A/N: I'd just like to thank everyone who actually reads my A/Ns. I know some of them are effin' long but I'd love to thank everyone who reads them.

And I also love my readers to bits. Even if you just read the damn story and that's all, I still love. I'd just like y'all to know you're loved very much.

And I just thought of this. To any readers who are like 'O.M.G. Itachi would never act like that to someone he just met. I mean, pu~lease.' And explain why Itachi is so…open with Emma. It's because she already knows about the massacre and the truth behind it and shows no fear towards him. He knows that she knows many things about him that could harm any relationship/friendship with someone but chooses to accept them and look past them rather than fear and hate them.

That's all.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I would ride around on Akamaru's back and become Overlord of the entire Ninja world. I'd also give every male nin a pretty unicorn. The female nin would be given the ability to grow a mustache cause mustaches are awesome.

Chapter 9

Just a Kiss

"We don't need to rush this. Let's just take it slow… No, I don't want to mess this thing up; I don't want to push too far…I know that if we give this a little time it'll only bring us closer to the love we wanna find."

The booming explosion that echoed in the morning air was caused by Mattie, believe it or not. She had been down stairs in the early minutes of morning to fix some toast for her light breakfast. The toast had been half done when Deidara had slipped into kitchen to wait for the others to awaken so that Emma or Caitlyn could fix their breakfast. Mattie, who was easily irritated in the morning and was already easily irritated by Deidara's mere presence, had politely told him to go wait in the living room. Deidara, being your typical teenage boy, rudely and vulgarly told Mattie 'no.' The blond haired girl had let out a growl and launched the cooking oil that had been used for last night's dinner through the air. The oil inside the bottle spilled everywhere, mostly on Deidara and inside the toaster.

Before we go any further, a small fact needs to be known; Denver was a midnight eater. She would get up in the midst of the night and randomly pull things out of the fridge and tame the hunger in her stomach. Often, however, she would leave her food-half eaten-on the kitchen isle due to her laziness. That, my dears, is where the opened pickle jar came from.

Deidara, in response to the flying cooking oil, flung the pickle jar through the air. The said jar was barely dodged by Laurel, who hit the floor in just the nick of time, and shattered against the wall behind the toaster. Pickles and pickle juice flew everywhere and, again, mostly inside the toaster. A sharp sizzling noise and smoking began to emit from the toaster. Deidara, recalling the familiar sizzle and smoke from his childhood explosion failures, yelled out a warning ("GET THE HELL AWAY, UN!") and ducked behind the isle, peaking over the edge to witness the explosion. Mattie panicked, poked the red hot toaster out of curiosity, and then dashed away from the explosion zone.

Toaster exploded, sending piece of metal and greasy bread pieces all over the place. What was left of the toaster sat on the counter flaming. A cloud of opaque smoke covered the ceiling, alerting the fire alarms. In less than thirty seconds, every resident in the entire house was in the kitchen. Emma began to shout orders ("GET THAT FIRE UNDER CONTROL! SOMEONE SMASH THE FIRE ALARMS! GET THIS SMOKE OUT OF THE KITCHEN BEFORE SOMEONE INHALES TOO MUCH OF IT! AND FOR THE LOVE OF ANIME, SAVE MY PEANUT BUTTER STASH!"), coughing from the smell of the smoke. She pushed Caitlyn, Denver, and Konan out of the kitchen, forcibly, and watched, worriedly, from a distant. Secretly, in her mind along with Amme, was enjoyed the sight of the flames and the slight panic of everyone emotional in the kitchen. She was also enjoying all the shirtless Akatsuki members.

The chaos inside the kitchen quickly disappeared and soon all the Akatsuki members and ELLA members were gathered in the living room. Lauren was flocking over Deidara like a mother hen; the said pyro had been caught in the crossfire of the explosion and received a decently sized cut on his forehead and a small burn on his cheek. His cut didn't require stitches but Emma still treated it as if someone had stabbed him.

"Deidara of Iwakagure, you should know better than to sit there and watch an explosion happen at such a close range! You could have been injured even worse! You're the freakin' Explosion Master, you should know this shit! Haven't I raised you any better than that? Don't answer that question… Just be more careful next time." She dabbed at the wound with Neosporin and gently placed a blue Band-Aid on it as Deidara kept his eyes on the floor with a small blush on his face. The burn on his cheek had already been tended to. Lauren smiled in a motherly way at the younger teenage, enjoying the cute look on his face.

