It was silent as he crept through the streets that night. All sounds were far away in the distance, and not a single person was too be seen other than himself. Covered by a red cloak bearing the Sunagakure mark, he was easily mistaken as one of their interrelations ambassador's attendants.

Pein had sent him on a mission to collect information from Suna regarding the habits of the now buji-less Kazekage, a rather simple mission for which he completed in no less than a few hours, leaving him plenty of time to complete his ultimate goal. This is how Itachi ultimately found himself to be wandering through the streets of the Leaf. Very soon, his problem would be over, for good.

A chill ran through the air as he turned the corner, finally arriving at his destination. The house had only one light still light on the upper floor before it flickered for a fleeting moment before disappearing, signaling for a smirk to run across his lips.

Just a short hour's wait for precautionary reasons would be nothing after everything he had dealt with in his lifetime.

The moon was shining bright, with only a few clouds remaining in the sky. This moment of serenity witnessed by Shikamaru, Choji, and the fun loving blonde duo was so calmly and harmoniously serenaded by the cricket's orchestra.

The junk food buffet had long since been finished up and Ino, nearly asleep by now, had taken up position by lying against Deidara who had taken on a rather relaxed pose with his left leg extended out and his right sitting up, with his right arm propped up said leg. This gave the appearance that the two really didn't appear to have a care in the world.

Shikamaru and Choji remained sitting in their usual positions, also somewhat mystified by their surroundings, that was, until Choji had an unexpected after dinner belch that startled the crickets into dead silence, awoken Ino from her slumber, and removed Shikamaru and Deidara from their daze.

Pulling herself up, using Deidara's leg as an anchor, Ino glared at Choji. "Honestly Choji, haven't you learned even the slightest sliver etiquette by now?"

Shikamaru let out a silent breath, as he had been anticipating a far worse rejoinder to escape her lips.

"Sorry Ino, I didn't mean too." Choji apologized, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment.

"Ah well," Deidara stood up and sighed "It's getting late. How about calling it a night hn?" He said to Ino who yawned and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah...night guys." She grumbled as Deidara helped her up.

"Night, Ino." Her best friends said as they watched her lazily walk inside and out of their sight.

Shikamaru waited just a few moments before plopping his drink down and demanding an answer from Deidara. "Alright now, why in the hell are you here? I trust it is of some importance since you risked your neck to sneak back in here to tell me."

Deidara scoffed and threw his hair out of his face as he leaned over across the table to face Shikamaru. "It's always business with you hm. You could use to take a break and let things happen as they will hn."

Shikamaru caught the gleam in the blonde's eyes and narrowed his in return. "Get to the point."

Choji now eyed the two, having ceased his eating once Ino had left. He had held his suspicions to himself since Deidara first appeared in their lives. There was something about this man that he knew was simply not to be trusted. He seemed to poses an ulterior motive, something that Choji knew Shikamaru must have already been suspicious of. The only flaw to his conjecture was the very fact that he had absolutely no plausible idea as to what it was that Deidara was hiding from them.

His eyes narrowed onto Deidara; watching him as he grunted and smirked at Shikamaru as if he found it humorous that he dared to oppose or control him.

"Fine then, I just thought it would be useful if I happened to tell you that our plan is working well hm. I spoke with Itachi three days ago, he will be in Suna for a few days on," He stopped, noticing the Shika-Cho duo eyeing him suspiciously. "On...business and he has agreed to join me at the valley in three days and does not suspect a thing hn. I merely told him that since he was so close to my location I could use some help with a little bit of bounty hunting hm."

Deidara scuffed inside is mind. As if it had been that simple.

He had taken his time to approach Itachi, grumbling to himself as he thought about having to see the face of that damn Uchiha, let alone what he was about to ask him. Standing only a few feet away from the door to Itachi's quarters, he let out a silent hiss to himself before knocking twice.

Silence filled the open air and a grimace plastered the already irritated blondes face.

He knocked two more times, still no response on the other side.

