LFTS Chapter 25

(WOW the formatting was RIDICULOUS YOU GUYS) Im so sorry about that! Should hopefully be fixed now!

(Teensy reminder that last time we were with Sasuke, he woke up with a knife at his throat. Enjoy!)

Sasuke

As he debated answering the question, Sasuke also wondered how he could get out from underneath the knife pressing at his throat with killing himself.

"Itachi."

A crazed grin split his brother's face and his long hair fell over his shoulder in a tight, neat braid, "Oh, little brother, how little of the truth you still do not know..." He let the knife slip down his throat, scraping the skin but just a hair too light to actually draw blood. He bent close enough to Sasuke's face, the younger brother could feel his hot breath on his cheeks. Their blood red eyes met, "I think we need to have a little chat, don't you?" The knife pressed just enough against his skin to slice... Sasuke felt the smallest drip of blood well from the cut and narrowed his eyes. Itachi took the blade from his skin and licked the drop off his blade.

Sasuke took only a moment to stand and ready himself for a fight. It seemed his brother hadn't removed his weapons and this choice, while probably intentional, might turn out to be his downfall. He glanced around their campsite, but June was nowhere to be seen, her Shirshu just as absent.

"Are you looking for your little friends, Sasuke? I'm afraid... they're a bit busy at the moment." He grinned before rushing him, knife pointed to strike.

"Bastard." Sasuke grout out as he dodged his brother's lunge, ducking low and sweeping a leg to knock Itachi off balance. The man was prepared for a fight, and while the leg had been unexpected, he rolled backwards away from Sasuke. Itachi's words didn't match his actions, if all he wanted was to talk, why was he attacking?

Sasuke drew his sword and waited for an opening in his brother's defense. They seemed to be quite evenly matched, a surprise to the younger brother, given the elder's experience as a Yu Yen archer and his military experience.

Not to mention his ability to kill cold-heartedly.

Focusing on the fight, every time Itachi struck, Sasuke would look for a way to parry the attack and find an opening to bring his own blade into the mix. The most he got was a shallow nick to Itachi's upper arm, not enough to do any real damage, but his brother wiped the blood away and grinned.

"You've improved, Sasuke." Itachi's words made his skin crawl, and they continued their fight.

For a time, Sasuke continued to think he might have a chance, if only he could get a blow in... but as it turned out, his brother was just playing with him, and when the younger of the two made a mistake, Itachi took it. He threw his brother to the ground, placed a heavy foot on his chest and knife to his throat.

"You ready to be done, little brother?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Lissy slowly advance behind Itachi, and in his brother's distraction, wrapped herself around his middle and hissed in his ear. The man laughed and backed off, taking the knife and his foot back.

"You got me," his brother sheathed the knife and held up a hand for the fox python to smell, "I really just want to talk, would that suit you well enough?" Sasuke's companion smelled the man's hand experimentally and licked it, waited for another moment before slithering down his body and up Sasuke's.

"Funny you should ask, I've had a few questions myself."

"Delightful."

...

They ended up sitting by the fire in the middle of the camp and having the longest conversation Sasuke had actively participated in in years, possibly ever with his brother.

"So what did you do with June and the shirshu?"

"I simply approached her, she of course had been looking for me, we talked, I gave her an offer to leave and she took it."

"I suppose that is the nature of hiring a bounty hunter. If they find a better deal, they'll take it." Sasuke poked the coals with a stick, coaxing them back to a flame. He was just being lazy, a simple fire breath would bring it to a full, roaring heat, but he couldn't be bothered to put in any effort.

"Now, let's get serious, you said you had questions. I'm here, go for it." Sasuke glanced up at his brother, he seemed like an entirely different person from the creep who had licked blood from his blade earlier.

"Can you tell me why?" There wasn't a need to elaborate, they both knew exactly what Sasuke was referring to.

"That's... a long answer. Are you sure you want it?"

"I'm sure."