"And you," Emmaley's demeanor quickly changed as she turned to Mattie. Mattie just blinked, innocently. "what were you thinkin'? Do not, under any circumstances, poke things that are getting to stab you, hurt you, harm you, kill you, burn you, explode, implode, fall on you, and other things that could potentially harm you!" The brunette grabbed the blonde's wrist and held up her burnt finger. "See what could happen! It could be even worse next!" Madison hummed out a few lyrics, "What was I thinkin'? ~"

The over protective brunette then turned to the apple of Denver's eye, Sasori. "I swear to all that is anime, Sasori of the Red Sand you should know better than to let Deidara go off on his own! I know he's nineteen but he's a total idiot and still a teenager! Where's your ninja-ness when I need it?" The older man showed no reaction other than annoyance. Emma then turned to the blue haired beauty sitting beside Pein.

"Konan, dear, I love you but please never try to go somewhere that's in flame and has smoke everywhere. I know you're a nin and have to keep up an image since you're Pein's right hand woman but pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty please don't try to do that unless Pein orders you otherwise. And the same goes for you Denver and Caitlyn."

The ranting teen began to scold the others whom she hadn't scolded yet. "And I know all y'all are ninjas, too, and also have to keep up an image but don't scare me like that. It terrifies me to see y'all do that even if it's something mild like that. Do not do something like that again unless you my permission or tell me you'll be alright." The girl's head was a mess, inside and out. Thoughts were whirring around in the intricate mind of hers. On the outside, her hair was in a long tangled mixture of shades of brown, white blonde, and burgundy. Her eyes were red around the rims from lack of sleep and constantly rubbing at them.

"Everyone, just go back to bed or do whatever the hez you want. I'm going back up to my room to sleep another…day or so. If any wants to join me, feel free." She went to take a step forward when a pair of blue arms came under her and swept her into their arms. Lauren didn't protest and just laid limply in Kisame's arms as she was removed from the room and taken up stairs.

Everyone else stayed where they were in silence, mulling over their thoughts.

"Seeing Emma's reaction, you have been claimed by her now." Mattie spoke out, flexing her burnt finger. She resisted the urge to poke the burn. "Why the hell do you mean, Good Bitch?" Hidan questioned, earning a glare from Mattie. Denver hummed from beside Sasori. "What she means is, from now on till forever you are no one else's besides Emma's. She has claimed y'all and made you her whether or realize it or not. It's not every day she worries over people like that."

Caitlyn joined the conversation, "Emma isn't what you would call one of the nicest people you'd meet. She relatively rude and perverted and almost never shows the world her motherly side. She's like one of those mothers where you have to do something bad before you get affection."

"That's make absolutely no sense." Sasori noted. Autumn huffed. "She's not what I expected her to be." Kakuzu voiced from the couch. Mattie snorted. "She's not what anyone expects her to be, honey."

Mattie leaned back against the side of the loveseat. "You've been found by the right people, my dears. We're like the family y'all never had, trust me." Denver cackled, "We're like those annoying cousins you just can't seem to get rid of."

Deidara snorted, "You couldn't be right enough."

Emma

"Hm, what to watch, what to watch?" I said, scrolling through videos on YouTube. "I wonder if Pewdiepie has added another video yet…" I clicked back to the home page and checked over it. "Yes, he has! Score!" It had been a few hours since the Grand Toaster Explosion as Tobi dubbed it. I was surprised he managed to combine those words together so skillfully but I knew a few things about him that he didn't know I knew. 'That was a very confusing narration right there. I still don't get why you narrate everything you do. It's weird.' I snorted. 'Shut up, ass wipe. It's fun to narrate things and since it's my body, deal with it.' I cackled as Amme disappeared from my mind in a huff. Itachi looked over at me from my bed, a questioning look in his eyes. I shook my head, "Don't ask because if you did then I'd have to explain everything to you then you'd think I was crazier than I already was and so…" I trailed off before turning my attention back to the laptop in, well, my lap of course.

I clicked on the video, hoping for it to be one of the scarier episodes. 'I PEE MY PANTS' was the title of the episode so it seemed interesting. I lounged back in my chair as the video started.

"How's it goin', bros? My name is Pewdiepie. Welcome to the Lost Souls." The Swedish gamer introduced. I giggled every now and then at something the hot man said. I wiggled around in my seat until I found a comfortable position two minutes into the video. Pewdiepie had just unlocked a door that said 'Run and never look back.' when I turned my attention back to the screen.

