A/N: Going really fast this week, picking up the pace and just trying to get through the day. Yeah!

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General

The next test, with the crushed gear, was performed very carefully, with all observers off the premises of the auto shop. In fact, with Sasori arguing on the side of caution, Laurie backing him up with her knowledge of magazine articles about the effects of explosions on the human body, and Deidara having personally witnessed some of those effects, it took less than ten words to convince them to hold the test somewhere else entirely.

"Not here."

"He's right."

"Yeah, bad idea, hm."

Testing was adjourned until later that night, on the basis of that nice pond to the southeast probably being surrounded by people as long as there was daylight.

Sasori remembered what he had promised, and scrambled to get some kind of legal person on the case by the afternoon. Kakuzu met him at the hospital in case there was trouble. Thank the gods, there wasn't any.

Sasori held Stitchy under his arm as he went in to talk to the bicycles. Somehow, after everything else he'd ever been through, doing this in front of people still had the power to make his skin crawl. I know I said I would be doing so. I might have mentioned that I already have. I made it my actual job description. Yet it still feels like this is completely nuts and I should be packed off to the loony bin. It made no sense to have that reaction. Sasori supposed that being nonsensical meant that he had to be human for sure, but he still didn't like it. He tried to get rid of the nonsense. This is my actual job now. Having one sided conversations with vehicles is perfectly normal and expected. This line of reasoning failed to help him feel any better. That was why he carried Stitchy.

"I've talked to the former manager of this place, the guy who was making me feel unsafe and interfering with my work here," he began. Out of reflex and conversational habit, he paused.

There was no response.

*shiver* That's a good thing… Really, it is…

He pretended he'd only paused to gather his thoughts. "That isn't a problem anymore. He is not a problem. It will take some time to get everything sorted, but for now, there are no problems. I'll still be here, you'll be able to get fixed, and there shouldn't be any trouble unless something unexpectedly goes wrong.

"...And that's the news. Okay." Sasori realized for the first time that there really was an art to having one-sided conversations. It did not come naturally. At least it didn't for him, which he was grateful for.

Deidara shivered. "They're so silent, yeah."

Sasori nodded. "Well, back to work. I don't want any but the most critical cases to be left over the weekend. That would just be wrong."

Laurie got several ideas, opened her mouth to voice them, then closed it after realizing he would not appreciate hearing them. They were nothing that couldn't be brought up around a fire later, anyway. She had an open invitation. It was about time she used it.

.

Meanwhile, Nagato supervised Konan, letting the other volunteer handle actual work. Whisper ran, something Nagato had never seen, up to the porch to greet her. He sat down next to her, his tail wagging happily. Nagato sat down on her other side and, after Whisper was completely settled, started to point out the other dogs to her.

"Hmm." Konan leaned forward slightly, studying Tipsy after she was let out of the trainer's yard and introduced. "She may be suitable."

"For what?"

Konan smiled. "Pets can be trained into ninja hounds and ninja cats. I do not know how, but I know they can."

Nagato considered that idea. It was a very attractive idea. But he had to shake his head. "No, it has to be more complicated than just taking regular dogs and training them. They would have to be bred for it, surely. Bred for the ability to use chakra, calm temperament, strength and speed. Yeah, they would have to be."

"Maybe." Konan looked out at Tipsy, who was looking down at Lilac with a look that, months before, would have been a warning sign. But now, the small white dog registered as no threat, and Tipsy was content to bat her out of the way with one paw, which Lilac dodged. "I have seen and heard of many kinds of ninja hounds. Perhaps they are not one breed. There might be several, all bred for different traits."

Nagato could see that. Whisper, for example, might make a good scout. With some training, Lilac might be a good messenger. Especially if animals can talk like she said, he remembered. These dogs can't. If they could, what would they say?

Whisper wondered why the humans were looking at him with curiosity and talking in happy voices. It was strange. Strange was a little bit bad. He blinked a lot and looked down, trying to ignore them.

