A/N: Alright! I am back to my normal level of functioning! For half the day, anyway. Strangely, it's the latter half. You'd think I'd feel most energetic in the morning, but no.
Anyway, some cool stuff happens this chapter. Read on!
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General
Tuesday night's meeting brought multiple pieces of good news. The first of them was that Obito had come home from the hospital.
He walked slowly, easing his body forward like it might shatter, but he walked. Zetsu and Sasori accompanied him out to the backyard. Obito sat down heavily and touched his heart. It was beating hard and fast. "Be gentle," Clone Yahiko told the dolls. They surrounded Obito and stared, probably wondering which personality they were looking at. Little One touched his gloveless right hand. He had his gloves with him; he just hadn't put them on. Putting them on was too much work. He had his mask on, though. That was non-negotiable.
"It's good to have you back," Kisame said with a smile. Samehada trilled happily. A few others echoed agreement.
"Thank you," Obito said. So tired…
The dolls, hearing the voice of the boring personality, walked away. They went to Clone Hidan next. He had cleaned himself as carefully as possible, but Little One found a few strands of dog hair to pick off anyway. "Update on the demon kid: he still enjoys running around doing dog shit more than he enjoys scaring people."
"Let us wait a few moments to begin," Konan suggested.
"No need," replied a voice from the trees. Soye and three of her inner circle emerged into the firelight. That was the second piece of good news: the vampires were still committed to their alliance.
Original Nagato and Yahiko stood up to greet her. They bowed and said, "Welcome." She nodded back, seeming pleased. Then her eyes landed on Original Hidan, fixing their gaze at the base of his throat. He growled and flicked his tail. He knew all about their opinions of Jashinists.
"Calm," Konan said to him. "These are our allies. They have come to discuss the recent change."
Soye sat on her knees in a formal way, near Konan. Her companions sat some distance further away and looked vigilant. They seemed to be guards. Akatsuki members shuffled aside to allow Soye to clearly see all of them. "We have conducted our own observations," she announced. "What we were told appears to be true. Night by night, the human gatherings in the nearby town grow more confused and anxious. The word 'magic' is uttered frequently, almost always in reference to things they saw in the past but did not see as strange. It indeed is true that most humans have recently experienced a sudden increase in awareness." She turned to Konan. "You implied knowledge as to the cause of this change?"
"Yes," Konan said with a nod. She faced her two oldest friends with a somber expression. "This world operates by orderly laws. The revival of dead people has disturbed that order."
That was the third piece of good news. The originals had worked out between themselves a way to explain things that did not involve telling the vampires about the author. Original Nagato and Yahiko were glad to sacrifice their reputations for this cause. The rest of the group had been less happy, but since the sacrificees themselves were perfectly satisfied nobody could complain.
Soye's eyes sharpened. She looked much less pleased. "I see." After a few seconds of thought, she added, "Might their continued existence lead to further disturbance? For that matter, is their revival finished having all of its effects?"
"Neither of those questions have been answered," Konan replied.
"But," Clone Nagato broke in. "These are alternate versions of myself and my best friend that we're talking about. So what if the people in town are more aware? It's not like those people have turned into slobbering monsters who hunger for our flesh. Whatever consequences there might be, we'll gladly accept. We're not going to…send them back to the dead, or anything like that!" Other group members nodded in agreement.
"But reanimating anyone else is strictly prohibited," Konan continued. "We have been performing our own surveillance. We will continue to do so. Any signs of further disturbance will be reported immediately."
"Naturally," Soye said smoothly. Several Akatsuki members shivered. By now, they had become capable of inferring her true message. We have ways of finding out whether you do or do not report your observations immediately. If you do not keep your word, you will regret it. "I must return to monitor the surveillance that is even now ongoing. Any relevant observations will be reported immediately." She and her guards disappeared into the dark forest.
The circle re-closed itself. A collective sigh of relief was breathed. "Now then," Konan said. "What of our own business?"
Original Nagato raised a hand. "Attempts to teach the use of seals in combat have proven fruitful. I propose we expand this training to all group members."
"We're nearly out of ink," Sasori said.
Clone Nagato raised a hand. "I'm familiar with the store that carries it. I'll pick some up after work tomorrow."
"Are there such things as healing seals that can be used on people?" Clone Yahiko asked. Obito looked up.
Original Nagato shook his head. "There are, but we have no knowledge of them."
"Maybe the library has a book on it…"
"Surprisingly, the library's resource room is entirely unaffected by the change," Kakuzu reported. "It's so audaciously unnatural that nobody dares disturb it. The staff members who previously had magical abilities act more nervous now, but they too haven't been directly affected. The former NPCs are unwilling to take action on their new awareness."
"For now," Sasori said. "Let's take advantage while it lasts."
"Having a resource stockpile would not be foolish. Nagato, purchase as much chakra ink as you can," Konan ordered. "Paper for scrolls, bandages, food supplies. We ought to have supplies of all of those. Once the ink is available, I plan to supervise the construction of a giant water-storing seal. This building is technically abandoned. It is possible that our utilities may be cut off."
"A generator, then? To maintain our electricity?" Itachi asked.
"Are such devices meant to operate on a long-term basis?"
"No," Itachi replied. "Generators are meant for short-term emergencies. In order to prepare for a long-term loss of electricity, we would have to rewire the whole base to operate from dynamos."
"That sounds infeasible. Negotiating with the demon boy would be a more efficient use of energy."
Kakuzu raised a hand and said, "A giant water-storing seal would require an equally giant basin to deposit its water in, with pipes or smaller basins connected to that to dispense the water in usable amounts. You're effectively proposing the construction of a seal-based water cooler. What does our resident engineer think?"
