Chapter 13: Children

General

They returned home under cover of darkness. The hospital grounds had already been swarming with darkness, but the road outside had a beam or two fall upon it. Before Konan finished interrogating Hidan on how he knew the demon boy, those beams were gone.

Hidan paused before the door and tilted his head. He mostly felt relaxed, in the way that can lead to sleepiness, and there was only mild pressure on his eyelids. Nobody was asleep yet. He opened the door and walked inside, yawning loudly. There was a dim light down the hall. They went to investigate.

"Looks like someone's been making friends without me," Hidan smirked.

Kakuzu looked up with patient toleration on his face as he dealt cards to everyone else at the table. "I have a right to."

Hidan ran back to the lobby and grabbed the comfy receptionist's chair, bringing it back to the little table in the kitchen and sitting on it backwards. "I didn't know you could. How ya guys doing? What's the game?"

Nagato studied his cards with a deliberately blank face. "It's 500 Rummy. We had to use a second deck. Kakuzu's not playing, so Itachi's winning right now."

Yahiko's face fell as he looked at his hand. "Oh man… Please tell me you guys have better news. Anything to delay my brutal death a little longer please." Hidan winced at that. It was as if his vision had changed just for a moment… He wondered what Konan saw. Yeah, as if she would tell him. He knew better than that.

"We found nothing dangerous on this street, except for all the way at the other end where this little fucker I used to trip over up until the last few months has disappeared to. He's not super dangerous, like he wouldn't kill anyone, but you might want to watch out for your mind around him. Once you know to do that he's fine. He's a little kid, like 8 or so, with white hair and dark clothes and an X of leather straps on his chest."

Kakuzu looked at him suspiciously from the side of his eyes. "What is it with you and little kids?"

Hidan blew a raspberry at him. "I meet interesting people in this line of existence, okay? You make it sound like I'm a pedo or something. If anything, my type's people who are older than me."

Konan smacked him lightly on the back of his head, enough to get everyone's attention. "Hidan."

"Whazzit?" he asked while rubbing the back of his head.

"This is exactly the sort of thing I asked you tell me about, is it not?"

"Huh? Oh, that searching my memories shit? Eh...what is?"

"You didn't tell me you knew any other strange children."

Hidan grumbled. "Oh. Shit. Okay, that's fucking it." He turned to Kakuzu. "I've been trying not to be crap at that whole remembering important things deal for all of today, and it's not fucking working. You know all the stuff that's important enough for her to need to know now, right? You tell her." He turned back to Konan. "Yeah, probably should have thought that would be important after the first kid. Whaddaya want to know?"

Konan would have thought deciding what she needed to know about this other child was something he knew how to do. "You should know how to filter the unimportant from the important, Hidan. Has something changed?"

Poorly muffled laughter burst from several spots around the table. Itachi activated his Sharingan, wondering if that had been intentional. He found to his surprise that it was not. Hidan stuck his tongue out at them all. Then he sighed. "Fine. Tell me if I'm leaving anything out."

"The other kid, I met two months ago in an alley while it was raining. He was out of the rain under some kind of awning, and I didn't notice he was there until like a minute after I got out of the rain by sitting under the other awning across from him. In my defense, he was super quiet and hidden by some cans and his outfit was all the right colors to not be super visible, okay? It was like camouflage!

"I got this weird feeling like I wasn't alone after a minute and looked around. I wouldn't have even seen him if I hadn't gotten that feeling. So, there he was, next to a garbage can taller than he was. And he looked sad. As soon as I started looking at him, I could feel sadness, like everything was just far away from him and he didn't know where he was or where anything was anymore. He was just looking at me kinda blank, holding his stuffed snake, just watching to see what i would do. I don't know if he expected me to do anything.

"So I went out into the rain in the alley and kneeled in front of him, and it felt really weird. Like we were the only people who understood how wrong everything was. I saw in the way he looked at me that he realized I understood, but he didn't say anything. He just held out his little stuffed snake. I knew that was a kinda demonstration of something, like trust or some shit, so I petted it and then he took it back. And then I got the feeling the moment was over so I left and found better shelter.

