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I'm so sorry I didn't update for talk like a pirate day (yesterday), but I have a life…

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*pokerface*

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*bad pokerface*

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

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I made a funny. XD

Anyway, on Saturday I didn't even start it 'cause I wasn't expecting that many reviews so quickly, but I was writing a different fanfic that I may post eventually once I have a couple of pre-written chapters. On Sunday, I was watching makeup tutorials (am I the only one who finds them tremendously amusing?) on Youtube, but started writing it. On Monday, I was playing the Sims 3. I can't wait for the new expansion pack however nerdy that sounds… And today, today I posted it! Yay!

Okay! So to my marvelous reviewers –Grrr, Amekoryuu, blackdragon999, georgina3101, and Tough chick- thank you, thank you, thank you! Wow, that's the most reviews I've gotten for a chapter…

I'm sorry that this chapter is a bit disappointing. :( I didn't want Colette to go on a big adventure to begin with. The next two or three chapters are going to be the Naruto chase with a touch of Phoebe, so bare with me for this one.

Enjoy! :D

Disclaimer! I own a stapler. It bit me today. I own a pencil. It stabbed me today. I own sticky notes. They shanked me today. Although I own a lot of hateful office supplies, I do not own Naruto. I'm gonna go get a band-aid while you read this…

Chapter Eight! First Impressions

My heart sped up a bit as I saw Italy off; I was really hoping for her to have met my overseers with me, however much I liked them.

The only things I was thankful for were Itachi being gone and no longer being around Kisame; I could still feel his chakra, he had so much, but I could no longer Italy's although hers was more familiar and not exactly miniscule.

I tried to put the plot line into perspective. So, when I got stuck in Konoha, it was just a couple of months before the graduation. So now is the first attempt to capture Naruto. Was this when he was learning Rasengan or something? I don't remember…

I shook my head as I reached the "living room" of the base where I would supposedly find Sasori and Deidara, but more importantly Sasori. ;)

I fiddled with my bra straps, not being used to wearing lacey, itchy undergarments. I checked my hair in the mirror I carried around, adjusted my skirt, and refocused on their chakra signatures

I felt two in the room in front of me. One was focused on the heart while the other was focused on the hands, the former was doubtlessly Sasori while the latter was obviously Deidara.

Italy may have thought I wasn't speaking during the trip here because I didn't care one way or the other which was partially true, but it was really Kisame's overwhelming chakra that made me want to not speak. It was just scary and made I was thankful that I was no longer around him.

I gazed at myself a bit longer in the mirror, still disgruntled by my bright eyes, then took a deep breath and stepped in.

Sasori and Deidara automatically turned towards me being the epic ninja they were. Sasori narrowed his eyes, not in Hiruko thankfully, and asked a bit bluntly, "Are you the other brat I have to look after?"

I laughed nervously, overwhelming shyness from my childhood coming back a bit, "W-well, when you put it like that it doesn't sound so appealing, now does it? But yeah," I waved at them, "I'm Colette! Which one of you is Sasori, and which of you is Deidara?"

Sasori spoke for the both of them, "I'm Sasori, and the brat over there is Deidara."

I forced a smile, "Pleasure."

I looked them over a bit. Sasori looked exactly the same, of course, whereas Deidara looked a bit younger, and his hair was a bit shorter, and there was no feminine half ponytail thingy to hold it back, although hair still fell in front of his left eye.

Deidara spoke up, breaking the awkward silence we had fallen into, "Wait, weren't Kisame-san and," Deidara scowled, "his partner supposed to get two, un?"

I answered for Sasori, "Yeah, but Italy-chan already left with Kisame-san and Itachi-san on some mission."

Deidara cringed a bit at the mention of Itachi but nodded. Sasori nodded as well, and we were thrown into yet another awkward silence.

I fidgeted a bit after the fifth or so minute of quiet. Sasori had gone back to reading while Deidara just sat there looking around the room.

I studied the room, too. It was nicer than I expected. Well, the entire base was, but this room was less bare.

What I had always imagined the base to be like was a cold set of tangled, torch-lit, stone corridors with as sparse furnishings, like jail cells lined up one after the other.

What the base was really like, though, was a more or less literal labyrinth in the sense that until one got to the center of the base, there were no halls that flared out. The only halls I noticed were the one that led to the bedrooms and the other that led to the living area. There were more or less three doors at the end of the "labyrinth": one to Pein's office and two to the hallways.

I had not noticed one stone on the ground or walls or even the ceiling. Rather, the floors were a warm hardwood and the walls and ceiling plaster painted a monotonous beige.

However, the living room had sage green walls, beige carpeting, and light blue floral-printed furniture. The ceiling was very high, in fact high enough for windows to rim the very top, letting light flow in. The entire room looked like it belonged in an interior design magazine how nicely decorated it was.

After another five or so minutes of me standing around and watching a squirrel (shouldn't he be hibernating?) run by the window, I finally spoke up, "Uh, can I sit down?"

Sasori looked at me weird, "You didn't have to ask..."

I slunk over to an overstuffed love-seat across from Sasori and diagonal from Deidara.

"So..." I said vaguely as I plopped on the sofa.

"So... un..." said Deidara.

"So..."

"So..." Deidara said. "Where are you from, exactly, hmm?"

"Why do you ask, exactly?" I retorted, a bit annoyed because... Well, just 'cause really...

Deidara raised his hands defensively, "You just have a weird name, yeah! I've never really heard of one like it before."

I laughed a bit, "Oh, I know it's weird! Italy-chan and I come from this place called 'North Dakota.'"

"Where's 'North Dakota,' hmm?"

I sighed a bit, feeling a twinge of homesickness in my gut, "Far, far away..."

"I guess," said Deidara, "I've never heard of it, and I've traveled a lot, un."

