The only thing more annoying than having a snot-nosed brat for a partner was having a snot-nosed brat who was better than you and knew it too.
Itachi was the worst choice of a partner Leader-sama could have made! He was too pretty, too cute, and too young! All the other members had partners that were near their own ages.  Why was Kisame the only one to get a partner who was a decade younger than him?!  This Uchiha brat would be nothing more than a pain in Kisame's butt…At least that's what he thought when he first laid eyes on Itachi….

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Kisame snorted indignantly as he watched his new partner examining his new home.  He felt more like a babysitter than an evil criminal.  The young nin opened the fridge and peered inside as Kisame watched with mild irritation.  What was the midget looking for anyway?

"You don't have any tofu or vegetables…?" the boy asked, his voice a mixture of young boy and teen.

Kisame shivered at the sound; "I'm not exactly a vegetarian…" he grumbled and walked out to the living room, sitting down roughly on the couch.

Itachi rifled through the cupboards and sighed.  Apparently Kisame had not intended on being assigned a partner; he only had one set of tableware.

"Kisame-sempai," he called softly wand waited for the Mist nin to glare through the kitchen doorway, "Would you rather I not be your partner?" he asked innocently, "If you really think I'd only be a bother..."

Kisame closed his eyes and forced himself to keep a normal breathing rate.  The brat was damn good at guilt tripping.  He sighed and opened his eyes. Dammit, why couldn't he just say no?!

"Look, Itachi," he wracked his brain for the proper response.  Nothing very good was coming to mind so he went with the slightly modified truth, "Leader-sama spoke so highly of you that I was expecting..."

"Someone a little bit older?" Itachi raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side.

Kisame sighed "Yeah." He shuffled his feet and looked away. Way to go, Kisame! Now he probably hates you…

"Perfectly understandable" Kisame's head jerked up.  Had the twerp just said what he thought he'd said? "Many people are shocked by the fact that I am so young" Itachi continued in a soft voice, "Though I do hope you will not take my adolescent appearance too lightly; I can easily hold my own in battle." And with that he walked gracefully out of the kitchen to inspect his new bedroom.

Kisame stared after the boy in amazement. Well, this was a first.  Had he just been politely told off by the thirteen-year-old?  He shook his head and followed the teen into their shared bedroom.  He stared at him as Itachi crawled up onto the platform bed and bounced on it lightly.  In those few seconds, he looked so much like a little kid that you'd never guess he'd decimated his entire clan.  Kisame felt his face growing hot and he quickly retreated from the room and went back to sitting on the couch.  

What the hell?!  Get a grip, Kisame!  He's nothing but a brat…..A really, really cute brat! He heard the sound of a paper being slipped under his front door and went to check the mail.  He read the letter and sighed, calling for Itachi.

The leaf nin came looking childishly annoyed, as if he'd been disturbed from some form of amusement, "What is that?" he reached for the letter.  

"We have a mission tomorrow; Leader-sama suggests we go to bed early so that we're ready to head out early." As if on cue, Itachi yawned widely and stretched.  

"That sounds fine. I'm a bit tired anyway.  I think I'll just go to bed; I'm not hungry." He half walked, half stumbled back into the bedroom and Kisame could hear the quite thud of Itachi's small body slamming against the mattress.  

Well, this was going to be interesting…