All right then. I haven't been on for a while, and I apologize for the delay. Though my last page had exactly eight hits, which means only eight people are reading this…

However, since there are eight people reading it, we shall finish what we started. In addition, even though eight people read the last chapter, I didn't get any reviews. Just a little line, even if you say nothing more than "… " will help greatly. I also apologize for any spelling errors with names. Thank you for reading. I own nothing, not even the hair tie I'm wearing, so please don't steal this plot. If you want to use any characters that are mine, please ask me before you use them.

"Kisame, you're sitting on my foot. Get off."

"Well it's not my fault you know. We shouldn't even be here in the first place. If Itachi sees us, we're history…"

"I shall blow you up if you don't get of my foot now."

"If you do that Itachi will hear us."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr"

What, you might ask, are Deidara and Kisame up to? Well the answer is quite simple. After Deidara was consoled by Kisame that he would get a new blankie as soon as Itachi was all right, Itachi had locked himself up in his room and refused to come out. Then he had sent a letter by messenger pigeon to someone and had proceeded to make quite a lot of noise in his room. Now, if it were any other Akatsuki member throwing a temper tantrum, no one would have batted an eyelid. Itachi, however, was a special case. He never allowed anything to get under his skin, and he was always very quiet, even when mad, so to hear him this vocal was unnerving for everyone. Not to mention that his screaming and ranting was actually louder than any of their temper tantrums normally got.

During his ranting, he had made many references to "Uchiha clan", "Sasuke", "Oorichimaru", and "Sharingan". He also almost told them why he killed his clan and ran away, but just before he could say anything, he realized what he was saying and calmed himself immediately. Since that dinner, he had been locked up in his room, until today. Today, Itachi was going out to meet someone. Now, Kisame was worried for his partner's sanity, and Deidara was just curious about the sharingan user in general, so the two of them had decided to shadow Itachi. Deidara to see what Itachi was doing and Kisame to make sure Itachi didn't hurt himself.

Itachi had run from the base the minute he had left it and gone straight to Konoha. He was furious, and his anger fueled his speed so that it was very hard for the two of them to follow him with ease. Deidara had then made a cloud of clay, which the two were sitting on while it chased after Itachi. Kisame, who had greater amounts of chakra at his disposal, was creating a barrier around the cloud to make it invisible to Itachi's sharingan. However, since there wasn't a whole lot of space on the cloud, he ended up sitting on Deidara's foot. This, Kisame resolved mentally, was all Deidara's fault. Deidara had seen Itachi come out of his room and had at once gone to the kitchen to announce to all present that Itachi was out of his room. Of course, one of those present was Kisame, who went to see what was wrong with Itachi at once. However, when he confronted Itachi, he was rudely pushed aside as Itachi walked out the front door.

Itachi stopped at a clearing a few miles away from Konoha. Deidara and Kisame stopped and hid behind a bush, only to find they were standing on Zetzu.

"GET OFF MY FACE NOW"

"Sorry. What are you doing here??"

"Duh," said Kakuzu, coming up behind them, "we're here to see who it is that's going to receive the thrashing that Itachi's going to give out."

Satisfied with this response, all the Akatsuki members (minus Tobi) settled in to watch Itachi own whoever it was that was foolish enough to risk his wrath.

Meanwhile…

Kakashi sighed. He had been expecting this. He had been expecting this ever since Sasuke decided to go to Oorichimaru. He had actually been expecting this much before, actually.

Kakashi had never hated himself more. Ever since he was little, he had been a screw-up (not that anyone knew of it, of course). His first mistake ever, was when he was little. He had been born son of a person hated by the village, and as such, he was shunned by everyone. His second mistake was when his teammates went on their first C rank mission, soon to be their last. Obito fell behind, and Kakashi made the decision to leave him there. He only went back because of Rin's pleading and her abject hero-worship of him (he would never admit it, but Shizune and Sakura reminded him of her, and it really hurt to look at them). He had liked her as a friend, and had suspected that Obito liked her the way she liked him, and so went back only to find Obito dying. Obito had given Kakashi his left eye to make up for Kakashi's left eye, which he lost going back for Obito. His third mistake was leaving Rin in the hospital and going home when visiting hours were over and the nurse told him to leave. He should have known better. He left her in a coma: she awoke after he left, to say a goodbye he never heard. Ever since, he had developed a chronic habit of being late.