I asked, "Why've you traveled so much?" though I already knew the answer.

"I worked as a terrorist for different countries, un," he said as if commenting on the weather.

I paled a bit even though I already knew of his crimes, "Well, that's just delightful..."

Deidara raised an eyebrow, "You shouldn't be so critical, yeah. From what I've heard, you aren't exactly a saint yourself."

"Where'd you hear that from?" I twirled a piece of blonde hair around my left index finger.

That was oddly specific...

"Uh," Deidara thought for a moment. "I think her name was Phoebe or something like that, un."

"Phoebe!" I sat bolt upright, earning an odd look from Sasori. Damn it! I forgot all about her!

"Yeah..." said Deidara. The terrorist summed up what Phoebe said about me. Phoebe made me seem stupid and psychotic! That's Hidan! I'm the oblivious and psychotic one.

Oblivious! Not stupid! Oblivious!

I think Italy would be the smart and psychotic one. Just a thought...

Back to the conversation! "How long ago were you... enlisted... in the Akatsuki?" Yep, Deidara told me his sob story about being forced into the Akatsuki by the oh-so-unartistic Itachi.

"It all happened just a week ago, un."

"Well, I don't feel like such a rookie, then," I added (dumbly). "But I'll never be a full-fledged member, will I?"

"What makes you say that, hmm?"

I froze, hand still combing through my hair, "Oh! I just noticed that you all have rings, is all! They're all on different fingers, too. So... Um, how many members are there?"

Deidara glanced at me warily, not entirely buying my lie, but answered anyway, "Nine, yeah..."

"Ah..." the conversation drifted on from there. It was all just small talk.

Small talk is a weird expression...

I learned a couple if interesting things, though: Deidara can't draw to save his life (that surprised me), he had several lead parts in the ninja world equivalent to Broadway (that didn't surprise me), and he had a pet monkey as a child but was afraid of it after it flung senbon at him (kinda weird). He's been afraid of monkeys ever since (HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL DID HE JUST TELL ME!)...

It was getting late. I had seen a breath-taking sunset from the thin windows. A golden light had been cast all throughout the luxurious living room.

Now, though, the living room was dark except for a lamp dangling above Sasori. A star here and there was visible through the windows. Sasori sighed a shut his book, breaking the bored quiet, "Alright, brats, it's getting late. You're too young to be staying up past midnight like this. Colette-chan," barked Sasori.

I had scrambled up along with Deidara. "Yes, sir?" I asked a bit frantically, if not comically.

"You can stay in my room for the time being; I'm not going to use it any time soon."

I tried to act shocked, "Aren't you going to sleep?"

"I don't need to sleep," Sasori stared blankly at me. "Now Deidara, be a dear and show her to my room. Hurry up! Don't keep me waiting!"

Deidara showed me to Sasori's room. It was the first door on the left with Deidara's room right next to it. Deidara pointed his room out. "If you need anything, I'm night next door, un."

I smiled as I opened the door to Sasori's room, "'Kay. 'Night!"

"Goodnight, un!"

We slipped into our respective rooms. I turned around to get a good look at the room. "Good Jashin-sama!" I breathed.

The room was freaking huge. I lived with Italy in her big-ass mansion for most of my life, what with her dad being the former CEO of a record company and all (maybe that's where Italy gets her hatred of people from), but this room was still... "Wow!"

The room must have been the size of a school gym! The carpeting was fresh and clean, though I'm almost positive that this is where Sasori makes his puppets; the table in the center of the room had a lump on it that looked suspiciously like a body. The wall I could see were a pale blue, but the others were covered in sketches of probably puppet designs.

I studied a sketch near me. It was magnificently detailed, a work of art on itself...

I scrutinized the rest of the room for a bed. It was pressed in a corner, hidden under a pile of books.

I walked the long way past beautiful furniture I decided I had enough time to marvel at to the bed and pushed the clutter off of it. There was a crisp yellow comforter over some bleach white sheets. The bed was large, king sized. I shoved Nancy onto a random spot on the floor.

I stripped down to my sexy underwear and sunk into the plush bed.

I sighed, one with bliss. This was unfathomable luxury after moths straight of roughing it on forest floors and the occasional desert. The sheets were silk and smelled faintly of ocean winds, while the bed, however cliché it sounds, felt as soft as a cloud. In almost an instant, I fell asleep.

Nothing interesting really happened on the rest of my time without Italy. I'm not going to spoil anything about her misadventure -I mean adventure- with her little posse 'cause she could tell her odyssey in much greater detail and stuff.

So, the only noteworthy event of the next couple of days is that I accidentally flashed Sasori some cleavage...

About 8 times...

A day...

Dear Jashin-sama...

At least you like Sasori, Colette! I like putting my characters in awkward situations, but not through pain. Well, at least my favorite characters. You'll see what I mean…

Yeah, I like Colette a bit better. I think it's just because she's a bit more like me. I'm most like Phoebe I'd say, though. Well, at least my inner thoughts…

So…

Fun Fact: (why don't I use !'s instead of :'s for this?) Colette and Italy were put in home school in the middle of first grade (neither went to Kindergarten). Colette because she was atrociously shy as a child (she's gotten most of the way over it) and Italy because she beat kids up (she hasn't gotten over that…)! Weren't they cute kids?

Does anyone want romance? I can do that! I'm the author… Well, if you do want it, just tell me, but I'll probably only pair them with Deidara, Itachi, Hidan, or maybe Zetsu. Keep in mind that they're Deidara's age, so pairing with the other members are a bit… yeah…

So like it? Love it? Want to destroy it? Just leave me a review and I'll be your beeest friend! *creepy face*

If you don't I'll track you down and make creepy faces through your window while you sleep! XD

'Kay, I'll update soon! Love ya!