As always I own nothing, enjoy and please review

Every chapter title is based on a song – this one is a Nickelback song – which inspired the whole story.

This chapter didn't really change much…also, I do plan to try to update this quickly for each chapter

Chapter 2: Never Again

The Uchihas, when one heard that name they had thought prominence, money, class, looks, elegance, and most of all: the picture perfect family. The problem is, every family has some dysfunction to it, whether they show it or not. In fact, those that try to hide their dysfunction the most, are usually the ones that have the most to hide.

On the outside the Uchihas were the picture perfect family. They were the kind of family everyone wanted to have. They had the father that worked hard, the stay at home mom, and the two boys that were at the top of their classes. To everyone on the outside nothing was wrong, but to everyone on the inside, nothing was entirely right.

The things they did were never out of choice; they were out of fear and hope. Uchiha Mikoto kept the house clean in the fear that if she didn't, she'd get beaten once again. It was the same reason that every meal had to be perfect and done at the time she said it would. Everything had to be in perfect order, or else there would be hell to pay.

The boys had learned to keep their grades up out of the fear that what happened to their mother would happen to them. Uchiha Fugaku always threatened them to hit them and they knew it wasn't an empty threat. They knew that if they stepped out of line or did badly at anything they tried, they'd be in trouble. They were the perfect children, not because they wanted to be, but because they had to be.

Uchiha Sasuke, eight years old, sat at the kitchen table doing his homework. He had been working on the math problems his teacher assigned. He concentrated, trying to figure out the answer. He knew that he couldn't ask for help, not while his father was in the room, so instead he just continued to try to think back on what he'd learned earlier that day.

"Aw, Sasuke there's a little girl outside leaving a present at the door," his mother said as she looked at the window. "I bet she has a crush on you," she smiled at her son before walking over to him and putting her hand on his shoulder.

His face took on a look of disgust, "Ew, girls are gross." He looked at his mother and said, "I don't want them to have a crushes on me. They have high pitched voices and wear pink."

His mother laughed and said, "One day you will." He just shook his head, disagreeing with her. She smiled at him again, "It's a part of growing up; you'll understand when you're older." She looked at her son, knowing he'd be a little heart breaker when he got older. He had the Uchiha good looks: dark black hair, the matching black eyes, yet the pale skin to contrast it. She smiled when she realized that he looked more like her than his father, she hoped that he would act more like her too.

Their conversation was interrupted when Fugaku looked at the clock, "I thought that you said that dinner would be ready at six." He had a calm yet threatening tone to his voice. "It's six ten. Shouldn't it be ready?" he asked looking at her in distain. It was a tone that none of them ever wanted to hear.

"It's almost ready, I was just talking with Sasuke," she said as she hurried to the stove. "Just five more minutes," she hurriedly said.

Fugaku looked at Sasuke, not hiding his feelings toward him. It was obvious that he favored his other son. Sasuke rubbed his arm from where his father had hit him a few nights before, but continued to look down at the paper. "Stop wasting your time and get to work making dinner. The boy needs to do his homework anyway, Itachi would be done with it by now," he said before walking out of the room.

Sasuke knew better than to think that was the end of the conversation. That was just the calm before the storm. He never hit before dinner, it was always when they just started to let their guard down. Sasuke was starting to realize that he should never be comfortable around his father; he could strike at any time.

"Go get ready for dinner honey, you can finish your homework when you're done eating," Mikoto smiled at him. He just nodded, making her frown at the fact that he looked so sad. She knew that he was scared of his father, but there was nothing she could do. She was scared of him too and leaving him would surely mean more harm to hear than staying with him. No matter where she tried to take the boys, he'd find her and find a way to get full custody of Sasuke and Itachi. The risk of never seeing her boys again was too much for her to handle.

NS

That night, Sasuke was playing one of his video games when he heard it, the crashing of glass. He figured it was a vase since they had plenty of them around the house. He knew it was only matter of time until it happened again. He paused his game, knowing he couldn't play while he knew his mother was getting hurt.

