Chapter 12!: Itachi's Last Moment!

Yuki

'An Uchiha Coup…? And Itachi a… Spy?' I asked slowly.

'You may have been brought up by the Uchiha. But you were told nothing.' My father nodded. 'Because you were so young.'

'But why didn't you…?'

'I couldn't.' He murmured, and ran a hand through his long black hair. 'It was too hard for me to face you again.' A horrible feeling rose in my gut. He was obviously finding it hard to tell me this.

'What about Itachi?' I asked eagerly, shifting myself so I sat cross-legged. 'Why did he do what he did?' Father smiled softly.

'Itachi was a spy who entered the Black Ops on his Father, Fugaku's, orders. However, it was actually the opposite. Itachi was supplying the Village with intelligence on Uchiha. In other words, he was a double agent.'

'A double agent?' I pondered. 'That must've been hard for him.' My father nodded slowly.

'As you have never experienced war… You may not be able to understand this… But when Itachi was only four years old, the Third Great Ninja War took place, and Itachi witnessed many deaths of many people. He should've never had to experience war at such a young age.' He sighed. 'War is hell. That Trauma made Itachi into a conflict-hating, peace-loving man.' He jumped off the branch and knelt down to my eye level.

'Itachi didn't mean any harm. Konoha instructed him to take vengeance on his own clan.' He smiled, and cupped his hand around my face. 'It's… Not his fault…' I stared into his Sharingan, which reminded me so much of his own.

'Father, I –' I got cut off my a shrill yell.

'Yuki!' I turned quickly, and saw Hidan trotting towards me.

'Hidan? What are you…?' I started.

'No time to explain…' He panted and looked up at my father. 'You have to come with me… Uchiha Madara, you should come too.' He said slowly. Father nodded, and picked up his mask from the floor. Hidan turned, his purple eyes focused on us, then jumped off into the trees.

We stayed close behind him, and I soon realised Hidan was leading us back towards The Hidden Leaf.

'Hidan, why I we heading back to the Leaf?' I asked, and sped up so I was running by his side. Hidan looked at me sideways, then looked at the floor.

'It's not your fault.' He murmured. 'So don't blame yourself or anything.' He seemed hurt by whatever was going on. 'The two you took back…'

'Who?' I blinked. 'Deidara and Itachi?' Hidan nodded.

'Yeah. Those two.' Hidan's face went slightly pale. 'I was sent to bring you back, because Kakashi isn't too sure they're gonna make it.'

'What?' I gasped, and I heard My father hold his breath. 'But Deidara wasn't even that badly hurt! Itachi had a disease, but I removed it!'

'I know,' Hidan replied with remorse. 'But that wasn't enough for Itachi… He had been suffering way too long.' He looked at me sideways again. 'And Deidara… This may sound weird… But he's suffering from concussion.' My breathing stopped all together, and My eyes widened.

'How… How did…' I stammered. Hidan closed his eyes briefly.

'When he fainted… He landed harshly on the ground, and he also landed fast. The impact knocked him out.' Hidan looked at me pitifully. 'It knocked him clean out. Kakashi told me there's a 12% chance he'd make it.' Hidan shook his head and sighed. 'You need to see Kakashi about it.' He stifled a single chuckle. 'I'm crap for explaining these things…' I nodded and allowed him to lead us to the Leaf Village.

As soon as we arrived, we headed to my apartment, where Itachi and Deidara were lying still. Itachi's eyes were barely open, but they shifted as we entered the door. Sasuke was knelt beside him, and murmuring about his training to him. Mikoto was stood to the side talking to Kakashi. I looked away from them, and at the lump of messy blonde hair under the quilt of the bed furthest from us. I slowly made my way towards it, and sat on the edge near Deidara's head. Hidan Stood beside Pain, who I didn't notice until I head his deep voice project a cough. I stared at Deidara's pale and inanimate face. His breathing was shallow, and a few seconds separated his breath. I couldn't help but worry about him.

Kakashi appeared at my side and put a hand on my shoulder.

'I won't lie to you.' He murmured, and patted my shoulder. 'But… The chances of him surviving this are slim. Don't be surprised if… Well… Yeah…' I nodded and rubbed my nose. My cheeks were hot and wet. I was so lost in my own little world, that I hadn't even noticed I was crying. Kakashi smiled as I reached out and took Deidara's cold hand.

'You had a thing for him, didn't you?' He murmured and knelt down beside me.

'Well… I guess…' I replied quietly, not taking my eyes off Deidara. 'But I was never too sure how he felt… And I wasn't there when he needed me the most… He must… Hate me…'

Kakashi shook his head. 'I was here when he was slightly conscious; he said he wanted you by him…' Kakashi folded his arms. 'Heh. You two would have made a lovely couple.'

I froze, then smiled whilst blushing at Kakashi's comment.

'Yeah… Maybe…' I whispered. 'But… I guess it won't happen, will it.' It wasn't a question, but Itachi strained himself to answer.

'Don't doubt… him…' He said quietly. 'He's hard to… get rid of…' I looked around to him.

