Itachi Uchiha was between a rock and a hard place, as if being undercover wasn't hard enough, the addition of his brother into the mix didn't make his life any easier. At least with Sasuke in the Akatsuki he could keep an eye on him but with each job his brother took the more he was losing him. Knowledge of Itachi's current situation was known only to a select few. Tsunade, obviously, Minato, Naruto, and unfortunately, Danzo. As the Hokage's son, Naruto got access to information not easily available to everyone else.

When Itachi first joined the Akatsuki he didn't even meet the leader, Pain he apparently called himself. No, instead Itachi was introduced to second-in-command, Konan. This told Itachi that either Pain was one careful individual or that Konan was merely pretending to be second-in-command. Maybe she thought she would get more respect as leader if they thought that she answered to a man. Itachi was no fool, Tsunade was once one of the best agents Konoha had ever seen and the tales of the legendary Sannin still carry on strong to this day. On top of that, didn't his brother's friend run damn near all the weapons coming into Konoha? Yes, if you wanted a weapon Tenten was your one stop shop, big or small she had it. Anbu had tried targeting her before but she never had any weapons on her or in the vicinity. So Itachi was not one to underestimate a woman but he couldn't exactly say the same about the rest of his associates. One swearing, religious psychopath came to mind.

Konan was cold and any attempts made to ask about Pain were met with short, clipped answers or none at all. This added to his theory of there being no such leader and she was was lying, but Itachi went with the flow. Either way if he got closer to Konan, he'd get closer to the leader. He was paired up with Kisame Hoshigaki, a monster of a man whose teeth were sharpened to razor point. He'd been known for causing trouble in the land of the Mist and was scarily devoted to a mission once it began. The two got along well, Kisame being the more conversational of the two. Itachi normally let him talk because the less he had to make up while undercover, the less chance he'd mess up later on.

Itachi tried everything to lower the emotional walls Konan had set up. Being an undercover agent, you learn how to make people open up to you but Konan was a tough one to crack. Every attempt made seemed to be getting him nowhere, but slowly and surely they formed a loose friendship. The closest he'd gotten to any actual information about Pain was when he casually asked if they were together. She didn't respond immediately and when she did her melancholic smile, it gave him more to ponder.

"No, not like that ... we are close friends that's all." Her thoughts seemed to drift somewhere else, so Itachi didn't press the matter. He had a lot to think about and this was the closest he had gotten to her. What was her real connection to Pain? Had he turned down her affections or did her affections lie elsewhere and Pain really was just a close friend? If that was the case then Itachi could forget about going seduction route. Probably for the best, with the more time spent with people undercover, emotions and loyalties can become confused and things never really ended well. Besides he had grown fond of Konan's company, along with Kisame, as they were really the only two he could tolerate in this circus show of an organisation.

A knock at his door brought Itachi out of his musings.

"Itachi, your brother has returned." Itachi smirked.

"Are you just using my brother as an excuse to come see me?" Konan's normally stoic face broke into a smile.

"What, I need an excuse to come and see you now?" She teased. Their relationship had evolved into a solid friendship and Itachi suspected that Konan was lonely. Having a close friend who called himself "Pain" didn't make it seem like she had the widest circle of friends.

"Well let's see how Sasuke got on." He said with a smirk but inside, he hoped his brother failed and couldn't do it. At least there would be hope for him if that was the case. Itachi was doubtful however, his brother had not hesitated on any previous mission so he was unlikely to start now, even when ordered to kill one of his former allies.

With a gesture to Konan to lead the way, Itachi braced himself for another reunion with his brother.

When Sasuke returned to the Akatsuki base he was greeted by his team. Most Akatsuki members worked in two's but Sasuke had a team of four; handpicked by Sasuke himself. Suigetsu was a smartass but he always came through, Jugo was calm and unquestionably loyal but once you pissed him off watch out because he took no prisoners and Karin...

Sasuke learned two things while working with Karin:

1) Never mix business and pleasure.

2) Never stick your dick in crazy, obsessed fangirls.

Sasuke was a man, he was allowed to have urges, it just so happened that one of his team members was all too willing to assist him with these urges. After a long and sucessful mission, what was one blowjob? For him, nothing. For her, it was a way to get close to him. The problems began soon after, she would slip up during work and constantly zone out.

