A man whistled as Kisame and Itachi walked by. For the fifth time that night, Itachi reached for the knife hidden inside his outfit. For the fifth time that night, Kisame's arm shot out to grab his hand. "Itachi, calm down. Pein told us specifically to lay low, and that means no killing." Itachi shot him a glare but retracted his hand, letting it droop to the side once more. "Why are we here?"

"Mandatory vacation." Kisame looked around the small town they'd recently entered. It was time for a spring festival, and all the villagers were out and about. "Pein thought we were getting too stressed, so he let us take a break."

"That's fine," Itachi hissed, gritting his teeth. "But why the hell am I in a kimono?!"

"Because you're so freakin' skinny the only person who could lend you clothes for the festival was Konan," Kisame answered, grinning down at his miserable partner. It was nice to see the normally calm and collected Uchiha squirm like this.

Another cat call made the Uchiha's eyes flash red. "Easy Itachi, you need to just take a few deep breaths-"

"No, what I need is to make a few deep stab wounds," the weasel growled, reaching for his knives yet again.

Kisame sighed. At this rate, the Uchiha would go on a mass killing spree. "Itachi, do you want me to make them stop?"

"How?" the weasel asked.

"Promise you won't murder me first."

"How?" the weasel repeated, eyes wary. Kisame gave up and grabbed the Uchiha's shoulders, stepping in front of his partner. Before Itachi could question the movement, his lips were against the shark's.

They stayed like that for a moment, before Kisame pulled away, smirking. "See? Now people will think you're mine. Problem solved."

"…"

"Hmm?" The shark frowned. "Itachi, what's wrong?"

The weasel stared at him, eyes wide. Suddenly he blinked and turned. "I'm going back to our room." He was gone in a flash.

Kisame looked around and was relived to see that no one had noticed the weasel's disappearance. He gritted his teeth as he began walking down the streets. "Dammit Itachi, you could have blown our cover!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~several hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kisame had finished up at the festival and was heading to the hotel room he was sharing with Itachi. Sighing, he opened the door, wondering if the weasel had cheered up at all.

He ducked as a knife imbedded itself in the wall where his head had been a moment earlier. Apparently not.

"Itachi…" the weasel was sitting on their bed, eyes red, glaring at the shark. "Go. Away."

"This is our room, Itachi. I'm not budging."

"Well you're not sleeping near me!" the duo had had to rent a room with one bed, due to the high number of guests staying in the area for the festival.

"Oh, so where do you propose I sleep?" Kisame asked in a sarcastic tone.

"The couch."

"There is no couch!"

"The floor then," the weasel growled, crawling under the covers. Kisame tried to walk over to the bed, only to have another knife land inches from his feet. The weasel was serious.

Kisame walked over to the corner, growling. "I hate you."

"Hn."

"Itachi, it's been two weeks! When the hell are you going to talk?!" The weasel gave no indication he'd even heard the shark, staring straight ahead as they walked down the road.

Kisame sighed in frustration and looked up at the sky. "Why me?" Kisame had thought the silence was bad before. He'd been wrong. Apparently, Itachi's 'I-refuse-to-speak-to-you-because-it's-beneath-me' silence was way better than his 'I-am-so-pissed-I-am-going-to-kill-you-the-next-time-you-look-at-me' silence.

Kisame shook his head. What was he going to do when they got home? Just walk up to Pein and say that Itachi and he weren't on speaking terms because he'd kissed the weasel? Yeah, that would go over really well Sir Leader. He had to try and work things out while they were still on the road, before it was too late. "Itachi," he began again, walking forward and grabbing the weasel's shoulder.

Itachi immediately jerked away and glared at his partner. "What?" he hissed.

Great, he'd gotten the weasel to speak. It was a start, at least. "Why is this such an issue with you?"

"It's not." Itachi tried to turn away again, but Kisame grabbed his arm, holding him in place. "Oh yes it is. Now what's the problem? You homophobic or something?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong? You just used to stealing kisses from pretty girls instead of someone taking them from you?"

"…" Itachi looked away.

"What? Were the girls the ones to steal kisses from you?" A faint blush crossed Itachi's face, and something clicked in the back of Kisame's head. "Or maybe…you've never been kissed?"

Itachi's cheek turned dark red and he pulled himself free from the shark, walking down the road at a faster pace than before. "No way…" Kisame ran up to his partner. "Is that what this is about? You're mad because I stole your first kiss?"

No answer. Of course.

Kisame paused, trying to decide his next move. "Look, if it bothers you so much-"

"It doesn't."

"Itachi, you suck at lying." The weasel shot him an angry glare. "Look, you were the one that wanted those bastards to stop ogling you, I just tried to help!" Kisame said in an exasperated tone.

"You could have found a better solution."

Kisame was close to strangling the weasel. "Itachi, it was just a kiss!" The weasel's eye twitched and he ran ahead. Kisame raised his brow. Ok, what was wrong now?

He mentally repeated their conversation, increasing his pace again to keep up with the Uchiha. It wasn't like Itachi to just flip out because of some kiss, so what was the problem?

The answer came to him in a flash, and his arm shot out to grab Itachi's once more. "What now?" the weasel asked in his normal monotone.

"That's it, isn't it? You're mad because your first kiss was just a way to get people to leave you alone. Nothing behind it, right?"

"…"

"Itachi…" Kisame moved in front of the weasel. "What would happen if I said there WAS something behind that kiss?"

"I'd call you a liar," Itachi replied, even as a faint blush crept back across his cheeks.

"And if I prove it?"

"You can't."

"Oh really?" Once again, the weasel had no time to react before he was trapped in another kiss.

Itachi's mind proceeded to shut down, completely immobilizing his body. This kiss was longer, and felt better than the first. Kisame pulled away, smirking down at his partner. "Does that prove it?"

"Quit doing that."

"What, this?" Kisame quickly gave the weasel another peck on the lips.

"Yes, that!"

"I know you like it, Itachi."

"No I don't."

"Oh really?" Kisame leaned in close to his partner. "Itachi, I know how much you hate it when people get close to you. If anyone, including me, ever tried to pull something like this, and you didn't like it, they'd already be dead." Itachi's eyes widened as he realized he'd just walked into the shark's trap. Kisame grinned. "I knew it. Now admit it."

"…Fine. I like it." Itachi glared up at the shark. "But stop doing it so much."

"Alright," Kisame agreed, kissing Itachi on the cheek.