Okay. This is my newest story. It's HidaKona one-sided, with some PeinKona at the end. Will be three chapters long with a sequel that is... dunno' how long. I already have everything planned out though, so I'm gonna' try and finish this asap. Finally and MLMD should be updating too, and I'm getting around to Innocence's sequel. Really, I am. As well as Agency. And a bunch of other HidaKona fics. And VAMP. Oh my. *faints*

Chapter 1: I'll always be with you

The group of them were waiting for Zetsu to return: Itachi, Kisame, Pein, Konan, Deidara and Tobi. The plant spy had already confirmed that Kakuzu was dead and had been taken to Konoha.

"I believe that they are going to study him," Zetsu had commented before Pein sent him off to search for any trace of the immortal, Hidan. Now Konan was growing worried; Zetsu had been gone for four hours already.

"Do you think he's alright?" Konan asked the men around her. Kisame lifted his head from it's slump. The rest looked to be thinking about an answer when Tobi piped up, "Zetsu-san will be all right, Konan-san. Tobi knows he'll come back."

The words were reassuring so Konan relaxed. Pein stood and stalked around the base, glaring out the window into the misty skies of the Rain village. He leaned against a window ledge, "first Sasori now Kakuzu... if Hidan's gone as well, that will cause some problems."

Konan glanced at him at the mention of Hidan also being gone. Her heart jumped, just like when Yahiko had taken the kunai in Nagato's hand and impaled himself with it, to save her life. She had always known that Yahiko loved her.

'There is no doubt that I love him. I miss you, Yahiko,' she thought sadly, staring at the body that was Nagato's favorite to use – the most powerful one – the God Realm, Yahiko. Konan shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts, good and bad. She did not want to remember Yahiko now.

"... we've already lost two members, officially," Pein commented, glancing back at the remaining Akatsuki, "I hope that there is at least some trace of Hidan left. All that we have from Kakuzu are a few strands of thread, and from Sasori we have his left-over puppets."

"Could you just not talk about Sasori, yeah?" Deidara snapped suddenly, glaring at the leader. Pein gazed calmly back. Konan knew that he had been expecting Deidara to react to the mention of Sasori from the start. The poor boy was still mourning the loss, Konan knew. Deidara had grown attached to Sasori – Konan had thought it quite cute. The two of them bickered as much as friends would and now...

Now poor Deidara had to deal with that wretch, Tobi, who annoyed the blonde to no end. Sometimes he even got on Konan's nerves.

She giggled silently. Though she had only caught a glimpse of Hidan from afar – or seen him as a hologram – she wondered what it would have been like if Kakuzu had been Deidara's partner and Tobi had been Hidan's. She was tempted to laugh at the mere thought.

'Deidara and Kakuzu-san would have worked nicely together, I think. Both of them are long range – mostly – and Deidara would be able to easily stay out of Kakuzu's way, so he wouldn't get killed. He'd just have to watch Kakuzu's temper and killer instinct. However, Tobi and Hidan,' her mind laughed sporadically, 'Hidan would never stop trying to kill Tobi. Of course, I don't want to be partnered with him either... too childish. No wonder Deidara doesn't like him. Kisame is probably the only one that can stand the man.'

She settled against the couch and glanced at Itachi. The young Uchiha was looking sicker than ever and she whispered, "I suppose we are going to lose more members soon, Pein-sama?"

Pein turned, stared at her and then followed her gaze to Itachi. Itachi smiled briefly, "that all depends, Konan-san," he said with his full politeness. She sighed lightly and looked away, 'depends on what?' she wanted to ask, but decided it was none of her business.

After a few moments of silence her thoughts drifted back to Hidan. She thought about all the things she had seen him do from afar: the rituals, the bickering with Kakuzu and the training. One time she had seen him just sitting there, still as a rock, some pigeons resting on the ground around him or on his shoulders preening. That was the closest she had ever gotten to him, and the only time he had really seen her.

That day Pein had decided to stop the rain, because Konan wanted to fly. He let her flutter about as paper, sailing freely on the wind.

"You have two hours," he had told her. She'd nodded and flown away.

'It was strange, seeing Hidan like that. Usually he was laughing like a psycho-path or stabbing himself in the chest and getting blood everywhere. Or he was in an uproar with Kakuzu before they started throwing sharp objects at each other. But to see him so calm,' she rubbed her fingers together absentmindedly, remembering the feel of the beads between her fingers. His rosary, cold, hard steel, warmed slightly from resting against his chest.

