And so... This is the reaction of the Family and Sasuke to Itachi's decision to go to war. Remember that Itachi is eighteen. Be warned that my fics take a (ridiculously) long time to set the scene, and we're still setting the scene here...

Metamorphosis

Chapter VIII

Priorities

"Action expresses priorities." - Mahatma Gandhi.

It was August, just after Sasuke had turned thirteen, that Itachi had announced his decision in front of the family.

That hot, humid day in August, just happened to be his father's birthday; the time, more precisely, was his father's birthday feast. The table had been set in preparation: a large turkey in the middle, on of his favourites, with potatoes and stuffing and ham. It had all looked so delicious that Sasuke hadn't been able to help his mouth watering. And yet, they weren't able to touch any of the food until his father had come home.

Even on days like that, he was always working. Working to keep their families stable. Working to keep their fortune safe. Working to keep them safe. In a way, Sasuke had always admired his father; in a different way from how he had always admired Itachi.

And so they waited for him to come home. And he did come home, eventually - a quarter past six, looking exhausted but still smiling at the sight of all of his family gathered around a delicacy-covered dining room table. Everyone was there: from Shisui, to Obito, to his aunt Uruchi. Well, maybe not everyone - but definitely all of the immediate family. Definitely enough people to bear witness. Itachi had always chosen his battle venues wisely.

But Sasuke still hadn't known that it was a battlefield.

At the beginning of the dinner, everyone was smiling; laughing. The grins on their faces were welcoming, creating a peaceful ambience all around the room - Sasuke was positive that even he slipped a smile. He didn't notice, however, of the fact that Itachi looked somewhat grim - and he almost always looked somewhat grim - but that day, he looked grimmer than usual. Grim enough that it should have sent alarms tingling in the back of Sasuke's conscience, but it didn't, since he was too focused on what had been happening in front of him.

"Welcome back, honey," his mother was the first to greet his father. Her warm black eyes softened his father's own - and he would've had his mother's eyes if his weren't so cold. "How was work?"

"Same as always," was the answer that he returned. Fugaku had always been reluctant to tell Mikoto about the family 'business' - honestly, it was something Sasuke could understand. He too, wouldn't want his warm and gentle mother to be involved with things such as gambling and the underworld. It would have broken her heart; and even though Sasuke instinctively knew that, he was never able to understand why.

After some meaningless, mundane chatter, they all settled themselves onto the table. His father, who was evidently hungry, raised his glass to summon a toast. It had been loud; so loud that it left Sasuke's ears to tingle slightly, but that would have been obvious with the amount of people that were there.

Afterwards, the dining table went silent as everyone began to dig in. Traditionally, with this amount of people, chatter was limited to one conversation so everyone would be able to hear what the other was talking about. Of course, there were topics that were forbidden - like the business, or details of a personal relationship of another person. Everything else was generally fair game.

And so, his father began with the most common topic - at the time - that was circulating around Konoha, and possibly the world: the war. "The damn Sound! If we don't stop them now, the world will be thrown into chaos!" He probably should have, but he didn't notice the way Itachi tensed, stopping mid-bite.

"I heard that they're brutally torturing the war criminals!" Very eagerly, Obito couldn't help but chime in.

"Well, I heard that they're using the for experiments - forbidden ones!" Another Uchiha declared, eyes lit up in silent wonder.

"Now, now, children," his father scolded, tone biting (and he said children, even though Obito was in his twenties). "This is an adult conversation - very serious. This is happening to the soldiers we sent!"

But it all must have seemed very far away to them, as they snickered to themselves - obviously, as no one they knew had gone to war, they had not yet suffered the consequences. But... They chose to be ignorant to what was happening around them. If they chose that, it was their own damn fault if they died because of their stupidity - no one else's. Sasuke knew this, having had only thirteen years of life experience. He wondered what Itachi might have thought, who was both more intelligent, and older.

"Well, there's no point worrying about it dear - it should die down soon." His mother, like always, saved the day with her calming smile and cool manner.

"Not unless someone takes down Orochimaru..." A faint mutter, followed by agreement, could be heard from the end of the table. Mikoto sent them a sharp look, and they immediately quieted down, suddenly reminded that she was the woman who had married the Don - and obviously not for no reason.

They had been in the middle of their dinner before his father had asked the opening lethal question.

