Chapter 21 – The Man known as Uchiha Itachi
The story that she told everyone was "He decided to return to where he came from," and people generally left her alone at that kind of comment. She often reminded herself that it was for the best, since it was not like he belonged here anyway, or that he was supposed to be here in the first place.
It was a matter of planetary misalignment, dumb luck; the heaven's idea of making sport of her.
Sakura traced her thumb along the jagged line across the Leaf symbol of his forehead protector, the story over this mysterious line still untold and might never be uncovered in her lifetime. She brought it to her nose and inhaled whatever of his scent that seemed to linger on the blue cloth.
Before replacing it in the wooden box she had bought especially to store the headband, she brought the gleaming metal (she made certain to polish it every week) towards her lips and gave it a seal of her suppressed love. She secured the box with a padlock and shoved it back into the second drawer of her desk, the only vestige that his existence was not completely an illusion, locked away in her room and in her mind.
She glanced back at the emptier than usual apartment, eyes lingering on her black leather sofa, her round glass dining table and the white wall separating the living room from her bedroom.
Her bedroom, not theirs, for there was no theirs to share her bed or room with.
She slipped on her brown loafers and shut the door, slowly making her way to the lift.
There was no one to chivvy her, telling her the lift door was closing.
She felt something landed on her face; using her fingers she gently dabbed on her cheeks and was surprised to find water. It must be from the neighbour who recently moved in above her unit – an avid green finger and was just doing her daily round of watering her precious plants when some of it splashed off the leaves and landed on her.
That was right, there was no way the water came from her; after so long there were simply no more tears to be shed.
"It's been what, one month, two months since he played his vanishing card?"
"It's three months, twelve days, Deidara," Konan added softly at the head of their APEX classroom. Everyone, not just Deidara, appeared shocked; the first and last party they had felt like yesterday.
It was unimaginable how Itachi's appearance had touched each and every of the Akatsuki members' lives, how such a short period was enough to form a lasting bond that bounded them intangibly.
Sasori glanced at the empty desk one seat away, thinking back to the time they talked by the street alley and the certain way he spoke of his future.
He knew all along. I hope Sakura's doing fine on her own.
As the usual silence that seemed to have magnified following his departure ensued, Minato strode in, arms locked behind him. The depressed bunch immediately perked up.
"Is this it? You have news of his whereabouts?"
"Is he coming back Minato-sensei?" Minato felt his heart sank at their hopeful expressions and motioned for them to quiet down.
"That's not it. Even though the senior committee and I have been secretly conducting search missions for Itachi, we're still unable to locate him, not even in the State he supposedly came from," He informed regrettably.
"It's tough on you, sensei," Pein offered on behalf of the class and he nodded gratefully.
"We're doing what we can. What I've came is to tell you all you that your homeroom teacher Kanae Madara is back from his long-term vacation and you can expect him tomorrow."
"Who's that?" Hidan yawned from the back of the class.
"Maybe we should throw him a party too, hmm," Deidara chipped in half-heartedly, before realising what that did to the morale of the class.
Damn, if it was me who was suddenly gone without a word, I bet not a single one of them would notice, let alone be half as depressed as… I am now, hmm.
"You know, I still can't believe he left."
"I know."
"In the end, he's the same as my brother. They just do whatever they wish and do so without a word, without any warning," Sasuke commented bitterly as they went over one another's biology assignment in the mostly deserted canteen after school.
When Sakura broke the news of Itachi's departure to Sasuke, she might as well have announced she murdered his entire family – the boy took the blow like a bus that ramped over him, twice.
In a way, it brought the two closer than before, to the point of excluding Naruto out of their regular after school work sessions, since he could no longer catch up on their post-Itachi lingos and decoding it to him proved to be too much of a nuisance.
Sakura put down the loose sheets of papers filled with Sasuke's impeccable handwriting and took a sip of her orange soda.
"Sasuke-kun, hasn't it occurred to you that one day he may come back?"
"'One day' huh? I wonder when." She knew he did not mean to be sarcastic, but the remark cut at her heart and mocked the diminutive part of her that was stubbornly clinging on to hope.
"Trust me, he'll be back." I just don't know when. Sasuke stopped his rapid scanning of the worksheet and held Sakura's resolute gaze.
