She always wanted a child. Longed for someone who would need her and whom she could take care of; hoping they would fill the void in her life that no one had ever filled. To fill her empty arms — a child to care for, to love, and to cherish. Being a mother was always her dream, ever since she was a young. She used to brag how she would have children and a husband who will love her and, if she was going to be completely honest, a child wasn't the only thing she longed for. However, she had never had much luck with men. Sure, she had been out on some dates, but the relationships seldom lasted beyond the first date and rarely moved beyond four. She may not have had much luck with men, but she had certainly learned her way around a kitchen.

She sighed and blinked back the tears that always threatened when she thought about her empty arms and she blinked the unshed tears away.

"Damn." With a sigh she opened the door to the attic stairs with ease because it opened outward, but the stairwell was piled with so much stuff she couldn't get through as easily. Using her strength, she had to push all the stacked boxes away. When she took a big deep breath she started coughing because of all the dust. Eventually, being a young female she managed her way towards the window and opened the drapes, letting some light in. Looking around, she saw some cobwebs hung from the rafters as well and peered out the windows, but saw only people walking around the street; she shrugged and made her way towards a wooden box-

She slipped on her fluffy slippers and fell on her bottom. Falling on the box she shrieked, her right leg twisted beneath her. When she struggled to her feet, she could barely walk. She spat out the last few words of the empty curse at the dusty attic while asking herself why she even set a foot in there. Her knee hurt so much; tears of another kind coming to her eyes. As she was trying to stand up, she supported herself on the nearby box, straightening herself up she saw a photograph lying on the ground. Blinking the tears back she cocked one eyebrow and leaned towards the treasure lying on the floor. On the photograph, she spotted a group of people gathered on the field. All of them were wearing long, black cloaks with red clouds and a chin-high collar.

"Are they a part of a cult or something?" She giggled and winced at the same time as she tried to maintain her balance. Scanning over the people's faces she spotted two women, one with long blond hair drawn into a half ponytail and the rest was covering the left side of her face. The woman next to her had short purple-like hair decorated with a light blue flower, her eyes looked grey and when she looked closer she spotted a labret piercing.

"So women were allowed to join it too, hm." She continued talking to herself as her eyes moved from one person to another. Spotting an unfamiliar blue-grey creature she stopped, she was staring at the picture, her nose almost touching it. The tall male had hideous features, small round eyes, gill-like facial markings under his eyes and his hair was styled in the form of a shark fin. The smaller figure in front of him had short black hair, red eyes and pronounced tear-troughs. For a short time she wondered where she saw that person, he looked familiar but she couldn't recall where or when that could have happened. He looked really familiar though...

She shrugged in the end and her eyes skimmed on the following person. The mousy red headed person caught her attention, reminding her of Gaara. His eyes looked dreamy, his lips were curved in a smile, but she knew they could be either cunning or charming, or both. Moving her eyes yet again, the next person caught her attention. He had medium-length grey hair that was slicked back and mulberry eyes. His cloak was torn in half, showing his naked, muscular shoulder and right arm. A forehead protector was around his neck and a weird amulet she couldn't name. She thought that this person looked quite lovable. His eyes caught her attention first; they were piercing, like an animal's. What caught her attention and roused her sympathy was his hair. At some point, it reminded her of Kakashi's. She observed this person for a while until she realized the room was no longer as full of light as it was a while ago.

The young female continued holding the photo in her hand and with a deep sigh she limped through the attic and slowly made her way towards the stairs. Placing her hand on the rough wooden frame, she was about to take a step when she was caught off guard with a familiar voice behind her.

"What are yo—" She shrieked again as she turned around, lost her balance and she closed her eyes anticipating pain- Nothing... She opened one of her eyes just to meet a single grey one staring at her. His arms swept forward around her waist to catch her— to steady her and protect from the unnecessary pain. Her heart was racing, and her stomach tingled from nervous energy.

"What the… Kakashi!" She said out loud, her voice pitched more than she had expected it to.

"And you said I'm the forgetful one." He said mocking her gently, looking at her with sneaky eyes. She clicked her tongue and looked away.

"Now that you rescued me, my gray prince, you can let go." His arm released her waist and his hand gripped her shoulder to steady her. She could have sworn she heard him giggle, but his straight face made that fact unclear. He glanced with curiosity around the room.

"So, what were you doing? Summer cleaning?" He teased.

"No, not really. I was planning to clean this room for you." She joked, looking at him playfully. The tall gray haired man cocked an eyebrow and she laughed at him. "So anyway, I found this picture when I…" she cleared her throat, she didn't want to let him know how she managed to fall on the box earlier and hurt herself. It still hurt, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She told herself that she would heal it as soon as she got down. Instead she showed him the photograph that was in her hand. "Do you know who they are?" She asked, looking at her friend's face. His features looked still the same; unreadable. She cursed his emotionless face and poked his shoulder. "This one looks quite similar. I know I have seen him somewhere but damn-" she pointed at the black haired man then she ran her hand through her chestnut hair and sighed.

"I don't know where." Kakashi smiled under the mask and took the picture out of her hands.

"You don't have to know." Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance and she grabbed his upper arm with one hand. "I dare you, Hatake. Tell me about them." She narrowed her chocolate eyes and squeezed his arm with more strength. Hearing his surname he knew she wasn't bluffing, however he did enjoy playing around.

"I'm not going to repeat myself..." He leaned down, Kakashi's features showing no emotions, his eyes darkly intense yet something about the way he said that made her senses prickle.

