Author's Note: From here on until the final chapter, the chapters become more introspective. A lot of what you're going to be reading is persuasion for the events during that final, inevitable battle between Sasuke and Itachi (yes, it is coming, and if you didn't realize that, then you know now). The action, in this chapter, is kinda lacking, but don't worry, it'll be back next chapter. So please, be patient with me, and do try to read and review. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

"Uhhhnn..." Itachi raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed it carefully. Why was it pounding? His memories were muddled, and he couldn't make sense of what his eyes and ears were telling him. It took a long time before even his memories were put together correctly, though they weren't in the right order.

"You idiot!" Itachi roared, seizing his katana and chasing after Sasuke. "I told you not to touch my shuriken, and now look what you've done!" He pointed angrily at his hitae-ate, which had a shuriken stuck in the middle of the leaf.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Sasuke shouted over his shoulder as he danced down the stairs, ducking the slashes Itachi took at him. He bounded down through the hallway and out into the street.

"Itachi! Itachi, help me!" Sasuke, as usual, was being chased by someone; in this case, a gang of older boys who had gotten involved with the local yakuza. They were laughing and cheering as the largest boy managed to trip Sasuke and pointed his sword at him.

Itachi stepped forward. "Touch him and die." He drew two kunai.

"Try us, ninja-boy!"

Itachi lived up to his promise. Soon, the body of the boy lay in a heap next to Sasuke, who was shivering in fear. "Are you alright?" Itachi asked, crouching down next to Sasuke. The younger boy nodded shakily...

"And here's your little brother, Itachi!" the black haired woman sitting in the hospital bed lowered the bundle towards the small child at the bedside. A shock of raven-wing hair protruded from underneath the blankets.

"Why's he have hair already?" Itachi asked in a high-pitched, childish voice. "I saw piccers of me, I didn't have hair."

His mother, Mikoto, smiled. "Every baby is different. And that makes each one just as special as every other!"

"What'cha gonna call 'im?" Itachi asked.

His mother looked down at the fragile life in her arms and said, "Sasuke."

Itachi woke with a shock. He was suddenly, horribly, unavoidably aware of everything around him. He was lying facedown on a riverbank, the river coursing gently nearby, with animals chirping and hissing and groaning and going about their daily lives. Itachi felt something cold and wet at his shoulder.

He turned his head slowly to see a deer sniffing him with interest. "Get back, you beast." he said quietly. The deer backed off a little, but didn't leave. "Don't you know who I am?" Itachi asked, bemused. The deer looked at him blankly, and came closer again to sniff him. "What do you want?"

The deer heard something, and ran off into the trees. Itachi sat up. He was bare-chested; his bandages had washed away, and his jacket was caught on a tree branch on the other side of the river. "Damn that demon child." Itachi muttered, feeling a large, open wound on his back.

He felt horrible. He must have been at least twenty-five miles into the Land of Fire. It would be next to impossible to get out and get medical attention without being seen by ninja from Konoha. At the same time, if he stayed, he'd die of infection. He had no medical supplies, no bandages... Not to mention that the wound had been left to fester for what was probably days.

"I'm not going to let some little microbe kill me." Itachi said, standing. He wasn't really weak, but the pain from the wound seemed to spread to every other part of his body. He focused his chakra into his thighs and calves, and jumped the river with ease. He pulled his jacket off the branch and set off.

He didn't know why, but his hallucinations had made him uneasy. It was rare that Itachi would dwell on the past, but his escapades in his memory had broken the dam, and things he had long forgotten were seeping through.

"Itachi! Itachi, come back here!" Uchiha Fugaku, Itachi and Sasuke's father, ran as fast as he could after his fleet-footed son. "Put that down, it's dangerous!"

Itachi had clutched in his hand a scroll containing several powerful Fire-style techniques. Itachi was maybe four, and was eager to kick-start his Ninjutsu training as soon as he could. He peeled back the first part of the scroll and looked at it. "Fireball? OK!" He stopped running, and dropped the scroll. He formed his small, clumsy hands into the signs required for the technique, and...

