A.N

Oh the struggle.

I'm getting it done ladies and gentlemen. It's gonna happen. Bear with me. This is the last lap.

Much Love,

Inky

The darkness of the cement building was only chopped into sections because of the light coming in through cracked and sometimes haphazardly boarded up windows.

In the brightness of the moon she stumbled and sometimes crawled towards what she hoped was an exit although really, how was she to know? Everything looked the same. Pillars and pillars of ancient cement. Metal and debris that covered the floor, rats scurried out of the way as she raced by, terrified by her gasping breaths.

Please oh god let there not be the sound of a gunshot.

She knew Hinata, like she knew her own mind, and the look on her sister's face had been a foreign one.

She didn't know what this Hinata may or may not do.

Crashing through a set of twisted rusted doors Hanabi fell, hitting the smooth ground of linoleum that was crudely cut away to reveal dirt.

She stared.

Dirt.

The ground before her opened up into a sneering hole. It looked like it had been dug some time ago, but feeling the ground between her finger tips she breathed deep, recognizing the musty smell of the last place she had been imprisoned, her eyes wide.

"This..." she hesitated at first, inching backwards, listening still for his pursuit, for the sound of a blow to Hinata's brain that would end this story in the worst way possible.

An image formed in her mind, of him walking away from her, of a phone lighting up his face in the half dark of the pit in which he kept her bound.

Had she dreamed it?

Shaking hard she moved forward, feeling the dirt against her bare feet, the roughness drawing a shiver from her body.

If she was right, the space wasn't very big, it had just felt infinite with no light but the single light bulb where she had been told to sleep and eat.

Heart pounding she crawled deeper into the hole, watching as the last remnants of moonlight began to disappear, her eyes more and more blinded by the sickening feel of earth above her, beside her, around her. A crypt.

If there was a phone she would find it.

If there was a phone she would call help.

If there was a phone, she would save her sister.

If there was a phone... please oh God, let there be a phone.

They ran through the thicket of trees with abandon. He watched the pumping pale legs of his brother ahead of him and he smiled.

"Catch me, Nii-san!"

The sun was a blazing golden orb in the sky, the heat of the day had been stifling but as it began to lower into the abyss of darkness there was reprise in the shadows of the birch trees that struggled to grow taller every year despite the biting cold of winter.

"Catch me!"

The colors were a washed out sunbeam, everything looked soft and delicate, melted by the heat of the day. Bare feet on stone and dirt they ran, feeling the tickle of the tall grass and the softly climbing vines as they pushed through the underbrush.

"Almost got you!" His voice called softly through the haze of heat, and it was answered by a shrill laugh of both delight and anticipation.

Almost fear.

"Can't catch me!"

There was the lazy buzz of bees in the shade sipping on nectar and perfume, the pounding of his heart in his ears, the giggle of his brother up ahead, and then the whisper.

It was always just a whisper.

No one would hear him, here.

His breathing was no longer filling his lungs, the oxygen felt thick like the honey the bees were making. He coughed, stumbled, caught himself.

"Sasuke!?" There was real panic in his voice but still Sasuke giggled as he ran.

"Can't catch me!"

You're so far away, if something happened to him, it could be an accident. In fact, maybe it will be...

Heart tripping like his feet he caught himself, stopped and listened, turning in circles in the birch trees and the green of the underbrush.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, we have to go back!"

I have to get you home, I have to get you into mother's arms.

"Catch me first!"

Yes, catch him.

Breath clawing down his throat, a shaking beginning at the edges of his vision like only his world was experiencing an earth quake he followed the voice.

Get him home, get him home.

"Sasuke!"

No answer, only the buzz of the bees, the sweat gliding down the side of his face, the whisper of his clothes against the branches of the bushes at his feet. "Sasuke, answer me, you're scaring me!"

Oh that's precious. He's scaring you?

"Sasuke!"

With a gasp he felt little arms wrap around his waist, a tiny delicate face pressed against the small of his back.

"I got you, Nii-san!"

Now, it would be easy. It could even be quick, although slow... slow would be better. Let him realize, let him understand as it begins, as the wound starts to hurt...

Hard ragged breaths as he turns, forcing a smile to reach his eyes, sliding his hands under the arms of his little brother, unable to meet his dark eyed gaze.

"You got me."

"I'm so fast!"

"The fastest!"

"One day, I'll be as fast as you."

