And here I was thinking I'd be able to write two chapters during Thanksgiving break... Such is life.

Not too many Akatsuki members in here T.T S-ranked nuke-nin need to eat, too! Please enjoy, anyway.

Tish's P.o.V.

I felt a sting of pain in my side and grimaced, my previously teasing grin being replaced by a snarl. I know I said he didn't need to hold back, but damn this hurts! Another stab of pain, this time preceding my legs being swept out from under me, and I was on the ground. I lay there, waiting for the familiar feeling of cold metal against my neck. The feeling never came, and I opened an eye to peer up at Hidan. "What?"

"You're too fucking easy to beat. It's not as fun as it used to be," Hidan complained, bemoaning the fact that I was a normal, chakra-less human being. "I don't even know why I fucking try anymore. Come on, let's go find some other shit to do." That said, he reached out and yanked me up by my hand.

My temper flared at his easy dismissal. "I was good enough to fight yesterday, and pretty much every day before now. What's fucking changed?"

"You're boring, bitch."

"And you're an annoying dumbass, but I still hang out with you!"

Hidan scowled. "I said you're boring to fight. I'm not gonna stop talking to you, bitch!"

"Coulda fooled me. What'd you have in mind, then?"

He led the way through the base, taking his sweet time to reach a specific room in the labyrinth of hallways. Finally, he reached what he was looking for, and pushed open the door. Through the doorway, I caught sight of the rainy scenery of the Land of Rain, just outside of Ame. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

A familiar chill entered my stomach, and I crossed my arms. "Does it matter?"

He turned to look at me, and a slow, bloodthirsty smirk overtook his features. "You fucking have, haven't you?" When I refused to meet his gaze, he let out a crazed laugh. "What was it like? Did you get to twist a knife into his gut, watch the life leave his eyes? Fuck, I wish I could've been there to see that!" I didn't answer, and he frowned. "What? You don't actually regret it, do you?"

"No!" I snapped, finally meeting his eyes with my own. "No, that bastard got what he deserved."

Lazily, Hidan leaned against the doorway. The rain splattered on his shoulder, darkening his cloak. "So what the fuck was it like?"

I rolled my eyes. "Does it even matter?"

"Of course your first kill matters, bitch! It's the beginning!" His eyes got that crazed gleam in them again, and he held up a hand, staring at it as if he was remembering all the times it was covered in blood. "The beginning of the most fucking amazing thing ever!"

"You're insane."

"But you love it, bitch."

"Yeah, right." At this point, I didn't even bother trying to argue with him. It was like arguing with a fanatic – which he was – and arguing with fanatics is about as productive as hitting your head against a wall. I glanced out at the countryside, then back to Hidan, who was still staring at me expectantly. "It wasn't some glorious or epic kill. I don't even really remember all the details."

His smirk returned. "Fucking start talking, then."

"You say 'fuck' too much."

"Fuck you."

"Are you fixated on that word because you can't have me?"

"I could 'have' you if I fucking wanted, bitch. Now get your ass in gear and start fucking talking."

"Still thinking about my sexy ass, I see." I smirked as he let out a stream of decidedly more colorful curses. "Okay, okay, don't get your panties in a twist. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Well, I was in a gang when I was younger. I was too small to be much use in a fight, so the gang used me as a lookout. I was a damn sexy lookout."

"If you were a little brat, you didn't qualify as sexy."

"Shut up and let me talk! I've been sexy since birth – it's a gift. Anyway, one day I got caught-"

"I fucking knew you'd make a shit lookout."

"Fuck you! I'm the sexiest lookout you'll ever see." I aimed a punch at his gut, which he didn't even bother blocking. Hiding the pain, I continued with my story. "It was a member of another gang that'd been creeping on our territory. Long story short, it turned out I was better in a fight than they thought. Got a good scar for my trouble, though."

"Let me see."

"Screw you, I'm not showing you my scars!"

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

"I thought all your scars heal."

"You've seen all my scars, so you have to fucking show me yours."

"Yeah, no."

Hidan scowled. "Well, fuck you, then. Don't bring up scars if you're not gonna show them to anyone, bitch!" With that, he stomped off and into the rain. There was an early-morning fog, and it slowly engulfed his retreating form until there was nothing to see but a dense white mist.

I scoffed. Going off to pout, I see. Ignoring the small twinge of regret I felt at not just giving in and showing him some of my scars, I returned to the depths of the Akatsuki base. Restlessly prowling the halls for something to do, I finally gave up and exited the building through the main entrance.

