As I've said before, I only own Shylah, Tish, Tiamat, Caitlin, Tracey, and now Emi.

Please enjoy! :3

New P.O.V.: Emi

I awoke to music playing through the headphones I'd fallen asleep wearing last night. It was a nice, soft song, and it made me forget for a second that almost all of my friends were missing and I was one of the last three still safe in my own bed. At least, that's what I thought until a voice cut its way through the hazy fog of my still-tired brain.

"Hey, what is this thing? Some of your other friends appeared with them, too, but they never tell us about them." I opened my eyes widely to stare at a man (in my bed) with oddly blue-tinged skin and spiky blue hair. I was fascinated until he grinned at me, and I cringed away from his razor-sharp teeth. "I get that reaction a lot," he told me, unbothered by my reaction.

That's when it hit me. I was in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed, with a shirtless man who looked oddly like a shark. After a quick glance down at myself, I confirmed that, yes, I had gone to bed last night wearing extremely small pajama-style short-shorts and a revealing, matching pajama top. What I did next was really only natural for me. I fainted.

"Uh, Kisame-san, what did you do to Emi?" A muffled voice inquired. Whoever it was had to be female, and she sounded vaguely familiar. I mentally shrugged and prepared to go back to sleep.

"I didn't do anything! All I did was ask her about this thing, and she fainted on me. It's not like I tried to scare her or anything." That voice sounded familiar, too, but not as much as the previous one.

"You kind of contradicted yourself. At first you said that you didn't do anything, then you said that you did do something. And no one appreciates your awesome appearance the way they should - it's the burden of being on a whole new level of epic that the rest of us plebeians haven't yet developed the ability to understand." Oh, that was Shylah. Well, this answers the question of where everyone went to. We were all kidnapped by shark men.

"I'm not sure whether I should be annoyed that you're pointing out my contradiction just to irritate me, or flattered that you think I'm awesome." Speaking of the shark man…

I decided now was a good time to sit up and announce that I was awake. Shylah looked over to me, unsurprised, while Kisame gave me another sharp-toothed grin. I focused on Shylah. "I didn't faint because of how Kisame looks, I fainted because we were in the same bed together." I felt my face heat up at the memory, and the blush only deepened at the look Shylah gave me. "I think Kisame looks cool."

Kisame smirked. "I must be losing my touch. You're both supposed to be running from the room, screaming in fear - not commenting on how cool I look."

Shylah shrugged. "We have a thing for pointing out the obvious. If you'd like, we can run from the room commenting on how your height is incredibly intimidating." As she spoke, Shylah walked over to me and threw a cloak over my shoulders before grabbing my hand and pulling me off the bed. Still holding my hand, she escorted me from the room.

"I guess that will have to do," Kisame said, still sporting his shark-y grin.

"To answer any questions or incorrect assumptions you may have, we weren't kidnapped." Shylah immediately began to inform me. "We somehow teleported through some sort of dimensional rift and landed in a dimension where everyone has a chi-like substance flowing through their bodies that makes their bodies naturally stronger and more resilient than ours. They can use this substance, called chakra, in order to use moves that are the equivalent of comic book superpowers."

I nodded, my brain starting to feel numb at the rush of new - and fantastic - information.

Shylah paused only for a few seconds to allow me time to adjust to what she was saying before continuing. "We are currently in a country known as the Land of Rain, and are the guests of the country's leader, Pein. He's also the head of a criminal organization known as the Akatsuki, a member of which you just woke up in bed with. The capital city, which we are near, is known as Amegakure. Before you ask about the names, the culture here is Japanese."

Knowing the culture I had been transported to was the same as the one I'd been raised in made me feel a bit better about our situation. Unfortunately, I remembered that we were being hosted by a group of criminals, and my mood plummeted. "Are they really criminals?"

"Some of the strongest ninjas in this dimension, actually. They've all killed many people, Emi. I didn't tell anyone else that because they'd either already figured it out, or they wouldn't be able to handle interacting with people who'd taken another's life." When she caught me giving her a look, she raised her hands. "That's not to say that you couldn't have already realized this on your own, or that I think you should have that knowledge over your head. I just need you to keep an eye on Tracey until Reia gets here."