"What makes you so sure?" Sakura pushed her drink over to Sasuke's side; he took an obedient sip.
"Well… He left something important behind, and I'm waiting for him to come back and pick it up." Sasuke wondered what would make a formidable ninja like Uchiha Itachi deemed indispensable enough to make a U-turn. He certainly hoped it was not an accessory, like the girly necklace that he was always wearing.
"And when he does that, I'll be sure to make him stay," She concluded just as Sasuke unwarily finished her drink.
"For good," Sasuke added for good measure.
"For good."
Miraculously, Sasuke was spared for finishing her drink; she was not usually this big-hearted.
For some reason, her drinks always tasted better than the crap he never failed to order.
Waving goodbye to Shizune by the reception counter, Sakura descended the last step of Konoha Hospital and joined the passers-by on the pavement to wherever it was they were headed for. No matter the hour or day, there were always people; Sakura had no idea where everyone was going, or where she should be going now. Did it matter? Should there be a definite destination every time we put our foot down and started walking?
Sasuke offered to send her home and she had kindly refused; it was not like he was her boyfriend or anything and it would not feel right to accept.
Plus it reminded her too much of the time Itachi transformed into Sasuke to fetch her home.
Three months and thirteen days and the wound remained as raw as it had when it first opened.
Her phone vibrated in her brown jacket and she slipped it out to discover a message from Hinata. It was a blurry photograph of Hinata and Ino forming a heart shape with their arms, taken by the internal Japanese courtyard of Hinata's mansion.
Sa-chan, U R not alone! Keep smiling; he may be watching you right now! ;)
Ino & Hinata
She was lucky to have them, really. She should be counting her blessings instead of mopping around and putting a damper on everyone's moods. She turned and caught her reflection by the tea house's window – needless to say she looked terrible. Like ghost met a human-who-looked-even-scarier-than-a-ghost kind of terrible. Oops, seemed like she forgot to dab on some concealers and powder before she left the hospital.
The street was flooded with people, but it felt emptier than it did in her house. To escape the onslaught of strangers, she went by the longer route, along the Uchiha District. Maybe she could drop Sasuke a visit, them being close confidantes and all. Since the day he admitted that he was 'a bit lonely' in the huge mansion by himself, she had been occasionally dropping by to offer her modest company-
He was slowly making his way towards her, closing the distance with every steady thud of his sandals. The street was vacant spared for the owl hooting by the overhead branch of Sasuke's mansion, adding in to the unnecessary suspense.
Sakura's eyes remained fixed ahead of her, her feet seemingly welded to the concrete pavement as he brushed by her without stopping or sparing her a glance. She gripped her fist against her pounding chest, the tears rapidly welling up behind her startled eyes.
Had he forgotten her? She swallowed back her tears, trepidation and twisted around.
"I-Itachi…?" She called out in a timid whisper. The man's footsteps faltered, as though being held back by an invisible string. He was donning a maroon oversized cloak with a hoodie drooping by his shoulders, his ebony pony-tail tucked beneath the cloak. His hair was so black that it seemed to blend in with the louring sky. He did not even turn around when he finally spoke.
"You've got the wrong person." He carried on walking, her existence already a thing of the past. Sakura balled her hands to quell her raging emotions. Was this how things were going to be?
Not unless I do something before it was too late!
"Stop right there, Itachi!" Unexpectedly, he stopped. He waited patiently as Sakura marched up to his front, finally allowing himself to meet her seething sparkling eyes. He sighed in resignation when he realised she was not moving out of his way, and it would be uncouth of him to shove the lady aside, unreasonable or not.
"What do you want?" His voice was weary, detached and held the slightest hint of malice. It was day one with him all over again.
"What do I want?" She repeated the question like it was the most foolish thing to ask. "Really, Itachi? Is this how you're treating me after leaving without a word?" Instead of explaining himself, he did the skipping-around-your-question-to-throw-it-back-at-you gimmick in his typical ninja fashion.
"How are you so certain I'm who you're looking for?" He asked without a hint of emotion. If not for years of cultivated mannerism or the fact that this was the man of her dreams, she would have kicked him in the groin and stormed off right away, with a 'thanks for nothing' in toll.
