A/N: I love it when characters are nice to each other across boundaries! So cute! *sniff*

My other fic, the one based on Avatar: The Last Airbender, is and has been undergoing editing to make it move faster. Avatar is a children's show, which means (at least here in the US) that it gets half-length episodes of only 20 minutes. As a result, the writing is very compressed and things happen very quickly. Obviously the literary medium neither compels me nor allows me to write that fast, but trying to keep my fic recognizable does mean I have to move all the plots along faster than my usual. It's starting to feel vaguely natural to write in a clear way that proceeds steadily. I hope that leads to some improvement in the pace of this story as well.

Enjoy the cuteness!

.

Konan

They closed their eyes. The instructions did not say anything about doing so, but something deep inside argued that if they looked at the amazing thing it wouldn't happen. That was childish superstition, but they did not know for sure, so they closed their eyes. When they opened their eyes, the symbols on Kakuzu's arm were gone.

He turned to look at the symbol of Jashin. "Hmm…" He studied it for a while, and his eyes did not narrow into a glare. Finally, Kakuzu said, "It felt pushy before. Like it was reaching out. It doesn't seem like that now."

Konan understood. She could feel the symbol. It had a very strong gravity to it, and a weight that settled over her skin, and it made her skin tingle. She could even feel its influence on her mind, as if she would hear it whispering things to her if she listened closer. Kakuzu was right. The symbol reached out.

"How does it feel?" she asked. "As if it is ignoring you, or as if there is a barrier, or something else?"

"Ignoring me," Kakuzu answered. "Good. Now I can ignore it too." He turned away from the circle and marched to the door. Konan watched him leave. When he was gone, she turned back to look at the circle again. What kinds of things did it almost suggest? What sort of tingle did she feel in her skin? A part of her still believed that the symbol felt creepy. But that was the part of her that didn't feel as if it belonged anywhere, that felt as if it ought to retreat from everything. The rest of her liked to reach out just as much as the symbol did. The rest of her felt like she had a home, like she had a people, a purpose. Was it right to feel like that? Was it right to allow that wild version of herself to be free? Perhaps it wasn't. But the symbol seemed to promise her that it was. What should she believe?

Konan clutched her stomach and wondered what she was doing, if she was doing anything at all. She flailed inside feeling all out of control. Who, or what, was deciding what was right? Who or what decided her actions? Who or what decided what was true or if there was such a thing as truth?

She turned away from the symbol, breathing heavily. No. Never mind that. I am merely human. I cannot hope to decide if there is such a thing as truth. Leave that to the gods. She dug her nails into her palms and tried to fight off the responsibility that she had saddled herself with. Leave it. Leave it! Eventually the struggle became so difficult and distracting that she was able to mostly forget about the original question. She took that as a cue to leave.

Hidan and Deidara sat at the top of the stairs waiting for her. She wondered why. Ah, right. I asked Deidara to stay. Konan looked around the hallway carefully. Nobody appeared to be within hearing. "Deidara. I have need of your help."

Deidara shot to his feet. "For what, yeah?"

"As a lookout." Briefly, she wondered if the fact that she needed a lookout was a sign that she shouldn't do what she was planning on doing. Well, too late now. I should have reconsidered earlier. "Scout ahead to Sasori's room and make sure the area is clear, then see that it remains so."

Deidara's eyes moved to the side, but he restrained himself before he could glance at Hidan. He gathered his strength. It was about time he stopped letting himself go along with things and started raising his own concerns like an adult, yeah. "Why?"

Konan did not change her expression at all. "I suspect that after my previous failure of self-control, borrowing Ruta's laptop may be taken the wrong way."

"'Borrowing'?"

"He makes it his business to accumulate information. It is only wise."

"Uh…" Hidan got to his feet. "I agree with Dei. Something about the way he holds that thing so close, like it's a pet and he cares for it and shit… I don't like this."

Konan suddenly recalled that it was actually much more than a pet. He used it to speak when his mouth could not; it was nearly a part of himself. I really should have questioned the morality of this decision earlier. But she hadn't even considered that there could be morality to be questioned until just a little while ago. Looking through information that was readily handed to you was a completely neutral, impersonal act in the world of shinobi. Only recently had she remembered that it was different in this world. Crap.

Deidara thought hard. "Why don't you just ask, yeah? He would just tell you if he was okay with you looking through his stuff or not."

