A/N: Aaaaahhhh. I have done something which I thought I would never do: put one of my stories on hiatus. It was worth it! I feel so much more relaxed and perceive myself as having bountiless free time, even though I was only publishing one chapter every two weeks on that story. This is nice. I'll keep it in mind for the future, though I hope I won't have to use it.

I've also returned to playing a video game that was very important to me. It's called Naruto Online. I actually started playing it before I knew anything about Naruto; the game's questline is based off of canon, so I watched the anime just to more clearly understand what was going on. At that time in my life, I had zero friends either in real life or online, and I hadn't started writing yet. I joined an in-game group where the members used the chat for social talk, and it was MAGICAL. My first experience with friendship, with how friends talk to each other, with being accepted. I usually lose interest in a new thing after a few weeks, but this game, I played religiously for 6 months. My interest started to wane then, as it usually does, but I stayed on for another year just to talk with my friends. Then I got into college and made a lasting friendship with one of my professors, and I also started writing. I stopped playing. But I will never forget those people who transformed my world, nor the game where it all happened.

I've started over with a new character, hoping to transform my relationship with games in general right from the beginning. My old group has an available slot, but my character needs to be pretty advanced before I can apply. It should take me about a week to get to that point. I haven't seen any sign of my old friends yet. I didn't expect to. We had a core group that started disbanding well before I stopped playing. I hope they're doing well, wherever they are.

Anyway.

.

Obito

Obito knew something had happened. One moment, Hidan was sunbathing. The next, Hidan was gone. Not only that, but Zetsu looked thoroughly unhappy. Zetsu did not explain why; they got less talkative when they weren't happy. They only told Obito to follow them away.

But Obito could figure out plenty of things for himself. Madara must have appeared. Why? What did he do? Did he drive Hidan away? Obito felt very guilty as he followed Zetsu through the maze of abandoned buildings. Zetsu has such a bad history with the real Madara. Why did I have to develop a new alter based on that guy? It's so painful for Zetsu to see him again. I'm sorry, Zetsu!

Zetsu stopped when they reached the main road. "If the vampires don't want to be bothered, then surely their territory doesn't extend as far as the road," Black Zetsu said. "We should be safe now."

"Vampires? What are you talking about?" I thought they were upset because of Madara?

"Obi, we need to talk," White Zetsu said. They sat down on a porch together. It was shaded and cool, and the wood smelled pleasantly of rot but was still firm enough to be strong and stable beneath them. Zetsu, strangely enough, enjoyed being around wood. He had explained once that plants had different attitudes about the dead than animals did. To animals, dead bodies were likely to harbor disease, and therefore dangerous things to be disliked and avoided. But to plants, dead bodies were reservoirs of needed nutrients. They were wonderful things, gifts from one generation to the next, to be reached out to. Zetsu had no problem being around dead plants, although they complained if the wood was treated to prevent it from rotting. That was horrid and unnatural, a desecration of the remains and a violation of the tree's last wishes.

Obito gulped. Why had Zetsu brought him to a place they considered very soothing, which was out of the sun for Obito's comfort, in order to sit and look at him very gently? What sort of bad news were they about to give? He took off his gloves and planted his hands on the porch in order to ground himself. "What is it?"

"It's about Hidan," Black Zetsu began. "Or rather, the other guy."

"It is? I - I thought it was about vampires. Or about Madara."

"All three," White Zetsu replied.

"But let's start with the Other Guy," Black Zetsu went on. "We saw him. It. It took control of Hidan's body right in front of us. Deidara's weird friends weren't exaggerating when they described it as creepy and unnatural; they were actually downplaying. It looked like it didn't know how to handle a human body. Do you remember that movie we saw three Halloweens ago, with the necromancer raising the dead? Remember how they moved? That's exactly how it moved."

Obito shuddered. That movie had made an impression on him. "I'm glad I didn't see it. Wait. Wait, did Madara -"

"Yup," White Zetsu chirped. "It took over right before Madara's eyes and looked him straight in the face."

"We have no idea why," Black Zetsu said.

"And then, it let Hidan's body just fall to the ground, and then Hidan woke up and said some weird things and ran off. But then Hidan came back, and he said that vampires live in the abandoned houses, and they don't want anyone in their territory who doesn't have good self-control. Which means your whole system is banned," White Zetsu finished.

Behind his mask, Obito's mouth hung open. He had so many questions that he couldn't possibly have spoken any one of them. They all swirled around his head, wordless and formless, just a huge writhing mass of confusion. "Wh-why did you…" He looked around at the porch.