"Run and never…Ah, fuck me." I laughed slightly and watched the video closely. I shook my head as Pewdie turned around to look back. My scream mingled with his as a ghost jumped in front of the screen. I accidently knocked my laptop of my lap and somehow managed to end up on the floor with my chair half way across the room. I began craugh, a mixture of crying and laughing.

"Are you alright?" I heard Itachi ask. I thumped my head on the ground and flailed around slightly. "No, fucking jump scares, man. I hate them but I love them." I whined, pulling myself off the ground. I sighed and cast a side glance at the chiming clock that hovered against the wall. "Lovely. It's already lunch time. I suppose it's time to fix lunch for everyone." Sarcasm etched its way into my sentence as I slipped out the door. I went to shut the door when the Uchiha that had settled on my bed spoke up.

"Would you like any help, Emma?" He asked, politely looking away from the last book in Hunger Games trilogy (Mocking Jay) to lift his onyx eyes to mine. I blinked at the offer as Amme butted into my train of thoughts. 'Girl, perfect opportunity!' said Amme, giddily. I frowned slightly, annoyed by Amme's need to interrupt my own thinking. 'I can hear you, ya know!'

'Good for you.' I snorted, slightly. I overlooked the strange glance Itachi was giving me. 'Come on. You have the perfect chance to get closer to him.' Amme wagged a finger, knowingly. 'I've only known him for a few days; Don't you think this is all going a little…fast?' Amme furrowed her eyebrows at my hesitation. 'Since when do you pass up a chance like this?' She questioned. I scrunched up my nose. 'Uh, since the moment I don't want to seem so rushed into. I mean, don't you think I was acting a little too motherly towards the Akatsuki members to have only known them for a few minor days?'

Amme shrugged. 'Some relationships grow faster than others.'

I sighed, still unconvinced. 'Don't you think this is all a little…Mary Sue-ish'

Amme's hand twitched and I could sense her urge to slap me. 'Girl, this isn't some random story you read on the internet. This is real life; Real life that's happening to you.'

'Still…'

'Emma…' She growled out.

I narrowed my eyes. Itachi was still observing my inner debate with mild curiosity. 'No! I will follow my gut instinct! You are my inner, not my gut instinct because last time I checked I named you Amme and my gut instinct's name is not Amme.'

'Then what is it? I'll change my name if I have to!'

My train of thought quickly crashed into the wall of 'I-really-should-have-thought-ahead.' 'I…um…Ronald? Yeah! Ronald!'

'Mhm, sure.' Amme rolled her eyes then disappeared back into the depths of my mind.

I turned my attention back to the Uchiha prodigy. "Was my question really that hard to answer?" I shrugged, "Well, when you have an annoying inner named Amme that likes to go against everything you say then persuade you to do something that your gut instinct named Ronald doesn't want to do you to do it's a pretty tough decision." I took a moment to resupply my oxygen. "So, I'm going to listen to both Amme and Ronald. I'm sure you and your sexy Sharingan know what kind of sandwiches everyone likes, right?"

"Sandwiches?" The Uchiha questioned. I nodded. "Yes, sandwiches. Ya know, those things usually made with two slices of bread and then have ingredients stuffed in between them. No? Not ringing a bell?" I let out a dramatic, dry sob. "You know what universe; I'm just going to make dango since no one knows what a sandwich is! I can see why you're doing this to me but to the sandwiches, really? Why?"

"Are you sure you wouldn't like any help with that?" I paused in my dramatic sob session to peer over at Itachi. A flicker of emotion flashed in his rather emotionless obsidian eyes. 'He's probably never got to help someone with lunch before seeing as he was a prodigy and had better things to do rather than help his mother cook lunch.' I noted. 'Wow, Emma, that was deep.' I giggled at my own comment before turning back to the Uchiha. "Why the hell not? Come on; I want to get lunch finished before Hidan decides to come and scream at me to fix him some food. I can hear him now! 'Hey, bitch, fix me some fucking food; I'm starving!'" I rambled as the weasel appeared beside me.

I squeaked in surprise and slapped his shoulder as we began to walk down the hall to the staircase. "Effin' stupid ninja skills…"

Denver

"Mattie! Caitlyn!" I hissed out, waving my hand in a 'Come here!' motion. The ginger and dirty blonde removed themselves from the floor and walked over to me. I waved my video camera around and whispered, "You have to help me video tape what's going on in the kitchen!"

