So, now missions were taking place within the Akatsuki itself. Krissy supposed it was better to build things up from the inside first, but then there was this new kid that Deidara had told her to give a nice warm welcome to. And everyone knew that Krystalia's version of a warm welcome was. What made it even better was that this was Xantrex's new student. This was absolutely perfect. If she couldn't get back at Xantrex, then roughing his student up was certainly the next best thing. She wondered if she could get the kid alone. She didn't know how old he was, or what he looked like, only that he was a newbie. And that was more than enough information. Krissy knew almost every face of the Akatsuki, and she could tell a new kid when she saw one. She was actually kinda excited for this. She wondered which approach she should go for this time. All out evil, or the soft approach first. She'd learned to act since having come to the Akatsuki. And she was sure that Xantrex had probably told his student all about her. Wouldn't it be great to make the kid doubt Xantrex, if even for a little while? Krissy grinned as she took a can of orange soda out of the fridge. This was going to be fun. Now all she had to do was wait for him to come out of his room. He'd be out eventually. So, she sat on the couch and waited for others to come out. She didn't want to just sit alone in the main room though. She kinda wished someone else would come along to help pass the time.

Kazuma got up and stretched. He'd had no sleep at all. The notes on the Stealth Super Soldiers had been his main focus all night. So when morning came, he wasn't aware. "I promised that this would be perfect to get Xantrex out of a pinch and now I'm sleep deprived." Kazuma fell back on his bed, picking up a few notes he looked them over. "Well, it looks good, now I just need to find something to test it on. I wonder if Xantrex has lab rats." Kazuma got off the bed and left his room, leaving the notes on his bed. But as he walked down the hall, he decided to take a detour. He was a bit parched. Kazuma went to the main room, only to spot the Devil herself. Kazuma did a slow turn and started for Xantrex's room. Tell me she didn't see me.

Krystalia kicked her legs idly off the end of the couch. She was daydreaming until she'd heard footsteps. She turned her head to see a blue haired kid do a U-turn. She grinned. That had to be him. She let her grin fade into a casual look. "Hey you," she called after him. "You're a newbie, ain'tcha? What's your name?"

Kazuma couldn't believe his luck. He should have just stayed away from the Main Room. Xantrex had warned him. Stopping he turned and looked at Krystalia nonchalantly. He would act as if she didn't matter to him. Standing his ground. That's what it was called. "Kazuma Saitou. I got here yesterday." Kazuma knew panicking would get him killed because he'd be seen as weak. Krissy didn't like the weak, that's what he got out of Xantrex telling him not to cower.

Hm? What was this now? This kid seemed pretty confident after having just done a U-turn to try and avoid her. Krissy smiled. "Ah right, I heard about you. You're Xan's newest student right?" It was rather simple to act as if she liked Xantrex. At one point she didn't mind having the guy around, but that had changed after he left the Akatsuki. She didn't believe he'd gone there undercover for the Akatsuki. In fact, she believed it was the exact opposite. She looked at him and took a drink of her soda. "Word gets around fast here. But that also means so do rumors," she told him. This was all casual conversation to her. She wanted to see just how he'd react to that first little question of hers.

Kazuma kept a straight face. He was going against everything Xantrex had told him not to do. He said to avoid this girl at all cost and he'd failed, and now he was going to engage in conversation with her. "I suppose it would. There are quite a few Akatsuki around here." Kazuma raised a brow. Rumors? What was this girl getting at. What rumors had spread concerning him. And what had she meant by Xantrex's 'newest' student. When the Akatsuki had been talking with Jaymaru yesterday, he'd stated that he'd been wanting to teach someone for a while. He'd never mentioned having students prior to Kazuma. And if he had, Jaymaru had known nothing of it, and neither had Deidara.

This was getting boring. He wasn't giving her anything to throw at him. He hadn't even responded to that whole 'newest student' comment. She shrugged at his comment about there being quite a few Akatsuki around here. "You didn't actually expect for there to be few of us, did you? Did your teacher warn you about the dangerous ones yet?" she asked. She wondered if he would mention that he put her on that list. Would he? It would certainly be interesting. It would give her a chance to make Kazuma doubt his oh-so-fantastic teacher.

"No, I expected this to be about the amount. You all did wage war on the Villages a few years back. You couldn't do that with a few members." So far, so good. He was holding his ground. "He told me to show respect to all members because I am the lowest ranking here. Deidara is the leader and I should be working to prove my loyalty. Jaymaru is to be respected, for she knows more than I do. Daya and Bat are to be avoided. They are blood thirsty. Deita is under Deidara's wing and is not to be harmed. And lastly, Itachi, he's second in command and although he may be quiet, he is a lethal." He'd purposely left her out. One, to damage her pride, and two to see how she would react.

