Why is this chapter named 'Flawless POV Switch'? Because I can't think of anything else to name it.

Unfortunately, I still don't own Naruto or any of the series' characters. Please enjoy anyway. :3

Tiamat's P.O.V.

My eyebrow twitched irritably as I turned a corner. Tisha and Hidan had managed to reach new heights when it came to irritating me, and as it was, I was barely able to keep my composure. I was tempted to recruit Shylah to find things we needed to purchase for either the kitchen or supply closet, but she was once again preparing dango. The only explanation she'd given me was that it was June ninth - not that there was anything significant about June ninth to begin with. Shylah was simply being herself, making up excuses when something didn't suit her.

I hurriedly opened the door to the library and remembered myself just in time to catch the door before it slammed shut behind me. Letting out a sigh of relief at the solitary atmosphere (few people seemed to know or care about the library in the headquarters), I slowed my pace and took my time inspecting the books. The oldest and rarest books were closer to the back, along with a few chairs and a table.

As per usual, Kakuzu was occupying one of those chairs. He had a large case on the floor beside him, and in front of him multiple stacks of ryo, which he would count over and over again. He was in the middle of a large pile when I selected a random book from the shelves and sat across the table from him. "I could help you count, if you'd like," I offered, just like every other time I came into the library to see him sitting there.

He paused, glancing up at me. "No," he replied before returning to his money. If I read a chapter and looked up, he would be done and on to budgeting the Akatsuki's finances for the next year or so, the paper just far enough in shadow so that I couldn't see what he was writing.

I felt a small smile creep onto my face when, a chapter of reading later, I looked up to see that he was in fact on the budget. I held in a smirk and returned to my book, not feeling discouraged by the lack of progress. Maybe one day, but not right now… I think I'll get a job in Ame to occupy myself with instead. Only so many people can clean one building.

Tracey's P.O.V.

I looked between Itachi and Shylah, feeling like I was missing some significant conversation or something. They just had a moment in front of me, and I don't even know why! "So what's June ninth?"

Shylah shrugged. "Today is June ninth, the day I felt like making dango for the second - and maybe last - time. I don't know what about June ninth is important to Itachi, but there's not really anything special about it for me."

I turned to Itachi, who was calmly eating some of said dango. "What's special about June ninth to you?"

He turned to me slowly. I felt my breath hitch in my throat when our eyes met. Yeah, he was good-looking, but he was also really intimidating. "There's nothing special about today, except that Shylah willingly cooked something."

I blinked, shocked into silence. "I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak." The silence didn't last very long, did it?

"Hn."

Shylah smirked while I just sighed, deflating slightly. So much for trying to hold a friendly conversation with him… Well I'm not giving up! With new determination, I sat up and returned to facing the Uchiha. "You must really like dango."

His eyes flickered back to me. I couldn't tell if he appreciated my attempts at conversation or not, since he was so expressionless. Slowly, he nodded, having just taken another bite of dango.

"How does Shylah's cooking hold up to any dango shops you've visited?" Maybe I could get him to talk if I used Shylah as bait - he seemed to get along with her, as far as her dango-making skills went.

Shylah rolled her eyes before Itachi replied. "It is… acceptable."

Again, Shylah rolled her eyes, this time while smirking. "Gee, thanks. Good to know my cooking is just 'acceptable' for the great Uchiha Itachi." Once again, silence pervaded the room, and Shylah looked anywhere but at Itachi.

I don't think I've ever seen Shylah act nervous before, I thought, grabbing a stick of dango for myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Itachi's eyes flash red, but dismissed it when I turned to look at him fully and didn't see anything like what I'd apparently imagined. Still, I nervously put the dango back on the platter.

After a few seconds - in which I studied my nails to make sure they weren't chipped or anything -, a stick of dango blocked my vision. "You may have this," a voice quietly told me from my side.

