Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter! I forgot to put this at the end of the chapter but Emiko means smiling child encase anyone was curious. Not much else to say so on with the second chapter!
Itachi fell unceremoniously out of his bed when he heard Emiko's piercing cry. Quickly he scrambled up and grabbed a kunai, looking around for any intruders. He relaxed when he saw no one was in the room. He dragged himself over to the crib where Emiko was screaming.
"Emiko-chan, you need to sleep."
Emiko continued screaming at the top of her little lungs. She flailed her arms in the air, reaching for Itachi.
Itachi sighed and picked her up. He rocked her back and forth, trying to calm her down. After five minutes with no change, he let out a low growl. Itachi opened the door to his room and made his way towards the kitchen.
Finally reaching the kitchen, Itachi slammed the refrigerator open and grabbed a bottle. He held it to Emiko's lips and watched her drink the bottle dry. He had to hide a smirk at how Emiko held onto the side of the bottle for dear life, fighting Itachi when he tried to take it away. He finally removed the bottle from Emiko's grasp. He looked around before finding a towel and placing it over his shoulder. Itachi carefully patted Emiko's back, waiting for the small burp.
Emiko looked up at Itachi giggling happily. She sleepily reached up towards him, patting his cheek with her small hands. She felt herself being carried away and then being placed back in her crib. She turned her head to the side to watch what Itachi was doing. When she saw he had crawled back into his bed, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
And so, the next three months passed by in a similar manner. Emiko was moved from room to room, spending time with each member. She seemed to recognize all the different members, making different noises or faces depending on who was near her. When Konan or Pein would walk into the room, Emiko would smile and reach out to them. If it was Itachi she let out a small giggle. Kisame and Zetsu were blown tiny spit bubbles. Kakazu got clapping hands while Tobi would receive flailing arms. Deidara got a squeal of happiness and Sasori would be pointed at with a tiny index finger. Orochimaru was on the receiving end of many glares.
As for Hidan, he swore the small baby was out to get him. Whenever he came anywhere near her, she would cry and kick her legs in his direction. When it was Hidan's turn to have Emiko in his room, she would cry for hours, not letting the Jashin worshipper get any sleep. However, if they tried to put her in someone else's room, she would throw a fit until she was put in Hidan's room. It also seemed that whenever it was Hidan's turn to feed her, he was the only one that got spit up on.
One day, Konan was playing with Emiko in the main room when she let out a shriek.
"Everyone, come here quickly!"
The other members rushed in quickly, fearing the worst. What they saw made them breathe a sigh of relief.
Konan was helping Emiko sit up. Slowly, Konan removed her hands from Emiko's back, a grin on both Konan and Emiko's face.
Emiko was sitting up without Konan's help. She put her small hands on the ground and began hitting the floor with joy. She grinned proudly up at her family.
"Hooray for Emiko-chan!"
Tobi ran into the room and picked the baby up, swinging her around. Emiko let out a squeal of joy.
"Tobi, be careful!"
It was getting late so Kisame took Emiko to his room, placing her in her crib. He placed her white weasel toy in the crib beside her. Kisame then crawled into bed, hoping Emiko would sleep through the night.
Kisame was rudely awakened a few hours later by a scream of rage. He looked over at the crib and his eyes widened; Emiko was gone. He ran down the hallway with all the other members to where the scream had come from.
"What happened, Hidan?"
Hidan glared at the other members and pointed at his floor.
"How the fuck did she get in here?"
Emiko was sitting on Hidan's floor, pulling insistently on his sheets. She glared up at him and kicked her feet on the ground, showing her displeasure at the lack of attention she was receiving.
The other members had to hide their laughter as Hidan and Emiko had a small glaring contest. The couldn't contain it though when Hidan turned his glare on them.
"Get this fucking kid out of here!"
Konan glared at Hidan and went over to pick up Emiko. She ignored Emiko struggling in her grip and reaching for Hidan.
"Don't curse in front of Emiko-chan!"
Kisame took Emiko from Konan. He carried Emiko back to her crib and placed her in it, giving her a firm look.
"Emiko, you can't just climb out of your crib whenever you feel like it. You need to stay in here and leave Hidan alone."
Emiko frowned and blew a spit bubble for her response. She rolled over onto her side and refused to look at Kisame.
Kisame rolled his eyes.
"You're only a few months old and already you're giving attitude."
Emiko slept through the rest of the night, clutching onto the ear of her weasel. She was awoken in the morning by Kisame picking her up and taking her into the kitchen where everyone else was.
Kisame placed Emiko in her high chair and walked over to the fridge, pulling out her new pink cup with a pink lid on it. He handed it to Emiko, who was now flailing her arms around in excitement.
Konan smiled at the baby then went back to reading the baby book she had had Sasori and Deidara pick up on their last mission.
"According to this, Emiko is probably about five or six months old. Oh, Kakazu, it's your turn to feed her."
Kakazu sighed an got out the small container with mashed up carrots and a small teaspoon. He sighed and sat down in front of the happy baby.
Emiko frowned when she saw the spoon full of orange gooiness coming towards her. She turned her head to the side and pursed her lips.
Kakazu let out another sigh. He hated trying to feed Emiko.
"Come on, Emiko. Open up for the airplane." Kakazu swirled the spoon around in the air, careful not to drop any. "The airplane needs to land or it's going to crash and cost the company millions."
Emiko laughed. She opened up her mouth and allowed Kakazu to feed her the small spoonful of carrots.
Kakazu wiped Emiko's mouth with a wet napkin and put the food away. He sat back down to finish his breakfast.
Konan and Tobi were cooing at Emiko, trying to get her to say her first word.
"Emiko, say mommy."
"No, say Tobi!"
