A/N: Hello everyone! Long time no see! I am terribly sorry. I know that one, it's been months since I updated this story and two, I said that I was going to update this for Itachi's birthday and now it's like ELEVEN DAYS LATE! Forgive me…It was harder trying to write this than I thought. I also apologize again if this chapter appears rushed in any way or just too corny for its own good. I actually really want to finish this story since it's been like a year since I published it but there are still so many things that need to be done. Like, as most of you has already noticed, the return of the Akatsuki and by the end of this chapter, there is another problem you will all probably be screaming at me about.
Anyhow, I do NOT OWN ANY of the Naruto characters or the story itself. There are times I seriously wish I did so I can see more Sasuke and/or Itachi but I'm learning to be patient with Kishimoto since he's actually doing a better job than me on updating. Thank you for those who have reviewed and are still loyal to this story, even though I'm certain that to many of you, this story fell off the face of the earth…Now please enjoy and there is a game question at the end.
Ch. 26: I Am Lost Without You
"Sasuke, where is Itachi?" Naruto asks his protector, nothing but pure seriousness in his azure eyes. But Sasuke, like how he's been treating to everything else around him, just ignores him. At the moment, both vampires are in the library since Naruto is supposed to be on his study time but instead of doing that, the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki is trying to interrogate his protector as the vampire prince is gazing out the window again while sitting on the windowsill.
To Naruto, ever since whatever happened between Sasuke and his brother, Itachi, things have all a sudden gone downhill. After their argument, Sasuke didn't return to Naruto's side. The blonde had to be with Suigetsu, Karin, Juugo, and Kimimaro, since he knows that they together can protect and watch over him just as good as Sasuke could. Though really, he much rather be comforted by Hinata but then he would have to tell her what's troubling him and Sakura would be there on cloud nine. He really doesn't want to deal with that and he doesn't want to worry Hinata either. So he went to the only four people he knows that Sasuke has an undying-love towards his brother and know that the vampire prince is on the verge of mating with someone else because of it. The four of them don't know the truth, like how he does, so it's confusing to them that Sasuke wouldn't just go for it. Naruto would tell them. They deserve to know but he doesn't want to destroy the trust he has with his protector. The prince is more shattered than a broken vase. He doesn't want to hurt him anymore. But then this morning, since Naruto hasn't seen any of the two Uchiha brothers the rest of the day yesterday, he was shocked to hear the rumors of the servants.
"Ne, is it true? Has Itachi-sama really gone missing?"
"I think so. No one has seen him since the match between him and his brother."
"But where has he gone? Sasuke-sama is really depressed. I saw him in the hallway and I was too stunned to walk past him. It was like all of the happiness in the world was just drained out of him. Usually he doesn't acknowledge us servants when we have small encounters, but he acted like the world no longer existed."
"It was the same way with Itachi-sama when I saw him."
"Wait! He's still here?"
"It was yesterday though! When I saw him… I was in the hallway where his room resides and I just saw him quickly walk in and lock himself up for the day. I heard from Miyumi-chan that when she tried to get him to come for dinner, he didn't even respond. She had to peak in to see if he was still there. Then when I was asked to call him down for breakfast, he still didn't respond and he wasn't in his room when I checked. No one else has seen him."
"Do you think that something might have happened between him and Sasuke-sama after the fight? How bad was he when you saw him?"
"It was only a moment when I saw him, but like what you said about Sasuke-sama. He looked completely broken and shattered, like everything that made sense or had meaning in his life was lost. I really hope wherever he is, Itachi-sama is okay."
"Sasuke-sama, too, for both of their sakes."
There was no doubt in Naruto's mind that Sasuke told Itachi the truth about everything. How he was the one who sent the attack on Shisui's village and killed everyone there, all for the sake of keeping his brother to himself because he loved him so much. It's also because of that love that the younger vampire prince is willing to go against his heart and suffer alone to repent. No way Itachi wouldn't act like that if that didn't happen. As soon as Naruto figured that out, he instantly went looking for his protector – not caring at all if he would have to face the wrath of the Uchiha's family youngest son. He found him in the library and the first thing Sasuke said to him was…
"You're late, usuratonkachi."
Naruto didn't realize right away that it was around this time of the day that it's study time for him. If he had realize that earlier and that Sasuke was still willing to act like nothing was wrong, Naruto probably wouldn't have searched the whole castle trying to find him. Why didn't he just find Karin to ask where he is? It's because he was in a rush, she wasn't anywhere nearby when he decided to look for Sasuke, and because he wasn't thinking rationally. Now he's here, the jinchuriki is a bit tired for running all over the place, and the first words that came out of his mouth once he got air back in his lungs again was that question; 'where is Itachi?'
When the raven head didn't respond, Naruto yells, "Sasuke!" to make sure that he heard him.
"I don't know, dope," the prince answers, sounding overly exhausted like he's been asked that question a hundred times today. He doesn't look away from the view of the window as he talks, "I am no longer responsible for his actions. Everything he does is his own choice."
