A/N: Loving these "a network change was detected" messages. They're really doing a good job of interrupting literally every click I try to make on this site.

Anyway, I am looking forward very much to the end of the semester. Specifically, I'm looking forward to the end of this one class whose weekly homework assignments have become the bane and dread of my weeks. If I haven't been upbeat and cheery for the past few notes, that's why. I'm glad for what I've learned in this class, but my greatest desire is to be anywhere but there. Lack of motivation plus annoying inability to quit or lower my standards = torture session. Every week, for the past several weeks now.

On the plus side, I found a name for it. "Directed attentional fatigue." That explains why it is literally painful to do these large homeworks I am just not interested in. The amount of forcing it takes to even think of them is too much!

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone in the US! For those who aren't in the US: Good luck and happiness in general!

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Itachi

The first thing Itachi did, as he believed any reasonable person would do, was activate the Sharingan and sit back. This was going to be a show.

Deidara looked around. "Um, so, how is it, yeah?" Tension rippled across his brows and mouth, and Itachi saw every slight flicker of his eyes as they darted round the room, alert for signs of tension, anger, and other indications he had done the wrong thing.

Itachi followed his gaze. Kakuzu still leaned against the wall on the side of the room to the right as they entered. His arms were crossed and his eyes narrowed, but Itachi saw nothing else there. Kakuzu looked very relaxed in this view.

Sasori, who said nothing and sat on a chair next to one of the couches with no obvious tension in his shoulders, was not. His eyes flicked from side to side a little too much, and his face twitched constantly like Deidara's did. Itachi took a deep breath, closing his eyes and relaxing the Sharingan. When he opened his eyes again, everyone looked as he expected them to be. But of course he did not forget what he had seen in Sasori. Itachi stood and approached Deidara.

"You can relax," he told Deidara. "This is a very interesting prank. I, for one, am glad to meet our neighbors."

"Thanks, yeah." Deidara visibly relaxed and smiled back at him. "Without Hidan here, I can't be really sure of that, yeah. He's really useful."

"May I let you in on a secret?"

Deidara stared at him wide-eyed. Itachi smiled, and activated the Sharingan. "These eyes see movement very well, including small movements that I could not see with my normal eyes," he told Deidara. "I've been using them to tell what others are feeling. I can't detect thoughts like Hidan can, but the Sharingan is an adequate substitute for sensing emotions."

"Woah." Deidara glanced around. "So, like, if someone's trying not to look tense or angry, but they still twitch and glare before they get their face under control, you see that, hm?"

Itachi nodded. "Kakuzu is really very relaxed right now; he only appears annoyed. Kisame has conflicting impulses, but not ones he will share with anyone else. Nagato was uncomfortable talking to Konan as though he was the one in charge; understandable. But he is genuinely happy now, and so is Sakumo, even if they are both still a little worried. Makuto is very uncomfortable and doesn't want to be here."

"Holy crap, yeah," Deidara whispered. "Your eyes are amazing, yeah!"

Itachi nodded. "That's how I know nobody is really angry or uncomfortable with our surroundings. Thank you for leading us here."

Deidara chuckled. "Yeah, it couldn't have happened without me, hm. Only Konan can fly like I can, and we needed more than one light to get everyone, hm!" He grinned.

Itachi let his face drop. "There is one thing you can occupy yourself with." Deidara blinked. Itachi glanced to his left briefly, and Deidara followed. Sasori looked around at invisible visions, looking alternately annoyed and worried. His hand scratched the arm of the chair repeatedly.

Deidara thumped Itachi on the shoulder without looking away. "Thanks." He left to talk to Sasori.

That accomplished, Itachi supposed he should take over Hidan's usual role and attend to everyone who needed it. He approached Makuto. "You want to leave and check on Konan and your wolf, right?"

Makuto looked at the door. "Yes. Should I…?"

"Yahiko already left, so her need to be alone is of little concern. Go." Makuto looked as if a weight had been taken off his chest when Itachi finished saying this. He sighed heavily and almost ran to the door.

