I sat on top of the mountain, overlooking the village.

It was... remarkably peaceful, considering the recent invasion.

Life continued, a considerable portion of the village mourned the recently dead, the ninja threw themselves into training, and civilians did... civilian things.

With how little changed in the daily routine, I sometimes wondered if they'd known we'd invaded at all.

My vision flickered, and I beheld the sight of tens of thousands of Hearts. For a while, I just took the view in, noting the feelings of happiness, and the almost complete lack of fear. Lots of positive emotions, so little negative ones.

Which was good.

My eyes narrowed a little as I continued looking over the village. There didn't seem to be anything wrong, but...

Something was different.

My vision drifted the left, just about instantaneously finding Naruto's Heart, tracking the malice that the Kyuubi emitted with ease. He was, as always, with Sasuke, though they were both accompanied by Sakura, all three of them eating together at Ichiraku's.

My eyes narrowed further, and I concentrated on Naruto's Heart.

I physically jerked back when I realised what it was that was bothering me.

My eyes trailed over the Hearts of the villagers, seeing the emotions within. Nothing.

I looked at Sasuke's Heart, noting the feelings of content and happiness, amusement and pride. Nothing.

I didn't feel the urge to rip their Hearts out of their chests.

My eyes widened.

My vision flickered again, and I beheld the Darkness of this World, swirling around chaotically. The sight would have normally brought out a desire in some part of me, but I felt nothing towards it.

I siphoned a sliver of it away, noting that I didn't feel the urge to consume it.

I absorbed that sliver, and while the 'taste' was still there, I didn't feel the urge to keep devouring.

Why? Why now?

Those feelings had never gone away, so why were they gone now?

Something about me had changed.

And I have no idea what.

I flung an orb of Darkness, watching as it hit the tree and promptly exploded into ice.

The spell wasn't any stronger than I intended.

Nor was it any weaker.

Three more orbs appeared at the tip of my fingers, and all three were promptly launched.

All three exploded in mid air, three identical chunks of ice appearing, each one moving at the same speed, each one the exact same shape and size.

Why?

I'd never had that kind of control, had never been able to manipulate the spells on the fly. Even detonating them in the air had been ridiculously hard before!

So why? What the actual fuck had changed about me that I suddenly lost the urge to devour and consume, and gained such a control of my spells?!

And why now?!

"And this isn't a good thing?" Shikaku asked.

"It is! But it's also bad because I have no idea why!" I paced back and forth, as if that would somehow give me the answers.

"You're panicking." Shikaku stated.

"Yes! Something about my very existence has changed, and I have no fucking idea what or why!"

"Stop." He said, picking me up as I walked past him. He tossed me at the couch, before leaning back in his chair. "Sit down, take a few deep breaths, and then think about it when you're calm."

"I don't breath, Shikaku." I said. Nevertheless, I let myself sink into the couch.

He waited a few moments, before finally speaking. "So what's changed between now and then?"

"I fought Shukaku." And absorbed something like 6 times the Darkness that I was previously composed off.

Insofar as one could measure quantity with Darkness.

I knew there could have been consequences, and, it seemed, there were.

But what else has changed?

"I'll be back later."

I needed to know.

I exited the World, Gummi Block in hand.

I looked around, somewhat thankful to find that the Sea of the Skies was exactly the same as normal. No strange urges or lack of urges out here.

A moments look, and I found the piece of myself I'd left here.

I slipped into a Corridor of Darkness, which was also thankfully exactly the same as normal, and shortly appeared on...

I really needed to name this place, because really, I have no idea what to call it.

My little hideaway / storage area / that place where I dump all my spare Gummi Blocks.

Whatever. Congratulations you little 5 meter dumping ground, you have now been named Drich's Retreat.

Change pending a better name.

Which is completely irrelevant at the moment.

I examined the piece of myself I'd left here, comparing the Darkness that composed it to the Darkness that currently composed the rest of me.

A little worryingly, I couldn't see any difference aside from sheer 'quantity'.

So, unless whatever had changed had affected all of myself simultaneously, it was a change that I couldn't see, or examine.

I touched my claw the piece of Darkness, absorbing it back into myself, but I still couldn't see or feel any changes or differences.

Fuck.

I collapsed against the pile of Gummi Blocks, completely ignoring how uncomfortable that was.

Fuck!

For a while, I just sat there and brooded.

This was unlike me.

I do not... normally panic this easily. It was understandable in my opinion, but that didn't change the truth. I was normally a bit more in control of my emotions than this.

Another consequence, I wondered. Greater control of my spells, and the loss of urges, in exchange for decreased control over my emotions?

I sat up.

That... sounded oddly possible, actually.

Perhaps I was on to something?

I hoped not.

I had enough things on my plate to worry about something like that.

Especially out here, several...

Where am I, anyway?

My vision flickered as I looked around.

I checked the Realm of Light, and then the Realm of Darkness, and I was kind of startled to find that my little Retreat was almost smack dab in the middle of the Realm Between.

I looked around, noting several Worlds comparatively far away, most of which were closer to one Realm or the other, all save for one, which was sitting directly in the middle of the Realm Between, and thus was exactly as far away from the Realm of Light as it was the Realm of Darkness.

Sitting in the middle of the Realm Between.

I turned to that World.

Exactly in the middle.

Why, hello there Twilight Town~