Itachi's heart was clenching painfully as he looked around, and he knew that if Shisui had found out about his cousin visiting this house, he would have thrown a fit. Itachi took a steadying breath; he could do this. He had seen worse.
Even so, he couldn't help but clench his hands as he turned to Seiji. "Where were they?" he asked quietly, barely resisting to urge to throw up. Seiji frowned and nodded towards the living room.
"Fugaku was in the living room. Mikoto and Sasuke were in their bedrooms." Itachi nodded to him and took another deep breath. If the deaths were murder-suicide, then the order of killing would have been Mikoto, then Sasuke, then Fugaku. If Fugaku was the murderer, then it would be safe to assume he was not in his right mind when he did it, especially with how he did it. Therefore his chakra would have been fluctuating oddly, Mikoto would have grown concerned and gone to see him. He kills her, and then goes to kill Sasuke.
Itachi gagged.
If he had gone to Sasuke first, Mikoto would be even more alarmed with Fugaku's odd chakra and Sasuke so close to each other and she would have rushed to them. Mikoto and Sasuke would have been killed in the same room.
So the pattern must be Mikoto, Sasuke, Fugaku. Murderers tend to get more nervous as they kill; if someone was attempting to kill the clan head they would have been extremely paranoid. They would have made mistakes as they killed and would leave more evidence or a more violent kill. So if Mikoto's murder scene was more violent than Sasuke's, it wouldn't make sense. Mikoto wouldn't have had as much warning as Sasuke would have, and Sasuke would have put up a better fight. He was younger and with more energy, and though Mikoto was strong, she was getting old.
"Do you have the folder?" Itachi mumbled. Seiji handed it to him without a word; he knew Itachi was thinking.
The first thing he saw when he opened the folder was a picture of his father laying dead on the ground, and he had to slam his eyes closed and take deep breaths in order to keep calm. Seiji quickly gave him a water bottle he had and Itachi thankfully took a swig to wash the vile taste down his throat.
"...Is this how you found him?" Itachi asked after he had slipped his emotionless mask on again. Detach yourself from the situation; it's not you there. You're seeing through another person's eyes. He opened the folder again and looked at the pictures in his father's section.
"Before we moved anything, yes," Seiji answered. Itachi flipped to the injury report. It showed where Fugaku had been injured when he was found. Stitches in his arm- Itachi knew about that; it was one of their sparring sessions and one of his shuriken had gotten past his father's defense. Impaled directly through the heart; Itachi winced. His femoral artery was cut.
Itachi closed the folder and took a deep breath. The living room was first. He started walking towards it and Seiji followed.
"Have you cleaned up anything?" he asked before he built up the courage to open the door.
"We've just removed the bodies so far," Seiji replied. Itachi nodded, calmed himself (or attempted to), and pushed open the door.
It was miraculously clean for a murder scene, Itachi noted, even as he was screaming on the inside. This was where my father died, this is where he took his last breath.
As a matter of fact, it was too clean. Itachi looked around the room, his brow furrowed.
"Where's the blood?" he found himself asking. Seiji looked at him, confused. Itachi rose an eyebrow. Even Akane knew this (unfortunately).
"His femoral artery was cut," Itachi reminded him. "An average person would bleed to death in ten minutes." He gestured to the dried blood on the floor next to the white outline of a person. "Put that kind of wound together with a direct stab to the heart, the person would have bled out completely. That," he looked at the dried puddle. "...is not six quarts. The report said Sasuke cut his artery." Sasuke had been found with a kunai from Itachi's room in his hand with Fugaku's blood on it. Itachi gestured between the stairs and where the outline was. "There's no trail of blood, and Sasuke was killed in his room." Itachi had to take a pause after he said this, but Seiji said nothing about it. "Plus..." he looked towards the katana hanging on the wall by itself; it's identical twin was most likely in the posession of the police. "That sword is longer than my father's arm-length. In order to stab himself in the heart with it, let alone stab himself in the torso at all, he would have had to grasp the blade. The injury report said nothing about any cuts on his hands. My father didn't kill anyone yesterday. These are all murders." Seiji's eyes were wide, but Itachi could see relief in them. Itachi's eyes narrowed. Suicide was considered cowardly in the Uchiha Clan. They were more worried about their reputation than about the fact that there might be an Ihoukira* still out there.