"The kid was toddler age or so. Like I said, the garbage can was taller than he was, he probably could've hidden inside an empty one. He had this long black hair, and snake eyes, and they were purple around for some reason, and he was all in white. Faded white, not bright new bride-on-her-wedding-day white, I would've seen that! It was like a long robe, I couldn't see his feet. And the stuffed snake toy was white with a few black stripes and almost large enough for it to drag even when he carried it on his shoulder. Almost. It had to be seriously pushing the upper limits of comfortable there."

Hidan looked like he was trying to think of anything more, but didn't find anything. "And that was all that happened. That good?"

Most everyone had lain their cards down on the table and paid full attention as he told the story, and the others were holding onto their cards out of reflex as they did so. As the silence dragged on, eyes shifted to Konan. Itachi activated the Sharingan again. It was good for so many things! With it, he analyzed her facial expression. Some muscles twitched near her jaw, revealing that she wanted to say something but was holding back. Some other muscles twitched that would have pulled her lips into a smile. Whatever it was that she was reacting to, Hidan's description had evidently been much more important to her than to anyone else. What wasn't she saying?

Hidan felt a flicker of the same giving of the mind that had made her laugh insanely earlier, and was quite worried. "Konan? Everything okay?"

This is bad. Konan thought she might have some understanding now of how the clones had felt when she brought out her jutsu and smashed their perception of their world to pieces. This time, it was her world being smashed to pieces. What was more, it was also the world she had convinced them to trust in. The feeling of unreality probably hid her emotions from Hidan, but she was well aware that a good emotion to be feeling at this moment was fear. If I tell them I was wrong, they will not trust me ever again.

She pulled a thick cover across that part of her mind, stilled her body, and lied right to Hidan's face. "Yes. Everything's fine. I was just surprised at that description. I think I have met these two children before as well."

Hidan sat upright. "You too? Hold a sec. Did you meet them, or did they meet you?"

"The second. Why?" Konan wasn't sure whether or not she was surprised by Hidan's ability to grasp the difference.

Hidan blew a raspberry at Kakuzu again. "That's just what I've been trying to get Kakuzu to understand. I'm not a pedo or anything, I'm not looking for little kids to hang out with, they just fucking find me. The demon kid probably finds me extra interesting, and I don't know enough about the snake kid to say for sure, but I am kinda known for helping people who just want someone to understand. If anybody else comes to town, they'll probably find me too."

Nagato jerked. "Demon kid? Why do you call him that?"

Kisame found himself roped into the conversation, for once. "Does that have anything to do with what you said earlier about having to watch your mind around him?"

Sasori sighed. "Please tell me that's just a creative nickname. I've never been religious before, and I don't have any desire to start now. I would be very happy if you kept demons and angels out of what we're expected to be doing here."

Yahiko wondered aloud, "Does that mean there are angels around here? I would love to meet one! Maybe the other- "

Deidara interrupted with a worrying tone in his voice. "Is he dangerous? You said he wouldn't kill anyone, but there's a lot of room below that, yeah. And what was that about our minds, hm? Sounds like we should stay away from him."

Hidan shook his head. "There is no staying away from him. He shows up where he wants. And no, seriously, I meant it. He doesn't like to cripple people for life or anything if that's what you're afraid of."

Yahiko brightened. "So we should try to be friendly or at least ally with him then! I mean, if we can't fight him, that's really the only option, right?" He looked around eagerly for support.

Sasori sighed again. "You're all getting in over your heads. What kind of 'demon' is he?" Sasori didn't usually like to, but this was the sort of claim that begged for finger quotes.

Kakuzu pointed out, "Maybe if you all stopped talking you'd get some answers."

"Does he want anything from us, hm?"

"Why would he want anything from us? Even if he's not a friendly one, at least he'd be so much more than us regular people that he wouldn't be able to like anything we had, right?"

"Believe it or not, Prince, there are a lot of people in the world that like to do bad things just for the fun of doing them. You always need to keep your eyes out for people like that."

"Everyone return your cards. Itachi wins."

"Don't talk to him like that. That was a good argument earlier. What could we find out about our situation with a demon helping us?"

"What makes you think he knows anything? Did our originals' world have demons? He probably didn't come from there, so what would he know, yeah?"

