A/N: Warning: Tone shift incoming.

Not this chapter, actually. But next chapter. Hoo boy, next chapter. Ooh, it's gonna be so, so much fun. If when it rains, it pours, then I am a waterfall.

Heh heh. Hahahaha!

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Zetsu

Zetsu woke up that morning to discover that the sink had overfilled in the night. Tobi hadn't unblocked the drain. Fortunately, only a little bit of water was dribbling down the cabinets. They unblocked the drain, wiped up the water and hoped the management wouldn't notice.

Since Obito's system was still asleep, they had some time to themselves. That was a rarity. They decided to get dressed when someone else awoke, and until then to sit by a window and catch a bit of sunlight on their leaves. Ahh, mornings, White Zetsu thought with a sigh.

Yes, mornings are pretty nice. But what comes after them isn't so nice.

You're still conflicted?

I don't want to be.

But you are! You liked spending time with those people just as much as Obito did. You wanted to have friends.

If you mention that to anyone, I will scratch you. But fine. Yes. With sunlight shining on his leaves, Black Zetsu could admit it. He was conflicted. On the one hand, they were very nice to talk to and it would be nice to be able to pass Obito off to someone else once in a while. On the other hand, something is definitely strange.

Yeah. I feel it too. My leaves are a little tingly. I don't think the soil here is quite the same as in other places.

The soil, the air, the water. This whole environment is contaminated. It feels too similar to that…thing…for my liking. What is that thing that took over Hidan's body?

It's seriously creepy, White Zetsu admitted. But Yahiko did try to warn us. He was so frightened of how we would treat Hidan. Do we want to react that way? Obito said that he and Hidan had so much in common.

Madara is only a person, and at least he's not around all the time. This is something else. Something I don't think it's safe to get involved in.

But we don't want to hurt Obito's feelings.

Black Zetsu sighed. Raising a human is so difficult. It's easy for other people to raise pets, because they're animals and their pets are animals too and there's some amount of common understanding. A plant trying to raise an animal is unnatural. What if we're screwing him up as badly or worse as farmers screw up their charges?

White Zetsu shivered. It's not possible to screw up anyone worse than that! And I don't think we're doing that badly, Ani. He's still able to talk with others of his kind and make friends. He's alright.

Frankly, I'd prefer to leave him in the company of those people. Maybe he's old enough that it's time to release him back to his natural habitat. But I need to know if whatever the hell it is will be a danger to him first.

We can't figure that out by ourselves. Ani, maybe we should…

Obito, or whoever it was, yawned. Tobi had put them to sleep on a rounded nest of loose clothing and bedding on the floor. The person moved a makeshift blanket aside and looked down. "What?" It was Obito.

"Tobi went to sleep last night. Blame her," White Zetsu said. "I mean him." They tried to agree with Obito's preferences whenever possible.

"Oh." Obito looked around, saw his mask within easy reach, and put it on. He sat up and sighed. "So… What are we doing today?"

Should we tell him?

You tell him.

Coward. I should make you do it.

Nya!

Black Zetsu sighed. "We need to figure out what's going on in this place. And we're starting to think that means getting in touch with Deidara's group again."

Obito looked down. "I thought…"

"What?"

"Nothing. I guess we should. Okay."

Zetsu got dressed and combed their hair, then handed the comb to Obito so he could do the same. When they were all ready to begin a day of activity, White Zetsu asked, "Hey Obi, you seem down lately. Are you okay?"

Obito paused for a long while. Eventually, he shrugged.

"He's right," Black Zetsu said, narrowing his eye. "You seem off lately." Perhaps the contamination in this region affects animals more than it does plants.

Obito shrugged again. "Just thinking about stuff."

We should tell him about it. Before Black Zetsu could protest, White Zetsu said, "Maybe it's because of the stuff that's in the environment around here. It might affect you more than it does us."

Obito looked up. "What stuff?"

"Our leaves feel a bit tingly," White Zetsu said. "The air and water and everything around here has some weird kind of energy in it."

"That's why we need to figure out what's going on," Black Zetsu said.

"Maybe it's the magic they mentioned."

