Solo missions were her favorite, Kana decided.

There was something oddly freeing about not having to worry about the wellbeing of teammates, or them getting in the way, as she relished in the fact that her mission had been completed four days ahead of schedule. She jumped off of the final tree before entering Konoha, landing in a crouch before an idea popped into her head upon seeing the festival decorations being put up by the villagers.

Kana smiled behind the mask she always had pulled up on missions and raced through the village gates, waving at a frustrated-looking Izumo who was trying to wake up Kotetsu, as her mind worked through her plans. If Neji was home, she was going to drag him out of that bleak Hyuga compound for a night of fun – just the two of them. It had been too long since they had been able to spend some quality time together, unless it was training or in a group; and Neji loved the festivals.

The afternoon sun showed no signs of sinking any time soon, but she would still have to be quick if Kana was going to turn in her mission report and get changed in time. She was riding on the hope that it wouldn't be too full this time of day. The kunoichi always hated going into the mission room – it was essentially the village's epicenter of gossip, thanks to it being run almost entirely by chunin that couldn't keep their damn mouths shut and the few jonin that still preoccupied themselves with that bullshit.

"…Na! Stop! Kana wait!"

The kunoichi looked over her shoulder and skid to a stop, "Aoba?"

Aoba was practically wheezing by the time he got to her and doubled over, "Ka… Kakashi… He's hurt…" he gasped.

The cold wire of fear coiled around Kana's heart as she attempted to patiently wait for the man to catch his breath. Kakashi was hurt? Why was Aoba of all people the one tracking her down? How did he know she was home? "Where is he?" she demanded calmly, reaching out to push him up from his bent position, "Stand up. You'll breathe easier."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Sasuke looked just as grim as she felt while racing down the street in her direction – the coil around her heart tightened when she saw the hate in his eyes, even if he wasn't looking at her. The boy had a familiar look of furious and intense blood lust as he sprinted past the pair.

Kana quickly realized that Sasuke was running towards the village gates and was torn between running after him or paying attention to whatever Aoba had to say. Genin didn't take missions alone, even in the state that the village was currently in, so where was he going?

"He told me… To let him explain every-thing… At his apartment."

She didn't wait for him to say any more; Kana immediately turned on her heel and bolted in the direction of Kakashi's apartment building. 'He's conscious,' she assured herself, 'If he's well enough to talk to you, he's going to be okay. He's not in the hospital. He probably just needs rest.'

Still, there was a sick sense of dread that was slowly growing in the pit of her stomach as she concentrated chakra to her feet to force her legs to move faster. Hopefully he would be able to explain what was going on with Sasuke, as well.

It took all of Kana's self control not to completely obliterate the door knob as she barged into Kakashi's bedroom, where both Asuma and Kurenai were seated next to the jonin; she flared her Kurogan and gave him a once over to see that his chakra levels were a complete mess, and gave his friends a harsh look.

"What happened?" she asked icily, looking back to check his body for wounds, "He has no injuries. Why is he sleeping in the middle of the afternoon with you two watching him?"

"Kakashi said he wanted to be the one to give you the news," Kurenai started, earning a look from Kana that could have cut through flesh and bone.

"Something about this being a sensitive issue," Asuma added.

Her hand twitched.

Kana wasn't a dumb woman – you don't make it to Anbu as a child by being unable to put two and two together. Kakashi lying in a bed, unconscious but uninjured? Sasuke's bloodthirsty eyes? A sensitive topic that needed to be specifically addressed by the man slumbering beneath those green sheets?

There was a long pause while her brain worked its way through various scenarios. When she finally spoke, she spoke slowly and just as coolly as before,"Did you kill him?"

Asuma's eyebrow raised at her questioningly, "Kill who?"

Only a huge amount of willpower kept her from angrily snapping at her colleague as she kept her eyes glued to Kakashi's sleeping figure, "Itachi. Is he dead?"

