KI GAN; Demon Eyes

Comments: I doodled a picture a while ago and it came with words that seemed to flow, until I hit the revelation that it was going to be more than a one-short. Then I worried about the ideas and all. No pairing intended, but for this fic, I lean towards Sasuke eventually with... Kakashi... or Sakura, and... I think Sasuke's trying to make me write a melodrama. -_-;

Here's the picture: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/8716602/

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the mangaka. Hayato Date is the director of the anime, which was released by Studio Pierrot. No profit will be made out of this fan fiction. No copyright infringement was intended. The only thing I own here is this piece of writing.

[Edit 01: Minor sentence changes/information clarified. I have one vote for M/F and M/M each (and the request not to write a SasuSaku, which seems slightly more cannon to me, or a SasuIno, which I don't see happening in this fic at all - but sounds like it'd be a challenge since I haven't read a SasuIno... ever). Thank you for the comments; they are considered and appreciated.]

                   KI GAN; Demon Eyes
                                  Prologue: The Brother
                                  A Naruto Fan Fic By Kagaya Chou


Nii-san,


                        I did everything you wanted.

I cursed you.
                                               I hated you.

            I survived in order to avenge the family...

                                   ... to kill you for killing everybody.

            I killed you.
                                                                       Why...

                                   Why... won't you let me go?



                                                           ... can't I let you go?


Eyes wet, hot with tears drip-dripping from weary sobs. Everything was black, white, various shades of grey, and ultimately out of focus.

Uchiha Itachi blinked a few times and groaned, disorientated, shaking his head. "Sasuke," he rasped. "Don't cry."

There was a sharp, shuddering gasp above him. The weight on his bruised chest disappeared abruptly and a small voice brokenly called his name.

"...tachi?"

Itachi always was attuned to his little brother, but the concern, so unfamiliar now, surprised him. Where was the carefully cultivated hatred they both tended to, and grew used to over the years?

"What... happened?" Itachi spoke. It hurt just to ask, to talk, even breath. To hear his own feeble voice stung the older brother's ego more than he would or could admit.

Sasuke whispered, "I killed you..." as though it was a secret, as though he wanted to say more but couldn't find the right words, and Itachi didn't seem inclined to argue.

Gazing idly at the younger boy's face, Itachi silently noted that Sasuke could use some medical attention. The wounds he had successfully inflicted upon his little brother amounted to a lot, although none were truly fatal.

Not enough hatred, Itachi wryly berated himself as he looked towards the boy. In truth, his little brother was his weakness. He could never hate the kid to begin with no matter how much he tried. The memory of holding his infant brother in his arms and his little finger trapped in one tiny fist was as fresh in his mind as the fight they just had and the blood now stagnating, congealing on the floor.

Sasuke's pale skin was covered with various cuts and stabs and slashes, evidence of Itachi's most recent attempts on his life - a hard life as a ninja or a shinobi like his brother, both trained in the hidden art of war. His left arm hung limply at his side, the skin there singed and pealing beneath blood-soaked gauze. In his good hand, he clutched Itachi's katana tight.

His eyes were glassy, like ten thousand shinning mirrors, bright red with three black comma-patterned swirls around each dilated pupil, like tomoe pinwheels, inert.

The sight of Sasuke's Sharingan, his eyes, fully developed made Itachi inexplicably proud. But the younger boy had yet to pull out the kunai and shuriken his brother had imbedded into his side, his thigh, and his blistering arm... He was still riding high on adrenaline from their fight.

Attacking with Chidori twice in a day should have been Sasuke's limit. The assassination technique, also known as Lightning Edge, was rumored to have split lightning bolts, and Itachi had not foreseen the third striking home.

It hit hard with the howl of a thousand birds, hurting both brothers more than it ever was intended.

Itachi couldn't tell how many of his own ribs remained intact from that last blow. His muscles were tense with electric shock, and the lingering static numbed and intensified every little sensation he felt. Detachedly, he knew the echoing pain of a dislocated knee and a fractured shoulder-cap. Sasuke managed to immobilize him when Chidori met his ribs, a little further from his heart; the boy couldn't have missed his target.

Some of Itachi's long hair came loose from his ponytail during their fight. Wisps of it fell distractingly before his eyes, whipping about his shoulders and weaving into the black mesh of his shirt as he ignored it in favor of returning the ferocity of Sasuke's attacks. Now, the prickling burnt ends bit into the jagged sword wound over his chest. With each shallow, labored breath, those pinpricks sent him sharp, periodic shards of pain.

