This chapter was difficult... and, like I keep saying, "IT" is NOT helping at all! My stupid math teacher gave us homework over the winter break, and when I was leaving with my TONS of homework, guess what she SAID to me! She said: "Merry Christmas!" WTF! If she wants me to have a merry Christmas, wouldn't she NOT give homework! It's not like she'll be grading any papers over the break... she's Satan.
Okay, enough venting. So, please enjoy, because this took me wayy longer than it SHOULD have, thanks to my stupid freakin' teachers that enjoy tormenting me with homework. . AUGH! Okay, sorry. Review and make me feel better, please!
Sakura anticipated Sasuke's heartbeat.
Boom... Boom boom... boom...
...
...
Now there was nothing but silence. Dead silence. No thumping heart against his chest. Sakura kept her ear pressed against him, still holding up her hopes on a small twine.
But she heard nothing.
"Sasuke! Sasuke, please stay with me! Please!"
Silence.
"Sasuke! You're okay, you have to be okay! Please be okay!"
Silence.
"Sasuke!"
Nothing.
"Sasuke, PLEASE!"
Dead silence (no pun intended ;))
"SASUKEEEE!" her scream was blood curdling.
This meant that both of the Uchihas...
Everyone bowed their heads sadly as they watched Sakura cling onto a bloodstained Sasuke. His body was now cold and limp. Itachi had also fallen to the ground, dead, with one last thought in his head:
At least I'll see him in heaven.
Then he had collapsed.
The rain sprinkled gently on the sidewalk. The gray sky as gloomy as ever. The falling rain and Sakura's bitter sobs were the only things heard. Naruto rushed to his teammates's sides. Kisame walked over and picked up his former teammate in Sasuke's body and laid him down next to his brother mournfully.
Aname watched the terrible scene of tears and raindrops. What could she do? Could she do anything at all? Even Himiwari was silently sobbing into Orochimaru's chest.
"Aname," a familiar voice sounded in her head.
"God," she silently responded. Then she frowned, to pained for tears. "I couldn't save them. I've failed. Now they're... they're..." she sighed and hung her head. "This was a stupid idea, wasn't it?"
"No, my dear, it was a very good idea." The answer surprised her. "You deserve to be a guardian angel. All that hard work and keeping track of the boys. They don't deserve to end their lives like this. Aname, I shall give you the chance to revive them."
Aname's eyes widened. Was she really getting such an opportunity? To fix such a large mistake?
The voice continued. "Go and revive them. You know what to do. They will be back in their own skin when they awaken."
Aname thought about it a moment. To resurrect someone only a few moments after they died, you had to kiss them, even if they were the same gender (*shudders*). She eyed the brothers. Then, her eyes focused on the eldest. Her body began to move forward, as though she were gliding across the damp ground like a ghost. She made her way through the crowd, Konoha and Akatsuki united into one, all mourning together for the loss of the Uchiha's.
As she dazedly made her way through the crowd, everyone's focus turned to the small angel. They watched as she kneeled beside Itachi's cold body. Sakura's sobs abruptly stopped, and she sat up, her red eyes fixed curiously on Aname. Naruto looked up as well, looking desperate and sad, like a small homeless boy on a house porch, hoping to find a place to spend the night. It was absolutely PITIFUL. Then, something sprouted among the shinobi.
Hope.
Aname looked down at Itachi's stiff body, his eyes closed over his beautiful eyes. She couldn't wait to see those eyes again, happy and smiling once more after all these years of sorrow. She hooked her red hair behind her ears, and the moment she'd been waiting for for ages happened.
She finally got to kiss Itachi.
It was like the story "Sleeping Beauty," only a little backwards. Instead, it was the woman bringing the man to life by a passionate, long-awaited kiss. The world and rain disappeared, and Aname forgot that she was being watched by TONS of people. She didn't care in the slightest.
Finally, she took her red lips from Itachi's pale ones. There was a moment of silence and pure hope among the shinobi as they watched and anticipated the Uchiha's still bodies. Would they awake?
Suddenly, there was sputtering and coughing. Aname whipped her head away from Itachi, only to see Sasuke's coal, tired eyes opening.
"Sasuke!" Both of Sasuke's teammates hovered over him, clouding his vision.
Sasuke sat up. "Ugh, my stomach..." he groaned, looking down at his gaping wound.
"Oh, thank heavens," Sakura sobbed. She gently hugged him, careful not to hurt his critical wound.
"Sakura... Naruto?" Sasuke eyed his former best friend.
Naruto smiled. "Sasuke," he said quietly. Then his expression turned joking. "I win this time! You're coming back to Konoha!"
