Konan didn't even know think about where she was going to go after she bolted from the house; she just went.

The blue-haired teen was pissed beyond belief at her mother. The girl had come home, grabbed a snack from the kitchen, and walked upstairs to her room. There, she'd found her mom going through the drawers on her dresser. Again.

A screaming match had ensued, which would no doubt lead to a complaint from their neighbors, but Konan didn't care. All she wanted was to get away from her mother, then and there.

And so, on a cold November evening, she'd run out of her house and taken off down the street without so much as grabbing a coat to protect herself from the frigid and windy weather outside. Something that in retrospect may not have been the best of decisions.

By now, she was several blocks away from her house, and was standing in front of a dilapidated old apartment complex. The three-story building was made of brick, stained through years of weathering and abuse. Most of the windows were covered, either without cardboard or a ragged curtain. Light shone out from the main entryway, illuminating the rundown porch out front.

There, sitting on the steps and smoking a cigarette, was her boyfriend.

Pein held the death stick between his thumb and two fingers, extracting it from his mouth long enough to exhale. A cloud of smoke escaped his mouth, and was soon carried away by a breeze, disappearing from sight. As he went to inhale again, his eyes looked up, locking with Konan's. Immediately after they returned to staring at vacant space, while his hand reached out, and his fingers beckoned for her to come closer.

She hurried to him without a second thought.

His arm moved to stick straight out at the side, allowing her to seat herself beside his torso before wrapping itself protectively around her. "Problems?" he asked, taking another breath from his death stick.

"My stupid mother," Konan hissed, reaching up and tangling her fingers in the soft fabric of Pein's hoodie. At least one of them had the sense to dress for cold weather. "She was going through my stuff again. Hasn't the woman ever heard of privacy?!"

She felted Pein's hand slide up from her waist, moving until it reached her head, and then pressing her skull into the crook of his neck. He took one more puff from the cigarette, then tossed it down onto the sidewalk and stamped it out under the heel of his boot. "Don't get worked up again," Pein chided. "I can tell that you just now calmed down."

"Did not," Konan argued, knowing full well that she was lying through her teeth.

"Uh-huh," Pein said in disbelief.

All was quiet for a time. And then: "Can we go for a ride?" The female was referring to Pein's motorcycle. The male would often drive them around the town, going nowhere in particular; just driving for the enjoyment the open road always gave them.

"Not unless you wear a jacket."

"It's not that cold."

"Right, that's why you're nuzzling against me in a vain attempt to steal body heat."

"I'm nuzzling against you because you're snuggly."

"And you're cold."

"Am not."

Pein rolled his eyes and released Konan, before rising to his feet. "How about this. You left your hoodie upstairs the last time you came over. I'll run upstairs, grab it, and then we can go for a ride." He turned around to enter the apartment, but was stopped by Konan grabbing hold of his wrist. "Yes?"

"…Pein, you're right about it being cold," she admitted. "I think it's too cold to drive anywhere."

Pein shot the woman a curious look.

"So, I was wondering if we could go upstairs, and I could have a different kind of ride?" She smirked coyly up at her boyfriend.

Pein raised a brow, then quickly returned her smirk. A quick jerk of his arm had the female on her feet, and seconds later his arms were tightly fastened around her waist. He bent down and kissed her deeply, whilst her arms wrapped around his neck. Slowly, he began moving them towards the doorway. Getting up the stairs would be tricky like this, but they'd accomplished harder tasks.

Still panting, Konan crawled on top of her boyfriend's chest. Pein's immediate response was to wrap his arms around her; one around her waist, the other hand cupping the back of her neck. She sighed contently, rubbing her cheek against his chest. This position meant she was not leaving until morning. Perfect. "Why were you smoking outside?" Konan mumbled, already feeling the drowsiness that always followed their love making.

"You don't like the smell of smoke in here," the male explained. "So I'm trying to smoke outside."

"You don't have to do that," Konan murmured. "It's your house, not mine."

"I'm hoping you'll eventually decide to move in with me."

Konan sighed. Not this again. "Pein, we've been over this before. I am going to move in with you when I finish my senior year, and not a moment before then."

The male beneath her let out a sigh of frustration. "Why?!"

"Because I want to," Konan snapped. She hated talking about moving in with Pein. It always led to fights between the two of them.

Pein was two years older than her, and had been able to secure both a steady job and a home for himself a little over one year ago. Since then, he'd been trying to get Konan to come live with him. The problem was, Konan wanted to remain with her folks until she finished high school.

Pein sighed quietly, tightening his grip on his girlfriend. "You promise that you'll move in then?" he asked quietly.

