A/N: And here's chapter 2! I hope Sasuke doesn't seem too OOC.
A warm fudge brownie to .Xx.PuppetOnStrings.xX.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Naruto.
Sasuke lay unconscious for six days. It came to a point that the Sandaime called in Yamanaka Inoichi to try and rouse the young Uchiha. The blond Torture and Interrogation specialist placed his hand on the Uchiha's forehead.
He floated in the darkness, watching his memories fly past. He watched Sirius die for the thousandth (it was probably more than that) time. He watched Bellatrix Lestrange torture Luna Lovegood into insanity and get beheaded by Neville's uncontrolled magic. He remembered Neville's furious visage calm as twin Killing Curses raced toward them. The self-driven explosion of Neville's magical core destroyed everything within a half-mile radius.
He remembered himself fighting against the Inner Circle as Privet Drive crumbled around him. Vernon Dursley had sold him to Lucius Malfoy and received a Killing Curse for his efforts. Aunt Petunia screamed as Avery's Cruciatus Curse hit her. Her last words were spent begging Harry for forgiveness, even as she watched her nephew, the brave, foolish boy, casting spells and defending her and her son.
He remembered studying the Dark Arts over the summer after Sirius' death and taking his first life. Ron and Hermione stood by his side as he spent the next fifteen minutes vomiting and sobbing. He swore then that he would never ever use power born of malice, no matter how many battles he won. The price was too high.
He remembered Ron taking a Bone-Shattering Hex so that he and Hermione would have time to destroy the Hufflepuff Cup-Horcrux. And he and Ron standing guard, fighting off the werevolves so that Hermione could get her runic scrolls, even when their bodies looked like they had been through a cheese grater.
He remembered his disastrous first date with Cho, and the Valentine's Day Massacre at Kent. Ginny had fallen then, her red hair against red paper hearts, on a ground overflowing with red, red blood. The Death Eaters had limited themselves to spells that emitted shades of red light that day.
He watched himself stop Remus and Sirius from killing Pettigrew, and wondered what would have happened if he hadn't interfered. Would Cedric be alive? Would Voldemort have risen to power yet again? Would the War have raged?
He watched himself dodge Neville's exploding cauldron, careful to avoid the botched cure for boils. He remembered Neville and the Weasley twins dousing twenty Death Eaters in a highly concentrated version of the mix, giving the children in the orphanage they were protecting time to escape.
He remembered his broom, flying through the skies searching for the Golden Snitch. He saw himself nearly swallow the winged ball; he saw his arm lose its bones. He saw dementors converging around him. He watched himself fly away from Privet Drive. He remembered forgetting freedom and only knowing fear.
Faster and faster, his mind convalesced. He was now standing in the midst of a vast forest. Beyond his sight, he knew there was a 365-meter high concrete wall keeping out intruders. The forest wasn't quite what it had been before. It resembled the forest outside Konoha more. Hidden strategically (to his reckoning) in every tree were his memories, categorized by every emotion save love. At the center of the forest was a shrine, filled memories of love, friendship, and happiness that fueled his core. Now, he saw there were scattered traps and shuriken in the trees.
There was a patch of charred ground. There actually several similar scattered throughout the forest, but they all had shoots slowly creeping up through them. This one was still warm from the fire. At its center lay an innocuous paper fan.
"To test myself."
"Aniki, will you train with me?"
"Not today, Sasuke."
"Why can't you be as good as Itachi? When he was your age…"
Why did Itachi feel the need to kill the clan?
It just… didn't make any sense. The Itachi he knew was a little aloof, but very kind. He spent hours praying after every kill. He hated taking another person's life, stranger at that. Why then would kill his entire family?
"The Uchiha Clan is the strongest in the village."
Had the pressure gotten to be too much? If so, why had no one seen the signs? God dammit, WHY? Staring at the blackened earth, he knew that he would never be able to forgive his brother until he knew the real reason the clan was annihilated. Maybe not even after that, if he still saw baby Mika's happy gurgle silenced by a blade.
Someone was trying to enter his mind. No one practiced Legilimency in Konoha, so who – oh. The Yamanaka Clan. Who was it that his father (Fugaku, not James) had met with just the other day? Yamanaka Inoichi. The presence withdrew.
Inoichi turned to the Hokage.
"Whatever jutsu that was used on him is blocking me out. All I saw was a concrete wall."
"G… gomen ne, Yamanaka-san," came Sasuke's weak voice, "I was… frightened."
The older men turned in shock to the young boy.
"You felt me enter?"
"Hai. I thought… I thought it was Itachi again."
"Itachi? Why would you think it was him?"
"He… he killed them… all of them. Hikari, Mika, Auntie Shizu, Kaa-san, Otou-sama, Shinji…"
He clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. He could almost hear Hermione's voice in his ear, telling him to let go, telling him not to bottle up his emotions. Ron would come to his defense, waving Hermione off, saying that he needed space.
Ron… Hermione… They weren't here.
After everything they had been through, he was alone.
Of course. Nothing more for Fate's favorite whipping boy. After five years of a grueling war against the monster called Voldemort to protect his friends and his loved ones, he was alone. His heart tore within him, more pain than he ever thought he'd feel. He lashed out in the only way he could.
"I'll kill him. Reason be damned, I'll kill him."
"Sasuke-"
Sasuke glared up at the Hokage with the pain of two lifetimes.
"He took everything away from me."
"Do not let revenge rule your life, Sasuke-kun."
"I swear on my blood and my magic I will never use any power born of hatred or vengeance upon another human being. So mote it be."
He clenched his eyes shut. Damn it! Why couldn't he give up for once, and give in to the darkness. Why did he always have to be the one to do the right thing?
"Why the hell not?"
Inoichi raised an eyebrow at the disrespectful tone, but one didn't have to be shinobi to understand what was going on the traumatized seven-year-old's mind.
If he only knew.
"You are a shinobi of Konoha, Sasuke-kun. You are a part of a larger community, and everyone here is a part of you. The bonds you create will give you a power that Itachi could not have anticipated."
Sasuke clenched his eyes shut, but one tear escaped anyway. The Sandaime gave a soft, sad smile, glad that the boy's humanity had been preserved, but disheartened at the horror he had been forced to witness.
"The power he knows not – love. The love and friendship we share is what is going to win this war. Voldemort cannot understand that we would lay down our lives for others, and in doing so strengthen our own magic and place a protection over them. Think of your family, of your loved ones. Dead or alive, they are who you're fighting for. They will be with you as we fight to victory!"
A/N: So what's the verdict? Most of the italics are flashbacks, unless they're in the middle of a sentence. Then they're emphasis. Fudge brownies for a review!