Itachi watched as he opened the door and left. His own lips twitched. It is amazing. I know I can't use the techniques my original had - fire is still too dangerous, and I can't stand to use genjutsu that way. But if my genjutsu can help others, and my eyes can substitute for Hidan's power, I could do very well in a supporting role. His growing smile faded. The last time he had tried to teach anyone, it was- Sasuke. Little brother. If Konan's right, I will never see you again, and that will be for the best. He closed his eyes.

"Itachi?"

"Yes." He opened his eyes and faced Nagato, Sharingan off. "What is it?"

"You okay?" Nagato squinted, as if his own eyes could be made to see as accurately as Itachi's.

Itachi paused before answering. "If Konan is right, and we only appeared in this world after and because our originals died, it means that the best-case scenario is that I will never see my little brother again."

Sakumo's eyes softened. He, of course, accompanied Nagato, standing just behind the redhead's right shoulder. "I'm so sorry for that. My condolences."

"Do you have a brother?" Itachi hoped he wasn't asking a very painful question.

"No." Sakumo shook his head. "But I do have someone I wish I could meet. I know what that is."

Nagato patted his shoulder. "Oh, well. Maybe they can… be proud of you from a distance?" His face flushed as red as his hair as he realized that was probably the worst thing to say here. Wondering what his parents thought of him wasn't really the same. When he missed them, he wished that they had never left, not that they would come back. His grief was in the past, not in the future, so it was completely different.

Sakumo wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I hope so." Itachi's worst fears were confirmed. He's talking about someone dead, someone he can never see again, no matter what. At least if the original Sasuke died, I could console myself with providing a better life for his clone. It hurt to think of that, though. Thinking of being happy after any version of his brother died was horribly uncomfortable. Itachi shook his head.

"What do you guys think Makuto's going to find?" Nagato asked. "Or Yahiko?"

Itachi shook his head again. "I was not looking closely at her. I do not know."

"Should I go as well?" Sakumo asked. "I was the first one to ever meet her, according to Kisame. I saw how she looked then, and I've been wondering how she is ever since."

Nagato winced. "Maybe wait. I'm sorry, but Yahiko's enough for her to be talking to right now." He shrugged apologetically.

"Is that still true?" Itachi had been hoping it was not.

"I think something needs to change still," Nagato said. His eyes unfocused and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I think… All that's happened so far is all that can happen so far. This is enough." This wisdom was very soothing to hear, and Nagato remembered that he needed to be kind to himself.

I want to know what he is talking about, but it might be inappropriate to ask. Itachi decided to ask later, when it was only the two of them. "That is good, then. We should all do what we can and not worry about more. It wouldn't do any good."

Nagato nodded. Sakumo offered to get food or at least snacks for everyone, and left. The little refrigerator wasn't in a completely separate room, but the low divider it stood behind was just enough of a barrier for psychological comfort.

Nagato took a deep breath and shook off his thoughts. "My question never actually got answered," he noticed. "You said you weren't looking closely, but you think a lot about things and look like you're paying attention. Do you really have not a guess?"

"She's too unpredictable for me," Itachi admitted. "Without my Sharingan to tell me exactly how she was feeling, I haven't the faintest idea what will happen. Any number of things could happen. She and Hidan both are enigmas to me."

Nagato tilted his head. "Really? Hidan seems fairly straightforward to me. He likes to help people, often in active ways. He'll probably encourage her to try something different or to try thinking differently."

"You know him better than I do, then," Itachi said. "I knew him before she gathered us, but never under conditions like these. I fully defer to your experience."

Nagato laughed. "I was being serious," Itachi said. Nobody is who I thought they were under these conditions. Konan's unpredictable and easily hurt or insulted, Hidan's serious, Kisame's insecure, Kakuzu is surprisingly well-suited to everything and may even be having fun. I must change how I think, too. That isn't a bad idea.

Nagato continued to chuckle. "She said Other Me was in charge, but I'll never actually believe it," he said. "It comes naturally to me, but it doesn't feel right when it does, if that makes any sense."

"Yeah, hm," Deidara said. He had Sasori with him, looking more focused. "I just wanted to say thanks. He was having trouble getting his head away from engineering stuff."

Itachi nodded. "You're welcome."

"Yes," Sasori said as he saw Sakumo assembling drinks and food items on top of the divider. "That is a collection of good things over there. Excuse me."

