Wooh Christmas! Shame about the lack of snow so far.

Could be happier but for reasons not my own fault I'm not as happy.

This is my Christmas prezzie to you guys, if you don't celebrate Christmas then its a winter gift. Enjoy it all the same

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This is dedicated to two of my best friends, one of whom has kept me sane this holiday and the character Laura is based, and the other who loves this story and keeps me sane at other times and may have a character based on her at a later point in this story, so thanks to them.

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Finding Max when she doesn't want to be found is like trying to corner a wild animal and expecting to stay unharmed. Or trying to find a matching pair of socks.

It was impossible. Itachi had only seen a fraction of her contacts on earth, if she wanted to disappear completely then she could. He blamed the girls for this and he blamed himself for not telling them what she was going through. Anyone who had been ANBU for any length of time was dangerous when they began to stress. Max was no exception. It was amazing she had held on this long.

It was three days later, approaching sunrise and there was still no sign of her. Itachi sighed and headed back to the castle, Max could look after herself, the others, he didn't have as much faith in. He walked into the great hall just in time to see Dumbledore throw a hex at Max who was crouched in the wall.

Seconds before impact Max jumped to another part of the hall, she was passively fighting not actually doing the fighting just dodging the blows. Dumbledore looked incensed, his red face contrasting his hair and beard.

"So what were you going to do with that large order of compulsion potions, and why did they need to be from somewhere not watched by the ministry?" Max had clearly made a break in the mission. Though knowing her she could have known it for a while and had just forgotten it.

A shuriken skimmed Dumbledore's hand cutting open the skin on the back. His hand opened reflexively dropping his wand which was caught in the hole of another shuriken that had been thrown seconds after the shuriken in its shadow. The second shrunken hit the wall and was wedged between two stones.

The ball was in Max's court, she had the advantage now, she had trained in unarmed combat and she still had her weapons. Itachi stayed at the side, Max was handling this, he would help if he was needed. Besides if he jumped in now it would bruise Max's ego and she would maim him.

Dumbledore was looking at Max calculatingly, he had no wand and his wandless skills were severely limited. Things would have been so much simpler for him if one of his previous attempts had succeeded. He and Max were circling looking for a time to strike.

Max had been unusually passive about it and he was slightly worried. From what he had observed through the years she tended to be a bit aggressive, though no one got hurt, seriously hurt anyway. The glint of the shuriken gave Dumbledore an idea, it would take his limited wandless ability to do but if he timed it right he could get rid of the annoyance in front of him. He would need to distract her for a bit though or she would notice and it wouldn't work and possibly make things worse.

Max didn't like the way Dumbledore was exceedingly calm despite his red face. Anyone with out a weapon who didn't have something up his sleeves would be looking scared or even a tiny bit worried. She felt something prodding at her mental shields and threw it back momentarily taking her concentration away from her surroundings.

Dumbledore flicked his wrist, a movement caught by Itachi, but meant nothing to Max her concentration had wavered, she couldn't see the wandless summoning spell sent at the shuriken that was currently in the wall, she couldn't see it fly through the air heading straight for her.

It never touched her. Max span around when she heard metal hit flesh and saw Itachi, he didn't look too steady and looked like he was about to fall forwards. Itachi stumbled. His breathing was irregular and laboured, Max saw the glint of a shuriken sticking out of his back, but the looks of it the shuriken was deep between two ribs and had probably punctured a lung. He needed medical help soon.

Max remembered Dumbledore behind her, she was not going to let him escape, no after the latest stunt, no one hurt her team mate. With a flick of her fingers two sebon were launched at the headmaster hitting him in the neck into a false death state that Haku had taught her. The old man crumpled to the ground but Max didn't care, she moved over to Itachi.

He was kneeling on the floor with a hand pressed to his ribs as if trying to stop the pain, blood was dripping down his back and his lips were turning blue. Max reached to a pocket and quickly withdrew a scroll, she unsealed a first aid kid and got out an occlusive dressing, she removed the shuriken carefully then his shirt and quickly applied the dressing over the wound on his back. It would keep the hole sealed and allow him to breath easier due to the air tightness of the dressing.

"Itachi, stay with me, you have to stay awake, if you fall asleep now I'll turn you hair green for a week" Max threatened, that last part make him jerk back to reality.