"No, it's not the magic," White Zetsu replied. "It's similar to what we normally feel when we photosynthesize, only altered somehow. And it resembles the weird energy that we felt coming off of Hidan when he was possessed yesterday."

Black Zetsu mentally growled. Why did you tell him that!

It's true!

I thought we agreed not to!

He asked, and I didn't have any other answer. Sorry, Ani.

Obito seemed bewildered. He turned away in the direction of the door. Zetsu led them out, paid for their stay, and stepped out into the sunlight. "Are we going back there?" Obito asked.

"We might not have to," Black Zetsu said. "Let's check the aquarium first. It seems to be a popular spot."

Obito

When they first entered, they didn't meet anybody. After taking a circuit of some of the building, Black Zetsu got the idea to go back and ask the stingray woman. She seemed to know Deidara's friends. So they went back to the pool, and who did they find but the exact people they were looking for.

Nagato spotted them first and reached out to poke Yahiko, who was grinning ear to ear as he thanked the woman for letting them hang out there. Yahiko turned to Nagato, then turned around again. His smile dropped. Obito withered inside. I thought he liked seeing me…

A smile returned, but was it a true one or just a polite one? "Hey," Yahiko greeted. "Um… What are you guys doing here?"

Deidara finally looked up and noticed them. He turned away, looking glum. Obito's soul shriveled even further. I thought he liked meeting us, too! What's going on? Is the sight of me really so bad?

"We'd like to ask you the same," Black Zetsu replied evenly.

Yahiko gestured at his two friends. "They, um, needed healing, so I brought them here because the stingray pool is good for healing."

"Really?" White Zetsu asked.

"Yeah. If you stick your hand in it, you can feel it. A good kind of energy that soothes and makes you feel clean and stuff." Yahiko laughed nervously. "If I try to explain it to anyone outside the group, I sound crazy."

"Hold up!" White Zetsu said. He and Black Zetsu immediately removed their shirt, exposing their leaves. They walked over to the pool and spread their leaves as far as they could. "Woah. He's right. I think I like this kind better."

"It's just as strong as the other kind was before," Black Zetsu said.

"Are you talking about the Jashinist energy?" Yahiko asked.

Obito's head spun. What should he do? He had no idea what to do or say, so he said nothing and stood still and pretended to be invisible. "What's that?" White Zetsu asked, as if they hadn't come to the aquarium in pursuit of that information.

Yahiko waved a hand in circles. "Well, um, it has to do with gods, which are real, and they're energy…"

"Excuse me," Nagato said, getting up from the bench. "Excuse me." He stood next to Yahiko, who stopped trying to talk, and cleared his throat. "Remember what we said about having originals in another world and getting cloned upon their deaths? Well, it seems that world cloning follows certain rules. One of those rules is that the clones have to have the same magic abilities as their originals. That's a problem in Hidan's case, because his original was very religious and worshipped a god that gave him unique powers. The god in question doesn't exist, or at least doesn't have nearly as much power, in this world. So in order for our Hidan to have the same powers as his original, that god had to be…imported."

White Zetsu began to ask, "Is that what -" but was cut off by a family of four walking in. They had a four year old boy with them, who ran up to Zetsu with wide eyes. The mother winced and tried to pull her son away without catching even a glimpse of Zetsu, which was very difficult. The man she was with averted his eyes entirely, leaving her to wrangle both the boy and a curious nine year old girl by herself. It was uncomfortable just to watch. Yahiko winced. Zetsu raced to put their shirt back on. Nagato stepped in, expertly redirecting the boy and apologizing for getting in the famly's way. Thanks to him, the entire group was able to leave the building with a minimum of awkwardness. "Thanks," White Zetsu said when they were out.

"No problem," Nagato said, looking confused. Why was he confused? Obito still had no idea what was going on. Nagato shook his head, clearing the confusion away with a smile. "Anyway, yes. That's what the other guy is - a god that's been forced to inhabit a human body. Like Yahiko tried to say, gods are pretty much infinite reservoirs of energy. Big energy balls. So, any time anyone talks about energy or vibes or feelings or something like that, it has to do with gods. Or at least, that's the way we like to talk about it. It helps that Jashin sama has an actual name. Maybe we should give a name to the god that we were just with in the stingray pool. Yahiko, do you want to…?"

