Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I own my OCs.
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NOTE: Thanks to thefourthhoakge for ideas. b To the fourthhokage: need ideas for the next chapter, which is the final one. PM me?
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Thoughts of a Broken Family, Chapter 36
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Ino Shikamaru: Toshi, now 13 (almost 14). Satoru, now 6 and a half years old.
Sakura Sasuke: Saeko, now 14 and a half
Kiba Temari: Kiyoshi, 15.
Hinata Naruto: Kohana (F), and Atsuhiro (M), 11 and a half. Twins.
Tenten Neji: Hikari, 17. Hiroshi, almost 12 years old.
Kakashi Kurenai: Ayami, now 17 and a half.
Gaara and Crazy Lady (Grace/GaaraCutie): Hajime (M) and Mamoru (M), 8 months old. Twins

At first, neither of them looked at me. Itachi's expression changed, but I turned to look at my father before he could meet my gaze. Dad stared angrily at Itachi for another moment, then followed his gaze to me. His eyes widened.

"Sae, get out of here."

I shook my head. Kiyoshi wasn't here to make me leave like he had been during my first encounter with Itachi. This time, I would not run away.

"Sae," he said more urgently.

"No," I kept my voice firm, calm. Not now, not this time. "I'm staying." I started towards him, and the pain from my wounds made my vision blur. But I shook it off and turned my head.

I felt my father grow tense beside me.

"What is it?" I asked under my breath. Both of them seemed worn out already, like the battle had started a long time ago. I'd apparently been unconscious for hours.

He cast me a quick, sideways glance. "Whatever you do, don't look into his eyes." He'd given up on trying to make me leave. I could tell that he planned on this being the last battle, so there were probably more important things at the moment. Maybe he thought there was no reason to worry. But why wasn't I supposed to… Something about the sharingan? Out of all of my research, I didn't recall anything that would explain the desperation behind my dad's words.

My eyebrows pulled together as Itachi let out a dark, humorless chuckle that left me clenching my fists.

"It's pointless, foolish little brother. You've never been able to protect her. Time after time, you make the mistake of thinking you can save her, and time after time you fail. That much will never change."

Through the anger, I could almost see the pain in dad's eyes, but I turned to frown at the ground. No, there was no way it was his fault. It wasn't that he wasn't strong enough, it was just that I was too weak. And I didn't seem to be getting any stronger, either.

"She'll have to face the truth eventually, no matter how you look at it," Itachi continued.

"The truth?" I echoed. And then it happened so quickly. I couldn't help it- I looked up in confusion, falling into his trap.

"Sae, no!"

I saw an unfamiliar sharingan, something sinister that made my stomach lurch, and then I began to feel really dizzy. The sky started to change, the sienna growing darker to a real, bloodlike crimson. Everything else changed, too, until I was standing in a world of only three colors. Black, white, red. And my dad and Itachi were gone, and it was just my mother and me standing in the street. At first, they were images of the gruesome past I remember. I was a little girl, standing beside my mom, watching as a man came and picked up his crying daughter, whispering soothing words as he carried her away. I watched wide eyed as the girl laughed, happy. And then I was back to the present, still in the world of darkness, and the worst sight of all came.

My mom and I were standing before the front gate, staring out into the forest where my father had just disappeared, leaving us and the village behind. Then my mom was gone, a different day. She was at the hospital, and I was walking through the street, all alone.

"Sae!" someone was calling me from far away. I couldn't tell who it was, where they were. The voice was incomprehensible.

On my own, I was standing at the village gate again, where he'd disappeared. "No," I whispered into the air. "Don't go… Don't… Please-" I sobbed.

"Sae!"

"No… Don't…. Don't go."

Why was this happening? Why was I seeing this? Pain tore through, emotional and sharp and excruciating.. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, but it didn't help. My breathing was uneven, panicked. The pain of seeing him walk away had hurt more than anything in my living memory, and the fear that I would one day wake up to find him gone overwhelmed me. My knees buckled, and I stared, wide eyed and unseeing, at the ground.

"Sae!" The voice was closer now, and it was my dad's. I couldn't look up. I couldn't keep up. It was like I was stuck on seeing him walk away, and nothing was real after that.

"Please… Don't leave me." My voice was just a weak whisper now. I couldn't raise my eyes.

"Sae…" I could hear something in his voice, the same pain that I'd seen in his eyes before I had run out earlier. The realization of how much I needed him was agonizing for him, but not surprising for me. I'd thought I was stronger before. And then he came back around, and I realized what strong really meant. Something I never had been, something I wasn't. Something I couldn't be, even when I so desperately needed to.

"Please…"

I needed him too much. I was nothing without him. No, I was alone without him. In a darkness worse than the blood-colored one around me now. It was strange, admitting this to myself. I'd never wanted so badly to keep someone in my life. I'd never cared about someone so much.

