June's POV

"You all listening?" I asked loudly while putting a hand on my hip. The children quickly looked up at me, snacks in hand. The teacher looked up from his paper work and smiled for me to go on. I smiled back but internally I was sneering, lucky dork got the day off because Serenity volunteered to come in a tell a few stories.

The children nodded their heads and looked at me intently. "Mhm!" one of the children hummed. He looked so content while he held onto his juice box and sat on the ground. He looked to his friend and they both smiled to each other, both ready for the tale I was going to tell.

"My maiden name is June Summers, I have been accompanied by these two jerks for most of my life. This one," I gestured towards Ashton, "if you remember is Ashton, her maiden name being Coal. Then there is my other friend Serenity. Serenity Soothe."

One of the children made a face and scrunched up his nose and squinted his eyes at me. "Why do you guys have such weird names?" he asked. He looked like an old man for a moment as he scrutinized our names.

"If you remember from the beginning of the story we are from the Land of the Free! For us you all have weird names, where we come from people of all sorts have different names and are not all Japanese," Ashton explained all while holding a fruit snack pack in her left palm.

"Anyways," I sighed as I playfully punched Ashton in the shoulder. "Now, before I was old I had beautiful, long, golden hair that draped all the way down the my upper thigh, but during the absence of the Akatsuki I had it cut. It was still long, it was down to my waist."

Ashton couldn't help but snicker to herself. "She got gum stuck in her hair. That's why she cut it."

The children and Serenity all giggled but I didn't. I didn't find it very amusing that. "Ha, ha. That was very funny, yes, June Summers got gum stuck in her hair. So what?" I eyed Ashton and smirked. "In sixth grade Ashton once pulled the fire alarm on a dare, but it turns out the pipes were broken, so when the war from the sprinklers didn't work and rerouted to the bathrooms. So when she went to the bathroom-"

"But! But! But! That is all in the past and we are living in the present!" Ashton yelled while covering my mouth. I glared at her and she slowly removed her hand from my mouth.

"The reason we are here, in this very classroom is to talk about the past. Specifically our past, Ashton, so why don't you let me get back to my story telling before the children grow bored with your idiocy?" I questioned as I sat on top of the teacher's desk.

Ashton dropped her head in defeat. "Okay," she groaned as she still hung her head in defeat.

"So, besides the hair I didn't change besides getting promoted! Smarts pay off later in life, kids, listen to that." I paused as I watched them whisper to each other, maybe taking about themselves to others. "Ashton actually didn't cut her hair for once in many years and got a tattoo on her left shoulder."

"It's a sick dragon just so you all know!" Ashton yelled, throwing her hands up happily.

"Serenity... didn't change at all physically in six months. I mean, now she was twice as obsessed with cleaning the house but..."

"Can you get back to the story?" a child asked, throwing their arms into the air only to wave it around sporadically.

I chuckled. "Of course. I'll set the day for you. It was in the cold of January on a Wednesday, it was after work and I had just received dinner from Serenity. Okay?"

The children nodded happily and I couldn't help but smile. They reminded me so much of the children at home, even though they were much older than eight and ten year olds. I sucked in a deep breath, knowing this portion was the story always took the longest to tell.

June's POV

I stared at the small doll that was suspended in the air. It was one of Serenity's old dolls I dug out of storage to practice on. I could now use chakra to control this doll flawlessly. It could dance and turn and jump and flip. I was very proud of myself that in six moths I could not only control this doll but other people, but to a minor degree.

For example, wrestling with Ashton was much more fun than it once was. She'd dive at me with her whole body and all I would have to do is flick my wrist and watch her jump to the right or the left o me. She couldn't touch me, except when she's behind.

The other usage of chakra strings is reaching far away. I, June Summers, am a very lazy person sometimes and whenever I want to grab the remote, but it is out of reach, all I have to do is reach out and watch it as it flies to me. Serenity now calls me Spiderman, but that's okay. It did feel like I had a super power.

