What to expect: Itachi's team vs. the Akatsuki Zombies. XD Bad joke or no? Anyway, don't expect things to be taken lightly, but I don't need to say that. Just enjoy the last of it, read and review.

Chapter Three

Let There Be Light

So...there is the other one. The "Zombie Combo" - a joke of a name, but alas, it is suitable.

Itachi hissed through his teeth. And they had been stunted by these two. What rotten luck this turned out to be for them all.

And for a man past his prime but still retained his appearance as if he never aged, his partner the same, Kakuzu - the miserly of the pair - was looking down at them over with the vile glint in his poisonous eyes, the lower half of his face hidden from range. "Now, Hidan," he scolded, "don't get cocky. We need the Uchiha boy alive - or should I say, both of them now?" He drawled out the last four words as though they were relish. "The one we need is worth an enormous bounty."

Yes, because of the defeat of Orochimaru and the fact that Itachi Uchiha was one of the most feared ninja. Itachi Uchiha, the one with the weight on his shoulders from the beginning of the Third Great War, and a legendary reputation for being the only member of the Uchiha clan with the stronger Sharingan powers than that of its ancestor Madara Uchiha - but next to Shisui the Teleporter.

A man like me with this skill and determination, but not for glory - no, I do this for my village and my people.

The money-crazed psychopath sighed in agitation. "Only on the others...go wild with them while I take care of the Uchihas."

"Kami," Shisui hissed to him, "Itachi, we have to decide who takes who..."

Oh, he already knew, and so did the other Uchiha. Kakuzu himself with his combinations of Earth, Water, Fire and Lightning Style Jutsus and his lifespans of five times to kill, coupled with the fact that he carried stolen Forbidden Jutsu, would be no match for them. But his partner...

"Leave Hidan to me," Itachi said softly, knowing how risky this would be. Yes, compared to the other one, the worshipper of Jashin - a foreign god whose petty eternal living death religion escaped him - would be on him. He would rather put his life on the line instead of his men and his distant cousin who now looked at him in dismay through the mask. "With your Mangekyo transportation, Kakuzu would be no match for you."

Shisui closed his eyes behind his mask. "On my signal, then," he said to the rest of the squad as second-in-command.

It appeared the voodoo-devoted immortal was the more excited of the two to get his hands on the Uchiha heir himself. "Ooh-hoo, I'm counting on you to give me your best, weasel!" he called out to Itachi, whose lips drew back in a snarl.

"A weasel, am I?" he mocked, eyes blazing red. "Well, we shall see if this weasel can jump you or not - if you can catch up to my every move." Be warned, fool: the Sharingan is no match for your hunt for blood.

Shisui then gave the signal, and he spread out with the rest of the team to surround Kakuzu, leaving Itachi with the man with the scythe, which was now free from the tree, in time for the Uchiha's katana to come and collide with a sharp, deadly hiss of blades clashing.

Hidan let loose a harsh series of laughs. "Oh, Itachi, I was looking forward to the best part of all of this. I waited for a long time to see you under my influence - Jashin is pleased," he tittered that it enflamed his nerves.

Itachi drew his blade back and leaped in that direction, drawing them both away from the others who had the miser surrounded. "Your 'god' is no match for the power of the Sharingan." He smirked at the other man's face, now flushed mad with rage. His eyes flashed wildly at the insult the Uchiha threw at him.

"Oh, you shut the hell up, you blasphemous bastard!"

"It's blasphemous to use your body's infectious blood to lock onto another and take their will," Itachi returned.

Just as I can't let him take a hold of me, can't let him take a sample of mine. If he does that, I am doomed. I'm sorry, Hanaru...

Then his mind snapped. NO! No, I won't let her suffer! I won't let myself fall into this! It would seem selfish to put his personal feelings above duty, but he placed them both on the same pedestal, no matter what.

Behind them, Kakuzu had used the Earth Style, so his flesh was hard as a rock, now drawing up the sign to summon forth the fires against Shisui's flames which he sent forth from his mouth. Shisui could handle this; Itachi never let his concentration break, but how could one with the Sharingan lose control? He and Hidan tangoed from tree to tree, dancing through the lush bamboo stalks which rose to the heavens - heavens in which one native god and the other a foreign devil watched down on their separate children as they moved a distance away from their clashing partners and focused solely on each other.

