A/M: Triple digits! Yahoo!

Ruta does something I wouldn't do in this chapter. I have never and probably never will use a writing tool during an in-person conversation. I have thought about it, and I know it would be helpful, yet... No. I have used email to convey my apologies after a conversation abruptly went south, but never while I was still face to face. I would rather learn sign language; seems as if it would be easier.

Enjoy!

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General

Under Konan's supervision, over their shared affection for Hidan, Nagato and Yahiko smiled at each other and shook hands. Awkwardness was averted. The vampire leader's words were proven true: they were a dynamic duo. We work well together, Nagato thought. We don't handle each other's personal lives nearly as well, but if we stick to work, to something outside ourselves, we'll be fine.

Konan put a hand on both of their shoulders before either of them could leave. "Yahiko." She explained to him her problem with needing a bank account to pay phone bills in order to get a plan. "Nagato believes others in this group may have more stable financial situations, but that would be too much for me to ask."

"I'll ask!" Nagato stifled a laugh at the way Yahiko didn't hesitate. That's so like him, to immediately say something like that. He acts so quickly when he knows the right thing to do. Yahiko tilted his head and asked, "What, exactly, do you need? What kind of plan is it? Do you need money to get the phone, too, or do you have it already?"

"Oh, no." Nagato shook his head strongly. "No. Not even close. We discussed getting her a phone several days ago, and most of that discussion was just explaining what a phone is. It's only today that I asked about setting up a plan for someone without ID. But before that… We still have to go over exactly what a plan is and figure out what would be useful. We haven't hammered out all the details yet."

"Unlimited texting would allow me to interact with the group chat as much as I want, which is useful. Aside from that, all the other features that plans come with are strange to me and I cannot judge if they have any value at all," Konan added. "That inclines me to think I do not need them, but I could be wrong. These are wondrous devices. Their other abilities could be very useful to me."

"She doesn't even know why phones should be thin and sleek, or if that's a good thing," Nagato said. "Neither do I!"

Yahiko's eyes lit up. "How about you try them?" he suggested. "Try different types of phones, and see what kind you like to interact with the most. Then we can get one just like it!"

Konan blinked. "Would that make a difference?"

"Yeah!" Yahiko winced. "I tried to help someone with their Iphone once, and I just couldn't. It was so weird. The menus worked differently, and the 'go back' button wasn't where it is on my phone, and… And there were all these apps that apparently do important settings things that I didn't recognize at all… It's like a foreign country over there."

Konan turned to Nagato. "I have had good experiences with your phone and Hidan's. What kind of phone is it?"

Nagato told her the brand name. Quickly, quietly, he snuck around the side of the bed and rifled through Hidan's pockets. Hidan giggled in his sleep. Nagato's face was pinker than usual when he found Hidan's phone and identified it as the same brand name.

"These names identify phones with different structures?" Konan clarified.

"No. That's the name of the company that makes it. They identify different companies."

"Ah. I see - the structure of a phone is a maker's mark." Konan looked down at the device Nagato held. "Maker's marks don't usually make a functional difference, but there's no reason why they couldn't. It would be a very effective way to keep a customer from ever purchasing or using anything else."

"I'm sure that's exactly why," Nagato said as he placed Hidan's phone on a bedside table. Konan's bed had two of them, one to each side, and it was a little wider than a typical single-person bed. Hidan's legs still hung off of one side, but he wasn't in danger of completely falling off. Nagato crossed the room to place Hidan's phone on the table next to his head, then enlisted Konan's help to lift him up and turn him so that he lay vertically on the bed, with no body parts hanging off the edge.

Hidan's eyes tensed, and his upper legs began to jerk. He turned over to lay on his stomach. Konan remembered about his invisible tail, and from there, his scythe. She ordered Yahiko to bring Hidan's scythe to him. Hidan purred in his sleep when the scythe was placed on his back. Konan briefly scratched him behind one ear. She couldn't tell if his hair was slightly longer or not.

