A/N: Love is very important. Though, how true that is depends on how you define love. I define love as... "A sense that this belongs in my life." A relatively impartial, subtle, background kind of love where you want your life to be in such a way that it includes that thing, whatever "that thing" is. A person, an idea, a hobby, a theme, a place, whatever. Something that you gift the power to shape your life. I think wanting to give that gift is a form of love, and that it's one of the more powerful forms because it is the most deep and enduring and cannot be faked or confused with other things as easily as other forms of love can. And if you try to fake it, your efforts will not be as successful.

To clarify a reference that will be made this chapter: Murphy's Law is the principle that if something bad can happen, it will. Betting that bad things won't happen is tempting Murphy.

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Itachi

Itachi did eventually remember that he had intended to mention his idea for the video game room at the meeting. He closed his eyes again. It was a bad idea to use a cellphone at night. He sent a message to the group chat the next morning, when he was awake. Btw, I think the unused room on the opposite side of the base from the sunroom would be ideal for a video game station. I think a Wii would work. Then he started to get dressed. Hmm…shall I wear the shirt with the dragons or the aliens today? The dragon shirt was lighter and the weather was unusually warm, so he decided on dragons. Plus, it would probably make a better impression on Nagato's boss if he wore a shirt with animals on it.

"May I drive in with you today?" he asked Nagato. "I would like to talk with your boss in person about this event."

He asked this while standing outside Nagato's car, with everyone fully ready to leave. "Sure," Nagato said. "So, um, Yahiko. When's your last day of work?"

"This Thursday. What event?"

Nagato described it as he drove. "I have an update," he announced. "Yesterday, Marsha told me that some people from the aquarium would like to join in. They won't have any animals there, but they would like to have a table and give things out. Informational pamphlets, free trinkets. Some other things. Building community goodwill and showing solidarity between places that take care of animals: that's the goal."

Itachi got out his phone. He meant to text Kisame about this. Instead, he saw a notification from the group chat. Kisame had said, Sounds like fun. Btw, I got an update on a new community-outreach thing the aquarium's setting up. They're joining in on something the dog shelter already planned. They're going to try to have a table there and give out pamphlets, ask for supplies, raise money. It's a little over a week from now.

"Kisame heard about this too," Itachi said. "He has written about it in the group chat." Itachi said this as if it was normal news, but secretly he was very surprised. Why would Kisame be told about an event like this? He is not involved in the community-oriented workings of the aquarium. Or he hadn't been the last time Itachi checked, which come to think of it, was a while ago. And hadn't Itachi seen him coming out of his shell recently? Has he been so successful that the aquarium gave him a new position? I must catch up. It has been too long.

Yahiko was dropped off. He waved goodbye. Then Nagato and Itachi were alone."I am so sorry that I haven't kept you updated," Nagato apologized. "I meant to, but then other things happened…"

"I completely understand. I theorize that joining this group has afflicted us all with a group-level form of ADHD."

"Is that what it's like? I don't know how people with that condition manage."

They parked outside the dog shelter and walked in. Nagato waved to his boss. "This is Itachi, the musician I told you about," he said. Itachi dipped his head in greeting.

The gentle-looking middle aged woman behind the front desk beamed. "What a nice young man!" she exclaimed.

Itachi smiled. "Thank you for saying so. I've been called emo in the past."

"No, you don't have that look about you." She came up to take a closer look at him. "You have a good look about you."

Itachi was getting "adoptive mother" impressions already. "May we discuss what kinds of music you would like me to play?"

"Of course, of course." She shooed Nagato into the back. "I've come up with some ideas."

Itachi had never had any interest in having a pet, so he'd never visited Nagato's place of work before. I would have spent every day here if I'd known it would feel so homey. He could hardly remember how long it had been since he was last home, since he last had anywhere to call a real, genuine home. Except for the hotel, of course. Now that he was getting used to the symbol, it was the closest thing to a home he'd had in years.

When she finished laying out the pieces she'd already selected, he asked her, "May I give my opinion?"

"Of course, of course."

"This place is inherently appealing, even though I do not wish to have a companion animal, because it feels like a home. It doesn't remind me of my home in particular. It feels like a generalized home that anyone could be in. I think that is something that should be emphasized."