Itachi looked up into his face then, feeling the familiar whistle sound in his ears that accompanied the close proximity to this child.

Why, why did he have to be this way?

"Nii-san?" Worry flickered over Sasuke's face for a moment, his hand coming to rest on Itachi's cheek. "Nii-san?"

The face of the child was perfect, round delicate eyes framed with beautiful lashes. Softly sculpted brows over a smooth forehead, a tiny centered nose, full mouth, high cheek bones.

For a moment Itachi pictured what it would look like if there was blood dripping off his chin.

"Nii-san?" It was that cautious note, it always seemed to break the spell, although it's strength had waned in recent years.

One day, it will happen. One day, I will win.

Itachi smiled again, pressing Sasuke into a hug that left him breathless. "One day you will be faster than me, stronger than me yes? One day, you will beat me, okay?"

Sasuke pushed back to look at his face, a smile slowly coming to full bloom from cheek to cheek. "And you'll be there, so you can tell everybody?"

Itachi swallowed, starting back to the house with the child on his hip, giving him a firm nod. "I will be there."

Satisfied Sasuke leaned against his brother's shoulder, watching the particles pass through the golden light of the sinking sun.

"I love you, Nii-san."

Maybe not today, but one day, I will have him, or I will have you.

Itachi sighed deeply, tightening his hold on his brother's delicate body, feeling the fragile connection of tissue to bone. Briefly his eyes flickered behind him to the darkness as it followed, a plume of hell to follow him wherever he went.

He will be stronger than you.

He will be stronger than me.

He will kill us both, and that will be the end of this.

Itachi studied her with curiosity marred heavily with impatience. He wasn't going to let her go, and she knew that more than her dying, her being in his grips would destroy Sasuke.

She had felt the death start inside her when they told her that Itachi had her sister. It had bloomed like a poisoned flower within her, slow to unravel it's angry petals inside her chest.

But she had known it was there, eating her alive. For her sister there was terror, for her there was the endless painful sunrise and sunset, stretching out forever wondering what torture her loved one was enduring, what pain she was feeling.

Food would no longer have taste, beauty would no longer be acceptable, guilt would hinder her smiles, her joy.

No.

She couldn't let Sasuke go through his life like this.

Itachi paced before her, watching with growing trepidation as her expression went from terrified to slow steady steel.

Behind him his shadow hissed and spewed, profanities bouncing through the building, echoing in his ears only.

This was his fault for allowing her to come here, for not taking the weapon away, for letting her win.

Silently he argued with it, the shadows that flickered behind him, that demanded he heel to it's commands.

He had not known. That had not been the plan, the gun to her head had never occurred to him. Despite her pain he had always assumed that she loved to breathe too much, that she wanted to see if she could survive this to see his brother again. Never had he thought she would look him in the face and get to the core of who he was.

Winning, was the only thing that appeased the darkness, getting the end result he had envisioned all along, her torture, Sasuke's torture by way of her had been the main point- for that wretched thing inside himself that was determined to rip his brother apart.

For Itachi Uchiha, the thing that caused the shadow to exist in the daylight, for him, the gun had been an exit plan. The moment he had felt it in her clothes he had sighed with relief. There would be no slow fight to his death, no.

How could the shadow exact payment of his brother's blood, if Itachi was dead. Who else would be willing to destroy him and therefore his shadow without putting Sasuke in danger but the pale eyed beauty that wept at his absence for most of a year?

Who else would want him to suffer and die but the sister of the child he had terrorized for weeks?

She was however, more exquisite than he had anticipated. He had outmaneuvered himself. She overcompensated for his obsession. Sasuke's pain would never end with her in his grasp. Her understanding was beginning to get to him, the penny dropping slowly only because of his denial that he had indeed lost control of the situation.

His death at her hands would only happen if she thought that she had no choice. He had not considered her kindness, her inability to inflict harm. The pain that Sasuke would feel at her death would be minuscule to the endless stretches of black that would consume him if he never found out what happened to her in his grip, and that was what he, Itachi Uchiha had made sure they both knew. That he would torture them as long as he possibly could, just for the fun of it. Just so the hate would fester, the desire for his heart to stop uncontrollable.

It didn't matter that he wished so badly for it to end, for his brother to win, for Hinata to live. It didn't matter. What mattered was that he, and the shadow that haunted him died.

The darkness hissed and rolled, in the edges of his vision he could see it starting to build, growing in size like smoke from an angry wild fire.

