Chapter 4 of One Big Mishap

Again I would like to remind people that this is rated T for a reason. Pre-warning for a violence scene and implied foul language.

Although you might believe that some characters have/may have been taken out of character, stressful situations (and being shot) can influence a person's emotions extremely. That and these characters have not been trained to be ninjas (well not all of them)…

Hopefully I covered enough grounds to make people happy. I have given warnings.

Why did the update take so long? Well… besides being stressed, I've been lazy. The story has been done for ~aprox of 4 days but I kept on finding mistakes.

Well thank you for taking the time to read my story, hopefully it's at least decent.

z.z

Thursdays oh how fun! Part One of Two

Tobi stood to the side watching his older cousin pace back and forth in the small room they were in. It would take the man two steps to reach each side, which only made him turn abruptly and start again. The man was very upset but he hadn't spoken a word to Tobi about the problem. That was how he was; the man brooded inside of his head, never letting the world know what he was thinking. Most people took it for idiocy, especially when he chose limited words, but the truth was the man's thoughts were so complex that when he put words to thoughts he tried to simplify or sum-up his ideas to a point where anyone could understand. It was bothersome though, Itachi was one of the few people Tobi could not understand.

Coal eyes met the younger man's own blue and then Itachi sighed, finally stopping his pacing. The tall man rested back against the counter top of the kitchen and began scrutinizing Tobi. Such actions were another reason why Tobi found being in a room with Itachi uncomfortable. It was like the man was staring into his soul. But Itachi hadn't figured it out yet, because if he had, Tobi would have been thrown out of the house.

The younger man smiled, "Tobi wants to know what's wrong with Itachi."

The coal eyes seemed to harden. "You see Sakura, Naruto and my brother on a regular basis?"

Tobi closed his eyes and stretched his neck to look at the ceiling before looking back at Itachi. Determining what to say was hard, Itachi was impossible to read. "Is Itachi mad?"

The man sighed and dragged a hand through his long hair. "Of course I'm not mad at you, Tobi; who you choose to be friends with is your choice."

Relief filled the blue eyed man.

"I assume this has to do with the 'big secret' everyone has been trying to hide from me."

Tobi nodded.

Itachi sighed again. "At the moment, I don't really care. But I am disappointed in you, Tobi. Most members of the Akatsuki hate the three of them, Hidan and Deidara especially. They would be the ones angry at you. Why would you think I would be angry?"

So, he hadn't caught onto the part about pushing the Akatsuki and the three together. "Because they hurt Itachi bad."

Itachi's lips quirked up slightly, "I was just having a bad week, senior project was due and I wasn't finished, father was demanding me to choose a college, handling my brother and his gangs cruel joke just put me a little over the top, that's all."

That was all? From the story Tobi heard, that hadn't been the case. Stress had never been mentioned, only love-sickness and a broken heart. "But Sakura was just mean because-"

"Tobi, just drop it," the quirk dropped to grim line, "Leave the past alone."

"But Tobi thinks it was all a big misunderstanding and that we can be good friends and be a big happy family."

Itachi tilted his head to the side and the line dipped to a frown, "Sometimes misunderstandings can't be undone. Let it go, Tobi. Please don't make things worse."

"But Tobi knows you love Sasuke and Sakura, even Naruto, very much; why can't we all be friends? The three were only mean to you because of the misunderstanding… maybe if they knew the truth they wouldn't be so angry. That way, things can go back to the way they used to be—"

Itachi put a hand on the younger man's head, "Right now, I would appreciated it if you stopped your manipulating."

Tobi froze at the word; caught, he had been caught. Itachi knew, somehow he knew.

"There are more important things at hand. It's good you showed up, I need you to keep an eye on Sakura and a ride to my car," Itachi said, tearing Tobi from his own fears.

"Is she in trouble?" Tobi asked.

"Maybe, I don't know yet. But make sure no strangers come into the house, especially strangers with weapons. I have to get to work," Itachi looked down into dark, navy blue eyes. "Can I count on you?"

