Week 12, Autumn

It had been a couple of days since Kisame went over to Itachi's place. Today, the raven didn't come for training either. The coach would've had Kisame's head if he didn't get the raven over here by the next training, which was in four days time. Damn, Kisame didn't want to get it from the coach and have his position as captain stripped.

He rode Sasori's mahogany motorbike again, much to the red-head's chagrin. He arrived at the place that was called the Uchiha's manor. He hoped that Itachi was here today instead of the other mansion that he had yet to figure out about.

His last trip was cut short when Itachi had received a phone call from his Father. Itachi had solemnly told Kisame to leave after that. Kisame didn't argue and just left like that. The way how Itachi seemed a little off, worried him but he didn't do anything about it. It could've only spelled trouble.

As he walked up to the door, he really hoped that snot-nosed brat wasn't here. He was worse than how Sasori made Deidara out to be. He rang the bell and silently prayed for someone else to open the door.

His prayers were answered but it wasn't what Kisame would have imagined. A man with fierce-looking eyes opened the door. His mouth was pulled into a tight frown and he gave Kisame a disapproving look. Kisame, having learnt from the last time he had been here, had put on a hoodie and a pair of jeans instead of his basketball jersey.

However, the expensive chiffon clothes that this man wore made his clothes appear to look like they've been dug out of a trashcan. His white long-sleeved dress shirt seemed to cost hundreds and his dress pants just screamed the word 'expensive'. His blood-colored eyes seemed to dig into Kisame's very soul. He worked up the courage to speak.

"Excuse me sir, is Itachi home by any chance? I need to talk to him."

"Wait here a moment." The man replied. A loud bellow could be heard through the house as soon as the man turned away from Kisame. In seconds, Itachi came bolting to the door in a polo-tee, beads of sweat coating his brow. The older, larger man left them alone.

"Kisame?" Itachi asked in surprised.

"Sorry, were you busy?" Kisame asked.

"No." Itachi said, raising a delicate brow.

"Coach was just wondering why you weren't at training again today. He told me to check on you." Kisame told him truthfully.

He would never tell Itachi just how one part of him was dying to see the raven. Why? Well he wasn't too sure. It was normal to want to see a friend, no?

"Oh. Sorry I couldn't make it." Itachi apologized. "I had something to do."

"I see, but you will make it for the next training right?" Kisame questioned. He didn't know why, but after seeing Itachi's father and the way the raven was acting weirdly two days back made him nervous.

"I'll try, Kisame." Itachi replied.

"Have you talked enough, Aniki? Father's going to be upset that you're taking so long! You should know that!" The short raven brat appeared behind his older sibling.

"Sasuke! Don't say things like that." Itachi hushed. "I've got to go Kisame. See you soon." Itachi hurriedly closed the door.

Kisame stood there, stumped. Something definitely wasn't right with Itachi's father, and he wondered what. He decided it wouldn't have been good for Itachi if he stuck around so he mounted 'his' bike and left. He would ask Itachi the next time he had a chance. As he drove away, he thought about what Sasuke had said.

He made his own Father, Mr. Uchiha sound so hostile. The crazy look in the man's eye sent shivers down a brute like Kisame's spine.

Something definitely wasn't right.


Week 13, Winter

It was the start of a new school term right after the holidays. The 'rich kids' as the Akatsuki deemed them were sitting under the cherry blossom tree, which had forgone it leaves due to the winter, drinking hot chocolate courtesy of Itachi.

Deidara couldn't stop spazzing about his trip to Sasori's house, especially about the incident.

"He's an amazing kisser, un! Not to mention he's pretty big ther-"

"Don't even finish that fucking sentence blondie." Hidan scolded.

Itachi just rolled his eyes and adjusted his long-sleeved shirt and turtle neck. He had let his hair down today and it covered most of the sides of his face.

"Itachi, un. You alright?" Deidara asked in concern.

"Yes." He replied.

"Let me see, yeah."

