EDIT 8/24/21: Hello! The original chapter two has been moved to be what is now chapter three. This chapter two was originally what was half of chapter one in Sasuke's perspective with some of Itachi's own perspective in it! This is part of my current reconstruction of the fic.

[ This chapter has been edited/ fixed as of 8/24/21 ]

Eternal

Part One: Genesis

Chapter Two:

Reluctance

He could taste the salt in the air. Cold, damp, and unyieldingly dark, most would find the cave a fearful place. But to him, darkness was something he had learned to grow accustomed to. He grew up in it, sought it out in order to gain the power he needed, following the path he was told would be the only way to accomplish his goal.

His surroundings were ignored. It was nothing special to him, nothing to be afraid of. Instead, his attention laid elsewhere, to something that had twisted and affected him more than he anticipated — his brother's glowing form walking toward him, limp arms outstretched. The sight made his stomach clench, made his heart ache, made his mind numb.

It was unmistakable.

His brother was going to leave this world. For good.

He thought the deed was done, and in reality, it was. But the universe had twisted plans up its sleeves. With that, the impossible was made the opposite, and his brother stood in front of him yet again.

When he saw him in the forest, it triggered every single emotion in him and let it all explode in anger as he chased after him, wanting the truth to finally escape his lips, to finally hear him cease the lies and tell him everything he'd kept secret.

But things never go according to plan, and it looks like the short time they had left was coming to an end.

"I feel like my consciousness is slowly fading…" Itachi's voice echoed through the damp rocks that surrounded them. Parts of his being were vanishing, as if those pieces of him were paper, ripped apart and being blown up into the air.

Seeing this was almost as painful as killing him himself. At the time, even though he had finally done what he had set out to do, he still didn't feel satisfied, didn't feel the vindication he thought he'd get when finally killing the man who murdered so many and betrayed him. Now, he knew why.

Because he knew everything was a lie, that everything was a game, and that he was just a pawn.

To see Itachi have to go again, after everything, only made him feel all the more alone.

"The night I left you," Itachi continued as he slowly walks to his younger brother. He wasn't alive. He was dead. He was dead all along. "I did do everything Danzo and Tobi told you."

He knew that. He wanted to hear him say that all this time. He wanted to hear the truth from his lips. But why did it feel all the more painful? This was what he wanted, but it would seem that everything he wanted only brought him more despair, more conflicting thoughts fighting inside him, more uncertainty.

But if he was so used to the darkness, why hadn't he gotten used to the questions, to the lies? Perhaps that, too, was a lie. He wanted to deceive himself.

His mind was reeling, wanting him to say something, anything, but his lips wouldn't move. Words and sentences formed within him but struggled to escape the confines of his brain.

All at once, Itachi felt sadness, emptiness, pain, anger, love, confusion. He did everything to save his dear younger brother, but was there no other way? He left him alone, fabricated so much to have hatred grow inside of him in the hopes that that would be enough to make him stronger. But he realized now just how flawed that plan was.

He grew up without a family. He grew up afraid. He grew up walking into the darkness instead of fighting with the light. Sasuke had every right to be furious with him.

But he was Itachi. No matter what had happened, deep down inside, Sasuke knew he still loved his brother. The moments they had shared when they were younger never left him, the support he gave when he needed it, the shoulder to lean on, to cry on. He was always there for him. Until he wasn't, and then, so abruptly, he had no one. Just like how it will be after he leaves for the final time.

He was confused. He loved his brother, but he hated what he did.

He loved his brother, and he had good intentions, but it made him turn into who he was now.

But that was his biggest question. Who truly was Sasuke Uchiha?

He, himself, didn't know. Was the person he had been these past few years truly him. or was he just playing the part of who he thought he should be? Was he blinded by the suffering he had to endure? The suffering that would have been avoided if Danzo and Konoha had just embraced his clan?

