A/N: Urg. Spent literally the whole night except for a couple hours at the end there (after 5 AM I think) awake involuntarily. At least I didn't even feel tired, but wow am I going to miss so much of the awesome weather that's scheduled for today.

Speaking of which, that's why I'm publishing so early. There was iciness scheduled for this morning, and I didn't want to be losing power before I published. Not even a smidge of rain yet. Yay.

Enjoy the chapter.

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Hidan

"You seem upset."

Hidan rubbed his head. "It's been a half hour! Also, I felt all bad and shit just a little while ago. Concentration's all messed up. I didn't forget about time passing for even a second." His face fell at that last point. Losing track of time was the best. Not being able to felt like losing a part of himself, somehow. It's not that bad, I know it's not. *sniff* I might have some of that sadness from earlier hanging around.

Samehada came down from the desk and quietly slid across the floor. He pushed his muzzle into Hidan's hand, trying to be comforting. Hidan took his hand away. "I feel...kinda weird and shit… Kinda scattered, and shit." I want to be alone.

"Sorry."

Hidan looked up. Kakuzu, leaning against the desk with stacks of money by his side, looked almost gentle. His eyes were as sympathetic as Hidan had ever seen them. He sniffed and nodded. "Thanks."

"Your clone was very interesting." Kakuzu turned away, but only a little. "They have different abilities depending on what you want. This one started to get bored and annoyed when I didn't respond to it, like a real person would. It took the initiative to demand I have a real conversation, and not an interrogation. It might even have dispersed itself; I'm not sure exactly what it did, but it dispersed without either the shark or me touching it."

Hidan sniffed and rubbed his face, trying to get himself together. His thoughts and feelings still seemed slippery. "Really? I'll make another one; gimme a sec."

"Make two," Kakuzu advised. "One to hop up on the desk, and the other to go down into the basement."

Hidan put his hands together and paused. "Hey, wait, hang on a second…" What do I do to give them different abilities? If I do more of that, could I get a clone that can do everything I can? He very carefully twisted his chakra, trying to organize it in the most successful way he'd come up with so far. He produced a version of himself that had the power to push things as much as a light breeze could. It was made of air. "Okay, Air Clone, you're getting on the desk. In a little bit, not now."

Then he did the same thing, making another air clone, but intending this one to go down into the basement. What would change?

Huh, my chakra feels funny. Warmer. I don't know how to describe it. If he could have described it, Hidan would have thought that it felt more personal. His chakra contained much more of himself this time. When he let it form another Air Clone, this new clone had a mind.

Hidan shook his head. Just need to make it even warmer. Awesome! "Okay," he said, turning to the first clone. "Now." The clone turned, and Hidan saw a problem with this plan. "Wait!" The clone stopped. "Take your scythe off first!"

"No, don't do that," Kakuzu ordered. "The first clone didn't."

"Nevermind, don't do that. Get on that desk." Hidan settled back to watch. Sure enough, when the scythe's air form was cut off by the desk, the clone was forced to disperse. Kakuzu weighed down his money with his hands as the light gust of air washed over them.

"Suicide by negligence," Kakuzu remarked. "Just what I would expect a clone of yours to do."

"Hey!"

Samehada made a repeating chirruping sound that was laughter.

Hidan stuck his tongue out at both of them. "Hey, new guy," he said to the second air clone. "Down to the basement!"

"Can we do that?" it asked. "I can't think of...but isn't there supposed -"

"No." Kakuzu glared at the clone. "Hidan can't go down there, but I think you can. Trust your instincts."

The clone looked at its hands. Did it have the power to do that? It did. "Okay."

They followed it down the hallway. All of them stopped at the top of the stairs. The clone shrugged and went down the steps, along with Kakuzu. "I'm not doing that," Hidan declared. I don't feel like I can. Why the fuck would that be?

Instead, he followed them with his eyes. Each step made some part of him twitch. Each step brought them closer to the bottom, to the door of the basement. That seemed so ominous somehow. But why should it be? There was nothing wrong. Hidan swallowed past the sudden dryness in his throat. He'd been at the top of the stairs when the door was open before. The door being open was fine. He'd been there just yesterday, when Konan was going up and down. Konan. She was inside just now…

"Guys?" he murmured. Then, louder, as they reached the second to last step: "Guys!"

The clone stopped immediately and looked up. Kakuzu glared. "What?"

"Don't." Hidan found his gaze darting around and tried to restrain it. He failed. His eyes kept skipping over Kakuzu, over the stairs, over the door, and over his clone. "She's busy."