As quietly as he could, he got up and snuck down the stairs. He sat in the dark on the stairs, where he could see the living room and everything he was doing to her. Sasuke wished that he could help, but he was too young and too weak to even try to stand up to his father. He knew better than to go against him and he had the bruises to prove that even if he did, he wouldn't win. So instead, he watched terrified, realizing that no matter how many times it happened, he'd never get used to seeing her get thrown against the wall to the point that she'd almost need stitches.

'I wonder if he'll have to take her to the hospital again,' he thought sadly as the man he had to call a father gripped his mother's arm tightly as he took all of his rage out on her body. He never left marks in places people could see unless he could come up with a valid excuse for them being there. If he bruised or broke her arm, he'd merely say that she was clumsy and pass it off as nothing. Sasuke had learned long ago that if you act like normal and like nothing is wrong, no one will think twice about what you say. His father did it all the time and it just made him not believe in the happy endings that fairytales made other children believe. No one stopped the dragon that was his father, why should he believe in any other fairytale ending?

As Mikoto was pushed against a wall for what felt like the millionth time that night, she saw Sasuke sitting on the stairs. She didn't want her son to see Fugaku as a monster, despite the fact that he was. "Sasuke go back to bed," she cried to him, not able to contain the tears that fell from her eyes. She knew that it was only when the boys did something wrong or came out of their rooms during one of her beatings, that they got hurt.

Before Sasuke could say anything, Fugaku turned to him, "I'd listen to your mother." He had such rage in his eyes, like he didn't care that his son was only eight, he would just as easily break him like he broke Mikoto and not even think twice about it.

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, wanting to help his mother, but the look she had a pleading look in her eyes that told him that he'd better go. He stood up and hurried up the stairs, 'Why couldn't I just be stronger?'

"You really care about the boy don't you?" Fugaku asked. "You know, I looked over his homework," he started. "He got some of the questions wrong," he said angrily. "Uchihas don't get questions wrong," he added. The tone in his voice was chilling and made her wonder why she ever married the man in the first place.

"Well then teach him how to do it Fugaku," she had had enough of how he acted, of all of the beatings. "You're his father," she told him. "You're supposed to help him," she frowned, knowing she'd get hit for her comment. The only thing that she felt was more important than her own life was her sons' lives.

"You don't tell me what to do," he yelled as he backhanded her across the face, making her fall to the ground, hitting her head on the living room table as she went down. "I'm going to go have a talk with the boy, straighten him out," he said as he turned toward the stairs. "Talk" was his code word for beating and she wasn't going to let that happen again.

"No," she said as she stood up. He stopped in his tracks, looking at her as she continued to speak, "No you won't." She opened the gun cabinet, which was supposed to be locked, "I've had enough." Hurting her was one thing, but the thought of him hurting Sasuke again was too much. Finally she had gained enough courage to do something about it, but she knew that using a gun would be the only way to ensure that her boys would have a better life. A simple threat wasn't enough to make him stop; she had to follow it through. She pulled the trigger, causing the gunshot to echo through the house and Fugaku to fall to the ground. She knew that the police would probably be called by one of their neighbors, but there was no way she was going to try to make it look like an accident, it was far from one. Once he hit the ground, she felt a weight was lifted off of her shoulders, at that point she didn't care about the consequences, she just wanted him dead.

Meanwhile, Sasuke sat in his room staring at the television screen. He had yet to resume his game when he heard the shot. His eyes widened and he'd thought that his father had actually killed his mother. 'Which one pulled the trigger?' was all he wondered as he jumped out of bed and ran down stairs. He didn't care if it meant that he may get a beating, he had to find out what happened; hoping that it wasn't too late to help his mother.

He stood at the halfway point in shock; his mother had the gun in her hand. She stood there, standing still as if she couldn't believe she'd actually done it. Her arms had dropped to her sides as she watched Fugaku start to bleed out from the wound in his heart.

Sasuke knew that he should be sad that his father was lying dead on the ground, but he couldn't bring himself to feel anything. The man had hurt everyone in the family, and so he couldn't exactly say that he'd miss him. It wasn't like he acted like a father, he didn't even deserve the title of father – he hadn't earned that title.

