Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto

Dedication: Stitchy-chan, because this is totally for you...and Itachi's hotness.

PS: Three Days Grace+Sara+Milk+Chocolate+Tea= Epic Win!

I’d give it all to you, letting go of me. Reaching as I fall, I know it’s already over now. Nothing left to lose, loving you again. I know it’s already over, already over now! - Red

Tak-tak-tak. The sound of her footsteps echoed through the night air and it Hana’s ears; her labored panting breathes as she ran towards the village gate; the lack of patrolling genin and chuunin slightly unnerved her as she race through the dark streets, filled with a thick eerie miasma. She turned a corner and spotted him. The wind blue slightly, sending his scent to her nose; the crispness after a thunderstorm or the smell of a forest after a spring shower, all over shadowed by the metallic rusty smell of blood and the noxious fragrance of death. In fact it was the smell of blood and death and thunderstorms that woke her, and she followed it to this point. “Itachi,” Hana breathed softly, they were only feet from each other, his back towards her.

Hana would never forget what he looked like as he stood there, tall and proud, though the way his shoulders were slightly hunched told her that whatever he had just done, he wasn’t proud of; his ash black hair tied at his nape, his pale skin washed out in the silver glow of the moon, the blood splatter that covered his body turned black, and Hana couldn’t help but wonder what had he done.

Itachi never turned around to look at the Inuzuka girl. “Go back to bed,” he whispered softly.

“No, tell me…what’s going on?” Hana asked, she heard the plea in her voice and the confusion, but the question was: did he? Hana took a few steps closer to the Uchiha. Itachi remain silent. “Itachi, talk to me,” Hana begged. “What happened, what did you do?” her voice was harsh, as if she was accusing him of something, and he wondered: was she?

“Nothing,” he replied. Hana frowned, his body was deathly still, betraying nothing to her keen eyes; for her to glean some semblance of what was going on in his head, she would need to see his face, particularly his haunting obsidian eyes. Alas, Itachi didn’t face her, so Hana was clueless. The wind blew, ruffling their hair. “I’m not coming back,” Itachi breathed.

Hana’s eyes grew wide, “What?”

“Hn.”

“Itachi, tell me what the hell is going on!?” Hana shouted. He didn’t reply to her demand, but flickered and vanished. Hana blinked when she felt his chakra behind her, she could feel his warm breath on her nape.

“Hana,” the girl in question stiffened slightly, waiting his next words that he was carefully choosing. “Aishiteru,” he breathed.

Inuzuka Hana, twenty-one, heiress to the Inuzuka clan of Konohagakure, jounin and ANBU tracker-nin; was standing on a branch, wondering why that memory chose to resurface, Hana thought she buried it with all of her other childhood memories of him; the life of a shinobi was a bitter lonely business. “Apparently not,” she whispered to herself, before quickly flicking her eyes to her three dogs, also hidden in the trees. Hana sighed, only to bring her guard back up as she heard a rustling in the leaves. She drew a kunai, reading herself for danger. When the source of the noise appeared, turning out to be her teammate and squad captain Akinori Shunsuke, did Hana relax.

“We got a lead,” he tossed Hana a small box. She caught it, opening the box to reveal a strip of cloth. She rubbed it between her fingers.

“Its silk,” she sniffed it, “definitely the princess’s,” Hana said.

“Good,” Shunsuke watched her behind his hawk mask as Hana held the cloth to her dogs, their black noses twitching as they drank in the scent of the princess. They sniffed the air along with Hana.

“I got her trail,” Hana said.

“Good,” Shunsuke nodded before sending off a couple of bird songs.

Uchiha Itachi blinked, cocking his head towards the sound. “Birds are chatty today,” Hoshigaki Kisame said. Itachi stood up, his face an emotionless façade.

“Those aren’t birds,” he whispered.

"They aren’t?” Kisame blinked.

“No, its an ANBU field code,” Itachi informed the ex Mist-nin.

“What are they saying, then?” Kisame asked. Itachi didn’t reply only appeared to be staring at nothing, though in reality he was staring at a particular spot of the green canopy. “Eh, Itachi?” Kisame called.

“Let’s go,” Itachi stated.

“Right,” Kisame hefted Samehada onto his shoulder and began heading in the opposite direction.

