Tainted Blood of a Ninja

It wasn't surprising that Itachi didn't say anything else about the incident with Kabuto afterwards. It was beyond annoying that Kisame saw fit to point out whom she'd given her first kiss to. Though he never asked, Mitsukai noticed Itachi's interest in the subject when Kisame would ask why she did it. She explained every single time that she didn't know it was Kabuto which prompted Kisame to ask the obvious.

"So you wanted to kiss Itachi-san?" He grinned.

Mitsukai groaned. "Please go to hell. And stay there this time."

"And miss out on making your life a living hell? No way!" Kisame erupted with laughter, holding his sides. "This is too golden an opportunity to pass up."

Itachi said nothing. He kept his mind focused on two things: Sasuke and Kabuto's appearance. Though it was easy to focus on the wrong thing like Kisame had, he knew Kabuto would never leave Orochimaru's side. 'Was he nearby? Did he send Kabuto to locate us? If so, why?' He thought about Mitsukai's ability to perform that particular jutsu. 'Has his interest in her peaked? He will make his move soon…' From there it didn't take long for Itachi them and possibly find Mitsukai's weakness that could be used to either subdue her with or bargain with her. That meant Itachi would have to take advantage of the information Kabuto had uncovered in order to protect his mission.

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"Bath time!" Kisame shouted, standing to go to the nearby lake. Mitsukai shuddered at the thought of him being naked.

"Poor fish will be scared to death."

"Even better. Bath time and dinner." He smiled before disappearing into the forest. Mitsukai sighed. There was no telling how long Kisame would take. She looked over at Itachi, who was busy staring at a nearby tree, and sighed again.

"What is it?" Itachi asked without turning to face her.

She thought about the last time he'd shown some of his expertise. When she had come to several days later, Sasuke had run off to join ranks with Orochimaru. She bit her lip. "Will you train with me?"

Itachi hesitated. "Teaching you how to kiss—"

"Not that kind of training! I mean, sparring and whatnot." She fought to control her blushing.

"Oh." Itachi thought about it. "No."

"Why not?"

"I'm…tired." He couldn't even lie to her in a convincing manner.

"…You're afraid you'll hurt me." She couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.

"It's a risk I can't take."

"Oh, come on! How can I be of any use to you if you don't keep my senses and skills sharp?"

Itachi didn't have an answer for this. "Mitsukai—" He caught her fist with his hand, inches from his face. "You couldn't wait for Kisame?"

"He cheats with his Samehada if he thinks he's losing. Besides," she withdrew her fist from his hand, "he's not the one who beat me to a bloody pulp just because I disobeyed him."

Itachi made an amused sound. "Hm. So now you want to show me how far you've come since then. Would it mean that much to you to face your former sensei on a more equal footing?"

Mitsukai nodded.

Itachi stood. "If you can land a punch, I'll admit you've grown."

Mitsukai smirked, redirecting chakra to her feet, then disappearing. Itachi heard the movement and activated his Sharingan. He quickly leaned back and caught Mitsukai's fist, then threw her by her arm. She landed on her feet in a low crouch, turning to face him. She tried again. This time when he grabbed her arm, she grabbed his cloak to anchor herself then tried to kick him but he caught her leg. Improvising, she tried to use her other leg but was thrown into a nearby tree. Growing frustrated, she charged at him again and began her attempt to throw a barrage of well-aimed kicks and punches at him, hoping one would land. This time she landed on her back. "Thank you for not making this easy in some attempt to appease me."

Itachi only nodded.

Quickly, Mitsukai did hand signs causing vines and tree roots to shoot out of the ground and nearby foliage, grabbing a hold of Itachi's limbs. With a boost of speed, Mitsukai delivered a powerful kick to his abdomen…causing him to explode which sent her flying. "Bastard!"

"Hm." Itachi smirked, standing on a branch up in a tree. "I said to punch, not kick. And be careful. Those clones aren't made of teddy bear fluff."

She groaned and tried to stand up. The blast was extremely powerful for just a clone. "That's not fair. You're letting me use up all of my energy and chakra while you sit back and watch."

"In any battle, do you honestly think your opponent will fight 'fair'? Besides that, this is only practice. Why should I tire myself out?"

