Chapter 22

Kakashi abruptly saw a flash of ANBU guards run past him in a hurry. He caught sight of their taichou on the back of the lead guy's back. The red band around his upper left arm was oddly discolored with blood. He, then, noticed the height of their leader. It was Mitchell, he was sure of it.

Kakashi quickly raced after the ANBU on their way to the hospital. From the looks of the wound, from what he could see at this distance, it looked like it had been given emergency medical treatment, but obviously, it didn't really help. As the hospital came into view, he began to see fresh droplets of blood on the ground where he was running. Mitchell's wound must be worse than he thought.

The worried sensei followed the group into the building and watched as they rushed Mitchell off to the ER. There clearly was a deep stab wound into his stomach. He didn't know how deep it was, but from the amount of blood he was loosing, it probably went all the way through.

The ANBU members remained in the hospital's waiting room. "Go report in. He'll still be here when you come back. He's an ANBU taichou. He's a fighter," Kakashi told them as nonchalant as he could. The man in the dog mask nodded to the others and they teleported to the Hokage Office. He began to pace.

Kakashi paced in the hospital waiting room. It had been about three hours since Mitchell's treatment started. The fact that Tsunade had yet to notify him on his student's condition was never a good sign. His worry had only increased since the team already returned from reporting in.

Finally, halfway through the fourth hour, Tsunade exited into the waiting room. "He's stable. Thankfully, the wound didn't hit anything vital, but because the wound has been open to the air, it's gotten infected. We managed to remove most of the infection and stitch up the wound, but we need to keep a close eye on him. These next 24 hours are going to be hell," she debriefed.

Kakashi sat back in shock. "Can we see him?" he asked once the initial shock passed.

"First, you have to tell me what the hell happened to him, and why none of you are hurt," she directed to his team.

Dog hesitated slightly but stepped up. "We met Bailey there. Mitchell and she fought over her defection, magically made up and started hanging out. The remainder of Kiri ambushed us yesterday, so Bailey and Mitchell tag teamed. They worked so well together. I briefly caught sight of an Akatsuki cloak, and when I looked over, I saw her katana through his chest," he explained. "It looked like she said something to him before she ran."

Tsunade leaned against the wall in contemplation. The entire waiting room was silent. Kakashi could not process the information he was just given. He simply could not believe Bailey would do such a thing? The same Bailey he had practically raised for the past almost ten years. This is the same Bailey who loved Mitchell, even if she didn't know it.

"You may go see him. He'll still be sleeping, so please don't wake him," Tsunade told them, pushing off the wall to head to her office. "Kakashi, I want to see you real quick before you go see him."

He followed Tsunade out into the hallway. "What-"

"Kakashi, I'm going to be sending a message to Bailey to find out what happened. She's been in contact with me since she left, but if this is unexplained, she can be tried as a criminal," she told him. "Now, go see Mitchell."

Again, Kakashi did not know what to think as he wandered the hall towards Mitchell's room. Bailey was a spy for Konoha? Out of all the shinobi, why was it his little girl?

He finally reached the hospital room. Only Dog as well as Neko remained in the room. The rest of the squad just stopped by to check up on their taichou. "We'll leave him to you. We're sorry we could not protect him better," Dog bowed.

Kakashi placed his hand on his shoulder. "Not even I could predict that she would do that. I still can't even believe it myself," he reassured him. "Thank you for at least keeping him alive." The two bowed and left the room.

Kakashi went over to his bedside. His forehead was covered in sweat, but nonetheless, his face was in a peacefully expression. Kakashi brought his hand up and began to gingerly run his fingers through the boy's bangs. Suddenly, his Mangekyou Sharingan activated and a vision began to flash through his mind.

He witnessed Mitchell and Bailey's argument, their reconciling, the battle and the stabbing. He even saw her tears and the whispered apology as the vision finally faded into black. He was then abruptly thrown back into the reality of the bright and white hospital room.

Had he not been Hatake Kakashi, the son of the White Fang, he would've cried after witnessing such a tragic love story. He resumed his seat at Mitchell's bedside, having been thrown out of the chair during the vision. "Your heart must be broken…" he said softly looking at Mitchell's still peaceful face.

Kakashi remained by his side throughout the remainder of the day and even into the night. Mitchell's face contorted into pain, and while still unconscious, began to scream in blood-curling shrieks.

It had woken Kakashi from his slumber. He quickly placed a hand to Mitchell's forehead as the nurses rushed into the room. Like earlier, a vision began to play in head:

A man was standing over Bailey as her upper stomach began to glow with the phrase "Life is Pain" in Japanese characters. Running into the room, Itachi and this orange haired man with many piercings attempted to remove him, but the curse was already in place. The man noticeably smirked and disappeared.

Kakashi was once again thrown out of the vision. The nurses had pushed him out of the way so they could attend to Mitchell, who had yet to stop screaming. Tsunade was called in to treat him.

