Yes, it's part six!!

Disclaimer? I don't own characters etc. I also don't own this story. This story belongs to Dianna, as given to her for her birthday. Happy late birthday, Dianna! I do hope you enjoy this, I don't feel like putting much up here so I'll explain everything at the bottom.

Except this one- did you know that, in Latin, pain is Dolores? It's just a short trip to Pein... and there was much laughter.

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Itachi had never really thought about it before. It was just there, nothing more than something to be brushed aside irritatingly. He had never even considered the idea that one day he might wish it were him. That would have been unbelievable. But then again, so was the idea that he would fall in love at all.

But the more time that passed, the more Itachi thought about it. Maybe it was more appealing than he had made it out to be. Crazy as it sounds, maybe it meant something. So maybe he'd ask.

Nok. Nok.

Before the third knock had sounded, the door had opened. There she was, pretty as a rose, but more like a daisy, sitting on a light purple couch with her wand out. Luna Lovegood. She waved him inside, the door swinging shut as he made his way to sit beside her.

"How've you been, since I saw you last," Itachi greeted her.

"When was that, fifteen minutes ago?" Luna smiled at him. Itachi smirked inwardly. (Teehee ingrown smirk) Today had been one of Leader-san's (Dolores', lol.) infamous 'Akatsuki dinners', created, as par part one, to increase the chance of the Akatsuki working well together. Itachi had stopped by his room first, because earlier that day he had lost him hairbrush, (oh wheeeere is his hairbrush) and he had thought he might know where it was. Unfortunately, he had been wrong.

"Fifteen minutes, fifteen years, you're still not there," Itachi told her, pulling at one of her bedecked ears teasingly.

Luna's smile widened despite herself. "I've been just fine," she assured him. "You?"

"Still can't find my hairbrush."

"You know, you could just get another one." (To Safeway!)

"I liked the old one."

"Well, then, I guess you ought to keep looking."

"Maybe Deidara stole it, he was always jealous…"

"Oh, leave it be," Luna told him. "It'll turn up eventually."

"Unless Deidara stole it. Then I'll never get it back."

"Deidara has fifteen assorted hairbrushes. Why does he need yours?"

"Good point."

They sat in silence a bit, neither felt the need for conversation. Itachi took a long lock of her hair in his hands, he liked her hair. It was soft, oddly so. And it always smelled like her.

"You know I love you, mm?" Itachi said suddenly. Luna leaned against him.

"Yes." She told him quietly. "But I like it when you tell me, anyhow." She was really quite beautiful. She took hold of his arm. "I love you as well."

Itachi smiled at her. (Wow. Five installments and that's still weird to type.) "You know," He began, but was interrupted by a loud banging on Luna's door.

"ITACHI!" Came Konan's voice from behind the door. "I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"

Itachi groaned. Great timing, Konan. Luna flicked her wand, and the door swung open. Konan was looking distinctly disheveled, and rather grouchy for it. "I can't find my hairbrush," she told him stoutly, "So I'm using yours. Where is it?"

"I don't know." Itachi told her frusteratedly. "Lost it."

"Then go find it!"

"You find yours, I'm not getting up."

"ITACHI! FIND. YOUR. HAIRBRUSH. NOW!" Konan screeched.

"Okay, okay," Itachi muttered. "God, who's time of the month is it."

"I heard that!" She hollered after him as he slouched down the hall. She turned to Luna. "Men," she sighed, and turned away to go…do something.

Luna blinked. She thought she knew why Pein had excused her from being absent at dinner that night.

Last night hadn't gone entirely according to plan. Itachi, having not found his hairbrush yet, had to face Konan's pms wrath, and hadn't been able to go back to see Luna. Which wrecked his night in itself, not to mention that not having his hairbrush seemed to exaggerate the following morning's bedhead and beleaguer him into asking to borrow one of Deidara's brushes. And whenever Itachi needed to borrow one of Deidara's hairbrushes, Deidara got a smug look upon his face that made the whole thing so much worse. (he has ingrown smugness)

But the funny thing is that it didn't matter anymore, because time had come and gone, and Itachi was back in Luna's room, talking with her like they had taken to doing every night.

