Title: Life Goes On

Author: nikki (nikkichan0829yahoo.com)

Chapter: 5/?

Chapter Title: Troubles From One Visit

Genre: Romance

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Enough said. The title was from the song, "Life Goes On" by Leanne Rhymes (is that the right spelling?).

Warning: YAOI. OOCness?

Author's notes: Woohoo! Saw episode 81 recently and WOW! Itachi's really one good-looking bastard! (Damn. Makes me wish I owned the entire Naruto series so I could keep him... imagines self saying, "Oh, Mom, can I keep him? Pwease..." in a long whiny voice ...... Oh well.) Anyway, the episode gave me the burst of inspiration I needed to continue writing this chapter. looks at the date she started this chapter Crap. It was that long?

Anyway, thanks to the following people who reviewed the last chapter:

TheTrueSilver - Well, you'll see... Hehehe.

Emmy - Here's the continuation!

Snow Angel - I'm glad that you like it. Am still trying to improve. This chapter and the next may not be much but I hope that you will still like them.

JaCk SpArRoW's DaUgHtEr - Kakashi's a good-looking guy. He's cool too. Hehe. I hope you'll continue reading this.

Ice Vampire119 - Glad you like it. Got the idea while procrastinating from school work. Hehehe. Yeah. The Naruto section has gotten an awful lot of SasuNaru lately. (I prefer NaruSasu.) Well, I'm updating now so please don't torture Itachi. I wanna torture him myself! sees Itachi curled into a ball in the dark corner of the room I was joking!

Death Phoenix - Have an update now. I'll try to update faster.

yumi-sama - Yeah. Poor Kakashi. Don't worry. I'll make it up to him in the next chapters.

Pyro Dragon 117 - Yes, Renji's in Akatsuki while Itachi is... looks around ...somewhere around here... Where in the world did he run off to this time? shrugs Writing about fluffy, sappy happy stuff is what I do best. Yeah, one would find themselves sympathizing Itachi's twin for having a pervy boss. (I know I do and so does my best friend.) Will see if the old snake bastard can make an appearance in the future chapters.

insanechildfanfic - Glad you like it.

AND THANKS TO ALL THE READERS OF THIS FIC.

Chapter 5: Troubles From One Visit

"Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi found himself staring eye-to-eye with the young man he fell in love with as the said young man turned to face him. His eyes... They're the same as before...He remembered those eyes from the time before they had started spending much time with each other. But he's a true heir of the Sharingan... It would be best to think of the worst case scenario...

"How surprising it is... No wonder he could use the same jutsu as mine... Who would've thought that other than Itachi, there would be someone else with that kind of eye... So this would mean that you're Copy Ninja Kakashi then..." Itachi's companion remarked whilst the other young man remained silent as he continued to stare at the jounin.

Itachi... What happened to you?Kakashi kept his face as neutral as possible. "I should be the one surprised... The suspicious guys in the tea shop a while ago, who would've thought... that they would be Uchiha Itachi and Hidden Mist's Hoshigaki Kisame."

Kisame smirked. "I didn't think that even you would know my name... It's an honor."

"You're one of the 'Mist Ninja Seven Swordsmen' and that big sword is called 'Samehada'."

Itachi's partner chuckled. "I've heard that you've battled with Zabuza before..."

"That's right."

It seemed to have surprised the man for a moment before excitemen overrode it. "To think that there would be someone worth cutting..."

It was then that Itachi seemed inclined to speak. "Kisame... Stop fooling around!" It had gotten everyone's attention. "If you fight him, you'll most likely not finish. By then, you would have wasted enough time for reinforcements to arrive."

"But..."

"Do not forget the purpose of our mission... You're not here to injure yourself!"

Kakashi decided that this was the perfect time to question the two criminals. "Hmm... Tell us you mission then." He dispersed his shadow clone to save on chakra.

"We're only here to find something. That's all."

Is that all you're here for?"Find something? Find what?"

The raven-haired Chuunin turned to face him. "... Unlike Kisame, I won't waste much time."

