Still Worth Fighting For(Someday)

The End of Everything

Chapter Seventy-Seven:

A/n: Ah man, you have no idea how much I don't want to write this chapter. *Sigh* I wanted to at least get to chapter Eighty before finishing off this fic, but I couldn't really find a good way to do that.*sigh*This story has easily been one of my favorites to write for a multiple of reasons, and therefore, I'm going to miss writing this story. I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favored, and followed this story. Each time I saw one of any one of those, it really made me smile. However, it will give me time to work on the other two parts of this story Field of Innocence, and Good Bye Blue Skies. So, there's an upside, but still. This story grew on me in such unexpected ways, you won't even believe it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless~! Happy Readings~!

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living. - Marcus Tullius Cicero

It was just barely a week later that Izami finally surcame to her injuries. It came so unexpectedly, but at the same time, everyone knew it was the inevitable. By this time, Izami's brothers were already set to arrive the next day, but Izami didn't make it for her brothers to give her a good bye. That's what hurt them the most.

Sasuke remained oddly quiet. It wasn't the type of calmness he normally seemed to have, but it was a scary type of calmness that everyone just knew secretly hid a storm underneath. People seemed more cautious about approaching him about anything, even Hikaru, who was normally a hot-head himself. The whole three days it took to prepare Izami for her funeral, Sasuke seemed oddly distant, and very quiet. It unsettled most everyone.

Hitomu was left confused. He was too young to understand the concept of death, and what it all meant. All that he understood from what Kakashi had told him was that his mother wasn't going to wake back up from her sleep, and that made the small boy very saddened. He would try to seek comfort from his father, but he seemed just as distant from the world as his mother. And that made the small boy more lonely than he could ever remember feeling. He was confused, and frustrated, and lonely, and so many other emotions that he didn't even know what to do with them all.

Kakashi, for his part, had been through this many times that he seemed to be the one most calm about this. However, that didn't mean that he still didn't feel the same type of unbearable sadness at Izami's death. But he knew what had to be done. He had to remain the calm one, and make sure everything was in place, which meant comforting Hitomu while Sasuke seemed to be in another place completely. Not that he found any fault with Sasuke's reaction. He understood it very well. He felt the same painful hole in his chest every time he was reminded of the rather hot-headed, lively Sato child he had raised into a capable shinobi. And that, filled him with all kinds of emotions he knew he couldn't show.

Izami's brothers were perhaps the most affected by her death, even Hikaru. Being the older brother, and clan leader, he felt the most responsible for letting all of this happen. He felt incredible anger, and accusation at nearly everyone. He blamed his late father and mother for making Izami come here when she was just a small child. If she had never been exposed to this life, she wouldn't have been exposed to Sasuke. She wouldn't have been taken by Orchimaru when she was sixteen. She wouldn't have died the way she did. She would have been safe. He also felt blame towards the Hokage. For letting her go on the mission, knowing all about Kabuto. He felt she minus well have just told her it was a suicide mission. He felt anger towards her teammates on the mission, especially Sasuke, who all could have done so much more to prevent any of this from happening. He even blamed his late sister. She could have had the opportunity to stay home, with her clan, and be safe, and happy, when she had the chance, but no. Instead, she chose to come back, and look what happened. She died as a result. Perhaps, though, most of the anger came from guilt. He had been hard on her for almost her entire life, but it wasn't like he hated her, as he was sure Izami must have thought millions of times. No, what person could honestly hate their younger sibling? Any of their siblings at all? No, he loved her. He loved her very dearly. He was only doing what he thought was best to insure that she would grow to be as strong as she could be. She was always such a fragile kid. Not particularly strong, but that had changed only slightly. He just wanted to give her a reason to become stronger so she could protect herself. Sure, looking back, perhaps it was too hard, but he thought it was best at the time. Hikaru only wanted her safety. Now, he would never again have the chance to tell her just what she actually meant to him, and that filled him with even more sadness, and anger.