"We need to talk about those people," Black Zetsu said. He sounded unhappy. "Hidan keeps paying us visits, and we don't know why. We can't use the best sunbathing territory we've ever seen anymore because of rules passed by others that we don't even know. What the fuck is going on?"

"Yeah, I'm not stoked either," White Zetsu added. He was usually so upbeat, but now, he looked pissed off. He usually only looked like that when someone had gravely disrespected Obito.

Obito froze. Why are they so angry? He was still filled with confusion, quite upset to be banned from a place because of his lack of self control, and now he was on the receiving end of anger. It was all too much. What did I do? What do I do now? Aaagghhh!

Black Zetsu sighed. "We only just got here, and already our whole life is being turned upside down. Plants don't live like this. Plants take things slow, season by season. We're upset as hell, but maybe that's just us. What's your perspective, Obito? How do humans see things?"

Obito's fingers dug into the discolored wood. He tried to speak, but all he could muster was a shrug. Behind his mask, his cheeks burned. I am so useless!

"Hey, we're not mad at you," White Zetsu said in a soothing tone. "It's alright, Obi." He reached out and softly touched Obito's right knee.

So much change. They're angry. I'm banned because of no self control. Obito wanted to burst into tears. But he was supposed to be grown, so he did not. Before he knew it, he was off the porch and heading to town in a fast walk. He didn't want to go into town. He didn't want to go anywhere. He just needed to walk.

Guilt and shame and deep, deep sadness filled his heart. None of it, not a single upsetting thing, would be happening if not for him. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Nagato

"Jeez," Jiraiya murmured. That was his only response. What other response could he possibly give to a heartfelt, tear-inducing confession of abandonment?

Nagato himself didn't know how to respond. He wiped away tears with his shirt. "It's all my fault," he repeated. He had said this before. "Yahiko never did anything. You never did anything. I'm the reason I'm unhappy, and I keep blaming other people for it and making them feel like garbage, and… Oh my god, I've been such a jerk. I've been horrible to people I love. But I never wanted to be, and I was trying not to be, and I don't know how to stop."

I've been so deep in denial. All his worries about his ninja powers paled in comparison. Those worries had never been anything more than a front. He hadn't been scared of his own powers; he'd been scared of himself, fearing that he would use those powers to hurt somebody, because on some level he had known that he already used what power he had to hurt people. I'm a monster.

"Hey. Look at me." Jiraiya accepted looking at his shoulder as good enough. "You're just a traumatized kid who lost his parents. You're not a bad person."

Nagato looked away. He couldn't believe that.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the woman that Jiraiya had spent the night with. She was trying to be as comforting as she could, but he saw in her posture repressed discomfort. She'd followed a handsome and charming stranger to a private retreat for a good time. She'd never asked to be drafted as someone's therapist. Even though she liked Nagato, his problems were clearly too much for her. Nagato muttered something about taking a walk and left. Jiraiya and the woman let him go. They're probably relieved.

Nagato felt horrible. In that state, he could only think of one place to go. Home. He felt guilty for it, but his feet turned in that direction anyway. He did his best to slow down. It was the afternoon. If I get there late enough, in time for dinner, then I won't be able to hurt anyone. Strength in numbers. Jiraiya had forced some snacks into his hands, but aside from that he hadn't eaten all day. He didn't want to. He felt sick. He felt that way even before he realized, Jiraiya probably mentioned something in the group chat. Everyone's going to be worried about me. They'll try to be nice to me, not knowing what a monster I really am. And I'll probably lash out, and they'll be hurt, because they're only trying to be nice to me. I'm so broken. I shouldn't inflict myself on them. I shouldn't -

He stopped midstride and midthought. Terror made every hair on his body stand on end. He couldn't stand to finish the thought, because he knew how it ended. He knew the next word in that sentence was exist. And that was wrong.

On second thought, maybe I should hurry. I'm in danger when I'm by myself. Strength in numbers. He started to run.

Konan

Dinner that night was chaos.

Konan swore as she checked the group chat. She couldn't find any information there that would have allowed her to predict this. On the one hand, that meant she had not done anything wrong by relaxing with Yahiko and watching the plushies do skateboard tricks. On the other hand, she thought she had made it clear that the others were supposed to keep her fully informed. Why hadn't either Deidara or Sasori mentioned that Deidara was in an irritable mood? Why had Jiraiya's vague warning been so vague? And it would have been nice to know that Itachi wished to be relieved of his duties as second in command. By the time she came back he had already seen what was happening, so he didn't dare say so, but she read disappointment in his body language. He had dared to hope for a restful day, only to be summoned back as chief "figure out what's going on"-er.

