Crashes sounded from the kitchen and echoed down the hallway, accompanied by the smell of burning food in addition to shouting from someone who had either set something on fire or managed to catch fire himself. Konan did her best to ignore this intrusion on her otherwise peaceful slumber, but one can only deny the sound of falling pots and broken china for so long. Eventually, the blue-haired woman was forced to get out of bed and meander her way into the kitchen, wondering what in Kami's name the other Akatsuki members had managed to do this time (and at 8 in the morning as well).

The answer was a fistfight between Hidan and Deidara, who were currently rolling around on the floor and covered from head to foot in goop that looked suspiciously like raw eggs. A pan was sitting askew on the stove with what appeared to be burnt pancake batter oozing out the side and onto the burner; more batter had been flung across the rest of the stove and part of the counter. Raw meat juice was currently dripping from a packet of bacon that had also been left on the counter, and a gallon of orange juice was rolling across the kitchen floor and spilling its contents everywhere. Konan, needless to say, was not very happy.

Separating the two men with her paper jutsu and pinning them to the wall, Konan stared down Deidara and Hidan with a fierce look. "What are you two doing?" she demanded.

"He burnt my pancakes, un!" Deidara accused.

"Blondie was gonna use all the Jashin-damned eggs!" Hidan countered.

Konan sighed and rubbed her temples, wondering why Pein wasn't handling this mess right now. The stupid work-obsessed ninja was probably barricaded in his office with an industrial strength pair of earplugs to drown out the noise, leaving his second in command to handle this. "Clean this mess up," she ordered. "If you do it quickly, I'll make you French toast. How does that sound?"

"Done and done!" Hidan exclaimed as Deidara agreed with him.

Konan had barely gotten the boys to settle down before she was confronted with yet another disaster. Smoke began to pour into the kitchen from the living room, and when Konan stuck her head through the doorway she caught sight of the Akatsuki vacuum cleaner being consumed by a small blaze. "What did you people do now?!" she demanded.

"Tobi wanted to clean the living room!" was her answer. Tobi occasionally succumbed to some inexplicable desire to help tidy the base, but rarely managed to do much more than cause a miniature disaster for Konan to fix later. The laundry room of the base was still covered in bleach stains, just to name one example. "But the vacuum cleaner doesn't seem to like the shag rug." As if to confirm the masked ninja's assertion, a small explosion caused the vacuum cleaner to vomit sparks all over the rug, singeing the nearby coffee table in the process.

Before Konan could even begin to think about how to manage this latest upset, Kisame wandered into the room with a basket full of clean laundry. "Hey Konan! I hope you don't mind, but I washed some of your things with mine, since your basket was just sitting by the washer and taking up space. It's fine to run lace stuff on the heavy duty setting, right? WHOA!"

Kisame, unable to see where he was going thanks to the heaping mound of laundry obscuring his vision, managed to trip over the flaming wreckage of the Akatsuki's vacuum. The laundry basket flew forward as its contents spilled comically all over the room, with Konan's underwear drifting slowly to the floor, torn to shreds by the washing machine and dryer.

At this point in time, to no one's surprise save for the Akatsuki members present, the final straw snapped for Konan.

-n-

BANG

Pein glanced up from his desk towards his office door, more out of curiosity than any real alarm. Hardly a day went by in the base without someone all but breaking down his door to yell at the Akatsuki leader about some such emergency or what have you. It was the quiet days that set Pein on edge, since that typically meant that whatever screw-up had occurred was so horrible that the Akatsuki members felt compelled to hide it from their leader. And so, although Kisame looked incredibly pale and frightened out of his wits, Pein did not immediately go into panic mode. "Do I even want to know what you people have done this time?" he inquired, setting aside his earplugs and paperwork.

"It's Konan," Kisame stated.

That was enough to get Pein's full attention. "What happened?"

"It's bad. Deidara and Hidan wrecked the kitchen, Tobi wrecked the living room, and I kind of accidentally wrecked her underwear-"

"WHAT?! Do you have any idea how much a nice pair of panties costs?!"

"No?" Kisame responded with a raised brow, wondering if perhaps the leader had forgotten where his sexual preferences lay.

"Never mind that. I assume that my darling second-in-command has gone on a murderous rampage?"

"It's worse than that!"

