After an extended absence, I have arrived, months behind my goal for when I'm finishing this story. Plot device has arrived!

Emi's P.o.V.

The past month had been hectic and filled with nigh backbreaking work. While I wasn't as physically capable as Tish or Reia, my lower center or gravity helped me out with things that gave difficulty to Tracey. Most of us pitched in to help the builders that had been hired make a small home for the children that had somehow made their way into Tish's good graces. Not that any of us were complaining – she had less time to bother us while playing den mother to twelve orphans.

That sounded mean, I chastised myself mentally. While it was true that Tish's personality was exceedingly abrasive to more irritable people, such as Mischa and Shylah, I preferred to give her the benefit of a doubt. If anything, she was more a victim of circumstances. It was also best to avoid offending her.

At the moment, I was walking home from where I helped out and worked at the local clinic, as poorly-staffed as it was. The weather was, as usual, rainy, although it had lightened a fair degree to a light drizzle. That morning I'd been running late and forgotten my rain cloak and the umbrella I'd bought a few weeks ago, so I was grateful for the reprieve. Unfortunately, the decreased rain meant that nearly everyone was outside, taking advantage of the rare occurrence to buy perishables and even furniture without fearing that their new things would be soaked.

The crowds jostled me, and I ended up falling into a puddle on the side of the street. "Eep!" I squeaked as the muddy water splashed up to cover my face and ended up in my nose, ears, and mouth. I sputtered and crawled as far away from the pedestrians as I could.

My miserable thoughts were interrupted when I heard a soft mewing. Looking to my left, I discovered two kittens huddled together under the poor shelter of a sewer grate. As one, they gazed up at me, shaking pitifully. My heart broke for the clearly starving strays and I reached out hesitantly. "It's okay, cuties, I'm not gonna hurt you," I crooned soothingly. After some more coaxing, they crawled from their spot and into my soaked lap.

I petted them, hoping to calm them down and earn their trust enough to be able to pick them up. "Do you two want to come home with me? I bet I could find a nice saucer of milk and maybe some soft food. You look barely old enough to eat solid food, poor babies." A few minutes later I felt confident enough to gather them into my arms and continue my walk home.

Home. When did I start thinking of that building as 'home'? My world is my home, my dad's house is my home, not this strange place where I'm living with criminals who aren't about to care for me the way a family would. Maybe I'm just calling it home because it's the closest thing to that I have here. I don't… want… to think of it as my home. Do I?

I interrupted my own thoughts as I reached the door to m- the headquarters. It didn't have the kind of door handle I could open with my feet, not that I would've been able to reach it if it did. Sighing, I glanced around before slowly leaning back, balancing on my left leg and lifting my right as high as I could reach and stretching it out-

Suddenly, the door swung open and I had to stumble out of the way to avoid being caught with my skirt-clad self in an awkward position. Standing in the door were none other than Kisame and Itachi, one looking at me with a smirk and the other with a blank, albeit mildly concerned expression.

On reflex, I straightened my back while ducking my head down and bringing my gaze to the ground. "U-um, sorry."

I winced at a sudden pressure on my head, not relaxing when I realized that a hand (most likely Kisame's) was patting my head comfortingly. "Don't worry about it, gaki. What do you have there?"

I knew he was talking about the kittens I'd found, but I hesitated in speaking. While I wouldn't have minded telling Reia or Mischa, it was nerve-wracking in its own way to admit to liking cute, fuzzy animals to people who… Who what? It's not like they're going to benefit from making fun of me. It's okay, I can do this. "They're k-kittens. I f-found them o-on the street. Is it okay if they s-stay w-with us?" I asked hesitantly, wanting to make sure.

"You'd have to check with Kakuzu about that, since you're technically renting from us." At seeing what little of my face that was visible fall, he added, "Just get Tiamat or Shylah to help you; they seem to have a way with him. Itachi and I are going out for some supplies. We have to travel out of Ame, so we might be out for a few weeks."

I nodded and passed through the doorway when they held the door open for me. "Thank you," I muttered, "and b-be safe."

"Never thought I'd hear anyone tell me that in this lifetime," Kisame remarked with a laugh as they closed the door after me.

