Hello! Sorry it's been so long. I'm going through a lot of crap at the moment, so I've not had time to update when I should! Here is chapter 17. I loved writing this one... please enjoy and review :)

Chapter 17- Nine Phantom Dragons?

A familiar sensation rushed through Kana's body. The pressing pain of sleeping on the cold ground outside, the damp, musty smell of moisture dripping from a cave roof, all of these things reminded her of times from her past. Sleeping on the ground was fine with her, as long as it was safe with Itachi there on constant watch. Waking up from being unconscious, however, alone and in pain, was definitely not fine.

"I think the kid's waking up. Someone slap her."

Who's voice was that? That drawling, dragged out tone belonged to Hidan, she was sure of it. She'd previously lost count of the times where she and Itachi had crossed paths with Hidan and Kakuzu and they had lost their temper with each other. Hidan was always ready to start an argument with just about anyone, but Deidara, Kakuzu and Kana seemed to be the prime targets.

"Shut up, Hidan."

And Kakuzu was there too, shooting back his usual retort.

"Fuck you, Kakuzu! I was only suggesting a way to wake her up. I'm sick of dragging her everywhere. She can get up and walk to the statue, can't she?"

"Hidan, shut up or I'll kill you. Just pick her up."

"Wake up, Kana."

She jerked into consciousness. Wait. That part… was a dream? Yes. Hidan and Kakuzu were both dead, killed by the people who were now her allies. The back of her neck seared with pain. She reached round and touched it, only to return her hand within sight and see that it glistened with something red.
It was freezing and the blackness in the vicinity was punctuated with the burning presence of three torturous chakras. A shiver ran down her body. Clenching her shaking fists, she urged herself into a sitting position and observed her surroundings.

"It can't be…" she mumbled. "It's the gedo statue."

She was in the king of hell, the gedo, statue's cave. This place, the musty scent, the miserable atmosphere, of course it had invoked the dream she had just now. Memories were flooding back to her. Standing on the fingertips of that monster, side by side with Itachi, awaiting orders from nothing but a projection of their leader… Grinning and cheerfully accepting those orders, returning covered in cuts and bruises and the blood of whoever… sealing the tailed beasts with her chakra, helping them out without a question asked… all these things, these pointless memories, came careering into her mind, and she shoved them back with all her effort.

"You're right. This is the gedo statue. We're going to do another test." It was the masked man in front of her, dominatingly stood looking down at her trembling figure.

She still felt a little sick. "What test?"

"Well, since the nine tails and the eight tails still haven't been sealed, we've started a war with all the shinobi nations to retrieve them. Instead of marching right into war, we're going to use your chakra to cast the edo tensei. Think of it as a pilot test."

"We're?"

The two people who were with the masked man stepped forward into the dim glow of a candle, and she was able to take in their appearances in their entirety. Zetsu, as creepy as ever, saluted her with a fiendish grin on only one side of his face, and the other man was someone Kana had never seen, but he stunk of the snakelike, evil chakra of Orochimaru. "This is Kabuto Yakushi. He'll be casting it." He gestured to the bespectacled mess in front of her. "I don't believe his claims about this jutsu. It's too perfect. As a test, we're going to resurrect old shinobi and set them on the Leaf village. If they happen to collect Naruto and his tailed beast, then all the better."

Kana growled, "So you're going to attack my village because of a suspicion? A doubt?"

So this was just a test. Or he was mocking her, or trying to get her angry. It was working.
She surveyed Kabuto's countenance, covered in white scales and the purple lines coming from his eyes, with that same unnaturally sized mouth smiling all the way across his face. Enshrouded within a burgundy cloak, he looked as far from human as a human could get. Maybe he had absorbed Orochimaru's chakra after he died; she wouldn't put it past someone, seeing as Orochimaru was powerful.

"I don't care about this. I'm leaving."

A sharp pain shot through the back of her neck and she grabbed a fistful of hair close to the spot, breath hissing through her clenched teeth.

"You don't have a choice, Kana," the masked man said. "You're in no condition to be making statements like that."

"Are you sure this will work? You haven't given the girl enough discipline," Kabuto said in a slithering, soft tone. "There are other ways to test the edo tensei."

"You have not yet completely mastered the technique. You need Kana's excess chakra to cast it right now. Don't pretend you aren't relying on the Akatsuki for your power source. You're at our mercy." He bent down and yanked Kana to her feet. Despite her struggles, she was too weak and within a few minutes, stopped to catch her breath.

"Just let me go…" she said faintly. "I don't want to be used like this."

Once they take my chakra, something like this was probably kill me. I don't want to die like this, not alone. I was alone when I started out, wasn't I? I remember how that felt. I never want to feel alone again, and yet here I am, in this awful place. Oh, just let me go and I'll be free.

The masked man- whom she now had decided to christen again as Tobi- dissolved into nothing whilst holding her, and they reappeared atop the gedo statue. He threw her into the palm of one of its hands, spluttering.

"Where did your guts go, Kana? Did they abandon you along with your mentor?"

"You shut up… Don't talk about Itachi…"

"I'm wasting time. Kabuto, this girl's sharingan is very unusual. I believe she will be able to help you cast the edo tensei without the need for all the… usual ingredients. I'll seal her down, and you go ahead and cast the jutsu."

"Of course."

Tobi weaved some signs that Kana didn't catch, and black sealing formula spread across her body rapidly, forcing her to stay on the ground, unable to move.
Kabuto, below them in front of the statue, twisted his mouth into a grin and said in a soft tone, "Summoning jutsu, edo tensei!"

