Title: Legacy
Character: Itachi, first person
POV: First
Disclaimer: Naruto? Not mine. There's a line from a song near the end, but I don't want to spoil anything, so the credit is explained at the end.
Warnings: Well, it's reflection, so it'll spoil a lot, probably... And evilness. If you don't like evilness, don't read it. o_O;;
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Strength is all I know, all I have known. There is nothing special or unique about those who are strong. They have merely earned the right to live until someone stronger comes along to claim their life. Survival of the fittest -- through this, humans act more primal than the wildest of animals. If you're strong, you live and if you're weak, you become strong or die. Simple.
I had a firm grasp on these principals. My parents did not. And yet to kill all of us seemed a stupid thing to do. No man willingly ends his line. Nothing could come of destroying one who was so young. If I could become this strong, perhaps my brother could, too. He would become my challenge, whether he liked it or not.
I told him to hate me, for one with love in his heart cannot banish insecrutities or push back doubts. I needed someone unafraid to come at me with weapons and jutsu, mind and body, all trained mercilessly for the sole purpose of ending my existance. That would be the true test of strength, and who better to expect it from than one with the same Uchiha blood?
Nobody wants to die. We all don't have the liberty of immortality. Such a shame, those who lose themselves to illness and age. Struck down in the prime of life, testing your strength against that of another--that's all that really matters. Live on the edge.
Hate only breeds hate. He will be consumed by it, drowned in an ocean of his own making. Only afterwards will he be able to attack me without hesitation. One day, if he can get that strength, he will kill me. Everyone will be glad, congratulate him on ending the life of some vile person who most will say never deserved to live in the first place. They'll call me murderer and agree with his stupid notion that he has avenged the family.
The inital shock will wear off, and all he will see is crimson. Blood-stained hands that proclaim him as the true destroyer. I will not be the one who ends our line; by killing me, he brings that charge upon himself. He will be the glorified killer, remembered while I am forgotten.
And yet I'll live on. A heart consumed by the flames of hate and rage, burned away to nothing--the only legacy left to the only survivor of the clan. He may overpower me, but he will lose himself in the process. All they will feel is sympathy for him as they see an empty shell of a person, but never give a thought to me. After all, no one mourns the wicked.
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Actually, the original inspiration for this was a song from the play Wicked. Which I would italicize, underline, or something, but I can't remember what to do for plays. My English teacher should kick me. XP Er, yeah. ("No one mourns the wicked," of course, is the line/song that I'm talking about. End disclaimer, part two.)
How many things have you read from the perspective of an antagnonist? I tried to make it seem like there was a little depth to him, and decided to entertain the idea that maybe Itachi had something more in store for Sasuke. I also wanted him to come right out and say "I'm evil," because I didn't want to make him seem like a good guy with regrets or anything. He's just happy leaving his brother with a nice little mindfuck as a parting gift. o_o;;
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