Bitter Endings and Bright Beginnings

For my bitter ending who unpurposefully left me behind

The room, a mixture of black, red and sterilized white, seemed as bleak as the unforetold future. The hustle and bustle of city life was almost drowned out by this cold, silent room, it's only two occupants just as quiet.

The first was sitting serenely at a desk, lounging even, while the other sat rigid-but-not on the corner of the too hard bed. The younger, the one on the bed, was, for the most part, pouting. And the elder couldn't be more amused – not that he was showing it.

Several times the younger opened his mouth to say something, and several times he found the need to shut it, loosing his nerve of what he wanted to say. He pulled a blank piece of paper out of the high school yearbook on the nightstand beside him, and paused. But just as quickly, his hand danced across the page, words he wasn't man enough to say being forever immortalized in a flurry of ink.

All too soon, a knock resounded through the room, it was a signal it was time to go. Both boys stood, one hesitant and the other indifferent.

'It's not fair!' Sasuke thought angrily, unable to understand why this day had to come. 'I was just getting to know him, and he's leaving again!' Just when he was finally getting into his elder brother's life, the other was leaving, and they would never get to hang out any more.

They stood awkwardly for another few minutes before an impatient knock hit the door again. They – Sasuke and his parents – had to leave before rush hour traffic. That and their father was impatient to get back to work.

"Don't be sad, Sasuke," Itachi teased, an admonishing smirk adorning his angled features. "I'll be back for the holidays."

Sasuke was only barely able to hold the whine out of his voice. "But that's so long away! What am I supposed to do until then?"

Itachi raised a delicate eyebrow at his brother's one-track mind. "You do have a cell phone, right? This is the technological age, is it not?"

That seemed to do the trick, for the depressed air that had settled around Sasuke seemed to spark into life with fire and anger. "Yeah, but it's just not the same! You won't be there!"

Itachi sighed, glad to finally be at the heart of the matter. Sasuke was afraid he would be lonely. He gave the younger a swift but comforting hug, neither a 'touchy-feely' sort of person. "It's only a two and a half hour bus ride. Give me a call if you need anything, and I'll hop on the next one out, okay?"

Sasuke nodded, touched, as they moved towards the door, and stopped when Itachi did with his hand on the doorknob. "Later, little brother," he said, poking the younger tenderly on the forehead.

The scowl on Sasuke's face as he left the room had much less venom then it usually carried, and was instead more sedate. Before he realized what was going on, Sasuke was in the backseat of his parents' car, and they were already on the highway. As he was about to turn to look out the window and maybe catch some z's, he felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket.

'You'll always be my little brother, Sasuke. I may not be there in body, but I'm with you in spirit, and I'll miss you terribly as well. I'm always open to lending an ear if you need it. –Itachi'

Friend. Confidant. Sibling. Brother. Hero and savior from myself.

-fin-

A/N: A little OOC, sorry. Loosely based on a true story, and written for my one year anniversary on ! Just under a hundred thousand words! Go me! A side note to WTUP fans, I'm trying to get the latest chapter done as quickly as possible, but, literally and figuratively, I'm dead. And have been for the past week. Which made this such a bitch to write, silly ass headache/eye problems…