Pein gulped; this could be serious. "What then? Has she threatened to burn down the base? Attack the village?"

"She's…she's…"

"Spit it out already!"

Kisame took a deep breath, bracing himself as the leader stared at him with increasing panic. "She's crying."

-n-

A thoroughly disgusted Pein followed an extremely mortified Kisame down the hallway past the bedrooms and into the kitchen. The other members were crouched down by the doorway to the kitchen, looking visibly uncomfortable every time Konan let out a particularly loud sob. Pein's frustration on behalf of his partner was momentarily forgotten at the sight, morphing into embarrassment. "What are you people doing?!" he hissed. "You've seen girls cry before; hell, you've made plenty of women weep!"

"Konan's not a girl, un!" Deidara argued. "She's like a sister…mom…nanny thing. And they're not supposed to cry, un!"

"Please fix it," Sasori requested.

"Soon," Kakuzu added.

Pein sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering how in Kami's name these men could be so easily upset by the sight of Konan's tears. He reasoned that none of them had grown up with sisters, and their moms had probably either avoided weeping in front of them or were such tough kunoichi that crying never occurred to them in the first place. As such, they'd gone almost their entire lives without seeing someone they cared about sob, and were unprepared to handle this type of situation. Pein supposed that part of him should be touched that they loved Konan enough to feel ashamed and scared right now, but at the moment he could only muster up a high level of irritation towards them. "Wait here, and don't say anything until I tell you to," he commanded, before stepping into the kitchen.

Konan seemed not to notice her partner's approach, so consumed with sobbing on the floor of the kitchen was she. The poor woman was curled up into a ball, tears rolling down her cheeks as she surveyed the damage done to her laundry. Pein slowly walked up to the blue-haired ninja and crouched down in front of her, gently pulling her hands away from her face and setting them on her curled-up legs. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

Konan took several gasping breaths, trying to calm herself down enough to speak. "I wanted to sleep but the boys were yelling and my kitchen's a wreck and so's the rug and there won't be any pancakes now and all my panties are ruined and EVERYONE SAW THEM!" At the end of her statement the woman broke into a fresh bout of wailing tears, causing everyone but Pein to curl into themselves, looking like they wanted a hole in the ground to open up and swallow them completely.

Pein, however, had enough experience with Konan to know what needed to be done at this point. "Konan, I think you need a nice vacation from the rest of the Akatsuki."

"*sniffle* Really?"

"Of course. I'm sure Kakuzu would be glad to spare the money for your vacation; wouldn't you, Kakuzu?" The miser couldn't have objected even if he wanted too, and offered the duo a curt nod. "How does that sound?"

"But *sniff sniff* without me around, the base will fall apart. None of you can cook anything that isn't made over a campfire, and the laundry-"

"We'll figure it out while you're away, I promise," Pein stated. "You just focus on resting and relaxing."

A few more sniffles as Konan wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Well, all right."

-n-

It took Konan a rather short time to pack a weeks' worth of clothing and supplies, and the journey wouldn't take long since she would only actually be traveling on foot to a hot spring resort in the next town over (just in case she ran into trouble and needed her partner to back her up). Pein offered up one of his bodies to carry her baggage, Kakuzu offered her the money for her trip in an envelope, and within an hour Konan was out of the base and on her journey.

Once the woman was out of sight, Pein marched back into his base and gathered the Akatsuki members together. "All right, listen up. You people have been far too reliant on Konan to play mommy for far too long. How exactly are we supposed to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies if we can't even tell the difference between dish detergent and fabric softener?! Consider the next week a crash course in domestic training."

"Forgive me for asking," Itachi cut in, "but how exactly do you expect us to learn to do these domestic tasks when you've dismissed our only possible teacher to a resort?"

"…Well, there are other ways to figure this out. I'm sure the library in the village has manuals or guides on the subject, and we can always utilize trial and error-"

"Dear Jashin, we're fucking screwed," Hidan whispered to Kakuzu. The banker didn't reply; he was too busy mourning the loss of his money.

-the next day-

Konan had arrived at her hotel and paid for one of the nicest rooms in the resort (which didn't come cheap without a reservation) and spent the first day of her break relaxing with a book by the pool. Pein's body had been dismissed, a choice she was almost beginning to regret when the sun began to bore down on her. Sunscreen was a bitch to apply on your back without additional help, and while the kunoichi was willing to come home with a slight tan, starting her vacation with sunburn was not on the agenda. "Excuse me, miss?"

