Chapter Twelve: Thoughts of a shark.
"Rrgh..." Natsuki sat up stiffly and rubbed the back of her head. Deidara pushed himself onto his knees just as slowly. A minute or so passed as they cleared their heads of the dizzying spots swarming across their vision. "You... fox-loving idiot!" Deidara was the first to yell, hurling a fist in her direction. Quick to react, Natsuki yanked out the spanner from in the folds of her top, bonking the blonde on his ditzy head. He collapsed, sending up a pile of dust and sand. Natsuki sighed and looked away into the distance. Her leg was sending pangs of pain shooting through her nerves and it didn't help much that she appeared to have lost her cane on the rather unexpected decent they had taken. "Dammit... Now I have to go look for it..." She stood and glanced down at Deidara. "Be a good terrorist bomber now and stay right there."

Infiltrating Konoha was all too easy. The singular guard at one of the lesser gates was no match for Itachi's sharingan and they were able to simply waltz right on in. They stayed silent whilst traipsing the streets of the Leaf Village, scouting for the nine-tails jinchuriki. Needing to keep a low profile however, they ducked into a sweet shop that Itachi was quick to point out and staked-out there. They kept an ear out for any news of the vessel, the boy by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. Whilst waiting, they ordered two plates of dango, both mitarashi. Kisame didn't have much of a sweet tooth when it came down to dango, but he decided to just go with it anyways. Unfortunately, he found it quite hard to focus on their mission. What Itachi had said last night kept reeling about in his head.

'One who guards his secrets has complete control over his affairs.'

Was he trying to say that so long as he kept his growing affection for Natsuki a secret, they could actually... He refrained from outwardly shaking his head under his rice hat. Okay, so what if he was close to Natsuki. Yes, he might feel some... attraction towards her, it was only natural. He was a man and she was a rather good-looking woman. They had a good time together, except for those arguements that seemed to crop up all too often. He shifted his jaw a little having not realised that he had been gritting his teeth a little during his ruminations. What was he thinking? Even if they could slip under the radar as a couple - that word sent a strange buzz through his stomach - there was very little information that Kisame could go off to even suggest that she had an inkling of the same feelings for him that he had for her. She spent most of her time either in her workshop with Chikakon, training with Itachi or - he grimaced - or hanging out with Sasori. A puppet. He didn't like to think it, but she might actually like that stupid 'artist'. Or perhaps she actually liked Itachi? His eyes almost shot up to meet his partner's. Itachi wasn't paying any attention though, he was sat with his eyes closed, honing his ears to every sound there was out in the busy street. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open a fearsome crimson. "Let's go." They were gone within the second.

"For God's sake Deidara, shut up! Blah, blah, blah, that's all I've heard for the past three hours. You're giving me a headache!"
"We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't crashed the bird, un!"
"We wouldn't be here at all if you had just been nice to Zetsu!"
"It's not my fault if he's a bit touchy about that huge plant eating his head-"
"Just SHUT UP!"
"Make me, un!"
"YOU ASKED FOR IT..."

What an annoying man this was, droning on and on about Kisame, how he was in this many bingo books, wanted in every land... Sure, it had been a great ego boost the first time someone had mentioned that to him, but that had been years ago and now it was getting old. How many times had he heard people say that he was a fearsome monster? Hundreds. Now this irritating Leaf shinobi was adding to the count. Kisame was itching to ram Samehada into his gut and see how much blood was in the smaller man's system. Maybe he had some nice chakra too? With a frighteningly deadly grin, he lifted Samehada with one hand and brought it down on the ground, crumbling the earth beneath it. "Itachi, this man is annoying me, can't I kill him?"
"Hn. We won't be getting anywhere without a fight anyway." That was the green light. The second Itachi's rice hat hit the ground, Kisame had pounced.

Samehada swung down at the puny Leaf nin who had to use both hands to block Kisame's tirade of an attack. With one last push, Samehada had eagerly ripped into the flesh of the man's arm. He cried out in pain and stumbled back. The woman flew out from crouching behind her companion's back, pressing her hands together. Kisame paid no further attention to her though, instead pushing the male Leaf shinobi back.

"That level of genjutsu won't work on me." Itachi said, slightly annoyed at such an inconvenience. Kurenai, Itachi attempted to remember her name from years ago, snarled and tried to free herself from the binds of the tree. She had been sure she had trapped both him and that kisame Hoshigaki! She bit her lip, feeling the thick globule of blood swell above her skin. Itachi prepared a kunai, gripping it with both hands. Her was going to run her through-

Natsuki sat atop one of the roofs of Suna, baking under the Sun and tapping her fingers on her chin. Deidara was taking forever. He had gone off to wander around town whilst Natsuki had to sit and spy on Suna's most feared resident. Gaara of the Sand. She sighed heavily, casting her eyes out to the horizon. The Sun was nowhere near setting... A scruffy brown-haired boy with dark eyes and tanned skin clambered up onto the roof that moment, a silly grin on his face. A tooth was chipped and he didn't wear any shoes. "Hey! Fox-lover!" Natsuki's eyes immediately narrowed into a glare.
"What is it now, blondie?" The boy raised one hand, shifting a paper bag of things to the other arm. With a poof, he had turned back into Deidara. "Well don't go insulting me now, un. I have the food!" He grinned cheekily, tossing over a steamed red bean bun. Natsuki eyed it suspiciously. "... What did you do to it?"
"Nothing!" He looked offended at the thought of tampering with her food, but she knew better.
"Your hand just touched it, I bet you licked it!"
"Just eat it already..." Deidara huffed and sat down next to her, crossing his legs and pulling out his own steamed red bean bun from his bag. Natsuki sniffed at hers before biting into it gingerly.

"Blegh! Deidara! That's disgusting! What'd you do to that thing?"
"Hm? Oh, I thought you liked sand?"

"This bun is finding its way into your face!"

Kisame shifted Samehada on his back, causing Itachi to shift his gaze to him for a second. He could tell his partner wasn't all too pleased that he had stopped them from fighting a full-scale battle, but it had been necessary. Now they were headed back to the base and despite his wounded pride at being kicked, Kisame had a slight spring in his step. A chill wind blew and with it, the first few snowflakes of an early Winter.

Phew... 10 minutes to spare getting this one out for Monday... Another short and really crappy chapter. I hate writing out scenes from the actual anime, so I cut it short, sorry ^^;
Anyways, I've been without a plan for the past 2 chapters, but I've got an idea for CH13, so I'll do my best and it'll be better, I promise!

Next time in Weapons Dealer, Chapter 13...
His fur bristled, standing on end as he let out a ferocious roar, shaking rocks from the ceiling.
"Aargh!"
"ITACHI!"