I sometimes I wished that Sasori was still here so I could show off to him, that for a beginner I could do so much. I could misdirect people's punches or jumps, I could control inanimate objects, I could walk on walls. It still didn't seem like enough to me. I felt I needed to be able to do more. Next time I saw Sasori I had to blow him away with my progress. Controlling a doll or hanging from the ceiling his not going to impress him.

A draft of cold air ran down my thigh and I immediately tugged the cloak I had on down. I was thankful for the cloak Kisame left behind. It was always warm. Warmer than any winter coat I had ever wore.

A soft crow was heard from behind me and I whipped around to see Crow hopping up to me with a sock in his mouth. I smiled and tugged at the sock in his mouth. In turn Crow tugged back and made muffled squawk noise. I finally tugged it away and looked it over. "Why do you have Ashton's sock?" I questioned as I held her sock up in the air.

The bird was an odd one. Pecking at the window at 12:00 a.m. and making me open the window, he refused to let me go outside at night unsupervised by him or Ashton, Crow didn't like strangers -even the mailman- and he'd always squawk at visitors. Then he'd claw at the window to get to said visitor. Crow pecked items off of the kitchen table much to my annoyance or he pecks at feet when they're bare.

The most annoying thing Crow would do is steal random articles of clothing from my, Ashton, or Serenity's room and bring it to on of us. It is especially annoying when I'm getting ready for work in the morning and Crow is rapidly hopping away with my shirt.

Crow cocked his head to the side and nipped at my hand to try to get the sock back. I tugged away to avoid the swipe. "No, no," I scolded softly as I tapped his beak. I slowly pet his head and Crow cuddled into my hand. "You're such a nice bird aren't you? Wanna go get this back to Ashton?" I asked as I stood up from my spot on the couch.

Ashton was fairing slightly better. She has a job now. Ashton is a gas station attendant just a few minutes from the house, so she could really walk the distance. I'm very proud of her actually. The night Ashton came home with the good news Serenity ad I were cuddling her with love and praise. Her favorite meal was made that night and we stayed up late watching a movie.

She now works everyday of the week like Serenity and I. We don't have much time to think of any of the Akatsuki when we work or when we come home to greet each other happily, but when we do go to bed or we have a moment of silence that seems to be all that fills my head.

Crow flew onto the stair railing and stared at me until I started to walk up the stairs to Ashton's room. After I made it up the stars he flew up again and hopped next to me. I knocked on her door quietly, "Ashton, Crow stole one of your socks again."

There was no answer.

I let out a huff and rolled my eyes. She's been ignoring Serenity ad I lately. Maybe she is sulking or crying, I don't know, but it annoys me and she knows it. Maybe that is why she chooses to ignore me. "Ashton! I'm going to let Crow into your room if you don't answer! I know you're in there and not sleeping," I sighed. I knocked on the door and I knew she wasn't going to answer it so after I opened the door.

There, Ashton sat, on the floor with papers spread out and her phone. Her legs were crossed and she rested her elbow on her knee and chewed on her fingernail. She stared at the papers as if they had wronged her same way. A soft but thoughtful hum filled the room and I couldn't help but smile at how clueless she was.

"Ashton," I snapped, trying to get her attention. She snapped her head up to look at me and gave me an awkward smile.

"Heya, June! What'cha doing here? Like right now... in my room?" she asked as she started to clean up her papers on the floor. She put them into a neat stack and slipped them under her arm, she stood up and walked to her desk and set the papers down of the cluttered surface.

I looked down at Crow and sighed. "He took one of your socks again." I tossed her sock to her and she easily caught it with one hand.

"Come on bird! Don't you know it's a sin to steal a woman's sock? What if there was an emergency and I needed this exact sock, huh? Where you think I'd be at right now? I'd be in trouble because of you," Ashton scolded as she put the single sock away. "Stupid bird," she muttered.

"Crow is a very intelligent bird, excuse you." I crouched down and held my hands open for Crow to hop into. He did so and I hugged the bird to my chest then stroked his soft feathers. "You're such a handsome and intelligent bird, aren't you? Ashton is just jealous that you have fabulous feathers and she doesn't, isn't that right?" I cooed to the bird.