"Uh, sure?" Yahiko mumbled. "I don't know. Giving a name to a god seems like a big deal and weirdly inappropriate, like, who am I to define all of that? But it would make it easier to talk about…"

"It's just a tool," Nagato said.

"Yeah…" Yahiko racked his brains. "Um… How about… Amita?"

"Amita," Nagato repeated. "Like amity. Peace. I like it."

"So there are two sources of contamination around here," Black Zetsu said. "The kind that makes our leaves tingle comes from a god called Jashin sama. And the kind that makes our leaves stiffen comes from a god called Amita sama. The contamination comes from springs that each god's energy pours through. Hidan is the spring for Jashinist energy, and the stingray pool is the spring for Amita's energy. Is that right?"

"There are others," Yahiko replied. "Besides Hidan, we also have a symbol of Jashin permanently installed in our basement, which gives our whole base a funny aura. And there's a lake that Hidan unloads in every so often, which is also a place that you can go to for soul healing. It makes your soul feel spiced up and strong and ready for action."

"And besides the stingray pool, we also have Yahiko," Nagato said. "His connection isn't stable, so it's not consistent, but he's been working on channeling that energy more reliably."

"We don't sound totally insane, do we?" Yahiko asked.

While Zetsu and those two had been having a nice conversation, Obito's eye had been drawn to Deidara. Like him, Deidara also was staying out of conversation. The blonde seemed sad, unhappy, unsure. Just like Obito did.

"Nah, it's cool," White Zetsu chirped. "Is Jashin sama by any chance an animal god?"

"A vampire god, actually," Nagato replied. "Takes blood sacrifices."

"And I'm guessing Amita sama is a plant god?"

Yahiko turned around. "I have a greater than usual ability to communicate with plants!" He grinned. "We really don't sound crazy!"

Deidara seemed to have something else on his mind. He looked at the side of the road as they walked, sometimes kicking a rock. Obito wondered what he was thinking about.

Yahiko turned back around. "Hey, where are we going?"

"The park," Nagato said. "Isn't that the natural place?"

"Yes, we like being in the park," Yahiko told Zetsu. "It doesn't have any god-springs in it. It's just nice to chill in."

Deidara turned and walked down a street that they passed. Obito stopped, unsure of what to do. He felt like a fifth wheel in the conversation, so he went after Deidara. Deidara walked quickly, turning the next corner he could find. The two of them were soon out of sight and earshot of their comrades.

"Why are you following me, hm?" he asked Obito. He sounded mad.

"I just wanted to know what you were thinking about."

"I'm tired. I want to take a nap. That's all."

"Where are you going to…?" Does he have a friend's house around here?

"I don't even know. I just wanted to get away from all that talking, yeah." Deidara didn't say anything more after that. He had just said he didn't like talking, so Obito also said nothing. Deidara did not seem to know where he was. They ended up sitting on a random curb.

"Kakuzu told us to gather information on you guys," Deidara said. "On your opinions about us, because who knows what seeing the other guy did to you, yeah."

"I didn't see him," Obito said. "Madara did."

Deidara sighed. "Whatever. I'm just telling you this because… We kind of have ulterior motives, yeah."

Obito shifted. "So do we."

"What?"

"Zetsu was looking for you guys. He wanted to learn more about the weird energy."

Deidara sighed again. "I just…" He stared at the pavement, not finishing his sentence. Obito couldn't see most of his face, but the slump of his shoulders looked sad. Deidara whispered something that Obito couldn't quite hear.

Should I ask or not? It might be intrusive… Several seconds passed, making it seem not only intrusive but also too late to ask what Deidara had said. Obito blushed, embarrassed at himself. I'm really not good at things…

"I said, I just want to be free," Deidara repeated.

Wh-what? Why is he - Did he want me to ask? Obito blushed harder and checked his mask to make sure it was tight. "Oh. I'm sorry."

Deidara chuckled. "Anyone else would have asked what I meant, yeah."

What does he want from me? "Oh. Do you want…?"

"No, it's fine, man." Deidara sat up a little straighter. "I think you helped. Thanks, yeah."

