I'm sorry for the UPDATELESS period... please enjoy!!! I'M SORRY. This is a mixed POV chapter :D

Kisame looked at Itachi as he played.
They were an hour into rehearsals, and none had stopped even for a minute aside from water breaks. No one wanted to even pause the music making process, and Kisame liked it that way. He was never one to stop when he ws doing something he enjoyed. For example, if he liked his food, the news of him winning a car could jolly damn well wait till he was done.

"Kisame."
Kisame looked to his side, and then down a little. "Yeah, Sasori?" he replied, and Sasori looked slightly irritated at this. "Freaking tall bastards..." he muttered, and Kisame laughed. While he, Zetsu and Kakuzu were pretty tall at 175 to 180, Sasori was still at the 165 to 170 range, same as most of the Akaku members. "What is it, Sasori." he asked, and Sasori smiled, looking at Deidara. "He's so pretty, Kisame." he said, and Kisame thinking Sasori was talking about Itachi, who was next to Deidara, frowned. "Sorry man, who's pretty?" he asked, and Sasori frowned up at him, confused. "Deidara." he replied, and Kisame relaxed, rolling his eyes. DUH.

"Yeah, maybe. I mean, he's cute, but Itachi's cooler. Different. he just exudes this... this aura thingy." Sasori looked up at him. "Aura thingy? Untouchable, cold... um. Untouchable?" Sasori emphasized, and Kisame shook his head. "It's just... different." They stared at the other group while they rehearsed their songs.
Zetsu came over to join them. "What are you guys talking about?" he asked, and Sasori said, very, very calmly, "How Itachi and EsPeciaLly Deidara," he smirked at Kisame, who rolled his eyes, "Are hot." Zetsu frowned. "Isn't that very... un-straight?" he asked, with a sweatdrop at how stupid that sounded. Kisame nodded. "Yup. Very, very UN-straight." Zetsu sat down on an armchair opposite Kisame, and Sasori went off to get some coffee.

"I think something's bothering Tobi." Zetsu stated, and Kisame tilted his head, resting his chin on his fist. "Really now, how very observant you are, Zetsu." he commented, and Zetsu's face was slightly tinted as he said, "Shut up, Kisame." he glanced at Tobi, who was listening to Itachi instruct him to accelerate only the second time they repeated the bridge. "He's smarter than you think. And his hearing is insane, man." he added, and Kisame turned to him. "Really??" he asked, and Zetsu nodded. Kisame pondered this for a second. "I heard... that it's possible for children to have insanely good hearing skills if both his parents are deaf." Zetsu's eyes widened. "Seriously??" he asked, and Kisame nodded sombrely.

"It's a generation gap thing." Kakuzu said, sitting down on Kisame's unused armrest. "That so..." Kisame said in amusement. "Why this topic?" Kakuzu asked, and Kisame smirked at Zetsu. "Plant boy here noticed how good Pumpkin head over there is at hearing." Kakuzu grinned in the same evil semblance as Kisame. "Oh really."
Zetsu had gotten used to it when they called him plant boy, and didn't really mind, so when he let out a "Hey..." they knew it wasn't for him but for Tobi.

Sasori came back with a steaming hot cup of coffee. While he sat down in between Zetsu and Kisame carefully so that he didn't spill, Kakuzu asked his lightly, "So, Sasori, how's your game?" Sasori smirked up at him over the coffee cup, and all the other 3 shivered. "Was that a challenge, Kakuzu..." he asked slowly, and kakuzu sighed, looking at Zetsu. "Why the hell do Akasuna's have to look at everything like it's a challenge, hey." he said in mock disappointment, and Zetsu chuckled. Kisame looked to his side and shut his eyes, sighing in a, "these 2 may never be saved" kind of way, and Sasori and Kakuzu glared at him, simultaenously saying, "What Was That Sigh, Hey." Kisame shrugged, and Zetsu smiled.

"Seriously speaking, my game is fine. but if you're talking about that... i've been training continuously. Something i might not be able to do the whole time i'm here." Sasori said, frowning. Kisame nodded, glancing at his worried expression. "Don't worry about it, Sasori. We'll keep your ass in the game. You can find some studios when we're free, right?" Kakuzu asked, and Pein stood up from behind Zetsu's chair, staring at Kakuzu. "Holy... when did you get there?" Sasori said, backing away in his armchair from Pein.

