Well, here we have it, my lovelies. At long last, chapter 11. As always, I must offer my humblest apologies for the horrific delay (has it really been 2 years?). Truth is that there were a number of pretty serious family crises that occurred and also I've been dealing with depression/anxiety periodically, so it sorta crimped my style if y'know what I mean. But don't y'all worry about it! Just chill, and I'll see if I can get all my shizwaz together to keep this baby going :)

Just so you know THIS STORY WILL CONTINUE. I'm not going to discontinue it at all, so you can put away any worries :) (or hopes ¬.¬)

Shout-outs: none.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Wake up."

"No."

Deidara received a sharp kick in the shin beneath the rough wool blanket.

"Ow!"

"You awake yet?"

The artist rolled his eyes.

"What is it, Konan?"

"You were snoring."

"Is that all?" Deidara asked weakly.

"Well, that and Hidan is gurgling on his own blood about three feet away."

"What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Must you always be so difficult?" she hissed under her breath, trying not to disturb any of the sleeping forms around them.

The new venue proved somewhat unsettling for all those participating in the activities. What with all the rough wood, rock, bone, and leather decoration it looked somewhat more like a prehistoric abattoir than anything else. However, peoples' emotions are rooted almost exclusively in their stomachs, and after they had all been fed, the barbaric surroundings seemed a tad less hostile. Unfortunately, Host explained (actually he had fobbed off the job of bearing bad news to Yukiko, the head handler) that there were no safe sleeping quarters in the building at the moment, and so blankets would be handed out and everyone could fight over the softest patch of ground.

"You're shivering," Deidara observed bluntly.

"No kidding, it's cold here," Konan shifted into a warmer position.

Deidara sighed, rolling over until he nearly smothered the smaller woman with his own body.

At first she started. "What are you doing?"

"Look, it'll keep both of us warm while at the same time making people think we're an item, okay?"

"...okay."

"Good, now sleep."

Konan curled up into a fetal position, her back warmed by the slowly breathing artist. It was strange that he would do that for her, that he would be so considerate as to offer her his warmth. It was a weird feeling, like being cared for, something which she had not felt since her childhood. After all this time it was... comfourting.

And, gradually, she fell asleep.

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"So, that's basically how it works, does that make sense?"

Host looked down at the deeply bemused Naruto sitting before him. After much obvious contemplation, the ninja said very deliberately: "No."

Host slapped his forehead with his palm.

For the past half hour, he had been trying in various ways to explain to Naruto how his symbiotic relationship with the handlers worked, all to no avail.

"I mean, they're your slaves!" Naruto stalwartly protested, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger, Host took a deep breath and attempted to calm himself. 'Calming myself?' he thought, interested by this new phenomenon, 'I suppose I must be progressing, being in such close contact with all these people.'

"They are not my slaves, they do my bidding of their own free will, and I hold them under no obligation to do so," Host tried to be as complete and civil in his explanation as he possibly could.

"So how many have left?" Naruto countered, arms folded.

"Er, none," Host replied, taken aback at the fox-boy's bluntness.

"Why not?"

"Because they don't want to!" Host practically cried in frustration. A sudden mental disturbance drew Host away from his present, futile conversation, making his eye twitch slightly under his mask. Something was 'wrong' again, and needed attending to.

"Look," Host shifted uncomfourtably, "Talk to Yukiko if you still have reservations, I'm busy." And with that, he disappeared like a plume of dust.

Slightly taken aback by this sudden departure, Naruto had to content himself with grinding his teeth and kicking sullenly at the dirt. "Damn weirdo..." he muttered, walking towards the bundles of wool that encased his myriad comrades' sleeping forms.

'Hinata Hyuuga,' Host thought to himself, regarding the lines of code that flickered across his shifting eyes, 'She's smarter than people give her credit for." He materialized in a dark, stone corridor, making a beeline for the person who, despite the darkness, he recognized as the girl herself.

"Can I help you, Miss Hyuuga?" He asked in a low voice, almost invisible in the gloom.

She whirled around in surprise, shock and fear registering on her face before she recognized the shadowy figure behind her. "I... I was..." she began, not entirely sure what to say.

"You were looking for answers?" Host supplied, taking a step closer to her.

She retreated from his advance, unconsciously walking backward until she almost pressed herself flat against the wall. She was not comfourtable in the presence of this being at the best of times, but here, in these claustrophobic surroundings, enveloped in the suffocating darkness, here he was downright intimidating. Before he had appeared she had been exploring the caverns, alone with her thoughts. She generally rose before most anyone else in the mornings, and, with no other diversion, she had decided to get the feel of the new terrain. Kurenai-sensei had once told her that if it came down to a fight between two shinobi of equal skill, the one who knew the lay of the land would surely win. Not that Hinata believed it would come to violence, but she at least wanted to get a better understanding of where she was, even if only for something to do. After she had been walking for some time her thoughts drifted inevitably to the 'shift' as Host had called it, and why it had been necessary. She felt sure that she was missing some obvious piece of information, but no matter how much she cudgeled her brain the answer eluded her. It was as though it were right in front of her, floating just beneath the surface and out of reach. She had just begun to feel as though she might have been on the right train of thought when Host had appeared behind her and accosted her with these questions.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about..." she said in response to the masked man's previous inquiry. It sounded weak, even to her.

