Chapter 3

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Sometimes you will never realize the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

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*3rd POV*

Haru's breath hitched, tears forming in her eyes as she watched the events unfold before her.

A tear slipped down her cheeks, a sudden red flashing in her eyes.

Time seemed to slow down, as she watched her father cough out blood, and stagger toward the person he was fighting, each step causing her heart to beat faster and faster.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Itachi paused, looking into his eyes, the Sharingan gleaming brighter than it had ever been.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. There won't be a next time."

Her heart felt like it shattered, watching as Itachi gave the younger male a swift poke on the forehead, and watched as his body dropped to the floor with a thud that terrified her down to her bones.

She gave a sharp gasp, attracting the attention of the three people present, one in shock, another in curiosity, and one in panicked surprise.

Her eyes trailed over to the figure standing a few feet away from Itachi, the figure that had killed her father, and made the mistake of peering into his eyes that had taken on a piercing red color.

The piercing red color that seemed to mock her, the red that she'd always trusted, that she'd loved, that she'd compliment endlessly for it's pure red color.

Her vision sharpened, her eyes shining with hurt and disbelief, seeing details that she hadn't seen before that she didn't want to see.

Haru took one last look at the scene, and ran.

*Itachi's POV*

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. There won't be a next time."

I gave him a poke on the forehead, recalling the time before the Uchiha massacre, when things were so much simpler, when I should've spent more of my time with him.

I'm sorry, otouto.

As my body dropped to the floor, black spots dancing around my vision, a sharp gasp pulled me back to reality, as a blurry figure at the back of my vision stood.

Who-

Haru?

Even with in state of near blindness, I could tell that she was terrified, scared beyond her wits.

She wasn't supposed to see this.

She couldn't have.

But the waver in her chakra told me otherwise.

She... she was supposed to come after his death, not witness it. Sasuke should've taken her in, and returned to Konoha to be hailed as heroes afterward.

No.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

I gritted my teeth, running through various possible scenarios in my head.

But with each scenario, the more likely that she was going to turn out like Sasuke.

The curse...

I desperately tried to fight against the numbness, the black nothingness that I felt in my body as death loomed over me.

Not like this...!

Not while Haru...

And the world went black, the pain slipping away into a cold nothingness that consumed my body.

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[Edited]