Kakashi slept soundly for the first time in three weeks.

The knowledge that Itachi knew about him, loved him, and cared about him filled Kakashi's heart with something he had been missing for a while: happiness. He curled up in his corner when Kisame went to bed, a blanket covering his small body, and fell asleep almost immediately. He woke up in the morning feeling refreshed and got breakfast on the table, then settled in his corner again, picking up a book he had found a week ago. He read it whenever he could to pass the time and to help him out of his misery. So far, Kisame seemed not to care, as long as Kakashi continued to be his submissive little slave. Kakashi opened the book to the page he remembered leaving off at and began reading. He vaguely registered Kisame getting up and going to eat breakfast, and then coming back and getting dressed and then heading over to the bathroom. He set down the book, placing a small piece of paper in it to mark his place. Standing up, Kakashi made his way to the kitchen and stood quietly next to the entrance. He knew Kisame preferred him close at all times.

Kisame entered the kitchen wordlessly, and just as wordlessly ate his breakfast. When he stood up, Kakashi immediately began to clear the table, and Kisame walked out, slamming the door behind him as he went. Kakashi gave a sigh of relief: alone at last.

The door opened again.

Kakashi shivered once, and then continued working. Kisame hated it when he stopped for any reason-

"Love?"

Kakashi almost dropped the dish he was holding. "Itachi-sama!"

Itachi smiled and approached Kakashi cautiously, knowing how skittish the jounin had gotten. Kakashi set down what he was carrying and embraced Itachi, falling into the Uchiha's chest with another soft sigh of relief.

"Missed you," Itachi whispered, kissing Kakashi's silver hair.

"Missed you, too," Kakashi murmured, tightening his grip on Itachi. Two days had passed since he had seen the missing-nin, and those two days were the longest of Kakashi's life.

"Come here," Itachi said softly, running his hands up and down Kakashi's back. He could feel Kakashi's shivers of pain when he touched a bruise or a cut-it pained him as much as it pained Kakashi. Itachi hated his love's pain: it killed him inside.

"What happened, love?" he whispered, stroking Kakashi's hair. "Did he do something else to you?"

Kakashi nodded, and Itachi almost immediately felt stupid for asking such a stupid question. "Do you want to talk about it?" he whispered, kissing Kakashi's forehead. Kakashi shook his head, and Itachi sighed.

"This has to stop," he said. "It's too much, you poor thing."

Kakashi blushed at the attention and wrapped his arms around Itachi's neck. "Thank you Itachi-sama, but…you saw the permission form. Kisame has Pein himself giving him permission to do whatever he wants to me…we can't go up against that! We just can't…! Itachi-sama, I'm sorry…much as I would like to be with you, I-I can't…"

Itachi knew Kakashi was on the verge of tears: for which of three reasons, he didn't know. Either Kakashi feared a blow, he wanted to get away from Kisame, or he wanted to be with Itachi.

"Sh, sh, sh, love," Itachi whispered, wiping away the first of Kakashi's tears. "Stop, it's okay…stop, don't cry…"

Kakashi tried to hold in the tears, but two days of abuse suddenly came pouring out. "I'm sorry!" he sobbed, clutching at Itachi. "Please don't hit me, I can't stop!" he cried, clinging to his lover. "Don't leave me like everyone else did, please don't! Don't hit me-!"

"Kakashi! How could you even think that?" Itachi gasped. "I would never…not to save my life!"

Kakashi seemed a bit reassured at this: he shuddered once in Itachi's arms, burying himself deeper into the Uchiha's embrace. "Come here," Itachi whispered, kissing Kakashi's full, soft lips. He could feel the shock passing through them the second his lips pressed to Kakashi's: he was certain his love felt it too. The way Kakashi melted into his arms, the way he seemed to submit completely to you, the way he kissed you back-

"Dare may I ask what's going on in here?"

