Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Naruto, they belong to their respective authors

Chapter 1: The beginning of the end.

It had never been entirely normal.

To have his world be centered entirely around two people was not, and had never been, normal let alone healthy.

That was a fact he was forced to confront when it was perhaps a bit too late, then again it really shouldn't be so surprising considering no one was able to notice until it was way past the point of it being useful. After all, Sasuke supposed, it's only natural for a child to look for affection and love from your parents, and when said parents failed to deliver such attention it was, once again, only natural for said child to cling to those who gave him what he'd been denied.

Sasuke's admiration for his older brother had not only been accepted but even expected from their parents. Itachi was a prodigy, it was normal for his little brother, for anyone, to aspire to follow the footprints of such a talented person. And since the Uchiha heir gladly spent as much time as it was possible with him back when the eldest boy was still fresh out of the academy, doing his best to squeeze even a few extra minutes to share with his sibling despite his constant promotions stealing away so much of his free time, no one ever saw anything wrong with the way the younger boy clung to his brother. Always looking for his approval and advice first, his opinions easily valued leaps and bound higher than any words his parents could offer him. That was how in a way (a different way, an odd way) Uchiha Itachi had effortlessly replaced their father as one of little Sasuke's most important persons, one of the axis in which his world turned around.

His mother had tried to give both her sons the same amount of affection, to not let her favoritism show through her actions, she truly did. The bar, however, had already been set. As much as her logical mind told her it was ridiculous to try and expect her youngest to surpass or even compare to someone praised as a genius between geniuses a part of her couldn't help but be ever so slightly disappointed when Sasuke's aim wasn't as precise as Itachi's had been at his age. Even so, her efforts would probably have still been enough for her to retain her place as the boy's second axis had it not been for the fact that there was someone else able to see the young child for who he was instead of the second-rate shadow of his brother. The little girl his father had taken guardianship of, Higurashi Kagome, slowly but surely stole such role from Uchiha Mikoto, whenever he needed to vent his frustrations and insecurities it wasn't his mother Sasuke went to, nor was she the one he looked for when his training finished with unexpected bruises and scabs. Young, as she may have been Kagome was always just there, he knew, of course, there had been a time when the little blue-eyed girl didn't live with them. Both of them had been too young to even remember though. As far as they were concerned they were always together. Her love, praise, and encouragement were to Sasuke just as necessary and certain as the light from the sun itself.

Not that they spent every day together, Itachi was on missions constantly and Kagome would often have training sessions with his mother while he trained on his own. At the great age of seven being separated was simply a temporal complication, his childhood certainty of seeing them sooner or later soothing the slight anxiousness he felt. Each and every memory where the three were together was a treasure he guarded fiercely.

Which was why he was severely tempted to just knock Naruto into the nearest tree the next time he saw him. Had the blond not keeping pestering him with his dares the young Uchiha would've been home by now instead of sprinting like a lunatic towards the family compound. He'd even told the idiot Itachi promised to try and be home by dinner and Sasuke was just on the public training grounds to kill some time until Kagome's extra session was over so they could welcome his brother together. Of course, Naruto apparently decided that meant the best thing he could do was to keep him out until the sun had literally set. How Kagome could stand the blond without wanting to punch him every five minutes he wasn't sure he would ever understand...

It was probably thanks to his hurry and excitement the boy failed to notice it until after he stumbled right into it. He should've noticed right away. The unnatural silence. The absence of guards at the entrance, the lack of movements, of life. He should've realized something was wrong long before he saw them...the corpses...

Sprawled there.

In the middle of the street.

Just laying there.

His clan members...

...his family...

He couldn't breathe

He just couldn't breathe.

Had this been an attack? But even so...the Uchiha clan was the strongest clan in the whole village...right?

Wasn't that why they were put in charge of the military police force? Because they wouldn't be easily defeated, just massacred like a bunch of defenseless civilians...then how come...

No. No, this was still just the outskirts of the compound. Surely even if he couldn't hear it the fight must still be going on somewhere in the center od their territory, probably closer to home. His thoughts stopped, a freezing feeling clutching tightly at his heart. Kagome.

Father had decided he wanted to check on her progress so instead of being with him she'd stayed behind. She must've been back home, waiting for him to return so they could welcome Itachi together like they always did. Maybe even helping his mother put the final touches on their dinner, or trying to hide something from his room as payback for having gotten too focused on trying to best the idiot blond he grudgingly called a friend and forgetting he'd promised to help her with taijutsu training two weeks ago (she could be spiteful like that). What exactly she may have been doing he didn't know, didn't care either because the one thing that was for sure was that the girl was very much still within the compound.

