Chapter 55 - S

"What a surprise is seeing you here, Uchiha," the Governor says as he notices his presence in his home. He's getting better; now it only took him three minutes to spot him. "If you continue coming here to rest, others will get the wrong idea."

It disgusts him the techniques the Governor uses to get a rise out of him. They are mostly comments that poke insistently to find some weakness under his façade. He's good at masking most up but his temper has let the Governor know that family is one quick way to make him lose his cool. That and that he loathes crowding, insinuations, innuendos, or even simple flirting directed at his person.

Since then, the Governor has made sure to use subtly one of them to rile him up from time to time.

"I don't think anyone would be able to rest in peace with the biter you have in your closet. You know why I'm here," Sasuke snaps. It doesn't make the other tense but the coldness in his presence grows. It's true that since the Governor has learned Sasuke won't mention it to anyone, he's relaxed as much as someone can when someone has the clear upper hand on him. But he still doesn't know why Sasuke keeps it quiet and that's enough to make him constantly wary.

Even so, the governor hasn't gotten rid of his daughter, and that by itself says a lot about the man's psyche.

"You come here for a lot of things, how could I guess which one is this time, um?" The Governor, sitting now in front of his desk, starts looking into some of the papers sprawled across the surface, placing two more he's brought inside a notebook. "Should I assume that you're planning on taking another supply trip?"

Sasuke gives a grunt as his answer. He's also reading the papers, though without that much attention, knowing the Governor wouldn't read any important document when he's in the same room with him.

"You've chosen a bad moment to leave. Hasn't Rowan informed you we had a mission?"

The choice of pronoun makes him know the Governor is participating, so it must hold some kind of importance as the man doesn't leave in just any supply run.

"Were you planning on bringing biters inside?"

The Governor looks up, probably already knowing he's trying to fish for information. "I was concerned by the fact the barrier's power diminishes once you leave."

That's a no then. Though even in the missions Sasuke accompanies them to bring biters to the entertainment of the people in Woodbury, the governor doesn't come.

"The biters only realize Woodbury is there, they still can't trespass the barrier I made."

"It still worries the people inside who see them lurking when you're not here."

"As if you really care, governor," Sasuke mocks, before he stands up. "Don't forget that your act doesn't work with me. I already informed you; my part of the deal is done. Just keep yours."

Not waiting for an answer, Sasuke turns around, an easy genjutsu to disappear at ready. Perhaps a bit dramatic but infuriating others is what he has to let out some steam without causing damage lately.

"You and I aren't so different," the governor says, stopping him from continuing. "I can see it in your eyes; how you sought to control, how you are barely holding it yourself. You haven't said anything about my daughter to the others. But I have to wonder, it really is to have the upper hand, or it is because you would have done the same?"

Itachi's small smile while being under the Edo Tensei comes into his memory without permission and his shoulders tense slightly. He can feel the palm of his right-hand tingling as his eyes change into the purple and red combination. He glances over his shoulder and meets the governor's gaze.

"Don't ever compare me to you," he snarls, face twisting into something ugly and disgusted before he shunshin's away from the room.

It is later when he's jumping through trees with the morning light and the small bag he carries over his shoulders whenever he leaves, that he thinks of the governor's words. Because it's those times, when Sasuke is alone in his room or taking one of those trips the governor still thinks are for supplies that he ponders about how the world he's currently in reassembles what he wants to create in his own world. There's a common enemy lurking, always close and dangerous, making the people suspicious, as they sharp themselves, never letting forget that without being prepared, they'd die.

However, instead of uniting them against a common cause, it has made them wary of the unknown, highlighting the faults mistrust can cause when survival is the only thing that matters. Morals are lost and like in the first days of Academy people close into the small groups they've first formed, not all that brave to go into another one or let others in.

It's worse than the Academy, of course. The fear makes it worse and it's clear to see it from an outside perspective.

Sasuke wants to think that under him it would be different. He would be able to herd and mold them into what he wants. A world without corruption and people like his brother who are used as scapegoats for the ones in control to retain their power.

There won't be a governor in his world to take advantage of people's weak wills.

But that's not true, isn't it? How many people like the Governor are there in his world who would act the same? How many 'governors' would there really be?

A lot.

The governor disgusts him, so why hasn't he killed him yet? Is it because he understands his twisted motives of always wanting to be in control even if he doesn't like it?