━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━

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SHIKAMARU's PERSPECTIVE
HYUGA COMPOUND
KONOHAGAKURE

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The things you did for love..

Well was it..love? That's something Shikamaru couldn't answer exactly at his age. But he was really going out of his way for this girl, something he really found himself only doing for her. "Gone?" Shikamaru questioned solemnly a frown appearing on his face at the news, the three sat down near the entryway stairs of the compound, as Neji sighed out in confirmation. "You don't believe that do you!?" Rock Lee questioned his teammate, as he could sense that Neji was reacting differently to the news

"I don't," Neji responded, a few moments of silence washed over the three before he answered. "But something happened.., I can't reach her.." he mumbled out, as Shikamaru eyed him. "That mark on her head, that's how?" Shikamaru then questioned, almost taking Neji aback as he knew about the curse mark. He was almost hesitant to respond — "Yeah..." he gulped out, "We were trying to trace her..until it went blank.."

"With the way she covered that mark, she probably took the opportunity to get rid of it." Shikamaru concluded as Neji looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "But— There's no way to get rid of it..it's there until you die.." he concluded, as Rock Lee listened on, "Who knows.." he then added, as he thought on about their last mission, "There's a lot of strange people out there with some crazy abilities that I even didn't realize existed.."

"So you guys..think.." Neji then mumbled out, as he looked back to the compound wearily, "She's alive. We believe you." Shikamaru concluded as he clutched his fist. "[Name] is smart.., and she's strong enough to hold her own.." Rock Lee then said, "She's your sister after all..you know her better than anyone else."

━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━
A FEW DAYS LATER..

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HIDAN's PERSPECTIVE
Pains Tower — Akatsuki Main Base.

Quietly, well not so much actually━ he stomped throughout the second floor of the base, it had been the early hours of the morning when the Immortalist found himself awake. There was a ritual he had to tend to soon, he sensed the presence of another as he walked down the hallway, swiftly turning to the individual in an act of defense. He allowed his guard to lower as he realize dit to be the new member of Akatsuki. "Hey...bit—"

And she swiftly looked over at him with an icy glare. "Watch it." she quickly retorted to him, as quickly as he was about to spill out the insult, he quieted down immediately after. He smirked soon after, her mean eyes still glaring at him. "Eh..surprised you're not passing out at the door again..grew some balls huh?" he then said to her, as she rose an eyebrow at the sudden comment.

She pretended as if she knew what he was on about, but quite frankly she wasn't fully aware of what the hell he meant. "Hmph.." she hummed out, as she kept it short with the man, not wanting much to do with him. "Maybe after I return from this mission.., you can return some worth to me and stop looking down at me as if I'm some dumb fucking peasant.." Hidan then commented as he found himself irritated with the way she shrugged him off every time.

"I doubt it." she retorted back, and as she began to walk off, she halted again upon a comment she received from him. "Not even the capture of your home village Jinchuriki..?" the mentioning of Naruto froze her. She hadn't thought about him in so long now, she hadn't thought of much outside of the base lately. Was he seriously asking this..? "It wouldn't.." she then responded once again, "If anything, I'd look at you even more as a coward."

"YOU BITCH..!"

...

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ITACHI's PERSPECTIVE
Pains Tower — Akatsuki Main Base.
Amegakure
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His world wasn't exactly clear. It hadn't been for a while quite frankly. He blinked a few times as he looked at the calendar he taped to his desk to note the exact day it said on the calendar. "Shit.." he cursed out, as he could make out what it said partially, and it somewhat explained why his bottle of medication was empty this morning. Well, that made two reasons he would be out of the base today.

A mission had been granted to him, and strangely enough, Kisame wasn't around to help him with it, which left Pain to assign [Name] alongside him. He wasn't sure why, but he shrugged it off as he looked back at his calendar. He squinted at the calendar again before then looking to the next day, noting the month and number given. "It's..been 8 years?" he then mumbled, as just as ironically as two people crossed his mind, he sensed one of them.

