I'm so sorry! T.T My explanation is below.

Please enjoy, despite the lateness.

Tracey's P.O.V.

Trying to remain inconspicuous, I faced my plate while glancing subtly at Ice out of the corners of my eyes. This day, she wouldn't escape my clutches, and I would discover her secret lair. She remained oblivious, focusing instead on her conversation with Itachi, who was acting as the perfect distraction.

That was something that kind of annoyed me, actually. It'd taken me at least a month to get Itachi to open up to me this much, and literally the quietest person in our group was conversing with him like they were lifelong friends. Maybe it was because they were both so silent all the time… Whatever the answer was, it was unusually irritating for me to think about.

I was brought out of my reverie when Ice muttered to Itachi, "Why does Tracey keep looking over at me like that?"

"I believe she wishes to follow you back to wherever you go to avoid everyone. They're still trying to figure out that mystery," Itachi replied, informing her exactly what I was trying to do.

"Itachi~!" I whined, sticking out my lower lip and fixing him with my wide, pouting eyes. "How could you do this to me?" Giving up after a few seconds, I returned my gaze to Ice accusingly. "Where do you always run off to? We can't even find you by waiting for you to leave in the morning because you somehow always wake up before we do!"

"Actually, I just never return to that room. It's far too uncomfortable," Ice informed me. She smirked and leaned back against the kitchen counter, clearly enjoying my frustration. "I have to say, you rarely get genuinely frustrated with people. It's an amusing emotion to witness on you."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Maybe if you weren't so frustrating I wouldn't get so frustrated. Seriously, though, where do you always go?"

"Where do you sleep if you don't sleep in your room?" Itachi added in, looking at Ice expressionlessly.

Ice shrugged and glanced out towards the hall at the sound of yelling voices. "My bed isn't all that comfortable, so I simply had to discover a more accommodating room."

"Hn," Itachi grunted. For a brief second, his lips twitched up in a smirk before disappearing way too quickly for it to have been real. Ice raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, instead silently taking our plates (formerly containing dango) and placing them in the sink to be washed.

"Come on, Ice, give a girl a break! It's not like we'll be constantly going there to bother you!"

If it was possible, Ice's smirk widened. "I'm almost tempted to tell you just to see you try it. You wouldn't get very far, trust me."

I let out a pitiful whine and rested my chin on my arms in defeat. From beside me, Itachi sighed. "When you think about it, the answer is only logical." Ice froze – hehe… - as he continued. "After all, the only rooms with comfortable beds are those occupied by the Akatsuki. Eliminate all of those whom we know Shylah either doesn't get along with or isn't close to, and only Kisame, Sasori, Konan, and myself remain. As you obviously have not been staying with either Kisame or myself, and none of your group know where Konan's room is, the only remaining person left is Sasori."

Raising an eyebrow, I shifted my gaze to Itachi. "I don't know whether I should focus more on where Ice's been staying, or on the fact that that's definitely the most I've ever heard you speak." After a few seconds of contemplation, I jumped up from my seat and pointed at Ice dramatically. "Aha! We've caught you now, Ice! You can never escape!"

Having originally startled when I jumped up, Ice quickly calmed down. "I don't think it really requires that much enthusiasm, Tracey. Maybe you need a hobby to keep you occupied. As I recall, Mischa has been wanting to invite people to hers and Konan's origami lessons. You seemed to enjoy making paper weasels."

"Oh, yeah, those were fun! Why didn't anyone tell me they were offering lessons?" I asked, successfully distracted. "Have you ever been to those lessons? Are they fun?"

Ice shrugged, absentmindedly beginning to wash the dishes. "From what I remember, they were rather entertaining. Konan is a surprisingly verbose conversationalist."

"I don't know what that means, but it sounds awesome!" I exclaimed, turning to race out of the kitchen. Pausing, I looked back at Ice. "Am I forgetting something?" While Ice shook her head, I suddenly remembered what we were just talking about. "You tried to distract me with origami!"

"I can't help it if you're easily distracted," Ice defended halfheartedly, looking not sorry at all. "What's the big deal about my sleeping in Sasori's bed?"

"…"

"…That sounded wrong, I didn't mean it like that," Ice put in, but it was too late.

