All Things Go

Hello, my friends. Another two months have passed in this scary world of beautiful minds. How are you today? How's your week been? I hope you're all having a good week. For some reason, I'm not able to respond to reviews on here. In fact, they won't even show up, which is dumb, because I don't know how to respond if I can't see the goddamn review. Finally today, I got my reviews. Guest reply:

Craynslover: I love you. The kiss scene was absolutely amazing. Yes, Mikoto is indeed a handful. But get ready, things are about to change. Have a good day or evening, wherever you are in the world.

Sasuke bit his lip as he grabbed his papers and worksheets Itachi could study with. Leaving his room, the teen stopped by his mother's door.

He knocked softly, attempting to play nice on such a beautiful day. "Miko-" He froze and inhaled sharply. "Mother." He began in monotone. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

With that, he walked down the steps. Itachi sat at the kitchen table, his long slender legs swinging lazily as he pretended to read the book before him.

His eyes were over the book, however, roaming curiously at Kisame as the shark-man lay backward underneath the sink, tightening and srewing the pipes. Sasuke snorted softly. Ever since Naruto's theory that there was nothing different about Itachi since the accident, newer familiarities kept arriving here and there.

First it was intelligence obviously- Naruto had discovered that Itachi understood all his mathematical, reasoning, and logic.

Then it was personality- to Naruto, Itachi was bluntly hilarious.

Then admiration- Naruto noticed that Itachi had two types of admiration. He saw admiration in Itachi's eyes when Kakashi helped take care of him. He saw admiration in his dark eyes whenever Kisame was the focus.

And Naruto wasn't here at the moment, but Sasuke could bet on his own life that the genius would mutter something about lust. Say something bluntly inappropriate to Sasuke and believe that it was chivalry and custom.

It wasn't until he sat at the table that Itachi turned and jumped, reading again as if nothing happened. "Sasuke? Where did Naruto go huh, Sasuke?"

Sasuke opened a few books and began to organize his events. "He just went to pick up your medicine from the pharmacy." He mumbled softly.

It was Kisame who snorted underneath the sink. "That Ino girl works there, right? He won't be back anytime soon, then. With her mouth and his intelligence, she'll try to keep him there forever."

"Please." Sasuke muttered, not even feeling bitter about his former friend speaking to the fame of the village. "My name or Tachi's name comes out of his mouth, which it will, and she'll make up something about having to go."

His satirical comment held some truth and Kisame laughed loudly.

"Where did Kakashi-san go?" Itachi mumbled, biting his hand.

"He'll be here soon too. He went next door to get his own breakfast ingredients."

Itachi nodded and lazily looked toward Kisame. "When you going to be done, Shark man?"

"Just finishing up, Tachi. This thing will be good as new when I'm done with it."

Itachi hummed and fully focused on reading then. Sasuke opted to watch his brother. Naruto had given some theoretical book to him and his obsidian eyes were lively as he read.

Sasuke loved the man dearly. There was no one in the world that could tear Itachi from him. They needed one another. With other, it was just hi and goodbye love. With the Uchiha brothers, it wasn't like that. They had a future. They had someone to talk to that gave a damn. They didn't have to sit with others that didn't have no other place togo. For Sasuke, other people could rot in hell if they got in trouble. But not them.

He rested his head on his face. "Hey." He called.

Itachi looked up, not really paying mind as he stared.

Sasuke smiled. "You know I love you right?"

Itachi squinted with a big smile and looked back down. "Yeah, brother. I known. I known. I love you too."

Sasuke laughed. "Hey."

Itachi looked back up, only for Sasuke to rest their foreheads together. "And you're my favorite brother ever. A guy needs someone to be near him. I'll go crazy if I don't have you, brother. It makes no difference who you are, as long as you're with me."

Itachi laughed. "Yes. I known. I love you too, brother."

"And in a few months, you're going to have the greatest birthday party ever. I'll take care of it. There's going to be cake and ice cream. Games and fun. I'll take care of it. You want that?"

Itachi smiled beautifully, the one thing that never change on him. After months of knowing them, it was a big way for Naruto to describe how Itachi's mind worked. It was all told in his smile. His ears heard more than what was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought.

"Yeah, Sasuke. I want that. Let's have it now. I gotta have it. We gotta have it." He spoke eagerly.

"Soon, soon."

"Sasuke, can we read the poem?"

"Which one?"

"The one we like." Itachi muttered.

It was at that moment that Kakashi walked in, arms full of food and vegetables. "I hope this isn't too much, kid. We have a full house of growing people and Naruto eats like a pig."

Itachi's smile brightened at the mention of his friend. "Really?"

Kakashi placed a hand on his hip. "Itachi, he's so greedy." Itachi and Sasuke both laughed at the man's silly gestures.

The door opened and Naruto walked in with a few bags. "I have the prescription. Oh, tousan. You're back too. What's the news?"

