Oh gosh... this update sure took forever, didn't it? I'm really sorry, but as it has happened all too often before, I discovered that I was depressingly uninspired once I finally had some more free time on my hands. God, that annoys me so much, but I cannot force anything (trust me, the results in such a case are nothing more than an abomination)... -.-;

Part of the lack of inspiration can be explained by a new obsession that entered my life just before the exams took place: Kuroshitsuji. It's a truly awesome manga, so if you don't know it yet and don't mind if things get bloody sometimes plus lots of fanservice for boys-love-fangirls (I don't care if this supposedly isn't a shonen-ai manga, lol!), then check it out. Man, Sebastian is just friggin' hot! ^////^ I wish I had a butler like him! The new chapter should be out soon (I hope!), so I'm really excited.

Also, I've spent hours watching "Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series" again, so yeah... it's just so delightfully funny! XD

But enough of that, I hereby present the new chapter! I hope it isn't too disappointing...

(BTW, certain aspects/notions are described purely in a character's POV - like Kisame thinking that Itachi killed the whole clan by himself, for instance - so by keeping that in mind, it won't catch you off-guard or anything.)


In the darkness of the room he shared with Kisame, Itachi lay on his bed, facing the wall. He felt absolutely horrible, and although it was unusual for him to mope around like this, he found himself unable to do anything about it. Today was Sasuke's birthday, his dear little brother's birthday, and for the first time ever, Sasuke didn't want to celebrate with him. Even though it had been very hard for him, Itachi had promised Konan that he wouldn't show up for the celebration. But now it was even harder to keep his promise; Sasuke had always wanted to celebrate with him. Memories of his 13th birthday returned to him… that wonderful afternoon he and Sasuke had spent together in a meadow where nobody had seen them, all those kisses they had shared… Back then, Sasuke had loved him more than anything else and had been happy with him. Now everything had changed – they couldn't even be in the same room.

Although nobody was there to witness his struggle with all the pain, Itachi covered his face while he tried to remind himself that all along, he had only wanted the best for Sasuke, and even if he himself would never be happy again, at least his little brother would hopefully regain that feeling someday. Perhaps even just for a moment today, by means of a present which he, Itachi, wouldn't be able to deliver without having the boy tear it apart before even acknowledging what it was.

Unless…

A thought occurred to Itachi, an idea for a birthday present which his brother would be unable to destroy. The question was if he would be able to pull it off.

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"Are you ready for your surprise, Sasuke?" Konan asked as she guided him to the living room.

"…I guess…" Sasuke replied, blindly turning his head as if hoping to see where they were going even though two hands were covering his eyes.

He had nearly forgotten that today was his birthday until Konan had congratulated him and offered him some tomatoes for breakfast (apparently, she had taken a closer look at the information he had written in his personal file than Sasuke had thought). Under normal circumstances, this would have successfully cheered him up, but now that he reminisced about the usual birthday treatment he would have gotten from his mother if she had still been alive, he wished that he hadn't been reminded of this day's importance at all. Noticing this, Konan had tried to comfort him as well as she could by giving him a big hug. As he had returned the favor in that almost timid way of his that she openly adored, Sasuke figured that even though his mother wasn't here to provide him with the hug and kiss he had been thinking about, this hug from Konan was a quite decent substitute, providing him with an unexpectedly pleasant feeling. However, nothing could quench his unbearable desire to see his parents again.

When she had maneuvered the boy into the living room, Konan looked up expectantly – and was glad that she hadn't removed her hands from Sasuke's eyes yet. The other members were waiting, but aside from Orochimaru, they looked as if they would rather be somewhere else. Orochimaru silently squealed when he saw Sasuke amble blindly into the room, his mouth slightly agape (which undoubtedly made the snake-sannin indulge himself in certain "fantasies"). Kisame and Sasori were having a non-too-serious thumb war under Zetsu's watchful eyes while Kakuzu appeared to be pouting. And finally, Pein was plucking at Konan's craftily-made bouquet of paper flowers, tearing off one petal at a time while his mouth moved ever so slightly as he was muttering to himself.

