EPILOUGE

Her heart thundered mercilessly inside of her rib cage, threatening to burst out between the bones as she stared at her reflection.

The plain white kimono she had adorned twenty minutes ago actually flattered her figure, complementing her body in a way that other clothes did not.

This is crazy. This is crazy. She thought to herself, the words chasing each other around in her head.

They had only been together together for a couple of months now, and her she was about to promise herself to him for the rest of her life.

She had a fleeting moment of panic at the commitment she was about to make, but then had an immediate fluttering butterfly of happiness at the same thought. This was completely and utterly right.

A tree moved outside of the window, causing the sun to reflect off the fabric of her clothes, making her squint at their brightness.

The ceremony would begin at any minute. So many emotions had surged through her within the last hour. She had wished she had womanly friends who would have been there for her, to stand by her side. She wished her mother was here to make over her and shed tears with her.

A simple and small ceremony was inevitable. Life was busy and their union was to be somewhat of a secret. Mariko preferred a small wedding anyways, but that hadn't stopped Itachi for feeling guilty about not giving her a big one. The only people who would attend were the minister himself with Kisame serving as the sole witness. She had been annoyed at the thought of him being there but had consented to Itachi's judgment. He had insisted that he wasn't that bad of a guy. Really. He wasn't.

She checked her makeup. Not being the makeup sort, she hoped she had done a good job; at least she thought it looked nice. It made her look older. She smoothed down her kimono gingerly and took one last look in the mirror before walking towards the door in small strides.

She blinked in the sunlight and let her eyes adjust. Then there he was. His black kimono matched his hair and eyes. There was a certain pink to his cheeks that she had never seen before. Though the bride was supposed to be the center of attention, she couldn't even remember what she even looked like when she saw him. To Mariko, he was absolutely perfect.

Feeling faint, she took a deep shuddering breath, then another, and then walked towards him.

Now standing in front of him, Itachi grabbed her hand and squeezed tightly, his thumbs drawing circles over her hands.

The minister spoke some words. Mariko could hardly process them as she stared at her fiancé. But she didn't miss her cue to read her vows.

She took out the paper with her vows, worn from erasing, folding and refolding. It trembled as she struggled to hold it still. Itachi squeezed her hand again, reaffirming her.

"Itachi..." another steadying breath. "The day we met again, after years of being apart, was the scariest and one of the most horrible days of my entire life. I hated your guts and I would have been happy to send you to your death." She glanced at the minister. "That's no exaggeration."

Kisame chuckled loudly, the minister laughed uncomfortably, and Itachi looked down sheepishly.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would be standing with you today. Now, being here feels like a beautiful and wonderful dream come true. Cliché as that sounds. We fell in love slowly and then all at once. I wouldn't have it any other way. Itachi, I love your loyalty, and your strength. I admire your intelligence and intuition. Your selflessness knows no bounds and even though your patience and calmness can be infuriating. I love that too."

itachi wiped her eyes with a thumb, careful not to smudge her makeup as she went on. "I promise to always be loyal to you, to cherish and adore you. I promise to always be open and honest with you to a fault. I promise to love you on the easy days as well as the hard ones. On this day, I marry you without hesitation or doubt: with these words I bind my life to yours, never one without the other."

Itachi caressed her cheek with the back of his hand before he too pulled out a piece of paper. "Mariko, your vivacious spirit and friendship has brought light into my life. Lighting up the darkness and filling it with warmth. Whatever I possess in this world, I give to you. I will keep you, hold you, comfort, tend, and shelter you. I promise to honor and respect you. What may come, I will always be there, each one believing that love never dies. I will love you always, no matter if we are together or apart."

She had known he couldn't give her a ring, but when he pulled out a pendant and turned her hand over to place it into her palm. When she gazed at the uchiha fan, carved in silver, she couldn't hold back her tears.

"You are my family now; an Uchiha. He kissed her forehead, "I know you will bring the name honor again."

She sniffed. "You have already done that." She pulled the necklace into her chest. "But I will treasure this for the rest of my life. Thank you, Itachi."

He took her face in his hands. "I love you."

"And I love you."

And they sealed their marriage with a kiss, with Kisame demanding that they get a room.

It had been a rough day. Very rough. The cough was getting worse and his weight wasn't holding up.

Mariko saw the specks of blood he tried to hide from her in his handkerchief.

She found him sitting on the floor, wrapped up in her frayed blanket. These days he couldn't stay warm. His eyes were trained on the pouring rain just outside the open door. The streams of water poured off the roof like small waterfalls.

The cup of tea rattled on its saucer as she sat next to him. Crossing her legs and sitting as close as possible, she pressed up against him.

He didn't care for the herbal tea that she prepared for him, but once she convinced him to drink the first batch, he realized that it really did help his coughing fits.

As he sipped his tea his eyes stayed trained on the falling rain, his mind elsewhere.

Not breaking the silence that she sensed he needed, she gently rested her temple on his shoulder.