“Wrong way,” Itachi glanced over his shoulder at the sword wielder, only to head off in the direction of the ANBU team. Kisame sighed, wondering not for the umpteenth time what went through that man’s head at times.

Hana hopped from tree to tree, the princess’s scent getting closer and thicker. Hana wondered why the girl ran off; what made living the life of royalty so unbearable that she had to run away. Its not like you haven’t thought of running away before, to chase after him, she chided herself. Hana shook her head and nearly missed the warning from her hounds of approaching danger. Hana’s eyes grew wide as the scent of thunderstorms and blood and death drifted passed her nose, a blurr of black and red slipped passed her followed by pain and the warm sticky wetness of her blood. “Akatsuki!” Hana shouted, just as kunai and shuriken rained down from upon from all directions.

“Defensive positions!” Shunsuke shouted and the platoon dropped to the forest floor. Hana dropped to the ground a bit heavier than she wanted to her and her hand went to her bleeding side. She did a quick inspection and breathed a soft sigh of relief as she realized the wound wasn’t that deep, she just hoped it wouldn’t bleed a lot. She straightened, her three dogs in a V before her; she glanced at Shunsuke, who was twirling the heavy fist sized iron ball at the end of his kusarigama. Akagi Fuyumi had her twin tanto drawn and Hibiki had one of his sealing scrolls in his hand.

They all eyed the big broad shouldered man with blue skin and a Kirigakure headband with the traitor’s slash through the Symbol of the Mist. He was leaning casually against the tree, resting his arm on the skull shape pommel of his rather large sword. He seemed to be smiling, even though with his shark like teeth, it appeared to be a menacing grin.

There was a soft thump behind them; which cause the Konoha ninja to turn and glance at the new arrival. Hana felt her blood grow cold as her eyes widen behind her cat mask.

Uchiha Itachi, his eyes sanguine with the Sharingan, his bloody regal aura radiating off of him; stood there calmly looking them over. His gaze lingered a second longer on Hana, and she felt those accursed eyes invisibly graze her skin. Itachi what have you become? What have I become? Hana thought with a small shudder.

“Give up, you’re out numbered!” Shunsuke shouted. Hana grimaced at Shunsuke’s rash arrogance. Any sensible ninja would run at the sight of two Akatsuki members, especially if one of them happened to be the infamous Uchiha Itachi.

The former Mist-nin snorted, his grin widening, as he pushed himself from the tree he was leaning against, his right hand wrapping around the hilt of his sword. “Heh, we may be out numbered,” he said, “but you are out classed!” he swung his grizzly looking blade at Shunsuke, who took a step back tossing the chain of his kusarigama, the ball wrapping around the Mist-nin’s sword.

The Akatsuki sword wielder grinned as he pulled back, swinging Shunsuke along with it, until the Leaf-nin hit the tree. Hana’s eyes grew wide as she heard the sickening wet smack of Shunsuke hitting the tree; she clasped her hands into the Tiger seal.

“Shikyaku no jutsu!” Hana shouted, dropping to all fours, she lunged at the Mist-nin, but was cut off by a blurr of black and red intercepted her path. “Kisame can deal with your friends,” Itachi informed her in a cool voice. “We on the other hand, have much to catch up on,” a smirk graced his lips for a mere second and Hana snarled, knowing full well that he was mocking her.

She swiped out with a clawed hand, but he calmly stepped back with a graceful twirl, bringing down the kunai across her cheek, cutting the string that held her mask in place.

The porcelain cat mask clattered to the ground, breaking into ten thousand pieces, as Hana skidded to turn around and face her enemy. Itachi blinked as he studied the fire in Hana’s eyes. Hana snarled and nodded once before charging at him, grabbing in her mad dash towards him one of the larger shards of the ANBU mask.

Itachi blinked and looked behind him to see one of the Haimaru Sankyoudai snarling at him. He snorted, crouching low and elbowing the dog before slashing out with his kunai at Hana, who swiped at his arm with her impromptu weapon. It succeeded in tearing his cloak, and his kunai cut her skin, blood blossoming out of the wound as the twirled away from each other. Hana dropped the shard and glared at him, panting slightly. “You’ve gotten quicker since the last time we sparred,” Itachi commented, glancing over his shoulder at her.

Hana snorted, before clasping her hands together, one of her dogs on her back. “Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry!” Hana shouted, while her dog bark: “Ninja Art of Human Mimicry!” and another Hana appeared. “Gastuga!” Hana shouted before spinning with one of her dogs in a tight circle, their target: Uchiha Itachi.