"Do you think Tracey needs a babysitter? I know she annoys you, but she's not the type to needlessly antagonize a group of criminals."

"It's not that. Someone needs to keep an eye on her because of her necrophobia. This world is even more dangerous than where she grew up, so we'll have to be extra careful about what she's exposed to. She already saw someone's corpse when she and Caitlin went to town to buy some clothes."

"Is she okay?"

"For being almost constantly confronted with the images and reminders of corpses, she did surprisingly well yesterday." Shylah took one more turn before stopping and gesturing to the corridor we were now facing. "In other news, this is the hallway reserved for us. It's on the other side of the base so that we aren't constantly running into other members. The rooms, starting from the furthest end, are occupied by Caitlin, Tisha, Tiamat, and Tracey. My room is over here. Feel free to pick an unoccupied bedroom in which to stay while I grab you some of Tiamat's clothes."

I shrugged and opened the door to the room next to Tracey's. The room was quaint, small enough to be two closets put together, with a simple bed and dresser for the only furniture. To the right was a door leading to Tracey's room (because that was apparently totally necessary), and to the left was a door that I found out led to a small bathroom. The bathroom was furnished with the basics of a toilet, sink, and shower, and I giggled a little to think how disappointed Tracey and Tiamat probably were at the lack of a mirror.

There was a knock on my main door and Shylah entered, inspecting the room with disinterest. "Everyone's rooms look the same. Yesterday Tisha and Tracey were talking about getting enough ryo to redecorate their rooms. They'll probably end up spreading everyone out so that they can knock down the walls between the rooms and have more space. I think it's unnecessary, but they hate cramped spaces enough to be willing to do all the work themselves."

I looked around the room one last time before taking the clothes Shylah offered and beginning to change. "I kind of agree. It's nearly impossible for me to change without almost bumping into you, even if you are closer to the door and I'm by the bed. I wouldn't even mind just knocking down the wall between my room and Tracey's if it freed up that little bit of space."

Shylah sighed. "Just give me some warning so that I can get Pein-sama's permission before you go demolishing parts of the building, okay? We're his guests here, and I don't really want to make him mad. He can be really intimidating without even trying."

"It's going to take a long time for us to come up with the money necessary to pay for the furniture they'd want, anyway. We have at least a few months, which doesn't really matter anyway because we'll be back home in that time." I paused to look at Shylah. "We do have a way of getting back home, don't we?"

Shylah shrugged, turning to face me when she couldn't hear the sounds of me getting ready anymore - it's okay, though, because I was finished. "Why does everyone always ask me that question?" She huffed when I simply looked at her apologetically. "In answer to your question, no, we don't. It most likely has to do with a dimensional barrier that allows things to come in from our side, but not the other way."

"Like a cell membrane?"

Shylah smirked and lazily spun her finger in the air in a mockery of a celebration noisemaker. "Exactly like a cell membrane. Until we find out what conditions need to be met so that we fit whatever is allowed back through the membrane, we're stuck in this dimension playing house with a bunch of criminal psychopaths."

I cringed, suddenly queasy. "They're not actual psychopaths, are they? Kisame didn't seem that bad."

"He'd probably be insulted if he ever heard you say that. Oh, well. Yes, he's a bloodthirsty murderer who thinks it's fun to kill people. Most members of this organization probably get a high out of killing random civilians in their own favorite methods. I think even the members who don't enjoy killing have other psychological issues."

"That's not making me feel any better about this situation."

"My job isn't to make you feel better, it's to make sure you understand this situation in its entirety." Shylah led me back through the twists and turns. "By the way, you were out long enough to have missed breakfast. That's where Kisame told me you were here, and I went ahead and told Pein about you."

"Okay, thanks."

"No problem. Now I have to find Tracey so she can take you to get some clothes of your own."

We kept walking until we came across Tiamat. "Hello, Emi. I see you made it here in one piece." Tiamat studied me, her brows meeting in a furrow. "Are you wearing my clothes?"

I felt my cheeks redden slightly and squirmed uncomfortably. "Shylah gave them to me. I thought we had your permission." Shylah stood beside me, disinterested in the position she'd put me in.