"Well, as you know father enlisted me in the military at an early age; it was quite common for noble clans like ours to set examples for the rest of the citizens, yeah? So I had been through basics, gone on patrols and generally did missions for the Nation. I got good. Silent. The Fire Lord liked that. At the time, I had basked in the praise, unknowing that it would be those skills he would exploit in the following years." Itachi dug in his pack as he continued to speak, "You see, Ozai has a special talent for breaking young, talented citizens of his country. His own children were the first victims. I assume you know Zuko, but Azula... she's the real kicker. The Fire Lord has turned her into a literal fighting machine and I had blindly turned down the same path," he pulled an apple out of his bag and bit into it, "Fast forward a year or two and I was one of the best assassins the Fire Lord had. After a time I assumed this was how people lived, just doing as they were told... my moral compass had been skewed." He sighed, "They told me very little leading up to the attack, probably to avoid any sort of leak of their plans. The root of their problem was our family, they had been planning to stage a coup of the Fire Lord... they disagreed with his policies on many things and were going to set the nation straight. Unfortunately, that never happened. In the middle of the night I was told my mission, and given precise instructions. The entire attack was to happen mid-morning, while you were conveniently at school. I'm not sure how they managed it, but you were the only Uchiha child allowed to live, the rest were kept home that day, and I was instructed to kill the entire compound. It was... a hard order to face, even with the tainted morals of a teenager brainwashed in the Fire Nation. In the back of my mind I just… I don't know, the thought that if I refused, they might make someone else do it? What if they killed you too? I couldn't risk that. When the deed was done I was also told never to return to the Uchiha compound; he wanted to keep you in the dark. You were under house arrest for years after that, correct?"

"Yes."

"That was to keep you from rebelling by yourself, or getting any sort of inclination that I was still around. They couldn't have you conspiring, you understand. I rose in the military, and for a time was praised for my loyalty to the Fire Lord, but it was after this sacrifice that I started to truly question my orders. You could say that I was... not myself until quite recently. They hadn't told me you were exiled, just another evil swept under the rug, I suppose. I joined the Yu Yen archers after a few years, using my accuracy and skill to my advantage, continuing to advance in the military ranks. Why I cared about such things is beyond me, but there were a few who had seen deep into the madness and helped."

"Who?" Sasuke asked, wanting to find out more.

"One of them was your old academy teacher. Kakashi I think his name was. He was quite the important general, a good friend of Iroh's even! We used to play pai sho at the library down the street on Wednesday afternoons, and sometimes meet up in the marketplace when they had sales on fruit. He was a good friend..."

"When did you find out he deserted?"

"Entirely too late, around the same time I had found out you were exiled with Zuko. When it was mentioned in passing, I grew irate; if he was going to desert I wish he had taken me with him. I had wondered every now and again if he had been sent on a long-term undercover mission, these were quite common in our tier of assassins, after all. Instead I had to find out through the goofiest man in the military, Gai? Yeah, Gai."

Sasuke laughed, "Wait, the guy with the hideous bowl cut?"

"Yeah, him! He apparently had been the last person to see Kakashi leave, things didn't go well for him. His rank was stripped from him and the punishments were severe. Anyway!" He took another large bite of apple, "there were some good people there, who were quite helpful... but the final break... was about three weeks ago, when we had been holding the avatar in the fortress south of here and on the night of his escape... The blue spirit he...he stole my fan necklace in the chaos. You know the one... you made it for me ages ago. It was a sort of... way to ground myself? If you knew how dark things became in those barracks..."

Sasuke felt the small ceramic trinket in his pocket and pulled it out, the warn leather strips pooling in his hand.

"This one?" He asked, dangling the necklace from his fingers loosely.

Itachi's hand shook as he held it out under the small piece, "C-could I have it back? It's... it's the only thing I have that is from... before." Sasuke nodded and lowered the fan into his brother's hand.

"I understand." He was reluctant to part with it, but if such a small item was what kept his brother from a mental break, than so be it.

He was silent as his brother tied the broken straps back together and slipped it over his neck, "Sasuke... they never told me, so perhaps you can fill me in," Itachi pulled his braid out of the thin leather strips and let it fall behind his shoulder, "Why exactly did they exile you?"

A brief flare of anger burst in Sasuke's chest as he was reminded of the evil cunning of the Fire Lord.