It was all Konan could do to restrain a growl. Moving so she only needed one hand and arm to cover Sasuke's eyes, she used her free hand to wave impatiently and thus get the others' attention. As always, Kisame assumed his soldier-like pose while Sasori resumed an air of perfect indifference. Kakuzu merely rolled his eyes, indicating that only now did his true suffering begin. Zetsu was left to tap Pein on the shoulder when the auburn-haired man didn't notice Konan's waving, and although he hastily scooted away from the vase, he kept glancing guiltily at the torn flowers. The fact that Konan looked all but livid did nothing to appease him.

Although she was glaring at them, the vice leader bared her teeth in a smile – a silent prompt for them to follow her example. They did, but overall, the results only barely qualified as passable. When Konan was at least somewhat satisfied, she allowed Sasuke to see again.

"Happy birthday, Sasuke!"

Sticking to his part (albeit reluctantly), Sasori blew into a paper party horn. Given the "effort" he put into that, the honk sounded dreadfully off-key. Konan nearly face-palmed, for she wouldn't have guessed that someone could screw up such a simple task.

Unsure and confused, Sasuke looked around. Konan's frustration ebbed away a bit when she noticed that Sasuke seemed to want the ground to swallow him up on the spot.

"Um… thanks," he finally said, his voice almost a squeak, "But this wouldn't have been necessary…"

Kakuzu perked up at this, giving Konan a meaning stare and pointing at Sasuke as if to say: "See, I told you…!" Scowling, Konan made a swiping gesture – "Cut it out!" – before replying in a warm and friendly voice:

"Nonsense. We want you to feel welcome, after all. Don't we?"

That was the signal that any objection was equivalent to one's death sentence.

"Yeah…" the others drawled.

Before an extremely awkward silence could fall, Konan suggested proceeding to the opening of the presents.

"We weren't sure what to get you, but perhaps this can get you started," she explained, handing the neatly wrapped packages to the young Uchiha.

Curious about the contents, Sasuke opened them, trying not to damage the wrapping paper. In the bigger box, he found a whole set of weapons – his new kunai, shuriken, exploding tags and such. This reminded Sasuke that aside from a spare set of clothes, he had no possessions here, everything else was probably gathering dust at home in Konoha. The other package contained a black shirt, but while it lacked the distinctive collar of his former clothing, a red Akatsuki cloud had been carefully sewn on the front. For a moment, Sasuke simply stared at his presents, being at a loss for words.

"Those had better last a while," Kakuzu muttered, eying the weaponry. Worried that Konan might hear this and sock them for it, Pein hastily stomped on his foot, causing the bounty hunter to grunt in protest. Fortunately, Konan was too busy watching Sasuke to catch on.

Finally Kisame couldn't take it anymore.

"Is it time for food yet?" he burst out, "The smell has been driving me crazy!"

Konan looked up slowly. Kisame was already starting to regret having opened his mouth when Zetsu chimed in:

"Great, it's food time!" He whipped out a human hand. "Anyone want a finger?"

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The party had been a half-hearted ordeal to begin with, but it went downhill for good after that. The birthday anthem was sung in a way that made nails on a chalkboard sound more pleasant, and more manners were dropped when particularly Orochimaru tried to make as many moves on Sasuke as possible, who had turned green in the face when Zetsu had privately offered him a finger.

Despite Konan's remarkable effort to keep things under control, Sasuke eventually couldn't take it anymore, and he excused himself from their company.

"I'm sorry, but I… I'd like to be alone for a while now. Thank you all very much for the presents, and I'm sorry if I took up too much of your time." He bowed shortly.

"Sasuke…" Konan began, attempting to apologize because things hadn't turned out quite as she had hoped they would.

He shook his head and hugged her. "You wouldn't have needed to make such efforts just because of me. But thank you anyway."

"I'm so sorry…" she whispered, gritting her teeth. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Yeah." Almost all of the cheerfulness he had struggled to summon throughout the entire celebration was rapidly crumbling, and after breaking free from her arms, he hastily retreated from the room. In the silence which followed that, one might have been able to hear a fly breathe.

She looked lost for a moment, but then Konan slowly rose from where she had knelt in front of Sasuke and turned to face the others. Never had her look of disappointment been greater than now.

"I hope you're happy now," she muttered darkly before leaving as well after a quick turn that made her cloak billow.

Another silence ensued until her footsteps definitely couldn't be heard anymore.

"…I suppose that could have been a lot worse," Sasori finally commented.

