Author's Note: O to the K (ok)! (lol I got that from Shrek 3) I made this for Konan, the lone female member of the Akatsuki. I mean, she's a great female role model… even though she's a murderer… and an S-class criminal… And a missing-nin… But, you aren't getting the point. I mean, the ONLY FEMALE character in the toughest group yet! You have to admit, that's impressive! This is about her past I made up.
Dedicated To:
All my AWESOMELY AWESOME FRIENDS!!!
For supporting me,
For helping me,
For letting me be myself
You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine…
By – Paper Things / Karasu
The rain pitter-pattered down onto the strong and thick paper umbrella right above a tall blue haired woman and a young blue haired girl getting ready for her last week of school at the Academy of the Rain village. The tall woman looked down at the younger version of herself with a smile, her hair in a tight bun, "Konan-chan, I cannot wait for you to finally receive your head band! I'm very proud of you." The young girl who seemed to be called Konan looked up and smiled.
"I'll finally become a strong kunoichi… Don't worry okaa-san, I'll make you prouder and happy… I'll do anything to make you happy." Konan leaned up to kiss her mother's cheek and ran towards the wooden Academy doors with her teacher rushing her in quickly.
The mother stood up tall and her smile filled with happiness, though her brown eyes filled with sorrow spoke, "Konan dear… The first time I saw your adorable little face already made me happy. The first time I heard you saw 'okaa-san' made me proud." With that silent remark, she walked back to her home.
"Konan? Are you paying attention to a word I'm saying?" the sensei slammed a ruler down Konan's desk.
The girl jumped, sending her long flowing blue hair all wavy, "You were telling us how some Genjutsu do not require hand techniques or signals…" The teacher nodded in approval. "Ano… Sensei?" the sensei squinted his eyes at her in curiosity. "N-Nevermind…"
Throughout the rest of the class time, Konan stared out the forever rain-pattering village, just waiting, waiting until the rain stopped. She'll wait forever, forever until the wet Hell stopped. Though… It never stops.
"Class dismissed for lunch." The teacher's dismissal ringed in Konan's ears as she eyed everyone taking out their lunch and immediately moving to their friends' desks to enjoy their meals.
She walked up to the teacher at his wooden desk looking over some mission files he completed, "Sensei?"
He jumped slightly from the sudden alarm, "Hai?"
Konan gave an innocent look, "When will it ever stop raining?"
The teacher couldn't help but soften his eyes in sorrow, "Konan, it never stops raining in the Rain Village. So many soldiers and shinobis died in that war last year, the skies are crying everyday for each noble warrior whom sacrificed themselves for defending our village, our country."
The blue haired girl tilted her head, "So… There is never a sun?"
The sensei sighed and stared at the light bulb attached to the ceiling and closed his eyes, absorbing the warmth, "There is… It's just not ready to show itself."
Konan smiled happily, "So the sun will come out soon right?" She jumped up and immediately ran back to her seat, taking out her bento her kind mother packed her.
The sensei sighed and stared out into the soaking Hell, "I'm sorry Konan, the sun will never come out."
Just as soon as Konan finished her meal, the teacher rang a small bell, signaling everyone to pay attention, "Flip your textbooks to page 347 and read under the subtopic labeled 'Different Weapons of Different Countries'."
Konan ignored the teacher and took out her sketchbook and quickly sketched a colorful sun. As she leaned the sketchbook near the wall, she used her chakra to mold a piece of red paper into an elegant rosebud, not fully bloomed. Though, just as soon as she revealed the paper flower towards the drawn sun, she forced more chakra into the paper to unfold itself into a fully bloomed flower.
The sensei smiled at her foolishness and her hopes and dreams though couldn't help but felt guilty of telling her a lie. "Class dismissed. Tomorrow, bring senbons, a shuriken, and three kunais."
As the girl quickly rushed out to greet her mother, she found a tear-stained smiling mother holding an older umbrella with small holes. "Okaa-san? What's wrong?"
The mother wiped her tears away with her sleeve, accidentally revealing dark purple and blue bruises, "Nothing Konan, my sweetheart."
Konan grabbed her arm and rolled up the sleeve, to reveal many bruises, "Okaa-san! Who's been doing this? What happened to the umbrella you and I were walking with this morning… You aren't telling me something!" Seeing her mother cry, and with so much suffering, so much pain in her hazel brown eyes frightened little Konan.
"Konan… No matter what, you will always be my little sunshine." The mother smiled painfully and held Konan's small hands and walked inside the empty house.
Konan stared outside through the window, "Okaa-san? How am I your sunshine if there is no sun here?"
The mother hesitated before answering, "Konan… I love you with my heart, and I cherish you. You are my sunshine. Come, you need to rest. I see you yawning all day."
Konan smiled and nodded as she slipped under her covers, "Okaa-san, can you please sing me that lullaby?"
Her smiled sadly, "Of course…
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are gray.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away
The other night, dear,
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
When I awoke, dear,
I was mistaken
And I hung my head and cried.
