The Snake Sannin watched from his place underneath a sakura tree as Keiko continued biting that poor rabbit stuffed animal's ear. Ever since she had started teething, it seemed that she needed, needed, to bite anything she could get her hands on.

His hands were no exception, and she even chewed on some of his hair if he didn't pay attention. The rabbit had been on sale at one of the villages Akatsuki passed through, and he immediately bought it.

Funny how he couldn't muster up any feelings of guilt for that rabbit.

"She's not from Kiri is she?"

Orochimaru glanced over at the blue, shark-like man who leaned against another sakura tree. He wasn't entirely sure why Kisame decided to follow him and Keiko; it wasn't like they were friends. Heck, the Sannin didn't consider anybody in Akatsuki as friends. He was sure Konoha's T&I Department would love to hold a field day on his sanity, and he'd even let them!

Keiko giggled, but didn't relinquish her hold on the rabbit's right ear. Orochimaru sighed and decided to answer Kisame's question with another question. "And if she was?"

He refused to tell anyone about Keiko's true parentage. The mark on her head would just grow, and he wasn't sure that Kakuzu would give the blonde mercy if he heard about the large sum of money for her life. Just because the man had five hearts didn't mean the term "heartless" still didn't apply to him.

Orochimaru could feel his blood freeze at the thought of someone experimenting on Keiko. So many people wanted the Shodaime Hokage's DNA and since no one could hurt the Slug Princess, Keiko would be such an easy target.

Kisame raised an imaginary eyebrow as crossed his arms, a small smirk threatening to show. "Heh, aren't you defensive? It's just an innocent question Orochimaru."

'Innocent question' my behind, the Snake Sannin retorted mentally. "And why exactly are you here? The only reasonable explanation is that you're here to collect information fish boy."

He felt accomplished when Kisame glared at him and the air quickly became heavy. Orochimaru decided right then and there that annoying others was actually a pretty great hobby. Who needed Jiraiya's (annoying, but lovable) idiocy when he could provide his own entertainment?

A strong wind blew through, scattering the sakura petals around in large groups. It would've been a beautiful picture except for the fact that some petals entered Kisame's open mouth as he was about to counter the other Akatsuki member's statement.

Orochimaru smirked at the blue-skinned man's current predicament. "I never knew you enjoyed eating flower petals Kisame... Perhaps you truly are more fish-like than I thought?"

Sputtering and spitting out the petals, Kisame quickly replied, "I'm not a damn fish!" His hand reached for Samehada, and Orochimaru grinned at the challenge. He hadn't had a good fight in a long time.

"Ahh!"

He paused and looked down at Keiko who cooed happily at something. Ignoring Kisame, he walked over to the blonde baby's spot. The long, dark-haired man had been so absorbed in his button pushing that the blonde had crawled away.

With a sigh, he grabbed Keiko around her waist and lifted her up. He just knew she got herself in trouble. Tsunade's blood ran through her!

"What did I say about going off Kei-" he paused as his mind suddenly stopped functioning. No. No it couldn't be!

Kisame chuckled, then he snickered, and then he bursted out laughing before he guffawed at the little girl Orochimaru held. "Priceless!" he commented as he wiped away tears in his eyes, holding his stomach as his laughs echoed throughout the abandoned forest.

His mind didn't want to work. H-how-no why?!

"Who's the fish now?!" Kisame commented again, mirth pouring off him like the flower petals fluttering in the wind.

Control yourself, breathe in and out! He felt a vein throb dangerously against his forehead. "Keiko-chan..." he trailed off dangerously, "Why are you eating the sakura petals?"

The baby quickly sensed something wasn't right with her guardian. He looked tense. She didn't get it. The pink thingies looked yummy and she was so curious! How did they fall down? Why are they so small and soft? And lastly, how did they taste?!

"You can't just put random objects in your mouth!" Orochimaru continued scolding her. "What if it was poisonous? Even I don't have the ability to quickly whip out an antidote to counter the poison within a few seconds!"

Keiko felt bad now. He was using his sad voice with her. She really just wanted to know if he would also like the pink thingies as well... He seemed happy, but she wanted to know why he didn't smile around other big people like he does with her.

Orochimaru sighed as Keiko's amber eyes avoided his own eyes and sat down, setting the girl onto his lap. His fingers gently took out the petals in her mouth, wincing at all the saliva that the petals were covered in.

"Bwuh..."

He paused and blinked at the disheartened gurgle from the tiny blonde. Rarely had she ever looked as sad as she did right then. His chest felt heavy, but he knew that he had to scold her, or she would never learn.

