Summary: Companion piece to Letting Go and Living On and Finding My Forever. What happened between the lines? One shots of Sasuke and Naruto's lives in the past, as well as their new lives in the future.

Notes: Blame this on the reviewers who asked for more. XD Actually, I hadn't even thought about it, but one day I ended up thinking of scenarios and once I started, inspiration ran with it. All of the stories will mostly revolve around either Sasuke or Naruto. Some will be glimpses of the past. Others will take place in the present. And there won't be any kind of order to it. Hope you'll enjoy it. This chapter - Sasuke and Itachi.

Disclaimer: I do this for my own amusement. And I'm broke. Please don't sue me.

Warning: Possible spoilers in small doses.

Glimpses of the Past and Present

Ch. 2 – Sharingan Dreams

There was blood...

So much blood...

It was around every corner, on the walls, on the street. And there were bodies...more bodies than he could count.

W-What is this?

Family. Aunts, uncles, cousins...

What is going on?

Young Sasuke, afraid of what else he might find, ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. He had to find kaasan and tousan. He reached his home and immediately shuddered. It looked like such a cold and uninviting place on this night. Normally there was warm light beckoning him inside, the smell of his mother's cooking, the sound of her beautiful voice as she sang. It wasn't there. None of it was there.

It was silent...eerily silent and Sasuke crept into the home that he normally bounded into without thought. The darkness swallowed him up and the only sound came from his own shoes slapping against the floor.

A sound came from the room ahead and he gulped as he tip-toed toward the sound. His need for some sort of familiarity won out over his fear and he opened his mouth.

"Kaasan? Tousan?"

He heard a voice begging him not to come in. To run.

But Sasuke bit his lip and reached out to slide open the door anyway. The sight stopped him in his tracks. The first thing he saw was the blood. Then he saw his parents. His mother so unnaturally still on the floor...his father collapsed on top of her, his eyes wide open and full of shock and terror. Then he saw the blade reflecting the light from the moon, the weapon that had taken away the lives of his parents so carelessly. The blade was slowly sheathed right in front of him and the steely sound of it sang harshly. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

Who was this man?

What did his parents do?

Why were they dead?

Why was everyone dead?

Why did this happen?

The man in black slowly turned.

Why?

The moonlight passed over the man's face.

WHY?

"A-A-Anik-ki?"

"Aniki, tousan and kaasan...Why? Why?"

His brother only stared at him as if he meant nothing. And then before he could blink, a shuriken flew past him and imbedded itself in the wall right by his head. He felt the sting in his shoulder and knew he'd been cut, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

"Foolish otouto."

His brother opened his eyes and they were red and spinning. The Uchiha's doujutsu, the famed sharingan. But it was something more than that.

"Why?"

"It was to measure my capacity."

That was it? "That's all? You killed everyone? Ttousan...kaasan...just for that?"

He tried to fight him. But what could he do, really? He was only seven. He'd only just started at the academy. His brother was a 13 year old genius...an ANBU captain.

"If you want to kill me, curse me. Hate me...Run away and cling to your pathetic life. And some day, when you have the same eyes as mine, come before me."

Damn Itachi! He showed him everything.

Every...

Single...

Thing.

He was forced to watch every single member of his family die by his own brother's hand.

And when it was over, he screamed.

"Otouto..."

Sasuke writhed on the bed screaming.

"Sasuke!" The young teen shook the boy hard.

Sasuke sat up sharply with a gasp, his eyes wide. He panted and shook.

"Otouto?"

Sasuke jumped at the hand that tried to soothe him and he backed away in a panic.

"No...No..." He whimpered as he struggled to get away, but the sheets were tangled around his legs. "Stay away from me!"

"Shh...it's ok. It was just a dream Sasuke."

Sasuke shivered at his brother's words. He shook his head. It wasn't a dream...it couldn't have been. It was too real.

"A-Aniki?"

Itachi nodded. "It was only a bad dream, otouto. Calm down."

