A/N: I really like this chapter.

The list of card games I know how to play includes: Go Fish, 500 Rummy, and... That's it. Those are the only two games I know how to play with a deck of cards. Unless someone says Go Fish, they're playing 500 Rummy in this story. I shall assume that Kakuzu just happens to like it, because...because in order to win, you have to grab points for yourself and screw other people out of theirs. Yeah, it makes sense. Of course Kakuzu knows other games, but he'll only ever be playing this one for those reasons. Yep. Kakuzu just really likes this one game. I totally don't need to broaden my horizons.

Oh, Hearts! And Solitaire. I know how to play those games as well. Maybe they will occasionally be playing Hearts. If that is the case, it will be specifically stated.

I like overthinking things. It is a good way to amuse myself.

.

General

A most unusual thing happened the following morning.

Kakuzu shuffled, reshuffled, triple shuffled just to kill time, and finally dealt. Yahiko grinned at the sight of his cards. Deidara frowned. Sasori sighed ambiguously. Kisame stared blankly at his. Itachi organized his cards sensibly, saying nothing. And Konan did nothing, because this was her first time playing.

They sat in a circle in the sunroom, which was not currently sunny. Despite that, Hidan slept curled up in the stuffed chair, now located in a far corner of the room. Apparently he hadn't slept well last night. But when Nagato woke him up, he thought there was some important reason for it, so he'd brought his scythe and cloak. Now he slept on top of the cloak, and the scythe lay on the floor. Samehada was busy licking it and warbling at it. It had yet to respond.

"Just to make sure," Konan began. The idea of card games was not new, and she knew how to play some back in her home world, but who knew what was different in this other world. "I would like an explanation of what these symbols mean, how they relate to each other, and the numbers, please."

"Okay." Yahiko folded his hand of cards and lay it facedown on the carpet, then drew a fake hand from the top of the deck. Konan hid her real hand. A grin flickered across Yahiko's face at the way she didn't flinch as he sat next to her. He leaned in and showed her the fake hand. "The symbols are different suits. In this game, the different suits don't mean anything; they're just different types of cards. In this game, what matters is the numbers. I know some of them are letters, but even those ones are actually numbers. They go from one to ten, ten, ten, ten, and then there's the ace. It's usually the highest…" They were playing 500 Rummy.

Konan had many questions. "If the king is above the jack, why do they have the same point value?"

"I don't know. Maybe it was just too annoying to make anything with a value of 11 or 13? Those are pretty weird values." Yahiko frowned. "Not to mention, there aren't enough cards for that. The king, queen and jack are only 3 cards. If they had values that made sense the ace would have to be worth 14, not 15, and multiples of 5 are obviously better. Easier to work with."

"People of this world have such a dislike of math that they stop counting one by one as soon as a number rises above ten, because they find it 'too hard'?"

"Yes." Kakuzu shook his head. "That's a common thing. It says a lot about the quality of math education in this country."

"Is this country known for poor math education?"

And so on. Eventually the game started, and the range of acceptable topics broadened to include those not directly related to the game. A certain subcategory of topics was not included, however. After the first two rounds, conversation became sparser and sparser. It was difficult to avoid thinking about those topics.

Sasori decided to follow the same strategy he used in most tense situations. Complete calmness. Do not make a big deal out of anything. Treat everything as perfectly normal. "Seems like I may have wind chakra," he murmured. Casual. Extra casual. Not unusual, not out of the ordinary. Perfectly normal. "If that's the case, I would like to report that it works well in combination with real fire, not just fire chakra."

"Does it?" Konan inquired.

"If I send a pulse of it down my strings at the same time as Deidara blows something up, the explosion is bigger. It's just plain chakra; the same kind of chakra as I use in my strings."

"How interesting."

Yahiko pumped his arm as he put down 3 aces. "Yes! Hey, um, I remembered something last night about my chakra. It's soothing and a little bit healing, without me having to do anything to it. I don't think that was in Ruta's thing."

