I don't own Naruto or any other Naruto-related... thingies... aside from my OCs. It should be pretty obvious which characters in the story are mine and not Naruto-verse canon.

Please enjoy! =3

New P.O.V.: Mischa

I sighed contentedly and snuggled further against the source of warmth at my side. I didn't know who I was snuggling with, but dang he felt sexy! Those muscles, though…

Someone tapped my shoulder and I resisted the urge to roll away from the tap - because that would take me away from Mr. Sexy over here. "Uh, excuse me? Are you awake now? Tobi has to get up, and you're kind of holding me…" A somewhat childish voice asked me as Mr. Sexy shifted uncomfortably.

"Sh… Just let it happen…" I mumbled as I shifted so that I was back to snuggling him. Ah, this is perfect. I'm snuggling in a bed with the sexy Tobito Uchiha… Wait, what? Oh, well…

There was a knock on the door. "Are you two decent?" Without waiting for us to reply, the voice of my sister continued. "You both better be, 'cause I'm coming in!" The door eased open to reveal Shylah, who looked at us both with a blank expression. "Good boy, Tobi."

Tobi (Oh, my gosh, it's ACTUALLY Tobi!) sat up on the bed and pried my arms from around him. "Why is Tobi a good boy?"

"Because you didn't do anything to my little sister." I snickered. It's okay to be a bad boy, Tobi…

Tobi tilted his head to the side and stood up, looking between the two of us (we had both started grinning at each other - you know, that kind of grin) curiously. "What kind of stuff?"

Shylah smirked and patted his (sexy) shoulder. "I'll tell you when you're older, Tobi." Or I can show you right now…

"Tobi doesn't like the way Mischa's looking at me…"

"Don't worry, Tobi, that's just her normal expression. Come on, sis." Shylah motioned for me to follow her, which I did reluctantly. "Good morning, Misch."

I instantly perked up from the bad mood leaving Tobi had put me in. "Sis, you're okay!" I yelled, running and hugging her. "Is everyone else here, too?" I paused for a second as I thought about everyone and frowned. "Does this mean that Tracey and Tish are here?"

"Yeah, they're all here," Shylah replied. She shifted uncomfortably in my death grip and glanced around. "Shall I show you to the hallway that's reserved for us?"

"Sure!" I practically chirped. I usually wasn't so chipper, but I was suddenly reunited with my sis, and that made me so freaking happy! "I missed you!"

Shylah smirked at me. "I missed you, too, sis."

"Yay!" I hopped up, my hands in the air. "Party in the house!"

"The poor Akatsuki, having to play host to you of all people."

"That's mean, sis!" I pouted. "How did you get them to let you stay, anyways?"

"Through skill, cunning, and finesse. … And the fact that we pose no threat to any of them, since we don't have chakra." Shylah smirked at me before looking back ahead. "Everyone sleeps in so late. I've been getting up at around six every morning so that I can make sure we all made it here safely. You're most likely the last person to arrive, so I can go back to sleeping in until noon, now."

"Why do you think we appeared here?" I asked. It probably had something to do with inter-dimensional travel or something weird and sci-fi like that, but I wanted to know if Shylah had any ideas.

"Some sort of inter-dimensional membrane or something that only allowed us through when the wall weakened, and possibly won't let us back unless we fulfill some sort of criteria that no one knows about because we aren't even sure what criteria we fulfilled to originally be placed here. At least, that's what Reia, Tiamat, and I came up with. Are you as eager to go back as they are?"

I frowned. "Not really. It's not that I don't want to go back, I just want to stay here and explore for a little while. It's so cool, I want to see everything! I've never been to another dimension before."

"I don't think anyone has ever been to another dimension before now. I agree, though - I don't want to leave right away. Life at home is so monotonous, I would almost rather risk the extra danger of staying here."

