Kakuzu had just finished his packing. It hadn't taken him long; years of living the life of a criminal had taught him to pack light whenever possible. It wasn't like the banker would have taken long to gather his things even if he traveled with a heavier load. In Kakuzu's mind, wasted time amounted to nothing but wasted money, so such trivial tasks, such as eating, packing, and the like were always done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The banker nearly sat down on the foot of the bed, but stopped halfway down. Normally, he'd have to wait for another five or ten minutes, because Hidan always took his sweet time to pack for a mission. But now…nothing.
Kakuzu shook his head and grabbed his pack from the ground. No use moping about lost partners. Wasted time and money, and all that…
As he walked to the door of his bedroom, he passed his desk, and a photo sitting atop the wooden surface, framed and proudly standing near Kakuzu's pencil cup.
For some inexplicable reason, the miser had allowed his part-his former partner to take a picture of the two of them. The photo was crooked, a result of Hidan having photographed them himself from arm's length. The photo itself displayed a smirking Jashinist, and a rather annoyed Kakuzu. The masochist was draped over the miser's shoulder at an awkward angle, which probably explained the perturbed look on Kakuzu's unmasked face.
It was their relationship, captured and summed up in a single instance. Any onlooker would have seen a childish, silver-haired man clinging to his annoyed senior partner.
Yet what the onlooker couldn't see, (due to Hidan's poor photography skills), was Kakuzu's burly arm wrapped tightly around Hidan's waist to make sure the Jashinist didn't slip from his perch, nor how the masochist had intertwined their free hands just out of the picture's frame.
That picture had been a form of anger management for years; all Kakuzu had to do was stare at the photo for a few minutes when he was upset, and suddenly the desire to break Hidan into a thousand pieces would vanish into thin air. But now…now the picture held nothing but memories of the past.
He was tempted to throw it out. By now, he'd had several weeks to devise a way to dispose of the wretched thing. Various plans ran through his head as he reached for the picture; he could burn it, toss it out, rip it into tiny pieces outside and let the wind carry it away…
But, as always, the miser's fingertips merely brushed the dust off the glass of the picture frame, and then left the photo alone. Another time, he told himself. Another day, and I'll be ready to finally dispose of it.
Nodding to himself, the miser finally exited his bedroom, making sure to lock the door behind him. Time to go.
As the banker walked down the empty hallway, he happened to notice that the door to Kisame's room was closed. The shark had a nasty habit of forever leaving the door wide open when he exited the room, unless Itachi was there to watch him. The sign of a closed door accompanied by a missing weasel could only mean that Kisame had yet to leave; a fact that was more than a bit odd, since the shark tended to pack the lightest of all the Akatsuki.
Knocking gently on the door, Kakuzu heard a muffled reply that confirmed his suspicions about the shark's whereabouts. "Kisame, we're leaving soon," the banker reminded his friend. Another muffled answer greeted his ears, and the miser walked off under the assumption that Kisame would soon be prepared to depart.
Meanwhile, within the afore mentioned bedroom, Kisame was stretched out on his bed, eyes glued to a very familiar picture of his former partner. Having completely given up on attempting to resurrect his memories, Kisame was simply searching for the right word to describe the male in the picture. Striking? No, fitting but not exact. Handsome? Tch, the male in the photo was closer to pretty or beautiful. Angelic?
Kisame's eyes widened at the word. "Yeah, that's it. He looks like an angel-" suddenly the shark cried out and clutched his head.
-n-
The sun had barely risen in the sky. Had it not been for the feeling of his partner stirring beside him, Kisame could and would have slept for several more hours. Choosing instead to wake-up, the shark carefully opened his eyes and turned his head to stare at Itachi. The Uchiha was sitting upright, his back to the shark and legs dangling over the sides of the bed. He appeared to be oblivious to Kisame's consciousness, and continued to stare out the window and watch the sunrise. He was naked, and the other worldly light offered by the rising sun seemed to accentuate his angelic features. And that was precisely what Kisame considered his lover to be; an angel. Calling him anything less would be nothing short of a horrid insult to the Uchiha. "Morning angel," Kisame murmured. Itachi turned to look over his shoulder, a blank look on his countenance, as if he was merely checking to see if his partner had spoken or not. When he saw that Kisame was awake, though, the expressionless look on his face gave way to a tender smile, and he rolled over onto his stomach to better face his partner. "Hn." Kisame watched calmly as Itachi crawled across the bed to him, before settling down to rest on the shark's chest, knowing full well that Kisame's arms would wrap themselves around his waist once his body was still. The older man held Itachi close and gently kissed the top of his head. "Is there a reason you're up so early?" he whispered. "Hn." That was a no. Reaching down with one hand, Kisame grabbed their bed sheets and pulled them up over Itachi's body. The weasel nuzzled appreciatively into the shark's neck, making Kisame's grin grow wider. "What say we go back to sleep, then?" "Hn." A confirmation this time. "Love you, Kisame." The shark couldn't resist planting a kiss on his lover's head. "Love you too, Itachi."
-n-
Kisame's eyes were wide open in shock, and his mouth was dangling open. "Itachi…angel…oh my Kami…" he clutched his head in his hands and doubled over, as if in pain. How could he have forgotten Itachi?!
He replayed the scene again, flinching when another memory suddenly came forth. A third attempt did nothing, but on the forth recollection a different instance had come to him. He'd definitely found the trigger.
Sighing to himself, the shark rose from his bed, and returned the photograph to its hiding place. Great, he remembered his partner. Now, if only he could figure out what Itachi had done to make him forget. Or better yet, what he'd done to make the weasel angry in the first place.
