Hi everyone

I know it has been a long time since I have updated, but things have been a tough for me. I finished University and have been struggling ever since trying to get a job, keep drawing, and also have time to write. I try to my best to write and draw, but with no income on either it is very difficult for me to continue. So yes I am updating it is just very slow.

I do have a proposal to help with updates and also try and actually make a small amount of income. I would like to create a small manga, updated every 2 weeks. Something you could download and pay for, so that I can eat. I would update a 1 chapter (20pg) 1 week and the one of the fanfiction the 2nd week, and so on. But the only way I can do this if enough people are willing to go along with it. I have put up a link on my profile to the first few test pages. You can decide from there if it is worth it, and PM me about any questions. I have put up a poll on my profile as well.

Edit: for some reason the link isn't showing up properly so I here it is, just take out the spaces: lilbakasaru. wordpress 2016 / 06 /12 /elysian-test-pages /

I will still update of course, but it will be slow, and will be based on when I have time. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.

(unbetaed)

Chapter 36: Underground pass

"My name un... my name is Deidara..." he said, the smile still in place.

Itachi didn't return it; he gave a nod and turned back to his pack. He heard a disappointed sigh from the blonde human that couldn't help but make him smirk. He made the human wait much longer while he packed the rest of his pack away, and hid it.

"Itachi," he finally said, and couldn't help but notice the smile filter over the human's face again.

"I looked after Deidara until I was sure he would be okay, since he had no home to return to he settled here, and I would visit him between missions. But one of those nights I was...caught up in a slight predicament...," he stuttered the last part out. Sasuke could swear that he's never seen his brother look so uncomfortable. The human next to him snorted. "Yeah as if 'slight predicament' describes it, un", he replied.

"What happened?"

Itachi took a deep breath, a small, nearly unnoticeable amount of redness made its way to his cheeks and Sasuke realised that with a some irk that his normally stoic brother was actually blushing. This had to be something really embarrassing to get such a reaction out of him.

"I went into rut," he finally answered.

Oh

Sasuke had to look away, he couldn't look at his older brother, going into a rut was an awkward topic, it usually happened when a demon denied one of the their most basic needs, sex. Most demons didn't last long without mating at least once after they have come of age, the younger ookami had always thought how much will power his older brother must have possessed to withstand a rut, but evidentially biology had won out on that occasion.

Sasuke listened to his brother completely enraptured. A part of him not believing what he was hearing, his brother had mated, mated to a human at that.

"I had been able to keep my body under control for two seasons, I had felt that I would not ever need to mate, but biology forced its way through when my body realised that I had met my true mate."

"Your true mate? A human...?" although not uncommon within a youkai community, having a true mate with a whole different species was unheard of.

"It's not as if it hasn't happened before..." Kakashi murmured thoughtfully.

That was true, his own Naruto was a halfbreed, his father had been human, and it didn't make Sasuke love him any less; but his brother has always been such a stickler for the rules that he couldn't imagine him breaking any, especially this one. This could mean expulsion from the village, even death. Not that Sasuke wouldn't risk any of that for Naruto.

Is that how his brother felt about this human?

"Itachi..." he murmured but his brother heard and turned to him, dark eyes meeting each other in understanding. "You are willing to give it all up?"

Itachi smiled and turned to look Deidra with a warm smile, "I had already decided upon that before we mated, we already went through the blood bond." Then he moved his collar to the side to show off his mating mark. A permanent bond, separating them would mean death either way.

Sasuke nodded, "I understand..."

"Uchiha?" Neji turned to him with a surprised look.

"I would do the same if it came to Naruto, so I understand, " not much more had to be said. It would just take him so time adjust to this news first, and Itachi knew that, and gave him a slight nod.

The group was quiet for a while, the only sound being the that of the crackling fire and the howling winds from the storm outside; but it felt light and not as oppressive. There were more important matters to think about.

"How long do you think the storm will last," Sasuke asked, he was eager to get moving again.

