A/N This story is a sequel to KRenee's The Arriving. It is a collaboration between her and I, but I've done most of the writing thus far. A link will be posted on my main page. Enjoy! Characters and concepts belong to their respected owners. This plot and OCs belong to KRenee and I.
Her body hadn't felt this sore in a long time. So, did that mean she was somehow still alive?
"Wh…" she croaked, cracking open her eyes. Itachi was sitting next to her, and blinked when she began to stir.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, checking her over as she slowly pulled herself into a sitting position.
"I've… been better, I guess…" her voice trailed off as she realized there was a very familiar-feeling chakra signature in the other room. "He's here?"
She was fully ready to spring out of bed and charge into the other room, but Itachi placed a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back onto the bed.
"You're not going to attack Sasuke," he explained simply, his voice smooth and his eyes apologetic, "He's not going to attack you."
She gave him an incredulous glare in response. Was he being serious? Sasuke was her enemy; why was he in the other room, and why was Itachi against the idea of them fighting?
"I explained this to Sasuke already," the Uchiha continued, "All I know is, if either one of you should die, something very bad will happen."
"Oh really?" she replied sarcastically, making her frustration well-known, "And what would that be? The inability to have a well-attended funeral?"
"I don't know, and I don't want to find out," he replied, suddenly wincing and rubbing his temple, "In any event, I have the feeling something's about to happen. And I think it would be best if the three of us stayed together. You don't have to talk to him, you don't have to interact with him, and you don't even have to look at him. All I'm asking is, until whatever's going on happens, we all work as a team."
Juritsu's brows furrowed as her anger dissipated and she studied Itachi's face with the scrutiny of the irou-nin she had been trained to be. His already naturally pale skin looked ashen, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
"Are you alright?" her voice was soft as she checked him over visually in concern, "You look like you're not feeling well."
"It's just a headache," he waved off her worries, "It's been a bit stressful since I… returned."
Juritsu gave him a sympathetic look. He was most likely torn between his brother and his friend and didn't want to have to take sides. And it really did feel like the world was ending all around them. While she didn't like the idea of it, it was probably best if they stayed together, at least for the time being.
"I'll… be civil with Sasuke, if only for your sake, Itachi," she spoke up quietly. She didn't bother holding back her reluctance. The man smiled reassuringly at her.
"Thank you," he helped her to her feet, seemingly satisfied with her answer, and opened the door for her.
Sasuke was sitting on the opposite side of the room from her door. At the sound of her entrance, he glanced up, and their eyes met. They didn't lock gazes for more than an instant before they simultaneously averted their eyes.
…
Something was wrong with Itachi, she just knew it. Currently, said Uchiha was resting his head in his hands as he sat on the couch. He looked awful. Carrying a cup of warm tea, she approached and sat down on her haunches in front of him.
"You okay?" she asked, running her free hand through his disheveled hair while pressing the cup to one of his arms. His hair was wet, but she knew he hadn't taken a shower yet that day. He was soaked with sweat.
Slowly, Itachi picked his head up to meet her eyes. It seemed to be hard for him, as if his head felt to him like a lead weight. His eyes looked sunken and there were dark circles that stood out on his ashen, clammy skin.
"I've felt better," Itachi replied hoarsely. Juritsu's eyes were wide in disbelief. She placed the cup down next to her and pressed her hand to his forehead after pushing his bangs out of the way. To her shock and dismay, his forehead was incredibly hot.
"What a fever!" she breathed in amazement before grabbing the cup of tea, moving to sit next to him. She silently encouraged him to lean against her for support, and, with his head propped against her shoulder, she carefully pressed the cup to his lips. "Take your time drinking," she instructed patiently, "This has some herbs that will help with your headache. It might even break this fever of yours."
It took several minutes for Itachi to finish the tea; the entire time he seemed to be slowly deteriorating.
She helped lay him down, covering him with a blanket. "Alright, I know you're feeling awful right now," she said apologetically, "But can you tell me what's bothering you?"
"Head," his eyes were shut tightly in pain, "The pain is very severe, and I'm sensitive to light and sound. And my stomach has started to bother me."
