Tobi held Kruno tightly against his body, swinging her around roughly from side to side.

"Tobi missed you Kru-Senpai!" Tobi said in his child like voice, and Kruno laughed softly and nodded her head as she let him go.

"I missed you too, Tobi." She said, before she glanced over at Kisame. He was staring at Kruno with an unreadable expression, until he got up off the couch and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her so tightly that he lifted her off the ground. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, and she laughed slightly against his chest as tears welled up in her eyes.

"I missed you so much." Kruno mumbled to Kisame, and he smiled a smile that showed all of his shark like teeth, before he nodded his head at her.

"I missed you too." He said as he placed her on the ground. But once her feet touched the ground, Kisame smacked her on the side of her head, fairly hard. Kruno fell to the ground and grabbed the side of her head that her father like figure had hit, and she glared at him roughly.

"What the fuck, Kisame?" She asked as she rubbed her head slightly. "That fucking hurt." She grumbled as she stood back up beside of the overgrown shark. He kept his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at her.

"You deserved it. I came home to Tobi telling everyone about how you had left with the leaf shinobi, and that you didn't say goodbye to anyone but Tobi!" He said, pointing a figure at the Orange masked man who held up in his hands in self defense.

"Tobi is good boy!" Tobi cried out, before he scurried back over to the couch. Kruno narrowed her eyes into a glare at Kisame, and in the back ground, Deidara was trying to make a bet with Itachi on how long Kisame would be able to stand the glare. A lot of the members of the Akatsuki had been fortune enough not to get one of Kruno's famous glares, but the ones who had were well aware that the girl could stare daggers into your head, and practically burn a whole through you.

Kisame narrowed his beady eyes back at her, and this began the glare war. Everytime Kisame would be close to breaking, he would push his glare further, which led to Kruno deepening her glare. Currently, Kruno was snarling at Kisame, her long canine teeth fully visible to everyone around her. Deidara gulped slightly as he took in all of Kruno's features, unaware as to how this had gone on for nearly two hours.

Kruno's eyes were narrowed, and her eyebrows were slightly arched, making her look more intimidating. Her nose was wrinkled along the bridge of her nose, and she was snarling at Kisame. As previously stated, her canine teeth were visible to everyone around her. Kisame stared at her for a few more minutes before he broke.

"Fine, I give!" Kisame said as the short girls snarl turned into a smile.

"Good." She said before she skipped over to where Hidan was sitting.

"Bitch!" She shouted, throwing her arms up in the air. Hidan laughed softly and copied her motion of throwing her arms in the air.

"Slut!" He shouted, before Kruno laughed and fell on his lap, propping her legs up on Deidara who was beside of him. She crossed her legs at her knees and smiled at Deidara who rolled his eye slightly, but he smiled at her.

Kruno leaned against Hidans shoulder and he slowly wrapped his arm around her waist in a friendly manner, something he didn't have to do often, but Hidan had watched Kruno grow since she was little, so the sexual attraction between the two was very little. But still, from anyone else position who wasn't the Akatsuki, it would have looked like Kruno and Hidan were flirting with each other.

"So how is Konoha?" Deidara asked, and Kruno sighed and though about it for a moment, before nodding her head.

"It's... it's good. I'm enjoying myself more than I thought I would, and it's really nice to see my mom and brother again, you know?" She said.

"But what about that, Shikamaru guy?" Kisame asked, and a blush formed over Kruno's cheeks as she giggled nervously. Hidan's eyes widened as he looked at Kruno, and he used his free hand to poke her nose.

"You fucked him didn't you?!" Hidan said with a proud smile. Kruno paled and Kisame got a deadly look in his eyes before Kruno began to fiercely shake her head.

"No fucking, I promise!" Kruno said as she shook her head and her hands. "None, no!"

"I don't believe you, you slut. But go on, what have you been doing with him?" Hidan asked, and Kruno shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"We've just been hanging out, and he's been telling me all the things I've missed while I was here, and it's just been nice to have him around again. I kind of missed him." She said.

"Kind of is an understatement." Kakuzu said from his place on the couch, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Shut up, old man." Kruno said, punching his shoulder playfully.

"How long are you here for?" White Zetzu said, and she shrugged her shoulders lightly.

"It's on the second day now, and I'm allowed to be out for five days. I have someone to meet a little later today, but I won't be there all day. Then for the next two days I'll be here, and the fifth day I will be heading back to Konoha." She said, and everyone nodded slightly.

"Who do you have to meet?" Kisame asked, and Kruno rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm not telling you. It's my secret." She said before she stood up and glanced at him. "Is my room still where it was?"

