Bonds and Fates | Chapter 10

Title: Best Served Cold

"This is a bad idea, Deidara," Kisame muttered, glancing around the room in paranoia. Deidara waved the shark-man off and continued rooting through one Itachi Uchiha's things.

"Don't be so uptight. That bastard needs to just come clean and tell us about this girl," the blonde countered, pushing a long-sleeved dark shirt to the side, "Maybe if we find a clue and 'move' it-"

"Steal!" the Uchiha's partner coughed, interrupting the bomb expert. Deidara leveled him with a surprisingly cold glare.

"- then he'll spill his guts to get his memorabilia back."

"You do remember when we tried to surprise Itachi for his 18th birthday, right?" Kisame pointed out, gingerly putting a scroll back where it belonged on his young partner's dresser. Deidara shuddered visibly.

"Please don't remind me."

"Well, this has the potential to be just as disastrous," the blue man finished, waiting patiently for the blonde's reaction.

"Hah! I think I found something!" Deidara exclaimed, withdrawing a note from the depths of Itachi's tee shirt drawer. Kisame was next to him in an instant, eyes wide in anticipation. They carefully unfolded the page and stared at what was written on it.

"... That's the receipt for the nail polish, Deidara."

"... Shut up!"

"Why the fuck are we looking through the laundry, you blonde dumb ass?" Hidan spit out, shoving a load of clothes into the abused washing machine. He dumped an approximate amount of detergent in, spun the dial to release the water into the tub, and slapped the lid closed. It began to rumble quietly. He hated chores. Poor washing machine.

"Because Itachi is acting weirder than is required to join this stupid little club," Deidara countered, glaring viciously at the Jashinist. The silver-haired missing-nin merely snorted and turned to leave.

"Hidan! I said help me!"

"Get over it, heathen. The fucker'll tell us when he wants to."

"You-! You're not curious at all that Itachi is hanging out with a girl?" Deidara exclaimed, sifting through Itachi's clothes and finding absolutely nothing. 'Not even a damn scent!'

"Of course I'm curious, you dumb ass!" the older male countered before grinning manically, "I just like both of my heads intact and attached." Deidara gave him a finger.

"That's just gross. I did not need to hear that."

"Yeah, well you better hope that Jashin-sama strikes you dead in one go because I'm late for my fuckin' ritual, damn it!"

"No."

"Come on, Kakuzu! Don't you want to know?"

"No."

"But it's Itachi we're talking about!"

"I don't care."

"Are you serious?" the blonde asked, giving the money-hungry man a deadpan stare.

Kakuzu looked up from counting his money, deliberating briefly before coming to a decision.

"Yes."

"ARGH!" Deidara stomped off in a fit of rage.

"Must we?"

"Yes. It looks delicious."

"But it did nothing to harm us."

"I. Want. It."

"... Fine."

Deidara backed away slowly. Zetsu seemed far too... occupied to ask his opinion on the current Itachi-hanging-out-with-a-girl issue.

"Fuckin' cannibal," the blonde muttered in a shocking imitation of Hidan. After all, who, in their right mind, enjoyed eating daisies while talking to himself.

He wouldn't even bother asking Sasori. The Puppet Master would merely declare it was a waste of his precious time. Also, he was out on a mission with Konan. One could only wonder why.

"Damn it! It's almost dark, and I still haven't figured out the first thing about this "girl" that he keeps leaving to see."

"Deidara." The blonde froze, turning to face the person that spoke.

"Yes, Leader-sama?" He wouldn't lie. He was positively terrified of Leader-sama. Not only was he the ruling Kage for the Village Hidden in the Rain, but Pein was also exceedingly powerful.

'He could crush me in a heartbeat.'

"You've been... doing a lot of investigating lately, haven't you?" Pein questioned, gesturing vaguely to his office. Deidara took the hint and followed his fearless leader down the hallway.

"Yeah. I'm... curious about this "girl" Itachi spoke about before," the blonde replied before quickly adding, "you know, to make sure there's not a threat and all, yeah." Pein nodded thoughtfully, turning to unlock his office door. He always kept it locked. Why, the bomb's expert couldn't even fathom.

"I see. And, has it ever occurred to you," the Leader of the Akatsuki started, pushing the door open and waltzing in, "to follow Itachi to his destination?" The door closed in a shocked Deidara's face. For a moment, the former Stone-nin stood there in a daze.

Then, a huge grin broke out on his face.

"That's ingenious!"

On the other side of the door, Pein shook his head, smirking arrogantly to himself. Yes, it was ingenious.

Flipping open the origami paper butterfly sitting on his desk, he read the report Konan had sent him of his youngest member and grinned in triumph. Indeed, he was ingenious, and he wouldn't let anything slip by him. Not even a girl.

'Shame I didn't decide to participate in that bet the others are having. If Itachi found out, though, he'd probably murder us all in our sleep.' Pein shuddered and locked his office door. Not that the boy could kill him, but he was sleeping with the light on tonight.

It was several days later when tragedy struck and Deidara decided against following his fellow member to see his "girlfriend", as the blonde had put it.

Itachi sat quietly in his spot, polishing an incredibly sharp kunai with a cleaning cloth.

"... WHERE THE HELL IS ALL MY EXPLODING CLAY?"

Kisame immediately looked to his young partner, whom was smirking in obvious victory. He watched the Uchiha pull a long blonde hair from his Akatsuki cloak and test the edge of his shiny blade with it. The hair split in two. The shark man gulped. He knew raiding Itachi's dresser was a bad idea.

"Itachi... " Pein sighed, running a hand through his vivid hair.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold, Leader-sama," Itachi replied, laughing inwardly at the banging and cursing coming from Deidara's room.

'Maybe this will teach that blonde idiot to not touch my things.'

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