"Hey

A/N: I'm going to do something that I have never done before; a disclaimer! I personally think that disclaimers on a fan site are pointless, btw. That's why I never do them (with the exception of now).

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did then . . . Deidara would have never died and he would've already made out with either Itachi, Sasori, or Hidan.

--Deidara's PoV--

"Hey!" I protested as Hidan tried to shove me into a closet. "Stop it, yeah!"

I tried my best to resist the Jashinist by grabbing both sides of the door frame and bracing myself, refusing to let go. Hidan, however, was much, much stronger than I and he finally managed to force me into the closet with one last push, causing me to land on my rear with a low thud.

I immediately scrambled to my feet, but Hidan had already slammed the door shut and I could hear the click as he locked it. "Hidan!" I screamed, my voice growing frantic as I pounded helplessly on the piece of wood with my fists. "Let me out, yeah!"

The only response I received was a snicker on the other side of the door and the sound of fading footsteps. I kicked the door; ignoring the searing pain it caused in my big toe.

Normally, I, being the pyromaniac that I am, would've just blown the door of its hinges with one of my beautiful creations, but Hidan had caught me when I was on my way to restock on my clay supply.

My pounding increased.

It's not fair, yeah! Why does Hidan have to be so mean; he's even worse than that stupid Uchiha! And why did he have to choose me to lock in a closet? He'll forget all about me, I know he will, yeah! I'm gonna suffocate and die, yeah!

The pounding slowed to a stop as I turned around and slumped to the floor, eyes tightly shut, and wrapped my arms around my legs in the fetal position, a small whimper escaping my lips.

"Could you please not make that obnoxious noise?" a voice snapped.

My whimpering immediately ceased as my eyes flew open; in the darkness of the closet it had never occurred to me to check for someone else. A pair of red, glistening eyes from a couple of feet away was glaring at me. I instantly recoiled, backing up against the door. "S-Sorry, Itachi-san." I immediately scolded myself; that low-life doesn't deserve an apology. He never does.

The Uchiha made a 'hn' noise and tried as best as he could to distance himself from me in the cramped space.

I relaxed slightly, but not by much. I turned his gaze away from Itachi to stare at my shoe, whose outline was only barely visible in the glow of Itachi's sharingan. The truth was that I absolutely despised the older ex-Konoha nin. And he made me nervous, always watching with those unappreciating eyes of his. If Itachi ever walked into the same room as I was, I was always quick to make myself scarce.

By now the silence had settled in the closet and all I could hear were Itachi's and my own shallow breathing. No matter how much I hated the man, quiet had always unnerved me. That was probably why my creations made such a loud noise when detonated. Maybe . . . Maybe I should say something, yeah . . .

"Say, Itachi-san?" I winced at the loudness of my own voice breaking through the silence.

In the darkness I could make out a slight shift of Itachi's outline on the opposite side of the closet. "Hn?"

I gritted his teeth, that was another thing that bothered me; Itachi's one-syllable, monotone responses. "Why are you trapped in a closet, yeah?"

His answer was short and simple. "Hidan."

"Ah."

As the silence carried on I carefully stretched my legs out in front of me, trying to get more comfortable, and stopped when my foot made contact with what I thought was Itachi's leg. "Itachi-san?" I asked after a while, making sure to keep my voice softer this time.

The two red orbs fixed their gaze on me again. "Hn?"

I looked down before muttering into the carpet, "Why is your sharingan activated, yeah?"

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, practically invisible to me. "It helps me see better in the dark." He explained. "For example, I can clearly see that every time I look at you, if only briefly, you cringe away."

It was a statement. And that statement made my face flush with blood as I sunk lower to the floor, bringing my knees up so that I could bury my head in them. Great, not only do I have to stay locked in here with that robot, but now the darn enclosed space is getting to me. Stupid slight case of claustrophobia.

--Itachi's PoV--

The silence continued on longer this time, and Deidara made no apparent move to break it. I suddenly felt uncomfortable; I hadn't meant to embarrass the younger blonde, my observation just kind of . . . came out. Sure, I enjoyed silence, but not awkward ones, and this was most definitely an awkward silence, for some reason that I couldn't pin point.

