Sasuke, you've truly been the only thing right in my life. Yet I still screwed up. I regret it more than you could ever imagine. I wish I thought about it more… I wish I told you before it came to this… I just have regrets. This is all I can do for you…

"I always lied to you, telling you to forgive me. I always kept you far away, with my own hands… I didn't want to involve you…" I began to reach out my peeling apart hand.

"But now I think… that maybe you would have been able to change our father, mother, the Uchiha…" my hand came closer to him as he stared at my peeling away body in shock. Maybe even fear? Sadness?

"If I had faced you from the start… tried to see things from your point of view," if only… "And talked with you about the truth…" I'm a failure, Sasuke. An absolute failure.

"But I failed, and no matter what I say now, it will never reach you." My fingers neared his forehead. I've been a terrible brother. I never did anything good for you.

"So that is why I will finally say what I really think." I grabbed the back of his head as I kept my head on his shoulder I said, "You never have to forgive what I've done…" I pulled my head up so we were forehead to forehead and I smiled and he stared at me… wordless and frozen in time not even realizing what was happening.

"No matter what you decide to do from this point on, I will love you forever." You never have to forgive me, Sasuke. My time is finally done. My body completely broke like shards of glass. I feel… free… good… as my body disappeared into the atmosphere I watched as he stood there… frozen.

Around Six Years Later…

I walked along an old river that I once walked when everything was safe. Everything was okay. Okay but corrupt. The old river Shisui and I walked together. Always talking and training. The water was always so clear and you could see the koi swimming along and the algae on all the rocks. The three inch long grass and the pebble path leading you along side the river. The shrubs and flowers. The trees. I could see it all, once again, my vision was finally perfect again. I looked into the atmosphere that only had a few clouds and I closed my eyes as the wind blowed through my hair and clothes. I took a deep breath and the smell of fresh and pure came pouring in my lungs. This must be paradise. I relaxed for the first time in awhile. Then I heard footsteps and I tilted my head towards the sound.

"Itachi, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" he asked with a bright smile as he stepped forward. He still looked only fourteen… well I wouldn't expect more. As he stepped closer I was finally taller than my dear old friend.

"Yeah," I smiled at my dear old friend, "I can finally now join you." Shisui stared at me and shook his head.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked confused.

"No, Itachi. Now is not the time," he looked down kicking a pebble into the river, "You still have more to do." He looked back up with a half smile.

"I've already died twice. What more is there to do?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask when you wake up?" wake up? Wake up!

"I will have to say good bye now. Maybe another time, Itachi?"

Beep… what? Beep.. what is hap-? Beep… -pening? My body… Beep. I can't… Beep. Move. Beep. I slowly began to open my heavy eyelids. The room was blinding bright and everything would no come into focus. I drifted mine eyes to my left and a blurred blue color completed with a yellow circle and a white outline was all I could make out. My eyes looked to the other side and I saw a blob of pastel pink and white. The nurse turned towards me and walked a few steps forward. I could slightly make out her face.

"Uchiha Itachi, welcome back. Don't worry, we know." I stared at the nurse. Welcome back?

"Why am I here?" I managed to say getting straight to the point.

"It was requested by the rokudaime to keep this classified for now." She said straight forwardly.

"Sasuke?" I asked.

She took a moment to pause, "he is currently on a mission. We did not know when you would wake up so I told him to go. Your vision must be extremely blurry?"

"Hn." I saw her blurry face move up and down and she moved closer to me and placed her cool fingers on my temples. I could see perfectly and I look up into her face. Hair parted in the middle, green eyes, and pale skin. Unmistakeably my brother's friend. How many years has it been? She appeared to be in her early to mid twenties now.

"Your vision will take awhile to heal, we must take it little at a time." She pulled away her cool fingers and my vision started to blur some again. She started to walk away to her clipboard.

"How long has it been since the war?" I asked. She paused and she turned around and she said nothing for a moment. A slight look of disgust of the topic of war crossed her face.

"It has been around five to six years since that war," she said with a bitterness, "Many people died, it has devastated everyone. The rokudaime has been doing his best to keep everything safe here."

"Who is the rokudaime?" I wondered out loud.

"Uzumaki Naruto, of course. He was a major hero in the war along with Sasuke." I felt a smile form on my lips and the curious gaze of the nurse. She then turned to continue writing on her clipboard.

"Sasuke at first wanted to be a hokage, but Naruto was more favorited. Sasuke even said Naruto should be the rokudaime. Sasuke still got a big role. After what he had done in the war, people were more accepting of him." Just as I hoped so.

I stared at her back as she wrote, "When shall Sasuke arrive?"

She paused once more, "In a week. You will get to see as soon as it's time. I will be leaving you now, I will be back tonight." She proceeded to walk out the door and she closed it softly. I relaxed back on the feather pillow. I stared at the ceiling trying to make out the shapes even though my vision was obliviously too blurry. My smile wasn't fading.

I had not noticed I had fallen asleep until I heard a knock on the door and then it cracked open. A tall blonde man with blue eyes; I almost mistaked his as Minato.

"Hello Itachi," he said softly and sat in the chair besides me.

"Sakura did a good job fixing you up, huh? I bet Sasuke would be happy to see you."

"Why am I here?" I asked.

"Sasuke wanted it. He told me you deserve to live and I do agree. The village knows of your story. There is no need to pretend."

"I see."

"Maybe we can see him sometime. You, me, Sakura. I know you don't know Sakura well, but she has spent nights without sleep saving your ass." He laughed softly, "You better show those people that it was worth taking away the top nurse in Konoha away for awhile. We don't have many nurses left anymore. Or any ninjas and others. The war caused a lot of problems." he continued to ramble on.

He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a badge. He handed it to me.

"Here is your well deserved badge, Leader of the ANBU." He placed it in my hand. I closed it within my hand I open my palm to look at the blurred silver metal. I rubbed my finger over feeling the engraving of the words "AMBU" and the decorative lines.

"I will arrange for your own home. Everything had been destroyed when there was the fight with Pain. Good thing the other war didn't ruin the village too, huh?"

"Granny never got to finish it, so I've been doing my best to fix it. I already have enough houses for everyone and of course the ramen shop. I even had a proper grave for you, I guess we don't need that anymore. I must be boring for blabbering on. I will have to leave you now; I have things to take care of."

"Hn." I said unsure on how to say goodbye.

Sakura came in with a tray with steaming soup. She sat next to me and placed the tray on the table.

"It will be hard to move for about a few more days. The stronger, the longer it takes to heal. That's what my grandmother always said…" she scooped some soup with the spoon and she carefully blowed on it. She held it up to my lips and I parted them to let the warm tomato soup go into my mouth. I stared at her as she continued.

"I was really shocked when I heard the truth. I was so used to you being this bad guy Sasuke always went after." She said as she tucked some of hair behind her ear. She paused and stared at me for a moment, "I guess anything is possible… we some how managed to win the war…" her voice nearly monotone. She stared back down into the soup watching the steam slowly come up.

Author's Note: Let me know if you find it interesting, questions, have some improvements, or extra ideas I can incorporate into the fanfiction

-Astinmin