Hallelujah

Well I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do ya?

Sasuke had left the Sound, defeated Orochimaru, gathered his team, and left. He didn't care what happened to the people that remained in that hell-hole, like Kabuto, driven crazy and clinging to their late leader's beliefs, he just had to be gone from there.

Well it goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

He had begun to question everything; the things he had learned from Orochimaru were terrible, and terribly powerful. But he had gained a clarity of vision, old reports and pieces of knowledge from long ago had stripped Sasuke of his self-imposed blindness. Made him realize that all was not as clearly-cut as vengeance had initially made it seem. He had lost what he thought was his direction.

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...

He still looked for Itachi, searching desperately for him seemed the only thing he could do, after pursuing his brother for so long. Sasuke found him eventually, after months of looking. He had disbanded team Hebi, letting go of his subordinates and telling them to go find a goal of their own, to stop wasting their time on his.

Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya

They met at an inn on the border of the former Sound territory; Sasuke had gone up to the roof and found Itachi there, waiting for him. Sitting on the safety rail, having taken off that damned cloak, his long hair swept forward over his shoulder and taking on the silver sheen it got in moonlight. Sasuke remembered why he had always thought Itachi was beautiful.

And she tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

He went over to Itachi and sat down, just looking at Itachi made his heart hurt for some indescribable reason.

"Don't you try to kill me, first thing, whenever we see each other?" Itachi asked, voice soft.

Sasuke sighed. "I don't know if I want to kill you anymore, I don't know what good it would do," he turned and looked into Itachi's eyes, for once the inky black he remembered them to be, "I just don't know anymore, what the right action is, what justice would be served by doing it," Sasuke smiled grimly, "the only people who would really care are dead."

Itachi smiled unexpectedly, making himself seem years younger and all the more beautiful.

"Then you finally understood that which you wouldn't have understood if I had just told you all that time ago."

"What?" Sasuke was looking at his brother like he was insane, but he wasn't, and they both knew it.

"The clan is no longer your reason for being, you have been freed to find your own goals, something other than vengeance, or clan honor, or village welfare." Itachi's eyes sparkled in a way that Sasuke had forgotten they could, bright stars in the night skies that were his older brother's lambent eyes.

"What do I do now, then?" Sasuke asked, Itachi laughed and leaned over to Sasuke and kissed him chastely on the lips.

"Whatever you want..."

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...

Sasuke leaned forward and kissed his brother again, a sweet brushing of the lips of his beloved older brother. He did love Itachi, he had always loved Itachi. His sibling gathered him into his arms and Sasuke felt safe for the first time in a long time. Itachi nuzzled his hair and then pulled away from their embrace.

"Come find me anytime, Sasuke, and tell me about what it is that you have set your heart upon accomplishing." Itachi caressed Sasuke's face one last time before vanishing into the dark.

(Yeah but) Baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor, (You know)
I used to live alone before I knew ya

Sasuke stayed on the roof all night and watched the dawn, thinking of something for himself to do. He could think of nothing and he realized that it was true what they had said, he couldn't devote his life only to revenge.

And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
and love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

For a moment he once again truly hated Itachi, blaming his brother for his own ability to see the truth and futility of his former life's goal, but that moment passed. He realized that his brother was the only person in the world whom he truly loved with all of his heart and soul, and was probably the only person who fully loved him in return, with all of his faults and the horrible things that he had done, because Itachi had faults as well, he had done worse things.

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...

So he left the inn on the edge of Sound with a new outlook and goal, he wandered. He stopped wearing the outfit Orochimaru had given him, keeping his dark pants and sandals but opting for a padded mesh shirt and black half-sleeve t-shirt, with an actual belt for Kusanagi. Going from here to there, doing what he pleased, Sasuke realized that it was a great existence.

Well there was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me do ya

He encountered Naruto once, when he had stopped in a small village and Naruto was on his way back form a mission. Sasuke wasn't the least surprised when he heard the blonde had become an ANBU, he had always been insanely powerful. But Sasuke noticed that they were still equal. He didn't whether to be appalled or pleased that he was at the same power level as the Leaf's next Hokage. He settled for indifference and avoiding Naruto.

Wandering back to that inn on the edge of Sound to meet with Itachi, Sasuke realized that he had somehow become like Jiraya, instead of his own former master, roaming around and then once in awhile visiting his loved one.

But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

For a few days Itachi and Sasuke stayed at the inn, they talked, wandering through the village by day, hiking through the dense woods, and having sex that was slow and sweet and made them burn for each other every night. Parting ways again with no specific plans to meet again, only the promise Itachi extracted from Sasuke to come see him and tell him what was happening in his beloved younger brother's life.

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...

And they went on like this, Sasuke was happier than he had ever hoped to become.

Maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Sasuke traveled constantly, staying in villages and helping people from time to time, but mostly wandering in solitude. He heard that Naruto had finally become Hokage and was insanely happy for him. By this time the rumors of a Hebi Sennin had spread throughout the ninja world, a young man who traveled constantly and had fair skin, long dark hair, and dark eyes. Sasuke could honestly say he wasn't surprised when Naruto showed up in the village he was currently staying in. the blonde offered him a pardon for leaving the village and an invitation back, Sasuke accepted the pardon and told Naruto that he would stop by when he was passing through.

Then, on the walk back to the inn on the edge of Sound, Sasuke realized that he had gotten everything he wanted; even though he had done it in the most unorthodox way imaginable and he had been miserable for years before it.

When he told Itachi, the older brother laughed until Sasuke had kissed him into shutting up.

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu...
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelu...
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah

The End

The lyrics are Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley, a great and haunting song that I was listening to when I got this idea.

I own nothing, not even this computer.

Written for the Uchihacest FC.

R&R, if you please.

Flames will be used to cook microwaveable dinners over, feeding me as I have all-night internet camp-outs.

Bye for now...

Cake-chan