Then it came to me.

"Deidara," I wondered aloud softly, low enough that no regular human would have been able to hear my words. "Why do you hate me?"

The artist looked up, finally meeting my eyes, a mixture of shock and disgust in his own. For a moment I thought that he wasn't going to respond, but my premonition proved false. "Because you hate my art, yeah."

I waited for him to continue and, sure enough, he did.

"You always glance at it with that emotionless stare of yours, uncaring, not even acknowledging it! I could build the most exquisitely detailed creation ever and then detonate it into a shower of breathtaking sparks and you would just be like 'hn,' yeah!" The bomber had worked his way up to yelling and now he was in the process of taking deep breaths to calm himself down. When he next spoke, his words were extremely quieter than his previous sentences, but a deep resentment sounded in them. "And I hate you most of all because of your art, yeah."

I, who had been straining my ears to catch his last twelve words, was completely shocked. "My . . . art?" I finally asked.

"Yes," Deidara confirmed. "Your art, yeah."

"What art?" I asked incredulously. "I'm no artist!"

"Your sharingan!" Deidara spat at me. "Your stupid genjutsu, yeah! I told myself that I'd never admit it, but it is! It's pure art! It was one of the most beautifully mesmerizing things that I have ever seen, yeah! Way better than anything that I have ever made, and it comes naturally to you! Whereas I have to work hours on end if I want make anything even remotely close to what you can make, yeah!"

The bomb artist's sudden outburst had caught me off guard. "Oh." I said lamely. I had never before entertained the idea of Deidara being jealous of me. But, then again, it was a very well-known concept in the shinobi realm; the worthless ninja who had worked so hard to master at least one important skill always resented the prodigy, the one that everything came naturally to. I had seen it on my last visit to Konohagakure and now it was happening in the Akatsuki. To me.

As an afterthought I deactivated my sharingan, plunging both of us missing nins into complete darkness. For some reason Deidara whimpered and started shaking when the darkness hit. Jeez, what's his problem? You think he would be happy that I turned off my 'not acknowledging, uncaring stare.' But no, when I try to do a good deed and impair myself, he goes and whimpers. Freak. Unless . . . perhaps he's afraid of the dark?

Neither of us made any move to converse again, and now the silence was becoming rather awkward again. How I hated these awkward silences, and yet, they still kept coming. I sighed inwardly. "Actually," I began, trying to clear the uncomfortableness in the closet. "I've always found your sculptures . . . tasteful."

I couldn't really see in the pitch-black, but I could just imagine Deidara's head snapping up, his blue eyes wide. "R-Really, Itachi-san?" Yep. Total disbelief. "You . . . You think so, yeah?"

In response I nodded, even though the other couldn't see me do this. Realizing this, I simply said, "Yes."

In the darkness I heard a sudden flurry of movement and the next thing I knew there were two arms wrapped around my middle and Deidara's breath was in my right ear. I visibly stiffened. "Maybe your Danna allows you to glomp him with every little compliment, but, please, Deidara: Don't. Touch. Me."

Deidara hastily removed his arms. "Gosh, Itachi-san, you're so strict, yeah. I didn't really want to tell you that I don't hate you anymore, anyways."

I snorted, but said nothing else. In truth, I was kind of glad that the blonde had forgiven me. I didn't really like people holding grudges against me. A small smile tugged at my lips when I realized that that was exactly what Sasuke held for me; a grudge. Well, no one in the world can always have their way.

Deidara's voice pulled me out of my memories of my little brother. "Do you think that Hidan'll forget about us, yeah?" his voice sounded odd to me, slightly panicked. Was he really afraid of the dark? That was very possible, considering that he hadn't yet moved from my side.

"Probably. But he forgets that people actually use closets. Someone will find us eventually."

"Y-You're probably right, yeah." Deidara said nervously. To me it sounded like he was trying to convince himself of this.

There was definitely some kind of phobia involved.