"But enough about Whisper." Konan turned away. He looks like I do when I don't wish for attention. It is rude to stare. "What about that golden dog, the one who seemed to have a lot to say last time I was here?"

They only had time to speculate about Jonesy a little bit, before it was time for the humans to get involved. The dogs did not spend all of playtime socializing only with each other; after all, they would have to get along with humans in order to be adopted. It was about then that Marsha came to the back. The other volunteer looked nervous suddenly. Nagato, who had just been talking and thinking about what each dog was like in great detail, left the other guy and Konan to be with the dogs while he talked with the potential adopters, for that had to be the reason Marsha was here in the back.

"Hello." Konan greeted the other volunteer neutrally. He did not appear to be important in any way.

"Hey. Uh, who are you?" He walked over to Mosey, who was still lying in the grass.

Konan followed. Is it normal to ask that as an introductory question in this world? I would have expected greater anonymity. "I am Nagato's sister." Naturally, there is no reason to give this man my name.

"Nagato?"

Konan looked at him more closely. "The red-haired man who left just now."

"Oh, him." The volunteer held out a toy, just far enough that Mosey would have to raise his head to get it. When Mosey raised his head, the volunteer let him have the toy for a few seconds while patting his head. Then he held out another toy, moving back so Mosey would have to get up and take a step to reach it. Mosey looked like he wanted to… But then the dog settled back down, not reaching for the new toy.

The volunteer bit his lower lip. "I'm not around a lot. I can't be here full time, like he is. I just have Fridays free most of the time, but even then, I don't come in often." He sighed. "I don't know the people or the dogs very well."

Konan picked up another toy and studied Mosey. "This job position is very odd if it can be filled in such different ways."

"Oh, no, there's no question he's better than I am." The volunteer looked away, cheeks warm. "Just by knowing them better."

"Even so." Konan, as usual, had been speaking softly for the whole conversation. She did not need to concern herself with idle chatter. But now, here was a dog that was refusing to get up, despite apparently being healed. That would not do.

She straightened. "Mosey." Her voice now was deeper, more articulated, and stronger. That one word was a command. The dog obeyed, looking up.

Konan leveled her amber eyes directly at him. "Stand," she ordered, holding the toy above his head.

In a halting way, as if afraid of sudden pain, the dog pushed various parts of himself up until he was standing. The last limb he put weight on was his left foreleg. Konan was nearly sure she knew what his problem was. "Walk," she ordered, taking two steps backward and shaking the toy.

Mosey raised his left forepaw, as he usually did because he was a lefty, then hesitated. Would it hurt? It ached a long time, then hurt a lot. Would it go on from hurting to making him sick or killing him? But the human was very domineering. He took two steps forward. His leg did not hurt, but it must be because he was stepping very lightly.

"He's limping," the volunteer noticed.

Konan gave Mosey the toy. Gently, she replied, "Yes. It seems his injury has made him afraid of the pain of walking."

Suddenly, her ears pricked forward, and Konan found herself at attention again before she knew why. Her chakra flow strengthened. She turned swiftly, coming face to face with Tipsy.

The dog stood, tail up, looking as imperious as Konan felt. A soft yet threatening sound came from her throat, barely audible to most ears. Tipsy stood tall and still, looking up at Konan, eyes meeting eyes.

Konan listened. There were no other sounds besides scuffling. All the dogs in the yard were quiet.

Of course; she is something like an Alpha to these dogs. Not to be bothered, and not to be ignored. Konan realized she had made herself such a thing, too. It was a miracle that Tipsy did not attack, then. She had been trained to be aggressive toward intruders.

Konan forced her chakra flow to relax and her head to lower. She looked away, and spoke softly to the volunteer, who was staying very still. "I am upsetting Tipsy," she told him in little more than a whisper. "Excuse me." She turned and went back to the porch.

