As Itachi crept closer, he could hear Tsunade' breathing. So far, it didn't seem as though she was awake…but Itachi had to be careful. If he underestimated her, even in the slightest, he could end up seriously injured or dead. Taking his time, Itachi approached Tsunade with a caution only an Uchiha could achieve. Utter silence. Masked movements.

Virtual invisibility.

Itachi crept closer and closer, but as he did, he could hear Tsunade' breathing become irregular. Her heart rate was picking up, and so was her breathing. Itachi smirked.

"So, you are awake," he purred, reaching around her head.

Tsunade almost plunged a dagger into his chest.

Itachi caught the knife between his fingers, not even losing a drop of blood, and catching Tsunade's hand in the process. He plastered his other hand over her mouth, despite the ferocious struggle she was putting up.

"Relax, Tsunade," Itachi said impatiently. "I am not here to harm you."

Not here to harm me, my ass!

Itachi smiled; he could almost hear her spitting the words at him as she struggled. Itachi sighed and pulled out a bit of trap wire. He could probably spare himself a bit of pain if she couldn't use either hand…with a bit of difficulty, Itachi wound the wire around the wrist he had in his hand, and then passed it around the other. As soon as Tsunade's hand came back to strike him again, he threw the loop of wire over her other hand and pulled it tight. He tied a knot as best he could with one hand, pulled that tight, and took a breath.

"My, Tsunade," he murmured, sinking to his knees to match her height. "Little tiger, no?"

Fuck off, Uchiha bastard.

Itachi grinned; really, he could see these words spilling from her mouth through her eyes. Her brown eyes were very expressive: too much for a shinobi, really. That was a plus of having the Sharingan up twenty four-seven. You never knew what was going on in Itachi's non-existent soul.

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't keep you waiting," Itachi said pleasantly. "Nor your little protégé. She's probably giving Kisame a bit of trouble…"

Tsunade's eyes flashed with anger, and she gave an especially strong yank against Itachi's hold. Itachi sighed and put an arm around her waist, pulling her back into his body.

"Stop moving," he growled. "Make this easy."

Tsunade, apparently, wasn't in the mood for it.

She settled down anyway, though, but still glared at Itachi like she was giving him the finger. It was funny, to Itachi…

"Okay, so now that we've established that I will kill you if you move," Itachi continued, "Let's move on to business item number one. First off: the reason I'm here. I have come, with Kisame, as representatives from Akatsuki to offer to Konoha a temporary cease-fire. We have a common goal: to take custody of Orochimaru. The only difference is, you want to kill him, and we want him alive. So, if we can come to a compromise, I'm sure something can be done about that. Business item number two: what Kisame's doing here. Kisame is basically making sure we don't get interrupted and to make us look good. And also in case you decided to go crazy on us and attack. And lastly, business item number three: the goal. We want to arrange for a temporary alliance between Konoha and Akatsuki. Only for a time, since one of us will undoubtedly break it at some point, but whatever. We work as a team to maintain control over Orochimaru. We share the profits, of course. Sound interested?"

Tsunade seemed to turn this over in her mind for a moment. Finally, she gave the best nod she could with Itachi's hand over her mouth, and Itachi nodded in return.

"If you scream, I will cut out your vocal cords. Clear?"

A glare.

Itachi sighed, but released Tsunade's mouth and stepped back a bit. "Alright, are you interested?"

Tsunade nodded again. "Keep talking, and I'll tell you for sure."

Itachi smiled. "Gladly. So, what we have in mind is just to send in shinobi to attack Orochimaru repeatedly to see if we can get to him that way. If we cannot, we will send in spies and assassins to get it done that way. We will not actually kill him, as I said earlier: we want him alive. So, what we are planning to do with him is take his ring, and possibly wipe his memory of the time he spent in Akatsuki. But that's it. That's all we'll even touch. Then, if you want him…" Itachi's lips curved upwards in a smirk. "We will sell him to you as a slave."

Tsunade raised a single eyebrow. "Really now?" she murmured. She sat back on her heels and exhaled a lungful of air. "And how are we to know this will not be violated and Orochimaru killed straight off?"

"We will prepare a blood contract when it is time," Itachi said. "We will all sign our names in our own blood, and once every signature has been collected, the deal will be sealed until the deal if completely fulfilled on both ends. That means both parties are held to the agreement until the entire treaty is met in full. Usually there is a time limit to discourage holding up the contract for one side's gain over another's."

Tsunade seemed to ponder this, and finally said, "You know, I tend to think more clearly when I have circulation in my hands," she said slowly, staring pointedly at Itachi. The Uchiha sighed and took out a kunai. "If I let you go, you had better not try anything stupid."

Another glare.

Itachi slowly cut the knot in the trap wire, releasing Tsunade's hands. The medical ninja began rubbing circulation into them around the slight lacerations and cuts on her wrists from the sharp wire. "So, when is this contract being brought up?" Tsunade asked. "Whenever we can work something out," Itachi replied. "That's why I'm here."Tsunade stood up, brushing her blonde hair back over her shoulder. She had let it down to sleep, out of the usual two pigtails it was in during the day. "Well? Let's take a look at the calendar."

Itachi shrugged. "The headquarters is three day away from here. We could come back in seven days at the least. So don't make any plans beyond that."

Tsunade snorted. "I made plans beyond that five years ago."