They watched the weather in silence for a while as he finished his drink. He eventually rested his cheek on top of her head. A stray strand of his hair fell into her face, tickling her nose.

They didn't move for a very long time. They melted into one another, their breathing synchronized and their bodies leaning into each other.

He set down his cup and rested a hand on her thigh, making her heart jump.

They both turned towards one another simultaneously, their noses almost touching. She began to protest but the look on his face shut her up quick.

"I need you..." he muttered.

And she gave herself to him.

Afterwards he had fallen asleep almost immediately, his arms draped around her loosely. She watched his eyes dart around behind his eyelids.

How would she ever let him go?

A cool breeze startled her awake. Something was wrong. She was alone in bed. A letter rested on his pillow. She didn't read it. She didn't need to. She knew.

She stumbled outside in a panic. The night was completely black. She couldn't pick up his trail. She fell to her knees and grabbed fistfuls of the earth. She screamed until she couldn't scream anymore. Itachi was gone, surrendering himself to his own death.

Kisame found her lying in the dirt, bloodshot eyes staring blankly.

With a light grunt he scooped her up effortlessly, her head rolling listlessly against his chest.

"Gone..." she croaked out.

"I know kid..." he said as soothingly as he could manage as he carried her into his dead friend's home.

She didn't speak for days. He couldn't get her to move from her spot on the floor in front of the large window.

For days she just sat there, fiddling with her pendent, her thumb tracing the carved Uchiha fan.

He tried. He wasn't good at comforting others, especially women, especially women in mourning.

So he waited. He waited for days. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen, but he knew he couldn't leave her alone.

The late evening air was muggy as he sat beside her, watching the trees move outside. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. Maybe if he cleaned up around here it would cheer her up a bit.

A movement caught his eye. Half a dozen leaf ninja were growing closer as they leaped through the trees towards the house.

Without thinking, he split and ran outside. He was yards away when he realized Mariko hadn't followed.

She broke out of her daze.

She saw a few people in the distance, leaping through branches. Leaf ninja. So they had really found them.

She stared for a few long moments, watching the ninja jump around like grasshoppers, before turning to ask Kisame a question. She realized with a quiet 'oh' that he had ran off, leaving her behind.

She turned back and watched them edge closer. She stayed put on her spot on the floor. She couldn't run even if she wanted too. She was too weak.

At the last moment, it dawned on her to hide her pendant. She strategically hid it inside her bra before the first of them burst into the villa.

A young man riding on a great white dog was the first to come into the room. She kept staring at the window as if he wasn't there.

"Hey guys! I think I found her!" He called over his shoulder before turning back to stare some more. Were they here for her?

She heard heavy footsteps enter the room.

"Dear God..."

Well...she must look rougher than she thought.

Familiarity with the deep voice made her turn.

"Sensei?..." she whispered.

She felt hot fat tears start pouring down her cheeks. Her emotional stability was fragile to the point of nonexistence but she didn't think she even had any tears left.

"You came for me..." She bawled inelegantly; her gasps choked and gravelly. "I thought you never wanted to see me again..."

Ibiki didn't say anything. He scooped her up and cradled her like a child, like she weighed nothing. She probably did. She couldn't remember the last time she had been able to eat.

Ibiki had looked for her. He still cared enough to find her. He didn't hate her after all. She melted against him and sobbed loudly; Wave after wave of emotions drowning her.

She rode in front of the man on his white dog, whom she came to know as Kiba Inuzuka. He, along with Ibiki, and three other ninja had been sent out to retrieve her after an anonymous tip had been given about her location.

It had to have been Itachi or Itachi instructing Kisame. He had always known she would've been better off in Konoha, and he had secured her safe return there by staging her kidnapping and being held hostage by him. She was infuriated and touched by his taking care of her after he was gone.

Back at the village, she was checked out at the hospital and questioned by the espionage branch and, using her knowledge of the system, managed to come out without revealing any more than she had to about Itachi.

Believing that he had kidnapped her, everyone treated her like a fragile victim rather than a grieving widow. There wasn't much difference.

She was given her old apartment back. It had been untouched since she had left. Her landlords let her live there until she was ready to work again.

Ibiki would visit frequently and they would talk as if nothing had changed. Although she didn't do much of anything else aside from just trying to live, she did manage to adopt a little black kitten she found behind a dumpster. She named him, Karasu.

Mariko was managing fine until she realized that she was pregnant.

People started treating her different after her pregnancy started to show. Some still treated her with sympathy yes, and others, who were more oblivious to her situation, treated her like a normal expectant mother. Most either ignored her existence entirely or snubbed their noses at her. They talked about her and called her nasty things behind her back.

She had been tempted more than once to come out with the truth.

On her way home after one of her checkups, Kurenai Sarutobi spotted her and told her to wait up.

She was much farther along than Mariko. They chatted as Kurenai offered to walk with her as her home was near hers. She talked about Asuma and Mariko struggled to keep her mouth shut about Itachi.

