Holy shit???
So I go on here like, what? Two, three days ago? And 14 has like, 14 reads or something and then tonight I go on and it's like fiftyfuckingseven?????? You people are insane! I love everysinglefuckingoneofyou!!
So, as promised (maybe a little late, I apologize) here is the first part to the epilogue. I love it. I hope you do too???
Ya'll are great, amazing, beautiful beautiful souls and I cannot fathom how much support this kind of shitty piece of writing has gotten because of you all oh my god I'm gonna cry let's not do that...
Instead vote and share? What the hell, for the second part? Remember, 20 reads or 5 votes (seems easy enough ???????!!!!!!!!!!)
So, thank you all again and to ease (maybe) your pain I shall give you this sweet (I thinkkkk) beauty that is the epilogue, thank you all so much for reading, and I truly hope you enjoy.
~Stephanie ;)
Today? Today is a good day.
Sasuke is back. The war ended. Everyone is okay now, minus the dead. They're honored, mourned, added to a long list on the K.I.A stone. I can't believe my name used to be on there.
But today is also a bad day, really. Not quite bad, just...sad. It's a sad day. It's the middle of the summer, now, Sasuke has been back for a couple of months. But he's going out on the road again soon, and I intend to join him.
The war has been done for a very long time, and all the nations are complete. Happy. Not too much crime, with the occasional bad guy that the sixth Hokage has been able to defeat. He may no longer be at his prime, but Uncle Kakashi can really do some damage.
Today. Today Naruto, Sasuke, and I are finally in the village together again. Today, our other friends are close. Today, we all lost something.
Sasuke was more of an Uchiha than me. He had grown up with them, while I had grown up with my Aunt Rena, and who, before Naruto convinced me that revenge was not the answer, I killed for taking me away from my family. My sister.
But today I don't mourn her. Today, I am as much of an Uchiha as I'll ever be. Today, being an Uchiha doesn't matter.
"Hey! Kiuya!" I turn my head and smile. Naruto- he's like the sun. Annoying if he gets too close and constant, but great to have around. And bright. I can see him being the Hokage. I know he will.
"Hey, Naruto." I yell back, lazily waving a hand at him, with the other in my pocket. I didn't really bother to get dressed today. This is the one day I allow myself to not do anything, the one day I allow myself to hurt so much to the point of not functioning.
"Where's Sasuke? He's usually never late!" I shrug as he slows his pace, standing in front of me. My hair's messy today, it reaches to my jawline, and I haven't bothered to bathe. I started to grow it out when I was maybe ten.
"Ah give him time," I say, waving it off, "he'll be here." Naruto pouts, and I laugh, and about ten minutes later he shows up, and Naruto exploded.
"You, Teme! You're late! Again! Since when did Kakashi's tardiness rub off on you!" Sasuke rolls off his comment and gives me a head nod, in greeting.
"Hey Kiuya." I do the same.
"Hey Sasuke."
"What is with the Uchiha? Always so casual..." Naruto mumbles into his hands. I crack a smile and I see a hint of one on Sasuke's face. Then he turns in the direction we're heading and it leaves.
"Ready to see them?" He asks. I close my eyes, count to ten as slowly as I can, and nod.
We walk together, Naruto to my left and Sasuke to my right, in sync all the way to the concrete slab slapped into the ground, baring the name:
Tane Uchiha
And the square, carved in the mud next to it, with the name:
Itachi Uchiha
I only wish that they weren't seen as monstrocities. I didn't know Itachi that long, or my sister for that matter, but they were good people.
And during the war, when Obito showed up, he told me all about her. At first, how weak she was, wanting to stay with the man who would eventually put an end to her life.
And then he told me what really happened. He told me that they were both amazing, strong people. That they were both madly in love, and that Tane had asked him, asked him to kill her. And Itachi never forgave.
"Hey Tane." I whisper, sitting in front of her grave, thinking that she wouldn't quite mind her brother's presence, even if it was sitting on top of her resting place. I put my hand on her tombstone.