"What do you think?" Itachi asked her as Luna took off a borrowed set of Itachi's headphones.

"I like it," She said. "It's well written and performed. The beat is my favorite."

Itachi smiled. (Still weird). He had finally gotten around to having Luna listen to a few Bob Segar tunes; somehow he hadn't gotten around to it until then. (Which I find hard to believe, but mind the plot.) What she'd just been listening to was 'You'll accomp'ny me'. (Not coincidence I chose that one, Dianna.)

"There are a few more songs in particular I think you'd like," Itachi said, opening back up the CD case. "And then maybe the Rolling Stones." (BFE!)

"The Rolling Stones?"

"Similar. And similar to them is the talking heads… I don't like them as much, though."

"I think I've heard of them," Luna said. "Although I don't know much about muggle music in general. I used to listen to Algenia Foghorn, she had such a strong voice… although she wasn't particularly popular. I never knew why."

"Well I had no idea there was music that wasn't muggle music, so you're a step ahead anyhow," Itachi commented, tucking the CD back into his robe. (Yay for inside pockets!) "You know what?" he said, standing up from the cozy spot in front of the fire he had occupied, "Let's go on a walk."

Luna nodded. "It's nice out tonight. Let's." she waved her wand, and a knit scarf took itself off the wall where it hung and wrapped itself around her neck. "Do you have one?" she asked, gesturing towards the scarf she wore. "It's cold out, you might want one."

Itachi grinned at her. "Can you elongate that one?" (Can't remember what song, but there's a few lyrics somewhere that say 'I've got my love to keep me warm.')

And they wound their way through the Akatsuki caves, to the back opening, the one that emptied out into the woods, wearing the same scarf. Luna had charmed it to fit them both, but they stayed close by each other anyway.

They wandered a bit, then stopped in a clearing, sitting on a dead log. (The only good log is a dead log) Luna was looking up at the stars, but Itachi was looking elsewhere. Surely by now I don't even have to say where.

"You like stars?" He asked her, as she gazed skywards.

Luna nodded. "I love trying to find constellations in them. Each one has a story, I find that so fascinating." She wound her hand in with his.

Itachi glanced at the night sky. "How do you find anything up there?" He asked. "It's a bunch of glowing dots."

"Yes, but there are so many." Luna sighed. "Sometimes it makes me feel small."

"Yeah." Itachi said after a minute. "I think I might know what you mean."

They sat there on the (dead) log, staring up at the sky together.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Luna said, her gaze never leaving the starry eternity.

"Nnn?"

"The hills by Ottery St Catchpole. When we were watching the clouds." Luna closed her eyes. "It was so long ago."

"Yeah…" Itachi murmured. "It's been forever. Nearly a year, isn't it?"

Luna laughed and nodded. "You'd never know."

"We've been together a long time, then." Itachi smiled to himself. (Still weird.) "Don't you think-"

"Hiiii!"

Luna and Itachi both turned around. Tobi was staring happily back at them. I think. Damn mask…

"Tobi?" groaned Itachi.

"Hello, Tobi." Luna said. "What brings you out so late?"

"Oh!" Tobi said, as if he'd just remembered something. "I was on my way back, I found another one!"

"Another one?"

"Another what?"

"African spore toad," Luna told a bewildered Itachi.

"Only, I don't think It's very healthy. I don't know what to do with it, so I was going to get you to come see it." Tobi told her worriedly.

"Oh, dear." Luna stood up. "I'm sorry, Itachi, I really ought to…"

Itachi shook his head frusteratedly. "It's fine. Go ahead. We'll talk tomorrow night."

She smiled. "Thanks, Itachi." And she was off through the darkness, led by Tobi, leaving the scarf with Itachi. Who sighed, and got up to go look for his hairbrush. What was it with the Akatsuki and interrupting him? He sure wasn't going to take this again. But he'd let it pass this time.