Since I'd managed to waste a good half-hour wandering around in a bored stupor, the fog from earlier had cleared up enough for me to see clearly. So far, the streets were almost empty, and the few people out were a combination of early workers and last night's refuse. Passing by a familiar bookstore, I realized that it was the place where Shylah worked. With a new goal in mind, I then visited the clinic Emi helped out at, the clothing store that employed Cat, and the grocery store that had hired Reia.

"Huh. Getting a job might be a good idea to pass some time. I wonder if there are any clubs to bounce…" Making my way to the shadier part of town, I couldn't help but feel as if I was being watched. It was stupid, but I couldn't shake that paranoid feeling that had engulfed my mind. While my first instinct was to confront whoever it was – if anyone was even there – I also knew that it was a bad idea considering that the person who was following me could be a ninja looking to get some information on the Akatsuki. It was weird to think that I could be considered a way to get to the criminals.

Then again, if it was a ninja skilled enough to be going after some of the most powerful criminals in this world, I wouldn't have any idea I'm being followed. Not to mention that if it was an actual threat Pein would've sent someone out to get me. I hope…

Making up my mind, I chose the nearest alleyway at random and went in. The shadows of the alley immediately lowered the temperature to an uncomfortable degree, and I shifted to try and keep myself both warm and still ready to defend myself. "Okay, look, whoever's following me, get the fuck out here and start explaining to me now."

Out of the shadows, a familiar kid stepped forward. I raised an eyebrow when he bowed respectfully. "I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd be able to tell that I was following you. You're really skilled."

"And you speak pretty well for a street brat. What's up?"

The kid's face reddened in embarrassment. Now that I was looking at him, he didn't seem as on the verge of death as I remembered him being. His clothes were newer, which might've had something to do with it. "My friends and me want to pay you back for the food."

"Eh? Oh, that. Don't worry about it – we didn't need it. If that's all, I'll just get going." I turned to leave, embarrassed at the thought of being thanked.

"Wait!" He called out. When I stopped, he continued. "Can I show you my friends?"

I shrugged, not really caring one way or the other. "Sure, as long as you don't plan on mugging me or something." The kid looked so horrified at the thought of trying to steal my stuff – not that I was actually carrying any valuables – that I had to laugh. "Relax, kid. I didn't mean it. What's your name, anyway?"

"I don't have one."

"Oh. Why don't you choose a name?"

He shrugged. "I don't know too many names, 'cept for the ones other people have. I don't want their names."

I nodded. "That would suck, huh? Well, my name's Tish."

"Tish…-sama."

"Isn't 'sama' another word for 'master' or 'lord'?"

The kid's face went beet-red. "Y-yes…"

"You guys don't have to call me that." But I could get used to it, for sure.

"Here's our home, Tish-sama!" The boy exclaimed, gesturing grandly to a run-down shack on the outskirts of Ame. As he spoke, a bunch of other kids ran out of the shack. It was clear by the way they listened to him when he told them to bow to me – That's going to take more getting used to, though. – that the boy was both the oldest and the one in charge, even though he couldn't have been older than ten, if that.

"Do any of you have names?"

"No. We're here 'cause the orphanage's full," the first kid to run out of the shack replied.

"Huh." An idea was starting to form in my head, and I turned to the boy. "I'll be back in half an hour, tops. You don't have to wait for me, but you can if you want."

"Of course we'll wait for you, Tish-sama."

I nodded and hurried away.

Shylah's P.o.V.

I rolled over on my – er, Sasori's – bed and sighed in frustration. So… bored… Stupid mission taking forever. Yeah, you don't like making people wait, but how long have I been waiting? A month! This is so boring~! Sighing again, I rolled myself off the side of the bed and stared blankly at the door to the room where Sasori kept all his supplies and made his puppets. Of course, I wouldn't actually go in without his permission because angering an S-ranked criminal was one of the fastest ways to die, but the curiosity and temptation were still there.

After however long (I wasn't sure), I exited his room and began wandering the hallways. I'd read all the books long ago, and recently finished reading through them again. Thus, my boredom was slowly seeping back into me, and I was debating on whether or not it was really worth it to buy some books for myself.

Suddenly, Tisha ran around the corner and nearly crashed into me. I'm proud to say that I managed to dodge her just in time. "Hey, Tisha. What's up?"

Tisha rested her hands on her knees and took her sweet time regaining her breath before answering me. "Do you know where Tiamat is? I need to buy some things."

