Heyyy readers! I'm still not that familiar with how to use this website and what the etiquette for it is, but I just wanted to let the people that reviewed know that I've read them and that I really appreciate them. Reviews give me motivation and motivation makes me write, so thank you!

Sasuke grunted as he let go of his last heavy wooden crate and wiped his forehead. Deidara was always like this, making him do work every time he came over. It was his way of making Sasuke pay "rent" for every night he stayed.

"I'm done," he announced to no one in particular, tiredly trudging over to the sofa.

"Perfect," said Deidara.

"God damn, Dei made you lift all that?" Asked Hidan as he attempted to lift the crate.

"Hn," was the only answer Sasuke could give him before letting himself fall flat on the futon.

After that night with Itachi, he'd contacted the Akatsuki and asked them if he could stay over for a couple of nights. They gleefully accepted, with the exception of Deidara who, for some reason, had a grudge against Itachi that bled into his opinion of Sasuke.

Konan was next to come in with bags of takeout and plopped them on the table. She pulled the Chinese takeout boxes out of the bags and placed them all on top of the table, discarding the bags in some trash can nearby.

"Finally! I'm starving," exclaimed Hidan as he jumped over the sofa and sat.

Sasuke groaned at the commotion, but joined them at the table. It smelled really good, and the place they always ordered at knew just how to make the food right. Hidan had already begun smacking at his food and making other questionable noises while Deidara grimaced in disgust.

"Would you mind telling the others to come downstairs, Sasuke?" Asked Konan.

The Uchiha nodded, walking out without hesitation. The Akatsuki were so lazy that they even had their own PA system to talk to each other. He sighed and held the mic closer to his mouth, pressing on the button to speak. He was surprised he even remembered where it was, they always kept it hidden behind stacks of junk they always kept in the so-called communications room.

"We're eating dinner, come downstairs," was all he said.

His voice was muffled to his own ears, but he knew the others could hear him loud and clear. After all, the amplifiers and speakers they had bought were made by Uchiha Corp.

"We're on our way, kid."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. That was definitely Nagato.

Alright, fine, the Akatsuki wasn't actually lazy. In fact, they were probably some of the most hardworking people he knew. They were all successful in their own way, regardless of their background.

Sasuke made his way back to the dining room, where he found Deidara, Konan, Hidan, and now Sasori and Nagato. He pulled his seat back and sat on it before opening his own box.

"So, Sasuke," Nagato paused and swallowed his chewed up spring roll. "I was telling everyone about my cousin."

"Mhm," Sasuke hummed absentmindedly. Even he could hear how uninterested he sounded.

"It's almost Halloween, and it's pretty much tradition for our family to hold a get together slash feast. I'm holding it this year, but I'm thinking about doing something special."

"Like what?" Sasori inquired.

Nagato shrugged. "I don't know. I want to make it fun for the kid, but I'm not a teenager anymore and I know that things have changed drastically since then. Do you have any ideas, Sas?"

Sasuke slurped his noodles and shrugged. Once he swallowed, he looked up at Nagato as if the answer was obvious.

"No. You're talking to someone who barely has any friends aside from a bunch of adults that my brother knows."

Hidan laughed and patted him on the head, earning a glare from the younger Uchiha.

"You poor little outcast. Seriously, though, you'll die early if you don't make at least one friend your age. Get out there, you've got so much ahead of you!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He said "barely has any friends," not "has no friends at all." He dug back into his food, twisting his fork around to eat the noodles like spaghetti. Now that his parents weren't here, he could eat however he wanted.

"Don't you already have one, Sasuke?"

Everyone turned around to find Kakashi standing by the doorway. Sasuke felt his face slightly heat up, and he was hell bent on blaming it on the hot food in front of him.

"None of your business, Kakashi," he mumbled and faced away towards the box.

"Sasuke has a friend?! Holy shit, who's the unlucky person?!" Hidan exclaimed. Even Konan had a hand over her mouth.

"Actually, I wouldn't call him unlucky. They're practically made for each other," Kakashi teased.

"Shut up, it's none of your business," Sasuke repeated, his face turning redder.

Deidara raised an eyebrow in recognition. "Are you two talking about Naruto?"

