Love can spark Miracles - Uchiha Itachi Fanfic [Edited]

Chapter 21 - Home

Emiko pov:

"You two look so alike," I stated, watching itachi and Sasuke as they walked beside me towards the reconstruction site.

"Really?" Sasuke's eyes seemed to light up with an excited spark. I had to clear my throat to hold in a smile of amuse. I knew that Sasuke had always wanted to be like itachi as a child and it was adorable to see that he still had that side to him now. It was even funnier because Sasuke was now taller than Itachi and oddly made it appear like he was the elder sibling.

"Yes," I answered.

My answer had Sasuke's smile widening. It made me and Itachi smile in mild amuse. We settled to walking in comfortable silence, gazing ahead with no particular thoughts in mind. It had been a couple of weeks since the war had ended and we had settled into a routine in Konoha, and it was more than pleasant.

Itachi, despite appearing calm, was still going through a rush of emotions from everything that had happened and was happening now. He was often lost in thought, forlorn and nervous and uneasy, perhaps worried that all the good that was happening to us would suddenly vanish and we would be left with a painful void again. I knew better than anyone else that Itachi would not be able to remain calm or sane if he lost any more of the people that he loved.

Glancing at him now had me notice that he was once again brooding. His brows were furrowed in the slightest and his lips were down in a barely visible frown. It roused an ache in my chest and had me stalling.

"Sasuke, you can go ahead first. There's something I wanted to talk to Itachi about," I said, gaining Sasuke's attention.

"Sure," he agreed and continued on while Itachi looked to me curiously.

"I noticed you brooding again," I answered his unasked question.

"It seems that nothing of me goes unnoticed by you," he mused with a small smile. It had me smiling too.

Turning so we were facing each other, I held his hands in mine. Rubbing soothing circles on the back of his hands while gazing deeply into his charcoal eyes, I asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Emiko. It's just that everything of Konoha is so nostalgic. It has me often wondering if all of this is just a mere dream." He sounded mildly anxious and it was well visible in his eyes.

My eyes prickled but I did not allow Itachi to see me in pain. He had crushed himself with enough guilt of hurting me and Sasuke and so many other people he had had to deal with while pretending to be a bad person and I did not want him to feel that way anymore. Of course, it was not something that would change overnight or even in a few weeks – Itachi's wounds were deep and would need a lot of time to heal, and I did not want to rub salt on them to make his healing more painful than it already was.

"Itachi, this is not a dream," I said gently. "We sacrificed so much for this, and everything that we have gone through to come this far is proof enough that this is not a dream. Every second that we are living now, every breath we are taking, and every emotion we are feeling is real."

Despite being in the middle of the street, however deserted it was, I could not stop from reaching up with my hand to cup his cheek tenderly with one hand. I caressed him with my thumb and he closed his eyes with a deep sigh.

When he opened his eyes, he apologized again, "I'm so sorry Emiko, for putting you through so much."

"What's it going to take for you to stop apologizing?" I asked with a soft laugh. "Let's not let the gloomy atmosphere linger now. We should catch up with Sasuke, c'mon."

As usual, when we reached the construction site, we spotted Sasuke with Naruto and his peers and the two of us jointed up with Gai and the others to get to work. It was nice to see Itachi rather relaxed off late despite his occasional melancholy, smiling often. It was rewarding to see that most of the village had begun to trust him in return, and treat him as they did the others of the village.