A/N: Apologies for the late posting! The website could not access my account this morning, and I had a shift midday. I am glad the issue was fixed in time for me to post sometime on a Sunday. I did, in fact, have the chapter completely done and ready by the usual time.

Anywhoos... This chapter proves it. it's not an illusion. My chapters really are getting shorter and faster. Hehehe... Yay!

I enjoyed writing it. You enjoy reading it.

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Kakuzu

"Ack!"

That is the sound someone makes when they find an arm unexpectedly crushing their windpipe midstride, causing them to slip and fall down.

Hidan coughed and picked up the book he had dropped, rubbing his throat. "What the shit, Kakuzu?"

"Are you any good at pool?"

Hidan stared up at him. "I said, what the shit, Kakuzu?"

Kakuzu took a deep breath. "Sorry about that."

Hidan got to his feet. He checked the book for damage. "I'm decent at it. Haven't played in a while."

"Good. I need someone to help me run a scam, and you look like a good front man."

Hidan frowned. "It has been a while, so maybe no one remembers…" he muttered to himself.

Shit! How long ago is he talking about? "How long has it been since you played, Hidan?"

"A buncha years." Hidan wrinkled his brow. "Maybe 6 or 7? I don't know."

"And where did you play?"

"The house of some guy who I helped," Hidan said.

Kakuzu let his breath out. "Not in public?"

Hidan wrinkled his nose. "Do you have any fucking idea how bad that place feels? I know where you're talking about. I didn't like it."

"Are you saying that none of the sharks or regular pool players around here know your true skill level? Is that what you are saying?" Kakuzu had to be absolutely, entirely sure. Hidan was in the habit of leaving out pieces of information that Kakuzu would rather know about.

Hidan nodded. "I didn't feel any people like that at the guy's party, and I didn't stay in that place long enough to play a game."

Kakuzu nodded. "Good."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have learning to do." Hidan held up the book.

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow at its title. "Do you really think something like that is strong enough to help her? As I recall, she lost her mind in that state."

"Yes, but she still feels all kinds of shitty after that, and I don't like that," Hidan declared.

"Does she?" Really? I thought she was back to that stoic, businesslike mode.

Hidan bared his teeth and snarled. "What the fuck did you think, jackass? That she doesn't care about hurting people? That someone who likes plans so much wouldn't be the slightest bit fucking scared at being so out of control? What the fuck did you think?"

Kakuzu took a step back. "I… I didn't think at all." That was true. Since when did he concern himself with what other people might be feeling?

Hidan still showed his teeth. His chest rose and fell slowly, his eyes glinting with a fighting look. His breath hissed out in a whispered cousin of a snarl. "Maybe you should."

Kakuzu did not agree, even as Hidan said it, even as the albino turned and stalked away. Why? I can't do anything. What does he expect me to do, give her a hug and talk about how scared she must be? I can't do that. That is not who I am.

Yet, if he had known… Perhaps he could have been a touch more understanding.

Sasori

Sasori pulled over a chair and sat by the front desk. He couldn't help but notice the stink of oil that he was coated with, and he did not feel clean. His shirt was sticky in a few places. Internally, his mind was still working through the systems of the car he had just been working with, turning over each part, figuring out how to put them together. He was an engineer inside and out. That could not easily be changed.

"How would you feel about a promotion?" he asked Laurie.

Her jaw dropped. "What?"

Sasori gestured at himself. "I can't handle the paperwork of running this place by myself. I spent a lot of yesterday looking through our paperwork, and it's too much. I can already tell it will be."

Laurie picked her jaw up. Her lips started to twitch upwards. "You want to make me…?"

"Co-owner." Sasori thought about it. "Yeah, that sounds right."

She opened and closed her mouth, temporarily stunned speechless. "Sasori… I don't know what to say."

