Naruto 1. Prologue

**Setting:** AU  
**Rating:** M  
**Pairing:** Uchiha Itachi x Deidara  
**Warnings:** Language, Sexual references

**Bonus Authors Notes:** My AU boys are back! This is just a teaser mwahahaha I'm evil. This one I will be holding off of posting more until its finished… well maybe the first chapter since I will be putting it on my writing journal first so if you want to see it fast you know where to go -points- It's in my Profile

* * *

**Prologue**

"Can you read me that message again?"

Something just didn't seem right about the text message that came through on his cell thirty minutes prior that ended the two of them back inside the magnificent black sports car, breaking the sound barrier bellowing down the road at 180km/h to make it back into the city. A simple weekend away out on the beachside had been cut short abruptly by the vibrating of the cell phone working deeper into the sand the longer he ignored it, the two of them were purposely ignoring any distractions as they were naked together on the crystal white sand of the secluded beach house they had rented for a getaway.

Willing tongues intertwined together, the slip of fingers through the long blond mane that cascaded over his shoulders, spilling over onto his chest as they locked together in a passionate kiss. It had been three painstakingly long months since they had been together, always apart with the distance between them only contact through streaming mobile video and provocative shots sent through multimedia messaging. Each other's voice while so close on the phone reminded them of the remoteness between each other.

But now they had been reunited for the break as short as it was but they were going to make the best out of it, lying in each other's embrace, gliding between the sheets - or in his this case, out on the open endless sallow - waiting to give into those sexual urges that burst open since he had returned.

They had almost been together for a year. Together so to speak with the final year of high school finished off for him, heading over to the pristine college that happened to be 1000 kilometers away making their actual year together limited with the time in each other's company. But relationship wise, that was how long it had been, not quite love but yet not fully driven on hating passion towards each other. It was at a steady mutual like.

Except now it was totally driven by lust as erections grinded against each other, heated kisses becoming more wanting, wandering hands recapping what the other felt like as whispered words of longing was spoken. They were ready for each other as the blond shifted himself up high posing himself above the thick tip of his lover, prepared for him to break through that what seemed like his virgin tight boundary to fill his backside with his...

"I need you both here. It's an emergency, un."

And that was as far as it got because they were forced to race back to the side of one of the closest joint friends they had. Some kind of medical disaster or complication that required them to leave what would have been mind-blowing sex in the past. There still could have been a chance that they could if he only answered his phone which lead them to believe that something major was up.

Forty-five minutes it took for them to get back on what would have been at least a two-hour drive. Tires squealing to a dead halt into the parking bay of the widely known garage leading the two teens - well one teen, the other just not long ago turned twenty to take him out of that age bracket - in the main workshop looking around frantically for the one that that called out for them to return.

"Daichi, where are you?" the blond called out at the top of his lungs receiving a swarm of faces back in his direction. Every single one of them cocked their eyebrows at the hectic pace they were moving.

Laughter escalated throughout the small group huddled over cars working, some just standing around talking but everyone of them found their mood amusing. "He's taking a shit," one of the chuckled with a point towards the back area. "Yeah you can wipe his crack for him if you want to Princess."

Okay, emergency or not, normal movements of bowels were going to happen but did it had to be at a time like this when they needed to know answers on why they were called away from their little love nest. No one else was talking, instead returning to their own conversations leaving the dumbfounded duo out of it.

Maybe it was Rin or worse… Milkshake! His poor little baby might have been hurt especially around inconsiderate bastards like they who wouldn't look out for the small undersized kitten who had a fascination of sleeping on the cooling engines. All it took was one of them to start it up without looking to have him spin around a few fan belts like caught inside a dryer being tossed out into churning blades…………

"DAICHI GET OUT HERE NOW, UN!" He was getting himself worked up into a state of panic and they really had no idea what was going on.

"Jesus Dei, I'm not deaf." Although there was a good chance he was now after the shrill scream that almost made his ear drums burst causing bleeding.

Standing in front of them was the man in question, the one who sort them out requested that they returned for some kind of importance, even if he didn't tell them that he was in the room, his spiked sapphire hair surely would have gave him away in a crowd. And Deidara had locked straight onto him, storming up looking straight up with the distance between heights demanding an answer.

"Where is Milkshake?" he huffed, hands on hips. Emergency forgotten and now the tiny black and white patchy kitten was the only thing important in his mind.

Wriggling his finger around in his ear he worked the capability to hear back into his canal, glancing down once the ringing stopped. "He is with Mikoto," he replied, not backing down from the glare of hate he was receiving, instead popping a rock candy into his mouth completely unfazed by Deidara and his eccentric moods. If looking like a female was bad enough, he swore that he mood swung once a month like a woman surfing the crimson wave.

"My mother?" the silent one standing back finally spoke up.

Pushing the blond to the side with one hand, he moved in towards Itachi since he was the one that he was more interested in for the moment, nodding with his arms crossed against his chest. "Yeah he kept on sleeping on engines. Almost got sucked into a fan belt."

Deidara's heart leapt up into his chest knowing that his hypothesis could have been try but thankfully he caught onto the part where he said 'almost', allowing his heart to cram back down his throat into its hiding hole again. "So what's the big emergency then? This better be something worthwhile, un."

Especially since he was about to get himself laid but at least he was glad that Milkshake was safe with someone who was more than capable of taking care of him. He would have went straight to her if it didn't feel so awkward going up to the parent of someone who might have been his boyfriend, - he wasn't too sure if they were that since it was never formally discussed - and asked her to take care of the present that her son have him before he ran away for college.

Sliding up onto the bonnet of the Chevy he had been contracted to restore, Daichi's foot embedded into the fender using it for his foot rest, sucking on the sweet in his mouth indulging himself in the sugar goodness. "I need Itachi to go to America for me… well you too," he finally stated the pressing matter that had sent them scurrying back.