"'I'll be protecting you with my life till the day I'm gone, Sakura,' you said those words to me, don't you remember? I'm the witness!"
"…" She inhaled some of the freezing air to extinguish some of the inferno within her. This was not how she was expecting their reunion to unfold… She reached out to touch his face, to feel those smooth grooves along her palm again, then thought better of it and pointed at his lips instead.
"Those lips," She began in a wavering voice and tapped the same finger to her lips, "You left a similar imprint on my lips; any memories?" When he refused to utter any words or betrayed a hint of recognition, she took a small, feeble step forward, her eyes a painting of woes and regrets.
"And there's no way I can mistake you for anyone else!" Still, nothing.
That was it; he had really forgotten about her and there was nothing she could do to make him remember.
As Sakura's heart began its hard descend from denial to despondency, Itachi thought for a second and locked his crimson eyes to her surprised jades.
"If my memory serves me well, you thought I was the singer when we first met." For a moment, it was just them holding one another's gazes, the world but a bleary background against their almost audible heartbeat accompanied by the persistent hooting. Then Sakura could not keep her straight face any longer.
"It's you… It's you! You're back!" She jumped, exploding with ebullience and lunged herself onto a smiling Itachi. She took a generous whiff of his musky scent, detecting a hint of blood and smoke, but that just added to the authenticity of the man in her bosom so she did not mind.
"You asshole, how can you leave just like that? Don't you feel anything?" Itachi shut his eyes and allowed himself to reminisce on what was lost, what he had and the feelings that this woman had conjured in his near frosted heart. No one had held onto him the way she did, as though trusting him to not let her fall.
He was still surprised that there was someone who was glad that he was alive.
"Why did you pretend to not recognise me?" She cried out softly as she hit his solid chest with her fists in indignation. Itachi looked down at her with his apologetic and gentle eyes.
"I assumed it would be better for the both of us if you have moved on and forgotten about me."
"Like hell I can do that; what kind of person do you take me for?" She retorted angrily, but her insides were welling with intense relief and even more love for this guy who had made her so miserable with his absence. Even after months of no contact, she was still in his mind and he clearly cared about her. She did not care that she was blatantly staring at him; she needed to know this was real.
He gently pushed her away, his thumb brushing the tender skin underneath her eyes.
"Have you not been sleeping well?" She clutched onto the wrist of his hand, afraid that if he broke the contact, he would disappear from her sight once again.
"Yes; I've been waiting for a certain someone to come back and hug me to sleep."
"I wonder who that lucky man is." Sakura took the hand stroking her cheeks and interlocked their fingers between their bodies.
"He's standing before me," She whispered without missing a beat.
"Sakura."
"Yes?"
"I love you, and I'm sorry it took me so long to say it."
"Oh Itachi, Is that… is that true?" Blame it on his fate, but Sakura never failed to doubt his words at the most critical moments, and he was not confident he could repeat something so mushy without cringing.
"I'm here, isn't that proof enough?" He said instead. Sakura was seeing heart-shaped stars, meaning any time she was going to wake up and be let down by reality. Unless…
"S-Say that again." Itachi should have seen that coming. He took a deep breath and looked Sakura earnestly in her eyes, not about to back out when he had come this far.
"Sakura, I love you. Would you like to be my woman?" His words were calm, steady and the warm radiating from his palm assured her that this was it; he was finally back.
"No…" She had to smother her giggle when Itachi's shoulders sagged and some of the light left his eyes. "Of course I do, silly. Now kiss me already; I've waited months for this!" The glint re-entered his eyes and he flipped off a tear of happiness from Sakura's cheeks.
"Do you love to be kissed by me so much?" She nodded solemnly, eliciting a relieved smile from Itachi as he held her chin and leaned forward…
"I-Itachi?!" Sakura's eyes snapped apart at the familiar voice of the intruder.
"Oh shit, it's Sasuke-kun! We've got to-" Her frantic calls blended and dissolved into the murky night sky as Itachi kissed her like she was the only thing that mattered. Oh I love you too, Itachi, so much that it hurts, she thought between their teasing of tongues, conveying all her brimming love for this wonderful man.
