Disclaimer: Still don't own anything
Warnings: This chapter contains blood/violence, yaoi, incest, coarse language, thoughts of death, OOC, and the canon is no longer with us. This chapter is also long and there might be some errors here or there. Hope you enjoy.
Pairings: ItaSasu, slight KabuSaku
Naruto looked out the window, his eyes still swollen from all of the tears. It had been a while since the two of them were gone, too long for him to even think about what was occurring. Sasuke and Sakura might have been strong, but they would be nothing if they were out there too long, they would be dead.
He was more concerned about Sasuke, all of the feelings that he had once had for Sakura detaching slowly. He was finally giving into the fact that he would never have her no matter how he tried. Sasuke however was still able to be saved from the vile darkness; he still needed Naruto more than anything in a time like this. Sasuke had a lot to sort out, he had been through a lot, he could tell by the various love bites that were on his neck and legs. Sasuke was having a secret life behind everyone's back, and Naruto knew what it was: it was Itachi.
Looking around he saw the three sleeping figures of Team 10 on the ground, they hadn't left him since they left the hospital. Shikamaru talked to him, Chouji would run errands for him, and Ino would cook as well as start to clean up around his house. They were the best friends that he could ever ask for at a time like this, even if they never got along that well before.
"Are you alright?" Shikamaru asked rising from the floor, looking through the darkness to see Naruto sitting up in bed looking desperately out into the window. He could see the formation of tears in blue eyes as he moved out of his spot in between Ino and Chouji. "It's late you should get some sleep."
Naruto looked down at him. "There's something going on right now, why hasn't he called me? Is he dead?" he closed his eyes his body starting to shake through sobs. "I don't know what I'd do if he was in that much trouble again…"
Shikamaru sighed. "That bastard has no right putting you through all of this, he has no right to make you worry," he moved closer to the bed looking at the sobbing boy. "He's going to be alright, Naruto," he placed a hand on his shoulder looking into his eyes. "I promise that he's going to be alright."
"I just feel…" he took a deep breath. "I feel as though he's in trouble, I feel like he's in pain right now and all I can do is sit here and let it all happen," he looked toward the door allowing his eyes to widen in shock as he was laid back onto the bed.
"Sasuke's going to be fine, I guarantee it," Shikamaru answered. "He's probably sleeping right now, relaxing." He looked straight out the window taking a deep breath. How can I be calm about this? Knowing Sasuke Uchiha, he's probably doing something really stupid. Sasuke, please don't hurt Naruto like that. Don't get yourself killed.
-----
"Do it again," Itachi breathed as he sat in the chair in the corner of the large empty room. A bottle of alcohol was situated in his hand. "I can tell that you're almost there, you just have to work harder."
"Easy for you to say," Sasuke answered, looking down at the ground. "You mastered this technique in only a few weeks, I'm not as skilled as you are, Itachi," he took a deep breath. "This is hard to focus on."
Sweat rolled down his forehead as he pressed his hands up against the ground, closing his eyes tightly as he tired to focus his chakra into his fingertips. His breathing sped up as he pushed more chakra into it. Itachi had taken the time to allow him to peruse through the books, constantly allowing him to have a few sips of alcohol. He said that there was no way in Hell Sasuke was going to be able to do it without it.
He sighed as the flow stopped. "Damn it!" he looked over at Itachi who was continuing to drink not looking back at him. "I'm never going to be able to do this. Can't you teach me water techniques or help me improve my sharingan? Why medical ninjutsu? This is a pain in the ass."
Itachi snickered as he handed him the bottle of alcohol. "Here you go. You need it more than I do right now." Sasuke took the bottle. "How do you get all of this anyway?"
The older Uchiha smirked. "I have my ways of getting what I want, you know that," he continued looking down at the black satin. "Sasuke, how do you think that I got you on my side? Do you think that I deserved this, or do you think I cheated to get you where I wanted you?" he glanced up. "After what you did in the woods I don't know if I deserve you. People don't usually risk their lives for me."
"You're my brother," Sasuke breathed, pressing the bottle to his lips taking a long drink of it, swallowing the burning liquid quickly and greedily, handing the bottle back to Itachi with a look of disgust, a small cough escaping his lips. "Did you think I was going to let her kill you?"
