SasuNaru, yaoi, m-preg, OOC, OCs and unbeta-read

Standard disclaimer applies.

Your feedback on the question I asked in the bottom of the last chapter assures that me that it was more than okay for the two to still go at it despite their situation. Thank you. To all 'anonymous' reviewers: I'm glad to hear from you.

narutobrat260: I can't send email to you. They were being bounced back.

Sorakitty: It's been awhile since I heard from you.

Chapter 44: Embracing the past

Slowly and comfortably he emerged from the depth of his dream to the surface of his consciousness. He stretched leisurely, giving his mother plenty of time to prepare a special meal for. By the time he'd get down to the dining room, everything would be ready and his mother would be greeting him a 'happy birthday' and his aniki would be there also to give him his morning birthday gift. The only person who wouldn't be there would be his father. To his otousan, his birthday wasn't important... never important as Itachi's. He still felt disturbed and disappointed by this but his aniki and okaasan would make up for it. Always.

"Happy birthday, Sasuke," Mikoto and Itachi greeted together the moment the youngest Uchiha joined them. His mother was smiling and his brother, despite that his face was emotionless his eyes were affectionately soft.

Sasuke's grin widened as Itachi handed him a gift. He didn't know what was inside as it was always a surprise. All he knew was that like any of his gifts, they were useful and wanted. Itachi knew what he wanted, needed and liked and he felt special.

With sheer will, Sasuke woke himself up from his dream as if it was a nightmare instead of one of the memories he used to cherish. He had buried all of his memories of Itachi in the deepest recesses of his mind and they would leak out and manifest into a dream only once a year- Itachi's birthday and he hated it as much as he hated that man. Even if he had killed Itachi and had revived his clan with his Naruto, hatred and anger still remained, totally lodged deep in his heart.

He went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast before he'd go out to train. There was just no way in hell that he would spend his rest day inside the house plagued by memories of the traitor. Besides, he needed to leave before the bright colors of happiness he and his family created would be washed away by the bitter past that haunted the place.

-SasuNaru is love-

Sasuke growled in frustration as he finally accepted the fact that his body wasn't interested in training and was only half cooperating with his mind. He grabbed his things and decided to visit his family grave. On his way, he bought a bucket of flowers and a bottle of sake which he would pour on the large gravestone where the Uchiha symbol and the names of all Uchiha members who perished were engraved.

Mesmerized, he watched the liquid sparkling under the sunlight as it streamed down the marble gravestone, wetting it. He watched unblinkingly until his eyes burned and watered. He tore his gaze away and it accidentally landed on the place he had been avoiding like a plague.

On the farthest corner of Konoha's necropolis and totally hidden from view was one grave. There was no epitaph to give information about the man buried. There was just an ordinary stone as its mark. The whole image gave the impression that the man buried there was an outsider, a wanderer or perhaps an outcast?

Sasuke wasn't known to be dictated by his impulses and yet he let himself be brought to that place. Standing there, the memory of his last meeting with the traitor came back to him not as flashes but as a whole, scene after scene.

Sasuke swallowed back the lump of tears of frustration and fear as he sped past tree after tree. He felt that no matter how much chakra he applied to his legs to increase his speed, it wasn't enough. It could never be enough because every second was precious to him. Every ticked of the clock meant life or death to Naruto. His precious person. His secret love.

He hadn't gotten the details on how Naruto was kidnapped by Akatsuki because the second he heard it, he immediately disappeared from Tsunade's office, leaving the rest of the rescue team. He couldn't bring himself to stand and listen, not when Akatsuki meant Itachi who in turn meant death.

He reached the clearing of some godforsaken place and stopped as the traitor's back came to his view.

Itachi turned his back to regard his remaining family member. He smirked as he noticed the scary angry scowl on his face. He wondered how far that scowl would deepen if he saw Naruto.

"He's still beautiful even when mentally exhausted and tied, ne?" he said as he tilted his head to where Naruto was.

Sasuke warily shifted his gaze and saw Naruto. The blonde was bound to a sturdy tree branch by his wrist with the thin wire digging into his skin. He must have struggled a lot as there were cakes of dried blood on the area and the area near it. Worse, his face had the signs of someone who had experienced the mangenkyou sharingan.

"Such an impressive lad. He's the only one who had stood against the magenkyou sharingan the longest," Itachi continued. Judging by the inflection of his tone, he certainly enjoyed inflicting pain on the blond jinchuuriki. That sadistic asshole of a traitor!

"If you want to avenge your useless clan, do it now because I don't have much time to play your silly game. I need to bring him to our place."

