A/N: OMG!! Everyone's been so good to me with reviews and everything!! ACK!! I just had to say…I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! Keep up the great work!!!!!!!!

Itachi could still feel Kakashi shaking in his arms, but at least he was a little less frightened. He knew full well now that Kakashi was completely broken, and also that he couldn't leave Kakashi alone, especially with Kisame. The shark-man seemed to hate Kakashi…either that, or he was jealous of the attention Kakashi was getting from Itachi. Itachi held back laughter at this thought: Kisame, jealous of Itachi's attention!

"Itachi-sama?"

"You don't have to call me 'Itachi-sama,' you know," Itachi said, glancing down at Kakashi. "I'm not going to be like that, not with you."

Kakashi looked down, uncomfortable. "Okay…but…what are you going to do to me?"

Itachi exhaled and leaned back against the wall, unsure of what to say. Hell, he didn't even know what he was going to do to the poor creature…if Kisame didn't kill him first.

"Well, I do have to know who told you so much about us; the Akatsuki, I mean. Where are you getting this information?"

Kakashi seemed to shrink right before Itachi's eyes. "I'm sorry…I can't tell you that…"

"Kakashi, don't make me hurt you," Itachi sighed. "I really don't want to; I love you, and I don't ever want to see you in pain. But I need to know who gave you this information. At least tell me if it was someone I would know."

"I-It's no one you know personally," Kakashi said quietly. "I don't think you've ever met in person before, but surely you've heard of him…"

Itachi nodded and looked down again at Kakashi's face. The jounin's fathomless eyes held more than pain and sorrow in their unspeakable depths; they held sadness long unspoken and…something else…

"Kakashi, back when we were in ANBU…"

Kakashi suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I don't want to talk about it."

Itachi slid his hand under Kakashi's jaw and gently tipped his face up to stare into his Sharingan. "You don't even know what I'm going to ask about."

"Yes I do," Kakashi said bitterly. "I know you want to know, but I can't tell you!"

"I'm going to ask anyway, and bear with me, because the question might be different," Itachi said quickly. "Now, just take a deep breath and be honest with me. Remember, I will not hurt you. Under any circumstances. So be totally honest…"

Kakashi slowly nodded, but his eyes still held that frightened look of a cornered puppy.

"Did you ever notice me when I watched you train?"

Kakashi was almost startled. The question was so…impersonal…

"I-I noticed someone…" Kakashi said slowly. "But I was never sure who…why...?"

"You know me," Itachi murmured, "And I suspected you knew I was there. I was copying your techniques: all of them. I admit, I was jealous of your talents at first, and then your Sharingan. But then, I realized: I was slowly beginning to like you.

"So one mission, you were hurt. That's all I remember, but I remember your blood…your beautiful sweet blood…but I knew you would die if I didn't help you. So I did. I took you to Mei, the team's medic. She healed you, and by then the rest of the squad had come back, the assassination completed. I personally carried you back the whole way, and stayed by your bedside the entire night. I never left you, Kakashi, and I won't leave you know."

At first, Kakashi only looked stunned. Then, he sat back, slightly away from Itachi, and tried to absorb this new information. Itachi leaned forward and swept Kakashi into his arms again, standing up and holding the shivering form firmly in his embrace.

"I promise you, I won't let anything happen to you."

Itachi bent down the several-inches he had to make up in height difference with Kakashi and looked the jounin in the eye.

"Say something; I want to know if you're okay…"

Kakashi just shook his head and stepped back, wiping tears from his eyes. "I-I'm sorry…I…I just-"

"Shhhhhhh, Kakashi," Itachi murmured, pulling him into his chest one last time. "I know…it's hard to accept but…I never hated you…no matter what happened when we first met, and not even just yesterday…I never hated you."

"You always told me you did…and Kisame says you do too…"

Itachi shook his head. "Kisame is nothing more then fish sticks at this point, okay? He's just a fat loser with b. o."

