The Brother I Once Was Pt. 7

"Sorry...I was just spacing out...." Itachi laughed.

Shisui raised his eyebrow slightly as Itachi felt the bruise left on his face by his father. He looked down at the water of the river then back to Itachi. "Ita..."

"What is it?" Itachi looked at him.

Shisui was looking at the river below him. His face was sad looking. He had gone on so many missions with Itachi. Itachi was his best friend, no matter what he was going through Itachi would always find time to help Shisui feel better. Shisui reached up and untied his ponytail, letting his long dark hair fall to his shoulders. Itachi blinked and watched him.

"Itachi...I....know what you are thinking....." Shisui smiled sadly at him.

"Shisui, what are you talking about....?" Itachi paled a bit. Did Shisui figure out what he was thinking about?

Shisui knelt down by the edge of the water. "You have always been around for me Itachi, you are my closest friend. We went through the academy together, the Anbu...everything we went through it together.But no matter what I did...or how much I tried, I still could not lift all of the pressure you felt off of you. In a way I think I failed as a best friend...."

Itachi got down next to him. "Don't think that way."

"Itachi...I feel like I have ever truely done enough for you. I have never been there when you had problems with your father...or sometimes when you got hurt.You've always been so weighed down by being an Anbu...and your father..." Shisui grinned. "I know...you want the mangekyo sharingan..."

"Shisui..." Itachi was becoming slightly angered by his words.

Shisui leaned his head close to the water, almost touching it. "I will make up for that now. I will die for you right now, so you can maintain the mangekyo...and become stronger then anyone that has ever lived..."

"Shisui."

"Don't, Itachi. I'm doing this for you...because you are my best friend. Now, do it Itachi. I know you were thinking about it a few minutes ago." He glanced over at Itachi, still smiling. "Just hold my head under until it's over...it won't hurt me at all...its a pretty quick way to go. When it's all over just push me lightly into the river. It will look like a suicide. "

Itachi stared at him in total disbelief. He wanted to die so he could have the mangekyo?? What was wrong with him? Throwing his life away. Itachi didn't understand. "Shisui...you don't have to...."

"Shut up! I want to!"

Itachi winced slightly at the sudden hostility. Shisui took Itachi's hand, placing it behind his neck before leaning close to his best friend. " Itachi...I am doing this because...I love you Itachi..." Itachi's eyes widened. Before he even had the chance to say anything, Shisui kissed Itachi's cheek before forcing Itachi's hand to push his face down into the water.

"SHISUI!" Itachi tried to pull his hand away from Shisui's head but he was too strong and too determined to let Itachi stop him. "SHISUI STOP!! STOP SHISUI!!!!"

Shisui actually made an attempt to hold his breath for as long as possible before letting it out for the last time. Itachi pulled his hand away quickly, tears running down his face. "Shisui......I can't believe I just...AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!" A tremendous pain filled Itachi's head. It was so great that it took him a while to discover that it was comming from his eyes. His sharingan were transforming. He put his hands over his head as he screamed in pain. Shisui's body was captured by the current and pulled away from the unknowing Itachi.

After it was over, Itachi laid on the ground his right hand dipped lightly into the river. When he regained his conciousness Itachi could feel the difference in his eyes. The new feeling that Shisui's sacrifice had given him. He felt stronger. Itachi felt like he could take out ever shinobi in Konoha in a single night. But he felt a deep sickness inside of him. Shisui had just given up his life and basically MADE Itachi kill him. He was kind of creeped out that he said he loved him but that wasn't the point. What would Sasuke think?

"No..." He said outloud. "No one will know about this...it was....suicide...." He hopped off again to his mission.

It must have been near midnight when Itachi walked through the door of his house. He didn't even bother going by the police HQ He knew his father wouldn't be there at this hour. He walked to his room and opened the window that led outside. He stared up at the full moon and leaned out over the edge, throwing up a bit. He heard something move behind him but he didn't even have to look to see who it was. Itachi stayed, supporting his body with his arms on the window sill.

"Itachi?" Called Sasuke's soft voice. Itachi's one piece of sanity.

Sasuke walked up to Itachi and put his hand on his big brother's back. Itachi flinched at his touch. As far as Itachi was concerned, he was a monster now. He was expecting Sasuke to have somehow found out about what happened with Shisui. He feared that Sasuke was about to attack him and call him a murderer like in his dream. But he was wrong. Sasuke wrapped his arms around Itachi and burried his face into his back.

"I'm sorry about Shisui....I heard he committed suicide..."

Itachi almost felt like laughing at those words but he maintained his composure. "Yes...he did..." He turned around and looked at his little brother. "Sasuke...."

"What is it, brother?" Sasuke looked up at him with a worried face.

Itachi knelt down and put his arms tightly around him. "Sasuke, you are the only thing that keeps me sane anymore....You are the most important thing to me...if not for you who knows what I would be doing now....or who wouldn't be alive..."

The younger brother's face was lit with confusion but he smiled as Itachi presses his neck against his. Itachi NEEDED him. He was the reason his older brother was holding on to whatever he had. Sasuke puts his arms around him. After a while, Sasuke's eyes widened. He looked down at Itachi.

"Brother...." He whispered.