Finder77: I wanted to let everyone who read the first chapter know, that I changed it a little from the first time I posted it. Okay, let me remind you all that this is a rp-based story and I don't own Naruto. Thanks for the review, Cast14! XD
Azuki woke up drowsily to bury her face in Itachi's chest, but was rewarded with a subconscious 'Hrm…' from Itachi.

'I should let him rest.' she thought. 'He never gets enough sleep.' She kissed him on the cheek and slung her feet over the side of the bed and smoothed out her pajamas. Yawning, she walked down the hall into the kitchen where Kisame and Zetsu was sitting, reading the paper and whatnot.

Zetsu saw her enter the room and said to her "Ah, Azuki-chan, I see you're awake. Deidara is still sleeping."

"Sleeping? More like 'in a state of subconscious dead-ness' if you ask me," Kisame said. "I looked into his room after you guys got home, and my first thought was that Deidara died in his sleep," he stirred his coffee.

"How'd you know he wasn't dead?" Azuki asked.

"He started sleep-talking... He said 'Hiruko looks like Tayuya's hat'... And I don't even know who Tayuya is!" Kisame sputtered. Azuki and Zetsu couldn't help but laugh. Tobi, who had popped out of: The toaster? Somewhere? started laughing too.

"Hnn... What's so funny…?" Itachi stood in the kitchen doorway, in all his boxer-shorted, messy-haired glory. His eyes were dark blue; almost black, instead of their regular red-sharingan.

"Tobi's stuck in the toaster! Come see!" Zetsu laughed. Seeing the Uchiha's black gaze, he abruptly stopped. "Oops... Uh... Sorry Itachi... I didn't mean..." Itachi merely stared blankly ahead.

"Itachi-san!" Azuki swept over to Itachi and threw her arms around him. "Good morning…" she lightly kissed him, and smiled. Although Itachi couldn't see what was going on, he blushed slightly at the thought of Zetsu, Kisame and Tobi watching him.

"Hello Itachi-san!" Tobi waved from the toaster. Itachi waved in the general direction he heard Tobi's voice come from. Azuki held his arm and led him to the table, where he took his usual seat and began stirring a cup of coffee (Bawls Coffee). She then started making breakfast for herself and the other Akatsukis. This morning it consisted of… You guessed it! Pancakes! (1)

Much later in the day, after feeding everyone breakfast, and waking up (dragging out of bed) Deidara, Azuki looked over the pages for missions. 'Bo-ring... These sound like the stuff Hidan and Kakuzu would be sent to do...' she chuckled. Grabbing Deidara by the arm, she darted towards the door. Itachi blocked her path.
"Hold on a second. Where are you guys going? You don't have any mission to do."
Azuki pulled him aside and whispered, "I'm gonna go visit Konoha. Then maybe stop by Sunagakure or something. I'm bored, work with me here!" He put his finger over her lips.
"It's fine with me, I just wanted to know," he said.
"You're just being nosey," Azuki teased.
"Nosey? I should think not," he kissed her briefly, then pulled away. "Have fun."
So the two Akatsukis set off for Konohagakure.


The two Akatsuki had arrived, or were at least on the Konoha border. Azuki promptly changed her appearance to match that of her old self, the one that had previously lived in Konoha, through jutsu. Deidara merely took off his coat, folded it up, and put it in Azuki's backpack.
"Ready to go?"
Deidara nodded.


"Hmm," sighed Mitsuko. "You want to know where to sell weapons and get food? I was just at a ramen place: You could eat there. Personally I don't know where the best spot to sell weapons is. You might be able to sell them to a local weapons shop, the ninja acadamy, or the Hokage, depending on how lethal they are. What kind of weapons did you get?"

"And just so you know, I've learned to access my chakra easily enough," a smile lit up her face. "Sure I might not be able to defeat you or Naruto, but I could take down some Akatsuki. It's nice of you to offer to follow me to Suna, but I'm just reminding you I'm leaving tomorrow. Don't underestimate me."

Suddenly, two blondes stepped out of the darkness.
"So, you think you could take out some Akatsuki, eh? Well, I'd like to see that happen," Azuki said, slightly annoyed. Her partner stood beside her, cracking his knuckles.
"Who the hell are you?" Mitsuko said. "Wait... You guys are Akatsuki!" she readied herself in a fighting stance.
"Hey now, we didn't come here to start a fight but I'm sure we won't have any problem finishing one," Deidara said, holding up his mouth-hand, which was chewing at some clay. "After all, what better way to score bonus points with Sir Leader than to bring back two more jinchuuriki?"

