Ugh, I am relieved this chapter is done. Though with struggling how to bring Itachi back and the revelation of why Fugaku and Mikoto were killed was involved in how hard it was. Don't criticize me just because I tried and got the final result.
Chapter Eleven
When the Truth Comes Out
Who did this man think he was? He came to stand in front of her, in a public parking lot while it was still daylight, and he claimed she knew nothing about his brother?! And what was more, he had to put the paper in her face, but her fingers were grabbing at it despite herself.
Whatever it is, he doesn't want to say it here at this time, and he said it was for me only. I really don't like this. "When do you want to speak to me?" she asked, looking back up at him, removing her hand from her pocket which made his eye twinkle.
"Well, whenever your next break from work will be. I'm aware you are a part-time assistant at the orthodontist's." His casual mention of her workplace made her a little angrier than before. What was he, still spying after all these years, relentlessly evading the authorities the way he did? If he had gotten into ANBU at only thirteen, that made him a very dangerous genius. Which meant her guard had to be up more than ever. And that meant confiding in her friend when she was home.
"Why do you make it your business to pry into other people's lives behind their backs?" Sakura demanded.
Itachi chuckled and shrugged. "You forget, I entered the special task forces when I just turned into a teenager. I made it my business even to know who my...foolish little brother had as an assistant and got involved with before he lost her." He raised an eyebrow. "Or should I say, you yourself are the bigger fool than Sasuke is at present?"
"Now, look -" He held up his hand to silence her.
"You never answered my question, so I'll tell you. Tomorrow at noon, if that will not be a problem?"
That was the time she finished her classes, and then two hours of free time before work. He's damned good. "...fine. And if I so much as find out you tricked me for my life," she warned, "I'll see you get yours by alerting the authorities."
"Believe me, that won't end well for you. I guarantee you would be in just as much trouble for not notifying them ahead of time that one of the most wanted national criminals is back in their midst." With that, he turned his back to her and started walking away. "Noon, don't forget."
Like hell I would forget. Sakura stared after his retreating form, which slid into a nice-looking dark convertible, which made her think he'd done some undercover spy work since leaving Konoha, was she right? She let her eyes travel down to the address in her hands, which was none other than the local inn. The wind picking up reminded her she needed to get home, or her father would wonder what took her so long. Stuffing the paper into her jeans pocket, Sakura closed the trunk and hurried around to get into the driver's seat.
What made her feel so nauseous that evening after dinner was that she couldn't tell her father about her encounter with Itachi Uchiha.
As soon as she was safely away in her room, and in a hushed tone, she quickly phoned Ino and told her everything. When she was done speaking, Ino's harsh breathing could be heard, but she kept her voice down in case her parents overheard. "...you were visited by Itachi Uchiha."
"Yes! And tomorrow, he wants to see me at the inn. But I don't feel right going by myself. You got time to go with me?"
There was a pause before the answer was yes, and then, "You might as well get some answers if he either killed and just covered his tracks - or he was just framed. But he also knows about his brother if he's watched over him all these years, right? I wouldn't be surprised."
Sakura snorted. "And I thought I had enough trouble with the Uchiha to last a lifetime," she said disgustedly.
"Maybe, but you want your answers, do you? He couldn't come back like this without a reason. My dad always said that a criminal never returns without a purpose. Who knows how it ends," Ino said, and then there was the sound of running water, meaning she was about to get in the shower. Now she realized she could use it herself.
But that also meant that as soon as she would fall asleep, she would think back to that one night and daytime with Sasuke Uchiha - in his bed and then the Jacuzzi. The first time hurt a little before the second got more exciting...and then it was over by fate's cruel hand.
She sometimes took sleeping pills to help herself fall asleep so she wouldn't have to dream, just like when she came home after her mother passed. It helped, but it was also a temporary treatment.
~o~
He had been in Suna, surveying some desert bandits' activity when he received the call from Kabuto. Over the years he would change his number when things would get heated and the authorities would find themselves close to finding out he was behind certain activities as well as the organization he found refuge with when he left his hometown, assuming a new identity in the investigations he was given.
The Akatsuki was an international spy system specializing in protecting from the shadows. The business comprised simply nine of them, some disgraced for the right reasons and others for the wrong ones; the guilty were chosen because of their capabilities, and as long as they were properly supervised, Akatsuki was functioning as a whole.