"Gah! You're totally sleeping with that blob guy that squidges around on the floor!" I yelled, unsure whether I should point dramatically or hide behind Itachi. "Really, Ice, of the eight of us I thought you'd be the last one to- to… And with… with Sasori! Oh my goodness, I knew an Akatsuki member would take one of my friends' innocence, but I didn't think it would be you!"

"As an Akatsuki member, I feel the need to point out that the only one of us even remotely interested in sexually violating any of you would be Hidan, and he gets his satisfaction via his sacrifices," Itachi put in.

"My poor, dear Ice, violated by an S-ranked criminal! Was it consensual? Do I need to get some overprotective male relatives up in here?" I pounded my right fist into the palm of my left hand. "We need to confront him!" I exclaimed before turning and running off. As I heard Ice protest, I ran back. "Where's his room, Itachi?"

"It would be detrimental to your health to tell you. You'll just have to give up on your quest to annoy ever member of the Akatsuki," Itachi pointed out, ignoring my crestfallen look. "Perhaps taking up origami lessons would be wisest in this case."

"No! We can't just ignore this!" I exclaimed, fixing him with my most pleading gaze.

"Tracey, I think you should listen to Itachi and just drop it. All you'll do is irritate him and maybe even get yourself hurt. Not to mention, I'm not looking forward to the prospect of being kicked out of his room because you had to blow this into ridiculous proportions. All that happened was that I was having difficulty sleeping, and I drifted off to sleep while I was on his bed. After that, I just decided that I wanted to stay in his room because it's apparently the only place in this entire building I can actually sleep in."

Sighing, I felt myself deflate before their very eyes. "Fine. I guess it's kind of a stupid idea to antagonize the super-powerful S-ranked missing-ninja. Then again, I've never been known for my ability to use my brain, have I?" I giggled. "I'll just stick to making origami with Mischa and leave the mischief to T and Cat."

"Yeah, probably a good idea," Ice muttered before sighing with relief. "Now that I think about it, we should make it a rule that everyone should have to consult either Itachi or myself before they want to do something mischievous."

"Yeah, because everyone is totally going to remember to do that," I muttered sarcastically.

"Sarcasm does not suit you, Tracey," Itachi informed me. "You are far too honest for sarcasm to sound normal coming out of your mouth."

"Ugh, fine!" I grouched, turning away from them. "Gee, why don't I find some of my other friends so they can insult me, too?"

"You know we don't mean it like that," Itachi placated. He glanced warningly to Ice, and she nodded reluctantly. "We are simply pointing out that sarcasm doesn't match your personality."

I grinned, turning back to look at them. "I know, I was just joking. I could never be mad at two of my most favorite quiet people in the world!" Without thinking, I hopped forward and gave Itachi a hug. He didn't respond for a full ten second, but just as I was about to awkwardly pull away he patted me gently on the back. When I actually did release him, I stared at the floor sheepishly. "Sorry, I forgot that it's a bad idea to randomly make physical contact with a criminal ninja."

"… It's alright. Kisame was joking when he told you that; we know you enjoy physical contact, and are fully aware whenever you are around. We would be poor ninja if we couldn't sense civilians."

Crossing my arms, I pouted. "Hey, I can be stealthy if I want to be! I just… never do."

"Perhaps you will have to show me."

"Okay! Oh, do you think you could give me some pointers, too?"

"We'll see."

Tish's P.O.V.

I sighed and looked out of the window at the rainy scenery. Reia had somehow managed to convince Emi and even Tiamat to teach Mischa, Cat, Tracey, and me Japanese. They'd asked Shylah to help teach us as well, but she refused. There you have it, people – even Tiamat is easier to convince than Shylah. Damn stubborn woman.

At the moment, Emi was writing on a board they'd managed to find while Tiamat lectured us on grammar or whatever. I can't even find anything interesting to distract myself with while they do this crap. Seriously, if I wanted to learn I would've applied for college when I graduated from high school. Oh, wait, I was supposed to start this year. Damn it, another reason to be pissed at this stupid world for taking me away from my life.

I glanced over to Tiamat when she spoke my name to find her raising an eyebrow at me. "Yo, teach, did you say something?"

"Tisha, I'm not interested in your rebellious attitude. The fact that you can't read Japanese is extremely detrimental to our continued existence here."

"What if I don't want to exist here?" I asked irritably.

Cat rolled her eyes. "No one wants to keep living here, but we have to stay alive if we're going to have any chance of going back home. All we have to do is learn a language as fast as we can and we'll be golden."

