Summary

In which Itachi gets to play the hero again and Kagome figures out a little bit more about the Sharingan's history...

A/N: Oh. My. God. When I saw that I hit the 500 review mark, I immediately squealed like a little girl, ran around the house twice, giggled like a maniac, and fanned myself dramatically. I then proceeded to faint. You guys are so amazing! I can't believe how many reviews I've gotten! I love you all very very much right now. And I just want to take a moment to say thank you! All of you! Everyone has been so unbelievably kind to me on here, and it's a major inspiration to continue writing because of that. Thank you!

All right everyone! Now that that's out of the way, this is an immediate continuation from Chapter 24. So it picks up right where we left off last time. I'll even put a re-cap, which I usually never do. But I'm being nice today. Okay, now go read!

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Re-Cap

"It's... quite amazing, Kagome," Itachi countered, kneeling down and hesitating to touch it, "Will it be all right if I touched it?"

"I'm... not sure. You can try," she answered, gulping silently when his fingers got close and a sizzle started up. He glanced up sharply at her, Sharingan eyes whirling in excitement.

"You must tell me more about this after we get out of here," the former heir demanded quietly. He needed to know about what this type of barrier was capable of. Perhaps... it could be of some major use to him in the future.

Kagome licked dry lips and nodded at him. Itachi held out a hand to check the consistency of her barrier. But right as he touched it, the priestess realized something.

"Itachi! Don't-!" Her purification powers surged up, perceiving the Uchiha to be a threat, and blasted him through the wall and into the next room in a showy display of light and energy.

"ITACHI!"

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The Uchiha in question groaned, dislodging himself from the pile of rubble his body had created. He felt like he'd been hit by a train. Repeatedly.

"Bad... idea."

"Itachi? Say something! Please!" Kagome's voice carried hysterically from the other room, bringing the former heir back into focus. Was she that worried about him? It was... strange. And more than slightly pleasing. No one had ever really worried about him in probably close to ten years. At least, not since he first became a genin.

"I'm fine, Kagome. Just a little..." he didn't really know another word to use at the moment, "surprised." It seemed that his brains had been temporarily scrambled too. Gritting his teeth to keep from muttering curses, he lifted himself off of the ground and stumbled slightly to the left... into another wall.

'Why am I so uncoordinated? He glanced at the new hole he'd made in the wall and could have smack himself, ' Okay, next question. What the hell did that thing do to me?'

"I'm so sorry! But I don't have very much control over it right now because I'm scared!" her words echoed back to him, the note of terror only slightly lessened, "I... I'm afraid I might have purified you."

'... What?'

"What?" Getting most of his bearings back a moment later, he made his way back into the room Kagome was trapped in without running into anything. When he was once again in front of her, he knelt down ot her eye level and let loose his question, "What do you mean purify, Kagome?"

She looked away, guilt in her blue eyes, before she took a deep breath and began to explain, "Your family... You said the Sharingan is passed down from generation to generation, right?" At his nod, she continued, "See, I've been reading about blood-line traits recently, and several of them are said to be descended from the original first founder. There's a good chance that that's a demon host."

Itachi sucked in a breath. He'd heard about the possibility, but hadn't really given it thought. If she was implying what he thought she was going to imply... then he'd just royally screwed himself.

"Well, I'm pretty sure your clan is descended from what's known as the Tengu. Even though, they're very bird-like... well... your eyes are the give-away."

"That is correct. There were many tengu placed in the Uchiha district. I had originally thought it was for another purpose, however, what you are hinting at..."

"I've seen a tengu only once before. They're... terrifying. Your clan's eyes and your ability to manipulate fire... they're the remaining demonic traits that you inherited from it. I... I'm afraid I might have purified them." The priestess hid her face in her hands in remorse, tears dripping from the corners of her fingers. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it until right before you touched the barrier!"

"... Kagome. It's..." Well, it wasn't okay, but it could be dealt with. In fact, on the downside that she had purified the Sharingan and his chakra, the upside would be the Akatsuki would no longer have much of a use for him. The downside to that was that Pein would probably just kill him.

Okay, so it was a lose-lose situation.

