:) Hello! This is just a random Pein x OC one-shot that went way out of control... it wasn't supposed to be this long, but...
Pein- The fallacy of migraines.
Aiko stumbled through the woods with a small frown on her otherwise blank face.
Being banished from your clan wasn't the nicest feeling in the world. Especially if you had been set up.
She tried to shake the thought out of her head. She had a new life now, she was free...
...yet, she had no idea where she would go, or even if anyone would accept her.
Maybe she would be forced to wander the land for years until she finally died of loneliness.
Aiko laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. She just needed some noise, any noise, to break the suffocating silence around her.
Back in her village, everything was always in a noisy rush and even at night people scurried around and tried to get a head start on their to do lists.
Soon enough, it was nightfall and she realized she had to find herself a place to stay.
She looked around the dense forest. Needless to say, she was going to have to sleep outside.
Camping in the woods sounds a lot more fun when you're at home in the safety of the four walls around you than when you're actually standing in the middle of the forest.
Sighing, she realized that even if she did a get a shelter made, she wouldn't be getting any sleep. She squared her shoulders and continued to walk.
She considered this to be her head start on her first priority on her to do list: survive.
A few hours later, Aiko was sleepily sauntering down the small woodland path, but she still didn't stop to rest.
If she stopped, she would fall asleep. If she fell asleep, something might find her and kill her. If something killed her... well... that's the end of it.
She continued to walk and in an attempt to keep herself awake she decided to say out loud the name of everything she saw.
It sounds a lot more entertaining than it is.
"Tree... bush... grass... braches... tree... river... tree... tree... tree... spider... tree... owl... tree...tree...tree."
Who would have guessed there were so many trees in the forest?
"Tree... tree... dark shadow with orange eyes... tree... tree..." She froze and stared at the dark shadow.
Either it was her imagination, or just another tree. Probably the latter.
"Who are you?" the shadow asked and for a second she just gaped at it.
"Tree...," she started to say as a pure reflex when she saw it was standing beside a tree. "Erm... I mean... my name is none of your business."
"You are trespassing on my property, it is my business," the figure continued, but she figured it was a man because of the deep voice.
"Oh... I'm sorry... it was so dark I had to idea where I was going," Aiko admitted without answering his question.
He continued to pry, "What are you doing here?"
She narrowed her eyes slightly, but answered, "I got lost, that's all." It wasn't a complete lie; she actually had no idea where she was.
"I don't believe you," he replied and she retorted, "Believe what you want, now could you please stop with the questions and let me continued on my journey?"
"Where are you going?" he asked and she let out a frustrated sigh.
"I don't have to tell you anything, you're a stranger," she said and continued walking down the path, but he was suddenly standing in front of her.
"Answer me," he pressured and Aiko wanted to try and rip her light brown her out. This stranger simply had no right to ask her all these questions!
She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him, though the gesture was probably lost in the darkness.
"I will not repeat myself," he continued and she rolled her eyes. Why was he being so persistent?
"Look, Mr., I don't know who you are, nor do I want to find out. So, why don't you just turn around and leave me alone?" she said as she tried to pound it into his head.
All of a sudden, he took out a kunai and threw it at her. Her eyes widened as it flew at her and she was barely able to jump out of the way in time.
Another one flew at her, but this time she wasn't as lucky. It nipped her in the forearm and she hissed slightly.
This man was insane!
"Answer me," he repeated and just because he had just injured her, she bit her tongue from pointing out that he was repeating himself.
"I got banished from my village okay? I don't have a home and now I'm stuck wandering the woods! Is that what you wanted to hear?" she yelled as she tried to stop her arm from bleeding.
The last thing she needed now was for it go get infected.
"You still haven't answered my question," he stated and drew another kunai. She put her hands in front of her in defence and tried to remember what other questions he had asked.
"My name is Kizuka," she said and he narrowed his eyes before he replied, "I am a God. I know you are lying to me."
She tried to look innocent, but when he drew back to throw the kunai at her, she yelled, "My name is Aiko! Don't throw that thing at me!"
He tucked the kunai away and finally explained, "Since you are trespassing on my property, I have to take you in and let the leader decide what to do with you."
