A/N: Short chapter this week because I have been SUPER absorbed in writing my latest self-insert fic. Seriously, I've been working on it every single day. That is my definition of obsessed. But it is coming out wonderfully, and writing it has other wonderful benefits too. That story has been living in my mind for the past most of a year. Writing it down is like clearing my mind out, sweeping up, making everything neat and tidy and fresh. It feels good. My attempts to imagine scenes feel invigorating instead of painful now. Ahhh!
This is relevant.
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Kakuzu
Kakuzu didn't feel terribly needed, so he took a vacation. Without telling anyone, he went out early the next morning to a destination that he could not envision but expected to recognize when he saw it. He drove slowly through town from west to east, looking carefully at his surroundings. He surprised himself by stopping at the library. What about the library could interest someone like him? He walked in, expecting to find out.
There was a new book display set up. It was on a topic that didn't interest him. He turned toward the mysterious little room where multiple worlds converged. If anything interesting and important was happening at the library, it would be in that room.
At first glance, the resource room was just as he expected. The seemingly empty shelf, the terrariums, the ghostly bookcase, the scrolls: all accounted for. He didn't see a whole new shelf or a big empty space where something had gone missing. He stopped by the scroll cart and looked more closely, scanning each individual shelf. He didn't know precisely what the contents were supposed to be, but he couldn't see any strange gaps. There was no sign that anything was wrong. Nobody else was in the room. There seemed to be nothing either interesting or important.
Then why did I stop here?
He looked again at the ghostly bookshelf. A book from that shelf had created the dolls, and the books were at least semi-sentient. Kakuzu was glad nobody else was around to see him sit next to the bookshelf and speak to the tomes. "It's been a while since you last saw the dolls, hasn't it? Time for an update. The dolls have formed a little four-man band. They work together, communicate, and can even open portals at each other's locations. Yahiko and Samehada have been looking after them. The dolls are all very happy and healthy. They love their skateboard. In short, the work you did, enchanting the board and bringing the dolls to life: it was very successful."
The books did not reply, at least not in a way that Kakuzu could perceive. Out of boredom, he took a book down from the shelf. Handling it carefully, unsure how fragile the ghostly books were, he flipped through it. He found diagrams and lists of ingredients that he did not recognize. He put that book back and selected another one, which turned out to be a bestiary. Animals were far more interesting than diagrams, so he placed it on the floor nearby. Scanning the shelves, actually bothering to read their titles for once, he spotted something that might be even more interesting than a bestiary of magical animals. Kakuzu reached out for a book on the history of magic studies.
Jackpot. His fears that the book might be written in jargon unintelligible to a magical luddite like him proved unfounded. It was written so simply a child of ten years could easily understand. He skimmed each chapter, stopping wherever a word or phrase stood out, learning a great deal all the while. This is relevant. The magic system described in this book is the same magic system the dolls use. Learning about it will help me understand what those things are and are not capable of.
When Kakuzu reached the final chapter, he stopped in order to process everything he'd read so far. It looks like their magic isn't very different from ours. Chakra is automatically generated in our bodies from our souls, whereas mana originates elsewhere and steadily flows in through their soul threads. Either way, it replenishes over time and has spiritual origins. Their magic system is very defined - too defined, in fact. It's like a labyrinth of categories upon categories. How can so many varieties exist? The only way to explain that is if all of the categories are, in fact, nonexistent - as if the underlying truth is that magic is shaped by the mind of its wielder. Again, that's similar to how we use chakra. Certain basic categories are real, but then there are Konan's paper techniques and living shadows and whatever the hell allows the Hatake clan to exist. It must be because our world and the world these books supposedly come from are both fictional. A real magic system, if such a thing can possibly exist, would have far more limited uses. A fictional magic system is bound to end up being good for anything its creator wants it to be good for, thus making it limited only by human imagination.
