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

After talking with Mikoto-san, I talked with Fugaku-san in his office, and was basically forced to stay for dinner. Itachi and Sasuke...asked me how I got myself in this situation and I replied the situation got to me in the form of their dear mother.

The knowing look they exchanged and the pity in their eyes when they looked at me made me want to cry in a corner. Especially when I told them I was at their place since around noon or one in the afternoon. I told them that at seven, when they got home.

There was a lot of pity in their eyes.

This was four days ago. Currently, I was in the hospital, in a room in the basement where there were cupboards only on the side, against the wall. I had asked for Kou's help to Hiashi-san, who saw in this a good opportunity to be owed a debt by Fugaku-san.

Anyway, Kou's help meant I needed to make preparations on the floor beforehand because it was actually complicated.

"So...you and Hyuuga examining Itachi yesterday was really that important?" Shisui asked me as I was still painting the symbols on the floor in a cross shape. He was leaning on the wall, next to Itachi, Sasuke on his other side.

"Yes."

"What will you do?"

"None of your business Sasuke," I told him and he glowered at me. I got up and stepped away from my work. "My help falls under medical secrecy. Now, everybody but Itachi, out!" They left and Itachi stepped closer. "Now, strip for me." He stared at me without batting an eye. "Okay, I was joking. But seriously, I need you to remove your shirt because I need to apply the seal on the problematic area."

"Okay," he told me and took his shirt off. He put it on the handle of a cupboard and walked up to me, sitting in the center.

"Lay down." He did and I placed my tools next to him. "Alright, before I start I will explain. The virus you have is in your chakra system. As you have the Sharingan since you were eight, your chakra system wasn't fully done yet and it is slightly different than Kakashi for instance, or me who have my Ice Release since I was eleven. It's more fragile in a way, because there's more pressure put on it. I know what I am talking about, Tsunade-san has been helping me with the medical aspect of the things. Anyway, because of the fragility of your chakra system and the poison, the virus managed to touch you. It will grow and grow, giving you crisis like the one you've experimented. There is medicine to ease the pain and symptoms, but unfortunately, you have to go through the pain because at some point, the virus will attach to your heart and only then Tsunade-san will be able to remove it. After that, it will be a long period of rehabilitation for you, for your chakra system and body in general to heal, add to that the medication you'll have to make sure you're perfectly clean." I was out of breath but Itachi's face was still this mask of blankness.

"How are you going to help?" he asked me quietly after a few seconds of dead silence.

"Well, you're still one of the best shinobi in the village, you being sick is annoying. That's why Fugaku-san and Tsunade-san asked me to fasten the progression of the disease so that you can have the surgery as soon as possible. It's also why I've brought Kou with me yesterday. Basically...I will place a seal on you that will increase the chakra flow in your tenkentsu."

"Kou-san was here to guide you," he figured out.

"Yeah, we worked out a way for that. This part will hurt, I ain't gonna lie. Then, the seal I'll draw on you is, once the virus is removable, to block your chakra." This made him look at me in concern. "Don't give me that look, you'll be off sick, if you use your chakra before Tsunade-san tells you to, you can screw your entire future. You won't have access to enough chakra to fight and I'll seal your sharingan too. The only person able to remove the seal or weaken it little by little will be Tsunade-san, she'll be the one to say when you'll be back on duty. You knew you wouldn't be able to wave it off just like that."

"I know," he told me with irritation toward the situation, "I was hoping the three-year sick leave the Hokage mentioned would be shorter." Three years? Wow, the Sandaime really managed to pull it off with his chemical weapon.

"Hopefully, you'll be exploited in the next few months and with the seal, within a year maximum you should be on the operating table. Then...reeducation. Now I've explained everything, please don't get a boner because of my actions during the rest of the sealing." He looked completely confused, but it disappeared when I sat on his waist, straddling him.

"It looks like you're taking advantage of the situation though Akane." I blushed and bit my tongue to keep my snarky reply to myself.

"It's easier if I have the subject..." I showed his chest in front of me. "Like that, if I'm on the side there could be some irregularities and it will fuck everything up." I took a hairband from my pockets and tied my hair back in a low messy bun. I grabbed my brush and soaked it in the ink. I let it for a second too long and took a too shaky breath, because Itachi poked my thigh. I looked down at him, who was smiling and trying to encourage me.

