Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes.

Kisame covered him every single time he went to see Akane. He did often. Every time he would be in a hurry to find her and sink into her warmth once more, and more time passed by, the hardest it was to leave her. Officially, they were two friends hooking up. They knew there were feelings, but they knew it was pointless to say it out loud, that it would really be the beginning of their downfall, in particular hers.

He couldn't give her any future. He wanted to, he desperately wanted to go find her and drop everything to never leave her side again, but he knew he couldn't.

He should stop going. She should stop letting him in.

This situation had been going on for almost two years yet he was perfectly fine going back in the bubble they had created for themselves, away from the real world.

It changed when he was in front of her door. Something was not right. He took off his coat once he was inside but kept his shoes on. His eyes widened at the sight of blood on the floor going to the bedroom, and the heavy smell of blood made him nauseous. His legs took him to the bedroom, where there was even more blood going to the bathroom. Itachi froze and momentarily forgot how to breath at the morbid display in front of him.

There was so much blood. Akane was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, two deep gashes on her exposed stomach. She must have tried to stop the bleeding herself, as the medicine cabinet was wide open, some bottles knocked down and a roll of clean bandages had fallen and rolled out in the sink.

In the blink of an eye, he was next to her. His love was pale, too pale to his liking, wasn't responding at him tapping her cheek and her pulse was almost non-existent. His body moved on his own and he started to fix her the best he could. If there was one thing his mother had taught him as a shinobi, was first-aid. She had always been a perfectionist about it and did not let his father have a say in the matter: Itachi would be able to save, or at least try his best, to save a comrade if there was no medic.

He grabbed a cloth and wet it in cold water, cleaning her wounds swiftly. He did not have the time to be delicate with her, and she was not responding anyway.

He disinfected it quickly and grabbed what he needed to stitch the wounds. He heated the needle enough to cauterize them, even if just a little, and closed them. He cut the string with his teeth and wrapped the bandages tightly around her abdomen. It was probably too tight, but he would not take any risk.

He grabbed a clean towel and spread it on her bed. He scooped her easily in his arms and placed her on it before grabbing something to clean up the rest of blood on her hands, and arms, and even face. He stayed next to her on the bed, his fingers frozen on her pulse to make sure it would be okay. The dread in his stomach did not make it easy. There was so much blood, Akane would probably…

He gulped silently. The shinobi world had taken everything from him. His innocence, his childhood, his hopes, his best friend, his parents, his clan, his village would kill him on sight and the little brother he loved so much hated him with all he had and would put an end to his life one day. The same little brother who listened to his advice and left the village to go seek power to Orochimaru.

He caressed one of her cold cheek. That same shinobi world took a too huge chunk of her life too, traumatized her and broke her. They were two broken pieces of a puzzle way too big to be seen in its entirety. He knew the piece he was would be thrown away soon, it was broken beyond repair. But she was not. He refused to let that world take the last thing he had away from him.

To his surprise, and relief, he heard her take a loud breath. Her pulse started beating harder. Was it because he stopped the bleeding?

Itachi sighed. Of course, the Uzumaki clan was known for their vitality. What he did must have been enough for her body to do the rest on its own. It was good, because there was no way he could get her to a medic or a medic to her. He had pills to recuperate blood faster, that was it. He'd wait for her to wake up.

Now that his fear of her dying in front of him was over, his anger started to rise inside of him. He did his best to clean the bathroom, his mind trying to find a reason as to why he had found her in that state, why, who did that to her.

When she woke up, he made her swallow two pills. He let his anger out, asking, demanding explanations. She got angry too at his misplaced concerns and he had had the urge to scream at her how stupid she had been to go on her own. He just grabbed her neck to remind her how easily she could die, but the next thing she spat at him stung deeply. She realized too, because she looked horrified at what she had said.

His heart was beating painfully in his chest and he decided to leave. She was alive and...and it would be better if he left. It had been stupid all along to keep coming, one day or another they would…reality would get back to them. Her loneliness and fear of bonds, his crimes…

There was no happy ending for them.