"It's fine, Emi. I don't really mind that you're wearing my clothes, it just surprised me is all." Tiamat held up a hand and put it on my shoulder reassuringly. "I mean, they're just clothes. I'd rather you randomly start wearing my clothes than walk around a base filled with men wearing whatever you came here in."

"Not that this isn't a touching moment for you two, but do you know where Tracey is, Tiamat?" Shylah interrupted what was, in fact, a rare moment of understanding and reassurance between Tiamat and I. "I figured Tracey wouldn't mind helping Emi pick out some clothes."

Tiamat frowned, looking back in the direction she'd come from. "Tracey's with Tisha and Caitlin, huddling over Tisha's drawing supplies. When I asked them what they were doing, they just shooed me away, so I think they're planning a prank on someone."

I frowned, glancing around nervously. "Is it really a good idea for them to be pranking people in a base inhabited by criminals?"

Shylah rolled her eyes before responding, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Yes, Tracey, Tisha, and Caitlin planning pranks around extremely powerful criminals with volatile personalities is possibly the best idea any of them have ever come up with. Of course, considering who we're talking about, that's not saying much."

"That's not very nice…" I muttered halfheartedly. Unfortunately, it was true - none of those three had ever been known for planning ahead, and when they got together to make mischief, well… shit usually hit the fan before flying back in their direction and spreading to the rest of us.

Tiamat shrugged. "It's not like they're going to target the Akatsuki." She paused, suddenly looking very wary. "Which means they'll be after us. Well, that's just great - and here I was looking forward to a prank-free summer."

"Weren't you going to rent some sort of cabin or something for all of us to stay in together for the whole summer?" I asked, confused. I'd thought she was being serious when she told us all that, but it wouldn't be the first time I'd been mistaken.

Tiamat face-palmed. "Oh, right, I forgot about that. What was I thinking?"

Shylah patted Tiamat's shoulder before moving on, motioning for me to follow her. "Don't worry, Tiamat, I'm sure you weren't."

I hurried after Shylah, sending an apologetic glance back to Tiamat, who waved me off and continued on her way. "Shylah, that wasn't very nice. I think we need to work on your people skills."

"I'll show you people skills…"

"Really, Shylah? I think the lack of video games is getting to you." Maybe she has low blood sugar… I think she mentioned the possibility of her being anemic, once, so maybe she has something wrong with her that puts her in a bad mood.

Instead of replying, Shylah walked into a living room area where a tall man with red and green eyes was counting money. "Hey, Kakuzu-san." Kakuzu didn't bother to acknowledge her, so she turned to a coffee table where Caitlin, Tish, and Tracey were arguing over something Tish had drawn on a piece of paper. "Tracey, you need to take Emi clothes shopping."

Tracey looked up at us, an uncharacteristic pout on her face. "Why do I have to go? I'm busy!"

"You haven't escorted anyone on their shopping trip, yet."

Tish looked up, scowling. "What if I want to take someone shopping?"

Shylah gave her a look. "Do you really want to leave Caitlin and Tracey to the planning?"

Tish shrugged and went back to the paper. "Good point. Tracey, get your scrawny ass out of here and help Emi buy some clothes. Cat and I will have some good ideas waiting for you when you get back."

Tracey hopped up, her pout now more for show than actual resistance - she loved any excuse to go shopping. "Okay, but just because you're making me go, you have to use the pink sparkles!" Grinning triumphantly, Tracey skipped over to me.

"Where the hell am I gonna find fucking pink sparkles?" Tish grabbed her head and growled in frustration.

I allowed Tracey to grab my hand, and even joined her skipping as we left the room. "That's not my problem, is it?" Tracey called back over her shoulder. She giggled when Tish's growl turned into a snarl, and we hurried our skipping until we burst through the door and outside.

"Do you always go out of your way to antagonize Tish?" I asked as we slowed down to a normal skip. My cheeks were turning pink at the stares we were getting, but I did my best to ignore them by focusing on Tracey instead.

Tracey placed a hand over her heart and gave me an exaggerated pout. "You wound me, Emi. I thought we were friends!" I giggled and Tracey's grin returned. "I'm giving her anger management classes. If she can go a week without blowing up at me for annoying her, she passes and can handle any situation!"