Aiko's eyes widened and she stuttered, "B-But I answered your questions! And what leader? If you're really a God you don't have a leader!"
However, her words were ignored as he began walking toward her. She went wall eyed, but her brain was still working as she pointed to a random tree behind him and yelled, "Look! A tree!"
He turned around for a second and she dashed back down the path.
There was no way she would just let herself be taken away to some strange place by an even stranger person that claimed he was a God.
Suddenly, he was in front of her and she ran right into him. The force didn't even faze him, but she groaned and clutched her head.
Looks like she was going to have a migraine for the next few days.
Out of the blue, he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. She was going to struggle, but she found that it was useless because they were suddenly standing in a large cave.
How...? ...Maybe this person really was a God.
He dropped her on the ground and she looked around with wide eyes.
"Pein, who is this?" a deep, velvet voice spoke from the shadows.
"A trespasser, I found her wandering in our land," he said and somehow this orange eyed man didn't seem quite as scary as the hidden one in the shadows.
The voice spoke again, "You can see she isn't a ninja, why did you bring her?"
Ninja... what the hell was a ninja?
A chill travelled down her spine when she met the blood red eyes of the man in the shadows. It was like looking into the pits of hell itself and she quickly averted her gaze.
"A ninja could read her mind and figure out the location of our base," this man, Pein as he was called, explained.
A sigh. "Now they could, had you just left her no one would have thought anything, nor bothered to read her mind."
"Madara... you said we had to be careful, I was simply following your orders," Pein continued and Aiko's eyes widened.
Madara... was this the Uchiha Madara?
In her village, his name had been said a couple of times, but it was nothing good. People spoke of him as if he was the devil himself and from simply being in his presence for a few seconds, she agreed with them.
Another sigh. "Since you've already brought her here, just kill her and go back to scouting the land."
A distinct metallic 'click' was heard and her heart leapt into her throat. They were going to kill her.
"Wait! Before you kill me could you at least tell me what a ninja is?" she tried to buy time.
Madara chuckled and mocked, "You don't know what a ninja is? Then it's a good thing Pein brought you here to die."
She realized he wasn't going to answer her, so she looked up at Pein and noticed he had spiky orange hair.
"Ninja is what we are. We possess vast amounts of chakra, which we use to fight other ninja and execute special techniques," Pein explained and it raised many other questions.
She pushed her luck and asked another question, "Why do you fight each other? If you really are so special, there shouldn't be a reason for you to fight."
Madara chuckled again. "You really are stupid aren't you? Ninja fight simply because they have the power to, there is no other reason than this."
Suddenly, a woman with blue hair walked into the cave and said, "Madara, Pein, I'm sorry for interrupting, but I have important news. Kakuzu and Hidan are dead."
Aiko had no idea who these people were, but she was glad they were dead. This was buying her more time to somehow convince them to let her live.
"Is that all you wanted to tell me?" Madara asked, clearly bored by the interruption. He had wanted to watch Pein murder that stupid woman.
"No... the really important news is... our cook died," she ended quickly and looked away when Madara gave her a dark glare.
She saw her opportunity and before she could stop herself she blurted, "I could be your cook."
Madara's glare turned to her and it took her all of her will power not to shrink away and cower in the corner.
"You. Want to be our cook?" he asked with a sneer and she took a deep breath before she persuaded, "Yes, I was the cook in my household back in my clan and isn't it easier to make me your cook than kidnap some other cook and explain what they are doing here?"
He narrowed his eyes at her and contemplated it for a second before he said, "Pein, what do you think we should do? Kill her or make her our cook?"
Aiko turned her gaze up to Pein, she was after all, still on her hands and knees.
The orange haired man looked down at her and she cast him a small, pleading smile. He looked back at Madara and said, "She will be our cook."
The Uchiha smirked, stood up and left the room. He had been sitting on one of the many ledges on the cave wall.
Pein began walking after him and Aiko jumped up to follow him quietly. She wasn't just going to sit in this cave.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Today, I made... pizza with pepperoni, lots of cheese, tomatoes and from Tobi's request, lots of curry," Aiko ended as she gestured to the many pizza's in the kitchen.
Over the last few weeks she had learned that simply one serving of food wasn't enough for these people.
