He fumbled with the zipper, before finally unzipping it all the way, sighing. He set the magazine down, lifting his hips, and pulling his pants down and off his legs. He rolled them up, setting them on the bed next to him, and picked his magazine up again. He swallowed, blush still adorning his cheeks. Hers too.

Keiichi stood up, reaching for the handle of the closet door. She grabbed it, swallowing. She had to. Before he did anything. Didn't she?

But then the bedroom door swung open, and Deidara was glaring at the intruder. He didn't seem surprised, or even embarrassed. He certainly was mad though, jaw visible clenching.

"What do you want Tobi?" Tobi shrugged, walking into the room, clearly ignoring the current situation and Deidara's obvious agitation. Deidara rolled his eyes, and set the magazine down.

"Again, what is it?" Tobi turned, sitting on the bed opposite of him. Tobi whispered, "Tobi is wondering about that girl…" Deidara sighed. "Itachi worries about her. Do you think that will be a problem, senpai?"

Deidara hesitated, but shook his head. Tobi cocked his head slightly, leaning back.

"Honestly, no. He's always worried about her, it's not been a problem yet." Tobi nodded, seeming satisfied with his answer. He moved closer, picking up the magazine Deidara had set next to him.

"Hm… Senpai, should you be looking at these things with Keiichi in the room?" Deidara pinched the bridge of his nose, grabbing the magazine and smacking Tobi over the head with it.

"The lack of privacy in the base is quite disturbing, but I've gotten so used to it that I wouldn't care if she's fucking sitting in front of me. She can watch if she wants, it doesn't bother me."

Keiichi's jaw dropped. The bastard knew.

Deidara smirked. "What are you doing in there anyways?"

Keiichi narrowed her eyes, cracking the door and mumbling, "Hiding from Kakuzu…kind of stole his clothes…" Deidara guffawed. Tobi fell off the bed laughing. She had single-handedly caused more trouble in one week—one day alone, than another other member had in the past. Of course, every member was a top-rate, talented ninja, selected based on their special skills and/or bloodline traits. Every member had to be intelligent, and disciplined.

"You're kidding." Keiichi peeked her head out of the door, shaking it lightly. "No…" This only sent Deidara into a fit, and literally had Tobi rolled on the floor with laughter.

Her face flushed as she gripped the door tightly. "Now he's going to kill me." She gave a pitiful look, which Deidara caught through his one open eye. "I'm going to be killed be a naked greedy old geezer…"

They heard a loud crash from the other room, followed by Pein swearing up a storm.

Deidara stood, putting his pants back on, and looking around for something else. "Okay, listen Kei….Keiichi?" Keiichi nodded, "Yeah?"

"You're gonna pay him off. For the amount of his clothes, maybe twice that, pay for the trouble too. He's greedy alright, just like you said."

Keiichi crawled out of the closet, sitting in front of it. "But I really don't have any money…" Deidara groaned. "I know. Listen, I'll front you for it, but you owe me, got it?"

Tobi chirped up, "Tobi will give you money! Tobi will give Keiichi—" Deidara interrupted him, glaring. "Under no circumstances should you trust Tobi. Ever."

Keiichi thinks if he wasn't wearing the mask, she probably wouldn't seen him glaring.

"Tobi was just offering money for nothing in return…"

Keiichi shook her head. "Thank you Tobi, but I could never take anybody's money as a hand out."

"Deidara…what were you thinking of?"

Dediara smirked, pulling his wallet out. "Be my servant for two weeks. Laundry, cleaning, etcetera, etcetera."

Keiichi smiled, nodding in agreement. "Okay, deal!"


Pein seemed no more and no less pissed at her or Deidara, thankfully. He was doing his own thing, but she couldn't quite figure out exactly what that was.

Zetsu kept eyeing her from the corner, occasionally whispering to himself.

Keiichi wasn't sure what to make of this ragtag organization, but she figured they couldn't be half bad if they weren't killing her, considering she had just about set out to make them miserable, even if it hadn't been that long.

