A/N: Content Warnng: The following chapter contains material that may be disturbing to some readers, like crying. It may also contain some degree of angst. Tobi and Zetsu will be showing up, and of course they're evil (they're bad guys, after all), so be warned. The setting's getting a massive update that probably qualifies as a full rewrite, and one of the characters is secretly a girl. I know that people who've read this story this far probably hate crying and surprises, so here's a warning.

The following is a load of guesswork. I have no knowledge of bicycle repair.

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Sasori

"Cheap bastard," Sasori muttered as he hung his jacket in its usual place.

Laurie looked up from her thoughts. "You said that yesterday. It's been most of a day." She sounded worried.

Sasori attempted to calm her with a smile. "It's just a true as it was yesterday. Kakuzu must have made a hefty profit for himself, charging me that much for the use of his truck. Yesterday I was mad. Today, I can't help but admire the move."

Laurie smiled back. "Yeah, even I know there's no way gas and wear-and-tear actually cost that much, even with having to get a tarp."

Sasori's face fell. "You haven't seen the pictures," he realized.

"Pictures?"

Sasori sent a quick message to Deidara to let him know that Laurie wanted the pictures. "They're the whole reason we have each other's numbers in the first place. Deidara and Hidan had so much fun taking them." Sasori's lips twitched into a smirk. "I'll let him have the joy of sharing them. It's been a while." Or at least it feels like it has. So much has happened, and who knows how much more will happen. I feel like I can stay afloat of what there is, for now. But what if more comes? He suppressed a shiver.

"You think we should send a card?" Laurie wondered.

Sasori looked at her in disbelief. She asked, "What? He's in the hospital. I know we're all happier to be on our own, but it's what any decent person would do."

Sasori allowed himself to chuckle. "If you insist." He sobered. "But do it quickly. I am going to need a lot of help sorting them out."

While Laurie dashed off to write a card, Sasori walked out the propped-open door of his workspace and pulled down the tarp. The dew from sitting overnight made his hands wet, but at least it had not touched the disassembled bicycle parts beneath. It had taken 3 trips, each with extensive piling, to take all of them here, and Kakuzu had made him pay out of the nose for every one. Sasori might have put up more of a complaint if not for the look of vicious glee he had seen on Kakuzu's face. Hidan looked like something that might have preyed on Sasori's distant mammalian ancestors, and Kakuzu looked like something that would have torn open their nests. I can finally understand why those two are friends.

The pile took up a decent portion of the small back lot. Sasori did not know how much he could realistically get to in one day, but he was determined to reassemble as many as he could. He checked the sky (partly cloudy; he hoped it wouldn't rain), then spread the tarp on the ground and began to lay out bits and pieces. He began by color and size, taking the largest pieces first and sorting them into piles of similar colors. Colorless pieces like front wheels and handlebars, he put in their own piles, as he did with the chains that were still tangled in Gordian knots. He hoped he wouldn't have to deal with them the same way.

By the time he was mostly done reducing the big pile to 7 smaller piles, Laurie came out. "It's done. I tried to be as fast as I could, and wow you've gotten a lot done. Okay."

Sasori gestured to what remained of the big pile: a heap of small bits. "I haven't gotten close to starting." He showed her around to all of the piles, explaining what they were. "Start there," he said, pointing to the piles of broken frame parts. "Frames often have writing on them telling you what brand they are. That'll help you match them."

Laurie nodded and bent to look through the reddish pile. Sasori sat back to think. What can I, and only I, do? As much as I'd like to stall by untangling those gears, anyone with fingers can do that. I should stop delaying and get to actual work. He took a deep breath and let it out, before sorting the front wheels into different kinds.

