Author's Notes:

To answer a comment posted in a review left by nanaha: Yakata is somewhat shy, but his stutter isn't linked with it. He just has a great amount of difficulty with speaking in general. Even when he's relaxed and with people he's comfortable with, he'll still stutter. It's mostly psychological and not really linked with introvertedness.

There are depictions of emotional abuse and some domestic violence in this chapter.

Thank you,

- Rii

Chapter 27 - Severed Nerve

Ino and Sasuke were having a discussion. Yes, that was what they always called them. Discussions were neat little things where two adults could stand across from each other and tear each other to pieces with words, usually one-sidedly. Sasuke always on the attack, Ino always on the defense. Their discussions usually had to do with their children, but tonight, it was different.

Tonight, they were discussing Yakata. And it was Ino who was on the offensive, not Sasuke.

She was finishing up with the dishes, the rest of the children all in their rooms, when Sasuke came downstairs. "Yakata's gone to sleep," he said.

"Oh. Really," she replied. She scrubbed at the pan with her sponge with a rough intensity.

"Yes. I'm taking him around the city tomorrow."

"Oh. That's nice," Ino said.

Sasuke frowned, lowering his eyebrows. "You seem oddly fine with this," he said. "I expected more hysterics out of you."

She dropped the sponge. "Hysterics?" she said. "Out of me?"

"You looked like you were going to scream when I came home with him." Sasuke said, flatly, just stating the facts. He sat down at the table.

"Well, that's because I was, Sasuke. But I held myself in because I didn't want to embarrass you."

"Awfully kind of you."

"Oh don't give me that." She turned around to face him, and she folded her skinny arms. Her hands were still wet and they left spots on her apron. "You told me you'd explain everything. So I calmed down. And now I want an explanation."

"I gave one at dinner."

"Oh, come on. I don't believe that 'potential' story for a moment, Sasuke," Ino said. She started gathering her anger, to reinforce her voice. "Who is that boy? Really?"

"His name is not 'that boy;' it's Yakata," Sasuke said. "Do I have to keep remin-"

"No! No, you do not have to keep reminding me, I know his name," Ino snapped. She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Who is he? I'm suspicious, Sasuke."

Sasuke laughed, once, humorlessly. "Suspicious. You're suspicious?"

"Well, why wouldn't I be, Sasuke?" Ino said. "You go off on some trip without any warning and then you come back with some strange kid. I want an explanation, Sasuke! Why is he here?"

"He's here because I'm training him."

"Answer my damn question, Sasuke!" She pulled her arms violently away from each other. Drops of water fell to the floor.

"I did."

"You did not! Why is he here?" she said again.

Sasuke sighed. He shook his head. As usual. He always treated her like she was a child, unable to come to any conclusions on her own, but she had long since gotten used to it.

"Fine, I'll tell you," he said.

He didn't say anything, for a while. Ino folded her arms. "Sasuke, I'm waiting."

Sasuke glared at her, and then closed his eyes, taking a breath in, and out. "Yakata is my brother."

"…the hell does that mean?" Ino said, after a few moments of facial contortion. "Wait, you mean your parents had - but I thought they-"

"No, no, it's not like that," Sasuke said, almost annoyed, his face wrinkling. "He's… Itachi."

"Itachi…? But he's… he's dead, Sasuke. Even I know that," she added, sourly, in her hushed disbelief. Because, clearly, she knew nothing.

"You think I don't know that? For heaven's sake, Ino," Sasuke said, sneering. Poison was gathering in his voice. "He… he's like… a reincarnation. A clone."

"You're not making any sense." Ino's voice was soft. She was shaking her head, slowly, from side to side.

"Well, excuse me for failing to explain the situation properly, Ino!" One of Sasuke's eyes twitched. "It's not exactly a simple thing!"

"I should say! What do you mean, he's a reincarnation or whatever?" Ino said.

Sasuke waved his hand around near his head as he struggled for words. "It's… someone, somewhere, somehow brought Itachi back. They grew him and gave him to a family and that's… Yakata."

Ino gave something like a nervous laugh. "You're not making any sense."

"You said that already," Sasuke said. "It's not easy to explain. What are you not understanding, anyways?"

"What am I not understanding?" Ino said. She gestured inarticulately. "I just don't see how someone like you could believe something as… as crazy as that!"

"Don't tell me that it's crazy," Sasuke said. It was a command, not even remotely rhetorical. "I've been suffering over this for months."

Ino's voice fell into her throat, and was very quiet when she managed to speak again. "Months? What in the world are you talking about?"

