"Pein's planning to hold a full-group meeting tonight," Kisame remarked. He was sitting in the comfortable leather chair opposite from Itachi, who was seated behind his monolithic U-shaped desk trying to get all the files in order. He liked things super-organized: it made even Sasuke call him neurotic. Itachi had ignored the comment, because he knew that the way he did things were a little over the top, however when the time came, he knew that it would pay off. Like, for example, if somebody asked him to access the transcript of the legal dispute between Hotel Taka and Channel Six Media over the loss of their contract through post on the 7th of July 2007, he would have it up within seconds.

"Do we have all members already?" Itachi asked, keeping his voice mellow as he clicked through his documents one last time. He took out the USB and slid it over to his OUT tray. Honestly, he was very much anticipating the first, full meeting with the whole of 'Akatsuki'—he didn't know whether or not to call the group that, considering, collectively, they were just a bunch of people from various places—because he wanted to know exactly what they would be doing to deal with the Jinchuuriki. He knew it was a serious matter, but he didn't understand why they needed so many people. Was five not enough? Kisame had told Itachi that they needed further areas of expertise, but Itachi still didn't get it: how many areas of expertise did you need to settle things the lawful way? This was what made his suspicious. But he knew that now that he was in, he couldn't back out.

"Yeah," Kisame grunted. He shifted a little. His huge frame looked squashed in the chair, despite how inviting it looked unoccupied. "Hidan—one of our correspondents—got back to us,"

Hidan…

Itachi thought the name sounded somehow familiar, and not because it had been mentioned at the meeting. It felt like he could put the name to a face that he knew of.

"However, for the safety of all of us, apparently we're going to talk through our new holographic system,"

Itachi's eyes shifted from his computer screen to Kisame's face.

"What?"

"We have been working on a new holographic system," Kisame explained. "Holograms. We developed it for meetings where the hiding of an identity is the highest priority,"

"Okay…," why do we need to hide our identities?

"We just want to test it out," Kisame continued. He got out of the chair. "See if it works. We're all going to use it at different locations. I'm pretty sure Zetsu is overseas at the moment, so that will help us decide whether or not we need to tweak the system some more before releasing it commercially,"

"Alright,"

Kisame checked his watch. "We're gonna try it tonight. Late. Because not everybody's free at the moment. The Jinchuuriki may be top priority, but the world won't stop for us,"

And with that, he left Itachi's office.

The older Uchiha sighed and leaned back in his chair. He still didn't know what to think of the Akatsuki…he decided that he would know as soon as the late-night meeting came. He hoped his suspicions about the group won't be stirred.

Sasuke left earlier than Sakura, who'd said she wanted to stay. Sasuke had shrugged at that and left, glancing at Deidara again as he left. The blonde was typing something into the cash register, looking like there was a perpetual storm cloud over his head.

Sakura nervously played around with the last, squashed, tiny cranberry on the plate with her fork. She looked at Deidara, wondering why she was making the slightly stupid decision to stay back and ask him what was wrong. Maybe it was because at some point in time during the afternoon, she'd remembered that one day when she came to the café alone and she looked like she was on the verge of tears, he'd asked her how she was and even gave her a free drink. Or maybe it was for Hinata. Sakura didn't know. She ignored her nerves and slid out of her seat. She walked over to the counter, reaching into her wallet and getting out a ten dollar note. Deidara looked up as she neared, but he didn't smile as wide as he usually did.

"Sasuke paid," he said. "For you, I mean,"

"He…did?"

"Yeah. You were looking at your phone,"

An awkward silence passed between them.

"I guess I'd better pay him back, then," Sakura's thoughts immediately sprung to Itachi, since she now officially had an excuse to visit them again. But on thinking about Itachi, and being in front of Deidara, there was something else weird writhing inside her.

"So you better go home now, yeah?" Deidara checked the cuffs of his shirt to see if they had collected any gunk during the time he'd been working. "Do your homework. Watch TV, hm,"

Sakura gnawed on her lower lip. Seeing Deidara being nice made her feel somehow…sad. Like she missed how he used to act around her.

"Deidara…what's wrong?"

"Eh?" Deidara looked up at her. There wasn't really anything in his face to suggest that he was forcing the niceness, but Sakura knew that it was a mask. How he'd acted before…that was serious. And now he was happy again? As if she would believe that. "Nothing's wrong. I told you,"

"Hinata's worried," Sakura answered readily. It was a bit of a lie. She was worried.

Deidara chuckled. "Tell her not to worry, yeah…nothing to worry about with me, ever,"

He looked at her, scrutinizing her face. He leaned in a bit, his eyes focused on her lips, and for a moment Sakura thought he was going to kiss her. But his eyes travelled back up to meet her own green ones, and a corner of his mouth was turned up in a smile.

"See you tomorrow, Sakura,"

Sakura walked out, the blare of traffic hitting her as the door opened. The sky had darkened and it was starting to spit a little. She knew Itachi probably wouldn't be home yet, so it wasn't worth going back to their penthouse. The little talk she'd just had with Deidara had made her shiver a little—she felt nervous. She tried to think of something else, but she couldn't think of anything but Deidara. The way he'd looked at her. He had looked so…sad, somehow. She shook her head lightly and stopped, waiting for the pedestrian crossing light to turn green. Itachi. I like Itachi. At the thought of the older boy, she blushed a little and her body heated up. The Uchiha still made her feel like jelly. And she couldn't wait to visit him again. The talk about school, and how he'd told her he didn't like mathematics either was a small exchange but it made her feel even more attracted to the guy. It was a cute titbit of knowledge.

Time: 11:30 pm

"Gentlemen,"

The hologram of Pein moved a little. Itachi could see what Kisame meant by covering ones identity: the holograms only showed the silhouette of the person. The only clear feature was their eyes, and Itachi could recognize Pein's eyes anywhere. The numerous rings that surrounded his pupil were hypnotic.

"We are still waiting for four others. Including Zetsu," Konan said. Even though she, Itachi and Kisame were in the same building, they were standing in separate rooms. Itachi looked at the small device attached to the back of his hand and wondered how such a little thing could generate his hologram while detecting all the other's as well. Not to mention produce them in front of his. It was uncanny.

"Tobi is here," Konan said, right before the masked-man's form buzzed into view.

"Hey, guys!" Tobi crowed. "This is so cool, isn't it?"

"…Yes," Kisame grunted.

"I wonder how the others are going," Pein said. "I hope they're not having a hard time trying to connect,"

"The system is perfect,"

Everyone looked to Zetsu, who had just appeared. "We refined it so many times after countless trials. I am certain it's perfect,"

"Nothing…nobody can be perfect," Pein said. "But we can try to be,"

Suddenly, three people appeared. Itachi's eyes widened for a moment when one of the holograms caught his eye. The hair…the eyes. It couldn't be…

"Hello, Itachi," Deidara said. "Are you surprised to see me?"