"We need help here!"
Shiori was half dead by the time Deidara burst into the headquarters with her in his arms. The blonde had sworn that the girl had been rabid during their escape at the back of his clay bird. She had been kicking, screaming and bleeding everywhere. And then just as they reached the entrance of the old monk temple, it was like a switch had been flipped off. She went limp and refused to wake up. The pair quickly settled her into one of the smaller rooms in preparation for a much-needed patching up.
From what Itachi gathered from Sasori, he could tell that Shiori was in a critical state. She had lost too much blood and her body was shutting down.
"A chakra blade infused with wind-natured chakra right through the guts. She's lucky it didn't slice her in half."
Something about Sasori's comment rubbed him the wrong way and it took a lot of his self-control to maintain his composure. Itachi settled with a sideway glare at the redhead.
"Sorry about the collateral damage, Itachi-san. I'll make sure Kakuzu will give you a better replacement."
"I don't like being wasteful." He has had enough. He knelt beside the futon Shiori was on and pressed both of his hands on her wounded abdomen. The fabric of her dress felt stiff from being saturated with blood. Its signature metallic scent invaded his nostrils. "Tell Sora-san to come here this instant." He turned to Fudo who bowed and quickly dashed out of the room. "No one is dying on our side tonight."
As Fudo's footsteps disappeared into the distance, a tense silence fell in the room. Itachi was angry. Sasori and Deidara could tell. He had known that this disaster was going to happen. He had warned them and yet they had pushed through. While the young shinobi wasn't known for having a quick temper, they were all too familiar with the damage he could inflict without lifting a finger. It was enough to put the both of them on edge.
The Sharingan scanned Shiori's entire body and Itachi hissed at what he saw, or rather what he couldn't see. The girl's chakra levels were severely depleted from bleeding out so badly. He didn't detect her chakra signature at the time the three of them entered the headquarters and he could barely detect it now with both of his hands on her. With every minute that passed it grew fainter still.
"-but I did mask my chakra. That's why I didn't use any of my explosive clays earlier, hn."
"And I'm pretty sure I masked mine as well so I don't know how they managed to find us."
Itachi turned to the bickering pair, tuning in on what they had to say. Sasori recounted to him the events which led to the attack.
"Suna-nins infiltrated the mansion and managed to assassinate Jiro. We have enough evidence to conclude that they too were after the dagger. Also, they had at least two sensory types with them. Whoever they were, they were strong enough to pinpoint our chakras even after we concealed them."
Itachi narrowed his eyes at this. As a sensor type, he realized that something was off with Sasori's conclusion. Before he could voice this out, Fudo had returned accompanied by an aging woman with gray hair which was kept up in a bun. With slow, uneven footsteps, she made her way to the futon and kneeled on Shiori's side facing Itachi. The first thing she did was place two fingers on the side of her neck.
"Don't touch her Sora-san!" The four men in the room chorused.
The woman named Sora continued to check the young girl's pulse, unfazed. "Rinhas, much like the Uchihas and any other clan with bloodline limits, use their chakra to activate their abilities. Right now she barely has enough to stay alive as what you've probably noticed, Itachi."
The dark-haired boy nodded at her. "Can you still heal her?"
Sora paused, as though deliberating for an answer. Itachi was getting impatient. "She doesn't have much time. If we don't act quickly I'm...I'm going to lose my ward." He was losing her fast and for some reason, the thought of it felt more bothersome than he had anticipated it to be.
"I did tell you we'll get you a new one," Sasori replied from behind him.
Sora turned to the redhead and flicked her wrist at him. "You. Out of the room. Now. Same goes for you two," she said, turning to Deidara and Fudo.
"What about him?" Deidara asked, pointing at Itachi. Without waiting for a reply, Fudo placed an arm on the blonde's shoulder and ushered him out of the door before closing it behind him.
When she was sure that the three were out of earshot, Sora continued, "I'm an old woman now, 'tachi. And you are a boy with a very sick heart. I was saving my energy to prevent it from getting sicker. If I do this now, I doubt I'll be able to bounce back in less than a fortnight. Until I recover, you'll be on your own."
"Do it Sora-san. Please." He had known the consequence for asking the aging medic nin for help yet he had been fixed on a decision the minute he laid eyes on the dying girl.
Sora and Itachi looked down at Shiori. Her breathing had grown rapid and shallow and her skin had turned an ashen hue.
"Keep your hands where they are until I say otherwise," Sora instructed as her own palms hovered over Itachi's. A bright green light enveloped her hands as she proceeded to execute the Mystical Palm Technique. "I'll stay away from your chakra pathways so no need to worry about accidental chakra transfusion."
"You can use mine if you have to," Itachi replied. His red irises were trained on the rise and fall of Shiori's chest. Sora glanced up at him in surprise.
"It's alright," he added. "I'll be fine."
"Young man if you had been born an Uzumaki I would have believed you. But thank you anyway."
It wasn't like the Uchihas weren't known for their chakra. As one of the strongest shinobi clans in the world, they were known to have stronger chakra and larger reserves than an average shinobi. Unfortunately, Sora was aware that the second common clan trait was something Itachi did not possess. One of the reasons the genjutsu user was so adept with his chakra control was because he was aware that his reserve was very limited.
