Yeah, so in a few chapters, this'll be over. it was good while it lasted, but i dont think i'll be writing anything quite like this again.

oh and i had my chemistry exam today ^^ just thought i'd let everyone know that i definetly failed.

Sasori had never quite been good at making smart decisions under pressure but decided that it was indeed a good idea to abandon his previous activity – cleaning the stage – and follow Itachi. He hadn't gotten far by the time this decision was made and Sasori caught up with him outside, between the main tent and the Akatsuki grounds.

"Hey, what was that back there" he asked. Of course, he knew better than to pry into the personal lives of others, but curiosity was simply a more powerful force than any other.

"Nothing you should concern yourself with," was Itachi's cold but firm answer.

"Really? 'Cause it looked pretty messed up from where I was standing."

Itachi breathed in deeply, fighting the urge to use words he'd learned from Hidan. Cursing people out would do no good if they weren't around to hear you do it.

"My father was expressing his concern for Sasuke," he said carefully, after taking a few long moments to choose his words. "And I simply reminded him who it was that had raised Sasuke in the first place."

"So, you were arguing about Sasuke's act"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that."

Sasori didn't immediately see why it would be problem, but he quickly remembered that had no known family, nor anybody at all to watch over him and make sure he did the right thing - besides the kind, caring Suna government of course. and so he put himself in Itachi's shoes.

From what he had heard, the Uchiha's were a big important family in Konaha who owned most of the village and had power over almost everything - a lot like the government back home. And important families had important children with important guidelines and what not.

So obviously, Sasuke's stunt had gone against those guidelines in some way.

"Does this sort of thing happen often" Sasori knew his question was vague and that he could've been speaking about anything from the act, to the argument, but he would accept any answer he got.

"Every time we come to Konaha," Itachi said. "Sometimes I wonder if he doesn't just pick fights with me so I don't try to come back."

"And Sasuke"

"He's still too young to get it. I don't want to destroy our family ties until he realizes himself, just what kind of family we really have."

"He's thirteen, isn't he"

"Yeah but..." Itachi paused, again thinking of exactly what he wanted to say. "He's my little brother. I'm supposed to protect him from things like this."

By now they were sitting down, having reached Itachi's shared trailer, they now sat on the steps outside it. They could hear the laughter and incessant blabber that told them most of the Akatsuki were still awake, but ignored that fact in favor of this conversation.

"So how did you end up here anyway" Sasori pressed.

Both of them were actually quite surprised by Itachi's willingness to speak.

"I was sick, the Akatsuki found me and six years later, here I am."

"And your parents just let you go"

Itachi shrugged, not liking the way it felt to remember. "They were sending me away anyway. To Taki, I think, since they're supposed to have really good doctors there."

"And how about Sasuke and Tobi" Sasori added.

"It's the same thing; Sasuke and Tobi were going to be sent away too, after the family found out what they could do. Tobi and I had always kept ourselves a secret, but we never thought Sasuke would be a... problem," Itachi frowned, as that didn't seem like the word he wanted to use, "I think the only reason they had Sasuke was because I was sick and wouldn't last long enough to do anybody any good."

"So Sasuke was your replacement"

Itachi nodded. "But he was no good either, not fit to play the part," Itachi paused, breaking out in a fit of coughing almost a minute long. His health was deteriorating more and more as time went by. "When the Akatsuki came to claim us, my father was glad. He would've given us away for free and in fact, he did. The money he was paid was to force one yearly visit where my family would act loving and kind, like the families of many of the luckier children here."

"And Sasuke doesn't know?" it was Sasori's final question.

"Tobi and I have always told him that mother and father wanted to keep us, but simply didn't have the ability to care for us properly, which is almost true," Itachi sighed. "I can't imagine ever telling him he's been lied to all this time."

"It'll be fine. You can't be the only one who's ever told a lie to protect someone."

"Yeah. You're probably right."

The next morning, Sasori didn't know what to expect. But he knew he wasn't expecting a nice, normal breakfast with no fires, no fighting and no complaining about wanted to go into town.

The children were all well behaved and Deidara, for once, had slept in.

"Morning~" Konan sang when Sasori entered the kitchen, upon finding the dining room much too weird.

"what's going on in there?" he asked her. And what's going on in here?

Konan was doing dishes, a job she usually forced on one of the kids. She wasn't known for a willingness to get her hands dirty.

"it's great isn't it?" Konan continued to sing.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Another weird thing occurred right then. Konan laughed.

"of course I am! I'm feeling great!" she exclaimed. "it's a wonderful new day, I'm with the ones I care most about and I can see again!"

Oh. Well that explained it.

"really? What happened?"