Hearing that made Naruto's eyes widen in realization. "You freed him?"
"Impressive. You've gotten sharper in your common sense."
At this moment, Naruto does not have time for any of his crap. "Sasuke! What happened when I left?"
The prince lets out a sigh before he replies to that. "What are you talking about? If you're refereeing to the rumors those servants were spreading this morning, forget it. They are what they are. Rumors."
This apathetic attitude of his and the longer he tries to ignore the question, the more irritated Naruto becomes. He may not have stood up against Sasuke in the past about this subject but right now, he's reached his limits on being nice. The jinchuriki goes up to his protector and roughly grabs the collar of the guy's shirt. Sasuke could have stopped him but what was the point? One moment, he's looking at the forest around his home in the afternoon light and the next he's face-to-face with the vampire god's host and is looking directly into Naruto's glowing red eyes. The difference in the red eyes between regular vampires and the jinchuriki is Naruto's eyes almost look like cat eyes; vertical skinny pupils that only appear when Naruto is really upset.
"Sasuke, I'm your friend! Don't you dare lie to me! I know something happened between you and Itachi-teme so what is it?"
"And why should I tell you?" the vampire prince asks, now sounding a little angry himself. He pushes the jinchuriki off of him and faces him fully as he asks, "Just because I told you what happened all those years ago, you think that I should tell you everything that happened in my life?"
"As the only person in this castle who knows what happened, you should!" he responds, shouting one more time before lowering his tone so no one else besides the two of them know of this conversation. "Sasuke, you can tell me anything that is on your mind. I am not your enemy and I am not going to judge you. You should know all of that by now since I didn't judge you when you confessed to me when we just met!"
"I was a kid and highly emotional. I could have told my own parents if it was them pestering me on the other side of the door instead of you! Hell! I could have confessed to some other random servant!"
"Uchiha Sasuke, as your god, I demand that you tell me what happened!"
When he heard that order, Sasuke's mouth shut, his eyes widen with shock, and his mouth became a firm straight line. He didn't expect Naruto to say that and right now, the blonde doesn't look at all guilty for using that power that he would rather never use. Sasuke pushed him that far and now he has to pay the price for it. Because of that cursed power right now, he doesn't feel like keeping what happened a secret any longer. He feels like pouring out everything to his god.
"I..Itachi and I…we talked," he struggled to say. 'Damnit, Naruto!' "I told him."
Naruto nods to show that he understands. "Is that all?" he asks.
"What do you mean 'that's all'? That's all there is to it!" Sasuke replies instead of just answering the question. That didn't please the Vampire God.
"Sasuke, it may have been easy for me when you told me because, like you said, you were a highly emotional child at the time. But for you to tell him the truth, something else must have happened for you to even consider telling him."
God, this guy is so annoying! The more he pushes it, the more irritated Sasuke becomes. That once calm, emotionless façade Sasuke was using earlier this day has gone out the window and ran off to Kyuubi knows where. He responds, "I am giving you the whole reason why he left! That's why you're ordering me to tell what happened, right?"
"Then Sasuke, tell me what else happened!"
And that desire to spill out everything pulls on Sasuke's guts again after he heard that. Naruto is not going to waste time at all arguing about every little thing that his protector says. He's going right to the point and he won't allow any distractions to confuse him. Damn…
"He…He first asked me if I knew," Sasuke answers, really not wanting to but he has no choice. Naruto waits patiently for his protector to continue or to explain what he means by that and that causes the prince to sigh and calm his nerves. No use hiding it anymore. "Obviously, he must have heard our conversation before you left. He confronted me and asked if I knew he was in love with a human. I told him yes and I yelled at him for it. Then he asked me if I loved him." At that point, Naruto's eyes widen when he heard this. As far as he knows, that sounds as good of 'Itachi has also fallen for his brother' as it's going to get. "I lied but that was useless, and when I told him that it wouldn't make a difference if I said 'yes', he said it would change a lot. Then he tried to kiss me but I pushed him away. I told him the same thing I told you. That love is disgusting and that his human deserved to be burned in his village when he took Itachi away from me. Obviously, he got angry and told me I had no right to say that about his lover. I told him that he didn't have the right to lecture me about that. I gave him the full blow of what I thought over the years. Of the pain I felt losing him and…he apologized. Can you believe that?"
Along the line as he was confessing to his blonde friend and his god, he lost his anger, his frustration, and his anxiety. Now he feels nothing but the sorrow that's plagued him for the past twenty years and the self-hate that has also piled up on him. Not to forget the massive amount of each since his brother came back into his life. His eyes and the weak smile that eventually appeared on his face show all of that.
"That guy actually apologized for the pain that I caused for myself. A pain that I deserve, and he goes and apologizes for it? Pathetic, isn't it?"
