Forgiveness

Forgiveness



AN: Please remember that this contains possible spoilers and that it is partially AU after the Itachi/Sasuke battle.



Chapter Two



Itachi took a few calming breaths. In the past six months, he’d made progress but was still little more than an invalid. He could walk but only with the aid of a crutch. He’d only recently developed fine movements in his fingers. In other words he could walk and use chopsticks. He was not pleased.



To him, it felt as if his body was taunting him. He’d been called a genius all of his childhood. Now he could barely do the most menial of tasks. Even his sharingan was nearly useless. He could only activate it for two or three minutes before being required to rest his eyes. Keiko assured him his chakra pathways were healing nicely. Her words of comfort did little for his impatience.



A simple walk around the yard exhausted him. Already his legs were shaking. After his body healed itself, it would take months or possibly years to reach his former strength. That thought did not make him happy. He wanted to complete his duty as quickly as possible. As much as he mentally griped and complained, he kept his exterior collected.



He did it more for Keiko’s sake than Kisame’s. Barely two months after they arrived, Kisame and Keiko were married. Kisame’s seed must be especially potent. The poor woman was pregnant almost immediately.



“Itachi-san, why do you push yourself?” Keiko walked to where Itachi stood panting against one of the trees lining the small clearing.



“I don’t have time to allow nature to take it’s course.” he answered politely. The manners ingrained in him from a young age refused to allow him to snap at the woman because of his own frustrations.



“You may be impeding your healing.”



“I know my limits, small though they are.”



“Do you really? If you knew your limits you wouldn’t be in this shape.”



“True, if I knew my true limits, I would be dead.”



“Itachi-san.”



“Don’t pity me, Keiko-chan. I won’t be so foolish this time around.”



“I don’t know your story, Kisame tells me it is not his place to tell but…I’m here if you need to talk.”



Itachi stared at the honest face. Keiko reminded him a lot of his mother. She possessed a nurturing personality and would make a wonderful mother. As welcoming as she was, his demons were his own to battle. He would leave her out of it. She was in enough danger just being married to Kisame.



He winced as she began to massage the quivering muscles in his legs. Her hands were strong due to years working as a healer. The breath hissed through his teeth as she worked deep into the tissue, promoting blood and chakra flow.



“If I wasn’t so trusting of you, Itachi-san, I would say you were trying to take my woman from me.” chucked Kisame as he tossed his plain black cloak on the rack near the door before shedding his sandals.



“Hn.” Itachi grunted.



Kisame walked to where Keiko was, his large hands playing with the nearly invisible bump on her abdomen. Itachi focused his eyes away from the touching scene. It brought back too many memories best left buried in the shattered parts of his mind.



“How are you feeling, Itachi-san?” Kisame’s gruff voice brought him back to the present, a fact he was very grateful for.



“Not as well as I would like.”



“I have news from Konoha.”



Itachi’s eyes narrowed, his quick mind jumping at the baiting tone. Kisame had taken up small mercenary jobs. It fed his need for battle while keeping a steady influx of money. His most recent job required him to escort a merchant to a town located in Fire Country. It was dangerous for the simple fact of Fire Country being heavily on guard as Konohagakure was the home of the nine tailed jinchuriki, one of the two remaining vessels required by Madara to activate the idol.



“What have you heard.”



“Danzou has been made Hokage.”



Itachi’s face remained calm despite the instant flaring of sharingan, tomoes spinning wildly. Kisame winced. He’d been on the receiving end of that look only once. He almost wished he’d kept Itachi in the dark. Knowing how angry the other would be when he found out was the only thing giving him the courage to tell him now.



“What else?”



“The kages are holding a summit to discuss Sasuke’s fate…among other issues. Your brother has become quite notorious.” Kisame took a swallow of the sake placed before him by Keiko.



“When?”



“Now or at least that’s what I was told.”



“Hn. Danzou is a dangerous man to have such power. Sasuke will be there…as will Madara.” Grabbing his sake cup, he hurled it across the room in a show of emotion rarely displayed. “God damn it.”



“Itachi-san…” Keiko started to approach him only to be stopped by Kisame.



“Itachi-san, I owe you many things. Say the word and I’ll take up Samehada against the kages.”



He was tempted. Heaven help him, he was tempted to take Kisame up on the offer. It was a suicide mission. Kisame would go down as he always dreamed, in heat of battle. His crimson eyes caught the clenching of small hands. Keiko would not try to stop him. She understood what they both were. She understood but would never accept.