Konan paused in the middle of rearranging her cards and looked up. "I had a feeling like I had forgotten something."

"Understandable. There's a lot to remember." Sasori scrutinized the discard pile. His face gave nothing away.

"I'll add that later," Itachi said.

"Thanks, hm."

"Naturally."

Deidara cleared his throat before pressing forward. "I have some questions about the part where it said 'very suspicious…'" Konan explained again about how those two eyes were found in two separate people who, as far as she knew, were strangers. "Huh. That is weird, yeah."

"I'm guessing you weren't friends with either of them, or you would have just asked," Yahiko said sadly.

"I was not."

"God, your world's depressing," Kisame grumbled. "What's your favorite thing about it?"

"My favorite thing about the world I come from?" Konan paused for several long moments to think of an answer. "I suppose...it was the wilderness. There is much more wilderness in my world, and it is fully grown mature wilderness, not these stunted patches of wood you call forest. Trees so tall, you cannot see their upper branches from the ground. You could sit horizontally, with your back to the trunk, and eat lunch on one." Konan paused again. In a low voice, she murmured, "Rivers, too. On a mission, rivers are where shinobi bathe. I remember, many times, fetching water from a river. To drink, to clean a wound with…The feeling of it sloshing in a bucket: that is something I have not felt here."

"There is a true forest in this world." Itachi put his cards down and folded his hands beneath his chin. "I read of it in a book. A long time ago, before humans spread across the northern regions of this world and cut it down, when the earth was colder than it is today, there used to be a great forest stretching across the northern lands of this world. I'm not sure if it was even limited to one supercontinent; it might have spread across North America, too. A part of this ancient forest was never cleared. It was used as a hunting ground for kings, and later set aside as a nature preserve when the rest of the great forests were gone and people began to recognize its value. According to the book, although this forest is completely different from the woods we are used to and should be as exotic as a coral reef, it actually feels remarkably familiar. Perhaps some ancestral memory of it remains in our blood."

"Wow." Yahiko looked up at the ceiling and tried to imagine such a thing. "Now that's a place to find spirits!"

"I don't think I've ever been to a river. What is it like?" Sasori asked.

"What? I'll take you to the one that connects to the lake after we finish the game, hm. It's just like Konan said: clean, drinkable, all that. You need to see it, yeah."

Sasori snorted. Quietly, he began to laugh. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes and asked if everything was alright. "Yes," Sasori replied. "I just realized something funny, that's all. Nature spirits… I guess you could call the bicycles metal spirits. I see a whole future for myself of passing vehicles and greeting them, things that no normal person would do. It's a kind of mysticism too, isn't it?"

Yahiko gasped. "Does that mean… Can you teach me? Can you teach me how to understand nature spirits? Even the basic instructions in the books I have already assume I know how nature spirits work from living with them. I don't; I'm not used to thinking of everything around me that way. Maybe you can help me catch up!"

"I can try," Sasori agreed.

"Yes! Thank you!"

Kakuzu looked at Sasori, who sat immediately to his right, and shook his head. "You're letting the talk distract you too much. You just put down something that allowed me to go out." He did so, ending the round.

"Dammit, Sasori!" Deidara scowled. "I have...36 points in my hand that I'm stuck with, hm!"

"Sorry, everyone."

"There is no need to be," Konan reassured. "Itachi was enjoying far too much success. Who knows how much worse it could have gotten."

"She is correct." Itachi nodded. "I had plans for my next turn."

"Not sorry, then. I'm very glad I stopped you."

"This is a surprisingly good game for practicing certain kinds of strategy," Konan remarked. "The kinds that one would use on a mission, not in battle. How to work with supply lines, establish spies in enemy ground… I like this game very much."

Kisame smirked. "I knew there had to be a secret reason why you were winning."

"She's crossed the halfway mark already," Kakuzu said as he added up scores. "Barring unforeseen changes in luck, the game should be over soon."