Kakuzu crossed his arms. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind finding out that clones of yours can do things you can't. That should be more than worth it."

"No," Hidan disagreed. "It's not. Come back."

The clone obeyed, but nobody else did. Hidan could feel Kakuzu and Samehada staring at him. Why did he say these things? Why did he sound so sure? He looked down and let his flickering gaze dance across the floor and the top step instead. I don't know. I just feel it. These weird things I'm saying just exist, and I don't know why, but they do and I believe them. I just do. She shouldn't be disturbed.

It felt so odd to think like that. Hidan rubbed his forehead. "I might not remember this later. I don't know. Whatever." The feeling of being shaken and scattered was back. A strictly vocal sob escaped, though he felt not the slightest bit like crying. "I...I need to go." With no effort, none at all, he vividly pictured the lake in the woods. His shoulders instantly slumped at the thought of that beautiful, precious, cool water. "Yeah, I do."

Samehada made questioning noises. Hidan's eyes snapped open. "No, Sammy. Don't go near the lake! Every time I wake up from that, everything that was in the lake is dead. Don't go anywhere near it." He gestured at the shark. Samehada backed up and chirped quietly, nodding.

"Don't worry Sammy, I'm here," said the clone. He held out an arm. Samehada took it and bit down, dispersing the clone as a gust of wind. It did taste good! Samehada licked the air before too much of the chakra could escape.

"Bye." Hidan waved and turned to go. He didn't look back, his gaze sliding off of Kakuzu easily. When his thoughts behaved like this, it was a sure sign he needed to go unload. All of his thoughts were sliding off of other things and falling into a single track, like water melting and rolling downhill. Hidan let it. Now the only thing he could think of was the series of movements that would take him out the back, down the steps, into the woods, and to the lake. He forgot about time passing.

Kakuzu came up the steps in time to watch him go. The muscles around his eyes tensed. The way Hidan moved wasn't quite right.

Nagato

Nagato was nice. That's why he asked permission first. "May I call my sister and ask her to come here?" he asked Marsha, the dog-woman.

Marsha (or whatever her real name was) smiled. "Is she actually going to adopt anyone?"

"No," Nagato admitted. "Things, not good, not really stable yet… I'm sure you understand. But that doesn't seem to matter, because Whisper's almost adopted her himself. He keeps sniffing me; I think it's to check for her scent."

Marsha's eyes softened. "Oh, dear. That is a sad, sorry state to be in."

Nagato nodded. "Which is why I think she should be here for playtime. He can see that she's alive, she can visit, she's pretty good with dogs in general. I think it'll help."

Marsha paused, head cocked in a concerned, motherly way. "How is that girl's employment situation?"

"Full time," Nagato answered. "I can ask if she's willing to subtract any of it to make room, but I wouldn't have high hopes."

"Damn," she whispered. "Well, you can call her for today, at least. Poor Whisper! That dog's never bonded with anyone before."

Nagato nodded sympathetically. "I wish things were different." He sighed and flicked some hair away from his eye. But it's too late. If things were going to be different, they should have been from the start. Konan's got her past. I have mine. We're all damaged already. Nothing we have is going to change; we just need to make the best of what we've already got.

Marsha checked her watch. "The man's due in shortly. Better call her quick."

Nagato went out to the parking lot to do so. This evening. Or… I don't know. Whenever I have time, I need to finish setting up a plan, ASAP. This is too inconvenient. He called Hidan first.

Nobody answered. The call rang four times, then went to voicemail. Nagato sighed and called Kakuzu.

"What?" Good old Kakuzu, getting straight to the point.

"Hey. I need to ask Konan something. I would have asked her before, but she was not awake when I was this morning."

"Good. Gives me a chance to practice this a few more times."

The other end of the phone was handed off. "Yes?" Konan sounded very good over the phone. Polite, sweet, well-mannered. All of the things she had seemed to be at first glance. Nagato sighed in remembrance for all of his first impressions. They had been good ones while they lasted.

"I'm sorry for not saying anything before," he began. "I couldn't help but notice Whisper. He's been acting different since you visited. He sniffs me more and looks kind of nervous. I think it would be good if you came back, reassured him that you're alive. We'll be having afternoon playtime shortly."

"That sounds good," she replied. Nagato was startled to hear that she sounded sincere. She actually believes something will be good? "In time. I am currently supervising Kakuzu as he prepares to fix the crack in the wall."

"Okay. As soon as you can," Nagato said. "We have a trainer come by on Fridays and work with some of the dogs during playtime. Whisper doesn't go through that since he doesn't have any problem behaviors, so there's time."