Itachi Uchiha found himself based on being framed for the murder of his parents. What he had to tell Haruno-san would be the whole of what he heard was spoken around town to this very day.
He NEVER wished this kind of fate on his younger brother, when Sasuke was still only a child. It should never have happened. If anything, he never wanted him to grow up hateful and spiteful of everyone around him as he had for his brother. He hated how the Inuzuka boy drove his precious brother to nearly kill himself; he even had the proof. It was well-known, in fact, yet Inuzuka got nothing more than a simple slap on the wrist while Sasuke wound up in the institution for a year of his young life, then was expelled only to be homeschooled to get his college degree. Kabuto and his parents were the only ones to look after his brother. For that, the elder Uchiha brother was grateful, but knowing the younger had to suffer alone internally...
Sasuke had done well for himself, but in the eyes of the Uchiha Agency Board, he was seen as no better than his "disgrace of a brother" - but Sasuke still had no idea what their father had done to the company that had taken years to fix until he was old enough to assume the chief seat.
It was because of that that his ANBU director ordered the mission because he personally saw Fugaku Uchiha as a threat to him, and the entire town he claimed to cherish so much. And even for his young age, Itachi knew the man was bad news, but he stayed enlisted because he was fighting to have a different path than the one his father had laid out for him...and he not only got more than he bargained for, but it cost the lives of his loved ones.
What had he been thinking, getting himself in deep at a young age? He was a worse failure than his brother was seen as.
He thought that he would give Sasuke the future he deserved if he enlisted and gave him the chance to shine since he showed interest in the family business at a young age - probably more than his big brother could remember, after the war when he was only a child.
And Sasuke did prove to do very well, but the worst in the department was when he lacked social skills and treated those around him like they were beneath him. The aid of Kabuto had done very little because what Itachi had done to him was more than enough. The doctors could never completely cure his broken heart and soul.
But the one who had done the ultimate job was Sakura Haruno, who had gone to work for him because of her father who accidentally broke a piece of art that had been their grandfather's - but that vase was nothing but worthless as far as Itachi had been concerned. And by the looks of it, as time went on, she got him to soften up and learn to trust people, as well as to deal with them the way she would. As Itachi observed, Sakura Haruno had one of the kindest hearts he'd seen.
If you wondered how he knew all of this, his methods were best left to the imagination. A good spy and secret protector never revealed his tactics lest they fell into the wrong hands.
However, he had to pause and lay low for a while because he had an assignment involving a shortage of oil in the desert which was caused by bandits, and Akatsuki was hired to eliminate them because they were really terrorists. Therefore, Itachi had not heard the latest on Sasuke and his assistant until he received the phone call when the job was done.
What he heard made him come back in a flash.
He found himself setting foot back on Konoha soil, sweatshirt over his head as it was early February, and the weather still cold and with snow covering the ground. Much of it was too frozen and might keep until spring came. Nobody looked at him twice, but if they thought to look at his face, they would see his long black hair held in a tight bun behind his head rather than his signature ponytail, and his dark eyes were covered with green contacts. He had excellent cosmetic strips to blend in with his skin to hide the tear troughs beneath his eyes. Nobody would recognize him...unless he removed the strips and contacts as well as let his hair down to his preference.
Kabuto told him everything: Sakura lashed out at Sasuke over the belief he'd called her father's job to have him fired, only to learn someone framed him by doing the terrible deed. Someone dared to ruin my brother's life in my absence once more. I'm going to find out who it is.
Knowing the company, they kept recordings for quality assurance. And with the voice identification he possessed, he might get Sakura-san to listen in on the conversation to see if she recognized the voice. Either way, she had to listen once and for all that it hadn't been his brother who did this to her family.
He found himself at the inn checking in, and it was the evening he intended to find Sakura Haruno. He gave the receptionist his "name": Arashi Namikaze. The surname was once the former mayor's who died at the end of the last war, but it was also common. His widow and child had left soon after.
In the privacy of his temporary room, under his second alias in fourteen years, Itachi Uchiha dropped his guise in which olive green contacts were removed to show depthless black onyx. The pale, diagonal skin strips were removed to show the deep lines beneath his eyes. And finally, he undid the knot in his hair to let it fall free down his back, which was soon tied beneath his neck the way he preferred.
Now to find Sakura.
