A/N: Chapter is named after what it is. I wanted to get to the actual dinner, but that ended up not happening. Next chapter.

How relaxing it is to cover prosaic everyday business such as this. It's nice.

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General

Laurie got up from her desk and stretched. She winced. Sitting with her back hunched over like that was not good. She might just have to spar with Sasori again to get the sedentary out of her system. She went to him in his office. They had both been busy ever since lunch, preoccupied with their separate business, so she expected news. She slapped her hands down upon its trashy wooden surface and leaned forward. "How goes it?"

Sasori looked up. He had been sitting with his hands holding his head up, staring at the desk, thinking deeply. "Um… I got a call back from the people who make the custom batteries that I would need for my project. I have not condemned everyone to being experimented on in government-run cages, so that's good."

Laurie frowned. What could ordering a battery have to do with people being experimented on? "What does that mean?"

"The woman on the other end told me that my request had been reviewed, deemed acceptable, and if I ship them the metal spike today they can have it ready for me in a couple weeks," Sasori explained.

So if they hadn't accepted his request, then the government would have swept in and put everybody in cages? "I don't understand."

Sasori waved it away. "I also have some ambiguous news. The bicycles cannot deliver money. They can, however, deliver things that can be exchanged for money. I don't know what kinds of things those are, or what the bicycles consider valuable, and I can't ask. We'll just have to wait and see what they'll pay."

Laurie looked around for a seat. She did not find one. She went out to the lobby and took a chair from there, brought it into the office, and sat down with her hands clasped eagerly in her lap. "Tell me everything."

Sasori chuckled. "When I went outside, I found a normal bike waiting for me. That's good, because now that I think about it, my motorcycle probably can't move without me, or at least not without me being aware of it. Its engine is too noisy. The bicycles have never moved or done anything in front of me, so I think they refuse to do those things when watched."

Laurie nodded. "Makes sense. I think there are things I've heard about that are like that. Folkloric monsters and things like that. I've never studied them; I just think I've vaguely heard about them. It sounds familiar."

"Yeah, sounds familiar to me too," Sasori said. "I can't remember for the life of me where I first heard that idea, but I heard it somewhere."

"So you needed the bicycle to move on its own to answer you?"

Sasori nodded. "I decided to ask it yes or no questions. I said that, as a human, I need money. I asked it, 'Do you have the ability to carry money?' I said I would go away for five minutes and if I came back to find it sitting where it was, I would take that as a No. If it was parked next to my motorcycle, that would be Yes."

Laurie raised a hand. "You fixed it first, right?"

"It had a bit of a rust problem and needed oiling. Nothing major."

"So, what'd it say?"

"I came out to find it sitting where it was. Then I asked, 'Can you carry anything that can be exchanged for money?' and went away for another five minutes. That time, I found it next to my motorcycle. So now I have to wonder what kinds of things it was referring to. What do bicycles think people will pay money for?"

Laurie grimaced. "I hope they don't steal things."

Sasori groaned. "Right. They probably don't have our morals, either." He drummed his fingers on the desk. "But, they have coexisted here for a while without attracting notice. They must understand how human society works. No, they wouldn't do anything that would get themselves into trouble. You don't need morals to understand laws."

Laurie looked down at her hands. "We don't have valuable resources just lying around on the ground, and they don't have hands. So what could they possibly bring?"

"That's what I've been thinking about," Sasori said. "I think they'll bring raw materials. In addition to paperwork and bicycle repair, we need somebody with crafting skills."

"We could end up selling trinkets, in addition to repairing cars? Wow, our business model is getting complicated."

Sasori stood up. "I'll put the word out tonight." He left the office and went to his engineer's space. Laurie followed. He had his new cloak slung over a table in there. He put his hand on it and paused, neither backing away nor picking it up.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"I...have mixed feelings about this."

"About wearing it?"

"About being seen wearing it. It's almost...humiliating." Sasori's brow wrinkled. "No, that's not quite the right word… It's more like...like I don't know if people will get the wrong idea."

"I think they'll ask," Laurie said. "They'll ask why you're wearing it, they'll hear you out, and they won't jump down your throat. Everybody seems really pleasant."

Sasori picked it up. "That's true." He unzipped the cloak, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and put it on.

Laurie held her breath. When he finished zipping it up and his arms fell to his sides, he looked different. Perhaps it was his shoulders, or the way he stood. He stood in silence for a while. Laurie was forced to start breathing again. His eyebrows wrinkled. He murmured, "I feel different."