Immediately he turned away from her, going through the motions of creating the Fireball Jutsu. Sucking in a breath, he felt the tingle of his chakra stir to life and weakly supply him with enough to light a small fire. It wasn't much; but it also meant she hadn't purified him completely.

"You... You can still use your justu?" Kagome asked, awe filling her at the controlled stream of fire that Itachi poured from his mouth. He stopped, catching his breath and turning a smug smirk onto the priestess. Of course she was amazed. She hadn't seen him do very many jutsu before.

"I'll need to rework everything to get it back to where I was, but I think with time, I'll be fine, Kagome," the Uchiha announced, shifting his hands quickly through the signs to slowly activate his Sharingan. The lowest stage came to him easily, and he upgraded to the next. This one also came easily, so he moved on to the next. Here, though, he was hit by an almost barrier, preventing him from accessing the third stage of his Sharingan. Kneeling next to the priestess, he looked her in the eyes and took a slow breath.

"How many tomoe do you see?"

She gave a slow perusal of his red eyes, almost seeming fascinated by the lazy way they spun. It was definitely a slightly hypnotic effect, one that he didn't fail to notice. She gulped, though, when she noticed something different than the last time she'd taken a good look at them. And that had been when he'd tried to scare her off.

"... Two," she whispered, shaking in fear at the thought of him being angry with her. He had every right to be, after all. She'd just put a huge limitation on him by purging a good chunk of his powers.

He was prepared for her answer, but not for the massive hit to his pride at losing several levels of his Sharingan almost instantly. But then, he was quickly coming up with a way to reaccess those abilities. After all, he was going to need as much of his arsenal as possible if he was going to pull off his plan to get her out.

"I'm so sorry-!"

"It's fine. Their not... gone, per say. I think you did something else aside from a purification." At her confused look, he tried to elaborate without getting her completely lost. "I can still feel the power there. I just can't access it currently." Her eyes clouded over as she thought hard about what he said and tried to piece the possibilties together. When she brightened, he knew she had an answer.

"I get it! I think when I pulled back as much of my power as I could at the last second, instead of purifying you, I put a seal on some of your more dangerous abilities. Like a pin in a grenade to keep it from exploding. And when you pull it, it takes a few seconds for it to go off!"

Okay, now he was the one confused. What the hell was a grenade? It sounded... vaguely dangerous.

"Well... I need to break that seal in order to get you out," Itachi decided, rising to his feet and striding away rapidly, "I'm going to try and draw out my chakra. I hope you're not afraid of fire." When she shook her head no, he lazily flipped through several hand signs and drew a deep breath.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

Letting out a constant stream of fire, he counted slowly with how long he was able to keep the stream going. Which was a while. It was something he was pretty proud of. He then cut the flames off abruptly and started sptting out small balls to float around him. It was still incredibly easy, what with his perfect chakra control. Not a bit of his strained energy was wasted needlessly, and soon the pressure he put on the barrier collapsed, allowing him access to his Sharingan's next level. He felt his eyes shift to re-accommidate the third tomoe. Finally, he felt almost completely normal.

Now, it was time for the hard part. Re-opening the path to the Mangekyou. He could feel it hovering there just out of his reach, however, it was blocked by an even stronger barrier than the last. It was one that he'd have to force through when the right time came.

First, though, he needed to break Kagome out of her self-made prison.

"Is there a way to break your barrier?" he asked, allowing his Sharingan to fade. He had an intersting theory he wanted to test.

"I... I'm not sure. I've never had to test it before," she replied hesitantly, flinching when he came close and knelt down in front of her. When he reached a hand out, though, she thought she would freak out.

"Don't! Do you want me to accidentally purify you again?"

"I have a theory, Kagome," the Uchiha countered, holding his hand a few inches away. Nothing happened, solidifying his idea, "If what you say is true about my bloodline, then I believe that if my Sharingan is active, it calls forth the obviously demonic properties in my blood, thereby fueling a higher possibility of being purified. However," he laid a hand on the barrier, and apart from a tingling sensation in his arm and a tiny, almost warning shock, nothing happened, "if I do not use it, I can trick your energy into thinking I'm completely human, or at least not a threat to you."

"Itachi..." Kagome whispered, staring at the smug looking Uchiha in awe, "That's amazing!"

