Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

"While I really love hugging you, it's kind of hard to cook when you keep hugging me." I complained playfully, Kakashi hugging me closely from behind. "You can hug me later."
"Mou so rude, Kira-chan… Not letting you boyfriend hug you." He responded just as playfully. He placed a soft kiss on my neck and started plating the table. "It's the first time in over a month that we both have entire weekend off, so excuse me for wanting to enjoy it."
I snorted and finished the sukiyaki. "Then let's enjoy it with some dinner!"
"Yeah, yeah…" he smiled in spite of his complaining tone. "It smells amazing."
"I'm glad." I sat down opposite him and was just about to dig in when someone knocked on the door. Kakashi walked over to the door and opened it, only to be met by Mouse.
"Commander, Tsunade-sama wants to see you." Mouse told me, earning a perfectly synchronized groan from Kakashi and I.
"I knew that having a weekend off at the same time was too much to ask for…" I moaned out my frustration. "Do you think she'll mind if I finish dinner first? You know how… annoyed I can get without food."
"I think it'll be okay!" Mouse quickly responded, and the slight twitch in his left hand told me he was in fact remembering how scary I could be when I was hungry. "I'll report to her that you'll be there in half an hour."
"Wonderful." I smiled brightly. 'Well, even if date-night is cancelled, at least I get to eat dinner with him…' I tried to focus on the positive side of everything. "Kashi, come sit down?"
Kakashi closed the door and walked back to the table, the look in his eyes showing that he found our ruined date-night just as annoying as I did.
"Well… at least the food is amazing." I stated as we dug in. "Much like myself."
"Sure, Kira-chan, sure."

"What could possibly be so incredibly important that you would interrupt date-night?" I asked Tsunade right after I jumped through the window, promptly ignoring her complain about all Shinobis avoiding the door. 'You messed with date-night, if I can piss you off, I will.'
"I need you to meet up with Itachi again. According to Jiraiya, the traces of Akatsuki are practically gone after they went after Naruto and we need to know what's going on." Tsunade explained, a tick mark gracing her forehead.
"Those meetings need to be planned out though. I haven't any information from Itachi in over a month, and I sincerely doubt that much has happened since then." I told her, knowing that I couldn't just run and look around for Itachi and he couldn't risk meeting up with me unless it was necessary, which it rarely was.
"I have. Jiraiya was originally supposed to meet him, but apparently there was a training accident, so you'll need to go in his place." Tsunade stated and handed me a scroll. "Here's the time and place. Dismissed."

