And here we are, almost at Christmas, just as I predicted. Thank goodness for break! Maybe, if I get some inspiration from reviews (hint hint), I'll be able to get another chapter up before it's over.
Thanks so much for 100+ reviews – you guys are amazing! Ramen all around :D
So I put Christmas and the DA into one chapter- sleepinglush mentioned the DA and I realized that I just had to do it.
One fine, chilly weekend, the Akatsuki were training in the Forbidden Forest. Yahiko was getting back in practice with his water techniques, Nagato practiced with the Rinnegan, and Konan further improved her paper technique. Sasori carved more puppets, and Deidara made his clay. Itachi re-taught Tobi all the fire techniques that he should have known from his presumably Uchiha childhood, and Kisame tried to talk Sasori into making him a Samehada-like weapon. Kakuzu was off hunting for animals to kill and steal hearts from, and Hidan was praying. No one really knew where Zetsu was. All and all, it was a normal weekend for the Akatsuki.
"We've really got to get Malfoy back for that boggart thing, you know," Yahiko remarked as he blew a giant water ball at one of the forest's giant spiders.
"Why?" asked Nagato. "What is such childish provocation to us?"
"Well, we're the Akatsuki, the most feared band of S-rank criminals in the history of ninja-kind," said Yahiko in a matter of fact voice. "We can't let kids attack us with impunity."
"If that really qualifies as an attack," Itachi said as Tobi lost interest in memorizing hand seals and bounced off, most likely to trouble.
"It was an incident meant to hurt us with our worst fears," said Yahiko. "It qualifies as an attack."
"In this land, maybe," said Nagato. "But in the world of ninjas?"
"The Sharingan can use illusions to play on fears, and it can be highly effective," argued Yahiko.
"But we're theoretically some of the most hardened criminals around, un," Deidara said. "Our worst fears didn't faze us because that's what they were– just fears. Just figments of our imagination, un."
"Because we knew that, we may have been shaken, but we were not harmed in any way psychologically," said Nagato. "Therefore the so-called attack does not qualify as deserving retribution."
"No one attacks me or my comrades without being hit back," Yahiko said stubbornly.
"What are you, ten?" Nagato asked.
"Technically I am," Yahiko said. "Well, eleven, but same thing."
"No, technically in your late twenties, not to mention you're the leader of Akatsuki, so why don't you start acting like it?" asked Nagato.
"Boys, stop it!" Konan descended from the sky, her paper wings spread imposingly.
"Konan-sama is scary," Zetsu said as he appeared from the ground. "No she isn't, shut up," he scolded himself as he sank away again.
"Yes, Konan," the two Ame boys said.
"Really, you two are acting juvenile," she said. "You both are the leaders of Akatsuki, so you both ought to act like it. Yahiko, I think your young body is affecting you psychologically, because you're starting to act the age you look. Nagato, you forget that here you aren't the hardened god of pain and peace. You're our friend. You are not Pain. We have been given a chance here, a chance to start again and a chance to remember our true purpose."
Both boys looked chastened. "Yes, Konan," they said.
Deidara snickered. "She sure told them off, danna, un," he whispered.
"Yes, and if you're any less discreet, you'll be next," said Sasori as he twitched his fingers and sent chakra strings flying to his newest creation. Deidara pouted and turned back to his art. "Brat," Sasori muttered, not as annoyed as he sounded.
Hidan came tramping into the area, covered in blood. "Yo, b-!" he said. "Miss me?"
Yahiko flickered up to him. "Spar. Now."
"Wha-? f- fine!" He brandished his scythe.
Kisame frowned. "How'd he get his scythe and I didn't get Samehada?"
"He was praying and had it imbedded in him when we were transported," Itachi said.
"Man, I'm gonna take my baby everywhere when I get back," Kisame said, desperately wishing for his large, chakra-eating sword.
"You do that," Sasori remarked offhandedly as his newest puppet, based off the numerous gigantic spiders in the forest, crawled frighteningly realistically up Kisame's leg.
"Blurb gurgle ack- *coughcoughcough*!" Hidan choked as Yahiko got him with a jutsu that trapped his head in a water ball.
"Have you let off all your steam?" Konan asked him as Hidan swallowed the water bubble only to spit it up and black out from lack of oxygen.
"Yeah, I think," Yahiko said. "It's just so frustrating to be reduced to…this, whatever this is."
