AN: New chapter.
Itachi had known this conversation was coming ever since he had visited Sasuke, checked in on him and Sakura after what happened at the police station, had interrupted his mission with Shisui to do so. He was almost surprised it had taken this long to happen. He had been back in the village for nearly an entire day now.
Another part of him, the majority really, was so painfully unsurprised.
Neither Mother or Father cared much when Sasuke was involved, had created a habit of not involving themselves beyond the most extreme of cases. Like the false accusations from children Itachi knew had bullied Sasuke in the past, that both were part of a group that made it their sole purpose to make his little brother's life as miserable as they possibly could, plague him day and night with their taunts and ridicule.
And Mother and Father had done nothing when he had told them.
Time and time again, they had told him to step away, to focus on his work instead of his little brother.
They had barely done anything for his little brother.
Ever since he had tried to show them his Kekkei Genkai, show them that he could still be a good son, that he had trained so hard to make them proud.
All they had answered his pleas with had been silent disappointment when they had turned their backs on him, when they had walked away.
Since then, it was hard for Itachi to consider either of his parents deserving of such a role, if it wouldn't have been better if he had left with a crying Sasuke that night, if he had done what Sakura had done and removed Sasuke from such a poor environment to a loving one.
But that was in the past.
Unless he invented time travel, discovered a technique that allowed such a thing, focusing on the past would only upset him, make him ignore the present.
In the present, for the future, things had changed.
Things had gotten better for Sasuke and that was what mattered the most. He gained the love he had deserved for so long and that Itachi himself couldn't give to him, that he had tried time and time again to but his own responsibilities, piled on by the Uchiha Clan, the Hokage, and so many others, drew him away again and again.
Now, his little brother wouldn't need to be alone.
So, when he at last asked (commanded) to sit down and speak, he followed as any dutiful son would.
At a point, it had become rather difficult to be angry at Mother and Father, to remain angry at them for how they treated his little brother. What had once been white-hot, what had once burned so brightly, had cooled with age, with repeated exposure. Instead of wasting his time on his fury, he had devoted it to showing Sasuke the love neither of the two did.
It had been a better use of his, limited, time.
One thing he wouldn't do was start this conversation between the three of them. If he did, he would begin it with a condemnation of the two, ask them how they could do what they had done to Sasuke, how they had made their home nothing short of a miserable prison for him, what they had allowed other to do to him, and expect no consequences to come of it.
To expect for everyone to let Sasuke suffer, to allow him to remain with two adults who didn't care for him.
So, he remained silent.
"Itachi, when I ask you these next few questions, I expect you to be truthful and I expect you to be thorough. Leave no information out. I and your father will decide if something is trivial. Not you."
"Yes Mother. Of course Mother." He would tell them nothing they didn't need to know.
At the look his words earned from Mother, the fact she included her Sharingan in such a look, she didn't believe him. He never could fool her with his lies. At the same time, she and Father had no choice but to accept his answers at face value no matter what they might be.
After all, he was one of two people in the village who knew extensively of Sasuke's Kekkei Genkai who they could command to speak with, demand answers from. He had been the one who helped his little brother discover the inner workings of his abilities, his limits, his strengths, his weaknesses. Shisui had helped with training but he had been far from present for even half of all their training together.
"What is Sasuke's Kekkei Genkai."
"I do not know." He had never asked what Sasuke had decided to name it.
From the looks Mother and Father gave him, they understood this was a prelude of how this conversation/interrogation was going to go.
There was also nothing they could do to push him to provide a better answer.
"When did his Kekkei Genkai develop."
"I do not know."
"When did he tell you then?" Where Father's frustration was slowly becoming evident, Mother's was clear in the way she snapped the question out. "How old was he?"
"…He was 8." Despite himself, Itachi couldn't stop the near glare he directed towards Father. "It was at the pier where you did nothing but walk away. Again." The anger, the frustration, the thing approaching outright hate, colored his words, fell from his tongue like poison. "We worked for almost a year to help him improve, help him learn what he could do. I was there when you two chose to ignore him, stand in silence when he needed you, when he would've done anything to make you proud!"
"Mind your tone, Itachi." Father's steel-eyed gaze didn't turn away. "There's far too much of this situation you don't understand."
"I understand plenty." He could no longer remain seated, surged to his feet. "You threw away your son!"
"I said mind your tone boy!" Fugaku didn't rise to his feet nor did he shout but his voice carried something akin to the edge of a blade. "Now, sit back down. We have much more to discuss."
Itachi debated leaving, debated lashing out, but the nature of a dutiful son imposed on him won out.
He returned to his seat.
"My outburst was uncalled for." He did not apologize. "What other questions do you have Father, Mother?"
He settled himself in for a long talk.
AN: Expect the next update in 2-3 weeks.
Review/PM if you want.
Peace.