He could breathe again.

Too fast this time as he forced his suddenly heavy limbs to move in the once comforting direction of his home. Faster, he needed to be faster.

She had to be fine.

She had to.

His brother was supposed to be home by tonight and there was no person in this world stronger than Itachi. If he was home then there's no way he would let anything happen to the girl...right?

A year ago when someone tried to take her. had actually managed to get her out of the compound, it had been Itachi who found her. He'd killed the kidnapper and made sure nothing happened to Kagome. Even in such a difficult situation his brother still got her back without so much as a scar on her porcelain skin. Surely with him by her side she had to be fine.

And if he wasn't home yet, well...his father wasn't the head of the police force for nothing, his mother may have retired to take care of her children but Uchiha Mikoto had still been a talented kunoichi, otherwise why make her Kagome's tutor. With both of them fighting together no enemy would have an easy time defeating them. Between the two of them, they should be able to protect her.

Sasuke shook his head, annoyed with himself. This wasn't the time to doubt his parents, he just needed to move, to run home. Why was it taking him this long? The way back was not than long so why was it taking him so damn long to get to where they were, where they had to be?

The pain in his muscle was forcibly ignored as he ordered his limbs to move faster than they were used to, just like he ignored the increasing amount of bodies that littered the streets and the distressing realization of how silent the whole place was. There should be some sort of noise, fights were not silent. He should be hearing something. The sound of metal against metal. Screams as enemies got injured. Jutsus being used. Something. Anything...

Unless he was already too late.

No.

Sasuke pushed those thoughts away as fast as they came. If he was too late then it could only mean his parents stopped whoever did this and were simply too busy meeting with the Hokage. Making a report, trying to conduct an investigation or an interrogation or whatever was the correct protocol for something like this. Probably Kagome was not even in the compound anymore, taken away to a safer place by his parents, maybe Itachi made it back in time and he was the one to carry somewhere no one could hurt her.

That had to be it.

Because if it wasn't then...

He didn't stop. Not when he skidded through the right street. Not when he finally reached his home, simply tackling the doors instead of trying to open them normally. He could breathe easier though, the house felt normal, unnervingly quiet, yes, but there were no signs of struggle. No broken or burned furniture nor destroyed walls. His parents were too good to be caught so off guard they didn't have the chance to fight back, surely...

His mother's high pitched scream cruelly shattered any hopes he might've been holding onto.

Once more he ran, picking up the speed the child had allowed to lower at his home's deceivingly untouched appearance. The illusion of safety broken he just couldn't about stealth or planning as he pushed himself to make his way to the living room. If his mother was still here then...

It's loud, annoyingly so, the sound of the door slamming against its frame. He thought with numb detachment while his brain tried its best to process the sight in front of him.

Itachi was home.

He had made it back in time for dinner.

Itachi was home.

And he was dislodging his katana from their mothers back.

Not even bothering to look at him his brother knelt to pick something, someone from the floor. To pick Kagome up from the blood-soaked floor of their living room. The older boy didn't so much as hesitate as he jumped over Mother, as he pushed the unmoving form of his father out of his way and advanced to the door Sasuke was frozen in front of.

"I-Itachi...wha..."

What little air he'd managed to contain got stuck in his throat the moment his brother looked at him. Crimson eyes looked lifelessly at him.

"You're late, Sasuke."

Over the years he'd heard the comments often enough, that his brother's voice was always cold, indifferent, but the younger boy never agreed. It might sound like it at first but Sasuke had always been able to hear the emotions lightly lacing every word Itachi spoke to him. Until now.

"Th...this...Kagome is..."

"Alive." The word seemed to both lift and add to the pressing weight on his shoulders.

"Mother a-and father then...why?" His voice broke, trembling, his mind still refusing to understand the reality in front of him. "No, wait...this, this is just a prank, right? A lie. Kagome, she convinced you to help her, a payback...for forgetting about her last time. For losing track of time today. This, this is a genjutsu, that's all..."

It wasn't an illusion, even as he spouted the words he knew it. The girl was spiteful when she wanted and could hold a grudge but she was not cruel, never this cruel.

"Foolish little brother." Itachi's voice was cold. Too cold. Too unfeeling. Sasuke didn't see it, couldn't see it but he could feel the warmth of his blood slowly dripping down his cheek, hear the dull thunk of the kunai his brother threw at him. Unconsciously he winced from the sharp sting of the cut. "Still too weak, unable to accept the reality in front of you. I killed our parents, I killed our clan."

His world was breaking, breaking into tiny sharp pieces that pierced through him and he still didn't understand, not at all.

