Author's Note: I do so love writing Itachi and Kagome together. Their interactions are just so adorable and they literally write themselves.

Warnings: Child Abuse, Language, Gore/Violence, Sexual/Adult Situations, Suicidal and other disturbing themes. (For this chapter, Kagome's fixation with Itachi's bellybutton)

Rating: Mature

Pairings: Itachi/Kagome, Sasuke/Kagome, Naruto/Kagome, Shisui/Sakura, Shikamaru/Temari

Ages:

Kakashi: 30

Shisui: 23

Itachi: 20

Neji, Lee, TenTen: 17

Sasuke & Sakura: 16

Naruto: 15

Kagome: 12

~Chapter Twenty Five~

Three Days Without Sun

Be still, please

I'm still trying to find a heart

To call my own.

Yours will make up for the both of us.

The master bedroom had three windows for walls, each giving a crisp view of the atrium. The fourth held a shoji screen. The only scrap of furniture was a massive, ancient wood-carved bed that was inlayed with seashells for intricate floral designs and a bare framework that hung above with no curtains to speak of for the canopy. The only lighting, save for the green glow of the atrium was a cluster of squat malformed candles on the floor and a rusty candelabra.

Then, off to the corner, were three shoved boxes that contained every article of Higurashi Kagome's life.

Save for the comforter on the massive bed, or the clothes on her back.

Which were slowly peeling off, one by one.

All Kagome heard was the rustle of fabric and her labored breaths. She felt like a giant ogre who was about to clumsily defile a prestigious clan's heir.

To which, said heir, would heartily agree that this was partly true because said ogre couldn't figure out how to undo his pants.

Kagome stopped, heaved a very loud sigh and sat back with her threadbare comforter over her head and Itachi from the waist down, like a tent. "This is a problem," she mused as she stroked her chin.

And Itachi was not, by any means, helping.

He found it quite amusing and was content to simply lay back on the mattress with arms crossed behind his head and watch the little lump under the sheet grunt and groan and prod at his loins. "I assure your ventures are futile."

Kagome poked out from under her popup tent and glared voraciously at him. "Why are you being so difficult?"

"Do you realize sex without consent is rape?"

"Who said anything about…" Kagome wrinkled her nose. "That."

"Therein lays the problem, Kagome. We are not talking about it."

Again with the logic. He was just making this harder on them both. Couldn't he just get with the program so she didn't have to explain her horribly embarrassing feelings that she liked more than one boy?

Kagome rolled her eyes and threw herself across his stomach. "I am so done talking, about everything." Splayed across, she then got a fiendish glint in her eyes as she let her fingers creep under his shirt and rake across the indentations of ribs and muscle.

"Do you even have the faintest idea on what you are doing?" Itachi asked, his bemusement slowly fading into a sobering reality.

"Nope. Not even the faintest," Kagome smirked and she hiked up his shirt to reveal—

Uchiha Itachi's bellybutton.

"I knew you had inny."

"Kagome…"

Said ANBU was about to gag said heir, because one: he made her feel like a lecher, two: he making fun of her and three: she was about to bite off his bellybutton.

And screams wouldn't be favorable.

"I'm just having fun and you have about as much appeal as a corpse with the way you lay here all stiff," Kagome mumbled as she propped an elbow onto his hip and stared at him flatly.

"I am not helping you instigate something you may regret."

"Oh, don't play innocent now," Kagome poked said bellybutton and like everything else on Itachi, she found it fixating. How could someone have such a perfectly shaped bellybutton?

He caught her wrist. "I am not playing innocent," he said in that utterly even and measured tone. "There are certain aspects of this lifestyle that you are overlooking."

"And those are?" Kagome drawled.

"I am still bound to my clan, in more ways than one. I have to maintain a residence within my family's manor to keep my birthright as heir."

Or Sasuke would be thrown to the wolves and become his replacement.

This meant, although he was on the outs with his father at the moment and his absence was deemed acceptable until things cooled down he couldn't spend every night here.

Kagome swallowed thickly. "That's fine. I am still living with Naruto after all."

Itachi's aura settled into a dark mood that was nearly suffocating.

"So, for now, let's just live in the moment," Kagome whispered as she crawled over and straddled his stomach and laid across his chest until the tip of her nose was poking his chin. "Because in this moment, I'm yours and you're mine." And she did a breathy kiss along his jaw line.

Only to be met by a crushing force of his lips as he suddenly sprang up and there was strong urgency about him. Kagome gasped and she was thrown onto her back. Itachi was between her legs, moving and yet still and all she could do was awkwardly grope his skull for his unbound nape and let it slide through her fingers.

Itachi was terrifyingly dominant when he actually put forth some effort.

He didn't coax her lips to part; he wrenched them open and raked his tongue into the yawning cavern of her mouth hungrily. Kagome let out a grunt in frustration, which dragged out into more of a pitiful whimper as she fisted his hair. It was then, it dawned on her.

Itachi was no awkward virgin or emotionally repressed teenager like Naruto or Sasuke.

And whatever Itachi did, he did well.

Kagome nearly yipped when she felt his hand stuff down her pant leg, cup her butt and give a light squeeze.

Kagome stilled, oddly pleasurable but she hadn't thought of it. How did he get her pants undone so fast? Last she checked they were of the same brand and make.

Kagome's breathing was erratic and she couldn't maintain anything without coming up gasping. "Nnh, Itachi," she barely got out as she felt his tongue leave heated wet circles on her throat and his hand kneading her ass. "Just… do it or take them off."

Kagome felt a chill on her legs as her pants quite literally flew across the room, leaving her in black skintight shorts and chest bindings. Kagome froze, feeling the surge of thoughts bombard her again. He'd beyond this point with every other woman, whatever he did would be worthless and no way special to her.

