Okay so this is the last chapter, enjoy! Thank you all for reading and for the kind comments and support. Hope you enjoyed my story as I enjoyed writing it, hope the ending is good enough. :D Once again Thank you! xx

Disclaimer: The quote at the end is by John Green and the Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Itachi's POV

I waited sitting on a cliff looking down over the forest while Kisame fought the four tails Jinchuriki and couldn't help, but think about where Kootoni was and what was taking her so long? She was supposed to meet up with us ages ago, we even found the Jinchuriki on our own without her. It's not like her to be late, she's never late.

"You're back" I said noticing Kisame was back from his battle.

"Yeah, but having to bring him back without killing him was quite troublesome" he replied and I looked down to the beaten up old man seeing him barely breathing. It started raining and I felt a sharp pain in my ribs as if they had been broken. Kootoni must be in trouble.

"You still worried about the kid Itachi?" Kisame questioned me noticing that I was being more distant than usual.

"Yes. She should be here by now, she is never late". Kisame looked at me in thought for a moment and then agreed that it was very odd.

"You're right it is strange, maybe we should go check up on the kid" he suggested.

"Agreed. You take the four tails back to the cave and then find Deidara and inform him that she is missing, he should be back from his mission by now. I should have found her by then, but on the off chance I haven't he can help look" I exclaimed and he nodded walking off back to the cave while I went to search for Kootoni's chakra.

I followed her trail to an open area where a battle had clearly taken place. She must have broken her ribs fighting someone, but I don't feel the pain anymore. I wonder does that mean she... no she can't be I can still sense her nearby. I then fell to my knees as I felt an unbearable pain and I heard an agonizing scream. I ran in the direction it came from ignoring the pain I felt. When I got there I saw Kootoni's belongings lying on the ground. It looked like she had been ambushed, where is she now? Is she ok? I started to worry and search for any traces of where she could have gone.

Kootoni's POV

My eyes started to drift slowly open and I saw three blurry people standing in front of me. When my vision cleared I saw Akari begging to see her son.

"A deal's a deal I guess" the man from before stated. I then heard Mamoru running and screaming

"Mummy!" and he jumped into her grip and she hugged him tightly tears of happiness streaming down her face. I couldn't help, but smile at the scene before me at least if I was going to die I could get to see the good I caused.

"How touching" the man mocked. I knew straight away that something was wrong. I tried to get up to help them, but I was too exhausted to move.

"No!" I screamed as I watched him stick a sword right through both of their hearts. The last thing I saw before they dropped to the ground was the look of absolute horror on their faces. "You bastard!! We had a deal!" I yelled tears streaming down my face. I felt my heartbreak in two and the anger and pain was too much to bare now, I was overflowing with emotion and I knew I could never forgive him for this.. NEVER! He laughed at me and said,

"You poor girl, you trust people too much. I was keeping them alive so I could find you, but now that I have found you they were no longer any use to me" he stated shrugging as if he wasn't affected by killing a four-year old child and his mother. I was shaking now tears gushing out of my eyes, my voice was shaky and my breathing uneven. I fell to the floor losing the last of my strength that I had left. I just lay there staring at the now lifeless corpses of my little brother and his mother who I promised to protect and failed.

"Why" I croaked my voice barely above a whisper.

"The one who hired us requires your blood to heal his sick, pregnant wife who is dying" the man stated showing me the picture of him and what I assumed to be his wife.

"Blood?" I questioned still lying paralyzed on the ground in shock and depression.

"Yes we found some scrolls which tells us that the Nyoko clan can only use their Kekkai Genkai once, but that there are a few special cases like yours where an extremely powerful member of the Nyoko clan can save a life if they give up some of their blood. There are only around one in one hundred of you special ones and as  your clan is nearly extinct I would say there are only two of you in existence" he explained and I found myself getting angry again and jumping at him with all my strength getting ready to kill him. Suddenly I was grabbed by the other two men from earlier and thrown back down onto the ground.

"Tutt Tutt. Now that was naughty! I guess I will have to teach you a lesson. Our master said to keep you alive, but he didn't say not to hurt you" he gave me a devilish smirk. I felt someone kick me in the ribs and stomach repeatedly while someone else punched at my face causing me to cry out in pain. After they heard a satisfying crack, they stopped and the man knelt down beside me. He took out a kunai and started to slice and stab my body repeatedly until I could no longer move and found it hard to breath.

"W-why c-can't I h-heal..." I stuttered finding breathing become considerably hard.

"This was also on the scroll it's a special cave that stops the Nyoko clan from using chakra. In fact it drains it, meaning you can't use yours, but we can use ours" he boasted. He then told the quieter male who hadn't hit me at all yet to bring him over something. He came back with a red-hot kunai and handed it to I'm guessing was the leader.

"I hope this hurts bitch" he sneered. I screeched in pain as the roasting hot metal burned deeply into my skin. I felt more tears roll down my cheeks and gritted my teeth in pain.

"Please stop" I begged in pure agony as each burn would hurt more than the last.