--Deidara's PoV--

Itachi-san is right, yeah, I kept telling myself. Someone'll come looking for something and find us. We won't be in here for much longer, yeah. But . . . speaking of time, how long had the two of us been stuck in here? One hour? Two?

This new line of thought caused my breathing to hitch and come in labored gasps. I guess I must've instinctively latched onto Itachi's arm because he suddenly snapped, "I said don't touch me!"

I immediately removed my grasp, trying to force myself to take deep breaths. "S-Sorry, Itachi-san." Darnit! I had done it again! Stupid stuttering! If my ragged breathing hadn't tipped him off that something was wrong, the stuttering surely would. Or vice versa.

There was a long pause in which I once again gained control of my calm. I hadn't really expected Itachi to say anything, but he seemed to be full of surprises. Like the fact that he actually found my art 'tasteful.'

"Would you like me to turn on my sharingan again, Deidara?"

And I most definitely hadn't anticipated him saying that. "Why?" I asked incredulously. Hadn't I been the reason why he turned it off in the first place? Because I had told him how much I hated it?

Itachi seemed to hesitate before answering my question. " . . . Because you don't like the dark . . . do you?"

I almost burst out laughing. He had just politely asked me if I was afraid of the dark! What rubbish! However, my humor died down as I realized that that wasn't completely false. When he had deactivated the only source of light earlier hadn't I reacted? Whimpered? I had to admit, even though the smallness of the closet is what bothered me most, I didn't exactly welcome the dark, either.

In response to Itachi I shook my head, even though he couldn't see it. "I don't mind if you turn it on again. After all, it's like your night vision, right, yeah?" I smiled at my joke and I even heard Itachi give a slight chuckle.

"That's right. It's like my night vision, yeah." He jested before activating his doujutsu, bringing a faint, reddish glow back to everything in the closet.

I buried my face in my knees again. "Thanks." I muttered, not really wanting him to hear me, although his senses were way to sharp for him to miss that.

"So . . ." he said after a while. "Was I right? Fear of the dark?"

I shook my head. "Slight case of claustrophobia, yeah."

"Then why would you want to be closer to me?"

I looked up at him, then, unsure of the answer. He was absolutely right, of course. I should be trying to stay as far away from him as possible. So I did my best to try to explain what I thought was a sufficient answer. "I'm not like you, 'Tachi-san, yeah, I don't shy away from other humans." I smiled a little. "I actually enjoy other people's company. I think that I could be in a crowd of one million people and not be bothered at all. It's only small spaces, really."

Itachi scoffed at me. "That's not what claustrophobia is."

My smile grew. "Yes it is, Itachi-san. Claustrophobia is the fear of enclosed spaces, which may or may not happen in small rooms, locked rooms, tunnels, cellars, elevators, subway trains, and crowded areas, according to Wikipedia, yeah."

"You looked it up?"

"Yep!"

He shook his head. "Idiot." He murmered under his breath.

I purposely chose to ignore that insult; he had, after all, ignored me calling him 'Tachi, something that only Kisame did occasionally. Maybe, now that my hatred of him was over, we could actually get along.

"So are you okay now?"

"Hmmm?"

"You just said that you're claustraphobic, idiot," Itachi said dryly. "Are you alright now? I see that you've stopped hyperventilating."

"I was not hypervantilating!" That word disgusted me! "I was just . . . breathing faster and deeper than necessary, bringing about lightheadedness and other undesirable symptoms often associated with panic attacks, yeah."

Itachi rolled his eyes. "That's the definition of hyperventilating, stupid."

I glared at him, my arms crossed. "How would you know, yeah?"

He flashed his teeth at me. "Wikipedia."

I turned away from him, my arms still crossed. "Humph. How dare you have the nerve to use what I say against me. Why, if I had some clay on me then I would kill you right now, yeah!"

"Sure you would." He said, sarcasm and amusement clear in his voice.

I angrily blew a piece of hair out of my face, but inside I thanked him. He was keeping my mind off of the fact that I was in a small, enclosed space, possibly running out of oxygen. Maybe that was his intent. A small smile snuck it's way onto my face as I entertained that idea. I should've never comitted to hating the Uchiha without getting to know him first.