Having given up searching for privacy, which Itachi had deemed impossible with the Akatsuki around, late afternoon found Luna and Itachi sitting by the roughly created fireplace in the Akatsuki lounge. Nearly everyone was there, but no one was paying even the slightest attention to anyone else, so it was probably just as private as anywhere. Kakuzu was busy watching already-dry paint, you know the spot, Kisame was reading one of Deidara's magazines, Konan was arguing with Zets1 and Zetst2 over what to watch on TV, the three of them each wanting something different. Hidan was in a corner stabbing himself happily, and Tobi was being taught chess by Deidara. Who only knew half the rules in the first place. Pein was nowhere to be found, as he hasn't even been mentioned since part one, he tends to shy off the screen because I never have anywhere to put him.

"You know, it seems fuller in here than it usually is," Luna said, looking around at the busy cavern.

Itachi shook his head. "I've seen it much worse. You just haven't been in here enough."

"True," Luna said. "Maybe it's just me."

"It's just you."

Luna sighed and shook her head. "It's hard to believe I still haven't seen the room at it's fullest."

"It's also hard to believe there are things called nargles living in mistletoe."

Luna nudged his ankle playfully with her own. "They're there."

"I know, I know," Itachi told her, his hands up in surrender. "Them and the wrackspurts."

If Luna picked up on the sarcasm, she didn't react. Instead she settled in closer to him and watched the fire crackle. Itachi wondered how she'd gotten so cute.

"Been thinking," He said suddenly, and Luna looked up at him.

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever thought about…"

"Itachi!" Kisame yelled into Itachi's ear. Apparently he'd finished his magazine.

"Go away, I'm busy." Itachi shot him an angry look.

"Not this time, you put it off last night. You promised me we'd play ping-pong."

"Yeah, so you'd stop asking. I had my fingers crossed."

"THAT DOESN'T COUNT!"

"Tobi wants to play ping-pong!" Tobi said, having given up on chess and come over to the sofa.

"No way, Tobi, you suck at ping-pong!" Kisame pouted.

"So does Hidan, but he beat you!"

"That was a fluke, everyone knows that!"

"Nope, I think you just suck."

"Wait, are we playing ping-pong?" Deidara had followed Tobi. "Can I play?"

"No!" yelled Kisame. "I'm playing Itachi, that's it!"

"No, Tobi's playing too."

"If Tobi plays, it's only fair that I play as well."

"We're the Akatsuki, we don't have to be fair!"

Itachi had a very, very large headache. Nothing was even remotely how he wanted it. How was he supposed to deal with this? Would they ever have a moment of peace? Hell with it, there's no better time than the present. He grabbed Luna's arm to catch her attention.

"MARRY ME, DAMNIT!"

The room fell silent. (The TV hadn't even been turned on yet, for bickering.)

Luna's face was bright red, although she didn't look upset. Which was good. She just sort of nodded, speechless.

Itachi, caught up in sudden elation, didn't notice a minute that Konan had started clapping. Hidan wolf whistled from amongst his bloody corner, and Kisame was trying not to laugh. (Although if you ask me, he's the one who understands this the most.) Deidara had gone off to sulk somewhere, and Zetsu was hiding broodingly in his flytrap. Tobi was beaming, although with the dumb mask it was effing hard to tell. Kakuzu, the only Akatsuki member who hadn't noticed anything was going on between Luna and Itachi, was sputtering nonsense before finally going into a small coma for shock. (I mean, come on. You can't blame he guy, Itachi just proposed. To Luna Lovegood, no less. Who in all the worlds woulda seen that one coming??)

Luna buried her face in Itachi's robe. Itachi, rather satisfied with himself, ignored the clamor around him and smirked at the fire, his arm around her.

Later that night, Luna was in her cave, (that sounds all primitive.) lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She was still shocked from the night's events, as many times as she told herself, it was still difficult to fully believe.