"A couple of hours maybe, I'm not sure. We could be stuck here for a while, if we go out now we will freeze to death, " Itachi replied then took a sip of his tea.

Sasuke became irritate again. "But we can't stay here forever!" he shouted.

The room went quiet again and Sasuke started feeling a little lost. He needed to get to Naruto soon, they had been apart too long and the constant guilt was starting to make him feel nearly as sick as the poison did. His mark throbbed and he could feel the link between them thinning to near breaking point.

"Un..." every turned to the human Deidara who, was looking down at his cup.

"There is an underground pathway , un. Though it won't take you all the way though, it is also unstable un..."

Sasuke sprang up "We will take it!"

"Otouto do not be so fool hardy, if we wait a few hours the storm will probably die down, we should wait till then instead of taking a more dangerous route," Itachi admonished but Sasuke wasn't hearing any of, he was already riled up. He was going towards were everyone's pack was rummaging through it too find his own.

"Then I'll go on my own, this is my mission anyway, I shouldn't have dragged any of you into this anyway," he said throwing things aside until he found his pack. Suddenly he felt someone grab his shoulder, he turned around to throw them off him, but stopped when he realised it was Gaara.

The raccoon demon gave him a stern look, "Uchiha, calm down, Naruto's is my brother. I want him safe as well; but we have to be smart about this. You will end up dead before you even reach him."

Sasuke stood himself up straight, and gave Gaara a distraught sigh. "It's been nearly a week, I've been feeling Naruto's pain all through it, and I can't do anything about it. I have to find him and make things right." He shouldered his pack and walked past Gaara. "I'm taking the passage way."

"Then I'm coming with you, " Kakashi said also standing up, "Someone has to be there to make sure you don't do anything stupid. " although he thought going through this underground pass was a bad idea in the first place. He then turned to the others. "When the weather clears up you will follow. Hopefully you will get there as backup if things go wrong."

Itachi nodded in agreement. "We still have that lanterns somewhere don't we?" he asked Deidara. The blonde nodded and stood up and retrieve a lamp.

"It's filled with fuel so you should be okay, un." He said handing the lamp to Sasuke.

The raven gave a sincere thank you. "Where is the passage?" he asked.

"It's across the cliff face, we have to leave the cave un." Deidara went to get his coat but Itachi stopped him.

"No, the blizzard is still raging outside I'll do it, you stay here."

The blonde pouted wanting to protest that he could do it; but didn't say anything. Instead he sat down with a huff, and let his mate handle it. They would talk about this later, when things weren't so urgent. He watched bundle himself up in warm clothes, and then turn to him, reach out and press a quick kiss against his temple. He blushed, since now everyone in the room was looking at him, so he turned and went to attend to the fire to distract himself.

Itachi wasn't fazed at all by all the stares and then started to lead Sasuke and Kakashi out of the cavern back out of the tunnel. Sasuke stuck close to his brother stepping into his footsteps so that they didn't trigger any traps. The closer they got to the entrance the louder the sound of the wind got, a particularly strong gust sent a flurry of ice shards cutting into his face. Sasuke pulled his hood down further and followed his brother as they walked along the narrow cliff face down and towards the other side of the mountain. The wind was stronger here and ever more cutting.

Sasuke held his breath and pushed forward there was a gap in the cliff face and barley wide enough for them to fit through. They had to turn and walk in sideways to fit through the narrow gap, it was dark and the younger ookami had to wonder how his brother even knew about this place.

Itachi as always seemed to be reading his mind. "Rouges roam the area, although they don't come out this far, I don't want to risk it with Deidara being alone here most of the time. So I had found this tunnel for a quick escape back to the human lands. The tunnel in unstable but it should be okay if you move carefully."

The tunnel is started to widen up, and until it was wide enough so that he could stand properly again. There was sharp clicking noise and he saw sparks before a loud whooshing noise and there was an open scroll in Itachi's hand with a bright flame floating over it. It was just enough so that he could see the long winding passage way, it seemed to go on forever.

