Don't Lose Ur Head
Just as Shisui, Itachi and I were about to start our battle with Kabuto, Sasuke chose to enter the cave. Itachi groaned in frustration. Shisui and I snickered in amusement. Sasuke looked both angry and confused all at once. It was a lovely situation, really.
"You always tell me later, later, later! I'm done waiting. I want an explanation now!" Sasuke told Itachi harshly.
"I explained everything to you months ago, Sasu-chan…" I complained with an eyeroll. "Can't you two save the catching up for after the war?"
"Sasuke, I will explain everything later." Itachi stated, his face void of emotions.
"Wow, Sasuke is tall?" Shisui asked himself out loud, earning a chuckle from me. "I almost didn't recognize him!"
"Well… You guys are around the same age now so it's not that strange." I stated with a smile. "But we're getting off track! We have a Reanimation Jutsu to stop!"
"You think you can? You can't use genjutsu on me when I can't see. With my Sage Chakra and all the abilities, I've absorbed, I'm so strong that you won't be able to subdue me without actually going for the kill." Kabuto said, sounding like he genuinely believed it. "The Reanimation Jutsu can't be stopped by anyone other than me."
"Yeah, yeah…" I muttered and looked him up and down as he stood up and turned around to face us. An unconscious Anko was laying behind him, and by the looks of it, he was using her connection to Orochimaru to strengthen his jutsu. "You know, arrogance is the number one killer of Shinobi?"
"Oh I know that you can kill me, but that won't stop the jutsu." Kabuto smirked at us. "And in this cave, I have the advantage!"
While Kabuto was correct to assume that all his newly gained abilities stopped us from trapping him in a normal Sharingan-based genjutsu and that we wouldn't attempt to kill him, his own arrogance kept him from winning. He was predictable. That however, did not make it any easier for us to make him release the Reanimation Jutsu.
"I think we'll have to use that jutsu." Itachi stated gravely, and I quickly understood what he meant.
"What jutsu?" Sasuke asked us, and I felt a strange sense of Déjà Vu to a young Sasuke following us everywhere, trying to learn everything we knew.
"You've already seen one of the forbidden Uchiha Genjutsu's in action." I started explaining with a slight frown. "The Izanami was originally created to stop those who used the Izanagi from going to far. The prize of both jutsu's are equal, which is why Itachi is not doing it!"
"It need to be done, Akira." Itachi shot back with an eyeroll. "You're being emotional."
"Oh please, like I care about if you turn half-blind!" I snapped at him. "But I gave you my old eyes and you will not ruin them!"
"He can always get my old ones." Sasuke proposed with a casual shrug.
"I will not let him ruin my eyes! They're beautiful and saved his life countless times!" I hissed and crossed my arms childishly. "And I'm slightly concerned that we discuss trading eyes so casually!"
"I'm disappointed that none of you thought to ask me." Shisui shot into the conversation dramatically, sounding like the world was ending. "I'm hurt, truly!"
"Oh…" the remaining three of us realized that he did indeed have a good point.
For some reason, I had gotten so used to the idea of my nii-san being Reanimated that I had started considering him as alive. Like he had never left me in the first place. Yet the knowledge that he wasn't truly alive hit me like a slap once Kabuto was trapped in the Izanami. With the Reanimation Jutsu about to be released, I quickly understood that Shisui-nii-san would disappear as well. Once again leaving me without my nii-san. Still, I couldn't exactly stop Shisui from releasing the Reanimation Jutsu. My own selfish wishes weren't more important than the lives of thousands. We were in the middle of a war; I couldn't let my emotions drive me.
"Nii-san…" I whispered softly as Shisui made Kabuto release the jutsu. My eyes started watering, regardless of how hard I tried to keep them dry.
"Itachi, I've always considered you my otouto. So please take care of our imouto for me." Shisui started saying as he looked at Itachi. He proceeded to turn his attention over to me. "My little Akira, I'm so grateful that I found you that day. You've grown up into a beautiful and capable Kunoichi. Regardless of what happens in the future and what has happened in the past; know that I'll always watch over you."
Now tears were streaming freely down my face, and I made no attempts to hide it.
"Please don't leave." I whimpered softly, and suddenly I felt just like the thirteen-year-old me begging her nii-san to come back again. "Please…"
"Don't cry, Akira. You're the strongest person I know, you'll be fine." Shisui insisted and pulled me into a hug. "And remember that no matter what happens, I'll always love you, imouto."
Then his body wittered away while his soul was pulled to the sky. He smiled down at us, looking glad, as he left. 'Nii-san…' I felt Itachi pull me into a hug, his tears dampening my shoulder.