Seeing him like this, it made Naruto lose all of his anger as well. His eyes have gone back to its natural sky blue color and now they look like small pools of sympathy and pity. "Sasuke-"
"No, wait. Let me finish," the vampire prince quickly interrupts. "You want me to finish, right? There's very little left but it's important. After he apologized, I couldn't take it anymore. This whole time, I wanted him to suffer because he made me this way. I wanted him to pay every second of his life for the wasted years I spent moping over him. But one apology and I realized that wasn't what I wanted." The pitiful crocked smile reappears on his face and he has that same feeling he had before when he admitted his truth to Itachi. That same feeling of wanting to spill everything to the person in front of him. His own feeling and his alone; not something that was commanded of him. "I wanted him to apologize. I wanted him to realize the pain he caused me and beg me for forgiveness for it. Just two little words. Nothing else and he gave it to me. Heh, it would only be right if I told him that I was sorry, too; for acting like how I did and for also causing him pain. His apology made me want to get down on my knees and beg him for forgiveness. I wouldn't care if he killed me. It would only be fit if he did that but when it came to my time to apologize, I couldn't do it. I just told him and acted like I didn't feel guilty about it at all. I wanted him to punish me. Kill me with all the hate he posses, but he didn't. He just became a doll and walked away. He left me to rot in my misery, because death would only be doing me kindness and that's so like the nii-san I know."
Then he looks away. If he can't hide the truth from his god and friend, then the least he can hide away is his own face. He can feel them coming again. His vision is already starting to blur with tears wanting and threatening to fall. But he won't have it. To save the last bit of pride he has left, he hides his face and tries to compose himself in front of the open window; feeling the warm rays on his ivory skin and cursing the sun barrier for not allowing him to be burned to ash.
Almost like that time in the trial, Naruto just looks at his protector's form with nothing but pure sympathy and pain – as if feeling a small bit of that pain the prince is feeling right now. But he can never fully understand. Just like how Sasuke said yesterday, Naruto has someone who loves him just as much as he loves her. He doesn't know what it's like to live on the sidelines and watch your most precious person give their heart to another like you're no longer there. Then in your rage and pain, you hurt that person so they can feel the pain they caused you. Before you knew it, you open your eyes and you see that person in so much pain you want nothing more than to suffer more than them because it's a pain you deserve. Instead of them becoming the cold, heartless monster that no longer cares, you become that cold, heartless monster and you hate yourself for it. You hate it more than the love you have for the person you hurt.
But can a pain such as that possibly compare to the pain of being offered a chance with your most precious person when they didn't even know what you've done? It would have been the same as living a lie; living on as if nothing happened between you and all is forgiven when no words of apology was ever given. Sasuke lived like that for three days with his brother and Itachi was even considering of starting over with a new love.
That will never happen now. The truth is out and he left. Probably never to return unless with every intention of killing them all. The truth destroyed all chance of happiness for both him and the young prince. That is the pain Naruto sees from Sasuke's back. That is the pain he is trying to conceal.
"Sasuke, as your god, it's okay to cry in front of me."
When he heard that, Sasuke's eyes instantly widen in shock and his breath hitched. In no time at all, the tears he tried so hard to hold back, even the tears that he refused himself to shed yesterday, come leaking out; rolling down his face one at a time. His shock deepens when he can feel them coldly coming down. He doesn't turn around to yell at the Kyuubi Jinchuriki to ask why the hell he did that. No, that wouldn't help his pride in the least. But he does raise his hand to his face to be sure that he's really crying.
"What…" is all he can say, really. Those hot tears against his skin, his eyes burning with much more, the tightness in his throat, and the crystals that drip from his chin and down to the ground all release years of his sorrow, years of his angst, years of his stress; bit by bit.
Naruto saw that too. He approaches his protector and hugs him from behind. He knows that the prince doesn't want him to look at him right now. Sasuke didn't expect this in his moment of bewilder as he can feel the blonde's arms tighten their grip a little more as they're wrap around his torso.
"I've seen you cry before. You don't have to hide from me but if you don't want me to see, then I won't. Just don't hold it in anymore. I hate it when you're in pain," he pleads him. Hearing his voice and the way that he spoke, Sasuke can tell that Naruto is on the verge of crying himself. The only difference between the two of them is Naruto won't hesitate to let his tears fall. In moments' time, he will cry and he'll be crying for him. A sinner who no longer deserves sympathy, pity, or love.
Instead of shoving him off and telling him to get lost, like how Sasuke did yesterday, the prince just stands there and more tears keep coming out. It's like his pain just became a running faucet on his face and now Naruto just turned the knob a little more to let more tears come flowing out. At the moment, Sasuke cannot tell when it'll be the end of them and now being given permission to do so, he's not going to try and stop them now. It's just like that time all those years ago. He's in the arms of the boy who ordered him out of room just so he could cry when really he wanted someone else to be the one to comfort him and it was after the blonde spoke nothing but kindness to him – kindness he needed but didn't want. Now here he is again in those same arms with a tear-covered face and being spoken words of unwanted comfort.
'Naruto…thank you.'
Both of Sasuke's hands rise up to his face and now trying to hide them from the world itself, he covers his eyes with his hands and silently sobs into them.
