Weeping Samurai | Uchiha Itachi [Editing]

Chapter 19: Death

I do not own any Naruto characters or settings.  I only own my OCs, including Musei Shiro.

Are you ready for this?  I can see you shaking from the title.

Author's Note:

If you're reading this note, congrats on waiting like 6 years for this chapter to come out. It's like 5 in the morning and we're in quarantine so I figured I might as well finish this for the people who've been waiting...though I'm not even sure if those same people are still around to read my stuff lol. However, whether you're an old reader or a new one, I hope you enjoy this little chapter I wrote on a whim (I actually had to reread some of my stuff because I literally had no idea what this story was about anymore).

Thank you for those of you who've read any of my stuff, I appreciate it immensely <3

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Shiro stood at the mouth of the tunnel, gaping open as the maw of a giant snake. She, for the first time in her life, had the urge to look back, to look back and search for Itachi. 

Itachi. She let her mind wander just a little bit to him, visualizing his face and held it, letting it linger in her consciousness before she let it fade away...forever.

The memory of him quickly dissipated, as she felt her core surge in energy. She felt something, and it was close. She felt this overwhelming sense of relief, rippling through the very depths of her being and emerging through the surface of her impossibly pale, paper-thin skin. The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood on end.

She was here.

"You don't need to hide, Yoru-chan," Shiro spoke aloud, her voice resonating and echoing off the walls, fading into the void. "I know you're there."

In front of Shiro was a lush array of trees and brush, concealing the mouth of the tunnel of where she stood. There was a rustle in one of the treetops, and suddenly she felt a presence appear much, much closer.

For the first time in over twelve years, she stood in front of her younger sister. She was exactly like how Shiro had seen her in her dreams -- taller, more built, her face matured into a young woman rather than the youthful face of the child she had once known. Shiro noticed the eyepatch though, slung across the right side of Yoru's face.

Seeing her sister brightened up Shiro's mood for a split second, happy, for the first time in over a decade, that Yoru had lived long enough to age so; but that happiness quickly melted under the gravity of the situation.

"My, my," a male voice murmured from the treetops. A glint of red eyes peered from the leaves. "What a reunion this is. This'll be quite a treat for you, wouldn't it Yoru-chan?"

"Mind your goddamn business," Yoru spoke. Her voice was deeper, more coarse than Shiro had imagined, hardened by whatever tragedies she had to endure over the past twelve years. Shiro's heart sank for her sister. "I feel a similar energy radiating from this vicinity. Perhaps it's your brother, and perhaps you'd want to confront him as well, Sasuke-kun." 

There was a small scoff from the leaves, and then the boy disappeared.

The wind whistled in her ears, her head lighter from the spontaneous haircut she had just moments ago. The tips of her hair brushed against her ears, her cheeks, the white strands contrasting immensely from the long, midnight locks that fell from her little sister's head, set neatly in a single, low ponytail. Shiro's hands remained by her sides, her fingers uncurled and relaxed; there was no anxiety in her veins, and she could see it was the same for Yoru.