"The menu's different from what I had," Kisame commented.

"Naturally," Sakumo replied. "Less time to prepare, more unexpected people, most of them fully human. It will be a different menu."

"Speak for yourself," Kakuzu told him. "We're all less human than we look."

"Well let's see," Deidara said. "I'm human with hands in my palms, Nagato's human with weird eyes, Itachi's human with eyes he can turn on and off, Kisame's half, Sasori's full, Kakuzu's human with stitches…" Deidara counted 8 ½ humans in the group. "And Same's weirdly smart, so I haven't counted him at all because I don't know what he is," he said before Kisame could get angry.

Kakuzu snorted. "That was my point. I don't count 'human with the inside of their body filled with tentacles instead of bones or organs' as human."

Itachi raised his hand. "I vote to categorize most of the people here as ambiguously human. Who agrees?"

Deidara glanced at his mouth hands, and had to agree. Kakuzu raised his hand. Kisame raised his hand, too. Nagato remembered that Hidan was a cat and his own chakra was like the moon's, so he raised his hand too. Sasori raised his hand on the basis of "used to be a puppet." And that was all the Akatsuki members there, so the vote was decisive. Itachi declared several members of their group ambiguously human, "With the obvious exception of Yahiko, Kisame, and anyone else who feels confident in their ability to clearly identify their species."

"I'm definitely human right now," Sasori said.

Nagato nodded. "My eyes don't change the rest of me." Itachi agreed with that reasoning. Meanwhile, Kakuzu shook his head and Deidara shrugged. How much of their bodies had to be made over before they counted as no longer human? And what else were they if not? There was no sort of creature or thing they knew of with hand mouths and tentacles where bones should be.

Kisame started laughing. "Finally," he forced out. "Company."

Deidara crossed the room to say something friendly-sounding in reply, and Kakuzu moved a little closer. Itachi's Sharingan saw amusement and relief. These eyes really are very useful.

Hidan

Something in the way Konan moved as she stood up attracted Hidan's attention instantly. The steps she took made him start purring. Visions of stalking lions danced in his eyes as he rose to his feet and fanned out to her side. Of course they weren't hunting Yahiko, but the same kind of movement was instinct.

Yahiko had the good sense to get to his feet at the same time and avoid looking directly at her. "Is that okay?" He suppressed the impulse to swallow again.

Hidan came in from the side to provide distraction with a friendly arm over the shoulders. He got Yahiko to start to smile before Konan place her hand directly on top of Yahiko's head.

Yahiko stiffened. Konan approved this with a low purr. It was good of him not to smile and look friendly, as she'd been concerned he might do. "It is," she told him. "Training is much more than a test of your skill. It is a test of your self. Do you believe you can pass?"

This time he gave in and gulped, but also nodded. His fear, apparently, was the price for her confidence. And if he did believe in himself, and he did make it through, he would not be afraid and there would no longer be a price at all. He nodded again, projecting a weak aura of confidence and determination.

Konan removed her hand from his head. "You'll need that about...two days from now. You and Nagato both."

Yahiko nodded again. "Shall I go tell him now?"

Konan thought quickly about whether what she had in mind would be disrupted by Nagato knowing. She decided it would not be. "You may."

Hidan released him to leave the clearing and return to the outer cabin. "Hey, whaddaya know." His pink eyes were dilated. "Sunshine's growing up."

"He'd better," Konan whispered. Hidan winced from a sudden spike of pain. Ow. What was that for? Ummm...maybe because his original died, so he didn't get to grow up? Yeah, that sounds right. Still hurts like fuckits though.

"Let's just hope we don't get any demons between then," he joked. "Or vampires."

"That would be a bad idea for the vampires." Hidan grinned, a grin only broadened by his knowledge that she was completely serious. I love seriousness like that! Fucking amazing! Ah fuck I'm like driving up the wall now. He growled to warn her that this was the case, then launched himself at her for a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his nose in her hair, inhaling deeply. She smells like good. He purred more. She took hold of his arm and let him.

Wave backed away, bewildered. That was how Makuto found them when he came around the corner just a second or two later. He stopped in his tracks, equally bewildered. Wave joined him at his side, and he petted her while wondering if he was intruding on something.