"At least it wasn't our fault," Zetsu claimed, and his black side agreed: "Yeah, we're off the hook." Little did he know that he was in for one hell of a lecture in the evening.

"Don't you think you've already had enough cake, Kisame?" Pein asked when he noticed that the shark-man was cutting off another piece, albeit smaller than the last one.

"It's not for me, Leader-sama; it's for Itachi."

"How come he got spared of this while we didn't?" Kakuzu complained. In his opinion, the only up-side of this was that they hadn't been forced to wear stupid paper party hats.

Kisame had had the best attitude throughout the celebration (this had earned him a few bonus points in Konan's book), but now he looked unusually solemn.

"Unlike you, Itachi would have liked to be here. But he stayed away for Sasuke's sake, so don't act as if he asked to be excused," he told Kakuzu before leaving with the piece of cake.

The remaining members quickly exchanged glances, but Kakuzu grumbled all the same.

It was Orochimaru who spoke up next. "Leader-sama, I've been thinking… since Sasuke-kun got those weapons, perhaps he could use someone who'd train with him…"

Seeing where this was going, Pein shook his head. "I don't think so, Orochimaru. You know what Konan said about that matter, and I'd like to keep my head a little longer."

"Aw, come on, she's going overboard with this! I only want the best for Sasuke-kun, after all!" the snake-sannin protested.

Pein groaned and made a mental note – hopefully he would remember it later – to deploy Orochimaru on the next mission so he would be out of their hair for a while…

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Kisame went back to the room he shared with Itachi to find the latter staring at the ceiling with an absolutely blank expression on his face. This wasn't the same Itachi he had last seen several months ago, but even though he wished it weren't so, Kisame knew that there was little he could do right now to change anything about it.

"Hey, Itachi," he said.

The Uchiha didn't respond immediately. "Kisame," he replied after a pause. A second one followed this, then he continued: "Shouldn't you be attending the celebration?"

"It's already over. Sasuke… wasn't in that much of a party mood and retreated to his room," the shark-man answered carefully and offered him the plate. "Cake?"

Itachi just stared at it for a moment before declining. "No, thank you."

"But it's really good! Konan put quite some time and effort into making it," Kisame persisted, "And besides: just because you don't celebrate doesn't mean you shouldn't eat cake."

"I'm not hungry," Itachi retorted.

Now Kisame frowned. "But you barely eat anything. Don't you want to at least try it?"

Itachi gave him a strange look, and Kisame fidgeted; even though Sasuke's brother was still young, he had slain his whole clan, so Kisame decided that just to be on the safe side, he should be somewhat cautious.

"Listen, I'm not trying to sound like your mother or anything… but you're my new partner, and I don't want you to starve yourself even though you're facing… um… rough times," he finished with a slight hesitation.

"There's no need to be concerned about me; I insist that Sasuke comes first."

"I respect that, but nevertheless, you're here as well, and that's just as important."

Itachi looked as if he wished that Kisame hadn't said that. An awkward silence fell between them, only getting interrupted by a single sound as Kisame put the cake on Itachi's bedside table in a silent act of stubbornness. Finally, Itachi stood up.

"Excuse me for a moment, I'll be right back."

Silently, Kisame watched him go until he was at the door. "I'll just leave the cake here, okay?" he called after him.

Itachi didn't answer and disappeared from view. Kisame sighed as if in defeat. Given the fact that it had been only two weeks since Itachi had defected from Konoha and he was merely 13 years old, this could only be the beginning of a long road, a road which would hopefully bring Sasuke and Itachi back together again in the end.

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In his room, Sasuke curled up on his bed, staring glumly at nothing in particular. He wondered how he was supposed to get through all of this. Sure, Konan was doing her very best to support his integration, and Kisame was trying as well, but the others merely seemed to deem him a nuisance. Well, it wasn't as if this what he had truly wanted – they should blame his brother, if anyone.

Sasuke remembered what Konan had told him about how they weren't sure what he wanted for his birthday, absent-mindedly gazing at his presents. It didn't matter that he hadn't voiced any wishes because nobody could fulfill them unless they had the power to bring his parents back along with the brother he had cherished and loved. But that was impossible, for the dead couldn't be brought back. At least, that was what he had been taught.

