I knew Itachi could break free from me any time he wanted, but he just stood there as I gripped onto his wrist.

"I want to know the truth," 

"Why does that matter to you?" 

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Like Hidan said, it's hard for me to trust you when you are keeping me in the dark," I retort. "How do I know you're not just trying to manipulate me so you can kill me like you did to Shisui?"

Itachi grew silent and now he was starting to worry me.

He broke free from my grip and turned to face me. His face was still unreadable.

"Sit down,"

I sat down on his bed and he walked over to me, standing in front of me. My heart raced in anticipation.

"I'm not some killer who just murdered him in cold blood," 

"Well you sure acted like one," I spat.

"Fine," He said. "You want the truth? Then I'll tell you. You won't like what you'll hear,"

He used a different tone of voice on me so this made me shut up immediately.

"I never killed him. I couldn't have brought myself to kill him if I had to," Itachi started. "That was a rumor created by some of the other shinobi,"

"Then who the hell killed him if it wasn't you?" I asked.

"He killed himself,"

I widened my eyes and stared at him with shock.

Did he really do that? Why would he want to kill himself? He wouldn't do that. Itachi had to be lying to me.

I felt tears threatening to spill. 

I didn't even realize they were forming.

"No," I denied, shaking my head. "You're lying. Shisui would never do that. You're just making this up! Tell me the truth right now!"

My voice wavered and now I feel pathetic for showing weakness around Itachi.

"I told you that you wouldn't like the truth," He said. "I am telling you the truth. He did kill himself, I saw it happen,"

I couldn't fight the tears any longer. They started spilling.

"But...why? Why would he do it?"

Itachi looked down so I couldn't see his face. He didn't reply.

"Itachi, he was my best friend. He was like a brother to me," Tears dripped down my cheeks. "You don't understand how much he meant to me, so I deserve to know why my best friend did it. I won't believe you unless you tell me,"

Itachi sat down next to me, still not looking me in the eye.

It was almost as if he was pained by this too.

"Shisui was my cousin and a close friend to me. I'm the only one who knows about what happened to him and why he did it," Itachi started.

I stayed silent.

"The Uchiha clan had a problem with the village," He said. "They were going to plan a coup d'état and neither of us wanted that to happen. Shisui tried his best to stop it, but Danzo overpowered him and stole one of his eyes,"

"Danzo...?" I whisper.

I found it hard to believe that Danzo would do something like that.

"Yes," Itachi nodded. "Shisui managed to get away from Danzo after that and he told me that he didn't want his remaining eye to fall into the wrong hands. He wrote a note that said he couldn't go through with the coup and that he crushed his eyes,"

"Did he?"

"No, he gave it to me instead. He trusted me with it and he told me that he wanted my Mangekyo to awaken..." Itachi paused and there was a tiny sliver of emotion. "And then he jumped off the cliff at Naka River,"

I stared at Itachi with shock. 

Now that I know Itachi didn't kill him, I didn't know what to feel anymore.

"And what was the conflict in the Uchiha clan?" I ask.

"The authorities believed they had something to do with the Nine-Tailed Fox attacking the village because it can only be controlled by the sharingan," He explained. "So they were placed under surveillance. This created mistrust between the Uchiha and the Leaf, so they were going to rebel,"

I started understand why Shisui was avoiding me the week of his death. I felt horrible and I wish I was there to comfort him...or at least see him one last time before he died.

He brushed me off that week. 

He could've at least told me what was going on so I wouldn't feel so much pain. If I had closure, I wouldn't have grown up after that feeling angry and resentful.

"You still didn't answer one of my questions," I said.

Itachi looked at me.

"Why are you helping me?"

"I made a promise to Shisui before he died and I intend to keep that promise for his sake," Itachi replied. 

"What? What was the promise?"

"Shisui wanted me to protect you and keep you from harm,"

Well, that answers that question then. 

"Did...Did he say anything else before he died?" I ask, my voice wavering.

"All he said is that he wanted me to restore the peace and make sure you're safe,"

"O-Oh..."

"Orochimaru was in a hideout that was alarmingly close to our base and my Leader wanted Kisame and I to investigate that. I did some investigating and that's when I found out they were holding you hostage. I was going to break in the hideout before you guys left,"

I've never felt this kind of confusion in my life. My emotions are going haywire since I don't know what to feel towards him anymore.

"Can I ask you one more thing?" I look at him.

"What?"

"If you were trying to restore the peace, why did you kill your clan? You could've done it a different way without you becoming a criminal,"

I could tell Itachi was trying to hide the pain, but looking into his eyes, you can tell it's there.

"It was the only thing that would work,"

A part of me wanted to reach over and hug him, because that's how I comfort someone who is hurting. I argued with myself back and forth, debating on whether I should or not.

Screw it.

I started leaning over, but then there was a knock at the door.

It opened and we both looked over, alarmed.

It was just Hidan again.

"Leader came back early and he's looking for you. I know you're trying to hide her, so I can help since you agreed to help me," He said. 

Itachi was looking at Hidan untrustingly.

Hidan just scoffed.

"I'm not going to use her in my ritual. You can come get her from my room when he leaves,"

"Very well."

I stood up and much to my annoyance, Hidan was immediately rushing me out of his room and down the hall. 

He opened his door and practically shoved me inside his room. It reeked of death in here, literally.

"Don't make any noise whatsoever," Hidan said quietly. "Leader will show no mercy towards all of us if he knows you're in here. Don't even breathe loudly,"

I put my hands over my nose and mouth and started losing my breath.

Hidan rolled his eyes.

"Dramatic much?" He muttered to himself.

I uncovered myself and let out a breath, panting. "It stinks in here! Can't you get an airwick or a candle? Or something?"

"I haven't even performed a ritual here in months. How can it still smell?" He wondered outloud. 

My mind went to the gutter again when he said ritual and now I was concerned.

"What the hell do you do for your ritual?" I ask, making a face.

Hidan grinned. "I like where your mind is, but that's not what my ritual is. All I do is sacrifice bodies to Lord Jashin to keep him happy and occasionally, I'll even stab myself with rods for my rituals,"

"That's...brutal..." 

Footsteps walked to his door and I froze. 

Itachi, Kisame, and Hidan were the only ones I know that are here and they're all in their rooms. That's their leader. Now I'm going to die.

Hidan widened his eyes and shoved me in his bathroom, making me fall on my ass and slammed the door shut.

Someone knocked on his door and I heard Hidan answer it.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"I heard a loud noise just now when I walked by. Is something going on?" 

This voice was unfamiliar and deep.

"Oh, that was just me," Hidan chuckled. "I was just pissed because Kakuzu and I got into an argument and I threw stuff at the wall,"

I heard the new person sigh.

"Where is Itachi?" The man asked.

"He's in his room sulking," Hidan snickered. "He got all pissy because I gave him shit for defending shark-boy earlier,"

The man just sounded annoyed. "I see."

Hidan opened the bathroom door and pulled me up off the floor.

"He's gone now."