Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, there would be Neko people.

Concept: Came from a roleplay me and my friends do. Air's married to Kisame, and has twins. A few weeks back we were talking about what would happen if Daleks from Dr. Who invaded. Niah and Raggi decided that Kisame would be one of the ones to be killed. I mulled over the idea and decided to write it out. Yes, Itachi has loved Air since before she and Kisame got together, but hes still in character, somewhat. Kay? kay! Agreed! Enjoy the story!

He stood up, hefting Samehada over his shoulder. "Air, you stay here... watch the kids."

Air panicked. "No! Don't go, you'll get hurt!" Her complaints were silenced when his mouth sealed over hers for a quick, passionate kiss. When he pulled away, he was smirking cockily.

"Don't worry about me." And with that, he was off to fight them. Air watched as he swung his sword, narrowly catching the enemies in time. She felt proud of her husband…until one enemy came out of the bushes, wielding a gun aimed for his back.

Air looked from him to her husband, and screamed as the shot rang out in the air.

Air hadn't spoken or made a sound since that day. No emotion whatsoever. Her face always stoic as she went through her daily activities.

On one particular day, Chiharu and Hideki walked in the kitchen to find their mother washing the dishes automatically, like she had done every day since Kisame's funeral. Chiharu walked up to her mother and tugged on her sleeve.

"Mama?"

She turned slightly, her features remaining emotionless. No sound came from her.

Chiharu and Hideki had been trying to coax a reaction out of their mother for months now, to no avail. Once, Hideki, in all his desperation, even hugged his mother to try to get her to do something to show emotion.

But it never happened.

Chiharu held up a drawing to her, and Air took it in her hand and stared at it for a moment. Her three-year-old daughter had drawn a picture of Air, smiling. Crude, but an attempt nonetheless.

Air moved away from the sink and hung the drawing up on the refrigerator for everyone else in the Akatsuki cave to see. The whole time, she showed no emotion.

Chiharu and Hideki sighed and left the room.

The fact was that the entire Akatsuki, since that day, had been trying to help Air, to try to get her to speak or show any sort of emotion. Deidara made fireworks for her; Sasori had even gone out of his way to make a puppet for her. Hidan, as much as he hated the girl, had tried to cheer her up by reading the bible of Jashin to her. Nothing worked. She never said or did anything, not even the slightest little twitch of her facial muscles.

She still went through her activities, taking the kids to the park, making sure to be a good parent. But she never talked or smiled or cried or did anything. No emotion.

Once she finished with the dishes, she looked at the clock. It was still early, she had to find something to do. She didn't want to have to think. She looked around. The dishes needed to be dried. Thankfully, she grabbed a dishtowel and went to work.

Just as she reached the last dish, it slipped out of her hand and shattered on the floor. Frantically, Air bent over to pick up the pieces.

…Did that shard look like Samehada?

She chanced another look. It did. Memories rushed into her head, and she suddenly dropped to her knees, shaking and wrapping her arms around herself. She made sure her face remained stoic, but inside she was screaming.

No. No, no, no, I can't break down, no, I need to be strong…even if that means being nothing at all. Do. Not. Cry!

It was at that moment Itachi casually walked in the kitchen. He stopped and stared down at Air on the floor, hunched over herself, shaking, with her arms wrapped around herself. This certainly was peculiar. Why, when she was alone, would Air decide to break down…?

It was then that Itachi noticed the broken glass on the floor, and the fact that Air's face still remained stoic. He rushed over, knelt by her side and took her wrists. Was she cutting herself again?

His memory flashed to that night three months before…

Itachi walked into Air's room, finding it too dark to see. Funny, Air should've been up at this time.

Then the smell of blood hit his nostrils. He quickly reached over and flicked on the lights, to reveal Air, sitting on the bed, with a razorblade held to her near-gushing wrist. Her face still appeared stoic, and no sound was coming from her, as usual.

Itachi promptly walked over to her and took the razorblade away from her, tapping her forehead. "Don't. Your family needs you." He said emotionlessly. He left the room, disturbed, and turned off the lights again.

He swallows before looking at her wrists. The same old scars were there, but there weren't any new cuts. He sighed.

Air was still shaking. He was curious as to see what emotion was battling it's way out in his love, so he chanced hooking his fingers under his chin and bringing her face up for him to see.

When he looked into her eyes, he saw all the sadness clawing it's way out. He heard her inner screaming, he saw the small mother sobbing over her dead husband's gravestone. But none of it portrayed on her features.

Itachi finally spoke. "Air…" He hesitated. He pushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. She was starting to recompose herself, he noticed, so he stood.

After watching her clean up the pieces and throw them away, he was sure she wouldn't be trying anything. Her eyes still showed so much emotion though, in those simple red orbs.

He left the kitchen after she went off to bed.

For the next few weeks, Itachi continued to watch her closely, to see if she would show any sort of emotion like that again. But alas, her eyes still remained void and cold.

Every once in a while someone would again try to make her do something, but it never worked. Itachi knew it wouldn't, but he never told anyone. Just let them keep trying, they'll stop soon. Although it was hard for him not to do the same thing. He couldn't stand seeing her so…. There was no way to describe it. Stoic, if anything.

After a few more weeks, Itachi watched from the armchair in the living room as Chiharu and Hideki once again went in at an attempt to make their mother smile. The two had decided to do some finger-painting. Both Hideki and Chiharu had taken one canvas and used every shade of blue they could find. They searched in every room and stole all the paints to find the right colors, and in the end the entire canvas was covered with what must have been a thousand different shades.

Chiharu stood back and admired their work for a moment before walking over to the couch to retrieve her mother. "Mama! Come look! Mama!"

Emotionless as usual, Air stood and allowed her daughter to lead her over to the painting. It took her all of two seconds before Itachi saw that same flash of emotion in her eyes from all those weeks ago. She walked away in the next second without a word and sat back down on the couch.

Itachi understood. Everything reminded the girl of her deceased husband. Especially the color blue. She used to smile so much before that day… especially when working with blue things. She always looked so beautiful when she smiled…. Didn't she? Could anyone even remember what she looked like when she actually did smile?

It was then that Itachi came to his final decision.

I will make her show emotion… he promised himself. I will make her smile and feel happy.

But could he do that…?