Dreamcatcher
By Airyo
Secrets in a Memory - 2
He was only fourteen, just on the cusp of adulthood, when he received the order.
Itachi hated Danzo when the old man handed him the details in a folded piece of paper like he was sharing no more than a recipe for onigiri. But the Uchiha only felt numb as he unfolded it.
He had moments before the paper between his fingers burst into flames, but the words were already burned into his mind.
Sunset tonight. Leave the boy.
The extermination of his clan didn't even warrant a formal mission scroll. They didn't even get names. Nameless, faceless, and ultimately, lifeless.
It seemed wrong that struggle of the past few years was encompassed in only five words. It didn't reflect his and the Sandaime's efforts to quell the rebellion that boiled under the surface, their pleas falling to silence ears. It didn't reflect Shisui's last moments, when he clutched Itachi's shoulder with a blood-stained hand as he blinded himself with the other and entrusted his remaining Sharingan to him.
It didn't reflect Shisui's final lesson on what made a true shinobi: self-sacrifice. A true shinobi protected peace from the shadows - nameless, faceless, and ultimately, lifeless. Everything was given to peace. Such was his duty.
"It is the only way to ensure the peace of Konoha, Weasel," Danzo said.
"I understand," Itachi said flatly. His ANBU mask may as well be his face, given how frozen he felt. The council member nodded and dismissed him with a wave. Itachi teleported away, without much thought towards his destination.
He found himself at the Academy, in the back training field. It was empty at this time of day, as the students were inside for their last class. Sasuke was probably trying not to doze off at his desk, bored out of his mind. His little brother was highly talented, but Itachi would never tell him outright because Sasuke was also prone to an enormous ego. Thank goodness he had a hearty rivalry with Naruto.
Slowly, Itachi began to walk around the circumference of the dusty area. The afternoon sunlight streamed through the leaves of the tall trees lining the edge. He let his eyes fall half-closed, taking in the sensation of the flashes of sun between the shadows on his face. Cool and warmth and cool again, such a simple feeling that everyone took granted.
He wondered how they will die. After all, a person can only be truly be measured in that moment before their death. These were the clan members he knew his whole life - his cousins that he grew up with, the uncles and aunts who cooed over him and pinched his cheeks, the older generation with their wrinkled smiles and endless, overblown tales of their past, and his parents, strict and stern and steadfast in their love and concern.
And of course there was his brother, his foolish, foolish little brother, with his gap-toothed smiles and persistent demands for training so he could stand equal to his hero.
Itachi didn't feel like a hero.
Tonight, everything will shatter irreparably.
His chest hurt.
He heard a sob.
Itachi look down, shocked. In his haze, he had not sensed the presence of another individual.
It was a little girl, around Sasuke's age, curled up with her face hidden by her bent knees.
AN: My memory on this stuff in canon is a little fuzzy, but let's just say Itachi already made his "deal" with Danzo to save Sasuke.