We stopped talking because we had to walk up several sets of stairs, and I'm not exactly the most fit girl in the world. I cast a worried glance at Shylah to make sure she was doing okay, but she seemed fine. She was probably already used to it from the week she'd spent here before me.

Finally we turned a corner and Shylah pointed to a door. "That's the door to my room. There's a door that connects to the room next to mine, so you can have it if you want." I nodded, so she continued. "Go into your room and I'll let you wear some of my clothes so that we can go buy you some. I have some shoes you can wear, too."

"'Kay, sis!" I said before going into the room she'd indicated. I stared at its grandeur (not) for a few seconds, then opened the door leading to Shylah's room. "Hey, do you have the clothes ready?"

"Yeah," Shylah replied, handing me a set of clothing with a pair of shoes resting on the top.

I paused for a second. "I could just go with what I'm wearing right now, since I slept in my shirt and jeans last night."

Shylah shook her head. "No one wears jeans here. You'll just draw attention if you look out of place by wearing a fabric no one's even heard of."

"Okay." I sighed and shut the door between our rooms before sorrowfully removing said article of clothing. The clothes Shylah had bought were light and kind of large - nice and comfy, as far as I was concerned. The last article of clothing for me to put on was the shoes, which felt kind of weird to wear since they were around half a size larger than what I'd normally wear.

"I'm done," I called, opening the door to her room. Shylah nodded and donned a scarf - an interesting fashion statement, but I thought it looked adorable, so I didn't comment on it. I took the cloak she held out to me with a 'thank you', and we were off.

"We don't have to introduce you to Pein-sama - the last time I told him about someone appearing was with Tracey, and he said I shouldn't bother unless it's to tell him that we've finally stopped appearing out of nowhere. I think you'll be the last, but I don't know for sure, so we'll just have to wait until tomorrow and see." Shylah motioned to a set of intimidating closed doors, probably to indicate that Pein (and Konan, most likely) were through there.

"Aw, I wanted to talk about the miracles of origami with Konan."

"Maybe later."

"Promise?"

"Nope."

"Aw, come on, sis!" I whined, doing my best pouting face. "After we get me some clothes, let's visit Konan and do origami! I want to see if she knows how to make dragons and scorpions."

Shylah rolled her eyes. "I think Konan probably knows how to make every kind of origami in existence. There's no need to pester them - they're both very busy, especially with a recent murder."

"There was a murder?"

"Some woman was killed a few days ago. There haven't been any leads and he hasn't been caught, despite Pein's rain. I personally think the killer either has some sort of teleportation ability, or can travel through the ground to deposit bodies where he likes. He would've been caught otherwise, unless he's one really O.P. genjutsu and stealth ninja." Shylah shrugged like a woman being murdered in cold blood was no big deal. "They'll catch him eventually. It's pretty difficult to elude Pein forever."

I nodded. "I hope they get him before he kills someone else."

Shylah opened the door and held it for me. I thanked her and waited outside for her to close the door and continue leading the way. "It'll be fine, don't worry about it."

"You say that, but…" I drifted off, and we walked around in an easy silence. I didn't mind the quiet that much, and Shylah would start talking if she wanted to - unless I started talking first because I'd thought of something. "So what's it like living with our roommates, Tiamat, and the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki?"

"There are few dull moments now, especially with the arrival of Caitlin, Tisha, and Tracey. When you mix them together with Deidara and Hidan, things just start getting loud and out of hand. It's kind of ridiculous." Shylah frowned at a kid when he ran into her and kept going without apologizing. "Stupid kid, trying to pickpocket me. That's not where I keep my money…"

I frowned after the kid - not because he was trying to pickpocket us (although I didn't like that he'd targeted my sister), but because he looked like he was starving, and I kind of wanted to give him some food. "Where do you keep your money?"

Shylah shrugged before reaching up and taking a purse out from the collar of her shirt. "It's a wonder no one has thought of sewing an inner pocket into their shirts around here. Not that you'd be able to tell, but still…"

"Huh. … Was there this level of poverty in the series? I don't remember anything like this. It's kind of like the condition of Wave."