Tobi ran up to her, screamed his thanks and he turned to grab a piece of pizza. She let out a small sigh of relief, but then he suddenly turned around and she instinctively backed away from him.
He gave her a confused look, shrugged and then left the room with a whole pizza.
When he was gone she slumped in her seat and took a slice of pizza. Something just didn't seem right about Tobi... there was a nagging suspicion deep in her soul that he was some sort of insane axe murderer that liked to eat baby's souls.
No one even believed her thoughts though, Tobi was Tobi and as he constantly kept stating, a good boy.
Aiko shook the strange thought out of her head and went with three slices of pizza to go give them to Pein.
He never ate in the kitchen with all of the other Akatsuki members and she had to deliver all of his food to him.
She knocked on his door and when she heard the usual 'come in' she opened it and walked in.
Unsurprisingly, he was sitting at his desk with his hands full of papers. It wasn't easy running a secret anti-Konoha organization.
"I brought you pizza today Pein-sama," she stated politely and placed the plate down on an empty place on the table.
He gave the food a glance before he said, "Tobi wanted you to add curry again."
She chuckled nervously, if Tobi was indeed insane, she didn't want to get on his bad side, so she always complied with his requests.
"You don't have to do what Tobi asks you to do," Pein said and for a second it shocked her. For one, Pein rarely talked to her when she brought him his food, and two was the context of his phrase.
"I know... but something tells me that if I don't I'll get in trouble... you know... from him," she replied. Pein understood who she was talking about, she refused to say Madara's name out loud because even from that day she still remembered how horribly murderous his aura was.
He stopped writing and looked up at her before he said, "You're not supposed to know, but Tobi is Madara... it's his way of keeping an eye on the other Akatsuki's."
Her face contorted into a look of pure horror, to shock, to understanding and finally to fear.
"Oh... no... he... ugh... I'm never going to look at him the same again," she wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered.
Pein still hadn't taken his eyes off her and he said, "Tell no one you know this okay?" She looked up at him and nodded. "I promise."
The small conversation ended and Pein took a slice of pizza before quickly eating it. He may look all polite on the outside, but he could eat as fast as a starved tiger.
When he was done the pizza, Aiko reached to grab the plate, but he suddenly grabbed her wrist and said, "Come to the main Akatsuki meeting room today at midnight."
Then he let go of her and went back to his paper work as if he had not said a thing.
She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. This day was getting stranger and stranger by the second.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Aiko stood outside the door to the main Akatsuki meeting room and crossed her fingers. She hoped that Madara would not be present at the meeting.
"Aiko, are you going to come in?" Pein's voice came from inside.
She chuckled nervously and opened the door before looking around and finally walking in.
Konan was also in the room, but that was it. The orange haired man gestured for her to sit down and she complied.
"Aiko, me and Konan plan on escaping the Akatsuki in a few days," he began and her eyes widened at the sudden truth.
Konan continued for him, "We want you to come with us."
She looked back and forth between the two ninjas and asked, "Why are you telling me? I could be a threat to your plans."
"We thought this over well, even though you are not a ninja you will not hinder our escape," Pein assured her, but it raised another important question.
"Wait... you and Konan are Madara's favourites so why are you leaving him?" Aiko questioned with a small frown.
By now, both of them were standing in front of her and Konan explained, "He plans to destroy the entire ninja world, we do not want any part of it."
Her eyes widened and all the pieces fit together. They were going to escape to save their own lives and protect their morals.
She would have stereotypically announced they should try and save the ninja world, but she knew it would be useless.
Even the greatest hero cannot go against the devil himself.
"I want to come with you," she finally said and Konan gave her a small smile.
"Good, we will get you in a week's time and outside of this room, do not say a single word. If Madara finds out about this, we are dead," Pein said and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Konan did the same and Aiko realized they had not been there in person or Madara would have suspected something.
She walked out of the room and back to hers. She had a lot of thinking to do.
The next morning, Tobi ran into the kitchen and screamed that he wanted pancakes with curry.
Aiko decided to follow Pein's advice and she said, "Tobi, we've had a lot of curry the past days... maybe we should have something else."
She swore she saw a dark glare being cast at her, but he cheerfully replied, "Okay! Then Tobi wants pancakes with cheese!"
