Disclaimer: Never was mine, (sighs) never will be mine. And neither will Death Note! So I can't bring Mello and Matt back :(

Warning: Implied sex, slash, guys making out, violence, bad guy death. ItaKisa, SasoDei

Replies to anonymous reviews:

Shinigami- I FINALLY KNOW WHERE YOUR NAME COMES FROM:D Sorry about that, but I got into that series about a month after I last updated and went through it like a bat out of hell. And then I was sad, because all my favorite characters died :( :P Who were your favorite characters? And I can try to fit in the Rookie Nine, but I might not be able to… this IS more of a gang-based story, but I'll try to fit them in somewhere :D

Thanks to Meibou for giving me a piece of welcome information! (squeals in joy) I now know that the industrialization of Japan was actually named the Meiji Revolution, so a BIG thanks to her!


8. War's Black Gates

Deidara was warm. Not that he usually wasn't, but he was warmer than usual. And he was very relaxed. Why would that be? He wasn't usually relaxed anymore, either. What with all the work he was doing in school and all. And Akatsuki.

Hmm… who knew that pillows could be so soft and warm…

"You really like to cuddle up to people, don't you?"

Wow. He didn't know pillows talked either.

"Hello…. Hello, wake up. I know you're awake. Actually, stay sleeping. That way I can stare at you for as long as I want and no one will tell me to stop."

The artist yawned. Opening one eye sleepily, he asked "What?"

Sasori stuck his tongue out at him. "You won't let go of me. I've been sitting here for an hour, waiting for you to wake up. Did you know you drool sometimes?"

Deidara let go of the hold he'd had on the other's waist. "Whatever," he said, yawning again. He rolled over and went back to sleep.

"Baka," Sasori muttered, and got out of the bed carefully so as not to wake his koi up again.

He headed to the kitchen, where he was greeted by the sight of Itachi completely dressed and ready for the day.

"Why the hell are you already dressed?" Sasori demanded of the other teen as he sat down across the table from him.

Itachi looked up blankly over the papers, which the red-head realized were reports on Oto nin, and said "Hi…"

Sasori grabbed the steaming mug that was clearly Itachi's, confirmed that it was nothing more than green tea, and drained half of it in one gulp. The black-haired teen yelped, and snatched the mug back, pegging the puppeteer with his pen in retaliation.

"Ah!" Sasori said, raising arms to defend himself. "What the hell was that for?"

"Tea-molester," Itachi said furiously. "Get your own tea, and leave mine alone!"

"Touchy touchy," Sasori muttered. "What's pissed you off this early in the morning?"

Itachi looked back down at the reports he had spread out in front of him and frowned. "I don't like the way this war is heading," he said somberly.

"It's a war now?" Sasori said interestedly.

Itachi sighed, frustrated, and ran a hand through his unbound hair. "We've been fighting Oto for pretty much five months now. It might be guerilla, but we are most definitely at war."

The red-head sat in silence. "So you don't like the way the war is going…?" he prompted eventually.

"By my calculations they will start the first real attacks within the next two weeks," the Konoha nin said shortly.


And so it did. The attack on Sakura, it turned out, had been only been a tentative probe at the strength of the Akatsuki members. Within the next two days the first full-scale fight broke out between ten Oto nin who were all led by Kaguya Kimmimaro.

The member they attacked was none other than Mizukami Takikko.


Takikko was sleeping when the first of the nin came after her. They didn't go for stealth at all- they simply smashed in through the window, two at a time. Caught completely by surprise, she slapped three of her smoke bombs next to her bed and retreated through the wall, only to find that five more nin were waiting for her along with Kimmimaro.

She snarled and whipped out five kunai in each hand, sending them flying within less than a second. Two of the enemy nin didn't move fast enough and were killed instantly; the other three acquired minor and/or major injuries. Kimmimaro blocked the three sent towards him, and completely ignored the three of his remaining subordinates, lurching towards the kunoichi with speed that left her nearly too late when she performed a back spring against the side of the apartment and flipped clear over his head.

Takikko knew that she was clearly outnumbered against the Oto nin, and so, cursing herself as she did so, she hit the ground running and ran as fast as she could. She tapped an earbud similar to the one that had saved Sakura's life, alerting Yuri to the fact that she'd been attacked, and anyone else in range, and altered her course so that she was racing for the Uchiha mansion, the predetermined grouping place for when the fighting started.

