Chapter 25: Comfort

There were a few things bothering Konan. She knew Hidan had figured out that someone was messing with their minds. The good news was that he had pinned the whole thing on Itachi, which suited her just fine. Plus, he mistakenly thought it was the Sharingan, not hypnosis. She had decided that if anyone figured out what was really going on, she would simply give them the same command she had given to Sasori to keep them from linking everything together, or to just make them forget the whole thing entirely.

The other issue was with Itachi. With this new personality of his, he seemed to be more reckless than the normal Itachi would be. She figured that it was due to the fact that be couldn't remember anything bad that had ever happened to him or any consequences of his actions. He didn't think anything bad would happen because he had never experienced it before to the best of his knowledge. This new Itachi was annoying at times. She knew that his recklessness would result in someone finding things out.

There were two things stopping her from doing anything about it. One: she wanted Itachi to have some fun before he went back to his depressed and moody self. Besides, it would all be over within 24 hours so she didn't see a reason to stop him. As long as people thought it was him doing the mind-messing, then she was in the clear and didn't have to worry about being found out. The second main reason why she didn't try to stop him was because she couldn't. When she had hypnotized him, she had neglected to give him a trigger to get him back into a trance. She would have to put him under all over again. Itachi may have been a little on the reckless side, but he wasn't an idiot. She had taken him around with her, showing him how she did the hypnosis and told him everything. He would know something was up if she tried. He was wise to her tricks. There was no way he would let her put him under again. She couldn't underestimate him.

It was best if she left things alone for now. She only had a day to go. If he messed things up, that was his problem. If things got really out of hand, then she would step in.

"Konan!" Sasori jumped out from behind a door and glomped her from the side. "Did I scare you?"

"Yes, you did," she told him, patting his head and ruffling his hair. "You're a sneaky one, aren't you?"

He started to playfully chew on her sleeve, making small growling noises. When she stopped patting his head, he jumped up and down, wanting more. "Again! Again! More, please!"

"Oh, you like that?"

"Uh-huh! More!"

She ruffled his red hair again and picked him up, squeezing him tightly. He laughed and hugged her back. This Sasori was a lot cuter than the other version. She was going to miss this when it was all over. Hopefully some good would have come from it. Maybe he would still feel the love he was given subconsciously. She was betting on it being a good thing for him. So far he seemed pretty happy. Hopefully he would be happy when he returned to normal.

Sasori started to try to climb up onto her shoulders, knocking her flower loose. "Carry me! Carry me!"

"Ok, ok! But you dropped my flower."

"Oh." He looked down, spotting the flower by her feet. "I'll get it." He climbed down and picked it up for her. He tugged on her arm to make her lean forward. When she bent down, he tried to reattach the flower himself, pinning it above her ear. It was slightly crooked but it was back in place. "There you go," he smiled.

"Good boy!" She ruffled his hair again and he jumped into her arms, still wanting to be carried. He nuzzled her neck and kissed her cheek, showing a lot of affection. He was clearly very happy. "So, did you want to play that game now?"

"Yeah! Yeah!" He pointed in the direction of the kitchen. "That way! Go!"

Konan sped down the hall, following his every direction. She went faster when told and bucked up and down when told. Sasori was having a blast. She entered the kitchen and circled the table twice before setting him down in one of the chairs. He continued to giggled long after his ride was over.

"Paper!" he demanded, holding out his hand.

She reached inside her coat and took out some pieces of paper. She handed them to Sasori who began to cut them. He carefully made two paper dolls, handing one to Konan and keeping the other for himself.

"This is you and this is me."

"Ah. I see."

Sasori started to make the paper doll move across the table. Konan, holding the doll representing herself, made hers walk up beside Sasori's. "Hello!" Sasori's doll greeted.

"Hello. How are you today?"

"I'm fine. I'm gonna go for a ride on my pet bird." He set down his doll, fashioning another out of another piece of paper. It was a poorly made crane, but Konan could tell what it was meant to be. He stood up his other doll and walked it over to the paper bird. "Deidara left it all alone. We'd better go look for him. Up, bird, up!" He made the paper crane carry his paper doll through the air and back over to Konan's.

"Did you find him?" Konan's paper asked.

"Deidara blew himself up! We better save him!"

"Then we'd better hurry." Konan made her paper doll follow after Sasori's. This was actually kind of fun. Like being a kid again. She was eager to see where Sasori's imagination would take them next.

"Hey, Hidan."

"What is it?"

"Going my way?"

Hidan stood perfectly still, facing Itachi with a glazed look in his eyes.

Itachi grinned. He pointed to his back with his thumb. "My shoulders are killing me. Would you mind?"

Hidan stepped behind Itachi and began to give him a massage. He rubbed his shoulders, easing the tension in the muscles with his thumbs and fingers. Hidan was very good at giving backrubs.

Might as well take advantage of this while he had the chance. "And Hidan, I would like you to call me master. Alright?"

"Yes, master."

Itachi held back his laughter. "I've always wanted to do that!"

The massage went on for another few minutes before Itachi got bored and decided to move on to something else. He told Hidan to stop and to stay where he was while he got a good look at him. He looked Hidan over from head to toe. What to do, what to do?