For a moment, Sasuke found himself wishing that he hadn't fought back, that Itachi had killed him instead of bringing him here. Instead, he was subjected to living in the same place as the elder, and every time they met, no matter how brief it was, Sasuke felt the strong urge to scream at him and demand an explanation about the whole massacre although he couldn't think of any explanation that would enable him to handle this any better. At the same time, however, he also wanted nothing to do with Itachi, because really, who would want to have anything to do with the murderer of one's parents…?

His musings were interrupted when he heard the door open. Ah, it was most probably Konan, who wanted to talk it over with him. Sasuke figured that he owed her an apology for walking out on the party she had organized just for him. With a heavy sigh, he sat up and quickly made sure that he wasn't crying or anything before turning around.

"Konan, I –"

Further words failed him just then, for it wasn't Konan who had come to visit him; it was Itachi.

Sasuke gawked at him for several moments while Itachi merely stared back, looking anything but threatening – indifferent, perhaps, but not threatening. Then he began to approach his sibling, who snapped out of his daze and hastily reached for his new weapons, snarling:

"You…!"

But he never got the chance to grab one of the kunai at all, for a second later, Itachi had overcome the distance between them, and as he stood there looking down at him, Sasuke felt fear resurface within him, the same fear he had felt when Itachi had come after him upon his discovery of their dead parents.

"Do not struggle, otouto. I do not seek a fight."

"What are you here for, then?" Sasuke spat, his eyes ablaze with defiance and rage.

"I see you've received presents…" Itachi began.

"I don't want a present from you! Go away!" Sasuke yelled and lunged at him, hating the way his brother was going about this as if he had every right to be here.

In a flash, Itachi caught his wrist, and before Sasuke could make use of his other hand, he grabbed the other wrist as well and pinned Sasuke down on the bed, looming over him. His eyes turned red with the Sharingan, and as if he knew what was coming next, Sasuke gasped and looked away.

"Look at me, Sasuke. I don't think you'd want to miss out on this present," Itachi coaxed him and called upon the Mangekyou Sharingan.

This only made Sasuke close his eyes and whisper fiercely: "Go away…!"

"Not until you look at me," the smooth voice of his sibling replied, and no sooner had the elder's hands let go of his wrists when Sasuke felt those same hands gently cup his cheeks.

Not having expected this, Sasuke flinched, and his eyes flew open as he glared at Itachi, wanting to demand of him to let go. Instead, he was looking straight into those eyes again, instantly drowning in them.

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As soon as he felt it again – the strange sensation of getting whisked away to another place – Sasuke closed his eyes tightly and screamed.

It was already too late for the sound to leave his lips from where he was sprawled on the bed; there, it merely sounded like a pained gasp before it became a faint sigh. But the part of him that was swept away to the alternate universe where Itachi ruled everything certainly did scream. He felt as if he was in the middle of a storm with no ground to stand on and nothing to hold on to, completely defenseless against the wind that jostled him around, ever wilder and faster until –

It stopped. Quite abruptly, too.

Sasuke's breath hitched and his eyes snapped open, looking wild with fear. Where on earth…? Itachi was gone, no longer looming over him with those creepy eyes, and his surroundings weren't plunged in the dim light of the hideout. In fact…

Blinking in disbelief, Sasuke sat up and looked around, ignoring how his heart was still pounding. This room… the bed he was sitting on… he knew this. His fingers reached out and touched a pillow with his name on it in small, neat blue stitches. There was no doubt about it: he was home again. Home, in his room.

"Itachi, what did you do?" he called loudly, remembering what his brother had told him. But he waited in vain for an answer; all he could hear were birds chirping outside. Sasuke's tenseness ebbed away, and he focused on his surroundings again, still not quite believing it.

Moving as if he were in a trance, he got out of his bed and left the room. The last time he had been here, the house had been dark and gloomy, deserted except for his brother with their dead parents at his feet. But now everything looked just like it had before that night: bright, inviting and friendly. Sasuke even peered into his parents' bedroom. The bed had been made just like any other morning, and yet… who said that he wouldn't find his mother and father lifeless in a room below, or at least some blood stains where they had crumpled to the floor? That couldn't be ruled out, but there was something in the air that gave Sasuke hope again.