Itachi paused as well as simply hovered above, breath hot on the slight swell of her breasts.

"Itachi?" she asked, voice clear and pure as glass.

His forehead rested heavily on her sternum and she rested her chin on the top of his head. She wrapped her arms possessively around him.

"What have you never done with a woman?"

It was then Kagome numbly watched the ceiling as the man pinned over her shuffled with the fabric with a few jerky movements.

It wasn't until she heart the clink of a metal fastening on wood did Kagome realize that his pants were on the floor. She tossed her head to the side and looked at the floor.

Apparently Sasuke wasn't the only to wear boxer briefs in the family.

That was when Kagome saw his shoulder blades jut and bow beneath his shirt as he pulled it off and over the beautiful array of muscled ribs.

Kagome felt the initial heat rise to her cheeks times a thousand but it didn't overcome the beautiful song of bare skin on bare skin and how this was what true vulnerability meant to a shinobi.

Still, despite the earth shattering gesture, Kagome couldn't quite squelch the tiny little though that screamed: Uchiha Itachi is naked.

Then an inexplicable paralysis washed over Kagome.

"Kagome…?" Itachi's voice was so far away, and it was partly due to that incessant ringing.

She felt something stream down from her nose and Itachi curiously dab at her wet nostrils with the slightest of touches. A thin flame of heat flooded under her skin and she felt her skin become damp.

"Kagome, you have a nosebleed," Itachi leveled her with a look showing his stained fingertips like it was her fault.

And that's precisely when the shoji screen burst open.

"Sur-prise!"-

"Shisui?" she choked in mortification.

And from the very depths of her vocal chords, Kagome screeched.

Itachi promptly dislodged himself from her, which Kagome gave the strangest noise at and then in a gust of movements, was gone.

Down the hall, a door slammed and quaked the walls.

Shisui shuffled awkwardly on his feet. "Uh, hi."

Kagome curled in a little ball and gathered the comforter tightly around her.

Shisui rose a brow, then smirked. "You got to first base, didn't you?"

Kagome's eyes narrowed as one would onto the corpse they had just killed.

Shisui watched as her cheeks reddened to a new height of color and how she had viciously tucked her bottom away into the comforter. He then spotted the tiny black shorts on the floor."Oh my god, you got to second…" Or was it third? Somewhere in between maybe?

Kagome sent a long glance to the bathroom door, her face was now a flaming fuchsia. Kagome hopped off the bed when she realized what Itachi might be doing in there and walked swiftly (while hitting Shisui on the shoulder, of course) out of the bedroom.

"Hey chibs," Shisui disembodied voice called down the hall.

"Not talking about it," she called back.

Shisui flickered in front of her when she rounded into the cooking area. Albeit outdated and not as opulent as the rest of the house but it was a quaint place, if a bit dreary. It had a tucked away dining area, with a slanted ceiling giving way to a very welcome, but still small, window. The light was murky and wan from autumn, yet it plaited across the floorboards in ochre strips.

Shisui leered and held up her shorts with two fingers. "Missing something?"

She snatched them. "You are way too comfortable with this."

"Me? Sex is a part of life," Shisui drawled as he stalked into the kitchen.

"We were not having sex!"

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that considering you have clothes."

Kagome fumed, then felt like she was going to pass out again if she thought about what Itachi was doing, right now, at this exact moment just a few doors down.

"Stop thinking about it, you little hentai," Shisui sneered as he yanked open the fridge.

While Shisui searched their rather barren food stores, Kagome yanked up her shorts and folded the comforter. She placed it on a low table with a shallow breath. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore…"

Shisui spied her a glance as he took a carton of milk and drank from it. Apparently Itachi had been doing some light grocery shopping. "You want my opinion?"

"No."

"This is way too soon."

Kagome stiffened and then promptly snapped. "You were the one who wanted us to get married!"

"Yeah, when you're older. Not when you're fucking twelve and he's jacking off to you!"

Kagome's face contorted as she chewed angrily on the inside of her cheek.

Shisui tossed the empty carton and stomped over to her. "What's happening? You wouldn't push it so far for no reason."

Kagome's lip quivered as Shisui loomed over her. "I just feel… like if I don't do this, then he'll run off with some other more experienced woman."

Shisui shook his head with a violent curse. "He told you didn't he?"

Kagome nodded. "Thirteen, Shisui. Some more than once."

"Yeah, I know," Shisui clapped a hand on her shoulder. "I'm usually in the other room."

Kagome disgustedly displaced Shisui's off her shoulder. "You're a beast."

"Heh, not the first time—ow, okay I get it. No need to hit."

"Why are you here?" Kagome asked pointedly as she cranked the sink running and filled a glass.

"Swung by the compound and caught Hatake laying into Naruto and Sasuke. He seemed pissed. Or at least from what I could tell from under that mask."

Kagome shrugged and brought the glass rim to her lips. "Pakkun has been trailing me, he knows just as much as Itachi with Sai."

"Yeah, speaking of that. Itachi hasn't said anything to you about dry humping with Whiskers, has he?" Shisui leaned against the counter across and began to fiddle with the gaslight.

Kagome sipped broodingly. "Why?"

"Dunno, let's just say it's probably your safest bet to choose one and stick with it."

"Are you implying I'm a polygamist?" Kagome deadpanned.

"No, I would never imply—but I would accuse," Shisui huffed and crossed his arms at her.

"It's none of your business," Kagome snubbed as she swallow a mouthful of water.

"Um, it is my fucking business when you're screwing around with my peoples' people!"