"Good points." She admitted reluctantly, dusting herself off. "Try again?"

Itachi nodded.

Throughout their fight, Itachi's mind constantly went back to Sasuke and Sojobo. He had made a mistake. With all he'd already done to Sasuke, he could not bear to do anything else.

'You're getting weak, Itachi.'

Itachi ignored the voice.

'I'll remind you why you shall do as I ask.'

Suddenly, his vision began to blur, like a person taking off their glasses. He swayed ever so slightly and narrowly dodged one of Mitsukai's powerful kicks. It instead landed on a slim tree behind him, creating a jagged crater where her foot had grazed it. He hastily assessed the situation and determined it would be better to have her fight clones. Utilizing his excess chakra storage, he summoned a shadow clone.

The clone dodged another kick as Itachi moved away undetected. Mitsukai reared back to punch but was cut off with a swift uppercut to her jaw. 'Shit.' She thought as she fell backward. Her hands managed to catch a sturdy branch and she swung herself up, landing on the branch. 'He's going on the defense…offensively?' She started to move but he suddenly disappeared. "What the--?" In mere seconds, he was by her side, leg flying towards her face with unmistakable force. "Hey!" She put up both arms to block the blow but was still forced from the tree.

'I'll have to end this soon…I'll need to save chakra in order to see…' Itachi thought, mentally ordering his clone to fight a little harder. As Mitsukai fell towards the ground, she desperately tried to grab something to hang onto but to no avail. Suddenly, a hand grabbed the front of her clothes in mid air, turned her over, and slammed a knee into her abdomen. Immediately, bile was forced up and spew from her mouth. Then an elbow connected with her spine and sent her crashing to the hard earth below with a loud boom, the force enough to create a large crater around her body. She laid there for a few minutes, allowing the pain to lessen before attempting to move.

'How naïve are you, child?'

'Huh?'

'The Uchiha is toying with you. This is merely aclone. You're going to allow him to make a mockery of you and your progress? Pathetic…truly…pathetic…'

Anger surged through Mitsukai like an out of control speeding train. How dare he?! She grabbed a fistful of leaves, grass, and dirt, gritting her teeth as her blue eyes flashed gold. Even after he admitted knowing why she wanted to spar, he still wouldn't take her seriously. "I'll kill him." She whispered through her teeth. She stood up slowly, the wind swiftly picked up causing fallen leaves to whirl around her in a mini tornado. A low growl rumbled through her. The clone tried to come at her from behind, attempting to knock her unconscious. She slightly moved out of reach and whirled around to face him. It swung at her again and she side-stepped him. His arm went over her shoulder and he looked her square in the eyes. She stared at the clone until her cheek suddenly became wet with blood from a small cut. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the kunai it had in its hand, hidden by the sleeve of the cloak. Greatly increasing the chakra channeling to her feet, she raced forward and punched the clone in the gut. She back flipped away from the explosion and waited patiently. Another clone appeared and she kicked through it. Now he wasn't even trying to make them challenging. They were just obstacles. She fought tears of rage and searched the area for him.

Creating clones usually wasn't such a chore for Itachi. However, he was getting very tired and losing his sight. His clones couldn't fight as effectively if he couldn't see properly. One of them even blinked trying to clear his vision before being disposed of. There was a deep, rumbling, victorious laugh in his head right before everything went pitch black.

Itachi's vision was gone completely.

Mitsukai decided to fight fire with fire. She created a clone of her own. She found him kneeling on a branch close to the top of the tree he was in. 'Bastard…' She punched him square in the nose and he flew off of the branch, falling towards the ground far below hitting thick branches along the way. She looked at the droplets of blood on her knuckles and listened to the sound branches breaking, then the distant thud of a body. Slowly, pain from the punch was felt in her hand and she shook it unconsciously. 'That was onesolid clone…' She mused then paused. He hadn't exploded or poofed when she hit him. She'd heard his body hit the ground far, far below.