That was why he ignored her when she called him, yelled at him to wait with pure anguish and fear in her voice. After all, she had been right, who was he to tell her how to live or take care of herself? They couldn't be in a relationship because there would be no future for them, he would just keep her prisoner of him and his name, his sins. He loved her too much to put that on her shoulders, he couldn't do that.

He would not come back. Then, then she would move on from him.

He gulped, swallowing the lump in his throat. It was normal, he would die soon and she would move on. She would find another man who would love her and he would give her the life he wanted to give her but couldn't. She would be happy and maybe, maybe she would start doing fuinjutsu again. She admitted to him she loved it, but that ever since her mother's passing and her lingering guilt about it just killed her creativity toward it. There was a difference between doing fuinjutsu and using fuinjutsu, she spent hours explaining to him thinking he would understand.

He did, but he was more focused on the rare passion on her face than what she was saying. He learned that the chakra control needed for fuinjutsu was akin to the one needed for medical ninjutsu, but that the former required more creativity toward the latter required more logic and knowledge known by heart. Once you had the basics of fuinjutsu, you could do it on your own. The basics were huge and hard to learn though.

That was all he wanted for her in the end. Her happiness, even if it was not with him, even if he was not the reason, he just wanted her to be happy.

He would not go back. This time, this time he would stop this selfishness once and for all. It was pointless and one of them had to put an end to it.

It would be him, as always.

"Aren't you more thoughtful than usual Itachi?" Madara asked him as he swirled into existence next to him. Itachi glared coldly at the man. Usually, he would have been at Akane's waiting for another mission, not Ame.

He really despised this place. The never ceasing pouring rain matched too much his thoughts to his liking.

"Not in a talkative mood I see," he noticed wryly. "Maybe it has something to do with the reason you are here for once." Itachi did not pick up on that, on what he was implying. If he showed he did not care then Akane would not become a way of exerting pressure on him. "I wonder how this dear Akane is doing, don't you?" He glared at the man and felt anger rising as he could just picture the satisfied smirk under his mask.

The conversation was taking a turn he did not like at all.

"You know Itachi, she has a lot of potential, with a little bit more time I could have gotten her in the Akatsuki without protests from her." Itachi stood up and faced him.

"What do you want Madara?" He shrugged.

"I wanted and expected a lot from her but your friend had to get her out of Kiri before she was a fully ready weapon." Itachi clenched his fists in his sleeves, his onyx eyes turning red, but his face remaining cold and indifferent. "Did I touch a sensitive point? My bad."

"What do you want from her?"

"Nothing anymore, she's not even a threat since her mother's death. When I think I had plans for her for years and you're the one who ended here, it's laughable. A good turn of event, but laughable."

The youngest saw red for a second.

"Don't look at me like that, I've known about her potential way before I've known about yours Itachi. As far as I know, I know more about her than you at all."

"How would you know her?" he hissed at the man.

"I've lived a long life, that's all." He stared at Itachi for a second and a sardonic chuckled escaped him. "You know what, I'm going to give you a piece of advice. From Uchiha man to Uchiha man."

"I don't care about this," Itachi stated dully as he turned to leave. Madara's voice stopped him before he could.

"You would think losing someone you love more than yourself is the worst pain you can feel, but you would be wrong." There was anger in his voice. Anger and something he was not sure he wanted to pinpoint. "No, it's a lot more painful when you witness the whole thing and can't do anything. It's a lot more painful when you're too late to do anything." An image of Shisui flashed through his mind. "Oh, that's right, you already know that. I'm sure you would not care if it happened again, right?"

It was a threat. All he said about Akane, he could feel it was true. He did not know how, why he knew her, what he had planned for her previously angered him, but his threat made him clench his jaw. He did not know if he was serious or just using her to toy with him.

Still, he hated the laugh that echoed behind him as Madara left him alone with his thoughts.

