I don't own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of its affiliates.

If I did own rights to Naruto/any of its affiliates, the manga/anime would be called Akatsuki, the Akatsuki would be alive, and/or there would be a spin-off series centering around the Akatsuki, because why the heck not? (And there would be an omake-thing where Asuma meets his child.) (Screw that, if I owned it no one cool/significant would be dead, but it also wouldn't be as good. Let sleeping dogs lie, SapphiraIce.)

New P.O.V.: Tracey

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still snuggly-warm in a bed, but the ceiling looked different. First off, it was a different color - my ceiling was a pretty sky blue, while this was just a boring stone color. Another thing - my sheets were definitely not this colorless, or this scratchy. This wasn't very comfortable…

I sat up, pulling the sheets around myself, and looked to the edge of the bed where an incredibly good-looking man with long, black hair was sitting. We stared at each other for a few seconds in which I used that time to get a closer look at his features before I finally decided to speak up. "This isn't my room."

The man shook his head. Okay, maybe he isn't the most talkative of people… That's too bad, 'cause I'd like to get to know him better.

I flopped back onto the bed. "Well, shit." I suddenly shot up as I realized my situation. "Is this where my friends were all taken, too?!"

"Yes, it is."

My eyes widened. "Oh, god, I've been kidnapped! What am I gonna do?! I can't die, I'm too young to die!" I fell back onto the bed and covered my face with my hands. "I don't wanna die a virgin!"

An awkward silence filled the room until there was a knock on the door. "Are you decent, Itachi-san?"

'Itachi' walked over to the door and opened it to reveal… "Shylah!" I yelled, jumping out of bed and running over to hug her. She ducked under my arms and into the room, but I didn't really mind - Shylah never willingly took a hug. "Oh, my god, I can't believe it! How are you alive?"

Shylah gave me an annoyed look before turning to Itachi. "Uh, sorry about her - she's naturally energetic and a morning person, so… Y'know." She then turned to me, frowning slightly. "Okay, Tracey, let's go find someone to take you shopping."

"Yay, shopping!" I crowed as I followed Shylah out of the room. I paused and looked back at Itachi. "Sorry I kind of freaked out on you. The past few days have been kind of stressful, and stress makes me antsy."

Itachi nodded, the corners of his mouth barely turning up. "It's alright; I understand that this must be a stressful time for you." I beamed at him and skipped off after Shylah.

Shylah, meanwhile, scoffed. "What doesn't make you antsy, Tracey? You don't stop moving when you're sleeping, much less when you're awake."

"But it's worse when I'm stressed," I whined. "I get all jumpy and scared and I can't stop talking or moving or-"

"Hush, child, it's too early in the morning for this crap."

"Shit."

Shylah cast a questioning glance back at me.

"If you're gonna swear, do it right. 'Crap' is so elementary school." I sniffed and looked away before turning back to her and grinning. "Don't worry, Shylah, we love you even with your ridiculous no-cursing rule."

"It's not a rule, I just don't like the way curses sound. I prefer words that sound nicer than curse words do."

I grinned at the back of her head. "Whatever you say, Shylah."

The place we were in - wherever that even was - was HUGE! It was probably the most twisty, turn-y, incredibly confusing place I'd ever been to. I was supposed to be memorizing this stuff! The only house I'd been to that was even remotely this large was Tiamat's mansion where she lived with her parents, and I could've walked from one end to the other in the time it took us to get from Itachi's bedroom to the hall Shylah finally stopped at.

"Why're we stopping, Shylah?" I asked, looking around at the different doors. It looked just like the one we'd just been in, except that this hall looked at least a little lived-in. It wasn't as dusty as some of the places we'd been through.

"This is the hall that's reserved for us. My room's right here-" Shylah pointed to a door on the end of the hall we'd just come from "-and Caitlin, Tisha, and Tiamat are all grouped on that end."

I stared over at the opposite end of the hall, where everyone who'd gone missing was apparently staying. "Why are you on the other end?"

"Because I wanted it to be that way," Shylah replied in her 'that should've been obvious' tone.

I nodded, not offended by the condescension in her voice. I knew she didn't really mean it - I think. "Well then why are we all the way on the other side of the building from everyone else?" Shylah gave me a look - she didn't really like speaking - so I held up a finger and adopted a thinking pose. "Wait, lemme guess. We're in a more out-of-the-way spot so that we don't interfere with their lives and become unwelcome house guests. It also gives us room to plan our escape." Shylah nodded hesitantly and I jumped up, cheering.

