Edited: 5 September 2012

When We Went Wrong

by: Faith Bell

I blinked blearily. My stomach and chest hurt. My back hurt. My legs and my arms hurt. My head hurt most of all. Groaning I attempted to open my eyes, when that resulted in my headache worsening tenfold, however, I opted to just keep lying still with my eyes closed. What was going on? I had been fighting, Konoha had been destroyed. I swallowed hard. It had, though. Konoha had been destroyed, by that bastard. Pein. That's right, I had been fighting Pein, and then... Oh. My. God. I had died.

I was dead. I was dead, wasn't I? How could I be dead? I took a deep shuddering breath, trying very hard not to freak out. Wait. Breathing? How could I breathe if I was dead? Slowly, but steadily, I opened my eyes, trying to ignore the searing pounding in my head that came with it. If I was dead, then why did everything still hurt? I blinked, and tried to see, but everything was black. I couldn't see a thing. No... No, I couldn't have gone blind? Although, my chakra... If I were dead, my chakra would be dead as well, and if no chakra could get to my eyes, then- well, then I wouldn't be able to see ever again.

Trying to get my breathing under control, I took slow steps forwards, raising my hands before me in case I would bump into anything. Then, out of absolutely no where, a bright light appeared, and was gone not a second later.

'Wha-' I managed, but finding how much my throat hurt when speaking, I quickly shut up.

But I had seen a white light, I had seen it, that must mean that I'm not blind. Right? I tried to convince myself that this was the truth and stared around desperately, trying to find anything to distinguish from the darkness. The light came back. It was a lot softer this time, it looked more distant. I squinted my to the darkness accustomed eyes and tried to reach for the light. As I did so, my feet suddenly lifted from the ground and I was floating towards it. The closer I came to the light, the better I started feeling. It was like it's soft white tendrils were caressing me, slowly easing the pain.

'Hitomi.'

As soon as I heard the voice I tried to turn around, a gasp lost in my throat which clenched uncomfortably. I knew that voice. But, no, surely that couldn't be him, could it? He was... I swallowed hard again, he was dead.

'Hitomi.'

There it was again, louder this time. Clearer. I was sure it was him this time. I desperately tried to get towards him, to where the voice was coming from, but I was still floating towards the light, like I was a magnet. I flailed my arms and legs about, trying to move forwards, trying to swim from the air, but it was no use.

'Hitomi-chan?'

Another achingly familiar voice. I had to get there, I could do this. I had to. As soon as those thoughts came through my head, the light released me and the air came whooshing past me. I realised, I was falling, and because of the darkness, I had no idea where the ground was. I was feeling disorientated and sick, not sure now if I had really heard the voices, or if they had just been figments of my imagination. I forced my eyes shut, trying to prepare myself for the hard impact with the ground that would undoubtedly come. My breath came in short shallow gasps. This was going to hurt.

'I've got you.'

Instead of the cold hard ground, two warm arms had wrapped around me. They were now carefully proceeding with setting me on the ground. I gasped slightly and turned towards him. I had to see him, see his face. I had to know this was real. As soon as I had thought this, everything seemed to become brighter and it was like a dull blue-ish light was shining on us from above, even though I still couldn't make out what we were standing on. It was just a large stretch of blackness. I looked up, and there he stood. Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw his face, saw that it was real and practically jumped him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. It was a strange thing I could reach his shoulders now, I had never been able to come any higher than his waist. He seemed to realise this too, as he wrapped two strong arms around me.

'You have grown, Hitomi.' He said in a soft voice. I could almost hear him smile. I just nodded into the crook of his neck, I didn't want to let go, afraid that he would disappear as soon as I did.

'Hey!' a small voice, that was exactly as I remembered it piped up from the ground, 'What about me?!' I could feel a grin forming over my face as I slowly let go. I did grab his hand, though. Not wanting to release him entirely. I wasn't taking any chances with this.

'I missed you too, Obito.' I said sofly, smiling as I crouched down and hugged the boy. 'The two of you haven't changed at all.' I observed quietly, as soon as I was standing again.

'Yeah, yeah, you changed a lot though, Hitomi-chan!' Obito said loudly, as he stared at me, 'You're really tall now! You always used to be such a midget!'