The rational part of his mind kept telling him he should not go back, that it would place her in more danger if Madara knew he could get to him through her.

The other part of him, the one missing Akane desperately and yearning to see her once again, told him to just go and check on her, tell her to stay on her guards. It would just be that.

When Kisame and him entered the tea shop she worked at, she spotted him right away. He would be lying if he did not feel a spark of relief when she was clearly giving his presence more attention than the man flirting with her. She had not forgotten him and was disturbed by his presence.

He entered her house with no problem and sat on the couch, waiting for her to come home. Maybe he should have walked her home, what if something happened? Kisame was off doing his own thing, what if she…

"Fuck Itachi!" He heard her yell in surprise. She kept talking but he did not listen, he just stood up and took her in his arms. She was warm, she was solid, she was fine, just like the last time…

No, the last time he saw her she had been everything but fine. But now, as he was inhaling her scent, as she was apologizing repeatedly to him for her behavior, the only thing crossing his mind was that she was fine. Madara had not touched her, his love was safe.

His teeth nibbled on her pulse point, something he knew always aroused her. She moaned shamelessly in his ear and he pinned her against the wall. They gave up on feeling shame around the other a long time ago.

In that moment, he also decided to totally ignore his rational side once again. He had not made her his for far too long. They both felt it, and be it when he took her against the wall roughly, whispering over and over again she was his, or in her bed, he kept ignoring his mind telling him he was falling into their vicious circle once again.

During the night, he woke up after a disturbing dream. Akane was sleeping like a log on his chest, his arm still around her. He ran his free hand on his face with a sigh, his rationality finally back.

He had made another mistake, hadn't he? That dream was in no way a good sign.

He should not, in his position, be dreaming of coming home and seeing Akane playing with a toddler, the two wearing the Uchiha fan he had not worn in years. He looked down at her sleeping face and ran his hand in her hair. Was it how his father felt toward his mother? A feeling of home and the urge to protect her against anything and anyone?

Had he not chosen to turn his weapons against his home years ago though?

He could only hope Sasuke would feel like that toward someone too one day.

Without a noise, he got out of her hold and pulled the covers up to her chin, said covers hugging her figure perfectly. He sighed and put on his boxers and pants. He stared at his shirt for a while, then at Akane.

He could leave and not come back without waking her up. It would be easy. She would hate him for it but it would be easy. Without a word or anything.

"You're doomed until the end idiot," he muttered to himself, going to the living-room.

He grabbed a melon pan. If she thought he did not know she had a secret stash she had never told him about, she was mistaken. He stole from it every single time with no regret.

He stared at the wall in front of him, sat on the chair at the table, his elbows resting on the table. His chin resting in the palm of his hand, he was halfheartedly eating his treat.

He was called a genius but lost any common sense because of one woman.

"Gosh 'tachi, you're making me want to kill myself right now," said woman sneered behind him before turning the light on in the kitchen. He rubbed his eyes at the aggression and groaned slightly when a hand landed on his shoulder. "What were you doing in the dark eating...hey, you're the thief!"

"Who else?" he whispered flatly, giving her one. She took it with a quiet thanks and posted herself next to him. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted the naked skin of her thighs. His eyes traveled up.

He had missed seeing her wearing nothing but his shirt in all honesty. She raised her brows at him and buried her fingers in his black locks. Without warning, he turned his head toward her and buried his face in her stomach. She was startled at his actions and hugged his head.

"You're...you're okay? I mean...it's not what I said earlier, is it?"

When she said she was in love with him. No, it was the sweetest pain she could ever inflicted him. He shook his head, not caring he might looked like a pouting child.

It was the whole situation, the lack of future for them, how he could not let go of her until the end, and how when he raised his head to look at her, her face was blurry.

He was going more and more blind.

He could only hope the last time he would see Akane, he would actually be able to see her and not just her blurry features.

He was trying. Ever since they pretty much put a name on their relationship, he was truly trying to give her good memories of their time together. It was small things, but it was the best he could do. She seemed happy about it though, so it was just what he needed to know.

