Father and Son
Summary: Itachi never understood his father. Bitter resentment seeped in as nothing he did ever elicit any affection from his distant father. Even after his father's death, Itachi could not forgive his father for the past. "Itachi, you know, you father named you after his brother."
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Itachi never understood his father.
He knew that the man loved him. If not, why did he decline an important mission (from the Hokage himself) to attend his entry to the ninja Academy? If not, why did he hold stay that night when Itachi was delusional from fever even though mother was there already?
Even though his father loved him (right?). Itachi often wondered, why didn't father smile? Why didn't father smile at him?
At the age of eight when he awakened his Sharingan, his father had cried. The man told the boy he was proud, very proud. But after that, his father didn't talk to him for a week.
Was father not proud of me?
When his younger brother came to be, the man showed more emotion to the younger. Smiled, laughed, and chuckled.
Itachi never understood. What was it about his baby brother that made his father such a different person? It was then that resentment began to grow.
Am I not enough Dad?
The Hokage had been sympathetic to his plight even though Itachi spoke not of it.
"I can tell," the leader of the village had said gently. "You have the same eyes as he did then. But remember, your father does care. It's just hard for him to express it."
That did nothing to ease his anger. It only grew as time went by. His little brother would come to him and call his name again and again. Looking for something (Recognition? Love? Acceptance? Didn't father already give him all that? What else did he want?).
Itachi would just stubbornly pull away. Harsh and cold. He only felt guilt when the boy ran from him with tears. He apologized to his mother who hugged him (and said, "Why don't you tell this to your brother?"). He never talked to father about it.
Father would just rave and rant about how he was an elder brother and the elder should look after the younger. Itachi would just shut it out and walk away from his father's passionate voice.
Why can't you defend me like that?
By the time Itachi became a chunin, he refused to use his father's last name. He refused to be an Uchiha.
"Let my younger brother carry such an important task. After all, I never mattered much to you anyways."
But even as he walked away, Itachi wildly hoped that his father would call him back and tell him that Itachi was wrong. That he loved Itachi too. But as the door shut behind him, his father never uttered a word.
Why? Why don't you stop me?
Officially discarding the Uchiha name, Itachi moved out. He had only been sixteen at the time, but that didn't stop him from moving to the other side of the village. Konoha was large enough for the father and son not to see each other much.
For seven years they remained like this. Itachi would not speak to his father as they passed each other at the Hokage Tower. His father would remain impassive as they passed each other in the streets.
Dad? Do you really not care? Do you not care for your son anymore?
When he turned twenty three, Itachi heard his father succumbed to an incurable disease. His younger brother (who had tried, with no success, to keep in contact with him) pleaded, begged, bowed, and groveled at his feet to get the elder to visit father once again.
"Please, aniki. Dad's going to go soon. It's okay if you hate me but please!"
Mother came and begged. The tenth time Itachi refused, his mother actually punched him.
"Itachi, your father is dying. Why don't you understand?"
Surprisingly (or not), it was the Hokage that came and forced him to see his father again. The village leader called him up to his office and literally dragged the boy (the Hokage refused to call Itachi anything other than that until he stopped being immature, "You're worse than your old man!") back to his old home.
What are you going to tell me now? Tell me that you don't care? Haven't you done enough, Father?
Stepping into his parent's bed room, Itachi kept his face impassive just like his father's had been. That mask almost fell to pieces when he saw the condition his father was in. Old, worn out, tired, and ready to go.
So different from the strong and immovable figure he had been in Itachi's childhood. It was then that he began wondering when was the last time he saw his father. Two years ago? Or was it four?
"Itachi…" his father's voice came out feeble and sickly. The man reached out for his hand, groping along blindly, but Itachi did not offer it. After a moment, his father seemed to understand and stopped. There was a moment of silence in which neither knew what to say.
The silence weighed heavily on Itachi's shoulders as he waited and waited. Just like seven years ago, waiting for his father to say something. Say something enlightening, explain his actions, or confess his true feelings.
But his father did none of those.
"Take care of your younger brother."
That was the worst. The worst thing that his father could have said.
Take care of your younger brother.
When Itachi walked out, no one stopped him. And when father died, no one forced him to go.
But still, that night, Itachi cried. And he believed that his father did not love him.
When he turned twenty six, Itachi found her. The woman that he knew was the one he wanted to spend his whole life with. By natural procedure, they had a wedding.
"Itachi, you know, you father named you after his brother," Uchiha Sakura commented as she helped him dress in his wedding attire.
Mom, why didn't you tell me this before?
"Your father almost threw away everything to avenge his brother. Almost even your mother and me," Uzumaki Naruto, the Seventh Hokage, confessed after the ceremony.
Uncle Naruto, why didn't you tell me this before?!
"Dad always told me to love you no matter what. He believed that you could do no wrong," Uchiha Obito, his younger brother, said during dinner.
Obito, why are you telling me this now?
"Because we had been waiting for you to figure it out yourself, Haruno Itachi," came Obito's spiteful reply as he walked away. The first and last time his younger brother ever spoke to him like that.
Two years later, Uchiha Itachi's first born daughter was named after her grandfather. Uchiha Sasuke.
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AN: Haha, I had always wondered how Sasuke would turn out as a daddy! Here's a depressing twist on it. I remember starting a story with Uchiha Itachi and later revealing that he was actually Sasuke's son. But I had no idea where I saved the darn thing at. So when I started writing this one, it went on a completely different track than the previous one.
I hope you enjoyed this even though it wasn't Uchiha Itachi but Sasuke's son, Uchiha Itachi.