But I didn't do anything. "Okay?"

Deidara laughed. "You know, it's nice to have someone to talk to who's younger than me, yeah. I'm like the youngest in the group."

Obito began to sweat. He's wrong about me. "Ah, I'm not sure I'm -"

"Not literally, hm," Deidara said. "I don't know anyone's literal ages. But I do know that everyone else seems so much more adjusted, so much more experienced, so… So much more mature than me. Even if they're conflicted about stuff, at least they know what they're doing or supposed to be doing or want to be doing. Even Yahiko looks confident and grown-up now. But not me."

And not me. That, Obito could understand. "I'm sorry." He reached out hesitantly and nudged Deidara's hand, trying to say that he understood.

Deidara startled him by grabbing his hand and holding it. "Thanks, man."

"Um, okay." I haven't held hands with anyone for a long time. Not since…

Deidara didn't let go, so they just sat there holding hands. The longer they held hands, the stronger Obito's heart pounded. Tears came to his eyes. He tried not to remember, but couldn't help it. "Are you okay?" Deidara asked.

Obito's throat closed, making it hard to speak. "Rin."

"Yeah?"

"The last…anyone…I held hands with…was Rin."

Deidara didn't let go. He tightened his grip. "Who's Rin?"

Tears dripped down the inside of Obito's mask. "She was…" He couldn't finish the sentence. He didn't know how. Rin had been so many things to him; how could he possibly choose which to say first?

"Oh. Damn. I'm sorry." Deidara gave his hand a squeeze. "Was she a relative, or a friend, or…?"

Obito sniffled. "My first girlfriend." My only girlfriend.

"Shit… Were you, like, small?"

"Yeah."

Deidara gave Obito's hand another squeeze. His presence, firm and reassuring and very much not temporary, even though he knew about Madara, was something new. Obito surprised himself by wanting desperately to talk about the past. Perhaps, at last, someone would want to listen. "I… I didn't have good parents. She was my light. Rin. I only knew her in school. But as we got older, she wanted to try being official. You know. Middle school. You want to try that sort of thing. She thought she should…meet my folks."

"Oh my god."

"He got drunk, woke us up in the middle of the night, drove us away and crashed into a wall."

Deidara gasped. He squeezed Obito's hand tight enough that it almost hurt, but Obito didn't mind. After a few seconds of that, Deidara let go and switched to a hug. Hugging Obito tightly from the left side, his face buried in hair, he mumbled, "I'm so fuckng sorry man."

Obito sniffled. "Thanks." His voice came out squeaky from grief. I'm so sorry, Rin. I'm so sorry. If it wasn't for me…

Deidara sat up, but kept one arm around Obito's shoulders. They didn't say anything more. That was how the others found them. "Are we interrupting?" Yahiko asked softly.

"I don't think so," Deidara replied. "We weren't talking, yeah."

Out of the corner of his mask, Obito saw Yahiko sit down just as carefully as he spoke, on Obito's right. "I'm sorry we didn't notice you guys leaving," Yahiko murmured. "That's probably why you left, isn't it?"

"I felt like a fifth wheel," Deidara admitted.

"Well, we've finished catching Zetsu up on everything important about Jashin sama, so there's no need for that anymore," Yahiko said. "How are you guys doing? With life and stuff?"

"Now that we know the energy's not dangerous, we're having a good time," White Zetsu said from somewhere behind Obito. "There are nice people here. It's pretty. It's spring. The only thing annoying is that we can't sunbathe in our favorite place anymore because the vampires would get mad."

"We prefer abandoned places. Those houses were perfect," Black Zetsu added.

"I guess we could photosynthesize in the park instead. Are there any spots in the park that get good sunlight where people don't usually go?"

"I - I don't know," Yahiko said. "Obito? What about you?"

Obito swallowed. Why doesn't he let me fade away?

"Not so great," Deidara said.

"Yeah, I thought so. But, um…"

"It has to do with stuff that happened a long time ago," Deidara said. "Dammit, we should've stayed at the stingray pool."

"No, we don't need to," Yahiko said, hope filling his voice. "I'm here." He held Obito's right hand. "I'm here."