Itachi ran into the room and immediately started to survey the scene. At thirteen years old, he was a very smart young man and he knew what would happen to his mother. He quickly grabbed the gun from her and said, "Go." Before she could say anything, he said, "Go before the police come." His mother was covered in blood splatter; he couldn't have her there when the police arrived.

Without thinking, Mikoto took off as fast as she could. She figured that the police would search for her to arrest her and Itachi wanted to let her get somewhere safe. All she could think was, 'Don't do anything stupid Itachi.'

Sasuke looked at Itachi, who was wiping the gun clean of any finger prints before replacing them with his own, "Itachi what are you doing?" He was concerned for his brother since he seemed to be doing his best to cover up that their mother just killed their father. He wasn't sure what he was planning.

Itachi shot the gun toward the wall, leaving a bullet and making it so that they'd be sure to find gunpowder residue on his hands. "It'll all be fine," Itachi assured him. "Kakashi will be named your guardian," he informed the young boy. "Just don't talk and go along with everything that I say," he said to Sasuke. "Do you promise?" he asked and the youngest Uchiha just nodded. "Good," he sighed, trying not to think if he was doing the right thing. Itachi continued to make it look like he committed the crime, including trying to incriminate himself, making it seem as if he had killed their mother as well. Itachi knew the criminal justice system and how it would play out and he wanted to make sure that if anyone had to take the blame he was the one.

NS

Sasuke wasn't sure what there were more of: Police officers or reporters. The police officers were trying to get him to talk, but he refused. He knew his brother was lying and he wanted no part of it. "Don't worry kid, we're going to contact the person your parents named as your legal guardian and you'll be in a safe home as soon as possible," one of the police officers assured him. "Hopefully we'll find your mother soon, though your brother is telling us that she's dead as well. Do you know where he might have put the body?" The officer was trying to be gentle with Sasuke, but could tell that he wasn't making matters better.

Sasuke didn't say anything; instead he merely shook his head no. He looked down as the police officer escorted him out of the house and past the reporters. They told him he'd be safe at the police station until Kakashi could pick him up. All Sasuke wanted was his brother, but he knew that he wouldn't get that. He looked over to one of the rooms and saw that he was being interrogated to see if he were telling the truth. He knew they were going to have him sign a confession and that would seal his brother's fate.

The cops were trying to be discrete but Sasuke could still hear them talking, "Yeah, the kid confessed. Thirteen and he killed both of his parents. He still won't tell where his mother is." Everyone knew that Itachi was a prodigy, which was the only reason that they were able to believe that he'd committed the crime.

The other cop's eyes widened, "Wow, it's like nothing I've ever seen. It's unbelievable. But he signed the confession, right?" The first cop nodded. "I can't believe it. Do you think they'll prosecute him as an adult? He could get 25 to life if they do." He had committed murder, even more so it was supposedly premeditated, and there was a very good chance that he'd be tried as an adult. Sasuke was ready to cry but all he could remember was his father telling him that men don't cry.

"They could to make an example out of him," the other responded. "I just feel bad for the brother, now he has no real family, only that pervert Kakashi," he said filled with sympathy for the boy. Nobody seemed to take Kakashi seriously and most wondered why the Uchihas would list him as the guardian. They didn't know how much the man actually contributed to the Uchiha Corporation.

Sasuke frowned at their words, he didn't like the idea that Itachi could get a life sentence for something he didn't do. He found himself hating his mother in that moment and angry with Itachi for taking the blame. 'Why'd they have to leave me all alone?' he wondered, just wishing for some real family to comfort him in a time like this.

"Kakashi's here," a new cop said to him with a smile as he escorted the silver-haired man into the room. He didn't expect an answer; Sasuke had been silent since they brought him in. It was almost like he had become a mute.

Kakashi frowned at the boy. He knew everything about the Uchihas, even the bad, and he truly doubted Itachi had done what he said he did. "Ready to go Sasuke?" he asked. The boy just nodded, it was obvious that a piece of him had broken with the disappearance of his mother and the persecution of his brother. "Don't worry Sasuke, it'll be okay," he tried to assure the young boy, though Sasuke didn't seem convinced.

TBC…

So, what do you think so far? Good, bad, horrible? Let me know….should I continue?