Chapter Twelve: My Only Wish…
Sasuke woke up the next morning, surely he remembered what had happened Ryumi and Itachi, a match against the 4th hokage, two people appearing out of nowhere then… "Hey this is my.." Sasuke scanned the surroundings and found himself in his room, properly cleaned and everything is neat. "Why am I here?" he asked. It was like awaking from a dream. He heard someone downstairs so he went down in a hurry and scampered through the stairs. "Lunch time" the woman said, "Mom?" Sasuke thought. The woman with jet-black hair and angelic face peered down at him while smiling gleefully, "this must be a dream" Sasuke said, "no it is not" his mom said "but" Sasuke protested, "One day…" his mom said as she began arranging the table wares. "We get to live with you guys for one day" she said, though inside her one-day is not enough to fill everything up. Hearing this, Sasuke stared on the floor, his mother heard sobs, "Why just one day?" he cried, his mother immediately came to him and hugged him. "It is enough for us" she said, "to see how much you and you're brother have grown, to see how much the two of you become stronger and t have grown to be so handsome" his mother then wiped the tears from Sasuke's eyes. "You better call your brother and your father outside" she said wiping her own tears. "He is here too? Everything is all right now?" Sasuke said, "After what he did?" "Yes, everything is fine now, we love him as much as we love you, now get going now soup is getting cold"
So Sasuke ran forth outside and saw everyone. The Uchiha's territory, the clan was alive, all Uchiha's were busy with their lives those who died are well… alive. Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes but smiled instead. "Sasuke" a stoic voice called him, he knew the voice very well. He looked and there he saw his father and brother, "Father!" Sasuke said as he ran to greet. No to embrace his father, his father merely smiled at him, "you look strong" his father said, "as expected of my children" his father said, Sasuke looked at Itachi then both laughed, their father laughed with them as they entered the house. "What is going on?" his mother said in a curious tone. "Boys have just grown as I want them to be" his dad said, everyone sat and said grace before they ate.
"So this must have been life if you were with us" Sasuke said, "Yeah, well it's good but I still don't know why you guys abandoned this place" his father said, "I have just taught Itachi how to take care of everything while we're gone, you must be honored the two of you.." his faher continued, "you own all of this land" "We do?" Sasuke asked "Everything" Itachi said, "Wow" Sasuke said helping himself with his mom's cooking. They haven't done this for years, eating together as a family. "But then, you'll have to go away too right?" Sasuke asked, "Well" his father said, "Living is good but rest is better, you better look at the bright side of things" he said, "Ok, nii-san" give me one. "If everyone is alive" Itachi began. Drinking first. "You and Akane would get married" There was a twisted look on Sasuke's face. "Akane-chan?" Sasuke said.
Akane is the most irritating, noisiest girl Sasuke has ever met, and she is his cousin. "Why?" he asked irritably, "It's a tradition marrying ones cousin, father was the one who made the arrangement" Itachi answered. "Well, whom were you supposed to get married to?" Sasuke asked, "Secret" Itachi answered as his mother and father laughed.
After eating, Itachi and Sasuke were asked to leave the clan for a while, their father said, it's a surprise. So Itachi and Sasuke walked to the heart of Konoha. "Sasuke.." Itachi said, Sasuke looked at his brother in the eyes, which was black and more relaxed. "Yeah?" he answered, "I am sorry" he said, both stopped walking they stared at each other. Sasuke felt something in his throat. "This must have been life for you, I took it away, you would have been better this way" Itachi said. Sasuke smiled, "It's It's ok now, kick the ground and move on right?" Sasuke said, "It happened, I'm just glad I got to be with them again" Sasuke said as he began walking, "Race you off the village!" Sasuke said as he began to run Itachi smiled and was right behind him.
They arrived by a big house, "Where is this?" Sasuke asked, there were clashes of things being thrown here and there, Itachi sighed, when he was about to open the door, Yondaime slid in, "Yondaime-sensei?" Itachi said, "It's Yumi, hide, I must hide!" he said as he teleported. A woman went out as well, "Yumi-sama?" Itachi said, a beautiful woman looked at the two, "Oh Darling!" she said as she embraced both Itachi and Sasuke in a tightening grip, "Oh you two have grown so much, They are inside, please enter" she said as she slowly let go of them, "well I better leave you two, I have to go finish something" she said as she tailed Yondaime.
"Are they always like that?" Sasuke asked, "Yeah" Itachi said. So Itachi and Sasuke entered and were greeted by Natsume holding Naruto upside down, "Good morning" Ryumi said as she gestured both Sasuke and Itachi to sit down. They have just finished their lunch. Aya was reading a book and Ryumi was drinking tea. "What's Naruto doing here?" Sasuke asked, "Well" Aya began "Just so happens that Dad was the one who adopted him and so he is our brother" she said, "I really cant believe it" Aya sighed. "He eats nonstop and he ate my ring!" Natsume said shaking Naruto. "You better stop it Natsume, he doesn't look too good" Ryumi said, so Natsume let go of Naruto.
"It's so boring" Aya whined as Ryumi washed the dishes, "What do you want to do?" Sasuke asked, "I know! Let's go see the Third!" Naruto said, hearing this Ryumi stopped what she was doing. "Right" Ryumi said. Finally everything was cleared off. They walked up to the palace, Sasuke, Naruto and Aya quarreling every now and then, upon entering, they met Kakashi Rin and Obito outside, Rin came along with them but Itachi, Obito and Kakashi were left outside to talk.
