Hello everyone out there!

Welcome to my latest chapter! Now, before you all read this one there are a few notes I have to add. You may notice the start is very different and contains a lot of descriptive language, that is all courtesy of my English Writing class. I hope the class does make some difference to my writing, and hopefully you will enjoy it just as much.

Now again, I apologize for the language used in this chapter, how to stay somewhat in character it was unfortunately necessary.

Spoilers! There may be the tinniest spoiler in this chapter, which is the name of the kyubi. This was released in some of the latest chapters however I really don't see how it will effect anything.

Also for those of you out there that only watch the anime, I really suggest you read the manga, its so exciting right now!

And with all that aside,
Enjoy!


The cool breeze swirled in through the open window; the saltiness of the sea mixing with the long dry grass of summer. The smell of old wood, uncut hay and dry earth floated in amongst the tendrils of air, their fingers stretching out to brush the world with soft hands that caressed the fields with warmth.

The faint twinkle of huge burning balls of gas light years away were spread across the ebony sky, their lights a guide for all. They pointed to a world far away, to a life that held no regrets… they pointed to a dream.

Amongst the small pinpricks of light the full moon hung huge and swollen, its gleaming white surface lighting up the world beneath in a wash of pale silver.

The warm outside air whispered in my ears as it floated through the window, the dream in the sky reached out to lift me up, up and away from this world full of tension.

I opened my eyes…

… and all the dreams disappeared.

From my position on the window sill, the dining room table sat before me, ancient but certain, one of the only pieces of furniture that had so far survived the onslaught of violence that had erupted when the Akatsuki came bounding into our lives. It was an old piece of furniture, one of the oldest in the house, its dark mahogany surface alive with movement, the legs carved into stout towers. Emily and Sasori sat at the table, the chairs underneath them, and all those around the table were a matching set, still the originals.

Beyond the table the kitchen stirred with life. The benches which had recently been redone with dark marble were awash with cake mixture, bacon, dirty trays, mixing bowls and Jack Daniels. In the very centre of the bench on the far side, nearest the lounge room, sat the beginning of a master piece. The feet had been laid and the legs were slowly getting longer. Muscles Glasses worked his magic with the carving knife and the chocolaty feet were already taking shape, soon the legs would be formed as well.

However with all the carving came the shavings. Already a large bowl was half full with chocolate cake, all useless bits that had been carved off to create the Tobi master piece, and there would be a lot more to come.

Looking at the chocolaty goodness made my stomach growl and mouth water, it had been a while now since I had eaten, and looking at all this food was making me hungry.

"What are you doing?" Sasori's annoyed voice floated through my consciousness, and I looked over to where he and Emily sat, dragging my mind away from the huge piece of chocolate cake I had been fantasising about.

"I was just checking." Emily wore one of her goofy smiles as she proceeded to poke Sasori in the face.

"I would rather you stopped," his voice held a hint of steel.

"But it really is wood, or at least something hard," she continued to poke, "How do you make your eyes so life like? Are they real?" her hand that had been poking his cheek now moved towards his eye.

"I said, stop!" Sasori's hand caught her wrist before her slender fingers could poke him in the eye.

"But, I just wanted to see for myself," she whined, her bottom lip pouting as her hand fell to her side.

"Well that's too bad," he told her, and turned to face the other way.

An evil grin spread across Emily's face, and she leaned across, her chin resting on his shoulder, "But Sar-Sor…" she whined, right next to his ear.

His eyebrow twitched, "Remove your head from my shoulder, and leave me alone."

But, Saaar Sooooriiii…" she continued.

Emily was knocked back as Sasori stood up, "That's enou-"

But he was cut off, "what the fuck! Who let a kid in here; don't you know we've got our buddy Jack Dagniels with us?" Harley's voice made Emily and Sasori turn around in surprise.

"That's it kid, stay away from the kitchen," Tyler told Sasori, his expression completely serious.

Sasori went to take a step, a frown on his face, "He said keep the fuck away from the kitchen!" Harley yelled at Sasori, who stopped, pondered the situation, and then went to take another step.

"That's it, sit the fuck down kid!" Harley picked up a knife to emphasise his point, "I won't have any little drunk shits screwing up my art while I'm on kitchen duty."

