thirty crows (朱) action/video (time shift catch-all)

[yourhatred]

September 22nd - closed to Law

[Itachi leaves his bedroom as usual, but exits it at death's door.

The time shift, catching him moments before he would conclude a fight with his brother, moments before the time he was brought from into Luceti in the first place, dumps a bleeding, wreck of a man out the other side of the doorway. The ninja staggers, a bloody arm that had been held out in front of him catching onto the opposite wall of the hallway.

So ready. He'd been so ready. What's going on? Literal moments away from dying, prepared to give into the inevitable, Itachi now finds himself having to do his damnedest to keep himself breathing. The orange glow of Susano'o at first barely surrounding him as he arrived, fades away into nothing as he fights against the darkness at the edge of his vision.

Where is Sasuke?

Coughing, his free hand covering his mouth as blood ran through his fingers, the man leaned further against the wall, the last of his adrenaline leaving him.]

September 23rd - OTA

[Late in the day, after a fair amount of rest, Itachi finds his journal and spends a while reading through it. The other entries become too confusing after a while, but he at last tries to make one of his own. After all, it does seem to be a form of communication.]

I'm looking for Uchiha Sasuke.

September 24th - OTA

[After a failed attempt at trying to get up and make his own breakfast, the ninja will eventually escape the house by way of a substitution technique and wander the town. The clothing is slightly ill-fitting, as the Itachi that's been living in Luceti for the past four years is a fair bit healthier than the one walking slowly through it now.

Don't worry. The cough isn't contagious.

He can be found in basically any building around the town center, and eventually sitting wearily at the fountain.]

September 25th

[Officially banned to the house, but still this older self until he wakes up the morning of the 26th.]

Comments

[yourhatred]

[Though the memories were so old he could hardly recall the images, only the impact they left, Itachi thought back on the ninja war he'd seen the end of, and how badly it had affected him as a young child.

To have been buried in those bodies... to have seen all that he'd seen... he realizes that the pirate had gone through far worse than he had. How old he'd been at the time didn't matter in that respect.

He can't blame Law for how he reacted to it all.]

[deathsdoctor]

News spread. Long term exposure to Amber Lead caused a terrible, highly infectious disease, 'Amber Lead Syndrome'. For the good of the world, Flevance had been wiped off the map to contain the outbreak. It had been justified as the country had declared war and tried to break quarantine. All efforts had been made to help. [There's a slight hiss. Help. Ha.]

So the papers said.

The people were relieved. They were happy the threat was over. That Flevance's 'white monsters' were gone. We weren't even human to them.

I had made landfall in the nearest country and hadn't been seen yet. It was a good thing for several reasons. My own condition was starting to become visible, and the people would have tried to kill me on sight out of fear once they realized I had Amber Lead Syndrome.

I, myself, ... was extremely unstable. Seething, nihilistic, and growing even angrier. I was so angry, Itachi. I just wanted someone to pay for what had happened to my people. [It's not easy admitting this, and shame enters his voice.] Listening to them in the shadows, knowing that they weren't the only ones... I wanted everyone to pay. And I wanted to see it before I died.

[And it doesn't need to be said that in the mentality of a child, that that kind of revenge, justice, would have been absolutely the kind of an eye for an eye. He wanted them dead. They had killed everyone.]

I'm glad no one found me then. I was about to lash out at anyone. [And he had been armed with grenades and that would have been horrific.] As it was, I just stole before I left.

The only other people who weren't considered human on the seas were pirates. They seemed better company. [They weren't 'human'... so they weren't everyone. They were... blameless to a child's logic.] I figured if I wanted to make my time actually count for something...

It took me a while, but I landed in the port city of Spider Miles. There was a crew there recruiting. The crew of Donquixote Doflamingo.

[And oh, this name? The undercurrent of emotion is powerful. Dark.]

And his younger brother Donquixote Rosinante, who I knew as Corazon. Or Cora-san.

The man who saved me in the end.

[But it's nothing compared to this one. Though the emotion is not dark at all.

And this is the very first time...

The very first time...

Itachi will hear Law use 'san'.

Instead of Miss or Mister.]

[yourhatred]

[He's once again reminded of his brother and how much he'd put him through - how he'd wanted this sort of anger and vengeance focused on him. How wrong that had been...

Itachi doesn't miss the name and the way it's said. This person was indeed someone very important to his husband, and he wants to know about anyone who could have had that sort of influence.]

[deathsdoctor]

So I took those grenades and strapped them to me. Insane, yes, but I nothing left to lose. [Nothing but his life, but at that point... wouldn't it have been a twisted mercy?] I infiltrated their base. I demanded entry to the crew.

I got Doflamingo's attention. It was like he... recognized something. And was intrigued by it. Very intrigued.

He decided to allow me to stay while he thought it over. Train with the officers and executives of the crew.

[Eyes slowly open again, and they're red with the Sharingan. Law had turned off the ability earlier during their conversation, but now it's come surging back.

Eyes that reflect the heart.]

He handed me off to Trebol and Diamante, two of the executives... the squad leaders of the crew. Not their real names, mind you... their titles. Most of that crew uses code names. Diamante was the leader of the combat division - he's the one who taught me swordsmanship... and Trebol was in charge of those who had unique abilities that would be... beneficial to Doflamingo's activities. I had yet to meet Pica, who was in charge of covert ops... and Corazon, the right hand...

They enjoyed poking me about my impending death, but they weren't treating me like a insidious plague monster. All and all... that wasn't bad treatment...

[If these aren't sounding like typical pirates... well, the hints had been in Law's own varied skills. The way he's oddly... ninja like in his own fashion.]

They had seen a lot of kids try to join, and practically all had been sent running. Most adults too. The lifestyle's harsh, the Donquixote Family's harsher. Then, on top of that there was Cora-san...

There were a few kids still left: Buffalo and Baby 5... Dellinger, who was an infant at the time. I saw the first two waiting at the window. They were eagerly anticipating something.

That's when Cora-san stomped in the door from a job. Slipped, and went flying. Baby 5 and Buffalo couldn't stop laughing and I couldn't stop staring. Pranked.

He sent them flying in turn.

Not that that would stop them from pranking him again. It was a vicious cycle. He'd abuse them, they'd find some way to humiliate him.

Then Cora-san turned his attention to me. Diamante explained that Cora-san was an executive and Doflamingo's brother. Inattentive, clumsy, really bad habit of setting himself on fire, idiotic... and mute due to trauma in his past. And... as Cora-san grabbed me... that he hated kids.

Then Cora-san threw me out the window. I went plummeting down two stories into a scrap heap of steel. It nearly killed me.

[There's such a strange mix of 'oh for god sakes', 'what the hell was I thinking?', horror, self loathing, and guilt in his next words.]

I decided to kill him on the spot.

[Not the first meeting you were expecting, right?!]

[yourhatred]

[Quite the interesting crew. But then, they were pirates, after all. He couldn't take in their names and mannerisms as anything too unusual in that respect.

And Law... well he might think better of it now, but it isn't as if he'd been in the best state of mind then. Itachi finds very little he can blame him for.

Given what he'd done to his brother, it would be wrong of him to even judge.]