Yesterday was a happy birthday to Naruto - and a long-awaited moment for zombified Itachi I wanted to do. Not counting his resurrection in "Timeless" (which is also mine). That moment in episode 221 of Shippuden when we see Kabuto summon Itachi's corpse along with the other Akatsuki, the first time I saw it sent me into a burning rage...especially over Itachi-kun. (demon rage and fist of fury towards Kabuto) Though I understand Kabuto, I enjoy raging over him every time I watch that one moment in the episode anytime I want.

Virtute et Armis inspired me for the thoughts and feelings of Itachi early on in Edo Tensei state.

Chapter Four

Reanimated

"...forbidden jutsu known only to the Nidaime Hokage and Orochimaru-sama - now I am the third. I've surpassed them in other ways, as well..."

You are a fool to take someone else's powers for yourself, Kabuto.

If he could speak, if he could move or see anything, he would defend his case and put the boy in his place. He wasn't that much older than Sasuke, and he had no direction of himself but to carry on what his master never finished. This was the Edo Tensei; he was the man's pawn, and so were the other Akatsuki who were killed. If they were all feeling what he was, then he felt nothing but pity for them.

This body wasn't his own. He had no will; his mind was in its own closed off space, his soul in another, yet he could still hear what was going on around him. He was dead and supposed to be dead. Kabuto desecrated his soul and the others'. He was going to use them all against their loved ones whose heartache and grief had taken weeks, months or years even to recover from. Itachi could hear the mention of a WAR beginning - damn you, Madara.

He even heard Sasuke's name mentioned. His brother...what had become of him?

Itachi longed to be in control of his new body, this sacrificial victim of his resurrection, to just find his brother. He had to know if Sasuke had returned to the Leaf Village a hero, to his friends and connections, but no. He was starved, if he wasn't really hungry. He wasn't thirsty; he could barely swallow within his own throat. His skin felt paper-thin, threatening to break at the slightest touch. He felt like he was naked, even though he was clothed. These rags...

He could hear his heart beating in his own ears, but otherwise, he was unresponsive. He couldn't draw air into his lungs, yet. And what about another part of his body...?

His chakra couldn't be called forth, and when he tried, an electrical shot of pain coursed through his body. He gave up altogether. This was hell. This coffin he was trapped in, devoid of all feeling except helplessness.

~o~

Itachi was dead.

He'd died before his eyes - but here he was now: a product of Kabuto's forbidden jutsu. His beloved aniki was a reanimated Shinobi. He was here, and the long-buried question came back to the surface. Sasuke wanted to hear the truth from Itachi's own mouth.

It's all true.

Itachi murdered the clan on orders from the Leaf Elders. The Sandaime was the only one to oppose, but he was overruled. Danzo and the two counselors were the ones to blame. One was dead, with two more to go, and he had intended to...but as soon as he recovered from having his dead brother's eyes transplanted into him, he learned from Zetsu that the Fourth Great War had begun.

Sasuke was ready to go out and finish what he started - solo - when he saw HIM sailing overhead in the trees...it was Itachi. His brother who did everything because he loved his younger so much. The one who risked everything for the sake of the Hidden Leaf Village - that damned village that brought him to his death. Now here he was, revived but a shell of what he was. Sasuke wanted his brother again, wanted to spend one more time with him, to have the attention he desperately desired all his life.

"When you were alive," he screamed after his brother, "you never paid any attention to me! Always flicking my forehead, saying 'forgive me' and then running away! Even when you're dead, you're STILL running away!"

Itachi didn't turn around. "I'm not running away," he ground out. "There is simply something important I have to do." Just like him to keep him in the dark like this, just like everything he did to make sure his brother walked the right path, but what gave him the right to try and forge someone's destiny like that? Look at what Sasuke was now: a rogue Shinobi wanted in every nation. He infiltrated the Gokage Summit, let his comrades be imprisoned, left Karin to die, attacked his former teammates and sensei, rendered the Fourth Raikage without an arm, assaulted his brother who was the Hachibi vessel, and even joined up with the Akatsuki who sought the Leaf's destruction and came after Naruto.

In his fits of frustration and longing, Sasuke had his time to look at Itachi and see how different he was from when he was alive - but also the same. His face angles, his nose; his long, beautiful hair tied back, and his deep, rich voice that helped him sleep at night when they were children. Now, his pale skin had darkened to olive, flaked with cracking lines, and his gleaming raven locks were now dark gray as if he'd aged two decades later.

But his eyes...he had no idea how Itachi had those eyes when HIS were within Sasuke's skull now. Now Itachi's new ones were his Sharingan swirling within soulless black.

Itachi...he's...beautiful, no matter what.

