Back Once Again

As Itachi glared holes through her, Kisame took out a bunch of photos. The first one was a picture of Itachi looking bored and holding a fishing pole while Kisame slept. The second picture was of Itachi looking surprised as he caught a shark, which tilted the boat downwards, while Kisame continued to sleep. The last picture was of Itachi's legs sticking out of the water as he and the shark disappeared under the water, while Kisame still continued to sleep.

Kurai snorted, putting a hand over her mouth to try and stifle her uncontrolable giggling but to no avail. By the time she'd gotten a look at the last photo, she was away. She doubled over laughing, a single tear of laughter making it's way down her cheeks. "O-Oh my God!!" She managed to choke out between chuckles as she tried regaining her composure slightly but still needed to snort a little every now and again. Sure, it might've not been the most appropriate thing to laugh at but her face was much brighter and her smiled suited her face much more than the brooding frown that was there before

"If you thought that was funny, you should see the pic I have of where Itachi meets my mother. I've never seen such a look on his face. Wanna see it?" Kisame laughed as he put the photos away and took out another one. Itachi was now twitching repeatedly and glaring daggers into Kisame's back.

Kurai let out yet another giggle, which sounded surprisingly girly for her. "Oh god, now THIS i absolutely have to see," She did feel a bit bad for embrassing Itachi but this was the most she'd laughed in a long time. "My sides hurt now...But I'll live, now lets see that picture," She grinned, trying to send her thoughts to Itachi again. 'Just embrace the joke, it makes things so much easier...I know it's easy for me to say cuz it's not me we're making fun of but still...'

Itachi turned away from her and seemed to start brooding as Kisame showed her picture. "I had Tobi modify this one to make it even funnier" he said as he laughed at it. The picture showed Kisame and Itachi in a boat. Kisame was waving excitedly and apparently saying Hi Mom at what appeared to be a massive, 65 foot shark swimming around the boat in clear enough waters to see it's massive size. Itachi, who was normally reserved, had look that was completely beyond what he has ever showed. His face was blue, his eyes were wide open and all white, open was wide open, there was a sweatdrop on the side of his face and black brooding lines on top of his head as he seemed to stay as far away from the edges of the boat as possible.

Picture:

Spoiler:

Kurai didn't even bother trying to hold back this time, she just completely burst out laughing, clutching her side and inhaling sharpy. "H-His face is p-priceless!!" She roared in amusement, continuously having to wipe tears from her eyes until she was sure she was done. As she straightened up, a small black tape recorder fell out of her pocket. It was VERY old from the looks of things, and something she didn't want the other two to hear judging by how quickly she scrambled to the ground to pick it up and stuff it right back into her pockets.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at the tape recorder. "What's that?" Kisame asked her with a grin as he stuffed the picture in his pocket and stared at her.

"I-It's nothing! Nothing important!" She shot back defensively, clutching the tape recorder in her pocket like it was the holy grail. It was actually a recording from when she was a kid, singing. Of course, being in the Akatsuki having a sensitive side such as that is more than laughable so she took a few steps back, an anime sweatdrop making its way down the back of her head. "Heh heh....Uhhh...Why are you guys staring at me like that...?"

"Well, we were both embarrassed in front of you so we feel it's only right you join in on the humiliation. Hand over the tape recorder" grinned Kisame as he held a hand out as Itachi seemed to smirk slightly.

She flushed furiously at Kisame's announcement, her face more red than when she'd first kissed Itachi and THAT was a sight to behold. "N-Not a cha--" She cut herself off as she reassessed the situation. She was a frail, female Akatsuki member in training and they were 2 extremely dangerously fully fledged Akatsuki members who were anything but dainty. There was NO chance of her being able to keep them away from the tap recorder. Growling in defeat, she chucked it into Kisame's hands, stalking off and sitting under a tree, dark clouds descending over her head. It was a good think Itachi wasn't listening to her thoughts then or he'd hear the many, many...MANY colorful words she was currently using to describe himself and Kisame. The main reason she was so embarassed about this was because so far she'd managed to maintain her tomboyish nature, but as soon as they heard that, they'd DEFINITELY see her differently.

What was on the tape recorder:

Kisame blinked as he listened to what was obviously Kurai sing some song. Itachi's eyebrow rose up as he listened to Kurai sing on the tape. When it was over, the two men stood in silence before Kisame spoke up. "Aww!!! This is what your embarrassed about?! I call bullshit" Kisame whined as he stamped his feet like a child. "....Beautiful" was all Itachi said as he looked at Kurai.

Kurai raised her head a little and peered at Kisame from underneath her bangs, unleashing a glare that the guardians of Hell themselves would be proud of. Her green eyes became green orbs of ice when she looked at her mentor. Flicking her head away, she sniffed. "I hate it," Was all she said in reply before standing up and brushing herself off. "My voice has changed a lot now, I probably can't even sing," And, without needing to say so, she expected this conversation to be over as she approached the two again, snatching the tape recorder from Kisame's hands and stuffing it moodily back into her pocket.

