WITH THIS CHAPTER I HAVE DECIDED TO QUIT BEATING AROUND THE BUSH! Meaning we're only two maybe three chapters away from the endings. Guess I just got sick of it :p Not the story the stretching it out. Meaning Madara will act a little differently, it will all come together in the endings. so forgive me for this one!

Thankies: Yuti-chan! QueenOfFanFicWorldLoveGunner! DragonFire44! and deed0123456789!

If you really believe I own Naruto then put the phone back on the hook because your village has been calling. 2290 words~!

The wind whistled through the crack in the window of Deidara's room.

Correction, Deidara and Madara's room.

Madara had been 'Kind' -yeah right- enough to clear out one of the older rooms of the old shack converted house for him, because that was what Deidara had asked for.

But after one night the blond was back sharing a bed with the Uchiha because him constantly getting up to check on Deidara screwed up both of their sleep schedules.

The very next night the room sat dark and empty, the bed Madara had gotten for him pushed against the ravens to make more space, the two sleeping strangely close together.

Madara didn't like Deidara going off on his own anymore, he'd rather deal with a frisky, pissed off pup on a short leash than have something bad happen again. He refused to have anymore battles with his conscience or consciousness. Or any other type of mythical thing that shouldn't exist.

But he knew that Deidara didn't want to constantly be at his side, he didn't want to be stuck in this house. Madara did, Deidara didn't.

Madara could plan here, he had quiet, he had fresh air, he finally had a place where he didn't have to worry about ANBU.

Deidara needed to get out. It was his nature. It was that simple.

The Uchiha took a deep breath,"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm sorry for lying to you and I'm sorry for keeping all this stuff from you, and I'm sorry for keeping you here," he was half asleep, maybe that was why he had said what he just said.

No, there was no 'Maybe'. That was the only reason,His sickness was slowly going away so that was the only option left.

Who knew Momo knew what she had been talking about?

Deidara grumbled back tiredly, "You just apologized for lying twice, stupid, hmm"

"Lying and not telling someone something are two different things," Madara muttered back, "Brat,"

Deidara stiffened feeling the Uchiha's arms lazily try to wrap around him, getting his uchiha germs all over him. He was pretty warm though, comfortable even, it was too much for the tired bomber so he relented letting Madara pull him closer.

He smelled like burning wood and...Was that pine sap?

Ew.

Deidara sighed, scrunching his nose,"...Why won't you leave me alone? yeah,"

"I don't want you to leave, every time I turn my back you run off,"

"I'm not a dog, I'm not expected to be leashed to your side all of the time,Of course I'm going to take every chance I get to get some piece and quiet, hmm, be on my own for a while,"

"It's not good to be alone you know,"

"I like being alone," Madara's eyes opened,"That's what being a ninja means after all, learning to let go of weakness. Things like bonds are weaknesses, being out here together-...," he frowned, Deidara spoke the truth.

"I don't know what you feel for me, yeah. But I don't give a fuck about you," Deidara's words were cold and jagged.

The thing about the truth is sometimes it can hurt.

"Then don't give a fuck, just ignore me," Madara wanted to be like that for just a bit longer - damn was his old age catching up with him or what?-, when he was like this, he couldn't feel the warmth in the gut. Only Deidara's chest heaving, "Be good and I might buy you a lollipop next time we go to the village,"

"I hate sweets,"

The older ninja squeezed him tighter.

There wasn't a single drop of love in the blond, it had nothing to do with that, him staying with Madara, it was a simple act of stubbornness and rebellion against himself.

Without any meaning or any reason.

Just to do it.

But for Madara.

Perhaps it was a little more.

Line

Itachi tried to slow his panting breaths as he sat leaned over, hands on his knees, knees on the ground, he could feel the blood trying to ooze its way up his throat.

Madara stood in front of him on the other side of small clearing, his arms crossed over his chest, frowning face hidden by his flamed mask,"That wraps it up for today kid," he said.

The young Uchiha shook his head, Madara had gone particularly hard on him today, at least that was what he thought. Truthfully Madara had done nothing differently, if anything he may have lightened the load a bit, leaving out the time jutsu training and replacing it with thirty minutes of meditation -something Itachi was thankful for.