You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are gray.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.
Please don't take my sunshine away."
Konan slowly drifted off to a sun-filled dream as her mother smiled at her daughter's peaceful face, all content.
--------
Loud screams of torture and bangs awoke the sweating Konan as she quickly jumped off her bed without a sound. 'I wonder who could that be?' she thought to herself as she used her excellent skills to appear in the living room with a kunai in one hand, and her other arm in a defensive position.
Clitter-clatter! The sound of the kunai dropping out of Konan's shaking hands seemed to echo through the walls. 'T-This can't be happening… Oto-san…? Okaa-san…?' Konan covered her mouth from crying out in fear.
Her mother lay on the floor, bruised all over, and small minor cuts on her right cheek, "Konan…"
Her father had rage in his dark blue eyes, so fiery, so fearsome… Konan couldn't help but spill tears. "Konan… I…" The father's blue eyes widen with shock and fright. Small spots of blood were on his hands that made him feel like a murderer.
"W-What's going on…?" The girl managed to stutter before her voice transformed from a frightened tone into a voice filled with rage and disappointment, "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! Don't you see I have to deal with you arguing when I was just but two years old? Can't you two ever get along…? Don't you see how you are tearing my heart apart, not in two pieces, but into millions of pieces? Ho-How could you do this to me, and yourself…?" Soon, two pairs of warm arms squeezed her. 'Oto-san, okaa-san, don't leave me…' Konan wanted to savor this moment forever. "Don't argue again… I'll do anything to make you happy, so j-just d-don't cr-cry…" Despite her plead she felt warm hot tears sliding down her cheeks that belonged to her mother and father, and even herself.
3 Months Later…
Konan was finally going to be a Chuunin, which made her mother and father extremely proud. Her origami skills still fascinated her mother, and her Taijutsu amazed her father. Though, she had to until one hour to graduate the Chuunin level with the present from the elders of a brand new headband.
Now, the girl fidgeted in her wooden stool as her mother put Konan's hair into a tight blue bun. "But okaa-san, all the girls are going to put their hair in pony-tails, not buns…" she complained and whine, but held still.
Her mother smiled, "Don't you want to be different from everyone else? You'll be the star in the dark, black space." Konan huffed and finally held still as her mother slipped in a paper rose clip. "Konan, this was given to me by my grandmother, I want you to take very good care of it…"
Konan smiled at the paper flower, "It's beautiful…"
Graduation Ceremony
Shouts and cheers were heard as the old dark blue Genin headbands were thrown up into the air as the Chuunins jumped up and escaped to tell their friends, leaving Konan standing with a wide grin. 'I cannot wait to go home!' she pictured a big plate of onigiri, and a large celebration with just her loving parents.
"Okaa-san? Oto-san?" The stench of blood invaded Konan's nose as she quickly covered her nose to avoid nausea. "O-Oto-san…?"
"Ko-Kona-Konan… Sweetheart." A weak and frail voice echoed through the long dark hallways.
"Okaa-san!" Konan rushed to see her mother soaked in crimson red blood, and her father with a bloody kunai in one hand, and the other hand held to his face.
"Konan… I-I'm sorry… I couldn't control the anger demon inside me…" Her father cried as he handed her the kunai. "Kill me."
"Kill me." Her mother spoke in a feeble voice. "We do not want to see you suffer. If we are gone, you shall have peace."
Konan's dark blue eyes widened with shock and her tears caused blurriness, "N-No!"
Her mother managed to slide her hand towards Konan's, "Please…" Her cold hands scared Konan more. "We will have peace in heaven, and we will have the courage, the strength to protect you from below."
Her father approached her with a pure snow-white kunai. "Kill us with this… It is dipped in poison… Remember Konan we will forever love you. You, and only you." Her father's strong hands held the kunai into Konan's shaking hands.
'They've suffered so much…' Konan blinked her tears away and with one blow, she stabbed her mother's heart and could feel her skin cool, and her heart finally stopped suffering. 'They still love me though…' Finally, stabbing her father in the heart, she felt them both say in unison, "You will always be our sunshine, our only sunshine…"
10 Years Later
The rain splattered on the Akatsuki window as Konan stared at herself in the mirror, putting her hair up in a tight bun as her mother wanted her to do, and clipped the paper rose into her blue hair. 'Happy Anniversary okaa-san, oto-san…' Konan thought sadly to herself. 'I'm wearing my hair in a bun everyday now mother, and I still have that clip okaa-san.' She looked at the same white kunai coated with two kinds of blood hanging off the wall just above her small mirror. 'I'm training harder than ever oto-san… I promise you both… I will never disappoint you. I'll continue living, I'll make you both proud…' silence invaded her thoughts.
"Okaa-san, oto-san… I've joined a criminal organization…" Konan looked down at her ring that read haku, 白 meaning white, just like her kunai. "Am I still your one and only sunshine?"
The End
Author's Note: READ AND REVIEW!!! Thanks much ^_^