"Oh, god, are you fucking kidding me, Itachi and Sakura?!" Sakura released a short laugh against Itachi's lips, but Itachi did not seem to care and they carried on long after Sasuke's hurried and embarrassed footsteps deserted them.
Love, it was the only thing capable of mending a broken soul, even if it meant travelling across space.
"Oh yes, did you manage to see your brother?" She murmured against his lips when they broke apart for air.
"As a matter of fact, I did." He answered half-heartedly as he fiddled with her hair.
"Did he apologise for killing you?" That sounded odd but having a man fell out of a poster was hardly normal and it happened anyway.
"No… But he did find out about the rationale behind my actions." Sakura mulled over his words before deciding to forgive his brother; she had him to partly thank for meeting Itachi after all.
"Did you pass him the tablet and tell him how to use it?" Itachi long realised the pouch where he stored the tablet was missing its weight and shook his head.
"There wasn't time." And I might have lost it during the battle with Kabuto.
"… Then did you tell him that you miss him?"
"No… But I did tell him something else."
"What is it?"
"Sakura, is this an interrogation or a love reunion?" Sakura felt her insides turning into warm goo at the word 'love.' She tiptoed to press a lingering kiss on the lips of her favourite ninja that left them giddy and blushing.
"Itachi…"
"Yes, Sakura?"
"Welcome home."
Epilogue – Wish Granted
"You don't have to forgive me…"You fool! Who asked you to sacrifice yourself for a village that doesn't even give a fuck about you? Why did you always have to choose the toughest path? Why did you have to be a genius when you were born?
"No matter what you decide to do from now on…" Uchiha Sasuke could only stare at his brother's shimmering form as he moved closer and closer to him. Stop talking and listen to yourself… You said you should have seen things from my point of view but here you are, talking to me like you're leaving… If you truly know what I want, don't tell me to decide things on my own; let us decide on things together!
When his sluggish footsteps finally reached Sasuke, Itachi's slender fingers clasped the back of Sasuke's head. Instead of raising his fingers, the way he usually did, he bumped Sasuke forehead to forehead, slipping him a smile that he had no idea he missed so much since he last seen it nine years ago.
"I will always love you."
Sasuke was confused – because which loving brother would smile so endearingly to you only to leave you behind because he loved you?
He continued to stare blankly ahead at the empty cave long after remnants of Itachi had vaporised into the stale air. The world that he had set out to explore and conquer suddenly felt hollow and insipid.
He did not even get to say 'I love you too, nii-san,' before he left just as quickly as he came.
That was just how big brothers were, he thought disgruntledly, always doing whatever they pleased and never leaving a decent explanation until it was too late.
Gosh, he really hated that about Itachi.
However, that was also what made Itachi so different from any other people he knew and any other brothers in his clan.
Clan…
What is a clan?
What is a village?
What is a shinobi?
Fuck, I can't believe he just left me again.
Sasuke clenched his fists in frustration and helplessness, for not plucking the courage to apologise and missing the chance to unload tales of his adventures since deserting Konoha. He always wanted to share those stories with somebody he could trust, somebody other than the over-eager Jugo or the man-deprived Karin. No comments for Suigetsu.
He felt consumed by anger and blamed the shinobi system for tearing them apart, for turning Itachi into a killing tool just because he did not know how to refuse.
Glancing at the floor with roaring hatred, he noticed something sitting a few inches from his feet.
"What's this?" He bent to pick up the tablet from the spot Itachi stood moments ago. There was a note on the black glass surface, written in his neat familiar script:
'How to activate the device,' followed by a numerical bullet point of terse instructions. Setting his katana aside, he sat on the frigid earth of the cavernous space, wondering why in the world would Itachi possess such a weird machine, why did it not disappear along with him and what was its function.
His head flipped back and forth from the note and the tablet, heedless to what he was about to find out about the untold side of his brother's life. Who knows, death in this world might not be the worst possible thing for Itachi, for the best brother he might ever really had.
End.
Thank You readers for your support; I really appreciate everyone for taking the time to read this story. I've uploaded a separate extra so do check it out under my profile (Contains mature contents so don't check it out if you're uncomfortable about it ;] )