A/N: Yes, this is bad.. I can't believe how long it took me to get on fanfiction again, I'm so sorry! I'll try upload as much as I am, and this story will be completely up today! We're not writing anymore, so all the stories that are coming up have been written over half a year ago.. I enjoyed my time on fanfiction a lot, and I want to thank everyone who did enjoy the stories. Enjoy the last chapters of this story! :)


Chapter 9


Another two days later, Itachi woke up with a slight moan. He was unpleasantly met by pain in his lungs, head and heart, but it was good to know he was alive. He opened his eyes as he heard his own heartbeat with a beeping sound, and he realized he was in a hospital.

Before Itachi could do anything, someone grabbed his hand and when he looked up, he stared in Sasuke's eyes.

"..Are you awake?" Sasuke asked worried. He had already been dismissed from the hospital.

"..Yeah." Itachi said with a croaked voice. He tried to remember what had happened before. "..How did I get here?"

"I thought you would remember." Sasuke said and sighed. "I guess you remember most, but you had a heart attack. Tsunade operated on you."

Itachi was silent for some seconds, before he looked at Sasuke again.

"Are you ok?" He then asked.

"I'm fine, you should be worried about yourself idiot." Sasuke said, still holding Itachi's hand.

"I'm fine." Itachi said, as he sat up. He now noticed he was in hospital clothes. It was weird to see white on his skin, he was so used to the black Akatsuki cloak now.

Sasuke though, pushed Itachi back on the bed.

"Lay down." He said.

"Well look who's up already." A familiar voice said and when the two Uchiha's turned their heads, Tsunade walked in the room.

Itachi groaned a little as he laid back down, knowing that Tsunade would probably want him to do that as well.

"So how are you feeling? You must feel like crap now that you've woken up a week too early." She said as she tested the drip and then looked at Itachi.

"I'm feeling alright." Itachi said, as he looked at Tsunade. "Could I go home already?"

"No. You're awake a week too early and you are still weak." Tsunade said. She knew Itachi would not take no for an answer though.

"I can lay in bed at home too." Itachi said as he sat up again.

Sasuke pushed Itachi back down again.

"I know you can and I figured you were gonna say that. Fine, you can go home. I will give you medicine and I will send someone to check up on you every day. But you are not to leave the bed." Tsunade said.

Itachi gave Sasuke a glare before looking at Tsunade again.

"How long do I need to stay in bed?" He asked.

"At least a month." Tsunade said. "Depending on how you will do it can be a little less or a little more."

"A month?" Itachi asked. You could see he was highly confused. "It's not that bad, right?"

"I operated on you Itachi. You are free of your disease, but you need to recover completely. Everything you do will strain your body and will slow down your healing." Tsunade explained. "You had a heart attack, be glad it's just a month."

Itachi just looked at Tsunade now.

"And the heart attack occurred because of the pressure?" He asked.

"That too. It was a build up from the pressure and your disease. You should be doing a lot better. And you might notice a change in your vision as well." Tsunade said.

"..I don't see a change in my vision, but I'm sure it will change." Itachi said, nodding. Stubborn as he was, he sat up once again.

Sasuke grumbled now as he knew Itachi was just gonna keep sitting up if he tried pushing him back.

"It will. Now who do you want to help you around the house?" Tsunade asked.

"That doesn't matter to me." Itachi said, as he shook his head, while he pushed the sheets off of him. He then started rummaging with all the wires on his body. "Can I get these off?"

"Calm down Itachi." Tsunade said as she put his hands on his lap and then helped him get rid of the wires.

"I'll take care of Itachi." Sasuke then said.
"You're not a medic nin." Itachi said as he gave Sasuke a look.

"So? If all you need to do is take your medicine then I can take care of the rest." Sasuke said.

"I'm sure Sasuke knows who to call for when something goes wrong Itachi." Tsunade said.

"I thought you said you wanted someone to check up on me every day." Itachi said. He then noticed Tsunade had removed all the wires and put plasters on his wounds, and then pushed the sheets off of him more, before putting his feet on the ground. Damn. He really felt awful.

"Yes and I am sure Sasuke can do that too. As long as you don't have too much pain, you're fine." Tsunade said.

"Jeez Itachi, if you don't want me to take care of you, then just say it." Sasuke said annoyed.

"That's not it, but Tsunade was talking about a healer back then." Itachi said. "My disease is deadly and a lot went wrong already. If something goes wrong and you have to get help, it might be too late already. If a medic nin checks up on me every day, he or she would already know a few days before that it would go wrong. That's why I was confused for a moment."