Even without the obvious evidence, it was obvious it was a murder. It had killed Itachi to look at the rest of the pictures in the file, but he did. Sasuke didn't hold kunai like that first of all, and he was not right-handed. In Mikoto's position her body had been found in, she was reaching for a kunai, that Itachi knew should not have been there, in a dresser six feet away. There was a dagger hid in the bedframe right beside her head. Mikoto made a point to remember where every weapon in the house was (she didn't want to injure Sasuke or Itachi if she hugged them and had a kunai stashed somewhere on her), so there was no way she would have forgotten it was there.
Staring down at the hallway table that had been moved recently (there were scratch marks on the wooden floor that hadn't been there before. Someone must have run into it), Itachi thought over the facts he had. He was exhausted from the day, though they had only been there three hours, but he wanted to solve the case. It was his duty.
Someone Anbu level, like Shisui had said, someone with Sharingan, and someone who didn't know Itachi's family at all. Itachi sighed. No-one really fit that description except for Kakashi, who really only knew Shisui's family, and...
No, Itachi shook his head. We have a deal. No matter how evil that bastard is, he's honorable and keeps his promises.
Someone entered the house and he heard Seiji talking to what sounded like Inabi, catching him up on the things Itachi noticed that they didn't (No, my mother did not fall and hit her head on the bedframe, there would be blood on the frame if that happened. No, you idiot, my brother did not somehow stab himself in the back with the kunai he had when he can't even reach that part of his back. You can tell from the wound that the kunai had been completely horizontal when it stabbed him, and it's not physically possible for anyone to stab themselves there, like that, without dislocating their shoulder). He made his way to the living room in case they had questions, eyes straying to the ceiling and staring at a spot of blood.
His father would have been horrified by how they're handling this investigation.
Seiji and Inabi were going over notes Seiji had written down and discussing. Inabi looked downright miserable in this room, and Itachi had half a mind to tell them to go to the kitchen. He glanced around the room, wondering if there was anything he had missed. Inabi finally voiced his discomfort and Seiji apologized for not noticing, and they moved to the kitchen.
Something caught Itachi's eye, and he looked to the bookcase in confusion. Though it most likely didn't mean anything, one of the books was sticking out by maybe an inch. He wouldn't have thought anything of it if it weren't for the fact that no one ever touched those books, not even his father. It was when he moved close enough to read the title of the book that he grew wary.
'The History of the Uchiha Clan' was printed on the spine. Pursing his lips, Itachi walked closer and picked it up. There was a crease along it's spine, as if someone had opened it and put it down. It's cover was faded, but the edges weren't bent. Itachi had never seen this book before, but he figured whoever bought it had done so a long time ago and had taken good care of it.
There was an odd gap in the pages when closed, and Itachi noticed a page was dog-eared. He quickly opened it to the page and his blood ran cold.
If it wasn't how the page was the beginning of a chapter titled Uchiha and Senju and Senju was scribbled out violently that gave the killer away, it was the small peice of paper that fluttered down to the floor.
'Deal's changed, Gaki. Have fun at the funeral!'
Itachi couldn't tell if he was actually tasting the sadism in the letter or if it was the blood in his mouth from biting his tongue too hard. All he could see was red, and he was probably scaring the men in the other room the way his chakra was flaring violently. He didn't care.
He wanted to kill him. He wanted to hear him scream in agony over and over again. He wanted to pluck those precious eyes of his- no his brother's- and crush his only source of light in his hand. He wanted him to suffer.
"Madara," Itachi snarled, Mangekyou Sharingan spinning wildly.
-xXx-
"You seen Itachi?" Shisui asked Seiji as he took his spot beside his father. The secret room in the Nakano shrine was filling up quickly and filled with chatter. The spots where Fugaku, Mikoto, and Itachi stood were empty and the council stood to the side, waiting for the meeting to begin and naturally being intimidating.
"I'm not sure," Seiji replied, frowning in concern. "After we left his house he went somewhere. He was really upset." His eyes widened and he clamped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was already done.
"What?" Shisui hissed. Seiji pressed his lips together, giving him a look that basically said 'I'm not supposed to tell.' Shisui sighed and sat back, running a hand through his black unruly hair. "Shit. No wonder he's missing." Seiji frowned guiltily.