When he stood before her face-to-face, he admitted she was a sight to look at. He never saw a girl with pink hair and green eyes, but she might as well be a faerie if you asked him. She was...unique. And a hard worker, befitting for his brother. But one fact troubled him: their mother had been their father's assistant before she quit her job to be a housewife. Only this one had a life of her own and chose to leave because of a horrid misunderstanding, so it was highly unlikely she would give her life up for someone else.
She didn't trust him as soon as he confronted her in the parking lot of the grocery store when the evening was starting to fall. But it seemed she might be willing to go on a little faith since he meant it when he said she was a bigger fool than his brother. Stating the word took him back to that night he called Sasuke worthless, which tore him up as it did when it left his mouth.
But it was for the best. If he hated me and thought I did it, so he is protected and knew nothing about our father's activities.
He slept in the twin-sized bed that night, in the small room for himself that he rented, and on top of the bedside table was the photograph he carried after all these years: the picture of himself and Sasuke, taken shortly before their parents died. Looking upon the good old times helped him sleep at night.
In the morning, he had himself his coffee and his breakfast - rice, eggs, and pieces of fish - that he picked up and brought back to the room, just before she was due to meet him at their agreed time. Itachi also had himself craving some dumplings afterward; his sweet tooth was legendary today amongst his fellow Akatsuki as it was ages ago. And just as he was picking up the first stick, the door was knocked on. He glanced down at his watch and saw it just struck noon.
Itachi stood up from the bed, enjoying his dessert in the afternoon, and went to peep through the hole, seeing her standing there. Green safari jacket over a pink sweater and her jeans embroidered softly with flowers of her name - he'd have thought that she was ready to fight him personally. He opened the door and smiled at the sight of her, then looked over her shoulder to see the blond with the high ponytail and bright blue eyes, and a gray denim set over a purple turtleneck. He knew her - Ino Yamanaka. "I'm not surprised you brought additional company," he told her. "But rest assured, you are safe, Sakura-san."
She didn't appear as aggressive as yesterday, and her friend was just as wary. "I'm willing to believe that but excuse me for not completely trusting you. I told my father where I would be." He chuckled; that was a lie, and he knew it. She thought she could do that, did she?
"Well, if it eases your conscience, Yamanaka-san can sit with us, if she is interested." What was one person to be a problem?
"Yeah, I gladly will," the blonde answered. "I'd like to know if my suspicions are on the market."
Itachi looked at her warily, closing the door behind them and visibly locking it. "Just a precaution in case someone follows me," he explained. "Part of my field of work over the last fourteen years. I have been out of the lands conducting shadowy investigations that ensure the innocent are protected." This visibly surprised them, and Sakura was the one to speak up.
"That's hilarious coming from a guy who murdered his own parents," she spat, sitting down in the single chair that was before the small flatscreen, and Ino perched herself on the left armrest. "And your brother is just as worse when he -"
"That is why you are here - the both of you." He gave Ino an inquisitive look as he picked up the package of dango and offered them, which they both waved off under the assumption he must have put something on it before they came and to prove it wasn't poisoned, Itachi grabbed a random one and put the first ball to his mouth. The girls looked at him with pointed looks before relenting. He then sat down on the side of the bed facing them, placing the pink box on the table, which still had the old photograph - and got Sakura's attention.
"Sentimental enough?"
"More than you know," he replied. "Now, before we begin, I don't have physical evidence because it is impossible to obtain now, so the truth is going to stay good and hidden well because it needs to be."
Sakura looked at him with a raised eyebrow, not touching the sweet stick yet. "On what grounds should we believe you then?"
He sighed; she really was not making this easy, but then again, he wasn't surprised. "How much has Sasuke told you about me?" he asked.
"That you were perhaps the youngest to join the Black Ops in history, and when you entered, he seldom saw you again. But he never knew why you did it, because your father never said anything. And then one night, it happened." He nodded; she only scratched the surface as his brother. It was for the best regarding Sasuke, but now she would know the rest.
"It was for the best Sasuke never knew why, but it was for his own good. I never wanted the seat that he has now, but I never wanted him to live that way because of these circumstances. I didn't discover what our father was up to until my superior gave me the order and the concrete proof. Our father, Fugaku, had embezzled for a bargain."
There was a pause, followed by what seemed to be a ting as if a dewdrop hit a pond. "C-come again?" Sakura uttered.
