The tragic conclusion to the previous chapter, the real reason Itachi murdered the clan and forced Sasuke to hate him...? Rin did a really good job writing Sasuke, though the few interruptions were annoying, we got through it nicely!

UCHIHACESTNESS! o.o; Shota maybe hell if I know...it's not like last chapter though...xd Itachi killed the clan, that's where we're at now.

I own nothing. Yay. This sorta became story-ish...but it never continued. It's been discontinued, gomen ne! I moved on to Fullmetal Alchemist...;

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a puff of smoke, Itachi gated in, walking down one of the streets slowly, detachedly. How would you be acting if you'd just killed your entire clan? He paused, looking down at the blood on his ANBU uniform through sharingan eyes, the bloody katana held in his hand.

It was a cloudy night in Carmina...the moon hidden, casting long shadows across most of the town. He let the katana drag along the ground, tearing off his forehead protector and staring at it before tucking it away for safekeeping at a later date. He looked up at the cloudy sky and stared for a while, moon peeking out from behind a cloud a deep blood red.

Sasuke gated in, stumbling dazedly. He made slow progress for a few feet with his drunken gait before his foot caught an unevenness in the ground and he tumbled down.

He lay splayed out, facing the sky. Sasuke pulled himself into a tight ball of pain.

It can't be.

But despite his mindless denial, he knew that it was true.

He knew that every single one of them was dead.

Itachi turned to look over his shoulder, and there he saw the only one left...he'd done it for Sasuke...because they were hurting him...but...he had also done it so that Sasuke wouldn't feel that sinful addiction that he did...so Sasuke would hate him...loathe him for the monster that he was...

And yet... Sasuke lay still, his only movement a noticable tightening of his hands as they clutched his body in an involuntary gesture in need of comfort. And yet... he hadn't found Itachi's body in the ruins of the Uchiha home.

Surely that meant Itachi had escaped the bloodbath... Surely Itachi would find him and explain it all away, make it better, protect Sasuke as he always had...

Except... Sasuke shivered, suddenly chilled. Except maybe Itachi wasn't there for him anymore. Maybe they had changed too much, too quickly. Maybe reconciliation was impossible now.

Itachi drug the katana along the ground and up off of it, sliding it back into its sheath, his back still to where Sasuke lay, beyond his current range of vision.

He shuddered and curled tighter. Sasuke didn't cry this time. His wide-open eyes replayed the scene over and over... Father's robes, which he had always kept immaculate, torn and stained with his own blood. Mother's pale hand flung out to the side, her dark hair spreading across the tatami floor. The sweet metallic smell of congealing blood, but mercifully, the bodies were fresh enough to save him from the scent of rot.

The older Uchiha let out a sigh, and there was a clink of metal as he removed the katana and dropped it to the ground with a loud clang.

Sasuke tensed at the sound. After a long moment, his head slowly rolled over.

He gasped, frozen.

A moment later he was a running blur, colliding into the tall form of his older brother, all the previous discomfort and rage and feelings of inadequacy forgotten. "Aniki!" he managed, and, clutching Itachi's shirt, "Aniki! Mother and Father and--the cousins and--and everyone--" He broke off with a sharp wail of anguish.

"Yes...they are..." Itachi's voice was somewhat cold and empty, with no hint of tears or sorrow or pain. A dull apathy apparent in his speech. He made no move to comfort his brother, no move to turn and face him, no move at all. Despite the voice inside him yelling and screaming and kicking at how stupid it was of him not to.

Silence. Sasuke stared dully at his own pale hands, clutching... not just a familiar shirt. What was wrong with Aniki's clothes?

His grip loosened and his hands fell to his sides. Off in the distance, a bird cried out.

A dark stain, black on black, spattered all over the shirt. Aniki was holding a sword in an indifferent grip. Distantly Sasuke thought that it was a waste of a perfectly good katana, letting it rust in blood and gore like that. His eyes traveled upward, taking in Itachi's empty face, pale and smooth and flecked with unidentifiable bits of ruined flesh.

Sasuke raised his own hands, palm up. They were smeared a dull red--not fresh blood, but old blood, blood beginning to congeal. Just as Mother's and Father's blood was thickening, right at this very moment, while Sasuke stood and stared at the evidence that the world had gone insane, that everything had abruptly upended in his face and nothing would be alright ever again.

Sharingan eyes turned to look at Sasuke, a vivid crimson. Indifferent. Unaffected. Itachi's expression set, placid, with no hint of remorse, pain, or sorrow. He hid it well.

Hunark gates into the area.

