A/N: Woohoo! Coming to you from a sci-fi book convention of awesomeness! Ah, there is nothing better than hanging around authors, readers, and people who want to talk about literary things. I wish I could do a grinny face here... ^u^ That's the best I can do.

The best part of any convention is the people. Some of the best people are the ones you happen to end up standing in line with, the strangers you get to know completely at random. Talk to a stranger today. Broaden your horizons.

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Kisame

Kisame surprised himself. He meant to go eat his lunch in a quiet place, as usual. But somehow, his feet ended up taking him to the octopus tank instead. And then, instead of standing in front of the tank and watching Harbi like he expected to do, they took him a few feet to the right, where one of the handlers was standing. "How has he been lately?" Kisame asked.

The handler blinked. "In what way?"

Why the hell am I striking up a conversation with a total stranger? "I heard that he escapes a lot. Has he tried that recently?"

"Oh, no. He's been relatively calm." The handler stepped away from his station. At the moment, there were no other people watching the octopus tank. "Where are you from?"

"I'm one of the background crew," Kisame said. "I mainly work with the sharks."

"Oh. I don't think I've ever met one of the background crew before."

Activity in the tank drew Kisame's eyes away from the handler. Harbi had spotted him and was approaching. As he watched, the octopus flattened itself against the side of the glass and turned several shades darker. Does he recognize me? "I've been trying to be more sociable lately. And I've met Harbi before on one of his escape attempts."

"Which one?"

"April Fool's Day. Someone let him out that time, actually. Not much of an escape attempt when someone opens the door for you."

"Do you know who let him out?"

They're NPCs. Just NPCs. "A demon that looks like a little kid. It was his idea of an April Fool's prank."

The handler sighed. He sounded relieved. "Harbi's hard enough to keep contained. We do not need people letting him loose deliberately on top of it."

There was nothing more to say about Harbi after that, and he was the only thing they had in common. Silence fell. The handler shuffled back to his place and looked around for visitors. Kisame found somewhere out of the way to eat. He wondered if he could push himself further, and if he should. Should I take advantage of this weirdly friendly mood while it lasts, or should I control it? Is it temporary, or is it here to stay? Do I want to be a person who wanders around introducing myself to strangers on my lunch break? The last question was the only one he could answer. Tentatively, he answered Yes. Short fifteen-minute conversations didn't seem like they could put him in harm's way, and they sounded interesting. It might be fun.

The handler left his spot again. "What do you background people do?"

Kisame shrugged. "Whatever needs doing. Moving supplies around, setting up or taking down sets, light maintenance. I get to feed the sharks."

"Well, yes, but… What do you do?"

Kisame thought for a while. "I like to hang around quiet places. Usually I sit in the back of the shark room, watching the sharks and the people. I don't talk to them; I just sit in the back of the room. Then I get a work text, and I go to work. There are usually others there, but we don't talk to each other aside from the occasional 'Here' or 'Hand me that part.' Then I find somewhere else to be by myself until there's more work to do. There always is; I'm never staying anywhere for long."

The handler shook his head in disbelief. "I can't imagine it. That sounds so…"

"Lonely?"

"Boring. Don't other people interest you?"

"Not enough to justify talking to them. It takes effort. It's risky. Or it was."

"What could be risky about talking to people?"

Kisame looked up at him. "Think about the answer to that question. If you think about it really hard, you'll learn a lot about humanity."

"You said, 'It was'? How could it stop being risky?"

Now that's a better question. Kisame shrugged. "The whole situation reversed. What I was afraid of is now what I want. I don't know how that happened either."

The handler continued to look confused, but in a good way. "Huh."

Kisame stood up. "My lunch is over. See you."

"Yes. See you." The handler drifted back to his post automatically. Kisame wondered what he had done as he left the room. I gave him some things to think about. So what? Did that make the world a better place? Probably not. But strangely, he sensed that saying the words "See you" probably had. Really? Can a link as weak as that change anything? Before that thought even finished he was remembering. He had heard stories where much weaker links than "See you" had changed everything.

I should. What the hell am I doing, working here and barely knowing anything outside my own specialty? From now on, I'll make rounds. Visit every exhibit we have in here. Learn about all the animals. If I was a full-blooded shark, I would know things about the creatures I lived with. I should know about them as a human too. This is no way for a shark to live.

