~ Shira ~

Tobi dived down the hallways, skidding sharply around turns and almost yanking Shira's arm out of its socket, plunging down whatever direction he wanted to go until he at last jumped to a stop in front of a large white door labeled 'Bathroom'. The masked man released his grip on her arm, opened the door, clapped his hands together, and chirped a service announcement "To your left you will find the showers, to the right you will find the toilets, you will be expected to take care of you own laundry. Here, we at the Akatsuki abandoned building camps try to make your stay as comfortable as possible."

Shira blinked and looked into the nicely tiled room. There were a few doors to the left, one or two doors to the right, and something shining back at her through the darkness straight ahead. Tobi flicked a light switch, "You shouldn't worry about someone barging in on you, most rooms have their own bathroom…there were some incidents with using a public bathroom, and it was decided that people would try and kill each other a lot less if everyone had their own space to mess with."

Shira was only half-paying attention, her attention was demanded by the reflective surface at the end of the wall; a hybridization of the reflective qualities of metal and the clarity of still water. It was difficult to get a clear reflection off of metal, it was normally slightly stretched so that certain features weren't as clear and in still water there would still be the occasional ripple to disrupt a reflection, but this thing had neither of those problems; she could see herself. Her hands went to her face. The light green bandanna that she had picked off of some hunters had lost its color and faded to tearing brown, her face caked in dirt, thin protruding cheekbones which slipped down her face, and her eyes…

She took a few steps closer to the surface, her eyes looked so scared, so frightened, so confused. Those eyes that brought nothing but death, the ones that promised her inevitable insanity, the eyes that looked back at her…they looked so…vulnerable. The word felt wrong at the back of her mind. She stepped closer, wondering if she could even touch the eyes looking back at her. Her eyes were not supposed to show weakness; they were not supposed to show fear; they were not something she should feel sympathy for. She knew that what she saw was a reflection, she had seen herself in a river or pond, but here it was much clearer, much harder to ignore.

She reached across the sink towards the double's face, to touch them, to make sure they were real, but she ran into the cool surface of the reflecting surface; the stranger's finger blocking her from touching the gray circles in her head. Her eyes were going to kill her, they were the signs of the curse, they were what had caused her mother to die, they were what had prompted her father to kill her, they had stolen her name, and, yet, they looked so frightened, so alien. Full of the emotions, she was not supposed to have… She pushed herself away from the reflection; she was thinking again. Thinking was dangerous.

"And that is a mirror," Tobi's head popped into her view, behind her. She spun around. How had he snuck up on her? Nobody snuck up on her that easily. Nobody was supposed to. "Mirrors are used to tidy up, brush hair, check if there's food stuck in your teeth, and," he put his hand on his head and wiggled his fingers, "make funny faces at."

How did a person make funny faces at the mirror if he was wearing a mask? "Anyways," Tobi stopped and pulled her away from the reflection, "First thing you are doing before poking yourself in the mirror is a shower." He pulled open a door on the left side, flicked a switch, and pushed her inside. "Left tap is cold water, right tap is hot water," Tobi fumbled in his clothing and tossed in a familiar white block and a small plastic bottle, "Mr. Soap and Mrs. Shampoo…you have to use them properly now." He wagged his finger at her one more time, and shut the door.

She was locked in a small rectangular room, a nicely tiled rectangular room, but a small rectangular room nonetheless. She turned around to open the door, but it was held fast. "Tobi's not letting you out, until Tobi's sure you've showered," Tobi's voice happy voice sung from the other side, "Tobi's a good boy!"

She took a breath, this was another one of their tests. She had to prove she could escape from this room if she wanted to be a proper member…otherwise she'd be stuck in here the rest of her life, and the only way to escape was to do that showering thing Tobi kept mentioning. She examined the room at the end of the room there were two dials, a thing extending from the wall, and some kind of hole in the ground to drain stuff with. She could do this; she had vague memories of Kino having taken a shower before. What could possibly go wrong?

~ Kisame ~

Everyone heard the scream. Kisame jumped. What the hell? Where the hell did that come from? They weren't pulling out anyone's fingernails today...besides they had a soundproof room for torture. He picked up his sword and ran towards the source of the sound with a few other members. His partner stayed lounged on the couch, probably having decided that it was something silly anyways.