"You'll do anything I say, right?"

"Yes, master."

He started to smile again. "Ok, then. Jump up and down for me."

Hidan jumped in place several times.

"Ok, you can stop now. Let's see… Curtsy."

Hidan did as he was told.

"Um… suck your thumb."

He obeyed.

Itachi tried to think of something else he could do with him. "I could go for a snack. Carry me to the kitchen."

"Yes, master." Hidan bent down in front of Itachi with his back turned towards him. Itachi climbed on and was piggybacked all the way to the kitchen.

On the way there, they were stopped by Kisame who was just as bored as Itachi. "I want in."

"Kisame, go away."

"It's not fair that you get them all to yourself. Who else is there? Can I have 'em? Please? Come on, I never get to do nothing."

"Kisame, don't beg."

He frowned at his partner. "Come on! Please? I mean, look at this. He's giving you a piggyback ride down the hallway. I wanna do something fun like that. Please tell me. Help me out here. We're buddies, right?"

Itachi sighed. This might be entertaining in some way, too. Maybe he should let Kisame have his way with one of them. "Ok, fine. I'll tell you who else is under control and you can have them."

"Yes! I knew you loved me!"

"Never say that again."

"Sure, sure, sorry. So who is it? Who do I get?"

Itachi leaned against Hidan's head, not caring about his comfort in the slightest. "You can have Deidara."

Kisame frowned. "Do you have a better one I can have?"

"Take it or leave it."

"Ugh! Fine! I'm sure I can come up with something…" He looked back at Itachi. "So how do I do… this?" He gestured to Hidan's blank face with his hands.

"Ok, for Deidara, it's simple. But listen carefully, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Go on. I'm listening."

He whispered the commands to his partner "To get him under control, you have to clap your hands once, ok? Just one time and say the word 'sleep'. After that, you can make him do anything you want. To wake him up you have to say the phrase 'up and at 'em'. Got it?"

"That's it?"

"Yup, that's it. Just make sure to only tell him to do one thing, otherwise he might get overloaded." Itachi didn't know if that was true or not, but he wanted to limit just how much Kisame could do to him.

"Ok. Not a problem. Thanks. I owe you."

"You sure do." Itachi smiled and told Hidan to continue on his way. They stopped just outside the door to the kitchen and climbed down from Hidan's back. With a quick "Jashin is dumb," Itachi went into the kitchen, leaving Hidan none the wiser.

Once inside, he noticed Konan making some tea on the counter and Sasori sitting at the table. He was playing with paper dolls by the look of things.

"What do we have in terms of snacks?" Itachi asked to anyone who would answer him.

"Take your pick," Konan told him.

He wandered around the kitchen, looking for something small to eat. "I'd kill to go to a café right about now…" When he finally found something to eat, he went over to the table to enjoy it. As soon as he sat down, he noticed that Sasori wasn't moving. Curious, he leaned closer to him for a better look. Sasori's eyes were closed but he was still sitting up. "Hey, Konan."

"Yeah?"

"What's with him?"

She looked. "Oh. He must have tired himself out from the games we were playing before. See, look at that. He's trying so hard to stay awake."

Sasori slowly flattened himself against the table and rested his head in the folds of his arms.

"Guess he gave up," she smiled. "Itachi, could you take him to his room and tuck him in for me?"

"Why do I have to?"

"Please?"

"Fine." Itachi rolled his eyes and stood up.

Sasori wasn't fully asleep yet. Just dozing lightly. Konan picked him up and transferred him to Itachi's arms. Itachi cradled him and let Sasori rest his head on his chest. He was so light. His body so limp. It was just like carrying a puppet. Itachi started out the door and down the hallway towards Sasori's bedroom.

"Itachi..?" Sasori mumbled without opening his eyes. "Where're we going?"

"To your room for a nap."

"How come?"

"Because Konan wants you to be more comfortable and take a rest."

Sasori snuggled up to Itachi and sighed. "Ok."

Halfway to the room, Sasori spoke again.

"You're really strong."

"Not really. You don't weigh that much."

"No, not like that."

"Then how do you mean?"

He felt Sasori shrug. "Dunno. I just feel really safe when you're holding me like this. I bet your brother loves you a lot. You must make him feel safe, too."

Itachi's footsteps started to slow. Did he? Now he was really confused. Kisame said that Sasuke hated him. Now Sasori… Itachi shook his head and quickened his pace. He loved Sasuke and wanted to protect him. That's all he knew for sure. That would never change. It didn't matter what anyone else said. He knew in his heart that as brothers they loved each other. Kisame could have been teasing him. Trying to rile him up. Sasori was now an innocent. If he felt safe in his arms there was no way Itachi was capable of hurting anyone he loved. He didn't have it in him. He was too kindhearted for that.

They made it to the bedroom and Itachi set Sasori down in his bed, covering him up with the moth-eaten blanket. Sasori didn't seem to mind at all and kept quiet and still on the bed. Itachi didn't know if he was asleep or not. But he wasn't going to watch and make sure. He had done his job. He closed the door and left.

Anyone have ideas? Remember, there's only so much time left before they're back to normal so now's your chance! XD

Please review! ^-^