TWENTY-FOUR
Kakashi stares at her incredulously. "What do you mean he's escaped?"
Tsunade clenches her jaw tight enough to hurt. "What do you mean what do I mean? He's escaped. I'm fairly certain there's only one way to interpret those words—"
"I meant how? He was secured."
Tsunade lets out a growl, pacing the length of floor in front of her desk. "I don't know! But Danzo definitely had a hand in this—"
Kakashi's eye narrows sharply. "Danzo? What does he have to do with this?"
Tsunade throws her hands up in the air, her anger rendering her momentarily incapable of speech. Beside her, Jiraiya explains, "He went to visit Itachi, only moments before he broke out. It was only a few minutes ago, so we haven't looked at the surveillance footage yet. But there's no way it's a coincidence."
Kakashi shakes his head. "What was Danzo even doing visiting him?"
Tsunade bites her lip. She halts her pacing, spinning toward him. "I need you to go after him now."
The jounin blinks. "Danzo?"
"No," she tells him. "Itachi."
"But you just said—"
"He escaped the prison," she explains. "But that was less than five minutes ago. He hasn't breached Konoha's barriers yet. I would've felt it if he did. Which means there's still time to catch up to him."
Kakashi looks at her doubtfully. "Even if that's true—"
"The information in that man's head is invaluable!" Tsunade declares, her nails digging sharply into her palms. "I will not let him slip away now that he is finally in our grasp!"
Kakashi is still. Tsunade throws an impatient look at him.
"What are you still standing here for?" she yells. "Go after him!"
Kakashi goes. In a gust of wind and leaves, he's through the window and out of her office. Tsunade takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. She forces her fingers to uncurl, half-moon marks in her skin stinging.
"And you," she says, turning to Jiraiya. "Get Danzo. But forget about bringing him to my office. I want him brought straight to an interrogation room."
Jiraiya grimaces. "He won't like that."
"I don't care," Tsunade snaps. "And find Ibiki. Tell him to bring me those damn surveillance tapes. He has some serious explaining to do about how this managed to happen on his watch."
Jiraiya makes a face, clearly not pitying the man soon to face Tsunade's ire. "I'm on it," he says, and leaves the same way Kakashi left.
Tsunade growls once her office is empty. In a burst of frustration, she slams her fist down on the surface of her desk. The wood splinters and breaks from the force.
Damn that man!
Kakashi knows he has no chance of catching Itachi. He knows, even as he races across the village, that it's a fool's errand. Itachi Uchiha will only be caught if he wants to be; that's the only reason they managed it in the first place.
You can't lock up someone like Itachi. Not for long, at least.
Still, fool's errand or not, Kakashi does as Tsunade bids him. Because she's the Hokage, and he has to obey her. Because Itachi is a valuable resource, and he doesn't want to lose him.
Because he can't bear the thought of telling Sasuke his brother slipped their grasp.
Kakashi moves faster. He doesn't bother trying to sense Itachi's chakra. In a different environment, he might be able to. But in the heart of the village, he'd have to be a sensory-nin to pick up one specific signature among dozens.
Instead, he bites down on his palm, drawing blood. A black summoning circle appears on the ground when he slams his hand down, and all eight of his ninken appear in front of him. Pakkun, as usual, is settled on top of Bull's head.
"Boss," the pug greets him. He looks around, quickly determining their location. "What's up?"
"I need all of you to split up and track Itachi Uchiha," Kakashi orders them. "You remember his scent, don't you?"
Pakkun sniffs, raising his snout in the air in offense. "Of course. You know I never forget a scent."
"Good," he says. It's been over six years since his ninken have needed to track Itachi's scent—back when he was still a member of Team Ro. "You can come with me to sniff him out. The rest of you fan out in different directions. Let me know as soon as you catch a hint of anything."
Seven of them immediately take off. Pakkun trades his place on Bull's head for Kakashi's shoulder. "So what's the situation?"
"No time," Kakashi says. "Just help me track him down. Before he makes it out of Konoha."
Pakkun is clearly confused about a lot of things. But he nods. Kakashi immediately turns himself toward the border of the village. He doesn't actually expect any of his ninja hounds will catch Itachi's scent—not until he's already long gone, at least—but he's going to try anyway.
He's stopped by Naruto, the blonde calling out for him as he passes him on the street.
"Kakashi-sensei!" he says. "Hey, have you seen—oh, hey Pakkun. How are you?"
"Get lost, kid," Pakkun says from Kakashi's shoulder. "We're busy."
Naruto makes an affronted face. Normally, Kakashi would chide the pug for being so rude, but he doesn't have the time at the moment.
"I'm sorry, Naruto," he says. "But I really do have to go."
His student frowns. He clearly reads something from Kakashi's face, because he quickly goes from offended to worried. "What is it? Is something wrong? Is it Sasuke?"
"Sasuke's fine. We'll talk later, okay?"