"Sasori, sit down," I grinned at him from the window, "It'll save us all a lot of heart ache."

He looked at me and then sat down, two seats down from Emily who began to pout again, "Happy?" he asked.

"I've never been happier," I told him.

"Well I'm glad one of is," he muttered, his glistening eyes as hard as concrete.

"I can't believe you deserted me," Emily told him in a hurt voice, "We were just becoming friends."

Sasori raised his eyebrow, "Are you being serious?"

"And even now you doubt me!" Emily wailed.

"Is she always like this?" he asked, turning towards me.

"She just wanted a friend," I said to him, "And now look what you've done!" I gasped in shock as Emily began to sob.

Sasori looked at me for a second before rolling his eyes, "I surrounded by idiots…"

I laughed at him, "There's only one idiot here," I said winking at him.

"Don't call my Sar-Sor an idiot!" Emily yelled at me, again causing Sasori to roll his eyes.

"Well I think your Sar-Sor wants a big hug!" I told Emily, giving her a big grin that she quickly returned before flinging herself towards Sasori and caught him in a huge bear hug.

"My Sar-Sor, all mine!" she sang, standing up and turning around in circles, dragging Sasori with her.

"Let go!" his voice rose into a yell, and frustration was clear in his eyes.

My smile grew wider and Emily's grin was mischievous.

"Oi kid! Sit the fuck down!" Harleys shout from the kitchen stopped Emily in her tracks.

Her bottom lip dropped into a pout, "party pooper." She told them, and stuck her tongue out at him.

This time when Sasori was let go he went and sat at the other end of the table, "I'll have no more of your games, if one of you even so much as moves towards me, you'll both regret it." His eyes were as hard as steel, and his glare was dangerous.

"But my Sar-Sor! Come back to me, oh baby come back to meeee," Emily sang.

"Emily, do you want to break him?" I cut through her song with my hands pressed down over my ears.

She looked at me with sad eyes, "No…"

"Then stop singing" I told her smiling, which made her laugh. She wasn't actually a bad singing, a fact that she knew well, especially since she would dance around the house on occasions singing her favourite songs.

We sat quietly for a while, Emily humming away a tune that set Sasori's teeth on edge. I could see by the way his eyes narrowed slightly, his hands clenched and in the way his eyebrow twitched that we were steadily annoying him even more.

I let my mind wander, going back over all the manga and anime I had seen from the world of Naruto and of the Akatsuki, and several questions came to mind.

"Was Orochimaru actually that creepy?" I asked Sasori, remembering that they had once been partners in crime.

He looked at me silently for a moment, probably trying to figure out if I was snooping around. "He never appeared creepy to me, however he affected everyone differently, many people would go out of their way to avoid him. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious, that's all. Did he help you turn your body into a puppet? Cause you know, he was kind of into all that sort of body mutation stuff." I asked.

"For the most part no, I did it by myself, however he did give me some ideas on how to improve my puppet body." The look he was giving me had grown more suspicious.

I found that interesting, "hmm, so did he have all of those hideouts while you were still partners?"

"One or two of them yes…"

"What about subjects, had he already captured-" but I was cut off suddenly.

"I really don't think these questions are just out of curiosity, if you really want to find out, ask him yourself." He said, cutting the conversation off.

"Hmph, fine…" I muttered, and just when the conversation was getting interesting!

"It's okay Crissy, Sasori is just PMSing at the moment, he'll be friendlier in about a weeks' time," she said with a grin, giving me a big wink.

"Ah I see, sorry Sasori, I didn't realise it was that time for you," I told him while trying not to laugh.

He gave us both a glare, but I could tell from the confusion in his eyes that he didn't get what we were on about, that sent both Emily and I into a fit of laughter.

It seemed that Sasori's hour on watch couldn't go fast enough, and when Pein finally emerged from the bottom of the stairs Sasori was gone in a flash, without so much as a goodbye.

"What did you do to him?" Pein asked as he came to sit at the table.

"We were just trying to be friendly," Emily said innocently.

Pein didn't say anything, but the look he gave her was one of heavy disbelief.

"So how are you finding our world so far, Mr. Leader?" I asked Pein as he made himself comfortable.

