Kakashi woke up alone.

He first knew he was alone from the silence that hung over the apartment. It was a deep, hard silence, that chilled you to the bone and just made you want to shiver and cry…but at the same time, it was a gentle silence, one that embraced you and caressed every fiber of your being, and that drew you closer with sweet words and soft promises…much like Itachi-sama…

Kakashi sighed and swung his feet out of bed, shivering as they touched the cold floor. He sighed again when he realized how cold it was, and saw a red-and-black cloak laying next to his bed. Itachi's? Most likely. But why had he left it here? Did that mean he was here after all?

Another look told him no. Kakashi peeked out of his room, glancing around for Itachi. He wasn't there. But on the bright side, Kisame wasn't, and that alone made Kakashi happy. He stepped back into his room, picked up the Akatsuki cloak, and slipped it on over his shoulders. As he did so, an envelope fell from it, sealed with the Uchiha crest. Kakashi turned it over, looking for a name.

His was written across the back in elegant kanji he knew so well.

Kakashi's heart began to beat faster. What could this mean? What did he want? Was he asking something even greater of Kakashi now? Or did this have a deeper meaning…? Kakashi ran his nail along the edge of the envelope, slitting it cleanly across the top. He hastily pulled out the contents, the first of which being a letter.

My dear Kakashi-

I assume you know what this is all about. You're not stupid, by far. And Pein seems to have finally realized that. The down side is, now he feels that your power and intellect combined could be a potent weapon…for us. But on the bright side, you would be with me…forever. Now, would that be a bad thing? Tell me, Kakashi, what if I told you that I could promise you everything you ever wanted? Everything you ever dreamed of? You would be curious, no? Stay with me. We could lead such a happy life together…I love you, and you know it. And you love me as well, I am sure. We could be together…and Kisame wouldn't even be able to hurt you. Will you accept the Akatsuki?

Will you accept me?

The letter slipped from Kakashi's hands, numb with pain and fear. He didn't even feel himself losing focus, nor did he care. He knew all of a sudden what had been done to him: he had been played, like a toy, and he had fallen for it completely. Itachi's sweet words and gentle touch meant nothing. He had never loved Kakashi, only wanted his power in the end. Kakashi fell to his knees, clutching at his stomach. The thought alone…the though alone of what Itachi had done to him was enough to make him physically ill. He collapsed to his knees, sobbing like there was no tomorrow…

Yet he didn't feel a thing.

OOOOOOOOO

Itachi's greeting was a muffled sob.

He practically ran into Kakashi's room, heart pounding in his chest. Had Kisame done something? What had upset Kakashi so badly?

"Kakashi?"

Kakashi lay on the floor, crying, an Akatsuki cloak laid over his shoulders. Itachi stepped closer, his entire body going cold.

"Kakashi!" he repeated. Kakashi slightly turned, whimpered at the sight of Itachi, and turned back the way he was. Itachi was truly concerned now; what had happened to make Kakashi so upset…? He reached out to Kakashi, gently touching his shoulder. "Kakashi-"

Kakashi shot away from his touch, crying harder.

"Kakashi…love, come here, what's wrong?"

At first, Kakashi didn't answer. When he finally did, it was a small whisper that Itachi had to strain to hear. "Why…why would you…? How could you do this to me?!"

Itachi gasped, taken aback by Kakashi's sudden outburst. "Kakashi, what are you talking about-?"

"This is what I'm talking about!" Kakashi threw a folded piece of paper down at Itachi, almost smacking the Uchiha in the face. "How could you do this to me…? I trusted you! And what do you do? Throw it back in my face! Itachi, you were the only one…" Kakashi wiped away the tears streaming down his face, sobbing again. "You were the only one I ever actually loved…how could you do this to me?"

Itachi said nothing, only opening the paper and skimming over its contents. His eyes grew angrier and angrier with every sentence, and Kakashi could see it. Nervous, he slipped away, fleeing the room and disappearing from sight. Itachi was furious by the time he had finished reading the letter; whoever had done this, it certainly wasn't him!

"Kakashi?"

Itachi knocked on the bathroom door, and was answered by a small, "What do you want?"

Itachi sighed. "Kakashi I didn't write this," he started, leaning closer to the door so Kakashi could hear him. "Whoever wrote this has similar handwriting to mine, but it's not completely mine. This person tried to copy my handwriting, but they missed several nuances of the writing. Look here-" he pushed the letter and another piece of paper under the door-"compare the two. It's not mine!"

For a moment, all was silent. Itachi was beginning to wonder if Kakashi was alright when the door slowly opened.

Kakashi stood in front of him, head bowed and looking incredibly confused. He glanced up at Itachi briefly, then looked down again and handed Itachi the paper.

"I'm sorry."

Itachi sighed, taking Kakashi into his arms again. He held him as close as he could, feeling the sobs taking over again. Kakashi's shoulders shook, and his breath came in short gasps. Itachi seemed genuinely concerned about Kakashi now; he held him closer than he ever had before, kissed him more passionately than ever before, stroked him, touched him, kissed him again…!

Kakashi broke away from Itachi, panting.

"I-I'm sorry," he finally gasped, backing up another step. "It wasn't my place-"

Itachi sealed his lips over Kakashi's again.

