Hullo guys!

Warning: Some pretty nasty language in this chapter.

Oh, and thank you to ShiokoXRose for fixing my incorrect spelling of Mangekyu.

Read on!

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Around 9am, Next Morning, Somewhere in the Rain Country

Itachi moaned. His head felt like someone had hit him with a hammer several hundred times, and his eyes were hot and heavy, as if he had a fever.

Then, in a rush, the events of the previous night came flooding back to Itachi. It was so strange, how his Mangekyu had been tampered with.

First, the kid blacking out. It must have had something to do with the fact that he really had two conciousnesses. That was the only solution.

Moreover, there was Itachi himself blacking out. That had never happened to him before. He had thought he was done for.

So were did that put him now? Where was he? There was only one way to find out.

Itachi opened his pounding eyelids. And saw… nothing. It was pitch black.

Kakashi stared worriedly at Naruto's body, wondering when he would wake up. They were in a small inn, and had been for the past several hours. After the scene at 'The Spring Chicken,' Kakashi had gotten out of the Earth country as fast as he could, and this was the best thing he had found, given the circumstances.

Kakashi also wondered nervously when Itachi would wake up.

But his wait was soon over, for he heard the missing-nin groan loudly. Kakashi almost sympathized with him, because Itachi must be in some pain, after being knocked out of his own Mangekyu.

Kakashi watched as, slowly, the Uchiha opened his eyes, although Kakashi turned away quickly with a shudder. Itachi's eyes were still his normal inky black, but the pupils were clouded over with a red substance. His Sharingan must've been damaged. Whatever had happened, it was creepy.

Itachi's face twitched, but he kept his composure.

"Hello?" he asked calmly.

Kakashi decided to humor him. "Hello, Uchiha."

Itachi's eyes widened, but did not flick to him or to anything in particular. He seemed to be blinded, though it might just be temporary.

"Hatake?" Itachi asked, trying to fight the panic bubbling up in his throat. Why couldn't he see? Was it just very dark in the room the Copy ninja held him captive in, or was something wrong with his eyes? Itachi sent chakra directed at his eyes. It had no effect.

"Yes. What happened to you and Naruto in the Mangekyu?" Kakashi asked, trying to contain his curiosity.

Itachi sat up slowly, as if every movement pained him. As it probably did.

"Why can't I see? Is it dark in here?" Itachi asked, still in a monotonous voice.

Kakashi nodded to himself. That confirmed his suspicions. Itachi was blind. Probably temporary, but blind none the least.

"I think what happened is that the strain on your Sharingan became too much and a few chakra coils burst. Your body is probably repairing the damage as we speak, but for now, you are blind."

Itachi mentally cursed. So... he was now at the mercy of a Konoha jonin. Wonderful.

But if Kakashi had wanted to kill him, why hadn't he done it already?

"Why did you save me?" Itachi asked.

Kakashi sighed audibly. "To tell the truth, I really don't know. But I do know that Sakura loves you. And I care about Sakura, even though she's a traitor... I don't want to see her hurt again. But don't think you're my honored guest," Kakashi added harshly. He didn't want Itachi getting any bright ideas.

Itachi shook his head slowly. "I don't particularly want to be," he said dryly.

Kakashi chuckled. "Since when have you developed a sense of humor, Uchiha?"

Itachi stared impassively through his sightless eyes. "Sakura has changed me," he said simply.

Kakashi was then quiet for a while. To his surprise, Itachi did not try to escape or trick him in any way.

Around lunchtime, Kakashi offered Itachi some food. Itachi graciously accepted, since he was starving.

The Copy ninja pushed some food into Itachi's hands. He only gave him some things that did not need much hand-eye coordination, seeing as Itachi was seriously lacking in the 'eye' department.

Of course, just when the tension between the two ninjas had started ebbing, Naruto woke up.

"Oh, god… What a hangover…" Naruto was sitting up and rubbing his aching head, when he stopped abruptly. He had forgotten about the night's events and had assumed the pain in his head was just a bad hangover, but he was sadly mistaken.