"...I'm sure you can, if you try Kurai" said Itachi with a raised eyebrow as he punched Kisame in the head, who went 'OOOW' as he held his head in his hands.

She scoffed as she went on ahead. "I doubt that, I'm not good for much," She replied, not taking her hands out of her pockets now. Kisame's exclamation of pain just deepened her frown, whereas it would normally decrease it. "If you ever want me to prove it, just tell me and I'll happily make your ears bleed," She rolled her eyes. Her sudden mood swing was indeed strange, but there was a good reason for it. That voice recording was a few days before her family had moved away. It had been her birthday. And so, many memories were triggered for her, causing her to retreat into herself for a bit. She felt like apologising, but right now it would just sound like it was insincere.

"...Your voice is beautiful Kurai. Don't let anyone, not even yourself think otherwise" Itachi told her softly as Kisame, who hurried up to catch up to them, ran face-first into a tree so hard a branch fell onto his head and knocked him out, causing him to get swirly vision.

"Hmph," Was all Itachi got out of her as she just looked ahead. Slowly, the land beneath them became more rough and sandy as surroundings became more like a wasteland. She squinted her eyes and saw they were heading straight for the Sand village. "No," She said bluntly, stopping dead in her tracks. "No WAY. I'd rather sleep outside in the sand than set foot in that place," She hissed as she looked back at Kisame and his injured head. "You and Kisame can go in Itachi but I'm not budging," She shrugged, turning her back on the village in a display of disgust.

Itachi looked at the village in question before turning to look at her. "...Why do you possess hatred for the Sand?" Itachi asked Kurai with a raised eyebrow as he dragged the large shark-like man by his foot.

"Because THAT place is where I got THIS," She grunted as she pushed down the left shoulder of her shirt, showing Itachi a scar that ran from her collarbone, over her shoulder, and down a little bit of her back. Shrugging the material back in place, she folded her arms across her chest. "I refuse to set foot in a village where I don't feel secure," She shook her head, although this was all just a total bluff. Truth be told, she was terrified of the Sand because her mother was there. Nothing more, nothing less.

Itachi looked at her silently and decided to nod his head. "As you wish. Me and Kisame will stay here with you" he said as he kicked Kisame's head. This caused Kisame to wake up from his state of unconsciousness and caused him to spit up sand. "EEW, sandy mouth" gagged Kisame as he proceeded to spit out the sand.

"Itachi, that's not necessary. My problems are just that, MY problems. You two go there, rest up and come get me later," She shrugged, finding a solitary, if slightly bare, tree and placing herself under it. "It's not like I've never been alone before," She tilted her head back against the trunk, shutting her eyes and exhaling to try and calm herself down. Hopefully, by the time she'd opened her eyes, Itachi and Kisame would've gone on ahead to the Sand so she could find some outlet for her paranoia and growing anger.

However, when Itachi and Kisame each placed a hand on her shoulders, she knew they had not left her. "Apprentice, we are Akatsuki members. We have to stick together if we are to survive. We are wanted criminals now" said Kisame as he got into serious mode, Itachi silently nodding his head in agreement.

She opened her eyes and looked at each of them in turn and then groaned. "You guys make it very hard to feel sorry for myself," She joked dryly before nodding also. "Fine, you guys can stay if you really want to," Removing her cloak from around her middle, she lay it beneath her to act as a barrier between herself and the sand so it was more comfortable. However, even she couldn't hide the miniscule smile that now adorned her face. Without her cloak, Kurai looked very delicate, as if the cloak had contained all of her primary power. Everything about her seemed softer, more feminine.

"You gotta love these cloaks Kurai-Chan. They add to the intimidation factor" Kisame said with a grin as he playfully ruffled Kurai's hair and sat down next to her. "Hn" was Itachi's typical response, which was his way of saying to Kisame 'You don't need the cloak to seem intimidating' as he chose to sit down on the opposite side of Kurai.

"Even WITH the cloak, I just look a bit like a child since it's a bit big for me," Kurai managed to chuckle weakly. The air between the 3 of them had certainly cleared, and already Kurai was beginning to relax as she felt more at home with Itachi and Kisame than she did with her ACTUAL family. Batting away Kisame's hand playfully, she stuck out her tongue. She flashed a smile in Itachi's direction, as she knew that he wouldn't exactly appreciate her sticking her tongue out at him.

Itachi gave her a slight smirk as he turned to look in the direction of the sun, his three-tomoed Sharingan spinning wildly. "I'm so glad you accept to become my apprentice Kurai-Chan. You've become like...." here Kisame hesitated "like a daughter to me and I always wanted one too" he finished as he flashed her a large, toothy, shark-like grin.