If Itachi had said his baby brother's life was more precious than Konoha, then Itachi was more to him than that wretched village. And because of that...those feelings instilled from the genjutsu and those dreams he had, Sasuke wanted to know if they meant what he believed they meant, and they were another question he demanded to know.

It wasn't long before he trailed Itachi into the cave where Kabuto was controlling the reanimated army of Shinobi.

~o~

Kabuto was stuck in the loop of the Izanami. He was confident the reptilian hybrid of a man would reexamine his mistakes and then break free from the genjutsu. He thinks by having everything, he can be anything. He was just like me. I hate him, but now I understand him...and he can avoid the mistake I made.

But Sasuke didn't see the differences between him and Kabuto. He didn't understand that Itachi, his elder brother, was far from the perfect human being he'd believed he was. But it seemed he would never get Sasuke to see it, because the passion in his eyes was too great. What have I done? I made him this way...but Naruto can still change him. And when I break this jutsu, I'll fulfill my promise to him. He was about to turn back to Kabuto's frozen form when Sasuke put his hand on his shoulder and made him turn back around to see wild eyes activated with the Sharingan, matching his.

"Don't do it, Itachi."

He sighed. "I have to, Sasuke. I must bring the war to an end. Then you can become the Shinobi I want you to be..."

Sasuke interrupted him harshly. "WHY, NII-SAN? Why does it always have to be what YOU want? Or is it because you think to control me that it's because you always lived that way for other people? For once, why can't it be something we both can agree on? Why don't you just spend one more moment with me as a brother and not an old enemy or someone superior than me?" By the time he was done ranting, he was out of breath.

"Why, Itachi...why won't you just think about me the way I want you to before you think to leave me again?"

If his internally frozen form couldn't get any colder, then his heart had stopped beating. He saw it all; Sasuke wanted something that shouldn't be. He wanted to say it as it was, but feared speaking in exactly those terms. This was the last time they would be together, and he wanted IT... "Sasuke, whatever you want of me, it can't be," Itachi said firmly, but as always, otouto wouldn't let it slide.

Sasuke was right in front of him, taking him by the fore sleeves of his reddish brown cloak. "Itachi, damn it, why?" He closed his eyes, wishing Sasuke would stop using "why" in so many places in sentences.

"We are brothers."

"Then answer me why you placed that genjutsu on me that day you called me weak. Why did you make me FEEL that way?" Sasuke's cheeks turned a faint shade of pink. "For months after that, I could never stop dreaming about you that way, dominating you, or you taking that place...and I'd hoped that when you were dead, they would stop. But it never did. And when Tobi told me the truth about you, it just kept getting stronger..."

I made him feel the way I shouldn't have. I increased this forbidden feeling, after all. We love in a way brothers should not. He wants to be with me that way before I release myself and the other reanimated Shinobi.

His inner battle couldn't be decided on his part. He wanted to make Sasuke happy, so no regrets would be made. If this went without, his brother would never move on. Perhaps if he just gave Sasuke what he wanted, would it be enough? It came with a cost for Itachi.

"Will you have my virginity before you go? I won't let anyone else touch me but you, nii-san. No one deserves it more than you..."

Sasuke's lips came at some point to place themselves on his, making the decision for them both. Itachi's heart - dead and alive at the same time - began to pick up its rhythm if the rest of his body didn't respond in the same way.

"We have to hurry, then," he panted out, breaking the kiss. "Who knows how many of our fellow Shinobi are still fighting and going to die if we carry on like this..." And if Kabuto broke out of the loop to find us like this -

His thoughts were broken off when Sasuke reached for the zipper of his cloak and pulled it down, revealing his naked torso, expanses of muscles and cracking skin. The fabric fell around his feet. He could imagine how he must look now that his brother could see him. His nipples looked so fragile they were in danger of shriveling at the slightest contact. But then Sasuke leaned over and placed a kiss over his breastbone, where his heart was beating a little. "You're beautiful, Itachi," he whispered against his flaking flesh.

"I'm far from it."

"Not to me." Sasuke then moved his mouth to gently kiss Itachi's left nipple without taking it into his mouth. His thumb came to tweak the other. But none of it was gaining the bodily reaction it was supposed to. This the younger noticed. "Why isn't your body responding?" he demanded irritably.

Itachi looked down at him with a blink. "I'm dead," he reminded him. "I don't feel the way I used to, and I can't taste anything. All I am made for now is my jutsu and regeneration."

The younger Uchiha looked furious but said nothing. The elder was aware, without looking, of his pants being removed from his hips and left to slide down his legs, ending around his knees. His manhood was stiff and frozen like the rest of his body, a very small amount of dark hairs remaining at the base. But it didn't stop Sasuke from kissing his way down Itachi's body, nuzzling his nose into the sparse curls and kissing around the perfect length.

