Night had fallen nearly an hour ago and your group was still walking. You stifled a groan. You hadn't walked so much for a long time and you were getting tired, but you weren't about to let the others know. You didn't want Itachi thinking you'd become soft in your time working at the shop. You let out a heavy sigh.

Kisame glanced over his shoulder at you and chuckled, "We'll be there soon, just a little more. So don't look so-" Itachi stopped and made Kisame shut up. You were about to ask why Itachi had shut him up, but the fine hairs on your neck stood on end. You realized what Itachi must've noticed. Somehow your group had become surrounded. You subtly pulled out you chopstick swords. Kisame glanced between Itachi and you. You realized that he clearly wasn't a sensory type shinobi, most likely more of a shock and awe type. Kisame saw your weapons and realization dawned on him. He lifted his sword from his shoulders and waved you over. You darted over to them and the three of you took up positions with your backs together. A woman stepped from the darkness, "Goodness, you have good senses." Your eyes examined her. She wore no village insignia. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bingo book. She flipped through it, "Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Y/n L/n. Three big hitters, and all three worth lots of cash. We couldn't believe our luck when we saw you all at that rest stop." You narrowed your eyes as more people came into view. Bounty hunters.

You tried to sense their chakra levels, but either they were so weak as to be laughable, or they had shinobi training on how to hide it. If it was the second option, then this wasn't going to be fun or easy. You swallowed nervously and raised your blade at the woman that had spoken, "You don't want to get into it with us lady. If your bingo book is accurate then you know that your numbers are seriously lacking to take down opponents of our caliber." The woman laughed, "We'll have to see about that won't we? Take them!" The bounty hunters launched themselves at your group. Kisame charged forward and began swinging his sword in wide arks and laughing. He was actually enjoying this?! The people near you did handsigns and ropes shot up from the ground. You leapt into the air and deftly slashed through the ropes. Kisame slashed through the ropes too, but Itachi stood in one spot and the ropes wrapped around him securely. When you landed you moved to go to Itachi and cut him free but Kisame's voice stopped you, "Y/n, come here!" He grabbed you and pressed your face into his chest. "Kisame, what are you doing?! We need to help Itachi!" Kisame shook his head and pressed your face more into his chest. "Itachi is in control right now. He's pulled all of us into a genjutsu." You tried to push back, but Kisame's voice cut into your ears, "Trust me, you don't want to see what this genjutsu is going to do next, so just stay here and shut your eyes."

You tensed and the fear that you heard in Kisame's voice and did as he said. A few seconds later you felt Kisame jolt and gasp as if in pain. You felt pain ripple through your body too, but you couldn't focus on that as you heard screams filling the air. The screams were horrible. You shifted your hands to cover your ears, but that didn't block the sound out. But within moments there was silence again and Kisame relaxed his hold on you. He pulled your hand from your ear and muttered, "You can open your eyes again." Your eyes slid open and you looked around. The bounty hunters were all laying on the ground, and you hoped that they were only unconscious. Kisame straightened up and took a deep breath, "Itachi, I keep telling you not to suck your comrades into your genjutsu. Just because we CAN handle them, doesn't mean you should make us go through it." Itachi didn't turn to face the two of you, "You should just learn how to free yourself from – urgh!" Itachi lurched forward and coughed violently. You could see blood splatter onto the ground in front of him and you rushed to him. "Itachi! Did you get injured? Let me see!" You reached for him, but he slapped your hands away. Itachi continued to cough up blood and Kisame sighed, "You shouldn't push yourself like that when you haven't taken you medication." Itachi shot him a glare before another coughing fit made him double over. Kisame came forward and grabbed Itachi and forcefully picked him up princess style. (Sorry I just love the mental image of an angry Itachi being carried princess style while shooting glares at whoever carries him)

Itachi opened his mouth to argue with being carried, but more coughing cut him off. Kisame looked at you, "Let's move. We need to get to the hideout." He took off running at full speed, leaving you to sprint after him. You kept your swords out in case other enemies showed up. Kisame's legs were long, but you weren't about to fall behind now, so you pushed chakra into your legs and managed to catch up. Kisame came to a stop in front of a large tree. "Y/n this one is a blood seal. You should be able to get in by now. Konan is fast with things like that." You nodded and pricked your finger on your swords and dragged your finger against the bark. Kisame took a step back and you looked at him confused. Why had he stepped back? You question was answered as the ground under your feet opened up and you fell into a cavern beneath the tree.