"Of course," Konan replied, relieved that their argument was over. "And I'll clean this place from top to bottom, and force you to pick up your clothes and wash the dishes before cockroaches infest your sink."

"And I'll eat everything you cook and tell you it's delicious, even if I really hate it," he went on. They'd had this discussion so many times before that he knew his lines by heart. "We'll both work twelve hours a day, until we've got enough saved up to buy a decent house, and then we'll leave this town forever." They lay there in silence once again, enjoying the presence of each other's company.

"I love you, Pein," Konan murmured, kissing his heart softly.

"I love you too, Konan."

The next day, Konan arrived at her house to find a moving truck out front, and half a dozen men dashing into and out of the house.

Confused, the blue-haired female rushed inside, looking for her parents. Finally, she spotted her father in the kitchen. "Dad, what's going on?!" she demanded.

"Problems have come up at work," the man explained, hurriedly stuffing silverware and cooking utensils into a cardboard box. "We're leaving town in half an hour. Go upstairs and pack whatever you want to take with you."

"WHAT?! Dad, what problems-"

"Konan, just pack!" he ordered, jerking his head up and giving her an angry look. Konan hesitated for just a moment, before bolting from the kitchen and hurrying to her room. He was serious.

As the teen began stuffing her clothes and CDs into a suitcase, she happened across a white, silk rose that Pein had given her several birthdays ago. Pein.

Oh dear Kami.

The teen hurriedly shoved the rest of her belongings into the suitcase, before running down the stairs at breakneck speed. She had to tell Pein that she was leaving.

By the time she arrived at the front door, her father had seen her and grabbed her bag. "Come on," he said, latching onto her wrist with his other hand and pulling her towards the car. "We're leaving."

"You said we had half an hour!" Konan protested, trying to break free of his grasp.

"We finished packing earlier than I thought we would," he explained, not letting go. "We were just waiting on you."

"I have to tell someone I'm leaving!" Konan screeched, tugging madly against him.

"If it's that boyfriend of yours, forget it," he growled. Konan's parents had never liked Pein, and their distaste had morphed into full-blown hate when Konan had come home one night with a lip piercing.

"LET ME GO!" she screamed, making one last desperate attempt to flee. Her efforts were in vain, and minutes later she was inside the car, driving off to parts unknown.

It had been one week since Konan had left. One week since she'd been ripped away from her life, and thrown into the hellhole of a backwoods country town with no cell phone signal, no internet access, no nothing.

She couldn't call Pein, because he didn't have a phone, and he wouldn't know their new phone number for the landline. Hell, he didn't even know where she was!

The only thing left for her to do then was write him a letter. Except that she couldn't remember the address for his apartment! She ground her teeth in frustration, almost ready to cry. This was torture of the cruelest kind.

To ease her sufferings, she was curled up on her bed, the silk flower from Pein held close to her chest. It had been the first gift she'd received from him.

They'd started going out her freshmen year of high school; she was fifteen, Pein was seventeen. Six months later, on her sixteenth birthday, he'd given her the flower to wear in her hair. For her seventeenth birthday, he'd taken her out to get her lip pierced. She felt her heart tighten as she wondered what he would have gotten for her this year. He'd vaguely mentioned something about a road trip, but nothing more specific than that.

She shut her eyes and sighed, squeezing the flower gently.

Three months had gone by, and Konan's loneliness was slowly consuming her being. She couldn't connect with any of the kids at her new high school, especially not the members of the male population that insisted on hitting on her whenever possible. The girls weren't bad; at least, not more so than the ones from her old school. They just had completely different interests than her. Same with the sexually repressed males.

She smiled to herself, doodling in her notebook. Konan knew she should be paying attention, but right now her thoughts were centered on Pein. The teen hadn't exactly had the same hobbies as her, but that didn't seem to matter. They could stay in the same room for hours, Pein doing paperwork and Konan working on her origami, both of them looking at each other out of the corners of their eyes. These times, of course, always ended when one of them stopped whatever they were doing and-

She forced the thought to halt and began copying the notes from the board. She couldn't think about those times without a huge ache forming in her chest. Sadly, she doubted she ever would.

Five months. Had it really been that long? That long since she'd seen, spoken to, or been held by the love of her life? It couldn't be. But when Konan checked the dates on the calendar, sure enough, that's how much time had passed.

"He probably thinks I dumped him," Konan muttered to herself. She was on her bed, staring up at the white ceiling of her room. She hadn't bothered to put up any of her old pictures or posters, so the walls were bare as well. She grinned softly, thinking of how much this place reminded her of a room in an asylum.