It was Konan's turn to deal next. As she was shuffling, Nagato came in. "Hey, guys. I just wanted to borrow Hidan's scythe really quick." Samehada shuffled backward and let him have it with a sad warble. It still was not responding. Maybe it was not like Samehada was, after all.

Deidara's head shot up. "Space chakra? If you're testing that, I want to see it, yeah." Everyone agreed. The game was adjourned.

On the back stoop, Nagato took a deep breath before gripping the blades where they met the handle. "Okay. I have no idea how to do this any other way, so I'm just going to use that push technique, but not actually use it, if I can. Stay back." He summoned up his chakra, feeling the way it changed in his hands. He tried to push it out of his hands without casting the technique, which was hard to do. Even he didn't know if he'd actually succeeded or if the fact that he was gripping the scythe allowed it to absorb his chakra somehow before the technique could affect anything else.

"...Now what?"

"Hidan guessed the likely effects of different kinds of chakra, and tested his guesses," Itachi said. "What are the likely effects of this kind of chakra?"

Nagato took another deep breath and let it out slowly. I need to learn more about myself, confront myself, see what I can really do. That means I should trust my gut, not overthink things, just go for it. "I think I'll try just throwing this thing across the backyard first." He took its handle in both hands and threw it clumsily. The scythe ended up spinning in complete circles, tumbling head over handle. Despite that, it continued on a straight course, coming to a full stop in the middle of the air. It hovered there for several seconds before finally succumbing to gravity.

"Physics-defying chakra makes the scythe defy physics," Sasori concluded. He was surprised at how calm his voice came out sounding, without him having to force it. I sound like this is my new normal. I guess it is. I'll call that a good thing. "That's completely reasonable."

"Cool!" Deidara smiled. "It's big enough and has enough area that you could jump on it, yeah. Could be really useful!"

Nagato picked up the scythe. "I was thinking of holding onto it for a while longer," he said. "I think the long list of powers I have included using all five kinds of chakra? I'll practice switching between them."

Konan nodded. "I was just about to suggest that. It's good of you to spend some time familiarizing yourself with your abilities."

Nagato smiled shyly. "I thought it was about time."

The others returned to their game. "This is nice!" Yahiko exclaimed as Konan dealt the fourth round. "Sitting here, having fun, just having a good time. This is really nice!"

Kakuzu growled under his breath.

Kakuzu

After the game, which Konan won (by a very narrow margin after Itachi had two rounds of extremely good luck), Kakuzu asked her to talk with him. Alone.

Once they were alone, Konan looked around. "Why did you decide to hold this conversation on the roof?"

Kakuzu guessed she already knew the answer. "I think you already know why."

Konan neither confirmed nor denied that. "Would you tell me anyway?"

Kakuzu crossed his arms. "The symbol is a problem." He looked down. "I don't think it's coincidence that I was so angry down in the yard last night, but I forgave Hidan up here. I tested myself last night. The closer I was to it, the more tense I got.

"Now that I think about it…" He started to pace. "Didn't I used to be curious about what you had to say, in the beginning, before this damn thing was installed? It unnerves me. I can't do anything but glare at it when I'm in the basement with it. It drives me up the wall. I think the damn symbol is the reason why I've been treating everyone worse and worse. It has too much power. It needs to be restrained."

Konan nodded politely. "Excuse me. I believe I still have the instructions for how to install it in my room." She turned and disappeared down the side of the building, returning a couple of minutes later with the pages. "Here they are. Perhaps knowing how it was created will give you some ideas."

Kakuzu read through the pages thoroughly, including a close look at the illustrations. "If these runes support it, there must be other runes that could limit it," he said. "Where did you get these instructions?"

"From Hidan. The demon boy provided blank pages and told me to slip them underneath Hidan's head as he was sleeping."

"As he was sleeping?" Kakuzu considered the idea. "I didn't think of that. I tried to talk with him last night as he was on the edge of sleep, and he answered me in a way that was not helpful."

