Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...

Ta for the reviews!

Just a note, Hana's plan to save Amaya is slightly spoilerish of the current arc in the anime with Garra and all that, but only by a couple of episodes (...maybe more...we all know how the anime folks like to drag things out...), but don't let that stop you reading, haha...

Chapter 22

For Amaya the next three days went by far too fast, and with much less company than she would have liked.

After that night she had thought that Itachi would be more open with her, but he seemed to be the opposite. It wasn't that he ignored her completely - often she caught his eyes lingering on her and watching her as she moved - just that he treated her the same way as he treated everyone else. She wondered if he was distancing himself because he knew there was no point in getting close.

It was cold, hard fact and it was like a kunai being held to her throat, waiting for the wielder to make their move. She was going to die. Strangely she was calm about it, though. Being the Rokubi jinchuuriki had always come with the unlikely chance of her meeting a natural end. Her brief respite from having that fact hanging over her head for the last year had been enjoyable, but it was unavoidable.

She felt lonely with Hana around, but knew that her friend would come back and she would see her again. They had known each other most of their lives and it wasn't long before Amaya had worked out that Hana was planning to save her. She wondered if she ought to stop her, but decided that she would trust her to find a way.

It was on the third night, when she was in her room, that Itachi, Kisame, Deidara and Sasori were sat around the kitchen table. They all knew of Hana's plan as they had been there when she left, and Deidara had just mumbled, "Do you think it'll work, un?"

Not really wanting to think about it, Itachi got to his feet and was about to leave when Kisame spoke what may have been the most influential and sensible words he had ever uttered, despite the fact that he was half drunk again.

"Maybe you should believe in Midget as much as Amaya does."

Itachi paused. He knew how close Amaya and Hana were and how much they trusted each other. Never had he trusted someone with his life, yet they both did it all the time. If he let himself go to Amaya, could he really trust that hot-headed, loud girl who had a habit of making mistakes? Could he really believe in her?

"Three days to get to Konoha, and then three days to get the information, learn how it works, and to the cave. I will make it in time. Please, don't tell Amaya-chan though, she'd chase after me and tell me not to do it, especially if she knew how it could turn out. Well, I'm off then. I will definitely save her! Yosh!!"

She'd had such determination in her eyes. Would that be enough, though?

His feet seemed to have a mind of their own, leading him out of the kitchen and up the stairs to where he now stood, outside of the room that Amaya was sleeping in. Or should have been sleeping in, but he could sense that she was still awake.

He heard movement and knew that she had sensed him too. As he stood there he tried to imagine how she must be feeling, for it was tomorrow, after all; the end of everything.

For him it was hard to imagine how it would feel to know he was going to die the next day. He supposed she must be feeling sad, lonely, depressed, but they weren't feelings he could relate to. It was then that he turned his thoughts not to how she felt, but to how he felt; how he would feel if Hana's plan failed.

His hand clenched into a fist as he thought about how much Amaya really meant to him. She was the only person that he would open up to, even if only a little. She was the only person who would dare to get so close to him. Her smile always made him want to smile back, even though his smiles were so rare. She'd even made him laugh - there weren't many people who had done that. In short, she was…special.

She's special…to me.

Perhaps, just this once, it would be okay if he put his trust in someone else.

With that thought he pushed open the door without knocking. She sat up from the bed, surprised, watching him with narrow blue eyes. She watched him as he closed the door and moved towards her, a somewhat almost determined look in his eyes that Amaya couldn't recall seeing before.

He leant down to her and with one hand pressed her down against the bed, an arm either side of her. The Sharingan drilled into her and she wondered if he'd come just to stare.

"Is there something you wanted?" She asked, her tone slightly clipped and with a hint of anger. He near enough ignored her for three days and then just stood there, not even turning the Sharingan off.

"I know you hate the Sharingan, but with these eyes I can see everything," lifting a hand he brushed his fingers against her cheek, "every little detail. I want to remember you, exactly as you are."

He leaned forwards, pressing his lips to hers softly.

"W-what are you doing?" She asked, caught off guard by his sudden show of affection.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No, no, i-it's just you…all of a sudden…w-what brought this on?" She stuttered.

"Nothing," he replied quietly.

She stared at him hard, "A-are you sure? You're acting just a little…un-Itachi-ish…"

A hint of a smile formed on his lips as he kissed her again. "Aa..."

The next morning there was a light knock on the door as Deidara pushed it open, stepping into the room.

"Amaya-san, I'm afraid you need to…get up…Un…" He blinked a few times at Itachi lying on the bed, Amaya still asleep beside him. Dark eyes met his blue gaze. Taking a step back, Deidara closed the door behind him without another word, but smiled silently to himself.