Soon enough, his mind settled itself into montage mode. Sasori perceived his day almost as if he was watching himself in a movie. Laurie had great success matching frame parts of the same shade and lettering. Sasori would take one matched group at a time into his workshop, then take the frontmost part back outside to compare to the various handlebars. He got very good at matching handlebars to frames, and Laurie became very knowledgeable about different bicycle brands from looking them up to determine what kind of wheels they should have. When she wasn't doing that, she managed to work out all but 3 of the chains trapped in the knot. Sasori spent a lot of time carefully assembling the delicate gear systems of the rear wheels, for the ones whose rear wheels were mostly intact. There were some he could do nothing for with his current equipment, because his current equipment did not include an air pump or anything that could straighten bent metal rims. These were moved into the manager's office for a long-term stay.

To Sasori's surprise, many bicycles were in fairly good condition, fit for immediate release. They had lots of cosmetic and noncrippling damage, but he thought they would understand if he considered being able to move to be good enough. Every time Sasori came out of his workspace, he glanced at the edge of the parking lot where he was leaving them and saw fewer there than he had before.

The greatest source of frustration for him was the ambiguous cases. Would duct tape suffice, or should he keep them until he had more advanced equipment? Sasori had no idea what might be required to put broken frames back together. He ended up releasing the ones that were mostly straight and required the least duct taping, but he was not confident about several of those cases. He told all of the ambiguous ones he released to come back as soon as they detected any problems, or in a few days when he would hopefully be done triaging.

The ambiguous ones he did not release overfilled the manager's office, so he moved them out to the hallways, and then into the front lobby. Laurie thanked her lucky stars that one of the things she had learned best from her failed martial arts training was coordination. It took some balance to walk back and forth past them, even though Sasori had done his best to line them up in single file all along one side of the main hallway.

Sasori lost count of how many he released or kept by the end of the day. There might have been a half dozen released, and a lot more that would be ready for release as soon as he figured out where all those little screws went. Laurie rubbed her wrists and wondered about carpal tunnel syndrome. Sasori drummed his fingers.

"I can feel my mind racing," he told Laurie. "I can see all of the ones I have in here, flashing before my eyes, and I'm matching them to little bits and bobs right now. I can't stop thinking. I have to -"

She grabbed his arm, silencing him. "No. It's been a long day. Get the tarp. Put it over the rest. Maybe that'll help you put it out of your mind."

Sasori resisted the idea, but gave it a try. For the first time all day, he saw the diminished size of each pile. Some of the frame piles were gone; all that really remained were wheels he had yet to place and the one pile of small bits, which was not at all diminished in size. He didn't relish trying to handle that tomorrow. Seeing the big picture like this, and putting the tarp over the remaining piles, really did help his mind calm down. Suddenly he felt very tired.

He stumbled across the small lot to sit behind his motorcycle, underneath a type of decorative tall grass that probably had a box buried somewhere beneath its fronds. It was the same decorative plant that had made such good cover when he snuck back to get his tools and bring them to the base. Now here he was, having made the reverse journey, and sitting on the opposite side of the plant. For some reason this seemed relevant.

"Hey," he greeted his motorcycle.

This simple action, so small and innocuous, the sort of thing anyone could do, snapped his recent activities into sharp focus. Sasori looked up, staring off into space. Oh my god, I talk to my ride now.

This simple act of greeting his motorcycle changed his entire view of himself, which had not changed in response to anything before. Sasori realized he was now a person who would regularly talk to his vehicle. He saw a future version of himself waving to a bicycle he passed on the sidewalk. He was now the kind of person that would do those things.

When did I…? Sasori dug through every memory he had of recent times, but no matter how hard he looked he couldn't find any definite moment when this change had taken place. He had talked to the two bicycles that needed fixing before, but before that he had talked to the big one as he was carrying it, and before that he had called it a customer, and he and Laurie had refused to speak about the racing bike, and…

Perhaps he had always been this kind of person.

Sasori swallowed. His hands curled into fists. Talking to something means you think it's like you are, or you're like it is. Similar. I'm not a machine, but Other Me was. He was a literal puppet. Did that change how he thought of himself? Did I inherit that from him?

Sasori looked to the right at his motorcycle and shivered.

Konan

Earlier...