"What?"

"First off, Itachi and Sasuke are my cousins. More like brothers to me, and they're the only family I consider genuine. Second, if Sakura knew what you were doing with her two teammates, do you know how hurt she would be? You're like a little sister to her!"

Kagome bit her lip and then refilled her glass. "It's private," she grit out, knuckles white against the counter's edge. "It's nobody's business but ours."

Shisui's face went stiff. "What? You think you can have your little harem and everyone is going to be okay with it? What about when you want to have kids? Junior's gonna wonder why he has three daddies, if not more at the rate things are going now… " Shisui grumbled. "It's not natural."

Glass shattered in Kagome's hand and fell to the floor with bloody clinks.

Shisui didn't flinch or swarm over her like the so many overprotective people in her life.

"You think I don't know that…" She just kept on a steady gaze before deftly plucking out the little shard out of her palm and letting them fall into the sink, one by one. "There's no future in this, there's never been a future for any of us."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shisui snapped.

Kagome folded her palm, split flesh and blood trickled down her wrist. She was silent when she reopened it, like a blooming flower, the skin was smooth and bloodless. "This is not natural and it comes with a cost."

Shisui felt his vision blur. "What cost?"

Kagome's head bowed. "There's something inside of me, like how Jinchuuriki heal fast but the demon eats away at the mind? I have a power, Shisui. You know this. You've seen it and its price…" she swallowed thickly.

Your heart stopped, Neji had said to her. Not only did your heart cease for a moment, Kagome-sama, but your signature vanished. The air, the natural energies shifted, stilled… for but a moment.

Something unnatural had awakened, once dormant in her bones it was now crying out and scraping her dry.

I think I'm dying, she had said back.

She would soon be a hapless shell with a skeleton brittle and hollow like a bird's.

And, in a way, she was.

Except, it wasn't marrow and it went deeper than her bones.

"Its price is my soul."

…

Three days passed until Kagome had finally worked up the courage to sneak off to the market. Being unable to endure another round of takeout or go without completely, due to both prodigy's finickiness. Naturally, Shisui came along despite his obvious disposition that he could barely stand her.

Which was fine; considering Kagome could still pawn off the bag carrying duties to him.

Shisui kept on his front of indifference towards Kagome. He wasn't cold, but he wasn't coddling her either. He grumbled a few times, to which Itachi usually silenced with a pointed look and Shisui relented easily enough. Kagome had a feeling his growing resentment towards her would be uncontrollable if she hadn't snapped on him about her unknown powers and what they cost her.

She knew Shisui hated her cowardice. She refused to come down from her and Itachi's abode and Shisui never disobeyed Itachi by relaying her location to Sasuke or Naruto.

However, he did relay every detail of their lives to Kagome.

So, as he helped her unpack groceries, he did just that.

"So yeah, Pinky's worried about Whiskers. He's just stares at his ramen like its mud and anyone who tries to console him gets their fingers snapped off," Shisui announced as he shelved the peanut butter. He hopped onto the counter and juggled some cans. "Ew, green beans… And the Hyuuga has gone off solo. He's training with other ANBU quite a lot now."

Kagome grit her teeth as she chucked oranges into the fruit bowl.

"And Brat has been avoiding Whiskers too, ever since that huge fight yesterday, he's been with that bastard Hatake. They're working on some new jutsu, something to do with harnessing natural lightning."

Kagome plopped the bananas down like they burned. That had been her idea…

"At least that what Pinky thinks. She doesn't know and she doesn't really ask. She's just been healing their muscles a lot. You know they're all twitchy all the time."

"And Sai?" Kagome spoke for the first time in hours.

"Still following Whiskers, he had to knock him unconscious when Brat nearly lost an arm."

Kagome winced. "What did they fight about this time?"

"Well, Whiskers just busted out screaming about how I was he going to disembowel Itachi and Brat kind of lost it. I don't really know what they were arguing about after that, but they haven't spoken since," Shisui took a bite of an apple. "Jiraiya has been training with him a lot, but he's still getting aggressive towards everyone… Except for that Hyuuga girl."

Kagome didn't respond after that, knowing that her and Itachi's time was coming to a swift close. This was oddly fine by her, because after Shisui's little bombardment she hadn't really worked up the stomach to instigate anything else and all they did at night was hold one another.

The three days spent together went by in a blur, she busied herself tidying and moving in which was quite swift with the lack of furniture. Her monthly stipend and the paycheque from her last mission constituted for fresh linens, groceries and the hefty utilities of the penthouse but once that was done, she was just as broke as Itachi.

Itachi was preoccupied most of the time. She understood, but it still made her uneasy about the future, or lack thereof, as the only time she saw him was when they were asleep. He was either locked away in the study during the evenings or away with ANBU affairs all other times. It was hardest when she awoke in the morning to an empty bed.

On the fourth morning, Kagome just stared at the ceiling mulling over how each second she lingered here was another more her relationships with everyone else deteriorated. Light slipped past in pale wisps and it was bitterly cold when no one was here.

Another hour of wallowing in gut wrenching guilt passed until Kagome finally made her way to the oblong dresser Shisui had dragged from some thrift shop. Even with all her belongings neatly stowed away, it still was a barren sight when she finally yanked the stiff drawer ajar.

Oh joy, she thought glumly. Her attire was completely monotone as it appeared she was attending a funeral every day for the next year or so. She dressed prim, with a fleece zipped up to the neck and combat pants that rimmed her ankles.

Kagome turned. It was never a sound or the pulling sense of chakra that alerted her, just the intuition of his presence. "You're back."

Itachi stood, fingers clasped to the latticework of the shoji screen. "How long have you been up?"

