Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ What are these Memories? ❯ Chapter 26 ( Chapter 26 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 26:

Sakura sighed as she looked at the charred remains of what was left of the Uchiha district. It had been almost a week since the event happened and she couldn't help wondering about the cause of it all. She frequently found her mind wandering over to thoughts of Itachi and she couldn't quite figure out why. Sasuke was still recovering from the wounds his brother had inflicted upon him just so recently ago. He had been ordering her to leave him be and to quit being so concerned over him. Sakura knew he hated her seeing him in such a state. So, upon his persistent requests, she left him alone to wallow in his own self-pity as she went to visit the remains of what was once his home; that's how she wound up being here now. As she approached the Uchiha mansion, she heard a small shuffling noise. It was so quiet that she had to strain her ears to hear it. Sliding the crumbling door aside, she cautiously ventured inside. It was different now that everything was burned. Charred remains of items that once signified Sasuke's former life when he was still a child, lay smoldering in a corner and on the floor. The once white walls were now scorched a blackish-brown and the smell of burning wood and paper was everywhere. Again, she heard the sound. She slowly walked towards it, even after the slight noise had ceased. It was coming from a room that she knew all too well; the room that she had once sat in for hours and hours on end. Quietly sliding the burned remains of the screen door as carefully as she could, there she found him. He was sitting on what had once been his bed for thirteen years, staring out the clouded and cracked window into nothingness as he usually would do when he was thinking.

“Itachi-san?”

“What are you doing here kunoichi?” he asked her, not bothering to turn around.

“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” she replied. “You have absolutely no reason that I can think of for being here.”

“You are correct. I am here for no particular reason at all, but I am allowed to go and see what is left of my once my former home. Even though I don't even bother with visiting this pitiful place often, I am allowed to see what is left of it after the burning, am I not?” He still didn't turn around.

Sakura said nothing. She knew he wasn't really expecting an answer. She calmly walked over to a now charcoal-colored chair, and after deeming it sturdy enough, sat down. The two sat in silence for a while. She looked around and spotted a cracked picture frame, the photo peeling out from under the glass. She carefully picked it up and looked at it. It was a picture of the two brothers when they were younger. A five year-old Sasuke was clutching onto his brother's waist as his amused elder brother tried pushing him off. She slipped the photograph out of its tattered frame and turned it around to look at the back of it, only to find a small sentence on the back: “Sasuke's first day at the Ninja Academy.” The date had been long worn away. Looking around the room once again, she now became more aware of the pictures hanging on the room's four walls. A good amount consisted of Itachi and his younger brother together at some kind of important event in the two brothers' lives. A picture of Itachi hiding a present behind his back on Sasuke's birthday with Sasuke making a frustrated face, a picture of the two riding piggy-back; they were all there. Sakura wondered why she had never noticed them before. The fire must not have reached his room enough to badly destroy it.

“Oh yes, I was once called the ideal image of an elder brother that anyone would want,” Itachi mused, drawing her attention back to him. He was looking at her now, but the rare feeling of nostalgia clouded his eyes. “My brother and I did almost everything together when we were younger and more foolish than we are now.” He gave a sigh and shook his head. “I used to enjoy being in this house when my father wasn't around once. But now look at it.” He scooped some of the charred remains of the wooden floor into his hand and let it crumble through his fingers. “It's rotting from the ground up. It's ironic how things play out in the complex path called life.” A small smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth at his comment. “I can't stand the place now.”

“Itachi-san, do you really wish for your brother to succeed in killing you?” Sakura asked. The clouded look from Itachi's eyes was gone instantly as he was brought back to the world of reality.

“Yes, I do, Sakura,” he replied.

“Why?”

“If you were me, would you really wish to continue living life as I live it now?” Sakura thought about this for a moment. Her year in the Akatsuki was anything but pleasant, but she was there as a guest of sorts. Itachi, on the other hand, was a full-time member and always being on the run from the ANBU must get tiring after a while. She remembered that on one of the overnight missions that she accompanied him on, it took hours just to find an inn that had no idea who or what the Akatsuki was as they were wanted in many areas, especially Itachi. So no, she did not want to be in Itachi's shoes because life as a fugitive was rough, even if you were one among the most strongest of ninjas. When she looked back up at him, he had already turned around and had proceeded to stare out the window once more. He had his chin resting on his fist now. He had slipped his coat off in order to not swelter under the stifling heat of the summer afternoon. She saw scars, lots of scars. Scars that weren't there before. Since when did Uchiha Itachi have scars?

“What happened to you?” she asked.

“Mission,” he simply replied, still staring out the window.

“How'd it happen?” she asked back.

“It doesn't concern you,” he said back sharply, a note of finality in his voice. Sakura knew to let the subject drop right then and there. If Uchiha Itachi didn't want to talk about something, it was never a good idea to press the matter. Then she remembered an ANBU mission a few days ago that was led by Naruto as she had given up her position as squad leader. She remembered the conversation she had with Naruto after that mission night.

“Hey Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked, popping his head through the door of the hospital filing room.

“What is it Naruto?” she asked back. “If it's about Sasuke, he won't let anyone come within ten feet of him. He almost succeeded in attacking a nurse the other day.”

“No, it's not that,” Naruto replied. “It's about the ANBU mission I led.”

“What about it?”

“We ran into the Akatsuki.”Sakura's head snapped up from the file she was looking at.

“What? That wasn't part of the mission.”

“Well, we didn't run into the whole group per-say, we only ran into one.”

“It was him, wasn't it?” Naruto nodded. “What was he doing without Kisame? Those two never go anywhere on a mission without the other. Akatsuki leader's orders.”

“I know,” Naruto said. “That's what we were wondering too. Nevertheless, we fought him and he did something that surprised us all.”

“And what was that?” Sakura asked, curious as to whereallthis was going.

“He didn't fight back Sakura-chan. We attacked, but he did nothing but dodge the blows and run.He looked burdened by something.”

With that ringing in her head, she looked back up at him once again. Could burning up his old home be getting to him? She thought this impossible, but then again, he was only human, no matter how strong he is. She remembered once when Itachi told her that humans were worthless and pitying creatures that did nothing but follow rules they were bound by; much like cattle. Injuries he never really cared about as whenever she had that worried look, he'd say the wound was only mortal.

She saw Itachi get up from his spot on the bed and walk to the window. He wiped off the soot that had collected there from the fire, staining his hand black for the time being.

“People are out looking for you,” he said softly. Straining her ears once again, she could hear Naruto bellowing for her to come out from wherever she was and to go to the Hokage's tower as Tsunade was looking for her. Putting the picture down on the charred-black dresser, she went and made her way out of the door. She still had thoughts about Itachi's views on human life in her head. Something that left her sad and confused. Right when she crossed the threshold of his bedroom door, she heard his sharp voice cutting through the air.

“Kunoichi.” She turned and looked at him, wondering why he had called her on her way out. He had his face turned towards her, a look in his eye that said he knew what she was thinking.

“Kunoichi,” he said again, “you value human life too much. You forget that everyone dies…” With that he turned his head around once again and went back to looking out the grimy window.

It wasn't until after he left that she realized he had used her real name…

Author's Note: Many thanks goes out MistressDragonFlame for the beta. I love you.