Every time Ash exited her room and daringly stepped out into the shared living space, immediately multiple pairs of eyes became glued to her, watching her every move quite bluntly—at least in her opinion. So, she hurried into the kitchen, refilled her water bottle in the kitchen sink, and then casually retreated back into her room before the silver haired guy could even think to speak a rude word to her—like he'd been doing for the last few hours now…

But Hidan wanted this bastard to leave! He was ruining their whole setup, dammit! Sure, Hidan got in fights with Kakuzu and argued with the artist dickheads all the, but it was welcomed! This new shithead, however, was most certainly not welcomed. Hidan didn't give a fuck if he was nice or what he looked like, he was public enemy number one.

The other guys, thankfully, were taking Ash's addition a bit better. Of course they weren't happy about it—but unlike Hidan they weren't spending every moment of the day wondering how to get rid of him. Instead they were simply observing him, trying to get a gauge of what he was like.

...but considering that the dude only came out of his room once every two hours, that was a pretty hard thing to do. Then again, it was hard to get to know someone in just a few hours, and by solely observing them too…

Whatever—this sucked.

"Hey," Deidara suddenly spoke, poking his head into his and Sasori's shared room. Said red head was lounging on his bed, a book in his hand.

"What?"

"What bathroom is this dude gonna use, hmm?" Deidara questioned sincerely, rolling his eyes when from the background Hidan yelled, "Neither! Let him find his own fucking place to piss!"

Sighing, Sasori dog-eared the page he was on and rolled himself into a seated position on the edge of his mattress. He glared at Deidara lightly, and getting his drift the blond quickly held up his hands and turned on his heel, swaggering away from the doorway.

"You ask him, yeah," he said. "You're better at being blunt than I am."

"Bullshit," Sasori scoffed, slowly easing onto his feet. He ran a hand through his mussed hair and then with an agitated sigh padded out of the comfort of his room. He passed through the living room effortlessly and paused when he came face to face with a closed, unmarked white door.

Three solid rasps of his fist against the wood followed by ten seconds of waiting, and then the door finally creaked open. His bored auburn eyes locked with Ash's curious blue ones for a few seconds before finally the door opened fully.

"What's up?" Ash questioned casually, and Sasori silently noted that their eye-levels were exactly the same.

"Are you a neat person, or not?" he questioned plainly, crossing his arms, and Ash raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"I mean," she started, unsure what to say, and instead stepped back and let him glance into her newly organized room. Unable to help his curiosity, Sasori peeked inside. On her bed was a folded, plain black bedspread with blue sheets underneath. At the end of her bed was her desk—it was currently littered with different types of school supplies, but it wasn't too bad. And from the looks of it it seemed that her closet was in order too, so…

"I see," he said, having gotten an idea of her cleanliness. He met her eyes again and then nodded his head over his shoulder before turning on his heel and treading away. Confused, Ash hesitated for a moment before following after him.

"Here," Sasori spoke after stopping in front of an open door, and Ash peaked inside. It was a bathroom. "This is the bathroom you can use from now on. There are only two bathrooms in this entire area, so we've divided it by the neat and dirty residents—this is the neat one, so be grateful."

"Oh," Ash said, peeking her head into the clearly clean bathroom as Sasori leisurely scratched his head and strolled away from her. "Thanks."

"Yeah," he said in response, waving his hand nonchalantly, and Ash was tempted to roll her eyes. At least he'd been somewhat polite when speaking to her—she appreciated it. But—

"Oi, faggot!" Hidan suddenly shouted, and without having to turn around and look for him Ash already knew that he was addressing her. So, sighing in mostly-contained anger, she turned and padded back to her room, ignoring Hidan's calls and silently thanking whoever she heard say, "Hidan, stop," before her door clicked shut.

At least she knew his name now.

Hidan.

"You have been way too pissed today, yeah," Deidara said, hopping over the back of the couch and landing on the cushion a few inches from Hidan. The silver haired male was still sulking, an Xbox controller angrily held in his hands.

"It's that fuckers fault," Hidan grumbled, and Deidara rolled his eyes.

"C'mon," he said, grabbing the Xbox controller out of Hidan's hand and exiting to the main menu. Hidan screamed at him in protest but, used to his loud volume, Deidara ignored him and chose another game to play. He picked a first person shooter that he knew Hidan would get pissed at—but that helped the silver haired male relieve his internalized anger, so it worked out.

"Who the fuck is this?" Hidan said, motioning angrily towards the television screen. There was a new gamertag amongst the ones they were used to seeing: AssAndAsh.

Deidara shrugged, unbothered. "Probably a new guy who moved in, yeah."

