I do not own Naruto.

"I refuse to go back." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't going to let them bully her into returning home either. She stood her ground before the two imposing men and the taller one sighed as he looked from one of them to the other. "You could be killed." Kisame said and she frowned, but still stood her ground. "I don't care." She said and Kisame pulled his sword ever so slightly, only for Itachi to stop him. "Don't touch her." he said and Kisame released his blade.

"You're stubborn, aren't you." It wasn't a question, he knew she was. She had to be to have dealt with his selfish younger brother for so many years. Which is why she was also a little more strong-willed than he remembered. "I'm not going back and you can't make me. I won't go back unless you're going with me." She said and he frowned. "Then there's no way you'll ever get to go home again. You realize this right?" he asked and she nodded. She knew what she was getting herself into, but he didn't.

"Fine. Then let's go back to the inn. I will make you something to eat." He said and she smiled at him. She always did love his cooking. Hinata sighed as she followed behind the two of them. She tuned out their conversation, as she knew they were talking about her like she wasn't there. That was fine with her though, because they could talk all they wanted. She was going to be a thorn in their sides until she got what she wanted. She would follow him anywhere she could to ensure that he was safe. "You should really think about going home kid. This is no place for the likes of you." Kisame said and she fisted her hands at her side.

This was how she was always treated, like she was weak and couldn't defend herself. She hated that with everything she had. Always being treated like she was useless was frustrating, especially when Sasuke had treated her that way. "Shut up." She snapped softly and Itachi raised a brow at her. He had never heard her use that tone before, she knew that. "Just like Sasuke... thinking I'm no good. I hate that!" she snapped and Kisame grinned at her and placed a hand on her head to ruffle her hair, but three quick strikes of the fingers had his arm limp by his side before he could even register what had happened.

She crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip. "I told you before don't underestimate her." Itachi said simply as he continued to stroll forth. A soft blush crossed Hinata's cheeks at this. She never knew he had held so much faith in her abilities. "Itachi-kun..." she called and he looked over his shoulder at her. His gaze was stifling the air in her lungs. "Please train me." She pleaded and he raised a lone brow at her. he turned back to face forward and said nothing else the entire walk to the inn.

Her shoulders slumped and she felt the sadness creeping in. He still thought of her as that little girl and she was only making it easier to see her that way by pleading for him to train her. no matter what he would never see her as an equal. "That will have to wait. I will have to see if Leader will even allow you to train under me. Which means we are going to go get in contact with him tomorrow at the hideout." Itachi said and both Hinata and kisame stared at him wide eyed.

"You can't be serious." Kisame managed and Itachi looked over to him with an unamused glance. "You know she trained under Tsunade, so medic skills are needed in the group right now, especially since we are lacking in that department. Brute strength only goes so far." He said and Kisame released a sigh only to look over at Hinata with an amused look. "I'm the least of your worries now." He said and she swallowed lightly. That was unnecessarily foreboding.

"Regret your decision yet?" he asked and she shook her head at him. "Heal my arm then and I will fight you." He said and all the dishes in the kitchen slammed against the counter loudly. "No." Itachi said and Hinata frowned. she had never heard that tone of voice from him before. "You'll kill her by accident." Itachi bit out and Hinata's eyes softened. He was worried about her... of course he was worried about her. He did everything in his power to protect her...

"Itachi-kun... let me do this..." she pleaded with him and he turned to face her fully with his arms crossed over his chest. "Fine. But if he gets too rough with you, I will step in. no exceptions." He said and she nodded. Excitement filled her being as she looked over to the large man who was grinning at her deviously. She knew she should be wary of this man but she also knew she had to prove herself to Itachi. Itachi placed plates in front of each of them and she smiled at him, he did not return the smile.

~-~-~

They ate in silence and when they were through, they made their way into a clearing with a small pond, this would give Hinata some advantage with her jutsu. Itachi knew Hinata could use water style, but so could Kisame. Itachi hopped up into a tree to watch them spar. Kisame had agreed to the no weapons rule which he was grateful for. That was one less thing for him to be concerned with. He knew the large man was still stronger than Hinata was, and that was what worried him.

He watched as the both of them stepped out onto the pond and bowed to one another. Upon giving the signal to start, Hinata rushed forward at Kisame, who flew through hand signs for water shark jutsu. Itachi's eyes went wide as Hinata stepped onto one of the sharks and spun it, sending it flying back at Kisame just as swiftly as it had come at her. the others she flipped to avoid and he was admittedly surprised to see how agile she was.

