(A/N: Hey all! I know this took forever! Writer's block sucks! Anyhoo, here's the next chapter!)

Itachi dashed throught the dark,frigid void of theearlymorning air.

He located Hotaru's apartment with relative ease and swiftly picked the lock.

Itachi fought down the urge to jump the sleeping girl and settled on smelling her hair instead.

He glanced at the glowing red face of the electric clock on her bedside table.

3:15 A.M.

Operation Win Hotaru Over is a go.

Hotaru stirred in bed groggily, before opening her heavy lids.

"Pleeeeeeease lord…tell me that was all bad dream." Hotaru moaned.

She glanced at the clock.

9:28 A.M.

"Guess who's skipping class today?" Hotaru muttered woozily, switching herself out of bed.

She didn't get to take half a step when her jinchuriki charged senses caught a whiff of something.

Something smelled…good.

Really good.

As in, Oh-My-God-I-Haven't-Eaten-In-Three-Months!-Gimme!-Gimme!-Gimme! good.

"What the fuck?" Hotaru thought dumbly, her mind still clogged with sleep, "Hajime can't cook…unless he's been lying to me all these years…in which case, that lazy ass is dead."

She stumbled down the hall, legs refusing to move the way her sleepy mind wanted them to, and made her way into the kitchen.

A magnificent spread took up the entire kitchen, covering table, counters and several chairs.

There was only one place to sit.

And it wasn't anywhere she was going anytime soon.

Itachi sat in the only available chair, head resting on his arms.

Asleep.

"I'm going to have to burn that chair later." Hotaru mused, tiptoeing her way carefully around the food.

She made her way to the bathroom and quickly shut, locked and barricaded the door.

Despite the presence of the elder Uchiha skulking about her apartment, she settled on a bath.

She had only just slipped into the water when the door flew open.

"GUH-HUH-GLAAH!" Hotaru sputtered, flailing like a fish as Itachi suddenly loomed over her.

She dove as deeply as she could with out submersing her head.

"PERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRVVVEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTT!" she screamed, bringing back a fist.

Itachi easily dodged.

"Uzumaki-san…may I wash your back?" Itachi asked, completely unfazed by her outburst.

Hotaru stared at him.

She could NOT be-lieeeeeve his nerve.

Or his persistence.

Screw Kakashi-perv, this guy was on a whole other level of stubborn!

"F-fine." She sighed tartly, turning around swiftly, splashing water as she went "But you try ANYTHING, and I kill you…got it?"

"Fair enough." Itachi murmured.

"Gk!" Hotaru gasped as something close in temperature to ice blocks came into contact with her back, "Your hands are fr-fr-freezing!"

"I apologize." Itachi said mildly, not sounding sorry at all.

"A bit of warning…would be nice." She grumped as the cold hands began to work their way around her back.

Hotaru could not believe she was allowing this creepy stalker pedophle to wash her back.

But…

It was obvious how hard he had worked.

That mea-feas-banquet had obviously taken forever.

The LEAST she could do was let the guy feel up her back a little.

After that, however, he was outta here.

"Damn he's good at this, though." Hotaru thought dazedly, eyelids drooping slightly as the tension and knots began to easy their way out of her back.

She inwardly smacked herself for enjoying this.

"STUPID!" She mentally screamed, "He's-A-STALKER! Get OUT of the tub and…and…oh, damn…he's better at this than Ha-chan."

Itachi focused his attention to a particularly larger mass of knotted tendons at the base of her neck.

"This is commonly brought on from bad posture when writing." He murmured into her ear, "You should be more careful."

He felt her shiver.

"Watch it." Hotaru growled dangerously, turning her head slightly to look at him, "Don't forget what will happen if you try anything."

"I remember your warning well…Uzumaki-san." Itachi smirked.

He calmly slid a hands around her front.

-ZZLASSH-

Blood spurted from Itachi's arm.

He stumbled back, gripping his shoulder, glaring in frustration at the tub.

Sharp talons gripped the lip of the tub, another claw covered hand sloshing water onto the tile as it slammed onto the floor.

Razor-edged fangs dripping acidic, acrid saliva, that caused several holes to form in the floor.

Black hair streaked with red was soom laced with orange.

A pair of large familiar fox ears slid to the top of her head.

Piercing red-orange eyes flashed ferociously up at him.

Hotaru had left the building.

And the Kyuubi was out to play.

-"She warned you what would happen…yes?"- the Kyuubi growled.

Itachi nodded.

-"Well then, you're prepared to face the consequences then?"- the Kyuubi asked coolly.

Again, Itachi nodded.

-"Well then…HERE IT COMES!"- The Kyuubi roared.

Itachi closed his eyes.

Nothing happened.

He canced a peek.

The Kyuubi had a talon covered finger only a millimeter away from his nose.

-"Don't ever do that again!"- The Kyuubi chided.

Itachi's jaw dropped.

"That's…all?" he asked tentatively.

-"Uh-huh!"- The Kyuubi grinned.

"Then why all the melodramatics?" Itachi asked.

-"Cuz I just like screwin' with you!"- The Kyuubi snickered.

Itachi stared at the laughing demoness.

She regained her composure after a time.

-"Okay now!"- the Kyuubi said sharply, -"You! Sit!"-

He sat at the spot she pointed to in front of the tub.

Please note that the Kyuubi no Yoko has yet to put any clothes on and it still just floating about the tub.

-"Now you listen up!"- the Kyuubi said, -"You like Hotaru and all, and that's fantastic. But you're going about this the wrong way!"-

"Wrong…way?" Itach asked, a vexed look crossing his face.

-"That's right!"- the Kyuubi nodded, -"Think about it! Hotaru maybe a girl, but she's a fighter first and foremost! Tell me…what do combat junkies like her love more than anything else?"-

(A/N: Will Itachi succeed with the Kyuubi's help? R&R!)