Except for...

"Give her back."

"You think you can take her back?"

"I said..." Shivering hands moved to his waist, his kunai pouch opening with a single motion. "Give her back!"

It was useless, and Sasuke knew it from the start. He couldn't win against his brother, there was no one stronger than Itachi. It was just a fact of life. He kept running though. Blindly charging forward, kunai in hand.

His world was breaking but it wasn't gone, not just yet.

"Too weak." Disdain laced his brother's voice even as his foot made painful contact with the younger boy's torso, sending him crashing to the wall. Itachi was still carrying Kagome. "Not even worth killing."

Everything hurt, pain and panic sending jumbled signals to his brain to move, to run, to do something, anything. It as all Sasuke could do to try and raise his head, onyx eyes locking with crimson.

And his world bled.

And he saw it, all of it. He saw his father and mother and the people outside, cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone die again and again and again Bleeding, choking, stabbed, hurting, dying. They screamed, whimpered and sobbed and sometimes they begged, for mercy, for help for the gods themselves over and over and over but still, they died. He killed them, any time, it was the same, it was different, it didn't matter. And he could see her crying and screaming and she was terrified each and every time, blood soaking her form, the blood of his parents drowning her. And then someone screamed as well, loud and painful and raw and his throat was burning but he wasn't screaming, was he? It kept going. It didn't end, why didn't it end? They were dead already. Why did they keep on dying? Why did he have to see it all again? Couldn't they just shut up and remain dead? Why was that person the killer? Him of all people?

Why did he do something like this?

"Why?" The cold familiar voice snapped his attention back to the silent reality, giving an answer to a question Sasuke didn't remember speaking out loud. "Because I needed to test myself?"

"Te-test?"

"This family was nothing but a way to measure my worth, my power. I've already surpassed them, they were no longer useful so I got rid of them."

Power.

For the sake of something as stupid as testing his power, just for that, his family was...

"Kagome...what about Kagome..." Sasuke's voice could barely be heard. Much to the boy's frustration despite the anger he felt all he could do was force the words out of his mouth in a hoarse whisper, forget about trying to move, to get to her. To recover the only thing he had left.

"She was never part of the family." One of his hands moved, gently moving back a lock of raven hair, a mockery of the care Itachi used to treat them both with. "There's potential in her, she's still too young though, it's not the right tome for her just yet."

"Do-don't touch her."

"You think you can stop me?" His brother mocked "As you are now you can't even hope to scratch me, you're not even worth killing. If you want to protect her, if you want to kill me...then live, live miserably and hate me. Survive through the ugliness." His voice sounded far away or was it Sasuke's hearing what was fading? He couldn't tell "Run. Learn to survive..."

Thirst was the first thing he noticed.

Thirst and the strong smell of antiseptics and alcohol. So he was in a hospital then. Had there been an accident when he was training?

Well, obviously there had to have been an accident or he wouldn't be in a hospital in the first place...it didn't make sense though, Naruto had insisted he wanted to train their aim and that sort of training didn't really cause the kind of accidents that would land him in the Konoha Hospital. Besides, even it the blond menace somehow managed to hit him with something Sasuke doubted there was a way to get hurt badly enough to send him here instead of just half-carried back to the Uchiha compound. After all, the only way to warrant a serious injury would be to literally walk in front of the targets while someone was throwing shurikens or kunai and it truly would take a new kind of moron to do something so stupid.

So then, how? More importantly, why couldn't he feel anyone near what he assumed was his hospital bed? Sure the blond was an idiot but he was the sort of idiot that would refuse to leave and let someone get the proper rest they needed when he felt guilty, and even if Naruto really was as inconsiderate as to leave there was no way Kagome wouldn't...

She wouldn't...

She was unconscious, she was unconscious and covered in blood and her brother had her. His brother who killed their clan, their parents. Where was he? Where was she? Where...

Panic overtook him, he had to find them, and then somehow he had to get her back. First of all, he had to move. Pain shot through his arms as he forced his body to move, to sit up, not caring about the lines and cable he was ripping from his skin with his panicked motions. He ignored it though, along with the sound of people running and the worried voices directed at him.

At least he tried to.

It was a bit harder to do so when the voice softly speaking to him was also accompanied by arms forcefully pushing him back to the bed.

"Kagome," he said, voice raspy and tired and determined. "where is she? Where is Kagome?"

"She's just fine." A woman answered from his right. "She's in the room right next to you, she should wake up soon enough."