"Except that we weren't kidnapped."

I paused. "We weren't?"

Shylah shook her head and started walking down the hall to where everyone else's rooms were located. "No, it's more like we were caught up in some sort of trans-dimensional portal and just kind of plopped down into the base of a criminal organization known as the Akatsuki, where we are now their guests."

"Oh." … "Wait, we're in a criminal organization? Itachi's a criminal?"

Shylah smirked at me. "Yes to both questions." She then knocked on a door. We waited for a few seconds before Shylah knocked again, harder. After a few more seconds, Shylah pounded on the door. "Open up, Caitlin!"

Muffled shuffling came from the other side of the door, and then the door was thrown open to reveal an extremely disheveled Caitlin. "WHAT?!" Caitlin paused when she saw me. "Tracey?"

I smiled and ran forward to hug her. "Hey-a, Cat! It feels like it's been forever! How've you been, girl?"

Caitlin returned the hug. "Good, considering that I'm a houseguest of a bunch of high-profile criminals with crazy superpowers. How's everyone back home?"

I stopped hugging her so that I could look her in the eyes. "We've all been pretty fucking worried. Emi's practically going out of her mind living in a house where people are going missing almost every night. It's stressful." I jumped a little when I felt something go around my shoulders, then relaxed when I realized Shylah had put some sort of blanket over my shoulders. "What's this for?"

"You sleep in your underwear."

My face reddened. "Do you think Itachi noticed?"

Caitlin sputtered. "You woke up in Itachi's bed?" She was silent for a few seconds when I nodded. "What was it like?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but was cut off by Shylah. "If it makes you feel better, I don't really think Itachi cared all that much. Caitlin, I need you to get dressed and take Tracey out to buy some clothes. I'm just going to go let Pein-sama know that Tracey's here."

"Why can't you just get Tiamat or Tish to do it?" Caitlin asked while I muttered, "People not caring about a hot, almost-naked me doesn't make me feel better…"

"If you don't want to take her clothes shopping, you wake one of them up. I'm not interested in hearing them screech at me about waking them up to order them around." With that, Shylah walked away, leaving Caitlin and I to shudder at the thought of a cranky Tiamat-and-Tish duo.

Caitlin and I shared a look. "I'll get dressed while you wait outside."

"'Kay."

As I stepped outside I took a deep, refreshing breath. "Ah, the great outdoors. Or, it would be great if it wasn't raining. I wish we were put on some kind of tropical beach, instead; at least then I could work on my tan."

Caitlin made a face. "For once, I don't agree with you. A sunny beach would kill me - I don't tan, I burn. It's not too bad, though, 'cause I don't really like the heat."

I skipped ahead and stopped to wait for Caitlin to catch up. I was a few inches taller than her, so it was pretty easy to get ahead of her if I wasn't paying attention - I didn't comment on it, though, because she doesn't like when people seem like they're making fun of her appearance.

When she caught up, I followed at a slower pace, although I was itching to run barefoot through the mud. I'd never done it before, and it seemed kind of like fun. I settled for falling behind and splashing in all the puddles I could find.

"So, Tracey…What was it like waking up next to Itachi?" Caitlin gave me a sly glance, and from the way she was smirking you'd think I'd slept with the guy or something. By 'slept', I don't really mean we slept. Why did I say that? You know that already.

"I didn't really wake up next to him. I mean, he was on the bed, but he wasn't laying in it or shirtless or anything. He was just kinda sitting on the edge. Although if all the other guys here are as good-looking as he is, I don't think I'll mind being stuck here without cell phone service." I held up my phone as I finished. "I don't even remember putting it in my bra…"

Caitlin eyed the phone sadly. "Too bad we don't have service." She paused for a few seconds before continuing. "Well, not all of them are very hot. I think two guys other than Itachi could qualify as good-looking, but I haven't really been checking them out or anything."

I sighed. "The least this place could do is have an excess of incredibly good-looking men… Hey, while we're here, we could always just check everyone out and decide for ourselves! That way, we'll…" I trailed off, not able to think of an actual reason for checking guys out. "That way, we'll have something to occupy ourselves with…?"

"I suppose we could do that. It's better than just lazing around all day and waiting for the food to be ready."

My hand flew to my mouth in horror. "Please tell me that's not all there is to do around here!"