Hana skidded in a U shape, facing Itachi. She smirked, her eyes narrowing in triumph only to widen when a kunai’s cool tip was pressed against her throat. “Is that all?” Itachi asked, an amused lilt to his voice. Hana glanced up at him and she thought she saw a smile on his lips before one of her dogs grabbed the arm that held the kunai to her throat. Hana spun around, swiping at his feet hoping to off balance him and create an opening in his otherwise impeccable defense.

Itachi danced out of her way as he grabbed the dog by the scruff of its neck and tossed it aside. Itachi began running at Hana, weaving a seals furiously, faster than the eye can see. “Katon!” he drew in a great breath and Hana’s eyes grew wide as she knew she had to get out of the way, quickly. “Gokakyu no jutsu!” Itachi let loose a ginat ball of flames as Hana leapt to the side.

She glanced at how her teammates were fairing. Shunsuke was against a tree, his hands trying in vain to stop the bleeding wound on his stomach. Hibiki was unleashing on of his more powerful sealed jutsus in an effort to stop the Mist-nin, while Fuyumi was twirling in her signature Dance Snow style, which seemed to be keeping the Mist-nin on his toes. Hana made to go aid her friends, but Itachi stopped her. “Uh-ah,” Itachi called, his voice soft and mocking, making Hana snarl in frustration and disgust. “You’re fight is with me, Hana-chan,” he purred, lunging at her.

Hana dove to her right and was surprisingly able to slash him, but to her dismay, Itachi poofed away in a puff of smoke. Hana snarled, and looked Itachi, who calmly standing in the trees. His eyes were mocking her, taunting her to throw out her most powerful attacks. Hana smirked before tossing a small black ball at Itachi.

To her surprise, Itachi didn’t even try to block it but allowed it to hit him. The aweful scent drifted to Hana’s nose and another one of her dogs trotted to her side. “This time we’ll get him for sure and not waste any more time, we’re ending this here and now,” Hana whispered and rubbed her dog’s head, before clasping her hands together.

Itachi watched her with an impassive gaze, completely ignoring the smell that was on his clothes. He was mildly curious at what Hana was planning.

“Jinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro!” Hana shouted, she and her dog transformed into a large two-headed wolf. Itachi’s eyes widened briefly in surprise.

So…this is your ultimate jutsu eh, Hana? Itachi thought.

“Garoga!”

Itachi barely avoided it the attack and knew he would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for the Sharingan. He watched as Hana and her dog cut a swath through the forest, before the jutsu ended. He smirked as he flickered only to appear before her.

Hana looked up at him, panting, she cursed herself for being so reckless, that attack had used up nearly all of her chakra. “I advise you to end this,” Itachi stated.

“Go to hell!” Hana screamed, drawing a fist full of kunai and shuriken.

“I can see that you are nearly depleted of chakra,” Itachi pointed out.

“Fuck you!” Hana tossed her weapons at him, but he calmly stepped aside.

“Hn,” Itachi’s Sharingan shifted in a form Hana had never seen before. “Sharingan: Tsukuyomi!” he shouted. Hana’s eyes grew wide before her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, her mind lost to a reality of Itachi’s own creation.

Kisame kicked the dead body of whom he assumed was the platoon’s captain. The sealing jutsu user and the girl with the tanto were allowed to live, though the sealing jutsu specialist was badly wounded, not as bad as their captain, but pretty bad. Kisame looked around for Itachi, and easily spotted him, sitting on a rock, in a typical Uchiha brooding pose as he stared at the girl he fought, her three dogs snarling at him.

Kisame walked over to the Uchiha. “What about her?” Kisame looked at the Inuzuka woman, and had to admit she was beautiful. Not too curvy and not to thin, but somewhere in the middle. He briefly wondered what it felt like to be pressed up against her body in the most intimate of ways.

“Hn,” Itachi blinked, snapping Kisame out of his thoughts, the shark-nin watched as the Uchiha rubbed his left eye.

“You shouldn’t be using that technique so much,” Kisame pointed out.

“Hn,” Itachi stressed the grunt a little bit more than normal.

“Its your eyesight,” Kisame shrugged, before squatting to eye the girl. “She’s not that bad looking,” Kisame grinned, “maybe we can take her back to base and have our way with her, she’ll be fun fucking, ne?” Kisame snickered, “I wonder if she howls like a wolf at her climax.”

