Chapter warnings for suicide.It's a short chapter. I'm sorry about that. Enjoy either way...

"Lunch is ready!"

The Uchiha household was not the kind where one would hear the sound of rushing feet pattering down the stairs at the mention of food but still this was too quiet. The atmosphere from earlier had still not cleared and some annoyance were still definitely in their bloodstreams but Mikoto was ready to put the past behind them and move on.

Sasuke had a mind to refuse lunch and dinner altogether but he still went downstairs because he his mother made one of his favorite dishes and he didn't want to make her sad or angry. The scowl on his face never cleared as he took his seat on the huge dining table while his mother set the food.

She was done but Itachi had not come down yet. "Sasuke please get Itachi, would you?" The boy only scowled harder, he really didn't want to talk right now. Nevertheless he went upstairs to fetch his brother. Why couldn't a maid do it or something?!

"Itachi? Mother says to come down for lunch." Sasuke knocked on the older raven's door and announced but he received no reply, which was queer. "Itachi?" Sasuke called. He opened the door because Itachi never really locked his door and saw the guy sleeping. "Hn." He went out of the room and closed the door behind him.

The only reason Sasuke went back inside Itachi's room was because of his brother's sleeping position. The boy was an observant person by nature so he never missed obvious details too quickly. Everything was wrong with Itachi from the moment Sasuke knocked to his sleeping position.

For one, Itachi was a very light sleeper. The slightest movements awoke him so he had to have heard Sasuke knocking and calling his name. The second reason Sasuke was uneasy was the teen's sleeping position; be was sleeping on his back.

Itachi never slept on his back because he had a chest condition that caused him to cough hysterically when he did.

The third reason was because of the pill bottle at the base of his brother's bed. Itachi was meticulous, he would always return whatever he took back to it's position but that pill bottle was out of place. It belonged to the kitchen. Reason number four was a note placed under the bottle.

"I-Itachi?" Sasuke walked cautiously toward the sleeping raven and picked the pill bottle. It shocked him to find it empty. Sasuke had used this just yesterday and there were still more than a few left. The boy was beginning to get scared now. "Itachi?"

Sasuke picked up the note with shaking hands and read through it. His black eyes widened to the size of satellite dishes as the scribbled words began to registered in his brain.

Sasuke,

I really hope you're happy. I'll always love you.

"Itachi!" Sasuke screamed and threw the note aside, scrambling up to shake his still brother awake. "This is not funny, this is not funny! Don't joke with me you jerk!" He was delirious with the rush of emotions that surged within him. It couldn't be. Itachi would not do that to him. "MOTHER! FATHER! OH GOD! ITACHI!"

The commotion drew Mikoto and Fugaku in. "What is the matter!?" Mikoto asked as she ran into the room. "What is wrong with Itachi?"

"Mother...we need to take him to the hospital, I can't...I can't lose him, I'm so sorry, I don't want 'Tachi to die." Sasuke sobbed, shakily holding up the pill bottle and the suicide note.

"What?" Mikoto's hands flew to her mouth in shock. "Ah!" She screamed. Fugaku was shell shocked too but he was still able to spring into action.

"Sasuke, get the car ready!" The man screamed as he ran over to his limp eldest son and lifted him. Sasuke shakily got on his feet and ran outside the room while Mikoto helped her husband to piggyback Itachi.

The journey to the hospital was the most treacherous thing the Uchiha family had ever experienced but the worst news they had ever received came when the surgeon announced that they could not perform immediate surgery on Itachi.

"What do you mean you can't?!" Mikoto was on the verge of grabbing the man by his collar if not for Fugaku's hold on her. Meanwhile Sasuke was crouched on the floor looking dazedly at the pill bottle that was still in his hand. Itachi was really serious about this.

"Aspirin." The boy's whisper was miraculously heard over Mikoto's angry shouting. Everyone turned their attention towards him. "The drug he overdosed was aspirin, a blood thinner. If a surgery is performed on him, he would bleed to death. He planned this so that he would die either way; by the drug's effect or by bleeding to death."

"I'm afraid he is correct." The doctor affirmed Sasuke's words and continued saying some other things that he didn't hear. He could not hear anything at all as the full impact of everything hit hard.

"Just leave me alone!"

Sasuke's own words came back to him.

"Leave me the hell alone! I don't want you in my life! I wish you were not here for everyone to be comparing me to. I wish you were gone!"

He was so angry back then, he didn't know that his words had affected Itachi more than he assumed.

"I-if I'm gone, would you be happy?"

"Joyous even!"

Sasuke's heart rate began to pick up, causing his chest to constrict and his breaths to come in small sharp gasps.

Sasuke,

I really hope you're happy. I'll always love you.

"A-ah!" His chest hurt as though a dagger was pierced through it. His hands gripped the area above his heart in an attempt to stop the pain but it kept getting stronger. "Ah!" Breathing laboured, Sasuke collapsed to his side as he hyperventilated and asphyxiated.

"Sasuke!"