Azuki concealed four senbon behind her back, one between each finger of her left hand. She glanced at Deidara, who nodded. Suddenly, the blonde man opened his hand to reveal a small clay bird, which flew over to the two jinchuuriki.
"What the hell is-" Kai stopped abruptly as the bird, which was suspended in front of them, started growing as the chakra pushed its way out of its clay shell. "LOOK OUT, IT'S GONNA BLOW!" he and Mitsuko dived for the shelter of a nearby bush just as the bird exploded. They were promptly bombarded by Azuki's senbon. The four needles missed them, landing on the ground around them. Mitsuko stood up.
"Hah, is this all Akatsuki can do? You only hit around our feet!"
Azuki looked misceviously at them, "Who says that wasn't where I was aiming?" she made a hand sign, and the senbon detonated around the feet of the jinchuuriki.
"Argh!" Mitsuko yelled, the fragments of the explosion lodging themselves in her legs. The two Akatsuki chuckled.
"Now, have your fighting needs been sated?" the young girl asked, transforming back into her Akatsuki uniform. Deidara had already taken his coat out of Azuki's backpack and was buttoning it up. "Or do we need to beat you within an inch of death?" Azuki kneeled down, smiling cockeyed at the female jinchuuriki.
"Bastards," the girl spat, hoisting her feet up and attempting to sweep the young akatsuki's legs out from under her. Azuki dodged, and threw an exploding tag down towards her. Mitsuko dodged, and threw a barrage of shuriken towards the Akatsukis.

Kai frowned and rolled his eyes before seeming to melt into his own shadow and fade away only to begin reappearing in random places around the Akatsuki. "Did you just call me a jinchuuriki? I'm not some stupid demon locked in a weak fool of a human, an' I really don't give a damn what you or your leader guy wants. I just wanna eat an' sleep an' maybe score some cash." Annoyed at being interrupted, begins lodging kunai covered in instant exploding tags around them and in them, like behind their knees and mid-back, hard-to-reach places, causing enough of an explosion to grab the dog and get away.

"I don't feel like fighting," said Kai after they'd gained some distance. "I don't see any reason why I gotta get involved just 'cause you had to boast. I didn't say you weren't strong, idiot. I said to be careful, an' that'd I'd come along to make sure you were okay. But if you wanna prove it, go fight those two alone. I got no fight with them, so I'm stayin' outta it. I got better stuff to do. Besides, I might not hang out here enough, but shouldn't those elite guys be comin' soon? You really wanna get caught around 'em? I'd rather not have people houndin' me, thanks." Kai turned away, and started to head farther into the village.

I so could've taken those guys, thought Mitsuko. The only reason I didn't is because it's dark, and I get most of my powers from the sun. Mitsuko sighed inwardly. It'd be so much easier if it had been light out. Then Mitsuko realized Kai was walking away. "Wait! Argh!" yelled Mitsuko. Kai stopped but only breifly enough so Mitsuko could catch up to him. "Where are you going?" she asked.

Kai just shrugged. "Well, I still gotta sell at least somethin', and get somethin' to eat. I'm thinkin' sushi. I know it's expensive, but a dragon roll sounds good about now..." Grinning at his own joke, he reached into his bag and pulled out some kunai and shuriken. "Got 'em in Cloud."

"I think I'll go back to my room. I already ate and... Ooh, shiny weapons! And imported!" Mitsuko smiled. "I'll buy some! Here!" She unclipped a blue bag off her shoulders and rummaged around in her purse before handing Kai a stack of money twice as much as he would have sold the handful of weapons she took.

Kai put the rest of the weapons back into his bag; still in shock. "Where did you get all this money? Was that all you had?"

"Tch, No way! I still have plenty left. I got it from Taiyogakure (2). My dad IS the Taiyokage, you know."

Kai stared at the money, then grined and put it away. "Well, looks like I can save the rest of my weapons for some other time. An' since they're from Cloud, an' they pride themselves on makin' the best, you know they'll last ya a good long time. I'll probably eat, go see who I can mess with, then get some sleep. Just wake me up before you leave, 'kay? Who knows, maybe I'll run into Kyuubi's container around here! Never met him face-to-face before, just watched him fight a little. Not bad." Kai looked around until he saw what he hopeed might be a sushi stand. "Ooh. Dragon roll callin' my name. See ya later, Light Brat." Kai made his way to the restaurant, having not meant the name as an insult, just a tease, and used his teary ultra-chibi eyes to guarantee him a table and food, even though they have a strict 'no kids without parents' rule. Kai munched happily on his food, ignoring everyone's stares.

"Bye," Mitsuko smiled. Some things never change, she thought, as she walked the rest of the way back to the hotel she was staying at.


Kai finished off his Dragon roll before heading out, looking around until he found a tree that had a lot of familiar chakra around it, and slashes going up the sides. With a grin, he calmly walked up the tree and ploped down on a tree branch, closing his eyes and yawning before drifting off to sleep, curious what's gonna happen tomorrow and if he'll be able to see Kyuubi's container again before he leaves.


(1) And this is where FMA and I had a short but confusing conversation involving pancakes.

(2) Taiyogakure is the Sun Village, but it's usually reffered to as the 'Light Village'. Mitsuko lives there.

Finder77: Please review! I need to know if this story is good! It makes me happy when people review!