"Just telling everyone how much you love eating."

Naruto laughed softly. "I'm a growing man. In order to thng, I have to stay healthy."

Kakashi smiled in response and tightened his grip on the food in his arms, scurrying to the counter. "I have to put these things down. I'm sweating. I'm sweating like a hooker in church."

They all laughed this time around at the man's charming comedic personality.

Itachi his the chair next to him. "Naruto. Here. Sit here."

Naruto nodded and sat next to his best friend. "I have the medicine. But I also have this." He dug into his bag. "It's a rubik's cube."

Itachi gasped sharply. "Thank you. Thank you, Naruto."" He hugge the genius and grabbed the toy, busy and fully interested in it. Five minutes after cooking began, Kisame slid from beneath the sink.

"Fixed now, guys."

"Thank you." Sasuke muttered, interested in Itachi's hands fumbling with the rubik's cube.

"No problem. Now I'm going to take a shower."

When Kisame walked upstairs, Itachi inhaled, still working. "Can you read the poem, Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded and went through the stack of poems his brother enjoyed. "Here it is. Love's philosophy."

He began reading, smiling as Itachi murmured it with him, remembering the poem and every line of it.

The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean,

The winds of heaven mix forever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle.

Why not I with thine?—

See the mountains kiss high heaven

And the waves clasp one another;

No sister-flower would be forgiven

If it disdained its brother;

And the sunlight clasps the earth

And the moonbeams kiss the sea:

What is all this sweet work worth

If thou kiss not me?"

When finished, he looked up to Naruto's wide grin. "What a magnificent work of imagination. Who's your favorite, Sasuke?"

"I like Joy Kogawa. Edgar Allen Poe too."

"Ah. the doomed American poet. I've only enjoyed his poem about Science."

"Shocking." Sasuke muttered.

"Ntoscience. I remember it word for word. Science!" Naruto's scream made Sasuke jump an Itachi look up in interest. "True daughter of the old time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes."

"Okay." The teen mumbled in embarrassment.

Naruto continued until the end however. "And from me, the summer dream beneath the Tamarind Tree?"

He smiled proudly as Itachi clapped and Kakashi laughed at Sasuke's defeated glare. "Would you like to hear another, Ita?"

Sasuke groaned. "For the love of Kami, no-"

"Yes. Yes! They are so fun, Naruto."

"When I was one-and-twenty

I heard a wise man say,

'Give crowns and pounds and guineas

But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies

But keep your fancy free.'

But I was one-and-twenty,

No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard him say again,

'The heart out of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

'Tis paid with sighs a plenty

And sold for endless rue.'

And I am two-and-twenty,

And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true."

It was at the end that Itachi and Naruto both looked to one another and began laughing all at once as if the whole poem was a joke. Sasuke only shook his head with a small smile.

"Musuko. I think Sasuke's had enough of your poem for a day."

"Undeniably incorrect. More so than gravity not equaling nine point eight meters per second squared. Sasuke loves when I speak. I've been studying his emotions for four months now and I can understand that he is infatuated with me."

Sasuke glared softly. "I'm not."

Kakashi laughed. "Breakfast is almost ready. Your mother should be up by now."

Sasuke snorted. "If you want to have breakfast with her." He mumbled in sadness. "Itachi do you want to go and get her?"

Itachi handed his cube to Naruto, who immediately went to work with it, and stood. "I'll get momma. You all just wit. I'll get momma."

Itachi ran up the steps, almost running into his mother's door. He placed his lips on the white wood. "Momma." he called, the sound muffled. "Momma, it's time to eat. Kisame's washing up and Naruto and Sasuke are downstairs. Kakashi-san is cooking. Hear me, momma? Kakashi-san likes me and Sasuke."

There was nothing said and Itachi opened the door slightly, finding his mother lying upon her back. He walked in, opting to stare at her blank face a closed eyes.

He laughed lightly, touching her face. "You're so blue momma. And you're cold. You're hiding, aren't you momma? I know that." He laughed and stared at her again.

"You stink too, momma."

Somehow in someway, some precedent adult fear took over him, if only for a moment. He tapped her sunken cheeks. "Okay, momma. Wake up." He leaned near her eye, forgetting her stench and skin. "Momma." He whispered. "Wake up."

Five minutes passed and Itachi grew frustrated. "Momma." He pushed her arm. "Wake up. Stop it. Stop, momma. Stop it now, Momma! It's not funny!"

"Tachi, what wrong-oh! Sasuke! Sasuke!"

"Mommy! Stop it. It's not funny!" Itachi thrashed as Kisame tore him away and Sasuke and Naruto ran into the room.

Sasuke continued to bite his nails, no emotion displayed as the policemen spoke to him. Itachi sat silent and although he found Mikoto dead, he was the one to understand the least.

So he remained sitting next to Naruto as Kakashi and Kisame spoke in whispers.