Itachi sighed and brushed his bangs back. "I bet you did. Anyway…"

"If you can only make it seven day from now, I guess we can do something in about two weeks…" Tsunade mused. "I'm not planning on doing anything special on the fifteenth. If you can make it then…"

Itachi nodded. "That should be possible," he said. "I'll run it by Leader-sama and see what he thinks."

"I'll save the date."

Itachi nodded one last time and turned to the doorway. "Kisame!" he called. "Come."

Within seconds, the shark-man was at Itachi's side, towering over both Tsunade and Itachi. "Well, I take it this negotiating of yours went well?" he sneered, looking down at Tsunade. The Hokage set her jaw in a firm line and stared up, defiant as ever.

"Fairly," she said frostily. Tsunade crossed her arms across her chest. "What happened to Shizune?" she questioned, glaring at Kisame. "You better not have-"

"Relax, little fire-head," Kisame sneered, smirking at Tsunade. "She's still asleep as far as I know."

"No, I'm not you bastards!!"

Shizune stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, looking beyond furious. "And if you hurt her, in any way, you have me to answer to!"

Kisame laughed. "You, little girl? You're hardly the size of my thumbnail!"Shizune raised her arm, and Tsunade turned her gaze to her apprentice. "Shizune, stand down!" she barked, startling both the Akatsuki and Shizune. Shizune slowly turned to look at Tsunade, a puzzled look on her face. "Tsunade-sama?" she said icily, asking for an answer and questioning Tsunade's sanity.

Tsunade sighed. "They want a peace treaty."

Shizune's eyes widened. "Scum!" she screamed, drawing her needles and launching them directly at Itachi. "How dare you dishonor the Hokage by first invading her home and then attacking her, then, to top it all off, blackmail!"

Itachi didn't even have to look as he swept up a kunai, swatting the needles away.

"Cute," he said. "At any rate, we did not attack Tsunade-san, we merely offered her a temporary peace treaty. Last time I checked, it wasn't your decision to make-"

"No, but it is my job to make sure Tsunade-sama is safe and free from harm!" Shizune interrupted. "And you two are just about the embodiment of both!"

"Interrupt me again and I'll show you harm," Itachi snarled. "Little girl, you are nothing compared to the slaughterer of the entire Uchiha clan, so watch it!"

Shizune looked like she had been slapped, but her mouth snapped shut.

Itachi sighed. "Much better. Anyway, Tsunade has agreed to consider a blood contract for a temporary peace treaty. So, we will be back in about two weeks' time to sign the contract. Will you expect us?"

Tsunade nodded, and then waited for Shizune. The girl slowly nodded, still glaring at Itachi. The Uchiha laughed, shaking his bangs out of his face.

"Just watch yourself, little girl," she said tauntingly. "We might bring the whole crew next time."

Shizune swallowed hard, but still tried to hide her anxiety and held her head high. "I'll be expecting you," she said frostily. "Now, if you please, I'll show you to the door." Her eyes narrowed. "Unless you would rather take the window?"

A cheeky grin came over Kisame's face. "We'll take the window, thanks," he said, stuffing down a laugh. Itachi's lips were twitching, but he seemed otherwise unaffected by the joke. He slipped out into the darkness as easily as he had come in, Kisame at his heels. The second they were gone, Shizune slammed the window shut, locked it, and proceeded to berate Tsunade.

"What were you thinking?!"

Tsunade sighed. "Shizune, it is not your place to speak out like that. Keep that in mind next time you are dealing with elders." She walked out past the astonished Shizune, leaving her in the bedroom looking slapped…again.

OOOOOOOOOO

Shizune found Tsunade in the kitchen, sitting at the table with a cold cup of tea.

Shizune coughed to make herself known, but the gesture elicited no response from the Hokage. Tsunade instead put her arms around her middle and leaned forward onto the table, pushing the cup of tea away from her.

Shizune took it away, dumping the cold tea down the sink and rinsing out the cup. She began boiling water for fresh tea, stealing glances at her mistress the entire time. Tsunade looked dead, to say the least. She looked ready to collapse, she was so tired, and there was a twinge of confusion, written in the way her eyebrows came together with a slight wrinkle on her forehead. Exhaustion was illustrated in the dark circles under her eyes, and thought was expressed in her dark brown eyes. Shizune finished making the tea and set a fresh, hot cup in front of Tsunade. The sannin gratefully sat up and took a sip, shaking her blonde locks out of her face and taking another sip.

"Thank you," she whispered, setting down the cup. Shizune sat down across from Tsunade with her own cup, giving Tsunade a worried look.

"Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade, whose head had been turned away from Shizune, now looked back at her and responded: "What?"

Shizune sighed, and this time it was her turn to look away. "I'm sorry…about earlier…I just don't want you to get hurt…I mean, with Orochimaru…and-"

Tsunade waved her off. "I understand. Don't lose sleep over it, ne?"

Shizune looked slightly surprised that Tsunade would forgive her that easily, but she shook herself and nodded. "Thank you…Tsunade-sama…"

Tsunade sighed again and drank down the rest of her tea. "Well, thank you, Shizune, but that's enough excitement for me. I'm heading up to bed…good night."

Shizune nodded to her mistress, and Tsunade rose and headed for her bedroom. As Shizune cleaned up the kitchen, she found herself wondering:

What had really gone on with the Akatsuki that Tsunade wasn't telling her?

A/N: Aaaaaaaah, stupid Theology essay… . Poo.