"Why?" Cait and Laurel questioned in unison. I just shook my head, causing my highlighted hair to bounce around, and rushed to the kitchen door nobody used. The kitchen had three doors; one that led and into the hall-which was the one we usually used-, one that led outside where the trash cans were, and one that led out into the hall that absolutely no one used. ELLA had dubbed that hallway the Corridor of Death because every time one of us would walk down that hall something bad would happen, something really bad. Caitlyn, Mattie, and Emma were the only ones who used the hall; Emma because her 'Bear Cave' was down there, Caitlyn because that's where she kept her lifetime supply of hair care products, and Mattie because she liked to rub it in my face that I was scared of the hall and she wasn't. She'd go down the hall and prance around like she owned it. She was fearless like that.

Since I was the only one who didn't use the hall, I was hesitate to go down it to reach the kitchen door way but because of the actions currently going about in the kitchen I had to. This would make great blackmail for the future. So, swallowing down my fear, I swiftly and semi-silently walked down the hall and began recording what was going on in the kitchen.

Mattie sighed. "I honestly don't get…what's…so…important…" Her sentence began to trail off into silence that was filled with Ozzi's quite 'Awww!'

Inside the kitchen, Itachi Uchiha and Emmaley Post were cooking together but that wasn't the best part; both of them were wearing frilly, pink aprons. How Emma managed to persuade Itachi to wear it I would never know but all I cared was that this was priceless blackmail.

"…just put it in the pan." I began to listen in their conversation. I watched through the camera Itachi place a round ball of dough in one of the slightly bent frying pans. He placed a few more in the pan before gracefully walking over to Ren and leaning down to whisper something in her ear. She stiffened as he whispered in her ear before an evil, knowing grin spread over her face. Itachi simply regained his perfect posture with a slightly sinister smirk across his face. Lauren looked up at the Uchiha with similar sinister look. "You, my weasel, have been spending way too much time around the other Akatsuki members. They're turning you evil."

Itachi sent another smirk her way. "How do you know I was evil before I ever met them?"

She pushed a stray lock of burgundy from her face to reveal another smirk. "Because I've watched you since the beginning; you're too kind to be more than slightly evil."

"You make it sound as though you've always been there."

"How do you know I haven't?" She shot right back.

"Because I'm smarter than you." The Uchiha purred.

Cait, Mattie, and I all made a gagging noise. I was thoroughly repulsed but reminded myself that I had to get this blackmail of them shamelessly flirting with each other.

Emma just let a sickly sweet grin settle over her face as she placed the bowl of whatever she was stirring on the kitchen isle. She reached down picked something up. She shifted her position of standing and shrunk down about five or six inches and held up a sleek, midnight blue stiletto. Suddenly the stiletto disappeared from her hand and appeared lodged in the wall beside the doorway of the kitchen a few inches from Mattie's face.

She instantly darted away while Caitlyn and I took a moment to shriek in surprise. The video camera fell from my hand without thought as I followed Cait in her act of running down the hall. I skid to a stop midway and ran back to pick up the camera. I outstretched my arm to grab the camera when another blue stiletto slammed and lodged itself between the strap of the camera and the actual camera. I screamed and ditched the camera, caring more about my life than the blackmail filled camera.

Dramatic tears of shame filled my eyes as I continued to run away in the living room where I tripped and face planted the floor. Bad things always happened when I went down that hallway and my theory has not been proven wrong.

Emma

I giggled in delight as I dropped Denver's camcorder in this boiling pot of water. It sparked and sizzled harshly before sinking down to the bottom of the pot. I stirred the video camera around in the pot with a wooden spoon before turning back to my sexy helper.

"Did Zetsu ever get his ring back?" I questioned, grabbing some tongs out of the drawer. Itachi shook his head as I placed some of the dango on a plate to cool off. I chuckled as Itachi eyed the dango hungrily. "No, you're not going to ninja some dango before-you sneaky little bastard!" I huffed as Itachi smirked. Midway through my potential rant he snuck a piece of dango and began to nibbled on it. "Oh, you are sooo lucky you look so cute eating that piece of dango or I would hit you with these tongs."

Itachi blinked as he continued to nibble on the dango. I rolled my eyes before shouting for Zetsu. The said bi-colored man's head and torso emerged from the floor beside me.

"What do you want, girl? Be polite! She's our hostess. I'll be polite when the world stops calling us a criminal. Don't be rude! Emmaley-san has something to say. No shit." I giggled and pulled his ring out of my apron pocket. "Here's your ring! Mattie found it last night, sooo." Zetsu's white reached out and took the ring my hand and placed it on his right pinkie finger.