He was being more and more selfish. He wanted at least one person to have good memories of him. He wanted at least one person to remember of who he was and not what he had done. The truth about the Uchiha massacre would die with him.

"Are you going to read his smut too?" He raised his eyes to Akane, sorting her stuff on the floor of the living-room, said floor not visible anymore, like the carpet. It was incredible the amount of things she had in just one piece of paper. "I mean, I'm sure you're done with this one, are you planing on reading his other works?"

"Hn." His eyes were on the pages, but he was not reading. She was right, he had finished it a while ago. He closed it and sat next to her on the floor, grabbing a book that she had just unsealed from a brown used one.

"It's fairy tales from Uzushio, it was my mom's. It came from her grandparents."

"Did your mother seal multiple items in this book?" She smiled proudly.

"Yeah! We were always on the road basically, there is everything in there! From family memories to...hum..." she trailed off as a scroll appeared in her hand. He raised a brow at her intensive staring and shook her shoulder. She seemed to wake up. "So, you're gonna read his porn?"

"Is it better than the real thing?" She blushed heavily and he smirked. He moved closer to her, his hand on the floor behind her, next to her hip whereas he leaned his chin on her shoulder. "What is it?"

"Fuinjutsu for beginner, especially made and customized for me. I...I was the youngest." She opened it and immediately, he could notice different hand writings. There were also childish drawings. Akane shook her hand with a nostalgic smile. "I haven't opened it ever since my stay in Konoha. Oji-chan made me another one after six months."

"The Fourth?"

"He wanted to take me as his apprentice apparently, Kakashi-san had no faith in me the asshole. Heh, you wouldn't happen to know how he is?" She seemed...to like him. She had not seen him for years though, but it still made him stupidly jealous.

"He was alive after his fight with Kakuzu and Hidan," he whispered. She nodded and went back to sorting her things. After giving her some space, he got up and walked to his coat. Touching his pocket, he felt the rectangular box in it.

It had been an impulsive purchase, Kisame had cast him a weird look but had not commented. It was a simple necklace, with a thin silver chain and a ruby pendant. He had yet to give her though. It was probably for the best to leave it for her to find once he was dead.

It should not be long now, his crisis were worst. A few months at most.

"Heh...is it something interesting?" she asked him in his ear. He widened his eyes a little and dropped his coat. "Wow, sorry if I startled you."

"You didn't."

"Riiiight...what's the thing with your coat? You have something important in it?" He nodded without thinking. Yes, it was important. Not...not as important as other things, but important on a personal level. "'tachi!" He pulled the box from his pocket and shoved it in her hands, leaving the house for a bit. There was a river nearby, it was peaceful. Nobody came to interrupt them when they were doing stuff on the bank.

He knew why he was so embarrassed, but there was no way she would see him blushing like a kid talking to his crush for the first time. It had already happened when they were kids and once was already too much.

He was so deeply in his thoughts he did not hear Akane walking up to him. She knelt on the weedless earth and hugged his waist, her forehead against his back. He sighed slightly at the dilemma in her. He had the same after all.

"It's beautiful, thank you," she whispered. "But..."

"I know," he cut her off sharply. He knew all too well what she wanted to say. 'You shouldn't have' or 'why?' or anything that would make them talk.

He didn't have much time left, how would she cope with his death? He wanted her to move on, eventually she would, but when would she? She would be alone again.

Itachi turned to her and grabbed her chin between his fingers. Her gaze was clouded with concern, and with a small sigh, he leaned his forehead against hers, his nose grazing hers.

"Akane..." He noticed how she held her breath at her name. "Once I'm gone, go to Konoha. Go to safe..."

"No," she refused coldly. "Not with that old asshole still around." He looked down. He could not blame her for not wanting to reappear on Danzou's radar, even if she was too old now to integrate the Foundation. "You can't ask me to do that."

"Kakashi-san would protect you."

