I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Anyone that doesn't sound familiar I obviously own. This fic is rated M for future content as well as certain themes that are not appropriate for the T rating, this includes violence and gore. This fic will eventually involve relationships with a minor as well as other things that would make your most liberal friend blush.

Enjoy

Part I, Chapter 2

"This room is nice," said Itachi as he entered the hotel room. It was a large room, a suite in fact. It was more than enough space for the two, and from the price it fetched, Itachi could definitely see the quality. Most of the inns or hotels he stayed in during his ANBU or regular chuunin operations were rundown or sub par; obviously Konoha was being very cheap with shelter funding for missions. But this was very nice for a change. He was quite certain that this hotel had hot water, nice shampoos and soaps in the bathroom. Maybe it was the nice accommodation, but Itachi had a feeling that his first mission with Kisame would go down well.

"Well you weren't the one that got dirty looks from the receptionist," replied Kisame as he placed the Samehada against a wardrobe.

Itachi hung his Akatsuki cloak in the closet. "How so? She seemed nice."

"It doesn't look right when an older guy brings in a kid to a hotel."

"Why not?"

'This kid really is naïve,' thought Kisame, removing his sandals from his tired feet. 'But he is eleven after all. I can't always expect him to understand some of these things.'

"People think the wrong way about stuff like that. That woman probably thought I was going to molest you or something."

"But you're not."

"I know, but that's what she probably thought. Me being blue didn't help the situation either. I'd like to rip her apart, limb to limb."

Itachi frowned, "Kisame we can't do any unnecessary killings."

"Yeah I know." Kisame sat on the bed closest to the door and began to take loosen his uniform.

"By the way, some other lady was giving you looks, Kisame."

Kisame removed his slashed headband and placed it on top of the nightstand next to his bed. "Other lady, Itachi?"

"Yes, she had long brown hair and green eyes. She couldn't stop looking at you a certain way."

Kisame scratched his chin, "Oh her. Yes, what about her?"

Itachi almost rolled his eyes at what he assumed to be Kisame's stupidity. "She probably suspects something is wrong as in we're rogue ninjas out to kill her boss."

The Mist-nin began to laugh at Itachi's remark. Itachi frowned at his flippant answer to his comment. Couldn't he see that the woman was more than likely dangerous and probably worked for the man they were hired to kill? Itachi began to regret accepting Kisame so easily on their first meeting. As usual, he turned out to be like everyone else. Too good to be true, he thought.

"Aww don't be mad, Itachi-san," he wiped some tears from his eyes. "It's just that you have it all wrong."

'Me wrong? In your dreams.' That's what Itachi wanted to say, but he kept it inside. Instead he hissed, "I'm not wrong, but feel free to elaborate on your findings."

"To put it bluntly, Itachi-san, she's interested in me."

"What?" The boy's face was completely shocked. He didn't even try to mask his emotions after hearing that.

Kisame chuckled at the Uchiha's naivety, wondering how much the boy really knew about sex or attraction. "You don't think I'm capable of getting women? Itachi in my village I was a well-known heartbreaker. One time the mizukage, who wasn't the mizukage at the time, got mad and beat the crap out of me for not being so committed."

Itachi was confused. "Why would the mizukage care about your actions outside of duty?"

"Weren't you listening that day we first met? The current mizukage is my mother."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah, my mom was just angry that I wasn't taking a certain girl seriously. I'm just grateful my dad didn't see the beating. It was so damn embarrassing. I probably shouldn't have talked back at her either. That's what most likely set her off."

'You think?'thought Itachi.

Kisame stretched his arms as high as he could and sighed in relief. "Glad I'm not a teenager anymore. Although that does not ensure me that she won't kick my ass again."

Itachi sat on his designated bed and asked, "How old are you Kisame?"

"Twenty-two and loving it."

A silence filled the room. Itachi did not feel like responding and busied himself with his attire.

Kisame observed Itachi as the boy placed his uniform clothes neatly into the closet. The boy was interesting. Definitely more interesting than other people he had met in the past. He was a cute kid and unquestionably had years to go before he would start gaining any adult features. Kisame noted that Itachi still had chubby child cheeks, and he found that to be adorable. It reminded him of Suigetsu, who was probably Itachi's junior by three years. Except Suigetsu was a brat, a genius at the art of murder, but still a brat. So far, Kisame had not seen anything that indicated that Itachi was a brat, but it was his very first mission with the kid so he couldn't tell for sure.

He liked Itachi's hair. It looked silky and shiny. The tiny ponytail gave Kisame the impression that Itachi was trying to grow it out, and it looked good. Kisame remembered when he was fifteen and tried to grow out his hair, but it failed miserably and his mother cut his hair a little too short for his liking. He refused to leave the house for two weeks. His father didn't hide his amusement and laughed at him whenever he could, which caused Kisame to lock himself in his room for another week. He was sure that his mother was not pleased with her husband's behavior because when he finally decided to leave his room, his father was in a foul mood and muttered things like how it was not fair that he was not "getting any" and that his own son was "acting like a woman." Kisame didn't care what his dad said then and there. More than anything, he was jealous that father's hair was more versatile than his own. Itachi's hair was still prettier than his dad's.