"No, I don't think so. As far as I can tell, the economy probably picks up a bit faster in the time span between now and the plot. That's not saying much, since it was probably in a rocky state to begin with." Shylah slowed down just long enough to give a second glance to a papaya stand before hurrying up when the stand owner gave her a suspicious stare. "Either way, almost everyone is determined to leave within a month, so there's not too much point in worrying about it."

"I kind of want to stay longer than a month," I mentioned, giving the papaya stand owner a dirty look. How dare he suspect my sister of evil-doings? "But I guess it would be a bad idea to stick around for too long. I'd rather not get involved in this side of the plot."

"Hidan will probably have sacrificed us all by then; I don't think anyone would feel the need to prevent it if we outstay our welcome." Shylah patted my shoulder when I shuddered at the realization that dying was an actual thing that could happen to us here. "I'd say he'll sacrifice Tisha first, since she seems to go out of her way to get on his nerves."

"Even if I don't get along with Tish, I don't want her to die - especially not as a sacrifice to Hidan. That sounds painful."

Shylah shrugged and held open the door to a large building. Inside, it looked almost like a mall, which made sense since people probably didn't enjoy shopping in the almost constant rain. The rain that Pein produces, that gets on people's skin and clothes… Ew. I did my best to shake off the rain that I'd been enjoying just seconds earlier.

When I finished, I turned to see Shylah raising her eyebrows at me, the corners of her mouth barely turned up in a smirk. "Did you just now remember that he controls the rain?"

I frowned and narrowed my eyes, a slight red tinge on my cheeks. "Hey, I was busy enjoying the rain! If you knew, you should've told me, y'know!" Shylah shrugged and started walking. "Wait up, sis! Don't just leave me without warning!"

"Why should I warn you that I'm walking?" Shylah asked. "I'm starting to walk. I'm going to continue picking up speed until I'm walking quickly, and then I'm going to fast walk to a clothing store. When we enter the clothing store, I'm going to slow down to an eventual stop in an aisle with shoes. Is that enough of a warning for you?"

"I didn't mean- Gah! Fine, okay, you win! Let's just go buy some stupid clothes." I frowned as I tried to ignore everyone else who was getting their shopping done. "I don't like shopping…"

"Neither do I, but it's a necessary evil in our society. If you really want to avoid shopping, we could always move to our grandparents' farm and attempt to become self-sustaining. We'd probably fail, with maybe a ten percent chance of success, in case you were wondering."

I tried imagining running a self-sustaining farm and/or ranch with Shylah. I didn't see us making it past a few months, maybe a bit longer depending on how stubborn we were. "I guess I'll just have to deal with it."

Shylah led me into a store where we shopped for clothes - obviously. I bought clothes that I liked, because even in this world hoodies are a style that's appreciated. They had a nice selection of pants and shorts, too.

After we finished with the boring clothes shopping, I dragged my sister over to an arts and crafts shop we'd passed by earlier. They had all sorts of drawing supplies, but I just needed the basics to hold me over for a month - a pencil, sharpener, eraser, and paper. I also bought a few leaflets of origami paper and some diagrams, because I was determined to teach Shylah some of the new techniques I'd learned.

Shylah rolled her eyes as I carefully searched through the assorted origami leaflets to make sure there weren't any with heart patterns or something. I shouldn't have worried, though - they were all solid colors, and while I preferred black, red, and orange, I didn't mind using yellow and pink.

I turned to Shylah, a satisfied grin on my face. "This'll pass the time before we go home. I can teach everyone else how to do origami scorpions, too, so that they won't be bored."