Deidara reached over and gently brushed Itachi's fringe out-of-the-way. He could see a dark blue-black swell on the side of Itachi's left eye.

"It's worst than usual, hmm." Deidara commented.

Itachi lightly swatted his hand away and gripped the front of his shirt. Tobi, who had been sitting on the other side of Itachi put an arm around him in an embrace. Though he was dumb, he wasn't dumb enough not to notice the oddity of his Uncle.

Uncle Fugaku had always been an odd ball. He often gave his wife leers and warnings only when no other adults were around. Once, Tobi even caught him slapping her to the floor when they thought no one was looking. Tobi knew that Aunt Mikoto couldn't do anything about her husband's violent behavior, let alone Itachi and Sasuke. Most of the stress however, went to Itachi as he was the next oldest male in the family.

Sasuke was the most pampered in the family. Although he wasn't as much of a genius as Itachi, he was the precious jewel of the Uchiha family. Mikoto liked him best and Itachi loved him the most in the whole family. Itachi would often take the blames of his younger brother and Fugaku would beat him for it. Thus, he tried his best to stay out of trouble because with each beating, things only got worse.

Deidara, being his ex-boyfriend, was the first to learn about these beatings. Only when Tobi was told did he realize that all these acts were in fact true. Hidan came to find out when he tried punching the raven. They wished they could've helped him but knew that they wouldn't have been of much assistance.

"Why don't you go the hell over to the Sanctuary?" Hidan asked.

The Sanctuary would be the mansion that Kisame was told to go to find Itachi. The four friends had bought their own house that would very well fit 10 residents. It was the place they'd go to if something bad were to happen. And bad things always happened.

"I can't. My father found out about it thanks to Otouto." Itachi sighed.

"Damn that kid." Hidan muttered. Itachi simply smacked him upside the head.

"Don't, Hidan, un." Deidara warned.

He knew how Itachi was like when it came to Sasuke. He had made the mistake of making fun of his Otouto and got the cold shoulder for a couple of days. Itachi was very protective and loving of him indeed.

The bell rang signaling that classes would start in five minutes. The gang scrambled to their feet and went their separate ways. They decide to meet at lunch.


Since it was a monday, Deidara had Geography classes with his boyfriend, Sasori. He ran to class just on time and swiftly sat in his seat. He turned to see Sasori looking at him with a smirk and immediately blushed. Thoughts of two weeks ago started flooding his mind and he quickly looked away from Sasori. He heard the red-head chuckle softly.

Ebisu-sensei walked into class and started talking about water and land scarcity, and how it was interlinked. Deidara groaned at how boring his class was. A half hour later, he finally gave out the results of the exams they took on the last week of school. Deidara immediately sat up, finally!

Deidara was pretty sure he nailed the highest in class. He knew Ebisu-sensei would announce the highest result last, so he sat back and relaxed. When the second last paper was about to be given out, he smirked in victory. He had this one in the bag.

"Deidara." The teacher announced. Deidara's jaw almost dropped. His eyes widened, Who could've beat him?

He heard Sasori snicker and he glared at the red-head. He begrudgingly went to take his paper as the teacher announced that Sasori had scored the highest. The girls in class started spazzing and cheering for him. Sasori had a bored look on his face as he walked back and sat next to Deidara. The blonde had gotten 98% and knew that Sasori had got higher. But, he was unprepared to see a '100%' written in cursive red ink on the red-head's paper.

Deidara gritted his teeth. So this is how it's gonna be played, huh un.

To say that Deidara was competitive was an understatement. In his relationship with Sasori, he wanted to be seme and he wouldn't let Sasori beat him to it. He thought they were quite equivalent now, but due to Deidara's competitive nature, he figured that he had to be better than Sasori in other things other than just in bed.

The blonde sent Sasori a smirk that spelled trouble, and the red-head returned it right back.


Tobi had gotten back his Spanish results and was glad he passed it, even though just barely. Zetsu had congratulated him for it but encouraged him to work harder. Tobi had smiled gleefully and skipped away.