I slowly grabbed the dango stick, deciding not to tell him that I didn't actually like sweets all that much. Why did I grab one in the first place? Oh, yeah. It would've been rude not to try something Shylah made for us. "Thanks, Itachi!" I exclaimed, immediately brightening and turning to share some of that brightness with him.

"Hn." I pouted. "…You're welcome."

With a teasing grin, Shylah said, "Aaaw." This time, I knew for sure that Itachi's eyes flashed red, and Shylah stepped back, hands raised to eye level. "Okay, okay, no teasing the stoic Uchiha. Got it." Shylah turned to leave. "I'm gonna go take a nap."

"Where do you think she goes to take her 'naps'? I couldn't find her in her room the last time she left saying that." I stared after her, before getting a bright idea. "Let's follow her!"

"Just ask her."

I turned to Itachi, the pout returning to my face. "But that's no fun! You're a ninja, where's your sense of sneakiness and adventure?"

"I seem to have left it in my other cloak."

My mouth opened to retort, but what would've been a clever comeback (trust me!) turned into a giggle. "Nice one." I giggled again before sitting back down. "I didn't think you could make jokes."

"Ninja tend not to joke around all the time. Nuke-nin especially don't benefit from an excessive amount of humor - it can be distracting."

"It's good to make jokes, though! Life just gets depressing if you don't have any humor! Look at Tiamat! She's always really serious, and hardly ever smiles! She'd probably feel way better if she got a sense of humor…" I trailed off, not really sure how to keep the conversation going. It was kind of hard to do when Itachi hardly reacted to anything.

He didn't reply, and I couldn't think of anything to say. We sat in silence for several minutes, until I could think up something else to say. C'mon, me! Think up something! Gah, I hate silence!

I paused, turning to study Itachi. How can someone possibly be so still? Not even Reia can keep up such a perfect model of statue-…ness… He should be a nude model for an art class. Not because I want to see him naked! Although, now that I think about it…

I was interrupted from what would have turned into a drool-inducing fantasy by T stomping into the room. "Yo, bitch, get over here! We're gonna plan some pranks."

Eager for some friendly pranking, I quickly hopped up and raced after her. "Bye, Itachi!" I called back, sure he wouldn't mind my absence.

We ran until we reached our fortress of solitude - T's room. No one went in there because she was super-protective of her stuff. "Okay, Trace, let's get this shit started! Got any ideas?"

I grinned slyly. "If you have the goods, I'll have the ideas."

T groaned. "For the last time, I don't know where to get sparkles! Ask Tiamat or Shylah - one of them will probably know where the village keeps its good shit."

"I don't think either of them would consider sparkles 'good shit'. Maybe 'shit', but not 'good shit'." I smiled at T's exasperated glare. "They're not the ones who owe me, anyway."

"Let's just come up with some ideas before we go around looking for materials," T practically growled out.

I adopted an exaggerated thinking pose, ignoring T's eye roll. "Shut up, it helps me think!" I snapped without malice. After a few seconds, I thought of something. "The old doughnut trick is a good one!"

"Do they even have those here?" T shook her head. "Besides, the only ones who'd fall for that are Deidara and Tobi; Caitlin knows us too well, and there's no way Shylah would let Mischa have a doughnut from us before she checked it first. …bitch…"

I fell back onto T's bed. "I forgot about that!" I whined. "I wish Deidara hadn't joined - then Cat would still be with us, and it'd be three versus two. It's way more fun thinking of ideas with Cat here, anyway."

*Flashback!*

"What?!" T yelled at Shylah. "Why do we have to follow stupid rules?"

Shylah locked eyes with T, going into her rare 'Ice Queen' mode. (Like the name? I came up with it myself!) "Because when you weren't following any rules, you all ended up involving Deidara and Tobi." Shylah ignored Hidan's outburst about being involved by us, too. "Therefore, I'm implementing our old rules, with a few modifications."

"Rule One: No pranking any Akatsuki members, unless they specifically declare themselves on one of your teams. Right now, Tobi is with Mischa on a team."