"I'm gonna kick his ass," Hidan said, growling, and then the game commenced. The round was 10 minutes long, and the goal was to have the most kills. Within the first two minutes Deidara had already killed 4 men, and Hidan had managed 6. Grinning happily, feeling his impending win, Hidan chanced a glance to the scoreboard in the upper corner and blinked in shock when he saw that he was in second, not first.

"FUCK! It's that damn AssAndAsh dude!" Hidan cursed, pissed, and immediately changed his mental objective, moving his in-game character to look for the male who was currently stealing his rightful title. He found the guy after a minute and immediately started shooting at him. AssAndAsh, however, dodged after the first few bullets made contact.

"You're not getting away!" Hidan growled, chasing after him, but when he moved into the corridor the guy had just fled down and grenade was lobbed down the hall and he died immediately.

"Fucking goddammit!" he cursed, quickly averting his attention to the scoreboard where he saw a +1 appear next to AssAndAsh's name. That motherfucker!

Beside the raging Jashinist, Deidara remained silent, not all too concerned if he was losing the game. Sure, he liked to win, but at the moment he was more concerned that Hidan would explode with rage and he'd have to run for cover…

Though, Deidara did have to admit—whoever this AssAndAsh guy was, he was pretty damn good.

Finally, after ten minutes, the first round ended and, of course, AssAndAsh was the overall victor. Sighing, Deidara chanced a look over at Hidan to find the Jashinist's typically pale face red with furry.

"Uhh…"

"One more round," he bit out, pressing a button on the controller, and then their characters dropped into another map. AssAndAsh was, of course, still in the game with them.

"I'll kill you this time motherfucker!" Hidan vowed, but before he could even move his character AssAndAsh was suddenly on him, stabbing his character in the neck and ending his life. There was a moment of stunned silence between Deidara and Hidan before Hidan chucked his controller across the room.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in frustration, rolling off the couch, and while Deidara attempted to hold back his shocked laughter he swore he heard someone else laughing from somewhere…

Frowning, he looked over to the closed door of their new roommate. He hadn't heard the male laugh yet at all but he was pretty sure that was him…why was he cracking up so hard?

Unwilling to give up, Hidan retrieved his battered controller and resumed the game, but when the match ended and he was in second place once more, he exploded again.

"Umm, maybe we should take a break, yeah?" Deidara suggested, setting his controller down and scooting away for precautionary reasons, but luckily before Hidan could argue differently Pein walked in through the front door. In his hands were 10 sealed envelopes.

"Schedules are in," he declared, and, like a beacon, all of the other Akatsuki males stopped what they were doing and gathered in the living room. Then, as a school teacher would do, Pein started to hand the envelopes out.

"Sasori," he called, and the red head stepped forward.

"Kisame…Deidara—"

The list continued on and on until, finally, there were only two letters left in Pein's hands. One for himself, and one for…

"Ash…?" he hesitated, his brow furrowing, and before he could speak more a door suddenly clicked open, and their new roommate rushed out.

"That's me!" Ash declared, quickly moving to take the letter from Pein, but as she did Pein's purple eyes met her blue one in a harsh, calculating stare, and Ash didn't look away. Her eyes were light, honest—and, with a quite sigh, Pein relinquished the letter and let her go. No one seemed to notice his out of the ordinary reaction, especially Deidara and Hidan, who were now putting together some key pieces of information in their heads.

"Wait," Deidara started. "…Ash?"

"Like…AssAndAsh?" Hidan continued, anger building up in his chest once again as he watched the back of their retreating roommate. Once Ash had reached her door she glanced over her shoulder and flashed the two a knowing grin.

"Good game, you two," she said with a wink and then entered her room, silently closing the door behind her. The two Akatsuki members remained standing in shocked silence until Kisame's hearty laughter filled the area.

"Well, I'll be damned!" he said, having seen the battle that had been going on in Hidan and Deidara's game earlier, and Deidara was wise enough to know to hold Hidan back before the Jashinist could charge after the new male and end his life for real.

"I'm gonna kill that asshole," Hidan exclaimed later on, causing the others around him to roll their eyes. He sure knew how to hold a grudge—and on the stupidest things as well.

"Are you really still mad about that game earlier?" Kisame asked. The blue-haired male was sprawled on the couch, a Nintendo DS in his grasp.

Ignoring him, Hidan continued rambling on about his plan for vengeance.

"I swear I'm gonna go in there and cut his dick of in his sleep," the Jashinist said, promise held in his words, "See how that pretty boy will fuck a girl now."

It was in that moment that the Akatsuki leader stepped into the room. The orange haired male had just exited the kitchen, having overheard Hidan's words, and there was a fresh can of beer in his grasp.