‘Hn,” Itachi snorted, but the tone told Kisame that he didn’t approve of the conversation’s idea. “Unlike you and Hidan, I don’t go whoring,” Itachi replied, his tone a bit steely.

“Right, you just play with yourself at night,” Kisame shot back. Itachi glanced at the Mist-nin, one fine black eyebrow raised in puzzlement. “What are we going to do about her?” Kisame asked, not wanting to find out if he needed to explain his comment to the Uchiha.

“Kai!” Itachi tapped the girl, easily releasing her from the genjutsu cast upon her. She relaxed but didn’t wake. Itachi stood up, a rope in his hand. “Bind and gag her, we’re going back to headquarters,” Itachi said.

“Eh?” Kisame looked at the rope then at the Uchiha.

“We’re taking her with us,” Itachi sounded annoyed.

“Uh, right,” Kisame grabbed the rope and ignored the snarling dogs as he tied Hana up. Could’ve been a bit clearer on what he wanted, we aren’t mind readers, bastard, Kisame thought, only to notice the bleeding wounds on the girl. “You know she’s wounded, right?” Kisame asked, wondering why he was so concerned over the girl.

“She’ll be fine,” Itachi replied. Kisame blinked and once again wondered why he was bothering worrying about the Inuzuka girl. Grunting to himself, Kisame tossed Hana over his shoulder as if she was nothing more than a stack of rice.

“I’ll carry her,” Itachi held out his arms.

“Nah, I got her,” Kisame shook his head.

“I’ll carry her,” Itachi repeated. Kisame opened his mouth to protest but Itachi narrowed his eyes. Sighing, Itachi handed over Hana’s limp body to the Uchiha, “though what are we gonna do about the other body?” Kisame asked.

“Leave it,” Itachi whistled and hopped into the trees, the three ash grey dogs following him. Kisame blinked.

“And here I thought he was a cat person,” Kisame muttered to himself as he followed Itachi.

Itachi gently placed Hana on his bed when they got back to headquarters. Her dogs whined as they looked at him and their mistress. He looked at them before leaving the room, and was surprised they followed him. He lead them to a smaller room near his and shepherd them in to the room before closing the door on them. He made a mental note to stop by later with some bones and a large bowl of water.

He opened the door to his room again and closed it behind him before looking down at the girl on his bed. He suddenly realized it had been eight years since he last saw Hana, and he shook his head as he remembered his final word to her. “I am incapable of love,” he grumbled to himself as he calmly pulled her hands over his head and cut her shirt open. His eyes were drawn to the dark maroon gash on her side, sighing he began cleaning it.

Hana woke hours later to a dimly lit room. She glanced around, wincing in pain as she tried to sit up and control the rising panic in her system. She noticed her wrists and ankles were unbound but the red marks told her that it was only recently that the bonds came off. She rubbed them, feeling weak and queasy as the door opened. “Your dogs are fed and watered,” an overly familiar voice drifted through the air.

Hana looked up at him and snarled, but knew that she hadn’t the strength to attack him. The genjutsu he trapped her in and her last attack did a number on her system. It then came to attention as she tried to speak that she was still gagged. Itachi crossed over to the bed in two great strides and calmly pulled the gag down to her neck. As soon as he mouth was free, she bit his hand.

Itachi hardly flinched as his Sharingan eyes stared into Hana’s dark brown eyes, a brown so dark it was almost black. Blood flooded Hana’s mouth and dripped onto the bedsheets bellow. Itachi leaned closer, his Sharingan spinning lazily. “Let go,” he whispered softly, his warm moist breath tickling her ear. Hana violently shook her head, tearing more tissue. “Hana, let go,” Itachi ordered. Hana panted, the simple effort to get him to succumb to pain and to feel her anger leaving her drained, so she slowly released his hand only to spit in his face a mixture of his blood and her saliva.

Itachi gave a dark chuckle as he wiped the mixture of blood and spit from his face. “Hana, Hana, Hana,” he cooed crawling along the bed, a wicked smirk on his face as he grabbed her hands and pinned her beneath him. “Is that how you great an old lover?” he asked. Hana growled.

“Go to hell, Itachi!” she growled. He chuckled again as he nuzzled her neck, kissing it a bit.

