My tears clouded my vision as he stood there ready to capture Sasuke in his genjutsu. I ran as fast as I could and pushed Sasuke to the ground so he couldn't look in his eyes.

I kept my eyes sealed tightly and held Sasuke's face tightly tucked away in my chest so he couldn't look even if he wanted to.

"Why have you done this Itachi?!" I wailed.

Sasuke didn't make a sound and he was completely still.

Was I too late?!

I untucked him and his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. Had I knocked him out when I tackled him?

I quickly placed him outside the door. Before quickly returning to where Itachi was.

It didn't take a genius to know he had the Mangekeo Sharingan, which only meant one thing. He killed my brother.

"You did kill him." I said as my years began to falter. I felt like I couldn't cry anymore.

"Yes. I killed Shisui, he begged for his life while I mercilessly took his life." He told me in a calm voice.

I chuckled slightly.

"You're lying Itachi." I said

I couldn't take the chance of looking up so I couldn't see his expression.

"No I'm not, he told me how much he wanted to live, while I slowly stabbed him several times." Itachi told me. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than me.

"Shisui wouldn't have begged you for anything, he was a proud shinobi and he wasn't afraid of dying. You act like I don't know my brother." I managed to get out.

I heard the floor creak. Meaning he was walking toward me. I didn't want to let him get the upper hand by cornering me.

I formed the hand signs for the fireball jutsu, but he grabbed my wrist before I could finish.

I concentrated on keeping my eyes shut.

Tap.

I felt something wet the arm that he had a hold of. Followed by another, and another.

The realization of where they were coming from hit me like a bus.

My eyes involuntarily opened, and I looked up at him to see he was looking down at the floor with teardrop falling on my arm, and the floor.

"Itachi...." I whispered.

His onyx eyes looked into mine. My body moved on its own as I pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry." He said into my shoulder.

"I know." I said soothingly caressing his back.

"I didn't kill him." He said pulling my body closer to his.

"I know, Itachi. Just tell me why you're doing this?" I asked.

"I wanted to save you and Sasuke." He sobbed.

I didn't understand what he meant.

"How is this saving us Itachi?" I questioned.

"Danzo. He was going to kill all of us. He told me if I did it I could spare you and Sasuke." He said pulling away from me and lowering himself to put his hands on my shoulders and look into my eyes.

I leaned foward and planted a small peck on his nose.

I bent over to get his katana that laid on the ground on.

His expression turned serious. I gripped the sword and quickly placed the point to my stomach.

"No!" He yelled.

But it wouldn't do any good.

"You have to tell the Hokage or I'll do it!" I yelled to him. My tears returned and they rolled down my cheeks and earned the skin where the previous tears had fired and turned cold.

He looked down and when he looked back up his sharingan had returned, and I was caught in his genjutsu.

The sky was red, and Itachi stood at the other side of the enclosed room.

He reached out to me. I scooted back from his hand and tried to put as much distance between us.

"The Hokage would never stand for this! Tell him the truth or I will!" I shouted.

"He'll know soon enough, after all it was one of his advisors who set this up." He said in a calm voice.

"What will Sasuke think?!" I said stomping my foot on the ground and yelling at him.

"You will never tell Sasuke any of this." He said as a dark shadow engulfed his once calm demeanor.

I blinked and we were back to real life. I'm not sure why, but something told me to check on Sasuke.

I ran out the door, and Sasuke's blood was spilled on the wooden veranda. His arms, and legs had been twisted in an unnatural angle.

"No. No." I said panicking. I inhaled, and blinked, I rubbed my eyes, and his form didn't change. I looked around for a clock to see if I was still trapped in Itachi s genjutsu.

I couldn't find anything to prove I was in a genjutsu. In fact the scene looked more real than ever before.

"This- no. Not Sasuke. This is just a part of that jutsu. None of this is real." I said choking on my sobs.

My crying grew in intensity, and my eyes started to burn, and sting.

I heard the sound of footsteps and I turned to face Itachi.

I punched his chest and kicked him.

"This is because of you!" I said shaking.

I didn't really blame him. I knew this was just as much my fault as it was his.

He understood this, and embraced me while turning my face away from Sasuke's corpse.

His cries were silent. The only evidence that they were even there was the wetness that was falling on my hair.

I noticed I still held the katana. I pulled away from Itachi and slowly kissed his lips.

I pulled away.

"I love you." I said against his lips.

"I love you too, I'll make whoever did this pay, I promise." He said looking me in my eyes.

"Can you turn around?" I asked.

"Why?" He asked

"I don't want you to see this." I said letting the lump in my throat be released.

"See what?" He asked

"I want to say goodbye to Sasuke." I lied.

I planned to destroy my corpse. It was one of the first lessons we were taught as a shinobi.

I saw a shadow move quickly. We both turned and Itachi sped off to find who it was. They looked like they were in the Anbu because of the strange animal mask.

He was out of sight when I closed my eyes, and braced myself. The blade was once again pointed at my stomach. I jabbed it in quickly.

I tasted a strong iron flavor on my tounge. I coughed out the dark substance and tired to form the hand sign to destroy the last trace of myself.

My hands felt like they didn't belong to me. The slight tingling feeling made it hard to even attempt to move my hands.

My vision reduced to two small slits of the world around me.

I finally gave up and let myself be taken away by the darkness.

I could slightly make out Itachi jumping on the rooftops.

I mustered enough strength to stay conscious until Itachi appeared by my side.

I weakly smiled at him. He said something but it sounded far away and the ringing in my ears was so loud I couldn't disifer anything but the deafening noise.

I placed my fingers in my eye sockets and quickly removed my eyes. My vision was no more, and I pushed myself to say the final words.