"I thought it would be interesting to test. After all, you healed me before, and I wasn't harmed in any way," he shrugged, inwardly glowing in the praise that was radiating off of the priestess, "I also did not have the Sharingan active. Now, tell me about your barrier. There must be a weak point somewhere."

She explained to him all about the barriers that holy persons were able to create and use to the best of her ability. It was something that the priestess wished she'd been a little more thorough on when she was learning about them. She even told him, in a story format, about the time that Miroku and Kaede had put one up to hide Inuyasha away when he'd been injured, and he'd thrown her into the well to protect her. That had been the time she'd been unable to get back to Feudal Era. If it hadn't been for Shippo crawling into the well with that chunk of the Shikon no Tama, she was sure she'd have never gotten back.

She also told him about the time Inuyasha had been on the verge of transforming and Miroku had activated a powerful barrier to seal the hanyou and himself off from attacking everyone else. Unfortunately, their silver-haired friend had proved too strong to be contained.

While she talked, the Uchiha prowled around the pink dome, testing its repelling effects here and there. Without his Sharingan active, though, he couldn't pinpoint an exact weak spot. It was difficult work, but he'd managed to narrow down a hanful of possibilites of where to attack.

"These stories... You make them sound like you were there yourself," Itachi mused quietly, carefully watching her for a reaction. She didn't disappoint him when she flushed darkly and wouldn't meet his gaze, "You have nothing to fear, Kagome. I will not tell anyone if they are true."

'Yeah, but you wouldn't believe me if I did,' she thought, swallowing at the glow in his dark eyes and shaking her head silently. He let it go, more concerned for her safety rather than clues to unravelling her mysteries. Inwardly, though, he filed the information away to bring up at a later date. Diving into his weapons pouch, he felt around for a weapons scroll, fingers brushing against an exploding tag. Would something like that work? But no, he didn't want to blow up the place!

"I'm going to try something, Kagome. Don't be alarmed if one of them gets through. I'm not aiming for you," the Sharingan user stated, pulling out the scroll and flipping it open quickly.

"One of what?" she asked, blinking when dozens of sharp pointy objects appeared around the dark haired male. Kagome gulped and unconsciously strengthened her defenses. When she locked gazes with him, his eyes were that piercing red again, the black tomoe whirling lazily in anticipation.

"Trust me." And she did.

He leapt into the air, firing his weapons at her barrier quickly and efficiently, Sharingan eyes tracking the movement of every projectile. With each kunai and shuriken that bounced off, he grit his teeth and threw harder, faster, hoping to catch a weak spot just-

One kunai zipped through, missing Kagome's nose by inches. She gasped, covered her nose, and backed away from the center quickly. Dropping everything, he rushed to the spot that the small blade had made contact... and subsequently slipped through. Remembering to deactivate his Sharingan, he place his hand on the spot, feeling it literally reverberate with remorse at letting something in. He smirked.

"Got it."

"Thank God." In the next moment, she'd put her hand against his, her face inches from his and unconsciously mimicking him. If it weren't for the pink dome, he could have leaned in and bumped foreheads with her. "Now what?"

"I need you to step back. I'm coming in," he replied, testing the surface and finding much less resistance than before. She scooted back, watching intently as he gathered his chakra to put up a fight with her stubborn barrier. It was amusing, then, when he pushed against it and he tumbled in harmlessly. Blinking in shock, the former hair shot up and looked around. Kagome muffled her laughter and he turned his confuse gaze back to her.

"What..."

"I guess... you're in!" She burst into loud guffaws and slapped a hand on the ground, "The look on your face was priceless! It was all 'What the hell just happened!'" After calming down, she smiled at him and patted the spot next to her. He sat without a fight.

"It put up much less of a fight than I thought," Itachi grumbled, the images of shattering the dome and sweeping her out of the orphanage crumbling around him. Damn him for trying to play the hero and looking like an idiot! It just wasn't fair!

"Well... now what?" Kagome asked, smacking herself inwardly for all the questions. She was supposed to be in expert in this field, and yet, Itachi was the one figuring everything out.

"Now we leave." Taking her hand, he pushed against the barrier... and felt his stomach drop when it repelled him. 'Well... shit.'

"What's wrong?" Now, she sounded panicked, and the last thing he wanted was a twitchy priestess on his hands.

