Violent Reunions Ch. 1 - The Reunion
Sasunaru inside!
WARNING: Angst, extreme graphic violence, and yaoi.
He stood in the middle of the road in the neighborhood the Uchiha clan once called home. How appropriate that I meet him here. This place is where my fate was formed, where my life as it is began. This is where everything will end.
Nothing else matters, just him. He's standing motionless, wearing that apathetic expression. It's the same face he's worn since the slaughter. The same face he met me with when I discovered my parent's lifeless bodies. I've seen it over and over in my dreams, the face I just can't escape, no matter how hard I try.
"Itachi..." I whispered. "Itachi."
He didn't respond. With each passing moment, I became more anxious. Sweat broke out over my brow and palms. Muscles twitched in readiness for what was to come. Silence stretched between us. It seemed as if nature itself was holding its breath.
"Will you not acknowledge me, brother?"
"Didn't I tell you last time we met, Sasuke?" Itachi turned to face me, one brow raised in question. "You are not my concern. There is someone else I'm interested in," he said and began to turn away.
"You can't underestimate-"
"I will not repeat myself, Sasuke." Itachi stated firmly. I was frozen in place, watching his cloak swing in the breeze as he walked away. Even his back seemed to be mocking me, accusing me of being the amateur ninja of our last encounter, six years ago. He disregarded me yet again. My fists trembled and teeth gnashed. How dare he!
"Itachi!" I pulled a kunai out of my pouch as I ran after him. "You will not ignore me!" I threw the kunai as his back, but he dodged it effortlessly. I reached behind me to unsheathe my blade, still running after him. He quickly revealed a kunai of his own. It met my sword in a loud, echoing clash. We stood facing each other, straining against the other's weapon.
"If this continues, it will be the end of you," Itachi said menacingly. His voice showed none of the strain I could see in his arm.
"Then so be it. I have lived for nothing else." I pulled the sword away and began slashing. The movements were nearly too quick to track, but Itachi deflected every strike with nothing but his kunai. Every move was parried effortlessly.
Another loud clang of metal and we were face to face again. My chest was heaving with the effort of attacking. Itachi didn't seem to be straining at all.
"I told you. This is pointless," Itachi said. "You cannot defeat me, little brother."
His words aggravated me, sent angry heat through me, set a fire to my blood. This will not happen again. I will not lose, I will not be humiliated by this monster again. I jumped back to focus chakra into the blade. A blue glow began to emanate from me, getting brighter as it infused the blade. I could see Itachi's eyes widen in surprise. Then I was on him. I didn't give him a chance to do anything but stumble backwards.
"Chidori... nagashi!" A bright current of electricity burst from the sword as I swung at him. I kept swinging until I heard a grunt from Itachi. I stepped back and stopped the flow of chakra. When the light died, I could see Itachi kneeling on the ground, a steady drip of crimson splashing to the road from a gash across his shoulder. If only it had taken his head. That would have been too easy.
He looked up to meet my eyes. His look of indifference had finally faded. His eyes were bright and swirling with anger. I was now staring into bright red sharingan eyes that mirrored my own.
"It appears you have become a nuisance," Itachi said quietly. Then he moved.
I didn't have a chance to react. I tried to lift my blade to meet him, but he was too fast. I hit the ground with a grunt, Itachi's weight pushing me into the dirt. He grasped and contorted my wrist until I felt it pop. I let out a yelp as pain lanced through my right arm and my hand went limp. Itachi threw the sword out of reach.
I was immobilized. One arm out of commission and Itachi's weight on the rest of my body. I cursed my carelessness. If only I had kept attacking him. I should has slashed until he was in pieces, but I hesitated. I doubt that I would live long enough to contemplate the reasons for that.
Itachi leaned into me until all I could see was his face. I could feel his breath mingling with my own, our lips almost touching. The blood soaked through my clothes and felt warm on my chest as it steadily fell. I shuddered. It was as if I was being tainted by the press of his body on mine, by the runnels of red as it hit my skin. I twisted and struggled against his hold, but it was absolute.
"Sasuke... I see you have some new tricks," Itachi whispered into my mouth, "but no matter. I will forever be above you." His gaze sharpened. I watched his eyes as they changed. I knew I should look away, but I was transfixed. His sharingan distorted and warped into a new shape. The ultimate form of our bloodline limit, the mangekyou sharingan, that he acquired by murder, the ability I had tried to obtain the same way.
The thought brought the memory of the only person I was close to after Itachi murdered our clan, Uzumaki Naruto. The person I had tried so hard to kill to obtain the mangekyou sharingan. I hadn't done it in the end. I couldn't bring myself to strike him down. I wouldn't be like the man I so despised.