He knew Zetsu was understanding. Tobi did just adequately but he didn't scold Tobi like his parents would. He would not curse the fact that Tobi was dumb, or his very existence for that matter.

Zetsu wasn't like that and Tobi liked that. Tobi liked Zetsu's personality and... Tobi liked Zetsu. He fancied the older male. Although not many thought so, Zetsu was quite charming. His hair was disheveled which Tobi thought was cute, and his piercing eyes were almost as spectacular as Tobi's own. He admired how Zetsu wasn't afraid of others knowing about his split personality too. Even though he couldn't control it well, it was much better than Tobi's control.

He realized that Zetsu was so nice and kind to him that he couldn't stop thinking about the older male. However, Tobi was smart enough to know that Zetsu wouldn't like someone like Tobi. He would never confessed to Zetsu, no matter how much he wanted to tell the Akatsuki member what he felt. He decided to keep it to himself for now, maybe telling his friends only.

Zetsu, on the other hand, had no feelings for Tobi, none. He was only helping the younger male because he knew what it felt like to be discriminated for being a Schizo and he knew Tobi would've been dealt worse if he wasn't exactly smart.

He was doing this out of kindness and sincerity, nothing else. He was completely oblivious to the feelings Tobi had developed for him and brushed it off as part of his childish nature. How wrong he had been.


Hidan was having trouble in Math class. No, it wasn't because he couldn't solve the extremely hard math problem. It was because he had an extremely hard problem to deal with. As uncomfortable as it was, he tried his best to sit still. He crossed his legs, hoping that by adjusting the position of his erection that it would go away faster.

Suddenly, there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to face Kakuzu.

"Hey can I borrow a pencil? I lost mine." Kakuzu asked. He was leaning over his table, looking at Hidan first before at the Jashinist's pencil-case.

"Uh, sure." Hidan replied awkwardly. From Kakuzu's current position, his arousal would have been quite obvious. He quickly passed Kakuzu the pencil he wanted and turned around, pushing his chair in more.

Kakuzu smirked. He had noticed Hidan's situation and felt like teasing him a little. He'd definitely laugh at him later. As if on cue, the school bell rang signaling the end of class.

Perfect, Kakuzu thought.


It was now lunch and the rich kids sat at where they usually did. They liked this table a lot. No grubby girls trying to touch them, and not many upper high school students to find trouble with. Well, except for the Akatsuki.

They had spoken too soon.

Kakuzu had walked up to their table with a devious smirk on his lips. The rest of the Akatsuki were at their seats.

"Hey Hidan, how's your problem doing?" He asked.

The group of rich kids just raised their brows while Hidan's faced flushed. He was looking real nervous. The worse part was that Kakuzu had said that loud enough for the Akatsuki to hear as well. Most of them just laughed and snickered. Deidara's and friends' eyes widened when they realized what the brute had meant.

"Hey! Back off, un!" Deidara yelled. His hands were balled up tightly into fists and were placed on the table, preparing to get up and beat the crap out of this guy.

"Deidara." Itachi said in a warning.

Deidara followed Itachi's glance to Hidan and immediately shut up. Hidan was about to blow his top and Deidara didn't want to get caught in the mess.

"Look, you motherfucker! What the hell is your problem? The other day you were nice and now you're back to being a motherfucking dick! Don't tell me it's cause I fucking rejected you." Hidan spat scornfully.

For once it wasn't his loud screaming, although it was still loud enough for a couple of tables around them to hear. There was a kind of venom in his voice that told people to stay away if they wanted to live.

Kakuzu's eyes widened in shock. He didn't expect Hidan to say something like that. He wanted to say something to make up for it but could find none. Thos words had hit him hard. He stood there for a few seconds before muttering a curse and walking back to his seat. The rest of the Akatsuki stared in shock and glared at the younger group of teens.

"What was that all about?" Kisame asked.

"And about him rejecting you?" Sasori added.

