Ok heres chapter nine for you all that are reading this.

Chapter Nine:

Her shaking hand reached up to gently stroke his cheek where it bled. He didn't flinch away from her, just looked deep in her eyes. "How does this end?" She murmured.

"Its not like one of your books Rei, there won't be a happy ending." He sounded far away, maybe he was.

"Kabuto…" Say it damn it! Just tell him! I love you…so much Rei couldn't do it, couldn't bring herself to say it, to tell him.

He kissed her quickly, he couldn't say it either. She felt stiff in his arms, she wanted to just melt into him, but that was wishful thinking she couldn't allow. "What's it worth…Kabuto?" She asked when he pulled away.

"Everything," He replied surely as he stood, and helped her up.

"Everything…" Rei breathed.

She closed her eyes, and wondered what he meant, but only for a moment. A tug on her shoulder told her he was pulling them up.

Once on her feet she felt surprisingly balanced and aware. No dizziness or anything, which was odd for her, after being in Tsukuyomi for so long. Itachi… her eyes darted to the multiple clashes in the center of the wreckage, looking for him.

Kabuto flexed his elbow, then his shoulder. Rei didn't realize that it was injured until that moment, blood was dripping from under his shirt down to his hand. It stopped after he ran two fingers over the top of his shoulder. He saved all his chakra? For me? No… couldn't have, he'd be so much worse off if that were true.

Rei stood next to him, scanning the ground, the rim of the fallen in hideout, the solitary pillars that still stood. She couldn't find Sasuke, or Itachi. "Where are they?" She whispered to herself.

"There…" Kabuto pointed after a moment, answering her question.

Two fast moving figures were darting at each other, away, and back at each other at a distance from the center fight. Even her eyes couldn't catch every move. Itachi…Her heart ached. She couldn't help him, not that he'd allow her too. And Sasuke would take the opportunity to kill her if she intervened.

She felt Kabuto grab her wrist, as if knowing her very thoughts. Knowing what she was thinking about doing.

"I'm not going to go to him now," She looked at him, promise in her eyes.

Reluctantly he nodded, let go and turned back to watch the Uchiha's battle. She didn't turn away from his face as easily. He was so handsome! She'd never dreamed she'd think of Yakushi Kabuto in such away, but here she was, melting in her heart for him.

"Rei?" He could see her writhing in her skin, itching to move toward him.

"I need to be closer." She decided not knowing Kabuto was realizing the same thing, only a moment sooner. There was no way she could do anything from where she was, even if she didn't plan to, she needed to be able to. Kabuto followed her up the caved in wall and around the rim to a better viewing place.

Rei saw now, that Itachi was bleeding from his upper left arm and lower down on it. It looked as though he'd blocked Sasuke's katana with his arm. Aside from minor scratches she couldn't see any other wounds on his perfect body.

Sasuke looked worse off, and she couldn't help but rejoice a little on the inside. Itachi had the upper hand. Blood trailed from Sasuke's bottom lip down his chin. Internal wound, Rei noted. His wrist looked swollen, and his palm was bleeding. He held his sword in the wrong hand.

"Look's like Sasuke's gonna lose this one," Kisame's loud, gravely chuckled didn't startle her.

God willing…She let her eyes wander back to the Akatsuki—leaning on a fairly large piece of rock behind them—as Kabuto inched closer to her. "Kisame-sama," she signed, realigning her eyes with the brothers.

Rei couldn't concentrate on the fight with Kabuto's anxious stance beside her. "He won't attack us," She whispered to him.

"I'm still his enemy even if your not," Kabuto couldn't have realized how much his words stung.

She looked away before he could see it in her eyes, Rip my heart out a little faster…She remarked painfully to herself.

Unsure of what she missed Rei's heart skipped as she saw Itachi on the ground, Sasuke leaning over him, ready to press his kusanagi into his brother's throat.

Kisame shifted beside her as she readied herself to jump over the edge, to Itachi. His strong arms grabbed her before Kabuto's could; they'd both been reaching, the shark man only moments ahead of the medic.

"Calm down, Kid."

Before she could spit a harsh comment back at him, she saw the smoke as the kage bushin disappeared under Sasuke's sword.

She released her breath, "See," Kisame grunted.

Kabuto looked at her, and she could see that he wanted her away from the Akatsuki member. Rei freed herself from his arms and moved to wrap hers around Kabuto's right arm. After her time with him, she'd found that this little gesture calmed the medic down easily, especially when it was her that was causing him unease.

"Oh, they seem to have moved away from here." Kisame said pointedly.

Rei scanned every inch of land she could see, only to find he was right. Sasuke and Itachi weren't there anymore. "We have to find them!" Rei was frantic underneath the whisper that left her.

Above the trees on just to the right of where the three stood smoke was rising, "Shouldn't be too hard," Kisame laughed at his joke.

Rei broke into a run toward the rising gray line. The trees in this area were thick but only for about ten or so feet before the spread out leaving a huge open field. Or at least at one time you would have seen that. Now as Rei made her way into the open, she saw another gouged out chunk of land.

"I didn't…realize that it… stretched this far." Rei spoke in awe.

"You were never that deep into the building." Kabuto's matter-of-fact tone sounded from her side. He'd kept pace with her, but Kisame had stayed behind.

"I see." Rei skirted the top of the canyon like pit. "…isn't that?" Rei squinted to look into the hole.

"Orochimaru-sama…" Kabuto confirmed.

The snake and his underling Uchiha were both squaring off with Itachi at the bottom of the pit. Rei looked to Kabuto. "Was it a trap?" She demanded.

