Summary of Events: The Akatsuki have split ways. Hannah, Zetsu, Kakuzu, Itachi, and Tobi are staying in Suna. Leader, Kisame, Kate, Hidan, and Konan are going to Konoha. Dessie, Deidara, Suigetsu, Sakura, and Gai arrived in Wargonia. Back in Konoha, in the forest Kate and Shizune have run across a group of Wargonians

Chapter Eight-Six: After the Storm

Rule Number Eighty-Six: There is no peace in the Akatsuki

Kate

How dare they! How dare they insult Mr. Nibbles! What do they know about the sacrifices and hardships that Mr. Nibbles put up with in life! They know nothing! Nothing about Mr. Nibbles! Nothing about his heroics! Nothing about his valor! Nothing about his devotion! Mr. Nibbles was a hero – a braver man than most men I know! So what if he was a chicken – at heart, he was a man. Those Wargonians! They insult him and laugh at him! But Mr. Nibbles will always be a billion times better than them!

"Kate! Kate! KATE!"

I paused. The endless rant in my mind came to a screeching halt and the world stabilized itself a little. For a moment, I staged around a little until I managed to regain my balance by grabbing on to a tree branch.

"What…?"

Shizune stood in front of me, her expression horrified. "Kate…"

I blinked. "What?" And then I caught sight of the Wargonian bodies lying all over the forest floor. I screamed and leapt away, trying to shake the blood and dirt of my shoe. "Oh ew! Ew!"

"Kate…"

"What happened!" I cried, racing over to Shizune. "What happened here! One moment I was walking through the forest and the next I ran into some Wargonians… And then you told me that the Wargonians insulted Mr. Nibbles…" A shudder ran down my spine.

"Kate…"

"How could they do that!" I wailed. "How could they insult Mr. Nibbles like that! Mr. Nibbles was a good chicken! And they insulted him! But now the Wargonians are dead. Did Mr. Nibbles have his revenge? What happened! Why can't I remember!"

"Kate…"

"What?"

"You killed all the Wargonians…"

…

I stared at Shizune, unable to believe my ears. Then, slowly, I said, "You're kidding." I let out a weak laughed. "Shizune, that's not a funny joke…"

"Er, I'm not joking…"

"SHIZUNE! SHIZUNE! SHIZUNE! SHIZUNE!"

There came the sound of heavy footfalls and the rustling of leaves and branches. Someone came sprinting through the forest wildly, screaming at the top of his lungs. Shizune and I turned to stare as a Konoha shinobi forced his way through the trees and stumbled into the clearing, gasping for breath.

He caught sight of the dead Wargonians and straightened up, staring at Shizune in horror. "What happened here?"

"Never mind this!" cried Shizune. "What are you yelling about?"

"The Wargonians! They've weakened! They've weakened! They're eyes have turned back to red and they're easy to kill. The Wargonians have surrendered – they're god no longer supports them!"

"Dessie…" I whispered. "And Deidara…"

"The Wargonia Goup must have succeeded then," said Shizune. "They actually did it… They blew up the power source…" She let out a wispy, wild laugh and rna her fingers through her hair. "We won… We won…"

"Dessie and Deidara actually succeeded in something…" I said. "And Kisame… Leader… Konan… Hidan… They're all alive?"

Shizune smiled and jerked her head in the direction of the camp. "Should we go see?"

I nodded and the two of us sprinted off in the direction of the camp. The Konoha shinobi headed off towards the underground tunnel to spread the news. I barely noticed.

It seemed to take forever to get to camp. The trees brushed against my face and scratched at arms as a forced my way through them, Shizune leading the way. I honestly didn't care or noticed my surroundings. All I could think about was getting back and seeing the rest of the Akatsuki. Kisame, Dessie, Hannah, Tobi, Itachi, Deidara, Zetsu, Leader, Konan, Hidan, Kakuzu…

And then we were at camp. And I was running in search of them…

The first person I saw was Hidan. He was standing outside of Tsunade's tent, his arms crossed and his face dyed with blood. As always, Hidan refused to wear a shirt and his arms were folded as if he planned on cussing out the first person who spoke to him.

"Hidan!" I cried, racing over. "You're alive!"

"Oh yeah," he said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "Because you really expected me to die."