Hah, this kid was a terrible liar. She looked at him and idly kicked her feet lightly against the couch. "You can sit down you know, I won't bite," she said with a shrug. The sad part of this was, this was her gentle approach. She could see he still doubted her. She'd fix that though. Once he started believing she was somewhat nice. "Anywho, why'd you come to the Akatsuki? I'm sure there's plenty of teachers in the Vallies as good as or rather, better than Xan. And in the Vallies you don't exactly have to worry about accidents with experiements. Xan has a bad habit of blowing stuff up," she said with a chuckle. That part was actually quite true. Every now and then there would be the sound of an explosion of some sort coming from Xantrex's room. It was terribly funny.

And so he was going to enter the lion's den. Kazuma took a seat and got comfy too. "I was afraid you would. Xantrex told me you were third in command. Anyone of that ranking is sure to be weary of." Kazuma simply smiled when she asked why come to the Akatsuki. "There is no one better than Xantrex." You could tell how serious he was, by the look on his face. "Besides, that's the beauty of it. Accidents need to happen in order to perfect your hypothesis. The villages don't understand that, they're scared to cross the line. To step out of the box. That's why Xantrex is the best their is." Kazuma had already calculated six different ways to get out of here alive, not unscathed. The probability of that happening was 1 in 1 million.

Krissy gave a nod. "Yeah, I am third in command," she said with a smile. "I try not to abuse what power I have though. I just like knowing that those who enter the Akatsuki can be trusted. This place is my home ya know. And I can't very well have my home and family destroyed by outsiders, right?" She took another drink. "The best there is?" She nearly grinned. "Maybe in terms of pushing his luck." She looked at him. "What about your family? You're fine with leaving just like that? Just to learn how to do a couple science experiments?" Yeah, she was trying to see if she could push him without actually being aggressive about it. It wasn't her forte, but she could try.

Kazuma felt that Krissy was a simpleton when it came to science. A couple of science experiments. If she only knew. He would make history. But there was no time to get into all of that, because she was asking him about family. "If you feel as though I am a threat to your family then I would like to assure you that I have no intentions on posing a threat. Not like I could do much anyway. This very information is the reason why my family means little to me. They're not very pleased with my work. They prefer me to focus on my ninja training. So they're better off without me." He drilled that thought into his head all last night while working on the project. "I know I have to earn any trust that I would like, so I'd like to let you know now, that I'd like to not only be seen as a member of the Akatsuki, but also as family, when the trust and respect has been earned."

Krissy had been about to take a drink when Kazuma spoke his last sentence, and that made her lower the can and look at him. She blinked, and was silent for a few moments. Alright, she just could not hold up this nice act any longer. It was killing her now, he'd just giving her ammo and she could not ignore that. "I can't tell if you're serious or just trying to be a kiss-ass," she said bluntly. "Lemme ask you this then, you say your 'family' is better off without you. Are you better off without them? If an attack launches on your home, are you gonna freeze up and let yourself get killed by your ex-comrades?" That casual air that had been around her a second ago seemed to have been replaced with complete malice. While waiting for his answer, she took another drink of her Soda. She clearly did not find him a threat in any sense.

The Krissy that Xantrex had warmed him about had finally reared her ugly head. Kazuma glanced at the pink haired girl. "I'm being sincere," he answered. "If I wanted to be a 'kiss-ass', I would have said how much I respected you for paving a way for us younger members to find some way into the higher ranks." Kazuma guessed she didn't think he was serious when he said his family was better off without him. "Ex-comrades? I don't think they were comrades to begin with. They'd be more than happy to kill me. I did slow them down after all. I was the weakest link." Kazuma looked directly at Krystalia for the first time he'd seen her. "You're only as strong as your weakest link, right?" A pause. "So no, I'm not going to freeze. Here I can prove myself as something more. I'm not going to accomplish that by getting myself killed."