"You look amazing," Laurie told him. "Nobody is going to jump down your throat about this."

"Maybe not. It feels strangely right." Sasori turned, watching the bottom of the cloak flow around his legs. "I have never worn clothing that moved like this before. Nothing long and flowing, with these kinds of sleeves." He walked around the edges of his space, which were tight as always with machinery. He slipped between and around the machines. He lightly touched their controls. The cloak's draping sleeves and trailing edges caught on nothing. "Yet it feels familiar."

"The way you move in it looks like a ninja." Laurie could not explain why the sight of him walking around made her envision every ninja she had ever seen, but it did. He no longer looked like someone her equal. If she sparred with him in this outfit, she knew she would end up on the ground. It was amazing and awe-inspiring to see him this way, but also sad. What was she except the token normal person? What could she possibly contribute?

Sasori looked at her. His eyes had a strange look to them. They were wide. Pleading. "How much of one?"

What was he asking for? "You look like if we sparred, my butt would hit the ground," Laurie said. "You look like if there was a breeze, you'd disappear into it. Graceful and...ninjalike."

"Like you've seen in movies?" Sasori asked.

"Yeah."

He let out his breath. "Good."

"Why did you ask?"

"My original… I don't want to be too much like him. A generic ninja, a generic fighting character: that I can live with being. Not whatever he was."

Laurie cocked her head. "You told me he used puppets."

"He also turned himself into one," Sasori said.

"...How?"

"I don't know, don't want to know, refuse to know." Sasori shook his head viciously. "I never, ever, ever want to be the kind of person who can do that."

"You aren't," Laurie reassured him.

"That's what I'm busy telling myself," he muttered.

He looked down at the cloak, biting his lower lip. He kept it on. He walked toward the front of the shop, Laurie following. Halfway down the hall, she wondered why. Why was she just trailing after him like a minion or a student? They were supposed to be equals. But she was an ordinary girl, and he was something else. Something greater. What could she do? So she continued to follow, not having any idea what else to do.

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Sasori peered out the front entrance. He didn't want to be surprised by anyone. The cloak made him look and feel stronger, but it also made him more vulnerable in one way. He must protect that vulnerability until it disappeared.

Deidara stood outside, studying some plants growing at the edge of the front lot. He held something behind his back. The movie. He wanted to surprise Laurie. Sasori turned back to the lobby and whispered, "Dei's outside. I'll, um, ask him what he thinks." Laurie gave him a thumbs up and a smile.

Sasori edged himself around the door and closed it behind himself. "Hey."

Deidara started to say something, but failed. His mouth fell open. "Woah."

Sasori stood and waited. Whatever happened would happen. It was inevitable. As usual, the thought of inevitability made him feel better. No action he could take would influence things. For the moment, just now, he was free.

"You look good in it, hm!" Deidara shifted from foot to foot. "Why does it look so natural on you, yeah?"

"It feels natural, too," Sasori said.

"Maybe I've just never seen you exhibiting a fashion sense, yeah." Deidara laughed.

"My taste in clothes is perfectly fine."

"I swear you don't wear anything just because it looks good, yeah. It always has to be tough and practical. Boring!"

"This is perfectly practical," Sasori replied in his levelest tone of voice.

"That's not why we wear it, though," Deidara said. "I got mine to say something. Hidan got his because it looks good. Compared to the rest of what you wear, yeah, this cloak is an accessory."

Sasori's heart lightened. This was just what Laurie had predicted. I live with a bunch of loons. "Just don't expect me to start wearing jewelry to match."

Deidara imagined that. "That would look weird, hm."

Sasori cleared his throat. "So. About the surprise you had in mind for Laurie."

Deidara glanced down at his hands. "Y-yeah. I thought…"

Sasori held up a hand. "I don't need to know. Whatever you have planned, have fun."

Deidara blushed. "I think I didn't plan it well, actually. Maybe over the weekend would be better."

Sasori checked his phone. "It's not yet six."

Deidara blushed deeper. "Still... " He shrunk into himself, looking increasingly upset. It really looked like he might cry.

Sasori turned and went back inside. "Deidara has something he wants to show you. It might make you late for dinner. Would that be okay?"

"Um…" Laurie looked around. "Yeah, maybe that would be nice." Tension he hadn't noticed lifted from her. "Maybe another night," she said brightly.

Sasori gestured to the door. "All yours." He watched as she left. Was she walking faster and bouncier than she had before? Is there something else I didn't notice? I'm surprisingly unobservant of people, it seems. How can I be a good friend when I don't notice that she's upset?

