Sasuke POV~

I left only a few minutes after the masked man disappeared.

It didn't take long for me to go. My body moved on its own. It felt distant, not my own. But it moved, and it would take me to where I needed to be.

The whole journey was a blur. Kakashi and Yamato wouldn't have noticed my disappearance until midnight at the earliest, but by then I was already almost there.

Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the old Uchiha hideout. It had been long abandoned, far away from society. No one would know where I went. No one would be able to find me.

I couldn't feel anything. Not anticipation, not fear, absolutely nothing. 

I stood in that one spot for a while. It wasn't until what was probably a couple hours before dawn, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, that I went in.

My footsteps echoed across the walls, each one bouncing about it my skull. A numbness had overcome me, washing over my body and seizing control with cold iron fists.

I entered a room, and he was there, sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed on the stone throne against the far wall.

Itachi Uchiha opened his eyes slowly and said, "How much can you see with those eyes?"

Genjutsu.

Itachi was a master of it.

He underestimated me, though.

He underestimated the power of my hate.

The fight went back and forth. One minute I thought I had him. The next, he was gone. 

Agony.

Pain, hot and blinding in my left eye. Where my left eye used to be.

He loomed over me, fingers curled around the sharingan he took. He stole it from me, like he steals everything. 

My hand was pressed against my face, warm blood trickling between my fingers.

He reached for the right one.

Get away.

For the first time in three years, the raw power burning beneath the skin of the curse mark flared up. I shoved him away. I could sense it, clawing at the edges of my consciousness, the urge reaching in with its long fingers, begging to take over.

For the first time in three years, I loosened my grip, and I let it.

Crack.

The genjutsu shattered like glass. Itachi was on his knees, as was I, shuriken littering the floor around us.

"You...broke through my Tsukuyomi."

Satisfaction is a silver knife in my brain.

Blows were exchanged. We ended up on the roof. 

Fire, massive and hot. Black fire, all consuming, not leaving a single drop.

That black fire caught onto me, and it burned like nothing else.

I've learned how to do many things with the Chidori. Some even  beyond what Kakashi could do, with his limited chakra.

I've gotten lucky. I know it. But this is the finishing blow. A jutsu that commands the sky itself.

A giant dragon of pure electricity, thundering down from the sky above, blasted straight into him.

He survived. 

How, I don't understand, but he did. I could feel him sapping my power. The constant invasive thrum of the curse mark had been sucked out.

Now I was scared. I was truly terrified, the first real emotion I'd felt this entire time. I was facing someone magnitudes stronger than me, and he could beat me. He would kill me, like he did everyone I loved.

He would take away everything I loved.

There he was again, standing over the corpses of mother and father. Eyes, cold and red, glinting in the scant moonlight, blade dripping with the blood of his family.

I swore to kill him, but I would end up just like that. Just another corpse in the sea of those he's killed.

He reached out, until his fingers were right in front of my face.

Agony, I expected.

But it didn't come.

His fingers, coated in blood (his blood, I realized), tapped my forehead. The touch was light and lasted only a few seconds. In that moment, I met his eyes. In that moment, I didn't only see the man who killed everything good in my life.

He couldn't hold up his hand for long. A second later, it slid down my face, leaving a trail of red in its wake, and fell heavily. He collapsed, slumped against the wall until he lay limply on the floor.

As for myself, I was only able to stay upright for about a millisecond longer. My legs, unable to hold me, gave under my weight. At last, I surrendered my consciousness to the welcome oblivion, darkness dragging me under with cold hands.

I awoke with a hollow feeling.

Was I glad that I finally killed the man I'd set out for ever since he murdered my clan?

Was I?

It was empty. I was empty.

"You've awoken."

I lay eyes on the masked man in the room, and instantly, my eye blazed. A moment later, he was on fire, a surprised cry of pain coming out of his mouth as he fell back.

My senses were muddled at this point. I didn't react when he stepped out of the shadows again, completely fine. He started to say something to me, but I wasn't listening.

"...It seems Itachi instilled his ocular powers in you, to protect you."

My head snapped up, a snarl on my lip.

"Protect me?" I spat, "Quit talking bullshit. Why would he do that?"

"Hm. I'm telling the truth. I know everything about Itachi. You will listen to me."

I sucked in a harsh breath, bunching up the thin blanket in my fists.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said, but it didn't come out as harsh as I intended. It was almost laughable, how I sounded like a lost puppy.

It all hit me then, crashing into me like a fucking tsunami. 

Memories flashed before my eyes

Itachi carrying me home after I twisted my ankle,

Itachi, telling me about the crest of the Uchiha and the police force,

Itachi

Itachi 

Itachi...

Killing my mother and father 

Killing the clan

Even if you were to hate me, that's what big brothers are for.

A hand was on my arm suddenly, and I lashed out blindly, my brain fuddled and overwhelmed. I couldn't control the rush of emotions that seized me so coldly.

Itachi

I blacked out.

Kakashi POV~

Being woken in the middle of the night by a very panicked Tenzo was not on my to-do list today. I was up instantly, though, since Tenzo wouldn't wake me up unless there was something happening. 

"Sasuke is gone."

Definitely something happening.

"You checked the village?" I asked, more as confirmation than anything.

"I turned the whole place inside out, but he's not here." Tenzo said. He was relatively calm, but I figured the borderline hysterical tone of his voice said something about the situation.

First, it was adorable how much Tenzo cared. Second, Sasuke had really vanished.

I didn't waste time mulling around and summoned all the ninja hounds.

"Hey, Kakashi." Pakkun raised a paw in greeting from atop Bull's head. "What's the situation?"

"Sasuke is gone." I said, "He disappeared in the night. He seemed fine last time I saw him, so he might have been kidnapped, but we never know. Can you sniff him out?"

"Hm." Pakkun, hopped down and sniffed the floor. "His scent is strong here. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you." I managed to relax a little more, but not much. Sasuke was very good at hiding, and it would take someone powerful to take him.

"Really, Kakashi, what is it with your students going missing?" Pakkun gave me a pointed look.

"I'm trying my best, here."

Pakkun just shot me a sympathetic look and went back to searching.

Sasuke POV~

When I came awake again, I was in a different position. My arms felt stiff, but when I tried to move them, they wouldn't budge.

"Sorry I had to tie you up." said the masked man. I looked up slowly. He was perched on the edge of the small table with his arms crossed. "It was the only way to get you to listen."

I didn't respond. I didn't try to struggle out of the ropes either. I was so tired. More tired than I've ever been.

From there, Madara began his explanation. He went on about Itachi's role as a double agent, the coup de tat the Uchiha were planning, his role in the massacre.

Other than the initial heart-stopping moment, when he said Itachi was a spy, I didn't react at all. I listened silently, the tornado of thoughts in my brain whirling in a slow, destructive matter.

When he finished, all I could do was sit there silently. Was there any reason for me to believe him? Not at all. Itachi killed my family, and yet this man was saying he wanted to protect me all along. 

I just sat there. Even when he came to untie me, I didn't move. I couldn't bring myself to move.

There was one thought, so intrusive and repulsive yet at the same time continuously bringing itself forward in my mind.

Maybe...

Maybe I wanted to believe him.

AN~

A very Sasuke-oriented chapter. I hope it's satisfactory.