Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Brothers No Longer ❯ Brothers No Longer ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

I looked Sasuke over, noticing a new hardness to his stance that he hadn't had when I last spied up on him before his Chunin Exams. It wasn't that he was taller and a bit more muscled, though that was true, as it was with any boy nearing seventeen. No, it must have been his eyes. They were still dark as they had been when he was a child, but they were more steady, more aware, than they had been the last time.

Of course, the last time I looked into his eyes like I was now, he had been crying from pain and betrayel. Now, they burned with an intense burning anger.

"Itachi, it's time for you to die." He said softly. I flinched inwardly at his tone. It was the same when he was demanding for a bed-time story. Or telling me he trusted me to protect him always. Now, instead of being my brother, he was acting as I had made him to be; an Avenger.

"You think you are strong enough, little brother?" I asked mockingly, not giving way to my emotions. I knew my face was an impenetrable mask and I chose to leave it that way. No more softening it for the adoring child who wanted nothing more than my love.

"I've trained for years for this day. I will...not....FAIL!" He shot forward with the impatience of a child. I used a Replacement Jutsu and disappeared, only to reappear on a tree branch across the clearing. He stabbed 'me' with a kunai and flipped back, sliding into a defensive stance smoothly. A small smile flitted across my face. He was definetely intellegent enough to know I would not be killed so easily.

He seemed to be avoiding using my family tie to him so I would have to remind him just how close we once were.

"Little brother, do you still wait up for someone just to make sure they're safe?" I sneered. His head shot toward me so quickly I wondered if he had whiplash.

"Perhaps you await your friends, Sakura and Naruto, each time they leave on solo missions, just to be sure they were fine without you to protect them." I said. Surprise was quickly smashed down from his expressions. So he wasn't aware I had had his every move watched.

"Do you attempt to protect them to make up to our family? How you were only a child of seven who could not, or maybe would not, defeat his own brother to save them? Does the guilt eat at you and enter your worst nightmares?" He flinched and for a moment I wondered if he wasn't really ready to kill me.

Well, it was too late now. I swore an oath to a sleeping child that I would succumb to death only by his hands. I would die by this child's hands and only then would I know that he was strong enough to protect himself from his enemies. Not to mention my own, who would come wishing to kill the last of my family.

"I'll kill you, you bastard!" He let out a snarl of animalistic rage and leapt for me. I dodged once more, knowing I could never make this easy on him. It was basic instinct of one such as I who had lived for such a long time with only my own thoughts for company.

The clearing wasn't very large but I used everything to my advantage. Trees, brush, rocks, everything nature had to offer became my stepping stone in this final fight for my life. Though I had no real intention to survive this. That was never the idea.

An hour later found the two of us with many minor bruises and scratches. All except one, which I wore across the torn remains of my shirt; Sasuke had caught me off-guard and a shuriken lay imbedded mere inches from my heart. I could not remove it for fear he would kill me without understanding and without listening to my final words.

When I finally stumbled, I knew it was over for me. His last kunai was long, at least three inches, and it went through my wrist, pinning it to a tree. His shurikens shot at me in a flurry of movement, hitting three vital organs. I let my features soften as he stopped in front of me, as sure as I was that I would soon be dead and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Why?!" He demanded, his eyes tearing up much like they had as when he had been a child.

"Why what, dear brother?" I coughed. I expected him to ask why I had destroyed the family.

"Why let me live?" He asked much to my surprise. Then I understood. He had thought that I had left him in torment when I allowed him to live.

"Don't you understand, Sasuke-chan?" I asked in a gentle voice.

"I killed them for you. I never wished for you to grow up as I had, with so many expectations and living only by the rules of the family. I had to free you of that, so you could someday do what you have now done." His eyes widened and I don't think I had ever stunned him so much, even when I had come at him covered in our Father's blood.

"For.....me?" He choked.

"Yes...." At this point I had to pause to spit out the blood bubbling in my throat.

"But, you wanted me to kill you?" He questioned with childlishly innocent eyes.

"Yes. I refused to succumb to death unless it would help you in some way. Don't you see? I have made you stronger this day." I could see it was now coming to him. All those years of training had some use. Even if he had thought it was merely to kill me.

"I'm glad.....little brother....that we finally had this.....talk. I've......waited years.....to tell you my.....reasons for making.....your life.....a living hell." Tears gathered at the edge of his eyes and I finally allowed myself to let my own flow.

"I'll, I'll get you to the hospital, Itachi-neesan." He said desperately as he began yanking his weapons from my body. I couldn't contain the groan as he tugged at the one so close to my heart.

"No, little brother. I wish you.....to bury me where only you......can visit me. Bury me with.....this kunai with which you.....nearly pierced my heart." He shook his head in denial.

"Yes." I said coldly.

He remained silent and sat close to my side. I smiled. We had finally resolved ourselves, just in time for my death. When the time finally drew to an end, I whispered my final words to him.

"Sasuke, I have and always will love you." I managed to sigh out without pausing.

"And I you, Big Brother." Were the last words I heard before I closed my eyes and welcomed the blackness that would take me far from him. Our last seperation.


AN: Well, the last part to my Brother one-shots. How'd ya like em? It was kinda hard for me to write, since I love both characters sooo much.

Luv ya'll. Tai