Akatsuki would murder Naruto in my stead if given the chance. He must have evaded capture all these years. It was a relief to know that Itachi hadn't been able to take away the last precious thing I had, even if I hadn't seen Naruto in years.
My head was pulled back violently, waking me from my memories. Itachi wrapped and twisted my hair around his fingers with his free hand. His grip was so tight it felt as if I were going to be scalped by it. He pulled my face to his until our noses touched.
"What would you like to see this time, Sasuke?" Itachi asked. The question confused me.
"See?"
"You don't remember our last meeting?" he crooned. "Being crushed and tortured under the weight of my genjutsu?" I stared at him, wide eyed. It had taken the hokage's healing techniques to bring me back from the stupor Itachi's tsukiyomi had put me in. I had tried my hardest to forget that particular incident. Thinking about it made me tremble, cold sweat dripping from my temples. Itachi's smug expression said that he remembered it just as well, knew the effect it had on me, and clearly enjoyed it.
"Ahh..." he sighed, "perhaps I should refresh your memory?" He knew damn well I was remembering what he had done. My body betrayed my fear with it's shaking. I shut my eyes tightly. I did not want to relive the Uchiha massacre over and over again inside his world. He might even think of something worse to drive me to madness this time.
I felt his hand release it's death grip on the back of my head, only to be shocked by a sharp pain across my cheek. My eyes flew open as the blood began sliding down my face. That was all that it took. I fell into the hell that was Itachi's mangekyou sharingan, and there would be no escape from his sadism there.
I was young again. The innocent little boy who looked up to his prodigy of an older brother. It was the same place we were fighting in, but it was covered in darkness. Just as it had happened in my youth, I stumbled across dismembered, maimed and bloody forms that had once been aunts, uncles, and cousins. Their blood was in pools all around me, walls covered in splashes of glowing crimson. I stumbled, falling in it... my child's hands coated in sticky blood. I stared at those hands and screamed.
I scrambled to my parent's house. I kept telling myself that I knew what I would find there, but I was once again reliving the nightmare. It was worse this time. I knew what was happening, but couldn't stop it. I didn't know how. So it continued. Being attacked by Itachi, seeing my parents bloodied at their own child's hand. Over and over again. The scenario replayed. My family, relatives, Itachi, a never ending cycle. I was panicking. I fell to my knees in the road and let out an anguished wail. My cheeks were hot with tears. Bile rose in my throat. I grasped my stomach, doubling over to vomit on the street.
I lifted my head and stared at Itachi's feet in front of me. He was repeating, "hate me, detest me, kill me..." over and over. I felt small, helpless, and terrified. Visions of bloody stumps and open, dead eyes danced in my mind, in time to Itachi's voice.
He knelt over me.
"Are you broken, little brother? Have I overpowered you once again?" Itachi taunted. I could barely hear him. My ears were ringing, drowning out everything else. My soul was screaming in my own ears. Just let it end, let it end.
"Shall I show you mercy?" he asked. "Will you prostrate yourself before me and surrender your pathetic little life?" He reached down and stroked my hair. His touch sent a wave of adrenaline through me, and I scrambled backwards, trying to get as far away from him as I could. My chest was heaving with sobs as he stood and slowly strode towards me.
"N-n-no..." I stuttered. "No m-more..."
"Hmm...?" Itachi cupped his ear as he bent over me.
"I... n-no..." I stammered again.
"I... can't... hear... you!" Itachi shouted, each word punctuated by a sharp slash of a kunai to either side of my face. I screamed and tried to raise my arms, but he just cut those too. I was being splashed with my own blood, a puddle beginning to form in front of me. The ringing in my ears was getting louder, the image of Itachi and this hellish world darkening and fading around the edges. When my face fell into the pool of my own blood, Itachi stopped carelessly slashing and put his face above mine.
"This has been fun, little brother, but I'm done playing with you." He began putting his hands together, forming seals for a ninjutsu that would be his final triumph. This has to be my end. I failed the only thing I had set out to do in my life. All these years preparing, training endlessly for this moment, even betraying Konoha, and Naruto... all in vain. I guess this means Itachi was right all those years ago. I'm truly pathetic.
I lifted my eyes to watch Itachi. I didn't have the energy left to do anything else. He was about form the last seal, when he stopped abruptly. His brows furrowed and he shook his head. He began again only to stop a few moments later. I could hear a distant buzzing on the wind. I couldn't be sure what it was or where it was coming from, but it was stopping Itachi from finishing his ninjutsu.
"Wha-" Itachi started, but never finished. The moonlight and crimson nightmare began to fade.