He flipped to the first page of the final chapter. His blood chilled. The final chapter promised to discuss the possibility of mana becoming sentient. Did the energy that all magic depended on already have a mind of its own that lay dormant? What would happen if that dormant mind woke up and/or it acquired a new and active intelligence? Kakuzu put the book down and looked at his right arm, envisioning the blood in his arteries coming to life and deciding it didn't want to flow in restrictive vessels anymore. He shivered. Do I want to read this? Chakra isn't likely to suddenly come to life. Reading something like this can't do anything other than inspire needless fretting. No; I think I will not. He closed the book and put it back on the shelf. But why in hell would a book in the library contain such information?
Spooked, he got back in his vehicle and drove straight home. He was needed. Even though it seemed that they had reached a place of stability, the group still needed him to keep an eye on things. Anything could still change. Change remained possible right up until the moment you died. He had to remember that.
Samehada
The masked human was very nice. He stayed by the nice human's side, putting out a shy aura, but was very gentle and sweet. The little one that was called Warlic followed him, poking his leg, wondering if he was the same masked human or somehow a different one. Samehada wrapped her tail around Warlic and rumbled soothingly. Did it matter? Either way, the masked human was not a sight to fear. Warlic wandered away when released, no longer interested.
The nice human was very distracted by the masked human. He gave the masked human food, signaled friendly intentions with his body, made his aura welcoming and pleasing, etc. Samehada understood enough. She looked after the little ones so he would not have to.
Warlic wanted to lead an adventure. Samehada volunteered to be part of the adventure. Warlic said that was alright. The little one that was called Little One was reluctant to go on an adventure, but agreed when Samehada said she would be part of it. The five of them went out the front doors. They looked around. Where should they go? Warlic pointed forward, across the road. That way led to a place they had never been. The little one that was called Manta wondered if they should bring the skateboard. Warlic went and got the skateboard. It would make a good basher if something mean attacked.
Crossing between two buildings was fun, not a usual experience. The plants grew tall and tangly enough to slow down the little ones. Samehada went forward and made trails for them. She felt very strong and proud of her thick scales.
Some baby trees grew, but nothing like the woods behind the home-place. Warlic held a tiny flame up to one branch and was disappointed when it did not catch on fire. Samehada nudged him away; there was no reason why they should hurt baby trees who had not attacked them and did not make delicious food. The little ones had fun swinging from the branches of bushes. They stopped their adventure to spend quite a while playing. When they were done, they came back to Samehada and tried to figure out where they had been going. Warlic pointed. Nobody knew if that was the right direction, but they went there anyway.
There were so many stones to play with, and bushes, and sticks, and animals and birds. It was a wonderful adventure! Samehada tried to catch a bird, and very nearly succeeded. Next time.
Samehada pretended to be a scary thing and chased the little ones around. They all crashed through a wall of vines that turned out to be the border of a house-field. They immediately stopped the chasing and looked around. Had they gotten turned around? No; these were different houses. Warlic levitated up into the air, spotted a road, and took the skateboard there. He practiced his driving. He was becoming a very good driver; he only crashed three times. The third time took out part of a glass window that was on the ground for some reason. What was a window doing so low? The little ones broke the rest of the glass and climbed through. Little One moved some dirt and broke the bottom edge of the window so Samehada could fit. The skateboard stayed outside.
They found themselves in a cool and shadowy underground room which contained many books. Samehada detected an aura and realized they were not alone. She trilled and drew the little ones close, looking around. The little ones made lots of glowing light balls so nothing could hide. Samehada spotted a strange human trying their best to do so anyway. He looked afraid. After watching for a little while, Samehada rumbled. It was safe. While the little ones spread out to explore the room, Samehada kept an eye on the strange human. If he attacked the little ones, he would lose at least one foot.
After watching her for a little while, the strange human edged sideways towards a desk. He slowly opened a drawer and took out one of the glowing talky things that humans used. He talked into it. "Basement room invaded by living dolls and an intelligent shark." Pause. "Four." Another pause. "No sign of humans." One last pause. "They're going through all of my possessions, but not harming anything. Requesting action orders." After listening for a bit, he put the talky thing back in the drawer, closed it and returned to his former position. He watched all of the little ones. That was what he had been told to do: watch. Samehada turned away. He was no threat.
