"Nooooooo!"

The piercing shriek filled the still night of Uchiha Sasuke's room. His door banged open as Kari stormed in and threw herself down to Sasuke's mattress.

"What happend, what's wrong?" Her eyes were filled with terror at having been awakened by that unearthly scream.

Sasuke sat up straight as a board and gripped Kari's wrist so hard it hurt.

"Why didn't you kill him? Why isn't he dead? If you're so powerful how come he isn't dead, Kari?"

Sasuke's hand shook, shaking Kari's arm with it. His breathing was coming very fast and silent tears were pouring down his cheeks.

"Every night, it's the same. That Sharingan, those horrible images. Those kaliedoscope eyes. I can't take it anymore Kari! Why didn't you kill him?"

Kari looked at her brother's fragile body shaking so hard it was alarming. Her eyes were tender, though there appeared to be a spark of anger in them, and the fear was slowly slipping away. Sasuke never released her wrist.

"It curses me, Kari. It haunts me! He's a phantom. Every step I take, every breath I breathe has some of him in it. It is driving me mad!" The boy raised his eyes to face his sister's. "Kari...why didn't you kill him?"

The question was a hard one. How could she tell him that as much as she despised Itachi, he was still her brother? That she still remembered how he had been before this corruption and how it was almost impossible for her to kill him. It wasn't that she couldn't kill him that night. No, she was a full-fledged Auralen at that point, one so advanced she was already creating several new jutsus.

She was far more powerful than Itachi, and Itachi knew it.

Kari turned away. The darkness veiled her eyes for a moment and Sasuke could see the sparkle of a single tear slipping down that pale cheek.

"I couldn't bring myself to do it, Sasuke. I told you that Itachi was bored with me when he fled...but that wasn't true. He knew I had him. He knew with one more attack I would have finished it. I had severely damaged all the tenketsus which he did not think possible. My Sharingan was as advanced as Neji's Byakugan and I was able to pinpoint my attacks. He was quite wounded, and I...I let him escape. Yes, I let him escape. I saw for just a fleeting moment the little boy who made swans for me in our pond and I could not kill him, Sasuke." Kari turned to face her brother and he could see traces of anger in her face. "How dare you lecture me about the suffering of his memory or the phantoms he leaves in your dreams! Do you think that I have not had those dreams every night since the day we were forced to separate? Do you think that I have not realized the pain that his eyes impress on a person? Right after I left you after our first meeting, he came back for one day. For one day he forced me under his eyes and said that if I escaped, which I was quite able to do, he would kill you and anybody else he could find. I suffered under those eyes for a whole day which he stretched to feel like years upon years. I was paralyzed for weeks, unable to train, which left my body so weakened it took a month to heal. I did not struggle once for fear of your safety. I let him nearly kill me when I was pefectly capable of attacking him. But he had an accomplice at that point and I knew that I would be taking a great risk for your life. How-how can you talk to me as if I have not suffered at all at the hands of Uchiha Itachi?"

Kari's eyes softened for a moment and she lowered her eyes to the ground. "I know the pain of it, Sasuke. I did my best to protect you from Itachi. I was more interested in your life than the death of his. I knew the day would come when I would be able to deal with him. I knew the best idea was to wait, lest I take a great gamble with your existence. I will face him when the time comes, Sasuke. But please don't criticize me for not dealing with him that night. I wanted to, and in a moment of weakness, I failed. But if you were in my place, little brother...well, you might have done likewise."

Sasuke stared at his sister and finally grasped all that she had sacrificed and done for him. His cold words seemed so empty of meaning now, and he could see the hurt they had etched into Kari's heart. He released her wrist gently and took both of her hands into his own.

"I-I didn't know...I'm sorry, Kari...I didn't fully understand..."

Kari shook her head. "I was trying not to make you understand. But I see that it would be best to tell you all that happened. I just didn't want you to live with the pain of such memories as I have."

Sasuke nodded. "I know that...but you shouldn't have to deal with them all alone. I would like to help you too. But Kari?"

Kari raised her eyes, tilting her head to accept his question.

"Why is Itachi so far beneath your level if you're both Auralens?"

"I thought you would ask that at one point. It is documented that Auralens usually grow opposite of each other. They cause such problems because it's two extremely powerful beings clashing constantly. While I trained in the ways of an Auralen and the jutsus that include that, Itachi rejected his bloodline and resented being an Auralen because it was the cause of our separation and the beginning of all of his grief. He grew in dark ways, killing his best friend for the Mangekyou Sharingan and working to gain just as much power as an Auralen without wanting to be one." Kari shook her head. "It didn't work. He is quite powerful because he is still, after all, an Auralen. But he works against his natural power and it hinders him. As long as he does that, I will probably excel farther than he will."

Kari closed her eyes and said, "No more questions tonight, little one. You need sleep. Maybe we'll talk more tomorrow morning."

Opening her eyes again, she found Sasuke already fast asleep...

present time

"It's been a long time, Kari. I was wondering when you would finally screw up the nerve to find and face me."

Itachi smirked unconcernedly at the figure in front of him. Kari said nothing, but met his look with a steady gaze.

"Tell me, Kari. How long did you protect the boy from himself before he finally gave in to his lust for power?"

Kari's eyes flashed with a black fire of rage. "Tell me, Itachi. How long did you fight against your natural powers before you realized that you could never defeat me the way you are?"

"I know you didn't come here to fight Kari, so no sparring words if you please." Itachi's eyes narrowed, "If you wish to blame anyone, blame the long-dead clan head for his decision. It would be quite a different picture if it wasn't for him."

Kari hung her head sadly. She seemed to speak to no one in particular. "Where is my Itachi? Not here, not standing in front of me. This is some ghost of the real one who goes around masquerading as Uchiha Itachi." Her eyes met his. "I don't believe you're completely gone. Not yet. You wouldn't have spared Sasuke so long if you didn't have something of the you I always knew. Before you turned into a murderer."

"They recieved what they deserved, Kari. Why can't you accept that? Why do you scorn me? I did everything because I wanted my twin sister back and you shunned me like some leper or dead thing! Everything I did, Kari, was for you!"

Kari shook her head. "You did nothing for me Itachi. It was all for yourself. You say it was for me so that you yet again have someone else to blame. I did not cause any of this. You broke my heart and Sasuke's, killed our family, and you expect me to run to you thanking you for your kindness! Is that what you wanted Itachi?"

Kari was enraged now. Her eyes were filled with the fiery Sharingan and she could see every little detail of Itachi's facial expressions. No remorse, no hesitations. Had he really become the cold-blooded animal she had just accused him of being?

Itachi chuckled with laughter. "You want to save me from myself, you poor, naive little thing, don't you? You want to help me. Well, I will scorn your help just as you scorned mine. And I will kill you if you try to talk me out of this "madness" any longer and - "

He didn't finish his sentence. In a moment, Itachi was sprawled on the ground with a terrible pain at several pressure points along his body. His angry eyes flashed at Kari. It was indeed the same technique she had been practicing on the poor daises a few days beforehand. This time, Kari smirked at her work.

"You will never be able to kill me, Uchiha Itachi."