"Actually, the tour takes up most of the time we have here in America. There's not much room for anything else besides some proper rest." he said, and Sasori turned to his side, cussing. Kisame looked at him worriedly. Sasori sighed after a minute, leaning back and nodding. "I understand." Pein let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and patted Sasori on his head. "Look, Sasori. I know you gotta keep up with your game, but for the time being, notice how everything around you looks and battle with that mentally. This isn't going to be as easy as it sounds, this tour. This is TRAINING, you hear." he reminded, pulling his hood over his forehead, and Sasori sat back putting his feet on the table at the same time Kisame mirrored his movement. "Yeah. It is, kind of." Sasori said, blowing his fringe out of his hair. Pein smiled and ruffled the redhead's hair. "Good. I gotta go discuss something with Konan." he said, and left.

"YEAH RIGHT." All four yelled after him, to which he ignored blatantly. Kakuzu laughed, and Kisame turned his sight to him. "So, Kakuzu, anything you find cute about the albino?" he asked teasingly, and Kakuzu shot him a glare, walking off, mumbling something like "watch it" and "coffee".
Zetsu sighed as he looked at Kakuzu. "That wuld be his unnecessary 8th cup today." Kisame chuckled as Sasori said mockingly, "Ah, young love."

Itachi sighed as he picked the scores from the stand, flushing a little when Kisame patted him on the hair and smiled. "Good job," the taller one said, and Itachi nodded, arranging the scores neatly and sliding them into a clear plastic sheet file that he used for their lyrics. Deidara had locked his guitar into place carefully before throwing Kisame the jet for him to connect his own Fender. Kisame noded to him, and smiled. They continued adjusting their instruments, and Akaku watched from aside.

"Sound system synched?" "In order. Sound, 84%." Kakuzu called from his amp, and Kisame looked to Sasori, who nodded. "Basis stereophonic keys, 90%." he said, and Zetsu nodded to say he was ready. Kisame called out, "Let's begin at bar 56 right down to the end of the second chorus, before the bridge." they nodded, and Akaku exited the studio, and sat where the other band has been, watching them through the glass. As the music got more and more heated, they began to really get into it, like Akaku had been before. Deidara smiled as he came back with a can of horlicks for Itachi, NesCafe for hisan and tobi, and a Milo for himself. konan sat down next to them, a bottle of snapple in her hands. Itachi watched the band as a whole, noticing how in synch they were, and then zoomed in on one of them. Kisame.

"Who are you looking at, 'Tachi, un?" Deidara said, gulping down his milo. Itachi turned away from the window and sank down into a seat which faced away from the glass. "No one." he said, slightly tinted. hidan smirked. "Don't think it was no one." he said, and he stood next to Deidara, glancing at the general direction Itachi was looking in before. "Ooo... i see. Would that happen to be a tall guy around here..." he made a gesture signifying kisame's height, ", spiked blue hair and twin birthmarks on his face?" Itachi shoved his arm. "Shut up."

"Wow, that was quick, Itachi." Konan said, taking her turn at teasing the surprisingly shy Uchiha right there and then. The chance usually slipped away fairly quickly. Itachi tried to calm himself, with resulting in a small choke as deidara doubled over in laughter and Tobi patted his back in an attempt to right his breathing. Hidan decided to join Deidara as he doubled over in laughter with him, and konan allowed herself a giggle before asking Itachi, "are you alright?" In an attempt to right the situation, Itachi turned his eyes on Deidara, who suddenly stopped. Sure of what Itachi was going to say.

"Well, aren't we getting comfortable with a certain Red Head, Deidara. I saw you coming in yesterday holding hands." He said, and Deidara jerked back slightly, his face immediately taking on a tell tale blush. Hidan glared at him in mock anger. "WHAT??! Deidara, you freaking punk, you went on a date That guy and never told me??! I thought we were friends, man!!" he said, and Deidara looked at him like he was horrified. hidan burst out laughing and said, "Just kidding, idiot. Where'd you go, anyway? I mean, America. There couldn't have been anywhere you knew already, right." Deidara looked up from his milo. "Well, we went to an art gallery, un." he smiled widely at them. "He's so nice, un!! These creeps were annoying the hell's crapass out of me," Itachi wrinkled his nose at the distasteful expression, ", un, and Sasori just pulled me away from them and glared at them, un. And they just shut up, un." he giggled like a girl. (a manly girl?)

Konan stared at him for a second. "OH MY GOD, YOU DIDN'T SCORE BEFORE ME, DID YOU, YOU STUPID PUNK!?!?" she screamed all of a sudden, and Everyone, and i mean EVERYONE, backed away from her, including a couple of brits who were walking past, who turned sharply in the opposite direction. She grabbed Deidara's collar, who was frantically looking to Itachi, the one man who saved him countless times from the raving mad blue haired woman before him. "What, un!!? NO!!! What the hell, Konan, you're so sick, un!!!" he said in a fierce whisper, and Konan, looking in the direction he was worriedly staring, looked at Itachi, and followed his gaze to the window.