Relief flooded his system making his muscles relax and finally letting the two nurses around him to push him back and start healing the cuts he made to his arms when ripping the medical equipment off. At last, the boy allowed himself to look at the room, a private room, finally noticing the bright light filtering through the windows. The sun had just set back when...so he'd been unconscious for at least the whole night.

"...the Hokage will want to come, just to ask some questions." The woman on his left was saying and Sasuke had to blink, the other nurse had left at some point and he hadn't noticed. The remaining one was reattaching some of the cables to his arm again. "Don't worry, if you feel too tired you can always say so and we'll reschedule the visit. Your rest is the most important thing, now why don't you lay back and rest for a bit more?"

The young Uchiha took a deep breath before nodding. Like hell he was staying in the room but he needed to act calm or the annoying woman would never leave. Carefully he schooled his expression into one of tired acceptance and fell back down on the rough hospital sheets. The pity in the nurse's clear blue eyes felt like a hit to his gut. "If you need something just press this button here and someone will come running, okay?"

Again, he nodded.

Fifteen seconds was all he was willing to wait after the woman left before he moved. Slowly this time he disconnected the needles making sure to make as little noise as possible. Luckily for him, the machines that beeped the alarm were not the ones they reattached. Kagome was in the room next to him, or so the nurse said, so there was a 50/50 chance of him getting the right door on the first try.

Calm down, he thought, focus on your hearing.

It was silent outside the door, a lot of here medics and general staff here were shinobi or at least had received some level of training so loud steps were unlikely but he was pretty sure none of them were as skilled as ANBU level ninjas so he should still hear something if they were on. the hallway. Moving as slow as he could the young boy opened the door and peeked through it, a sigh of relief left him. The hall was empty.

Which left a decision to make.

Sasuke neared the door at his right and tried to concentrate once again. Experienced shinobi could feel other's presence even if they weren't particularly chakra sensitive and while being completely honest he still had a long way to go to reach that level Sasuke had no choice but to try. It would be too risky to open every door to check inside. At the very least even inexperienced as he was he should be able to tell if the room was occupied, the machines alone should make enough noise to let him know, or so he hoped.

Sighing at the apparent silence he moved to the room on his left.

The soft rumble of machinery reached his ears. He opened the door.

Exhaustion seemed to hit him all at once when his eyes fell on the small figure under the plain white hospital sheets. She was there, she alive, breathing and thank the gods but she looked so tiny, so frail.

Careful not to make too much noise the young boy willed his arms to move and closed the door behind him. It wouldn't do to have someone drag him back to the other room just because he forgot and someone happened to pass by, not that he had any hope on not being dragged eventually but he'd be dammed if he didn't try his hardest to make the most of his time.

Each step felt like he was walking with weights on, by the time he was near the bed Sasuke was more than ready to lie in it and fall asleep again, those thoughts left him as soon as he took a better look at her though.

She was there, alive. He could see her chest rise and fall under the white blankets in a calm rhythm, she was alive and at his side. A shaky hand moved to brush back a stray lock of raven hair, a clean lock of hair, any trace of blood had been washed away and the only sign this was not a normal sleep was perhaps the tightness her eyes were closed with. He frowned, pale skin was a trait that along with the dark black hair she shared with the Uchihas, had he been anyone else he might be fooled into thinking she was perfectly fine. He wasn't just anyone though, he couldn't remember a single day of his life without her by his side and the tone of her skin was not normal. A sickly quality had fallen upon her usual pale tone.

Her eyes were shut too tightly and she was never this still while sleeping, he could even see the tension in her neck.

Anger flooded his senses. Kagome might be physically fine but Sasuke knew too well that didn't mean the girl wasn't hurt. Genjutsu was a very effective way to damage someone (he could still see them, his parent's faces as they died, blood seeping through open wounds, pooling in the floor) and in Kagome's case, it was perhaps far more effective. Had she seen the same thing as he had or was her illusion something different, her own personalized version of hell?

Fingers curled in a rage he barely managed to push back. There was no point in making a scene that could make the staff notice his disappearance sooner than he wanted.

He won't touch her again.

Not for as long as Sasuke was still breathing. His brother might've been hailed as a prodigy but the young boy couldn't care less anymore, he would surpass him. And then, then he would hunt him, he'd be the one to kill him, to take revenge for his family, for his clan, for the pain and suffering Kagome was forced to endure. This time Sasuke would be strong enough to protect the last remaining piece of his world.

He'd been told to hate, to survive. So be it then, that man would regret underestimating him because Sasuke wouldn't rest until his revenge was completed.

"The doctors assure me she should wake up soon enough."