"It was a possibility," Itachi answered taking the liquid in his hand, taking a quick sip. "I haven't exactly been a saint to you. I've actually been a jerk, I know that, but you have to bear with me. You didn't have to save me; I would have been alright if you let me die."
The younger Uchiha flipped through the book looking straight through the pages of the text. It was almost unreadable, the splashes of Itachi's blood staining the page. He experimented on himself as soon as he got to that stage. The pain that must have gone into the process made him wonder: why Itachi would do that to himself? Itachi wasn't the type to want to learn every single technique; he only wanted to learn the ones that would only serve him in his plan. Thank God that he learned this one as fast as he did, otherwise Sasuke would have died.
"Need some help?" Itachi asked with a small smirk. "I could always show you how I do it, and then you can copy it," he placed the bottle to the side looking down at his younger brother. "Put your sharingan up. We're going to do this the Uchiha way."
Sasuke closed his eyes opening to expose his red irises, looking straight at his brother who was resting his hands on his leg, his eyes glancing down at them. Together, they glanced at what was happening. His hands started to glow, Sasuke's eyes tracking the flow of chakra, memorizing the way to formulate the technique. Itachi continued to pour the energy into his leg, allowing Sasuke to continue his memorization. It would take a while, the child was still growing accustomed to his eyes. He wasn't like Itachi.
"Can you see it?" Itachi asked, looking into his eyes. "If you can, then you then copy what I do, and use it as your own. If you want to surpass me, you have to understand what level I'm at. I do have some techniques that you can't do, in case you do turn on me."
Sasuke kept looking at Itachi's hands watching the flow of chakra that was going through his fingers, ignoring the words that he was saying. Itachi never did trust people, even when they were growing up, he was always wary about them. He trusted Sasuke the most out of all of mankind, thinking that people were just there to bring him down. It made Sasuke glad when they were younger, but now that they were in this situation it made him feel skeptical.
"You know why I want you to learn this right?" Itachi asked, looking down at his hands. "Because there will be a time when you are going to have to use this, there are always needs for people who can perform Mystical Palms. The final battle is close at hand and if we do get separated I want you to be able to tend to your own wounds," he took his hands away as he stood up. "I'm not always going to be there to save you nor are you going to be there to save me."
Sasuke looked at the bloodied pages. "Itachi," he adverted his eyes to look at his brother. "Maybe we've been trying to defeat Kabuto wrong, maybe there's another way, maybe we could save Naruto from him in a different manner than the one that we've been trying to do. There has to be another way."
The older of the two looked over at the younger. "There is no other way," he turned taking a step forward. "Kabuto gets more out of this if I die. Sasuke, there's something going on in the Sound Village that involves you, and it's my fault."
"What did you do?" Sasuke asked, looking over at him.
"I made them target you," Itachi sighed. "My growing power made you the new host, the one that Orochimaru wants more than anything. To use his immortality technique, he wants to combine his spirit with your body, connecting the two until he switches again. He hasn't put any seals on you yet, so I'm still not out of luck. I can still make you too strong for him. I can save you from that fate."
Sasuke shivered. "So I have some geezer running after me, tracking me, wanting my body? And I thought you stalking me was bad enough," he looked back at the book closing his eyes. "So that's why you've been trying your hardest to beat Kabuto, you don't want to lose me to that man."
"If you did that, Sasuke," Itachi breathed closing his eyes tighter still. "You would kill me. I know that's what you want, but do you want to make us extinct? I didn't kill the whole clan except you to destroy your own life. You're supposed to be the one who lived," he moved back to his seat. "Sasuke, there are some acts in this world that you shouldn't commit. If I'm still alive and I even hear an utter of one syllable that you are going to seek power from that man I will destroy you, I don't care how much I love you, I won't let you go off with a man like that."
Sasuke closed his eyes tightly looking down at the book and then mustering the strength to look at his brother. "This Orochimaru, he wanted you to be his new body. When was this? When did this guy want to take you away from me?"
Itachi closed his eyes. "When I was around your age, the reason why he left the Akatsuki was because I was too strong for him. That's when the Sound Village came into play, that's when they started looking for you. Kabuto is coming to kill both of us, so I can't do anything against the Akatsuki and you can't do anything for the Sound Village. His loyalties were always an enigma; I don't know who he's trying to help here."
