The amazing fans of this story! How long have you waited for me to return before the last chapter? Tsk tsk, self. This is why I'm updating with one big, long, hopefully pleasing chapter! Well, that and I totally adore writing this story! This chapter is for all of the Akatsuki lovers out there (Em and Cream notably!). I don't know a ton about how they act in the anime or manga, but I do know their personalities as listed in the Naruto Wiki. So I'm giving this a try. Ignore any major OOC people or kick my ass. Either way, leave me a review! I own none of the original characters or the lyrics to this chapter or any before. Just sayin'. Also, Tobi and Madara are not the same people in this as in the anime/manga. Tobi is Pein's nephew whom was adopted by some random brother of Pein's that pretty much doesn't exist. Mixes it up a bit, ne? Konan has a different personality due to not being a murderer and going through all that crap. The rest remain the same.

Playlist: Creed's entire CD Human Clay, Imaginary (also know as Paper Flowers) by Evanescence, and bits and pieces of FallOut Boy's Take This to Your Grave CD and Maroon 5. Of course, I thought about and/or listened to the songs with lyrics throughout the chapter.

"So you can make me a flower?"

"You are so childish," Mori grumbled irritably. I ignored her and looked at the blue-haired woman hopefully. She glanced away when the elevator door dinged open. I heard the stupid-ass music coming from inside. My eye started twitching.

"Konan?" A serious-looking guy with orange hair and countless piercings glanced between us and the blue-haired lady maybe known as 'Konan.' A series of men, one kid, two teenagers, and one lady stood behind him. They all wore black cloaks with red clouds. The clouds were outlined in white.

Just as I saw the cat-eared girl launch herself at a guy with lighter red hair than Gaara, Mori tackled the other woman. The poor blonde lady landed with an odd 'Un!' and Mori straddling her. This was nothing like that Megan Fox movie, where something similar happened. It was way different.

"What shampoo do you use?" Mori screamed at the blonde-haired woman. The poor chick screamed.

"Get the hell of me, yeah!"

"Answer me woman!"

"I'm a man, un!"

"A man with amazing ha- What? You're a dude?" Mori looked at him carefully, peering eerily into the eye that wasn't covered by nice blonde bangs. The guy (huh?) pushed Mori off of him and stood with a swish of his long yellow ponytail. My best friend glared at it with envy. I wondered what cat girl was doing.

When I glanced over there, she was teasing the red-headed teen about something. I caught a few words. "Go on, Sasori no danna." He glared at her, but she laughed good-heartedly.

"Are you gonna answer my damned question?" My friend grabbed the blonde by the collar and looked at him threateningly. I suppressed a laugh when the guy was jerked down, arms flailing to keep his balance. He glared again, defying her.

"No! You attacked me, yeah!"

She blinked in surprise. "You will?" she asked with a grin.

"Did you not just hear me, yeah!"

"Then what brand is it, dude?"

"You deserve no reply, un."

"Why not?" she pouted.

The two shared dirty looks for a while until Mori looked at the two people closest to her and the man-lady. They were both odd shades of people – one black as coal and the other white as snow. Both men shared green hair and similar features. They looked like they belonged with some other race though. It was really hard to tell if they were annoyed or bemused. Even though some odd kind of show was going on, they both stood silent.

"Is he fucking bipolar?" Mori demanded.

"Deidara-sempai! Did you fall?" asked the kid as the blonde brushed himself off.

"No Tobi. I was attacked." The man glared pointedly at Mori, who stuck her tongue out at him. He 'hmph'd, and walked back into the circle of men. Cat-girl was still teasing light-red-headed boy. I missed Gaara.

"Soooo," I drawled, "who are you guys?" A guy in the crowd snickered, but I wasn't sure which it was.

Blue-haired lady Konan answered my question without being a jerk. "We're the Akatsuki. We own this place and various others. Deidara has an interactive art museum, Sasori – the red haired one – and Pein – the one with the piercings – run a tattoo/piercing place; Hidan – the one with gray hair – operates a bail bonds place, while Kakuzu – with the hood – is a doctor. The green haired men we call Zetsu. They're just like one person and they own a place that produces the flowers that other places sell. The one in the middle with the black hair is Itachi. He's a teacher in Kohana. The younger-looking version of him is his brother, Sasuke. Oh, the orange-headed kid is Tobi, Pein's nephew. Also, the one that looks like an older Itachi with a longer face is Madara. He usually stays here when we can't."

