Sorry this took so long, i was at work all weekend and prepping for finals next week. IM GETTING A PRIZE AT GRADUATION THIS YEAR!

*coughs* anyway, everything in this chapter and the previous chapter is significant so... yeah.

She stood centre stage. It was dark and the lights were all shining down on her. Hopefully it had the desired effect and the lights didn't make her look washed out. Though that wouldn't have exactly been a bad thing.

There were a lot of sceptics in the crowd tonight, she could hear them out there and she wasn't surprised. The Akatsuki had their very own sceptic – which in itself was stupid – from Taki.

She twisted around on stage, looking around at all the people and trying to pick out a good member of the crowd, somebody who was going to have a happy ending.

But she found no such thing.

The man in the third row's wife was having an affair. The teenage girl near the back was pregnant and would later die of alcohol poisoning, subsequently killing her child. That old man over there near the entrance was going to be shot in three days and his six ear old granddaughter was going to get cancer when she was fourteen.

Time to spout some lies.

She couldn't reveal too much to anybody; but she could let out just enough to get them into her act.

After all, her performance was solely for the purpose of getting the crowd ready to believe and to see strange things.

She'd read a few minds, act a bit like a witch, screw with some people and make way for the next person. She'd then sit with in the crowd and watch the rest of the performances, feign indifference and wait until everyone was asleep before letting it out

Seeing the future really was an awful thing.

Sometimes she found comfort in confiding in Pein, since he was different from everyone else and other times she would just sit outside and talk to the sky. It seemed a little crazy, sure, but somehow she needed to get out all of the awful things she knew.

She didn't have that sense of safety or security that normal people had. No she knew exactly when and how she'd die and the many possible variants of the situation, so she really had nothing to fear before then.

The only sort of safety she had was Pein. Because no matter what happened, no matter what she saw, no matter what, he would be fine.

She could remember being happy before meeting Pein. She'd had a family back then; parents and a little brother. She'd sit at the table in the mornings, watching the chaos of her family. She'd say, "Get the phone," and the phone would ring, "get the toast," and it would pop, "time for school," and the alarm would ring.

Back then, she didn't have a handle on her abilities and only saw small things, never anything big and bad like the things she was faced with now.

Her parents were killed when she was six. She thought maybe if there wasn't a block in her mind keeping her from seeing it coming, maybe she'd still be with her family, happy and safe.

She had no idea what happened to her brother. They met again about ten years after that incident and he requested she never look for him again, not in the real world and not in her mind. She kept the promise she made that day.

He was probably dead by now.

Konan was ten before she met Pein. She'd lived at an orphanage for the previous two years and had been secretly following death throughout Ame, trying to prove that there was nothing she could've done that night.

She was outside a bar one night to watch a kid die. She hid behind a dumpster and watched the kid show up; he was a year or two older than her, a normal looking Ame orphan, just like her. She realised at that moment that it could've been her standing there, about to die while somebody simply watched.

But if it was meant to be, then she wouldn't stop it.

By that point, her only friend was destiny, because everybody else she met was going to die and she thought it was better not to get too attached.

She watched another man enter the small alley, the would-be murderer. There was an argument; apparently there was some money owed, or stolen, or something of the sort. The future didn't change a single bit and yet the scene in front of her wasn't the same as what she'd come here to see.

A gun was drawn, according to plan. Bullets were fired, right on schedule. But they stopped in mid-air, the boy due to die just stared at them for a moment before they re-fired at their shooter, catching him right between the eyes.

For a moment, Konan had been too scared, too unsure to move. This wasn't supposed to happen. It had never happened before so then why now?

She caught a glimpse of the boy's thoughts.

I know you're there and I know you won't tell anybody. Don't be scared.

For a moment, Konan considered running away. Because this boy didn't play by the rules and he knew somehow, that she didn't need to be spoken to, to hear what a person wanted to say.

She decided to play the part of disappointed audience and stepped out.