"I hit him!" She gasped then cheered wildly. "I knocked the snot out of him!" Sudden clarity hit her, interrupting her cheers. He'd fallen at least forty feet from the tree branch and didn't even try to catch himself or cushion his fall. Her eyes grew to the size of oranges and she let out a shriek of horror. She leapt down, branch to branch, to the forest floor, kneeling beside Itachi. "Itachi-sensei?!"

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"You killed him." Kisame said blankly looking down at Itachi's motionless body, eyes still frozen open wide with shock.

"No, no, no, no! It was an accident!" Mitsukai insisted, fighting tears. She put Itachi's head in her lap, pushing his fallen hair that had escaped his ponytail due to snagging branches during the fall. His face that was spotted with dirt and blood from his nose.

"Accident my ass." Kisame poked Itachi's shoulder with a blue finger. "He's dead."

Mitsukai frowned up, cuddled Itachi tightly, and began sobbing, rocking back and forth as tears fell on his face. The one time she listened to her inner demon… Kisame rolled his eyes and sighed with annoyance. If the girl wasn't so juvenile she'd be able to hear Itachi's heart beating. He was just unconscious. He was concerned, however, that Mitsukai had been able to land any sort of punch, much less one that had be able to knock the man unconscious…unless the fall itself did it… He bent over and pried her arms off of Itachi and picked him up, slinging him over his shoulder.

"What are you—"

"We're gonna take him into the nearest town and rent a motel room. From there I'll be able to check him for injuries." He turned away but glared at her from the corner of his eye. "Now be good and come along."

Mitsukai nodded and stood, waiting patiently for him to lead the way. Kisame grunted. "You should nearly kill people more often…if it'll make you this obedient."

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Kisame, being the king of sarcasm and torture, rented a room with two double beds. Mitsukai insisted on choosing a more traditional hotel that provided single beds instead of one that appealed to tourists by providing actual mattresses instead of mats. Of course, Kisame refused to share his bed with an unconscious man—it would look suspicious. Mitsukai barely slept at all being so close to Itachi. Even though Kisame kept him in everything but his cloak, hat, and shoes, it was beyond awkward being in bed with Itachi. The next day, Kisame gave her some money and told her to go out and buy something to eat.

"Kisame…" Itachi spoke the minute he heard the door shut and her footsteps become faint. "I'm completely blind."

"Hmph. I thought as much."

"Even my Sharingan is useless…" Itachi murmured, laying his forearm across his eyes.

Kisame looked at his partner and forced back the sorrow he felt. He hated seeing anyone one worthy of a good spar succumb to such things like blindness and disease. "You should tell Mother Nature. Maybe she knows enough medic—"

"No." Itachi cut him off sharply. "She may use this to her advantage."

Kisame thought about how Mitsukai cried. "No…I don't think she will."

Itachi was silent, mentally dissecting Kisame's tone. "In any case, do not tell her."

"Then what should I say when you walk into something?" Kisame asked rudely.

"…Nothing. Eventually I'll figure it out."

"Besides, I thought you trained regularly in a blindfold?"

"…Where did you send her?" Itachi asked, deliberately changing the subject. He would never admit he'd let some of his skills get rusty. He had a sense of direction but it wasn't as sharp as it had once been.

Kisame chuckled, opting to ignore Itachi's question.

"If you tell her, she'll only blame herself."

"Then tell her everything. She always seems to know a good deal, Itachi."

"No."

The doorknob turned and Mitsukai walked in carrying a few bags of groceries. "I got everyone some snacks—" She looked at Itachi who was now sitting up. "Itachi-san?"

"Mitsukai."

"Itachi, are you—"

"I'm fine."

Kisame groaned loudly and went to the bathroom, slamming the door and locking it. Mitsukai stared at the door for the longest before speaking again. "I'm sorr—"

"It's fine." Itachi spoke evenly, strangely calm for someone who'd been knocked out the tree like a birdhouse being attacked by a squirrel.

"Are you sure?" Mitsukai put the groceries down on the only table in the room and went to Itachi, bending down to inspect him. He knocked her hand away but didn't look at her. "Itachi…are you sure?"

"HE CAN'T SEE YOU!"

Itachi didn't flinch. "Kisame…"

"What?" Mitsukai stood up and looked at the door as if expecting it to answer.