Mischa turned to her. "Have you ever tried to learn another language before?"

Cat nodded, returning her eyes to the board. "Yeah. I can speak French pretty well, so I know that it's not the easiest thing in the world. But it's not like we can give up just because it's hard."

Tracey leaned over from her seat on the opposite side of the room to grin at us. "I still can't get over the fact that they're all so teacher-like."

I smirked. "Yeah, who would've thought? I mean, it's not like Reia lectures us on a daily basis and Tiamat has a sadistic streak a mile long. Emi looks like some kind of official student teacher or whatever. Yeah, no way I would've seen this coming." Did I mention that I hate teachers?

"Teachers aren't all that bad." How hard would it be to guess that Reia was the one defending the teachers.

"How would you know? You were homeschooled until just last year," I pointed out.

"Exactly. I've been going to formal school for a year, and I have yet to meet one teacher I don't really like," Reia informed me like it actually mattered.

"Okay, let's just get on with it," I conceded, tired of arguing with them. "I wanna get this over with as soon as possible."

Standing up from my seat, I stretched exaggeratedly. "This totally reminded me of why the final circle of Hell is probably a school. Ah, I can't wait to get my architectural engineering degree and be fucking done with school forever!"

As I spoke, Shylah was passing me by in the hallway. "I heard architecture was a career requiring a lifelong investment in learning. Y'know, new discoveries, inventions, and findings. All that good stuff that keeps people up at night trying to be the best in their career or whatever."

I glared at her. "You're one to talk, Miss Neurosurgeon."

"Future neurosurgeon, I'll have you know," she replied, smirking. "Received any texts recently, by any chance?"

Scowling, I ripped my stupid phone out of my pocket. "Yeah, and it's really pissing me off. Sometimes it makes me wish I had your shitty social life before I left to this world. I really want to punch fake-me in the face, because she's gotta be causing all kinds of drama over there without me."

"If she is you, does that really count?" Shylah asked, her smirk widening teasingly. "Besides that, I actually do get texts. Just not from an excessive number of people, like you seem to."

I should probably tell you how we came to the conclusion that the people texting actually were us. All of the texts were written in our style, with our vocabulary, and mimicking our exact personalities. It was hard to deny that, given the situation, we most likely would've said the same things if we were actually there instead of here. Of course, this also meant that we had to endure all the irritating drama we and our friends got into without actually being there. It was kind of difficult to feel the same amount of sympathy we would've otherwise shown when looking at it from an outsider's perspective.

"Whatever." I groaned when my phone blared out the ringtone that signaled I'd received yet another text. "Ugh, not this shit again!" I yelled, reading through the text. "Just castrate him and be done with it! Woman, get your shit together! Maybe if you stopped going to that bar, he'd stop stalking you while you were there! Gah!"

"I only counted two swear words, and I'm not sure whether or not I should count the second one since it was the same as the first. Are you sure it's really irritating you?"

"Fuck off! This bitch keeps texting me about some guy who always flirts with her when she goes to a bar, but she never fucking does anything about it! YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND, BITCH!" I yelled, preparing to send the text just as the 'other me' sent one off that said almost the exact same thing. "Thank you!"

Shylah sighed. "This is why I don't have friends." At my withering glare, she amended herself. "Er, this is why I don't encourage people to complain to me. It's more irritating than it's worth. On the bright side, I have music!" She exclaimed randomly. After flicking through the apps on her phone, a fast-paced rock band blared through her overpowered speakers.

"Seriously, where did you get that phone? I'm pretty sure Tiamat's phone is newer and it doesn't play music as well as your phone does."

"I'm gifted with excellent taste in electronics."

Remembering some of her past choices, I grimaced sourly. "Yeah, that's it."

"Hush, child," she muttered as she switched the song to a different rock band. "The music is in the process of soothing my soul, you have no say in the matter."

"I thought we were talking about your 'gift' for electronics," I muttered as she walked off. "Crazy bitch."

Sighing, I placed my hands on my hips and tried to figure out what to do. I can probably track down Hidan and get some fighting lessons. He's not total shit – I mean, he is a ninja. But do I want to deal with his attitude or his flirting? Kind of, actually… But is it good for me to let him keep flirting with me when I'll be gone as soon as we figure out how the hell to get out of here? Does it matter, since I'm not actually leading him on and he's probably just doing it for shits and giggles? No, it doesn't. Hmm… I guess I can deal with the albino for a little bit longer.

