A Collection of Akatsuki Days

On the Subject of Dango and Itachi Uchiha

Kisame was worried.

Of course, he wouldn't show it; there was no emotion on his shark-like features.

But, visible or not, he was worried.

"Itachi?" he called out to the empty base, "Are you here?" Running through the halls, the missing-nin searched through the rooms for his younger partner.

"Kisame!" Finally, after half and hour of looking, Itachi responded, "KISAME!"

Said Akatsuki ran to the sound of his voice - and found himself in the kitchen. "Itachi," he said, breatless from running, "What's wrong?" Eyeng the assortment of knives surrounding the Uchiha, his eyes widened in fear, "You didn't cut yourself trying to cook, did you?!"

"Cut myself, no," Itachi replied, "I'm not that blind." He huffed irritably, crossing his arms.

"Then why..." Kisame did a double-take of what he said, "why did you sound so upset when you called for me, just now?"

Itachi looked at him with an expression only the shark-nin knew was a pout, "But I am upset... Deidara ate all the dango, and he didn't share." He looked back at the counter, where Kisame now saw frozen treats laying in front of hime, and continued, "So I got some frozen ones from the store. But they won't come apart, and not even the knives are working..."

"And you were trying to pull them apart with the knives even though you're half-blind..." Sharkey said, bemusedly.

>Kisame: Hey, don't call me "Sharkey."<

>FireStarr: Whatever. SHARKEY.<

"Yes; yes I did. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No... it's just that you're not going to get them apart that way, unless you wanna stand in the kitchen for another few hours." Kisame smiled and walked over to the Konoha missing-nin, saying, "Why don't you put them on a cookie tray, like this, and let them pry apart in the oven?" To prove his point, he did so, taking the Uchiha's hand in the process. Upon finishing, he then lead Itachi out of the kitchen and into the adjoining living room. Gently, he picked up the smaller nin and sat down on the couch, settling the Uchiha on his lap.

Itachi let out a small yip in surprise, earning a chuckle from the shark-nin, before relaxing and leaning his head backwards into the other's sholder. "But - but -"

"'But' what? You'll get your dango soon enough," Kisame laughed, grabbing the remote and flicking on the TV. 'Finding Nemo' appeared on the screen, and try as he might to hide it, he was engrossed by the film.

The Raven-haired boy watched the screen indifferently; he wasn't really interested in why the fish had to look for his son (although, knowing the nature of clownfish, he was surprised it was a movie for kids). He couldn't see half the pictures anyway. No, it was a scent that caught his and the entertained shark's attention. "My dango," the Uchiha said, "can we get it now?"

Kisame sighed and released Itachi, who full-out RAN to the kitchen. "Wait, Itachi!" the shark-nin called, following him, "Make sure you -"

Interrupted by a loud clatter and a string of cusses, he finished, "-put on oven mitts. You must really want that dango, Itachi..." he sweatdropped. Carefully, he inspected the Uchiha's hands and, seeing nothing burnt too badly, started cleaning up said ninja's mess of shattered cups and bowls that littered the floor from being unceremoniously pushed out of the dango's way.

While his partner was doing that, Itachi sat down and watched him. And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Untile he couldn't anymore, and he started eating the treat that caused all this trouble in the first place.

As for Kisame - well, by the time he was satisfied with his job, the rest of the Akatsuki were back; Deidara had blown up the sofa, Hidan had done a ritual on the floor, Konan had broken a couple of windows, Zetsu at a prisoner, Tobi had been - well - Tobi, and, worst of all:

Itachi had eaten all the dango.

Slightly depressed at his partner's not sharing, he walked into their shared room to find said ninja asleep. Exhausted himself, he almost didn't see the little plate on his nightstand. Almost. He smiled at Itachi's little gift, making sure to clean up his mess when he was done.

He then climbed into bed, gently kissing the sleeping nin's forehead and cheeks - one kiss fo reach candied treat - before falling asleep himself.

Because unlike Deidara, the raven-haired Uchiha had not eaten all the dango.

>Sharingan....<                       >Rip them to shreds, Samehada!<