"Of course, you can count on Tobi!" the man saluted.

Itachi reached around Tobi to hug him, but then remembered Sakura's warning. He instead rested his chin on the black head of hair. "I should know the face, I'm certain of it; but I can't seem to remember. Please take good care of all of them," Itachi whispered into Tobi's ear before straightening up. "Akatsuki promise me."

"I promise, no harm will come to them," Tobi said dropping his smiling façade. "Does this have to do with the manhunt?"

Itachi's eyes searched Tobi's own. Then the older man gave a rare, tired smile. "Don't worry; I'll take care of it." At that Itachi left the kitchen and went out the front. Konan gave a small wave from the driver's seat. Then the car disappeared down the road.

Tobi locked the door and turned to the living room to watch a pink-haired body sleep.

After being dropped off at the Greek restaurant, Itachi looked down below. The laundry mat's parking lot was empty. There were no police cars, or any cars for that matter. There had been no luck in the manhunt. The entire city was being searched but the man had escaped and had killed. A residential murder, several blocks from the laundry mat had been reported. There had been a grocery delivery to the older citizen and the bloody scene had been revealed. The old man's car was gone, another stolen vehicle. The drawn picture of the Cat Skinner was on the front page of every newspaper in the county. Reports were spreading to all airports and police stations in the state.

But would it be enough to catch the man? Itachi doubted it. The man had been playing with the police for fun for several months, the only reason he had been caught was because of two off duty cops keeping tabs on an old friend.

Itachi looked up at the sky, rain clouds were setting in. The weatherman had predicted a thunderstorm, which would be a reasonable assumption. They usually got a storm every November without fail; this year would be no different. A storm would slow the manhunt to a standstill.

The man couldn't have chosen to reveal himself at a better time. Perhaps he had known. Itachi debated. The man could have been keeping tabs on the police, even though Itachi thought his simple routine hadn't attracted attention, it might have. Maybe he had given everything away. Maybe the man wanted revenge on either him or Kisame, maybe even Sakura.

But that was unlikely. The amount of cats found in the car suggested several more weeks of play. Truthfully the incident at the Laundry Mat had killed the senior citizen; the crazy man had felt pressured and the need to step up his game. He might have let Sakura go; then again, he could have slit her throat and decided he liked human flesh better than animal ones.

With a sigh Itachi opened his car door and sat down, sliding his key into the ignition. He rested his forehead on the steering wheel in thought. Shisui would boot him out of the manhunt, most likely, only due to favoritism because no doubt they would have Kisame out there. He would be sent to the office to deal with domestic and contrite situations. There was nothing he could really do except follow the command of the head officer though. Right now no one needed a complaining man.

He turned the key and the engine purred. He would grab coffee for those at the search team and then let Shisui tell him what he already knew what he was going to say. He'd pick up a newspaper too; perhaps there would be some good in the world, even if that meant only reading the comics.

He left the parking lot to head to his routine coffee shop.

Green eyes opened to a flickering television screen. Shisui's mouth seemed to be moving but no words seemed to emit from his mouth. The eyes blinked, trying to figure out why Shisui was spitting out black letters instead of making sound. It took several moments before she realized that the closed captions were on.

Then a drawn picture filled the screen.

She bolted up. The eyes, the skin, the hair was unmistakable; he had been the man in her nightmares, who had been holding a knife to her throat. She tried to jump up from the couch but her feet got tangled in the throw. With a thump her head hit the coffee table, which caused the flimsy table to tilt, making all the magazines, books, files and bowl of popcorn slide onto the floor.

"Sakura!" A voice cried at her side.

She pushed herself up with her hands and turned her head. Blue-eyes wide stared down at her.

"Tobi?" she questioned, pushing herself back up onto the couch.

"Yep!" the man smiled at being called and immediately sat beside her like an over joyous puppy.

"What are you doing here?" her green eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Tobi knew that it was Sakura's day off so, Tobi came over to play," the man said the smile never leaving his face.