"That's all we've been doing, really. Shylah and I are kind of their indentured maids, so we have to stay there to clean. Tish and Tiamat will probably go find work in the village or something, so you'll have that to… look forward to. Shylah sometimes finds a book and reads it. The rest of us play games on our phones, but we've almost resorted to playing hide and seek twice. These are dark times for us, Tracey, dark times indeed."

"Shylah probably wouldn't like us checking out the bad guys."

Caitlin laughed. "Shylah doesn't care what we do as long as we don't any of us killed. Tiamat, on the other hand, will probably skin us alive if she hears us talking about those guys in a personal way."

"I wouldn't mind getting 'personal' with a hot bad guy. I haven't dated someone labeled a 'bad boy', yet." Caitlin gave me a disbelieving look. "What? My brother was always really protective of me when we were growing up. You should've seen this one guy after Manny got done with him - it was just for whistling at me, too. Coincidentally, that's also how I met Tish…"

"Which is how you met me," Caitlin mused. "Did you ever tell your brother thanks for beating up a random guy so that we could all meet? Actually, I have to thank him for giving my neighbor a split lip. Gah, I'm remembering so many things that I should do, and I'm not even in a position to do them!" Caitlin grabbed her head with both hands, exclaiming to the heavens. "Why, God, why?!"

"We'll just have to remember for when we get back. And to answer your question, no, I haven't. I always get too irritated at his over-protectiveness, and we just end up getting into more arguments about his anger issues." I let my eyes rest on the behind of a well-built man as he hurried ahead of us and into a building that was under construction. I wonder if he's single…

"He doesn't have anger issues; he's just worried about you."

"Says the girl who has a crush on him!" I teased, my attention successfully diverted from trying to catch another glimpse of the man's toned butt.

Caitlin flushed red, the color only emphasizing her freckles and emphasizing the tones of her hair. "Had! I had a crush on him when I was, like, fourteen. It was a dark time in my life, and he was one fine seventeen-year-old."

"Ew. This is my older brother we're talking about." I made a face. I tried not to think about the times my friends all gushed about my brother, and we both tried not to think about all the comparisons he'd get to a famous actor. "I swear, if you start asking me what kind of underwear he wears, I'll-"

Caitlin raised both her hands. "Don't worry, I don't like him that way anymore, and I'm not gonna stalk him through you."

"Good."

"…Who asked you what kind of underwear he wears?"

I groaned. "Way too many people."

Caitlin patted my shoulder sympathetically. "The burden of having a good-looking brother."

I sighed again before brightening. "On the bright side, I've noticed several good-looking men on our way to the clothing store. Even if we can't find some good-looking men in the Akatsuki, there seem to be plenty around here."

Caitlin nudged me with her shoulder before opening the door to a large building I soon learned was a mall. "Such a player."

I smiled and nudged her back. "You know it."

The clothing selection was… less than ideal. I mean, I don't like to complain about these kinds of things, but I was hoping for something that was just as fashionable as it was functional. Either way, I managed to get some halfway decent clothing that made me feel pretty without burning a hole in our wallets.

As we walked out of the clothing store Caitlin had taken me to, I scanned the other storefronts. "Maybe we should shop around or something." I hadn't gone shopping in a while, and seeing all these salespeople vying for our patronage was starting to put me in the mood for it.

"We should probably head back soon. Lunch will be ready by the time we get back, and if we're not there in time Hidan, Kisame, and Tish will eat it all. There's no mercy for the stragglers."

I crossed my arms. "Fine, have it your way. I probably won't eat much, anyway - I'm never hungry in a new place."

"You're never hungry, period."

I gave her a look and we both laughed good-naturedly as we walked back outside. At least, we were laughing until a piercing screech filled the air. Caitlin and I both stopped in our tracks, my own shock mirrored in her expression. Everyone around us stopped, as well, and the tension was just beginning to die down when another scream sounded through the air.

Caitlin looked at me, a mixture of fear and apprehension in her eyes. "Should we… check it out?"

"I guess…" We both made our way to the source of the scream, where a growing crowd had now gathered. I peeked over the heads of a few people, but couldn't see any details. Caitlin, meanwhile, had started pushing through the crowd, shoving aside anyone who wouldn't listen to her when she told them to get out of the way. I followed her, trying to smile apologetically to the people Caitlin shoved aside to keep them from yelling at either her or me.

At the center of the crowd was a hysterical woman and a… dead body. I gaped in horror until Caitlin covered my eyes. Behind her hands, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to calm my breathing. My legs were shaking, and I felt nauseous. Even if it was just for a few seconds, seeing the dead body was giving me a panic attack.