"You're incredible at what you do, aren't you?" I nodded without an ounce of modesty. I was, but during the making of the seal I kept asking oji-chan everything, even beginner's questions because I could not mess up. "I trust you for that."

"Yeah...yeah sure," I mumbled with a gulp. "It's just...medical seal of such a caliber, and on someone I know personally...it's always scary. Just so you know, I will move quite a lot so really don't get a boner."

"Why the fixation of that?" I raised a brow.

"You're eighteen and a guy, I'm a girl and will move back-and-forth on a certain part of your body, sorry to give myself some credit." I smirked at him blushing at the description I was giving. My pride wouldn't take it very well if this Itachi didn't find me at least a little bit attractive.

"I get it, get to work," he muttered with his eyes closed, embarrassment written all over his face. I wiped the excess of ink of the edges of the cup I had poured it in.

I put my hand on his abdomen to support myself, ignoring how his abs were contracted in anticipation, leaned toward his chest and put my brush near his heart.

Then, in silence, I started to draw the seal. Only our breathing could be heard in the room, and the faint sound of my brush on his bare skin. Only then did I realize how...sensual the situation we were in truly was. My strokes were swift and precise, but when I had to bring the lines down to his abdomen, I needed to move back too, basically ending on the top of his thighs. When I leaned too much when I had to draw smaller symbols, I was breathing directly on his skin and his shivers didn't escape me. I played dense instead, because in my head there were many memories of me straddling old Itachi for an entirely different reason.

Fucking end of teenage years body, have some decency toward sick people.

When I was done I got up as fast as I could and went to the desk I put my stuff on when I arrived. My heart was racing and I was calming my breathing down. I had to. I gulped the air one last time, grabbed a thick piece of fabric I folded many times on itself to make it as thick as possible and went back to Itachi.

"Sorry, bear with me for a little bit longer," I apologized as I went back on him. I handed him the fabric. "It will be painful, bite in that. I'll ask you to grab my legs or something too to keep you from moving too much." Without a word, he bit into the fabric and his hands clenched firmly behind my knees, his thumbs above them. "Don't worry about hurting me, even if it will probably be the least of your worries." His eyes fluttered and he started to take deeper breath. As soon as he saw me doing the first hand seals, he closed his eyes shut.

The first symbol on the floor started to slid on his body and his nails dug immediately in the back of my knees. He arched his back, raising it a few centimeters from the floor and his scream was muffled by the fabric, a vein bulging on his neck and sweat covering his skin. I felt a shiver ran down my back at the sight of Itachi, powerful, always strong Itachi, always indifferent Itachi, screaming in pain because of me.

The symbols were three-quarter in when he opened his eyes the widest I had ever seen him, his blood vessels reaching his now very small irises. He started moving his legs behind me as I was done with the first seal. I didn't waste a second and activated the other one, now fuin symbols forming a circle consisting of bars crossing each other at the middle on his stomach.

I took advantage of the situation to seal the Sharingan too, and slid on the floor. Itachi was slowly calming down, but he was still biting on the fabric. I wrapped my hand around it, the other hand on his chin, and made him open his mouth. Once the fabric out, I called him gently. He blinked frantically and, slowly, turned his head toward me. I smiled at him and patted his biceps weakly.

"Hey, it's over now. Sorry for the pain, but...but you'll get better now, I promise." He started to sit up but I stopped him when he grimaced in pain. "Stay down, I'll get your shirt for you." In the blink of an eye, I ran, got his shirt, and was back on my knees next to him. His eyes were cloudy and seemed to be taking in his surroundings. "I...Itachi?" He turned his head to me and I never saw the resemblance with Sasuke more than now. Why? I had seen Sasuke completely lost, but Itachi? I mean, when I told him about me he was more shocked than lost, but now...After a few seconds, there was recognition in his eyes.

"If..." he rasped quietly. He cleared his throat. "If I ever had a boner, I assure you it's gone now."

"Heh?" Did...did he just make a joke?

Well, if his dry sense of humor was still here, he was fine. Shaken up, but fine. So, as a stress-relieving, I chuckled and sat on my bottom and crossed my legs, my hands on my ankles.

"Fuck, I was scared for you and you say that after being in so much pain I thought I was torturing you? That's amazing!" He smirked. "Wipe that smirk away from your face or I'll do it!"

"I'm sick," he said. We stared at each other and when he chuckled, I admitted defeat.

Itachi was fine.