Nodding, she began preparing his meal and everyone else's. He stayed in the kitchen the entire time and he watched her intently.
It took her all of her energy not to run out of the kitchen and away form the piercing stare that was burning through her back.
Finally, other Akatsuki members began filing in and she felt a bit safer. She shook her head and began setting the table.
She was being paranoid, Tobi wouldn't do anything to possibly blow his cover.
Everyone promptly left the kitchen after they were done, but Tobi still stayed.
Aiko washed the dishes and tried humming a song to herself to try and forget he was there.
"Pein told you who I am," he stated suddenly and she almost dropped the plate she was drying.
He could easily see with his Sharingan if she was lying or not so she decided to be truthful and said, "Yes, he did, but I would never tell anyone."
"Wrong answer," Madara was suddenly standing in front of her, his mask still on.
She closed her eyes tightly and said, "What would have been the right answer?"
He ignored her question and continued, "I would kill you, but we need a cook... so I'll simply erase your memory."
At first, she was going to agree to it, but then she remembered that if he read her memory, he would find out about Pein and Konan's plans.
"No... you can trust me... I'm not going to risk my life by telling anyone," she tried to convince him.
He probably smirked under his mask, because the arrogance seemed to emanate from his voice as he said, "You know something, don't you? Something you don't want me to find out?"
Aiko didn't reply, but she gasped when he wrapped his hand around her neck. "I changed my mind, I can always find a new cook."
Her eyes were still shut because if she even glanced at his eye, she would be sucked into the genjutsu and all of Pein and Konan's plans would be in vain.
His grip tightened and she could no longer breathe. Still, she did not open her eyes. Even if she died, she would protect their secret and they would escape.
Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind and Madara was no longer gripping her by the neck. She cautiously opened her eyes and she saw Pein standing in between her and the Uchiha.
"Pein, so you are still protecting her?" he chided with a glare.
The orange haired man turned to Aiko and said, "Go back to your room and don't come out until I tell you."
She nodded and left with a hurry. She didn't want to be around Madara a second longer.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
That evening, Aiko sat in her room with her worry growing every minute.
Pein still had not told her she was free to leave the room and she thought that perhaps something had happened to him.
A couple of hours later, Konan slipped into her room with a small, sad smile.
"Pein gave himself up to Madara," she began and Aiko shook her head.
"He claimed that it was his plan and he told you to brag, he never included us in any of his plans," she continued and the cook began to wonder what she was getting at.
"What I'm saying is this, Madara knows nothing of us being involved and we will still leave as planned, but earlier," Konan finished and Aiko stared at her with wide eyes.
They were going to leave without Pein?
"Don't pack anything, I took money," she said and began walking out of the room. Aiko hesitated for a second, but then followed the older woman.
They made their way out of the Akatsuki base unnoticed and already prepared outside, was a circular, white container.
Konan stepped inside it and Aiko did the same after briefly noticing the entire thing was made out of Konan's paper.
The female ninja did a few hand signs and suddenly she felt they were being lifted on the ground.
For a second, they stopped to float in midair, but then Konan did one final hand sign and they began speeding through the air.
There were no windows, but Aiko imagined they were going at an impossible speed.
"Where are we going?" she asked after about an hour of silence.
"The messenger ninja call it Europe, the land of technology," she explained and they fell silent again.
Aiko had never heard of this 'Europe' but if it was nicknamed the land of technology, it must be nice.
Suddenly, the makeshift craft stopped and settled down on the ground. "Are we here?" the female cook asked in wonder.
Konan shook her head and said, "No, the sun if coming up so we have to travel by foot for now or people will see us."
They stepped out of the container and it instantly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
That's when they finally got a good look around. This place was very different from fire country.
There wasn't a single tree for miles and they were standing in the middle of a field. "Wow, I hope it isn't too sunny today," Aiko said.
Then they simultaneously looked up at the sky, which didn't have a single cloud in it.
"Looks like we ran out of luck," Konan finished for her.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
The second the sun went behind the horizon, the two women let out a long sigh of relief.
They had spent the entire day trudging through the endless fields with the seemingly evil sun shining down on their heads.
Konan did a jutsu and the white container was in front of them again.
