*I'm so sorry it took so long to post, I was having a hard time deciding how to go about this and was having birthday festivities for people and myself. I hope you guys enjoy and feedback is appreciated*
Itachis POV:
The morning of the operation, I was partially thrilled and partially terrified. I didn't know what to expect in the next hour when Tsunade and Shizune would be arriving. All I knew was that I was going to have a normal breakfast with Hinata and just relax the best I could.
"Itachi, you ready for some breakfast?" Hinata asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Of course" I said cheerfully, giving her a slight smile.
"Good, I figured we could have some white tea and breakfast rolls his morning, it's light. You shouldn't eat to much before this happens" she sweetly said.
"Whatever you feel like making I won't refuse" I spoke back to her kindly. I don't think she understood how grateful I was to wake up to having home made food.
Hinata started to prepare the water and put the oven on, it wouldn't take long to make everything either.
"How did you sleep?" I asked her, trying to make conversation.
"Me? I slept okay, I was worried about how this morning would go and couldn't fully relax" she spoke.
"Me too but at least after this, maybe my fate will change" I wanted to remain positive.
"You're going to be put through so much pain when the time comes but just know I'll be there for you" Hinata said honestly. I hadn't thought about that part, I would have to be awake during the entire procedure. I sighed a little bit, I knew she meant well but damn it.
"Thank you" I said looking into her eyes, I got up from my seat to walk towards her. She was leaning against the counter and I stopped in front of her.
"No need to thank me, you know I'll always be here for you" she spoke softly.
"I know and that's why I thanked you" I smiled and leaned into her, giving her a small kiss. I could feel her moving her arms, putting them around my neck to deepen the kiss. I pressed into her slightly, closing the space between us. I placed one arm around the lower of her back and kept my other hand on her face. Our kisses deepened and I was feeling the inside of my chest get warm.
The sound of the oven beeping broke us of our kissing and she moved to put breakfast inside of the oven. I had exactly five minutes to get her wanting more.
I wasted no time when she shut the oven door, I turned her around quickly, crashing my lips back onto hers. She placed her arms back around my neck to pull me closer. I took the opportunity to slide my hands down her lower back a little bit and lifted her, she quickly caught on and wrapped her legs around my waist. I turned slightly to placed her on the counter so we were of the same height.
"We really shouldn't, you should be relaxing" Hinata said, breaking the kiss to move her head back. I completely ignored her, kissing her again. I moved my hands lightly over her thighs, trailing my way up her torso. I knew she stopped protesting it because she too was moving her hands arm, slowly down my arms giving me goosebumps.
I moved from her lips, slowly down her jaw and into her neck, sucking gently on her skin for a moment. She made a light moan and I smiled. This morning was a great time to wear a tank top and no chest bindings, I mentally thanked her.
I used my index finger and clasped the strap to her tank top to move it off of her shoulder, I continued my kissing on her shoulder while I moved her other strap down too. She helped move her arms slightly so the straps to her top were no longer on her arms. I moved my way back up toward her mouth and my hands ghosted over her skin, moving toward the top of her shirt so I could move it down.
"For two people who were trained in the art of keeping your guard up, your senses seem to be dulling" Tsunade spoke from behind us, I immediately backed off of Hinata to see she was blushing profusely. I smirked as she quickly fixed herself and jumped off the counter.
"Tsunade-sama, you're e-early" Hinata stuttered and turned her attention to the tea kettle on the stove. I watched Hinata fidget while she finished up breakfast.
"Would you guys like some breakfast?" I asked our guests moving my hair out of my face, pretending like nothing had just happened.
"Why not?" Shizune spoke kindly and they both made their way towards the table. I turned to opened the cupboard to grab extra cups and plates. I passed them out accordingly and took a seat myself. Hinata had placed the food on the table and served everyone their tea.
"Listen, I'm sorry for barging in on you guys but I came here early to let you know a few things that might transpire during the operation" Tsunade said firmly as she placed her cup down on the kitchen table. My eyes locked onto hers, letting her know I was listening.
"First and foremost, it's going to be painful. Working on your chakra network can be brutal, hopefully with the guidance of Hinata we can narrow it down precisely and not have to irritate the pathways to much" she spoke, glancing at Hinata to make sure she was listening.
"Secondly, we will begin once Neji arrives, he's Hinata's backup because about half way through we're going to use his Byakugan so Hinata doesn't strain herself. I know with both of your visual prowess it can take a very harsh toll on your body for using them to long" she stopped for a second to take a sip of her tea.
"I can manage to undergo the entire operation" Hinata spoke up firmly.
"You are not arguing with me about this one, don't even start" Tsunade bit back, Hinata shrunk in her seat a bit. I slightly smiled knowing she wasn't going to be stubborn about this and just let everyone do their job.
