"What in the world are you doing?" Ophelia asked from behind me.

"Shhhh!" I whispered angrily. "I am fishing, you dimwitted twat."

"Quinn, what are you doing?" Ophelia asked as she tried seeing behind me.

I pushed her away, grumbling unhappily. It had taken ages to get this plan into action. Ages and the help of a small sleeping drug that put the shark man right to sleep. But, of course, no one had to know that little factor. Right now, I was going to reel my catch in, give the fishing rod to Ophelia – or someone else, need be – and then get the hell out of Dodge and into the safety of my reinforced steel door that even Fishy Man couldn't break through.

With a grin, I began to reel in the catch of the day. I heard a disgruntled shout, followed by a yelp of pain. I reeled for a few more seconds before depositing the fishing rod in Ophelia's confused hands. When I heard my name being called from the depths of the compound, I grinned and ran. After all, how fast could he go with that hook in his mouth?

Unfortunately, he moved a lot faster than I had originally planned. He reached my door just as I slammed it shut, his entire body weight slamming against the door and pushing it open. I squealed in surprise and shoved back at the door, closing it just long enough for me to slide the major lock in. After I heard the sweet sound of a lock sliding into home, I quickly made work of the other locks, making sure that the blue man couldn't get in.

"QUINN YOU IGNORANT SLUT!" Kisame yelled through the door as he threw his entire weight against the door again. The door rattled, making my eyes go wide in surprise.

Although, with the hook in his mouth, it sounded like "WHINN YHOU IGNORANT SHLUHT!"

"Kisame, darling," I crooned loudly through the door, "it sounds as if your speech impediment has gotten worse!" I sighed loudly. "I do believe that we need to get a doctor to you, quickly!"

"DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!" Kisame yelled angrily.

It came out as "DON'T THALK TO MEH LYKE DAT!"

I grinned and backed away from the door slightly. I don't know how much reinforced steel can hold, but I wanted to be on the safe side. I backed up to my window, all the while listening to Kisame yell obscenities at me through the closed door and Ophelia's soft voice trying to calm the blue man down. He snarled at her, and I heard teeth clacking together. Youch.

Very slowly, I opened the large bay window that was included in my room. That had taken a lot of persuading on my end with Pein. The leader still thought that the bay window was unneeded, but I loved looking out of it at night when everybody was supposed to be sleeping. Insomnia's a bitch, but having windows large enough that you can sit in and watch the wilderness around you helped. A lot. Kisame was still screaming at me while I escaped into the woodland paradise that surrounded our home.

I carefully shut the window, making as little noise as possible, before turning to walk into the trees. It was still light enough that artificial light wasn't needed quite yet, and I grinned. Small, woodland animals scampered about, chittering to me in excited tones. Jeffry, the red squirrel that basically lived on my windowsill, came running up to me and gave me the lower-your-hand-now-you-stupid-human look, and I obeyed. The woodland creature jumped from the ground to my hand, scampered up my arm, and perched on my shoulder before he started in on my latest scheme.

"Oh, hush, Jeffry," I muttered as I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my indigo hoodie. "It was a good laugh, and it won't hurt him near as much as it did when I put the baby oil on him before he went with Itachi to the beach and he nearly ended up a fish stick."

Jeffry turned to me and started in on what I was guessing was a version of a squirrely lecture. I sighed and tuned it out, instead looking up at the bits of sky that I could see through breaks in the treetops. The wooded area was home, as how it always had been. I could happily live in the open spaces without having to bother about the confinements of four walls and so many people. Once a girl raised in the trees, always a girl raised in the trees.

"QUINN!" I heard Kisame shout, and I could tell by the way it was carried across the wind that he was outside now. "Get over here. Now."

I grimaced and began to clear my tracks. It's not that I didn't want to talk to Kisame. It was just that I was terrified that when he caught up to me, I'd be beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die. Safest possible place for me right now was up in the trees. Jeffry looked back toward the compound and scurried up a large oak tree. Shrugging, I followed suit.

"Quinn! Quinnnnnnnnny," Kisame crooned as he came closer, no doubt following the few tracks that appeared. "C'mon, Quinn. I don't wanna fight with you. Just wanna talk. Just some harmless conversation, you know."

I held my breath as he walked near the base of the tree. If he couldn't hear me, he wouldn't have a reason to look up in the oak tree, whose leaves thankfully mostly hid me from the fish man's view. Jeffry, on the other hand, looked at me, down at the man, then back. His squirrel eyes glinted with mischief as he opened his traitorous little mouth and started chattering happily. Kisame looked up, and then grinned, sharp, pointed teeth grinning up at me.

"Ah, there's our disappearing act now," he called out to me, motioning with his hand that I should scamper down the tree to talk with him. "C'mon, Rapunzel. Let down your hair."

I looked down at him and shook my head, the black strands of hair dipping to fall in front of my eyes. "I'm pretty sure you have the wrong princess!" I pointed toward a tree a few feet away from me. "Try that one! I do believe there's a blonde haired, blue eyed girl just waiting for some kind knight to come rescue her!"

Kisame barked out a laugh. "Sorry, but right now, my only concern is a certain black haired, green eyed witch."