"Okay, get dressed and then you're going to be checked by Tsunade-san." I started to clean to room and tidy up a little as Itachi was, I had to say with difficulty, putting his shirt back on. I was fully ready to leave and turned to him. His shirt was on, but he wasn't moving. I walked in front of him and stretched out my hand. He took it without hesitation.

His arm ended up on my shoulders as I had to support him to the door.

"Sorry," he apologized quietly. His feet barely left the floor when he was walking.

"That's alright."

"I...I need to give you something." I raised a brow at him. "I need to give it back to you."

"Huh...okay? When did you borrow something from me?" He shook his head.

"It wasn't me and it wasn't exactly 'borrowed'." I opened the door, Shisui, Sasuke, his parents, Tsunade-san and a nurse waiting.

"Someone helps him standing he's heavy!" I roared when nobody moved. Shisui, the closest, was the first to move and took Itachi from me. As they left with him, I was left with the Hokage and Fugaku-san. "Everything went well. I will give the key to the seal within a day or two Tsunade-san." After a few more words, they left too and I found Sasuke, hidden at the corner of the walls of the hallway. "Hey you."

"Nii-san will be sick for a while."

"Yeah, and in rehabilitation. He'll need you."

"I'm not sure I can be there for him." I frowned and crossed my arms.

"Why not?"

"I still want you to train me."

"So? I said 'no' and I leave soon anyway." Sasuke looked at me seriously.

"You don't understand. Sakura is trained by the Hokage, Naruto by Jiraya-sama, I want you to train me for the next couple of years, as your official apprentice, teach me more fuinjutsu." I widened my eyes and pointed at myself.

"Me? You want me to take you as an apprentice?" Okay, I had not seen that coming. How did that even happen? "Sasuke, you do know it's not just my decision, you have to ask above."

"I know, I've been trying. Do you know what an honorary shinobi is?"

"Enlighten me." He gestured me to follow him and we ended up in a tea shop, with me paying. "So? An honorary shinobi?"

"It goes back to when Uzushio was still existing. Because of the close bonds between the two villages, there were exchanges of shinobi, usually of at least a year. For the entirety of their stay, they were fully shinobi of the village they were in, and unless in case of emergency such as a declaration of war, they stayed with no interruptions. They have a jounin referent and are sent on missions based on their skills and not their rank." That...was...interesting. "I'm suffocating here."

"I can imagine, trust me," I muttered. "And Tsunade-san..."

"When I asked her if I could leave, she said 'no' and after insistence, she mentioned this. She asked me to convince her to pick me and not someone else. I would just need a jounin's support, but I can get that from Kakashi."

"You did your homework well," I complimented him. Under his determined gaze, I sighed. "Nobody knows about that yet, right?"

"Hn." He took advantage of his parents' concern over Itachi to do his own thing.

"I guess I'd be the referent jounin." He nodded. "You know, the worst is that I'm sure sensei would accept you after your help. Sasuke, you're my permanent headache by now." He smirked smugly at me and I narrowed my eyes.

"I'll take that as a compliment. So, you'll train me?"

"Let's see if you can convince Tsunade-san first brat. Impress me a little with that brain of yours." From his demeanor, I knew the challenge was accepted.

"Yo!" I exclaimed, my face above Shisui's. We were in the forest, on a small cliff overlooking a lake. He was napping in the grass, using his hands as a pillow, enjoying the warmth of the sun, but now my face was hiding it. He opened an eye. "Were you sleeping?"

"Isn't that something you should ask before screaming?" he replied casually, shutting his eye up. "It defeats the purpose of the question." I sat down next to him, propped on my elbows. "Itachi is good by the way."

"I'd kill him myself if he wasn't." Shisui yawned and sat too.

"You two made up, that's cool."

"Yeah...yeah, we did...Shisui, he...I kinda told him I knew things?" I swore I thought Shisui's neck would break at the speed he turned his head to me, eyes alert. "He got me in a situation I couldn't lie, so I...I told him someone told me a possible future and I changed it by changing your fate."

"There's no way he'd buy the 'someone told me' excuse."

"He didn't, he chose to let it slide though, because he was getting explanations so..."

"How did he take it?"

"He cried. I mean, not sobbing hysterically, but he cried. About what he could have done." Shisui breathed out through his nose, clear irritation coming from him.

"I knew I shouldn't have left."

"Yeah he...he was a mess..." Silence fell upon us, both of us in their thoughts. I wanted to say more, but Shisui's feelings for me were keeping my mouth shut.