"Hmm…" The woman searched on her computer. "Oh, this song that I know that's about homes has instrumental parts! It would do nicely. You're a very smart young man."

"It has…" Itachi hesitated. "Been a long time since I was last home. I'm not sure if that place even is home to me anymore." He had been much younger then. It was no surprise that he'd acted out, lashed out, gotten angry; back then, he hadn't genuinely been as prepared to handle the world as he seemed. He was treated as a grown up, but a 13 year old couldn't have seen enough of the world to have a true understanding yet. Secretly, the pressure had been very intense, and he was too sensitive to take that for long. I've changed so much. Now I am actually ready to take the expectations that were placed on me. I would see everything differently. It would not be the place I remembered. It might not feel familiar at all. No; I must make my home here, where I am.

"That's very sad," she said.

"It's how I've always lived. I often wonder where my home is."

"A life without a home is no life at all."

Itachi sighed. "It feels as if I may be constitutionally incapable of having a home. If that is true, can I never have a true life?"

"Stop that right now," the woman snapped. "You know that's not true. You have a heart. Anyone who has a heart has a home."

Itachi bowed his head. "My apologies. I was indulging in self-pity there, wasn't I? I will avoid that."

The woman smiled, all softness and warmth and motherly love once again. "That's better. Wait here while I print out this piece." As she worked with her computer, she began to hum. Itachi was reminded of his own mother. She had hummed sometimes. Sasuke… He still could not decide what to feel. On the one hand, he missed his little brother dearly. On the other hand, in order for him to see Sasuke again, another version of Sasuke would have to die. He didn't want that to happen. I will wish the best for you, either version of you, from afar.

Itachi took the printed piece with a smile. "Thank you. This will be a comfort."

The woman shooed him out the front door. "Go on, now. I have work to do and you have a home to find. Go on!"

Itachi laughed after she closed the door. She was completely right! He folded up the paper, put it in his pocket, and turned his feet towards the abandoned hotel Konan had brought him to a lifetime ago. Towards home.

Hidan

Hidan wiped his brow. "Lemonade, please." Konan poured him a glass and he drank it down greedily. They were having a picnic on the roof, which also doubled as a training session for him. He was trying again to make clones.

"I might have been wrong," he admitted. "This is a lotta work. I don't think a housebound sick person trying to create some help with household chores could've done this. Besides, wouldn't a clone be exactly as sick and weak as they were?"

"Not to mention, the creation of substantial clones uses more chakra than a typical civilian would have," Konan said. "Shinobi training expands chakra reserves."

"Why didn't you tell me that before?!"

"Because you were so busy setting yourself up to take on this responsibility. I didn't want to interrupt."

"What does it feel like when you make your paper clones?" Hidan asked.

Konan performed the hand signs with her eyes closed. "Hm. I don't have the vocabulary to describe how it feels."

"Wait a second. Duh. We're talking about a feeling." Hidan put a hand on her cheek and leaned in, closing his eyes. "Do it again."

Konan dispersed her paper clone and remade it. "Oh. Yeah, I think I feel what you mean," Hidan muttered. "Let me try!" He took his hand back and shut his eyes, concentrating on his chakra. Nothing happened. But beads of sweat did appear on his forehead, and he reached out to pour himself another drink, this time plain water.

"How'd you learn to use paper?" he asked.

"I already liked origami. I tried to use my chakra on it and discovered that I could make paper do things."

"Chakra can do that? Just take literally anything, apply chakra to it, and bam! Personalized jutsu?"

"It increasingly seems that way."

Hidan patted his scythe, which lay next to him. "I like weapons. Slicing is cool."

Konan took a sandwich for herself. "Enough stalling. You should resume training."

"Fine," Hidan grumbled. He took a bite out of his sandwich, then tried again. A clone formed. Konan asked it to pick up a weight that lay nearby. It tried, but the ten-pound weight was too heavy, and it dispersed. "Fuck! Another Air Clone," Hidan said. "How do I make something other than those things?" Before Konan could answer, he tried again. "Bigger…bigger…tuck that part in…" he muttered. Nothing happened. He once again sagged and had to reach for water. "It feels like…mm…I'm missing something obvious," he said.

"Keep practicing."

Hidan tried again, and again. "I'm making my chakra into all kinds of shapes and it's not working!" He sighed and lay on his back, sprawling out in the sun. "Ooh. The roof is warm. Fuck yeah, this is nice. *purr*" He rolled over to lie on his stomach, and purred louder.

