Long chapter this time guys. Hope you like it! Sorry I haven't uploaded for so long, things have been pretty busy.

This chapter follows Itachi and his return to Konoha to collect the nine-tails, and Kana's first time inside a crowded place like the Leaf! There's a five year time skip… Enjoy and review!

Chapter 5- Homecoming

*FIVE YEARS LATER. KANA IS NOW TWELVE YEARS OLD.*

A lot had altered in the five years that Itachi and Kana spent training together. The memory of the first kill she had made was still stark in Kana's mind, yet Itachi noticed that still, she concentrated all her efforts into putting on the face of someone cheerful and happy-go-lucky. If anyone was going to guess that was a cover-up of her pain, it was Itachi. He knew what had happened to her that day, and it shocked him half to death.

Kana had progressed so far and fast that Itachi speculated that she would be a formidable opponent in battle with any skilled shinobi. He had been trying all this time to get over the fact that she looked a lot like Sasuke, and had done very well. Now that Kana was older, her physical appearance was more mature, and she was now too old to be called 'cute' or a 'child'. He never thought about that now, and firmly considered her and Sasuke to be completely separate people.

Itachi had resigned himself to the Akatsuki and was losing himself- he felt like he didn't know himself anymore. The memory of Sasuke niggled him at the back of his mind, always on the peripheral but never quite at the forefront of his cluttered thoughts. Kana was his focus now. When the time came for Sasuke to kill him, he would know and there was no point in dwelling on things like that for now.

As Kana had grown older, her face had matured beyond her years, obscuring the emotional scars her time so far in the Akatsuki had imprinted on her; the missions they were assigned to were hardly suitable for a kid. She had gained quite a reputation in the organisation for being a prodigy in killing people in a 'big' and dramatic way. Itachi was staggered: somehow, despite all her ordeals so far, her face still held the picture of innocence that it had on the first day that they met.

"Itachi-sensei… where to now? I'm as strong as you now. Is there any need to keep on travelling together?" Kana speculated, her new official Akatsuki cloak covering up her clenched fists. She didn't want to leave, but the fear that she might have to was too much. Her hands were clenched so tight that her sky ring was beginning to hurt her fingers.

"Leader requests that I have you here until we finish sealing the tailed beasts. I shouldn't have to tell you this again…" Itachi snapped, and then he could have punched himself. Why was he such a jerk to her sometimes? It must be the Akatsuki rubbing off on him. No matter what, he couldn't allow himself to forget his old life.

Itachi felt a tug in his mind. Leader wanted to speak to the both of them.

"Kana-"

"I know."

They both closed their eyes.

"Kana, Itachi… how are things?" Leader asked.

"You want to ask how we are? " Kana said loudly. She immediately bit her lip.

"Hold your tongue, child."

"I'm not a child!"

Leader sighed, exasperated. "Be quiet. You're as bad as Deidara for rude interruptions."

"Deidara's the new member isn't he? The one me and Itachi went to recruit? Yes, I remember him. He is rude to everyone who does not appreciate his art, so he openly despises me and Itachi," Kana chattered.

"Quiet!" Leader eventually lost his patience. "I have a task for you."

"Another small mission?" Itachi asked, secretly hoping that it was nothing too momentous.

"No. This is an important mission." Kana's interest had sparked now. "You are to travel to the village hidden in the Leaves to collect the nine-tails jinchuuriki. The jinchuuriki is still weak, so Itachi's team should be able to handle it with ease."

Itachi stopped breathing for a moment. The Leaf? He hadn't been there since the night that he no longer concerned himself with thinking about. And the nine-tails jinchuuriki was the child possessed with the fox demon tailed beast, Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto… the legacy of Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Uzumaki. He'd be about the same age as Sasuke.

OOO

"Itachi… you came from the Leaf village, right? What's it like there?" Kana asked out of interest. They were very nearly there.

