Chapter 83.- Shattering truths

Even after all these years, Kagome still knew him so well.

Rhythmic and steady, each heartbeat served to reassure her that her instinct had been right.

For years, the girl had spent sleepless nights after sleepless nights, thinking about what to say when she finally came face to face with him, the person who destroyed their world, one of the people she loved the most. After finding out the shattered pieces of the truth, those haunting thoughts became an essential part of their plans. Because as sure as she was that Itachi loved them, really, truly loved them, the Uchiha clearly cared for the village as well. Dreadful as the mere thought of it was, there was a chance he'd remain loyal to Konoha. If they weren't careful, he could turn them over to those responsible for the tragedies that followed them in some misguided attempt to keep them safe. Which was precisely why the one thing that was clear from the start was that Sasuke couldn't be here.

Part of it was to ensure Hoshigake Kisame's attention didn't drift to her, potentially ruining their plan, and as a fail-safe for Naruto's safety, but more importantly, the younger Uchiha still struggled to keep a hold of his emotions. He could bite his tongue and let her play her games, but this was more than just a complicated political strategy, and Itachi would never be a pawn to use and discard at their convenience. Learning what the village had done to them meant Sasuke's desire for revenge had been redirected, but the girl wasn't sure even he knew how he'd react in front of his brother.

Emotions that didn't contribute to the success of a mission were to be locked down; that lesson was vital for someone destined to become the matriarch of her clan.

Uchiha Mikoto had wasted no time in teaching her how to keep her every emotion hidden, and while she'd hated those sessions with a passion when she was a child, Kagome learned the value of those classes when she first saw the greed in the eyes of those who went to offer their condolences after the Uchiha massacre. The smaller clans were looking to benefit wile the larger ones wished for the complete downfall of what was left of the once great clan, self-interest was the only thing that motivated them to walk into the deserted district. So even if her mouth tasted like ash, the girl uttered one lie after another, slowly but surely building an illusion to shield them. If it was to keep Sasuke safe, she willingly became a liar, hiding everything under a smile. She crafted as perfect a mask as she could. She'd trained to grin while anger froze the blood in her veins and let her tears fall despite feeling dry apathy. And when her emotions were too wild to reign in, Kagome learned how to guide them in a useful way, embellishing whatever tale she wished to sell. That all her feelings were genuine this time gave her quite the help.

Because inside her ancestor's barrier and surrounded by the all too familiar warmth of Itachi's embrace, she felt safe.

If only Sasuke was here, she'd be complete. The fragments of her shattered little world finally together again.

Taking a second to bask in his warmth, her fists clenched around that hateful cloak. She couldn't waste the time Sasuke was buying for her, but the moment she opened her mouth, this lull would crumble, and she'd had to weigh every word that left her lips. Judging from how the older Uchiha had yet to say a thing, it looked like he knew it too.

Love was such an intense emotion, wild and tricky to control. But not impossible. So many of her informants loved her in one way or another; it fueled Naruto's relentless attempt to find them, and it was also why she and Sasuke were still alive, still together. If Itachi loved them, all she'd need to sway his conviction was the truth.

"How many years have been now?" She had to break the silence. She had to move.

"More than enough for you to become reckless." His voice was steady, but she could feel the tension in his form. "And for Sasuke to become careless."

No, the younger Uchiha had not been happy about it, but the boy was just as harsh of a critic about his own skills as Kagome was with hers, so he relented fairly quickly. Delicacy was vital for this to work; if she pushed Itachi too much or too fast, he could panic and try to force a battle. Their little excursion in Suna had been mostly a disaster, but the girl did her best to adapt and salvage the mess. Thanks to her confrontation with the Uchiha prodigy's clone, he now knew she'd learned how to fight with her eyes closed. Unless he wanted to badly hurt her in the process, he'd have to try a different approach. It'd give her a chance. For a psychological attack, he'd have to play along with her conversation, and all she had to do now was carefully choose what secrets to unveil first.

Keeping her eyes closed, she focused on the sound of his breathing.

"Perhaps he'll learn some patience if he's forced to face the consequences." Itachi was forcing himself; he'd done this before, when he threw her into that void of nothingness that refused to leave her nightmares. "Maybe you'll learn how to be more careful."

"And you're just as determined as you were back then…but it's not going to work this time," Kagome said, her words soft but firm.

"Do you really think this is the time to talk in riddles?" Now he was trying to bait her. "I warned him. I warned you, too."

There was no turning back; she had to push forth…she needed to destroy his world just as he'd crushed theirs.

