Chapter 17. The Eve.

"You do know there's no rush, right Pup? We can clear the house once you feel a little bit better," said Tsume as she grabbed another box from the kitchen.

After a few nights of unconcealed sleep in my now empty house, I had decided to sell it. I talked it over with Hana and Itachi one afternoon over tea, and both of them had agreed to help me however they could. Hana had even asked her mother for help with the paperwork and applying for a new apartment. Tsume had not only agreed, but also offered me the spare room at their place until we managed to get me settled.

The first part of the application had been approved quickly enough thanks to Miyako-san's connections, and the shinobi housing committee was now on the lookout for a place suitable for my rank, age and pay. It would take about a month they said, so in the meantime we were putting all my stuff in storage or for sale along with the house.

"I am feeling better, Tsume-san, but I'd like to perform my best and staying in this house is not helping." I answered as I took a pile of books from Itachi's hands and put them in a box. "Besides, I can't stand the look on everyone's faces, like they are expecting something I cannot give."

Everyone stopped what they were doing then, they all knew what was expected of me, they all knew it was part of an old tradition, but none of them could help but feel sorry for me; none except Itachi. He was the only one who kept working alongside me while the others took in what I'd just said and the implications behind it. Eventually, Akira-sensei and Tsume-san started working again and the others followed soon after.

My genin team had been staying at my place ever since the funeral, keeping an eye on me, making midnight snacks and tea if they woke up to find me very much awake and having a fit with the training dummy in the garden; helping me breathe whenever grief took over and putting me to sleep; or even staying up all night with me, be it in silence or having quiet conversations. That day they had volunteered to help me pack up as well, and Taka had even offered to house me until I found a place to stay.

Fugaku had not been happy with my decision to leave the compound and had even offered me one of the apartments the clan saved for orphaned children; but thankfully, Mikoto intervened and convinced him it might be better this way. An unstable shinobi was no good after all.

So here we all were, emptying a house that had become a home without me noticing and which would feel like my last for a while. It took two days and little to no rest, but soon the house was seemingly uninhabited and ready for sale. I made a complete sweep of the place one last time, just to make sure we hadn't missed anything, and ended up in Shisui's room. It was bare, every picture and scroll that had one hung from its walls, safely stored in boxes in a warehouse somewhere in downtown Konoha. I could only stand there staring at the empty spotless room. It was the room of a great shinobi alright; he had made sure no hints of his presence had ever made its way there. It felt uninhabited, unused, like his clothes had felt once; devoid of his scent and trace like he had never existed in the first place. I hated it.

I only saw it in my desperate search for a piece of Shisui in that room, I doubt I would have noticed otherwise. Had my desperation not been as great, I would have never noticed the traces of fuinjutsu nor paid the creaking ceiling beam any mind. The house had been relatively new when Shisui had bought it, there was no reason for it to be caving under the weight of the roof unless it was being strained by something unaccounted for or had suffered damage of some kind. And then there was the seal. I walked up the wall and hoped on the ceiling beam so as to give it a closer look. I was no expert on fuinjutsu, but I knew enough to identify them and tell if there was need for someone more experienced to take a look at it. All of it was an excuse of course, deep inside me I hoped it was something that my brother could have left behind, something else to remember him by. Right in the junction with the opposite wall, the wood had been carved into a vertical line, thin as a senbon.

I ran across the ceiling beam and knelt before the carving before noticing the seal was painted over it like a protective barrier. At first sight, the seal looked like a blood based seal, with both incendiary and explosive components as an extra precaution. Shisui definitely didn't want this falling into the wrong hands. To someone with basic knowledge of the subject, the seal would have been too complicated to undo, but after a year of ANBU basic training and further studying on my part, I felt pretty confident. It didn't take long to undo the seal, but when the wood slid open to reveal a single scroll, I nearly let out a choked sob.

It had my name on it.

"Always such great timing, Nii-san." I whispered to myself with a sad smile.

I took the scroll with as much care as I could and opened it as I sat cross legged on the ceiling beam before I realized: it was a letter addressed to me.

Dear Akane-chan,

I do hope the day never comes when you find this, but if you do, then it must be because I'm no longer there. If you are reading this then you have come home to an empty house, a very disturbing note and the realization that your brother is a coward. This letter is not intended to redeem my image in your eyes or to justify my actions, but to explain them. If I have killed myself, then you deserve to know why I left you on your lonesome, although I am pretty confident your friends and team will not allow you to feel alone.

As you already know, the clan is planning to overthrow the Hokage, and even if we have been ill treated by the hat and council for years, the chaos and violence it would bring are too high a price to pay for pride. Since the diplomatic approach has failed over and over, I have made a plan that might actually work; I will offer my services to the Hokage and present it as an alternative to Danzo's extremist views. My life and success will depend on the council and the Hokage's reactions, should I fail and die, then I am afraid the hat will be forced to bend to Danzo's will. Please keep your distance from that man, Akane-chan, he may look like a retired war hawk, but he rivals, if not surpasses the Hokage's power and influence.

Anyway, this is not about him, but about me and the atonement for my sins. I will forever regret the pain I've caused you, dear little sister, and I hope that you can forgive me someday. Don't join me too soon either, I want you to tell me about all your adventures when I see you, so bring a long list to talk over tea. I am so proud of the shinobi you have become, but even prouder of the good person I know you to be. I will always love you, Akane, never forget that.

Shisui.