In his own mind this was an emergency and if he turned around and sent a message saying 'Come back, need you to race' he was certainly have received one back saying 'Fuck you, sex time' so this eliminated the problem. Those two were so predictable.

Dead silence. So quiet that a cricket caught in one of the vents could he clearly heard chirping away which was the only thing that broke the thick air of tension in the place. America… he had forced them away from steamy sex making it sound like someone had died with the short basic plain message for them to go to America.

"I need you to race over there."

No sex for racing. While the Uchiha would have gladly raced for him given that he would do anything to feel that heart pumping adrenaline that only the open road could give while you were speeding through the tight hairpins, sex with Deidara came very close to simulating the same effect. Sometimes even better especially went it was in the back seat of a car combining the two worlds.

Instead he had been left with a painful hard on while he drove back, the mood totally killed with not even a continuation on the way back, both worried to death to care about that. Now he was certainly caring about it.

"I'm not going," Itachi simply stated to him, ready to stand firm as a result.

Deidara too united in with rebuttal, puffing his cheeks out crossing his arms standing his ground as well. "Me neither, un."

He was appalled by the hostility received by them, hell he freely gave them the chance to join the mile high club to add to the escalating places they were known to have quite open public relations in, this was an opportunity for them. Crunching away on the last of his candy, he swallowed the small particles, sliding down the off the glossy paintwork with a stern look splash across his face.

"After all I have done for you," he sighed rolling his eyes, poking at the ring piercing through his lip swirling it around in circles as he drew in closer. "And this is how you repay me?"

Upset with them? Not at all, in fact he was going to milk this for all it was worth, laying the guilt trip card would just be the start of it if he didn't get his way. This wasn't just a race; this was an opportunity of a lifetime that he was freely handing over to them instead of someone else that would have jumped at the prospect. Just because they were the best he had, he just couldn't let that fact on especially Deidara, didn't want to get his head more bloated than what it already was. "Do you really want me to point it all out for you?"

Intently he looked between them waiting for the slightest flinch of doubt, Deidara was a tough one to crack but if Itachi changed his mind they had had them both in the bag. Everything was hushed once again; even the ones out the back had stopped to listen to the commotion, intently waiting the answer that would be given.

"What about my car?" and he had got him.

Grinning widely, Daichi slapped two plane tickets in their hands with a nod. "You can't get it by customs fast enough so it will stay here. Mikoto already brought your bag around and Dei, I packed all your shit from here so you are all set to go." He was very proud of himself, best performance yet. "There will be someone meeting you when you land. Your plane leaves in an hour."

Still stunned by how quickly that went down, the two boys blinked towards each other and then at the back of the man walking way carrying on like nothing had happened to work back on the car, suckling on another candy.

Something radically strange just happened that they couldn't explain, somehow standing their ground quickly was turned around leaving them with no choice but to abide by his wishes. Now they were there with pre-prepared luggage and two tickets to another country with no explanation on what was going to be happening in the foreign land except for the word that there was going to be a race.

Picking up his duffel bag from the ground, the short blond slung the pack over his shoulder returning back the way they came towards the car, looking back at the workshop still bewildered by it all. "We just got played didn't we?" That bastard, he had it planned from the beginning.

With a sigh in return, Itachi nodded getting into the car and starting up the rumbling roar of the rotary engine. "Yeah," he replied, reversing out of the driveway heading straight to the international airport.

**Tokyo, Japan. 12:05pm**

Rushing through the check in with the final call for their flight to leave, Itachi and Deidara dashed through the crowds charging for the gate with their tickets waving up in the air calling out that they were for bound for that flight. Just as the gate was closing they let them through, ushering them into their seats out of breath from the hard run, slumping back as they prepared for takeoff.

At least it was starting to pick up again with the warm arms wrapping around his chest, the playful male snuggling in close excited about the trip they were about to take explaining he had never been to America before. In fact he hadn't been on a plane since his trip from his country of birth bound for his residence in Japan.

"Can you speak English?" Itachi asked curiously, closing his eyes resting his head to the side so the window was in clear view to watch the plane start its accent.

Purring happily against him, Deidara settled against him ready for the long flight again. "Milkshake," he murmured speaking the only word he knew.

All optimism about this just flew straight out the window and got sucked into the turbines of the jet rapidly hurdling towards the clouds. No sex, no car, no clue what was going on and a boyfriend that didn't speak a scrap of English. His time off was just getting better and better.


	2. Japan to Los Angeles

**Setting:** AU  
**Rating:** M  
**Pairing:** Uchiha Itachi x Deidara  
**Warnings:** Language, Sexual references

* * *

**Chapter 01 - Japan to Los Angeles**

**Los Angeles, California. 3:27pm.**

In an orderly fashion people ushered off the plane with the cabin crew wishing them good times at their destination, plastered with fake smiles after the long tiring flight it took to get there. Why couldn't have Daichi got them the non-stop flight or even the solo stop at San Francisco instead of the hell they just went through? Not only did they have the layover in the American city but a three hour wait in Osaka for the plane to refuel for the next leg making it a total of 19 hours and 22 minutes spent in transit. There was a silent plan made now to exchange the tickets on the way back if they weren't to their liking, never again wanting to experience a numb ass like for from sitting down for so long.

Saying goodbye to the All Nippon Airways Boeing 747 of Flight 1163, the pair entered the terminal ready for the fight of their lives to push people away from the busy conveyer belts, not particularly in the mood for the hair pulling and that cat scratching of retrieving luggage. Luckily that decision was made early as the group started to crowd in on the rotating machines to stay back until they had all stopped scavenging like crows, where they would be the smart ones and hang back like vultures to pick the carcasses clean.

"What time is it?" the height challenged blond asked, rubbing his eyes as if he just woke up.