"We know what happened back then…we know Uchiha Fugaku was planning a coup."

Breaking away felt impossible.

His lungs seemed to reject the very air surrounding him.

Chained to the spot, his limbs were frozen.

It couldn't be true.

Sandaime-sama promised him.

No one would ever know the truth. All of it was supposed to be buried together with him. Kagome and Sasuke…they were never meant to learn the truth about what happened so they could live in the illusion he created for them. A daydream where the Uchiha clan was honorable and respectable, where the two children were valued as more than replaceable pieces to garner power and the disaster that derailed their lives was an unpredictable, unavoidable tragedy. One monster was more than enough for them to have to handle. All they needed to do was curse his name and hunt him down. He could take on their hatred as long as they were safe. ANBU should've destroyed the evidence of his father's treasonous plans. The village was meant to keep them safe while he did his best to protect them from as many outside threats as he could before giving Sasuke one last gift.

Let the two of them find peace through his death.

Then why…?

"…how?"

"Regular shinobis can easily become paranoid, even when it's illogical. And Uchiha Fugaku had every reason and justification for his paranoia." He could feel her tighten her grip for a second. "It looks like he was determined to have a backup, maybe as insurance, or just for record keeping, it doesn't matter. Whoever was in charge of the clean up wasn't aware of his fondness for symbolism…" It would've been easy to push her away. Her hold was firm but not strong enough to stop him, but her words tied down his muscles. "He hid some very detailed documents in the archives, in the same place the records about my ancestors' marriage into the clan were. I couldn't read all of them, but Sasuke was kind enough to transcribe them for me.

"In hindsight, I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised back then." The girl let out a bitter laugh. "That man was so proud."

"Greed always fueled his actions." Itachi didn't have control of his words anymore. They just left his throat on their own.

"You're not wrong there…although…" her voice lowered, almost a whisper. "Did you ever wonder if there was something more?"

"What else could there be but his delusions of grandeur?"

Demanding wasn't a strong enough word to describe his father. But for the sake of the village, in order to protect the two children under his care, Itachi could take it. The unreasonable expectations, the harsh punishments, and the detached treatment. All of it was worth it to ensure the safety of what he valued the most. He clung to the notion even when he realized what Fugaku was planning and made one futile attempt after another to change the man's mind. It had always been clear that the children living in the main house were nothing but political pieces to move around. Still, he'd hoped his father had enough honor left to fulfill his duty to the village. Finding out just how corrupted the clan was wasn't something he wanted them to experience.

"Justified paranoia, maybe." Her words broke his train of thought. "The Uchiha Massacre…were you ordered to do it, Itachi?"

"He had to be stopped." She knew already, there was no point in lying.

"Of course, the bloodshed would've lasted for years." But his father wouldn't have cared. All of those sacrifices wouldn't have faced him. "Fugaku wasn't entirely wrong either, though. At the rate things were going, the clan would've been ruined in a few generations." Finally, his limbs worked, making a feeble attempt to pull back, only for her to pull him closer. "It was incredibly hard to confirm, but there was a spike of deaths and active shinobis going missing during surprisingly low-level missions, and yet, the archives were so clean. Not a single formal complaint in years… There was so little left untouched, Itachi."

That…shouldn't be true.

Konoha hadn't been involved in wars or international conflicts by the time he left the village. Spikes like the ones Kagome was talking about shouldn't happen in times of peace. It was something that could be confirmed by tracking wills and funeral registrations. Even if the records were tampered with, the village should have official documentation. No…no, in the first place, eliminating records of regular complaints shouldn't have qualified for elimination. And there had been complaints. Petitions for funding and fighting against multiple of the Council's decisions. Itachi had seen his father curse at the constant rejections. Loyal or not, every clan occasionally clashed against their leaders; it shouldn't matter if a weird trend showed up. There was no reason to tamper with the archives after destroying documents related to the coup…unless there was a connection.

"Father never mentioned anything." He stopped struggling.

All the man ever did was talk about what the clan deserved, about power and recognition, and how they should've been in charge from the start.

"Loyalty can be a curse depending on who it's directed to... and who's making the assessment." Kagome's tone was soothing, careful. "We carried all of the documents we found, though I supposed there's no way to confirm they're not forgeries."

Could she be lying?

The Kagome of his memories was an honest child most of the time, struggling with his mother's political training, but she learned either way. How much did she change after he destroyed the only world she knew? Did she take to Uchiha Mikoto's lessons on deception? Would he be able to tell if it was a lie?

Did it even matter?

"There's more going on than you think…" Itachi started, not even sure where he wanted to go.