"That kind of phone, a single plan with unlimited texting and maybe other things...what kind of costs did you see?" Yahiko asked Nagato. Nagato told him. "Okay! At some point, I will ask about that." He looked around. Nothing else immediately begged for attention. "Is there something else I need to be doing?"

Konan straightened and turned to face him, moving crisply and quickly. Her eyes scanned him from top to bottom. Nagato and Yahiko both straightened as well, and felt their ninja minds snap into place. "I believe you just volunteered to be the first test subject," Konan replied.

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Kakuzu stitched his forearm back on as soon as he heard footsteps coming down the hall. His heartbeat was fast, his brown skin was closer to gray, and muscles all over his body were tense. Good timing. I did not want to see any more of my own insides. Or lack of insides, as it turns out. He hadn't touched his own tentacles very much, because it felt like prodding his own exposed muscles, but he hadn't seen or felt any bones in there. He kept his arms very tightly stitched as he turned to face whoever was coming down the left hallway.

Konan arrived, followed by Yahiko. "Yahiko has graciously volunteered to be the first test subject," she stated. "You may be the second."

"Sure. Get it over with," Kakuzu grumbled. As usual, he was displaying an excess of grumpiness as a way of coping with feeling disturbed. Nagato had known him well enough to point it out back at the Hatake campground, so Kakuzu wasn't very surprised when Yahiko asked if he was okay. "I don't seem to have any bones in my forearms," Kakuzu replied.

"How could you hit anything if you didn't have anything solid in your hand?" Yahiko asked. "You don't move like an octopus, either. You probably have something somewhere in there."

"I have no interest in thinking about it right now. Let's just get this testing over with."

"I thought of putting together a complete list first, and of course the testing would take place with everyone gathered as an audience," Konan said. "It is only the late afternoon. Testing will begin in a few hours."

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Sasori stood up and stretched. Complaints from his back, neck, buttocks, and other parts of his body had begun to pull him out of his concentration, which was always a reliable signal that he should stop. He rolled his neck from side to side, bent backwards, and began to pace in order to finish his thoughts.

Conclusion One: The structure of car batteries is so complicated and specialized that my best option would be to buy one and figure out a way to put a rod through it. Conclusion Two: I need to either have one big engine to keep the battery charged, or figure out a way to harness lots of little engines to have the same effect. Otherwise it'll need too much jumping to be usable. Conclusion Three: If I'm going to have engines in here, I need fuel for them. That's going to cost money, and it would also be completely different from what I envisioned.

Conclusion Four: That means I need to start over. Forget about car batteries. I just need some source of electrical power that is long-lasting, can provide what I need, can have a rod inserted into it, and preferably is not dangerous enough to, say, kill a bystander if it malfunctions. Anything that meets that description is fair game, including jutsus, scrolls, helpful energy elementals, you name it. I don't need to limit myself to technology for this. There are more interesting options.

Conclusion Five: Let's kill time tomorrow hanging out with Yahiko. Maybe I can learn something from his books, maybe he can help me meet energy elementals, and if all else fails I know he's interesting to talk to. It would be nice to spend a sustained period of time with a person. The only problem Sasori had with Yahiko being that person is that Yahiko seemed to be very touchy. I'll remind him not to touch me beforehand. That's fine. He saved me from the incubus. Had Sasori gotten around to thanking him for that yet? He did not remember ever doing so.

That's how Sasori ended up third on the list of people going to have their chakra tested. He couldn't come up with any reason not to go third, except that it seemed like a drag. If I refused things just because of that, I would never have gotten to know Deidara. He agreed at once.

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Samehada chewed on a bush while they waited. Did plants have chakra? This one did, but it was very quiet and subdued, and it moved slowly. Samehada warbled his apologies to the bush, just in time for Ruta to come out.

"What is it?" the tiger man asked. He glanced at his laptop, tucked under one arm just in case there was going to be something interesting to record.

Samehada smacked his tongue and made chewing motions, then motioned to the bush, then nodded. "Chakra, in the bush, yes," Kisame translated. "Plants have chakra."