"And you? What do you do Konan?"

She blinked her red eyes, looking caught off guard. "I usually help around here or the tattoo shop. They're my favorite places."

"Why don't you do anything you love, like origami? That could easily be a profession since you guys already have the name and publicity. Why do you people own so many things anyways? Jebus."

Konan just looked at me with a very confused face. Pein was watching us closely, trying to figure out what was going on I figure. By the slight tilt of his eyes, he couldn't really explain it himself.

"You guys have so many opportunities and you open a bunch of random things. You could be making amazing origami sculptures or centerpieces for rich jerks, but you help out at the two places you like best. Why are you doing that? If it was me, I'd open my-" I looked up at her with wide eyes. "Did you say Itachi? From Kohana? Like, Itachi Uchiha? Are you for real?" I peeked over her shoulder, afraid what I'd see. The two brothers did look similar. Itachi stood much taller, since the boy was about my age. My eyes practically fell out of my head. Itachi had a good-looking brother. Sakura would die panting if she saw him.

Obviously, I was more interested in sadistic red heads than I was in stoic ravens. He was nice to look at though.

"Uchiha-sensei! You are screwing up my vacation! Teachers are not supposed to be within sight of students. It's an unwritten rule! Gah. Jebus, I'd think someone would know this by now, but no-o."

"Hello, Miss Hishiro. I see you are staying at our hotel." His creepy eyes wondered over to Mori, whom had Deidara in a headlock. "As is your friend. I don't believe I have her as a student, but I've seen you two around…" He looked kind of pained from saying that, glancing around uneasily and scowling. I figured this as the normal reaction for Mori and I when they found out we were those two girls. So I was pretty much used to the scowling by now. Even though some teachers liked us, others didn't.

I think Itachi was glad he only had me in his class. Most teachers were glad we had only a few classes together.

Pulling me out of my thoughts, the one labeled as 'Pein' spoke.

"Konan, we have places to go." He was anything but subtle, I decided. Anything but subtle and kind anyways.

I waved them off, and blinked when the two teenagers stayed. Sasuke and Tobi, if I remembered it right. The raven-haired boy and the hyper pumpkin-head turned towards Mori and me. I looked away, nonchalantly opening my phone. And accidentally answering a call.

I mentally called myself a 'fucking dumb-ass' before saying hello.

"Heya, Aya."

"Hey Temari. What's poppin'?"

"We're heading back to the hotel. Our father cancelled, which means he's probably found a bimbo to mess around with. Ewe. Anyways, just called to tell you. Actually, you're about to see me. In, like, three minutes."

"You should lay off the coffee. Just sayin'."

"Shut up." Temari hung up the phone, and I could imagine her annoyed but amused face. I put my phone back in my pocket without saying anything.

"Hi! Tobi is a good boy." The pumpkin-head wrapped me in a surprisingly strong hug without warning. He held on for a while. I was beginning to be disturbed when he let go of me and did the same to Mori. She handled it better, starting a conversation about Deidara with Tobi. I think she was just trying to weasel the information about his hair care out.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting married or something? I saw some weird thing on the news about you."

I huffed at Sasuke's remark. "Yes, but I'm getting out of the damned marriage. Neither of us really want this. And my lawyer says the second plan is legal, so I can fight my way out of this crap. It would've been better if she had let me go with the first plan. I mean, threatening people with a SPORK isn't horribly illegal, right? But no, she had to do it the way that wouldn't get me arrested or anything…" I sighed and quirked my eyebrow at him.

"You're crazy."

"Thank you."

"Dumb-ass."

"Chicken-ass."

"What?"

"Are you hard of hearing?" I yelled at him.

He glared, moving back. "No!"

"Good." I turned my face, rolling my eyes at him. "What a loser," I mumbled to myself. "He needs therapy and a fucking hearing aid."