Watching her fight kisame was like watching her dance atop the lakes back in Konoha. It was a beautiful dance of power and grace. The way she twisted away from every hit kisame threw at her was incredible. She had proved him wrong, she was no longer that little girl who needed his help at every turn and that saddened him. She was a strong and beautiful fighter and yet she was chasing him around. Sasuke was a fool for breaking off their engagement, she would be a proud matriarch for a clan someday.

As it turned out it would never be his clan. No matter how much he would have loved to step in and be that person for her, he knew his duties lay with the Akatsuki and that his death was soon to come. He didn't want her around him when that time came, but he could prepare her for it the best he could. Not that he was going to tell her he intended to die though. He looked back to the fight and saw that Hinata had been slung to the ground by kisame roughly.

He made a move to jump out of his tree, but Hinata's legs wrapped around his arm and she bit down on his arm. Itachi was slightly amused at this, and it seemed kisame was as well seeing as he raised the arm over his head and began trying to shake her off. On one of the downward swings her legs came unraveled and the moment they connected with the ground kisame had been lifted off his feet ever so slightly. Itachi's eyes went wide as she yelled out and lifted him further off the ground.

Her raw brute strength was horrendous as she threw kisame into the tree he was sitting in. He jumped down and decided to call it as soon as kisame got up and had taken off right for her once more. "Kisame, enough." He called and his friend frowned at him as he reached to pull his cloak back on. Hinata stood atop the pond breathing heavily as he strolled over to her. she looked up at him and he crouched before her where she sat on her knees still panting. He reached his hand out and yet again she reached swiftly to take it. When she had taken it, he pulled her flush against him as he swiftly leaned them both back, causing her to blush but that was not his intention.

His intention was to avoid the kunai that had been flung at him the moment he had pulled her up. He felt a familiar pulse of energy and noticed Hinata was using her byakugan to see where the kunai had come from. "Over there! There's four of them." She said and he nodded, his own eyes swirling into activation. Kisame rushed in and began fighting with two of them while one lunged for Hinata and she swiftly lunged for him as well, sending an empty palm right to his gut.

Itachi had trapped the second one in a genjutsu and kicked him to the ground. Kisame struck down the two he was fighting with just as swiftly as they had appeared. "Missing nin from cloud. I wonder what they wanted..." Itachi muttered only for him to grab the man by the shirt and pull him face to face with him. When he looked to see what they wanted a frown crossed his lips. All he saw were flyers of a bounty. It was Hinata.

"You're a wanted nin now. Congratulations." He said and she stared at him wide eyed. If it were any other time or place he would have thought that deer in headlights look was somewhat cute, but right now it just meant more work for him. Well not really... she could handle herself she had made that ever clear. He would just have to ensure he was able to watch after her now, seeing as there were people after the bounty placed on her head. He briefly wondered who would have put the bounty out on her, but then again he still had one out on him so it wouldn't be too far fetched to think it was someone from the village.

"Do you still want to follow me around?" he asked and she nodded repeatedly. A sigh threatened to escape him, but he managed to hold it in. she really had become stubborn, but that only made him think of Izumi more. Not that he was comparing her to his former friend, but their personalities seemed to resemble one another when she got stubborn. "Fine. Come on, we have a long road ahead of us. Seeing as they found us out here, we can't stay in the inn any longer." He said and she nodded.

She followed him obediently and he couldn't help the chuckle that tried to escape him. He could tell that having her as a travelling companion was going to be a breath of fresh air, not that Kisame wasn't good company because he was, he just felt like she would be good for the both of them. A little bit of relaxation never killed anyone and he felt like he could relax some around her. Not saying he would completely let his guard down though, because he could never do that.

When they had finished packing up their supplies they headed out. Following Hinata's eyes to get them through the thick of the woods to find a place to rest. They stumbled upon a cave and Hinata went in to check it out. When she came out and gave the all clear they made their way inside and sealed it with a genjutsu to ensure no one stumbled upon them there. Kisame looked over at the two of them and sighed as he leaned against the wall. "I will take first watch, you two get some rest." He said and Itachi nodded as he wrapped his cloak around him and leaned against the wall to rest.

He closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall, only to feel a pressure on his thigh. He cracked his eyes open and looked down at Hinata who was in the fetal position with her head on his leg. Her soft snores drifted up to his ears and he sighed as he reached down and ran his fingers through her hair gently. He truly did care for the younger woman no matter how much he hated it, she didn't deserve the pain that he was going to end up putting her through in any way.

When she was laying there all he saw was that sweet little girl who had napped on his leg when they were younger. He sighed and looked over to Kisame who had stood from his place by the wall and made his way over to them. He took off his cloak and covered the girl with it. she snuggled further into Itachi's leg and he cracked a small smile, not that he would show her how she made him feel. He looked back over to Kisame who was watching him intently from his place by the wall.