Little One made a broom sweep the floor. It sounded like swish-swish-swish. Samehada stopped to listen to this pleasant sound. Solis walked in circles with his arms out, feeling the strange, still, cool air. Warlic and Manta took down lots of books from the shelves and looked at their fronts. Most of the books had very pretty fronts, with drawings of humans and other animals in pretty landscapes that were green and blue and yellow and red and many other colors. Warlic and Manta made a pile of books that showed humans who looked like they did. Samehada looked at these books, chirring curiously. No real humans dressed in those clothes. What were these pretty pictures meant to be?
Warlic had the same question. After finding a book that showed a blue-robed human with a fancy walking stick and a big pointy hat shooting fireballs at a giant human-pig creature, he levitated it in the air and stared at it for a while. Then he opened it. The inside of the book contained no pictures. It was full of letters, which Samehada had never learned to understand. Warlic and Manta looked at the letters. Did they understand? Samehada couldn't tell. They looked at the letters for a long while, then closed the book and put it on the pile.
Samehada shook her head. She'd gotten so curious about the books that she'd forgotten to look after Solis and Little One. They were both looking up at the strange human. Solis was confused; he said the other strange humans made sounds and touched his head a lot, so why was this one standing so still? Little One worked up the courage to touch the leg of the strange human. He ran and hid behind Solis immediately after. Samehada nudged them both away. Who knew what the strange human wanted.
Warlic had enough of looking at the books. He carried the book with the picture of the pointy-hatted human fighting the pig beast through the air behind him as he went back to the window and summoned all the others. They flew up to the window and climbed out. Samehada climbed up the wall after them. Warlic put his book on the skateboard and wrapped magic around it to make it stay in place. The adventure was over. Warlic sat on top of his book, Manta and Little One joined him, and Solis clung to Samehada's dorsal fin. They all flew up into the air, which Samehada greatly enjoyed, and flew across the great bushland they had adventured through towards the home-place. Warlic crashed the skateboard into the ground, breaking the grass and pushing up a pile of dirt. Solis put Samehada down gently. She nuzzled him and gave his smart little head a lick.
They searched for a human and found one sitting under a tree. It was the thoughtful human whose aura always felt so busy. It didn't feel busy now, but instead calm and friendly. Warlic held the book out to him. "Wherever did you get this?" the thoughtful human murmured as he took it. He looked at the back of it. "'The continued misadventures of the wizard Borowik, whose search for his missing lucky socks leads him into ever greater trouble. Will THIS be the adventure in which he gets his luck back? Or shall the goddess Fortune elude him once more?' Oh… It looks interesting. Sit down, and I will read you the first chapter." Warlic and the others sat. Samehada curled up next to the thoughtful human's leg. He opened the book. "'The legends all say that the life of a great wizard is steeped in glory and magic. Allow me to set the record straight! I am a great wizard, and my life has been steeped in nothing but trouble. If there's one thing magic ain't, it's easy.'"
Samehada very quickly realized that the people and places and events described in the story weren't real. She was shocked. The story that the book told wasn't real, but it was beautiful. Why hadn't Human Cousin told her that the world of mind could be beautiful? She had never seen it or heard it described as anything other than terrifying and sad. As Samehada listened to the story, she started to understand. Humans stayed in the world of mind even when it was terrifying and sad because sometimes it could be beautiful. They hoped if they stayed long enough, the beauty would come back. Samehada didn't think they were correct, but she could understand that desire.
This discovery raised as many questions as it answered. Could the world of mind be more beautiful than the world of real? Could it lure them away, all the humans Samehada cared for, so that they forgot all about her?
Warlic raised his arms when the great wizard Borowik summoned a lightning bolt to defend his fellow travelers from thieves. Samehada let all those questions go. The world of mind wasn't open to her, and she was just as glad.
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A/N: Borowik's socks are the goddess Fortune. She lost a bet with the god of weaving and had to spend the next 50 years as the most trodden-upon article of clothing as a consequence. So yeah: he really needs those socks back.
Perhaps I will elaborate on Borowik's misadventures next chapter. Until then!