I set off in the direction of one of his favorite prayer rooms. While I would never get used to the sight – or the smell – of drying blood and decaying flesh, it was probably more tolerable for me than others because of what I'd been exposed to in the past. Besides, I at least knew to listen at the door – knocking was as bad as barging in – to make sure no rituals were in progress. Usually Hidan only used his main sacrificing room, since it was largest, but some of his more… gruesome… rituals had to be carried out in locations further from the parts of the base that everyone else used. Trust me, those ones were better left off never knowing about.

Why did I know? Hidan had described to me, in oh-so-vivid detail, exactly what it was he did behind closed doors when the rest of us were going about our not-so-merry days. On multiple occasions, no less. Yeah, he was an irritating mother fucker.

When I was met with only silence on the other side of the door, I opened it as quietly as I could manage. He was resting – if you could call it that – in the center of the floor, his victim only a few feet away in a mimicry of his position. The giant spear-like rod protruding from his chest was unnerving, but I focused on his face instead.

If possible, it was almost worse to look at the expression on his face. His mouth was twisted into a sick version of a smile, and I tried not to think about exactly why he was… enjoying himself… so much. Yeah, definitely puke-worthy.

After a few seconds, Hidan let out a satisfied sigh and pulled the rod uncaringly from his chest. "That was a good sacrifice. Jashin-sama is pleased," he muttered happily to himself. It took a few more seconds for him to notice me. "Oh, hey, bitch. Finally came to your senses about Jashin-sama, huh?"

"Yeah, right. I'm not gonna follow a god whose follower is a fucking psychopath. No thank you. Now, I can understand if you think it would be a good idea to have this sexy piece of ass representing your god, but my hotness is reserved for the equally-sexy. Which you don't qualify as, in case you'd forgotten," I quipped, smirking and placing a hand on my hip tauntingly. What? It was fun to tease him, if a bit like taking candy from a baby.

"I'm the sexiest mother fucker you've ever seen in your life!" He exclaimed, torn between smirking at me and scowling at my comments. It made his face a pretty hilarious combination of the two.

"And hell froze over yesterday." Before he could continue the argument, I continued. "Wanna fight?"

"You want me to kick your ass again? It gets boring after a while, bitch," Hidan complained, rising to his feet anyway.

"Yeah, just like I get tired of being so sexy all the time," I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "You forget that I have a secret weapon I never use on you."

"Because it doesn't fucking exist."

"Keep telling yourself that. Maybe I'll get bored enough to use it, and it won't be so nonexistent then."

"And hell will freeze over."

"I already used that. You're not very clever, are you?"

"Well you're not very strong, are you?"

"Today will be different!"

"Hell is still as hot as ever, bitch. Looks like I'll be winning again."

"Fuck you," I muttered, smirking. It wasn't particularly stimulating, but it was pretty fun to have these little arguments with him. Too bad they'd have to end eventually.

Reia's P.O.V.

Shuffling my papers and lesson plans until they were back to their original, (anally) perfect order, I sighed. Progress in teaching the others (especially Tish and Tracey) was especially slow today. Granted, one couldn't expect a person to learn another language in the few weeks we'd been teaching them, much less be able to understand it when it was written, but it would make our jobs a lot easier. Actually, what would really make our jobs easier was if Shylah deigned to help us out. I was only a month or two older than her, but sometimes it felt like there were years in the gap between our ages.

From beside me, Tiamat made a small sound of irritation. "Where did they get this board? I swear, it's the dirtiest thing I've ever had the displeasure of cleaning."

Emi laughed. "It can't be that bad. Here, let me help you." After a few seconds, Emi spoke up sheepishly. "Wow, you're right – this chalk isn't coming off. I wonder how long it's been since this thing was used, much less cleaned."

"How much you wanna bet it's been here since this place was built, and had never been used?" Shylah questioned casually from the doorway. She leaned against the doorframe, watching us organize the makeshift classroom through bored, heavily-lidded eyes. "How'd lessons go?"

Tiamat frowned disapprovingly. "Honestly, Shylah, you're supposed to be a genius. Where is your eloquence?"

I interrupted Shylah to answer her other question, intent on stopping the fight before it even began. "The lesson went well. We didn't make as much progress as our lessons usually do, but it was just one of those days. It would've gone better if someone would've gotten off their lazy butt and helped us out, but some people just can't be bothered to help others."

