Well, I am very happy that it's gone this far!!!! Thanks for making it happen!!!

BankotsuChick

"Why did you do it."

It was Sasuke's first, of many, many questions. Itachi didn't need to ask 'what' or 'I don't know', though he didn't know himself what kind of son would kill his own parents, then his whole clan.

He felt fear trickle down his spine like fingers working a marrionette.

There was a gut instinc telling him that he had to kill Sasuke, then possibly, himself. It would end all the sufferning of the Uchiha Clan, and the pain that Sasuke could endure in the future.

It was the only way to save him. It was all he could do. Right?

If only Itachi had known he could never be more wrong.

Sasuke glared and tightened his fists.

"Answer me you bastard!" He felt his face growing hot. "Tell me what the fuck would make you do that!"

Itachi never had felt angered like he had then. He approched Sasuke, backing the younger Uchiha against the brick alley wall. Sakura hid behind the nearest trash can. Naruto twitched with fear as he watched Sasuke's strong, guided expression lace with uneasiness.

Sasuke's eyes were burning with the effort to hold back the tears.

"...t-tell me I-tachi..." He growled, finding it painful to speak his brother's name. "...why did you kill mom and dad!"

Mom and dad...

Itachi hadn't heard those words since he was 15 and killed the Uchiha clan.

His heart stopped beating.

One.

Two..

Three...

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for him to feel all this pain and regret! Why not Sasuke?

Oh yes...because he's in love.

"...I swear I should have fired again!" Sasuke seethed, his breathing encreasing. "I should have shot you again to make sure you were dead cold!"
It hit Itachi like a stone.

Why can't you just understand I'm sorry! Why, Why, Why!

Itachi couldn't believe what he saw. Sasuke had started to cry.

It wasn't sobbing, nor was it to dramatic like he would have expected in a situation like this. The boy's eyes were closed, gently not sqinched shut so Itachi couldn't see the eyes that haunted his deepest nightmares.

It was very subtle. Itachi had said nothing. One, only one tear slid down his cheek, like a symbol of hate and dispare with such a passion that Itachi was for a moment frightened.

He panicked, pressing the silver gun to Sasuke's head. Sasuke's eyes opened slowly, the peircing gaze unreadble, frightning.

The shorter boy didn't say anything.

Itachi regained controll over his raging emotion.

"Sasuke...it's been a long awaited promise...hasn't it?" He whispered into Sasuke's ear, making the other tence.

"..."

"...It would be so easy to end our pain if I just pulled this trigger and sent us both to hell!"

"..."

"We're to men who have sinned and made deals with the devil!"
"..."

"Mother and Father and even your pretty boy lover would-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Sasuke's voiced echoed off the walls of the alley. "You don't know when to just stop do you!" He had to reach up to his taller brother to do so, but he gripped both arms around his neck.

Itachi tenced his gun-weilding arm and didn't think twice before he slid his finger to the trigger. The slightest movment would cause it to fire.

Sakura tapped Naruto on the shoulder, startling him. He whirled around, half expecting to see Itachi, but he didn't and relaxed a little when he saw the pink haired girl.

"Sakura, you have to go home! Now!" She looked at him, slightly insulted. "No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"
"YES!"

"NO!"
"FINE!" He breathed, almost loud enough for the two Uchiha's to here them. Sakura put her finger to her lips in the gesture for silence.

He nodded, rolling his eyes, and peered at the two, wondering when he should intervene.

Sasuke hated to show it, but he was scared.

Naruto noticed Itachi's finger on the trigger and his entire body went rigid.

"We have to do somthing...now!" She whispered. Naruto nodded...but what could they do to save the life of his lover and Sakura's best friend?

Time was running out and all of the people in the area; Naruto, Sakura, Itachi, Sasuke Gaara, Neji and even the birds who had stopped singing knew it. Suddenly and idea struck the young photaughrapher. It was risky, sure, but she knew in her heart she had to do it, if, though, she could very well die.

"I'm sorry it's just...not what we're looking for..right now...Sakura..."
She sighed. It was just the same speach over and over. 'The lense was out of focuse'. 'My finger was in the way'. 'I couldn't think of anything'. It wasn't fair. She was always coming up with excuses. Why couldn't her life get real?