He had noticed Itachi's pale face when he arrived, he knew what it was, and he knew he couldn't push him too hard if he wanted to get the youngers eyes someday.

They needed to be developed more, he needed to finish honing his Mangekyo.

"But I'm not tired yet," he said in a raspy voice.

Madara fought the urge to call the child out, quickly deciding to throw in the topic of his tardiness -two minutes is tardy for an Uchiha-, "You may not be but I am, besides your parents will be expecting you home soon, if you're late what will your father think?," his frown turned into a slight smirk beneath his mask, having been lucky enough to catch the hitch in Itachi's breath and the sudden widening of his young eyes.

His father, the thing that hit the little Uchiha's nerves like a ton of bricks. He hated that man, even more than anything.

Even Danzo , Madara and nearly as much as war.

He knew what all of those things were capable of and he wasn't comfortable around any of them.

Yet here he was in the middle of the forest training with the elder, the village was teetering on the verge of possible war, and at his home -probably sitting at the table in complete silence- Sasuke was with Fugaku -the one threatening a coup- with Mikoto standing at the sink washing dishes like she always did when she wanted to block out Sasuke's pleas for attention.

Mikoto didn't care, Itachi knew it, she acted like she did, but she didn't.

She wasn't a mom, she wasn't what Sasuke needed to be happy.

Itachi wanted that for his brother, while he still could, he wanted him to be nothing but happy.

Even if it only lasted one day.

The elder looked at him curiously,"If you hate it there so much why don't you take Sasuke and leave?," he asked, his sincerity so real that is was sickening.

Itachi's head shot up, his face soft in an innocent disbelief.

Leave.

With...Sasuke?

"I can't," he said quickly.

Madara 'tsk'd',"Itachi, there is no such thing as 'Can't', there is only 'Won't',"

"no i 'CAN'T'," Itachi forced out the word,"If I leave with sasuke, who will carry out the mission? And if that's not what you mean then, explain how will sasuke survive as a fugitive? How will I be able to care for him? Certainly this organization of yours does not have an academy, he will be completely cut off from society,"by the end he was up off the ground and standing his ground against Madara, though his legs were shaking a bit.

"If my brother and I were raised in a honeycomb labyrinth of ignorance and bigotry like Konoha, I certainly would have taken him and left,"

"I'm different,"

Madara couldn't wait to hear this.

Itachi's face took on an air of seriousness Madara had never seen on a child before,"I will NEVER hurt Sasuke,"

"Never', is a pale word Itachi," The older raven said grimly, but the younger didn't even move, he only kept glaring.

Madara mumbled something that sounded like 'Stubborn child' under his breath, "Fine,"he sighed,"Live alone, be alone, chase my heels for the rest of your life,"

Itachi smirked smugly,"I intend to. I will never be alone, as long as I have created a bond, the string binding us together will never be severed,"

Madara erupted into loud booming laughter making Itachi's glare intensify.

When the elder regained his composure he cough into his hand before flashing his eye -glowing in sick amusement- at Itachi,"You're funny,"

Itachi opened his mouth,"Big brother!," he promptly cut off by the excited voice of Sasuke. His sharingan activated and Madara rose his hands defensively, not saying a word.

Itachi motioned his head to the tree tops above them then flicked his eyes over to the direction sasuke's voice had rang from.

The elder chuckled lightly and nodded, jumping then gliding effortlessly onto a branch.

"Big brother!," Sasuke called again.

"Big brother," Madara mimicked in a high voice.

Itachi shot a deadly glare up his teacher, before calling back to his little brother,"I'm over here Sasuke!,"

END DREAM!

Madara blinked as a bright light shined into his eye, hissing and ducking his head down to avoid it.

The sun.

Evil thing, waking him up. Nobody woke the great Madara Uchiha without his consent! though there wasn't anything he could do about it, he silently swore his vendetta against the giant gas ball.

Stopping only when the soft warm mass he had his arms around shifted. He grinned victoriously when he opened his eyes and came face to face with a very sleepy looking Deidara, who rose a hand to show off an erect middle finger.