OOOOOOOOOO

Tsunade paced the office, Sakura sometimes asking her what she was doing. Tsunade ignored her each and every time, simply continuing to pace and never ceasing. Finally, Shizune was able to stop her, but only by tripping her and having her land in a chair. Tsunade was actually winded a bit when she sat down.

Sighing, Shizune checked her over and handed her a small bag of Goldish. "Eat," she said dryly. "Because you need your energy if you're going to keep doing that."

Tsunade glanced down at the plastic bag she held in her hand. "Dare may I ask-?"

"No," Shizune said quickly, "Just eat."

Tsunade sighed and obediently began scarfing down Goldfish. Shizune turned to Sakura. "How long has she been at it?"

Sakura glanced at the clock above Tsunade's desk. "Couple hours, maybe."

Shizune groaned. "I knew I should have checked on her when my better judgment told me she'd be going nuts!" she cried, throwing her hands in the air. "I give up! Tsunade-sama, you are officially hopeless!"

"Hmphf?"

Shizune sighed again and collapsed in a chair next to Sakura. "I give up," she repeated. She glanced down at a pink creature running in and out of her legs. "Tonton, come here," she said exasperatedly. The pig jumped up on Shizune's lap, bleated something in pig-language, and then curled up and promptly fell asleep. Shizune sighed for what must have been the seventieth time that day and placed Tonton in Sakura's lap.

"Don't move and you won't have problems. Move and count on a smelly puddle in your lap."

Sakura shuddered and sat completely still.

Satisfied with her handy work, Shizune stood up again and addressed Tsunade. "What were you going so crazy about?"

"Last ditch attempt on Kakashi," Tsunade through a mouthful of Goldfish. She swallowed hard and continued. "We tried to make him mad enough that he ran away. Stupid, I told them all, but no…the Council has to try something 'a bit more subtle' this time around…well, you know what, bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!!"

Shizune raised a single eyebrow.

"Venting," Sakura said. "She's been at that for a few hours, too."

"You didn't call me when you realized she was 'stressed'?"

Sakura shrugged. "She likes to deal with her own problems, in case you didn't notice."

A Goldfish beaned Shizune in the back of the head. "Yeah, listen to the shrimp," she said. "I hate it when you do this to me."

"Tsunade-sama, we've been through this before," Shizune said slowly. "It's-"

"For my own good," Tsunade finished. "Yeah, yeah, heard it all before."

"Yes, too bad it never sticks!"

"Oh, it sticks," Tsunade assured her attendant. "Sticks like the backs of your thighs to vinyl on a summer day."

"Um, okay, ew," Sakura muttered. "Is she always like this?"

Shizune shrugged. "Consider yourself lucky. I had to deal with this and try to 'learn' at the same time. So basically, I had to help her through her 'depression' phase, then anger, then denial, then negotiation, and finally-hallelujah-acceptance."

Another Goldfish hit.

"Watch it, or you'll be going through all of those when you find yourself in possession of only nine fingers and half a spleen."

"With guys, she says 'testicle and a half.'"

OOOOOOOOO

Kakashi was tired. Again.

He had had his cry, and now he was falling asleep in Itachi's arms. Itachi would never understand how the jounin got so tired-he was always doing nothing but sleeping. Maybe the emotional stress wore him out…no matter. Itachi knew exactly what would perk Kakashi up.

"Kakashi…love, come on."

Kakashi was wearing his fishnet shirt and leather pants again, probably for lack of caring, but Itachi still thought he looked stunning. He loved it when Kakashi dressed like that: he wanted to just-

"Itachi-sama?"

Itachi mentally slapped himself. Now was certainly not the time…

"Come with me," he said, gesturing for Kakashi to follow him. Kakashi nodded and quickly caught up to Itachi, following the missing-nin out of the apartment and out to the beach. The water was as gentle as always, and Itachi stepped right onto it. Kakashi hesitantly followed in his "master's" wake, stepping lightly across the surface of the water. Itachi finally stopped and turned around, facing Kakashi.

"Okay, here's a little training exercise I thought up while I was supposed to be listening to Pein yap." Seeing Kakashi's expression, he added, "It's never anything important. Anyway, moving on…" Kakashi moved to face Itachi and continued approaching him until he stood about four feet away. Itachi nodded his satisfaction, and Kakashi stopped.

"Perfect," he said, further halting Kakashi's movements. "Alright, remember what we did by the waterfall? When you made the shield out of water?"

Kakashi nodded twice.

"Alright, we're going to take that one step further. What you're going to be doing now is forming that shield, and then forming a attack out of that. To do that, you focus all the water into one point, and from that draw it out in a straight line. Twist it so it's like a cone, and then attack from there."

"How do I do that?" Kakashi asked, hesitating a bit.

"Simple," Itachi replied. "All you have to do is push all your chakra into that one spear on energy…chakra…whatever you've got going there, and then just….push it."

Kakashi shrugged. "Okay…I'll try…"

"No, you won't 'try'," Itachi corrected. "You'll either do it, or you won't."

Kakashi only stared for a moment. Then, a smile came over his face and he replied,

"I'll do it."

A/N: Kinda short, and very late, apologies to all!!