"You were supposed to die," she said. I saw it, so why didn't it happen?

He simply shrugged and said, "I'm beyond fate."

From that moment on, Konan stuck with him. She snuck into the orphanage where he lived and stuck by him because he was above destiny. Every time she predicted something, he went against it. He was her way out. He was her weird form of safety in a world where she couldn't control anything, but had to watch it happen anyway.

Seven years later, they ran away and started the circus – not without making a town full of enemies first of course. Konan would never say – though she suspected that Pein already knew and just never brought it up – but the reason she had wanted to leave so badly, was the miscarriage she'd suffered three months before actually leaving.

Even though she'd seen it coming, she let it happen and it was horrible. Since then, all she'd ever wanted was to get away from her stupid power.

But unfortunately, running away wasn't an option – she had looked into it – and so she settled instead, for leaving the town that had caused her so much pain, and forming the Akatsuki.

"Danna un, let's go into town," Deidara ran up to the entrance of the main tent where Sasori was securing yellow bracelets around the wrists of children who also wanted to venture into Taki.

Sasori paused for a moment at the unfamiliar nickname but decided to ignore it.

"What do you want to go for, brat? I heard there's nothing in Taki," he said disinterestedly. He finished securing the last bracelet.

He didn't think that bright yellow strips of paper were going to keep the children from getting lost.

"Well then let's go for nothing, un," Deidara replied cheerfully. "Besides, it'll be fun! And this way, the children are less likely to get lost, un."

"I don't care if they never come back."

"Well un, Konan does and you'll be held responsible if only half of them come back. Un, you've lived in Suna your whole life, don't you think it's time to see the world?"

"No."

Despite his protests, Sasori found himself five minutes later, walking along a path that led into Taki. He wasn't sure if it had been the children who had convinced him or if he'd simply given in to Deidara's persistent borderline begging. Either way, he found himself on his way to Taki.

As he had suspected, there was really nothing interesting in Taki. They made their way through the practically empty roads and alley's, seeing their posters up basically everywhere, until they came to a small market place, and even that was emptier than any of them were used to.

Sasori thought it was a bit like a tourist town near the beach, during winter.

However, it seemed there were still enough people around to from a large enough crowd to lose the children in. Sasori had thought it wouldn't be hard to keep track of five of them, but he'd been wrong.

Deidara was no help either, slinking off once they got there to buy something he could only get good quality for in Taki. Sasori knew he'd had an ulterior motive for coming here.

"it's a shame we can't come here more often un," he said before rushing off, "I always end up running out of clay before we make it through Konaha, yet I never remember to buy enough to last until Iwa, un."

Clay?

Sasori spent a while wondering what he could possibly want with clay, but decided eventually that Deidara was a brat and so his mind didn't work the way normal people's minds did. Therefore, he should never try to understand anything Deidara did.

He didn't seem the sculptor type anyway and with his pyromania streak, he'd probably just end up blowing anything he made, up.

Sasori walked through the marketplace, seeing all the familiar yet unfamiliar stores selling the same old crap he'd always seen – or at least heard about – in Suna. Actually, except for the lack of heat, the addition of grass and trees, and the slight reduced size, this was a lot like Suna.

He found momentary comfort in that thought. Until…

"Get back here you little thieves!"

With an exasperated sigh – and a thought of why didn't I see this coming – he stepped forward, towards the source of shouting.

He wondered idly if he'd be bringing back children without their hands.

He broke through the crowd – or it parted once they saw his cloak – and saw Kiba and Akamaru running off, a small paper bag clutched in the dogs mouth. A man chased after them and Sasori thought how this reminded him of a movie he'd seen parts of once. He prepared to intervene – as he thought Konan would, though less violently – but was beaten to it.

Deidara seemed to come out of nowhere, though had likely come down off of a roof. He snatched the bag from the dog's mouths, causing both to stop running. "Kiba un, you can't go around stealing people's things," Deidara looked inside the bag and looked back at Kiba, an unspoken question hanging in the air.

