To The Future

Conversations

Itachi had been contemplating about the Hokage's words for the last two weeks. He hadn't had much else to do. His body still wasn't strong enough to be upright from more than five minutes, neither had he had any visitors other than the nurses and Sakura-san.

Sakura-san was responsible for his rapid recovery. She was always polite with him, and Itachi didn't intend to breach the wall she had built between them with her professionalism, no matter how much he wished to hear about Sasuke or their child.

While the Hokage appeared to be forgiving, Itachi wasn't hoping for forgiveness from his brother and his family. It was apparent with Sakura's gaurded words and Sasuke standing outside his room for hours without coming in, that while they may want to forgive him, they weren't sure how to do that. Itachi wasn't sure if he even deserved their forgiveness.

He was brought out of his musings by a knock on the door.

"Come in." He called out, wondering who it might be. He wasn't didn't recognise the chakra signature, though it did seem a bit familiar.

The door opened to reveal a little girl of around seven to eight years of age, her face so similar to Sasuke at that age, that it hurt. Her nose looked like Sakura-san's, but the rest of her features had been inherited from Sasuke. She had her grandmother's eyes and forehead, and grandfather's chin.

"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you. I am Uchiha Sarada and Hokage-sama told me to come in here and talk to you, then he disappeared because he had paperwork to do..." She trailed off awkwardly.

After awakening his Mangekyou, followed by the massacre, Itachi had thought that his heart had lost the ability to love someone new, but at moment he could help but feel love and protectiveness surging within him, as they had when he'd met Sasuke the first time.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi." He responded politely, carefully keeping his inner turmoil away from his voice.

"Oh you are?" Sarada asked excitedly. "I mean I thought you might be an Uchiha since you look so much like Papa, but I didn't want to presume. Himawari told me about meeting you, but Mama and Papa won't tell me anything when I ask them."

"Your parents have a good reason for that." He told her.

Sarada puffed up her cheeks in way that was so reminiscent of Sasuke that Itachi felt his lips twitch involuntarily. "I don't care if they have a good reason, I am not a kid anymore. I will be going to the ninja academy now and have the right to knowledge pertaining to my clan."

Itachi was about to answer her, when Sakura-san entered the room, looking surprised to see her daughter sitting there.

"Sarada! What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Hokage-sama brought me here when I told him that you two weren't telling me anything." Her daughter answered defiantly.

"That baka." Sakura-san cursed under her breath. "You will be going home now. Sasuke and I will talk to you in the evening."

"But.."

"Now!"

Sarada looked pleadingly over to Itachi. He shook his head. He could feel the disappointment in her gaze.

"Fine." She huffed, before stomping away.

"She's so much like Sasuke was at this age." Itachi commented.

"Really? What was he like?" Sakura asked curiously. "I hadn't known him before...." She trailed off.

"He was a happy child." He answered. "Always kind and respectful to everyone."

"That's hard to believe." Sakura chuckled. It sounded forced.

"Why did you go along with Naruto-kun's plan, Sakura-san?" It seemed very out of character for what he had seen of the pink haired medic.

"He is the Hokage." She shrugged, avoiding eye contact.

"I see." He didn't point out her obvious lie. "Could you please tell Sasuke that I would like to speak with him?"

"I'll tell him." She nodded before leaving.

Itachi shifted his gaze (still a bit blurry but considerablely better than earlier) to a corner of the hospital room, and kept staring for a long time, when suddenly the air shimmered to reveal a sheepish looking orange clad Hokage.

"No fair, Itachi-san. You know you're not supposed to use your Sharingan." He complained.

"I didn't, Hokage-sama. I could hear you breathing."

"There's no need to be so formal. You called me Naruto-kun when you were taking to Sakura-chan, just like you used to call me back when you used to teach me to read."

Itachi blinked at that. "We have to change our behaviour according to the circumstances. You are no longer a pre-academy child neither am I your ANBU gaurd."

"That was true even when you pretended to try to kidnap me, but you still called me Naruto-kun."

"It was a force of habit."

"It can be force of habit now."

"You are very stubborn."

"I hope you're not making that observation just now. Even the people who have not ever met me know that about me."

"What do you want, Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked, conceding.

The blonde beamed at his victory before getting serious. "I want you to trust me. Like you trusted me back then to bring Sasuke back from his darkness."

"I didn't have a choice, then."

"But you do have a choice now. I want you to trust me when I tell you that you will be happy one day, you will have a purpose and living wouldn't just seem like a chore."

"Naruto-kun..."

"I can sense emotions, Itachi-san. It is one of the abilities I got from Kurama. I know it seems fantastical right now, but I want you to believe me in this. I once promised that I would bring peace to the elemental nations and I was right about that. I want you to trust that I am right about this, too."

Itachi remained silent for a few minutes, his face never betraying his inner turmoil.

"All right. I will trust you." He said at last, and for the first time in a long time, Itachi felt hope.