'Itachi…I'm sorry.'
Soon his legs became too weak to hold him any longer. He collapses to the ground and Naruto comes down with him; not even for a moment letting his friend go. Tears are already silently running down his face while Sasuke makes small sniffling sounds and small cries of his pain.
'I'm so, so sorry. Nii-san, Where are you?'
After greeting the ash and the char wood, and nature responding back to him, Itachi just stands there a moment longer with his doll-like, reserved expression. Here he is, in front of his dead lover's grave, in which he hasn't visited since he made it twenty years ago, and for the moment, he has nothing to say. What can he say? Sorry that he has never visited, even when he might have been in the area during his vampire hunting missions? But it could be a start, right? It just feels weird to him. The last time the vampire prince was here, he carried his lover's body to the old shack where they first met and he set the place on fire – sending Shisui's soul to the stars up above. He also burned the shack out of his own selfish reasons. He didn't want anyone else to use it when he felt as those the shacked belonged to him and Shisui. It was their special place and no one else's.
Standing before the grave, Itachi can still remember that day as clear as if it were yesterday. The crackling sounds of fire as it burned the village to the ground, the revolting and irresistible scent of blood and roosting bodies, and the very heat of hell. Itachi could also still remember what he did after Shisui died. When he died, all the vampire prince could do was hold him. He didn't deny the reality that his lover was dead, not when his body was so close and he could not hear his heart beat. He held on to him as if he were holding onto life, sense, and meaning itself. Maybe he held him for hours or maybe even a few minutes. Even now, he can't remember how long he held on. The heat of the fires being so close was what kept the body so warm, even its blood. Itachi fell so deep in his grief that he let his instincts control him. He went onto autopilot and the first thing his instincts wanted to do was drink Shisui's dead blood.
The blood of the dead doesn't do any harm to a vampire, so long as it's still warm. Cold blood is what paralyzes them since their bodies are already naturally cold. The only thing that isn't is the blood they take from their victims; helping their organs mobilize and function so they can continue existing on this earth. That's why a vampire needs blood and if they drink cold blood, then they'll become paralyze and greatly weakened. Injecting that blood is the same as being a container for an extremely hot substance mix with something cold and drinking that cold is the same as being in an ice land and eating frozen food. The body can't mobilize that way, nor can it handle it for long periods of time.
Itachi drank Shisui's blood that night. As a vampire, he naturally had the desire for it but he knew that if he bit Shisui, he would have turned him into a vampire if he stopped himself from killing him. But that wasn't the only reason why Itachi drank his blood. In his own naïve mind, still irrational by love, he wanted Shisui's blood inside of him. Like a fantasy of still feeling that warmth he loved so much flowing inside of him; taking a part of Shisui with him so they can always be together, even though he would always have his heart.
After drinking Shisui's blood, Itachi took his body to the shack and burned it. He made it his grave and he watched it all burn to the ground. Then the sun came out and he had to hide away before he could set out to what he decided to do. He decided to allow the animal within to do what it wanted. When you take a loved one away from an animal, the animal gets angry and when it's angry, it wants revenge.
From that one vampire he killed in Shisui's village, he knew he wasn't working alone and he knew where to find the rest of them. He infiltrated the Sound Vampire's hideout without warning or hesitation and he killed them. Four other vampires – one woman, twins, and one fat man. He ignored their cries, their pleas of mercy, and their excuses. He cut them all up until they were nothing but mincemeat in their hideout, he watched the life leave their eyes, he watch them paralyze themselves with fear until his sword met their heads, he was drenched in their blood, and he decorated the walls with it as well. He did all of that without blinking and without a single ounce of remorse.
"We didn't attack for no good reason! We were hired to do it and given permission to carry it out!"
That was actually the last cry he heard before he chopped of that vampire's head; and like someone just splashed cold water on him, he woke up from his high on revenge and actually stopped and think. Those five Sound Vampires only attack human villagers when hired to do so, rather it was by the right or the wrong guys. They didn't care so long as they get payment – like straight out blood or money to go to some giant city and buy their food; prostitutes, runaways, or kidnapped slaves. If those Sound Vampires attacked humans, they would only attack what they need to survive. Not just for the hell of it. Besides, they left way too much blood to attack on their own accord. However, recalling all of that became too late. Itachi killed them and as far as he knew, he had to clean up. He burned their hideout with their bodies in it and that was actually the very same night he met the Akatsuki leader.
Leader didn't attack him on first sight. In fact, he tried to have a pleasant conversation with the vampire prince. Praising him for killing the very vampires he decided to kill that night. He was the one who re-lighted the flames of revenge in Itachi's heart; that man who read him like an open book and explained to him exactly what he was feeling and thinking. Looking at it theoretically, it was no surprise really that Itachi went with him and became the hunter he was until a few days. Now everything in his head is all messed up. With the words he was told, the decisions he swore to do, and the feelings in his own heart, he doesn't know what to do anymore or what to believe. He was so sure before but now… It's a battle between his emotions and his honor inside of him and like all the times when he was troubled, he came to Shisui seeking for answers.