"As if I'd let you," Sasuke snapped back. No, he couldn't. Absolutely wouldn't let Itachi take his only remaining light. Never.

Itachi smirked mockingly.

In a blink of an eye, Sasuke vanished from his spot and appeared in front of the older Uchiha in a full-fledged attack. And then they were just a blur of black wind clashing fiercely, getting away from each other and chasing each other briefly. Once in a while, drops of blood flew from them tainting the ground in its animosity, anger and pain. Their sharingan were blazing to life as the tomoes whirled around in a controlled frenzy. Both of them trying to read each other's moves and trying to be one step ahead of the other.

To Sasuke, all the things he learned from his previous battles, fights, spars and training were for this moment alone. This clash wasn't to avenge his clan only but also to save the only person who gave another meaning, aside from revenge to his existence.

In his exhilaration caused by this confrontation, his surroundings blotted to blackness and nothingness until it was just the two of them, their skills, their techniques and the ties that drew and separated them.

And then Sasuke found himself in a landscape painted and covered in different hues of red. Amidst it all was Naruto's body. It shook him to the core to see the blonde's body decomposing and decaying but even then, haunting and accusing blue eyes were trained on him. He knew it was an illusion and it was going to get worse and nerve-wrecking from then on. He had to break free before that happens. Unhesitatingly, he plunged the kunai into his thigh, twisted then pulled it. In a blink of an eye, he returned to reality and leaped back away from that man.

Inwardly, Itachi looked surprised that Sasuke broke free from his illusion effortlessly and not slightly shaken. However, a small voice in his head told him that he shouldn't be because Sasuke was no longer the eight-year-old boy who seeks their father's attention and approval. He had grown to be a force to be reckoned with except that it was too late and nothing compared to what his otouto would have achieved if he stop minding their otousan's cool treatment.

A small part of Itachi was jealous of the attention on Sasuke or lack thereof. Sometimes his thoughts would run along the lines of what-ifs. If he had the kind of attention his brother had, he'd be stronger than what he was as he would seek power and strength rather than someone's approval. He was certain he'd do that rather than putting on the mask of a worthy Uchiha heir and settling himself in a container molded by the clan's interests and ideals until he grew restless and disgusted.

Naruto's deep and almost inaudible groan broke the tensed and pregnant silence that hung between brothers. Sasuke moved towards the blonde then twisted his body as three kunai approached him. One of them grazed his cheek. He thought the traitor was insulted with his action until he saw the other man's mocking eyes.

"You're still weak, I see," Itachi commented in disappointment.

"Because you're taking away my strength," Sasuke retorted matter-of-factly which caused the older Uchiha to arch an eyebrow. Was his brother that cheesy?

"Ridiculous! You're just being painfully dependent on someone."

"You told me to be stronger so I could kill you. Well, I'll show what strength I achieved!"

And then the world bleed crimson as the two siblings blended together once more as clashing forces, always pushing and never yielding.

When their chakra had reached its lowest level, they resorted to taijutsu. But their attacks and blocks were no longer as powerful as before. They were close to being lame yet they couldn't stop as such deed would mean defeat and death. The only thing that kept them from quitting was Itachi's pride and Sasuke's determination.

In the darkest hour of despair, something came to Sasuke like a beacon of light. It was now or never. He didn't have time to pay attention to pain as Itachi's kunai skewered his left side. He didn't have the time to because he was gripping Itachi's shoulder tightly while he raised his left leg for a kick. Beneath his moving leg, his other hand moved and lodged the kunai into the traitor's chest.

It took the older man by surprise, never realizing that the kick was a diversion until it was too late. Blood trickled from his mouth and dripped to the ground.

"This is your strength, eh? I had probably gone weak," Itachi commented between coughs of blood. In a disapproving voice, he continued, "you're foolish to fall in love with someone who'd never return your feelings."

The younger Uchiha shook his head more so to shake off the fuzziness rather than to deny the statement. "I'm content to be by his side," he replied.

Almost-empty obsidian eyes stared at him knowingly, "Even if you say that, you'd never be satisfied. Never."

Sasuke hated the finality in that weakening voice and hated even more that he said that when he no longer knew about him. "You know nothing about me!"

Why were they talking about his love life anyway? Was Itachi trying to make up for all those years of his absence as his aniki? Not a chance. Or was there? Despite his doubts, a tiny part of him was enjoying the familiar at the same time strange brotherly conversation between them.

"You're predictable and you're foolish that way," Itachi replied in an almost fond way and he poked Sasuke's head just as he used to a long time ago. And then he was falling forward, towards Sasuke whose arms impulsively moved to catch him. With his mouth pressed close to his otouto's ear, he whispered, "thank you for ending all of this, otouto."