"Not… the hair" Itachi was definitely not in good shape but it didn't seem to be getting worse. His breathing was still jagged and he was coughing up small amounts of blood but he was still there.

"You heard me, you faint and I'll turn you hair green, I think a shade of lime green should do it" Max was just glad she was getting a response, she would never admit that she had been scared.

The first kids were trickling in for breakfast and saw the scene. At least one of them ran and Max hoped it was for Madam Pomfrey. Another ran for Dumbledore.

She couldn't exactly leave Itachi here but she didn't know if moving him would do anymore damage. She was trained in first aid not internal injuries. She tended to take more lives than save them.

"You killed Dumbledore!" yelled a kid. Other gasped at the declaration.

"I didn't, his still alive, just paralysed and in a death state because he tried to kill me," snarled Max.

"You killed him!"

"It was either me or him, I chose him before he almost killed me"

"You kill…"

"Jeez not again, first Misa now Hogwarts. Who else is going to blame me for killing someone, whom I did not kill?"

Laura rushed into the great hall and immediately took over. She had seen someone running past saying something about blood in the great hall. Max sat back and let her work, she didn't want to make things worse, she would have left had she not been called to assist. More ninjas turned up and made sure Dumbledore was fully subdued.

They eventually got Itachi stabilised, he had fallen unconscious at some point, Laura couldn't do much, her jutsus needed too much control, and Hogwarts mucked it up. Max took Itachi to the hospital wing, she was the only one nearby who could with out resorting to magic. Magic just seemed too clumsy for the job.

She wondered how many times she had been in Itachi's position. Did she always look that fragile when she had been injured? Is this the kind of thing they saw when she jumped in head first without thinking?

Maybe she would have to listen to them for once.

Max stayed by Itachi's side, she wasn't going to leave her team mate, he had never left her side when she had been injured when he had been there. To be fair on missions he didn't know about he couldn't have been, like in Vegas, it wasn't his fault. When she got to the hospital wing she was adamant about staying, Madam Pomfrey had tried to shoo her out but failed. In the end the woman had muttered something and let her stay.

It only took half a day for Itachi to wake up properly, Max had fallen asleep on a chair next to the bed. He at least assumed she was asleep, she did have a habit of being awake but not making it obvious.

Madam Pomfrey, on seeing he was awake, bustled over to check his injury and while Max was asleep do a check up on her as well. Max rarely was still long enough to be given a medical examination.

"Did you know she's been shot by a muggle firearm?" asked the nurse frowning. Itachi nodded his head slightly, he'd had his suspicions but this confirmed it, he would get the full story eventually. He really wanted to know why she hadn't told him or anyone else, she was supposed to be his partner. If she was injured and he didn't know it could have gotten worse. That and he really cared about her, he could guarantee she hadn't looked after it much so someone needed to.

"What is it with diagnosis spells and the ticklish feeling; do you get kicks out of disturbing me?" Max groaned. She stretched her legs out, she had been leaning on them, her knees up to her chin. She made a mental note to not sleep like that again, it wasn't the most comfortable position. She stood up into a full stretched and winced as the skin over the bullet hole was pulled taut. Her back popped a few times and she sighed.

"Well, if you're done disturbing me then I'm sure there's someone else needing to be put in discomfort." Max almost snapped. Itachi was wondering how much sleep Max actually got, she wasn't normally this grumpy, more goofy when she was sleep deprived.

"You shouldn't be stressing your self with that injury" reprimanded the nurse.

"Shouldn't but have been, I'm still standing aren't I?"

"You've been shot in the stomach and shoulder, you've had less than six hours sleep in the last week which shouldn't even be possible, you don't seem to have eaten anything substantial for that week and you have multiple other smaller injuries. If you continue to disregard your own health I'll have no choice to confine you here until you are in full health," reprimanded the nurse sternly, she had her wand out ready to stun Max if it became necessary. Max looked to Itachi silently pleading him to say no.

"Max. Stand down, as the nearest thing to your superior I'm ordering you to get some sleep." Itachi almost cancelled that order when he saw the hurt look Max sent his way but he stayed firm.

Max was cornered, Itachi recognised the look in her eye, it was one similar to the night a few days ago. She was going to bolt again. He changed tactics.