Konan turned to paper and scattered, just ahead of the scythe's deadly blades. "Fuck!" Hidan yelled. "You alright?"

She reformed above her previous position, on the largest branch of a tree. "Yes." It was not a very large branch. She felt a sudden pang of nostalgia for trees that one could sit horizontally on, with one's back against the trunk and legs stretched out along the branch. It was such a little thing that she would never be able to do again, but that was exactly why it was so important.

Hidan picked his scythe up from where it had landed before looking up at her. "You alright?"

"Not quite." Konan looked down at him. She wasn't helping him train very much, not when she was this distracted. For once, she did not read too much into what being distracted meant. Anyone would be, if they had the kind of thoughts she was having. She leaped down to join him. "No."

Hidan tilted his head. "Lemme guess. You're worried about more stuff happening?"

Konan nodded. "During my training, I made up a list of unspoken things one agrees to by becoming a shinobi," she told him. "One of the entries, one of the first ones, is that ninjas give up the right to disbelieve anything. A shinobi must be one who adapts, who blends in, who can do whatever is required to complete the mission. Circumstances can reverse in a matter of seconds, and a ninja must reverse course with them. Anyone who can't do this will die in their first chaotic battle."

She turned and began to pace. "I have followed these unspoken rules all my life," she murmured. "I have been surprised by very little. I have adapted to whatever was required of me. I have built up my abilities. I have not thought very much about my personal desires, my personal self." She stopped pacing and looked at Hidan. "For that is what a ninja must do. My world is different from this one. People are not meant to strike out on their own; all people, but especially ninjas, ought to serve and protect others. Shinobi are a step up from tools."

Hidan grimaced, but stayed silent. Konan resumed pacing. "That is why I've had such trouble on my own, with nobody to answer to and nothing familiar. You asked if I had seen any patterns in myself, and I had not. I had never even looked. Why should I look at myself and think about myself? I've only seen what I've done, not what I am. The first is the effect I have on others, which is obviously important. The second is personal and not so important."

She paced faster and faster, eyes darting around the ground. "But now, in this world, alone, I must. In this world, the rules of being a shinobi no longer hold true. I must think of myself. I must find stability. And I must disbelieve." She stopped pacing abruptly and whirled around to face Hidan. "Even I have limits. Back home, it was relatively easy to suspend disbelief. Once you had learned enough about chakra and how it worked, it was easy to see how everything was related. I could see how all kinds of strange powers and phenomenon were extensions of ordinary, everyday capabilities of chakra. It made sense."

Konan took a deep breath and returned to where she had been sitting when Hidan's scythe came at her. She took several seconds to adjust her perch on the large boulder before speaking again. "That isn't the case here. The demon boy's powers have no relation to what I've seen before, but I could identify how they worked, at least. He appears to be made of darkness, which is a material capable of changing its properties and of warping space and time. I can understand his powers now. And the other demon - she had the power to pull out souls. Nagato has a similar power, so I can understand that."

She sighed. "But then we encountered vampires, and although my world also had legends about creatures that drain life from their victims, I have never heard an explanation for how their powers work. My knowledge of the foundational principles is sorely lacking. And now the bicycles…"

She looked up at Hidan, allowing herself to feel rather helpless. "There are no basic principles I can apply there. I can't see their existence as a logical extension of anything. I can't understand what they are, because I have nothing to understand them from." Her shoulders slumped. "For the first time, I really am powerless to make sense of something."

Hidan looked at the ground, wrinkling his brow. Konan was glad of the break. It gave her time to catch her breath. What is this world? It was the first thing I asked upon waking in the grass. I thought I had it answered once I looked around. I thought the answer was as easy as, "This is a different world, with different but similar rules." Konan narrowed her eyes. That was a false answer. It was too easy. This is not simply a different world with different rules. It is a world of some kind, but not… Ah, I hardly know how to think of it. It is a different world, but it is not. What the hell is happening here?

Finally I understand just how topsy-turvy the others have felt all along.