"Tell me about it," Kakuzu said, returning to the group covered in blood. "Sasori, whenever you finish that clotting serum, give it to me so I can implant my newest heart."
"What'll happen when we get back to where we belong?" Sasori asked as he prompted his spider to crawl over to the tan boy.
"I'll have spare spares," Kakuzu said.
"Fine," Sasori said. "Actually, why don't you just get yourself some potion that'll do the trick, you lazy old man? You could steal from the hospital wing, or just make some yourself."
"I'm not a lazy old man, I'm just the guy that makes money for us all," Kakuzu said.
"Hey, this is kinda off topic, un, but what are we gonna do about Christmas, un?" Deidara asked as he kneaded his newest batch of clay.
"Christmas?" Nagato asked. "What about it? It's just a civilian holiday."
"It's a f-, Jashin-damned heathen ritual that'll f- damn us all to hell!" Hidan spat as he came to. "I want nothing to f- do with that s-."
"I actually kind of like the idea," said Konan. "Religious beliefs about saviors and gods on earth aside, the whole goodwill towards all and giving to make others happy sounds lovely."
"Why the heck would I give things to others when I could keep everything for myself?" asked Kakuzu.
"Because you want to make someone other than yourself happy, un?" Deidara proposed.
"And why the heck would I want to do that?" Kakuzu groused, taking out a bag full of galleons and counting them.
"You wouldn't because you're a greedy pig," Yahiko said. "I agree with Konan. The concept isn't half bad."
"It sounds like a lot of frivolous nonsense that involves spending money that we don't have and wasting time that could be spent gathering information to get us back where we belong," Nagato said flatly.
"You know that saying, 'you're only young once'?" Kisame asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"I've heard it," Nagato said, his arms crossed.
"Well, think about this. We've got something that most of our kind would never dream of, except for maybe old snaky," Kisame said. "We've got a second chance at youth. Now, I don't know about you all, but I'm thirty-three. I've spilled a lot of blood and carried out a lot of deadly missions. I would never ask for a life other than that, but I'm telling you, I'm not complaining about this second chance I've got a childhood. Not that in Mist we had much of a childhood. But you get my point. I've lived life on the edge, keeping secrets, being a Swordsman, and going missing-nin, but I've never actually lived as a civilian without being under some sort of cover, and I'm not finding it to be so bad."
"…Wow. Kisame's capable of being deep, un," Deidara said.
"Tobi says of course Kisame-shark is capable of being deep! Sharks are sharks – that's what they do!" Tobi exclaimed as he materialized out of nowhere.
"Ok, let's put it to vote," Yahiko said. "Who says we inquire about Christmas like we did about Halloween, and who says leave it? Konan?"
"Inquire," the blue-haired beauty said.
"…Allow me to consider," Nagato said.
"Fine, we'll come back to you," Yahiko said. "Um, Kakuzu?"
Kakuzu snorted. "I heard that Christmas is a great time to make money. Inquire."
"No f- way!" Hidan shouted, shaking his head and gesturing emphatically to make his point. "It' a f- heathen piece of s-. Unless it somehow involves sacrifices to Lord Jashin and s-, count me f- out."
"…Inquire," Itachi said as he breathed out a small ball of fire onto some sticks for Tobi.
"Tobi is a good boy! Tobi says inquire!" Tobi cheered.
"No question about it; inquire," Kisame said.
"I'm not sure about the goodwill stuff, but give me gifts and I'm a happy artist, un," Deidara said. "Inquire."
"I'm neutral in this vote," Sasori said as he fiddled with his spider puppet, figuring out a way to make it shoot sticky threads.
"Zetsu will negate himself, so his vote doesn't count," Yahiko said. "This brings us down to you and I, Nagato, and whichever way we both vote, we're still outnumbered by all the others."
"The group has spoken," Nagato said with a shrug. "It's decided."
"F-," Hidan grumbled before he started muttering a prayer to Jashin. "Dear Lord Jashin, forgive me, who cannot stop these f- heathen souls from engaging in such blasphemy…"
l l l
Later, in the library, which had in effect become the Akatsuki's other meeting place when the Forbidden Forest and the various rooftops were either boring or too cold, the group (minus Zetsu who was off somewhere spying on Jashin knew what) was approached by Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"Hey guys," Harry said in a friendly manner. "We just wanted to ask you a few questions."
"If it's about a twin event, we're holding off until after Christmas break," Konan said without looking up from her homework.