Sasuke shook his head. "This is the guy that Sakura was captured by?"
"She went of her own will," Itachi answered sternly. "That makes it even more difficult to break them apart from one another. If force is the only way to get her away, then so it is, even if that force requires her death," he took a deep breath. "Even if it does hurt you, there is nothing that I can do to save her; she's too far gone for you to get her back. And if she takes Naruto…"
Sasuke closed his eyes tighter still. "She wouldn't do that to us," he shook his head. "Why don't you trust people, Itachi? Can't you understand in the thick head of yours that she doesn't want to hurt anyone?"
Itachi licked his lips as he chuckled, his eyes burning with malice. "Doesn't want to hurt anyone, you say? Sasuke, if this girl doesn't want to hurt anyone, explain to me why I had to spend twenty minutes running my chakra through you, why I had to pull Shisui's dagger out of your chest," he grasped the bottle again looking down at it, trying to level his anger, but it was difficult when Sasuke was saying such things. "Sakura is going to wind up just like Kabuto the next time, she's going to understand what it means to work on the dark side, and there will be no saving her. Once you're in the darkness you will always be there…"
Sasuke turned the page, his voice quiet. "What about you, Itachi? Are you still in the darkness? I never saw anyone fall that fast before in my life, one moment you were smiling telling me what an older brother is, the next there are strange guys at our door telling us that Shisui had killed himself. Is that evil still within you?"
"That evil is the reason why I'm still alive, Sasuke," Itachi hissed. "And that evil is the one that saved you from Kabuto. I will always be in the darkness; I've always been in the darkness, the light never touching me, no matter how I begged that it would. The second that Shisui drove me to take on this curse, the thirst has been coursing through my body. Now it's drawn to the Akatsuki, one by one all of them will fall."
Sasuke pressed his hand to his own thigh not looking at Itachi. "I'm going to make all of this right; I'm not going to make the same mistakes that you did. If I do obtain the power that you have, I won't give into the hunger, the blood thirst. I will continue to live my own life," he closed his eyes. "I'll start to become great by mastering this jutsu."
Itachi watched him closely as he took another long sip of alcohol. Sasuke was a good disciple; he had enough tolerance to deal with all of Itachi's flaws including the lust to go after someone that Sasuke had once called a teammate. He was starting to see that there was another way to look at the emotional wreck that was once named Itachi; he was more than just broken tatters.
The sheer determination of the young boy made Itachi smile in delight, he was going to be stronger than Orochimaru in no time at all. With this child he was going to get the strength that he needed. In that child was his future, the one to continue his legacy after he was gone.
Sasuke had already come a long way since the day that they met, using the amount of force that he did might not have been the worst plan that he had ever thought of. It didn't chase him away, Sasuke's masochism and hunger for attention brought him back. It made their bond that much stronger. This was a bond that could not be broken no matter what obstacles were in their way. The bondage of blood was always going to be thick.
"This is too difficult," Sasuke hissed as he looked at the bruised flesh of his leg. "I'm only destroying the tissue, I'm not mending anything," he took a deep breath wincing in pain as he looked back at Itachi. "You have more patience than I do, how did you even think about doing this? I copied the flow of chakra, but then whenever I try to do it, everything's fucked up!"
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Itachi asked calmly. "Swearing is bad, Sasuke, it's only going to raise your blood pressure and make everything worse," he stated with a smile on his face. "Do you hear me saying things like that?"
Sasuke scoffed. "I've heard you slip a few times, like that time in the woods up against Kabuto, I got you to say fuck."
"I wouldn't sacrifice myself for any of those fucking bastards that we called part of our clan…"
"That was a different situation," Itachi muttered. "Sometimes there are times when some principles are broken. You thought that I didn't care about you for so long, but if I didn't care, why would I still be here?" he closed his eyes. "At that moment I didn't just see everything I worked for die, I saw something greater happening. Sasuke, it proved that I'm going to have to work that much harder to get every one of the precautions ready," he looked down at the young boy. "Kabuto could come after Naruto any minute, and I have to come up with a way that we're going to operate about this. I can't improvise anymore, not with that girl by his side."
