Amaya: WHEEEE! Yea... Lee's not here at the moment so I've decided to do the A/N with my random friend Ducky!
Ducky: -grabs more ducttape and puts it everywhere-Hey! I'm not a random friend! XD
Amaya: ... Did you write the story with me and Lee?
Ducky: Maybbeeee... what's it about?
Amaya: -rolls eyes-
Ducky: That's not helpful!
Amaya: Oh well. R/R

DreamAnimeKitten: Thank you. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
Devil-girllie: So true And thank you.
The Masquerade Moth: Thanks.
Lokli2: Awesome! Yay for colorness!
Amaya-Keiko2005: XD you really like threatening me don't ya? lol. Here ya go!

"Starbucks coffee... man's (and woman's) best friend."

In the morning, Mitsuki was lying on the purple couch having fallen asleep on it the night earlier. And Itachi was getting changed, as she would soon find out. Her eyes fluttered open and immediately look around, only to fine Itachi's underwear-clad arse in her face. Her eye twitched, but her torture didn't stop there being he hadn't even noticed her consciousness. He dropped his ring and, of course, leaned over to pick it up. She put her hands over her eyes to shield the fan girl-sexy, but otherwise blinding view. "Erm… good morning…" she said, fully bringing it to his attention that she was, indeed, awake. Itachi had just clasped his hand around his ring and stood bolt upright, grabbing one of Deidara's discarded Goth-chain jackets and covered himself woman-style. His eyes were slightly wide and he turned a shade paler, all the while blushing. She, however, was trying not to laugh, smiling and doing a little two-fingered salute thing. "Ohayo." His face twitched twice, his eyes wide, before throwing Deidara's jacket over her and quickly pulling on that day's choice of clothes. Once he was done he took the jacket off and threw it at the foot of Sasori and Deidara's bed. She bit her lower black-painted lip to hold in a laugh from his reaction. He was standing in front of her, wearing a very MJ-like outfit.

"Shut. Up," he growled.

"All I said was ohayo," she replied innocently, as he bunched-up his raven hair carelessly and skillfully gets it to stay under a knit-cap, making his hair appear shoulder-length.

"You know what I mean."

"How're you this morning?" she smiled.

"…" he sighed, closing his black eyes. "Peachy. I'm taking you shopping today. Do whatever you have to do and then let's go." She nodded, getting up and taking her hair down from the two pony-tails and, taking a brush from her bag that she had throw in, brushed it through her hair once and then put her hair back into a ponytail. "Done yet, little princess?" She stuck her tongue out at him but nodded. He rolled his eyes, but opened the door of the trailer, and she saw that it was parked in an abandoned parking lot. He hopped out, and started walking. She followed him, fixing her black lipstick as she walked and then putting the lipstick back in her pocket. At the mall they started walking around, totally unnoticed. In the Japanese version of Hot Topic he quickly scanned the store. "Try on… that, that, that, that, that, this thing here, that, that, that, and that," he instructed, pointing to a different object corresponding to "that". A sweatdrop appeared on her forehead but she grabbed each thing in her size and went into the dressing rooms, trying everything on. "Are you going to show me? Because you know, that's kind of the POINT of trying things on." He said from outside the rooms. It seemed as if his life was an eternal bad day. She sighed, coming out wearing the first thing, it fitting very nicely. "Hmm…" He motioned with his finger, doing a swirly, for her to turn around, which she did. "Good, NEXT." 'So demanding…' she thought but went back in and tried on the next thing, coming out again and turning around. "Good, NEXT," His flat voiced bored on. Once she was done with everything he turned to her. "Alright, since girls are so into this thing, accessorize your heart out. Actually… if there's anything in this store you want, I'll get it for you even if it doesn't have to do with dressing." She blinked in surprise but then smiled and hugged him quickly before going around and looking at everything, like a little kid in a candy store. She came back with one messenger bag filled with random accessories: fake rose hair clips, hair chopsticks with little skulls on them, different gothic jewelry, and a couple more things of black lipstick and different vibrant colored eye shadows. They went to check out and he handed the person a credit card.

"Hey, you look a LOT like Hail to the Grave!" a random person nearby said.

"Point being?" Itachi asked, leaning his elbows on the counter coolly.

"Oh, I was just saying and all…"

"Yeah, whatever. Make that assumption again I molest your kids." The person quickly scuttled away as Mitsuki stood next to Itachi, holding back a laugh. Itachi put the card back in his wallet and took the two big bags of stuff she got. "Anywhere else you wanna shop?" She thought for a moment.

"Hmmm… Starbucks?" she asked eagerly.

