Just a quick note; This is my first fanfiction that I have done with the character of Itachi in it so I'm sorry if at times he seems out of character. I'll try my best though and I really hope that you enjoy it!
Sakura handed Naruto Hiro's bottle while he held him snuggly inside his arms. "Alright, here you go little guy." Naruto said grinning down at his nephew while he sat down on top of the chair and tilted the nipple upward towards his lips. Sasuke and Sakura smiled at them while the tiny infant started sucking hungrily. "Hey, not so fast!" Naruto exclaimed with a giggle as Sasuke watched them both full of eyes with love.
Flashback
…
"Hey Itachi, come here for a second." Mikoto said while glancing up at her son and smiling warmly at him. Itachi simply just gave an astonished and horrified gasp before he hid behind the door. "It's alright Itachi, you don't have to be afraid. He won't bite. At least not yet." She told him. "Come over here and meet your new baby brother." She reassured him before he took a deep breath and then slowly walked over to his mother's bedside. "Itachi, say hello to your new brother Sasuke. Sasuke, this is your older brother Itachi and he's going to take really good care of you." She said softly as Sasuke opened up his eyes and made a soft little gasping noise before looking up into his brother's eyes.
As Itachi looked back down at him his heart was suddenly filled with the warm sensation of love and slowly a warm and loving smile stretched across his face. "Do you want to hold him?" his mother questioned as Itachi simply just nodded before sitting down beside her before she placed his new baby brother inside his arms. Sasuke gasped again and grabbed ahold of his finger tightly while Itachi continued smiling at him. That's when suddenly he started to cry.
"Shh,.. it's alright Sasuke." He whispered before looking up at his mother anxiously.
"It's alright Itachi, he's probably just hungry." She told him with a giggle. "Here, you can go ahead and feed him if you want to." She told him before she passed Sasuke's bottle over to him. Itachi grabbed ahold of it and he had barely touched the nipple to the baby's lips before he started slurping it down. Itachi laughed.
"He sure has quite the appetite, doesn't he?" he questioned his mother as she giggled again and then smiled at him affectionately.
"Yes, he sure does. He's just like you were when you were little." She told him before Sasuke finally stopped sucking down his milk and then let out a rather large belch.
"Yep, he sure is." Itachi said softly while continuing to gaze at him lovingly before placing a soft and tender kiss on the top of his head and smiling at him.
End of Flashback
…
"Hey! Earth to Sasuke!" Naruto snapped before Sasuke finally snapped out of his trance. "Why do you have such a goofy look on your face? I just told you that your son needed to have his diaper changed." He said.
"What? Oh, sorry Naruto." Sasuke told him.
"It's alright Naruto I'll take care of it." Sakura told him before she took Hiro away from him just as he started to cry. "Shh,.. it's alright. Mommy will get you all cleaned up." She reassured him before she carried him away.
"Are you okay? You look different." Naruto said before Sasuke took a deep breath and sighed heavily.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about how Itachi told me that I used to eat like that when I was a baby." He told him.
"Huh? Itachi! Isn't he that same guy who murdered everyone else in your family and was one of the members of the Akatsuki? The same Akatsuki who captured me and tried to drain my chakra?" he questioned him. "The first time I mean." He said.
"Well,.. yes but,.." Sasuke began.
"Why in the world are you reminiscing about him? I thought you cared about me." Naruto said.
"I do. It's just that there's a lot more about Itachi then you know." Sasuke told him.
"Really? Like what? He was also a backup singer for Michael Jackson or something?" he questioned before Sasuke took a deep breath and then groaned.
"Forget it, you wouldn't understand. I don't even know why I bothered telling you in the first place." He said before he turned around and walked out the front door just as Sakura was carrying Hiro back out into the living room.
"Sasuke?" she questioned with uncertainty while raising her eyebrows and widening her eyes with astonishment and disbelief before Naruto quickly leapt to his feet and heaved a heavy sad sigh before glancing down at the carpet.
"Oh man, I really messed up this time." He said.
"Why? What happened? Did you guys have a fight or something?" Sakura asked him.
"No." Naruto began. "I mean not really,.. I mean I don't know!" he exclaimed with a sudden burst of frustration. "Listen Sakura, I have to go. There's something that I have to do." He said before he raced out the front door.
Meanwhile Sasuke had been walking through the woods when he suddenly came to a stop.