"It's not about that," Hermione said. "See, we happened to be looking at the Marauder's Map, and…"
"We saw most of you in the Forbidden Forest," Ron finished for her.
"So? What's your f- problem?" Hidan asked.
"Nothing, really, except for the fact that it's forbidden," Hermione said.
"Really?" Yahiko asked. "We thought that it was just a name."
"No, it actually is forbidden," Harry said. "You were pretty deep in, too. Tell us, what exactly where you doing in there?"
"You know," Kisame said. "Staying in shape and practicing real defense against the dark arts." Nagato shot him an exasperated look that did not go unseen by the trio.
"We're not going to turn you in, don't worry," said Ron. "See, that'd be kinda hypocritical of us."
"How so?" Sasori asked.
"We're just getting that bit," Harry said. "Uh, Hermione, if you will?"
Hermione waved her wand and whispered a spell. "There. Now we have privacy."
"Ok, so why are you hypocrites, un?" Deidara asked.
"We're not hypocrites, we're just-" Ron began.
"I'll explain," Hermione said. "I'm sure you've noticed how incompetent Professor Umbridge is at teaching Defense against the Dark Arts, right?"
"Holy Jashin, yeah," Hidan said.
"And I'm sure that some part of you actually wants to be capable of defending yourself, yes?" Hermione asked.
"That'd be nice," Itachi said.
"We know you can," Harry said. "We saw that stunt you pulled with the boggart."
"Good job laying low, Uchiha," Nagato mumbled in the language of ninjas.
"The thing is," Hermione continued, "if you ever, God forbid, are in a situation in which you must defend yourself from, say, a Death Eater, hand to hand combat isn't going to take you very far."
"What's a Death Eater?" Yahiko asked.
"You don't know?" Ron asked, astonished. "Death Eaters are the followers of You-Know-Who-"
"We don't know who," Kakuzu said.
With a sigh, the Trio launched into a brief history of the first war against Voldemort, the lull, Harry's involvement, and Voldemort's resurrection. When the Akatsuki ninjas, save Zetsu, were all caught up, Hermione picked up where she left off. "So, obviously, if we're up against a threat like that, you guys need to be able to fight back."
"And you're going to teach us, un?" asked Deidara.
"Well, kind of," Harry said. "See, I'm leading this group called the Defense Association, or Dumbledore's Army, if you prefer. Basically, I'm teaching everyone the field skills that Umbridge neglects."
"And you want to know if we'll join," Yahiko said.
"Yeah, pretty much," Harry said.
Yahiko glanced at his group. "Whaddaya say, people?"
"What's the risk?" Nagato asked.
"Is there one?" countered Sasori. "Is there a risk?"
"Only if someone betrays us to Umbridge," Harry said.
"I made it so that anyone who does has the word 'sneak' written on their face," Hermione said.
"Clever," said Yahiko. "I'm interested. How 'bout all of you?" There was a collective nod around the Akatsuki table. "Great! We're all in."
"Excellent," Hermione said, all business like as she took out a piece of parchment. "This is the contract. I just want you all to sign for confirmation."
The somewhat English-challenged de-aged ninjas clumsily signed their names with her quill. When they'd done that, Yahiko asked, "Where and when do we meet?"
"We meet in the Room of Requirement," Harry said. "Until Hermione can make you some galleons with that can give you the date of each meeting, we'll tell you guys through your Gryffindor friends."
"Where's the Room of Requirement?" asked Konan.
"It's in the seventh floor corridor next to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet," said Ron. "You've got to walk past it three times while thinking about what you need in order to get in."
"Got it," said Yahiko, nodding.
"Good," said Harry. "Next meeting is this Friday after classes finish. See you there." And the trio gathered their things, took down the silencing barrier, and left.
As soon as they were gone, the Akatsuki turned to each other for serious discussion. Being the mighty and awe-inspiring leader that he was, Yahiko started. "This Voldemort character," he said, "what should we do about him?"
"Tobi is a good boy. Tobi thinks we should stop him!" Tobi exclaimed.
"I disagree," Sasori said. "We're guests in this world. We don't have to do anything unless he and his followers threaten us directly."
"I agree with the puppet," Kakuzu said. "If it doesn't involve us, we shouldn't get involved."
"Who am I f- kidding?" Hidan asked. "It's an opportunity to spill blood for Lord Jashin and s-."
"I'm with danna on this, un," Deidara said. "If the creep doesn't bother us, we don't get involved, un."
"I disagree," Itachi said. "Voldemort threatens this world, which we have become a part of. Therefore, he threatens us."