"Tell him I admire his patience." Then the sound of shuffling.

"Done?" Kakuzu asked.

"Yeah. Good luck."

"Mhm." A pause. "Samehada doesn't know who you are, but says hello."

Nagato laughed. "Tell him he's a good boy for me."

*click*

"Alright," he told Marsha. "I am ready to get my hands and knees and everything else dirty, and then spent the next hour covered in soap." He laughed at his own description of playtime & the associated baths. I wonder what they would think of Sammy if he came here?

"Take baths on your own time," Marsha admonished. "As long as you're here, you're here for the little ones."

"Yes mother." Nagato chuckled again. "She sounded actually happy for once. I think things will be alright."

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Things were alright. The trainer arrived, and Nagato gave him a rundown of all the problem behaviors he had observed. "Golden still pulls and tries to run away when she's on a leash. The vet says Mosey should be able to walk again, but he's not active during playtime. Tipsy is still snarling during play, though I can't say Jonesy doesn't earn it." Nagato leaned in. "Just between you and me… Is there such a thing as social skills training for dogs? He's been here for long enough to know everyone but still hasn't learned how to greet."

The trainer's son, who was sometimes brought along for the extra hands, shuffled. "Is that the kind of thing that'd give him trouble?"

"Damn right!" The trainer nodded at his son. His weathered face lit up with a tilted smile, causing kindly lines to radiate from the corners of his eyes. "Good question, Tommy. It absolutely is a problem. Most people who'd wanna adopt already have one or two at home. If he doesn't get along with the established pack, he's not going to get adopted."

Nagato nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking. It also shows that, if he wasn't taught how to be with other dogs, he probably wasn't socialized properly. And if he wasn't socialized properly, the odds aren't good that he knows how to act towards humans, either. I can see him knocking over a toddler during play." Nagato shook his head. "But he's barely out of puppyhood, so there might be time to change that. Can you?"

The trainer's face became serious again. "Does that dog do anything differently after Tipsy snarls?"

"No." Nagato sighed. "I wonder if he has dog ADHD or something. He's too busy running to the next toy, it's like he doesn't even notice."

"Was afraid o' that." The trainer looked at his son. "Leash 'im. Got to train attention before anything else." The son ran back to get their leash, and Nagato finished by telling the trainer everything relevant that had changed over the past week.

He had more to say than usual. "I have some pretty big news," he told the man. "My sister visited a few days ago, and she really bonded with Whisper. He's been worried for her ever since, so I got permission for her to come during playtime today. Will having another person around affect your work at all?"

The trainer squinted. "Depends what kind of person she is."

"She bonded with Whisper. Do you have any idea what kind of dog he is? Quiet, troubled. They go well together."

The trainer chuckled. "Keep her out of Jonesy's eyesight, warn her about Tipsy, and she sounds fine."

"Thank you."

Playtime was just a half hour after lunchtime, so Nagato took the pre-play setup time as his lunch. Sometimes he skipped normal lunchtime and ate slightly later. He was a human; he was above the "leaving time for digestion" rule. His food tasted very good today. Why did she sound so hopeful? And why do I have to ask that question? As he ate, he imagined what it must be like to be her. His heart filled with sorrow. Whatever his own troubles, they clearly weren't as bad as hers. How hard must it be for her?

Jonesy and Goldeneye's excited barking/whining, respectively, announced the start of playtime. Nagato let out Tipsy first, because she liked to keep an eye on where everyone was and not be surprised. He doubted she would get along well with any other dogs, though she had very good chances if someone without a current pet stopped in. Aside from her tipped ear, she was in good condition, and had an intelligent look to her. Then Whisper, who she liked best because he was never on her bad side. Then Mosey, then Lilac, then Kidneybean, and so on through the ranks until Jonesy, who was always last because he really did not get along with Tipsy and it was good to have as many other dogs around as possible to distract him.

Mosey moseyed his way over to a patch of decent grass and sat down, allowing Lilac to climb up on top of him. He was a large breed and had no small amount of fat to him, while she was small and had very curly white fur. She wagged her stubby tail and licked at his face from above. Tipsy watched, her ears up and face swiveling. She'd been taken in after being mistrained to be an aggressive guard dog. The guarding was fine, but the aggression was not. Nagato approached slowly, allowing her time to relax, then gently clipped the leash onto her collar. All the regular clients of the trainer's had unadorned collars for this exact reason. She stood up promptly and allowed him to lead her away for training.