"What happened?" she asked the nurses when his shrieking finally ended.

"He just suddenly started screaming. We have no idea what happened," the head nurse reported. Tsunade turned her attention over Kakashi. He was being awfully quiet after having such a scare as that. He indicated for the nurses to leave before he told her. She sent them away.

"I think he has a connection with Bailey. My Mangekyou Sharingan activated earlier when I touched his forehead. I saw everything that happened in Kiri. Just now, it showed me Bailey receiving the curse she was warned about the last time she was in the hospital here. What was happened to her was also happening to him as well. My guess is that when she stabbed him, it established the connection," Kakashi told her.

She sent him home shortly after, allowing what he had told her sink in. "I'm going to keep and eye on him," she told him. He left the room.

Tsunade rested her hand on his head. Inoichi entered shortly later. "Tsunade-sama, you needed me?" he asked. She turned her head to him, removing her hand.

"I need you to enter his mind and find out if there is an established connection between him and Bailey," Tsunade ordered. She left the room to contact his uncle on his nephew's condition. Inoichi stepped forward, rested his hand on the boy's forehead as well, and began his work.

Meanwhile, Pein called an emergency meeting in the living room. Hidan and especially Deidara were very irritable. Riku was already waking Deidara every night because Sasori was terrible at calming his own son down. Now, he was once again awoken from his slumber for this stupid meeting. Hidan, on the other hand, had been interrupted whilst he was in the midst of his nightly ritual. But then again, he interrupted it himself when he heard her scream.

"Okay everyone, I have called you here to inform you that Tobi is no longer a member of Akatsuki. He is now a wanted criminal by even us," Pein announced as he finally entered the living room, where everyone was gathered, with Konan. The three Uchihas were the only ones not present.

"What damage could that brat do?" Kakuzu asked. He didn't see the point in calling a meeting in the middle of the night just to say that.

Ignoring the question, Pein continued. "Tobi's real identity is Uchiha Madara. He was the real person who wiped out the Uchiha clan, as well as the one who threatened Itachi to join. He then trained Itachi into the killer he is now. Tobi has been threatening Bailey just the same and is the cause of all her misfortunes."

"I still don't see why he has been kicked out," Sasori cut in. Pein shot him a glare.

"Tonight, he has placed a curse on her. When activated, it causes immense amounts of pain so strong it is able to paralyze its owner," Pein announced. "If any of you see Tobi, do not engage in combat with him unless there are at least three of us there."

The whole room was silent. Most of them were in shock by Tobi's immense power, the others were silently hoping Bailey would be okay. Hidan stepped up and broke the silence. "So, I wasn't fucking imagining Tobi strangling Bailey?" he yelled in anger. Pein shook his head.

"No one is to enter Bailey's room unless instructed. She is unconscious and barely hanging onto life. We will be moving bases as soon as possible. Because of this and the fact that we are also transporting a baby, this may take a few days, so be prepared," he told them. "You are dismissed." With that said, he left the room to return to his office.

For a few moments, nobody moved. Deidara was the first to rise from his seat. He left the room to catch up on his beauty sleep. Sasori followed shortly. (A/N: Did you see what I did there? I didn't even catch it at first.) He was going to started packing and getting the furniture sealed into scrolls for tomorrow.

Kakuzu was the next to move. He firmly placed his hand on Hidan's shoulder and led him out of the living room to their room. Zetsu left as well. He went straight into the floor to go to his room to pack. Kisame was the only one left in the room. Konan had slipped out after Pein left.

Dazed, he walked towards his and Itachi's room, but stopped in front of Bailey's when he heard the faint sound of Itachi's muffled crying. He quietly opened the door, but let Itachi sense his chakra so as to not scare the Uchiha. "Itachi?" he called.

His uke was crouched next to her bed, fighting the tears that were pouring out his eyes and failing. One of his hands was brushing through her hair while the other held a damp cloth against her upper stomach.

Kisame sat down next to him in silence. Itachi instantly curled into him. Kisame wrapped his arms around the man and just let him sob into his bare chest. He was only wearing his pajama bottoms. Eventually, Itachi calmed down and gently pushed out of the embrace. His focus turned back over to Bailey as he removed the cloth.

For the first time but not the last, Kisame saw the curse Tobi-no-Madara had branded her with. Written in Japanese characters was the haunting phrase: "Life is Pain". The cloth was red with blood. Itachi bandaged the imprinted phrase and pulled her shirt back down to cover the remainder of her stomach.

"I assume we'll be moving bases fairly quickly. We should go pack," Itachi spoke snapping Kisame out his daze.

"Uh, hai…" He followed Itachi into their room to pack.

Its the aftermath of the stabbing. Mitchell's alive and recovering, but Bailey has now also hit that botten point. This story will be coming to an end soon. I have the remaining chapters (4 left) planned out. This will be the first finished of the three. I hope you liked the chappie.