Konan looked up from her chair, where she'd been attempting to apply sunscreen to the back of her shoulders. She'd been addressed by a young man with short black hair and dark brown eyes, who was smiling kindly at her. "You look like you could use some help; I could get your back, if you want."

Somewhat suspicious of the teen's motives, Konan nevertheless handed over her bottle of sunscreen and allowed him to approach. At first everything was fine; the boy's hands rubbed down her shoulders and the back of her neck without deviation. However, as the hands went down her spine Konan began to sense a bit of nervousness. His hands slowly traveled to the clasp of her bikini top, slipped under it-

"My my, such a bold move from such a young man. I'm surprised at your nerve," a woman's voice came from behind her.

Both Konan and the boy turned to look at the woman who'd spoken. It was a young blonde with a jewel in the center of her forehead, accompanied by a nervous-looking brunette with a small pig in her arms. "Frankly I'd apologize to this nice lady and beat it before I knock some sense into that perverted skull of yours," the blonde went on, smiling sweetly even as she cracked her knuckles in a manner most threatening.

As the boy was trying to stutter an apology for his indecent actions, Konan realized that she was looking at Tsunade the Sanin and some sort of companion. She could probably take the duo on in a fight, but it would definitely put a damper on her vacation. Besides, Pein would be extremely upset to discover that his partner had picked a fight with a major ninja force in the base's backyard, if not for Konan wrecking her free time. Instead of confronting Tsunade then, she decided to feign ignorance of the pair's identity and pray that they wouldn't recognize her. "Thank you," she said with a smile. "I was about to flip that brat like a pancake."

"I could tell," Tsunade replied. "and that probably would've resulted in you becoming a local spectacle. My friend Shizune and I just wanted to keep you from suffering a rather public embarrassment." She sat down on a lounge chair next to Konan as Shizune sat on the next chair over. "I'm Tsunade, by the way."

"Coco," Konan quickly lied.

"So, you here for business or pleasure?"

"A little bit of both," Konan stated. "My boss decided I needed a bit of a break from work, so I'm on mandatory leave."

Tsunade nodded at this answer. "I hear the gambling's amazing at this resort, so Shizune and I will be here for a few days, maybe a week. You?"

"I'm actually here for the spa, but I'll be sticking around for about that long too."

"Well how about that! Say, how about we stick together? We don't want any boys to get suplex'd, do we?"

Konan thought about the offer for a few moments before agreeing. "Sounds great. I could use a little company from girls."

-meanwhile-

So far, Operation Become Better at Doing Chores So Konan Never Cries Ever Again was not going as well as had been planned. Deidara and Sasori had been put on kitchen duty, Kisame and Itachi were stuck with laundry, Kakuzu and Hidan were tidying up the living room while Tobi and Zetsu tended to resetting the traps in the entryway, and Pein was trying to organize everyone. Unfortunately, none of them were any good at doing their jobs.

"Urgh, I think I'm going to puke," Deidara moaned while cleaning the dishes. "My handmouths keep swallowing the dishwater, un."

"Be grateful that you don't have to wax the floor," Sasori griped. "My body parts don't have enough traction to keep from sliding around!" As if to prove his point, the puppet's foot suddenly slid out from under him, causing the puppet master to do the splits.

Meanwhile, Kisame and Itachi were having difficult interpreting the directions on the detergent container. "Use 100 mg of detergent per 10 liters of water…wait, the washing machine measures in gallons! And I thought it said to deduct 10 mg of detergent if the water was hot; or was that add 10 mg?"

Itachi was considering setting the whole mess on fire and calling it a day.

Kakuzu and Hidan, meanwhile, were trying to dislodge a rug from the jaws of the "fucking demonic vacuum cleaner from hell" as Hidan liked to call it. And then there was the tragedy of Zetsu and Tobi trying to reset the booby traps outside of the base, which typically resulted in the boys getting caught in an explosion or barely dodging a flying knife. Pein was finally forced to call it a day and take several Advil to alleviate what had become a crippling migraine. This might take more time than he'd initially thought.

-n-

"So you're the only girl in the whole office?!" Shizune gaped.

