AN:

JK: This is over a year old! GAAAAAAAAAH! How time flies. Trying to avoid angst here, so yay. Enjoy the fluff. BTW, I apologize for the lack of update, I've been dead tired and had no comppie. TT^TT Chappie is a (LATE!!) birthday present for my dear illustrator, cip.

karupin7 - Muchas gracias, amigo(a)! 8D

Current chapter contains: ...???

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

--

Itachi was exhausted. He had spent the past few days with Deidara, who was completely grief-stricken from the loss of Sasori, which had rubbed off on Itachi and was now giving him horrible nightmares of losing his own partner.

He would always wake up in a cold sweat and then promptly snuggle close to the dead-to-the-world Kisame, who could somehow sleep through hurricane but wake up in a instant if Itachi poked him - gently - or made any noise of sadness. Itachi got quite the amount of amusement out of sending Tobi through there as a wake-up call, then just shaking him to wake up to Tobi's mutilation of a trumpet.

Kisame, on the other hand, was growing worried about his partner. He hadn't seen that much of him over the past few days - he knew what he was doing, however. He knew he was trying to help Deidara during his crisis, and he was proud of him for the help, but he missed seeing him.

"Hey, 'Tachi?" the shark-nin asked one morning. "I know you want to help Deidara, but I was wondering if you wanted to take a break and come on a walk with me."

Itachi yawned in response.

"I'll have to talk to him, Kisame..."

-Later-

Itachi and Kisame were walking down a dirt path, about twenty minutes away from the base. Itachi still had said nothing, so it had been a very awkward twenty minutes.

"...Itachi, is something bothering you?" Kisame finally broke the silence.

"No."

"Then why won't you talk to me?"

"There's nothing to say to you."

"Nothing to say? I've barely seen you for the past week and you tell me there's nothing to say?" Kisame hoped they weren't back at square one. Itachi now always told him everything, a big improvement from the silent treatment all those years ago.

"...nothing." Itachi trotted up ahead.

"'Tachi, you have no idea where we're going, so stop moving so fast." Kisame smiled.

"Fine. Lead me."

It grew quiet again as the duo walked another thirty minutes until Kisame once again broke the silence.

"Through here, Itachi-kun." he gave his sleeve a gentle tug and pulled him through the forest.

"I thought we were going on a walk on a trail."

"Not quite. I need to show you something."

"And what would that be?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

"...No...?"

"Exactly. Almost there."

"How much longer?"

"Patience, my dear weasel."

"You should know that word has never graced my vocabulary."

"So I'm aware." the shark-nin pushed a branch out of his way. "Ah, here we are! My little sanctuary."

"Nnn?" Itachi peered around his partner's massive form to see a clearing filled with small flowers and a rather small but quaint looking river flowing through it. "...You garden?"

"Nah, they were here when I found it. No one else knows about this place except for you."

"...Zetsu would have a cow if he saw this and found out you kept it a secret from him all this time."

"Which half, laddie?" Kisame grinned, using one of the three 'forbidden words'. Much to his smug joy, Itachi twitched at being called 'laddie'.

"...White. Can we continue our walk now?" Itachi turned to walk away, but was stopped by a large hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, Itachi, I was hoping we could spend the day here."

"...The whole day?" the black-haired shinobi raised a slender eyebrow at his companion.

"Any other plans? I thought you got rid of Dei."

"I did. By throwing him on Hidan."

"Ohhhh, boy." Kisame groaned.

--

AN:

JK: Next chappiw will be longer, I promise. I'm just busy right now...(sweatdrop)