Author’s note: It is slow, and rambles a lot in the beginning, just a warning, try not to get bored too easily.

Oneshot: Uchiha Itachi takes life for the very first time.

There was a music box playing in the background, a delicate, melancholy jingle, wordless, and mysterious, and to this day almost everybody recognizes the tune, but could not tell you the words to the song it was derived from. Relative; It was very familiar, that story. A society of people world’s away from here, strangely brutal, not appealing to the refined ninja, but some would still question if these people lacked intelligence, or if they actually were far ahead. It was all about technique, and though the stories of their training and power seemed amazing, if paled when truly considered. These were the kinds of people that gathered, and lined up to face an opponent, and ninjas were the kind that may never have shown themselves. It wasn’t cowardice, though the ancient race would say so, but rather it was intellect. Ending a battle before it started was a much greater thing to do. It kept a ninja alive; Alive to pass on their superiority, and leave figuring out all the powers that would be gained, and lost in death, to the children of the future, who would start new each and every single time. But why gain power only to lose it in the end? Why spend a lifetime learning things that will not save you from the inevitable fate; Everything that lives must die in time.

---- If you only live to die, then why live at all? ----

The children of that ancient race were constantly scanned for any sign of weakness. Weaknesses were not acceptable, and any weak being, even an innocent child, was not allowed to live if they could not be powerful enough to be made into tools of death. This way of living was accepted as being honorable, and strong, but perhaps they were right to think a human life really wasn’t worth much.

---- Innocence is always tainted eventually, why not savor it momentarily just to lay it to waste later. It was just like taking a pretty picture, savoring such sweet things, but only the portrait of the moment is everlasting. ----

Life wasn’t fair, and death probably wasn’t either, but it was questionable what was more worth it- Living with constant injustices or being dealt one final judgement. Uchiha Itachi- He didn’t know if his logic was more poetic or technical. He stood, looking down at the scene before him, the hues of it tattered in his minds eye, perceiving only darkened browns and crimson, and onyx shadows; The overcast. He may have only been existent in this world for seven-odd years, but he lost his innocence much sooner than even the children of the most brutal society. Perhaps their grace was only a deception? He was special, gifted, a child that many saw great things lurking just within, some trophy that was made of flesh and blood, and genetic material, and an all important name- Uchiha. He was destined to make his clan proud, and everybody knew it.

---- They really were misinformed. The phantom that put the first thoughts of greatness into the head of the first person to notice Itachi, they were probably laughing and just waiting behind an unbreakable pane of icy glass to see this boy paint artistically, favoring only shades of red, and selfishly hoard his work, letting it all burn and be taken by the wind in a gust of smoke and ash. ----

The removal of innocence in order to create generation after generation of perfect killing machines was a sugar-coated process. Children really were quick to point out all the wrongs in life, and that was why adults taught calculated gambit, worded so that youngsters don’t quite understand until it is too late to back out of where their life is headed. Death was a release from suffering, and that made it alright to kill, didn’t it? Funny how children were taught one thing only to have the rules changed later on.

----Life is precious. So many intricate things make up a human being. Thoughts, and emotions, friends and family, invention and imagination, curiosity and wonder, everlasting questions. ----

But some life was more important, right? It was logical- Some human beings were worthless; Stupidity, weakness, immaturity, clumsiness, self-serving fools that spent their lives walking in circles, and accomplishing nothing. They didn’t deserve to live, much less live long enough to have a chance to pass on their flawed genetics when a greater being might have that opportunity. They deserved to die. But the words of Itachi’s closest friend lingered in his head. The Uchiha heir wondered how he could think so optimistically when he was destined to destroy what he saw as precious.

“You have dreams, don’t you, Itachi?”

The boy had remained silent- Did he have dreams? He thought about it for so long, but only managed to draw a blank. Was his life really so meaningless that he couldn’t even think of his purpose in the world would be? It made him feel very empty- Like a shell of a human being.

Itachi didn’t have dreams. How could he? The only dreams he knew were dreams that others had selected for him. He didn’t even have control over his own life, did he? He might as well have been some sort of puppet, a tool of death with others pulling the strings.

---- Don’t you want to cut those strings and be free now? ----

“When your required to take life, you do it for all those little things that matter to you, those little things that make it important. You swallow your pity, and face it- It is the moment everything you stand for is pitted against the hopes and dreams and values of another, and whoever is stronger will accomplish what they want in the end. They will be the one to make their mark in the world, and never be lost or forgotten as time passes.”

Yes, and everybody had their reasons didn’t they? They did what they were told, accepted word from higher beings about who was to live and who was to die- That seemed wrong. If you killed because it was important, then why did it always seem like the reapers were merely the messengers? The young boy wouldn’t question it; He took it all in his stride, absorbing everything and forming his own opinions about it.

“Shisui, when you kill you might take away somebody who was important to another. Isn’t it all very selfish?” It was a plain statement- Itachi was merely making conversation now. He just wanted Shisui to keep talking so that he could have more information to rationalize, and dissect inside his active mind. Cutting apart the opinions of others and stealing little pieces for himself was enjoyable, especially when he would almost misinterpret those things and one day turn them into something wicked.

“The world is selfish, Itachi. Appreciate everything, but always expect others to be willing to take everything away and leave you with nothing. It seems wrong, but only because we let emotions make our values fragile, and we overlook true honesty and justice.”