Konan nodded and slid down further into the private hot spring she was sharing with her new friends. She was soaking in the warm water with Shizune and Tsunade, and indulging the girls with stories about her "career." "Yup. I'm the only female reporter in the whole newspaper office, and my boss is always running to me for most of the information gathering, since nine times out of ten the boys end up botching their job somehow."

"So your co-workers are useless then," Tsunade concluded as she nibbled on a chocolate covered strawberry from a nearby floating tray.

"I wouldn't say that," Konan objected. "Their hearts are usually in the right place, but they're…less than competent, shall we say."

"I say we order another round of chocolate covered everything," Shizune suggested with a giggle as she sipped at her glass of wine. "This tastes amazing."

"You sure you don't want us to chip in?" Tsunade asked. Konan had paid for all their food thus far, and after three bottles of wine and more plates of sushi than they could count, the tab had to be getting pretty steep. "I can always dip into the gambling fund-"

"Don't worry about it," Konan interjected. "It's on the company's dime, not mine."

"Well if you're sure…"

"Just make sure to show me how you play blackjack before we go to the casino tomorrow, ok?"

Tsunade grinned. "Deal!"

-meanwhile-

"Come on, it's just a batch of chicken noodle soup!" Pein snapped. "How hard can it be to make?!"

Sasori gave his leader a look that could have peeled paint. "I have read these directions a thousand times, and I have followed them to the letter. There is no reason for the soup not to be perfect."

"But it tastes like salty chicken water," Kisame bluntly stated as he dumped the remains from his soup bowl down the garbage disposal.

"That's exactly what chicken noodle soup is!" Sasori snapped back.

"But Konan always made it-"

"Kisame, not another word," Pein cut in, rubbing soothing circles into his temple. "All right Sasori, how about we leave the cooking to someone that didn't get rid of their taste buds when they became a puppet."

"I still have taste buds! Well, some of them-"

"My point exactly. Maybe try dusting? You should be used to that from keeping your puppets clean, right?"

Sasori grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like puppets sealed in scrolls didn't need dusting, but Pein had already wandered out of the kitchen and towards the laundry room. Kakuzu was folding a load of clothing that had just been taken out of the dryer; at least this batch wasn't covered in detergent stains and Kami knows what else. "How goes it?"

Kakuzu held up a dozen threads attached to clothes that they were attempting to patch. "I think the heavy duty setting may be jammed."

"Damn it."

"Sir Leader?"

Pein turned to look over his shoulder at Deidara. "What is it now?"

"Itachi finished resetting the traps outside-"

"Wait, you people actually did something right?!"

"Um, not exactly, un. He set them up a little too well, un, so nobody can get into the base now but we can't get out without setting them off, un."

"Oh for Kami's sake…just throw Hidan out the front door and hope he sets off a few."

"Hey, I have enough work to do here already!" Kakuzu protested, foisting one of Konan's cami's into the leader's face to prove his point.

"Then I'll put Deidara on laundry duty!" Pein shot back as he swatted away the offending lace garment.

"Hell no, I'm not getting any more soap near my handmouths, un! I was sick all night and things still taste funny now, un!"

"How do you shower with that problem?" Kakuzu inquired.

Deidara turned bright red and muttered something about him and Sasori usually showering together, but Pein had already abandoned this disaster for another. Hidan was still fighting the vacuum cleaner, now called the "fucking demonic bitch cocksucker appliance" as he managed to get his wrist jammed in the machine's inner workings. On the bright side, Tobi had finished mopping the front room and left the floor squeaky clean; a fact that Pein found out when his feet slid out from under him and caused him to faceplant in front of the couch. "Oi, Pein in the ass, why can't we just throw out the rug and stop fucking around with the vacuum?" Hidan demanded not three feet away from him.

It gave Sir Leader a great amount of pleasure to send Hidan flying into the wall with his Rinnegan.

-two days later-

"And that's blackjack for the little lady in blue!"

Shizune cheered as a drunk Tsunade clapped Konan on the shoulder. "Where have you been all my life, you fantastic woman?! We're cleaning up good tonight!"

