Author's Note: The first part of this chapter is actually a prologue, but I didn't put that as a separate chapter because it would be too short. Just to make everything clearer, the person referred to as "she" in the prologue is Konan.

Prologue

"Konan. I am God. You are my angel."Konan felt then, like metal drawn to a magnet, an unexplainable gravitation toward the stranger. The kunoichi woke up. It was merely a dream.

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Nobody knew her name. Nobody cared, either. She looked vulnerable, but those who touched her never did it again—ever.

The Paper Lady. Some people called her that. Most people called her "she" in hushed whispers behind her back after she went through a town. They muttered to each other in shops, in restaurants, in bars, about her stealth, cunning, and fearsome power.

Word got around about her. She didn't hear anything, but she didn't need to to know that it was happening. After a while, she had more work to do as a ninja. As was said before, word got around. Through the underground drug dealers and criminals, news of a mysterious and skilled Paper Lady spread. Secretly, she did more and more work as an expert in assassination and espionage. And she was satisfied that she could have work, that she was a ninja. But the Paper Lady also knew that, given her life as a dangerous enemy of the shinobi world, she would never find someone who cared for her.

Even the best of us are sometimes wrong.

However, she was more than merely pretty—striking blue eyes, enchanting blue hair—with an angelic, innocent—yet impassive—face. But the Paper Lady radiated hostility and danger at all times…few forgot such an aura. She was a lithe and graceful, a prowling panther, with nimble and slender fingers. A white-blue flower adorned her blue hair. She fought with origami; her jutsu was paper.

The Paper Lady knew and faced the facts: Nobody wanted HER, just the ninja that she was, the ninja that she would be for forty-odd years of her life.

But she wasn't worried. She was infamous—she had work as a ninja. And now was all that mattered to a seasoned S-class criminal.

Chapter 1

Recently, the Paper Lady had been hired by the top drug dealer. The mission was simple in context but much harder to do—find the second-best drug dealer, learn everything that you can about his business, kill him, and then destroy his entire underground business. Ruin everything.

She was merely a tool—no regret, no conscience. This job could be done very easily with her paper and skills.

And so it was.

The Paper Lady disguised herself and became a trusted top employee in the business. She gathered whatever information she could for one month, an advisor in business. Then she killed him and tracked down every single top manager. They were dead within a week, too. The Paper Lady burned down the drug lab without scorching a hair on her head. All she needed was her paper and one exploding fire tag.

A simple job, with many benefits. The Paper Lady became even more infamous and feared. Her ranking rose in the Bingo Books. She found even more work. Granted, the pay was good, but what was money to her?

The Paper Lady's gift was remarkably ordinary yet amazingly powerful and rare: origami.

Nobody who saw her jutsu lived to tell the tale. Even if anybody did survive, they wouldn't be emotionally able to say anything.

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Like many criminals, the Paper Lady was a nomad. The life was harsh, yet she found that she loved the lifestyle that she led. She was a part of nature, a natural bane against the human existence. Her life was simple yet satisfying.

She camped right outside of Konoha that night. Who knew that so many criminals used Konohagakure as a base? There was no need that to attract attention to herself by rooming in an inn. Such ostentatious actions were unnecessary and sometimes fatal.

As usual, the Paper Lady lit a fire and placed several traps around her campsite. She would be alerted to anybody who ventured too close. Usually, when she had just finished a job, there was little to do at night except to ponder her existence.

She leaned back against a tree next to her smokeless fire and gazed up at the beautiful and clear night sky. If the Paper Lady had to settle down somewhere, it would be Konoha. The stars were beautiful and the nearby forests so full of the essence of the life she loved.

"It's beautiful," a low, smooth voice said somewhere above her.

And the Paper Lady was standing across the fire the next instant. She saw across from her a stranger standing next to where she had been one second ago. There was no hostility, no weapons about him.

She didn't know him, but there were many people whom the Paper Lady did not know. She didn't care about his identity, either. The details didn't matter.

He was a reasonably good-looking ninja, with orange hair, multiple piercings, and odd orange, ringed eyes. His face was cut from stone, a masterpiece of a statue.

"State your business here, shinobi."

"I have a potential… "job" …offer for you, Konan," the stranger said.

"What did you just call me?!"

"Calm down. Let me explain…"

Konan never overreacted. She never even twitched a muscle in her face. Now, however, her elegant eyebrows were raised a fraction of an inch.

"Sit."

"I prefer to stand."

"Sit."

The stranger gracefully sank down across the fire. After a brief hesitation, Konan did the same. Who was he to order her like his own personal dog?

"My name is…Pein."

Silence.

"You do not think that you know me."

More silence. Konan had never been one for unnecessary talk.

"I will say this frankly. A certain…man…has created a new…organization. I will be the so-called leader, while he is the, as they say, man behind the scenes. You will be my partner and teammate, whom I will work with on missions."

"…"

Did he just…order her?

However, the offer was quite interesting. It was obvious that this man was dangerous. This organization would be powerful, she felt that in her heart. But why should she join?

"It will be a dependable establishment, something that will keep on running for the next few decades. We will achieve…world domination and absolute power."

Was the man some kind of psycho?

…No. No, he wasn't. Konan could see it in Pein's eyes. He was an even bigger threat to humanity than she was.

This organization was what Konan had been secretly dreaming of joining for the past year. She could continue being a ninja while finding a permanent…thing…the she could always be part of. There would be no more wandering in search of work. There would be work, yes, and the thrill of the fight, yes…but she would be part of something, she could be with people…

And the world would not know anything about it. She was starting fresh. To people, the Paper Lady disappeared off the face of the Earth. And abruptly, Konan was Akatsuki.

She had no idea what made her make her decision so quickly. Konan never made a decision without thinking it through. She had thought about this offer, though, but Konan was mostly acting upon an unavoidable feeling in her heart.

The whole time, Pein had stared at her, his orange eyes turning into smoldering coals (was it the fire?). His orange hair glowed from the light of the flames.

"…yes."

Pein's features froze, then became impassive once more. How had it been so easy to recruit this powerful and independent ninja?

"Remember this, Konan. I am God. You are my angel."

Huh…?

"We leave in the morning. I will brief you on this…organization…while we are traveling."

Pein was gone.

It was odd, though. Konan felt, in the very deepest, untouched, parts of her soul, through her body, burning in her heart, a strange gravitation, a strange attraction toward the stranger. She didn't know Pein at all, yet Konan unconsciously knew that, from now on, she could not be separated from him. And all through the sleepless night, the woman who was Konan felt as if electricity was coursing through her body. Her nerve endings were on fire. She felt…alive.

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Next Chapter: Love?!

Konan and Pein are now partners, but what will happen to them on their mission?