.

.

He was running.

Moonlight streamed down the valley, and the only sound was his own jagged breathing as he pushed past the trees. He rocketed downhill, his chest tight and feet pounding, but his foot caught a root and he pitched forward, too overwhelmed to prevent the fall.

His shoulder slammed against the hard ground, stirring up the flock of crows that had been perched on the trees. They flew, an angry black cloud, cawing and flapping above him.

Itachi rolled onto his back and looked up, catching his breath and watching the black feathers drifting in the dark.

xXx

.

The Hokage had given him three days to leave the village; conveniently, the south gate had been unguarded and left open.

"We will search for you," the Hokage said. He stepped forward, then clasped Itachi on the shoulder. "You will die if you are caught. Do you understand?"

Itachi's eyes were hooded. "Yes."

The Hokage's face was drawn. "Such foolishness," he said, and his eyes were sad.

Danzo stepped forward and offered Itachi his hand.

"Peace has no price," Danzo said. "Raise your head and be proud; a true shinobi sacrifices for the good of all."

xXx

.

The village was a nondescript one; men on bicycles passed, and women walked with baskets by their hip, stopping by the markets and arranging vegetables by the sidewalk. Itachi walked, his face hidden by the hood of his cloak, blending into the crowd.

It has been days since Itachi has eaten anything; weeks since he'd found lodging indoors. The money the Hokage gave him was running out; he fingered the coins in his pocket, frowning. He could afford a little rice with what he had left; after that, he wondered what he would do.

There was a child begging on a street corner. Her face was smudged and she held a basket in her hand. Wordlessly, Itachi stepped forward and dropped the coins into her basket.

"Thank you," she said.

Itachi turned and walked away.

xXx

.

"Thief!"

Itachi ran, swiftly dodging the crowds while the men behind him gave chase. He had thought he had pocketed the apple without anyone seeing, but apparently one of the customers was nin.

"Oi!" the ninja said. "Teme!"

Itachi leapt over the cart of cabbages, nearly knocking the stand over from the momentum. The men followed after him. "Oi!"

He couldn't use his sharingan - the fear of discovery prevented him from doing so - and though he was certainly more powerful, he didn't want to hurt them, either.

"Where'd he go?"

The grocer and the ninja stood at the alleyway, looking left and right.

A kunai whistled through the air.

"He's over there!" They turned and ran the opposite direction. Itachi let out a sigh, then palmed the apple in his bag.

xXx

.

It was raining, and Itachi took shelter in a nearby cave. The firewood he gathered was too damp for fire, but Itachi was able to muster enough chakra for a fire jutsu, and soon enough a small fire blazed in the cave. Itachi reached into his pocket and pulled out the faded picture of his family. Carefully, he touched the faces with the pads of his fingertips: his mother's soft smile; his father's stern eyes. His little brother smiling and hugging Itachi's arm.

His eyes were wet, and he hated himself for it. He clenched his jaw and stuffed the picture away, curling up on his side and pulling his cloak tight around his arms.

xXx

.

There were several nights where Itachi was close to killing himself.

Sitting in the dark, he would take his kunai and drag the dull side of the blade along his wrist, silently counting the vital points where he could strike: jugular; radial; femoral.

Then he'd think of his brother, and he'd feel ashamed.

xXx

.

Itachi had slaughtered more than just nin that night. He killed civilians and children as well. Itachi pressed a hand to his eyes, remembering. It was the one night the Uchiha nin were not away on missions; there was a festival, a clan holiday with a feast the next day. It was for that reason Danzo and the others had insisted Itachi move on that night, though the expected coup was still weeks away.

xXx

.

The first civilian he killed, after the sentries and his uncles next door, was a little girl. She was wearing a pink nightgown; she was gathering fireflies in the courtyard.

His sword sliced through her like air; her mother and grandmother died just as easily.

xXx

.

He didn't stop to think about it until the mission was through; it was days before he let himself feel anything.

Itachi spent the first night alone with his knees curled up to his chest, unable to sleep and shaking.

The second night he vomited blood.

xXx

.

Slowly, Itachi came to the conclusion that if he could not live for Konoha, he would at least ensure its safety from the outside: Madara had disappeared hours after the massacre occurred, and Itachi wasn't sure he would keep his promise.

"Help me destroy the Uchiha, and in exchange, you must promise not to lay a finger on the rest of the village." Foolish. Itachi should have killed him, then and there.

He fingered a shuriken and frowned.

xXx

.

Itachi woke, but it was not yet daybreak. The fire died. He wasn't alone.

Itachi sprang up, narrowly escaping the kunai which were thrown his direction. He whirled around and saw the coterie of ANBU nin surrounding him.

His sharingan flashed. Three were neutralized but two were still standing.

Itachi's eyes narrowed. Hyuuga.

"Byakugan!"

The Hyuuga nin charged forward.

Itachi's eyes flashed; his sharingan spun.

xXx

.

Itachi staggered forward, panting and clutching his arm. It was the first time Itachi used the Mangekyo Sharingan since the massacre, and his eyes burned.

Itachi fell to his knees, coughing. He raised a shaking hand and was surprised to find blood.

Of course.

He passed out for hours afterward.

xXx

.

Itachi's body was slowly failing him.

The Uchiha were fire-breathers, able to set flame to the chakra out of their lungs. The technique demanded perfect control: any inner turmoil, any conflict with the soul and mind, could increase the pressure and cause the chakra to break on the inside. The user would eventually drown in his own blood.

Itachi didn't know this. All he knew was that the light was slowly fading from his eyes.

xXx

.

When Itachi was young, before he was nin and before the sharingan manifested itself, he and his mother would go to the market, just the two of them, his mother holding his hand and swollen with child.

Those times were the best times.

It was hard to remember, now.

xXx

.

The ninja hunting him was no jounin. Itachi turned, surprised to find the chuunin inexpertly fumbling for his knife.

As it turned out, the man had a vendetta: his lover was an Uchiha, and he sought to avenge the clan. Itachi defended himself, but the man was wild, his katana swinging violently.

The kunai flashed; the man fell, blood spurting from his neck as he tumbled onto the ground.

Itachi crouched low and watched the man's face as he struggled to breathe. His mouth moved soundlessly, the blood pooling around his throat.

Itachi made sure the blow that came was quick: in all his travels, the one thing Itachi was still good at was killing without pain.

xXx

.

Madara was close. Itachi could feel it. Slowly he reached back for his katana.

The door opened. Itachi held his breath, then leaned back into the shadows. Four men in black cloaks and red clouds; Madara in an orange mask.

Itachi's eyes widened as Madara seemed to appear from nowhere, blocking Itachi's exit and slamming him against the wall.

"So you've found me, Uchiha Itachi. Or should I say, I've found you."

And Madara loosened his grip around Itachi's neck; Itachi could almost feel him smile.