His body moved on his own, jumping in front of the bed to offer what meager protection he could even as he began mentally cursing himself. How on earth did he fail to notice the door opening, let alone someone else entering the room?

After a second of full blown panic, his brain finally started working properly again. The old man standing in front of him didn't look surprised at his reaction, in fact, he looked like the epitome of calmness. The white and red robes made quite clear the reason why Sasuke failed to notice him. If the Sandaime Hokage didn't wish to be noticed then he wouldn't.

Right, the blonde nurse said they would call him.

Still, the tension remained evident in his form, if the Hokage was there then the man would surely have him removed from Kagome's room. There was sure to be a stern scolding in his future, lying to the hospital staff and disappearing from his own room doubtlessly creating some panic wouldn't be overlooked so easily.

"It's only natural to be worried about those we love." Sandaime said in response to the panic that was probably shown in his face. "Wanting to see them, to make sure they are indeed alright is nothing to be ashamed of...although it would be nice if the hospital didn't have to worry about a patient vanishing without a word."

Too old, he was definitely getting too old to do this again. To offer comfort, platitudes, lies.

At least, Sarutobi Hiruzen thought as he watched the boy finally relax as he climbed into the young girl's bed after his reassurance that he'd ask the nurses not to ban him from this room, his capacity to care was not entirely destroyed by this whole fiasco.

The intensity of his panic was perhaps a bit higher than expected but then again to ask for the child not to be paranoid would be like asking for trees to grow in Suna. Even properly trained shinobi tended to end up on the higher end of the paranoia spectrum after a while...not to say that a seven-year-old could be called healthy for showing a degree of mental stress just below trying to attack head-on any unknown immediately but he would take what he could.

Overprotectiveness was, after all, a sad but common coping mechanism, shinobi who lost a team member for the first time tended to try and keep their remaining teammates alive by being hyperaware of any potential threats and reluctance to being separated for long stretches of time. Not that it was particularly healthy, again, but it was a well-documented response and one that would usually (perhaps not pass entirely) diminish over time. Eventually the realization that your loved ones are alive and well and capable of taking care of themselves finally manages to cement in your mind. In this world of bloodshed and carnage they lived in it was impossible to get to olf age without a psychological problem or two. To reach a level of decent functionality was quite honestly the best anyone in their profession could ever hope to achieve. Grief and regret were well known acquaintances. Sarutobi would know.

Regarding little Sasuke's hunger for revenge well, quite honestly Sarutobi had lost count of how many self-appointed avenging missions he'd had to reject (how many he approved) over the years. The little boy felt betrayed by someone who had to be one of the most important persons in his life, the Hokage would probably be more worried if such anger was not part of his initial response. Anger could be more easily redirected towards more positive actions than grief, it would also lower the occurrence of suicidal thoughts...

As for the girl's reactions to the incident...he guessed he'd give his thanks for small mercies since it appeared from the boy's testimony not only that he had no clue for the reasons behind his brother seemingly crazed actions but that Higurashi Kagome had been unconscious for some time and thus missed the sight of the thirteen-year-old ANBU murder her parental figures and beat the lights out of the only living member of her adopted household. Hopefully, the mental damage would not be that extensive. He wouldn't expect anything but a watered-down version of Sasuke's reactions at best but it could've been so much worse.

Damn Danzo and damn the council.

This was not the right way to solve the conflict. Even if a pacific resolution was impossible at the very least they should've assigned another agent to handle this disaster of a mission.

A tired sigh escaped him, it was too late for regrets, the only thing he could do now was to make sure that person's will was protected. The Hyuugas and a cluster of other clans were sure to start making petitions for taking guardianship Uchiha Fugaku had claimed over the only Higurashi clan survivor. Arguments about how two children shouldn't be left on their own were sure to rise (especially considering both of them were now the last owners of unique kekai genkais), Sandaime didn't have any doubts some would vote to separate the two kids. He'd made a promise though, and he'd be damned if he allowed the Council to interfere int he one thing he could do to atone for the sins he'd forced on another's hand.

A rather weak form of atonement.

The children will be left alone, the truth behind the massacre will never be known.

And if Uchiha Sasuke's new objectives were perhaps a bit too focused around only two people...well, revenge and overprotectiveness were really a normal reaction, to be expected even.

A/N: I started writing this some while ago mostly to distract myself, so I figured, why not put this out since I plan on finishing this anyway, maybe some people will enjoy it and gain something else to think about. I already have some chapters written down and have a rough outline of where I want this to go so hopefully things go smoothly. I edited this myself btw so apologies for any grammar or spelling errors, feel free to point them out. Constructive criticism is also always welcome.