Chapter 10

Ravens on Fire

Itachi couldn't believe something like this happened just two months after that event. He blamed Kisame. It was the humanoid shark's idea to drink sake back at the Akatsuki and drown away their misery after their first failure to capture the Kyuubi. Itachi didn't share the feeling but complied anyways. Sometime later Kyoko joined them, laughing at their (read: Kisame's) demise. They all got drunk afterwards, with Kisame falling in a pond outside their base and just lying there. Itachi and Kyoko weren't worried, the man had gills anyways. Itachi didn't learn just how intolerant Kyoko was of alcohol until that night. Himself being slightly inebriated, one thing led to another and the next morning the two woke up in the same bed. That wasn't new. What was new was that they were both completely nude. After the shock went away, they got dressed and pretended nothing ever happened.

'It would be pretty hard to pretend it didn't happen now.' Itachi thought. The day after his second failed attempt at capturing the Kyuubi, Kyoko constantly had different cravings for the randomest foods like marshmallows or bread. What was worse was that, at one point, the sight and smell of dangos had put her off. She also felt sick and ran to various trees to throw up the contents of her stomach numerous times. Being the loving boyfriend he was, Itachi took her to the closest village to get her health checked up at the local clinic. Sitting patiently in the waiting room, both his and Kyoko's Akatsuki cloaks hidden in sealing scrolls, the older Uchiha wasn't quite prepared for what the nurse told him about his girlfriend's condition.

"Congratulations, sir! Your wife is pregnant with twins!" the nurse announced with enthusiasm. Itachi had his suspicions, but the news hit him harder than expected. He wasn't sure what to feel. He was going to be a father but he wasn't prepared, as the thought of it never crossed his mind. Collecting his pregnant red head from the clinic nurses, the two ninjas donned their cloaks and silently made their way back to the base. No words passed between them, they just trekked their way back to their headquarters, stopping when Kyoko felt tired.

When their camouflaged base came into view, Itachi took hold of Kyoko's hand, locking their fingers. Kyoko looked up at him in surprise, finding her boyfriend looking away from her. The red head giggled, who's the tsundere now?

"Kyoko," Itachi addressed. Kyoko looked back at the raven-haired man. "Now that we've gotten ourselves into this, I think we should get married. So marry me."

Kyoko smiled. Trust Itachi to get straight to the point of something. His proposal sounded more of an order though, and that pissed off the red head slightly. "Marry you? I think you should be the one to marry me! Not that I want to, it's just that I have to!" Kyoko crossed her arms and scowled. Itachi chuckled and patted her stomach, where her- no their children were growing inside the womb.

Just then Kisame appeared from behind a tree. "I was waiting for you two to come but I didn't think I'd hear this so soon." He said as the two former Konoha ninjas glared at him. "I'm not sure what I just heard was a proposal or a challenge but I'm happy for the both of you." He continued, patting their shoulders as Kyoko rolled her eyes.

"So, I'm thinking of names for the twins…" Kyoko trailed off, trying to start a conversation with her now fiancé.

"Oh? Already planning the kids' names eh?" Kisame asked, completely unaware of their situation.

…

Contrary to The Three Pervert's (Naruto's nickname to the Jiraiya, Roshi and Han group) belief, Naruto and Sasuke did not get down and dirty. Sasuke merely pushed Naruto into the room she stayed in the hotel and stalked off to his own he shared with Kakashi, ignoring the loud string of curses that boomed out from the blonde's room. People passing by had been thinking of calling an exorcist.

Entering his room, the Uchiha found his sensei lying in bed read his precious Icha Icha. One might've thought that sharing a room with the Hatake would guarantee a glimpse of his face, Sasuke thought so. However, the infuriating bastard wore what he dubbed as his 'sleeping mask'. There was just no winning with this guy when it came to that simple piece of fabric! Kakashi looked up from his book.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, you came back eh? So did you have fun?" the one-eyed man asked.

"Hn." Was Sasuke's expressionless reply as he made his way to the bathroom.

"You'll never get a girlfriend with an attitude like that."

"You'd be surprised." Was the almost unheard mutter heard from the onyx-eyed boy as the bathroom door closed and locked. Kakashi grinned under his mask. His students certainly were growing so fast, it made him feel old.

…

Naruto turned on the shower, relishing in the warm water that soaked her bare body. She looked down at herself, the…unmanly body still rather alien to what she was used to. She'd secretly read one of the Pervy Sage's books once, a scene where a woman touched herself came to mind. Grabbing at the lumps of flesh on her chest she rubbed them. She did not feel whatever it was that woman felt, the Pervy Sage exaggerated too much. Releasing her hold of herself, she thought about what she felt when Sasuke grabbed them. Now that was the feeling, even if it was just slight, otherwise it was just shock and anger.

Then came the thing about their heated kiss. Naruto didn't know what to make of it. Are they a couple now or what? In any case, Naruto realized she should get out of the shower now before Ero-Sennin got back. It would be a shame if she killed her teacher because he peeped in on her. Getting out of the shower and drying off, Naruto realized her hair was too long. It fell well past her butt, much longer than Sakura's had been. Naruto had half a mind to chop it off and sport the short spiky hair she used to have, but something was holding her back. She couldn't describe the feeling; it was like the long hair meant something special. The blonde sighed, realizing that this is what girls must feel when they consider cutting her hair. In that case, she won't cut it…yet.

