4

-Itachi's POV-

I head back inside with Naruto and the Akatsuki.

"What's for breakfast?" Hidan asks.

"Naruto. What do you want?" I ask.

"Pa'cakes!!!" He yells as he kicks his legs happily.

I see Sasori give another small smile.

"Alright. Pancakes it is." I say and place him on the living room floor.

He was about to go outside the door and explore when Kazuku picks him up.

"Aww~~~" He whines.

"If you get lost then Itachi will go haywire and it'll annoy me." Kazuku says.

I ignore what he said and continued making the pancakes.

'I will not go haywire!' I yell in my head and give off a slight twitch.

Naruto giggles as he forces Kazuku to show him the strings attached to him.

Kazuku huffs in annoyance and detach a single string, making it float above Naruto's head.

Naruto stands up slowly and tries to catch it.

They continue this for a while and I set the pancakes down.

"Breakfast." I say out loud.

"Uuyay!!!" Naruto yells and waddles towards the table.

He looks up and frowns.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Daddy... Can' ge' up." He says pointing up to the chair. Daddy... Can't get up.

I stiffle a snicker and instead picked him up and placed him on my lap.

He grins happily before munching on the pancakes.

"Who knew Itachi was so fatherly." Kisame mumbles to the rest of the Akatsuki.

I hit him on the head before everyone could start laughing.

After finishing 3 pancakes, everyone went back to there own rooms, Naruto grins and jumps off my lap, heading for the door.

I sigh.

"Naruto! Don't get in trouble!" I yell.

"I won't~!!!" He yells back.

I doubt that... Very much.

-Naruto's POV-

I run around the base and look at different rooms.

I then entered a random door on my right.

I look inside, it was dark and smelled like money and coins.

"What do you want?" I heard someone asks from a table at the back of the room.

I run towards the table and look at what Kakuzu was doing.

"Wha' you doin'?" I ask curiously.

"I'm counting." He glares.

I ignore the glare.

"Kuzu..." I call.

"What now?" He asks.

"Pway..." I say.

He looks like he was about to protest but then he sighed and mumbles a small 'fine'.

I smile widely, giving him a big hug and then making him lead me to the gardens again.

He sits on the couch and just watches me play around in the grass.

"Kuzu!!" I yell out.

"What?" He asks, annoyance clearly in his voice.

I laugh as I wave.

He sighs and waves back.

I laugh harder and roll around in the dirt again.

"Itachi is going to kill me if I let you play in the dirt you know..." He says walking up to me.

"Yea but daddy isn't here!" I smile innocently.

I can tell he's holding back an eye roll.

"Kuzu! Pway wif me!" I tug on his cloak.

"...No." he says.

I pout and let go of his cloak reluctantly.

I then crouch down and let tears appear in the corner of my eyes.

He flinches slightly.

I mentally grin.

"K-Kuzu hate me?? Like evweryone else?" I ask in my most convincing sad tone.

His eyes widen slightly and then went back to his blank face.

He sighs and then picks me up, under my armpits.

"... No I don't hate you... Will you stop crying if I play with you?" He asks.

I nod.

"Fine... But this is a secret ok? You can't tell anyone about this." He says.

I nod again.

He then takes off his cloak and shows me a lot of string coming out of him and 4 masks stuck on the strings.

I don't get scared though, more like amazed.

"Cool!!!" I yell and grab one of the strings.

He stares at me in shock.

-Kakuzu's POV-

Did he just say 'cool'??

I thought for sure that he was going to get scared.

He grabs one of my strings and plays with it.

I lift him up by the string and he squeals in excitement.

Who is this kid?...

I put him back down on the ground and he pouts.

"Again! Again!!" He yells.

I lifted him up again but higher and he squeals again.

"Kuzu! Make a slide!!!" He yells.

I shrug mentally and made a solid slide with my strings, placing him on top of it.

I give him a gentle push and he slides down, towards me.

"Weeeeeee!!!!!" He yells and lifts his arms up.

He then stops as he hits my chest.

He blinks a few times before recognising that he was now in front of my chest.

He smiles up at me and wraps his arms around me.

"Yay!! That was fun Kuzu!!" He giggles.

I rub his blonde head naturally.

I let out a small smile.

"Can we do it again next time?" He asks, still with hands around me and yawns.

"...Sure..." I say.

He smiles tiredly and rests his head on my chest.

I put my cloak back on and hold him in one arm.

I head back inside and see everyone staring at me like I was crazy.

I furrow my brows.

"What?" I ask.

"Kakuzu... Your holding the Pipsqueak!" Deidara says.

I look down at Naruto.

"Duh." I say like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

They were about to yell about stuff again but Itachi walks up and takes him from me.

"He's probably tired from playing." He says and sits on the couch with Naruto's head in his lap.

I nod and let him do whatever.

"So what did you guys do?" Tobi asks.

"I let the kit play with my strings and slide down it." I reply.

"Aww!! That lucky fox!" Tobi smiles, well at least I think he did. The mask is in the way, I can't see his face.

I notice Itachi stroking the kid's hair and just ignore it.

He's got a soft spot for the kit.