"But sis!" Mischa interrupted Ice. (I usually call her Fire or Fuego whenever she's with Ice.) "I thought you were going to be on our team!"

"I'm officiating. I don't belong to any team."

Mischa crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "But now the teams are uneven!"

Deidara spoke up, putting a hand on Cat's shoulder (which she promptly threw off). "I'll make my own team with Neko, hm." Cat turned to glare at him, but he just grinned at her until she rolled her eyes and nodded.

Ice turned back to her sister. "Happy?"

Fire continued pouting, but eased up a little. "No."

Ice continued like Fire hadn't said anything. "Rule Two: No maiming, killing, incapacitating, or harming anyone in any sense of the word. Rule Three: No causing damages to either any part of the Akatsuki base (including the items within it) or the surrounding landscape slash villages. Finally, no permanently dying anyone's hair or eyes an unnatural color. Anyone caught breaking any of these rules will be subject to the whims of the victim for a month. If there were no victims, you are subject to my whims. Before anyone argues, I have Pein-sama backing me up on this. Deal with it."

That last comment was directed towards T, Deidara, and Fire. T looked ready to argue - "We aren't just gonna give Cat up!" Deidara did argue - "Rules two and three are the exact opposite of artistic, hm!" Fire didn't argue or say anything, but she did give Ice her best pout. I smiled and waved at Cat and Tobi. "Let's have fun, okay?"

*End Flashback!*

"If Deidara didn't join and recruit Cat, Mischa probably would've convinced Shylah to join her. As much as I hate to admit it, I don't ever want that to happen - she and her sister are a resourceful team." T smirked. "Tobi won't be much of a problem. He's just as likely to have all their plans backfire in their faces; I don't think he'll be contributing much to Mischa's ideas."

I nodded. "As much as I hate to say it, we won't have to worry about them nearly as much as Deidara and Cat."

T's eyebrows furrowed together again when she remembered that Deidara had taken our prankster-in-arms. "Deidara's pretty cutthroat, and Cat's really good at coming up with things you'd never see coming. We'll have to have all sorts of traps and things ready for whenever they decide to strike."

"Hey, that gives me an idea!" I brightened, before my smile quickly faded. "Never mind, this world doesn't have Jolly Ranchers. Maybe there's some kind of substitute?"

"I think I remember you mentioning something about Jolly Ranchers in shower heads before… Would freezing jelly work? Maybe Jell-O cubes, if we can get Shylah to make homemade ones."

I snapped my fingers. "That's it! We'll form a temporary alliance with Mischa and Tobi to ask Mischa to make us Jolly Ranchers!"

T frowned at me. "I don't want to make any alliances or anything - especially not this early in the prank war. Besides, what would we offer from our end?"

"Some of our plans?"

"That's definitely a no! I'm not giving up our pranking ideas to them!" T exclaimed, vehemently shaking her head. "There's no way I'd give up something that could be turned around on us in the end."

"But we'd know what to look out for, then, wouldn't we?"

"…We could give them some plans we came up with when Cat was in our group. That was we'd still have an edge, and no matter who they prank, it won't work! You're a fucking genius, Trace!"

"That's not exactly what I had in mind…"

Tish's P.O.V.

"You're a fucking genius, Trace!" I exclaimed almost giddily. I hopped up off my bed and fast walked over to the door. "For now, let's just relax before the shit hits the fan. It's almost time for dinner, so I'm gonna go see if Shylah's made our food, yet."

"T, Ice makes food at the same time every day. She hasn't been late so far, and I don't think she'll be late for a long time," Tracey pointed out.

I smirked back at her over my shoulder. "I know that; I just like pissing her off. Besides, she almost didn't make lunch one time!"

"Once!" Tracey exclaimed, pointing her finger to the ceiling for emphasis. "And never again!"

"Whatever!" I called back at her, already halfway out the door. I made my way to the kitchen, careful to keep track of where I was going so that I wouldn't get lost again. Remembering my first day here, I shuddered a little. No matter how badass I was, all that blood was mind-scarring.