Glancing around nervously, I began the short trek to the corridor reserved for the eight of us in search of Tiamat. Today was Saturday, and Tiamat's day off. If I was lucky, I would be able to catch her in her room (since she wasn't in the kitchen) before she left to take stock of our food and cleaning supplies. I didn't want to approach her in the library, since that was where Kakuzu was most likely to be, and it would be better if he didn't see the kittens before I had someone as reasonable as Tiamat to help me convince him that they should stay.

As luck would have it, I caught up with Tiamat just as she was closing the door to her room. "T-Tiamat!" I exclaimed, garnering her attention.

The second she caught sight of what I was holding in my arms, she paused and looked at me strangely. "Where did you get kittens?"

"They w-were on the street, s-starving and c-covered in mud. I-I couldn't j-just leave them," I replied, hanging my head and waiting for a lecture about picking up strays.

"They're still starving and covered in mud, in case you hadn't noticed. You didn't magically clean and feed them just by picking them up and taking them here." A brief pause occurred as she came closer and scanned the kittens more thoroughly. "You do realize you've brought them into a den of killers, right?"

Alarmed, I pulled them closer to me. "They wouldn't kill a kitten, would they?"

"Hidan might. And I honestly wouldn't put it past Zetsu to eat them."

"Eat what?" A voice asked from behind me, causing me to whirl around in surprise. Zetsu glanced from me to my kittens, and his black half frowned in distaste. "Not nearly enough meat on them. He's joking. No I'm not. We don't eat cats; they have too much fur. Hairless cats, on the other hand…" Black Zetsu leered hungrily at no one in particular while White Zetsu rolled an eye. "That's not why we're here, though. Have you seen Reia? She's been avoiding us."

"Avoiding you?" I inquired, momentarily forgetting my horror at the thought of them shaving and killing my poor, defenseless kittens.

Tiamat, meanwhile, raised an eyebrow. "She just got a job. Do you really think that she'd start avoiding you now, for absolutely no reason?"

"Yes. Excuse him, he's irritable. Only because I have to deal with you all day. Which is why we're looking for Reia – she gives us a break from each other. How much of a break is it if we're both still stuck to each other? Fine, then she helps us resolve our arguments. Does she? I hadn't noticed." That went on for a while, in which their argument grew increasingly more heated and Tiamat and I shared wary looks.

"She works at a greenhouse in Ame. I am unaware of its exact location, but if you wish to seek it out, I hold no objections," Tiamat interjected, having grown tired of their circular arguments. "Not that I could stop you if I did," she added. "Or you could just wait here for her to get back. I could have sworn that she didn't have work today…"

Zetsu nodded. "We'll just wait. We were going to wait anyway. We're grateful for your input. Not." We walked away to the sound of White Zetsu scolding his darker half.

"What did you want to speak with me about, Emi?" Tiamat queried politely as we made our way through the halls.

"I w-was hoping you'd be willing to c-convince Kakuzu to let us keep these kittens."

"What makes you believe I am most suited to the task?"

"Y-you, I-I mean, um…" I squirmed nervously before remembering something. "Kisame suggested that I g-get you to ask him."

"Blaming Kisame, hm?"

"It's n-not like that!" I exclaimed, then flinched back at Tiamat's surprised stare. "S-sorry…"

"Don't be, I don't mind. It is nice to see you showing a backbone. You should do it more often, as long as you remember that Tisha and Caitlin are here to back you up with their fists should you need them." The corners of her lips pulled up into a hint of a smirk as she watched my face redden. "I will help you convince Kakuzu to let you keep the cats, but are you sure you need me?"

"Y-yes, please!"

Caitlin's P.o.V.

"C'mon, Deidara, hurry up! Gah, for a ninja, you're a real slow-poke," I teased, hoping he'd get irritated enough to chase me and hurry up.

Instead, he remained at his own steady but incredibly slow pace, smirking infuriatingly at me. "Calm down Neko-chan, yeah. You're almost as impatient as Danna." Glancing around, he made a show of stretching, purposely slowing down as he did so just to push my buttons. "As unartistic as it sounds, we don't need to hurry because it won't be going anywhere."