Caitlin turned me so that I was facing the other way and began leading me through the streets, away from the crowd and the body. I opened my eyes slowly, hesitantly, in order to see where I was going. "Thanks, Cat."

"What are friends for?"

"Clubbing on a Friday night, chilling on a Saturday night, mooching food, and borrowing money." I grinned at her, distracting myself from the- the thing that was back there that I absolutely refuse to even think about.

"I asked what they're for, not what they're good at."

"There's a difference?"

When we got back, there was a commotion going on somewhere in the hideout. Caitlin referred to it as a 'base,' but I knew it was a hideout - criminals use hideouts, kids playing games use bases. As for headquarters, police had that taken, already.

Anyways, the source of the commotion was the kitchen. A man with silver hair and Tish were bothering Shylah and Tiamat for food, even though the food looked pretty much done and ready to serve. We entered the kitchen just in time to see Tiamat lose her temper and throw what she was holding - a kitchen knife - at the man.

Albino proved himself to be a ninja by dodging it, but was instead hit full-on in the face by the thing Tiamat had grabbed after the knife - a frying pan. "Oi, bitch! Quit throwing shit at me, I just want to eat some fucking food!" He picked the pan off the ground from where it had fallen and chucked it at Tiamat.

With an undignified squeak, Tiamat barely managed to dodge the pan in time. The frying pan flew past her, knocking into the stove where several full pots of food were just waiting to be eaten. The air in the room stilled before a cold shiver went down my spine and I looked up to see Shylah glaring at all of us. "I hate cooking."

Meanwhile, several other people had gathered at the entryway to the kitchen. One of the taller (and more intimidating) men took one look at the food and narrowed his eyes irritably. "What happened here?"

Shylah turned to him, her own glare not wavering as she replied. "Hidan and Tisha were annoying us, so Tiamat threw a knife and frying pan at him. After being hit with the frying pan, Hidan threw it and knocked over the food." Shylah paused. "The food was done, so that's one of two meals made, regardless of whether or not anyone ate it. If you want me to make lunch again, that'll count as the second meal, and I'm not making supper."

The tall man's red-and-green eyes snapped to Hidan, and he took a few threatening steps forward. Hidan tensed like he was preparing for a fight. "She threw the fucking pan in my face! I wasn't just going to stand here and fucking take it! If you're gonna be pissed, beat up the bitch who dodged the pan instead of fucking taking it like she should've!"

"It's actually a frying pan, not a fucking pan." For some reason, having just confronted the worst form of my phobia without turning into a pitiful blob of snot and tears left me feeling weirdly fearless and invincible. Otherwise, I might not have pointed out what I just did.

I didn't get much of a reaction from the two, though, because they were suddenly attacking each other. After trading some blows (Hidan didn't dodge and barely blocked, while the other guy blocked all but one punch), the guy I still didn't know the name of broke Hidan's defense, and proceeded to pummel the shit out of him. It looked satisfying.

Tish, a blue-ish man, a blonde I figured was male, and Caitlin were all cheering them on, goading them into continuing the fight. Itachi and an incredibly short and round guy looked very indifferent, bordering on bored and a little irritated. A man with an orange, swirled mask was yelling something about… something, while a guy whose skin was half-white and half-black was arguing with himself about whether or not they should try to snatch a piece of Hidan's body for lunch. Shylah was watching with satisfaction (it scared me, too), while Tiamat looked both affronted by the blatant violence and pleased that Hidan was currently being beaten to a bloody pulp.

'What about Tracey?" you ask? Or don't ask, I don't know. Well, I was busy looking at everyone else so that I wouldn't have to see what I just knew was going to end up being a corpse on the floor. My palms were getting a little sweaty just thinking about it.

"Are you alright?" Itachi questioned silently from beside me. I almost didn't hear it, it was so quiet, but I heard it and appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

I shook my head, my voice shaky. "Is he going to kill him?"

Something flashed in Itachi's eyes, and for a second I thought it was humor. "He would if he could. Are you worried?"

"No, I just… don't like death. What did you mean, 'he would if he could'?" I asked. I wasn't sure if I should tell him about my necrophobia. Caitlin had told me that this world was filled with death, even more than where we'd grown up; if I was afraid of a harmless, dead body, how would that be viewed? In a world where death was just as normal as life, how weak was I to be afraid of the obvious mark of death?