'Hey, be a bit more polite.' the taller man scolded, poking the boy standing next to him. I wasn't offended in the slightest though, I couldn't stop smiling.

'Sorry, Minato-sensei,' Obito said, pouting. I grinned at him, before turning to the older man,

'Minato,' I started slowly, not exactly sure how I could say this, so I supposed I just had to be blunt about it, 'am I dead?' Minato looked at me and then nodded sadly,

'Yes,' he said softly, 'I'm afraid so.' I nodded as well, noticing how Obito was rather purposefully looking the other way.

'Well,' I said, forcing my voice to sound a bit more cheerful than I was actually feeling, 'it isn't as bad as I had expected it to be, I mean, at least we can spend some time together, right?' I asked him, my voice sounding strangely hopeful. I didn't know why, but for some reason I was actually really doubting the fact that we could spend more time together. It was like there was a small part of my brain nagging at me, shouting, 'This is wrong! This is wrong!' I tried my very best to ignore it, though.

Minato kept looking at me intensely, but he didn't answer my question. After a while of this, during which Obito was still carefully avoiding my gaze, I was starting to feel very awkward and uncomfortable.

'So, er, where are we anyway?' I asked, in a bit of a stupid attempt to break the silence. Minato looked at me, then grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head,

'Well,' he said, sounding a bit embarrassed, 'I'm actually not really sure.' I stared at him, not really sure what to say. Suddenly, Minato sobered up, his gaze turning more serious and sullen, 'There is somewhere you need to be, though.' he told me intently, making me feel uncomfortable again.

'Where is that?' I asked, not sure where this was leading and even less sure if I actually wanted to find out. As soon as I had asked this, a long trail of what looked like grass appeared out of no where, leading of into the distance. I stared at it, surprised, the uncomfortable feeling growing.

'I think,' Minato said, the sheepish grin back on his face, 'you're supposed to go that way.' I almost rolled my eyes at him. Before I had the chance to say or do anything, though, his arms were suddenly around me again, pulling me into a tight embrace. 'Be strong,' he whispered.

I just nodded again, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of my stomach, just when I was about to pull away, his arms tightened around my shoulders, 'Hitomi,' he whispered, a new quality that I couldn't really describe to his voice, 'I'm so proud of you.' I pulled away instantly, wanting to look him in the eyes, ask him a million questions, but as soon as I had done so, he was gone. So was Obito. I hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. The blue light that had illuminated the- well, wherever I was, had vanished again also and the only thing I could see was the small path of grass trailing before me. With a deep breath and trying to dispel the heavy feeling of dread still growing in my stomach I started to follow it, curious as to where it would take me.

I slowly followed the grass, it was soft beneath my feet. It was actually a quite pleasant feeling. It was only then that I realised that I was bare footed. I was actually wearing nothing but a ghostly white dress. I frowned down at myself, when had that happened? Shaking myself slightly and trying to ignore the strange clothing I was wearing, I continued forwards until - seemingly out of no where - a traditional Japanese tea house appeared. It was very small, but it looked quite peaceful, with the few bamboo plants surrounding it. I swallowed hard again, curious - but somehow also afraid - of what was inside of this house.

Slowly I made my way over and opened the door. I froze, as my heart skipped several beats. My breath was coming quickly again as I stared wide-eyed and probably slack-jawed at the person standing inside of the tea house, leaning against the wall in a casual manner. Without really consciously realising what I was doing, I had started to run towards him. He moved from his place at the wall as well, a small smile present on his face. I was about ready to cry.

Seeing as the tea house was a rather small building, it didn't take very long for me to cross the tatami mat floor and fling myself into the other person wrapping my arms around his shoulders - as he wrapped his around my waist - and burry my face into his neck. I tried to speak but I was literally lost for words. I could only cling to him, holding on desperately. I couldn't let him disappear again. Never.

Slowly and very gently, Itachi pulled out of the embrace and rested one of his hands on my cheek. He smiled at me and I smiled back at him, certain that there was now more than one tear slowly making it's way down my face. His thumb slowly caressed my cheek, wiping away the tears. He locked his eyes onto mine, and wordlessly we both leaned in at exactly the same time, our lips crashing together in a passionate, rough and needy kiss.