"Alcohol poisoning. She'd been dead for only a day, but that alcohol is enough to consume and decay your entire organs." the police stated, uncomfortable. He had gone into the woman's room first. He had backed out to vomit, doubled over, fighting powerful waves of nausea. It took a seasoned forensic coroner to get any closer.

Sasuke nodded and turned away as they pushed Mikoto's body, head wrapped around the day of the funeral and not how guilty he felt for feeling relief.

He blinked his own tears away. There was pain. So much pain.

If love could be passed on by cold dark eyes or a left hook, it would be Sasuke's inheritance.

He had left the house for a few hours after a rough fight with Mikoto, and his anger seethed through him.

The sixteen year old turned into an alley and leaned against the cold, damp brick. What was left now? Home with Mikoto. Mikoto, who didn't even know how to break a smile or utter a kindness, Mikoto who found fault in every little thing and wielded her meaty hands like the raw hunks of meat they were. Mikoto who was already tucking into the liquor and screaming at them to buy her cigarettes.

Kami took the wrong parent. Sasuke whimpered and kicked at the soil feeling the only love he'd ever known drain right through his boots and be replaced by ice.

One Week Later

The funeral had come and gone quick and sasuke still had yet to cry. He stood in the front, keeping control of Itachi who almost had no idea what was going on. The 24 year old sat down, biting his lips and nearly done with his rubik's cube.

Sasuke peered at the others at the funeral. Just the five of them and no one else cared. Sasuke sometimes wondered if he cared. Was Mikoto not a burden to them. Using all their money Fugaku left for alcohol. Verbal abusing Sasuke and on occasion, Itachi.

He wanted to love her. He wanted so bad to love her.

In the space that should have been filled with love, there was a void so black, no light could penetrate. It was a wound that could never heal no matter how much salve was poured on. The best Sasuke could ever hope for now was to shore up his mind with new loves and pray they never left. Because if they did, his house would fall like the tower of cards it was.

He liked to pretend the walls were brick held together with mortar, but they were just card that got damp in the rain and wobbled in the wind. He could thank his mother for that, but he couldn't harbour bitterness. Not if Itachi didn't.

Mikoto was what she was; she saw like a person who could never look past their own reflection. Of course, she was the star of her world, to her, she was the only one truly there. Perhaps if Sasuke's eyes were like that, then he'd be just like her.

But they weren't. Itachi was the star of his world. His eyes always took in the light from every angle, saw the detail Mikoto never could.

And though he did love her, love her, love her with his beating heart, Sasuke declined his mother to be part of his life; Her haunting him was plenty enough.

When they all stood to leave, and when Sasuke turned away first, it was Itachi who grabbed hold of his arm.

"Sasuke?"

The teen turned, a small pout evident on his face. "Yes, love?"

"Is momma coming home too?"

Sasuke bit his lip. "I...no, Tachi. Mother is not coming home with us and not for a long time."

Itachi stared in shock and confusion before he nodded. "Oh."

Sasuke side hugged his brother. "Let's go home. We can climb the water tower." He suggested.

"The water tower!?"

Sasuke smirked with his eyes closed. "This is really the final time."

By the end of the night, between cleaning and tucking Itachi in, Sasuke was exhausted. In order to keep his mind clear, the teen went to sit on the porch. His breath hitched as he spotted the clear dark sky and Naruto sitting on the steps.

"What are you doing over here?" He asked.

Naruto looked back and then shrugged. "Just sitting. Keeping everything safe."

Sasuke sighed and sat next to the man. Their silence was comfortable for a long duration of time until Naruto finally muttered. "You did not cry today. You did not cry yesterday. I don't believe you ever will when it comes to your mother. I sense that she was a heavy burden upon you and Ita."

Sasuke said nothing and did not deny the claim. Silence once again shook their hands.

"I've done research on love, Sasuke-san. And I realize that the most custom thing to do is ask for some of your time with a restaurant, movie, or other fashionable activity."

Sasuke hid his snort as he turned. "Are you asking for a date, Naruto?"

"I suppose so." The genius muttered, uncomfortable.

"After my mother's funeral?" Came the nearly incredulous response.

Naruto blushed deeply and stood, walking to his home hastily. "I acknowledge my offense. Goodnight-"

"Wait." Sasuke called as Naruto ceased movement. "I'll go on a date with you, but I'm not helping with it, genius. You need to learn basic social concepts."

The smile on Naruto's face reminded Sasuke so much of Itachi. "I will try my best, Sasuke-san. Goodnight."

So how about it, eh? I noticed that a lot of people really wanted to see more of Mikoto and if she'd change. However, there has been an immense amount of trouble in Sasuke's life that Mikoto's death is symbolic of a rebirth. Just as Naruto's appearance is the symbol of rebirth for Itachi. I hope that makes sense. Well, I love you all.