Kurenai's red eyes narrowed as she shifted in her seat uneasily at Kana's slow speech,"No. He was too strong. He used some type of genjutsu on Kakashi before Guy intervened and rescued us."

A small glimmer of satisfaction cut at the cold wire wrapped around her chest. Itachi was alive, and he couldn't bring himself to kill his former teammate; he was still him after all of these years. The relief didn't last long, however, as two new worries nibbled at the forefront of her consciousness. One was the obvious confusion as to why Itachi was, again, at the village in broad daylight and the other…

"Where is Guy? Why isn't he here with you?" her voice was smaller than she intended it to be, which she knew betrayed the stoic demeanor she had been fighting to keep steady. Itachi wasn't exactly close to Guy – would he had killed him in a fight if he had to?

"When Sasuke found out about his brother being in the Leaf Village looking for Naruto Uzumaki, he took off. Guy went after him, I'm assuming to keep him from doing anything reckless."

Thoughts raced through Kana's mind a mile a minute, one scenario turning into three others with five different outcomes each. She knew, without a doubt, that no matter how desperate a situation became there was absolutely no way that Itachi would allow Sasuke to die. Use genjutsu on him? Sure. Break a couple of bones? Incapacitate him? They were all actions that would tear him apart on the inside, but actions he would take if it meant preventing his brother from becoming mortally wounded. Guy, on the other hand… Kana wasn't so sure that he would be so merciful if it meant keeping his cover.

Tension brewed between the three jonin as worry silently ate its way through her gut, feeding off of the dread that still sat in her stomach.

"I have to go," she muttered finally. As her hand reached for the door knob, Kana heard Kakashi's breathing change as he woke up; she knew her friend well enough to know that there was no getting out of the situation once he had his bearings about him so she quickly yanked the door open to leave.

"Sweetheart, wait-"

She slammed the door shut behind her and bolted down the hallway, releasing the genjutsu that Kurenai had attempted to throw at her. 'Sorry, Yuhi, you'll have to try harder than that,' Kana thought dryly as she burst into the breezeway. Sasuke and Guy only had a quick head start on her, meaning they shouldn't be too far away.

'There.' Guy was only a handful of blocks away – she only needed to stop him so she could safely chase after Sasuke herself because, the more she thought about it, she knew that there was a good chance he could get killed if he pursued Itachi.

Thankfully her former instructor wasn't moving at his top speed, whether or not he did it as to not attract attention to himself didn't matter to Kana, so it didn't take more than a couple minutes of running at full sprint to catch up.

"Guy, stop!"

He looked over a green clad shoulder but didn't stop running, "Whatever it is, Kana, it can wait. I-"

The kunoichi slid in front of Guy and thrust out her palms, locking her elbows, to act as a block so that he was forced to stop running. "I know, I know you're running after Sasuke," she explained, "But he won't listen to reason, not from someone like you, and-"

"Kana, I don't have time for this," he responded firmly, "If the boy won't listen to me then I'll use whatever force I have to."

"Sensei, please, just listen to me! If he does happen to find his brother before you get to him, Itachi will kill you if he has to. He won't kill Sasuke or myself. Please, please just stay here and let me go after him!"

Understanding merged with a heedful expression, and Kana instantly regretted her choice of words. "What do you mean by 'He won't kill you'? How can you be sure of that?"

She sighed and dropped her hands to her sides but kept her gaze locked on Guy's, "Itachi was the one that saved my life, dad," she lied, hoping to use his affection towards her against him, "He transferred enough chakra into my body to keep me alive long enough to bring me back to the village so I could get to the hospital."

Guys eyes darkened and there was a brief pause as he processed the information."I think you should stay here. It's not up for discussion," he finally said.

With that, he used the teleportation jutsu so he couldn't be followed and left Kana on the roof looking over the street, the faint smell of Ichiraku ramen going unnoticed.

With the flick of her thumb, the black band on her left middle finger snapped open at the bottom to reveal a tiny, razor sharp claw. It had been a present from Raido, who enjoyed wearing various rings and knew that Kana hated biting herself for jutsu that required blood; it sure as hell was a blessing in situations where time was everything.