Nagato sighed. "I don't think we should get involved in this any more than we have to," he said. "However, I see Itachi's point. The longer we're stuck in this world, the more likely we are to get swept up into the fight."
"Well," said Kisame, "if that's the problem, why don't we just send Zetsu out to collect information while we learn how to deal properly with people from this place?"
"Since when did you become a peacemaker, un?" asked Deidara.
"Dunno," said Kisame. "Must be the de-potion and the lack of adult-level hormones."
Zetsu appeared out of nowhere. "We have done the research on Christmas as you requested, Leader-sama, even though it's boring as heck," he said.
"You made Zetsu do intel on something trivial as that?" Nagato asked Yahiko.
"Hey, the group voted," Yahiko said. "Speak, Zetsu. What are the traditions of Christmas?"
"Gift-giving, family dinners, and other annoyingly warm and fluffy stuff," said Zetsu. "It's quite endearing – sappily disgusting."
"I'm just saying now that I'm not donating money so we all can buy gifts for each other," Kakuzu said.
"Miser, un," Deidara grumbled.
"Got a solution for that, Zetsu?" Yahiko asked.
"Other than forcing the stingy old man into giving money we could do secret Santa," Zetsu suggested.
"Secret what-now?" asked Kisame. Hidan was staying surprisingly silent on the subject. The rest of the Akatsuki guessed that it had something to do with Jashinism and involvement in other festivities derived from other religions being blasphemous.
"Secret Santa," Zetsu repeated.
"Oh," Konan interjected. "I heard some girls in my dorm talking about that. Everyone picks a name out of a hat and buys a present for that person."
"Excellent," said Kakuzu. "So everyone only has to buy one person a present. Saves money. I like it."
Nagato nodded. "Seeing as we're short on money, I suggest we go with it."
"You're not protesting or anything?" Yahiko asked.
Nagato shook his head. "The group has spoken," he said with a shrug.
"Cool," said Yahiko. "Konan, you're good with paper. Do the names."
Within a few minutes, each Akatsuki member had the name of the person they had to get a gift for.
"Damn," groaned Kisame. "Why'd I have to get such a hard one?"
"Don't complain," Nagato said. "I have no idea what mine likes."
"Who am I kidding?" Sasori asked as he looked at his paper. "I got off easy."
"Your budget is two galleons each," Kakuzu said. "Or, better yet, less."
"Cool," said Yahiko. "So, defense training on Friday, and then Christmas!"
"F- heathens," Hidan grumbled as he crumpled up his paper and shoved it in his pocket, fervently beseeching Jashin to forgive him for partaking in Christmas.
l l l
That Friday, the Akatsuki as discreetly as possible walked past the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet three times, thinking about attending the Defense Association meeting. When the door appeared, they entered.
"Ah, glad you could make it," Harry said, waving them in. "We're just practicing the Reductor curse."
"Our partners in crime are joining?" Fred asked, grinning.
"Excellent!" George exclaimed, with an identical grin.
"So, as I was saying," Harry said, "to perform the Reductor curse, you must slash your wand diagonally down to the right, and then diagonally down to the left, like this." He demonstrated the movement. "While doing so, you shout 'Reducto!' loud and clear, and your target should be blasted into pieces." He demonstrated the spell, reducing a small statue to dust. "Alright, now you all try it. Don't put too much force into the spell at first; we don't want any accidents."
"I guess we just go," Yahiko said to the Akatsuki. He took out his wand and pointed it at a target statue. Channeling a small amount of magic into it, he waved his wand and shouted, "Reducto!" The statue cracked in the middle.
"Not enough force?" Konan asked. Yahiko shook his head, disappointed.
"Now this is my kind of magic, un!" Deidara exclaimed. "Let me try!" Readying his wand, he took aim and shouted "Reducto!" with wild slashes and no restraint whatsoever. His target exploded violently.
Over his shoulder, Harry called, "That's the idea; now try to control it."
"Control, my a-, un," Deidara said. "I like it that way!"
When the rest had tried the spell (and had cleaned up Tobi's disastrous attempt which nearly blew up a quarter of the room due to his lack of control), Harry introduced them to the Impediment jinx and the Stunning spell. When they all had each performed the spells, they came to the conclusion that only under emergency circumstances should Tobi be allowed to use his wand due to his complete lack of control, and that Deidara should be kept ignorant of all destructive spells.