Hidan joined her on the boulder. He propped his scythe against its side, then put a comforting arm across her shoulders. "Hey. You'll be okay. I think everyone kinda feels like they're in a flood and trying to swim. Even me," he admitted. "Because some part of me remembers things that are important, so I feel all happy or scared about some things and I don't know why, and I can't predict what I'll react to 'cause I don't remember what caused it." He shook her back and forth slightly. "But I'm learning to swim, and everyone else is too, and you will. It'll be fine."

Konan closed her eyes. Learning to swim? That's just what I was talking about. A ninja must adapt. She shook her head. "I know. I have not had to work so hard to adapt for a long time, though. Not since my parents were killed."

Hidan tightened his grip on her shoulders. "We'll be fine." Konan smiled at his use of the plural pronoun. We. I really am in the same place as them now, aren't I? If she was to be so thoroughly confused, at least she did not have to be alone. She leaned into Hidan's shoulder and felt comforted.

Hidan gave them both a minute of silence, then moved them to a more pleasant topic. "I think we should do this somewhere else," he said. "Forget aiming or dodging, or any of that shit. I can't even tell how it fucking moves. I need an open field just to learn that, before I can do anything else."

"Why do you want to?" Konan asked. "I understand why it would be useful, and you did nearly chop your own leg off in the battle with Deidara. But beyond that, why do you wish to have control over your scythe? Its wildness is what makes it so dangerous."

Hidan shrugged. "I don't have anything else. If I had any other skills, it'd be fine to have a weird, twisty, dangerous thing on a rope. If I didn't have to use it so much, that would be fine. But I did have to use it a lot. I had to use it up close, and far away, and for slicing and capturing spiders and sweeping spiders away and for all kinds of different shit like that." Hidan picked his scythe up by its head and placed it in his lap. "If I'm using it for that much, I need more control. If that makes it less dangerous, then fucking fine."

Konan looked down at the length of rope he had on his waist. "With this length of rope, you could become a long-range fighter if you did get control over it."

"Yeah, exactly." Hidan pouted. "But only if I do."

Konan looked around the clearing they were using. It was the same clearing Hidan had previously devastated, so there was not much left to fall down. However, the safely-cleared space was still too small, and Hidan had been struggling a lot. "Very well. But that will take a lot of practice."

Hidan scratched his head. "Shit can't get much weirder than bicycles, and Sunshine and Moonlight are starting to figure things out. I'll have time off soon."

Konan smiled and laid her hand over his. "I have yet to figure out how to thank you for that."

Hidan nuzzled her forehead. "Hey, no. Why are you thanking me? I wanted to be here, and that's the price of being here. Everything's settled as far as debt's concerned. I should be thanking you."

Konan closed her eyes. "I am grateful anyway."

"Aw, thanks."

Hidan took his arm down from her shoulders, and they sat together for 3 seconds before he thought of something. "Hey, did you ever use that feather and shit you wanted me to get?"

"I wished to get them for you," Konan told him. First he thinks I want cat treats, now he thinks he ought to be thanking me for his membership in this fragile group. His sense of what is really happening is funny. "Although the feather might be interesting. I have them both in my room."

Hidan blinked. "Oh, well, if that's what's going on then let's go!"

"Stay here," Konan ordered. "I'll bring them out." Hidan purred and started looking for a leaf to occupy himself with.

When she returned with feather and treats, he stop tickling his nose with the wet leaf and put it on top of his head. They had great fun tickling each other's cheeks with the feather, which Konan was surprised to find was extremely pleasant. She restrained herself from purring as Hidan did just in time. He succeeded in persuading her to try a treat, but it was not nearly as pleasant as the feather was. Hidan looked disappointed, but consoled himself with the knowledge that at least he had all the treats to himself.

The sun shone through the trees and warmed the boulder they sat on. It was a very good morning.