Her brows furrowed in thought and Kisame glanced at her before he closed his eyes. Itachi gazed up at the older man and smiled briefly again. Deidara was tolerating Tobi to her right and Pein had turned back to the window to stare out into the rain.

Konan was surprised that Hidan had let her touch his rosary. Perhaps it was because he was in an almost hypnotized state, because he had just sat there calmly and stared up at her through his eyelashes. Until Kakuzu had come – and by then she had walked some distance from him – Hidan had been perfectly tranquil. Not a word had left his mouth during their silent exchange. Konan shifted in her seat and leaned against Deidara which made Tobi stop bothering him and caused color to rise to the blonde's cheeks. Kisame chuckled softly.

'Why was he being so quiet? Was he afraid he would frighten me away if he did? Perhaps I was the first woman to ever approach him without blushing and stuttering?' she linked this to how Kisame, Kakuzu and Zetsu had reacted when she had spoken with them like they were normal people. Kisame had been the most affected by it; Konan knew this was because to most women, he looked like a monstrosity. Konan had seen summons that looked ten thousand times worse, and so to her Kisame looked fine, even attractive.

Zetsu had responded to her approaching him the first time by snapping his plant part shut. She had stood there for a minute before knocking on the huge leaves; Zetsu had opened up then, and they had a short conversation before Konan had to depart to tend to Nagato.

It had been the same with Kakuzu but he had recovered from the shock a little more quickly. Of course, whenever Konan had seen him he was alone or with anyone but Hidan. In fact, whenever she had seen Hidan and Kakuzu in the same room they were arguing back and forth – and that was always from a distance.

'My, they had never gotten along very well, now that I think about it. Pein only put Hidan with Kakuzu because Hidan was immortal and we would stop loosing members to Kakuzu's impulses. That and Kakuzu's techniques wouldn't kill him. Without Hidan, I suppose, Kakuzu wouldn't be able to do a thing really.'

She had never thought about it that way. Her eyes drifted back to Pein and she found that he was staring at her. She understood why, of course: she was leaning against Deidara and making him blush. The boy was young. She didn't blame him for acting so much like a boy his age.

She sighed though and straightened, and Pein relaxed. Deidara's face fell as Tobi returned to bothering him.

"'Aight, now you're getting on my nerves," Kisame expressed, standing. In two strides he was in front of Tobi and had the man flung over his shoulder. Tobi started screeching, "SEEEEEMMMMPPPPAAAIIII!!!"

Deidara easily ignored him and told Kisame, "please, go lock him in a room or something, yeah?"

"Will do," he started walking away and Itachi got up, "Itachi-san, you stay here."

The Uchiha stared after Kisame for a moment and then sat back down. Konan's thoughts returned to Hidan. She still couldn't get over the calmness.

'Calm, calm, so calm. The pigeons on his shoulders were so comfortable there and I nearly made them all fly away...' she recalled his expression when she had morphed into a human from the paper fluttering around him. He'd looked shocked, his amethyst eyes wider than normal and his lips parted. He had not been expecting that. She remembered tilting her head at him and listening to him say in his deep voice, "Konan, right?"

At the time the fact that he knew her name had surprised her, but as she thought about it now, her name had definitely floated around the base. Of course she'd responded with a polite Hidan-san at which he snorted and muttered "just call me Hidan, seriously".

Those were the only words they had really spoken to each other; the rest of their conversation was had through body language and gazes. She rubbed her fingers together again, and caught Deidara staring. She patted him on the head and he whined as Kisame walked back in.

"He'll probably escape within the next hour, you know," he informed Deidara as he sat back down next to Itachi. Deidara was about to retort when Pein suddenly walked swiftly by.

"He's back."

The four members shared a look before getting up and following their leader. Kisame laughed when Tobi came barreling down the hall screaming about tight doors and Deidara-sempai. Deidara promptly thumped him on the head, called him an idiot and proceeded more quickly down the hall. Konan's heart was beating just a tad more quickly. If Hidan was with Zetsu...

However, Pein stopped mid-stride and clenched his fists when Zetsu swayed toward them, an almost sad expression dominating his features. Konan too stopped, and the other Akatsuki members stood around her and Pein.