"Now last but not least. I know your sharingan is to be driven by emotion through your optic nerve system. Even if during the procedure you feel the most physical pain you've felt in your life, you need to say something. Your eye may or may not activate and that's something we desperately need to avoid. Shizune will heal the parts that hurt while I work on your pathways. You might not be able to control it to well, but you must try" Tsunade said will the most serious tone I've heard from her since I've been here.
"I will try my best" I said, giving her what she wanted to hear.
"Good and now we wait for Neji and we shall begin" Tsunade said taking another sip of her tea. Not a minute went by and a knock came from the front door, Shizune got up from her seat quickly to let the person in.
"At least someone knocks…" Hinata mumbled under her breath and I couldn't hold my laugh in, Tsunade shooting us both dirty looks.
"Ohayo everyone" Neji said cheerfully the kitchen with Shizune behind him.
"Good, now that everyone is here, shall we begin?" Tsunade spoke, standing up from her chair and we all followed her heading towards the living room.
Before even asked to I removed my shirt, feeling a slight breeze that gave me goosebumps.
"I'm going to need you to put your hair in a bun, I can't have your hair getting in the way" Tsunade spoke as she was putting gloves on. I nodded my head, taking my hair holder out of my current ponytail and wrapping it again so that none of my hair was touching my skin. I felt a little funny but I knew it had to be done.
Tsunade motioned for me to sit and I did what I was told.
"We're going to start with the normal routine and then start with the first pathway that's closest to lungs, which should be on the base of your neck. Hinata, check" Tsunade spoke, I looked over to her and within a second the veins on the side of her head appeared and she was looking at my chakra network. It felt kind of invasive in a way, just knowing someone could see exactly where to hit me and I could be down for the count in seconds. I had full trust in my abilities though, so lucky for me I could be a long range ninja if need be and not be under the wraith of a Hyuga.
"The first pathway you'll need to touch is here" Hinata said, running her finger near the base of my neck, down my spine a little bit. I felt the goosebumps flare up again from her touch.
"Ready Itachi?" Tsunade asked, I nodded my head to let her know I was prepared.
The next thing I knew I felt the cool touch of Tsunade's medical jutsu start at the bottom of my lungs, she slowly worked her way up, she didn't hover over the middle of my lungs like Shizune did but I knew she was the best medic you could have in the five nations.
About another hour had passed and it felt like it an eternity, the pain of clearing my pathways was excruciating, compared to the burning in my lungs. Shizune was trying her best to calm the pain but it wasn't helping, I felt like crying but I couldn't. I needed to stay strong.
"Were going to be moving onto a slightly bigger pathway, it's going to hurt a little more" Tsunade spoke and I felt the healing jutsu grow smaller so she could concentrate more on the area. I felt Hinata move her fingers around the area Tsunade needed to focus more. I mentally cursed, the burning was becoming more intense and I'm not sure I was ready. I knew stopping wasn't an option because we couldn't do this in portions.
Tsunade and Hinata communicated very efficiently and I was proud of them but my concentration on them was fading.
Tsunade moved her hands towards the back of my head and I could feel my eyes spinning and the pain shot through me like literal fire, I felt myself blacking out. Shizune moved her hands towards my temples and I felt threatened.
I grabbed her by the throat with both of hands and started squeezing. As soon as I started attacking her, she gasped and I let go. I grabbed my own head from the pain. I didn't realize how much pain she was keeping at bay.
I yelled out in agony and she quickly put her hands over mine to get to the area she was protecting.
"Itachi, I know this hurts but you can't attack Shizune out of pain" Tsunade reprimanded me, I so badly wanted to tell her off but I knew it wouldn't help, she was right.
"Neji, get ready. Were switching" Tsunade spoke bluntly and she moved more up my skull. I looked quickly at Neji and his eyes were activated, Hinata stepped away and switched places with him.
"I feel like I'm gonna faint" I whispered and Shizune looked me in the eyes.
"Just hang on, Uchiha" Tsunade spoke softly but sternly.
They continued working on me and they all switched sides. Tsunade was now standing in front of me and I knew she was going to be working on my eyes.
I knew I blacked out a few times during the operation and I had no idea how much time had passed. My body became numb from all the pain I endured that I couldn't even tell they were touching me anymore.
"Were just about done, one more pathway" Tsunade said, I looked at her and she looked tired, her face was slightly pink and she had slight sweat on her forehead.
"How long have we've been sitting here?" I whispered.
"We are currently four hours in" she said bluntly and continued to work on the pathway to my heart. As she focused her healing on the last pathway, I started to feel sick, I wanted to throw up.
"I might throw up" I said a little more above a whisper so I wouldn't just abruptly puked on Tsunade.
"Hinata, be ready with a bucket" she demanded and Hinata scurried away to find something for me. The feeling was rising and I knew this was an ordinary puke coming, it already tasted like blood.