Speaking of mind-scarring… I couldn't help but think when - guess who? - Hidan rounded the freaking corner. He caught sight of me and grinned. It was more like a cross between a sadistic smirk and a grimace, but who really gives a shit? All that matters is that the annoying 'Jashinist', or whatever the fuck he calls his made-up religion, took one look at me and started walking with me. "'Sup, bitch?"

"None of your business, Albino Bastard," I ground out. My teeth clenched automatically, and I picked up the pace to try and get ahead of him. Of course, he easily kept up with me. Damn ninjas. "Don't you have a corpse to fuck?"

"Oi, watch your tongue, heathen! My sacrifices to Jashin-sama should be referred to with the highest fucking praise. I don't need to fuck corpses, I could get any bitch I want!" Hidan yelled at me. Maybe if I kept insulting him, he'd leave me alone…

"Yeah, right. As long as they're dead." I paused. "And you didn't deny that you fuck dead bodies, did you?"

"I don't fuck corpses, bitch!" Hidan yelled as we walked into the kitchen - well, he pushed me while I was tripping him, so we ended up as a huge pile on the kitchen floor.

Shylah raised her eyebrows at us before returning to her cooking. "I don't want to know what you do behind closed doors, Hidan."

Hidan lifted a hand from the floor and pointed it dramatically at Shylah. "Fuck you!"

I rolled my eyes before freezing. "Are you groping me?"

Hidan looked over at me, frowning in concentration (it must've been difficult for him). The feeling of pressure on my butt intensified slightly, and he smirked at me. "Yep."

I punched him and got up. "Don't grope my ass, pervert!" I leaned back against the counter just to be sure that he couldn't reach behind me anymore.

Hidan got up, rubbing his now-bleeding nose. "Maybe I should just go for your tits next time, then," he replied, leering over me. He jerked back suddenly when a huge wooden spoon whacked him over the head.

"Not in my kitchen, you two," Shylah hissed at us. "I don't want to have to listen to the two of you sexually harass each other more than I already do."

"As if I'd sexually harass him!" I yelled at the same time Hidan yelled, " She fucking likes it!"

I turned to glare at him. "I don't like it, bastard! You should learn to keep it in your fucking pants! I'd never have sex with a corpse-fucker like you. Indirect necrophilia isn't my thing."

Hidan brought his fist back to punch me and I grabbed a kitchen knife. Again, he was whacked over the head with a spoon, but this time I was, too. "I said no, you two. I don't want to have to clean blood up in my kitchen again, especially since I'm not getting paid anymore." This time Shylah whacked Hidan's back and my butt, using her other hand to make shooing motions. "Go practice your BDSM nonsense somewhere else."

I glared back at her, leaping out of the way of her next strike aiming for my shins. "Okay, okay, we're going!" I yelled, breaking into a sprint to get myself out of Shylah's range.

Hidan and I stopped running after we exited the kitchen, slowing down to a more appropriate pace for our 'walk of shame'. "Bitch…" Hidan muttered. The wooden spoon came flying out of the kitchen, whacking Hidan right in his jugular. He clutched at his neck, trying to breathe through his spasming neck muscles.

Next to us, Emi was giving him a terrified look while Kisame (who for some reason tended to follow Emi around when he wasn't busy) laughed his ass off. "She got you that time. Some ninja you are," Kisame gasped out between breaths.

Emi turned to me and whispered, "Is he okay?"

I waved off her concern. "Don't worry about him; he totally deserved that."

"Oh," Emi replied, sidling away from Kisame. He was too busy laughing to notice. "Do you know where Caitlin is?"

"Not really. We haven't talked to each other much since Shylah came up with her 'rules'."

"She's probably off canoodling with Deidara," Shylah's voice called quietly from the kitchen. That sent Kisame into a new round of hysterics, Hidan now joining in. Emi's face reddened a little at what Shylah was implying, while I just glared back at her.

Emi's P.O.V.