"I get the feeling this isn't going to turn out well…"

Tracey shrugged, unconcerned. "We'll get there when we get there. I'm sure I'll come up with something - I'm the master of thinking on the fly." See, she doesn't plan ahead.

"What if she gets fed up and runs after you with a sharpened pencil again?" In hindsight, it was kind of funny, but at the time I was terrified Tish would lash out at the rest of us in her efforts to stab Tracey's tongue out. Yes, she was using a sharpened pencil to stab someone's tongue. No, I'm not sure how she actually planned to accomplish that.

"Then I'll hide behind Shylah or Tiamat." Tracey rolled her eyes at my look. "No matter what you guys say, Tish isn't gonna kill me. Maim me, yes, incapacitate me, most likely, but kill me? No. We've been through too much together for her to kill me. Why waste all the time we had together with homicide?"

"You three have to be the most dysfunctional group of teenagers I've ever met. I'm surprised you've all lasted this long."

Tracey flashed me a peace sign. "Us ghetto kids have to stick together."

"Uh, Tracey? You're the only one who could have conceivably been raised in the ghetto. Tish wasn't raised in a single home, but every foster home she went to was in nice suburbs. Caitlin lived ten miles out of the city." I slowed our pace so that we were walking normally because I'd gotten tired of the stares.

Tracey put a finger on her chin and gave me the stare of one who has just solved one of life's greatest mysteries. "Oh, yeah!" We trailed off into silence, which Tracey dutifully broke. "Technically Shylah and Mischa were raised in a small-town version of a ghetto."

"The small-town version of a ghetto is a trailer court, Tracey. They never lived in a trailer court."

"If you believe hard enough, they did!"

I patted the arm of Tracey's that was looped through my own. "Believe what you like, Tracey, but it doesn't make it any more true."

Tracey pouted at me. "You sound like Shylah. I think she's actually told me that, once."

"She probably has."

Tracey and I have developed a shopping technique over the years involving teamwork and finesse. Okay, I'm actually more or less her dress-up doll for whenever she feels the need to give me 'advice' on fashion. I'm fine with this - contrary to Shylah's beliefs, Tracey's style doesn't just involve bright colors in flamboyant styles, and she's helped me to feel confident and pretty in what I wear. For a girl who was teased for her poor English when her parents suddenly migrated to America when she was seven, the confidence boost felt nice.

Of course, I still felt too shy to approach the cashier and purchase my items, but Tracey was more than happy to do any and all interactions with salespeople in my stead. She also enjoyed flirting with the male cashiers.

Tracey spent a good three hours picking out clothes based on the colors that she said suited me, having me change into and model them, and then either approving or disapproving of the choices before repeating the process. Sometimes her opinion would change simply because my hair wasn't in my usual style, and a quick hair tie or two to change things up would either help her visualize the necessity of whichever outfit she wanted me to buy, or convince her that it wasn't worth the effort.

By the end of the shopping trip, Tracey had accumulated thirty outfits, twenty pairs of varying types of underclothes, ten pairs of shoes, and ten sets of assorted accessories. I saw the problem with this immediately - we didn't have nearly enough money to purchase all that. With some convincing (and downright denial), I was able to talk her down to one third of the original amount.

I followed Tracey out of the store we'd been in for the past few hours, carrying my bags and avoiding the friendly well-wishes of the male cashier as he smiled appreciatively after us. My cheeks were tinged red because Tracey had just commented on various parts of his anatomy that met her approval, and insinuated that it was me he seemed to be interested in, rather than her. I didn't really want to think about it - the cashier wasn't really my type, and besides that, I didn't want to get attached to anyone in this world when we'd (hopefully) be leaving soon.

Tracey led me around the mall, looking at everything excitedly. "I didn't get to see this part of the building yesterday. Cat doesn't like shopping as much as I do, so we were only here long enough for me to get my clothes and get out. I wonder if they have anything good to eat, here…"

"Maybe we shouldn't use up all of our money, Tracey…" I muttered. She would probably end up sneaking out on her own to get what she wanted if I straight-up denied her. I decided to try and dissuade her before she saw anything she liked, because I really didn't want to waste all the money we had that should be used to get us out of living with criminals.