"Hinata, hurry!" Tsunade yelled, she must of saw my face twisting. Hinata came dashing back and held it awkwardly between the both of us. I wasn't even able to lean forward a little bit considering the bucket was right above Tsunade's hands and I didn't want to risk moving them since they were so close to my heart.
"Just a few more seconds and this will be over" Tsunade said and I wrestled with the feeling of the blood rising. I focused on her hands and right before she got a centimeter away from my heart she stopped and the cooling feeling of the medical jutsu vanished. Everyone stopped touching me at the same time and I grabbed the bucket from Hinata and just lost everything in my stomach. I fell forward off the seat onto my knees and just kept puking.
"Is this normal?" Shizune asked, concerned.
"He will be fine, the end of his illness had to find somewhere to go and his body was just put under a mass amount of stress" Tsunade said calmly as I continued to fill the bucket up with my blood, I could feel it dripping down my chin and onto my chest.
I finally stopped puking to sit up and just breathe, my body was still numb but it felt nice to just relax.
"Let's hope that does that trick, Itachi" Shizune said sweetly, I locked eyes with her and smiled lightly to agree with her, I hoped too.
"Just a heads up, even though you were being healed the entire time, some bruising may follow so don't be alarmed. You're also going to be sore for about a day so don't push yourself" Tsunade said taking her gloves off to throw them in the bag they had brought for the medical clothes.
"Let me help you up so we can get you cleaned up" Hinata said softly from behind me and placed her hands under my biceps and she lifted as I stood up. We slowly walked toward the staircase, her small little body holding onto me incase I fell over.
"You don't have to help me, you know" I said putting my arm around her shoulder and giving her a slight one-armed hug.
"You just sat through four hours of incredibly painful surgery, you're a liar if you think you don't need help" Hinata said mockingly and I smiled, giving her a kiss on the top of the head.
The trip up the stairs was the easiest it's been since I've arrived in this house. Granted, I couldn't feel my chest right now but I'm sure if I could I wouldn't feel the sensation to cough.
"I'm going to take a shower, you don't have to wait for me" I said as she opened the bathroom door.
"I'm going to be listening so when the water turns off I'll be right outside the door for you" she said sweetly, giving me a kiss on the cheek. My cheek got hot from where her lips just were and she left the bathroom.
Hinatas POV:
As I walked down the stairs, I heard the shower turn on and I smiled, I hoped this worked. There was no way someone could be torchered for four hours and not live to see a long life. This was for the greater good and I hoped it stayed that way.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs I looked in the kitchen to see Neji making some food and Tsunade and Shizune cleaning up the surgical mess from this morning.
"Thank you both so much for healing him" I spoke out loud, bowing towards them.
"We should be thanking you and Neji too, without the help of the byakugan this would of never of happened" Tsunade said, smirking.
"That's true.. If my father knew what we just used our eyes for he would blow a gasket" I slightly laughed and so did the others in the room.
"Would you guys like to come back later for dinner? I owe you" I spoke again, hoping we could end the night with a good time.
"I would love to say yes but after all that work, I need a drink" Tsunade said slyly as she finished zipping up her bag and slinging it over her right shoulder.
"Of course, maybe some other time" I smiled and moved to the side so she could walk past me. Shizune followed behind her, giving me a slight bow as they made their way into the kitchen.
"We're just gonna wait until he's done to see how he's feeling now that he's had a proper break" Tsunade spoke as she leaned against the kitchen wall.
We waited around and about fifteen minutes had passed and I was wondering what was taking so long.
"I'm gonna go check on him" I said as I raised my index finger to cue my absence. I turned towards the staircase and headed up them, the steam was coming out from underneath the door and I knocked on it lightly and he didn't make a sound. I opened the door and poked my head in and I could see his silhouette from the glass door. He was sitting on the floor, his head leaning against the furthest wall.
"Itachi?" I asked gently, I shut the bathroom door behind me and I approached the glass door to the shower.
"Mmm?" he responded back sluggishly, my heart stopped beating so fast at this point.
"You're sleeping in the shower, are you okay?" I asked still a little bit worried. I knew everything he went through took a lot out of him but I didn't think to this much extent.
"I'm exhausted and I didn't even do anything" he mumbled again, removing his head from the shower wall to look at me. I tried my best to keep my eyes locked onto his but it very difficult.
"You did though, you battled an illness and you won" I said sweetly.
"You're so kind" he said, giving me a small smile.
Kakashis POV:
I was being summoned to the hokage tower and I was wondering why but I continued walking towards the building anyways.
I reached the building and jumped on the sides until I reached Tsunade's office window and knocked on it. It wouldn't be the same if I used the front door like everyone else did.
"Come in here" she barked before I even knocked. I swallowed the lump in my throat, I ddin't like the tone of voice she was using. This couldn't be good. I quickly made my way into the office, closing the window behind myself.