"Fire-style: Great Fireball Technique!" He put his fingers to his mouth and blew. A small, but definitely existent, flame blew out from them.

Fugaku stopped dead. "He... used the Fireball? But... he's not even five yet... He can't be a man..."

Itachi just grinned up at his father. "Did'ja see that, daddy? Did'ja? Wasn't it great? I can't wait to be a ninja!"

Uchiha Shisui laughed and balanced himself on the bridge ledge. "Look at this, Itachi! I'm already mastering the basic physical arts!"

Itachi, aged six and a half, shrugged. "Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are way stronger. I'll definitely focus on them." He grinned, did a few quick signs, and blew a bit of fire out of his mouth. "And someday, I'll be the best ninja in the world!"

Shisui laughed again. "You'll have to kill me before I'll let you be best..."

Itachi, at about 13, stared at the scroll that he had found, hidden deep in the cave behind the Uchiha houses. He had never known that the cave was used for anything, but, lo and behold, there it was. It was wrapped in a strange, metallic black paper that he'd never seen the likes of before.

"I guess it won't hurt to look..." he said, unsure of himself. He reached out... His fingers touched the cold, stiff surface of the scroll. He lifted it, careful not to do anything too unwieldy with it, and looked at it. It was a short scroll, whatever it was for, and on the side that had been facing away from him was the kanji for "Forbidden."

"I wonder what this is." Itachi said, his curiosity piqued. He unwrapped it, and read the words:

The Sharingan is our Uchiha clan's most powerful technique, and is a joyous gift for all of Uchiha heritage to have. However, this same gift has a dark side. An Uchiha must never kill his closest brother, the one he would do anything for, for if he does, the darkness and kaleidoscope-like evil will overcome him. The Three Siblings will be his to command, and never, ever will he be allowed to call himself an Uchiha again.

"What's that mean?" Itachi wondered aloud, reading the scroll over once again. "Does this mean that I'd get a new power... if I killed Sasuke?" He silently mouthed the description of the closest brother. "No, that can't be Sasuke. Maybe... Shisui? But why would I kill him...?"

Itachi shuddered. So that was how he had learned of the Mangekyo... He had locked this, with all the other memories, into his head, so he'd never remember them. He knew how this story ended, though: His curiosity overwhelmed him until, one day, he killed Shisui just to find out what the scroll was talking about. And when he activated his Sharingan, he knew.

He continued walking. He still didn't regret what he had done; the Mangekyo had been the best thing to ever happen to him. At the same time, if he hadn't opened that scroll, he'd still have a friend that would stick with him through the thickest... He'd still have parents who loved him and supported him... And, somehow most importantly...

He'd still have a brother who wanted him to live.

Weakling. he snapped at himself. You don't need your brother. And why do you care about him? He'd kill you first chance he got. It'd be better to do him in once you're healed and just be done with it.

But why? Itachi felt shocked at this second voice. It was one he hadn't heard in eight years, since before he had killed Shisui. He can't kill you. He's no threat.

And that makes him any less annoying? the savage voice that was basically his persona now said. He'll get in the way, and if he tries to fight me in a true sense, he'll just cause himself more pain. If I could just dig a kunai into his throat, he'd be dead before he could know he'd been wounded.

You won't do that. the second voice said, sounding fainter. You want the challenge...

Maybe I do, Itachi thought, separate from the two voices. But that doesn't mean he'll live much longer...

Sasuke felt... strange. He hadn't felt like this in so long, that he had thought he never would again. For the first time since the slaughter, he felt... safe. And warm. And... dare he think it?... happy. As he lay on Sakura's couch, staring up at the dark ceiling, he felt more content than he had since the last time his mother had held him, the last time his father had congratulated him on a job well done.

Even in the darkness, Sasuke knew he was blushing from embarrassment.

The evening had been stressful enough. Sakura had insisted on dragging him out to dinner, despite his protests of having enough rice to feed an army. It had been nice enough, Sasuke thought, but Sakura had been pestering him about the training he had been doing with Orochimaru. Sasuke had not said a word on the subject, and had begun to feel slightly paranoid because he knew the other patrons had been staring at him and whispering behind their hands.