Juritsu's brow furrowed in concern. "Your stomach? It recently started hurting?"
"And I feel nauseous…" Itachi's voice trailed off into a violent coughing fit. Juritsu, startled by the sudden onset, held up Itachi as he doubled over, clutching his chest with one hand and coughing wetly into the other. When he finally pulled back, his face flushed as he panted for air, the duo was shocked to find blood covering his hand.
Itachi let out a low groan, leaning over himself again. Juritsu, slightly panicked, supported his weight as best as she could. "I-Itachi?"
"M-my chest…" he wheezed out through his clenched jaw. Cursing, she helped Itachi to the floor, carefully laying him on his back.
"I'm going to grab some of my supplies in the other room," she hastily explained as she got up, "I'll be right back."
She bolted into her room, nearly ransacking the place trying to locate her herbs and serums. Something wasn't right about the sudden onset of his symptoms and the speed of progression of whatever condition he had. And that was a problem in and of itself; how was she supposed to solve a problem she didn't have a name for?
When she returned not a minute later, she quickly realized Itachi's ailment had taken a turn for the worst.
Her supplies fell to the ground, and she didn't even notice as she rushed to Itachi's side, shaking him.
"Itachi? Itachi!" she called, finding to her dismay that his chest wasn't rising. When she checked for one, his pulse was gone.
"Damn it! What the hell is going on?" she half-yelled as she immediately began chest compressions, frantically hoping that Itachi's heart would start once again.
"What's wrong with Itachi?"
Sasuke didn't sound as panicked as he most likely felt. Either way, Juritsu didn't care.
"Hell if I know!" she snapped in response, "He doesn't have a pulse!"
Immediately, it seemed, Sasuke caught on to the urgency of the situation. "What do you mean you don't know? You're the only irou-nin left in the Shinobi Nations, and you can't even treat him!"
"Can you produce lightning?" She asked prior to breathing air into Itachi's lungs.
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"CAN YOU, OR CAN'T YOU! I NEED TO JUMP START HIS HEART!"
Sasuke gritted his teeth, kneeling down opposite from Juritsu. "Wh… tell me what I need to do."
"Place one hand over the right side of his chest," Juritsu explained quickly, indicating the spots, "Place the other on the left side of his ribs. Give a surge of 100 volts."
Sasuke didn't answer, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration. There was a snap, Itachi's body jerked, and Sasuke pulled his hands back, watching Juritsu as she checked for a pulse.
"No good," she muttered, "Do it again, only this time, use 150 volts."
"What if…" he began.
"Don't ask, just do," she cut him off firmly, "We don't have time for what ifs!"
They found, to their relief, that his heart was beating once again, only it was very spastic.
"This isn't good…" Juritsu thought aloud, "He's not stabilizing…!"
Itachi's body began to convulse. Juritsu managed to check his pulse, finding that it was once again nonexistent.
"Sasuke! His heart's stopped! Shock him again!"
The sound of footsteps reached them shortly after Sasuke's third attempt at reviving his brother. A voice spoke up from just outside the living room, "This is Polly Burinchet reporting back on Uchiha Itachi's summon…" A woman stood in the doorway, looking slightly out of breath and holding her wrist up by her mouth so she could speak into what looked like a large watch.
Her eyes widened as she took in the scene; the two shinobi leaning over Itachi's more or less motionless form, trying desperately to revive him. The color drained from her face, "This is Raphael. Status?"
"Dying." Polly replied quickly, lowering her wrist and hastily making her way to them.
As she kneeled by his side, Sasuke's head whipped up in her direction.
"Who the hell are you?" he snarled.
She glanced up at him for only a brief second, "I'm his Caretaker. How long has he been deteriorating like this?"
"What in the world is a Caretaker? And what makes you think I'll believe you?" he glared at her.
"Sasuke, we don't have time for this!" Juritsu snapped. Sasuke glared at her, almost hatefully.
"Since I woke up a few hours ago," Juritsu supplied hastily, returning Sasuke's glare steadily, eyes hardened, "It didn't work. We're increasing the voltage. Shock him with 250 volts," she grabbed one of the auto-injectors she had dropped earlier on the ground.