"I met Yakata on my first mission with my genin. That was the truth." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, his voice smoothing slightly, as he returned to the facts. "You know how he looks just like Itachi? I had no idea what the hell that meant. I thought I was…" He swallowed, grimacing, as if the words tasted bitter to him. "I thought it was just a coincidence until I went to talk to Karin."

"Wait, wait, Karin? When did you go talk to Karin?" Ino said. There was less rage in her voice and more curiosity. She began approaching him, moving away from the sink and closer to the table.

Sasuke sighed, shaking his head, again. He got up and out of his chair, and he began to pace around the kitchen. "See, this is why I didn't say anything," he said. "I knew you were just going to lose your temper and make assumptions, like you always do."

"Like I always…?" Ino scoffed. "Give me a little credit, Sasuke!"

"Credit given."

"Oh, shut up. When did you see Karin?"

"Just a few days ago. It's what I left so suddenly for."

Once again, Ino struggled for words. She raised her hands and dropped them against her lap. "Why the didn't you just tell me…?" she finally said, softly, sincerely, desperately.

"I know how you are," Sasuke grumbled. He almost looked like he was pouting. "You'd probably think I was sneaking off and having an… affair with her or something."

Ino actually laughed at this. "You're joking. You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not. What's so funny," he said. His eyes hardened.

She managed to control herself, for a moment. "Why would I think that… you, of all people, were having an affair, just because you were going off to see another woman for something?" she said. She laughed again. "Wow. I am… honestly amazed, Sasuke."

Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and didn't look at her. "I thought you'd make a fuss. It was better not to say anything."

"No, you should have told me."

"Well, I can't rightly change that now, can I!" he said, shouting suddenly, as he locked eyes with her. "The fact remains that I went, and I talked to Karin and she convinced me about Yakata! Okay?"

"Quiet down, do you want people to hear?" Ino hissed, much quieter, as she glanced sideways, at the window, at the hallway, but not at him, not at him. "Okay, so you went to see Karin! Big deal! Why did you go to her in the first place?"

"Favor to Sakura." His voice was clipped, reluctant.

She scoffed again. "Oh, really."

"I'm not going to be lying about everything, Ino!" he snapped. His voice rose again.

"Okay, okay, fine! So you did it for Sakura!" said Ino. "Shh, come on, be quiet! So, what does Yakata have to do with this?"

"I told her about him and she said that…" He swallowed, and said, very quickly, "that Orochimaru might have brought Itachi back, and that Yakata was the result."

"What?"

"Keep it down!" Sasuke hissed. "For heaven's sake, you were the one concerned about making noise! Do you want people to hear?" he added, in a high-pitched hiss of an imitation.

Ino seethed. She crossed her arms again, pursing her lips, tightly. "What did she mean by that?" she said, lowly. "Orochimaru? How did… how did she even come to that conclusion?"

Sasuke paused. "She found reports," he said, after a while.

"Reports." Ino didn't trust his tone for a moment.

"Yes. Reports," he replied, insistently. "You know, this isn't just about Yakata. That Taki Kiine girl, she's involved in this too."

Her mind reached for facts and grabbed rumors. She spoke before she could fully process the information, because otherwise… "Taki… what?"

"I told you, it's not easy to explain! Go ask Sakura about it sometime, I don't know!" he said. "I'm going to talk to her tomorrow too, you know, since that's why I left in the first place. And we're going to have some blood tests done on Yakata. To prove it. That he's really Itachi."

"What are you even talking about, anymore?" Ino said, her voice faint, her head reeling.

"Maybe you'd know if you actually paid attention to things," Sasuke said. His voice was curt and cruel.

"Don't insult me! You're darting around the subject, I can barely understand a thing!" Ino said. "And stand still, for heaven's sake!"

Sasuke stood still. He glared at her, Sharingan spinning. "What's so hard to understand, Ino," he said.

She had to look away. She had to. "I just can't understand how that bo-" She stopped herself. Paused. Catching herself, before he could. "Yakata can be your brother. In any sense of the word."

Sasuke sighed. "Honestly, if you took one moment to just step outside of yourself and think for once then I think you'd understand."

Her voice rose, but she couldn't help herself. "I'd understand better if you actually slowed down and told me what was going on!"

"I. Already. Have!" His voice sounded louder than it really was. She flinched with every word. "Yakata's my brother! He is Itachi! He was brought back from the dead, and now he's here!"

"But…" Ino stammered. "But, how… how is that even possible!"

