Thank you guys for the reviews, yeah I'm finally saying it on chapter 11, the others have already been uploaded and I put the story up when I finished chapter 12. Lol I have a new habit of working on stories and not putting them up until I have a lot down so I always have a chapter to upload. I should have chapters to my other stories to upload as well. I just realized I didn't finish Retribution. Idk how I forgot about that story, it's only a few chapters away from being completed…. Well enjoy this chapter!

Taking Chances

Chapter 11

With little distance ahead of them Pakkun alerted them, "they are up ahead a ways. The tracks were a couple days old; I think they have her cornered. The coast is ahead too, I can smell it in the air."

It was reassuring but they were still worried. As they neared they slowed down, being careful in case of any traps but they shouldn't be expecting them. It would be hard to catch those two unaware but they still aimed for stealth, trying to get stock of the situation before revealing themselves. Shikamaru went ahead of them to scout out the situation to help come up with a plan.

When he came back he revealed his findings. "Itachi was just relaxing against a tree watching Kagome while she was close to the cliff concentrating on holding a barrier. Kisame was attacking it with Samehada. She looked worn out and is probably on her last legs judging by my take of the situation," slowly they put together a plan that should work so long as the Akatsuki members remained unaware of their presence.

Getting into their positions Yamato and Kakashi would be the ones to confront the enemy head on. Kakashi would also be the only one that could go up against Itachi but even then he wasn't a match as he recalled the last run in. Shikamaru stayed in the depths of the forest with Sakura covering him. Through the shadows of the forest he managed to catch Itachi to keep him out of the way.

"Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu complete," Shikamaru uttered from his location in the forest as he took hold of one enemy.

Kisame noticing something different about his partner and was taken by surprise when he found himself needing to defend against Kakashi. The leaf ninja had almost gotten him with his chidori attack. Seeing shadows holding Itachi down he couldn't believe his partner was captured so easily. Several beams of wood came at him trying to cage him in while Yamato revealed himself.

"Itachi you can't be serious!" He yelled, before watching as it turned out it was only a clone when it turned into a flock of crows. "Now that is more like it," he chuckled before hacking his way out of the wooden cage.

He noticed the priestess was now watching them fight, her attention on the barrier had finally faltered. Taking a swipe with Samehada the first one collapsed causing a startled gasp from her. "Little priestess, you are about to be mine for the taking," he yelled at her before clashing with Kakashi.

"I just might need to hack off a hand or two but then you would be worthless," as he recognized that she might need them to help focus her power. She wouldn't be good to them without her power accessible.

It would be no skin off his back if they have to fight it out with the leaf ninja before grabbing the priestess. He noticed his partner had appeared from out of the forest and looked ready to intervene, his eyes activated and focused on the priestess. Her eyes were drawn to him, it was almost like she knew that time was up as she breathed heavily.

The locks sitting against the back of her neck were soaked, the back of her shirt moist from the amount of sweating she did in the last day or so. Looking around she could see Kakashi attacking the one guy, she noticed two leaf ninja up in the trees while her view was partially blocked by another. Looking up she could see Yamato ready to defend her.

Calmly the black haired male regarded him. Having already fought him a little she had a bit of an idea as to what he could do. When she noticed his hand moved she leaped up and pulled Yamato into her barrier. From the look in the other male's gaze she must have stopped him from doing something that would have been bad. For some reason he still felt like a very dangerous opponent.

She watched shadows come out and attempt to grab the guy, with them safe under her barrier Yamato looked down at her relieved, before pulling her into his embrace, hugging her tight to him. "Kagome, I was so worried," he murmured.

Her barrier wavered as she began panting. Slumping forward into his embrace she felt so safe in that moment and almost caved into the feeling. A gentle shaking of her shoulders had her turning her attention back to his eyes. "You need to hang in there and stay alert. I will get you out of this mess, just hold out a while longer."

With a nod she tried to gain back her strength and let her power flow once more through her muscles in her body, getting ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Her arrow sparked while the barrier wavered again. Itachi was keeping a close eye on it, as well as Kisame. Then it deteriorated and she was left exposed with only the Hidden Leaf ninja to keep her from their grasp. Suddenly some of the shadows stopped attacking Itachi and came right at her.

Startled she felt them grab hold of her and she was pulled away from the cliff and into the forest, not having any control of her body until she was deposited on a branch behind the one that was controlling the shadows. Feeling dizzy, gloved hands held her steady. Looking over her should she could see a smiling face of a pink haired girl.

Weakly she smiled back, her panting toning down, she was so exhausted, and they were the miracle she prayed for. It was certainly nice to know they cared enough to come all this way for her. She tried to watch the fight, noticing that Yamato was now facing the blue guy while Kakashi revealed his left eye to be similar to the other guys.

The male in front of her was tense and ready to intervene at a moment's notice and she sat back, her exhaustion rolling off of her in waves as she got front row seats to what it is like when ninja fight.

The area was soon full of explosions, and the clashing of their metal kunai. She couldn't quite understand what was with those eyes but it felt like there was more to their battle than meets the eye. Suddenly she was pulled off the branch and pulled by the kunoichi further into the forest just as a large fire ball torched the area.

Kakashi went up against it with his own water attack causing a thick steam to billow through the area. It would have been fine if Kisame and Itachi hadn't disappeared. Both reappeared going up against Shikamaru and Sakura in a surprise attack. Itachi easily got a firm hold on Kagome before disappearing, fleeing into the cover of the forest planting bombs to slow the others down.

Struggling against his hold she weakly attempted to push herself out of his grip but he easily had her beat in physical power. "Let me go," she pushed against him again, begging her power to give her enough strength to get away.

"Be still, I wish to speak with you," he ordered.

Her curious gaze looked up at his focused eyes, something seemed wrong with them. Giving a closer look she knew it would be useless with how weak her powers were. Letting him take her wherever he needed to go so they could talk she let her body relax in his hold as she collected her strength. Somehow she wasn't really all that scared of him, something told her not to be.

When it was clear to him that they would be alone for a few minutes he landed down on the ground below. "I am not interested in turning you over to the leader of the Akatsuki," he admitted.

"In fact you could help me in my true aim and that is to protect my village, Konohagakure." She looked at him startled by the revelation. "Not everything is what it seems, I did what I did to protect the village. I need you to work on strengthening your powers to be used in protection of the village. Soon the village will be targeted for the nine tail beast. Make sure you do what you can for the village," he instructed.

"One last thing, do not let yourself be captured or your powers will not be used for the greater good," his eyes intense as he looked down at her.

Those eyes, they held her in their gaze before shouts were being heard from the others. He then left; the sudden absence had her falling to her knees, not realizing that she was using him so heavily for support. The others broke the tree line and soon were before her, looking at her in concern. With the enemy gone they decided to settle down for camp, Yamato relaxed near her while she slept.