"I went to the Higurashi compound outside the village twice. Turns out, my family was fond of secret tunnels. There was quite an interesting collection of scrolls in the underground library," Kagome cut him off, the abrupt change of topic feeling more ominous with every word that left her lips. "Thanks to them, I realized something truly illuminating. Barriers like the ones used to conceal these compounds are set up with anchors, making them extremely easy to dismantle from the inside. Take one out, and the whole thing goes down, not a trace remains." Fake cheer dripped from her voice. "Itachi, you must've used the Sharingan when you went to the Higurashi ruins; did you see them there, too? The shattered pieces of the barrier still standing, much like the ones surrounding this place?"

What…

No… the Higurashi were betrayed by someone from their own clan who joined hands with their hunters. The barrier had to be broken from the inside, otherwise…!

"You know, Sasuke noticed something funny…the shinobi that tried to kidnap Hyuuga Hinata was still wearing a hitaiate, but the man that tried to take me didn't have one. He was never identified." All of that was factual; the Uchiha himself went through those records. "How did he know I existed, Itachi? How did he know your schedule?"

Everything he did was for their sake. Each and every single one of his actions were motivated by his desire to protect them. Swallowing down his revulsion, Itachi killed guilty and innocent alike to complete his missions, he stood back and watched that madman massacre his family, he took his parents' lives with his own hands because that'd be the only way for them to be safe.

Hadn't Itachi thought those same questions before hastily shoving them away?

Faking their extinction, the Higurashi clan had with Konoha's aid managed to fool the Elemental continents until the very end. Thanks to his father's information blackout, her survival became nothing but a fantastical rumor, greatly outshone by the shocking news of the real Higurashi massacre. To think someone would risk an international incident for what had been nothing but unsubstantiated rumors was as irrational a decision as it could get. Surely no country would take such a risk. The man had gotten into not only the village but the Uchiha district during a day when Itachi should've been outside the village, and no shinobi patrolling the streets noticed a suspicious man carrying a bound child running through the village…much like how no one happened to hear the screams of his clan members as they were killed one by one.

If what she was saying was true…if they were right about who was behind the destruction of at least one of their clans…

Where…why the hell did he leave them in the village?

Itachi was shaking.

Uchiha Itachi, prodigy among prodigies, the insane shinobi behind the Uchiha massacre, feared nuke-nin couldn't stop his hands from trembling.

Loud and thundering, his heartbeat had accelerated as his breathing became more and more erratic with each revelation that threatened to destroy his understanding of the world. And all Kagome could do was tighten her hold around him. It wouldn't be enough to ground him, but it was all she could do.

She clearly remembered what it felt like when her eyes fell on those accursed coded reports. Everything had fallen apart, her world tearing at the seams as she went from one incriminating document to the next, and there was nothing she could hold onto but Sasuke. Going through the archives and spending hours confirming what they could have, truly had been little more than one last desperate attempt to reject the truth. Still, they'd had weeks of research to come to terms with their new reality, and while she had the scrolls proving her words hidden within the folds of her sleeves, there was no time. Surrounded by her ancestors' barrier, Kagome was blind to the ongoing battle outside. Exposing Itachi to even more danger by taking out the documents wasn't something the girl could justify, not even for Itachi's comfort.

Besides, this was what she needed in the first place.

Destroying his trust in Konoha with carefully chosen words was only the first step. The more she could destabilize him, the easier it'd be to slice the bonds of loyalty that tied him to Konoha. Cruel as it may be, she couldn't let him try to look for justifications that never existed. Because one thing had become abundantly clear now that she was in his presence once more, she couldn't allow them to keep their hold on him any longer. Those people who were so ready to discard him even after the older Uchiha gave up almost everything for the village couldn't keep pulling his strings. In order to get Itachi back to their side, there was nothing the girl wouldn't do. So she'd use his own feelings as a weapon and expertly take advantage of her rampaging emotions to take complete control of the narrative. No matter what it took, she'd make sure there was no way to frame Konoha's treachery in any sort of ambiguous light.

Itachi was theirs.

"Genjutsu is such a delicate thing to master, but I did manage to win my match against Hyuuga Neji with it, and I kept training after that. Even with the Sharingan, I'm still better than Sasuke. Then again, illusions have never been his forte." Once more, her voice lightened, hollow amusement lacing what was clearly a warning, she knew where his thoughts were going now. "I prepared quite a bit of countermeasure aside from closing my eyes, and just in case, I also prepared a way for Sasuke to notice if I'm being controlled by a genjutsu…

"We…I won't hunt you down anymore, Itachi. I don't care what the outcome of this is, I won't kill you, neither will Sasuke!"