Sasuke eyed it suspiciously. "And what're you going to do with that?" he asked.
"It's cyanide. I'm going to kill him the instant you bring him back to life," she replied sarcastically, "What do you think it is? It's a cardiac stimulant! Hurry up and shock him already!"
As Sasuke applied the jolt, Juritsu quickly jabbed the injector into Itachi's thigh, hearing a click as the medicine was administered. She mentally counted ten seconds in her head before checking for his pulse.
"Thank God…" she breathed, "We got it back… It's not stable, but the only thing we need to worry about is his breathing…"
Polly sighed, sounding relieved as she brought her wrist to her mouth again, "He's alive. For now."
"Well, that's good. Are you bringing them?"
She rolled her eyes, "Nah, we're gonna sit here and have a tea party." Polly stood up, brushing off her knees.
"If you must know," She began, looking directly at Sasuke, "During his stay as a Resident in Hell, I was in charge of him. That's what we Caretakers do. Me and Itachi have an illegal contract, which is the only reason I was able to even come to the mortal realm."
The younger Uchiha scowled, averting his gaze to that of his brother, whom Juritsu was carefully tending to.
"I don't know how long he's going to be stable for," Juritsu explained once she had finished her ministrations, turning finally to face Polly, "Why did you come here? And I'm not asking for you to tell me about you being summoned."
Polly glanced at Juritsu, "I have to take him back to Hell. If he stays in this body, he'll die no matter what you do." She briefly looked him over, her brow furrowing, "He needs to be taken out of this body and properly diagnosed."
"Well then what are you waiting for?" Sasuke's voice was calmer than earlier, though the malice in it was still clear, "Juritsu said it already; there's not much time before he'll stop being stable."
Polly nodded agreeably, deciding it would be best to ignore Sasuke's general hostility, "The chariot is outside." She said as she walked over to Itachi's side, "You two are coming, right?" She managed to pick the limp Uchiha up, wrapping his arm over her shoulder and supporting all of his weight easily.
Impulsively, Juritsu and Sasuke shared a glance, the two of them immediately averting their gazes. Shaking her slightly, Juritsu glanced in Polly's general direction. "Since when were mortals allowed in Hell?" she asked skeptically.
The blonde smiled slightly, "You two aren't just mortals. You're like special guests." She said.
The two clearly didn't believe her, but didn't say anything nonetheless as they, slightly reluctantly, followed Polly to the chariot.
The inside of the chariot was larger than it looked from the outside. There was more than enough room for the four of them.
"So, I'm guessing that there's a lot less of a romantic air between you two than what they told us." Polly observed as she watched the two shinobi across from her. Sasuke pointedly ignored the question, staring out the window, while Juritsu glared murderously at the woman.
She looked surprised at their lack of an actual reaction. Polly let out a sigh, "The world's gonna end after all."
There was an empty pause in the cabin for a long moment. The wooden chariot creaked softly as they gently touched the ground.
"We're in Hell." the driver called, "We'll be at the hospital shortly."
"Okay."
It was as the driver had said; only a few minutes later when they were getting out of the carriage, a nurse assisting Polly in getting Itachi out of it and onto a stretcher that had been supplied by a team of nurses.
"Straight to the OR," One of them said, before turning to Polly, "I'll take you to the waiting room. You can wait there while he's in surgery."
Sasuke watched them hurry away, his brother completely unresponsive as they began tending to him en route to the operating room. Juritsu eyed his clenching fists. Regardless of his feeling towards her and the rest of the world, he still cared about his brother and was clearly worried.
She sighed, irritation returning with a vengeance, and followed Polly to the waiting area. Just a few minutes later, Sasuke approached, taking a seat in between them. He had a smoldering, bitter gleam in his eye, but Juritsu turned away, staring at her hands instead. A long, tense silence fell over the small group, each waiting for news on Itachi's condition. It had felt like an eternity before a doctor emerged, noticing them and walking straight towards them.
