Chapter 10: Stop Hitting Yourself

The door opened and Kakuzu stepped out into the hall, followed by Konan. "I'm glad we got to talk," he told her. Since the lower half of his face was covered, she couldn't tell if he was smiling or not but it sounded as if he were. "We did have a nice talk, right?"

She nodded. "I think so."

"Oh, good." He rubbed the back of his head. "'Cause I really don't remember a lot of it. Sorry. I guess I spaced out a few times."

"Think nothing of it," she told him. He was so much more polite now. It was actually a pleasure to be around him. She knew she had made the right choice do change him a little while he was still under. He was so much more tolerable. "Well, that's all I needed from you. You can go back to doing whatever you want now."

"Oh, sure." He blinked. "What was I doing again?"

"You were looking for money in the walls."

"Oh." He stood very still.

"Aren't you going to look for that money again?" she asked, already knowing his answer.

"You know…" he said slowly. "I don't really want to do that anymore. I don't feel like it. It doesn't matter to me anymore for some reason."

"Oh. Alright." She turned away, smiling into her raised collar. This was working perfectly. He no longer had an obsession with money. Now they could all sleep at night not having to worry that he was going to bury them alive in his relentless search for hidden money. "I'm going upstairs to get something to eat. Coming?"

"Oh, sure. Why not?"

They walked up to the first level and into the kitchen together. Kakuzu held the door open for her. She smiled again. She wasn't used to such chivalry, but it was a welcomed change from the Kakuzu she knew before. As soon as she entered the room, she noticed everyone sitting around the table looking miserable.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"What do you think?" said Hidan. "There's not a damn thing to eat around here." He held up his empty plate, blocking Zetsu's spit wad heading toward his face. "And he won't stop that!"

Sasori was also in the kitchen, surprisingly enough. He was sitting on the counter beside Kisame. Itachi was sitting at the table, munching on a carrot, not speaking to anyone. Deidara sat across from Hidan and next to Zetsu. Glaring at Itachi. The Uchiha never looked up which seemed to infuriate Deidara further. Finally, he slammed his hand on the table and shouted at him. "What?!"

Itachi finally looked up. "What?"

"You're mocking me! I know it!"

"I'm just eating a carrot. It has nothing to do with you." He pointed to the fridge. "You're welcome to help yourself if you're hungry."

"Of course I'm hungry! But there's nothing to eat and I'm sure as hell not going to eat what you're eating." He turned away angrily. "Would it kill you people to get some decent food around here, hn?"

Deidara suddenly grabbed one of Itachi's carrots and struck himself as hard as he could with it, breaking the carrot in half. Everyone stared at him.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Hidan asked. Zetsu spat in his face. "Knock that off, damn you!" He spat again. "Stop it!"

Deidara looked at the carrot in his hand, confused. He didn't even remember grabbing it. It was a reflex, it seemed. He looked at Itachi who was staring at him without a word. "You got something to say to me?" He said nothing. "Stop mocking me, hn!"

He picked up the water jug and hit himself over the head with it, soaking his torso with cold water. He dropped the jug and gasped, the cold water stinging his body. Blinking in stunned surprise, Deidara looked down at this soak body.

"Why did you do that?" asked Sasori from the counter.

"How the hell should I know?!" he snapped. He started to wring out his clothes right there. Everyone listened to the sound of water dripping onto the floor as he wrung himself out. "I didn't mean to do it…"

"Then why did you?"

"I don't know, hn!" He picked up the empty jug and hit himself over the head with it again. "Ow! It's like I have no control over my body!" He suddenly looked over at Sasori. "Stop it, Sasori! I know it's you!"

"I'm not doing anything."

"You're the puppet master here. You must be doing something to me."

"Well, I'm not."

"Well, I sure as hell ain't doing this willingly, hn." He hit himself with the jug again. "Ow! Damn it!"

Konan stared at Deidara in surprise. She hadn't given him any commands to do this. But it did look like a post hypnotic suggestion. She then looked at everyone in the room. Everyone was either staring at Deidara, laughing, talking to each other or… in Itachi's case, smirking to himself as he ate his carrot, keeping his eyes down.

So it was him. But how? She had to question him somehow.

She started to leave the room. Before she did, she looked over at Zetsu and motioned for him to follow. He did so happily.