Itachi broke away from Kakashi with a start, and Kakashi immediately yelped and darted behind Itachi. "I came in to check on him," Itachi said slowly, backing away from Kisame and taking Kakashi into his arms. "It sounded horrible in here for a while…"

"He's fine, give him to me," Kisame grunted. "And why wait until I was gone to do this?" he asked, grabbing Kakashi's wrist as soon as he could. A heart-wrenching sob burst from Kakashi's throat the second he was grabbed, and again as he was smacked and thrown to the floor. "Stupid!" Kisame shouted. "Can't you do anything right? Go to your room, scram!" Kakashi yelped as he was spanked and almost tumbled to the floor again as he flew past Itachi into his room, sobbing uncontrollably. Itachi sighed and glared at Kisame for abusing Kakashi again.

"That was totally my fault!" he protested. "Why are you hitting him?"

"How I treat my slave is none of your business!" Kisame growled. "Nor should it be! And Itachi, for your sake, I hope you never come in here again!"

Itachi was struck by Kisame's words. For a moment, the only expression on his face was one that looked like he had been slapped. Then, Itachi's jaw locked and he spun on his heel, heading straight for Kakashi's room.

"I'll be out in a minute."

OOOOOOOOO

Kakashi almost fainted when he saw the shadow looming above him.

He gasped and shot backwards, burying his face in his hands and sobbing even harder. Muffled cries of "Don't hit me" and "please don't hurt me" could be heard between his sobs, and Itachi's heart almost shattered from the pain Kakashi was feeling.

"Love, it's me…Kakashi, come here…Kakashi, I'm not going to hurt you."

Kakashi's breath hitched in his throat when he heard Itachi's voice, and he looked up into the Uchiha's face. Itachi took Kakashi into his lap, kissing him and holding him close. "I can't do anything right now," he whispered, "But I'm going to appeal to Pein and see what I can do," he continued, stroking Kakashi's hair. "Just be strong, love," he said softly, kissing Kakashi again. "You can make it through this, I promise."

He stood up, leaving Kakashi with another kiss and a whispered comfort.

"I'm sorry."

OOOOOOOOOO

Kisame sighed as Itachi left the room. He had been concerned about Itachi finding out for a while now, and he knew this was going to happen at some point. He had just hoped that it would be a little longer…he sighed again and sat down at the table, pondering what to do now. No way Pein was going to allow Itachi to step in, but knowing Itachi was discontented might sway things at a later date. And the rest of the Akatsuki was attached to Kakashi as well last time Kisame had gone against the grain and beat the snot out of the brat…

"Get in here," he barked, hearing Kakashi's sobs die down a bit. Kakashi crept out of his room slowly, obviously fearing a strike.

"H-Hai…Kisame-sama…?"

"Come," Kisame said flatly, not even bothering to turn and face his slave as he hesitantly approached his master.

"H-Hai?"

Kisame greeted Kakashi with a firm backhand and rough kick that sent the jounin flying. Kakashi yelped with pain and surprise: he didn't expect his punishment so soon. Kisame stood up and seized Kakashi's wrist, dragging him up and shoving him into the wall.

"Disobey me one more time," he snarled, nails raking long cuts down Kakashi's sides. "I dare you. Stupid little animal!"

Kakashi's screams of pain could be heard all through the lair.

OOOOOOOOO

"But Leader-sama!"

"But what, Itachi?!" Pein screamed, voice escalating even more. He and Itachi had been going at it for close to fifteen minutes now, and neither had gotten far.

"What I'm getting at here is he's being abused unfairly! Again!"

"Well, get used to it! It's not changing any time soon!"

"How could you give your permission for this to happen when you know full well what's involved?!"

"How you can challenge my authority is an equal mystery!"

"I can challenge it by lack of right to be a leader!"

"I'm sure you can! But you're still a rotten teenager who doesn't know their place around here!"

"What did you say, you little shit?!"

"The two of you knock it off!"

Konan entered the room hands over her ears. "Jeez, I think you're louder than Kakashi! Yes, I can hear the poor thing," she added, seeing Itachi's and Pein's questioning looks. "And if you could shut your mouths for two seconds, you probably could, too!"

She sighed as another scream and more sobbing could be heard from above and picked up her Akatsuki cloak. "I have the authority to stop him, and that's what I'm going to do," she muttered, pulling the cloak over her shoulders. "Anyone else coming?"