My cheeks went pink at Shylah's words. I quickly walked into the kitchen, away from the two laughing men. "Do you know where they might be?" I asked, looking through the cabinets to see what we might need. "I was going to ask her if she wanted to go shopping for supplies with me."

Shylah turned to me disinterestedly. "I guess they'll probably be in the indoor training area. I can show you, but you'd might as well just wait until after I finish making dinner. You'll be able to catch Caitlin before they leave again, assuming she wants to go. If not, I'll just go with you." She reached into her pocket and produced a rolled-up piece of paper and some money. "Here's a list of all the things you'll need, as well as our saved-up ryo."

"O-okay," I replied, wincing slightly when I stuttered at meeting her gaze. I grabbed the list and cash and looked through it to begin the process of memorizing everything I'd need - not that I'd be able to remember everything. My memory's not that good…

"'Kay. Help me dish these up," Shylah semi-ordered. She didn't use the same tone as Tiamat, but it was still phrased in a way that was more than a request.

I silently complied. Personally, I enjoyed Shylah's quiet company. I felt like she could be nice… when she wanted to… sometimes… maybe.

Plates in hand, I turned around and squeaked when I found my path blocked by a very large blue person. Kisame smirked down at me, showing his sharp teeth off. "Need help?"

"We have an imposter, Emi! Quick, to the harpoons!" Shylah declared, raising the spatula she'd been using to dish rice (don't ask me why). Shylah took hold of my shoulder and dragged me behind the island counters, leaving them in between Kisame and us. I would've dropped the food, but Kisame had grabbed my plates and put them on the counter just in time.

"Imposter?" Kisame and I asked at the same time.

"You can't fool us! Kisame's far too intimidating to help us set the table."

"Look who's talking - there's no way Shylah would act like this," Kisame replied, grinning. He then grabbed my shoulders and lifted me over the counter to his side. "Quick, Emi, get the harpoons and fishing nets. We're not letting this one escape us, now!" I mutely nodded, looking around for something to use as a makeshift net.

"No, I've been discovered! You'll never catch me alive!" Shylah cackled, running for the exit to the dining room. She hadn't gone more than a few steps before running into something that was sort of low to the ground. When she hit it, Shylah bounced back like she'd been burned.

"What's with all the noise?" Came a gruff voice. I recognized it as belonging to Sasori, whom Caitlin, Tracey, and Tish had 'lovingly' dubbed 'The Blob'.

Shylah rubbed the back of her head sheepishly before glancing back at us. After a few seconds, she abruptly ran past Sasori, through the dining room, and into the halls. "I regret nothing~!"

Sasori, who had turned to watch her flee along with the rest of us, returned his extremely intimidating gaze back to Kisame and I. "Well?" He reiterated, starting to sound impatient.

I subconsciously hid myself behind Kisame, who was tall and muscular and much better at handling the scary looks the other Akatsuki members could give. I couldn't see his expression, but he didn't seem anywhere near as nervous as I was. "We were just messing around a little before everyone arrived and started complaining about the lack of food. Why are you here, anyway?"

"I could hear the racket you were causing from in my workshop." With that, he turned to leave. Or, as Mischa would say, he 'squidged along the floor like a snail'.

I held in a giggle as Kisame turned to me. "Hey, do you smell something burning?"

Curious, I sniffed the air. "The food!" I exclaimed before turning back to the still-heated stove and hurriedly turning everything off. "Oh, no! I hope it's not ruined…" Adrenaline started to shoot through me at the thought of what might happen to me if I was discovered with the burnt dinner. My fear was soon replaced by worry because they'd go after Shylah, who was in charge of cooking.

Kisame dished out another plate and inspected it. "I think it's okay. It's not that different from Shylah's normal cooking, anyway."

"She's n-not a b-bad cook!" I argued. It wasn't very convincing, considering that I was stuttering. "She just gets… distracted."

"I was joking, Emi." Kisame replied, grabbing one of the two unburned plates and handing one to me. "Everyone else can get their own food; let's eat."

