"Who is she?"

Itachi stirred in his sleep. He heard his mother's rough tone coming from his parent's bedroom at the end of the hall. He sat up in bed, still dazed from waking so suddenly. He checked his alarm clock, rubbing one eye.

6:03 AM.

He had woken up well before he should have.

"No one, I swear," his father replied in an angry tone. Albeit muffled by the walls and doors. The morning light was dim, the sun hadn't quite shown its blinding, comforting face yet.

In the dim dawn, Itachi stumbled out of his room to go check on his parents. In the shadows of the hallway he could see a small figure trying to reach for the doorknob.

Standing on his tippy toes, Sasuke still couldn't reach the doorknob. His heart was pounding away in his chest – his blood was rushing so fast he thought he might faint.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" Itachi asked his little brother sleepily.

"I have to get in! It's my fault," Sasuke spoke frantically – the concern thick in his soft voice.

"What's your fault?" Itachi asked gently as he reached his little brother.

"I asked mo-"

There was a loud shatter, it startled both the boys. Itachi reacted instantly and pulled Sasuke behind him. Screaming and shouting went mindless on the other end of their parent's room. There was more bumps, thuds and crashes beyond the door.

Itachi opened the door to see a ceramic bed-side lamp in shattered pieces next to his furious father. The room had been trashed – ragefully so.

"You're acting crazy!" His father bellowed.

Itachi had never heard his father so angry – so aggressive. His shoulders were squared up and his fists were clenched. But what struck Itachi the most was the wild look in his father's eyes. Widened orbs of fury and distaste.

"I KNOW EVERYTHING!" His mother screeched at the top of her lungs from the end of the room. She was hysterical, tears rushing from her eyes, face red and her fists – also – clenched.

"Lies. You know they're lies!" His father challenged.

She pulled out a phone from the nightstand, "Lies? They're lies?!" She quickly tapped on the phone with shaking fingers, "These pictures are on your phone Fugaku!" She proceeded to turn the screen around to face him – revealing a naked woman with red hair.

Itachi quickly covered his brother's eyes – who struggled anxiously against his older brother's hold on him.

The two parents hadn't even realised their children's presence. The anger and hurt in the room was too thick to sense through – to rationalise the surroundings of a tossed around, destroyed room. Mikoto was seeing red and feeling the utter emptiness of her being. The man she loved all her life – her own husband – had been with another woman. Her first love, her one and only partner. The man who knew all her fears and dreams – the man she shared a bed, a family, with.

"How many times?" she asked calmly. Too calmly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Fugaku responded indifferently.

It was a flurry then. Itachi's mother jumped on his father, scratching, clawing and screaming. His father repeatedly tried to yank, toss and fling her off. They bumped into walls – objects crashing and shattering all around. They hit against the T.V stand and the thin screen crashed to the floor.

Sasuke got free of Itachi's grip and ran to his two parents.

"STOP!" Sasuke yelled with his scared, small voice. He was tugging on his father's pants – trying to separate the two.

"Sasuke get back here!" Itachi commanded – never having used that harsh a tone with his brother.

Fugaku kicked his leg when he noticed something was clinging to it as he tried to restrain his screaming wife.

His foot made solid contact with Sasuke's shoulder and the little one was flung back – hitting his head on the corner of a nightstand. A high pitched wail silenced everyone as Sasuke shrieked in pain.

"DAD, OH MY GOD!" Itachi panicked and ran to his little brother who had blood steadily trickling from the back of his head.

"Yes Fugaku, abuse your children now as well," Itachi's mother said thickly.

"YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP AND CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

The two parents stopped their argument and Mikoto dialled emergency services, while Fugaku left the house. She was at Sasuke's side, comforting him as Itachi sat in a sort of stressful stupor.

What had he just seen?

The paramedics arrived in astounding time and loaded a crying Sasuke on a gurney and drove to the hospital – leaving his bitter mother and anxious, angry brother at home.

Both went back inside the house and his mother just plopped onto the couch slouched over and started weeping. Weeping so painfully it hurt Itachi – his heart ached. It physically hurt. He thought she might suffocate from how little she would allow herself to breathe.

Is this love? His mind asked horrified.

He could do nothing but stand and watch his gentle, caring and warm mother weep. The utter powerlessness he felt nearly brought tears to his eyes.

"Go to school," she said between chocked sobs – not once looking at him.

Itachi hesitantly went upstairs, got his backpack and – to a shameful discovery – was glad to leave his once haven of a home.

*****

He was late to class. His teacher looked over it – Itachi was the school's star pupil. Itachi sat down at his desk, took out his notebook and immediately started taking notes of what had been written on the board.

You okay?

Itachi read the note Shisui had slipped over to him.

He didn't respond – he didn't know if he was okay or not, so why lie?

Class went on with Itachi mindlessly taking notes – his mind was in fact with his brother, awaiting news. Only accepting good news. There was not allowed to be bad news – he would not permit it, it was forbidden.

The ringing of the bell made Itachi jump in his seat, startled. Any loud noise – the scraping of the chairs on the linoleum floor, the excited giggle of a stranger, the screech of the chalk on the board – flung Itachi back into the dark hallway outside his parent's bedroom.

The shattering and crashing.

The furious screaming – deafening.

Sasuke's blood on his hands.

Itachi flinched when a tan hand rested on his shoulder. He shrugged it off – knowing it was Shisui's,

"Hey, hey, what's the matter?" He asked in clear concern.

Itachi remembered the framed picture by the staircase. His parents were kissing in the background while he and Sasuke played in the garden. Itachi's favourite picture.

Was that love? His mind asked.

Itachi stood up. He didn't know where to go. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. He started walking to the door, Shisui quickly followed – carrying Itachi's bag and books.

"Itachi... you're scaring me," Shisui admitted, trying to keep up.

His words melted to the ground – they didn't reach Itachi's ears.

Kakashi stood in front of Itachi, causing him to stop. Itachi's face was blank, his eyes were dull. He was a corpse with living flesh.

"So you got back together with a guy who left you after a fight?" Kakashi asked exasperatedly.

"Stay away from him, Kakashi," Shisui seethed.

"Itachi he-"

"I SAID STAY AWAY!" Shisui shouted.

Itachi was snapped out of his trance and ran for his life. He ran with no clear destination in mind. He ran from the noise. He ran from the fear.

He ran from himself.

He kept running, and running, and running. His surroundings blurred. His lungs burned. His legs shaked with each movement.

Panting against a random tree in the Konoha woods – Itachi felt everything catch up to him. It all raced back into his scrambled being. He felt the bark was rough – splintering and cracking. He dragged his palms down the bark gently – the tree was dead.

Did the soil still love the dead tree?

He ran his hands harsher down the bark, feeling it crack and tick under his palms – scraping him. The tree didn't answer.
More frantically, he ran his hands down the dead bark again – this time truly feeling the pain.

He withdrew his hands and looked at his now splinter-filled and bloodied palms.

Everything is okay. Everything will be normal at home. Sasuke is okay and giggling. Shisui is staying for dinner. His parents are sharing kisses.

"Does the question love the answer?" He asked the empty forest.