A/N: Time to keep rolling. Time to face Itachi. I will warn you that this chapter contains VIOLENT scenes, and a reference to a sexual situation. It starts soft, and ends soft, but the middle is - pretty, well, violent. I hope you like it.

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They woke in the morning to make love one more time before they left. Sasuke told her, "Raylin, you've done so much for me. You're so good to me. You're good for me. You're not only my lover, you're my partner. I love you Raylin."

"Sasuke, remember when you asked how you could thank me for helping you?"

"Yeah?"

"You've just thanked me enough." They ate and packed their things. As they prepared to leave, a group of Orochimaru's underlings approached them. One of them asked,

"Looks like you're going somewhere Raylin. Sasuke? What's going on here and where are Orochimaru and Kabuto?"

Raylin calmly told the group, "We are leaving, and Orochimaru and Kabuto are dead. You are free to stay or free to go. You choose."

There were mutters of disbelief among the group. One shouted at her, "What if we won't let you leave! We can continue Orochimaru's plans without him! You'll stay here and help us just like you helped him."

Raylin looked at Sasuke. They both nodded and looked back to the group. Sasuke simply said, "You want to try and stop us?" Then they both activated their sharingan and glared at the group. They moved back, but one foolish person stepped forward and said,

"There are more of us than there are of you. You can't kill us all!"

Sasuke injected the fire element into his enhanced chidori and the air got thick with crackling energy. He looked at the person who addressed him and said, "Yes we can." Everyone who felt Sasuke's chakra stepped back, falling over each other, trying to get away from him as he stood there in his deadly state. Everyone that is except Raylin who stood next to him, bristling with her own power.

She called to the group, "Don't be idiots. We're leaving and if you try and stop us or come after us, there will be nothing left of you. Go, live your lives. We're going to live ours." The crowd quickly dispersed, all of them knowing that they had just glimpsed a fraction of a power so great that they were lucky to be alive.

Raylin and Sasuke deactivated their sharingan, turned and after taking one last look behind them; they left the compound and began their hunt for Itachi.

They traveled silently, somberly, almost grimly. The realization of what they'd done to Orochimaru and Kabuto had firmly sunk in, and knowing what they had yet to do troubled their minds. Their determination to be free of all the pain and loss in their lives drove them on.

After a day's walk they came upon a camp. Sasuke said, "The guy with him, Kissime, he's like some kind of shark thing. He's got this enormous blade that eats chakra. The more you have, the higher its power. You'll have to take him out quickly. I'll see if I can separate the two of them, you stay hidden."

"Right." She silently circled around and saw the two rogue ninja. Sasuke walked right out into the clearing. He was finally face to face with his destiny and his own hatred. Itachi casually looked up at his brother and said,

"Are you here for another beating?"

Sasuke said, "No. I think I hate you enough now. I think it's time you died."

"Think you're going to avenge the clan then? Ok. Let's go." Itachi rose, and closed his eyes. Sasuke had been training to watch his attacker's feet to anticipate their moves. He was ready and wouldn't be trapped this time by Itachi's mongaque sharingan. Kissime got up to assist and Itachi said with his eyes still closed, "Sit down Kissime. I'll take care of this like last time."

Kissime backed away toward the far end of the clearing. Now was her chance. Raylin silently took out two throwing knives and infused them with wind chakra enhancing their cutting surface. She launched them at Kissime who was watching Itachi and Sasuke. He let his guard down, and he never saw them coming. They sliced through his neck severing his head from his shoulders. It fell to the ground, and immediately Raylin launched a volley of lava at his head, consuming it, melting it. Kissime's body fell and twitched for a moment before it lay still. Itachi peeked out of the corner of his eye in time to see his comrade fall. He didn't have time to look around, and couldn't sense anything other than Uchiha chakra nearby, but someone else had to be there. Someone had just killed Kissime.

Sasuke stared at his brother, emanating hate at him. Apparently Orochimaru found this entertaining, and he flooded Sasuke with his chakra. Sasuke felt alive, like he could move mountains. Around him, the wind picked up and swirled away from him. He put his head down still staring at Itachi and he growled low in his chest. The trees and rocks were pushed back. It seemed as if they were trying to get out of his way, fearing his anger, feeling his hate. He began to gather his chakra, lighting spitting out of different parts of his body.

Itachi could feel Sasuke's power pressing against him. It amused him slightly. He opened his eyes, staring at him with the mongaque. In an instant, Sasuke dropped his eyes to Itachi's feet, and gathered his chakra. He produced a ball of chidori, larger than before. It swirled in his hand and sounded like thousands of birds. Itachi watched what he was doing, while Sasuke kept his gaze at Itachi's feet. Itachi began quickly making hand seals and muttering, "Sun god technique." Sasuke continued to focus on Itachi's feet, waiting for him to move.

