I update quick because I have no life hhhhhh;;;;;


Hinata was getting ready to leave again for another day of… work? Was it really work? Maybe she should ask Pein when she was getting paid. Does she even have a schedule to come in? Does she get weekends off? Holidays? She decided to compile a list of things to ask Pein the next time he decides to jump from some high place and onto the registers – something that can't possibly be good for the countertops, which is another thing she should add to the list.

-How much / When do I get paid

-What's my schedule?

-Do I get weekends off?

-Employee discounts? (Not that she was particularly drawn to anything in the shop yet)

-Where is the other half of the crew?

-Why does Hidan live in the bookshelves (employee health/rights issue?)

-You will literally destroy the counters if you keep jumping on them like that

-What am I even doing here? What's my job description?

It was a somewhat hefty list after the first three days of pseudo-employment. She tucked the piece of paper into her breast pocket and headed for her bedroom door, and was surprised to see Neji standing in her way. "Neji?" she looked at him curiously – he was dressed like he was going out for the day. "Hinata…" he began, but hesitated.

Hinata began to feel a familiar anxiety that came with the guilt of hiding your whereabouts, even though she came out and told him – vaguely. I don't want to lie to him again, but I can tell he's getting worried… I wonder what I can tell him… She dreaded what he would suggest, because she was pretty sure it was about her work. She wished he wasn't so worried, because she still needed to smooth out the details – which was what she was planning to do today. If she could just have more time –

"Hinata, I want to visit the place you work at!" Neji said, finally. Yeah, she figured as much. Thinking on her feet, she said, "I don't know if I can have visitors while at work…" Neji nodded, crestfallen. "Then… Maybe, can I just… Can I at least walk you to work?"

Shit, shit. Uh... There wasn't really any reason he couldn't, so she reluctantly agreed. Together they left the house, and they silently walked down the street. Oh no… Once he sees that it's a shop… he'll want to go in and browse! Hinata realized, seeing that they were approaching the shop. She wanted to just keep walking past the store, but when they arrived there, Hinata noticed that there weren't any flowers outside. It was just… It looked like a convenience store from the outside.

Neji noticed that Hinata stopped walking and looked at the rather plain building they were standing in front of. "Is this… where you work, Hinata?" he asked, trying but failing to not sound unimpressed. I don't see why she needed to keep this place a secret from me… Hinata looked at him, just as confused as he looked. "Um… Y-Yes…?" The two walked in, and Hinata was relieved to see Sasori at the register, which was to the immediate left of the entrance this time.

Sasori had the same poker face that he always wore. He saw Hinata's confusion and winked at her briefly before addressing Neji. "Welcome! Hinata, is this your brother?" he asked casually, as if the store wasn't totally transformed into a less than remarkable convenience store. "Cousin, actually," Neji corrected politely, smiling and giving Sasori a handshake. This place is completely normal… Neji thought to himself, ignoring the fact that Hinata looked uncomfortable for some reason.

"Neji, Hinata needs to go change into her uniform in the back," Sasori said. "Do you need help finding anything while you're here?" He gave him a polite smile. Neji shook his head, returning the smile. "Ah, no, I was just walking Hinata to work. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about!" he chuckled a little. Hinata tugged at Neji's sleeve and said, "So… I'm gonna go now, okay? Thanks… Thanks for walking me…" Neji nodded, then said goodbye to both of them. "It was nice meeting you! Please take care of her!" he waved and then left the building.

He briefly wondered, I wonder how Hinata came home last night covered in soot from a convenience store…

Back at the shop, Hinata stared at Sasori for answers. He just smiled and snapped his fingers, and slowly the convenience store morphed back into the traveling wonder-art odd shop emporium. Hinata saw that she and Sasori were really just standing in the flower section in the front of the store, the plants growing from where they were previously covered. Hinata watched as the flowers grew from buds into bloomed plants in a matter of seconds, amazed.

"Hey, Hinata, do you want to go see what I do for the store?" Sasori asked once everything was back to normal. Hinata nodded, but asked, "Sasori… don't you just tend to the registers?" He smiled a little, saying, "It'd be such a boring life if all I did was handle cash registers for a place that barely gets any customers." Hinata pondered over this, supposing that it was only logical that Sasori had a trade of his own. Sasori's section of the store was directly opposite to Deidara's.