Once far away from the kitchen, she turned to the man walking closely behind her. "I have something to ask of you, Zetsu."

"Yes?" he asked eagerly.

"I'm so sick of the complaints over the lack of food. I was hoping you could run an errand for me and pick up some food they'll eat."

"Sure thing!" he said happily. He was so excited. He wanted to please her. Doing this would surely make her happy. "What do you need?"

"Just get enough food for us to last the week. You're a good spy. I'm sure you know what people like. Oh, and be sure to get some fish, too, please."

"Sure thing! I'll go right now."

"Thank you. Hurry back."

He beamed at her and started to sink into the wooden floorboards and disappeared.

Now that that was taken care off, all she needed to do was figure out what happened with her first successful victim. She knew something went on between him and Itachi.

As she turned to go back into the kitchen to confront him, the door flew open and Deidara came running out screaming at the top of his lungs. He ran straight for his room down the first hall, a large bump on the top of his skull. "Why can't I stop?!"

Itachi came out of the kitchen next wearing a satisfied smile on his face. Konan grabbed his sleeve and pulled him over to where she was standing. "Yes?" he asked innocently.

"You did this. I know you did," she told him.

He pulled his sleeve out of her grasp. "You did it first. I merely figured out the trigger."

She stopped and stared at him. "You… discovered the trigger? How?"

He motioned to the wall. "I was hiding there when you used it on him the last time. I was eavesdropping. When you left, I tried it on him myself."

"Oh." She had to be more careful now that she knew people were lurking in the shadows. After all, this was a building filled with ninja. She should have seen this coming. As a ninja herself, she had to be more vigilant.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to tell anyone."

She looked up at him. He looked serious. Of course, it was hard to read that poker face he always carried.

"This could be fun," he added. "There are plenty of things around here I would like to see changed. I say we take advantage of this and have some fun."

"You'd really want to?" she asked, surprised.

"Why not? Might as well since we're all stuck here for the next week." Then he turned to her. "But first… I have a couple questions for you. I'd like for you to answer them."

"Ok."

"This power you have… is it a new form of genjutsu? What is it?"

She touched the scroll she held in her jacket. "It's hypnosis."

"Oh?" He looked skeptical. "That really works?"

"You can see for yourself that it does."

"I see." He moved on to his next question. "How did you obtain it? I've never seen you use it before."

"I acquired it from an old woman a few days ago. It was carried in a scroll. She said that it was only a one-time deal. Whoever opens the scroll will gain the power for one week. Then it's gone. I opened the scroll. And since it only works once, it's just a useless scroll now. No one can use it."

"Ah." He seemed to take her word for it. "Just one more thing I want to ask."

"Yes?"

He didn't move. His voice did not change. But what he asked made her flinch. "Did you use that power on me?"

She swallowed.

"Well? Did you?"

She answered truthfully. "Yes, I did. But it failed."

"It failed?" he said slowly. "How? Am I unable to be hypnotized?"

"No, it's not that. You started to go under, then the door banged open and you snapped out of it before you were under completely."

"So you did nothing to me?"

"No, nothing."

Itachi stared at her, as if looking to see if she was lying. Then he nodded. "I see. Alright, then." He didn't seem angry at all. "What would you have done to me if it worked?"

She shrugged. "To be honest, I wasn't sure it would work at all. I knew if I tested it on someone with some skill in the department and someone who wasn't a complete idiot that it would work on anyone. I just did it to you first to see if it would work. I hadn't planned on doing anything, really."

"Ok." He seemed pleased with this answer. It was the truth, after all. "Just so I know, how many others have you gotten to so far with this ability?"

"I've done this to Deidara, as you know. Also, Zetsu and Kakuzu."

"No one else?"

"Aside from you and failing at that, no. I haven't gotten to anyone else yet. I planned on doing it to Hidan to get him to stop his constant cursing. Why?"

"Just curious. I wanted to join you. Put in a few requests myself, if you don't mind."

"Blackmail, huh?" she said. "In other words, if I don't, you'll tell everyone, right?"

He shrugged. "I hadn't thought of that but I could…"

She sighed. "I would have let you join me even without a threat."

"I never threatened."

"Either way, you're welcome to join me if you want."

"Good." He seemed happy about the idea. "If you don't mind… I have a request."

What could it be?

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