He gave them five minutes before he left. He walked around to the back parking lot, stared at his motorcycle, and decided No. He attached chakra strings to it and made its wheels rotate, bringing it in line behind him like a pet. It was easy to walk this way, and walking was just what he needed to do. Walking and thinking.

What was she upset about?

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Nagato made it known to Marsha that he had to leave work early. She looked at him with great puzzlement and asked why, her voice filled with concern. He usually prioritized the dogs. Was something wrong?

"Yes," Nagato admitted. "I think a friend of mine is in trouble."

Marsha granted his request immediately. Nagato raced out to the car. Should I get Yahiko? Yahiko had a specified shift at a place with stricter scheduling rules. His boss was kind enough that she might give him an extra half hour off anyway, but Yahiko would never ask. He would be horribly uncomfortable with the idea. Nagato felt guilty enough about asking to get off early, and his work schedule had suffered little over the past couple of weeks. Yahiko's had suffered more. He would feel ashamed, but also obligated to help, and Nagato really didn't want to put him under such great stress. He texted Yahiko, Leaving work early. I'll be busy. Kisame might give you a ride. Sorry!

He raced back to the abandoned hotel as fast as he reasonably could. Normally, he was quite conscientious of others. This time, he got honked at on several occasions. He tried to take deep breaths, recover his usual patience. I won't reach Hidan any faster if I get pulled over.

What kind of bravery had it taken? The vampires were so afraid of what he might do that they hated him, hated everything he did and tried whatever they could to drive him off short of killing him. To admit that he understood why, and then to explain why so clearly and understandably that anyone reading the chat could fear him the same way? How had Hidan managed to do it?

Nagato finally left town. He accelerated on the open road, reminding himself that he would have to decelerate soon for the sake of the people living in the suburb. However Hidan had summoned his ungodly amounts of courage, it surely was helped by the lack of face to face communication. Even now, Nagato imagined him terrified, curled up in a ball with his guts curled up just as tightly, questioning if he'd done the right thing, doubting himself. Nagato caught himself accelerating instead of decelerating and slammed his foot on the brakes. The car squeaked as it rounded the curve.

He fixed his eyes forward and gripped the steering wheel tightly. I should have left the car at Yahiko's store and ran. Giving in to his urge to action would be easier, it would make him less stressed when he finally did reach Hidan, and it wouldn't endanger children. He slowed to let a child riding on their bike get back to the safety of the driveway. Too late now. He would just have to deal with his pent up tension some other way. Perhaps he and Hidan could race together, let out their stresses simultaneously.

That thought was the only thing that kept him from doing anything else dangerous or reckless on the way back home. He parked the car carefully in the degraded front parking lot. Then he ran into the base.

He couldn't find Konan, so he called her. His call failed to go through. That must mean she was in the metal-lined basement. He went down and caaarrefully cracked open the door. His fear went through the roof. Hidan! "Have you seen Hidan?"

Konan was sitting crosslegged in the middle of the circle. She shot him a look that was not quite a glare. "No."

Nagato stopped himself from cursing aloud. "Do you have any idea where he is?"

Konan tilted her head. "No. He has not come back here; he might still be in the forest."

Nagato closed the door and raced up the stairs. It felt good to run!

His mind was too scattered from the effects of the symbol to create a coherent plan. He found himself heading from reflex to the only place in the forest that was familiar: the lake. He ran alongside the stream, the relatively open ground helping him maintain speed until a sudden bunching of the land threatened to force him out of the way. Plants with thick trailing vines curled around him. The only way forward was over the water.

Nagato couldn't help but smile as he stepped onto the water. Looking down at his feet and seeing through the surface he was standing on to plants growing beneath him was awe-inspiring, chill inducing. He couldn't help but stop for a moment just to look. Then he shook himself, remembered that Hidan was somewhere in the forest alone and terrified right now, and continued on.

Hidan sat curled up in the middle of the lake. His scythe floated next to him, and his cloak was zipped all the way up. He was looking down; Nagato could not see his expression. Nagato gasped. He looked down at the lake, careful to remain conscious of what he was doing and how miraculous it was. Hidan would need that. He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around Hidan.

Hidan twitched. "Nagato?"

He's not using my nickname. "Yeah, it's me." Nagato hugged him tighter. "I thought you would be scared, so I left work early to be with you."

Hidan's arms fell to his sides. "I wasn't at first. It felt like bringing up any random shit at a party. But then, a few minutes later, it hit me."