"And what does this other kid have to do with it? Does he know the demon boy? They could be working together. Maybe they want something out of Hidan, or out of all of us. I wouldn't trust either of them."

"Nobody here knows what they are talking about. What are we even talking about? What happened with this kid earlier?"

Konan placed her hand firmly on Hidan's head and pressed down, stopping the flow of questions. Some glares were shot at the last second, but their ninja heritage kicked in. She was already a little proud of that. "I refuse to stay up all night debating the possibilities. That said…" She launched into a full description from the moment she and Hidan had stopped before the ruined portion of road. All enmity disappeared by the time she was finished describing the hospital and grounds. The room hushed as even little movements and fidgeting stopped, all energy being devoted to taking mental notes instead. She could have sworn even the wind and the building itself were dead silent as she finished with their actual meeting with the boy. A leaf against a window could have been heard in the silence that followed.

Nagato raised his hand.

"Yes?"

He cleared his throat. "I've put together a list of everything that matters about that story right now. I also don't want to stay up forever, so… One, Overflow's a strange name. Two, we need a full report on his abilities. Three, it sounds like he's been really existing here, in this world, really living a life here for a long time. How long? Four, it sounds like he was telling the truth about being a demon. That or some other supernatural entity. And five, sounds like we should help him. If we're the next most interesting thing and that's what happens to everything around him, we should help him stay there at the hospital and not move anywhere near us. It doesn't sound like he has any company. Counting him as an ally could be a good idea."

Konan tapped Hidan on the head again. "You are directing me to the nearest place to buy a calendar tomorrow morning."

"A calendar? Why?"

So I can count how many days it takes to realize that Nagato used to be the leader of the Akatsuki.

"Eh, never mind. Lady wants a calendar lady gets a calendar I guess."

Shouldn't be long now.

She nodded at Nagato and left the room.

The redhead looked around, puzzled. "Hidan, do you know what that meant?"

Hidan smirked. "I felt very impressed. It was a good nod, she thinks you're cool."

Nagato blushed faintly. She was impressed with me? Wow... I haven't stood out so much before, to anyone. Maybe I was just meant to be a ninja?

Yahiko shrugged. "Everyone thinks that. Maybe your original was in charge or something before. You do speak better than I do, it has to be."

Nagato got up from his seat in a hurry and turned to leave. "M-maybe. That'd make sense, if I was in charge of something. Never thought about it before. I should get to bed." He thinks I'm that impressive? Yahiko…!

Sasori mentally drew a string between two seemingly unrelated events. Interesting. When Yahiko speaks, both Nagato and Konan have to get away. He says he is bad at speaking, but his words clearly have power. She said some of us have characteristics that are very different from regular people. Maybe Yahiko has a special voice-based power.

He wasn't the only one wondering this, though he was the only one putting such a positive spin on it. Yahiko did not miss the purpose of Nagato's movement. He looked down. Is there something wrong with me?

Hidan wanted to reassure his new friend, but couldn't think of how to do so without revealing shit that was really none of his business. It was Nagato's business, but he wouldn't say a thing right now, and it would take a while to convince him to. Fuck. If people just talked more, I wouldn't have to choose. How can I…?

Nobody was really interested in cards any more, and it was getting late. The accumulated feeling of pressure on his eyelids from everyone there made Hidan want to just slump forward and go to sleep immediately. He tried to keep them open and think of things. As everyone else was leaving, he thought of a way out. With some effort he got to his feet and pulled on Yahiko's sleeve just as the other man was leaving, jolting him out of his low mood.

"Sunshine."

"Hey. What is it?"

"I don't know what's going on with Konan, but I saw Nagato when I said Konan thought he was cool. He turned a little red. Doesn't look like he's used to people thinking he's amazing. He didn't leave because of anything you did, it was just that you said everyone thought that. That was a good kind of running away, not anything like I could feel you thinking just now. Don't feel sad, Sunshine."

A smile spread across Yahiko's lips, turning his whole face from downcast to beaming. "Hidan! Thank you." He opened his eyes after a few moments and released Hidan from the reflex hug. "I'm glad Konan invited us all here and I met you."

Hidan looked Yahiko up and down with as much of an assessing gaze as he could have. "Is that good or bad…" he mumbled.

"Is what good or bad?"

