Inevitable

Itachi looked at the sky as he sat on a bench in the middle of the town, waiting for Amejisuto to meet up with him. He had already been there for twenty minutes, making it a half hour since they had separated. "I wonder if something's wrong, or if Kakashi’s bad habits have finally rubbed off on her." After trying to sense her chakra anywhere nearby and not succeeding, he started to get really worried. "I better go look for her...”

He got up and started running towards the place they split up at and saw a pale brown haired man with gold eyes that he had seen looking around suspiciously earlier. "Excuse me, but have you seen a girl dressed the same as me? She has long, dark brown hair and purple eyes," he described.

"Oh, yah I led her to a guy that knows something about a group called the Akatsuki. Are you her partner or something?" he guessed, looking Itachi up and down.

"Yes I am. Can you take me there please? I have a bad feeling that she's in trouble," the Uchiha said, worried for her safety. He knew she could take care of herself, but still, he didn't trust anyone that knew anything about the Akatsuki other than Jiraiya, of course. This could be the person they had to kill and according to Gaara, he was a strong ninja. If Amejisuto wasn't careful, she could’ve been caught off guard and hurt.

"This way," the man gestured for Itachi to follow him. "By the way, my name's Damasu. What's yours?"

"I'm Itachi Uchiha," he replied, following him.

"W-wait...” Damasu stuttered, suddenly looking afraid. "You're an Uchiha?"

"That's what I said. Why do you ask?"

"Do you know Sasuke Uchiha?"

"He's my little brother. Why?"

The man looked slightly scared. "He's one of the ninja that helped get rid of Zabuza and Gato a few years ago."

"Oh, that's right! He told us about it when he came back from that mission. Anyways, can we please hurry up? I don't want my fiancée in any trouble." Itachi grew impatient.

"She was your fiancée? Nice catch," Damasu grinned. They got to the forest and he started walking quicker. Itachi followed closely behind. Eventually they got to the small house. "She's in there. Probably talking to Muryo."

"Thanks," he ran to the house and opened the door cautiously, holding his breath and looking around for any sign of a trap. There was none. He slowly breathed in and then breathed normally once he determined there was no strange knockout gas or anything. It was a small house, but it seemed pretty bare. There was a chair, a lamp, a fireplace, a kitchen area and a bathroom. Otherwise, there was no other decoration or room. "Why would anyone be here?"

"Why, to lure people here, of course," he heard someone say. He spun around and was face to face with Damasu.

"What's going on?" he activated his sharingan. Another man - one that looked almost identical to the deceiver except with black hair - stepped out of the bathroom where he was previously hiding.

"You were looking for that girl? Well we'll take you to her then," the stranger chuckled before Itachi fell over, paralyzed from the shoulders down.

"How did you manage to immobilise me? I don't sense any traps," Itachi looked around as best as he could, trying to figure out his mistake.

"You didn't suspect me at all. While I was leading you here, I put a jutsu on you that slowly stopped your muscles from functioning. Don't worry; I didn't do anything to your organ muscles so you will live. Well, for now at least," Damasu chuckled sadistically.

"I was being careful and yet…" Itachi mumbled.

"You weren’t careful enough. Don’t feel bad, this jutsu is fairly unknown. Pick him up," the stranger ordered the other man, who did as told.

"Who are you?" Itachi growled.

"I'm Muryokuna. Damasu here is my little brother," the man who wasn't holding him answered. The raven was helpless and slightly confused as he was carried to the kitchen area. Muryokuna opened the fridge and Itachi's eyes widened as instead of shelves, there was a hidden staircase. The deceiver started a small fire in his palms, keeping it steady as the men carried Itachi to the basement.

An unseen girl started shouting from the bottom of the stairs. "Hey, jerks! Let me go or my fiancé will kick your asses back to Sunagak-"

"Shut up. We already captured him," Muryokuna growled. Damasu reached the bottom of the stairs and kicked someone out of the way. "Tie her up," the older brother ordered. The Uchiha's eyes widened as he finally caught a glimpse of the girl - not that he hadn't guessed it was her already. He recognised her voice almost right away, but seeing was different than hearing.

"Amejisuto!"

"Itachi!"

"I'm so sorry, I can't save you. I'm paralyzed," Itachi said, still disappointed in himself for being trapped so easily.

"I'm sorry I didn't go to you right away when I heard that someone knew about the Akatsuki." He heard her start sobbing. "What are you doing to me? Get away, you asshole!"

Dim lights flickered on, revealing Damasu lifting the pale brunette's arms over her head. He tied up her wrists with one end of a rope, swinging the other end over a low support beam. He pulled on the free end and Amejisuto was slowly raised in the air, hanging by her wrists. She cried out in pain as she felt her arms detach from her shoulders.

Itachi felt helpless as he was forced to watch. "Stop! Please, stop! I'll do anything, just let her go," he begged.