Chicken-ass grabbed my face and put us nose-to-nose. "I am a very powerful person, Miss Hishiro."

"As am I, Chicken-ass."

He glared at me evilly.

"Let me go or I'll scream."

"Go ahead. No one will question what I'm doing looking at you."

I filled my lungs with air and let out an incredibly loud yell of 'RAPIST!' The door to the hotel burst open, showing a very angered pair of brothers. Brothers I knew, who happened to have a different brother and someone like a brother trailing behind them. And someone tougher than my brother behind them.

The line leader? Of course, it was my silent boy.

Damn. It.

I wasn't trying to kill this guy or anything. But by the look in Gaara's eyes, and the way my brother had dropped his bag and was running towards us, that was his fate. Unless I intervened. Well…he was an arrogant jerk who grabbed me when I didn't want him to. So I let Akio tackle him.

"Stop! He isn't a rapist, just some freaky jerk! I was trying to get him to let go of me, Kio! Don't hit him!"

"I'll sue you for assault, asshole," Chicken-ass screamed.

"I'll sue you for sexual harassment!" I fired back. "Kio-sama, get the hell off Chicken-ass, please!"

Sasuke bristled, wiping off his shirt once Akio let him up. "That is not my name, you bitch."

Kankuro, who stood next to me by now, clenched his fist to hit him. Gaara was standing next to Kane, and I had my hand on his chest, pushing him back, to keep him from murdering Sasuke. Mori was faster than her boyfriend, swiftly raising her leg to kick him between his. Chicken-ass was down for the count just as Itachi stepped out of the elevator. Tobi watched with nervous excitement.

"What's going on here, Miss Hishiro?" Itachi's voice was creepy and iced-over as he watched his little brother stand up.

"He grabbed my face. My family doesn't like people touching me when I don't want to be touched." I pushed myself behind Kane, wrapping my fingers around Gaara's own, behind Candy's back. No one noticed us. My teacher kept his eyes on the raven-haired boy in dark blue, never glancing at us.

"I suppose you should listen to the woman next time, little brother."

Then he was gone. Sasuke looked pissed, but I figured he was hurt too. I moved a bit closer, even though everyone flanked me immediately. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. I hope you have a good holiday."

His black eyes met with my grey ones for a mere second. Then he scoffed and headed towards the exit. Tobi followed obediently.

I was lectured – as expected – as soon as the bags were re-gathered and we'd stepped into the elevator. Gaara stayed silent, letting my thumb rub across his hand gently. Mainly, the angry complaints and insults didn't reach my ears. I was thinking about how sad Chicken-ass looked. Something about him made me think of Naruto when he wasn't with any of his friends. Once, I'd seen him swinging in an old park. He looked so upset. That's when I started hanging around him more. I knew he was hurt, and still healing. I never figured out why, but I knew he was like my silent boy. And I'd do anything to help Gaara – anything.

Mori and Temari wanted to talk to me about it, but I shrugged them off, saying I'd had a long day. They said they understood and turned to Kankuro and Kane. I figured Temari and Kane were keeping their relationship either private or were working on it. Akio asked if I needed anything, like a good big brother should. I told him no. He didn't object. Kane just hugged me, placing a Chai Tea from Starbucks in my hand. With a glint in his gold-flecked eyes, Candy told me something I hadn't expected.

"We all jumped into save you Papaya." He leaned closer, and I smelt the light rain from earlier clinging to his shirt. "Just because we love you. I think you're the only thing that held our little red head back from killing that bastard. Now you had better go talk him down. I hear he likes the roof, so there's no telling what he's like when he's mad." Kane hugged me tightly once more. "I think he wants to keep you safe, little Papaya."

My lips turned up just a bit; glad to know Kane was still his self despite everything. I had started wondering if my world would ever be the same a little bit before I got on the plane. "Thanks Candy. I'll get to that."