"Tobi knew?" Sakura questioned.

Immediately Tobi realized his mistake. "Yup, I knew you had the day off, so I wanted to make sure you relaxed and had fun."

The pink eyebrow raised but then lowered deciding to let the incident pass. She untangled herself from the throw and folded it while sitting. "Thanks Tobi, but I have a lot on my agenda today." She had shopping and cooking to do so her boys wouldn't starve when they got back.

"Nope, nope. Itachi said I was to look after you and make sure you stayed safe. "

"Why would Itachi-"Sakura began but then the incident from the day before, the nightmare she had, came to her. Her hand went to her mouth and for a moment she forgot to breathe. She gulped in air after a few moments then took a few more to calm herself down. "Maybe you'd help me cook then?"

The man's smile got wider, "Tob- I like to cook."

Suddenly the door connecting the two townhouses tried to open, only to be stopped by the chair.

"Sakura?" Naruto called, his voice betraying his worry.

"Hold on!" Sakura rose and stretched before going and pulling the chair from under the handle.

The door opened to reveal Naruto's face full of stubble and unwashed hair. "I got the bounty as soon as I could and rushed home. Are you ok?"

"Huh?"

"Itachi called and asked if someone would be home for you. It must have been important. You were supposed to be at Ino's or Hinata's I called both but they said you never showed up. Are you ok?"

"Naruto I'm fine. Itachi stayed over to make sure I was ok."

"You let him into the house, did he-" Naruto growled but before he could go on Sakura stopped him.

"He stayed only to make sure I was safe. There was no funny business."

"Home," A voice muttered from Naruto's side of the house.

"Sasuke, do you know what your filthy, older brother did," Naruto snarled.

"Wha-"

"I said he didn't do anything! Listen to me, Idiot!"

Buying coffee for them all wasn't a good idea, he had no canisters in which to put the coffee in, and the ones at the coffee house were too expensive. Itachi decided donuts would suffice to the men and women on the hunt; they were probably hungry and the sugar would help them get a boost from a night without sleep.

He sipped his triple-shot espresso with no sugar as he made his way to the sidewalk news rack. He went to the counter and was about to drop off his money, to the exact amount, when he realized the shack was closed. He looked around, the newspapers were still tied out front, and the boards of the building were still up. He hadn't made eye contact with the man in years, for he was rather busy in the mornings and already had his newspaper money out (his change from his already bought coffee) and the man always had his paper out for him.

That was when it hit him. The man who ran the booth had looked like the man in the alleyway. Itachi opened his phone to call Kisame when a movement to his left caught his attention. The hoodie covered the top part of the man's face but the eyes looked at Itachi between long black bangs. They were an exotic yellow and crazed looking. He was only several feet from him.

Itachi reached for his gun but then the man was already beside him. Pain erupted from Itachi's side and he could feel his skin slicing beneath a blade.

"Took you long enough," the man said with a smile.

Itachi slammed his elbow in the man's face causing him lean backwards. People on the street immediately stopped to see if the fight would continue, that is until a woman pointed out, "That guy's been stabbed. Someone call 9-1-1!" then everything seemed to break loose.

People got a good look at the man whose head had been knocked backwards by the blow, for the hoodie hadn't been tight and had fallen off. Screaming started from somewhere to Itachi's right but it spread throughout the group of people.

The man held his nose and wiped blood onto the black hoodie. Then he gave a laugh and pulled out a gun. Chaos exploded on the street.

Itachi reached for his gun but he was too late, a gunshot filled his ears and pain blazed through the arm holding his cellphone. He rolled to the side of the small shack, to get out of sight of the man. He turned his gun off safety and cocked it shakily with his injured hand then stood, and turned around the corner and returned fire. The man was laughing, even though he was certain the bullet had hit. It had. He could see moisture gathering on the cloth around the man's abdomen. The man didn't seem to notice though. Instead he gave a final smile. "As much as I love playing with you, I think I'd like playing with your little brother even more, Itachi Uchiha."

