A/N: *purr*

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Original Hidan

His first reaction was joy. Fuckin' FINALLY! Challenges to face! Something to fight! Someone to fight, hopefully.

His purring earned him disapproval. Everyone else believed a sudden decrease in narrative convenience was a bad thing. Konan and Original Yahiko both agreed that the timing was poor, with group members in the hospital. "Eh, that just gives the rest of us a good excuse to be out and about," Hidan argued. "Strolling through town as I am will cause way less trouble if I can tell anyone who asks that I'm on my way to visit some sick friends. Who's gonna stop me?"

Konan looked thoughtful. "That is a good point." She excused herself to speak with her vampire friend, looking far less worried than she had before.

"You are diplomatic when you want to be," Original Yahiko said with a smile.

Hidan swished his tail happily. If Yahiko felt comfortable around him, surely Nagato soon would as well. Once they were both willing to let him get close, he would only have to wait for the right moment. Then the hunt would be over.

"Your conspicuous appearance may be useful. Let us strategize," Original Nagato said. The three of them went out to the backyard. There, they plotted out paths for Hidan to take around town. Some would have definite destinations, and others would not. Some would pass by certain areas of interest: the police station, for example. Some included specific activities for him to perform, such as throwing his scythe. Hidan was sent out with instructions to follow two of these paths. The first was a visit to the hospital. From there, the second path was an undefined stroll around the southern end of town. Since he was the only group member to carry a weapon and they wanted to find out how everyone else could expect to be treated, he would leave his scythe behind. Hidan left his scythe in his clone's room, judging that to be the safest place for it.

He returned from his stroll in the evening, at about the same time as everyone was gathering for dinner. He'd planned it that way. Sasori mentioned that an NPC friend of his would be visiting, so they moved more slowly than usual. An extremely plain-looking girl arrived just as dinner was being assembled. Sasori recruited her help in carrying plates. The whole group gathered in the backyard over tacos.

There was one person who abstained from the tacos. "So, how's it feel to be back home?" Clone Hidan asked.

Clone Yahiko leaned listlessly on Clone Nagato's shoulder. "Not like much," he murmured, his eyes half shut.

"You sure you don't want to be in bed?"

"No, I want to hear what everyone…" Clone Yahiko trailed off, shrugging. Complete sentences were beyond his capacity.

"Thank goodness the dolls are good at levitation," Clone Nagato said. The dolls in question sat all around Clone Yahiko, staring at him. Without facial expressions, it was impossible to tell if they were concerned, curious or waiting to rip him apart. Everyone else seemed to assume they were concerned. Hidan didn't like to make such assumptions. He kept an eye on the bastards.

"Um…"

"Let me guess," Sasori said. "You're wondering why the dolls are weird all of a sudden?"

"Yeah," the NPC girl said. "They seemed perfectly normal before. Like oh, yeah, of course my magical ninja friends have living dolls. That makes perfect sense." She blinked rapidly. "Was I in a trance or something…?"

"Or something," Sasori replied.

Konan cleared her throat. "You requested information on how our 'magic' works, yes?" The NPC girl nodded. "Very well. In beginner's terms… We have, circulating within our bodies, a form of energy called chakra. This energy is generated partly by our physical bodies and partly by our souls. It can transform into other forms of energy: heat, light, and so on. That is how chakra affects the outer world."

"People don't usually have that. I think."

Konan nodded. "The people of this world do not. We, however, come from a different world. The people of the world we come from have chakra. It is as natural and universal a body part as feet."

The NPC girl rubbed her head. "I remember learning all this before, but it's like it didn't matter before? Or like I wasn't me before. Like a different person learned it."

"You're not the only one feeling like that," Sasori told her. He looked across the fire. "Other Hidan. What reactions did you get?"

Everyone looked at him. They all knew about his mission. Hidan finished off his last taco before replying. "The NPCs in this town might be more aware, but they're still pussy-asses. They all looked at me, but nobody said shit to my face. They avoided me; the only NPCs who interacted with me at all were the ones at the hospital, who are literally paid to talk to visitors."

"NPCs? What are you -" The NPC girl cut herself off, staring into the fire with widening eyes.

"Yeah…" Sasori murmured. "We've always known that the so-called normal people of this town weren't fully aware. We coined the term NPCs because, well, that's what you acted like. Until today."