"I will spoil the ending of all those damned books to you, I swear." His eyes widened slightly and then settled back to normal. A ghost of a smile crossed her lips. "Don't tempt me, Hatake." She said sharply though he showed no effort to say anything. The woman shrugged and opened her mouth then. "The wo—"

"Akatsuki." He finally said, a shiver running down his spine at the thought of almost hearing the end of his beloved books. She was taken aback by his response and when she gave him a confused look, he continued. She cocked her head to one side; listening. When he stopped again, she nodded her head, showing him that she was interested and wanted to know more. After all, she was the one who asked and forced him to give her a response. "That's the name of the organization. They were assassins." He sighed. "Do we have to talk about it here?" He asked, a bit afraid the spiders might confuse his hair for a spider web.

"Oh, right." She took a step towards the stairs, forgetting about her pain. She yelped as soon as her foot touched the floor and he was by her side in a second, his head bent to look at her foot.

"You are a medic ninja, yet you are have not healed yourself?"

"Are you going to lecture me now? I was clearly occupied with other things." She hissed. Kakashi took her on his back and walked with her in the kitchen where she told him to take her.

"Do you want tea, or something else?" She was standing near the stove as she grabbed two cups out of the cupboard. Kakashi agreed to accept a cup of tea. She filled the big teapot with water and lit the gas stove, placing it on the stove. "So? I'm still listening by the way." He watched her from behind as she was preparing the hot drink. His eyes skimmed over the photograph - he took away from the woman.

"Akatsuki was an organization of 10 ninjas that always, or usually, traveled in groups of two. Often they were either rogue ninjas, or exiled out of their village." She put two tea bags in, added some sugar — she had no idea if this would be too much or not enough for him and waited for the water to boil.

"One of Akatsuki's main goals was to collect the Nine Tailed Beasts and use their power to rule the world. Some of which have been placed in human containers such as Naruto and the Kyuubi or Gaara and Shukaku." After the teapot began to boil she took it off the stove and poured the boiling water into the cups. The aroma of vanilla and ginger filled the room. She took both of the cups and clumsily made her way towards him. Placing the cup before him she sat down close and quickly healed her leg. She sighed with relief and her eyes soon fixed on Kakashi again.

"You mentioned ten members before, can you show me who is who?" Kakashi took a sip of the tea and turned the photograph towards her. She felt uneasy at the willingness he showed, but she did not protest. He placed his finger on the blond haired man. "His name is Deidara," Moving his finger to the next person so soon she made her confusion known.

"W-Wait!" She said and he looked up at her cocking an eyebrow. "Did you just say he?" She was looking at his face carefully. She was slightly taken aback at his response, Kakashi chuckled under his mask.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, I thought he was a girl." She said. Kakashi started to laugh at her statement then. "Stop laughing! That hair is really confusing you know. Also their robes, I couldn't see… Whatever." She cleared her throat and looked at the following person. His lips curved into a wicked smile and his eyes glittered mischievously. "So, who is this one?"

"That's Konan, a woman, and the only female in the Akatsuki." He emphasized one word, the right word and her eye twitched. He was clearly mocking her and she disliked that; his finger was tapping the next person's head. "His name's Kisame. He was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure. He used to carry a sword that consumed chakra." He moved his finger again. "That's Uchiha Itachi. You probably heard about him." Hearing his name hit her like a bolt of lightning. She had not known that he was a part of Akatsuki, but it made more sense to her now. She nodded and continued listening while looking at their faces, memorizing them. "He's Sasori from Sunagakure. A puppeteer; or to put it more clearly, a puppet himself." She cocked an eyebrow, following his finger as it moved to another person.

"Hold on. What do you mean a puppet himself? Wasn't he a human?" His silver eyes found hers and locked in. Kakashi shook his head.

"No, he was born human being though. However, he believed he should dispose of every human part that could show his weakness and he gradually replaced his flesh and internal organs with puppet parts. Eventually, only his heart, filled with all of his chakra, remained untouched as a core of his being, set inside of his own puppet." Her eyes widened at the new found information, shocked and slightly terrified. The image she had about him shattered in pieces.

"What the…" She said in whisper as she allowed him to continue.

"That's Hidan, he was partnered with Kakuzu, the person you can see next to him." The man had tanned skin with a sweat-band covering his forehead and a black-coloured mask covering his mouth. His head was hidden with a white hood. His eyes had an unusual colouring: green irises with no pupils and red sclera... She 'hmm'ed in response. She did not even realise that Kakashi skipped Kakuzu as he did not desire to recall his fight with him.

"His name is Pain, or Nagato. He was the leader of Akatsuki. He had 6 bodies that he could control and use, they were referred to as the "Six Paths of Pain"." She had to admit that he looked quite handsome although those piercings looked repellent to her. She held big respect towards Naruto.

"And the last one is Zetsu, he had two half's that could talk separately. He could also sink into the earth." He looked more like a plant than a man to her, his hair looked messy and his eyes had a weird, greenish eye colour.

"Are any of them still alive?" She crossed her arms and waited for his response the way a mother waits for the response of a mischievous child. She was no longer looking at the picture, her eyes wandered at his figure, she took the cup into her right hand.

"No— Well, Hidan might be. He was trapped in the Nara forest." That caught her attention. She wondered if it would be possible for her to get in such a place.

"Hm. So I'm guessing they were pretty dangerous." She said, and then sipped her tea once more, observing Kakashi carefully. He nodded without saying a word. "And who's this?" She pointed at the masked man, both of their teas cold now, steam no longer rising over their cups. She drank the tea nevertheless as she waited for a reply she never got- Kakashi disappearing in a sudden cloud; a smoke bomb detonated behind him.

"Hatake!" She yelled after him even though she knew it was useless. She looked back at the photograph that was lying on the table. She took it as she leaned against the chair, wondering who was that masked man, probably a mysterious fellow.

Author's Note: Hello there! Hope you will enjoy my new fanfic. I will try to do my best! :) Reviews are always welcomed.