"Where are we going now?"

A long suffered sigh left Zabuza as soon as the ex-Inuzuka had spoken up.

A few weeks had passed since Akamaru had been added to their small traveling group. And those two together had managed to piss him off at least ten times in that time span.

From foiling assassinations because of hunger to using his large sword as a viable cooking tool, both the boy and the dog had earned quite a bit of the man's rage and disdain.

"If you don't stop being an idiot, I'll skin you alive."

"No you won't." The little bastard smiled cheekily over at the man, all the while Akamaru barked in agreement. And even though Zabuza knew it was physically impossible, it looked as if the pup was wearing a twin smile. "We bring in too much money for you to ever get rid of us. A poor boy and his starving pup bring in more pity pays than a sad old man like you."

With an audible sigh, Zabuza cuffed the back of Kiba's head. Then he answered the initial question. "I have to do something important today. And because an old ally of mine owes me, you're going to stay with him."

He knew that Kiba immediately suspected some kind of foul play. Even though he'd never actively tried to get rid of him and Akamaru, the boy most probably wouldn't put it past Zabuza to try and sell them off for profit.

But with this score, he really couldn't bargain on the boy's kind feelings. Sometimes the kid decided he wanted to be nice and didn't interfere at all with his assassinations. But oftentimes he decided to be a nuisance and interrupted Zabuza with the help of his annoying pup, which made Zabuza regret ever having chosen him to be his student.

But then he noticed just how good the kid was at tracking down their targets and some of that regret faded.

If only he could make the kid more agreeable and pliant...

"I can't have you pulling any stunts, kid." Zabuza informed the boy, who looked at him with distrust. "But once I've finished up with the score, I promise to teach you a new form for fighting. One with the sword. You've wanted to learn that for a while, haven't you?"

The boy looked at him skeptically for a second before nodding, "... I have..." But he was still wary and Zabuza felt both annoyed and proud to have the boy doubt him so easily.

"Then I'll be teaching you once I come back. But until then you have to behave with the person I'm going to give you to. He doesn't have the best temper and is known for enjoying the taste of little kids."

Akamaru yipped suddenly at the information and Zabuza felt both bad and amused.

He hated how the kid and the pup made him feel. But as long as he was able to cover it up with annoyance and irritation, he'd be fine.

With these final words, they fell into silence. Kiba followed Zabuza without any smart quips and this made the man count his lucky stars. Silence with these two usually meant they were planning something bad. But from the way Akamaru had clearly been scared, they were most probably just thinking up of ways to survive with this unknown ally.

When they reached the location he and his ally had agreed upon, Zabuza held the door open for Kiba to walk inside first. The boy glared slightly at him and hugged Akamaru tightly to his chest, then refused to move any further into the tea shop until Zabuza was in front of him.

Finding the old brute wasn't difficult. Especially when he and his partner stuck out like black and red sore thumbs.

"Kisame."

The blue skinned jerk turned around when he heard his name, looking Zabuza over before giving a menacing smirk.

"You're actually alive."

Zabuza was prepared to answer cheekily. But, like always, the little dog loving brat beat him to the punch.

"And you're pointing out the obvious, Sharky."

For a moment, Zabuza regretted ever having asked Kisame and his partner to look after the kid while he took care of his target. If he was lucky, he'd get a corpse back. If he wasn't, Kisame would just give him a cheeky smile and tell him that he wasn't to be held accountable for kids that were eaten.

But then the blue skinned idiot's eyes widened comically and his mouth hung slightly ajar, which was a rather amusing look to see on the ex-Swordsman of the Mist.

The shock quickly faded and his eyes narrowed while his lips curved into a sneer, but the damage had already been done. That one moment of weakness was all Kiba would have needed. And it was clear from the way Akamaru's tail began to wag almost excitedly.

"So, you're going to be my babysitter, Sharky?"

"Don't call me that!"

"There's no need to shout." Then Kiba looked over at the other man sitting in Kisame's table and immediately found him more interesting than the aggressive monster. "You have cool eyes."

The dark haired male stiffened for a second before nodding at the boy, "Thank you."

And Kisame tried to get Kiba's attention once more, but the boy had decided that Itachi was more interesting.

So, while Kisame growled like an angered and ignored pup and Kiba ignored him, Zabuza took his chance to leave unnoticed. He would return once he had finished up with his target.

"So... What do you guys do?"

"If you don't shut up, I'll fuckin-"

"You could call us bounty hunters."

Kisame sneered at Itachi as he was interrupted by him for what seemed like the hundredth time, then crossed his arms and looked away from him and the tattooed kid.

They were currently walking down the small town's business district and Kiba was busy asking all kinds of questions.

It kind of hurt to not have any of those questions directed to him...

"You're not as mean as the weird smelling old man. I like you more." The kid nodded and looked as if he had just decided on something that was as urgent as life or death, all the while the pup on his head barked in agreement. "Even Sharky is less mean than him."

"Why won't you stop calling me that?" Kisame snapped, glaring down at the boy.

He could tell this was Zabuza's student from the way he didn't even flinch at his actions. Instead the boy looked up at him with a broad, shit-eating smile.

"Because you're a shark, Sharky. And I don't respect you enough to call you Mr. Sharky. So Sharky it is."

Underwhelmed by the answer, Kisame made his emotions clear. "You are one of the dumbest kids I have ever come across."

"I'm not dumb because I don't fear you." The boy commented with a shrug, "I don't fear you because you are dumb."

The words had Kisame hating the boy even further.

"Kiba, would you like to buy anything to eat? We have been walking for quite a while."

He also hated the damned Uchiha for getting along with him so well.

"Wait, I can buy food?" The kid blinked in actual surprise, "The old man never lets me buy anything. He says I'm not worth wasting the money."

Itachi's eyes narrowed at what the kid had said, then he patted the boy on the shoulder, "Don't worry about that. He won't say anything like that after Kisame and I have gotten through with him. Now, go and pick out something to eat."

"Hear that, boy? We can eat something hot for once!"

Okay, hearing how badly Zabuza treated the kid kind of worried Kisame. But the boy seemed to be well fed enough.

The kid ran off to the nearest stand of meat and began to order like a man that had not seen food in years, making Kisame feel bad for the large dent there would be in his wallet.

"We're not really going to talk to him, are-" He began to ask Itachi, only to be cut off by a glare.

"He's not even a genin yet and that old partner of yours is treating him like shit. We will talk to him."

Kisame really felt like telling Itachi that he only felt this way because of how close this kid and his own brother were in age, but decided to bite his tongue. The Uchiha was clearly pissed. And telling him something like that was ensuring his own demise.

"Yeah. Fine. Whatever." Kisame breathed out, then looked at the boy as he stuffed his cheeks full of meat, all the while his puppy accompanied him in gorging himself. "He seems to be fine enough."

"Hoshigaki, shut up."

With this final command, Itachi went over to Kiba and began to charm his way out of paying full price for the meat, all the while the young woman tending to the stand swooned at his beauty.

As this happened, Kisame couldn't help but grumble and pout just slightly, insult ringing strongly in his chest.

Stupid Uchiha. Thought he was so damned great just because he had a way with kids, women, teenagers, old people, and some men.

Damned bastard.

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