Kisame finally took off his cloak and laid it on his bed. He stood up, stretched his body, and cracked the joints in his neck. "Well Itachi-san I'm going to explore the place. I'll go check out that woman you were talking about."

Itachi snapped his head at Kisame's direction. "Pardon?"

"I'm going to check her out. Probably invite her for a drink at the hotel's bar."

"You will do no such thing."

Kisame snorted, "Excuse me? Who died and made you the leader?"

Itachi almost expected a remark about his age to come out from Kisame's mouth but it never did. Nonetheless, he still had a retort for response that was given. "I'm trying to be cautious. You know we have a mission. I do not want to mess it up."

"I promise you that it will be fine. I'll be back in two hours. If I don't return in that allotted time, you can harm any way you like."

"I'm on borrowed time, Kisame," Itachi replied sternly.

The shark-nin looked at Itachi dangerously. "You knew this mission could last up to two days. You should have taken care of the time situation better before you came here. You are responsible for your own business."

"I did take care of that. I'm not stupid," Itachi answered softly.

"I know you're not stupid, Itachi-san. You just need to relax just a little bit. You can be objective and relaxed at the same time. Just give me two hours, and we'll get straight to business. I promise."

"…Two hours. That's it."

Kisame grinned. "Aye-aye Itachi-san. Why don't you take a bath while I'm gone?"

"I suppose."

"I'll see you in two hours," and Kisame was gone.

Itachi locked the front door and began to walk into the bathroom. 'Kisame has an extra key anyway.'

----

Kisame figured Itachi needed some time alone. He was sure that he upset the boy, but it wasn't like he meant to. Itachi took things too seriously. It was probably due to his upbringing, coming from a clan and all, but there is a limit to how serious anyone could be. Itachi went over that limit.

'I can't blame him though. Poor kid probably got a lot of crap for being a child. Youth is always envied by older people. I hope he doesn't think I'm treating him like a kid.'

Walking to the bar, he noticed the woman that Itachi was referring to earlier. She was hot and obviously into him. 'Oh yeah, I'm totally in the zone.'

"Hey," said Kisame.

"Oh hello," the woman answered with a blush.

'Cute.'

"I was heading to the bar and I was wondering if you'd to drink with me?"

The woman turned redder. "O-okay. I'd love to."

----

The hot water felt so good. Itachi almost melted into the tub as the water's warmth caressed his body. 'Now this is nice,' he thought.

A frown crossed his face. 'Although Kisame should know better. That woman obviously knows who we are. I don't see how he couldn't see it. Her like him? Pft well he's not ugly, but still... He's just being dumb.'

Itachi grabbed the soap and ripped it out from its wrapping. He put the soap close to his face and sniffed it curiously. "Smells good." His hands lowered into the water and wet the soap. Itachi began to swirl the soap on his hands until it got into a nice lather. He cleaned his arms first and proceeded downwards.

'He talked a lot on the way to the hotel,' Itachi thought as he lathered up his chest. 'I feel kind of bad for blocking him out during most of the travel, and now he knows I didn't pay attention to him the first time we met. That's so embarrassing…But what did he say during the trip? Something about… about… damn and here I'm supposed to be the model ninja.' He rinsed the soap off his abdomen. 'But he talks too much.'

The Uchiha continued his bath thinking about his mission and involvement with the Akatsuki. His father would have a heart attack if he ever found out about it, and probably disown him.

Nah.

His father would never disown him. He was the best ninja the Uchiha Clan had ever produced, and denying him would mean that his clan had nothing to brag about. Not that anything of that sort had stopped them before. His clan was all talk and less action. More about the family rules and less about being a real ninja. What's the point of having so much pride if the family had ceased to be so grand? They settled for mediocrity and dwelled in the past when they were once great. It's just a game of pretend. The more Itachi thought about it, the more he began to realize how much his clan was putting him down and being used as a paradigm to show evidence to Konoha that the Uchiha Clan is indeed as powerful as they claim to be.

Then there was his little brother, Sasuke. Itachi cared about his sibling very much, even if he had his annoying moments. But he couldn't blame the boy; Sasuke was only six-years-old and he wasn't like him. Itachi had a much different kind of childhood. At Sasuke's age, Itachi was getting ready to graduate from the Academy, while his brother barely entered school. Because of his promising future, his father and the rest of the clan put more attention to him. Itachi didn't mind the attention, but he would have liked it if his father paid more attention Sasuke. 'He's your son, you know.'

Itachi slid into the tub and sank his head under the water. He rose as soon as he felt that his entire head was submerged, and grabbed the shampoo and conditioner. Gently squeezing the shampoo bottle's contents into his hand, he began to think about how Kisame was doing.