Kakashi smiled. "Alright, I get it…but…what if…he…?"

"He can want you," Itachi said softly. "But he can't have you."

Kakashi was tired as it was, and the beating he had taken from Kisame wasn't doing wonders for his condition either. Itachi was here, and he was willing to hold him, so he would just stand there…and let himself be held.

OOOOOOOOO

Itachi could feel Kakashi growing heavy in his arms and picked up the wounded jounin. Finally, he was asleep; Itachi had been aiming for that for a while…it was getting late. At a quick glance, the clock on the wall in the kitchen read 10:07. Itachi sighed. He really should be getting to bed, too. He had a mission in the morning…

But wait. He couldn't leave Kakashi alone, especially not with Kisame. No, he would just have to find somewhere else for him to stay…possibly with Deidara. Sasori was out on a month-long mission, but Deidara was still here…and he didn't exactly seem like the horny bastard who would want to hurt Kakashi. Well, until the morning, Kakashi could stay with Itachi. As long as Itachi was there, Kisame wouldn't try anything. He hoped…

OOOOOOOOO

Itachi awoke to someone shaking him.

Rolling over and glancing at the clock, he saw it sharply read: 12:34. Ugh; only two and a half hours of sleep? What was so important that it couldn't wait until morning…?

"'tachi, get up!!" someone whined. "Hurry up!"

Itachi grabbed his Akatsuki cloak and pulled it on, not bothering to fasten it. He was still only in his boxers, but at least if he had to go anywhere in a hurry, he was covered.

"What?" he muttered.

"Apparently some Konoha ninja are pissed that Kakashi's gone," Kisame muttered. "We have to defend the place. Zetsu says they're coming from the South."

Itachi groaned and began groping around in the dark for his pants. "My God, they can't wait 'til a decent hour to attack us?" he moaned, yanking on his pants. "I can't believe this…" He shrugged off his cloak, yanked on his shirt, and pulled the cloak back on. "God…" he shoved his feet into his sandals and stepped outside, waiting just outside the door for Kisame.

"I know, I know," Kisame muttered, picking up Samehada. "I'm coming."

Itachi closed the door as softly as possible and locked it. "Let's go."

He moved surprisingly quickly for someone who had just woken up, Kisame thought. But then again, he was an Uchiha and he did have an amazing body…"Kakuza said he would be there in person; just someplace else," Kisame said as they ran. "He'll be casting jutsus from afar, apparently," he grunted. "Lazy bastard; can't get his ass down here to fight with us; no, too good for that-"

"Quit whining, at least he's helping this time," Itachi snapped. "Last time he just hid and told us to blow the place up."

"Deidara happily obliged…"

"Still."

Kisame sighed and heaved Samehada off his back and began unwrapping it. Itachi could catch bits and pieces of murderous mutterings under his breath as he did so; "…can't wait to sink my teeth into that kid with the red eyes…she was pretty…Samehada should do it for her boyfriend…stupid jounin…Orochimaru said a while back…was tough…"

Itachi sighed. "If you have anyone at your mercy that seems of importance, capture, not kill. These people might have information I want and the Akatsuki needs."

"So…no shredding…?"

"No mutilating until I'm done, bird brain."

Kisame slowed for a moment. "So wait…if I'm bird-brain…then what's Deidara…?"

"Paris Hilton, you butterball," Itachi snapped. Sometimes Kisame could be so stupid…!

"Dude, you missed the greatest explosion of all time, un!"

Itachi knew who it was even before the blonde rounded the corner: heard before seen…champion of being childish…and finger-painting child art prodigy at heart…the one and only…

"Deidara?" Kisame questioned. Deidara rounded the corner just as Itachi gave Kisame a good smack over the head.

"Who else is that loud and loves explosions, moron?"

"I dunno, you?"

Itachi sighed and buried his fist in Kisame's face again, turning to Deidara.