"They're for Konan," Kiba muttered.

"Well I'm not sure that Konan would appreciate a stolen gift un," he looked for a moment like he might make a run for it, just for the fun of it. "How much?" he asked the angered store owner.

Sasori watched warily as a few more words were said and money was exchanged before Kiba and Akamaru were dragged over to him.

"Stay here un," Deidara handed the bag over, "and don't get into anymore rouble. I'm going to find the other kids and we'll get something to eat."

He ran off and came back three minutes later he came back with the remaining four children in tow. He held up a wallet that wasn't his and said, "alright kids, let's go buy something expensive."

The children scattered again to find the most expensive place in Taki to eat, which actually proved hard because everything in Taki was undeniably cheap.

Sasori and Deidara fell into step behind the children and Sasori took a chance to point out the other's hypocrisy.

"Where'd you get that?" he motioned to the wallet still clutched in the other's hand.

Deidara smiled, "old habits die hard, Danna un."

When they settled down, Sasori found out that old habits really did die hard. Deidara emptied his pockets on the table while they waited for their food, at the request of five nosy children. The amount of things he'd managed to steal in the short frame of time they'd actually been in town, was ridiculous. It wasn't even a good crowd yet he'd managed to accumulate what looked like a small fortune.

"You're really good at that, huh?" Naruto exclaimed, loud as always.

"I should be un, I used to live off of doing this," Deidara replied, absent-mindedly sorting the things into piles in a manner Kakuzu would say suggested OCD.

"That's so cool!" Kiba said, "Can you teach us?"

"Hell no, un!" Deidara said immediately, "I don't want a bunch of tiny little thieves running around the camp. And besides, what do you think Konan would say?"

They seemed to think about it for a while before deciding that they wanted nothing to do with pick-pocketing.

Sasori watched Deidara interact with the children. He was great at it; a natural, it appeared and even got a reaction out of Sasuke who had been unresponsive most of the day due to his brother's deteriorating health. He couldn't tell if the children changed or if they just simply weren't the same around him. He watched as even the timid young Hyuuga from Konaha opened up – albeit her sentences were broken up.

Deidara was just like one of them and he took on a different personality when he was around them. the only thing that highlighted their differences, was his cloak.

It was… nice, to see this other side of Deidara.

By the time they were finished eating, it was late enough to start heading back. Since it was a new town and they didn't need new acts, they took their time. It would be another few hours before the show started anyway.

Konan entered the dining area and scowled. Her very presence oozed an anger which caused the rooms inhabitants to shiver.

"Where are the rest of the children?" she barked at Hidan who just so happened to be washing blood off of his hands in the sink – no matter how many times he was told not to, he still did it.

"I don't fucking know," he replied carelessly.

"They went into town," Ino said, surprising even herself by speaking at a time like this, "they're with Sasori so they should be fine."

Konan growled slightly, a sound that didn't exactly agree with her.

"That's why I can't see them," she said more to herself, "but I can't see a future either."

She stomped out, yelling at everyone inside to get ready and mumbling about that stupid puppet giving her headaches.

She made it to Pein's office in less than a minute – all the way across the camp – and stormed in without knocking.

"What's wrong?" he asked without looking up.

"I can't see," Konan replied immediately, her voice and mood changing as she entered her happy place. "I can't see," she repeated.

"Have you tried opening your eyes?" Pein knew what she meant but liked to test his boundaries sometimes.

"I mean the children! I don't know where they are, I don't know what they're doing and I don't know if they'll still be alive in five days!"

"Five days?" Pein frowned at the seemingly arbitrary number, he looked up for the first time, "you can't see any of them? Nothing at all?"

Konan shook her head, "it's like they've disappeared off the face of the earth."

Pein wanted to suggest that they'd all died or something but figured that wasn't the best idea.

"It's that stupid puppet! I told you I didn't like him!"