"Okasan? Otosan?" he called, quietly at first as he headed for the stairs. He passed Itachi's room, sparing it nothing else but a nervous glance. Although no one answered, Sasuke found that his hope hadn't lessened as he slowly went down the stairs.

At the bottom, he called out anew, only louder this time. Still no answer. A faint sound reached his ears, however – a giggle. Someone was here… someone was outside, Sasuke concluded, sure that the sound had come from beyond the door to their backyard.

Slowly, he approached the door and wasn't surprised to see that his hands were shaking a bit as he reached out to open it. Again, his heart was in his throat. Finally the door opened, and Sasuke had enough time to widen his eyes in the sunlight before he was swept off his feet.

"Sasuke! Oh, I'm so happy to see you again!" It was but a whisper, a whisper of utmost relief and happiness.

Everything was there: the voice, the warmth, the love… all the same, one question remained at the tip of his tongue, waiting to be asked: How…?! He struggled to speak for a moment, but managed to find his voice again.

"Oka… okasan…" At first, Sasuke could hardly believe that he had really said that, not to mention his current situation as well. But once that word had escaped his lips, everything seemed a lot realer, and suddenly the feeling of pure joy overwhelmed him so much that he broke free of his trance-like state.

"Okasan!" he cried and vehemently returned his mother's embrace.

"My darling…" she cooed, unleashing all her motherly love upon him. And Sasuke gladly let it happen. A small bit of him remained rational, struggling to understand how this could be since he could have sworn that he had seen her dead just two weeks ago. Or had it all just been a strange and horrible dream?

Just then, someone touched his head, giving his hair a brief ruffle, and Sasuke found himself looking at his father. But this time, Fugaku was actually smiling. Smiling. Not as much as his mother, but the smile was more prominent than the few ones Sasuke had seen; he couldn't remember to have ever seen the man smile at him like this.

"Hello, son."

"O-otosan…" Sasuke was too stunned by the sight of both his parents to be dismayed about the slight stammer in his voice when he saw his father again. "I… you… but…" He faltered, looking from his mother to his father and back again before continuing faintly: "…How can this be?"

"Does it matter?" Mikoto asked softly.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say yes, but instead realized that actually, it didn't. Ever since that fateful night, he had had nightmares in which he had seen their blood-stained, lifeless faces, and when he had woken up, there had been nothing but loneliness. But now they were here again, he could feel, see and hear them. They had returned, and that was all that mattered. Sasuke felt tears well up in his eyes as pure happiness overwhelmed him, and finally he answered his mother's question.

"No, it doesn't." The incredulity in his expression vanished and got replaced with a smile as wide as Christmas instead. "Okasan! Otosan!" he cried joyfully.

Seemingly relieved that her son had reacted like this, Mikoto laughed and held him close again. Laughing and sobbing dryly at the same time, Sasuke returned the favor, and he thought he would burst with joy when his father stroked his hair affectionately. Finally, after all those times he had hoped that Fugaku would appreciate him, Sasuke's dream had come true.

How long they stood there, he didn't know, but to be honest, he didn't really care. All that mattered was that they were together again.

"We've been waiting for you," Mikoto said after a while.

Those words! Remembering where he had heard them before, Sasuke looked at her anxiously and gasped: "You mean, n–" Just in time, he stopped himself from calling his brother like that (he blamed it on the momentary premise that he had nearly let it slip to begin with) and continued instead: "Itachi, I mean?"

To his astonishment, his parents exchanged looks, for a moment looking oddly as if they had no idea who he was talking about, before they answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world:

"This isn't about Itachi, sweetheart. He isn't even here."

"After all, this is your special day, Sasuke," Fugaku added.

"Then who's «we»?" Sasuke inquired.

"Surprise!"

"It's us, itoko!"

Upon hearing those voices, Sasuke finally bothered to look beyond his parents and saw Shisui, Natsuko and their parents. They were all smiles, and when they noticed that they had gotten his attention, Natsuko proceeded to hurry towards him with her brother hot on her heels. Smiling knowingly, Mikoto put her son down, who once again seemed overwhelmed by what he saw.

"Happy birthday, itoko!" Natsuko cried and flung her arms around Sasuke in a bear-hug.

"Natsuko…!" Sasuke sighed, overjoyed to see her again.

Beaming, she squeezed him anew before surrendering him to her brother, who gave him his trademark, playful pinch in the cheek.

