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Blood soaked the grounds, drenching the innocence of his childhood in a metallic, acrid sent that would serve to cement these new memories into every crevice of his mind.
The sight of his parents dead before him wouldn’t leave his vision, even as it blurred from tears. Obsidian eyes clenched shut, but the image remained etched into the darkness. Bloody palms smeared the proof of this atrocity across the very eyes the boy scoured for relief.
No amount of tears, screaming, scrubbing, or questioning served to lessen the clarity of his new reality. Unprepared to handle such scenarios, instincts urged emotionally exhausted limbs to remove his crumpled form from from the overwhelming stimulus.
His brother also urged him to run. The man responsible practically begged for his ire and fead. Poetic words slipped sinfully from the older boy’s lips, but none of what was said made sense.
Sasuke loved his older brother more than anything else in the world. He couldn’t understand why his intelligent, peaceful, loyal idol would not only destroy their peaceful world, but ask for death in return.
It was tempting—this idea of turning his fear, confusion and revulsion into anger would indeed offer the immediate relief he craved. So he did. The young Uchiha gave into his emotions, blurring and blending them all into fuel for a fiery burst of anger. Although successfully draining, his efforts ultimately proved fruitless. He yelled, and he attacked, yet no relief came. No amount of emotions provided him the understanding he truly craved.
Itachi was the only one with the power too free Sasuke from his impending downward spiral. Yet, instead of putting him out of his misery, the older boy offered the much-used bait of pending approval, should Sasuke obey his commands. Luckily, however much Sasuke has spent his life vying for his brother’s approval, he has never given in to the older boy’s excuses for distance. This time, as horrifying and scaring as it may be, would be no different.
“I don’t know why you did this.” Sasuke sobbed, gripping the enigma before him as though he was strong enough to control the situation. “But I love you, and I trust you.”
As though to solidify his words against any doubt, the innocent boy, who’s life has been turned upside down in a matter of minutes, clung to the murderer responsible in a one-sided hug.
The crying child couldn’t tell at the time, but his efforts had worked. The elder brother, previously intent on leaving his younger sibling to clean up the mess, was rendered emotionally incapable of freeing himself from Sasuke’s grasp.
A strange sensation of slow, unrhythmic tapping on his hair spurred Sasuke to remove himself enough to to look up at the target of his foolish affection. He would learn later that the tear glistened eyes spotted with swirling red were suppose to hypnotize him into an illusionary world, and that Itachi was suppose to have left long ago.
“It was Uchiha or Konoha.” Itachi offered instead, unprecedented guilt seeming to force the words out. Sasuke had never seem his brother this vulnerable, but his words were as confusing as ever before.
“Are you saying I'm a threat to Konoha.” Sasuke asked, seeking clarification.
“No.” Came an honest response. It held more weight and answers than Sasuke was prepared to process, so Sasuke chose instead to keep pushing forward.
“Then how were all of the other children? That doesn’t sound like Hokage-Sama. We arekonoha!”
Something dark and calculated clicks in the older boy’s demeanor. A shift that could only be felt was shared between them. Sasuke felt a fear crawl through his gut as an intuitive response. He knew now that Itachi planned to leave hm completely alone—that the hyper-intelligent prodigy somehow convinced himself that this would be best for Sasuke.
“Don’t leave me brother. Let them think I'm dead.” Sasuke demanded, emboldened by the impact of his words combined with his growing trust in his own intuition. “I might as well be if you leave me.”