A/N: YO! LONG LIVE THE YEAR OF THE REQUEST FOR I AM BACK AGAIN! Also, whoo! Noodlehammer updated! I really can't get enough of his stories.

I once more ask you, my dear reader, to remember this:

Remember, this is meant to make you smile. A pick-me-up, if you will. Its full of crack, silliness, and humor abounds. VERY LITTLE of it is serious at all. That being said...

...enjoy! We jump right into the thick of things, here! Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!

And I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed writing this chapter FAR more than I should, if only because the characters of this anime always make me smile.

And yes, the title is a deliberate jab at my penchant for interludes.

Yes, its silly, spazzy, and not meant to be taken seriously.

Hey, a sick man can only write so much...

Sorry if its short!

"You heard the author! Chop chop!"

"Did you just...?"

"Yup~!"

~Naruto and...?"

Kill the Interlude

Dear diary,

I regret nothing.

Let the prank war begiiiiiin~!

(...0o0o0...)

Akame considered herself skilled.

There it was, perhaps her one and only flaw.

She wasn't normal; she doubted she would ever be.

Never one to brag or boast about her hard-won talent, she nevertheless took some measure of pride in her capability to fight. Killing wasn't something she particularly enjoyed, yet she recognized it as a necessary evil all the same. The duty of Night Raid was an ugly one, but someone had to do it. If not her-them-then who would? She didn't like to hurt others and often had to steel herself lest she falter.

That didn't make her a cold person mind you-she cared deeply for her friends. Each and every one of them. On the contrary she still felt emotion as most did, perhaps even more strongly because of it. The idea of losing a comrade pained her more than words could ever admit.

She would kill anyone who threatened them, anyone who even considered harming them in any way, shape, or form.

You see, for all her faults and flaws, at the end of the day, Akame was very good at her job. Few could ever hope to sneak up on her, much less surprise her in outright combat. Each and every one of her reflexes had been honed to a razor's edge. Skills borne in the Empire had since turned their coat for the sake of her friends. She had sworn never to be taken by surprise again, never caught off guard.

Thus it came as something of a surprise when a note fluttered out of thin air to alight upon her head.

...what?"

Her first reaction wasn't anger, but rather, confusion.

Baffled, the assassin ceased her patrol in the hallway and, against her better judgement, opened it. Folded parchment creased beneath her fingertips as she forced the pale paper to part. If this was one of Lubbock's tricks, he was going to be disappointed...

...wait.

Two lines caught her red eye sin the full moonlight.

"Don't look up."

~Naruto.

Naturally she did just that.

Given her propensity for following orders, one might have expected her to do just the opposite; unfortunately her honed instincts betrayed her and she found herself gazing skyward toward the ceiling. At first those keen orbs betrayed her and she saw nothing. Then she squinted. In the dark something stirred; a flicker of movement in the rafters. Her vision adjusted instantly and she glimpsed the shape of a man holding a string, a string attached to a strange mechanism, one he now pulled-

"Bombs away~!"

Credit where it was due, Akame didn't falter.

Even as a gallon of orange paint crashed down onto her back, the assassin didn't panic. She merely turned her head to prevent the viscous fluid from falling into her eyes.

Sputtering in incoherent confusion, her body nevertheless reacted; she drew and slashed with Murasame in one flowing movement to cut her attacker down. A pained grunt told her all she needed to know; she'd caught them with her teigu sure enough, made contact and cut them down. In the next she blinked the last of the paint away and found herself face to face with her would-be killer. The eclectic orange-blue robes, red horns and bright azure eyes did not startle her as much as they would have another, she'd seen all manner of strange phenomena in the capital.

No, what bothered Akame was thus:

Somehow, he still stood.

It was a clean cut.

She could see the smooth slice against his neck where Murasame had claimed his life. A shallow cut, yet mortal all the same. Even now she saw the teigu's "poison" scrawling across his exposed flesh, claiming his life. By rights he was already dead. One was all it took. Any moment now and this madman would keel over, topple to the floor. She waited patiently for it as was her wont, unfazed by his toothy grin. Yet, he didn't move. Didn't budge. Had he died on his feet? Exasperated, she dared to poke him with one finger.

Yet he still stood.

...I cut you."

Whiskered cheeks dimpled.

"Yes, yes, yes! You certainly did."

"I don't understand; why aren't you dead?!"

"Try it another three thousand times why dont'cha! Next!"

Before she could ask what he meant by next, the intruder hurled himself out into the night.

A/N: Leone is next!

Ugh, feels like I'm about to pull an Isshin and cough my lungs out in bloody pieces.

Aside from that ghastly bit of business, had my blood drawn today and there's no infection to be found. Yet.

So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review, Would Ye Kindly?

And of course...

...enjoy the preview! Care to guess at what happens? Methinks it ought to be obvious...*grins*

(Preview(S)!)

"GIVE IT BACK!"

"You'll never take me alive!"

R&R~! =D