Hello! I hope you'll like this chapter!

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

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 24

Naruto, Sasuke: 19

Shisui: 28

Kakashi: 33

There would always be sexual tension if Itachi and I spent too much time alone. I couldn't deny it because I mean…if anything, last night was proof of that. While I did not really…like hearing him say he was thinking of something else when I was giving him a hand job, he made sure to make up for it after.

It felt very, very good to have him inside of me. It just felt like the missing piece of a puzzle and the amount of love and softness he showed me last night just made me want to stay nuzzled in his warmth. The small voice in my head kept whispering to me that maybe he didn't enjoy last night as I would be confident then doubt myself. And the man he mentioned…

Naru told me some psycho wanted me to be his wife and knock me up because of my connection with the Shin…well, Izanami apparently. There was no way Itachi would be happy about it but…I avoided thinking about it to be honest as it was over, and he was dead. Itachi was not over it yet.

A finger ran on my frown before putting a lock of my hair behind my ear.

"Frowning first thing in the morning cannot be healthy," he whispered sleepily. I opened my eyes. His eyes were closed but there was a sleepy smile on his lips. "Good morning."

"Morning," I replied quietly. Without a word, I pressed my lips against his. We spent a few minutes kissing gently. "Did you sleep well?"

"Amazingly well," he said, opening his eyes. "You?" I nodded and went back to nuzzling my head on his shoulder, hugging him tightly. "There's no discomfort or anything?"

"Nothing, I'm more than fine."

"I must have done a good job then." I chuckled.

"An excellent one." He kissed my forehead and I thought that we would stay in bed for longer, but he tried to get up. I kept him down with a groan. "We're fine here."

"I don't want to go either but I have work to do." I looked at him with a pout and he squished my cheeks softly. "No matter how much you're pouting, I have to go."

"You're leaving in two days." He rubbed his nose against mine. "It's not fair I don't get to keep the Hokage I banged more to myself."

"And yet." He sat up, his feet on the floor as I hugged his pillow. I did check him out when he got up as, unlike me, he decided to sleep naked. I watched him pick up his underwear and a pair of sweatpants. Once he had them on, he turned around. "I'm going to make breakfast." I pulled the covers down, showing myself with my hand. I had his shirt on but only had panties with it. "Very tempting, but I'd rather tackle the day early and come back early tonight too."

"But I am lonely." He sat back down and kissed me. It was brief but intense.

"Don't worry about that, you won't have to wake me up in the middle of the night tonight to have my entire attention on you." I looked at his lips and nodded.

"I'll make dinner." Ultimately, I got up a few minutes after him to join him for breakfast. We ate, having small talks and I kissed him goodbye, trying to keep him inside and failing.

True to his word, he came back early, at the end of the afternoon and was all too happy to oblige to my clinginess and neediness, leaving the dirty dishes for the next morning and carrying me to the bedroom instead. The day after was the same, except that we were both thoughtful once we were too tired to continue our bedroom activities.

I listened quietly to his heartbeat.

"Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru and Sai." I looked up at him, my chin on his chest. He was staring harshly at the ceiling. "If I have to send a team."

"Good choice." He looked down at me. "Look…I wasn't a kunoichi back then, I don't know the details." And I didn't. I knew it had something to do with the Otsutsukis, that the moon almost crashed on us, and Sasuke arrived just in time to save Konoha while the others were away to deal with it at the source. When they came back, Hinata and Naruto were together.

"And this was not something meant to be changed by you anyway," he reminded me. "Depending on what Kakashi-san and Shikamaru tells me when I'm back, I will call for an emergency Kage Summit." I pursed my lips.

"Did Kakashi share his thoughts on it?"

"He strongly advised me to have one, and I value his opinion on such matters."

"Then we'll see each other soon enough."

"In a professional setting, but yes." He ran his fingers through my hair. "Don't overwork yourself." I scoffed.

"I'm good enough to sleep with you but not enough to go back to work?"

"The stakes are not the same." I leaned on his chest to look at him. He was worried.

"If anything, getting back to my actual work will help me stop feeling so guilty to let sensei do everything because some prick tried to force me into marrying him. I know you're worried, but you know better than anyone that I can't…wait indefinitely before going back to work."