After a flight that long especially on how late at night it had left, sleep was imperative to which Deidara had received but the crick in his neck from the uncomfortable seats made it hard to get to sleep at first but once he was relaxed, he was out like a light. Itachi however, was another story not being able to sleep during travel at all no matter how exhausted he was, so much that his second wind had kicked in over the Pacific and then came his third, fourth, fifth, now on his sixth functioning surprisingly able-bodied for the time awake.

A glance down at his watch, looking at the time that was still set on their own countries time and then up to the board over that was lit up brightly with arrivals to the famous LAX Airport, squinting his eyes to make out the time displayed in blinding red trying to make out the time. "We are 16 hours behind Tokyo now" he hummed making the calculation in his head on the time difference.

"Huh what!? What day is it? What date?" This notion did not compute. They were in the past?

Even that was too much for him to think about, shrugging back with his response. "Fucked if I know."

**Los Angeles, California. 4:16pm. Date… fucked if they knew.**

Crowds started to die down around the rotating assortment of luggage which brought them to a move, standing side by side watching the bags circle around and around that would cause eyes to focus inwards and one blond to cling onto the taller one's side. Deidara wasn't looking the best, skin paler than usual, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, clammy complexion. Hmmm this wasn't looking too good.

Finally after ten cycles their two knapsacks made their trail through, Itachi reaching out and snatching both of those up slinging straight over his shoulder. A sideways glance over at the quiet male still latched onto him refusing to let go, not even the rouse of a cigarette was enough to shift him as the midnight hair male lit up the toxic stick inhaling the gas.

So now what? He really had no idea. Sent on a plane with minimal information wasn't going to get them moving to… whatever it was they were supposed to be doing. Transportation looked to be a brightly blinding yellow taxi - which was in no way going to replace of his car for a race, his hand rose to the sky calling for attention, waiting for the swarm to rush over.

"Hey are you Itachi… Ooocheee, Uhkey," So far the attempt to pronounce his named was failing splendidly, dropping the voice to a low mumble. "How the fuck do I say that?"

Rolling his eyes at the idiot that couldn't even say his surname - which mind you wasn't _that_ hard, Itachi stopped him with a gruff "It's Uchiha," clearing that matter up for him.

"My Tachi," or as stated by Deidara, _his_ Itachi.

"Lachlan Danvers," he replied, sturdily thrusting his hand in their direction. "But you can call me Loccy."

Now this man who identified himself was not the typical looking guy that would have hung with Daichi's crew. This one oozed American with his stocky build, slight beer gut and dirty oil pasted denim that looked not to have been washed in a good year. Clumps of dusty short auburn tussled in ten different directions, stuck in place that presumably was not hair gel but the secretions of his scalp. "I'm Daichi's stockist for the American Muscle he fixes. Ummm… do you speak English?"

A distasteful look down at the grotty hand out towards him, not meeting the kind gesture at all still peeved about being sent off without explanation, now being taken out on him. "Yes Lachlan, I do," the Uchiha replied in totally disregard for the name he wanted to be addressed by. One year studying abroad during his junior years was paying off for him right now.

"My Itachan is speaking funny talk, un." That was enough to state however, that Deidara did not. "I want to go home now"

Wrinkling his face up in a questionable sense, the man watched the taller one carefully petting the other, whispering words that he did not understand at all being that his knowledge of Japanese went to the extent of sushi and that was all. However, the closeness of the two drivers that had been contacted about was puzzling. A strange thing those Asian guys had going on.

"Is he alright?"

Itachi nodded slowly, stubbing his cigarette out on the pavement with the ball of his shoe, ignoring the still oncoming complaints from Deidara. "He has jet lag," he explained as if it wasn't obvious enough.

"How can you tell that? Because he is whining like a child?"

"No he is always like that. He is clingy and grumpy." To most people that might have been the same thing but Itachi knew better, this grumpy and normal grumpy were two different thing.

"Itachi I don't feel too good, un," the meek voice told him, peeking up from his hunch position. Questions inaudibly in the language only understood by two were asked if he was going to be sick, a sluggish nod replied knowing that the sudden tense in his stomach was not good at all.

Softly, the arm hooked around him scooped up the golden locked pulling them over his back leaving the way clear as he spoke "You might want to move," to the unknowing man.

Reaction times weren't quick enough to register as the stream of bile splattered over the front of his torn jeans, working downwards to his sneakers now plastered with badly cooked airplane food that they had consumed. Whispered words to his boyfriend asking if he felt better after that were ignored by the man who looked horrified that he had vomit all over him. Eww eww disgusting and there was chunks!

Loccy was horrified. Deidara just slumped. Itachi couldn't care less. Throughout it all, their first experience together had at least been memorable. Sadly, it had to come to an end. Part dragging, part carrying the dead weight blond, they all made their way through to the car park and out of the vicinity of the airport heading to their next destination that was only known by one. There were a few questions that he wanted answered before he jumped out of the speeding car and headed straight back for the airport.

"What is this race exactly?" Itachi questioned, laying back into the back seat of the pickup truck with the groaning blond across his lap.

"Did he not tell you anything?" Loccy questioned, flicking a piece of - maybe - chicken out the window. Trust Daichi to leave all the grunt work up to him. "Okay, you two are entered for Nitro."

Dead stillness throughout the car, only the road noise and the clunking of tools in the tray from the bad suspension was heard. Nitro? What the hell was Nitro? Yes, they knew what the use of it was, a few of the cars were juiced with it but as a race they were clueless.

Thankfully the long drive back to his workshop was spent in explanation about the whole concept, what part they were playing on it. Originally dubbed NitroWarz, was created by a rich kid who had too much money on his hands, a lust for speed and a great defiance for authority. The seven-day event was to take place starting at Los Angeles and ending at Miami where checkpoints were to be met every day, laying over for the night to recover with a good round of drinking before proceeding to the next checkpoint the next day. During each round there was a midway point which was mandatory to arrive at, each one had a different extra event to take part in more for team bonding if you wanted to participate but everyone had to arrive there. At the end of it all there would be one winner only, the one who scores the most points in both events and arrival time would take the fame with them and be classed the first every champion.