"Fugaku Uchiha took money out of his business," Ino stated, "that he had to be killed for it?"
He nodded. "It wasn't something that he wanted to do; he had no other options. It was a deal that resulted in malicious means. The Uchiha Agency was among many that this town depended on, as you know, but not everyone thought fondly of it. Our father may have been a strict man, but he loved his family and looked out for everyone's best interests. There was one true enemy he ever had. In fact, this is little known to the ordinary townsfolk. Father was in the services along with this one I speak of, as was the one who sealed all of our fates. Back in the last war, and I remember being four years old." He closed his eyes then, remembering when Fugaku left him and Mikoto at home when she was not yet pregnant with Sasuke, and then one day the chaos got worse when homes began to be burnt down...and theirs was one of the targets by soldiers from Iwa. It was nation versus nation, killing with no reason other than by affiliation. And sometimes young children could be put in the army due to shortage. Telling this made the women before him cringe visibly with discomfort and dismay.
"I killed a man the first time," he told them, which made them both squirm in their seats. He had to admit that it was a little amusing to see the pink-haired girl flinch. As you should. I'm nothing like my brother; I've stained my hands with so much more blood than Sasuke ever did. "When my father came to rescue me, he saw it all. I was never the same since then - but then my brother was born, and my life changed for the better...to a degree."
Neither of them said a word thus far, but the questions were in their eyes. He could read their emotions and body mannerisms as he could read a book.
"...you didn't want to kill your parents," Sakura finally breathed out, her eyes glazing with tears she was fighting back. Ino was doing the same before she croaked and swallowed the second ball off the stick.
"And you really loved your little brother, didn't you?"
Itachi nodded to them both. "Yes to both, and as I said, his light filled my darkness. He became my reason to protect, but heaven could not be without hell. The Uchiha is one of the oldest families around today, but my brother and I are the last. And as the firstborn, I was next to take our father's place in the family business, but it wasn't meant for me. I knew it even before I was old enough. But my younger brother had what I never could: a happy, normal life, with dreams of the future, and I was his idol. Honored as I was to know that..." Itachi lowered his eyes to the floor as he would never forget those wide, doting dark eyes looking up at him and always happy to see him when he came home from the academy. "...the truth was I was far from being the perfect brother he saw me as. To top it off, he wanted to be acknowledged by our father, and he tried many times to be praised by him. It was effortless to minimal. As the older brother, my responsibility was to protect him, so I took another path from what our father wanted, and it was in the ANBU Black Ops, and Father voiced his protests but relented in the end...but the reality is I failed as a son and a brother."
Sakura by this time had finished her stick. "But what does that have to do with your father?" she asked. "Who was the person who did this to your family?"
"...his name was Danzo Shimura. As I told you, they were rivals - and somewhat comrades, but it was very difficult to tell. The man had a track record long before my father joined the ranks. Danzo had a fear of dying too soon, but his desire to prove himself was great that he was often surpassed by many before he could collect himself. This characteristic of his, this paranoia, would be a factor he carried for the rest of his life." And all of this information he learned after his disgrace, with the best resources he could grasp. "Therefore, the coward he was, he would resort to dirty means to get what he wanted, no matter what it took or how it looked. And this was when his Root Foundation came to be - the section that I became a part of. I was still only thirteen despite seeing so much at a much younger age, and that was why I didn't see what he would do to my father until it was too late. He had a personal grudge and fear against the Uchiha because of the kind of man that my grandfather, Madara Uchiha, was." He sighed sharply.
"Which brings me to my father. Danzo, for years, wanted to get rid of us because he was one of those haunted by the ghosts of the past. Quote, 'Fugaku Uchiha is therefore as shrewd as his father was'; it was also said long ago that the Uchiha wanted to plan a coup, long before me and Sasuke were born, to take over the town, but our parents had nothing to do with it."
"But that Danzo didn't care," Ino spat. "He's nothing but a bitter, frantic old man clinging to his delusions of the past, just like you said."
Itachi nodded again, reaching over to pick up the picture and hold it in his hands. "He had the best means to break into the company system personally and strike the CEO himself - Father - without linking back to him, because either way, our family was done for. Not the business as the town relied on it, just us. It was during the recession that we were falling on a hard time, and that was when Danzo saw this as the weak spot. The amount he wanted he didn't need, but it was the killing point. When Father took the bait, Danzo sprung his trap and sent in someone to eliminate both him and his wife, but to leave their youngest son unharmed."