"I don't have to like it," he whispered stubbornly. I chuckled and kissed his cheek.

"You don't." I started to move away to go to sleep but Itachi breathed out loudly as he pulled me back on him. "You have to long trip tomorrow; you need to rest."

"I rest better with you on me." I shot him a dubious look and he blinked innocently. "It's true, and it's winter in a few weeks and I'm cold."

"And you chose someone whose skin is more often cold than hot to warm you up?" He switched off the lights and hugged me tightly, keeping me from talking.

"Shhh now, I need to sleep."

"That's censorship…" He put his hand on my mouth.

"Why are you keeping me from resting?" I swear, this guy…

The next day, I was at the harbor with sensei, Dai, Sasuke and Haku as they were about to board the ship for the Land of Fire. It was a nice, more modern ship that was more resistant to bad weather, more comfortable and quicker overall.

"What do I tell Aunty?" Naruto asked me. I pursed my lips, looking up at the cloudy sky. Snow would come soon.

"Avoid mentioning when I 'died' and…my memory loss I guess, she would only worry from a distance. But you should tell her about Masashi though." He nodded and hugged me tightly. "I'll be fine Naru, I'll be fine."

"I know." We hugged each other tightly.

"And keep an eye on how Min is adapting, okay?"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan and I talked about it already. She calls Sasuke 'Sasuke-nii', it says a lot." I let him go and smiled at him. "Good." I walked to Itachi next and looked up at him.

"Be careful on your way back." He smirked and poked me on the forehead.

"Have you seen my bodyguards?"

"Yeah, one of them might kill you to take your place." He shot Naru a glance.

"I can handle him." He took my hand and squeezed it. "And please, don't overdo it."

"I have Haku to replace you."

Before leaving my apartment, we kissed. Then he put his shoes on and looked back at me. He decided to pin me to the wall to kiss the life out of me. Then we left.

I watched them get on the ship with a heavy heart and waved back as Naruto was waving for everybody. I returned Itachi's gaze, my smile small like his as he was getting further and further away from me. Eventually, they became a small dot in the distance and Sasuke put his hand on my shoulder. I slapped my face.

"Akane, come with me," sensei told me, and I nodded. I looked at Sasuke.

"You can come at my place if you want to."

"I was planning to, Haku already gave me the green light," he replied with a nod.

For the next few days, I was focused only to getting back into my job, sensei telling me what she had done, what she had not touched, what could wait and what could not. As I was reading what I had planned and things like that, I was extremely relieved. I could see where I wanted to go with my decisions and the logic in it, so I could keep doing that.

Sasuke went back to the Eastern Continent with Hyo, only to come back a week later with him, who had decided to imitate Min and move to Konoha, at least temporarily.

We received a summon to an emergency Kage meeting, asked by the Sixth Hokage, like Itachi told me. Sensei told me she could go if I wanted to, and I accepted. I could go, of course, but catching up on everything required most of my time and sensei had been made aware by Itachi there were things going on already. She would go in place of me and give my apology for not being here myself.

Three weeks after they left, as Christmas was a week later and the situation getting worst and worst, I found my great-grandfather on my grandmother's grave.

"We're leaving for Konoha tomorrow," I informed him.

"You should not be with that man," he replied, and I frowned.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Being with a foreign shinobi is bound to bring troubles."

"Is it your xenophobia talking?" He chuckled dryly.

"Your father gave a certain description of myself I see." I raised a brow and crossed my arms.

"Is he wrong?" He remained silent for a few seconds before turning around.

"No, he is not. I have never taken a liking to him because he was the personification of my daughter's life away from her home and her family. As I have understood it, she was executed for trying to help her husband. This place killed her."

"Have you been told of Madara's implication in that?" He narrowed his sharp eyes at me.

"Which only makes your choice of men worst dear. Instead of hiding, you should listen to what is being said in town regarding you and the Hokage and worry about the public opinion about you." I was taken back.

I had learned to shut down the opinions about me a long time ago for my own sanity.

"Be at the harbor tomorrow at noon." On this note, I left for the hospital.

My dad wanted nothing to do with his grandfather. He didn't want to see him, talk to him or hear about him.

Dai was in a meeting when I arrived at the hospital, and I waited in his office. I was playing with the pendulum on his desk when he came back, a fuming coffee in his hand.