"You said you didn't give a fuck, so why stay?,"

Deidara brought his arm to rest on his hip, too tired to fight with the Uchiha right now,"Why did I bring you back to house? hmm," it was simply...Repayment for the bomb thing, sitting there for a while didn't hurt anything and now he didn't owe Madara a favor or whatever it is you owe someone when you accidentally almost kill them -but not really-.

No, wait it did hurt something, his ears.

The Iwa snorted in laughter.

"What's so funny?," Madara asked releasing Deidara to roll onto his back and stretch.

"You snore like a damn bear, yeah,"

The Uchiha brought his arms back down, feeling a little offended. Uchiha don't snore, especially not Madara, they growl in their sleep. That's how deeply ingrained their primal fight instincts are.

Were.

Then again, they rarely got sick either.

Speaking of which.

"You know i just realized something," Madara said,"we've been together for a while and all this time I've been sick,"

"So? yeah,"

"Soooooo, why haven't you gotten sick?,"

Deidara answered with a thick layer of cockiness,"Guess my spirit is stronger than yours,"

"How does that answer my question?,"

"How does you questioning my answer hoping to gain a better answer for your question, answer your question? unless you already know the answer and are just being a dumbass, which wouldn't surprise me, hmm,"

The raven tilted his head, it was too early for solving riddles!,"What?,"

The blond rolled his eye,"Just shut up and let go, yeah, it's almost time for breakfast,"

SKIP

Konan casually walked up to the old familiar place from her childhood, she gently pushed on the broken door to make room for her self so she could step in.

The insides were had been torn apart, there was a hole in the roof, and reaching toward the sunlight were vines that overtook three wooden playing card sized planks that were hung on the wall, two of which were flipped 'up' showing the little frog symbol, the third one however was turn over.

"It's been so long, hasn't it Yahiko?,"

Konan smiled, sweet memories of the times the four of them spent together flipping through her mind like a picture book. She blinked and turned around, her eyes landing on the opposite wall.

"If only you were with us then," she said,"Maybe none of this would have happened,"

TIME SKIP! After breakfast!

"Madara?,"

Said man didn't take his eye away from the new mask he was spiffing up as he sat on the floor of the front room of the house with Deidara cooly leaned back again the wall next to him, half dozing, half watching him with mild curiosity, "Hn?,"

"What is the woman like? yeah,"

Madara blinked, "Depends, who are you talking about?," he asked warily, hoping he wasn't talking about the smelly prostitute from that one shop they went to -That will never be named or mentioned again-.

Deidara rose an eyebrow,"I heard that there was a woman in the Akatsuki, hmm," he explained slowly, like he was talking to a child.

Madara ignored it,"Oh, you mean Konan," he answered calmly, since the bomber was behind him he couldn't see the Uchiha's eye narrow. What did Deidara want to know about Konan for?

"Yeah, Konan,"Deidara said like he recognized the name, or maybe it was just Madara's mind playing tricks on him again,"What is she like? yeah,"

Madara took a second to think up the proper way to describe her,"She has a temper and is very protective of Leader and like Leader she believes that true beauty can only be seen once you've experienced some kind of emotional pain," He flipped the mask over to clean the inside, "And She hates me,"

He didn't look around, he didn't want to see the intrigued look he knew Deidara had on his face,"What does she think of art? hmm,"

"Hell if I know, she has an origami Jutsu, if that tells you anything,"

"It tells me enough," he could hear the smirk the the blonds voice.

Madara felt his chest tighten,"Don't get any idea's Deidara," he said, more harshly than he intended, "She already swore her love to some pathetic fool that killed himself for her Kami knows how long ago,"

Deidara glared half-heartedly at the back of his head,"I wasn't thinking anything, yeah,"

Madara grunted turning back to his mask,"Right," he turned his face away and took off his half mask before slipping on the new whole one.

TBC

Super random fun fact: Kitsune doesn't translate literally to 'Fox' but actually means 'Come and sleep', this comes from the legend of many tailed foxes in japanese mythology :D

And ever so slowly things are going back to normal! Madara has his full mask back, Deidara's going to get his clay back, Zetsu is on their trail. Everything panning out well 8D Or is it? MWHAHAHA! Thank you for reading! please review, favorite, blah blah blah! THANK YOU!