Smiling at each other, they stepped inside and finally relaxed. It was good to be sitting for a change.
The night passed by in a flash and when they stopped the start walking again, they expected to see more fields, but they were not expecting this.
They were standing on the top of a mountain, but not just any mountain, the Himalayas...
Of course, there was no oxygen so they began to suffocate and they barely had enough time to re-summon Konan's container and get out of there.
"That... that was not nice... if this was Europe... then maybe we shouldn't be here," Aiko said as she was catching her breath.
Konan took a couple of deep breaths before she replied, "Don't worry, this is only a mountain range, the rest of Europe is after it."
They continued to catch their breath and when they were back to normal, Konan found a place to stop, but at a much lower altitude and they began to walk.
Just like the day before, nothing interesting happened and when night fell they were back inside the container.
"So... how many days of this do we have left?" the female cook asked causally.
Konan gave her a small suspenseful smile before she said, "Zero. We're here!"
The container stopped and a window formed. They were still very far off the ground and they could see everything around for miles.
There was a small migraine forming in both women's heads, but they ignored and they looked around.
"This... is Europe?" Aiko asked in complete shock and all the blue haired woman could do was nod.
There were buildings as far as the eye could see and they all had lights shining up from them.
It was like looking down at a billion tiny light bulbs. Wait... did the ninja even know what light bulbs were?
Konan closed the window and they descended to the ground quickly. They eagerly stepped outside of the container and they expected to see beautiful, neat streets and more light... but...
"Aiko, is that a person dumping a bucket of crap on the street?" Konan asked and pointed at an apartment building.
"Yeah...wait, this is where we're supposed to live?" she replied.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Aiko! Hurry up with those clams!" her manager yelled from the front of the kitchen.
She sighed and brought the order up as quickly as she could manage.
For the past week she had been working at this Japanese diner in a small town south of Paris.
It was the only place she could find work where she understood what people were saying.
French was after all, nothing like Japanese.
She cast the clock on the wall a quick glance and smiled. Her shift would be over in fifteen minutes and she would be free to go see Konan, who worked as a cleaning lady in a building across the street.
Aiko finished washing her dishes, hung up her apron and left with a smile on her face. Today was the day she and Konan had agreed to look for an apartment to live in.
They had been sleeping in the forest all week because French people didn't like to accept Japanese currency.
Just as she walking into the building, Konan came down the stairs with all of her equipment.
"I'm almost done, and then we can go," she said and went to go put everything away.
When both of them were finally free of everything, they made their way to the middle of town and to the real estate office.
"Bonjour, nous veulons achter un apartment," Aiko spoke in broken French to one of the agents there. (Hello, we want to buy an apartment.)
"Tu a le..." the agent drew a dollar sign on a piece of paper and they nodded. (You have...)
"Tres bien, vien avec moi," he said and began walking into another room. (Very good, come with me.) They didn't really understand what he had said, but they guessed he wanted them to follow him.
When they were in the other room, he showed them pictures of different apartment houses and their layouts. He also showed them the prices and they realized they would have to settle for something without indoor pluming.
Aiko and Konan pointed to the one they wanted and the agent took them there to look around.
It... it could have been worse...
The walls were a disgusting brown colour, there was a smelly bucket in the corner and the floor was littered with garbage.
Konan and Aiko exchanged nods before Aiko said, "Oui, c'est tres bien. Nous veulons l'apartment." (Yes, it's great. We want the apartment.)
The agent smiled and they paid for everything before he left them alone in their new home.
"I think we should get rid of the bucket," Aiko suggested when she saw the many flies around the horrible thing.
"Yes... and perhaps we should get rid of the dead rat in the corner too," Konan added with a wrinkle of her nose.
That evening, neither woman could sleep so they stared at the mouldy ceiling in front of them.
"Aiko... There's something I want to tell you," Konan sounded very serious and the female cook listened intently.
"Before Pein left... he wanted me to tell you something very important. I didn't tell you until now because I thought it might make you change your mind about leaving," she continued and Aiko furrowed her brow.
What could possibly make her change her mind?
"Pein wanted you to know he really cared about you. That's why he insisted you come with us, and why he protected you back in the kitchen," Konan finished.
