The Path Home

Sera: I've decided to take the one shot a bit further...thanks to all the reviewers this story will actually be a full fic instead of a two shot. Hope you like the second chapter to 'The Path Home'

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters but the plot is mine.

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"So you do remember that day?" Itachi asked from beside his brother. Standing against the old oak where the bus stop used to be. He inhaled deeply the clove cigarette held between his lips. "Seems like so long ago…how can you remember so clearly?"

Sasuke smiled as his eyelids lowered. For a moment he saw her face, smiling bright with the flush that seemed to always come with it. He lifted his head, facing the azure sky. "Because here, is where it's strongest." He said. "I feel her here the most."

"You feel her?"

"Yeah."

Blue smoke flew threw Itachi's nostrils and toiled far above his head in a hazy cloud. A cold breeze caught it and lifted it away into the air. He understood, he could feel her to and if he shut his eyes he could see her. He could see her standing against the oak tree with her loving smile. Opalescent eyes shimmering clear crystal blue. "I guess I understand."

"She really loved it here didn't she?" Sasuke suddenly asked his face still steered towards the sky. "After the bus stop closed she still came here and leaned against this tree until that happened." Sasuke opened his gray eyes.

"She did."

"Do you remember mom?" Sasuke whispered. "I do."

"So do I." Itachi said raking a pale hand through his black long hair. "She used to love this place to."

"Yeah." Sasuke laughed. "Dad used to say it was magic."

"What?"

Sasuke nodded. "He used to say that this place was magical-the whole forest created a different world outside the town. I think it was just a story for him to tell us when we were kids but maybe it was for mom too."

Itachi nodded, his gray eyes darkened to black, reminding Sasuke of a blazing storm.

"I guess."

"I told her about dad's stories, about all the magic. You know, after her accident, she called this place the dream world."

"The dream world?"

"She said that when she was hospitalized, when she dreamed for five years, that this was the place her mind had taken her to. That perhaps the magic in this place had drawn her back-to her happiest moments against this tree, and while I don't believe in magic I couldn't help but hope she was right."

Itachi nodded as he put the butt of the cigarette out on the bark of the tree creating a slight crater in the wood. When his younger brother spoke of her, of these sorts of things there was no stopping him. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, and even during the time I wasn't there to visit her when she was asleep, she said she was never lonely that Madara was there."

"Madara?"

"I don't get it either." Sasuke said. He pushed himself off the tree, lifting his arm in front of his face to shield himself from the oncoming sunlight. He stood there for a moment with his back turned to his brother, a breeze whipping at his dark hair and clothes.

"Sasuke?"

"I think that maybe the magic of this place did that for her so that until I came back-"

"Sasuke."

Sasuke turned towards the dirt path, his eyes never focusing at any particular spot. To Itachi, Sasuke seemed like the lost twelve year old he had been so many years ago. He suddenly felt very sad.

Pushing himself from the bark of the old tree he made his way to his brother, putting his hands in his jacket pockets. He smiled. "Lets go home." He said and Sasuke smiled.

"Yeah, lets go home."

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Sera: Don't worry the story is not finished despite it having the COMPLETE placed on it...so...I wonder if I was able to keep the same feeling from the first chapter in this one too? Does it by chance come off as sadness and longing? I hope so since it was what I was going for. Thank you to the reviewers! No flames please!