A knock was illicit from his door. He quickly got up from his desk, stumbling forth towards the door and opening it quickly. "[Name]," he called out to the girl, she was lowering her fist from the door, as she froze for a moment and looked at him. She cleared her throat, as she took in his appearance, disrobed from the usual Akatsuki cloak, he wore a navy mesh set, something that seemed to be the standardized uniform of the Akatsuki members as she wore something similar to the rest. "Your..headband is gone..?" that seemed to be the first thing he noticed about her — and the curse mark too..

She stayed silent, as Itachi observed her. She had been gone for the past week, and he wondered what ordeal must've happened for her to come back without the mark he had just seen a few weeks prior. "Are you ready..?" she then questioned him, as it seemed he was stuck in a trance from his observations. He flinched for a moment before grabbing for his cloak, without a word he left his room. [Name] quietly followed from behind him, as she took in his aloof nature. This could generally be the first time she could say she was truly exhibiting his true behavior for the first time in years. "We have to make a few stops along the way." Itachi informed her abruptly as they made their way down the stairs, she rose an eyebrow at him. "Is Pain aware of this..?" she awkwardly questioned back in suspicion.

"Partially." Itachi announced another wave of silence heading over them as they left the base and welcomed themselves to a shower of rain outside. The [H/C] girl sighed, Itachi slowly pulled his cloak off as he hovered one end in the direction of [Name]. She stayed unmoving, as she wondered what exactly he was trying to do until he came closer and covered the top of her head with his cloak. It felt agonizing weird to her.

The closeness to her, the side of their arms almost touching as he made sure she wouldn't dampen from the rain but he seemed to catch every last drop of rain to his head. "Let's go.." he then commanded to her, as he began to walk, and she could feel the back of his cloak rising up and almost off of her. She grappled to the side quickly, catching up with his pace as she followed directly next to him. "Where exactly are we going before we get to the escort mission.."

"During the mission.." he corrected her, as she listened to his plan and verbal mapping of the route of the escort mission. The mission consisted of a high-ranking member of the Land of Earths council member's daughter needing service from traveling out of the Land of Rivers to the Land of Earth. It wasn't much of a trip to hold any concerns about but her father had requested the help due to a lingering ransom threat against his family and precisely against her. And so that's where Akatsuki entered. She silently acknowledged as they began walking their path towards the border.

The citizens of the village stared closely at them, mumbling whispers under their breath that she could still decipher. Itachi seemed to ignore it all, as he stared straightforward, but [Name]'s eyes lingered throughout the crowds, an irritation washing offer her as she hoped they'd make it to the border soon and this rain would begin to settle quickly she wasn't quite a fan of this closeness. Her harsh opinions of the boy only rose more as she had been in the Akatsuki the past few weeks, he was hiding some things, and he didn't want to tell her.

It ticked her off. As her fist clenched tightly at the thought of what her Grandfather said to her moments prior to his last breath, and how it ever so closely related to the Uchiha clan. She looked up at Itachi for a moment, squinting at him as she looked away a few moments later, What are you hiding?

...

After a few short hours, they arrived at the Inn border within the Land of Rivers. [Name] stood outside the entrance of the Inn while Itachi went to go fetch the escortee at hand. A loud crash could be heard from [Name]'s hearing point, causing her to flinch for a moment as her ears perked up. "What the..." she mumbled out, as she soon heard a loud voice coming down the hallways. Soon after, three faces exited out of the Inn, as the Innkeeper watched on in relief. The first woman slouched over on Itachi, she had long brown hair and fair skin, her brown eyes hazy. And the first impression, well whiff [Name] got was ━ "Oh dear, she's a drunk?" she exasperated, as the escortees personal assistant's face grew red in embarrassment.

"She hasn't always been like this.., I suppose the stress as of lately as drew her here.." Her assistant stood of short stature, along with brown hair also but shorter as it was pinned up, along with a pair of glasses on her face. "Hey..girl..*hic* your boyfriend *hic* is really cute..!" Kumiko complimented her, as [Name] rose her eyebrow and stared at Itachi. "Lady Kumiko.." her assistant, Yukari mumbled out shyly as an awkward silence erupted into the atmosphere. "He's not.." and before [Name] could finish, Kumiko began giggling uncontrollably.

