The next two months of Kisame's life could best be described as an insane balancing act.

Pein had started sending him on solo assignments, leaving the pregnant Uchiha by himself for days on end. When he got back, he then had to split his "free time" between doing the paperwork for his missions (a task usually left to the Uchiha), spending time with Itachi, enduring the weasel's sickness and mood swings, and then training on the side. Naturally, he was about to drop dead from exhaustion.

--

"Kisame!" Deidara cried one morning as he rushed across the kitchen to the table, where Kisame was sitting. The shark had obviously been about to eat breakfast when he'd passed out into his cereal bowl, and now appeared to be drowning.

A few good shakes from the bomber awoke Kisame, and he jerked himself into a sitting position, spluttering. "What happened?"

"You almost drowned in your cornflakes again, un," Deidara said, shaking his head. "You'd be better off sticking to pancakes until you get some sleep, un."

"I can't help it," the shark muttered while rubbing his eyes. "I didn't get back until three in the morning, and Itachi was still up. You wouldn't happen to know if pregnancy causes insomnia, would you?"

"I dunno," the blonde replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "But I do know that if you don't get things under control soon, it's all going to blow up in your face, un."

"Wonderfully analogy," the shark muttered, pushing away his cereal bowl and standing. "I'm going to see about getting a little sleep, ok?"

"Fine, un," Deidara replied, grabbing the taller man's dishes and carrying them to the sink.

As soon as Kisame entered the room, a retching noise assaulted his ears. He sighed. Sleep would have to wait.

He walked into the bathroom, not surprised in the least to find Itachi bent over the toilet, puking up his guts. He kneeled down beside his partner, holding the weasel's black hair out of the way. "Thanks," Itachi managed to get out before hurling again.

"Don't mention it," Kisame replied. Finally, Itachi managed to stop puking. He slowly rose to his feet, arms wrapped tightly around Kisame's for support. "You wanna lie down?" the shark asked.

Itachi shook his head. "I'm hungry."

Great. Now Kisame had to make a trek to the kitchen. "What do you want?"

"Pickles, peanut butter, and a banana." Kisame didn't even bat an eye at the Uchiha's request. Strange as it sounded, he'd grown used to Itachi's unorthodox food choices. He was just grateful that the weasel hadn't asked for any cooked foods this time. It meant he could return to the room that much sooner.

When the shark came back, he quickly handed the weasel his food and crawled into their bed. "What's wrong?" Itachi asked, dipping a pickle spear into the peanut butter before taking a large bite.

"Nothing."

"Hn," Itachi replied in disbelief.

"I'm just tired," Kisame growled, wanting the weasel to be quiet so he could sleep.

"Kisame, you can't be that tired-"

"What would you know?!" Kisame snapped, sitting up and turning on the weasel. "I have been out on one of Pein in the ass's assignments for the past three days, so I am dead tired! But I can't just sleep when I get home, oh no, because you're all lonely and desperate for attention, so I have to stay up for hours, then nearly drown in my cereal, and then I get up here and you're barfing, then whining for food, so I have to get that, and then you tell me I'm not that tired?! All you've been doing is sitting around the room for the last few weeks, doing nothing! Maybe you wouldn't be so whiny and needy if you could just walk around the base, but you're too much of a psycho for that, aren't you?!" Kisame stopped speaking, panting heavily.

Itachi was staring at him with wide eyes, looking like he was about to burst into tears. Kisame felt something tear at his heart; he hadn't meant to go off on his beloved like that. "Itachi-"

SLAP

"Get out," Itachi ordered, fury in his eyes.

"Angel-"

"Get out NOW!" the Uchiha ordered, already reaching for his kunais. Kisame bolted from the room, slamming the door and hearing several knives embed themselves in the wood. Well that had gone wonderfully.

--

Hours later Kisame was sitting on the couch, staring off into space. Now his mind was too full of worry for the weasel to allow him to sleep. He groaned, holding his head in his hands. Now what?

The first thought that came to mind was to make Itachi a peace offering. With what? The weasel didn't care for dango right now, and Kisame hadn't been able to figure out which food had replaced the weasel's former favorite. That left one other option; give Itachi time to cool off, then go in there and grovel. Not the most appealing plan, but the best he could come up with right now. Going seventy-two hours without sleep can really screw up your thinking process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~that night~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Praying Itachi was now in a better mood, Kisame cautiously turned the doorknob and opened the door to their room. "Itachi?" he asked quietly, completely ready to make a run for it should the need arise.

The Uchiha was lying in their bed, back to the door. The shark took a chance and walked into the room, gently shutting the door behind him. "Angel, are you awake?"

"Hn."

Monosyllabic answer. Not good. "Itachi, about earlier-"

The weasel rolled over, glaring daggers at the shark, his expression clearly reading, 'You had better have a damn good excuse.' Kisame gulped before going on. "Look, I snapped because I was tired, and I just wanted to sleep." He could tell from the look on Itachi's face that were it not for the fetus, the Uchiha would have activated his Sharingan by now. "I didn't want to snap at you! Really, anything could have set me off at that point in time, even Pein! It just happened to be you that did it…angel, I'm so sorry. Really, I am."

Gradually, the weasel's glare softened, and he finally shut his eyes and let out a soft sigh. "Come here, before I kill you." Kisame obeyed, walking to the bed and climbing in beside the Uchiha.

Itachi grabbed Kisame's arm, his fingernails digging into the blue flesh. "Do you think I like this?" he hissed, grip tightening. Kisame winced; any tighter, and the weasel's nails would break his skin. "There is nothing I hate more than seeing you leave and knowing I can't go with you, because it will hurt our kid. Being stuck here, by myself, having to ask Konan or Deidara to bring me food…it's torture, you stupid shark," he spat out, pulling Kisame's arm close to his chest and practically crushing it in a hug.

Kisame wrapped his free arm around the weasel, eventually freeing his other arm to do the same. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

"You already said that," Itachi replied, gently smacking the shark's head.

"I know. Doesn't change the fact that I am."

"Stupid shark," Itachi murmured, nuzzling his face against the larger man's chest. When he didn't get a reply, he looked up to see that Kisame had fallen asleep.

"You know, you're not the only one who hasn't slept," Itachi muttered, his eyelids drooping shut as he spoke. "I can't sleep when you're not here."