The smile fell as she returned to her previous thoughts. "I wonder how he took it," she muttered. The ache that had been prominent in her chest for so long suddenly dug in deeper, tearing at her defenseless heart. "He's probably already moved on. It's not like I was his first girlfriend or anything." Even though she knew the move would be in vain, she clasped at her heart, in an effort to soothe the pain there. "I hate this." She began to shake. "Dammit, I HATE THIS!" Taking a shaky breath, she bolted from the room, taking off out of the house and down the block.

She kept going until she was several blocks away from her house, and only stopped because she was out of breath. Konan grabbed hold of a light pole, doubled over as she tried to catch her breath and not throw up her supper.

Seconds later the female's dinner was on the pavement, brought up due to her running.

"Look what you did," a familiar voice chided. "You've gone and upset yourself again."

"Shut up," she hissed, pressing her forehead against the cool metal of the light pole. Her eyes were shut tightly, in a final attempt to block out the real world, as well as the voice in her head.

"Konan, look at you. You're a wreck."

"Shut up!"

"Don't get worked up again-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" she shrieked, spinning around to glare at the dark around her. There was no one there, just as she'd known there wouldn't be. All was quite, save for the sound of a far-off dog barking, and the wind blowing through the air.

Konan let out a few more shaky sobs, before standing up straight. "This is pathetic," she muttered, letting out a chuckle. "I'm acting like an idiot. Crying over some guy who probably doesn't even care that I'm gone anymore." She wrapped her arms around her body, letting out another weak laugh. She shouldn't find this funny, but after the past few months of suffering, anything seemed humorous to her distraught mind.

Grinning bitterly, she began to make the trek back towards her house. "At least now I get why they call you Pein," she muttered, laughing once more.

Ten months had gone by, and Konan was neither better nor worse. She was just…different.

Her wild, fiery arguments with her parents had transformed into silent, hateful glares. Her moderate grades accompanied with a social school life had become excellent marks with no friendly interaction. And her origami, which had once been a mere hobby, had turned into an art form she longed to perfect.

Currently, she was examining a crane in her hands, turning it from side to side. Konan's scrutinizing gaze searched for any flaw in her creation. Eventually, she noticed that the creature's right had been folded so that it was just a bit larger than the left. She frowned. "Worthless," she spat out, crushing the bird in her hand, before tossing it into the garbage can. The destroyed crane bounced off the mountains of paper now overflowing from the garbage bin, coming to rest on the floor.

Of the two hundred origami creations she'd made as of late, only twelve had been deemed perfect by her.

Konan sat up, popping her back and wincing as she did so. The teen needed to stop hunching over like this, or she'd have problems later on in life.

As she looked around her room, her eyes fell on the white silk flower. Frowning, she scooped it up, turning it over in her hands. One petal was ripped, from where Pein had kissed her head, and one of his many piercings had caught on the fabric. The base had an oh-so-slight blue tint to it, from where Konan had dyed her hair and not let it set all way. And even after being away from Pein for almost a year, the stench of cigarette smoke still clung to the faux blossom.

"Disgusting," Konan murmured as she replaced it on the top of her dresser. She'd have to throw that thing away, and soon. But first, she'd need to empty her garbage can, in order to bury the flower beneath other trash.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. "What?" she snipped.

"Konan," her mother began, trying to open the door only to find it locked, "can we talk?"

"Obviously we can," Konan replied, reseating herself on the mattress.

"You know what I mean," the older woman said. "Konan, you don't talk to anyone anymore. All you do is go to school, come home, and lock yourself in your room until it's time to go to school again. Sweetie," she went on, jiggling the doorknob, "It's unhealthy."

"Are you done yet?" Konan asked in a bored tone.

"Konan, open this door!" her mother demanded, concern giving way to anger.

"Make me!" the blue-haired teen challenged.

"That's it! You are grounded!"

"Real original, mom!" Konan retorted. "What, are you going to take away my eating privileges now?!" She heard no reply; only the sound of her mom stomping off down the hall. "Damn bitch, why can't she just leave me alone?" Konan demanded.

Silence was her only answer.

At midnight, it would be the one year anniversary of when Konan had last been with Pein. One whole year.

If she hadn't left, she'd probably be moving in with him. Or out on a date. Or maybe…

Maybe they would have fallen apart anyway. Maybe their relationship was destined to fail like this, and they would part on their on terms.

Konan smirked as she trudged down the sidewalk, breath escaping in small puffs of steam on this chilly November night. They'd been living in a fairytale if they'd actually believed any of what they were talking about. Fate had split them up; it was high time she accepted this fact. Hell, she needed to get out and do something with her life! Maybe she should accept that offer for a date from-

No. No no no no no.