"How considerate," Shylah muttered as she carefully counted out the exact amount of change we'd need for the purchase before we'd gotten to the counter. I smiled cheekily while the cashier rang up the items and added tax, which was kind of pointless since Shylah had probably already done that mentally. The cashier took the money, counted it, and put it away before bagging all my new stuff for me. "Have a nice day," Shylah told him before we walked out.

"You, too- aw, crap!" I said, heat rushing to my cheeks in embarrassment at my automatic reply to Shylah. "Not again!"

Shylah smirked at me. "How many times is that, now?"

I frowned and crossed my arms. "It's only the second time, but you need to stop doing that! It mixes me up and gets my manners all turned around."

"Blame the cashier for having poor manners, not me. Maybe if people remembered their manners without my help, this wouldn't happen." Shylah dodged around some kids running through the mall, her smirk turning into a sour expression. "…bunch of brats…"

"They're just running to the candy store."

"…hate kids…"

"Can we go to the candy store? I want some candy, too!"

"…bad parents…"

"Uh, Shylah?"

Shylah turned to look at me, frowning. "We don't need candy right now." She held up a hand when I started to whine. "If you really want something sweet, I can buy us some dango."

"I guess…" I agreed reluctantly. I wanted to have chocolate instead, but I was also curious about how dango tasted. Ultimately, the reason I decided to just go with it instead of arguing was because it was either dango or nothing, and I'd rather have dango than nothing.

I waited outside the shop that sold dango for Shylah to buy us the treat. It also sold an assortment of chocolates and other candies, but Shylah bypassed all of them in favor of the foreign treat. Well, it wasn't foreign here, but it was foreign to me.

I eyed the dango Shylah returned with, my expression a mixture of eagerness and uncertainty. Then I remembered that dango was basically dough, which was a lot like knoephla, so I eagerly grabbed the stick Shylah offered me and chowed down. "It's better than I thought it'd be. I never would've thought to make a dumpling taste sweet… Well, I might've if I didn't have anything near me but dumplings and sweetener…"

Shylah smirked and ate one of her dumplings-on-a-stick. "I think I'll try my hand at making dango on June fifth. It'll be a nice little treat for everyone - except Tisha, since she doesn't like her food to be this chewy."

"Blasphemy! No one is allowed to dislike the awesomeness of knoephla dumplings!" I exclaimed, hopping up and forward a few paces.

Shylah shrugged and followed after me. "She'll just have to deal with it, since I'm not going to make anything extra for her."

We both lapsed into silence to better enjoy the flavor of the dango we were eating while we exited the mall area. I pulled the hood of my cloak up over my head and held my dango stick as close to my face as possible to prevent it from getting watered down by the rain. Shylah just ignored the water droplets coalescing on her dango and continued to eat at her original pace.

After some walking, we came upon a bunch of people crowding around what I assumed was the door to a building. We were both curious, so we made our way to the front of the circle of strangers just in time to see official-looking dudes carrying a stretcher with a blanket that - I'm assuming - covered a body. A man was nearby, answering questions and looking shell-shocked. I returned my attention to the stretcher when one of the men accidentally jostled it in an attempt to get a better grip, and the blanket slipped a little bit towards the other end. Almost like it would in a movie, the part of the blanket that fell was the part covering the body's face; and so it revealed the person to be a young woman - maybe a few years older than Shylah - with dark, reddish-brown hair and a pale complexion, her mouth twisted into a grimace and glassy brown eyes staring blankly up at the sky.

I looked away. It seemed disrespectful to stare at someone I didn't even know with the morbid fascination of an on-looking stranger, and I also didn't really enjoy the sight of corpses. To my left, I could see Shylah continue to watch the scene before us, seemingly indifferent to the revelation of the face of the dead woman. Her gaze turned away from the stretcher once the coroners covered the body once again, and she inconspicuously made her way to a position where she could probably hear the man who was being questioned.