"Akane? There's something else?" I threw my head back with a groan.

"Yes, but I...I can't tell you because...because you have fee..."

"I can pretend they're not here for a minute you know," he reminded me with an amused smirk. "I mean, I love you, sure," I turned my head to hide my blushing cheeks at how casual he sounded, "but first and foremost I'm your friend, and moral support."

"Okay then...there...you know, when I was with old Itachi, it was just the two of us, we were in a bubble that kept us from the outside world in a way. When he was in Kiri, I felt like the same thing was happening and it scared me. I couldn't let it come back. It...I just...I'm trying to find a good way for that friendship to work but I don't see it go well with the reality of things."

"Please don't tell me you want to break up with him," Shisui stopped me curtly. "It's not the good thing to do, trust me, it would do more wrongs than goods."

"Then what? I don't...I'm not Konoha. We care about each other, sure, but ultimately, he has a better sense of what a shinobi is than me, he's...more loyal to his village than me. Ultimately, I'm that friend in Kiri that may turn into an enemy one day and if there is no friendship at all, there won't be any...gosh Shisui, I don't know. I suck at making good decisions regarding people."

"I'm aware, thanks." I smacked him on the shoulder. "But wouldn't that apply to me and Sasuke and you know, all of the people who care a little bit about you in Konoha?"

"Maybe but, it's Itachi's utter loyalty to Konoha that scares me in the end. It...I don't think I'll ever be a priority. It sounds very self-centered, but what I mean is...I don't think that...urgh, I don't think I'd be the first choice he'd make!" Kakashi wouldn't kill me because of the trauma Rin left him and Obito's sentence, Sasuke and Naruto seemed to have it deep in their brain too, especially my cousin, and Shisui was...well, Shisui. But Itachi? Nah, Itachi would...he wouldn't like it, but he'd still kill me if needed.

"Do you keep thinking that because he left you before?" I clenched my fists.

"Maybe, I don't know, I'm mad at the fact I'm not mad. It's just..."

"The system that's rotten, I know. But keeping him away won't work. I think he'll accept it for a while, observe and then confront you at the worst moment for you." Didn't he do that already? "And he'll be angry. You don't want an angry Itachi, trust me. You should try to make sure Kiri and Konoha stay close allies instead, alright? That's what I was thinking about doing anyway."

"Really?" He grinned at me.

"Well yeah! I have a reputation, and if I can use it to keep us from turning into enemies then I will!"

"You're just too much sometimes, you know that?" He laughed and swiftly went for a hug. I wasn't expecting it and was now laying in the grass, Shisui on me with a puzzled expression on his face.

"I thought you had some balance!"

"Yeah well, wrong!" We stared at each and laughed, him crushing me under his weight, his arms around my waist and his head in the crook of my neck. "You know, right when the funerals ended, it started to be sunny in Kiri. When I go back it won't be anymore, but it was surprising. I kinda miss the sun like this one." Shisui pulled his face away from my neck and put it just centimeters away from mine. "Huh?"

"I know you want me to move on and be happy, but...I'll start when you leave the village, I have a feeling I won't see you for a too long while."

"What are you getting at?" His eyes fell on my lips and a blush crept up from his neck to his cheeks. "Oh I see," I whispered. I raised my hand and put it on his cheek, my thumb rubbing the corner of his lips delicately until my hand went up to his hair. I wrapped my other arm around his neck and he didn't waste a second before diving toward my lips, the friendliness in his eyes replaced by love.

My lips moved on their own against his, my hand grasping his curls when his tongue met mine with more conviction than last time. My entire body warmed up and I enjoyed the feeling of his hand against my cheek, how his other hand was caressing my waist above my shirt, squeezing slightly the spot just above my hipbone. I pushed his head closer to mine, his lips crushed against mine but they started to move faster, more frantic, like his tongue. I shivered when his cold fingers caressed my warm skin when he slipped his hand under my shirt and moaned in his mouth. I arched my back and huddled against him because I wanted, needed more contact and…

"Alright, enough," Shisui whispered against my lips. I looked at him with hazy, half-lidded eyes and my lips still slightly parted from the kiss. He stared at me for a solid second with...with pure lust and moved back, sitting next to me and not looking at me. "Don't...look like that..."

"Like what?" I murmured, slowing sitting as I was doing my best to cool down.

"Like you looked a second ago, or I'll take you back to my place to do more than just kiss."

