A/N: Uh oh. Did I think becoming interested in another fandom was a thing to worry about? I was wrong. Another fandom is nothing compared to the obstacle I face now: having a job. Thank the gods it's only part time. I already have no idea how to have a rest of my day with a job in the way. Everything before my shift seems like preparation, like getting ready for school, not a time to be doing anything important. And everything after my shift feels like it doesn't belong, like the workday's over so the day-day should be over as well, and what do you mean it's not dinnertime yet? I am making progress toward including 'writing this story' among the list of activities I can choose from to fill up hours that need filling. It's just a little difficult right now, especially when I'm getting scheduled on Sundays. Cheesus.

And now, some plot threads that need to be finally wrapped up. I thought 104 chapters later was a good time to get around to it. *sigh*

.

Sasori

"Thank you," Sasori said. "Much appreciated."

Kakuzu nodded. "Call me when you're done." With that, he ran off. The ability to just run anywhere they needed to go was becoming increasingly valuable. It made arranging transportation so much easier, especially in complicated cases like this.

Sasori went up front to tell Laurie about his plans for the day. "Bad news," he began.

Laurie tensed. "How bad, and what kind?"

Sasori laughed. "Not much. I just thought you would find it sad." He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her desk. "The bad news is, I can't fix many of these bikes. Many of them have frames that are broken badly enough that it would take welding to make them usable again. I don't have that kind of equipment, and honestly… Well, I already asked my motorcycle what should be done about the ones I can't fix. I ended up in front of a scrap facility."

As expected, Laurie looked sad. "Oh." She opened her mouth to say more, but closed it, confused.

"You have no idea what else to say, considering that they don't care about death?" Sasori guessed.

"Yeah. It's really strange. I can't not care."

Sasori shrugged. "The way I see it, not caring is their last wishes, so I should do my best to honor that. I asked Kakuzu to drive his truck up here. I'm going to deliver them today. It'll free up a lot of room, which will allow me to get down to other orders of business."

Laurie looked around. "Is he going to wait here until you're done?"

"No. We're ninjas; we can run anywhere we want to go." Sasori smiled. "I'm starting to like being a ninja more and more. It's more useful than I thought it would be."

"True," she said wistfully. "So...wait here until you get back?"

Sasori paused. "No. I mean, yes, but more than that. Let me show you how to open the car door in back."

He showed her how to roll up the large, garage-style door to his working area. "And to close it, you just reverse these steps. If more than one customer shows up, which rarely happens around here, show them to that spot over by the decorative plants. Tell them to back in; from that spot, even if the car can't start again, it can be pushed straight in through this door. If their car is in no danger and they're just stopping by for a checkup, that's what the rest of the lot is for."

Laurie nodded. "Pretty straightforward. A lot more than taking their details and making up paperwork, anyway. I can handle it."

"Thanks. I think I'll just leave the door open. What would I close it against; burglars? At 10 in the morning in broad daylight?" Laurie smiled at him, and grimaced at the door mechanism. They took a moment to silently joke about how annoying it was.

It's not that annoying. I'm stalling. She's more open about it, but honestly, I find driving them off to the scrapyard unsettling too. But it's what they find respectful. Sasori shook his head. "We should...bring them out." He and Laurie went back into the manager's office, where the floor was still carpeted with the worst of the bad cases. Many of the bicycles with bent frames had been relatively okay. They had still been able to move. Sasori had a theory that, since they couldn't feel anything, they probably didn't have much of an interior life. That in turn implied that the function of their existence was the same as for nonsapient bicycles: they were meant to move. Without emotions, immobile bicycles couldn't exactly compose poetry or tell stories to young ones the way immobile humans could. If they couldn't move, that was the end. No more point to life. The bicycles with frames bent so badly that they could not move without basically having a new frame built were what Sasori considered to be "dead."

He hesitated, unable to decide what to say. Then he shook himself. "They must know what condition they're in," he said as he bent down to pick up a racing bike whose front wheel frame had been bent together, trapping the front wheel. "They know."

