After the initial shock of having several people who could potentially kill her wore off the party ended up being fun, if not a bit chaotic, and though they were generic and more logical than anything Shelly appreciated the presents(which consisted of socks, five dollar movies, discount books and cheap headphones) and hugged every member that allowed it. Which was most of them, surprisingly. The girls latter theorized that it was because so many of them had shitty people skills and didn't get enough love as children. They were only half joking in that conversation.
It was late at night, and the last person not to change back was Tobi, who had vanished into the kitchen to get cake. Shelly followed him in, envelope in hand.
"Hey Tobi," she greeted, and the masked man spun around to give her an overly surprised yelp, posing comically. She had to laugh, but controlled herself soon. "Sorry, didn't mean to surprise you. But we were talking and Sophie mentioned that you didn't know your birthday."
"Tobi doesn't have a birthday," his voice was unnervingly cheerful even under the woe-is-me tone and Shelly nodded.
"Yeah, she said that too. So here," she shoved the envelope at him and he snatched it out of her hand, looking it over before ripping it open. It was just a card, for all the brightly colored writing on it. "I figured if you don't have one we could share mine."
It was a risk, she knew, because Obito's birthday really was the tenth. But she had liked him, back before he turned into a cynical, power hungry ass hole. So she gave him a card and that was the end of it.
In March everyone made their way to Denver for Kisame's birthday under various Genjutsu's, something they were just now getting to do thanks to the lack of chakra they had. Which was all but none compared to their normal levels. But it was enough to make the ones that wanted to go normal looking so they made their way to the aquarium, paid the fee, and Kisame, Shelly, Sophie, Itachi, Deidara, Hidan, Sasori, and Tobi went to celebrate the sharks twenty eighth birthday. They were kicked out two hours and a broken jelly fish tank later.
The month after than the girls took Hidan to a seedy bar down town and watched him kick the snot out of any poor sucker than got too rowdy, staying safely close to both each other and Itachi. That same month Shelly got her concealed carrying license.
For Deidara in May Wyoming once more got a display of the most vivid, high powered explosives money and bit of deception could get, and Sophie revealed she knew how to hot wire a car when the police chased them back across state lines. That was also the last month of school, and the month Nagato announced that they might be able to get back.
Soon the Akatsuki, who had been able to stay human for increasingly long period of time with the return of their chakra, discovered that winter finals were nothing compared to spring ones.
It was a near constant state of panic, terror, and study for the week before as the girls struggled to cram a year's worth of learned and lost information into their skulls, snapping at anyone who dared interrupt them. Well, Sophie did, Shelly just ignored them.
"Name all the bones in the body," Sasori ordered, sitting cross-legged in front of Sophie, papers spread around them and Zetsu sitting in the third corner of their triangle. The dark haired girl took in a deep breath and launched into the recitation.
"Skull, vertebrae, real ribs, fake ribs, floating ribs. Scapula, clavicle, humorous, radius, ulna, carpels, meta-carpels," she went on, rattling them off rapidly and switching to the respiratory system at Zetsu's request while Sasori looked over her scrawling notes on electricity and automobiles.
On the other side of the room Shelly was reciting the speech she had written, rewritten, burned, written, and finally given up on to Nagato and Yahiko, who had to keep reminding her that her hands were shaking and she wasn't standing still.
Stress was palpable as they wound on, never ceasing and passing out on papers on more than one occasion. At last the first day of what Sophie's anatomy class had lovingly labeled 'hell week' began. The two walked in each day looking like mice in a room full of traps, twitchy and wide eyed, circles marring Shelly's complexion and yawns interrupting Sophie's speech. It wasn't healthy, even the immortal Hidan could see it, but what else were they supposed to do? Fail? It simply wasn't an option. But at last the tests were over and while there was still apprehension in the air there was also relief.
"They'll be gone soon," Sophie stated one day, throwing laundry in the washer, and Shelly nodded quietly, filing her nails and pretending that it didn't bother her, "It'll be different."
"It'll be quiet," the other girl replied, long hair falling in front of her face. It was a tactic that Sophie had seen before a million times, one she used when she wanted attention away from herself. It also made her look more shy than she actually was.
"You saying you won't miss them?" she challenged, and the other girl glared at her.
"You know I will. But what am I supposed to do about it, tell them not to? I like having them around, but they have a home and things they need to do. It would be…selfish."
"You know you're allowed to be sad right? Being selfish is part of being human, no ones going to blame you if you don't want them to go."
"It doesn't matter if I want them to stay, it's their choice and clearly they want to go."
Obito was leaning against the wall outside the laundry room, a frown on his face under his mask.
The house was all but empty, the only people in it were Shelly and Kisame. Itachi was at the library, the Ame Orphans had gone out to see the forests they were surrounded with, the zombie duo were off who knew where, Zetsu no one asked about and the remaining three had gone to Rocky Mountain Art Show.
On the couch sprawled the ever lazy Shelly, feet kicked up on one arm and head resting on the forearm of one S-rank missing ninja while Shark Week played on animal planet.
Fireworks exploded in the sky and Sophie cheered, screaming out the lyrics to the national anthem with half of the crowd while the rest just made as much noise as they could. One arm was wrapped around the blonde artists and the other was holding up a star-spangled banner. Deidara laughed at her enthusiasm and reached into his pocket, mouth opening up to take in a piece of the special clay he had almost destroyed the house to make.
He pulled his hand out, molding the clay into the form of a small dragon and holding it out, shouting the civilian's name over the din of the crowd and explosions from overhead. She looked at him curiously and he showed her sculpture, grinning proudly when her face lit up with amazement. Sophie was a fellow artist, one who actually appreciated his skilled. With a hand sign and burst of chakra the dragon, still tiny, took off into the sky before it expanded.
"Hold onto my hand," he called, and Sophie looked from the sky to him, curious but holding her hand out for him. He took it and positioned it in half of the Tiger sign before he let out a burst of chakra, feeling what tiny amount she had respond and the sky lit up with an impromptu explosion that put the other fireworks to shame. Sophie sagged against him, looking stunned and somewhat intoxicated, even though she hadn't had a thing to drink.
"Can we do another?" she asked, looking at him excitedly, brown eyes glimmering in the shifting lights. He grinned widely.
"Hell yeah, un!"
"We can't get back," two pairs of eyes, one blue and one brown, met the Rinnegan, surprised.
"I thought you said you figured it out," Shelly started, and the leader nodded.
"We did. But we cannot currently access enough chakra to do so. We would need to store it up for months more before we could," he said solemnly, and the girls looked at each other. Sophie gave it a slight nod.
"You're welcome to stay here until then. We don't mind," Shelly said for both of them, and the ninja nodded. It looked like they were staying for awhile.
"We should take a road trip next year," Sophie said suddenly, and Shelly nodded.