Shylah nodded. "Indeed. …And how has Mischa been progressing?"

"What is this, a parent-teacher conference?" Tiamat asked exasperatedly. "If you are so concerned about your sister's progress, why don't you simply ask her yourself? Or can you not be bothered to do that, either?"

Shylah shrugged, her usual smirk threatening to take over her emotionless expression. "I guess I can't be bothered to ask her myself. You're here, and so am I, so I figured I'd might as well try my luck. Oh, and I'm not concerned with her progress at all. In fact, I think the fact that you're teaching her is hilarious," she added, sounding more bored than anything else.

"Um, Shylah, I w-was wondering if you'd thought of anything that could help us, m-maybe, get home sooner," Emi put in, the suddenly-tense atmosphere causing her to act more nervously than she'd been before.

"Just wait. I think that's all we can do. I mean, it's not like I'm some miracle worker with a portal that allows you to travel trans-dimensionally. All we have to do is survive, anyway, and we've been able to do that just fine by going on the way we are here. There's not too much to worry about, as long as we don't leave with any of the Akatsuki on their missions for some reason."

"Why w-would ever we do that?" Emi asked worriedly.

"It was just a hypothetical situation my mind conjured as being one of few scenarios in which we'd actually have a risk of dying. Don't worry – they have no reason to take any of us anywhere, so long as we keep a spirit of comradery between the eighteen of us. Man, that's a lot of people…"

I rolled my eyes at Shylah's obvious 'small town mentality'. I couldn't remember a single time when she or her sister had ever been comfortable around large crowds. "Well, not to cut this conversation short, but I should get going."

"Another date with Zetsu?" Shylah queried, her smirk finally managing to appear on her face.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you before you get it into your head that we don't have that kind of relationship?" I replied, fighting the urge to yell at her.

"At least a dozen more," Shylah replied lazily, the smirk settling from teasing into a small, condescending smile that was way too comfortable on her face.

Tiamat sighed. "Just go before Shylah riles you up enough to get an actual reaction out of you. You know as well as I that it will be a very long time before Shylah drops anything."

Nodding, I skirted around Shylah and out of the door. Ever since we'd arrived here, Shylah had become both more easygoing and more irritating. I sometimes thought it was a good thing, but other times (like right now) I had to admit that it was mostly just a bad and extremely obnoxious thing.

As far as her teasing me about Zetsu went, though, I had to admit I probably spent more time with him (when he wasn't out on spying missions) than with anyone else in the entire building. Even Mischa, who seemed to be around Tobi 24/7, would hang out with Konan to converse and make origami animals and flowers. The only one I could think of who even came close to spending this much time with an Akatsuki member was Caitlin, but even she still did things with Tish and Tracey whenever the mood struck her and didn't feel nearly the kind of attachment I felt.

I stopped in front of the door to the makeshift greenhouse and biome simulation. Attached? I'm not attached to Zetsu or the garden, am I? I questioned myself, a sense of unease washing over me. That can't be good. We're leaving here eventually – I just know it. If I feel attached to anything about this world, it will just be that much harder when the time finally comes. I'm not interested in doing that to myself. I sighed. What's the best way to get rid of a growing sense of attachment before it becomes too strong? Of course – extended periods of time away. The subtle feeling of loneliness the thought of avoiding the greenhouse – and Zetsu – was just further proof that I really needed this break.

Just as I was going to turn away, the door opened, revealing Zetsu. "Hey, Reia. Don't stand around outside the door, it's suspicious. Come on, we want to show you how our newest generation of plants is doing. It's feeding time, and you're our special guest. Don't say it like that, or she'll think we're going to feed her. We aren't? No! Calm down, I was just joking. And you say I have a terrible sense of humor… Hurry up, Reia, we don't want our plants to go hungry. We're feeding them live deer to see how their hunter's instincts are developed," Zetsu's white half finished. They'd said the whole paragraph with hardly a pause in between, not giving me a chance to make an excuse and beg off. As if they knew on some subconscious level that I was planning on avoiding them, Zetsu's black half grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside the greenhouse.

Well, that didn't work out the way I'd planned it.

Shylah's P.o.V.

I entered the living room, ignoring Hidan and Tisha's impromptu wrestling match. Instead, I approached Itachi and stood before him, eyeing him curiously. "I have a quick question that I think you can help me with."