Ryumi was silent all the time while Rin was busy chatting with Natsume and the trio is still arguing. Finally they met, in the hall where everyone seemed to be fixing up Yondaime and Yumi. Konohamaru and Asuma were with Sarutobi, Tsunade and Shizune were there as well of course Jiraiya was there too; there were jounins as well. It was like a reunion, well just so happened that Yumi was aware of how Yondaime treated the children when she died and now she is very furious about it and of course Yondaime didn't know what to say, he became the Yondaime everyone knew so well, a grown up version of Naruto only stronger. Of course it was all up to Aya and Ryumi to reconcile them, Yumi and Yondaime's points of view are always different but they got along real great but not this time, the 3rd merely laughed and Tsunade was approved of Yumi while Jiraiya was with Yondaime, and they even made everything worst. But in the end, everything went well with Yondaime acting goofy again.
For some time Ryumi spend some time with the 3rd hokage, everyone knew they were close. This time Ryumi didn't cry… she was happy… later on the souls will fade, everyone will disappear. And so they took pictures. Pictures of everyone how they wished they could remain like this forever but then one day… just one day was given to them. There was another party in town, this time commemorating everyone. The Uchiha's, the Hokage's, those who died in action
Everyone in Konoha were seated in a long table, jounins, chuunins, genins, hokages, everyone were enjoying their last few moments together. You would see how they laughed and enjoyed each other's company, the former team rivals, the fathers would be telling their childhood experiences, everyone would laughed at Akimichi's stories about their Chuunin and ANBU days, how they would get in trouble, how the Uchiha's were really popular among girls, how they participated in competitions ending as a beaten up champion and on how they met their wives. Now this is where almost all children left because of embarrassment with Shikamaru leaving the table first and using a kawarimi instead. Of course there to participate was Neji' dad and Hinata's, well it' god to see them together, Neji and Hinata felt like "real" cousins. The other teams did this as well and of course their parents pretend to not notice but they know…adult talk followed after that now that kids were gone. Like marriage arrangements among their children and of course the topic of Ryumi and Itachi…
Well everyone knew of the relationship except for Yondaime, he was so mad when he realized how blind he has been "I thought Itachi has a crush on her1 that's all!" he protested, "They have been going out since thirteen you idiot!" Yumi sneered, "WHAT, without my consent?" the man yelled, "You! Uchiha, how dare you allow you're son to do that to my daughter" Yondaime said, "They are grown up, they can decide for themselves" he replied, "and my son has chosen well" then they began quarreling. They were just like Naruto and Sasuke, everyone thought so…they were still up at past midnight, they really want to spend the most out of it. Sarutobi was then telling him his version of the stories based on an old man's points of view and how Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru were and soon they were talking about the future. Yumi was glancing at Ryumi and the others every now and then before they began talking about their sons and daughters. Konohamaru however doesn't want to let go from Sarutobi's leg.
Ryumi and Itachi were together with the children. Itachi is now clean, no more guilt and what so ever. He is happy once again, Ryumi was too, if they could only use a time freezing jutsu… but it is time. Like being boxed by someone really hard, Ryumi was again swallowed by light. She knew it was time. "Everything happened so fast" she said, all she can hear are voices, voices of her loved ones, "Be careful" "Take care" "Be strong" "Don't forget us" "We love you…" and then, everyone stood up from the table and proceeded to the sea, Ryumi has a staff on her hand. It would be painful to send them away, but this is all the time they were given.
She waved her staff three times to the left then two to the right and then to the middle, and then she started to perform the ritual, wherein the souls would be sent back to heaven… she was trying hard not to cry while dancing. The water rose from the sea and the waves began to act gracefully under her feet and she was floating on water.
Soon those who were about to be sent began to become transparent, with this they took one last moment to embrace everyone, Neji was crying, seeing this Hinata did so as her uncle tapped her forehead. Konohamaru doesn't want to let go from Sarutobi's leg and he was crying like a baby, Tsunade tried to hide away her tears while embracing her brother and Dan. Jiraiya was then giving Yondaime tips but Jiraiya was crying so hard that he looked so funny, Aya and Yumi giggled but at the same time crying. And finally Sasuke and Itachi, one by one they were greeted by their relatives, their uncle and aunt embraced the two of them and Akane kissed Sasuke, then their father and mother. Their father was…crying, "I am so proud of you two.." he said, "I am honored to be your father" hearing this Sasuke and Itachi hugged their father and mother. Their mother kissed them as they bid them goodbye. Sasuke wiped his tears from his sleeves, Sakura and Ino were with their parents. Yonadaime and Yumi stood proud while watching their daughter, "She can take care of herself now" Yondaime thought as he smiled at Ryumi. Ryumi was glad, at least her parents can see her and how she has gotten stronger. Then the souls began to float and disappeared slowly from the night sky…
Then there they stood, below the cliff, still holding the bells, everyone still watching them. That was all, like it never happened they stood there but everyone present experienced being with the ones they love. Yondaime's body was no longer there. It really happened…she knows it. Later that afternoon they were inaugurated as the youngest sanins there is. When Itachi and Sasuke came home, they found everything cleaned up; their parents want them to continue living within the walls of the Uchiha household. In their main house, they found a letter and two katanas with the emblem of Uchiha.