..Chapter Twenty-Four..

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"Damnit, why did you have to jump in front of me, Itachi?" Kisame growled down at the fallen man. He was was angry, he was pissed. He wanted to break bones and no one was letting him. Itachi wasn't letting him. This wasn't the way it was suppose to be. Itachi was an Akatsuki member. Kisame was one of the closest to him. He was one of the only ones who knew much of the whole truth about him. In many ways he would never admit Itachi was like a brother to him.

And he betrayed the trust they had!

They'd been fighting relentlessly against Orochimaru for days with the two Leaf brats whom the group had made the bargain with years ago. It had been so simple. They'd help take out Orochimaru and then agree to leave the two in peace as long as they left the Akatsuki to do as they wished with the world, the villages.

It hadn't worked out that way.

No, instead, in the middle of the fight, right when the villages all come down on top of them at once, right when they defeated Kabuto and Orochimaru... His friend, his brother, defected from the group. He took sides with the two former Leaf nin lovers; Sasuke and the pink haired Sakura who was currently healing that bastard's wounds.

He stated he didn't want to fight him. He offered him to choose a side. A side he said had a good reason to continue to exist. It was bullshit and he was pissed!

And then something unexpected had happened right in the middle of their little chat. A trap had went off and he was so angry at him he hadn't been paying attention. Orochimaru had laid it before he died, hoping into his death to take some hapless fool out in the process.

The hapless fool on the ground.

He snorted.

What an idiot! He jumped right in front of Kisame, pushing him out of the way and took the damage. And what was he suppose to do about that? Eh? Walk away? Kill him for his stupidity? No, instead, he'd been an idiot himself and carried the moron, cursing him the whole way, until he found Sakura.

And eventually both Naruto and Sasuke had shown up. They were arguing and for some reason had not noticed his presence or the fact that his best friend was on the ground bleeding all over the place!

"If you two idiots don't shut up I will break every bone in your body!" He was yelling. And why not? He was livid and had no possible outlet. It was enough. Both men shut up. Fucking good for nothing Leaf village trash.

"Thank you," Sakura whispered from the ground, her hands working to mend broken skin on Itachi's belly.

Kisame grunted in return. "Just because I haven't killed you yet doesn't mean I won't." It was an empty threat, but, it made him feel a bit better. He was too bloody fucking loyal to the bastard to do anything. "I hate you, you bastard." He was growling down at him with jagged teeth showing.

Itachi smiled slightly. He coughed a bit, bleeding from his lips. He was really no worse for wear. Another few minutes of Sakura's healing hands and he would be fine. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Sorry?" Kisame narrowed his eyes. "Sorry?! You think one little word actually makes up for all of this?" His hands tightened into fists, daring to draw blood. "I'm not sure if I'm more upset with you for betraying the Akatsuki... or me."

"I didn't have a choice," he coughed. "You have to understand."

"Oh, I understand alright. I understand you're siding with these... these.." he waved his hand trying to the words. He couldn't find them. He growled, loudly, yelling in a way. "Why did you do it? Fucking asshole. There can't be reason good enough to betray us. To make me betray them. Hell," he continued in an angry tone, "I don't even understand why they defected from the snake. I never questioned it." He motioned to Sakura and Sasuke as he spoke,"But at the time it seemed pretty fucking random."

Itachi just smiled faintly again. He let out a long sigh and looked up at Sakura. "Forgive me?" He asked softly, questioningly. She immediately understood what he wanted and nodded.

"It's alright. You can tell him." She knew he wasn't going to die, but she felt tears coming anyway. Everything was wearing on her and this battle was becoming more emtional than she had ever dreamed.

"Tell me what, Uchiha?"

He looked back over at Kisame. His voice was soft, "I betrayed the Akatsuki more than twelves years ago, Kisame. I was never really a member to begin with. You always knew that..." He coughed again, trying to ease his nerves and speak.

Kisame felt dread flood his system. Angrily he spoke. "Quit trying to talk. The bleeding is only getting worse, dumbass."

"No," he breathed heatedly, "you will listen to me."

Kisame grit his teeth but shut up.

"I have a niece." He smiled, probably more brightly than he ever had since Kisame had known him if he ever did. "She's... beautiful. She's the Uchiha legacy and everything... everything lays in her. My hopes for my clan. My bother's hopes for our clan. She will help us revive what I helped wipe out years ago." He coughed again and Kisame was right next to him, face filled with irritation, frustration and something akin... to perhaps understanding.