"What did he say?"

"I asked, 'How do I limit the power of the symbol?', and he mumbled, 'Acclimate.' No shit, Sherlock. I've been living with the damn thing trying to do that, and it clearly isn't working, or else I wouldn't be asking."

Konan narrowed her eyes. "Perhaps that was not a full answer. Perhaps there are runes that can help you adjust. Perhaps there is something else that can help you acclimate. Merely being in its presence is not working, but something else might."

"I'll try it. Before anyone else gets hurt."

Being on the rooftop thinking about what he had done, with both the knowledge and ability to resist the symbol's effects, allowed Kakuzu to feel increasingly guilty. Up here, it was harder to remember what he had been angry about, and easier to remember everything he was happy about. Ruta's enthusiasm was very useful, and Kakuzu could only envy him for the ability to dissociate from the strangeness of their situation. If Kakuzu could have the ability to treat his life as a game, he would happily use it when challenges like this arose. Why get angry at the kid for being able to do something to make his life easier and happier? Did I want him to be miserable? Why would I be angry at someone for having different coping mechanisms than I do? What the hell?

Maybe getting angry was his coping mechanism. If so, it was a bad one. It was costing Kakuzu his rationality. He never wanted to be in any state where, after time had passed and he gained a cooler head, he would be unable to understand what he'd been thinking. That was exactly the state this symbol was putting him in, and the consequences reminded Kakuzu of why he never wanted to be in a state like that. The consequences were very bad. Being a danger to himself and others was what Kakuzu had to avoid, or else how would he live with himself?

Konan blinked at him. She studied his face as if assessing. Oh, right. She's used to a version of me that has no problem with people being hurt. "Unlike Other Me, I do not want to be a heartless monster," he told her.

"He had five hearts," she reminded him. "How ironic."

Kakuzu crossed his arms again, still holding the pages in one hand. "So that's the plan. Get more pages, slip them under his head, and hope he's more helpful when he's sleeping than when he's awake." Konan approved that as a first plan. Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "You have a second?"

"Not a complete second plan, no. But I have the beginnings of one. It involves catching Hidan when he's in a fugue state and talking to him." Kakuzu immediately saw the reasoning behind that. Like Redhead did. He was able to convince Hidan of something more thoroughly than he could ever have convinced Hidan in a normal state. That's a good way to influence Hidan. But wait a second - Hidan isn't what needs influencing. The symbol is.

Kakuzu tilted his head. "Perhaps there's something I'm missing, but that plan seems to have a gaping hole in it. That's a good way to change Hidan's mind. But what about the symbol? Hidan is not the problem here."

"Isn't he?"

That question threw Kakuzu off balance. He blinked, unable to think of a way to respond. What does she mean by that?

Konan shifted, visibly settling into Business Mode. "I see you do not understand what that means yet. That means you aren't ready to. Don't think about it very much." She took the installation instructions back from Kakuzu. "Your plan is a worthy one. I'll be interested in the results."

Not ready? Kakuzu was tempted to glare at her, because that phrase was like a flashing neon sign announcing that she was keeping something from him. But they were talking about Hidan, and he knew Hidan just enough to know she was probably right. Kakuzu only nodded and went inside to see if Hidan was still sleeping in the stuffed chair.

He was. He kneaded his cloak with his fingers softly, bunching it up beneath his hands. Kakuzu went out, got new sheets of paper, stapled them together, and put them beneath Hidan's head. This involved lifting Hidan's head, but he did not wake. Kakuzu hoped that was a sign that this would work.

Yahiko

Sasori was taking his promise very seriously. Yahiko hadn't asked him to start teaching right now, but that was what Sasori did. As soon as the game ended, Sasori took them both to his shop.

"You still have some that you couldn't fix?" Yahiko asked as they were riding.

"It's an auto shop, not a bike shop. I had to buy my own bike-fixing equipment, and I didn't buy everything, only the most commonly used tools. Some of the damage is beyond my reach."