"One would think, judging by your artistic views, that Sasori would be the patient one and you'd be the one complaining at the slow pace you're setting," Shylah pointed out. She and Sasori were already several feet ahead of me because I'd stopped to urge Deidara to hurry up.

"I bet you'd be taking it nice and slow if you were walking," Deidara pointed out, referencing the fact that Shylah had somehow convinced Sasori to let her ride on his back. "You always hated physical activity back at the base, un."

"Hurry it up, brat. At the pace you're setting, Kawa no Kuni will be nothing more than ancient ruins by the time we arrive." To emphasize his point, Sasori shot a few needles right past me at Deidara without looking.

Deidara dodged, losing his smirk momentarily. "Watch where you're aiming those things. We'll take longer if we have to stop because you missed me and poisoned Neko-chan, un. Do you really want that?" Nonetheless, he hurried until he'd caught up with me, took my hand, and hurried us both over to where Sasori and Shylah were continuing along the road.

Shylah glanced down at our hands, smirking slightly, and I stuck my tongue out at her. Her smirk only widened when I stiffened, having guessed correctly that one of Deidara's extra mouths had licked me. Suppressing an uncomfortable shudder, I decided to just deal with it because every other aspect of holding his hand was nice, and even the tongue was more cool than gross.

"Thanks for taking us with you," I said, smiling at my surroundings despite the rain that had picked back up shortly after our departure.

"No problem," Deidara replied easily. "We figured that as bad as it was for us to be stuck in Ame for so long, it must be worse for you, un."

"How sweet," Shylah mocked, the sincerely fond undertone lost on no one, as slight as it was.

"I'm the most badass artist you'll ever meet. What is it with you two and using words like 'sweet' do describe me, hm?" Deidara joked, half-exasperated.

"You call yourself an artist?" Sasori scoffed.

"Neko-chan agrees with me," Deidara pointed out. I, meanwhile, was waving my arms frantically in front of my face to keep Sasori from being offended by me. When Deidara turned to glance back at me, I whipped my hands behind my back and whistled a tune innocently.

"Neither of you has any sense. She doesn't count."

"None of us has any cents; we use ryo here," Shylah pointed out.

Deidara and I stared at her with a deadpan expression. "I regret ever calling someone insane in my lifetime. I never knew how much I was exaggerating before I met you."

"You've never actually met an insane person before?" Shylah queried. "Nevermind, we live with a base full of insane people. Of course you have."

"You still somehow manage to take the cake."

"Should I be insulted?" Shylah asked no one in particular, casually inspecting her nails with a bored expression on her face. "Scratch that, should Deidara be insulted? Or maybe Hidan? He is rather psychotic. Are you saying I make him look sane?" Without waiting for me to reply, she continued. "Mission accomplished."

"You do know I was joking, right?" I questioned, just to be sure.

"Well, duh."

Sasori's scorpion tail flicked dangerously. "Be quiet, both of you. Your incessant speech is giving me a headache."

As I wasn't suicidal, I quickly shut my mouth and made sure to keep Deidara between myself and Sasori at all times. Surprisingly, Shylah also obliged him, settling comfortably on his back and removing her hood to allow the rain that she favored so much to splash on her head.

We walked for what seemed like hours – it probably was hours – before Deidara seemed to botice how tired I was getting. Actually, I wasn't getting tired, I was exhausted.

"Hold up, Danna, let's rest for a while."

"Need I remind you that this was your idea?"

Shylah interrupted before their heated discussion could turn into the kind of argument old married couples had – which happened often, I assure you. "I can walk while Caitlin catches a ride on your back." When she thought Sasori was going to argue, she continued, "It would be more expedient, and you wouldn't have to wait for her to be ready to move on every few hours."

After a moment of deliberation, Sasori agreed, and Shylah and I traded places. I decided to keep an eye on her, though; her asthma was worse in humidity, and I knew for a fact that she didn't appear with her inhaler. I wasn't sure whether any of the Akatsuki members knew, but my guess was that they didn't, since Shylah wouldn't have told them even if they did care.

We continued walking until sundown, and I noted that Shylah's cheeks slowly reddened as she concentrated on moving forward. "Do you wanna switch places again, Shylah?"