Tipsy remained rigid and tense, eyes following her every move. Konan did not look back at her. Perhaps she would not make a good ninja hound, after all. Alternatively, she would only make a good one if not paired with someone just like herself.

Whisper sat very quietly, confused. What was Packmate? Was she an alpha? But he'd comforted her before, and alphas did not need comforting. They took care of others. But he hadn't really taken care of her in a dominance-establishing way. What was he? Whisper's tail began to wag with anxiety. He didn't know the relative rank of himself or Packmate. Pack structure was unsettled. That was definitely bad.

The volunteer was very confused. Weren't the humans supposed to be in charge here? But he was pretty sure Tipsy could be aggressive. That had to be accounted for somehow, but how? Was he supposed to be in charge or not? If he wasn't only an every-few-weeks volunteer, perhaps he would know the answer…

He sighed and went to play with Lilac and Kidneybean. The little white dog and the little red dog chased him around, led him to trip, and his clothes got thoroughly dirty. But of course, as the human, he made it clear that play would stop if either of them nipped at him. The two dogs soon stopped nipping or jumping and only ran around, chasing each other and yapping, with him laughing on the ground. His guilt was gone in no time.

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In the forest, the demon and the snake sat in a tree eating watermelon. The demon kid had left behind what looked like Monopoly money to pay for it. Little did the grocery store owner know: it was actually real money, disguised to look fake. The demon boy grinned behind his mask and giggled at the memory. "Hee hee! Best prank ever!"

The snake boy said nothing, only took another bite from his slice of the fruit. His eyes followed the waves sloshing in the lake below.

The demon boy glared down at the clay bird, hidden safely upslope under a tree. "Grr. No fun." But it was a good move for the blond guy to make. Besides, it meant he would have to put in a lot more effort to getting the bird in the lake when it was like this…

But he let those schemes go. For now, it was enough to simply sit by an invisible lake and enjoy its invisibility.

"Hey, how cool does it look?" he asked the little snake.

The little snake patted his shoulder softly, a signal that it looked very cool.

"Darn." The demon boy put down his slice of watermelon. It and the fruit it had been cut from rested in the air to his right. "Guess I'll have to put all the effort in and make myself real eyes."

Currently, the space where his eyes should have been was solid darkness. He'd done away with that part of his human form because something in the way the human brain was wired made it so that vision could influence taste. He didn't know enough about brains to disconnect that, so he'd just removed his eyes in order to enjoy the taste of the watermelon as it was, no changes.

Without eyes that received light and processed it like normal eyes did, he only had dark vision. Dark vision saw using darkness instead of light, so it obviously didn't work the same way as light-based vision. It would have worked better at night, but he could see as well as anyone else in daylight, too. That was because daylight wasn't real light; it was neutral in nature, not holy. The only thing dark vision couldn't see was the divine.

"Ooh, it does look cool!" The demon leaned forward, fascinated. "Hey, didja see that? It sloshed sideways! There!" He pointed.

The lake rose then fell, heaving like it was taking a breath. It wasn't. It was just spinning dreams, little fantasies for itself, becoming restless. All of those were things that living beings did, after all, and over the years it had spent, cumulatively, a few months alive. At least some water from the previous time remained each time the lake was animated, so it was as if the lake were a continuous entity. Like it had an identity. But the lake didn't know that yet. It wasn't old enough.

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Samehada darted across the ground in the forest, moving this way and that, pausing to lick nearly everything. Sometimes he started to warble or trill, only to remember that there was nobody to show anything to. But that was okay. He was just out here so that he could know where cool things were and take people there. It was good to know places, yes? So the shark went on, investigating every hill and recording as much as he could in his memory.

Now that Human Cousin was not here, he took the time to think about Human Cousin. About the bad dream. About some other things related to this general topic.