"It sounds funny when I think about it now." He poked the fire again, looking away from his brother's piercing red eyes.

"Ozai sent me into exile with prince Zuko," one of the larger pieces of wood snapped, revealing an orange inner core and bursting a new wave of heat toward him, "to kill you."

A moment of silence passed before Itachi responded.

"I see. Do you still have intentions of fulfilling this request?" His tone was careful as he threw his apple core into the fire.

"Probably not. The likelihood of the Fire Lord keeping his word on anything is quite low, and I feel he really was just looking for a quick and easy way to tie up all his loose ends. "

Itachi chuckled lightly, "Why would we let him off the hook so easy?"

"Exactly."

"Sure is a shame to lose a place to call home, though."

Sasuke dropped his stick, "That place hasn't been home to me in ten years."

...

They spent the day catching up, eating around the fire, it was almost as if they were back home, hanging out after school/work. It made Sasuke's chest ache to think of how much time they missed, but he would do everything he could to make it up.

"Do you want to come with me on my travels?" He asked quietly as they lied down for the night, each gazing up at the stars as the fire crackled at their feet.

"I'm officially a deserter, they might send someone to-"

"To kill you?" Sasuke laughed at the irony, "A little late for that, isn't it?"

"Well, when you put it that way..."

He closed his eyes for sleep, a relaxed smile spreading across his face for the first time in years.

"Sure I'll go with you."

...

Sasuke woke the next morning to Itachi already packing up his items and getting ready to go.

"Mmmm, you always were an early riser, weren't you." He rubbed at the sleep in his eyes and yawned.

"Best to get an early start and use the daylight!" Itachi smiled as he strapped leather around his bedroll and attached it to belts at the bottom of his pack, "Where are we headed anyway?"

He drug a hand down his face and thought for a moment. They'd given up on the dream of returning 'home', so what was their next move? The only real worry was being caught by some Fire Nation authority... Sasuke wanted to meet back up with Zuko, if only to try and convince him not to go back to that hell. Where would Zuko go? After his defeat at the North Pole and the explosion... I-I don't know where they went. Were they still following the Avatar? That could mean they were anywhere in the entirety of the Earth Kingdom. Where do we even start?

"Let's see if we can find a hawk to deliver a message."

...

"After walking for days, they finally found a small village close to the northern coast to relax. The countryside was relaxing and full of beautiful views; Sasuke was even able to find a hawk outpost available to send a message.

He scrawled a cryptic enough note across a scrap of paper and sent it off. They would stay in that village for a few days, and hopefully receive a reply.

As they lazed around, he realized the anniversary of his exile had just passed, three years he had been away now, and while depressing to a point, he took it as an opportunity to look forward to their future. He and Itachi occupied an inn room that night and over a delicious meal of fresh fish, Sasuke brought the subject up.

"It's been three years since I last set foot on Fire Nation soil." He made sure the words didn't come out disappointed, that wasn't the feeling he wanted to convey in this moment.

His brother assessed him carefully, drinking in sips from his small glass of wine, "What are your feelings on that?" Itachi took a bite, "Are you disappointed? Spiteful?"

And then, a moment later, "Happy?"

Sasuke smiled at that answer, "Very happy." He plucked up his own glass and brought it to the center of the table, "May we never go back."

...

It seemed it was not their time to find Iroh or Zuko, they waited several days too long in the small village and never received a reply. Each passing day made them both just the slightest bit more paranoid. It wasn't as if two Fire Nation exiles were accepted with open arms to the rest of the world, and Sasuke didn't blame them.

They decided to move on without a response; it was too risky to stay in one location.

"Where should we go next, Sasuke?" Itachi asked him late that afternoon as they clopped along the road on ostrich horses.

"To be honest, I haven't the slightest clue. I'm sure they're probably in the Earth Kingdom somewhere, but that's a lot of land..."

"Mhm."

"Is there somewhere you'd like to go? We don't necessarily have to be persistent in our search, it just would be nice to meet up at some point along the way."

"Did Iroh ever tell you of Ba-Sing-Se?"

"I like where this is headed..."