"I...could go find him," Seiji offered. Shisui sighed again and shook his head.
"I'll do it," he said, clapping a hand on Seiji's shoulder. "He probably doesn't want to be seen right now. Take notes for me if I miss anything important, kay?" Seiji frowned but nodded, and Shisui told his father he'd be right back. Tamotsu told him to get back soon.
There were still people making their way to the shrine when he was out, and, grumbling, he realized he had most likely just lost his seat. There would be more Uchiha attending this meeting to decide who was going to be the clan head so it was going to be more crowded. The obvious choices for clan head were Itachi and his father, but who knows what the council was thinking.
"Where would he be...?" Shisui wondered aloud. Might as well check the obvious places first. The training grounds, Shisui's house, on the Hokage monument. If he were a better sensor, Shisui might have tried to find his chakra signature, but he was rather weak in that particular field.
When Itachi had left this morning after he came back from the Hokage's meeting, he said he was going to go train. Shisui let him go by himself, because he knew Itachi needed some time to himself, but apparently the younger Uchiha had gone to the crime scene first. And helped them quite a bit, if Inabi's rambling in the meeting meant anything. Inabi said they stayed there for three and a half hours, and it was eleven now, so he must have been gone for about nine or ten hours.
What could he be doing? Shisui wondered, growing concerned. Yea, Itachi would disappear at times when he was stressed, but never for this long. He would always be back before Sasuke could start to worry.
Shisui was checking his house first. If Itachi had been by, then Akane might have seen him or felt his chakra (unlike her brother, Akane was scary good as detecting chakra, and was actually better than than a skilled genin even though she was only seven). Then, if he knew Itachi, he would either be in the training fields venting or sitting on the Hokage monument, trying to cool down. Luckily Seiji was taking notes for him, because this was most likely going to take a while-
His thoughts stopped dead at the sight of the Itachi's still form laying on his doorstep. He wouldn't have been as worried, because this was Itachi and there's no way he could be hurt; maybe he was locked out and had fallen asleep waiting for someone. But no, 'worry' was an understatement. Itachi's skin was pale for a whole different reason and that scent in the air was definitely blood.
"Itachi!" Shisui gasped, flickering to his side and falling to his knees beside him. Itachi's eyes stayed closed, but Shisui felt a pulse in his neck- "Thank Kami," he gasped- and he realized the younger was just unconscious.
"Akane!" Shisui barked, loud enough for her to hear even if she was sleeping. She must have heard the urgency in his voice, because he heard a thump and then the pitter-patter of her feet running to the door.
Shisui turned Itachi onto his side to try and see exactly where he was hurt. The smell of blood was stronger now and Shisui held his breath before he could gag. Lifting up Itachi's shirt, he saw a gash in his side about four inches wide that looked like it would need stitches. Shisui immediately pressed a hand to it to stop the bleeding. The door slid open and revealed Akane.
"Nii-san?" she gasped, eyes widening in horror when she looked down at her cousin.
"Everyone's at the temple," he told her quickly. "Go tell father I'm taking Itachi to the hospital." Shisui knew Itachi couldn't be taken care of here. He carefully picked him up bridal style as Akane darted down the road barefoot.
Shisui thought about flickering to the hospital, but the jump would most likely just cause his cousin pain, so he decided he'd just run. Itachi seemed smaller in his arms, and it almost made Shisui want to cry that his expression seemed more peaceful while unconscious and dying than it had in a long time.
-XxX-
Itachi barely had enough control of his chakra to get past the guards at the gate without getting caught. Luckily, though, he managed to put a lock on his emotions until he was far enough away.
He had never been this angry before in his life. He almost felt like he was someone else. But wasn't that required to stay sane in the shinobi world? To detach yourself from the situation? It had worked so many times in Itachi's short but long career so far, but now... Even though he felt detached, he felt so very far from sane. It was like that empty cavity on his chest had filled with something dark and toxic, and it was fueling and controlling the body that was supposed to be under his control.
"Madara!" his body roared as he approached the small shack. He remembered when he first discovered Madara was staying in it. He was more surprised at how close it was to Konoha, only a few kilometers, than it's size, because he eventually found out there was an entire underground base below the shack. It had apparently been Uchiha property when the village was founded, but it was long since forgotten.
