Y'all this one's a tear-jerker. Be prepared. So many fucking tears.

'June 17,

Met with his royal highness Hokage today. The senile bastard had the nerve to shake my hand! I spoke with his rival, Orochimaru. I have never trusted him but he's been much tougher on the disease that is the criminals of Konoha. He said he will look the other way as long as I endorse his campaign after. He's a slimy asshole but he's still better than that scum. Now it is all just a matter of how.'

'July 3,

Fate is on my side! I have been struggling to figure out how to do this when Mikoto was tutoring young Sasuke in these little pastry things from her side of the family. Honestly, that child should have been born a woman with the way he acts. Anyway, he put too much of an ingredient in and she immediately threw away the whole mix, stating that the puffs were a very delicate creation and if you do not put the exact amount of the ingredients it would become toxic. I later asked her if she was being serious. She was. I asked her if it could kill someone she said if they ate more than three yes. This! Thi right here is the solution to my problem. I just need to convince Mikoto to make a toxic batch and then to deliver it to him.'

'September 16,

It took way too long to get Mikoto on board with my plan. That woman is so frustrating.

She will however not go along with delivering it to him. So now I must find a new way to get him to eat them. I can't just anonymously deliver them, he won't eat them. That's too suspicious. Maybe I should bring my boy in on my plan. He will know the solution. He always knows what to do.'

'September 18,

My boy is a damn fool! He refused to help me! I am deeply disappointed in him.'

'October 26,

After the setback that is my disappointing eldest child, I was unable to devise a plan to get the puffs to the Hokage. Thankfully little Sasuke has given me the perfect opportunity. His class is visiting the city tower and will be meeting the bastard himself. I'll just have Mikoto whip up some bad puffs and have Sasuke bring them as a present. Even if it gets traced back to us, little Sasuke will be to blame and then it can be claimed as an accident. It's brilliant.'

'October 29,

Tomorrow is the day. Mikoto had Sasuke make a batch of puffs then after he went to bed she exchanged them for the poisonous ones. Everything is in place. After tomorrow Sarutobi will be no more.'

The youngest Uchiha stood sullenly in the shower, letting the warm water run down his body. His mind too preoccupied as it replayed those passages over and over and over.

How could his parents?

How could they plan that?

How could they plan to have him do it?

How could the use him?

Wasn't he, their child?

His phone rang, bringing him out of his thoughts. He turned off the water and rushed to answer the phone on the counter.

"You were supposed to call back in an hour."

"It has been an hour."

He pulled his head away from the phone. He had in fact been in the shower for the past hour and had not even begun to bathe himself. He sighed it just wasn't going to happen tonight.

"You're right. So what's up?"

He began to slowly dry himself as he listened to what the other had to say.

"I called because you missed our call last week so I decided to be the caller this week."

Oh, shit. He forgot about that.

"Sorry for not calling last week, ScaledSand. I have been pretty busy lately."

"Just_A_Person, do not lie to me. Are you okay?"

Was this man a fucking mind reader or witch? How the fuck did he always know?

"No."

"I assume you do not want to talk about it. However, I will say that you are strong and will get through the healing process. You obviously went through something traumatic and there is no one path to being happy again. You will find and complete your path. I know it."

"Thank you."

"Would you like to continue the story of the Kazekage's child?"

An obvious tactic to distract him, but his curiosity was peaked. It had been over two months since the other told him some of his past. He was dying to know the rest. After all the awfulness that had happened so far for the man to be the way he was now, a miracle had to have happened.

"Please."

A little bit of excitement found its way into his voice, earning a soft chuckle from the other line.

"I knew that would get some life back into your voice."

That was it the other man was a fucking witch. There was no other explanation.

"Shh, just continue the story."

"Okay. The next thing the young boy woke up to was being in the hospital three days later. He woke up the only person in the room. He reached for his teddy bear but it was nowhere to be found. Soon a nurse walked in and asked him if he remembered what happened.

He told her slowly crying the entire time. After he asked where his uncle was. The nurse looked at him with pity and told him she would right be back with his father.

His father. The boy barely remembered him at that point, but as soon as he walked into the room, the child was filled with dread. The man, known as his father, looked at him as if he was the scum of the earth. He sat stiffly in a chair as far from the bed as the room allowed.