Samehada chewed on the trunk of a young tree as he thought. Would Human Cousin really go? Be stolen? He was always watching, jumpy, skittish, so Samehada was sure he would realize it if he were being stolen. Would he let himself be? In the bad dream, he had. He had forgotten all about Samehada.

Samehada let go of the young tree. It tasted sad. Or maybe that was just his own sadness making the taste different. Same thing.

It was half like being invisible or forgotten already. Human Cousin valued him greatly, did not forget, not completely. But it was like Samehada was half-invisible; Human Cousin didn't really talk about or do anything with certain parts of him at all. He gave Same a Ducky, but had never asked about why a shark would want a Ducky. Samehada had hopes and dreams. They were ones that were never asked about. Not by anyone.

Same wondered about pups, for instance. Shark pups. Was that possible? He knew that all sharks were not created equal, that only sharks that looked like each other could have pups. Nobody looked like him. But Human Cousin had pointed out so many things that didn't apply to Samehada, like how he could breathe air. Maybe pups were possible then.

Or maybe they still were not…

Nobody asked.

Same whined and wished Knowing Human hadn't gone to the lake. Knowing Human might ask, because he might be able to hear it if Samehada asked him to ask. Samehada had stayed up sometimes, trilling and making encouraging noises at Human Cousin before bedtime, but Human Cousin could never figure out what Samehada was urging him to do.

The Tank Cousins didn't need urging, but they weren't so important, and they couldn't tell Human Cousin why he should ask any more than Samehada could. No, he needed to get a human to understand. If a human understood, they could tell Human Cousin, and then Samehada would be able to talk with him and ask why he didn't say anything. Why he just ignored some parts of Same as if they didn't exist. Samehada would understand if Human Cousin didn't want to talk, didn't want to make anything important. That would be sad, but okay. But he didn't even say anything!

There were some things, too many things, that Samehada had never once heard Human Cousin even mention. Never, in all the time they'd known each other, which was a long time. Same would've liked to talk about everything, at least once. At least enough to know it was visible.

The shark stopped licking at bushes and hurried along. Maybe the people with the wolves would understand, and they could tell Human Cousin.

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Yahiko frowned as he searched. He had abandoned his straightforward reading of the Complete Encyclopedia and was now trying to skip around, trying to locate another part of the book that talked about general skills, like how to talk to nature spirits or see them. The beginning of the book had talked about the art of communing with spirits, of course, but as Yahiko read it again he got the feeling that the beginning section was incomplete. It read as if it expected him to already know something that he did not already know. It came from another world, so that made sense; probably everyone in another world knew basic things just from growing up around spirits. But Yahiko did not.

He found no part of the book that would drop down to a beginner level of instruction for him. As the end of lunchtime approached, Yahiko finished his lunch and closed the book. Nothing in it is as basic as I need. I'm really, really far below any level the authors probably thought existed. They couldn't explain things they knew from childhood even if they had foreseen that I'd be reading it. So what should I do?

If only he could bridge the gap, find out the things that everybody was assumed to know, then this book would be able to help him greatly. There was only one way he could do that. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time just doing things in nature, aren't I? Just doing things, like normal, and keeping a watch out for nature spirits. Like how normal people in that world would be out playing or something and learn about spirits just from that.

But how long was it going to take to accumulate years of experience the slow way?

If only I had a key…

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An old man, a nervous teenager and a ninja walked into a bar. The ninja was the most terrified of them all.

Itachi kept his eyes on the floor. I have the best eyes out of the whole group, and that's a curse. Nothing ever is bad or good. Always both, depending on the situation. He was glad to be thinking about philosophical matters. It helped keep his heart from exploding.

Keeping his eyes on the ground was making him more scared, not less. Of course. If I don't look, I won't be able to tell if there is a demon nearby or not. There could be one behind me right now. Itachi raised his eyes slightly, keeping them mostly closed, trying to see mostly from his peripheral vision. Damn...Their only distinguishing feature is the effect they have when seen. I wouldn't be able to know in any case.

