Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 18

Naruto, Sasuke: 13

Shisui: 22

Kakashi: 27

"Hey, Sasori my man..."

"What?" Sasori grumbled from his Hiruko puppet, him and Deidara on one of the blond's giant bird, flying over the sea of an island of the Land of Water.

"What does Leader-sama want from the girl that almost beat you in Konoha?"

"How am I supposed to know idiot?"

"Well, she's Ushio's daughter," Deidara continued. He took his chin between his fingers, a thoughtful expression on his face. "And Ushio's far from weak, yeah. She seemed loyal to her village though."

"We're just executing orders, Deidara. Stop asking futile questions."

"Still!"

"Why are you so curious?" Deidara raised a brow at him and pointed is finger at him.

"Isn't that obvious!? She got you out of your puppet my man!"

Their conversation was cut short by an explosion. They flew closer and were surprised to see the Sanbi, three small dots in front of it.

"Oh, that's her!"

"It seems like Kiri tasked the same person of taking down the Mizukage and sealing the Sanbi. They keep using their shinobi until they no longer function even with their little revolution, pathetic."

"Should we intervene now? Leader-sama wants us to bring her back, what if she dies?"

"I don't recall him asking her alive. Let's watch her fail."

They did. They saw the Sanbi attacking, and then stopping, the girl just taming him and sealing him inside its new jinchuriki without fighting back.

"Did she use magic now, yeah?" Deidara asked Sasori, who, inside Hiruko, was frowning, deeply in thoughts.

"Maybe she's worth something after all. Bomb them." Deidara grinned and put his hands in his pouches to get clay. Once his bombs were done, he stretched out his hands.

"ART...IS AN EXPLOSION!" he yelled, dropping his bombs.

It was far from being complicated to take her. She was weakened, and Sasori threw her away from the other two, who tried to run away but were still caught in Deidara's explosions. They flew closer to the surface of the water and stared at the unconscious body floating.

"She dead you think?"

"Who knows?" Sasori replied, using his chakra threads to lift her up. She was still breathing, but barely. "Uzumakis are known to be cockroaches after all. It's not that surprising she survived. Let's go."

Akane behind Sasori, they left the sea for the main island. There was a grunt when they reached the shore at the north of Kiri.

"Fuck me," she muttered under her breath. Deidara turned his head toward her.

"Awake yeah?" She turned her head enough to glare at him. She raised a closed fist, seemingly trying to attack and the two Akatsuki members prepared themselves to return it.

No attack came though. Except Akane giving them the finger for a second before going limp.

"I'm done for," she mumbled against his bird.

"Can't fight back?" Sasori taunted her. She didn't even look at him, humming in approbation.

"Isn't it obvious genius?"

How long until Ame?

"I see," Naoto said as he was in front of Dai, Itachi close behind. "They were swallowed by the Sanbi and it disappeared. None of our intel mentioned a space-time jutsu."

"To be fair, I think Uzu mentioned something like getting inside to have a chakra sample for the back-up seal, but she didn't really want to be eaten," the medic added with a shrug. Naoto scoffed.

"Understandable."

"Hey Itachi!" Itachi looked at Dai, making a mental note on how it seemed the lack of honorific was something he had in common with Akane. "I'm glad to have you here rather than that stupid Shisui but..." Itachi fought the urge to sweat drop. The two were more alike than they thought. "...why are you here?"

"Jiraya-sama ordered me to get Naruto."

"Huh, fair enough, the brat was quite a surprise."

"If you're done with the talking we're going to speed up," Naoto droned at them.

In the end, they reached the beach.

"Biu Island?" Dai wondered, glancing at the glowing paper tag in his hand. "They landed on Biu Island?"

"Something's coming!" Naoto yelled out of sudden. The three men became quiet and Itachi activated his sharingan when a whistling sound started to be heard in the distance. Dai squinted.

"Is that…a turt..." He didn't finished that the thing coming their way flew between them and dug itself in the sand. They all stood on their guard.

It was a sort of ball of pink coral, but the most striking was the three tails slowly being absorbed inside of it. Cracks started to appear everywhere and the coral broke into pieces.

"It's the brat and Haku." As if on cue, a piece a coral was pushed away and Naruto sat up, blue eyes confused.