Itachi breathed in deeply, then breathed out, thinking of what to say to her. "It's… warm. You wouldn't find a single Shinobi in that place who would betray a comrade."

"However… in the Akatsuki… it's not like that, is it? It's always running and hiding and looking for a way out, and killing people, all for a cause that most of us don't even believe in," Kana said softly. "I only stay and contribute to Leader's goals because I have nowhere else to go. You're here as well. What use is there for a ninja without a hidden village to belong to? Why do others join the Akatsuki?"

"That's a difficult question to answer, Kana," he replied quietly. "People join the Akatsuki because they have desires that their own ninja villages cannot satisfy, and they believe that by staying loyal to the Akatsuki, that their goals will be met along with the organisation's. No-one would betray the organisation itself, unless they wanted to die, but I doubt any members have many feelings towards their partners."

Kana paused for a moment in thought. "But Itachi… you wouldn't sell me out, would you? We're partners."

"… No. No, I wouldn't. You are too valuable to the organisation," he replied shortly, not looking Kana in the eye.

"I didn't think so," she smiled. "You're just not that kind of person. You seem to be unwavering in your loyalty to the Akatsuki, but what are your goals, Itachi? You've never discussed them before, not even to me, your partner of five years."

Itachi panicked for a moment. She couldn't catch on. "Let's hurry. We are almost at the borders."

"You're dodging the question! Well, if you won't answer that, then what do you personally think I should aim to be as a shinobi? I can't just blindly follow the Akatsuki's ideals without having any of my own, you know."

"The nameless shinobi who protects peace from within its shadow… is what a true shinobi is. It's something someone told me a long time ago." He cleared his throat and gazed in the direction of the Leaf. "Now come on. We haven't got much time."

Kana frowned and followed on, too occupied with her thoughts to bother with her usual chatter.

Itachi and Kana drew nearer to the exterior of the Leaf village, Itachi holding back slightly. He didn't even know how he would dare to show his face around here after what he did.

"How do we get in? Won't we get caught if there is a barrier? There is an invisible spherical barrier, with aerial and underground coverage. If we go right on in, we'll be detected immediately by the barrier corps," Kana grumbled.

"I was once head of the village's ANBU unit. I recall the passcode to get through the barrier," Itachi responded sullenly.

"Why so miserable? Could it be that you still have feelings for this village of yours?"

I love the village more than anything else. That's why I did what I did. To protect the Leaf, and to protect my Sasuke. But I can never tell anyone that. I would rather leave the village as an outcast, a criminal, and have the world believe that I am scum, than see the place blown to bits by my own clan in a war. Itachi thought.

"No," he muttered. "Sharingan!"

Switching on his Sharingan, Itachi could now perceive the barrier that fortified the village. Kana was right; the barrier had aerial and underground coverage.

"The fire's shadow illuminates the village." The passcode came from Itachi's lips sounded so familiar to him.

He could see that the blue chakra of the barrier dissipating quickly, until it dissolved into nothing.

"We can cross the threshold now…" he said quietly, and walked forward. Kana took a second to react, and hurriedly went to keep by his side.

Itachi swallowed hard. He had no intention of taking Naruto Uzumaki with them, but he had to show his face here: he had to express to the Leaf village that he was still alive, to make them remember him. More specifically, to make Sasuke remember him. To make it possible for Sasuke to kill him later on, Sasuke would need to be stronger than Itachi, and that was going to be very, very trying. Sasuke needed the goal of revenge to make him stronger. At least then, Itachi could die happy, knowing that his brother had worked hard to become strong.

"Itachi… you look for the jinchuuriki. Can go for a look around? I've never seen a Shinobi village before. I want to get a feel of the atmosphere," Kana said loosely, starting to deviate off on her own. She looked back over her shoulder, to see if Itachi cared or not.

"Fine, do what you want. Just don't make a huge commotion. You are expected to be undercover. They may be on familiar terms with the uniform and ring…" Itachi replied, permitting her. Thinking for a moment, he realised that this would be good thing: Kana had, on no occasion, seen a good atmosphere before… in the Akatsuki, it was all adult issues, training, immoral missions, and a perpetual battle to get the better of someone. It might be good for her to relax a little.