This section, unlike Deidara's, was fully stuffed with a bunch of large and small puppets. His largest ones were as big as people, and the smaller ones were little toy-like dolls on marionette strings. It was a very colorful display, and Hinata stared in wonder at the puppets. Some of them were extremely lifelike, as if they could jump out at her any moment now. Sasori enjoyed seeing the look on her face as she studied the puppets and sighed.

Hinata looked at him then, smiling. "How long have you been into puppet-making, Sasori?" She asked excitedly. Sasori shrugged, absently counting on his fingers. "Oh, my… Since I was young…" He gestured to two of the human-sized ones. "These were my first ones… I made them like, 28-ish years ago, when I was seven." Hinata nodded, looking over the puppet.

28 years… ago… Completely alarmed, she looked at Sasori and asked, "T-Twenty-eight!? Sasori… Sasori, how old are you!?" Sasori looked a bit surprised at her reaction, but kept face nonetheless. He gave her a calming smile and said, "Me? I'm 35."

WHY IS HE SAYING THAT LIKE IT'S NOT COMPLETELY ABSURD!? Hinata stared at him, mouth agape. Sasori chuckled a little and said, "Why is that so surprising? Don't I look 35 years old?" He held his arms up defensively, a small smile on his face. YOU BARELY LOOK 17, SASORI – !

Hinata took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Tell me more about these puppets," she said, avoiding his question. She saw in his eyes a familiar enthusiasm, one that she remembered seeing in Deidara yesterday. "These puppets are my art," he said, looking lovingly upon his creations. Hinata couldn't help but stare at him – she found that artists, people in general even, look their best when they talk about things they're passionate about. It was really nice seeing the usually calm and stoic Sasori get even a little excited about something. Very refreshing.

"Unlike Deidara," he began, "My art was meant to last forever. All the greatest artists in the world have something to show for it, centuries after they have died." He gazed upon his parent's image in his puppets, smiling. "People memorialize things all the time – things that weren't necessarily built to last, but were made to leave an eternal memory." Hinata was hypnotized by his surprisingly soothing voice and his poetic way of speaking. She could tell he had it all figured out, and that he had been waiting for the right moment to let it all out.

Hinata studied one of the smaller puppets and asked, "Sasori… Do you… Do you think I can try making my own?" He clearly brightened up at this, and he immediately made his way to his back room. It smelled like cut wood and had a very cozy bed and seating area in the far corners. There was a clear division between the work place and the bedroom part, even though the room itself was small. Were the other Akatsuki employees' rooms like this?

Sasori dragged a stool over next to his usual one, and he began to teach her the basics of puppet making. "It's simple, really. You just start with…"

They spent an hour or so on puppet making, the two of them creating small talk between them.

"Sasori… do you not like Deidara's art?" Hinata asked after a little while. Sasori paused, choosing his words. "I… really like Deidara's art. I know it doesn't seem like I would, but it's really nice." He looked at her, quickly analyzing her puppet's progress and then continued, "I just… I just hate what he does with it. This whole, 'Art is a bang,' stuff he keeps spewing really pisses me off because his art, his sculptures, have so much potential to last through the ages, through all of time. But then he goes and…" He looked somewhat saddened for a moment, an emotion that Hinata didn't know he could express.

"If you couldn't tell, I'm a very sentimental person. I'd love to keep one of Deidara's sculptures for myself, as a token of our friendship and our camaraderie as artists, but he either doesn't make it sturdy enough to last, blows it up, or comes over and breaks it in the middle of the night – trying to make it look like an accident, mind you." Sasori put down his puppet and stretched his arms into the air. "I even gave him one of my puppets, but the idiot blew it up." Hinata's mouth hung open for a second in disbelief that Deidara would do such a thing, but upon further assessment realized that yes, blowing up a gift is exactly something Deidara would do.

Hinata looked at her puppet for a moment, not so much to assess the doll but just to pause in thought. "I'm sure Deidara didn't mean anything bad by it, Sasori," she said after a pause. Sasori looked at her, curious. Hinata also chose her words carefully. "Explosions and all that stuff… they're the most precious thing to Deidara… So he was probably thanking you in the biggest way he possibly could." Sasori stared at her, wide-eyed with surprise.