Taking walks eventually became a habit of theirs and Mariko was very grateful to have a new friend.

On more than one occasion, Mariko snuck over to the Uchiha compound to look around. She longed to make her home here. She felt so close to him here. For the life of her, she could not get his words out of her head. I know you will make the uchiha name great again.

During one of her strolls she came across Itachi's old home. Gathering her courage she stepped inside.

She felt a shiver of uneasiness as she walked in but then managed to shrug it off. She had to find any trace of Itachi that she could. Her heart was aching.

She came across a closet and was startled by a bat when she opened the door. She sifted through boxes and finally came across one piled with old photo albums. She started to cry when Itachi's face started popping up. So many details about him that she had already started to forget.

"Oh Itachi..." She whispered as she fingered his face in a photograph of him in his Anbu uniform. He really had been so handsome.

It was then that she felt her child move for the first time.

Mariko had cried harder than she had in her entire life when he had been born. The baby had been perfect, thick black hair that fell in downy tufts on his crown, chubby porcelain skin. He was an exact reflection of his father.

He had not come easy; Mariko's tiny frame could barely manage. She feared for their child's health since he was conceived while Itachi was gravely ill and she had not taken very good care of herself those first few weeks. But despite the pain and all her fears, after a full day's struggle, he arrived red faced and screaming.

She cried out with him. Her cries echoed and bounced against the hospital's white walls. Her emotions were a tangled mess. She cried out for joy, for her son had been born healthy and strong. She cried out in pain, for as much as she ached and willed her husband to be with her to see how wonderful their son was, he was gone. She cried for the things that should have been but would never be. She cried in wonder, for she had never felt a love like this.

For the next few weeks, the baby was right next to her. When she found out that she had been pregnant, she was shocked and terrified. His wide black eyes and serious disposition were a testament of his bloodline. He was an Uchiha through and through; although there were glimpses of her as well.

This baby would save her. She would go on living for her son.

When Sasuke returned to the village, she waited for a few days, and then took her strong willed toddler to meet him.

It hadn't even crossed her mind to be angry of hate him. Sasuke had defeated Itachi, the murdering phsycopath, not Itachi the kind brother. The loving husband. Itachi the father.

She covered a gasp when she met him on a gravel road. He looked so similar to Itachi that it took her breath away. Her aching heart pounded the closer she got. She paused in front of him and he stopped, watching her with a blank expression.

"Hello. My name is Mariko." She introduced herself awkwardly. "This...This is my son, Kitto."

She swallowed thickly. Nervous at his reaction, she clung to her small sons shoulders.

It was unnerving looking at him now. He had been just a kid when he left the village all those years ago. He was taller than Itachi had been by a couple of inches

Sasuke waited for her to elaborate, eyes darting down at Kitto in confusion. He had to have noticed their resemblance.

"I'm not sure how to say it, so I guess l'll just say it. Kitto is your nephew."

A moment of silence as Sasuke looked hard into Kitto's face before the tattoos of Ravens on Mariko's collarbone and shoulder caught his eye. Something in his mind clicked and the normally stoic collected man fell to his knees. He stared in wonder at the small person before him. He didn't ask any questions. He just stared for the longest time, tears staining his skin.

He lifted his arm to touch Kitto's cheek, hesitated, and then let his hand fall back to his side. His eyes trailed back up to Mariko.

"Did you love my brother?"

"Yes." Mariko answered without hesitation. She smiled warmly. "I was married to him after all."

Sasuke dropped his head into his good hand as his shoulders started to shake.

Kitto, becoming uneasy, turned and reached for his mother, opening and closing his chubby fists.

She obliged and after settling her son on her hip, knelt next to Sasuke and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you..." Sasuke's head darted up and he looked her square in the eye. "Thank you for giving my brother happiness."

Mariko felt her heart squeeze tightly. "Listen, Sasuke. I know this is too much to ask. But Kitto doesn't have a male influence in his life...and I've given it a lot of thought...and I want to ask you if you would be Kitto's mentor."

Even though she rehearsed the words multiple times, she still couldn't help the twinge of guilt in the pit of her stomach. This man didn't even know them. How could she expect anything from him.

"I just...We're family...and if we stick together-"

Sasuke held up a hand to silence her, and then ruffled Kitto's hair as gently as if he were petting a newborn kitten.

"You're right. We're family." He smile affectionately; nodding in agreement.

Mariko felt tears brimming on the edge of her eye lids. "Sasuke."

They both stood and, without warning, Sasuke embraced her. He wrapped his arms around the both of them while he cradled her head in his large hand.

And for the first time in five years, Mariko felt like she was finally home.

If you are reading this, WOW. You are dedicated and awesome! Even though it may not be the best and I'm not NEAR a professional writer, this fic rolled me around a year to finish. Thank you for reading it! You are AWESOME AND I LOVE YOU. :D keep your eye out of Itachi and Mariko and Kitto one shots in the future! Thank you once again for reading my baby, the Dwindling Light 3