"Oh, Itachi," a light voice stated, seemingly surprised. Itachi turned to see a white and red mask framed by obsidian hair. A single hole allowed Madara to see, and his Sharingan twinkled mischievously. "I didn't expect you so soon. What's the occaision?"
"How dare you," the younger Uchiha snarled. "We had a deal!" The playful aura around Madara disappeared, leaving a more sinister one.
"And I ameliorated it," Madara replied stonily. "You were to kill them because you were running out of time to negotiate before the coup, weren't you? Now, when they're running around like headless chickens, it's been put off and you have plenty of time."
"And what's in it for you?" Itachi snapped. The reasons he listed were about how it was better for Itachi, but Madara must have had some personal gain from it. Otherwise he wouldn't have changed it.
"I get to watch you run around like headless chickens," he said mockingly. Itachi could tell he was smirking behind his mask and scowled. "And I strongly doubt the negotiations will work. If not stubborn and haughty, Uchihas are only killing machines. I hate both the clan and the village; there would be no limit to my satisfaction watching them destroy each other."
"Bastard," Itachi hissed. Madara chuckled.
"I would have enjoyed killing them with my own hands, though," he mused. "Watching their death freeze their faces into an agonized expression. It was rather satisfying," he stated, looking Itachi dead in the eye, Sharingan filled with sadistic amusement. "Watching the betrayed look on your family's faces as I killed them in your form."
The anger in Itachi's chest was replaced with horror. His family had died...thinking Itachi killed them.
"Kami-" he gasped, raising a hand to his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut. Madara must have seen the agony on Itachi's expression, and he tilted his head to the side.
"Though I apologize for killing your brother," he stated seriously, almost sounding slightly disappointed, "I was hoping Sasuke would have been out that morning." Itachi's eyes snapped open, and almost like a switch, that dark stuff in his chest boiled over.
"Don't you dare speak his name!" he hissed, Mangekyou spinning into existence. "You will never have the right!" Madara's visible eye widened at the sight of his student's new doujutsu. He smirked at the killing intent radiating off his descendent.
"I've taught you well," he noted.
Kunai clashed, and the pure hatred in Itachi's eyes showed Madara exactly what was brewing in the younger Uchiha's heart.
"I'll send you to hell," Itachi smirked coldly. "I'll laugh as my father tears you apart. And when I die..." The smirk grew, but it was so dark that even Madara was slightly alarmed. "I'll come find you and show you an even darker hell..."
-XxX-
Shisui never liked waiting rooms in hospitals. He always felt useless just sitting there when someone he loved was injured. He knew Itachi wasn't in critical condition; the doctors were just setting a broken bone in his arm, stitching him up, and binding his torso. But he couldn't help but feel nervous. Who could have done that to the 'Uchiha prodigy'? By the way Itachi was just left on his doorstep unconscious, it was obvious that it wasn't a friendly spar. Shisui wondered if it had been the man who killed Fugaku and his wife and youngest son. He knew the killer had to be strong to kill Fugaku, but strong enough to put the Itachi in the condition he was in?
There was no doubt nearly all of the shinobi and nurses in the lobby had gaped at the site of Itachi covered in blood that was actually his. They were silenced the nightmarish glare they received from Shisui though, daring them to say anything
A hand on his shoulder broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked up in surprise to see Hana Inuzuka standing beside him with a worried brown eyes. Her hair looked like it had been thrown in a ponytail quickly and her clothes were disheveled. One of her dogs were at her side, sitting patiently.
"How's the brat?" she asked almost breathlessly, as if she had been running. Shisui gave her a humorlous smile.
"Physically or emotionally?" he asked dryly. Hana frowned.
"Both," she answered seriously. Shisui pursed his lips and sighed, turning to sit straight in his chair again. Hana sat down beside him, keeping a hand on his arm for comfort. Kokuen, one the Haimaru brothers, obediently went to sit at her feet.
"He'll live through the injuries," he muttered. "I don't know about the murders."
"So they were all murders, huh?" Hana asked quietly. Shisui nodded, grimacing at what Itachi had to go through, walking through that house again. "...Has he cried yet?" she asked then. He glanced at her, wondering if Itachi would be okay with her knowing.