He felt rage threaten to engulf him momentarily, but with the sight before him and the aftereffects of the truth imparted onto him, shock and sorrow blocked it from showing. His brother did everything for the sake of the village. He chose the village over his own clan.

What was it about the village? What made him be able to make such a difficult choice, an impossible choice, and go through with it anyway?

"I always lied to you and asked you to forgive me." Itachi's footsteps became lighter, but he paused for a moment, seemingly taking in his last breaths of air.

He was close now. He raised two fingers; his form slowly being taken away. He wasn't supposed to be alive, but he wanted him to stay. "So, this time, I want to impart this truth to you…"

One step closer.

And suddenly the rush of emotions seemed to quiet down with him catching his breath, wanting to hear the last words he'll ever get to hear him say, expecting the familiar motion he'd left him with the last time they had fought. Two fingers to his forehead, just like last time, just like all those times when they were children.

But Itachi's fingers only brushed his forehead as he reached the back of Sasuke's head. He pushed him forward, their foreheads meeting. Deep, dark eyes met dull ones, the former's still wide, his mouth slightly open. His older brother's lips tilted upward, giving him one final smile, a smile he hadn't seen in a long time.

"I will love you always."

And just like that, after everything, Itachi Uchiha was no more. But the revelations he had given to his brother will last forever, continuing to plague his mind and his choices.

Sasuke jolted upright, his eyes shocked open and his lungs begging for air. Breathing heavily, he looked around to take in his surroundings. Everything looked in place. His spacious room was just as he left it the night before. Books and paper stacked on his desk. His laptop was open, left as it was before he went to bed. The TV still mounted on the wall in front of his large bed. The blinds were still closed, the room still relatively clean.

'What was that?' He thought to himself as he placed a hand on his head, a numbing pain in his head.

Before he could think more of it, he felt a wetness drip from his left eye onto his cheek. He lifted a finger to touch it, expecting a tear. But it was red.

He quickly got out of bed, almost running towards the bathroom. Turning the light on, he faced himself in the mirror.

Blood.

It was blood. That alone would have been cause for concern, but that was the least of it.

He expected his dark eyes to stare back at him. Instead, the colors were bright, terrifying. The blood tear that had escaped his left eye led him to a purple iris. Rings surrounded the eye, as if his pupil were Saturn. The other glowing red, forming what almost looked like a flower.

What was happening? Was this his mind playing games on him?

Wanting to inspect it further, he leaned closer to the mirror, his worry morphing into distress. But with a single blink, the colors dulled back into onyx.

It took him a moment to reel his mind back, to pacify his astonishment.

He shook his head. ' Must have been a trick of the light .' He thought to himself. It didn't explain why blood was coming out of his eye, though. He felt fine. Or, as fine as one should be after such an odd dream, after whatever he saw or thought he saw.

He made a clicking sound with his tongue. It must be the lack of sleep. That had to explain those fantasies.

For a while now, whenever he'd gone to sleep, he had been in some place that should feel foreign to him. It ranged from him being as young as five to as old as someone in his early thirties. He was sure it wasn't Tokyo. It seemed too quaint to be the bustling capital city of Japan. But why did it feel so familiar to him?

The dreams have gotten longer as time went on. At first, they were like quick glances through a small slit through a door, where he could see himself from the outside looking in, but now he felt himself within the scenes that played in his mind at night.

They were perplexing. He was never one to dream so often, but as of late, it had been happening more often than not. And with the same images, the same instances playing in his mind.

Though, he would be lying if he didn't admit that they were growing to be more concerning, especially considering tonight's aftereffects.

Right now, he was trying to think nothing of it, but it was too peculiar not to think about. Was his mind truly playing tricks on him? What else could explain what he saw, or what he thought he saw?

He almost wished his dreams appeared as they used to. Weird, but not distressing. The ones where he'd watch himself, an older version of himself, walk through the forest, or when he'd see himself as a blissfully ignorant child, or the moments that he found oddly comforting— the ones with her in it.