Konan looked at him as if he was insane. What? Had Deidara really suggested asking someone for permission to violate their privacy? That wasn't how courtesy worked. Asking for permission didn't make the action any different. That also wasn't how information gathering worked, as nobody would ever give permission for such a ludicrous thing. It was a completely insane idea. How could he suggest it?

"That sounds better," Hidan declared. "A shitton better. Let's go with that."

Konan stared at Hidan too. It was possible that Deidara was too young and wild to understand how things worked. But Hidan was much more knowledgeable about people in this world. He was certainly much more knowledgeable than she was; he looked like an expert from her perspective. The people of this world did many things that seemed ludicrous at first. She did not want to fight with her partner. And, if Ruta was asked in a way where he could not immediately take his laptop back and he declined, she could look through his files anyway. For these reasons, Konan decided to defer to Hidan's judgment.

"Ask him, then," she ordered Deidara. "The forest is entirely safe. You will have no difficulties."

Deidara nodded. With a grateful smile at Hidan, he departed. Konan stood silently for several moments after he left, allowing the mood to change. Then she asked, "So why were you waiting for me?"

Hidan grinned. "It's been a while. Wanna hang out?"

"I suspected as much." Konan took his hand. She asked no questions, and let Hidan lead her. He took her outside to the edge of the sparse grass, and sat. Konan sat with him. They had a clear ground-level view up and down the street from their position, from the curve where the building first came into sight from the road all the way up to the patch of young forest, and some rooftops beyond that. She sat with him, and did nothing but watch. And remember.

After a while of watching the stunted trees wave in the breeze, which smelled of later rain, and guessing where shadows would be if the sky hadn't been entirely filled with clouds, and listening to birds cry out for dominance and access to the best perches, Hidan shifted. That opened up a space for conversation. Konan put a hand on his arm. "Do you remember?" she asked.

"Do I?"

She had been about to specify what she was talking about, like a normal person, so this response caught her off guard. Hidan stared at her very seriously, before cracking into a smile and laughing. "No, seriously! We know I don't remember shit," he said through his laughter. "Fine, fine. I'm okay. I'm okay." He took a deep breath and brought his laughter to a stop. "Okay. What am I supposed to be remembering?"

Konan wrapped her arm around his and pulled him closer. "We had a lot of fun before, running up and across this street, searching all of these buildings for whatever secrets they may have held. That was the day we met the demon boy. We followed this street all the way up to his hospital."

"Oh, yeah." Hidan looked at the empty buildings across from them. "It was boring, but I never gave up hope. I thought we would find ghosts, and we did. Ghosts are cool. Wanna go visit?"

Konan narrowed her eyes. "As you know, things in this area have a way of doing the unexpected. Let's do much more than a visit. A full re-searching of the buildings on this street is in order."

"Oh, yeah!" Hidan's eyes sparkled. "That'll make the moment when we get to the interesting part so much better! You're a genius."

They checked the first building past the hotel. It was still an abandoned doctor's office. It still didn't have anything in it, as it shouldn't. Except for the big and weighty scale that would be much easier for the doctors to replace than take with them, of course. Hidan even made the same hand sign that he had used to focus before. He found nothing.

Nothing, nothing, more nothing. After a few buildings of this, they reached the small patch of forest, and Hidan remembered. "Hey, the street started to look weird. Keep an eye on the road."

Before doing that, they looked at the patch of plants. It had been such a dense patch, green and thick as a jungle at first. But now much of it was wilting. Many of the smaller plants were already dead, carpeting the floor of the new forest with as much dead plant matter as an established patch of woods would have. That was good; their decaying remains would nourish the soil and help to turn this into a lasting addition to the local woodlands. But it was sad to see right now. Hidan frowned. Little jungles were awesome.

"How did he do it?" Konan whispered. She felt no sadness. Her concerns were much more practical. "These plants are clearly dying from overcrowding, from lack of the resources they need to live. In order to grow them, the little snake must have forced them to life against their actual abilities. Does his power provide pure life force for them to feed on?"

"Wouldn't be surprised," Hidan said.

Konan glanced up at him for a few seconds, saying nothing. I never told him. Even back then he would not have left my side if I had told him. But I did not. The idea of my understanding being wrong must have been too upsetting for me to face directly, either. "Hidan, what do you think the little snake boy is?"

Hidan narrowed his eyes. "He glowed when he healed me. Did you see it? I think… I think it's kind of his own power, but not quite. He's channeling something."