"I love her. I loved her since the day she was handed to me, crying and screaming; still fresh from her mother's womb. You can't hate me for that. A child," he whispered, trying to find words. "A child changes mens hearts. It melts the cold we encase them in." He smiled, feeling on the edge of tears himself. He was too strong for that. He would never do it. But the feeling was still there. "Don't fault me for wanting a family. It was something my father... my own people... stole from me."

Kisame just knelt there, unable to answer as he listened. He had a niece... It all made sense now. He'd never really told him too deeply about it... but Kisame had always known, deep down, Itachi wanted what he'd lost. And this was why Sakura and Sasuke betrayed them. This was why Itachi betrayed them.

Because of a child.

Kisame couldn't understand that. He was too... hard and cold blooded to wrap his mind around the idea that a child could make you want to change. He'd killed children, infants even. One child did not make him want to change.

He knew of Itachi's love for his brother. He knew of his wish and dream to remake the clan. Those were things he'd heard all about from his partner. They were not his dreams... but, he understood the passion his friend had for those dreams. And passion was something Kisame could wrap his mind around.

"You have a niece..."

Itachi nodded.

Kisame sighed. "I hate you."

Itachi laughed slightly. "I take it you've made your choice?"

He resorted to grunting again. "You're so pitiful. Pretending to be some great asshole for the world, for me, for years. And here you are. A broken bloody mess on the ground because you were too stupid to let a fool who wasn't paying attention get hit." He just stared at him for a while after speaking. "Yes, you asshole. It's not like I can say not to you. The fucking great prick himself." Another growl. "I should break rip every limb from your body for putting me through this."

"Thank you," he whispered.

"Whatever..."

Sasuke smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Oi, Sakura, is he going to be ok or what?"

She looked up, nodding as she stopped. "He's done actually."

Itachi started to sit up, grunting slightly.

Sakura scowled. "You're going to have to take it easy. Alright? The wounds are healed but your chakra needs time to even back out to it's normal flow."

Itachi nodded and grabbed for the hand Kisame offered him. "Yeah, yeah, li'l sis. I got it."

She grumbled. "Good."

"We have some bad news." Sasuke was saying.

"What?" Sakura stood as well while Kisame helped anchor Itachi.

He sighed. "We're loosing Jounin left and right. Kakashi is just barely holding his own. We had to send Rin his way to help out. As it stands? We're not gonna make it through this. Even with the other Kages helping us. Everyone is just too spread out. And we never expected these idiots to call for back up."

Kisame rolled his eyes. "You think we were stupid enough not to be prepared for you mo--"

"Kisame," Itachi muttered.

He eyed him but let it go and tried to continue. "The Akatsuki have servants in the villages. Some of them don't even know it. Just because they didn't see you coming doesn't mean they weren't ready for the possibility."

Naruto sighed. "We can't give up. I didn't come all this way to fail. I didn't go through all the trouble of gaining the help of the five Kages for nothing. We're just going to have to get them cornered and have everyone ambush them at once."

"We'll try anyway," murmured Sakura.

"We will," Naruto stated with determination. "I didn't come into this lightly and I don't plan to leave without a victory."

ooo

Bare footing was barely heard as each one lept from tree to tree. There were at least nine of them. Kei was leading up the front next to Sunako. Behind them were the rest of the team. Rei was flanking her right and behind her was Ryu. Further back was Jade and Akira. Near the back was of course Shin, Rai and the final member of their three man group Asa.

Kei had never met the girl before they began this little mission. But, apparently she made up the lone female in Shin's team. She'd told the girl she reminded her a lot of Sai with her hair, eyes and artistic sense of jutsu. The girl had laughed at her, telling her she wasn't surprised. Sai was her sensei before she joined Shin's team.

She wasn't disappointed with any of them. They were a strong bunch who all had unique abilities and techniques. Each one made a important impact on the other; balancing each others weaknesses and strengths.

It wasn't going to be enough to take out the Akatsuki. Kei knew this. She wasn't a stupid girl. It was that very same reason that they had left her and rest of the rookies behind. The Akatsuki... together? Were a force to be reckoned with, her Papa had told her. It was probably one big reason why she hadn't left yet. It wasn't until Rei and Sunako got the wheels turning in her head days ago in the street that she decided to do this.

They'd been running on almost empty. Trying against hope to find any lead they could on for the Jinchuuriki. Scraps was what they got at first. Some people outright tried to chase them out of towns. But Kei hadn't given up. She'd refused to. And so, they just kept asking people, getting leads and asking more.