After what seemed like forever and only a few seconds at the same time, he pulled away, leaning his forehead against mine. Both of us were panting, our breaths mixing in the small space between our lips. Itachi had his eyes closed and I probably would have done the same, if I wasn't mortally afraid that if I looked away from him or let go - I was clutching to him rather desperately - he would just vanish the same way Minato had and that I would be alone in this darkness.

He stared into my eyes, and emotions flickered past so fast behind his eyes that I could not hope to comprehend them. Finally his eyes cleared and all I could see was warmth and something which I thought resembled pride.

'Hey,' I whispered breathlessly, not really capable of thinking of anything else to say. Or rather, I could think of a million different things I wanted to tell him, but none of which I felt able to voice. He smiled faintly,

'Hello,' he whispered back at me. Just hearing his voice sent my body into overdrive. His voice I'd never even dreamt of hearing again. Actually, I had been hearing his voice in my dreams a lot, but I never thought I would hear his real voice again. This thought made me start, and Itachi looked at me inquiringly.

'This is all just a dream, isn't it?' I asked him, my voice quavering with a fear I tried to suppress, 'All of this. Seeing you again, and Minato and Obito, and Konoha destroyed...' A dark shadow passed over his face when I mentioned Konoha, but he shook his head.

'No,' he told me, his voice steady and sure, 'this is real. All of it.'

'So, I'm really dead?'

Itachi closed his eyes momentarily as if the words had somehow physically hurt him. Sighing slightly, he nodded, before opening his eyes again and staring intently into mine. I shrugged somewhat half-heartedly. If I could stay with him, in however this death thing worked, it wouldn't be all that bad. But somehow, the same as I had with Minato, I had the foreboding and overbearing feeling that I couldn't. I couldn't stay with him, even if I didn't know why.

'It's not over for you.' he whispered softly, his eyes flickering back and forth between mine, while he was trying to gauge my reaction. I shook my head at him in disbelief.

'What are you talking about?' I asked him, frowning at the look in his eyes that I couldn't really identify.

'Just go.' He said softly, while he slowly raised an arm and pointed towards the door, the way I had come. Only now, there wasn't darkness. Well, strictly speaking, there was still darkness, but it wasn't as dark now. There was a dim orange like light coming from beyond a point of my vision, like it was just behind the horizon of the black mass. I stared at Itachi in alarm.

'No.' I said, a lot louder than necessary, 'No way! I'm not going, I'm not leaving you! Not again!' The ghost of a smile past over Itachi's face as he looked at me, still an expression that I wasn't able to place etched into his face. He shook his head slightly,

'Hitomi,' he said, and just the way he said my name was enough to make my breath hitch in my throat, 'you didn't leave me. You were by my side, you always were. I couldn't have asked for anything more than that.' the intensity of his voice caught me off-guard and I couldn't stop my eyes from getting watery.

'No,' I repeated myself, shaking my head, 'I don't want to. I don't want to go. I want to stay here, with you.' As soon as the words were out of my mouth Itachi's expression hardened just a bit and I immediately felt guilty about it. Who was I to complain about a chance to live, when he had had no say in it at all. When he had been forced to die so young. I was about to apologise when he beat me to it.

'No,' he said, his voice sharp, and a bit of the cold edge that he'd always had back in his Akatsuki days, 'you are going back, Hitomi. You're only twenty-three, you've got an entire life ahead of you. There is so much left for you. Like having a family, I know you want that, you can't fool me.' I swallowed hard and stared at the ground guiltily. It was true, one of the things I had always wanted most was to have a family. In a proper house in a proper village. To actually be able to have a normal routine, to have children who led normal lives. But whenever I had thought about anything like this, Itachi had always taken up the role as caring husband. I knew, of course, that it was an utterly impossible fantasy, with everything going on, but still. I longed for it.

Not without Itachi, though. I could never do it without Itachi. I was pretty sure I didn't even want to. Itachi saw the hesitation in my eyes and sighed heavily, but as he lifted my chin and made me look at him again, I could see the affection he held for me in his eyes. Without thinking about it I kissed him again. This kiss wasn't like the ones we had shared before in this- whatever this was. It was slow, gentle and incredibly tender. And I realised, with a terrible stab of pain shooting through my chest, it would be our last kiss.