Sasuke smiled. He had missed his teammates. Kakashi walked over to greet his student. "Good to see you again," Kakashi said in his cool, casual voice, squatting over to Sasuke's level.
Sasuke had missed him, too.
Aname was about to go and embrace him, but there was suddenly more sputtering and coughing. Everyone turned their attention to Itachi, who's eyes were now opening up to see a familiar redhead in front of him. Sasuke quickly appeared in his vision. "Nii-san! Nii-san!" He said excitedly.
Itachi sat up quickly, clutching Sasuke's worn, destroyed Akatsuki robe and looking intently into his eyes, as if he couldn't believe what he was seing. "Sasuke! Aname!" He said, startled.
Aname's eyes filled up with tears of joy and relief. She shook her head and looked at both of the Uchiha's. "Thank God you boys are okay." Then, without a warning, she clutched both of them and squeezed the dickens out of them. Both temporarily quit breathing and their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Aname didn't care.
"They're alive!" Kisame exclaimed. Everyone erupted into a big round of applause, complete with "WHOO!"'s and "YEAH!"'s and all that good stuff. They jumped up and down, hugging and high-five-ing. The Akatsuki and Konoha sure got along well. What a pity they hadn't discovered this earlier.
Aname released them, and her, Itachi, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Naruto all watched. Smiles grew on their faces before breaking out into joyful laughter.
As all this was going on, Aname elbowed Sasuke. "Hey," she said raising her eyebrow mischievously. "You know that pink haired girl?"
Sasuke glanced over at Sakura, her flawless face smiling with her team. "What, Sakura?" he asked in a hushed tone so she wouldn't hear.
"Yeah," Aname said. "You know, she saved your life." Then she winked.
Sasuke looked nervously over at his teammate, whom he had never really been very fond of, and suddenly something was different about her. He turned back to Aname. "Are... are you serious?" he asked, dumbfounded.
Aname was glad that she wasn't Pinocchio, because her nose would look like a pine tree right now. "Yeah," she said. "She's an amazing medical ninja. By the way," she nodded towards Sasuke's wound. "You'll need stitches, she says."
"NOOO!" Sasuke yelled, silencing the herd of happy shinobi. They all stared at Sasuke, staring down at his wound in terror. "I don't want stitches!" he whined.
Sakura patted his blue raven haired head. "Don't you worry one bit, Sasuke," she said happily. Then she smiled bigger. "It won't hurt one bit. Trust me."
Sasuke stared at her for a moment, then smiled a small, shy smile. "You've really grown up," he said in awe.
Sakura blushed. "So have you," she said. "You've grown up, and grown happier. I like the new Sasuke." she giggled.
Sasuke ran his tongue across his lips. "Well, the new Sasuke is also even more dangerous than before," he said. Itachi and Aname both facepalmed.
"Ooh," Sakura said, her smile growing mischievous. "I guess I better look out."
"Yeah, probably," Sasuke replied, making a clawing motion with his hand.
"Uhmm... O-okay!" Aname quickly said, clapping her hands together. "I think it's about time I show the boys the surprise!"
"What surprise?" they both asked in unison.
"Oh, yeah!"
"I can't wait to see their reaction!"
"Ooh, they're gonna LOVE IT!"
"Yes! Show them!"
"Okay, so I have you guys a surprise. I wasn't sure at first if I should, but I think that you Uchiha's deserve a proper goodbye to..." Two figures walked out of the trees. "Your parents!"
The brothers' jaws dropped upon seeing their mother and father, standing right there, as alive as ever.
"M-mother...?" Sasuke said in shock.
Their mother nodded. "Hi, boys," she said in her sweet tone that her sons had missed.
"...Father?" Itachi squinted at his father.
He nodded. "Good to see you, my sons." A smile appeared on his face.
There was silence as the parents looked at their sons, pleased, while they just stared back, obviously dumbfounded, their jaws gaping open.
Aname walked over and shooed Konoha and the Akatsuki off while whispering, "Let's give them a little privacy." As they walked off on the trail to Konoha, Aname walked up to Itachi and whispered in his ear, "we'll see you in Konoha."
He didn't seem to hear. But Aname left anyways.
"Oh, Anameee!" The little angel turned to see her blue haired female stalker that she had acquired that very day, waving at her on the path. Her cheeks were rosy, and she was smiling broadly at Aname. The redhead groaned. Then, with a pouting face, she reluctantly joined Konan on the way back to Konoha.
Simultaneously, the two brothers stood up, still gawking at their parents, and walked towards the two, poking and touching them all over.
"Are you real?" Sasuke asked stupidly.