"Cool. I will come and find you when the day is out."

OOO

KANA'S VIEW

Kana had never been inside a hidden village before. What Itachi told her were the only things she knew. She felt frustrated, knowing there was still so much she didn't know about being a Shinobi.

Walking through the village, she took off her cloak and held it in her arms, wanting to let her skin feel the warm air.

She became aware, after a while, that she looked a little dissimilar to the other children her age. Beneath her Akatsuki cloak, she was wearing a grey mail vest underneath a black t-shirt, and a short black skort. She carried a small sword on her back, her hands were covered up by dark fingerless gloves, and her hair was tied into a slapdash, loose ponytail.

While Kana was walking slowly, they were running around the streets, with a dog, or a ball maybe, or playing 'ninja', or racing around a play park, pretending that it was an obstacle course. Some were with their parents, holding their hands, while others were sat with their senseis, conferring training or eating a meal together. Some kids were smugly showing off their new forehead protectors, having freshly graduated from the ninja academy that Kana could see in the distance, and some were full of activity, concerning themselves with the simplest of missions, like walking a dog.

The major variance in their appearances was that they still looked so naïve, so new to the world. While Kana's face still looked like a child's, above suspicion and pure, the inner workings of her mind were well beyond her years. These were children who'd had a chance to revel in a real childhood.

Ramen stalls and barbeque restaurants to all the important places, like the Medical corps at the hospital, or the cipher corps in the Leaf village archives, it was all there. It was beginning to make Kana's head spin, further disrupting her thoughts. After a while, Kana began to feel dizzy; this was bit too much to take in. Then she found that she couldn't breathe, and this made her panic. Not wanting to make a scene, Kana ran off in search of somewhere to calm down, begging herself to stay conscious.

She finally took a seat down on a bench in a thankfully quiet area of the village. Never had she imagined that a ninja village would have such an forceful effect on her. She supposed that it was because she had never seen a crowd before. At least, not a crowd of happy people. She must have had an anxiety attack.

"Yo, are you okay there?"

A voice startled Kana out of her cluttered thoughts. Though the statement in itself was caring enough, the voice sounded flat and indifferent. The ninja who spoke the words was carrying a large wad of paperwork, and looked rather hectic.

Well accomplished at being unfriendly, Kana decided to snap. "I'm fine! Let me be."

The ninja blanched, taken aback at her harsh response. "You don't look fine," he remarked, eyeing her visage. "Are you sure you don't need to go to the medical corps for some help?"

"No!" she retorted, and went back to breathing heavily, holding her neck. "I- don't- need- any- help!"

His eyes progressed slowly from her head down to her arms, which were still clutching onto her black and red Akatsuki cloak. Then he caught sight of her ring, on her index finger. They widened in shock, and then in fear.

"What the- no way!" he cried, and dropped his paperwork. The clamour of the documents hitting the ground echoed a little. Kana shut her eyes in fierce regret. Itachi had warned her that they were undercover. She should have been more careful.

"You're from the- the Akatsuki! Get away, scum, or I'll call the Hokage!"

"Busted…" she said sarcastically, then withdrew her small sword.

"No- please-" he stammered.

"If you love your life, don't tell anyone about what happened here!" she said hurriedly, holding the sword up to his throat. Suddenly, she coughed and dropped her sword. Dammit… she thought, I'm still not one hundred percent.

"I must notify Lady Hokage!" he whispered to himself.

In a mad rush, Kana dropped her sword and gathered electricity in her hands, and then shot him square in the chest with a blast of lighting enhanced chakra, seriously injuring him. She quickly tossed his unconscious body into a nearby bush.

"Thank goodness…" she muttered, running the back of her hand over her forehead.

"Who are you?"