'Itachi…' I smiled slightly. 'You know him better than I do…' I stood up, and moved to Itachi's side, and played with his fringe. 'But you were a lot more intelligent…' I acted on instinct, and as a farewell, I leant over his face, and kissed him forehead lightly, in a friendly way, of course. After all, we were family. 'Don't go, Ita.'

Itachi's face became more and more blank, and he said nothing. I put my hand over his chest, and felt a heartbeat. If he was going to die, then he was going to die feeling my touch. He stiffly moved his hand up, and rested it on mine.

'I'll be waiting for you… Yuki…' He murmured whilst grinning. His cheeky, bad-ass grin.

'I've always loved you as a big bro, Itachi.' I smiled. His face enlightened for a moment.

'You have no idea…' He coughed. 'How good… it is to hear you say that…' he smiled, and for a moment, he looked like his normal self. 'And If I wasn't… Related to you… I'd be that guy… that would chase you around the world… just for your heart.' I blushed and bit my lip. He held the eye contact, and then he gave one last kid-ish grin, before his eyes closed, and the weight that covered my hand went loose, and his hand fell limp to his side. I stood staring at his motionless face, and in my head, was the times he tried to kill me, then that changed, as we became more as friends. I ducked my head down, and let the tears that were welling in my eyes fall.

'Yuki.' Pain murmured from the side of the room. 'You should be the one who takes his headband.' He silently moved towards me. 'You were family.' I looked at him through my hair, and half-smiled. Pain was a good guy, really. Konan emerged from around the corner, and her hand shot up to her mouth.

'Is he –?' She gasped, and Pain gave her a slow, sad nod. Kakashi looked at the floor, and Sasuke padded to my side and hugged me, bawling his eyes out.

'He- he was my big b- bro…' He cried into my shoulder. 'And I d- didn't realise h- how much he l- loved me until th- the end.' I turned and hugged him back.

'And I didn't realise what a great guy he was, either.' We stood in silence, the tears running rapidly down our cheeks. I took a side glance at Deidara, whose chest was rising and failing in rhythm. 'I hope…' I sniffed. 'That Deidara makes it… I can't bear to…. Lose him as well…' Sasuke's arms moved and he rubbed his eyes with his knuckles like a small child.

'I- it would be too m- much right n- now…' he murmured. I nodded in agreement, and let go of him.

'There's no point in waiting around…' I whispered. 'Let's go outside and have some time to ourselves…' Sasuke looked up at me, his eyes bloodshot. He nodded at me hesitantly, as it had been ages since we had been alone together.

We settled for the hill we used to sit on all the time when we were about 5 or 6. This was before the Uchiha Clan was assassinated. Occasionally, I'd sneak a glance at Sasuke, whose face was bleak and pale. I stared up into the sky, where the clouds had gone a pinky orange from a sunset.

'He knew it was going to happen…' Sasuke murmured from beside me, and I whipped my head round at the sound of his voice. 'His death, I mean. He couldn't hold onto life any longer.'

'He wanted to die by your side.' I said, and put an arm around him. 'He wasn't the foolish brother you thought he was.'

'But our clan.' He mumbled. 'There's only, like, 5 of us.' He looked at me through his hair. 'How are we gonna cope?' I fell silent and looked at the grassy floor.

'We'd have to bring the clan back….'

'What? How?' Sasuke said startled. I froze.

'Not as in bringing them back to life!' I laughed shakily. 'As in starting fresh.'

'There's not enough people.' He murmured. 'We're half brother and sister, so that wouldn't work. And my mother is your Father great, great, great grand-daughter of something like that.' He thought deeply for a moment. 'Hang on. Doesn't that make you older than mom?' I smiled.

'No. I was born later on. I'm your age.'

'How does that figure?' He asked, shuffling his weight so he sat on his knees.

'My father has been around for a long, long time, sure.' I looked at him carefully. 'But he's been 46 for 54 years now.'

'46… for 54… years…?' He murmured. 'How did…'

'I don't have the faintest.' I laughed.

'If my brother were here…' He murmured. 'And you weren't Uchiha… Would you..?' I stared at Sasuke blankly. He looked away and blushed. 'You know…' The blush reflected onto my face.

'Sasuke! That would class as a personal question!' I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand. 'But then again, I don't know. We didn't like each other before… Then when he discovered I was Uchiha, he let the Juichuri thing slide and started to see me differently.'

'Hmm. I forgot about the whole Juichuri thing.' He mumbled. We both turned to look at the sun setting behind a faraway hill, when something caught my eye.

'What's that?' I asked, launching to my feet.

'What's what?' Sasuke asked, standing beside me.

'That.' I pointed on the horizon, where a big silhouette shadowed across the hill.

'I don't know… But we should be going.'

'Yeah, yeah. Whatever.' I murmured, and started to walk towards it.

'Y- Yuki!' Sasuke Stammered. 'You can't go too far now! It's way too late!'

'Uh huh..' I murmured.

'Fine. Whatever. You stay here.' Sasuke growled from behind me, and marched off in the opposite Direction, whereas I walked off to find whatever that thing was.