---- Right now your asking yourself if killing somebody who has loved ones is any worse than killing somebody who was always alone in the world. All in all, it must not have mattered, either way. ----

Itachi couldn’t help but let his mind wander, dazed. He wanted to linger, and let this scene imprint itself inside his mind. This was the first time he had taken life; He was a child who now had ended lives that were more far along than his own. All the accomplishments of these people were practically erased by this young boy.

He should have felt something- These people may have been important in some shape or form. They were living, feeling, thinking beings; Intricate creatures, thinking a thousand things in a single moment, and now they were silenced forever.

---- It was almost disturbing that you couldn’t even will yourself to care. ----

Itachi knew very little about these people. They had been spies of some sort, attempting to flee because of the knowledge that they had been discovered. His mission was to pursue them, intercept them, fight them, and kill them- Followed by the fact that he was not to pry into who these people were other than enemies.

---- It was tempting, wasn’t it? ----

It had been too easy. These ninja’s moved lethargically; clumsy to a point. They hardly were able to detect Itachi’s presence, much less defend themselves from the child’s merciless onslaught. The Uchiha felt as if his abilities had gone to waste on this mission, but he didn’t neglect to realize the truth. He was told this was a test; Something he was gifted because he was special. He excelled farther and faster than his age group, and now he was the first in his generation to have his untainted hands stained with blood. He had come to realize quite quickly what kind of test this was- He probably wasn’t supposed to know, but he knew, and nobody would ever know that he knew. -It wasn’t a test of his strategic or physical abilities, or any other minuscule thing he had learned in the academy. No, the intentions of these teachings ran much deeper.

This had been a test of his willingness to kill when instructed to do so. These so called spies had probably already been dosed with drugs and poisons by higher ranked ninjas, and set free for Itachi to toy with.

---- Hopeless prey for a hunter’s practices. ----

That soft music was what finally urged the boy to break the rules; the gentle jingle of delicate metallic bars, controlled by a turning wheel with tiny protrusions controlling what notes were to be played. It was such a simple thing, and maybe life was as simple as that repetitive song, seemingly intricate at first, but replaying itself so many times over that if you listened hard enough you would come to memorize the notes.

Itachi finally blinked, freeing himself from his listless inner battles with himself, and he walked in swift little movements toward one of the lifeless bodies.

---- Death almost intrigues you, doesn’t it? ----

The young ninja was instructed not to pry, because then he may be allowed to let remorse begin to leak into his system, and that was a poison that would lock up his judgement, and disable him from ever being useful again.

He only wondered why he should be useful when he barely understood what he was even being used for in the first place.

Quickly, before the small machine he was seeking out had a chance to lose the extra winding it had, he moved fearless fingers into the weapon pouch of one of his fallen victims, drawing forth the tiny object he was looking for. A metallic music box in the shape of a heart, shining and elaborately engraved on one side, and breakably plastic on the other; clear, and displaying the tiny photo that was held inside. This spy had a family- A son, a brother, a wife, a mother and a father.

---- You had broken apart this family, hadn’t you, Itachi? It was the first time, but it wouldn’t be the last. ----

Itachi sighed, suddenly hating this world. Everything about it was wrong, it seemed. Not because he cared about those people that he killed, but... Because of so many things. Right now this young boy felt as if something important had been stolen from him; Something that he needed to live had been ripped out of his chest, and was gone forever now.

---- It was the very thing that made you human that you had lost, but perhaps you were actually born without it, and others had taken advantage of this fact. ----

Itachi didn’t really know, but somewhere deep inside he thought he could feel himself changing; metamorphosis. It was only bothersome because for a short period he would feel very alien, even in his usual surroundings. Lucky for him he didn’t accept much company, and therefor it lessened the strain. He headed back toward the village-

Absently he noted that he had an unusual craving for Dango. He would be sure to indulge himself before he did anything else.

---- Your still a child right now, but your already a killer. It would be nobodies place to ever accuse you of evil-doings, because the line between good and evil was obscured. Creating monsters had never really been a good idea anyway. ----

Itachi had seemingly limitless questions for his elder brother-figure. But Shisui never noticed how Itachi’s questions weren’t so much out of curiosity, they were more like tiny acts of defiance. Itachi could almost predict the answers, and in this he questioned common knowledge, simply because he could.

“What if it was necessary to kill me, Shisui? You are my friend, and that implies that we have bonds, though we are told not to have emotion. By breaking the rules, don’t we risk going against what is necessary?”

He had to ponder that one, and from his vacant expression he was drawing a blank. He gave it a few good moments, and then smiled, seeming all-knowing when really he was just a phase.

“Why would it ever be necessary to kill your friend, Itachi?”

---- He never answered your question, and he probably should have, because you wouldn’t give him a chance to later, would you? ----

Itachi didn’t really know at the time what would ever make it necessary, or what made anything they did necessary, but they were trained to kill without second thoughts. Would he sever his ties to even a friend, or mentor, or family member if it became necessary? He knew the answer to that even then, because he was stripped of emotion, left empty for a period, then filled to the brim with a million reasons to resent everybody and everything.

What if it became necessary to kill everybody close to him? Would he do it?

---- It was almost frightening how easily you admitted that you could. ----