"Itachi-nii?" The Uchiha sighed in relief and walked up to Naruto whereas Dai went to Haku, who was unconscious, to check on him. Itachi knelt next to the genin with stern eyes.

"Do you realize the gravity of your actions?" Naruto didn't look at him and nodded weakly.

"I didn't want nee-chan to do things alone again." Itachi sighed and patted him on the head.

"I know Naruto, I know."

"I don't care if she's from another village, she's my sister." Was the universe against him for reminding him that everyday? He was going to confront her and apologize, he didn't need every little thing to remind him.

"It seems like the sealing was a success after all," Naoto said, now next to Dai who had a long face.

"Yeah...yeah it did."

"Dai-nii?" The medic ignored the youngest among them and looked at Naoto.

"Her mission is a success but she's not there."

"The Akatsuki!" Itachi's free hand grasped his shoulder. "There was explosions and nee-chan told me to leave with Haku, that I was his bodyguard until Kiri, that she survived before and that she will survive now but she's hurt! The Sanbi's tail hurt her and made her lose a lot of blood, Haku had to stitch it in emergency, and she was hit at the arm too!"

"Right now she's infected," Dai summed up quickly, his eyes wide open in panic. "She...she most probably has stopped fighting by now because she's too weak. I mean..."

"ANBU secrecy."

"Akane's part of the ANBU?" Itachi asked before he could think about it. From her level, it seemed more than believable.

"Against her will," Naoto added. "We need to bring these two back to Kiri."

"I'm saving nee-chan!"

"You're doing as you're told brat!" Naoto replied harshly, a scowll on his face. "I'm done giving in an Uzumaki tantrum!" Naruto's face turned scarlet in anger.

"You..."

"Naruto." Naruto looked at Itachi and fainted when he was met by the red of the Sharingan. Itachi caught him and laid him down on the sand. "I'll go."

"Wait, your ord..."

"Well I don't like taking orders." The Uchiha accepted the paper Naoto gave him.

"Don't lose it, activate it like a random seal and it will give you Akane's location."

"Hey, is that..."

"What Ushio-san helped Fubuki do when Akane was born? Yes." Fubuki was Akane's brother's name. Itachi did not know a lot about him, nobody really knew anything regarding Fubuki except Kakashi and Akiko. He was dead and buried in Konoha, that was sure. He still remembered the shock he felt when he followed Sasuke in the cemetery when he was leaving flowers on his grave. "What are you still doing here? Go!"

He did, following the seal.

There was a lot he did not know about Akane, a lot he wanted to know, a lot he wanted her to tell him. He needed to make sure she would be able to tell him though.

So, when after hours of blindingly following a trail he wasn't a hundred percent sure of, he saw a familiar white bird, he didn't waste time. There were three people on it, Akane immobile at the back, near the tail. The pattern of his sharigan changed and black flames separated Akane from the two shinobi, who started crashing forward.

Akane was still falling to a sure death.

Itachi leaned on a tree branch and, with a lot of chakra in his legs, jumped and caught her easily in his arms. He landed swiftly on another branch and looked at the girl in his arms. Her eyes were closed but her lids were fluttering, indicating she wasn't totally unconscious yet. Her left arm was bleeding slightly, nothing next to her left side. The blood-soaked jacket and shirt underneath were clearly clinging to the bandages around her wound.

She needed to see a medic and fast.

However, with her in that state, he needed to rely on the map the Mizukage gave him before he left Kiri.

He needed to find a place to hide.

"...'tachi?" a weak voice mumbled. He briefly looked down and sped up at the sight of the pained expression on her face and the sweat running down her temple. She was drenched in water and it wouldn't be long until she got sick too, and she didn't need that right now. "Is...is that you?"

"Yes," he answered flatly, shooting a glance above his shoulders. They were not giving up.

"...but you hate me."

"Thanks for bringing me up to date on that," he replied calmly, even though guilt twisted his stomach. She thought he hated her and he thought she hated him.

They were each as bad as the other.

I was burning, in and out of consciousness. When I opened my eyes, it seemed to be dark outside already, and there was a fire burning close to me. I looked around with hazy eyes. I was in a cave and…

I blinked at Itachi, apparently sleeping, slouched against the wall. I was sure his sleep wasn't deep. He wasn't a deep sleeper anyway, he was always on his guards.