Kakuzu sighed and thought that he may as well owned up now. "I like him."

"Which?" The rest asked incredulously.

"The foul-mouthed silver-haired one." He replied simply.

Zetsu and Sasori stared in surprised while Kisame chuckled. "Figures."

"What?" Sasori asked, still unable to believe what he had been told.

"You heard right, Saso." Kakuzu sighed.

Sasori had his mouth slightly agape. Kakuzu liked him? And got rejected by him? What?! Sasori closed his mouth and poked at his food.

"I've lost the will to eat." He told them.

Kakuzu just sighed while the others chuckled. Sasori was like a little brother to them, the most fragile and 'innocent' when it came to emotions. He wasn't innocent but he was unaware of their possible effects on a person, having loathed them so much.

"Although, that was quite quick Kakuzu. I didn't expect you to find someone you fancy so quickly." Zetsu commented.

Kakuzu was about to sigh again when he heard a loud exclaim. "HE WHAT?"

It seemed to come from the group of rich kids. The members of the Akatsuki snapped their heads towards that direction.

The next thing they knew, Sasori was pulled out of his seat by his hair by Itachi. He locked the red-head's arms by holding them back with his own. Hidan and Tobi proceeded to punch him in the face and stomach. This was all topped off by Hidan pulling Sasori forward by his arm and Itachi sending a kick to his back, making his chest bang against the high table.

"That was for Deidara!" Hidan and Tobi roared as Itachi just walked away. The duo followed suit.

Sasori coughed a couple of times before turning to glare at the table. He glanced at Deidara who gave him the most apologetic look he could muster, which was a sheepish grin. Sasori scowled.

"Sasori! You alright?" Kisame asked.

"Do I look fucking alright to you?" The red-head spat.

"Easy, Saso. Why did they do that?" Zetsu asked.

"How the hell should I know?" Sasori grit his teeth. He was seething. They caught him off guard and beat him pretty good. Fuck!

"It must've been something big. Itachi usually isn't like that." Kisame reasoned.

The rest just raised a brow at them. Suddenly, Sasori's phone vibrated, signaling a text. Sasori flipped it open and after seeing who the recipient was, let the whole table see.

From: Deidara

I told my friends what happened in the holidays and they got mad at you.

Sorry, that was my fault.

I'll make it up to you somehow, okay?

"What happened in the holidays?" Kakuzu questioned.

Sasori merely smirked. "Stuff."

"It's seems like Sasori may win the bet, huh." Kisame chuckled.

"Do you really like this kid, Sasori?" Zetsu asked.

Sasori merely chuckled. "Of course not. I can't wait to see him crumble."

The rest of the Akatsuki said nothing. Sasori had become like this after the death of their leader. It was his way of coping with the pain. If this what it took to make Sasori happy, the rest would let him do it. Even if Sasori didn't know it, the Akatsuki loved him more than his family ever would.

If only he could notice it, maybe he wouldn't do those things anymore...


Unbeknownst to anyone, while Itachi had kicked Sasori, Kisame had actually seen the raven's bruise. He decided to ask Itachi about it during training. He knew Itachi would stay later than everyone else to continue practicing till it was eight.

However, his plan was spoilt when the egg-head realized that there would be no more training this year since it was winter and because their indoor sports hall was under renovation until next spring. Curse him and his goldfish memory*!

Instead, he saw Deidara on his way out of school. Thinking about how the two seemed to be extremely close friends, he decided to ask the blonde.

"Hey! Deidara, was it?" The shark-like man asked.

"Yeah, un. I'm sorry about just now. I already apolo-"

"Nah, it's not because of that. Although I am curious about you and Saso."

By saying that, the shark-like man made the blonde blush.

"Anyway, I wanna ask you if you know anything about Itachi and his bruises? And maybe a little about his father?"

Deidara stared at him in astonishment. How did he know?

"Look, un. I know it may be your job to be concerned about student-welfare since you are the vice-president and all bu-"

"Don't get it wrong kid. It has nothing to do with that. I'm asking as a friend."

