A/N: FINALLY UPDATED! Sorry I didn't update in a disturbingly long time. I thought I would have time to update at least once before Spring Break but...school was a pain. Anyway, at least it's SPRING BREAK. :D I hope you all had a great month of January as well as February!

Mind you, in this story, the new female character will have the personality she had when she was a child (sorta) as opposed to the personality you see when she is older (to be blunt, let's say mild OOC-ness). You'll understand when you see who it is and if you are up to date (kinda) with Shippuden. Also, let's pretend her and the other new character's ages are a little less than what they should be...

Enjoy!

Yamanaka Ino walked around somewhat aimlessly through the mall, all alone. She had just finished eating lunch with Shikamaru and Chouji and expected they would spend some time together but the boys had plans to see a movie with a few other guys. Not wanting to be a "drag" by complaining or dragging along after them, she let them go wordlessly, realizing she should appreciate and be thankful for the time they had been giving her the past week.

It did not occur to the blonde that she would miss her boyfriend so much, especially when he was only gone for one week so far. She used her friends as major distractions, and they knew this; they spent all their free or somewhat free time with Ino, knowing that she would throw a fit or possibly go through an incongruous depressed phase, which they did not want to see. The pattern was that Shikamaru and Chouji would keep Ino company during the afternoons and Sakura would replace them during the evenings after her shifts at the hospital.

Now, since the Yamanaka had noone around but had plenty of time to spare, she decided to do a little window shopping.

Ino walked over to a large map that was centred in the middle of the mall to see the list of stores she might have any interest in. Upon feeling a light tap on her shoulder, the blonde turned around to see a rather familiar looking female. The female looked a few years older than herself, and had medium length indigo hair with a light blue paper flower placed on the right side of her head. She sported a labret piercing just below her small smile, and the lids of her amber eyes was shaded with very light purple eyeshadow.

"Konan?" Ino queried. Seeing the nod the woman gave her, Ino laughed and threw her arms around her long lost friend in an embrace. "I haven't seen you in what, eight years? I missed you!"

"I missed you, too." Konan hugged the younger female tightly before releasing her, only to examine her face properly. "Wow, you've grown up so much! Beautiful, as expected."

"Speak for yourself!" Ino grinned. "It's so random seeing you here though. Are you visiting from Amegakure?"

"Not really..." Konan looked down at the ground and gently bit her thumb, a habit she had claimed back when she was a child for times when she grew nervous. "I actually need to talk to you about something..."

"YOU'RE in the Akatsuki?"

"Shhhh! God, Ino." Konan glanced around at their surroundings, making sure noone overheard.

"Sorry! So you're in the," Ino leaned her head forward and whispered, "you-know-what? Since when?"

"Since it began. Yahiko created the group years ago."

"Yahiko did? Really?" Ino retreated back against her chair. "So that means Nagato is in it, too?"

"Yes."

"Wow! I've spent so much time with the group the past few weeks and I never realized you were one of the few members that were away at the time." She grabbed her iced coffee from the table and took a sip of it with a straw. "But was this all you needed to talk to me about?"

"Well, I know you're with Itachi now..." The purple-head grabbed a napkin from the table and began to fold it.

Ino glanced down at her wrist to fix her bracelet. "Mmm hmm?"

"I wanted to keep you updated with what's going on."

The younger of the two lifted her blonde head up, her eyes full of fear. "Did something happen to him?"

"No!" Konan looked up from her hands and shook her head abruptly. "Not that I was told. It just seems they'll be taking a little longer with their mission. He wanted me to make sure you weren't worried."

"Oh, thank goodness! You scared me there for a sec, Konan." Ino fetched her drink again and slurped fairly loudly before a thought occurred to her. "Wait, if you're a part of the group why aren't you with them?"

It seemed she was expecting this question to be asked as Konan looked back down at the folded crane in her hands on the table rather than at her long time friend. "I'm pregnant."

"OH! Congratulations! Jeez, why didn't you tell me earlier?" Nonetheless she was extremely happy for Konan and reached across the table to grab her hand an excited squeeze.

"Thank you, Ino." Konan gave her an appreciative smile. "I'm very excited to become a mother."

"You're going to be an amazing mother." A genuine smile spread across her lips. "Yahiko?"

"Yes. But..." Tears filled Konan's amber eyes.

Ino's smile vanished upon seeing a tear fall on her friend's face. "Konan?"

As more tears fell, the Amegakure native whispered, "He was killed just last week."

"Oh, Konan." Ino walked around the table and gently hugged Konan. "I'm so sorry!"

"I'll be okay with some time." Konan managed a small nod. "I think Nagato took it even harder than I did."