"Not another one!" she sighed desperately, and turned around. This man was different, however. He was tall and fit, wearing the standard Shinobi uniform and he had a mask covering up the lower half of his face. His forehead protector was lopsided over his left eye, and he had spikey, silvery coloured hair. His look was one of aloofness and an peculiar calm. Kana looked at the brightly-coloured book he was holding and cringed. Who would read that soppy crap?

"You're from the Akatsuki, aren't you?" he confirmed with confidence. Kana diverted her eyes from the book, swallowed and stayed silent.

"Are you a Shinobi?" Kana asked after a moment's silence, deciding it would be safest to play 'dumb-child' for a bit.

"Wh- yes, I am, quite obviously," he said, confused. "Itachi's here too. I've seen him around, sniffing out for jinchuuriki. Well, he won't find one here."

Again, Kana did not reply to him.

"What's a kid like you doing in an organisation like the Akatsuki? A little young, aren't you? How old are you?"

"Twelve," she mumbled.

"Twelve, huh? What are the Akatsuki's intentions then?"

"I don't… I don't know," Kana confessed. "They took me in years ago and said I had a large amount of chakra that would be useful to them. I am their tool to be trained up and used against enemies."

What was she doing? Why was she confessing all to this man? It was like he could draw the answers out of her like a magnet.

"It seems you're being used, kid. You should probably leave here now, or I'll have to kill you, or take you in for questioning. Sound fun?"

"Haha, I'm sure it'll be a ball. But you can't kill me, that's why I'm still here. My missions in the Akatsuki make your village tasks look like smut!" she said loudly, acting as brave as she could, and raised her hand, filling it with electrified chakra.

"Chidori, huh?"

"What are you on about? I'm ready to kill you, and you're just standing there!"

"That technique you're using… it's called chidori."

"Oh, well-" Kana was a little flustered.

Kana suddenly felt a familiar chill run through the air. Itachi appeared beside her.

"Itachi… I knew you were here. I recognise the cloak," the guy said casually, his eyes moving slowly towards the pages of his book. How funny that he should still want to read his book in this scenario.

"Kakashi Hatake, the copy-ninja. Long-time no see…" Itachi replied. He turned to Kana. "We're not here to fight an all-out battle. There are no jinchuuriki here. Naruto must be out of the village right now."

Kana nodded dumbly. This was getting too confusing now.

"The fact that you'd show yourself around this village these days suggests that you're up to something suspicious. I can't let you leave, kid… you've been running rogue for too long," Kakashi said, finally turning serious and closing his book. Kakashi lifted his forehead protector above his left eye, revealing it for the first time.

Kana nearly passed out from shock. His eye was exactly like Itachi's Sharingan eyes, all red and scary looking, with three black comma shapes around the pupil. Why did this guy have the Sharingan? Kana thought it was Itachi's clan, only Itachi's clan who could possess that legendary eye power. And why did he only have one Sharingan? Kana's mind was officially overloaded.

A vertical scar ran from the top of Kakashi's forehead down to his mask, making the eye look like it belonged to a another person. Hey, maybe it had once. Maybe it had been transplanted, if that was even possible.

"Itachi… what's going on?" Kana cried, startled.

"You have mastered our Sharingan well, Kakashi… however, you lack our strength and stamina, and that's something that cannot be transplanted into you like an eye can…" Itachi muttered. Kana was confused. What on earth was going on here? They seemed to know each other.

"You're not leaving here!" Kakashi declared, a little comically, despite his situation.

"I think we are. I don't wish to fight here. My way is… efficient." Itachi's eyes suddenly changed colour, to a different, more terrifying kind of Sharingan. "Tsukuyomi…" he said softly, and a second later, Kakashi was down on the ground, paralysed with shock.

"Itachi… what did you do?" Kana said, panicking.

"Normal Sharingan users cannot fight back my technique, the Tsukuyomi…" he mused to himself. "The Mangekyou Sharingan is, by far, more powerful."

