"Just a few more." Hinata exhaled deeply to regain her strength. She concentrated all of her energy into her hands, which were displayed in front of her ready to attack. Her eyes, veins protruding from her temples, were focused on the tree before her. With a deep breath Hinata struck the tree in its center. Moving at high speed, Hinata struck the tree in different places, hitting it at its weak points. She did this every day, moving quicker and quicker and attacking stronger and stronger.

Hinata stood upright, dropping her hands to her sides and letting her eyes return to normal. She smiled inwardly at herself, proud that she had gotten through another day's training. Today made day five of her scheduled training and it was an accomplished five days. She felt like she had gotten a lot stronger since she started, like her energy was more balanced and she could sense things more easily.

As if on cue, Hinata sensed someone nearby. She honed in on the energy the person was giving off, trying to decipher who it was. Her hair stood on the back of her neck when she recognized who the energy belonged to. Quickly, she turned toward the direction she knew he was in and got back into her fighting stance. Her Byakugan was activated and helped her search through the trees and bushes till her eyes landed on his figure.

Years ago, Hinata would have run for help because she knew she couldn't take him on all by herself. She wasn't strong enough, physically, to take on a criminal of that rank. Would she have tried to? Sure, as stubborn and strong-willed as she was she would have fought with every ounce of energy in her body. She wouldn't have won, though. But that was years ago. Hinata grew up, learned a lot, and she had gotten a lot stronger. Even Neji acknowledged how much power she had gained, he even started to consider her as an equal. Something inside Hinata opened when Neji recognized her as his equal and made her want to train even harder to keep his words true. So she had. And now it seemed like all her work was about to pay off.

As Hinata waited for the man to appear, she could very quickly sense that something was wrong. She knew he knew she was there, and he knew she knew he was there. The only thing between them was distance marked with a few trees. So why wasn't he attacking? Hinata looked around but found no other source of chakra; he was alone. It was unusual for an Akatsuki member to come alone, they generally came in pairs. Unless the rules had changed, something was definitely wrong.

She watched the figure and realized he was slumped against a tree, his chakra was fading gradually. He must be hurt. Hinata wondered where he came from and what he had done to wind up in this very forest, alone and injured. If he was injured then that meant somebody from the Leaf village knew he was here and had already taken care of the situation but he had escaped. Therefore, since Hinata found him she would have to finish the job.

Not wanting to waste another moment, Hinata jumped into a tree and made her way toward the man, all the while keeping her eyes trained on him.

~W~

Blood covered his entire torso and he could barely keep his eyes open. His face was pale; his hair matted and stuck to his cheeks. If he didn't do something soon he would die, and it sure as hell was not his time yet. He could sense someone nearby; he had spotted him and was on his way toward him. With his luck it'd be his little brother, come to finish him off. That'd be a cheap way to go, huh? He grinned at the thought but it faded quickly. If he was going to die he'd die on his own terms, not because of his brother or the fuckers that did this to him. He wasn't going to die, not tonight.

He was slumped heavily against the bark of a tree; it was the only thing holding him up. His legs shook from the weight of his body and he felt like he was going to collapse any second. He coughed into his hand and found blood in his palm. He cursed inwardly, trying to take a step forward. Pain shot through his lower right side and he grunted, gripping his side.

Fucking assholes.

With his pain in his mind he nearly forgot about the person coming toward him. He tried to take another step forward but the pain made him stop. He couldn't get away if he tried, and even if he could, hiding was not his way of doing things. He knew one thing and one thing only: he wasn't going to die tonight, and the person after him was going to make sure of that.

~W~

She was above him now and could easily make out that he was Itachi Uchiha. Out of all the members in the Akatsuki Itachi was the most notorious for the Leaf village. It was his home and he was the cause of Sasuke's rebellion. Because of him they had lost the last two Uchiha members and caused a lot of problems. Hinata could tell Itachi wasn't able to fight, but he always had a trick up his sleeve no matter what. Despite his weak appearance she wouldn't let her guard down.

She jumped down in front of him and thought something looked off. Yes, he was badly injured and could barely stand up, but there was something askew. His cloak was gone, and looking closer, so was his ring. Hinata watched him with careful eyes, her mind suddenly racing. This could be a trap to get her closer to him. If it was she had already let her guard down. But she had scanned the area and found nobody with her. What if it was an illusion to lure her out here? She bit her lip like she always did when she was nervous. Itachi coughed again, jerking her out of her thoughts.

