The Realities of Life

Part One – The Interloper

Itachi suddenly woke up and knew immediately that something was very wrong. He woke up, that was the first and most glaring clue. He shouldn't have woken up; he'd died just moments ago. Or was it longer? He wasn't sure, but he knew he'd died, finally killed by Sasuke's hand. So how come he woke up? The afterlife? Or maybe he hadn't died. No, no, he was pretty sure that he'd died. He'd felt his life slipping away, his heart slowing, his breaths becoming shallow, his dim eyesight becoming gradually darker and darker and finally, Sasuke's face had been completely shrouded in black and Itachi had felt his chest rattle with one final, shuddering breath.

One shouldn't wake up after dying, right? Or maybe one should, it's not like he would know. You only die once, after all. Once you die, it's over. And yet, here he was coming awake in a room that in the dim light slipping in from outside looked very much like his childhood bedroom. And there was a warm body beneath him. Completely awake and more than a little spooked, he moved as slowly and carefully as he could, rising on an elbow and looking down. There was, indeed, a body beneath him. A girl, to be exact. A breathing, sleeping girl. The moonlight illuminated her slight form, dying her hair lavender. He'd seen her somewhere, he was sure of that, but couldn't place her.

He didn't know how long he'd stared at her, before she stirred and turned around, sleepy, translucent green eyes arresting him. Ah, Haruno Sakura, Tsunade's apprentice, his brother's Genin teammate. That didn't help him much though, he was more confused than ever. He wasn't dead, that much he was sure of. Or maybe death was an elaborate, realistic dream. But why would he dream about her of all people? And in his bed, no less. Her voice, a little rough from sleep, stirred him.

"Itachi?" she whispered, her hand rising to his face and he stayed still when her fingers gently brushed his hair from his eyes. Had this girl always been this pretty? "Are you alright? Another nightmare?" she went on whispering, her fingers sweeping his bangs behind his ear, tangling in the strands there and softly stroking. Oh, was that a lover's caress? She wasn't his lover, and yet it felt good. It felt intimate, comforting and exciting all at the same time, the soft texture of her slim fingers as familiar as it was foreign.

Slowly, she sat up, her fingers falling from his hair, leaving him bereft as she started at him and titled her head to the side. Oh, he realized belatedly, he probably should have responded, said something, anything. But he was rendered mute, had absolutely no idea even what to say if he could.

"Itachi?" she asked again, her face coming closer to his and for a brief second he found himself hoping she'd kiss him, before he forcefully expelled the thought from his mind. Why in the world would he want her to kiss him? He didn't even know her; she was nothing to him.

"Itachi, you're not my husband, are you?" her voice shook him from his confused thoughts, and he shook his head before he knew what he was doing, caught completely off guard.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice firmer now, eyes narrowed, everything about the steely look in her verdant gaze promising a world of pain for him.

"I am Uchiha Itachi," he finally managed to say, though his voice was weaker than he liked.

"So, you're Itachi, just not my Itachi?"

'My Itachi.' Had anyone ever addressed him as such? Had he ever belonged with anyone? Anywhere? He really didn't know. And yet here he was, waking up from death to a beautiful girl, who called him hers.

"No," he answered at length, still at a loss and more confused than he'd ever thought would be possible. "I'm sorry, but I only met you once before in my life, and only know your name, not much else."

After a long moment of tense silence, the woman in his bed finally stood up and reached for the light switch on the wall. Golden light bathed the room and Itachi blinked, disoriented once again. Only in the bright light did it become apparent to him that he'd been able to see perfectly well in the almost full darkness of the room. That was something he'd not been able to do for more than six years. Then Sakura was talking again.

"Okay, so you're Uchiha Itachi, but you're not the man I married three years ago?"

Had he really been married to this girl for three whole years? Well, not him, obviously, but some other version of him? Was this a dream in the end? He could see again, and that shouldn't be possible, his eyes had lost most of their power a long time ago. What a cruel dream. To show a dead man a vision of a future he'd never have. So very, very cruel. When was he going to wake up from this torture? Or won't he ever wake up? Was this hell? Was this punishment for his sins? A beautiful, unreal life with a beautiful woman by his side… Even he knew that he'd never, not even once done something to deserve the life he was dreaming of now.

"What a cruel punishment," he muttered with a forced chuckle and covered his eyes with his hand, wishing he could wake up. Anything would be better than this dream.

A small, soft hand pried his from his eyes and looked in concerned emeralds, a small frown marring her elegant features, pink hair spilling around her shoulders. "Itachi, did you lose your memories somehow?" she asked softly, and he blinked.

He could lie, tell her that yes, he'd lost his memories and this dream would continue. But Itachi was no liar, not when he counted. "No, I don't think so. I am afraid that your husband and I are two completely different men, only having a name and appearance in common."

She looked as perplexed as he felt, and a rush sympathy run through him. What had this woman done wrong to deserve this happening to her? "I'm sorry," he sighed and looked away.

"Don't be," when he looked at her again, she was grinning. "I want my husband back, Itachi. And I'll get him back. That means I'll get you home, wherever that may be."

For the first time since waking from death, Itachi smiled. When she grinned like that, he believed her.

AN: So here it is, the second part in Snippets I posted yesterday. Geez I'm fast lol. Not really. This is gonna be a short one. Maybe around 5 chapters or so. Hokage!Sakura and Interloper!Itachi. I'm not gonna tell you what his fate is or if Real!Itachi ever comes back. That would defeat the purpose of the story. Keep on reading to find out.

As you can see I put in an M-rating. So what is the possibility of this having a little bit (or more) citrus in it in the future? Pretty high. Unavoidable,really. In this case the lemon is pretty much necessary for the plot. That's all I'm gonna say, though.

Thank you for such a great response to the Snippets. I'm not one of those review so I'll update authors, I write pretty much all the time, because I love to do it, so I'll always be uploading either updates or new works, but I always do love waking up to your wonderful comments, they truly make my day. I hope you'll also tell me what you think of this little piece.

Don't mind the ever longer notes, please. Sometimes you'll find useful infos in here, though lol.

BTW, the next installment in How the mighty have fallen (or the Beginnings series) should be out by the end of the week. Thank you for liking my stories, I'm truly humbled.