It was strange. He didn't know her at all. He was sure he didn't. After all, her hair was a soft pink, of all colors, and her eyes a bright emerald green. He was certain he'd know who it was if he actually did know her which added to his confusion. Didn't dreams show the faces of people already known by your mind?

She appeared in his dreams quite frequently. Though, he'd only ever seen her with him as an older adult. The older version of himself looked to enjoy her company, and they looked quite close.

He scoffed. Was he so worn out that his subconscious has gone as far as to create a woman for him?

Sasuke never considered himself as one who sought romance, one who sought another person's affections. His focus was elsewhere, and the thought of such was always pushed aside, not a priority to himself at the moment.

But why did he feel as though having her, the mysterious woman, by his side wouldn't be bad?

He must be more affected by tonight's dream than he realized if he was entertaining such a thought.

'It was Itachi this time.' It had been a while since he had dreamt of his brother, and when he did, it was always the same confusing set of emotion he felt when having to face him.

He couldn't understand why, though. He's never harbored any such feelings towards him in real life. In fact, he considered his brother the person he cherished and trusted the most. After their parents passed away a few years ago because of the accident, his brother was there as his rock.

Turning the sink nozzle, he took a handful of water and began washing his face, ridding the evidence of blood that escaped his tear ducts. Just as the dreams disappeared the moment he woke, the blood was nothing to fret about. This was only the first time, and he doubted it would happen again. He was of great health the last time he got checked.

He heard his phone ring in the distance. Grabbing a face towel from the rack, he walked as he patted away the wetness that remained on his face. He looked to see the caller ID and rolled his eyes. Tapping answer, he placed the phone by his ear.

"Teme!" Naruto. As if there was any doubt. Who else was as loud in the morning but him? "You said meet at the airport at ten!"

"Dobe," he replied, tossing the face towel onto his bed. "Yes, I did."

"It's ten thirty!"

He looked at the clock and sighed. "You messed with your clocks again? It's eight thirty."

"I-" Sasuke could basically hear the gears in his friend's head turning as he realized his mistake. "Damn it! I forgot to put them back after last week's lectures."

With another sigh escaping his lips, Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose in slight agitation. "I guess that means you won't be late."

"Hey, you wanted me to come with you to pick Itachi up!"

"Do you have to yell this early in the morning?"

"Geez, you sound grouchier today," Naruto replies. "Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"No," he says, quicker than he intended. "And no, I didn't invite you to get Itachi from the airport. I mentioned it, you invited yourself."

It's always been like this, ever since they met when they were children, their mothers close friends, they'd banter like this. Being childhood friends, he felt as though he'd known Naruto far longer than he did.

Even as children, their mothers would comment on how sometimes they'd just blankly stare at each other, sometimes sizing each other up, sometimes with a look that made them seem like two old friends meeting for a drink. An odd comparison, yes.

And it got him thinking. Were the dreams any part of it, too? He, too, was a frequent character in them. But their meetings never seemed to be pleasant.

No. Enough. Night had passed and the day had arrived. There was no use clinging onto these unanswerable questions any longer. It was all in his head.

"Fine," Naruto huffed. "Just get here already. You still haven't told me where we have to be to pick him up."

"Thirty minutes." He hung up. Sometimes, he wondered how their friendship had lasted this long.

With that, he began to get ready to leave.

Itachi watched as people began leaving the plane. He made sure not to be seen, sitting in the back corner of the first class space, sunglasses over his eyes. One after another, the doctors and medical specialists disappeared through the plane doors. But he focused on one person in particular.

It was hard to miss her. After all, her hair was pink.

She was busy conversing with who he surmised was her superior. Though, everyone in first class could be considered as such seeing as she was a mere student.

Her appearance meant something. He knew it did, but he didn't know what that truly entailed yet. Just as he wasn't aware of how he knew who she was. Not in the sense that he was aware of her name nor her life, but he just knew that they had met before. And that she was important.

As the space was emptying, he, too, stood up.

Soon, he would find out. His instincts were seldom wrong.