They were all supposed to be hunting Kabuto, he remembered. But no, they had to come face-to-face with these two at the wrong time - and it was a consequence he had to let his thoughts wander to their target.

A mild pain - minor because he had worse - in his upper left arm caused him to snap back to attention and pause his attacks, then step backwards so he was many feet away from Hidan, whose eyes gleamed wickedly as he held up his blade which had blood staining the end - MY blood. Oh, this is it...

And Hidan was already in the midst of creating the symbol of his god with his own blood. The first step...and the next thing he had to do was ingest Itachi's blood to link them both to doom.

My doom, Itachi thought grimly.

~o~

It was the next day she got the word that Itachi had returned, Shisui with him, and the rest of the team - but when she heard the rest of the message, her stomach and heart molded together when the latter organ literally dropped from its rightful place, causing the erosion of nausea and horror.

Itachi had been fatally wounded and was barely clinging to life.

No, ITACHI! her mind screamed when she raced to the hospital, her Genin in tow, and her brother as well as the others were there, having heard the news themselves.

"Ow, Sensei!" Daichu exclaimed, pushing his glasses back into place when she halted abruptly in front of him, his sister and fellow teammate.

Hanabi raised her eyebrows as she looked up at her teacher. "Yeah, Sensei," she agreed, but Hanaru held up her hand to them and Misaki, instead keeping her attention trained on the grim faces of her brother, maybe-future sister-in-law, as well as Choji munching on his favorite chips out of sheer anxiety. Kiba was caressing Akamaru's head solemnly; the great white dog was whimpering with his head in his master's lap. Sakura and Ino must still be in there with Lady Tsunade and the rest of the team, doing whatever they could. She clasped her hands together before her stomach - she wasn't pregnant yet, but her guts were still rolling - and tried taking a few breaths, her mind racing.

Please, hold on, Itachi. You promised me. Don't you dare die on me...

It was then and there that she noticed a certain someone was missing. "Where's Sasuke?" she asked when she finally found her voice.

She let Naruto take her into a hug, massaging her back and soothing her like she always did for him. "He's in there. I mean, that's his brother, after all," he said quietly, making her wince a little. Itachi and Sasuke used to be closer when they were younger, but in adult years, they had grown a little further apart because of the elder's reputation for being the prodigy of the family whilst the younger was still striving.

Kiba snorted. "Yeah, but does Sasuke really care?" he asked, snide as ever that it made her snap, but her brother was there before her.

"Oh, shut it, Kiba! That's my sister's brother-in-law and my best friend you're talking about!"

The other man held up both hands as if surrendering, his jerking backwards causing Akamaru to lift his head up and bark once. "Hey, it's not my fault - it's true!" he insisted. "When has Sasuke ever shown any care for Itachi, huh?" And Sasuke also happened to one day be Naruto's brother-in-law, since she was marrying Sasuke's brother, right? Now was her turn to seethe in rage. Both Uzumakis had forgotten they were in the hospital, after all.

Her jaw clenched painfully. Crossing over, she brought down her palm on his cheek. A smack sounded about the hallway. She hoped she got him good. "Shut the hell up!" she shouted. "Sasuke might not show it often, but he loves his brother more than you'd possibly imagine. You don't know the hell my fiancé and future brother-in-law have endured. We all have just been through a great battle not that long ago, took us forever to rebuild this village our founders brought to life - and Itachi had all that weight on him since the beginning of the Third War. You don't call that anything?"

"I believe that is enough for today. You are all in a hospital."

Hanaru whirled with her brother and the rest. "Lady Tsunade! How is he?" she rushed, hurrying up to stand before the beautiful older woman with the ample bosom, marking her as the caring mother type and with such fire. No wonder Sakura looked up to her and became her apprentice.

The former Fifth Hokage's amber eyes were a bit darker, telling her there was a mixed bag of good and bad news. Oh, no...

"He's going to live, Hanaru."

Her heart leaped with joy. She found herself leaning in and weeping into the older woman's warm, comforting chest in spite of herself. "Oh, thank you, my lady! And you, too, Sakura!" she said when she diverted her attention to the pink-haired girl who had not long been with Sasuke - but the green orbs matched the worry on her entire face. It was then and there that Tsunade cleared her throat and gently pulled back to look her square in the eyes. Oh, God, the bad news was coming.

"But," Tsunade began, exhaling sharply, "I'm afraid I don't know how to tell you the bad news."

"Just tell her, Granny," Naruto insisted for her.