Ino sat back down and watched Konan wipe away her tears, knowing that nothing she could say would make things better. She thought back to the first time she met Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato; the Ame orphans. They had stopped by Ino's house, one night, hoping to get some spare food, but to their surprise they were not only given food but also an offer to stay over for a few nights. The three couldn't bare to trouble the Yamanakas by staying any longer so they bid their farewells, parting with Ino, whom they had gotten fairly close with. The story of their brutal history that eventually led to an everlasting bond between the three of them always brought tears in her ocean eyes. Each had lost their family to the great war in Japan, and their tragic losses were what had attracted them together to become a family of their own. Ino knew how it felt to choose your own family; she considered Shikamaru and Chouji to be her family, even though none of the three had lost any members of their families.

Ino waited until all of Konan's tears were wiped away before asking, "Is that what the mission is for? Avenging Yahiko?"

"They didn't give me any information about what the mission was." The older of the two unfolded the crane, forcing it to become just a regular napkin with lots of creases. "I just got a message yesterday saying they should be back sometime next week."

The blonde let out a sigh and reached for Konan's hand again to give it a comforting squeeze. "It'll be okay. Not just the mission, but everything."

Ino smiled and pointedly looked at Konan's stomach where, even though it did not show, she knew her unborn baby was resting at that moment.

Konan closed her eyes and placed a gentle hand on her stomach.

"Thank you."

Ino and Konan were waiting anxiously in the arrival wing of the airport, just outside the baggage claim. It was just over a week after the girls had reunited in the mall. Konan had received a message from Nagato declaring their return from their mission and she decided it would be nicer and a lot more comforting for the both of them if Ino came along with her. According to the big screens sported all around the airport, the Akatsuki's flight had arrived approximately hour ago, but none of them were out yet.

Ino's impatience was slowly taking over her anxiety. "What the hell is taking them so long?"

Konan shrugged and bit her thumb gently, looking around with worrisome eyes.

Ino turned around, her back now facing the door where people came from the luggage claim, and looked outside through the large window wall of the airport. The rain was pouring as hard as ever, momentarily confusing her to believe she was in Amegakure rather than Konohagakure.

"Ino!"

She knew why Konan was calling out for her, but didn't know whether she should have been scared or happy to turn around. As soon as she turned around, the only thing she saw was a dark shape as she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. Breathing in, Ino recognized the scent and smiled in relief, wrapping her own arms around the man infront of her.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too, Itachi."

They released eachother and Ino got a chance to look up at his face for the first time in just under three weeks. She felt tremendously relieved to see that nothing had changed as Itachi bent his head down and kissed her with a smile.

After the short yet happy reunion, Ino looked at Konan to see her in an embrace with a pale redhead.

"Nagato?" Ino questioned, walking towards them.

Nagato turned around and his smile grew when he noticed the blonde, whom he brought into a hug. "Ino!"

After their hug, they began asking one another how they had been during the long time they had not met, while Konan and Itachi greeted eachother.

"As touching as this reunion is, can we go home?"

Ino glanced to the source of the voice to see that Sasori, a short red head had suddenly appeared with three taller men, Tobi, Kakuzu, and Kisame, behind him. Ino and Konan greeted each of them with a hug and the group came together, ignoring Kakuzu's protests and deciding to go out for nice dinner.

The somewhat happy group had almost reached the doors that led them outside when Konan spoke up. "Wait. Where's Deidara and Hidan?"

Ino hadn't realized the lack of the two mentioned Akatsuki members and felt guilty for a moment until Tobi startled her.

"Wahhhhhh!" Tobi began to sob and threw himself onto an alerted Ino. "He was a strict senpai, but a good one... Such a good senpai to Tobi!"

Ino gasped as Konan looked around at the members questioningly. "What? What happened?"

"Deidara-senpai, I'll never forget about-"

"Tobi," Sasori rolled his eyes. "Stop being so dramatic."

"Jeez, Tobi. Don't scare us like that!" Ino claimed while Konan sighed in relief and Tobi scratched the back of his head and apologized. "So where are they?"

"They're stuck in security and won't be released for a few hours." Kisame answered with a well hidden, but still noticeable, smirk.

Konan frowned and crossed her arms on her chest. "What did they do this time?"

Itachi replied impassively, "Deidara was accused of being a terrorist with his bombs."

"Of course." Konan rolled her amber eyes.

"Hidan threatened to kill someone when they didn't let him do his ritual on the plane." Kakuzu stated about his partner.

Konan, again, mercilessly rolled her eyes and started walking again, the rest of the group following behind her.

Ino shook her head in disapproval of the two younger members of the Akatsuki and said, "Boys."

Itachi let out a laugh and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Am I one classified as a boy as well?"

"Nope. You're a man." Ino's arms circled Itachi's waist and she looked up at him. "My man."

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head as they walked out into the rain together to join the others.

Ino smiled. Her man was back.

A/N: I'm sorry the last part seemed rushed and lacking detail. I've been staring at it for hours and nothing better seems to be coming into my head. Ah.

I took Tobi's dramatic lines from the actual episode when Deidara was fighting Sasuke and Tobi thought Deidara died. Direct quotes! :)

PS. If you like the Ame Orphans, I wrote a FanFic about them, so check it out!

PPS. Just made a tumblr specially for Naruto! There are some amazing pictures I found all around the internet there so check it out! (link on my profile)