Yahiko

It occurred to Yahiko sometime during the first half of his work day that Hidan's scythe could do a lot of damage to trees. That was why, instead of reading more about water spirits over his lunch break, he chose to research wood spirits instead. Oh man, I got my priorities wrong. Water spirits are interesting, but practicing fighting in the forest could really anger the wood spirits. I need to make it up to them before any trouble happens.

When he opened his work locker, confetti sprayed out at him. What?! Yahiko stumbled backward, wiping bits of paper off of his face. Why is there confetti in my locker? Fortunately nothing else had been tampered with in there, so he took his book and his lunch and went to the break area to eat and study.

He wasn't going to ask who had put confetti in his locker, since it really wasn't a big deal and he had important things to do. But when he got to the break area, someone from the shoes department started snickering. "You have something in your hair," he said between chuckles.

Yahiko brushed several more paper flakes out of his hair. "Why was there confetti in my locker?"

The guy continued snickering. Meanwhile, someone else Yahiko didn't recognize walked in, just in time to hear the question. This third person glared at the shoes guy. "Dude, that's not even funny."

"Yeah it is," the giggler argued.

The third guy shrugged at Yahiko. "Ignore him. He has no holiday spirit at all."

"Holiday spirit?" Yahiko brushed some more confetti out of his hair while he waited for someone to resolve his confusion.

"Yeah. You'd think someone who looks forward to April Fool's Day all year would at least know how it was supposed to be celebrated." The third guy sat down at the table. "It's not for pranks, it's for actually funny things."

"It totally is for pranks!" The giggler had stopped giggling. "That's the whole point."

"No it isn't."

They started a spirited discussion about what April Fool's Day was for, the definition of a prank, which kinds of pranks were appropriate and which were not, and probably something else that Yahiko did not pay attention to because he was too busy being horrified that he had so completely lost track of what day it was. He couldn't remember the last time he'd thought of the current day as anything other than "X days since the fight with the succubus" or "Y days since Konan showed up." The whole manner in which he located himself in time was different now, he realized.

While the other two argued, he went back to his locker, pulled out his phone, and sent a message in the group chat reminding everyone that days had dates now. I hope Hidan and Deidara still have time to plan something, he thought. They seem to really like pranks and fun.

Then, he returned to the break area, made space for himself away from the others, and got around to eating.

Deidara

By the time Deidara received Yahiko's message, he had already been sitting by the lake for hours wondering what he should do. Sasori's text about the pictures had reminded him.

Dammit, yeah. What should I do? He had already worked out that he couldn't surprise Kakuzu with something money-related again, it wasn't a good idea to surprise Sasori, and actually he would be able to surprise nobody after Sasori's news about the bicycles last night. So what was he to do if everyone he knew was all out of surprise? He hadn't been able to think of anything, so he'd come out to the lake to try making clay flies like he had thought of during the battle.

It's not working, yeah. I can't focus on them when I have to plan something! Deidara buried his face in his hands. Normally, he wasn't so pressed for time, and had plenty of ideas by the time this day rolled around. But recent times were not normal, and he could think of nothing that came close to the level of surprise they had all lived through over the past two weeks.

Maybe I need to change my focus, hm. It's supposed to be a day of fun. Even if nobody would want a surprise, we could all use some fun, yeah. So maybe just do something entertaining? He had no ideas there either, though. Aaaaggh!

Deidara groaned and unburied his face, about to resolve himself to just not being able to do anything, when his phone beeped. It was a message from Hidan directly to him, that read Hey, dickface, wanna mess shit up?

Deidara tried to text back, but his messaging app abruptly closed. What the hell? He opened it again, only to find no record of a direct conversation with Hidan. He couldn't find the message in any conversation. What? Is someone messing with me? He looked around.

I really can't think of anything on my own, though. Maybe it would be a good idea to plan with him. Deidara began a conversation with Hidan to ask where he was so they could plan together.

Fuck yeah! was the response he got. I don't normally plan together, but yeah, with this little time I need to. Great idea! I'm by a clearing only I and Konan have ever been to, I think. Where are you?