Krissy looked at the kid with a raised eyebrow as he started getting smart. "Had you said that you would have found a kunai lodged in a rather uncomfortable place." She tilted her head when he said that he had been the weakest link. "If you were the weakest link in the Vallies, just what makes you think you can make it here in the Akatsuki? We're more powerful than the Vallies. All of us." He was getting gutsy, looking at her like that. She gave a small grin when he said that he wouldn't freeze. "Hm? And what if Deidara orders for your village to be eliminated completely? Could you kill your family? Could you let them be killed?" She took another drink. "Face it. The way you phrased it earlier, 'they're better off without me', makes me believe that you still care for their well-being. You don't care if you'd be better off without your family around, you just don't want to disgrace them, right?" she asked, finishing off the rest of her soda in one last gulp before looking back to him for his answer. Her pink eyes were practically glowing.

Kazuma smiled when Krissy told him he would have been hit with a kunai. "It's a good thing I'm not a suck up then." Kazuma sat up straight in his seat. "I wouldn't be foolish enough to doubt the strength of the Akastsuki. I won't be the weakest link because where I was restrained from using certain jutsu, I can do so freely without question." Kazuma gave himself a moment to think. "If my family was to die by the hand of the Akatsuki, then I wouldn't have to worry about putting them to shame. Maybe I would grieve. I am human after all, not some heartless monster. Oh, by the way. I've already disgraced my family. My father has made that very clear." If only he knew what I was capable of.

The kid smiled at her. Did he find her funny or was he just mocking her? Either way it made Krissy frown a bit. Her eyes lit up a bit when he said that he wouldn't be the weakest link because now he wasn't prohibited from using certain jutsu. "Well that's interesting. I suppose that means you have jutsu that the Vallies didn't approve of." She paused to toss the empty can up and down once before peering at him. "You didn't answer my question though. Don't beat around the bush, would you, or would you not, prevent your family from being killed by the Akatsuki? Or even better, if Deidara ordered you to kill your family merely as a test of loyalty, would you be able to?" This kid wasn't that bad. He seemed to have ambition, and he was one hell of an actor. Acting was a plus.

Kazuma nodded. He was actually very eager to show Xantrex when he had the chance. Aside from his break through with the Super Soldier study, he wanted to show some of his original work. When Krissy pointed out how he'd ignored his question he blinked. He hadn't even realized it. "I apologize. I wasn't intentionally avoiding your question. I would not prevent them from being killed. I say this because I'd much rather live than die. If that makes me a coward, then that's my loss. I find it a rather convenient move. Very intelligent on my part. I came here to learn. Not to die trying to save my family who doesn't give a crap about me. And if told to kill my family to prove my loyalty I would be hesitant. Let's be logical. My mother and father raised me. My sisters where my idols before I chose science. But orders are orders. I would regret it for a very long time. Maybe even resent Deidara for making me kill my family; my blood. But in the end I'd have to suck it up. The past is history. The future
is what I look forward to."

Krissy looked at Kazuma as he said that he'd be hesitant to kill his family, but he'd do it. At least he was being truthful. "Touching speech," she said sarcastically as she got up and walked to the kitchen to toss the empty can away. When she came back in, she sat on the arm of one of the couches, only to fall back with her legs hanging over the side. "Egh. You're not exactly what I'd call tough, but you might just fit in around here. If you try a little harder. I'm surprised you didn't go running to your idiot teacher instead of talking with me. He was right to warn you about me though," she said with a grin. He hadn't said it, but she knew. "A little advice. When it comes to the Akatsuki, try not to be too loyal to the individual members. You don't wanna get dragged down with them should they, oh I don't know, be found out as a traitor," she said. She rolled off the couch and walked over to Kazuma, holding out her hand. "I'm sure Xan has told you who I am, but what the hell. Krystalia Fukuyama." Assuming Kazuma took her hand, she pulled him off the couch and landed a punch in his stomach. "Welcome to the Akatsuki. Tell your idiot teacher I still have a score to settle with him." With that she let him go and stalked out of the room.

Kazuma watcher her toss her can away and then she gave him that little ray of hope that all new members needed. He kept his mouth shut when she mentioned how she expected him to go running to Xantrex because that was what he'd planned on doing in the first place. But he'd chosen to hold his ground. Kazuma had his suspicions when she held her hand out to him, but took it, right along with the punch. "Thanks," he coughed when she welcomed him into the Akatsuki. He hoped this wasn't how everyone welcomed him. Jaymaru had punched him and now Krissy. But the thing about Krissy was that he knew what he was getting into. And just like he'd planned. He'd escaped alive, but not unscathed. "Will do," he breathe when she told him to relay a message to Xantrex. Kazuma let a few moments pass by before he started towards Xantrex room and knocked on his door. He had to let him know he'd survived his encounter with Krissy.