"Yeah but, you don't like anybody. How was I supposed to know you'd have this sort of problem? Aren't you supposed to be the psychic?"

Konan only glared.

"Maybe the future hasn't be written yet," he suggested instead.

"It has!" Konan insisted, "The world is planned out and I can see it all except the things involving that stupid puppet!" although now that she thought about it, everything was getting a little blurry.

"Well maybe it's changing? It wouldn't be the first time, would it?"

Konan shook her head stubbornly, "you don't change the future, you avoid it," she thought for a moment before adding, "and you've never made me feel blind."

Pein would've argued but he knew by now that Konan used her psychic abilities much like a normal person would use their eyes.

"well I think now, you're just going to have to see with your real eyes," Pein turned back to his work, "besides, isn't it nice not knowing for once?"

Konan stopped for a moment and thought.

Yes. Sometimes it was nice not having to know.

"Konan's probably freaking out by now un," Deidara said in a voice that suggested he didn't register the severity. He knew that Konan somehow, for some reason, was unable to see Sasori. She probably couldn't see any of them right now which must be awfully frustrating for her. "I wonder what she'll say when we get back, un?"

"Well it probably won't be any better if we're late," Sasori said, urging the children to walk faster. He didn't like the idea of Konan standing there waiting for them.

"I'm tired!" Naruto complained, dragging his feet and stomping along.

"Be quiet dobe, nobody wants to listen to you whining," Sasuke retorted.

"Besides un, you've still got a show to put on so you better learn to sleepwalk because Konan won't let you duck out."

Naruto let out a loud sigh and kept dragging forward.

It wasn't until they were nearing the end of town – entering the part of Taki which was most dangerous – that they ran into trouble.

The Akatsuki's Taki resident had left the village leaving many enemies behind, and yet none of them were willing to take it out on other people. Kakuzu had made only fair and honourable enemies, a lot unlike himself, and so Deidara knew when he met trouble in this village, it wasn't Kakuzu's fault.

"Dammit un," Deidara cursed seeing a small group of some of the Akatsuki's only united enemies. "Kids un, stay out of this, alright?" he stepped forward slightly, hoping to hide the children but also knowing they were leaning both sides behind him to get a glimpse of trouble.

He knew because he'd be doing the same thing.

None of them were strangers to things like this. Well, except for Sasori.

"Brat, what's going on?" he asked, not even trying to hide his irritation.

"Sh Danna un, let me handle it."

He counted about five of them, all rather strong looking and older than him. Two of them were women he wasn't going to hit a woman. Not that he could get out of this by fighting.

See, Taki was the village most known for its scepticism and intolerance, so it was only natural that they'd be home to a small group dedicated to destroying anything… unnatural.

They called themselves god's army though there was nothing good or godly about what they did. They'd been long-time enemies of the Akatsuki ever since Deidara and Itachi made their first appearance in Taki. That was when the Akatsuki and the entire circus wasn't such a big thing and they did street performances to promote their show.

That day, they'd barely gotten away and had to spend a few hours in the infirmary getting patched up.

But there was more at stake today.

The group stared at him, recognising him – or his cloak, at least – and glaring.

Deidara stared back, all the while fumbling with a pouch that held their only means of escape.

It was too bad he wouldn't be able to come back and get more clay after this.

"So, the Akatsuki's back, huh? I thought I told you to stay out of Taki," one f them said, the oldest looking one. Deidara remembered fighting him all that time ago.

He almost laughed. Almost. No matter what, the Akatsuki never did what it was told. Sometimes they did the exact polar opposite for no reason at all.

"All this time un, and that's all the welcome we get? I'm disappointed in you," Deidara said. He was stalling for time and trying not to look frightened. If he stayed calm then the children would too, right? "Besides, if we stopped coming back then what would you do for entertainment?"