She glanced at me and seemed ready to protest. Deidara beat her to it. "You probably should. Now that the sun's going down, it'll be harder to see, yeah."

As we switched places, Shylah frowned at him. "And how is that going to help anything? You're trading one person tripping and falling for another."

In response, Deidara turned his back to me and crouched. "I'm going to carry her, un."

While I hesitantly obliged, Shylah rolled her eyes. "I'm insulted that you'd rather carry Caitlin than me, to the point where you actually made us switch when it would've been more prudent to simply carry me and leave Sasori to carry Caitlin."

"Maybe it's Sasori who wanted to carry you, and I was just helping him out, yeah." Deidara replied, smirking over at the two.

"Quiet, brat. Shylah, don't loosen your grip – we'll be moving quickly, now." Sasori took off, moving surprisingly quickly for a man who resembled a large, humanoid blob with a metal tail. Deidara leapt after him, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders in surprise, hanging on for dear life.

"Don't mind him," Deidara put in, continuing their conversation. "He's shy, hm." Dodging the tail that was shot at him, he laughed once before I screamed and squeezed my arms around him even more. "Ow, Neko! It's okay, I'm not going to let Danna hurt you, yeah."

"For some reason, I'm having a hard time believing that," I muttered, trying to hide myself in his back. I ended up relaxing eventually, and even managed to doze off to the steady rhythm of running through the countryside.

(^.^)

I awoke to the sound of Shylah's muttered voice. "Why did we even walk at a civilian pace in the first place? We could've been here by sundown if we'd just let you shunshin us all the way here."

"We were trying not to attract suspicion. There have been rumors that Ame is suspected of housing one of our hideouts, and we couldn't risk being seen entering Kawa no Kuni coming from Ame," an unfamiliar voice replied. There was the sound of rustling cloth and scraping wood, then silence.

"I was awake until three in the morning because I had to hang on to your cloak." She paused long enough for me to hear Sasori scoff. "You guys have a hideout in Kawa?"

"Whether or not we do, it would be idiotic to risk detection simply because you were tired," Sasori replied. Apparently, the other guy had left and couldn't reply.

"You totally do," Shylah declared after a few seconds. I would've stayed awake to listen, but my bed was too comfortable, and so I drifted off to sleep.

(^.^)

The next time I woke up, I decided to wake up fully. Apparently, sometime during the night we had arrived in a town and rented a hotel room. The sound of a shower running came from a door to the left, letting me know that Shylah was probably trying to wash off the dirt while Sasori and Deidara were out.

After a few moments of internal debate, I decided to begin stripping down like the sexy beast I am and don a towel as I waited for Shylah to get out. Normally I would've been more hesitant around anyone other than Tish and Tracey, but Shylah had a tendency to view the human body objectively and without embarrassment. She most likely wouldn't make it awkward.

What did make it awkward was finding out that the person showering was Deidara, not Shylah. We stared at each other for several seconds before I shrieked and added a blanket on top of my towel.

Deidara took a second longer to recover before smirking and waltzing over to his clothes. "What's with that reaction? And after we shared a bed last night, un!"

I had been making my way to the bathroom with my clothes, but now stopped dead in my tracks. "What did you do while I was asleep?!"

"Calm down, Neko-chan. Shylah didn't want to share a bed with anyone, and since there were only two, I just slept next to you, un. No funny business happened, I promise," he assured me, holding up his right hand. The mouth on his hand opened, and his tongue lolled out comically.

"Okay, I'm just going to… uh… take a shower," I replied. "Just, um, un-see the last few minutes, got it?"

"Whatever you say, yeah," he replied as I shut the door behind me.

I leaned back against the newly-shut door and sighed with frustration. Well, that was awkward.

Tiamat's P.o.V.

Cautiously approaching the back of the library, I mentally reviewed all the arguments I had come up with in order to convince Kakuzu to allow us to keep the kittens Emi had found. It wasn't necessarily as though I were afraid of him, or even nervous about my request, but I did feel a certain amount of… stress? There was an oddly anxious feeling in my gut that I would have to analyze later.

Having finally reached the seating area furthest from the exit, I took my customary seat and waited for him to finish counting his money. It didn't take long once he noticed me watching him, and he set it aside before turning his head just enough to look at me. "What?"