"She's going to have a hard time accepting that you're ill... you should tell her before she gets too invested in the idea of being with you. You're too kind to her Itachi..." Kisame said and Itachi just continued to stroke her hair gently. "I love her." he whispered softly, not wanting her to hear him even in her sleep. "I know you do... I could tell from the moment you would run off to meet with her in the middle of the night whenever we were on missions near Konoha." Kisame said softly.

"I didn't realize it until much recently, to be frank. I thought a lot on why I continued to go after her time and time again and yet the answer didn't come until I saw her dance. This beautiful creature moving across the surface of the water like she was part of it." he sighed and rested his head against the wall once more. "I'm going to rest." He said simply. He was done with the conversation for now.

:-:-:

"Why did you put out a bounty on her?" Hiashi asked and Tsunade sipped her sake. "I figured it was fair enough punishment for the both of them. I know she will be just fine with those two following her around everywhere." She said as she set her cup down on her desk. Hiashi didn't seem to keen on her idea, but what he thought didn't matter. Her plan of putting the bounty on Hinata was to get them as close to the leaf village as possible. She knew that Itachi wouldn't want to endanger her any more than he already had by taking her with him so he would slowly move closer to the leaf.

That and the fact he was due for an update at any given time. She knew he had never been late for an update on the Akatsuki so he wouldn't now. He was too dedicated to this village to be late for an update. She folded her hands in front of her face and sighed as Hiashi had yet to leave the room. "What do you need now?" she asked and he gave her a dirty look. He didn't much care for her attitude and that was fine, she didn't care much for his either.

"What do you plan on doing to them when they return? If they return?" he asked and she pursed her lips. She hadn't quite thought of this, but now was as good a time as any. "What do you think I should do with them?" she asked and he frowned. "I don't think she should be punished." He said and she raised a blonde brow at this. "But you think he should be?" she asked and he shook his head. "He saved us all from an attack from the Uchiha, so I don't believe he should be punished for that. I just want to ensure they will both be alright when they return... Itachi... he was a good kid... he took care of my little girl and he still seems to be doing just that now..." he said and she felt a sincere smile break out over her lips.

She agreed with that. "I happen to agree. He is taking very good care of her, and always has been. I think you should take a look at these notes here. He has documented every meeting he ever had with her." she said as she handed over a bound notebook with Itachi's handwriting scribbled all over the pages. "He even talks about every time he saved her from enemies we didn't even know about. He was enamored with her, although his notes would never show it." she explained as she took another sip of sake.

"His notes only ever showed concerned for a fellow leaf nin." She said and Hiashi began flipping through the notes. He noticed that some time after she had turned twelve the meetings had stopped and restarted when she turned sixteen but they never mentioned if she had ever told him of the broken betrothal. "He never knew that Sasuke had called off, so he was protecting her selflessly..." he concluded and she raised her brow once more.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked and he sighed as he handed the notes back to her. "I'm thinking I arranged a marriage with the wrong brother. Sasuke was cruel to her needlessly and we never did anything about it because we thought it was just going to be a phase that we could help him with, turned out it wasn't a phase we could help with at all." He sighed and she nodded. She could understand where he was coming from even though she had never met Sasuke before he left.

Children's rage can come in different forms and Sasuke's just happened to be in the form of vengeance. "He's going to try and kill him and I fear for Hinata if she tries to stop him." Hiashi said solemnly and Tsunade sat back in her chair. "You know your daughter was trained by me no differently than Sakura was, I say he should be the one who should be worried as Hinata is a destructive force of nature. She just doesn't use her strength all the time like Sakura does. She did this just so she could save Itachi from Sasuke, so never doubt her strength."

:-:-:

Hinata looked around her in the cave they were in, she recognized this as being close to Konoha. She furrowed her brows as she realized Itachi was gone and his cloak was folded neatly where her head had laid. She looked around and saw kisame sleeping as peacefully as the giant man could. She slowly sat up and made her way out of the cave. She activated her byakugan and began searching for Itachi. When she found him he was sitting under a tree staring up at the sky. "You should be resting." He said softly and she smiled at him as she sat next to him.

"I felt like something was wrong so I came to check on you." She said softly as she sat beside him. She looked over at him with her eyes still activated and she saw that there was something wrong with a few of his chakra nodes. She tilted her head to the side slightly and moved in front of him to get a better look at them. He watched her with a curious gaze as she slowly reached up towards him. Her hands placed themselves on his chest. "Hinata... I don't think we should get close like this..." he said and she furrowed her brows as she focused her chakra into his chest. He recoiled away from her but her hands stayed connected to his chest due to the fact that he couldn't lean away from her due to the tree behind him.

