At 1:39 a.m. on Monday morning, Itachi should've been in bed instead of watching an episode of a TV comedy he'd heard of before, but never had the desire to see.
Even now he didn't see the appeal as he slouched back against the plush backing of the sofa, trying to distinguish the fluctuating plot of the series' four main characters.
And the plot of tonight's re-run seemed to circle around one of the characters arguing with a couple's sudden decision to move. What were the odds that the most interesting show he could find on TV at 1:30 in the morning related so closely to his own dilemma with Sasuke?
"Listen to yourself," one of the characters said, much like Itachi had wanted to say to Sasuke, "it's the pregnancy brain talking." Okay, maybe it didn't match up exactly with his own life, but it did contain some uncanny similarities.
"I'm just saying, you're not in the right mind to be making this kind of decision right now." The character continued, and surprisingly, Itachi found himself nodding in agreement with her.
"She's right," the other character agreed, "we are in not in the right state of mind to be making this kind of decision right now."
How he'd wished it'd been that easy with Sasuke.
"Instead," he continued, "we let the universe figure it out for us!"
Feeling sick to his stomach, Itachi reached for the remote control and quickly changed the channel to an informative program about cocaine trade in cities across the country.
Sasuke wasn't that dumb, Itachi knew. Surely he was smart enough to know that his problems wouldn't resolve themselves unless he took the appropriate actions to resolve them. However, considering Sasuke's blasé attitude of late, Itachi had his doubts.
A sudden knock at the door made him jump almost a foot in the air and sent the remote flying from his grip and over the side of the couch. He frantically glanced around, looking for a clock to confirm that it was too early in the morning for anybody except a drunkard to be knocking on his door.
Maybe it was Sasuke.
Getting up, Itachi hastily made his way across the living room to answer the door, not caring for how he looked with his hair loose and wild, messily cascading over his shoulders, clad only in a plain white shirt and the grey shorts he sometimes wore to bed on hot summer evenings. The only thought going through his mind was that Sasuke was here, knocking on his door, too intoxicated to remember his new address, but not so much that he couldn't call a cab and offer the driver Itachi's address instead.
"Are you Itachi Uchiha?" A police officer greeted him.
Itachi immediately stiffened, pulling his hair away from his face and smoothing out his clothes. "Yes, officer." He answered politely as he was taught to respond by his father. "What seems to be the problem?" He asked.
Drugs maybe? He didn't have any illegal substances stashed in his apartment, and he was careful to lock his door immediately upon entering and exiting. Had someone broken in? He glanced at the officer's feet. If drugs were involved, he would've brought a dog with him, but he had not.
"What's your relation to Sasuke Uchiha?" He asked him.
Itachi stared at the man before him, recognizing him to be one of his father's co-workers whom he recalled his father saying had retired the year before Sasuke entered college. "I'm his brother." He found himself responding. If this man had retired before Sasuke started school like his father had said, then how did he know his brother?
"Sir, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but your brother has been killed in a car accident."
Your brother has been killed in a car accident.
What was this feeling? It wasn't the same as forgetting a dentist appointment. When that happened, you simply called and rescheduled for another day.
Your little brother, your only surviving family, has been killed in a car accident.
And it wasn't nearly the same as being late to a meeting. While humiliating, you apologized, took your seat, and promised your boss you'd be more careful the next time.
He's dead and he's never coming back.
Even their father's sudden death of a heart attack at the age of 50, came nowhere close to something such as this. As untimely as it was, Itachi was forced to push his feelings to the side, having recently dealt with the death of their mother, to move back home to be with Sasuke when they needed each other the most.
But what did he have if Sasuke was gone?
"How?" He whispered faintly, the simple word draining the last few ounces of his composure. His hands were starting to shake and he could feel tears biting at the corners of his eyes.
"Driving under the influence." The officer stated evenly. "I'm sorry for your loss."
This wasn't happening. This couldn't happen. Itachi would've known that Sasuke was going out to drink with his friends. His friends would've stopped him, right? Somebody would've stopped him from getting into the car. In fact, if Itachi had known he was going to be drinking, he wouldn't have even allowed Sasuke to take his car keys with them for fear that this might happen.
But it did happen. And it happened because he didn't know that Sasuke was drinking. Sasuke had clearly made every decision himself. He was an adult now, living on his own, and there was nothing Itachi could do to stop him.
He screwed his eyes shut in a desperate attempt to shut everything out, the news, the police officer, and most of all, the pain.
He may have been successful in blocking out the officer's face, but he had failed to silence the thoughts spiraling out of control inside his head.
Sasuke is dead. And I couldn't do anything to stop him.
The moment he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at the cream colored ceiling of his bedroom, and took a few minutes for his heartbeat and breathing to return back to normal. A dream….He lazily rolled over to his side only to discover that he was covered in sweat. So much for catching a few extra minutes of sleep, he thought to himself, making a mental note to strip the bed of its covers before he left.
He picked up his phone where it sat on the nightstand and to his horror, found that he had less than fifteen minutes to shower, get dressed, and arrive to work on time.
Relenting to the notion that today, for the first time in a long time, he would be late to work, he pinched the fabric of the sheets beneath him, which, as he expected, were also soaked in his sweat.
Unwilling to lay back down on his sticky bed yet reluctant to get ready for the day, Itachi weighed the pros and cons of calling in sick. A quick glance at his phone reminded him that he was to be present for an office meeting at ten this morning and thus had no choice but to get ready for the day.
But first, he needed to take care of the bed sheets before the sweat seeped through the thin fabric and stained his mattress.
Quickly stripping the bed of its tarnished sheets, he bundled the sticky mass in his arms and tossed them into a corner to deal with later. With the sheets taken care of, Itachi gathered up his clothes and retreated to the bathroom to shower. In addition to his meeting this morning, he'd also scheduled to meet with a potential roommate later this afternoon. I guess the laundry will have to wait a little longer then, he wearily thought as he turned the shower dials and removed his shirt.
While he couldn't say that he was looking forward to the encounter after his argument with Sasuke concerning the matter, maybe, just maybe he'd be in for a surprise.
Author's note: When writing this chapter, I actually consulted the TV guide for a show that might have been playing around the time that Itachi was awake, and I kid you not, the show that was playing actually detailed an argument between the main characters about moving out. How ironic!
I think that this is my favorite chapter so far. Poor Itachi.
Until next time!
~Sasori33-001
PS The next chapter is a "Kisame" chapter~