Zetsu held out Hidan's rosary, "this was all I could find after searching for five hours. Found it near the place where he and Kakuzu were confronted by Konoha shinobi the first time."

Pein reached out to take the rosary but retracted his hand when Zetsu flinched.

"What is it, Zetsu?"

"I only have two voices, right?"

"Yes."

"... I hear three."

Konan felt an urge to move forward and so she did, her hand coming up and snatching the rosary from Zetsu's hand. She wrapped her dainty fingers around the beads, and blinked slowly. It felt like the rosary belonged in her hand.

"Is the third voice gone now, Zetsu-san?" she asked, looking up at him. Both he and Pein were staring at her in shock until Zetsu replied cautiously, "yes."

Konan looked down at the rosary with narrowed eyes, 'could he have heard Hidan's voice? How is that even possible?'

"So, Zetsu," to Konan it seemed like Pein was speaking with a purpose, "Hidan is disabled, isn't he?"

"Yes. I discovered that he is buried in a hole in the Nara forests outside Konoha. I couldn't get past the deer, though I'm sure he's still alive."

"You tried to get past them?"

Konan studied the rosary in her hand, trying to ignore the conversation, "well, of course. I knew Hidan was still alive, I could hear him breathing when I was underground," he scowled for a moment because his white side wouldn't stop interrupting, then continued, "I couldn't leave without trying to dig him out. I had to flee when the deer alerted Konoha shinobi."

"Hn," Pein turned sharply and walked away; Konan's hand tightened around the rosary.

'Sometimes,' she glared at Pein's back, 'sometimes he can be a bastard.'

–

"Ah, Konan-san."

Konan turned to face Kisame, rosary still in her hands, "yes, Kisame-san?"

He gave her a look, "I thought I told you to drop the 'san' business."

"I will when you do," she countered, her lips twitching up in a smile. Kisame twitched and then hung his head in defeat.

"Why did you take Hidan's rosary? I'm just curious, I mean you kind of pissed Pein-sama off."

"Yes, I realize that I did," she replied to his observation dryly, "however, I don't quite know why I took Hidan's rosary. It feels right, here in my hands," she admitted, staring at the silver beads.

Kisame quirked an eyebrow at her, "whatever suits your fancy, Konan... maybe you should put it on."

Konan jerked her head up, "what?"

"I said maybe you should put it on. And I also called you Konan – feels odd to say that without 'san' – so now you have to call me Kisame. But anyway, put it on," and then Kisame poofed away. Konan blinked after him, and stared down at the rosary that she now held clenched between her two hands. She fled to her room, where she could be alone with her thoughts. Pein would also leave her alone if she was in her room.

Konan stood in front of the full-length mirror, her hands shaking with anticipation. She wondered what was going to happen when she put the rosary over her head to let it hang around her neck.

As soon as the circle with it's upside-down triangle touched the swell of her breast, she heard a voice from all around her say, "Konan."

Her mouth hung opened and trembled, "w-who -?"

"Konan-chan," the ghost of a hand touched her neck. Her shinobi training held her fast, but on the inside she was screaming her head off. In the mirror she watched as he appeared out of the mysterious mist that had collected around her.

"It can't be..." her lips formed other words but she could not speak.

Because Hidan was standing right next to her, a specter that haunts people. He pawed her neck gently and said, "Konan-chan."

She swallowed her fear and replied, "yes, Hidan?"

"Why did you put it on?"

"Because... because Kisame suggested I should and... I wanted to."

"You know my god."

"A little..."

"And my god is cruel."

"I could tell from the rituals but -"

"So in exchange for my rosary, you must give me your heart," his hand reached over her left shoulder to lightly touch her breast. She gasped and he spoke again, "you can take the rosary off if you want. I won't stop you."

Her lips moved soundlessly until finally she said firmly, "no. No I won't take it off."

"Then your heart is mine," and he reached into her chest and pulled out her heart. She blinked. She thought it would have been painful, and so she was not prepared for the fact that Hidan had merely pulled out a heart-shaped heart – like the ones she used to draw when she was a kid.

Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes and she covered her face with her hands in shame. In her ear Hidan whispered, "as long as you have my rosary, I'll always be with you," his hand stroked her cheek, "so don't cry for me."

Hope you like this story so far.