"Of course they do." Ruta started walking into the forest, in the direction they had planned to leave in.

Kisame soon overtook him, being in a much greater hurry than the tiger man to get back to the base. The complete lack of updates or reports on what the incubus had said worried him. He hoped it was just a case of the two youngest members of the group being negligent; if that was true, all he would have to do was smack them both upside the head. If they had actually managed to get themselves in trouble, he didn't know what he would do. An extra round of head smacking, plus a looong guilt trip, he decided. And if they angered the demon, some particularly harsh treatment of said demon and a few pointed looks to threaten, on top of all the previous consequences.

Ruta tagged along eagerly. Kisame had said he was free to come over any time, and then an interview with a demon had started! Now was as good a time as any other to cash in on that promise, right? But Ruta lowered his head in disappointment. Kisame had not asked what he meant. Granted, Ruta had not asked or implied or even hinted that he should, but…

Luckily, there was a shark nearby that was perpetually curious about the vast majority of things humans talked about. Samehada scurried up onto Ruta's back, causing him to stumble and put extra effort into keeping up, but he didn't mind. The shark's inquisitive warble cheered him up and gave him all the extra energy he needed. "You want to know how I knew that plants have chakra?" Samehada chirped yes. "It's really simple! When I met with Konan, she said that chakra is partially soul energy, and it's connected to people's souls. Plants have souls. Therefore, they have chakra." Samehada made a confused chirr. "You want to know what souls are?" Samehada chirped yes again, twice.

Kisame listened with half an ear. Plants having souls? Seriously? What kind of person believed that, and furthermore, why did he say so as if it was the most obvious thing in the world? These questions were answered when Ruta indicated that, according to him, souls were pretty much the same thing as life force. Kisame rolled his eyes. This kid is not in touch with reality. Where the hell is he getting his information from? That wasn't what souls were at all.

Samehada made an impressed, even awed, sound. Ruta giggled. "Aw, hey, it's not a big deal. I just look at things and start spinning ideas around them like a spider, you know? It's not that impressive or anything."

"In other words, you're telling Same a bunch of completely made-up stories," Kisame said. "As if they were knowledge."

"What's wrong with stories? It's not like there're consequences to telling stories about the world."

Kisame grit his teeth and paused to look around. "That's a damn dangerous line of reasoning. You could get somebody killed with that." It's getting dark. We need to hurry up. "There are a lot of people who have been killed by reasoning just like that. War. Genocide. Stories are dangerous."

Ruta stayed silent for the rest of the walk. Samehada tried to get him to talk again, but the only response Ruta gave was a tearful sniff. Kisame hoped his words would stick. He was starting to think that Ruta might not be the fastest learner, not when the lesson was against his inclinations. If the reactions of the other half-beasts at the camp were anything to go by, attempts to train him to be more in line with what people actually wanted usually failed. But is it even right to try to make another person change that way? Damned moral quandaries.

They reached the base just as the light failed, to Ruta's disappointment. "I like it when it's dark," he explained.

"You're nuts kid."

If that was so, then Sasori and Yahiko were nuts as well. They sat on the back stoop, also enjoying the dark. "Who knows, there might be night spirits out here," Sasori explained, as if that explanation made any sense! Kisame once again doubted the integrity of this person who supposedly was one of the few reasonable people around.

Yahiko ran to get Konan, who promptly signed Kisame and Ruta up as the fourth and fifth people who would have their chakra tested. "Fire," Ruta guessed. "I think I have fire chakra."

"Why do you think that?" Konan asked.

"I have a mind like fire, and I feel like fire. I'm just a lot like fire in my personality."

"Interesting."

Kisame nudged Ruta aside. "Where the hell are those two? Did the demon devour their souls or what?"

Sasori coughed. "Um, excuse me…" He had not checked his phone. Oh god no. No. There are more demons attacking?! He started to shiver, partly from sudden chill and partly as a form of constant twitching to keep from leaping out of his skin.