Konan's eyes widened. The same way you do? That was surprising. But the way Hidan spoke was downright astonishing. He sounded completely relaxed, no trouble speaking about it at all. "Channeling what?"

Hidan shrugged. "He reminds me of Sunshine, a little. Sunshine doesn't mean to make anyone feel better with his chakra, but he does. The snake kid seems… Kinda different, but not… Not a lot." His brow wrinkled. It was very hard to put this vague intuitive feeling into words.

Konan looked back at the young forest. The boy's powers are related to Hidan's, but also to Yahiko's soothing chakra. Yahiko's chakra is probably soothing because his spirit is. His spirit. Gods are said to be spiritual in nature. In fact it might have been suggested at one of our meetings that spirits derive their characteristics from gods. Yahiko's spirit may have derived its nature from gods, but he does not have the spirit of a god in him. Hidan does. The snake boy, then, might be somewhere between the two. Perhaps his spirit has a characteristic that allows him to connect to a god and temporarily strengthen his healing nature? A temporary connection that he can open and close at will might produce exactly the powers I see demonstrated here. It is a workable hypothesis.

Hidan's brow wrinkled more. He really did not know how to describe his own thoughts, not when they got to this level of abstraction. There was no more he could say. "What do you think he is?"

How does this hypothesis relate to what I already know? It was possible that what she already thought and what Hidan just now suggested could be true at the same time. If so, that meant Original Orochimaru had also possessed these strange powers, and just never used them. And if that was true, it opened a whole separate set of questions that she would never be able to know the answers to because those questions could only be asked in a different world.

But the important part was that her ideas could coexist with this new hypothesis. There was no reason to think she was wrong. It was safe to share her ideas, then. "I believe he is a world clone, as you and the rest of the Akatsuki are."

"What?" Hidan looked mildly wounded. "You knew him?" And you didn't tell me?

Konan sighed. "Not the same kind of world clone as you are. I didn't mention that I knew him because he challenges the very foundations of my theory of what is going on around here. I could not afford to have the rest of the group lose confidence in my knowledge. I did not feel ready to lose that confidence in myself."

The hurt look disappeared. Hidan took her hand. "I get that. Not the same kind as us; what does that mean?"

Konan questioned again the exact nature of their relationship. Hand-holding had a strong meaning in her world. What did it mean here? What did it mean to him? What did it mean to her? She wasn't entirely sure of why she was tightening her hand around his, except that it felt right. "The theory I had before we met the demon boy and the snake child was this: people who die in my world are somehow being cloned in this world. Their world clones have the same basic elements to their personality and a similar life experience, as close to identical as possible. They are also physically identical to their originals, unless that would result in them having completely different life experiences, in which case their body is as similar to their original's as possible.

"However, the snake boy and the demon child are not like this." Before Hidan could say anything, she squeezed his hand. "The demon boy is not a world clone, but he does have another version of himself in my world. I knew them both." She took a second to get back on topic. "My theory is that world clones are as similar to their originals as possible. However, the snake boy and demon child are very different from their originals, and for no apparent reason. Their existence adds complexity to the process of how world clones are formed. There must be something about that process that I have not begun to guess at."

"Different how?" Hidan asked.

"The snake child is the world clone of a man who only partially died. He is still alive in my world, which may explain why his clone has not aged. I don't know how that might work, because his clone is already a very different age. He was over 50 years old, with the same body as he had when he was 30. He used preservation techniques to keep himself from aging; don't ask." Hidan nodded and tried his best to look less confused.

Just to make sure his efforts were successful, he asked, "So, the kid's original is way older than him, even though you just said world clones have to have the same general life experience no matter what? And they definitely do not? Which is backwards?"

"Yes, exactly. Furthermore, the man I know has a completely different personality, has never shown healing powers, and does not have any apparent relationship to the man whose other self is a demon." Konan held up a hand. "That does not mean there wasn't one. It also does not mean he did not have such powers. He may have never used them, and he and the demon may have secretly been associated with each other. But if that is true, then it only widens the gap between the original's life experience and the clone's, and it still would not account for the difference in their personalities."

"There's some shit going on," Hidan summarized.

"I admire your eloquence. Have I told you that?"

He smirked at her. "Nah. I like the sound of it."