"Thanks, Emmaley-san. What he said." I smiled as the sexy plant man began to disappear in the ground beside me. "And by the way, nice apron, Itachi." I cackled at Zetsu comment as he swiftly escaped the scene to avoid Itachi's spinning Sharingan. I place my tongs down and patted the Uchiha's shoulder. "It's okay, Itachi. I think you look beautiful in your apron." I coughed slightly as he glared at me. "Well then, somebody's touchy about their apron…"

Twenty-three Minutes Later

"You what kind of guy I like?" Mattie randomly said, twirling her stick of dango in the air. "A good, country guy with black hair and blue eyes." I furrowed my eyebrows together at her sudden outburst. A felt her annoyance before she showed it to the rest of the table. "But ya know what? No of y'all-" She pointed her dango at every male at the table. "-are like that now are you? Why can't you be like that? Why!" She growled out before pulling a piece of dango off her skewer and launched it at Hidan.

The dango smacked him in the face and landed on his plate. "Hey, bitch, watch where you're fuckin' throwing things!" Hidan snarled before taking the piece of dango and placing it in mouth. He chomped loudly before stopping, a strange look settling on his face. I scrunched up my nose in distaste as the Jashinist spit something out on his plate. He picked it up and examined it.

"Why the hell is Kuzu-bitch's ring in my dango?"

"You mean Mattie's dango." I said.

"Shut the hell up, smart ass! Here's your fucking ring Kuzu-bitch!" The said man threw the ring at Kakuzu who caught it in a napkin skillfully. He glared at Hidan, hatefully. "Don't call me Kuzu-bitch!"

Hidan grinned. "Kuzu-bitch~ Kuzu-bitch~ Kuzu-bi-" Hidan's insult was turned in a gargled mess as Kakuzu arm shot across the table, choking Hidan. My eye twitched as Mattie added in the growing chaos by ranting and raving about how much she hated Deidara.

"-and why do you have mouths on your hands? That's so weird and not to mention gross! And why is your hair so long? You look like a girl!"

"I'm not a girl, un!"

"I never said you were! I said you looked like a girl!"

"Same thing!"

"Nuh-uh!"

Hidan gargled words were becoming louder and Mattie and Deidara's arguing was escalated to screaming at each other. Denver and Tobi were beginning to dramatically sob from beside at all the chaos. Sasori knocked Lizzi upside the head in an attempt to make her stop but only made her sob louder.

"YOU'RE A BITCH!"

"DON'T CURSE AROUND ME!"

"Wah~ Emma! Sasori's hitting me!"

"TOBI'S A GOOD BOY!"

"Shut the hell up, Hidan."

"ENOUGH!" I shouted, slamming my fork down into the table and knocking my chair back in an attempt to stand. Pein gave the same command only much calmer but at the same room shaking volume. I glared at the idiotic bimbos who were causing all the chaos. "Kakuzu! Release Hidan this instant." Kakuzu glared at me before reluctantly releasing the albino. "Hidan! Stop annoying Kakuzu at the dinner table and take it somewhere else!" Hidan rubbed his neck and glared at me as well. I turned my attention to the two fighting blondes. "Deidara and Mattie! Stop screaming at each and get along! Deidara, stop cursing, and Mattie, stop throwing things at Hidan!"

"Denver and Tobi! Stop acting so pathetic and deal with everyone fighting! Sasori! Good job doing your job!" I said, praising Sasori. He smirked and sent a knowing look at the pouting Denvie.

"For the love of anime, just sit down and eat your lunch. If anyone starts to fight again, I'm ripping off their nipples. Got it?" I smiled happily as everyone I scolded nodded. I picked my chair off the ground and sat back down beside Itachi and Mattie.

I popped some dango in my mouth. 'Why was Kakuzu's ring in the dango?' Amme questioned. I sighed, heavily and gazed out the window. 'I honestly don't know. I guess the rings will just continue to appear randomly until we find all of them.' Amme blinked, knowingly. 'If we find all of them.' I nodded and turned my attention back to the table. 'If. If is good.'

A/N: Happy late birthday, Itachi, you sexy beast!

I've decided to update every Wednesday and Sunday now that school's out! The bad part is we have a short summer because apparently we forget too much. Haven't they ever thought that were not forgetting and that we're just not paying attention in class? No? Well, fudge…

The last part of the chapter is slightly random but it popped in my head while I was typing so I said why the hell not?

I feel like I typed the word 'smirk' and 'smirked' way too much in this chapter. Oh well.

They'll be some SasoDen (See, what I did there? Lol…) in the next chapter. WOO!

I always want to type thong inside of tong. It's a sad, sad life.

That's all!

Review please!

Yours Truly,

Veila