I – Past

"I do love you..." And he kissed his neck. "I love you, oh, so much..."

"But you still don't love me more than your reign." Itachi mutters, half lost in thought. "You only came to me after you got your domination."

"But I came." the self-indulged god smiled. "I answered your call." then he leaned and started pecking the Uchiha's lips and the young man didn't push him away, on the contrary, deepened the kiss.

But it only lasted for a short couple of minutes. Pein sighed; his partner was again disgusted by his previous behaviour, but he couldn't do anything now. Everything got it's measure, even if sometimes that doesn't pleases one. He kissed his beloved's forehead, before getting out of the bed sheets, exposing his bare skin to the pale light of the morning creeping through the curtains, from place to place it was dotted by round, black piercings. He grabbed his clothes.

Itachi turned his back on everything and laid still, in an almost fetal position, in the furthest and darkest corner of the bed. Pein glints at his silhouette, tossing his Akatsuki cloak on, he returns to his lover's side, suspecting he might feel ill, in the end he did suffer form the disease still, and that hurt him. He grabbed his hand, this time it was as cold as the ginger's.

"I'll send someone to have a look at you, OK."

Itachi laughed bitterly: "I guess... this will never change..."

The leader squinted his eyes; he knew to what matter he was referring to: him being a poor partner, always letting the Uchiha in the hands of others when it should have been him taking those responsibilities. He knew it, but he couldn't let someone else take care of the hard won empire he built. Time for romance will come slowly, but it will come. He stood up, intending to leave the room.

" .you' ." Someone grunted from the floor darkly.

"I would if you would stop intruding my personal space, Zetsu." the godly figure bellowed, passing by the man, quickening his pace out of the place.

"You're affraid I may be interrupting your business leader-sama." the white counterpart chuckled a while after they starting walking down the hallway.

Pein clenched his fists at just how perverted some people were; he wasn't such a trivial man whose love relationship resumed only to physical attraction. "What was it that you wanted to tell me that you indulged yourself to such a dire act. No one enters my room."

The bi-colored man laughed sheepishly: "It's Madara... He's awaiting you in the lobby, Konan didn't let him go further."

Madara?... What was he doing here and at such a time. He reckoned he killed the man himself. And he also had a witness then: Nagato, who he fought the legendary nin with. The two, young at that age, made an agreement after the masked man, calling himself 'Madara Uchiha', came and tried to harness their growing powers. Nagato offered one of his powerful eyes to Yahiko, a name he bore one time, but now had forgotten, and together they sought out to turn the world right. They found Madara and fought him to gain a full set of rinnegans both of them. Apparently the red-haired friend of his was Madara's bastard son with none other than the first hokage's wife. It was a complicated story and he didn't remember all the detail in it. Anyway the young Ame nins defeated the Uchiha, but only obtained one of the two eyes the man was wearing, the other being compromised at the end. And since it was the left eye Yahiko was missing, he took it and since then he's been know as Pein, the god of the village hidden in the rain.

This may have been simply a hoax, but the name of Madara haunted him even after so many years. he has been fascinated by just how much power a single man had and could harness with such majesty and elegance and just how much he had to work to get there, how much pain he had to endure. It was a man who lived up to his reputation and he had only respect for him.

He reached the lobby. Pein's eyes gaped wide open as before him stood the exact same figure he killed long ago. Konan had her reasons to not let him further. Madara smiled widely at the sight of the leader of the world.

"Yahiko, if I remember correctly-"

"My name is Pein." the one in cause coldly cut the Uchiha, whose sharingan eyes, trademark of the clan, were activated and glistening mischievously.

"My bad. Do you mind if we have a talk?"

"Are you not going to ask him how is he still alive?" Konan glowers over to the one she grew up with; of course she didn't trust him, he didn't trust the man himself.

"There are many secrets this world holds, but that of legend never dying isn't one." And then surveying the room, Madara spots a certain someone: "Son..." he smiles. "Long time no see."

Nagato's eyes gape open, then squint in a dark frown as he tried to make a hand seal, but the shortly gave up the idea and sighed deeply. "What do you want?"

"Talk. ...for now..."

"Ah!" Pein exclaimed before an argument started between the two; he was, in the end, interested in talking with him; he defeated him once, he could defeat him once again if the circumstances asked for it. "Itachi is feeling a bit sick today, could you be kind enough to check on him, friend."

The friend, whose blood-red hair flowed loosely over the right side of his face, the side that was missing an eye, closed his eyelids heavily, sighed once again, and nodded. However, turning to Madara one last time before leaving, he hissed: "Don't think I would hesitate to kill you again."

"What a determined little lad..." the great Uchiha smouldered. "Takes after his mother... Now onto the talk shall we. We have agreed to it, haven't we."

"Yes. Come in." The Akatsuki leader waved a hand signaling the agreement and then stretching it for the legendary nin to shake it. The ghost god met the one of the new world, in terms of peace, not war as it once was.

The two made their way into Pein's private office, where he only talked with several people, but asked Konan to prepare the zombie combo and set them as 'guards' if anything happened. He shut the door and seated himself in the chair behind the massive wood desk.

"You are going to tell me how you survived." The ginger demanded.

Madara grinned: "The rinnegan in my right eye wasn't destroyed, it was hidden, by, let's say, one of my allies and he used it to bring myself back from the dead.I survived and watched you ascend to power, boy. But since it's my strengths that brought you your reign over this pitiful world, I say let's share the spoils."

"Sharing didn't bring anyone any good for as far as I know. And then again I'm not fooled by your sweet talk."

"Of course you're not. I don't want the world, lad. It's full of idiots. I want an intelligent, powerful and prestigious young man to perpetuate the genes of genius..."

The ginger burst out in a laughter. "I have no interest in women."

"You're a fool yourself, then. The rinnegan has the power to manipulate life, you don't need women, you can create a child by yourself. But further, you need to train your people, not just keep them in leashes. Make them loyal soldiers. Fufu. You're young and inexperienced, Pein, you need guidance, and that's why I'm here for: to use that intelligence, power and prestige of yours to perpetuate the genius of people. Wars torn this country appart because people were stupid. I say let's put an end to this. Let's build a new world, a world of peace."

The leader of this new world, realized he, indeed, couldn't put an end to the terror of war unless he built the world anew, not simply scrap and idealize what was given. It was already spoiled, already rotten. True peace was no more than fiction because people continued to think in their tiny little boxes. And, yes, he couldn't do that on his own, nor did he knew how, violence only leads to more violence.

He hesitantly nodded. "Let's say you can stay here for a while." The Uchiha smiled brightly, somehow kindly even.