The strangest, most bizarre thing had happened. Most of the group had come to agreement that they didn't want to have a meeting. Chills ran up and down Konan's spine when she learned that. The group had never rejected a meeting before. They had grumped and moaned. Sometimes a meeting wasn't feasibly possible. Sometimes nobody felt a particular urge to, so it just didn't end up happening. But never before had the members of the Akatsuki declared outright that they didn't want to meet.

This can't be allowed to happen. Konan didn't need Itachi's sage counsel to figure out that much. She hadn't even checked in with every member yet, but already she opened the group chat and declared that there was to be a meeting tonight. In the sunroom. Every member must attend. No exceptions. She added a demon emoji to the end of that last message to make it clear how gentle and understanding she would be if anyone disobeyed.

The plushies were given all manner of toys and let loose so they would not interfere. Everyone else gathered in the sunroom. Nagato still wore the red blanket draped over his shoulders and Sasori continued to hand him brownies. Deidara studied the carpet, looking bored and checked-out. Hidan held a therapy doll for dear life; he was going to be no help tonight. Kisame was on high alert. Kakuzu kept his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Itachi radiated disappointment no matter how hard he tried to hide it. And Yahiko was extremely confused and upset. He had no idea that anything was going on.

"Samehada," Konan said. The shark whimpered. "Do you want to be present for this meeting or not? I suspect that it will include many of the things you find most distressing."

Samehada tasted the air and whimpered again. But she looked around and tasted the air a couple times more, seeming unsure. Finally she shook her head. After more indecision, she sat at Yahiko's side, not at Kisame's. Kisame didn't look happy to see that, but he probably guessed, as Konan did, that the shark desperately needed to be around someone who wasn't angry or afraid right now.

"I got some news," Hidan muttered. "Seems like a lot of people do. Who wants to start?"

Dead. Silence.

"Silence will not be tolerated," Konan declared in her most serious voice. She chose the first person her eyes landed on. "Deidara. Report."

He looked like he would rather dangle upside down by strands of barbed wire wrapped around his bare legs. "It has to do with some stuff Sasori talked about, yeah. You can ask him."

"That may be a good idea, actually," Itachi said. "Sasori, you have said that your role is to stabilize this group. Please give your expert opinion."

Sasori bit into a brownie. Exactly two remained out of the double batch that Kakuzu had made. He chewed thoroughly and swallowed before saying anything. "I don't know what's going on, but I can't wait until it's over."

"It's gonna be over?" Hidan asked.

Sasori groaned. "Oh my god."

"I'd like to fucking say something," Kisame cut in. "What the shit? This morning was filled with cuddliness and good vibes. Where did that all go?"

"I came back," Nagato said. "I'm sorry."

"Yahiko," Konan snapped. "Take Nagato to the stingray pool first thing tomorrow morning."

"The what?" Deidara perked up a bit.

"It's another soul-healing location in this town," Sasori explained. "It doesn't make you feel zippy like the lake does. It makes you feel clean."

"Being around it helped me forgive myself!" Yahiko exclaimed. "Great idea, Konan."

"Forgive yourself for what, yeah?"

Yahiko waved a hand around. "For, um… For… For being so much of a mess, like in general, and worrying people, and…"

Nagato whispered something. Nobody but Sasori could hear it. The engineer froze stock still. Then he slowly put his brownie back on the plate. "For existing?"

"Yeah," Yahiko said in a weak, thin voice. He glanced at Konan involuntarily. "Yeah, what the…the bad voice said."

"What?" Kisame asked.

"I used to have a bad voice in my head telling me that I was bad and the way I existed was bad and I only made things worse and I should just try to exist as little as possible."

"You heard it too?" Nagato blurted.

Everyone looked at him. The air grew tense and heavy. Even tenser and heavier than it had already been, which was saying something. The weather outside was mild and the inside of the base was certainly dry, yet if one closed their eyes it was all too easy to feel the weight of storm clouds.

"I've…been nothing but the perfect friend because I thought if I was anything else, people would leave me," Nagato forced out. He shrank in on himself.

There was a painful moment of silence. Then Yahiko said, "Me too. Not leaving, though. I thought if I was honest with who I was, people would laugh at me. Or… Or hate me, or something."

"Why would anyone hate you, yeah?" Whatever cloud Deidara had been under was leaving him. He looked much more alert and interested now. "You're, like, the coolest guy ever."

"That's not what the family I was born into said," Yahiko replied. "Every time I did something girly, I imagined my dad catching me and looking disappointed. It didn't matter what anyone outside my head did. I didn't even notice what they did."

Nagato looked down. "My parents died because of me."

Everyone looked at him again. This had never even been hinted at before.