He came to a stop by the public bathroom. Who used this place anymore? Last time multiple people tried to use this place, someone got set on fire; they survived, but…

He toughened he grip on his sword and walked in. Tobi stood in front of an open shower door, steam billowing out; the scream probably had come from inside…he doubted that Tobi had the vocals to scream like that high. He peeked into the doorway. The soaked kid stood in the farthest corner of the shower with expression and body language of a cat with a bruised tail. "THAT thing," She pointed dramatically at the opposite wall, "BURNS!"

Kisame glanced at the offending showerhead; two things wrong with this picture; the kid was still wearing clothes, anyone going to take a shower takes off their clothes…then again it was probably better this way, if she were naked this situation would be incredibly awkward. He didn't mind seeing some skin, but she was a kid. Too young for his taste and no where near enough curves. The second problem was the steady fog coming out in waves; she had probably turned on the hot water dial all the way without filtering it with a steady stream of cold water to cool it down. Which meant…he felt his hand going up to his head, "Kid…do you know how to use a shower?"

The girl lowered her hands, slightly less cat-like, slightly more confused, "It involves turning dials, right?"

Kisame sighed…he should have expected this. After living in the wilderness for so long, it was natural the girl would've forgotten about the wonders of modern tech. He looked away, yelling down the hallway "Konan, you're needed for girl stuff!"

When Konan arrived she was very unamused; he should have known better then to say she was needed for girl stuff, but there really wasn't another way to define this. He couldn't very much ask a guy to help her. Konan strolled into the room with an irked look on her face. She glared at him, and then she locked strolled past the shower door, and locked a very confused and flustered kid inside with her.

…1 hour later…

It had taken a surprising amount of time considering how efficient Konan normally was. There had been a huge fuss at the beginning; the kid made a run for the door and there was lots of screaming of "No, please no it's sorry please don't hurt it, it will be good. It won't scream again." which eventually had quieted down. After that there was some sporadic whimpering, whining and a few yelps from behind the door…hopefully Konan was not making the damage on Shira; the last thing they needed was for the kid to collapse. Last thing she needed was more brain damage.

There were a few times when the door would pop slightly open as Konan stuck her head out and ask for supplies; scissors, a brush, a second brush, and refills for both soap and shampoo…but eventually even the smaller whimpers came to a stop and Konan poked her head out of the door one last time, "She needs a towel and clothes." She looked back into the room, trying to determine the kid's size, eventually giving up "Get me something loose and baggy, I'll figure out her exact size later."

Clothes were brought and pushed into the room; one of Hidan's shirts that he never wore, and some poor unfortunate sods pants, probably from some member who drew the short straw or lost a rock, paper, scissors game. Konan emerged, no worse for wear except for some dirt under her fingernails, and then finally the new recruit emerged.

She looked kind of silly wearing an oversized shirt that went down to her knees, the overly sized pants had some difficulty staying up, and Shira was forced to hold them up manually until Sasori offered her a belt. Her hair was shoulder length and straight. After a few knots, Konan had threatened to shave the whole thing off, but the kid had protested, something about a Mikoku and a selfishness. A compromise had been reached. A layer or two of her skin had literally been scrubbed off turning the darkish tan that had been layered with dirt, grime, dust, and bark shavings into a lighter tan, but the most important difference was the smell; she didn't stink like rotting roadkill anymore.

~ Shira ~

Showers hurt. Shira rubbed her hand against her arm, nervous; she felt exposed, sore, and she smelled weird. Every piece of her skin had been raked across with some kind of itchy cloth that had, she was decently sure, shredded away her skin; she was surprised there wasn't any blood. The blue haired girl had scratched against her scalp with the insides of Mrs. Shampoo, which foamed and burned in her eyes. Mr. Soap had not been a very pleasant acquaintance either, the girl had rubbed him everywhere several times after the raking, even the bruises on her back had not been saved. She had been completely covered in oily foamy stuff and now she smelled of it. The stench of Mr. Soap followed her everywhere and she could not escape from it, the smell had melted into her skin.

Tobi seemed happy though. He clapped his hands together in the typical happy fashion of one who had not just taken a shower. "Good now you're ready to properly meet everyone else."

Shira smiled back composing herself, she had to do this properly. She repeated the words of the proper greeting that Tobi had instructed her on in her mind, she would do this correctly, hopefully…and, hopefully meeting everyone else wouldn't be as painful as the shower.