Why would I be in a cave with Itachi though? I...was in the sea and…

Nothing. I remembered nothing after that.

I opened my eyes wide. Ma...maybe I was back in a genjutsu? Maybe...maybe…

Pain, pain breaks illusions. I needed pain to go home.

Where was home anyway? Out of reach, but I could go to the closest thing I had, and rest.

Yeah, rest. Sleep for a long time.

I gritted my teeth and reached for a kunai. I would break the illusion with a bang. On this thought, I closed my eyes and lowered the blade toward my throat.

The blow never came. I opened my eyes and shivered at Itachi's sharingan above me, his hand closed around the handle of my kunai to keep it in place.

"What were you thinking?" he asked me coldly.

"You're fake," I spat at him, trying to get rid of his grip. He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"You're having an episode again," he muttered quietly, kneeling next to me to be more stable. I saw red.

"You're fake, I'm fake, this whole world is fake so let me go home!" He snatched my weapon from my hand and with a spike of energy, I rolled away from him. I got on all four and bared my teeth at him. "Let me go home and rest! I want to...want to..."

"I'll bring you home Akane, just calm down." He stepped forward, his hands in front of him. I felt a tear on my cheek.

"You...you can't bring me home, I...it's...I have to do it on my own...but you...you keep...you all keep..." I was...panting, and weak. Itachi had furrowed his brows, trying to understand me.

"We're keeping you from going home?"

"Yeah be...cuz you...you can't die and I...I have to...to make sure that..." In the blink of an eye, he was behind me. I fought back when he tried to block me, but he still did, his legs pinning mine on the ground and his arms around my frame to keep me from moving, my back firmly pressed against his chest. "Let...let go of...of me fa...fake..."

"I'm not fake, you're not fake Akane," he said softly against my head. With his knee, he managed to put pressure on my side and I winced in pain. "See, pain. It's real. Don't dive into another episode now."

"Episode?" I repeated, stopping thrashing about. "Konoha?"

"Yes." His forehead was now against the back of my head.

"I...Itachi?"

"That's me. Sorry for using your wound, but I had to make new stitches and I didn't want you to pop them again. At least it also pulled you out of your delirium."

"I...where..."

"Don't worry about it. I know I'm probably not the person you want around right now, but trust me for this. I'll take you to the hospital."

"Heh...you're...talkative now?" He sighed, blowing on my neck at the same time.

"You're the worst Akane." I chuckled weakly and crossed my left arm on my chest. Then, I slowly froze it up to my shoulder. It seemed like...the Shinigami chakra had been slowing Isobu's chakra down, keeping it from spreading too much, almost like it was a magnet to it. "Don't do that!" he hissed, his arms tightening around me.

"Don't worry...it keeps San...bi's chakra from spreading..." Man...I leaned my head back on Itachi's shoulder, him moving his head back too. "Naruto...Haku..."

"They're fine, they were with Dai-san and Naoto-san when I left."

She fell back asleep in his arms, her breathing still labored and a slight frown on her face, but she fell back asleep. Itachi sighed in relief, hoping she would not have an episode when she would wake up.

It was the first time he saw her from so close. The way how her hair was partially hiding her left eye, how she drew her snob nose back in her sleep, how sometimes two sharp teeth would graze on her bottom lip. He never watched her from so close and he stopped doing it as soon as he started it. He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed, an embarrassed flush on his cheeks.

He did. He did have have a crush on Akane when they were children. He would watch her from afar to understand why Shisui would spend so much time with her. The first time she saw him she thought he was a girl, and he had blushed in shame. Shisui laughed it off and he had spent the afternoon with the two, just playing, and she ended up apologizing when she misunderstood his shyness for humiliation. The good thing had been, because she was a foreigner, she had not known about him being an heir and they just played. After that time, he saw her one more time, once again with Shisui, and nothing more. He was pretty sure she just remembered calling him a girl though.

However, the first time he saw her, it was when he was with his heavily pregnant mother. They were shopping for baby clothes and they met Kushina-san. The two women talked and from the corner of his eyes, he saw her, spacing out next to children's clothes. What struck him the most had been how empty her eyes had been, as if she was reliving painful events. Before he could ask about her, Kushina-san briefly introduced her as her niece and they left, without Akane noticing him.

