After what seemed like forever, we finally arrived at what looked like a rock wall with the Captain Yamato clone waiting by it. While Naruto, Sakura and Captain Yamato were talking, I slithered off of Naruto and went to inspect the wall. It looked like there was a crack in the middle that needed to be opened. Since I wasn't very good at Earth Style, I had to wait for the others.
Eventually, they finished talking. Captain Yamato used his Wood Style: Hand Tool Manipulation Jutsu to transform his finger into a drilling tree branch, shaping it into a block of wood, creating a hole in the ground to drill our way through. After what seemed like forever, we finally made it to the hideout.
I wasted no time in slithering through the hole and making my way through the hideout. I was amazed by how many rooms there were in this hideout. I saw Sai and Kabuto, but no Sasuke or my father.
As I was exploring, I heard an explosion. Concerned, I made my way to where the explosion was coming from as fast as I could in my current form. I arrived to see Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Captain Yamato looking up, frozen. I looked up and saw Sasuke staring down at them.
I slithered my way up onto that ledge. Cautiously, I tried to get closer, and that was my mistake. Suddenly, Sasuke grabbed me by the neck, forcing me to change back into a human. I stared into his eyes, both of our Sharingan activated. I grabbed onto his arm holding me up and subtly placed a teleportation formula on him.
"Don't ever try and sneak up on me," Sasuke said.
"That was my mistake," I replied through choked breaths.
I continued to stare into his eyes. He looked conflicted, like he was trying to decide what to do. I could see his gaze wavering. He had the perfect opportunity to kill me, but he looked like he was trying to decide whether or not to actually do it.
Eventually, he sighed and threw me on the ground. "Get out of here and leave me alone".
I started coughing violently as I tried to catch my breath. I looked up at him with determination. "I will not".
"I told you before, I'm not returning to the village". I did my best to hide my disappointment at what he said.
"That doesn't mean I'm going to give up," I countered. "You never gave up on me, so I'm not going to give up on you". I closed my eyes as I thought back to when I had just gone to live with Sasuke and his family. It was right after my mother and brother died. I was an emotional wreck. I refused to talk to anyone, even my fiancé and my best friend. But Sasuke never gave up on me. He kept trying to make me smile, to the point where it was annoying, until one day it worked. I'd felt like I owed him ever since.
We were interrupted by Naruto yelling, "Sasuke!" We both turned to face the four ninja below us.
I rolled my eyes. 'What am I, invisible?'
"Why didn't you kill me that day?!" Naruto asked him. "Weren't you gonna break our bond?"
I looked at Sasuke. 'They must be talking about that fight at the Final Valley'.
"The reason is simple. It's not that I couldn't break our bond, Naruto. I was simply doing as my older brother had done before me," Sasuke replied. I tilted my head in confusion. "It was nothing more than a strategy to gain power".
I clenched my fists to keep my expression neutral. I raised an eyebrow at the crow not too far away. 'Are you watching Itachi? Are you proud of the person your brother has become?'
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, getting angrier by the second.
"I don't owe you any explanation," Sasuke replied. Sometimes, even I didn't know why I refused to give up on the jerk. "All I can tell you is that day when I left you lying there, I only spared your life on a whim, nothing more".
I raised my eyebrows at him. I didn't believe it for a second. I refused to give up hope that there was still some part of him that still cared about our former teammates. He caught my look and glared at me.
All of a sudden, he jumped off the ledge and landed right next to Naruto with his arm around him. "Come to think of it, wasn't it always your dream to become Hokage?" My eyes widened and I clenched my fists. He was reaching a new low. "All of the time you spent chasing after me would have been better spent training. This time, my whim is telling me to finish what I started".
My eyes widened as he unsheathed his sword and positioned it against Naruto's back. 'No!' Without thinking, I teleported behind Naruto using the teleportation formula I had just placed on Sasuke and blocked Sasuke's sword with my own. "I won't let you hurt Naruto!" I said as I tried to push him back.
Suddenly, Sasuke grabbed my wrist and knocked both me and Naruto to the ground. Captain Yamato attempted to attack him with his wood, but Sasuke activated his Chidori Stream and blocked the attack. Sakura ran up to him to try and punch him when Sasuke pulled his sword on her.
Seeing the whole thing, I rushed up and blocked Sasuke's sword with my own Chidori blade. "You are really getting on my nerves," Sasuke muttered before pushing me back.
I just smiled at him. "Aww, I love you too, brother".
Captain Yamato tried to trap him in a dome, but he just broke out and jumped onto the ledge, me chasing after him.
I readied my sword in case he decided to attack me. "Why can't you understand?!" Naruto yelled to Sasuke. "He'll take your body! It's Orochimaru! He's just using you!"
"If it happens, it happens, so be it," Sasuke replied. I flinched at the intensity of his Sharingan. "You're still just a child, Naruto. I don't care what happens to me, or anyone else in this world". He glanced at me while I just stared at him wide-eyed with tears threatening to fall.
I clenched my fists and kept my gaze to the ground so no one would see how hurt I really was by his words. "So be it," I said, my voice a mere whisper in the wind.
He seemed to have only just realised what he said. "(Y/N), I..."
"If that's how you feel, then why should I bother anymore?" I looked up at him as a tear fell down my cheek. "I mean, what's the point of trying to save someone who doesn't want to be saved, am I right? So I'm done!" I walked up to him as I took off my necklace and removed the Uchiha pendant from the chain. I gently placed it in his hand. "You can have this back. It's not like you meant anything you said that night, right?" I looked at him with a sad smile, his own eyes glistening, before teleporting away.
I teleported to the hotel room we were staying in. Without saying anything, Itachi rushed up to me and engulfed me in a hug, as if he understood without there even needing any words, while I just cried in his arms. He was my best friend, my brother, my other half. Hearing him say those things felt like the most heartbreaking thing in the world, and one I didn't think I would get over anytime soon.
YOU ARE READING
An Itachi Fanfiction
FanfictionLife has never been easy for the daughter of Orochimaru, and neither has being in an arranged marriage with the very man that murdered her clan. Life wasn't so bad though. After all, she had her best friend and the only other clan survivor to suppor...