"What are you doing here, Itachi?" Hinata felt dumb for asking him a question when she should really be getting help. She didn't know what else to do, though. It felt wrong to just blatantly attack an already injured person. That would be kicking him when he's down, and Hinata felt like that wasn't necessary. But he's a criminal, her conscience chimed in. So what? That didn't justify her killing a weak person. He's not weak; he's very much capable of killing you. You're letting your guard down!

Hinata cursed under her breath and tried to focus. The main thing was figuring out why he was here and who had injured him so badly. If she could figure that out then she could go from there.

His back was against the tree and his eyes were closed. She watched his chest rise and fall in slow, deep breaths. Blood stained his black clothes and specks of blood marked his face.

It took him a few minutes to speak but when he finally did his voice was hoarse and she had to lean in to hear him. "I didn't come here on my own."

Immediately, Hinata charged at Itachi and held a kunai against his throat. His breath hit her face as their eyes met. His were weak, black and droopy. He fell forward onto her and she pushed him against the tree. If Hinata's guard wasn't up she would admit that this felt awkward, but right now she needed answers.

"Who are you here with?"

His eyes drew closed and she shook him to wake him up. She repeated her question and this time he mumbled something incoherently. Something was definitely wrong and Hinata didn't know what to do. Obviously, Itachi wasn't in any shape to commence a fight. So he wasn't any danger to anyone so Hinata didn't need to worry about that. What she did worry about, though was who else was here with him.

"Who did this to you, Itachi?"

She put her ear close to his mouth so she could hear him. Thankfully, he spoke clearly this time. "Akatsuki."

Her eyes widened in shock and she thought she misheard. He coughed and grunted in pain. Hinata was at a crossroads. If she helped him that would be helping a criminal and she would get in big trouble for it. However, Hinata was of reasonable mind and could tell he was not dangerous. He's not dangerous right now, that is. She bit her lip, thinking of her options. She looked down at him and saw his wound; it was not going to heal without proper help.

Sticking her kunai back in her pouch, Hinata took off her sweater and tied it around Itachi's waist and knotted it to help stop the bleeding. She knew she was strong but she didn't know how strong she was and was unsure if she could successfully carry Itachi. Not seeing any other option, Hinata slung his arm over her shoulder and lifted him onto her back. He grunted and his weight fell on top of her. A man of his size was heavy but Hinata figured she could make it to her place without any difficulty.

The only problem was getting there unnoticed. She looked up at the sky and saw the sun was already descending. That meant people were either home or on their way home and the streets would be empty. She just had to wait, but she didn't know how long Itachi had left. Cursed with decisions, Hinata chewed on her lower lip in concentration. There was a river not far from there and if she could get him there, clean his wound and apply some healing chakra to it, the sun will have gone down by then and she could make it home without anybody noticing.

With a plan in mind Hinata raced toward the river, gripping Itachi firmly so he wouldn't fall off. When she got there she set him down gently against a tree and undid her sweater around his waist. The pressure of the knot seemed to have stopped some of the bleeding but not all of it. Gently, Hinata lifted up his shirt and found the wound was even bigger than she had imagined. Grimacing, she dabbed at the wound gently to wipe off the access blood. Dipping part of the sweater in the river helped to clean him off and show the wound more clearly.

Thanks to Sakura's help, she had learned a simple healing technique for minor wounds. She didn't know how much this would help on a wound of this stature but she had to try. She also had to do it quickly in case anyone stumbled upon them. Pressed for time, Hinata channeled her chakra into her palms and began to heal his wound. She watched his face every couple of seconds to see if he would awaken but he remained unconscious. When she thought she could do no more, she stopped to assess her work. The wound stopped bleeding and seemed to healed but not completely. He would need time, and that worried Hinata.

With the night upon them, Hinata lifted Itachi onto her back and made her way home. Thankfully, her friends were off on a mission and nobody was out on the streets. She prayed nobody could sense Itachi's chakra as she opened the door to her home. She laid him on her bed after putting a sheet down in case he started to bleed again. She took his shirt off, wiped his torso and face with a wet washcloth and put a class of cold water on the night stand in case he woke up. His hair had fallen out of his pony tail and was spread on the pillow. Hinata watched him sleep for a second and couldn't help but decide he looked peaceful. She wondered how a man who looked so serene in his sleep could be so dangerous.

A/N: I changed the plot to this story, not drastically, but it's easier on me because Itachi fighting all members of the Akatsuki requires way too much work. So I deleted the parts about revenge. If you see anything about revenge on the Akatsuki, just ignore it. Sorry for the inconvenience.