She saw it changing within him so she continued to push her pinpoint chakra through the closed tenketsu no matter how much his agonized cries wounded her. He tried pushing her away but found himself to weak to do so. Tears rolled down over her cheeks as she continued to force the chakra through the blocked node. She only paused when blood splattered her cheek and he began coughing. "Please... please just give in and stop fighting..." she pleaded this of him multiple times but he continued to fight, such was his nature.

"You're in so much pain... please... go to sleep and let me do this for you..." she sobbed as he weakly gripped and scratched at her wrists. She could see the narrowed passageway becoming ever wider, she just needed him to stay still for a moment. She winced as his nails dug into her flesh and began tearing away at her causing rivers of blood to fall over her wrists. One last agonizing squeeze from his grip and it went limp. "I thought... you loved me..." he rasped as his entire form fell limp against her.

She tossed her head back and blinked a couple of times to try and rid herself of the tears that continuously spilled over. She had broken through... she looked over the chakra passageways in his chest and saw that they were all flaring brilliantly now. She was ripped off of him and thrown to the ground away from him by an unknown force. She winced as she tried to force herself back to her knees, only to see a disheveled Kisame hovering over Itachi. "What did you do!?" he snarled as he set Itachi down flat against the ground.

She crawled over to Itachi and brushed her fingers over his cheek gently. Only to place her fingers on each side of his eyes and begin pushing chakra through those blocked nodes as well. When his body seized up Kisame tried to pull her away from him once more but as soon as he saw the green glow of her chakra washing over the unconscious man, he removed his hands from her form. He watched as the healing chakra then flowed down her arms and healed her own injuries.

"I was going to kill you." Kisame said suddenly and she turned to look at him with tears in her eyes. She bit her lip to attempt to stop it from trembling but her sob broke free anyways. "He was dying and neither of you were going to tell me..." she sobbed and Kisame frowned as he watched her cry. Her shoulders shook as she grabbed a hold of his hand and pressed her cheek to it gently. "You truly love him... don't you...?" Kisame asked and she looked up at him with that same pitiful look on her face. "More than I can even understand..." she whispered and he patted her on the back gently.

They sat around him just watching him take the first even breaths he had taken in years. They sat there until the sun began to rise just watching him sleep. When the sun hit his eyelids and they fluttered open she wasn't expecting him to move so swiftly to pin her to the tree by her neck. "What the hell did you do to me!?" he snarled as she struggled to get air. Her wide eyes were locked with his angry red ones as she clawed at his wrist trying to get free from his grip, which Kisame pried off of her as swiftly as he could. "Itachi, stop!" he snapped and the grip vanished.

Itachi began patting his chest and looking around himself for any sign of injury but found none. He turned back to Hinata and his eyes went wide as he took in her scared form. He reached for her once more, fully expecting her to flinch away from him, but she didn't. She just allowed him to touch her. He took a deep breath and she knew he was fully expecting to break down into a coughing fit, but he didn't. he placed his hands on both of her cheeks and stared her in the eyes. "What have you done?" he asked this softer this time, his thumbs brushing over her cheekbones as he asked this.

She wasn't scared of his anger, she deserved it for the pain she had put him through. She could have at least warned him before she assaulted him in that manner, but she hadn't. He was looking at her with tears in his eyes and she couldn't process what he was feeling. "You were dying... I saved you..." she whispered as his thumb stroked over her cheek once more. He pressed his forehead against hers and released something of a growl. "Why would you do that? I didn't want that..." he whispered softly.

"Because I love you..." she whispered and he shook his head as he pulled away from her. "No... no... don't say that. You don't mean it..." he sighed and she reached up and pressed her hand to the back of his as she nuzzled the inside with her cheek. "Why would you save someone who wanted to die?" he asked and she frowned, he couldn't have meant that. She laced her fingers with his on her cheek and she reached up with the other hand and placed it on his cheek.

"I don't want you to die..." she whispered to him as she wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "Guys I hate to break this up because I know you have a lot to work through, but we might need to get moving if we want to get to Sasuke by the end of the day." Kisame said and Hinata furrowed her brows. "No. we are not going to Sasuke... I wont let you die when I finally got to pay you back for one of the times you saved me..." she bit out and Itachi shook his head.