"To the best he could, he's not...I'm not even sure the Hokage could really protect me if Danzou set his eyes on me. No, no I won't go back unless I have a very solid reason." She wouldn't go back on her decision, he knew that look in her eyes.

"Then promise me something."

"What?"

"When I am leaving for good," He ignored her teeth biting her bottom lip. "don't try to keep me from leaving. Let me go." She looked at him in disbelief. His hand landed on her cheek and he ran his thumb on her quivering lips. "Akane..." She averted her eyes and nodded weakly.

"I...fine, I won't try to keep you from leaving." Satisfied with her answer, he kissed her softly on her lips before moving his head back. "Itachi..."

"Hn?"

"Do you...do you think that when it's my turn to die, we'll be together again?" He pursed his lips ever so slightly. He never spent too much time dwelling on what the after life looked like. Even if the idea of seeing his loved ones once again was appealing, he would be more tempted to think that once you were dead, you were dead, end of the story. Although, the Edo Tensei brought back the souls of the deceased, so there had to be something after.

"If it's the case," he started quietly, taking a strand of auburn hair between his fingers, "then make sure it has turned white." She chuckled without real conviction.

"It will take a long while for my hair to turn white, or to die of old age actually. I'll...I'll tell you what you missed? And you'll...you'll be there?"

"I'll wait," he whispered. He let go of her hair and put his hand at the back of her head, pulling her against him. He would wait for her turn. He would wait patiently for her turn to see her again.

Her hands grasped his shirt and he stared with hollow eyes at the tree behind her. If he had not come back, then she would not be in pain like that, she would not have fallen in love with him and would not need to move on.

He looked down at her in wonder when she broke their embrace suddenly, staring at the trees at her left with wide eyes.

"Akane?" When she did not answer, he grabbed his shoulders to make her look at him but she would not stop staring.

"It's...not..." she mumbled to herself, taking huge gulps of air. "My...my imagination..." He frowned and his eyes bled red for a second when he felt Madara lurking around. She was a sensor, she felt him but now was in shock. He stood up and, taking her hand in his, pulled her on her feet harshly. If Madara's chakra disturbed her so much, he would not let her be around him for long.

He had taken the liberty to put an incredible amount of seals around her place to keep him and Zetsu from spying on her the first time he visited her. Who knew, he could not find sleep as easily as her after their first time.

Still, when he made her sit on her couch, her eyes were still confused.

"What did you feel?"

"Someone...around but...it was...it was my ima..."

"There was someone around," he told her coldly, finally getting her attention. There was no reason to pretend otherwise. "But it's not someone I want anywhere near you. Why did you react like that?" She did not answer, instead going back to her things, still spread around on the floor.

She searched frantically through a book and with a puff of smoke, she had what looked like a photo album in her hands. She browsed through it and stopped abruptly. She went back next to him and showed him a picture. He immediately recognized the toddler as her, and the boy with red hair that looked a little like Naruto was her brother. A girl wearing a Konoha headband was crouched behind them, an arm around them and a smile on her lips. There was silver hair on the side of the picture and Itachi guessed it was probably Kakashi-san, a younger one, trying to escape, but a hand was around his collar. It was a boy, with orange goggles and the distinct Uchiha look.

"That...that's...the chakra I felt made me think of him. It was faint but..." Her finger was shaking on the boy's face. "It reminded me of Obito. He died during the last war though, gave Kakashi-san his eye so it's...it's not possible, right?" He would keep to himself how the definition of possible or not was vague in their world.

"How did he die?"

"Huh...I think…yeah, they were in a cave and he was crushed under a rock. Kakashi-san and Rin left before the cave collapsed on itself."

"Was he still alive then?"

"I...I don't know, I think. He was alive when he gave his sharingan so...Itachi, it was my imagination, right?"

"Yes it was."

It would be. Itachi did not have the time to investigate what she just said, even if it worried him. He let her rest her head on his shoulder. She was shaken up, he could only hope she would not try to investigate this on her side.

From the moment he entered her place and told her it would be the last time, he knew she would break her promise.