Ashton rolled her eyes and eyed the bird. "You're a real suck up, you know that?" Crow let out a soft coo and buried himself deeper into my arms. "I shouldn't have to compete for affection with a bird," Ashton grumbled.

I shook my head and set Crow down to let him hop around the room as he pleased. "What were you doing with all of those papers?" I asked as I walked up to her desk. Ashton hopped in front of me and swiped the papers away from me.

"Nothing! It's a surprise! I'll show you later!" she yelled holding the papers up so I couldn't reach them. I reached my arms into the air to try and reach the papers, yet height difference had defeated me once again.

"Show me," I demanded as I tried reaching again. Crow made a loud caw and his wings came up aggressively. I looked to the bird questionably, he was getting so worked up over this.

"Chill bird, I'm not gonna hurt your precious owner." Ashton held the papers little bit higher and I jumped to grab them. I finally gave up, knowing this was going to go nowhere. So instead I made a grab at Ashton phone. She tired reaching for it but she was too late. I looked at the screen and scrunched my eyebrows together.

"Why do you have a Japanese translator up?" I asked as I looked at the words on her phone. "Horse, Monkey, Ox, Dragon..." I read aloud. "Ashton, what is this?"

"Nothing!" she shouted again. She jumped at me and tried to make a grab at her phone. I side stepped her and concentrated chakra into my hand. Four blue strings formed and attached themselves to Ashton. I whipped my hand down and she fell over.

I plucked the papers from Ashton's hand before she could recover and I ran off. As I ran away I felt like I was eleven years old again, running from Ashton with her toy in hand. I ran down the stairs, touching each step while Ashton jumped half of the stairs then the other half.

I looked over the paper's title as I ran into the kitchen then at Ashton's fun. I started to type in the characters I saw on the paper and into the phone. Before I continued I looked up to see where Ashton was but made I contact with another woman. Serenity was stationed at the stove, probably packing a lunch for Ashton and I tomorrow. She watched us with an amused smile before focusing on the sandwich she working hard to make.

I ran around the kitchen table and moved as Ashton moved. My hand shot out and I used the chakra strings to fling an apple on the counter at Ashton. She caught it with one hand to look it over and stopped her movement for a moment. "Really?" she asked as she held up her hands. She quirked her eyebrow and her head cocked to the side. "Are you serious? An apple!" she yelled holding up the fruit.

I shrugged as she chucked it at me. I made a vain attempt to grab the apple and it hit my head with a loud thud. "Ow!" I whined holding my head for a moment.

"No chakra in the kitchen," Serenity said as she put a slice of bread over the new sandwich.

"And you are going to enforce this new regulation... how?" I asked.

Ashton glared at me and pointed. "Yeah Serenity! Tell her! While you're at it tell her to give me back my phone and papers!" she yelled angrily. "It's nothin' much, they're just some papers Hidan left behind, they're for me! Not you. You don't see me grabbing all of your precious stuff," Ashton snapped. "Now give me the papers."

Serenity set her utensils down and walked to the side of the table. "Calm down, guys. We're fine. June give Ashton her phone and papers back."

I put my hands up in protest. "I'd rather not-"

Serenity grabbed the papers from my hands before I could react. She walked over to Ashton and gave them to her quickly. I opened my mouth to protest but Serenity cut me off. "June," she breathed out. "Chill, Hidan must've gave it to her for a reason. It's private, okay?"

I looked down, "Yeah, sorry 'bout that."

Ashton rubbed her neck and craned it. "June, look. Just don't do it again. Okay? You're fine."

I looked down at the screen ad sighed. I didn't even get all the way through the translation. I read it one more time and put Ashton's phone down to slide it back to her. She snatched it up quickly and sighed. "Thanks," she muttered.

