Hinata sighed, leaning against Deidara's shoulder. They were supposed to be sleeping. She was fairly certain everyone else was, anyway.

She couldn't sleep, however.

She couldn't sleep because of the nightmares.

I haven't had chronic nightmares in years, she thought, smiling to herself. Itachi-senpai last gave me them… Looking back, though, there were probably a lot of things she ought to have had nightmares about, but didn't. Hinata rotated and managed to get his arm over her shoulders so that she could use his chest as a pillow. Deidara murmured something in his sleep but didn't wake. Hinata tried closing her eyes again, but as tired as she was, she just couldn't get herself to sleep.

She wasn't even having logical nightmares: they didn't directly concern the Bijuu, or what might've happened to her children, or what the future might hold for all of them. She merely dreamt about Naruto.

I haven't thought about him in awhile, she thought dismally. In almost all of her nightmares, she remembered the last time she had seen him alive, and his face after his death. She thought about him for the first time in years outside the context of her nightmares. He had been the only Jinchuuriki she really knew, since she could barely call Gaara an acquaintance (or would target be a more fitting term? she wondered).

She knew that Naruto had been the one in control of the Kyuubi. At least for the most part, he had been. But that's not what the Bijuu now were planning. They were smarter now, and they weren't going to be putting any restraining seals on their new bodies. Hinata would be the one in a prison inside her own body. Or would her mind and soul die entirely? She wasn't sure, and she definitely didn't want to find out.

"Can't sleep, yeah?" Hinata jumped at Deidara's whisper. He opened his eyes, grinning a little at her indignant blush. "You haven't been this snuggly since your nightmares…"

"I am having a bit of trouble sleeping," she admitted quietly, looking at the other three sleeping. "But it's not nightmares."

"Liar," he said simply. She didn't bother denying it. He knew her far too well. "What're you dreaming about this time, yeah? Don't tell me it's Uchiha…"

"No. It's not." She didn't want to tell him the truth about it, though she didn't know why. It seemed almost silly now. "…You don't have children, so you wouldn't understand."

"Ah. Don't worry, they're all right. They have Sasori-danna, yeah? And Neji, and who knows who else." The blonde sighed and closed his eyes again, shifting so that he faced her. "If you need to talk, you know, even if it's about the kids… I'm here. I've always been here, Bya-chan."

She smiled at the nickname. "I know. Thank you." She wiggled closer and gave him a kiss on the cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Goodnight, Deidara-kun."

"Goodnight. This time, don't have nightmares, yeah."

"I won't," she said, still smiling, and fell asleep. She still had nightmares.

-.-.-

Ever since the capture of Sasuke and Suigetsu and the death of Karin, they had been hiding out in a new location. It was impossible to tell where they were, try as they might. The Shichibi taunted them with the information whenever it slunk by and got into one of its arguments with Deidara.

"They're treating us like pets," Suigetsu said irritably. Sasuke nodded in agreement, but otherwise, he got no response from the other captives. "Doesn't that bother you? They're playing with us. Taunting us. They know we can't do a damn thing--"

"Calm down, Suigetsu," Sasuke ordered. Suigetsu, of course, did nothing of the sort. He continued pacing and wringing his hands. It was a bad habit he'd picked up when he first figured out that he missed his swords and other various weapons. Sasuke stuck out his leg to trip him, but like any good ninja, he hopped over it and resumed his pacing.

"Can you count, Sasuke? Five. Five of us in here, and there are seven demons." He held up seven fingers. "They only need two more bodies, and then we're all dead. Doesn't that make you a little worried?"

"You're wrong, you know. Only a goddamn idiot would think that they're waiting just for that," Hidan announced dryly. Suigetsu turned and stared at him, frowning in confusion. Hidan grinned roguishly, gesturing with his arm. "It's pretty obvious, if you know what signs to look for. Jashin-sama granted me this foresight, so you had all better get down on your knees and pay him some pretty fucking bloody homage for this."

Sasuke and Suigetsu exchanged a look. They had never known Hidan very well before, but they had gotten used to his ramblings, swearing, and heathenish ways in the time they'd been imprisoned together. Usually, they ignored him, but if he was actually on to something… "I'll tell you what," Suigetsu said with a sharp-toothed smile, "If we get out of here because of this information, I'll sacrifice a whole village to Jashin."

"Oh, this information isn't going to get us shit. If anything, it's going to kill us even faster." Hidan shrugged--a strange sight for a man with one arm--and leaned back against the wall of the cell.

"Please, just tell us," Hinata said tiredly, rubbing at her eyes.

Hidan considered this. He must have decided to share his godly information with the heathens, because he informed them, "The Bijuu are out to kill one another."

This declaration was met with silence. Suigetsu saw Hinata and Deidara exchange a glance out of the corner of his eye.

"What? It's true," Hidan snapped at their lack of response. "Trust me. I'm always fighting with Kakuzu, that fucker, and I know how we act. It's like a cat and mouse, and we always wait and watch each other until we find out who is the cat's bitch, right? The Bijuu are doing that. Only they're farther along, so I guess they must have already figured out the unlucky bastard's who's gonna get killed."

"It will be the Yonbi, yeah," Deidara said suddenly, eyes widening in realization. He turned to Hinata in obvious dismay. "It will be the Yonbi, won't it? The higher ones will increase the gap between them and the three with less tails, yeah."

"The Gobi and Rokubi are both already dead," Suigetsu agreed darkly. "But why would they cut their own team? And if they're hell bent on doing so, why not take out the weakest?"

"Because the three upper-classed ones want to control the three weakest. Remember, they're only weak by Bijuu standards. Even the Ichibi is a formidable match for any single shinobi," Sasuke pointed out. "They are going to use them as pawns and underlings."

