Chapter Eight
She was alive.
Deep onyx eyes shot open as that thought hit her and she stiffened as she realized that she was strapped down. Beside her, she could sense her husband in a similar position and one glance at him told her that he was furious.
"Where are we?"
She whispered softly and he scowled, gaze flickering around the room. The room was eerily similar to a hospital room, the walls white and sterile, the scent of antiseptic tinging the air and yet seals lined the walls. Seemingly rudimentary, but more advanced than any she'd seen anyone other than Kushina and Minato use.
However, it wasn't her husband that answered.
Instead, it was another, someone she knew well and hated.
"Lady Uchiha," He greeted coldly. "You have been awakened for the benefit of Konoha."
She sneered at him, feeling her eyes pulse as her sharingan attempted to flash with the strength of her fury.
"Danzou." Fugaku snarled and as she turned her head, the elderly bastard entered the room. He looked no different from the last time she'd seen him, just as cold and unfeeling as he'd always been and yet all she could feel was rage.
This…this was the monster that had forced her son to kill his family. The burning pulse in her eyes worsened and she looked away, biting her lip to keep from crying out. Her husband let out a dark wordless snarl, his sharingan spinning madly despite the restraints meant to be blocking their access to their chakra.
Danzou scowled, a slight glimmer of fear reaching his gaze, regardless of his efforts to hide it.
"Uchiha! Calm yourself if you want to save your son."
Fugaku stilled, as if stunned by the man's gall, then glared at him.
"What have you done?"
Danzou smirked, then stilled as several shushin sounded and they found themselves surrounded by ANBU. Another shushin sounded and Mikoto bit back a gasp when she found the Hokage standing in front of Danzou, his normally genial face twisted into an impassive expression.
"Sarutobi-" The war hawk began and the Hokage raised his hand calmly, watching as ANBU began to restrain the man.
"Danzou, you're under arrest for high treason, and conspiracy to murder."
As the ANBU vanished with the man yelling and cursing, Sarutobi turned to them and his aging features seemed to age before their gaze.
"Oh," he murmured. "This is not good. This is not good at all."
*/*
The rest of the second exam passed in a haze.
If asked, he honestly wouldn't have been able to say who won any of the preliminary matches that followed the exam or how. All he could think about was the ice in his brother's eyes when he'd finally seen him again after that night so long ago. About how those eyes eerily reminded him of the look Itachi had given him before trapping him in the Tsukuyomi. How they conflicted with what he'd just learned about his brother, somehow reinforcing the image he'd had of the monster his brother was supposed to be.
At least until Shisui had made the mistake of mentioning that he knew he truth.
For just a fraction of a second, he'd something in his brother's eyes that he was sure no one else, not even Shisui had caught.
Desperation.
It was an emotion he'd never associated with Itachi, one he never even suspected the other could feel and yet it had been there.
Something was happening, something that had Itachi convinced that he had to die and he couldn't help but wonder what it was and if they would be able to save him from it.
"You okay, kid?" He blinked startled as is cousin took a seat beside him and he shook his head. Everything in him was hesitant to trust the older man, especially with the knowledge that he'd been Itachi's best friend before the massacre. And yet, he knew that if anyone could convince his brother to come back to Konoha, it was Shisui.
"Something's wrong with him." He stated, and Shisui nodded.
"I know. The hardest part is figuring out what. Itachi is very good at hiding things he doesn't want us to know."
"So, I've noticed." He replied blandly and the older man gave him a weak smile, before something seemed to click in his mind, his eyes widening.
"You've figured something out."
Shisui nodded slowly. "A long-time age, just before you were born, Tachi started to get sick. It was- it was so bad that the iryo-nin were sure he would die before making it to the academy, especially since we learned that he'd been sick for almost six months before we found out."
Sasuke frowned. "What happened?"
He shrugged. "He never told me. All I know is that just after you were born, it went into remission and then it was gone. The iryo-nin said it was a miracle." For moment the older man paused. "I always thought it was because of you."
He blinked, stunned. "Me?"
Shisui nodded. "There is no one in this world that Itachi loves more than he loves you, Sasuke. I know his actions that night may make it seem otherwise, but I know him. I've watched Itachi go toe to toe with your parents if they even dared to put you in the academy as early as they did for him. Especially since if they did you would be going out on missions earlier."
Something in him softened and he remembered the conversation he'd had with his brother a few nights before the massacre. His eyes widened and suddenly he realized that his brother had foreshadowed what was going to happen.
"He…he told me that he would always be there for me. Even if it was as an obstacle for me to overcome. Then, that night he told me that I should use my hate for him to grow stronger. To come after him only when I had eyes like his."
