Chapter 13! Enjoy and please comment. Also, if you want to know the conversation Kisara is referring to, you will find it in chapter 4: steel and tears. Thanks!

Chapter 13: The Aftermath

Itachi took in the scene, at once switching to his Sharingan, his dark irises filling with the familiar red color, three tomoe of black dispersing themselves evenly within. Immediately he felt calmer, more capable…more powerful. It had been over two months since he had fully activated his blood-line limit, and though he hadn't minded the novelty of seeing things with his 'normal' eyes, he had to admit that he missed the clarity that the Sharingan provided him.

He glanced at Kisame and the two locked gazes, then each moved as one well-oiled machine. Itachi seemed to materialize in front of Kisara while Kisame moved to her side that was closest to the carnage. Kisara, already moving into a defensive position herself, was highly encumbered by her dress.

"Kisame, cover me, and protect Kisara." He stated smoothly, no longer needing the paltry camouflage of their codenames.

Kisame's only response was to chuckle with glee, Itachi smirked as well: it felt good to be himself again. He moved forward, pushing lightly past the stunned Lord Matsuoka and confused Cloud Shinobi, moving directly into the path of the Eight Tails. He glanced left and locked eyes with yet another fighter: Kira. The Yukikage had been attempting to calm the wayward Jinchuuriki, but no such luck. The beast had become enraged after seeing his brother's blood drawn and had lost himself in his madness, assisted as he was by the alcohol he had consumed. Kira's icy blue eyes narrowed as he took in Itachi's appearance, including the glinting Sharingan, though he offered no comment, choosing instead to get to the heart of the matter.

"…are you friend or foe?" He asked, attempting to triage the scene. Should he put all his focus on the Tailed Beast, or did Itachi pose another, greater threat?

"Friend…for the moment." Itachi replied, his eyes now locked on the larger target.

Kira was a smart man, and chose to take Itachi at his word, though it was obvious he had no qualms about facing Itachi as well if it came to that, and the two men joined forces in their attempt to manage the beast. Together, the men succeeded in forcing Eight Tails outside of the mansion and into the grounds. Itachi had time to glance back after a moment and assure himself that the rest of the wedding party and guests had come to no further harm, before turning his full attention to the fight in front of him. I can't afford to think about her now, he reminded himself.

The two Shinobi fought side-by-side, moving faster than the untrained eye could see. Kira had unsheathed his sword and Itachi had to admire the swiftness of his strokes coupled with the grace of his movements, though, oddly, he was a little less adept that Kisara at merging Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu. At timed intervals, he watched as Kira unleashed the blood-line limit of his clan, the Yukidurama signature style of Ice Jutsu.

Itachi complemented Kira's style with his kunai and visual prowess. The two succeeded after only minutes of forcing the beast back and into a corner. It was a natural formation of the mountains where the mansion had been built. Just as Itachi had planned. Finally, when the beast had been beaten down, unable even for a moment to succeed in charging enough chakra for a Tailed-Beast Bomb, Itachi unleashed his masterstroke: the Mangikyo Sharingan. He jumped up the side of the cliff behind the beast and came level with its eye. It only took a moment, but he locked it in his gaze, forcing it under his command and into a sudden fugue state.

Kira, having noticed that Itachi had somehow managed to buy them more time, jumped up to meet him. "So, that's the Sharingan." He said evenly. "And you must be Itachi Uchiha the Clan-killer."

"…Yes." Itachi replied just an evenly, not disappointed that the Yukikage had caught on so quickly. All according to plan.

"Might I ask what someone like you is doing out here?"

"You may, but you won't get an answer."

"Hm. Of course." Kira looked away from Itachi, studying the beast that appeared to be in a deep trance, all thanks to Itachi's eyes. Both men turned away from the beast and saw that Cloud ninja were swiftly approaching. Perfect timing for the plan.

"Even if I told you, it wouldn't matter as you will soon forget I even existed." Itachi replied casually.

Kira's face whipped back around to face Itachi, instantly on guard, but he was too slow, with one look Itachi had caught him. His eyes had morphed, taking on the new shape of the Mangikyo, a pinwheel pattern of black and red.

"Forget." And with one word, Itachi sealed his plan. With the Tailed Beast subdued enough that he and Kisame could take him back to Hidden Rain, he had only to wipe their existence from the mind of everyone at the party, the guests, the Kages...even Kisara.

They would believe that B had gone berserk during the wedding, and had fled. By the time they caught onto their trail, they would be too late. The Tailed Beast would be drained from B's body, leaving him to die. And Akatsuki would be one step closer to their goal. The beauty of the plan was that no one would be the wiser, and he and Kisame wouldn't have to kill anyone besides their original, eventual, sacrifice.