"You're waiting for Itachi, right?" The doctor asked, glancing up at Polly, "Obviously." He glanced between the faces of the two shinobi, "The boy lives. He's in recovery right now, but he hasn't waken up yet."
Sasuke visibly relaxed, and Juritsu heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she breathed, glancing up at the doctor, "What was wrong with him?"
The doctor shrugged half-heartedly, "We have no idea. His internal organs, heart, and pretty much everything else started to spontaneously decay and otherwise fail. We've sent the body to the lab."
She blanched. "His... body...?"
He nodded slowly, "Yea... his body. He's got no use for..." A light bulb seemed to switch on in his head, "Oh! No, it's not a real body. The original body that Itachi was born with was unusable, so we had to make him an artificial one and attach his soul to it. He's fine. He's got no body, but that'll be an easy pro-..." Abruptly, a rather loud beep sounded off the doctor's hip.
He pulled a pager off his belt and glanced at it, eyes widening as he cursed. The doctor lifted his wrist to his mouth and spoke urgently as he took off running in the direction he'd come from, "This is an emergency summon-..."
"Hey wait, where are you going?" Sasuke called after him, standing up, "What's going on?"
Polly tapped her ear behind him, speaking up to clarify the current situation, "He's not getting better. In fact, he's getting worse again..." She mumbled, pursing her lips, "Raphael, whom you just met, is summoning Apollo and Askelpios for assistance."
Sasuke whirled around to face her. "How the hell is he getting worse?" his voice was frantic, "Raphael just said the surgery was a success!"
"Sasuke!" Juritsu suddenly spoke up, standing as well, "Polly has nothing to do with Itachi's condition! You have no right to yell at her for all of this!"
"And what the hell do you know?"
"I know enough to be able to tell you that yelling at everyone isn't going to save Itachi or make him get better any faster! You have to shut up and wait for the doctors to take care of him!"
Sasuke lost his temper in an instant. "If you had been able to take care of him yourself, he wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Well if you hadn't killed everyone, I would've had more resources to treat him!" Juritsu exploded.
"That's got nothing to do with this!"
"It's got everything to do with this!"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and through his clenched jaw, he growled "Then maybe I should've killed you after all."
Juritsu stopped mid-tirade, only able to stare at him in shock and disbelief, before a hatred unlike any other found its way into her eyes.
"Excuse me," Someone's icy calm voice spoke up from behind Juritsu, startling her before she could retaliate against Sasuke. She whirled around, very obviously mortified.
A pair of men stood there, looking marginally annoyed. One of them, looking older and much more stressed, spoke up, "This is a hospital, so I must ask that you keep your yelling to a minimum or exit the building."
Juritsu scowled, embarrassed at her lapse in common sense, and stalked over to the far corner of the waiting area, where she sank into a chair and silently stared out the nearby window. Sasuke had, by this point resumed his seat as well, looking in the opposite direction.
The stranger glanced at Polly, "Raphael called; where's the kid?"
"OR 34." She replied softly. He nodded and started off, his partner following him swiftly. She let out a rather loud, irritated sigh, before standing up, "I need to check on my current Resident. I'll be back in a while." She said to Sasuke.
On her way out the door, she paused beside Juritsu, "I can trust you to summon me when Itachi gets out of the OR, right? I have to check up on my Resident..."
She trailed off at the look on Juritsu's face and sighed, "He's not the nicest guy, is he?"
"Which one," she muttered bitterly, a resentful gleam in her honey brown eyes.
Polly smiled slightly, "Well, I got to admit; Apollo is pretty much the biggest dick in all the Heavens..." She paused, "But if you add the mortal realm, Sasuke's got him beat."
Juritsu's lips curved slightly for a brief moment of time before it disappear, sadness darkening her eyes. "I don't know what to believe anymore…"
"It's understandable," Polly replied, "It's unfair, and it's completely and utterly ridiculous. They say all things happen for a reason, though it's sometimes a really stupid reason." She glanced down at her wrist, "Whether it's a stupid reason or not, what's coming will come, and it'll be up to you three to deal with it."
Juritsu glanced at Polly in confusion.
The Caretaker shook her head, "I need to get going now, but if something happens, just say my name - Polly Burinchet - and I'll be notified and head your way."