The claw cut cleanly through the flesh of her thumb for Kana to start signing for the summoning jutsu, leaping over the railing and landing in a crouch with her hand on the ground. 'Hanako, I need you!'

Her beloved, favorite ninneko appeared in a puff of smoke and Kana wasted no time in mounting the feline, 'I need you to track Itachi Uchiha's chakra signature.'

"Of course, sad girl," she purred.

Bakeneko all had particular traits that they acquired upon transcending from mere cathood. Nekomata was an expert in genjutsu, Matabi wielded blue flames, and Hanako was able to track a person by their chakra over great distances after only encountering it once. It saved Kana a ton of headaches and was a hell of a lot faster than if she were to track traditionally, especially with the feline's near-monstrous speed. She could also speak telepathically with whomever held a contract with the ninneko, so long as they maintained physical contact with her.

"You haven't had me look for lonely boy in years," Hanako said, breaking the silence, when they were finally outside of the village walls.

Kana kept her knees tight against the bakeneko's ribcage as she explained things to help her friend get up to speed, glad she never took her cloth mask off of her face as they crossed out of Konoha's outer territory.

When she began to recognize the path they were taking, the kunoichi couldn't help but make an attempt to hypothesize what on Earth Itachi could be doing in Shukuba Town; he wasn't the type to take vacations, especially not to towns full of brothels. Then again, she hadn't seen him in nearly three years.

There was a distinct sense of uneasiness when Hanako slowed to a stop. "Sad girl," she said with a slow, deliberate apprehensiveness, "I can't sense his chakra signature anymore, the trail stops here."

'But that's… That's impossible,' Kana thought to herself. The idea of someone being able to match their chakra signature so well that even the bakeneko's unique trait was rendered useless was something so absurd that she had honestly believed it to be impossible.

Through their psychic link she could feel that Hanako was even more perturbed than she was, so Kana didn't press the issue. Instead she focused her enhanced vision on the nearby village. "Keep going, but not as fast," she commanded, "I can scout the area myself. Thank you." Kana would try to reward her later, she decided, a thought that seemed to mildly please the massive feline.

Shukuba was not a very large town but, for all intents and purposes, it was a party town, meaning it was full of enough people to make the town burst at its seams. Kana's kekkei genkai could differentiate between the varying chakra signatures, of course, but it was still difficult to see through all of the bustling bodies that filled the streets to the point of the roads being completely crowded, its population almost merging together in a giant blue flame.

"Get in close and circle the town," she ordered distractedly, "Tell me if you see any of our people."

The ninneko was a proud being, one that didn't respond well to anyone that tried to hold an air of superiority over her, but they had been together for over ten years; Kana would always be grateful that Hanako was well aware of the fact that her orders were only ever requests – that she didn't take the large cat for granted.

It took almost an hour of active scouting for either of them to find a familiar chakra signature. The sun was still high in the sky, but Kana had been actively using her Kurogan for most of the day and was beginning to feel a slight aching sensation at the corners of her eyes – a sign that she shouldn't keep this up for much longer, especially since she still had yet to fill out her mission report.

Through the tangled mess of bodies, though, she was finally able to pinpoint the familiar image of Sasuke's bright chakra, thanks to the flare of him using some jutsu that dangerously resembled the chidori. She didn't need to tell Hanako what to do, as she had already found his location through their psychic link.

What was waiting for them as they bounded across rooftops did nothing to ease her nervousness: Naruto was standing behind Guy and Jiraiya the Toad Sage, with Sasuke unconscious at the end of the hall and Itachi and a figure she only dimly recognized as his partner were sandwiched in the middle. They were only standing, having some sort of conversation, but Kana knew it was only a matter of moments before the violence began. She could see it in the way their chakra signatures swirled rapidly through their bodies.