Konan smiled as another pile of chips were pushed in front of her, creating a small mountain of winnings. It turned out that the Akatsuki member was a natural card player, years of training with origami creations giving her an eye to follow every unique crease and fold in the cards the dealer was doling out (even when using six decks). Earlier in the day she'd been nervous about blowing a huge amount of money on a sky blue cocktail dress and matching pumps for the girls' night at the casino, but now that she was making money the regret was completely gone. Hell, at this rate she'd be able to pay Kakuzu back for her vacation plus interest. Hmm…

"Man, tomorrow's spa day in going to be incredible!" Tsunade commented as she snagged two glasses of champagne from a waiter, one for Konan and one for herself. "If I do half as well on the slots as you do with cards, I'm gonna get a nice seaweed wrap to go with our massages."

"Tsunade, don't jinx it," Shizune begged as the dealer doled out his cards.

"Oh lighten up! Coco's on fire right now!" Tsunade giggled, sipping at her drink. Her good cheer faded slightly when she saw the look on Konan's face. "Coco, what's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about the boys back at the office. I've never been away from them for this long, so I can't help but worrying. Kami only knows what they've done to the company fridge, for one thing."

"Tch, tell me about it. Lemme tell you this story about two boys I used to work with-"

"Tsunade!"

"Great ninjas, absolutely amazing on the battlefield. But try putting them in the kitchen or giving them a mop, and they were absolute idiots. It got to the point where I had to come over to their apartments every week just to make sure that they weren't drowning in filth! Don't ever let it get to that point, Coco. It only ends in dust bunnies and awkward excuses when you find the porn stash."

"Er, right. I'll keep that in mind," Konan promised, the light dusting of red on her cheeks a far cry from the tomato shade of Shizune's whole face.

-many fiascos and failures later-

"Ok Itachi, let's think about this logically," Kisame suggested. "A stove is like a small campfire, right? It just has heated plates instead of an open flame, so it's always at a constant temperature."

"Hn."

"So logically, if we can cook fish over an open fire, than cooking fish on a stovetop shouldn't be that much harder, right?"

"Hn."

"Great. Now all we need to do is set up a spit-"

WHAP

"There will be no spits in Konan's kitchen!" Pein snapped. "You people will learn how to cook using pans just like everyone else in this world!"

"Pein, we've been at this for days with no progress," Kisame argued. "Maybe we should just admit defeat, or try to compromise and do what we can-"

"Konan deserves better than campfire food, especially when we have a perfectly usable kitchen at our disposal. Or do you want to make her cry again?"

"Not that, anything but that!"

"Then I suggest you reconsider your cooking strategy," Pein snapped. "It's not rocket science, it's putting a fish in a pan and searing it!"

"Says the guy that wouldn't know a spice rack from a medieval rack!" Kisame shot back. "If you can think of…of…Itachi?"

While the other two ninjas had been arguing with each other, Itachi had gutted, sliced, buttered, and dropped the fish fillets into the pan, where he was currently searing them over a low heat as he sprinkled a bit of onion powder on them. Pein blinked in confusion, half-thinking that the recent stress of Akatsuki life had caused him to snap and hallucinate. Kisame, on the other hand, approached his partner and peered over the shorter man's shoulder. "Itachi? You can cook?"

"Hn."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I get enough comments about being your wife without cooking for you."

"What? Hidan's the only one that ever calls you that, and he's just an ass."

"Hn."

"Well just show me how to cook. Then Hidan won't have any ammo to use against you."

Pein left the two ninjas like that, choosing to investigate the laundry room next. To his amazement, Sasori and Deidara were folding a load of laundry that appeared to be completely intact. "Did you two…?"

"Mixing detergent with clothing to create clean laundry isn't that different from mixing herbs and chemicals to make poisons," Sasori explained. "Once you find the right combination, it's child's play."

"Un!" Deidara agreed.

"I see. And you fixed the washing machine?"

The puppet master cast a wary glance towards the door before answering his leader in a low whisper. "Actually we had to replace that monstrosity. It was beyond salvation, so we borrowed the corporate credit card and picked up a new one in town. Transporting it in Hiruko was a breeze. Don't tell Kakuzu."

"And the old one?"

"Boom," Deidara giggled with a smirk.

"Right. Carry on then." Pein left the laundry room, feeling far more hopeful than he had all week. Perhaps there was hope for his men yet.

BOOOOOM RKRKRKRK

"Fucking vacuum!"

Then again, some things might be beyond salvation.