Itachi was gone leaving nothing but total darkness in his wake.
WARNING: Angst, extreme graphic violence, and yaoi.
He stood in the middle of the road in the neighborhood the Uchiha clan once called home. How appropriate that I meet him here. This place is where my fate was formed, where my life as it is began. This is where everything will end.
Nothing else matters, just him. He's standing motionless, wearing that apathetic expression. It's the same face he's worn since the slaughter. The same face he met me with when I discovered my parent's lifeless bodies. I've seen it over and over in my dreams, the face I just can't escape, no matter how hard I try.
"Itachi..." I whispered. "Itachi."
He didn't respond. With each passing moment, I became more anxious. Sweat broke out over my brow and palms. Muscles twitched in readiness for what was to come. Silence stretched between us. It seemed as if nature itself was holding its breath.
"Will you not acknowledge me, brother?"
"Didn't I tell you last time we met, Sasuke?" Itachi turned to face me, one brow raised in question. "You are not my concern. There is someone else I'm interested in," he said and began to turn away.
"You can't underestimate-"
"I will not repeat myself, Sasuke." Itachi stated firmly. I was frozen in place, watching his cloak swing in the breeze as he walked away. Even his back seemed to be mocking me, accusing me of being the amateur ninja of our last encounter, six years ago. He disregarded me yet again. My fists trembled and teeth gnashed. How dare he!
"Itachi!" I pulled a kunai out of my pouch as I ran after him. "You will not ignore me!" I threw the kunai as his back, but he dodged it effortlessly. I reached behind me to unsheathe my blade, still running after him. He quickly revealed a kunai of his own. It met my sword in a loud, echoing clash. We stood facing each other, straining against the other's weapon.
"If this continues, it will be the end of you," Itachi said menacingly. His voice showed none of the strain I could see in his arm.
"Then so be it. I have lived for nothing else." I pulled the sword away and began slashing. The movements were nearly too quick to track, but Itachi deflected every strike with nothing but his kunai. Every move was parried effortlessly.
Another loud clang of metal and we were face to face again. My chest was heaving with the effort of attacking. Itachi didn't seem to be straining at all.
"I told you. This is pointless," Itachi said. "You cannot defeat me, little brother."
His words aggravated me, sent angry heat through me, set a fire to my blood. This will not happen again. I will not lose, I will not be humiliated by this monster again. I jumped back to focus chakra into the blade. A blue glow began to emanate from me, getting brighter as it infused the blade. I could see Itachi's eyes widen in surprise. Then I was on him. I didn't give him a chance to do anything but stumble backwards.
"Chidori... nagashi!" A bright current of electricity burst from the sword as I swung at him. I kept swinging until I heard a grunt from Itachi. I stepped back and stopped the flow of chakra. When the light died, I could see Itachi kneeling on the ground, a steady drip of crimson splashing to the road from a gash across his shoulder. If only it had taken his head. That would have been too easy.
He looked up to meet my eyes. His look of indifference had finally faded. His eyes were bright and swirling with anger. I was now staring into bright red sharingan eyes that mirrored my own.
"It appears you have become a nuisance," Itachi said quietly. Then he moved.
I didn't have a chance to react. I tried to lift my blade to meet him, but he was too fast. I hit the ground with a grunt, Itachi's weight pushing me into the dirt. He grasped and contorted my wrist until I felt it pop. I let out a yelp as pain lanced through my right arm and my hand went limp. Itachi threw the sword out of reach.
I was immobilized. One arm out of commission and Itachi's weight on the rest of my body. I cursed my carelessness. If only I had kept attacking him. I should has slashed until he was in pieces, but I hesitated. I doubt that I would live long enough to contemplate the reasons for that.
Itachi leaned into me until all I could see was his face. I could feel his breath mingling with my own, our lips almost touching. The blood soaked through my clothes and felt warm on my chest as it steadily fell. I shuddered. It was as if I was being tainted by the press of his body on mine, by the runnels of red as it hit my skin. I twisted and struggled against his hold, but it was absolute.
"Sasuke... I see you have some new tricks," Itachi whispered into my mouth, "but no matter. I will forever be above you." His gaze sharpened. I watched his eyes as they changed. I knew I should look away, but I was transfixed. His sharingan distorted and warped into a new shape. The ultimate form of our bloodline limit, the mangekyou sharingan, that he acquired by murder, the ability I had tried to obtain the same way.
The thought brought the memory of the only person I was close to after Itachi murdered our clan, Uzumaki Naruto. The person I had tried so hard to kill to obtain the mangekyou sharingan. I hadn't done it in the end. I couldn't bring myself to strike him down. I wouldn't be like the man I so despised.