"Where's that son of a bitch?" he shouted, looking around wildly. Unfortunately for his target, Naruto found who he was looking for.

Itachi's blind eyes widened when he heard the Kyuubi yell. He knew what was coming next.

The Uchiha threw his arms in front of his face to protect himself, but he needn't have bothered.

The second Naruto got up, his legs collapsed beneath him and he fell back down.

"Damn it…Why is this… monster in the same room as me?!" Naruto yelled angrily. He couldn't do much else, so Naruto was sure to scream at Kakashi.

Since both of the angry men in the room were immobile, Kakashi took his leisurely time explaining. Not like Naruto or Itachi could do anything to him.

"Itachi is staying with us until we get back to Konoha. We'll have him executed the old fashioned way." Kakashi smiled that masked smile at Naruto, who glared back at him.

"Then why are you feeding him?!" Naruto demanded after spotting the apple in Itachi's hands.

"Naruto, calm down…" Kakashi tried to quiet the boy, but Naruto wasn't going to be tranquilized.

"First Sakura, and now you!" Naruto shook his head. "What a bunch of traitors Konoha is made up of! And I haven't even started on the 'Uchiha Genius' over there," Naruto spat bitterly, staring at Itachi.

Kakashi was silent.

For the first time, Itachi spoke up. "It's not as if I asked to be saved," he said quietly.

Naruto looked at Kakashi with confusion. "What? What the hell happened?!"

Kakashi shrugged. "I haven't the slightest. Itachi, do you know?" Kakashi asked mockingly, and turned to the blind Uchiha.

Itachi sighed faintly. "Well, I trapped Uzumaki in my Mangekyu Sharingan, but I stupidly forgot about the Kyuubi." Naruto snorted, obviously agreeing.

"I tried to stop the Mangekyu, but was not strong enough. I instead went to shut down Uzumaki's mind, thinking that the Mangekyu would collapse if I did. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about the Kyuubi again. Uzumaki passed out, and the Nine-tailed Fox threw me against the ground. The Mangekyu was shattered, but I am now blind, at least for the moment." Itachi summarized quickly.

Kakashi stared at the criminal.

Naruto grinned. "You're blind? Ha, serves you right, you miserable bastard!"

Kakashi glared at Naruto. "Do you have to be so… vulgar, Naruto?" he asked in a disgusted manor.

Itachi frowned. "Well, if I was you, I would get the hell back to Konoha, because the rest of the Akatsuki is going to want me back."

Kakashi nodded at Naruto. "He has a point."

Naruto scowled. "So? Who says they still think you're alive?" Naruto grumbled. "If Kakashi wasn't such a sap, you would be dead!"

Kakashi shrugged at Naruto. "You have a point, too."

Itachi tilted his head back. "What would you have me do, Uzumaki? It's hardly like Konoha is just going to welcome me back with open arms," Itachi said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"The hell we wouldn't!" Naruto shouted. "You're a dirty traitor, and I'll be damned to ever watch you accepted into Konoha!"

Kakashi rolled his visible eye. "Calm down you two." Then, he stopped. What an odd predicament he found himself in. Telling Naruto and Itachi Uchiha to get along. What was the world coming to?

"Okay, here's how this is going to work. Naruto, maybe we can make a deal with the Akatsuki. So, until then, just… don't talk to Itachi. It'll only cause problems. Itachi, you screw up once, and you're dead, got it? I don't have any mercy left for a murderer."

Naruto thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Alright. I'll stop bugging Itachi. But only if he's going to behave like a human being… not that he'll be able to accomplish that…" Naruto said sardonically.

Kakashi sighed. "Itachi?"

The Uchiha pursed his lips ever so slightly. Well, what other choice did he have? He was a criminal, and a blind one at that. Itachi wouldn't really be putting up a decent fight any time soon.

"Fine."

"Good," Kakashi said pleasantly, as if they had just committed to coming to a dinner party. "I'll go get us a bit of dinner."

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Itachi-ness, as promised! We'll get back to Leader next chapter...

Sorry about all the talking... There wasn't much action in this chapter. But I thought their bickering was rather funny.

So, as always, keep reading and review!