I came to a halt in front of him and stared at him curiously. "Why are you in a bad mood? We won! The war is over!"

Hidan scowled. "Leader won't let me kill any more. Jashin was having his fill and then – no more fighting. What the hell!"

For a moment, I stared at Hidan blankly. Then, a huge grin crossed my face and I patted Hidan awkwardly on the arm, laughing gleefully. "I'm glad you're alive, Hidan. Where's Kisame?"

"Sure," said Hidan grouchily, pointing somewhere to his right. "Go check on Fish Fry."

"You know," I said. "Now that the war is over, you get to see Dessie again."

I raced over in the direction Hidan had pointed, not looking back to see if my words had cheered Hidan up at all. It turned out that Hidan had pointed in the direction of the prison cells – a jutsu induced cell where all the Wargonians were placed inside. Leader and Konan were standing around, deep in discussion with Tsunade as the last of the Wargonians were placed in captivity.

It was Konan who caught sight of me first. She smiled and waved me over. As I approached, Leader turned and caught sight of me. He nodded once and I flung my arms around his neck.

"What – are – you – doing?" asked Leader stiffly. "Get off."

"It's a hug," I explained, refusing to let go. "Accept it."

"I don't accept hugs," said Leader. "I demand that you release me at once of I will force you to let go – even if it involves the severing of you arms."

Needless to say, I let go of Leader and decided it was safer to turn my attention to Konan. She accepted my hug much more gladly and, when the greetings were over, she asked, "How have you been?"

"Fine," I said. "Oh… Shizune and I ran into some Wargonians… and they called Mr. Nibbles worthless…" A shadow crossed over my face as I recalled their harsh comments.

"Mr. Nibbles was a hero," said Konan quickly. "He was brave and moving and a true credit to his species. Those Wargonians deserve to be defeated if they underestimate a true noble-chicken like Mr. Nibbles. Um… He was amazing and great and awesome and… um… cool…"

I beamed at Konan. "Thanks! I know! Mr. Nibbles is simply amazing – at least someone understands!"

Konan let out a sigh of relief.

"Have you seen Kisame?" I asked.

"He's in the medical tent," said Konan. After seeing the look of panic cross my face, she added, "It's nothing big. Just a flesh wound."

I didn't even pause to think as I sprinted over towards the medical tent, ducking under the flaps and stepping inside amongst the coats and beds and shelves of medicine as medic ninjas rushed around and tried to cure the wounded shinobi. I looked around desperately, trying to catch sight of the "big blue guy" but he was nowhere to be found.

"Kate! Over here!"

I turned around to see Kisame sitting on a bed, his left arm being bandaged up by Ino. He was grinning at me – showing all of his sharp, white teeth – and waving in a desperate attempt to capture my attention.

"Stop moving," said Ino impatiently.

"Why do I have to sit in here?" asked Kisame. "It's stuff and disgusting and my cut isn't very deep."

Ino snorted.

I rushed over to stand by his bed. "What happened?" I asked, trying to examine Kisame's wound. "Is it very deep?"

Kisame shrugged nonchalantly. "It's a deep cut, but it doesn't hurt all that bad."

Ino rolled her eyes and roughly finished wrapping his wound. "You can go."

Cheerfully, Kisame hopped off the bed and, grabbing me by the hand, he led me to the exit. We stepped out into the fresh outside air and headed off in search of the rest of the Akatsuki.

"Did Shizune tell you what the Wargonians said about Mr. Nibbles?"

I nodded angrily. "Poor Mr. Nibbles! Why must everyone be so mean to him!"

"I don't know," said Kisame, a smile flickering at his lips. "But I'm sure he's glad that you try so hard to defend your name. Mr. Nibbles did good by saving your life – and you should be proud of him for that."

I grinned at Kisame, practically glowing with adoration. "Mr. Nibbles… May he rest in peace…"

"I hope you two are going to start making out in front of us again."

Surprised, I turned around to see Leader and Konan sitting side-by-side in some chairs besides a roaring fire. They had been leaning forward, talking to one another in undertones, but when they saw us, they had moved their heads away slightly. Leader was glaring at us irritably while Konan had a lightly amused smile on her face.

"What's it t you if we start making out?" asked Kisame. "You know you secretly get off on it."