Hidan smiled sheepishly. "Just wondering whether you do that with Nagato too, or if I'm just special."

Yahiko laughed. "Of course I'll hug him too! It's just that we've been together so long, I don't need to. I wouldn't need to tell him I'm glad I know him, he already knows."

Hidan stared. "Okay, how the fuck are you still single?"

"Eh?"

Hidan shrugged to mask the fact that there was only so much he was willing or able to tell this man who trusted him with pretty much everything. Even with little to no practice hiding guilty feelings, he was able to manage. "The only reason you don't speak as well as you want is because your face makes up for all that and more, you like to take care of people, you are handsome as shit, insert a whole other list of positive things here, why the fuck haven't you met someone who liked you and you liked them back before now. I see no reason at all."

Yahiko flushed. "Well...it just, I don't know, hasn't happened?"

Hidan sighed. "Fuckin' shame. Maybe now you're doing different things, your luck'll change."

Yahiko nodded. "That would be really, really good. But, uh, what did you mean with my face?"

Hidan could feel a dragging influence almost literally pulling him backward from everyone else going to sleep. "Ask Nagato. I can't...uh, gnight."

Yahiko helped him stumble to his room, and was delighted to discover that Hidan's room had soft carpeting. It would make a good place to sit and plan things and talk, he thought as he lowered Hidan to the floor. We could all spend time together, the three of us. I'd really like that. How does he lie down? Yahiko rightly figured that Hidan might be more disturbed by his scythe being taken away then he would by anything else and lowered Hidan onto the carpet on his belly. We could be true friends!

Hidan was already mostly asleep. His movements as he pulled his hands up to surround his head were stiff and slow. Yahiko grabbed a blanket from the bed and covered him. Hidan purred, already seemingly in the middle of a good dream. Yahiko was careful to shut the door with the softest of clicks as he left. No, I'm wrong. We already are true friends. He had never been happier to be wrong in his life as he quietly walked away to the room he'd chosen as his own.

Yahiko

He rode high in the branches of a sunflower. Light glinted off its petals, solar power fueling its steady journey. He wondered why he'd been assigned a vehicle best described as "steady" for his race. As he had every two seconds since the race started, he rubbed his hands behind the nearest pedal and urged "Can we go any faster? I'm going to lose." He'd managed to sneak a wire under the tail of Nagato's elk, giving himself a little boost, but he felt bad for this and it really wasn't giving him enough of a boost anyway. The wire stretched beyond its limits until it stretched no more, and Yahiko started to cry. He knew what he was doing. He'd always known. What kind of person could he be? He reached forward, trying to cut the link, trying to be a good person, but the wire refused to cut. The sunflower wasn't even moving any faster. Why? Why had he ever thought of doing this? The wire responded to nothing. He sat back against a soft golden petal and continued to cry.

A woodpecker drilled him out of his thoughts. He barely managed to stay on his leaf. Turning in fear, he saw a woodpecker drilling its way through the sunflower just beneath the flower. Its beak rattled, making the sound of an artillery burst. Yahiko got up and started towards it, trying to drive it away. He would lose for sure if the flower was burst! He was too late. The sunflower had already started to deflate, the leaf he was on shriveling, the leaf stem connecting it to the main stem narrowing. He looked up in terror. He hadn't realized he was so far below the flower before. How stupid could he be? He ran, racing across the leaf towards the leaf stem. The leaf stem was so thin now, so thin. Yahiko carefully placed his feet as he edged his way slowly across it. He was too slow. He would fall. He knew this and tried to edge faster. The stem dried to a thin line. He balanced like an expert tightrope walker. The light turned red, then darkened into night as the stem ceased to exist beneath him. The woodpecker rattled off another artillery burst so loud the entire world must have shook, a sound that tossed Yahiko back and forth in the air. He flailed against the waves, held his breath to keep from drowning.

He couldn't hold his breath for more than two seconds before it gave out and rushed out of his lungs without his permission. This was it, the end. The woodpecker rattled again, nearly smashing his bones to pieces. How could it…? Yahiko tried to reach for the bird but couldn't. His right hand would not move. The wire wrapped around it too tightly. Yahiko looked up to a shimmering light. The shimmering light seemed to reflect an image of his childhood home. He was a moron. He owned that bird. He'd been responsible for training it. Konan would never forgive him, never respect him now. How would he explain himself? She would surely cut him on the cheek for this…

He gasped for air, wishing for just one more breath. It came easily, and another. Too easily. The air seemed more airy, somehow. Yahiko stretched his arms and opened his eyes. It was just a dream. Just a dream.