"...Twice," he replied soberly. Itachi and Hana were friends and she would weasle it out of him sooner or later. "That I know of. You know how he is with his emotions."
"True," she acknowledged. Itachi would only show his emotions when he was at his very limit, which they all knew to be very high.
Hana had been in Itachi's year at the Academy when they first started. They only had class together for a few months, of course, but they had grown to be friends and continued to be even after Itachi had graduated prematurely. Hana wasn't as smart as Itachi, but she was still considered the number-one rookie of her class when she graduated two years early. She was a nice girl and was calm when need be, but she could be almost as hyper as Shisui and as mischevious as her younger brother when she felt like it. She was currently training under the head nurse at the hospital to be a medic nin and then learning from her aunt how to be a vet. With a relieved sigh, Shisui realized she must have heard about Itachi from the other nurses, then. He had tried to keep off the more public roads if he could, because being seen while injured like that would definitely upset Itachi.
"Uchiha Shisui?" Said person's head snapped up to see an unfamiliar man in a white coat.
"Yea," he replied, standing up quickly. The man rose an eyebrow at his jerky actions, but then smiled assuringly. He had unruly brown hair and light blue eyes.
"I'm Doctor Natsure," he introduced. "Itachi's doctor." Shisui stood up and Hana followed, carefully nudging Kokuen to the side so she wouldn't trip over him.
"How is he?" Shisui asked worriedly. Doctor Natsure smiled.
"He's perfectly fine, now," he replied. "Though he actually lost quite a bit of blood, but not enough to keep him overnight. His right humerus was fractured and is in a splint since he refused a cast. He has three broken ribs, but the breaks are clean and they should heal fine." Shisui let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and Hana clapped a hand on his shoulder with a grin that Shisui returned. She turned to the doctor.
"Wouldn't you keep him overnight anyways?" she asked. "In case he has any more injuries you haven't noticed?" Doctor Natsure gave a nervous laugh.
"Well, we normally do, but he was very...persistant about leaving," he admitted. Both the teens had to keep from laughing at the threats Itachi most likely threw at the poor man. "So if you notice anything off, just brinf him back."
"He hates hospitals," Shisui grinned. "Is he awake?"
"Yes, and he is free to leave whenever he wants," Natsure replied with a smile. "Just, please...check out first?" He sighed. "We've had so many shinobi just up and leave that we actually have to send a nurse to check a room to see if it's really taken before we start having to treat people in the hallways."
"We will," Hana assured. "I work here, so I won't forget."
"I thought you looked familiar!" the doctor exclaimed, before a nurse over at the desk waved him over. Before he left, he said to the younger two, "Well, I have more patients, so have a good day. And make sure Uchiha Itachi rests well!" And then he rushed over to the desk where the nurse gave him a clipboard, and he quickly walked down another hallway.
"Come on," Hana said to Shisui when Natsure was gone, tugging his arm. Kokuen trailed behind her. "He's in room 1202." Shisui grinned and eagerly went with her.
Itachi's room was relatively close to the lobby, so finding his room wasn't much of a problem. Hana paused to knock politely on his door, but she had only tapped her knuckle against the door once before Shisui, being Shisui, barged in.
"I oughta stop making you dango," he declared loudly, and his cousin, sitting on the side of the bed unhappily, looked up in surprise. "You scared the hell out of us!"
"Shisui, we're in a hospital," Hana reminded him, rolling her eyes. "Stop yelling."
The corner of Itachi's mouth twitched up slightly at Shisui's antics, but the almost smile didn't reach his burning eyes.
"My apologies," he said calmly. "Good afternoon, Hana."
"Sup, squirt," she grinned at him. "I bring yummies!" And she held up a plastic bag filled with assorted sweet things, making Itachi's expression visibly light up.
"Where were you hiding those?" Shisui asked, bewildered. He was positive that hadn't been in her hand when he first saw her.
"I'm a ninja, idiot."
He rolled his eyes. "No shit."
"Stop bickering," Itachi interrupted, holding his hand out to Hana imperiously. "I demand sugar."
"Yes, your highness," the kunoichi replied sarcastically, tossing Itachi a bag of konpeito.
"Oh, I want some!" Shisui grinned.