He notices the two brothers here once again, but he looks at the one with the blood stained shirt, something seeming to remind him. Hunark shook his head, thinking it couldn't be the person he was thinking about. His katars came out as he looked directly at Itachi, Hunark's breath seeming to slow till it was at a halt, then repeating itself once more. (A/N: HERE WE GO AGAIN!)

Sasuke took a step back, his sandal scraping the ground.

And another. And another.

He couldn't look at Aniki--no, Itachi's face. Surely this person was no longer his brother, was a stranger, an alien, someone Sasuke had never known or cared for.

So staring off into the numb distance, he heard himself ask, in a breathy voice entirely unlike his own, "Why?"

Because they hurt you.. "Because I could..." Itachi's voice remained calm and cold, eyes still focused on Sasuke. "I wanted to measure my strength and skill..."

Hunark's blood eyes seemed to glare into Uchiha Itachi, but not through him. Hunark took a step forward until his pace was as a running, coming at him with his katars out. Hunark's eyes seemed to be fierce, angered as if something had happened. (A/N: Can't this guy just give up already? He ruins the best moments...he needs to understand that this RP is fecking PLANNED and everything HE does SCREWS IT UP!)

Itachi's eyes shifted momentarily, to Hunark, the blade in his hand clinking as his grip became more firm. He turned the blade and in one swift movement was past Hunark, kneeling, as he replaced the katana in its sheath and stood, not even turning to see as the PC fell.

Not in two, but more harmed than he had ever seen someone do in one blow. Hunark kneeled down and gripped his chest tightly, blood running down and off of it. Hunark turned to Uchiha Itachi and gave him a questioned look. Not fading as if he was a normal death, but staying alive. Hunark shook violently as he ached now, blood spilling onto his hands and over the ground.

Itachi turned, walking over to the fallen character, but remaining out of arm's reach. "I'll abruptly end your suffering...for your rude interruption..." He swiftly drew the blade and drew it towards the back of Hunark's neck, to slice down through the spinal cord.

Sasuke didn't move.

He heard the sounds of the battle as if from a long way away. Muzzily he wondered if that was how his parents had sounded as they were killed. A few soft, unintended grunts, a hiss, and a long slow slide into a silence that would last.

No. It couldn't have been that. It would have been Itachi, the treasured son, casually strolling through his own home, and puzzled looks on Mother and Father's faces before he cut them down. Itachi could not have warned them of what he had planned to do.

Or perhaps he did. Perhaps in a twisted way, Itachi felt that to give a warning was only fair, and that a fair fight meant a better test of his strength. Perhaps his parents died in grief and shock, their little boy all grown up now, finally gaining the independence he so desperately wanted.

Hunark turned at that instant he saw the blade, catching it between his katars as his back pressed against the ground. Hunark figured out that breathing was now difficult, and he managed to stay cautious for the time beign.

"Do..don't.."

Hunark said weakly, pleading to live, as if something might happen if he happened to die. Hunark could feel more blood exit his body as he felt like suddenly closing his eyes. Hunark continued to shake, his katars battering against the heavy sword weakly, making sure just enough that it didn't pass through.

Crimson sharingan eyes stared down cooly at Hunark, calmly. "Then leave...I've already wasted enough time on you...to be left alive you should consider yourself fortunate..."

"You... killed... them..."

Hunark rolled onto a different side of his body, showing a new mark on his side, on that was not visible. Hunark clenched his teeth out of the pain he was in, not even daring to push himself up yet. Hunark weakly turned around, onto his back once more.

"You... almost..."

Hunark's voice trailed off as he noticed Sasuke, not saying a word as he knew how the kid must feel, must feel just like him. Hunark let his katars move in as he rolled onto his face and pushed his hands up and onto his knees, still ready for whatever Itachi might have planned.

Emotions still repressed as before they'd always been, Itachi glared at Hunark. "Their deaths have nothing to do with you...now go...before I change my mind and you leave without a head..."

Hunark continued, but this time he was looking at Sasuke, not at Itachi.

"You killed... them.. for this... boy... his name.. should be.. Sasuke.."

Hunark said silently, as he turned to Itachi, his blood eyes staring into his Crimson ones. Hunark's stomach hurt worse than he had ever felt, as he pulled his knees up to it, but continued to watch Itachi, awaiting an answer.

Aery gated in, her hair hiding her eyes. Though she did glance up at what was going on...and was utterly confused for it, and didn't say anything. (It's bad enough with one...)

