Hello everyone! I am so relieved that so many of you enjoyed the previous chapter! I was really trying to emphasize the emotional turmoil associated with Itachi's death and I'm very happy that I accomplished that. A big thank you to kwisy, Hatone-Kudasaki, and (new reviewers) stangers,in,the,night and Aniwolfgirl for leaving a review! I love reading reviews, so keep them coming! Without further a-do, on with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, just those of my own design.

Chapter 14

It had been two days since they had received the news of Itachi's illness. The regiment prescribed had improved his health greatly over the past days. His fatigue had lessened; his appetite had returned and then some; his strength and, most notably, his chakra had returned to their previous levels; and his cough had lessened with little to no blood. Kikyuu had let a small amount of hope slip in to her mind by believing that Itachi could actually be cured, but she knew it wasn't so, for if he was even an hour late with his medicine, the coughing that followed for several minutes was severe and blood filled. It only took one bout of this to teach them about promptness.

Kisame, in this entire matter, had been a vision of perfection. Although Itachi was fairly sure, if not entirely certain, that Kisame knew all of the details, the shark man never let on that he did. The swordsman remained as he always had: aloof and semi-arrogant. However, at night, if he and Kikyuu were awake, they would share sake between them and even allow themselves to worry about this situation. Kisame was aware that Itachi would have to die by Sasuke's hands, but never pressed further why and Kikyuu never shared. They just both agreed that they had to keep him alive and he was certainly helpful.

The three of them were currently travelling to the abandoned cave that Itachi had camped out in previously after finally receiving word from Pein that the sealing would take place soon and changing the location from the originally planned old building per Itachi's suggestion.

Upon arriving at the cave, Kikyuu began setting up the security measures while Kisame maintained the seal on the jinchuriki and Itachi contacted Pein. Quickly, Pein's image flickered into view and he summoned the demonic statue, the ground shaking and rumbling as it rose up from the depths. Slowly, once everything was in place, the remaining Akatsuki members flickered onto their positions on the fingers of the effigy. Kikyuu turned and stated:

"The preparations are complete."

She paused, however, as she noticed that while Sasori's place had been previously filled by a man named Tobi, she later discored, Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu's places were empty. The latter, however, was accounted for when he rose from the ground a few paces behind her. Kikyuu turned and nodded to him in a polite greeting before turning her attention back to Pein as he began to speak:

"Before we begin, I am obligated to inform you of some pressing matters. First, Orochimaru, our former associate, has been assassinated by Sasuke Uchiha."

Kikyuu's eyes widened while Itachi merely quirked an eyebrow before returning to his typical stoic expression as Pein continued:

"He is also forming a team as we speak that could interfere with our plans, so all of you be careful; especially you, Itachi."

The Uchiha didn't reply.

"Finally, on a sadder note, Hidan and Kakuzu are dead."

"Dead? That's impossible, hn. They were immortal," Deidara stated, static crackling slightly in his voice through the projection.

Pein turned to him, "They were, yes. However, Kakuzu's jutsu that granted him such an ability had a fatal flaw that was exploited by the Konoha shinobi that murdered him. As for Hidan, well, his immortality is proving more infallible for, based on Zetsu's report, he is currently unreachable at the bottom of a pit, dismembered and dying of starvation."

Kikyuu shuttered a bit before turning as she heard Zetsu approaching her. He held out an Akatsuki cloak and a ring.

"Kikyuu," Pein stated as he looked at her, "Considering that we are short two members and we have an associate in our presence that would be most helpful in this sealing and future ones as well, I would like to ask you to wear Kakuzu's ring and take his place. Zetsu was most fortunate to be able to retrieve the ring before the Konoha shinobi carted off his corpse."

The kunoichi stared at the items presented before her. If she took these items, there would be no way to retreat from the organization. If she were holding on to any hopes of finding some place to be accepted, they would be dashed instantly if she wore the cloak and ring. All involvement could be denied if she weren't seen in these items and claims of association by citizens they have encountered could be written off as the unfortunate circumstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She looked up at Itachi as he stared at her, his sharingan boring deep into her soul. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she thought she saw him shake his head "no" once and very minuscule at that. She looked back at the cloak and ring.

