The deed is done, and Itachi feels… empty. Exhausted. Should it have been this easy? This simple? It's hard to believe the Mangenkyo makes this much of a difference. But his parents were the last in what had been a whole district of his family.
The door opens, and Itachi doesn't even think—moving to block Sasuke's sight, first by placing himself in the line of it, then by covering his brother's eyes with his hand and towing him out of the room, slamming the door behind them. There's no one left to complain about the slam anyway.
"Nii-san!" Sasuke sounds confused and afraid.
As he should. They are the last, now. But Sasuke shouldn't have to see, shouldn't have to live with the memory of Itachi standing over their dead parents.
"Nii-san!" Sasuke complains again, but Itachi doesn't let him go until they reach the kitchen.
The eerily clean kitchen.
"What's going on?" Sasuke demands, eyes large and afraid.
Itachi kind of hates himself for this. He wonders if this was the right thing to do—put the village above his family, his clan.
Danzo had insisted it was necessary. With his family's blood on his hands, Itachi isn't so sure.
"Nii-san!" Sasuke demands. "Where are mom and dad? Why is everyone—" He stops, cutting himself off. He's only eight, but he's a child of ninja in a ninja village. He's no fool, and he's seen the bodies.
Corpses.
"We have to leave," Itachi says. He's not supposed to take Sasuke, he knows. And someday, he's going to have to explain what he's done, why he's done it. His name is going to be reviled, but the village will stand. He tells himself it was worth it. He chose the village above his family, but…
Given what has just occurred, he doesn't trust the village with his brother. So there's only one option left—he must take Sasuke with him.
"Nii-san!" Sasuke protests again, digging in his feet when Itachi grabs his wrist to drag him to his room so they can grab some things for Sasuke. This wasn't in the plan, and Itachi can't grab much, but they should grab at least a few changes of clothes for Sasuke.
"Our parents are dead," Itachi tells him flatly. "The rest of the Uchiha are dead. We are the only ones left. We need to leave."
Sasuke stares at him with wide, dark eyes, and Itachi's heart aches at the pain and sorrow in them. He hates himself a little more for being the one to put it there.
"But…"
"We need to leave," Itachi repeats.
Lip trembling, eyes watery, Sasuke forces himself straight, reminding himself that he's a child of ninja, not some civilian, and he doesn't cry, just nods, too solemn. He sniffles though, because even if the tears don't fall, they're making his nose run.
He doesn't resist when Itachi drags him to his room. He finds Sasuke's backpack in the closet, but it's child-sized and smaller than Itachi would prefer. He doesn't want to take the time to write up a sealing scroll to fill with Sasuke's things, and besides, they really can't afford to take much. If possible, he'd prefer it looks like Sasuke vanished without any planning.
A clock ticks in the back of Itachi's head. He feels like he's running out of time, so he has Sasuke pack three changes of clothing, lets him take one photo. Before they leave, Itachi also grabs a small stuffed, spotted black cat from where it's wedged between the wall and Sasuke's bed. It's not much bigger than a kitten, and their father had hated it and Sasuke's attachment to it. A comfort object. A sign of weakness to their father. Itachi had gifted it to Sasuke when he was all of two, and no matter how derisive their father had been, Sasuke has never grown out of his attachment to it. Itachi hands it to Sasuke, and his jaw trembles again as he cuddles it close.
Anyone who knows Sasuke well enough to know about the stuffed cat is dead. He's deprived his brother of almost everything else in the world tonight. He won't deprive him of this small comfort.
"Let's go," Itachi says.
Sasuke sniffs again, but he straightens and tries to be brave.
Itachi chose the village over his clan.
He will not choose it over his brother.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Author's note: right now this is a standalone. I have a few ideas to add some bits and pieces to it, but this was a plot bunny Kenda1L threw at me, so this is for her.