"Shut up, freak," it seemed there would be no fighting this time. A gun was drawn – oh and it seemed the children were no longer calm – because the other side wasn't taking any chances. "I've had enough of your circus and its disease. I won't have it in my town!"

Deidra was beginning to remember Pein telling him not to go back into Taki. Ever.

He panicked for a split second before having the clay in his hand. He'd never been shot before and wished Konan would call him to tell him the outcome.

"See you in hell."

That was a weird statement. Deidara didn't think he was going to hell.

But there was no time to think about that! This was life or death, after all.

And there was no time to add presentation or flare, just a lump of clay stuck to a slab of wood between two windows.

"Kids un, look out."

Bang! Bang!

"Katsu!"

Boom!

Smoke filled the small alley they were in as chunks of brick and dry wall and shards of glass flew in all directions but the children took this as their cue to run. Unfortunately all and any flourish or flame was extinguished in the small space before it could be properly viewed. A bullet had embedded itself in his leg and another in his shoulder but he didn't quite feel it right at that moment and kept running. He'd been closest to the explosion and could feel shards of glass that had dug into his arms and torn through his cloak. Hopefully the children were less effected and weren't scared.

They knew in situations like this, to simply keep their heads down and run.

As a precaution, he stuck another lump of clay to another building, making sure to keep the children in his sight and saying a silent apology to the rest of the village.

"Katsu!"

Another explosion wracked the frail, darker side of the city. More glass and brick and wooden frames ripped from their rightful place.

He kept running.

On and on and on until they were out of the main village, on a secluded path and his legs just wouldn't carry him anymore. The adrenaline had worn off leaving him feeling sick and light-headed due to rapid loss of blood. He was suddenly able to feel the pain and hardly able to move.

"Brat, what's wrong?" Sasori and most of the kids turned back when they heard the blonde fall.

"Nothing Danna un, I'll be fine," he lied. Deidara attempted to get to his feet but failed miserably.

He could feel the blood soaking through his cloak and wondered idly how long it would take for him to die.

"We're out of trouble now so it should be fine, we can take our time," Kiba offered his hand and handed the other to his feet.

Deidara used one arm to hold his side where it hurt and draped the other around Kiba for support. The sudden extra weight was a shock that would've caused the two to fall, had Naruto not stepped forward to help.

"Holy shit, you're bleeding!" the younger blonde yelled, drawing one red hand back and frowning in disgust.

"I'll be fine, un," Deidara repeated quieter and less sure. He drooped slightly. His vision was growing dark at an alarmingly fast rate.

His eyes fell closed completely though he registered very distantly, his cloak being undone, his shirt being lifted and bullet wounds being discovered and covered, before he blacked out.

Vision came back so quickly she almost didn't realise it until the headache hit.

All of the children were still alive but their futures were… different. And what was weird was, everyone else's futures around them had changed as well. It was like one little event had changed everything and she didn't even know what it was. Nor did she know what had become of Deidara or what had happened during her gap.

She tapped her foot impatiently.

Three.

Two.

One.

"We're ready, we're ready!"

"Sorry we're late!"

"Please don't kill us!"

She stared at the group of children who had just entered the dressing room and asked a question she thought she'd never have to ask.

"What happened?"

The shocked looks on their faces were undeniably annoying but their thoughts quickly filled her in.

They'd gone into town.

Shop-lifted – she made a note to punish Kiba for that later.

Eaten.

They left but there'd been a problem.

An explosion.

Gun fire.

Deidara had taken both bullets and the blunt force of two explosions.

He was in the infirmary now, getting extra blood and emergency surgery.

Sakura couldn't handle it alone so Kakuzu and Sasori were helping out but it wasn't looking good.

She had no idea what would happen but it wasn't supposed to be like this.

Deidara was supposed to die in Konaha in two weeks' time, not in Taki in a makeshift infirmary now.

It was too son and she didn't even know if it was coming or not.

"Alright, get in the main tent. Show's about to start."

For now all she could really do, was make sure the show went on.