, it said 'Property of Shisui' and I started reading from the day we first met. I was only able to read a little bit before the boy's brother arrived after frantically looking for him. Unlike his little brother, that boy instantly knew what I was and he was nervous. Before the younger boy left my side, he told me I could keep the journal. He loved the story but he felt like I deserved it more than him, but I had to answer one question for him."

"What was that?"

"What happened to Shisui in the end?"

Just like Itachi assumed, Sasuke tenses when he heard that question and his hands instantly regripped the older vampire's clothes. Looking into his onyx eyes, Itachi can see all of the questions running through his head about that one moment – including the nervousness of what he may have said to the boy considering that this was before Itachi decided to come back to home.

To calm him down, Itachi's free hand rises up again and strokes with the tip of his thump against the boy's cheek. He restarts his story with, "I told him Shisui is in a better place now. When I said that, he seemed to understand what I meant by that so he asked if things between me and my brother were good again. I told him we haven't and then he started to lecture me as if he were the older, wiser one. Definitely I should read the journal and then I'll know what to do. He reunited with his brother after he told me that and then they left so I could spend the rest of my time reading the journal." A smile re-graces his face again, demolishing any last bit of uneasiness Sasuke still has. "He was right. The last entry helped me decide permanently that life is too short to live; human or vampire. I shouldn't waste it holding a grudge or letting it ruin whatever chance of happiness I could get. So I decided to forgive you and come back here; to my home, to you and your sweet embrace."

His smile, his warm eyes, his gentle touch; it works. It calms Sasuke nerves and he notes in his mind, 'He's using a lot of quotes from him.' However, he notices something in those reassuring tender eyes.

"You still love him, don't you?" he asks, startling his brother. "You miss him, too. I can see it in your eyes."

And there's the big question. Even though they're going through this whole thing again, Sasuke has at last the big question regarding what they have, what they're doing right now, is alright and real – not rushed or just a fling they're going to regret later. Itachi doesn't look at his mate with thoughts of the boy being silly for still being uncertain. With a serious question should deserve a serious answer.

With his hand now pressing his palm against the boy's cheek, he tells him seriously, "He was my first love. He always has a place in my heart. I'll always miss him. But I ache for you." Sasuke blinks in wonder when he said that. Then Itachi leans his forehead against Sasuke's again and doesn't even look at him in the face when he says, "If I were to lose you in this war because of me, I won't be able to live with myself. I would end my existence without hesitation. You are my love and my life. How can I live without it?"

Does this man honestly think he's the only one who feels like that? Sasuke watched him dying right before his eyes for a good sixty seconds before he came running into Kyuubi's range, even if what was happening was only an illusion. It still scared him and just thinking about it now, it still shakes Sasuke to the core. How can HE live without Itachi by his side after everything that's happened? After finally getting him back and with no intentions of letting him go, how can Sasuke go on if suddenly Itachi is taken away from him in less than a blink of his eye against his wishes? He can't live like that again.

Not again.

Raising his arms up to circle around the older one's neck, Sasuke tells him, "The feeling is mutual. Life without you was worst than hell and death combined. Don't make me go through it again."

Itachi looks back at his brother in the eye after a moment, he tosses the journal forward, landing perfectly on the counter next to his bed, and then answers, "Deal." Slipping his hand away from Sasuke's cheek and moving under it, he cups the boy's head again and at the same time with his other newly free hand holding Sasuke's waist, he passionately kisses the boy again. Sasuke instantly replies with just as much fierceness and passion.

However this kiss, ends a little shorter than the others. Even the perfect, first kiss one.

"But this also reminds me of something."

Huh?

Before the younger prince knew it, Itachi grabs his wrists and when he pushes him back, it took less than two seconds before Sasuke's back is met with the soft mattress of the bed. Looking up at his brother, startled for being pinned like this, he's even more surprised when he sees Itachi looking at him with dangerous intent glowing in his bright red eyes and a little bit of anger mixed in as well.

"You lied to me about agreeing to the engagement with Sakura-san and I told you I don't take kindly to those who lie to me." With the same quick movements, Itachi moves Sasuke's wrists above his head to hold them both with one hand and with the other at normal human speed, he takes Sasuke's zipper and moves it all the way down.

Cripes, Sasuke's in trouble now.

Leaning down to that bare skin again, Itachi makes sure he doesn't get too close so his little brother can see his extended fangs again and expect what's coming for him. He's actually freaking out a little bit in his head right now. Growling, Itachi tells him, "You have nowhere to run now, Sasuke."

Then looking back at the skin, Itachi unhesitantly and roughly chomps on Sasuke's neck and gulps huge amounts of blood his harshly sucks out of his body. A silent scream escapes Sasuke's gasping mouth and he tries to bare with this rough treatment as best as he can – that's actually really starting to turn him on with the fear and excitement of what punishment his nii-san will give him.

Though honestly, Sasuke doesn't know if coming into Itachi's room was a good idea or a bad one?

"Human experimentation?"

"Yes. He wanted to go past the boundaries of human limits and he wanted to cure the flaws we vampires had. He called it the best of both words for vampires had imperfections rather we liked it or not and humans were just so fragile. He believed if he could combine the two bloodlines, it would mean the ultimate immortal to have ever walked this earth. So he experimented on so many innocent human lives. Many have failed and so very few survived. Those that did we noticed became forever frozen in time with no means of escaping this world. They wanted to die but they couldn't. So your grandfather decided to try a different experiment. Something more despicable than taking away the opportunity of death when they've already suffered so much."

"What was it?"

"He experimented on humans who weren't even born. The last thing he did before he died and everything he worked for went down with him was he experimented on eight children while they were still only fetuses in their mothers' wombs."

I told you there a twist in the end. Don't worry if you're confused by the number of fetuses that was experimented on. The explanation will come later, I swear.

So how was this chapter? Bad? Good? Making the Uchiha brothers too thick-headed for their own good? Let me know. Till next time!