He received a text calling him to mop up spilled water around the touch pools. That was an extremely routine task, often performed several times a day. But this time, as Kisame picked up the spongehead mop and its bucket and entered the room, he made the effort to look around. He saw children giggling, and this time they were not nuisances to be avoided or warned out of his way. He saw the pool itself, the little animals hiding in their nooks or sitting out wrapped safely in their shells. Did they hate being touched? As he wrung the mop out into its bucket and soaked up the last of the water, he saw a boy staring at him. He nodded at the boy. The boy grinned back. Nothing more came of that; Kisame returned the bucket and mop to their place, and that was that. But with a simple nod, he had made a kid smile. It doesn't mean anything. He was just looking at me because I'm obviously not human. He won't remember it. But maybe…

Do I really want everything I do to mean something? Can't things just be pointless? Valueless? Nobody cares? But the handler had been right. Hours filled with activities that had no meaning did seem, to Kisame's new eyes, boring. It was a lot to think about. He shook his head. That's enough questions for today. Maybe for a whole week.

Even so, he waved at someone who noticed him sitting at the back of the shark room.

An hour later, Kisame's plans for a day filled with monotony were dashed. His heart rate shot up at the sight of Kakuzu. Oh fuck. What's happening now? Kakuzu didn't seem to want to tell him, which made his heart rate climb further. He couldn't help but notice Samehada swimming in circles anxiously. Could the shark sense chakra through glass and water?

Kakuzu sighed. "Relax already. It's nothing life threatening."

"You sure?"

"Yes." Kisame did his best to relax.

They sat at the back of the room together. Kakuzu drummed his fingers against his arm. "Why are you nervous then?" Kisame asked. Kakuzu shot him a look. Oh. Right. Future feelings, duh.

He did not press Kakuzu further. Kakuzu was going to share whatever he'd come to share. They could sit calmly in the meanwhile. Wait, no, actually they couldn't. "Weird shit's been happening today." Kisame blinked. When did I decide to talk?

"What kind of weird things?"

"From now on, I've decided to visit the handlers at other exhibits and talk with them over my lunch break."

Kakuzu turned to look at him very strangely. "Do you feel fevered?"

"No, I'm serious. I talked to the octopus guy today. It was interesting."

Kakuzu snorted. "I'm going to get a cloak."

If Kisame had had anything in his mouth, he would have spit it across the room. "What?"

"No, I'm serious."

Now Kisame looked at Kakuzu oddly. "Are you sure nothing life-threatening's going on?"

Kakuzu crossed his arms tighter. "I have my own reasons now. Time I acknowledged that."

"What kinds of reasons could those be? To align yourself with her? They'd have to be hell of a reasons."

"Do you honestly dislike Konan so much, or are you putting up an act?"

Kisame thought about it for 1.5 seconds. Hell no. "She's nuts and unpredictable. It's not a question of like or dislike. I don't trust her further than I can run from her."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "How far is that?"

"About 3 feet."

Kakuzu chuckled. "I'd make it a little farther with my skin-hardening jutsu."

Kisame shook his head. "I've got too much going on to even think about it. Talking to people is enough of a change for one lifetime."

"Understood."

Samehada swam freely around the tank again. Visitors came and went. Kisame's eyebrows rose when he heard a child refer to Samehada as Shadow. It wasn't a bad nickname. Had Samehada's tongue briefly lolled out as she said it?

Kisame got a work text. "Sorry, gotta go," he said. "Are you planning to hang around a while longer?"

Kakuzu shrugged. There was no reason not to.

"Check out the octopus tank. Ask about Harbi. Tell him I sent you."

Yahiko

Word of his departure had spread. Yahiko's interactions with coworkers were frequently interrupted by them expressing how sad they were to hear he was leaving. Each time, he felt a pang in his chest and wondered for a brief second if he was doing the right thing. It was just a pang, and just a brief second. His confidence that he was doing the right thing always returned.

"My priorities changed," he told one person.

"I decided to take some Me time, work on personal stuff," he said to another.

It was amazing how many different versions of the truth he could create, all without ever implicating his job or the people in it as a reason. Yahiko started to wonder if they were a reason. Had his need to quit ever really had to do with his boss or working conditions? It was all his personal neuroses, after all. He really did just need some time for himself. But then he would remember how tortured he had felt around his boss, and frown. What was the truth? Was he, in some fashion, lying? But everything he told his coworkers was completely true.

In the car after work, he asked, "Is it possible to lie while telling the truth?"

Nagato thought about it. "Define 'lying.'"

"Um…" Wait a second. He's right! "Lying is…um…making people believe something that's not true."

"Yes. Completely possible."

"How did I never realize that there were multiple definitions of lying before?"

"Didn't you tell me you have trouble thinking in shades of gray?" Nagato asked. "If there are multiple kinds of lying, then everything becomes blurry and grey. You can tell yourself, 'Okay I lied, but not the really bad kind of lie,' and similar things. That way lies moral ambiguity. Rationalizations. Things you don't like."

Yahiko thought about it some more. "Which one is the best definition of lying?"

Nagato smiled. "That's more like you."

