Okay. I lied. It's been more than a week or two. It's been three months. Again.
Luckily, I've invested in a bullet-proof vest this time.

So, I bring you this; the awaited Uchiha Brothers' Final Face-Off!

Sasuke tried to shake off the small prickling of guilt he felt at just allowing Sakura to get away. But… he followed the plan, so that was what mattered, right? It was still hell as he had to listen to Suigetsu whine and sulk the whole way to where the final battle would take place.

Finally, they arrived, but there was already somebody waiting for them. Sasuke bristled when he saw his brother's blue partner. But Suigetsu's reaction surprised him more – the white-haired teen openly smirked, and eyed the bandage-wrapped sword.

"Well, well. Kisame Hoshigaki. I'll be taking that sword from you, just you wait." Suigetsu exclaimed. He turned to face the raven. "You go on, Sasuke. I'll handle him."

"Che, don't get too cocky, kid. You may be Mangetsu's brother, but you know nothing about real kenjutsu." Kisame replied. "He died too early to pass on his knowledge, didn't he, kid?"

Sasuke saw Suigetsu grit his teeth and felt his chakra spike. "OK, sorry Sasuke. First it was just convenient, now it's personal. Go."

The raven nodded and left, knowing and not wanting to witness how Suigetsu can be when his bloodlust wins over. Instead, he moved in the direction he knew Itachi was already waiting at – The Uchiha Compound.

It was time for the final face-off. The final battle.

A battle he intended to win.

Itachi sighed and pressed his hand into his face. His eyes had been losing focus even more than usual, and his lungs felt like they were on fire. But he didn't have long left to suffer; he felt Sasuke's chakra spike, as well as his partner's. There was no doubt the boy was here, and probably looking for him right now. Luckily he didn't make himself hard to find.

The battle to come would be one of the worst yet; it was to be against his brother. But, his plans had all worked out, Sasuke was still clueless and Tobi had not yet tracked him down, which was all good.

He carefully prepared the genjutsu and felt Sasuke's chakra signature nearing.

"Itachi."

It came as no surprise, yet the sound of his brother's voice sent shivers down his spine. He didn't want this battle. But it was inevitable.

"Hello, little brother."

Sasuke was petrified. All this time he was getting stronger, what with the Curse Mark, Orochimaru's training, and Sakura's help. And yet, here, where it all mattered, all of his greatest attacks seemed useless. Kirin, which they'd been working on for over a year, proved completely futile, and had been fully absorbed, and, not only that, managed to provoke an ultimate defence barrier, the Susanoo. Something he only read about in the Uchiha library when he was a child, or read at bedtime and listened as his mother called it a legend.

Then suddenly, Itachi, even when almost dying, pulls it out, just as Sasuke ran out of usable jutsus.

All of a sudden he realised why Sakura admired his brother so – and, when he finally took off the rose-tinted glasses, he began seeing similarities in their behaviour on the battlefield. Similarities, which unsettled him.

Panicked, he threw explosive kunai at the skeletal structure which surrounded his brother. They did nothing, and he watched, heart hammering madly in his chest as Itachi started moving towards him. For every shaky step Itachi took closer to him, Sasuke took an equally shaky step back, until his back hit the stone wall of the compound.

Damn it!

With nowhere left to run to, Sasuke stood in place, waiting for the moment when Itachi got close enough to take his eyes. Desperate fingers searched his kunai pouch for anything usable, but came up with nothing. Finally, he was close enough, and his hand was already reaching out, and then-

"Sasuke! Itachi! STOP!"

Sasuke's eyes snapped to where he heard the voice coming from and was shocked to see the all-too-familiar shock of pink hair.

Sakura.

At the same time, Itachi also seemed to recognise the voice, as he craned his neck to look over his shoulder, and Sasuke saw a flash of recognition along with - was it pain? – flash through his brother's eyes. Slowly, Itachi turned back to face him, and his fingers unhurriedly rose and Sasuke shut his eyes when he realised they were headed for his face. But the expected blow do his eyes never came. Instead, he felt a soft poke to his forehead, and the familiar prick of pain that followed. Only the words were different.

"Sorry, Sasuke. This is the last time." and he watched, shocked beyond belief, as his brother smiled, and fell down – dead, at his feet.

In his shocked stupor he didn't notice Sakura getting closer until the pinkette knelt down at his fallen brother's side, her hand quickly engulfed with the soft green glow of medical chakra.

"He's alive, but barely." She whispered. "If he gives in, he'll die." Sakura raised her head to look Sasuke in the eyes. The raven quickly deactivated his Sharingan, bringing back the familiar ebony eyes Sakura loved, yet hated so much at the same time. "Sasuke…" she started. "There's something I need to tell you. Something I should've told you the first time I saw you."

Sasuke nodded, almost imperceptibly, surprise and confusion evident in his eyes.
Sakura took a deep breath, then slowly released it.

"All of this was planned."

Sasuke blinked, stupefied. What? Unable to comprehend what the pinkette had just said, he glared at her, demanding an explanation. Realising what he wanted, Sakura sighed, and swallowed nervously. Somehow, the action alerted Sasuke to the fact that he might not like what he hears.

"You got it all wrong." Sakura said softly. "Or rather, you followed his plan perfectly. You did exactly what he wanted, and ensured that in the end, it would all turn out how he desired it to – you alive and well, him dead."

The raven was even more confused, and suddenly his legs gave in causing him to collapse by Sakura's side, his head in his hands.

"I can tell you more, but I need to stabilise his condition. Can I, please?" Sakura asked cautiously, fully aware that Sasuke would much rather prefer his brother to stay dead after he'd finally managed to kill him.

But, to her surprise, the raven gave a sullen nod, and Sakura set to work.

