When I'm Gone

Have you ever loved someone so much, you'd give an arm for?

Not the expression, no, literally give an arm for?

When they know they're your heart

And you know you were their armour

And you will destroy anyone who would try to harm her

But what happens when karma, turns right around and bites you?

And everything you stand for, turns on you to spite you?

What happens when you become the main source of her pain?

"Daddy look what I made", Dad's gotta go catch a plane

It's 9:45 pm. A five-year-old Sasuke is waiting, in the living room, for his older brother, Itachi, to return from his early-morning mission that day. His brother had told him he'd be back by nine. Of course, that didn't happen. Sasuke hadn't expected it to though. When Itachi gave a time frame, rarely ever was he right. Missions always tend to take longer for some reason or the other. Sasuke hates that, but he knows it's something he just has to accept. It's not like Itachi does it on purpose; no one can really know the exact time a mission will end. So, Sasuke decides to wait up for him, hoping it won't take all night.

"Don't you think you should be heading home now, Itachi?" Shisui asks. They're both sitting at the table enjoying an extremely late dinner together at Shisui's house. Itachi looks up from his small plate of pasta to look up at the other boy, confused as to the why he'd want him to leave all of a sudden. "You told your little brother you'd be home at nine, remember? It's ten now." Shisui explains.

Itachi nods in understanding, but he's frowning now. He's thinking about whether he wants to leave now or stay for a little while longer. Shisui already knows what his decision will be, but he waits for him to say it anyway. If Itachi wanted to be home by nine, he would've been. But he hadn't wanted to, so the mission that had both he and Itachi on it, took as long as it would take two ordinary ninja to do. And at the end, they even ended up checking for loose ends, per Itachi's request.

Shisui doesn't complain though. He knows his friend is going through a lot. He has a lot riding on his shoulders, too much weight for a ten-year-old to bear. He gets all that. They're in the same boat, but he just doesn't understand why he insists on telling his brother things he knows he won't follow through with. Does he want him to hate him? But it isn't Shisui's place to tell Itachi what to do, different people have different ways of dealing with things.

Shisui is an optimist, and Itachi just isn't. He's never believed in the inherent good of people as Shisui has. Shisui thinks everyone has a little good in them, even the really bad people. Itachi doesn't think anyone really is good, to him the word is too subjective, what is good to one may not be good to another. Shisui says being good doesn't mean you get it right all the time. It's hard to know the best solution without knowing the outcome, but you do your best to do the right thing for everyone's benefit, and that makes you good. Itachi says being right is subjective as well; everyone thinks they're right. Even if they're doing something wrong, they think they're right in doing so, because it's their duty and a necessity. Shisui usually says that's not the same thing and is only selfishness, but Itachi begs the differ, saying being right is all about selfishness. It's putting your ideals above someone else's. Shisui is quiet, because he doesn't know how to explain to his friend, that's just not the case. Because being good or being right, it all means the same thing, yet it doesn't all at the same time.

And one day, Shisui asks him, what Itachi is if he thinks both right and wrong are only subjective. Itachi tells him he is the worst kind of person, because he doesn't care about being right, like everyone else. He wants what he wants, right or wrong, he doesn't care. He uses Sasuke as an example. He tells Shisui that he'd save his little brother from a burning building; that's right to Shisui's beliefs. He'd choose his little brother's life over the lives of everyone in the Leaf; that's wrong to Shisui's beliefs. And Itachi says, he doesn't care whether what he's doing is correct. He'd let the world burn to save his innocent little brother, and that's that. Shisui doesn't fight him on it.

"I want to spend the night, if that's okay with you?" Itachi asks. Shisui nods his okay, having figured as much. Together, they finish off their meals, and then retire to get a well-deserved night's rest.

The next morning, Itachi leaves early, telling Shisui he will be back soon in some new clothes, so they can head out on their next mission. Shisui, nods his okay, but Itachi is pretty sure the boy is still half-asleep and didn't even hear him. Nonetheless, he shrugs and leaves to go do as he said.

Itachi opens the door to his home, though it doesn't really feel like one anymore. It's cold. His father is bitter, and his mother is too quiet, never wanting to offend his father's ideals, despite how wrong they are. It's pathetic. But Itachi doesn't say anything either, even though he can see how clearly it is affecting Sasuke. So, maybe he's pathetic too. He isn't sure. Nonetheless, all of this is why he hates coming home, he can't abandon Sasuke though, at least not fully, a part of him already feels like he kind of has. Sasuke doesn't act like he has, but there's always some sadness in his adorable obsidian colored eyes, and Itachi is sure he's the cause of it.

Itachi's eyes land on his little brother. The boy is sleeping in front of the door. There's a blanket over him, but half of it has already fallen off. There's a sheet of paper underneath his face, and crayons strewn all around him. Itachi smiles down at his little brother guiltily. "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting Sasuke." Itachi whispers. He repositions his brother's blanket, so it covers him better. Then quietly steps over him to go take a shower and get dressed.

Soon, Itachi's ready to go. No one is awake yet, so he's thankful for that. He turns the doorknob to open the door and leave out, but a soft voice stops him. "Itachi?"

Itachi turns around, offering his brother a smile. "Yes, Sasuke?" He asks the half-risen boy. Sasuke's eyes widen at the actual response. He had still been mostly asleep and thought he was dreaming.

Sasuke gets up from his spot on the floor, running over to hug his brother. "You're back!" Sasuke says cheerfully.

"Sasuke-" Itachi begins, about to tell his brother he has to go, but Sasuke doesn't hear him. He's too excited. He bends down, picking up a sheet of paper off the floor. It's the same one he had been laying on before.

"Look what I made!" Sasuke says. He's about to turn the paper around to show his older brother, but at the same time, Itachi had said, "I've got to get going Sasuke. I don't want to be late for my mission."

Sasuke's face falls, along with his excitement. "Oh." He says softly.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. Maybe some other time..." Itachi tells him, poking him in the forehead. But Sasuke doesn't rub or hold his forehead like he usually does, he turns away from him, running to his room. Itachi can hear sniffles as he goes. The older brother sighs sadly, as he picks up the sheet of paper. He turns it over, looking down at the picture. It's him and Sasuke holding hands. In Itachi's other hand is a trophy, which reads "Best Brother Ever".

PLEASE READ

There will be only a few chapters all in all, but they are complete and separate one-shots. Since they're all one-shots just like this one, revolving around a lyric of the song. I had a vision for each lyric, so I'm going to fill that vision in here. Also, I thought about changing the lyrics a bit to make it match more, but I think it's better this way.

Lyrics belong to Eminem and are part of his song "When I'm Gone". I don't own him or his record company (or w.e. else went into making this song), and I don't own Naruto. Please review! Follow, because some day in the future I may add to this. It isn't truly complete, tbh, but I lack the motivation to do anything else with it, at the moment. Reviewing would help though!