Sasuke slumped to the ground taking Itachi with. He laid him on the soil and stared at his corpse. He felt confused. Not only did Itachi called him 'otouto' instead of 'orokana otouto', he thanked him. What did he meant by that? Had Itachi grown tired of his life? Or had he meant-

"Sasuke..."came Naruto's voice behind him. He whipped his head around, surprised.

Naruto managed to free himself from his binds and he was kneeling in front of his precious person, touching him to make sure he was alive. The brother clash he had seen had disturbed him more than the illusion Itachi plunged him into.

The other ninja didn't mind if he'd bleed to death as long as his love was touching him and as long he could his warmth. As he was slipping towards somewhere beyond, Sasuke was about to ask Naruto if he could die together with him on that moment when the blonde leaned forward.

With lips lightly brushing against his ear, Naruto whispered, "Don't leave me again, Sasuke." It was both a plea and an order. And Sasuke forced his eyes open and clung to the last shreds of his consciousness.

When the rescue team composed of the rest of the rookie nine, Team Gai and a hunter-nin they found both ninjas leaning against each other in front of Itachi's corpse. Even when Sakura attended Sasuke's wounds, he didn't let go of Naruto's hand. His grip tightened more when he watched the hunter-nin burned Itachi's corpse. Finally, it was over. He didn't know whether to feel sad or happy with the conclusion but at least, he could begin with a new chapter of his life.

Begin...

He looked at Naruto who gave him a reassuring smile and realized Itachi was right all along- loving Naruto silently wouldn't satisfy him. He would want more; would want everything of the sun until he was nothing but scattered embers.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi said as he placed his hand on his shoulder, "let's head back to Konoha."

"I want his ashes," he managed to say before he fell in the arms of oblivion, dreaming of how Konoha now took the shape of Naruto instead of just a village where he came from.

Sasuke crouched down and brushed the soil, "I'm ending all of this too."

-SasuNaru is love-

It was always rare for Naruto to arrive earlier than his kids so he wasn't used to finding the house quiet and empty. In a way, it unnerved him a bit. On his way to the kitchen, from the corner of his eye, he saw Sasuke in the room where the family altar was. As he approached the place, he could smell wafts of incense candle burning. His gaze fleeted to the altar and stopped.

Instead of seeing four slender wooden blocks that carried his and Sasuke's parents' name, he saw another one and on it, Itachi's name was written. Not only that, hanging on the wall together with their parents' pictures was Itachi's, not as the traitor but as a caring brother.

Knowing Sasuke, Naruto knew he has a reason for this. Besides, he didn't mind that Itachi now had a place in the altar not because being the head of the family, Sasuke had the last say of who gets a place at the altar but because he couldn't deny that Itachi had been a good brother who tried to fill the void caused by Fugaku's absence in Sasuke's life.

He smiled as he briefly looked at his husband who was sleeping peacefully despite that he was sitting against the wall in an uncomfortable position in Naruto's opinion. Not wanting to disturb his spouse, he slowly made his way towards the door. As he passed him by, Sasuke's hand shot out to hold his wrist.

"I hope you don't mind that I-"

"I don't," Naruto said. He thought it was fitting for Itachi to go back to his roots.

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak to make the blonde understand that this way the only way to end what Itachi had started. It was his responsibility as a son and brother to bring him to their parents just as it was his obligation as a survivor to seek vengeance. He deemed it as the best way to erase the hatred and anger that remained in him. Despite what Itachi had become the ties that bound them was inerasable. By bringing him home, Sasuke was slowly embracing everything about Itachi. Sure, the eight-year-old boy in him still didn't understand everything that happened back then but he was man enough to accept what couldn't be change; to accept and embraced his bloody past.

"Aniki..."he paused. It felt strangely good to call him that instead of 'that man', 'traitor', 'asshole' or 'Itachi'.

"You don't have to explain anything," Naruto said and pressed his lips against the other man's forehead.

"Hn." Then Sasuke dozed off again.

Sasuke sat on the genkan patiently waiting while a slight pout was making to his face. He wondered if their plans for today would push through when the front door slid open. Standing on the door with his back to the dying sun with his silhouette being illuminated by light was his aniki.

"I'm home, Sasuke," Itachi said in his usual quiet voice.

The younger Uchiha was grinning from ear to ear.

"Welcome home, aniki."

Naruto smiled softly as he heard the gently whispered greeting that slipped past his sleeping husband's lips.

"Welcome home, aniki."

TBC

Hmm... what can I say? Migraine stops me from thinking and I could barely edit this chapter so sorry if there are more mistakes than the previous chapters.