A/N: Ooh. I like the style of this one. Yay. Maybe next chapter will have an omake.

Enjoy!

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Konan

Konan decided to go for a walk. It was a pleasant day, the clouds were shining, the breeze was picking up, and she was trapped in a strange land far from home with people that were not her dead friends no matter how much they tried to be. It was a good time for a walk.

Halfway down the road, she stopped and looked around. Why was she following the road? Roads were convenient paths, not required guides. They were not so in my world. In this world, one of those fast vehicles could not stray too far to the left or the right. The road is a limitation.

It saddened her that something as beautiful as a road could be burdened with such a horrible meaning. She was used to thinking of roads as paths to freedom, as beacons of safety. Once a beaten stretch of dirt began to look like a road, she knew she was close to people. That meant food and warmth. It meant home.

Her feeling of homesickness increased as she stepped off the road and instantly felt better. This road was not formed; it was built. It was not a reliable sign of people in the way that feet-worn paths carved into the ground through centuries of traditional use were. Stone roads like these were fake, mechanical, cold. Of course, Konan was no stranger to paved roads. Roads in the Village Hidden in the Rain must be paved, in order for water to be guided to appropriate drains. That was a purpose, a reason, and furthermore, a reason that had to do with living breathing people and their comfort. These stone traveling paths were only for the convenience of machines. There was no comfort here at all.

But wait a second. This road was a reliable guide to people. She knew for a fact that it was. Why was there no comfort in that idea? Was it because the people it led to were not her people? Was she just turning away from things that weren't enough like her world as if that made them useless?

No. A few minutes later, Konan decided she was not. She had spent those few minutes traveling along the road to the collection of houses that was called a suburb. No, it is not just cowardice and foolish homesickness that makes these people less than adequate. These houses are all wrong. She had wondered before about the different ways that buildings were built, but she hadn't felt the difference so intensely. The difference was all in how the buildings made her feel. These buildings had no welcoming gardens, no welcoming porches, no welcoming anything. The visible parts of them looked paved. Paved? That is an interesting connection to have made. But it is accurate; it is as if the whole fronts of these houses are saying, "Cross quickly; do not linger." They are so...functional.

At that moment, it seemed to her that the entire miniature world she was trapped in was devoid of the capacity to be comforting.

It was not clear how long she stood there, simply staring at these houses that were very obviously not meant for weary travelers. Some people emerged from their residences and glanced at her, but said nothing. Some people returned in cars, forcing her up onto the cultivated grass. She saw fewer people than she expected, although she did not know exactly what she had expected. They crossed quickly and did not linger.

Against this display of wrongness being forced into her senses, the shadow that streaked over the road in front of her was welcomed as a relief. She blinked, feeling as if a spell had been broken. No. There is still room for the impossible, wild, and fantastical in this world. It is not so cold and orderly. She looked up to see what spirit had visited her to remind her of that.

It was Deidara. He landed on the road not far from her. He looked around as he walked up to her. He looked at the houses, the road, everything that was visible. I am out of place. He must be wondering why I am here. Konan waited for him to ask why she was so clearly in a place where she did not belong and was not welcome.

He didn't ask that. He asked, "Are you okay, hm?"

Konan did not know how to answer that question. She was out of place, going nowhere, putting herself where she should not be, and he asked about her feelings? Why? What could possibly be important about how she felt? How could anything be more important than the strangeness of her actions?

Deidara grew visibly sadder as he watched her stare back blankly. He closed his mouth. It looked like he understood. What? Can he understand? He was not a stranger in a strange world like she was. Nonetheless, the look of understanding on his face broke through what felt like an impenetrable shield of isolation and gave her hope. Perhaps she could be understood.

"I should not be here," she confessed.

Deidara glanced around. "I don't think that's the point?"

"What is the point?"

"I don't think anyone's supposed to be here. They're just supposed to live here, yeah."

My gods, that's it. His words resonated strongly with her. Yes, that was it; she was not supposed to exist as she was. She was supposed to carry out a function, and nothing more. Do not linger. Deidara was completely right.

Deidara pointed to his clay owl. Konan nodded. At their current level of understanding, they did not need words to communicate. She sat behind him on the bird and watched the houses shrink as they took off and flew away.

Deidara guided them toward town. "Why?" she asked.

