Living a Lie

Chapter Twenty-one - Let's Go Shopping, Kakuzu!

"Well," I said, looking around the new base. "On the inside, this place looks… exactly like the other one." I frowned, decidedly unimpressed with Pain's fashionable sense of decorum (or lack thereof).

I mean, seriously! Different building, different setting, different style as far as the exterior. That would lead anyone to believe that the interior was different, am I right?

Apparently, I'm the only one in this lot who thought it was stupid.

"Whatever," Hidan had said, heading off into his room. Wanna know how I knew it was his room he was heading off towards? I don't care if you don't, because I'll tell you whether you want me to or not.

You walk in, right? Front door leads to a hallway, hallway leads to living room on one side, kitchen and dining room on the other, separated by a wall and a door-less doorway. Past that, there's another hallway with four doors on one side, five on the other. At the end of that hallway, there's a door that, when opened, reveals a staircase that goes up a couple flights to Leader's office and rooms. I'm guessing Konan's rooms are up there too, but I'm not sure since I've never been past the office. Maybe it's like Tobi says and they're an "item".

Anyways, you could probably tell once you've lived with this group that Hidan's room is on the left side of the second hallway, fourth door down, closest to the stairway.

"Where's the variety? Hasn't he ever heard that 'variety is the spice of life'? I mean, come on! Same exact layout!" I whined to Kisame, who, like Hidan, decided he didn't really care and didn't know why it bugged me so much.

"Same layout means same escape routes and same places where we know we can defend ourselves if the need comes up," he explained while shouldering his pack and heading towards his room, third door on the right, which was closest to the bathroom (second door on the right).

I huffed, and decided I might as well go put my stuff away; my room was the first on the left, across from Itachi's and next to Deidara's. Zetsu's room was after Kisame's (so fourth door on the right); Kakuzu's was the last on the right, across from Hidan's; Tobi's was between Deidara's and Hidan's.

'Well,' Inner said, 'at least we still don't have to deal with Hidan's legendary snoring, right?'

I nodded at that; one positive to a whole group of unimaginative negatives. No sense of style, I swear!

"There is one huge difference about this base that you might enjoy, un," Deidara said while standing in my doorway, hands behind his head.

I looked up from unpacking my pitifully small collection of belongings. "And what would that be?" I asked, curious. If there was one difference about this base, even if it was a teeny tiny one, I would gladly go check it out. Something to monopolize my time (when I wasn't out on missions) besides eating, sparring, reading, or watching the television would be quite welcome.

Deidara walked up to me and looked over my shoulder at my semi-unpacked stuff. "You wouldn't happen to have a bathing suit in that pile of crap, would you?" he asked dubiously.

I peeked over my shoulder to see his expression. "Why do you ask?"

He straightened up and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking up at my ceiling and feigning boredom. "Oh, I dunno, un." He turned his eyes down from the ceiling and looked at me from the corner of them. "Maybe, since this base is in a nice, secluded space in the Land of Water, there might be a lake nearby…"

I swear, my eyes nearly bugged out of my skull. "Where's the nearest village? I need a bathing suit."

Deidara laughed.