-n-
Pein looked around at the Akatsuki members assembled in the living room. It was he, his five additional bodies, Konan, Kakuzu, Kisame, and Sasori. They were down five men; a fact that did nothing to ease the leader's anxiety.
Furthermore, Kakuzu, Kisame, and Sasori all appeared to be somewhat distracted. No doubt the men preferred to think about their old partner's instead of the current mission. Pein vowed that if they ever did find those missing ukes, he was going to strangle the runaway trio. "Are we ready to go now?"
The others nodded in response. Preparations complete, Pein led the group out of the base. "Listen up. Once we get going, we're not stopping for anything. Konan and I have plenty of soldier pills, so if your bodies start to give out, let us know. Clear?" Once again, the leader received silent nods of affirmation. "It's good to see that you've all decided to become mutes," he sarcastically growled before taking off through the woods surrounding their hideout. No point in delaying this any longer.
-days later-
"You ok now, blondie?"
"What do you think, un?" Deidara growled angrily from his position on the ground.
Itachi, Deidara, and Hidan were resting on the ground. The Uchiha had managed to locate an area on the plains that not only dipped down into a slight bowl shape, but was also surrounded by scraggly bushes. It was the best cover they could find, and the trio had taken shelter there days ago. Currently, Deidara was reclining by the fire, looking as if he wouldn't be able to move for a few days more, while the Jashinist and weasel tried to cook dinner over the tiny fire they'd been able to make from nearby flammable materials.
"There's no need to be irritable," Itachi chastised as he tasted the stew he and Hidan had prepared. The Uchiha proceeded to wince at the taste, and then added a few more spices from his pack.
"You weren't the one hauling over two hundred pounds of dead weight on the back of a bird," Deidara retorted. "Do you have any idea how much chakra that takes, un?"
"You're the one that volunteered to carry our asses on those things," Hidan reminded him. "It's your own damn fault."
"As soon as I can move my arms, I'm going to kill you, un."
Hidan would have made a rather rude comment then, but was cut off by a low rumbling that accompanied the earth beneath their feet shaking.
Instantly all three men were on high alert. "The hell is that?!" Hidan demanded.
"Itachi, un?"
The weasel was already at the top of the depression in the earth, and was staring off into the distance with his Sharingan eyes. "It's a battle," he calmly informed them.
"What kind of battle causes an earthquake, un?"
"Hn."
"Save the unintelligible smartass answers for later," Hidan demanded. "What are we gonna do now?"
"Eat, then fly," was Itachi's reply as he turned about and walked back to his companions.
Deidara, of course, vehemently protested. "What makes you think I can even form a bird right now, much less fly it, un?!"
"Because we have to run now," Itachi snapped at the blonde. "If we wait until morning, the battle could be over, and the surviving soldiers may see us and decide to attack. If we go now, we won't be noticed, and we can avoid unnecessary fighting."
"But-"
"You're going to eat. Then, you're going to take a soldier pill. After that, we're leaving. Understand?" Itachi's harsh tone and Sharingan eyes left no room for argument.
Deidara sighed in frustration and grabbed a nearby bowl. After spooning out a helping of the stew in front of him, he began eating the food. "Bastard. And you used too much pepper, un."
-n-
Pein paused briefly in his fight to glance around at his surroundings. The Akatsuki had been able to catch their intended targets off-guard, but the element of surprise can only help so much when you're grossly outnumbered.
He knew that two of his bodies were nearby, and the others were scattered intermittently across the battlefield. Konan was fighting nearby, more in an effort to keep herself safe than to protect Pein. The leader often chose to keep her at the base with himself, so although she was a full-fledged S-rank criminal, she was a bit rusty in hand to hand combat. As for the others; Pein had lost sight of them almost as soon as the battle had started. The pierced man could only hope that they were faring all right.
A sudden advance by his opponent temporarily brought Pein out of his thoughts. With ease, the leader dodged the wild swing of his attacker's blade, then carelessly disposed of the man with his own weapon. Really, these fighters were no challenge whatsoever; their numbers were the only thing preventing the Akatsuki from a swift, easy victory.
Shaking his head, as if that would dislodge his careless thoughts, Pein returned his attention to the main goal of this mission; wiping out the ninjas before they could summon the hellhound.
His search came to an abrupt halt when a brilliant flash lit up the dark sky. Like a bolt of lightning, the illumination flooded the area with bright light, and then allowed the night to swallow up the war zone once again. Yet now, the sounds of battle were overshadowed by a low, deep rumbling that seemed to be accompanying an earthquake.
Realizing immediately what was happening, Pein began to retreat from the immediate area. "KONAN!"
The woman needed no further command and fled after her partner. Although she wasn't entirely sure what was going on now, she knew that if Pein said to run, it was a good idea to listen to him.
The duo fled not a moment too soon. The ground where they'd been standing moments ago split open, as if being torn apart by an unspeakable force. It turned out that this was exactly the case.
The Akatsuki and their opponents watched in a mixture of fascination and horror as the moonlight illuminated a pair of giant claws that emerged from the hole. The paws clumsily grabbed onto the side of the chasm, and heaved their owner out of the pit and onto the earth.
What met the eyes of the nearby ninja was a giant, dog-like beast, covered in short, black fur. Eyes glowing like fire surveyed the demon's surroundings as his head jerked from side to side, its powerful nose taking in the scent of death and blood that now characterized the battlefield. The beast suddenly threw back its head and let out an animalistic shriek, forcing many of the surrounding humans to cover their ears and sink to their knees in pain.
The Akatsuki was too late. Now, the hellhound was upon them.