"Had I known I would have picked something for you too." He put down the files on his desk and sat down. "Hello Uzu, what brings you here?"

"I am hesitating on sending on a vacation from your face?" He seemed pale and lacking sleep. He waved me off.

"It's a rough patch for some fundings but it's almost over. So?"

"Right. I just saw Masashi. I need my teammate right now." He cracked his back and leaned in his comfortable chair. "He said I should worry about the public opinion on me regarding Itachi. It's…did I miss something? Is it something I forgot or…"

"It is not something you forgot; I assure you." He crossed his hands behind his head. "I'm not sure it is something you really noticed either to be honest."

"So, he's saying the truth."

"Uzu, Madara controlled the Third and then Obito controlled the Fourth. Mizukages do not have a good past with Uchihas, you can't blame the villagers for their bad opinions about you two when they see the occasional hand holding or you going home together. You have neighbors you know." I sat down in one of the two brown chairs in front of him. "And, I'm not going to lie, you are a human, so many think you're going to leave the village at some point to have a family with him, which…is not far off."

"Is it what you wanted to say last time?" He nodded.

"I wanted to when you guys held hands but…I mean, I figured you needed support more than people not enjoying your boyfriend because of his family name. And…the higher-ups were talking when you were in Konoha before the war. Aneki and I never told you."

"What about?"

"You have Konoha written all over you when you're in Kiri, just like you have Kiri written all over you when you're in Konoha. You have mastered the Yellow Flash' signature move, made it better and your own moniker, one of them, is directly inspired from it. Let's not mention Uzumaki Mito of course. If anything, you being in a relationship with Itachi confirms a lot of fears for many people regarding you…leaving Kiri for Konoha one day."

"It's ironic knowing how much they wanted me to disappear before," I muttered bitterly.

"I agree. It doesn't change the fact that if one of you move, it would be you. You're both Kages, but he is the head of the Uchiha clan as well. He has more reasons to stay in his birth village than you do." I sighed.

"So I am never going to fit in any of these village even after everything and becoming the fucking Mizukage and I'll never be able to have a peaceful relationship. Noted."

"I know you're frustrated U…"

"Do you?" I stood up. "If it wasn't for Itachi sticking around since I lost my memories and putting up with me and my feelings regarding this, I'm not sure how I would be today and people who don't even know me are saying that I should stop it!?"

"Hey, I'm on your side." I sat back down. I knew he was, but… "How's the memory loss?"

"Flashes here and there but nothing too big yet."

"Well, at least we know they're still here."

The next day we left for Konoha. I was going there as an Uzumaki and not the Mizukage, so I just had the burgundy haori I received at the ceremony apparently and not the hat.

I found Sasuke leaning on the railing of the ship and joined him.

"Mind if I join you?"

"You already have," he pointed out. I smirked.

"True." I watched the waves quietly for a couple of minutes. "You're stressed regarding going home."

"Hn."

"How long have you been gone?"

"Eleven months." He looked down. "I stayed in touch with my mother, and Naruto and Sakura told me she was fine. She's working with Sakura even."

"Now she's living alone, and both her sons are grown up, she can hardly remain a housewife I guess." I pursed my lips. "Thinking about it, your house is big. Is she keeping it?" He shrugged.

"On one hand, you're right. On the other…it is our family home."

"Huh. I can't say I know what it represents." I licked my lips, dry due to the salty air of the sea. "And…what about your brother?" He scoffed.

"If he's patronizing, I'm not sure what I'll do." He sighed. "You don't remember, but he was a mess after my father died and didn't want to admit it. You guys didn't speak to each other for a couple of days." I raised my brows.

Itachi did not bring this up. Well, he wouldn't bring the rough patches of our relationship now anyway.

"We almost fought. He dodged my punch, and I broke your nose."

"Why me?"

"You were behind the door and none of ussaw you come. Anyway, my mother said that Itachi and I were taking our father's death in different ways and that my idiotic brother thought he had to shoulder everything now he was the leader of our clan." He looked up. "She said I was mourning my father and he was mourning his and the head clan or something and…didn't really understand why we were not reacting in the same way."

"Did you tell him that?" He scoffed.

