Chapter eleven,
What child is this?!
Pein put his hand on Itachi's arm before leaving to go outside.
Once Pein left, Itachi went to the other room to look at the calendar. It looked like they were going to be home alone for quite some time actually, so this was a perfect opportunity to have strangers in the house. The only issue was that Sara, Konan and Madara all had the uncanny ability to walk in at the most inconvenient of times.
He paced back and forth for while, how unlike himself to be nervous. Perhaps he should check up on his younger brother while they had time. No one would notice if Itachi wasn't around if they weren't here right? These thoughts were cut short by more stomach contractions and unwelcomed bile.
Outside Kabuto must have seen Pein leave the house, because he started to walk faster past him. Pein called to him several times before actually shouting down the street to get his attention. Kabuto started to sprint after this, obviously not wanting to make contact with the Akatsuki leader.
"Kabuto get your bitch ass over here before I actually start something!" And with that the other man put his hands up in the air and slumped over to the redhead. Kabuto stopped about five feet away and put his hands down. He did not meet eyes with Pein.
"Hello Pein."
"Yeah, hi yourself. Look I need you to do some medical shit with Itachi, preferably for free, so it would be much appreciated if you would go inside and start with tha-"
"Wait, this is not going where I thought it was going to go is it?" Kabuto questioned, rather confused.
"No it really isn't but I can certainly deal with that later-" Pein glared for a moment, to which Kabuto was unphased.
"But what does anything Itachi does have to do with me?" he asked, now obviously annoyed. " I have dealt with enough Uchiha to last me a lifetime. And besides that point, why should I actually help you? You certainly aren't in any position to ask me for favors." The pale man folded his arms and smirked.
'Damn...' Pein thought to himself. It was true that they weren't really in a position to ask for favors at all, let alone from Kabuto. This lead Pein to ask yet another question.
"Why are you blackmailing us in the first place?"
"I have my reasons." well that answer was simple enough.
"And those might be?" the now irritated redhead inquired.
"That's for me to figure out when I need something." what a little bitch.
The two men stood in silence for a moment before Pein had the patience and calm to ask yet another follow up question.
And when-" the redhead grabbed a hold of the other's arm, staring him in the eye "Is this going to be? As of late I am a man of little patience." Kabuto didn't do much but roll his eyes at the threat, but he also made no move to get away from Pein.
"That will be when ever I happen to see fit. Until then you are at my sadistic mercy." The pale man smirked and pulled his arm away. "But truth be told, I am interested. Why does Itachi suddenly need medical attention...?"
The sudden spike in curiosity was something Pein really should have seen coming but didn't really bother to process. He then proceeded to explain his thoughts and what his boyfriend had been experiencing which was met with head nodding and internal eye rolling.
"This could easily be a number of things, but what my real question now is what is in this for me considering you could potentially be asking me to do thousands in medical services all for free?"
"Are you seriously fucking asking what you will get in terms of compensation?" Pein was...less than thrilled. Kabuto on the other hand was dead serious.
"Yes that is precisely what I am asking. I don't really care what it is, I just want something in return."
The redhead paced for a moment while the man with glasses merely shifted around awkwardly. People skills were never really his favorite thing and he would really rather have avoided this until a better time all together
Finally the leader decided on his options, but would rather not list them out loud.
"If you have nothing to say to me, believe it or not I actually have things I need to do today." The other man crossed his arms irritably.
"Look if it's really a question of what you want. Do you want money or something? I have money although I would rather use it on Sa-" and with that he cut himself off. A tad too late as Kabuto seemed to like Pein's sudden change in tone.
"Well I can certainly decided on my own what I want, so I might as well see what I am getting myself into before I ask." with that, they both turned to go back into the house. The leader looked around to make sure that there was no one outside to see them. Not like anyone really could, both the front and back yards were mostly fenced in. Old habits really do die hard.
As the redhead walked off to find his boyfriend, Kabuto quietly interjected "I will also take money for this."
"What, did your sugar daddy cut you off or something?" Kabuto literally hissed at that comment.
"The door is right over there, I can come and go as I please." that was both a threat and a statement. Pein mumbled angrily as he went to get both his wallet and his sick boyfriend.