"What'll happen if you can't do anything?" Yahiko tightened his grip, fearing that he both knew and didn't know the answer at the same time. If he can't fix them...that'll be like death for them. But what is death for a machine? Do they even have souls? How do you define that? How do you deal with it? Not the same way as you do with people, surely.

Sasori's reply confirmed his suspicions. "If I really can't, I'll leave them in a hidden place in the park along with an intact bike. They probably have something figured out."

"Wait… Would they?" Yahiko's eyes widened. "If they're like nature spirits, well, when a tree dies it doesn't get mourned by other spirits. It just lies there and rots. What if they don't do anything? What if all that would happen is, like, you recycling the parts or something?"

Sasori groaned. "Or there is that possibility, since they don't feel. Right. Thank you for reminding me." He glanced down. "And thank you for having your own engine. I'll be asking you some questions later."

They pulled into the rear lot of the shop. They weren't the only ones to have done so. Two bicycles with duct tape all over them were parked just inside the entrance. "Oh crap," Sasori said. "I hope they're just coming back for checkups. If not, the other reason I asked them to come back was if they detected problems."

Yahiko nodded. "Help them, of course. You could explain things to me while you're working, or if that's too much of a distraction, I can wait."

They each took one of the bicycles through the back door into Sasori's area. Yahiko looked around. He'd never been in a mechanic's area before, and everything looked strange and exciting. "What's this big door for? Why are we taking them through the small door?"

"That's where people drive cars in," Sasori answered. "How else would vehicles get inside to be fixed?"

"That makes sense. It does look like a garage door."

"Except harder to open." Sasori shook his head. "I'm not going to go to the trouble of opening that thing when there are only two bikes, and they can just as easily fit through the people door."

Yahiko nodded, setting his bicycle down next to Sasori's in the large space in front of the closed door. "It must be cramped in here when there's a car in!"

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm small-framed." Sasori smiled proudly. "It is cramped, but I have no trouble getting around. I find that much more useful than big, burly muscles. Other Me must've had it even easier if he turned himself into a puppet when he was only 15." Sasori's smile faded. "Being small has its advantages," he said before turning away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to set up. Please lay both of them on their side, with enough room for people to walk between them."

Yahiko did that, then stepped back. He found a nice corner to sit in while Sasori did his thing. After several minutes, when Sasori began to unwrap the duct tape, Yahiko came over and sat a few feet away from him so as not to get in his way. "So… What did that future look like?"

Sasori continued to look at what he was doing, not even glancing at Yahiko as he answered. "It was a shock when I thought of it. What I saw myself doing sounds so simple - greeting bicycles on the street, saying hello to my ride, things like that - but it really isn't simple. It's really a change in how I view myself. I was shocked because what I saw was a future where I think of machines as being like me. Normal people wave to other people on the street, and I wave at machines. It was eerie. It still is."

"I think it's nice," Yahiko said. "It's not wrong to be a mechanically-minded person. There are all kinds of people in the world."

"Yes, but none of them have the power to take it as far as Other Me did. If I figure out what technique he used, I could conceivably turn myself into a machine." Sasori shivered. "That's too far. I don't want to have the ability to go that far."

"You don't!" Yahiko grinned. "If you can't imagine going that far or think about it without shuddering, then you don't have the ability. Just like how even if I had a knife in my hand, I still wouldn't have the ability to kill anyone."

Sasori relaxed a little. "Thank you." He grimaced as he pulled back the last bit of duct tape to reveal a frame whose parts had slipped out of alignment underneath the tape. "Hey. Wasn't this supposed to be for your benefit?"

Yahiko started. "Oh, yeah." He rubbed his hair. "Sorry. I shifted into helping-others mode without even noticing."

Sasori got up to get some extra-strength industrial glue. "It's fine. You did help, and thank you. Now, what were you asking for?"