"There has been a couple of events like this over here so far but it drags people in from around the globe, even celebrities." Lachlan was excited about catching a glimpse of the blond bimbo that had been hired to start the race, maybe even a chance to get an autograph. "But there are some that take this seriously. Driving teams will be here with their best drivers. Which is why Daichi sent you," he finished, making the conclusion about it.

After flicking over the material provided to the entrants, it all suddenly became clear to Itachi on why Daichi was willing to shell out the money to send there all the way over there. His intensions were never on them, it was all on him with the list of sponsors that the event had. HKS, APEXi, Sparco, Brembo, Recaro. The list when on and on. Industries were looking to move away from the race circuit and branch out into the illegal uprising market of underground racing. People paying more attention to the white stickers on the side of high performance tuners than splashed over circuit cars. Word got around about the major players in the business - Daichi being one of them, - word of mouth superseding everything in the most common form and they were looking to get a part in on it. Them on the side of a top racing team would skyrocket sales and fatten the owner's wallet.

Not to mention there was a 250,000 prize for winning. Pfft, as if sponsorship deals weren't enough.

**Lock 'n Load Garage. 5:02pm.**

Abruptly they came to a standstill, sliding into the car park of the grand scale workshop, inflicting whiplash on the main driver of the crew from his terrible driving. Saying that he was the main driver and in fact the only driver was accurate as Deidara didn't even have a license in Japan so damn sure the US Government wasn't stupid enough to issue him with an international license.

But the blond was incapacitated for now, snuggled up in the arms of his boyfriend as he took him upstairs of the two-story luxury building and laid down into the bunks to sleep the effects off. A stretch and yawn, cracking all the tender vertebrae in his neck, the tired brunette trudged down the stairs to speak more about business. Any minute now the rush of energy would come to an end leaving him dead tired and more than likely, passed out standing up. So time was imperative.

The track and trace mission ended in success. Leaning over tinkering with a refined metallic gold Aston Martin DB9, Lachlan was muttering under his breath over the workmanship from the dealer that messed up the cooling system, which brought the owner to him after seeing the error of his ways. He was much like the blue-haired genius back home, no car was too much of a hassle to work on, no specialty field. Just pure machines.

"How long have you been working on them?" the quiet yet firm voice asked.

Time of the drive and knowledge of what was to come had calmed his nerves down, making him more pleasant than earlier. It was hard to be the politest person in the world when you were falsely dragged away from sex, shoved on a plane without having much of a say and then told that you were going to be in some ridiculous race. He just wanted a quiet time away with Deidara and even that was impossible now that he was suffering from nausea.

"Twenty one years." And not a day went by that he regretted his decision. Another player in the world of illegal racing that settled down to passing his information onto the next generation. "How is he feeling?"

Breathing in, Itachi struck his lighter against the white tipped stick igniting it into blends of red, yellow and orange exhaling loudly. "He is sleeping it off." Conversation with an almost complete stranger was not a strong point. "You still smell like puke." Really, truly no social aptitude whatsoever.

Thankfully the reaction was laughing, moving him from under the hood dusting his hands off on his pants adding to that tonne of grease that will never get washed off. "It's alright, I got kids," he continued to chuckle. He had been thrown up on more times than he could remember, just because it was a full-grown teenager, it made no difference.

For a good three hour afterwards the two of them talked - 99.9 percent of that was Loccy - until the sun started to set bringing the twinkling twilight in the sky. Cars, driving, Daichi. All the things they had in common, finding out more about the other as well as the extent of the relationship the middle-aged man had with the younger rat. Seemed like they were not the only one that had been played by Daichi over the years, Lachlan suffering the wrath back when he was still driving that had eternally left him scamming parts for dirt cheap.

"Hey Itachi, I wanna show you it before it gets too dark," Lachlan stated with a nod, leading him outside to behind the workshop. Dark was an understatement with the haze of night already in full effect but the sparkling lights of the highly sort after garage provided all the lighting they needed.

A simple point over to the machine under the protective covering showed him that was what he was talking about, rolling back the blue tarp revealing his masterpiece. A car. More specifically a Nissan 300ZX Targa Top with custom Veilside wide body kit splashed flamboyantly in deep maroon, decaled with the sponsors logo of what was inside to strike fear into the hearts of people that wanted to know what exactly it was running. For an early 90's machine, this was a beast.

"I heard you drove the RX so to adjust it better I got an import for you," Import being normal for him, given that American's all drove left hand drive cars. "Twin turbo but the power to weight ratio is slightly different by about 50 – 60 pounds so you need to watch for that. Dyno testing has it outputting at 540HP." By the time he had finish driving this masterpiece he would not be going back to that lame Mazda.

Impressed he was. There was no denying that the mechanic had taken everything into account to custom build it from the ground upwards. There would have been no chance that Itachi would have felt comfortable in a left hand side drive or in something that wasn't to his Japanese background. Granted that getting used to it would be the first part but he was going to enjoy it.

Fingers glided against the smoothly polished surface over the glossy sheen, caressing it soften that if it was his lover - who was still unconscious upstairs so cheating with a car was acceptable, - feeling each dip and bump becoming acquainted with each other. Itachi was only new to the game, never understanding much about what he had just said earlier with only minimal sticking out but he could admire the effort that had went into it.

"This race war was designed for the racers. Twelve teams and you are going to have to come out on top."

"Twelve teams…," he repeated in a low mumble, still entranced by the Nissan. One on one basis he had did before on the mountain and on the course but open road would be something different. Of course they would be able to do it. So far he was undefeated on both terrains and this would not be his first loss, unknown territory or not, taking it to the end and claiming Deidara for his own trophy.

Snapping out of his lustful dream back into full alert, the young male shifted his crimson glance to the other, narrowed ready for interrogation. "Do you know any of them?"

