Konnichiwa and happy Mother's Day! I started this story over a month ago and completely forgot about it, but upon seeing it today I thought - what better time to upload a story about a mother's love than mother's day? If some of this is incorrect, please bare with me - I haven't seen nor read Shippuden.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters ^-^

Not a moment had passed since the moment I died when I saw again. It was a mysterious feeling, being able to observe but not interact though I so desperately wanted to. There was nothing I could do as I watched my eldest son slay by husband, his blood-splattered body falling beside my corpse.

Yet still, I watched. The first thing I felt was guilt – I was his mother, I should've seen the signs that he would've done this. Though, I honestly never even imagined my son, my Itachi could be capable of this.

And then I felt betrayed. My son, my brilliant son that I had loved and cherished, missing him went he went away on missions and secretly comforted him when he had nightmares after his first kill, had killed me. He had killed Fugaku. And, from the blood on his clothes, I would assume we weren't the only ones he had slayed that night. How could he betray us, his family? Me?

When my youngest son entered the room I shouted for him to flee, only to discover that I couldn't make a sound. I was helpless to protect him, forced to watch Itachi torture his younger brother mentally.

Couldn't he see that what he was doing would destroy Sasuke? Sasuke already had an inferiority complex – how could Itachi do this to his brother? He was Sasuke's idol!

I was angry and if I was more than a spirit I would've cried. How could things have become so wrong?

Minutes passed and, as worried about my youngest as I was, I still followed Itachi. I had to know why he had done this. I couldn't believe what he had told Sasuke – that wasn't like Itachi, that wasn't like him at all! It had to be a lie!

And it was. As Itachi ran away, he had tears down his face. I learned, over the weeks, that Itachi had been given the mission to slaughter my his own family.

How angry I had been! Of course I knew about the coup – I was the wife of the clan head, how could I not? Those stuffy elders with the sticks up their asses, the ones that think us Uchiha are so much better than everyone. We weren't; I hated the arrogance that some of my family had oozed, making sure to raise my children to not do that.

And they had been slaughtered because of the plotting coup. Babies, children, civilians, even pets, because of the whims of a few damn idiots.

I was so angry. I was so furious. And I was so depressed.

Itachi joined the Akatsuki – the group was made up of horrid people, especially Orochimaru. His partner, while rather sadistic, didn't seem to be the worst possible person. He was rather playful; far better a partner for my brilliant son then that nasty pedophile.

Time, in my existence, flowed strangely, as if it never flowed at all. Each moment could be a second or an eternity, and I couldn't tell the difference. I never thought on it too much; things like that were unexplainable so why would I bother?

I knew time passed though. As I switched between watching over my eldest and youngest, I watched them age as the seasons grew.

Sasuke wasn't doing good. After being in the hospital for weeks, his personality completely changed. The slightly shy and awkward little boy eager to please was gone, replaced with a cool avenger. My baby's life goal was to murder his older brother, and my eldest's goal was to be killed by his younger brother.

How does a mother deal with that? I watched Sasuke train, and train and train. I watched Itachi complete missions, his medical condition worsening along with his blindness. I watched Sasuke get his genin team – a sweet, if not slightly fangirlish kunoichi named Sakura, Kushina's son and the Kyuubi vessel Naruto, along with Kakashi Hatake.

It was a diverse group of individuals, but...I was content. Naruto was becoming Sasuke's closest friend and rival. Sakura...well, she might have annoyed Sasuke more than helped, but her heart was in the right place. Kakashi's was too, and if he'd have simple stopped focusing so much on my baby, give him both praise and critiscsm, maybe things would've gone better.

Sasuke thought he needed power. He thought he needed it badly enough to betray the village for that scum Orochimaru. How, how did he not know? How did he not know that by doing that, he was ruining everything Itachi had done? By betraying the village, he could never truly avenge the Uchiha, because there names would be forever sullied.

It was times like this that I wished nothing more than to truly be dead. My heart that wasn't even truly there anymore hurt, it hurt so bad. Watching my children loose themselves, it killed me. I hated it. I hated it so much.

Yet...what hurt the worst by far, was the final battle between my children. Itachi's last moments were blood filled, undoubtedly painful, yet still he made the effort to poke Sasuke on the forehead one last time, just like he used to.

Itachi didn't disapear after that. He didn't just die. He joined me. He froze upon seeing me, in our plane of nothingness. His eyes, devoid of the blood-red Sharingan, filled with tears before he took my in his arms saying the same words over and over.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry."

I rubbed his back, holding him close to me as I replied. "I'm proud of you." I said softly.

And I was. My eldest son, so strong, so close to his village – how could I not be proud of him?

Once I was no longer alone, it was much more bearable. I had someone else, to talk to and to comfort as we watched Sasuke walk even further down the path of his own destruction. Somehow, we would make it through. Sasuke would join us, and we would forget everything that had happened and simply be together.

I would accept him, and tell him the truth. "Mother loves you. She loves you so much."

I love this peace, though I think the last part is rather weak. I can just picture Itach greeting Mikoto in the afterlife and apologizing, completely loosing his 'mask' and crying. So tragic /3

Song of the Chapter(Oneshot): Waking Dream - Natalie Walker

~Violet