"I have told you the whole truth." Itachi began while he slowly started approaching Sasuke. "I won't have to ever again. "I have always lied to you and asked for your forgiveness for keeping you at a distance. Because I wanted to keep you out of this. But now I think that maybe you could have changed Father and Mother and the rest of the Uchihas as well. If I had only come to you from the start, looked straight into your eyes and told you the truth, then I wouldn't have to stand before you as a failure telling you all of this. But, I want to at least impart this much truth to you." He said before placing one hand behind his head and pulling it towards him to look inside his eyes.
"You don't ever have to forgive me. And from whatever you do from here on out know this, no matter what I will love you always." He said softly.
Itachi's final words still rung freshly inside Sasuke's mind. That's when suddenly a cool breeze blew through his hair. "Sasuke." He heard a familiar whisper say before he quickly spun around and gasped as Itachi's spirit appeared before him. "Hello Sasuke, I figured that you would be here." He told him as Sasuke just simply gaped his mouth wide open at him.
"How,.." was all that he managed to get out.
"After all this time, you really don't believe that I've been watching over you Sasuke as well as the rest of your family?" Itachi questioned him. "I saw what happened back at your apartment." He explained as Sasuke just continued staring at him. "As much as I am pleased to know that you thought of me, there was no need to get angry with Naruto for it." He told him with a slight shake of his head. "He doesn't understand. He doesn't know the truth. He still thinks of me as a monster." He told him as Sasuke slowly hung his head and looked at him solemnly.
"I know." He began. "And I didn't mean to. It's just that_ I mean_" he began.
"It's alright Sasuke, I understand your hurt. And I am truly sorry for all the pain that I have caused you. But, through it all, you really did have a happy ending and you have gained me and the love that I have for you back through your friend Naruto." Itachi told him as Sasuke gasped.
"How did you,.." Sasuke began quickly lifting his head back up to look at him in the eyes.
"I already told you. I have been watching you Sasuke as well as your wife and children. And I have seen the way that you and Naruto are with each other." Itachi told him as Sasuke started thinking about all the times that he and Naruto spent together on squad seven, the times they spent quarreling, and the many times that they knew how much that they had loved each other just by looking at each other and through a simple poke on the forehead.
Sasuke thought about how when he had been a little boy how Itachi had loved tickling him and hanging him upside down while he squealed with laughter as he pleaded him to stop. He also remembered a time rather recently when he was having a pillow fight with Naruto and then started tickling him just like Itachi used to with Naruto reacting exactly the same way. "You see Sasuke, the whole entire reason that I came back here was to tell you how much I'm proud of you for doing the right thing. Naruto was all alone and he needed you like you needed me.
In a way, you are the Itachi to his Sasuke." He told him when suddenly Sasuke felt tears rolling down his cheeks and dropping down on the ground beside him.
"I still need you Itachi." He told him.
"Oh, foolish little brother." Itachi began before he started walking towards him and then stuck two of his fingers out and poked his forehead. "I've never left you." He said while smiling at him warmly. "Just like Mother and Father haven't. For when you really love somebody, nothing, not even death itself can separate you from them." He told him before he took a step away from them. "Until we meet again, promise me one thing Sasuke. Take care of Naruto. And love him just as much as I have loved you." He told him.
"I will." Sasuke replied with a nod before he watched Itachi turn around and slowly walk away escaping into a bright light that shone down from the sky as tears continued rolling down his cheeks.
"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto hollered while he continued racing towards him. Sasuke quickly turned around to face him before he stopped in front of him hunching over and breathing heavily. "Give me,.. just,.. two,.. seconds." He panted before he took a deep breath and slowly stood up again and looked into his eyes. "Hey what's wrong, your cheeks are all wet. Why are you_" he began as Sasuke smiled at him and looked at him through the same eyes of love that Itachi looked through with him. His tears of sorrow instantly changed into tears of joy.
"You idiot." He began. "Don't you know how much I love you?" he questioned him.
"What?" Naruto questioned him with uncertainty. "What's going on?" he asked him.
"I just wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to get mad at you. It wasn't your fault." He told him.
"That's alright, I forgive you." Naruto began. "But can I ask you a question?" he wondered as Sasuke simply just nodded at him. "How much do you love me?" he asked him as a few moments of silence fell between them.
"As much as a brother could." Sasuke replied as tears of joy rolled down Naruto's own cheeks before they tightly embraced each other.