Tsunade made a few hand signs, why was she using a privacy barrier? This absolutely could not be good.
"How's your day going?" she asked me, raising her eyebrows.
"It was fine until I was summoned here" I said honestly.
"Mine was too, my day has just been full of the Uchiha clan" she sounded cocky.
"What's wrong with Itachi?" I asked, slight worry came out with my question.
"Itachi is great, actually. His illness his gone. We had a four hour operation this morning to heal him. Sasuke, however.." she grew silent and I grew serious. Sasuke?
"I'm confused" I said honestly. Last we knew Sasuke was far from here looking for his brother to carry out his vengeful wish of killing him.
"He's very close to here, to close. He's regarded as a missing nin, I need you to go find him" she spoke with earnest.
"What do you want me to do when I find him?" I was still confused, I know Sasuke, he's not going to listen to anything I have to say.
"We both know he's intelligent and we more than likely knows Itachi is in here somewhere. We're not going to have the village in flames over a hate filled grudge. Bring him here somehow and we'll go from there" she deadpanned, looking me in the eyes. Emotions flooded my chest.
"Do you really think I'm the best for this mission?" I questioned her motives.
"The only other two people who know Sasuke like you wouldn't be a good fit, they're too over emotional" she said, I sighed because I knew she was right. Sakura was in love with the boy and Naruto thought of him like a brother.
"When do you want me to leave?" I sighed, running my right hand threw my hair.
"Now" she shot back at me quickly. I nodded my head and she held out a scroll for me. That must be where Sasuke was seen last.
I headed back towards the window I entered and opened it. My head was running around a bunch of questions and scenarios but I kept just focusing on one thing, Itachi would live. I smiled knowing he was going to be around for a while. That would give everyone the time they needed to fix things and mend old wounds.
I did however need to come up with a game plan before I reached my old student. He was very scattered with his emotions and I didn't know if he would be calm or not when I told him of the news.
I picked up my pace and opened my scroll in while jumping over rooftops towards the treelines right outside the village.
The scroll was short but it had given a map of the whereabouts of him, tenchi bridge was the last time we was spotted and he had someone with him? Great, might be a handicapped fight.
I picked up my pace, he was either on route right now towards the leaf or camped out for the meantime. I continued my pace, I could get to tenchi bridge within a few hours if I moved at the speed I was going and I knew I had no time to waste.
I slowed my pace down, tenchi bridge was about a mile away and I hadn't seen or heard anything or Sasuke and his friend on the way here. Good, maybe they're sleeping and I can just bring them both back unconscious.
As I continued jumping in the tree lines I could see the top of tenchi bridge and I slowed down a little bit, I didn't see anyone either. Suspicious.
Ting, ting, ting
Three kunais had hit the tree branch I was on and I jumped out of the way and landed on the tree branch to the right to look in the direction they had been thrown at me. I scanned the are and then a black hair child with a white shirt came from behind it.
"Kakashi" he said with a dead emotion.
"Sasuke" I glared a little bit, how dare he throw weapons at me.
"Didn't I ever teach you to wait for your opponent? Don't show yourself first" I deadpanned.
"You did but I know I'm stronger than most so your silly rule doesn't really matter, does it?" he shrugged and leaned against the tree. I jumped off the branch and just kept looking at each other.
"Still as arrogant as ever I see" I truthfully said, I see nothing has really changed he just grew stronger from the help of Orochimaru.
"So what gives me the great pleasure of the leafs great copycat ninja" he sarcastically said.
"You're ordered to come with me back to the leaf village" I said with no amusement whatsoever, putting a poker face on.
"You expect me to just go willingly back to that hell hole? For what reason would I need to go there" Sasuke slightly chuckled. So he didn't know Itachi was in the village or was he just pretending.
"Don't play around, we both know why you're this close to the village" I said trying not to give to much of a hint away.
"You're right but that's only because he has to die" Sasuke's face dropped all hints of amusement and hate flashed within his eyes.
"I wish you knew the truth" I sighed while I spoke.
"Truth about what? That my brother is a monster and needs to pay for his sins" he shouted a little bit, the anger within him was rising.
"He did pay for his sins, for a long time. Aside the point though, you need to come back and you can tell your friend to stop hiding, I know she's hiding up there" I pointed to the trees behind him and the leaves moved as a young bright red hair girl fell silently. She walked near Sasuke, moving her glasses up with her finger and resting the other hand on her hip.
"I'll go with you but he's not going to live to see tomorrow when I get my hands on him" Sasuke spat and started walking towards me, his friend right behind me. I became confused, his sudden change of emotion and stance made no sense. Did he know of Itachis former illness and knew it would be an easy fight? Did he actually think he was going to see his brother once he got back to the village?
I said nothing and the three of us took off, I kept looking over towards them, I didn't trust either of them.