"It's a friendly demon!" Yahiko announced quickly. "A friendly, helpful demon who talked about the symbol and Hidan and helped us figure things out. Itachi said he was a friend."

"Could those two have bothered to say so in the fucking chat?!" Kisame snapped. "What do we even have it for if it's not going to be used?"

"Excuse me…" The shivers were fading, but not quickly and not very much. What is happening?!

"Deidara and Itachi went to interview a demon," Ruta said. "It sounds like the interview went well. May I ask what they learned?" He sat on the stoop near Sasori, laptop closed but held in his lap eagerly.

Yahiko immediately looked to Konan for guidance. He said nothing. Konan tilted her head. "You may ask." But you may or may not get an answer, her tone said.

Ruta opened up his laptop quietly, cautiously. "What'd you learn about the symbol?"

Again, Yahiko looked to Konan for permission, speaking only after she nodded. "The symbol's influence is kind of on the same wavelength as a really powerful kind of being that can also be found around here." He glanced at Konan. She looked relaxed. "We think that has something to do with Hidan's weird senses, like he might have the ability to tune into that signal or block it out or something." Konan narrowed her eyes at him: a signal to stop. Yahiko wasn't planning on continuing. My thoughts and words are so unclear I'm confusing myself, and I was there! How is that possible?

Sasori echoed that sentiment. "So you didn't actually find out anything about the symbol, but about something else instead? Where does Hidan fit into this?"

Yahiko moved his hands in circles. "Literally anyone else could explain it better." He started manically fiddling with his hair. "So, uh, who else is on the list?"

"What the fuck are you writing?" Kisame stalked suspiciously over to Ruta, who was typing a lot more than he should have been able to from that extremely poor amount of information.

Ruta showed him.

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Hidan: Can sense emotions & emotion-related constructs, including thoughts and sensory information. Origin unknown. Mechanism not completely known, but may be related to Jashinist symbol's ability to affect same constructs. Symbol operates on a "wavelength" like a radio. Empathic sense may use same wavelength. Related to chakra?

Symbol of Jashin: Affects the thoughts, feelings, and related constructs of anyone nearby. Range includes whole building, surrounding grounds, and extends as far as sight distance of the building from the road. No known limits. Effect increases with proximity, decreases with distance. May operate similarly to the force of gravity: infinite range but dwindling power. Effects differ depending on the individual, but tend to be negative and/or unpleasant for people who are not Jashinist. Effect may be worse the more opposed one is to Jashinism; subject pool is too small to tell. Effect is related to the sensing of emotions and related constructs; both sensing and affecting operate on the same "wavelength," apparently. Mechanism unknown.

Unknown Related Being: Reports from a demon indicate that there is a third being which also operates on the same wavelength discussed previously. Nature of being: unknown.

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"I guess that's fine." Kisame narrowed his eyes at the half tiger. "No spinning stories."

Ruta looked down. "But that's the fun part…"

"Not when it touches something real and important," Kisame told him. "Make up whatever stories you want about things we can't prove one way or the other, things that may not even be real. That's just entertainment. But when it's real, and it matters, and you pass off what you think as something you know… I would have some things to say about that." Not good things. Ruta ran his fingers along the keyboard in silence, pausing every now and then to delete the letters he accidentally pressed. He hid his face from everyone.

"Has he done so?" Konan asked of Kisame.

"He was telling Same as we walked just a little while ago that plants obviously have souls, so of course they have chakra. Same did taste chakra in a plant, but he was acting like he knew that for sure before Same found anything."

"It is unwise to make such assumptions."

Ruta studiously reread something he had written long ago, pretending not to hear as his most cherished beliefs were derided in public. He couldn't stop his eyes from tearing up, but he was a silent crier. The only sign of upsetness visible was his moving the laptop farther away, in case salt water actually began to spill down his cheeks and drip off his chin.

He would have liked to stay here, not speaking, let all interaction happen around him and over him and not include him at all. Even if they tried to include him, that was what would happen. Unfortunately, Konan had other plans. "There is something else I would like to speak with Ruta about," she murmured. "Excuse us."