His fourth mistake, (and from where he started to expect this) was taking Itachi Uchiha under his wing in ANBU, and then making a right mess of things. Itachi was a star pupil, his star pupil, and they had shared a healthy rivalry from the start. He had known (like every other ninja) that the Uchiha clan was having financial issues because of their great numbers, but he figured that they would be able to handle it.

Even when Itachi came to him and informed him of the disastrous double-dealings of his clan, he refused to help him because he thought that Itachi was lying to him. After all, Itachi was having trouble with authority at that time, and he had figured that it was a cry for attention. Even when Itachi gave him tangible proof, he didn't help him.

His fifth mistake was letting Itachi go that night. He would never forget that night. He had not seen his charge for days, and he was worried. He neared the Uchiha clan complex. He knew it was late, but he also knew that Itachi would be up. Itachi was an insomniac, a condition shared by his mother. However, he saw Itachi at the river, with another Uchiha member. On closer observance, he realized that the other person was Shisui, a close friend of Itachi's. He came in for a closer look, to find that he was dead and Itachi was standing in front of him, drenched in his blood. Itachi noticed him right away. Kakashi would never admit it to anyone, but he was proud of Itachi, and was proud that he had been noticed right away. Itachi once again told him of his clan's plans, but Kakashi refused to believe Itachi. Finally, Itachi let Kakashi go, but not before asking him to take care of Sasuke in his absence. Kakashi agreed, no questions asked. He didn't need too. The night after that, Itachi stopped by his flat on the way out of Konoha, and gave him a scroll explaining everything. Kakashi paid a visit to the Uchiha temple after that, and never told a soul of what he had found.

His sixth mistake was indulging Sasuke and aiding him on his quest to destroy his brother. Every time that Sasuke proclaimed his hate for his brother, it dug into Kakashi like a knife, and he couldn't help but wonder each time how life would have been if he had told everyone the truth.

His seventh mistake was not so much a mistake, as it was regret. He had been at the monument bearing the names of all his comrades that were killed in action, and had been thinking of Obito and Rin. He had just been visited by Jiraya after getting out of the hospital. After the fight with Gaara, Sasuke just hadn't been the same. Something had changed in him after he watched Naruto fight Gaara, and Kakashi felt it was decidedly not for the better. When he received the summons to the Hokage's office, he dallied, as he was wont to do. Consequently, he was too late in finding Sasuke and bringing him home.

He had been unable to face himself ever since. He had failed. He had failed Naruto, who was counting on his help to get Sasuke back. He had failed Sakura, who had waited heartbroken for Sasuke to come back (in the light as she cried, she looked more like Rin than ever and he couldn't help but feel even more worse than usual). He had failed Sasuke, for in failing to be there in time he had failed to be the teacher that he was. He had failed himself, because he had promised himself that nothing would happen to his students like had happened to his team, and look how that turned out.

Worst of all, he had failed Itachi, who had counted on him from the very start. And failing Itachi hurt him worst of all, because in failing Itachi, he was failing Sasuke and Azrielle too.

Therefore, he went to meet Itachi, who would be mad at him, and rightfully so. So he walked to the clearing at which Itachi had asked Kakashi to meet him. The clearing had a lot of their history in its midst. It was there that they had made their first kill together as a team, there that they stopped for picnics, there that Itachi had told him the horrid truth about his clan. It was there that Itachi had buried Azrielle, there Kakashi buried the scroll containing the reason Itachi left. He had had no need of it anymore. It was imprinted firmly in him mind, in his very being. He had memorized that scroll until it was like a part of him, and each time he remembered it, he remembered how he had failed, and how different life could have been.

Kakashi stepped into the clearing, and found Itachi there. There were a few other people too, but if Itachi didn't seem to mind them there then he had no objections.

"Hello, Itachi."

"Hello. You're early, for a change."

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"You could say that. This place has a lot of history between us, doesn't it, Kakashi-sensei? Well, the last history this place is going to have between us is your dying here at my hand!"

Ha-ha, cliffy!

What happens next!!!

Azrielle will be explained next chapter, along with a few Uchiha secrets.

Until then, please review.