"Mine."
Shisui whined, and Itachi reluctantly threw a piece of the rock candy at him. After they had all settle down in various spots around the room (Itachi was reclining on his be, Shisui was cross-legged at the foot of said bed, and Hana was sitting on the back of a chair leaning against the bed with the candy on the bed between them), the other two in the room started drilling Itachi.
"So, what happened?" Hana asked, tearing her beef jerky into two peices to give a half to Kokuen. Shisui looked at Itachi expectantly, and Itachi, who had been calmly sucking on a peice of rock candy, pursed his lips as he quickly came up with an excuse.
"Someone attacked me while I was walking home," he said a little reluctantly, the fury still in his chest making him see red for a second. "I was distracted, so he caught me off guard." By the way Shisui frowned, Itachi could guess his cousin knew what had been 'distracting him' and he frowned in return.
"Did you see who attacked you?" Hana asked, confused by the exchange between the two.
"No," Itachi replied, choosing not to look at his closest friends as he lied to them. He reached for more candy. "He had on a mask."
"Anbu?" Shisui asked, slightly alarmed. Itachi shook his head and bit on a pocky stick.
"Different style of mask. And he wasn't in uniform."
Hana seemed to hesitate on her next question, but Itachi caught it and nodded for her to continue.
"Do you think it was...the same man that..." She trailed off at the frown she got from Shisui and how Itachi's eyes seemed to cloud over. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds and Hana almost regretted asking the question.
"...Possibly," the younger Uchiha replied quietly, though in his mind he knew. Madara may have beaten him this time, but Itachi would not give up until his kunai was dyed red with his ancestor's blood and he stood over Madara's cold, decaying body.
-xXx-
Madara hissed when the man beside him pulled too tightly on the bandages.
"Watch it," he growled.
"Wanna do it yourself?" the hooded figure snapped back, pulling the bandages on purpose this time. "I know you think you're all that, old man, but the only medical thing you know about is eyes. You couldn't tell me what muscle the one I'm working on is. Hell," the figure grimaced down at the several deep cuts on the Uchiha's arm, courtesy of Uchiha Itachi. "I couldn't tell either by how much you fucked your arm up. How old is this kid again?" A glowing, violet ringed eye looked at Madara condescendingly.
"I gave you Rinnegan," Madara warned, quickly losing his patience. "You want me to rip it out?"
"You can try when both your hands aren't useless," the man sneered. Madara scowled. As much as he hated to admit it, the man was right. He wasn't in a very good state to fight in after he and Itachi were finished with each other. His mask had been smashed in- he was pretty sure his nose had been broken- his arm had been sliced to hell and back when he had tried to wrap his hand around Itachi's throat, and his hands had been caught in an Amaterasu. Luckily though, Itachi had been as surprised as Madara when the black flames shot into existence, and as he slammed his eyes shut against the pain, the flames died out and Madara took the opportunity to hit the pressure point on the younger Uchiha's neck. It made Madara slightly nervous that Itachi could wound him so much; he shuddered to think how strong he would be when he was older.
"How much did you find out?" Madara asked the figure, deciding to change the subject. The man rose an eyebrow at him, but decided against arguing this time.
"The village hasn't taken much action yet," he stated. "I don't think they noticed you. The coup was put off for a few months and the new candidates for Uchiha Clan leader are Tamotsu Uchiha, that kid you just knocked out, and one of the elders. I don't remember his name and frankly, I don't care." He paused. "Uchiha Itachi has a new teammate on his Anbu team." Madara smirked behind his ruined mask.
"That's interesting..." he mused thoughtfully. The hooded figure frowned.
-xXx-
*Ihoukira- ihou means illegal I think, and kira possibly means killer. Whatevers :P I came up with this term because I figured it would be a pot calling a kettle black if a shinobi called someone a murderer. So, if I use Ihoukira, it means the person didn't have permission from the village to kill whoever they killed.
So anyways, introducing Hana! :D since she was close to Itachi's age, I figured they would know each other, and I wanted Itachi to have at least one friend who was his age. Shisui's two years older than Ita-kun by the way, if i haven't said it already.
Kurohyou isn't in this chapter! D: I've grown fond of him, too...might put him in the next chap though :D
R&R and TBC!