For a moment Itachi's mind lingered on Kisara, he would be…displeased to wipe him from her mind…but he know that he had no choice. It was the only way she would be able to live unsuspected by the Hidden Cloud.

At least, that had been Itachi's plan.

"…Forget what, Uchiha-san?"

Itachi continued to stare, his face blank from confusion at first, and then his eyes grew wide with horror and disbelief.

"Forget what?" Kira said again, still highly defensive, ready for Itachi to strike at any moment. The only problem was that Itachi was striking. With Genjutsu.

Itachi couldn't answer because for some reason, his Mangikyo Sharingan wasn't working. He couldn't penetrate through Kira's consciousness, couldn't make him do anything. The reality of the situation hit him so hard his concentration over the Eight Tails faltered: Genjutsu doesn't work on him!

Suddenly, the Eight Tails snapped back from his dissociative state and back into his mad rage. The beast took advantage of the distracted Shinobi and with one quick chakra blast Itachi watched in total surprise as the chakra blasted him into the mountain wall which surrounded the mansion. He didn't get back up.

Quickly realizing his carefully orchestrated plan was falling apart around him; Itachi regained his focus before the beast could turn on him and sent him into a deep suggested slumber. Turning once more to see that the Yukikage bad indeed been injured, but not killed, he stood still, stunned at his current situation.

The Cloud Shinobi approached and Itachi made a split second decision: at least part of the plan would succeed. He cast his Genjutsu over them and moved on.

Disconcerted, but not distracted by how events had been turned on their heads, he headed back to the event room, not bothering to switch off his Sharingan. He was immediately bombarded with hysterical lords and ladies, all streaming from the wreckage of the wedding party. He made his way back to Kisame, still guarding Kisara as Itachi had asked.

He couldn't look at her.

But he could tell she was looking at him.

He got up enough nerve and his red eyes met her green ones. She had been crying, but from anger or fear he couldn't tell. Her wedding dress had been torn to tatters, her silver hair coming down around her beautiful face.

"Yahiko…what is going on? What happened to Kira?"

He closed his eyes briefly, pinching his nose from the stress, noticing that for the first time she had uses his alias without honorifics. "My name isn't Yahiko." He said this briefly and turned his red eyes to the Lord Matsuoka.

"I release you, and you will remember nothing of this."

The Lord nodded dumbly and slumped forward on the table, his face embedding itself in a spare slice of cake.

"What? What are you talking about? What is going on?!" Kisara's voice was on near hysterical levels. Itachi had to rectify the situation, and he had to do it now. He glanced around and saw that all the wedding guests had fled, and all the Cloud Shinobi, including the Raikage, had congregated around the Eight Tails, attempting to cox him back into his human form. His trick had worked, no one would remember them…aside from the Yukikage and they would be gone before he was revived.

"I'm sorry" He said shortly, but softly, as he turned and grasped Kisara by the shoulders, her soft skin feeling so warm underneath his own, as he unleashed the full power of the Mangikyo Sharingan on her.

Or at least, that's what he meant to do.

"Sorry about what?! What is up with your eyes?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Her voice was becoming ragged, her breathing coming in short ragged gasps. She began to fight his grip, attempting to shove him aside as she attempted to go find Kira. Then, like the run rising in the morning, realization dawned in her eyes. "…is that the Sharingan?"

"Not you too." He muttered, heavily annoyed at the situation. "Kisame, plan b."

"What's that?" The blue Shinobi asked, eyes wide with attention, trying to anticipate his surroundings.

"We run. All three of us." He replied grimly.

"Heh. This is turning into total shit, isn't it?"

Itachi's only response was to begin his retreat. He heard Kisame snort in disbelief and then make a low grunting sound which meant that he had picked up Kisara and tossed her over his shoulder. Her shriek and yell of protest confirmed it.

So much for getting out of the Land of Lightening unseen and undetected. He rolled his eyes to himself.

The two Shinobi raced through the grass, putting leagues between themselves and the mansion with each passing moment. They continued on, and Itachi noticed that Kisara had wisely stopped struggling and decided to drop her protests, choosing instead to shrink closer to Kisame's shoulder, or at least as much as she could with her dress.

"Alright, this is far enough." Itachi halted abruptly, though Kisame was able to stop a hairs-width from his back.

"For what? What are you guys doing?" Kisara's voice came from up above his head.

"Getting us out of here." He felt Kisame's unencumbered hand rest on his shoulder and with a set of complex hand signals, they were gone. Only the light indentations in the grass that had been under their feet were left to give any indication that anyone had been there at all.

Kisara felt the release of chakra one minute, and the next she felt herself begin to teleport through some unknown jutsu. Terrified, she gave one more try for wriggling out of Haru's grip before he clamped down and they were gone.