Ah, what the hell. Everyone else already believes us to be a couple. What does it matter if there are a few parts missing? Konan gave up on wondering what kind of relationship they had and watched the way his face looked when he smirked. It always had made her heart beat faster.

"Lemme guess," Hidan said, still with that feral look on his face, "the demon kid ain't saying shit?"

"He can't," Konan said. She allowed herself to express how surprised she was by that. "I have finally located a limit to his knowledge. As it turns out, his connection to his main self is one way. He cannot follow it back to learn anything about my world. He is entirely restricted to this one."

"Aww." Hidan looked sad. "So that's why he seems lonely."

"When we first met him, you accused him of being uncaring and stated that he would have to be desperate to have to resort to taking care of people."

Hidan blushed. "I haven't interacted with him a whole lot, never liked him 'cause he used to be an asshole, okay? Now I'm really getting to know him. Didn't really know him before. And he definitely has changed since then."

Wait a second. Konan's eyes sharpened at him. "Are you saying that you have false memories of knowing him from before this world clone phenomenon existed?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I am saying that." Hidan's eyes widened. "You said he's not a world clone. Does that mean he was here before?"

"Yes, he was." Konan pulled on their joined hands, nearly jerking Hidan off balance. She led him up the street to the hospital. "Let's not search the houses. It is more important to talk to him."

In the hospital

The demon refused to play the unauthorized recording of what he had so deliberately filmed in real time! It wasn't right! Besides, it was boring. He was much more interested in telling the ring-eyed guy what had happened himself.

"Wait, wait," the ring-eyed guy said. "I'm not that interested in the one vampire that had a kitten. The others. You said they didn't have any fights? They stayed away from the Hatakes?"

Grr. "Muh." He was interrupting the story!

The ring-eyed guy flushed. "Okay, I'm sorry. It's your story. I actually really like how interested you are in the vampire with a kitten. Tell me more."

Yay! The demon boy proceeded to do just that, describing how the kitten had made friends with the wolf and gone off to learn how to hunt. "And it was amazing! He was like a big brother, and she was such a good cat, and everybody was friends and aww." His eyes sparkled as he waved his hands and legs in the air.

"You like it when people are friends?" the guy asked. His eyes were starting to sparkle too.

"When it's entertaining, yeah! Like when they had a standoff, and it could have been a big fight, except at the last minute here comes the kitten and the wolf saving the day with noses. Like that!"

"You like dramatic friendship."

"I like drama!"

"The rest of the night must have been boring then, right? Or would you consider no fights happening to be interesting?"

The ring-eyed guy had no idea how to probe for stuff. He had no subtlety at all. He was awesome! "You kidding? Fights are a thing! Drama is the edge of things, when you don't know what's gonna happen. When it gets to a fight you know and it's not as interesting." The demon boy started to grumble.

"So was the rest of the night interesting or not?"

The demon boy started to giggle. "Hee hee!"

The ring-eyed guy sighed and resigned himself to learning none of what he wanted to learn from this discussion. He looked down at the snake-eyed child, who stood at his feet looking up. They smiled softly at each other. He petted the stuffed snake when it was offered.

"I'm not gonna tell you stuff," the demon boy said. "Because you're gonna learn stuff anyway! Brb, gotta go greet some guests." He turned to vapor and flowed through the floor, then teleported into the lobby. "Welcome to the Abandoned Hospital People Zoo. What may I do to you today?"

The big person stepped forward. "I'm sorry for not getting to know you before. I'm really sorry. I didn't even think until Konan said it that - I didn't talk to you a lot because of jerkass things you'd done before, okay? But those were things I remembered you doing, and it was all fake. You're not even a clone, so you don't remember. That wasn't really you. I'm sorry."

The boy blinked, startled. "Really?"

The big person stared back at him. "Yeah. Why do you sound surprised?"

"'Cause I never noticed before," the demon replied. "I did steal forearms and make trouble. But you couldn't remember that! I forgot!" He'd been so busy thinking of all the things that this guy could do, stuff that not even a demon could, that he hadn't thought about how he was still bound by the limits of world clones. He'd been so busy thinking of all the cool stuff that he'd forgotten about the ordinary stuff. The cool stuff is so much cooler tho. I don't wanna remind myself of boring things. It feels kinda nice to be surprised! That wasn't a problem then.

The big person started to smile. "So even if my memories of you didn't happen, they're accurate?"

"May-be."

"I remember you looking older."

"I did look older!"

"I remember you causing a car crash."