He turned his eyes towards me, the evenly spaced rings stood out against their violet background. "So far the equipment and gadgets have proven interesting, however the human population has turned out to be quite disappointing, in fact many appear completely stupid."

Well… that explained a lot… "I see…"

"I cannot believe you just called us all stupid," Emily told him, her jaw dropping.

"If you find it so hard to believe then you further prove my point."

"Hey-"

"Emily don't, you'll just make it worse," I told her.

"Hmph fine," Emily grumbled, she turned to Pein, "is your vision all purple because of your eyes?"

Pein gave her a strange look, "No, my vision is not purple, its just the same as anyone else's vision."

Emily pursed her lips, "Are you sure?"

Pein rolled his eyes ever so slightly, "Positive."

Suddenly a movement in the kitchen caught my eye. One of the huge big bowls of chocolate cake shavings started to move, slowly at first rising up, and then moving towards us, picking up the pace. I looked at Pein, his attention was still on Emily, who had continued asking more questions, however there was the slightest hint of distraction within those violet ringed eyes. The smile on my lips widened into a grin.

The seconds crawled on with agonising slowness and my stomach clenched and groaned in neglect, however the huge bowl of chocolaty goodness soon reached the table, and before Emily even noticed it was there I lept off the window sill where I had been positioned and sunk my hand into the light fluffy cake chunks.

Only when I was seated back on the window sill with a fist full off cake did Emily notice the bowl.

"Cake!" she nearly yelled, and grabbed her own hand full.

Pein on the other hand was much more reserved, and only picked a small piece off the top of the pile.

My breath left me in a sigh of happiness as the first piece of cake went into my mouth, the creamy chocolate taste of rich dark cocoa melting over my taste buds. I closed my eyes and savoured the thick smooth texture of the dense cake that filled my senses and left my mind in ecstasy. However there was another taste that intruded upon my palate, it was bitter, rich and juxtaposed the creamy chocolate. However I knew that taste, and it wasn't overly unpleasant, I tried to remember where I'd had it before, and then it came to me, it was…

… The Jack Daniels.

The more cake I ate the stronger the taste of jack Daniels became. "How much alcohol did they put in here?" I asked in shock.

"I have no idea, but it tastes so good," Emily said with a grin.

"What is jack Daniels?" Pein asked as he reached for another piece of cake.

It was then I realised that the Akatsuki had probably never encounter the vast amounts of alcohol that our world had to offer. I mean sure, they would have had alcohol back home, but I doubted they had the variety or the strength of ours. Which lead me to think, how much of ours could they handle? Dread and hilarity filled my mind, tomorrow was going to be very interesting.

I shuddered at the thought, but held my tongue and ate another piece of cake to quell my ranging stomach.

By the time the guys in the kitchen realised a bowl of cake was missing, we had already reduced it to half full.

"What the fuck is going on over here you dirty little schemers," Harley said as he stopped in front of the table with a scowl plastered to his face.

Emily giggled up at him, "We're having a party would you like to join?"

"I don't want to join a shitty party like yours, ours in the kitchen is a fuck ton better than yours!"

"But ours is so happy!" Emily continued to giggle.

Suddenly a grin spread across Harley's face as he took in Emily's condition, "You little bitch, you've got drunk off our Jack Dagnles! Well, no more for you." He grabbed the bowl of cake before Emily could reach out and stop him.

"Hey, give that back!" Emily yelled, trying to reach for the bowl, her speech was only slightly slurred, yet she fell back down when she tried to stand up.

"Please… take it," Pein moaned, as he finally removed his head from his arms.

Harley went to say something but stopped as he caught sight of Pein's eyes, "Dude, you've got rings in your eyes!"

Pein frowned slightly, but didn't, or couldn't say anything.

Harley just shrugged and laughed, "What a nerd," he said before turning and walking to the kitchen with the bowl half full of cake.

Pein groaned, and his head flopped back down onto his crossed arms which rested on the table, "What have you guys done to me? I can't think properly, I can't see properly and I can't even use my powers properly," he moaned as he tried to lift one of the chairs with his powers. The chair dipped dangerously to the side as it rose unsteadily in the air.

Emily giggled and I laughed, nearly falling off the window sill in the process as Pein set the chair back down.