Sasuke sputtered with rage for a moment. "I don't… know!" he shouted. Ino's shoulders rose; she held herself as if she were cold. "Damn it, I don't know, okay? It just… happened!" His voice quieted. "It… it just happened. I don't know how, but it did, and he's here."

She still couldn't look at him. "You don't need to shout. I'm sorry. I'm just… confused." She paused, thinking, collecting memories. "So is it… really him, in there? Your brother, I mean."

Sasuke paused at this, for a while. She risked looking up at him, and found that his eyes had quieted, as had his expression.

"Sasuke, answer my question. I'm just trying to understa-"

"He was reborn. Raised by different people, has different memories. But he's still Itachi," Sasuke said. He had started pacing again. "I know it. And once we have the blood tests done I'll have proof."

Ino just nodded. "…okay. If that's what it is, then that's… what it is."

He stood still, glared at her. "You don't believe me. You think it's all bullshit, don't you?"

"Well, it… is a little hard to believe, Sasuke." She attempted to smile. Anything to keep his voice down. "I mean, it sounds like something… out of a fairy tale, or-"

"Well, just believe it then, all right? It's the truth!" Sasuke was shouting again. "Whether it's… believable or not! Strange things happen and-"

"Shh, Sasuke, please, please, calm down," Ino said. She had raised her hands, now, defensively, waving them in slight, downward movements, as if she could coax his rising temper down with her palms alone. "I guess I'll have to accept that these things happen. Okay. Calm down, you don't have to get so angry…"

"I wouldn't be so angry if you weren't so thick about all of this," Sasuke said. He didn't look at her as he spoke.

"Sasuke, I'm not…!" And she plucked the anger out of her voice before it could grow any further. "Okay, you know what? Fine. I'm being thick about this. I'm sorry," she said. She sighed, she breathed in and out, she counted to ten. "So does… Yakata know? About this whole him-being-your-brother thing, I mean I'm supposing he does, if he's here…"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"…Sasuke, he does know, doesn't he?"

"Well, that's…" He looked at the floor. "I had to tell his parents something to get him to come with me, so…"

Ino's face began to crease again, from comfort into frustration. "What did you tell them, Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Sasuke, you have to tell me, you know!"

He hunched his shoulders, looking out the window, now. He folded his arms. "They… think that Itachi is his… father."

Ino didn't even have to do the math. "You lied to them!"

"It was the only thing I could say!"

"You lied to them, Sasuke!"

"Well, what else could I have told them? Given how well you're taking this I highly fucking doubt that they'd react just as well! And you're a damn jounin, Ino, these are country…" His hands grabbed for the words in the air. "…bumpkins! If you're having trouble understanding the concept then how the hell do you expect me to have explained it to them?"

Ino breathed in, sharply, through her nose. "Be that as it may," she said, "you still lied to them. Is this what you told Yakata, then? That your dead brother was his father?" Sasuke nodded, once, still looking out the window. "Oh, I ought to hit you. That was… that was incredibly stupid!"

Sasuke looked up. The air suddenly felt very, very hot.

"Don't you dare threaten me. I am your husband. You do not speak to me this way."

Ino had to turn her back on him, that time. She bit the nail on her pinky finger, for lack of a better comfort, praying he that he wouldn't command her to look at him.

He didn't.

It took her a while to work up the courage to even speak, gathering it, breath by deep breath. "It's unfair to Yakata, Sasuke. It's a lie, and if he ever found out-"

"He won't find out."

"How can you be so sure?" Her voice wavered.

"He won't. Find out."

She laughed. Nervously. "So that's how it's going to be, then. You're going to just keep lying to him, for as long as he's here?"

"It might as well be the truth," Sasuke said. "He might as well be Itachi's son. It makes no difference."

"You still-"

"Not another word about what I told him."

Her mouth remained open, dead words still on her tongue.

"You understand that this means you cannot speak a word about when Itachi died, don't you?" he said.

She didn't answer.

"Ino. Look at me."

She had to obey. She kept her head down, only barely looking back at him, from the top of her eyes. "And what am I supposed to tell him if he asks?"

"Lie, then. And tell me what you said afterward." She didn't respond. "What, you're not above that, are you?" He tilted his head backwards and slightly to the side, his red eyes full of contempt. It was an expression she knew far too well.

(It was a face that Takeru seemed to wear nearly constantly, but it had long since stopped scaring her. She learned to live with it.)

(Just like everything else.)

Her fear transformed instantly into fury. "I can't rightly lie to a child about something like that!" she said.

"Then pray he doesn't bring it up," Sasuke said. "I already told him not to bring his father up around others."