"You want me to stop?" he scoffed and I couldn't help, but nod through my gritted teeth. "Pleasure me and I might think about it" he chuckled at the thought of degrading me.

"Fuck off!" I spat in his face which caused me to get smacked across the face and put another piping hot kunai to my eye. "Ahhhhhhhh" I shrieked as I felt my vision go in that eye and felt blood trickle down form it and onto my cheek. I tried to open it again when he retracted the kunai, but I couldn't and even when it slid open a little I couldn't see anything out of it.

"Now behave or I will do the same to the other one and cause you to go blind" he started to laugh manically. Suddenly he fell to the ground blood pooling around him, I looked behind me and saw the other two where dead too. I then saw a shadowy figure coming closer towards me and I shrunk away in fear.

"Please don't" I managed to wheeze out.

"Kootoni it's me, you're going to be ok now" I heard the comforting familiar voice of Itachi. He knelt down beside me and I saw a look of sorrow? He lifted me up and started to head outside, but stopped and jumped to the left as a kunai whizzed by him. He lay me down gently out of the way and turned to fight the leader who had managed to get up again. He lunged at Itachi with a sword and Itachi dodged it with ease. Just when I thought that he would be no match for Itachi, I saw Itachi fall to the ground coughing up blood. The man kicked Itachi and he fell over and groaned in pain. The man lifted his sword above Itachi's head and swung down hard in a stabbing motion.

I felt a sharp pain right through my chest as I noticed I had somehow found the strength to leap in front of Itachi and shield him from the sword. I fell to the ground and saw a look of shock cross over Itachi's features. He got up gritting his teeth and killed the man before him, making his body go limp and fall to the ground again. Itachi turned to face me and lifted me up bridal style and lead me out of the cave setting me down gently on the grass.

"Kootoni.." Itachi started and I smiled up at him trying desperately to take in more air.

"No!" I turned to face a very distressed looking Deidara heading my way. He landed beside me and grabbed my hand and then placed his other hand over my cheek. Itachi moved out of the way to give us privacy and leaned against a nearby tree; probably feeling the immense pain that I felt right now. "No I was too late! Kootoni I am so sorry, un" he mumbled to me. I smiled up at him trying to get enough breath to say what I needed to say.

Deidara's POV

"No I was too late! Kootoni I'm so sorry, un" I mumbled to her feeling a terrible guilt wash over me. I saw her inhale deeply and she swallowed the blood that was constantly rising from the back of her throat threatening to spill out of her mouth.

"I... I n-ne..need you..to... find Kioshi and.. Kiyomi. Keep an eye on t-them... m-m-make sure... they a-are always safe... please Dei" she begged of me and I nodded wishing there was something I could do to stop this nightmare, hoping that any minute now I would wake up to her sleeping softly beside me.

"Take my blood... t-to... this man... p-please" She showed me a picture of a man in his late twenties holding a young woman in his arms, they looked happy. I looked at her confused. "He...needs it t-to s..save his w-wife, t-thats.. whwhwhwh-why he-he... hired these m-men" she stated and I complied with her request taking a vial of her blood and the photo of the man. "I'm s-s-sorry..... t-to ask.. s-so m-much of you.. Dei" she let out a small chuckle. I just froze in shock not sure what to do or say, she can't die.

"No no no... You can't die Kootoni, you can't!" I begged her.

"But a-art i-is... fleeting rem-remember?" she smiled.

"No art is feeling, you said so yourself and I love you Kootoni. Our feelings towards each other is art and I don't want to lose it" I admitted to her and she just smiled.

"I'm...sor-sorry D-dei..... I lo-love you" and with that she took her last breath and the light in her beautiful shimmering eyes left leaving them empty and hollow. I sat frozen to the spot at the sight of her cold, limp, dead form not sure what just happened and wanting to deny that anything like this could happen. Itachi kissed her on the forehead and whispered his goodbyes before turning to me as I stared in disbelief. He came up to me and held my shoulder.

"She truly loved you Deidara... I'm sorry" he said with a look of grief and guilt on his face. He then walked off probably heading back to inform Pein and the others. When he left I lay my head down on her chest and sobbed heavily into her shirt causing it to be soaked. My chest felt tight and I couldn't help, but scream at the nothingness surrounding me. She wanted me to help the bastard that hired them? Why would she ask me to do such a thing? I can't do that, I just can't! He took away my happiness, I should take away his! I filled with anger, but it faded when I heard her voice in my head from long ago, 'Don't let yourself be consumed by hatred Dei, please never give in to it'. She was always so forgiving, always so kind.

*Flashback*

"Why would you forgive a man that has caused you nothing but pain your entire life Kootoni, I just don't get it, un" I asked completely confused.

"It's because of something my mother used to say. The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering, is to forgive" she replied back so sure of herself. I stared and admired the beauty before me, so kind, so forgiving, so trusting, so beautiful, so...so.. so perfect.

"You're amazing Kootoni, un" I said sincerely causing her to smile and blush. God, I love the way she smiles and the way I can cause her to blush so easily. "I love you, un"

*Flashback end*

"I will always love you Kootoni...."