The boy asked with a substantial amount of desperation, 'Where is Uncle?'

The man glared coldly at his youngest. His nose twitched showing the slightest hint of a snarl. Then his demeanor relaxed considerably and even let out a chuckle.

'Why, Demon, you did what you do best. You murdered him, just like your mother.'

The little boy was beyond shocked.

No. No. They had just gotten into a fight. He did not kill his uncle. There was no way, he could not.

But it was true, a week later he was released from the hospital and attended the funeral for the man who had betrayed him.

After the boy's father moved him into a small apartment on the same land as the family home, but he was strictly not allowed into the home.

The boy shut himself off from the world from then on, his only companions were the bearded dragons that would roam into the apartment. It was probably better he had. The people of his city, who knew him from rumors, were terrified of him. When he did venture out citizens would run and hide from him.

As the years went on this way the isolated child turned into an isolated and angry teenager. He was so resentful of the city that called him a monster he began to become one."

A tear gently ran down a pale cheek as the owner listened in. Sasuke didn't know what to say. This poor man.

"It started with destroying a garden.

Then a mailbox.

Then a car.

Then an entire trap house.

Then he turned his rage toward other people. He began to fight the other teenagers who would throw rocks at him. The first few fights he was pretty evenly matched physically but his anger led him to victory. Soon he could have picked a fight with the strongest of the strong and it would not have mattered. He would beat them.

One day he got into a fight with a boy a bit older than him. Right as he was about to deal the final blow, the boy said 'You truly are a demon, your mother should have swallowed you.'

The boy snapped. He began to wildly beat the other boy's face in. He would have killed him had his siblings not suddenly appeared and pulled him off.

The eldest, his sister, pulled him into her chest and pet his hair as he just sat there frozen. He had not seen either of them since his uncle's funeral over seven years prior. He did not know what to do. He did not know these people.

'Sh, it is all okay now. We are here for you from now and till forever.'

She whispered into his hair as she laid gentle kisses upon his head. His first instinct was to act with anger. It had gotten him through life this far. Why abandon it now? He went to push her away when he felt something begin to his head. They were tears, she was crying.

'I am so sorry, baby brother. We are so sorry for not being there for you. I know you do not trust us. I would not if I were in your position. We did, however, bring something that we hope will let you understand that we are not your enemy.'

She ordered the middle child to bring something over to them. The youngest sibling looked up as he was presented with his long-lost friend, his teddy bear. He could not believe his eyes. It was worn and looked like it had been scrubbed with an extreme amount of cleaner, but it was his teddy bear. The one he had not seen since that night.

'We rescued it from the trash when Dad tried to throw it out all those years ago. I tried to get all the blood out of it but only ended up making it look even scruffier. Sorry.'

He was shocked. His siblings had saved his bear back then? They cared, even back then? It was all too much for him and he blacked out.

When he awoke he was back in his little apartment. He almost thought it had all been a dream until he saw the bear in the bed next to him.

Over the next couple of years, he began to have relationships with his siblings. He realized he had a passion for caring for animals after one of the bearded dragons that frequented his home had broken a leg. He completed high school at the age of sixteen and went on to get his Bachelor's in zoology, then his master's and PH.D. in herpetology."

Wow, way to brush over the good things that had happened.

"What happened to his father?"

"He passed away when the boy was seventeen, but the siblings had already moved to the other side of the province for school when it happened. The older two went to the funeral, the youngest did not."

"So you mentioned the boy creating good relationships with his siblings, but did he ever make other friends?"

"He made one, back when he took the high school entrance exams. He met this knuckleheaded guy who quite literally forced him to be his friend."

"Ha! That sounds like my knucklehead."

"But other than him he did not make any friends. That is why about four months ago his annoying sister signed him up for this horrible pen pal site. There he met the most wonderous man of whom the man is so grateful for knowing."

Sasuke's heart melted at the sentiment. He didn't deserve this man. His whole body was filled with such warmth that spilled over with a few tears of delight.

"ScaledSands I am so happy we started talking. I can't imagine my life without you."

"Likewise Just_A_Person."

"Alright so sappy shit out of the way. What are your plans for the holidays?"

"I will care for the animals, then Temari and Kankuro are sure to drag me into drinking and exchanging gifts."

"You sound like drinking and gifts is a bad thing."