"What's the status?"

"Not, good, un," Deidara replied, shaking his head. "We've barricaded them out, but they're about to release the seals. They figured out how they work. So we barricaded the walls and…" Deidara glanced down. "I'm workin' on a bird."

Itachi sighed again and wrenched his fist free of Kisame's entire body. In his haste to avoid the blow, Kisame had managed to get half of his…person entangled with Itachi's one hand.

"Well, at least you've got me to help you!" he said brightly, finally extracting himself from Itachi. Someone gave a loud, very audible sigh as they rounded the corner.

"We're all doomed."

"Danna!!"

Deidara's cry of glee was music to Sasori's ears. He loved the hyper blonde more than anyone in the world, and was not afraid to say so.

"Hello, little brat," he greeted, throwing an arm around Deidara. With a start, Itachi realized that, when out of his puppet, Sasori was actually taller than Deidara!

Deidara smiled and rested his head against Sasori's chest. "This sucks," he muttered. "I didn't even get a chance to say hello and we already have a battle. I missed you…"

Sasori smiled. His little blonde made a cute pet…

"I thought you would be gone for another week or two, Sasori," Itachi said. "Come on, let's walk: we have to get back to the entrance…you heard the basics of what's going on?"

Sasori nodded. "Well, I made better time than I had originally hoped to make, and it all added up to about a week lopped off my mission time."

The group set off for the entrance-

Just as a huge crash and an earthquake sounded throughout the entire lair.

Sasori's choice of strong language impressed everyone, even Deidara, who was used to Sasori's incredible vocabulary-in six different languages. Deidara spat out some clay from his hand and created a large bird; he heaved Sasori up onto it with him and the two flew over the debris as the large rock covering the entrance to the cave crumbled under a single punch from one woman-

Itachi leaped out of the way, and Kisame immediately activated a water jutsu, creating an entire body of water from his mouth. A flash of green darted by, and as Itachi scaled the wall with his charka he was able to see glimpses of the Konoha shinobi who had come to reclaim one of their village's most prized passions:

"We came for Kakashi," the blonde woman snarled. "Give him back and no one-and nothing-gets hurt!"

Itachi smiled. "Why, Tsunade, so pleasant to finally meet you as well…" Itachi dropped down in front of the kunoichi, pulling off his Akatsuki cloak. "I'm going to need room to move on this one…how nice of you to bring the best, now I can increase my kill rate. It's been dreadfully low lately: I've only killed eighty percent of the shinobi I battle. I need to bring that percentage up, don't you agree?"

Tsunade gasped with horror at Itachi's statement, and then her face hardened into unbelievable anger.

"I'm going to flatten you in exactly five minutes. That is the time you have to get Kakashi back to me. If not, you're all dead."

Itachi grinned. "Screw five minutes-I'm only waiting five more seconds. And I know Sasori won't wait much longer either-you know how he hates making people wait…"

Tsunade grit her teeth. She had brought along more ninja than the Akatsuki probably thought, unless Itachi noticed the genjutsus in his Sharingan. Currently, they were doing a sweep search of the entire base-unless caught. Tsunade and the ninja that stood before the Akatsuki were only decoys; distractions so the tracker ninja could do their work and rescue Kakashi. But, it seemed Itachi was on to her-he was smirking, and the rest of the Akatsuki seemed to appreciate the effort.

"Not so fast, Tsunade-hime."

Itachi gasped as a figure touched down behind him; red hair, glowing gray eyes, two nasal piercings-

"Leader-sama?!"

The figure smirked and stepped forward, the moonlight reflecting eerily off his face. "Tsunade…I'm sure you remember me…"

Tsunade gasped; as a matter of fact, she did recognize him…very…painfully…well…

"Yes, Ryuu…I know you…"

A/N: Again, you guys have all been great with reviews and all, so please keep reviewing. You will soon find that reviews make me write faster!! Thanks, everyone!!!