Immediately she felt as though she couldn't breathe, like the atmosphere was converging around her, squeezing all of the remaining air from her lungs. Then, just as suddenly, the pressure quickly dissipated, leaving her gasping for air along with her two companions.

She looked around, senses slightly disoriented, but quickly gathering herself together enough to attempt to defend herself if the need arose. But it seemed to be unnecessary. The trio stood at the mouth of a long cave, the entrance barely big enough to fit Haru's bulk and even then he would have had to crouch to avoid hitting his head.

As she looked around, she could just make out the ceiling, rising about twelve feet, gradually moving up and up as it moved away from the opening. The rest of it hidden by the gloom and the gathering dusk, it was definitely nowhere she had ever been before.

Indeed it was not.

The two men made their way into the cave, Haru indeed having to crouch low to avoid hitting himself and Kisara on the doorway. Once inside, Kisara jumped a little as Yahiko…or whatever his name was lit a fire with his jutsu in a carved out alcove that was obviously a fireplace. Haru, seeing she wasn't about to bolt, gently placed her on the ground, the tips of her ruined wedding dress whispering as they slid across the stone floor.

Once she was free, she backed away from the two men, both of whom were watching her intently, as though she were a time-bomb about to burst. Two pairs of eyes watched her and with a shiver, she realized she had no idea who accompanied her in this cave.

"Who are you?" She stood up straight with as much dignity as she could manage as she asked this question totally aware of their advantage over her. They knew where they were, she did not, they were armed, weapons easily accessible, and her weapons were hidden. They knew far more about her than she ever thought she knew about them. In any Shinobi's book, that was as good as a death-sentence.

"Kisame Hoshigake" Haru said as he bowed deeply to her. "Missing-nin of Hidden Mist, currently a member of the notorious Akatsuki group".

She studied him. Kisara wasn't stupid, she was fully aware that these two men had been hired and offered a large sum of money to protect her. She was aware that any Shinobi worth their salt would provide an alias when serving outside of their Hidden village. What she hadn't expected were missing-nins, mercenaries yes, but not wanted criminals.

"Kisame-kun," She started, finding in her surprise that his name fit him much better than Haru, "You may as well be a stranger to me. I understand the need for a cover. How much of it was real?"

Kisame cocked his head, thinking hard. "Besides my name and rank, it was all me girlie. You can't fake being this awesome." He grinned at her. "Besides the 'Lady' thing. Not my style."

"I think I could guess that." She said dryly and began to relax. Now for Yahiko. She turned towards the raven-haired man. "And you? I think I can puzzle it out. You wield the Mangikyo Sharingan, and look to be about my age. That makes you either a lucky Uchiha who escaped the massacre, or you were the one who caused it." She said this softly, as if daring him to contradict her.

"Which do you think?" A dark expression passed over his face, daring her right back.

"Itachi Uchiha." She murmured. "The famous clan-killer, heir to the Sharingan blood-line limit."

He nodded, and then made a statement of his own. "The Sharingan blood-line limit which had no effect on you…or your brother." Though it wasn't a question, she could feel his expectation that she explain herself.

She nodded, obliging him since it obviously wasn't a secret any longer. "Of course not, the main family lines of the Yukidurama are all immune to Genjutsu."

She said this harshly, bluntly, mostly because of how upset she was over her current situation. But decided to elaborate.

"Uchiha-san, do you remember one of the first conversations we had? Back in the Big House and we were going over my skill set?"

His red eyes narrowed slightly at the sudden turn of formal speech. "Yes." He said, probably deciding not to mention it though she had obviously dropped it for Kisame.

"Do you recall when you asked me about Genjutsu and I informed you that all Yukidurama were unable to use it?"

"Yes." His eyes now narrowed in concentration and Kisara amused herself for a moment, pretending she could see his mind churning out possibilities behind his face.

"We are unable to use it because we are immune to it. No magic, no tricks. We can't see it and we can't be susceptible to it. Only watch as our comrades become enraptured by illusions we will never experience, incapable of giving them aid. In short: your greatest asset is useless against me." She directed that last segment at him, meeting his eyes without fear, something she suspected he hadn't experienced in quite some time.

Itachi breathed a sigh of relief and irritation; relief for the simple fact that their mission was over, and irritation as to how it could have gone so wrong. Realizing this, the three had hunkered down inside the cave for the night, agreeing there was no sense in moving on until morning.

He glanced over at Kisara's sleeping form, her silver hair glinting in the light of the fire, her earlier statement swirling around his head. It would be just my luck that I meet a girl who actually is my equal, and I get hired to kill her.

He thought about that. For so long he had experienced almost unsurpassed skill and advantage over any opponent. Now here was a girl who not only had the possible skills to best him in standard combat, but his greatest asset was rendered useless against her. He had to admit that all the feelings he had for her up until now paled in comparison to how intriguing she this made her.