Juritsu nodded slowly, stealing a very quick glance in Sasuke's direction before glancing back at Polly. "I'll call you when something happens.'
Sasuke watched as the two men who had broken up his argument with Juritsu earlier exit the elevator. The younger looking one, the apparent lackey, was staring at him rather blankly.
They walked right over to the lone Uchiha, the one who had spoken before making the conversation, "Your brother is out of surgery."
"How is he?" he asked slowly, unsure of what to expect.
"He lives." The doctor replied, "He's being monitored incase he gets cursed again. I'll be on call. Other than that, you're free to see him. He's in 534 on the sixth floor."
The younger Uchiha's brows furrowed in bewilderment. Cursed? Curses existed? Perhaps they did here in Hell, but he had never seen or heard of such a thing in his life.
He glanced over in Juritsu's direction. She was watching him and the doctors. He nodded his head before standing up, knowing she was right behind him, and the two of them headed up to the sixth floor.
Itachi looked like he was dead. His face was ghostly white, and the expression of sleeping induced by anesthesia only made it look worse. Raphael was in the room when they arrived, standing over the Uchiha with a scrutinizing look on his face.
"How is he?" Juritsu asked the instant she laid eyes on Itachi's motionless form.
The man looked up at them, "He's doing well, despite how he looks." He replied. "The stitches are healing a little slow, though, which isn't really good, but not really bad. I just wanted to make sure that there are no more surprises.
Sasuke's eyes were wide as he surveyed his brother. "Where did all these wounds come from?" he asked.
"Stakes." Raphael replied, "It's a high-level curse, and if Itachi wasn't who he is, he'd have been dead long before you got him here. The curse is basically just a bunch of invisible metal stakes that get driven into a person's body, and they cause anything from internal decay to complete shut-down of entire systems. Whoever cursed him had intent to kill."
"A curse?" Juritsu spoke up, "How is that possible? We were taught in the Ninja Academy that that was just a bunch of folklore and legend!"
Raphael nodded, "Well, for average, mortal human beings it is a bunch of folklore and legend. The person who cursed Itachi is no human. Luckily for him, however, Itachi himself isn't really human either." He looked up at the two shinobi in front of him, "Then again, you two aren't as human as you could be, either."
Juritsu visibly stiffened. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I have yet to see anything that makes me less human," he stated.
"You curse seal's a good start," Juritsu muttered under her breath, earning a murderous glare from the young Uchiha.
Raphael chuckled, "Well, you wouldn't be able to see it. Your immortal selves date back to the birth of your souls."
That earned him equally incredulous glances.
Raphael shrugged, "Well, I'm not going to try and change your minds. You'll learn eventually."
He glanced at his watch briefly, before looking back at Itachi, "He must be really out of it. It's been 57 minutes already."
Just as he was saying it, Itachi stirred slightly, catching the attention of all the other occupants in the room. Torturously slowly, he opened his eyes.
"Where…?" He asked.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Sasuke replied dryly.
"How are you feeling?" Juritsu asked tentatively, scrutinizing every inch of him in search of wounds or abnormalities.
Raphael smirked at Sasuke, "You're back in Hell. The body we gave you failed because you were cursed. You're really lucky that Juritsu's a trained medic, or you'd be really dead."
He glanced over tiredly, noting Juritsu's and Sasuke's presences. "How are they allowed to be here as well? They're living."
The doctor nodded, "I'll tell you exactly what I told them; they're not quite as mortal as you think, and neither are you."
Itachi rolled his eyes. "Well, I knew that. I died, or so I've been told."
"You did… I was there…" Sasuke remarked, looking slightly awkward about talking about his brother's murder.
Raphael sighed, "Not what I meant, kiddo." He glanced up at the door, and then at his watch, "Zachariel's late."
There was a series of loud beeps from the doctor's waist, and he pulled out his pager again, "Yes?"
"Raphael-…" It was Polly. They could all recognize her voice despite the terrible quality, "Can you bring some fucking sedatives for Madara!"