Kagome shrugged. "Awhile, but I just managed to get out of bed."

Itachi remained silent and Kagome just stared at him expectantly.

"You look tired," she said finally. He was working too hard, she could see it in the hollows beneath his eyes and in his ribs that became more prominent each day.

Itachi's lips drew into a straight line. "There is a clan meeting tonight."

She felt her blood run cold. "I see."

"My absence cannot be afforded."

Kagome's head bowed. "I know."

"Kagome…" Itachi just breathed her name, but her stare remained riveted to her toes and the swirling wood-knots. "I apologize for… lately…"

"Don't." Kagome looked up. "Don't be sorry. I know how hard you work, so don't waste anymore energy on guilt."

There was a definite relief but it was a brief sigh. "I know none of this has reached your expectations…"

Kagome was already before him and soft hand on his chest. Fingers curled on the damp cloth of his uniform, he'd been training. "Itachi, stop thinking of me as some pining little girl and realize that maybe I'm actually happy to be here with you… no matter how limited a time that may be."

"You are not disappointed, then?" A raised brow, along with a glint shone of bemusement in those eyes.

Kagome shrugged. "Maybe a little." A smirk tugged on her lips.

"And what can I possibly do to remedy this?" He took a step forward and their proximity was suffocating.

Kagome felt his hand splay across her ribs, curling around and nearly encompassing her tiny frame. Kagome let out a fluttering breath as his fingers rested tightly beneath her breasts. "Umm…" She placed a stemming hand on his and Itachi paused immediately. "Could we… do something?" She swallowed. "Because I just got out of bed and the last thing I want to do is go back in it."

"What do you have in mind?" he asked and his voice was like velvet.

"I don't know, we could go out to eat… maybe?" She cringed as if she had suggested to murder a dozen puppies as if it were a guilty pleasure of hers.

"Kagome." He crossed his arms and his face softened considerably. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Kagome's cheeks bloomed red. "Well, I mean ,it doesn't have to be called that… I don't know! Don't you have any hobbies?"

"Shinobi don't have hobbies, Kagome."

Kagome's head hung low. That's what they were, nothing else. Any other activities would be a distraction. At least as far as ANBU was concerned. "Yeah, me neither…" It was then a thought trickled down to a realization. "Oh, I know."

"Hm?" He raised a brow at her.

"I want to spar."

…

Sakura fiddled with the butter-yellow petals of lupins with a speculative eye and pursed lips. Shisui sighed audibly as he craned his arm even farther with an umbrella to accompany the crouched kunoichi who was studying the floral stalks like prey.

Sakura was wearing that god-awful green raincoat again and Shisui didn't appreciate how it squeaked at her tiniest movements or the fact that it had daisy shaped buttons.

"You almost done?" Shisui complained as he stared at the ever growing puddles at their feet.

But Sakura remained fixated on the flower cart. "Don't you think these prices are a little outrageous?"

"It's almost winter," Shisui deadpanned. "Imported products from below the equator are always outrageously priced."

"Huh." Sakura's spine straightened as she stood. "Well I guess it's a good thing you're buying them then, right?"

Shisui let out his umpteenth sigh of the day. "How much?" He began to shuffle in his pockets with his freehand while the little pink-head bounced on the balls of her feet expectantly and with a cheeky grin.

"Um, three hundred ryo?"

"What? How many do you want?" Shisui hastily demanded.

Sakura promptly picked up the entire tub.

"Women," Shisui groaned, hung his head and then held out a crumpled handful of currency. "Why on earth do you need that many goddamn flowers?"

Sakura shrugged. "To brag to Ino." And she certainly couldn't do that if she had stopped by the Yamanaka flower shop.

"Why?"

"Because they are from you," Sakura quipped, twirled on her heel and diplomatically bartered down the price with a crotchety old florist. She handed him the change and proudly hugged the paper wrapped bouquet. "Thank you!"

"Uh… yeah, you're welcome." Shisui just shuffled awkwardly on his feet before shielding her pretty pink head from the drizzle. "You want to go eat now?"

"Yep!" Sakura dug into her little knapsack revealed two brown paper bags. "I made lunch so we could have a picnic."

Shisui shot Sakura a flat look as the rainfall increased and she huddled closer, arms full. "Yeah, because the weather is just peachy."

Sakura wilted. "We could… find a bench?"

Shisui shrugged. "Whatever Pinky, c'mon." And he drudged up enough energy to amble on down the muggy stalls of Konoha's downtown.

It wasn't until the near constant drizzle turned to a steady downpour that Shisui opted for a rain check on the picnic and seek refuge in a gritty little teahouse.

Sakura's shed her raincoat and curled chilled fingers around her steaming mug. Shisui begrudgingly minded the slightly damp lupins.

"You're upset," Sakura observed before sipping greedily.

"Why wouldn't I be upset?" Shisui spat and felt like hitting something, preferably something squishy.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Why did all the men in her life have such uncontrollable tempers? "What did she do now?"

Shisui grit his teeth and set down his tea with an audible clap. "Last night after dinner, I went to go see them again… she barely said a word to me, just asked me about you and acted like Whiskers and Brat never fought."

"She feels guilt," Sakura murmured as she stroked the rim of her cup. Naruto and Sasuke were avoiding each other like the plague and even regarded her a bit more indifferently now, especially since she spent more and more time with Shisui.

"No, she's petrified to face either of them," Shisui crossed his arms and glared horridly at the vapor. "Plus she's too caught up in this tryst she has with Itachi. It's not fair. She's stringing everyone along."