"Sakura isn't a threat," Sasuke argued. "So stop thinking of ways to kill her. I don't like seeing you like this; I don't enjoy watching you destroy the lives of other people. Did you forget that your body is starting to give out on you? Brother, your bones are starting to dig into your lungs to the point where you can hardly breathe. You're dying."
Itachi looked down at the alcohol bottle. "I'm trying…" he took a deep breath. "I'm trying to make this work out as much as possible," he glanced at his ring. "There are some things that I have to take care of first and in my mind that's whatever Orochimaru is trying to do to you. Then will the Akatsuki will come. Sasuke, I will never risk your life like that; this victory isn't worth that loss."
Sasuke looked at the book as he heard his brother stand up again. This wasn't another test for Itachi; this wasn't one of his sick games. This was the real thing. Every uttering of endearment that he heard roll of those lip, it was all real. Every time he broke out of his stoic trance, it wasn't just an act. That was the real Itachi. That was his brother that he had been trying to kill for so long.
"Itachi?" Sasuke asked his voice low. "If I do master this …" he took a deep breath closing his eyes tightly, his hands curling into fists on the pages of the book. "Will you allow me to take all of your pain away? Will you allow me to heal you? I don't want to see you like this anymore."
Itachi stopped in the doorway taking a deep breath. "Sasuke… none of that concerns you…"
"It hurts more than that fucking blade did! I thought I knew you like the back of my hand, but I don't know you. I never knew you," he started to stand up, looking back at him. "I thought I wanted to kill you because I had you all figured out, but I was wrong. I was an idiot to think I knew…"
There was a slight silence as the rain hit up against the window, this first sounding of thunder running through their ears. Itachi coughed lightly before turning to face Sasuke wiping the blood away with the back of his hand. He tried to conceal the pain, but every time it only failed him more. He could see the tears starting to form in Sasuke's eyes, both of them had reached their emotional limits, breaking them as the tears continued to fall from both of their eyes.
"Sasuke," Itachi sighed. "You can take a break from your work, you should get some sleep. I don't want you to wear yourself out before we face Kabuto," he watched as Sasuke fell back down to his knees, flipping through the pages of the book, disobeying him. "Sasuke…"
"If I learn this technique will you let me heal you?" Sasuke asked, his dark eyes looking up from the book. He was determined; he was actually going to work for hours to perfect everything that he had learned so far. He was growing up, maturing from the young boy who only wanted power to destroy. He was starting to understand that a ninja was more than a warrior, it was an art, and art could go either way.
Itachi sighed as a smirk came to his lips. "I don't know, the last time you tried to master a technique you were knocked out cold by Orochimaru's right hand man," he looked down at the studying young boy. "I'll let you continue so long as you aren't going to hurt yourself over this. My health isn't as important as yours; I can take pain better than you can."
Sasuke looked down at the book reading through the formulas that were written in the book, working harder than he ever had before in his life. He was unleashing the potential that Itachi always wanted, living his dream, making everything start to come true. It was starting to work; it was starting to tilt in their favor.
"You're scared that you're going to lose him. You fear that you don't have enough power to save him, or that you have too much power that you won't even care."
Itachi walked out of the room walking through the walkway, the rain falling off of the edge. It had been a long time since he felt like this, a long time since he knew that everything was going to be alright. There was no telling what the future brought, it scared him a little. He had to put all of the faith that he could into himself.
Everything is going to burn right before their eyes; nothing is going to be left for them. I'm going to destroy their purpose, if they even think about fighting back, I'll kill every last one! He looked back at the doorway. And it's all thanks to you; I knew that I made the right choice when I left you alive…
-----
"Do you ever think that you made a mistake in doing that?" Kabuto asked looking over at Sakura who was lying on the bed next to his. They had checked into a local hotel in hopes that they would get Itachi off of their trail.
The fear that he had put into their hearts was burning harder than they ever thought it would. The last words that he had said to them running through their heads over and over. He said that he was going to kill them both the next time that they met up with one another. Itachi wasn't he one to lie when he put a hit on someone like that. Their fate was sealed the second that Sakura ran that blade through Sasuke's chest.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, looking over at him. "I did what I had to do, I wanted to kill him and save Naruto. Those were my intentions. If Sasuke hadn't jumped in the way we wouldn't have had to retreat. Itachi only got upset because we spilled blood," she snickered lightly looking over at him. "The next time we meet it's going to be interesting."
