Two: Falling Dread

So the story goes on. Itachi went from Gennin to Chunnin... and soon, he was asked to join ANBU. Of course he accepted the offer. There was no option for failure.

He was haunted on many accounts. By the memories of the third great war, by memories of Minori, by the look he saw in Sasuke's eyes whenever his little brother looked at their father. He felt deep regret for that. He wished the man would turn his eyes to his younger son... It would make both children happier. Sasuke wanted attention, Itachi wanted rid of it.

When he went to his first ANBU meeting, he walked into the room and out of time.

Sitting there, across the room, was a face he could never have forgotten. It was a reverse of the first moment they'd seen each other. Him walking in, her sitting there. Minori. She looked up, met his eyes for a moment, then slowly looked away.

He felt his heart breaking.

"Ah, Itachi. Welcome, sit down."

And he did. All the way across the room from her. The meeting seemed to last forever, but once it was over, she headed out the door by herself. Afraid she would disappear again, into the darkness, Itachi ran to catch her.

"Mi-chan?" He asked, finally, grabbing her arm and looking into her eyes, not quite believing.

She bit her lip. "Itachi."

He shook his head, trying to steel himself. "Why? What happened?"

"I... I told you, didn't I? How I felt their eyes on me. Did you not wonder why, what it was they saw? I'll tell you. I'm all alone. My parents died in the war. I saw them die. I remember. I remember everything."

"What do you mean?"

"It's all etched into my memory. The moment they died, when I was two. Every moment since. I can't forget anything, no matter how much I want to. That's why, Tachi-san. That's why they took me away. That's why I tried to hide. It didn't work." The bitterness in her voice was stark. Horrible. Sharp as a knife. Then Itachi saw she was crying.

"Mi-chan..." He wrapped his arms around her, gently. Remembering the moment he could have, should have told her he felt exactly the way she did. "I understand. We're exactly the same. Maybe I didn't suffer the way you did... But I know how you feel. I can't stand fighting. I wish I could just walk away and never touch a weapon again. But I can't. As an Uchiha, as a citizen of Konoha, as a shinobi it is my duty. I can't let everyone down. Too many people are counting on me, watching me, looking up to me. Mom... Dad... Sasuke..."

"We are... the same."

"Yeah."

"Oh, Itachi..." She pressed her face into his embrace, tears welling up for the first time in forever.

"Shh... It's okay. It's gonna be okay, Mi-chan. I promise. I'll never let you suffer again."

But such a promise was doomed to fail... As shortly, Itachi would discover.

His father wanted to arrange a coup d'etat. To overthrow the village. And he wanted his eldest son to help him out by spying on the village leaders through black ops.

Minori was the first to guess something was up.

"Itachi? Is something wrong?"

"Mi-chan..." He couldn't lie to her. "Can we talk about it somewhere else? Somewhere... I dunno... More secluded?"

"Sure. Come on."

They went far from the village, though they were supposed to be on duty. All the way to the Final Valley, in fact, by the waterfall. It was strangely serene there.

"Okay, so what is it?"

He told her then. Everything. How troubled he was... How he couldn't stand another war, how he had been warned by the elders that if he might have to dispose of the clan. The clan... His clan- his family. How he had begged them for more time, how they had told him he didn't have much time to spare.

How he only wanted peace, how he was presented an impossible choice.

His voice was shaking by the time he was done, and this time it was Minori who pulled Itachi into her embrace. "Itachi... I'm not going to say it's okay, because I know it isn't... But... Don't keep it inside. It's not good for you. Tell them how you feel."

"I... I can't." Itachi said, choking up. "I can't tell them, Mi-chan. They've already lost faith in me. The clan, even Father... They know I'm not what I seem to be. I can't keep hiding that forever... I'm breaking, Mi-chan. I can't stand it. I can't."

"Shhh." She twined her fingers in his hair gently. "Don't say that. You... You always have a choice."

"No. No, I don't. They've even turned Shisui against me! They have him spying on me. I don't know what to do..."

Minori bit her lip. "Live." She said, quietly. "Live, for now. Don't think about tomorrow yet."

"Don't think about tomorrow?" He asked.