--Itachi's PoV--

Good. It was working. Deidara was no longer shaking, whimpering, sweating, or taking those labored breaths of his. I had to admit, the blonde wasn't annoying as I thought he would be when Hidan first shoved him into this closet. In fact-

All of my senses perked up. I could sense someone's chakra coming towards us. Something was off about it, though; instead of chakra running throughout the entire body, it was only concentrated in one spot. How odd. Who would-

"'Tachi-san?"

A snarl escaped from my throat as my hand flew to cover the interrupter's mouth. "Shut up!" I hissed. "Someone's coming!"

I could see his cerulean eyes light up and he nodded his head. "Mmph," came the muffled reply. I immediately removed hand and wiped it on my cloak; how I hated spit!

Disregarding that, I focused on the chakra that was getting closer and closer to the locked closet. Deidara wouldn't be able to sense the chakra; his jutsus didn't require that, plus he usually had his scope. "Deidara," I whispered urgently. "Who would have all of his chakra concentrated in only one spot? Up in the torso somewhere?"

The answer immediately clicked for the blonde. "Sasori no Danna, yeah. His only human part is his heart and that controls all of his chakra."

I groaned. The puppet really disliked me, and I wasn't too fond of him, either. He was too confident, almost never careful when battling someone. Unlike myself. No time for being conceited, Itachi, we have to get his attention somehow. Sure, he's likely to leave me trapped in a closet, but what about Deidara? It's worth a shot. I got to my feet, pulling Deidara up with me, and pushed him towards the door.

"Itachi-san!" he protested.

"Deidara," I said impatiently, didn't he realize that I was trying to get both of us out of here? "I need you to yell for your Danna as loud as you can when I say so, alright?"

He swallowed and then nodded. "Alright, yeah."

The chakra was getting closer now. "Are you ready?" He took in a deep breath. I could hear Sasori's footsteps now. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. "Now." I breathed.

"DAAAAAAAANNA!!"

I smirked when I heard the puppet on the other side of the door give a startled yelp at the ear-splitting noise and drop something that shattered on the tile.

"D-Deidara?" he asked, rather loudly.

"Danna, I'm in the closet, yeah!"

I laughed to myself as I imagined the frown that would readily replace the surprise. "Brat, why'd you let yourself get locked up in there?" Sure enough, despite his attitude, I could hear him walk closer. "I swear," there was a click as he unlocked the door. "You are the most careless," the doorknob turned. "danger-prone brat," the door swung open, flooding the closet with light.

"that I have ever had the displeasure of meeting," collided with "Danna!" as Deidara threw his arms around his partner's neck, bringing them both to the ground.

To my surprise Sasori didn't shove him off and grumble a 'get off of me' as I would have done. Instead he just let the blonde finish his embracing before the redhead got to his feet, dragging Deidara along with him, a ghost of a smile on his wooden face.

In that instant I felt a pang of jealousy for their relationship, I never had that kind of tolerance with Kisame. In fact, Kisame and I could hardly be called 'friends,' that was too generous of a word. And sure, Deidara no longer hated me, but that didn't mean that he was my friend, either. I was foolish to expect anything to be different once we had gotten freed.

I deactivated my sharingan and brushed dust off of myself before I started walking away from the happy reunion, Deidara babbling on about how Hidan was going to get a mouthful of a clay over and over again.

--Deidara's PoV--

"-and you know how I have that slight case of claustrophobia? Well, 'Tachi-san activated his sharingan so that it wouldn't be as dark, 'cause his eyes glow, yeah, and he distracted me from thinking about it and- "

Sasori no Danna held up a finger to stop my flow of words. "Wait, since when are you and Uchiha on speaking terms? And since when do you call him ''Tachi?' You hate him. In fact, if I remember correctly, you once vowed that you would kill him."

I waved my hand in a gesture that said 'that's all over now, yeah.' "It turns out that he actually likes my art, or at least he thinks it's not completely horrible. 'Tasteful' was his exact word for it, yeah. Right, Itachi-san?"