"Did we run out of food?"

"No, it's for something else. Seriously, Shylah, I need to find Tiamat."

"Let's see, today is one of her days off, so she's probably off stalking Kakuzu or something. I'd suggest looking in the library first, then try the living room if you haven't been there already." Tisha nodded and took off, and I rolled my eyes. Someone's busy this morning. How can she be functioning so early? Glancing at my phone, I realized that it was close to noon. Oh.

I started towards the kitchen to get some food before stopping in my steps and turning back to look down the hallway after Tisha. Whatever has her so worked up should be pretty interesting. Distraction imminent!

Opening the door quietly, I was treated to the sound of Tisha yelling. No, it wasn't actually a treat. "C'mon, Tia, I need some money to buy stuff! It's for a good cause, I swear!"

"What cause could be good enough for you to use up the money we've barely been able to store away? Only recently have most of us gotten jobs, and we need to save up in order to buy ourselves our own residence so that we're not always underfoot here," Tiamat reasoned, sounding as if this argument had been going on for far longer than it actually had.

When I came into view, Tiamat looked past Tisha to me. "Do you agree?"

I shrugged and sat next to Kakuzu, who was doing his best to ignore their argument. It didn't seem to be working well, because his eyelid was twitching in irritation. "I guess it depends on what she wants to use it for. There are worse people to give money. Tracey, for example."

Tisha glared at my jab at her childhood friend, but dropped it in favor of her argument. "Look, I need to buy some shit. I won't let it cost too much. Shylah can some with me to supervise so that you know it isn't anything unnecessary or whatever."

"Why do I have to go?"

Tiamat answered me instead of Tisha. "You've been wandering around the hideout like a lost puppy after you read through the library for a second time, and it can be a bit obnoxious. This would be a good distraction for you, would it not? Besides, I trust your judgment."

Crossing my arms, I frowned at them. "I guess there are worse things to do. Okay, let's get this over with." I reached out and accepted the money purse Tiamat placed in my hand. Leading the way, I walked quickly out of the base and out towards Ame's shopping districts, Tisha right on my heels.

"Thanks for agreeing to come with," Tisha muttered, sounding like she was choking on her rare show of gratitude.

I shrugged and slowed down to a meandering stroll. "Don't mention it. Seriously. So what do you need to buy, and why do you need to buy it?"

Tisha frowned at me. "You can't just let me buy it without asking?"

"Nope. I don't work like that."

"Fine. There are some orphans living in a run-down shack on the outskirts of Ame, and I want some building materials to make life there a little easier for them." Silence fell between us as I tried to process the thought of Tisha going out of her way to help people she barely knew, and she snapped at me. "There, ya happy?"

"No, but I'm also not bored anymore. I won't be able to help you with the building, and probably not even the carrying."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"I appreciate the comparison, even if it was meant as an insult. You do realize that most building materials tend to be rather expensive, especially if you want them to outlast Pein-sama's rain, right? Not to mention that, while some materials may be cheaper as a result, the only ones we can work with given our limited resources would be lumber or stone."

"Get me stone building materials, and I can do a lot."

"Are you sure you don't want to be a construction worker when you get out of college?"

"Shut up!"

"Stone will be more expensive than lumber. Actually, maybe not, but you should be prepared for it to be."

Tisha stopped in front of a store that specialized in selling building materials. "I already looked into it and compared all the prices. This place sells at the lowest price without degrading the materials themselves. All you need to do is fork over the cash."

I raised my eyebrows disapprovingly at her. "Child, when one lives on a budget, one must do better than that. One must bargain as well as research."

Tisha facepalmed, her cheeks turning an almost unnoticeable pink. "Please don't."

"Hush, child. What do we need?" I (and an employee of the establishment, who had wandered over to us sometime in the middle of our conversation) followed Tisha to the building materials she preferred to work with. After Tisha specified the amount needed and the employee told us the total costs, I began my work. It wouldn't do to have such a huge chunk taken out of our savings, although even if I managed to lower the total to half price it would still make a sizeable dent. After all, I was too lazy to answer to Tiamat, and she would most likely come to me to ask about it first.

In the background, Tisha shook her head and attempted to make herself seem as inconspicuous as possible. A few other employees and customers slowed down to listen to us, but it must not have been such an uncommon sight because they kept moving soon afterwards.

Eventually, we (finally) managed to come to an agreement. While I wasn't skilled enough to reduce the price, I did get a hefty chunk of it discounted. I even managed to get a free delivery, so all we had to do was specify the location and wait for their arrival.