Itachi was a bastard. Always insisting on meeting up far away from Konoha. He had proven that he had no problem breaking in to Konoha, so why was it so hard for him to plan a meeting close by? That bastard probably enjoyed making me run over half of the continent. Honestly, having us meet up at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, was just ridiculous. It took me four days to run all the way with only one night of rest and by the time I arrived, I felt just about ready to drop. So, when I spotted that bastard just sitting on a rock, smirking at me, I felt a very strong need to kick him. Unfortunately, the point of meeting up was not attracting attention, so starting a spar with Itachi by kicking it would not be a very good idea. Not to mention, I might collapse before even landing a blow and that would just be terribly awkward.
'Ok spill.' I signed lazily with the ANBU hand signs, quickly activating my Sharingan.
'Akatsuki have gotten the five-tails and we're…-' Itachi started signing before he suddenly coughed harshly. Had I not known him so well and for so long, and had so much experience in the field, I wouldn't have noticed the blood. Unfortunately for Itachi, I did. 'We're extracting it from its jinchuriki tomorrow.'
'What's going on with you? Coughing up blood?' I asked him before a realization hit me. 'This is why you haven't bothered telling Sasuke the truth and accepting the offer of returning to the village. You're dying.'
'As perceptive as ever, Akira. Yes, my illness is killing me. But I plan to have Sasuke finish me off before the illness does.' He signed in response and I clenched my jaw sadly. While I had known about this aspect of Itachi's plan, it had always felt so unreal and far away. But seeing this now, was enough to make my insides churn in pain.
'I don't want you to die.' I signed, tears building up in my eyes. 'We're family, and family sticks together. We can find an alternative plan, we can get a cure. You can return again. Please, Itachi! Let me help you!'
'I don't want you to do anything. Just let me die by Sasuke's hands.' Itachi's expression was cold and void of emotion, contrasting my sad one with tears streaming down my cheeks.
'Are you really going to make me lose another brother? Make me walk around wishing you were somehow here again with me, just because you believe that having Sasuke kill you will restore the honour of the Uchiha clan? I never knew you as selfish, Itachi. You owe me more than this. You owe Sasuke more than this. But most of all, you owe yourself more than this' I signed harshly, the fear of losing another precious person crushing me down like a bolder. 'What about Sasuke? There's no guaranty of him never finding out the truth. He'd handle it better if you were the one to tell him.'
'I'm sick, Akira.' He signed back, though somewhat reluctant.
'That's just an excuse you're using to give up.' I signed back. 'You're scared of Sasuke finding out, scared of him still hating you and most of all you're scared of being honest.'
Itachi froze as he read the hand signs. From his minimal change in expression, I could tell that I had been spot-on in my assumptions.
'Please, Itachi, let me help you!' I begged him and used the back of my hand to dry of my tears. 'I can help you. You shouldn't try to do everything alone.'
'It seems after all this time; you still know me the best.' Itachi signed and the corner of his lips curled up so slightly that had I not used my Sharingan to read his hand signs, I probably wouldn't even have noticed. 'I don't think I'll be able to read much longer, even with my Sharingan. It's getting blurry.'
'We'll deal with it. You can have my eyes once I've stolen Shisui-nii-san's other eye back. The Mangekyo is taking a toll on me as well. But try to cut down the use of it. I doubt Orochimaru will let Sasuke leave without trying to steal his body, and it's still two years until that time.' I told him, knowing that he had used his Mangekyo much more than I had. 'Now get me some blood so Tsunade can start working on what's wrong with you!'
'Still as bossy as ever.' Itachi signed and smirked at me, but cut his hand and sealed some blood into a scroll regardless. 'As Naruto's my target, I doubt I'll have to fight much, for now. So, it should be fine.'
'Good. I'll contact you after speaking with Tsunade and then we can start working on plan.' I signed quickly. 'We should leave soon, please give me the rest of the intel quickly.'
Itachi gave a curt nod and signed everything fast before the two of us quickly ran in opposite directions.

I practically collapsed through the door to Tsunade's office, all the running and lack of rest draining me severely. With my conscious barely hanging on, I handed her the scroll Itachi had sealed some of his blood in and fell down to my knees.
"Fox… reporting from… mission." I managed to breath out.
"For fucks sake, Akira… I know your time limit for getting there was almost inhumane, but did you have to run back just as quickly?" Tsuande swore and hurried over to check on me. "Okay no more missions for you for at least a week. Did you have to be so stupid?"
"Sorry…" I muttered half-heartedly, catching my breath enough to speak properly. "May I report?"
"Please do so." I felt her start healing me as she answered.
"The Akatsuki have started moving and have already captured the five-tails. If Itachi's information is correct, then the tailed-beast will just have been extracted. They are currently looking for the others. Itachi believes it'll take a while before the next one is captured." I started reporting. "According to Itachi, it takes quite a lot of preparation to extract a tailed beast from it's jinchuriki and three days to seal the beast afterwards. For this reason, Akatsuki is currently focusing on identifying and locating all of the tailed beasts rather than actively capturing them. This way they can collect all of them quickly once the preparation is done."
"In other words, Naruto is safe for a while longer?" Tsunade questioned me, clearly worried for the young blond.
"As long as he's travelling with Jiraiya, Akatsuki won't risk anything. Currently Itachi don't believe that they'll risk manpower unnecessary, so currently they'll be looking for the jinchuriki without a Hidden Village to protect them. I believe Kumo and Konoha are far down on the list." I started explaining, remembering Itachi's last messages. "Konoha is currently the strongest Shinobi Village, and Kumo's two jinchuriki are rumoured to have perfect control over their biju. Though there's no guaranty for Naruto during missions."
"Good job, Akira. Take the week off from missions and focus solo on your work as ANBU Commander. I'll have a new mission for you next week." Tsunade stopped her healing. "Dismissed."
"Wait! One more thing. Itachi… he's sick. His blood is sealed in the scroll, please find out if there's a cure!" I asked her desperately.
"I'll let you know what I find next week. For now: rest."