"Why not spend it on a nice little treat for ourselves? We have our housing situation covered, and we're not really strapped for cash or whatever. We can always get more." Nonetheless, Tracey turned around and headed for the exit, the spring never leaving her step. "Did Shylah tell you there was a murder yesterday?"

I eyed her suspiciously. The weird thing about Tracey's necrophobia was that she could talk about murders - which involved dead bodies - without actually think about the bodies involved, whereas any mention of a funeral home or graveyard would send her into instant panic. "No, she didn't. How did you find out?"

The spring in Tracey's step died down, and her shoulders tensed. "Cat and I… uh…" Her voice was shaky, and her legs had begun to shake.

"I see." My mind raced frantically for a topic to distract Tracey with. "I've been feeling oddly nostalgic walking through this village and that mall area we just came from. It's not exactly like home, but the culture and mannerisms hardly have any noticeable differences."

"Oh, yeah!" Tracey exclaimed, brightening instantly. "Shylah mentioned something about the culture being like some sort of industrialized Ancient Japan kind of thing. Or did she say post-Feudal Japan? I forget which."

I sighed in relief at her sudden change in attitude. All of us (my six roommates, Tiamat, and I) know how to help calm Tracey down when she begins to have a panic attack, but only Shylah, Tish, and Caitlin had ever actually had to use that information. I wasn't confident enough in my abilities to help her, so I needed to stick to keeping her from even beginning an attack.

Tracey continued to chatter about how she should've recognized this as a Japanese-esque culture when she walked around here yesterday. I only half-listened, and smiled encouragingly whenever Tracey asked me if she'd pronounced one of the new Japanese words she'd learned correctly. She also pointed out a few people she'd seen yesterday, including a well-toned man who was just leaving a construction site with a homemade bento box.

"I wonder if his girlfriend or wife made that for him," I mused. I also wondered what specific foods were in the box, which would tell me what kinds of foods they had in greater abundance here. I suddenly had a longing to make Shylah and Mischa kyaraben featuring their favorite anime characters and give everyone else oekakiben of their favorite animals. My homemaker tendencies were suddenly on high alert, and I was scanning the area for a stand selling bento box containers.

"You don't think he has one, do you? I don't see a ring on his finger." Tracey watched the builder, her gaze changed from appreciative to worried.

"His lunch just looked carefully-prepared. He could've made it for himself, or his mom could've made it for him." I sighed in disappointment when I realized we were far from the area of town that had food for sale. It seemed I would have to wait for a while to fulfill my sudden desire to make them bento boxes. That was fine with me, because the last time I'd made one I was helping my mom make one for my dad when I was ten.

*I hope he isn't married. I was planning on flirting with him eventually." Tracey frowned as we turned onto the last street before the Akatsuki base. "Cat and T were thinking of flirting with him, too. I wonder how they'll take this news."

I mentally face palmed at how casually Tracey mentioned that all three of them wanted to put the moves on the same guy. "You were all going to flirt with him at the same time?"

"No, I'd go first, T would go second, and Cat would go third. We would've stopped flirting with him if one of us succeeded."

"None of you has a boyfriend?"

Tracey sighed dramatically. "Sadly, no, not yet. We haven't found anyone who suits us enough to date him since our last boyfriends. It's such a tragedy!"

I shrugged and thanked Tracey when she held the door to the Akatsuki headquarters open for me. "I'm gonna go put this stuff in my room. You can go back to Tish and Caitlin to plan… whatever it is you're planning."

"Okay, see ya later!" Tracey waved before running back to the living room area Shylah and I had first found her in. There were a few shouts of surprise, and I guessed Tracey had given them one of her flying tackle-hugs. Yeah, she does them enough to be patented as her flying tackle-hugs.

Back to the point at hand, I had carefully made my way back to my room after multiple wrong turns and several near run-ins with the various Akatsuki members. I always managed to avoid them, somehow, although I was caught and nearly suffocated by a man with an orange mask. Thinking he wasn't dangerous because of the lack of distinct black cloak-age, I'd mistakenly let my guard down and tried to walk past him normally, only to have him hug me with a joyous shout about welcoming one of 'Shylah's friends' to the base. I had fainted from a combination of lack of oxygen and embarrassment, only to wake up an undeterminable amount of time later with all my bags still lying around me and no one in sight.