"You know, he told me I wasn't involved enough in all of this when I spent more time with Mom than he did. He got himself in this situation."

"And how do you feel about going home?" He took a deep breath.

"I don't want to." I furrowed my brows. "I don't want to talk about it to Itachi, I don't want to go back to the Compound, I don't want to know or see the new Police Chief…" I ran my hand in his back when I spotted tears forming in his eyes.

"You don't want to see what's not there anymore." He nodded slowly, sniffing. "There's nothing wrong in that Sasuke. I ran away when my mother died."

"I don't want to see how my mother is coping Nee-san." He looked at me. "Does it make me a bad son and brother? Because I don't want to see how Nii-san is leading the clan either." I smiled sadly at him and embraced him.

"No, it does not Sasuke. It makes you a son who loves his father and doesn't want to let him go yet." He embraced me back and I did not comment on the sobs I heard in my ear. "However, even if the initial reaction was different, Itachi and you both lost a father. The relationship was not the same, the bond not identical but it should not split you apart." He sniffed.

"He's hiding things from me." I blinked. "Father died in his arms. Now I get why he would react differently than me because when I got onto the scene, Father was already gone. However, Naruto told me Father said things to Itachi seconds before dying and when I asked him, he said it was not important."

"Well…I think it's above my paygrade and you need to take it to the Boss." He sighed. "Mikoto-san cannot quit being your mom, no matter how old you guys are." I ruffled his hair. "But it is going to be fine. If I have to push your brother a little on my side, I will." I felt him smirk.

We did not talk about it more until we reached the shores. It was colder than before, but no snow was in sight yet.

"There is a place we need to go to," Masashi stated suddenly when we were on solid ground. Sasuke was impassible and I raised a brow. "It is important, trust me." I shared a look with Sasuke.

"If you want to go first, then you can. I think you should," I told him. He glanced at Masashi and nodded stiffly. "I'll see you in Konoha." It was better for him to go to Konoha as soon as possible anyway, in case of…meteorite.

I followed Masashi down south, even if he was not as quick as he must had been once upon a time. After a day of walking, I almost froze on my spot and widened my eyes. Masashi noticed.

"What is it? Have you been here before?"

"I…I have, yes. There's a seal in there that…"

"Only an Uzumaki with sufficient knowledge can open it." I followed him and watched him get in the cave easily as my heart was beating faster and faster.

He knelt next to the big seal and broke it without issues, the black markings turning blue before dispersing. The stone slabs moved aside, and Masashi picked an old, wooden box from there. He stood up and handed it to me.

The markings on it were clearly the Shinigami's.

"Upon contacting the goddess Izanami, the founder of our clan, Uzumaki Tensui, put the binding stone far from the prying eye, the location of it only being transmitted from a clan leader to another. Not even the Yuureis knew where it was, but they are the only ones able to open it." I did. I activated the Claw and broke the bindings easily. I gulped as I opened it.

There was a purple stone in the shape of a magatama. Naru told me about the kami stones they had seen in the Land of Gods.

There was Izanami's kami stone, hidden for centuries.

"Do you think Samuru would have did what he did even without me in the picture?"

"Yes." I raised my eyes to him. "The war and Kaguya's return were what made Izanagi look for a hitogami in my opinion. Maybe it would have been someone else. Your involvement only made things faster in my opinion as you being a Yuurei and using your power over there must have sent a signal to Izanagi." His eyes were so sharp, knowing my question had something to do with that place. "Let's leave this place, there is nothing worth anything anymore." I nodded.

I made a fire, and we sat around it as the night was already there. If the Izanami's kami stone was there and that Izanagi would pop up anyway…would Masashi have gone back and told where the stone was?

Was Taiga, before, on a mission? Was he sent because he was from the Land of Fire and would know the place?

"It's where I died." Masashi looked up from his food. "Before, my children found themselves here, and wounded by Taiga, who fled to the Eastern Continent during the Third Shinobi War. The seal inside, that you removed so easily, it was unstable because he messed something up and I knew that Sasuke couldn't just fight normally around it, I knew it. So I…summoned the Shinigami and became a Yuurei without knowing because it felt like the safest solution." My relative listened to me quietly and took a bite of his onigiri.