Konan elbowed Hidan sharply in the ribs. That and the secondhand shame from being so public made him let go. Agh! Where'd the shame come from? He realized Makuto was there. Doesn't have to be here. I hate that shit! Now the fuckin' whiplash hurts. I hate whiplash.

While he recovered a sense of stability, Konan faced the half-wolf. "Hidan is fine, I am fine, Yahiko is unharmed and fine, in fact he is on his way back now. Nothing happened for your wolf to concern itself with either. There is nothing you need be concerned with here."

Wave whined. That wasn't true! She pointed with her nose down at her own tracks, left from patrolling and sniffing around them. Konan's eyes widened. What had the wolf been circling for? It must have been the same thing Konan had sensed, the wild chaotic nothingness. She silently cursed herself for forgetting that the same experience upset others, and glanced sharply at the wolf. "I told you that only applied to my people."

Wave whined again, more confidently.

Konan conceded. She would have to tell the wolf a lot more to convince it of anything. That was one damn good guard wolf. Her respect for the quality of the beasts around here increased. "The source of what you sensed is Hidan. It only applies to people he interacts with very much and very intensely. He does not interact with any wolves or wolf people that much, therefore it does not apply to any of your people."

Wave swished her tail back and forth, tilting her head.

"It is also not directly dangerous. It will not cause wounds or emotional upset unless provoked by attack."

At this, Wave stopped swishing her tail and relaxed. She sat next to her person and started licking one paw, as casual as if she had never been frightened at all.

"The source of what she sensed?" Hidan didn't remember any strange auras or anything. "When?"

Konan frowned. "I should have asked Yahiko if he witnessed anything. He probably did."

What? Witnessed what? Why does she think it's totally plausible I would have looked weird when nothing weird happened and I remember shit? Hidan was about to grumble churlishly, but stopped. Oh, fuck me. It's because I don't remember things. And Moonlight said I look weird when I don't remember. Did I have one of those in the middle of hugging her or something? He paled, and goosebumps rose all over. I don't… How could it happen that much, enough for someone to see, in the middle of doing things? Something so minor as a sentence slipped into the middle of speaking was understandable. So was taking a few hours out of his day to go deeper into a state of unconsciousness. But Hidan had never thought, and would have laughed if anyone had suggested, that he could combine the two by going unconscious in the middle of an activity. That was too much like Fugue Him stealing the steering wheel right in the middle of driving on the highway: a very dangerous situation. I don't want that to be a thing that can happen. No. It can't. He started scratching his head roughly, to the point of pain. No.

Konan stared at him. He looked terrified; she was going to have to be the moderator again. She leaned in close and whispered, "You look strange and feel strange without losing consciousness sometimes. Now get yourself under control! We have animals watching."

Hidan flinched at being ordered to get himself under control. The fuck? Hey! He wanted to issue a retort, but realized that since he was actually capable of controlling himself this much, she had every right to ask him to do so. Well I still won't like it! He stuck his tongue out at her, and almost immediately felt a disappearing sensation inside, as if he was losing something. He quickly lost the ability to be angry. Ow. Whiplash again? The fuck?

Konan turned away, satisfied that he would do what she asked. The bratty way he protested, though, reminded her too much of his original. The way this Hidan would easily cooperate was just as much of a marker as the lack of a necklace. For a moment, before she shoved those thoughts out of her head, Konan found herself wondering how Original Hidan, completely unaltered just like he was before, would fare in this world.

"Ooookay." Makuto decided, even though he had no idea what the hell was going on, that everything must be okay. Wave seemed to believe so. "That's good, that nobody needs anything. I just wanted to let you know the others are enjoying themselves, and Wave and I are going out. That many people is definitely a crowd."

Konan nodded at him gratefully. "Thank you. We will return."

"Hey, wait, I wanted to find Tiger Guy," Hidan remembered. "To make up for totally ruining the moment with you and Moonlight."

Konan looked up at the sky, which was still light enough to see by, but wouldn't be for much longer. Her definition of light enough to see by was, "As long as there is any portion of the sky which is brighter than gray." A long way away, an overly bold kitten was licking the cheek of a vampire and wondering why it tasted funny. "It's too late for that. There's no need to bother."

