Here is the second chapter! There's a possibility of trigger in the text in italic(there is implications of suicide but it does not concern any main characters). Enjoy!
Sasuke entered his family house in a really bad mood following his meeting with Kakashi. He dropped his keys on the table near the door and kicked his shoes in the closet. It was hard to believe that Kakashi wanted to let him go. He had been so persistent 5 years ago, we could even say that he had annoyed Sasuke into saying yes. Sasuke surely would not be where he was without him, but it was the darkness in his writings that had attract Kakashi in the first place. It was not like he did not know what he was getting himself into.
He exhaled loudly and called his brother's name. He wasn't sure what Itachi's schedule was for the day since he had left for Ottawa at 7 this morning, but with the absence of answer he could easily guess that Itachi had a trial today. It seemed that there was no one to complain to for the moment.
He walked into his kitchen and pulled two tomatoes out of the fridge. He carefully cut them in dice and put them in a small bowl before adding some pepper. This would do for lunch, he had some writing to do.
His bowl and a big glass of water in hand, he walked to his office. It used to be his father's office before the accident. It had been hard for him to go into this room for a while but Itachi had almost force him to take it when he had become a writer. Everytime he sat at the huge oak desk, he thought about his father. This was where his father had locked himself days on end, sometimes Sasuke didn't see him for weeks because their schedules were so different. It had felt like something forbidden the first time he had set foot in here, 5 months after their death.
Sasuke shook his head to dissipate the thoughts and sat down with his food. Let's start with something short, Sasuke thought. I'll try writing a short story and I'll see how it goes. He took a pen and his notebook and started writing. Sasuke always prefered writing with a pen when he was home, it felt more familiar, like everything he was feeling was transmitted to the paper. He only wrote on his computer in public, the screen making it easier to hide from the rest of the world.
This story began on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Mr X. was in his kitchen cooking dinner for his wife, Mrs. Y., and their three children. It was their family tradition. Every Saturday Mrs. Y. would go pick the kid at karaté while Mr X. would cooked them a big dinner. Then they would spend the rest of the day watching goofy movies and playing board games. Mr. X. always let the others win.
Well he used to. Because this Saturday, like hundreds of Saturday before, nobody was coming home. And even if it had been 8 years since they all died in a car accident on their way back home, Mr. X. kept spending his Saturday afternoons making dinner for five. He set the table for five, and even serve their favorite drink in glasses where they used to sit.
It was time for him to start over, it had been almost a decade after all. Maybe there was something else for him in another place. He went upstairs hurriedly, deciding that today was his last Saturday spent remembering his past life.
He sat on what was his wife favorite rocking chair next to the window and closed the curtains. In the darkness of his room, a razor blade in hand, and thinking about everything he had lost he applied pressure to his already bandaged wrist and…
Sasuke threw his pen across the room, huffed angrily, and gripped his hair with both hands. " Dammit Sasuke, he said something lighter!"
"The prosecution would like to call its next witness to the stand, Dr. Naruto Uzumaki."
One of the officers standing next to the entrance opened the door, and a young man walked into the courtroom. Everyone in the room had eyes on him as he walked slowly to the stand. He nodded to the prosecution lawyer, Hashirama Senju, as he passed him and went to sit on the right side of the judge, facing the crowd.
Senju walked around his table and stood in the middle of the room, facing the jury. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Dr. Uzumaki is a well-known forensic psychologist and he accepted to bring his expertise to the case. He is going to share is thoughts on Mr. Hoshigaki's actions and personality."
The defense lawyer, Itachi Uchiha, raised fast to his feet after hearing that. "Objection your Honor! There was no mention of such an expert on the witnesses list."
"Overruled. The prosecution came to me several weeks ago to add this witness to the trial. They asked that Dr. Uzumaki observed the entirety of the trial then reports back. The idea was approved by me and two other judges in this city." He looked to his right. "You can start Dr. Uzumaki."
Naruto cleared his throat and started. "I was asked to observe this trial because the defendant is pleading guilty but says he was "out of his mind" at the moment of the crime. There is no one to support this saying, thus I observed his behavior during trial. It happens often that a criminal tries to plead guilty while using the mental disease card to have a reduced sentence in a place less secure, and obviously this plea is not always true. Cases where people acted because they were mentally unstables have one main thing in common: The ill ones always feel guilty. Mr. Hoshigaki showed no sign of regrets during the past weeks, even when members of the victim's family testified in tears."
Naruto looked around the room, trying to put more emphasis on his sayings. "Furthermore, after reading his entire files, I had a conversation with the defendant about his previous crimes and his life in general." He looked at Itachi and continued. "None of my questions were about the present crime, thus it was judged correct for Mr. Hoshigaki to answer the questions he was willing to answer."