"Well Itachi." Tsunade started. "If I say you will be fine with Sasuke there, then it is." Sasuke just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms and legs. Itachi was so annoying.

"Then I agree with your choice." Itachi said. "You are the medic nin here."

"Good." Tsunade said. "You're good to go now, I will let someone give Sasuke your medicines." She helped Itachi on his feet now.

Itachi nodded.

"Are my clothes in here?" He asked.

"They are, but I have something better." Tsunade said grinning and walked to a small closet. She opened it and gave Itachi a white yukata. "You should get used to the color."

Itachi looked at the thing for a second, before letting out a small snort.

"Thank you." He then said, as he took off the hospital clothes. It was a little difficult to keep on standing on both feet though.

"You should eat more." Sasuke said as he helped Itachi get on his clothes.

"I need to check up on some more people, but I expect seeing you in those clothes more often." Tsunade said.

"I can't promise you that, but I'll try so." Itachi said, bowing his head to Tsunade once. "Will you inform me when we will start training again?"

"I will. Don't strain yourself too much." Tsunade said, nodding at both Uchiha's and then left the room. Sasuke took this chance to hear Itachi out.

"Why did you use Susanoo?" He asked.

Itachi looked at Sasuke now.

"It was the only way to remove Orochimaru from your body." He said.

"Why? What did you do?" Sasuke asked. He helped Itachi walk out of the room.

"My Susanoo yields the Sakenagi Longsword." Itachi said. "This was the only way to be sure Orochimaru wouldn't be able to bother you anymore. Before Tsunade captured me, I had planned to fight with you when you would seek me out, until he came out."

"..Oh." Sasuke said frowning. "Once you're better, teach me."

"I will, but you first need Mangekyou Sharingan for that." Itachi said, nodding.

"Well I know that." Sasuke said. "I'll have it before you're better."

Itachi smiled to himself, while they were walking out of the hospital.

"I'm sure you will." He then said. He was so proud of Sasuke.

Sasuke smiled slightly himself as well after hearing that.

"You're ok with staying at my house for a while right?" He asked.

"I am." Itachi said, nodding. "I know you'll take good care of me."

"I will. Neji's there as well, so you'll be fine." Sasuke said.

A little later, Sasuke led Itachi into his house.

"Well here we are. It's a lot different from our old house, so I'm curious to hear what you think." Sasuke said as he put off his shoes and helped Itachi to do the same. He then continued to help Itachi inside. You could smell Neji was busy cooking. Sometimes Sasuke wondered if Neji was really not just a housewife.

"It looks good." Itachi said and sniffed. "It smells good." They walked inside the living room and Neji turned around.

"Hey, you're home." He then said.

"Yeah." Sasuke said. "How sharp of you to notice." He smirked at Neji as he sat Itachi down on the couch. "So this is the living room, obviously."

Neji snorted.

"Don't I get a kiss anymore?" He then asked.

"..Yeah, sorry." Sasuke said as he looked at Itachi for a while and then walked to Neji, giving him a quick kiss. He felt awkward for doing it in front of Itachi.

Neji smiled slightly now, as he gave Sasuke a kiss back.

"So the two of you are fine now?" He then asked, also looking at Itachi.

"Yeah, we're fine." Itachi said, nodding.

"Itachi needs to stay here for a month so I can take care of him though. That's ok right?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course that's fine." Neji said, nodding. "And after that you're probably going to train together right?"

"Yeah, why?" Sasuke asked as he sat down next to Itachi now. He wouldn't admit it, but he felt tired sometimes still. That battle really had strained him.

"Hmm.. seems I'll get a lot less attention from now on." Neji said, grinning a little.

"Don't worry, I'll give you more then enough attention." Sasuke said smirking, but then composed himself again, remembering Itachi was sitting next to him.

"Good." Neji said, and smirked as Itachi let out a chuckle.

"So what are we eating?" Sasuke asked, leaning his head on the couch and closing his eyes.

"Some stew." Neji answered.

"Sounds good." Itachi said, nodding.

"Yeah." Sasuke said and it was silent for a while. Until it was brutally disturbed by the door being thrown open and bombs being thrown inside. Some landed near Itachi, who was quickly pulled away by Sasuke and some landed in the stew Neji had just made. When they looked to the doorway, the blonde Akatsuki member was standing there. He stared at Itachi and then took a step inside.

