A/N: Sorry about the loooong delay in updates, life got a little hectic for awhile.

Kakashi spat out one of his teeth. To Itachi it looked like one of the Jounin's molars or a wisdom tooth – if Kakashi still had those.

Kakashi had been awake – tortured – for three days already. None of his wounds were life threatening – Pein wouldn't allow it. The one time Hidan got over excited and shoved a pike through Kakashi's right lung, Kakuzu healed Kakashi and was allowed to decapitate Hidan.

Itachi and Kisame had then been unanimously selected to keep an eye on Hidan. At the moment, Kisame wasn't paying attention and Itachi was bored. There was only so much torture you could watch before it got repetitive.

"She whimpered and writhed as he caressed her skin…"

That caught Itachi's attention. Not because he liked that sort of thing, he though sex was disgusting, but because it was so random.

Kakashi kept talking – Itachi ignored the words but paid close attention to the older man's actions. Kakashi's hands wrapped the chains around his wrists. The silver haired man kicked out, catching Hidan in the groin. Using the chains and wall as leverage, Kakashi managed to snap Hidan's neck with his feet. He kicked Hidan away and performed a bastardized form of his infamous Rikari.

The chains snapped and the shackles at his wrists were weakened. Kakashi whipped Kisame in the temple with the chain still attached to his wrists and turned to Itachi. He stared Itachi in the face, just below Itachi's eyes.

Itachi caught the chain when Kakashi swung it at him full force. The impact broke Itachi's hand and nearly knocked him off his feet. He ignored the rush of nausea and jerked Kakashi off his feet.

With his uninjured hand Itachi wrapped the chain around Kakashi's neck. Itachi steadily increased the pressure until Kakashi's eyes bulged – his Sharingan spinning wildly – his face red and drenched with sweat, his silver hair matted with blood and sweat.

"Why did you keep the ring?" Itachi loosened the chain enough for Kakashi to speak.

Kakashi managed to catch Itachi's broken fingers in the chain links and twist the chain as he spoke.

"Why do you people care so much?" Kakashi thrust his hands forwards and kicked at Itachi's legs at the same time.

Itachi rolled, the chain tightened around Kakashi's neck, Kakashi rolled with him to keep it slack. They ended up twisted together, the chain tight around Kakashi's neck and Itachi's fingers mangled in the chain links.

Itachi head butted Kakashi hard, hard enough that his forehead protector split the older man's skin and caused him to bleed.

As Kakashi went limp Kisame got to his feet. He snickered when he saw them. Kakashi had landed on Itachi; their fight had snapped the weakened shackles at Kakashi's wrists. One of his arms was under Itachi's shoulders and his other was pulled behind his own back. Itachi's mangled hand was trapped in the space between Kakashi's elbow and side.

"Shut up and get him off me," Itachi growled.

Kisame, still chuckling, got them untangled from the chain. He put the Konoha Jounin on a table and strapped him down.

"Get Pein to take a look at that, I'm going to get Kakuzu to reset Hidan's neck." Kisame picked up Hidan's limp body.

Itachi sat quietly as Pein examined his hand.

"Konan will be able to take care of this easily enough," Pein began, "go to her in a moment, I want to speak with you about Hatake. Do you think we could benefit from having him join us?"

"We could learn from him. How the Kyuubi child fights, what to expect from him. Hatake is also a very skilled ninja; his Sharingan is weak though, it needs to be trained. We also can't be sure where his loyalties lie, he had the ring but as far as I know, he hasn't shown any other disloyalties to Konoha." Itachi said.

"After Konan takes care of your hand you will ask him to join us, " Pein said after a few moments, "give him one week to think about it. You know what you must do if he refuses."

Itachi nodded and stood, hearing the unspoken dismissal.

Konan set the bones in his hand after straightening them and healed it with chakra. After ordering him not to use that hand she let him go.

Itachi quietly wandered back to the basement. He pushed open the door carefully, taking not of the whip crack in the air.

His Sharingan spun angrily, burning Kakashi's bared and bloody back in his mind.

"Hidan," Itachi said coldly, "leave."

Hidan jumped, dropping the bullwhip as he whirled to face Itachi. He took one look at Itachi and fled the room.

Itachi grabbed a cloth and a bowl of warm water. He set them on a small table next to where Kakashi was chained. Quickly he cleaned wounds and bandaged them before they could start to bleed again. Itachi unlocked the chains at Kakashi's wrists and backed away as the man twisted and dropped.

"You have a choice," he began quickly, "you can join us, or die. You have one week to make your decision."