Akanishi-san: SO sorry for the late update. when I was going to update didnt let me log on, so I figured I'd do it later...and forgot. :( sorry! But here it is:)

Chapter 3

Shadow loomed over the roof of a house in Konoha. The shadow crept from house to house, leaping roof to roof quietly. It was middle of the night, and Uchiha Itachi had come so far without being detected. Watching to make sure no anbu were around, Itachi landed onto the final roof, where his objective lay.

He swung down quietly, and looked into a window which he presumed was Akane's. He looked through his normal black eyes, and as it adjusted to the darkness of the room he saw Akane in her bed, sleeping soundly. She was wrapped in blankets, her black hair spilling over the pillow.

Quietly as ever Itachi slid the door open carefully, pulling his kunai out as he did so form the window sill which he used to open it. He walked in, and he looked at her sleeping form. Memories of them when they were young were not only in her mind, but his. He remembered the stupid things they did as a child, and what they had accomplished.

He looked up and saw a shattered frame on a bedside desk next to her head. Instinctively he reached for the picture he was given and looked at the broken frame. It was where the picture was before it came to his hands.

"Itachi." Single word echoed through the room, and Itachi looked up from his trance to see Akane in her bed still, her body still. With a sigh, he glanced behind himself. "Didn't see you for all these years, and I see you twice in a week." She stood behind him, kunai pressed against his neck. Her voice sounded painful, every word dropping into darkness. Soft and silent laugh followed; pain obviously in her heart.

"Akane." Itachi replied, his words unlike hers, emotionless. He made no movement knowing that it would be useless for now, at least.

Silence followed, and neither one of them spoke or moved. Itachi stood silent as ever, not even blinking at the fact that a kunai was pressed against his throat that mat take his life in one swift movement. "I thought you'd be smarter than this." Akane said finally, breaking the odd silence. The figure in the bed suddenly turned into smoke, and the Akane sleeping was gone from the bed. Clone. "Someone else came to visit me few weeks ago from your group. Long blond-brown hair?" She let the question hang into the dark room.

Itachi reflected on what had happened lately, and he remembered that Deidara had supported wounds about a week and a half ago. "Ah, so that's what had happened to him." He said mildly. "I assumed he had failed whatever he had been assigned to for he was not at all happy, and neither was the leader. To think." He paused. "He had failed to retrieve you."

"And he took a picture…I suppose that's it." Akane said, ignoring Itachi's comment. She reached over with the free hand and plucked the picture from his hand. He did not even realize he had it in his hands till now. "And wonderful, you drew over it." She said sarcastically. "With a red marker, too. What is this? A red 'x'?" She asked, and suddenly pulled back her arm, intending on jabbing Itachi's shoulder.

However, Itachi had unexpectedly dropped to the ground, and swiftly he kicked the woman in the stomach sending her flying into the wall. Akane held her yelp of surprise and pain as she hit the wall, instead she brought out her dagger and stood in ready position, her back aching.

"Akane?" Iruka's voice echoed from the hallway. He had come to the door. He knocked, and brief silence held. "Akane? Are you all right? What was that noise?" The two in the room heard Iruka try the door, but being locked, it did not give way to the teacher. "Akane?" He asked.

"I'm fine." Akane said after a moment, her voice not giving herself away. "I just fell off my bed." She then added, "Just I haven't slept in a bed for a while, so I guess I didn't know where the bed ended."

The tension held, but to her relief Iruka replied, "All right. If you need anything, yell, all right?" He asked. He knew something was going on in there, and it wasn't her falling from a bed…but he did not question her. He knew that she could handle herself.

Of course, things would have been different if he knew who was in the room with her at the moment.

"Thanks." She said, and she turned her gaze to Itachi, who looked amused. "I did it so that Iruka-niisan would not have to see you." She growled. "You had hurt him, Itachi, by leaving. You had hurt me…" She whispered the last few words, and Itachi suddenly felt himself freeze. Her eyes were in full of pain as she remembered their past, and of what she saw last of him. "Why did you leave?" Those words were spoken with such sorrow, so much and with her full heart, Akane dropped her guard. "Why?"

As if waiting for that moment, a large black shadow suddenly leaped from the wall, and gripped the woman tightly. Akane gasped as she felt something curl around herself, and she tried to fight it, but no avail. She turned her head towards the wall, and from the wall, came out a man wearing the distinctive Akatsuki coat. "Well done." He said mildly, turning to Itachi. "We've captured her, and so let us return." He started t turn, but Itachi did not move.

"You were not assigned to this." He said instead, his voice poisonous. "I was assigned to take her back to him."

The man turned, his eyebrows raised. "The leader thought that you might not do this job…so, he assigned me for backup." He glanced towards the woman, who was still struggling. "Stop moving, girl." He growled.

Akane locked her eyes with her captor, anger clearly written across her face. "Let me go." She snarled. Her dagger had fallen uselessly onto the ground, too far from her to even touch it.

The man chuckled softly. "Feisty, aren't we?" He asked. He suddenly moved towards her, the black substance moving out of his way as he did so. Still, it held the woman firmly in its grasp, and it did not seem to want to let go. "You aren't bad looking, I just realized." He said casually. He rested a hand under her chin and forced her to look up. "Let's see what I can negotiate the leader for you. I've been looking for slaves."