Emiko looked back and forth between the two before breaking out into a wide grin.
"Fuck!"
Everyone fell silent, looking at the small baby girl. They couldn't believe the word that had just come from that tiny, seemingly innocent, mouth.
Konan let out a howl of despair and picked Emiko up out of her high chair, rocking her back and forth. She glared at Hidan over Emiko's head.
"Hidan, look what you've done!"
"How the fuck do you know it was me?"
"You're the only one that curses around her! Now because of you, her first word was…was...that!"
Itachi sighed and took Emiko away from Konan so that Konan could properly throttle Hidan.
Emiko looked up at Itachi and smiled.
" 'Tachi!"
Konan paused in her beating of the Jashin worshipper and squealed in delight.
"She said your name, Itachi!"
About a month later, they decided it was time to let Emiko have solid foods. The first try had been a disaster. Emiko seemed more interested in dropping the food on the floor and throwing it at Hidan. Eventually she got bored with just throwing the food on the ground and focused and throwing it all at Hidan.
Also, Emiko was now never seen without her stuffed toy weasel. She had taken to calling it I-chan and refused to let go of it. At one point, it was so filthy from being dragged everywhere that Konan took it away while Emiko was sleeping to clean it. Emiko awoke moments later and let out an ear piercing shriek. She wouldn't stop screaming until Konan finally returned the now clean I-chan to her.
Emiko was always there to see the members off when they went off on missions. She would wave her hands happily and babble out what sounded like 'bye'.
She crawled everywhere as well. Whoever had her in their room that night had to lock the door so she wouldn't crawl out and into Hidan's room. She also demanded a story every night before she went to bed.
It had now been one whole year since the group had adopted Emiko into their bizarre family. Emiko was now able to walk by herself, falling only occasionally. She could even feed herself (though she did still like to throw her food at Hidan).
Konan decided to throw Emiko a birthday party. She ordered Sasori and Orochimaru to go and get a cake and candles, while she forced the others to decorate the lair.
Emiko was thrilled with the attention she was receiving. She had gotten a new pink party dress and a small pink ribbon for her growing black hair. Emiko wandered over to Konan, who was blowing up balloons.
"Mama."
She held I-chan out to Konan, looking at her expectantly. When she saw Konan wasn't understanding her, she pulled on her ribbon.
Konan smiled and hugged Emiko.
"You are just too cute! Here, let me see I-chan."
Emiko handed I-chan to Konan and watched in fascination as her mother tied the pink ribbon around her favorite toys neck. She smiled when Konan handed her I-chan back.
"Thank you, Mama!"
Emiko hobbled over to Pein and watched him put up a banner.
"Papa?"
Pein looked down at Emiko before picking her up so she could see the banner.
"It says 'Happy Birthday Emiko'."
Emiko grinned proudly and pointed at herself.
"Me!"
She squealed in delight when she heard the rock to the lair move. Emiko wiggled out of Pein's grasp and ran over to the entrance, falling only a few times. She grabbed onto Sasori's leg and hugged it tightly.
"Danna!"
Sasori balanced the cake in his hands and patted Emiko on the head. He slowly made his way towards the main area to put the cake down, Emiko still attached to his leg.
Orochimaru laughed.
"Don't I get a hello, Emiko-chan?"
Emiko glared at Orochimaru from around Sasori's leg and stuck out her tongue.
"Bad Hebi!"
Orochimaru merely smirked following Sasori into the main area.
That night, everyone (yes even Itachi!) had a good time. Emiko blew out her one candle on the first try and she was very proud of herself. She got new clothes and new toys. She even got to smash cake in Hidan's face.
Finally, she was ready to go to bed. It was Orochimaru's turn to keep her and she began struggling when he picked her up. She looked pleadingly at Itachi and reached out towards him.
"Stay with 'Tachi."
Itachi shook his head.
"That's tomorrow night, Emiko."
Emiko began crying as Orochimaru took her to his room and shut the door.
It was late at night when they heard Emiko screaming and the boulder being moved from the entrance. Konan was the first to reach Orochimaru's room. What she saw made her scream and the other members run faster. Konan looked at Pein with tears in her eyes.
"He took Emiko!"
Itachi was the first one to run out of the hideout. He followed Orochimaru's trail closely, leaving the others far behind. He finally caught up to Orochimaru in an open field.
"I was waiting for you, Itachi-kun."
Itachi glared at Orochimaru, his sharingan activated. He looked down in the grass and saw Emiko asleep. He turned his gaze back to Orochimaru.
"What did you do to her?"
"I merely put her under a sleeping jutsu. Don't worry, I would never harm precious Emiko-chan."
"What do you want?"
"I want you to become my new body, Itachi-kun. I'll raise Emiko-chan to be my apprentice."
"Give Emiko-chan to me."
Orochimaru laughed. He got into a fighting stance and was about to lunge at Itachi when the other members arrived.
Konan was furious. She ran over to Orochimaru and grabbed Emiko from beside him. She then quickly went back over to the others, keeping Emiko out of harms way.
Orochimaru sighed.
"Well, there's no point in fighting all of you. Until next time, Itachi-kun."
They watched him disappear into the night.
"You want me to follow the fucker, Pein?"
Pein shook his head and looked at Konan who was lovingly holding Emiko.
"No. We need to move to a new hideout. Everyone return to the old hideout, get your belongings and then prepare to move out. Oh and Deidara, congratulations on being Sasori's new partner and an official member of Akatsuki."
Deidara nodded silently. The others then did as they were told, making sure to wipe all traces of their existences from the hideout and following Pein to the new one.
The whole time, Emiko stayed fast asleep, safe in her mother's arms.
Yay! There's the second chapter! So what'd you guys think. Please review and let me know if you have the time!