"Tryst?" Sakura raised a pink brow. "Is it really that serious?" As far as she knew, or could pry out of Shisui, Kagome was in an undisclosed location after a rather awkward confession on Sasuke's part. Which Naruto instigated, on some perverse level that she couldn't even begin to grasp, and Sasuke went through with it.

And that's when the schism had begun and Kagome had bolted.

They expect too much of her, Sakura mused as she watched the amber liquid in her mug curl with bits of tealeaves. That's why she left all of you, because Itachi expects nothing of her and let's her be free.

'No matter what, don't doubt us. You have a home now and all I want for you is to promise you'll always come back.'

'Okay.'

"She'll come back," Sakura stated firmly. She promised.

Shisui snorted. "You have no idea what they're doing up in that castle, do you?"

"Castle?" Sakura echoed.

"Shit, you weren't supposed to hear that."

"Oh my god…" Sakura stiffened as the realization washed over. "Oh my god—Itachi bought Kikyo castle?"

Shisui blinked furiously. "What? No, no, just the top level of a tower. Which is still pretty big, let me tell you—"

"You mean a penthouse," Sakura said dryly. "Kagome and Itachi eloped to a penthouse." She slapped a palm on her forehead. "How… how utterly cliché! This is like out of soap opera. Itachi does realize this is illegal right?"

"Living together I believe is quite legal…"

"No, beyond the obvious… fraternization among Captains is highly looked down upon. They both could get into a lot trouble and Kagome being underage is not helping at all."

"You think they don't know that!" Shisui ran a palm heatedly over his face. "That's the problem, Itachi doesn't care and he's the one who will actually get into trouble."

Sakura deflated. "Well, Kagome-chan knows she has to come down from there eventually…" Kagome was biding her time, savoring what little time she had before she had to face Sasuke or Naruto. "Right?"

"Not if Itachi can help it…"

Sakura just sighed sadly and stared into the floating tealeaves. "I don't know how she can stand it… being cooped up in a place with Uchiha Itachi. It's not like he has a ton of free time for her."

"Oh they barely see each other. Chibi is lucky he's coming home every night." Itachi was a Captain and that came with a lot of responsibilities. "She just waits for him but she's content with that… they both are. It's scary how little they talk… they just—"

"Act like one person?"

"Yeah…It's weird." Shisui wrinkled his nose but his comment wasn't hostile.

"No, its love," Sakura said, green eyes shimmering and smiling.

"That's what I'm worried about."

…

"I didn't know you had a cat, Naruto-kun?" Hinata murmured softly against his neck.

Naruto's skin jumped when he felt another splinter be pulled free. A clink against glass caught his ear and out of the corner of his eye he caught a silver wood the size of a pencil into the bloody slosh.

"Huh?" He grunted and proceeded to arch his back even further. It was more tedious than painful to remove the better half of an exploded tree from his hide.

"There… there was a cat on your windowsill."

"Oh, yeah he's not mine."

Hinata didn't question any further. "You're healing is faster than I remember, Naruto-kun."

"I guess." Naruto stared flatly at the cracks in the plaster. This was more tedious than painful and was the direct result of that new jutsu Jiraiya was having him work on, but with Yamato-taicho still out of country (despite being recalled) and Kakashi in Camp Sasuke (as Naruto had dubbed their old training ground), he was stuck with half-backed algorithms to go by and tree targets.

"Ah, the beauty of theoretical physics and Nature-Shape manipulation," Jiraiya had hummed as he tried to execute a technique he barely understood, let alone do correctly and then proceeded to fail miserably.

Failure resulted in a tree exploding from too much chakra and Shape instability and his current situation: with nine hundred tiny splinters lodged into his flesh like maggots to a corpse.

Kagome would have been able to figure it out and prevented this…

Naruto groaned, why did everything have to be so miserable?

"I-Is everything alright?" Hinata questioned, her fingers jittery and nails caked in blood as she tended to Naruto's wounds. "Naruto-kun?"

The Jinchuuriki just sighed irritably, it wasn't Hinata's fault. She'd been watching after him once Sakura prioritized Sasuke's dislocated shoulder. It wasn't healing right, or at least that was what Sakura had said to Hinata when she checked in on him. It had been horrible fight and the worst part was, he didn't even remember how it started or who, for that matter.

All Naruto knew was that Kagome was gone with Itachi and Sasuke blamed him for it when it was clearly Itachi's fault.

"You forced me onto her," Sasuke had gritted out and Naruto remembered the humiliation blooming red in the Uchiha's face.

"I didn't force anything," Naruto had shot back and they had been by a river. "You don't have to be such a prick all the time or cower like a little bitch when Itachi comes around."

"You are the one who actually has the fool's notion of competing with him," Sasuke had said so lowly.

"What are you saying? That I'm not good enough for her?" Naruto had growled, he remembered his heart thundering in his ears. "Then I guess that makes both of us, huh, Sasuke?"

"I won't lower myself to taking my brother's…. seconds."

That's when Naruto distinctly remembered seeing red. "Take that back! You won't talk about her like that."

That's when Sasuke's Sharingan had flicked to him sharply and stared him down in the twilight. "You will grovel and settle for anything, it's pathetic," Sasuke just muttered.

Naruto had just shaken his head. "You're just sore because she rejected you, you dumbass."

That's when Sasuke had frozen and Naruto knew he hit a tender spot, for how many times had Uchiha Sasuke been denied anything? It was a slap in the face, a sobering action that seemed to have 'cleared' his head so that he could refocus on his goals. "Inconsequential, what matters now is not my prior feelings but the fact that I lost sight of my goals and the primary reason I entered into ANBU." He was not meant to fraternize with his Captain but to become a shinobi of worth and rank and ultimately surpass his brother.