'Is that woman stabbing your body right now Kisame? You had it coming.'

Itachi thoroughly scrubbed his scalp, rinsed his hair, and put a small amount of conditioner on the ends of his hair. His mother had taught him that putting conditioner on the scalp would only make his hair greasier and that the tips needed the nutrients more than the top. He took this advice to heart since his mother had pretty hair, thus her must statements have truth to them.

'Come back late so I can beat you.'

----

Kisame and the woman were sitting in a table for two in the hotel's bar with some drinks halfway consumed. The lady loosened up and became less nervous after a few sips of her drink. She told the Mist-nin that her name was Sae and worked as a manager of a restaurant.

"So Sae you must know a lot about what goes around this village," said Kisame taking a swig of his sake.

"You can say," she replied flirtatiously

Kisame grinned suggestively. "Know a guy named Jiro Hatori?"

"Yeah, big mobster kind of guy. He likes to go to the restaurant I work in. I've met less conspicuous gangsters."

"Hahaha, so this guy likes to flaunt his stuff?"

"Pretty much. Sometimes he brings in his posse of rogue ninjas to intimidate people." Sae scoffed, "I hate it when that happens in my restaurant. He scares away my customers."

"I heard from a reliable source that he'd be here."

"Well that I don't know," she replied. "I only came here to visit my cousin since it's her birthday. She's a secretary here."

"She's not that receptionist in front is she?" Kisame asked with a twinge of bitterness.

Sae shook her head. "Oh no, no. She's the owner's secretary. Nothing to do with reception."

"Oh good. That woman was giving me these looks when I came in with my partner."

"Your… partner?" she asked dejectedly.

"No, not that kind of partner, Sae. He's just a partner of mine for work."

"Oh I see," she answered with what sounded like a sigh of relief. "He's so little."

"Yeah, he's pretty young, but he's good at what he does."

"He sounds like a good kid."

"He is. A little quiet, but that's fine with me." Kisame looked at the clock. "I need to be heading back. I promised the kid I'd be back before a certain time."

"Ah yes, well, I suppose I should be heading back as well," she replied with a blush.

Kisame paid the bill and helped Sae out of her seat. "I'll walk you out."

Sae's face turned redder. "Thank you."

"My partner is probably going to be upset with me even if I come back on time. Do you know any places that sell dango?"

"Dango? Well what kind?"

"Any kind."

Sae smiled, "My restaurant sells mitarashi and bocchan dango."

----

Itachi walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed, but still displeased at Kisame's actions. He had towel around his chest, not exactly feeling comfortable exposing his chest despite being alone. A smaller towel was wrapped around his hair to prevent any dripping on the floor. As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, he felt something was amiss.

The main door was still locked. All the windows were closed. Nothing was out of place, so what could it be? Then he noticed that the small table in the room had a plate with five sticks of mitarashi dango stacked neatly with three on the bottom, two in the middle and one on top. Itachi absolutely loved mitarashi dango. He felt a little immature for liking that specific type of dango. It was different from other kinds because very sweet syrup was poured over the balls of rice flour. Because of the syrup, it's popular with children and women. In any case, he still was a child, so he might as well not let the delicious sweetness go to waste.

The boy grabbed the stick of the highest stacked dango with his fingers, being very careful not to drip the syrup on the floor or table. He immediately devoured the first ball.

"Mmm…" Simply delicious. He ate the last three balls quickly somehow managing to savor the taste. He grabbed another dango and started eating it a little more slowly. One stick was not enough.

"Enjoying the dango?" asked Kisame with the same toothy grin. He was sitting on his bed.

Itachi spun around. "Where were you?"

"Trying to take a nap."

Itachi blinked incredulously. "Why didn't I notice you?"

Kisame shrugged, "Hell if I know. So… do you like the dango I brought you?"

"Hm? Oh, it's good. Where did you get them?"

"From Sae, the woman you're so paranoid about. She owns a restaurant and so she gave me some dango to take to you."

Itachi wanted to glare at Kisame, but he remained calm and kept his stoic face. "Kisame what did I tell you? You might jeopardize this mission because you're playing footsie with some suspicious woman."

"Footsie? Oh ho ho, now you're suddenly Dr. Love, Itachi-san? If you don't like what's going on, then you can start by returning those dango to me. I didn't have to give you them, you know."

"But you did," snapped Itachi defensively. He immediately regretted that sudden outburst the moment it escaped his lips. Not only did it make Itachi sound his age, but he was defending the his rights to the dango. The dango!

Kisame chuckled and combed his hair back with his right hand. "Yes, I know I did. You didn't really think I was going to take it away from you, did you?"

The boy did not answer.

"You have a little bit of syrup on your face," replied Kisame and rubbed the left side of his mouth with his finger.

---

Please R&R