Itachi glanced up at me from his book before slowly putting it away, realizing that I was serious. The fact that, for the first time since I'd arrived, I was looking him in the eyes most likely gave it away. A questioning look quickly flitted across his features before they settled back into one lacking in emotion.

Taking that as my cue to proceed, I … uh… I proceeded. Because he gave me the cue, and, uh… Yeah, I'll just get on with it. "Itachi, I was wondering if we were susceptible to genjutsu since we don't have chakra. Any chance you or anyone else could possibly find out somehow?" Asking Itachi to put me in a genjutsu was both logical and incredibly stupid, given that he wielded the sharingan.

As Itachi studied me contemplatively, Kisame stopped his conversation with Emi and Tracey to look over at us. "You just need a simple genjutsu to help you figure it out, right?"

I nodded. "Since I've never had anything to do with any kind of ninja training, it would most likely be incredibly easy to put me under a genjutsu. If you can't, Itachi, could you at least tell me who I would be better off asking so that I don't have to go to every Akatsuki member just to be turned away?"

"Considering that you are still speaking to me right now, it's highly unlikely that you can be put in any kind of genjutsu," Itachi finally informed me. "I decided to cast a genjutsu while you were speaking with Kisame, but it seems not to have worked. It seems that you are immune to anything designed to attack the chakra systems."

Raising an eyebrow, I looked at both him and Kisame questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Kisame smirked predatorily. "He means that, aside from being immune to genjutsu, you're also impossible to sense because you don't have chakra networks. We heard from Sasori that you and Caitlin aren't affected by poisons that target the chakra in a ninja, and he thinks you might be immune to any poisons made here because the plants here all have at least a small amount of chakra. That doesn't mean you're immune to every technique that uses chakra, but it does mean that you can't be poisoned or become sick because you don't have the chakra networks that every human being possesses."

I nodded in understanding. It's just the way I suspected. "That makes sense, and thanks for letting me know. I'd been wondering why none of us had gotten sick since coming here."

"Is the food here different from what you're used to?" Itachi asked, fixing me with a searching gaze.

"Hm… It doesn't magically make me feel better or anything, but I've noticed that it doesn't seem to go bad as fast as the food back home does. Other than that, it doesn't really affect me."

"Hn." Itachi nodded before returning to his book. Taking that as a dismissal, I said 'bye' to Kisame, Emi, and Tracey before leaving the living room.

What to do? I could probably go bother Sasori, or maybe ask Caitlin if she remembers anything Nakano-san said that seemed important to our ability to leave this world. I don't really feel any need to do any of that, though… I should've asked Itachi to perform a henge just so that I'd know for sure whether or not it fell into the 'genjutsu' category. I guess I'll just have to treat it like a technique I could fall for. Y'know what? I feel like taking a walk, I finally concluded, hurrying to my room to grab my rain cloak. Having put it on, I swept out of my bedroom with a flourish, suppressing a giggle at the feeling of my cape – cloak, I mean – billowing out behind me as I set off at a brisk pace for the entrance.

When I reached the entrance, I hurriedly put on my shoes before rushing outside and into the cool, refreshing rain. The day was chillier than it had been when I'd first randomly appeared in Sasori's room, and I drew my cloak about me before releasing it as I realized that it was still comfortably cool. Winter is coming. Too bad Ame probably doesn't get cold enough for snow. Maybe we could go on a little journey to the Land of Iron at around Christmas time – not that anyone in the Naruto-verse celebrates Christmas. Or Halloween, for that matter. What a sad life they lead without Halloween.

I walked forward, looking around for something interesting to occupy myself with. The streets were relatively bare, save a few stragglers rushing to get home before night fell and the more unsavory elements of the city came out to play. While crime didn't run rampant in Ame (it was doubtful that Pein would allow his village to enter such a state of decline), there were a few places where people were allowed to blow off steam in the form of gambling and various forms of debauchery. None of that held any particular sway with me, but I knew enough about the mathematics involved in poker to have a bit of skill in it.

The rain was pouring down especially heavily this evening, to the point where I wondered if Pein was looking for anything in particular. Sighing, I allowed my mind to wander to random imaginings, made up stories in which I had been born in this world and managed to live long enough to be a ninja. It was weird, to be daydreaming about a world that I was currently living in. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but it gave me a slightly unnerving feeling to think about living a separate life that wasn't totally impossible.