"Forgive me, Shisui. For only visiting you now after all these years," he starts. "I swore to myself I wouldn't come here until I avenged your death. I know you told me to go on with my life but I always believed that without you, there was no longer any meaning to why I should exist. Until now, it was always revenge but recently I…" For the moment, he stops himself to gather his thoughts. He knows talking to a grave is nothing like talking to the actual person. It's unrealistic to think he's actually communicating to the dead and really, it's a waste of his time and air. But that doesn't subside the need to talk to him and for childishly believing for one moment, Shisui can still hear him. "Visiting your grave wasn't the first thing I've done after twenty years. I came home but with every intent to kill everyone. I'd forgotten I still had a family who were waiting for my return and that I had hurt people precious to me long before I decided to end their misery. They were prepared for my attack and I was captured. Instead of punishing me for all of the vampires I've killed over the years, they only decided to turn me back into a vampire and make my little brother my master. These past few days, my world had gone completely upside down. At first it was ridiculous and unreasonable torture, but I was also receiving kindness and compassion I didn't deserve. The only ones who actually showed me anger and betrayal were people who suffered more deeply than anyone else. One because of a lost love my organization took away and another because I left…and he was the cause of it.
"Shisui…Sasuke, my little brother…he was the one who sent the attack on your village. A child who lived for fourteen human years killed you because he loved me more than anything. He thought you were taking me away from him and blinded by love and rage, he did the extreme. When I was there and without him realizing it, he wanted my forgiveness. He knew what he did was wrong and he suffered all these years because of it. He made it his drive to became someone who I at first didn't recognize but was complete in awed at. I even…I even fell for him before I knew the truth. Shisui, I'm so sorry but even as I'm standing before you now, I still feel it. No one can ever replace you but I love him. I don't know how or why it happened in only a short amount of time but I can't get him out of my mind…or his kiss.
"But I can't just forgive him and forget. He killed you and your village, and everything I've done were the aftermaths of his actions. Yet, I've seen the pain he's in and how he keeps making himself suffer for it. But I still feel pain, too. I can't just forget it. We experience it for a reason, right? How can we just let it go? Although…I…"
Drip
Itachi gasps when he realizes what just happened. His mind was in denial but his hand reached up to his face to make sure. Pressing his hand against his cheek, his eyes widen even more in shock as he can feel the wet trail his tear left behind. He's…crying?
If knowing that Sasuke hasn't cried in twenty years is a shock, then knowing that Itachi hasn't cried since he was four vampire-years old is enough to make anyone ask their doctor to prescribe heart medication. When Itachi was four, or rather eight, he saw a battle of war when he wasn't supposed to. It was an accident for him to see, but right there and then he saw what vampires were really capable of and it forever changed his mind into thinking that vampires like himself are the real monster; not vampire hunters. He didn't even cry when Shisui died. He wanted to and it felt only right that he should have, but he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, tears wouldn't come out and yet, he's talking to Shisui now about Sasuke and a tear finally broke free. It was one but that alone is astonishing enough for this vampire prince. Now all of his emotions – his grief, his sorrow, his agony, all of it are coming to the surface and all it took was one tear to break his icy barrier.
'I can't hate him,' he concludes in his head, lowering his face so his bangs could cover his eyes and gritting his teeth together as if trying to keep it together and keep his emotions where they belong; inside. How he is, Itachi doesn't think he can still talk and, for the sake of his pride, only allow one tear to fall. He can feel more probably just waiting for him to crack and come flowing out of his eyes like a never ending waterfall. But he can't. After so long of never crying, he just can't bring himself to sob like a little girl now. 'It's been him all along, hasn't it? I don't want to be separated from him anymore. I want to hold him in my arms and never let him go. I don't want him to suffer anymore. But how can I forgive your murderer? Shisui, I….I'm so lost…I can't…'
"AHHHH! Someone help me!"
Hearing that little cry, Itachi is suddenly pulled back from his thoughts. He slowly and almost casually looks over his shoulder towards that sound and he can hear more cries of someone, or something, that sounds like a child.
"Someone? Anyone? Onii-chan, help me!"
Not too far from Shisui's grave is a cliff. A cliff that's over fifty feet high above ground level and hanging from the edge of that cliff is a boy. A human boy that could be no older than the age of seven or eight. Gingerbread orange shaggy hair just barely touching his shoulders and a cap on his head. He has on a dirtied white buttoned shirt with several buttons actually missing and some tears here and there, tucked in a long brown pants that's just as dirty and even more tears than the shirt. Shoes that are scratched and old looking and one sock on his feet and he has a darker brown jacket on cooking his body more than it should be. His emerald green eyes first wide and frightful until he closes them shut from the pain in his arms of holding his own weight on the edge this stiff dirt pile. He tried to use his feet to help himself up but every time he pushed off the wall of dirt, his feet would just slide off or knock down some rocks that would fall to the ground that await him for his crushing death. The boy whimpered and tears of fear and panic peek and glossed his eyes. He didn't want to die but no one he knows of is around. Yet, that doesn't stop him from screaming for help.