"Sakura," Kabuto started with a look of disgust on his face. "I never told you to do that, but I played along with it. For future reference, always make sure that the two of them are separated when you try to take one of them on. And make sure to take Itachi out first. I know that his strength surpasses that of Sasuke, but once he's gone, Sasuke won't be able to do anything."
She stood up looking out the window at the falling rain. "When do I get to save Naruto during this plan? Am I ever going to get the pleasure of totally foiling their plans right in front of them?" she took a deep breath, her green eyes narrowing dramatically. "Ever since the day when I saw Sasuke down by the river as that bloody mess, all I could think of was the day when I would make that man pay for all that he has done to us."
Kabuto sighed. "You leave Itachi to me. He's too strong for you; if you even step into the same area as him you're going to die, Sakura. He was part of the Akatsuki, and a sick sadist as well; he would get a high from killing you. I don't want to give him that pleasure. He might enjoy it too much…" he chuckled. "Then again, he does have a guilt complex. He feels as though he has to be punished for what he did to his clan, the pain of knowing that he took them all out is too heavy for him to handle. He's such a coward on the inside, it makes me smile…"
Sakura looked back at him. "Is there any way that we can get Sasuke away from him? Kabuto, don't you understand what Sasuke means to me, even though he's with his brother, I still love him, and I will never stop loving him even if he never acknowledges me. Even if he will always love Itachi more than he will ever love me."
The older medical ninja looked out the window over her shoulder. "Itachi is a magnetic person. He can provide for Sasuke things that you don't even understand. There's nothing that you can do about it, he will always be attracted to that power that Itachi has, it's hypnotic," Kabuto chuckled as he took off his glasses. "Sakura, there is no way that you'll beat him in his game; he won't let you do that. He's done playing nice with Konoha; he's starting to fight back."
"Let him," Sakura breathed. "You almost had him last time. If he didn't learn Mystical Palms so quickly maybe we would have won that round. Now we have another ninja with medical ninja capabilities on our hands. Can you take him out?"
Kabuto shrugged his shoulders. "There's nothing that I can say for sure. Itachi Uchiha is one of those characters that can never be predetermined. Out of all of the Akatsuki, we had to face the one with a kekkei genkai of that level," he took a deep breath. "We'll have to carry this out as quickly and quietly as possible, but in the meantime, we're going to have to teach you better medical ninjutsu. It does more than help people, it can hurt them too."
"But does it kill?" Sakura asked, looking back at him with a distant look in her eyes. "Is there anyway that if I do use medical ninjutsu that I can destroy Itachi for what he's done?"
"Only if you're fast," he answered with a smile, standing up. "The sharingan can copy a technique quickly, but you can't give him enough time to try to use it against you. It's true that medical ninjutsu is a difficult kind of technique to master, but once Mystical Palms is learned all other medical ninjutsu is at an easier level. There's only a matter of time before he figures out how to perform all of it. He has a lot of access to information that could prove to be dangerous. And all genjutsu is useless up against him as well. You have to rely on ninjutsu and taijutsu to even get close to him."
She closed her eyes pressing her hand up against the window. "How long do I have until I can no longer get Sasuke out of there? How much time do we have left before the end of it all? If I lose Sasuke, I will be forced to kill you, Kabuto. There will be no more hope left for you, you won't even have a prayer to save you. If Itachi doesn't get to you, I will."
Kabuto's eyes widened as he heard the words that she just said. There's something within this girl that I never thought that I would see in a girl of her level. She's going to extremes to save the ones that she cares about, but there's enough hatred toward Itachi to make her want to take him head on. Maybe this girl is something different from the rest; maybe I finally can destroy Itachi. Everything is in my favor, that fox will be as good as dead. Itachi is going to struggle one last time and I get the pleasure of seeing him writhe.
-----
Itachi continued to walk down the walkway, looking at the rain continuing to fall from the dark sky. The time was drawing nearer, he could tell with every second that passed. The Akatsuki was going to come after the fox; they wouldn't even acknowledge how much work he had accomplished to destroy them. It wasn't a waste though, something would come out of it victory or not.