They had returned to Sakura's house after just a little while. They had sat and talked, or more accurately, Sakura had sat and talked. She took the liberty of informing him of everything that had gone on in Konoha since he had left, up to and including who had bought the old Uchiha house that had been his since the slaughter.

This hadn't made Sasuke very happy, but the subject changed quickly to happier things. Though he did do a bit of talking, Sasuke had found it hard to communicate. He hadn't been able to truly talk about what he thought and felt for three years (thought, admittedly, he never had, even as a small child). As such, he was uncomfortable when Sakura asked him how he felt after dinner, or what he thought of how Naruto was progressing, or whether he liked the pink or the green bed sheets better on the futon in her room.

"Sakura, it really doesn't matter to me." he had muttered, only to have them both thrown in his face. Sakura hadn't talked to him for a full five minutes when the silence had overwhelmed her and she began talking loudly about the food at the restaurant they had gone to.

Needless to say, Sasuke was quite happy when she finally went up to bed.

His mind, for the most part, was on what he would do now that he was through with Orochimaru's training. He knew that, sooner rather than later, his fight with Itachi was coming. There was nothing he could do to avoid it. If he wasn't going to be training, he couldn't advance any more, and if he couldn't advance any more, he'd better just get it over with. He played through scenarios in his mind, thinking about what moves he'd use, and where he'd strike, and what counters he'd use.

Sasuke didn't expect to return from the battle alive.

He hadn't told Sakura or Naruto or even Kakashi about this, because he knew they'd just worry. But he was horribly aware of how weak he was, particularly after his last altercation with Itachi and his battle with Naruto. If his Chidori couldn't stand up to a Rasengan, how would it be any good against an Amaterasu? Would a kunai really be able to beat Itachi's mastery with a katana?

Sasuke had butterflies in his stomach. He had been sure he had felt, while walking through the river valley, two very powerful chakras: one he knew immediately, because it was as unique as Naruto's; it had to be Gaara, because there were two very distinct chakras blended into one body. The other, however, was both much more concentrated and much... darker. Sasuke would have given his left ear to bet that this chakra belonged to Itachi... which meant only one thing. His brother was lurking nearby.

At the same time, Sasuke wasn't sure how Gaara had gotten away from the Akatsuki HQ, or why Itachi hadn't killed him or returned him yet. Motives were beyond Sasuke, because to him, things were black and white: if you do something, the motive doesn't matter. But what could Itachi possibly gain by escorting Akatsuki's most prized experiment across the continent?

Sleep, after hours of laying awake, finally graced him. His dreams were not nearly as disturbed as the night before, but there were still flashes of the days events and of horrible pain and suffering. After what seemed like just seconds, he was awakened by sunlight coming through the front window. He kept his eyes closed, slightly delirious from sleep and unsure where exactly he was.

Sasuke heard a slow, melodious breathing from somewhere nearby. An enemy...? No. He recognized this breathing pattern. He slowly opened his eyes to see Sakura, sitting across the room and staring intently at him. He rolled onto his side. "What time is it?" he asked sleepily.

"Nearly ten." came the response. Sakura was staring fixatedly at the window, as if trying to avoid him. "I... I guess you'll be going?"

Sasuke yawned and sat up. "No, not quite yet. I want to eat breakfast first, if that's ok."

"Yeah..." Sakura replied, still gazing at the window. "That's fine." Her voice sounded odd and far-away, as if she weren't the one who was speaking. Sasuke noted subconsciously how the sun played across her pink hair in such a way to make it look like she had a halo.

"Thanks." Sasuke said, standing up and walking to the small kitchen. As he would have normally, he poured some rice into a pot and brought the water to a boil.

"Is that all you eat?" Sakura asked, having followed him in. "Rice?"

Sasuke considered that for a moment before saying, "Yeah... pretty much, yeah. Not much else to eat on the road, you know."