By the lake, Deidara messaged back. Then the blonde closed his phone and tucked it away, and wondered about the first message. If he thinks it was my idea, that means he doesn't remember coming up with it, yeah. Or, since I have no record of that text, hm, he really didn't come up with it. Something's going on. Deidara considered whether the mysterious event was good or bad. Well, it did help me come up with an idea, yeah. I guess it's okay.

On the other side of the trunk of a tree behind Deidara, the demon boy crossed an entry off a list he had written on a conjured notepad and grinned. Now to cross off the rest!

General

Hidan and Konan set off toward the lake, Hidan leading in his eagerness to help Deidara think of a suitable surprise. His mind was already churning with vague ideas. Konan followed at a discrete distance, her mind having already come up with several fully-formed ideas. She would share them later, if they hadn't thought of something on their own.

As busy as he was, Hidan was not paying attention as he plowed onward. He started paying a lot more attention after a whole yard's worth of wet leaves fell on his head. The fuck? The pile buried him, surrounding him in darkness that smelled of wet leaves. It was a nice smell. Hidan moved his arms, and found that the leaves felt nice too. Mmmmm. He closed his eyes and started to roll, purring.

When Nagato picked up his phone to inquire about the cellphone plan he was trying to get for Konan, he heard circus music for the first half minute. Yahiko struggled to keep from spitting liquid all over his book after he saw that select words and drawings were glowing and turning to look at him. Stitchy was joined by several clones, all of them giving off a menacing aura that told Deidara if he picked up the wrong one, it would explode. He couldn't tell which was the real Stitchy and which was a mirage, since they all moved if he commanded. But when he asked Clay to pick up the real Stitchy and hand it to him, thinking that asking a clay owl such a question was an idea just ridiculous enough to work, Clay actually did so. Deidara stuck his tongue out in all directions. The boy grinned from his hidden perch.

Konan did not help Hidan out of the pile of wet leaves, since he seemed to have no desire to leave. While she waited for him to finish rolling, she found that the feather, which she distinctly remembered picking up, was missing. She decided to play along and go back to the clearing in case she'd forgotten it. There, she found that there no longer was a clearing, but rather a young stand of forest filled with wildflowers. She plucked the carefully-balanced feather off the boulder and wondered how much energy this had taken. The young snake panted silently on the other side of the boulder.

Sasori was startled out of his fears by the sound of a bicycle bell, but when he looked around there was no bicycle. Kakuzu tried to shake off an annoyingly persistent kitten, to no avail. Several people rushed past Kisame in the middle of the day, one of them looking very familiar. The friendly Asian kid he'd talked to before stopped to mention that Harbi had gotten loose again, somehow. Curious, Kisame joined in the search, only to find himself yanked to the side and into another exhibit room by unseen hands. Before he could panic, he saw an octopus splashing in the touch pool. Kisame approached. "Harbi?" The octopus squeezed into a small crevice and turned purple as soon as he said this.

A faint whoosh announced the lid of the shark tank opening. Samehada changed course in his swimming and wondered. It never opened or closed in the middle of the day like that. Did it open because it is good to be out right now? He got out of the tank and started chirring questioningly. That was when someone ran into the room, stopped, and looked around. "How did I get here?" he wondered aloud. Nearby shark-watchers glanced at him. He waved shyly before announcing, "Sorry, sorry. I was just looking for an escaped octopus. If you see one, please alert a member of staff."

Samehada lolled his tongue out of his mouth. Harbi! He wriggled up the ceiling and out of the room, searching for Kisame. He was pretty sure Human Cousin counted as staff, so he might know where Harbi was.

Meanwhile, Kisame tried to negotiate with the creature. "Um, hi. I work with the sharks." Harbi did not move. "I'm not here to return you to your tank." Still no movement or color change. Kisame groaned. I don't speak octopus. I don't even know what the language of Octopus is. Do they communicate with color changing? I should find somebody more qualified.