He watched her go into the fenced-off area the trainer had set up, then turned, and jumped. Jonesy had somehow managed to sneak up directly behind him, with no warning. "Arf! Arf! Arf!" He jumped up and started sniffing at Nagato's chest area. Nagato swayed and tried to keep his legs still.

"Down! Down, Jonesy, down!" Why is he doing this?! Jonesy did jump sometimes, but never this much. And how had he been so silent?

"I got 'im!" announced the trainer's son. "C'mon boy! Leash!" Nagato took Jonesy's head and scratched it, keeping him still long enough for the boy to attach the leash to his collar. The boy grinned. He was around 15 or 16, something like that, and finally old enough and big enough to handle the larger dogs. Jonesy wasn't huge, but he was excitable, which added another 20 pounds to any move he made. "I got him!"

"Please get him to not do that!" Nagato called after the boy. "That's new behavior, by the way!" The boy shot him a brief glance. Nagato knew the sudden appearance of new behavior meant the trainer would want to interview him. He walked away and sat down at the entrance to the play area, needing time to think. Jonesy might be reacting to something new. But I haven't changed anything! I would've expected new behavior to happen last week, after I was in the abandoned houses and had adrenaline pumping the day before. This week? What happened this week? Almost nothing! And why today, in particular? I didn't do anything this morning or last night.

He settled down to watch Lilac and Kidneybean chasing each other around Mosey's large back. This time, he did not fail to notice another canine presence approaching from the opposite side. He raised his head as Whisper approached. "Hey, buddy," he whispered. "Konan's alive, and she's visiting today."

Whisper stood and stared, doing nothing but staring at Nagato while chewing on his toy. Nagato found it most unnerving. "You okay?"

Whisper turned and walked away. The concern that had developed after Jonesy leaped up grew immediately into full-fledged paranoia. Something weird is happening. The dogs are behaving oddly. The last several dozen times weird things happened, they were really important. Alert! Alert!

The trainer's son returned. "Dad wants to see you."

"Me too," Nagato agreed. Alert! He tried not to let his body language show nervousness until he was out of sight of the dogs. Once behind the trainer's gate, he relaxed and allowed himself to fidget.

The trainer led him over to Jonesy. "Sudden jumping and sniffing, eh?"

"Yes." Nagato tried to relax again, just the way he had before. "Hey Jones."

Jonesy barked and jumped up again. Balancing with his front paws on Nagato's legs, he sniffed the redhead all over again.

"No new deodorants or other products, no new people around, nothing of note," Nagato reported in a whisper. "He didn't do this yesterday, only just now."

The trainer took a moment to look at the dog's whole body. "He's stretched out to his full height," he noted. "Could be trying to sniff higher. Eaten anything new recently?"

"I ate lunch just before playtime, yeah." Nagato tried to remember what he'd had. "Just leftovers from what my friend made for breakfast this morning. Fancy omelet with onions and tomatoes." Realization dawned. "I don't usually eat onions plain."

"Might be it, then." The trainer nodded. "A smell like that is bound to draw a nose as sensitive as this one. Isn't that right?" He placed a hand on Jonesy's head and slowly got the dog back to the ground, with repeated commands.

"Yeah." Nagato blinked. "It would also explain why Whisper looked at me strangely after I spoke to him. Before I did that I had my head turned away, and he walked up just like normal. It's just my breath."

"Maybe avoid onions for lunch," the trainer advised. "Alright. Now that we've got that settled, back to focusing."

"Good luck," Nagato said, before leaving. He walked up the entrance, past it, through the door, down the hallway, past the door that led into the greeting room, through the door at the end of the hallway, through the big room where the dogs were housed, and into the front room where Marsha was talking to some people.

At the sight of other people, he stiffened. Straightening up, he met the eyes of the people - a man and a woman - who had been talking before. "The dogs are doing wonderfully," he reported. "They're all having a lot of fun. Permission to take a break?"

"Sure," Marsha replied. With a warm smile, she told the people, "This is my best employee." Nagato blushed under that praise. "Should I call one of our other dedicated volunteers to cover the playtime shift?"

"Yeah. Might be a handful today," he replied.

"Alright."

Nagato gave one last wave to the potential adopters before leaving. Once out in the parking lot, he took a deep breath. He took out his keys, unlocked the car, and sat inside. He sat in the passenger seat so there was plenty of room to slump forward and lay his head down on the dashboard. He and Marsha both knew that no more than one person was ever needed unless something bad was happening.