Raphael blinked, looking surprised as he headed for the door, "Is he having his midday tantrum?"
"A LITTLE MORE THAN THAT!" he took his finger off the call button and turned to the others, "I can trust you three in here, alone, right? Zach should be along soon enough. And don't let him near Juritsu."
Without another word, he disappeared through the doorway, leaving the group in utter silence, though Itachi didn't look very surprised to hear that Madara was throwing a 'tantrum.'
"I wonder why he said not to let him near Juritsu." Sasuke pondered aloud, voicing the question of everyone in the room.
"Who knows…?" Itachi replied, his voice betraying a slight hint of curiosity.
Only moments later, there was a knock on the door. It slid open, revealing a brunette with a cocky look on his face. He was pushing a wheelchair that carried what seemed to be an exact clone of Itachi, though the doll looked more than lifeless.
He parked the wheelchair and placed a hand on the lifeless doll's shoulder as if to keep him from falling.
"You must be Itachi..." His gaze drifted over to Juritsu, scanning her body with a perverted gleam in his eyes. His smile grew as he completely disregarded the rest of the occupants in the room and approached her, taking her hand in his and smiling sweetly.
"And you must be the famed Juritsu..."
The young woman was blushing furiously. "Famed?" was the only thing she managed to muster. Sasuke was glaring at the newcomer murderously.
The man, likely Zachariel, nodded reassuringly as he knelt down and kissed the back of her hand, "Of course... daughter of Goku, defender of the mortal realm... You've been the talk of the Afterworlds for hundreds of years, madam..."
Juritsu, clearly flustered, averted her gaze to the corner. "Oh…" she simply replied.
"I see you have my body," Itachi spoke up, seeing that Juritsu was feeling slightly awkward and decided to come to her rescue.
Zachariel looked slightly surprised at the sound of Itachi's voice, and took his eyes away from Juritsu to stare at him blankly. They could see the light get turned on behind his blue eyes.
"Ah! Yes." He said, straightening up and clearing his throat, "If Polly knew I was here, she'd kill me!" he said cheerily as he returned to the side of the doll. He stooped down to pull something out of a pouch attached to the arm of the chair.
"Tabul-Cain just wanted me," He muttered aloud as he skimmed the scroll, "To relay a message that probably won't make any sense to you until you're actually using the body…"
He glanced up briefly, before clearing his throat and reading, "Lucifer told me to make something that wouldn't be so easy to destroy as a regular body, but I think I may have overdone it a bit. The instincts will take a bit of getting used to. I advise a practice of using a stress ball until you adapt to the strength." He rolled the scroll back up, "And that's that. Ready?"
Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Instincts?"
Zachariel nodded, digging into his pockets absentmindedly, "That's what the official title is, but I prefer to call it your very own personal danger sensor. I'm sure you noticed the minor panic and powerful desire to throw yourself between Sasuke and Juritsu before they killed each other." He grinned, tugging a piece of what looked like chalk out of his pocket, "That was something Lucifer wanted in your head."
Juritsu spoke up before Itachi could. "What's that you're holding?" She asked, indicating what the angel had pulled out of his pocket.
He took the doll's hand and started drawing on its palm, "It's kind of like chalk, except that we use it to draw binding seals. Its how we put dead people back into their bodies, on the rare occasion that it's actually necessary." Whatever he had drawn, it wasn't showing up on the hand. He straightened up and walked over to Itachi, extending his hand expectantly, "With my very own method, all Itachi will have to do is shake hands with his new body, and voila, he's back in business..."
Itachi nodded, holding out his hand and watched at Zachariel repeated the process on his hand as well.
Once he had finished his art project, Zachariel gave Itachi a once over with his eyes, "Alright," He said, indicated the doll, "Might be a little cold to the touch, but it'll warm up once you start breathing and stuff."
Itachi observed the lifeless doll silently for a brief moment before reaching forward and grasping its hand. Zachariel was right; the skin was freezing.
The room was enveloped in a blinding white light. The brightness dimmed and Juritsu and Sasuke looked back up, blinking the dots out of their vision. Itachi was stirring slightly, a violent tremor of shivers wracking his new body.