Every single Tsukisa member had paused and was staring at them through the glass, wondering what Konan was raving about. She flushed as her gaze met Pein's, who was staring at her over his tinted specs as if to say, 'My god, what in God's name are you doing?' She turned around and started drinking her NesCafe faster than ever, resulting in the can being empty in record time of under a minute. Tobi grinned as he pointed at her and stated simply, "You like Pein, don'cha."

HACKCOUGHCHOKECHOKECOUGHCOUGHHACKCHOKEHACKCOUGHCOUGH

Itachi took pity as Deidara and Hidan high fived, doubled over in insane laughter and patted Konan on the back and Tobi grined triumphantly. Konan stopped Itachi and held her head up to glare at Tobi, who hid behind Deidara, who hid behind Hidan, who pulled both idiots to shield himself. "I DO NOT!!" she said childishly, and Itachi, from behind her, muttered, "You do too." Konan flushed even more. But somehow, Itachi's words had a calming effect on her as she sank down in her seat, albeit slightly dejected. "Well. He doesn't return the feelings. I don't know whether it's time for me to break down and cry or just tell him to get it off my chest anyways." Itachi straightened her Night Before Christmas tie and sighed. He noticed that Tobi joined him in doing so.

"Unrequited love sucks." he said, and Itachi looked at Tobi, who was unnaturally serious. Deidara, who had his face between his fingers, opened his right eye and peered at him through his fingers. Even Hidan looked at him. "Who was it, Tobi?" Hidan asked seriously, and Tobi grinned his idiotic smile. All was functional about him again. That was the thing about Tobi. He was able to get back on track faster than Itachi could, even. "Nah. Doesn't matter." he gripped Hidan's shoulder, and the albino frowned at him. Tobi's grip hurt. It was like he was in need of support. Hidan opened his mouth, but Itachi shook his head, and Hidan nodded, not saying anything as Tobi settled down in his seat.

Deidara looked at Itachi expectantly, as did Hidan, as they 3 glanced at the 2 dejected emo-ing individuals before them. Itachi cleared his throat.
"Look Konan. I'll tel you what it's time for." he said, and he smiled as she lifted her head. "It's time to pick out the colours for tomorrow's gig, it's time for you to check with the sound crew, it's time to check the weather report. It's time to be ur manager." she smiled a small smile at this and gave a determined nod. Itachi turned to Tobi and held him by his collar roughly with one fist. "And you... it's your time to play us some insane beats. I don't know who this girl or guy is, but it has to the gig, we'll pulverise anyone who pisses you off. Right now, 150% into this, got it?"

'Itachi was convincing,' Tobi thought. 'I'll give him that.'

The next day, it was 15 minutes before the opening gig, and everyone was on edge. Konan and Pein were nursing several headaches, and trying to deal with all 8 of their cranky, pranoid band members. Kisame was irritably leaning up against a wall, Itachi trying to calm him down, something the young Uchiha specialised in. Deidara had lost his bag of picks, and had succeeded in roping Sasori in to help him to look for it. kakuzu and hidan were quarelling over something stupid (again), and Tobi and Zetsu were the calmest, picking their dumsticks carefully for maximum effect and placing them in the right pockets for their respective performances. konan was talking to a couple of lighting crew members, and Pein was trying to get her away from them so that he could brief her on transition positions on the stage. Which was, obviously, simply nothing more than a ploy to get her to himself.

"Shit, un!! What the fu..." Deidara was cut off, scrowling. Sasori looked under the 2 spare amps and shook his head. "Where'd you last see them?" he asked, and Deidara shrugged. "Don't remember, un!! Check the tables and the like." they walked on over to the dressing tables which were not used by them at all. "DEIDARA, you asswipe!! Your picks are over here." Hidan held up the black drawstring bag. Deidara ran over and grabbed it. "Thanks, un. What are you doing now?" he asked, and Hidan rolled his eyes. "nothing in particular." he nodded at the redhead, who sided Deidara and looked over his right shoulder. "I was, however, arguing with Kakuzu over how Ice Cream tops Ichigo dango any day." he said, and Deidara nodded slowly. "Riiiiiiiiiight.... You know, un, I better check the volume on my amp one more time in case some jerkface changed it again, un. check you later, Hidan, un." he walked away quickly.

