Parting of the Brothers
"This is where the crossroads end." Itachi says. Sasuke growls a deep, guttural growl that would shake anyone from the base up. The two brothers gaze at one another, caught in an eternal struggle that will continue long after both are dead. As their gazes turn into stares, Sasuke leans forward as if to pounce and Itachi stands tall and still.
Then, Sasuke dashes toward his brother, an angry flame leaping to and fro in his eyes. Itachi continues to stare, not having moved an inch the entire time. Time slows as Sasuke, the younger brother, sprints toward his older brother, Itachi. The older brother looks on the scene with something in his eyes, an emotion maybe. Whether sadness, or pity, or even perhaps pride, Itachi knew that this would be the last time he would remember seeing his brother.
As Sasuke's foot falls, time resumes its normal course and, with a bloodcurdling shout, ignites a series of large streaks of blazing blue lightning bolts from his hand. "Chidori!" He shouts as he shoves his hand into his brother's midsection. Itachi's body flies back, slamming repeatedly into the rough, rocky terrain of the mountainous area where their battle was taking place.
When his body finally stopped, Itachi stood up and looked at his brother, a smile on his face. "Brother, where has this ever gotten us? After all, you can't change the past. What you can do, Sasuke, is change the future." Itachi says, holding his stomach, blood beginning to seep through his fingertips. Sasuke screams again, rage filling his entire being, and runs forward, delivering an earthshattering punch to his brother's face. Sasuke both loved and hated seeing the smile on his face, the blood on his hand.
Then, something strange happened. The blood on Itachi's body began turning tan colored. The blood progressively grew grainier and began to run like sand. Upon a closer look, Sasuke realized that it was in fact sand. Then the rest of his body began turning into sand, running right out of his clothes, falling into piles on the ground. Sasuke frantically tried to stop his brother's deterioration, but could not.
Just before he finished his decay, Itachi's voice whispered, "Sasuke, wake up. Wake up Sasuke." The voice began to get more frequent and more incessant until finally, Sasuke awoke screaming. A cold sweat covering his body, Sasuke's chest rose and fell rapidly. He looked at his scarred body and at his face in the cracked reflection in the shattered mirror, seeing a monster rather than a sixteen-year-old boy.
Bending over and putting his head in his hands, the salty tears began to run down his face. The moonlight pouring into his little stone room, anyone looking in on his figure could see his body shudder deeply as soft sobs escaped his mouth. In a voice barely over a whisper, Sasuke says to himself and to someone now dead, "You left me alone with no explanation as to why. I had to learn from someone else as to why you did what you did. I hate you… but I can't hate you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be sitting here today. Thank you… brother…"
One final, tormented tear falls from the little brother left alone with only a memory of both the most important and the most hated person in his life. Also, the most loved person…