I nodded and followed him into the dining area. That was pretty fun while it lasted. Shylah's been loosening up pretty quickly here. "U-um, Kisame-san?"

"Yeah?"

"W-why do y-you, uh, f-follow me around? I-I've noticed that y-you tend t-to hang a-around me, and-" I cut myself off, my face heating up because of not only my nervousness, but also embarrassment at my stuttering.

"Pein-sama ordered us all to keep track of you. Since there are eight of you and seven of us, we each decided to watch over whichever one of you appeared in our beds. We left Mischa to Tobi, even though he's not a member. I've just been keeping an eye on you."

"A-and the others? O-only Deidara and Caitlin r-really hang out w-with each other," I pointed out. "Tish and Hidan s-sometimes stay around each other, b-but only because they w-want to argue."

"So long as they don't cause any trouble, the rest of the Akatsuki members won't feel like keeping track of them. We don't have to watch you every second of every day, and when we're finally sent out on missions again, we'll probably see you maybe once a year."

"O-oh," was all I could think to say.

I remained silent through dinner, careful to keep an eye on Caitlin so that I'd be able to ask her about shopping before she went back to planning pranks with Deidara. Finally, dinner was over, and my moment had arrived. Caitlin was just walking out of the dining area, so I rushed after her. "Um, Caitlin?"

Caitlin paused and turned to me. "Oh, hey Emi. What's up?"

Taking a deep breath, I plowed ahead with my request, ignoring my natural hesitation at the thought of being rejected. "I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to shop for cleaning supplies and groceries. If y-you want t-to… M-maybe…"

"Sure," Caitlin replied, smiling easily. "Do you want me to get a list of what we need from Shylah?"

"I-I have the list," I mentioned. Relieved, I smiled a little in return. She didn't say no… "I have the money, too."

Caitlin's P.O.V.

"Great," I replied, making sure I sounded as reassuring as I possibly could. Inwardly, I was a little relieved to have an excuse to leave the base and go shopping. I'll be able to buy some pranking supplies while I'm there, too! And maybe do some light pick pocketing in the streets… "Shall we?" I asked, gesturing in the direction of the door.

"Shouldn't we get shoes, first?"

I face palmed. "Oh, right. Duh! Thanks for reminding me, Em." I used Tracey's nickname for her to try and make her feel more at ease.

"Hey, Neko, should we get back to our planning, hm?" Deidara asked, approaching us from the dining area. He'd gotten held up by an argument with Hidan, which he'd apparently finished up.

Shaking my head, I patted Emi's head, making her face redden. "Nope. I'm gonna go buy some supplies with Emi. I'll make sure to get some things for our plans, okay?"

Deidara mirrored my devious smirk. "Okay. Have fun, you two, hm." He waved before walking off to go do… something. Probably mess around with his hand mouths and explosive clay. That wasn't meant to sound dirty, so hopefully it didn't.

Emi and I walked to our rooms at a slow, easy pace. Despite how slowly we were going, we still managed to make our way to the corridor reserved for our group in record time. We both dove into our rooms, grabbed some shoes and our rain cloaks, and walked back to the entrance, where we put on said shoes.

Afterwards, we made our way out of the door and into the streets of Amegakure. I pulled the hood of my cloak as far over my head as possible in an attempt to keep the humidity away from my naturally frizzy hair; it probably wouldn't work, but it was worth a try. Emi pulled her own hood up as well, but not as forcefully as I had.

"Is it just me, or is it raining harder out here than the last time I went shopping?" I asked, addressing no one in particular. I looked up and narrowed my eyes slightly at the sky, then jerked my head back down when one of the unpleasant droplets hit me in the dead center of my left eye. "Yep, it's raining hard. What a day to go shopping."

"I-I'm sorry," Emi muttered, looking down like a chastised puppy.

I held up my hands in a placating gesture. "Hey, it's not your fault. It's not like you woke up this morning saying 'It's really rainy outside. This is the perfect weather to drag someone around the village on a shopping trip!' Besides, no one ever died from a little bit of rain."