"Happy birthday from me too, Sasuke. I daresay you're already taller than the last time I saw you…" he grinned.

"You think so?" Sasuke asked, briefly looking himself over and sizing up his height with Shisui's.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. So, how are you doing on this big day of yours?"

And in all honesty, now that he had surrendered to this sudden but delightful change, Sasuke answered: "Great."

From then on, it was one of the best birthdays Sasuke had ever had.

Time lost its meaning for him as all his favorite games were played, and although the adults participated often enough, he always seemed to win. But even when he didn't, he was having way too much fun to have any hard feelings about it. Eventually, his mother presented him with a fabulous birthday cake, and as he blew out the candles, Sasuke found himself wishing that this day would never end even though deep down, he knew it was an impossible wish. But everything was just so perfect in his rush of joy that he honestly had no other wish.

Several hours of excitement and high spirits later – How many? Three? Seven? More? Sasuke didn't know, and he didn't care. – Shisui and his family bade them goodbye.

"That was fun! We should do that again sometime soon, itoko!" Natsuko said cheerfully from where she was perched on her brother's back. Sasuke nodded happily in agreement.

"See you soon, Sasuke. And remember to keep your head up and your mind open," Shisui reminded him, fondly ruffling his hair.

"I'll do my best," Sasuke replied, still being all smiles.

"We hope you had a wonderful day, Sasuke-kun," Kasumi said.

"I did, obasan. Thank you so much!" Sasuke told her.

"And don't forget to look out for yourself, okay?" Saborou gave his shoulder a single, comradely pat.

"I won't, ojisan," Sasuke promised, hinting a bow. To which Saborou had cast his brother a meaningful look and Fugaku had nodded, a small smile still in place on his face.

Now Sasuke sat in his mother's lap on the porch, relaxing contentedly in her arms. Mikoto had lightly put her chin on his shoulder, and they watched the sky become darker as dusk was upon them.

"I hope you enjoyed your birthday, dear," she remarked eventually.

"It was the best birthday ever, okasan," Sasuke assured her.

"Eight years old already… you're growing up so fast!" she sighed. "I'm proud of you, Sasuke, I really am."

"I think chichi is finally proud of me too," Sasuke murmured happily.

"Of course he is. He always was."

"Always…?"

"Always," Mikoto confirmed, "Trust me."

Sasuke didn't reply, but knew that there was no need for that. He had been in doubt about that for so long, but at least now he knew what it was like to be free of those doubts.

They were silent for a while, simply enjoying the evening tranquility, but when the sun bathed them in orange light, Mikoto spoke up again, her voice sounding rather heavy this time.

"It's nearly time to say goodbye, sweetheart."

"Goodbye?" At first, Sasuke had no idea what made her say that. But now his rationality kicked in, and he remembered that Itachi was the reason why he was here at all. He was here because he had gazed upon that strange Sharingan in his brother's eyes. Itachi had deceived him once, and now he had deceived him again. That was all there was to it; as wonderful as the day had been, it had been too perfect. In fact, it had been a giveaway from the moment his parents seemed to have "forgotten" Itachi for the latest. Still… he didn't want to leave.

"I don't want to say goodbye, okasan," he whispered, grabbing her apron.

"You must."

"I wished that this day would last forever! Don't make it end so soon!" Sasuke pleaded. He had been happy for so long, it seemed, but now he felt tears welling up in his eyes again, and these weren't tears of happiness.

Mikoto didn't like seeing him in such a state and did her best to calm him down. "Please calm down, honey… everything will be alright…"

"How can it be alright if I have to say goodbye to you?!" Sasuke sniffed.

"Just because we say goodbye doesn't mean it will be forever," she told him and held him tightly yet tenderly against her.

"But I don't wanna…" a soft whine reached her ears.

Just then, Fugaku came back out of the house again and sat down next to his wife, eying his silently crying son.

"You told him," he concluded, his voice unusually quiet.

"It's almost time, yes," she replied.

Fugaku sighed. "Son, listen to your mother. Certain goodbyes are harder to pay than others, but it's something everyone must go through."

Sasuke peeked at him with one glistening eye. "Will I see you again? Will I really?" he choked.