Konan went into as little detail as possible explaining the way she had concluded her power worked. The balance had been disturbed and so the future was distorted and there was only one way to fix it; she had to make sure the first even in the nearest future she saw, happened with no interruptions or altercations. That one thing, just so happened to be the onstage kiss last night. She had allowed it to, and even watched it happen, and now she could see again.

Of course, she didn't want to even bring up the fact that she could still no longer see the futures of most of the Akatsuki members, though mainly the two due to die soon. It was frustrating enough without speculation.

"Right… have you spoken to them about it?" Sasori asked.

"No, why would I want to do that?" Konan asked gleefully, "I already know what they'd say anyways."

"Well can you –"

"No, I'm not telling you anything. If you want to know why, you'll have to ask them yourself."

Sasori sighed. Sometimes he felt liked he was their mother… father! He felt like their father sometimes.

He walked back into the dining room where surprisingly, the children were still eating quietly. Sometimes he wished he could read minds but this wasn't one of them. He was sure that whatever they were thinking was a world of unpleasantness.

They all looked up when he entered, a sea of multi-colored eyes staring his way. He thought suddenly that every tiny move he made echoed as he made his way towards where Sasuke and Naruto sat, eating normally – or as normal as they could.

"Hey guys," he said awkwardly, feeling really out of place. He stared back at everybody else and watched with satisfaction as they quickly looked away.

"We're not in trouble, are we?" Sasuke drawled. At first glance, he looked bored, but there was amused satisfaction in those obsidian eyes of his.

"We didn't do anything this time!" Naruto then insisted. Shockingly, his expression was a lot harder to read.

"I know," Sasori ensured them, "and you're not in trouble. I just wanted to talk."

"About what?" they both asked, squinting skeptically.

"Well uh, about last night…" he stopped for a moment to wonder why he was suddenly being so understanding. That definitely wasn't going to work with these kids, "what the hell? You go from, trying to kill each other to… that? What the hell is with that?"

Well, that was one way to go about it.

There was a pause before…

"What are you, a homophobe?" Sasuke asked.

"What a jerk," Naruto muttered, before going back to his breakfast.

"Wait, what?!" Naruto moment, he was shell-shocked, before regaining his composure, "don't try and turn this on me! I want answers, you hear me?"

"You're sure acting like we did something wrong," Naruto said, feigning sullenness.

"I'm just trying to understand," Sasori told them earnestly.

"What's there to understand?" Sasuke asked.

"How's Konan's sight?" Naruto asked.

They were definitely up to something.

"She's doing fine. And I'd simply like to understand… why?" Sasori took a while to choose his words. Because this was a delicate situation. They were children and if he said the wrong thing, he could end up scarring them for life, not that he wasn't sure they were already scarred in a different way, but that was far from the point. "I mean, is this a thing now? Because if it is, we're going to have to find somebody to talk to you about these sorts of things… I mean, if you guys like each other that way, it's fine but –"

Sasori didn't know whether or not to feel like a total idiot when the two boys sitting before him started to laugh. He didn't have a chance to question it, before Sasuke spoke.

"We're not a thing," he said, "I just wanted to get a rise out of my father."

"And to help Konan! Her hints were anything but subtle!" Naruto added.

"I take it father reacted as expected?" Sasuke questioned.

"Sure did. And I take it that you somehow figured out why you're here?"

Sasuke scoffed, "are you kidding? I've seen what a loving family looks like and I know that's not my family. It's a mandatory thing. So I figured it I could get him riled up enough, Itachi would just step up and break the contract so I wouldn't have to go over there all the time when we're in Konaha."

"Geez, are all the kids here as diabolical as you?" Sasori asked, shaking his head, "why couldn't you just tell him how you felt?" wouldn't that have been easier?

"It doesn't matter because it worked. We're going home on Wednesday, for the last time."

"Well that's great. Your problems are solved and I don't have to continue this awkward conversation. Good work, boys." Sasori got up and left as quickly as he could, so as not to get sucked into more weirdness, courtesy of the other two.

He wound up in the kitchen, faced with Konan, who laughed upon seeing him.

"You let me go out there like that," he said, not necessarily a question.

"That was hilarious," Konan said, "I think I'm going to let you handle all of these kinds of things from now on."

"Those boys are too clever for their own good. It's a good thing that they're not together or –"

Again, Konan laughed, walking past him to reach something in a cupboard behind him, she came back past with a bag of cookies and said, "oh, they're definitely together," and laughed more at his shocked look and no doubt hilarious thoughts, "don't look so surprised Sasori. I mean no, you're right, children never lie."

Sasori stared back out into the dining room through the curtain-sealed doorway, eyeing the boys carefully. They were definitely two to look out for.

The fact that they ARE together, isn't at all relevant to the plot. i just thought i'd make it clear ^^ however, the reaction their togetherness has, IS relevant, which is why it's there.