While she wasn't sure of exactly what the blue man was capable of, she was somewhat sure that the three of them could make it out of the situation alive, even if just barely. But that would mean harming Guy and the boy with the strange orange chakra.

That was when it occurred to her that, without a second thought, Kana had come here seriously considering helping two S-class criminals from a legendary Sannin and the man that had been more than just a mere father figure to her for a majority of Kana's life. It was then that she realized that she was about to be forced to make an extremely difficult choice.

Itachi Uchiha was a missing-nin. A rogue ninja. An S-class criminal.

Every village had a very strict policy when it came to handling traitorous shinobi.

Anbu were ordered to kill their missing-nin on sight.

Hanako paused, waiting for direction atop the roof, just mere feet over the impending battle. Kana wove her fingers deeper into the bakeneko's familiar, silky fur for comfort and tried to ignore the nausea bubbling in her stomach. 'Just wait, let's see how things turn out,' she thought, already scanning the building for entry points and assessing potential collateral damage.

Just a minute later she saw the Toad Sage start forming hand seals that she didn't recognize. 'Shit, shit, what do I do?!'

Kana clambered off of her ninneko and watched Itachi and his companion begin to run, eyeing their movements as her hands flashed almost inhumanely fast to form hand seals.

"Chakra Barrier Prison!"

A black, translucent cone formed around the pair as they raced towards the exit that was slowly beginning to close off by some strange tissue – another barrier conformed to the walls, only slightly extending out to the outer wall of the building. The pair had stopped to take in their surroundings and Kana silently thanked them as she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling relieving over not having to continue to move their pocket with them.

"Pulsing Chakra Wave!"

She had to put a lot more of her chakra into the jutsu, enough for her to feel slightly dizzy, but the chakra pulse was able to shatter the wall on the end of the hallways – as well as whatever that bizarre surface was – and Kana had to put an extra amount of her chakra into the barrier that would keep the rubble from flying across the street and hurting anyone.

Itachi and the blue man sprinted towards their new exit as she released the jutsu and climbed back onto Hanako, who didn't need verbal instructions to know that this was a good time for them to take their leave. Both of them needed to get out of the area before anyone of importance realized what had happened.

Kana kept a keen eye on Itachi as they ran, making sure that the ninneko maintained a safe distance while running in the same direction as the pair. It was high time that she figured out what the fuck was going on, she decided.

Another hour of tailing passed before they decided they were safely hidden by the trees and abandoned their stealth for speed. With their chakra signatures no longer concealed, it took less than a second for the pair to sense their presence and come to a stop. Hanako's paws ripped into the soft forest floor as she skid to a stop, sending chunks of dirt and grass flying in the process.

"Kana."

Startlingly bright crimson eyes stared back at her intensely, and Kana forgot how to breathe.

Just as quickly as her heart began to race painfully within her chest, hearing the sound of her name on those beautiful lips, carried through the space between them by a hauntingly familiar deep voice, stopped her pulse.

She wanted to hold him.

She wanted to run.

She wanted to cry.

She wanted to scream.

Kana wanted to violently attack the man before her, and throw her arms around him at the same time.

"That was a pretty impressive jutsu," the blue man said in an amused tone, "I suppose we owe you the thanks?"

The kunoichi was only dimly aware of him speaking, her entire being focused wholly focused on the younger man standing next to him.

"It's been a long time, Kana."

"I-Itachi…" Kana's voice sounded choked and small in her ears, hardly louder than a whisper. Her hands began to tremble as her grip weakened in Hanako's glossy fur.

Hearing the pathetic whimper of her voice, she reminded herself to breathe and took a deep breath. "Why are you back?" she asked, sounding more sure of herself this time.

For a long moment, no one said anything; the only sound made was the light rustling of a gentle breeze that rolled through the forest. The Fire Nation was known for beautiful weather, and Kana released the breath she had been holding to allow a tiny amount of her anxiety to escape with it, letting the soothing sounds of the forest to bring her down to Earth.