"You like Starbucks?" he blinked. She nodded, smiling. "Ahh, my Starbucks buddy!" He smiled. "Gaara-kun suffers insomnia so I usually stay up with him a lot. And ah, what better to stay up with than coffee, ne? There's one at the other end of the mall." After the purchase at Starbucks they walked around the mall some more. "Where now?" He asked with a little more life than before, swishing around the contents of his cup. She bit her lower lip and shrugged.

"I dunno," she shrugged, sipping her Frappucino. He sat down on a bench-like thing in the middle of mall, like a little plaza.

"It's kinda hot in here, no?"

She nodded. "Kinda." She sat down cross-legged next to him, her skirt magically not flashing everyone that looked in her general direction. He took off his hat, his long hair fluttering down around his face.

"So, you got the bass guitar spot, right?"

"Yep."

"I'm the other guitarist. Sasori's the singer. Deidara, as you can easily guess, is drums."

"Hey, are you Hail to the Grave!" another random person asked him. Itachi turned his head slowly and stood, just as slow. The person stepped back. "Uh… n…never mind, must be wrong guy…" And he ran away. Itachi sat back down.

"I hate being famous."

"I can tell," she smiled at him.

"What kind of life did you leave behind when you joined us?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Nothing much…" she shrugged. "I lived in an itty bitty apartment and worked at a book store down the street and tried to get into any band that was looking."

"I see," he sipped his coffee. "We should get going." She nodded, getting up from the seat and having another sip of her cold coffee. He picked up all her bags and carried them over his shoulder. Back at the trailer she opened the door and grabbed one bag from Itachi, making sure it had the stuff she wanted in it and going into the bathroom.

"So what've YOU been up to, 'Tach...?" Deidara asked.

"Shopping," he replied simply, reading his book again.

"But Sasori said he would take her, you know… you even told him you didn't want to…"

"I felt like being nice to him."

"Well you ended up making him go into panic! He thought you two ran off somewhere, which technically you did!"

His reply was a snort-like sound, which could be translated by people who knew him well into, "You're right; I'm wrong and silence is golden."

She came back out 20 minutes later wearing a new purple and black plaid pleated skirt, black studded belt, black tank-top with three thin chains going from the top left shoulder to the bottom right corner, purple and black thigh-high socks and her black boots, with a fake purple rose hair pin in her hair. Her hair was still back in a bun except for two small pieces of black and her bangs, and she now had bright purple eye shadow on. "Ohayo Dei-kun," she smiled, doing a little wave and taking a sip from her not-yet-finished coffee.

"Nice look for you," Itachi said without looking up from his recent book.

"Oooooooooh! Kawaii!" Deidara squealed (his visible eye turning into a happy line), clapping his hands together.

"Thank you," she smiled. Sasori scanned her outfit.

"Maybe if the skirt was leather or something… but sexy nonetheless," he said.

"Erm… thanks… I think?"

"It was a compliment," he smiled.

Later that day Itachi went to the door with Dei. "I'm going out with Deidara to get his drum thingies. Wish me luck not to get clobbered," he said, walking out with Dei. Sasori and Mitsuki laughed.

"I think Deidara can't be any more obvious to the media and paparazzi with those piercings of his," he laughed.

"Yep. Why doesn't he try taking some out when he goes out? It's not like they'll close up," she asked, painting her nails with a new coat of black nail-polish.

"He likes individuality," he responded, sitting next to her and watching. Her pale eyes moved up to look at him like 'Yes and why are you sitting next to me?' "You know… you should be painting your nails purple. That's what all of us have." He put his hand next to hers, showing his purple-ness.

"I like individuality," she teased. He rolled his eyes.

"It's a band thing. Do it."

"Have any purple nail polish?" she shrugged.

"Yeah," he said, taking out the polish from his pocket. She took it from him, taking the nail polish off her nails with a random thing she had gotten from the store and started painting her nails purple. He took the brush from her and started painting her nails for her, doing a hell of a good job. She watched him at the task, as though it was very interesting.

"So where're we playing first…?"

"Osaka, then Tokyo. We're hitting the major cities. Then we spend a few months in North America."

'Oh my god! America!' she thought excitedly, having never been to America. But she realized something. "Erm… I don't really know how to play any of your songs…"

"Neither do we," he responded. "We're making all new songs for our tour, so you don't have to worry about much." She let out a breath, relieved. "Do you know American?" He mentally whacked himself. "English, I mean."

"Erm… a little…"

"Ah. Oh well. Deidara and I came from America. Until that little terror group blew up Deidara's family, y'know, then we moved here. But all our roots are Japanese. I'm full-blooded Japanese, Deidara's half. He's unmistakably American. That's why he's so popular. He's exotic. Normally the lead singer of a band is the popular one, though. I'm ranking third, though… I guess I'm just too ugly, ne… anyway… I'm done with your nails. Just let 'em dry." She nodded and gave him her cute little smile. "…I wish other women had your smile…"

"Hmm…?" she asked, thinking she heard that wrong.