Thank you, Itachi. "It is just like bringing up anything else." It had better be. I will make it be.

Hidan hugged him back. "Do you think…"

"What?"

"If someone gets injured, am I going to get weird looks?"

"No." Nagato had made sure Yahiko didn't get any looks in the past. He could do the same for Hidan.

They continued to embrace in silence. Hidan felt tense. Very tense. It was as if he was waiting for something. Nagato swallowed. Okay. I shouldn't agonize him by making him wait. "If someone did get injured, would you like it?"

Hidan shivered. "Think so. I wouldn't go into a frenzy. That was because of, of, of the whole thing. But an injury might be, y'know, nice."

"Makes sense," Nagato said. "How long will it take to get your blood test results back?"

"They said some of the things they'd test for would take a couple weeks. Why?"

"If your blood really does have a protective factor in it, what about your saliva? Would it be safe for you to lick a wound clean? It definitely wouldn't be hygienic for anyone else to."

Hidan finally relaxed. "I could go back and ask about a spit test. You think I should?"

Nagato stroked his hair. "Why not?"

Hidan began to purr. His purr deepened as Nagato's fingers passed over certain areas of his scalp. Nagato closed his eyes and concentrated. He pressed those areas more firmly. He moved closer to Hidan's ears. He felt Hidan's scalp muscles twitch and jump, listened to his purr deepen into a low growl. The combination was hypnotic. All sense of time disappeared. Nagato's world became a world of rhythms: his beating heart, the movements of his hands back and forth and back again, Hidan's purr deepening and rising. He felt himself sinking, his mind and soul falling, falling.

He abruptly stopped falling when Hidan nipped at his neck. That wasn't part of the established rhythm. It also involved moving his head, breaking the rhythm for good. Nagato's eyelids fluttered open. Hidan continued to run his teeth up and down his neck, nipping at places. Some of those places hurt when he nipped a little too harshly.

Nagato shivered. Now that the hypnosis was broken, he was flooded with awareness. I was just with Hidan. Holding him close. Making him purr. Now Hidan was holding him close and trailing lips along his neck. Nagato began to shudder. I, I, I'm not ready! In the middle of the lake? No!

Hidan pulled back. "Ow. Shit. Moonlight?"

"Not- not- " Nagato struggled to put his thoughts into words. "No." Not here. Not now.

Hidan shook his head. "Shit. Fuck. Sorry. I lost track of things."

I lost track of things too. Nagato wanted to say that. But when he opened his mouth, what came out was, "It's fine." That's not what I wanted to say. But as he tried to say what he meant, he found that he couldn't. How do you just...tell someone you like them that way? He didn't know how. He couldn't.

Hidan pulled them both up to their feet. "Sorry." He stepped away and bent down to get his scythe. He took extra time, giving Nagato as much space as possible. When he straightened, he glanced at Nagato and asked, "You okay?"

Nagato opened his mouth and gestured, trying to make it clear that he had something to say and was trying to say it, even if he couldn't yet. "Mhm." He knew his face was red. It's enough. It has to be.

Hidan punched him on the shoulder. "Hey. Thanks."

He's not afraid or doubting anymore. Whatever else had happened between them, that much had been accomplished. Nagato held onto it for dear life. He smiled.

"How's Konan?" Hidan asked.

"I think she was meditating." Nagato winced. The way he'd flung open the door to intrude on her wasn't very graceful. He would apologize later.

"Huh." Hidan tilted his head. "I've never tried meditating, but I have tried watching prey animals. Wonder if it's similar?"

"I'm sure she can teach you to meditate, and you can find out." Nagato punched his elbow. "Come on. You should get dry."

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Sasori updated the group chat with Sorry, change of plans. Something came up. Laurie's not going to be hanging out with us tonight. Nagato led Hidan back to the base, where Konan had ended her attempts to meditate. Instead of teaching Hidan how to, she preferred sparring. She practiced using weapons with Hidan. She could create her weapons out of nowhere and he wasn't any good at defending himself, so he received a nasty gut wound. They debated taking him further out into the forest so the snake boy could help, or waiting for Yahiko to come back. Ultimately Hidan was propped against a tree so he wouldn't bleed on anything important while he waited.

"What if he catches something?" Nagato asked.

"Chakra strengthens the immune system as well as muscles," Konan explained. "A shinobi may become ill if they were already in a condition to require a hospital, but we do not suddenly catch colds or flues when we are healthy. If a healthy shinobi develops so much as a cough, it is a sign that something must be very wrong inside. Hidan has not run out of chakra, and he has no life-threatening illnesses. He will be fine."