"Please, Miss Hyuuga, do not lie, it ill suits you."

"I'm not-"

"What you are 'not' doing is telling the truth. Now, whether or not you choose to admit it I know what you were thinking, and please allow me to inform you that no good will come of your pondering the matter any further. It is an entirely fruitless venture."

'He can read my thoughts?' Hinata wondered uneasily.

"Of course I can," Host responded to her private musings, "Your thoughts are my thoughts. Now I shall say again, there is no point to thinking about the shift, it has been done, and now is over." Host's voice was low and persuasive, indicative of an ultimatum. With that, Host turned on his heel and strode away into the darkness.

"W-wait!" Hinata called after him, mustering her courage.

The creature stopped in his tracks, turning to look sideways over his shoulder at her, waiting for her next words.

"H-Host," she began tentatively, "Why are we here?"

The shrouded figure remained silent, inscrutable behind the dark fabric of his mask.

"If you won't tell me what's happening, at least t-tell me why it is," Hinata persisted, standing her ground despite the intimidating creature before her.

Host turned around and walked back towards her. During so he reached up to the crown of his head, lowered his hood, and pulled off his mask. Once again the visage that Hinata had only seen twice before made her recoil. The stark white hair, the completely unremarkable facial musculature, the black eyes, and that terrible paper-white skin. It was all so unnatural.

"Miss Hyuuga," Host spoke through lips that were just as pale as the rest of his ashen complexion, "Do you know why I look like this to you?"

Hinata shook her head, bringing her thumb up to her face and chewing nervously on the nail. "I thought you said you look like whatever we want to see," she said, confused. She certainly did not want to see this ghoulish visage.

Host nodded. "Exactly. You must understand, Miss Hyuuga, you do not want to see anything. Thus, that is how I appear: completely neutral. Your horror is born of the fact that neutrality in features is unnatural, and thus is disturbing to the human mind." Then Host began to speak very candidly. "You are in love with Naruto Uzumaki," he said. It was a statement, not a question, and Hinata was upset at hearing it put so plainly. "In fact, you love him so absolutely that none could tempt you away from him, not even a completely perfect candidate," Host gestured to himself at that point, "Which is how I generally appear to subjects, especially subjects as rampantly charged with hormones as adolescents. But not you, there is nothing at all which could shake the foundations of your affections, and that is why I appear as I do: as nothing at all." Host gently probed Hinata's mind. As he felt comprehension dawn in her head he breathed an inward sigh of relief. Thank goodness this girl seemed to have more brains than the object of her affections. However, it was not reassurance of what she already knew that Hinata needed, that much was plain, and he got the sense that she felt he was trying to digress from her original question. "When you ask me why you are all here, it is quite simply because you all are connected, and you all have problems of some kind or another, problems which cause you great pain. I'm just here to stop the pain."

"So, w-why did you say before that didn't know why we were all here?t" Hinata cast her memory back to that moment when Host had stood in the center of the circle of rickety bamboo chairs, indistinctly shifting body exposed to the scrutiny of all.

Host cast her a small smile, though on his shuddersome visage it looked more like a grimace. "I think you've already guessed that, Miss Hyuuga: I lied. It simply wouldn't do for everyone to know, that's all. The cures for the pain are generally more effective when people are unaware of them happening."

"C-cures?"

"I solve the problems." Host said simply.

"But why?" Hinata blurted out, "Why do all this?"

"I'm a manifestation of a collective subconsciousness, aren't I? Isn't one of the main jobs of the subconscious to puzzle out problems?"

Hinata couldn't really argue with that.

After a moment's contemplation she asked: "So why truth-or-dare?"

Host shrugged. "Distraction. Plus it's a good way for people to get to know one another. A clearly defined and cemented relationship between two people puts both minds at ease, ergo it makes my job easier."

It was Hinata's turn to smile.

"Although," Host continued, "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't tell the others anything about the conversation we've just had. Better for them to fumble around blindly for the time-being, and believe that social games are their sole purpose for being here."

Hinata nodded. She had been given a lot to think about.

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"And then he asked me to pose for him!" Ino beamed with satisfaction as she and Sakura exchanged gossip over the sumptuous breakfast feast that they had found laid out in the morning.

"Don't be fooled," Sakura cautioned, brandishing a piece of toast, "He might talk smooth, but you can be sure it's all an act. The truth is he doesn't know the first thing about honest social interactions. He probably read in a book that it was 'polite' to ask girls to pose."

'Damn him,' she thought inwardly, 'Why did he ask Ino to model for him? What's so great about her anyways?'

