Author: Take
Date: 8/3/07
Rating: K
Summary: Choices.


"In the end, it came down to whether I wanted to be happy, or spend my life trying to fulfill his desires. I chose to be happy."


Sasuke stood before the beaten form of his nemesis, the source of all his troubles, his reason for living, his creator, his hated and beloved brother. The numerous cuts decorating his flesh stung as sweat dripped down the length of his body. The younger Uchiha panted, trying to regain his breath as his chest tightened.

Finally.

Finally, after years of training and seeking out power in order to kill Itachi, the moment was upon him. He looked down at the battered form of his brother, his lips peeling back in a feral snarl. Itachi showed no reaction, which only increased Sasuke's ire.

Itachi noticed this, a tiny smirk finally stealing across his bloodied features. "Well?" he asked. "Can't you kill me, foolish little brother of mine?" He coughed once, twice, and spat out a gobbet of blood.

Yes. Sasuke paused. He could. He could kill his brother.

But . . . The Uchiha paused, looking in the direction of Konoha. Of Naruto.

He could kill Itachi. But he wouldn't.

Sasuke regarded the other man – his brother – gravely. "I don't have to," he told Itachi soberly. "I've beaten you. It's enough." He resheathed the katana he had held in a deathgrip. "Goodbye, Itachi," he murmured, turning away. Away from his past and toward his future, and Naruto.

Sasuke broke into an easy, loping gait. The wounded form of his brother gradually shrank in the distance, and eventually disappeared from sight altogether. If he kept up a steady pace, Sasuke calculated, he could reach Konoha by nightfall. His Hokage, the Rokudaime, would be waiting for his report.

--Owari


AN: These ficlets are not in any particular order – they're just being typed up as I wrote them. So they may jump around in time.