"Well," he put in, surprising those who were in the room. He clicked open the tab on the can with one finger and took a long swig before continuing. "I'm sure you could do such a thing…but you might not find what you'd expect."

And with that, the Akatsuki leader disappeared into his room, leaving a confused group of males in his wake.

"What the fuck does that mean, yeah?" Deidara questioned, completely befuddled, and Kisame shrugged, resuming his game.

"Who knows? I guess Pein likes to talk in riddles now. Though, Hidan…you really shouldn't try and cut of his dick."

"JUST WATCH ME, MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Hidan—"

As another verbal battle started up in the living room, from behind his closed bedroom door Pein released a sigh and plopped down in his desk chair. A memory from early flashed through his mind, and he rubbed his temples.

Ash…Ashley. God, it all made so much sense now. The reason why, when they'd met earlier that day, he'd felt off about Ash is because she was actually a female. The feminine features he'd picked up on were actually female features—not just his mind playing tricks on him.

What the hell was she doing, living in their dorm like this? How the hell had the dorming staff even messed up something like this? Clearly she was—well…she was a girl, but she was dressed like a guy, so…

God, this was just all so confusing.

Pein took another long swing of his beer.

He wasn't sure what Ash was planning to do about this situation…but for now, he'd just leave it alone. What could he really do about it anyway?

Itachi had a routine. He woke up every day at 7 AM. Whether it was the middle of the summer or a morning where he didn't have classes until noon he'd wake up at 7. So, when the clock on his nightstand clicked over from 6:59 to 7:00 on the dot, his eyelids popped open and he got up.

First, he stretched his arms above his head, waiting until all the kinks in his back had popped, and then, without bothering to put on a shirt, he silently exited his and Kisame's shared room and made his way into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Itachi was always the first one up, so therefore he was also always the one to start coffee for the others, and—

Wait…he smelled coffee…

Confused, Itachi padded into the kitchen and paused when he spotted Ash sitting at the kitchen table. His hair was unkempt and shaggy—quite flat without any product in, and he was dressed in a gray wifebeater and a pair of black, baggy sweats. From this angle, Itachi honestly couldn't help but notice how…feminine Ash looked—especially when he wasn't wearing his glasses.

"Oh, uh, sorry!"

Itachi blinked out of his trance to find Ash staring at him, looking a little flustered. The male was quickly reaching for the half-full coffee cup that was resting on the table in front of him, but before he could get too far Itachi calmly spoke up.

"There's no need to rush," he said, calmly looking the male over. Their new roommate seemed surprised to hear such words come from his mouth.

"But… I thought you all wished of me to stay out of your way?"

"That is the wish of most of the others," Itachi replied and then nonchalantly walked over to the coffee pot, finding it internally strange that it was already brewed, since that was his job typically.

"I am…not sorely bothered by your rooming with us and don't plan on shunning you from appearing. There are others less happy about this situation than I, but clearly you didn't impose yourself upon us out of you own free will, so I'm will to compromise," Itachi explained, reaching for the mug he always used on the highest self, and Ash stared at him in honest shock.

This was unexpected…both his toned, shirtless torso and his response…but Ash supposed she could dwell on the first thought later.

"I see," she finally managed to respond, not sure what to say, but Itachi had never expected her to say anything in the first place. So, as the Uchiha prepared his coffee, Ash turned her attention back to the sheet she'd been analyzing before.

Out of habit, Itachi watched him. His fingers kept lightly skimming the edge of the paper, and Itachi couldn't help but notice how slender and smooth his fingers were. Also—

"Hey," Ash's voice suddenly interrupted, and Itachi blinked up to meet her blue eyes. "Sorry, but…do you know where I can sign up for clubs, or community teams?"

Itachi blinked, surprised by her question. Nonetheless, he stepped up to the table and eyed the paper she'd been looking at. It was a map of the campus grounds.

"Here," he said, placing his finger on the REC building. "It's the building right across from the mixed dorms. There's a bulletin board right inside the front doors that should have any information on it that you may want."

"Oh, awesome," Ash exclaimed and then flashed Itachi a sincere smile that completely caught him off guard. Itachi hadn't seen the male make a happy face since he'd gotten here…

"Thanks, um…"

"Itachi."

"Thanks Itachi," Ash continued sincerely, and then with that she stood from her chair and disappeared back into her room. Itachi stared after her, confused for some reason even he didn't' understand, but decided to try and forget the feeling when he remember that his coffee was getting cold.

A few hours later Kisame finally crawled out from their shared room, yawning tiredly and ruffling his messy blue hair, and Itachi stared at him from the couch.