Loccy, who was caught by surprise with the straight eye contact, quickly dropped the shirt he had been sniffing. Being told your odor still reeked of churned up food tend to make you a little self-conscious about it. "Only what's on the grapevine."

The blank perplexed stare back brought him to double take his speech used forgetting that English was not his native language so he would have to simplify it. "Ahh, a team from Germany, Australia, few US, Italians. Some from Britain and oh! Another Japanese team." That would have been the real answer he would have been looking for.

"Japan…" Itachi mused to himself quietly. Was Daichi seeing them as a threat? Was this why he was so insistent about them coming over instead of sending a couple of the others who could clearly do the task? Did he even know about them? Too many questions, missing the only one who could answer them.

"Yeah. A team from Kah… Kaaaaan…Kansas." Shit, that was in United States.

What an idiot. "Kansai?"

"Yes! Kan… that thing."

A Kansai team. Hmm. There were a few that had blown by over time hailing from there but none in particular that he could recall, not that paying attention to any of the others was what he done. Still, they were not to be taken lightly.

"When does it start?"

"Tomorrow. You should get some rest now."

Tomorrow when it would all happen. The other teams, the people they would be facing, the atmosphere as a whole. Itachi's blood was pumping feverishly with anticipation.


	3. Meet The Rivals

**Series:** Naruto  
**Setting:** AU  
**Rating:** M  
**Pairing:** Uchiha Itachi x Deidara  
**Warnings:** Language, Sexual references

* * *

**Chapter 02: Meet the Rivals**

No matter what city, what country you were in, there were always those annoying happy birds chirping in at the break of dawn. Singing their songs of a new day wanting the world to wake up a cheerful musical tone but instead, all you wanted to do was to throw something heavy out at the trees to see if you would kill them with one blow.

"Make them stop!"

And so the new day had arrived for them. Their first real day in the land of freedom, the United States of America, where their brains still wanted to believe that it was the wrong time of day.

Itachi had been the first to rise as usual before the sun had even thought about awaking the morning sky. Regardless of the country, he was still out for his morning run, taking the sights of the industrial strip of the foreign land. Today was the day it was all about to begin. Not much information had been given to him except that their places were already purchased at a nice price of 13,000 US dollars that entitled them to entry, all access parties and a cozy room to sleep in each night. Other than that, they were clueless.

Coming back to the workshop dripping with sweat for the refreshing jog, Itachi moved up the stairs to the higher loft heading straight for the shower, taking note of the groaning blond tossing and turning in his sleep. He could only hope that the effects of the jet lag had worn off and he was back to his usual self or the day was going to be troublesome with that alone.

**Lock 'n Load Garage. 5:31am.**

The alarm clock ticked over to the set alarm point, blaring the beep for them all to wake up only that there was one that it was intended for. Moaning loudly with curses and threats, Deidara cracked his eyes open slowly to the stinging light streaming through the poorly filtered blinds, instantly retracting pulling the blankets up over his head.

"Time to go back to bed now. Mommy needs five more minutes, un," the sleepy blond groaned in confusion of his surroundings.

There was no mischievous cat there to tug on his ear or paw at his face to wake him up, however that did not stop Deidara from mumbling out, "Itachi. Feed the child," before rolling over and going back to deep slumber.

Itachi had caught the end of it as he walked out towel clad, rubbing down the dampness of his hair. If only Deidara could have seen him now then he was sure to wake up except this was a sight he was going to miss out on as he dropped the linen over a chair. He wasn't told what to wear and there was nothing really spectacular in his bag so a plain grey t-shirt and navy cargos were his choice for the day. A last check in on Deidara, setting the alarm for another ten minutes, sneakers done up and a quick brush and tie up of his hair and Itachi was set, going downstairs to join up with the temporary guide for the day.

Coming down the stairs, he faced the happy morning smile of the one called Loccy, calling out for him as if he hadn't noticed he was coming in the first place. Itachi could only do his best to ignore the American's ways and bowed his head politely, glancing over at the motioned table to see breakfast waiting for him.

"Gotta eat healthy y'know," the slightly tubby man boasted, pushing over the bowl he had took his time in preparing.

The brightly colored cereal was something that he had not seen before and did not think he wanted to as well, picking up the packet muttering "Fruit… Loops," before putting it back down. With all his mental will power, the native Japanese had to fight the urge to wrinkle his face at the food that said it was fruit but clearly with the little pieces of sugar – maybe, – the fruit was a lie. Only that it was not his place to comment or to ask for something more appropriate, grunting out his thanks and pouring at least no fat milk onto the sickly looking breakfast cereal seeing exactly how the man got his spare tire in the front.

After the first bite, he could clearly see that this morning starter was not to his liking and would be more accustomed to the sweet tooth of his fellow traveling companion. It was so sweet on his taste buds that he could feel the cavities starting to form but breakfast was just that, not to mention the day ahead where the chance to eat might not come up again. Still, bleh.

"Tachi got sugary cereal. He must be broken."

Itachi sighed happily at the body that still radiated the warmth of sleep clinging over his shoulders, rubbing his toasted cheek against his own, clearly not still awake.

"Good morning," he spoke serenely, holding the spoon up over his shoulder to Deidara's mouth.

One bit was taken, then another. The artificially sweetened breakfast was better than a cup of strongly percolated espresso, shifting his body around sitting up on his lap wanting to be fed more. "I had the strangest dream, un," Deidara mumbled in recollection, lapping at the fruity milk from under the spoon.

He could already see where this was going with his prediction being spoken out loud. "You were dragged halfway across the world to a strange country and threw up on some strangers shoes?"

"Mmmm no. It was more like you were somehow turned into a cat boy and you had these cute little ears and I got to pet you all night long, un."

The slightest smirk spread across his face completely happy to remember that part. He got to pet everywhere. Forgetting about the food for the time being, Deidara had found a new snack that tasted even sweeter, nibbling along the curves of his delicious neck.

"You had a this tiny little bell tied with ribbon that made a sound every time you got ha…but now that you mention it. Where are we?"