"Max, please, you need sleep" Itachi didn't like pleading with Max but he knew it was the only way to win in this situation. Especially if he pouted a bit.

"Fine!" Max grumbled exasperatedly, if she was going to do this she was going to annoy him in the process. So she stole his blanket and pillow and curled up on the floor.

"Wouldn't you prefer to be on a bed?" asked the nurse.

"No, I prefer to be comfortable and those beds are like sleeping on asphalt littered with glass," mumbled Max from under her newly 'acquired' blanket. It was comfortable and warm, before she knew it she was asleep.

Itachi rolled his eyes and got the blankets from the bed nearby. He was tempted to curl up on the floor too. Instead he got comfortable while trying tot block out the woman who was trying to tell him how to look after his team mate.

Max was like a puppy, if you didn't keep and eye on her then she would do something stupid. Most of the time it would also include her getting hurt.

Finally the nurse left him alone so he could get some rest.

Four hours later Laura could feel a twinge in her hand. She knew there was nothing wrong with it, it was like an alert for possible blackmail material. Her only source of possible blackmail was in the hospital wing. Smirking to herself she packed up her work and headed over to it. Who was she to pass up the opportunity to even the blackmail?

It was defiantly worth it, by the looks of it Max had fallen asleep on the floor. Laura knew Max hated the beds here so that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was the fact Itachi was curled up to her his arms wrapped around her waist. From the positions of the creases on the bed he had probably rolled off on to the floor and moved to the nearest warm thing. The nearest warm thing being Max.

Laura noticed Max stirring a bit and decided to quickly get a few pictures then go, she didn't want to take her chances.

Max woke up not long later and had a dilemma, on the one hand no one was awake to stop her from disregarding her orders, on the other hand, if she tried to escape the person hugging her would wake up and her plan would fail.

Decisions, decisions. Why was Itachi on the floor curled up to her anyway? When did this happen? Max couldn't help but be confused. The lack of sleep was defiantly getting to her, she would just prefer to deal with it on her own terms.

As for dealing with the situation now, she would sleep. Well it would be quite funny when Itachi woke to see his reaction. She would probably wake when he did. He would have to deal with it though and she could play the part of being completely confused and maybe act a bit naive. Besides, he was comfortable and warm.

By the Hogwarts gates a visitor stood, he looked at the place that had been his home for a few years. He wondered who had changed and who hadn't. Whether the ninjas were around or not. If Dumbledore has slipped up yet. The visitor started his trek up to the castle, he would check the hospital wing first, most news tended to be around there.

Itachi woke to an awkward set of circumstances, he had felt something shivering in his arms and automatically tighten his hold. Only then had he realised who it was and the fact anyone could have walked in and seen. For all the prodigy he was he had no clue about getting out of this with all of his limbs still attached.

He couldn't tell if Max was awake or not but he decided to take a dive. He moved a hand to stroke her hair, he loved the way it shimmered in the light like liquid silver. He didn't want to let her go. He wanted to know who shot her so he could tear them limb from limb. He wanted to know why she didn't look after herself.

"I do look after my self." Itachi looked at the girl in front of him in surprise. When did she learn to read minds?

"I can't read minds. You're talking out loud. Stop it so I can sleep" Itachi frowned, Max wasn't asking about why he was there, was she that tired or did she just not mind.

"You're warm and comfortable, now stop talking!" Max hissed trying to burrow under the blanket more, she rolled over to face him in an attempt to get more comfortable. Itachi assumed he was mumbling what he was thinking, it wasn't unheard of with tired ninjas. He was cut off from his mumbling/thinking when he felt a pair of soft lips on his, effectively stopping him from both mumbling and thinking.

In his opinion the kiss ended too soon but he couldn't really complain. Max snuggled up properly and was glad she could get some sleep. Itachi couldn't help but grin, Max had a small smile as well as she drifted of to sleep.

"So you two finally got together?" both shinobi scrambled to their feet withdrawing weapons from various hiding places. Max was ready to kill someone for interrupting her sleep when she was finally content, friend or foe.

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More fluff, yay, don't you just love the stuff. This chapter was inspired by April sixth's Dear angel, it a good song. Anyway review please. I have three exams soon so update should be normal due to my lack of interest in revison and the fact I keep staying up late.