I already am, he thought, “Hn,” he looked at her, tightening his grip on her wrists a bit.

“What do you want with me?” Hana asked. He blinked.

“Struggle,” he said. Hana blinked and yelped softly as his rather short nails dug into the skin on her wrists, but it got the desire reaction he wanted from her and she began to thrash in and effort to get free. He smirked as he easily held her down. “You won’t be able to escape me Hana,” he whispered.

“Shut up!” Hana brought her knee up and caught him in the groin. He grimaced and she sized the moment to push him onto his back, pinning him. “Let me go!” she growled. He smirked and rolled, causing her to find herself on her back.

“Make me,” he smirked, his face inches from her. Hana snapped but he pulled back. Hana screamed, thrashing about again, and Itachi brought his head to the crook of her neck, kissing the supple skin there. Hana bit his ear and he groaned softly. Hana blinked as she let go, realizing that her struggles just aroused him.

Sick bastard! Hana looked at Itachi.

“Don’t stop,” he smirked, “I like it rough.”

“You sick bastard! Let me go! Damn it, we were teammates!” Hana shouted.

Itachi blinked at her, and Hana allowed a small smile to spread across her lips, her chest rising and falling due to her struggle. Itachi grabbed both of her hands in one of his; trailing his now freed hand down her stomach and Hana felt her breath catch in her throat. Itachi cocked his head to the side and Hana couldn’t help but admire the way his bangs fell across his face. She blinked and shook her head, realizing that he was making her fall in love with him again.

Yes! That is his entire plan! Make me fall in love with him again and then he’ll use me to help him destroy Konoha! Be on your guard Hana, he’s Akatsuki now, an S-rank criminal, a cold blooded mass murderer! He won’t lose sleep over killing you! Hana told herself, but a small part of her whispered to her that he would lose sleep over killing her that he was already losing sleep over the barbaric deeds he has already stained his hands red with.

Itachi’s hand stopped at her waistband of her shorts. “You think that just because we were teammates all those years ago, that I would show mercy to you? That I would actually care about you?” Itachi flicked his sanguine gaze at her. Hana frowned, of course that is what she thought! They had a bound, a connection, and those things weren’t easily broken on forgotten. Itachi read her expression well. “You’re naivety amuses me sometimes Hana,” Itachi whispered, before his Sharingan shifted again. “That’s why I’m going to show you and let you experience what I could very well do to you,” he leaned in close and Hana could smell the underlying scent of rain and thunderstorms beneath the blood and death. “Remember one thing Hana, I own you,” he then caught her gaze and she went tumbling into Tsukuyomi once more.

Itachi watched the girl twitch a bit before getting up. “I’m going to break you down Hana to your most basic animalistic instincts,” Itachi whispered before leaving and locking the door. To this day, he still doesn’t care to know what motivated him to lock the door.

And so ends chapter one.

This is totally gonna be a good story, and I’m gonna try to keep it under thirty-five chapters. My goal for this story is 23-24 chapters and all the songs are gonna be by RED. Though I may through in some other songs, just for kicks, but I doubt it…though Pain by TDG is really tempting right now. Oh, how I heart Three Days Grace.

It’s a dark fic, totally inspired by Lady Hanaka’s Maelstrom trilogy.

And you know what, I think I FAILED EPICALLY at WRITING ITACHI…AGAIN! ARGH! *bangs head against the table* I just can’t write him as the cold heartless bastard he was appearing to be before his death! ARGH! I just can’t make him twisted! GAH! Stitch! Help me!

Meh, anyways, enjoy it.

I love the opening flashback, which was totally inspired by SasuSaku.

As for side ships, the only two I’ve been actually able to work in is NaruHina and KibaInoSai. I don’t think Sasuke or Team Hebi is gonna make an appearance in this fic, because its mainly ItaHana and I kinda don’t want to write a totally different side plot, JUST for them. I know Sakura will be in this story, in fact she appears in the next chapter, hence the reason I can work in NaruHina.

Sara! I’m totally blaming you for the KibaIno! Its getting addicting! GAH! I hate you! I don’t really, but you know what I mean. My SaiIno fangirl is trying to kill the KibaIno fangirl in me. And its…actually…losing. DAMN IT! I is needing to read SaiIno fics. Woot for bad English! *is shot*

R’n’R or I will kill you.

DJ