"For the love of all that is right, say yes," Sasori pleaded. "I'm still thinking of the car I was just working on. I can't stop. That's not how my thoughts work. Even if I wanted to rudely yank myself away from what I actually like to do and go over our insurance deductibles, I couldn't. I couldn't focus on it."

Laurie stifled a laugh. What is she laughing about? What is so funny? Sasori could find nothing in his own words that was anything other than completely serious. He had a real problem, so why was she laughing?

She got herself under control. "Sorry. It was just… Wow. I never thought of you as being scatterbrained and having trouble focusing and all that. I'm picturing you daydreaming and it's funny."

"I'm not scatterbrained. I just get into a flow. Working with machines is what I'm meant for. When I'm with them, it's like time stops passing." Sasori's eyes glazed over. In his head he had completely finished the repair and was putting extra touches on the vehicle to make it the best damn vehicle he could imagine.

"Um, Sasori?"

"Yes?"

Several seconds of silence passed. He blinked the vision away to find out why she wasn't answering, and found that she was waving a hand in front of his face. She started laughing again, and this time, he understood why. He waved his hand. Yeah, yeah, fine. Get it out of your system. Eventually she did. Wiping her eyes with one hand, she said, "Sure. I'll help you with paperwork."

Sasori sighed in relief. "Thank you. Please, get started on a payroll system first. I'll talk to the bicycles, see if I can't figure out a way to get paid for fixing them. We need to figure out how money is."

Laurie frowned. "I'm going to need the old payroll system for that. So I'm going to have to be looking through his office, which means who's going to be out here?"

"I looked through the paperwork in there yesterday. I'll bring it out." Sasori thumped a hand on the desk and got up to do just that. He noticed an extra spring in his step as he walked, despite the unpleasant smell of oil. Finally I am free to do exactly what I want to do, with no distractions or extra considerations to interrupt me. I'm free.

There was something else he had been delaying on. He did what he had promised and got Laurie all the records he could find of the old payroll system. Then he asked, "As co-owner, do you mind if I use this place for personal business? Or would someplace else be better?"

She narrowed her eyes. "What kind of personal business?"

"The kind that involves storing bulky materials."

"I'd really rather not. Not when we just got this place to ourselves…"

Sasori sighed. That was a speed bump in the way of his ideas. But in his current mood, with freedom coursing through his veins, it was too small to bother him. "That's fine. If I can get permission, I know another place anyway."

He called Hidan. "Hey. I need to talk to Konan."

Quiet grumbling ensued. "Hold a sec." Sasori waited. He had finally succeeded in detaching his mind from his work. Now he was able to put before it another vision, one of things he had not tried before. It was intimidating. The idea itself was easily the most significant obstacle to its own realization. Sasori held onto the feeling of freedom as best he could and made himself believe he could do it.

"Yes?"

"Hello." Sasori got up from the chair next to the desk and started pacing. "Is it alright if I store things in the basement?"

"What things?"

"Mostly metal. Wires. Tools that could be very large and require more than one person to move. Power sources, if they can't simply be plugged in. Possibly more."

"Hmm." Konan clearly needed more time to think about this. Sasori wasn't sure why. Would stacking metal on top of the symbol anger Jashin sama? The symbol's effects don't depend on having open air. I can't imagine how that would lead to bad consequences.

"May I ask…?" he ventured.

"Yes?"

"Is there a problem with that I'm not aware of?"

Konan was silent for several moments. Then she answered: "Contact with the symbol is...important to me."

Why would it - Several things he already knew and had seen slotted into place. Oh. She's the closest thing to an actual Jashinist that we have around here. Of course it's important. Sasori felt very, very ignorant not to have realized that before.

"Well… There is the garage. I don't have to cover up the symbol. Do I?" He had never actually seen it. He didn't want to. "How large is the symbol?"

"It is about… Between Hidan and Kakuzu's height in diameter."

That could fit in the garage, I think. "Alright. I'll use the garage first, then the edges of the basement."

"That would be acceptable."

Sasori let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Thank you."

