If he had more answers, perhaps Sasuke would be a bit more level headed. (Or perhaps he would take it out on that village that had the audacity to take away everything meaningful to him. Nii-san wouldn’t approve, but his brother wasn’t exactly a shining example of anything, was he?)
“Don’t you dare-”
How dare Itachi deny Sasuke of his revenge? How dare he, after everything he has done?
Sasuke had made a mistake of looking his brother in the eyes. One he would rectify as soon as he could. He would rip those eyes out of Itachi’s head personally if needed.
“Sasuke please. Please just listen, please just ask me more questions.” He was acting on nothing but pure emotion– and Itachi could live with simply allowing Sasuke to go…to never contact him again… but he could not live with Sasuke having taken his own life.
“I was weak. It was the wrong thing to do. I find no pleasure in what I’d done. To you, or to them…”
“For me?” The words slip out and something akin to a laugh chokes out of Sasuke. He’s shaking, hands grasping at Itachi’s shirt tightly before reaching up to wrap around his brothers throat. Hands bare down. Squeeze, and Sasuke knows that Itachi is stronger than this. His brother could have shoved him away, yet Itachi hasn’t.
“This was never for me, Itachi.” He doesn’t even register the tears falling down his face. The only thing that matters is the fact that Itachi is here. Alive in front of him, and Sasuke knows the truth –
“Shall I take away the most important person to you?”
One hand reaches back. Withdrawls Kusanagi, and his grip on it is steady. Killing Itachi wouldn’t bring them back, wouldn’t do a damned thing.
Let him feel what Sasuke felt instead.
What–
no–
He acts quick– activates his weary Sharingan long enough to hopefully freeze Sasuke and take his sword away from him.
“Don’t you want more answers–” Anything. Anything to not lose him.
He had expected something. All Sasuke ever wanted was the truth, and whether it was painful or not. He hadn’t expected the landing to still hurt, air leaving his lungs as those words came from his brother.
Lies. He wanted to deny it. To yell, scream at Itachi that the village would not order such a thing. But would they not? The village had left Sasuke to rot in that place, and he still remembered cleaning up blood stained walls, still clearly remembered the outline of his parents bodies when he found them.
Still remembered the warmth of his mothers touch, or the way he sought out his fathers affection on a daily basis, training to become stronger, better, if only for a little bit of praise.
“You-” The truth hurt, dug into his chest like a hot knife, twisting what little sanity he had left.
“You chose them over us!” The words fall out and Sasuke doesn’t even attempt to contain his anger. He’s trembling with it, wants to grab onto Itachi and take away what life the man had inside of him.
“Mother, father, everyone – and for what? For the village that left me alone? You chose them over the clan!” And Sasuke stalks over to his brother, hand trembling as he grasps onto Itachi’s shirt, Sharingan glaring right at the elder.
“Was it worth it, Nii-san? Was killing our family – our mother and father – worth it? Was abandoning me like you did for so long worth it?!”
“It was for you–” The answer is hasty, voice shaken, and he regrets the words the moment they leave his mouth.
He doesn’t stop Sasuke from gripping him forward. If he’s going to die within the next few minutes, at least he will try to explain himself fully.
“I was afraid, afraid that you were going to be killed, and it was enough to get me to agree, I had thought that by doing this I could avert a war– I was wrong, Sasuke.” Not with the tensions as they are now.
UchihaSavior 