Itachi pulled up an eyebrow now.

"...Deidara, what are you doing here?" He asked, but before Deidara could react, Neji was there and slapped Deidara hard in the face.

"How dare you ruin the food like that, bitch!" He snapped, acting very un Neji like and looking furious.

Deidara dropped to the floor from the sudden slap, but quickly got to his feet.

"What the hell un! You'll pay for that 'bitch'!" Deidara yelled and slapped Neji back. Sasuke frowned. What in heaven's name was that?

"What are you doing here anyway!" Neji yelled back and wanted to slap again, but Itachi quickly grabbed Neji's wrist.

"Calm down." He said and looked at Deidara. "You too."

"He started bitchslapping me un." Deidara said, crossing his arms annoyed. Sasuke now stood beside Neji, not trusting this one bit. What did the guy want?

"That's not why you're here." Itachi said, pulling up his eyebrow.

Deidara looked at Itachi and then in one swift movement, swung Itachi over his shoulder and ran to the door.

"I'm taking you with me un." He said.

Itachi's eyes widened as he immediately felt his still weak body protest.

"You think so?" Neji snapped, who was suddenly in front of them both, and then send both of his hands, surrounded by chakra, right into Deidara's stomach.

Deidara wanted to grab to his stomach, but just in time remembered he had Itachi over his shoulder. Instead he just gave out a groan. Sasuke now drew his sword and kept it against Deidara's neck.

"Put him down." He said.

"What are you up to?" Itachi asked, a little confused. "Did you come in the name of Akatsuki?"

"No un." Was all Deidara said. He hesitated before he set Itachi back down.

"Can I kill him? It'll be another Akatsuki member less." Sasuke said, still holding his sword next to Deidara's neck.

"I first want to hear why he's here." Itachi said.

Sasuke groaned. He had gladly killed that obnoxiously loud member off.

"I am not going to say anything in front of them un." Deidara said and raised his head stubbornly.

"And what if we threaten you with slitting your throat?' Neji snapped.

"Shut up bitch. It's personal un." Deidara said, starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Personal my ass, I don't care." Neji snapped. "You can't march into here, bomb the living room and then try to take Itachi with you."

"Well I'm not talking with the two of you here un!" Deidara snapped now. "I won't hurt Itachi."

"Oh sure, you'll just kidnap him." Neji said, with a twitching eyebrow. "You know what, you go into the bathroom." Not accepting a no, he pushed both Itachi as Deidara into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut. Itachi, who had been pushed on top of the toilet, looked at Deidara.

"Now what's wrong?" He then asked.

Deidara kept his jaws tight together and his fists clenched stubbornly. It was obvious he was not yet gonna talk.

Itachi looked at Deidara patiently. He knew Deidara was very ...explosive. He shouldn't offend him.

It was silent for at least five minutes before Deidara took a deep breath, his eyebrows furrowed and his hands still clenched shut.

"I like you un." He then said.

"I know you do." Itachi said, nodding, obviously not getting what Deidara was really talking about.

"No I mean 'really' like you un." Deidara said, annoyed Itachi didn't just get it right away.

Itachi stared at Deidara.

"...So what do you want me to do with that?" He then asked.

"Well I don't know!" Deidara yelled frustrated and obviously about to explode. He didn't like that respond one bit.

Itachi blinked.

"I understand that you're disappointed Deidara, but.. I don't do relationships at the moment." He said.

"Why not un!" Deidara yelled, suddenly not caring anymore that Neji and Sasuke could hear.

"I can't do that yet." Itachi said, looking at Deidara. "..Is that the reason why you came?"

"Well I missed you." Deidara snapped and looked away. His knuckles were white from all the squeezing he was doing.

"So you left Akatsuki for me?" Itachi asked, frowning slightly.

"I'm still wearing my cloak, so no un." Deidara said. "I would've left if you had liked me too."

Itachi nodded now.

"I'm sorry Deidara." He then said.

"Whatever un. I guess I'll go." He said, but his feet weren't moving. He was more disappointed then he himself had thought he would be.

Itachi actually looked a little guilty now.

"Look.. I'm still busy with trying to make up for what I did." He then said.

"I know, it's fine un." Deidara snapped. He couldn't help being angry and he really didn't wanna start crying, so snapping was all he could think of.

Itachi sighed now.

"I guess I'll see you some time." He then said.

