~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~four years later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tenshi was standing in the forest, looking at the targets that had been set up all around her. There were six bulls-eyes, and she held exactly six knives in her hands.
Once the nine-year-old was certain that she'd memorized the layout, she shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and threw her weapons.
The girl smiled when she heard the satisfying thud of each of her weapons hitting their intended target. When she opened her eyes, Tenshi wasn't surprised in the least to find that all her weapons had hit dead center. "All right, now for something more tricky." She gulped, but reminded herself that if her daddy could do it, then so could she.
The girl removed six more knives from the pouch on her hip, before jumping straight up into the air.
At the peak of her leap, she threw the weapons, twisting around so each one would hit its desired target. She wasn't surprised in the least when the blades embedded themselves next to her other knives in the targets.
Landing gracefully, she began hopping from tree to tree, quickly removing her weapons and pocketing them as she went. She soon returned to her original position. "Now then…" Tenshi pulled out six knives, took a deep breath, and leapt into the air.
The girl hurled her knives at the peek of her leap, but rather than hitting the targets themselves, the blades cut through the ropes suspending them in the air. Heavily weighted, the bullseyes began plummeting towards the earth.
Smirking, Tenshi grabbed six more knives and threw them at her falling targets. All the weapons hit dead center, just as they'd done before.
Gracefully Tenshi fell through the air and landed softly in her original spot. She smoothed back her hair (the accursed stuff was down to her shoulder blades now) and then began walking about, swiftly collecting her kunais.
"Impressive," Pein thought to himself. The Akatsuki leader was currently hiding in a tree several meters away, and was watching the young girl train. "She's definitely got both the mental and physical capabilities to be a ninja. But we're going to have to do something about her clothing." It wasn't that Pein disapproved of Tenshi's apparel, but somehow, he doubted that a purple skirt and a shirt that labeled her as "daddy's girl", would strike fear into the hearts of her enemies.
Leaving the female to train in peace, the leader stealthily made his way back to the Akatsuki base. Tenshi smiled and looked towards the tree Pein had previously been in. "Just because I'm nine doesn't mean I can't sense chakra, you know," she muttered, before resuming her target practice.
--
As the leader of the Akatsuki, Pein had seen plenty of strange and unusual sights in his lifetime: Hidan's decapitated head yelling, Zetsu conversing with the begonias in the front yard, and Sasori and Deidara getting to third base on the living room couch (which was burned shortly thereafter). However, never had Pein encountered such a strange sight as the one that now met his eyes.
A small table had been set up in the center of the living room. Around the table sat Ahato, Boom, Amaifuyu, Heki, and Hakushi. The first three wore dresses, while the last two merely wore pained looks on their faces. In front of each person sat a table, laden with cookies, and a cup of brown liquid.
Ahato was grinning widely, sending shivers down Pein's spine. Her smile was not unlike the sadistic grin Sasori often wore while he murdered his victims. "Would you like more tea, Heki?" she asked politely.
"NO! Let me go!" he cried, struggling against some invisible bindings. Pein raised a brow. Exactly what was going on here?
"What's that? You would?" Ahato held up one hand, and lazily flicked her fingers. Heki's arm slowly raised itself up, and his fingers unwillingly curled and the handle of his teacup. Ahato was using chakra strings.
Resisting every step of the way, Heki slowly brought the cup to his lips, and resentfully sipped the beverage. "BLEH!"
Ahato frowned. "Behave, or I'll give Hakushi all your crumpets," the six-year-old warned.
"Boom, could you pass the napkins?" Amaifuyu requested. "I got some crumbs on my dress."
"Sure!" the girl replied, smiling as she handed the boy her napkin.
"Amai, run and get help!" Hakushi begged.
"Why? This is fun," the boy replied. "Plus I get to wear this pretty dress!"
"Forget the dress!" Hakushi snapped. The blue haired boy was desperate to escape his current predicament, and Amaifuyu was the only boy at the table not bound by Ahato's chakra strings. "You, me, and Heki are all guys, right?! We have to stick together!" The boy would have gone on, but Ahato flicked her wrist and forced Hakushi to cram half a dozen cookies into his mouth at once.
"Don't pay any attention to him, Amai," Ahato said, a satisfied grin creeping across her face as the blue haired boy nearly gagged on his cookies. "He's just being a jerk."
"Playing tea party is stupid!" Heki declared.
"Be quiet, or I'll blow you up!" Boom threatened, whipping out a clay spider from under the table to prove she meant her point. Once both Heki and Hakushi were pale and silent, she turned to Amaifuyu, giving him a sweet smile. "More cookies?" she offered him.
"Yes please!" Amaifuyu replied, eagerly holding out his plate for more sweets.
"You think Auntie Konan will do our hair after lunch?" Boom wondered aloud as Amaifuyu ate his cookies.
"Hopefully later today," Ahato replied, casually munching on a cookie in front of her. "Dei-dei's not here right now, and danna can't fix our hair like Dei-dei can."
"I want piggy tails!" Boom declared. Deidara absolutely refused to cut the redheads hair, so now both girls had hair going down to the middle of their backs.
"Mine's too short," Amaifuyu complained. Hidan had finally given the child a hair cut, and now the black strands of hair only came down to the tops of his shoulders. "Hey, what are you gonna do with Heki and Hakushi?"
"Hmm? Oh, I have plans," Ahato said. A wicked grin snuck across her face, and she looked at the two boys the same way a lion would look at a plump, defenseless lamb. "I think I'll take them back to our room, and we can play dress-up."
"Not that!" Heki screamed.
"Anything but that!" Hakushi wailed.
"Today we'll be using a fairytale theme," Ahato went on. "Boom and I will be the princesses, and Amaifuyu can be the queen. You two will be a court jester, and a knight." The blue-eyed girl snickered and rose to her feet. "Let's go play," she murmured softly, using both hands to guide the blue and orange haired boys out of the room, with her twin and Amaifuyu following closely behind her.
"NO!!!" the boys screeched as the disappeared from sight.
Pein carefully crept out of the room, after silently vowing to never speak of this incident to anyone. In fact, he needed to start trying to block this memory out right now…