Akatsuki would murder Naruto in my stead if given the chance. He must have evaded capture all these years. It was a relief to know that Itachi hadn't been able to take away the last precious thing I had, even if I hadn't seen Naruto in years.
My head was pulled back violently, waking me from my memories. Itachi wrapped and twisted my hair around his fingers with his free hand. His grip was so tight it felt as if I were going to be scalped by it. He pulled my face to his until our noses touched.
"What would you like to see this time, Sasuke?" Itachi asked. The question confused me.
"See?"
"You don't remember our last meeting?" he crooned. "Being crushed and tortured under the weight of my genjutsu?" I stared at him, wide eyed. It had taken the hokage's healing techniques to bring me back from the stupor Itachi's tsukiyomi had put me in. I had tried my hardest to forget that particular incident. Thinking about it made me tremble, cold sweat dripping from my temples. Itachi's smug expression said that he remembered it just as well, knew the effect it had on me, and clearly enjoyed it.
"Ahh..." he sighed, "perhaps I should refresh your memory?" He knew damn well I was remembering what he had done. My body betrayed my fear with it's shaking. I shut my eyes tightly. I did not want to relive the Uchiha massacre over and over again inside his world. He might even think of something worse to drive me to madness this time.
I felt his hand release it's death grip on the back of my head, only to be shocked by a sharp pain across my cheek. My eyes flew open as the blood began sliding down my face. That was all that it took. I fell into the hell that was Itachi's mangekyou sharingan, and there would be no escape from his sadism there.
I was young again. The innocent little boy who looked up to his prodigy of an older brother. It was the same place we were fighting in, but it was covered in darkness. Just as it had happened in my youth, I stumbled across dismembered, maimed and bloody forms that had once been aunts, uncles, and cousins. Their blood was in pools all around me, walls covered in splashes of glowing crimson. I stumbled, falling in it... my child's hands coated in sticky blood. I stared at those hands and screamed.
I scrambled to my parent's house. I kept telling myself that I knew what I would find there, but I was once again reliving the nightmare. It was worse this time. I knew what was happening, but couldn't stop it. I didn't know how. So it continued. Being attacked by Itachi, seeing my parents bloodied at their own child's hand. Over and over again. The scenario replayed. My family, relatives, Itachi, a never ending cycle. I was panicking. I fell to my knees in the road and let out an anguished wail. My cheeks were hot with tears. Bile rose in my throat. I grasped my stomach, doubling over to vomit on the street.
I lifted my head and stared at Itachi's feet in front of me. He was repeating, "hate me, detest me, kill me..." over and over. I felt small, helpless, and terrified. Visions of bloody stumps and open, dead eyes danced in my mind, in time to Itachi's voice.
He knelt over me.
"Are you broken, little brother? Have I overpowered you once again?" Itachi taunted. I could barely hear him. My ears were ringing, drowning out everything else. My soul was screaming in my own ears. Just let it end, let it end.
"Shall I show you mercy?" he asked. "Will you prostrate yourself before me and surrender your pathetic little life?" He reached down and stroked my hair. His touch sent a wave of adrenaline through me, and I scrambled backwards, trying to get as far away from him as I could. My chest was heaving with sobs as he stood and slowly strode towards me.
"N-n-no..." I stuttered. "No m-more..."
"Hmm...?" Itachi cupped his ear as he bent over me.
"I... n-no..." I stammered again.
"I... can't... hear... you!" Itachi shouted, each word punctuated by a sharp slash of a kunai to either side of my face. I screamed and tried to raise my arms, but he just cut those too. I was being splashed with my own blood, a puddle beginning to form in front of me. The ringing in my ears was getting louder, the image of Itachi and this hellish world darkening and fading around the edges. When my face fell into the pool of my own blood, Itachi stopped carelessly slashing and put his face above mine.
"This has been fun, little brother, but I'm done playing with you." He began putting his hands together, forming seals for a ninjutsu that would be his final triumph. This has to be my end. I failed the only thing I had set out to do in my life. All these years preparing, training endlessly for this moment, even betraying Konoha, and Naruto... all in vain. I guess this means Itachi was right all those years ago. I'm truly pathetic.
I lifted my eyes to watch Itachi. I didn't have the energy left to do anything else. He was about form the last seal, when he stopped abruptly. His brows furrowed and he shook his head. He began again only to stop a few moments later. I could hear a distant buzzing on the wind. I couldn't be sure what it was or where it was coming from, but it was stopping Itachi from finishing his ninjutsu.
"Wha-" Itachi started, but never finished. The moonlight and crimson nightmare began to fade.
Itachi was gone leaving nothing but total darkness in his wake.