He was smacked to the back of the head by none other than the lady herself. "Be quiet, Naruto," she snapped. "Something like this has to be handled with care." She looked back at his sister who was obviously still taking a hard time with this - and how right she was. "Hanaru, are you still ready to hear this?" As if she needs to ask.

Hanaru's throat tightened as she nodded, urging the older medical ninja on. "Very well. He's suffered severe muscle damage and a near devastating amount of chakra, not that the latter is uncommon. There are scars lining his stomach where we performed the surgery, and now a sewn up hole in his lung. But I'm afraid the muscles in his abdomen are nearly shredded beyond repair, so it's likely that part of him will be scarred permanently."

Hanaru was fighting to keep herself together, keep herself strong for her future husband. At least he's going to live...but something far more grimmer was coming her way. "But...what's the worst...?" she asked in a tiny voice, to which the blonde woman sighed again, lowering her eyes.

"I fear you won't take this as well as he won't...but he's slowly going blind."

~o~

Hidan was still making his circle when Itachi made his decision at the last minute.

No...it's not too late.

This jutsu was going to cost him his life, but it was the last resort. Amaterasu would do so much, only burn much of what it could of the black-and-white demon before him. Hidan could never die, but he could be absorbed - or at least hidden and never found.

"Susano'o."

And the massive power within was called forth. His muscles erupted with a terrible fire like a centuries-old fissure in the earth, cracking open to release a devastation you never saw coming. He heard himself screaming with the upmost rage as he unleashed the great weapon of the Mangekyo Sharingan onto the immortal man who grinned like the masochist he was but would soon cower away in sheer horror...

~o~

Looking over her sleeping beloved made her heart crack before melting. He was hooked to machines, wearing the blue pajamas of a patient, and an oxygen mask was over his face. His breaths were steady. Hanaru inched closer until she stood by his side, opposite of his brooding younger brother whose dark gaze criticized her from behind his clasped hands that hid the lower half of his face.

"He will make it," Sasuke said bluntly. Sometimes she couldn't take his attitude, like Naruto at times. But she wouldn't humor him.

"Lady Tsunade told me," Hanaru said calmly, proud inside she was back to her composure. However, a tear slipped down her cheek and burned her skin. She slid into the chair beside the resting Itachi. His hair was still held back, but it looked like it needed cleaning, because no time had been made to wash him up. But when he was a bit stronger - and that was an IF - she would take care of him.

The words of the medical ninja returned with a vengeance: "I fear you won't take this as well as he won't...but he's slowly going blind..."

"His life is over," she wept, taking her lover's hand into hers. "He won't go into battle anymore, he'll always need help doing the simplest of things...our child will grow up with a handicapped father..." When that time comes, but he's here as I prayed he would be...

Her future brother-in-law raised both eyebrows and sat up straighter, hands on his knees now. "Hn, I know. He's an idiot for using the fatal Susano'o. He knew the risk of using the Mangekyo's power; if he overdoes it, his blindness is assured."

It'll take awhile before he heals completely. Just be by his side when he needs it...

But that was far from reassuring. It wasn't enough.

Shisui Uchiha said that the mission was covert when she tried talking to him before coming in here, but right now she was sick and tired of hearing those words. She wanted to know what exactly happened to her lover. Covert or not, she wanted to know...or maybe talk to Itachi instead. It might make things worse for him since he nearly DIED, but this was their future they were talking about.

Hanaru found herself looking at the younger brother whose impassive expression had not changed at all. "Sasuke...tell me more about Susano'o." If it was that dangerous, then she deserved to have all the intel whether it was confidential or not.

He glared at her for a moment before it softened, and he gestured for her to come around the bed. She sat down on Itachi's side before Sasuke, who began to regale her with the terrible side of the Mangekyo Sharingan of the Uchiha clan.

~o~

He heard the voices when he roused back to awareness, flinching when he felt needles through his skin and in his veins. He was bandaged in places; he also felt the familiarity of stitches in his flesh - particularly in his abdomen. Common sense insisted he not move too much if he wanted a permanent scarring following the opening of the sutures.

But that was not the half of it: when he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but a blur. He tried blinking, but it didn't clear. It could mean only one thing.

"Oh...Susano'o..."

It wasn't long before he realized he wasn't alone; the voices were there, answering in unison. "Itachi!" Followed by a sweet, flowery accent that made his heart flutter before dropping when reality set in. He swallowed the lump in his throat.

