another Chance

#56

"did I ask you?"  Sasuke asked as he looked at karin, who shut up and glanced at suigetsu before lowering her eyes to look at the floor. Itachi aware of the tense atmosphere decided to intervene and called his name softly and he stroked the younger Uchiha's soft hair, successfully making the younger Uchiha leave them alone and pay attention to him (Itachi), he yawned a little and responded lazily "hmm?" . Itachi lowered his head and said to him "I can take off the gauge today....sakura chan is going to help me with it....could you sit up straight for a moment" this was distracting enough, he thought as he felt the reluctance in the low hum he got in response.
Sasuke finally glanced at the pink haired ninja as if asking for the confirmation, and got a nod in return. So he although reluctantly got up and sat up straight, but still held onto Itachi's wrist to feel his pulse.
Sakura had also gotten used to Sasuke acting all clingy with Itachi, at first she was surprised but then slowly grew numb to it. She  knew that Sasuke was suffering  with depression and was aware of Sasuke obsessing over Itachi and his health. Although she wanted him to let go of his obsession she had no idea where to start, so for the time being she could only ignore his paranoid and abnormal behaviour. Sasuke ignored the worried look in her eyes and looked at the trio asking them to  rest, they are free to utilise their rest time however they wanted. Although Sasuke had to go to the hokage's office to report but he felt a little lazy and did not wish to leave Itachi alone for the time being.
Sasuke stood up and went upstairs to his room to freshen up after being lazy for a few more minutes and when he came back, he saw Itachi had the gauge covering  his eyes taken off and sakura was instructing him to open his eyes slowly and asking if he felt any discomfort, to which she got a negative answer. Sasuke stood there his eyes fixed on Itachi, looking at him in a very focused manner. Sasuke stil had not realised how he had been acting ever since his rebirth (?) or whatever it was, the only thing he realised was his obsession with his aniki. Ever since he was little Itachi was the one he was close to, even as a baby he'd cry if not held by him. He had adored his older brother since he was a child and that adoration had twisted into the hatred he later developed after Itachi's deliberate guidance and then into the strong regret and melancholy after knowing the truth. These emotions also led to him being manipulated by that Tobi or Madara.  He had realised all this much as he started to deliberately remember every detail of his past life. Now all those complex emotions, that adoration, love, hate, regret and melancholy have twisted him even more, turning him into something that even he himself couldn't understand anymore. The only constant in all those variables has always been Itachi, now that constant has become his obsession. An obsession he is unwilling to let go of.....even if it meant destroying everything.

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Itachi slowly opened his eyes adjusting to the light in the room. Even before he opened his eyes completely he could feel a very intense gaze on himself and he had a hunch who this gaze belonged to. Sure enough as soon as his eyes adapted to the natural light in the room he saw Sasuke standing on the stairs and looking at him with such intense focus that it made him somewhat flustered and confused. It had almost been 1 and a half month since he last saw Sasuke, he looked paler and  slimmer than what he remembered. As Itachi looked at Sasuke, he (Sasuke) walked upto him keeping his eyes fixed on him(Itachi). The look in sasuke's eyes was a mix of complex emotions making his beautiful onyx eyes appear even  darker, almost like an abyss, deep, dark and unfathomable. This looks made Itachi feel somewhat uncomfortable but he couldn't tell why. This was the first time Itachi ever doubted himself in his abilities to understand a person and the human emotions.
Before he could say anything, Sasuke averted his eyes and started talking to sakura, asking her if there was something he needed to pay attention to and then he walked out with her, not paying Itachi a single Shred of his attention, as if he was not the one staring at him so intensely earlier. This behaviour of his confused Itachi and made him feel a pang of prickly sadness and discomfort, but he kept his face as gentle as ever not letting his inner turmoil appear on his face .
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Sasuke  made sure that Itachi was not feeling any discomfort or hiding anything. After assuring that Itachi was being honest and cooperative, Sasuke turned his attention to sakura who was also there. He asked for any precautions and the rehabilitation and then walked out with her as he had to go the same destination as her to report to lady hokage.
The moment he got the permission to enter the conference hall, he faced not only Tsunade but also the elders of the village. Sasuke only knew bits and pieces of what would happen next as his sole focus at that time was his revenge and getting strong enough to kill Itachi. He only had a rough impression of what happened and what lead to what, so he was not going to interfere with any event that had happened in his 'previous life'.  So when facing elders he always made sure to only tell vague information. On this expedition Sasuke had also discovered some traces of Orochimaru and Kabuto, and after some more investigations he found that Orochimaru had escaped back then, which also meant that his lies could be exposed if someone get's to him(Orochimaru) before him. So this time he decided to disclose this information to the hokage and get some man power from this village, afterall  he can't spend all his time on Orochimaru or his aniki who is so smart would figure something out. Although he had karin check into it, more manpower would mean more efficiency