"I killed them because I could..I killed them because they were weak and because I was strong..." The sharingan began to spin, slowly at first, and then more quickly, comma marks becoming a black blur on crimson, though only to Hunark. What really happened in a matter of seconds, to Hunark seemed to last for twenty four hours, as over the span of that twenty four hours he was impaled time and time again upon Itachi's sword. Attack of the mind, Mange Sharingan.

There was something moist and cold on his cheek. Dimly Sasuke realized that his hands had raised to his face, seemingly on their own.

Hunark could feel the sword exit and enter, knowing that Itachi was lying, lying to his own brother. Hunark looked for the Chaos Gate as the stabs were happening, pushing himself up as he slowly, still getting stabbed, walked towards it. Hunark felt the final stab enter his body, and that is when he gated out.

Hunark gates out of the area. (Oh but we haven't seen the last of him..--; )

Itachi then turned back to Sasuke, sharingan eyes still activated as he looked directly at his little brother, taking a few steps towards him.

Aery watched the PC's through her hair, I shouldn't be here, was her first thought, yet, there she was. Is it just my habit to have awful timing...? she wondered. She glanced at the injured looking PC's and couldn't make sense of it. Should I just watch...?

Sasuke raised his gaze, dark eyes flat.

"You are not my Aniki," he whispered harshly, the venom in his voice curdled with bitterness. "You are not my brother any longer. Anything that ever passed between us is gone."

In one swift movement a kunai was in his hand. The wind pushed against his face as he rushed Itachi with all the speed he possessed, aiming for Itachi's vital organs.

Aery spoke quietly, not really caring if she was heard, "I beg your pardon, sirs...but, what is your arguement?" She asked, with her hands still in her pockets, head partially bowed, hiding her prior tearstained face with her hair. The feather Winter had put there hanging slightly to the left of her face.

Itachi forced himself to extend his fist, as it collided with the oncoming Sasuke's gut, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to his knees.

Aery took a few steps towards them, "Please, sirs, what is your arguement?" (A/N: Nothing to do with you, run along now..)

Hunark gates into the area.

With the force of wind, Hunark moved almost as fast as Itachi himself, slashing across his back, a mark appearing seconds later, which seemed to be deeper than Hunark though. Hunark had his katar bent back as he turned, his eyes now looking direct at Itachi.

"Sasuke, get back."

Hunark's fist closed as he watched Itachi with his eyes, preparing to Ripost on the first attack he planned to land on Hunark, wether it being a spell that he had used.(A/N: Told you...--; )

Sasuke doubled over, knees hitting the ground. The kunai clattered out of his numb hand.

As he gasped for breath, slumped over in pain, his vision blurred. Reflexive tears slipped over the blood and thicker things smeared on his face, surprisingly hot and soothing.

While Sasuke was down, Itachi's eyes flitted to Aerylaance, sharingan blazing threateningly as if to say it didn't concern her, and from the telepathic properties of the sharingan, she might even have believed that she herself did not care to be here at all and wanted to leave and was going to.

Itachi managed to avoid Hunark's blades, dropping down to the ground to catch Sasuke before he fell all the way over, the sharingan would just have to take care of what he couldn't hold back after that. "Sasuke..."

Aery saw Hunark gate in, and got a generic idea of what might be going on. She lunged foreward and grabbed Sasuke around the waist and pulled him back away from Uchiha Itachi. (A/N: No you didn't...oO;)

The sound of his name issuing from such familar and once-beloved lips, the feel of warm hands that had touched him so differently before, was almost worse than the pain of Sasuke's gasping, shuddering breaths.

Betrayal.

What a dramatic word. And how fitting.

Glaring at Aerylaance, Itachi held his brother close, perhaps possessively, perhaps protectively, as if to tell them both to stay the hell away.

"Stop Itachi, I know about you."

Hunark ran at him once again, and with the same speed he was on the other side of Itachi, almost with Aerylaance. A slash seemed through the air, and Hunark watched his cut finally appear. Hunark was not actually slashing, only running through his blades fast enough that a cut appeared, something that was spost to be undodgeable. (A/N: Yeah yeah, get over it hero boy you're not Sasuke's avenger...)

Sasuke's face was turned against Itachi's shirt. Funny how he hadn't noticed the pervasive smell of blood before. It was so obvious now, the air choking and thick with it.

Aery looked Itachi in the eye, for the first time allowing her face to be seen, not caring if they saw it was tearstained anymore. "What is it you want, Herr?" (A/N: Don't you mean here?)