Laurie helped him carry them out the large door. In addition to the racing bike, they also loaded Kakuzu's truck with a Schwinn whose rear wheel frame had entirely snapped off, a mountain bike whose lower frame had been bent to the side thus making it impossible to have pedals or gears there, and two more whose lower frames had similarly been mangled so that their gear system couldn't be repaired. One had simply had that part of its body torn out. Because of its central location and the fact that the pedals set the entire gear system in motion, Sasori couldn't help but compare that part of them to a heart. He looked away from the torn one. I am glad they have nothing analogous to blood.

Laurie put a hand on the pile when they were done loading. "I hope your bicycly minds go on to somewhere useful."

Sasori paused, his hand resting on the driver's side door. He wished the same, but he could not quite express it. Once again, Laurie was much better at the personal touch than he was. I'm glad I have her to help me. I'm glad I stopped to talk to her that one day. It could easily have not happened, just like how I wouldn't have met Deidara if I hadn't made a choice to be outside that day. I really do need to get out more.

He backtracked to give her a hug. It was a strange thing to do, but she seemed like the sort of person to appreciate it. "I'm glad I stopped to talk to you."

She hugged him back. "Me too."

He stepped away, nodded at her, and got in the vehicle. After turning it on, he checked the clock. Damn! Need to be quick about this. Kakuzu said he wanted it for something. So, with no more hesitation, he drove off.

Kakuzu

"So I didn't major in fucking physics."

"I know you didn't. I did, however, expect you to have something resembling a plan." Kakuzu gave Hidan a flat stare. Hidan stuck his tongue out in reply. Then, while grumbling to himself under his breath, the albino untied the rope holding up one of the punching bags and moved it over five inches. Then he started punching them.

Kakuzu was surprised to see how well the formation worked. For some insane reason, Hidan had arranged the punching bags in an X shape. Call me boring, but if I was designing something to attack a person from all angles, I would put the person in the center. Yet the X shape worked well as far as being surrounded was concerned. Hidan did indeed have to dodge bags swinging back at him from all angles. However, only 3 of them were bouncing off each other like he'd planned. He dropped to the ground and crawled out from under them, waited for them to stop swinging, then went back to work with a fresh string of mumbled curses to keep him going.

When he had moved the bags closer to the center, he stepped back. "Your turn." Kakuzu shrugged, stepped into the formation, and started swinging.

Not five seconds later, he was grinning. Oh, yes. This is exactly as fun as I thought it would be. Kakuzu gleefully smashed his fists into bag after bag. They had a satisfying weight to them, and once he got them all started he never lacked for targets. He spun, throwing punches in all directions, defending himself from a barrage of swinging bags at a speed that reminded him of sparring with Konan. There was no time to think of anything else. Reflex took over, and he found himself turning to punch away a bag without ever having heard the swoosh of it approaching. Body and mind worked together at a very satisfying speed. When two bags swung at once from opposite directions, Kakuzu had no trouble dropping to the ground and ending it.

He stretched his arms while Hidan watched the bags swing. Ahh. That felt good. I feel awake, alert, ready for more. He thought about sparring with Konan. If she wasn't available, Hidan was. Hell, he would happily spar with anyone. Fighting sounded good.

He finished his stretches in time to see Hidan smirking at him. "Your sense of fun is a lot better," Hidan pointed out. "I missed it."

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "You want to try?"

Not long after that, in the backyard, Kakuzu found one judgment he'd made under the influence of the symbol that needed to be reconsidered. What on earth was I afraid of? This makes it all the more interesting. He slammed a hardened fist into Hidan's scythe, relishing the shock of the impact. I don't have to worry about breaking a single damn thing. That is good.

Hidan spent half the time dodging and the other half blocking with his scythe. It was an ideal mix for Kakuzu. When they finally stepped back, breathing hard, Kakuzu started to chuckle. "Not bad."

Hidan grinned. "I'm not the one old enough to need a cane and an aide." He took off his cloak and put it on the porch. "Good thing I put up the bags already. My wrists can't do that now."