I didn't follow her. My stomach was beginning to feel queasy as I thought about this murder, and the previous murder I'd been told about earlier. Are the two connected? Is there a serial killer prowling around here, killing off random women? I suddenly don't want to stick around here…

My eyes wandered over the other people who had remained. My sister was still listening, her eyes on something other than the men she was eavesdropping on to avoid suspicion. Two old women, one with a little girl whose ears she was covering while the girl looked around curiously, spoke to each other at a rapid pace. A tall man with black hair and dark brown eyes shook his head sadly before walking away.

"She was such a sweet girl, too. What a shame…" I turned to the man standing by me. He was frowning after the people carrying the woman's body, looking concerned and maybe a little sad.

"You knew her?"

He startled and looked down at me as though just realizing I was there. "Not really. We passed by each other in the street sometimes, and I live nearby. We never actually introduced ourselves to each other, but she was polite and sometimes made a meal or two for one of the kids that run around."

"Oh." We stood together in awkward silence, me waiting for my sister to lose interest, him probably just remembering moments when he interacted with her. I studied him out of the corner of my eye. He was tall - taller than me, at least - with dark blonde hair and green eyes. His eyes were darker than Tracey's, but only by a little bit.

After a little while, the man left, and Shylah walked over to me. She didn't ask about the man, whom she'd been eyeing with suspicion when he walked over to me. Instead, she simply started walking back in the direction of the Akatsuki base, speeding up once I started walking with her. "Did you find out anything interesting, sis?"

Shylah shrugged. "Not really. She didn't have any enemies, that guy was her boyfriend, and her best friend was murdered three days ago. She was really shaken up by her friend's death, and I think the guy questioning him was implying that she'd committed suicide. Unlikely, but I suppose it's possible she'd decided to slit her own throat."

"I didn't notice that her throat was slit."

"Apparently there was a bag covering her face so that blood wouldn't get on it. If you looked closely at her neck when the blanket fell off, you could see the tip of the cut." Shylah paused for a few seconds, looking curiously into a bookstore. "I don't think the other guy knew about the bag until her boyfriend told him, or else he wouldn't have suggested suicide."

"So it's murder?"

"Yep."

When we got back to the base, Shylah went into the kitchen to start preparing lunch, leaving me to go to my room and change into the clothes I'd bought. Once I'd done that, I tossed Shylah's clothes onto her bed and the clothes of mine that I hadn't used yet onto my own bed. I could just put them away before I went to bed.

Since I was bored and didn't feel like helping my sister cook (mwahaha!), I looked through each occupied room. It was pretty obvious which ones belonged to who if you just looked in (and on) their drawers - Tiamat had mostly dresses, Emi had hair ties, Tracey wore lots of brightly-colored skirts, Reia preferred green and brown colors, and Tish had the kind of shoes that looked as though they could double as weapons.

I was standing outside of the last room, which was Caitlin's, with my hand poised to open the door. When I did, a pillow flew into my face with enough force for the seams to pop open and spread stuffing everywhere. "Gah!" I sputtered, spitting out the small amount of stuffing that had managed to make its way into my gaping mouth. I narrowed my eyes and threw the stuffing-less pillow onto Caitlin's be. "Oh, she wants to start a prank war, does she?"

I slammed the door and made my way down the hall. "Vengeance will be swift!" I yelled to nobody in particular.

When I finally reached the kitchen, Shylah was boredly stirring a pot of some food I didn't care about because I was thinking of what I needed for my prank of vengeance. "Hey, sis, where's the sugar?" I grabbed all the sugar I'd need and started preparing a sauce pan. "Do we have any onions?"

"In the crisper of the fridge. Why?"

I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "No reason; I was just in the mood for something sweet," I replied as I added sugar to the pan and started stirring.

"Are you pregnant or something?"

"WHAT?!" I yelled, whirling on Shylah. "Why would you think I'm pregnant of all things?!"