A laugh escaped from Ino's mouth. "And you don't expect he'll get suspicious at all?"

"He's an obedient boy."

She lowered her head, shaking it. "I can't believe I'm hearing this…"

"If you have a problem with it, then take comfort in the fact that he's only here until the end of the summer," Sasuke said, without any sort of comfort. "He'll get over his curiosity about Itachi soon enough, anyways. He knows when to stop asking questions."

Ino just shook her head again. "Why is he even here, Sasuke?" she said, when she finally managed to look up at him again.

He looked at her as if she'd asked him why the sky was blue. "He's Itachi. I couldn't just… leave him out in the middle of nowhere, not with those skills he has," Sasuke said. He walked toward the sink. "Imagine, if I had just let all that potential go to waste…!"

"So, you're basically training him because you think he'll be as good as your brother."

"He will be as good as my brother. He is my brother, Ino, how many times do I have to say it?" He turned around, glaring, once again.

Ino held her hands together in front of her. They were dry, now. "But is this what he wants?"

There was a pause, and it was very small, but Ino noticed.

"…why the hell are you even asking? Of course he does." He faced the sink, again. "I wouldn't have done this if he didn't want to go in the first place. I offered, and he accepted. That's why he's here."

Somehow, Ino didn't believe this. But it was late and she had dishes to finish washing, and she was too tired to make more of an effort. "Okay. I still think it's unfair, how you lied to him."

"I didn't lie to him."

She shrugged. It had been a pitiful attempt at getting the last word in, anyways. "…whatever you say, Sasuke."

Sasuke was quiet, for a while, not even acknowledging that the argument was over. He always did this, lingering about with his hands in his pockets, just pacing, almost drinking in the meaningless victory, seasoning it, on occasion, with more words.

"So, just remember," he finally said. Ino had been waiting for it. "Don't bring up Itachi. Only let me talk about him."

"Of course, Sasuke." He wasn't even looking at her. She was trying not to, but failing.

"And if Yakata asks?"

"Just make something up, I know. Can I get back to the dishes now?"

He gave her a very severe glance. "I'm not done talking."

"Oh, really? Because I thought that we were," she replied, sharply. She tried to move forward, but he stepped in the way.

"No, we are not done until I say so."

She rolled her eyes. "Cut it out. Why are you being such a child about this?"

"You're calling me a child? Me? Ha. Haha."

Ino didn't say anything, quietly breathing, her eyebrows low.

"You're the one who overreacted, I'm being a perfectly calm and rational human being about this," he continued.

Oh, that was it.

"Then why were you the one that was shouting so fucking much?" she hissed. Her face was inches from his. His expression did not waver. "People can hear!"

She looked away, feeling bitter, bitter words building in her mouth.

She could either spit and be attacked, or swallow and feel sick for the rest of the night.

She felt sick enough as it was. She didn't know how much more she could take.

She chose to spit.

"For someone so obsessed about family you sure don't care much about public appearances..."

And then his hand was on her arm and it was twisting very hard. She closed her eyes, feeling the pain.

"Not. Another. Word," he said. "How dare you speak about my clan this way. I am insulted."

His clan.

His clan.

(That was how he had proposed to her, twenty-two years before. Would she help rebuild his clan, he had asked.)

(Sometimes, when things got really bad between them, she found herself lying awake at night, wondering why in the world she had accepted.)

And then there were footsteps coming down the stairs and he let go and sat down at the table and she went to the sink and everything was.

Normal.

It was Takeru. He blinked, sleepily. "What's going on?" he said. "I heard people talking."

"Nothing. Your mother and I were just having a discussion," Sasuke said.

"Oh? What about?"

Ino knew better than to speak.

(Her arm hurt her arm hurt her arm hurt.)

"Yakata. His long-term situation. Nothing that concerns you, son," Sasuke replied. He couldn't manage a smile.

"Oh. I see," Takeru said. "I just heard a bit of a commotion. Wondering if everything was all right."

"Everything's fine, Takeru," Ino said. "What are you doing up, anyways?"

"Just couldn't sleep, I guess," Takeru replied, casually. He yawned. "I came down for a glass of water."

"Couldn't you have gotten one from upstairs…?" Ino said.

"Oh, the water up there is disgusting. I don't want to have to drink out of the cup that everyone else gargles with, are you crazy, Mother?" Takeru looked at her as if she had asked why the grass was green, his expression laced with a smirk.

"Well, get your glass of water and head back upstairs," Sasuke said. "Don't stay up too late."