The small apartment went silent for a second before Aiko said, "What? But I thought Pein really liked you... you looked like you were a couple."
Konan chuckled for a second before she explained, "Me and Pein have never been more than friends. We treated each other like family, nothing more."
"Thank you for telling me... but now I feel even worse because we left him behind at the clutches of the devil," Aiko murmured.
This was the first time they had spoken about the incident and truthfully, neither of them knew what to say.
Both of them cared about Pein, but they simply weren't powerful enough to go against Madara.
"He is strong, he will survive... that much I know," Konan reassured herself more than Aiko.
"I hope you're right...if anyone can escape from the devil, it's god," she finished and nothing more was said that night.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Pein, tell me why you are back without the Kyuubi," Madara tried to keep control of his voice.
"Forgive me Madara, he was able to over power me when he sprouted nine tails," he explained, but didn't step any closer toward the Uchiha.
"Just get out of my sight," he said finally and sighed. One by one his Akatsuki's were dying and none of them seemed to be able to capture that brat, Naruto.
Pein left the room and made his way to the exit of the Akatsuki base. It was midnight and somewhere under the star filled sky, were his precious Konan and Aiko.
A small childish blush formed on his face when he wondered if Aiko liked him as much as he liked her.
He shook the thought out his head as quickly as it came. He had no time to think about that now.
With that, Pein took out an ancient scroll and began to chant the incantation on it.
He was going to Europe.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Konan and Aiko woke up at the sound of screaming.
They quickly looked out the window and they gasped when they saw mobs of people running down the streets with pitchforks and other makeshift weapons.
Listening in on the crowd's screaming they heard, "Le Diable est ici!" (The devil is here.)
Aiko closed the curtains and furrowed her brow. "The Devil? What do they mean by that?" she wondered out loud.
"Let's go out and maybe ask one of the mob members to tell us," Konan suggested and after they got dressed, they went outside.
They got the attention of a random person and Aiko said, "Le Diable? Que'st que c'est?" (The Devil? What is it?)
The woman simply pointed up to the sky and there they saw a tiny figure floating in the middle of the sky.
"Merci Beaucoup," Konan thanked her and resumed to staring up at that sky.
Could that really be him...?
The blue haired woman turned to ask Aiko if she thought the man in the sky was Pein, but the female cook had long gone running down the street.
She sighed and ran in the direction the mob was going. Maybe Aiko did care about Pein...
Aiko sprinted down the street, but not with the mob. If she stayed in the middle of that mass he would never see her.
Then she found the tallest tree in the area and began to climb.
Half way up the tree, she looked down and for a second she wondered how she would get down... and what if this person wasn't Pein?
Meanwhile, Konan closed her eyes and tried to find Aiko's chakra. When she did, she turned to look at a nearby tree and sighed.
Aiko really was so reckless sometimes.
Speaking of Aiko, she was at the top of the tree and then she took a deep breath and yelled, "Pein! Is that you?"
The figure turned to look at her and instantly he was standing beside her... only he was standing in mid air...
"Oh please, just call me Madara," he said with a smirk and Aiko's eyes widened.
It... it wasn't Pein after all...
Madara suddenly grabbed her by the arm and ripped her up from the tree.
She didn't struggle in fear that he would drop her onto the armed crowd.
"Pein disappeared yesterday evening and I knew that if I found you, I would find him," the Uchiha whispered into her ear and she stiffened.
Suddenly, a huge explosion went off in mid air and it nearly hit them.
Madara narrowed his eyes and he saw Konan, on top of the tree, already starting on another jutsu.
A barrage of paper flew at him and just to distract her, he let go of Aiko and she began to fall.
However, Konan didn't stop her attack because a clone jumped down from the tree and caught Aiko.
The former Uchiha clan leader frowned and disappeared within the instant and suddenly a million cheers erupted from the crowd.
Konan ignored them and instead concentrated on trying to find Madara's chakra.
It was completely gone... not even a trace of it.
Her clone made her way up to the top of the tree with Aiko and they did a simple teleportation jutsu to make it back to their apartment.
"Konan... I really thought it was him... I'm sorry," Aiko explained and hung her head in shame.
"It's okay, I thought it was him too... maybe we are hoping for too much," she shook her head and patted her friend on the back.