"You can turn your eyes off," Itachi finally said, "There's no one around for miles, and we have no interest in fighting you. I know you're developing a headache."

Almost as if on cue, the pulsing in the front of Kana's forehead began to make itself known. She ignored it and narrowed her eyes at the man, "You've used the Mangekyo, I'm sure you're not faring much better than myself."

Red eyes faded back to black as Itachi took the hint, and the kunoichi deactivated her kekkei genkai with an inward sigh, "I'm not going to ask again. What are you thinking running around the village in the middle of the day like this? What if something happened – what if Anbu found you? Why are you here?"

Blue Man chuckled, "I never thought I would live to see the day when someone had the nerve to scold you, Itachi," his face turned back to Kana to take her in, "Isn't this that girl you told me about?"

"I had business to attend to," Itachi responded flatly, completely devoid of any emotion, "We appreciate your help back in Shukuba – that was not a battle either of us needed to engage in."

Hopelessness began to nibble away at Kana's heart; he knew that his explanation wasn't a satisfactory one and the fact that he was still so unexpressive was cutting deep. She knew that he was with a mercenary group known as the Akatsuki, and that the man he was with must be his partner of sorts, but Kana was selfish.

She climbed off of Hanako, who gave her a curious look, before stretching her sore legs, "If you're not going to tell me what's going on… At least let me help you."

Blue Man – what the hell was his name?– only raised an eyebrow when Itachi obeyed her request and stepped forward.

It was like a dream and, for the second time in just a handful of minutes, she found herself having to remind herself to breathe as she forced herself to maintain an auspicious distance, as opposed to throwing herself into the man's body. Heart thumping in her ears, Kana channeled chakra for medical ninjutsu to her hands and brought her hands up to Itachi's face, gingerly brushing her fingertips against the corners of his bloodshot eyes.

'Oh god, your face…'

Being this close was almost too much. Almost every ounce of her concentration went towards keeping her emotions under control, keeping her fingers from trembling against his impossibly soft skin and forcing herself to not pay attention to how his long lashes fluttered against the very edges of the pads of her fingers as he blinked.

'It's so soft.'

Everything about his being was intoxicating. She didn't remember his presence being so dizzying on her in the past but all she wanted to do was tuck herself into his coat and curl into his body. She wanted to feel his arms around her, to listen to his beautiful voice and drink his presence in.

'I miss you so much.'

Maybe it was wishful thinking, her own desperation to see some sort of emotion in her childhood friend's face. Maybe it was a trick of the light. As Kana watched the redness in his sclera fade and the twitching of his eyelids slow to a stop, though, she could have sworn that for a moment – just the briefest of moments – she saw a look of despair flash through Itachi's dark eyes.

"I wasn't aware you were knowledgeable in medical ninjutsu," he said calmly.

Memories flooded into her consciousness like a violent tidal wave, washing away everything else around them. Years of training sessions that went on late into the night, of envying Itachi's perfect aim with projectiles but besting him in hand-to-hand combat and chakra control. Thousands of hugs and gentle, caring smiles both from when they spent time alone together and when they were out with Sasuke.

"It uses Yin and Yang releases. It was easy to pick up." Kana had to keep her sentences short as to not betray the growing storm of emotions that threatened to suffocate her. When the last of the strain from wielding his bloodline trait was gone, she let her hands drop back to her sides and took a shaky step back. "There. Are either of you injured, while you're here?" she asked, throat constricting at the harsh reminder that Itachi's presence was only temporary.

Both men shook their heads, but Blue Man gave her a curious look, "Just how skilled of a medic are you?"

"Kisame." Itachi's voice as stern as he looked over his shoulder, almost as if he was delivering some sort of warning.

A few moments of silence passes as the pair appeared to be having some sort of wordless conversation, just staring at each other instead of speaking. For the first time since their conversation started, though, Itachi began to show some sort of emotion; if Kana didn't know him so well then she would have missed the flicker of exasperation that made itself known in the slight twitch of his eyebrow.