Kakashi leaves him behind, feeling vaguely guilty as he hears him yell after him. They've reached the boundaries of the village now, nearing the forest that surrounds it.
Then, miraculously, Pakkun says, "I got something. It's him."
Kakashi doesn't dare believe it. No—he doesn't believe it. It's too easy. Itachi should be long gone by now.
Is he letting me catch up to him? he wonders. Whatever the reason, Kakashi follows the path Pakkun directs him in.
He catches up to him in a small clearing, surrounded by trees. Itachi looks back at him, his bangs blowing in his face in the breeze. He isn't surprised; it seems almost as if he's been waiting.
"Kakashi-san," he says, in that familiar flat tone. "Don't bother trying to drag me back. You won't succeed, and we both know it."
(Kakashi-san, he calls him. So formal. So impersonal. Kakashi remembers the days that it used to be Kakashi-senpai.)
Pakkun looks between the two of them worriedly. But Kakashi makes a gesture with his hand that the dog interprets easily. He nods his head, popping out of existence. Kakashi's gaze locks with blood-red eyes.
"You're right," he admits. "I won't be able to capture you. Not unless you want me to. That's the only reason Jiraiya and I managed it before, isn't it?"
Itachi doesn't respond, but Kakashi doesn't need him to. He already knows the answer.
He shakes his head at the man in front of him—no, not a man, a boy. Itachi Uchiha is eighteen years old, and how quickly, how easily, people forget that. Even Kakashi is quick to forget, and he knew him back when he was still a foot shorter than him.
"You let us capture you in order to wake Sasuke up from the Tsukuyomi you trapped him in," he says. "Which I'm assuming was a mistake, by the way you reacted when you were told."
Kakashi remembers those red eyes, wide in shock, for just a singular moment, before the mask slammed back down. For all that Itachi wanted to hurt his brother, trapping him in a hell without escape hadn't been his intention.
"It makes no sense," he continues. "You spare Sasuke's life over and over, even get yourself caught to help him, yet you torture him mercilessly. You say he is a mere tool to test your own abilities, but you show obvious interest in his own character… Every time you meet him, you make sure to remind him of his hatred for you, you throw your sins in his face to enrage him, to drive him to get better so…"
Kakashi stops. Saying the words out loud, speaking them, has allowed something to click into place. A lightbulb goes off in his brain, and he stares at Itachi with realized understanding. Itachi narrows his eyes at the look.
"You… you want him to kill you!" Kakashi says.
Itachi freezes.
Kakashi can feel his own brain process the information—as so many things that never made sense suddenly connect. He reels, and then pins the Akatsuki member with an accusing gaze.
"It's true! You've ensured that Sasuke seeks power, ensured his hatred for you… all so that he will one day become your slayer. This is your twisted notion of justice, isn't it? As punishment for killing the entire Uchiha Clan, you plan to lose your life at the hands of its last living member?"
Itachi remains silent. Kakashi feels his hands shake, curling into fists.
Anger hits him. Anger at this man in front of him, whom he once thought he knew. Anger that his student was forced to suffer through such pain, and all of it for this—
Kakashi thinks of Sasuke trapped in the genjutsu, curled up in a ball in the corner of his parents' room. This? It was all for this?
He shakes his head. "You have no idea what you're doing!" he yells. "This is selfish—a pathetic way of settling your own debt—running away from your demons! For once in your life, think of your brother—!"
Kakashi doesn't even see him move. Itachi is standing across the clearing, and suddenly, Kakashi is being yanked forward. Itachi's hands are locked around the collar of his vest, and the calm within his eyes has shattered.
"My brother is all I think of!"
It's impossible to forget that Itachi is Sasuke's brother. But the resemblance has never been more striking as it is now, with his red eyes blazing and his mouth set in a snarl.
Kakashi has seen fury on Sasuke Uchiha numerous times. He's never seen it on Itachi.
"You know nothing," he says, and his hands gripping Kakashi's collar are shaking. "You understand nothing."
Kakashi is oddly transfixed by the sight—the legendary Itachi Uchiha, clinging to the remnants that remain of his composure. What caused this? he wonders. Kakashi isn't so arrogant as to believe it was his own words.
He remembers what Tsunade said—about Danzo visiting Itachi just before he escaped. Something the man said rattled Itachi—rattled him enough to send him immediately running for the hills.
Itachi looks down at his hands gripping Kakashi's collar as if just realizing they were there. He drops them, stepping back to a respectable distance.
"Everything I've ever done has been for him. Everything—"
(His voice sounds almost like he's trying to convince himself.)
Kakashi's never seen those eyes anything but calm. Now, there's an unhinged, almost fragile quality to them he's never seen. Like a pane of glass with cracks spiderwebbing outward, and the slightest pressure will cause it to shatter.
And Kakashi feels something like fear shoot up his spine as he looks into those eyes. What could Danzo have possibly done—what could he have possibly said—to strip Itachi's veneer so thin?