"They'll still need one more body!" Hinata said in a high voice. She wrung her hands, looking between the men worriedly. "And that's if they manage to kill the Yonbi. The Rokubi took four ninja to completely kill, and that's one Akatsuki member in the mix."

"Sasori didn't do much," Suigetsu interjected dryly, placing a hand on his hip. "…Though I see your point. It would take an Akatsuki pair to take out the Yonbi, more likely than not. There aren't any of those left."

"No, you're underestimating us," Deidara said hotly. "Remember, we took down each demon one at a time, yeah."

"That was when they were either hindered by a Jinchuuriki or too stupid to know their own strength," Sasuke replied savagely. The two glared at each other, giving off a significant amount of killing intent. Hinata stood up to literally step between them, but Suigetsu beat her to it. He walked over to Sasuke and yanked him backwards by the shirt collar. The last Uchiha spared him a disdainful look, but that was all.

"The point is that we now have even less time to get out of here," Hinata said soothingly, pulling Deidara back as well. Hidan just laughed at the argument. "The last body they go for will likely be Kakuzu, since no one's sure if Sasori even qualifies as a vessel for anything."

"Kakuzu could easily take out the Yonbi. He's not cornered by his own jutsu," Hidan said, grinning at Deidara.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"If you branched out from your gay-ass art once in awhile, maybe you'd realize--"

"You're one to talk, Jashin-bitch--"

"Both of you, shut up!" Hinata snapped. Deidara immediately did so; Hidan probably only quieted because of surprise. "Hidan, thank you for the information. Now we all need to come up with a way to bypass this, escape, or take out as many of the Bijuu as possible when we go out."

"Just have the faggot explode."

"I can't explode without any clay, yeah."

"…Actually…" Sasuke inadvertently broke up the impending argument. He looked to be deep in thought, not even paying attention to the others at that point. His black hair shielded most of his face, except for a small frown. "…Deidara, you can move through these stone walls quiet easily, can't you?"

"I know where this is going, and it won't work, yeah," the blonde replied flatly.

Sasuke looked up at him, smirking, Sharingan activated. "Can you carry anyone with you?" he asked.

"One person, probably…" He grimaced a little at the red eyes.

"If I copy your technique, then we can get four people out of here."

"And then it's death for the last person, yeah. Plus, there's no guarantee we could even get out, yeah. I might be able to, but carrying a person and avoiding the Shichibi and other Bijuu? Pretty difficult, even for me, yeah." Contrary to his words, however, there was a glint in his eyes. "But…" he murmured, smiling to himself as he thought it over.

"…But?" Suigetsu prompted.

"It's a lot easier the less chakra the person I'm taking with has. That one's in our favor, yeah. Plus, I'm pretty good at moving through stone, so I wouldn't waste that much chakra with it. Sasuke, you--"

"Don't worry about me. I haven't been in here as long as you three, so I think I can manage this." He turned off the Sharingan, hiding the following wince with a hand through his black hair. "If you can do it, I can."

"Won't you have to see it, and then you copy it? He can't just jump in there and come back out. The Shichibi would react at once," Hinata said quietly, furrowing her brow. She obviously had noticed his wince.

"The Sharingan sees a few moves in advance. I could probably follow you just a step behind, if that."

"Hey, we still have the whole problem of there being five people here," Hidan reminded them. "As much as I don't give a damn, it would be pretty fucking stupid to leave me here. They'd seal in an instant, and then you'd have yourselves an immortal Jinchuuriki to deal with."

"If we killed someone on our way out," Suigetsu said lowly, looking at Hinata. She stared evenly back at him, daring him to voice what he was thinking. "…It's you or me, princess. Deidara and Sasuke are tied up, and Hidan is unfortunately right. We can't leave him behind. And don't you dare pull that whole 'I have children' shit. I have a kid, too, and he's already lost his mother."

"Suigetsu-san, you're an idiot," Hinata said, walking over to him. She slapped him as hard as she could, and half of his face splattered onto the floor. Suigetsu angrily reformed, holding his head as he backed up a few steps. "How long can you hold that water form for?" she asked sweetly.

"Not long enough. Trust me, I thought of it already," he growled.

"If you were unconscious…?"

"It doesn't work that way. I have to consciously hold that form."

"How much chakra would it take for you to hold it for five minutes?" Sasuke asked.

"More than I have right now." Suigetsu looked at him in surprise; he knew how his body worked, so shouldn't Sasuke have been more against the idea?

"If Hidan and Hinata both gave you a chakra infusion, it would benefit all of us. They would be easier to transport, and you could put yourself into your water bottles."

That hadn't occurred to him. Suigetsu paused in his argument, mouth slightly agape. "…Huh," he said; that was all he could say just then.

"Deidara, could you wear a couple of water bottles as you went through?" Sasuke asked, turning back to the blonde Iwa-nin.

"Yeah, I don't see why not." He shrugged. "Even so, this is going to be one hell of a game of tag. The Shichibi will be on us the second we start this, so you're going to have to stick close to me if you want to get out of here and not wind up right in front of a demon or two."

"I seem to recall that you did that last time," Hinata said wryly, giving him a look.

"Yeah, well… It won't happen again."

"This is our best bet, anyway, Hinata," Sasuke said. She only nodded. "Now we only have to wait."

"What? Why? For what?"

"For when they send the Yonbi out. It will be one less Bijuu to watch out for, anyway."

-.-.-

Next Chapter: Daisuke's been keeping secrets, and they finally catch up to him when Neji finds out. There are more Konoha-nin who survived?! Meanwhile, the kids couldn't care less; they finally get to get on with their training! Kakuzu and the boys start on theirs while Hitomi happily follows Hachi off into the wild Ame forests to learn how to summon cats. What could possibly go wrong?