Because of the noise of the chidori, Raylin snuck in behind Itachi, almost completely unnoticed. As he was completing his hand seals, she produced a lava chord and shot it in a straight line directly at Itachi's heart. He must have felt it coming, because he moved a fraction of an inch, making the burning chord miss his heart. It still burned and pierced his body causing him to lurch forward. As soon as he began to fall forward, Sasuke raced forward with his enhanced chidori, and Raylin leapt out of the trees with hers. Itachi looked up in time to see the chidori hit his chest, and feel the second one hit his back. He pitched forward again and Sasuke kicked him in his falling chest, throwing him onto his back causing the cooling lava chord to burn and melt its way completely through him. It left an ugly gaping hole, and it continued to burn him as it cooled.

Itachi, now mortally wounded, his sharingan fading, looked up at Sasuke. He said, "You finally achieved it. You finally hate enough."

Sasuke looked at his brother, "All because of you. And now, I leave it here with you."

Raylin went to Sasuke and stood next to him. She was slightly startled as she looked down at Itachi. "He looks so much like you Sasuke." But her compassion turned to anger when she recalled just what this monster had done to the clan, and especially what he had done to Sasuke. With a steely glare she said, "Just give me the word Sasuke, and I'll melt him."

Itachi studied Raylin, "Uchiha. I guess I missed one."

She said, "You did. You missed the worst one. Sasuke?"

Itachi's eyes faded even more, his life running out of him. He was almost gone. Sasuke turned to her, she handed him a kunai. After many months of training, Sasuke learned how to infuse his fire element into things. He made the knife a hot cutting instrument and proceeded to cut Itachi's head off just like his counterpart's. When he finished he said, "Light him up. Good bye Itachi." He walked away as Raylin poured lava onto Itachi's head, melting it and stopping any chance of recovery. The crows came quickly and worked on both Akatsuke members. Sasuke shooed them aside long enough to take Itachi's and Kissime's rings, as proof to himself that they were indeed gone.

Sasuke walked over to Raylin. She looked at him, concern on her face. He watched the crows do their work. He turned to her, "Here. This is yours. This is your prize, but I'm keeping this one."

"You should. We may need these as proof when we go to Konoha."

"Konoha. We'll leave in the morning. I just want to stay here tonight."

"Are you sure? You want to watch them being dismembered?"

"No, I just want to make sure they're gone and they don't come back."

Sasuke felt as if all the hate he'd harbored most of his life was pouring out of him and being pick up piece by piece and taken away by the crows that took apart his brother's body. He felt drained. Raylin started a fire and had him sit by it, and still he watched. She handed him some food, he ate absently while watching. She lay next to the fire, tired by the day's activity. He lay down behind her, propping his head up on his hand still watching. He put his left arm protectively around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She laid her arm over his, tucking her hand inside his as he held on to her. It was almost over. The fire crackled slightly, the crows finished their work, and Sasuke put his face against Raylin's head and wept.

Raylin let him. His family, his entire past was completely gone now. There was nothing left. He was all that was. She let him get it all out. She let him have his sorrow. Soon, she turned to him as he slowed. She faced him, putting her hand on his face, brushing away the wetness on his cheek. He touched her face, and then put his arm gently around her shoulders, pulled her to him and wept again. She just held him tightly and let him finish.

After a while Sasuke said, "It's over. It's really over. We did it. The revenge I've lived for, the only thing in my heart for so long is really over. Thank you for all you've done for me. Now my heart has room again, and you're taking up a large part of it. Thank you."

She beamed inside. Then she said, "You're welcome. Now, you need some rest. We're traveling tomorrow."

"No, we're going home tomorrow."

"Home. I can't wait. But what will we do when we get there?"

"First of all, I have a lot of amends to make. I owe a lot of apologies to practically the whole village. I have no idea if they'll ever trust me again. But I have to try. That's the only home I've ever known, other than the one Itachi destroyed."

"I know Sasuke, but what will we do? Do you think they'd let me practice medicine there? Would you be on a ninja squad?"

"I hadn't thought of it. I guess we'll just get there first and explain what's happened."

"I have an idea."

"What's that?"

"We could offer our services to them."

"As what?"

"Akatsuke assassins."

Sasuke thought a minute, mulling it over in his head. He said, "Akatsuke assassins. Definitely."

"Go to sleep Sasuke."

"I love you Raylin."

"I love you too." She let him sleep first, keeping an ear out for any intruders. When she felt safe after taking a quick look around with her sharingan, she snuggled into Sasuke and went to sleep.

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A/N: The countdown continues. 9 more chapters till the end, then a short epilogue to wrap it up. I like to tell the WHOLE story, and not leave too many ends flapping in the wind.

Next up: Going home; can they find Naruto and will he help them? Come back and find out. See you soon!