Itachi felt his feet start to move to stand between them, but Akane had beaten him to action. She whipped her head away, and bit down into the hand that had held her face. The man yelped in surprise, and for a moment the shadow wavered.

Taking that chance, Akane struggled around and kicked at her right heel with her left foot. A sharp dagger leaped from beneath her boots, and with it she kicked at the shadow. It seemed for a moment that it did nothing, but as soon as she kicked it again and sliced at it, the shadow loosened where it had been cut.

The man growled and tried to catch her again, but she was not so stupid to let herself get caught once again. She leaped away from them silently, and from where Itachi had entered, she leaped outside.

"Get her!" The man hissed at Itachi, who looked irritated…yet something in his face told him another. But the man did not know, he had no time to think upon that. He was too angry for her biting him and escaping him!

"You let her escape. I didn't." He replied, but Itachi followed her out. The two Akatsuki members caught her running and they landed so that one was in front, and the other behind her.

The man sneered at her, the shadow behind him twitching. "You should have screamed, woman. Then maybe you could have been saved." He chuckled, glaring at her as the shadow slowly grew larger in size behind him.

"Already did." She said, chuckling. A whistle hung on her neck, and in a split second an anbu team landed around them in a tight circle. "Itachi, you should have remembered. We anbu have this whistle to warn each other." She twirled it in her hands, dangerous smile on her lips. "Quiet so no commoner could hear, but loud enough for us anbu to hear…" She glanced at him with a mock questioning look. "You were anbu once, you should have heard, even though you hadn't trained with it for a while."

Itachi looked at her through his emotionless eyes, and this time his sharingan had been activated. "My bad." He said as he saw the other Akatsuki glare at him.

Oh no, he remembered all right; he even heard the whistle faintly. He just didn't want the other Akatsuki to take his prize and offer it to the leader as his work. It's not that he wanted her to be caught, of course not!

"Akane, are you all right?" A voice asked, and Itachi whirled around to see none other than Kai, behind his tiger mask. Somewhere in his heart Itachi felt something tug at him, but he ignored it as he watched the anbu look at him through his mask. Beneath the mask, he knew that the man was glaring at him.

"I'm fine." Akane replied, her eyes never leaving the two missing-nins. "A little bruised, but nothing more." She slowly backed up, but the Akatsuki did not object. They now were only interested on their escape. Adjusting herself into the circle around the two criminals she stood next to Kai, her dagger flashing dangerously in the moonlight.

Kai nodded, and the team slowly shifted into an attack position. Kai was the first to move, he leaped forward, his target Itachi. Itachi had swiftly avoided his attack, but narrowly missed the other coming behind him, and he chanced to glance at Akane, who was behind them. She seemed not to know what to do. He caught her eyes, and they held still for a moment.

"Pay attention!" Kai yelled as he threw himself at him again, and Itachi was forced to look away as he dodged his attack. Kai grunted as Itachi kneed him, but he held his position.

"You should be paying more attention." Itachi said mildly, and he suddenly swung down and grabbed Kai by the neck. Ignoring Kai struggling for breath, Itachi lifted him by the neck and looked around himself. The others had frozen. "If you want him to live, I suggest stop moving." Itachi said.

Kai looked at his comrades. "No…kill…him!" He gasped. He didn't want the team to let the man go just for him! Especially Uchiha Itachi! Especially him!

However, none of the anbu team moved an inch. No emotions? How could they abandon a commander and friend just for a head of a criminal? Kai had guided them for so many missions for years; they didn't know what to do.

Itachi let out an exasperated laugh. "Pity. You had the chance to kill me, yet you let me go for a life of another." He looked around, and caught Akane's eyes once again. She was looking at him with fear in her eyes. "You Konoha ninjas are pathetic."

He gripped Kai's throat tighter, and Kai winced painfully. He was running out of air! "No!" Akane yelled as she leaped forward, her dagger ready. She tried to get Itachi, but he had once again dodged, but dropped Kai. "Kai!" She dropped to her knees besides him, patting his back as he tried to regain his breath. The other anbu team had recovered, and surrounded the two in ready position. One of them even had blown the whistle once again.

Itachi watched the two on the ground with hatred. Emotions? He asked himself as he looked away. He didn't have emotions. Not after what had happened. "I'm off!" the other Akatsuki member growled, and he disappeared into the darkness.

Akane had looked up, and they regarded each other with mixed emotions. A hand suddenly gripped her arm, and Akane looked down to see Kai holding her wrist, looking at Itachi with hatred. "Get him!" Kai yelled to the others, and the anbu team got to work.

Itachi returned the glare at Kai, and then looked at Akane before he too, disappeared. She was looking at him once again, and her eyes were in pain. He would never forget those eyes while he lived.

Akanishi-san: dun-dun-dun!!!!! Next chapter, cough Akane cough Kidnapped cough

BTW REVIEWRS

Faereh: Sorry about Kisame, but I had to in order to get the story moving on. Or else I'd have had to figure out a way to fit in Kisame to my planned story. I have up to chapter 6 done before I posted this story online, and by then Akane's already out of Akatsuki's place. Maybe I'd bring Deidara back later, so we'll see. Thanks though.

PhoenixCharmer: Thanks! Sorry for the late update, but I hope you'll stay and see Akane through.

Jenova Remnant: Hehe, I'm glad you like this! Hope to see you next chapter!