"ONII-CHAN, HELP ME!"
He tries to kick himself up again but when he slipped again, his body shifted something in his clothes. The fear and the panic disappeared on his face for a moment as he can feel an object shift and then slide down his body. Before that object slips past his waist, he quickly releases one hand from the cliff and catches it. With his clothes still hiding that object under his clothes, he now has a better grip on it and makes sure that it doesn't end like those rocks beneath him.
But now he has a problem.
He only has one hand holding him between life and death…
…and he's looking down.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Crack
At last, the edge of the cliff, the only thinking holding him in mid air, has crumbled and this little boy now begins to fall just like the dirt and rocks falling with him and those that have fallen earlier than him.
"EEEYYYYYAAAAA! ONII-CHAN!"
But today is not going to be the day he is to die.
Already fifteen feet down, Itachi leaps from the edge of the cliff falls straight down for the child; have using his legs to push him off the edge to help him go down much quicker. Seeing him with tears already dripping from his eyes, the boy's emerald eyes widen in surprise of seeing someone purposely jump off the cliff and actually coming straight for him. In no time at all, Itachi reaches the boy and holds him close before quickly shifting his position from falling face first to the ground to an upright position. All the while, the boy instantly clings onto this mysterious man and clenches his eye lids shut from the sudden position change. By the time they both reach the ground, they didn't go splat or their bodies becoming nothing more than piles of jelly. In fact, Itachi landed gracefully and effortlessly on the ground without any harm whatsoever. Like a cat falling out of tree, lands on its feet without any harm or effort.
Once his feet were stable on solid ground, Itachi turns his attention to the little human boy he now has quivering in his arms; having not loosened his grip on Itachi's clothes nor open his eyes to see if he's alive or dead. "You can open your eyes now."
Slowly and rather hesitant if he should believe this stranger who helped him, the boy slightly opens his eyes and then blinks them wide open when he saw the trees and the sunshine shining through them. First he's shocked that he's seeing these new surroundings and then he looks at himself to see if he really is solid flesh and not some gucky mess. He's alive and instantly he turns to the person holding him with a big happy smile on his face.
"Thank you, mister. You saved me." But then his rapturous moment is instantly gone when he looks at the face of his savoir. With some concern but mostly curiosity, he asks "Mister, are you alright? Your eyes are red."
What he means by red is not the red irises that vampires would have when they're agitated or hungry but rather Itachi's eyes are bloodshot. He didn't sleep last night and he practically just had a small crying moment in front of his dead lover's grave. It was only a tear but that doesn't excuse the stress in his eyes that this child can obviously see.
Instead of rubbing his eyes or touching his face at all to prove to this child that he had been crying, Itachi only answers, "I'm fine," with his doll like expression hiding anything else this child might see. "What are you doing out here on your own?"
Being distracted with the question, the boy answers, "I'm trying to get back to my onii-chan. I'm lost."
"I see." From looking at the small boy in his arms, Itachi looks up at the cliff. Trying to walk back up there will take too long and just by looking at this little boy's face, Itachi can tell the boy would only get lost if he tells him how he can get back up there. He just has that look on his face that tells him that. The average time to get back up there will take at least an hour but for a child and the possibility of getting lost, the sun might set long before he reaches it and the boy will be an easy target to other vampires; vampires that would love to get a taste of this boy's innocent, pure blood. "Do you know how to get home if I take you to that cliff?"
"Um…I think so."
"Alright. Hold on tight then." Like he isn't clinging onto him enough.
Before the boy could ask anything at all, Itachi leaps into the air towards the cliff. The boy lets out a yelp and closes his eyes again as he regains his death grip on Itachi's shit. He's too scared to see but he can feel the wind flapping through his clothes and rushing through as much hair as visible while Itachi lands on one part of the cliff and instead of slipping like the boy, he leaps again and rises up higher and higher. Just like landing, Itachi rises back up to the level the two of them were originally at without any difficulty or sweat. He lands gracefully on the ground and again turns back to the boy in his arms. "We've arrive."
Opening his eyes again but not as hesitant as before, the child does as he was told and his face perks up when he recognizes the scenery around them. "Wow! Amazing! That was so cool!" he exclaims his voice and face expressing everything he just said. When he turns back to Itachi again, that big happy smile is back on his face. "Ne, ne, big brother! Are you a vampire?"
Hearing this catches Itachi slightly off guard.
"Yes. I am. You're not afraid?"
The boy shakes his head before answering. "No! I think vampires are really cool. Especially the one in this journal!"
Now this is…out of the ordinary, for Itachi anyway. He could be used to this kind of reaction from the humans working inside the Uchiha castle but not outside of it.