-----

When Kakashi woke up, he was first greeted by the sight of Tsunade, one of the three sennins and Gai. Thankfully, there had been no trauma. (Seeing Gai's eyebrows had that effect on certain people.) He had been a bit disoriented to actually notice much.

Itachi... Itachi had come back but he had left once more. The look on the Uchiha's eyes harbored no trace of their intimate familiarity with each other. It was as if what they have had in the past was nothing. Nothing.

Why?

-----

Renji leaned against the wall. It took to much strength alone to stand. He shouldn't have used Tsukiyomi too much. But at least for now, his personal goal of making Sasuke hate Itachi even more was fulfilled.

Damn.He had intended to take Kakashi with him had Gai no intervened. Damn it.Had they stayed behind and fight that sennin, he and Kisame would've been done for. He did not spend the last four years masquerading as Itachi to have it all backfire. That was not an option. He wanted Itachi to suffer.

His partner was avoiding him right now which was a good thing. Even a weakened Renji could still pack a wallop if he put his mind to it.

The only good thing about this temporary retreat was that he didn't have to go back to that perverted boss of his just yet.

He looked up at the full moon. Kakashi was still the same, looking good as ever. He envied Itachi for having such a man's love. Even until now, it was evident in those eyes that it was still Itachi he longed for. Well, it would never be me.Renji cursed his brother and his clan for destroying his life.

-----

"Damn it!" Itachi cursed. Somewhere between Hidden Stone and Hidden Sand, he had lost Renji's trail. He surveyed his surroundings.

If it's true that he lost Renji's trail, that only meant that there was someone else besides him behind his older twin. But who could it be?

He looked around again and recognized his marker. Genjutsu. Someone had used genjutsu. Did Renji know he was being followed?

Itachi didn't have to ponder long as the enemy attacked.

-----

Naruto frowned as Shikamaru made an weapons inventory check. Why had Sasuke left? It couldn't have been because of him now could it? He hadn't really meant to fight the stubborn bastard. He was merely there to see if he was okay and the raven-haired asshole had to go ahead and provoke him to an all out fight.

Why?

Then the bastard left despite Sakura's pleas. And now he was on his way to join that snake bastard, Orochimaru.

Are we not good enough to be with you? Aren't I good enough?

Naruto looked down on the ground. He hoped that they would be able to get to Sasuke in time before he made it to the border. He had a promise to keep to Sakura. And more importantly to himself.

I promise I'll bring you back, Sasuke.

-----

Kakashi buried his face in his hands as soon as he had gotten the message. He lost him. He promised himself that he would keep Itachi's little brother, Sasuke, safe but now, the boy was gone. Sasuke had been seduced by Orochimaru's promise of power.

The only hope now was that Naruto and the others would be able to get him back before something irreversible happens.

I'm so sorry, Itachi. I tried...

-----

Please don't let me have to kill him... Please...Naruto thought to himself as Sasuke launched himself at him in his level two cursed seal form. He had finally caught up with his teammate. He didn't know how his friends were doing but hopefully they were all fine. I don't want to do this. Sakura-chan will hate me. You'll hate me. I don't want our friendship to end...

Being two feet away from him, Sasuke suddenly dodged as a shuriken embedded itself on the ground. He growled at the source, a man in a worn-down ANBU uniform with most of his face covered by white bandages, leaving only his eyes visible. He wore no mask but he did have the Konoha forehead protector tied around his forehead.

"Oh? And I thought it was a wild animal..." the man said. He jumped down from his perch on a branch of a tree and landed gracefully some distance from them. "You kids shouldn't be out here. Who knows what lurks -"

The man stopped as if for the first time noticing what was wrong, his blood red eyes widening.

"Sasuke?"

-----

TBC

Author's notes: I would just like to say that up to a part, this fic followed the manga. Since I don't exactly have the entire manga collection, I can't exactly guess what happens. I mean, the scanlations have until volume 24. My personal comic collection only has until volume 20. So...

I hope you guys liked this chapter despite its uber shortness. I was serious about that review counter you know. (refer to previous chapter to know what I mean.) Oh well.

Please review.

Started: April 8, 2004

Ended: May 20, 2004