I then hustled to my room and stuffed all my new clothes into the drawers before changing hurriedly into the only outfit I'd picked out for myself. I ran back out of the room and down the hall, only stopping to return Shylah's rain cloak to her room. I wonder what time it is. My room doesn't even have a clock to tell me the time, so I have no idea if it's two in the afternoon or two in the morning.

I decided my safest bet was to check the living area, since that was the only room other than my bedroom I actually knew the location of. After several twists, turns, and some backtracking, I burst through the doorway (there wasn't an actual door there, just an opening) and stopped. Tish, Tracey, and Caitlin all looked up from where they were conversing over that same piece of paper, Tiamat looked up from where she was fiddling with her phone, and Shylah continued to read her book like nothing had happened.

"You look like you're running from the hounds of Hades," Shylah told me as she turned a page in her book, still not looking up. When did she… "You missed lunch, by the way. Is there any reason why?"

"I, um… fainted." I looked down and fiddled with the hem of my shirt, red staining my cheeks.

Shylah 'hm'-ed and lost interest, while everyone else just gave me curious looks. Tiamat was the first to address me. "Why'd you do that?" She asked, patting the couch beside her.

"I just… I passed by this man with an orange mask, and he h-hugged me to welcome me here. I got embarrassed, and it was hard to breathe, so I kind of just… fainted…" I felt my face grow even redder as I recounted the events leading up to my lapse in consciousness. I always felt ridiculously weak-willed after fainting, especially when confronted with the unflinching personalities of Shylah, Tiamat, and Tish.

Tiamat frowned. "He shouldn't have suffocated you like that. I find it annoying that he didn't feel the need to inform us that you were simply passed out in one of the halls."

"S-ranked criminals~" Shylah half-sang under her breath. "If it makes you feel better, Emi, he's done that to all of us, even if the rest of us didn't faint."

Tish scoffed. "Speak for yourself, Shylah. I nearly kicked him in his fucking family jewels when he tried to mess with me." Tish turned to me, smirking triumphantly. "Little bitch went running back to hide behind Shylah. He seems pretty obsessed with her."

Shylah looked up from her book, then, nonplussed by Tish's insinuation. "Maybe he just likes me better because I didn't try to castrate him with my feet. Unless, of course, he thinks I'm the best choice to fend you off if you ever try to follow through with your threat."

Once again, Tish scoffed, while Caitlin and Tracey snickered behind her. "Yeah right. I could beat you any day of the week!"

Shylah returned to her book, clearly (and condescendingly) unimpressed. "I'm sure you could, Tish. You can do anything if you just believe hard enough. Just remember the teachings of Peter Pan, and one day you shall do all you set your mind to."

Tish growled, her temper flaring at Shylah's blatant dismissal. She hopped up, nearly knocking over the coffee table with all her pranking plans. "Don't fucking push me, bitch."

"It's not like I actually want to fight you. Reading this book is much more interesting." Shylah flapped her book up and down once for emphasis. "Don't embarrass yourself, Tish. Guys are watching."

I turned to see several men, all wearing Akatsuki robes (except for the masked man from earlier, since he wasn't wearing them), stopped in the process of entering the room. They were eyeing Tish and Shylah with expressions ranging from eager anticipation to bored disinterest. I caught sight of Kisame, and he flashed me a sharp-toothed grin before returning his attention to the two hostile girls near the center of the living room.

Tish ignored them in favor of running at Shylah, who hopped off of her chair's armrest and then landed on the back of the couch Tiamat and I occupied. "Tisha, I'm really not in the mood to fight you unnecessarily," Shylah pointed out while Tiamat and I vacated the sofa just before Tish launched herself onto it.

Shylah sighed and hopped over Tish, landing roughly on the ground. "If you won't see reason and end this fight, then I will." Rather than beat Tish into submission, Shylah turned and exited the living room, book still in hand. "I'll come back when you've cooled down."

"Get back here!" Tish yelled, running after her. The rest of us looked at each other, silently daring one another to run after them and stop the fight Tish was determined to continue. None of us moved.

