Itachi
---
I can't see.
I can't see.
I can't see.
Why did I do that?
Why did I do that!
Itachi felt blood on his arm. He slowly let his Sharingan dissipate and turn back into his normal eyes.
People were dead.
All the people that he ever knew were dead on the ground, most of them with horrified expressions. His own uncle and aunt had died next to each other.
In his house, his parents lay next to a family photo, motionless.
His brother, Sasuke, had fainted trying to attack him.
He, Itachi, had done this.
Itachi…
Himself…
I killed my family.
~~~
“Itachi, don’t you want to go to sleep now?”
The raven haired man jumped and looked behind him. His partner, Kisame, was staring at him tiredly with sleepy eyes.
Only Itachi knew why he was looking so tired; they had had this conversation many, many times.
“No, just wait a little bit longer.”
Itachi always said that.
“C’mon, Tachi, you gotta sleep!”
Kisame groaned. He always said this.
“But I-”
“Go to sleep, please!”
Itachi groaned.
“Four a.m. is not very late for me to stay up-”
“Itachi, your health is already bad, ya need sleep.”
“Fine! I’ll go to sleep then.”
Itachi tried-and failed to stifle a yawn.
Kisame laughed.
“Good night, Itachi.”
“Good night…”
~~~
“You…”
“I what?”
“YOU KILLED OUR FAMILY! YOU DON’T BELONG IN THE UCHIHA FAMILY! I FUCKING HATE YOU!”
“Sasuke, listen, I-”
“NO, I’M NOT LISTENING! I HATE YOU AND YOU WILL NEVER FUCKING CHANGE THAT!”
“...Sasuke…”
“SHUT THE HELL UP!”
“...”
“...”
“What are you thinking?”
“...Heh.”
“What?”
“One day I will kill you, Itachi. Big brother.”
The blue-black haired younger boy turned around to face him with burning anger in his eyes.
“I AM going to kill you, brother.”
The word brother hung in the air, full of sarcasm and hate.
Itachi remained staring at his younger brother.
Then Sasuke vanished.
And Itachi was left standing in the rain.
Alone.
~~~
“I hate dreams…”
Itachi groaned, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He had the dream again, the reason why he dreaded going to sleep.
It may seem like he is a cruel bastard, but really, all he ever wanted was to keep Sasuke safe. Safe from his family. At least that’s what Danzo said.
Danzo…
A voice wrenched him from his thoughts, however, as Kisame was at the door again.
“G’morning, Itachi.”
“Same to you.”
“C’mon, Pain wants us at the table in five minutes.”
“Oh, sorry-I’m coming.”
“You’re fine.” Kisame grinned at him.
Itachi returned the grin, but felt the muscles in his face twitching. He hasn’t smiled in a long time.
~~~
“Sit down, Konan has already set up your plates.” Pain said as they came in.
Kisame looked at Konan and smiled at him.
“Thanks!”
Itachi nodded at her, already sitting down.
“No problem, both of you.” Konan returned, sipping her orange juice.
Itachi coughed.
“Are we late?”
Pain shook his head and looked at his watch.
“Actually…you are three and seven seconds early.”
Konan giggled.
“You two are awfully early today, Itachi is usually shoved in here by Kisame at the last second.”
Itachi said nothing but took a dignified bite of toast.
Kisame laughed then quickly turned it into a coughing fit.
As if he heard them, Sasori ran into the kitchen. His hair was way messier than usual, and he had bags under his eyes. Not even bothering to say hello, Sasori turned to the seated people.
“Has anyone seen Dei?”
Itachi raised an eyebrow.
Deidara hasn’t been seen for a while.
---
“What-what do you mean Sasuke will die if I don’t do it?”
The masked man grinned evilly.
“Well, you don’t have to do it. You can watch Sasuke die.”
Itachi’s hand slapped the table.
“You-”
“Well then, if you don’t want to, you can leave now.”
“SHUT UP!”
“Very defensive, I see. Is it because you don’t want to see your family die?”
“Bastard, I-”
“You what?”
“Um..I-”
“I’m listening.”
“I- but-”
“Come on, I’m a busy man.”
“...”
“Aww, did poor little Itachi sad about killing his whole family and letting his little brother die-”
“SHUT UP! I’LL DO IT, OKAY?”
The man looked at him from his eye, the one that wasn’t covered up with bandages and blood. The look he gave Itachi sent chills down his spine.
“Good.”
~~~
“Wait, Deidara left in the middle of the night yesterday, stop freaking out.”
Sasori stopped trying to break his glass of water and looked at Itachi.
“He did?”
Kisame looked confused.
“Wait, ‘Tachi, how do ya know?”
“I was...up last night. Way before you told me to go to sleep.”
---
Itachi stepped downstairs, almost breaking his neck trying to skip the seventh step that creaked. He didn’t know what to do, so he decided to just pour himself some milk.
“You’re up too?”
Itachi flinched. That voice came from a person he wasn’t on very good terms with.
“Are you here for...water?”
Deidara shook his mane of blonde hair. He was not in his pajamas, and was actually in a hiking set.
“I’m going outside, un.”
Itachi looked at him, feeling a little bit more awake.
“Why?”
“Because...I want to...clear my mind? I dunno, un, but I feel like the outside is calling me.”
“Eh?”
“Ugh, I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You clearly don’t have the mind of an artist.”
Shove off, Itachi wanted to say. Instead, he said:
“Well, yeah, I guess. Sorry.”
“Hmpf, whatever. Bye.”
Deidara left.
Itachi stared at Deidara, staring at Dei’s bright hair until it eventually disappeared from his line of vision. And he wasn’t wearing his glasses.
Then he poured some milk and went upstairs.
~~~
“Why did he not tell me?? I’m his like-best friend!”
Itachi rolled his eyes.
'More like an awkward crushing best friend but who cares.'
“Maybe he was just trying to prove a point?”
“Maybe he was angry.”
Pain sighed.
“Get back to your meals, please.”
Sasori reluctantly picked at his meal.
Pain looked around the table.
“Where’s Kakuzu, Hidan, Zetsu, Orochimaru, and Tobi?”
Pain asked, staring at the empty spots at the table.
“I think they went on a camping trip, and Orochimaru’s doing experiments.” Responded Konan.
“Thank you, honey, for being the only helpful person here.” Pain smiled at her.
Konan blushed.
“No problem, sweetie.”
Itachi covered his eyes.
'They remind me of my dead parents.'
~~~
The air around Deidara stopped the moment his hand made contact with the body. The air felt tight, tense.
It was as if everything was frozen in eternity.
That was what Deidara thought, anyway, barely registering the cold skin on his rather warm one.
Until a blood-curdling scream came from the thing's mouth.
~~~