I guess they can have a little longer…

What Deidara didn't see (which was probably for the best) was that the pair would not need to undress before climbing into the shower - an act that would be accompanied by much blushing from Amaya and smirking from Itachi.

Hana smiled as the front gates of Konoha appeared before her. Bounding through them she headed straight for the Hokage's office, almost running into Shizune on the way.

"Hana-san? What are you doing here?"

"I need to speak to Tsunada-sama! It's urgent!"

Nodding, Shizune led her up to the office. Pushing open the door she didn't even have a chance to speak as Hana dashed past her.

"Hokage-sama, I need your help, please."

"Hana-san, what are you doing here?! Last time I helped you, I sent out a team and they got sent back without doing anything at all!"

"They got Sasuke-san back…But more to the point, it's not a team I want this time."

"Then what is it?"

"A medical jutsu," she stated simply.

"A medical jutsu?" Tsunade repeated. Clearly that was not what she had been expecting.

Hana nodded, "Amaya-chan is the Rokubi jinchuuriki. Over the next three days they're going to be extracting the bijuu. Deidara-san told me that somehow the Ichibi jinchuuriki was brought back to life. I want to know how."

Tsunade was silent for a moment, "It's true that Gaara survived but Chiyo gave her life for him, and even then she needed some of Naruto's chakra."

"But she was an old lady, wasn't she? I'm not! I'm young, full of life, youthful, and she'd a big fight beforehand! There has to be a way! Besides, even if it kills me, I'll do it…for Amaya-chan."

The blonde's eyebrows raised at the determination that shone in Hana's brown eyes – how could she stay angry at someone like that?

"You know, in many ways you're very like Naruto, especially with that determination. If you start talking about youthfulness you'll get forced into green spandex though, so you might want to avoid that." That brought a very confused look to Hana's face, but she forgot about it as Tsunade carried on.

"Fine, I'll help you." Getting to her feet she called for her assistant, "Shizune!"

"Hai!"

"Take care of things here, I'm going out for a bit," and with that she swept out of the room, Hana following eagerly in her wake.

Amaya combed her damp hair slowly before tying it back with her ribbon. She turned to Itachi who was waiting for her. She nodded. He slipped on his cloak and they shared one last kiss before leaving the room.

The others were waiting downstairs in silence. Apparently it was unusual for so many of them to be conducting the jutsu while actually being there physically, but as many of the biijuu had already been caught most of them now had a lot of free time on their hands.

Together they left the building in silence, heading to a cave within River country. With the aid of Deidara's birds they would be there by midday.

As they flew Amaya smiled at the clear blue sky around her, a gentle breeze fluttering across her skin, the landscape flowing by swiftly below them. It was a beautiful day.

A beautiful day to die, she thought sadly, it's just like the day we met.

Midday seemed to come much sooner than it should have. Jumping off the bird Amaya looked up at the large entrance. As they stepped inside she could just about make out a giant pair of hands reaching out of the ground. There was another part to the large structure, but she couldn't quite see what it was.

On some of the fingertips figures were already stood, waiting. Deidara, Kisame and Sasori moved to their places. Itachi gently pushed her forwards to stand in the space where they all looked down at her, before moving to his own place.

"Now that we're all here, let's get start-" a voice began, echoing around the cave, but Amaya cut in, hardly worrying about being killed for it.

"Ah, um, I'd like to make a last request, if I may? Well, two actually…?" She wasn't quite sure which one had been speaking so stared at the ground waiting for an answer.

"Very well," the man replied at last.

Amaya looked up at Kisame, standing high above her. "If Hana-chan tries something that's going to end up with her dead…stop her…please…" He nodded.

She then turned her gaze to Itachi, his red eyes glowing in the darkness surrounding them, "I-I expect this is going to hurt, so would you mind…knocking me out first?"

He jumped down in front of her, not even waiting for the Leader to give any kind of permission, "Amaya…Are you sure these eyes are the last thing you want to see?"

She smiled and placed a soft hand against his cheek, "Don't worry, Itachi. They won't be."

After a moment he nodded. As she looked into his eyes and began to lose consciousness she whispered one last thing to him, for his ears alone, "Mou ichido tsuyoku dakishimete." It was their equivalent of 'I love you', with so much meaning beyond the words themselves.

Itachi wondered if the first words he had ever heard her speak would also be the last.

The next chapter will be the last one, then... After that I might do a 'follow up' kind of chapter, but we'll see... I might just stick it all in as one...

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