'Damn that Uchiha bastard!' He thought, holding his fist up to smack the door once more with much furry.

"Why are you annoying my door?" Itachi's dull voice echoed down the shady hallway as his shadow crept closer, his eyes shimmering in the darkness.

Deidara twitched, turning to face his most despised adversary.

"Where were you hm?!" He growled distastefully.

"Does it really matter? Clearly I wasn't here a moment ago." Itachi's lifeless voice mocked, casing the blonde to fight for control of his urge to twitch his eyes and lips.

"Anyways...what do you want from me Deidara?" The Uchiha questioned.

Gaining control of his anger Deidara gave a fake expression of naturalness and spoke. "I actually have a favor to ask you hn. I heard from Kisame that you will be on a solo mission in Suna very soon and I will be in Konoha around the same time hm."

Deidara bit his tongue with disgust before continuing his ploy.

"And I recently heard of a band of criminals hiding out in the area worth a good bit in bounty hn. But there are more than I can handle by myself without really giving it my all since my methods would attract too much attention and since you are close by I figured that you might be able to lend me a hand hm."

Itachi just stared at him, with a lifeless expression of boredom eerily similar to Sasori's.

"Have you gone blind in that visible eye of yours? I am not Kakuzu. I have no interest in bandits or extra cash. Now please, move out of my way."

Itachi reached for the doorknob, as Deidara backed away, his mind searched for something to convince the Uchiha to unknowingly walk into his own doom.

Quickly he said, "I can't ask Kakuzu, the greedy old fart will take more than his share hm."

Itachi paused and closed his eyes. "Take Tobi."

He then turned the knob on the door and went in his room and began rummaging around for a few kunai, shuriken, and other ninja tools.

Deidara let his twitch escape him momentarily before barking "I can't take the flailing idiot! I can't waste time rescuing him hn!" He stopped for a moment. 'Damn for a second there I started to believe my own story.'

Itachi let out a sigh. "Am I right in assuming that everyone else is busy and that I am you last choice?"

Deidara grunted and pressed his back against he door frame. "Damn straight hn."

Itachi gathered the last of his things and walked past the door before stopping. "Fine. I suppose a brief look at the lands where I was born wouldn't be too horrible."

'Especially since this works rather well for what I have planned.' Itachi mused to himself. "After my mission is done, in about six days I will join you."

Deidara smirked to himself behind Itachi's back. "The bandits usually camp around a valley near Suna. I'll be waiting there."

A last uninterested grunt escaped Itachi before he disappeared into the shadows of the dark hallway leaving Deidara to himself once more.

"Is that so?" Shikamaru's dull voice questioned. "Fine, as long as everything is set in motion." The young Nara stood up and turned his back to the two as if pondering something to himself.

Choji was taken aback by the easygoingness displayed by Shikamaru. There had to be more to it than accepting this rouge's word.

"Anyways," Deidara continued, "what I really came here for was to tell you guys that Itachi is a very critical person. Once I get him into place, do not hesitate to attack. We can't afford for him consider a tap for a slight second and to escape."

Choji could hold his tongue no longer and bluntly asked. "What exactly is you motive here?"

Deidara cocked his only visible eyebrow. "Who says I have a-"

"SHHHH!" Shikamaru hissed at the two.

The three silently listened as the sounds of footsteps and crumpling paper bags reached their ears from inside the house.

"Crap, mom's home. You've got to disappear." Shikamaru barked lowly as Deidara scrambled up saying "Yeah yeah, I get the idea hn." and quickly disappeared from the courtyard and over the walls of the Nara compound.

Choji stood up too. "I guess it's late, I need to get some rest as well."

Shikamaru grunted in response and whispered "Meet you at dawn at the village gates. Be prepared for whatever may come in the next few days."

Choji nodded and turned to leave.

"One more thing," Shikamaru added, "Itachi is a very caustic person according to Deidara... but what worries me more is that he is full of equanimity. We must make sure that there are no mistakes. No matter what."

~HornyWolf

Also check out my new one shot "The Secret Life of Konan"

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