I looked around for said Uchiha. "Itachi-san?"

Danna raised an eyebrow and pointed to where Itachi's receding figure could be spotted.

"Itachi-san!" I called after him. When he didn't even so much as turn around I ran after him. "Itachi-saaaan!" I said in one long whine before I finally caught up to him and grabbed his arm, spinning him around to face me.

I expected him to snap at me like he always seemed to do when I touched him, but he had an unreadable expression and he kept the same monotone voice that I oh so hated. "What is it that you want, Deidara?"

My reaction was the same as if he had slapped me. I immediately let go and stepped back a few feet. "Won't you stay and talk with Danna and me, yeah, Itachi-san?" I asked in a low voice.

"No."

I bit my bottom lip. "Why not?"

"Because I'm sure you would rather talk to your Danna alone." When he said 'Danna' his tone was laced with a thick layer of poison and hostility.

I furrowed my brow. I didn't understand; those few times he had mentioned Danna in the closet he had seemed fine. Sure, he and Danna hated each other, but it wasn't so bad that they couldn't be in the same room, they would just never talk to each other except for snide comments. So what was wrong now?

"I thought that we were friends, yeah."

Their was a brief change in Itachi's expression, but I couldn't tell what it was because he immediately turned away from me.

He was worrying me now. I reached out to touch his arm, lightly this time. "Itachi-san, what's bothering you, yeah?"

He stiffened at my touch, exactly like the first time. "We're not friends." He replied, his voice surprisingly cold. "You and your Danna are friends. We're nothing more than acquaintances that just happened to be locked in the same closet together."

There it was again. That poison when he said the word 'Danna.' But I noticed something else, too. It was never just 'Danna,' it was always 'your Danna.' Could that be it? He was . . . jealous? Time to find out.

"But . . . we are friends, yeah, Itachi-sama."

The replaced suffix did not go unnoticed. Itachi's breathing completely stopped. "What did you say?" he asked, not turning around.

I tried to suppress the laugh that was bubbling up in my throat. "We are friends, Itachi-sama. Or do you want me to hate you again, yeah?"

There was a long pause before he answered me. "No." He said slowly.

"Then come and talk with Danna and me!" I said impatiently as I tightened my grip and attempted to drag him back to where Danna was hopefully still standing.

He easily escaped my grasp and turned to face me. Finally. "Say that again."

I pretended to be confused, just to mess with him. "Then come and talk with Danna and me?"

He frowned deeply. "Before that."

I laughed inwardly; I had never realized how much fun it was to play with people. "Do you want me to hate you again?"

His practically snow-white fists balled up tightly at his side. "Before that."

I cocked my head to the side and tugged on a strand of my hair. It was good to look confused, too. "We're friends?"

Itachi gritted his teeth in frustration. "In. The. Middle."

I couldn't stop a huge grin from spreading across my face. "Itachi-sama?"

His tension didn't relax any. "'Sama?'"

I frowned and continued to play with my hair, but more out of nervousness this time. Shouldn't he be happy? "Well, yeah. Y'know, because I respect you as a friend and all, yeah."

For some reason, that seemed to make Itachi's muscles relax completely, a blank look on his face. Maybe he was in shock? "Seriously?"

My grin was slowly coming back. "Seriously."

"You're not joking?"

I shook my head from side to side. "Nope."

"You're not joking." He repeated, although it was in a lower tone so I think that he was talking more to himself than to me.

I tugged on his sleeve impatiently; if Danna hadn't left already then he would be soon. "Come on, then, yeah!"

He looked up at me and blinked. "Who would've thought."

"Thought what?" I asked, more out of politeness than anything.

He gave me a small smile. Odd. "Who would've that being trapped in a closet with you for three hours and forty seven minutes would change my mind."

"Itachi-sama, what are you talking abou-?" I began in an annoyed tone before Itachi did something very, very unexpected.

He kissed me. Very passionately.

Friends don't do that.

Then why wasn't I stopping him?

Why wasn't I pulling away?

Why were my lips starting to move with his?

Why was I starting to get the feeling that I liked it?