The human child, with that smile still plastered on his face, goes to inside his raggedy clothes and pulling out of his jacket, he takes out a book that looks more worn out than his clothes and a lot older. But surprisingly, it appears to still be in pretty good shape. This journal, as depleted of its once original beauty with the dirt smudges and the pages yellow and crumble looking with age, also has some burn marks on the edge of the cover, some on the spin, and mostly the pages. That's what catches Itachi's attention the most. Those burn marks…
"Where did you get that?" he asks.
"I found it!" the boy answers, now acting like he's on cloud nine with no fear in his voice or face whatsoever. "It's the story of a vampire hunter falling in love with a vampire. My brother already read it to me but I ask him to read to me every night. He doesn't understand why I love it so much when he says that it has contents I really shouldn't be listening to."
This child…he…he's something.
A bit unsure about him, and really a bit unsure of the whole thing, Itachi tells him, "However, the journal already belongs to someone else. You should return it."
"I would but I know that owner is already dead. I found it in an abandoned village."
An abandoned village? As far as the vampire prince knows, there is only one abandoned village near this area and not only has it all been burned to the ground that really no trace of anything should be left, it was a village that harbored no vampire hunters. It was just a once normal, peaceful village.
Right?
"I see. Do you know where to go from here?"
When the boy heard Itachi ask that, it caught him off guard. The child lowers the journal and on his face, the smile has left him. He mumbles, "Yes."
Upon hearing that answer, Itachi tells him, "Then this is where we part." He lowers the boy down on the ground and the child quickly looks up at him as he says, "You should return to your brother before it gets dark. Other vampires will come out by then. Vampires worst than me." Then he turns around to leave.
But then…"Wait!" A small hand grabs the end of Itachi shirt, stopping him briefly so he may look back down at the child who had once a joyful smile and now a sad and lonely frown on his young face. "I know the way but…please don't leave me! I…I don't want to be alone anymore. At least until I find my brother, please!" Now he even looks tempted to cry now if Itachi tells him 'no'.
However seeing this boy pleading for his company, his voice sounding soft and fragile, his green eyes facing down as if almost ashamed to show them, and his little grip preventing Itachi to leaves reminds him so much of Sasuke when he would beg for his brother not to leave him. It's not the same but it's similar, especially when the boy himself appears the same age Sasuke was when Itachi left him. Seeing him and making the comparison, it stirs something in the older Uchiha prince.
"Are you absolutely sure you want the company of a vampire?"
Before the boy could even blink, Itachi is kneeling before him to his height and they're face-to-face. Their faces actually so close to each other it stilled the child where he stands even when he's not looking in blood-shot eyes but the eyes belonging to that of a hungry vampire, gazing into the very depths of his soul like a sharp knife stabbing deep into his flesh. He couldn't move and he couldn't turn his eyes away from Itachi's. Not even when the vampire's ice cold hand rise up to his face and brushed its fingers against his warm flesh. "Yes, I saved you but maybe I did that so I could devour your blood while your heart still beats. To me, you are nothing but food and of best quality. A human's blood is best when it's young and still harbors its innocence." Opening his mouth a little wider, Itachi's fangs have lengthened to prove his words. Anyone at this point would have been scared out of their minds. Their brains screaming for them to run as far away from him as fast as they can to stay alive, but their legs would be buckling and refusing to move.
"If you wanted to have eaten me, you would have done it already. Not wait to tell me."
But this kid isn't scared at all. This child is completely unaffected by it at all. He was just surprised that Itachi pulled a super fast one on him. Seeing this reaction instead of what he expected catches Itachi off guard but what really surprises him is the small smile that appeared on the child's face after he said that.
"Big brother is a kind vampire because big brother is trying to scare me away with a valuable lesson. I really like you."
What…in the…world…?
Seeing that this isn't going to work, Itachi drops his little scary face and backs away from him. "You're a strange child." 'Just like…'
Just like Shisui.
All Itachi could think when that idea came to his head is, 'Are all the humans in this area not afraid of vampires?' However making that comparison this time, it distresses the prince. First this kid reminds him of his once innocent and foolish little brother and now he has the same thoughts and actions towards a vampire that Shisui had; the ones that fascinated Itachi so much.
When several moments of silence past, that brought Itachi back from his thoughts. This boy just doesn't seem the type to stay quiet for as long as he had. So when Itachi looked at him, he sees the boy staring at him. Just staring. "Why are you staring at me?"
As if caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the boy's face flushes red with embarrassment and he lets out, "Ah! I'm sorry and I know that I've already called you 'big brother' but I have to ask you something. Are you really a man or are you a woman?"
Huh?
Not only do they have the same lack of danger to probably one of the most dangerous creatures on the face of the planet but they have the same confusion on determining what Itachi's gender is at first sight. Now Itachi really wants to know what is wrong with humans now-a-days. Why can't they act like normal humans who scream and cower in fear of even the very word 'vampire' or feel the need to kill the blood-thirsty parasite like the Akatsuki? But no… Shisui and this boy have to act like bug-nerds examining one!