He never mentioned any of it to her when she came back to Konoha, nor did he tell her he knew she was from Kiri way before she left Konoha. It was not relevant, she spent time with Sasuke and Naruto and because of that his brother finally socialized with other kids his age.

They became friends. When he thought back of the cold shoulder she used to give him, he could not feel anything but relief knowing they were past it.

She stirred in her sleep and he adjusted her so that her bad arm and side did not suffer from any useless pressure.

His Mangekyou appeared when he saw her body and it still haunted him sometimes, especially knowing what she had to do for the past couple of years. He cared about her, he cared about her a lot. She saw him for him, would listen without a word or judgment if he talked to her. Not that he did, but he knew she would. She made him laugh too, deliberately or not.

Shisui saw that too and was deeply in love with her. Even if she denied it, Itachi knew Akane had feelings for him too, although they probably were not strong enough to overcome the distance and the obstacles that, he thought, Akane placed between them.

Itachi loved them both. Shisui was the older brother he never got and his best friend, Akane was his best friend and only real female relationship apart from his mother. He cared for Izumi, he truly did, she was a great person and she was in love with him. She was the easy option.

When Akane came back for the Chuunin Exams, alive and colder than ever, he realized that his relationship with Izumi had been the best way to respect Shisui's feeling for the Kiri kunoichi.

Discovering she knew all along he had been a spy was a harsh blow, the trust he wanted to build back shattering once again. She acted oblivious and he had to admit he had acted in the heat of the moment when he almost broke her wrist. He wanted to wait until everything was over, observe for a while so that he would understand and calm his latent anger. She had to try to keep him from leaving though, and in an instant he was back in shinobi mode, every thoughts of asking her explanations calmly out of the window. It was her almost running away from him and Sasuke's intervention that broke him out of it, leaving him the displeasure of seeing the aftermath.

Akane had looked like a beaten animal and he had been the torturer.

"...salmon...in miso..." Akane mumbled sleepily in his arms. He raised a brow as her lids fluttered open. Sleepy eyes found his. "Still here?"

"Apparently," he replied casually. "We won't move until morning, keep resting."

"You...didn't leave me behind?" He blinked and frowned. He knew their relationship was strained, but did she really think he would leave her to die? "But...he did, so why..."

"Who left you behind?" The cold anger in his voice made her close her eyes. Someone left her behind? Behind what? When? Where? Who?

"I loved him so much..." His arms twitched around her. "I...I wasn't enough for...for him to stay...I was in love with him...but he left me behind..."

Itachi bit his bottom lip. Akane was pretty, smart, funny, why wouldn't she have met someone already? It was...predictable.

He should not feel jealous and hurt she was in love with someone. Apparently, it was not Shisui, because Shisui would die before he left her behind.

Who then?

"You...you look...so much like him it...it hurts sometimes..."

How...was he supposed to take that?

"Why..."she started, raising her face toward his, eyes completely lost. "Why wasn't I enough?"

"I...I don't know," he answered in a whisper and she snorted, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"I want to go home." He had no idea where 'home' was to her, but he was sure it was not Kiri, and no matter how painful it was to admit, it was not Konoha either.

"Is he home?"

"No...I found home after he left."

Itachi loved having his mind challenged, but right now it was more upsetting than anything.

Akane was broken, that much was obvious to him. He just wished he could have seen her trying to put the pieces together on her own in Konoha before three years as a double agent shattered the already broken pieces.

For now, he needed to take her to the hospital.

For now, she needed to rest, emotionally and physically.

For now, he needed to silence his own emotions to let her focus on herself.

When I woke up, I wasn't in the cave anymore, nor in Itachi's arms on the way back to the village. I was againt the trunk of a tree, my left arm now secured with white bandages, and Itachi was in front of me, one knee in the mud and his hand on his bleeding ankle. The pouring rain was not helping either, we couldn't see two meters in front of us.

"Itachi? You...you got hurt?"

"I didn't see his kunai," he replied painfully and I frowned. Itachi...didn't see it?

"What...where are they?"