In the mean time Kabuto decided to evaluate his situation. If this was a problem with health that Itachi was facing, this could further be used for extortion. On the other hand this could be nothing special and a serious waste of time. Ah priorities
Pein walked in to Itachi brushing his teeth yet again.
"What, brushing your teeth for another man?"
Itachi was not amused. " Very funny, I was just puking my guts out in anticipation of company." Uchiha's sure do have bad senses of humor. Finishing up, the raven turned to his boyfriend and kissed his snake bite piercing. Pein thought it was kinda sexy when Itachi kissed his piercings, because fuck knows he has a lot of them in a lot of places.
They then walked out into the other room, where Kabuto then asked a few questions before checking Itachi's vitals. There was absolutely nothing wrong, he didn't even have a fever.
"Have you eaten any bad food lately?" that damn cookie dough. Itachi jabbed his elbow into Pein's ribs, to which the later gave an audible groan. But the problem wasn't just today, it had been persisting for a while now, although there wasn't any real issue until about an hour ago. Kabuto contemplated this.
After questioning about the family medical history, which was nothing but anger management problems and bad eyesight. This made the man in glasses rub his forehead.
" So what do you think is wrong?" Pein asked impatiently, hoping that the ending of the day would not be bringing his wife and daughter home.
"To me it sounds like influenza, but to have something persist for seven days or more, a month in your case is something that does call for medical attention. However I don't know exactly what needs to be done, and what ever it ends up being is going to be expensive." he didn't sound thrilled about this at all, and that just had even more reason to piss off the redhead and leave the raven all the more skeptical.
"How are you sure that things are going to be expensive? And before you do anything, I have the say on whether or not it's done. Furthermore, no one else but the three of us knows about this issue and I intend to keep it that way." Pein looked over curiously at is slightly enraged lover, Kabuto merely put his hands up in mock horror.
"So sorry for intruding on your private love affair. Sue me."
"You are a sarcastic asshole, you know that?" Pein asked, beyond annoyed.
"So I have been told."
"Anyways…" Pein put his hands on Itachi's shoulders to hopefully calm him down. This unfortunately made the Uchiha even more tense. "What is it that you suggest we do?"
"Can you gesture again where you have been feeling pain?" Kabuto rubbed his temples while Itachi gesture from his navel to his groin several times over. The medic stared for a few moments before coming to a conclusion. He sighed loudly and Itachi tensed even more.
"It seems like this is something serious and internal...I could do an ultrasound, considering where you say the pain is…"
"Wait- an ultra sound?"
"Yes, an ultrasound."
Pein was taking a moment to wrap his head around this. "The thing women use to see their babies?"
"It's used for quite a bit more than that you know." Kabuto rolled his eyes. "I can use it to check out Itachi's internal organs to make sure they're not the problem. I just find the machine annoying to use..." So it was more of a personal preference. The two Akatsuki members contemplated this.
"Anyways, where would we get one of you two wanted to keep this as secret?" Kabuto eyed them both curiously, itachi cursed under his breath.
"I think..." Pein began, thinking over his words "we have a machine or something close to it."
"You have an ultrasound machine?"
"Yes."
"What for?"
"Konan had- erm...a use for it. That's all." Smooth Pein. Very Smooth.
"Well that solves majority of that problem. Where is it and can it be used?" Kabuto tapped his fingers on the table, getting bored with the whole situation. Pein then went downstairs to start up the machine and everything that went with it. Itachi and Kabuto however engaged in rather strained small talk.
"Do you happen to know anything about my brother?" Itachi asked after some time. It was really of no concern of his what Sasuke did, he was just curious.
"Went to live with friends." Kabuto shrugged. He didn't really know the details and could honestly care less. The idle chatter was starting to get on both of their nerves. Pein bounded back upstairs saying that the machine was ready to go downstairs.
Once down stairs, Itachi removed his shirt and moved his jeans down far enough for most of his pelvis to be exposed without being naked. The gel that went onto his stomach was freezing cold, but the warmth from the transducer made up for it slightly. The man in glasses moved the wand around for a long time, apparently seeing nothing of interest.