After a while, I brought myself out of my own musings to stop in front of a small bookstore. The store was closed, but I could still make out the dim outlines of merchandise through the window. A few paces down the street, I stopped again, this time in front of a small café that was still open. A few seconds of internal debate later, I entered.

I hadn't been too big on cafes back in my old world. They held little interest to me, unless I wanted something to eat, but at the moment I was more concerned with the sense of familiarity this particular café gave to me. A surge of nostalgia washed over me, and I sighed as homesickness made my stomach twinge nauseously.

I didn't stay long enough to buy anything after that. While it was good that I still missed our world (it meant I wasn't growing attached to this one), I didn't like to feel emotions that made me uncomfortable. It was best to move on – or, in my case, return to the Akatsuki base.

Once inside, I took off my shoes and waltzed into Sasori's room. He was still sitting at his desk, but this time he was making a poison. With all the vials of various colors and consistencies and his plans laid out before him haphazardly, he reminded me of a mad scientist trying to discover the serum of immortality.

He glanced up at me when I came in and frowned at my soaked appearance. "I hope you don't plan on using my bed like that."

Sighing, I shifted my cloak so that it wouldn't drip onto the blankets when I sat down. "Look, Sasori, it's what you've always wanted – a wet girl willingly in your bed."

"The way your mind works is something the world has been questioning since your birth. Exactly what happened to you to make your mind the way it is?"

"The Internet, dear puppet master," I replied nonchalantly, a teasing smirk making its way onto my face. "Would you like me to show you?"

"Considering what this 'Internet' has done to you, I'd rather not be exposed to it," he replied, returning to his poisons.

"You're no fun."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that my purpose for being here was to entertain you," Sasori quipped, meeting my gaze with his own. If he wasn't an emotionless puppet, I would've thought that he'd almost grinned at me.

"That's why I'm here, actually. Entertain me!"

"I'm busy. Go play with your toys in the other room."

I smirked and purposely misconstrued the meaning of his order. "Okay," I agreed, getting up and crossing the room to the door that led to his workshop. I twisted the handle, but the door didn't open. When I turned back to Sasori, he had one hand casually extended in my direction, blue threads connecting the door to the tips of his fingers. "I can't play with the dolls if you don't let me into the room."

"They're not dolls, they're puppets designed to be used in battle. You'll hurt yourself with those." The threads of chakra switched from the door to me, and I found myself being directed back to the bed.

"Aw, you do care," I cooed teasingly. Once again, I had to suppress laughter when he had me move my cloak dramatically over one shoulder so that it wouldn't wet his sheets.

"I care about my puppets, which you will ruin if you touch them when you're still covered in rain water." After a few seconds of watching me to make sure I wouldn't get back up, he returned to his poison. "If you need something to do, the book you were reading the last time you were here is still on the nightstand."

"I finished it already," I complained, falling back onto the bed. Out of nowhere, a scroll hit me in the stomach, causing me to jerk back up with surprise. "Ack!"

"Read that, then."

"So sweet," I gushed, opening the scroll.

"I just don't want to have to listen to you whining."

Originally, I was planning on doing a double update as an apology for being late, but yesterday I had to go to the ER because of an asthma attack and I'm still feeling out of it.

Also, I hate to do this after having just switched around upload days and skipped a whole week, but I can't guarantee a scheduled update every week - not that I've been doing so well on that front. At this rate, I'm getting kind of burned out when it comes to this story, especially since I'm not quite halfway to the end I have planned. To prevent this, I want to try writing a bit more moderately. I'm sorry to disappoint anyone.

On the bright side, I'm not going on my Senior class trip (and the administration can screw off, 'cause it's because of my asthma), so I'll have a whole week to devote to FanFiction! Yay! I mean, the trip's not until April, but I'm also not going to be spending hours a day on fundraisers, either.

One of my classmates was drawing a sword in Pre-Calc (class hadn't really started, yet, and our teacher is pretty laid-back), and she was having trouble with the hand guard - the trouble being that she'd forgotten one. When our Pre-Calc teacher (we'll call him Mr. Smith) pointed it out, she drew a small and unbelievably inaccurate one. Mr. Smith came over to check it out, and the first thing he said was: "It looks like a nipple." He's well over retirement age, in case you were wondering.

If you notice any spelling or grammar errors, please let me know - I hadn't gotten around to checking it before my asthma started acting up.