"I'm p-pretty sure I read a story in the news about a small child who drowned in a puddle of rainwater." Well, that's a lovely story.

"We're not small children, are we?" I pointed out. "And leave the depressing death stories to Shylah and Tiamat; they like that kind of stuff." Not that I really care about some random little kid… That sounds kind of mean. The kid's parents were probably really sad.

"O-okay," Emi replied. "Shylah was the one who showed me the article, though."

"Figures."

Emi giggled. "She is kind of morbidly fascinated by death and stories about ghost hauntings, isn't she?"

"Tiamat's 'morbidly fascinated'; Shylah's more like curious with a side of bored disinterest. I still don't know how she has the time to look up all those random things about the occult." I paused for a second, my mind wandering. "Damn. Now I want a burger with a side of fries."

"I thought you didn't normally like fast food."

"It doesn't have to be fast food; Shylah and Mischa are from grilling country, and their burgers and fries are amazing. It has less to do with a craving for burgers and fries, and more to do with the fact that I can't have them." I pick pocketed a particularly rich-looking passerby before an idea struck me and I brightened. "Let's buy ingredients for burgers and fries and make Shylah and Mischa cook them for us tomorrow!"

"That does sound kind of good… With our budget, we weren't even able to have any back home. It's been a long time since we had a barbeque." Emi glanced down at her list, then back up at me. "Maybe we should wait until next time we go shopping, though. I don't want Shylah to feel like she has to make burgers just because we haven't had any in a while."

I crossed my arms and pouted. "Aw, but it sounds so good~!" This earned another giggle from Emi, and I stopped pouting. "You're right, though; Shylah might just get annoyed at our 'presumptuous attitudes' and never make burgers as long as we're here. She's so testy."

We rushed through our shopping. To be more accurate, I tried to rush us through our shopping, but Emi was determined to find Shylah the best deals. She'd obviously been listening a little too closely to Tiamat when she entered financial rant mode. It was too bad - the rants were usually aimed towards Tracey, but she'd always forget. Out of sight, out of mind with that one.

Anyways, we were walking back to the base when I spotted an old lady burdened by tons of bags, trying to make her way through the crowd. Now, I'm no fountain of good deeds, but the woman was old enough to have silvery-gray hair; it seemed wrong, somehow, to just leave her there. I did what was natural to me - what I'd been taught to do since I was a little girl. I set my bags against the wall of the building the old woman was obviously walking towards, asked Emi to keep an eye on them, and offered to help the old woman.

She looked up at me with startlingly sharp gray eyes, then smiled a soft grandma smile at me. "I suppose I could use some help, dear. Do you think you could take a few of these bags? They're a bit heavy." She cautiously held them out to me, careful to make sure I wasn't going to drop them before actually letting go of them.

I followed after the woman to the front of her door, where she used a key to unlock it. When it was opened, she turned back to give me another smile. "You can come in, and invite that other girl you were with to come in, as well."

I hurried in after her to put her bags down on the table before jogging back out to Emi. "She said we can both come in for a little while." Emi nodded and followed after me once I'd grabbed all my bags. There wasn't anything that needed to be refrigerated immediately, so I set my things down in the entryway before returning to help the old woman put away her groceries, Emi in tow.

When we got to the kitchen, the groceries were already all put away, and a pot of tea was on the stove. "Thank you for helping me with the bags, again, dear. My name is Nakano Haruko."

Remembering the little I'd learned about customs in a Japanese culture from Emi, I bowed. "I'm Keir Caitlin, and this is Akiyama Emi. Nice to meet you." Emi bowed beside me, muttering her own 'nice to meet you'.

Nakano smiled softly, her eyes getting a faraway look in them. "You have an interesting name, Caitlin."

I straightened and grinned sheepishly. It wasn't the first time I'd realized that Emi's name was the only one of the eight of us to fit in. "Most of my friends just call me Cat."

