Fandom: Naruto
Title: Aftertaste
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi
Genre: General
Character: Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Itachi
Rating: 17+
Warning: OOC, doesn't-follow-Canon, divergence
Prompt: Of meetings and greetings and of the unspoken in-between.
Summary: If you meet someone, you will affect their life, one way or another. But will you notice it, when you are grieving?
A/N: The point of view flips from Itachi's third person to Madara's third person pretty spontaneously so you'll probably get confused a lot. Sorry.
—
Rainy Afternoon
—
1: Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.
—
They had met on a rainy day at an old shrine. A rainy afternoon, to be exact, and it had been in the month of summer. It was a summer rain, humid and wet, and it had been heavy like lead.
The shrine they meet at is old, decrepit in a way that it should have been burned into ashes long ago, but had too much sentimental value in it that the only solution was to let it just fade and rot away with time like ancient ruins with moss on it.
It is on a rainy day that Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Madara meet and it is on a rainy day that the heavens always weep.
—
2: You come in as if you own the place, as if it is your birthright and your home.
—
Everything about the temple is faded, everything except for the brightly vermilion-colored torii(1) that stand in front of the building. The color is bright, so bright against all the gray and it hurts Itachi's eyes whenever he sees it (Like seeing a light in the dark after a very long time—it always hurt no matter what.)
The rice paper thin screen doors slide noisily open, tattered with holes and in shreds. He is thirteen and the floorboards creak beneath his feet as he goes in and kneels in front of the rusted altar before him.
He takes out a candle from his pocket and lights it with a match, praying, and the sky outside cries with him.
—
3: A shade comes and somehow he's as colorful and bright as the gates which guard this sacred place.
—
A shadow comes in, overshadowing, the room darkening for that one single moment that no breath is breathed.
The figure is shrouded in a black cloak, the hood obscuring their face, carrying in his hands (Because it's a man, Itachi notices belatedly. The form is all broad shoulders and muscled body, and Itachi knows that only men have that sort of shape, that kind of figure) a wooden umbrella, its paper coverings a bloody, crimson red. Stark, color versus shade, and the difference is so severe that it should hurt Itachi's eyes, but it doesn't.
This is Itachi and Madara's first and only meeting.
(The candle's flame burns brighter than ever and Itachi can see the man's chiseled and Uchiha-like features clearly when the man himself steps into the light.)
Uchiha Itachi only meets Uchiha Madara once, but once is just enough for the older man to leave his mark however unknowingly upon the young ANBU captain before him.
(This is the point where Madara will affect Itachi forever, in some way or another, but he will never know, will never notice, because they will not meet again, ever.)
Uchiha Madara comes into Uchiha Itachi's in a whirl of colors of only black, red, and white, and leaves just as fast as the changing and falling leaves of autumn. He comes in, unceremoniously and unrepentantly, and he is like a breath of fresh air in this humid weather to Itachi.
Madara greets Itachi and Itachi greets back.
—
4: Musty and timeworn, this day is like a relic of the past.
—
They introduce themselves to each other in their own way and the situation is so surreal—so unreal—that Itachi's not sure if it's even happening at all.
The man with his hood down before him is serene; still in a way like ancient libraries filled with ancient books, and to Itachi, this man feels like he is a relic of the past where Clans warred against each other to their deaths and all the blood which was spilled turned the whole earth red. His age is undefinable and although he looks young, like he was only in his late twenties, Itachi knows that the man is much older than that.
This moment between them feels dreamlike and it puzzles Itachi to no end.
—
5: And your voice pitter-patters away like the gentle rain.
—
When Madara speaks, his voice is gentle in a way that's soft and light, almost soothing to the touch if it could be touched. It's refreshing to Itachi, because he doesn't know many people who speak or have a voice like that (His father's is strict, his mother's is indulgent, and both Sasuke's and Shisui's are free and friendly yet innocent. He thinks that the Sandaime speaks and has a voice like that, but the thought is quickly pushed aside by Madara's next words.)