Kakuzu examined Hidan's wrists. The shock of hardened blow after hardened blow traveling up and down the scythe had done visible damage. Hidan didn't seem very bothered, though. "Can you still handle the scythe?"

"Shit, yeah."

"Then I'll help you put the rope on it."

A little while later… "Fuck no, I am not cutting down innocent baby trees that haven't done anything wrong. Next yard over."

"If the snake boy has to get involved again, at this rate, the whole street will be forest by the end of the month."

"Fucking seriously? You think it'll take that long?"

"He might not get involved -" Kakuzu grunted as he batted the scythe away to one side "- every single time."

Hidan pulled his scythe back, giving it a little flick as he did so. Kakuzu's ankle barely survived. He hardened all the skin on his entire body in response. Hidan still lacked coordination and struggled with getting his scythe back into his hand, which Kakuzu used to his advantage. He flew through the hand signs Konan had taught him, turning the ground beneath Hidan's feet to muddy soup. Hidan leaped out of the way before it could harden into stone. He threw his scythe out again, pulling on its rope to adjust his fall so that he landed on his feet and facing Kakuzu.

Kakuzu growled and dashed forward. Hidan threw his scythe. Kakuzu wasn't worried, until he remembered how impenetrable Deidara's clay was. Didn't do it much good against Hidan's scythe, did it? He jumped up, slamming a foot against the scythe as it passed under him. His foot just barely caught the edge of a blade, and that was enough to cost him a shoe. Kakuzu paused upon landing to tear both halves of his shoe off. Hidan swung the scythe back around and dashed forward, threatening to capture Kakuzu. Kakuzu jumped again and ran up the side of the house, gaining precious time in which to remove his other shoe.

Hidan took advantage of the moment to remove his scythe from the yard. He immediately swung it, coming very close to chopping off Kakuzu's threads. Kakuzu remembered how that could hurt, and pulled them back. He dashed forward again, this time with a plan. He'll throw his scythe again. When it buries itself in the ground, use Stonemaker Jutsu to capture it. That'll buy me a second or two and piss him off. Maybe he'll get reckless.

Hidan did not do that. Instead, he jerked his wrist (wincing) so that the head of the scythe thunked into his other hand (more wincing). Now he held the scythe securely with both hands, blades facing out. No matter what angle Kakuzu attacked from, Hidan had a pointy shield waiting for him.

He wants to stand his ground? Fine by me. That just makes my life easier. By the time Hidan realized what was happening, it was too late. His feet were encased in stone.

Hidan swore at his traitorous wrists. Kakuzu came in for the kill. Hidan got ready to swing his scythe around...and that's when his phone went off, chiming like small bells.

Kakuzu stopped. Hidan rested his scythe on his shoulder. "Hold a sec. Gotta check… Fuck!" He started to carve his feet out of the rock. "Gotta go. Made a doctor's appointment yesterday."

Kakuzu watched him carefully slice away the stone with amusement. Hidan exclaimed in frustration often, because he couldn't slice very carefully with his weakened wrists. Kakuzu stepped in to help. The floundering was becoming pitiful.

With quick jabs of hardened fingers, it wasn't hard to break up the little bits of rock that Hidan had left behind. "Thanks, Kakuzu," Hidan said as he brushed his feet off. "Sorry about the match. Go again sometime?"

"Don't delude yourself. I won."

"Hmph!" Hidan denied that. "Anyway, thanks for helping me out. You're a good buddy."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "What's this about?"

Hidan shrugged. "I'm in the mood to take another look at all my personal relationships. Reaffirm that I have people, and shit. Ah, fuck. Really gotta go!" He took off running.

Kakuzu thought about his personal relationships. Hidan's not bad to fight with. Not bad at all. I am glad to have him around. Maybe taking in stray kittens isn't so bad after all.

He considered going after Konan. But no, that would take quite a bit of time, and Sasori should be finished with the truck soon. Kakuzu started to leisurely walk in the direction of the auto shop.

Hidan

"Alright. If you would sit here…" The doctor led him to a chair. "Now… It says here that you want to get tested for 'everything?'"