Flopping down on the warm and soft hotel bed, Naruto felt the gravity of sleep pulling at her. Her last thoughts before dozing off were about how Fu was doing back home and the Rookie Nine. That reminded her, they probably still didn't know that Naruto was a girl. When did she stop wearing the henge anyways? Oh well, sleepy time…

…

"You interrupted our mission, where we had struck gold, for this shit?" Kakuzu complained, rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyance. The entire Akatsuki's appearances had been transported to one certain area, where the leader and few others were standing at in person.

"Tobi is a good boy!" a man cried out. He wore an orange mask with spiral-pattern that only showed his right eye. He wore a black long-sleeve top that also covered his neck and chin, a pair of black gloves, and a pair of dark-colored pants along with the standard Akatsuki shoes and white stirrups. On his waist, he wore a thick black belt with armor-like metal plates attached to it with a green scarf. He had short, spiky black hair and that was the only genetic characteristic that could be seen.

"Why do we need this buffoon, yeah?" Deidara asked. "We don't have that many rings, un."

"It's true that Tobi can't become a real Akatsuki member due to the fact that we only have ten rings, but he'll stay with us as an informant." An orange-haired man with piercings similar-looking to Yahiko stated.

"He doesn't look information-reliable." Sasori muttered.

"So is this all we came here for, Sir Leader?" Hidan asked in a mocking tone. 'Sir Leader' glared at him for a moment.

"No, there is something you should know before the surprise affects your mission."

"Does it have to do with the fact that EVERY FUCKING JINCHUURIKI LOOKS FUCKING DIFFERENT?" Hidan yelled, waving his arms like a drowning man when he yelled the last part. Kisame rubbed his ear while Tobi pressed his palms to the sides of his head, whining.

"You didn't have to shout." Pain reprimanded. "But yes, it does. Due to…certain circumstances every single jinchuuriki in the Elemental Nations had undergone a, what one might call it, gender change."

"Yeah, we've seen it." Kakuzu added. Some others nodded at this, already knowing of it (namely Kyoko, Itachi and Kisame).

"It wasn't my fault, I swear!" both Yahiko and Tobi cried out. The entire member's heads switched between them, confused as to who to believe. Pain quirked an eyebrow.

"Just saying." Tobi waved. Yahiko stood silent and attentive in his position, completely forgetting what he had blurted out earlier.

'Great, we have two idiots.' Was the thought that ran through every Akatsuki member's mind.

"Zetsu and Tobi, update us on the jinchuuriki's statuses." Pain ordered.

"The Ichibi is in Suna, a candidate for the title of Kazekage." Zetsu stated. Sasori twitched slightly at this. "The last place the Nibi, Sanbi, Rokubi and Hachibi were seen was on the outskirts of Kirigakure. Their location is currently unknown but we think that they are all residing in Kumogakure. The Nanabi is residing in Konohagakure and the Yonbi and Gobi are still in Iwagakure so that leaves the Kyuubi. Currently the Kyuubi is traveling around, however he, or should I say she is in the company of the Toad Sannin so-"

"Trying to capture her now is a no-no." Tobi cut in. "As Kakuzu-sempai and Hidan-sempai learned."

"Shut up!" the two mentioned ninjas defended.

"We know that too, you know." Kyoko muttered, Itachi and Kisame nodding in agreement with her.

"In any case, all missions will be suspended for now." Pain continued.

"What? Why, yeah?" Deidara asked.

"The jinchuurikis think that we have a part involved with their conditions," Zetsu explained "which isn't all that far off from the truth." He muttered that last part.

"This means that, instead of chasing after them, they'll be the ones chasing after us for a way to change back. It's highly unlikely that their villages would get involved, as this is more of a personal matter."

"Oh, I see where you're getting at." Kisame nodded, holding his hand to his chin. "You're telling us to wander about in plain sight and hope we'll get 'ambushed' by a jinchuuriki."

"In a way, but lay low for a while. When the time comes, we take our plan into action. You are all dismissed." With that being said, the holographic images of everyone flickered into disappearance.

Kyoko stretched her arms, revealing the shape of her hidden assets beneath the cloak to the two men on either side of her, and moaned in satisfaction as a few joints popped.

"Ah, we got some time off. That makes things much easier." She said. Itachi replied with silence, which was what she was used to anyways.

"I would love to stick around for the wedding, but I got stuff to do and places to be. See ya!" Kisame waved as he took off to who-knows-where.

"Huh, so I guess it's just you and me now." Kyoko commented as they walked down the rocky paths, night having been fallen.

"I suppose so." Itachi drawled.

"So, what d'ya wanna do? Seeing as we have time to kill?" Kyoko asked, hands resting on the back of her neck.

"How about we practice our baby-making so we can give our twins more siblings in the future?" Itachi suggested, smirking. Kyoko turned red, her hands unlocking from the nape of her neck and her finger pointed at the raven-haired Uchiha.

"W-What the hell are you saying? Pervert!"

"Just kidding, you need some rest. We're going home."

"R-Right…" the red-head muttered, the blush still not gone from her face.

…

AN

It must be an Uchiha thing, the perverseness. Anyways, my apologies if this chapter was shorter than you'd like, or has less humor than the others. I'm a little low on inspiration these days, but I'll do the best I can! When I wrote the title, the song "Girl on Fire" started playing in my head. Did anyone else experience that as well?

So Tobi has come! *applause* I know his appearance was a little too early but I love him too much to wait that long! :3 Even I'm waiting for the time-skip part to come but some more story plot has to be added. I'm not telling about it now else it'll ruin the story. ;) That and most of you will probably rage about it… anyways, see ya next chappie!

DoGB