The Weight of the Heart

A/N: This is it. The last chapter. -hugs- to everyone that read, faved, and made the writing of this more enjoyable. I know I said their would be sex in this chapter but it really didn’t fit. Thank you for all the support. This story started out as a random idea I decided to work with and transformed into a labor of love. This is very short, just more of a conclusion.



The Weight of the Heart



Epilogue



Itachi lay with his head pillowed in Naruto’s lap. The breeze blew gently through the lush tree filled garden. Never was there such a beautiful place as the Fields. Unlike the desert filled land of his birth, this land of the dead teamed with life. It seemed almost a contradiction.



“Itachi?”



Itachi murmured an unintelligible response. Time seemed to have no meaning here. After living a life where time never stopped, here was a relief. Nothing mattered other than the fact he was with Naruto. His only regret was that his brother had to remain living to pick up the pieces.



“I’m being summoned.” Dark eyes blinked open. It was a rare event for Naruto to be summoned. Most days blended together.



“Alright.” Itachi frowned. He was not allowed from the Fields. He hated he could not protect Naruto from whatever dangers he might face when he left the sacred land of the dead. He hated he could not accompany him as he performed duties for the Gods.



“I won’t be gone long.” Naruto smiled before leaving Itachi to his thoughts.



Itachi stood as Naruto left, the portion dedicated to the Kings and Queens was an area he rarely ventured to. He wasn’t afraid of the dead pharaohs but he did fear seeing the sadness in his father’s eyes. The old king knew. He knew what he’d made Itachi and what nearly happened as a result.



He did, however, visit his mother regularly. The kind woman had died several years before her husband. Though his parents’ marriage was arranged by their fathers, the two felt something for each other. They were not unhappy. Perhaps it wasn’t love, but it was at the very least, a friendship of sorts.



He wondered if she ever regretted not being allowed to have a soul stirring love such as he shared with Naruto. Perhaps it was better not to dwell on such thoughts. They would only seek to force his mind to his own past and his own shames.



“Mother.” He bowed as he approached the woman.



“Itachi.” she smiled prettily at her oldest child. “Would you join me for a game?”



Itachi seated himself before the Senat board. Like most nobles, his mother was a great lover of the game. It was she, not his father, who taught him the best strategies for defeating an opponent.



“Where is Naruto today?”



“He was called away.”



“Time is different here.” she mused moving a game piece.



“Yes.” He glanced at her cautiously before moving his piece. What was she getting at?



“How long do you suppose you have been in this world?”



He frowned, his mind thought back. It seemed like mere weeks ago that he’d battled Ammit for the right of his soul to live in rest but…he was unsure. Being with Naruto, he didn’t measure time. “I’m…not sure.”



She smiled, delicate hands placing her final piece to insure her win. “We will have a new arrival today.”



“Mother, we have new arrivals every day.”



“Hmm, yes but this one is special. I’ll have to greet him. Be nice to him for me, Itachi.” The queen stood, smoothed out her pristine pleated dress and walked slowly from the covered tent.



Itachi’s eyes widened. Sasuke! Though he felt sadness well up in his chest at the thought of Sasuke’s death, he could not deny he was happy at the thought of seeing him. He was unsure if his brother felt the same.



Following his mother, he watched as a light grew into a doorway. Naruto stepped through, nursing a bruised cheek. Itachi watched as the skin began to heal before his eyes. “Naruto, what happened?”



“Bastard.” he grumbled before stepping aside.



An elderly man stepped through, shimmering for a moment before he began to age backward. The stooped frame gradually straightened until Sasuke in his prime stood before them once more. Their mother rushed to him, smothering him with hugs and kisses, very much out of character for a queen.



“Mother…” grumbled the young man.



“Sasuke.” Itachi stood staring. He’d been an old man. He’d lived long. Shaking his head, he realized just how long he’d been dead, at least fifty years.



“Itachi.” Sasuke stared at his brother before rushing to him, much like he’d done in their youth.



“Why did you leave me?” cried the younger, almost as if the last fifty years or so never happened.



“It felt right.”



Naruto smiled on the two brothers. Seeing them together felt right. He had one more duty before he could curl up beside Itachi again. This one was a request to his father.



Stepping away from the two brothers, he returned through the gateway. Joining his father in the ornate chamber he’d not stepped foot in for over fifty years. Nothing had changed but it felt different.



“This human is very lucky indeed to have you to escort him to the afterlife.” Anubis ran a clawed hand over the blue crystal Sasuke had placed around Naruto’s neck only minutes before he was escorted to the Fields. “I’m surprised you allowed that foolish young king to keep such a rare gift.”



Naruto smiled a bit deviously. He’d known Sasuke would need it and would eventually return the stone when its use was no longer necessary. “Why, Father?”



