Unnatural

Unnatural

By Uchiha Addiction

Hmm, well, I know I should be working on Dangerously Beautiful right now, but this idea suddenly popped into my head and since lately I'm getting a more than healthy dose of Itachi in eps. 80 and 81 and so forth, I've been a little... obsessed? Well, that's a pretty minor word for it; let's just say the mere sight of Itachi turns me into a bubbling pile of fangirl goo... So, anyway, enough of my blabbering, it's Itachi x Sasuke, which means INCEST, you no like, you leave. I DO NOT want to be flamed for that reason, flame me for my weird grammar or my frequent habit of making up words that don't exist in any dictionary, like 'pinkened' HAHAHA. Okay, just a warning...

Itachi x Sasuke, don't forget, they're brothers!! Okay? Thanks, other than that, enjoy...


Unnatural


Chapter 1: Blinded Eyes to You


His hands flailed, his legs felt trapped in mid-air, the quickening air around him swiping by at a faster and faster rate. His mind was racing at a thousand thoughts a minute as he could almost see his entire life flashing before his eyes. His pale hands drenched in his parent's blood, his frightened younger brother trembling and crying over their bodies, everything seemed to dash by him at a mile a minute. His blood red Sharingan eyes ached from the stress it was putting on them, his neck beginning to feel sore as he plummeted head first into the vast cavern below.

He had been falling. Itachi touched his head as the world sped by, looking up at the who who had pushed him off of this seemingly endless cliff, his brother, Sasuke, who now hun the the edge of the cliff, tears falling from his eyes and nearly catching up with Itachi's falling body as he called his name regretfully, "Brother!! I-Itachi!" he continued to repeat as if he regretted what he had done.

He shouldn't have, after all, Itachi murdered his entire family in cold blood, and for such an unnecessary reason, Sasuke should have been relieved to see hillinlling to his most certain death, to finally avenge his clan. But he wasn't, even from how low the elder brother had fallen, he could see the young Uchiha above him burying his face in his hands and shedding more and more tears for him. Even if it was faint, Itachi could still hear his younger brother calling to him from the top of the ravine.

"Itachi!"

"Itachi!"

The eldest of the Uchiha clan allowed his eyes to flutter closed, wondering why, even though he was falling so quickly, everything around him was traveling in slow-motion, as if he had all the time in the world before he would hit the rocky ground below. His long black coat snapped in the wind, the collar swiping around his face. Itachi's entire body felt like he had fallen in water, like he was drowning in an inescapable void, his thoughts continuing to drift back to his younger brother's hateful eyes as they fought above the rift in the earth, kunai slicing skin, shuriken falling from the sky like a painful rain, and their red eyes continually evaluating the other's moves. It would have been so easy for Itachi, a ninja of S rank to simply finish his younger brother in a single move, but he knew he couldn't end their rivalry that simply.

Itachi could think of nothing but how much his heart was beating as he saw the raw, burning hatred in his brother's eyes, the eyes that used to look up to him with admiration and hope. He had destroyed him inside, he knew, he had burned away those eyes that once loved him...

"Big brother, I love you..."

"You can't say those kinds of things, Sasuke."

"But I really do love you! I can't help it!"

"Stop it, you can't be in love with your own brother, that's wrong and disgusting!"

Itachi could hear the winds pass him by, his mouth opening one last time, "Sasuke."

He hit the ground lifelessly, his body smacking against the hard dirt and rocks, a cloud of dust arising from his lifeless figure. His world had faded to white.

Sasuke sat quietly next to his older brother's bedside, the rank smell of the hospital getting stuck in his nose, the strange, bandage and medicine stench that only came from being stuck in this wretched place for more than a few hours. Next to him, Itachi lay out so helpless and battered, his arms scraped and bruised from the fall, his left leg broken from the impact of the rock-hard ground, and his head wrapped in thick gauze because of the unfortunate crack in his skull. It seemed all to much for Sasuke to see his older brother, the one he had always held up as someone who was far too powerful to even get a scratch on him, lying so lifelessly on the hospital bed, the heart monitor beeping slowly to indicate his heart rate, and the oxygen mask that covered his mouth the only thing that was keeping him breathing regularly.

The youngest Uchiha hadn't had a good night of sleep since his brother had fallen from the cliff, the first day following he stalked the doctors and nurses like a vulture, asking them if they were doing everything they possibly could to help him and demanding the best care humanly possible. After the surgeries and the many nights Itachi was left alone to 'recover', Sasuke had spent every night in the hospital, sleeping in a small cot they had graciouslyen hen him as a spare. Every time he even thought of leaving, the pounding guilt of knowing he had been the one to cause all this forced him to stay and wait for any signs his brother might wake up, though all of the doctors were more than skeptical.