Sasori chuckled at Hidan. "Dude. D/Ced." he walked off. Hidan rolled his eyes, eyeing Kakuzu with obvious distaste. But he couldn't deny it. There was just something about him that made Hidan want to get under his skin. Like in to kill a Mockingbird, Hidan got what Atticus said. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you got into his skin and walked around in it. Yes, Hidan seemed like a shallow bastard who would rather eat a literary book rather than read it, but still. He liked reading, and it was a secret passion of his. Even his own band members didn't know about it. he usually simply indulged himself with Itachi's books long after everyone else had slept.

Which wasn't the pont. The point was, Kakuzu was basically on Hidan's mind alot more than the albino would have liked, and thus, it worried him. He scratched the back of his head and sighed. 'Troublesome,' he thought, 'But i can tackle it. It's probably nothing.' He scratched his head and forced his sight away from Kakuzu, heading over to the snack table to get a donut or something.

Kakuzu, next to Zetsu and watching as he and the brat tested out each stick carefully and listened to the sounds they made. He wondered why hidan was just so GODDAMNED annoying, but so appealing. He was cute, granted, but Kakuzu never did things for the physical. Back at Med school, he'd been pretty popular even after that, and many girls had come up to him requesting a relationship. Kakuzu wasn't a virgin, but he didn't have sex casually. He'd realised through experience the more you put into a relationship, the more it hurts when it ends. After one serious relationship which lasted 2 years in his freshman and second year, he never got into another one.

So why was he losing sleep over the albino? Why was he finding it difficult to leave the other alone, and why was he so taken with him? Why did he feel an irresistable urge to talk to Hidan all the time, why did he have no qualms about the way he was behaving? 'He's a guy.' Kakuzu thought, 'Let it go.'
But to his subconcious, this wasn't a good enough reason to leave the relationship at that. Somehow, he had a nagging feeling, a bad one, that he was going to be waiting on the zealot for a long, long time.

Meanwhile, Zetsu was having a similar struggle. As he sat just centimetres away from the Uchiha boy who seemed so focused and appealing to his other senses, Zetsu was finding it hard to quell his "other" side's urge to... do... something. Anything aside from talk about a bunch of sticks. Which usually mattered alot to Zetsu, and when he thought, 'God, why the hell am i doing this...' he knew immediately something was wrong.

'IN LOVE, DUMBASS!! You like the boy.' 'I absolutely do not.' 'You gave him flowers.' 'For due reasons. He needed to be cheered up.' 'Really? How ob-freaking-servant of you.' 'It was a talent i don't mind sharing.' 'Yeah? Even when you hesitated making arrangements for even your own mother? On her birthday?' 'I was scared i wouldn't measure up.' 'She could hardly arrange a bunch of elephants according to size!!' '...That has no link. And she would be able to if you asked.' 'Look, what's your deal, plant boy? Why won't you just admit it?' 'If it's untrue, i won't admit it.' 'If it's true?' 'Well. I don't know.' 'You're goddamned hopeless.' Zetsu sighed, noticing the minutes ticking away.

Tobi looked at Zetsu and smiled. "Shall we go get something to drink before we start this whole thing?" inside thought, he wanted alot more than a bottle of mineral Avian. He craved... what did he crave? 'I need something spiked.' he thought. And then, with a flight flush and a smirk, 'And maybe some of Zetsu's saliva.' Then he shook his head. 'Ok, NO. NOOO. NOOOO, NOOOO, NOOOO. Gotta focus tonight. Akaku takes precedence over swaping saliva.' he thought, and then he sighed. Being a good boy was hard.

He'd received a mail from Madara wishing the entire band good luck, but clearly none of them knew could only carry it on him guiltily as he switched off his cell and handed it to Konan on his way to the refreshment table. He grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it to Zetsu, and took one for himself. As he leant against the table, he noted with amusement the comfy way Itachi was laughing with Kisame as the older boy smiled and laughed with his posture slightly bent, his mouth set in a charming grin. Itachi was talking in a manner Tobi thought he would only behave in front of Akaku and its members, and he was glad Kisame could see Itachi as someone he could relate to.

Said Uchiha sharply looked at the others as a voiceover pierced the air and introduced them. He nodded as Akaku assumed their positions on stage.
"Do well." he mouthed to them, followed by a very Itachi-style-smile, and they nodded.
Curtains drawn, the show begins.

Attention! Attention!
May I have all your eyes and ears to the front of the room,
If only, if only for one second.
Would you hear what i have to say,
oh, oh and did I mention,
When i see you it stings like Hell,
to the fact that we could have something,
that'll never happen.

By this time, everyone who had been talking excitedly to their friends were looking at the band and many were cheering.
Oh yes. The show begins now.

Please Review.

OMG THAT SUCKED. And it took so long because of stupid school...
PLEASE DO REVIEW!!