Shisui's smile widened. "He's still looking out for you…although, knowing how much it hurt him to gain those eyes…I can't help but wonder why he would want you to have them."
"What do you wanna bet he'll come to the third exam, especially after Orochimaru's attack during the second exam."
His cousin frowned. "I think it's more than likely. Why? What are you planning?"
Sasuke smirked. "Its time for my brother to come home. Whether he likes it or not."
Shisui grinned back, sharingan flashing in agreement.
*/*
Everything was falling apart.
Working diligently, he sharpened his kunai, mind occupied with the coming changes and ways to salvage the plans shattered by the Sandaime's unexpected revelation.
He'd always known that Sarutobi and Jiraiya didn't agree with the elder council's verdict on his clan, just as he's always known they were likely to try and circumvent him and yet…he still hadn't expected the man to tell Sasuke's team the truth. Part of him was relieved, eased by one less lie weighing down his shoulders, while the rest of him only felt dread, heart heavy because in the end it changed nothing.
He was still going to die, whether Sasuke killed him or not.
His chest tightened painfully, a reminder of the illness ravaging his body, and he bit back a gasp, hands clenching slightly around the kunai in his hand. A cough followed the sensation, first one, then another and another, until he was struggling to breathe his hands slick with blood when the newly sharpened kunai had cut into them.
Gentle but calloused fingers pried it from his grip, their owners other hand rubbing his back soothingly.
"How much longer are you going to do this to yourself, Itachi?"
Feeling the fit start to calm he sighed. "Do you honestly think there is a cure for this?" He asked softly.
"I am dying, Kisame." He admitted, his voice raw in a way he wouldn't dare allow it to be around anyone else.
Logically he knew his husband was aware of this fact, the man having been there when he was diagnosed, but he knew that neither of them had wanted to say it out loud. Instead, it had been hanging in the air between them, ominous and unspoken, a blade poised to attack. Since admitting the truth of the massacre to the older shinobi, he'd known the man was wondering why he was so willing to die for it. For the family he, himself, had slain.
Before, it had been to spare Sasuke the burden of knowing that their family had been killed on orders of the village they'd sought to protect, the village they themselves had planned to betray.
Then, he'd started getting sick again.
He'd managed to hide it for a year, before Kisame found out.
A year of fainting spells and coughing fits as his body sought to destroy itself from the inside out. Of pain that left him so weak it took all of his will to stand, to move. All of it rendered pointless when he'd ended up passing out after coughing harsh enough to vomit blood and Kisame had found him. The man had forced him to see Konan when he'd awakened and she'd confirmed what he already knew.
He was dying.
The illness he'd defeated as a child had returned, stronger and vengeful.
She'd predicted he had less than a year before he was too weak to continue missions, and Pein had asked him to consider finding someone to take his place as Kisame's partner.
It was the only time he'd ever seen Kisame lose his bearing and lash out at their leader.
It hadn't been brought up again.
That had been almost two years ago.
"I know." The confirmation was soft, almost silent, but the pain in the words was just as tangible as if he'd yelled them. He didn't look up from his now empty hands, watching as the other cleaned them and healed them with a minor jutsu.
"You've outlived everyone's expectations, all because you're betting on that brother of yours…but what about now? Now, he knows the truth and I doubt he'll go through with your plan. Even if he planned to, I doubt your Hokage will allow it."
Itachi hummed. "He won't." He agreed softly, knowing that for a fact. He knew Sasuke, and knew that if his brother had any reason to doubt his guilt, he wouldn't be able to kill him. But he also knew that if Sasuke wouldn't there were several shinobi in Konoha who would.
After all, he was a kinslayer, one of the worst kinds of shinobi.
The only thing he wanted was to make sure he Danzou down with him.
A crow cawed just beyond the window and he stilled as several images made themselves known in his mind.
An invasion.
Danzou really had outdone himself.
"Leader-sama has been hoping to cultivate ties with Konoha in order to thwart Madara…" He began and Kisame frowned at the sudden change in subject.
"What does that have to do with anything."
"What better way to create an alliance than assisting in thwarting an invasion?"
His husband stared at him, then grinned. "I'll contact him and see what we can do. How are we gonna get around Madara?"
"We aren't." He replied calmly. "Madara hates Konoha, but he loves it more. If its in danger that he didn't create, he'll help. We just have to get him to stop afterwards."
"How do you plan to do that?"
"By giving him what he wants."
"Which is?"
Itachi sighed. "What do you know about Madara's defection from Konoha?"
TBC…