"So, Itachi, how's university? You're not only the youngest in the class, you're in the best university in the country and number one in the department! I'm proud of you, my boy!" Suddenly, a very uncomfortable feeling settled upon Sasuke's chest, and he could feel a dark cloud of emotions threatening to overcome him. Was he invisible? He had also gotten into a very excellent middle school (the same one Itachi had went to)! So what that Itachi skipped one or two grades! So what that Itachi was older! Wasn't Sasuke Fugaku's child, too?

He threw Itachi a dirty look, seething inwardly at the attention he was getting. Sasuke wasn't stupid, he was very aware that he would never be able to measure up to Itachi, but that didn't mean that they could just rub it in his goddamn face- "About that. I'm going to take a leave of absence." Itachi successfully interrupted his trail of thought.

Suddenly, the room had gone very quiet, and it was so silent that one would have been able to hear a pin drop. Finally, Obito broke the ice with an awkward laugh. "Y-you're joking, right?"

"I'm afraid not," and Itachi continued to take a mouthful of ham, chewing and swallowing slowly, as if the situation and the flabbergasted expressions didn't bother him at all. He was completely nonchalant.

Sasuke hadn't been able to comprehend what the hell he was talking about for another five more minutes.

And neither had anyone else, honestly. They just sat silent and bewildered as Itachi continued to eat his food. Finally, when his father had come out of his shock, he angrily said, "What are you talking about? Just what the hell are you talking about? What do you mean, a leave of absence?"

"A leave of absence is when a student pauses their education. It often happens for various reasons." Sasuke could count on one hand the amount of times he'd seen Itachi make his father mad - two. And including this, it was now three.

"I know what a leave of absence is, Itachi," Fugaku said, looking and sounding oddly calm. Sasuke couldn't help but flinch - his father had a way of exploding after putting on an air of control. "But I'm asking you, rather nicely, since I would rather not argue in front of the family... What the fucking HELL does that mean?"

"Now that wasn't very nice," Itachi said drily, and Sasuke couldn't help but wonder why Itachi was purposely riling his father up. Maybe he was secretly... a masochist? It'd make sense...

"You - you! You! YOU!" Fugaku had gone red in the face, and his eyes looked murderous. Even though the anger wasn't directed at them, everyone couldn't help but flinch... Everyone except Itachi, who just impassively took another bite out of his dinner.

"Now, Itachi," Mikoto interrupted, her voice trembling. "Please tell me what you're talking about."

"If you insist," Itachi finally put his fork down, and Sasuke couldn't help but admire at how tranquil he seemed. "I am going to war."

The family exploded in mutters then, and Fugaku paled, understanding where exactly he was. He had already gotten so angry - calming down now and saying he would deal with Itachi later would make him seem weak to the rest of the family. It was obvious that this was what Itachi had wanted from the start - to corner their father into not protesting about his decision. It wasn't until Sasuke had turned sixteen that he realised that - but that was beside the point.

"W-why?" Mikoto looked fearful, tears threatening to emerge from her eyes. "Why do you want to - w-want to...?"

"I love my country," Itachi answered, looking completely convinced in his belief. So controversial to the cacophony that was happening around him. "Enough to fight for it."

"How noble," his father said, and it sounded like a sneer. "But what if you die? What about the family?" Fugaku had been echoing his own thoughts, and suddenly Sasuke wondered why he was being so quiet. And then it hit him that his brother might die.

"Yes, Itachi, what about the family? What about us? And why - why did you bring this up on Father's birthday?" His normally cold eyes plead with Itachi, wanting him to pause, to reconsider his decision. If he were like other boys, he might have been happy that his brother would become a hero. That was if he were like other boys - naive, and stupid. No matter how jealous he was of Itachi, Sasuke didn't want him to die.

But Itachi ignored his gaze, instead putting his napkin on his plate, and reaching for the glass of water. "You know, Sasuke. And I'm going to go to war. I love my country, and I won't be stopped." The Uchiha around him burst into angry mutters, but Sasuke couldn't hear a thing. He couldn't, because he felt numb as he realised that the Family - the thing all Uchiha stood for - their number one priority - was never Itachi's priority.

And of course, everything happened as Itachi said it would - because they weren't able to stop him.

Kind of rushed ending. Oh well. Kinda long chapter. Wasn't expecting a conversation to turn out that long O.o

Review! Aurora.