Still he shivered. It was dark early morning. He didn't want to check his phone for what time it was, knowing that the sudden light would burn his eyes. Instead he pulled the covers over himself, turned on his right side. Was that what other people meant when they talked about nightmares? He wasn't feeling horrified, really, just a little empty. He was very sure he knew what the dream meant. It wasn't something he wanted to think about very much, and he didn't believe talking about it would bring any results. Best to just not think of it.

Still the feelings from the dream continued to bother him. Yahiko got up, rubbed his eyes and checked his phone. It was a little before 4 in the morning. Now that he was committed to being fully awake, the fear and other things fell off like unneeded hair. His stomach woke up too, and Yahiko rubbed it with a small smile. He wondered who, if any of them, had a vehicle that could transport a refrigerator all the way out here. Someone would probably get one today, since they'd all pretty much agreed to stay.

A small sound, like someone bumping the wall with their knee carelessly, came from the wall to his right. It was the one he shared with Nagato. Yahiko unconsciously focused, and was able to discern some noise. He wondered what Nagato could be dreaming about and hoped it wasn't like his own.

His stomach issued another complaint, and Yahiko tilted forward and stood up slowly. He'd have to go back to his regular place and get breakfast. To that end, he slipped out the door as quietly as he could, and tried not to disturb anyone as he walked down the hall. Thanks to Hidan pointing it out before, he could be quite sure driving away would not disturb anyone.

Hey, it's...think of the devil! He saw a flash of white out of the corner of his eye and turned in time for Hidan to catch up with him. He whispered as quietly as he was able, "Hey. You're awake too?"

Hidan rubbed his eyes. "Thanks to you, yeah. Anything you want to talk about?"

Yahiko thought of the dream. He supposed it was a good idea to talk about things sometimes just to get them off your chest, and Hidan was good for that. Yet… "No, not yet I mean."

Hidan covered his mouth as he yawned. "Mkay. Just so you know, I'm inventing a policy right now that if my sleep is messed with by the same person three nights in a row, I get to demand some small fraction of whatever the fuck is going on. Even if literally all you can say is that you're scared and want your mommy. No offense - I just thought less than five seconds ago that that would be a good policy, so congratulations, you get to be the one to announce it."

Yahiko nodded. "Thanks for the honor. I don't think I'll have to confess anything. It's nothing that bad."

"Better not be. Thank you, anyway." Hidan gestured at himself. "We kinda had more important things to talk about last night, so I don't have a grudge against anyone for not commenting on my amazing new outfit. It would have been nice to be conscious enough to take it off before, but thanks for at least waking me up this early so I don't do any more damage."

Yahiko smiled at him. "It looks very nice."

"Go eat something. Now I'm hungry."

"Yeah, we should get a fridge in here, shouldn't we?"

Hidan mentioned how he and Kakuzu had thought of that the day before, before he had accidentally revealed that things weren't quite as anyone thought. Whoops. "But yeah, we were kinda thinking before that of how Kakuzu's truck is pretty big, so I figured we would be the ones to get it. I'm gonna have to dig up a treasure chest or two to pay for it anyway, so what do I care."

"Treasure...chest? What are you saying with that?"

Hidan lifted his fingers to count. "Step one: acquire a shit-ton of money. Step two: bury it six feet under. Step three: try to remember where you put it." He hmmm'd in thought and muttered, "That last one's the hardest…"

Yahiko's stomach rumbled again. Hidan glared at him and said, "You better not have given my stomach any ideas." Then he turned away and wandered down the hall, pausing at the corner. Yahiko heard him mutter, "So do I be a total perv and spy on some more good dreams, or go back to bed?" before he left.

He wondered on his way out just what kind of life Hidan had. He's so...I don't think weird's the right word. Disjointed, maybe? How exactly is he?