"I don't know, hm," he replied. "I just don't want to be home or in the woods. They feel different, yeah. But that suburb is too much, yeah. Town seems quieter."

Konan saw the outer parts of town come into view. That reminded her that there were places to live other than the suburbs, closer to important and useful buildings. These world clones had lived somewhere before she appeared. "Dei, why do you call the base home?"

The owl briefly stopped in midair, not flying forward, only flapping its wings to maintain its position. "Um…" He sounded confused. "Because that's where everybody is? And it's...nice? It just feels more homey, yeah. Why would you need to ask?"

Konan was surprised to find herself smiling. That's right; it is possible to be comforted in this world, after all. "To confirm a suspicion of mine."

The owl resumed forward flight. "What suspicion?"

"Is the way we live typical of how people in this world live?" She expected that the answer would be no.

"Oh, definitely fucking not, yeah!" The bird picked up speed and Deidara shook his head viciously. "No way, hm. Pretty much the opposite, yeah."

"Are those suburbs...normal?"

"They're a little bit on the other side, but closer, yeah."

"What does that mean?"

"I noticed it after I came back from the military," Deidara said. "When I was out there, I had people's lives in my hands, hm. There's more, stuff so important and big that I can't put it into words, but I didn't need to because we just understood. We were so close in some ways, it was like words weren't needed, yeah.

"When I came back, I really noticed how normal life doesn't have that. I didn't have anyone I didn't need to talk to. I was in really bad shape, but in order to get anyone to help, I would have to do all the reaching out. Nobody would just notice on their own without me having to say anything. How fucked up is that, yeah?!" He sobbed once. Konan could hear the hurt in his voice. He must have felt so abandoned.

Deidara got himself mostly under control and continued. "That's what I wanted. I wanted to not have to say anything, yeah. So after a while, when I felt a little better, I went somewhere quiet where I thought I wouldn't have to. I didn't know I was doing that at the time, but I see it now, yeah."

"Sasori."

"Yeah, hm." Dei's shoulders shook. He must have been crying. Konan wondered if she ought to reach out, as Hidan did. Hidan seemed to be successful at offering comfort. "He didn't say anything, either. I felt so good when I realized he wasn't going to. I didn't know why, but now I do, yeah. He just looked at me, showing up in the auto shop without a car, like he knew me being there when I wasn't supposed to be had to mean something. He took me out back and sat with me. I don't know if he would have asked me stuff; I kinda started crying before he could, yeah."

Konan's eyes widened. "Being where you are not supposed to be is a recognized sign of being unwell in this world?"

"Y-yeah. What else could it be?"

"Simple mischief. Spying. A choice, like any other. Nobody would think it meant anything personal."

Deidara rubbed his eyes with his arm. They were almost above the park. He started to bring the owl in for a landing. "Oh, yeah. Same thing happens here too. But if you know someone enough to feel anything about them at all, then you know."

"You had been good friends with Sasori before then?"

"He helped save me from an exploding car, we got medical care together, and then he gave me a lecture on safe explosives like he was my dad or something." Deidara chuckled. "Not what I'd call 'good friends,' but enough, yeah."

"Bonds between people are much quicker to form here than back home, it seems." That was all Konan had time to say before they landed in the park, right between two benches, just beneath the branches of the trees shading the trails.

Nobody was around except a red-haired young man with round cheeks who had been organizing his papers with a smile on his face. At the Whump of their landing, he jumped back, dropping his papers again. Konan watched him as she got off. No civilian so far had reacted to anything unusual, but she was beginning to think that she would never stop checking.

"Hi," Deidara waved. He waved with his fingers curled over his palm.

"Hi." The young man smiled and began to pick up his papers again.

Deidara helped him. "Sorry, yeah."

"It's no trouble! I just was distracted."

"By what, yeah?"

"That nice shark." The young man got a dreamy grin on his face again. "She was so cool! Her denticles are unlike anything I've ever read about. I wish I wasn't so scared of water." He sighed.

Deidara looked up. "A shark?"

"Yeah. They went that way." The young man indicated the trails with a jerk of his head. "Thanks for helping me pick this up. See ya!"

"Huh. A shark in the park." Deidara grinned. "It rhymes, yeah!" He turned to Konan. "Wanna go see how they're doing?"

"Yes." I would like to hear more about how he met Sasori, but that can wait for another time. It was a marvel that she could expect there to be another time. She had never expected to bond with Deidara, of all people. Yet here they were.