Of course… he thought to himself. He knew Deidara for only a little while, but in that time they had definitely become friends – as artists do. They recognized each other as artists, but respectfully rejected each other's form of art. He lived these past few years just accepting that they were polar opposites instead of looking at it his way. Sasori felt silly for building such a high wall between their art styles.

A little while passed, and Hinata managed to create a rather decent-looking puppet version of herself. Sasori was also working on a new one, with his own likeness as well. "You can keep this forever, Sasori!" Hinata said to him, a proud smile on her face. Sasori smiled a little, taking the two puppets of theirs and hanging it on a display case out in the shop, near his section. Cute! Sasori thought to himself. He held an arm out to Hinata and pulled her into a comfortable side-hug. "They look great, don't they?" Sasori said with a wistful sigh. "Yeah, they really d –"

Hinata felt something crinkle in her breast pocket. Her great mood was immediately ruined.

The list! She mentally hit herself for forgetting such an important thing. Without addressing these important things, she had very little point of being here!

As if his name were called, the mysterious Pein appeared before them, probably in the same fashion he has been appearing. "What beautiful puppets, you two. Did you spend all this time making them instead of working like I asked?" He had a false smile on his face, but Hinata was not frightened.

"A-Actually, Pein…" Hinata took out the list of questions and walked up to him. "I have… a few questions for you…" Pein looked at her intensely – at least, she thought it was intense, but then again it could have been the way he looks at everyone – and then at the note in her hand. He quickly snatched it from her grasp and read over the first couple, nodding to himself. "Step into my office, Hinata Hyuga. We may talk there." Pein gave Sasori a nod, and suddenly the floor opened up below them, sending only Hinata and Pein down into its depths.

Hinata screamed all the way down, which was a 10-second fall, before she landed in the softest chair she has ever felt. It was dark until a dramatic light shined upon Pein at a desk. The list Hinata had compiled earlier fluttered down onto her lap. She was completely blown away – confused, frankly a bit frightened – that is, until the lights turned on fully and illuminated a fully furnished basement, piled high with probably unread books and a couch or two along the walls.

"Ask me your questions, Hinata." Pein commanded, his face partially hidden behind his interlaced fingers.

It took Hinata a moment to collect herself, but when she did, she began with, "Um… What exactly… Did you want me to accomplish here, sir?" Pein began to speak, but Hinata cut in, " –and please, don't… don't say that the answer will come to me in due time." Pein smirked at her confidence. Very few people had the courage to interrupt him.

"Akatsuki's Traveling Wonder-Art Odd Shop Emporium…" He said in his usual deep voice. "We are an odd shop indeed, Hinata Hyuga, don't you agree?" Hinata nodded slowly, trying and failing to see where he was going with this. "We're a sort of… hobby shop, a collector shop. We collect many things." Pein glanced at her. "Rather, the store collects. It collects people, stories, things that make people unique." Hinata was confused, but persisted in listening.

"What I need you to do, Hinata, is further your story. That is the big picture. That is the goal. But in the much smaller one, I need you to help everyone else." Pein stepped closer to her, peering at the list. Hinata looked at the list as well, searching for the next question to ask. It was funny, none of them seemed relevant anymore.

"I will not pay you."

At this, Hinata looked at him sternly. "Excuse me? But you said –" Pein raised a hand to silence her.

Hinata saw a small smile play upon his face. She felt on edge, apprehensive. Pein turned to her, standing tall and proud, exuding an aura of power.

"It is up to you whether or not you wish to return to us, Hinata Hyuga."

Hinata was suddenly dropped into another trap door. Somehow, she dropped onto her bed, in her room, at the Hyuga estate.

Surprised and somewhat terrified, Hinata looked around her room for any sort of tunnel. There wasn't any, and Akatsuki had given her another mystery on top of their many others.

Just… Just what is Akatsuki, anyway!?


All the ages and stuff mentioned here are taken from the Naruto Wiki site… I was really surprised by a lot of their ages…

Did you know that Kakuzu is in is 90's, according to Narutopedia? Crazy shit, bruh.

Thanks for reading!