He had a perfectly good answer for that expect that Deidara did not give him the chance to answer that, pulling him into a deep but caressing kiss, still not awake enough to fully push it to the limit. Besides, it was nice to have those happy kisses every once in a while.

Cough, choke, spray, a failed muffling attempt at trying to cover it up as coffee sprayed half way across the table. That was enough to break the two of them up with the blond shifting his eyesight to the interrupting person… the tubby intruding one.

"Who is that, un?"

"That is Lachlan," Itachi pointed to the bewildered man who was now dripping brown down his chin and out of his nose. "He is the one you threw up on."

"You mean that was real!?"

Clearly it seem that Deidara had no recollection of the night before, the terrible flight and the bought of jetlag that followed. Lachlan scurried off to the kitchen for paper towels, back in a flash drier than before, hand held out for a proper introduction.

"Welcome to America," he grinned only that Deidara was not happy at all with the look of disinterest he gave him.

He turned his nose up at the friendly gesture and clung around Itachi's neck instead, lip jaunted further than he could have possibly got it but he did.

"I will fill you in on the way there."

The discussion that was meant to be given to the forgetful one was only short and brief as everything started to come back to him once again without so much as an apology for the accident that happened. It wasn't Deidara's style at all to say he was sorry for something like that. Instead there was something way more important for that moment.

His face was almost permanently glued to the passenger side window, winding it down eventually when he almost went through it at the sights of the city.

"Wow. This place is amazing, un," Deidara gasped at the perfectly structured streets.

They would see nothing like this back home. So crowded and over populated as a country but here, it was spacious and green, oh so green. Palm trees! They had gigantic palm trees! The beach had to be close by. So why where they driving around in an overly modified Nissan when they could be out there frolicking in the cleanest beaches in the world he bet.

"I think I am in heaven."

Heaven this place was not but closely compared by some people. Everyone that lived there would try to state that they were the best thing that lived on the planet but in reality, they were just stuck up. There was only one place in the entire world that could live by that moral standard.

**North Vermont Ave, Hollywood. 8.10am**

Indicators flashed off in the distance from their pilot as he started to veer to the left, following the direction of the blinking light. Itachi followed suit and clicked the paddle to turn into the direction, having to slow down for the backup of entering cars that were having problems fitting into the cramped valet parking area of the Hollywood Hotel.

One by one they started to filter through into vacant bays being led by the careful hand of the parking attendants until their turn arose. Parked, engine off and they were free, exiting the car waiting for Loccy who was fortunate enough to be parked next to a Maserati MC12.

Back and forth he moved the door at a snail pace, raising his body up off the seat to peek at where the side doors were and how far away they were from that debt that would take him a lifetime and a half to pay back if it got a scratch. A shift, swivel, one daring foot trying to squeeze between the small gap making its break onto the ground. He almost snapped his foot clean off from the angle it took to get out, cursing the fact that somehow, your shoe never made it out successfully. Next came the insane take of getting his plump body out of the car, breathing in deep thinking skinny thoughts while he pushed up, making sure that the door kept close to his body.

"I will be joining Weight Watchers after... this..." he grunted with an empty promise.

A couple of hops to the side to free himself from the door and then he was clear, calling out "Saaaaafe" in a cheer of his accomplishments. All there was now was too close to door and...

The loud random yelling of abuse almost made him lose his balance, crying out to all the gods as the door sprung outwards heading straight for the paint. There would be only one option for him to do but it would keep him living happy for the rest of his life rather than being broke. Using his quick thinking, Loccy dived down to wedge himself between the car and the door frame, making it just in time slamming steel into his gut. Phew.

Maybe he might rethink that trip to the dieticians but for now there were sounds of hysterical laughter directed at him.

"Yeah very funny," Loccy rolled his eyes towards the crumbling blond that got a big kick out of it. If anyone screamed out random Japanese at you when you weren't expecting it, let's see how they would react.

Everyone else that had witnessed the entire thing joined in with Deidara's maniacal chuckle, pointing towards the embarrassed man who did his best to pass it off as nothing. That teen was going to be on his list of people who need a good whacking across the head with a spanner. At least the attention span of everyone there didn't last long with something better to do.

The Japanese duo together with guide filtered through the crowd to enter the building, spotting the easily readable signs that lead to where they were going. Although there were many were from other countries and couldn't speak the best English, the logo of the races were displayed largely for them to notice with comical oversized arrows. Even Deidara in all his English stupidity pointed out that they must have been the things they were looking for or he just noticed the crowd of people trying to fit into the one substantial meeting room.

Large it might have been but with that many people in there, it was crowded. 100 people easily where there for the event. All of that money they paid out for to get into the place and most of them weren't truly competing and just there for the adrenaline rush of a cross country rally. Many nationalities from all over the globe where there and not just the businessmen that had nothing better to do to waste their hard earned fortune on something some extravagant, but public faces. Entrepreneurs, actors, models, comedians, musicians. Even ones known from their own country were pointed out to Itachi as they squeezed between the thick wall of bodies at the opening to take their seat.

"Hey Itachi, that's the guy from that band," Deidara pointed out to his boyfriend while they waited for something to happen. "You know. The one from that one with the song, un."

"I know the one," he replied, understanding the somewhat fractured code he was speaking to him in. No. He did really. "That one over there starred in that movie with the secret agent."

Not that Western films were to his liking but this one he knew. A few more faces he could put names to from reading magazines over time, the successful people behind businesses especially being that he rather read the financial magazine then sit down and spend hours in front of the television.

"He is a racing legend. He owns a rental car company that he took over from his father but he had participated in many rallies. Bullrun and Gumball 3000 are ones that come to mind."

The two Japanese might not have really known who he was but the mechanic sure did. Lachlan was up at the speed of light, dashing towards the rallying legend clinging onto his hand and shaking it like a fumbling teenager.