"I wanted to check out an arcade that was having a reduced-price day for the end of summer. That's what they were driving me to. As soon as I mentioned having seen the deal, they made up a whole family evening out of it. They loved me so much. That's why they died."

Even Yahiko had never heard this story. "My… My parents and sister, they… They were driving her to a ballet lesson. I wasn't with them because I knew better than to admit that I wanted to try dancing."

There was a long period of silence. It was not the tense, expectant silence of just ten minutes before. If one closed their eyes now, they could imagine the feel of rain on their skin.

"Fuck," Kisame muttered.

"I got discharged from the military on medical leave," Deidara said. "My buddies saw that I was getting haunted by everything, and they tried to cheer me up. It worked. For just a moment, as a Bouncing Betty bounced into the air, I felt like my old self again and I was kinda amazed by it. Then it blew and shrapnel flew everywhere. We had a code phrase we were supposed to yell if we saw one of those, so that people would know to jump, not duck. Nobody jumped or ducked. I hadn't said anything at all. I had seen it, though; they all knew I'd been facing that way. Nobody said anything out loud, but the way they looked at me, the vibe… I'm not getting invited back, yeah."

It was hard not to imagine rain even with one's eyes open. Kisame looked at Samehada. Kakuzu looked down at his invisible anti-Jashin seal. Sasori glanced in the direction he thought his shop and Laurie probably lay in. Hidan closed his eyes to avoid seeing Kisame. Itachi refused to close his eyes, not even to blink, to avoid seeing his past. Konan did not glance at Yahiko, but she couldn't help but see him very clearly from the corner of her eye. We all have guilt.

All except one.

Samehada warbled and chirped. Everybody looked at her. She lolled her tongue out. Her presence seemed bizarre, out of place, superfluous. What was she doing there? She could not share stories. She could barely even understand stories. What was a shark doing at a group meeting? Honestly, why did they consider her a member at all?

Nobody could figure out a thing to say to her. But she didn't need them to. She crossed the circle to crawl directly into Nagato's lap. She pressed her snout into his chest and rumbled. Nagato swallowed. His shoulders relaxed, allowing the blanket to slide off of them. He closed his eyes as Samehada licked his face over and over.

A shark… A creature of water… The stingray pool… A heavy rainstorm… It all seemed fitting somehow. Konan watched Samehada give comfort, feeling amazed. I've missed something. There is something about that shark that has gone overlooked, even by me. I don't know what I am looking at. Had something about the shark's appearance changed, or was that just an illusion?

Samehada seemed quite happy. She curled up in Nagato's lap and purred as he stroked her scales. The feeling of weight in the air had lessened. Not entirely gone; there was more to face another day. But nobody had a problem sitting in a meeting anymore.

Tobi

Tobi sat by the sink, watching the leaky faucet. Drip. Drip. Drip. Tobi had plugged the drain so that the sink would slowly fill. Zetsu said the drain should be unplugged before they all went to sleep so that the sink would not overfill in the night, but Tobi disagreed with that plan. Water running down the cabinet doors and making a puddle sounded awesome! Could such a slow drip really make that much water? Drip. Drip. Drip. A plate that had been used for dinner was already filled with water. Any moment now, surface tension would give way and some water would drip down to the second plate.

"So, uh, Tobi," White Zetsu said. They had taken off their clothes so that the touch of the sun would awaken them. "How'd your quest to the dragon's nest go?"

"I found some scales," Tobi replied. "It is a red dragon."

"Cool."

"Don't forget to unplug the sink before bed," Black Zetsu said. "The inn will probably bill us extra for any water damage, even if the leaky sink is their own fault." They went to the bed to sleep.

Water damage? Tobi was not familiar with that concept. Water was something to play in and enjoy. How could it damage anything? Tobi shifted back and forth, wondering whether to obey Zetsu or not.

Drip. Drip. Drip. The first plate overfilled, and a trickle ran down to the second, loosening the old dirt that had crusted on. Tobi picked up a dirty fork and poked at the crust. Just like that, a big chunk of it broke off and slid away.

Tobi decided not.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

.

A/N: I have so many questions about the recent conflict-filled chapters in my journal stories. The most recent chapter in Demons was filled with anger and anguish and ended in a fight. This one's filled with characters being upset and sniping at each other and not wanting to be around each other. What is up with that? As far as I know, I haven't experienced inner conflict recently that could explain this.

Wait... There was that one day a few weeks ago where I did.

Never mind. It's time-delayed, that's all. I keep forgetting that this story is time-delayed now. Well, I don't think I'll be having much more change in the next few months or so, so it'll catch up.

Rar! See ya!