"There's more…far more going on than you think." More dangers than they could imagine.

"Just tell us then." At last, frustration bled through her voice, her grip becoming almost painful. "We're not children anymore. We can carry our own weight. You don't have to protect us like you did back then. You can trust us!"

Regardless of whatever secrets the village may still be keeping, it didn't matter. No classified information or complicated situation would ever satiate Sasuke's desire for revenge or soothe her hatred. There was nothing that could convince them to bow their heads and let Itachi be sacrificed, or silently work for them ever again. And she needed to make that clear. They couldn't let the Uchiha prodigy run away. Catching him off-guard after this would be impossible. So she'd use guilt to chain him down.

"If you're determined to follow through with your plan…if you're going to abandon us…" Her voice was wavering, losing whatever control she'd still had. "There is a way to get Sasuke to kill you. It wouldn't even be that hard."

Finally, the girl stepped back, freeing herself from his hold with ease. She wasn't running away, not trying to gain any sort of significant distance. He could act now; he should start acting now. The sound of a blade leaving its sheath reached his ears, but his legs wouldn't move, not even when the hilt of a short sword was placed in his hand.

"All you have to do…is kill me."

Slender fingers tightened around his wrist, resisting the sudden frantic pull as her words kept cracking what was left of his composure.

Azure eyes opened, and she could see his panic when she guided the blade to rest at her neck.

"Kill me, and Sasuke won't rest until he hunts you down," Kagome said, her words plain and simple. She could give him no exits. "Of course, if you do that, he'd follow after us right after."

"What are you…!"

"I'm tired, Itachi." It wasn't a lie, not really. She was proud of being able to keep them safe despite the many monsters after them. She knew how to deal with the tension, with the pressure, but there was so little time to rest, and there was no place for them to find refuge. Hatred did so much for them, but it didn't make sleeping any easier. "So tired of having to look over my shoulder, of having no one we can trust and being forced to live with constant threats around every corner. I'm done with all these lies and underhanded plans." Kagome let go, not fighting the onslaught of pain and loneliness and exhaustion, and she couldn't even bring herself to scream. "If that's what our fate is going to be…then I'd rather we put an end to this.

"All these tragedies, let's just finish it all, together with these cursed bloodlines."

Resolute, Kagome pressed the blade against his neck, the stinging pain barely registering as warm blood dripped down the tanto. Crimson eyes as the liquid touched his skin.

There was no way to fight it, the desperate swipe of his arm.

Metal loudly crashed against the ground, drowned by the loud thumping of his heart as she was enveloped in his warmth once more. Tightly held in his arms, tears freely falling, Kagome smiled.

She was crying.

The girl he'd come to love more than his own life was sobbing against his chest. Her tears dampened the fabric of his haori.

It was on purpose.

Every shinobi goes through emotional training, and even if the Academy was lax in some areas, Uchiha Mikoto wasn't. Holding back tears was something she could already do when she was a child. If she was crying out like this, shoulders shaking as she clung to his open cloak it couldn't be out of a simple accident. This was emotional manipulation. It had to be. Because Kagome had always been clever. He'd never been good at denying her; she knew how much he hated it whenever she cried. He was hearing her break down because she wanted him to hear it. But he couldn't stop himself from pulling her to him. The feeling of her blood on the back of his palm burned, and he wasn't sure there would be a way to wash it off. She'd never go that far; she wouldn't leave Sasuke on his own. Her pain was real, though. The desperation breaking her voice was genuine, and so much of it was because of him.

He left them without making sure they were truly safe.

Rather than clearing up the inconsistencies behind Kagome's kidnapping attempt or trying to look deeper into his father's motivation, Itachi chose to blindly follow orders. With his own hands, he destroyed their world, knowingly causing as much harm as he could. That was supposed to be the best thing for them, for the village, and his sacrifice would be worth it…such a foolish thing to hold onto.

"Don't leave us again, please." She was clinging to him, leaning on him as her legs faltered, "Don't abandon us."

Konoha had failed him.

Wasn't that something he'd thought about before?

Making sure two genins remained inside the village shouldn't have been that hard. Orochimaru had given the village ample warnings, and the Uchiha prodigy had even gone back to remind the Council of their promise there were many ways to keep them away from the insane Sannin. Even if that wasn't the case, they should've been able to retrieve them. Oto wasn't a part of any treaty and had no powerful ally between the rest of the Hidden Villages. Yet, it was only now that Naruto-kun was back in Konoha that a team following them was sent dispatched. Even if he were to completely disregard what Kagome told him right now, he couldn't rely on the village to keep them safe, that had been proved already. He'd already been considering delaying his own demise because he couldn't trust the Council to uphold their end of the bargain.