The man was off, racing to a vehicle parked on the side. The car was a dark blue Chrysler, not an old, cherry red Ford that had been reported missing.

Sirens were blaring somewhere in the background. Itachi opened his phone, his hand fumbling with the buttons as he tried to speed dial Kisame. He put the phone to his ear, the ringing almost soothed him.

"What the _ do you want mother _?" a voice screeched on the other end.

"Hidan?" Itachi asked in desperation, was it a cruel joke of the world. How had he mistaken a five for a two?

"Itachi what the _ you want from me?"

He was going to have to make do, the paramedics were already in sight and people were pointing in his direction. "Hidan, you have to listen to me."

"Yeah, yeah I'm listening little _-"

"Shut the _ up or I swear I will kill you," Itachi snarled. "You are going to go get my brother and his little friends and you are going to lock them up in Kisame's quarantine box, got it. And if you give me any _ by the time I'm done with you, you'll wish you were dead. Have I made myself clear?"

"Look Itachi-"

"Have I made myself clear?" there wasn't much time left, already the stretcher was out and a blue uniform visible. Itachi looked down at the knife on the ground several feet from him, had it hit his kidney?

"Yeah, yeah, when do you want the little _ rounded up?"

"Right now."

"Look all I'm saying is-"

Hidan's words were lost on Itachi as the paramedics and officer were several steps away from him. Their voices rang out far clearer then Hidan's, most likely due to the fact Itachi's grip on the phone had loosened due to the pain he was now feeling.

They were talking about the close range shot and how the bullet had gone through his arm. His eyes focused on the man with the badge, taking witness statements and he tried to ignore the paramedic putting pressure on his gun wound.

Itachi looked down at his side, and the pool of blood he was sitting in and his gun several feet away. When had he collapsed to the ground? When had he dropped his gun?

"Sir? Can you try to focus on the light?"

His eyes looked at the man currently shining something extremely bright in his face.

"Can you call the officer over?" Itachi reached into his back pocket and both paramedics started back tracking, as though he had another gun. He pulled out his ID showing it to them so they relaxed. "I'm Itachi Uchiha, I work for the police department. The man that shot me… " he shook his head-he couldn't assume-he hadn't seen the man in years-it was possible he no longer worked at the place. "The guy who owns this news stand is a lead. They need to look into it."

"Hey!" the paramedic called to the officer, but Itachi's focus diverted.

Hidan wouldn't let him down-would he? Would the man go for his brother? How much did he know?

His hands went to his side as did his eyes. Why couldn't he remember the man pulling out the knife? It was no longer there. Never pull out sharp objects-they double cut-training-he learned that his first year in officer training-right?-hadn't he?-but the importance-double cut-more blood-greater chance of losing a life-it was in his side-was it possible that it had hit his organs?

"He was stabbed!" suddenly the other paramedic cried.

Immediately the world swayed under Itachi as they picked him up and loaded him on the stretcher. One paramedic was pushing on his side, the other on his arm. Pain seared through Itachi's body. The officer walked beside Itachi, as the paramedics began pushing him to the ambulance.

"Records on-news stand-" Itachi said, but his words seemed to slur. The knife?-had it been poisoned? Itachi gripped one of the paramedic's sleeve.

The officer was saying something, asking something, but the words made no sense to Itachi.

"St. Christina's-"he said to the paramedic at his side.

"Sir, that's across the city-"

"Doctor Tsunade, I need Doctor Tsunade-"

"Look sir-"

His grip tightened, the man could have poisoned the blade, "Listen-the knife-the knife-poison-she's the best."

The paramedic gave a nod and the world became a blur of white.

Hidan slammed down the phone. He'd heard the ambulances on the line and the people crying, some screaming in the background. Something bad was happening; something really bad was happening. It was rare for Itachi to swear, period, and for him to let loose two in the same minute meant that whatever he was saying was important.

Hidan grabbed his keys, laptop, and jacket. It was just grand; he had to babysit the people he hated most in the world. Itachi would owe him one.