Akiri coughed as she placed pressure onto his chest, causing him to cough and hack up water as he bolted upright. Stunned, Itachi looked about before focusing on Akiri, his eyes wide with shock. He placed a hand to her headband, touching the cold metal of her headband with his index and middle finger. Smiling, he chuckled before bowing his head.

"You're getting good at this, Akiri. Well done."

Akiri chuckled before coughing, a steady stream of blood sliding from the corner of her mouth and down her chin. There was immense pain within her chest and it hurt, oh sweet god, it hurt. Bloody tears slid from her eyes and her nose began to bleed also. She moved her hand from her mouth and gasped when she saw the blood on her hand.

"Itachi?" Akiri asked, eyes wide.

"SHIT!"

"Akiri? Oh God." Itachi gasped, catching her as she passed out. Her small, thin body collapsed into Itachi's arms and he began to run at a speed he didn't even know he could reach. Running onward, he headed straight for the hospital, the girl looking dead in his arms. There was a look to her that told him he was running out of time. He wasn't fast enough. Strong enough.

"Shit, Akiri!" Itachi gasped as he got to the hospital, lying her lifeless body down on a stretcher.

"Ita-kun?"

Itachi span to look at the girl with her blue eyes and blonde hair, her body suddenly looking limp as though all the passion and life were flowing from her mouth as she tried to breathe. Her chest moved in uneven bursts and it looked as though she was in immense pain. Like every breath was causing her immense pain.

"Akiri!" He gasped, pulling her up so she was sat up.

"Take this, Ita-kun." Akiri whispered, handing him a necklace from her pocket. "This is my gift to you."

And then she went completely limp.

"Akiri? Akiri! Wake up! Somebody help!" Itachi yelled as he shook Akiri's lifeless body.

After that, it was a bit of a blur. Sure, people had told Itachi that his name was a bad-omen. That his name meant he was the bringer of bad luck and even death, much to his own horror. People had said that when death approaches someone you love, you will never feel the same way. You will feel as though a film has been placed over your eyes and the life inside of you has gone numb. But only for a while. After that, it almost returns to normal but you will feel like there is a small part of life missing until life itself ends for you also. Itachi felt the numb, the film over his eyes hiding more than the white sheet they placed over her corpse.

Itachi couldn't remember much of that day or the next. Medical ninjas trying their hardest to revive Akiri's lifeless body to no real improvement. At one time, one medical ninja thought he'd done it, but in actual fact her heart only beat two more times before falling silent once again. Her blue eyes didn't flutter open once. Her blonde hair didn't move. Her blushing cheeks didn't light up. Her smile didn't awaken...

Naruto cried that day, burying his head into his wife's hair. And he watched as Hinata Hyuuga, the Hyuuga Lily began to cry her eyes out. Itachi watched as Hinato, for the first time in his life, let a few tears fall as he looked at the lifeless body of his sister. Naruto tried to speak to him, Itachi saw that, but Itachi neither felt his lips move or even tried to create words that expressed what had happened. Because, how was he supposed to tell the Hokage that his daughter had placed so much strain on herself that she built a sixty-foot wall of water on either side of her. And then, the Kyuubi was adding even more pressure to her. Itachi had just sat there, even when his Father came in.

"Itachi. Can you talk?" Sasuke asked, though the only thing that moved were Itachi's eyes. They moved to look at Sasuke and even Sasuke withdrew breath at the look. It was the same look that Sasuke's older brother had given him before running from the village.

And when the pair walked home, Itachi felt the numb inside him grow colder. Akiri was gone, her body soon to be reunited with the ground from which her soul had been borne. Her soul and joy long gone, now replaced with nothing in that empty shell that was her body.

When her funeral came about, Akiri's body was lay on a white rock so that everybody could see her face once more. She'd died just two days earlier and she still looked alive. Even the faint smell of roses was still there, surrounding her body like it always had.

Around her were thousands of white candles, their light flames shining and illuminating her pale face. Sasuke had taken to wearing the necklace she'd given him and it was the same crimson red as the flames that burned on those candles. Photo frames with her picture in showed the hundreds of people there how her life had been. In every picture she was grinning, laughing or just giving a subtle smile. The one Itachi treasured most was the one small picture of her and him as seven-year old children, sitting on a swing outside the academy.

"Wake up. Please."

Itachi whispered it into her corpses ear, begging her as the first tear he'd ever shed slid from his eyes. The numb within him became painful and Itachi gasped for breath as he tried to inhale, only to be met by a sharp shooting pain.

"Wake up, dammit!" He yelled, shaking her frozen stiff body.

Naruto and Sasuke pulled him away as everyone at the funeral gave him a sad look. It was well-known of their friendship all around the village, but nobody expected Akiri to die so young. Not one person there knew the truth that their parents had arranged the two children to wed, removing any possibility of arguments between the Uchiha Clan and the Uzumaki Clan ever again. But that would never happen now.

"Goodbye, Akiri." Ayame whispered, kissing Akiri's warm forehead before following her Father, Brother and the Hokage outside.

And that was when Itachi ran.

He ran like his life depended on it, eager to remove the numb feeling and become stronger. He would never lose somebody and he was determined to become better. And that was how the eldest child of the Uchiha Clan became a Missing-nin.

So, I wanted to put some real stuff into this story. I wan't to show just how far the human emotions can be stretched when it comes to love.

I wrote this chapter listening to one song in particular because I felt like it fitted a little. Or maybe I'm crazy.

You decide. ;D

~Kirara