Itachi let go of Kumiko, as he walked forth towards [Name], Yukari sighed out as she took hold of Kumiko, making sure she didn't stumble and such as they began their journey to the Land of Earth. "This should be a day journey at most. There is an Inn outside the outskirts of Amegakure we will settle into tonight before we continue our journey tomorrow." Yukari nodded in confirmation to Itachi's plan, as [Name] silent acknowledged it.

Kumiko had still been giggling, though the other 3 just choose to ignore it mostly due to the fact it was because of her inebriated state. They set off for the journey, as it had been mid-evening at most as the sun was still rising behind the trees. Itachi had been particularly quiet among the three women as [Name] gathered small talk with Yukari every few minutes. Gathering information along the way to know that the two they escorted had known each other for years beforehand and were very close.

The Uchiha cleared his throat a few seconds later after [Name] responded to a question from Yukari, causing [Name] to raise an eyebrow at the sudden noise. "What...?" [Name] asked a few moments later, as she walked up a little closer to him. He waved his hand up in return, "Nothing.." he mumbled out, though his voice began to sound more hoarse. Shit. It clicked to her automatically what was happening. "You've gotten sick.., haven't you?" She then asked him, as his eyes widen for a second and become slowly closed at her realization. "I'll be fine.." he tried reassuring her, though she wasn't completely buying it.

Beads of sweat were obvious on his forehead, and he had grown paler within the past few hours. "Sure.." she snarkily said to him, as she eyed him one more time before her attention went back to the Kumiko & Yukari. She didn't trust his judgment, as her eyes trained to the back of him. At any given moment he was going to give out wasn't he? was he really going to force himself to keep up this facade until the end of the mission? What the hell was wrong with him? She cleared her throat as she then went up Itachi again, "Does that mean you aren't going to detour us as you spoke of earlier..?" He shook his head in return following her question,

"More of a reason.." he mumbled out, as his voice grew more hoarse. Stubborn..very stubborn..Itachi on the other hand, maybe a sense of panic was growing in him ever so slightly, but he couldn't let her know that. He slightly looked over to Yukari, as he could tell she was listening intently to their conversation. It had been a few hours into the trip and Itachi noted that nothing stuck too extreme against attempts to Kumiko's life. The said escorted had been slouched on her assistant shoulder groggily.

"Why exactly is she such a huge target?" Itachi asked Yukari, as he tried shifting the topic from him. The girl looked to Kumiko before to Itachi again, "Our land will fall apart singlehandedly, if they were to ever capture her they would use her to extort every piece of information from her father..he cares about her dearly.." He hummed in response, as he nodded before they continued on with their journey. His head began to feel light as they continued on, he could feel pName] staring at him intensely. He was going to prove her wrong.

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[NAME]'s PERSPECTIVE

AMEGAKURE BORDER INN

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After arriving within Amegakure, the 4 arrived to another Border Inn closer to the border of the Land of Rivers and Amegakure. A quiet Inn that gave room for the four. They were the only occupants within the building, [Name] had her own room across from Itachi's while Itachi's was next to Yukari's and Kumiko's.

Night had fallen upon them, [Name] dropped out of her cloak as she lied down on the bed soon after. Sighing out, her ears were welcomed to the quietness around her within the low-lit room. Until— she started hearing coughing, it was a quiet sound but she picked it up rather quickly. "I knew it.." though she was surprised he lasted this long without hacking up a lung. Getting up from the bed, she brought her head closer to her door, pressing her ear against the door. Her hand reached down to the knob, tightly clutching for the doorknob as she twisted it open and walked across the hall of the Inn. Before her hand reached up to knock at the door, she could hear Itachi sighing to himself. "Come in.."