There was a dreadful following silence. Both Sakura and Ino couldn't find it in themselves to speak, but they were wondering the same thing: why was Sasuke spared?
"Sasuke was just a child," he said, tempted to bite his bottom lip. "When I learned my orders were to personally eliminate my parents because of this man, I was torn between allowing myself to be charged with treason and to be tried for murder...and in the end, I chose not to kill my family, but I was forced to stand by and watch as another ANBU member did the deed for me. I was perhaps a bigger coward than Danzo was, and I ignored my heart saying I did the right thing, and that he was to blame. For years to come, I tried convincing myself that, but it changed nothing."
Now their tears were coming down their cheeks as they absorbed all of this. They couldn't speak for moments, and he couldn't either. "You refused the order," Sakura repeated, "and yet you were still there to let Sasuke see and believe you did it. All because of Danzo. Your parents were both killed because your father made a mistake. And you took the fall for it...I knew there was more all along, and yet Sasuke still knows nothing."
"Because it is for the best," Itachi answered, holding the picture close to himself as he kept his attention on her most of all. "You know everything that you were told, but as for my side, following the incident, Danzo exiled me and promised if I ever returned in his range of vision, he would have me eliminated on sight. But it was fate smiling when he succumbed to a heart attack after I left, and his foundation was dissolved." Indeed, a cherished memory.
There had been no fingerprints or DNA at the scene, which had all been the work of the Black Ops' brilliance, and his own, but he still had the knife in hand, and it had to be taken with him and disposed of - the very same weapon that cut Mother and Father's throats. And the real murderer gave it to me so my brother would think I did it. And what I said to him...
"You still called him foolish and pathetic, and said he would never understand why you did it."
"Because it was for his own good. And when the word got out of their deaths, the company found out their boss had taken the money out, and it nearly ruined them. They never got it back because they were unable to trace it to Danzo; they never let it leak to the press or the authorities because of fear of scandal. It would have added further disgrace as I have done enough. It was for the best, and as I said, it took years to fix before Sasuke was old enough. I wish I had my say in it, but it seemed that fate had its mercy for us that way."
But as a consequence, Sasuke suffered for everything. Everything that was never his fault, and remaining ignorant brought more harm than good. "Over the last many years, I found aid in a secret spy service called the Akatsuki, and there I continued to protect. Because a true protector does his missions from the shadows. Eventually, I managed to keep in touch with Kabuto, who cared for my brother in my stead, though twice I changed my name and numbers to the public as well as my appearance." And that was how he ended up finding out about the current circumstances, which the pinkette and her friend both got.
"...I'm sorry," Sakura finally whispered. "All this time, you were seen as a monster, but you did it to save Sasuke. If only you could go and see him..."
"No," he interrupted, even though he considered it many times before. "I've done enough to him. It's best that I remain hidden away - but I only came back because of you, Sakura." He then stretched his body across to open the drawer which had the recording he made a personal copy of from the repair company vocal records. "Now that you know everything, you should know the one who had your father removed wasn't my brother." With that, he pushed the button and played it from start to finish.
"Shuuzen Mend and Repair, how may I help you?"
"Yes, this is Sasuke Uchiha. An employee of yours that I hired, Kizashi Haruno, has broken something of great value in my home, and therefore I would love to voice his incompetence and inability to pay for the damages. I request you let him go as a result."
Itachi could never believe it himself when he heard these words. His brother really had changed so much, for the worst - but then for the better when the man's daughter courageously stood up and worked for him to pay for her father's debt, and over a worthless piece of art of all things. Little did either of them know it would be so much more, and that it would be a woman of all people to mend his brother's broken soul...only for it to be torn all over again because of the speaker whose voice was NOT Sasuke.
"I know that voice," Sakura hissed, her eyes glowing like fire.
Ino spoke through her teeth. "So do I. Oh, he's such a loser - the lowest of them all. He's so going to pay..."
If I didn't say Itachi's scene was hard enough, oh hell it was an understatement. Corrupt business and dirty means aren't always my specialty, and that was not the only problem. There's always the question of what to keep the same and what to change.
Shuuzen means "mending; repair".