For a while as she gathered the information it began to seem more and more like Sunako's little rumor had been correct. People began to point them in a distinct path. A path that, as they got closer, more and more people were willing to tell them they had seen more and more of the ninja she was looking for going that way.

Then she got lucky. In one small little area a rather old man had been sitting in the street. A beggar if she ever saw one. Like many others before him she had inquired about the Jinchuuriki. Turns out the old man hadn't really been and old man... but a relay for the Jinchuuriki. Someone who was suppose to make sure the beast containers got to the confirmed destination. He was one of many on the long path. but he was the last one and her 'meal' ticket.

At first he didn't want to tell her anything. No, he wanted to fight and protect the group who was desperately hiding from the Akatsuki. She hadn't been surprised by this. Thankfully after a long, drawn out heart felt explanation and a few punches from Rei he agreed she wasn't out to hurt anyone.

So... now she was on her way to said... hideout? Yes, and they were close. She hoped so. Because honestly? She didn't know how much longer her family was going to hold out.

Kei lept down in the grass and held an arm out, stopping her group. Before her was a large stone wall. It bore an inscription in a language she couldn't read. She knew someone that might be able to.. but she wasn't going to waste any chakra calling her out just because it looked old and dusty.

"This is it," Kei whispered. She turned to Asa. "Do you remember what he told you?"

She nodded and stepped forward. A small ink well was pulled out and a paint brush too. After a quick dip into the pot she was witting on the wall and preforming a hand sign with her eyes closed. "Reveal!"

A crack was heard. Several birds cawed and flew off nearby. The entire team took a step back and Kei grabbed Asa to pull her too when she didn't move. "Watch out."

Then the stone face began to slide upward in the center. It was slow going and loud, revealing a doorway into darkness.

"Rei, Ryu and Sunako. I want you three to go with me. The rest of you stay out here in case we don't come back." Kei was stating.

"Kei," Shin stepped forward, worried.

She shook her head. "I need you out here. I need someone to take over and go home if we don't come out. To go get help. Ok?"

He sighed, not happy, and nodded.

"Let's go."

They were off, running down the darkened hallway like their life depended on it. Their footsteps echoed down the corridor. Kei wished she had a light. but she didn't want to raise suspicion in case they got in trouble here. After all... she had no idea what to expect from the Jinchuuriki. The only two she'd ever met in her life were Naruto and Gaara. They were kind. But even Papa had said Gaara had not always been so nice.

"I wish we had a light," whispered Ryu.

"It'll give our presence away," Sunako replied.

"Why are trying to hide?" Rei asked. "Aren't trying to get them to help us? I mean, isn't whispering and running around in the dark a bad first impression?"

Kei was about to respond but something rattled in her ears and told her to stop. As they did Ryu suddenly fell to a pile on the floor.

"What the hell.." Rei began before she too was falling on the stone surface.

"Kei!" Sunako was crying out.

But it was too late. As soon as she heard him darkness over came her. The last thing she saw was a figure looming above her with bright blond hair and piercing black eyes...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

AN: Let me say this first. Kisame is a sadistic evil bastard to the core. But, the one thing he does have going for him is loyalty to Itachi. So, it wasn't so hard for me the write the beginning of this first chapter. As Itachi is now, as he has changed, I could see him jumping to save Kisame. And I could see, just because of loyalty alone, Kisame trying to find Sakura for help.

Don't get me wrong, he's not a nice guy. His idea of fun is rip your limbs off and beat you with them while you scream. The only reason he's 'helping' out now is because of Itachi. And for while you won't see him do much along the lines of warm and fuzzy. XP

We're nearing our end, as you can see. Which is good because I know how badly you all want to see this story end. There going to be maybe two... no three more chapters after this one. Because really? XD I've got two other stories to work on. Plus, another on the burner I'm dying to do with permission from two other really good authors on this site!

Tap-chan : Thank you for you're help. I'll be sure to check those out. XD and yes, it is rather funny she could do that. But, her summon is a unique creature with unique flames that will only harm those she wishes to harm.

Superme383 : Sweet! And thanks! It was hard deciding on a summon that would take out his attack. I wanted it to seem plausible. At least in the Naruto universe.

Kattylin : Yes! There will be a sequel! -cackles- I've already decided on a title. It'll be about Itachi and Kei's need to find him some luffin'. The name will be 'Kei's Mission Impossible: Itachi Needs Love Too!'

NicolerogersXX : You'll find out if you already haven't!

Special thanks to those who read/reviewed.

--Blade