"...you can't actually want this as a career, can you? You can't even find 'the picture'."

How many times had that phrase hauted her dreams?

'The Picture'. It was her ticket, but now she would never find it.

Rock Lee took out the plastic credit card that lay in the leather of his wallet, deep in the cotents of his army green ski coat. He knew Sakura was out, and that this would be a secret until he decided to unviel it.

No pressure...right?

He sighed, stepping inside the small elite store. This would be it. Every other penny from the last three years.

He had always known she was the one. The only that completed the picture. It was a Lee saying; to find the one who would complete your picture, and he knew she was it.

He had already selected the piece; it wasn't small, but not exactly large, and it shone with the beauty of her eyes. His best friends Shikimaru and Neji were the only ones who knew his secret, and they had helped him find it, but really they had just been there. He didn't need help. Now the only thing that guided him was love.

After filling out paper work and paying without regret eleven thousand dollars, he exited the store with nothing but a small black velvet box. He put his card back in his wallet, gazing at the first aniversity picture of him and Sakura. He smiled again. He was sure he had found his picture. But had Sakura?

Neji was reading a car map he found in the back seat of Temari's car, but he hadn't really been concentrating.

It was like his eyes were running over the page as the heat blasted him in the face, making him slightly unconfortable.

Gaara-teme...you bastard.

He was scared, heart racing, thinking about running out and opening the door, but suddenly, he felt his windpipe tighten. What was happening? Could he be...

You might not want to leave the hopstital. That bullet wound hit your ribs and barely missed your lungs...

If you leave and exert yourself, you might be overcome with pain, and not being able to breathe. Also, being out in the cold could could get you sick. In a weakened state, you could die from a simple flu.

You heard me, Mr. Hyuuga, Mr. I-Hate-Nurses-and-don't-need-help-from-anyone, Mr. Stubborn. You heard me. You will die.

He felt almost like blood was rushing into his lungs, his ribs fracturing with every shallow breath. His head had already been feeling unusually hot, but now it was getting worse, almost unbearable. He tightened his grip on his chest, his other hand clutching his stomach. He was incredibly nautious. He didn't know what was happening, though, unvolentarily, he was calling for Gaara At the same time, the last thing Neji Hyuuga saw that day, peering out the window, was a man, a man in a blurry form, fall to the ground, blood slashing the cold, crisp air.

It was Sasuke's fault.

Itachi knew he was on the ground, but he knew he wasn't bleeding. Damn brat. He was planning a little ambush, was he? Well, it served him right, he noticed, head throbbing. The little blonde who ran out and tried to attack him was surley dead. And with luck...He thought, noticing the stunned pink haired girl standing in the alley, in a matter of seconds she would be too.

It just wasn't fair.

Gaara's mouth was wide, and it took a while for his heart to start aching and his knees to start quivering.

It wasn't possible. Naruto wasn't dead.

Gaara was a rare type. He remained totally calm, though his mind racing. In a matter of seconds he reached into his pocket to wipe out his cell, but relized he had left it in the car. He was quick and dashed off to the lamborghini.

Naruto's vision was shifting. His head was light and the pain was only dull. He smiled, confident that he had saved Sasuke when he had knocked Itachi to the floor of the sidewalk, the man's head hitting the side of the ground. It didn't really matter that he had been shot. It didn't matter that everybody would be screaming and crying. It didn't matter that he was going to die.

All that did matter was that Sasuke was safe.

Sakura was sure it would work. She had tried to tell Naruto that it would be easiest to get help. She tried. She tried but it didn't work. She had told him moments before Sasuke gripped Itachi's collar and told him he'd die for what he did. Why couldn't she have called Sasuke's cell? It was in his pocket, she could have told him they were there to help him and what to do.

But no. Naruto, that fool. She shuddered. That love-struck fool. She stood there, not being able to think, the snow landing on her hair, watching the blood stain the snow on the floor. She started to shake uncontrollably. Staring at the orange-clad lump on the ground.

"Fuck this!" She hissed as she through her dead cell to the pavment. Naruto wasn't moving. He was really dead this time.

Hahahhahahahaaaa! CLIFF-HANGER! I wanted 50 reveiws by now, but I don't so you shall SUFFERRRRRRRRRRRR...

BankotsuChick