"Akane." He did not turn to look at her. Her hand was grasping his coat in his back.

"Would you not at least say 'goodbye'?"

"You promised," he reminded her coldly, ignoring her question. She clicked her tongue.

"Can't you even look at me Itachi?" He left a pregnant pause between them until he sighed and turned around. Her face was facing the floor and he did not protest when the hand grasping his coat found his collar. It was shaking.

Her whole body was shaking and he couldn't help but pity her and the state he had put her in.

"I think a lot of things, and I know your disease will kill you very soon. You've waited that moment to face your brother, you don't want to kill him but something else. I know that but...but...have I ever made you dou..."

"No." He did not like where this was going, what she was trying to get out of him. He needed to be blunt, maybe make her resent him for leaving, but she had to let go of him. He did not want long goodbyes, it would hurt them even more. "Akane, let go."

"If I ask you to stay, you'll still leave, right?" His hand closed around her and removed it easily. "You...you're gonna die and I won't...I won't see you anymore..." He lowered his eyes, her hand in his grasp. "I won't see you anym..." He wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her against him. She was sobbing by now.

"I'm glad Shisui asked me to watch over you," he whispered in her ear. "I'm glad I had you in my life until the end Akane, you don't know what it meant to me to know you would always welcome me here."

"Don't start being honest now!" she sobbed harder, punching his chest weakly. He did not care, he would allow himself one last selfish thing before he left.

"I want you to move on." She sobbed louder. "But I need you to know..."

"I love you, don't go!" she cried in his shoulder. His eyes softened.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear and she pushed him away. Her brown eyes were shining with tears, her cheeks wet.

"You can't say that now! You can't say you love me when you're leaving me! If...if you really love me, then stay with me!"

"I'm leaving now."

"NO!" She ran in front of the door in a vain attempt to block his way. He looked down at her, his patience toward her behavior, although understandable, running thin. He could not bear her sight any longer. "YOU'RE NOT LEA..." He stopped her by crushing his lips against hers in a salty kiss. She kissed him back with despair, with everything she had, and was hanging onto him. He broke the kiss slowly. "I'm begging you, don't leave me," she whispered once again, opening her eyes. She widened them in front of his sharingan.

Her eyes turned glassy and she shut them as she lost consciousness. He caught her easily and followed her fall, now one knee of the floor and Akane in his arms.

His mask cracked. He lifted her closer to him and buried his face in the crook of her neck. There was no reciprocity in his actions, but he did not care. He inhaled deeply, a hand behind her head, buried in her thick hair. He wanted to remember everything he could, the feeling of her hair between his finger, her scent, her warmth and how she always seemed to be exactly where she belonged when he had her in his arms.

He did not want to leave her behind, and as he was kissing her forehead, the only thing he wished for was that she knew that. He did not want to, but he had to finish what he had started years ago, even if he hurt her by doing so.

He was leaving the last piece of his heart with her.

Itachi snorted quietly and scooped her in his arms, his eyes never leaving her blurry face as he walked to the couch. He put her down gently, a cushion under her head. He covered her with a blanket and stayed next to her. He had to leave, he really had to, she would not wake up until the next morning.

He stayed longer than he should have just looking at her, memorizing for the hundredth time every details that made her her. Then, he kissed her one last time. Her lips did not move but he did not mind. He would not have been able to leave if she had kept weeping like she had for him.

"I love you," he murmured against her lips, his finger tracing the delicate line of her cheekbone. "Forgive me."

He stood up and left quickly.

He did not turn back, and ignored Kisame's look when he found him later.

"Kisame."

"I will Itachi-san. I'll go see the kid after." Itachi closed his eye, his back to his partner.

"Thank you."

When he poked Sasuke on the forehead and smiled at him, he could only feel relief.

It was over for him, and he welcomed death with arms wide open.

Hey! Thanks for reading and leave a review to tell me what you thought about this chapter! Thanks to NguyetMieu for the review.

Bye!