"Oh." Deidara tapped himself on the head as they followed the trail. "I had stuff to tell you, yeah. Ruta says it's fine if you read all the stuff on his laptop. Just stick to his offline stuff; don't look at anything that uses the Internet, yeah."

"How will I know the difference?" Konan suspected that she could figure it out based on her computer education with Kakuzu, but it would be courteous to ask.

"If you have to open a web browser, it's something you shouldn't touch. Do you know what a browser is?" Konan nodded. This was exactly the answer she had expected to receive. Kakuzu had given her a passable education on the nature of computers. She would have to thank him for that.

Shortly, they began to hear familiar voices. Konan's footsteps did not change; she was always quiet out of habit. Deidara's did. They snuck closer, just close enough for the voices to become words.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Why is it so hard to believe?"

A pause. "I don't know. Itachi's invited me raspberry picking before, and it's only been at small patches on the edges of things. They're like weeds. It's hard to imagine treating them the same way you'd treat orchards."

"Where the hell do you think raspberry jellies come from? They are cultivated."

"I know. Just not around here."

"They weren't in my day, either, but that never stopped any of the children I knew."

"Same!"

A sad warble.

"Since when do sharks eat plants?"

Konan and Deidara exchanged glances. They were spying on a personal conversation between Kakuzu and Kisame, neither of whom would appreciate being spied on. It had to do with Kakuzu's past, as well. Konan was conflicted. On one hand, she ought to stop in the interest of preserving her relationships with them. She did not want to undo her hard work allying with Kakuzu. On the other hand, there was something strangely seductive about the conversation. She yearned for it. Why?

Deidara began to back away. He must not feel the same yearning. Konan followed. They returned to their previous positions, paused, and then Deidara walked toward Kisame and Kakuzu with his normal walk. Konan followed.

There was no chance to hear any more of that enticing conversation, which saddened Konan. Why? What is so interesting in idle chatter about berry picking? It held no informational value, but something in her that didn't care about values and information insisted that it was the most interesting conversation she had ever heard. She carefully stilled her face so as to not look disappointed when Kisame and Kakuzu heard them coming and shut up before Deidara came into view.

"Hey! Heard about a shark in the park, yeah." Deidara grinned. Why was he so proud of that little rhyme?

Samehada bit down on his sleeve and gently pulled him over to some bushes with small green buds. The sight of them brought back childhood memories. Kakuzu was right. Foraging for small, hard to reach things held a special appeal for children. Even now, Konan had to resist the pull of her younger self. Really? I did not know I had so much of my inner child with me. She hadn't been particularly innocent as a child, but she'd at least been happier and life had seemed simpler. It was good to learn that those qualities had not entirely deserted her.

"Have you ever seen raspberries before?"

Konan realized she was still staring at the plants. She turned away. It took less effort than she had expected, because the sight of them was replaced with the remembered sights of mushrooms and herbs from the forests around the Land of Rain. "I was thinking of mushrooms, actually."

"Mushrooms?" Kakuzu tilted his head.

"Yes. The Land of Rain, my home, was plentiful with them. I used to gather them."

"Hmm." Kakuzu, like her, did not move very much. Yet as she became more accustomed to him, the slight movements he made, like the tilt of his head, conveyed magnitudes. Konan knew she had said the right things. "That's not possible in this country."

"It is not?"

"There are edible mushrooms that grow here, but there are also many poisonous varieties. Not all of them stand out. It isn't safe to send anyone less experienced than a biologist mushroom picking here."

"That is sad to hear." The feeling of leaf litter brushing against her fingers as she brushed aside the forest floor, searching for the treats that might be hidden below, was a special experience that could not be had while gathering anything else. Pushing aside vines obscuring potentially fruitful plants might be similar, but nothing could compare to the special joy of gently brushing aside dirt in search of buried treasure. "However, I do not recall having fruits that grew as weeds. That is a treat, I'm sure."

Kakuzu nodded. "When I was a child, early to mid summer was like festival season. If the birds were lucky, they might find one or two ripe bunches before we did. If that."

Konan nodded. "It is both a pleasure and a burden to compete with other creatures. Wild hogs were not unusual."

Kakuzu nodded. Kisame shifted uneasily. "You two have some things in common," he observed. Kakuzu nodded again. "Just checking." Kisame moved off to talk to Deidara and Samehada.