Kakashi keeps his gaze steady, refusing to flinch away from those eyes, no matter how much instinct screams at him to. "If that's true, then come back. Stop running. This isn't going to help Sasuke. It's only going to hurt him."
Itachi seems to regain some of his previous composure. His eyes still burn crimson, but the cracks in them seem to have mended. Or, more likely, have been covered up.
"I've already hurt him," he says, his tone impassive. "I can't do any worse."
"You can always do worse."
Kakashi doesn't know what he can do. He doesn't understand Itachi Uchiha. He never has. But he understands Sasuke, understands exactly how Itachi's actions will impact him.
"You're that kid's entire world," Kakashi says. "Whether it's because he loves you or because he hates you… you're all there is for him. If you force him to kill you… there won't be an after. It'll break him."
The muscles in Itachi's jaw tighten. His eyes flicker away from Kakashi's, but not before Kakashi spots the conflict within them.
"Take care of him," he says.
Kakashi wants to stop him—to keep him from leaving. But he knows nothing he does will make a difference.
"I will," he replies. "But I'm not doing it for you."
Itachi's lips curve up into something that's almost a smile. His body explodes in a flock of crows, disappearing in a whirl of black feathers.
Sasuke's ears are ringing. The world is fuzzy and distant, and he can't seem to touch any of it.
"What do you mean… he escaped?"
Kakashi is standing in front of him, but the words he has spoken refuse to penetrate Sasuke's brain. Instead, they float in the air in front of him, refusing to make sense. Sasuke stares at his sensei, and the room seems to float away from him. He feels he's outside of his own body.
He tries repeating the words to himself, tries to make them real. Itachi… has escaped.
"He's gone," Kakashi says. "He got free. We don't know how. I caught up to him, but… I'm sorry, Sasuke."
Sasuke feels like he's living in two spaces at once, the two spaces refusing to merge. He knows he's standing in the hospital room, but he can't feel the ground beneath him. The world is separate, untouchable, unreal.
Kakashi's face blurs in front of him. Sasuke wonders if he's breathing. He must be.
("You're nothing to me.")
Itachi has escaped. Except he can't have escaped, he can't, because Sasuke just saw him, not even two hours ago. He sat across from him, staring into his eyes, hearing his voice, listening to him. Not even two hours ago he was close enough to touch, sitting there with that cold look on his face. He was right there—
("You're nothing to me.")
—and now Itachi is gone—
("You're nothing to me.")
Sasuke's vision goes white. Blood roars in his ears, and there's a loud crack, and pain erupts in his hand—
"Sasuke!"
Sasuke comes back to himself, the world rushing in again. His hand is half-trapped in the hospital wall, the plaster around it cracked and crumbling. He doesn't even remember throwing the punch.
Sasuke sucks in a sharp breath as the pain hits him. The bones in his hand feel shattered. Kakashi is by his side immediately, a wide-eyed look on his face.
"Jeez, kid. Okay, it's fine—you're fine…"
Sasuke is shaking. His hand fucking hurts. Kakashi tries to help him free it from the wall; pieces of crumbling plaster scrape against his skin as he twists his fist, and a quiet whimper escapes his lips.
His fist is pulled free. His knuckles are bloody and scraped, trailing crimson down the rest of his hand. Sasuke tries to flex his fingers, and pain immediately shoots up his arm. His face twists.
His anger flees him as fast as it came. A half-second of blackout rage, and now he feels empty. Hallow. He has no strength to stand, to speak. His eyes feel gritty as he sinks to the floor.
Kakashi follows him down. "Here," he says softly. "Let me see."
Sasuke has no energy to respond. He allows Kakashi to gently pull his injured hand closer to him. He examines it closely with a frown, and his thumb brushes slightly against Sasuke's scraped knuckles. Sasuke hisses, but he clings to the feeling. The pain slices through the haze in his brain, turns the world momentarily sharp again.
"You've shattered your knuckles," his sensei tells him, a touch of disapproval to his voice. He presses a tissue against his knuckles, his grip tightening when Sasuke instinctively tries to jerk away. "Keep this pressed against them. And don't try to move your fingers."
"I'm sorry," Sasuke says quietly.
Kakashi shakes his head. "Don't be. You've got nothing to apologize for."
Sasuke feels a pressure behind his eyes, like he wants to cry. But no tears come; he's already used them all up. Pressed with his back against the door of Itachi's cell, he sobbed his heart out, until his throat was raw and his voice was hoarse.
Now, Sasuke shakes on the floor of the hospital. He has no more tears left to shed.
Kakashi is sitting closer to him than Sasuke can ever remember him being. His gaze is sad, and his hand reaches out, brushing Sasuke's hair gently from his forehead.
"This isn't over," he says. "We'll find him, Sasuke."
Sasuke smiles bitterly. "No. You won't."