Sasuke hesitantly reached over to his brother's hand, his own hands shaking as he realized he hadn't touched him since the 'incident', not in a caring way at least. In his mind he wondered if, as soon as he touched his hand, Itachi would wake up and gut him like a fish without even thinking twice about it. He cringed at the thought but cupped his hand around Itachi's slowly, feeling how cold and drained they felt, his own small fingers wandering the top and palm so lightly, his older brother's hand instinctively twitched at the feeling. It was encouraging to see that.

Behind Sasuke, the door to Uchiha Itachi's hospital room squeakedn, gn, groaning metal and the sound of a single step following it. Sasuke turned to see his Jounin instructor at the door, his foot bound in a cast, two crutches under his armpits from taking part in the battle against Itachi. Kakashi slowly hobbled over to Sasuke's side, looking down on the worried young Uchiha and sighing, running his fingers through his thick gray hair.

Sasuke was blaming himself again, just like when the Uchiha clan was wiped out, though there was nothing he could have done to prevent it, he had spent his entire life convincing himself that if he were stronger he could have stopped the massacre. Kakashi could see the guilt in his black eyes, "Sasuke, you pushed him back in self-defense, even you must know that..."

"No," The youngest Uchiha mumbled, "that wasn't it. There was anotreasreason..." Sasuke answered timidly, knowing it was not for his own protection that he had pushed Itachi back that day. The real reason had nothing to do with their fight; he had pushed Itachi away when their eyes met up for the first time in a long while, those same eyes that had rejected him so long ago, the eyes that had told him he was sick and disgusting. That's why he had pushed him back over the ravine; he couldn't stand to see that look in his older brother's eyes. It was so painful.

Kakashi decided to change the subject, placing a comforting hand on his young student's shoulder, "What did the doctor say?"

Sasuke grasped Itachi's hand tighter in his own, "He said his physical wounds would be fine in a few weeks, but since he hasn't awaken in a few days, there might be... brain damage and he might go into a coma." He listed out everything the best Konoha medical doctor had told him just this morning, word-for-word. He stared at his helpless older brother for a long time before feeling warm tears come to his eyes.

The gray-haired Jounin returned his hands to the sides of his crutches, smiling widely under his mask, "I'm sure that won't happen." He muttered quietly, his own coal-black eyes scanning the motionless body of the eldest Uchiha carefully, "Call the guards in if there's any trouble." He added, knowing there were more than five specially trained Anbu members on post outside of Itachi's room, even some scattered outside in case he were to escape. The city of Konoha could not risk an attack from such a formidable enemy.

Sasuke nodded, hearing his caring teacher leave, most likely to attend to his own wounds, and letting out a long sigh. The young boy touched hrothrother's soft, pale fingers, looking at the beautiful dark purple nail polish he had chosen to put on when he joined Akatsuki. His heart monitor bd lod loudly in the backgrouf Saf Sasuke's thoughts, his eyes wandering Itachi's beaten body, namely to his right arm, a few scrapes and bruises nearly masking the long scar on his shoulder from years and years ago. Sasuke could remember the day so vividly...

The younger of the two brothers was about five years old, the elder ten when their parents went out to the local market for a few hours, ordering that Itachi take care of his younger brother and make sure he didn't get into too much trouble. Itachi grumbled about the request, he hated having to watch the young and hyperactive Sasuke, whose single goal in life seemed to be to annoy.

Sasuke smiled widely as his parents left, immediately grabbing onto his older brother's arm, "Yay! Let's go outside and train!"

"I'm tired, Sasuke, can't you just take a nap or something?" Itachi groaned, lea bac back in the chair he had claimed as his own in the kitchen, soon finding himself being dragged outside by the determined young child.

"C'mon, c'mon, I just want to go see somethin', then we can go home..." Sasuke muttered, opening his front door and sprinting far ahead of his reluctant brother, already well on his way to his destination.

Itachi flustered as he was forced to follow his younger brother down the street, seeing the older kids he had graduated with whispering and snickering about his situation. Meanwhile young Sasuke had already reached his destination, the old Chuunin testing grounds. It was a formidable place to say the least, with large, towering chain-link fence that enveloped the boundaries, tall trees inside obscuring most of what could be seen from the outside, even so-Sasuke was impressed.

"Ahh! Look at it, brother! Did-did it look like this when you took the test?" The younger Uchiha questioned excitedly, climbing the side of the fence to get a better look as his older brother sighed.

"I just took the test a few weeks ago, they wouldn't have changed it yet."

