flypaw

Word Count: 640
Summary: All Naruto really wants is a bath and all Itachi (secretly) wants is a pet.
Pairing: Itachi x Naruto

Penchant

(A Strong Liking)

31/01/10

It had been, overall, a quiet evening at home. Naruto had come back from a mission not long ago and so spent the first two hours with Itachi, catching up on lost time. After the first couple of hours, Naruto proclaimed that he needed a bath and Itachi, ever the kind hearted, drew one for him.

Naruto smiled and left to sink into bubbles with a kiss to Itachi's cheek, pausing momentarily to watch as his partner made his way to the kitchen.

He was smiling as he stepped into the bubbles - because every manly-man had to have bubbles, who cares what other people think? - and sunk down into the water, sighing as his muscles relaxed fully from hours of walking during a mission.

Of course, his sanctity was shattered the moment he looked up. A sinking feeling dug deep in his belly and Naruto shuffled uncomfortably splashes of water falling on the ground as they escaped the bath. It had been such a good bath, too.

Naruto's eyes kept a track of the ceiling as he moved his shoulders closer to the bathroom door.

"Itachi?" He called out, half-whispering. Itachi took a moment to reply and Naruto realised he must have walked over to the door in that time.

"Yes Naruto?"

Naruto's hands were slippery on the door handle and he swallowed heavily. "I need you in here right now."

Now, to say that Itachi's interest wasn't piqued would be an understatement. He could, of course, remember the first time Naruto had said that, and so arched an eyebrow and smirked, opening the door to the bathroom.

Only to find a completely different scene. Naruto was hovering in the corner, a look of pure terror or his face as his eyes remained fixed to the ceiling. Itachi followed Naruto's look and shook his head at the sight.

On a little web sat a black spider, hardly bigger than a watermelon seed. Its long legs were lazily walking along the web, inspecting its catches for the day.

"Get rid of it." Naruto's voice was hard, very different to any other voice. Itachi had named it 'The Spider Voice'. It was an odd thing, of all things to be scared of, spiders did it for Naruto. Well, ghosts did too and, Itachi supposed, so did the ghosts of spiders... but for a man who had a high professional career in being a ninja, it was just very odd.

"He's not doing any harm, Naruto," Itachi tried to reason, as he did every time there was a spider in the house. Itachi took a strong liking to spiders, preferring them to flies. Naruto failed to see this logic, staring at the legs of spiders and shuddering.

"But look at it! it's just so freaky and get it out!"

Itachi sighed, knowing that he'd give in to Naruto at some point. With a resigned dip of the shoulders, Itachi made his way back to the kitchen, intent on grabbing an empty jar and releasing the spider outside as opposed to killing it. He may not win against the spider staying in the house, but he didn't have to kill it at least.

The spider wasn't too pleased at being evicted, but there was little it could do as Itachi (Naruto in tow after dressing rapidly) exited their home and went to the nearby park. Naruto stood as far back as he could while Itachi opened the jar, the long-legged spider tumbling out and scutting into the grass quickly.

"Cats eat spiders," Naruto suddenly said as they were making their way back. "I like cats."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "You want a cat?"

Naruto nodded, smiling. "Maybe then you won't be so sad when we let a spider go. Cats make better pets."

Itachi chuckled, kissing Naruto. He may like the spiders, but he liked Naruto a lot more. Now they just had to agree on a name for the cat.