Naruto started to sweat in his shirt. The defense lawyer was looking at him like a hawk. " During our talk, I made an assessment of his personality. Since his adolescence, Mr. Hoshigaki showed lack of conscience as he began to lie, steal, and fight. He is impulsive, has an inability to form lasting relationship with others, and shows a deficit in social emotion such as love, shame, empathy, and more importantly in this case, guilt. I have with me a more complete report that I wish for the judge and the jury to read, but my conclusion is that Mr. Hoshigaki does suffer from a psychological disorder. He is what we would call a psychopath." Naruto ended.
"Will the prosecution add anything to this testimony?" the judge asked.
Senju was trying to conceal the smile on his face, with no success. "No need your honnor."
Uchiha was out of his seat before the judge had time to ask him the same question. " I have some interrogations for Dr. Uzumaki if I may." The judge nodded at Itachi to continue and the latter placed himself in front of Naruto.
"We are not here to decide whether my client is guilty or not, Dr. Uzumaki. Kisame Hoshigaki has already confessed to the murder of x. However, we are trying to have a reduced sentence since my client was not himself at the time of the murder. You just admitted that some psychological disorder was the cause of it."
Naruto sighed heavily and had to resist the need to cross his arms in front of him. "Psychopathy, like sociopathy, is an Antisocial Personality Disorder. Several personality traits are needed to be diagnosed with this type of disorder but being a murderer is not necessary. It is completely possible for someone diagnosed with psychopathy to never kill or even intentionally hurt someone. This is why this disorder cannot be use as an out."
"The let me ask another question," Itachi started. "How does someone become a psychopath?"
Naruto sat straighter in his chair, he had the impression that the defense attorney was laying a trap for him to fall into. "You cannot become a psychopath, you are born one."
"You are saying that there is some kind of psychopath gene inside his DNA?" Naruto nodded reluctantly and Itachi looked at the jury. "Can we really put the full blame on this man. Yes, he did something very wrong but it was partly due to his genes. He did not choose to become a psychopath."
Itachi stayed silent for a little while, taking the time to look at each member of the jury before turning his back on them. "The defense rests."
Naruto stood up and took a seat in the room while the prosecution called its last witness, the defendant. Hoshigaki's expression was calm, it had been like this since day one of trial. His face did not change an iota as the prosecutor stood in front of him.
"Tell me, Mr. Hoshigaki. What are you feeling right now?"
Itachi stood up. "Objection your honor! This is not a therapy session."
The judge gave Uchiha a sour look but conceded. "Sustained."
"Let me rephrase my question. Is it fair to say that your lack of empathy and guilt could cause you to kill again?" asked Senju. Hoshigaki sat behind the stand, impassible.
"Objection! He is leading the witness" shouted Itachi.
"Withdrawn. No further questions your Honor." Senju bowed to the judge and went back to his table.
There was a loud chatter in the courtroom as the trial came to an end. The judge had to struck his gavel twice to gain silence again. "The jury and I will now retreat. If no consensus is made by 5 pm, the verdict will be given tomorrow morning."
Naruto had not waited for the verdict. He left the courtroom knowing that he had done his job and hoping for the best. Senju had promised to text him when the verdict was given, there was no reason to sit there waiting with the rest of the crowd. Especially when it was not even sure that the decision would be made today.
It was 4:50 pm when he received the message:
Twenty minutes ago, Kisame Hoshigaki was being sentenced to 25 years of prison for first degree murder. Thanks to you
The relief was intense and Naruto could not help himself from laughing a little. He was still giggling silently when someone knocked on his door five minutes later. Thinking it was his secretary coming to say goodbye he shouted that the door was unlock.
The door opened on a man with long dark hair, wearing a well tailored suit, and looking as if he owned the place.
"Uchiha Itachi." Naruto stated, surprised. "I guess you're here to talk about what happened during the - " Naruto started, standing up.
Itachi shook his head and interrupted him. "I'm here for far more personal reasons and I thought you could be of help." He walked inside the bright office, closing the door behind him, and laid on the lounge chair, indicating Naruto to sit with a hand.
Naruto sat and reclined into his office chair, a serious expression on his face. "What can I do for you?"
Itachi crossed his arms in front of him and looked Naruto right in the eyes. "I'm dying and I need someone to talk to."
I want to say that I have no idea how the inside of a courthouse works, though I'm pretty sure that bringing an expert without the knowledge of one or the other side is not accepted. Whatever, this is just a story. I am also not a psychologist. I'm trying to do my best from the knowledge I got at college.
Next chapter should be next week, but no promises. See y'all!