Mikoto laughed. "We're only as real as you are," she said, touching her youngest boy on the tip of his nose.
"Have you two been alive all this time?" Sasuke asked, eyeing his three family members suspiciously.
"No, son," his father said. "We were temporarily resurrected."
"Really?" Sasuke was shocked. "How is that possible?"
"Well," Fugaku said, looking seriously into Itachi's eyes before looking into Sasuke's. His eyes were blank, yet full of sorrow. "I think I owe you all an apology. This never would've happened if it weren't for me. Itachi, I pushed you too hard when you were going through so much. And Sasuke, I feel like I've neglected you for all these years. In a sense, I've neglected you both."
Itachi looked at his father, who's disappointment of the past flooded his eyes. He placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Father," Itachi said. "You shouldn't feel sorry. You've made us both stronger than we would have been if all this hadn't had happened." Itachi beamed. "Why, I didn't think I could do such a thing, and without you, I couldn't have been even close to strong enough to do it. It was especially hard to kill my family, my clan, but... you're the one that made me who I am today." He chuckled reassuringly.
Now, Sasuke jumped in. "Father, I understand. I was the youngest, and not nearly as strong as Itachi. But without you, I wouldn't be independent and wanting to learn more. And I've always really looked up to you and Itachi." He smiled.
Fugaku eyed the two. "Are you just saying this?" he asked.
"Fugaku! Why would you ask that? Of course they're not just saying that!" Mikoto scolded.
"It's okay, mom," Itachi said. Then he turned back to Fugaku. "No, we're not just saying it. We're telling you this because it's true. And without you..." he looked at his little brother who smiled at him, and smiled back. "Well, I don't think we'd be as close as we are now."
"But, you guys were already pretty close," Mikoto pointed out.
"Yeah, but..." Sasuke said, "but... we're happier. We're even closer than we were before. And you know what?" he looked up, for once meaning what he said. "I'm glad that I left Konoha. I'm glad that I lived with Orochimaru and got raped. I'm glad that Aname came along and saved us. She's just sewn us closer together. I'm really grateful for all my struggles." Sasuke smiled.
Itachi smiled too, putting his arm around Sasuke's shoulder. "He's right," Itachi said. "I'm glad that I went through all that hell. It was worth it. It's also worth saying a proper goodbye to you guys. I'm sorry, I didn't have a choice..."
Mikoto waved her hand. "No, no! Don't be sorry!" She patted Itachi's cheek with a giggle. "Without you, a war could still be going on. You're a hero, Itachi!"
Itachi was struck with realization. He had always known that he was doing the wrong thing for the right reason, but he never really thought of it as heroic.
"Yeah, Itachi," Sasuke said. "Without you, I wouldn't be a strong shinobi. I would just be a joke."
Itachi smiled. "Aww, shucks," he said. "Well, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere else ever again if it weren't for our guardian angel," he said.
Sasuke sighed. "Yeah, without her, I would still be mad at you for... for everything you did right. I would still think that you hated me. And I would still hate you and want to..." Sasuke stopped, horrified at the thought that not long ago, he had wanted to kill Itachi.
As if she had read his mind, Mikoto smiled reassuringly at Sasuke. "Don't you worry about that anymore. You both deserved a second chance, anyways."
Sasuke smiled back at his mother. They quit talking, and just stood there in utter silence. A rainbow appeared in the sky.
Finally Itachi exploded. He jumped at his parents and hugged them in a death grip, similar to the hug Aname had given him and Sasuke. They hugged him back. Mikoto then began sobbing, sending her oldest son to tears as well. Fugaku wasn't exactly given the "gift of weeping," so he just stood there and hugged his son and wife. Then, he noticed that something was missing.
Fugaku looked up to see Sasuke, standing off to the side, watching his family with a blank, yet thoughtful face. His eyes were squinted, as if he were trying to see something far off in the distance.
Fugaku sighed. "Son," he called. Sasuke suddenly snapped back to reality to see his father, motioning for him to join the group hug. Sasuke darted his eyes nervously around before awkwardly inching over to his family where his father, mother, and brother all embraced him. Ever since "that night," he hadn't really been much for emotion. But it also felt good to be with his family again.
Especially since he knew he would always have Itachi, and their bond was now stronger than anything in the entire world.
Nothing could break that bond again.
Hey, thanks for reading! So, I have a quick announcement. The next chapter will be short. Really short. At least that's what I'm expecting. Then after that will be the epilogue (NOOO! D:). I hate to end the story because it's soo much fun to write! But I just want to thank you guys for reading. There shall be more thanks at the end of the epilogue. Once again, review! There aren't many chances left ;)