"Oh, I'll be sure to get my eight hours in, Father. Don't worry about me."

Ino didn't move as Takeru got a glass from an upper cupboard and filled it with water from a pitcher in the fridge. He drank from it, slowly. Sasuke didn't say anything. He put the glass in the sink, when he was finished, by his mother's motionless hands.

"Well, then. Goodnight," Takeru said.

"Goodnight, son," Sasuke said.

"Goodnight," said Ino.

And then Takeru was back up the stairs. They heard him close the door to his bedroom.

They were quiet for a good long while, afterwards.

Of course, Sasuke was the first to speak. "So remember what I said."

"Yes, Sasuke."

"Don't mention Itachi."

"Mhm."

"And if he asks?"

"Make something up and tell you afterward."

"He's only here until the end of the summer."

"Yes, Sasuke, I know."

"Good. I'm going to bed. Early morning tomorrow. Taking Yakata around the city, he's very excited. Having those blood tests done, too."

She couldn't help herself. "So you're going to tell other people about him."

"Of course. I have to. You didn't think I would?"

She didn't say anything.

"This is more than just me and him. There's other things to consider and-"

"Fine. I understand." She reached for her sponge, suddenly. "I'm going to finish the dishes."

"Mm."

He stood.

"Hopefully they'll understand the situation better than you," he said.

She had her back turned, so she couldn't see if he was looking at her or not. She doubted he was.

And he left.

Her arm still hurt. She managed to ease the pain a little with the application of chakra.

She did not start crying because of her arm, oh, no. That was nothing - and, besides, it wasn't like Sasuke had hit her, or even raised his hand against her. He was a good man, he'd never really hurt any of them.

(Hadn't she been the one to threaten him, anyways? That's what had caused this.)

No, she cried because she was terrified, more than anything else, that someone had heard. Anyone.

The children were sleeping just one floor above. Even with all of their doors closed - and she always told them to close their doors at night, "To keep things looking neat," she had told them - their voices muffled, certain tones, certain volumes still managed to make it through. She was certain. She knew how acoustics in a house worked.

And her children were ninjas, like her. Light sleepers. They heard things.

(She could never forget the look that Inou had given her when he was four years old, rubbing his eyes, clutching a blanket, on the night that everything ended for Nadeshiko. The look of scared confusion, when he asked why Daddy had been yelling so loudly. Had something happened?)

And when other people heard things, rumors got around. People talked.

And Ino did not want to be That Woman.

(She did not want to be her mother.)

And oh, if Yakata had heard a thing that either of them had said. She didn't know what she could say to him.

She didn't know what Sasuke would say to him, more importantly. And that scared her the most.

None of this was like him. He wasn't prone to irrationality. He was - hadn't he said this? - a perfectly calm and rational human being.

She just didn't understand. She just… didn't understand. No matter how hard she tried to wrap her mind around the facts there were just gaps in the logic that eluded her, endlessly. There were unanswered questions and theories about Orochimaru, and the whole idea that Sasuke seemed to have in his mind, that this b - Yakata, that Yakata was Itachi, that she couldn't understand. She tried to. Oh, she tried to. But it just didn't make sense.

None of it made sense.

But, as she had learned, from many, many years of practice, that it was far better to just keep her head down and pretend that she knew what was happening.

It made sense to Sasuke, so it made sense to her. This - Yakata was Itachi, but he thought he was Itachi's son. So long as she was careful, that wouldn't cause any problems. Fine, she would be fine with this.

All the rest she would leave for Sasuke to figure out. And if she figured it out as well, then, well.

Besides, Sasuke was being responsible. He was going to tell other people about this, wasn't he? He didn't tell her who, but she had an idea - Sakura, and because of Orochimaru, would he maybe tell Naruto? And Karin, she didn't know how much they'd talked about, or what they had…

(She had never, not for a moment, suspected Sasuke of an affair. Never, in twenty-two, almost twenty-three years of marriage, did she even think him capable of such a thing. She knew him too well to think otherwise.)

She hoped that he knew what he was - no, she didn't hope. She knew.

She sniffed, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, trying to force herself into composure.

No, she hoped. She hoped he knew what he was doing.

She couldn't be certain. Not here, not now.

Her eyes were dry by the time she had finished the dishes, scrubbing them, drying them, putting them away in the cupboards. She went down the hallway to their bedroom and got undressed and dressed, very quietly, in the darkness. Sasuke was already asleep.

She couldn't even bring herself to close her eyes for more than a few seconds, so she just stared at the ceiling and thought.

And prayed that nobody had heard them.