Yahiko had to replay Sasori's answer in his mind before he could even remember his own reaction to it. "Oh! I remember now. After you said you had to see machines as being like you, I immediately thought about myself and the nature spirits. Might I have to do the same thing? See them as like me?"

Sasori said nothing. He didn't have to, because after a few seconds, Yahiko answered himself. "Wait, I already did that! When I talked with that bush in the park, and it responded, it was because I'd managed to get my thoughts in an order where I thought of it as being just like me. I already did that! That is how it works!"

Sasori continued to carefully apply the glue according to the instructions on its packaging, not saying a word. He still didn't have to, because Yahiko went on talking to himself. "But what I did with that bush took a lot of time, and lots of concentration, and I'm not sure I could even manage that all the time. I definitely can't do it quickly. There has to be another way. What else can I do to see them as being like me?"

Now Sasori had a reason to speak. "Other way around: see yourself as being like them. Can't you do things with water yourself? Leap between trees like a monkey? Make things feel better with a touch? What makes you so different from a nature spirit?"

Yahiko's eyes widened. "Oh… That's right." He looked down at his hands. "I am like the sun, so I'm already like that, right? I already am! I have things in common with the sun, and the sun has a lot in common with plants, and with everything else. I could learn to think like that!"

"It's hard," Sasori warned. "It is hard, and difficult, and you may not even want to change how you view yourself. When I looked back after having that vision, I realized I couldn't actually pick out a moment where my view of myself changed. I've always gotten along well with machines, treated them as well as I would any living thing. Maybe that was always how I viewed myself and I just didn't realize it. But you…" He cut himself off. "No; it's not my place to decide what you are. Maybe you already see yourself as being like them and just don't realize it, like I did. Or maybe you would have to make a real change. I don't know what's true about you. It's not my place to try to decide that. It's yours."

It's mine? I have to decide what's true about me… Something about those words made Yahiko's chest filled with warmth. The warmth leaked up his throat, into his face. It was hard to speak. "Thank you," he squeaked out. Why do I sound like I'm about to cry?

"You're welcome." Sasori didn't ask why, didn't so much as glance up at Yahiko. Carefully, he aligned the broken frame's edges, then pressed them together. "Hold that." When Yahiko had a secure grip and was holding the bicycle parts together securely, Sasori got up and searched his space. "Instructions say to let it cure for 24 hours," he explained. "I think I have clamps somewhere around here that can hold everything in place for that long."

Yahiko sniffed. Is he going to ask? Do I want him to? It was good to have people show an interest in his feelings, right? They should care? Yahiko was pretty sure he was supposed to want that. Yet, if other people cared, he would feel bad for making them take up any share of his burden. If he cried in front of Nagato, Nagato would feel just like he would, upset, and he didn't want to make Nagato upset. Yahiko was pretty sure he was supposed to want people to be concerned for him, that empathy was the highest of all compassionate ideals and what one should always aim for when trying to help someone else. But Sasori's dispassionate treatment of him was oddly soothing, moreso than any level of empathy would have been. If what other people felt couldn't be affected, Yahiko didn't have to worry about how he was affecting them. It was like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders.

Since when do I want to avoid responsibility for other people's feelings? Since when am I the kind of person who would do that? That's mean…

When Sasori came back with clamps and other things to hold the frame in place, like a makeshift sling for a bicycle, Yahiko was quietly sobbing. Is it? Nagato always says I should take time for myself, and Konan said that was the only way to pass her test. She doesn't want me to worry about anyone else, doesn't want me to take responsibility for them. But isn't that what I'm supposed to do?! What was he supposed to do? What was moral or good? The definitions of morality seemed to be shifting under Yahiko's feet, and he didn't like it. It was easier to think he should just do as much as possible for others. That was a straightforward, easy to apply rule. Does that mean I'm not really doing the right thing at all, that I'm just taking the coward's way out? Oh no! What am I doing and why am I doing it?! Aaaggghhh!