Itachi simply shook his head, returning his gaze to the center of the kitchen. The cheering had died down, and I looked out of morbid curiosity, even though I knew that I'd hate myself for it later.

Hidan was lying on his back, surrounded by a pool of blood. One of his arms was ripped off, and his jaw looked like it was dislocated. I could feel my throat constrict and start to shake as the older man punched Hidan's jaw back in place. Suddenly, just like that, Hidan was glaring at all of us. "Ow, you fucking miser, why'd you hafta rip my arm off?"

"I wish I'd ripped your jaw out, instead, so you couldn't talk." The 'miser' walked over to said arm and picked it up. He then turned to Shylah. "Do I have to pay for this?" He asked, gesturing to the blood.

She nodded. "Think of it as paying for the mess Hidan made." The man glared back at Hidan when she said that. "Nice doing business with you, Kakuzu-san." Kakuzu waved over his shoulder dismissively, irritated, as he started helping Hidan off the floor. Several cracking sounds were heard when Hidan put pressure on his feet, and he grunted. "You broke my fucking legs, you bastard miser." He then glanced at me, and I tried and failed to stop shaking. "What're you looking at, bitch?"

I shook my head, and Tish moved to stand between us. "Leave her the fuck alone, you bastard. She can look at whatever shitty face she wants." They then got into an argument, and Kakuzu and Hidan left with Tish following after her.

Just then, a man with tons of piercings entered the room, followed by a woman with lavender hair and several piercings of her own. He took one look at the messed-up floor and turned his steely gaze to the rest of us. "What happened here?"

Again, Shylah was the one who answered that question, although her expression was now carefully neutral and her tone was more respectful than I'd ever heard it before. "Long story short, Hidan threw a frying pan into the finished food, and I refuse to remake a meal for a bunch of misogynists who don't appreciate how much I hate cooking."

The man and woman shared a look before he left the room and the lavender-haired female began assembling ingredients for lunch. We were all silent for a few seconds before a shout and a large boom echoed through the building. A few of the men there chuckled, while the rest of us (except for Shylah) looked at each other, confused.

Shylah shrugged and turned back to where the unknown woman was standing and preparing vegetables. "Konan-san, I can make lunch for you and Pein-sama. I do kind of owe you both for letting us stay here."

Konan paused in her chopping, turning her head slightly to Shylah. "That would be appreciated. We've had an unusually stressful day today, and I think we would both benefit from your cooking."

Shylah nodded gravely. "It might take a little while, but I think I know just the dish. Mischa's knoephla soup is always good for relaxing." Without another word, Shylah set to work chopping the vegetables and otherwise preparing a signature dish from her German heritage.

Before Konan could leave (all the guys had gotten snack-foods from the kitchen and left), Caitlin turned to her. "Was that stress caused by the random murder in broad daylight?"

Konan's eyes widened fractionally. "Yes, it was. How did you know about that?"

"We may have caught a glimpse while we were… out." Caitlin glanced at me, and I shuddered involuntarily. I tried to focus on the choppy, unpracticed rhythm of Shylah chopping the last of the vegetables while the water for the soup was brought to a boil.

"I see. Did either of you happen to see anything unusual while you were there?" I looked back to her, this time studying her hair and trying to find any signs of dye. In case you were wondering, I didn't find any - instead, I found a few signs of natural shades of purple.

Caitlin replied for both of us. "No, just a hysterical woman screaming over a-" Caitlin glanced at me for a second before quickly stepping up to Konan and whispering in her ear. I knew she was trying not to mention the body in front of me, but I'd already thought of it. I started shaking again, and only stopped when Tiamat put a hand on my shoulder.

Konan listened intently as Caitlin described what I had seen, her eyes drifting to me concernedly as I wiped my brow and ran a hand through my hair. When Caitlin pulled away slightly, Konan whispered something to her, eyes locked on me. Caitlin replied before walking over to me and giving me a bright smile. I smiled back shakily, happy that I'd managed to avoid a panic attack three times in a row.

After a few seconds Pein returned to the room and gave Konan a questioning glance. Konan indicated Shylah with her hand, and Shylah looked up from where she was cutting the dough as though she somehow had eyes in the back of her head and knew their focus was on her. "Hey, Pein-sama. I figured I should make you guys some food since you're in charge, and I don't want to risk Tiamat burning anything she tries to make for herself."