Kisame leapt down after you and you were enveloped in darkness as the opening sealed again. You heard Kisame's footsteps move around the cavern and in a few moments there was light as he lit some candles. He'd set Itachi down on a bed. He reached into his pocket and produced the bottle of pills you'd seen earlier. Itachi slapped the bottle away, "I can't... take them on...an empty stomach." You watched as he began coughing up blood again while Kisame tried to make him take the pills despite Itachi's arguments. This was going nowhere. As Itachi coughed up more blood you realised that even if he took the pills right now he'd just cough them back up right away. He need to be stabilized. You marched forward and gently pushed Kisame aside, taking the bottle of pills from him, "Kisame, go and start making some food." Kisame opened his mouth to argue, but you cut him off, "He won't keep the pills down right now anyways. I'm going to try to stabilize him while you make food." Kisame nodded and moved elsewhere in the cavern. You reach to lift Itachi's shirt and he slapped your hands away, trying to sit up. You narrowed your eyes and grabbed his shoulder, slamming him back onto the bed, "I don't know why you have such an issue with me, but the only way you'll be able to stop me from working on you right now is to kill me." Itachi glared at you but his body language changed to show that he was yielding to you.

You pushed his cloak off of him and pulled his shirt off. Your eyes locked on his torso to search for signs of injury, but you didn't see anything. You swallowed at his amazing physique, but made yourself focus and moved your hands over his torso, focussing your chakra into your palms. You tried to find the focal point of where the blood was coming from, but as you found source after source, you found yourself shaking. His internal organs were covered in lacerations. But you could tell it wasn't from injury. Itachi was indeed sick. Very sick. You focussed on healing the laceration that was producing the blood that he was coughing up, hiding your shock. How he was functioning so normally was beyond you. He must have an incredible will to live.

After a while he stopped coughing up blood and began to rest more comfortably. Kisame came over with some food. You allowed him to sit Itachi up and feed him while you continued working of his internal wounds. After Itachi ate Kisame gave him his medication. You didn't say a word to either of them, putting all of your focus on the task at hand. You didn't want to only heal the one wound. You wanted to heal all of them. After he took his pills Itachi had dozed off. Even Kisame had fallen asleep. You had kept going and hadn't realized how much time had passed until you felt a large hand on your shoulder. "What do you need Kisame?" "Y/n...it's morning. Have you been going all night?" You gave a short nod and Kisame tried to pull you away from Itachi, but you swatted his hand away. "Y/n, you need to stop or you're going to drain all of your chakra." "I'm fine." You voice snapped, but you could feel your body beginning to tremble for overuse of your chakra. Kisame sighed and picked you up, carrying you away from Itachi, "Y/n you'll kill yourself before you heal him entirely. You've done more than enough for now. He will feel troubled if you damage yourself on his behalf." Kisame set you down and wiped your cheek. You hadn't realized that you were crying. You looked Kisame in the eye, "What happened to him? I remember what he was like in the village. What happened to lead his life to this point?" Kisame sighed and ran his hand over his face. He looked over at Itachi and sighed again, "He'll probably kill me for telling you this, but..."

Kisame told you everything he knew of Itachi's life. How his best friend had died, how he'd had to choose between killing his clan and be named a criminal or watching them all die in a coup, how the first option allowed him to spare his brother, how he had become ill, and how he was only holding on so that Sasuke Uchiha could kill him.

You sat there dumbstruck. You couldn't believe it. You had thought you'd made sacrifices for peace, but your sacrifices were nothing compared to Itachi's. You wrapped your arms around your legs and looked over at Itachi, feeling affection for the man who had sacrificed everything for the village he loved, the village you loved. "I'm going to help him." Kisame sighed, "He doesn't want help Y/n. All he wants now is to die at the hands of his brother." You stood and stretched and walked back over to Itachi. "I won't stop him. After everything he's done for peace in his life, the least we can do is allow him to die how he wishes, but I can make him comfortable and give him a little more time. To make sure he achieves his goal." You reached and smoothed his hair a bit, then turned back to Kisame, "How long until he wakes up?" Kisame stretched and moved over to another bed in the cavern, "Probably another couple hours, so get some rest." You nodded and walked over to a bed, then paused, "Actually Kisame...I have to go and get something. I'll be back by tomorrow evening." You pressed one of your chopsticks into his hand, "Keep that with you and I'll find you." You rushed to the exit of the cavern before Kisame could stop you, "Y/n wait!" "I'll be back. I promise!"

Before he could say another word you used a teleportation jutsu and found yourself at the edge of Konoha. You needed information if you were going to help Itachi, and this would be a good starting point.