He had not wanted to do what he had done in his family home, he had begged his mother for forgiveness even as he sliced her through, had tried in his hurry to get it over with, to hit the places most likely to end her life quickly. He had got carried away and continued, retching and heaving but never throwing up as the darkness in him slowly began to grow slower and sleepier with each of his blows.

By the end of the massacre it languished at his back like an obese contented cat, licking it's chops while he wept into his arms wondering how he would be able to get Sasuke to understand that his brother needed to die.

And then at the thought of Sasuke the madness had woken again, whispering things about how it wasn't too late to kill the boy, how he would not be expecting it, how he would walk right into the house, he would be defenseless...

Itachi wrestled with the thing, the monstrosity inside himself until he reminded it of the agreement. The bargain they had placed.

Everyone for his brother, he had been fed there was no more discussion.

Here in this stillness though and with the shadow wriggling behind him in starvation he knew he was running out of time. Sasuke's name lingered on it's tongue, but now too Hinata was looking more and more appetizing.

"I had wanted you to kill me." He said it abruptly before the shadow could figure out what was going to come out of his mouth, and when he spoke it recoiled as though struck and then furious lunged forward. He could almost feel the heat of it's breath at his neck. Sweat broke out on his brow and he steadied his breathing through sheer will alone.

Across from him Hinata breathed hard herself, her panting making her chest rise and fall beneath the dirty cover of Sasuke's white shirt.

"What...what did you say?"

"Something inside me wants him dead." Itachi continued conversationally, picking an invisible speck off his black shirt sleeve while mentally battling with the roaring in his ears.

"It happened when he arrived. I remember when they handed him to me. He was so small."

Hinata stared at him, the metal in her hand shivering with her body, digging painfully into her temple with each shudder.

"He looked so soft. I could feel when I squeezed his limbs that there were malleable bones beneath the skin." He murmured, recalling the size of Sasuke's little foot against his childhood hand. The toes had been beads, he had counted each one like a gem found and treasured.

"I began to wonder how much pressure it would take to make the bones bend. Then, how much it would take to make them break." His eyes lifted to hers and although he was working hard to keep his breath even she was starting to notice the sheen on his forehead.

"Would it bend easily, like a new willow branch, would it twist so far that the pain of not breaking would be worse than the release of the snap?"

Sickened, Hinata felt her stomach lurch and placed a hand on her belly painfully. "Stop."

"It started like that, and then I started seeing him dead in my hands. There was always so much blood and I was young, I couldn't believe these were things in my head. " Something in his voice changed and Hinata felt the air leave her lungs.

"He is my little brother... I love him, I always have." His eyes focused on her for one long moment. "I always will."

"Y...you're lying."

"No, Hime."

"Stop calling m-me that."

"I fought for him."

"Stop."

Itachi took a step forward. "I traded my family for him."

"No one had to die!"

He paused cocking his head at her thoughtfully. "I fought it off for more than a decade, Hime. Don't you think, if it didn't have to happen that I would have been successful?"

What was he saying? Hinata shuddered again and felt her fingers slide dangerously on the trigger making Itachi freeze.

"Think about what you're doing. You could just shoot me, get this over with."

Hinata's eyes burned from wanting to not blink in his presence. "Why... did you leave the gun on me?"

Itachi smiled. She was catching up.

"Think, Hime." He sighed, and felt himself take another involuntary step forward at the aggressive push of the shadow behind him. "Think."

The phone rang.

He had not expected that. He was so surprised that in the shadows of her room he just stared at it, watching the number on the screen glare at him in the dark. It said unknown, and as the little white phone icon on the screen wiggled Sasuke sighed.

It rang again for a moment, and he considered turning it off. Who could possibly be calling in the middle of the night? His gaze flickered to the clock and winced. Three in the morning.

The ringing was making tension snap across his shoulders again and just to get the thing to stop he pressed the answer icon.

"Hel-" He began and froze.

"Hello!? Hello!? Who is this?! Please help me!"

Blood pressure spiking Sasuke slammed into the door of the bedroom ripping it open so hard he dented the wall behind him.

"Hanabi!?" he was shouting and those still awake working on the computers looking for a sign of Hinata turned sharply at his voice. Men peeking out from doorways half dressed in their day old clothes.

"Help us! He's got Hinata! She's got a gun! She's gonna-" The words became scrambled and Sasuke spun, searching the room for Kakashi and finding him striding sharply towards him.