Kagome was just a momentary distraction.

"Don't you hear yourself? It's Kagome, she helped you into ANBU, without her you'd be nowhere. Didn't you say she was your equal? And now she's either too low for you or too much out of your league to compete with Itachi. You're just scared, Sasuke, real fucking scared to be happy for once." Naruto pleaded but when Sasuke remained impassive as stone, Naruto just deflated. "See, that's the difference between you and me, when I care for something I don't let my pride get in the way."

Sasuke glanced to the receding sun and then back to his friend with a baleful stare."No, Naruto the difference between you and me is that I refuse to touch a whore."

That was the exact moment Naruto had tackled Sasuke into the river, nearly drowning them both. Sasuke's arm had been wrenched under a rock on the riverbed and Naruto's knuckles were split to the bone before Sai had intervened and separated them.

Naruto had proceeded to scream horrible, horrible things once the water had been coughed out his lungs and Sasuke was held back only by the pain of his torn tendons. Shisui arrived in the next moments, took Sasuke off to Sakura and he'd hadn't seen him since.

That had been three days ago.

"Naruto-kun—?

Naruto looked back over his shoulder to the timid Hyuuga; long dark hair, creamy white skin with healthy flush and pale eyes with a hint of lavender sheen to them. "Hinata?"

Something about him staring at her, startled her. "Y-Yes?"

"Have you ever been in love?"

Hinata swallowed and her blush blossomed further. "Ano, m-maybe-maybe once…"

"Would you still love that person even if they were with someone else, but they still were with you?"

Hinata jitteriness abated slightly as she mulled on it for a long while. "No," she said firmly.

Naruto rose a brow and his crystal clear eyes shined back at her. "No?"

Hinata paused her ministrations and pinched her thumbs together. "If that person cannot solely devote themselves to you, then… then they don't truly love you."

Naruto's eyes darkened to a steely cobalt. "Huh, I guess…"

If what she said was true, then why did it feel so wrong?

…

The Assassinations Bureau was a secluded hub a few kilometers out from Konoha. Kagome had been here three times prior for Reconnaissance relay and each time she set her eyes on the structure it reminded her of a legless beetle. Nestled within the foothills of some nameless mountain range along the coast, it was metal encased with a dome roof of dark tinted windows that appeared black to the onlooker. It was small, compared to the other ANBU sects and was far off from any support if it were attacked.

But that would be a fool's errand, as it was here that most lethal combatants in all Fire Country converged and worked out of. This division was known for its one-man armies and its impossible near suicidal solo missions.

Itachi led her through a dried river bed, which was unnaturally desiccated due to the rainy weather of autumn as of late. It wound under and seemingly away from the bureau and Kagome had an itching feeling that if you knocked on the front door, you weren't supposed to be here.

"Exploding tags?" She queried as they ducked completely out of view and into a mossy ravine.

"One would assume…" Itachi didn't miss a beat as he nimbly ducked under a washed out root system. "But our front entrance is completely unprotected."

"Really?" Kagome followed and leapt across a gap where their path had collapsed. Itachi had simply stepped over it. "Seems a little arrogant, especially when you're this far from the village."

"We have Genjutsu inlayed if they so much as make it past four steps," He stated a bit vacantly as his eyes were preoccupied. "But we prefer most intruders alive."

Kagome couldn't stem the shiver and the gooseflesh brought on by it crawling over her skin.

Itachi groped a rock face, until his hand sunk most unnaturally into the thick carpet of lichen. "Here," He near whispered and pressed forth.

It was the same sound when one jammed a bone right back into its socket as Itachi parted the rock. The new space in between, was slim and dark and smelled dank.

Itachi slipped though without even the slightest resistance. Kagome followed and was enveloped in a pitch black.

The opening behind them closed with bone-shattering clap.

"Put on your mask," Echoed the disembodied voice.

Kagome did as Itachi instructed and dug it out of her pack. She slipped it on and found herself groping for a handhold.

Itachi's hand found hers in the darkness.

He led her on and the only light she could glimpse were the two pinpricks of scarlet; lambent like rubies. His Sharingan saw for them both. Soon the cavern opened to a dismal disk of light above and they were standing just below. Kagome's eyes ached and she glanced up to the circle of sky as they were both showered in a grainy beam of light. It took a moment for her to realize that it was not a muggy atmosphere that she was gazing up to but a tall ceiling and the muddled sunlight was in fact fluorescents.

"Hold on to me," Itachi murmured and she caught the faint crescent of his mask in the illumination.

She did, almost a bit too eagerly as she clasped her hands into fists and wrapped her arms around his waist.

The sound of rushing water was her only warning as Kagome felt a wave crash against them and threaten to spill into her lungs. But Kagome held on and looked desperately up to the small halo of light for hope.

"I-Itachi," she blurted and water rushed into her throat. "I can't swim."

It was too late, because instead of going up to the light, they were dragged down.

Water swirled, engulfed the both of them and Kagome clung more tightly to Itachi more than ever. She couldn't see anything, not even Itachi's eyes and her own stung as waited frantically for the water to abate and let her breathe.

But it didn't and soon they were tumbled and tossed and she lost all sense of direction.

It wasn't until Kagome felt as if her lungs might explode did the waters part and leave her a crumpled shivering mess clinging to Itachi like a soaked and terrified kitten.

Light still evaded her, but she realized her eyes were closed and quickly opened them.

"Ah, Taichou, you're back."

They were in a basement by the looks of it. Kagome was splayed on tile and a pool of water with arms firmly wrapped around Itachi's waist.