I flipped him the bird. "I'm not a witch, you asshat."

Kisame's face showed surprise. "Did you just call me an asshat?"

I looked down at the man and nodded. "If the shoe fits…!"

Kisame grinned up at me, grabbing his crotch and giving it a hitch. "You know… The thing about shoes is that I have big ones, for my big feet. And you know what they say about big feet."

My mouth gaped open as I stared at the fish man. A blush crept across my face as he winked at me, his entire body shaking with his laughter. I closed my mouth quickly and looked at Jeffry. The squirrel had the gall to look happy with himself. I growled deep in my throat, glaring at the fluffy little creature. He sat straighter and looked ashamed.

"LA LA LA LA," I screamed as I covered my ears with my hands. "I'M NOT LISTENING!"

The entire Akatsuki appeared next to Kisame at the base of the tree. Pein sighed as he saw how high up I was in the tree. Deidara and Sasori exchanged money in a bet as to how long I'd stay in the tree. Itachi sighed and went back into the compound. Konan and Kakuzu stared up at the tree, clearly annoyed at having to deal with two unruly members. Ophelia stared up at me in the tree and just shook her head slowly. I waved back at her, and she mumbled something to herself. Hidan stood off to the side; hand in his pants, not paying much attention to the rest of the group. Gag. Tobi waved up at me, happy energy radiating from his cloak-encased body. Deidara glared at the other man, dodging behind Sasori to attempt to stay hidden. It didn't work, and Tobi ran over to his Senpai, glomping him happily. Zetsu stood off in the shadows, not making himself known, but radiating some sort of emotion that I didn't quite care to grasp.

Wow. There were too many people down there.

"Kisame," Pein sighed, "what the hell did you do to get her up in the tree?"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Kisame yelled, anger radiating off of him in waves. "SHE'S THE ONE WHO PUT A FISH HOOK IN MY MOUTH AND DECIDED TO GO FISHING!"

Pein looked up at me, laughter swimming in his grey eyes. "Quinn. Please tell me that you didn't try to go fishing in the compound. Again."

I shrugged. "I could, but I'd be lying. And you told me that I wasn't supposed to lie anymore so…"

Pein shook his head. "Get out of the tree, Quinn."

I frowned down at him. "Um, how about no? That blue thing is gonna bite my head off."

Kisame growled. "I AM NOT A THING!"

Pein held his hand up, stopping any and all comments that were about to go flying out of anyone's mouth. "I don't care if he's going to bite your head off. You either get out of the tree by yourself, or I'm going to send this 'blue thing,' up after you so he can drag you down."

I looked down at Kisame, who was even madder at me for the thing comment, and weighed my choices. I could go down now and have the chance of having somebody protect me from Jaws, or I could wait for them to send Jaws to me. I shuddered. Why was I making myself get disturbing images of a mechanical shark biting off limbs? Then I looked down at Kisame, who was grinning at me with all of those pointy pearly whites, and knew why.

He literally could bite my head off if he wanted to.

The sky darkened, and most of the other members began making their way to the compound. I made a strangled sound and scampered down the tree, purposefully sticking to Pein's side and peeking around him to the shark. Kisame pouted as he realized his chance to beat me up was gone. At least, I thought with a gulp, I thought it was gone. Pein motioned for Kisame to come closer, looking at us with annoyance.

"Okay," Pein sighed, probably remembering that he had to do something similar to this the last time I'd gone fishing. "Kisame, you can't bite her head off. Or kill her. We need her for the next mission that goes down. She's pretty enough to bring the idiot to the dark alley where you and Itachi'll kill her." Kisame frowned, and Pein turned to me. "And I swear to God, Quinn, if you don't quit tormenting this man, I'm just going to lock you in his room for 24 hours and let him do whatever he wants. And that includes biting your precious head off."

Both Kisame and I gaped at him.

"Am I clear?" Pein asked, looking between us.

I nodded. Kisame rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, making a noncommittal sound for his boss. Pein grinned at us before spinning on his heel and walking back toward the compound. A melodious sound drifted to us on the wind, and I realized that Pein was whistling. Pein never whistled. Then my mind latched onto what Pein had said about the next mission I was to attend.

"Did he actually say…?" I asked, mostly in disbelief.

Kisame nodded. "A-yup. You're going with me and Itachi. Probably bringing Ophelia, too, so you'll have a babysitter."

I groaned in annoyance. "BUT I DON'T WANT TO DISTRACT A MAN!"

Kisame cocked his head to the side, as if in thought. "Would you rather distract a woman?"

I smacked myself in the forehead. "Ulk. That isn't what I meant!"

Kisame grinned at me. "Oh yeah. I'm sure that's what you meant." I opened my mouth to reply, but he went on. "Don't get me wrong. I'm perfectly okay with you wanting to distract the women! It's pretty fun to watch."

I glared at him. "Okay, Fishy. Let's get this straight. I'm into both men and women, yes, but I would never, never, let you watch. Period."

Kisame winked at me before continuing to walk toward the compound. "We'll see about that, Quinny. We'll see."

I flipped him the bird.