A/N: Happy birthday to Itachi.

Beta-reader: Imai Sakura Hotaru

Pein's POV

I was quite amused to be honest, when the new member came knocking on my door. "Leader," She bowed. "I have an impudent request." I signalled for her to continue. "I have to take care of some personal matters." It would be quite a problem if a big mission came up, but then again Akatsuki was always quality instead of quantity… "How long would you take?"

"Two months," She replied without hesitation – seems that she had already thought this out beforehand. "Alright. On one condition though." Was it me or did she just stiffened… "You need to finish a solo S class mission after this." It was silent for a moment, as if she was contemplating. "You could have just ordered me instead of making it a condition, so why?"

Hm. Smart girl, caught me again. I smirked. "I want him alive." She sighed, 'This means that Hidan and Zetsu are out…' "Konan and I are on mission, Sasori and Deidara will be occupied. Kisame is on a solo mission, whereas Itachi has some personal issues."

Tsuki's POV

Though there was a hell lot of an explanation there. He skipped Tobi and Kakuzu. Well, I kind of figured out who exactly Tobi is, so I didn't bring it up, and everyone knows that Kakuzu doesn't work unless there's a bounty. "Alright. I'll return in two months."

With that, I shut the door close.

As usual, I woke up early. Considering this time I would be out for at least one month, I prepared a few more sets of clothes. Even though you see ninjas always wearing the same clothes, it's just for convenience purposes on the artist's part – We do need to change and bathe.

As a farewell gift for the Akatsuki, I made a wide spread of food before I had to set off.

Sasori's POV

As usual, I was in the kitchen, drinking what I drink every morning. It's ironic though, since I don't have bones to provide calcium to. Day by day, I realised my attraction towards the silver-haired beauty was increasing. Speak of the devil. "Good morning." She offered me a rare smile, and I couldn't help but think that something unusual is going to happen.

"Tsuki?" From her place at the counter, she 'hm?'-ed. I placed my glass down before I strolled behind her. She turned when I placed both my hands on the marble counter, trapping her successfully. "Sasori?" She questioned, and I leaned nearer. She blinked her ruby-colored eyes as she slowly closed them. I took that as a sign of approval. Our lips touched, and a few more moments passed, before we both parted.

Her face was rosy pink, and a smirk made its way up my face. I wouldn't have thought that it was possible if she didn't have a demonstration – Her face became even redder. She turned back to prepare breakfast, as I decided that I would have breakfast with the rest today even though it wasn't really necessary.

Narrative

Most of the familiar faces showed up, well, except for one. "Sasori-danna, rare to see you, un." All Sasori did was glanced at him, and started eating the pancakes that Tsuki made. Amidst all the talking, Tsuki stood up and head to the weaponry, getting ready to set off.

Even though this self-assigned mission shouldn't be too difficult, to be on the safe side, Tsuki brought along her usual weapons. However, before she departed, she had something to clarify with a certain blond.

'Knock, knock, knock' The door opened, and golden hair was the first thing seen, followed by Deidara's face. "Aa… Aa! Tsuki-san." He scratched his uncovered cheek, "Is there something… ?"

"I was just wondering – how did you get to the surface world that time?"

'Oh. She was referring to the kidnapping incident…' "Well… There's a distortion in space at random places during random times. Though there are other ways to get there, there are only two methods that don't really require much effort. – 1. Getting a space/time manipulation user to create a tear in the space, or 2. Locate the natural distortion in space and travel through it." 'Well… That time we had Tobi's help...'

She was silent for a moment, and Deidara stood there. A look of bliss crawled its way up Deidara's face as he stared at his crush's thinking silhouette. All of a sudden, she looked up. Well, Deidara, being Deidara, blushed heavily and looked sideways due to the sudden eye contact.

"How can I locate this tear in space?"

"…"

"Deidara, you don't seem well…"

The blush had resided but there was still a tint of pinkness on his visible cheek. "Aa, I'm fine. Er… If you meditate to hone your senses to the highest capacity, you should be able to detect the changes in space." He scratched his cheek again.

The woman made eye contact with the blond, "Thank you." – And left. The blush returned full force.

The lone Akatsuki had left the base. What's left was for her to search for a place where she can meditate and hone her senses to their fullest ability. After half an hour of travelling at a walking pace, three kilometres away from the Akatsuki hideout, Tsuki located an area in a small rocky terrain. Due to the grotesque structure of the landscape, no ordinary villagers would pass through, no ninjas would appear unless necessary.

'Good place to meditate.' With that, she sat down and started her meditation.

A/N: I'm so sorry that it's getting shorter and shorter. That's because I am diverting from my draft. Up till chapter 5 I've been copying word for word, but now I'm actually changing here and there. This chapter is completely different from what I've written before since that was two years ago and I believe my writing and ideas are different now compared to then. So I'm very sorry, but I can confirm that the ending product will be much better and more realistic since this is set in the shinobi world, after all.