4:15 AM.
Kakuzu was stroking Hidan's silver hair softly, lulling the man back into sleep. Yes, he had gotten him to take his medicine. No, he hadn't gotten any info on the dream. However, they made a deal (not a bet, to Kakuzu's dismay), that if Hidan woke up again from the same dream, he had to tell Kakuzu no matter what. And Hidan rarely put down deals.
After the stitched-nin was certain that Hidan was asleep, he sat back down on his own bed, his hand hovering over the lightswitch.
And that was when there was a knock on the door.
Kakuzu stood back up and opened the door, already knowing who was there without looking through the peephole. Kisame's large demanor hid Itachi from Kakuzu's sight, but not on purpose. Kisame held out Samehada to Kakuzu. Kakuzu raised an eyebrow.
"Delivery!" Kisame chuckled. He had told the woman at the front desk that Samehada was a delivery to Kakuzu, and that Itachi was just his apprentice. Itachi, at the time, glared silently at the shark-man. But the emotion was cleared once again from his pale face.
Kisame walked past Kakuzu and strapped his sword back on his back. That's when Kakuzu saw Itachi.
"Did Leader-sama have Itachi come as well?" Kakuzu asked. Kisame was eyeing the poor heap of Hidan that was in the bed.
"No. But Leader probably would have sent him down anyway to watch over Hidan. It's not like any of the others could have." Kisame knew that Itachi had come up with that conclusion, but Itachi didn't look like he was going to talk anytime soon.
Kakuzu thought of the remaining members, and nodded. "Very well."
Kisame turned to Itachi, and Itachi looked at him. "Itachi-san, you should deactivate your Sharingan for now. You're nearly blind as it is, and no one's going to come and attack you here."
Itachi sent a glare towards Kisame. Kisame stared at him. After a few seconds of staring, Itachi's eyes dulled to their natural black. Kisame nodded in approval.
"Itachi, there are some things you need to know to take care of Hidan," Kakuzu said to him. Itachi looked his way.
"The medicine he needs is on the table right there. Every four hours, you have to give him three spoonfulls. He's stubborn, but don't use those eyes of yours on him. He gives in eventually. I just gave him his medicine a few minutes ago. And if he wakes up shaking and crying, it's because of the damned nightmare he's been having for the past couple days. I know it's probably out of your expertise, but at least try to calm him down. If he wonders where I am, call me and I'll talk to him. He'll probably get up to take a shower, so if he's not out of the bathroom in two hours, make sure he didn't drown or anything."
"Two hours?" Kisame questioned.
"He's a hair-care maniac. And he'll probably be really slow because he hasn't been able to...figure out things very easily. Anyway, that should be it."
"Hn." Itachi gave a small nod in understanding. He knew he only came because he couldn't stand not having his annoying-blue-shark-partner for a week. But he could deal with Hidan. He had to do nearly the same thing when Sasuke was sick when he was younger. It happened often, mainly when it rained in Konoha and Sasuke wanted to play in the rain without a jacket...
Kakuzu looked over at Kisame. "We should leave now, Kisame," he announced. Kisame gave a nod and a small grunt. He turned to Itachi and gave him a smile.
"I'll be back soon, Itachi-san." With that, he ruffled Itachi's hair slightly and walked out of the door behind Kakuzu. Then the door closed. Itachi stared at it for a moment, softly putting his hand on top of where Kisame touched his hair.
"...Good-bye, Kisame."
...
...
...
Sasori and Deidara were half-way to the Cloud Village. Then they would be there for four days, and it would take a few days to get back to the hideout.
That was how Sasori saw it, anyway.
Deidara, for some very odd (and slightly nerve-wracking) reason, was incredibly quiet for a lot of the trip. Sasori would send small, microscopic glances of worry towards his partner. Deidara was mostly seen either with his head hung down to watch his feet shuffle quietly through the leaves or his head up and staring at the canopy of trees above them. All the while, his one visible aqua eye was blank. But Sasori thought the blank he saw was just a sheild to cover the wonder and curiousity that he was thinking about.
Finally, after stuffing away the mental breakdown he was sure he was going to get to the back of his mind, Sasori heard the blonde's voice. It was quiet and almost...shy sounding.
"Uhm...Sasori-danna, un..." There was the 'Danna' again. Now Sasori was beginning to wonder about that.
"Yes Deidara?"
"Err..." Deidara stalled. He didn't know if he wanted to say what he was thinking...
Sasori stopped walking and fully turned to face his blonde partner. Deidara stopped as well, but was back to looking away to the side and rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"Deidara, you know we don't have time to stall. What do you need?" Sasori asked sternly.
Deidara then looked down and walked past Sasori. "Never mind, un..." he said softly. Sasori turned on his heel and watched the blonde. His shoulders were hunched foward slightly and his hands were deep in his pockets, his head hanging again. Sasori could also see that he was clearly trying to walk as fast as he could.
Sasori forced himself to shrug and follow his partner. He forced himself to think that Deidara was just going through something that he didn't know of and wanted to tell him, but couldn't. It seemed like something personal.
Sasori had found himself only a few feet behind Deidara. His partner had slowed down quite a bit, but his posture wad the same.
That was it. Sasori couldn't take it anymore.
