Contrition [Itachi Uchiha x Reader]

Prologue

Ten years ago

"What... What have you done, Itachi?" Eleven year old Sasuke Uchiha managed to choke out between sobs. Tears rolled down his face as he dropped to his knees, refusing to look at the bodies sprawled on the ground. Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha lay motionless before him, surrounded by a pool of their own blood. They looked serene, almost as if they weren't really dead. If it wasn't for the blood or the fact that their oldest son was standing over them with a gun in his hand, they could have easily convinced anyone that they were simply asleep.

"Why?" asked Sasuke, glancing fearfully at his older brother. "Why?"

"To test the limits of my abilities," was the reply he got.

"You're telling me that you k-killed our parents... to test your abilities?"

Itachi Uchiha studied his brother's pathetic form on the ground before pointing the firearm at him. Sasuke stared into the barrel of the pistol, a look of pure horror on his face as he expected to meet the same end as his parents. But the blow never came.

"You've always wanted to surpass me," Itachi spoke, breaking the tension. "That's why I'm going to let you live... By all means flee, cling to your wretched life."

Sasuke didn't need to be told twice. In a flash he took off, leaving behind the only people he ever loved, knowing that he would never see any of them again.

The next morning, sixteen year old Itachi Uchiha confessed to the double murder of his parents. After his conviction, he was sent to Konoha Juvenile Correctional Centre and was later moved to Konohagakure State Prison in order to serve his thirty year jail sentence.

And just like that, the Uchiha family was never the same again.

                                                                                    

*
Present day

"Hey, hey! Word on the street is that Uchiha got parole!"

"They're letting him out on parole? Are they insane? The guy's dangerous! He murdered his own family!"

"I wonder how he managed to convince the Parole Board that he was harmless... maybe I should ask him for advice..."

The inmates of Konoha State Prison broke into a series of whispers and in a matter of minutes, the whole cafeteria was buzzing with the news.

"The media is going to go crazy! Letting a guy like him walk free... "

"It's not like he's going to be free. He'll have a parole officer holding his leash. I hope they get him a real asshole."

"You can laugh, but while we'll be sitting here dragging chains, he'll be out there living life- oh, here he comes!"

As if a spell had been cast, the whole room fell silent. Itachi Uchiha sauntered into the cafeteria, picked up his food tray and proceeded to the lone table in the back.

"Look at him! He doesn't even look happy!"

"Maybe he doesn't know yet."

"I still think it's a bad decision to let him out."

"Yeah well, there's nothing we can do. He's someone else's problem now!"

The Uchiha hummed to himself as he removed the plastic wrapper from his sandwich, fully aware of the attention he had been receiving ever since the news got out. It didn't bother him one bit; infact, he enjoyed watching them get worked up over something they had absolutely no control over.

Imbeciles, thought Itachi, as he munched on his sandwich. It gives me great pleasure in knowing that I don't have to spend my days with the rest of you anymore. Finally, after a decade of waiting and wanting, whiling away time in a dingy prison cell... It all ends here. Ten years I have paid the price of my actions, ten years I have suffered repenting in silence. But no more. It is time to move forward. And that I shall.

With the rest of his life all planned out, Itachi was determined to keep both eyes on the road ahead, no matter what the cost.

What he didn't know was that it was easier said than done.