Anubis shook his massive head, choosing to keep his speculations to himself. “You are too kind for your own good.”



“A small measure of comfort to ease the years by.”



Chuckling, the great god waved his hand over the portal. Lights flared multicolored sparkles of magic. Naruto needed no prompting this time. Stepping through the doorway, he kept his body hidden from the priests. This was a solitary mission.



Not much of the city had changed. The bazaar was filled with goods. Men and women shouted while children darted among the stalls. As much as Naruto would have liked to joined the excitement, he had other duties that must be finished; both a sad and happy duty.



A new pharaoh had been named. The most powerful man in this desert world sat helpless at the bedside of a servant, watching him walk the edge between the now and the afterlife. Naruto kept to the shadows, watching as this lowly servant was treated like a king, the royal family at his side. It was a far cry from the scarred, beaten, and cowered boy he’d met so many years ago.



It seemed to Naruto, Intef had found a place at Sasuke’s side; serving both the bastard and his children. It made him happy. It also made him sad in his duty. Stepping from the shadows, he made himself visible to only Intef. “Your life was a good one?”



“Master!” gasped out the old servant, dark brown eyes nearly blind with age were able to see Naruto with crystal clarity.



“Intef? Are you alright, Intef?” The pharaoh sat more alert at the words of his childhood servant, who was more a friend than a servant.



“Naruto is here. My master is here.” Joyful tears ran down his face as he reached for the blond man.



The rest of the room’s occupants went silent. They knew the stories. Both their father and Intef had told them many times of the great pharaoh Itachi and his slave Naruto. They were told how Naruto devoured the soul of evil Madara. The story was almost more fantasy than reality to them, who had not been there to witness the great battle.



Naruto sat gently on the bedside, his hand taking Intef’s extended one. It looked like Intef’s life had been a good one to have the love of so many people. “Would you like to come with me, Intef?”



“Master…do you…forgive me?” Tears poured from the old servants eyes.



“I forgave you long ago. Carry that burden no longer.” Naruto placed a hand over Intef’s heart. He felt the soul release from the mortal body. He heard the cries of those who loved Intef and paused, the soul shimmering in his hand.



“Don’t cry, he goes to serve me but you will be reunited with him upon your own deaths.” Naruto lifted the veil, appearing before the children of Sasuke.



“Who are you?” The new pharaoh stood, ready to call for the guards.



“Don’t ask questions for what you already know the answer.” grinned Naruto, his eyes flashing to reveal a bit of the beast inside.



“Father’s pendant!” The woman behind pointed a finger at Naruto chest.



“Actually my pendant, I allowed Sasuke to keep in hopes that his burden would be lessened. I was no prepared for the duty I was sent to perform. Your father is well and with his family in the Fields. May your lives prosper.” Naruto bowed to his lover’s nieces and nephews before fading into the darkness of the limbo Intef would have to transverse, a trial to prove his worth. Naruto would stay by his side. He would make sure he made it to the fields.



Itachi blinked awake at a gentle touch on his shoulder. “Naruto?”



Naruto chuckled at the sleepy look in his eyes. “Yes.”



“How long were you gone?” Itachi frowned, a look of unhappiness on his face.



“Not long. I was escorting Intef to the Fields. Did you enjoy seeing your brother again?” Naruto settled next to Itachi on the linen dais.



“It seems like mere weeks since I saw him last. I don’t like this feeling.” Itachi frowned at the memory of seeing Sasuke step through the gateway, an old man. It left him…disconcerted at so much time having passed in the blink of an eye.



“Life is fleeting. I’m sure it felt the same for Sasuke. We have eternity now.” Naruto snickered at the touch of Itachi’s lips.



“Is that long enough?”



He sputtered at the question. What a thing to say. ‘Is that long enough?’ “And Sasuke calls me the idiot.”



IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI



Time passed, gods were forgotten. Such is the way of things. Naruto and Itachi’s story was lost to the ages, nothing but a myth, skewed beyond recognition until the day an ancient and surprisingly undisturbed tomb was discovered.



In a small, unexcavated area of the Valley of the Kings, a series of archeologists uncovered what looked to be the entrance to a tomb, possibly that of a minor king of the early Middle Kingdom. Dust flew up as the intricate stone door was carefully pried open to reveal the inside.



Lights shown inside the tomb as excavators looked on in awe. The scenes painted on the walls were something out of a fantasy, unlike anything they had ever witnessed. The walls showed the battle in which the nine tailed beast revealed himself to the world. The riches found in the chamber could in no way outshine the amazing story told on the ancient papyrus, perfectly preserved.



Room after room was filled with wealth. It was a dream find, even greater than that of Tutankhamen. The tomb of the forgotten pharaoh Itachi. The stories told on the walls and in the scrolls would go down as some of the greatest tales of mythology and of one of the most unlikely love stories in history.



The End.