Danna wouldn't be too happy about this. He doesn't like Itachi-sama so much.

What about Kisame? Would he care? And Hidan? I know for a fact that Hidan likes Itachi. Or at least finds him attractive. Then why did he lock him in a closet?

And then lock me in the very same closet?

This was all his fault, really.

I would have to thank him later.

Wait.

I shouldn't be thinking about those things now.

I was, after all, sharing a kiss with Itachi for the very first time. I should be savoring this moment; how soft his lips were, how gentle he was, how he brought the faint taste of blueberries in my mouth (a sweet-and-sour taste), and I should most definitely be remembering how much I wanted this. How much I liked it. How much I loved it.

--Itachi's PoV--

I don't know why I did it. But then again, maybe I did. Maybe I did it because I was jealous of how he called Sasori Danna; master. Maybe I wanted to have a stronger bond with him than even his precious Danna did.

And maybe I'm a selfish bastard.

It wasn't really fair to Dei. Funny, how I think of him as Dei now. But he calls me 'Tachi, so I guess that's fair.

And, speaking of a certain blonde artist, I certainly did not expect him to react the way that he did. Kami, he was a good kisser, and someone isn't a good kisser their first time, they've had to have practice. It made me wonder who else has laid their lips on his . . . Sasori, maybe? And Hidan could've, if he'd been in the right mood. Well, no more. Deidara was going to be mine. Mine.

My thoughts immediately stopped going in that direction and backtracked. What if he wasn't gay? Or bisexual? Or even pansexual? What if he just wanted to be my friend and I just totally freaked him out? He could be kissing well as a reflex or an instinct. He didn't necessarily have to be liking this as much as I was.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind I pulled away to look at Deidara. He seemed perfectly fine with what I had just done, content, even. I studied his glazed eyes, failing to find even a little bit of resentment in them. Still, it couldn't hurt to make absolutely positive. "Dei?" I whispered.

His eyes opened wide at what I had just said. Oops. I guess I shouldn't have called him that. My mistake.

Deidara closed the small space between us and crushed his lips onto mine.

Or not.

He seemed to have the same impulse that I had when he had called me 'Itachi-sama.' I couldn't help but smile into the kiss, I've never had such an elated feeling before. Deidara was actually happy that I had kissed him, so much so that he had kissed me again after I had pulled away. Wait a minute. He never actually clarified that.

I pulled away again, making Deidara pout slightly. "What? What is so important that you had to stop our kiss, yeah?"

Wow, he sure knew how to appeal to my sense of humor. Maybe that was one of the reasons I liked him. I smiled as I reached out to push a strand of loose golden hair back behind his ear. "So you like it, then? My kissing you?"

Deidara rolled his brilliant blue eyes (how had I not noticed how beautiful they were before?). "No, Itachi-sama, yeah. I just LET you stick your tongue in my mouth."

My smile widened, becoming a full-out grin. You could not imagine how happy I was to hear that sarcastic voice of his. I opened my mouth to retort with a witty comeback ('Yeah, just like how I LET you stick YOUR tongue in MY mouth.') when a rather annoyed voice came from the kitchen.

"Brat! If you and Uchiha aren't going to come back then I'm going to leave."

A smile played on Deidara's lips. "Let him leave, yeah. See if I care." He leaned forward (on his tip-toes, I might add. I'm a good three inches taller than the blonde) and caught my lips in another heated kiss.

"Deidara?"

The puppet's one lump of chakra was getting closer, but I didn't care. Let him see that I was more important to Dei than he was.

But Deidara apparently had a different idea because he pulled away to glare at Sasori (who was now standing about a foot in front of us, mouth agape) with that adorable scowl of annoyance on his face. "What do you want, Danna? Can't you see that I'm busy, yeah?"

Sasori snapped his mouth shut as his muddy brown eyes darted from Deidara to me, and then back to Dei again. "Well, brat, I guess you and Uchiha really hit it off in that closet." I narrowed my eyes when a smirk formed on the puppet's features. "In that extremely dark closet. With extremely thick walls. I wonder what two sweethearts, such as Itachi and yourself, could've done in such a situation, don't you, brat?"

