A/N: I surprised myself by going in a bit of a writing spree. Actual writing with a pencil and notebook and not typing because my laptop got taken away... -_-

But it's alright now. This chapter is kind of short- but I wrote two for you to make up for it, and another is on it's way soon.

Warning: Language, slight violence, OOC, anything else you find needs one...

^v6

"Whew…" Deidara appreciatively whistled as they stepped into their room at the Inn Shisui had found.

The room was small and really nothing far too extravagant, but the walls were painted bright orange and pink hues. And there was a large window in the back which showed the more scenic side of the village that faced towards the forest.

Itachi looked around and folded his arms across his chest. "It's nice. How much did you pay? I don't remember us bringing money."

"I just asked the guy at the front desk nicely for a momentary place to stay."

I doubt you asked nicely… Itachi thought with a deadpan expression.

"Well I like it!" Deidara excitedly exclaimed, turning this way and that as if absorbing in the sight of the tiny room. "It's perfect hmm."

Itachi gave him a blank look. Perfect for what…?

"Don't get too used to it," Shisui idly said, stretching his back and arms. "With the amount of shinobi and spied milling around, it would be unwise."

"You mean we won't be staying un?" Deidara asked, looking slightly put out.

"We have to keep an eye out for those back in our village as well as Pein and his friends." Shisui sat down in front of the small table in the center of the room, offering the blonde an apologetic grin.

Itachi raised both brows. "What? Why?"

"Because our bounty hunter is crazy," Shisui said, waving them over. "While you guys were out taking care of those Rainbow Elite, I went off a found myself a couple of spies who were sitting quite obviously on top of a supermarket building."

"All of our supposed enemies are jokes," Deidara scoffed. "They fight like newly made Genins."

"That may be," Shisui agreed. "But Toshiaki-kun is just trying to stock up on numbers to overwhelm us like I orginally suspected. It looks like he's out to get not only Deidara-kun, but everyone who could possibly be acquainted with him. His reasoning is that somehow once he destroys Deidara-kun, those that knew him would come and try to get revenge. Something about distributing body parts among the villagers when he's done…"

"Kaeru-sensei is a very paranoid guy," Deidara grumbled. "I'm not surprised in the least bit un."

Shisui chuckled and spread out the large scroll he had stolen from one of the spies, revealing a map of the village and its surrounding area. "Neither am I. He's just recruiting a bunch of rogue shinobi who have nothing better to do and want money. He pays them every time they come back with a piece of information on us."

"Where is he getting the money from?" Deidara leaned over his shoulder, Itachi opting to sit cross-legged beside his cousin instead. "With all those guys he'd have to be rich."

Shisui bobbed his head. "The caves around here are popular for mining. Crystals and precious stones can be found by venturing deep inside the caves. Unfortunately, they have dangerous animals lurking inside so most villagers won't go." He glanced outside the large window in the room, gazing at the tall misted mountains in the distance.

Itachi narrowed his eyes, studying the seventeen year old Uchiha. "Villagers won't go, but for a shinobi, traveling the caves would be much easier. Am I right?"

Shisui grinned at his cousin. "Aa. Our bounty hunter makes his money by mining in those caves which he then gives out to the shinobi who work under him that are too scared to go into the caves on their own. Toshiaki-kun also seems to be experimenting with different types of chakra, but for a reason unknown. Or so the spies tell me. I wouldn't know for sure- but I have a feeling they're not lying. There's a strange air around one of the cave he's set camp up in. And your parents are there."

"My parents?" Itachi slowly blinked. "Why would he set up camp in a cave so close to us and have my parents there? And he doesn't even bother to hide himself or his location. It has to be a trap to pull us in."

"Kaeru-sensei really has no sense," Deidara muttered. "Trust me un, it's not a trap."

"Okay, so we're here," Shisui pointed to the village they were in on the map. "And the latest message Toshiaki-kun sent out said he would be waiting for the next few days in the cave between the mountains a little ways off until he figures out what our next move is," he dragged his finger all the way across the scroll to a dark smudge of ink.

Itachi stared at the distance they would have to travel and then felt his eye twitch. "What part of that was 'a little ways off'?" he growled, a blood vessel threatening to burst.