"Hey, Itachi." I whisper even quieter, looking at the square which remembered Itachi. Sasuke had told me. Told me the truth to what happened that day so many years ago today. He told me that they both did it, Tane and Itachi. He told me that Itachi wanted anything but killing her. They were supposed to go into the Akatsuki together, save the village together.
And he told me what Itachi had told him about Tane. About his best friend, Shisui. He talked about the time they spent together, how gracious they all were towards one another. How much love they all held for each other. It makes my heart ache to think of them all dying, all different times, all unknowing of why. Or what their impact was.
Sasuke and Naruto sit down, too. Naruto sits in the middle of Sasuke and I, knowing Tane best but still aware of Itachi.
Naruto told me, after the war, how when Itachi was reanimated, he didn't just ask about Sasuke. He asked about me, too. He wanted to make sure that his dead girlfriends legacy, who was still ever so present in his heart, was okay. Was good. Wasn't corrupted.
And Naruto told me that he smiled and said, "Believe it."
"How old would you be, Tane?" I whisper, thinking. I run my finger over the letters in her name. T-A-N-E U-C-H-I-H-A.
"They would both be twenty two." Sasuke whispers back, and I nod.
"I wonder if they're together." I say. I've always thought it. I've also always thought that Naruto and Sasuke would think of me as...well as stupid for thinking that.
"I hope so." Sasuke, to my surprise, whispers back. I turn my head and look at him, curious, knowing he has more to say.
"He was the happiest when he was with her. They were happy. They didn't deserve what they got." I look back at my sisters grave.
"Most of us don't."
Uncle Kakashi told me, that before his regiment battled the seven ninja swordsmen, that they battled my sister. It made my stomach churn, to think of Kabuto digging up her grave and taking a piece of her. Kakashi retold it to me like this,
When he saw Tane, only he froze. No one else knew who she was, some vaguely recognized her, but that was it. But Uncle Kakashi?
"Tane?" He asked, and she looked at him, her eyes wide.
"Wh-what happened? Why aren't I in control?" He said his heart sank, seeing how desperate she was. To see Itachi, to see me.
"You're dead. But...you're under the reanimation jutsu, by Kabuto Yakushi, a pupil of Orochimaru's." He said she hissed and spat at the ground, mumbling, "Motherfucker."
"How's Itachi? Kiuya?" Kakashi said this confirmed the fact that what "Madara" said was true, Itachi was only saving the village. And so was she.
"Itachi is dead. Kiuya's alive and fighting." He said she choked, covering her mouth, her only voluntary movement, but there was hope in her eyes. For me.
"How long has it been?" And Kakashi shook his head and said, "About eight years."
"So he's fifteen then? Does he look okay? Does he have friends?" And he said to me that everyone around him was so confused. She was their enemy, but was asking questions about me and my well being instead of fighting them.
"He looks great, and he has tons of friends. You don't have to be worried, Tane." And then she asked about Sasuke, and Kakashi told her everything. And in between that Kabuto made them start battling.
And surely, they would have lost, if it weren't for me. My sister's mangekyo was one of a kind and could deflect any attack. But when she saw me, when I stepped in to help Kakashi and saw her, she stopped. She was cut loose from Kabuto's control.
"Kiuya." She muttered, and started to cry. I ran up to her, just barely grasping her hand before she withered away into paper, a strangers body falling instead of hers.
And now, now I only think of if she's happy. If she became unbound, then she must have gotten everything she wanted, right?
We spend hours upon hours at their graves, talking to them about us, the war, how we've managed. I'm able to get in an, "I love you, big sis," before we leave and meet up with everyone.
I talk with Shikamaru and Sakura for a while, before friendly insulting Ino, as per usual, and commenting on the stench of Akamaru.
I only really miss chatting with Neji, honestly.
"Hey, Naruto, Sasuke, Kiyua, are you three okay? Today is..." Sakura trails off at the end, and everyone goes silent. I exchange looks with Naruto, then glance sideways at Sasuke, who does the same to me, and I lean back and cross my arms over my chest.
"No. We aren't okay. But hey, they were good people. And you know what? They're together. That's what matters." And it did.
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