He went to the bar for a freakin' drink. "Do you have any recommendations for how to keep myself safe from demons?" he asked the bartender.

The bartender poured his drink for him. "Oh, yeah. Give me a second to get the tip sheet." The bartender disappeared into the back while Itachi sipped his alcohol, wincing at the way it burned. Does this bar really have an advice sheet for this exact situation? he wondered.

The bartender came back holding a slip of paper. "There's enough even I, the best bartender in the world, can't remember it all," he explained. "Sorry 'bout that."

Itachi took a deep breath. "Tell me."

The bartender straightened out the piece of paper, which was trying to curl over itself. "Let's see… Well, there are some parts I know for sure. Don't leave your drink unattended. Don't let anyone keep feeding you drinks past the point you're comfy at. Try to come with friends. You can come to the bar if you need any help - we're all trained to deal with people having problems. We can stop serving, for example. There're some off-duty employees around; you can go to one of their tables for the company of a fellow patron who won't bother you. They're wearing the same apron, but in black." The bartender was wearing a dark green apron over his pale whitish shirt.

"That is all normal advice for staying safe at normal bars," Itachi stated.

"Yep. They're not very different. The bad ones use the same tricks as bad humans." The bartender pinned down the stubborn paper and read it fully. "The tip sheet just lists special tips for people who're especially scared, like you. You got a special reason to avoid 'em?"

Itachi stared blankly. "Aside from not wanting my soul to be sucked out of my body? I...was not aware I needed a special reason to avoid that."

"Jesus H. Christ!" The bartender looked up and scanned the building. "Who the hell'd you meet? I'll have you know, we have deals in place to keep 'em from doing that. Only supposed to be a little bit of soul at a time, enough to make you feel woozy and giddy. Shit! Drinks on me tonight. Please don't sue."

Itachi opened and closed his mouth uselessly, like a lost fish. Huh?

"Shit," the bartender whispered. He ran a hand through his long light brown hair. "Seriously, who was it?"

"...She no longer exists." Itachi blinked rapidly to try to turn his brain back on.

"Oh." The bartender slumped in relief. "Well, can't blame you for not wanting any more o' that. Here's the advice:

"Per the deals, they are supposed to walk up to the bar and get drinks for whoever they want. That's your chance to put down some money for the drinks and leave if you want to. Most people get that just kinda intuitively, but what's not so obvious is that they also have to respect it if you leave a note alongside the money saying that you don't want any more tonight.

"If you go to one of the off-duty staff and say so, they can pass a message saying you need a safe table, and they won't get any demons stopping by. Some of the staff might be surly about that, but they have to go along with it.

"Finally, 'cause consent isn't something you give just once, the demons also have to stop if your soul starts feeling scared or anxious or anything like that." The bartender allowed the paper to curl up and stood straight again. "And that's the tips."

"Thank you." The bartender's careful reading and explaining of the advice had given Itachi's head time to clear. He was now able to think through the implications of what the bartender had said earlier. "May I ask: how do people survive having pieces of their soul stolen?"

"Go to the church and ask for whatever the hell people who go to church ask for," the bartender answered. "Helps your soul heal."

Itachi cleared his glass out of the way to make space for his head. Thump. The wood was solid against his forehead. "Excuse me. I… I was not aware that the local church had such a service."

"Oh, yeah. Got to. It's good of them." The bartender squinted. "You alright?"

Itachi put his hands on the bar and physically pushed himself up. "Where should I go if I'm not Christian?"

"There's a mosque and a synagogue somewhere around here. Have to say, you didn't strike me as the type."

"No, I'm not one of those either."

"Huh." The bartender scratched his chin. "Dunno then. Let me get Jerry. Jerry!"

Another bartender came and switched places with him. This one was thinner, with short blond hair. "Hey."

"Where do I go to heal my soul if I am not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim?" Itachi asked.