"Ah, looks like the kid's about to cry," Kisame commented offhandedly. The man had to admit it; he was curious. A criminal caring for a kid? Sounded suspicious to him. The vessel part made sense, but his intuition was telling him to look closer. He was a shinobi, and he had to look underneath everything.

Walking closer to the pair and ignoring the death glare from Orochimaru; he crouched and pinched Keiko's chubby cheek. "Crying is for weaklings. You're in Akatsuki, we don't cry."

Orochimaru felt peeved at the fish-like man and pulled her away from Kisame. "She's my vessel and therefore, she's not part of Akatsuki," he stated. No way was the little girl on his lap part of the dark organization! The day that happened would be the day Tsunade gave up drinking and gambling while Jiraiya swore to never look at a woman perversely. In short, it had a 0.0000000000000065% chance of occurring. He had large plans for her anyway, plans that definitely did not involve the organization with black cloaks decorated with red clouds.

"But she's your vessel; you'll be taking her body as your own won't you?" Kisame smugly added, unfazed that the action would be considered a moral and ethical crime by many. "You're not planning to leave the organization are you Orochimaru?"

The Snake Sannin swore furiously in his mind and hid the annoyance he felt. He was a master at acting, and he refused to let Kisame discover his plans. "Oh? So you really were here for information gathering after all. You seem to be forgetting that snakes catch fish, and we don't like letting go of our prey."

Kisame's eyes quickly narrowed. "Was that a threat?"

"Kukuku, a promise," Orochimaru answered challengingly as his muscles prepared for a fight. No one really needed to get along in Akatsuki so long as objectives were still completed.

"Hmph, no one likes rotten snakes anyway. You're just going to contaminate everything."

"And yet we always find our way back," Orochimaru replied, crouching and tightening his hold on Keiko. He didn't want her to be involved in the fight. He'd summon a snake to take her away while he fought. Surely they'd love having Kisame as a sacrifice? It wasn't every day they got an S-rank missing-nin.

Suddenly, both of the men found small hands covering their mouths. Both looked down at the little girl who babbled incoherently before they paled as they noticed how her chubby hands held something very wet against their lips.

No way, both missing-nin thought. She couldn't have...

Keiko just smiled brightly as she pulled her hands away and clapped her hands which were covered in saliva-covered sakura petals, the very same petals which were currently hanging onto each of the grown men's faces.

Orochimaru recovered first, somewhat used to the girl's actions. He sputtered and wiped away the wet petals. Controlling the growing tick on his forehead, he quickly opened his mouth to reprimand her only to have her stuff some more petals inside. He coughed at the absurd amount she had grabbed and stuffed in his mouth.

Was it a good thing those petals weren't saliva covered? He couldn't decide, his mind wasn't functioning right anyways.

"Hahah-" Kisame was cut off when his mouth was filled with pink petals as well and he spat out the petals while coughing.

Keiko merely giggled and filled her own mouth with pink petals as well. Orochimaru could only watch in something akin to disbelief and amused exasperation as her chubby cheeks were filled with petals. The little girl's cheeks resembled that of a chipmunk's stuffed cheeks, a sight he found...cute.

He sighed and watched in amusement as the blonde stubbornly filled Kisame's mouth with more petals. It was a good thing the Kiri missing-nin had no idea what to do with children that he wasn't supposed to kill.

Although, Orochimaru mused silently, he really should just stop spitting them out. Keiko-chan's not going to stop and I don't think the wind will cease anytime soon as well. It's a losing battle Kisame.


Hello! Did you know you can actually eat cherry blossoms? They're not poisonous or anything so apparently it's fine to eat them! Just make sure they're clean and not saliva covered!

So today (April 11th) is supposed to be one of the days the Yoshino cherry blossoms in the U.S. are in peak bloom, and being the anime lover I am, I decided to theme this chapter around the event! (I know, I have no life haha)

Honestly, I don't think this is the best chapter I've written, and I'm pretty sure Kisame was OOC as well. For some reason, I just can't grasp his character as well as others. I think my muse has run away again...

Well next chapter is Keiko's birthday! Don't worry; I'm not going to write every single year of Keiko's life! I'd be frustrated at the lack of plot even if I was swimming in fluff!

Thank you very much for all of your reviews! I think I'm starting to scare my family with the large grins I always wear when I'm on my laptop! (There's nothing illegal on here-I swear!)

I'm so happy you all find this a cute, fluffy, interesting story! Yay! I'm so happy I could fly!

See ya in the next chapter!