The silence bled Sasuke, who stubbornly settled with repetition when his brother failed to respond. "I killed you." Louder. He needed an answer. "Do you hear me? I killed you!"

To achieve his darkest desires - finally avenge all those lives of the family members Itachi stole, and be acknowledged by the most important person in his entire world - the moment was surreal. Outside of his dreams, Sasuke never thought he would see Itachi smile at him again, even though it came out as a weak grimace.

"Congratulations..."

There came the comforting smell of Hidden Leaf: home, herbs and bad blood spilt. There came the wish for rain to wash everything clean. Everything felt wrong, which in Sasuke's world now was completely all right.

They stayed close together in the room overlooking the back garden of the old Uchiha estate. That place was where they used to sit and talk and watch the black butterflies and be brothers... just before the room where the younger one found his parents murdered by their elder son.

Sasuke made no move to wipe his tears dry, but squeezed them tight to clear the blur. Itachi lapped the blood and sweat off his own cracked lips, feeling frozen and feverish all at once.

The fire in their eyes now burnt cold, but while the younger Uchiha's eyes reverted black, the others' faded into a soft white.

"Itachi?"

The older brother slowly blinked, raising one eyebrow, as good an indicator as any that Sasuke still held his attention.

"Did I... blind you?" The younger boy sounded hesitant.

Itachi blinked again. "I can see you, Sasuke... Why do you ask?"

"Your eyes look like the Hyuugas." The reply seemed almost accusing. It made complete and utterly no sense, answering one question, only bringing up more.

"Like their Byakugan?" Eyes narrowing, Itachi quietly spoke, voice calm but curious. "You can't see my pupils?"

Cautiously, Sasuke edged closer to gaze searchingly at his older brother's face. He could never tell what was on Itachi's mind before. Now, he could barely see that the blank eyes were staring back.

Nodding, then shaking his head, the younger Uchiha tried to explain. "I can make out the outline of your pupils, since... I'm this close... but there's no other color."

Itachi lapsed into silence, looking down in thought.

Sasuke had no idea what was going on, but if it wasn't something his older brother intended, he was too worn out to care. In fact, he didn't even know why they were on civil terms in the first place.

"Close your eyes," came Sasuke's command. "I killed you. I shouldn't be talking to you." He didn’t want to deal with anything except perhaps a medic that could heal the aching emptiness he felt in that pounding organ long locked away in his chest.

The older Uchiha lifted a hand in slow motion, beckoning, and, force of habit, the younger boy drew near. A poke on his forehead, an overused apology, and yet another empty promise coming from the older brother's mouth: déjà vu.

"Sorry, Sasuke. Next time?" This time, Itachi coughed blood.

"'Next time'?" Sasuke snapped. "What, you won't talk 'next time'? Shut up already." Itachi's apologies were long overdue, and probably wouldn't mean anything to anyone anymore, but the foreign familiar poke and promise still pained Sasuke.

Pouting childishly, he glowered at his older brother and heatedly continued, "You always tell me 'next time', you never do what I want you to, what is wrong with you!?

"You're dead! I killed you. Your eyes are still open and I'm still talking to you, and this shouldn't be happening! I shouldn't have to ask you, or tell you anything, you idiot, 'cause there won't be a 'next time', I swear! I swear it!"

Itachi wondered if he messed with Sasuke's head too much, if his brother even realized exactly what he ways saying. Maybe his talk of the Byakugan was the product of growing insanity, although the Sharingan could be traced back to the Hyuuga family...

They were certainly in no condition to test theories though, and what did he care for clans? He sighed dejectedly. There was only one thing he really cared for about now.

"Otouto," Itachi stared at Sasuke, who was so different from the little boy he remembered, and still so much the same, still hated him. "Enough." His eyes shut, like they would never open again.

Shocked into silence, his brother just stared.

Their breathing slowed. Blood mingled and flowed. The rudy stain on the wood beneath them spread out, darker still.

At the thought that he would never see Itachi's eyes again, Sasuke panicked. It didn't make sense; Itachi was his world. 'Otouto, enough,' couldn't be his last words. It didn't sound right.

He called his brother's name, but there was no answer, so he tried again.

And again.

Louder yet again.