He took a short sip of the alcohol that was in his hand, he never put it down these days. There were times when he was young when he would drink until he threw up, until the point when he could barely control his emotions. He had a difficult time living his life the way that he had, the pain was greater than anything that he had ever hoped to go through. Everywhere he turned it was another dead end.
The harder he worked, the more he thought about all of the pain that he had caused himself. He didn't want that for Sasuke, but there was no avoiding it now. There was no other way but to take Naruto's life. Yet there had to be something that he could have done to break out of his void that he was constantly falling in. He was starting to become his own worst enemy.
"Damn it," he breathed, hearing the thunder roll through the air, the rain starting to fall harder. He couldn't even think about what to do next. The only thing on his mind was the death of that girl, there was nothing that could be done to save her life. Nothing that anyone could do could stop him from fulfilling that task. He saw the look in her eyes.
"The same eyes as me, the same eyes as Sasuke, eyes filled with hatred and murderous intent," he took a deep breath. "What that bastard strives for. She could become his next host, that is if the curse seal is able to manifest without taking her life," he took a deep breath. "That could be the container that he has been looking for this whole time, and Kabuto is going to hand deliver it to him."
Orochimaru was always going to get what he wanted; he knew that the day when they told him to run away. Now that he was out of the way, those backstabbing bastards could be on his side, bend for his every whim. They had become nothing but servants to what they were fighting against. It was pathetic. It was laughable.
He closed his eyes thinking about what he had really been doing up until now, he hadn't been doing this correctly. Like what Kakashi said, he still wasn't thinking for himself. This was his chance to prove to everyone that he could be his own person; he wasn't going to be anyone's slave anymore. He was going to start to be dependent only on himself, and only listen to himself.
"You need to start thinking for yourselves, you especially, you're alone now, there's no organization to tell you what to do anymore. You can choose your own destiny."
Itachi closed his eyes as he looked back at the doors behind him; he remembered what happened behind these walls. He didn't give a damn about is parents or the rest of the clan, to hell with them. He was glad that they died. It was the first one to die: Shisui. He never expected his cousin to be like that, he never thought that he was going to be the one to turn on him.
I have to stop thinking about him; Itachi scolded himself, looking down at his hands. Shisui was the one who drove him to become this, he was the one who drove him to be the person he was in the woods. He had forced Itachi to save Sasuke's life. He was the one who made him draw closer to the last of the Uchiha clan.
"Maybe he isn't as weak as you thought. After all, I nearly killed him down by the Nakano River that night and he survived, yet you died so easily," Itachi snickered lightly. "Shisui, I didn't even think I was going to survive that night. I thought that I was going to die right after you did. It was even worse when I went to sleep, I couldn't. You made all of that happen. You were so selfish."
"This clan, I've given up all hope on this clan. The Uchiha Clan made me into this. Thank you Shisui for giving me this power, thank you for opening my eyes…"
Itachi took a breath. "And now Sasuke, thank you for letting me close them again," he backed away from the edge starting to walk down the hallway again, remembering everything that he had gone through.
Although he felt reborn, he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for what happened to the Uchiha Clan. If they had never died he would have never had this reality check, Sasuke's will wouldn't be this strong. He wouldn't be his own person; he would be another puppet, another mindless follower of their father. He would have lost his soul. Deep in his heart he felt as though he saved Sasuke, as well as saved himself. The death that he was anticipating should be enough of a reward. He still had to prove that Shisui was wrong about Itachi, he might be strong, but he would die just as easily as everyone else would.
Walking by the room that Sasuke was in, he heard small murmurs over the rolling thunder outside. There was no way that Sasuke had been able to even think about perfecting that jutsu right now, the first few times should have started out as nothing but destruction. Maybe he was more persistent than he thought.
Itachi opened the door to see Sasuke on the ground, breathing heavily, his eyes closed, he was worn out. The book was still opened to a page, more blood splattered onto the pages. Sasuke had taken the same route as him; he was using himself as a test subject. Yet the young ninja wasn't already hurt, causing more pain to his body, pain that Itachi knew that he would never be able to take.
"Sasuke," Itachi breathed, walking toward the young boy hearing his breathing sound painfully, small gurgling noises passing his lips Itachi saw the blood running from his mouth. "Idiot," he groaned rolling the boy onto his back resting his hands up against his chest. He slowly put his chakra through him, repeating the action from the woods only with much more confidence than before. This time he knew that it could work for sure, trusting that he had a good grip on the jutsu.