"We got word from our leader that we need to meet him there because he is searching for the truth of what happened to the Uchiha." Itachi said and Hinata bit her lip and began fiddling with her fingers. "I already found those scrolls... the Hokage has them." She said and his eyes went wide. "So, they know..." he whispered and turned to Kisame. "I'm not going to stop you if you want to go home..." Kisame said and Hinata's eyes went wide. "You could come too Kisame..." she offered and Itachi shook his head. "No, he can't... they'll kill him." He said and kisame offered a toothy grin at the two of them.

"Go on little lovebirds... live while you can." Was all he had to say to the two before he turned and began walking away. "I'll miss you both." He said with a wave over his shoulder. Something felt dark about those words, but she knew that he was being sincere. It didn't ease her feelings any. He looked over to her and her feelings of unease began to fade. They still lingered but not as prominently in her mind. He took her hand and they both started running. Where they were going, she didn't know, but they weren't safe out in the open. Not with the fact Itachi was abandoning the Akatsuki.

They came upon an old building and Itachi slipped within. She didn't know what this building was but it held some significance to him. There was a throne sitting in the middle of the main room and Itachi made his way over to it and sat down. "Come here." Itachi called and she made her way over to him. "We will be safe here, I promise." He said and she nodded, only for her eyes to go wide the moment they met his. 'How dare he?' that was all she could think as darkness enveloped her.

:-:-:-:

Naruto ran as fast as he could, Sakura and Kakashi by his side. They were headed towards an old Uchiha hideout. They had received intel from Anbu that Itachi had been spotted there as well as Sasuke. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew it couldn't be good if both brothers were in the same place at the same time. He had to hurry and he knew it because deep down something felt off about the whole situation. They ran for what felt like an hour before they saw the dust rising from the building in the distance.

Over the treetops they could see a red creature towering over the trees, as well as an eight headed snake. "What is that?" Naruto asked as they ran, but none of them could give him a straight answer. "Nothing good if we can see it from here." Was all Kakashi had to offer. Suddenly the heads of the snake began falling all around them and they had to disperse to avoid them. Naruto was the first on the scene and his eyes went wide as he saw someone grab Sasuke and vanish through the ground with him.

That wasn't what had startled him the most though... it was the fact he had just watched Hinata just cram her hand inside Itachi's chest.

"Stop staring and help me!" she screamed and he just froze he found himself unable to move even an inch as she continued to pump his heart within his chest with her bare hand. Itachi had died in this fight and Hinata was alive... but not unscathed... her left arm was broken and hung limply at her side while the other continued to work away. "Naruto please..." she was begging him for help and he didn't know how he could help. Sakura brushed past him and he watched her as she rushed over to Hinata and began healing her arm.

"Sakura, please not me... I'm holding his heart in my hand..." Hinata sobbed and tears began to fill his eyes. She sounded so broken and he couldn't stand it. Sakura placed her hands on Itachi's chest and began pumping chakra into him just as Hinata was. Hinata would lean forward and place her mouth over Itachi's and give him air every so often while Sakura continued to try and heal everything she could. Kakashi approached from his left and watched as the scene before him unfolded.

"What happened here, Hinata?" Kakashi asked and she shook her head. "All I know is Itachi put me under a genjutsu, but then suddenly I was able to break free." She managed through her tears. "When I came to Sasuke was trying his best to break through Itachi's barrier. That's how I broke my arm... I tried to stop him." She said, but suddenly her eyes went wide and she stopped moving her hand within Itachi's chest. She rushed to remove her hand and began healing what she could with her uninjured arm.

"What did Sasuke say to you?" Kakashi asked and she looked up to meet his gaze. "Nothing after I punched him. I hit him so hard I don't even know if he is alive... he fell right beside Itachi." She said and Kakashi frowned. "Hinata what broke your arm?" Sakura asked as she reached to heal the break once more. Hinata winced and fisted her hand as the bone snapped back into place. "The backlash of my punch." Was all she said before she turned back to Itachi who was breathing on his own once more.

Kakashi made his way over to the two and lifted Itachi up onto his back. "I think we should go before whoever took Sasuke comes back for Itachi." He offered and the group nodded as they fell in line around him to protect him from any danger. Naruto couldn't stop staring at Hinata the entire time. She had downed Sasuke and yet they were still unable to bring him home... he took one last look behind him and saw the imprint Sasuke's body had left in the stone.

He then turned to look at her once more. She was fixated on Itachi and that was it. "Hey... Hinata-chan..." he called and she turned to look at him with her sad bloodshot eyes. "thank you for standing up to Sasuke for me back then..." he said and a smile broke out over her lips. "Of course." She said, only to fixate her gaze on Itachi once more.