"No you won't." Deidara mumbled, still not wanting to leave. Although it was becoming pretty obvious he was gonna have to.

"You will, Akatsuki will probably attack Konoha soon." Itachi said.

"I will avoid you un. I'm glad you're happy here." Deidara said and then finally opened the door and walked away. He could cry once he was out of there.

Itachi kept sitting in the room, feeling really guilty, but he had no idea how to cheer Deidara up, at all. Neji in the mean time, looked happy that Deidara was finally leaving. Once he was out, Neji smacked the door closed behind him.

Sasuke walked to the bathroom and looked at Itachi.

"What was going on?" He asked.

"Nothing." Itachi said, as he pushed himself up to stand. "He was just being... Deidara."

"Then why was he here?" Sasuke asked frowning and he helped Itachi up and back to the living room. Once there, he sat Itachi down on the couch again.

"To tell me something." Itachi said. "I don't think he wants me to tell you."

"Well anyways, I'm glad he's gone." Neji said, as he sat down on his knees by the table, putting a bottle of sake and three little cups on there.

"So it really was personal?" Sasuke asked as he checked up on Itachi, wanting to know if he was ok.

Itachi nodded, while Neji put the sake into the cups. He and Sasuke were too young for it, but the shop's owner had mistaken Neji for a few years older, like always.

"Do you want some?" He asked both Sasuke as Itachi.

"That would be good." Itachi said, nodding.

Sasuke nodded as well and he helped Itachi sit down at the table as well. Sasuke then sat down himself.

"Well that was odd." Sasuke said.

"It was." Itachi said. "Every encounter with Deidara is odd." He took his cup of sake and sipped of it a little.

"He was weird when they had taken me hostage as well." Sasuke said nodding and sipped his sake as well. "At least he didn't really mean harm."

"By the way, is Itachi even allowed to drink sake now, with his disease?" Neji asked, frowning. Itachi abruptly stopped when he had wanted to take another sip again.

"Perhaps my personal doctor can tell me?" He then teased Sasuke, smirking at him.

Sasuke gave him a glare but then smirked.

"Your disease is gone, I'm sure a little sake won't hurt." He said. "Your medicine doesn't seem to be incompatible with anything else."

"Then I'd happily drink the rest of my cup." Itachi informed Neji, who smiled.

"Well cheers then." Sasuke said. He was glad Itachi was here, together with Neji. It made him feel at ease to know he had two persons in his life to share everything with.

"Cheers." Itachi said with a nod and Neji said the same, and they all drank sake together.


"Kiba, Naruto, Neji, get your asses back to the center of the city!" Sasuke yelled through his wireless headset. He was battling some tough guys, a gang of whom he had to kill the leader. Tsunade had sent him on a mission to assassinate the leader of a gang terrorizing a neighboring city. Sasuke had decided to split the team up at some point and was now calling them back as he was fighting at least fifteen people on his own, and even though he was doing ok, he could use some back up. He used his fire release and then jumped back.

"Did you hear me, come back!" Sasuke yelled through his headset.
More and more people were attacking Sasuke, and some of them backed up shocked when Kiba came racing towards them on Akamaru's back, who was barking loudly.

"Sasuke's what's going on?" Kiba yelled, having been the one who was the closest to the center.

"Apparently they found out about our mission! Just kill them!" Sasuke yelled, using his fire release again to back the people up.

"Naruto! Neji! Get here!" He yelled once more, evading an attack and killing the guy with his sword. They really were tougher then he had expected.

Kiba started fighting the guys as well now, seeing this battle was serious. It didn't take long before some screaming was heard and at least thirty Naruto's came running towards them, attacking the enemy with his Rasengan.

"Teme, are you alright?" He yelled to Sasuke.

"I'm fine, beat them!" Sasuke yelled and as he fought of three more guys, he called for Neji again and again. What was taking him so long?

"You guys try calling Neji!" Sasuke yelled to Naruto and Kiba as he killed another guy with his chidori.
Kiba nodded as he called for Neji as well, and Naruto did the same.

"What is taking that Hyuuga so long?" Naruto snapped as he got no response.

"Better question, why is he not reacting?" Kiba asked, as he beheaded one of the enemies.

They had no time to think it through though as more and more enemies appeared and Sasuke realized that this gang was gonna be huge. They needed Neji's help.

"Neji where the fuck are you!" Sasuke yelled, but once again got no response.

Right at that moment, another criminal came running towards the fighting scene, carrying a small package with him. He ran towards a big man, who was probably the leader of the group.