Itachi could deny it no longer. Despite his best efforts, he had to admit that he was interested in Kisara, not just because he found her to be stunningly attractive, but because she could actually mean a lot for him…and his future plans. It really was too bad, he mused, that she was not only married to another man, but that he had kidnapped her and almost killed her brother all in one day. It was a wonder that she didn't try to kill him in his sleep; he certainly wouldn't have blamed her for trying.

He leaned back against the smooth wall of the cave, thinking about his current situation. Of all the Shinobi who were present at the wedding, only Kira had been able to deduce who he actually was and could still remember it. His Genjutsu had seen to all the others. And due to the fact that he was a Yukidurama, and apparently immune to anything his Sharingan could throw at him (he halted his train of thought to roll his eyes) he could chose to expose Itachi, thereby ensuring the Akatsuki were blamed for the incident. And Kisara's disappearance.

However, if Kira was the kind of man Itachi thought he was, and if anything he still was an impeccable judge of character, Kira would have chosen to tell no one of Itachi's identity.

The reason being too-fold: first of all, he wouldn't want to take the chance that Itachi would hold Kisara hostage or otherwise harm her, and second of all, he would want to at least salvage what he could from the alliance with Lord Matsuoka and the Hidden Cloud. Yes, Kira might choose to reveal Itachi's identity, but not yet. In fact, there was the chance that no one would believe him since Kira would have been the only witness.

That meant that Itachi and Kisame had time; time to return to base and ensure that the two people who could potentially overcome him, Kisara and Kira, were safely factored into the rest of his plans. He folded his heavy Akatsuki cloak around him which he had finally recovered from his sealing scroll, and attempted to get at least a few hours of rest.

Kisara threw up her travel hood to shield herself from the rain. She shivered as she trudged through the city streets, avoiding large puddles with her sandaled feet. Being a Shinobi of Hidden Frost, she was used to cold weather, but cold rain was another thing. She would take the wildest of snow storms over this depressing drizzle.

She glanced ahead and saw the matching black cloaks with red clouds of her former-body-guards-turned-kidnappers through the crowds. She hastened her pace, avoiding a mother with two young children in tow as she did so. She caught up with Kisame and Itachi (she had given up calling him Uchiha-san after the first night) and the three of them stopped just in front of a very tall building.

"We are here." Itachi said smoothly, moving forward once again, his steps leading him to the large riveted metal door.

Kisara caught Kisame grinning at her and she stuck her tongue out at him before she followed the black-haired man.

Itachi reached out his right hand, the one that had a large ring on it, which seemed to signal the doors to unlock for he met no resistance as he pushed the door inwards.

Kisara swallowed nervously, but resolutely followed, Kisame just behind her. They entered the ground floor of the building and faced a large staircase which led up to all of the floors above and what looked like a few underground levels below. She continued to follow Itachi's steps as they rose to the third floor. Each floor they passed was designed similarly, bleak metal walls each riveted in place, some of the older panels rusted from the relentless rain.

However, the third floor was actually rather…homey. Yes, she supposed that was the word. The walls were painted a relaxing taupe color, little tables and plush arm chairs decorating the front room all situated pleasantly close to a crackling fire. It would have been very calming if it hadn't been the headquarters of the Akatsuki.

Before two nights ago, Kisara had never heard of that organization. In fact she had hardly even heard of the Uchiha besides the police force that the Yukidurama had modeled theirs after. The only other thing she knew was that several years ago, for no apparent reason, the Uchiha clan had been massacred in one night leaving two survivors: Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha. It was rumored that the older brother, Itachi, had been the one to complete the massacre, but Kisara had a hard time seeing it, even if it was true.

She found that over the last two days since the trio began their journey to Hidden Rain and the Akasuki headquarters, that Kisame had been right, really, the only things they two had changed had been names and appearances. The two engaged in the same manner of conversation, general habits and casual banter as Haru and Yahiko. It was…oddly comforting to Kisara.

As soon as light hit the cave the day after her wedding, the two men had fished out a summoning scroll and retrieved their cloaks, headbands, and discarded weapons. Kisara had to admit that she was truly fascinated by Kisame's sword, Samehada, after all, what Yukidurama wouldn't be?

Luckily, they weren't the only ones to be prepared. An old habit of a Shinobi had prompted her to keep her own, much smaller, summoning scroll strapped to her thigh beneath her dress. In it she had placed a set of mission clothes, her other Shinobi gear including her headband…and of course her sword, Yoarashi, given to her by Kira what seemed years ago, but had only been weeks.

She had donned these things including a thick cloak, and replaced them in the scroll with her tattered wedding dress. She had rolled up the scroll and replaced it in its holster on her thigh. Once it sat there, she began to feel like she could face whatever lay before her.

Even if that 'whatever' was the entire Akatsuki organization.