Away, a good distance into the forest, she bade him sit down. He did so. "Do you know the meaning of courteous silence?"

He nodded.

Konan could just barely see that. She frowned. It was rude to discomfort one's host this way, with muteness. That was what she thought. Perhaps this was another way in which manners and common decency were viewed differently in this world. "Do you understand the importance of courteous silence?"

"Mm."

More rudeness. According to what Itachi told me before, I should tell him that he is being rude. When I am finished speaking with him, of course. "Are you capable of employing courteous silence?"

Ruta hesitated. "If I have a really good reason to."

Konan frowned, more severely this time. "What is a 'really good reason?'"

The low light that allowed her to see him nod allowed her to see him cringe, too. "My personal standards," he mumbled.

"You will only be silent if others explain why you need to be in a specific way that nobody but you knows about?"

Ruta breathed fast and shallowly through his mouth. His head remained lowered, bowed forward as far as one would normally bow for a very sincere apology. Aside from the quiet sounds of his breath, he made no noise nor movement.

Konan was no stranger to harsh punishment, lessons learned and remembered forever in blood. But in this world, it seemed that such lessons were a horribly inefficient teaching method. Yet there were some things that she felt could not be learned any other way. He must learn. If not in bloodshed, then in enough pain for him to feel as if he had shed blood. This is too important. "Does my order qualify as a good enough reason?"

"Mm."

"Answer in complete sentences, please."

Ruta picked up his laptop. He opened it, opened a document on it, and began to type. He turned the screen to show her a blank document, bare except for the words, Yes, your judgment is good.

"Then you will keep silent, exactly when and on what matters I wish you to."

He typed more, then turned the screen to face her again. And anything remotely related.

"No questions. No speculations. No stories."

None that I share.

"Very well. Show me what you have written about Hidan." He did so. "This is acceptable. Anything more specific than this is prohibited."

Ruta's face was not visible in these lighting conditions. She could only just see him by the light of his screen when he turned it towards him to write. She was surprised to see him with what seemed to be an expression of deep unhappiness. I had not thought him capable… Perhaps I should be gentler. "May I ask, why do you write your responses to me now?" she asked in the most soothing voice she knew. It was quiet, hardly above a whisper, and questioning, but sympathetic. It was the voice she used to let another know that their secret would be kept. That was the most reassuring kind of promise she knew.

Ruta typed slower and quieter, his fingers matching her voice. I don't speak when I'm upset.

"Don't?"

Can't, he admitted.

"Why not?"

Speech is hard, to hear and to produce. I need to have lots of energy to handle it.

Konan made an inquisitive sound. "Speech itself seemed to give you energy before."

Something about this interaction bothered her. It felt like there was something she was missing. Finally, she realized what it was: Ruta's face was as still as his mouth. He stared at his screen with a squint to protect his eyes, and no other discernible expression. Yet his words were full of feeling. That's only when it fuels my thoughts. I said I'm like a fire. Speaking and writing and thinking are my burning, are how I take my mind fuel and process it and live off of it. But that's only if I have enough strength to begin to speak in the first place.

Konan remembered how difficult it was to interact with the world when she was feeling some terrible way. "I see."

Ruta's face broke up its blankness, showing pain again. I'm sorry.

"For what?"

I'm rude.

"Yes, you are. Do you intend to change that?"

...I don't know.

"Then I shall consider you similarly to Hidan. His original, rather." Konan stood. "Original Hidan was pleasant enough, with reminders and corrections, and after you adjusted yourself to him."

Ruta closed his laptop and stood. They returned to the backyard in silence. The others were audible, quietly murmuring to each other on the back stoop. Kisame seemed to find the whole business of night spirits ridiculous, but he was still there. The sound of Samehada yawning came from the same direction as Yahiko's voice.

The sound of vehicles came from the left. "Ah," Konan said. "It is time. We will have another fire and test chakra."

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A/N: There will be more discussion of silence next chapter.