Itachi didn't know where else to bring Suigetsu, so he carried him straight into the Akatsuki lair.

"Suigetsu Horuki?" Kisame walked over and craned his neck a little to look at the Mist nin's face properly. "What are you doing with him?"

Itachi shifted a little under the weight. "Found him," he said, a note of annoyance in his voice. Kisame shrugged. "Where's his sword then?"

"No idea," Itachi answered quickly, stepping around Kisame and heading to the couch that was sitting by itself, next to a potted plant, in the dining room. He'd figured that if he kept Suigetsu in his own room it would've been kind of, well, suspicious. He brushed the hair from Suigetsu's face and whipped around to see Deidara watching him with what could only be called utmost interest.

"Itachi, Itachi. You've brought a pet home?"

"He's not a pet," Itachi said neutrally, knowing that if he sounded tetchy Deidara would be even more irritating. The Iwa nin smirked.

"He is now,"

"It's Suigetsu Horuki," Kisame offered. "You know, that kid who's after my sword?" he added complacently.

"Oh, yeah?" Deidara intoned, clearly unimpressed. "Don't know who that is. Sorry,"

"Ignorant bastard," Hidan commented from his post at the table. He was reading some sort of scroll and was constantly making statements about it. He glanced up at Deidara, who rolled his eyes at him.

"I bet you don't even know who he is either,"

"You're right," Hidan answered, his eyes still on the scroll. "I don't,"

Deidara didn't say anything. He walked up to Suigetsu and looked him over so obviously that Itachi wanted to laugh.

"So why's he here again? You reckon he's got the stuff to be one of us?"

Itachi shrugged. "He's Sasuke's…friend,"
"I see," Deidara got up and stretched, yawning a little. "Well, you tuck him away, yeah? I'm going to hit the sheets,"
"Don't piss the bed," Hidan said. Deidara cursed at him and left. Kakuzu lifted the cup to his lips and took a loud sip.

Eventually, the amount of people in the room lessened until Itachi was only accompanied by Hidan, who was still reading the scroll. Itachi had no idea what was on there, but it surely had to be something important. It made Hidan look like a nerd.

Hidan caught Itachi looking at him.

"What?" he asked loudly. "Can't a man sit down still for hours and read a single scroll without getting stared at?"
"Just hard to believe that you would," Itachi said. Hidan shrugged.

"Reasonable answer," he put his scythe on top of the outspread scroll to keep his place and walked over to Itachi.

"Aw, look at him," Hidan reached over and pinched Suigetsu's cheek. "Little brat,"

Itachi said nothing, just looked at Suigetsu.

"So what happened to Sasuke?" Hidan asked suddenly, straightening again.

"What do you mean?"

"It's Sasuke's friend, right? And the only reason you would come back carrying this dude instead of your lil bro would be because your bro attacked him, right?"

Itachi nodded, surprised at Hidan's acute perception.

"Anyway…I'm off," Hidan said after a while. "It's late, you know. Sleep soon, Uchiha,"

He left, leaving his scythe and scroll on the table.

Itachi watched Hidan go, then looked back at Suigetsu, whose body was cold all over. He had decided to leave him here. None of the Akatsuki members were bothered enough to do anything with him, anyway. Especially not when he was unconscious. Judging by their reactions, it was obvious that they weren't even troubled by his presence. Except maybe for Deidara. Ever since the loss of Sasori, it was like he'd been trying to find someone to listen to him. So far, he'd only found that Hidan would listen to him…if he listened to Hidan after that. As far as Itachi knew, they talked every night. He had no idea about what, but Kakuzu had said once that they had many D&M (deep and meaningful) sessions where they both ended up not sleeping because it was so, well, intense. Apparently, they always found a way to relate Jashinism to art.

Itachi found a blanket, put it on Suigetsu, and hoped that the Mist nin didn't wake up randomly in the middle of night.

Deidara woke up first in the morning, which was unusual for him. He had forgotten all about Suigetsu until he saw the guy still lying there. Deidara rubbed his eyes a few more times as he walked over. He seemed to have tossed a lot in his sleep, since the blanket was lying in a heap on the floor. Deidara picked it up and proceeded to cover Suigetsu up again when he let out a low groan and stirred.

Deidara tossed the blanket onto the couch's sidearm and watched with mild interest as Suigetsu stretched: he arched his back, cracked his toes and, finally, his eyes slowly blinked open.

"Good morning, pet," Deidara greeted, unsmiling. Suigetsu got up, wincing a little. He didn't bother asking where he was. The blonde dude in front of him was garbed in the Akatsuki coat, which could only mean one thing. Obviously he was in the Akatsuki lair.

"Where's Itachi?" he asked, covering his face with his hands as he yawned. He put a hand on his stomach, where Sasuke had hit him.

"Sleeping…I'm the only one awake at the moment, hmm,"

Suigetsu cocked his head. "What? What time is it?"

"Heck if I know," Deidara replied, looking through all the shelves for his cup. "Probably around six. Or five thirty. I don't know, okay?"

"Okay, okay," Suigetsu slipped off the couch as calmly as he could, grimacing at the pain in his stomach. Deidara saw this but didn't do anything, just rinsed out his cup and filled it with water from a jug.

Itachi's, not mine he thought nonchalantly, tipping his head back slightly as he drank.

***

Sasuke wandered around the small village aimlessly, his head pounding, his legs tired and his mind a wreck. After Neji had left, he had behaved like a drunk: raged a little, was frustrated by the smallest things, was rude to passers by that he accidentally collided with in the midst of his daydreaming and was drifting around completely without direction. He had wondered where Itachi had brought Suigetsu and what he was doing with him, but he had soon forgotten about it. It wasn't even his problem. The only problem right now was getting Neji back, however unlikely that seemed at the moment. He didn't know how to start on that anyway. He wasn't going to just walk back into the Leaf. If Suigetsu was with him, he would've made Suigetsu go, but—

Sasuke scratched his head furiously and continued on, hating himself more and more every second.