"Are we going running or not?" he asked patiently, and blinking in surprise, Kisame turned his attention to the Uchiha. He was already dressed in a tight fitting shirt and a pair or sweat pants.

"Shit, yeah," Kisame said, noticing that the clock said 10:28, and hurriedly returned to their room. Every day—or at least every day where their schedules allowed them, the two ran together—and today they had planned to leave at 10:30 but Kisame had slept in way more than he'd expected.

…most likely because he'd gone out drinking with Hidan to calm the Jashinist down finally. Luckily he didn't have a hangover—god bless his high tolerance.

"Ready?" Itachi questioned when he appeared in the living room again a few minutes later. The blue haired male nodded, and the two left. When they stepped out of their dorm hall the bright day greeted them, and they took off.

The campus in itself wasn't too large, a 15 minute trek from end to end, so Kisame and Itachi diverted to the outside perimeter and began their routine. With the moderately fast pace they had set for themselves the two rounded a corner of the perimeter every 7 minutes, and after making it 3/4 of the way across campus the two detoured inbound and headed towards the small lake at the campus's center.

They rounded it, panting with effort and exhaustion, sweat staining their brows and drenching their shirts, but neither seemed to mind. Kisame didn't mind because when he started to get sweaty it caused his shirt to outline his muscled physique and attracted nearby female's attention, and Itachi…honestly just didn't mind because he really didn't care.

After rounding the pond, as if on cue, the two's pace started to slow down. Their breaths came out in pants as the cooled-off, circling around the Recreational Gym and beginning to head back towards their dorm, but just as they passed by the entrance to the large building something—or, rather someone—caught Itachi's attention.

He wasn't sure why his eyes were drawn to the two girls standing outside the gyms entrance…he could identify one as a captain to a female community volleyball team, but the other…shit, she looked so familiar.

Short brown hair that was styled on the top, bright blue eyes, a kind smile…oh shit.

His heart thrumming in realization, Itachi's pace slowed until he was barely moving, staring at Ash from afar with wide, shocked onyx eyes.

He was…she was a girl. Fuck, no wonder he'd thought she'd looked so feminine for the last two days! It was because she was actually a girl; not because he was crazy!

…why the hell was she rooming with them?

"Hey, Itachi, you alright man?"

Kisame, confused as to why Itachi had fallen behind, jogged back to Itachi and shook him by the shoulder. Immediately the Uchiha snapped out of his trance, smacking Kisame's hand away on instinct. Immediately the blue haired male started to pout, nursing his hand, and Itachi rolls his eyes.

"Sorry," he said, and then patted Kisame on the back, ushering him away from the gym before he could turn to discover what Itachi just had. Why, you ask? Well…Itachi liked to think that he wasn't a complete asshole. If Ash hadn't told them there must've been a reason…right? There were tons of possibilities flying through Itachi's head as to why her situation living with them was as it was…but since he didn't have the answers that he wanted, for now he decided to silence his mind.

He would ask her later.

Hey!

So first let me say that I'm sorry for constantly switching between he/her pronouns with Ash. I only do that because the guys (or most of them, considering Itachi and Pein) still think that she's a boy. Once they all realize she's a girl I'll keep the "she" pronoun for good. But Ash will get into more info on herself later...so I'll leave it at that.

Anyway! Thank you all for your patience! A lot of you reviewed and reassured me you'd wait patiently since I'm a college student now, and I appreciate it. I've had a lot of shit to do lately, so I'm grateful for your patience. Once the bright side, this weekend I finally got a break and went up north! It was honestly a good time. Since I live in Michigan and the MSU vs U of M game was this weekend, it was intense up there. Lot's of drinking, lot's of yelling, but it was amazing. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE MSU WON THE GAME IN THE LAST 7 SECONDS. #BLEEDGREEN.

...I'm usually not into football, and I don't got to MSU, but my dad did and I honestly just like MSU better, so I root for them. Plus my uni's colors are the same as State's so that's convenient lmao. But...then U of M is only a 20 minute drive from me, and I go there a lot, so...Meh, still as state fan.

Also! Won a drinking game while I was up north! :D I probably shouldn't be proud, but I am. I beat out the other 8 people playing, and it was an intense game, so...(The game is called "Chandeliers" if you wanna look it up).

And...that's it. College, homework, youtube, kpop...

BTS IS HAVING A COMEBACK, LIKE, NEXT WEEK. I'M SO FUCKING PUMPED. They are my eternal biases. Rapmon is literally my phone background...

Ahem...anyway...have a good week! Good luck with classes/work/whatever it is you're doing!

Please Review!