Hidan nodded. "Everything. I've been irresponsible. I know I didn't really exist at the time, but that's no excuse for never having taken precautions."

The doctor nodded. "Better late than never. And you want a blood draw?"

"Just to see if there's anything weird in there, like special vampire antibodies or some shit like that. If I'm not infected with anything, I wanna know why."

"Alright." The doctor made a note. "Will you be comfortable having blood drawn? Even with the armrests…"

Hidan shook his head. "No problem here. They're not complaining that much yet." His wrists were starting to swell.

The doctor turned to go prepare his equipment. "Wait here for a few minutes." And he left.

Now that he mentions it, they do hurt. Not in the fun way, either. Ow. Hidan rubbed his right wrist. That did give him a spike of sharp pain as he had hoped, but it overlaid the aching pain instead of replacing it. Shit. Gotta get this healed. Maybe the demon kid'll push it back into place like he did for my ankles.

In the meantime, rotating his arm for the blood draw might be very uncomfortable.

Indeed, it was. The ache affected Hidan's senses, making the various samples that were taken from him into a blur. What should have been exciting was only vaguely notable, and he found it difficult to remember details when he left. He'd better put my wrist back together. These fucking things are ruining my day.

Hidan went to the graveyard. There were a couple people there visiting the graves of their loved ones. He found the demon boy spying on those people from behind an angel statue. The demon looked over her shoulder, his head next to hers. Hidan pushed through the pain enough to enjoy the irony.

"What?" the boy demanded to know.

"Cuddling up to angels, are we?"

The demon boy looked thoughtful. "If I knew any…"

Hidan blinked. "It was a joke. You'd seriously hang out with things that could, you know, hurt you?"

"They'd be super interesting." The demon boy said this calmly, seriously, without his usual chirpy hyperactive manner. That was how Hidan knew this was no passing desire. He really wants to meet angels? Huh. I guess they would be like him, in a funky 'flipside of the coin' way. He doesn't have anyone like him. "Who knows; at this rate, we'll be fighting off alien snails with hypnosis eyes before the month's over. I wouldn't bet against angels showing up."

The boy looked down. Fuck, he still looks lonely. How did I never guess that he wanted company before? We must have talked about angels at some point, right? Right? Hidan grunted. It was time for a distraction. "You gonna fix my wrist or not?"

The boy held out a hand. Hidan placed his left wrist in it. Once again, the demon boy sent his darkness in, pushing and pulling on the small bones of Hidan's wrist to get everything back in place. Hidan's wrist was entirely slack during the time, and he shuddered at the sensations that were traveling up his arms. The demon boy's powers did not include healing, but they did somehow make the entire area go numb. When he was fixing joints, though, that didn't really help.

It was the same for Hidan's other wrist. Finally, he was able to take them back. His arms were tensed from their efforts to ward off the discomfort and the rest of him was violently cringing. But his wrists were set. Now all they needed to do was heal. "Thanks," Hidan mumbled.

The demon boy saluted.

Ow. Ow. Ow. "Hey. Why do you like to help heal stuff? Wasn't long ago you were stealing bones." Ow. Distract me! The pain had returned to his wrists themselves, which now felt as though they were filled with angry bees.

"I like to do stuff I normally can't do. It's interesting!"

"Mkay. *wince* L-like your ghosts? Like taking care of them?"

The boy tilted his head, looking at Hidan strangely. What? Ow. "'Scuse me," Hidan mumbled. "Gimme a sec." He sat down on the grass. It was difficult to breathe with his respiratory muscles spasming. The pain was getting to be far too much. Why does this feel familiar? Hidan wondered as he struggled for a breath. Like I've felt it before. Like I was used to it at some point. But that was unimportant. When he had air in his lungs, he closed his eyes, and let something inside of him fall open.

The pain, and everything else, vanished. So did Hidan's consciousness. Like being put to sleep, or sent adrift… But then he came back, and so did the pain. He was in a better position to fight the cloud over his mind now, and did so.

Senses about me? Check. Good. Now what'd I say? "What'd you say?" he asked.

