A Hero's Rebirth
Warmth was all he felt. He felt at peace, probably for the first time in his entire existence. He had done what he could for his home and had died knowing that he had finally let his younger brother know the true knowledge of the Uchiha on their planned coup de tout towards the village.
Itachi Uchiha Knew there was no redeeming what he had done. He had murdered everyone in his clan except for his younger brother. His love for his brother overcoming and dwarfing his love and duty to his village. He knew he had to face judgement, but he just wanted a chance to enjoy this warmth, to not suffer any more pain and anguish, to just not exist for the sole purpose of hurting and killing others. He knew he did not deserve happiness, not for all the sins, he had committed, but he couldn’t help feeling he deserved some peace for once in his young life.
“Itachi-kun, it’s time to wake up. Open your eyes Itachi-kun” I soft feminine voice uttered to him. It sounded angelic, mystical. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard. Literally like hearing the most perfect harmony to ever grace the entire universe.
He opened his eyes, only to be momentarily blinded with bright light. He blinked a few times and once his eyes had adjusted, was left astounded by what he saw. Before him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her eyes, a steely grey color, held a softness to them that left him breathless.
“Such an amazing young mortal” She continued with a soft smile, which made her even more impossibly beautiful in his eyes.
He was in such a state of shook that it took him several long moments to gather his thoughts enough to formulate words, but that did nothing to detour the woman before him as she stood patiently before him with her gorgeous smile still in place.
He finally spoke “I am sorry, but I do not quite know what is going on at the moment. The last thing I remember is trying to help my people before the Fourth Shinobi World War took place. Have a finally been laid to rest and has my soul been cast to the afterlife to face judgement? Are my people alright?”
The woman shook her head gently. Her expression turning grim, but instead of answering his questions, she chose to answer them with something else. “You are truly one of the most selfless beings that I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Even now, your kind, selfless heart continues to surprise me.”
Seeing the young Uchiha’s look of confusion the woman clarified her statement to him. “You do not give what you’ve done throughout your life enough merit. You say you TRIED to help in the war” The woman said, putting emphasis on the word “But without you the war would have been lost and everyone would have failed. In fact without every single action you had performed your home world would have been doomed.”
The Uchiha was skeptical of her answer, but decided to withhold his judgement as something more important bothered him. He knew there was much more to the woman than met the eye. Her presence alone was almost overwhelming to the young man. While she gave off an aura of gentleness and peace, there was also something urging the Uchiha constantly to show her respect. He had always trusted his instincts and he wasn’t about to change that now.
He knelt at the woman’s feet, the same way he would kneel in front of his previous Kage and bowed his head, because he felt that he should not gaze at this ethereal beauty so casually for fear of coming off as disrespectful. He then voiced his question. “I beg you to tell me what has happened to my home?” To his surprise, the woman knelt before him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
Itachi’s eyes flew open in surprise as his body had not stiffened and retaliated the way it usually would from any unexpected contact. (Having learned the hard way that he had to work alone and trust only himself, his body had become adapted to avoiding and rejecting any contact to his person without any mental preparation on his part.)
“Such a respectful young man” The woman before him had said. A soft smile on her face that could only, in his mind, be described as magical.
“Your home was saved Itachi. You need not worry.” The woman continued to soothe him.
Itachi had thought that the woman’s touch alone had relaxed him completely, but the moment those words left the gorgeous woman’s lips, his whole body sagged in relief and he released a breath he had no idea he was holding.
He felt gratitude towards the woman for soothing his worries. So he decided to voice it. A soft smile grazed his face and his gaze softened.
“Thank you” The words seem simple, but coming from Itachi, whose voice for the first time in a long time, was filled with emotion. Those words where the comparison to finding a huge chunk of gold in a river. Completely priceless.
The woman’s eyes widened in surprise at the amount of gratitude she received for what she believed was just a simple tidbit of information. Her face was flushed a bit and she looked to the side in embarrassment.
Itachi felt his pulse increase. Seeing the woman so flustered was both utterly mystifying and adorable to the young man. He couldn’t help, but wonder what he had done to see such beauty presented before him. He found her words of praise towards him too much for him to honestly believe. He stayed silent as he waited for her response. For once in his life taking the time to actually admire the female form. (Of the goddess’s before him to be more specific.)
“You don’t have to thank me. I should be thanking you Itachi.” She said with a soft smile. She continued onward.
“And I’m going to do just that by giving you a second chance at life.”