"If you're Buddhist, there's a group that meets in the park every week," Jerry replied. "If you're into nature gods, there's a lake in the forest that can do it. Don't go near it when it's acting possessed, but if it's lying still it's fine." He gave Itachi directions that matched the lake Kisame and Deidara had mentioned. "'Sides that, I dunno. We can't cater to everyone, you know. Small town."

"That's fine." Itachi laid his forehead back down on the bar. "I was not aware possessed lakes had any health benefits."

"Doesn't, but some friends of mine say it makes you feel more alive, 'specially if you catch it just after it's been sloshing around." Jerry chuckled. "Dunno if I believe them. They're potheads."

Itachi pushed himself back up again. "Thank you. You've been very helpful."

"Anything I can get for you?"

"No thanks."

Oh for fuck's sake what is going on in this town, and why did I see none of it before?!

"I'll just go home and get a nap," Itachi said. "Goodbye." He left the bar and walked straight back to the small apartment where he had been roommates with Kisame, noticed how much larger it seemed when they had moved so much out of it, made a blanket bed on the floor, and collapsed into it. He didn't notice anything after that.

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Something weird happened at the end of Kisame's day. It was so weird that he couldn't even tell if he should report it or not. That was a level and kind of weird he had rarely encountered in the Before days. Now it was almost normal.

The event in question was the strange behavior of the female leopard shark. She was one of the smaller sharks in the tank, and usually stuck to the bottom, as was typical for her species. She took the scraps left from the messy feeding of more active sharks, usually.

Not this time. As Kisame scanned the tank, no longer looking for his favorite, he noticed her swimming in an agitated way around the bottom of the tank. As he climbed the ladder and prepared for feeding time, she swam up to the surface, poking her snout out of the water. She remained there and kept doing that, without actually eating, for all of feeding time. Kisame had to throw the fish to get them past her to the other sharks. She was staying too close to the surface for his comfort, and too close to where he would normally be feeding the others. Kisame patted her back as she swam by, feeling for heat and checking for wounds, but saw nothing.

She eventually did eat, when he all but forced a fish into her mouth. Then he stood and climbed down the ladder wanting to get to someone who could figure out what was going on as fast as possible. At the bottom of the ladder, he stopped and looked back. Thank the gods, she'd left the surface.

As he made his way to the veterinary station where some kind of medical person was usually on hand for a sick animal, he went through a surprisingly organized checklist in his mind. Alright, first thing's first. Is it supernatural or not?

We're not near any known supernatural phenomena, I haven't seen anything, and she's an animal. Around here, we almost have the opposite of the typical horror movie tropes. The animals are so accepting of the weird things around here, just like the people, that they don't react at all! Weird animal behavior is probably not supernatural.

Okay, not supernatural. So what kind of normal thing can it be? Didn't look injured. Might be sick. Might be something she experienced today, or something else in the tank, making her anxious. Whatever it is, all options are things that should be brought to the doctors.

Can't believe I can settle questions like this so quickly…

Kisame stopped in. There was a medical person on duty, as there usually was in non-emergency situations. Kisame recognized him as the most senior of the medical staff. He had talked with this guy about sick sharks before. Kisame grinned. Always good to see a face you trust.

He told the man about the leopard shark. The doctor nodded and agreed to examine her. There; the question was settled.

So why did her odd behavior continue to crop up in Kisame's thoughts as he drove away? And the feel of her scales under his hand?

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A/N: I found a great site for researching sharks. Because yes, there are things I care about enough to do research for.

It's called Shark Sider. Amazing! It has one particularly fascinating article in particular that will be important later in this story. :D I can't bookmark it, but I'm saving it to my memory.

I love the "somebody, somebody and a ninja walked into a bar" format. I didn't mean to use it for jokes when I imagined the bar as being an important place, but hey. Someone had to.

Anyway, there's a reason this chapter is called Connections. They are rather behind-the-scenes ones, or rather between-the-scenes. Did you spot them?