A/N: I have been away on vacation where there is only Dial-up. It was hell. I'm now back and this time I bring the emo-ness of a new chapter! (I couldn't really say happiness now could I?) Okay, so this chapter (for the first half) seems to center on Kisame...I needed some sort of outsider opinion on Itachi's condition, and then he just kind started to think. Damn that fishstick's thought bubbles ;;

I finally named the Nakari-look-alike. It took a while to figure out her name -sweatdrop-

Second Visit:

Borderline Insanity

Kisame was worried about his partner. As he sat in his room, crooning to the fish in one of the tanks that lined his bedroom's walls, he realized this feeling. It was different for the fish man. He usually didn't care, not unless he was killing or maiming. Ah, maiming...He needed to do that sooner or later. But he couldn't until his partner was better again, which returned him to the concern part of his feelings.

He leaned back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He wasn't one to give out kind and encouraging words. Itachi didn't receive them usually either. Well, damn. What the hell was expected of him now? He wanted to shed some blood, gnaw on a few bones...be a gory mess when he came home! He loved the look Pein gave him when he came to the base soaked in blood. The way his pierced nose just scrunched up was entertaining.

"Damn it all." Kisame sat up and left his room, just barely managing to not slam the door behind himself. He shuffled down the hallway until he came to Itachi's door and knocked. He gritted his teeth when there was no reply. Just what the hell was Itachi doing shut up in his room in the fricking middle of the day?

The clan-slayer was gently brushing Nakari's hair from her eyes. He hunched over the sleeping form, her head resting in his lap. He smiled, but only just. He was happy that she was there with him...so happy. His pale fingers traced over her cheek, down her neck and then sluggishly back up. Her eyelids fluttered and almost opened.

"Hush, Nakari. Go back to sleep. I'm protecting you." His voice was hardly a whisper. He knew that she could hear him. She didn't obey. Her eyes opened the rest of the way he could see that the sockets were hollow. He jerked back, repulsed, when there was a knock on the door.

His onyx orbs went to rest on Nakari, but she was gone. There was no sign that she had been their either. No depression in the bed, no warmth on the sheets. Itachi sighed to himself and got off the bed and shuffled to his door. He opened it and saw a chest. Looking up, he met the pearly eyes of his partner.

"Yes Kisame-san?" His voice was flatter than usual. Nearly sea-level, maybe even flatter if one of Deidara's explosions had been involved.

"I was wondering if Leader-sama had talked to you recently...about our next mission." The shark man knew that they didn't have a mission to go on at the moment, but that was only since Itachi was on hiatus because of his current depression.

"We have a mission?" The black eyes weren't surprised, they weren't anything at the moment.

"Well, not as of yet but you never know when—" Kisame stopped talking when Pein walked up to them.

"Ah, you're already together, good. I have a mission for you." The pierced leader handed Kisame and scroll before turning on his heel and returning to his office.

"..." Kisame looked at the scroll in his hand. "Are you ready?"

Itachi returned to his room and grabbed a pouch of kunai. He attached them to his belt and slipped on his Akatsuki robe, latching the small hooks up to mid-chest. He let his arm rest there, his hand dangling for the most part and silently looked to his partner.

'Right. Itachi-san isn't really one for talking...even if something is wrong.' Kisame shifted the strap that crossed his chest holding his Samehada close to him. Without a word he turned away from the Uchiha and strode down the hall toward the only entrance and exit to the Lair.

Outside he spotted Kairi out of the corner of his eye. She was sparring with Tobi. More like getting her butt kicked by Tobi, but she was probably learning a thing or two between bruises. The teen ducked under a kick and waved, grinning at Kisame and Itachi as they left.

'Does she really belong here, with a stupid smile on her face like that?' Then he remembered how Tobi acted and took the thought back. She was a good fighter, and had a talent similar to Kisame's, and yet not. His Samehada could drain chakra from an opponent and ingest it. The girl used blade-edged fans to make a blood circuit with her and her adversary and pull their chakra out, turn it into lightning inside her own body and make a crunchy snack for Zetsu out of the offending nin.

Kisame shook his head, trying to get back on track. He was loosing his focus. His focus should be Itachi, his partner needed to come back to reality and soon. The shark sighed inwardly and pushed thoughts of his partner aside for now. If the Uchiha could fight then everything else could be put aside for the mission.

The mission was uneventful. A few resistors, all dead and no more threats to their organization. Itachi waved Kisame off, asking for some time alone. He didn't care if Pein would be pissed at him coming back from the mission late. He wanted time alone somewhere else...a scenic view, was that so much to ask for?

He wandered back to the same place he had been before, where he had run into her. It was really out of the way from where he had been to where he needed to go, he knew and didn't care. Some part of him was wondering if he was going to find her there. If by some near-impossible chance that luck would be with him this time. Luck was.

Itachi stared at the woman. She was sleeping out in the open. He almost smiled, but his Uchiha pride slapped him in the face and dared him to. He didn't. He never really came across someone sleeping before, unless he was out to kill them. It was odd, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. The onyx orbs watched as her chest rose and fell with slumber.