The apartment went silent until Aiko exclaimed, "I remember! Madara had said that Pein had disappeared yesterday evening and he came to look for him!"
Konan seemed a little excited by the news and she said, "Pein made it away from him, I am glad that he is safe at least for now."
Once again, everything went silent, but this time it wasn't as tense and there was a feeling of hope surging through them.
Aiko's eyes widened suddenly and she yelled, "Oh no! I'm going to be late for work!"
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"This is much better, oh my gosh look! A toilet!" Aiko exclaimed happily and she and Konan looked around their new apartment.
It had taken them a month of hard work, but at last they had indoor pluming.
"Yes, I agree. This place is much better," Konan said and took a deep breath. This place smelled nothing like dead rat and rotten excrements.
They unpacked all of their belongings and made themselves a nice dinner before retiring to rest.
"You know, I wonder how things are back in Konoha... maybe by now Madara has created the fourth ninja war," Aiko wondered out loud and Konan gave her a nod.
"Maybe, I just hope Pein is alright," she added and a million more questions popped up in their heads.
No one asked any of them though, only Pein could answer them anyway.
They went to sleep and in the middle of the night, Aiko woke up after having a bad dream.
She didn't remember any of it, but it must have been bad if it woke her up.
The apartment was silent as she looked around it. All of this had been so unexpected really...
First she had been banished from her clan, kidnapped by Pein, forced to cook for her life and now she was in Europe, speaking French!
Aiko stood up from her bed and began to pace around the room quietly. For some reason she simply couldn't sleep right now.
"Aiko," a voice spoke suddenly and she turned around to look at the window with wide eyes.
"Qui est'que?" she demanded. (Who is it.)
"Aiko, no need to talk to me in French," the voice replied in Japanese and her heart leapt into her throat.
Could this really be...?
"Pein... is that really you?" she whispered as the strange person jumped into the apartment through the window.
"Yes... but I have to go... goodnight Aiko," he said and suddenly everything went black.
Her eyes snapped open and she looked around the room in search of the dark figure, but instead she saw it was morning and her walls were bathed in sunlight.
It must have been a dream...
"Aiko, are you okay?" Konan said out of the blue and the female cook jumped back from her, clearly not expecting to have company.
"Umm... yes... I just had a strange dream, that's all," she explained and looked down.
The blue haired woman nodded and went to go make breakfast, it was the weekend so they had time to kick back and relax.
When Aiko made it to the kitchen, she took her favourite coffee mug and filled it up with the black, bitter substance.
For some odd reason, she and Konan had become caffeine addicts when they came to France. Sure there had been coffee back in Fire Country, but they never seemed to need it there.
"What do you want to do today?" Aiko asked after taking a big swig.
"Well... I was going to make it a surprise... but I found a group of travelling ninja and they said that they would meet with us today and tell us about everything that's going on," Konan replied with a small smile.
Instantly, Aiko's face lit up and she began to chatter on happily, she didn't take any more sips of coffee either.
That afternoon, they made their way to the edge of town and they were met by several black clad ninjas.
"I trust you came unfollowed," the first one spoke, Aiko assumed he was the leader.
Konan nodded and said, "Yes, but please do tell us, how are things back in Fire Country?"
They exchanged grim looks and one of the other ninja said, "Uchiha Madara, who everyone thought was long dead, started the fourth ninja war and all the nations had to come together to try and defeat him."
Aiko listened in intently, there was little chance any of this would ever be repeated again.
He continued, "They succeeded in some parts, but failed miserably in others. Konoha was completely destroyed and all of the tailed beasts except for Uzumaki Naruto were captured."
There was a pause before another one of the ninja added, "No one could believe that all the great ninja's in the world couldn't defeat him and he was alone, no one was helping him."
That gave both women a sense of relief, so Pein had truly managed to get away.
"Thank you for telling us, good luck with your journey," Aiko said with a small bow.
They nodded and in flash they were gone, not even a trace was left.
"So... what do you want to do now?" the female cook offered with a smile.
Konan turned to look at her and said, "It's clear Pein is no longer in the ninja world, but perhaps he has made it to Europe. We should look for him."