Konan took a sip of lemonade. It was too sweet for her tastes. She recapped the bottle and moved next to Hidan so she could scratch him behind the ears. He purred at that for a short time until he grew too sleepy to purr. He started to drift off. She let him.

Trying to climb a mountain…

A treasure chest to dig through…

The cry of a seagull.

Konan shook him awake. "I have thought of something," she said.

"Uh?"

"Shadow Clone Jutsu creates substantial clones. However, those clones are not created by shaping a substance. They are created by splitting yourself - your mind and chakra - in two. Perhaps the obvious thing you were missing is that you shouldn't be making shapes with your chakra at all. Rather, use your chakra to do something to yourself."

Hidan stared up at her sleepily. She likes origami. I should make an origami gift for her. She'd love that.

"Hidan."

"Mm." He forced himself to sit up with a yawn. "Split my chakra. Right." He gathered chakra in his belly, isolated it from the rest of his chakra, and let it go. A clone appeared right next to him, rubbing its eyes and yawning like he was.

Konan waited for them to wake up. The clone shook its head. Then it stared longingly at the weight, as if it would go over there and pick it up except that it couldn't possibly move from this spot. Konan brought the weight to it, tossing it in the clone's lap. The clone caught it and put it down gently. Konan smiled. "Congratulations. You have made a substantial clone that is strong enough to do chores."

Hidan slung an arm around his clone. "Awesome!" The clone grinned back.

"Excuse me," Konan said. "I need to borrow your clone." She pulled the clone to its feet. It followed her to the corner that had given way. They sat in it together.

Hidan closed his eyes and felt the sunlight on his face. He had a strong urge to go back to sleep. But I can't go back to sleep. I'll get sunburned. He did not have fur to keep his skin safe. Fur was a form of hair. Wait, if Sunshine can make his hair longer, why can't I give myself fur? Hidan copied the hand signs he had seen Yahiko make and imagined himself covered with fur. He felt his body change. He opened his eyes and looked down to see his hands reshaped into unusually long paws. He could feel his tail dragging along the rooftop. It was no longer comfortable to sit - his legs felt like they were being twisted. He lay down on his side and curled up as cats did, his belly facing the sun. *purr*

Hidan got up and went down to the kitchen to get a drink of water. He met Nagato there. "Hey," he said. "I'm gonna give Konan an origami present."

Nagato smiled. "Not if I give you one first." He leaned in and before Hidan knew it, he was being kissed.

Hidan laughed when it ended. "Moonlight! I thought you were too shy."

"The sun's out," Nagato said. "I can do anything right now."

Hidan purred. "Wanna kiss some more?"

"No, I think I'll visit the other world."

"What other world?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Nagato left. Hidan started to panic. He followed Nagato down, down, into a room he had never stepped foot in before. Cautiously, he opened the door. It was only the video game room Itachi had suggested. Duh! What kind of idiot was he to forget about Deidara's video game world?

Hidan found himself inside the video game. He looked around, but he couldn't find his quest list. It was nowhere on screen. He tried to call up the Settings menu. But it wasn't the settings menu; it was a button on a list of enemies to choose from. A herd of giant cogs thundered down on him from a nearby mountain that he hadn't seen before. He tried to use his psychic powers to dispel them. It worked, and Deidara was recruited as a new character. "Hey Dei." He waved. Deidara waved back.

"What are we doing here, yeah?"

"Dunno. I think it's a training exercise."

"But I don't know the words."

"You'll learn 'em."

"And I don't know the flags." The circle they stood in now had five paths branching off of it, each with a different flag floating above. Hidan knew the flags were clues that would tell them which path was the right one. He felt like he knew what all the flags meant, too. But he couldn't figure out which flag meant what. Fuck. He chose a path at random and started along it, not knowing where it would lead but knowing that -

Konan shook him awake. "Hidan."

He let out a high-pitched whine.

"Open your eyes."

He forced his eyes open and saw his clone.

"Now you may disperse."

The clone vanished in a puff of smoke. A rush of new memories inserted themselves into Hidan's head. He remembered sitting in the corner with Konan and talking at length about Shadow Clone Jutsu, Konan sharing everything she knew of it. They'd even had a little bit of conversation about a boy she had met who used Shadow Clones a lot. Hidan now knew everything it was possible for him to know about Shadow Clones.