Konan froze, staring ahead of her. There, propped against the light post of the end of her block, cigarette held in-between two fingers and eyes glued to the gutter, was Pein.

She must be hallucinating.

Her feet began to move of their own accord, slowly approaching the man with the utmost caution, as though one false step would ruin everything. Save for the sounds of leaves crunching beneath her feet, all was silent on this autumn night.

Once she was only a few feet away, Pein seemed to notice that another person was there, and shot her a sideways glance.

Their eyes locked. Neither one of them dared to move.

Finally, Pein took a last, deep drag from his cigarette, and dropped the butt to the ground. Then, he turned to face his former lover. "Konan," he began.

However, before he could get another word out, Konan had spun around and bolted.

"Konan!" he screamed, chasing after her.

Konan was fast, and was able to reach her house before him, running inside and bolting the door behind her. Seconds later, she heard a loud pounding on the door. "Konan, please open the door."

"No."

"Konan-"

"NO!" the woman had no idea why she'd locked her love out, but didn't seem to be able to help it.

"Konan, let me in, or I will come in the hard way."

"The hell you will!" she shot back, bracing herself against the door.

For a time, there was nothing but silence. Curious, Konan secured the bolt on the door, opening it up just enough to peer outside.

Nothing.

Frowning, she shut the door, then nearly jumped out of her skin when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. "Word of advice. If you want to keep someone out, make sure the back door is locked," Pein recommended.

Konan twisted around to look him in the eye. He had an impassive look on his face, as if fearful that showing the wrong emotion would drive away the woman in his arms once again. "Why did you run?" he asked calmly.

"I don't know," Konan muttered.

"Why did you lock me out?"

"I don't know."

Pein let out an angry sigh as a look of anger crossed his face. That was all it took to push Konan over the edge.

"Oh shit! Sweetie, don't cry," Pein begged, hugging the girl tightly to his chest and rubbing her back. If Konan hadn't been so busy trying to wipe away the tears pouring down her face, she would have informed Pein that she was not crying. There was just a lot of dust in her eyes.

Her legs suddenly gave out, sending them both to the floor. Pein seized this opportunity to pull the woman into his lap, rocking her gently. "I'm sorry," she whimpered, trying desperately to pull herself together. Stupid emotional breakdowns!

"It's all right," Pein murmured, stroking her hair gently.

After a short eternity, Konan was finally able to quiet her sobs, and looked up at Pein. "Why are you here?"

"I came looking for you."

"How did you know…"

"I've been looking high and low for you," Pein admitted. "Ever since I came to your house and saw that everything had been cleaned out." He took a deep breath before going on. "Konan, why didn't you tell me you were leaving?"

"I didn't know about it until the day after I left your house. My folks gave me thirty minutes to pack up, and then we left. I could call because you didn't have a phone, and you couldn't call me, and I couldn't remember your address-" her voice was approaching hysterics, and Pein quickly pressed a finger to her lips.

"Your folks did a good job of hiding you away," he muttered. "I didn't even get a lead on where to find you until a few months ago. After that, I followed it, until I got here."

"What was your plan then?" Konan prodded.

"I didn't have one," Pein murmured sheepishly. "I've been making this all up as I go along. It was just a stroke of good luck that I found you tonight." He sighed, hugging the woman in his arms tightly. "I missed you," he muttered.

She reached up, clutching at the front of his hoodie. "I missed you too." She shut her eyes, burying her face in his chest. "I missed you so much."

The next morning, Konan awoke in her own bed, snuggled against Pein's chest. "So it wasn't a dream…" She gently began poking her love in the side, trying to wake him up.

It worked. Moments later, Pein opened his eyes. They came to rest on Konan, and a smile graced his face. "Morning Konan."

"Pein, what are we going to do now?" she demanded.

The male blinked at her, clearly confused. "You're out of high school, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Then you're moving in with me."

Now it was Konan's turn to blink in surprise. "Huh?"

"Konan, we've been planning this for as long as I can remember. There's no need to change our plans now, is there?"

"Pein-"

"Konan," he interjected, taking a deep breath, before speaking in a voice that was scary-calm. "You disappeared from my life without so much as a farewell. I've spent the last year looking for you. And now that I've found you, I'm never going to part from you again. You are coming back home with me if I have to tie you, gag you, and strap you to the back of my motorcycle!"

Konan stared at the male beside her, before breaking into a wide grin. "I can't exactly argue with that, can I?"

"Nope," Pein affirmed with a smirk.

She laughed, cuffing him lightly on the side of the head. "You're lucky I love you so much."

"Don't I know it," Pein murmured, pulling Konan down into a long overdue kiss.