"Tsk.." she sucked her teeth as she opened the door, and as her suspicions confirmed, he was definitely sick. "Why must you try to be a savior to the very end?" she questioned him in irritation as she walked forth to his bed. He lied down, his face looking up to the ceiling blankly. "Because.." he mumbled out before another cough overtook him. She flinched at the harshness of his cough, "Because what...?" she then asked him as he settled down. She stepped closer to him, her hands grasping for his blanket as she pulled it closer to him. "Because..I still have decency.."

"Do you now?" she mocked back, as she couldn't believe help but smirk at his comment of still being 'decent.' He knew she didn't believe him, she held her judgment about him. "I know.." he could only say, as he began to feel weak, his visions becoming even more unclear to him. He wasn't sure how longer he could take this, how much longer he could go without it. "[Name].." he mumbled out, as her attention had been spanned down to the wooden floor of his room. She looked up to him, humming in acknowledgment. If there was anyone he could acknowledge or even trust to this extent, it was her. "I'm sick..."

It seemed to come out of his mouth without question, though he knew she wasn't fully aware of what he truly meant, as her response was "I know." of course, in this situation she would think that. But it was more beyond that. He shut his eyes tightly, "No.." he then mumbled out, as she looked at him bewilderedly, "I...I don't mean it in that sense...I mean...I've been sick.." he tried reiterating to her, as she looked at him. She was confused, as his eyes were still tightly closed. "Itachi?" [Name] spoke up, in a questioning tone. He was silent, before suddenly━ "YOU TRAITOR..!"

A loud crash echoed in the room next over, catching them both off guard at the sudden screaming. "What the hell?" [Name] mumbled out, as she listened to what sounded like Kumiko screaming at Yukari. "I can't BELIEVE YOU..! You're such a traitor to our land..!" And another loud crash was heard before a scream followed from Kumiko. Itachi jumped up quickly, as [Name] ran forth to the door before she opened it. Itachi followed behind her, stumbling ever so slightly as [Name] quickly kicked the door open to the room next over. And there stood the two females.

What an interesting sight before her, precisely to both Akatsuki members, as Yukari held the girl to knife point. Glasses were thrown off her face as she held a more diabolical look, "Of course.., you woke up the two sick lovers." Yukari tsked out, blood drew from Kumiko's neck as she brought it closer. "This is creating more of an issue for me than it began with.." she glared at the two before her, punching Kumiko out of consciousness soon after. The unconscious girl dropped to the ground, and Yukari began weaving signs before she cast out a Jutsu.

"Earth Style! Mud Wall!" It was all happening too fast before either of them could entirely react to what was happening. As [Name] was about to jump forth, Itachi grabbed her wrist and halted her from doing so. "It's a trap..." she looked back at him, his Sharingan was activated, and he could see through the given wall that was formulated in front of them. As his hand was still latched around her wrist, he began running forth in the opposite direction. "She's taken her out of the building.." [Name] activated her ByakuSharingan immediately afterward.

Her vision awoken to the two chakra signatures a few feet away from her. "You go ahead, I'll take the opposite way and catch up with you." She stated to him, and though he was almost hesitant, he nodded in confirmation. He would have to realize, that she wasn't the little girl she was all those years ago, she held responsibility and capabilities of a lot. "Be careful." he then said to her, as she nodded in return and went in the opposite direction. Itachi wasn't in the best state to even be on his feet at the moment, but they had an emergency at hand.

What an interesting turn of events, part of him would've never realized that Kumiko's own would be the reason to try her demise. He blinked a few times, his vision still wasn't the greatest, even with the Sharingan, but it accounted for something better than nothing. He wasn't sure how much [Name] realized in his confession and wondered if such pondered in her mind at this given moment about it.

On the other side of the Inn, [Name] found her way out of the building and out into the wooded areas before them. She scanned around the surroundings, still seeing the two in sight while she saw Itachi's signature not too far off. She wondered in those moments, what exactly did he mean? Sick..? she questioned, the own sounds of her feet pummeling into her ground bringing her back to reality. This mission itself had been much of an eye-opener to her when it came to Itachi.

That creation of an ego she believed he had years prior to