Hey everyone, here is another chapter. This chapter is dedicated to an awesome reviewer koiketsudayou who has given me my most awesome review to date. I also want to thank silferdeath, Battle neurosis (Don't worry about Madara, I never believed it for a second), to the anonymous reader who told me about Hidan, OSR fanatic, OTURAN-IKAMUZU1, wingedmercury and to everyone else who read and reviewed. Thank you guys so much! Enjoy and Review. :)


SURGERY

True to her word, the Hokage taught me what I needed to know. I had to drain a certain amount of chakra from his thorax. She would use certain seals to isolate the area and another medic would keep his heart beating. Unfortunately for me, it required that I be very precise in how much energy I took. They needed to remove enough to weaken the parasites but not so much that it permanently damaged his tissue. It was a fine line and I spent all day and a lot of the night learning how not to cross it. By the time we finished, she seemed very pleased with my progress and even went so far as to offer me a drink of her sake. One drink led to two and three so by the time Sam knocked on the door I was pretty tipsy. The Hokage was red in the face but seemed sober as a rock.

"Don't be late." She cautioned as I followed Sam out the door. I nodded in response but focused on keeping both feet hitting the floor.

"I guess I should have warned you about the Hokage's little drinking problem but I figured that you already knew." He said putting an arm around my waist and guiding me down the stairs. It wasn't comfortable for either of us but my brain felt like it had melted in my head and was sloshing around.

"I know but I've never had sake this potent. It usually takes a lot more for me to get drunk."

"Well, consider yourself lucky that I came when I did. Sakura says that the Hokage hates to drink alone. Are you okay? Did you spend all day together?"

"Yeah, but I can't talk about it." I said and stumbled "Shit."

Before I could protest Sam reached down and scooped me up into his arms with what seemed like no effort.

"Uh, Sam," I began to protest

"Sam nothing," He said "This is much faster than me hoisting you along like half inflated pool toy."

In response, I yawned and settled against him smelling faint traces of sweat and grass. It wasn't unpleasant but I felt that something was missing; something a little floral and sweet. I drifted off and didn't wake till Sam was closing the door of my borrowed room.

RECOVERY

Itachi woke two days after the surgery to find that he wasn't alone. He was surprised to wake at all. After the Hokage's first attempt to remove the parasites failed so spectacularly, he had expected to die on that operating table. The thought hadn't worried him, it was more a feeling of disappointment. He had failed Sasuke again; his second chance to make things right was going to end with him bleeding to death in an operating theatre.

"You're awake." She said turning to face him. "Welcome back. How are you feeling?"

He struggled to sit up and failed. The weakness in his limbs was bearable but the raw feeling in his chest was hard to ignore. He tried again, ignoring the discomfort. The girl took a step towards him.

"Don't." He said coldly

"I was just trying to help. You're not supposed to move around too much." She replied

"What do you want?" he asked

"I came to see how you were doing. Are you feeling okay?"

"Hn."

He actually didn't feel too bad. In the days since his return to Konoha, he'd stopped taking the pain medication that had kept him relatively sane and functional for the past eight years. The physical effects of the withdrawal weren't as bad as he had expected but the increasing pain more than compensated for that. Just when it became unbearable, the Hokage had announced that she had a strategy to deal with the infection. Itachi couldn't quite believe that it would succeed but Tsunade-hime was said to be the best medic-nin anywhere and he was willing to give it a chance. After all what did he have to lose?

Taking a deep breath he forced himself to sit up. Erica kept her distance, waiting as he sat himself upright in the small bed. He took his first deep breath in more than five years. He closed his eyes relishing the feeling. The fluid in his lungs had drained and the inflammation was gone. When he opened his eyes the girl was emptying food from a grocery bag into the cupboard next to his bed.

"I couldn't remember what you liked and I'm not willing to trust the fanfiction so I got a bit of everything. I don't even know what some of this stuff tastes like." She said holding up a package of preserved prunes

"What are you doing here?" he asked catching her eyes, activating his sharingan, testing it.

"Um, I'm bringing you some unhealthy food to aid your recovery. I thought that would have been obvious." She said quirking her eyebrow at him

He refused to respond to such a ridiculous statement. Deciding that ignoring her would be a suitable response, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand up, tried being the operative word.

"The Hokage said that the parasites sort of rerouted your chakra system to feed themselves. Over the years, as they grew, the changes became more extreme. It'll take a while for your system to readjust itself, so you really shouldn't try to move around too much." She said

He grit his teeth in annoyance. As he sat there, he realised that it was the first time in a very long time that he had felt so cranky. To be accurate, it had been a long time since he had felt anything so acutely. He had always known that the painkillers dampened his emotions but he'd never suspected how much. He paused and thought about it. He should have known, he decided. The signs had been there, especially after what happened with Sasuke after the chunin exams. He had been fully aware of what he was doing but at the same time, he knew that it had gone too far. When he learned that Sasuke had joined Orochimaru, he knew who was to blame. He spoke before he could stop himself.

"Erica, what are you doing here?" he asked again more sharply

She sighed and sat herself in the rooms' only chair. "Is it so hard to believe that I just want to see how you're doing? I feel like I owe you a great deal and I don't have any way to repay you so I thought you might like something better than hospital food every day."

"Consider me repaid then." He said but he could see that there was something else. Always patient, he waited for her to say what she really wanted.

She had been studying him intently and with another sigh she slumped in the chair.

"This is going to sound terrible; really, really terrible but I've sort of been hiding in your room. The Hokage is a slave driver! Between the early morning training and the hours of repeating everything I know a hundred times, I'm exhausted. If she sees me so much as breathing deeply she assumes that I'm lazing about and finds something for me to do. I can't relax at home because Sakura doesn't get home till late and I don't have a key. As for Sam, he's always off with Naruto, training or working on some new jutsu or something. And did I mention that they have people following me? I spent a lot of time in the bathroom before I decided to come to visit you and realised that they weren't allowed to come inside." She took a deep breath to replace all the air she'd just expended. Her face was flushed and he felt something well up inside him. On the outside he was impassive as ever. "Yeah, so I've been coming here when I don't have training and stuff. It's pretty quiet and the scenery is nice...uh, the window has a nice view and I don't have to worry about Kitty breathing down my neck."

"Kitty?" he asked despite himself

She sighed and smirked. "Kitty's what I call the Anbu who's been following me. They never answer any of my questions so I've been forced to name them to keep track. Kitty is either the fifth or sixth that's been tailing me. They switch out every so often. I think they have missions. Although, the Hokage did suggest that my constant talking to them has something to do with it. The first was Brick because of his red hair, then Monkey and Eagle because of their masks, Stony because he was as blank as a brick wall, no offense and then Kitty because she hisses at me when I talk too much."

"Hn."

"Yeah... Anyway, I think I'd better go, I have a medical lesson with Shizune in...crap, ten minutes." She said glancing down at her wristwatch "I hope you get better soon." She said as she hurried to the door. Her hand connected to the doorknob when he spoke.

"You don't owe me anything. I kept you unharmed because it was in my best interest to do so. Do not interpret it as anything else." He cautioned

She smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Bye." She said and turning, she left closing the door behind her.

His eyelid twitched.