"Just wait until you wake up," Emily smiled, you'll feel sooo much better."

"I hope so," he groaned.

I grinned at his distress, and slipped a little to the side as my mind spun again.

Thankfully sterling came to our rescue with a huge platter of candid bacon and other goodies that the guys had whipped up, alcohol free.

"Here, eat up and get sober, leave the partying until the morning when you can fully relax alright guys?" he gave us a grin and Pein a pat on the back before leaving.

"Urgh," Pein groaned at the touch.

Emily began reaching for the food, "come on Pein eat up, this will make you feel better," she told him happily.

As he began eating I managed to make it across the small distance to the table, and sank into a chair. I grabbed some of the candid bacon and began eating. The crispy bacon snapped in my fingers and crunched between my teeth.

I looked at Emily who was seated across the table, and tried to focus on her large brown eyes. She looked back over at me and a grin lit up her face, "Don't you miss this feeling?" She asked.

"Do you remember the last time we were like this?" I asked her with a laugh as the memories came floating back.

Emily also laughed, "That's one of my best memories."

We had both been around nine years old and our Grandmother had been looking after us. Our grandmother had kept all of her alcohol in secret cupboard and, being children, Emily and I were naturally curious and decided to find out what the fuss was about ourselves. So one sunny day, when grandma had been out in the garden, we stole into her cupboard and grabbed a bottle each. Once we were safely up in the attic we drank until all we could do was roll on the floor and laugh. Since then school and good sense had prevented us from drinking excessively, and as such our alcohol tolerance wasn't all that high.

As the rest of Pein's hour went by Emily and I managed to sober up, however Pein was still moaning and complaining when Deidara, bleary eyed from sleep came walking down the steps and into the kitchen and dining.

However he didn't get more than three steps into the room when a shout came from the kitchen, making Pein cringe, "What up hater? Stop hating its Christmas!"

Deidara frowned in confusion and annoyance, however he decided to ignore them and continued to walk towards us.

"What's up with him, hn?" Deidara asked as he finally noticed Pein.

"We had some alcohol laced cake earlier, and it seems your oh so almighty leader can't take too much of it." I explained to him seeing as how Emily was unable too due to trying to gain control of her bright red face.

Deidara thought about that for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "That must make us look like such a tough organisation." He grinned as he sat down.

"Aren't you going to put him to bed?" I asked, glancing at Pein.

"He's a grown man, hm, he can take care of himself."

"Wow, that's so kind of you," I told him with a grin.

He returned the smile, "I'm the nicest guy you'll ever meet, hm," he said sarcastically.

By this time Emily had managed to get her flaming cheeks under control. "Are you looking forward to tomorrow?" she asked by way of conversation.

"Well let's see, I get to see Kisame as a reindeer and Itachi as a fat old man. I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow, hm." A mischievous grin spread across his face.

Unfortunately his words reminded me of my own role that I'd have to play tomorrow, and as Emily and Deidara continued their conversation I started to mentally hyperventilate.

"Hey girls, sorry to break up your bonding session, but do you want to come look at the cake before we ice it?" Tyler's voice broke through my panic session and as I looked up I realised that he'd just referred to Deidara as a girl.

It appeared Deidara had noticed as well and the scowl on his face spoke volumes.

We all made our way to the kitchen to look at the Tobi made out of chocolate. It was amazing, even without the decorations and icing, it was a wonder to behold.

"Holy crap…" Emily murmured.

"Do you like it?" Muscles glasses asked.

Emily and I nodded in agreement however Deidara decided to open his mouth, "It'll do I suppose, hm."

The explosion that followed was not pretty.

"Look here you hating little bitch! If you don't like it then get the fuck out! You're lucky you're a girl or I'd have punched you by now hater!" Harley's temper flared up.

Which of course put fuel on Deidara's fire, "Listen here you dick, I'm a MAN!"

As his voice rose in octaves so did Harely's, "Well you could have fooled me, hater!"

Deidara went to take a step forward, "Okay that's enough," Sterling stepped in between them, "Leave the fighting for morning, right now we have a cake to decorate."

His business like tone snapped the guys back into cooking action as I pulled Deidara back to Emily, "Keep yourself under control," I hissed at him.