Dropping the blade, the younger Uchiha pulled the older one upright into a sitting position. Itachi's head drooped forward and his limbs barely moved with the momentum, reminding Sasuke of a finely crafted puppet, which he ruined.

No more strings attached.

"Nii-san," Sasuke feebly cried. "Nii-san... Don't leave me, Nii-san. Please, I can't... I haven't..." He wrapped his arms around Itachi, chest ghosting over chest, clutching at his shoulders like he was his lifeline, and all would be lost when he let go - if he let go.

He was never going to let Itachi go.

And perhaps... his brother felt the same, or Sasuke was going insane when he felt his embrace returned.

"My... foolish... little brother," the taunt sounded half-hearted. "Shaking, sniveling, still so weak... How can I leave when you're still so weak?"

Sasuke smiled wearily, his voice almost inaudible. "... can't... You can't leave me. ...won't let you break another promise, I swear. I won't..."

It felt like Itachi gave a slight nod, and he trembled as the double doors were rammed open.

"Sasuke!"

"Sasuke-kun? Where is-Oh my goodness!"

Years of practice made it easy to tune out the fact his teammates, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura, just broke down the doors, although it also registered to him that his, tentatively, concerned... friends were essentially invading his ancestral home.

Sasuke closed his eyes in irritation, wincing as a flood of harsh sunlight suddenly streamed across the room. Dawn already? The fighting started around midnight; his internal clock hadn't been knocked askew.

Faintly, he heard the sound of battle outside, the clash of thunder and metal, the brief, loud screeching of angry birds doused by an odd downpour of... rain. On a morning as bright as this?

Experience told him that Hatake Kakashi, the man who taught him so much more than Chidori, was currently engaged in combat outside. And slowly, memory supplied Sasuke with the most likely opponent. Itachi hadn't returned home by himself to begin with.

His companion was monstrously huge, with eyes like a shark's, and Sasuke had no illusions; the man wasn't completely human.

Hoshigaki Kisame, as he was so formally introduced, had a disturbing blue-grey skin tone, and markings on his cheeks that distinctly reminded Sasuke of gills. The ruthless smirk set on his square jaw revealed sharp teeth, a carnivorous appetite and an urge for violence just barely restrained. No prizes to anyone for guessing what animal this man could probably summon.

As with the last time Sasuke met them, Kisame had stood by Itachi's side like a larger shadow, protective. Whereas his brother favored a traditional katana, the older man easily wielded a sword practically as long as Itachi was tall, and probably more than ten times as heavy.

Sasuke wasn't sure if he was surprised that Kisame's deferred to Itachi. All it took was a softly spoken, "Leave," from the elder Uchiha's lips, and Kisame complied, saying he would guard the door.

But now the door's open, and Naruto, and Sakura, and... whoever else invited themselves!

Sasuke snorted. Idiots. It would have been nice if no one came, no one found him at all, if Itachi was still alone with him, talking - if time stood still, performed back flips, and handstands for their entertainment, too. He was an idiot for dreaming.

He buried his face against the nape of his brother's neck, his nose against the hollow of the older Uchiha's throat. I need this. I just... him, here... ...just this.

Sasuke wallowed in the comfort of Itachi's warmth and scent, the thick stench of honey and burning sugar in his blood.

Nii-san and his sweet tooth, he smiled.

"What the- What the heck? Sasuke-teme, why are you-you're, you're... You're hugging Itachi!"

"Itachi? Wait a minute, Naruto. You mean the infamous Uchiha Itachi!?"

"Yeah!"

Sasuke stifled a growl. What is their problem? Their words, their tones, made it sound as though it was a crime for him to hold onto the only other surviving member of his family - and Sasuke failed to understand why.

"But I thought Sasuke-kun wanted to kill that man. He murdered their entire clan!"

Shut up. Shut up! Sakura wasn't doing anything constructive. She trained as a medical ninja, and Itachi was hurt. What more did she need to know? And Naruto, Sasuke raged, Naruto should have known better. It's not Itachi. It was never Itachi. At least he left me alive; I just murdered my entire clan!

The guilt, Sasuke realized, was probably what Itachi left to him when he was long ago spared. His head hurt.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's screamed. Her cotton-candy voice, suddenly shrill and laced with fear, snagged Sasuke frayed nerves.