"That was a nightmare," Tisha complained, eyeing me irritably.

I tossed my purse into the air a few times in triumph. "I suppose it didn't go as well as it could have. Maybe if I'd pushed it a bit more I could've gotten a better deal."

"That's not what I meant."

"Yeah. I learned from the best, though."

"Tiamat?"

"Yep!" I replied, following her to the outskirts. We paused to buy some snack foods (I actually got half-price!) on our way, since Tisha wanted to treat the orphans to some food.

Finally, we reached the home (shack) of the little urchins. They all ran out of a dilapidated structure that I wasn't sure even qualified as a shack, tumbling over each other in their excitement to reach Tisha. As one, they bowed when they reached us before straightening and eyeing me suspiciously.

One boy, possibly their leader, stepped forward. He was rather young, but could've passed for ten because of his height. His hair was long, tangled, and covered in dirt, but I could still tell that it was an icy blue color. His eyes were a glowing yellow that looked oddly intimidating in the sunken eyes of a starving kid, and his skin was pale. "Who are you?"

"A friend of mine," Tisha put in. 'Friend' was a rather strong word, but it served to make the kid back off and bow in apology. "This is Shylah. She helped me get some things, and she's gonna help me name you."

Wait, what? "If you want me to. Tisha isn't good with names." In the awkward silence, I withdrew the snacks we'd bought on the way and held them out to the kids. "We brought food, if anyone's interested."

Slowly, hesitantly, as though they thought I was going to take it back any second, they came forward and grabbed the little goodies before sitting on the ground and digging in like their lives depended on it. The boy with the yellow eyes looked up at me appraisingly. "Thanks, Shylah-sama. If you wanna name us, go ahead."

I cleared my throat to cover for the awkward feeling being addressed as '-sama' gave me before studying them all. "You can be Amemura Yuudai, then." He seemed pleased with his name, so I moved on to another pale boy with wavy pinkish-red hair and dark brown eyes.

Before I could say anything, he asked, "Can I have 'Amemura' as my last name, too?" A chorus of voices from all the other kids agreed, so I nodded my head.

"Okay, you can be Amemura Hiroshi." The third kid was a very short girl with light brown skin, wavy purple hair, and purple eyes. "Amemura Kasumi." A short boy with straight yellow hair, turquoise eyes, and fair skin. "Amemura Yori." A tall boy with wavy aquamarine hair, chartreuse eyes, and dark brown skin. "Amemura Shirou." A short girl with pale skin, curly purple hair, and yellow eyes. "Amemura Chouko." A tall boy with light brown skin, curly yellow hair, and bright purple eyes. "Amemura Nobu." A short boy with pale skin, dark green hair, and dark red eyes. "Amemura Kenshou." A tall girl with light brown skin, red hair, and blue eyes. "Amemura Kotone." A tall boy with light brown skin, curly blue hair, and reddish eyes. "Amemura Ryou." A short boy with dark brown skin, dark orange hair, and dark pinkish eyes. "Amemura Haru." A short girl with azure hair, blue eyes, and medium brown skin. "Amemura Jun."

They all smiled at me like I'd actually put some thought into their names. I was pretty sure that not even the youngest amongst them was that naïve, but they seemed grateful all the same. After a few seconds of relative silence, I turned to Tisha. "What now?"

"Now we wait."

"Patience isn't one of my virtues."

"You have virtues?"

Tracey's P.o.V.

Itachi and Kisame had only been gone for a week, but already I was freaking bored out of my mind. "I need a job or a hobby or something. This sucks!"

From the couch behind me, Emi looked up from her book and gave me a sympathetic smile. "It gets kind of lonely around here without them, doesn't it?"

"And boring!" I yelled, stretching out on the floor and giving the ground underneath me a good kick for emphasis. "I'm so bored! Fuuu-"

A book hit me in the stomach, making me convulse in the middle of my swearing. Mischa glared down at me from her position on the comfiest chair. "It's too early in the day to start swearing like a sailor. Now give me my book back before I start throwing pillow cushions."

"Well, shit, I'll come back later," T's voice announced from the doorway. Standing there were T – of course, since I just said she was there – and Ice. For some reason, Ice looked kind of annoyed, while T seemed to be in a good mood. It was like they switched bodies or something.