"The pain is lower than where you've been going," The long haired man pointed out. In fact it was right about where his pants were covering. Kabuto moved the transducer there without question while Pein watched the two of them and the monitor that lit up the room. Moving the gelled part right to where itachi's belt was, Kabuto stopped to look at the monitor. Whatever he saw caught his attention enough to make his eyebrows knit together. Pein didn't know whether he should feel relief or worry that he saw something.
The grey haired main idly moved the transducer back and forth, not taking his eyes off of the monitor. He had a mixed look of curiosity, disbelief and disgust that Pein didn't like.
"Well? What do you see?" The pierced man was getting impatient.
Kabuto blew his bangs out of his face in response and continued to look at the screen. Itachi sat up on his elbows and looked at his lover, mouthing 'Calm down' in hope that it would make this a little easier for all three of them. In truth the lack of an answer was starting to bother him, but let his beloved hot head handle that.
"Itachi, when was the last time you had a full body physical?" Kabuto asked, still not looking at either of them. Itachi had to think it over, while it took all of Pein's effort not to say he had given him one only a couple of hours before.
"I suppose I had one before I left Konoha, so I was probably twelve or thirteen. The records probably have been burned or trashed by now anyways."
"Of course." that was obviously not the response he wanted.
"And aside from this and common illnesses, you have never had any bodily problems that are out of the ordinary have you?"
"Well…" Itachi hesitated for once. Kabuto shot one quick glance at him before returning to the monitor. Pein's staring eyes bore into him.
"I take medicine for some upper respiratory problems."
"Asthma?"
"Not sure yet." Pein answered, cutting that conversation short.
"Alright, so my next question is what are you two playing at?" Now it was the Akatsuki member's turn to be confused. The had honestly asked for help, so why would it seem like a joke?
"There's nothing being played at here, just tell me what you keep looking at on the fucking monitor." Pein just about had it with the medic who pointed at the screen.
"That right there is, or at least very closely resembles, a fetus. Itachi is a male will full working genitalia. Do you see the dilemma here? Things like that don't really work." He sounded more annoyed than ever. Itachi sat up to get a better look, without disturbing the transducer, Pein on the other hand didn't know whether he should ask questions or choke Kabuto. He went over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a folder.
The contents of the folder was the instructions for the ultra sound and pictures taken from it when Konan had been pregnant with Sara. Pein dug for the earliest one and sure enough it looked quite similar to the image being displayed right now. Judging by Pein's response and whatever he was looking at, Kabuto deduced that this was not a joke and that what he was seeing on the monitor was not failing eyesight. He handed the transducer to Itachi, who had a very blank look on his face.
"I don't know whether to be disturbed or curious." Kabuto said, no longer wanting to touch Itachi.
"I would go with confused…" Pein muttered.
"I am disgusted. " came the weasel's quiet response.
Pein, regaining his words, the proceed to ask questions as calmly as he possibly could.
Kabuto explained that more often then believed, people can be born with two sets of genitalia, however they usually get it corrected at birth and the second set isn't usually functioning. However there are rare instances.
"If they had a private family doctor, it wouldn't have been an issue with not bringing it up." the medic suggested.
" I did get physicals more often than not as a child. Most likely to evaluate what had become of whatever else I had." Itachi rubbed his throbbing temples. He shrugged off Pein's hands for the time being. The raven didn't want to be touched, he felt disgusting and rightfully so.
"Explain then why this happened?!" The flustered red-head managed after trying to keep his anger under wraps
"Well…" Kabuto took a few steps away from the two other men. "There are several possibilities as to how it happened, but it all depends on how they decided to fix the" he air quoted "problem in the first place. That we don't know because the records surely have been burned. So let's just say they stitched it shut and let it heal on it's own. It could have been ripped open later on in life."
"If it's healed and was stitched shut, how could it have opened up again?" Itachi inquired.
"Botched operation. Things like that can happen. Anything from time to exercise could have caused the stitching come undone."
"Anything…?" Pein sounded skeptical "Like what else?"
"I don't fucking know, boisterous sex?" Kabuto Yakushi officially gave no more shits that day. The redhead was about to reply when they heard something upstairs. Someone was home. Two of them, one set of high heels and one set of toddler's feet. Sara and Konan were home.
"Fuck." The three men said in unison.