"Please. Don't go. I need you. Please."

The image of him disappearing kept replaying, each time worse than the last. This world, the images, the vulnerability… It was some kind of mental torture beyond any physical pain I'd even experienced.

"I'm not leaving, Sae." His tone was serious, no trace of doubt in it. I realized he was actually speaking to me, and I looked up, and he was right there.

I couldn't speak. The image was still there, a lingering aftertaste that was easier to believe than the words he was speaking right now.

"Really. Calm down. I'm not going anywhere. You have to break out of here, Sae."

"How?" I mouthed. I was beyond speaking now. The pain made it almost impossible to breathe.

"Just fight it."

Fight. For the first time in my life, the word fight seemed impossible. "I can't…" I whispered, shaking my head.

"Yes, you can. You have to."

I shook my head again. "I'm not strong enough." I was too weak, helpless.

He sighed. "Listen to me. I'm not leaving again. You can't believe anything he shows you here."

But, was this something he was showing me, too? Could I believe this, or was it a part of the illusion as well? Would I see him leave again, even after all of these attempts to convince me? That would only make it hurt so much more.

"I… can't." Why did each second here seem so long, hurt so bad? I looked away weakly, feeling faint. The image repeated, flashed before my eyes, and the pain was sharp enough to make me bring my hands to my temples. I was too weak. There was no reason for him to stay- I'd walk myself into another trap, be too weak to get out of it, and he'd have to come and save me yet again.

"I promise."

I winced, snapping my eyes closed.

"Sae, I'm not leaving," he insisted. "I love you, and I'm proud of you, and I'm never going to leave you again."

My eyes flew open, and I gasped for breath. The colors were back now, the illusion world gone. I was on my hands and knees on the grass, blood-soaked from my wounds. My head hurt, and I was dizzy. I'd never felt as exhausted and weak as I did now. He was kneeling beside me, his hand on my shoulder. My vision blurred again as I looked across the clearing.

Itachi was watching, the same bored mask on his face. He didn't seem bothered or surprised that I'd broken free. He just seemed… Well, he seemed Itachi.

The hand slipped from my shoulder, and my dad stood up.

"Stay here," he ordered, and he sounded just as weary as I felt.

No, wait, I wanted to argue, but I couldn't make the words come out. I couldn't do anything but watch with halfclosed eyes as he started across the clearing. I couldn't tell when the fighting started up again, but I could suddenly hear the sounds, the jutsu being called out and the crackle of flames. But I couldn't see my dad or Itachi.

With what felt like every ounce of strength I had left, I struggled to my feet, using a tree to support myself. The bark hurt when it made contact with my scathed hands. I cringed. My dad was saying something. I had the notion that it was something very final. But the battle was not over yet. I couldn't see their conditions, but I knew neither of them could be doing good. Another fireball justu, and Itachi countered with something that made me grow tense with shock. Black flames? Yes, I was seeing correctly, and the black flames were devouring everything, leaving nothing but charred grass and ashes.

The end was coming soon, but for who, I could not tell.

Something happened then, and I missed it. Before I could figure out what I'd overlooked, I felt the bark of the tree cutting into my back, and a hand, cold as ice, locked around my throat, the nails digging into my neck. I couldn't even attempt to struggle. I just glared at Itachi with as much anger as I could managed. He seemed exhausted, too, but the calmness was still there.

I knew then that I was going to die.

He looked at me, and his eyes found mine; there was something behind his dark gaze. Hunger? Satisfaction?

And then it clicked. My father hadn't made me quit using the sharingan because I was relying on it too much. He hadn't wanted me to power it up. For some reason, Itachi wanted my eyes. I shuddered, and the satisfaction was clear in his voice as he leaned forward to whisper in my ear.

"Ever wonder why my foolish little brother never had another child?" There was a pause, too short for me to reply. "It's because you would have repeated the very same thing that I'm about to do to you."

My eyes grew wide, which, as I realized a second too late, was exactly what he wanted. His hand was in front of my face, and I could feel the fingertips brush against my forehead.

I squinted my eyes closed and tried to turn my head away, knowing that it was pointless. I could do no more but wait for the pain to come.

A single drop of blood fell through the air, and the only thing I heard was the thud as it hit the ground. And then the real waterfall came. And, above it all, I heard something else. Birds.

I forced my eyelids back –both of them- and my vision was still blurry. But I could see. Bits and pieces. The hand falling away from my face, a ball of chakra that looked more like lightning, and black marks dancing up a blue tinted arm that gradually retained its normal pale color. And then the bark was gone, and I was falling.

The last thing I saw was Itachi's dead body. And then everything went black.