Deidara arranged chairs in his living room and reconnected the television, apologising for it all the while. Laurie laughed him off. She found some of his knicknacks hilarious for the way they spun. Deidara congratulated himself for having spent his time dusting and arranging knicknacks earlier.

Meanwhile, Yahiko traveled halfway across town to meet Itachi and Kisame at the aquarium. He met Itachi first. Kisame was still inside finishing up. "Hey, Itachi."

"Hello. Don't you usually travel with Nagato?"

"He left work early today. He didn't say why." Yahiko tried not to worry about that. Let it be just a reason. Just a reason, nothing more. No thinking about the past history of earthquakes. Just a reason.

Itachi shrugged and said nothing more. "How do you do that?" Yahiko asked. "Shrug like that, and…"

"I have lots of practice being powerless and irrelevant to the matter," Itachi said. "It is easy for me to accept that I have no responsibility."

Is that what I'm trying to do? Be responsible? Yahiko thought about what he would do if he knew why Nagato had left early. He would determine if it was a problem or not, and if it was, he would want to help or comfort or do something to keep it from happening again. Oh my god. I am. I'm making myself responsible for too much. That's why he didn't tell me.

He blushed. Itachi asked, "Are you alright?"

"It's embarrassing when your friends have to keep you away for your own good." I don't want to burden him with having to think about my welfare all the time.

Itachi shrugged again and said nothing more. He was powerless over another person's opinion of what counted as embarrassing. Yahiko envied him very much.

He shuffled. "Where's Kisame? I need a ride."

"By now… He would be feeding the sharks. He'll be out soon."

Kisame was out soon. Samehada yipped with joy to see Yahiko, crawling forward so he could lean over Kisame's shoulder and lick Yahiko's face. They drove him together with Kisame driving, Samehada in the passenger seat, and Itachi and Yahiko in the back. Or that was how they started driving; Samehada got bored with warbling from the front seat and slithered out of his seatbelt to join them in the back.

Yahiko gave him a hug. "Hi Sammy! How are you?" Samehada gave a low rumble. Spotted Cousin makes bad feeling. Don't know why. Uncomfortable. "I don't know what you said, but I hope it gets better." Spotted Cousin is nice. Don't want to dislike Spotted Cousin. Spotted Cousin shares the same places. Too many bad feelings.

Itachi inhaled deeply. "Have I ever told you that I enjoy the smell of fish?" he asked Kisame.

"Yes. Several times."

"Hmm. I thought my memory was better than that."

Same tried to communicate more. He waved his fins and slithered around. Good pleasant fun yes bad worries strange no no don't-want confusing! It had been pure joy to be back in the tank having decided on his own to be there. Over time, that pure joy had worn off, replaced by ordinary joy and other things. The tank was no longer purely a good place to be. The nature of its not-goodness was confusing. Samehada had never had personal problems with another shark before. He wasn't sure what was even happening. Was it his land based half? The female leopard shark probably didn't feel the same way. Sharks didn't have personal problems with each other.

Yahiko heard Samehada trill for the first half of whatever he was trying to say, then whine for the second half, ending on a low pitched whimper. "Um...things were good, then bad today?" Samehada shook his head. He raised his tail and thumped it against one seat, then against the other seat. "Things are good and bad?" Samehada nodded. Yes! I'm learning how to understand shark!

"Typical," Kisame said. Yahiko agreed, reassuring Same that it was normal and whatever the bad part was would eventually pass. Itachi said nothing. He watched Samehada, but had little understanding of shark body language and so could not read him like he would have read a human.

Since when was Samehada's life complicated enough for the shark to feel this way?

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A/N: If anyone reading this likes the way I plot things (or don't) and focus on character interactions and put commentaries about my own writing process on every chapter, then you have GOT to check out El Goonish Shive. It's a webcomic about a bunch of high schoolers supporting each other while dealing with magical threats and personal problems, and since 2014 the author has put commentaries on all of his comics that are very much like my commentaries. I feel like I have a lot in common with him.

Can't believe all this happened and it's only 4,439 words. That's a relatively short chapter length. Wow! Yay.

Cannot wait for the group scene next week. And the scary omake I promised I would write. And Halloween. I'll be going as an Akatsuki member for the...4th year in a row? Yeah, I think it is up to four. Cool.

Because who on earth would read a chapter of a fanfic when they could be out celebrating: Happy Halloween! I'm publishing next week, but I expect to see most people the day after next week, and that's much better. Yayyy!