I swear, I nearly killed him on the spot, but with a smile and a flip of his hair Deidara said something that I hadn't expected, "Well you'll just have to keep on wondering, won't you, Danna, yeah?" His tone was teasing, knowing , and a bit triumphant (almost conceited). He made it sound like we actually did do something in the closet.

Wow, he's good. Another endearing quality of his, I suppose.

Sasori raised a sculpted eyebrow. "I can't say that I approve," he inclined his head slightly in my direction, "considering that he's a cold and frigid Uchiha-"

Deidara growled at him, making me smile again.

"But I guess since he admitted that he finds your art 'tasteful' you're never going to leave him alone. And trust me, you get annoying after a while."

I wrapped my arm around Dei's waist and pulled him closer to me, showing Sasori without words that I would never get tired of the blonde. He seemed to be bright enough to get the message.

"Fine," he said, putting his hands up in a sign of resignation. "Do what you want, brat. Just not in front of me."

I anticipated the pyromaniac's next move and braced myself for the passionate kiss that I knew would come. Sure enough Deidara promptly grabbed the hair on the back of my head and pulled me down (I'm taller, remember?) to meet his hungry lips. I must admit, his aggressiveness surprised me and it took a moment before my tongue joined in the battle for dominance that was taking place in my mouth.

Beyond my state of bliss I could vaguely hear Sasori mumbling about how Dei was a show-offy slut and that I was only encouraging him.

Pfft! As if Deidara was actually a slut! He hadn't once even TRIED to get me out of my clothes. Though it probably wouldn't take much effort, just as long as he returned the favor . . .

--Deidara's PoV--

It was about a minute before I heard Danna walking away from us. With my lungs burning for air I finally pulled away from Itachi, gasping for air. The Uchiha, however, didn't seem at all phased by the amount of time he'd gone without oxygen. In fact, he looked just as he always did except for the fact that his face was now a little flushed.

Unconsciously I licked my lips (which had become dry from my gasp for air) and the next thing I knew Itachi was grabbing my collar and pulling me forward to meet his lips again. I made a small, surprised eeek! noise, causing Itachi to immediately pull away and study me, a frown of concern etched on his face.

"What's the matter?"

"You-You lifted me of off the ground, Itachi-sama, yeah."

It was true, he had. And, actually, the raven haired nin still held me a few inches of off the floor. "Oh," he said as he noticed this and gently put me back down. "Sorry, Dei. I-I guess I got caught up in the moment."

I flashed a smile at him. I absolutely LOVE it when he calls me 'Dei.' "It's okay, yeah, I forgive you."

Itachi didn't say anything, but continued frowning (although now it was more of a thoughtful frown). I soon concluded that he wasn't going to say anything else and was instead lost in thought. He was most likely thinking about me considering that his dusty ebony eyes were staring at me so intently. So, seeing as I wasn't expected to carry on conversation, I let my thoughts wander as well.

So why DID I let Itachi-sama stick his tongue in my mouth, yeah? It wasn't just lust, was it? I mean, despite the fact that I used to hate him, Itachi never returned the animosity. Actually, he seemed very happy when I forgave him, which would make sense if he liked me- unless he didn't know he liked me until I got locked in a closet with him. I know that if that had never happened I would have never thought of him as anything more than someone to be killed, yeah. But I could never kill him now that I like him, or at least I think I do, there's still the lust factor to consider, yeah . . . I was making a mental list of reasons why I liked Itachi instead of just thinking that he was hot (which he was) when the man in question interrupted my thoughts.

"Who else?" He suddenly asked.

I looked up at him to see that he still had the same expression as before: thoughtful. "What do you mean by 'who else,' yeah?"

Itachi let out a small sigh before speaking in a tone parallel to one that he would've used with a small child. "Who else have you kissed, Deidara?"

Six people's faces flashed in my mind; four girls and two guys. I must have had this what-the-fuck look because then Itachi hastily added, "Never mind."

"That's what you've been thinking about for the past ten minutes, Itachi-sama, yeah?"

