Living a Lie

Chapter Twenty-six - Pond Monsters

I sighed tiredly and flopped down onto my folded sleeping bag. "I'm pretty sure Leader didn't say that there were going to be that many Sound nin."

Kisame chuckled and added some dry branches to the fire. "Too much for you, Pinky? And here I thought you were the toughest little kunoichi around. It's not right to purposefully mislead your teammates, you know," he said in mock-seriousness. "Right, Itachi?"

Itachi cracked half a ghost of a smirk from across the small fire (I'd say I'm pretty good at finding those tiny smiles at this point, wouldn't you?) and grabbed his sleeping bag. The quick glance he threw my way told me he was smirking at the irony of Kisame's statement, and I felt myself blush a little in embarrassment. It was weird having someone who actually knew what I was really up to.

After setting our sleeping bags out next to each other, Kisame said he wanted to go wash up in a pond he spotted a mile north of us. I watched him get up and grab his towel, secretly admiring the way the fire played across his visible muscles.

"You know, I heard there've been some weird sightings of some strange pond monsters in the area," I said, pretending to be concerned. "You might want to keep an eye out for them. I've heard the fish around here get rather big, blue and toothy."

He snorted. "Thanks for the warning, but I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself. I've heard that these so called 'monsters' have a particular appetite for cute, pink-haired little medics, so…" he trailed off as he walked out of the clearing and into the shadows. I tossed a rock at his retreating figure and heard him snicker before he disappeared completely.

After about ten minutes of nothing but the crickets chirping and the fire crackling, I finally decided to test the boundaries of this knew, informed relationship with Itachi.

"So," I started eloquently.

He turned his head fractionally towards me, letting me know that he was listening.

I thought of a way to bring up what I wanted to say, and then decided to hell with that since I tend to be blunt and to the point anyways. "Do you think I could convince Pain to form an alliance with the Leaf?"

If Itachi weren't Itachi, he would have choked in surprise. But seeing how he is Itachi, he blinked a couple times instead. "Weren't you planning on using your new medical jutsu to help your jinchuuriki friend?"

"Well, yeah, I had been," I replied. I paused, gathering my thoughts. "But, I've been thinking about how Akatsuki hasn't really attacked Konoha, you know? And if he's planning on taking the tailed beasts, why wouldn't he just attack the villages themselves to get the tailed beasts? You're all strong enough to bring down entire villages as it is, so why would he want the beasts anyways?"

Itachi nodded minutely. "You're asking the right questions, but you are also asking the wrong person. Have you considered talking to him about this?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I'm worried I'll come across as a spy."

Itachi shot me an amused look.

"Oh, stop it. You know what I mean. If he finds out that I'm a spy right off the bat, he's not going to trust me and then he wouldn't take my suggestions seriously. In fact, I'm pretty sure he'd kill me before even letting me make a suggestion or offer an explanation."

"I still believe that you should talk to him. He's not as ruthless as you seem to think."

I frowned at him. "Well, if you're such a genius, how should I go about bringing it up to him without giving away everything?"

Itachi leaned back onto his hands. "That's simple: just engage him in thoughtful conversation and bring it up in a detached manner. Don't make it sound as if you're trying to undermine him. I would ask him what his goals for the Akatsuki as an organization are, and then try to find out how you could get his goals and your goals to line up."