A wave of sorrow cut through Itachi's being. I wish I could FEEL and enjoy what he is doing for me.

Sasuke's fingers were caressing his thighs and then his buttocks, slipping them inside to feel how cold he was, and rigid as ice. His balls provided no stimulation or arousal. His body flowed with blood, so there was eligibility for his chakra power, but not for personal pleasure. This was what he hated Kabuto for: not giving this to him and the others, but war and pawns meant usage for your own satisfaction.

In short, if he was unable to become aroused, he might not be able to release his seed into Sasuke when they reached climax. In a way, it was a relief, because he was living dead and therefore feared tainting his precious brother like this. Since Sasuke would get nothing from his unresponsive sex, Itachi stopped him and asked him to stand and disrobe as quickly as he could. Within moments, his otouto was nude just like he was - mostly. His pants and leggings were drawn down in no time.

Sasuke said he was beautiful, but in his eyes, the man his little brother was now was even more. His stature had come to match - no, surpass Itachi. Unable to wait any longer, a fully erected and impatient Sasuke threw himself onto his aniki who brought him to lay down atop the makeshift bed of their clothes to protect Sasuke from the scattered gravel and jagged rock. Kabuto continued to remain under the influence of the Izanami. Itachi settled in between Sasuke's legs, his fragile manhood rubbing against Sasuke's heated, rigid one. Moans were drawn from the younger; his dream was becoming a reality, if just this once. Itachi shifted his hips so he could look again at the pulsating flesh between Sasuke's thighs, the vein throbbing, and then at his own which would never burn with the same passion he was giving his brother.

"- Itachi." Both hands came to grasp his hips and bring them back to connect with the other's. "Hurry up and prepare me." Sasuke stopped then. "No, don't. Just get it over with."

He looked at his baby brother with concern. He didn't want to hurt Sasuke anymore than he'd already done, but it was what his brother wanted. There was little time for worries. Nevertheless... "As you wish." Itachi settled on reaching for Sasuke's now dripping member which had darkened. His little brother moaned and closed his eyes tightly at the fingers massaging him enough to squeeze some of the juices out. Satisfied he had enough, Itachi reached down further, gliding through dark curls and finding Sasuke's entrance, inserting a finger and then another, slicked with his own fluids. Sasuke's body jerked a little, his head rolling side to side as his muscle ring was stretched until Itachi decided it was ready.

Sasuke clenched around him, but that was all he would know as he began to rock himself into Sasuke's body for the first time. His name was an endless song from the younger Uchiha's throat. Their bodies were a synchronic rhythm, thrusts timed perfectly. Itachi made sure to locate which spot would give his brother such pleasure he could only dream about. Sasuke being happy - the happiest he could be - was all he cared about.

He took Sasuke's legs into his hold and angled himself at a new point within his beloved. The other in return reached up to hold onto his shoulders for dear life. When he struck that bundle of nerves deep within, his lover arched into him and clutched his shoulders so hard pieces of flesh and matter cracked and flaked away. Itachi watched as Sasuke's member released its white load between their bodies at the same time his inner muscles closed down on him, without thinking to tear off his member. Lucky. It would have been a problem to pull a peace of dead tissue from my precious Sasuke. The thought was so morbid he did not understand why he had to think like that.

Extracting himself with care, he watched Sasuke lay back, lost in the aftermath of his orgasm. His legs were still splayed, bent at the knees, showing his softening member still dark-colored, his pubic hair damp with his excretion. Itachi looked down on himself and saw a shine of Sasuke on his own. He put a finger on that place, pulling the drop keeping a few hair strands together, and put the tip of that finger onto his dried tongue even though he was unable to enjoy the flavor.

No words were exchanged.

Sasuke pulled himself through and sat up, stretching and flinching at how sore his body had become from his first time. "Thank you, Itachi," he said finally, his voice hoarse.

He could only nod without a response. The brothers turned onetime lovers put their clothes back on. There would be no more regrets. Itachi Uchiha, once more a Hidden Leaf Shinobi, would cast the Tsukuyomi on Kabuto now and protect his village - and he would give his brother the chance to redeem himself and rejoin his comrades. He would give Sasuke the chance to see that no matter the darkness within the village, he was a loyal ninja whose duty was to protect it.

No matter what you do when I am gone, Sasuke, I love you and will always watch over you.

I feel this is worthy of a review, don't you think? I haven't asked the entire fic for reviews since the beginning, but isn't it obvious they make our day? No one has given them for this yet. :(

The end of this chapter is in thanks to the final of "Chiaroscuro" by waltz2.