Disclaimer: I own nothing

Pairing: Sasuke/Kagome, mentions of Itachi/Kagome, Naruto/Kagome

"Hah," Karin sneered, crossing her arms and watching in jealousy as Kagome wrapped a few bandages over the wounds that she could not heal on Sasuke's chest, "You claim you want to kill Itachi, but you can't even take down one little member of the Akatsuki?"

"Relax, will ya?" Suigetsu rolled his eyes as he sipped on his water, "We've been moving non-stop for days now," He gave her a mocking smirk that revealed his shark-like teeth, "It's a good time to catch up on some rest."

"All you've done is rest, you asshole!" Karin retorted angrily, while pushing up her glasses with a finger, "Someone like you shouldn't get a say!"

Kagome sighed, trying to ignore the arguing in the background while she finished up, "There, done," She pulled down, looking at Sasuke in a lightly-veiled concern, "How are you feeling?" She asked, watching him pull a loose haori over his bandaged shoulders.

"Shut up," Sasuke frowned, looking rather irritated at all the noise his comrades were creating, "Even with all the time I gave, you have found zero information on Itachi." He accused, observing as Karin glanced down and Suigetsu glanced out the window.

"I gathered tips on Akatsuki as a whole," Suigetsu admitted, scratching the back of his head, "And it's like Juugo said, they're targeting a specific group of people," He shrugged, leaning against the wall behind him, "But nothing more than that."

"A specific group of people?" Sasuke frowned, recalling Akatsuki's preoccupation with Naruto and it was clear that they were after the Kyuubi sealed inside of Naruto and not Naruto himself. Perhaps there were more people like Naruto out there?

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Karin said in rather snobby tone, looking arrogant as everyone turned to look at her with slightly puzzled expressions, "A specific group of people?" She repeated, shrugging while glancing out the window, "It's sounds a lot like the Bijuu."

"Bijuu?" Sasuke raised a brow, though he honestly did not look too interested as Karin smirked at Kagome, seeing that she had the upper advantage in this situation due to her knowledge.

"Yeah, they are like the Kyuubi no Youko from Konoha, where you're from, Sasuke," Karin stated, "The Bijuu are powerful demons that have chakra physically manifesting as tails. They're chakra monsters."

'Demons?' Kagome widened her blue eyes before they narrowed somewhat, 'So there are demons in this world,' She thought grimly, glancing at Sasuke and seeing that he looked a little more interested, 'Just not as widespread in this world than what I'm used to.'

"There are nine Bijuu in total," Karin continued on with no hesitation, "And each of them have a different number of tails. The last I've heard is that they are sealed into humans so their village can take advantage over the Bijuu that way."

'That kitsune boy must have been one of those people,' Kagome thought, a bit shocked that there was only nine demons in this ninja world. The fact that they were sealed into humans was a bit more startling however, 'It seems humans aren't any less selfish in this world than they are in mine.' She sighed at the thought, jumping when she felt something slump against her shoulder.

"Are you even listening to me?" Karin asked with annoyance, her brow twitching madly as Sasuke slumped against Kagome, "You basta–!"

"Just be quiet already," Kagome rolled her eyes, placing Sasuke back into bed and placing the covers over him, "Sasuke is still exhausted from his battle with that blond Akatsuki member."

"Listen to the pretty one, Karin," Suigetsu smirked, snickering as she glared heatedly at him in response, "And stop putting up such a fuss all the time."

"Anyways," Kagome stopped Suigetsu before he could provoke another fight that would only wake up Sasuke, "While Sasuke is asleep, do you mind telling me more about these Bijuu, Karin?" She asked with a small smile, trying to be friendly with the hot-headed red-haired girl.

Karin snorted, crossing her arms over her chest, "What I said before is all that I know about them," She said, "They are very powerful, so it's not too surprising that the Akatsuki would sought after them." She blinked her red eyes, glancing out the window with a slight frown.

"What it is?" Suigetsu asked warily, seeing the expression on her face, "Do you sense something?" He asked, his hand tightening around the hilt of Kubikiribocho.

"Yeah," Karin answered quietly, closing her eyes briefly to concentrate more closely on the chakra, "There's no mistake that they are heading this way," Her eyes opened once more to glance at her teammates, "There's a lot of them, along with some non-human chakra," She frowned lightly, "Dogs, I think. They could be following after our scent, so it could be the Akatsuki or even Konoha."

"Oi, Sasuke!" Suigetsu said loudly, standing up and heaving Kubikiribocho over his shoulder, "Wake up! We have company!"

Sasuke opened his eyes, glaring from the corners, "Come," He said simply, abandoning the bed without another thought and slipping off his clothes to put on some more combat-ready ones, "We're leaving."

"We should ambush them," Karin suddenly said, "Whether it's either Konoha or Akatsuki, both are bound to know something about Itachi."

"It's Konoha," Kagome murmured, feeling that kitsune boy's chakra, even from how far they were away, "I can sense fox boy's energy coming this way."

"So there's no point in ambushing them, right?" Suigetsu looked pointedly at Karin as Team Hebi moved outside of the little inn they were staying in.

"Right now, we will use Juugo's information that he managed to collect about the Akatsuki's numerous hideouts," He unfolded a map for his team to see, "Forget about Konoha," With that, he proceeded down the stairs without another word to the three shinobi, "Come, Kagome. Give me some of your chakra while we go."

