Hidden Love Amongst Pein
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Pein and Konan stood over the bodies strewn over the radius of about ten feet before them. Blood stained the dirt, not an uncommon sight for either Konan or Pein. They simply stared at the bodies, neither thinking anything, as if all coherent thought had left them, for who knows what reason. Suddenly Pein looked at the gray clouds covering the mid-day sky.
"It will rain soon. We should leave," said Pein simply, his gaze wandering away from the sky to look at the gray mountain in the distance whose base was covered with deciduous trees.
"I shall be along in a moment."
Pein looked at Konan, meet her eyes, and simply nodded. He turned on his heel and set off through the dark woods towards the hideout. Konan looked up and stared at the light gray clouds, a wandering thought, small and insignificant, entered the back of her mind, barely noticeable. She thought about how the clouds in Amegakure were never this color, usually blacker then a starless and moonless night. This thought lingered only for a moment, after all, it was the first time in a long time Konan had thought about her home village, and she didn't want to start now, there were too many unpleasant memories there, even though she helped lead the village with Pein.
Konan turned around, but instead of heading straight into the woods like her leader, she veered off to the left, going through the thinner part of the woods. There weren't any leaves on the ground, only a few plants and soft dirt made of the remains of ancient, long since decomposed leaf remains. Gone and forgotten, like a breeze in air, or the lives of the ones Konan killed for Pein.
Pein.
Konan did so much for Pein, yet he never thanked her for the countless times she stained her hands with blood, for every time she darkened her soul with the acts she did for him, for every time she slashed at her heart with a slash of a kunai or a piece of origami, and every nightmare she got- nightmares that played her victims screams over and over again, their last words, their frantic grabs at life that she had so easily destroyed.
Konan loved Pein, with all of her dark soul, her bleeding heart, scarred form, and her traumatized mind. He never seemed to return her feelings, and she doubted if he would, even if she showed her feelings. Konan didn't want to start showing her feelings, Pein probably would never change, he would show her cold indifference as always.
Well, almost always. There were rare moments when Pein's exterior seemed to melt, just a little, and he showed Konan something a little different then he usually did. It was nothing big, Konan could hardly interpret it as love, yet it was something. It would be simple; a light touch on the arm, a caring glance, yet Konan interpreted it as pity, not love, nor caring
Konan continued her walk through the forest, eventually breaking through the line of trees, were she saw a single twisted, crooked, tree that seemed to be set apart from the others. Konan looked at it for a moment, then sat beneath it. From the same place that her thought about Amegakure had wandered from, came another, bigger, and sharper thought.
Konan herself was like the tree, set apart from the other members of the Akatsuki, from the people in her village, from any shinobi, from seemingly the rest of the world. Broken deep down, yet like the tree, she continued to grow and struggle for life, never giving up, almost never letting her position, or those around her, get to her.
As the thought passed through her mind it moved down to her heart and stabbed it. Konan's eyes watered as she felt the pain, yet she quickly swallowed. She mentally scolded herself for showing weakness, even if no one was around. Even if Pein had no feelings towards her, she must do her best to please him, and showing weakness would not please him.
Konan lightly closed her eyes and before she knew, she had dozed off.
A crack of lightning woke Konan up with a start. Again Konan angrily scolded herself for dozing off, and then for not being aware of her surroundings. Anyone could've snuck up on her and killed her or abduct her or who knows what. Konan sighed and took in her dreary surroundings. The gray mountain Pein had looked at earlier was behind her, the forest she had come out of earlier lay in front of her. She looked at the sky. It was much darker now, though not nearly as dark as the sky in Amegakure.
Suddenly, the rain began. It wasn't a little sprinkle, yet the Heaven's weren't pouring their furry and sorrow on her. Still, it was too much rain for Konan to leave; after all, it wouldn't be safe. All of her attacks revolved around origami which would turn soggy and tear, thereby making her defenseless. Konan sighed in frustration and simply waited for the rain to stop, after all, what else could she do? Most of her jutsu needed origami to work, and those that didn't weren't strong enough or suited for battle for her to defend herself with. She had kunai and shuriken, but she wasn't good enough to solely win a battle with them, and if she ran into an assassin she would be majorly screwed.
So she folded her pale hands on top of her outstretched legs that were crossed at the ankles and prepared for a long wait. Konan stretched out her senses so if anyone snuck up on her she would be ready to act accordingly.
Konan started fixedly ahead in deep concentration when suddenly a deep voice appeared over her right shoulder.
"So you've been here the whole time. I figured you sat down for a minute and got caught by the rain."
Konan jumped up and turned in the direction the voice, pulled out a kunai. There stood Pein. Konan's eyes widened slightly. She realized his exterior had melted away again and showed her pity. Had he seen her signs of weakness earlier? Was that why he continued to show her pity? The kuinochi could've slapped herself.
"Pein-Ue, what are you doing here? I thought you were going back to the hideout. Why did you come here?
Pein flinched at hearing –ue from her. That term had too much respect for him, at least coming from her. He didn't want her to call him anything other than his name, she was his equal in his eyes, he did not deserve nor want any honorifics from her.
"Konan…." Pein whispered.
Before either he or Konan knew it, Pein had stepped forward and had his hand around her waist, her body pressed against his. He took his other hand and ran it through her hair. Konan felt her anger and pain from earlier disappear as she looked into Pein's eyes and saw love there.
Pein leaned forward and pressed his cold lips to Konan's warm ones. Konan closed her eyes and felt pure bliss build up in her heart. Pein let his tongue slip out and lick Konan's lips. She opened for him and their tongues danced a truly beautiful dance, despite the dreary surroundings and the rain. Pein loved the taste of Konan's mouth, and she couldn't get another of his.
Soon they reluctantly broke apparent, each breathing rapidly. Konan's eyes were full of shinning love and happiness, Pein's were full of love as well, yet his feelings seemed more secretive, unwilling to show themselves for anyone, but her.
"Konan, I…..I…love you."
"Pein, I thought I would never hear those words from you, much less directed at me."
Pein couldn't believe himself. She had thought he didn't love her! He felt he had been blaringly obvious, especially to her. Yet, his shock was nothing next to the relief and pure joy he felt at hearing her say she loved him. At that moment, Pein unconsciously found something more important to him then the jinchuurikis or the Akatsuki. Konan and making his beautiful porcelain like doll happy.
Pein took off his cloak and draped it around Konan so she wouldn't get wet and gently lead her back to the hideout, one arm wrapped protectively around her waist. Konan looked up at him and smiled gratefully, her eyes becoming lost in the red spiral of his eyes. That was how they walked back to the base, neither having been so satisfied and content in all of their long journeys.