"We'll still be alright, right?" I whispered, not sure if I was trying to reassure Itachi of that or make him reassure me.
"We still have each other." Itachi sounded just as unsure as I was. It was rather ironic, we were both trying to keep it together for the other person, but we know the other could tell that we felt like falling apart.
"And little Sasu-chan." I added, trying to smile through the tears.
"Yeah, you're right about that." The mention of Sasuke was enough to snap Itachi out of his silent crying. Sasuke always had the ability to bring light to Itachi, whether it was on purpose or not. I pulled away from the hug, noticing Sasuke watching us awkwardly, clearly not knowing what to do in this situation.
"Sasuke, c'mon! Family hug!" I called out to the younger Uchiha. He slowly walked over and the second he was close enough Itachi and I pulled him into a tight hug. I clutched onto the two boys as hard as I could. They were my only living family now, my brothers.
"I think now, I should have been more open with you from the start." Itachi told Sasuke after releasing us from the hug. "Maybe things wouldn't have turned out so bad if I had let you in on everything from the start, instead of pushing you away."
"We're not asking you to forgive us, Sasuke. You don't have to follow our ideals and plans." I added to what Itachi had said.
"Just know that no matter what you chose, we'll love you, always." Itachi finished and pulled Sasuke into another hug.
"I don't know what I should do. I'm… confused." Sasuke admitted and looked straight at Itachi. "I don't think I can forgive what the village did to you. Either of you."
"Huh? Me?" I asked him in confusion. While I could understand where he was coming from regarding Itachi, I had much bigger problems understanding what he meant about me.
"Nee-chan, you've been through just as much as nii-san. You too lost your family, were forced to know everything that happened to nii-san and not able to do anything about it. And once you were finally able to save him, the village once again demanded that you take charge and save them." Sasuke deadpanned at me.
"Sasuke, that's the life I agreed to take by becoming a Kunoichi." I told him with a soft smile. "My Shisui-nii-san taught me what life I would lead by making that choice, and I did it with a smile on my face."
"But you shouldn't have to. Why should you two have to save everyone for the mistakes of the older generations?" Sasuke asked us with a frown.
"Because the job of the new generation is always to surpass the previous generation and create a better world from the upcoming generation." I answered swiftly. If it was one thing I knew for certain, it was why I lived and fought for a destroyed world. "We fight for you, Sasu-chan. For our future children, siblings and friends. And once it's your turn to surpass us, we pray that the world we left you is better than the one we started with."
"We fight so no one of your generation will have to make the same choices we had to make." Itachi continued my explanation softly, smiling brotherly at Sasuke. "You don't have to live like I did, or feel like I did, but you need to understand that everything I've done has been for you."
Sasuke looked ready to answer when a large explosion blew away a large part of the cave-roof. At the top of the hole, was a orange haired boy, and a blue-skinned one with sharp teeth.
"Phew, Sasuke, we've been looking all over for you." The blue-skinned one called out. Then he noticed Itachi and I. "Oh was this a bad time?"
Sasuke looked from Itachi to me and back at Itachi again. His gaze had moved between us for the past two minutes or so, as if trying to read our expressions. With how much time he spent on it, I concluded that he wasn't very good at reading people. 'Then again, it might just be that Itachi and I are good at concealing our emotions.' I thought and raised one eyebrow as Sasuke's eyes met mine again.
"You think it's a bad idea." Sasuke concluded and I rolled my eyes.
"Sasuke, what we think really doesn't matter here." I stated and tightened my half-up-ponytails. "If you decided to use Anko's curse seal to awaken Orochimaru, and then use him to Reanimate the previous Hokage, that's your business. Seriously, we just gave you this awesome speech about how you should do what you want."
"Though we should probably warn you that we'll fight on Konoha's side." Itachi added as an afterthought.
"I'm going to do it." Sasuke concluded, his face void of emotions. Probably because of his Taka Teammates.
"Okay, you do that. I'll head for the battlefield. From what Shikaku relayed earlier, everyone is gathering to fight about now." I smiled at Sasuke and stood on my tiptoes and ruffled his hair. "But I'll see you later, little Sasu-chan."
"I'll go with you." Itachi said, surprising me slightly. "Just to make sure Orochimaru doesn't try to kill you again."
"Oh right…" I nodded my head, fully aware of that possibility. "I forgot about his obsession with Sasuke for a minute."
"I'll catch up with you as soon as I can." Itachi told me and I nodded.
"Just don't lose your head." I smirked at him and took off.