"It seems like your story as a Yuurei came full circle. At least, until you break the bound."

However, did we, did I, curse the Eastern Continent to a dictatorship before then?

In the night, I looked up when I heard a weird noise. Then I could see flaming rocks in the sky going to Konoha.

Oh, so it was today.

I looked down at the box on my lap and opened it. This stone…it was the core of my connection with Izanami. I moved my fingers to take it but the second I grazed it, I widened my eyes as memories flashed in front of my life.

Everything I forgot just came back at once, the last of it being me in Yomi with Izanami and the four Hokages, Oji-chan saying that…

A tear rolled down my cheek.

Oh. So, it was because they decided to go back to sleep that I…I woke up. There wasn't enough energy for me to recover all of my memories.

"Have you remembered?" I nodded at my great-grandfather.

"Did you know that I…"

"I had a feeling it could help," he admitted.

"Thanks then…I never would have gone back there otherwise." He stayed quiet, giving me a nod of acknowledgement in return.

We were back on the road the next day and reached Konoha around six in the afternoon. I booked Masashi in a hotel, telling him we'd see Mom and Tsunade-san is she was around the next, Masashi surprised at seeing her face in the Hokage cliff.

My place was dark when I got there. Nothing had changed and Sushi blinked at me when she saw me. I petted her on the head and threw my bag on the couch, unsealing the Kiri nectar I had bought before leaving. I grabbed a glass and poured myself one, taking a big gulp of alcohol as I went to the couch.

They were just gone? Just like that? My mind was so, so quiet and the place I could go to in there to see them…it was gone.

I would not have Hashirama asking me to call him 'Jiji' anymore, Tobirama getting in fights with me for nothing, Hiruzen sighing at both his teachers and Oji-chan…just being there now.

I drank three glasses before removing my glasses and dropping them on the table. They agreed so I could…

"Fuck…" I muttered, tears spilling from my eyes. Sushi jumped on me and leaned her front paws on my shoulders to put her nose in my cheek. I hugged her, my face buried in her soft fur as I sobbed.

I cried for maybe ten minutes until I pulled my head back from my poor cat and kissed her head.

"Mommy's sorry for the breakdown," I whispered to her.

I brushed my teeth and went to bed, Sushi in tow and lay on it. I didn't change or get beneath the covers. I stared through the window instead, hearing the noises outside. I saw a part of town was forbidden to public today, probably because some pieces of rocks fell there.

I sensed Itachi coming home before he entered the place at almost midnight. If I didn't live there full-time, he could work long hours without missing much. From Sushi's bowl of food, I knew Mikoto-san or Mom probably came to make sure she was fed and taken care of if the Hokage was too busy.

I heard the lights being turned on and an exhausted sigh from the hall. Quietly, he made his way to the room, opened the door for a few seconds before closing it. He came back a few minutes later and put a glass of water and headache medicine on my nightstand.

"Thank you," I said, a little bit satisfied when he jumped. He turned his head, himself being illuminated by the moon. "I'm home."

"Welcome home." He turned on the light on my nightstand and cupped my cheek, a concerned frown on his face. I stared blankly at him. "You've recovered your memories." I looked down in response. "Should I wait until tomorrow to ask about the empty alcohol bottle?"

"Please," I replied in a broken voice, a lump in my throat. He ran his thumb under my eyes.

"You cried." I looked away, licking my lips. He didn't push further. "At least get changed and get in bed sweetheart." I nodded weakly and he picked the sleeping cat up, putting her on a cushion at the bottom of the bed.

Once properly in bed, Itachi shut the blinds in all the apartment, and I could no longer look at the moon outside.

"Did they get home?"

"This afternoon," he replied, slipping in bed behind me. I turned off my lamp. "Their report needed to be reported to the other Kages immediately and then Hanabi was sent to the hospital to check her eyes. Hinata went too as Hiashi-san is currently there after Sasuke…" he trailed off, realizing I was not really listening. He hugged me from behind the way he loved to do it.

He loved spooning me.

"Is it something I can fix?" he asked me in a whisper. I shook my head, a tear falling again. He turned me around and hugged me tightly as I cried again, but silently, in his arms.

I fell asleep after crying.

Hey! Thanks for reading and please leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter!

Bye!