He thought of his teacher, no doubt fighting Itachi's partner now. Kisame's saw-toothed sword, Samehada, was a bludgeoning weapon that shaved, and Kakashi's cloth uniform wasn't going to measure up as adequate protection. Kakashi was considered a genius of a ninja, who learned over a thousand different jutsu with and without the help of his transplanted Sharingan, but he was up against an S-class criminal with a sword that devoured chakra faster than it could be produced - and a whole lot of techniques depended on that mental energy.

The fight would most likely become pure physical combat between a feral predator, and a lanky instructor, and respectively, one had a tailor-made gigantic sword and the other... some kunai.

Sasuke never had the chance to find out how Kisame fought, and while he was familiar with Kakashi's strengths and weaknesses, the laws of gross tonnage said "squish".

"Ka-" he began, and halted in shock when he heard an echo.

"Kisame. Stop." Itachi's quiet voice seemed to swallow every other noise, and for an agonizingly long time, all grew silent.

Sasuke wondered if his heart stopped, too. If he somehow transferred the remaining beats to his brother's instead.

"Itachi-san?" Kisame's voice came from just around the doors, uncharacteristically reticent.

"Leave now," Itachi murmured. "... Please."

Silence.

"Che." There was a scraping noise, a groan and a thump. A rush of fog, thicker than morning mist, rolled partly into the room before dispersing into thin air.

Sasuke knew that this time Kisame was honestly gone, and irrationally, he felt angry. How can he... let go... just like that? The arms that held him relaxed minutely. Sasuke's blood ran cold.

"Nii-san?" He moved back quickly so he could look at his brother's face, his smaller hands almost trembling as they moved to cup Itachi's cheeks. "Are you... still here?"

Itachi opened his eyes and stared at Sasuke wordlessly, half-smiling in mocking amusement as he considered whether to respond to another foolish question.

But then, it was Sasuke asking.

"You killed me here, otouto. I... don't think I'll be going anywhere on my own from now on."

Very seriously, Sasuke nodded, both of them ignoring everyone else, even as a new presence limped into the room.

"Uchiha... Itachi..." Kakashi must have been gaping. He sounded ragged. Sasuke couldn't bring himself to care.

"You're not leaving me again," he quickly informed his brother.

Itachi went through the motions, raising a hand; another false promise. Only his little brother hissed, and stopped him, clutching his fingers tight.

"You're not going to apologize again. Don't give me that 'next time' crap. You're just not leaving, and that's final, all right?"

Itachi wanted to agree, say yes and make Sasuke happy. He wanted to die, because he didn't want to disappoint his brother again, yet he knew he would. Sasuke needed so much attention, Itachi honestly didn't think he was the right person to provide it. That is, assuming he could even survive to try.

"I wish..."

... for a second chance to make things right;

... for Sasuke to smile so damn innocently, annoyingly, and whole-heartedly again;

... for being the one to die instead of Uchiha Shisui of the Shimmering Sword, who was like a brother to him, his best friend...

It would have saved Sasuke so much heartache if Shisui was the one who cleansed the clan.

"Promise me!"

Itachi was dragged in and out of his drifting thoughts. "...Promises break, Sasuke..." He wanted to warn his little brother. It was never good to depend on words alone, not even his very own. "They're as fragile as the people who make them..."

Sasuke wouldn't have it. "You're not fragile. You're strong..." He seemed to realize some error in his words. "You're just... You..."

The boy turned quickly to the medic of the group, the kunoichi. "Sakura, heal him."

Itachi looked incredulously from his little brother to the girl, who looked at Sasuke with such conflict in her eyes, such compassion and concern for... it couldn't be the both of them.

"What are you waiting for?" Sasuke blurted out impatiently, "Just hel-!"

"Please move aside, Sasuke-kun." She never took that strong a tone with him before.

For another second, for various reasons, everyone seemed to be holding their breathe. Itachi wasn't the only one bewildered as Sakura knelt beside them. Naruto's face was almost comical with blatant disbelief. He opened his mouth, gathering air in his lungs, when his teacher moved beside him. The mask that covered the bottom half of Kakashi's face prevented clear readings, but the man now had a firm hold on the boy's shoulder, like he was using Naruto as a crutch, and keeping him in place at the same time.

Itachi looked back at Sasuke.

His little brother shivered, simply staring at the girl for a while longer before awkwardly fumbling aside to give her room.

Sasuke's movements were sluggish, and his head spun with the momentum.

"N-nii-san..."

The last thing he heard was his brother's quiet voice calling him, somehow in stark relief to everyone else's louder cries.