Chapter Fifty

Mar idly tossed a card on to the table and smirked when Deidara started cursing. Gathering up her winnings, because she kicked ass at this game, Mar grinned at her adversary. "How?! I can understand Danna, he cheats, but you? Hm?" Poor Deidara appeared to be having a conniption fit. Sasori was giving him a rather put-out expression, as though it were actually a secret that he cheated shamelessly and Deidara had just blown it. Mar laughed. "I spent a few months in Vegas, which is the gambling capital of the world, and took all the casinos by storm." Her smile turned wicked. "I'm actually blacklisted from all the legit establishments, solely because they can't figure out how I'm doing it."

"How are you doing it?" Sasori asked mildly, rearranging the cards in his hand. He had yet to go bankrupt, seeing as Mar had targeted Deidara first. Now they were gearing up for the last few rounds, which were sure to be rather entertaining battles to the death. "A magician never reveals his secrets. And magicians aren't the only ones who can do slight-of-hand." Deidara lifted his head out of his hands long enough to give her a disbelieving look. Then with a loud groan his head smacked back into his palms. "I reserve the right to laugh my ass off if you accidentally lick yourself." Mar told him as she rearranged her own cards. Sasori was a tough opponent. This was why Mar had knocked Deidara out of the running first.

"I'm not going to lick myself, yeah!" It came out rather muffled. Mar reached over without looking and patted his back.

Footsteps echoed down the hall from the entrance as Deidara smacked her hand away, and soon Itachi and Kisame came into view. "Hello, 'Tachi. I'll be with you in a moment, I'm cleaning house." Mar said cheerfully as she threw down another card. Sasori's perfect poker face didn't so much as ripple, but the large stack of coins that he pushed towards her said everything. "Sorry, Mar-chan. We found something interesting lurking about outside." Kisame said easily, pointing over his shoulder at his passenger. Mar gave the two a glance in between shuffling for the next round, and startled as all the cards scattered across the table.

"Oh my god, killitkillitkillit." Mar's eyes had gone wide, nearly as round as Lee's which she'll deny till she dies, and her mouth had opened slightly in horror. "Are you alright, Mar?" Itachi asked, brows furrowed slightly in concern. "Feed it to Zetsu!" Was her reply. Dangling over Kisame's shoulder, obviously unconscious, was the bane of her existence. "I take it you know him." Kisame said in amusement, watching as Mar slid out of her seat and started backing for the other doorway. Standard rule of living with various paranoid ninja? Always have more than one way in and out of a room. "I was never here!" And with that she bolted from the room.

'Well." Deidara started, staring at where she'd disappeared. "That was interesting, yeah." Sasori shrugged as he started piling all the money Mar had abandoned into his own various pockets. "We should go report this to Leader-sama." Itachi said as he and Kisame left for Pein's office.

~less than 3~

Mar was in Tobi's room. It was the first room she came to in her mad dash down the secondary hallway, and well. Why not? Tobi was still off gallivanting across the world, or whatever the hell he was doing with Zetsu, and it was dark and quiet. Until the door opened and a ball of energy bounced into it. "Mar-chan! What's the matter?" Mar peeked out from around the bed, shushing Tobi with a finger to her lips. A quick glance at the door to make sure no one had heard Tobi's rather loud question proved the way clear and she motioned for him to join her on the floor.

"My stalker found the general location of the base." Mar told him. It was the softest anyone had ever heard her voice so far, and Tobi had to lean in a bit to hear her. "You have a stalker?!" A hand slapped against his mask where the mouth would be as Mar shushed him again, frantically this time. "Don't worry, bestest buddy, I'll protect you." Mar glared at the amused tone of voice before it registered that his voice had changed. "Or you could just kill him and make me the happiest bestest buddy in the world." Mar said plaintively, giving the door another look. Tobi had neglected to shut it behind him.

"Where would be the fun in that?" Tobi asked cheerfully, giving her the peace sign. "Why do I love you again?" Mar asked absently, watching the shadows shift in the hall. "You realize he's with Pein and Konan and therefore has no way of getting to you, right?" Mar turned to stare at Tobi. "I also know that there's no such thing as a monster under the bed, but I still make sure to keep my legs from dangling over the side anyway." Tobi just snorted at her. "I feel the need to tell you that you are so much cooler to hang out with when you drop the annoying speech patterns." Mar added, bumping her shoulder against his.

"You call my speech patterns annoying? What about sempai?" Tobi asked incredilously. Mar blinked. "Deidara's is genuine. You, sir, are faking it." Tobi seemed to pause. Then he shrugged in response, because Mar really did have a point. "I've been meaning to ask you exactly how much you actually know." He said lazily, causing Mar to look back at him. "As close to everything as I can, seeing as how I stopped following events after Sasuke decided to be an idiot." Tobi tilted his head at her, the masked version of a raised eyebrow Mar supposed. "His revenge kick that encompassed pretty much the whole world. Which you caused, by the way."

"I do what I can." Tobi said, effortlessly dodging the swat Mar aimed at him. "Now about your stalker." Mar twitched before rolling her shoulders with a sigh. "He thinks I'm some other chick, who happened to be his girlfriend. Or fiance, I'm not really sure which. He changes up the story every time he catches up to me." Tobi was staring at her. "He insists that we're soul-mates or something equally ridiculous." Mar grimaced. "Plus, he's the touchy-feely type." It was then that Tobi dissolved into giggles, once again regressed into early childhood. "I'm so glad my misfortune could provide you entertainment."