But if she was right…if this was true…

Could he really afford to let them go back to Konoha like this?

Did it even matter what the truth was when it was so obvious that was the last thing they wanted?

For three years, Itachi had wondered why on earth those two would choose to get away from Konoha, and now, he had an answer. Going to Orochimaru was reckless and dangerous, but it wasn't lust for power or crazed impulsiveness. To them, staying in the village carried so many more risks compared to placing themselves at the mercy of the insane Sannin. He couldn't ask them to go back. If Kagome's intuition was right, then they would never be safe in the village while the Council remained in control. And yet…

Sasuke would need his eyes.

It didn't matter if the village was trustworthy or not, because, at the end of the day, the restrictions of the sharingan wouldn't change, and he'd need to have full access to the jutsu's capabilities. That person would try to finish what was started with the Uchiha massacre years ago. For them to survive what was sure to come, there was no way to avoid the procedure. But if Kagome was honest about Sasuke knowing the truth, the motive behind his actions, it'd be impossible to convince him to take his eyes. He couldn't just send them back, and yet, he couldn't just sit with them and hope for the best. His mind whirled, trying and failing to find a way out of this mess. He couldn't trust Konoha. Not anymore, but for their sake, he had to die.

Still, he couldn't push her away.

At this point, Itachi wasn't sure who was shaking harder. The only thing he'd ever wanted was for the two people he loved the most to be safe and happy. He'd never had any desire for any sort of fame or recognition; a simple life would've been more than enough for him to be content, but such a thing just wasn't allowed.

…if confronting these threats was impossible, then…was there any way for them to hide? Any place they could escape to that his boss couldn't reach?

"I can heal your eyes, Itachi."

…what?

"I can heal your eyes and unlock Sasuke's sharingan too." Her voice was calm once more, wavering only a little as she regained the control she likely always possesed. "It looks like one of my predecessors had been looking into it before the clan went into hiding. It took some time, but I managed to complete the jutsu before we left Orochimaru's compound." Softly, gently, the girl moved her hands, her arms wrapping around him. "So, please, trust us…don't abandon us."

For so long, the Uchiha prodigy thought he was aware of the dark secrets the village had tried to bury. He knew so much more than most Konoha shinobis did. And yet the one thing Kagome proved to him was that there was way more hidden under the surface. Because there was no way to deny the accusations lobbed at him. Unanswered questions from his younger years cracked the facade he'd believed in with ease, Kagome was right. Lies and misdirection had filled their lives, and he wasn't sure there was anything left to hold on to. Itachi had agreed to destroy his own life, but the Council failed to hold up their end of the deal. A contract was only valid when both parties upheld the conditions; if those were broken, it was only natural for it to be void. No, it was more than just that. If the village truly was behind the Higurashi massacre, if Konoha genuinely baited his father into committing treason to orchestrate his clan's extermination, it'd be foolish to leave their safety in Konoha's hands. The only reason for him to follow through with the original plan had been Kagome's and his brother's growth and well-being. Yet even that was now irrelevant, wasn't it?

Her words were a siren song, softly pulling him in. An image he'd never dared to paint being colored by her reassuring tones. Clans like the Uchiha were notorious for being overzealous with their secrets; to think they'd once trusted an outsider to study the sharingan felt unbelievable…then again, was there anything Sasuke would ever deny Kagome? Was there anything Itachi wouldn't do? If there was a way for his brother to safely access all of the Sharingan's abilities without having to go through without having to follow tradition, the Uchiha would willingly become the girl's guinea pig. As long as he had the chance to truly protect them, then he didn't need honor or pride. The vow he'd made to keep them safe, it was more important than anything else.

"Please, come with us…"

"I…it's alright." If holding on to them was the best way to keep them safe, then Itachi wouldn't fight against it. "I'll go with you."

A/N: I can't believe I managed to post today, the whole city spent the last two days without power because if a drop of water falls from the sky, the whole electric infrastructure just falls apart, apparently…anyway, here we are.

Fun fact, most of this chapter, most of last chapter's last section and the section where Kagome and Sasuke found out the truth were some of the first things I knew needed to happen. Some parts changed because to adjust to the details that were only decided when I started to write the story down, but there's a lot that remains just as they were.

As always, thank you guys so much for reading and any and all review/comment/criticism is greatly appreciated.