The demon boy growled. He had been studying Hidan very intensely with his demon eyes. Now he returned to having normal eyes and said, "I said, I like to do stuff I normally can't do. It's interesting."

This time Hidan had the presence of mind to hear what the boy was actually saying. "Normally can't? What, help heal people?"

The boy nodded.

"Why not? Pushing and pulling is your thing. Why would you have trouble with that?"

"I can't get inside anyone's body," the demon explained. "That's where their soul is, and souls don't survive being touched by demons. But you can move your soul around, so I can get in your body. And your soul heals all the bad things my darkness normally does to the nature of reality, so it's fine."

Hidan wisely ignored the part about healing the fabric of reality. "Oh, so that's why my wrists were numb? I thought your powers did that."

"Nope!"

"My wrists were dead while you worked on them?"

The demon shrugged. "Probably not. They stay alive for a while after the soul leaves, having chemical reactions and stuff, right? As long as they've got fresh blood…" His eyes lit up. "Didja know, same's true of the head after it's decapitated? If it happens quickly enough, the person can look at their own headless body. I heard of this place where they tie prisoners' heads to bent trees so that their head will go flying when it's chopped off. That way they spend their last moments flying! That's cool! Must feel weird without the weight of a body though. Do you think they get phantom body syndrome, or would that take too long to set in?"

Hidan looked up phantom limb syndrome on his phone. "Says here it can be really subtle, like feeling as if it's still working normally, or feeling numb, or feeling clothing or jewelry that you used to wear there. So if they do get phantom body syndrome, they probably wouldn't know it."

"You have to get your head cut off and tell me how it feels!" The demon boy shook with excitement.

"Fuck no, I'm not putting my friends through that shit. It would be all messy, and gross, and Kakuzu would have to stitch me back together. He wouldn't like that."

"You're no fun!"

"I'm the only person you can heal, dumbass!"

"Nya!"

"Nya!"

Konan

Konan and Sakumo sat across from each other in one of the rooms of the outer cabin. It was empty save for them, with others who almost definitely had useful information waiting outside where they could be called in. It wasn't as secure as Konan would have liked, but she had great respect for what the wolves and tigers had put together with their limited resources. The formality was refreshing. It felt a little like being home.

Konan shook her head. "That is not accurate."

"I'm not worried about Hidan," Sakumo said quickly. "I know she must have been wrong about him. I'm more worried about what happens if I say so, how the vampires will react."

"Nagato and Yahiko spoke to her last night," Konan told him. "You need not worry. They told her some things about Hidan that were sufficiently shocking to make her realize how much she did not know about him, and she agreed to reconsider her position. Given the nature of what was told to her, there is no reasonable way she can continue to be hostile to him. Certainly, there is no way to attack. I am confident that he will be allowed to do as he wishes in the future, and that those who associate with him will not come under any threat."

Sakumo folded his hands on the top of the bedside table they'd repurposed as a meeting table. "What, exactly, was she told?"

"Broadly speaking, she was informed that he is much more dangerous than she thought and impervious to the kinds of harm she hoped to inflict."

Sakumo stood up. "Chiki!"

The half-lizard walked in. "Yes?"

"Soye said something about danger and Hidan. Remind me what it was?"

"She stated that he was a danger to us, 'a predator who would as soon lick up human blood as a rabbit's.' She also said she had warned her people to avoid him."

Sakumo nodded. "Thank you." Chiki left.

He sat down again. "So him being dangerous is both a reason to hate him and a reason to avoid him. Isn't there a chance that telling her he's actually more dangerous than she thought would make her hate him more?"

"Not that kind of dangerous," Konan said carefully. "I am unwilling to get into specifics, but… The danger that she wants to drive him away for is the danger Chiki spoke of, that he is a predator who would turn violent and kill. The danger we told her about is that he has a closer connection with his god than she thought, so attempting to drive him off risks attracting the attention of a greater being who you do not want the attention of. This kind of danger is an even better reason to avoid him, and if this information impacted her views of him as a killer at all, it likely decreased them. Now that she knows Hidan is more directly under Jashin sama's hand, it is unlikely that he would become uncontrollable as she feared."