Deidara's eyes widened. A friend...?

"...Alright, un. I'll tell you."


"When my friends and I were in middle school, Itachi and I used to date, un. Once, when we were having a heated make out session, I was going to mark him on his neck so no one would notice. But when I pulled his turtle-neck down, I saw the purple markings. Those were the marking of abuse that Itachi had endured from his father.

When my friends and I asked about it, he said that it's been going on for years and that he was already used to it, yeah. It happened quite frequently, even more so as his younger brother, Sasuke, had grown older. That boy only caused mischief and Itachi took the blame because he loved his brother so much. If you asked me, I'd say it was stupid.

Itachi once tried protecting his mom from his frequently drunk father. That didn't work. He got beat up badly and his shoulder was slashed with a knife. He didn't come to school for a week. The other guys and I have always wanted to do something about his stupid, abusive and violent father, but nothing could be done. In public, he was a respectable man. Behind the scenes though, he was another thing all together, yeah.

His parents were also very demanding of him, un. Just because he was the oldest, he had to take over his family's oil company. He can't aim for anything else than that. His parents wouldn't allow it. They also disapprove of Itachi having any form of contact with girls. They said emotions would only be a hindrance to his goals.

Once, they almost found out about Itachi and I. In order for him to not get into trouble, especially about being in a gay relationship, we broke up. We remained close friends though.

Itachi refused to seek help because he knew it'd be hopeless. Instead, he stayed home and decided to try to protect his mother and beloved brother from their father, even if it means getting beaten up more badly or worse."

The words seem to ring in his head. Those were the words that Deidara had told him. Kisame felt bad. Itachi had to endure so much for what was never his fault and he had no way to escape it. Yet, he faced his duty head-on and did his very best. Kisame respected him with his very being. He thought of others before himself, which Kisame thought was very commendable.

He now had a new sort of admiration for Itachi.


As soon as Deidara had reached the Sanctuary after talking to Kisame, he got an earful from everyone there.

"What were you thinking?" Itachi asked, hostility evident in his voice.

"Yeah senpai! Why did you do that with the mean guy who almost beat you up?" Tobi whined.

"He kissed me." Deidara corrected.

"You're still gonna stand up for that fucker?" Hidan rolled his eyes.

Deidara just pouted as he sat on the coach in between Itachi and Tobi while Hidan went to grab a beer.

"That stupid fucker made fun of me today." Hidan grumbled, obviously referring to Kakuzu.

"And you guys beat up Sasori!" Deidara whined.

"Stop defending him, idiot." Hidan chided.

"Dei, what exactly is your relationship with him?" Itachi asked.

He was more concerned of the blonde rather than protective of him. Deidara had a habit of being spontaneous and listening to what his heart tell him to do. This caused him to often not use his brains.

"He's... my boyfriend, un." Deidara replied as he closed his eyes in a wince, anticipating what they would say next.

"YOUR BOYFRIEND?" Hidan and Tobi yelled.

"I thought we agreed to be enemies with them? What happened to that, Deidara?" A silky, deep voice asked. Damn, Tobi sure did change fast.

Obito hated the thought of traitors. The blonde shivered. He was in for it now.

"This calls for a death penalty!" Obito exclaimed.

"I'll got get the motherfucking torture devices!" Hidan shouted before dashing off.

"Kill me now, un."

"Well, this would be interesting." Itachi commented.

"Indeed, it will." Obito smirked.


Alright, I know I haven't updated in forever. So thanks for reading :)

Updates will be more frequent after my exams have ended, which will be the week after next.

I hope the chapter was lengthy enough to make up for the lack of updates :)

Spent the whole day on this. Drabbles aside...

POLL TIME~! :D

Do you think Deidara's 'punishment' should be something sexual?

Since they're close friends and all I'd think it'll be alright. But I wanna see what you readers think :)

Tell me what you think :D

Like? Don't like? Review and tell me why :3

Don't forget about the poll x)