My arguments fled my mind and I drew a temporary blank. Casting my thoughts around frantically (Since when did I get flustered at the thought of a debate?), I managed to blurt out, "I was wondering if we could have two cats." Refusing to show my embarrassment, I immediately thought of several other ways I could have phrased the request in a way that would have been more convincing.

"Fine," Kakuzu replied, returning to his work.

"I assure y-" My protest died on my lips. "What?"

He returned to looking at me. "As long as the money used to take care of them is yours, you take care of them and their messes, and you have no more than two, I don't really care. You get rid of them if you break even one of those rules."

"How did you know there were two?" I asked after a considerable amount of silence.

"I saw Emi carrying them while she was looking for you, most likely to ask you to convince me to let you keep them. I will inform Leader-sama, and if he objects, you can take that up with him." Kakuzu turned back to his money once again, beginning to pack it away. After a few more seconds, he stood. "What now?"

"How did you know Emi would ask me for help?"

Rather than dignify that with a response, he exited, leaving me sitting on the couch. Twenty seconds later, Emi walked into view. For a second I panicked when I realized that her kittens were no longer in her arms, but then calmed down as two familiar, now clean, balls of fur hopped up next to me on the couch.

"Kakuzu d-didn't say anything when he l-left. Did it… n-not go w-well?" Emi stuttered, taking the remaining seat on the couch and petting the kittens reassuringly.

"We can keep them as long as we take care of them on our own, don't let them breed, and clean up their messes. We will have to purchase some supplies for taking care of them, but I can do that on my own. Tisha has been out all day; I was going to retrieve her soon, anyway."

"Oh," Emi muttered, now grinning from ear to ear. "I named the boy – he's the white one – Tenshi, and the girl Akuma."

"What is it Shylah always says? Something about black animals being angels and white ones being devils?"

"I-I think that's just because she dislikes the stereotype."

"She's going to be irritated when she gets back, not that I would encourage you to indulge her and change their names. I personally think that she needs to gain a bit of maturity when it comes to these things." That wasn't to say that Shylah was selfish, necessarily (although she could be), just that she was… pushy.

"She won't mind."

"She'll probably call you racist."

Emi giggled. "Or sexist."

"She might actually be okay on that front. Not that she really cares about either of those things as long as it isn't serious discrimination."

"She can be k-kind of offensive, t-too, can't she?" Emi pointed out hesitantly, her grin softening as she watched the two kittens playfully bat at each other with their soft paws.

"More or less," I replied, picking Tenshi up by the scruff of his neck and placing him in my lap. Immediately, he sat up and lifted his chin regally as I began to pet him. After a few seconds of silence, I sighed. "Emi, do you like it here?"

She tensed, but remained silent, focusing on the kitten that had crawled up to snuggle in her lap. Knowing that she would answer eventually, I allowed her time to gather her thoughts. "I… don't know. We're living with criminals, but even though it's obvious that they are… the way they are… They're not nice – n-not in the way that m-most people would expect. They're… I d-don't know how to explain it."

"You sound confused," I pointed out, moving Tenshi onto Emi's lap. Akuma swatted at him playfully, and he pounced on her, hissing irritably.

"I am. Are you going to pick up some supplies?"

"Yes. Keep an eye on them, and make sure to introduce them to the others. Maybe get Mischa to help you interact with the Akatsuki."

Without waiting for a reply, I headed to my room to gather an appropriate amount of money and my rain cloak. The money I tucked into the safest place possible without being overtly gauche – in my boots. Once everything was in place, I exited my room, then the hideout, and wandered rather aimlessly towards the market district.

I was not acquainted with the types of stores that would house pet care products. It would have been best to ask Emi or Mischa whether they knew of any before I had left, but as it was too late, I would have to make do on my own. Surely the location of a pet supply shop would not be too difficult to discover, would it?

Apparently, it would. After an hour of searching fruitlessly, I happened upon one of the children I recognized as belonging to Tish's gang of orphans. What's his name again? Hiroshi?

As I approached him, he glanced up from the fruit stand that he had been eyeing and caught sight of me. He paused and glanced around, as though unsure of whether or not he should make a run for it. His hesitance cost him, and I reached him before he could make his decision. "Do you know where a pet supply store would be located?"