It took a while, but Sasuke slowly calmed his racing heart. Itachi stayed silent and waited, staying far enough away to give his younger brother some space, but close enough to be able to comfort him. Sasuke swallowed and risked looking up at his brother with large slightly teary eyes.

"Only a dream?"

"That's right. You were screaming loud enough to wake the entire house if anyone else was home."

Then Sasuke remembered...his parents were away. Their father was on a business trip and their mother went with him. It was only him and his brother in the large house alone.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Itachi asked softly.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "NO! No...not right now. I-I...I can't." The older Uchiha nodded in understanding.

"Alright then. How about I stay with you until you fall back asleep then?"

"But, the bad dreams will come back!" Sasuke looked ready to panic again.

"No...I'll protect you otouto. I promise."

xxx

Itachi closed the door behind him and leaned back against it with a sigh. He ran a hand through his loose locks. It had taken the better part of an hour to get Sasuke to go back to sleep. With weary steps, he walked back to his own room across the hall. He didn't bother with the light, he knew where his bed was and he fell back onto it.

He stared up at the darkened ceiling like it had all the answers to every question in the world. He ran a shaking hand over his face. At that moment, he felt like crying. He hated seeing his brother in pain. He always made sure to take good care of his little brother. But tonight, he felt helpless.

It was a nightmare he couldn't save him from, no matter how hard he tried.

The worst part was that he was the cause of it.

He knew exactly what the nightmare was about the moment Sasuke woke up and flinched away from his hands. He knew.

Itachi knew because he already had the same dream from a different point of view...

His own.

A familiar feeling began to spread through him. He'd been familiar with it since the age of 13. He'd lived with that feeling his entire lifetime and now it was back to taunt him again.

Guilt.

He had miscalculated that day so long ago. He may have been a 13 year old prodigy, but he was still just a child. And he'd screwed up royally. Sasuke wasn't supposed to show up when he did. The boy ended up seeing so much more than he was supposed to. Thus, it was a split second decision he made to show Sasuke what he'd done and his supposed reasons for doing it. He didn't want Sasuke to know the truth. For some reason, he still wanted him to have pride in the Uchiha name, to believe in his family, even if it was a lie. He knew his brother would hate him. But at least he would be free to live his own life.

He had wanted Sasuke to be a normal child, to have friends to grow up with, laugh and train with. He had hoped those bonds would make Sasuke stronger, not just physically, but in the mind as well. A strong mind would help Sasuke move on and live without being burdened by the clan hanging over his head like he had.

His father had always pushed him to train harder…always training, always learning, striving to be perfect at everything. The perfect soldier...that's what the clan wanted. So, despite having the heart of a pacifist, he played the role of the perfect son. And it angered him every time Sasuke was admonished to be like him, for he wanted the exact opposite.

He never wanted Sasuke to end up like him.

Ironically, Sasuke ended up worse than him.

He knew the seven year old would take his words to heart, but he assumed that as the boy grew into a teenager, those words would have less impact. Unfortunately, Sasuke had taken his words so literally. Instead of forming bonds, he isolated himself. He pushed every emotion away but hatred. And the village stupidly filled the boy's head with nonsense, making him believe he was better than anyone because he was 'the last Uchiha.'

What irony! These same people had walked on eggshells around the Uchiha for years before his last mission.

There were so many reasons he could've cited in his head as to what caused Sasuke to do something as stupid as leave Konoha to join a sick traitor.

But in the end, it all came back to him.

So, the question is would he have changed things if he had known the future? Hindsight was always 20/20. He wonders now, if he told Sasuke the whole truth in the beginning would things have been different. If Sasuke didn't know he was behind it all, would he have grown up a different person?

Who knows?

Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of changing the past. But, he did have a second chance and he planned to make the most of it.

His father's thirst for power and authority only went as far as business. There was no possibility of a coup, no council to order him to kill. This time around he wouldn't let his father treat Sasuke as an afterthought. He wouldn't allow his father's thirst for power and authority break him and Sasuke apart.

This time, he would be the older brother he had always wanted to be.