Summary

Itachi and Kisame have a nice sit down chat over a cup of tea... Not.

A/N: And now it's time to present to you another chapter! Yayz! You guys are awesome! My husband inspired me to do this one. I was proof-reading out loud to him and he's like "Use something where you can go 'think of something that has nothing to do with Madara'." I just died laughing. Haven't done a short-ish one in a while! So, here we go!

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It wasn't unusual to see Kisame and Itachi together. They were team partners, so they naturally did many things together. They ate together, trained together, even hunted for food together when on missions. What was really interesting, though, was to see Kisame attempting to give his volatile partner lessons in anger management.

"Think of the first thing that makes you angry," Kisame stated, leaning back in his chair and watching Itachi sigh and close his eyes. Immediately, Madara's face came to mind.

"Madara."

"... Okay... Now, think of the first thing that makes you happy."

"Killing Madara."

"... Okay, think of something that has nothing to do with Madara, Itachi," the shark man sighed, running a hand through his blue hair. The younger Uchiha had been this way for a month and a half now. Obviously, the older Uchiha had done something to piss the younger off, because he'd come across several plans and scribbles in his fellow member's room that had a lot to do with killing the ancestor in many extremely painful ways. He took pity on Itachi though, and chose not to mention said plans to Madara.

That would mean getting involved, and he did not want to do that.

"Fine," the Sharingan user huffed, sliding his eyes closed again and concentrating on pushing the image of slowly tearing his "Uncle" limb from limb... with his bare hands. Instead, he thought about something else.

Immediately, Kagome's face came to mind and he quickly shoved that away too. The last thing he wanted was to dwell on the priestess during his self-appointed exile from her life. It had been hard enough to pry himself away from her after the incident in the lake. Hell, the girl had barely let him out of sight to force her into the shower.

The really awkward part had been later when he went to warm himself up in one. She'd waited just outside the door, and the moment he opened it, she'd flung herself at him and stuck to him like glue. It ended up being early morning before she'd finally calmed down enough to fall asleep; curled up on the couch in his lap with his fingers running through her damp hair. After that, he'd gingerly tucked her into her bed and forced himself to leave, despite every instinct in him screaming at him to stay.

But he was not supposed to be thinking of her!

"... The kunai Deidara stole from me and never gave back."

"Hey, he lost those three years ago, Itachi. There was no way he could even attempt to get them back," Kisame countered, muttering under his breath about holding grudges and paranoid Uchiha in general.

"Regardless, they were mine, ergo, he owes me a new set. I got those in Wave Country, by the way, and they were quite expensive," Itachi repsonded dryly, opening his eyes and directing a lazy stare at the blue man.

"Wave Country? Really?"

"Yes. They were hand crafted with carbon steel and specially made for precision and balance," he replied, nodding and remembering the mission he'd gotten them. It was right before he'd permanently left Konoha too, "Then later coated in a diamond glaze to prevent any possible rusting."

Kisame whistled and leaned forward to watch the Uchiha, "Those must have been expensive. Anything with that diamond glaze is immediately three times as much as any other set of weapons. You know, I had a fire torched sword when I was younger that had a diamond coat put on it. It was a gift from one of the former Seven Swordsman."

"And you can see that though they are pricier, it is worth it in the end... If they aren't stolen and never given back, at least," the younger man nodded, then glared at no one in particular. Kisame inwardly sighed. And they'd come back full circle.

"You can't just get another set?" The former heir looked completely incensed at even the thought.

"The man that forged those has long since passed away, Kisame! No one else knew how he did it, and he had no children to pass his traditions on to! So, no, I can't just 'get another set', as you so eloquently put it!" he hissed, rising from his spot on the couch and storming up to his room angrily. A moment later, Sasori poked his head into the room.

"I told you it wouldn't work, Kisame," the red head announced, smirking and holding out a hand. Kisame cursed under his breath and pulled out his money. Slapping the appropriate amount into the puppet master's hand, he waved him off and sat back to think again.

What the hell had Madara done to piss the younger Uchiha off so badly? The shark man knew it had involved Kagome in some way, but he'd thought the old ancestor was just going to threaten Itachi or scare the girl or something. Sadly, the older Uchiha hadn't let him in on the full extent of his plans to "sway Itachi into making the correct choices".

'What if... Madara targeted the girl instead? Does that mean he might have tried to kill her?' Kisame gulped.

They were in for hell if that was the case. Itachi was inconsolable if someone interfered with his life too much. It seemed to be a paranoid trait that was developed from being raised in the Uchiha clan, because Madara was almost the same way. Those two Uchiha were going to kill eachother before the year was over.

And he was willing to bet on that.

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A/N: Ahhh... Bonding moment. And another look into the Akatsuki. I hope you enjoyed this!

The poll on my profile is now closed. Looks like Inuyasha/Naruto is the winner! -throws confetti- This means that the next thing I will decide to post will be from that crossover.

Now there's a new one! So let me know what you want!

Please review!