Vexation

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By London

Pairing: Kisame x Itachi

Word Count: 765

Rating: T

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Dressed in black cloaks and woven hats, the pair had arrived shortly before sundown.

The other ninjas in the inn had been quietly eliminated: a genin team on the upper floor and a lone messenger, dozing on his futon, on the ground floor. Traps were carefully set up in their room. Anyone entering too quickly would soon find his head graced with five too many senbon.

Itachi had dressed the wounds his companion had managed to acquire in their recent brush with some Leaf Village jounin. The team had been fairly experienced but was, fortunately or unfortunately, far below the level of two agents of the Akatsuki.

The pair had eaten about an hour ago at a small roadside noodle stand. It was not suited to the Uchiha's refined tastes but the alternatives had been worse.

Now that they were resting comfortably and had established a zone of relative security, the only thing left on the Uchiha's agenda was... a shower.

Itachi always showered first. There was no discussion or argument. It had been that way since their very first mission and would remain that way until their last. He enjoyed a pre-shower time free of wet floors, wet faucet handles, wet doorknobs, and general drip induced wetness.

He closed the door behind him as he stepped into the bathroom. It was sparsely decorated with plain, wood paneled walls and white ceramic floor tiles. A simple press-lock sealed the heavy door between the two rooms. Itachi ignored it. If someone wanted in, no measly combination of metal parts was going to keep him out.

The Leafnin set his change of clothing on a shelf above the towel rack, noting a trio of sufficiently fluffy towels sloppily embroidered with pink flowers. Itachi turned the water on, allowing it to warm while he undressed. Undoing his hair, the Uchiha laid the silk string on the counter. He set his Akatsuki ring next to it. It trembled momentarily on the laminated surface before settling. While it was waterproof, the jewelry prevented him from washing his hands completely. His sandals were left at the room's door so the next step in the process was the cloak. Then his mesh shirt. Leg wrappings. Pants. Undergarments. Head protector.

A brief duck into the bath and shower combo confirmed the presence of soap and shampoo. He had his own conditioner. Rural inns often did not stock such luxuries. A second peek combined with acuity of his swirly eyes revealed something much more troubling to the lethal teenager.

Something that required a little help.

Turning, the Leafnin opened the door to the main room, granting his partner a nice, though not terribly rare, view. Kisame looked up from his samurai novel.

"Is something wrong, Itachi-san?" It was unusual for him to leave the bathroom once the water started running.

To an outsider, Itachi's face may have looked as impassive as ever. To Kisame, the ninja who spent virtually all his time in the presence of Uchiha Itachi, the slight crease in his partner's brow and the slightly protruding bottom lip were obvious signal flares.

Minute changes in the Uchiha's expression were often the products of irritating situations unworthy of Itachi's attention. That or an amusing encounter with that Sasuke brat.

A graceful hand on the hip made plain the genius's frustration. "The soap," Itachi deadpanned.

"There's no soap?" Odd, Kisame thought. It was customary for places like this to provide soap…

He protested, voice rising ever so slightly in pitch, "It's not new."

"It's rarely new, Itachi-san," replied the sharky one, patiently.

"There's a hair on it," he explained.

Ah. A hair. This was something in which Kisame had experience.

He set his book down on the side table, a piece of paper marking his spot. A grin skidded onto his face as he passed the Uchiha in the doorway. Kisame hit a cloud of warm, damp air. The mirror above the sink had started to fog.

Pulling the white cloth curtain aside, the Mistnin captured the offending bar of soap in his right hand and plucked the hair off with his left. The rain from the showerhead dampened his sleeve, hand, and hair.

He deposited the strand in the trash bin under the sink.

"Everything good now, Itachi-san?"

He was rewarded with a nod. A nod and a hard shove into the bathroom wall.

"Kisame." Itachi began to undo the knot that held the taller nin's hitaeate in place. He stood up on his toes to breathe into the man's ear. "The water's pretty hot now… and since you're here..."

END.

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Hope you liked! Please review… and I'd greatly appreciate it if you point out any errors you find. Thanks!