"Have you noticed the general lifestyle of this part of the world changing?" Konan asked.

"In what ways?"

She began to describe what she'd seen and thought of the suburbs.

Itachi

Itachi presumed Yahiko would not be very upset about a trusted friend using his room while he was away. Even so, out of courtesy, Itachi kept his eyes solely focused on the stack of library books, did not use the Sharingan, and brought the books out to the kitchen to read them.

How fascinating. Nature spirits can be seen, but only by certain people? When seen, they appear as animals? Itachi looked for more. Unfortunately, the part of the book that talked about this was not very extensive. Only the introduction to the Encyclopedia mentioned this. It was as if seeing spirits was supposed to be common knowledge to the reader. How frustrating. But it allows me to invent my own questions, which is always a privilege. Itachi closed the book and folded his fingers together to think.

What is the mechanism by which they can be seen? Is it hereditary, a mutation, or any other thing that is inborn and unattainable by anyone who doesn't already have it? Or can the ability to see them be gained? The authors of this book - no offense intended to those who live without technology - don't seem like the sort of people who would understand my first question, and they may think it unattainable when it actually can be granted through technological means. Who wrote this book? He examined the map again with his Sharingan, then looked for information about the authors. There were references to the names and titles of the authors, as well as other texts of theirs that could be used as references. Itachi used his Sharingan to commit those references to memory. There was a chance the library had more of their books.

How great a variety of otherworldly books does the local library have? Itachi's suspicions had taken a more distinct form since the last time he had wondered about the sky. Back then, he had sensed that their little "world" seemed to be only a bubbled-off portion of one. Deidara had confirmed that, and added that their little "world" was like a scrap heap composed of parts of other worlds. That brought up the obvious question: how many? How many other worlds were overlapping here? That was why Itachi was interested in Yahiko's books. He had heard very little about what Yahiko was trying to learn, but he knew it had to do with nature spirits. Nature spirits did not exist in the world he had thought he lived in, and Konan's actions made it seem like nature spirits weren't a part of her world, either. This represented a third world being present, then. And possibly a fourth, depending on where the vampires came from.

But where did the vampires come from? The vampires had a history with Jashin sama, and detested people like Hidan. Were they part of Konan's world? If so, why did she not know anything about them? She was obviously concerned about the vampires, yet didn't offer any information. That suggested she couldn't. Were the vampires a secret society in her world? Or residents of a neighboring, closely related world that also had Jashin sama as an active force?

And, of course, the more ambiguous beings they knew. The demon boy and the snake child. Itachi still remembered the way her face had twitched as if she was holding back when Konan talked about them. The photographic memory the Sharingan granted was proving very helpful. They had never been a direct topic of conversation again, and more pressing concerns had come up, so he had not been able to ask. What did she know about them? Were they part of her world? If not, did she know any similar beings?

Itachi deactivated the Sharingan and searched the other books. All of them were about nature spirits, and based on what he read in their introductions, they came either from the same world as the Encyclopedia or from this world. The minimum number of worlds that must be present in their little scrap heap was still 3.

Itachi returned the books to Yahiko's room in the same careful, unobtrusive manner as he had gotten them, then sat in the chair in the sunroom to think. What does that mean, then? The most obvious implication he could think of was that different worlds had different cultures, so it meant that everyone living within the boundaries of their little "world" had to work to reconcile multiple cultures and ways of thinking. The world Itachi had thought he lived in had its own assumptions about the nature of itself. Konan's world had different assumptions, and the world of nature spirits, yet others. Of course, as a hybrid, this little world would have to develop its own fourth set of assumptions about how these cultures were distributed and which rules applied when and other things, so that was at least 4 rulesets everyone would have to learn.

It was going to cause a hell of a lot of confusion, too. Hidan was a convenient example. He was native to a world where it was not possible to be a cat, yet he wished to. Might he not defect to another world where he could be a cat, try to make himself as much a part of it as possible? Where would he feel he belonged? The presence of worlds that allowed a person to be physically and mentally changed from how they were originally was beyond anything that Itachi had ever heard of. The amount of internal conflict that could cause!

And then of course there were all the more disastrous outcomes Deidara had worried about. Itachi tried not to think about those. Better to think they would have a future, no matter how conflicted it may be.