"My record for most cars crashed at once is nine!"

"Fuck you, kid."

The demon boy giggled. Hidan started to giggle too. "Aww, so you're exactly who I thought you were. Come here you little jackass." He wrapped his arms around the demon boy and gave him a hug. "Never mind a thing. We're good."

The demon boy allowed the hug for two seconds. Then he teleported away. Had to look professional. He investigated the paper butterfly person from lots of different angles. "What're you visiting for? Are you allowed? Who signed for you?"

"I did," said Hidan and Nagato at the same time. They looked at each other. "Moonlight!"

"Hey - Ah!" The redhead winced as he was squeezed in a rub-crushing hug. The big, fast person had crossed the lobby so quick he didn't have any time at all to react. "Hi."

"You missed the talk last night!" Hidan exclaimed. "I told Ruta. Demon kid's my buddy. So's the other kid. Hey! Speak of the snake!"

The lady cleared her throat. The demon held up a hand. No, no. This was much more important. He kept watch as the big person escorted the ring-eyed guy off the stairs and politely away from the little snake. The little snake sat down in the stairwell. Once he had determined that the humans were not going to bother his best person ever, then the demon turned away and faced the awesome ninja lady. Now she could speak.

She glanced at her brother. Make the awesome choice. Make the awesome choice. She opened her mouth to speak. About cool stuff? Gah! I want cool things! And she said, "I have further questions for you. You have already stated that you are not a world clone. What about your associate there?" Yayyy!

The ring-eyed guy's mouth dropped open. "Wait, what?" He was so confused!

"You remarked once that Overflow is a strange name," the super Mccool lady said to her brother. "That's because it is not a name. It is a description. He is the portion of a demon's soul that can't fit inside a human body. The normal-seeming man I knew in my world must have really been a demon."

"You knew…?"

"Yes, I recognized this boy at first sight."

"Oh, that explains why you started laughing!" the big person said. The redhead's eyebrows rose even further, if that was physically possible. His face looked comical, and the strained sounds coming from his throat sounded even more so. Yeah! Woohoo!

The tiger ninja rawr lady turned back to the demon boy. "So then. What of your associate?" She gestured to the stairwell.

"Y'already know." Technically true was the best kind of true, and it saved him so many words.

"He is a world clone just like the others, except with strange differences from his original that I cannot explain."

The demon boy nodded.

She said, purely as a matter of formality, "Will you tell me anything about these differences?" She already knew he would not.

Well she was wrong! "Oh yeah! It's a thing about spirits! You know how I said they were soul bushes? They catch souls, not bodies. You only get what your soul looks like. That's why the wood guy has an older soul, I mean body, except no I don't, because they're the same thing."

Marvelous as she was, she kept up with this sudden unexpected cooperation. "You are saying he has the soul of a toddler?"

"I'm saying there's a reason why he insists on being one."

"And he actually has a rather shy personality?"

"That's a spirit thing too."

The super smart lady tilted her head like she did when she was thinking. "He only partially died. Only a small part of his soul, the part that looks like this, may have been affected."

The demon boy shrugged. He didn't know, and even if he had, this was a lot of talking. More interesting to watch her think.

The snake got up and stood by the demon's side, holding onto his hand. The big clawed lady looked at this. "If everything about a clone's existence is a matter of the soul, then his original must have felt a connection to yours. A connection deep enough to penetrate all the way to some hidden part of him that is secretly toddlerlike." She didn't look any different, but he could feel her shock. "That must be a very strong personal connection. I never would have suspected…"

The demon squeezed the snake's hand. He would have suspected. This little snake was a snake, and also had invisible powers, and also was very mysterious. The only way any version of him wouldn't have bonded with this one was if his main body had no sense of fun, and didn't use demon senses, and was completely human. The demon boy knew for sure that at least one of those things was not true. There were reasons he didn't visit the Hatakes. He wasn't stupid.

"This world is teaching me many things about my world that I never questioned before." The claw lady's eyes had glazed over. She was looking somewhere else now. "Never thought to question. Why didn't I?"

Her brother came up and put a hand on her arm. "Konan?"

She turned away. All she said was, "I have many questions now." Then she walked out the front doors and was gone.

.

A/N: So cute. Many adorables. Within my general liking for bonding across boundaries, I have a special fondness for interspecies adoption. It just seems to affirm that there really is rightness in the world. *heart*

Much love!