"Remind me to speak to Shisui about the latest security measure." Itachi brushed himself off, stood and brought Kagome to her feet along with him. There was a squelching sound as the two ANBU composed themselves.

"He didn't tell you about the back door?" The voice intoned again and Kagome's gaze finally focused in on their surroundings. The room was lined with metal tables draped in sheets and each had a corresponding light illuminating a small halo on each.

Kagome blinked at the kunoichi wearing a bear mask with long hair spilling forth in sleek violet plaits.

"No, he must have forgotten…" Itachi pushed his mask back. "Nullify his clearance, Uzuki-san. He is not a part of this division any longer."

Kagome stiffened. Uzuki-san?

"Of course, Taichou." The kunoichi nodded and then quirked her head at Kagome. "I cleared off the roof training area as per your request, but before you head up would you like inspect my findings?"

If Itachi gave any indication that he would, Kagome didn't hear it but she could only stand there numbly as Itachi approached and the kunoichi unveiled what lay beneath the sheets. It only took the smallest glimpses of sallow flesh for her to realize where they were.

They were in a morgue.

"Ew," Kagome grumbled with crossed arms as she watched Itachi and the kunoichi hover over a limp body like it was a book to be memorized.

"This is one brought in by Kage's team?" Itachi intoned as he cupped his chin.

"If you could call it that." The kunoichi thrummed her nails on the clipboard. "He was pretty banged up and I had to run him from the Taki border."

"Orochimaru was in Waterfall?"

"No, it was just another wild goose chase but they were able to salvage a body for my pickup." The Kunoichi then traced the sutures that cross lined the corpse's chest. "He was experimented on, but his organs were intact along with minimal alterations. This was no Resurrection techinique, thank god, but it means this was a willing follower of the corrupt Sannin."

"Anything else?" Itachi gave the body a lingering glance, traveling along his bandaged neck. He had been decapitated.

"Nothing that we didn't already know, but he was carrying vials that matched the samples of the plague found in Kawa."

Kagome perked up. "So it was Orochimaru who put out that plague?"

The kunoichi nodded. "Though, this is pretty large scale, even for him and it exceeds our prior estimates of the Sannin's manpower."

Kagome knew what that meant. Orochimaru was no longer working alone, he had garnered not only followers but something much more dangerous.

Devotion.

"But who would fall into allegiance with such a twisted man?"

Itachi and the kunoichi exchanged a swift glance, then Uzuki Yuugao answered. "Someone with a common cause, say, like the destruction of Konoha."

…

"Give it a rest," Kakashi ordered over the field.

Sasuke's arm slacked, but lightning still buzzed and cracked at his fingertips. The Uchiha just stared listlessly into the newest set of storm clouds.

"How's your shoulder?" Kakashi asked as he appraised the wrapped appendage. It wasn't Sasuke's sword arm thank the gods, but it was still injured and despite Sakura's daily healings, tendons were always a bit slow to heal.

"An inconvenience," Sasuke bit out.

Kakashi sighed, ever since Naruto's and Sasuke's little spat, his protégée had been insufferable. "Well, that's enough for today, Tsunade-sama will start complaining soon about the weather." There was just so much rain everyone could take and Sasuke just wasn't grasping the concept of harnessing natural elements as fast as Kakashi would have liked. "Tomorrow is yours, Sasuke."

Immediately the shoulder blades jutting beneath Sasuke's haori strained, like clipped bird wings and the cords of tendon in his neck grew taut. "No."

"You're not focused, Sasuke. It's a waste to keep on like this if you are not serious."

"I am," Sasuke took a steady step forward.

"No, you're not." Kakashi's voice clipped dangerously and snuffed out his student's persistence.

Sasuke let out a grating breath, before averting his eyes and glaring furiously at the mud puddles. "Why don't you tell me what this is really about, Kakashi?" He intoned smoothly, his emotions in check and his eyes utterly inhuman and darkly callous, like cold abysmal pits.

"I believe you know exactly what this is about Sasuke," Kakashi replied idly.

"I'm not going to discuss her," Sasuke uttered the last word with an almost guttural growl.

"Actually," Kakashi closed Icha Icha with a snap. "I wish to discuss your brother, Sasuke."

Sasuke's body just strained even further, like a bow drawn taut and ready to kill. "What about my brother?"

"You see, Sasuke… well, how do I put this?" Kakashi stroked his masked chin, one grey eye glancing up to the swirling nebulous cathedral above. "You seem conflicted."

"Conflicted…" Sasuke reiterated dryly.

"Hai, for one you're very protective of your brother, yet seething about something that is none of my business and your new view on Kagome-san is skewed and contorted to the point where she is beneath you and at the same time, still out of your reach." Kakashi scuffed a sandal along a bed of pebbles. "At least this is what I have gathered, so far." Along with Naruto's rant as he took him to the hospital and Sakura's occasional grumbles when she checked in on Sasuke's shoulder. Kakashi was just voicing his other's students concerns in a much more civil and less crude manner. "So, what will it be, Sasuke? Give in now or later?" Because they all knew no one could hold a grudge better than Uchiha Sasuke but he caved easier than anyone else on Team Seven when it came to someone he cared a about.

Sasuke was staring at the dirt. "Later…" He said gruffly, eyes downcast with muddy reflections.

"Ah, well now that is settled what shall we be doing about Naruto?"

Sasuke shrugged, the Dobe and him always made up in the end sometimes with more punches than hugs. "I don't understand him…" Naruto was perfectly content with sharing Kagome…

Yet, Sasuke threw it all away.

"Few do," Kakashi mused. "He is selfless to a fault and a bit too kindhearted for his own good but… that's what love will do to you. It makes you insane." It makes you forget what is good and bad and just makes you what are meant to be

Sasuke didn't respond, just watched in silence as the sky cried and regret pooled at his feet.

