1zara-uchiha1 and I don't own the Naruto cast or anything else you might recognize. 1zara-uchiha1 owns Laura and I own Kahlan. Together we own the plot.

Chapter 69

Note: When things have been calm, you must be prepared for something to blow up.

~Kahlan's POV

I'm positive that life hates Laura and I. Life is probably sitting somewhere enjoying some nice meal or eating popcorn while laughing at all that it does to the two of us. Is what is happening to us that entertaining? Oh let's see what the two of them will do if I throw this at them. Gosh, how will I ever be able to go to bed to get some rest with both of our families here? Well, Laura's older sister Angela isn't here so that is a plus…hopefully.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Wilson," I say turning to them with a slightly strained smile as I close the door. Really I don't have a problem with Laura's family. Well, her older siblings I don't like much but I can tolerate them. Her parents, I get along with just fine. It's just I'm really wanting that vacation break NOW.

"Kahlan it's good to see you again," Mrs. Wilson says embracing me in a hug. I slightly wince, my ribs still sore and healing, but hug back. Pulling away she continues, "You've changed, I like your hair."

"Not really and thanks," I reply slightly unsure of what else to say.

"I don't get any greetings," John asks in mock hurt, and I just give him a slight annoyed look. "Hey you changed your hair. I'm going to call you Snow-Cone." The idiot grins at his new established nickname for me.

"No. Don't ever call me that again and put Laura down," I say sternly.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Hidan shouts. "There's more fucking people. Fuck Kakuzu that' my fucking ear stop."

"Shut it baka I'm taking you outside," I hear Kakuzu reply.

"John put your sister down," Mrs. Wilson says.

"Fine," John says as he puts Laura down. Once Laura's feet touch the ground she glares up at her brother and I kind of chuckle. Sometime I'm glad to be an only child.

"Ah I thought I heard a familiar voice," my father says walking into the room with everyone else with the exception of Hidan, Kakuzu, Tobi and Zetsu. I wonder where Tobi and Zetsu are, I haven't seen them since…I injured myself in training.

"It's nice to see you Neil," my father says walking over to Laura's father. Her father grins back and they shake hands.

"Nice to see you again as well Michael," Mr. Wilson replies.

"Hello Claire," my mother almost sneers out Mrs. Wilson's name, for whatever reason my mom doesn't like Laura's mom. I think it's because they are both competitive and also because Laura's mom can act very carefree and child-like, which just doesn't collide well with my mother's calm serious personality.

"Hello to you to Allyson," Mrs. Wilson replies trying to at least be respectful.

"I think we should all go to the kitchen," I say clasping my hands together. "I'm sure that everyone has had a long day and trip. I'll get together some food and snack."

"I'll help," Laura says and I smile thankfully to her.

"Then let us all go to the dining room," Leader says and turns to lead the way to said room.

Once everyone but the missing people reaches the dining room, Laura and I head to the kitchen. We're only in the kitchen for a few seconds when Konan joins us. I give a small smile to Konan glad to have her help as well.

"This pushes back some of our plans," Konan says as I start pulling out a bunch of food. We're going to have to go shopping for food soon or we'll end up starving.

"What do you mean," Laura asks while she gets cups, plates and eating utensils.

"Leader-sama won't like that training will have to be put on hold until both of your families leave," Konan replies with a slight frown. "But don't worry about it. What can I help with?"

"You can help me with making food for my family," Laura says with a sheepish grin. Laura has never been good with food.

"Okay," Konan says with a smile.

The two of them prepare food for Laura's family while I work on my parents. I wash a lot of vegetables and start making my mother a salad. Iceberg lettuce with radish, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, and collard greens, apple slices, and raspberries with very little shredded parmesan cheese and a teaspoon of olive oil takes about ten minutes to do. For my dad and everyone else besides Laura's parents, I make butter popcorn.

About fifteen minutes later everyone has food and either tea, juice or water to drink. With a suppressed yawn Laura and I share a seat next to Konan. So far everything is good and nobody is fighting. I guess Kakuzu won't be letting Hidan come back in.

"Tobi smells food," Tobi yells running into the room. Well there's the masked man coming from wherever he was hiding. He stops in his tracks and tilts his head. "Who are the new people?"

"Baka it's Laura and Kahlan's family, yeah."

"Tobi didn't know Deidara-sempai," Tobi says as if pouting. He then jumps over to both of our family. "Hi Tobi is Tobi and Tobi is a good boy."

"More like annoying, un."

My mother looks at Deidara with a slight glare and says, "You shouldn't speak of the mentally challenged like that."

Deidara looks at my mother in slight shock. Sasori snickers, Kisame burst out laughing and everyone else seems to either have a blank look or are trying to remove a grin trying to creep on their face. I let out a small sigh shaking my head.