"Yo, Itachi." Naruto waved at the older Uchiha as he walked through the exit doors of the airport.

"Naruto, didn't expect you to be here." He said as he gave him a fist bump. He turned to look at his younger brother. "You know you didn't have to pick me up."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. "Felt like it."

Itachi couldn't help but be amused. His brother was always acting this way, nonchalant.

"How was the trip?" Naruto asked as he opened the back of the car. "Sasuke said something about funding some medical researchers."

"Did he?" He was certain he told his brother not to say anything. But considering how Naruto was like a second brother to them, it didn't matter much.

Sasuke shrugged.

"Hey, I'm going to be the future prime minister. Can't hide it from me." He grinned cheekily as he took Itachi's luggage and put it in the car.

Itachi sighed. "Let's talk about this in the car, shall we?"

Despite his lack of worry of Naruto knowing, he couldn't really discuss something of this importance out in the open. No matter how far from hearing others may be.

As they all walked to their respective doors, Sasuke had the urge to stop. The entire world seemingly stopped as his eyes locked on something. Someone.

Pink.

Pink hair amongst a sea of black.

'It couldn't be… '

Itachi, from the inside of the car, noticed his brother's moment of pause. Moving closer to the window, he saw his eyes honed in on one thing. Following his gaze, he didn't find himself surprised.

Were answers coming sooner than he thought?

Sasuke watched as her head slowly turned to his direction, and the more he saw her face, the more his head began to hurt. The moment he caught a glimpse of her eyes, the pain became almost unbearable.

For a moment, he saw a glaring white light.

He stared down at the man beneath him, in the middle of the gaping hole he'd created.

He'd already sensed she was coming. After years, to think this would be the way his old team would reunite. It wasn't like there was any other way. The moment he stepped foot out of the place he used to call home, he knew that the next time they'd meet would be on the opposite sides.

And there she was, pink hair flowing behind her as she ran quickly to the man that had woken him up and grabbed him by the collar.

"Alright, enough! Tell us what you're really up to! How many times were you going to betray us before you-"

"Sakura."

He saw her anger slowly dissipate as he called her name. She let the stranger's collar go as she turned her head towards him, utter surprise expressed on her face.

He hadn't seen those expressive green eyes since that night two years ago.

She was taller, her hair still cut before it reached her shoulders. She had grown, but she was still Sakura. He wondered if his absence changed her, and perhaps it did. There's a drive within her, more powerful and more determined than when he saw her last. That, and from what he had heard, she was the Hokage's disciple. She must have gotten stronger. She should have.

But even with that growth, she was still the Sakura he knew. He was certain of it.

Parts of his mind wandered to that moment in the past in front of the gates, when he had cut the string between them, the bond with her that he had to in order to truly find power and get revenge. He told himself that it was severed, that nothing kept them bound. And yet, just the sight of the young woman she had become, brought back memories. Memories of her, of the team, of the village. Something he didn't feel he needed at the moment and going on into the future. But still, his mind wandered to that night when the moon was full, and the tears were plenty. He wondered if she still felt the same as she did back then.

And just by looking into the vivid brightness within her surprised eyes, he knew.

"Sasuke-kun."

That was why the thread must be cut. She held too much power over his conscience. And he couldn't have that. Not if he wanted to fulfill his goal.

Emerald green eyes.

Light pink hair that looked too natural not to be.

Features that looked all too familiar, that felt like a walk in the forest, content with the company shared.

Before she could turn to see the eyes that she felt burn a hole through her back, Sasuke opened his car door and quickly went inside, closing it hard. He buried his head in his hands, his pupils narrowed and seemed to flee from the expanding whites of his eyes.

It was her.

And her name was Sakura.

Notes:

Hope y'all enjoyed this. We're still in the setting up stage, and I really can't wait to actually delve deeper into the story but that isn't until like... five chapters in. Hopefully, y'all will be patient with me.

Reviews are welcome, and happy reading!