"I don't see how," He looked at her—cold and hard, not her Kabuto, but his—and added, "They're attack was unanticipated."

Rei felt slightly embarrassed. "Right…Oh!" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Itachi go down. He took a hit from Orochimaru, and Sasuke was coming toward him, chidori blazing in his palm.

No thought, no reasoning, no judgment, just action. Rei flung herself in front of Sasuke's charge, gripping his wrist—avoiding the chidori—she pinned him to the ground five feet from his target.

"Rei," he spat her name, "Move!"

"Like hell!" She spat back. His struggle against her was short lived. He had size against her, but as he kicked her off, Rei strung together the hand seals for the Dragon Flame Jutsu.

When Sasuke was thoroughly distracted with the fire technique the Ishida created three kage bushin to distract him even further, once the smoke cleared.

The kunai tip pressed to the side of her throat stopped her next set of seals. "Damn," She hissed audibly.

"Why shouldn't I kill you?" Sasuke wanted the satisfaction of hearing her beg, well that wasn't gonna happen this time.

Two seconds, maybe less if the younger Uchiha didn't wait for an answer that wouldn't come. Then it would be over. One, tw—

There was a small crash in the same instant as the blade's tip pulled away from her skin. Kabuto was standing over Sasuke to her right. Chakra was glowing around his right hand.

"Don't lay a finger on her," He seethed. Sasuke struggled to sit up, coughing.

Her fingers swept at the drop of blood that seeped from the pin-prick on her neck. She took a step toward Kabuto as the younger Uchiha stumbled to his feet. "Rei, go help Itachi," She looked hesitantly from him, to Itachi who was evading the Sanin's shadow snakes attack. "Go!" Kabuto used his authoritative tone, the one he used to order her to do something.

Sasuke's eyes were lit with fury as he rushed Kabuto.

Rei knew that Kabuto would be able to handle Sasuke, she hoped. Itachi killed one of Orochimaru's summoned snakes at his feet, his sharingan eyes cold as he looked for the real snake, the Sanin himself.

As another larger snake struck out at Itachi from behind Rei put herself between it and the elder Uchiha. Slashing the head of with one quick cut of her blade, Rei was glad she could help Itachi. So it hurt her deeply when she was on the receiving end of his strike.

As she turned around, he lashed out at her, sending her sprawling back as she met his blood-red eyes.

"Stay out of this," His voice was cold, as Rei rolled to the ground she felt a painful tug threatening to rip out her heart.

Rei wouldn't just stand back as Orochimaru slowly gained the upper hand. Itachi purposefully moved the battle away from her, though it allowed Orochimaru to add another wound to Itachi's already bleeding arm. Rei was on her feet following them when she felt someone take her roughly by the shoulder.

It didn't take even a second to figure out it was Sasuke, the blade of his Kusanagi pressed to her throat as he pinned her to his chest. She was suddenly facing Kabuto, seeing utter fear and agony in his eyes. Damn it…just kill him! She screamed deep inside, though she could see her own fear reflected in her lover's eyes.

"Sasuke…Sasuke, let her go." Kabuto's soft gentlemanly tone was obviously laced with tension.

Rei hadn't realized that her thin fingers were desperately gripping his arm, trying uselessly to pull it and the sword away. She had to press her head back into his chest to keep the fine edge from pushing into her neck. "Please…Sasuke…" Her voice was just a whimper.

"Shut up." He wrenched her shoulder as he stepped away from Kabuto, slowly inching back wards. Whispering so only she could hear he said, "Later has become now, it suits me just perfectly if you were to die here." He said darkly as he put more pressure to his blade.

Rei screamed, but she wasn't sure when. Sasuke was pulled away from her, or…she was pulled away from him. Either way, she ended up in Kabuto's arms at the moment that Itachi yanked his younger brother away from her. Rei's eyes went wide as Sasuke's went blank.

Itachi had him dangling in the air, they're eyes were locked, but seeing the sharingan fade from the younger brother's eyes, giving way to blank blackness sent chills threw her. Kabuto was pressing chakra into the side of her neck and she couldn't understand why until she tried to turn it and felt the pain of the slight gash there.

Itachi dropped Sasuke to the ground, but neither moved, they only stared at each other, and Rei saw the sharingan flood back into Sasuke's eyes. "What…?" She started.

"Genjutsu…simultaneous genjutsu…" Kabuto mumbled in astonishment, apparently Rei wasn't the only one who'd never seen such a thing.

Her eyes focused on Itachi's face, as she spoke to the medic holding her, "What…happened?" She was frantically trying to piece each moment together…only finding nothing fit. It was like she'd completely missed something.

"You didn't see any of it?" He looked at her for a moment, then let the look fade, realizing she was serious. "Itachi…was about to, well I think he was going to kill Sasuke but then…it looked like he heard whatever Sasuke said to you, then…" His eyes drifted to Sasuke then back to her, "He was going to kill you…" he said softly, like saying it would change how things had happened. "We both just acted…"

Rei nodded, still gazing at Itachi. She saw his face tighten slightly, as though cringing at something.

"Orochimaru-sama…" Kabuto's rushed breath startled her out of her concentration. Neither had remembered that the elder Uchiha had been matching blades with Orochimaru until just seconds ago, until just now. She followed his line of sight to the Sanin, bent in on him self on the ground. Kabuto set Rei down and moved to aid his master, getting up mumbling, "I have to help him,"

Rei caught his wrist, "You've already attacked his prodigy, and you chose your side!" She informed him. You chose me, finally.

End Chapter Nine:

Hope you liked it, Reviews, please?