Sasori

His alarm clock made a ticking sound, a sound like the tapping of some small thing's clawed feet against wood. That was in fact the exact video he had used to program the alarm function. He no longer remembered whether inspiration had struck before or after, or if it was a lucky guess. No matter. The sound was very effective. Sasori opened his eyes and reached out a hand, softly pressing the button on his phone's screen to turn it off. He lay there for a few more minutes looking at the light before sitting up.

There wasn't any concrete reason to get up on the weekends at this time. He had no responsibilities, no social appointments, no daily regimen. And yet, he was an engineer. Like father, like son. Like author, like creation. Even the wildest partier would have to admit this did do wonders for his daily efficiency. When there was no reason to be getting up, one had to be invented.

He recalled all he could about yesterday's considerations, and walked over to the desk on the opposite side of the room. The single sheet of paper inside it contained a crude blueprint that nobody else could have deciphered, as drawn and redrawn as it had been, several similar sketches, and a list of basic materials that he was sure to need no matter what. In the privacy of his own room, he smiled. A space for me and my own things, finally. Did I want that before? The fact that he was reflexively smiling seemed undeniable proof that he had in fact wanted his own space before. Good to find out now instead of later. I should only hope that everything I'm hiding from me can be discovered in such a timely fashion.

On the reverse side of the sheet he'd done some calculations of how much he would have to spend for the basic materials alone, along with a price range for the materials he couldn't quantify until he finished his blueprint. He imagined showing the paper to some money-minded person, watching the expression on their face. Not a bad idea, if I bring Deidara and a camera along with me. That was a silver lining to the thick, stormy mass of cloud that the numbers represented.

Sasori continued to sit, his eyes staring at nothing in particular. How am I going to afford this? I don't get paid that much, don't have anything significant saved up, and I most definitely do not want to start out by indebting myself to everyone in this entire building. He wondered how Konan would react to the news that he was going to have to delay making anything. Sasori realized with a jolt that he was now looking firmly at the ground, face drawn and throat feeling a little constricted. I must have been really looking forward to making something impressive. This hurts. Why?

There was a knock on the door. Sasori composed himself and called, "Come in." It was strange enough that anyone would want to disturb him at this early time, since Deidara had a much different schedule. His eyes widened even more when he saw that it wasn't Deidara, it was Hidan. Him? Why is he bothering me now? Sasori couldn't think of any business they had unresolved.

Hidan leaned against the opposite wall next to the door. "You? Fuck, if even you're… there goes my weekend."

Sasori replied, "What do you mean by that?"

Hidan groused for a few seconds before sighing. "You've heard of my issue, right?"

Issue? He hasn't mentioned any problems. "No, I do not believe I have."

Hidan scratched his head, puzzled. "Huh. Could've sworn Konan had to make some mention of it last night when she was telling yall about our adventures and shit. But anyway, the issue is that I can feel what any kind of feeling being around me feels. That's an issue because this is the second time this fucking morning that I've been disturbed by people. I'm strongly reminded of why I didn't sleep near other people before. I don't want to have this same problem again, so could you please fucking get out with it. If you feel like it, of course." His vocabulary made it sound like more of a problem than his face did. He folded his arms across his chest and waited patiently, no trace of more than mild annoyance in his expression.

Something in Sasori's guts tingled. He had no idea if it was bad tingling or good tingling. Do I like having people worry about me or not? He'd never thought about the possibility of other people being concerned about him before, so he couldn't say. Was that unusual?

He decided now was not the time to wonder about that. Now was the time to be solving problems. He cleared his throat. "In order to build something like what Konan suggested, I am going to need a lot more money than I can possibly get. I may never be able to build anything impressive. I...I think I was looking forward to. I wanted to. Not to mention she'll be disappointed." The mere mention of it brought the feeling back. Sasori's throat constricted again. What is wrong with me? I'm getting worked up for nothing. Or...is this the sort of thing people should get worked up for?

He blinked away any sudden blurry spots that may have appeared in his vision and looked at Hidan. Hidan scratched his head. He said nothing for a few moments. Then, before Sasori knew it Hidan was sitting on the bed next to him giving him a sideways hug.