Sakumo sat back, thinking about what she had said. Konan took a deep breath. I hope I have not made Sakumo uncomfortable. It seems that everyone who isn't with Jashin sama finds his presence deeply uncomfortable. Even telling him that Hidan is more closely associated with Jashin sama might harm his ability to be comfortable around Hidan. Pray I haven't done too much damage…

"Tell me more about this god," Sakumo requested. "About Jashin. Soye referred to Hidan as 'the heretic,' and I'd like to know what she meant by that."

Konan nodded. "Jashin sama is a god of vitality, the kind of vitality represented by pain, blood, and hunting. Spilling blood that has been energized by pain, pleasure, or a combination is his preferred means of worship. The vampires used to worship him. However, they needed blood for themselves, and were mostly ordinary people with an ordinary person's level of pleasure in the hunt. Alongside them were humans like Hidan, who are physically different from ordinary humans. They also required blood, but in smaller amounts, and the fact that they were genetically different from ordinary humans made them more predatory and more inclined to enjoy hunting. They also worshipped Jashin sama. A prophet revealed that Jashin sama expected more devotion from his vampiric followers than he did from his vampire followers. The vampires, not realizing that joy and pleasure is a vital part of worship, assumed that Jashin sama favored the vampiric humans simply because they didn't need as much blood and could afford to sacrifice more. They are convinced he betrayed them, and have a longstanding hatred of vampiric humans as a result."

Sakumo's eyes were wide. "Jashin sama is the god of hunt-joy?"

I thought half-beasts would find that interesting. "Yes. As a god of vitality, a hunt that makes one feel alive is better than one performed out of a sense of duty or boredom."

Sakumo's face firmed. "They have to be told about this. The vampires are missing out on something very vital. As you said, it's almost half of worship. They're completely mistaken!"

Konan refrained from smiling. I also thought that half-beasts would be very sympathetic. "We will give her time to digest what she has heard. Perhaps in a few days, she can be informed of what I have just told you." By that time, knowing that Hidan speaks not only for himself, she will trust in his words as being meaningful. He told us about the importance of the hunt when his eyes were a very dark purple. What's more reliable; a bunch of people's guesses about what he meant based on vague knowledge and misinterpreted actions, or words directly from the source?

Sakumo drummed his fingers on the table. "Um… About what she said, him being predatory and all… What does that mean?"

"She used it to mean bloodthirstiness, a kind of greed, a desire for more and more and ruthless killing to obtain it. As you'd expect of any group of people, some vampirics in the past did behave that way." Konan shook her head. "But I do not believe Hidan is like that. He is predatory, but by a different definition. He is like you are: just another large cat in the woods."

She worried she was laying it on too thick. I have done much to make Sakumo feel more sympathetic, but claiming that Hidan is just like they are may be a step too far. If she was in Sakumo's place, she would get suspicious about such a claim. She would think whoever said it was trying to influence her to feel more positively about the subject in question. If Sakumo thought that, he would be entirely correct.

He did not think it. He smiled. "That was obvious from the first time he came over. Okay. Assuming we can stay out of a fight in the next few days, your people will talk to her and correct these misunderstandings?" Konan nodded. "Great!"

They stood up. Sakumo replaced the bedside table, and Konan turned to leave. "Wait," he said. "Where are you going?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you in need of further assistance?"

"I thought it would be good for you to meet some people," he said. "Get to know them, spend time with them. Jyuu and Reiki have some interesting news about a vampire with a kitten."

.

A/N: That kitten was the best decision ever. My goodness.

I can't believe that entire mess of things I kind of thought about the fracas there was around the vampires and vampirics and Jashin sama came out so coherent! Wow! The power of writing to give order to my thoughts is amazing. Ahhh. If I could find a way for my thoughts to be this orderly all the time...

I do not believe as of now (I may be wrong) that there will be any angels in this story. If you want to meet angels, check out my other story, In Search Of Demons.

Yay!