Shylah shrugged. "Caramelized sugar and onions are an odd combination to be craving. Y'know, like how a pregnant lady might crave something as weird as pickles and ice cream." She turned back to watching her food cook. "I'd suggest that you try to prevent any of the Akatsuki members from eating them. I promised Pein I wouldn't let you guys involve them in a prank war."

I shuddered at the thought of a prank war with the Akatsuki. "Don't worry, I won't. A prank war with Akatsuki members sounds scary."

"Okay. And keep the others from pranking the Akatsuki, too. No matter how much Tisha probably wants to prank Hidan and Caitlin wants to get back at Deidara for teasing her."

Tiamat walked into the kitchen, took one look at my sugar and onions, and turned back around. "I didn't see anything. I refuse to get involved in another one of your stupid pranking wars."

Reia was passing in the hallway, and she changed course for the kitchen when she heard Tiamat. "Please don't tell me you're pranking anyone." I just smiled and whistled to myself while I worked, so she sighed. "Mischa, this is a childish idea. Do you remember what happened last time the prank war escalated because you joined in the pranking?"

I paused mid-stir. "Was that the time we permanently dyed Tiamat's hair white, or the time we got her irises to turn red?"

Reia deadpanned at me. "Whichever one it was, it proves my point. You should stop while you're ahead, before there's another casualty like that."

I whirled on her, pointing my sauce spoon threateningly. "Hey, Tiamat kept her hair like that. She could've dyed it back, but she didn't because she secretly likes it! And I didn't hear her complaining about her eyes, either!"

"Why do you think she avoids being around us when you guys are on another one of your pranking sprees?"

"…Because she doesn't want it to happen again?"

Reia threw her hands in the air in exasperation. It was kind of adorable to see someone so tiny act so annoyed. "Exactly!" She frowned disapprovingly at me. "No one wants a repeat of what happened last time!"

I snapped my fingers in the air, right next to that invisible light bulb floating by my head that just turned on. Hush, it's there - I know this to be true. "The last time we had a prank war was when we permanently dyed Tish's hair purple! That was a fun one! Except for the end, because Tish wanted to beat us all up…"

"And she nearly succeeded, too! Just think what'll happen if you end up pranking her again, or even one of the Akatsuki. It's a bad idea, Mischa." Reia turned to Shylah, a pleading look in her eyes. "You've got to be against this, right?"

"Hmm… I guess it's not too bad as long as they don't get the Akatsuki involved."

I beamed at Shylah while Reia gripped her hair and groaned in defeat. "Thanks, sis! Don't worry, we won't involve any of the Akatsuki members, promise!" I turned back to my slowly-caramelizing sugar and stirred it, humming happily and ignoring Reia and Shylah's muttered conversation.

I peeked into the living room area of the Akatsuki base. The only Akatsuki member present, currently, was Itachi, who was reading a book; Tish, Caitlin, and Tracey were all whispering to each other over a large piece of paper. The whispering reached a fever pitch (as far as whispering goes) before Caitlin leaned back and threw her arms in the air, a scowl on her face.

"Where would we even get a T-Rex costume?! Are we going to make it? 'Cause I don't know about the rest of you, but I am absolute shit at sewing in the worst way possible!"

I frowned at her swearing and stepped forward, plastering a huge grin onto my face. "Hey, guys! I made some caramel apples, and Shylah said I have to share with you guys, too. So, here I am." I walked over to the table and placed the platter of caramel 'apples' off to the side, since I knew they wouldn't want me to place it on the huge paper they were arguing over.

Tish and Caitlin eyed the treats admiringly - caramel was Tish's weakness, and Caitlin liked almost every kind of fruit. Tracey studied the caramel with almost as much disinterest as when Shylah and I talked about video games, and I mentally face-palmed when I remembered that Tracey didn't really like sweets. Grasping at straws, I appealed to Tracey's better nature. "I'd really appreciate it if you'd all eat one and tell me how it tastes!"