Sasori stopped walking and sighed. "Deidara, come here for a moment."
Deidara stopped walking and nervously turned to face the redhead. "Er...yes, Danna?"
The blonde man walked to Sasori, and Sasori looked into his visible eye.
"Deidara, tell me what's wrong."
"Er, it's nothing, Sasori-danna."
"Deidara, you've been spacing out for the past hour and a half and wanted to tell me something but refused. I'm not stupid, Deidara."
"I-I never said you were, un!"
"Then stop making me look like and idiot and tell me what's wrong."
Deidara's head was hanging again.
"It's just personal stuff, Sasori-danna. Just...just forget about it," Deidara stuttered. He turned around and swiftly walked away from his Danna. Sasori glared lightly at the blonde's back.
"You're worrying me, you know." Deidara stopped in mid-step, his head bolted up and eyes wide. Sasori slowly walked toward him. "Deidara, this isn't you. I don't know what's wrong, but you were going to tell me a few moments ago. But you stopped." The puppet was almost touching Deidara's back. Sasori raised himself on his toes a little higher and whispered in his partner's ear. "That worries me."
Sasori's warm breath made Deidara's ear feel slightly moist. As the puppet lowered himself again, Deidara turned to face him, looking at him in the eye. He was frowning slightly.
"Sasori-danna...I'm sorry. I-I'm just confused with myself right now, un."
Sasori quirked an eyebrow. "Deidara, you know fully well that you're a man."
Deidara's face flushed. "N-Not like that, Saori-danna!" Sasori hid his small chuckle. "Uhm...I'll tell you...just not right now...un." Deidara was rubbing his neck nervously again.
Sasori sighed. "Fine. But you're wasting both of our time. We should be on our way to the village and you've been stalling." Deidara's face got a bit scared, thinking that Sasori was mad at him. But Sasori looked at him with a very small smile.
Deidara liked that very small smile.
...
...
...
It was now around 8:30 in the morning. Kisame and Kakuzu were making quite the progress, switching to tree-jumping (let's face it -- no one knows what it's really called) rather than walking. Hidan hated said jumping. He claimed that Jashin didn't approve.
Suddenly, Kisame's phone began to go off.
So real these voices in my head
When it comes back you won't be
Scared and lonely
You won't be scared, you won't be
You won't be scared and lonely
You won't be scared you won't be lonely
Kisame pulled the red instrument out and flipped his phone open. "Hello?"
"Kisame."
"Itachi-san. What is it?"
"Give your phone to Kakuzu."
"Uh, why?"
"It's Hidan."
"You didn't have Kakuzu's number-- Oh, hey Hidan." Kisame had to cut off his question to Itachi. He knew that his partner did that on purpose.
"G-give the d-damned fucking phone t-to Kakuzu!"
"Right, right."
Kisame and Kakuzu had stopped. Kisame held the phone out to him. "It's Hidan."
Kakuzu nodded and told Kisame, "Go ahead. I'll catch up." Kisame nodded obediently and jumped through the trees again.
With the shark gone, Kakuzu put the phone to his ear. "What's wrong, Hidan?"
"W-where the fuck d-did you go?!"
"To complete the mission with Kisame. You knew that he was coming."
"Nngh! I-I fucking h-h-hate you!"
"I know. Kisame and I will be back in a few days or so, you know that."
"B-b-but--"
"Where's Itachi?"
"G-getting food..."
"Took your medicine?"
"Y-yeah..."
The line was silent for a moment.
"Hidan, Itachi's there to help you. Don't think that I left you for dead, okay?"
"Y-you ass...I-I can't-t d-die."
"Well, don't think I left you to rot in your bed, then. Itachi knows what he's doing."
"H-how the fuck d-do you know?!"
"He has a younger brother. I'm pretty sure he got sick like you and Itachi had to take care of him."
"I-I fucking ha-ate you."
"Yes, yes. Listen, give Itachi my number. He doesn't have it apparently."
"...F-fuck you."
"See you soon." With that, Kakuzu hung up and sped off through the tress to catch up to his replacement partner. He was pretty sure that the Sharingan user was capable of taking care of his partner. His very violent...demon of a...Jashin praising...partner...
Oh well. He'd manage. He was Uchiha Itachi, after all.
Kakuzu had caught up to Kisame quickly and handed the red phone back to him. Kisame nodded as a thank you.
Kisame looked at his phone before he put it away. The sparkling deep red...the smooth texture it had...Kisame sighed contentently, being reminded of his partner's eyes.
His partner's beautiful, deep, mesmerizing eyes.
A/N: Oh-ho, finished with KisaIta this time! I like the ending, if I do say so myself XD But I have to say that this chapter is quite short compared to the others.
Anywho, I would like to thank my reviewers so far. I really, truly appreciate you guys reading all of this. I didn't think this would be lifted off of the ground with reviews.
So, saying that, I thank:
- Come Back To Me (formerly 'I Love My Puppeteers')
- carriemehome
- xXJashin-rocksXx
- I Spazz With Pizzazz
- black55widow
I will put up a NON chapter saying all of the Akatsuki member's ringtones. Or I will just put it at the end or beginning of the next chapter. I'll think about it.
Bye for now!