"Last year my brother got me a blow-up doll stating 'so you can practice before you find a girlfriend.'"

Laughter erupted from the raven, that was fucking funny.

"Okay, you win. I would probably hate that too."

"What are you doing?"

"Oh what I do every year, go over to my best friend's and do all the traditional shit because he's a fucking child who throws a tantrum if he can't do one thing. I tried to get out of caroling last year. He begged until I finally just gave in."

"You sound like you really enjoy it."

"Oh, I am drunk off my ass the entire time. This year might be a bit different though. This is the first year his girlfriend is spending it with us and not her family so maybe she can take my place when it comes to the public humiliation portion of the activities."

"Well, I hope you have a good Christmas Just_A_Person."

"You too, ScaledSands. Thank you for calling tonight. I really needed it. You're the best!"

A small breathy chuckle came out of the phone's speaker.

"Goodnight."

"Night."

He hung up.

He was honestly feeling a little better. Not about his parents or his entire perception of the past, but in the fact that he knew he wasn't alone in this. That gave him the motivation and support he needed in order to postpone his overthinking and let his exhaustion take over his body.

As he reached to turn off his lamp he bumped the journal onto the floor. Knowing he'd forget and trip over it in the morning he bent over to pick it up. He noticed something sticking out of the back of the book. He hadn't seen that before. He pulled out what turned out to be a folded piece of paper.

Unfolding it he glanced at the contents.

"Sasuke,"

He knew that handwriting anywhere.

Itachi.

Itachi had written a letter to him.

Was he ready to read this?

Probably not.

But he needed answers, so he continued.

"If you're reading this then you have read the journal in its entirety. There are many things I want to say. I want to say that this journal isn't real, I want to say our father wasn't planning on murdering the Hokage. I want to say our mother didn't go along with his wishes. I want to say that this is all fake but sadly it's not true.

The facts are after our father was shot when you were ten. After he became rather angry and resentful. He blamed his injury on the Hokage, for reasons even after this still doesn't make sense. He became obsessed with taking down Sarutobi. About a year after he was shot he decided he would kill Sarutobi. He eventually included our mother in his intentions. He tried to enlist me in his plans but I refused to help. I tried to stop him by going through the proper channels but none of it panned out. After all, I was trying to say that my father the most respected police chief was trying to murder his boss with dessert puffs. It was insane to believe.

Then when you told me about your class meeting the Hokage I knew that was how he was going to do it. He was going to use you, Sasuke, the child he mostly ignored. You were only twelve at the time, but that's old enough for you to be found partly accountable had you given Sarutobi the puffs. You would have been sent away, your life would have been ruined. Even if they didn't think you were a part of a plot to murder him you still would have been held for wrongful death.

When I found out they were going to use you, I broke. I went to confront our parents to try and convince them to stop. But they were determined that the only way to ensure the safety and future of Konoha was to murder the Hokage. Frustrated that the correct methods of stopping them did nothing, I snapped. I took the knife that had been sitting on the counter and just went berserk.

I am so sorry for the pain that our actions caused you Sasu-chan. I would say I am remorseful over my actions themselves, but when I see how amazing of a man you have become I can't even fathom you being in my shoes now. You were the best, this family ever had. You are the only one that deserves a good life, I'm regretful I won't be able to see it play out past this point.

I love you Sasuke. I won't ask for you to forgive me for the pain I caused you, but please forgive me for hiding the truth all these years. I would rather you hate me than them, they're dead they can't apologize.

Itachi"

"Nii-san."

A whisper calling for his brother escaped his lips. Sasuke clutched the letter to him as he wept. All the years of resentment, anger and absolute hatred towards his brother gone in an instant. His brother deserved better. He deserved better. They both deserved better. It might be a little late but he was going to do right by his brother. He just needed to ponder how.

Wow, so much was revealed in this chapter! You might have to read it again to get everything because I sure needed to write it about seventeen times to get everything to lay the way it finally did.

Don't forget to tell me how you feel about this chapter! If you are wondering why I update pretty consistently is because I'm mad I continually run out of things to read, so then I write so that way new material is being put out into the world. Sadly, I only read it in editor brain but better than nothing I guess. (If you want to give me recommendations on things to read I literally read anything with Gaara as long as he isn't with his family members, Sakura, or an OC. and I read on multiple platforms)