…

Kagome remained unnerved until they reached the bureau's roof. Itachi had forced a katana unto her in the weapons locker and when she had protested, he had fervently prodded as to why as her file told him she was a proficient dual swordsman.

"Fighting solely with a short sword is foolish," He had said and his tone was gratingly supercilious. "You already are easily overpowered by height and weight, why disadvantage yourself further?"

Kagome huffed and glared murderously at the sword. "I threw my katana into the ocean because it was soaked with blood. I couldn't bear to use it again knowing it took a life."

Itachi ignored her contradictions. "This one is quite clean, I assure you," He stated as if it were cleanliness was the root of the problem.

Kagome continued to pout at the katana outstretched to her. "No."

Itachi let out an audible. "Do you want to lose?"

Kagome swiped the sword begrudgingly. "Fine."

And that had been the end of that.

Now, they were currently on the roof which reminded Kagome more of a bubble than anything because it was completely enclosed in glass above with metal flooring beneath.

"Pretty," She said and her voice echoed faintly as she observed the swirling sky above. "But is it really practical? I could shatter this place with a flick of my finger."

Itachi was testing the balance of his katana on his wrist. "You could attempt to do so… though I would advise against it. Every inch of this area is infused with a… chakra repellent of sorts."

"What? Like a barrier?" Kagome flicked experimentally on a square of the clear dome and instead of the usually ping of glass, she heard a metallic thrum. If what he said was true, any attack, no matter the magnitude, would be contained. It was the ideal training ground, especially when Konoha was always scrambling to repair the old ones.

"Of sorts, it is still very experimental."

"Sounds expensive," Kagome said as she watched the glass fog from her breath.

"It is," Itachi informed her smoothly. "May we proceed?" And he outstretched and arm as one would do to his dance partner, except, Itachi's hand held a sword and his eyes were anything but passionate.

"Of course." Kagome flicked the sheath off the blade in a fluid motion. It went clattering across the ground, unceremoniously. She had no respect for the weapon, it was a tool and it would serve her.

It was then, it started raining.

Droplets turned to a muffled roar and the world blurred around them.

Itachi didn't move.

Kagome swallowed thickly.

In the next moment he was gone.

"Shit," Kagome bit out before flipping back and dodging a flash of metal. Her eyes were frantic, breathing already too heavy and her heart anxious. She felt the thrill of the fight tingle into her limbs and chakra eagerly flood into her fingertips. Her next motion brought a rush of wind louder than the storm winds outside. She ran, leapt and twirled her body until the blade in hand reached a powerful arc and shot a blast of Wind chakra in her wake.

Kagome landed with a roll and remained crouched as Itachi flickered into sight. He staggered slightly and gingerly brought his hand to the slice along his cheek.

Anyone else should have been quartered by her counter, but all it did was draw him out.

"I knew you were in my blind spot." Kagome nearly taunted as she hunkered even lower like cat about to pounce.

"I believe that should be a plural," Itachi said and his eyes bled out to his Sharingan.

"Not fair," Kagome pouted but before Itachi could quip she launched and violently assailed Itachi in a swift procession.

But Itachi met her strikes as if he were her mirror image. Each clash brought their sword hissing and sparks biting out. Kagome ducked suddenly and she felt the metal sing over her nape as she coiled around, utilizing her size. Her blade laid close to her ribs as she slid under Itachi's arm, clamped a freehand on his shoulder and flipped over him. Her legs remained straight into the air until she ended with a knee firmly planted into his chest.

Itachi's sword dropped and his arms encircled her thigh and brought her down with him.

Kagome somersaulted to break free. Itachi rolled with her.

It wasn't until Kagome was straddling his chest and Itachi's arms were locked perpetually around her legs did they stop. Her katana had been lost in the flail.

"I could cut off your head, you know," Kagome informed him as she wiggled her free fingers.

"Hn," Itachi just smirked and grips above her knees jerked and tightened.

Aside from breaking her legs or dislocating her hips, Itachi was out of alternatives.

Kagome crossed her arms. "You let me win."

"That was the only possible result," Itachi simple stated and in the next moment he roughly flipped Kagome onto her back.

Kagome huffed as her spine collided with the metal floor. Her reflex was for her legs to tighten around Itachi in her guard and she did just that as her knees hooked on his hipbones. The space usually placed between combatants closed and disappeared quickly when Itachi leaned heavily in between her legs and laid his long torso along the expanse of her entire body.

He didn't move up to her face or even send a lingering gaze to her lips.

He laid his head solidly on her chest and listened to the lively beat of her heart. Kagome felt his arms coil around her waist as he pulled her to him in a rustle of fabric.

Kagome just wrapped her arms around him and felt him breathe.

She had never felt him this gentle.

I don't want to fight, the planes of his shoulders sighed as his arms swore silent covenants to protect.

"Itachi…" She breathed as she traced figure eights along his spine.

Let's just live in the moment.

"We have to go," She whispered and didn't dare move under his weight.

Because in this moment, I'm yours and you're mine.

"Just… wait." His voice thundered through her and lightning silently protested in the distance.

"Okay."

And in the shadows of the storm, they stayed.

Author's note: Sad to say I will be going on hiatus for a number of reasons (life is hectic, yes?), with hopes to return quickly and only if you all will have me back. You will have me back, won't you? *puppy eyes* Reviews always appreciated during this stressful time in my life and I have the…um… 'unedited' version of this chapter. Just PM me your email address and it will be sent, lime and all. I'll miss you all so much! *hugs* Farewell! ~KK