When I had no air left and I had no option but to break the kiss, I puled away slowly, tears in my eyes again. 'I can't do this,' I whispered to him, my voice shaking, 'Not after everything we've been through together.' His arms tightened around my waist and I rested my head in the crook of his neck. We fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces.

'You have to,' he said softly, and I thought I could hear his voice shaking slightly as well, 'For Neji's sake, for Konoha's sake.' I drew in a sharp breath. He knew he had me there, he'd always known he would get me with that. Those were two things I could not betray. Never. No matter how much I might even want two, I just couldn't'

'Will I ever see you again?' I asked hastily, not even bothering to hide the desperation in my voice. I tried to swallow the bile I felt rising in my throat. I felt sick. I didn't want to lose him again. But I knew I had to go. I couldn't leave Neji without an explanation, without knowing what was going on. Even if I couldn't ever tell him the truth, I had to be there. Itachi nodded at me, a reassuring smile on his face,

'Don't worry, I'll be waiting for you. Always.'

With a shuddering breath I tightened my arms around Itachi, as did he, before drawing back. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to think of a suitable good-bye, but when I opened my eyes again, he was gone. I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, but I hardly noticed the sting and the warm liquid trailing down my chin over the emotional pain and turmoil I was feeling inside. With another shuddering breath I turned around and made my way down the path Itachi had pointed out to me. Yes, this seemed fitting. Even in death, I still followed after Itachi.

As I slowly walked down the path, the orange glow became brighter and brighter, and with a sudden start, I realised it was actually a camp fire. I stared at it. The camp fire was surrounded by several logs, probably supposed to be used as chairs, but all of them were empty. I heard a small rustle and my head snapped up. He stood right in front of me, and I had no idea how I had missed him before.

Hatake Kakashi.

My breath hitched in my throat and I stared at him, mortified, unable to speak. He was staring at me as well, and our eyes met, both of us seemed unable to move. The air was thick with tension. Time seemed to pass extremely slowly and extremely fast at the same time. We just stood there and stared at each other, neither of us able to move a muscle. Just when I had had enough of the stifling silence and opened my mouth to speak, we were engulfed in a bright white light.

It was the same light that had pulled my towards it, like it was a magnet. Only this time it didn't pull, it just grew and seemed to drown us in it, reaching through every fibre of our beings, every atom. Pulling us out. Pulling us away from the darkness.

WHERE DID WE GO WRONG?

*awkward cough*

Erm, yeah, I know...

ANYWAY, first chapter of the sequel guys, hope I didn't disappoint!

I know Itachi is slightly out of character here, but I keep thinking, he has changed throughout the course of TMBB. And also, you have to realise, Hitomi and Itachi spent 10 years of their lives together, running together and surviving together. Literally 10 years, day and night. Having only each other to rely on and each other to trust. That would create unbelievably strong bond between two people, and I feel pretty safe to say that their relationship runs much deeper than just words or physical contact. I think that if there would be something like soul mates, they would be each others. Or, at least, that's what I suspect. And seeing as Itachi is absolutely certain this is the last time in a very long while he is going to see her and Hitomi isn't certain if she's going to see him ever again, you can understand the emotionalness. Hehe.

I know, it's a bit cheesy and romanticised and all, but hell, I just like writing those two like that. I'm still not sure what to do with the plot, but I'm loving all of your suggestions. I think I am going to create a bit of a plot line of my own, but I will definitely be sticking to the bigger canon plot lines as well. I'm getting all these new ideas, and I'm loving it.

So, if you have any ideas or suggestions as to where this story should lead Hitomi (do remember that this is going to be a HitomexKakashi fanfic, I have, I think, discarded the idea of using another OC, simply because I love how much Hitomi has grown as a character for me, and I don't really fancy spending another year so that another character can do the same thing.) suggestions are always welcome! Simply review.

Do, in fact, please review. Constructive Criticism is very much appreciated, but flames and comments are always welcome as well. Thanks!

- Faith Bell

ps: Also, you might have noticed this chapter is about 10 times as long as it's prequel's prologue. I'm afraid not all chapters will be this much longer, since I think 50000 words is rather a lot for one chapter, but you can definitely be expecting longer chapters.