"Did you guys switch bodies?" I blurted out. They all turned to stare at me like I'd turned pink, sprouted wings, and announced that Tiamat and Reia had eloped – which, funny as that sounds, probably wouldn't happen. I mean, if we could travel to a whole new world where people have superpowers, that stuff still had a small chance of happening. Anyway… "What?"

T looked around at all of us. "Anyone wanna help me build a house?"

All thoughts of my unanswered question flew out of the window. "Um, yeah! Where do I sign up?"

Ice rolled her eyes and made a show of looking through her bag. "Hm, let's see, I'm sure I left the register in here somewhere. Gee, where could it have gone? Oh, I know! This isn't an after-school club, Tracey, you don't 'sign up'." Ice finished with an eye roll as she closed her bag.

Crossing my arms, I pouted. "So mean. What're we building, T?"

"A house. I said that already," T replied with a bland tone, raising an eyebrow at me. "C'mon, I'll get you started and then we'll come back for more people."

"It would be more efficient to get everyone who wants to work now rather than making the trip every time you need a new person," Ice pointed out before T obligingly ignored her. With a huff, she muttered, "Whatever. It's not like I use my logic to help you or anything."

"Huh? Did you say something, Shylah?" T asked semi-innocently. It was only semi-innocent because she had a huge smirk on her face.

"Oh, no. Please, proceed as you are now. I'm sure nothing will go wrong down the road." Ice turned to leave, but paused before she was totally out of sight. "Oh, and since I'm the only one with a working brain around here, I'm gonna ask Pein-sama if it's okay for us to build there. And hire a building crew, since it'll take you guys too long to do this on your own."

"I love you, Shylah~!" T called after her, somehow managing to sound extremely sarcastic.

"Kiss-ass," I snickered.

"Hey, fuck you!" T growled at me.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

T rolled her eyes. "That phrase doesn't work if you use it on the same person who taught it to you. Ya can't out-sass the Queen of Sass."

"But she already left the room," Fire pointed out innocently.

"And Trace called me the kiss-ass." T shook her head in disappointment before turning to leave. "C'mon, Trace, We have a lot to do if we wanna get a good head start on that building crew Shylah plans on hiring. Maybe later we can get Reia and Cat to help us out."

"Ooh, and it can be a building party! We'll have so much fun!"

"…Yeah, sure, whatever."

"Yay!" I cheered, hopping up and clapping as I followed after her.

The walk to the area T wanted to build in was faster than I'd thought it would be because T and I decided that it'd be more fun to race there. When we arrived, there were a bunch of tragically adorable kids running around some stuff that looked like it could be made into a house. They stopped what they were doing when they caught sight of us and raced over before bowing to T and then me.

"Hey, kids. This is Tracey; she's gonna actually help me get this stuff done because Shylah doesn't do physical labor."

"Okay, Tish-sama. Thanks for the help, Tracey-sama. We wanna help with whatever jobs you give us," the tallest boy among them replied. He pronounced our names with an accent that kind of reminded me of Emi's dad, but I didn't really think anything of it because it seemed like everyone was speaking like that these days.

My phone chimed in my pocket and I jumped in the air. "Holy shit-ake mushrooms. Yeah. That's what I meant." I frowned as I realized my screen was telling me that I was getting a call. "That's never happened before. Here. That's never happened here. Yeah, I'm just gonna answer it."

After holding my phone to my ear, I was forced to move it away again when a loud, slurred voice screeched in my ears. I immediately hung up and grinned at T and the kids sheepishly. "Wrong number."

All the orphans were staring at me in awe. I could hear a few of their whispers, and it was pretty funny to know what they thought of my phone. "It must be what she uses to contact Pein-sama." "What did she mean by 'wrong number'?" "Maybe she can contact Kami-sama himself!" "Then who was that weird voice?"

T raised an eyebrow. "Well, if it wasn't anything important, I'm just gonna go ahead and get started. Any objections?"

Everyone was silent, and T smirked. "Good. Now, let's build this fu- funhouse!"

Reia P.o.V.

A knock sounded at my door, and I sighed. Please don't be anything important. I just want to relax in my room and avoid all sense of attachments I'm feeling towards this world and its strange inhabitants. The knock sounded again, louder this time. "Who is it?"

"Yo momma."

"Really, Shylah? 'Yo momma' jokes are too grade school, even for you."

"It's been a weird day," Shylah replied through the door before opening said door and waltzing into my too-small-for-company room. "I helped Tisha go shopping. As if that wasn't weird enough, she was shopping to help out a bunch of orphans and made me stick around to wait for the stuff to be delivered." Shylah, being even less motherly than Tiamat, shivered. "I had to name them."