Serenity smiled and set a hand on my shoulder. She's been quieter lately. Not in a bad way, just always thinking. She been more cautious, less childish, more diplomatic. Serenity is always in her own world now, she stares out at the window in the morning as if she's waiting for something and I wonder what she waits for. Of course she is still silly and pouts when she's upset or giggles when she's happy, there's always that smile on her face. It's different now, more grown up, more nostalgic. She's grown up so much in this pass year and a half.

Serenity let go of my shoulder and turned her attention to the kitchen entrance. Crow hopped into the kitchen and let out a loud squawk and flew onto the table. Ashton quickly moved out of his way and glared. "I still don't like that bird," Ashton muttered. "It could crap in the house at any moment."

"Crow is a sophisticated bird, I thought we've been over this. He is too intelligent to be crapping all over this house" I defended as I pet his beak.

Serenity smiled and pet the bird. "Does it ever remind you of Itachi?" she asked as Crow let out a content chirp.

"In some ways. Crow is sophisticated, intelligent, and elegant." By the end of the sentence my speech had melted into baby talk as I pet the bird. He soaked up all of the attention and rubbed his cheek into my hand much like a cat. "He craves attention and seeks affection, but I will admit Crow is a bit... clumsy."

Serenity giggled for a minute until settling down. "Yeah," she murmured contently. "Sometimes I feel like Itachi can see us. The way Crow looks at us..." Serenity nodded her end and sat down. "It's silly, I know."

"Yeah, it kinda is," Ashton admitted. "But look on the brightside! It's kinda funny to think about! How many times was Crow in the room when you were changing, June?" Ashton wiggled her eyebrows at me and let a charming smirk grace her lips.

My cheeks heated up rapidly and I stuttered for a moment. "Even if that was true, that's not what Itachi would use Crow to do. That isn't very proper," I snapped as I crossing my arms.

"Mhm, sure. Yeah," Ashton muttered as she looked at her nails, clearly unimpressed. "That's cute, now, why don't you stop lying to yourself and admit to me he's a total perv-"

Serenity playfully whacked Ashton's on the head and smiled. "Stop teasing her, June gets flustered enough by watching Ouran High School Host Club," Serenity teased.

I pointed an accusing finger at Serenity. "It's Tamaki and the twins! You can't tell me you blush!" I yelled as I covered my cheeks.

"I'm single, June," Serenity deadpanned as she looked at her nails as well. "I can blush around whoever I want, but you on the other hands..."

I looked at Crow and frowned. "Come on, aren't you supposed to be my back up?" I asked. Crow pecked at the table, loosing interest rapidly. "Thanks a lot."

The cousins both looked at their nails unamused with me. At the same time they both sighed and started examining each other nails. I let out a frustrated huff and whacked them both over the head. "You're both dorks!" I yelled playfully as I mock stormed out of the room. As I walked away I could hear Serenity and Ashton giggling.

Crow followed me out of the room with small hops and let out a coo. "I'm not really mad," I told him.

I sat down on the couch and watched the space of carpet that hid seals. It's been one month since I've seen something, anything. No faint outlines of chakra or little static sparks of chakra in the air either. No mannequin like shapes or little dust particles.

Everyone must've been out on a mission or doing something important. I'm not going to lie but I was beginning to worry, I averaged out the amount of days each team was gone and it averaged out to be two weeks, three days, fourteen hours, and forty five minutes all together. The artist usually finish their missions the fastest and the zombie brothers finish the slowest. Zetsu and Tobi roll around whenever they wanted, their data hasn't been constant. I never see Konan or Pein exit the way all of the other members do.

A blue spark fizzled in the air and I jumped in my seat. "Come on," I whispered to myself, my hands already balled up into fists.

The sparks stopped and never came back. I let out a groan of frustration and looked to Crow. "Can you do anything buddy?" I questioned as I tilted my head to the side.

Crow squawked and I sighed. "That's okay, buddy." I pet his side and smiled lovingly.

I missed them all. I missed Hidan's swearing and Sasori's attitude. I missed Kisame ruffling my hair in the mornings and Deidara being an annoying kid brother. I missed Kakuzu's thoughtful conversaions and Zetsu's early morning rants about their world. I missed Konan's gentle smiles and Pein's advice. I missed Itachi...