Itachi closed his eyes. He would not leave the pregnant woman to fend for herself. He would not add that sin to the many already weighing down his soul. What little remained of his humanity wouldn’t allow it.



“No, but I want to know the outcome. I’ll leave this in other hands for now.” he said, standing.



Keiko moved to assist him, only to be brushed off as he limped slowly out the door. She started to walk after him only to be stopped once more by Kisame. “Leave him be. Itachi-san carries a lot of demons.”



“All the more reason to help him.”



“If he wants help, he will ask for it.”



“Some friend you are!”



“Keiko listen to me, I’ll only say this once. The things that man has suffered and still remained sane is a greater accomplishment than any other shinobi. He was an ANBU captain at age thirteen. When most children are barely a genin, he was assassinating men. The only thing keeping him sane was his love for his little brother. He has had more suffering in his twenty-one years than most have in a lifetime. He has kept me from doing stupid things countless times. The happiness I have with you, I owe to him.” Kisame stroked her hand, his other palming their growing child.



“Is there anything we can do for him?”



“Help his body heal so he can slay his demons.”



“What if we send him off to die?”



“Uchiha Itachi won’t die unless he wants to. Now, go fix me some food, woman. I’m hungry.”



“Keep a tone like that and you’ll be having nothing but cold cereal.”



Itachi smiled at the shouts coming from the house. It wouldn’t be long before they ended up in the bedroom. Hopefully he would be closer to the more heavily wooded area by then. He had no desire to listen to the two of them couple like rabbits.



His eyes shifted between crystal clarity and blurred haze, a side effect of over use of the sharingan. He was surprised he’d held it for as long as he had. An overturned tree trunk seemed highly appropriate to rest on while the inside of the house was a dangerous place.



The sun was nearly setting when Kisame plopped down on the ground beside him. The larger man was freshly bathed, his hair slightly limp from the weight of the water. His lips were pulled back in a grin, telling Itachi all he needed to know about what had gone on inside after he’d left.



“I’ll leave tomorrow.”



“Hn.”



“You know, you could at least show a little gratitude. There are going to be a lot of guards at this summit. All the kages will be there.”



“I’m sure you can handle yourself.”



“Pfft, when am I not able to handle myself.”



“Kisame…”



“Yeah?”



“Reconnaissance only. Don’t join the battle should one erupt. I don’t want your child to be fatherless.”



Kisame grunted in acknowledgement, pulling Itachi to his feet. Itachi was grateful for Kisame’s company. Out of all the members of the Akatsuki, he and Kisame got along the best, aside from Pein and Konan. The others merely tolerated each other. He was happy to have a friend such as the older man. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by asking Kisame to do this for him.



~*~



The days turned into weeks. Keiko had blown up like a balloon at six months into her pregnancy. Each day she would sit waiting for Kisame to walk through the door. Never before had she worried so much for him.



Itachi could see the worry. Mentally, he mirrored it. Physically, he showed nothing out of the ordinary. The summit shouldn’t have lasted more than a few days. That Kisame was taking longer than normal worried him.



Over the last few weeks, Itachi had begun attempting simply jutsu. His frustration at his inability to perform to his own personal standards made him less than pleasant company. Keiko had taken to avoiding him other than to assist him medically. Not that he blamed her. Unlike Kisame, who was vocal about his displeasure; Itachi began to turn into himself.



He hardly spoke at all, answering questions in single word responses. The only light in his darkened tunnel was the feeling of his chakra returning. With his pathways healing, his chakra was able to be stored, instead of leaking naturally from his body. It was slow, but the excess of chakra assured him of his recovery.



With the presence of chakra, he began experimenting with jutsus. Attempting such a task was a facilitator of his frustration. It was like being a pre-genin again. His body refused to mold the chakra as he wanted. The result was burned lips and fingers from attempting Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu, with all to show for his efforts was a tiny ball of flame.



He couldn’t recall the number of times he’d used the family technique. He should be able to perform it. The most he could manage was a small flaming ball the size of an orange. The high amount of chakra needed for the jutsu to be effective was beyond him at this point in his recovery.



“Fuck.” he hissed, slumping exhausted to the ground.



He didn’t even have enough chakra left to stand, let alone attempt the jutsu again. Groaning, his fingers dug grooves in the ground. Never in his life had he felt such helpless frustration. He’d always been powerful.



His eyes closed as he reflected on himself. He might pretend he didn’t care about the survival of Kisame, it would be a lie. Uchiha Itachi, prodigy of the Uchiha family, was worried about his friend.