"Besides," she continued, taking a bite out of the toast in her hand, "He's an artist, and he's a guy who lives alone, not to mention being a raging pervert. He'd probably ask you to get naked, or do something creepy. If I were you, I sure wouldn't go to his house alone."

Ino was taken aback. Was that really what Sai had meant when he had asked her to model for him? Then again, would she really be averse to the proposition? Well, maybe if it were just the two of them...

She shook her head to clear it, then said: "I think you're being too hard on him, Sakura. He seems like a really nice guy if you just give him a chance."

Sakura shrugged. "Well, you'd better be prepared to deal with some wandering hands if you're planning on going through with it. Honestly, the guy is so creepy it makes me wonder sometimes if he has any redeeming features at all."

"Well," Ino giggled, "There are those looks of his."

"What looks?" Sakura sniffed.

Ino stared at her friend, exasperated.

"Come on, Sakura, admit it, he's gorgeous."

"He's... alright," the medical ninja conceded, colouring slightly, "Let's change the subject."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

To say that Tenten had a lot to think about would be an understatement. Even excluding the whole matter of being forced to play truth-or-dare by a stranger who appeared to be some sort of freak of nature, and the fact that she had no idea either of where she was or how she had come to be there, and even the way in which people whom she had been convinced had long since departed the world of the living were now treading the ground seemingly fit as a fiddle, even excluding all of that her metaphorical plate was full.

Not least among her remaining worries was her rather awkward position of being at the apex of a love-triangle. Tenten had never particularly thought of herself as what one might consider "a catch", but now it seemed as though she had gotten mixed up in the crossfire of some kind of testosterone-fueled game of one-upmanship. On the one hand, Host had told her that she was beautiful; an unexpected compliment to say the least. On the other hand, Neji had kissed her. Well, sort of. Admittedly he hadn't had much choice in the matter, but he didn't exactly seem averse to it either. And then, she and Neji had rather tentatively progressed into the "more-than-friends" zone. Then, out of the blue, the freaky one had decided to declare his undying love for her.

'Honestly, it's like as soon as one man wants you they all do," she thought bitterly, marching towards the relative safety of the bamboo chair circle.

To be honest, this was all getting a little overwhelming. While she couldn't deny that a small part of her was secretly flattered by all the attention, it was all just happening too quickly. Tenten prided herself on her ability to adapt seamlessly to various changing situations; it was a necessity in combat, but these affairs of the heart were proving to be an opponent the likes of which she was not entirely comfourtable going up against. It all reminded her of the training simulations during her days at the academy, the ones designed to test a student's ability to cope under stress, where everything that could possibly go wrong did. All at the same time. Well, maybe not everything was going wrong, she and Neji were now an item... or something of the sort. They had progressed beyond mere camaraderie, at least.

In the past she had sometimes allowed herself the luxury of daydreaming about she and Neji one day getting together. She had long harboured feelings for him, but had never actually brought herself to act upon them until recently. Afraid of risking their friendship, she supposed. Still, for all her heat-of-the-moment recklessness it seemed as though the risk had paid off in the end. He was just so damn cute when he was awkward.

Then Host had come along and lobbed a spanner in the works. She resented him for that. Furthermore, judging by his attack on Neji earlier, it seemed apparent that he was not the sort to take rejection easily.

She would need to speak to a professional to sort this one out, and she thought she knew just the person.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Master?"

"Yes, Yukiko?"

"The girl..."

"Which one do you mean?"

"With the scrolls,"

"Tenten. Yes, what of her?"

The head handler shifted uncomfourtably where she stood on the arena's cracked earth floor. Host had his back to her, sitting cross-legged in the middle of his room of diagrams, pondering the tables and calculations before his eyes.

"It's just... well, why did you lie to her?" Yukiko asked tentatively,

Host was silent. Then, after a long pause, he rose slowly from the floor, a wry smile spread across his shifting features.

"You noticed?" it was not so much a question as an observation.

She nodded, meeting her guardian's gaze.

"I am merely taking extra precautions. That is all." Host brushed past her and swept towards the door.

"Master?" she called after him, "What do you mean: 'extra precautions'?"

He stopped, hand on the doorknob, and looked back at her.

"Why Yukiko, while I know that you do not possess the ability to look into their minds as I do, I should have thought that you would still know that the strongest of human bonds are borne out of conflict against some outside force. Well, for there to be conflict there must be an enemy."

She frowned, still not entirely sure of his meaning.

"Neither Tenten herself nor the Hyuuga prodigy will ever deal with their feelings for each other as normal people do, a fact which has become a problem," Host turned up his collar and pulled on his mask, "I am taking precautions to ensure that this problem is solved, and stays solved."

Hand on the doorknob he paused a moment, then looked over his shoulder at Yukiko.

"You know," he mused, "This place is entirely too... dark. Gloomy. I think it needs... a touch of class."

The head handler inclined her head deferentially.

"Certainly, Master."