The rest of the meeting was spent working out concrete details. Having a series of solvable problems to work on boosted morale a great amount. By the end of the meeting, everyone was in very high spirits. Even Obito, injured as he was, could appreciate the fact that real, tangible progress was being made. In a life of intangible problems where progress was difficult to measure or even detect, that was a wonderful thing to be able to say.
It was a good night.
Clone Nagato
The next day, it was obvious that everybody wanted the good mood of the night before to continue. Nobody said a word about the author, subplots, or narrative convenience. Breakfast was cooked and eaten communally. By the time Nagato left for work, Konan had selected two volunteers to help her choose a location for the water seal. His chest swelled with pride at being part of such an effort.
The dogs sensed this. Their morale lifted too. Nagato had an excellent day of work. The arrival of a young man looking to adopt a dog very much like Jonesy marred his good mood somewhat, but only temporarily. Nagato told himself that adoptions were none of his business. Only Marsha knew what she and the young man agreed to, and Nagato sternly avoided pressing her for information. He focused his thoughts on his own upcoming clearly-defined task.
It was a relief to have such a thing. After a week of puzzling over the complexities of sacrifices and heroism and truth, something as simple and straightforward as buying ink felt like cool water on a burn. Nagato waved goodbye to Marsha, got into his car and started the engine in a very good mood. He spontaneously started to hum a song he liked as he turned out of the parking lot and onto the street.
He walked into the art supply store, took a shopping basket from the stack and headed towards the ink. So far, so ordinary. What he saw when he got there was, by contrast, so bizarre that he nearly dropped the basket in shock.
A strange man was placing the very last of the bottles of ink into a shopping basket. But Nagato barely even noticed that. The man was dressed in full-body iridescent robes, individual strands of every color of the rainbow woven together to form a rainbow-colored weave. This rainbow robe was tied at his waist by a bright blue sash. His long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, allowing Nagato to clearly see his face as he searched the shelf for more ink. He frowned at his single basket of bottles, then picked it up and made to walk away.
"W-wait," Nagato called. The strange man turned. "Are you taking all of the ink?"
"Yes."
"But… But I wanted to take all the ink."
The man looked at him more closely. "You're a mage? You aren't dressed like one."
"Well, I'm not on official business," Nagato heard himself say. Where was he getting these words? "Just shopping."
The mystery man glanced down at his basket. "What do you need this much mana ink for?"
Mana ink? "My group is beginning an ongoing project that requires it, and we have reason to think our supply will be interrupted. We want to stock up now so we don't run out in the middle of our project."
"My needs are more immediate," the mystery man replied. "My fellow scientist is running an experiment which could save lives. He needs a large quantity of mana ink for it. I'm sorry about your project, but…" He glanced helplessly at the empty shelf. Nobody was at fault. Who could have foreseen that two people, both needing lots of magical ink, would patronize the same humble art supply store at the exact same time?
This man, whoever he is, is surely very important. More important than the ink, perhaps. Even so, as the mystery man headed for the checkout counter and Nagato followed him, Nagato hoped fervently that some small bit of narrative convenience remained. Everyone else was so happy to have a project to devote themselves to. Nagato didn't want to ruin that.
There was only one cashier at the counter. One other customer was there buying colored poster paper, but they finished their transaction in seconds. While the mystery man put his basket on the counter, Nagato approached the cashier, who was disposing of the previous customer's rejected receipt. "Excuse me." The cashier looked up with a bored expression that morphed into horror when he saw the strange man. Nagato placed himself between them. "Excuse me. The ink that man is buying…" He looked back at the mysterious man, who helpfully held out a bottle. "Do you have any more in a stockroom? Or will you be getting a delivery soon?"
"Uh, we got another crate this morning, but it's not packed out," the stunned cashier mumbled.
"I should like to save you some work, then," said the mysterious man with a proud smile. He focused his eyes on Nagato's basket and issued orders to someone invisible. "Teleport as many bottles as will fit from the crate to this man's basket. Teleport the remainder onto the shelf." Nagato tightened his grip as his basket instantly filled with bottles of ink, each appearing in a flash of light. Aside from that, he could neither move nor speak. The mysterious man placed his hand on his belly and held it out to Nagato in what seemed to be a respectful gesture. He then motioned towards the cashier, who Nagato still stood in front of. Nagato closed his mouth and got in line.
The cashier scanned the bottles in movements that seemed simultaneously rushed and half-paralyzed. They quoted the price. The mysterious man loosened his sash to get at a belt beneath. He took a pouch from the belt, opened it and issued more orders. "Convert the needed amount of money into the appropriate currency and place it in my hand." Dollar bills flew out of the pouch and into his waiting palm. The cashier robotically accepted the bills and made change, their face chalk-white. They handed coins to the mystery man. He took the coins and stared at them like they were the strangest things he had ever seen before silently passing them on to Nagato.
"How did you just do that?" Nagato asked.
"I command mana to do as I wish," the man replied. He squared his shoulders. "I am glad to have met you. Good fortune to you and your group." He focused intently on his collection of ink bottles and said, "Home." A gaping hole in space appeared next to him. The bottles flew through it. The man followed. The hole closed up behind him as if it, and he, had never existed.
The cashier made several garbled squeaks. "Sit down," Nagato said. "I - I also need to." The cashier sat on their bagging platform and Nagato directly on the floor. As he took deep breaths and massaged confusion lines out of his forehead, he forced himself to focus on only one thing. We need to alert the vampires about this!
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A/N: The mysterious man is the main character of the book I'm writing. Well, no, technically he's going to be the main character of the sequel - the book that I'm writing right now takes place when he is a teenage student. But I have a sequel in mind that takes place decades later, when he is 41 years old and in business.
I would have liked to write the follow-up scene, but I am required to maintain an early bedtime in order to keep the gains I've made in my health. Good night! Read it in next week's chapter!