As I finished reading, I tried to wipe away the fresh tears running down my face. This was a lot to take in, there was a lot of information in the letter that could lead to serious accusations against Hiruzen's administration that had to be analyzed with a critical eye and a clear head; both of which I lacked at the moment. I rolled the scroll back up and put it on the waistband of my pants and under the chainmail below my plain tee shirt. I didn't think it was a good idea to bring someone else into this until I knew just what I was dealing with. I would also have to wait and decide who I could trust with it, if I ever could. For now, I would relish on the knowledge that my brother's death had meaning and start healing myself from there.

…

I put my armor and mask inside my locker before grabbing my bag and flinging it over my shoulder. As I was closing the locker and activating the blood seal, I saw someone headed my way from the corner of my eye. I wasn't really in the mood to see anybody, but when I turned to leave and saw Cat Taicho had taken off his mask to address me, I stopped. He wasn't much older than me, in fact, I was sure that he was the youngest captain in ANBU right after Itachi. That would have taken not only talent, but an awful lot of training and skill. He wasn't unattractive either, his eyes were a bit on the big side, but his bone structure showed he would grow into a very well built man. He must have been seventeen, a year older than Shisui.

"I have come to give my condolences." He said not showing emotion other than the unusual softness in his gaze.

He sat down at one of the benches in front of the lockers and put his forearms on his knees as he played with his mask.

"I happened to know your brother; I worked with him on several occasions. His clarity of mind amongst the chaos of a mission and his loyalty were among the things everyone admired him for," he paused in his little speech to smile up at me. "But what I admired him the most for was his determination to succeed. He had a goal, and every time it was the same. He had the same reason to come back every time."

My lungs started to feel a little too empty and my throat a little too tight, I knew where this was heads, and I for one, didn't want to go through it again.

"One day a few years back," he continued. "Curiosity got the best of me and I asked him what the reason was. He said he had someone who would be very disappointed if he didn't make it back, someone he had to make sure would survive if he, for some reason or other, didn't make it back one day."

I sat by his side in an attempt to calm down, it had only been a week since Shisui's death, and the constant reminder of his absence didn't make it any less painful. I hated how weak his death made me, I hated how he couldn't help but go on a mission he knew would be his last, I hated how betrayed I felt for nothing other than my brother's selflessness. I could only hate. Hate the clan, hate the administration, and hate anything and everything related to Shisui's death.

"Why are you telling me this, Taichou? I asked the tone of the conversation a shade too light for my liking. It made me expect the worse.

"You have his very same eyes." He said without a hint of humor in his voice. "When he told me his reason for fighting so hard, he had the same eyes you did when you faced your friends during the chunin exams."

When he said that, a bitter laugh escaped me without my consent. Everyone had been expecting me to awaken a Sharingan as powerful as Shisui's if not more; it was just a matter of time before someone said it out loud. But even though I had been waiting for someone to say something, the fact that it was my very captain who did, made me incredibly angry. I hadn't been given this job because I was good. No, It had been given to me because of who my brother was, or had been.

"You do know my brother had one of the most powerful Sharingan, right? I haven't awakened it yet, and even if I did, which I highly doubt, it would be nothing compared to Nii-chan's." I muttered, trying not to sound as salty as I felt.

"I am not disappointed. And I didn't mean the Sharingan. What drew me to pick you was exactly that. You didn't have the Uchiha's most treasures bloodline limit, and yet you managed to pose a threat to the best of them. Hell, you even have damaged chakra coils and had Itachi-san not been a prodigy with the genjutsu ability of a low level chunin, you would have won." He took a frustrated breath in and ran a hand through his face. "I know you will surpass your brother, not because of your Sharingan, but because you don't have it. Shisui-san believed so as well."

He stood and put his mask on before making his way across the empty locker room. He hesitated at the door, like he had something left to say but decided against it. I was left to wonder who exactly Cat Taichou was, what stories did he have to tell? Just how much had he seen and why did he have so much faith in people still? I decided it didn't really matter; I took my bag once again and set off to the Inuzuka's for the night.

…

That night, in the forest within the lands of the Uchiha clan, a masked man faces Itachi. They had met already, but tonight, Itachi has a favor to ask. The man complies, and offers the thirteen year old a place in the ranks of his organization. He agrees to let Itachi's brother live, after all a child without the Sharingan is of no use to him. They agree to keep it secret and Itachi is somehow relieved that at least some of the deaths of his kinsmen will not have been by his hand, even if their blood is on him. They agree to keep it a secret.

Itachi has another decision to make that night. He also has to decide whether or not he will kill the only person that had earned a place in his heart other than Sasuke. It wasn't his parents though; they had made their decision and had to attain to the consequences. But Akane- Akane had made all the right decisions, she had chosen right; she was only related to them by name and blood; not by ideology. She was within the service of most loyal operatives and had reported the clan immediately. But she was an Uchiha, and not even the attempt would look suspicious. He was aware it would be hard, considering his last conversation with Shisui and his own attachment to her; but it could also protect her and Sasuke.

It would be hard, but shinobi were those who endured, and someday he might be rewarded for his sacrifice. Because of him, there would be no civil war, and hopefully the Uchiha name would live on and become a righteous and honorable name that wasn't guided by anger, sorrow and pride. But as he made his way back to get ready, his resolve strengthened. He had to do this, not only for peace, not only for the sake of doing what was right. He would do it because he was selfish, so very selfish. He would do it because otherwise neither Sasuke nor Akane would live, and he would not let his weakness be the cause of their deaths. He would not- could not disappoint Shisui.

As he adjusted his armor and sheathed his katana behind his back, he took his last breath in as Uchiha Itachi; because once it was out, he would become The Clan Killer.