"Oh Mr. Roy I am quite the fan. That time in San Antonio when you got arrested, that was… the way you handled the film crew… I love you."

That supermodel that he was after was a long lost glimmer of a thought as he blurted his feelings out to the artificially bald businessman. He was so happy that he could have kissed that head of his. His excitement escalated when the pen was pulled out and signed across his shirt, lucky enough to bring a camera with him as he posed next to the hero and smiled widely. He was forever going to cherish this moment. He could almost cry.

"Strange guy, un," Deidara mumbled leaning over to Itachi, scoffing in his ear.

"Yeah," came the agreement back, rolling his eyes ignoring all further action that was to take place with him.

They had all that was needed anyway.

**Fairbanks Salon. 9.00AM**

"Everyone, attention. We are about to begin."

Under most circumstances that would not have worked, people would have continued to talk and carry on but unlike a classroom of teenagers, these were grown men and women. Except for the tanned skin trio that stood up out in front and strutted around, getting some laughs from the group in their own form of crowd control.

"Of course you all know the Cuban Brothers," the announcer clapped that sparked the rest to follow as they took their seat.

The room went eerily quiet, not even a whisper now, knowing what was about to begin.

"First of all I would like to welcome you all to the first ever NitroWarz."

The crowd started to cheer at the mentioning of the name of the race, quieting back down to a whisper after they had got it all out. Itachi looked over at Deidara and shrugged, forgetting momentarily that he could not understand what was being said.

"Do you want me to translate for you?" he asked barely above a whisper, not to distract anyone else.

The blond gave a short nod back thinking that he was going to be left out of some big secret if he didn't. "That would be fantastic, un."

"I am the organizer for the event, Mitchell Green as you all know."

"Rich business man who has too much money, wants to throw it around," Itachi translated in his own rendition of it. Technically, it was true.

"Now putting the formalities past us, let's get to the rules. Now you should have read over there with your information packs but in case you didn't pay attention, let's recap."

"Rules? Aww come on this sucks, un. What fun can you have if there are rules," Deidara whined folding over his arms giving a large pout.

The Uchiha glanced over and shrugged, goes back to listening to what he was about to say. Although it was promoted as a rally, there would be many that would break the rules -him being one of them- so having the boundaries were wise. But what could they stick on them that would keep them in order? He had checked over that booklet many times before leaving this morning and there was nothing that stated such things.

"No GPS or Satellite Navigation systems can be used."

Well that was a given. What fun would it be if it told you the direction there and that's what maps were for? At least some idiots who couldn't read them would end up in some back water town where everyone carried pitch forks and chewed straw.

"No cell phones. No laptop computers."

Now that was pushing the boundaries a little there, the friendship was being tested with the removal of vital objects especially ones that were needed in case of a break down. However, from what was mentioned, this was a recorded event with backup crews on standby to pick up stranded people. This wouldn't pose too much of a problem.

"No radio, CD, DVD or MP3 Players."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me, un!"

Ninety eight heads turned to look back at the loud cursing that came in a language that most of them did not understand, snickering at the long haired 'girl' flailing her arms about having a dummy spit.

"What am I meant to do for god knows how many hours a day? For six days!"

Itachi could only sigh and turn his head slightly away without even making an attempt to turn the noise level down on Deidara. Perhaps the fact that they hadn't seen each other for four months and supposedly missing each other very much would be a factor in that. Looked like he assumed incorrectly about that one. It was comforting to know that he wasn't really missed.

Finally calming down to a low toned grumble, Deidara ceased his loud complaints and allowed him to continue. He still was not happy about that stipulation at all.

"Each start of day, cars can only leave when instructed to do so. Speeding will lead to severe penalties. An arrest will lead to immediate disqualification. Now you will have to go to the registration desk to get the last of your details but other than that. Enjoy your trip and we will see you in Miami."

Clapping and cheering erupted as the group once again became lively, rushing to their feet to get the last of the details out of the way before they started their journey off. The two took their time moving over to the required positions, Deidara was still put out by the lack of music he was going to have and Lachlan... well he was networking with anyone and everyone he could get his hands on.

"I can't believe they are leaving that stupid rule in, un. That is completely pointless. I mean what insider tip can you get from listening to iTunes?" Deidara continued to complain as they advanced closer.

It was only four hours into the day since he had woken up -two of them actually spent with Deidara awake- and already, this was getting on his nerves. Why couldn't he just accept it and move on was beyond him but instead he was carrying on like a baby.

"Just drop it. There will be plenty of things to do such as enjoying the view of a different country," the brunette attempted to justify for him. He purposely left out the fact that their distance between them that had now been closed would have been more than enough reason but Itachi kept silent.

"Jesus, what crawled up your ass," Deidara scoffed in return.

There was no point in trying to fight it.

Pair by pair, people left the lines bringing them closer. Almost up near the front when the snide snickering of someone came from behind them, ignored at first being that anyone would be mocking them from the previous display but that was until they spoke.

"Hey look. It's Team Fag."  
"Daichi sent you two. Fuck, this is going to be easier than I thought."

Turning together at the same time, they came face to face with the ones that they had been warned about. The other ones like them. The Kansai team.

"Well well, looks like Team Daikenkai is here."

Another street racing syndicate from the southern-central area of Japan that was founded not long after Daichi had left the street racing scene. The founder, Takeda Ryo, was one of Daichi's biggest rivals back in the day, back and forth they battled to which he always lost. That was until the day that he got that chance that ended the Tokyo driver in an accident that gave him his first win against him. Then Daichi vanished from the public eye leaving him with the thought that he was the one that took him down when in fact there was more behind that and it did not involve him. Still, Ryo let it go to his head and Daikenkai was born, collecting the greatest street racers from old and scouting out the upcoming ones which led him to his two top drivers.

