A/N- Alo poppets, Sage is back again with another melancholy and depressing Itachi drabble. -head bangs against keyboard- I really should move on to another topic... but it won't go away. It's like the man's presence is just THERE, and won't leave me alone! AGH.

...not that I particularly mind, but at the same time, I do, and it's really weird - and yes, I know I'm crazy. I talk to pictures and view them as a portal in time to the moment and/or dimension they were taken, okay? It's not like this is much worse.

Anyways, without further adeu, I present to you;

Go Fish

Because I decided that it would be amusing to see these three playing Go Fish. And then decided I didn't want it to be humorous anymore.

(And yes, this means no strip poker. Sorry, girls.)

-

-- And somewhere, where spirits gather, Itachi mused to himself... "I am a wonderful actor."

"Go fish, yeah." Deidara sighed, tucking his hair behind his ear.

Sasori blinked slowly, looking at a point behind his blonde comrade. "Ah, hello, Itachi-san."

"Eh?" Deidara turned around in his seat, looking upon the not-so-expressionless face of the one comrade he had actually hated and ignoring the fact that said face was not-so-expressionless. "Well, well, yeah, if it isn't Mr. High and Mighty. How does it feel to be dead, un?"

Itachi paused, uncharacteristically hesitant. "Nice." He answered simply.

Blinking slowly, Deidara turned back around. "Yo, danna, you gonna go fish or what, un?"

Sasori slowly turned back to the game of cards, drawing as he spoke. "Kakuzu is also dead, but he won't be joining us here. I am surprised that you are, however. Care to talk about it?"

Deidara paused, turning around again with unreadable eyes. He returned to the card game after a few moments of silence, then kicked one of the chairs so they were out far enough to be seated. "Don't just stand there, yeah." He said simply.

After another long period of silence, Itachi took the offer and watched the partners carefully. "It's complicated." He said at last.

Deidara laughed mercilessly, "Isn't it always, un?" He inquired humorously, making eye contact with the Uchiha, "Got any fours, danna?"

"No. Go fish."

More silence.

"You are aware that I don't like to wait?" Sasori asked suddenly, flinging an ace towards his blonde accomplice at request. "We may have forever, but people do not change." He stared pointedly at Itachi, "Although, perhaps they can pretend to."

A rare smile graced the Uchiha's countenance, and he let out a brief, quiet laugh. "I did not expect to see the two of you again," He spoke slowly, contemplatively, "I suppose that I am not the only one with a story to tell."

"No," Sasori agreed, "But I have a feeling that yours is the longest."

-

A/N- I'm reluctant to say anything more with this one, but it needs to be said.

Typically I don't do the whole "Heaven"/"Afterlife" thing, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone.

Anyhoo, basically, this "heaven" is Akatsuki specific, but with a twist.

In this world I've created, usually, it's somewhat black and white; good guys, bad guys, family with family, friends with friends, lovers, etc etc, with exceptions depending on the crossovers between the aforementioned groups.

Each of those categories have subcategories; picture it like a college dorm room. You have two lovers, and they share a room, and one's family is in one room, the other's in another, friends, etc., and they're all linked in one way or another with a lounge somewhere in the middle, there.

Where we find the Akatsuki is one of the rare subcategories, sortof like "bad guys who are actually good guys" that stick with their most recent affiliations. Granted, Sasori probably stopped being "good" a long time ago, and Deidara himself wasn't some super hero, but neither of them were strictly evil; disturbed, hell yes, evil, not so much.

Being that Itachi really has nowhere else to go, he got stuck with them; it's not like he's going to get stuck in "heaven" (it's more like limbo...in this world, heaven and hell are linked together by limbo and with lots and lots of subcategories) with mom and dad, you know?

Kakuzu isn't joining them because he was jaded and disturbed to the point that he was selfish and something really close to evil; he's in a whole other subcategory that's really close to hell, but since he's probably suffered enough (speculation), we won't be that cruel.

Also, I picture Sasuke someday joining Itachi, to a degree. It's complicated, but Itachi was always his everything and I have this feeling that he'd drag team seven with him if it meant he got to stay with brother dearest. (Unless you've read the recent-ish manga, that won't make sense, and if you haven't, just...know that there's a whole lot there.)

Anyhoo...because Sasori (speculation that Chiyo herself commented on; it's something so close to the truth we'll never know that it hurts) allowed himself to die instead of taking them out, he wound up here; because Deidara, whose early history is unknown, has never truly been evil and died pursuing something he truly believed in (that fight was always like two good guys on the wrong teams due to being consumed by respective hatreds), he also wound up here.

And Itachi...phew, he's just one whole big mess of complicated enigmas. But, all he's guilty of is commiting one act to prevent another series of acts. He was stuck in between a rock and a hard place and whileas it seriously wasn't fair, there really was no other way out. Like Madara said; if you were in his shoes, what would you have done?

But yeah. They all wound up playing "Go Fish" in limbo, and since he's there Deidara is forced to acknowledge that maybe there's more to him than the art-hating self-absorbed bastard he had previously seen.