Memories crashed into Sasuke's mind like a torrential rain. There was no blood, no torture—only truths he had never known.
To prevent an Uchiha rebellion, Konoha's upper ranks had issued a secret order to wipe out the clan. Itachi had knelt before the Third Hokage and taken all the sins upon himself in exchange for Sasuke's life. On the Night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, he watched his parents close their eyes of their own accord, watched his clansmen fall before him, while his tears could only flow inward. He joined the Akatsuki to monitor forces that threatened Konoha; he treated Sasuke coldly so his younger brother could survive through hatred; he appeared again and again to provoke Sasuke so he would awaken his ocular power faster.
All that coldness had been a disguise. All that cruelty had been protection.
The man Sasuke had seen as his lifelong enemy had, from beginning to end, loved him with his life.
"Sasuke... forgive me..."
Itachi's voice was as gentle as the whispers that had coaxed him to sleep when they were children, carrying an indescribable exhaustion and reluctance to part. His palm pressed softly against Sasuke's forehead. The light in his Mangekyō Sharingan gradually faded, and his life, like a candle guttering in the wind, burned down to its end.
"I've always... loved you."
As the words fell, Itachi's arm dropped limply, and his body collapsed softly into Sasuke's arms. Warm blood soaked through Sasuke's clothes. The older brother he had hated for more than ten years, chased for more than ten years, closed his eyes forever.
Time seemed to stop in that instant.
Sasuke froze where he stood, his mind utterly blank. All his hatred, all his obsession, all his rage, collapsed with a thunderous crash before the truth. He had