"I will," Itachi said in a heartbeat. If Kakashi was involved, so was he!

Konan exited the room, leaving Pein behind.

OOOOOOOOO

Kakashi was thrown to the floor once again, sobbing and crying. Kisame kicked him in the side, where a number of bruises were forming already. Kakashi let out another choked sob and clutched at his sides, weakly trying to shield himself from another blow. Kisame simply kicked at his hands until the pain in those was so bad Kakashi was forced to move his hands to avoid those being kicked. And then his sides were kicked, and he had hardly gotten anywhere from the start. Kisame had settled for keeping Kakashi against the wall and throwing punches, but then Kakashi had desperately tried to get away and Kisame had simply thrown him to the ground and started kicking him, threatening to break his ribs. Kakashi's cries of pain and fear had escalated during the abuse, despite Kisame's best efforts to keep him quiet.

The door was flung open.

Konan stormed in, slugging Kisame across the face and turning right around to extend her arms to Kakashi. The jounin only cried harder and skittered back from her hand, choking out "I want Itachi."

Itachi came, of course; only a second behind Konan. He approached Kakashi from the side, immediately pulling him into his lap and wrapping his arms around him. He kissed Kakashi's soft lips, whispering sweet nothings to him and holding the jounin's head to his shoulder. Kakashi clung to Itachi like a burr, throwing his arms around his neck and burying his face in the dark fabric of the Akatsuki cloak. Konan held her hands to Kakashi's sides while Itachi kept him distracted, healing chakra seeping into the bruises and cracked ribs and vanishing them away. Itachi eventually persuaded Kakashi to lift one hand at a time to let Konan heal him.

"Kakashi, calm down," Itachi said, stroking his silver hair. "Love, I'm here, calm down…Kakashi!"

Kakashi gave no indication he had heard Itachi's words, only letting out another sob and tightening his grip on Itachi. Itachi sighed and glanced at Konan.

"Any help here?" he murmured, leaning in close to her. Konan shook her head.

"Just comfort him, I guess," she said slowly. "I can give you permission to hold him as your own for a week max, but nothing more. If Pein's awarded him to Kisame, then there's only so much I can do. Take him, and I'll work it out between Kisame and Pein. Count on having him for five days."

Itachi nodded and carefully stood up, pulling Kakashi up with him. "Come on, love," he said quietly, kissing Kakashi's hair. "Can you walk?"

Kakashi shook his head, and Itachi sighed. He picked him up anyway, putting his arms around Kakashi's shoulders and legs, supporting him as carefully as he could as he carried his love down the hallway and into his own room. He laid Kakashi down on the bed and sat down next to him, ready to just collapse with Kakashi in his arms.

Kakashi squeaked and jumped away.

Itachi sighed, realizing what must have been done to Kakashi to cause this fear. He held out his hand to Kakashi, trying to coax him closer.

"Love, come here," he murmured. "Kakashi, come here, it's okay…come here, it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you…it's okay, come here…Kakashi, come here."

It took Itachi a full ten minutes just to convince Kakashi to come to him, and Itachi was satisfied with that. He picked Kakashi up again and carried him back outside the bedroom, this time settling on the couch. Kakashi curled up quite comfortably there, settled in the curve of Itachi's arms and leaning his head against the Uchiha's shoulder. Itachi stayed there for a long time; how long he would never know, and he didn't even want to know. He just sat there, holding Kakashi, watching the tears fall down his lover's face.

Itachi's flower had blossomed again.

A/N: Sorry about the delay, my parents were being asses and shut down my internet for some screwed up reason… . Took me forever to get it back. Anyway, updates might be scattered a bit while I find a good proxy site to get around Parental Controls. But for now, I think I have one. Just a warning, time limits might also prove to be a pisser. However, I am working on a new Master Code I got from some dude off the net, so I might have something good afterall…wow, life story here. Cookies and cake to those who read it all!! I love you!!

Oh, and ashley () thank you for your constant reviews. I love you!!