"That's right. Look here." He stared into her deep, black eyes. "See this?" She gestured out across the valley. "See how peaceful it is? Live for that. Live for this."

He turned to face her again, and she pulled him into a gentle kiss. At least, it started out that way, but soon it was much more passionate.

He pulled her close, she twined her fingers deeper into his hair.

When they had to stop to catch their breath, he whispered in her ear. "I love you with all my heart, you know that?"

"I... I love you too, Tachi-kun."

Again, a reversal of what had happened before.

Itachi had to smile at that, even as he had to pull away.

"Why, Itachi?" She asked, quietly. "We're all alone, no one would know..."

"I would know." Itachi sighed. "Besides... I don't want to stain something so pure as our love just yet. It's like you said... This is perfection, isn't it? Live for this."

"I guess..." She said. "You're right. This is enough... For now."

"For now." Itachi agreed.

…

Of course, time ran out.

Itachi met with Madara, the night was planned. Other fateful events occurred, but they are documented elsewhere. Suffice to say that Itachi's relationship with his father and the clan only dissolved even more, much to Itachi's pain.

Suffice to say Itachi killed Shisui, as he led everyone to believe in later days, even though it was an accident. Oh, it was Itachi's fault, all right, but he hadn't intended to kill his best friend.

They'd only been walking across the river, he'd been trying to convince Shisui to see the light, they'd argued. Shisui'd gotten angry, thown a kick, and slipped on the algae-covered rocks even as he tripped Itachi, too.

Itachi hadn't intended to fall on top of him, hadn't intended Shisui to hit his head on a rock and pass out. Underwater, he'd been so confused and air-deprived himself that he wasn't thinking straight when he came up for air. It took him a while to realize Shisui hadn't come up... Of course he knew it was his fault Shisui was dead. He'd started the argument, after all, and if he hadn't fallen in on top of Shisui he might not have been knocked out.

He got the Mongekyo anyway, regardless. And Shisui was dead, regardless. He went ahead and forged the suicide note, went ahead and made it so they'd think he'd set it up, had it planned.

But on that night, after Itachi dressed himself in his ANBU gear, he didn't strike right away.

First he went looking for Minori.

He found her near the Forest of Death. She saw him, then silently went into the forest.

"Mi-chan, wait!" He shouted. "I have to tell you something."

There was no response.

"Minori, can you hear me?" He shouted. He only heard the heavy beating of his own heart. "Miii-chan!"

"Please..." He said, barely a whisper.

He followed her until she finally came to a stop, in a clearing deep in the forest lit by the light of the newly risen moon.

"Mi-chan?" He said, moving gently towards her. "I came to tell you... I have to do this. But you could still escape... They don't have to know that I know you, know who and what you are."

"Itachi..." She said, her voice strangely pained. "I'm... I'm sorry."

She turned to him, and his eyes grew wide in dread. There was blood soaking the front of her uniform, her own hand still twined around the kunai buried in her chest.

He ran to catch her when she started to fall.

"Why?" He asked her, even as he saw the life fading from her form.

She smiled up at him, sad, and reached up to play with his hair. "Silly. It's my choice. I will die with them... So you can be stronger. So you won't have to worry about me..." She let her hand fall. "Pity, though... I wish I could've... Just once..." Tears welled up in her eyes, even as Itachi felt his own eyes growing wet. "I wish we could've been together, Tachi-kun. I wish... I wish... Live for me. Please. Live..."

Her voice trailed off, and she didn't speak again.

"Mi-chan?" He pleaded, quietly. "Mi-mi? Minori?"

There was no response.

So the night came and went, as the story goes. Minori was but one casualty of many. They thought he'd killed her, too, as he made it seem. After all, why would she stain her own pure, innocent hands?

So Itachi joined forces with Madara, pretended to be something, someone he was not. So he joined Akasuki. So time passed, so life went on.

If you could call his existence life.

He spent his hours counting down the time left before Sasuke would kill him, and gain the power to defeat Madara forever. Until the day he could leave his living hell behind and die.

He lived for that moment, the moment he would die, in a kind of futile hope that perhaps, in that instant, he would catch a glimpse of her. Minori. His angel, watching him from heaven.

So Itachi thought.