Kana felt like her soul was being ripped out of her body. Her power was leaving her, escaping through every pore in her skin, all that pent-up chakra releasing at once. She urged open an eye, and through the blur, she could see the blue chakra erupting from her body. The air around her seemed dense, crushing her chest.

Am I going to live through this? Maybe not… I can feel my life force fading away…

Sometimes she hated being such a good sensory ninja. Sensing other peoples' chakra draining was a simple thing, but sensing her own, involuntarily, was like being able to prophesise her own death. It was down to half now, just fifty percent of her life remained, and it was being used to supplement a jutsu that would bring many ninjas back to life against their will. It was going to bring them out of their peace.

She closed her eyes, and in front of her was a shadowy figure, a silhouette with a fluttering cloak. Raising her arm, somehow, she knew where they were, and who they were.

"There you are…"

And she flung out her hand into the blackness.

She was sat under a tree, leaning against the trunk with her arms folded, clothed back in her red and black Akatsuki cloak, forehead protector absent and hair long and unruly. It was pitch black out, the only light coming from the steadily smouldering campfire in front of her, the ashes crumbling underneath. The sounds of the night creatures perforated the cool forest air and reminded Kana of many things that were totally unrelated to her situation.
What was going on here? She was supposed to be in the gedo statue's cave, having her chakra drained, dying… and yet she was here, like the old days. That person to whom she had reached out to was gone. Maybe she shouldn't have followed them here. It felt so odd…

She inspected her skin, which was completely free of cuts, bruises or scars, soft and pale, and the underneath of her fingernails was brown with dirt from her activities. It was then that she also became conscious that she was tiny. Very tiny. Her body was like that of a child's, the vision of her eight-year-old self.

The hum of the insects died, and she saw the silhouette again, very close.

"It's been a while, Kana," said a deep, reassuring tone.

Tears pricked her eyes, and she wiped them away hastily. "It's really you, Itachi?"

"I never thought we'd meet here, in this place."

"Where's 'this place'?"

"We're in the afterlife." He sighed. "You must have died, Kana."

"But the- this jutsu- right now-" she spluttered. "At the moment, Kabuto is casting the edo tensei using my chakra! How can I be here as well? How could I have made it to the afterlife without actually being dead?"

"It would be a wasted effort to dwell on these things. Just sit with me, and we'll talk."

"For as long as possible?"

He moved out of the shadows, and his figure came to sit beside her. His face was worn and exhausted, as it usually had been, but there was a tiny trace of relief spread across. He wore no cloak, just the mail vest, black top and black trousers, with shinobi sandals, all battered up. This must have been what he was wearing when he died.
Kana couldn't help but stare wordlessly at him, still in a dazed awe at his presence. Thoughts of how much she wanted to say to him whirred round her mind as she shuffled shyly closer in her miniature form.

"Itachi, Tobi told me everything about who I am. I'm an Uchiha, with the four tomoe sharingan, and your cousin," she said shakily. "Things have gotten really complicated since you left."

"You seem to have grown more mature, at least. Was it my passing?"

"Maybe…"

It was true that since Itachi had passed on, she had to assume responsibility for herself and learn how to work with others. Having endured so much pain, she had been forced to grow up faster.

"Tell me about what has happened in the Leaf. How have things been?"

Oh, so he wanted to talk about her life. Well then… "I… Pain, our leader, released the seal placed on my sharingan and forced me to destroy the village, and despite many ninjas still not trusting me, I… made some friends." She wringed her hands. "I went on a mission for the village. I ate food with the people there and trained with them… And I think there's someone I like, too."

One of his eyebrows arched and he smiled softly. "Oh, really now? It seems that things have progressed in my absence."

"Yeah. Kakashi's like my older brother in some ways, a teacher in others, and I'm friends with Naruto and Sakura. My best friend is Sai, and Hajime, too… well, I guess he's… never mind." She felt like laughing. "You seem really happy, Itachi."

"One can find a measure of peace in death. I feel comforted that Sasuke can be left to a friend as good as Naruto."

"I wanted to kill Sasuke at first, for making you suffer. I truly did. But I also realised how stupid that would be. You loved Sasuke. Why would I destroy that?"

He laughed shortly. "You really have matured."

"Shut up! I'm still me, right?"

"You are indeed."

"There's just so much I want to talk to you about. It's been so long since… since it happened. I just don't know what to think of the world anymore. Everything's mixed up. There's even going to be a war soon, with the whole world fighting."

"And you will have to participate, if that is the case. You cannot shy away from being a true shinobi because you have had some bad experiences in life. We, the Uchiha, are destined for lives of hardship, but the Uchihas who rise above their agony, and learn from it, are the ones who can be called true shinobi. If you wallow in sadness, then you will avoid getting any real work done and abandon those who care about you. Remember that."

"It's been so long… since I've heard something like that."

The tears welled up in her eyes.

A light surrounded Itachi, a strange blue light.

"Am I being summoned back to life?"

Her heart missed a beat. "No! No!" she growled.

They both stood up and Kana grabbed onto his arm. Her chakra was being used to summon Itachi back from the afterlife! This meant that she definitely hadn't died yet. But it also meant that Itachi was being dragged back into that wretched world that made him suffer a hell beyond belief. This jutsu was truly cruel…

Then, the light enveloped them both, and she felt herself being hauled tooth and nail into the world of the living, still clutching onto her mentor's arm.