Sasuke choked while Kakashi chuckled. Sasori hurriedly smacked Sasuke's back in an attempt to get the food out. Obviously, his guess scored a bingo. During all of this, Nagato gaped.

"Naruto? You mean my cousin Naruto?"

"Precisely," answered Kakashi.

"How the fuck did you even know, Deidara?" Sasuke hissed, wiping the corners of his mouth. Deidara replied with a short laugh.

"Dumbass. You kept texting him and smiling, and I happened to pass by and see who you were talking to."

Sasuke blushed and looked down. Everyone began to gush on and on about him smiling while he groaned. A question that popped up in his head caused him to look up.

"Wait, Nagato, Naruto's your cousin?"

"Yeah. Sure, the kid's a little ball of sunshine but I would have never expected to see you two in the same picture."

"I know right? They're just so… different," commented Hidan.

"Well, you know the saying. Opposites attract."

Sasuke cringed. "It's not like that. Stop making things weird, Kakashi."

Kakashi sat down on his chair and met Sasuke's gaze, which avoided his own immediately after.

"Are you afraid he doesn't swing the same way?"

"What? No," he mumbled.

"Well, even if you are, there's nothing you should worry about. He's bi," Nagato pointed out.

That earned Sasuke's attention. "He is?"

Deidara and Hidan snickered while Sasori shushed them, trying not to laugh as well. Sasuke could be so easy to read sometimes.

"Yeah. The last guy he crushed on had dark hair, too."

Sasuke's ears grew red at the last statement. Sure, he enjoyed Naruto's company but… Did he like him? They'd only met a month ago, but it felt like they knew each other for years. For a brief moment, Sasuke wondered what the last guy Naruto had a crush on looked like, but he shook it off.

Even if he did like Naruto, there was just too much going on for it to work. Things were already happening with Itachi and Orochimaru, and Naruto had friends that pretty much hated him.

Itachi and Orochimaru were a completely different story, one that he still didn't understand. From what Itachi showed him, the Ryuchi organization was definitely something he was going to stay away from. His heart urged him to go through with it anyway, for the sake of Itachi, but his head just… couldn't.

Him being absent for three days was under Itachi's instruction. Sasuke had only agreed to it because he'd been threatened with more colorful pictures to view from Itachi's wonderful envelope. It was times like these that made him question his relationship with his older brother. It was like some knotty, twisted version of love that Sasuke couldn't untangle himself from.

Maybe a couple of notes were off-key, but hey, it was still music.

Sasuke wondered what Itachi was doing while he was absent. Was he really crazy enough to confront Orochimaru? Probably, but in a completely not-crazy way. Knowing Itachi, he was probably going to pressurize Orochimaru in an extremely businesslike manner.

"Look at him, deep in thought."

"He's in love-e-e."

"Teen romance. How beautiful."

Sasuke winced. His thoughts were far, far more morbid than that, but he guessed it was better than looks of pity. He finally finished the last of his noodles and washed it down with a glass of La Croix. The bubbles tickled his throat, but it was so worth it.

"I don't like him like that, and he doesn't like me like that. We're just friends," he gritted out.

"That's what Sasori said, yeah. And look at us now!" Deidara grinned and pulled Sasori over to him, receiving a lighthearted punch in response.

"Blink twice if you need help, Sasori," Konan teased. Sasori smiled and replied with two blinks, causing everyone to laugh.

Kakashi smiled under his mask and got up, pulling his sleeveless shirt down. He held his phone up and plugged it to the speaker.

"What song are you all in the mood for?"

Deidara jumped up. "Stargazing!"

"Boyfriend!" Hidan suggested, a little too enthusiastically.

"Alright, put Stargazing and Boyfriend together and you get Starboy," said Nagato with a smirk on his face.

"Smart," replied Kakashi.

Soon enough, the song began to echo around the house and Sasuke felt himself get dragged away for dessert..

He smiled. The Akatsuki hadn't changed a bit.

"And then what did he say?"

Shikamaru shrugged as he looked upwards towards the clouds. "Not much, he basically told me he was fine with it."

Temari smiled. "Good. If he started any problems I would have beaten the shit out of him."

Shikamaru breathed out an intimidated sigh.

"I could definitely see that happening."