There was a pause. "Why do you thank me?"

"Because you are helping me and that's what you say to people who help you."

Another pause. It lasted longer. Much longer. She's probably not used to that idea, needs to think about it. "It's settled then. B-"

"Wait."

Sasori froze. He put his phone back against his ear. "Is there something else?"

"Yes." There was a strange tone in Konan's voice. Nervousness? "If I have helped you...perhaps I can ask for help in return."

Sasori blinked. The tone in her voice caught him completely off guard. I never thought of her as the type to ask for help. She just takes what she needs, makes it happen herself. I guess Hidan has helped her, but what could she possibly need me for? "For what?"

"Nagato has informed me that the main complication in his plan to get me a phone of my own is financial." She's super formal now. I thought that was naturally how she is. Is it really a cover for something else? "Specifically, a 'plan' needs to be connected to a source of money that it can draw from regularly. I do not have such a source of money because I do not officially exist, and most others' are...insufficient."

It took no time at all for Sasori to puzzle out the hidden meaning. "You need someone with a stable income to pay it for you."

"Yes."

So she needs me for my resources. That made sense. He regained a sense of balance and control from knowing that. Can I afford that? My own plans will require money. But they just need a certain amount, whereas she needs stability. If I delayed a bit, didn't rush… Can I even rush? I have to proceed slowly, because I don't know how to do most of what I want to do.

Wait, why am I already thinking of whether or not I can help her? The better question is do I want to. Sasori mulled over that one. She stole my personal belongings before. I forgave her for that for my own reasons, but that doesn't exactly put me on friendly terms with her. We're not friends.

But she was asking for help. A chance to thank him in return for his thanks. A submission, in other words. Even if he was not friends with her, the idea of being on more even footing was attractive. He mulled some more, but eventually had to concede. I can help her for my own reasons, too. Was that what "his own reasons" amounted to? A desire for power? Come to think of it, forgiving her was also an exercise of power. Hadn't he willingly let himself be subject to conditions that were probably flat-out illegal for years? Where did this sudden ambition come from? But even that wasn't as bad as it sounds, because he couldn't touch me. He couldn't make me cower. All he could do was posture. And now I own the place.

Realizing this challenged his image of himself. He'd never thought he had this desire before. He'd thought…

Konan was waiting very patiently. "Sure," Sasori mumbled. "Whatever you need."

Shocked silence. She covered it well; it only lasted for three to four seconds before she responded. "Later tonight?"

"Sure." And he knew it was rude, but Sasori hung up right then without saying goodbye.

Laurie had approached him sometime during the extended silence. "Is everything okay?"

Sasori didn't know whether to smile or grimace. "I'm more human than I thought I was."

Deidara

Nothing, nothing, nothing… Darn.

Deidara put down the last of the books Yahiko had left behind in his room and leaned back against the bed to think. None of the books described a large or unusual spirit such as the thing in the lake. Nor did they say anything about spirits giving new properties to other things. Whatever was going on with the lake and with Clay was beyond the scope of the books.

So what do I do now, yeah?

The lake thing looked like nothing so much as a combination of things from multiple worlds. Its formation had to do with Hidan, but now it resembled a nature spirit, possibly due to all the actual nature spirits it must live with. So that meant there was no textbook on it to be found, from any world. He would have to do research of his own to understand it.

I'm not a scientist, yeah. So I need help. Who is a scientist? Someone methodical, someone who can avoid jumping to the wrong conclusions, someone who can help me find out about it. Who's like that?

Once he spelled out what he expected a scientist to be like, the answer was obvious. Deidara grinned. It was like the universe was blessing him in this direction, and he was more than happy to go along with it. He went looking for Konan.

She was nowhere in or on the base. Except for… Deidara shivered. Suddenly he felt small, weak, just a kid. Was he really going to try to investigate a life giver? Since when was he qualified to even try?