Sakura's lower lip trembled dangerously, and she averted her gaze to the doorway into the living room when Sasuke turned to rummage in the fridge for some milk. "Milk? What's that for?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Habit I've gotten into. I pour the milk over my rice in the morning, like cereal."

"Ewww." Distracted from her sadness for just a moment, Sakura pondered that for a second. "Wouldn't it get all wet and soggy?"

Sasuke shrugged again. "I don't mind." The water came to a boil, and Sasuke made sure he watched it. Sakura again averted her gaze. Sasuke, after a few more minutes, poured the rice and water into a fine strainer and then the rice into a bowl. He sat down at the table, picked up a pair of chopsticks and, almost as an afterthought, poured in the milk. He stuck his chopsticks in and began eating. "Mmm. Really good. Where'd you get this rice, Sa-" He looked up at Sakura, expecting to see her disgusted, but instead found her crying silently. "Ku... ra?"

She gave a hearty sniff and turned away from him. "D-don't mind me, Sasuke, I... I'm just being stupid, there's n-n-nothing t-to worry about..." She sniffed again and looked at him with tear-blurred eyes. "I'm... j-just being st-st-stupid..."

"You got that right." Sasuke said, surprising her.

"What?"

"You heard me." Sasuke said, looking back down at his rice. "You're being an idiot."

Enraged by Sasuke's quick agreement, Sakura stood, walked over to him, and slapped him. Though surprised that she had gone this far, Sasuke was not surprised that she had gotten this annoyed. "How dare you!" she yelled. "I allow you into my home, I cry over the death sentence you've given yourself, and you have the gall to insult me!"

"I notice you've stopped crying." Sasuke said calmly, not looking up from his breakfast.

"You..." Sakura flushed with anger. "Get out! Now! And take that rice with you!" Sasuke didn't move. "Did you hear me? I want you OUT! NOW!"

Sasuke, saying nothing, drank the milk from the bottom of the bowl, got up, and put it in the sink. He turned back to her, and without a trace of emotion on his face, said, "Good. You've gotten over the crying."

The anger on Sakura's face melted into confusion. "What...?"

Sasuke turned and walked into the living room, where he gathered up his hitae-ate, his boots, his pack, and his oversized kunai. Sakura followed him, her anger seeping back. "What are you talking about, 'good?'"

"I don't want you to cry when I leave, or if I die." Sasuke said, still without emotion. He walked to the foyer, where he sat down and pulled on his boots.

"What?" Sakura was suddenly not angry anymore. "Sasuke, you can't..."

"Look." He stood up and stared her in the eye with the fierce gaze he normally had. "You can't waste your life mourning over me. I don't want you to spend one second crying when I leave, because crying won't fix things. And if I die..." His expression softened. "I don't want you to spend your life mourning over someone who wasn't worth it."

"Don't be stupid." Sakura said, stepping down into the foyer. "You've been-"

"-horrible to both you and Naruto." Sasuke finished, his expression hardening again. "I've never really known what you and Ino and all the other girls have seen in me. Now..." Again, he stared her in the eye. His persuasive abilities surprised her. "When I get back, if I hear that you shed even one tear over me, I'll come and give you something to cry about."

Sakura gave a little laugh, only making Sasuke look fiercer. "You think it's funny? I don't. I don't want you to mourn, got it? If I die..." Again, he looked saddened. Did he really expect to die fighting his brother? "I don't want you to cry."

Sakura felt odd. Why did this matter so much to him? "Sasuke... What are you saying?"

Sasuke was getting annoyed. She just didn't get it. "Forget it." He turned to leave.

"Wait!"

"What is it?" Sasuke snapped, without turning.

"You forgot your hitae-ate." He heard Sakura hop down and pad over to him. He heard her shirt rustle as she lifted the headband up, ready to tie it on his head. Without looking, without a word, he pushed her hands away. "Sasuke...?"

"Keep it." Sasuke said. "I'll come back, Sakura. Even if only for your sake, I'll come back. One day, I'll wear that hitae-ate again. Until then... keep that as my promise to return."

And with that, without a backward glance, he left. He never knew that as soon as he was out of sight, Sakura broke down.