"I guess we'd better stop using that term now," Kisame said.

"You…knew that I was in a weird sort of trance?"

"Not a trance, yes we knew, but we couldn't do anything to change it and there was no way to tell you about it," Sasori replied.

The formerly NPC girl looked at Deidara. "But you tried. I remember; Deidara mentioned, a lot of times actually, that nothing ever seemed weird to me. That sometimes he wished he could be like me. I thought he just meant that I seemed like the sort of person who has life figured out."

Deidara's face was bright red. "W-well, you do have life a little more figured out than me, yeah."

"You'd willingly let yourself become a half-coded video game character?" Clone Kakuzu asked. His voice oozed disappointment.

Deidara cringed. "No! They just don't have as much to worry about, yeah. I mean, didn't."

Sasori cleared his throat. "There are more important things to focus on. Chief among them is this: why have the nonmagical residents of this town suddenly become fully aware?"

"That is a consequence of my actions," Original Nagato said. The clones all looked at him. He faced them like a condemned prisoner facing the executioner. "The force that controls their levels of awareness was listening when I announced that our excessively convenient circumstances are harmful rather than helpful."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kisame asked.

"That's very dangerous," Clone Kakuzu said.

"Focus check!" Clone Hidan called. He closed his eyes and concentrated. "Yeah, I feel it."

"Eep." Deidara had gone pale.

Kisame unconsciously clutched his last remaining taco to his chest. "It's that easy to rewrite our reality now?"

"Don't panic," Clone Kakuzu ordered. "Panicking might very well produce more sudden changes." Kisame gulped.

"Perhaps it could be a good thing," Itachi said.

"Rewriting the laws of reality itself cannot ever be a good thing," Kisame retorted. He stiffened and glanced at Kakuzu, who was shooting him a look. He stuffed his last taco into his mouth.

Meanwhile, Samehada growled at the plain girl. It wasn't a threatening growl, more of a "You'd better listen to me" sort of growl. The shark nudged her shoulder and made low-pitched sounds.

"I won't hurt anyone," the plain girl promised. "I'm not even upset at anyone, just confused." Samehada chirped happily and licked her cheek before returning to Kisame's side and trilling. Kisame relaxed.

"Speaking of paranoid people, how'd the vampires take the news?" Clone Hidan asked.

"They were somewhat aware of the NPC phenomenon, but it had little effect on their lives. They are not concerned about the change. They are more worried about why and how said change happened." Konan looked down. "That may lead to some tension." Translation: the vampires know that she knows things, but she's refusing to tell them.

"I'll check in with the demon kid tomorrow, find out what he thinks," Clone Hidan promised.

"I'll check in with the other demons," Sasori added. "Have they noticed any changes? The fact that we're no longer covered by it doesn't have to mean that they aren't."

"Good point," Clone Hidan said. "Are nonmagical people more aware in general, or just more aware of us?"

"Other demons?" the plain girl asked, her eyes widening. "What do you mean by 'demons'?"

"I suspect that awareness of the supernatural is a blanket affair. If it's lifted at all, it's lifted for everyone," Itachi said. "That is the method that makes the most sense to me."

"Are we talking about fire and brimstone, or…?"

"There are no pitchforks involved and no torturing," Sasori assured her. "I can go into more detail some other time."

Kisame swallowed his mouthful of taco. "So we're not in immediate danger?"

"Not in immediate danger," Konan echoed.

"Good. Is Yahiko still conscious?"

"Uh huh," Clone Yahiko muttered. Clone Nagato supported the entirety of his weight. He wasn't going to move under his own power for the rest of the night.

Dinner was declared done. The dolls, taking orders from Clone Nagato, levitated Clone Yahiko into the air and carried him inside. Original Yahiko looked greatly relieved. As an afterthought, Konan told everyone that the preexisting plans for watching over Obito were still in effect. No change there. Nobody had expected any. Sasori led his friend around the side of the building, speaking quietly. Hidan retrieved his scythe from his clone's room, went upstairs to his own and stretched. He'd never cared much about how he was perceived. As long as the former NPCs didn't try to imprison him, he didn't care how aware they were. Food, exercise and naps: that was all that mattered. He didn't need anything else.

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A/N: Snappy chapters are the best chapters.

Short chapters! Woo!