While he was busy dodging those thoughts, he chased after others. Something about this line of thinking didn't feel quite right. It felt like he was missing something. Something that should be obvious. Itachi tried to examine what he was taking for granted, but couldn't focus well enough to do so. As usual, the symbol in the basement was affecting his thinking. Spinning vague possibilities was well within his abilities, but careful scrutiny was not. The symbol was very distracting.

He decided to leave the matter for another time. It was a nice Sunday. He ought to go out and enjoy himself.

Or so he thought before he stepped outside and saw what was happening to the sky. Or maybe not.

General

Nagato and Hidan tossed paper airplanes made from paper butterflies back and forth down the halls, delighting ghostly children. Yahiko and Sasori walked alongside the creek, following it back home. Another four humans and a shark made space for themselves in between wild growth, off the main trails and beneath tree branches. Nobody was in a position to see the sky except for Itachi.

But not everybody had to see the sky. Another breeze blew through the park, smelling like rain. Konan felt the air on her skin, too. "Excuse me," she said to Kakuzu. Without clarifying what she needed to be excused for, she made her way upwards through the trees.

The clouds were no longer shining. They had turned dark gray-blue, and looked ready to fall out of the sky at any moment. Konan paid attention to the fine hairs on her hands and face. From their reports, she predicted lightning.

She told the others, "A storm is coming."

Samehada squealed and chirped.

"A lightning storm."

The shark whimpered.

Kakuzu shrugged. "Oh well. Back to the car." He, Kisame, and Samehada left.

"How far away is it? What am I going to do with Clay, yeah?" Deidara winced. Why didn't I check the clouds earlier when I was flying?

Konan was as unruffled as Kakuzu, until she heard that. Then she had good reason to be ruffled. "Deidara?"

"Yeah?"

"Get your clay bird under cover."

"Instead of getting myself under cover?"

"Your bird will be faster. Just get him under the trees - if lightning strikes, it will strike the trees and not him."

They ran back to the entrance to the trails, and Deidara did so. Konan then took Deidara by the sleeve. "We can simply run home, even if it is slower than a car."

"And leave Clay here?" Deidara was too confused to move. He would have to have things explained to him before he would get his wits together.

Konan tried her best. "Your owl is in danger from being struck by lightning. He will not be harmed if a tree is struck, because he is not in danger from fire or falling branches. You are. You need to get to a safe building, away from these trees. You can come back for him after the storm."

That was enough explanation for Deidara to start running. As he ran, he realized why he was confused. "Why does Clay need to be under cover, yeah?"

"Your clay creations do not react well to lightning." As I recall, Sasuke used lightning-style attacks to disable all of Deidara's creations, and destroy them. If the bird is struck while he is flying on it, he may fall out of the sky.

Deidara knew nothing of his original, but he knew Ruta's document. "Fuck! He could be killed?" Visions of his carefully tended, beloved bird falling apart into mush danced before Deidara's eyes. No!

"That's why he's under cover."

Deidara really, really hoped she was right.

Meanwhile, Yahiko paused to watch a flicker of movement he had seen in the creek. "Was that a fish?"

"Maybe." Sasori crouched down to take a closer look. Neither of them was paying attention to the weather. Above them, the sky grew darker, and darker, but their eyes adjusted. The fish was hard to see anyway. The cool breeze felt about as cold as the previous breezes had felt when their clothes were still damp. The trees did not make very much noise, because they all shielded each other from the wind. They noticed nothing.

Yahiko's eyes widened. "Huh? What's happening?"

Sasori looked up. "Yahiko?"

Yahiko reached around to the back of his neck, where a very distinct band of air was blowing across him. His hair and collar were completely undisturbed on either side. "An air spirit?" He stood up and looked around.

Sasori stood up. "Is it darker?"

"Uh, yeah. I think it is. I think we'd better go." He and Sasori started to run for home. 3 minutes later, the air where they had been standing was superheated by a strike of lightning.

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A/N: Yay! Weather. Weather is notoriously hard to account for in stories. Unless the plot of an episode is based on a storm, most episodes tend to have the same weather, and that's because it's really hard to account for random variables that don't play a role in the plot and could distract from the actual focus. I'm sure I've fallen into this myself. But, when the weather does become noticeable, its relative scarcity makes it all the more interesting. Yay!

Rarg.