CHAPTER 2: Kisame

A small house sat at the edge of a forest. Three small children played in the yard with wooden katanas. The calm was broken by Itachi's big rig pulling into the yard. He put on the air brakes and shut off the engine. As Itachi stepped from the vehicle, the kids dropped their toy weapons and ran up to the man happily.

"Uncle Itachi!" A 5 year old girl called. Itachi picked her up and allowed her onto his shoulders.

"Itachi!" The two boys laughed. "We missed you!" Itachi approached the door to see it open. A slightly annoyed blonde woman stood in the portal.

"What the Hell are you doing here Itachi?" She asked with a scowl.

"Hello Ino." Itachi said with a cheezy smile. "Beautiful as ever, I see. Is Kisame around?"

"You're notgoing to see him." Ino replied. "You're notgetting him in trouble with the police again." Itachi smiled a little.

"Well, I just thought I'd..." He said, pushing past Ino. "Go say 'Hi' to him. I see the little ones are growing like bamboo, huh?" He let the girl off of his shoulders and sat her on the floor. "The kids always loved me." He continued, working his way back toward the bedroom.

"It's uncle Itachi!" One of the boys said.

"He's not your uncle!" Ino scolded. Itachi took advantage of the distraction to slip into the bedroom. A large lump underneath a white sheet told Itachi that Kisame was sleeping. Itachi turned on a light.

"Hey Kisame!" Itachi called. "How have you been?" The figure in the bed stirred. "Come on, get up, I have to talk to you."

"Whaaaaaat?" A groan came from under the sheet.

"Kisame." Itachi said "We have a job to do. Get up." The figure under the bed stuck his head out from underneath the sheet. The blue-skinned shark man stared at Itachi sleepily.

"What kind of job?" Kisame asked. "Wait...what's the pay for this job?" Itachi fell onto the bed, on top of Kisame, who let out a "ooph." Itachi leaned in next to Kisame.

"Seventy five pounds...of gold." Kisame perked up a little.

"Seventy five pounds?" He asked incredulously. "What are we gonna do? Kidnap the hokage?"

"Yep." Itachi said unemotionaly. Kisame looked at him with worry until he saw a small smile on the young man's face. "Actually, we're just going to haul a load of cargo. Itachi and Kisame together...again."

"The Akatsuki is broken, Itachi-san. There is no Itachi and Kisame anymore." Kisame growled. Itachi stood up and cocked an eyebrow.

"What sort of talk is that?" Itachi asked. "We can get back to the top with this. This is like our second chance at things." Kisame grunted and got out of bed, and began getting dressed.

"What's the cargo?" Kisame asked.

"Ohhh, about 100 cases of sake from the Village in the Sand."

"You doknow that's bootlegging, right?" Kisame asked.

"When did minor problems like laws ever stop us before?" Itachi asked.

"You know the Anbu have those cars now."

"I know...I know." Itachi replied. "I already thought that out."

"Yeah?" Kisame asked.

Outside, the two men stood beside the open door of the semi's trailer. Kisame was curious as to why Itachi had opened the large door, and lowered the loading ramps.

"So, we're gonna be riding together?" Kisame asked.

"Not this time." Itachi replied. "We have 18 hours to make the run, and I have a plan."

"18 hours?!" Kisame exclaimed. "That's never been done!"

"Because wenever tried it." Itachi said.

"So if we're not riding together..." Kisame began.

"Oh." Itachi said. He walked up the ramps into the truck. A few moments later, there was the roar of a powerful engine starting, and out of the truck backed a glossy black car with gold pinstriping and a gold phoenix on the hood. Itachi backed the car out into the yard and shut off the engine.

"Woah, kid." Kisame said, smiling. "What have you got now?" Itachi stood up out of the car's open T-top.

"1978 Trans Am." Itachi said proudly. "6.6 litre turbocharged V-8 engine."

"Kid," Kisame said. "I'm beginning to think we can do this.

"Of course we can do it." Itachi replied. "When Sharkman and the Bandit are together, we can do anything."

"You know the Anbu have those CB radios in their cars, right?" Kisame asked.

"I've already thought of that too." Itachi said.

"Yeah," Kisame said "I was thinking maybe we start on channel 19, then when I say switch to 24, we switch to 1"

"24 is 1?" Itachi asked.

"Yep. And when I say switch to 40, we don't. We go to 17."

"40 is 17?" Itachi asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yeah." Kisame said. "You see, we subtract 23 from the number to get the real number, and so everyone will be confused."

"How about we start in the basement...and change channels every half hour?" Itachi asked. Kisame thought for a moment.

"That'll work too." He said with a smile.

"Okay." Itachi said. "Let's hit the road."

And so the fun begins. What will happen? Keep it tuned in to see! Reviews please, so thar I may know if this story is a worthy addition to the archives of and to your favorites. Until next time, cheerio.