Oh. My. God. Nagato raised and lowered his head, giving himself light bumps after each word. I had a couple dogs acting just a little bit strange, but not out of the normal for dogs, and I immediately jumped straight to paranoia. I'm not even going to think about the kinds of thoughts I had going through my head, like whether or not Jonesy is a real dog or an alien shapeshifter. Nagato realized he had just thought about that. Whoops. But seriously? All that, and I didn't even think about freakin' onions. Straight to alien shapeshifters. I must be losing it.

There was a knock on the window. Nagato raised his head and smoothed out his hair, looked out. It was Konan. He stepped out of the car. "Hi. I'm fine. I was just being really paranoid for no reason a little while ago." He sighed. "A couple dogs acted strangely, and I immediately thought the worst. I didn't even think about the onions I had for lunch." I'm not doing well.

Konan raised a hand, hesitated, then pressed ahead. She placed it on his shoulder in a comforting way. Her slight frown disappeared. "Battle fever. I remember. Your original was very jumpy for a time after he had to take extreme measures to rescue Yahiko. He needed some comforting, but was ultimately able to get past it. Yahiko had something similar after his first kill, which before you ask, was accidental. It takes some time to get used to the idea of yourself and others you care about being in danger on a regular basis."

Nagato relaxed and let himself sink into the softness of her voice. It was medicinal. "I feel really off. Everything seemed normal, but as soon as anything unexpected happened I couldn't relax. Couldn't think of the most likely options first. It just feels like anything can happen, anywhere. Every single one of those weird thoughts I had could still be real."

Konan's grip on his shoulder tightened. "Remember that some of your thoughts may not be truth. You need to accept help to distinguish what is truth from what is lies." Her voice was growing distant. "In the meantime, try to do the best you can."

Nagato stared. Softly, he put his hand over hers. "What do you do when you can't trust your thoughts?"

Konan returned to the present. "Having the qualities of shifting sand does not make them untrustworthy. It only means that you will need some very different techniques to walk safely. If you look a different way, truth can still be found. It is only if you look the wrong way that you see a lie."

Nagato looked down. "Another way. Like gems." He bit his lip. "Like… Like how I wasn't technically wrong. Something is not as it should be. It just wasn't the dogs. It's me. I need some recovery time."

"Yes." Konan worked her hand out from under his and smiled. "The mere fact that you are thinking these things can be the angle you need to look at to find their hidden truth."

Nagato squeezed his eyes shut. "I so, so wish you didn't have to go through...whatever it is you're going through. I was surprised to hear you sound hopeful earlier. That shouldn't be surprising. You shouldn't…" He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Please tell me if there is something I can do to help."

It was Konan's turn to look down. "I do not think there is."

"I care and I don't want you to be hurt," Nagato said. "I want you to be okay."

Konan raised her eyes and searched his face. "How much do you mean that?"

"Completely."

She searched his face for a few seconds more. Then, when he least expected it, least expected anything to happen - she reached up and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders tightly. Nagato stumbled and reflexively raised his arms to hug her back. What? Since when does she hug? But he felt himself shudder, and knew that a hug was exactly what he needed. She must have seen that in his face.

Konan shifted so that she could press her lips against his ear. "If you truly mean it… Then prove it, little brother." He could hear the smirk. That was a challenge.

Nagato swallowed the lump in his throat. "Mhm." He had never heard such a challenge before. His mother would have told him she had faith in him. His father would have advised him to man up and show his strength. Yahiko would have promised to help. Hidan would have set an example. Nobody, anywhere, in the whole wide world, would have challenged him so playfully. As if she knew he would do it. As if she did have faith in him, but wasn't about to say so. Like a big sister.

"Thank you."

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A/N: As usual, if anything described here would be actually dangerous in real life, dog experts are free to tell me so. I'm not of the sort that would allow myself to misinform.

As soon as I wrote about Jonesy acting strange, I did start wondering why, and was he a real dog. But that would be hokey. Then Whisper was acting funny, and I started wondering if something odd was going on with Nagato. But that would be ridiculous and contrived. I decided to go a different way, as you can see.

Believe it or not, the sibling relationships presented in this story are not based in my own experience. My siblings are of very different ages from me and have always had very separate lives, whereas the characters here are together and similar in age. I kinda wish I had siblings like this.

So now you know what happens at lunchtime! Konan finally goes to check in with the dogs, like Nagato had planned a few chapters ago. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal, but then a whole morning's worth of stuff wedged itself in there. Kakuzu continues to be awesome. Yay! I'm actually really liking Kakuzu in this story. He surprises me like Sasori does. They are both so cool.