As she ran, she noticed that there were seven shapes behind and to either side of her as she leapt over traffic in the crowded streets and pushed off of buildings with bursts of chakra.

Damn, she thought furiously. Damn that Kimmimaro!

Abandoning all stealth, she dropped her chakra concealment and stopped controlling her outbursts as much. This gave her some added speed, but it was still very close; she could feel their chakra systems slowly, but steadily, getting closer and closer.

She was at the turnoff street for the driveway to the mansion; she dropped to the street and fairly flew along the pavement. She hit her earbud frantically to alert Itachi of her presence and her situation.

Just as the house came into view, she saw four figures in the robes of Akatsuki, and she nearly died in relief. Kimmimaro just then realized where they were, and stopped dead.

The six Oto nin accompanying him did not fare so well. One was burned alive in a giant fireball, one trapped in a puppet which decisively stabbed itself, and three blown to pieces by flying specks of brown matter.

The tallest and one of the smaller figures raced ahead of the second pair, and as Takikko got closer, saw that Itachi and Kisame were chasing after Kimmimaro, who had stopped and appeared to be retreating. He did not leave fast enough, however, and the two Akatsuki attacked.

Now that she was (for the moment) out of danger, Takikko realized that she couldn't stop. She had been running on adrenalin and chakra for too long, and her system couldn't stop the flow through her body. She thought for a moment that she was going to run right past Deidara and Sasori, but Sasori caught onto her and held her in one place long enough for her to stop running. He let her go, and she stood for one moment, and collapsed as fatigue and chakra loss took over.

Barely conscious, she noted that Sasori had picked her up and taken her inside, before darkness closed over


Working in complete teamwork, Itachi and Kisame fought hard against the pressed Kimmimaro. The Kaguya fought fiercely, knowing that he didn't have much of a chance out of this encounter, when he was against two of the best fighters in the school.

Kisame slashed at the prodigy with Sameheda, and Itachi dove at him katana raised overhead as he anticipated the enemy nin's duck. He caught Kimmimaro across the chest, leaving an open slash that bled fiercely.

Taking advantage of his brief distraction, Kisame rammed the pommel stone (the skull) of Sameheda into the nin's stomach, making him double over. The Akatsuki caught him a devastating kick, sending him flying through the air to slam against a tree. Itachi was there in an instant, driving the katana through the Oto nin's chest until the blade stuck into the tree trunk behind him. The Uchiha twisted the blade and pushed it down like a lever in one instant, giving Kimmimaro one brief moment to scream before he died.

Itachi wrenched the blade free, Sharingan spinning wildly. He vaguely noticed that he was gasping for breath, but the notion was very far away… the blood from the dead Kaguya clan member ran down his blade, painted his hands, was splattered across the dead teenager's face-

"Itachi!"

He jerked and came back to his senses. The black-haired nin glanced at Kisame, who looked rather worried.

"Itachi, damnit," and Kisame was holding both of his shoulders and shaking him roughly. "Itachi, get a grip. Get a grip, damnit, stop thinking about it- he's dead, Takikko's safe."

"What?" he said. He blinked, and what the Kiri nin said finally sank in. "Oh. Is she okay?"

"I don't know, but she couldn't have run that fast otherwise," Kisame said, assured that his lover wasn't in the dangerous state bloodlust brought on.

"Oh." He thought about it for a minute, trying to reorganize his thoughts. "That's good then. Uh…"

"Come on," Kisame said, sounding worried again, and he gently steered the Uchiha back up the drive. At the moment, he knew that what Itachi needed to get over the last vestiges of the lust was to drink something hot, preferably tea, and get some sleep.


Sasori had just dropped Takikko into the spare room Naruto generally inhabited when visiting and left her sleeping on the bed. He came back out just in time to see Itachi plunge his katana into the leader of the group, and he came up behind Deidara. He tapped the blonde on the shoulder, and held up his hands when the smaller teen spun around to show that it was him.

"Oh, it's you," Deidara said, sounding faintly relieved.

Sasori smiled, traces of amusement on his face. "And if I wasn't?" he asked jokingly.

The artist stuck his tongue out at him. Sasori took it as an invitation, and, since he could sense no more enemy ninja, he pulled the blonde in to a deep kiss.

They were still kissing when Kisame and Itachi came up to them.

"Kissing at a time like this?" Kisame asked wryly. Sasori flipped him off without breaking the kiss.

Itachi and Kisame continued in to the mansion to alert the other members and Rei-sama of the attack.