"Alright, let's call it a day," Harry announced, just in time to keep the Akatsuki from becoming bored and destructive. "This'll be our last meeting before the break, so merry Christmas, happy New Year, and I'll see you all when we get back.
"What do we do during break?" Konan asked Hermione as they all prepared to leave.
"Well, most people go home for the holidays," Hermione said. "However, you can stay here at school if you wish as well."
"Tobi is sad," said Tobi. "Tobi has no home to go home to." And the one-eyed boy burst into tears.
Ginny, feeling sorry for the little boy, said, "If you want, you could come to my family's house. I'm sure Mum wouldn't mind."
Tobi's single eye widened. "Yes! Can we? Tobi will be good, Leader. Can we?"
Yahiko glanced at Konan and Nagato. Both shook their heads.
"Tobi, we can't all go," Konan said. "I know you're a good boy, but we can't impose on the family of someone that we barely know."
Tobi sniffed sadly. "Why not? Tobi thinks that they are a very nice family."
"A nice family they may be, but giving eleven extra mouths to a stranger to feed is not very nice of us," Konan said.
"Oh," Tobi said sadly. Turning to Ginny, he said, "Tobi can't go with you, but he will give you a nice present!"
"That's coming out of your own pocket," Kakuzu warned.
"Tobi doesn't care. Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi exclaimed. "Tobi will give out of the goodness of his heart, not out of amount of money."
"Hear, hear," said Yahiko.
As they left, Konan said to Ginny, "I'm sorry for declining so quickly, but really, the eleven of us can be quite a handful and would be nothing but trouble to your family."
"Oh, it's quite alright," Ginny said. "I'll see what I can do about getting you guys with us for spring break, though. No one should be without some kind of home, even if it is a temporary one. Besides, what will you guys do for summer if you don't have a place to stay?"
"Really, you're too generous," Konan began, but Ginny cut her off.
"Nonsense," the youngest Weasley said firmly. "I'll convince you guys to stay with us this summer somehow." Seeing that the girl was not going to be talked out of her idea, Konan just nodded and followed Nagato and Yahiko away.
l l l
The winter holidays came quickly, and soon Hogwarts was almost empty. The Akatsuki used the Room of Requirement as an indoor training arena, and Zetsu was gone more often than not, collecting information on Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Most of the Akatsuki spent a portion of their time figuring out what to get for their secret Santa pick, and those who had finished either killed time by training or by researching some way to get back to the ninja nations. The time was killed quickly, for soon Christmas morning was upon them.
They gathered with their gifts in the Room of Requirement at nine o'clock in the morning, the compromise time for the morning and night people of Akatsuki. Tobi, being the excitable any-time-of-day person that he was, as soon as everyone had settled down with a glass of eggnog (courtesy of the Room of Requirement), shouted, "Tobi will go first! Tobi is a good boy!"
"Go ahead, Tobi," Yahiko said. "Tell us who you had."
"Tobi has Deidara!" Tobi exclaimed, and he thrust a large orange gift bag into Deidara's hands. Deidara wasted no time ripping out the brightly colored tissue paper and pulling out…dirt.
"Um, what is it, un?" Deidara asked.
"Tobi watched Deidara make his clay, so Tobi got Deidara all the ingredients he needs to make more!" Tobi said cheerfully.
Deidara blinked as he rubbed the dirt between his fingers. "Wow, you actually got it right, un!" he exclaimed. "Thanks, Tobi! I guess I'll go next, un. Here, Itachi." He handed the Uchiha a box wrapped in navy blue paper. Itachi opened it. Inside were a multitude of papers handwritten by Deidara.
"I didn't really know what you like, un," said Deidara. "Then I remembered that Uchihas have a thing for fire, so I spent two galleons on paper, quills, and ink, and I compiled as many fire spells as I could."
Itachi nodded. "So that's why I've been seeing you so often in the library. You have my thanks, Deidara." Then he handed Hidan a small box. Hidan muttered prayers to Jashin as he opened it.
"What the f-?" he asked as he took out a quill pen. "You got me a f- pen?!"
"Write with it," Itachi said as a paper conveniently floated into Hidan's reach.
"There's no f- ink," Hidan grumbled as he scribbled with the pen. The pen wrote red. "Holy Jashin, how'd you find one of these babies?" he asked as blood dripped from his hand.
"It's a secret," Itachi said.
"I'm gonna f- sacrifice something to Lord Jashin in your name!" Hidan exclaimed.