Nakano inspected me, her eyes losing their soft edges for a second. "Yes, I suppose you could pass for a Neko, of sorts." Emi giggled while I just felt confused; Deidara started calling me that after he learned my nickname was 'Cat', too, and it still made no sense. Nakano seemed to realize that we were there again and startled. "Oh, I seem to have forgotten my manners in my old age. Please, have a seat, you two."

We obliged, and soon Nakano was regaling us over tea with the history of Amegakure and the whole Land of Rain as far back as she could remember. She even told us as much about Pein-'sama' and Konan-'sama' as she knew, about how Pein was so powerful they considered him to be their god, and Konan his angel. After a few stories about his powers I had to admit I'd probably think he was a god, too, if I saw him in action.

She also told us that a friend of hers had been found suffocated in her bed yesterday morning. Her husband was suspect, and currently in jail. It was a somber revelation, and I remembered Shylah mentioning someone else being killed when she went out to buy dango supplies on the fifth.

Nakano looked outside and seemed surprised to see how dark it was. "I'm sorry, I've been keeping you in here with my rambling. You two should probably head home before it gets any harder to see. Stay safe, you two, and feel free to visit again, Neko dear. You, too, Akiyama-chan."

We waved goodbye and returned to the base with our bags. When we went to the kitchen to put away the groceries we'd bought, we found Deidara and Kisame chatting and eating leftover dango. "Hey, guys," I greeted, smirking. "You must've really missed us."

"It's boring without you around," Deidara complained. "And I've been in here to avoid Tobi, un."

Kisame grinned and held out a stick of dango to Emi. "We saved some from Itachi for you."

Emi giggled and took the dango with a 'thank you' while I laughed at the thought of them fighting off a dango-craving Uchiha Itachi. I started putting away the groceries, and Deidara moved to help me, but I stopped him. "I don't want your hand mouths licking all the food."

"I can control them; they don't lick things I don't tell them to, yeah."

I raised an eyebrow. "When I first got here, one of the first things your hand mouths did is lick me. Are you trying to say you told them to do that?"

Deidara sighed and looked away. "They don't lick things when I tell them not to…" He turned to glare at Kisame and Emi, who were snickering behind his back. "Watch it, you two, un!"

Emi's face reddened, and she 'eep'ed and hurriedly started helping me with the groceries. Kisame just kept snickering, ignoring Deidara's halfhearted glare.

After around a minute, we finished putting our groceries away. Emi covered her mouth when she began to yawn tiredly before blushing and looking down. "S-sorry."

Kisame patted her head and straightened from leaning on the counter. "Don't worry about it, gaki." He walked over to the exit. "C'mon, Deidara, they look exhausted. You can flirt with Caitlin tomorrow."

Deidara winked at me and followed after Kisame. "See you tomorrow, Neko, yeah."

I rolled my eyes exaggeratedly at Emi, inciting another laugh. "I-I'm not actually tired, Caitlin."

"I know," I replied, covering my own reflexive yawn. "Let's put away our cleaning supplies and go relax in your room. It's not like the time is so far away from when we usually go to sleep, so we should wait until tomorrow before we get into any more mischief."

Emi followed after me, grabbing the bags I wasn't able to carry. "You don't need my help getting into mischief."

I glanced back at her. "Teasing, Emi?" I asked, smirking when she blushed apologetically. "What has that blue-haired shark done to you? Don't worry; it's a nice change."

Fun Fact: Originally, the old woman's name was 'Koharu Nakano', but then I decided I didn't want her to have the same first name as the other Koharu, so I changed it to Haruko. It's probably the same name as someone else, but I don't care at this point.

In other news... I hope you liked it. There were way more changes in P.O.V., so if you didn't like that you should let me know. If no one complains, I'm going to keep this up.

I can't think of anything else to say, so I'll just say that this morning when I brushed my teeth, the foamy stuff was red from blood. I don't know what's bleeding, but I'm not in pain or anything so it's not that big of a deal. I also started playing one of my Naruto video games last night, which was exciting.

Have a nice day!