A True Tragedy- An Itachi-centric Fic

Sasuke.

The one thing that was driving Uchiha Itachi's life was his younger brother, the only person to survive the Uchiha Massacre, himself excluded. And he was dead now, killed at the hand of Orochimaru. It hurt to think about; Itachi had been working for years to make Sasuke strong, to drive him to kill, to regain the glory of the Uchiha, only to have him fall into the hands of that venomous snake and die there.

Outward, Itachi showed indifference to the news that he had received. Inside, he wanted to die. The one person that could send him to the afterlife and rebuild the clan name was dead. He wanted to weep, but he wasn't sure if he knew how anymore. Years of pretending to have a cold, hard shell could dry your eyes faster than any true tragedy.

That night, Itachi locked himself into his room. Kisame had tried to get Itachi to answer the door, but a kunai slicing through the door right past his head stopped the shark man in his tracks. He turned and walked away, warning everyone to leave the brooding Uchiha alone.

For three days, Itachi stayed in his room, staring out the tinted glass window into the abyss of darkness that was the Hidden Rain Village. It had been storming for a week now, with only the barest traces of sunlight filtering through the thick clouds overhead, casting eerie shadows on the skyscrapers and docks. Itachi liked it that way.

It felt like the world was crying for him.

For Sasuke.

&

"He's not coming out." Kisame grumbled, reaching for the tea pot on the table in front of him. Filling his cup, he looked for the sugar bowl. It was next to Hidan's cup, and when he reached for it the Jashinist slapped his hand away and finished scooping sugar into his cup before pushing the bowl to the shark. Kisame lifted the lid on the bowl and sighed, dropping it back onto the dish and getting up to get the sugar substitute. Hidan's addiction to sugar was getting on his nerves; he had been stuck with fake sweeteners for nearly two weeks now because anytime anyone bought sugar, Hidan coated his food in it. It was like putting sugar on Frosted Flakes; extremely delicious, but entirely unnecessary.

"I know he's not. He's a moody little bitch."

"Shut up, Hidan. You don't know a damn thing about Itachi."

"I know he's got a fucking shota complex. He's in love with that little prick of a brother of his. If the drama queen had his way, he'd be fucking his brother every god damn night."

"Oh, please. Itachi hates the kid. Why do you think he wants to kill him?"

"Maybe someone else did, yeah." Deidara, who had been ignoring the conversation until now, chipped in. "Never seen him hole up like this, yeah."

"Wait, kill or fuck the little fucker?" Hidan dipped a cookie into his overly sugared tea and shoved it into his mouth. Kisame rolled his eyes and Deidara's face held a look of disgust.

"How can you eat that crap, Hidan?"

"Jashin blessed me with this beautiful fuckin' body, and I give him praise by filling it with sugar before a ritual. It makes them extra sweet." He gave a loud, barking laugh at his joke. Everyone else just rolled their eyes and went back to their food. After a moment, Deidara looked up at Kisame.

"I think someone killed Sasuke. Someone should ask, yeah?"

"Let me know how that goes, Deidara. I'm not going near his room. I'm not retarded." Kisame stood and deposited his dishes in the sink. He wasn't going anywhere near Itachi until his mood had visably improved.

And there was no telling how long that was going to take.