Whoever this Kisame was, he didn't appear to have any sort of ulterior motive by asking about her skills and the kunoichi didn't see much harm in answering, but she wanted to be sure of something first. "What do you already know-"

It was subtle. Itachi's body barely even twitched, and if Kana wasn't paying attention to every minute detail of the situation then she probably would have missed it. In fact, she had initially thought that the small convulsion was no more than a shiver until Kana saw his Adam's apple jump in his throat again, his cheeks puffing out only slightly, as he suppressed a second cough.

Now it made sense. Kisame wasn't just asking out of casual curiosity.

"You're sick." It wasn't a question.

For a fleeting second Itachi's dark eyes looked angry with his companion, then guilty as they flitted back to Kana.

"How bad is it?" she whispered, unsure of whether or not she actually wanted to hear his answer.

"It's more or less an annoyance right now, nothing to dwell on."

Her eyes fell to the ground, "But it's going to get worse?"

"Over time," was Itachi's response.

Their silence was more than enough confirmation, and Kana suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She ran her scarred fingers through her hair and worked on keeping herself from giving in to the bubbling panic, "And judging by the fact you asked me about my skills as a medical ninjutsu user… It's difficult to treat."

Despite the harsh look he received from his partner, Kisame nodded, "It's terminal."

A long, shaky breath escaped the lips she was gnawing at from behind her mask before she spoke again. "I'm good, yeah… I've been focusing on the practice for a few years now, but…" her eyes met with Kisame's, "I'm no Tsunade. I'm not even a licensed doctor, or registered as a med-nin. If I knew more about the condition, did some research, I could help with maybe relieving the symptoms… Possibly slow its progression…" Kana trailed off, not trusting her voice as it became weaker.

This wasn't how things were supposed to be.

Kisame gave an understanding nod, the look of disappointment on his face making her wonder if the pair were closer than she initially believed.

"It's nothing to concern yourself with," Itachi said calmly, "We need to get going, there are things we still need to take care of."

Maybe it was the tension from knowing that their encounter would come to an end, or the desperation caused by the scar he had left on Kana's heart, but the cold tone his voice carried cut through her chest like an icy blade. "How can you say that?" her voice was barely louder than a whisper, but by the small twitch in Itachi's shoulder she knew that he had heard her.

"That was pretty cold, even by your standards," Kisame agreed, "Didn't you tell me that you two were close friends?"

Trees blurred as Kana's eyes filled with burning tears, watching the small puffs of smoke dissipate into the air – the only evidence of Itachi's silent departure - just as the large blue man followed suit with the Flicker Technique.

She sank to her knees, unable to speak or think as the tears rolled down her abnormally pale skin, absorbing into the black fabric of her mask. Small, guttural noises vibrated in her throat as it constricted painfully.

'Itachi is dying.'

Her body felt as if it was going to cave in on itself as the revelation finally set in. Itachi was sick. He was dying. For all she knew, this had been their last encounter.

Shoulders trembled and jerked as Kana's lungs struggled to breathe, fear and anguish washing over her and squeezing her windpipe shut.

"C-come back," she croaked feebly, "Tachi..."

The kunoichi knew that he was long gone in some unknown location, but the words slipped from her drying mouth anyways in a pathetic attempt at getting Itachi back, as if he could somehow hear her plea.

Sweet, beautiful, caring Itachi.

Dying.

Hanako padded up to Kana's side and laid down so that her body curled around the woman's convulsing form.

'Sad girl,' Hanako thought, 'No matter what happens, I will stay by your side.'

Kana squeezed her eyes shut and collapsed against the bakeneko to curl into the soft curve of her body between the ribcage and hips. The large cat's warmth and fur held no comfort for the trembling shinobi.

Not now.

Not when a familiar darkness began to blanket her heart.

Note: Lol because fuck 30 seconds of canon. I told you I'd be obliterating some bits XD Just shhhh baby. Shh.