"My love! Oh, Kami, I was..." Hanaru's voice cracked. "I don't know how to tell you, but Lady Tsunade said you were going..."

"Blind, yes," Itachi answered, wishing he could see her even though this was inevitable. The memory of the Susano'o sword lingered on his mind, of striking through Hidan's heart and pulling his very existence into the core of the Uchiha's greatest weapon. Saving his own life as well as the others - but Kakuzu with his five hearts was getting the drop many times on Shisui and the team...but not with Shisui having anything to say about it in terms of knowing where each heart was. That was two less Akatsuki to worry about now.

Her outburst was no surprise to him. "How could you go that far to use it?!" Her voice remained low within the hospital walls, but the agony and anger was still there. He sighed. Sasuke was telling her. Now that he knew his younger brother was here.

"Because it was necessary, koishii. The opponent I faced was beyond what you could handle; Susano'o was what I had to do. I'm afraid I can't go into too much detail because -"

"Itachi," Sasuke bit out in irritation, "you realize what you have done to yourself and almost to her."

He turned his head in the direction of his brother's voice and narrowed his darkening eyes. The outline of Sasuke was frustrating. "You know as well as I why I had to, little brother," he said tightly. "Losing the light is a price to pay for a necessary action. But because of the unfortunate encounter, we were unable to find our intended target."

"Kabuto." Hanaru didn't need to be kept in the dark about this. She inhaled. "Those two you and the team came across...they were those two, weren't they?" she asked carefully, having met Kakuzu and Hidan once before with him. Itachi closed his eyes and rested his head back on his pillow.

"Yes."

There was the sound of Sasuke shifting forward in his seat. "The zombie immortal with the repulsive god was absorbed," he stated, a hint of relief and pride present now. "I owe you that much credit then, aniki." Itachi felt his lips pull at the corners in a slight smile.

Hidan and Kakuzu were taken care of...but they failed to find the one wanted most on the list. He knew that Shisui was speaking to the Hokage at the present, and it was not going well. He knew it good and well. After he collapsed with agonizing numbness, he faintly recalled being picked up into the arms of one of the others but was unaware of what was happening as he lost consciousness, praying they would find Kabuto...

"Itachi..." Oh, she is going to burst. "...if it wasn't for the fact I'd probably disturb everyone in this hospital..."

And then the eruption caused him to flinch as his eardrums rang with his fiancée's rage.

"...YOU'D NEED SURGERY TO FIX YOUR EARS WHEN I'M DONE SCREAMING AT YOU FOR THE STUPIDITY YOU'VE ENACTED! YOU'VE NEARLY GOTTEN YOURSELF KILLED FOR THE LAST TIME, UCHIHA! THE SECOND YOU ARE DISCHARGED FROM THIS HOSPITAL, YOU ARE GOING STRAIGHT TO KAKASHI AND HANDING IN YOUR RETIREMENT FROM ANBU, ARE WE CLEAR?!"

"Hana-chan," Sasuke scolded through his teeth, "must you shatter our senses with your Uzumaki ranting?"

Itachi chuckled. He was used to being yelled at, cursed at, and Hanaru's temperament was nothing new...but then she spoke of his retirement from ANBU Black Ops. She fears for my life more than ever now that she wishes for me to leave the operation I spent my entire life serving. But before he could speak, she was letting loose her wild side on Sasuke, which was usually the job of her younger brother.

She hissed at him. "Be quiet, Duck Butt teme."

Sasuke reeled. "What the hell is with you and Naru-dobe calling me that?" his brother countered, until he finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Enough, the both of you," Itachi said firmly, clenching the blankets with both hands, his mind having more on its plate than before. "Koishii, what do you mean - why do you wish for me to retire?" They hadn't discussed that since they'd begun their relationship, which wasn't that long ago.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt her hand rest atop the back of his. Her soft touch did little to calm his frazzled nerves. "Because you are going blind," she said, softly if still a bit harsh, "and you've spent your entire life out there, risking your life. Don't you think it's time you settled down? You ought to be better off as a teacher like me, like I always told you." She leaned over and placed a kiss on his temple, but he found himself drifting elsewhere.

Father will be most displeased about this...but yes, I have done so much for the village. More than enough...