"Already ahead of you! The Japanese cook I work for knows a chakra expert called Jiraiya the Pervert! Plus, he's in town for the next couple of days before he goes back to Fire Country," she exclaimed cheerfully and chuckled at the nickname.
"You want to go see a pervert?" the blue haired woman questioned, but then shook her head. It's not like they had a choice anyway.
A couple of hours later, they were standing at the door to a cheap hotel. "Rock paper scissors over who has to knock on the door," Aiko stated and Konan rolled her eyes before she knocked on the door.
She always lost at that game anyway.
The man known as Jiraiya opened the door and the female's faces contorted in disgust.
"Why hello ladies! You come to party with me?" he asked with a suggestive grin. Aiko resisted the urge to hurl all over the floor as she said, "No, we have a favour to ask, it has to do with your abilities."
She instantly regretted saying anything because she realized just how wrongly suggestive it was so she yelled, "I meant with your chakra! Your ninja skills!"
His face fell and beside her, Konan was chuckling slightly.
He looked a lot more serious as he said, "So what do you want?"
"We need you to track someone with an immense amount of chakra, his name is Pein," Konan finally spoke up.
Jiraiya's eyes widened and she continued, "All we need to know is the location of his chakra and in return we can pay you with Japanese currency."
"Pein... yes, I can find him," the man stated and the two women smiled.
He invited them into the room and he took a couple of swigs of sake before he sat down on a mat and began to concentrate.
A good five minutes later, he reopened his eyes and said, "I found two large chakra's. One that is Pein's, but another is that of an Uchiha."
Jiraiya paused for a second before he continued, "They are close together and it seems as if the Uchiha's chakra is chasing Pein."
Konan swore under her breath and the pervert finished, "They are at the east side of Paris, in the forest."
Aiko took out some money, put it on the table and then they left quickly in search of Pein and Madara. Who else would the second chakra be?
They knew that the best way to get to Paris quickly was to use Konan's white container and she summoned it before they got in and began flying to the area.
A few minutes later, they stopped in mid air to make a window and look around for any hints of where they were.
"I say we follow that humungous trench that is slicing right through the forest," Aiko 'wisely' suggested when they saw the half destroyed forest.
The view hole was closed and they did as was suggested.
Suddenly, an explosion went off and the container rocked to the side roughly before it began descending at an alarming rate.
Konan did a couple of hand signs and the container turned into strange bird like creature and it flew into the air to stop them from smashing into the ground.
"Well, well, well, look who's come to join the fun," a deep voice mocked and Aiko gasped when she saw it was Madara.
"Stay away from them! This is between you and me," another, more worn out voice yelled and the women turned their heads sharply to see Pein, covered in blood, but alive.
Aiko's instincts destroyed themselves and she jumped down from the bird thing and started running toward Pein.
Half way there, a small thought echoed through her head: Why, oh why, on earth was she doing this?
When she was a couple of feet away from him, the answer finally came: She cared about him.
The feeling wasn't as strong as love, no, but...
...During those weeks she had been in his presence, she had learned just how caring he was. How much effort he put into his work, how he always tried to make sure the least amount of people got hurt in any mission...
He was a wonderful human being and she respected that.
She ran up to him and stopped just a foot in front of him. They didn't hug or kiss like anyone in a cliché situation would have, but they simply gave each other a nod and Pein charged at Madara again.
Suddenly, an orange blur came out of no where and yelled, "Madara!" before running at the Uchiha in a flash and they both disappeared.
The forest instantly fell silent and Aiko wondered out loud, "Who was that?"
Pein shook his head. "Uzumaki Naruto, he must have gotten control of his Kyuubi."
Konan jumped down beside them and asked, "So this is all over? Just like that?"
Aiko shrugged and said, "I guess so, but I was expecting the usual fight to the death battle where Pein single-handedly defeats Madara using some sort of magical pixie power."
"...anyway... Pein, let's go back to our apartment and have some coffee, I have this killer head ache," Konan muttered the last part.
The couple nodded and they began to walk.
France and its ability to give people migraines at the most unusual times would never cease to amaze them.
The end!
Hmm... I'm sorry for making it this long and strangely ended... but... oh well, there has to be some sort of reason Europeans drink so much coffee and... tea...
Any thoughts?