For the passed few months I've been trying to figure out how to communicate with them, how to get to them. This circle of seals is my only way in, but it didn't seem to want to work!

I smiled, but now I have a lead thanks to Ashton. 'Horse, Monkey, Ox, Dragon,' I thought. Those were the hand signs, they had to be. I only translated the title of the papers Ashton had. It was for the seals, some type of portal or gateway.

I put my hands together and started to form the proper seal. They started to intertwine each other and repeat the hand seals over and over. 'You're not getting rid of me this easily.'

3rd POV

Ashton grumbled loudly, it was 11:00 p.m. and that stupid bird wanted out of the house. She slowly walked down the stairs in a t-shirt that was much too large for her. "Your June's, I shouldn't be the one who has to get out of bed and let you out, you stupid bird. I'm going to fu..." Ashton's sentence died off as the bird stared at her from across the room.

"Creepy," she muttered as she walked closer to it. She opened the door at which Crow stood by and the bird went hopping outside then spread its wings. Crow's wings flapped and he was outside. Ashton closed the door immediately, not wanting the cold air to come in. She would always wait five minutes for the animal to come back and if he didn't she'd leave the door open for one minute while she grabbed an apple from the counter or cookie, either worked. The bird was usually in by then, but if he wasn't she'd lock him out for the night.

Five minutes was already up and she caught no sight of the bird. Like usual, she left the door wide open, but only for a minute. As it was left wide open she walked into the kitchen to grab a light snack. She quickly ate an apple as she watched the clock on the microwave hit 11:06.

Though while Ashton was gone in the kitchen she missed the ebony bird speed into the house with wings tucked at his sides and legs pulls up. His beak guided the rest of his body and he soared to the middle of the room till he began to enter the middle of the seals quickly. Ashton didn't see Crow disappear in the middle of the seal in a small flash of blue or the chakra burst that followed.

So when she returned she shut the door and looked around for the bird. He was no where in sight and she shrugged her shoulders. "Your loss birdie," she took one last bite of her apple before throwing it away and heading up to bed.

"Woah," one of the children breathed out as he stared up at me in amazement.

"I know, right? I am a good story teller," I said as I swung my legs back and forth, I was still seated on the teacher's desk and still next to my two friends.

"Psh, I could do better," Ashton bragged as her arm slung around my shoulders. I rested my head on her arm and smiled. The look I gave her was more than enough to get her riled. "I'm good! Don't give me that look!" she yelled.

The children giggled and pointed at us. "I like your stories!" one of the little voices yelled. Ashton grinned and looked to me with a smug look.

"At least someone appreciates quality storytelling," she huffed out angrily, the wrinkles on her face shifting to make a annoyed looked.

"Uh-uh," I sighed. "Now I am going to continue if you don't mind," I huffed as I crossed my arms. "So during that night I stayed up till the sun started the rise. I was practicing hand signs the whole time. I was proud of myself, but the practice was worthless, so were the seals. Though I didn't know they were worthless."

The small children gasped at this. "Oh no" and "too bad" could be heard throughout the small crowd. They shook their heads. Despite being so young they all probably knew the feeling of defeat.

"What'd you do next?" a child asked as they rubbed their hands together anxiously.

I winked at the child and smiled. "I told you, they weren't getting rid of my that easily."

Serenity giggled besides my and I couldn't help but chuckle back. She looked at me then brushed a few grey hairs behind her ear and smiled. Aston ruffled my hair as she took her hat off to set it down on the counter. "Go ahead." She rested her hand on my shoulder. "I like the next part, makes you seem like an idiot."

I rolled my eyes but gave her a smirk nonetheless. "Dork," I whispered. I cleared my throat and looked up to our audience. They were talking and laughing loudly. Reminded me of my own in some way. The children chatted about our adventures from the previous story and the others chatted away about what was for lunch. I am a patient woman now so I crossed my arms and waited. "Okay, you tell me all when you're ready."