Karin huffed, watching with jealousy as Sasuke forcibly pulled Kagome to his side by putting an arm around his shoulder, "Anyways," She said loudly, ignoring Suigetsu's snicker as she turned to Juugo, "Gather as many birds as you can."

Juugo blinked, "What for?" He asked, watching as Karin flushed a slight red while holding up a tattered white haori.

"This is Sasuke's old shirt," She smirked, her eyes hidden behind her eerily shining glasses, "It's covered in his sweat and blood, so we can use this to lure those Leaf punks away from our trail."

Juugo just glanced at her strangely, "Why do you have Sasuke's discarded shirt?" He asked, not too sure that he actually wanted an answer.

"T-that's...!" Karin's face burned a bright red before she got a hold of herself, "Konoha is using dogs to trace our scent, so we'll use this to our advantage." She tore Sasuke's haori into strips with a kunai and gave an arrogant smirk.

Juugo could only sigh while doing as Karin had asked for...

~00~

"How much energy are you going to take?" Kagome asked with slight irritation, panting a bit as Sasuke took some of her 'chakra' as he called it, "You do realise that I need it to move around and keep up with you." She was beginning to grow exhausted from her earlier healing of him and his draining of her energy.

"I need it to kill Itachi." Sasuke said simply, glancing down at the map where he had marked the Akatsuki's numerous hideouts. He would go to each and every single one of them to find his brother if he absolutely had to.

"Are we not going to wait for the others?" She asked, frowning as Sasuke practically dragged her with him.

"They will get in the way," Sasuke stated, seeing that the first hideout was a cave not far from their current location, "Come, we will check this one out first." He demanded and Kagome could only sigh while rolling her blue eyes.

It took only about ten minutes to reach the destination, "There's... someone in there." Kagome said quietly, able to sense something that was amiss in the area.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, moving forwards into the cave cautiously and allowing Kagome to follow after him. He peered from behind a rock, still careful as he spotted a figure standing within the darkness of the cave.

The figure slowly glanced up, "So, you've come," He said, his voice echoing around the cave as Kagome came to stand behind Sasuke and stare curiously at the mysterious figure, "It's me... Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes immediately turned crimson as his pupils finally grew accustomed to the dim lighting and a slow anger seemed to take over his face.

"You have grown a bit taller," Itachi noted, his eyes focused on the girl hiding behind his brother, "And I see you have discovered the allure of a female's flesh."

Kagome frowned, looking between the two and seeing the great resemblance between them, 'This is him,' She thought grimly, spotting the same black cloak that Deidara had been wearing, 'This is Itachi... Sasuke's older brother.'

"You're still the same," Sasuke stated icily, "Even those cold eyes of yours."

Itachi's expression did not change in the least, "Are you not going to scream out and attack like you did three years ago?" He asked monotonously.

Sasuke let out a short but dark laugh, "You know nothing about me." His red eyes narrowed and Kagome took a step back when Sasuke suddenly disappeared from his spot in front of her and reappeared behind Itachi.

He impaled Itachi in the chest with a bolt of his lightning chakra before the older Uchiha could even react, "How much hatred I carry within myself," Sasuke tightened his fist, "And how strong I became because of that hatred."

Kagome glanced up, staring at the impaled Itachi and sensing something wrong, "Sasuke," She said quietly, coming up beside him and she couldn't help to wince when she noticed Itachi coughing up blood, "It's..." She watched as Sasuke retracted his chakra, allowing Itachi to slam in the ground in front of them.

"You have... become strong," Itachi said and Sasuke was not surprised to see his body suddenly turn into a flock of crows that flew around them in an arranged pattern, "However, I see you are attached to a miko."

Kagome widened her blue eyes, "How do you know that I am a miko?" She growled, feeling that strange feeling in her eyes as they slowly shifted into the Sharingan, "How do you know?" She repeated, wincing a bit when the mark burned and ugly black markings started to spread across the right side of her body because of her anger.

"You tarnish the Uchiha name, Sasuke," Itachi's voice came from the crows, "Come to the Uchiha hideout. I will let you settle things there." The flock abruptly vanished in a flash of black feathers.

'How does Sasuke's brother know that I am a miko?' Kagome thought, feeling her mind slowly cloud in anger. It was something that she didn't want to get out and yet Itachi somehow knew about it?

"Kagome," Sasuke said sharply, seeing the girl struggling with her rage as the curse marks spread with an eerie orange glow that lit up the dim light of the cave, "Pull yourself together." He demanded.

"He knows," Kagome muttered under her breath, "He knows!" Her hair covered her eyes and her gloved hand clenched tightly, "He knows," The curse influenced her mind and shrouded it in hatred and anger, "About me."

The only thought on her mind was to–

KILL

She growled when she felt arms wrap around her neck from behind and pull her into a broad chest, "Kagome," She felt Sasuke rest his head on her shoulder, "Calm down." He ordered.

But even his voice was not enough to stop it.

The Uchiha frowned, flipping Kagome around and seeing that the curse mark was spreading even further and listened as she breathed raggedly. She was rapidly losing control and he had to stop the descent before it fully enveloped her mind.

Kagome could only freeze when she felt Sasuke's lips slam against hers.

.

.

.

.

.

He was kissing her!