The boy left without another word, just sending his fingers in an over-the-shoulder salute to me. I walked down the hall of the giant floor, gaping at it. Everything was so pretty, but it didn't feel like home. I missed my futon – which now sat in a storage unit. Damned hotels that don't let you bring your own damned bed. Despite the un-homey feeling, I still stared at the very tasteful color choices and patterns. When I got to Gaara's room the only thing I could think about then was him. And when I knocked on the door and he answered it, I about died. Seriously – when a very hot guy who happens to be your best friend that you happen to be in love with happens to answer the door shirtless, it kind of leaves you in shock. I must have been very shocked. Because that is the only reason, I think, I would ever slam the door in my silent boy's face. And then flee to my room like I was being shot at.

Thankfully, the room was empty. And, ya know, I wasn't really being shot at. I dived for the bed and started hyperventilating. Five minutes later, I could breathe and gulped down the almost-forgotten tea in my hand. I cringed, hating the lukewarm-ness of it. Deciding that what I had done was worthy of dying from embarrassment, I threw the blanket over my head and lay there.

"What the hell was that?"

Jebus, I needed to stop talking to myself like an idiot. Sigh. I'd work on it later. Or maybe I could do it now, just to get my mind off-

Yeah. Then I saw him again in my mind and needed to slap myself to get the picture of Gaara shirtless out of my head. But for real, Gaara in nothing but a pair of flannel pants could make me drool any day. Damn, I need therapy.

Wait… No therapy! Therapist = the + rapist!

Not cool. Note to self: Tell everyone (A.K.A parents) I would rather be disowned than put into therapy. Yeah. I don't want anywhere neat someone with a title like the/rapist. That's just wrong. Second note to self: Thinking about creepy therapists only distracts you for so long, so find less creepy and more distracting thoughts. That do not involve Gaara.

Then someone was walking into my room. When I looked over the soft comforter, I saw a fully clothed Gaara walk in, actually. I wasn't sure if I was disappointed that I couldn't ogle him as well, or if I was glad I could say something now. Probably a little bit of both, to be honest. I wasn't totally superficial, but he was more than really hot.

"Uhh… Heya, Gaara."

My (hot!) silent boy cocked his eyebrow at me in a question. My face flushed.

"You never answer a door half-naked. Okay? Just don't." I peeked over the blanket some more, my face still fairly red. "It's not good for my health, and you'd probably end up getting sick too. So no."

His lips turned up in a half-smile, and he sat on the edge of my bed. I frowned, scooting over and dragging him by the arm. The redhead landed with an 'oomph' next to me. His grin had grown and his amazing pretty eyes were gleaming with amusement. "How is that not good for your health?"

"Shut up and watch this movie." I tried to pick up the remote, but I realized I was on the wrong side of the bed to do this. The little black device sat on the bedside table next to him. My eye twitched in a very 'this-is-just-my-fucking-luck!' kind of way. My silent boy looked at me with an amused face. "Will you hand the remote to me, please?"

"I don't want to watch a movie though."

"But I need it."

"I'll hand it to you if you answer my question."

"Screw this. I'll get it myself." I reached over him, and Gaara lay flat on his back. The image of him half-naked flashed through my mind and I almost fell on top of him.

"Are you okay?" I glared at his smirk before placing my hand on the table and feeling for the damned remote. And even though its not my fault in the least, no one will ever let me live this down.

Nevertheless, when the red head looks up at me with those eyes, probing me to see what I meant earlier; and that tiny grin of his sits on his smug lips… It's not like I could have stopped myself from moving towards him. It's not like I could have stopped my eyes from closing, and my lips from pressing against his. Because, honestly, he was too much for me to handle without slipping up like that. And I just love him so much. I couldn't have stopped myself.

Right?

Also, how could you blame me when I felt his lips return my kiss? That can't be my fault.

I do, however, except full blame continuing the kiss and pressing against him.

This small situation was just so amazing, I couldn't help myself. The way he kissed me back, and the way I could feel him smile underneath it. I'm not sure if either of us were good kissers, but with the way my head was swimming and my heart was beating – why should I even care? Answer: I didn't.

I've forgotten how to love,

Remind me?

I've forgotten how to laugh,

Remind me?

I can't remember your smile,

Remind me?

I can't remember my better half,

Remind me?

Good enough? Review please. :] Oh! Wait, I have a surprise~! You would never guess it, but this is the end. To Remind Me. There will be a sequel. If the fans love it enough.