I blushed and cursed at how my stomach twisted in excitement at what he was implying. If he had not stopped...I wasn't sure I would have.

"Can we cuddle?" I asked shyly. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes and I don't know what he saw, but he gently took my arm and pulled me against his chest.

My hormones and natural messed-up state of mind were really making...urgh, I didn't remember ever appearing so vulnerable in front of old Itachi, except for when he left for good.

Still, I enjoyed the moment.

Nothing more happened.

I went shopping with Hinata and Sakura, who was not as nervous around me as in Kiri. I invited Kou but he glared at me, probably cursed me in his mind, looked at his sweet Hinata-hime, glared some more at me and told me to bring her back by six in the afternoon at the latest. Fashion was different depending of the country, if people really wanted to stare at me I would give them a good reason.

I told Tsunade-san what Obito offered me. She nodded gravely, and on a more cheerful note, gave me the written proof Sasuke managed to convince her and that I would be his jounin referent.

I found myself in being the other part of the exchange, for a year and a half, like Sasuke. However, Tsunade-san and I both agreed that my presence here would be more profitable once Jiraya-san and Naruto would be back.

"But please, keep the fact I'm the other side of the deal for you?" I asked Mikoto-san and Fugaku-san in the latter's office.

"Tsunade-sama did not explain what Sasuke told her to convince her though," Mikoto-san mused, the official papers in her hands. They didn't have anything to say in the matter as Sasuke was a genin and got Kakashi's signature. But, out of principle, I came to tell them.

"She mentioned politic arguments," I told her with a shrug.

"I can think of one or two," Fugaku-san said. "I guess the missions the Mizukage will give him will cover the expenses?"

"Well, it should but Haku and I should have a spare room in our new place, with the village still rebuilding I was thinking letting him live with us during his stay." Her mother looked at me in surprise.

"That's very generous of you Akane." I waved her off as if it was nothing.

"Trust me, it's nothing." Yeah, who knew the Yuki clan's treasury was intact? Guess who had it now? Yep, Haku and I. "Actually, I have a request."

"What is it?" Fugaku-san inquired in his ever sternly voice.

"I won't be in Konoha until Jiraya-san and Naruto are back, I would like for Sasuke to stay with me if he wishes to until then." At this point, I was staring in Fugaku-san's eyes, and he was doing the same. After very long seconds, he sighed in defeat.

"There is little to no chance Sasuke will turn this opportunity down, and anyway, he has matured in Kiri, this could be a great opportunity for him if you guarantee his return to us Akane."

"Of course," I agreed seriously. "I'll make sure Sasuke comes back in one piece. Just, I'll tell him myself at the end of the exchange, so please don't say anything to him?" They gave each other a look but nodded anyway.

"We're home!" I heard Itachi's voice say from the entry. I focused a little and sensed Sasuke with him.

"Will you be able to control the Curse Mark if needed?" Mikoto-san asked me worriedly. I smiled at her.

"Yes, it seems like Jiraya-san saw a situation similar to this coming and he left me a lot of notes on the mark and senjutsu in general." Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in boys," their father told them. I turned my head and saw Itachi and Sasuke appeared behind the door, their surprised gaze falling on me immediately.

"Akane?" the oldest said. I grinned at him and looked at Sasuke.

"You need to tell me how you got Kakashi's signature to impress me even more than I already am." He widened his eyes for a second and smirked in pride. Itachi looked down at his brother and then at his parents and I.

"What am I missing?"

"You'll behave while you're in Kiri Sasuke."

"Yes Mother."

"Father?" Itachi called his father, completely lost even if he was covering it quite well. Fugaku-san sighed.

"Your brother made the Hokage agree in picking him as the participant of an exchange between Kiri and Konoha to strengthen the bond between the two villages." Itachi blinked once, then twice and looked down at the smugness Sasuke was giving off. "Sasuke, Akane offered to accommodate you for the year and a half you will spend there."

"Thanks nee-san." I smiled at him.

"It's nothing, you'll help us move." I stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find Kakashi and see if his student wanting to train with me made him cry. Goodbye." I was just reaching the lobby to put my shoes on that a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I raised my brows at Itachi. "Hum?"

"I need to give it back to you." I clapped my hands together.

"Right." I followed him up the stairs and to his room.

I had already been in his room. When we were fifteen, I went to Kakashi's to be his favorite annoyance once again. I was at his window and surprise, he was just out of the shower, just a towel around his waist. I didn't care about that, still don't, but he didn't have his mask on.