She laughed, intertwining their hands once more as they continued to walk past another park. When she wasn't acting all tough, Temari was actually a very pleasant person to be around.

And cute, Shikamaru mused. His eyes darted over to her before immediately flickering back. He was trying his hardest not to bring his strategic abilities into their relationship. She was all do, and don't think while he was all think, and don't do.

"So, Gaara told me you like seafood."

"Hm, yeah. I like mackerel," he replied.

"That's such a weird favorite food, but I'll take it," she teased. "Anyways, come with me. I reserved a table at Eighty Two for us."

"Eighty Two? Are you kidding me?"

Temari gave him a stern look that gave him no room for protest.

"Yes, Eighty Two. Our first date is going to be fun, alright? Which means good, expensive food."

"Yeah, but… It's not like our parents own big ass companies like Naruto or the Hyuugas."

"Come on, Shika. I'm not dumb. I've been saving for this for a while," she said, looking away.

Shikamaru sighed. Temari was probably the most stubborn girl he knew, ever. There was no way he'd ever be able to change her mind.

"You can be so troublesome, you know that? I'm the man here, I should be the one who does this stuff."

Temari punched him in the shoulder, hard.

"Ow, what was that for?!"

"When you speak like that, you're not a man, you're a boy. I'm doing this because I.. really, really like you. Not because I'm trying to one-up you or anything. So you'd better change the way you think about men and women, since I'm living proof that your ideas are wrong."

Another sigh came out of Shikamaru in response. He was about to answer when a dark figure caught his eye. He raised an eyebrow and squinted in its direction. Now there were two dark shadows in the alley nearby.

He couldn't see what exactly was happening, clearly, but something just seemed familiar about the shadows. Both of them had long, dark strands blowing in the wind that reminded him of someone. But who?

"What?"

Shikamaru snapped out of his trance and faced Temari, who was watching him incredulously.

"Huh?"

"Have you even been listening? God, Shikamaru-"

"What? No, I have. I just thought I saw someone."

Temari blinked and turned around to see, giving Shikamaru the opportunity to look again. The sun finally reached the shadows, revealing two people wearing dark suits. They were talking to each other, seemingly passively, but that wasn't what Shikamaru was paying attention to.

All his eyes could catch was the glint reflecting off of a metallic surface. It was sharp and silver, gleaming in the sunlight in a way that only someone in his position could see. It was a knife.

"Holy shit," he breathed, unable to rip his gaze away.

"What?" Temari asked. She was beginning to grow concerned.

Shikamaru grabbed her arm and stepped back, dragging her along.

"Let's go. Call Eighty Two and tell them we couldn't make it today. I'm in the mood for burgers, anyway."

"What the fuck? Why?"

Shikamaru's hand squeezed gently around her wrist.

"I think something bad is about to go down here. I don't know about you, but I think I'd rather we be safe on our first date."

Temari paled. "What do you mean, something bad?"

"I'll tell you once we leave. Let's just go now."

Temari nodded, letting herself be dragged away. Despite his brain warning him not to, his curiosity got the best of him as he slowly turned around to see what was happening one more time.

Like he'd assumed, one of the men standing there was the physics teacher, Orochimaru. But he wasn't the one holding the knife.

Instead, it was a man he didn't recognize. He was tall, not incredibly tall, but tall and built enough for ladies to swoon over him from behind. His dark hair was long and tame, held together as a low ponytail.

Shikamaru's eyes widened when he caught the side of the man's face. He looked just like someone he knew, aside from the visible tear troughs under his eyes.

But who? He asked himself as his head faced back to how it was before. Who the hell was this guy, and why was he familiar to Shikamaru? And why the fuck did he have a knife held up against his physics teacher?

Shikamaru froze.

Temari turned around, asking him what was wrong, but that was all white noise to him. His mind was only focused on two names.

Sasuke.

Itachi.

Sasuke's brother, Itachi.

Sasuke's brother, Itachi, was going to kill Orochimaru.

And Shikamaru had just been at the scene of the crime.

So I made Kakashi part of the Akatsuki since it was just easier that way, and it actually seemed kind of interesting lol. I actually got the idea from a dream I had. I get most of my ideas for this fic from my dreams, if I'm going to be honest.