She didn't know where the others were, but she figured it didn't matter. She scanned the room again, almost as if she expected them to materialize into the room.

Nobody did materialize.

The three seemed content doing their own things, ignoring Keiichi. She was content watching them do their own things until somebody came to get her, or sitting muddling through her own thoughts.

The lighting was low, almost as if the room was candle lit. It made it just that much harder to discern what Pein was doing. Keiichi almost convinced herself she didn't care.

She saw a sliver of metal protruding from Peins robes, and as it disappeared again, she watched as he jumped slightly in his seat, cursing.

Keiichi briefly wondered if he was repairing a ripped seam in his robes. She didn't spend too much time thinking about it, before moving closer to him.

"I can fix that." He sneered. "So can I."

She was tempted to roll her eyes. Instead, she held her hand out.

"Let me." Pein reluctantly handed her the needle, and when she had a firm grasp on it, she examined the poorly stitched fabric. Instead of ripping it out like she should have, she used the same loop stitch he had been using, then doubled over using a hidden stitch down the length of the fabric. She tied it off, and stretched the area against the length of the fabric, giving approval to the non-budging seam.

She bit the excess thread off, handing the needle back to Pein.

"My okaa-san used to sew yukatas to sell. She taught me how, but she made sure my stitching was perfect, or I would have to start over."

She smiled to herself, standing up. "Ah… not Mikoto-san…not my birth mother, the woman who raised me."

Pein stared at her until she felt slightly uncomfortable and started walking away back to her seat.

"Thanks."

Keiichi smiled wider. She was glad to help.


Sasori cursed loudly, almost yelled. Deidara flinched, ducking from the flying severed synthetic limbs, mostly synthetic limbs.

When he ran out of limbs as ammo, he started throwing miscellaneous vials of what Deidara only hoped were non-lethal, non-corrosive chemicals. He found out his hopes were in fact just hopes when one of the vials that had narrowly missed his head ended up shattered on the floor, smoking and bubbling as the area around it sunk further in.

He called for help when Sasori found his explosives and had nearly destroyed all of Deidara's workspace.

"Pein!" Nothing.

"Tobi!" No response.

Sasori was closing in.

"Ko—KEIICHI!"

Keiichi barely heard her muffled name being called, but she came as quickly as she could when she recognized it as the blonde Deidara's voice.

She came just in time to see Sasori's white-haired self holding a large bottle of something, and beginning to overtake Deidara.

Keiichi jumped on the white-haired man, pulling his arms back. Deidara ran as quickly as he could to the other side of the room. Sasori easily removed her, and as soon as he did, Keiichi gave a look that promised she would cry, even though she had no intention of genuinely crying.

Sasori grumbled, yanking her by the arm out of the room.

"Sorry 'Sori…" Keiichi gave him puppy dog eyes when he stopped to look at her. He stared for a moment, loosening his grip.

"What happened?" Sasori's lip twitched, eyebrows furrowing. Keiichi realized she probably really did just save Deidara's life.

"Why aren't you in Itachi's room? He'll be back soon, you know." Keiichi didn't. She smiled, wrapping her free arm over his shoulder in a half-hug.

"He is?" She squeezed him tighter as if he was her current Itachi-substitute. Sasori's face would've reddened if it could've. He was thankful it couldn't.

"…What are you doing?" Keiichi giggled, pulling her arm from his slackened grip and moving it over his other shoulder.

"That is the best news I've heard in a while!" Keiichi leaned forward, kissing him on his cheek.

"Try not to kill Deidara. My brother's hard—well his work to bring him here would be wasted, and I can't imagine he'd be too happy about that."

Sasori rolled his eyes, pushing her down the hallway. Keiichi nearly toppled over when he shoved at her upperback.

"Enough of that. Go back to the main room until Itachi arrives." Sasori's face relaxed as he pointed towards the end of the hall.

Keiichi grinned.

"Sure thing!" Sasori watched her walk—he would've laughed if anybody called that walking. The damn woman was sauntering down the hall like she owned the place.

Sasori would be damned if she didn't.