I buried my face in my hands and scuttled over to the seat beside Konan while Leader busied himself with dumping violent and gruesome death threats on poor Kisame (though, admittedly, it was Kisame's fault for provoking Leader). After reassuring Leader time and time again that Kisame would never make sure "vulgar and inappropriate comments" again, Kisame took the seat next to mine.

"So," said Kisame awkwardly. "We're all alive, huh?"

"Yep."

"Thankfully," said Konan. "We don't know if anyone else is though."

Leader leaned back in his chair and sighed. "We're going to have t get rid of the Wargonian troops."

"How are we going to do that?" I asked.

"We'll have to escort the Wargonians back to the blue orb," said Leader. "Konoha will send a suitable amount of shinobi and we'll lead the way – since we're most familiar with the blue orb and the hideout. Then, when all the Wargonians are gone, we'll destroy the blue orb."

"Will we return to the hideout when this is all over?"

Konan shook her head. "Location is given away. We'll have to find a new one."

"How about one on the shores of a nice, sunny beach?" said Kisame cheerfully. "We can go surfing every day and go for long walks on the beach… Hmmm…"

"There is no way in hell that we are getting a shitty beach shack for a hideout." Hidan plopped himself into the seat beside Leader and crossed his arms irritably. "We should get one near an exchange point so Kakuzu and I don't have to keep going out of our way to drop of the stupid bounties."

"Are you still angry that Leader won't let you kill anymore?" asked Kisame, exasperated.

"Jashin is not happy."

"Why don't you get this straight," said Leader wearily. "I don't care about your puny god."

"Burn…" muttered Kisame.

"Shut the hell up, Fish Fry," snapped Hidan.

"Great," said Konan. "The war has ended and we've been at peace for half-an-hour. And what is the first thing you do? Argue like a bunch of little brats planning on cutting each others heads off."

Leader sighed. "That's because they are a bunch of little brats planning on cutting each others heads off."

"I object to the term 'brat'," said Kisame. "I am thirty-five years old – I think I am worthy of the phrase 'a bunch of big bastards planning on cutting each others heads off'."

I giggled. "Kisame, that's not something to be proud of."

"She can be a brat thought," added Kisame, pointing to me. "She's only twenty…"

"She's a bitch," said Hidan. "Besides, I'm twenty-two and I'm not a fucking brat."

"So you think," muttered Kisame.

Before Hidan try to dismember Kisame, Leader said, "But Hidan's immortal so he's really not twenty-two. Hidan's an asshole and Kate's a brat."

"I second that motion," said Kisame.

"You're meant to give me a nice pet name," I muttered.

"I thought 'brat' was pretty nice," said Kisame, leaning over to prod me in the side. "How about we cuddle a little tonight, brat?"

"What did I tell you about being couplish in front of me?" said Leader irritably.

"Heh, heh…" Kisame leaned away from me and grinned sheepishly at Leader. Instead, Kisame turned to Hidan. "So did you hear, we're going to see the psycho bitch soon?"

"Really?" said Hidan. "Like I give a damn."

"You know you do," said Leader. "Now stop pretending so that we can all get on with our lives."

"Shut up, shitheads," snapped Hidan. "You're giving me a bitching headache."

"Oh yeah." Said Leader. "We're giving you a bitching headache? My brain is about to split open thanks to your annoying as hell voice."

"Do you want me to come over there an completely pawn your mortal ass?" asked Hidan. "Because you know I will and you know I will make you wish you'd never heard of the name 'Jashin'! I will beat you so badly that all you can gasp in the afterlife is 'Jashin have mercy'!"

"I already wish I'd never heard the name Jashin," snapped Leader. "He gives me enough headaches as it is."

"And wastes a lot of money on cleaning liquid," added Kisame. "Think of the carpet."

"I switched to the bathtub," muttered Hidan.

"That was after Kakuzu tried to kill you for making us hire yet another carpet guy."

"I killed the guy so we wouldn't have to pay him!"

"That's not the point!"

"What would you know, Fish Fry!"

"A lot more than you, Zombie Ass!"

Konan sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead. She turned to me, uttering under her breath, "Peace.., Will we ever find peace…?"

I smiled and shook my head. Rule Number Eight-Six: There I no peace in the Akatsuki.