He started and suddenly gave me a sly look. "I might. D'ya have somethin' ta jog my mem'ry?"

Drawing myself up to my full height, I eyed him in a dignified manner. "Tish would be very disappointed in you."

"Nuh-uh, she taught me how ta do it!" He argued, puffing his cheeks out in defiance.

"She must have forgotten to mention that her friends are off-limits."

"Tish-sama said Neko-sama and Ti-sama are off-limits, but she didn't say nothin' 'bout you," Hiroshi returned smugly.

"How short-sighted of her," I muttered before my gaze happened upon a small shop tucked in between two larger ones. "I seem to have found one on my own. For future reference, I would have paid you without the bribery."

Leaving the urchin behind (I was affronted, but not permanently offended), I stepped into the small, albeit well-kept shop. The aisles were arranged according to pet species, with some unusual sections most likely reserved for exotic animals that had either died out in our own world or were reserved solely for this one. The section that catered to felines, while not the largest, was the best-stocked and had the most variety.

Amongst the store's supplies were items to be used specifically for raising kittens. Since I was stocking up for two kittens, my arms were soon laden with items, and I was beginning to regret not finding Tish before I made the trip to the store.

Almost as if my thoughts had conjured her, Tish stalked irritably through the doors to the pet shop, guiding Hiroshi by the scruff of his neck. I turned from placing everything on the counter just as she pushed his head down in an awkward bow aimed in my general direction. "Beg for forgiveness, brat!" She ordered, her right eye beginning to twitch violently as he struggled in her grip.

A few moments of struggle later (in which the cashier, noticing how opposite the two were in appearance, looked at me in concern), Hiroshi finally relented and sank into a more thorough bow. "Sorry I tried ta make you bribe me for directions, Ti'mat-sama. I won't do it again." He seemed finished, but Tish shook him slightly as he continued. "I offer myself as a temp'rary vassal ta take your orders as paym'nt!" He barely squeaked out before collapsing to the ground as Tish finally released him.

"…I forgive your impudence," I couldn't help but play along. "Your vassalage will be complete once you have carried as many of these bags as you can back to my… house."

Having finished my piece of the speech, I turned to the cashier and gave her the exact amount of ryo she required before handing the majority of my shopping bags to Hiroshi. Tish's smirk at not having to carry anything formed into a scowl as I gave her the remainder and held the door open for them.

The walk home was uneventful, but when I held the door open, Hiroshi hesitated and glanced between Tish and me nervously. "You may enter. We'll protect you from the monsters," I assured him seriously.

He grinned and followed me in, before long becoming comfortable enough to chatter along with stilted words and improper grammar. Surprisingly, we didn't run into any Akatsuki members as we set up the kittens' room in the corridor that had been reserved for us; neither did we meet up with any of them as Tish and I made a quick dinner for Hiroshi to take back to his surrogate family of fellow children.

It was only later that we found out from Mischa and Tobi that the only remaining Akatsuki members in the hideout were Pein, Konan, and Tobi (although technically Tobi wasn't a member). Everyone else had been sent out on missions.

Mischa's P.o.V.

I sighed. "Tobi-san, I think the prank war has officially been disbanded. Not even Neko and Deidara have been playing pranks recently." Tobi sighed forlornly in acknowledgement, and I frowned. "I can't keep a freaking war going when nobody wants to fight! It's pointless! I should've had Sis come up with prizes for whoever wins.

"What kinds of prizes?"

"I dunno! Cool prizes!" I shrugged before sighing again. "I miss Sis. She'd come up with something for me to do. I mean, it'd only be because she'd be trying to distract us from annoying her, but still! I blame Sasori and Deidara for takin her away to who knows where."

"I think they were going to Kawa no Kuni." I frowned at him as I tried to remember exactly where and what the Land of Rivers was. "Oh, yeah, you don't know about Kawa, do you, Mischa-chan?"

"Shylah showed me a map of this wo- this land once, but I guess I didn't pay too much attention," I replied, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.

"Okay, that settles it!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands and leaping to his feet.

"Settles what?" I asked as he took my hand and led me to the exit.