"Really?" I questioned, more out of amusement than any actual curiosity.

"Yeah. You have no idea how much restraint it took to keep me from naming one of them fellatio just because they wouldn't know what it meant."

My eyes widened in shock. "You wouldn't really name a child that, would you?" Please tell me you're joking.

"Hey, it's not my kid, so it's not like it matters that much anyway. So, how's your day been? I noticed you've been avoiding Zetsu more and more recently." Shylah switched topics faster than my dad could switch from speaking English to Dhundhari.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you have issues if you've become attached to a cannibalistic criminal in the months we've been here." I opened my mouth to protest, but shut it again. She was right, after all, even if I didn't like it. "Wow. After I warned you and everything, too?"

"Sh-shut up! After Sasori left on a mission, you've been wandering around the base in a state of constant boredom. You have no right to talk to me."

"Yeah, because I've read every book in the library and he was an interesting conversationalist. Look, I didn't come here to get into an argument with you," Shylah relented, ignoring me when I muttered, "You could've fooled me." Turning to my drawers, she dug in them (despite my protests) and fished out my rain cloak. "I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to hire some builders or contractors or both. It's not gonna take too long, so you'll be back in time to make us supper."

"Heaven forbid you have to get off your lazy butt and make something for yourself for once."

"Actually, Mischa would just make me something because she loves me. Besides, I've been on my feet almost the whole day."

I raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Are you coming, or should I just leave without you instead of wasting my time."

On the one hand, I could run into any member of the Akatsuki outside of my room (aside from Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, and Deidara); on the other, staying in my room wasn't actually accomplishing anything, and at least this way I would have something to do to keep myself occupied. "Fine. Let's get going, then."

"Kay," Shylah replied, leading me out of the Akatsuki building after I'd gotten ready. We walked in silence, me following Shylah, Shylah seeming to wander aimlessly. For a while, I thought maybe she was doing that just to get on my nerves, but half an hour had passed and we seemed no closer to arriving where we needed to be.

"Shylah?"

"Yeah?"

"You do know where we're going, don't you?"

"I was waiting for you to tell me where a contractor's office is, since I've never seen one before."

"…Why didn't you ask me in the first place?" I ground out, glaring daggers into the back of her head as she continued to walk in a random direction.

Shylah shrugged, putting her hands into her pockets and pausing to look through the window of a bookstore. "Must've slipped my mind…"

"Your IQ is over 200, and it just slipped your mind? Come on, Shylah! Get it together!" I yelled in exasperation before taking the lead and making my way to a contractor's office I passed by on my way to work. "Honestly, it's like I'm constantly surrounded by children in adults' bodies."

"Technically, this is the body of a well-developed girl in her late teens."

"You're eighteen; therefore, you qualify as an adult."

"Either way," Shylah replied noncommittally, walking beside me at a slow, steady pace that still kept up with me because of our height differences. "So how long will it be until we get there?"

"Just be patient."

Shylah sighed in frustration. "Patience is such an impractical virtue."

"It's one you'll have to exercise throughout your life, so get used to it. Now, did you actually convince Tiamat to fork over the money required for… whatever it is you want to hire a bunch of builders for?"

"Yep."

"I find that hard to believe."

"As hard to believe as Tisha taking a bunch of street urchins under her wing and going through all kinds of hassle for the express purpose of making their lives easier?" I couldn't come up with an answer, and she nodded knowingly. "I figured as much. Ah, well, you'll just have to take my word for it."

Well, Tiamat guards our money too well for Shylah to be able to steal it from her, so she either has the money or it won't matter because we won't be able to pay the contractors to help us with whatever Shylah wants to use them to accomplish. That in mind, I continued to lead the way, ignoring the odd feeling that I was being watched.

Ooh, who could it be? I feel like I'm not very good at delivering on that dramatic buildup, so try not to get your hopes up too much. It's going to be an... interesting... plot to work on.

I hope your breaks all went well, assuming you had breaks. If not... I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm tired.

I have to take the SAT this Saturday (that is, the sixth), so wish me luck! I hope to have a chapter posted then, but it all depends on how much homework my teachers give me along with my SAT studying. I'd like to mention that my school doesn't offer SATs, so that's why I'm taking it my Senior year. My ACT score was 31, so I'm hoping that means I won't totally fail my SAT. I should probably stop typing, since this in no way pertains to my story...

Have a nice week (or two, depending on how long it takes me to update)!