With you till the End - Uchiha Itachi Fanfic [Edited]

Chapter 9 - Developments

Emiko pov:

I hummed a slow tune as I cleaned up after lunch, doing the dishes and putting away some leftovers that could be eaten in the night. Itachi and I had settled into a routine in the Akatsuki and weeks had turned to months, and months had turned to years. Five years had gone by in a flash since we joined the Akatsuki and we had settled in well.

Itachi had turned nineteen a few weeks ago but it was still a few months before I did. We had changed a bit over the years, growing both mentally and physically, but remained the same people we were at heart when we were still in Konoha.

In terms of appearances, Itachi had grown quite tall and now stood nearly a head over me. He remained lean but was broad and toned, and was a very handsome man now. I had grown tall as well and now had more womanly curves. I resembled my mother quite a bit and it often had me wondering how she and Father we're doing, if they had heard of what had happened, and knew of my affiliation with the Akatsuki now. I'm sure they were very angry at me and Itachi...but I wished that I could see them sometime and tell them the truth. I didn't know if or when that would happen though, since I was yet to go out on a mission.

The Uchiha Clan's massacre haunted Itachi every day, giving him no solace. It haunted me too, but surely not as much as it did him. He had become a closed shell, was unsocial, remaining silent and interacting with the other members of the Akatsuki as less as possible, and spent his free time in our room with me or by himself. Though he appeared emotionless and cold to everyone else, I always knew what he was truly feeling inside. He often remained despondent but there were rare moments when he was calm when we were together, when we basked in each other's unconditional affection.

He never slept undisturbed since that night, and woke up at least once because of nightmares or just unpleasant dreams. Being a light sleeper, I woke up whenever he did and soothed him until he fell asleep again by holding him in an embrace, his face tucked in the crook of my neck and shoulder, and his arms wrapped around my waist.

I had begun to worry about his health too, for as the days passed he began to grow pale and weaker. Though I knew healing Ninjutsu, it wasn't my specialty so I hadn't been able to figure out what exactly was wrong with him. I did give him overall healing sessions every now and then but it wasn't helping much and had me worrying for him more and more.

Itachi had told me about his wish on the day we came to the Akatsuki, that he wanted Sasuke to kill him in an act of revenge for what he had done to the clan. I knew he was blaming himself heavily, drowning in guilt for not being able to prevent what had happened, but wishing for Sasuke to kill him was too much. Yes, it would make people believe that only Itachi and I were in the wrong, that the Uchiha Clan was still respectable and Sasuke would become a hero who killed a traitor...but the mere thought of such wonderful brothers who had always loved each other so much fighting to the death was terrible.

Though I was against it, he had begged me to support him in the matter, and I could do nothing but agree because he was so desperate. I wanted him to be at peace and live healthily until then at least.

In the time we had been here, all the members had gone out on missions, mostly ones that had earned the organization a lot of money. The Akatsuki was gathering money and power for their goal of taking control of the world in some way.

My strength at as kunoichi had been recognized since I trained often, even sparring against the other members when I got the chance. I had especially been satisfied with nearly maiming Hidan in a spar for all the cussing he sent my way, and to all the others too, and I had been greatly appreciated by Leader sama for my skills. Well, years of training had improved my stamina enough to make my combination jutsu more powerful than before and one I could use without getting tired.