"We can't do that. Of course, we can lessen her pain," the brunet said, making his hand glow with chakra. "I know basic medical ninjutsu."

"What do you want from us?!"

"Just some answers," Muryokuna dropped the raven roughly, making him smack his head against the cold dirt.

"First of all, who are you really?" Damasu glared. "There's no way you're Itachi Uchiha. Everyone knows that the Uchiha clan is selfish and cut off. You came looking for this girl, and you're still concerned for her safety."

"She's my fiancée! Of course I would be concerned!"

"Future wife or not, if you were a true Uchiha, you wouldn't care."

"You don't know anything about the Uchiha's, do you?! You question me on being one, which I am, but you wouldn't know at all!"

"Shut up! Damasu, you're an idiot! This is the famous Itachi Uchiha! I would know him anywhere. Besides, you couldn't have missed his sharingan," Muryo slapped his brother.

"S-sorry," the younger looked completely saddened for a few seconds before making himself look menacing again. "Alright, who is this?" He jabbed his finger into Ameji's side, making her squeak.

"I'm Amejisuto Ishi," she whimpered as the poke moved her, making her arms even more painful.

"Why were you looking for us?"

"It's a secret mission. I can't give any details," she said, trying to stay strong, though her façade was slowly slipping the longer she stayed hanging from her wrists.

"Give us the details or we will cut your organs out from least important to most," Damasu threatened, taking out a kunai.

Itachi's chest tightened in fear for his companion. "No! We're here because-"

"Don't tell anything. It's none of their business. Even if I get even more hurt, that's just another day for a ninja," Amejisuto shot a sad smile toward her mentor before screaming as the younger man opened her cloak and slashed a deep cut across her stomach. The older brother decided that torturing them was going to be more fun than interrogation, so he put tape across Itachi's mouth to not hear his protests anymore and watched the torture with sick pleasure.

"You know what, this cloak gets in the way too much," he sliced it off and it fell to the ground.

Itachi felt slight power crawling through him again, fueled by rage, as he watched his future wife endure shallow but painful cuts across the most sensitive parts of her arms, stomach and legs. He looked at Muryokuna, who was looking pleased as he watched his little brother cut the younger girl, and then at his fingers. He could feel them moving, and he knew that he would soon be able to move his body again. He concentrated for a moment on gaining a surge of chakra and activated his sharingan.

"Itachi!" Amejisuto gasped as she saw him get up. The other men turned around in surprise, all of them knowing that the Uchiha wouldn't fall for their paralyzing jutsu again.

"You should really pay attention to any identifying factors on your victim's bodies," he said, pointing to the Ishi's fallen cloak. The men looked terrified as they noticed the red clouds on the black cloak.

"Y-you're part of the Akatsuki?!" they both yelled, suddenly terrified as if their opponents had just grown stronger with the title.

"Yes, and now that I have my body functioning again, we might even get to show you true fear," he took the kunai from Damasu, who was frozen in place, and cut the rope that held his partner. "Heal her now," he demanded. He held the kunai to his neck, forcing him to work as fast as he could.

"Just because we learned they're Akatsuki doesn't mean they're any more powerful than a minute ago!" Muryokuna hissed.

"Well you caught us off guard. Good technique," Amejisuto complimented bitterly, hissing at the dirt getting into her wounds before they healed. "But now it's our turn to fight back." She started whistling, giving their eyes small, painful cuts, making them scream in agony.

"My turn," Itachi pointed to both of them, casting a genjutsu, and they collapsed, twitching as they lay on the cold ground.

"Wait, we need to ask if they know Maku," the Ishi said, healing a few stray cuts that the man missed.

"You know medical ninjutsu?"

"Lady Tsunade taught me a bit," she admitted. "But seriously. You should make them talk."

"Just give them a second," he said. Right away, they sat up, screaming again.

"Where's Maku?!" Itachi asked harshly.

"H-he lives in a huge house the next town over. You can't miss it," Damasu started to try to heal his wounds.

"Thanks. Goodbye," Itachi pulled out two kunai and his eyes turned normal again as he threw them into the brother's skulls, killing them instantly.

"What did you do that for?!" Amejisuto hissed, not liking his methods. Itachi grabbed her and kissed her harshly but sweetly, anxiety, anger and worry evident in it; the Ishi could practically taste the emotions. He pulled away and wrapped her in a tight hug, laying his head against the side of hers and snuggling into her shoulder.

"From now on, you will not leave my side," he said firmly once he was done with his short breakdown.

Ameji smiled, slightly proud at being the only one that could make Itachi Uchiha freak out like this. "Sure. I'm sick of being kidnapped anyway."

They walked up the stairs and out of the house, taking it easy and walking to the main town again to get a room for the night. They were exhausted and needed to heal up. They would go looking for Maku tomorrow.