When I close my eyes...

Days had gone by. He deprived himself of sleep. Hours slowly ticked by till his body would fail him and he would collapse. He was falling deep into a realm like death as he watched each member of his clan fall. They fell by his hand and his hand alone.

Tonight, she haunted him. He could see her lips moving, hear her faintly calling his name. He remembered her face. He remembered what it once was to be loved by her. Her touch and how her eyes locked with his in their most intimate of moments. Now, as she stared at him, her expression was questioning him. Her lips were moving, but no sound escaped.

Yet, sound was invading his ears. A low rumble intruded his head growing louder and louder. It was screaming. He was screaming. He pressed the kunai, driving it deeper into her chest. He watched her face, the face of the woman he had so vowed to marry. He watched as the blood sprayed, leaving a mist on her face. Red blurred to pale hues as his tears fell to her skin. Tears that intermingled with her own tears before trickling to the pool of blood beneath her. She tried to speak. He wouldn't let her as he pressed his lips to hers for the last time. It was all he could do to fight from saving her.

"Why" was the last word her lips pantomimed until what was left of her was an empty hollow shell.

Now what remained was a semblance of her, almost unrecognizable, but he knew who she was as she slowly approached him. Approaching him in a slow death march, her feet thudding heavily with each step. Her eyes. No longer that of the clan they both belonged. They were once the eyes that used to see deep into the core of the man he once was and the man he wanted to be. Her eyes now, two lifeless orbs, staring into the infinite unknown just past where he stood. Those eyes haunted him tonight. Two dull embers seemingly growing hotter and brighter, seeping torment into his soul.

He was staring at his hands. Nails caked in blood.
"You will die." she whispered.
"I know." he whispered back.

Itachi finally opened his eyes, yet all he could see is Sasuke, no longer the scared little brother who took too much stock in him, but the man who would soon take his life.