"For some reason I miss you more today than usual." I commented and sat down at the edge of the cliff. "You would have known how to deal with Itachi. I can't give him advise the same way you could. I can't talk to him like you could. I just… I just wish you were somehow here again. With Tachi and I. You always knew what to say. And you understood Itachi so perfectly."

Itachi and Akira stood by the edge of the forest in complete silence. Shisui was late. The eldest Sharingan-wielder was never late. In fact, he was normally early. The worry was eating the two teens alive as they shared yet another worried look. Suddenly, the two of them felt the familiar chakra signature of Uchiha Shisui closing in on them.
"Nii-san!" Akira called out as they spotted a figure emerge from the shadows of the trees. Once the light of the moon graced the boy's face, Akira gasped in shock. Blood was pouring down from the socket where his right eye had previously been. "Kami! What happened?"
"Danzo distrusted my abilities to stop the Coup and stole my right eye." Shisui explained and walked over so he was standing at the edge of the cliff, facing Itachi and Akira. "I fear that we can't stop it. A civil war will lead the other nations to attack Konoha. I'm truly sorry I couldn't do as I was supposed to."
"Nii-san, calm down! We'll find another way!" Akira insisted and felt her eyes tearing up.
"I will be intrusting everything to the two of you. Keep Konoha safe, and the clan as well if possible. I'll also be leaving you my left eye. I suspect Danzo will try and collect it, and if my plan works, then Akira, I want to implant it when the light in your own goes out." Shisui explained and took out his left eye. Blood streamed down the now empty socket. Shisui reached out for his imouto who took the eye while crying heavily. "I'll give the two of you one more gift. The Mangekyo."
"No!" the two thirteen-year-olds gasped out in unison both now certain about what he wanted to do.
"Don't look at me like that. I don't need my eyes to see your worried expression. Everything will be fine. I won't last long anyways." He smiled at them. "No matter what happens, remember that I love both of you. My closest friend and my imouto. Farewell."
The oldest boy took a step back and allowed himself to fall off the cliff, still smiling as he fell to his death.
"NO! NII-SAN!" Akira screamed and tried to reach her older brother futilely.
"SHISUI!" Itachi yelled at the same, missing Shisui with just a few centimetres. The two teens collapsed onto the ground, tears streaming, and cried out in pain. They had lost their friend, adviser, comrade and brother.
"I… I can't! How… No!" Akira stuttered out and crawled over to the edge, desperate to follow her brother, no matter what it took.
"Akira… Stop, please." At the sound of the young Uchiha pleaded her to stop, Akira turned her head and looked at Itachi, tears streaming down his cheeks and his eyes morphed into a new pattern.
"That's… Tachi, you've unlocked the Mangekyo." Akira cried, knowing fully well that she had unlocked it as well. The cursed stage of the Sharingan, unlocked by killing someone you love. Or in their case; failing to save someone they loved. "Nii-san trusted us."
"We'll honour his wishes." Itachi swore, his Mangekyo meeting Akira's. "For Shisui."
"For Shisui."

I allowed my tears to fall. The pain and grief of losing Shisui feeling just as strong as the night he passed away. 'They say time heals all wounds… Yet the pain resurfaces regardless.'
"Kira-chan?" I recognized his voice and chakra signature easily. "Tsunade wants you to rest."
"I will. Just give me a few minutes." I whispered softly in response. Kakashi sat down next to me and allowed me to rest my head on his shoulder.
"Take all the time you need."