Pein nodded as if that was the only decision to make. Konan and Pein then proceeded to speak with each other quietly - well, it was more like they were communicating through the smallest change in expression and movement, with a few words to convey what their secret language couldn't. It was fascinating to watch - especially when the alternative was to think of… uh… I'll just focus on Pein and Konan instead of what other thing I could be thinking of.

After a few seconds, though, they stopped, so instead I switched my attention to Shylah cooking. I didn't remember ever seeing her cook before - even if the meal was pizza or mac 'n' cheese, Shylah had nothing to do with making it. Seeing Shylah running around in the kitchen, more animated than I'd ever seen her, made me feel like I was in the Twilight Zone or something. It wasn't natural.

It wasn't natural until all the ingredients were added and Shylah grabbed a book to read it while she waited. That was definitely the Shylah I knew.

I jumped when I felt a hand on my arm, and turned to see Tiamat giving me a concerned look. "Are you okay? You're being really quiet. I'm not complaining or anything, but that's not like you."

"No, I'm fine. I'm just surprised to see Shylah cooking." I grinned when Shylah looked up from her book to glare at me. The glare was short-lived, however, because Shylah's attention quickly returned to the book.

Caitlin giggled and nudged me. "That reminds me, Tracey, I just thought of an awesome prank to play." I could feel my eyes light up with the excitement of the prankster's call.

Pein and Konan both looked at us, concern in their eyes. "You won't be pranking any of my members." It was more of an order than a statement, or even a request. It kind of reminded me of the way Tiamat tended to order people around, actually.

Caitlin and I both held up our hands at Pein's intimidating stare. "Don't worry, man- er, Pein-sama. We won't target any of your members as long as they leave us alone." Caitlin paused for a few seconds before seeming to think of something. "But if they employ us to prank the other members, that's on them, not us."

"We're S-ranked criminals; we don't resort to petty pranks."

Caitlin shrugged. "Okay, but I'm just saying it's a harmless way to let off some steam without dismembering the first person to piss you off."

Pein simply looked at us, the smallest hint of disapproval in his eyes. "Don't give my members any ideas. I don't want them focusing their destructive tendencies on pranking everyone in the base."

I straightened and gave him a mock salute. "We've gotcha covered, Pein-sama! No encouraging the super-strong criminals with superpowers to prank each other: check!" I giggled, and my giggles trailed off into awkward laughter when he didn't even react. We all stood there in complete(ly awkward) silence until my stomach growled. "Eheheh, I guess I'm a little hungry."

"If you don't want to wait for my soup to finish cooking, make something, yourself. I hate cooking." Shylah repeated, unbothered by how repetitive she was being with her 'I hate cooking' shtick.

"No, it's fine - I can handle a little hunger. The soup smells good, by the way." I complimented. Shylah just 'hm'-ed and kept reading.

An arm draped across my shoulders, and I turned to see Tish giving me a devilish grin. "Hey, bitch, when'd you get here?"

"This morning," I replied, feeling my cheeks heat up just the tiniest bit when I remembered that I'd woken up in some stranger's bed.

Tish turned, arm still over my shoulders, and exited the kitchen. "I'll pretend you didn't just sound like a smartass because I know you didn't mean it that way. Let's plan up ways to fuck shit up while we wait for Shylah to finish cooking our food."

"How did you know she was making knoephla for the rest of us?"

Tish made a face. "Is that the stuff with the random balls of dough?" When I nodded, she stuck out her tongue. "Shit, I wish I'd just gone with making something for myself. Knoephla soup is too weird for me - it's like it can't decide whether it wants to be a soup or a stew." Tish sighed disappointedly. "Oh, well. I guess it beats starving."

I nodded. "It beats beer bottles being the only thing in the fridge, too."

Grinning once again, Tish wiggled her arm so that I swayed back and forth. "Enough about that shit - let's find some mayhem to cause!"

Tracey! Tracey, why? You've been one of my OC's for so long, yet I'm not satisfied with how you turned out in this! The beginning was fine, but then... I don't even know you anymore! Wait, you're MY OC - you technically can't be OOC. Hmmm... I will have to rethink this...

Hey! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. For those of you who may or may not know, I formerly had swearing bleeped out with little asterisk-things that I'm not sure are really called that (****). Last chapter I asked if they wanted me to remove them, was given a resounding 'Yes', and have since removed them. I agree with the decision - I don't particularly like how 'fuck' looks, but I think it looks better than ****.

I hope your weekend is going well, and that it continues to do so.