Yeah, he didn't. Nobody moved for long, long minutes, me thinking he was very good looking, until he growled my name in a threatening way. I ran away and as he chased me through the village, fully clothed, I made a list of all the hiding spots I had.

Funny enough, the one I knew Kakashi wouldn't dare to go to was the Uchihas' and I spent a week hiding in Itachi's room, the latter providing me asylum. He denied it, but I swear he looked impressed when I told him what I had accidentally done.

It had not changed. It was still perfectly tidy and sober in the decoration. There was an open book on his bed and a box of weapon supplies under his desk. He walked over it and grabbed the…

I froze on my spot when I was handed a black diary with a locking seal on it. It was still active, but from the used outlines, someone tried to break it.

I gulped with difficulty. A while after I arrived, I had written down everything I knew about future events. In another diary, I wrote what happened to me to remind me if I were to forget.

It was this exact diary Itachi had in his hands.

"After you left, the kids went to your room and stole it, thinking you left them a puzzle to solve. I took it from them and forgot to give it back to you." He looked at me expectantly but I didn't move. "I didn't read it. It's a diary, isn't it?"

"Why didn't you read it if you thought I was dead?" I asked him in a rush, my trembling hands slowly grabbing it. I hugged it close to my chest, as tight as I could.

Itachi had been so close to the truth for so long and…

"I was tempted to at first," he confessed quietly, "but I didn't, because even if you were dead, it was still yours and I couldn't violate your thoughts like that." Here there were, his honorable actions.

"Thanks." I cleared my throat. "That someone told me things about my future too and this...this is too personal."

"Oh." His gaze fell on the diary. "It explains why there is such a strong seal then." I pursed my lips and nodded distractedly. "Can I ask you something Akane?"

"Sure."

"Are you planning on stopping our friendship?" My head rose brutally and my wide eyes looked at his face. He was indifferent, as always, but there was a glint of irritation and sadness in his eyes.

Fuck you Shisui, screw you.

"I...I don't know," I admitted and his shoulders tensed, like his jaw. "It..."

"I understand why you would want to do it," he stated coldly. "However, there is no way I would accept such a stupid decision coming from you." I gaped at him.

"'Stupid'?"

"Do you really think you can get rid of me that easily?"

"You would have respected my choice!"

"I would have if it was justified and taken when you have your head on your shoulders. Right now? Absolutely not, you're just being an idiot who's scared." I glared heavily at him. "Our villages won't become enemies again, we'll make sure of it."

"If you think I think so much about my village, then...fuck, Itachi that's...URGH!" I tucked my diary under my armpit and pushed my hair back. Itachi's face changed and he grabbed my arm, eyes alert.

"What aren't you telling me? What are you hiding?"

"He asked me to join him!" I confessed, his hand becoming slack around my arm. "I teleported Yagura to the training grounds, Naoto arrived and said there was someone so I checked. He was there and we talked, he tried to make me join him, and why wouldn't he after all? He put me in Kiri for a reason, and it was his only. He tried to convince me and…and for a second I surprised myself believing him and wanting to..."

"You didn't," he cut me off sharply, grabbing my shoulders harshly. "You're still here, and we'll keep you here." I smiled sadly at him.

"No you won't, I won't let you. I'm not like you, I'm loyal to people, not to a place that can fall too easily between the wrong hands. If I...I was always on the road when I was younger, I'm not afraid on going back if I feel I'm not reliable, if I feel I'm adding trouble instead of helping."

"We won't let you," he told me again, pulling me harshly in his arms. "We won't let you change side."

"I'm more a time bomb than anything I think," I mumbled in his ear. "That's why I was doubting so much, I don't want you to feel guilty or doubt if we were on different side. I want you to go directly to the easy option, not waste time looking for others." He hugged me tighter. "Please..."

"Don't say it."

"Please if I ever become an enemy to you, to Konoha, to Kiri, to Naruto, to Sasuke, to anyone, then please..."

"Don't say it," he asked more quietly.

"Please kill me." He took a shaky breath. "You're the one person I know will do it. Please promise this to me. That's what I want, I don't want to be a danger to all of you, so please..."

There was not a sound for a while. Then, he leaned his forehead on my shoulder.

"Did you think not being friends would make me feel less guilty?" he whispered and I bit my lips. There was pain here.

"I don't know."

"You're the worst." He moved away from me and his Adam's apple moved when he gulped silently. "I will." I lowered my head, my eyes closed.