"Damn it! We were gonna get a good view of a catfight, and that bitch just has to fucking ruin the fun." I looked over to where the Akatsuki were slowly dispersing to see a man with white hair and pinkish eyes glaring after Shylah and Tish. "It's so fucking boring around here, all I can fucking do is train. Leader won't even let me do any sacrificing because we're in his shitty country!"

"Shut it, Hidan. I'm sick of hearing you whine every second of every day," Kakuzu growled back. "We're waiting for Leader-sama's leave so that we can go bounty hunting."

"And when's that going to fucking happen?"

I watched in horrified fascination as Hidan and Kakuzu argued. Their argument quickly escalated to the point where they were fighting each other in the living room, and we all had to retreat when Hidan drew his scythe because, according to Caitlin, that was when bystanders became casualties. As we watched (Tracey had left, shakily saying she didn't want to stick around for the aftermath), Kakuzu systematically removed all of Hidan's limbs and used threads to sew his mouth shut.

"I think being cooped up in here has made Kakuzu-san more irritable," Tiamat mused. "When I first got here, it took a bit longer for him to get riled up enough to start removing limbs."

Caitlin shivered. "At least he didn't remove Hidan's head this time."

As I watched Kakuzu kick around Hidan's body, I couldn't shake the strangest sense of déjà vu. It was almost like I'd seen them before, but I couldn't quite place where. Taking a breath, I decided to ask Caitlin and Tiamat about it. "Do either of you feel like this place is slightly familiar? Not just the village, but the Akatsuki, as well?"

Tiamat studied me. "No, not really. The village seemed almost like something I've seen out of one of Shylah's video games, but I can't recall any time I've ever seen Shylah or Mischa running through Amegakure as a video game character."

Caitlin paused to look over at us, her brown furrowing in confusion. "I thought it looked familiar from one of those Japanese cartoons they watch. I didn't really make anything of it because Shylah told me this culture was basically a pre-modern model of Japanese culture, so it would make sense if it was like an anime."

Tiamat and I nodded contemplatively. "Okay, thanks. I'll just ask Shylah later, when we have some time. She'll probably know what I'm talking about and be able to answer our questions."

"That's a good idea. Come tell us the second you get the information from her," Tiamat ordered. "You've gotten me curious about this, as well."

"Oh, no!" Caitlin groaned from beside us, her attention back on the two in the living room. "They totally just smashed our plans. T is gonna be so pissed, and I don't think any of us remembers the exact details of our plans! We're gonna have to start from scratch!" Caitlin pulled at her hair as she stared at the ink currently soaking her prank plans. Tiamat and I exchanged a look, silently agreeing that, while we sympathized with their loss of brainstorming work, it was best for the rest of us if they never finalized any ideas that they collectively came up with.

I jumped and let out an undignified squeak when Caitlin suddenly straightened, raising her fist determinedly. "It's okay, though. I'm gonna get the three of us back together, and we'll come up with the most amazing pranks in the history of ever! It'll be even better than the time we found a way to permanently dye Tiamat's hair white!"

Tiamat and I both exchanged a wary look before slowly backing away to find Shylah. The three of us were going to be stuck sleeping with one eye open until the rest of eternity!

Hiya, everybody. Welcome to the bottom of the page... document... thingy. I suppose now (six chapters in) is as good a time as any to tell you that the first eight chapters are going to be a bit OC-centric. They're introduction chapters, and so are meant to emphasize the OC's personality and relationship with the other OCs. Next chapter, however, I plan on including more interactions with the Akatsuki, simply because Reia isn't the type of character to focus more on shopping, pranking, or internal musings than on the strange new people she's in contact with.

By the way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you see anything wrong with it (have any complaints), feel free to let me know. If you'd like to shower me with praise or threaten me to update, go ahead. If you're wondering why you've read this far and would prefer to look for other stories that are better than mine, you can do that, too.

Next chapter might be a little rushed because I'm visiting my grandparents' farm, and grandparents' farm + me = no internet and very little computer time. On the bright side, I managed to start on the next chapter early, so it shouldn't be so bad.

Have a great weekend!