"What's mentally challenged mean," Tobi asks tilting his head.

"Don't worry about it," mother replies giving a very small smile, the kind she uses when speaking to patients. "You can address me as Dr. Ward."

"Uh okay," Tobi replies sounding confused. "Are you Kahlan's sister? Tobi didn't know Kahlan has a sister."

"No I am her mother," replies said woman.

"So what's with the mask," John suddenly asks butting into the conversation.

"Tobi likes it," Tobi replies jumping up and down. "It makes Tobi look more like a ninja."

"No it doesn't," Laura mumbles and I just pat her arm. I have got to remember to ask her why she doesn't like Tobi.

"It's so nice to meet more of Laura's and Kahlan's friends," Mrs. Wilson says with a smile.

"I suppose," my mother says looking at each Akatsuki member in the room. She slightly shakes her head when her eyes land on Kisame, Deidara and Leader probably because of their looks. She doesn't approve but she won't tell me until we're alone.

"Some introductions are needed," my father says. "For those who don't know I am Michael Ward and this is my wonderful wife Allyson Ward. Please just call me Mr. Ward."

"Just call me Dr. Ward," my mother adds.

"Hello I'm Claire Wilson," Mrs. Wilson says with a motherly smile.

"Yo I'm John," Laura's brother says.

"I'm Neil Wilson," Mr. Wilson says getting a grin on his face. "I brought some pictures of Laura when she was a child."

Laura gets a look of horror on her face. "You're not going to show anybody are you," she asks with a pout.

"Of course I'm going to show all of your new friends," her father replies.

Laura glares with a pout crossing her arms. I give a small chuckle while ruffling her hair. She swats my hand away causing me to chuckle again and then turn back to everyone else.

"My name is Deidara, un."

"Kisame Hoshigaki," Kisame says giving both of our families his shark grin. This causes my mother to shake her head even more.

"Tobi is Tobi," said man says jumping up.

"You've already introduced yourself baka, yeah."

"Tobi wanted to join the introduction Deidara-sempai."

"I'm Sasori," says the red head looking like his usual bored self.

"Itachi Uchiha," Itachi says with a slight smile and bow to Laura's family since he already introduced himself to my parents.

With a small smile Konan says, "My name is Konan it's nice to meet both families."

"I am…Pein," Leader says after a few moments of silence. "Zetsu, Kakuzu and Hidan are all busy at the moment so they won't be joining us for a while."

Before anyone could say anything I slowly stand up. "And as much as I would…love staying to chat I must really be heading to bed for some rest; doctor's orders."

"What doctor orders," asks mother. Already I can see her going into doctor mode.

"The ones that I got from a doctor," I say getting away from the table.

"What has happen," she replies standing up and heading over to me.

Quickly I think up a lie and say, "Well you know how the stairs hardly have any light, and well I woke up in the middle of the night and went to get a drink. I fell down and broke a rib. I've been staying in bed getting lots of rest."

Without a word my mom starts probing my sides. Once her fingers glide over to the broken rib and press I let out a small hiss. She probes it for a few seconds then pulls away. I take a few large steps away from her, hating the fact that any kind of close contact I ever get from her is when she goes into her doctor mode.

"Well I can't say much without having the x-rays, but it seems whoever your doctor was they've been doing a good job. You should stay in bed for another day or two before you resume any activities you…may have been doing. Just don't strain yourself too much; your body is still healing."

"Of course," I say very politely then turn to everyone else. "I'll be back down in a few hours."

With that said I walked out and once out of earshot I stomped my way back to my room slamming the door shut. Getting into bed, I hug Rellik close and stare up at the ceiling feeling exhausted. A few moments later the door opens and I turn to see Sasori holding a cup.

"I brought your medicine and a drink," he says walking over and hands the two items over.

I only nod as I take the pills and chug down the medicine with my drink. He doesn't say anything when I give the empty glass back, but that's fine with me as I don't say anything back. I just lie back down and close my eyes letting the medicine do its work.

A long time later, at least it feels like a long time later, I wake up. Stretching out a little I yawn and sit up. Feeling someone's eyes on me I turn towards the door to see my father. I look around my room; see no Akatsuki member so look back at him.

"If you're looking for Itachi he left a few moments ago," my dad says stepping into the room and closes the door behind him. "He comes to check up on you a lot."

"Okay," I say confused about why my dad is here. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Not for very long," he replies walking over. He looks around for a few seconds then decides the bed will have to do and sits down.

"What are you here for," I ask trying not to sound suspicious

"Do you have a relationship with any of the guys downstairs?"

"No," I reply. "Are you really here to talk about my nonexistent love life?"

"I'm just trying to make sure you're not getting into any trouble. That's a lot of men to be having in my father's house."