"Kikyuu, I know this is a tough decision, but please, make it quickly. With or without you, this will take quite a while," Pein stated.

The kunoichi looked at him and then returned her gaze to the items in Zetsu's hands before shrugging off her plain cloak. When she touched one corner to the seal on the sealing scroll in her kunai pouch, it disappeared rapidly: sealed away for safekeeping. Taking the cloak, she placed it on her shoulders and felt the weight of her decision instantly. After zipping it up to the proper level, she took the ring in her right hand and slipped it around her left middle finger as she recalled the location from her encounters with Kakuzu.

The ring, after touching her skin, shrunk to the perfect size for her finger; not too tight, but snug enough to prevent it from slipping off accidentally.

"Does she even have enough chakra for this, hn?" Deidara asked.

Kikyuu sighed and dropped her shields around her chakra, allowing the full amount to be felt and effectively silencing Deidara's taunts.

"If I can keep the security measures reinforced for days on end, I believe this will be no different. Besides, as even you can now clearly see, I only allowed a third of my chakra to be visible at any given time. Being a sensor has its perks," she stated before leaping up to her position next to Kisame and nearly opposite Itachi.

Zetsu and then, finally, Pein took their positions once the jinchuriki was placed on the stone altar.

"Let's begin, shall we?" Pein asked before the ritual commenced.

The ceremony took four days; the time being prolonged because of the diminishing membership. While Kikyuu's chakra aided the ritual greatly, it still wasn't enough to compare to Kakuzu's, who she replaced. Konan's image dispersed after the ceremony was over, being with Pein at all times. Deidara and Tobi dispersed as well, muttering something about the nine-tails and Sasuke. While Zetsu moved to collect the corpse of Roshi, Pein turned to the trio and stated:

"Excellent work. I want you three to patrol these parts. We still need to collect the six-tails before moving after the eight and nine-tails. So, Kikyuu, you can recover while Konan and I do as such. Until then."

His image flickered out in time for the three of them to see Zetsu sinking in the ground with the body in tow. It was now that they were alone in this cave; the molding, crumbling cave that represented so many things to each of them.

Itachi, who had been keeping his composure as the Akatsuki associates dispersed suddenly fell to his knees coughing and shaking hard. His pallor instantly whitened as a light sheen of sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Itachi!" Kikyuu gasped as she knelt next to him and pulled the sealing scroll that contained his medicines from her kunai pouch, "Kisame, hold him!"

The blue-skinned man rapidly complied as he gripped the Uchiha's shoulders and held him up to the kunoichi. She worked rapidly as she pulled various pills from the scroll's seals. Kikyuu glanced repeatedly over the instructions given by Kashikoi, constantly reaffirming that only the current dose should be given if he were to miss any. However, this seemed to refer to if he missed a single dose, not four days worth. As an added measure, she threw in a soldier pill and a chakra pill before slowly giving Itachi each pill followed by a sip of water. Five minutes passed since the taking of the first pill being that the process was slow and tedious as Itachi coughed frequently. Once the last pill was administered, the Uchiha slipped out of Kisame's grasp and began to fall forward while shaking hard and coughing. Kikyuu moved quickly and caught him. She held him against her as he coughed, pressing his head against her chest and holding him tightly before she added a yellow edged healing seal tag from her ANBU pouch. The kunoichi placed one hand on the back of his head and the other on the seal to flood it with her chakra for it to use instead of Itachi's then rocked slowly back and forth, praying with all of her might and hoping for an answer.

The agonizing minutes seemed like hours, but soon Itachi rose out of her embrace and produced a cloth to wipe his face and mouth. He smiled softly at Kikyuu then had her remove the finished tag before standing and asking:

"Did I get blood on your cloak?"

The girl stood and shrugged, "Does it really matter?"

This response generated small chuckles from Itachi and Kisame before the trio walked to the front of the cave.

"Well, where to now?" Kisame asked, shifting Samehada on his back slightly.

"Itachi?" Kikyuu stated, looking at the Uchiha.

He turned and stated, "Pein gave us the duty to patrol. However, I feel that neither of you would object to staying in a nearby Akatsuki hideout and lying low for awhile."

The two of them smirked before all three left the cave behind.