Just in case the child would start explaining why he's confused on Itachi's gender when he's asked why he thinks like that, trying to sound as normal as possibly the vampire prince answers, "I'm a man. Why would you ask such a question after you called me 'big brother'?" But even he can tell that his voice sounds too dead to be considered 'normal'. His whole body is practically frozen with disbelief for even being asked that.
The boy answers him, "I just have to make sure! I know I called you 'big brother' but maybe you were just letting me call you that because you're so kind!"
'Believe me, if I was really a girl, I would've say something.' As that thought passes through Itachi's mind, he wasn't frozen anymore. He just has his face half hidden away from his hand and he has a brow twitching in annoyance. This child even has that same ability to make Itachi's patience become rather low. Maybe it's because of their ignorance or maybe their stupidity.
"Ne, ne," the boy calls, as he tugs on Itachi's sleeve. Dare he does, the Uchiha prince looks back at the child and he asks, "what's big brother's name?"
Finally! A normal question.
"Itachi."
However as soon as he answered, the boy's face lost his embarrassment, his eyes became the size of entrée plates, and his mouth nearly became just as wide as he lets out a big and loud gasp. Now what? "Then…! Then…! Then…!"
"If you have something to say, please say it."
"Then you must be the vampire in this book!"
What the?
This really catches Itachi off guard, even more so when the boy raises the journal in his arms again. "Pardon?" he asks, to be absolutely sure he was told what he think he was told.
Now waving the book in the air, the boy frantically answers him, "This journal! This journal! The owner talked about meeting a vampire that was beautiful beyond compare but by his personality and looks, it was hard to tell at first if the vampire was really a girl or a boy! The vampire's name was 'Itachi' and the owner…" Losing his train of thought, it showed on the child's face. After taking a short moment to try and remember it, he gives up and opens the book. "The owner…" Flipping through the pages since he ended up in the middle of the book and he quickly makes his way to the front, and he found the name. "The owner's name was Shisui!"
The second he said that name, Itachi's doll dead face instantly inhaled life.
"Let me see that!" he says to the child, almost desperately. He didn't give the boy time to answer or react at all. He just snatched the journal from the child's hands and the first place he looked at was the back of the front cover. Right there it says 'Property of Shisui'. Still not believing it and letting his disbelief become his adrenaline, Itachi flips through the pages like a mad man, searching for the page that will contain the contents of writing of the day they both first met.
Once he found the page, it read, 'Today is probably the most unbelievable day of my life and I know for a fact that if anyone but me reads this, I could be charged with treason and killed. Today, I've met a vampire, and not just any vampire. But the most beautiful, spunkiest vampire I've ever met. I hardly even want to call him a vampire. If he was only a human, I wouldn't be so confused and so annoyed on how I should feel right now. My mind hurts and I feel torn in half. I should have just let the vampire to die in that sunlight but noooo… I had to drag the parasite to an abandoned shed so it wouldn't burst like a water balloon of blood. Again, if anyone else besides me read this, I'm screwed.'
'Impossible!'
"Wait! Sasuke!" Naruto calls after his protector.
Not slowing in his walking or even bothering to look at the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, Sasuke replies, "What do you want, dope?"
"Where are you going? I mean, you need to help me study, right?" Naruto asks, trying to act as normal as he can but he has a gut-pulling feeling that's just screaming to him that whatever Sasuke is planning is not good.
Especially when he replies with that monotone voice of his, "You can study yourself. There is something important I need to discuss with father and mother." And as soon as he said that, Naruto's fears instantly become a reality and he stopped walking from the very shock of it.
Oh no…
"No, wait, Sasuke!" he calls again, now rushing up to his protector's side. "You're not doing what I think you're doing, are you?"
Without hesitation or even a moment to think or depress about it, Sasuke answers, "Probably am."
"Sasuke, you can't!" This time, Naruto grabs Sasuke's sleeve and halts him from walking. Desperately, he pleads, "Just wait a little longer."
"For what?" he finally snaps. Yanking his sleeve away from the blonde's grip, the young Uchiha prince faces the vampire god's host and reminds him, "He's not going to come back on good terms. He's going to come to attack and we need to prepare for it. He's probably already with his organization as we speak, planning strategies and counter-attacks." With that, hopefully, last word, he continues towards his destination and still trying to stop him, Naruto continues his pursuit.
"I know that's not why you're going to see your parents! Sasuke, please don't do this."
"If I am going to die, the least I can do is give my parents what they've been wanting me to do for the past four years. I'm going to mate with Sakura and there is nothing you can do that's going to change my mind."
And there we go. FINALLY! But now we got things to worry about! I told you, you might be shocked with the ending. I betcha most of you are screaming at your computer or phone screens right now, right my loyal ItaSasu fans?
Anyway, so how was it? Bad? Good? Alright for not updating after several months? Let me know. Criticism is welcomed. The new game question is…
If Itachi decides to return home, will he make it in time before or after Sasuke's agreement to Sakura's engagement?
And...(yes, I am having a second question)
Would Itachi return to his home in peace or will he come to kill Sasuke?
Note: the game questions will not be answered until two chapters from now.
Until next time!