"Hanabi where are you? Do you know where you are?"

"I don't know! Please! Please help me!"

"What does the room look like? Are there windows? Are there doors?"

"It's an abandoned building- there is garbage... it smells bad- there is a train, it passed by a minute ago, it was close it shook me." her voice suddenly sounded so tired.

"Hanabi, Hanabi are you hurt?" Sasuke was shouting now.

"Please..." she was sobbing quietly now. "Please save my Onee-chan... save my Onee-chan."

Without hanging up the call became silent.

"Can you trace this shit?" Sasuke shouted, shaking Kakashi by the shirt. The captain's expression had changed from tired and sleepy to something that made Sasuke suddenly feel dizzy. Ripping the phone from his grip he passed it to someone at a desk.

"Trace that, do it now. Find the train tracks for the city, and any known abandoned buildings in the industrial sector and near the dump. If it smells bad it must be one of those two." he was shouting orders and men were moving, Sasuke followed as he walked back upstairs.

"Get ready to get out of here." Kakashi muttered, knowing there would be no restraining the boy once they headed out.

"And don't fucking get in the way." His hand landed on Sasuke's shoulder. "I mean it."

Sasuke shrugged him off, heading back downstairs quickly. "I'm ready."

"It's been long enough." Itachi murmured, searching her face. "Your sister must be far from here by now."

"I was far from here." Hinata whispered softly. "It didn't stop you from getting to me."

"You came to me, Hime."

Her hand did not lower from the gun, it was becoming less frightening to have it there pressed against her temple as the time passed. Less and less like a weapon it was more of a nuisance. Her arm was hurting and for a moment she considered switching hands but as the thought entered her mind she knew with the intent look on Itachi's face that it would be a mistake.

He was Uchiha, he was Sasuke's brother. He would snatch it away from her before she could untangle her finger from the trigger. Her hand shook for a moment but she kept it resolutely up.

"So you want me... to kill you." she whispered, watching him cock his head to the side at her slightly.

"I understand your lack of trust in that statement."

"Lack of trust." she whispered it, letting it ring out with the foolishness of it. He smirked just the slightest bit and she was irritated to feel a little bit of pride at making something happen on his face.

"I think we both know I'm insane." He commented lightly, feeling the festering ooze of his lunacy pushing invisibly behind him. "So perhaps it would make sense in the frame of that perspective."

Hinata stared, watching him breathe in and out, knowing inside his chest there was a heart beating. This was Sasuke's brother, her eyes saw the beauty of her lover and the monstrosity of the being before her. She squirmed.

Could she shoot him? Could she actually...?

"You're thinking about it." He commented dryly, taking another step forward. Her gun turned towards him slowly. She was no expert, certainly but he could see there was potential. Her grip was great, her arm although small was unwavering in it's hold and from the way she was standing she knew what the machine would do when she finally pulled that delicate little piece of metal holding his life in the balance.

"You're not stupid." She didn't say it sarcastically. "Everything you do, you do for a reason... so why... why would you want me...to..." she stared down the barrel, her eyes focused on his chest.

Itachi felt his breath hitch, felt the angry push of the shadow behind him, the panic fleeting through his veins.

Hinata bit her lip, hard. Tasting the copper of her blood she breathed in deep.

He took another step forward. Any closer and he would be at point blank range. There would be no missing him.

I don't want to do this...

Her eyes searched his face, losing sight of her target, watching as he flexed the muscles in his arms with some sort of struggle she didn't understand. "You say you love him."

Itachi watched, dread building in his bones as her face washed over his, searching for something.

No. No she was supposed to follow his instructions, shoot point blank and end it, feel no guilt, no trepidation.

"Don't think about it."

"You say you love him and yet-"

"Just pull it." Another step. She felt her feet hit the back wall where Hanabi had been strapped down and winced.

Something flickered behind Itachi's shape and her eyes snapped there, widening in surprise. Stiffly the Uchiha glanced back in terror that she might have been able to see the haunting of his life.

But there was light, not shadow, a flashing red and blue of police lights that sent color bouncing in the dark.

Inside him something sighed with relief as the monstrous thing in the shadows screamed and threw itself at him with vigor.

Hands shaking he turned, feeling as though nothing in his body was complying to his wishes. Smoothly, with the grace and elegance only passed from Uchiha to Uchiha he snapped forward.

"Time's up."

Whoa, tired.

Leave me some love ne?

Inky