"Probably fantasizing about me." Sasuke shuddered at the thought. He scowled at himself however, he thought he had managed to get his ego under control.

Finally his brother and Konan arrived. He was getting tired of dealing with her, after all the work they had done when where they going to meet the boss?

"I trust the mission went well Sasuke." That monotone voice she used also didn't help his opinion of her, how did Itachi deal with her, let alone call her his friend? Sasuke grabbed a remote and turned on a nearby TV and flicked to the news which showed the scene over at the Hyuuga building. His team looked pleased with themselves but the ice-queen didn't even change her expression and Itachi didn't even look at him.

"Good, now as you know there is a Five Kage Summit taking place at the moment." Straight on to the next job then. She wasn't much on downtime, then again downtime was likely going to be him fending off Karin, so he let it slide. She changed the channel to where Naruto's dad was greeting his fellow Kages. Sasuke saw the auburn hair of the Mizukage and felt his crotch nearly spring to life. Maybe he'd be making an appointment to see her again, he really hoped Konan wasn't going to ask them to take her out. True, the Mist was a shithole but what was to be expected after the terrible rule of Yagura, who nearly ran the city into the ground. Now Mei was doing her damnedest to fix her city, on top of that she was Sasuke's ace in the hole. She promised him full immunity and a job in the Mist, if shit ever hit the fan.

After stepping in when her previous bodyguards had failed her, she owed him more than a one night stand.

Saving people wasn't normally Sasuke's thing but he had a soft spot for women in distress. Something his mother had drilled into Itachi and him, so much so that it never left him even in his later years.

So Sasuke tried not to look visibly worried as he nodded at Konan. He was committed to his brother, yes, but to Akatsuki, not so much. He knew it would be ironic for him of all people to betray Akatsuki for one friend after he betrayed his friends to go follow his brother. Konan took out a picture and placed it on the table. It showed a man wearing sunglasses with a tattoo of a bull's horn on his left cheek. Sasuke nearly let out a sigh of relief but saved himself.

"Hey I know him, that's Killer B." Suigetsu piped up.

"Correct, you may know that his brother is the Raikage and has supported B's music career. He travelled along with his brother to the Summit and hopes to play a show in Konoha two days from now."

"You gotta be shitting me," Suigetsu looked at the picture incredulously "you want us to take out arguably one of the biggest stars on the planet at the moment." Konan simply nodded.

"Well his music kinda sucked anyway."

"It's going to be a big job and you don't have a lot of time." Sasuke was getting tired of this shit. Assassinate one of the biggest stars on the planet, why? Did Pain really just hate rap music, did Killer B's music suck so bad that it warranted his death?

"No." Sasuke said firmly.

"What?" Konan looked surprised. Sasuke was too, he couldn't believe he managed to get an actual human emotion out of her.

"Sasuke." Itachi warned. Sasuke looked at his brother.

"Fuck that, we've been doing everything you asked for, carrying out your orders like a damn dog and we haven't even met this "Pain" yet. So if you want us to do this job stop jerking us around like we're my brother's cock." Konan blushed and again confused Sasuke. He meant that line as a joke, was Itachi actually fucking her? Sasuke could see how it made her more bearable to be around, but what happened to the golden rule of never mixing business and pleasure. Sasuke was allowed to make mistakes but the great Itachi Uchiha rarely made any and if he did he kept it under wraps. He looked at his brother's face for confirmation but found nothing.

A low chuckle was heard from behind everyone. Sasuke and Itachi stared at the new figure who had red hair quite similar to Karin but that wasn't what struck them the most. What struck them the most were the figure's purple eyes. He had this presence that immediately demanded attention.

"You are quite right, young Uchiha. No more hiding, allow me to introduce myself. I am Pain," he moved so fast Sasuke didn't even register until those purple eyes were gazing down at him and appeared to examine him with extreme scrutiny, "and for the purposes of this mission I advise making your mind up quick because when all is said and done I decide who lives and who dies. So if you want to leave go ahead, but if you stay, consider me your God and do exactly as I say."