A/N: rated for blood, nothing sexual.

OOC? You decide. Plus I'm not sure if this qualifies as angst, but again, you decide! XD

zxx

Price of the Mangekyou Sharingan

He felt his limbs slowing down under the stress of movement. With his last effort, he plunged his katana through his enemy's stomach. Itachi felt himself pulled along with the blade and he came close enough to see the dying light in the other man's eyes. His opponent's yell died on his lips as blood flowed in a dark ribbon from the side of his mouth.

The ninja collapsed to the ground, taking Itachi with him. The Uchiha was too exhausted from the fight to move. His bloodied hands were still clenched around the katana's bound handle were it disappeared into the bloodied robes of his opponent. The crimson folds of the cloth swam before his eyes and his vision darkened. He tried to loosen his hands from the blade's hilt but his body wouldn't obey him.

He felt himself tipping forwards. He saw the dim blue of the sky overhead though a haze of shadows. Falling was eternity. His slow muscles did nothing to stop his fall. Through the darkness, Itachi caught a glimpse of gold and then suddenly he felt himself leaning against another body. Hair had fallen into his face and he could hardly see.

"Un," a deep voice whispered in his ear. "Stay with me, un. Stay with me."

Itachi's head lolled back on Deidara's shoulder. The blonde's face spun into view in a whirlwind of colors. Itachi tried to keep his eyes focused but everything was getting darker and darker. He could hardly form a thought in his mind from the heaviness of his eyelids and the pain in his eyes. He'd predicted that this would happen—that this darkness would swallow him—but he hadn't known it would be so soon.

Briefly, he wondered what Deidara was doing there, with him, holding him almost gently in his arms. The thought was dropped as another sharp knife of pain cut its way through him. He closed his eyes to steady himself and gasped in a breath of air. Deidara lowered him a bit so he could lie on the ground. The blonde kicked the body of his dead opponent away and came back to his side.

"I'm not sure you should be fighting at all in a condition like this." He pulled Itachi's collar back to allow the Uchiha easier breathing. "I don't understand why you didn't say anything before we set out on this mission."

Itachi's mouth twitched but his eyes remained closed. Deidara had to lean in to hear his faint words. "I didn't know," Itachi muttered, his voice soft but still cold as ice. "It's not like I had a choice." He hissed the last word at Deidara, half in pain and half in derision.

"Hn. What happened to you anyway?" Deidara asked cautiously, ignoring the Uchiha's tone.

Itachi snorted and gestured to his eyes, which were still closed. He pressed his finger to the skin below his eye and drew it away, red and sticky with blood. "The more I use these eyes the farther I will sink into this darkness."

Itachi almost sneered at himself in disgust, but he heard Deidara growl low in his throat and felt the other ninja grip his shoulders a bit too tightly. He opened his eyes with effort and looked up though the shadows that clouded his vision. "I'm not going to die. Stop it." He turned his head away.

It was strange. Deidara acted like he cared or something. Why hadn't he gone back to fighting wherever he'd been before he came to find Itachi? The Uchiha blinked slowly. Why had he come to find Itachi in the first place?

Itachi pulled himself back to the conversation which he realized he'd been ignoring as he pondered these questions. Deidara was muttering about something. The blonde paused and then snorted contemptuously. "I know you're not going to die! But I'm still worried—look at you! You're eyes are bleeding!"

"This is the price of the Mangekyou Sharingan and I know it. I've always known it," Itachi murmured, lifting a hand to pull Deidara nearer. The blonde's face came back into focus. "I'm fine," he whispered as he studied the other ninja's face.

Deidara's reluctant smile did not reach his eyes. "I know you are, un."

"I'm fine," Itachi mouthed again, lids drooping a bit lower and then flickering up again as he squinted at Deidara through the blood filling his eyes. "Are you listening? You've got to l-listen to me."

Deidara's eyes widened ever so slightly at the small falter in Itachi's voice. The Uchiha never stuttered. Never. Never.

Itachi's frame shook suddenly as he coughed. Blood appeared on his lips but he wiped it away quickly with his sleeve so Deidara wouldn't see it. The Uchiha opened his mouth again only to realize he was out of breath. His chest hurt as badly has the fire that seemed to be consuming his eyes.

Deidara's brow furrowed at the sweat that was forming on Itachi's pale cheek. "Listen? Yeah, of course, un," the blonde said after a long pause. "Look. We need to leave this place. Come on, let's go, un. The rest of them can manage with out us for a little while," he said with a nervous laugh, referring to the other Akatsuki members who were still busy fighting elsewhere.

Deidara was about to lift the Uchiha up with him but Itachi opened his mouth again as if to speak. His movements had been slowed down considerably by his pain. The Uchiha's hand opened and closed around Deidara's, moving almost weakly. "It doesn't matter," Itachi said finally in a low voice. "Don't."

Deidara stared at the Uchiha for a moment in hesitation.

"Don't . . ."Itachi echoed. "I can't escape from the darkness. It doesn't matter." There was that strange half-smile again, playing on his lips.

The blonde took Itachi's chin and moved a bit closer. "Can you see my face?" he asked. "You can see me, right? Un?"

Itachi blinked calmly and nodded ever so slightly in response.

Deidara shook his head and suddenly moved closer, catching the Uchiha's lips possessively with his own. The blonde's hands clenched in Itachi's dark hair. The Uchiha stiffened slightly and shook as Deidara pressed down on his chest with his hand. He felt a breath pushed out of his lungs but he let it go and kissed back, eyes staring up into the shadowy blue of the sky, which grew dimmer and dimmer.

Deidara lifted his other hand to hold the back of the other ninja's neck. The blonde shut his eyes as he felt the warm blood on Itachi's face trickle down into his mouth. He didn't stop kissing the Uchiha until he felt Itachi slowly grow still.

Deidara pulled away to see the smile on the Uchiha's parted lips and his unseeing eyes staring up wide at the heavens, bloodied and red-rimmed.

The blonde gritted his teeth and shook Itachi angrily. "Stay with me. Stay with me! Please!" He leaned his golden head against Itachi's and let out a shaky sigh, a hand placed firmly over the Uchiha's heart. The steady beating reassured him as did the faint tickle of Itachi's breathing on his neck.

Deidara cautiously pressed his lips against Itachi's again as if the other ninja was asleep and he was afraid to wake him. The Uchiha tasted like blood and metal and death. As expected of a cold-blooded Uchiha prodigy.

Deidara drew back and looked down dazedly at the still face of the Akatsuki member. He gritted his teeth and buried his face in Itachi's tangled hair again.

It was awful to see Itachi like this. But the Uchiha was only unconscious. For a moment though, pictures of Itachi's death had flashed across Deidara's mind. He'd kissed Itachi as if it was his last kiss.

And it was only his first kiss.

xxx