Again, his parents exchanged somewhat peculiar glances. Sasuke wished that he knew what they were thinking. Instead of answering immediately, Mikoto began to gently rock him back and forth, stroking his hair and humming his favorite lullaby under her breath.

"Whether you do or not is entirely up to you," Fugaku spoke.

"What do you mean, otosan?" Sasuke asked. As usual when his mother treated him like this, he felt himself quickly becoming very sleepy. But he struggled to stay awake, for somehow he just knew that if he fell asleep now, they wouldn't be there anymore when he would awaken.

However, he received no response from his father. For once, the man actually seemed to be staring into space as though he were at a loss for words. Mikoto's voice continued to soothe Sasuke, who soon felt that he wouldn't be able to keep his eyes open much longer. They did close briefly, a mere blink, but it startled him all the same, for he didn't want to fall asleep. But just before they closed again, Fugaku looked back at him, and once more Sasuke was rewarded with a fleeting but faintly affectionate touch from him. Then his eyes finally closed, and he stifled a sob when he knew that they wouldn't open again… not here, anyway.

"Please don't go… I miss you…" he begged, his voice little more than a murmur.

The humming stopped for a short moment, and he heard his mother's voice breathe into his ear: "Ssh, Sasuke… We know you do, but remember that even if you can't see us, we're always with you. We always will be."

"But I wanna stay here…"

Instead of answering verbally, Mikoto nuzzled him apologetically and immediately felt how he tightened his grip on her sleeve. If he hadn't been facing away from her, she would have lightly kissed his forehead, but now all she could do was reach around him and caress his cheek. They only had another moment or two left; just enough time to tell him one last thing.

"We love you, sweetie. Remember that," she whispered.

Fugaku hesitated, and although Sasuke couldn't see him do so, he nodded. This earned him a thankful yet somewhat pained smile from his wife, who then resumed humming Sasuke's lullaby again, and after just a few notes, it seemed, her voice faded away, and the boy slipped into a dreamless slumber.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A mere matter of seconds had passed since he had used the Mangekyou Sharingan on Sasuke, but even in that short time, Itachi noticed a big difference in the younger one's facial expression as that mixture of confusion, anger and fear faded first into peacefulness, then to no real expression at all as Sasuke drifted off to sleep when the illusion was over. His work here was done, he had no more business here and no right to linger. However, it was his duty as a big brother to care of his little brother, so Itachi continued to sidestep the rules long enough to tuck Sasuke in. While watching him sleep as he did that, Itachi wondered if it had been selfish of him to believe that he might be doing Sasuke a favor.

'I guess I'll know soon enough,' he decided.

Briefly, he caressed Sasuke's cheek with his fingertips, trying to ignore his own heartache.

"Happy birthday, otouto," he whispered. To his surprise, his voice sounded fairly firm.

Finally, he turned away from the bed and headed back for the door through which he should never have come. He had thought that there was nothing else to say, but just before he opened the door, he remembered one thing he had forgotten. He didn't go back, but he glanced at Sasuke's sleeping form once more, barely hearing himself when he opened his mouth.

"I love you…"

Then he was gone, and even though he knew he wasn't welcome here, he wished he could have stayed so Sasuke wouldn't be alone when he woke up.


Gee, I almost don't dare to ask for feedback this time... you see, I'm not really happy with this. With the beginning, I mean. I've rewritten that three times already, though, and I can only rewrite stuff a certain number of times. Unless I rewrite this thing entirely (which is rather unlikely), this is pretty much the way it'll stay.

If anyone bothers to review this, I'd like to ask you something: do you think I'm losing my touch? Or have I already lost it? You know, I reread parts of MTCLF while reconstructing the timeline as good as I could, and personally, I don't think I'm doing so well at the moment. *sigh* So yeah, I'd like to hear your opinion about this. (Oh, and thanks to those who voted in my poll - to all others, feel free to cast your vote too!)

School's gonna start again next week, and in order not to make any false promises, I won't even predict when the next chapter will be done. I'm just having serious problems with thinking up at least some filling material between the plot points I've come up with so far, and I'm anything but familiar with timeskips of one year or more... I might even put this on a temporary hiatus until I'm properly inspired again and write a couple of oneshots instead or something...

Well, that's all from me for now. Cookies for everyone who made it this far and aren't bored! Love all of ya!

~dd