"Thank you Itachi. Sorry for burdening you like this."

"Hn."

It was strange. Itachi pretended like nothing happened but he was still distant. Maybe it was his way to deal with things after all, there had been a lot of that lately for him. Shisui saw that too yesterday when we were at a tea shop the three of us, like before, and there was tension between all of us actually. I asked Shisui if he had had a fight with him, but he just grinned at me, ruffled my hair and told me it was nothing worth mentioning, so I dropped the subject. Oh, and because of the risk of blindness, I sealed his Mangekyou. He didn't have a say in the matter, Fugaku-san forced him.

Currently, I was on oji-chan's head, Jiraya-san's first book and commercial flop in my hand. It was the one Minato offered me when I was a kid and Mom gave it to me when I left home. What was not my surprise when I saw a message at the last page. I had not read it yet, but I knew I would.

"What is the plan now?"

"You've been strangely quiet for a while."

"I didn't see the need to intervene when you were already surrounded by people." I smirked. Yep, that was true.

"Well then, the plan is working with sensei and training Sasuke. Probably focus on myself, finally start mourning my old life and...and you know, try to move on maybe. I don't want a relationship or children, I can't anyway, but...maybe see Kiri becoming like I want it, as my grandparents loved it, would be good."

"I see." There was a moment of silence where I looked at the dawn slowly getting brighter. "I want to tell you about the Eien Hansen." I frowned. Now?

"Go ahead."

"It's an ancient weapon of the Uzumaki clan, and it is the last functioning one out of four. As you've seen in Uzushio, they had a teleportation device made up of a variation of the Hiraishin. I don't know what the three others really did in the past, although I think I sealed one of them without realizing it at the time. What this one does is...it is a container. It, supposedly, against a sacrifice with a strong chakra, activates and absorb all of the chakra."

"All of it? What do you mean by that exactly?"

"That's what my research taught me, it absorb all of the chakra. That's all I know. I don't even know what it does with it." I pondered over that for a moment. That..sounded a little like…like that God Tree thing did to everyone when we were in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. "You were the sacrifice that would have activated the machine."

"Of course, Fubuki was everything but a potential candidate for that."

With this, the conversation was over. I walked calmly to the gates of the village, where Mom, senpai, Sasuke, his parents, his brother, Shisui, the Hokage and Kakashi were already the…

Wait, Kakashi!?

"I got lost on the road of life?" I tried with an embarrassed smile.

"And it's hard to find your way back, I know," Kakashi added, raising his eye from his book. I nodded vigorously, returning Shisui's hug and glaring at Kakashi sneering at me.

We proceeded to say our goodbyes. I had to promise Mom I would take care of myself, and Sasuke, and Haku. After a brief nod of the head to Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san's crushing hug, I went to hug Kakashi. Unlike Shisui and much like senpai, he rejected me. After a brief talk with the Hokage, my eyes searched for Itachi and found him, standing a little apart from us and just watching Sasuke and his parents. He must have felt my eyes on him, because he turned his gaze toward me. He stared at me, indifferent, for a second and gestured me to get closer.

I did, without suspecting anything weird for a second.

Actually, even when, in front of him and two of his fingers poking my forehead I still had not fully understood what had just happened.

"Take care of yourself for once," he whispered softly to me. I blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, the same goes to you though." A smirk appeared at the corner of his lips.

"You didn't really give me a choice, did you?" I rolled my eyes at him and punched him in the shoulder, making him take a step back.

We left Konoha.

On the way, we stopped near the Uzumaki temple and I took the Shinigami mask, finding it way too easily among all of the masks there were.

When we arrived in Kiri and were going to sensei's office, I was thinking about Jiraya's words in the book. He wrote down how writing could be the cure to any inner, emotional, angst, that it was a great way to move on. He wrote how it could help me free myself from all of the bad emotions I was keeping for myself.

I was seriously considering it.

Sensei told us to enter her office quickly, but I stopped when I saw her.

"Sensei..."

"Huh?"

"Is that a baby bump?"

"Oh, yes it is."

Another unexpected change.

It was a big one though.

Sensei never had a child before. Nor a husband.

Somehow, I couldn't help but think this fact would stay the same.

Hey! Thanks for reading and leave a review to tell me what you thought about this chapter! Thanks to mikan26, NguyetMieu and kankananime123 for the reviews! On this note, the Naruto part is officially over!

Bye!