Lauren's POV

"You there, halt, identify yourselves!"

I blinked and looked up, surprised to find Izumo and Kotetsu at the gates being guards. Kotetsu wacked Izumo over the head before turning back to the three of us with a smile.

"Sorry about him," he apologized, a sweat drop rolling down his face, "the village is on high security right now. If you could just give us your names and purpose for being here we can let you right through."

I smiled back at him. "It's quite all right. I'm Shiyaku Hanaba and this in my brother Satashi," I motioned to Itachi and then Kisame, "the one standing next to him is Kihada Umuza, our cousin. We're here to visit our great aunt who has asked for our help in her shop."

He began to write down the information.

"B-but," they both glanced at me. I blushed and looked down. "I-if the village is in some kind of alert maybe we shouldn't go in…"

"Oh no," Izumo assured me with a hand wave, "everything's fine! We just had trouble with some rouge ninja a few days ago, but nothing to worry about!"

I gasped, bringing a hand to my mouth. "Rouge ninja! Oh no, I…I-I can't go in there! It's dangerous!" I began to jump up and down in a panic.

"Please don't worry," Kotetsu placed a hand on my shoulder, "it was only a former student of Kakashi-senpai and some of her friends. They aren't much of a threat."

My eye twitched mentally.

"Besides," Izumo added, "all the ninja in Konoha are here to protect you! Nothing's going to happen!"

After a second I smiled widely, kissing both on the cheek.

"Thank you!" I called, beginning to pull Itachi and Kisame through the gates. "You've been a lot of help!"

Regaining their bearings and trying to hide their blushes they both waved back.

"Have a good stay in Konoha!"

"We will!" I laughed, before Itachi Kisame and I disappeared from sight.

"The hell, squirt?" Kisame wondered looking down at me as we waltzed into a quieter part of the town. "What was with all the sweet talk?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Shut up, fishy." My voice dropped an octave, returning to normal. "I wanted to figure out if they were talking about my encounter with Kakashi, and apparently they were…"

"I see," Itachi nodded thoughtfully, "the village must be on alert because they now know that you are with Akatsuki and are afraid of a possible attack."

Kisame snorted. "Well that's pretty stupid. Why would we need to attack these idiots?"

I glanced up at him. "We're here now aren't we? That's just proving they're right."

"It doesn't matter," he smirked, "they're never going to know that we were here anyway."

"Kisame is right," Itachi agreed, "but for now let's stop worring and go eat dinner, after that we will find a suitable hotel to stay at for the night."

He turned and began to walk away while Kisame and I trailed behind, both thinking the same thing.

We weren't worried…baka.

"Here you are! One bowl of piping hot ramen!"

"Arigato, Teuchi-san!" I thanked happily, before picking up my chopsticks and digging in with a loud "Itadakimasu!"

"You're very welcome!" He replied heartily.

Itachi had given me some money to buy a bowl of ramen and left me here to eat while him and Kisame went a little ways down the street to get some dango. I, for some unbelievable reason, did not like dango, and Itachi knew that.

So, I slurped up my noodles, still not thinking it possible that ramen could be this good, when I heard it. His voice. Their voices.

"One order of ramen, 'ttebayo!"

"I'll have the same."

"Me too."

"Alright then, three orders of ramen coming right up!"

I glanced over at the three seats beside me as they were suddenly occupied by Yamato, Kakashi and Naruto.

"Konbanwa," I greeted, smiling at the three. Finally noticing me, Yamato and Kakashi both nodded back.

"Konbanwa."

Naruto stared at me for a second.

"Yes?" I questioned.

"Oh, uh, nothing," he replied with a large grin, "you just remind me of someone…"

"Oh," I said, surprised. "Really? That's nice."

Teuchi set their ramen down on the counter and all three began to eat, ending all chatter between us.

Not wanting to stick around much longer, I finished up my ramen and placed my money on the counter, biding them all a farewell before exiting the stand to go and find Itachi and Kisame.

"Naruto," Yamato addressed once the girl had left the stand. "Who did that girl remind you of?"

"fhat firl Kakafi waf fraining, gaufen!"

Yamato and Kakashi both sighed. "Without your mouth full, please…"

Naruto finished slurping his ramen to reply, "That girl you were training Kakashi-sensei, Lauren! Her smile looked the same."

Yamato and Kakashi both turned to each other.

"You don't think…"

"I thought her chakra felt familiar," Kakashi said angrily and stood.

Yamato grabbed his wrist, stopping the copy nin from exiting the shop. "We need to tell the Lady Hokage, senpai."

Kakashi nodded and they both disappeared.

"Matte!" Naruto yelled after them, "Who's going to pay for the ramen, dattebayo!"

"Kakashi, Yamato, what is the meaning of this?"

"Tsunade-sama, we fear that Lauren has come back to the village, again."

"What?" She said angrily, slamming a fist onto her desk. "Again? Dammit…Kakashi, Yamato, find Kotetsu and Izumo and see who all passed into the village today."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," they bowed, disappearing once again.

Tsunade sighed, pulling out her bottle of sake.

"If other Akatsuki are here it's much worse than I've imagined…"

"Tsunade-sama, it's much worse than we've imagined."

Tsunade sighed. "Let's hear it…"

"As it turns out this afternoon a teenage girl entered the village with her brother and cousin. We believe the two with her are possibly the Akatsuki members Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi."

Tsunade closed her eyes. "Kakashi, go and gather Asuma and Shikamaru. Yamato, go and find Gai. I've got a plan."

Lauren's POV

After meeting with Itachi and Kisame the three of us all walked around. It was almost dusk when we finally got a hotel. Only problem was, we only had two beds.

"I don't give a crap really," I shrugged. "I can sleep alone or with one of you, doesn't matter. Well, as long as Kisame doesn't molest me in his sleep and/or crush me either."

Kisame laughed. "Only in your dreams, shorty."

"I'll sleep with Kisame, Imouto, you may have the other bed," Itachi volunteered.

"Thank you, Nii-san."

I plopped onto my bed for the night. "Now onto the next matter of business, Kisame," I looked at said shark, "what's with all this shorty crap? You guys aren't even supposed to be this tall! Kisame you're like, what? 6'8, 6'9? You're only supposed to be, like, 6 ft 4. And Itachi, you're only supposed to be, well, 5 ft 10…dammit that means you're taller than me…But Deidara only supposed to be 5 ft 5 and he's and inch taller than me! And Sasori's the same height as him, yet he's the same height as Deidara now!"

Kisame rolled his eyes. "It's just your nickname. Calm down."

I pouted. "Then how come Tess and Taylor don't have a nickname?"

"Because I feel closer to you than them," he explained, "your Itachi's Imouto so I feel I know you better than them, well enough for a nickname at least…"

"Aww," I cooed, latching onto the shark, "thank you~."

He chuckled and patted my head. "No problem, kitten."

Itachi smiled a little before moving to his and Kisame's bed.

"We need to sleep, tomorrow our real work begins."

I agreed by yawning and rolling over, snuggling into my sheets.

Behind me I could hear both Itachi and Kisame chuckle, before the light clicked off, and everything was silent.

Soon all of us fell asleep, never noticing the few chakra signatures that were watching us from outside.

This time, I honestly don't know what to talk about.

So, I won't talk.

Please review!