"So when do you think Dumb and Dumber will be back?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh… I don't know… probably another hour guessing that poor Deidara's posse will be chasing them everywhere it will probably take them longer to get here."

"I hate those people…"

"Agreed…"

"Were you alone most your life?" he asked, taking a very accurate guess. She looked at him in slight surprise but then looked down. "You might be closer to Deidara than you think. He adores you, you know…"

"He does…?" she asked in surprise. He put his arm around her.

"Hell yes. But you know… I think you're stuck in a… hmm, why don't we call this a love-quadrilateral? Because four doesn't really make a triangle, now does it?" he asked, smiling at his own joke. She couldn't help but laugh slightly at his joke, but immediately went back to being serious. "Me and Birdie agree that we have no clue if 'Tachi's into you. But still… its day two and you've snagged the hearts of at least two celebrities." His face was very close to hers. She tried hide the blush that was threatening her cheeks.

"I… um…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"You're very cute, you know that…? When you smile and blush… You're like a kid…"

"Um… thank you…" she responded quietly, taking it as a compliment. He drew closer still, so that she could feel his breath whispering in her ear.

"I wish that…" but he jumped a mile away from her the split second before the trailer door opened. Sasori looked up, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Back already?"

"Yeah. I lost Deidara somewhere in the crowd, though," Itachi replied.

Sasori shook his head. "Great, should we put out a lost puppy ad?"

"Maybe."

Sasori shook head again. "I still don't understand why he wants to be so different and stick out… like his American-ness isn't enough."

Mitsuki was just getting over the surprise about the Sasori thing and she shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, "Makes him feel special…"

"Maybe you should rescue him with your death threats," Sasori suggested. "Y'know, hold the American Webster's dictionary over your head and scream in German."

"Could work," Itachi responded, digging around for his dictionary. He found it and heaved it up. "Upsiedasey…" He nearly fell backwards, balanced it on his shoulder and walked to the trailer door. "Out we go…" He inched out, keeping his balance and shutting the door. Sasori visibly relaxed again.

"I wonder if that'll actually work…" she said, trying to avoid the earlier subject due to embarrassment.

"Ah, last time it was the Harry Potter novels. He actually sent someone to the hospital that day. No charges were pressed though, the person felt like they were special to get attacked by 'Tach."

"You'd think eventually they'd learn…"

"Freaks, I tell you… yeah." He plopped next to her again. 'GODDAMMIT THE BOOKWORM RUINED THE MOMENT!' he thought angrily. She fiddled with one of the chains on her shirt, a nervous habit. He had a dark ambience over him for a moment before snapping out of it, finding something else to approach that. "So do you find any of us cute?"

"I um…" she bit her lower lip. "Erm… I guess… I mean… you're all cute in a way I think…" 'Why me?' she thought.

"All… of us?"

"Yea… I guess… erm…" she couldn't help but feel that no matter what she said it was the wrong answer.

"Don't you favor some of us more than others?"

"Um… I guess… I don't know…"

He drew in close, snaking his arm over her shoulder again. "Who's number one on your list, hmm?"

She bit her lower lip nervously. "Um… I don't know…"

"Oh come on, we can't all be the same…"

"You're not… I mean… I just don't know any of you that well I guess…"

He drew so close that his breath was in her ear again, coming out in a low whisper, "What do you think about me?"

"I… um… I think you're cute I guess… and nice…"

"You're so nervous…" he smirked, and she felt something warm and wet lick up her earlobe. She shivered as an immediate response.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, apologizing for being nervous.

"You're so cute…" He moved to kiss her cheek and the blush that had been threatening her, now overcame her pale cheeks.

"Um… thank you…"

Soft pink tongue darted out to run over her cheek.

"So very cute in everything you do…"

"You think too much of me…" she blushed, the statement accidentally giving off what she actually thought of herself.

"Too much? But its oh-so-true…" His lips were now right in front of hers, just brushing against hers while he talked.

"I… don't know what to say…" She was now a bright red, which dared her bright purple bangs and eye shadow. He covered her lips with his own, leading to a deep kiss, ultimately stealing her first kiss. She was so surprised she didn't know what to do, a brighter blush, if possible, residing on her cheeks. Just then door opened again, this time not giving Sasori enough time to jump "a mile away."

"Bloody hell, I thought I'd-" Itachi stopped mid-sentence, his eyes taking in the scene in front of him.

"Un, what were you-" Deidara's smile disappeared off his face, quickly than if someone had used a Mr. Clean magic eraser.

"Oh, un…"

-had ducktaped Ducky's mouth now-
Amaya: ughhhhh... everyone's always talking. --