"Sir! We did it!" He then yelled.

"What did you do?" The leader asked, as he threw one of the many Naruto's off of him. The other criminal unpacked the package.

"We killed the Hyuuga sir!" He said, and as proof, he handed the contains of the package to the leader. Neji's clothes. Covered in blood.

Sasuke's head snapped towards the guys that were talking and he immediately killed off the men attacking him. He stormed towards them, grabbing the messenger by the collar and pulling him up.

"What did you do to him?" He yelled. He would not believe that Neji was... He would not believe it, Neji was far too strong for that.

The messenger smirked now.

"We killed him, obviously." He then said. "Face it, you won't be able to take us all on."

"What did you do to him!" Sasuke yelled again, this time piercing his sword through the guy's body, just low enough so it wouldn't kill him instantly. Neji was still alive. He had to be.

The messenger gasped, and all of his comrades immediately started attacking Sasuke. Or at least, tried to. Kiba and Naruto were stopping them from coming closer. The messenger then smirked.

"T-the poor bastard couldn't t-take thirty seven of us.. hng.. on." He said. "If you d-don't believe me, you can search for him there." He pointed to a stack not very far from then. And it was horrifying to see. On the stack was not only wood, but there were also human corpses, burning to ash.

Sasuke looked at the stack for a while, images of Neji burning in his mind. He then let out a battle cry and cut the messenger in half. He immediately turned around and used his fire release to burn almost half of the enemies to death. No one would get away with killing Neji. How dare they have done that? Neji was his and only his and he was supposed to be there the rest of his life. And now he was gone. Sasuke would not let anyone in this gang alive. There was no way.

"You should've heard him screaming when we tortured him!" An other yelled at Sasuke now, laughing. "We achieved our goal, getting the Byakugan was our first goal. His screams of horror when we took his eyes were as beautiful as the sight of the wounds on his pure skin!" Kiba frowned deeply now, while swallowing. This was horrible.. How could any human be this cruel? He couldn't imagine that this is what happened to Neji.. But seeing the clothes, it must be true. Suppressing tears, he looked at Sasuke. His frown then deepened. What was with Sasuke's eyes..? Those weren't normal Sharingan, right?

Sasuke was glaring at the guy now, his sharingan having taken the form of a star. He could feel the power it brought. He could feel the power of the mangekyou sharingan. And he would use it. It was his fault, he had split the team up. And now all of these guys had to pay for it. Sasuke ran up to the leader, his chidori in place and killed anyone on his path, trying to stop him.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" Sasuke yelled, on top of his lungs as he came charging at the guy and leader.

The leader tried to avoid the attack by calling up a simple jutsu, but before he was even done with making his seals, the chidori hit him in the middle of his body already. He screamed out in pain, and right at that moment he was hit in his back by Naruto's rasengan. Sasuke wasn't the only one who was furious.

Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto and then they both stormed off to kill all of the gang that was still there. They would pay, and they would pay badly for this. Neji had been everything to him. Taking him away was a death sentence no one could get out of.

After fifteen minutes, all the bodies of the enemy were laying on a stack. Kiba was wiping his kunai and looked silently at Sasuke, who was slaughtering the last man. Naruto was staring at the ground, tears in his eyes.

Sasuke panted as he pulled his sword out of the last man that had been standing, his back to Kiba and Naruto. He then turned around and looked at them.

"Go back to Konoha." He said, or more like, ordered them.

"What about you?" Kiba asked, looking concerned.

"Just go!" Sasuke yelled, still furious. He had one last thing to settle before he would return as well.

Kiba gave Naruto a look, and Naruto nodded.

"Just.. don't do anything stupid." Kiba then said. He would've protested against Sasuke normally, but this was a different case. A really different case.

Sasuke didn't wait till both of them were gone, but he knew they were. He then walked to the stack, where still he could see bodies burning. Sasuke bit his lip as he looked at it, knowing somewhere in there, Neji had been. And it had been his fault.

"...I'm sorry.." Sasuke softly said, staring at the stack. He swallowed, trying to hold back some tears. Then he turned around and set all the bodies on fire with a final fire release. They would end the same way they had let Neji come to his own end. Sasuke then ran off as well, heading back to Konoha, to what once was his and Neji's home, as a tear ran down his face. When he walked into the livingroom, he finally allowed himself to break down in the arms of his brother.


A/N: I still can't believe we killed Neji…