"He lost his eye sight." Kisame responded.

Mitsukai's eyes doubled in size and her hands flew up to cover her gaping mouth. She let out a sound that Itachi swore was more of a squeal of some animal and took a step back from him. Quickly she waved his hand in front of his face and snatched it back. His pupils showed no reaction to the sudden closeness but his hand nearly caught hers. "Oh…my…God…"

"Mitsukai—"

"ITACHI, I'M SO SORRY!"

"Mitsukai—"

"I JUST GOT SO MAD! I HEARD THE VOICE AND IT MADE ME SO MAD AT YOU SO I GOT SERIOUS—"

"Mitsukai, please—"

"—AND I HIT YOU! I DIDN'T MEAN TO! ITACHI, I SWEAR I DIDN'T MEAN—"

"KID, CAN IT!" Kisame barked, firmly grabbing a shoulder and giving her a good brief shake. "Let Itachi explain—"

"I'm not telling her, Kisame."

"Fine. I will. Ever since Itachi acquired the Mangekyo Sharingan, his eyesight has been deteriorating. Now it seems he's gone completely blind."

They waited for the simple explanation to be processed. Mitsukai looked at Kisame then Itachi. "So this special Sharingan that you wanted Sasuke to have…costs you your eyesight in the end? Then what's the point of getting it?!" She put her hands on her hips.

"Here comes mommy mode." Kisame turned away and retreated to the bathroom.

"It's an unknown side effect."

"With great power comes great sacrifice, you moron!" Mitsukai flailed her arms then gave up the argument. It was a bit late for the lecture anyhow. "I…I can do some research and see if there's a way to try to restore your eyesight…even if by just enough to allow you to see blurs and outlines of things. It's better than nothing."

Itachi only nodded. Kisame came out of the bathroom. "So do you think you can do anything to help?"

"It's a long shot. If I can't do it, I could try to find a medic in town that can. He doesn't need to be cured; he just needs to see."

Kisame nodded. "I think seeking professional help might be a better idea."

"For you, that will always be a better idea. You need all the professional help you can get."

"You are made of bitch."

"You are made of fish." Mitsukai gave him her most innocent smile.

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Using a transformation jutsu, Itachi was seen and treated by a doctor at the local hospital. It had been a challenge to keep his Sharingan hidden from the employees during the procedure since the deterioration affected both his normal and Sharingan eyes. Itachi was ordered to rest his eyes for at least three days before removing the bandages. Kisame refused to lead Itachi around by hand so Mitsukai got stuck with the duty. Kisame made the effort to make it worse by pointing out that with Itachi out of action it would wiser to stay in town until the bandages could be removed. "In the meantime, we should enjoy the vacation."

"I hate you."

"You know, you had no problem kissing someone you thought to be Itachi. I don't see how holding his hand and guiding him around would hurt you any."

"…I really hate you."

"I feel the love, short one."

Taking advantage of the mandatory free time, they decided to spend time in town. Kisame used a transformation and they all dressed in regular clothes to blend in. For three days, Mitsukai was subjected to holding Itachi's hand, hearing his constant complaints of her being so careful with him even though he wasn't fragile, and even occasionally pretending to be a couple when they ran into people who had gotten used to the trio wandering around town. On the fourth day, the town held a festival. It didn't take much to get Kisame to agree to go. Outnumbered, Itachi didn't bother to protest. He requested Mitsukai remove his bandages. To his amazement, he could see well enough to move about on his own. He thought about sharing this with the others but decided against it. He wasn't sure if Mitsukai would continue to be as subservient as she'd been as of late. Even if he wanted to keep it from Mitsukai, he couldn't tell Kisame since he felt a need to tell Mitsukai everything that crossed his mind.

The festival was lively and very loud. There were booths were merchants sold all sorts of things ranging from kimonos (Itachi insisted on picking a white one with red roses out for Mitsukai.), hand-crafted katanas, stuffed bears, and china sets. There were other booths with games where prizes could be won. Mitsukai managed to win herself a small stuffed weasel. Itachi personally threatened bodily harm to Kisame if he so much as whispered one weasel joke in reference to him. Kisame settled on laughing loudly to his mental jokes.