He glared at me, and I narrowed my eyes back at him. "My house, my rules!"

He huffed and turned back to the kitchen as Sterling turned the camera back on to face the Tobi masterpiece.

"Look at this masterpiece haters, just look at it," Harley began, "What do you know about art? Paint? Clay? Fuck clay!" Twitch. "We've got this glittery shit! Am I right hater?" Harley held the bowl of edible pink sparkly sprinkles out for Deidara to see.

As the camera swivelled around to Deidara his eyebrow resumed its dangerous twitch. Before they could get any sort of answer the guys took the camera over to the other side of the kitchen where the chocolate ganache icing was currently being prepared.

Without their eyes on him, Deidara quickly walked up to the cake. However whatever he did was hidden from Emily and I as his back blocked our view.

"What did you do?" I asked when he turned back around.

His feigned innocence spoke volumes, "Nothing, hm," and the satisfaction in his eyes was incredibly suspicious.

We returned to the table to find Pein snoring softly. "Isn't that adorable?" Emily asked as she giggled at Pein's unconscious form.

"That's just too easy," I grinned.

As always I couldn't resist the urge to push my boundaries, and so I went in search of a permanent texter and the pink ribbon that was left over from Kisame's attack.

When I returned I got straight to work while Emily and Deidara watched on with big smile playing on their lips. The ribbon I used to tie several bows in Pein's hair which was easy enough, however the texter posed a different problem.

I quietly crouched down next to his chair and began scrawling over his face. It was slow going as he kept stirring, but finally I finished my own masterpiece. The finished result was a mutated nine tailed fox running away from blobs that resembled the Akatsuki with Pein in the front of the chase. The fox had a Christmas hat on and was poking its tongue out at the blobs of ink behind it. I smiled at the drawing and remembered that the nine tail's name was Kurama. That had been in one of the latest chapters I read, however since the akastuki had shown up I hadn't gotten around to reading any lately. I made it my objective to get myself up to date with the story once all this Christmas stuff was over with. I smiled at the thought, especially at all the wonders I was sure to uncover… (dun dun DUN!)

"I can't wait until the others see that," Emily giggled.

I grinned as I stood up and retrieved my own seat, "At least he doesn't have the same temper as Kisame."

Deidara coughed slightly, "Uh… I'm guessing you haven't seen him when he actually gets angry then, hm."

Oh crap… "Oh well, I can't wash it off now," I told them with a smile.

Emily rolled her eyes, "The Akatsuki are going to be the death of you, I swear."

"Let's just get through Christmas first, hm," Deidara said with a smile.

Well he's not denying it, my thoughts turned to the necklace which was currently tucked away in a very deep pocket. Emily and I still had no clue as to what the Akatsuki wanted with their so called family, but I know it wasn't going to be all cakes and laughter once we got to their world.

"Itachi is the only one left to go on watch isn't he?" Emily asked with a yawn as she looked up at the clock which read quarter to five.

"Hmph, yeah he is," Deidara grumbled.

I frowned, "What is it between you two anyway, why do you hate him so much?" I asked.

"He's an Uchiha, everyone hates him, hm," he said as though that explained everything.

"Okay fine, but he's probably the best one out of the lot," I told him.

He glanced up at me, "How do you know anything- oh wait, that stupid show thing." He grumbled as he put it together.

"And the books," Emily put in.

"What's the difference between them anyway, hm?" he asked.

"The books basically tell you a lot mor-" her foot crunched under mine, "Uh I mean it's basically the same thing, just in different forms." She sent a guilty glare in my direction.

Deidara was looking suspiciously between the two of us. "Are you sure there isn't something else, hn?"

"Of course not, I guess it depends on whether you like reading or watching TV more," I told him. If the Akatsuki got wind that the books were different than the TV show then they would probably want to see them, however they hadn't even caught up to the books in their world, which would give them significant power over the future. I shuddered just thinking about it.

"I see, hm," Deidara murmured, however he was cut off as Itachi emerged from the stairs, his scarlet eyes seeming to almost glow.

"What the fuck's up with that guys eyes!" Harley's surprised shout came from the kitchen as he too noticed Itachi's eyes. "Dude, you must be on some serious crack! Put some glasses on!"