She was engaged.

Wow.

It wasn't that she hadn't thought about it before, but she had never really pinned Itachi down as the type to marry. To think that he loved her enough to set aside previous Ideals. She blushed to herself and rolled over to face the wall.

She certainly couldn't deny that she was happy about it.

There was a knock at the door. She sat up quickly, grabbing her wand off the bedstand to let in her visitor. Who she was almost certain was Itachi.

And sure enough, it was. (What do you know? rolls eyes) You could see he was trying not to smile, but failing quite pitifully. Which, of course, made Luna smile.

Which, thankfully, broke the thin Ice created from slight awkwardness of the night's turn of events. Infact, it broke so much Ice that some guy in Afghanistan who was ice-skating fell into the water and got eaten by a polar bear. Um, a drowning polar bear. It occurs to me that I just strayed from the plot and broke the mood in one incredibly spontaneous tangent. My mood-breaking strand continues! My apologies, on with the story.

Itachi made his way over beside Luna, giving her a swift hug as he sat alongside her.

"Good evening," Luna greeted him. "How have you been since I saw you last?"

"What was that, half an hour ago?"

"Half an hour, half a decade. It doesn't matter, we'll be together longer than both combined now."

Itachi, already failing miserably, was, for an Itachi, positively beaming. (Which isn't Tobi beaming. It's Itachi beaming. Which is much less, but still rare. Not that Tobi beaming is rare. Ok sorry.) "Yeah," he told her, "So don't go dying before then."

She laughed a bit. "I promise. Now you."

"I'll try my best."

Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, evil organization, constantly risking life."

"I'll shield you."

"Then I promise."

Luna smiled, satisfied.

"Oh, yes." Itachi said, having remembered something. "I wanted to say, I'm sorry I didn't get you a ring."

Luna shook her head, still smiling. "I don't need one."

"Yes, but I do have this." He took from somewhere in his robe (Yay for inside pockets!) a daisy chain crown.

Luna laughed a bit as he placed it on her head. "Where did you get that?"

"Tobi made it. He said I should have something to give you."

Luna reached up to touch the circlet of little white flowers. "I love it."

Itachi smirked inwardly. (Again.)

"But you know what?" Luna said, resting her head against Itachi's shoulder. "I have everything I could ever want, right here."

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All right! You've read it! And are probably confused about a few things, so here goes.

I expect most of you got this one, but just incase, 'oh wheeere is his hairbrush' was a reference toward Larry the cucumber's silly song. ...The one that goes 'oh wheeeere is my hairbrush.' Veggie tales.

'To Safeway' I can't even explain properly. Dianna and I were messing around and it became an inside joke, somehow. So that's all it is.

'You'll accompn'y me' is a song by Bob Segar, as I assume you've grasped, which Dianna always thought was a good song for Luna and Itachi. Apparently, coincidentally enough, she also thought it would make a decent proposal in itself. (I didn't know until after she read this. Well, she told me, but I must not have been listening. Sorry Dianna...)

BFE is 'Beatles For Everyone,' which is my note that I think the Beatles are better than the rolling stones. (If you agree, say so!!)

Review, please, although I've given up, really.

Oh, yes.

And this may be the last one

But I already wrote another short one

Because I have no control.

However, that was a while ago as I have been lazy and have not posted this, and I haven't even been scheming for a new one, so I think I can honestly say that part seven will be the last one. I'll post it if asked.

WAIT WAIT ONE MORE THING

because Lumos Solaria is such a magnificent human being, she wrote a wedding scene for these two. which happens to be ten times better than the sucky one you'll read if you look for the next chapter. It's seriously one of the coolest things EVER. so let's give her a hand, even if you're too lazy to just wander over to the search box and type in 'Weddings, and Other Such Nonsense' under story title. (It's in my favorites, too, if that's easier.) DOOOO IIIIIIIIT. :3 ok done pestering you. (doooo iiiiiit)