He sat down quietly, hoping not to disturb her. He was wrong. She was a very light sleeper and her eyes flew open wide when she saw him in front of her. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't summon any words. Her dark eyes were surprised and Itachi couldn't look away. That was one difference between this woman and Nakari. Nakari was an Uchiha, and therefore didn't show her emotions.

"I-I'm sorry." She blushed nervously. "I didn't think..." Her eyes darted away from him for a moment, unnerved. He was so silent and cold. Was he really a human, or a living statue?

"It's alright. I can leave. You were here first." His eyes seemed to be endless caverns to the woman before him, not that he knew that. He did find it a little odd that she was staring at him. Was there something on his face? Hopefully not. The only thing that could possibly be on him was blood. Not a good thing to use as a conversation starter with a stranger.

His eyes were sucking her in. How long had she been staring at him? She jolted to her feet as Itachi stood with a smooth liquidity that wasn't unexpected of his 'tall, dark and handsome'-ness. He was leaving her again, turning away from her in that very moment that it took for her to react to his movement. She didn't want him to go, for some odd reason. What could she say to make him stay?

"Atsuka."

Those onyx eyes returned to hers, "Excuse me?"

"My name, it's Atsuka." She thought that she could see a glimpse of something, surprise maybe? It was buried behind his mask too soon for her to be sure.

He turned to leave, but paused when he got to the edge of the clearing. He glanced back at her, "Itachi." He strode through the plants and left her alone in silence. Almost immediately he leaped away, putting a fair amount of distance between them to prevent her from following and confronting him.

He scolded himself for telling her his name. What kind of playful idiocy was that? It was his first name at that!

It's not like she gave her last name. Fair is fair.

Itachi beat the small voice in his head senseless. He was confusing this Atsuka with his Nakari. That was all. Simple. He was relapsing again or something. Good.

Wait.

Not good.

Itachi? Going crazy? Oh perfect, that is just what he needed.

He sighed and rubbed his temples slowly as he perched in a tree. He needed to get a hold of himself or something. He needed sleep for that matter, but when a dead person is saying they're in love with you, and then trying to kill you sleep is kind of hard to obtain. You know? Of course you don't.

Stop second-guessing yourself.

Ooh, goody, more voices in his head. As if himself wasn't enough.

Grow up. She's not Nakari. She's different. A change.

Shut up voice, go away. Itachi wanted to strangle what was talking to him. Badly.

Hn.

Itachi jerked and looked up. A hallucination sat in front of him. It had to be. He didn't kill his little brother. He couldn't. Sasuke was alive, and yet he was seeing the younger Uchiha in front of him.

You're pathetic, Aniki.

"Hush up, brat." Itachi looked away from the blank stare that came from the boy before him. He wasn't going to take any lip from someone who was alive and daring to berate him in some astral projection-type lunacy.

You still haven't gotten over Nakari. You were never in love with her, Aniki. It was an arranged marriage, it was infatuation. Besides. You killed her, remember? All that crimson blood sliding down your hands and arms?

This wasn't Sasuke. His brother never talked a lot. His brother was as cold and silent as he was. They were spitting images of each other, really. That wasn't what spoke to Itachi...it was the sadistic sound in his words. It was a hint of something deep within someone, a tone of voice only achieved when someone enjoyed seeing others pain, when they loved the feel of spilling new blood.

Itachi knew that for a fact. He hung around Kisame enough. Kisame was a gory mess in the head. He loved to kill and maim as much as the rest of the Akatsuki all blendered together.

Hn, you're a wreck. Don't blame me for your insanity.

The image before him melted and warped to someone else. His father. Itachi swallowed. "Oto-san?"

The spirit glared at him in silent fury and lunged forward. He ghost tried to wrap its hands around Itachi's neck to strangle him. The hands went through him and the visage of his father melted leaving him cold and shaking. He had enough. He wanted this to be over with. No more ghosts.

Itachi opened his eyes that he had closed when his father jumped him. Nakari sat on the limb near him and stared out at the sky that peeked between the leaves.

"What do you want?" He kept his voice soft and emotionless. Good, you're doing good, Itachi. He wanted to hit the voice that dripped so heavily with sarcasm.

"What do you think, Itachi-san? I want peace." Nakari turned her eyeless face to him and he flinched, but only slightly.

"How do you get peace by driving me insane?" This question was almost a joke. Something Itachi didn't do. All sorts of changes were bombarding him. It was probably his lack of sleep...yes, that's it.

"I don't. You have to figure it out." She faded from view.

And to think, she was being nice for a change. Making you insane instead of trying to kill you.

Oh yes, nice all around. Everyone just wanted Itachi to be happy in a damned loony bin.

The Uchiha sighed and stood. It was about time to return to the base before anything else tried to visit and 'make small talk'.

A/N: Okay, I'm not too sure about how this chapter is. I think it's kinda sucky, but maybe it isn't. My plans were to put a like paranorm-psycho Itachi thing in every chapter (more fun that way) and a touch of Atsuka. I want him to fall in love with her, you know? And that is kind of hard if she isn't even there.

As always, please review I only have six, but in stead of waiting another two weeks I though of being nice! . So...please review. I won't put up the next chapter if I don't have motivation!