"How can you even remember me?"
Kisame blinked at the question. He and Itachi were currently sitting by a small campfire, in an attempt to recuperate a bit before venturing back to the Akatsuki lair. The entire trek across the plains had been spent in silence, but it seemed that the Uchiha now wanted to start a conversation.
Despite his best efforts, the shark could not suppress his trademark grin. "Tch, like I could ever forget my angel." The grin faded, and his face took on a hardened look. "Why did you even wipe my memories in the first place? Amnesia's a bitch to get over, you know."
His attempted humor was unable to get a smile out of the Uchiha; if anything, it only made Itachi's frown deeper. "I didn't want you to remember me after I left. In case you decided to go after me, that is. This way, I could escape, and you'd be able to continue life as a member of the Akatsuki with no major problems."
"Yeah, but why'd you leave in the first place?"
Itachi looked to the fire before them. That was a question he really didn't want to answer; but his partner deserved an explanation. "I hate it when you go off and don't tell me where you're wandering off to. It worries me, that there are times when you don't want me around. When I have no clue what you're doing, or where you're doing things…"
Kisame stared at the Uchiha for a moment, before lunging at the weasel and knocking him to the ground. Whilst Itachi struggled beneath him, the shark grabbed the bottom of Itachi's shirt and yanked it upwards. Immediately, his eyes settled on a jagged scar on the weasel's side. "Do you remember how you got this?" he asked quietly.
Itachi resisted the urge to remind Kisame exactly which one of them had been the victim of amnesia, and nodded in reply.
Kisame ran his fingers gently over the flawed skin, making Itachi shiver. "We were training together," he softly reminisced. "You were still battling with your katana when we sparred back then.
Things were fine, except that I couldn't land any hits. I was getting more and more agitated, and the next chance I got, when you came close enough…I caught your side with Samehada.
You were bleeding all over the place, angel. And you were trying so hard not to scream that you couldn't even talk to me."
"We returned to the base, Kakuzu patched me up, and a few weeks later I was fine," Itachi concluded.
"I shouldn't have lost control like that," Kisame went on, oblivious to Itachi's comment. "But sometimes, I really can't contain myself. And when that happens, I want to be as far away from you as I possibly can. Because if you came across me like that, you might get injured. And I promised myself that I wouldn't hurt you like this, ever again." Bending down slowly, Kisame gently ghosted his lips over the wound. A slight intake of breath made him repeat the action; desire for Itachi made him do it a third time.
Kisame looked up, and his golden eyes soon locked with onyx pupils. The next moment found the two ninja lip-locked, with Itachi shirtless and working on unbuttoning Kisame's cloak.
-n-
Deidara watched silently as Sasori threw more wood onto their fire. He wanted to reach out and stop Sasori, but decided the process was already painful enough with his interference. The campfire they were sitting by was being fueled by wood from Sasori's ruined puppets.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sasori shifting around, but wasn't aware of what the puppet master was doing until an Akatsuki cloak was draped over his reclining frame. "You'll be warmer like this," Sasori explained, still looking at the fire and not Deidara.
The bomber frowned at his danna's words. This was unnerving, to say the least. Instead of scolding the blonde, like he normally did, Sasori seemed to be avoiding any and all conversation, as if to ensure that he wouldn't offend the bomber and send him running again. Deidara hated it.
Grumbling softly, the bomber pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Danna, I want to sit on your lap, un."
"You'll be sore if you fall asleep like that," Sasori snapped without thinking. His eyes widened ever so slightly and he froze, as if waiting to see how Deidara would react.
The blonde saw his chance to salvage a bit of his old danna and dove in. "I don't care, un," he muttered stubbornly as he crawled into Sasori's lap.
Sasori blinked in shock before sighing and shaking his head. "Brat," he whispered to himself.
The dreaded b-word only got a laugh out of Deidara, and he placed a gentle kiss on Sasori's cheek. "Danna."
"You really are going to regret this tomorrow, though," he commented while wrapping an arm around Deidara's waist.
The blonde frowned slightly. "I told you, I don't care, un," he murmured before kissing Sasori's lips.
The gesture was a surprise, to say the least. The Akasuna assumed it was an attempt to distract him from the matter at hand. It almost worked. "You will in the morning when you wake up sore, cramped, and blaming me," Sasori retorted as he brushed his lips against the blonde's temple.
"But danna-"
"No buts," Sasori interjected as he fell backwards and dragged Deidara to the ground with him.
Surprised yet satisfied with their new position, Deidara curled up on Sasori's chest and tucked his head under the puppet master's chin. May as well start bonding with his danna now; they had a lot of lost ground to regain in this relationship. "Night, Sasori danna, un."
The redhead's only answer was wrapping his arms around the blonde's waist and kissing the top of Deidara's head.
-n-
"I missed you."
"Huh?" Hidan gasped.
Currently, the miser and masochist were journeying towards the hideout. As an apology/punishment for beating the crap out of Hidan, Kakuzu was now carrying the masochist on his back. Not that he was complaining all that much; he was just grateful to have Hidan back in his arms.
The zealot stared at his partner in sheer disbelief, before gently poking one of the miser's stitched cheeks. "Did you just admit you fucking missed me?"
The banker looked away and growled a low affirmative. Hidan laughed and nuzzled his face against the miser's neck, much to Kakuzu's annoyance. "Aww, that's one of the sweetest things you've ever said to me!"
"And may it be one of the last," Kakuzu spat back.
"Bastard."
"You're the one who'd prefer suffocation over sweet nothings, not me."
"There's nothing wrong with being a sado-masochist, dammit!"
"Of course not, dear."
"Shut the hell up, Kuzu."
"Love you too."