A/N: Sorry this took so long. It was WAY harder than I thought it would be to write. And, yeah, the whole thing is a flashback. Sorry. The next chappie should be up in a couple of days to a week. Ja!

Chapter 3

/I just need to know

Whatever has happened

The truth will free my SOUL/

I've just come back from a mission, and I'm covered in blood and sweat. My art can be pretty messy.

Really, all I want to do is take a shower.

I am stripping off my torn and dirty Akatsuki robe when I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn.

It's Pein, and he has a slightly concerned look on his face. "Do you know," he says, pausing. "Where Itachi might be."

I can feel my eyes widening in shock. "He—he's gone?"

Pein surveys me calmly with those freaky eyes. "Yes- or at least, we can't find him."

Oh, crap.

Before I even realize it, I am running, running so fast.

Because I know where Itachi might be.

My trained feet carry me, pounding the ground in my effort to reach his room.

I hope, against hope, I'm wrong.

My feet bring me to Itachi's room. I suck in a breath and grip the doorknob.

I turn and shove the door open, slamming it closed behind me.

My eyes fly to the closet first. The wood-paneled doors are open and there are several empty hangers.

Crap.

I turn to the neatly made bed shoved into a corner of the room; gray eyes resting on a slip of paper held down by a thin metal circle. A necklace.

I pick up the paper first. It's a little bent, like the person who put it here was in a hurry.

He probably was.

I stare at the small word, written with blue pen in simple hiragana.

Itachi knows I'm no good with Kanji.

Sorry.

That's al it says.

No more. Not even "I love you."

The pain starts in my chest, like a steady, throbbing beat.

I move to pick up the necklace, grasping the cold metal in my hand.

It's the necklace, the one he always wore.

I think he little brother gave it to him.

I stare down at the silver necklace clasped tightly in my fisted hand. It only takes a second for me to make the decision.

I run all the way back to Pein.

He is standing at the entrance with an expectant look on his face, as if was waiting for me. Knowing Pein, and his psychic tendencies, he probably was.

"I'm going after him," I say, slightly out of breath from running to Itachi's room and back.

I pick up my bag of clay from where I dropped it when I came back from my mission and sling it over my shoulder.

The Akatsuki leader just nods, which is rather disconcerting.

I take off, jumping from limb to limb. I can feel his eyes on my back the whole way, even after I'm out of eyeshot.

I see the wreckage of the battle long before I get there. Thick black smoke billows from the pale gray concrete that was once the roof of a building. I see a moving black smudge that is probably Itachi's Amaterasu.

I speed up, though the heavy bag of clay is weighing me down, and I'm already worn out from my mission.

But that doesn't matter right now.

Nothing matters if I make it in time.

And I do. Just in time to see the last bloody scene unfold.

Pain rips through my chest as Itachi spends his last strength, reaching up to place his two fingers on his younger brother's forehead.

Sasuke's eyes widen as Itachi's bleeding eyes slide closed, and his body arches in a gentle curve, falling backwards.

I catch him as he falls. His body hits me like a rock, his limbs going limp. A small, gentle, smile graces his lips.

It feels like my heart has been ripped out of my chest and someone is now ferociously stomping on it.

My teeth clench on instinct against the agony threatening to overpower my defenses.

The deep slashing wound I received on my shoulder did not hurt nearly as much.

"Itachi," the word slips from lips. The pain inside builds up into rough, irrational anger. "Damn you, Itachi! You can't die!"

I reach down and grip his dirty right hand, pressing down on the blue veins. No pulse.

My breath quickens as I place my palm on his chest.

There's nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

He's gone. I know it. But he can't be, and I refuse.

No, no, no!

The sky seems to turn a brilliant red, and the world starts to tear apart at the edges.

There is a thud as Sasuke passes out, collapsing onto the ground facedown.

The pain that has been gathering inside ever since Pein gave me the news rises to a peak. A strangled cry builds in my throat, and I clutch Itachi to me.

I scream. The sound is strangely amplified as time seems to stand still.

A pulse begins, deep inside the Earth. Each thudding beat seems to burst my eardrums.

It is like a bomb, ticking away the seconds until I explode.

The world ceases to have a meaning as I start to close in on myself.

Itachi.

I squeeze my eyes shut and hope the nightmare ends.

I need you.

/ The truth will free my SOUL/

Thank you for reading. I'll love you forever if you review!!!

Ja ne....