Obito didn't look, couldn't see what Yahiko was doing. But the repetition of those words carried more power than the original. As Yahiko held his hand, it somehow felt like Yahiko was also holding him with an invisible third ghost arm. Obito started crying again. The comfort hurt.

But strangely, he was even more hurt when it stopped. It happened abruptly. "What?" Yahiko asked, as if he'd heard something. But there was no sound.

"What's going on?" Deidara asked.

"Something," Yahiko replied, sounding afraid. His grip on Obito's hand loosened. "I - I don't know -" His hands partially slid off as he turned to look around.

"I don't hear or see anything," Nagato said. "Yahiko?"

"I can't sense it now," Yahiko said. "Or… Or maybe I can? I still feel weird." He sounded small, unsure, unconfident. Like Deidara said he used to be.

"Obi, are you okay?" Deidara asked. Once again, Obito was thrown for a loop. Nobody but Zetsu had ever called him that. Nobody but Zetsu had ever been familiar enough with him to use a nickname at all. "I'm not picking up a super sad or frightened aura, so I think he's okay," Deidara said.

"Oh no," Yahiko groaned. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, man, remember what Konan and Sasori said?" Deidara removed his arm from Obito's shoulders. "Being ninjas gives us weirdly accurate spidey senses. If you get a weird feeling like something's happening, something probably is happening, yeah. I'm gonna get on the group chat. We need to find out about this, or at least let Konan know."

While he did that, Nagato said, "Oh, we never really answered the question. I don't know of any places around town that get good sunlight and are also unpopulated. All the open spaces of the park are pretty popular. Sorry."

"It's fine," Black Zetsu replied. "What's going on now?"

"Jeez, it's like one disaster after another in this place," White Zetsu agreed. They were back to sounding unhappy, but this time, it wasn't because of Obito.

Obito looked up. Yahiko was mortified. He looked just like Obito often felt, half wanting to tell other people not to worry about him and half secretly glad they did, half guilty and half scared, completely flummoxed in every way. The end result didn't look like much. A passing stranger might deduce that Yahiko was in need of a bathroom. But to one who'd been there, it looked like nothing else. He's like me. Obito reached out and held Yahiko's hand. Yahiko held it back, briefly smiling.

"Konan just asked me what I'm talking about," Deidara reported. "I'm gonna call her." He did so. "Hey, so, Yahiko got this weird feeling like something was happening. He started looking around, kinda frightened, yeah. I figured that means something's happening." A pause. "Shit." Deidara lowered his phone long enough to tell everyone, "She doesn't know anything." He raised his phone back to his ear. "Want me to keep you posted through the group chat? Okay, yeah, definitely. Got it." He ended the call and started typing on his phone. "She wants a full report, all details, nothing left out, yeah."

"We're in for an exciting meeting at dinner tonight, it sounds like," Nagato said. "The meeting that you guys joined wasn't unusual. We usually have nightly meetings. They're often eventful."

"I guess we should find out what's going on," Black Zetsu said gruffly.

"I'm really -" Yahiko stopped himself midsentence. "I mean, thank you guys for caring so much about me."

"Of course," Nagato said.

"Can you give me any more details?" Deidara asked.

"It felt like an echo from something far away," Yahiko said. "Whatever is happening, it's happening far away. Literally, physically, I mean."

"Any directions?"

"No. And it felt like…like a kind of gut sinking. Like 'Oh no.' The sort of feeling you get when…" Yahiko struggled for words. "It's a really specific feeling, but I can't describe it!"

"It's okay," Nagato said.

"No, it's not." Yahiko let go of Obito's hand and stood up. "I want to go home. Right now."

"Oh, nuts," Nagato said quietly. "Looks like we're heading home, then." He glanced at Zetsu.

Zetsu stood up too. "Gotta keep up with the news," Black Zetsu grumbled. It was decided. They all headed towards the base together, Obito and Zetsu included.

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A/N: The name Amita should be familiar to anyone who reads this fic's sister story, In Search Of Demons. I do not know yet if they are the same being or not. I think not, but they might be? Dunno. Anyway, it's just a really neat name.

Sooooo... Yeah. An eventful dinner it will most definitely be. Heeheeheehee.

Rar~