"Yeah, just the way you left it." Kisame answered and she nodded as she made her way into the hallway that lead to her old room. She opened the door, and she smiled at it. Because nothing had changed, not one day. Her clothes were still thrown all over the place, her bed was unmade, her swords were laying above her bed, hung up on the wall.

"I'm glad they didn't move anything." She said softly, before she went over to her closet and grabbed one of her old outfits, changing out of what she had on now. She slid on a pair of her shorts that were above mid thigh, with bandages covering her lower legs. She placed a fishnet shirt under a dark black v-neck neck shirt that had no sleeves. She attached her old Kunai pouch to the outside of her left thigh, and she smile slightly. She felt like her old self.

She pulled her katana off of the wall and strapped it on her back before she walked out of her room, smiling at everyone around her once she was in the living room. "Now, I shouldn't be gone all night, but on the off chance that I am, don't worry I'll be back tomorrow." She said with a happy smile, before she walked out of the base, not hearing the slight chuckle of Kisame as he watched Kruno walked out. She had really grown into a fine young lady.

//

Kruno walked in the direction of the lake she had last met Sasuke out, and once she got there, she plopped down on the ground with a light sigh. She rested her head against the ground, exhausted from the walk. Her memory had slipped from how long she had walked back from the place.

"You actually showed." Sasuke said lightly as he walked around from behind a tree, sitting down beside of her.

"Course I did. Told you I would, didn't I?" She said as she glanced over at him with a smile. Sasuke gave the famous Uchiha smirk back at her, and she couldn't help but laugh at him.

"How have you been lately?" Sasuke asked, and Kruno stared off into the distance of the lake, not saying anything at first as she normally did.

"I'm... I'm good." She said finally, before glancing over at Sasuke. "Did you bring the goods?" She asked with a chuckle, and Sasuke rolled his eyes as he held out her two cups of Ramen.

"Here." Sasuke said, and Kruno squealed happily.

"Fuck yeah, you rule!" She said, throwing her fist in the air before grabbing the things of Ramen from his hand, placing it between her legs. She broke the chopsticks he had and began to eat the ramen.

"You eat like a pig." Sasuke said, and Kruno shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"And your hair looks like a duck-butt, but I'm not complaining." She said smoothly, and Sasuke broke a small chuckle as she rested her head on his shoulder, still eating her noodles.

"So, what have you been up to?" Sasuke asked, and the girl shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"I'm back in Konoha." She said, and Sasuke's eyes widened in alarm.

"You didn't bring any of them with you, did you?! Because if you did, I'll kill you all." Sasuke said, and Kruno shook her head with a small sigh.

"I told them if anyone followed me, I would go back to being a missing-Nin with the Akatsuki boys."

"Good. I don't want to go back to Konoha " Sasuke said, and Kruno could tell that he meant what he said.

"I know." She said softly. "Everyone misses you though. Sakura, Ino, Kakashi-sensei... Naruto." She said.

"That dobe?" Sasuke asked with a chuckle, and Kruno returned the laugh, nodding her head.

"He misses you more than anyone. He made a promise to Sakura that he would bring you back to Konoha for her, and I know he meant it. He is determined, Sasuke. And he's a lot stronger. I know you are too, but he was trained by another Sannin. You two will be nearly equally matched now, so I would watch yourself if you were ever to run into the Dobe. Because he's not the little brat he once was." Kruno explained, and Sasuke nodded his head after a few moment.

"Alright. Thanks, Kru." He said, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him. She sighed heavily as she placed the empty ramen containers beside her and rested her hand against his side, cuddling into him a lot like she would Shikamaru.

"How Shika?" Sasuke asked. "Are you two okay?"

"I guess. We're better now. We're at least on speaking terms, so I guess that's a start right?" Kruno said with q chuckle, and Sasuke nodded his head before he rested his head on top of hers.

"It is a start, at least. He really did care about you, and I don't think I ever saw him so upset after you left. He was torn up about it." Sasuke said, and Kruno nodded her head slightly with a large sigh.

"I know, trust me I know. Everyone feels the need to tell me how bad he was hurt that I left every time he is brought up in conversation. It's bugs me, you know? I know it hurt him, but I was hurt too." She said.

"But you were hurt by the hands on the person you loved, he was." He said.

"Yeah, I know. Can we just sit here now? I'm tired of crying." She said, and Sasuke nodded as he pulled her in a little closer, both of them closing their eyes and enjoying the embrace of each other's.

But neither of them noticed the red eyes watching them across the lake.

//

All done with this chapter, and it's a lot shorter than I like but I'm sorta running out of things to do with this to get me up to the plot since I am so behind in Shippuden that I have no idea what happened after like the first fifty episodes. I'm sorry, I love s you guys.

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