It's a lovely day, and here's my next update!

MaliceArchangela doesn't own the Akatsuki, and in the words of Robert Porterfield, "If you like it, talk about it. If you don't, then keep your mouth shut!"

Thank you, and Enjoy!

… … … … … … … … … … …

"Cin, come on, un, we're going to be late!" Deidara yelled up to her window.

She pulled it up and yelled back, "I'm not going!"

"What, un?"

"I'm not going!" she yelled louder.

"What do you mean, you're not going, un?"

"I'm calling in sick!"

"You can't do that, un!"

"Watch me!"

"I've got four teachers over here who can get you in trouble for skipping, un!"

"I'm not skipping, I'm really sick! Besides, it's not like they care about me enough to get me in trouble anyway!"

"Well, how are we supposed to get to school, un?"

"Get a ride with the teachers! I don't care, just leave me alone!" She slammed the window back down and got back into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and tried to relax.

Ring! Ring!

Sighing, she grabbed the phone, "No, Dei, I'm not going. And unless you plan to get all the boys to come over here, force me into my clothes, and get me off to school, you've got another think coming."

"Don't call me Dei,un. Look, I just wanted to ask you, if you're staying there, then could you run over some time today around second block and give Tobi's puppy a walk, un?"

"I didn't know Tobi had a puppy."

"Neither did I, un. When he found out that you weren't coming was the first time I heard of it, un. At any rate, no one's going to be happy if the dog does its business in the house, un."

"You've got that right," she sighed, "All right, I'll do it. What's the dog's name?"

"Hikaru, un."

"Hikaruun?"

"No, Hikaru, un."

"Hikaruun?

"No! Come on, Cin, un! Stop messing with me!"

"I can't help it, Dei, your reactions are just too funny."

"Don't call me Dei, un."

"I didn't call you 'Deiun', I called you Dei."

"Cin," he growled.

"All right, all right, I've got it already. I'll take care of Hikaru, so hurry over to school or you'll be late!"

"Yeah, well we already missed our ride with the others, so I guess we'll just run, un."

"It's not that close, you know."

"Doesn't sound that great to me either, but Sasori hates waiting, un. Anyway, if you're really sick, I hope you're better soon and I'll see you after school, un."

"Wait, is Zetsu over there?"

"No, he has a mission today that'll have him out until late, un. Why?"

"Just curious over whether or not I'll run into someone who hates me while I'm taking Hikaru out."

"He doesn't hate you, un." But they could all hear the lie in his voice.

"Whatever. I just don't want to bother anyone. Bye."

"Bye, un." But she had already hung up.

… … … … … … … … … … …

If Zetsu was gone, then it would be a good time to leave her present. She might not feel any fondness for the plant-guy, but she did feel for his plants, and he obviously didn't know of the disease that affected plants around here. She'd leave some information she had gathered for him, and hope that he will understand.

But first, breakfast. And while she was at it, she'd really have to work on stopping being such a push over when it comes to favors for her…friends. She'd been told this time and time again, that she was too nice, but this was the first time she'd ever thought about doing anything about it. Huh, she guessed that maybe it was the influence of having a bunch of mass murderers living next door. Cin supposed that no one could go through something like this without changing like that.

Still didn't mean she had to like it.

… … … … … … … … … … …

As she walked over to the house (she had promised, after all, she wasn't being a pushover…okay, she was being a pushover, but she had promised), she wished that she had asked Deidara exactly what type of dog Tobi had found. Oh well, too late now.

Cautiously, she unlocked the door, not completely sure that no one was home. It would be just her luck for Zetsu to have finished his mission early and be ready to eat her when she came in. Normally, she wouldn't believe something like that of someone she hardly knew, but something about Zetsu made her willing to judge early.

"Hello?" she called, letting herself in, "Hikaru? Hikaru, are you there?"

Before she knew it, in a manner much like Tobi (maybe what they say about dogs and their owners are true), a large dog knocked her to the ground.

She fought back a scream and pushed the dog off of her chest so that she could breathe and hurriedly returned to her feet so that she was no longer directly on its level.

However, even when she was standing, it was still a BIG dog, coming up to her waist at the shoulder. Looking at it, she would've guessed some sort of wolfhound, but when it gave her a doggy grin, she stopped worrying about its breed and scratched its ears.

That was another way it reminded her of Tobi; extremely irritating, yet you cannot stay mad at him for long.

… … … … … … … … … … …

After taking the dog out for a walk, Cin became aware of an uncomfortable feeling that something bad was going to happen…but what?

Something told her to get over to the Akatsuki house immediately.

As she walked, the earth started to shiver under her feet, and she picked up the pace, knowing what was coming.

Earthquake

She ran through her head anything that might need to be secured at the boys' house, especially since they weren't used to these tremors and probably hadn't taken precautions.

Deidara – might want to make sure his creations aren't able to fall and blow everything up

Zetsu – plants safe, she had noticed that earlier

Kakuzu – worse that would happen is that his money would fall over

Hidan – something told her that he wasn't the type to have delicate stuff

Tobi – ditto

Kisame – ditto again

Itachi – seemed more of the Spartan type

Sasori – … the puppets!

She had seen his room once before by mistake, and had noticed that what seemed to be his favorite puppet was suspended on a high shelf. He was also in the midst of repairing it, which would make it extremely vulnerable to falling to the point that it could possibly break. She knew that she was right about that, when Sasori was working on it out in the yard with the others around, he moved himself in front of the puppet whenever someone came in, as though afraid that they would break it.

Part of her wanted to let it fall. Serve the guy right for accumulating so much bad karma. But the goody-two-shoes side of her urged her to run and save it quickly, before something bad happened to it. She considered the idea that if she saved the puppet, Sasori would owe her a favor.

But in the end, she went more because it was right rather than because she wanted Sasori to owe her. It just didn't seem right somehow, taking advantage of a natural situation like this that he hadn't prepared for.

It was with these thoughts in his mind that she threw open Sasori's door without a trace of fear and ran towards that shelf she knew the special puppet resided on. She passed the human-looking faces of the puppets without fear, completely focused on her goal.

Just as she was nearing the shelf, the earth gave another jolt, sending her sliding across the wooden floor under the shelf, just in time as the puppet fell, cushioned by her body.

"Umph!" she let out a groan, but didn't move as she carefully balanced the puppet, waiting for the quake to stop before she tried lifting it off her, for fear that if a quake came while she was handling it, that she might risk breaking it. Its long hair flopped onto her face, but she didn't even dare to brush it away.

She lay there, one palm pressed against the floor, seeking for any signal the quake was returning, while the other one balanced the huge puppet on her stomach.

With one ear pressed to the ground, she heard the front door slam open and the slapping of bare feet on the floor, and saw the door crash open as the red-head stood there, looking at her and the puppet with wild and crazy eyes.

Shoot, she was hoping to replace it before he got back. Apparently she had underestimated his feelings for it.

She winced. Cin had no illusions on how Sasori would take this scene.

But where was he? All she saw was his puppet for school?