“Kisame…” Nor sooner had the word left his mouth did his clever eyes spot the approach of a slumped frame.



Somewhere, somehow, he found the strength stand. Hobbling to the other, he stopped a few feet from him. Kisame didn’t look good at all. His blue tinted skin looked more gray than blue, as well as his trademark sword, Samehada, was missing.



“Kisame, what happened?” Itachi cursed his weakened body. He was unable to help the other in his obvious exhaustion. Somehow, the two, both exhausted, made it to the steps leading into the house. Keiko met them, crying out at the weakened state of her husband.



Kisame collapsed at this point. His body going limp. How the six month pregnant woman and the nearly crippled Uchiha managed to get him in bed, neither one knew. Instead, they kept bedside vigil, worried as the large man continued to sleep.



After three days, Itachi jerked awake to find pale eyes staring at him. “You’re awake.”



“That I am.” chuckled Kisame.



“What the hell happened? I told you not to fight.”



“Well, that’s the thing. The summit broke. Sasuke, stupid little bastard, attempted to kill Danzou. He attacked both the Kazekage as well as the Raikage. I don’t know what bullshit Madara has been feeding him but there’s very little humanity left in him. You and I, we aren’t innocent little lambs, but fuck, he makes the two of us seem like saints. He’s going to be put down like a mad dog.” Kisame struggled to a sitting position.



“He’s not dead?”



“Well, he wasn’t. Madara spirited him away. I was on my way back when I ran into Killer Bee. Fucking eight tails. He recognized me as Akatsuki and attacked. Then, my fucking sword turned on me. Just like a woman, fickle little bitch. I’m glad I made it here before collapsing. I didn’t want the Raikage and his pet jinchuriki to get another chance at me. Fuckers nearly took my head off.” Kisame grumbled.



Itachi knew Samehada’s desertion hurt Kisame, more than he let on. After so many years of companionship, one would think the sentient sword would have developed more of a relationship with Kisame. “I’m sorry I sent you there, Kisame.”



“What’s this? Uchiha Itachi apologizing? The man who apologizes to no one apologizing to little ole me. Is the world ending?” Kisame gasped, bringing a hand to his chest.



“Don’t get used to it. It won’t happen again.” Itachi fought the blush threatening to spread across his cheeks.



“Itachi-san. Make your peace with your brother’s memory. He will be dead before you are healed enough to go after him.” The smile faded from Kisame’s face.



“I know.”



Kisame nodded, remaining silent as he watched a mask once again take control of Itachi’s face. He hated it. He hated the events that had turned such a beautiful man into a nearly emotionless robot.



Itachi stood slowly with the aid of his crutch. His thoughts were on the brother he’d sought to protect. It tore at his heart to be the last of his family. Sasuke would be dead in days if he had the five nations on his heels.



Once away from the house, he released a scream. His eyes melted to red. His pain was recorded in his memory. He’d known Sasuke would need to die, but he’d hoped to do the unhappy deed himself, as small penance for what he made him into. His fists plowed into the nearest tree. Chakra poured through his pathways, enhancing his strength.



His fists pummeled the tree until his knuckles bled crimson to match his eyes. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. What was his purpose now? Since the day Sasuke was born, he’d lived for his brother. His love bordered on unnatural. Now, his brother was marked for death. His own mind screamed with agony as his fists continued to pound the tree.



Skin hung in ribbons around his knuckles, yet still, he continued to pound at the tree. Pain was relative. The physical pain did little to distract from the emotional agony. He knew the moment his eyes faded to their natural black. He was nearly at his limit of chakra. Why did things have to turn out like this?



Tears burned his eyes as he slumped to the ground, exhausted of all energy. He refused to cry. He had refused to cry while watching the blood drain from his parents. He had refused to cry as he left his brother’s quaking frame lying on the ground after torturing him with images of the slaughter. Now, faced with the death of his beloved Sasuke, he found himself wanting to do so. He wanted to cry, to release the pent up emotion. The drops refused to fall.



He’d promised himself he would do right by his brother, to stop the monster he’d created. Now, even that was being taken from him. What reason was there for him to live? Become like his brother, seeking vengeance for what was forced on him? No. He would stay here, heal. Then he would make his decision.



“Itachi-san?”



“Shouldn’t you be in bed, Kisame?”



“The same could be said for you. You look dead on your feet.”



“Hn.”



“It will be alright, Itachi-san.”