There was a spell of non-combat for two days after the Kaguya clan member had attacked. Obviously, Orochimaru hadn't expected one of his major agents to get killed in an attack on a minor member of the Akatsuki, and it appeared that he needed a few days to regroup. It was then that Rei-sama gave the order for them all to camp (in a manner of speaking) at the Uchiha mansion, a predetermined move if things got this far.

So, the group of three at the mansion became a group of fourteen when all of the members moved in together into one, huge, house (1). Needless to say, things got a little rough.

For example, Naruto had a hard time with Yuri and Takikko. Not that he couldn't get along with them- he just couldn't stop hitting on them. Zabuza had a hard time keeping calm when Hidan complained about religious infringements he or other members had committed. Itachi's temper grew thin whenever Kakuzu stared at him after any casual gesture showed the Uchiha's wealth. And NO one could cope with Tobi except for his partner, Zetsu.

Even the more passive members had a hard time keeping the peace between each other- the constant clashing of personalities left even Haku exasperated after long periods of argument and diplomacy.

Because of a room shortage, the girls had the largest bedroom to share, Itachi and Kisame kept theirs, Sasori and Deidara shared Deidara's, and Tobi and Zetsu shared one only to get Tobi out of everyone else's hair. Hidan, Kakuzu, Haku, Naruto, and Zabuza slept in the living room, spread amongst the two futons and the couch. Haku and Zabuza had the black futon, Naruto claimed the red futon, Hidan staked out the couch, and Hidan commanded a corner in keeping with his "religious" practices.

After everyone had moved in, Itachi set about completely sealing off the house to unwanted influences- namely, intruders. He and Sakura wrote out fifteen sealing scrolls each, and took Naruto, Kakuzu, and Yuri to place them, as those three had the largest chakra stores amongst the group. Five went in trees surrounding the perimeter, and the other five went at the base of the same trees. Using blasts of chakra, Naruto broke tunnels down twenty yards below ground under the trees, and the remaining five scrolls were placed in the makeshift grottos. Naruto started five, Kisame seven, and Yuri three, enclosing the house and twenty yards in every direction above and below in a strong, protective chakra barrier that would take a lot of stress before weakening.

The next step for the two nin was to create more seals that would be accepted by the barrier and let pass through- one for every member of the group, to allow them to come and go freely. Sakura and Itachi spent five full hours in the kitchen arguing about the dynamics of each before finally creating a working talisman, which they quickly replicated multiple times after getting Kisame to load them with chakra. These were handed out on small chakra-based steel chains, designed to be worn like necklaces that could only be undone or cut by the wearer's chakra. If the chakra was not applied, it would not come undone. This was to prevent Oto nin from taking a talisman from a dead member, which everyone agreed they hoped wouldn't go that far. But it was a possibility, and precautions must be made.

Rei-sama alone did not come to the mansion, although he was given a talisman. Instead, he told the group that he would remain outside the makeshift fort and collect data. He did, however, leave his apartment and disappear from the world outside, only reappearing for teaching hours.

The last thing they did was stock up on easy to cook, storable food. If they were caught in a semi-siege state lasting for longer than a week, they would most certainly need it.

Preparations complete, the Akatsuki could only wait. The two days passed, and nothing happened, but the sense of non-combat disappeared. Naruto and Itachi both sensed enemy nin outside the barrier on the third day, and Deidara and Zetsu both saw members of the Sound Five prowling, later identified as Sakon, his twin Ukon, and Jirobou, presumably looking for weaknesses in the barrier.

They found none, and on the fifth day, the surrounding area was clear. No one was fooled, however. The attack was bound to come, sooner or later.

It turned out to be sooner, rather than later.


A/n- And yes, I stop it there. At the moment I'm kind of floundering in which direction to go, but I have a sort of overall view in what's going to happen. Sorry for taking so long, and I do sincerely apologize for the long wait, as well as the shortness. I will try to update sooner, next time, so maybe… before the end of the month?

As to the last question, I found a surprising number of people did like Charles Dickens, so I must retract my "I hate all that is Dickenish" statement. (bows) Also, I have gained many new books to look into! They are, as listed: Anna Rice's vampire series (sorry, no other info), The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks, Hypocrite in a Poofy White Dress by Someone-or-other, the 'Twilight' series by Stephenie Meyer, and also The Protector of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce.

And yes… new question! What is your favorite country, what do you know about it, and why? I will give a list with basic descriptions in my next chapter (which will hopefully be longer), as well as any stand-out-ish comments.