"It's not letting us through."

"Oh... great," the girl muttered, glaring at the spot he'd just come through, then turning a questioning gaze onto the Uchiha, "I don't get it. Why would it let you through but not let you back out? Is it because you're trying to get me out too?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but the ceiling overhead rumbled and several beams came crashing down on them. She shrieked and hid against him while he watched as they were buried alive. The only thing that had saved them was Kagome's barrier.

"This is bad. There's no way out," he murmured, running a hand absently through Kagome's tanlged hair to try and soothe her. It only seemed to help a little because she wasn't letting go of the tight grip on his shirt, nor was she willing to back out of his personal space. Not that he minded the pretty girl being in his lap, but it was hard to think when she was curled up on him in fear.

"What... what do we do then?" she whispered, raising her head to lock gazes with him. Tears tracked down her cheeks and he bit the inside of his cheek and clenched the hand at his side to stop himself from wiping them away. A moment later, he was hit with an idea. It would be incredibly risky, and he wasn't a hundred percent sure he'd be able to pull it off, but it was their last resort at this point. Kagome took note of the gleam that had entered the Uchiha's eyes and knew he'd come up with a plan.

"I think I know a way to get out." She nodded and waited for him to continue, "I'll need absolute concentration. I also need you to try and hold your barrier back from purifying me, if you can."

"O... Okay. I'll do my best, Itachi. But... how are we going to get out?" He'd shut his eyes and had started to pry open the path to the Mangekyou. Sparks began to shoot around them, and Kagome held out her hands to pull the urge back to immediately purify.

Struggling for several more minutes, he finally managed to crack the barrier surrounding the next level of his Sharingan and it shattered when the powers rushed back to him, almost unbalancing him. When he caught his breath back, he centered himself and began to pull on that feeling that Madara had been trying to teach him.

"We're going. Hang on and don't let go of me," he whispered, right before he activated the Mangekyou and he pulled them into another dimension. The barrier that had surrounded them flickered violently without its master to sustain it, and collapsed.

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She thought she was going to be sick, so she clung to him that much harder. Everything was twisting and turning around them, and if Itachi didn't hurry up and fix it, she wasn't going to be responsible for the contents of her stomach ending up everywhere. She felt something shift and almost click, and they hit the ground. Hard. In fact, she was sure she'd have bruises later from the impact. Itachi groaned somwhere in their pile of limbs and shifted to try and sit up.

'Why does weird stuff always happen to me? Am I just fate's favorite punching bag or something?' Kagome thought, huffing in annoyance and groaning out loud when that irritated her already sensitive stomach.

"Are... you okay?" Itachi's voice was somewhere near her shoulder and she glanced down at him. The Uchiha looked as bad as she felt. Not only was he exhausted from his earlier almost-purification, but the color had been leeched from his cheeks and he looked incredibly dizzy.

"Y-yeah. I'm okay," she managed to reply before slapping a hand over her mouth. She was going to be sick. Right now. Scrambling away from the Sharingan weilder, she made it to the nearest bushes before emptying her stomach. She hated throwing up. It was so... distgusting.

Hands rubbed her back and held her hair away from her face; she honestly wanted to cry. She never wanted him to see her like this. To see her so... weak.

"It's all right. It'll pass soon," Itachi murmured, then added painfully, "I'm sorry. I should have given you a better warning." She just shook her head and gagged reflexively.

"Not... your... fault." It took her a few moments to get herself together, but she finally sighed when everything stopped spinning and slumped bonelessly into his arms. "What... was that?"

"... Space-Time Jutsu." She gave him a look that screamed 'Say what?', then sighed quietly.

"Well... It sucked."

"I've only ever used it without passing out immediately afterwards twice now," the Sharingan user replied, shaking his head roughly when things started blurring together, "and honestly, I'm not completely sure that I won't pass out right now." Kagome stiffened and turned to gather the unsteady Uchiha close.

"I'm sorry. I didn't even think about what kind of side affects you were suffering right now," she apologized, guiding his head to rest gently on her shoulder. Somehow, she was keeping the world from spinning around him. And though it wasn't in his normal attitude, he didn't mind in the least that he let her baby him for a little while; at least until he got his bearings back. It didn't really help that, despite being covered in dirt and soot, she still smelled good to him.