Itachi hardly even glanced their way, instead he continued towards us. "Deidara," Itachi said in acknowledgement as said blondie stood up.

"Uchiha," Deidara nearly spat the name out before muttering Emily and I a goodnight and heading up stairs.

As Itachi sat down he glanced over to beautified Pein. He sighed and then looked at me with his eyebrows raised, "Really?"

My mouth dropped, "You don't even know that I did it!"

"After Kisame, it's quite obvious who did it," he told me in his monotones voice.

Emily laughed as I pouted and remembered how Itachi had been there the night of my revenge on Kisame.

"Are all the presents ready?" Itachi asked.

"Of course they are," Emily told him as she pointed to the lounge room where our dusty Christmas tree that we pulled out of the attic a couple of days ago sat. Beneath it sat Santa's, or Itachi's, large read Christmas sack, full of nicely wrapped presents, courtesy of Emily.

He nodded in acknowledgement, always the silent one, "What about you, how is your costume coming along?" I asked with a grin.

He didn't return my smile. "Everything is ready. And your costume?"

Now it was my turn to blush, "Its fine," I told him, trying not to think about how short the dress was.

"Does anyone know about Kisame?" Emily asked.

"He has his costume ready," Itachi told us.

I thought about what Kisame would look like with the reindeer costume and couldn't help but laugh. Emily joined in my mirth and I swear I saw a faint, very faint smile grace Itachi's lips.

"I can't wait to see him!" I said through my laughter.

"You don't have long to wait, its less than an hour now." Itachi said while looking at the clock.

We had arranged to meet downstairs at six in the morning, where the three of us would then head out to the little garden shed that sat behind the house. From there the plan was to wait until Tobi had woken up, watched the Sesame Street Christmas special and then was ready for his presents.

"At least we won't have to sit through Sesame Street," I said to Itachi.

Emily groaned, "I don't know why he's so obsessed with that show! I mean sure, if you're a kid, but he's a fully grown man!"

"It appears so only in body, his mind is still that of a ten year olds." Itachi told her.

"Man I feel so sorry for you, having to put up with him all the time!" Emily told him.

"I think I have more pity for Crissy," he said turning to me. "Every year he's asks if Mrs. Clause is coming, and now that she is, well, he most probably won't let you out of his sight."

I groaned, "If he gets too overbearing you need to save me!" I told him, giving him my sternest look.

Another very small smile formed on his lips, "Well see."

"Hmph," I crossed my arms to let him know what I thought of his commitment.

"So what's it like? Being able to see with the Sharingan?" Emily asked.

Itachi frowned slightly, "If you've watched this so called, show, then wouldn't you know?"

"Uh… I actually don't pay all that much attention to you, actually, I don't pay much attention to anyone except…" Her face turned red just thinking about Deidara.

I rolled my eyes while Itachi said, "I see," with an all knowing look.

He turned to me with his eyebrows raised, "What?" I asked, completely oblivious.

"How much attention do you pay to the show?" His question felt more like an interrogation.

"Enough," I answered carefully.

"Okay next question!" Emily said, saving me from his uncomfortable look as he turned back towards her, "How much do you really love your little brother?"

Now that made Itachi raise his eyebrows, "Why do you ask?"

Unfortunately Emily didn't pick up on the warning in his voice, "Well Crissy is always going on about how much you actually love and car- ouch!" this time my foot practically smashed hers into the floor.

"Emily!"

"What?" She asked, still oblivious to the outright glare Itachi was giving both of us. It appeared that Sasuke really was a sensitive issue, especially since the rest of the Akatsuki thought he hated his little brother.

"I need to talk to you, now!" I stood up and practically dragged her over to the kitchen so the loud voices of our chefs would drown out our own.

"Look how angry he gets at the mention of Sasuke! And plus the rest of the Akatsuki think he hates and detests his brother. Him caring about Sasuke is his biggest, most darkest, and most hidden secret!" I whispered at her as understanding flooded her face.

"Oh crap!"

"Yes, oh crap! Out of anyone he could probably do the most damage, alongside Pein. Also he'd do just about anything for Sasuke, so imagine what he'd do to the person that knew he still cared about his little brother?"

"I nearly killed us all…" Emily said as she realised how big of a time bomb she was about to set off.