"I guess… The important thing about telling lies is how hurt other people feel when they find out you betrayed them," Yahiko said. "So the best definition of lying is the one I just used. I lied to my coworkers."

"Did you need to?" Nagato asked.

"What?"

"Did you need to hide the truth from them?"

"What kind of question is that? How does it matter?"

"It matters because lying exists for a reason," Nagato said. "It's not right or wrong. It's a tool. It's all in how you use it."

"Lying is wrong. If people could be truly honest with each other, the world would be a better place."

"But isn't it more honest to admit that you can't handle the truth and act accordingly than to force yourself into a situation you're not ready for? To admit that your environment just isn't safe instead of pretending to yourself that everything's going to magically be fine when it has never been fine for the past 20 years? To admit that you don't know the answer but people still need to hear one, instead of deluding yourself into thinking, 'I'm giving them an answer so it must be the truth'?"

Yahiko had no defense against these words. They bowled him over, caught him completely unprepared. He was unable to speak for several seconds. Then he managed a few inarticulate mumbling sounds as he tried to express how hurt he felt that Nagato was directing this power of words at him.

"Sorry," Nagato muttered. "I just...think that there are multiple kinds of honesty, too."

Yahiko tried to rebut any of Nagato's examples, but could not. The power of words was not his power. "Honesty makes the world a better place," he repeated. I sound so pathetic. So stupid. How could I convince anyone of anything?

"I completely agree," Nagato said.

The fact that they could completely agree and yet argue made Yahiko very uncomfortable. He tried not to think about it the rest of the way home. He succeeded, but he could not stop feeling the discomfort. It was a thorn in the side of his mind. He mumbled something at Nagato and left, not caring for once about whether it might hurt. Well, okay. He might have cared a little. But the sting was not enough to make him doubt for a second his own desire to get away and be by himself for a while.

On second thought, his own company was too intense. Better find someone calmer. "Where's Sasori?" he asked.

Kakuzu dealt cards to himself and Itachi on the floor of the sunroom. "In his shed."

Yahiko went to the shed. He opened the door slowly. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

"Thanks." Yahiko went in and closed the door as quietly as he could. Seeing Sasori fiddling with something at the table to his left, Yahiko drifted around him and huddled in the far right corner. "Um...are you working on something?"

"Just tinkering." Sasori held up his hand. Yahiko saw that he had been working with a toy helicopter. "I'd better practice before I try anything too big." He attached a chakra string to it, and the blades began to turn. The toy lifted off his hand and tilted in the air before he got it under control. He lowered it back to the desk. "I'm not done practicing, obviously. It's not meant to be used with strings."

"Good luck with that."

"Thank you."

Sasori went back to his fiddling in silence. He opened up a panel on the side with a small screwdriver and looked around. Yahiko watched him. It was easy to absorb himself in what someone else was doing. Sasori got up. "Excuse me." Yahiko was left alone in the shed with a toy helicopter. He took a look at it. Sasori didn't seem to have made any modifications. Yahiko noticed a dark shape in a shadow. It turned out to be a block of money. He tossed the block in the air like it was a ball. It was heavy!

Crack. Sasori came back with a dark-colored metal spike and impaled the helicopter.

Yahiko jumped. "What are you doing?!"

Sasori held up one finger. He pulled out another dark spike from his pocket and gripped it firmly. Yahiko watched nervously, his heart still pounding. Are the edges of it getting blurry? His eyes flicked up. Did the helicopter just move?

Yes. Its blades spun faster and faster, until it lifted itself off the table and crashed. Sasori sighed. He relaxed his grip, and everything stopped. "Like I said. I need practice."

Yahiko looked between the two spikes. "Did you just remotely control the helicopter with your chakra?"

Sasori nodded.

"Woah. That's really cool." Yahiko sat down again. "It works if you just impale the circuits?"

"I studied the circuits first." Sasori sounded offended. "You can't impale it just anywhere."

"Wow." He's really smart!

"Did you want to talk about anything?"

Yahiko cradled the money block in his lap. "I don't think about things the right way. I was uncomfortable because Nagato agreed with me about something, but not in the exact way I did. That's a bad way to think. How do I change it?"

"Have you considered excluding the words 'right,' 'good,' 'bad,' and 'should' from your vocabulary?"

"...I can do that."

"Uh huh." Sasori leaned over the back of his stool. "Tell me again what you talked about with Nagato."

"He said I think in black and white," Yahiko said. "And he was ri - uh, correct. He gave me some examples of grey things, and I couldn't say anything about them. We argued. But he actually agreed with me. How can we argue and agree at the same time?"