"It's fine. We'll work on refining your skills later. I think I'm going to teach you a few things too," he sighed, melting into her when she ran her hands through his hair, "Definitely ninjutsu, if you're up to it." He felt her nod and shut his mouth suddenly. He felt like he was going to be sick. Holding still, he waited for the nausea to pass. How Madara was able to initiate the Space-Time Jutsu without barfing on everything was a complete mystery to him.

Kagome furrowed her brows in concern and smoothed down his dark hair absently as they sat in the clearing. The sun glimmered off of something shiny and her attention focused on that. Ah, yes. She'd always wondered about the odd ring he constantly wore. Shifting slightly she brought the hand it was on up for a closer inspection, absently noting a chip in his nail polish.

"Itachi?" A grunt was her reply and she took it as a 'please do continue', "What's this ring for? It's very neat." He stiffened just slightly in alarm before giving up and relaxing against her again. It almost seemed pointless to keep his secrets now. She knew plenty about him already, and yet, he was just a little afraid.

Excitement filled him, though, when he remembered the conversation they'd had right before this whole mess began. The thought of unravelling the mystery around the cheerful priestess hugging him sent his heart beating faster with adrenaline.

"Tracking."

"How do you track with it?"

"Not for tracking," he sighed, shifting his head so that his breath fanned warmly against her neck, "It's a tracking device. It's so... Leader-sama knows where I am... at all times." Kagome jerked at the sensation his breath started in the pit of her belly. Flushing darkly, she shook herself out of it and got back on topic.

"You... You make it sound like you're not allowed to go anywhere," she stuttered, tracing the symbol embedded into the ring with a finger.

"Well... That would be the ideal situation to him."

"That's not fair! People aren't meant to be alone!" the priestess countered sharply, glaring at no one in particular. The Uchiha was once again amazed by the fact that she was trying so hard to protect him.

'Perhaps... it is time to tell her the truth.' Taking a deep breath, he made up his mind and decided he would proceed with his idea.

"Kagome. I'd... like to tell you some things," he started, raising up to meet her curious blue eyes with determination, "about my past. However, I'd also like to know about yourself." His vision shifted back dully, and he knew he didn't have a whole lot of time left. His Sharingan had already faded with the lack of chakra to sustain it.

Oh, she knew what he was implying. He wanted a trade-off. His past for hers.

'Am I really ready to spill it all?' Kagome thought, carefully looking over Itachi's face and realizing something very important. It would be the first time she'd ever told someone the whole truth; It scared her, but, she felt she could truly trust him. 'I... I want to tell him. I'm so tired of being so careful around him. It'd be nice... to just let it all out.'

"My past for yours?"

"Yes. I think it's only fair." She swallowed, then finally nodded after a few moments of silence.

"You're right. It's... only fair."

"Good." He lost the fight to stay conscious and blacked out, slumping into her sluggishly. The last thing he remembered thinking was hoping that she would just leave him there in the clearing with the old well. He should have known better, though. Kagome would never have left him behind. And she proved it when he woke up several hours later cocooned in her bed.

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A/N: The last two chapters were a huge plot mover for this story. Things are really starting to shift into something a little more dramatic, so get ready for the ride! I'm really excited, though. This is really turning into an epic story of sorts for me!

So, as far as the Sharingan goes, it was my belief that there were different stages. Stage on is one tomoe. Stage two is two. Stage three is... you guessed it, three. The next stage would be the Mangekyou, if it applies to the user. After that is the whole 'take your sibling's eyes' and the eternal Mangekyou. And then, of course, is the stages of chakra you're able to use within the stages of the Sharingan. So, in retrospect, there are several stages. If that's wrong, oh well. I like my idea. And I'm sticking to it!

As far as the tengu thing goes, I know next to nothing about the real thing. All I know is they're a bird-like demon type creature that are harbingers of war. The rest I just friggin' made up. It seems to be the popular route to go in fanfiction, too, as I'm not the first person to suggest a connection between the tengu and the Uchiha Clan. So, anyway, if my information is wrong, bear with me and remember that it's fiction for a reason. Yeah... so there! Nyah! lolz!

Please kindly leave a review! It keeps me going!