He seemed rather defensive now. "Well what've you been thinking about, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Do you want to know who else I've kissed or not, yeah?" I said, tactfully avoiding his question.

He looked down at the space between his feet. "Yes," he admitted quietly. "I do."

"Well," I began. "You don't know-"

"I'm only interested in the people that I do know, if you don't mind, Dei."

I looked down too. "Ah. I was hoping that you wouldn't ask that, yeah."

"Just tell me!" He snapped, losing his usual calm demeanor. Meow. Kitty has claws.

I didn't really want to tell Itachi that I had kissed Danna before because I knew that that would just make him angrier, so instead I said as coyly as I could manage, "Guess."

"Deidara," he groaned, a very attractive sound.

I looked up and grinned. "What, yeah?"

"I just asked a simple question out of curiosity and you turn it into some kind of guessing game. What is wrong with you?"

I grinned wider. "Oh, you know, yeah; sadistic and blood-thirsty, the normal mental illnesses that come with being an Akatsuki." He frowned at me, but I didn't mind. Messing with him was just too much fun to resist.

"Hidan?" he prompted, and it took me a minute before I figured out that that was his first guess. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"No! If I'd even so much as look at him in an alluring way then he'd probably RAPE me, yeah!"

Itachi studied my face for a moment before deciding that I was telling the truth. "Sasori," was his next guess. He seemed absolutely sure of himself this time. Crap.

"I've never kissed him like I've kissed you, Itachi-sama, yeah." I said, trying to soften the news.

"Complete crap." He muttered.

I decided to ignore that particular comment. "Besides, I've only kissed Danna twice, yeah. And how many times have I kissed you? Four?"

"Five," he stated matter-of-factly. "And I can't believe that the puppet actually kissed you. Twice."

I rocked back on my heels. "Actually . . . HE didn't kiss ME . . ."

Instead of snapping at me, like I thought he would, Itachi chuckled. "Wow," he said, grinning. "So you

really are a little slut, aren't you?"

"Hey! I am NOT a slut! I've only kissed like six people, yeah! And I have never-" I stopped abruptly as I realized that I was about to say 'and I have never even slept with someone before.' I didn't think that it would be a good idea for Itachi to know THAT . . . Besides, I had a reputation as a man-whore to keep up.

"And you have never WHAT, exactly?" He asked, as if on queue.

"Nothing, yeah," I grumbled.

"Something," he taunted.

"No."

"Yes," he looked closely at me a moment before laughing a little bit more loudly than before. "Aw! Look! The tips of your ears are turning red! Dei-Dei is embarrassed!"

Despite the arousal that was brought on by him calling me 'Dei-Dei' I really wanted to punch Itachi right in the face. I'd like to see him laugh with a broken jaw . . . yeah . . .

Oblivious to my silent threats Itachi persisted. "So what's so embarrassing? Hmm? Never had a blow job-"

I crossed my arms and snorted at the absurdity of that question.

"-never given a blow job?"

Equally as absurd.

Instead of answering I simply grabbed a fistful of Itachi's ponytail and pulled him downward. I feverishly kissed my way up to his lips, leaving a nasty love bite on his neck as I did so that made the Uchiha jump. Hey, he deserved some kind of punishment if not a punch in the face. When I pulled away there was a stream of saliva connecting our two mouths. "Hey, Itachi-sama, yeah?"

His typically pale face was now stained with pink. "Hn?"

The tips of my mouth curved upward, forming a sly smirk. "I liked you better before when all you said was 'hn,' yeah."

Itachi frowned and opened his mouth to protest (probably something along the lines of 'Oh yeah, well you're not so enjoyable when you're talking, either') but I prolonged his complaint by pulling him down to meet my eager lips once again.

That makes seven times, now, yeah.

--The End--

A/N: Wooow. This turned out to be uber long (it was originally supposed to end after they got out of the closet).

I know that some of you are going to complain about this, so apologize in advance for the lack of a lemon. I have morals, you know.

Anyways, I'm off to go finish an obituary for my hamster. May she rest in peace.