"Mkay." Being around other people might help distract me better anyway. Hidan recalled how Nagato had never said he liked being around Fugue Him, and felt horrible. Or not. Fuckin' wonderful. He let Konan lead him back to the cabin anyway.

"Hey guys," Nagato greeted them once they were past the door. "I have good news!"

"Please," Hidan requested.

Nagato's cheerful look flickered, but he maintained it through sheer willpower. "We, um, we took a vote and decided that it's appropriate to call a lot of people here ambiguously human. Um… We then decided if we fell into that category or not for ourselves, so, do you want to do that?"

Konan's brow wrinkled. "Decide if we are ambiguously human?"

"Or fully human despite your weirdnesses, or half human." Nagato shrugged. "I decided I'm perfectly human, even if my eyes are strange."

Hidan tried not to visibly panic. I like to go fuckin' unconscious and eat living, bloody things at night. What the fucking fuck is that?! "Uh, ambiguous. Yeah, I don't know."

Konan opened her mouth to say she was fully human, then paused. Yahiko had included her in his questions about vampiric humans, and for very good reasons that she agreed with. "I...shall postpone judgment on the matter."

"Sounds ambiguous to me," Nagato said, gesturing over to Deidara and Kakuzu. "Welcome to the club." Deidara waved and welcomed them. Kakuzu looked extremely unsurprised at either of them also being ambiguous.

Hidan felt his control nearly slip, and tightened his jaw. He had to stop it before he infected anyone with panic. Stepping away from Konan and walking behind the left couch, where the mirror was, he crouched down and squeezed his eyes shut. Alright. Focus. Focus! Everyone else is having a good time, you can too. He felt their warm feelings, dancing at a distance like flames around a block of cold, hard ice. Gotta feel them. He imagined each little flame brushing against the ice, melting it. That's it. Melting their way through. It's not hard, and cold, and scary, and- He shut off his breath to keep from sobbing. No fuck it is scary aahh! The ice was definitely melting, turning into water which was a flood and was washing him away. Scary! Fuck, what do I do? Why? What is even happening? He tried to keep his hyperventilating inaudible while he shivered. Am I alone in here? There has to be something - someone - stealing my memories and shit. Hello? Who - who's there? No answer.

He bit down on his forearm while tears dripped from his eyes. Even asking that question had felt bad, though thankfully not quite as bad as it took to make him lose his memory. Hidan had a great insight. What if it feels bad because it's too close to the truth? What if I forget because I'm not supposed to figure anything out? A sudden wave of vertigo washed him off balance, and he sat heavily on the floor, leaning so far to his right that he slumped over and ended up lying on the floor. That's it. It feels bad because - that's it! Uzaszzzj4nub52bkb3#b K$!#&H$ B $27 HNH2 $ #&%%(? !#... His tears dried, not because he was any less upset, but because he was now too dizzy to remember what upset was or why he would feel it. Azzkfjklwlutieu InNBSD ##!nBBu42 ##!,...

His brain gave up and he fell asleep.

General

Everybody noticed, of course. It was kind of hard to ignore a person going and sitting behind a couch at a gathering where the premier activity was paying attention to other people. But of course, Hidan being Hidan and things being as weird as they were, nobody wanted to go near that. Kakuzu weighed his responsibility to the little pest against the near-certain chance of getting enrolled in yet another bothersome thing that he wanted nothing to do with. Yahiko and Deidara remembered that there was something very much not right about Hidan. Yahiko bit his lip. I don't feel like the symbol's around now. It's probably safe, or at least different. I should… But he was still unsure of what exactly he had seen, still fearful of finding out.

Nagato shook himself inside. I've already seen, talked to, and even hugged the worst that he has to offer! I can do this. I have done this. Bring it on! What did he have to be afraid of? There was no uncertainty here. Nagato punched Yahiko on the arm, nodded at him to say he was taking over, and followed Hidan behind the couch.

He found Hidan lying on the ground, tense and distressed and giving off the impression that he could not get up. Nagato reached out, but before he could even touch Hidan, the albino's muscles relaxed and his arms fell limp. It looked as though he had suddenly fallen asleep.