Sasuke ignored his older brother's stark attitude and stared into the grounds with awe, seeing the robotic marionettes that had been built to be a worthy adversary to the Genins, the many traps and sharpened kunai that littered the grounds. To Sasuke, it was like something he had only seen in his dreams. "Wow... I wonder if anyone's in there practicing..." he muttered, looking up at his brother for an answer and discovering he was like usual, completely silent.

Sasuke continued to shake the fence, the thin metal creating a repetitive clanging sound that echoed throughout the testing area. Itachi held his hands over his ears in frustration, "Will you stop..." Suddenly, the elder of the two ceased his speech, his ears perking up to the sound of approaching danger. Without giving it a second thought, Itachi pushed his younger sibling out of the way, "Watch out!" he called as he fell in the path of the speeding kunai.

He closed his eyes, wincing as the thick blade dug into his shoulder, staring for a long while at its path and realizing how close it came to Sasuke's chest. Itachi breathed heavily as he grabbed the weapon by the handle, ripping it out of his aching flesh and holding his shoulder so the wound would stop bleeding. He knew what had happened, Sasuke's movement and sounds must have frightened one of the trainees inside and as a reflex they had tossed a kunai through the fence, it was not uncommon, but damn if it didn't hurt like Hell.

Sasuke rubbed his aching head, "Hey! Why'd you push me...?" he mumbled, his black young eyes trailing over to his brother, who was sitting, cringing in the pain the stray kunai had caused. The small five year-old rushed over, "Big brother! Are you okay?" he asked with great concern, his eyes shot wide open.

"I'll be fine, I just need to bandage it up." Itachi answered, noticing the thick tears in his younger sibling's eyes.

Sasuke swiped his finger under his nose, childish tears running down his pale cheeks, "I'm sorry... Itachi..." he whined aloud, falling into his helpless brother's lap and continuing to weep loudly.

The gestgest Uchiha's thoughts quickly returned to the health and well being of his brother, his eyes wandering to Itachi's lifeless form on the hospital bed. Even now, he felt like apologizing, "I'm sorry, Itachi..."

Sasuke's heart pounded to match Itachi's quickening heart monitor. He bolted up in his chair, knocking it onto the floor as he raced around the medical equipment, "Itachi? Itachi!" he shouted, wondering if the incessant beeping was an indication something was going wrong. Perhaps the doctors were right, perhaps he was going to suddenly lapse into a coma and never wake up again. The young clansmen grabbed his brother's shoulders, shaking him, "No, you can't just leave me like this, you can't leave me again!" he yelled, trying to overcome the heart monitor's sounds.

Sasuke stepped back as he saw Itachi's hand move, his eyes fluttering open slowly. The first thing the younger of the two noticed was his brother's eyes weren't the vicious blood red of the Sharingan, they were pitch black-like his own, as if he had forgotten how to master that technique. The dark-haired boy took in a hopeful breath; his brother was awake, and moving! Maybe he was going to be all right after all, he just wondered how angry he would be at being stuck in a Konoha hospital with Anbu guards swarming around him.

Itachi rubbed his aching temples with his fingers, his head swimming, and feeling incredibly groggy. The bandages on his forehead seemed tied to tight and all of the scrapes and bruises suddenly seemed to sting all at once. It was not a very pleasant way to return to the world after three or four days of drug and pain-induced sleep. The eldest Uchiha looked around the room curiously, his eyes dropping upon his only visitor.

He had short black hair, deep dark eyes, and porcelain-colored skin,ost ost looking like a doll, except for the welling tears in his eyes. Itachi pushed himself up in the hospital bed, taking a minute to stare out of the window blankly and look all around the room, finally pulling the oxygen mask off of his mouth. He stared into Sasuke's eyes for a long time, making his younger brother to squirm uncomfortably under his gaze, a slight blush coming to his cheeks. "Are-are you feeling alright, Itachi?" Sasuke questioned, knowing how angry the murderer of his clan would be at seeing his younger brother still alive and well.

Itachi blinked a few times, his deep voice finally answering, "W-who are you?"

Okay!!! It's kind of like a teaser chapter, huh? Well, I can't really remember where this idea came from, I was just like, hey, what if Itachi lost his memory, and Sasuke liked him? Awww I thought and thus it was born about 4 in the morning last night. Ah well, that's when all my great ideas were born. Anyway, I juanteanted to post this first chapter to show ppl who read Dangerously Beautiful that I really was doing something else when I kinda skipped out on this week's chapter. (Sorry!) I had a test in Anthro and stuff... damn monkeys... So I will update next week, I think... and please read this story!!! Incest is best!

- Uchiha Addiction