Just then, Samehada found Kisame standing next to a shallow pool of water in a room where there were few people, and all of them at other pools. He dropped down from the ceiling onto the floor and wriggled his way up and into the pool, chirring and chirping and waving his fins and tail in ways that said Good good fun play fun yes? yes? fun play joy! The water was very nice and warm. Samehada made sounds of joy into it.

He saw a rock change color and start to uncurl. Color changing? Harbi! Samehada shivered in delight. What kind of creature was an octopus? He couldn't wait to see!

Kisame stepped back and stayed silent as Harbi uncurled, exposing his tentacles and suckers and spreading wide like a giant umbrella in front of Samehada. The shark went still, making a low sound that sounded like awe. Harbi flowed in that unique way only a boneless creature can over Samehada's head, attaching himself briefly to Same's dorsal fin, then wrapping his tentacles securely over Samehada's tail. Samehada made happy sounds. Kisame felt the urge to laugh, which he gave into, quietly. How did Samehada convince him to come out? And who released Harbi in the first place? There's no way he should be able to escape during the day, with people watching him. Someone pulled me this way, too. Thank you, whoever you are, for setting this up. Kisame forced his suspicions aside to make way for happiness. Samehada lifted his tail, swinging it around gently to give Harbi a different view. This was no time to be a grump.

A series of oddly compelling glimpses led Itachi to the aquarium, where he went in search of Kisame. He eventually found Kisame in one of the last rooms he ever expected, watching Samehada race an octopus across the length of a touch pool. "There is no way that should be allowed."

Kisame snorted. "Someone let Harbi out in the middle of the day, pulled me here, probably let Same out, and now there are a lot less people in this room than there probably should be. I'm just going with it."

"Ah." Itachi stood there and watched Samehada lose the race, then lose the "pretend to be a rock" contest. The shark did not seem unhappy after losing; in fact, he filled the air with cheerful warbling. "He seems happy. I wonder if he knew what an octopus was before meeting this Harbi."

"Probably not," Kisame muttered.

"How are they communicating?"

"I have no idea."

Samehada rumbled into the water and twitched his fins. Harbi changed colors and squirted a jet of water his way. Same did not have any experience with octopus signals, but he guessed that meant play fun fun yes sneaky hiding games you? Samehada waved his tail in assent. Harbi turned invisible, and Samehada pretended to have trouble finding him. Of course he could taste chakra coming off of Harbi's skin, but the octopus didn't have to know about that.

"I saw illusions," Itachi murmured quietly. "And that is a variety of coincidences you describe. I had no idea the demon boy's idea of April Fool's pranks was this harmless."

Kisame twitched. "Him?" But Itachi was right. Kisame forced himself to relax. "Fine. I guess what I wanted to say earlier still stands. If he did set this up, I have to thank him."

The sound of splashing drew both their eyes to a certain corner of the pool, where a small child was now standing on a stool and splashing in the water. Neither of them had noticed him, despite his black hair and snake eyes. "How the hell does he do that?" Kisame whispered to Itachi.

"I have no idea." I wonder if my Sharingan would have detected him despite his stealth.

Harbi turned mild shades of blue and green before wrapping himself around the boy's hand. The boy's perpetually sad face brightened enough to smile, just a little.

Kisame elbowed Itachi and said, "I agree with what you said earlier. This is the weirdest April Fool's Day ever." He watched the boy pet Harbi before adding, "I like it, though."

.

A/N: Surprise! I've had this day in mind since before any part of this story was even written, all the way back to the first moment after my mind casually threw up a late March start date for the story. I've been keeping track all this time. So now we're here! Yay!

I had no idea how I was going to work the April Fool's element in, so I was just going to write like normal and figure things out later, but then the scene with Yahiko happened and I realized I needed something else to happen besides him deciding to read a book and that's when I knew. Oh. Oh yes. Muahaha!

Something in the false warning at the start of this chapter is vaguely true, in a mutated way. Have fun guessing. (I love it when I can say things like that.)

And no, I have no idea what Hidan and Deidara are going to think of, or what Konan has already thought of. This is gonna be so much fun!