"I almost made the blond one kill himself with a genjutsu, but the other one got him out of it. I think the other one is fake, he wasn't...touched by it."

"That or he knows about what the Sharingan can do." And only God knew the extent of Sasori's knowledge after all. "Wait...the kunai came from Sasori?" He nodded weakly, a knowing look in his eyes. "Shit. Shit, Itachi you..." He pressed his hand against my mouth.

"He's an expert in poison, I know," he whispered harshly. "I can't feel my leg anymore." I tried to get up but failed and ended up on all four, three, with a groan of pain, muffled by Itachi's hand. "Don't try...Sanbi's chakra keeps you from recuperating properly, your chakra level didn't budge."

"You're needed," I mumbled to myself. "You...fuck, you can't die now, you're needed," I hissed quietly, slamming my fist in the mud.

"Needed?" he repeated slowly. I bit my bottom lip. I...I did my part.

I did my part. They...they could...could fight back harder than before. They didn't need me, the won before while I was living away from all that shit.

They could do it again. Itachi and Shisui were there too, they were both stronger than I was, mentally, physically, shinobi speaking.

They didn't need me.

On that though, I grasped Itachi's hand in my own, now sitting on my heels.

"Don't you dare," he hissed coldly at me, the anger in his eyes telling me he knew what I was about to do. I smirked at him.

"A few months ago, Mangetsu told me he didn't know if the symbols of the Bloody Mist would be good for the new Kiri. I...am one." I smiled at him, my eyes closed, searching for a marker. Oh, we were far from the village, not too far but not next door either. Now, the hospital...found it. "Thanks for coming Itachi, sorry for lying to you."

"Aka..." He didn't finish that I used one last Hiraishin, just to never see the landing.

Looks like I was the one to leave this time.

The landing was painful. Itachi did not mind it though, as he sat up straight away to look at Akane, her hand now limp around his. His first reflex was to catch it and check for her pulse.

He did not find one.

He checked for a breathing.

He could not feel one.

Gathering his last strengths, he got up on trembling legs and lifted her limps body in his arms. He recognized the hospital walls, he knew the way.

His sight was blurry though. He felt nauseous and his leg was threatening to give up on him. He was pathetic right now, he had not anticipated the effects of using his Mangekyou once more. The pain of the Susano'o was unbearable, as usual, but then his eyesight failed him, enough for Sasori's kunai to injure his ankle.

"Itachi?" Itachi spun around, dark and exhausted eyes now on Kakashi. Immediately, Kakashi's eye widened in understanding. "Dai! Come here, medics!" Kakashi tried to take Akane from him, but by reflex he pulled her closer to his chest in a failed attempt to protect her from an imaginary threat. "Itachi, it's Kakashi, I won't do anything to her." By forcing a little, he managed to take her from Itachi, who dropped on one knee immediately after.

"Fuck man!" Dai screamed behind Kakashi. He started running to them but stopped in his steps when Itachi started coughing.

Hard. He was coughing too hard. He grasped his jacket at the heart, his other hand against his mouth in a vain attempt to calm himself. It hurt, it was hurting more than a regular coughing fit. His heart was painful and he could already taste the iron taste of blood in his mouth.

Blood dripped between his fingers and on the floor. He was soon throwing up more blood and on the floor, and the only thing he was wondering was how long it would last.

Was it the poison?

"Damn Itachi..." Dai said in shock. Once the coughing fit was over, the Uchiha stared at the puddle of blood and bile on the floor and leaned of the right, passing out on the floor. "Fuck, poi..."

The voices were faint.

The only thing that crossed Itachi's mind before he passed out, was that Dai took him on his shoulder and that he hoped what just happened was the work of the poison and nothing else.

Hey! Thanks for reading and leave a review to tell me what you thought about this chapter! Thanks to NguyetMieu, kankananime123 and theselfproclaimedgreatest7 for the reviews! As for Akane's chart, considering her past life and her progresses in her current life, she's a solid 5 in seals, 5 in ninjutsu, 3 in genjutsu, 4 in taijutsu, 4,5 in speed, 4 in intelligence, 3 in strength, 4,5 in stamina and 4 in hand seals, as in the Data Books there isn't seals, it's a total of 32.

Bye!