He sat in the corner again and hugged his knees. I'm doing the best I can. I'm doing the best I can. If it was a mistake, that's okay, because I'm allowed to make mistakes. I'm doing my best. I'm doing my best. He'd heard words like that all his life: in the media, in movies, in advice columns, from Nagato. But they never seemed to have any meaning before. Those were words that applied to others, not to him. Yahiko had never felt those words ring true for him. But now… They sounded different. Meaningful, real, applicable, possessing qualities that they did not have before. They sounded like completely different words. When had they changed?

I'm allowed to make mistakes. How many times had he seen that phrase said to other people, said it himself to other people? But it was always a phrase that only made sense when applied to other people. It was hollow and meaningless when Nagato said it to him. It had always been, until now. Yahiko realized this was the first time he could ever remember saying it to himself. Maybe it was the sort of thing he could only listen to if it came from himself, not from anyone else.

He really had to thank Nagato for repeating it so often. Without those words being told to him so often, he wouldn't have become experienced enough to wield them effectively now. Nagato had actually been training him all this time! Did he know? He had to be told if he didn't.

Gratitude helped Yahiko feel better. The tears stopped, and the sobbing. He searched around for a tissue or something to wipe his face on. When his face was not in danger of dripping everywhere, Yahiko looked around. His heart beat fast, and his throat was dry. It was a surprise to see Sasori bent so calmly over the second bike, rewrapping the tape and checking other parts of it to find out what was wrong with his patient. It was like he didn't care at all. He doesn't care. Yahiko's heartbeat slowed.

He sat down a few feet to Sasori's left again. He sniffed to make sure his nose was clear and his voice wouldn't sound stuffed up. "Hey. How's this one?"

"No problems with its previous fix job," Sasori reported. "I think this one came back for a checkup. Excuse me." He went off to get some other supplies. Yahiko thought the wheels looked a little off. Even if it could move, it still needed some care.

Yahiko smiled at that. It could move and presumably do everything a bicycle needed to do, yet Sasori cared enough to help it do more than just that, help it be really whole. He would give it care even though it was technically fine because he wanted it to be more than just fine. Sasori was wrong. How can he think of himself like that? He isn't heartless. He's nowhere close to being a machine. He's the most compassionate, kindest, most caring person I have ever met! As soon as Sasori came back and put his other supplies down, Yahiko was going to give him a giant hug. He was glad to have talked to the engineer, to have finally seen this aspect underneath Sasori's calm exterior. How did I never see it before? What else is there in other people that I haven't seen? Yahiko was overcome by a surge of incredible hope. There were worlds and worlds of miracles, waiting and available for him to find them!

He only had to ask his friends.

.

A/N: I really hope this story eventually becomes popular. I hope it is read by people who need to read it. Especially after writing this last scene, it feels like a lot of people could benefit from the insights I'm sharing through this story. I want that.

I have an idea for a story that's original, that's not a fanfic and could actually be published. Maybe I will make a list of lessons and insights that I could try to work into that story. Give them to a wider audience that way. (Except for the fact that there is no way in heck I will ever be traditionally published...)

Anyway, I did some research for this chapter! I Googled "how does industrial-strength glue work?", opened the first link, and read the instructions for how to properly use that particular kind of industrial adhesive. That's where the 24-hours curing period comes from. I also Googled what bicycle frames are made from, to be sure that material wasn't on the list of things industrial adhesive should not be used on. I didn't see polystyrene among the list of stuff that bicycle frames are made of, so yay! I like research, as long as it's easy. If a question I have can be answered by Google, I'm gonna research that. The lack of research in this story is due mainly to the fact that so much of what I don't know isn't searchable. I don't have the first idea how to ask a machine those things. I would have to ask a learned human or experience what it was like for myself, neither of which I currently have the ability to do. Sorry.

This is one of those between-the-scenes connections I mentioned in the chapter titled Connections. Yahiko needs a key? Heeeeey, maybe it's over here with what Sasori's doing. *sighs in happiness*

Can't wait to see what next chapter's gonna bring! See yall next week!