R e d W a t e r

C h a p t e r I

Sasuke - age 7

Itachi - age 13

It was a regular afternoon with my brother and his friends. I sat on the floor, watching Itachi play video games while his friends, Kisame and Deidara decided to raid our pantry full of food.

My brother's eyes didn't move from the television screen as he played. I pouted, not getting any attention from Itachi what-so-ever. I stood up to see if I could get him to look at me, but his head peeked to look beyond my body, telling me to move. I sighed, but did what he said, falling into the couch, next to him.

I saw Itachi pause the game, looking at me with an apologetic face expression. He beckoned for me to come closer. I smiled, crawling closer and he wrapped an arm around me, enough that he could still reach the controller for the game.

This was how it was suppose to be.

But everything changed.

One night, I was suppose to meet my brother after school. He says he waited for me, but I never showed. So he went out to look for me. I don't even remember anything that happened.

Except that it hurt.

When I woke up, I was on the ground of an alley, my clothes hanging loosely off of my body and I was bleeding a lot. I saw Itachi standing over me, a bloody plank in hand and beside him, a man lying crumpled on the ground in his own blood. His eyes were looking at nothing and he wasn't moving.

"I...Itachi, w-what ha…what happened? Why is that man…o-on the ground?" I tried to get up. "Ah-ahh…I-Itachi, it hurts…" I heard myself whisper but Itachi didn't answer. My older brother approached me, dropping the plank and picked me up gently, carrying me all the way home in silence. "Wh…what happened to me…Itachi…" Itachi still didn't put me down when we reached home, finding that the house was empty and my parents weren't home. He carried me directly to the bathroom, opening the shower door and setting me down on the floor of the shower. I looked at him in confusion, but still he wouldn't talk.

Itachi slowly removed my shirt, trying not to hurt me in the process. I winced as he tried to pull the torn navy blue shirt down, exposing my cut up chest and arms. He stepped inside with me, lifting my arm to remove the sleeve. "A…ah, Itachi, it hurts!" I complained, feeling a sharp pain fro my injuries. He didn't respond still, but was even more careful with me after that. I looked at him, seeing his eyes full of pain and hatred.

"Sa…Sasuke…" He finally spoke. "Don…don't ever leave me again.." I heard him whisper.

Tears were leaking from my eyes and I ignored the pain as I threw my arms around him. "I'll n-never…I wont leave." I muttered into his shirt. I felt Itachi kiss my shoulder, squeezing me, not enough to hurt me, but enough that I felt protected and safe with him there with me. Finally pulling away, he was about to get out of the shower but I grabbed his arm, "…I-Itachi," I whispered. He didn't answer but looked back at me. "St…stay here…stay in here…with me." My voice was shaky, still shocked and confused from what happened. Itachi just nodded, sitting back down in front of me. "W…Sasuke, we need to get you cleaned up…before mother or father are back." I nodded, noticing the blood also on Itachi's clothes. Was it mine? No. That man…it was that man's blood. Itachi reached up and twisted the shower facet on, letting the warm water fall on the both of us. Itachi tugged his own shirt off, throwing it into the corner of the shower. I watched as the water droplets soaked his shirt before a small stream of red water started to run down into the drain. His blood…

I was sitting in that dead man's blood.

"I-Itachi.." I looked from the water to him and he immediately saw what was bothering me. He opened the shower door, grabbing the bloody shirt, and threw it into the sink near the shower before sitting back down and closed the door. Itachi sat quietly again, staring at the floor.

"…I'm…I'm sorry, Sasuke." he muttered quietly. "I didn't mean to…"I climbed onto him, wrapping my arms around his waist. "Sa…Sasuke, you're injured." Itachi sat me up in his lap, running his fingers lightly over a gash in my arm before looking me directly in the eyes. "Sasuke, this has to be a secret. You cannot tell anyone anything…especially Mom or Dad. Not ever. Understood?"

I nodded and asked him. "W…why, though?"

"If you tell them, I'll get in lots of trouble. Maybe even go to jail for what I did."

"…j…jail?" I whispered in a surprised voice. "Yeah. So you promise, Sasuke?"

I nodded again, wide eyed.

T o B e C o n t i n u e d . . .

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