Kana stared down at Kakashi's body. In a way, he had shown concern for her, as did the ninja who cornered her a minute ago. He had shown concern for her age (though this worry of his was completely unnecessary, considering her power), suggesting that was genuinely concerned for her wellbeing. The Shinobi of the Leaf village truly were compassionate people, and she had gravely injured one, and attempted to kill the other. At times, Kana thought herself to be somewhat stupid. Actually, almost all of the time.

"Kana… we're leaving now. The jinchuuriki is not far from here," Itachi said tersely. He then turned and hustled off into the distance, not wanting any further interferences.

However, Kana did not follow. She bent down slowly, her breathing finally regular, and put her head against Kakashi's heart. It was still beating, thank goodness.

She slapped his face twice, and he sluggishly opened his ordinary eye.

"What the… oh, I'm back…" he slurred, and shut his eye again.

"It's okay. I can get you to someone who can give you the aid you need," Kana soothed, wondering why the heck she was being so… nice. Since the Akatsuki had taken her in, she had thought that her old, soft personality had been totally eradicated. These stupid Leaf Shinobi somehow beckoned her old kindness out again.

Kana took hold of Kakashi's body. He was a dead weight. "Oh, what Itachi must have put him through…" she muttered. Itachi was not a bad person… Kana would swear by it. But there was still something up with everything he did. He was so empty and unpredictable. It was kind of tiring.

Kana gently placed Kakashi outside the doors of the Leaf's hospital, hoping that no-one could see her.

"Sorry, Kakashi. I'll be going now, then. Got to get back to work. And don't think I'm being nice. I just owe you one for not running straight to your leader about myself and Itachi. Anyway, he'll be waiting, and we've got a jinchuuriki to hunt. It's gonna be fun…" she chattered, not looking at Kakashi.

"S'okay… don't mention it. Now go, before they land you in prison. And, be vigilant, kid. Akatsuki's not a place you ought to be in. It'll only lead you to corruption. And be guarded of Itachi; he's a dangerous guy. Don't be used as a tool, and stay pure. The way you are. If you go any further, you'll become just another criminal," Kakashi advised in a muffled voice.

Kana nodded silently. The quiet words he had uttered touched a nerve with Kana. They hurt, but they were more true than Kana wanted to believe. After thanking Kakashi one more time, she ran off into the distance, to find Itachi waiting at an isolated spot on the village's borders.

"The fire's shadow illuminates the village," Itachi said in the same hollow voice, and they walked straight through the barrier.

"Where to now, sensei? I want to catch my first tailed beast!" Kana said, back to her normal self, now that they were out of the village. She felt a little freer 'outside'.

"You were different, in there…" he mused.

"How so?"

"The fear of being near so many people at once must have been crippling for you. No wonder you had a panic attack. Who knew you were agoraphobic? But I could see your inquisitiveness at a life inside a Shinobi village."

Kana's heart stopped for a second.

"I know you killed that Shinobi… but you couldn't kill Kakashi Hatake," Itachi continued, "He is indeed a wise man. He has the same influence on most people. Not myself, however. Nothing affects me…"

"Itachi… who are you?" Kana blurted out. "Most of the time, you're emotionless and ruthless and downright mean, and the next you seem to drop that persona and become all reflective. Especially when I talk about the villages, and the Akatsuki. What's your story?"

But Itachi Uchiha never answered. His head was facing upwards, observing the azure blue and cloudless sky above them, brooding unknown things to himself.

"I wonder if… Sasuke was there," he said softly.

"Who's that?" she necessitated.

"…No-one you know," he said with a oddly wounded expression on his habitually blank visage. Kana could have sworn that, as he turned away, a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell me, it's fine," she said, dissatisfied. Itachi nodded, seeming comforted by her words. "Now," she said brightly, "Where do you suppose we should look next?"

"You're impossible," Itachi muttered, a small, crooked smile softening his face.

Thanks for reading and please review. ;)