"I will put everything away," he heard Konan say. "Sleep well."

Hidan closed his eyes. - that no matter what, he would be alright in the end.

Kakuzu

Kakuzu looked around the interior of the auto shop. "This part looks even more depressing and mechanical than your part. I didn't think that was possible."

"We're planning to put aside money for a cleaning service," Sasori said. "Now let's negotiate payment."

"Payment?"

Sasori stood straighter, looking taller than he usually did. Kakuzu remembered that this was officially his domain. He owned the building they stood in. "Yes, payment. You should be familiar with this after all the times you've charged me for using your truck."

It's payback time, Kakuzu heard. He supposed it was only deserved. He submitted with a nod. "What kind of payment did you have in mind?"

"If you want me to help you figure out an issue, you're going to have to free up some time for me to do that in," Sasori said. "Which means helping me with taxes."

Heh. Not much of a payment. Kakuzu knew more than the average person about tax forms. He figured this would be easy. "I agree."

He was wrong.

Very little of Sasori's quest actually involved working with tax forms. Most of it was spent hunting down various records stashed in different locations, some hidden because they were of a less than legal nature, and figuring out what qualified as what. There was lots of going back and rewriting the parts of the tax forms they had been foolish enough to fill out, which was why they were leaving those aside for the moment. "That fucking fucker," Kakuzu said after finding that he'd missed a transaction from the shop's official bank account and would have to redo his math. "You let him off too easy. I would have kept him in the hospital and watched for whatever he had coming to him."

"You're not in charge here. I am." Sasori sounded disturbingly comfortable with that phrase. He said it as effortlessly as if it had rolled off his tongue many times before. "And I decided I didn't want to let things end that way."

"Alright. I think I've finally added it up. Based on the records we can access so far, there should be this much in the business account right now." They checked and found that there was not that much in the account. Kakuzu launched into another round of swearing. Either his math was wrong again, or there was some other hidden transaction they hadn't found the records for.

Sasori leaned back in the manager's chair. "Kakuzu, you know some bank people. Can you get them on this?" Kakuzu nodded. "Good. We can stop worrying about it now then. All we need is the interest payments from the last year. We can figure out how much money we're supposed to have and how to get it back later."

Kakuzu couldn't help but admire the engineer. Despite his small frame, he gave off the impression of a king. Kakuzu had no more trouble remembering who was in charge. Sasori knew exactly what he was doing and how to do it, working through problems and suggesting courses of action in a methodical and highly organized way, all with a tone of voice that suggested he was used to deciding these things. There was no possible way he could be used to a task like this, Kakuzu knew. He'd probably never even led a group project before. Yet he seemed worryingly comfortable with power.

As activity wound down leading up to their lunch break, Kakuzu found a moment to look at his small friend openly sideways. "I didn't know you were a budding megalomaniac."

Sasori blinked. "What?"

"Why do you sound so comfortable reminding me who's in charge?"

Sasori lowered his eyes. It was the first submissive or uncertain gesture Kakuzu had seen him make all day. "I might be more ambitious than I thought."

"You like being in power."

Sasori tilted his head. "Not exactly. I do enjoy having this position, yes. But the whole time, even when he was putting me through working conditions that probably aren't legal, it was like… None of this can touch me. I am invulnerable. And when you finally exhaust all your efforts, I will be there, and I will enjoy seeing you give up so much."

"You like being a secret force of nature." Kakuzu could imagine what Sasori described. Wasn't it true? No matter what Hidan or Konan did, Sasori would continue doing pretty much the same things he'd always done: taking care of machines. And if the whole of the Akatsuki were to implode because of some new mental health crisis on Konan's part, well, the results of Kisame's departure indicated that he wouldn't be entirely unaffected. But he would probably not have his heart broken. Nobody else in the group could say the same at this point. Everyone but him had too much of a personal investment.

Sasori organized all the papers they had been using so that work could easily resume after lunch. "Are we done now?" Laurie asked. Sasori nodded. "Oh thank god." She flopped down in the nearest seat. Sasori got up and got his and Laurie's lunches. He looked questioningly at Kakuzu.

"I plan to get what I came for now," Kakuzu said. "Then I'm out of here. I've already made my payment."