Itachi closed his eyes and let his own tears flow to mix with the dried blood that splattered across his pale face, to drip to Sasuke's shoulder as he cringed slightly. His words were calm, quiet, so that none other could hear but Sasuke. "I can't let you live a life loving me Sasuke...I can't let you be the victim of such sins...they hurt you...I killed them...but also so you would hate me...Sasuke...just for one more minute..."

Aery backed up, and let Itachi talk to Sasuke, "Nevermind."

Logs out(A/N: One down, Hunark, get the hell out)

Hunark stopped himself, before actually letting the wind picked up. Hunark couldn't hear him, but he figured it was something important, their kind of talk. Hunark's long for a brother once again hit him, shaking his head. Hunark didn't say anything as he gated out, just doing it.

Hunark gates out of the area.(A/N: Much better!)

It was pleasant, to be held, pleasant to try and ignore his throbbing injuries for a second, pleasant to be numb. Pleasant to forget for a second that the world had ended. Still...

"You have no right... to decide for me." Sasuke struggled in the prison of Itachi's arms. "You have no right. You have no right to tell me who I love. You have no right to take them away from me and blame me for your own feelings!"

"Then hate me for it..." The older boy let go of Sasuke, moving back slightly as he wiped his eyes clear of tears.

"Don't you think I've tried?" the torn and shaken little boy whispered, the promise of hysteria hedging in. "Don't you think I tried to hate you every time Father said you were his true son and ignored me? Don't you think I tried to hate you every time I was compared to you? Don't you think I tried to hate you when you gave me everything I wanted at once? Don't you think I tried to hate you to protect myself?"

He shook his head. "No. No, I can't hate you. And that makes it even worse. You killed our parents, Itachi. You killed them and I still feel this longing for you, even now. And I can't hate you, but I can hate myself... for loving a monster," he whispered harshly.

Itachi felt a tinge of pain in his chest as these words hit him...he hadn't wanted it to come to this...he hadn't wanted to have to do it this way...he'd hoped that his brother would have turned to hatred from love without second thought...but it wasn't possible...and it was the last choice...because if anything else he couldn't let Sasuke live hating himself...

The Uchiha prodigy reached out and lifted Sasuke's chin so their eyes met, black to sharingan. "Sasuke...I'll always love you...but I can't let you hate yourself...when you should be hating me...I'll take this burden for myself..." He leaned in for a fleeting kiss and then moved inches away, eyes meeting again. "This is goodbye..." And it was then that in Sasuke's eyes, the sharingan began to spin...

Sasuke screamed.

And screamed again.

And again and again, the high primal sound tearing itself from his throat, a sound drenched with pure terror and suffering. Sasuke's back arched, fingers curling in an agonized rictus, jaw clenched so tightly that the enamel of his teeth audibly creaked. He screamed as fast as he could draw breath, as loudly as his voice would permit, the crescendo of pain continuing on and on.

Itachi turned away and let Sasuke be, clenching his eyes shut and trying to shut his ears to the miserably agonizing sounds his brother made, because of him...it was he who would hate himself...as he had hated himself...ever since he'd looked at Sasuke with those eyes...

His voice was but a whisper as he walked towards the gate, tears streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry...Sasuke...for making you love me...for loving you...for hurting you...but it's better if you hate me...at least then only one of us will be tainted with the highest sin..."

The high pitched screams of agony echoed in his mind even as he tried to push them out.

And with that, and a small puff of smoke, the former ANBU, former prodigy of the Uchiha clan that now no longer was, former leaf shinobi, now missing-nin, gated out.

Gradually the screams tapered off as Sasuke's throat grew hoarse.

The events he had just witnessed flashed in Sasuke's mind: the butchering of the Uchiha clan, his own pitiful helplessness in the face of his brother's strength. Mother's hand outstretched on the floor. Father's clothes torn and bloodstained. The blood on his hands, some of it his. The blow he took to the stomach as Itachi reminded him that he was just a weak little boy, just a shadow of his brother...

"Hate me, Sasuke, I killed our family... Our blood... Hate me... and live to hate me...

"Run... Run... Cling desperately to life...

"So that someday you may kill me with all of your hatred..."

His eyes opened weakly as the voice echoed in his mind, and Sasuke coughed and spasmed as these memories settled neatly in over their darker counterparts. His oh-so-honorable brother.

The hatred dripped like acid from his bones.

Sasuke lay there for a few long minutes, then staggered up, struggling weakly to the gate. He rested for a moment, knowing for the first time in a long, long while, with absolute certainty, that he was Uchiha Sasuke. And he felt, like a cold splinter of ice in his heart, the knowledge that he would one day kill his brother.