You heard voices a short distance away and you cracked your eyes open. It took your eyes a moment to adjust, but you could see that you were still in the cavern. The voices belonged to Itachi and Kisame. You breathed a sigh of relief, glad that they hadn't left you behind. You turned your head and saw them sitting at the far end of the cavern, both wearing serious expressions. You were having a hard time hearing them due to the pounding in your head. How long had you been out for? Your body felt like it was made of lead. You made yourself focus on what they were saying.

"I don't know Itachi. If she loses anymore blood, we'll have to get help..." Itachi looked frustrated, "I know that Kisame, but if Madara is close by I don't want to risk either of us leaving her side. He already did something to put her into this condition." You shifted your gaze to look at the area around you. There were dark red-ish brown stains everywhere. Blood. No wonder you felt so awful. But you knew that you'd lived through losing more blood than that. You let out a heavy sigh and moved to try and sit up. Your movement caught both men's attention. Kisame rushed to your side, "Woah there, don't go trying to move yet. You've lost a lot of blood." You brushed away Kisame's hand as he tried to push you back onto the bed, "I know, but I'm fine. My body is sore from laying around too long, so I need to move." Once you were upright you slowly moved your limbs, figuring out what damage your body had taken from your jutsu.

Not too much damage in most of your body, but your lungs stung with each breath, your stomach felt tender and your head was pounding. So only damage in those areas. Not bad considering how strong the jutsu you'd reflected was.

Once you stopped shifting Itachi spoke, "What did he do to you?" You glanced up at Itachi. With your head pounding the way it was you had trouble figuring out what he meant. When you didn't answer, Itachi asked again, "What did Madara Uchiha do to you?" The memory of the man with the orange mask came into your head and you sighed. You may as well tell him. "He told me he wanted me to convince you to allow Konoha to be destroyed. When I said that I had no reason to do so he used his Sharingan to show me your past. Probably hoping that that would make me hate Konoha enough to want to destroy it. I used my Hanshagan to break myself free from his Sharingan. But he was a lot stronger than me, so simply defending myself caused my Hanshagan to deal a lot of damage to my body." Kisame frowned, "So he didn't do this damage to you?" You shook your head slowly, "No. My own jutsu does this to me. When it reflects weak jutsu it's ok, but strong jutsu's take a much larger toll on my body. I nearly died from it when I fought Itachi when I was nine." Itachi and Kisame exchanged looks. Then Kisame looked back at you, "Why would he ask you of all people to convince Itachi to allow Konoha to be destroyed?"

Your face began to heat up. You hadn't believed Madara when he'd said that Itachi had an interest in you, but you weren't about to tell these two what Madara had said. "I...don't really remember. I was too focussed on remaining conscious to really pay attention to everything he said unfortunately..." Both men stared at you, clearly not buying your words, especially since your physical reaction showed that you did remember.

When you didn't say anything else Itachi moved to sit beside you, "What did he show you of my past?" You shifted and looked away from him, "How you became a rouge ninja and everything that led to you becoming a rouge. He also showed me your younger brother... I get the feeling that he has something planned for your brother..." Itachi sighed, "I suspected as much..."

You glanced over at Itachi. "What are your plans for dealing with Madara? I'm assuming you don't want him destroying the Leaf or going after your brother." Itachi's expression became guarded, "It's not something I intend to discuss with you." Itachi stood up and began walking away. You sighed, "How's your illness doing?" Itachi paused and glanced at you over his shoulder, "...I don't have an illness." You rolled your eyes, "I'm a medic nin. I know you have a pretty severe one. I also now know that you intend to stay alive long enough for young Sasuke to kill you, but with the shape you're in you won't last more than a month." (Remember, you promised Kisame that you wouldn't tell Itachi that he told you about his illness). Itachi sighed, "I take my medications..."

"But they aren't slowing down the progression anymore, are they?" Itachi didn't answer and Kisame clicked his tongue, "You may as well answer her Itachi." Itachi shot a glare at Kisame. You smirked, "I made a medicine that should help you quite a bit. It won't heal you, but it will keep you alive. And if you let me treat you from time to time, we can easily keep you alive for another couple years. It may not be an enjoyable life, but you stand a better chance of reaching your goal if you have more time. And if you have more time, you have more chances to deal with Madara."

Itachi turned to face you, "Medicine?" You nodded and slowly got up and went to your bag. You pulled out a large jar of nearly black mush. "And you think your homemade remedies will work better than Konan's?" You nodded, "Yeah. This one, once it's brewed into tea, is probably one of the most potent medicines to exist." Kisame came over and knelt beside you and looked at the jar, "It doesn't look very good. If it was so potent, then why didn't Konan or Sasori make it for Itachi?" You tilted the jar and bit your lip before answering, "Because this medicine is banned throughout the shinobi world. There are very few medical shinobi that know its recipe, and even fewer that can get it right. It has two names; the tea of second life and the reaper. Either you make it right and it will keep a person alive with almost ANY illness or injury, or you make it wrong and even the healthiest person will die instantly with no trace of the poison within their body."

Itachi turned his head away, "There's no way I'm trusting you to have made that right." You jutted your lip out and stood up. You slowly made your way to the kitchen area of the hideout and put a pot of water on to boil, "I'll drink some to prove that it was made correctly. If I die, then don't drink it." You turned and gave Itachi a cold smile, "But if I drink it and it heals me, then you WILL drink it. Even if I have to hold you down and pour it down your throat." Kisame chuckled at your words. Itachi glared at you for a moment before the faintest smile curved his lips and he turned away, "Fine then." He went and sat over on the bed he had been using when you'd been treating him.

You finished brewing up a pot of the tea. You poured two cups and didn't hesitate to take a sip from one of them. The instant the liquid touched your tongue you scrunched up your face. It tasted awful, but as you swallowed it your smirked. You were still alive. You turned towards Itachi and grinned. Your head stopped pounding, and your lungs and stomach stopped hurting. You quickly downed the rest of your cup then grabbed the one for him, "I'm still alive Itachi~." You stalked towards him and when you reached his bed you held the cup of tea out to him. Itachi studied the cup skeptically and didn't take it from your hands. After a moment your patience wore out and you put a knee on the bed beside Itachi and pressed the cup to his lips, "Drink up Itachi. It tastes better when it's warm." Itachi's eyes locked with yours and his lips parted, letting the dark liquid to flow into his mouth. His eyes narrowed as he tasted it, but he continued drinking until the cup was empty. Once the cup was empty you stood back up and pulled the cup back. "How do you feel?" Itachi clenched his jaw before sighing, "I feel like I never want to drink that again...It was vile." You clicked your tongue, "I didn't ask how it tasted. I asked how you FEEL." Itachi shifted a bit and nodded, "Better." He stood up and moved his body a bit. "Much better..." You smiled, feeling proud of yourself.

"Well, now that I've proven that it is made correctly and it helps you, you will be drinking a cup of this tea every two days. I will also be doing one to two hours a day of treatment. And I will not tolerate argument on this."

Itachi had been testing his vision at the moment, but he stopped and glanced at you. He stared for a moment before nodding, "Very well...I won't argue. But no one else in the Akatsuki is to know of any of this." You nodded. It made sense not to tell anyone. You had no idea who was on Madara's side or who was on Itachi's side. Kisame nodded as well.

You giggled a bit, realizing that these people weren't half as bad as you'd first thought.