Sasori nodded. "You've been a real help. So what did you want to talk about?"

Kakuzu hesitated. Now came the hard part. He could admit in his mind now that if something drastic were to happen and this little experiment in the ninja life that they were running broke up, it would hurt like a bastard. Something tugged on him, and it was not his obligations to Hidan or the general concept of human decency. Nor was it outside pressure. Something in him was starting to feel like it wanted to be a ninja, here, with all of these people. He had his own reasons to stay. And wasn't that just the reasoning Sasori had given?

But how could he say it aloud?

Sasori waited, eating his lunch in silence. Kakuzu appreciated that. It was good to see that power wasn't making him pushy and obnoxious. Kakuzu tried out different sentences in his mind. None of them felt right. He would have preferred to simply act and dispense with speaking altogether. Honestly, why wasn't he doing that? Because I wanted to talk with my friend first. As if he's special. As if he has a right to know what I'm thinking of. As if I don't get to do whatever the hell I want and he just has to put up with it like everyone else.

"Expect a surprise around dinnertime," Kakuzu said. "Most likely tomorrow, at this rate."

Sasori wrinkled his brow as he chewed. Then he stopped chewing and his eyes widened. He swallowed his current mouthful with some effort and stared up at Kakuzu. "No way."

Kakuzu hunkered down for an argument about how he was allowed to break from his usual norms every once in a while. Is that what everyone thought he was? As inflexible as stone, powerless in the face of habit? He was not powerless!

"I thought that Kisame would be first. He's obviously getting personally invested in this group. I thought that, after the way he stood up for us on Sunday, he'd be the first of you to crack."

Kakuzu stared back warily. Where was the argument he had been expecting? Sasori showed no sign of surprise at Kakuzu. He turned away and talked with Laurie about what Kisame had done. Laurie, too, was surprised that Kisame wasn't getting a cloak yet. They really do seem to care more about him than me. Kakuzu, slowly, relaxed.

"I'm not surprised," he muttered. "Kisame must still be caught up in himself and his own conflicts. He has to adjust to life as a person who won't run screaming from crazy shit like this. I imagine that's very distracting."

"Hmm." Sasori stared at the ceiling. "Would it be a good idea to bet right now?"

"On somebody else's personal life? In this group? You'd be a moron. We can't even hold a straight conversation. It's a waste of effort to try to predict when things will be done."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Sasori said. "It's tempting, but I know that if I do, the vampires will suddenly get angry again, or their age old enemies the werewolves will come out of some undiscovered hiding place and attack the half wolves, or something insane like that. I'd better not. Tempting Murphy is bad."

Kakuzu nodded. "Just go along with it. Better to go with the flow as it twists and turns than try to make it orderly."

"On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't have been surprised," Sasori said. "You mastered the art of giving up and going along way before we ever met. But Kisame, he was so bad at it that he almost left. I guess I just got too invested in thinking of you as a stoic, as never caring that much. Like…like me."

Kakuzu nodded. "Your reasoning when you showed up for dinner that time. It made sense to me. I can't help but admit, I've felt something like that for a while now."

"Your own reason?"

Kakuzu nodded.

Sasori smiled. "Well, whatever reason it is, I'm glad you started to listen to it. For my own selfish reasons, of course."

Kakuzu was very glad he said that. It was impossible enough to admit his plans out loud. There was no way he could ever, ever, in a million years, admit that his reason was a growing sense of concern and loyalty and protectiveness (he dared not use the word love) for his friends.

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A/N: Goshdarnit Kakuzu and Sasori are growing on me so much I aaaggghhhh *heart* *heart* *heart* I love you two I swear

Ahem.

Those three sentences when Hidan first drifts off are references to the dream sequence at the start of chapter 8, Facing Harsh Reality. Because yes, I had plans for that little red dream frog since before I started writing this story, and it's taken 3 years to get around to them. Honestly, that's more funny than sad at this point. 3 years. Haha! Isn't that a ridiculously long time? Pointing that out is a running joke now, at least to me.

I have no idea how Shadow Clone Jutsu works on the chakra level. It was never explained what any of the hand signs did to their chakra, internally. This is all conjecture.

Stay tuned for more incredibly awesome scenes with Kakuzu and Sasori. *lovestruck sigh*