He shook his head. Wait a sec… Is that the symbol? Is that what it does to me? It's not true, then. Not true! I can try what I want, just like anyone else!

He didn't entirely succeed in making himself more confident. But he did gather enough courage to go down the stairs and open the door to the basement.

As soon as he opened the door, he felt as if he had shrunk to the size of a bug. He also sensed the gravity, the immense importance of what lay in this room. He couldn't be that way. He wasn't. He liked to disregard concerns, make himself weightless and free as a spark. What the hell was he doing trying to be serious?

"Deidara?" Konan had been walking along the outer walls of the basement, looking closely at the floor space and the height of the walls. At the sound of the door opening, she turned. What was he doing here?

Deidara blushed. As much as he tried to encourage himself now, he couldn't convince himself that he was allowed to take a single step into the room. He mumbled something incoherent, attempting to glance in Konan's direction.

She left the basement and shut the door. As soon as it closed, Deidara regained the ability to breathe. He closed his eyes and slumped against the wall. "Thanks, yeah."

"What did you want me for?"

He opened his eyes and stood up straight, trying to make himself seem more respectable. He needed that with the symbol still so close. "I want to find out more about the lake thing, yeah."

She tilted her head. "This requires my assistance?"

Deidara nodded. "You're the most logical person I know, yeah. You can think of ways to test it and keep me from leaping to the wrong conclusions."

Konan considered this. "Very well. What did you wish to do first?"

Deidara hesitated. What are the first steps of the scientific method? Damn, I had them drilled into me all through school… Um… Oh, right! First you need a question. Then you research… "I think we should go over anything we already know about it, yeah."

Konan nodded. "That is wise." She wanted me to say that, hm. She would've corrected me if I said anything else. Deidara was greatly reassured. He felt a lot freer to explore in the company of someone who could correct him if he went wrong.

He gestured up the stairs. They left the building, walked through the woods, and made their way to the lake. As was their pattern, they sat beneath Clay's outstretched wings, high away from the lake and directly under a tree. By then, Deidara had completely gathered everything he could remember.

"I blew up a spider in there when we were first testing my clay abilities, and it didn't react," he remembered. "It gives life force to things that go in it. It only steals life force when Hidan's in it. That's also the only time it moves. It doesn't seem to have much of a mind, yeah."

Konan nodded. "I have seen no sign of intention."

"So we could probably test it any way we want without worrying about making it angry," Deidara concluded. Whew.

"What do you want to find out?"

"I want to find out more about how it gives life force, yeah. Like, how does that work?" Everything he had suspected about Clay had turned out to be wrong, or if it was right, he couldn't see it yet. "Does it just boost what's already there, like healing? Can it give life where there wasn't any? If it can, how? Does it need something lifelike to latch onto? What if -"

Konan held up a hand. "Too many questions at once."

He shut his mouth. "Oh. Right, yeah." A pause. "I just want to know what's going on with Clay, yeah."

"The bird?"

Deidara nodded. "The demon boy said something interesting might happen if Clay went into the lake while I was around. I had him walk in, yeah, and the kid was there, and he looked at him like something interesting was going on. But he didn't tell me what he saw, and I haven't seen anything."

Konan leaned forward. "So your question is really what has the lake done to your owl."

"Or what could it have done, or… Yeah. That's basically it, yeah."

Konan nodded. "Let us go over everything you know about your owl, then."

Deidara looked up. "I thought he might start to move on his own, but he hasn't done that. He still responds to me just like before. Even when I was acting on pure reflex, yeah, he didn't do anything unusual. He doesn't look any different, doesn't feel any different. He's just as hard to clean as he was before."

Konan narrowed her eyes. "I meant everything."

"Uh…" It was surprisingly hard to remember the basics of Clay's existence. Had magic already become mundane to him? "I created him here, out of clay that I shaped with my chakra into a small bird. Then there was a poof, and he was a lot bigger. Itachi's pretty sure he's made out of chakra that's so tightly bonded it's like concrete, with the clay acting as like a bonding agent, yeah. He doesn't act on his own; I give him directions. It's kind of like I can still feel my chakra even though it's outside of me, and I can still mess with it… I'm not really sure what I'm doing when I do that, hm."