-n-

The final day of vacation was dedicated to a shopping spree in town, and Konan's fund to reimburse Kakuzu was getting smaller and smaller with each store that the trio of ladies visited. Konan couldn't remember the last time she'd gone shopping without concerning herself with the practicality of the outfit, and a career as an S-ranked criminal certainly limited what clothes could go into the wardrobe. Buying sundresses and high heels was a new experience for her, and there was something so wonderful about walking around and not just feeling powerful, but pretty too.

"We should do something special for Coco's last night here!" Tsunade suggested. "Before she gets dragged back into the hell of office life."

"Actually, I'm kind of looking forward to going back," Konan admitted. "Taking a break is great, but, well…I guess I miss my boys."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Shizune commented with a smile.

"Sweet schmeet, dinner's on us tonight!" Tsunade announced loudly in the middle of the shopping center. "Premium steak and karaoke!"

Konan smiled; she was really going to miss these two when they left. Hopefully she wouldn't have to kill them some day. "That sounds wonderful."

-the next day-

They'd done it. Against all odds, the Akatsuki members had managed to take care of themselves. The dishes were clean, the laundry was done, and everyone was able to make at least a basic meal (and Itachi more than that). Unfortunately, not all stories had a happy ending; sometimes, Pein had to be harsh and bring the hammer down. "You had one job. Just one job. And you couldn't even do that right."

"…"

"Please understand, there is nothing personal behind this. Akatsuki members are expected to pull their weight, and if you can't do that, you can't stay in the organization."

"…"

"You were given multiple chances to improve your performance in any way, but each time you failed to show even a small amount of effort towards that end."

"…"

Pein sighed and shook his head. "Vacuum cleaner, I'm sorry. Your position in the organization has been terminated. Hidan, if you would do the honors?"

The Jashinist smirked beside the leader and extracted several explosive tags from his coat, aiming the knives they were attached to towards the condemned appliance. "You're mine now, bitch."

"How did it come to this, un?"

Sasori placed a comforting hand on his partner's shoulder. "Even Kakuzu said he was willing to shell out for a replacement, Deidara. When it's gotten to that point, there can be no other outcome."

Tobi sniffled nearby. "It used to be such a nice vacuum cleaner too."

BOOOOM

The Akatsuki members watched in respecting silence as the vacuum cleaner was reduced to ashes, thick clouds of smoke billowing up towards the sky. If one concentrated hard enough, it was almost possible to hear "Taps" playing in the background.

"What the hell are you people doing."

Everyone turned to see Konan standing on the path nearby, sporting a large sunhat and several bags from clothing stores under her arms. The look on her face questioned the sanity of all members present, and the blue-haired ninja wondered whether she should have taken Shizune and Tsunade up on that offer for a cup of coffee before she returned home. Really, really wondered.

"Er, Konan," Pein greeted, waving weakly towards his second in command. "We were just tossing out that nasty old vacuum cleaner; don't worry, we'll get a new one tomorrow!"

"Uh-huh." Konan reached into one of her bags and pulled out a small manila envelope, which she tossed at Kakuzu. "Oi, here's payback for the trip. Thanks again."

"Oh Konan, Zetsu and Tobi fixed all the traps for you," Tobi chirped happily, hoping to please the lone female in the group.

"And Sasori danna and I did all the laundry, un!" Deidara added.

"And Itachi can cook!" Kisame threw in.

Konan smiled at the Akatsuki members as she set her bags down on the ground. She walked up to her fellow criminals and, one by one, hugged each of them, ending with a hug and kiss for Pein. The origami mistress then wove her way back through the confused ninjas and picked up her bags, still smiling. "Oh boys?"

"Yes?" Pein replied, seeing as the others were still too dazed to answer.

Konan was practically beaming by now. "If you ever put me through that hell again, I'll castrate each and every one of you and keep the balls in a jar beside my bed." The woman giggled as the other Akatsuki members blanched and ducked behind Pein, before she started up the hill towards their mountainside base, whistling happily as she walked. These new outfits weren't going to hang themselves up, after all.

"Konan's super scary," Tobi whimpered, cowering behind the Akatsuki leader.

"Still better than her crying," Kisame stated.

The others couldn't help but agree.

A.N.: Timeline-wise, I'd put this story before Tsunade becomes Hokage; that way she's free to be out and about and isn't on the lookout for any Akatsuki members.