"…You're welcome?" Itachi said uncertainly.
Hidan shoved a small bag into Konan's hands. "Here. Happy f- Blood Moon of Jashin."
Konan took out a silver Jashinist rosary. "Um, thanks," she said as she wrapped it around her wrist as a bracelet. Then she turned to Kisame. "Hold out your hands." Kisame obliged. Konan focused her chakra before sending out a flurry of papers that formed into a large, Samehada-esque thing. Then, taking out her wand, she tapped it a few times, muttering various spells. Soon Kisame had a large, Samehada-like sword in his hands.
Konan sat down, exhausted. "It may not eat chakra and respond to you like the real thing, but it should do the job if you swing it around," she said.
Kisame grinned toothily. "You're the best!" he exclaimed, giving his new sword a few experimental swings. Then he turned to Nagato. "Honestly, I had no idea what to give you. I don't really know much about you. So, here are two galleons for you to get whatever you want. Merry Christmas." And Kisame tossed Nagato the gold coins.
Nagato nodded his thanks to Kisame before handing Zetsu his present. Zetsu opened it and revealed a book on magical plants. "I figured that since you do so much work for us, you don't have much time to do research on those plants you love to play with so much. So I decided to make your life easier and give you the information."
"Thank you," both sides of Zetsu said at once. Then he handed Kakuzu a stack of papers.
"What's this?" Kakuzu asked as he glanced over a list of names and numbers.
"It's a list of everyone who owes you money from this world," said Zetsu. "We decided to save you the trouble of having to sort through all your records of transactions and just give it to you in one compilation. That way you can hunt them down and make them pay faster."
"Thanks," Kakuzu said. Then he turned to Yahiko. "I wasn't about to spend any money, not after you borrowed so much from me, so I'll just give you a pass on half of what you owe me, and not a knut more."
"Thanks," Yahiko said. Then he turned to Sasori and handed him a book that did not look like it cost two galleons. "Here. This is the best guide to ancient runes that I could find. I figured that you could use it to enhance your puppets or something. Sorry about the lack of wrapping paper, but I was tapped out on money."
Sasori examined the book. "Is this why you owe Kakuzu money?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah," Yahiko said.
"Good luck paying him back," Sasori said. "You're gonna need it."
"Oh, I know," Yahiko said.
"So, obviously I have Tobi," Sasori said. He handed Tobi a box with a handle.
"Oooooh! How does Tobi open it?" Tobi asked.
"Turn the handle," Sasori said. Tobi did, and a funny little tune played. Then, out popped a miniature Tobi, complete with an orange, one-eyed mask and an Akatsuki cloak. Tobi immediately glomped Sasori.
"Sasori is the best gift-giver ever!" the child exclaimed.
"Off, Tobi," Sasori said, pushing the boy away.
"How does Tobi make it go again?" Tobi asked.
"Push the little Tobi down, close the box, and turn the handle," Sasori said. Tobi did. Multiple times.
"I'm going to have to put a limit on how many times a day he can use that thing," Nagato said with a sigh. He paused. Then he said, "You know, Kisame, you spoke the truth."
"What do you mean?" Kisame asked as he swung his new sword around.
"This isn't such a bad thing after all," Nagato said. "Maybe there is some heavenly being other than Jashin that is out there doing work with us. Maybe being here isn't a mistake after all."
And so another chapter is complete!
I completely randomized the secret Santa. There was no planning ahead on that!
If you're a fact-freak like me, here are some numbers: According to the Harry Potter Wiki, the exchange rate between galleon and U.S. dollar, using stats from 2010, is around $7.35. Using an online inflation calculator, $7.35 is now the same as $7.86, so Kakuzu allotted around $15-16 to each Akatsuki member. You can see what a life I have, if I'm interested in the exchange rate between a galleon and a U.S. dollar.
On a side note, I need some help for Akatsuki patronuses. Not all of them should be able to make corporeal ones, and some shouldn't be able to at all, due to dark-inclined people not being able to produce any sort of patronus (Harry Potter Wiki is my source). Who should be able to cast a corporeal and non-corporeal patronuses, who should not be able to cast a patronus, and if they can cast a corporeal patronus, what form should it take? I already have some ideas for some, and I know for certain that neither Kakuzu nor Zetsu can cast the Patronus spell, but I need help for the others. Leave a review!
And now, that is all. Give me ideas, criticism, questions, and/or your feelings. I'll take them all :P
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and anything else you celebrate!