His mother's scream vaguely echoed in his head as well as a foreign voice shouting for a crash cart. But Sasuke was long gone in subconsciousness. He couldn't see but he could hear what was going on around him.

Even then he could not assimilate anything. Not the way he was placed unto a stretcher and wheeled into an emergency room. Not his mother's calls for him. Not the nurse performing CPR on him or the sound of the defibrillator. Nothing. He was lost in his memories.

Something like this had happened before that he had forgotten. No, not forgotten. It had just been so long that he no longer remembered the incident. Other than Tobi, Sasuke and Itachi had another cousin, Shisui.

Itachi really looked up to Shisui and in turn Sasuke admired the person his brother admired. Itachi was a genius but Shisui was better. He never thought anybody could beat his brother but Shisui always did. In his eyes, his cousin was a god.

Shisui was perfect. He was so friendly, brilliant and very popular. He was the absolute best. He had everything; wealth, talent, good looks, a set life, quality education, everything. He was always happy and making jokes.

But he died.

Sasuke learnt later when he grew older that Shisui actually committed suicide. In front of Itachi. He jumped down a building and plummeted to his death right in front of Itachi.

Sasuke remembered the depression his brother went through before he sprang back up with the help of therapy and music. Nobody mentioned Shisui again so he stayed forgotten until now. The teen had always wondered why Shisui suicided when everything was perfect for him.

His life was not difficult. He didn't have expectations to meet. He wasn't called a disappointment at every thing he could not do well because he was so talented. So why did he kill himself?

When Kakashi told him the story of his father he also wondered the same thing. Why did they feel the need to quit? Their lives were so perfect so why? Now Sasuke knew better.

Behind his brother's smile there had always been a hidden pain. He was just too blindsided by anger to notice that he was not the only one being pressured to be something he was not. There was always desolation hidden behind his stoic façade.

Sasuke,

I really hope you're happy. I'll always love you.

He was not happy. He was definitely not happy.

Xxx melody xxX

Fugaku didn't know what to think about what was happening. He was about to lose both of his sons in a single day and why? Because of a mishap that involved him yelling and almost hitting them in anger?

Mikoto just kept crying hopelessly as they waited for the surgery to be over. While they could not risk cutting his skin, the doctors could still suction the undigested drugs out of Itachi's stomach by passing a tube through his mouth. Then the rest was up to Itachi.

He had been given antitoxins to help his liver break down the drugs faster so it was up to whether he really wanted to leave or not.

Mikoto didn't want him to leave, neither did Fugaku or Sasuke who was still unconscious after that cardiac arrest. Today would be written down as the scariest and worst day in the Uchiha household.

Xxx melody xxX

Sasuke stepped through the door of Amaterasu cafe. He knew Izumi but he had not known that she was Itachi's girlfriend until some days ago when the boy was absently going through Itachi's phone. The lock screen wallpaper was of Sasuke when he was younger and the home screen wallpaper was of himself and Izumi, looking at each other the way lovers would.

There were missed calls from her displayed on the notification bar so he assumed that she was worried. That was when his mother came inside his room and recognized her name. She told him about how Itachi was forced to break up with her. Sasuke had been angry at his father when he heard.

He sighed.

He didn't really like talking about it but Izumi deserved to know the truth. Sasuke walked over to the counter to speak with her.

"Welcome to Amaterasu cafe, what can I get you?" Izumi asked automatically before looking up and recognising who stood in front of her. "Oh, hey Sasuke! How are you doing?"

"Can I speak with you alone?" Sasuke requested.

"Sure?" Izumi said unsurely. "Is there anything wrong?" She asked out of concern. Sasuke did not reply which made her shift uncomfortably. "Can you wait till it's closing hour? It's not very far away."

Sasuke nodded and went to sit at a table in awaiting for when the cafe closed. He was given iced lemon tea but it remained untouched. This made Izumi the more uncomfortable as she changed the sign on the door to closed.

"Thanks for waiting." She muttered. Sasuke was not himself today and it was not making her happy. What happened to him? "What did you want to talk about?" She asked.

"You're nii-san's girlfriend." Sasuke stated.

"We broke up." Izumi retorted. "I never did know why." She added sadly.

"He was forced to."

"What?" The brunette scowled.

"My father threatened him with you so he broke up with you to keep you safe but that's not the only reason I'm here." Sasuke inhaled. It still hurt to say but he had to tell Izumi what was going on. "Nii-san suicided." He breathed.

"What?!" Izumi gasped. "W-what do you mean?! How- why- what?!" She was at loss for words. "Itachi did what?!"

"Overdosed on aspirin. The doctors managed to save him but he's in a coma right now. We don't know when he would wake up." Sasuke explained. He watched how Izumi cried. He could not cry because he had no tears left in his eyes.

Please! Suicide is not the way out of anything. I don't know who needs to hear this. Every cloud has a silver lining no matter how dark they are. Don't quit, dattebayo! Things would look up! You just need to wait, pray and believe.