Sasuke's breathing cleared up quickly as Itachi let go of him, standing up to look around the room. Sasuke wasn't going to leave until he could heal Itachi, it was his new ambition. He had made a bargain, a bargain that Itachi knew that he would never uphold. No matter how hard Sasuke tried, the odds were against him to even fully heal the damage to Itachi's lung. He had no idea how painful it was to take a breath.
Turning away from Sasuke, he placed a hand on his chest. It had to work; he knew that a medical ninja could heal themselves if their wounds weren't too vital. He was still able to breathe and function. If he could even take a little stress off of it as Sakura did that day, he could increase the time that he had left. They needed more time, if Sasuke was ever going to achieve his full potential, Itachi would have to stay alive.
He coughed as he felt it start to work just a little, the bleeding starting to stop. For only God knew how long, he had been moving the rib out of his lung with sheer force, a few of the times he felt like he was going to die. He couldn't though, not now, not when Sasuke was so close.
Turning back to his younger brother, a look of worry came across Itachi's face. There was no telling when he would reach the potential that he needed. There was also no telling when Orochimaru would finally come for him. He closed his eyes tightly, that wasn't a concern right now, the only thing that concerned him was Sasuke's health. Staying up to ungodly hours of the night wasn't going to help him get through the next days rigorous work. He would have to stay well rested.
"You've had it for today," Itachi breathed moving back to him lifting Sasuke's body off of the ground. I don't expect him to go quietly, the second that he wakes up I'll never hear the end of it.
He smiled as he left the room; Sasuke was starting to get stronger only after a few days of training, his chakra control starting to become flawless. He was on the borderline f being able to perform the clone technique that he had grown to envy since the first day that he had heard about it.
"You'll become as strong as me in no time at all," he looked over the edge of the walkway at the falling rain. Nothing was going to be in his way, there was nothing that was going to destroy his vision of the future, everyone who already hindered it was out of the way. Sakura and Kabuto were next on the list to die.
Slowly he made it to the doorway to Sasuke's room, reluctantly reaching to open the door. It had been some time since they were on good terms in that room, he would have to make this as quick as possible to make all of the potential that they were going to get into another argument disappear.
He walked through the room, placing Sasuke gently on the bed looking down at him. There had to be another way for him to protect Sasuke, he was already starting to let him down everywhere that they turned. The time in the woods proved that he had to pay more attention to him, that scar right above his heart was never going to heal even if Itachi was a medical ninja. He wasn't advanced enough to cover up the scars that he was going to be left with. The image would n ever disappear.
"Never again," Itachi breathed, kissing Sasuke on the forehead stroking his cheek lightly moving down to kiss his lips. "I promised that I wouldn't let anything like that happen to you, and I failed you. Never again, Sasuke. Never again will I put you in a situation like that."
He backed away from Sasuke starting to walk toward the door. He needed to take better care of them, risk his life so that Orochimaru would never obtain the sharingan on his side. He would never break them apart. He had to keep him away as he tried to block out the memories of Shisui. Focus, it was the biggest part of this whole plan, the only way that it was going to work on in his favor. He had to focus.
The only way that he could focus would be if he were to leave Sasuke alone for a while and let the boy rest. He had been through a lot today, the power of Mystical Palms taking a major toll on his body. The more sleep that he got the more time that he was guaranteed for the next day. He would only get stronger.
"I kept him alive for a reason," Itachi breathed. "Even if I've forgotten the reason, I know that it still exists somewhere in my dreams. I have to stop walking away from all of my problems and I start to stand up to them."
"You're scared that you're going to lose him. You fear that you don't have enough power to save him, or that you have too much power that you won't even care about him."
"I have to face my fears," he touched the door as he heard the sheets shift behind him, the sound of a single moan filling his ears. "Damn it…" he turned around to see Sasuke start to wake up. Everything was going too smoothly. It was only a matter of time before it got like this. So much for relaxation.
Author's Note: I know that this chapter was also not an essential key to the plot of the story, but I needed to take a break from all of that. The next chapter is going to contain a lemon, I know that much. Thank you to all of my reviewers, you guys rock. so what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that I should stop the fillers. Honesty is good.