They stayed in the same position for minutes as Sora concentrated on fixing the major damages caused by the wound, starting from Shiori's back and working her way towards her abdomen. Halfway through the treatment, the young girl woke up with a start. Gray eyes glanced around wildly as she tried to figure out where she was.
"Keep still my child. We're patching you up."
She gave the older woman an confused look, who only replied with a nod towards her left side. Shiori turned her head and came face to face with Itachi's pokerface.
"Jomae Village," she rasped. "It's in a small vault in a bank...in Jomae Village."
A small smile spread on his lips. "Understood. Thank you for the intel. You did well."
"What happened?"
"You got caught by a chakra blade."
"That wasn't part of the plan."
"That goes without saying."
There was a long pause as the two continued to stare at each other. Despite struggling to keep her eyes open, Shiori's gaze never wavered. It was the first time she had done this without Itachi commanding her to do so and it set a strange flutter in the latter's stomach. He cleared his throat before continuing.
"Try to relax yourself. Sora-san is one of the best medic nins I know. She can fix you in no time."
Shiori nodded and closed her eyes with a tired sigh. "It's not as bad this time."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"This isn't as scary as before. You're not as scary as before."
Despite the long hours spent on treating the ward, Sora had been highly successful. Come the break of dawn, all of Shiori's injuries had been dealt with. The bleeding had been staunched. Her gaping wound was patched up. Earlier they woke her up long enough for her to down a couple of soldier pills and its effects were showing. She looked less pasty and even sported a faint blush on her cheeks. Sora had just finished bandaging the girl's bruised hand. She gently placed it on her side before looking up at the other person on the room with her.
Itachi sat cross-legged facing her. His elbows rested on his knees and he slouched to rest his chin on his palms. Despite the dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep, he had remained alert and attentive the entire time, occasionally asking the medic nin if she needed help with anything. The only time he left his spot was right after Shiori first woke up. He had walked out of the room to relay the intel to Deidara and Sasori but came back inside not too long after. And as he sat there as still as a statue, Sora couldn't help but notice something peculiar about the Uchiha's behavior.
Since the boy was naturally stoic and aloof, the changes were minute, not quite that obvious for people who didn't know Itachi very well. But Sora did. Knowing him was a consolation of sorts that he had given to her for keeping her discovery of his congenital anomaly a secret. Years of treating the young man had made her familiar with how he normally acted. At that moment, despite him barely doing anything, Sora could tell that he wasn't being his usual self.
"She's going to make it. Don't worry about her. Go to sleep, Itachi."
The young man shifted into a kneeling position and bowed down in front of her. "Thank you very much for your help, Sora-san. You've done so much for me."
"You're welcome," Sora replied. "Consider yourself lucky I have a soft spot for you."
Itachi had stood up to leave when the old woman added, "Brillliant people oftentimes turn into fools when emotions come into play."
The Uchiha paused in his tracks. He glanced back at her with an unreadable look on his face.
She continued, "Her safety depends on how well you keep your emotions in check. Make sure Pain-sama never finds out."
"There is nothing to find out, Sora-san."
"Good. Now make it look as convincing as it sounds. Even for me."
Author's Notes: Welp...here are a few points I'd like to make.
1.) Itachi's sickness. Everybody knows he's sick but not everybody knows with what. There was a written piece about Itachi hypothesizing that he suffered from Microscopic Polyangitis. And whoever wrote it did a lot of research and citations. A lot of fans are convinced with it. While I applaud him/her for the piece I like to keep things in this fic more "traditional"... Also I believe that a congenital heart defect makes sense with Itachi's condition as a whole. More on that in the ff chapters.
2.) In Wikipedia, Itachi isn't listed as a sensor type. I'm not a hardcore Naruto fan but from what I can tell, all the characteristics of a sensor type can be easily seen in people with Eye Techniques (ie Byakugan, Sharingan, Rinnegan). So I took some liberty in that and assumed that our favorite badass is a sensor type.
3.) Uzumakis are known for their unusually large chakra reserves hence Sora's reference to them. Also, Itachi having low chakra reserves makes perfect sense if you look at it objectively...he rarely engages in prolonged hand-to-hand combat. Not saying he does not fight. He acts more on the defense, is evasive and if he does attack, it's often with genjutsu. If not, his moves are VERY calculated, with him making the most damage with as little effort as possible.
4.) Re: Someone else knowing about Itachi's condition. It's not common knowledge, not even among the Akatsuki, but somebody must have known other than Tobi. The boy must have consulted with someone and knowing his trust issues, it must be someone he deemed worthy to earn this nugget of information that could very much break him. Sora was just supposed to be this medic nin acting as a "helper" much like Fudo but for some reason she stepped up her game while I was making the draft.
5.) Another confusing chapter to write. Seriously, it's tricky to write about Itachi and Emotions on the same context. Itachi gives away so little with regards to how he actually feels that showing blatant emotion for him this early in the story can easily make him OOC. And it sucks because this is supposed to be a turning point for the both of them...well, I think it is anyway. I try to be subtle without it being too subtle that you guys can't pick on it. It's been fun and challenging but I hope you enjoy that bit.
As always, reviews are always welcomed. See ya.