Itachi didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His mind whirled with his memories. He allowed Kisame to pull him weakly to his feet. Both men wearily made their way towards where a concerned Keiko waited.



“Itachi-san…your hands.”



“He’ll be fine. It’ll be sore as all fuck tomorrow but he’ll live. Itachi-san has been through far worse.”



For the next few days, Itachi remained in his room. He refused both food and company. Kisame let him be, keeping Keiko away as well. It spurred the mother of all fights between the couple. Her mothering instincts were beginning to kick in while Kisame understood Itachi’s need to emotionally come to terms with the fact his brother was most likely dead.



“You bastard! You would leave him to waste away in there!” she screamed, throwing a pan at Kisame’s head. Only his shinobi reflexes kept him from being knocked unconscious as she continued to scream her wrath.



“Woman, if you weren’t heavy with my child I would beat you black and blue.” Kisame snarled.



“I’d like to see you try, you big fish.”



“Keiko!”



“Enough.” Both turned to see Itachi step from his room. His skin seemed almost translucent. He leaned heavily on his crutch before sitting at the table. “Do not fight over me. I won’t just wither away. That would a bit anticlimactic.”



“Itachi-san…”



“Kisame, I want you to help me train. I need to start rebuilding my muscles.”



“Yeah, I’ll help.”



“Itachi-san, are you sure you should start doing that so soon. I mean, it’s been barely six months…”



“Thank you, Keiko, but I’m a shinobi. I can’t sit around. I need…something to work for.”



“Just don’t over do it, or you might permanently destroy your pathways.”



Itachi nodded in understanding. He’d done a lot of thinking while in his self imposed prison. He thought of his past, and of his future. He would stay with Kisame and Keiko until he was sure they were safe from most of the hunter shinobi. Then…he would make that decision when the time came. For now, he would get stronger. He found it humorous to say such words. Once considered one of the most deadly missing nin in the world, as he was now, even the most idiotic genin could take him down.



Training would be hard. He would need to build his physical strength before he could hope to regain any of his previous skills. Genius only took you so far. He wondered what Sasuke would say if he knew his brother was no more a genius than any other student. The reason Itachi was so strong so young was because he would train until his body grew numb. He was forced into such a position by the clan, by his father.



“I’ve been doing some calculations. I think it will take me at least a year to get physically where I was before, taking into account the rate at which I’m healing.” Itachi began. “At least another year after that reacquainting my body with my various jutsu.”



“So two years and you will back at your maximum?”



“Yes.”



“I’m so going to bust your ass for all those times you whipped me training.” Kisame’s eyes took on a dark gleam.



The next few weeks were slow going, Itachi nearly running himself into the ground. He stayed away from jutsus, simply working his body. Kisame helped, mainly his job was to assist him until his legs were strong enough for him to move about without a crutch. Keiko supplied them both with high caloric food. Itachi would need the high intake if he was to keep up this brutal physical routine.



At eight months, Keiko was barely able to move through the house without assistance. Kisame doted on her. Itachi did what he could to help, taking over the cooking. Keiko nearly fell out of her chair when Itachi presented a meal of tender venison, garden peas, and corn cakes.



“God, Itachi-san. I’d forgotten how good it was to eat your cooking. I knew I should have married you.” Kisame moaned as he ate another plateful of the seasoned meat. Keiko slapped him in response.



“Hn.” Itachi grunted, ignoring to two.



“Itachi-san, I have a favor to ask. I took an easy escort job, to get us some extra money before the baby comes.”



“What’s the catch, Kisame?”



“I’ll be gone at least three weeks.”



“Kisame…”



“I know I’ll be cutting it close, but I think I can be back before the birth. We still have another month and I leave tomorrow. Come on, Itachi-san. Just make sure she eats and doesn’t get stuck in any doors.” That earned him another slap.



“Fine.”



A sharp toothed grin spread across Kisame’s face. “Thank you, Itachi-san!”



~*~



Kisame returned home two weeks later to a dark glare. He froze in his steps. Something had happened. Itachi rarely looked this angry. He watched as the other slowly rose to his feet. A kunai found itself buried in the door, inches from his face.



“Itachi-san?”



"You just had to go away and leave me to deliver your offspring..." Itachi's eyes bled red. "All twelve hours of it."



Kisame's eyes grew wide as he shot a glance towards the closed door of his room before looking back to Itachi.



“Go see your wife and that little demon’s spawn she birthed.” Itachi’s door slammed with a bang.



To be continued.