"My house," I reply sitting up a little straighter. "He gave it to me."

"Okay, your house then," he replies. "Are you having sex?"

"No," I yell at him appalled at such an idea.

"Look I know I haven't been there for you a lot," he starts to say but I cut in.

"More like all the time," I say crossing my arms.

"I apologize for that," he continues as if I hadn't interrupted. "But you are still my daughter and I don't want to see you getting hurt."

"Don't worry I'm doing just fine," I reply crossing my arms.

"So you're not having sex with any of them?"

"Absolutely not," I reply making a face.

"So you're still a virgin?"

"Yeah," I lie keeping my posture the way it is instead of going slack like I want to.

"Good you shouldn't give yourself away until you're married, hopefully in your thirties."

I give my dad a small smile in reply. I wish I could go back in time and change that huge mistake, but I can't and there is no reason why they need to know about it. That mistake four years ago is a secret I'm taking to my grave, at least from my parents.

"Anyways," my father says pulling me out of my thoughts. "I wanted to know how much luck you've been having with your chosen career path." Ah, so we finally get to the true reason that he's here.

"I haven't had any luck yet," I reply truthfully, letting myself go slack and fall back onto the pillows. "It probably doesn't help that I've been extremely busy lately, but I'm not giving up on being a musician."

"I can call around, pull some strings and see who'll take an interest."

"No thanks," I reply once again confused. Shouldn't he be trying to make a deal with me that if I don't get my dream career I should come back home and go to school to be a lawyer or doctor? "I want to do it on my own."

He nods in reply and says, "Then I wish you luck."

"What," I reply even more confused.

"Just a few days ago I saw the relationship between a father and his son fall apart, all because the father wanted his son to do something that he didn't want to do."

"Okay, what does that have to do with this?"

"Seeing that made me do a lot of thinking and reminded me of my father; you know he used to be a preacher."

"I didn't know," I reply surprised.

"He had wanted me to take his place down at the church, but that's not what I wanted. My dream was to be a lawyer. Unlike me, where I've been trying to make deals with you to become a lawyer just like me, my father had accepted my dreams. In fact he stopped being a preacher and started doing a lot of work that he never talked about to the day of his death. He made lots of money to get me into the best law school. He gave up his dream to help me achieve mine."

I only nod in reply as my father falls silent and looks away. I wait a few moments unsure if I should be saying something or not. Finally he starts speaking again.

"I was really hoping you would become a lawyer like me, but now I know that won't be happening. Your dream is different than mine, just like my dream was different than my father's. If being a musician is what you really want, what you love then I will support you."

"Thanks," I reply with shock.

"Maybe you can play a song for everyone after dinner. And when your mother and I head back home, I'll be telling my colleagues how my daughter is going to become famous."

"I wouldn't mind playing a song," I reply with a small smile. My eyes start burning with unshed tears. For so long I've wanted my dad to acknowledge my dreams. I hardly hope he would ever talk about them with anyone.

"There's one condition. Before you sign any contract, you are to give it to me to read through. I want to make sure you don't get taken advantage of."

"Of c-course," I reply unable to stop the tears. I quickly wipe them away.

"Good," he replies giving one of his rare smiles. "I'll see if I can talk to your mother about it. I know this doesn't fix everything, but I'm hoping it's a start."

"You're right," I reply with a nod. "But it is a start."

"That's good, now dinner is done and I'm supposed to bring you down there."

"Okay," I reply as he gets up and I get out of bed.

Together the two of us head downstairs. It's a little weird for me that this is happening, but I'm not going to complain. When we reach where everyone is at, with the exception of the missing Zetsu, I notice everyone eating. Hidan is pigging himself out, while everyone else seems to be having a conversation amongst themselves. My mother seems to be talking about medical stuff with Sasori.

"Kahlan you're awake," Laura says standing up with a grin.

"Yep," I reply giving a smile and going over to give her a hug. The conversation with my dad has made me really happy I actually feel like giving everyone a hug. So with that thought in mind, I actually do give everyone a hug seeming to shock a lot of the members.

"You're in a good mood," mother notes.

"Yep, yep, yep," I reply smiling taking a seat between Konan and Laura.

"That's great," Laura says giving a hug and I hug back. "What has made you so happy?"

"I'll tell you after dinner," I promise.

Dinner seems to go well until it's about halfway over. Arguments between Hidan and Kakuzu as well as Deidara and Sasori break out. Tobi does something which then makes Deidara go off on him. My mother seems to be having an argument with Laura's mother. Just as Leader goes to probably tell everyone to shut up Zetsu makes an appearance.

"Sasuke Uchiha is here," Zetsu says bringing an end to all arguments. I'm starting to think life has decided to make this family reunion day. I'm also thinking that everything is about to go downhill.

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