"Here take this," Itachi said handing the scroll to him. "The tunnel is just a straight path, it will lead you right to the border, from there it's only a few hours. Be careful, and make sure to hide your ears and tail when you reach the Lightning Country."

Sasuke nodded and took the scroll off him, he thanked his brother and he and Kakashi went to walk down the tunnel.

"Oh and Sasuke," Sasuke turned and looked at his brother. "be safe."

"Hn," Sasuke and grunted and they continued on their way.

OoOoOoOoO

Minato left his sons room with a small smile, Naruto had eventually fallen asleep again. Too tired from his injuries and giving birth to keep himself awake, he needed his rest. Juugo had come back and then he left himself. There were things he needed to get done, he strode down the hall were Jiraiya was already waiting for him.

"Is everything set up?" he asked.

"Yes I already sent messengers out to the council members, they will arrive soon; but Minato are you sure-"

"I am very sure, their stipulation was very clear, as long I didn't have an heir I wouldn't be able to take full control. With Naruto here, that will change," he turned to Jiraiya his blue eyes burning bright with determination. "I will make things right, I will get my Kurama back."

"Is that what you're going to do?"

Both men turned to see Kushina standing there, her beautiful face pale and worn. "You're going to bring him back?"

Minato strode towards her, he stopped a foot away from her and gave her a solemn stare. "You know I have to."

"What about me then?" Kushina snapped back.

"Kushina we won't be under their control any longer, I will disband the council and then we can live our own lives again."

"L-lives?" she stuttered out in disbelieve, then she became angry. "Lives, what fucking lives?! All I HAVE LEFT IS YOU MINATO!" she shouted, and jumped him. Minato grabbed her hands to stop them from hitting him. He gritted his teeth together and pulled her towards him and then pushed her against the wall.

Kushina kept shrieking angrily, she tried to claw her way out of his grip. "YOU ARE ALL I FUCKING HAVE!" she shouted. Minato held her against the wall though, until her shouting turned into crying, and then quiet sobs. Soon she stopped struggling and then gave the blonde a mournful look.

"I lost everything else Minato," she whispered out between tears. "You are all I have..."

Minato closed his eyes and pulled her into a tight hug. Kushina's lover had been a soldier in the war, and while he had found the love of his life Kushina lost hers. When he returned back to the Lighting country, the link between him and Kurama weakening, they turned to each other for comfort in their despair. Their relationship had never been intimate, but they had needed each other to each other to stay sane. As the years went on however this became twisted in Kushina's mind, she started to obsess, having no one else he became her focus.

It wasn't her fault, they had been pushed together by the council soon after, and through obligation they married.

He did love Kushina, just not the way she loved him.

"I'll take you back to your room, rest," he said and then escorted her to her room further down the hall.

It would all be over soon anyway.

Kushina and him slept in different rooms in opposite sides of the palace, her room was large. With a giant four poster bed dominating the room. Large heavy red drapes covered them, the blinds were drawn to block out the sun from outside. Kushina had taken to fill the bed with as many pillows as she could possibly fit so she wouldn't feel how empty it was. There was a vanity table on one side of the room, and next to it a door leading to a walk in closet. On the other side of the room was another door leading to a large bathroom. The walls were tapestries red and green, Kushina's favourite colours.

Slowly he moved the drapes aside and slowly helped Kushina into her bed, and pulled the covered over her, and left the room where Jiraiya was waiting for him.

"You still want to go through with this?" he asked.

"I wasted 16 years of my life, I'm not going to waste any more time," Minato replied calmly, and closed Kushina's room door behind him.

He needed to get showered and dressed before he went to meet the rest of the council. Since Naruto had come back Minato hadn't moved from his side, and he needed to get cleaned up.

"I will meet you in the hall later, Jiraiya. If they arrive earlier, just tell them to wait," he said and then left.

The older man watched him go, but Jiraiya couldn't help but be worried about the future. But he trusted in Minato's decision, he taught him everything he knows after all.

Review and join the dark side we have cookies.

Short chapter but we are finally bringing things to a close!