Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. This story, however, is mine.
Goodbyes
"Strike tomorrow night, Uchiha."
The Konoha Elders' words echoed through Itachi's head as he lay in bed facing the ceiling, impassive expression hiding a rapidly rising wave of nausea that only kicked up higher as the person next to him began to rustle.
"Mmm, you're up early, Itachi," a woman with light brown hair and dark eyes mumbled as she blinked lazily, snaking a hand up to rest on his cheek. As she noticed that her fiancée's expression was unusually pensive, the woman's eyes narrowed slightly. "Something wrong?"
Yes.
"No, not at all, Sayuri," Uchiha lied evenly, years of ANBU training making the reflex more natural than breathing. "I just couldn't sleep."
"That's too bad," his companion replied in a half whisper. "If it's any consolation, this little guy kept me up for a few hours during the middle of the night. I swear, he kicks like a mule!"
Itachi's onyx eyes strayed instinctively down to Sayuri's swollen belly, and it took every single ounce of the ninja's willpower to keep his mouth in a straight line. Gods help him, he was going to put Danzo's head on a pike for this if it was the last thing he did.
"So," his fiancée's voice broke into his grim thoughts, "have you thought of a name yet?"
"Again?" Itachi half-sighed, grateful something had come up that would allow him to vent some of his turmoil while simultaneously disguising it as normal frustration. "You ask me this question every morning, and every morning I tell you the same thing, Sayuri."
"That you haven't thought of one yet, I know, I know," she finished, grousing with equal parts impatience and playfulness. "But this morning's going to be different; I can feel it. You thought of something."
"How can you be so sure?" Itachi parried, regarding his wife-to-never-be with a sidelong glance.
"Just a feeling," Sayuri answered. "I know you better than you think, Itachi."
No; no you don't, Uchiha lamented silently, all the while keeping his expression calm and detached. If you knew me, you wouldn't be here right now. You would be far, far away from me.
"Nigemizu," he spoke thoughtfully after a moment, and his fiancée quirked up an eyebrow.
"'Mirage'?" she repeated. "Isn't that a touch morbid?"
"The ability to appear to be in one place before emerging in another is essential in any great ninja," Itachi defended. "I consider it quite auspicious. What's morbid about it?"
"It's almost like you don't…" Sayuri began, before trailing off into a thick silence.
Think he will survive, Itachi completed in his thoughts.
"Still," she continued after a moment, "it has a nice ring to it. Nigemizu Uchiha," the young woman said lovingly, a smile on her face as Itachi leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before forcing himself out of bed with a ruthless lack of sympathy for his tired muscles or anguished soul.
"What does Sasuke-kun think about being an uncle?" Sayuri asked after a few moments, with a mischievous edge to her voice that made the corner of Itachi's mouth curl up despite himself before he forced it back down.
"He tries to avoid the subject as much as possible," he replied. "I think the thought of having to potentially care for a baby strikes him as horrifying."
"I'll keep that in mind when Nigemizu needs a babysitter, then," she said with a smile, stretching out languorously before rising and getting dressed while Itachi did the same, one stepping into civilian clothes and the other into a standard ninja uniform and green flak jacket.
"Do you have a mission again today?"
"Yes."
Sayuri sighed in disappointment, but knew that dealing with her husband being away from home on a regular basis was just something that came with marrying an elite ninja like Itachi.
"Is it a dangerous one?" she pressed with controlled trepidation, and for a moment the woman could have sworn she saw the unshakable Itachi Uchiha shiver.
"No."
There was something in that one, innocuous syllable that made her ill-at-ease, but for the life of her Sayuri couldn't figure out what it was. Shrugging, she finished tying off her sash and turned to face her loved one just as he was walking out of the door.
"Will I see you tonight, at least?" she asked expectantly, hating the feeling of going to bed alone.
"No," Itachi replied after a heartbeat's hesitation, weighing the word as if it carried some special significance, "you won't see me."
"Oh, well," his fiancée replied as casually as she could manage, hoping that her tone would mask the hurt which spiked up suddenly in her chest. "There's always tomorrow, at least."
The ninja gave his typically noncommittal half-mumble half-grunt in reply, walking the rest of the way out the door and beginning to slide it closed behind him.
"Love you!"
The usual farewell slipped through the crack in the door just before Itachi had closed it all the way, and his clenched fist lingered on the edge of the panel slightly longer than usual before he forced it down to his side.
"I love you, too," he whispered, meaning every word and hating himself for it: there was no room for love in the soul of the devil he would become that night.
A/N: Man, what is it with me and angsty one-shots starring Itachi? I don't even know. Well, I know it's a downer, but please review if you got something out of it anyway. Oh, and "Sayuri" is the Japanese name for the Lily flower.