Chapter One
The fire crackled, casting a warm glow around the room. The shadows danced, and the flames reflected off of the numerous ornaments decorating the Akatsuki's Christmas tree. The tree stood proud beside the fireplace, decked out in golden lights, full, round ornaments hanging from its branches. It seemed that after quite a bit of quarreling, Deidara and Tobi had received the job of tree decorators. An air of humor and utter calm hung in the air which smelt of fresh pine and baking cookies.
"It's not half bad, hm," Deidara said. He stood and admired his handiwork, as he'd made the ornaments himself. Instead of the typical black robe with red clouds, Deidara was wearing a black sleeveless top with red and gold embellishments, and fitted jeans to finish off the look.
Tobi peeked out from behind the three, threading the last strand of lights through the mess of branches. He wore his usual orange mask, but was clad in an unusual black long sleeved top with a dorky depiction of Santa Claus on the front, and black pants. "Yeah, wow, Deidara-senpai," he said with a giggle, "you sure these won't explode?" Tobi was poking at a red and gold ornament.
Deidara furrowed his brow, unamused. "Shut up, Tobi! Hm!" He said.
On the couch, reclined, novel in hand, Kakuzu rolled his eyes. He was completely relaxed - he had even taken his mask off and gone without his usual garb- and the two idiots were starting to argue again. "Deidara," he said, tone threatening, "get back to your... baking." Kakuzu's voice hovered on the last word, almost as if he was about to laugh. In his grey-and-cream sweater with rolled up sleeves and dark jeans, he looked more like a rumpled college student than the old fart everyone made him out to be.
"Yeah," Hidan piped up, "and don't forget your fucking apron!" He grinned, those remarkable purple eyes shone with laughter and sarcasm. He too was relaxed, and had left his scythe in his room, abandoning it in favor of a long-sleeved grey shirt and matching plaid pajama bottoms. The Jashinist stretched wide and sprawled out on the floor in front of the fire, reveling in its warm glory.
Deidara huffed and trotted to the oven. He pulled out two trays of butter cookies cut into various shapes - the shapes of his clay creatures. The only difference the between these cookie creatures and Deidara's clay creations was that there was no explosive element to the cookies. "Well, you'll be happy to know I've finished, hm." He placed the cookies out to cool on the counter, dusted off his hands over the sink and looked at his friends in the family room. Why they had been moved from their original place to one like this - a well-furnished apartment-style home where they each got their own room - was beyond him.
Leader's last words to the gang were Konan and I will stand guard here. Your mission is simple; keep watch for any Tailed Beasts and observe how others... locals... celebrate this... holiday. He'd said his words carefully, and it made Deidara wonder just what Pein and Konan were up to.
"Itachi," Deidara said, addressing the Uchiha, who was hanging some green stuff with a red ribbon above the couch. "Didn't Konan and Pein seem, y'know, distracted when we left? Hm?"
"I believe the two of them sent us on this mission," air quotes, "in order to be alone with one another..." he trailed off as the green plant came undone from the ribbon. Itachi stared at the fallen item, looking anything but threatening in a dark red long-sleeved button-down tucked into black pants. He retrieved the fallen -
"Mistletoe?" Kisame's familiar voice traveled through the front door, along with a gust of cold wind and the spell of peppermint. "You can't be serious, Itachi," he said, chuckling.
The gang shifted as Kisame entered.
"Miss me?" The blue man asked. He was wearing a festive sweater under a bulky winter jacket and fresh snow clung to and melted on his jeans. In his hands, instead of his sharkskin sword, were a few trays of hot beverages. "You all got peppermint lattes. They're not all that bad," he grinned, sharp teeth shining.
"And you've brought... guests," Kakuzu said. He observed the six women Kisame had in tow. He rolled his eyes. "Here I thought we'd have a quiet evening, but there goes that." Over his momentary bitch-fit, Kakuzu returned to his book.