Kisame sat down on the couch and yawned. "Good morning everyone!" He said. He glanced around. "So where's Itachi-san?"

Deidara strode by with a plate full of pancakes. "Try looking down, yeah."

Kisame blinked he looked down at the angry eighteen-year-old he was currently suffocating. He jumped up. "Oh, good morning, Itachi-san!"

Itachi sat up, a murderous look in his exhausted eyes. "Damn it, Kisame." He grumbled. "I finally fell asleep."

Sasori, who'd just walked in, looked at him questioningly. "You slept on the couch? Why didn't you just break in and kick her out? It is your room after all."

"I tried that. She was…um…changing…" He muttered, rubbing a large lump on his head.

Deidara laughed. "Man, I like this new girl." He commented. "She's really sexy, able to piss Itachi off—"

"And thinks you resemble a woman…" Sasori added.

Deidara scowled. "Well, aside from that." He mumbled.

Itachi crossed his arms. "She's rude, obnoxious, and I really doubt she's human, let alone female."

"Well, so is Hidan, but we tolerate him, yeah…"

Itachi's door opened and Martel strode out. "Good morning, jackasses." She said loudly. "Man I slept good!" She yawned, hopped over the back of the couch, and landed with a thud next to Itachi. "Move over, weasel-boy. I wanna watch TV."

Itachi clenched his teeth. Don't reply, and maybe she'll go away, he told himself.

Martel elbowed Itachi over. Then she froze. She looked up at Deidara's plate. "Hey, uh… Daidora."

"It's pronounced—"

"Yeah, whatever, where'd you get the pancakes?"

"Um, over there…" He said, pointing toward the kitchen. Martel hopped up and walked away.

Itachi sighed and rubbed his temples. "God damn it." He mumbled bitterly. "Someone, please kill me now."

Hidan strode in. "Sure. You're a virgin, right?"

"Shut up."

Konan strode in. "Morning everyone. I have some things for you to do. Hidan, go get Kakuzu and Zetsu." She said.

Hidan walked away. Itachi looked up at Konan. "Please tell me our orders changed to 'get rid of the girl as soon as possible'."

"No."

"Damn." He muttered. "So what are we supposed to do today?"

"Well, Hidan and Kakuzu need to go assassinate some people… Sasori and Deidara need to go run some errands… Zetsu needs to go gather information…"

"Alright." Itachi said slowly. "So what do Kisame and I do?" There was a long, awkward pause. After a minute, Itachi grimaced. "Oh, please not—"

"You two will stay here and watch the girl."

"Aw come on!" He groaned. "Can't you just make Zetsu do it or something?"

Zetsu strode by. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind that much."

"Yeah! I mean, she looks delicious."

"Idiot, you're not supposed to say that."

The two others stared at him uncomfortably. Then Konan continued. "I feel it would be a bad decision to let Zetsu watch her." She told him. He nodded blankly. She added, "And Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara, and Sasori are doing things that are very person specific."

"So that just leaves Kisame and me…" Itachi mumbled unhappily.

"Pretty much."

Itachi groaned. "Damn it." He stood up. "Seriously, why do we have to watch this jerk anyway?"

Konan looked at him. "Actually, I don't know." Itachi blinked. He looked over at Konan, confused. She shrugged. "I actually do not understand this order myself."

Itachi scowled and closed his eyes. It was going to be a long day…

(Meanwhile)

A man strode down a dark, empty hallway, blood dripping from his hand. Not his blood, of course. Whose it was, he really didn't care. It must've been the prisoner he'd eviscerated earlier. He smirked at the memory.

He entered another room. The walls were smeared with black, dried blood from whoever had been unlucky enough to have been in the room before. Today, though, a young man inhabited the room, beaten, bloody, deathly pale, but alive.

The first man reached down and grabbed the young man's throat, dragging him to his feet. The young man began pleading, begging not to be killed. The first smirked. "Shut up." He said calmly. The pleading stopped. The man continued. "Alright, your answer to my question probably will determine whether you live or die, so I would recommend answering carefully."

He reached into his pocket and drew out an old photograph. The scrawny, angry, blond girl glared out of the picture with piercing blue eyes. Her clothes were soaked with blood, and she had bruises on her face and neck.

"This picture is a little outdated, but she shouldn't have changed very much." He murmured. "Tell me, have you seen this girl?" There was a long silence. He tightened his grip on the kid's throat, enough for his nails to draw blood. "You didn't answer my question, boy." He said in a soft, menacing voice. "Do I need to repeat myself?"

"W-Wait…" he gasped. The grip loosened slightly. "I…I remember her…" He murmured hoarsely. "She was…near one of the…ninja villages…"

"Really?" He asked with a smile. He tore the young man's throat out. "That's pretty far from here…" He said quietly, inspecting the fresh blood on his hand. The boy's limp body collapsed onto the floor.

"Matsuda, sir." The man turned to see a guard standing in the doorway. "Was he lying…?"

"No. He just didn't know anything else." Matsuda replied. He walked out. "Clean that up."

He strode away, and pulled out the old photo. The photo of the girl named Martel…