"Easily." Sasori looked off at the ceiling. "People do it all the time. Have you ever noticed that almost everybody supports peace and happiness and good stuff? Yet nobody can agree on the specifics."

"I think that if people were honest with each other, the world would be better. What do you think?"

"I think the world has to be better before people will be able to be honest. But you're right too. Vicious cycle."

Yahiko took a deep breath and thought about everything Nagato had told him. It was easier now that his own hurt feelings had subsided. Sasori's right and Nagato's right. Sometimes people have to lie because they don't feel safe. But it's the lack of honesty that makes people fight. How can that cycle end if someone doesn't take the first step?

Sasori continued to stare off at the ceiling. There was no way to tell what he was thinking about. "Somebody has to take the first step," Yahiko declared. "Someone has to be brave enough to trust before they have a reason to, to give kindness first. That's the only way."

"Whose job is that, and when does it have to be anyone's job? It's not fair or reasonable to expect people to put themselves in harm's way for abstract reasons."

"But that's the only way."

"You do it then."

Yahiko flinched. Sasori looked at him steadily, levelly, with a force Yahiko had never seen from him before. You do it then. Tears came to Yahiko's eyes, not enough to trickle over but enough to burn. It was hard to breathe. Oh god. Such a stupid idea. Why did I say it? My ideas are too silly. Too childish. Too naive. Why don't I think before I talk?

Sasori crossed his arms over the back of the stool. "Well?"

"What?"

"What are you going to do?"

Yahiko blinked.

Sasori sighed. "You do it. Or, you take it back. Your choice."

Take back what I said? Yahiko stared at Sasori like he had gone insane. But I believe it. Someone has to take the first step. He could not take back words that were completely, obviously true. How dare he? Why is he doing this to me? Why is he being so mean?

"Well?"

Yahiko flushed. He gasped at the intensity of the anger that raced through him. His hands clenched. It was shocking and exciting. He couldn't remember the last time he had ever been angry. What a surprise!

But Sasori did not seem surprised. He started to smile. Yahiko's anger settled down to a simmer. "What are you smiling about?" he asked.

"This may surprise you, but sometimes I like to get out of the machine world. Just to see what it's like."

What's he talking about?

"I've seen that fantasy cartoon where the kids can control the elements," Sasori said. "As have you. You tried bending plants because of it."

This was true. Yahiko had enjoyed that show very much. His anger stopped simmering. It bubbled lightly. What is he going to tell me?

"Remember that episode where the earth girl tried to get the air kid to earthbend?" Sasori asked. "She pushed and pushed, and all he did was bend. Bowed low like a little blade of grass. He had to learn to get angry before he could do anything."

Yahiko remembered that episode, but only vaguely. "You think I'm like him?"

Sasori pulled out his phone and tapped at it. He did not answer. Finally he got up and sat next to Yahiko. The Netflix app was open on his phone and the volume was all the way up. They watched the episode together.

I don't bow my head like that! Yahiko was scandalized. I don't look so useless! I don't sound so weak! Did he really fold like a dropped tent and agree with it anytime anyone said bad things to him? That's not right! The only way anything will ever get better is if someone stands up and faces evil! I would never give up and allow cruelty to continue. His left eyebrow twitched every time the earthbending girl smacked the air kid's most precious possession against rocks. And the kid did nothing. He only sat and halfheartedly asked her to stop. Oh my god. Is that me?

Sasori paused the episode and looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

Blink. Blink. Blink. "No."

Sasori punched him in the arm. "Bravo."

Yahiko rubbed his arm. His thoughts were a wordless scramble. But beneath that scramble he felt something hot and powerful. He lost track of it for a second. Then it surfaced again. "No. That is not me."

He gasped. Those words. They're exactly the opposite of the bad thoughts Konan warned me about! I'm not being cruel to myself anymore! He grabbed on to the thing he felt inside and hung on for dear life. He then did the same to Sasori, who let him. The engineer took a breath and made himself allow it. Yahiko wasn't the only one who needed to go beyond his normal capacities.

Sasori

Making myself talk personal with him was a great idea. I should do this more often.

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A/N: This is, of course, referring to an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I have attempted to describe it in such a way that you need not have seen the show yourself, though of course I would recommend that everyone watch it. I didn't remember this episode either until I rewatched it recently. A few years had passed, and now this particular scene had greater meaning to me. Sasori's knowledge that Yahiko has seen this cartoon before comes from "The Evaluation," where Yahiko mentioned having seen a cartoon where people who could control water had control over plants too. Waterbenders are shown to be able to bend plants anytime they want, whereas they have to be at the peak of their strength before they can bend animals. I'm not sure why, considering that animals are filled with all kinds of fluid and squishier than plants are. Maybe they just have to be strong to overcome the animal's attempts to resist?

Good day.