Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I could just make whatever I want happen instead of writing fics. And Itachi wouldn't have died.
This is my second Naruto fic, but the first I've ever written about Konan. So please be kind to it...
Konan and Pein. Pein and Konan. These two, members of the dreaded Akatsuki, partnered together...always together, ever since they were children, even though Pein hadn't been Pein then. They were two halves of a whole.
But now...her other half was gone.
She set some incense burning at his grave. Pein wasn't actually here, of course. His bodies--all of them had been disposed of. She would have preferred his primary body, Yahiko's body, but any body to mourn over would have been acceptable. But no. She hadn't been given anything.
But she wasn't going to let him be forgotten in death. She'd had a gravestone set up for him herself. It was small consolation, but at least it was something.
She sat there before his grave, remembering him, remembering the two of them, together, always together, but now...separated.
Uchiha. Uchiha Madara. He had done this. He and Pein had not seen eye-to-eye...their intentions for Akatsuki had differed...so when Pein had "outlived his usefulness", he had been disposed of. He hadn't gone down without a fight, not by a long shot, but in the end...
She wanted to whip out a kunai and slit her own throat so she could join him.
She held her head in her hands. "Pein..." She said his name softly.
"Konan." She could almost hear his voice. Her name, the way he'd said it...
She'd never hear his voice again.
"Pein", she growled. She couldn't even bring herself to look at his name, etched into the headstone. That would make it too...final. Pein had to be more than a name carved in stone. He had to be! He had been a real, living, breathing human being, just like her! He'd loved her! And she'd...
...loved him...
It hadn't been a big deal to the others. They'd taken Pein's death with slightly less indifference than they had the deaths of their other fellow Akatsuki members, but still...
When she walked the halls of the hideout now, she was alone.
When she woke up in the morning, expecting to have someone beside her, she found...she was alone.
When she walked in Pein's office, there was no one. It was empty. He was gone. And she was alone.
"Pein!" she screamed at the gravestone, her entire body trembling, "Why did you leave me?!"
She wasn't going to cry. She couldn't cry. She'd long ago run out of tears. Besides...to openly give in to your emotions was unfitting for a shinobi. Shinobi were supposed to kill their own emotions.
Well, she was a shinobi, so then...what...what were these things she was feeling? Why did she feel like her own heart been wrenched out of her body? Why did it feel like a gray pallor had settled over the world? Why did she feel like slugging anyone who talked to her? Why did she feel like she couldn't even think straight because of the overwhelming turmoil raging inside of her? Why was that?
Was this what it meant...to love someone and then to lose them?
Love. It was something she'd never thought about. But now...that was clearly what she'd felt towards Pein.
But...were Akatsuki members supposed to love? And beyond that, were even shinobi allowed to love?
Gently, she touched the cool stone. He wouldn't want her to be sobbing in front of him, anyway--not that she ever would. He would want her to find the strength to continue forward and do what needed to be done.
But what was it that needed to be done?
The fulfilling of Akatsuki's mission?
But, no...her heart wasn't into it now...not when Akatsuki's founder was Pein's murderer.
Who did Uchiha Madara think he was, anyway? He thought that just because he was immortal, he could strike down "God"?
That he could hurt her like this?
She wouldn't stand for it! She was going to give Madara back all the pain he had given her...times a thousand!
If she avenged Pein...then would her heart stop throbbing in pain?
She got to her feet.
So long as she was alive, she would ensure that Uchiha Madara's downfall was sealed, no matter what she had to do. No matter who she had to betray or kill. No matter if she herself died. Madara would rue the day he'd ever played with her heart!
And that was a promise.
Still...she'd have to play her cards carefully. She wouldn't be able to do it all alone.
Pein...I will avenge you.
Anyway, please review!