Nagato pulled back, hesitated, then reached forward to feel for Hidan's heartbeat. It slowed beneath his fingers. Hidan really did appear to be asleep, not the horrible comalike state he had been in before. Thank every god there is for that. Nagato relaxed, or at least became less fearful. He realized his heartbeat was still unusually high. What the… Oh. I kind of have my hand directly on his chest. Hidan's skin was very warm, and Nagato could feel his chest rise and fall as he breathed. The cloak brushed over Nagato's fingers as it did so. No. No, bad thoughts, stop. Nagato turned red and, with much straining and spending of willpower, managed to take his hand away. It felt cold and lonely now. Nope, not now, not here. I...I can't… And it would be wrong anyway because he's asleep.

Nagato took deep, calming breaths and straightened. His eye was caught then by the mirror. Konan had put it somewhere out of the way and safe, where nobody would be distracted by or accidentally break it. It leaned against the back of the couch, near Hidan's head. Nagato, still shivering and too aware of his heart pounding, reached over Hidan to grab its far edge and turn it to face him.

What he saw in the mirror scared him immensely. Is that what I look like?! His face was flushed, his visible eye was dilated, and it had a certain look in it that reminded him of how Konan looked sometimes. His mouth was open, his jaw was tensed, and his fingers were also tensed. He looked like he was only barely managing to not pounce on Hidan and sink his teeth into the albino's flesh. The thought of Hidan's flesh made Nagato hunch forward, looking even more predatory. He looked close to wild, frenzied. Dangerous.

I...I have that inside me? Nagato gripped the side of the mirror tighter, took deep breaths, steered his mind away from thoughts of sinking any part of himself into Hidan's flesh, and slowly gained a more normal appearance. But there was no forgetting what he had seen. I have a part of me that is like that. I have a part of me that's like a wild animal. Nagato shivered and looked down, at Hidan, who sometimes looked like a wildcat.

Some part of Nagato realized where this train of thought was headed, and he almost whimpered. I have to get out of here. He put the mirror back, checked himself all over to make sure that nothing was visibly out of the normal, and stood up over the couch.

"Is he okay?" Yahiko asked immediately. Should I have gone with him to check, or not, or… He still didn't know what the right thing to do would have been.

"Yeah," Nagato said. "I've been checking his, um, breathing and stuff. I think he's just asleep. No idea why."

There was a collective sigh of relief from around the room, and those who had turned to eating as a way to distract themselves discovered they had regained the ability to actually taste what they were having. "Get him on the couch and leave him there," Kakuzu said. "He'll be fine."

Konan joined Yahiko and Nagato in lifting him. But before they lifted him, she tapped both on the head to get their attention. "Hidan will want to know what you saw," she told Yahiko. "I mentioned that something had happened in his hearing, and I believe that's the reason why he started panicking. He's probably exhausted himself from fright."

Nagato glanced at Yahiko, and Yahiko nodded. Maybe they'll help me figure out what I saw. The three of them lifted Hidan easily and had him settled into a comfortable position on the couch with a makeshift pillow beneath his head in no time.

.

A/N: Me at the start of last chapter: Darn, she still has the mirror. I need to do something to get it out of the way.

Me while writing last chapter: Great, she put it somewhere. Out of the way accomplished.

Me while writing this chapter: Y'know, I have this mirror hanging around...

Me right now: I'm a genius.

I like mirrors, in case you haven't noticed. The whole idea of getting a look at yourself is a running theme in this whole story, not to mention the reason I write it. I kinda expected Hidan to look at himself in it and maybe see what Konan was talking about, but he didn't get to, so then Nagato got to take a look at himself instead, and that's how I found a name for this chapter. It's kinda cool to see everything go together so fluidly like that.

'Tis the season of getting warm and cozy and looking around for little good things to watch. I had a nice fire in the fireplace some time ago. It was great; people probably watched fires before they watched TV, because fires are so nice to look at. I know some readers may be in the southern hemisphere or near the equator, in which case winter is not happening now, so to those readers: I might recommend a few minutes of thinking kind thoughts about yourself and your life. My dinosaur Ted certainly thinks well of you, so you should too. In fact I recommend that for everyone, everywhere. Be nice to yourself.

See yall next week!