"Chose your path wisely." I said.

My throat ached, and I couldn't hear myself, I could only feel my voice vibrate through my head causing a slight pain.

After that I had no will to struggle on. After I gave up I felt all my pain vanish. And even though I had no vision I could see my memories clear as day.

Shisui came walking into the gates with an unfamiliar looking boy. I ran up quickly to hug my brother.

"Hey sis. This is Itachi." He said kissing my forehead in a loving manner.

"Nice to meet you y/n, Shisui has told me a lot about you." The boy said touching the top of my head.

***

"It's a boy? It kinda looks like a girl." I said peering into the baby's face.

"I thought so too." Itachi says carefully holding the baby in it's sling.

"Can I hold him?" I asked.

He looked sheepish but eventually nodded.

I smiled and he placed the sling across my shoulder.

He looked at my face curiously before boldly putting it's tiny fingers on my chin.

Itachi seemed shocked.

"Sasuke is going to grow up to be such a handsome man!" I squealed.

I placed small kissed on his cheeks while he giggled and his legs kicked in joy.

***

"That's not fair Shisui! Itachi got to take the Chunin exams!" I whined.

"Hey, don't be in such a hurry kiddo." Shisui said in a joking tone.

"You never take anything I say seriously!" I shouted.

"Such a foul expression doesn't fit your face y/n." Itachi said on the other side of my brother.

My cheeks lit up, and I was left speechless.

"Whatever." I said walking.

***

"Hey y/n-chan!" A boy from my class shouted while we were walking out of the academy gates.

"Yeah Takashi?" I asked.

"Do you mind if we go get some dango?" He asked.

Shisui said he wouldn't be able to come get me so I accepted.

"So it's almost your birthday right?" He asked as we sat down.

"Yeah, in 4 days." I sighed.

"You don't sound to excited." He noted.

"My brother is going to be on a mission." I explained.

"Well I have an early birthday present for you." He said looking away with his cheeks turning a dark red color.

"What is it?" I asked suddenly getting excited.

He leaned foward and got closer and closer.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Shisui and Itachi asked standing just outside of the hut.

Takashi looked mortified.

"Takashi-kun said he had an early birthday present for me." I answered nonchalantly.

Takashi looked even more scared when I said this.

Shisui took on a serious face and glared at Takashi.

"Go." Itachi said to him. Takashi nodded and ran away as fast as he could.

"I swear you can be so dense sometimes y/n." Shisui said taking Takashi's seat.

"Leave me alone." I said rolling my eyes and kissing his cheek.

***

"Hey stop it pervert!" You heard your friend tell from a few yards away.

You dashed in front of her and glared at the significantly older man.

"She said stop creep!" I said clenching my fists.

"Aw! Another pretty little girl huh?" He said smirking.

You put your foot on the ground with a loud thud. He didn't seem impressed by this and tried to grab at your side.

"Back away from them." You heard a koud, but calm voice say.

You knew immediately who it belonged to. Itachi.

The man nodded and raised his hands I'm a surrendering manner.

"How is it all you have to do is talk and everyone is ready to listen to you." You said, as your shoulders slumped.

"Well sadly the world isn't a very friendly place for women so sometimes men have to intervene." He said poking my forehead.

"I'll show these shallow men who's boss." I said

"I know you will. But today let's just get you back to the compound for the meeting alright?" He asked putting his arm around me.

My body tensed and I turned red.

"Fine but get off of me." I said putting a 2 foot space between us.

He stopped walking, and so did I. I looked at him to see what he wanted, and he quickly placed a soft kiss on my lips before returning to his side of the sidewalk.

I erupted in redness and avoided his gaze.

***

"What?!" I asked as the clan elders told me the news of Shisui's death.

"He was found in the Nakano river, he left this note." They said holding out the note.

I shook my head, because I could bear to see what he wrote.

"We aren't sure yet, but we have suspicions that it was Itachi Uchiha." They told me.

My eyes widened, and my first instinct was to defend him. He and my brother were best friends, I knew there was no way he'd do it.

"There's no way, you're wrong." I said crossing my arms.

They nodded and I quickly ran toward Itachi s house.

When I got there he was sitting outside.

He sat me and he quickly got up and hugged me.

"They said you did it." I said with tears coming down at a steady pace. "I told them you couldn't have done it, can you believe the nerve they have?!"

"They're just trying to make sure he wasn't mudered."

The word gave me the chills. To think that someone would murder Shisui was impossible. But why did he commit suicide?

I know he might've been fighting invisible battles, but could his mental state be that bad?

He was such a cheerfull person. I don't know what happened at the river. But I knew it wasn't Itachi that caused this.

***

Sasuke tackled into me while his family walked behind him. Everyone except Itachi.

"I'm sorry about Shisui!" He said crying into my pant leg.

I squated to his level and wiped his tears.

"Thank you for your concern Sasuke." I said kissing his forehead like Shisui used to do to me.

Fugaku gestured with his head for me to go to him.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your brother, he was an exceptional ninja, and person." He said stiffly.

"Thank you sir." I said.

"Mikoto and I have decided that since you're still a minor we want to offer you a place in our home." He told me, with his expression softening.

"I'm grateful, but I have to decline." I said smiling weakly.

"I understand. I know it's hard to hear that Itachi could've been responsible for the death of your brother but-"

I cut him off.

"I have no doubt in my mind that Itachi is being wrongfully accused, Italy was just as much of an older brother as Shisui was to me. And I'll defend him against anyone who says different." I assured him.

He looked at me like he was impressed.

"You're always welcome in our home y/n, our family... we... we love you." He said

"And I love you guys." I said before abruptly hugging him.

He seemed shocked but then hugged back.

***