"You know," the man says off-handedly, "you're a lot like my brother. Even though you look nothing alike, you behave the same way."
(What goes unsaid is that Itachi has a similar hairstyle as said little brother, but Itachi is a master of looking in between the lines and underneath implications and so does not make a comment on it.)
Madara's voice rambles on and pitter-patters away and Itachi finds that he doesn't mind at all (They converse with each other, Madara being the more talkative of the two, and they talk on deep into the afternoon with the rain outside continuously pouring.)
—
6: When it rains, it pours.
—
Eventually, though, their conversation reaches a dead-end. Said dead-end being supposedly about Konoha.
It is a disagreement that they have, particularly about the power that is Konoha, the life (Itachi believes that Konoha will live: Madara believes that Konoha will die.)
"It will rot away, just like everything else," Madara says patiently, as though it was a fact of life. Itachi is adamant, though, his hands tightly winded into fists and on his knees as he kneels on the floor.
"The Will of Fire will continue to live on, so long as there are teachers and students. As long as the people of Konoha have this, she will continue to live." The candle burns brightly at this, as though in agreement and concurrence.
Madara shakes his head from side to side, almost rueful yet amused, and his arms are crossed against his chest as he leans back casually. He says carelessly:
"Can't you see? The leaves upon the mighty tree are already dying. Look at your comrades closer. They might not be dying on the outside, but they're definitely dying on the inside."
It's in this moment that Itachi stiffens, and Madara knows that he has struck a cord (He will never know the impact he has on Uchiha Itachi's life in that moment, when Itachi realizes the truth in Madara's words. He will never know his affect, his impression, because he would be too busy in his own grief.)
And so he delivers his ultimatum, his final point that will drive it straight home:
"All good things must come to an end."
(The candle's flame would be blown out, sizzling and a faint trail of smoke in its wake, the room put into immediate darkness, and all Itachi will be able to think of are people like Hatake Kakashi who stand in front of the Memorial Stone hours upon hours no matter the weather; the Sandaime looking solemnly and sadly at the photos of the previous Hokage, most of the time at the Yondaime; and of the Uzumaki boy whose blue eyes would flash with hurt after being refused to play in a game with others, and he would then smile a smile that was too wide, scrunching his eyes into happy arcs when all he wanted to do was just cry. Itachi would think of this and he would know in his heart that Madara is right.)
This is the truth, the undeniable truth, and Itachi doesn't know why something inside of him hurts.
—
7: No one can see your tears in the rain.
—
The sky outside clears, sunlight pouring in through the holes in the rice paper doors, and Madara is headed for the door from which he came from, his cherry-colored umbrella right beside him. Itachi would follow him, quiet and subdued from their previous conversation.
The screen doors would slide open softly, Madara opening his umbrella just as he takes a step out, the light catching onto the edges of his umbrella like morning dew does on grass in the early morning. Madara pauses and he turns back to the silent thirteen-year-old behind him, smiling strangely, his Sharingan eyes brutal and bright.
"You really are a lot like Izuna," Madara says, and there's a glassy gleam in his look, something indescribable passing on his face too fast before Itachi even has a second to decipher it.
He pokes Itachi's forehead with a ghost's touch and the taste that's left in Itachi's mouth is the taste of some sort of tea that is traditional yet sweet.
Uchiha Madara will leave in a flourish of colors, his steps soft in the waning sunlight, and Itachi will not notice until much later that Madara had been crying because the sky once again started to rain the exact moment Madara left. Itachi will touch the spot Madara poked on his forehead gently and the taste that Madara leaves is the taste of green tea in Itachi's heart.
(The rain are tears and the tears are rain—the heavens weep and Madara weeps along with it.)
—
A/N: Footnotes ahoy!
(1) Torii means literally "bird perch" when translated from Japanese to English, but it's actually a traditional Japanese gate found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine. The function of one is to mark the entrance of a sacred place.