~o~

Maybe she let her heart get the best of her better judgment, but no longer did she care. They'd been on the battlefield enough - or should she say HE had been on the frontlines long enough? Hadn't he served the family name enough? She wasn't going to be harsh on his service to their people, because she would never abandon her ideals. She wasn't asking him to do this; she was asking him to just put himself to rest.

She wanted him to settle down with her. He's done his part. I don't want to lose him anymore. It's time he settled his life down... Her heart sank when she found herself looking at the beautiful gown that was waiting for that day in a couple more days. Tomorrow he would be discharged from the hospital, and she had to go soon.

...but he's been without his sight since that day. He's lost it, but he's getting a new one soon.

Imagine the look on Lady Tsunade's face when Sasuke and Shisui explained to her what a dire situation it was with Itachi losing the light in his eyes, explained the macabre story behind the Uchiha's ultimate ability which dated all the way back to its ancient leader, none other than one Madara Uchiha who had once been alongside Tsunade's grandfather, the First Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Dare she add that Itachi's damning words sealed his and his brother's fates?

Unless you awaken your Mangekyo soon, I will lose my light forever.

Hanaru closed her eyes. Today was the day that Sasuke would do what his brother wanted of him.

Or should she say, tonight was the night?

By leaving soon, she had to go meet up with Misaki, Hanabi as well as Hinata, Sakura, Ino and Tenten to make the final arrangements with the wedding in a couple days. Itachi will come home the day before the wedding...

Her heart could not stop beating for the entire day and into the night, no matter how hard she tried to focus on the positivity instead of the uncertainty. Hanaru might as well have lost sleep that night just thinking about how the procedure could go wrong no matter how Tsunade's capable hands did their best. If Itachi died, or if Sasuke permanently sacrificed his vision for his brother's sake...all hope was lost.

But by the next morning, she was proven wrong.

When Itachi and Sasuke both disembarked through the entrance door, the light was shining in both their eyes. Delicate as it was, Tsunade really did perform a miracle. Sasuke took an enormous risk to help his older brother, and to see her beloved Itachi revived made the future brighter.

At first, Hanaru considered talking to him about the decision to hand in his retirement to the Hokage, but that would wait until after the wedding. Our happiness comes first, worry about the rest later.

She threw her arms around him, and he spun her around, kissing her long and deeply in front of passerbys and their friends and comrades nearby.

The wedding was the next day atop the Hokage's mansion. Kakashi was there, and so were Tsunade and Shizune. So were Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke - most of the Uchiha clan - and the rest of their friends. In old times, marriages were made in the old-fashioned omiai which was arrangement according to the bride and groom's families, but this method which was more modern was the ren'ai, which was the bridal pair's free will. Hanaru Uzumaki tried not to cry as her geisha-styled makeup had taken hours to apply. Her hair had been greatly fashioned behind her head; her sakura-painted kimono was tied over her underdress patterned with lotuses. Escorted by none other than Master Jiraiya, she was brought towards her groom awaiting for her in front of the torii placed, the ground strewn elegantly with pastel blossoms and lanterns held by the guests. The sun was setting on their happiness.

Itachi...oh, she would never forget how handsome he was in his black haori which had his family crest behind the back, as always. His hair elegantly out of the way, filled with so much light in his eyes if his face did not betray his emotions. It seemed only she was allowed to see his feelings in his onyx eyes.

The purification ceremony was out of the way, so they were blessed and then announced to the gods, followed by taking turns sipping three cups of sake - this was the sansankudo service. And onward to the end which bound them together until death did they part.

As long as we both live, Hanaru Uchiha vowed to the heavens, never taking her eyes off of her new husband, whose lips she laid her own upon when the priest blessed them both as man and wife.

"You may now kiss the bride."

My boyfriend was super involved in this the whole time; I could not have done this without him. :) It was EXTREMELY difficult to bring to life the fight between Itachi and Hidan; even more was to help him survive and to change around a bit the procedure of the Mangekyo Sharingan eyes between him and his brother. Everyone knows what transpired in the original anime, so you all know how that went.

I did my research on a traditional Japanese wedding, and anyone familiar with the traditional steps recognizes. :) This type of ceremony was a whole new area for me, but it was still fun to bring to life between Itachi and Hanaru.

That is not the last of it, ladies and gents. The prequel I promised, which will be titled "Night Flowers", will come in the near future, but I don't know when I will do it. In the meantime, I'm giving my full attention to a Sasuke and Itachi fic called "Brothers in Blood and Bond".