Tracey looked from the caramel-covered food-on-a-stick to my earnest face. Her gaze grew uncertain when she saw how much I wanted her to eat one, and finally she sighed. "How can I refuse a present from a friend?" She asked, smiling at me, and I felt a little bad when she reached for one.

From over my shoulder, a hand plucked one of the remaining caramel apples from the plate, and I whirled around, thinking maybe Itachi had been lured by the promise of sugary sweetness. Instead, Deidara was inspecting the caramel apple curiously. "What is this?'

"It's a caramel apple!" I exclaimed, lunging for the stick he was holding. "Not for you!" No! I promised my sister I wouldn't get them involved!

He eyed the caramel apple suspiciously. "It's an apple, un?" His eyes turned to me, holding the apple above his head. "Why can't I have one?"

Not fair! How can he keep it away from me if we're the same height?! "Because-" I stopped. Aside from what the apple really was, I had no good reason. I wasn't willing to reveal what I'd done and blow the cover of my prank. "Because ladies first!"

Deidara grinned (well, it was more of a smirk) and took a bite. His face froze, and I looked over my shoulder to see Caitlin, Tish, and Tracey, each with a bite out of their treats, faces equally-shocked. I hesitantly turned back to Deidara, whose expression was suddenly morphing into one of anger.

Not taking any chances, I ran out of the room and back to the kitchen. "I'M SORRY, SHYLAH! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

When I arrived at the kitchen, Shylah turned to me, looking resigned. "Who?"

"Deidara," I barely got out before we heard the sounds of indignant yelling echoing through the halls. I squeaked and ran behind my sister.

Shylah sighed and opened the door to a counter cupboard. "Get in."

I did as I was told, and not two seconds after Shylah had closed the door did footsteps run into the kitchen. "Where's that little bitch?!" Tish's voice yelled.

"Who?" Shylah asked, sounding irritated at being interrupted.

"Your fucking sister, that's who!"

"I don't appreciate your comment. She ran in here a few seconds ago, but I told her this would be the first place you'd look. She ran off, and I don't know where she went after that." I appreciated not for the first time that Shylah's expressions and voice rarely changed. None of them could tell that she was lying, I was sure.

"Then you won't mind if I look in a few of these cupboards, un." Figures the ninja would find me…

"Go ahead," Shylah replied. I hoped they didn't call her bluff, and my hopes were dashed when I heard the sound of a cupboard being opened. After they opened a few more, Shylah finally intervened. "She's not here. Now get out of this kitchen unless you plan on helping me cook, or no lunch for you."

"Just one more. I want to look in the cupboard you've been leaning on, un." Oh, crap, oh crap, oh crap!

I held my breath as Deidara's footsteps neared my hiding place. I couldn't hear Shylah move away, but when I heard the shifting of cloth, I squeezed my eyes shut and waited. I barely suppressed a whimper as a cupboard door was pulled open.

"…"

"See? She's not here, and if you really want to catch her, you should hurry before she finds a good spot."

They all left, grumbling and - in Tish's case - cussing me out. I counted down two minutes, but stayed inside when the time was up anyway, just in case. Someone literally skipped into the room, and I could hear Tracey's muffled voice coming through the cupboard door. "Tell Mischa that I really liked her prank next time you see her. It was a good one on such short notice. I'd be happy to work with her in the future - our pranking group could use her resourcefulness."

Sometimes I wonder why I dislike Tracey so much, I thought to myself while Shylah replied. "I'll be sure to let her know. Is everyone still searching?"

Tracey giggled, suddenly reminding me why I didn't like her - no one is ever that happy, or giggly; it's suspicious. "Deidara got distracted by Tobi, and Tish and Caitlin gave up after searching only a few places. I stopped looking after I got lost and wandered around for a little bit. Your cooking's a lifesaver - I just followed the smell."

"Good to know you appreciate my cooking."

"No problem!" I got a clear image of Tracey waving happily and skipping out of the room.