"Field trip!" He chirped.

I stopped in my tracks, but he kept going, dragging me with him. "Hold up, I can't go out like this!" When he turned to look at me, tilting his head quizzically, I elaborated. "I mean, I don't even have a cloak, or shoes, or money, or supplies. Where are we going? How long will we be away? Why am I even worrying?"

It was Tobi's turn to rub the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Mischa-chan. You go get some supplies, I'll pack them up for you. Don't worry about money."

As I turned to leave, a sudden thought occurred to me. "Are we going to be stealing stuff?"

Tobi shrugged. "Does Mischa-chan have a problem with stealing?"

"Depends on who we steal from," I replied, hurrying off to find some travel clothes, a cloak, and my boots. When I got back, Tobi took the things I didn't need to wear and sealed them into a scroll. "Cool. I suddenly wish that I had chakra. That would be so useful for so many things."

We stepped out of the hideout through an exit I hadn't known about. Instead of leading us to the not-so-bustling streets of Ame, we were brought to somewhere outside of there. Not a few seconds later, Tobi had grabbed me and we disappeared.

(^.^)

I'm pretty sure I passed out. Actually, I'm certain that I passed out.

When I finally came to, I was lying in some soft grass, and there was the sound of distant waves in the background. Groaning, I sat up and rubbed my head. "What the heck was that?"

"Yay, Mischa-chan's awake!" Tobi cheered from somewhere behind me.

"How did you know I'd survive… whatever that was?" That was kind of rude to use the Kamui without warning me about it. Big meany…

Tobi was suspiciously quiet, and I turned to see him poking his pointer fingers together nervously. "Eh-heh-heh…"

"… You could've killed me!" I just barely avoided screeching.

"But Mischa-chan is okay! And Tobi got you some dango and tea for when you woke up!" He placated, pulling said items out of nowhere and sitting down next to me. When I took them carefully into my hands, shaky from how close I'd come to dying, he nudged my shoulder. "I'm sorry for not taking into account your lack of chakra," he mumbled, sounding slightly less Tobi-like despite continuing to maintain that persona.

I shrugged and nudged him back. "I guess I can forgive you. For future reference, if you do screw up big enough to where you feel like you need to pay me back with presents, I like chocolate. That's not an excuse to do whatever you want just because you can make it up to me later. Kudos to you for getting me sweets on your first try, though."

Tobi nodded seriously, then tensed when I leaned on his shoulder. "Hey, Tobi-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are we?"

"Nami no Kuni."

"Huh." So this is what it's like in Nami? Wait, what's the timeframe in this world? Has Naruto been here already? I barely held in a gasp. What if he's here right now? Oh, snap! "So what're we doing here?"

"After the bridge to the mainland was built, a bunch of shops and stuff were built. It's a nice vacation spot, I've heard. Does Mischa-chan want to explore?" Tobi asked, tilting his head as he looked down at me.

"Oh, yes!" I shouted, quickly stuffing my face with dango, gulping down the rest of my tea, choking on both, and hopping to my feet. Turning away so he wouldn't see my beet-red face, I pointed in no particular direction. "To adventure, my dear Tobi-san! We will boldly go where no chakra-less girl has gone before!"

Semi-Important Question: Does anyone want to read about the rest of Caitlin, Sasori, Shylah, and Deidara's trip or Mischa and Tobi's trip? If no one says otherwise, I'll just skip over that.

Yo! So, the girls are FINALLY getting to travel around. If you want to see the rest of everyone's journeys, let me know - otherwise I'll just keep going with this story.

I mentioned my goals for when this story will end. I planned for it to only last a year as far as updates and such go (it's looking like it'll take a bit longer), and exactly one year in-story. With the conclusion of this chapter, we have finished one hundred sixty-eight days. Yep. I'm actually keeping track. I either have no life or am obsessive.

I also may have made Tobi a bit OOC, but, eh, as I've probably said before, that's just how things go with these kinds of stories.

No phone appearances. On the bright side, two cute little kittens! Yep.

I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to end this story. I had the who, the what, the when, and the where, but not the why. I now have the why. Let me tell you, it's both fitting and impossible. Shylah's going to hate it.

See ya, uh, eventually!