Asamoto Minami and Saito Hiro. The two commonly known at being joined at the hip, both of them were near on identical twins. Same messy mop of hair, same darker tanned skin, even their height was almost matching. They were the newest of the team that quickly rose up the top to be Ryo's pride and joy, specifically trained in the ways of Daichi's old style especially when he heard that he was gaining control of Tokyo with his rise from the dead. The guy was stuck on the past and these were the products, the protégés that were currently undefeated but of course, they had not had the honor in taking on Deidara or Itachi.

"Big opinions, small dicks, un," Deidara sneered back at them, scoring one for them.

Itachi shook his head at the insult trying not to chuckle at Deidara's comeback but even he would admit that it had a nice ring to it. However, they were not impressed by it one bit. Minami huffed, Hiro snorted, each one ready for their own brand of retaliation.

"Yeah I bet you know all about small dicks Deidara. How many have you sucked over time?" the slightly taller Minami smirked, receiving a pat on his back from his team mate.

"Guess something has got to keep you busy while your rich sugar daddy is away, stabbing guys up the ass for free," Hiro followed up, hi-fiving his friend for their effort well done.

"Hey, what's it like not having to pay for it?"  
"Nah, he would still have to pay for it."  
"Don't even know why Deidara charges. He isn't worth anything."

Temper level was rising from within the blond, giving a glance up at Itachi glaring at him telling him silently not to stop him. Deidara gave a fake chucking to join in with the amusement of the pair that instantly turned into a deep glare of hatred. "Fuckers," he growled, lunging straight towards them ready to strike… but he was stuck in position.

A gentle whisper in his ear told him to calm down, the warm hand placed against his shoulder helped to promote that feeling as Itachi pushed him to the side and hooked his arm around his elbow, weaving down to his hand where his fingers interlocked firmly.

"Immature remarks have no place here," was all that Itachi told them, walking off with Deidara into the line leaving the two giggling teens.

Deidara looked up at his boyfriend bewildered that he just let it go as that. They were mocking them and he did nothing about it at all. What was wrong with him? "Are you just going to let them get away with that?"

"No," the Uchiha replied with a shake of his head. "But now is not the time."

He was going to make sure they went down but it would not be in a shit slinging contest, it would be where they were destined to do it. On the road.

The closer it came to start time, the quicker the lines progressed to push people through, thinning them down to next to nothing until it brought up their turn. Registration forms were produced for the women who looked like she was ready to go home, repeating the same words so many times that it would be forever etched into her memory as she asked for their name, car make and model, nationality and all the needed information.

"It shows here that you are one of the participating twelve teams for the prize," she pointed out of the form with her finger to the marked section. "You don't have your team named marked."

Team name? Why did they need something like that? Just because one of them already had a pre-made one, with Daichi's team it was just known as that. They were the guys that drove for him, their classification was right there. Now they were forced into labeling themselves with some ridiculous title just so they could identify who they were as if the car and the number stickered on it wasn't enough. Still, the woman was waiting there for their response, showing her impatience with the tapping of her pen against the ledger and an exaggerated sigh.

Let's see. What could be used for a name? It had to start with 'team' didn't it since they were just that. They were driving a Nissan so they could be Team Nissan or Team Nismo based from the high performance parts that were in there. They could call themselves Lock n Load after the garage that built the car, which would have boosted Lachlan's ego to a whole new level with the free promotional plug every time the car was mentioned. Team Two Guys Who Were From Japan? Two Guys from Tokyo? No wait, that was already used in an anime. Team Drift? Team Wangan? Team Who-The-Fuck-Knows?

"Milkshake, un"

Team Milkshake? "What?" Itachi retaliated, snapping back from thoughts of justifying some kind of name for the team.

"I said I want to get a milkshake, un," Deidara clarified his own words nice and slowly as if Itachi was a bit retarded.

Itachi blinked a couple of times trying to process it all, finally sinking in that the blond was thirsty. "I don't think they sell milkshakes anywhere around here," he replied rubbing his forehead.

"Team Milkshake it is," the woman repeated, handing over the tags to the boys. "Collect your cars and follow this to the starting point. You will be instructed from there."

What!? They… how could that happen? Shit. The only words she would have understood between the two of them were the word 'milkshake' being spoken in English and she thought that they wanted to call the team that.

"Excuse me, there is a mistake. Our team is not called that," Itachi quickly shook his hands around, trying to explain in the best way possible that it was all a misunderstanding and that they never wanted to call a driving team that.

But she wasn't hearing it, telling them to move along so they could see to the other drivers. Cursing under his breath, he walked off with Deidara finding it completely ridiculous that they were called a milk beverage.

"Milkshake is a cute name, un," he smiled, clinging to Itachi's arm rubbing his cheek up against his sleeve as they headed out towards the exit to leave the building.

Somehow, Itachi was seriously missing the playfulness of this situation giving a deep forced out huff of annoyance. "Milkshake is not cute."

"Our kitten is cute."

"It's not suitable for… never mind. There is no changing it now." He would have preferred Team Fag at this point.

However, all seemed to be forgotten about the mishap of the name by the time they got back out into the warming sun of the rising day, the pungent smell of 98 high octane wafting thick on the air from the cars starting up. The sounds of the engines purring like well tuned kittens, the roar of the modified exhausts spilling the noxious gas into the atmosphere bringing along the high, the squealing of tires leaving thick trails of rubber and smoke in their wake as they spun out onto the open road. Everything was coming to life once again igniting the fire inside of Itachi at least that he couldn't wait to be a part of.

"Team Milkshake are going to win this," he turned to Deidara rather confidently, sliding into the driver seat starting up the car.

Deidara turned to face him back giving a strong hard nod and a hum of agreement, flicking his foot up onto the dash getting himself comfortable for the journey ahead. "We are taking Daikenkai and all those other losers down. This race is ours, un."

For the first time since they found out they were stuck in this insane battle, they were filled with anticipation that only escalated further as they started to crawl out into the convoy of cars waiting to get out. The stage was finally set. This was going to be their moment.


End file.