"Just whatever you do, don't mention Sasuke around him," I told her.

"Yeah I think I understand now," she said with a sheepish grin.

I sighed, "You really need to start paying attention to the finer details of their world."

"Why? So I don't get myself killed?" she asked with a grin.

"Exactly!" I said, relieved she finally got it.

I glanced over to Itachi who was still seated at the table, he still had a glare plastered to his face, however it was mostly replaced with suspicion.

"I don't think we should go back there for a while," Emily whispered while glancing at Itachi.

"Me neither," I whispered back, shuddering at the thought of what he was likely going to say next.

So instead we wandered closer to the kitchen to see how the decorating of Tobi was coming along. The base coat of icing was the thick chocolate ganache which by all the empty bottles of Jack was also laced with alcohol.

Noticing the empty bottles alcohol Emily said, "Tomorrow is going to be hilarious!"

"Well its nearly today!" I said looking at the clock which told us we only had half an hour left before everything was set in motion for the day.

"Wow! I can't believe we made it through the night," Emily said.

"I know! It must be all the excitement keeping us awake," I replied. "Although I have the feeling it's going to be a really long day."

"I know what you mean," she replied.

We both looked back to the cake which was having its final decorations being placed on it. Red candy was used to make the clouds on the Akatsuki cloak, and a bowl of orange icing was being whipped up to make the mask.

Emily grinned, "I wonder if Tobi will like his new Hello Kitty mask?"

"I sure hope so," I grinned back, "Although I doubt he could keep his old mask much longer, it looks like it's getting more fragile by the minute," I said, remembering the face planting and horse kicking that had resulted in him wearing a very skewwhiff mask which had been glued back together several times.

"Yeah, oh well, he's sure to love his cake," Emily said as she gazed up at the enormity of the cake.

"Hmm I hope so," I murmured, thinking back to when Deidara had gone up to the cake. I never saw what he did, but my gut feeling told me that whatever he had done, it wasn't going to end well.

We couldn't delay it any longer, so we went and sat back down at the table where Itachi seemed to have regained his composure, although something told me that wasn't the end of it.

"How's the cake coming?" he asked, his voice as mild as ever.

"Good," Emily told him, "It's nearly done, and it looks delicious!"

"Well let's hope Tobi is pleased with it," he said.

"I just hope that Sesame Street is on," I told them both with a smile, "Because if he misses out on that, then all hell will break loose."

They both agreed and Emily returned the smile. "Let's also hope that he doesn't pull Itachi's beard off and finds out that Santa isn't real," Emily added.

"I think finding out Santa isn't real would be worse than Sesame Street not being on," Itachi put in, "One year he came close to finding out the truth. He destroyed half of our base before we could convince him that Santa was in fact real."

"He destroyed half of your base!?" I asked incredulously.

Itachi nodded, "It took Pein, Kakuzu, Kisame and myself to finally bring him under control."

My mouth dropped in shock, "But- our poor house!" Emily whimpered, looking around our beloved dinning and kitchen.

I glared at Itachi, "You had better not give us away!"

He raised his eyebrow at me, "I think it's you that has to careful, he'll be more interested in you rather than myself."

I gulped, "Oh crap!"

"What's wrong now? Don't tell me you've gone and gotten in trouble again!" the rough voice sounded suddenly from the bottom of the stairs.

All three of us turned around to see the new arrival. In all his fishy blueness and sadly lack of reindeer, stood Kisame.

"Where's your costume?" I asked with a grin.

He sent me a quick scowl. "It's in the bag," he said, holding up a fat bag he held in one hand.

"Well then, let's get this started," Itachi said as he stood up and grabbed his own bag which sat in the corner of the room next to my own before retrieving the huge bag of presents.

"Oh joy," I murmured as I too retrieved my costume.

Emily gave us all a big grin as we walked towards the door on our way to the garden shed where we would wait. Beside her the unconscious Pein slept on, the pink ribbon gleaming in his hair, "Good luck."

"Thanks, you too," I said, "And try not to let anyone burn down the house while I'm gone."

"Don't worry," she smiled, "I've got it all covered."

Oh how I had missed them, those famous last words.


Well there you have it! I hope you all enjoyed it!