Shisui grinned. "The distance from the cave to the mountains," he said.

Itachi bashed his cousin's head into the table, vein throbbing. "Say that before then!"

Deidara moved back, sweatdropping slightly. "I guess we should head out as soon as possible to investigate these caves then. Is tomorrow morning good un?"

Shisui whipped his head up, beaming in his direction. "Sounds good to me. Just make sure both of you stock up on provisions because once we leave-" his eyes gleamed. "We won't be stopping again."

Itachi tugged on Shisui's ear, looking irritated. "Don't say it so ominously…" he grumbled.

Shisui snickered before tackling the other teen to the ground.

Itachi let out a shout at being caught off guard before trying to fend Shisui off.

Deidara watched the two blood-relatives wrestle across the floor and then smirked, turning around and starting to walk towards the bedroom exit. "I'm gonna use the bathroom. I'll be back un."

Shisui waved to show that he had heard as he shoved a flailing Itachi's face into the ground. "Don't fall in~!"

"Er- hai..." Deidara closed the door gently behind him and then sighed, heading to where he thought the bathrooms were. I hope Sasu-kun and Naru-chan are going to be alright. Things shouldn't get any worse than they are now… All we have to do is destroy sensei and rescue his parents. Then everything can go back to how it was before. He frowned in thought. Right…?

For some reason, he couldn't shake off the cold chill that had settled in his bones.

~X~

Itachi finally managed to throw his surprisingly heavy cousin off of him, and now sat straight, fixing his hair-tie which had grown loose in the struggle. "Geez…I think you bruised my ribs."

"No," Shisui eyed him musingly. "It's just your nose that's disfigured."

Itachi's brow quirked. But he dropped the matter and spared a glance at the door which Deidara had just left from, instead saying, "He was upset."

"Anyone could tell that," Shisui said, sitting across from the younger Uchiha. Well- there's nothing we can do about it. He already feels responsible for the capture of your parents, and knowing that the village he's been in and grown to like for the past three years is could possibly be in danger by some deranged bounty hunter, is enough to make anybody worry."

"Tch. It's not all his fault," Itachi muttered, crossing his arms. And then something occurred to him. "Wait a second…" he looked at his cousin suspiciously. "How did you find all this out? I'm sure those spies wouldn't just willingly tell you."

Shisui put a finger to his chin and gazed up at the ceiling in thought. "Well that is to say…it sort of went something like this…"

-Flashback-

Shisui stepped towards the cornered group of spies with a pleasant smile. "Time's up boys. Why don't you just-"

"Shut up!" one of them cried.

Shisui's eye twitched. "Why don't you just-"

"We'll never give in!"

"Yeah- so back off buster!"

Shisui lowered his head, eyes closed and a vein throbbing. "Just-"

"AHOY!"

"THAT'S IT!" A large explosion of murderous aura poured out from the very angry Uchiha. He locked his furious crimson gaze on the now trembling spies. "What is with the people of this world interrupting me? I can't even get a damn sentence out anymore!"

One of the spies meekly moved forward. "U-Um…may I speak?"

"No you may not speak!" Shisui shouted with a popped vein. "I'M PISSED!" he suddenly hollered. "AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GET PISSED?"

"You take some rage pills and see a frickin' psychiatrist," one of the more outgoing spies muttered.

Shisui lunged. "WRONG ANSWER!"

-End Flashback-

"And after that, they gladly told me what I wanted to know," Shisui cheerfully said.

Itachi sweatdropped. "I can't believe you think I have problems."

Shisui laughed. "You do. Ahahahahahaha-"

Itachi popped a vein. "Shut up!"

Fake tears poured down Deidara's face from where he had overheard the conversation by the doorway. As I thought….Shisui is really scary…

Itachi glanced over at him with a twitching brow. "You're back."

Deidara stared. "So I am."

"…"

"…"

"Well this is awkward," Shisui commented. A large smile spread across his face as he clapped his hands together. "Who wants to go fishing?"

A/N: Sorry for the abrupt end but there was no where else to cut it off.

Let me know if there was anything you didn't understand concerning that crazy Toshiaki-kun and his intentions :D