What the- It felt kind of nice. This is not what I signed up for. Sasori was only tense for a few seconds before relaxing. Okay, get off now. It really did feel nice. Hidan didn't let go then, holding it for a few more seconds until just before Sasori would have started to feel really uncomfortable. Then he unwrapped his arms from Sasori's shoulders and sat back.

Hidan explained, "I suck at talking about feelings. I am amazing at doing body-actions about feelings. Sorry. Did it work?"

Sasori noted that the tightness had gone and he did feel more relaxed overall. "Hm. Seems like it did."

"Cool shit." Hidan clapped his hands. "I have good news." Seeing Sasori's eyes shift to his, he grinned. "I'm pretty sure I have enough treasure chests to cover whatever you need. You don't have to worry about shit."

Sasori found himself looking at Hidan in a way he had not looked at him before. "You have...treasure...chests?"

Hidan's grin dropped. "What the fuck is it with you people? Yes, I have treasure chests. People pay me in physical money. I don't spend it on shit. My wallet only has so much space in it. Therefore, I buy a metal box and bury the shit when I run out of space. What the fuck else am I supposed to do? I don't know anybody who needs money that badly!" He paused, and smiled. "Well, now I do I guess. Metal boxes suck, and I worry about them rusting and all that shit just being wasted. You have no idea how stressful it is to worry about that." He started bouncing a little and looked at Sasori with pleading eyes. "You'll take some of it so I don't have to be concerned, right? Pleeeeaaase?"

Sasori's mouth was hanging open. What sort of being is this? He can't be human. No human cares about money that little. He must be… Sasori couldn't think of anything. What are you?

Hidan was still pleading, so Sasori took the easy way out. "Sure. I would be happy to take your excess money off your hands."

Hidan grinned at least as wide as Yahiko had ever done. "Awesome! Fuckin' shit, thank you! You know how my memory sucks, right? Like I said to Kakuzu yesterday? Yeah, it sucks even worse to try to remember where it's all buried. You're a mindsaver!" Again Sasori found himself pulled into a hug.

Well, that was a thing to consider. "You do remember where it's buried, right?" Sasori asked as he patted Hidan's back awkwardly.

Hidan released him from the death-hug. "Yeah, most of it. Yahiko mentioned how we need to get a fridge for this place so we can eat, so I started thinking of it then. By now I've remembered a good bunch of them. The rest'll probably come back once I'm out there again." He looked proud of himself, like a child that has earned a great privilege.

He seems to get along well with Deidara. They probably have a lot in common. Maybe… Sasori smiled and inquired, "Do you by any chance know someone who values having a lot of money?" Hidan's eyes grew wide. "And a camera? And would you mind bringing Deidara along?" Hidan had started nodding at a pace that would make the springiest bobblehead on the market jealous by the first word. "I have a sheet right here where I figured out how much money I would need as a bare minimum you see, and I guesstimated a range of cost I would need for the materials to put something together, so that and everything you just said to me about your treasure chests…" Hidan fell off the bed and smacked his head painfully against the floor.

Sasori wondered if he'd gone too far. "Are you-"

"YES."

Sasori flinched back out of a deeply buried, impossible to overcome primal reflex of the sort that urged his distant ancestors out of the path of dinosaur stampedes and lava flows. "Okay," he squeaked.

Hidan's head appeared over the edge of the bed as if he was playing Peek-a-Boo. His eyes turned towards Sasori with a hunger in them. Sasori tried not to make any sudden movements as he handed over the sheet.

Hidan looked it up, down, and backwards, working out precisely which number was which. "Hehe. Yes. Oh yes. Ahaha. Ahahahaha!" Sasori thought that, if the demon boy was being friendly now, Hidan would also get along well with him. "Oh. Sasori. You have no idea. Fuck you. Just...fuck you." Hidan's feral grin seemed ready to take a bite out of some small creature that probably resembled Sasori's most distant mammalian ancestors that had lived alongside dinosaurs. "No worries, I'll bring it back…" The last few words he said in almost a singsong voice, before getting up and dancing out of the room.

Sasori sat for a while longer wondering what he'd done.

I had so much fun writing this. Can you tell? Heehee.

------------

Support me on Patreon.com and leave a comment on this chapter if you like it or not. It will be more motivation for me.

And let me know if there are errors or mistakes.

You can read the advance chapters here : patreon.com/Vigilante04