When she was done, Itachi's condition stabilised for the moment and his eyesight almost completely healed, Sakura took a deep breath and made Sasuke promise that he wouldn't try to interrupt her through her story. Once the Uchiha nodded, she began her tale.

She told him everything – starting with Itachi's childhood, bringing back memories Sasuke had buried behind him long ago, memories of the times when his relationship with his brother had been perfect; next she delved into things Itachi had never told him about his work – the troubles of being an ANBU, having to live up to the expectations of an Uchiha clan Heir, dealing with criminals and murderers on a daily basis when all his brother wanted was peace.
Then she moved on to the plans of the coup d'état and the Hokage's orders, and how Itachi begged the Third to spare his little brother's life. Disbelief turned into anger at his Village as after a brief rummaging through Itachi's pouch Sakura produced the tear-stained, dog-eared copy of the coded order for the massacre Itachi had kept on him all this time and handed it to Sasuke, pointing to the hand-written key Sasuke belatedly realised was Itachi's handwriting which helped him decode the vague instructions given, all signed by his Village's Hokage and Elders.
Finally she moved on to talk about Itachi's time in Akatsuki, how she met him, how he'd become her confidant and she started discovering all the well-hidden secrets he possessed, his receding eye-sight and the fatal illness which killed him a little bit more each day. She moved on to talking how she started training and working for him, fully agreeing with his goal of peace in the Shinobi Nations, just with a different way of achieving that piece than her father's. Next came the fated Chuunin Exams, where she'd first come across Sasuke and the communication she still kept with Itachi. She described how she found out about Itachi's plan regarding Sasuke, and how she tried to put a stop to it, but to no avail, instead intentionally provoking her father into sending her to Orochimaru, a place she knew she'd be able to keep an eye on him 24/7 and prevent him from conflicting Itachi's plans. She spoke of her confusion and pain as she discovered she grew to love them both equally and couldn't decide who to help, who to condemn. He listened as she talked of the Sage of Six Paths who helped her come to a decision, and how she finally came after him, after deciding that she had to be the one to tell him the truth.

"All in all, Itachi was innocent, and he loved you all the way through." She finished breathlessly.

Sasuke was… conflicted. There were thousands of emotions rapidly stampeding through his mind, heart and soul, so many that he was unable to focus on one for more than a second. Grief, disbelief, anger, love, pain; they were only the tip of the iceberg. And through it all, Sakura sat by his side, a patient, understanding look on her face as she waited for him to come to terms with what she'd told him, occasionally reaching up to wipe away the tears which had escaped his eyes.

"Is… Is there any way to save him?" Sasuke finally croaked out, his voice hoarse from tears.

Sakura nodded softly, a melancholic smile on her face as she laid her hands over his brother's chest. To Sasuke's surprise, it was not the soft, green glow which he'd expected which engulfed her hands, but a glowing purple, with white edges.

"What a-are you doing?" he choked out, surprised. He knew what the white glow was – Sakura's life-force. He'd seen it enough times to be sure, but every time it left the rosette considerably drained. No, it was the purple glow he was worried about.

"Absorbing his illness." Sakura replied quietly.

"No!" Sasuke protested almost immediately, preparing to lunge forward and knock her hands away, only to be stopped by a chakra field Sakura was emitting from her body, keeping him at bay.

"I'm already dying anyway, Sasuke-kun. And you want your brother back, don't you?" after that comment, Sasuke didn't try to interfere. He couldn't find the willpower to get into an argument with her at a time like that.

Finally, Sakura took her hands away and inhaled deeply. Sasuke saw the almost imperceptible wince of pain as she breathed and felt sorry for the rosette.

"You're a medical-ninja, probably the best there is at the moment. Can't you make it go away? Cure it?" Sasuke asked, a hint of despair colouring his voice.

Sakura shook her head, a serene smile on her face. "Not when it's this advanced, Sasuke. Keep in mind Itachi had harboured the illness for almost a decade." She stated.

Sasuke was about to reply, but a movement to his left cut him off. Sakura's head snapped in the same direction, and they both watched anxiously as Itachi's pinky finger twitched, and he stirred, before his eyes fluttered open slowly, the Sharingan replaced with his beautiful onyx orbs.

He blinked a little, waiting for his eyes to come into focus, and Sakura saw the unmasked surprise and joy reflected on his face, and she could imagine how different it must've been to see painlessly and in full detail. Itachi's eyes swivelled to her, then to her side to look at Sasuke. She saw the hidden love and care surface as Itachi gazed at his brother, and she was pleased to see a similar expression reflected on Sasuke's face. Sakura watched as Itachi sat up and inhaled, and saw his eyes considerably widen when there was no pain, and no blood coming out. His eyes came to look at her once again, properly this time. She saw him take in her hair, her pale complexion, her dull and tired emerald eyes – he frowned when he didn't see the familiar glint they always joked about – but his eyes settled on her smile, and she saw him give one in response.

Her breath hitched, as it was the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen, full of forgiveness and love and relief and anticipation. Then, as he spread his arms, neither Sakura, nor Sasuke had to be asked twice, and they fell into his arms, finally together and happier than they'd ever been.

Sakura lay in his arms, snuggled into both Uchiha brothers and quietly listening to their heartbeats, all thoughts of Pein banished from her mind as she enjoyed the one moment where she had her two precious people by her side, happy, healthy and together.

And she vowed to keep it that way, even if it cost her her life, because if there was one thing she was sure of, it was that the two brothers by her side deserved some happiness.

After all, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Sakura was on a mission.

Here it is, my lovely readers. Three months' wait, and it's finally here. So, what do you think – good, bad, could've been better?

I would greatly appreciate your feedback in a REVIEW!

~Invincible.