The moon rose high over Blankley, mixing with the synthetic light of the street lamps to light the empty streets. A trio of cats roamed over the sidewalk, patrolling the area.

"What the f*ck are these things?" Hidan glared at the dead/sleeping metallic beasts that stood on the sides of the roadways.

Kisame shrugged. "Sasori said he saw people inside them."

The jashinist gaped. "The f*ck!?You mean these freaky things eat humans, and the people here are okay with it?! What the shit!?"

"No you idiot." Sasori face-pawed. "What Kisame failed to mention is that I suspect these things," he gestured towards the metal beasts. "Are like my puppet Hiruko, the people here use them for transportation."

"Oh… well that makes more sense."

Sasori scoffed, "Brat." He padded towards the nearest metal vehicle, wrinkling his nose at the stinging smell of metal and oily grime. "I've never seen anything like this, from what I've observed, the people here don't use chakra to control them."

"Then how do they work?" Kisame inquired, placing a paw on the large rubber wheels.

"They're some sort of machine. The technology available here definitely seems to outpace anything back in the Shinobi nations. They use it to make up for their lack of chakra skills." Sasori speculated, turning away from the vehicle.

"What ever these things are, I don't like 'em." Hidan mumbled.

They continued on their way down the road, occasionally stopping to investigate anything they deemed suspicious or interesting.

(Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch)

Itachi sat aways away from the other Akatsukitties (HAHAHA PUNS), who were, reluctantly, curled up together for warmth. Kakuzu was his partner for the first watch, and neither one was interested in small talk, and it seemed silence would reign on until the end of their watch, until Kakuzu offhandedly remarked that his extra hearts and masks were missing.

After a long moment, Itachi replied, indulging in conversation. "My sharingan isn't quite working either. It is taking up an abnormally vast amount of chakra to maintain."

"I suspect it has something to do with these feline bodies…" Kakuzu growled, "The chakra system isn't developed enough to even compare with that of the most inexperienced Shinobi's. Handsigns aside, any jutsu will be damned near impossible."

"Hn." The two shinobi fell back into silence, but this time, it was a thoughtful one.

The nights grew longer, and the days grew shorter.

The Akatsuki found a better shelter in an abandoned shack along the beach, filled with long curved planks (Surfboards, but they didn't know that), and for the most part, stayed there, slowly adjusting to the feline life, reluctantly of course.

The days passed in a strange cycle. Sleep, hunt, eat, doze off in the warm sun, go on patrol, watch the civilians along the beach and in the town, hunt, eat, plot, sleep, plot and scheme some more, repeat.

There were a few interesting moments of course- the last night of October all the local people stayed out late, with costumes of demons and strange creatures and faces painted like monsters and skeletons, much fake blood (which Hidan approved of strongly until he realized it wasn't the real deal), screaming and laughing, children going door to door and receiving little treats. A strange ritual in which the locals fondly screamed out "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"

Another month and a half flew by as the days grew even colder, and green wreaths and red ribbons popped up all over town, accompanied by singing and laughter, fake snow and strange red and white striped candied shaped like hooks.

But this too came to pass, and the days began to get warmer, and the nights a tad shorter.

One day, a man with shaggy sun-bleached hair came out to the beach front shack and discovered them, becoming angry and pulling out a strange flat device and yelling to someone about animal control as they scattered away from their temporary home, Hidan and Deidara working in uncommon tandem, scratching and biting at the man's legs.

Kisame and Itachi, found themselves hiding along the edge of the beach, accompanied by Tobi, when they saw two teenaged girls walking on the sand, bending over every once in awhile to pick up a shell or piece of sea glass.

They weren't entirely interested in the two until the tail end of their conversation reached their ears, well, at least Tobi was interested.

"I call hacks," The girl with white hair scoffed. "Obito should have totally kicked his ass."

"Yeah, okay, but hear me out," The redhead stooped to pick up a shell. "You suck at playing Ninja Storm, so you know…. You caused his demise."

"Oh, shut up, Drea." She kicked the water.

"You're only saying that 'cause I won!" Drea crowed triumphantly.

"If your precious shark baby lost so brutally you'd be calling cheats too, don't lie." The white haired girl smirked, wiggling her eyebrows at Drea.

"Oi, you leave my Kisa out of this Yoko!"

Yoko's smirk grew as she knelt to scoop up a handful of wet, clumpy sand. "Or what?"

"Don't you dare." Drea backed up, closer to where the three Akatsuki cats were hiding.

"Oh I think I will dare." Yoko approached with faux menace, raising her hand as if to throw the sand.

"Eep!" Drea turned tail and sprinted down the beach, Yoko chasing after her, laughing like a madman.

She had just gotten off work, and as Angel left the Police station, she saw a stray cat, oddly colored, half-white and half-black, split straight up the middle, digging around in an alley. Interest piqued, she shuffled closer, hoping to get a better look at the odd cat.

However, it looked up at her with piercing yellow eyes, hissed and fled before she got too close. Sighing, she slumped and walked away.

And while she may have been outwardly sad, inside her mind was racing. It's be cool to see that cat again, and it's bizarre coloration might make for a good painting. It also got her thinking that maybe she might need a pet. Something low maintenance, that could take care of itself but still show her some affection.

Angel thought on it for a while on the street corner before pulling out her phone and looking up the number for the town's tiny animal shelter.

Pein strolled confidently through the sparse trees, moving ever closer to the white stone building he could see through the forest. Konan, right behind him, had been the first to see it, brought to her attention by the deep tolls of an unseen bell.

Although they'd been in this "Blankly" as it was called by the locals for almost 6 months, they'd never seen this building before, it's high walls and strange looking windows, covered in metal and darkly colored glass seemed so foreign to them.

As they got closer, the emerged onto a field of grass broken by white and grey stones. A cemetery.

"I wonder what this place is," Konan mused to herself as they wound through the headstones, making care to not step on the graves.

"A place of worship, perhaps," mused Pein, "but I've never seen a temple like this before."

Konan hummed thoughtfully, before a flash of movement caused both of them to still.

There was a young girl, standing from where she had been sitting before one of the graves, a few rows ahead of them. She wore a black tank-top, with- red clouds?!

Shocked, the two Shinobi watched closely as she spoke to the grave in another language, pulling unconsciously at her long black hair as she did so. "Te echo de menos, abuelito, y te amo."

The tan girl lifted a necklace to her lips and kissed it, making a strange motion with her other hand, bringing it to her head then to each of her shoulders. She muttered what sounded like a prayer in the other language before she turned and picked her way out of the graveyard.

Konan and Pein dashed after her, how was she wearing clothing with the akatsuki symbol on it? Did she somehow know of the akatsuki? If so, they needed to find out exactly what she knew, she might hold a clue to get them back home.

AN: Hey hope you enjoyed, just had a flash of insparation, sorry it took so long.

If you are hoping that I update my other stories soon, you're in luck, I'll have another chapter for The Faerie's Dragon out by the start(ish) of April!