After a few seconds, I came out of the cupboard, and Shylah shook her head at me. "I'm very disappointed in you."

I gave Shylah my best apologetic look, tearing up at the thought of disappointing my big sister. "I'm sorry! I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't give it back, and he took a bit, and the others took a bite of their own, and- I'm sorry!"

Shylah rolled her eyes. "I forgive you."

Kisame stuck his head in the doorway, then, a smirk on his face. "What was with all that yelling earlier?"

Shylah started dishing up the food while she replied. "Mischa pranked Tish, Caitlin, and Tracey by covering onions with caramel and pretending they were caramel apples. Deidara ended up taking a bite out of one, too."

Kisame turned back to me, his smirk turning into an approving grin. "Nice." He looked back at Shylah. "Is the food done?"

Shylah held a plate piled high with food (most likely specifically for him). "Have at it."

"Thanks," he replied, grinning, before turning and walking into the dining area to eat.

"WAAAH!" A familiar voice yelled. We barely had time to look down the hall before an orange-masked blur latched onto me. "How could Mischa do this to Tobi?!"

I patted his shoulder, alarmed. "What happened, Tobi?"

"Why would Mischa disguise onions as candy apples and say they were for Tobi?" I winced at the hurt in his voice, even if he was most likely just pretending.

"I made those to prank Tish, Tracey, and Caitlin. Who gave you one?"

"Deidara-sempai said you made one especially for me!"

I frowned, irritated that Deidara would give one of my prank-creations to Tobi without my knowledge. "Then Deidara pranked you with my stuff."

"Deidara-sempai pranked me?"

I nodded, a determined glint entering my eyes. "Do you want to help me prank Deidara back? Along with my friends, of course." At Tobi's hesitation, I smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry, my roommates and I always have a pranking war every few months. It's all in the name of friendship!"

Shylah sighed and shook her head while Tobi jumped up and down, having released me. "Yeah! Shylah-chan, Mischa-chan, and Tobi will all team up in a pranking war against Tisha-chan, Caitlin-chan, Tracey-chan, and Deidara-sempai!"

"Don't involve me in this," Shylah muttered. She frowned at us when we whirled on her with pleading expressions. Well, I was pleading; Tobi was probably pleading, too, but it was hard to tell. After a few seconds, she sighed again. "Fine," she relented.

"YES!" Tobi and I cheered, jumping up and having our own screen-freeze moment. Just, without the screen actually freezing, because we couldn't really do that in real life. Maybe there's a ninja technique for that…

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Hidan's voice yelled from the living room. Tobi and I shared a look, silently communicating with each other that Hidan had probably also been given a caramel onion, and Tobi ran away, me trailing after him. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU LITTLE-" This sentence has been cut short thanks to my inner censoring abilities.

Mischa is... eheh... I don't even know. The blatant crack!personality might be irritating for some people, but that was kind of my point. I enjoy OCs with contrasting personalities, and Mischa and Shylah are the Sun-and-Rain sisters (slight reference to the second Mulan movie).

I hope you enjoyed Mischa's chapter. I was originally going to wait a few chapters to initiate the prank war, but then decided, 'what the heck, why not?'. Part of it was also that I'm too impatient to wait that long to write it. I'm not very creative with pranks, though, so if you have any suggestions... ;3

I feel kind of bored, so I'm going to ask you guys a Question (and hope I get a response): Have you seen any good movies this summer? Any thoughts?

My Answer (because I can): I saw 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' a while back. I like any good movie involving dragons that don't (all) die. Yep. The only really memorable part for me was anything involving a dragon. Toothless's awesome is too great to be comprehended, much like Kisame.

To Scarlett, because I'm too lazy to search your name in the little FanFiction 'search' engine and give you a proper reply: Thank you for the reviews and encouragement! I appreciate that you like Shylah's character, and I'm kind of curious what you think of my other OCs (I'm not fishing for flattery, I swear!). I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :3