Back Once Again

Kurai wandered aimlessly along the beaten track with a frown set on her features. Her father was dead now, she had no goal to continue fighting. She wondered what her purpose in life now was as she let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. Her Akatsuki cloak billowed in the wind like a proud flag although she barely felt like someone who was proud of the path she'd chosen. "So...Where do I go from here..." She murmured to herself as she perched herself on a smooth rock she'd come across with her arms crossed on her lap.

Itachi and Kisame, both wearing their Akatsuki cloaks and straw hats, walked alongside her. Itachi, who could see she was troubled deeply, incospicuously laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Kisame was too busy eating a slab of cooked meat he had Itachi roast for him with a Fire Jutsu since he was in a hurry to notice the action by the emotionless Uchiha.

Flashing a rare smile in his direction, she tried to avoid looking directly at him. 'I just...Killed someone...I killed a human being...My father no less!' Her thoughts violently clashed as she touched at the palm of her left hand: The hand she'd used to snap her fathers neck with her shadow jutsu. She glanced across at Kisame, her teacher, but saw he was preoccupied and so continued to brood. The bandages from where she'd been clawing at her wrists were still fresh.

Kisame grunted and growled as he shook the meat around as he tore into it, acting like a shark, like usual. The sight of what Kisame was doing was pretty comical but Itachi seemed to ignore him and continued to focus on Kurai with a concerned glint in his eyes. "Rip damn you" Kisame growled out between his teeth as he shook the slab of meat like a dog.

Running her hand through her hair, she looked once again at her disgruntled mentor and was slightly worried to find that she didn't find his antics as amusing as she normally would. What used to be happy-go-lucky and generally docile was now brooding and reserved. She assumed this was what happened when stuff like this went on in your life. Pushing her pride to the side, she slipped her hand into Itachi's, her gaze still directed at the ground. Since he was fairly intuitive, she hoped he would understand.

"Damn you you piece of shit meat" Kisame growled out as he ripped into the meat too hard and sent it flying everywhere. "DAMMIT and I was looking forward to my meal too" Kisame said as he started sulking, the area around him becoming dark as black brooding lines appeared over his head. Itachi shook his head slightly at his partner's antics as he squeezed Kurai's hand.

Fighting back a lump in her throat, she turned her head and gave Itachi a thankful smile, even though it didn't reach her eyes. However, Kisame's recent failure at eating his meal almost made her smile. It made her remember that she had a family with the Akatsuki...A dysfunctional one, yes, but a family nonetheless. "Kisame-Sensei..." She piped up, her voice as soft as the wind that brushed past them. "Please don't sulk...Everyone knows the cool guys don't sulk..."

Kisame, who heard his apprentice's words, immediately stopped sulking and stood up straight, trying to act cool. However, as he walked smoothly, he tripped over a stick and fell face-first into the ground. "...Kisame, you are an idiot" Itachi commented emotionlessly.

Letting out a slight sigh, Kurai glided over to her fallen teacher and slung one blue arm over her shoulder as she hoisted the fish-man to his feet. An imrpessive feat for a girl with such a frail structure as hers. "Be more careful, Sensei. Sometimes I feel more like your carer than your student," She murmured. She hadn't meant for it to sound bad, and it was almost said in an affectionate way as she stepped back to let him collect himself, once again placing her hand in Itachi's. It was obvious that she didn't want to be apart from him.

Kisame fake-sniffed, pretending to be offended. "Why I never, I'm the second strongest member of the Shinobi Swordsmen. I don't need to take this" he said as he pretended to fume in anger. "...Shut up Kisame" said Itachi with a roll of his eyes. "Why are you always so mean to me Itachi?" asked Kisame who started to anime cry.

Kurai, who'd always had a huge soft spot for tears, ran her free hand through her hair and took a deep breath. "Kisame-Sensei...I've got a bit of money on me. If you stop crying, I'd be more than willing to leave my robe here and go and get you some more meat if you want it..." She suggested, just trying to get her mentor to shut up. "I mean, I'm a fresh face so nobody will recognise me, right?" She had no idea if her mentor was going to say yes or no but if it cheered him up then she was willing to do it, even if it WAS a gigantic waste of time. She tried to keep an emotionless face while sending her thoughts to Itachi. 'I need a fucking vacation....'

Itachi's lips twitched slightly, indicating he was able to 'hear' her thoughts, which he found amusing and tilted his head very slightly. "Nah, that's fine. I'll just wait until we get back from.....wait, where the hell are we even going?" Kisame asked the two and right before Itachi could say a thing, Kisame started panicking. "OH NO, WE'RE LOST!!!! I don't recognize a single thing. We're all gonna die out here, no food or anything. Game over man, game over" he said as he screamed and ran around in circles, looking like someone ate his mother for dinner.

Kurai growled, her normally limitless patience beginning to wear thin. "Alright, Kisame-Sensei, I didn't wanna have to do this but I feel the need," She shrugged slightly, rolling her eyes as if this was going to be a boring thing to tell him. "If you DON'T shut the hell up, i WILL start making out with Itachi again, and I know that drives you insane," She smirked slightly, knowing full well that her sensei hated her getting too personal with his partner when he was around. "So just calm the fuck down, ok?"

Kisame squeaked and he shrunk down under her stare, turning into a chibi Kisame who looked like he had just been scolded by his mother. "Yes Momma-Fishy, just don't bite me" he said as he shivered, which for the first time since Kurai had known him, caused Itachi to snort in amusement.

Glancing at Itachi in surprise, she raised an eyebrow as an amused grin crossed her features. "Dunno, what you're snorting at, I know your weaknesses too," She said in a sing-song, teasing tone as she crouched down beside Kisame, giving him a pat on the head. "Uhh...It's ok? We'll save it for when you're not around," She was purposely imposing things to make it worse now. "Now, lets just get you to calm down and we can just continue walking, alright?" She smiled sweetly at the two male members...A smile far too sweet, like just before Sakura would clobber Naruto over the head when he did something stupid.


...Bawhawhaw xDDDD

Itachi looked at Kurai with a cool, emotionless glance. "I have no weaknesses" he said calmly. "Itachi has a weakness? I didn't know that" Kisame said with a shark-like grin as he seemed eager to hear what Kurai has to say, causing Itachi's left eyebrow to twitch slightly.

Smirking confidently, she approached the raven haired Akatsuki member, slowly nodding her head. "Of course you have a weakness. I've exploited it many times before," She chuckled and tugged on the collar of his akatsuki robe, yanking his head down to her level. "I mean, I'm a little disappointed that i have to REMIND you, Itachi-kuuuun," She hissed with a cocky grin as she began whispering things to him that Kisame should NOT hear, hence why she kept her voice down to the bare minimum.

Itachi coughed into his hand a bit as a small, almost unnoticeable blush appeared on his face, almost unnoticeable. "HA!!! Your blushing Itachi. YES!!! For the first time ever, I see you get embarrassed" gloated Kisame as he started waving a flag around he pulled out of nowhere with his own face on it as he started singing some national anthem called 'All Ye Faithful Sharks' as he continued to gloat over his victory by lighting up fireworks that he seemed to pull out of nowhere, causing Itachi to glare him.

Holding her head up high in pride, she perched herself on the smooth rock she had been sitting on before, mostly watching Kisame's odd celebration but now and again cast a glance in Itachi's direction to leave a...Let's say 'lasting' effect on him. "Ne, Itachi-Kun. I thought you said you had no weakness?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow as she chuckled quietly, almost in a seductive way as it soon turned into a full blown laugh. "Too bad you don't know mine, eh?"

Itachi ignored her and turned to stare at Kisame with a raised eyebrow. "...Where did you get those fireworks from Kisame?" asked Itachi with a frown. "I've been carrying them and this flag around to celebrate this very day" he said with a large, shark-like grin. "...Where did you get them?" Itachi asked him more forcefully. "I won't go into details but let's just say that they involve a fishbowl, a slab of meat and a rubber chicken" Kisame said as he looked around with shifty eyes, which caused both Itachi's eyebrows to recede up into his hairline.

"...." Kurai just continued the silence, staring at her mentor before standing up and rubbing the back of her neck. "....I think I just lost all respect for him," She murmured to herself as she continued walking the path they had abandoned, placing her hands in the pockets of her shinobi pants. She didn't hear them follow, but all she could actually hear was the hissing and crackling of the fireworks so she wasn't too sure what they were doing at this moment in time.

Itachi nodded his head and hurried up after Kurai. "Hey, give me some credit, at least I used shark control" Kisame snapped at the two with a scowl before his blue face turned purple from blushing as Itachi, in a rare display of emotion, blanched in what could be assumed as disgust.

"Could we PLEASE just not talk about 'protection'? I'm already thin enough as it is, I don't wanna lose even more weight by throwing up," She scoffed as she folded her arms across her chest, paying no mind to either of them catching up. It was about midday now, when the sun was at its highest so Kurai quickly took her cloak off and tied it around her middle, sighing in relief as she cool air hit her now bare arms. She now knew why she'd seen so many members do this with their cloaks when they were training.

"Fine my apprentice. What else shall we talk about? OOOOH, I know. You wanna see a picture of the time me and Itachi went fishing? It's hilarious. We paid Kakuzu to take the pictures" he said with a predatory grin as Itachi had a full body twitch, indicating that it was probably something very embarrasing.

She looked at Itachi and saw him twitch. She immediately became curious. "Why yes, Sensei, I'd LOVE to see this photo you have!" She replied enthusiastically, ignoring the glares she was probably recieving from Itachi. Clasping her hands in front of her in an innocent fashion, she awaited this picture that had disgruntled Itachi so much. "Itachi never tells me anything anyway," She pouted, even though in all honesty she didn't mind Itachi's secrecy.