"I see. Does your chakra feel any different than it has before? Either your chakra in him, or the portion of it in yourself."

Deidara blinked. "Uh…" How did I never think of that? He looked up at his bird and tried to feel for him. He made Clay flap his wings slowly. Is that something different?! "Maybe!"

"How so?" Konan urged.

Deidara closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling. "It feels… More…" More what? He concentrated as hard as he could, but could not name the difference he sensed.

"Create something else. Something newly created would not be affected."

Duh. I am so glad I got her help, yeah. Deidara made a small spider, just like Stitchy. He closed his eyes and concentrated on making it run in circles. "This one feels like…" Agh! Dammit! Why can't I find names, yeah?! He made Clay flap his wings. "And he…" What is it? What?

He slumped. "Fuck me, yeah. I can feel it, but I can't describe what it is!"

"Shh. Relax," Konan whispered soothingly. "Now that you clearly perceive it, perhaps a word will occur to you later. You must make room for that to happen."

He took a deep breath. "Yeah, hm. Okay." Try to think about other things for a while. But it shouldn't be too different, right? I should think of things that are kind of related just in case they have a connection I'm not seeing. "So… Do you think whatever's in there recognizes Hidan? He is kind of its dad."

"I do not know." Konan looked interested. "It might. But I would have to observe it when he enters it to be sure. Hidan cannot tell me anything because his mind is in a very peculiar state when he comes here and he is not fully aware of his environment."

"What kind of state, hm?"

"A very single-minded state. He comes here when he feels a desperate need to, when all he can think of is submerging himself and releasing what he has accumulated. He cannot think of anything else."

"That sounds bad, hm."

Konan's brow wrinkled. "Actually, for some odd reason, he claims to enjoy being so single minded."

"What? How?"

"It is a low energy state of mind. Only one thing to think about, No worries. No past, no future." Konan shook her head. "I could never relax into such a state for fear that the concerns I was not paying attention to would grow in power and attack me while I was not looking. A shinobi must be ever vigilant. Somehow, he is able to relax that vigilance without fear. It must be because he is immortal."

"Is that how being immortal is for him?" Deidara asked. "Like feeling free to do anything because even the worst won't kill him?"

"Yes."

"Being able to do anything you want…" Deidara had felt like that once. He did not feel it now. He had a much stronger sense of consequence, of harm being really harmful. Before, he had not known that there was so much to lose. Now, he did. There were so many things to lose that he had never thought of before, like the ability to feel pain or talk sensibly. He missed being so carefree. But the truth was that he did care. Because of that, there were things he could not do anymore.

He looked down at the spider. He ran it in circles. His chakra in the spider felt kind of loose, limp. He could blow it up right now, he could send it to attack Konan, he could walk it into the lake. Whatever.

He looked up at Clay. Clay could be blown up, but it would be harder. Deidara would need a much greater effort to do it. His chakra did not quite feel limp. He made Clay walk in circles. That was as easy as it had ever been; there was no resistance from the owl. But there could be. There could be things it was difficult or impossible for Clay to do.

"I know what's changed," Deidara said.

"What has?" Konan asked.

"Clay can't do some things anymore, yeah."

.

A/N: There is a difference between limp and relaxed. People have muscle tone even when they're relaxed. A sort of potential for resistance, that is noticeable even if it's not being used.

It is very fun to be single focused. I enjoy it immensely.

Maturity is a process of trading capability for strength. It is not good to be able to do literally anything. A person who can do literally anything has taken no side, established no moral standards, accepted no guidelines. Made no decisions. That is not a good way to be.

Guidelines are wonderful. That's how I know I'll see you next week! Much love!