PURELY PROFESSIONAL

THE PEINKONAN COLLECTION

DISCLAIMER: These brilliant characters belong to Kishimoto, but the subversions/characterisations, plot and world belong to this author four years ago.

AUTHORS NOTE: These have been due to be posted for four years. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did when I found the stored files on an old computer. xD

BEGINNINGS

The first time they met was in an abandoned building in the middle of spring, rainfall pattering a silent rhythm on the bowed, tin roof, rusted holes dripping water constantly to the wicker floor. She was sitting in the center, surrounded by a dense circle of white flowers that sprouted from the decomposing weave, basket hanging off a skinny arm as she knelt to prise the flowers from the loose soil, transferring them over the short distance with careful, precise movements. He, on the other hand, stumbled in through the open doorway, water dripping from drenched black hair as he clutched a still warm loaf of bread to his chest, panting hard and casting furtive glances behind him. Confident that he had not been followed, he flicked his gaze forward. His footsteps faltered. A few seconds past as curious twilight met suspicious ringed, each scrutinising the other cautiously, stuck in a deadlock that seemed to last forever, before-

crash!

-a clap of thunder pushed the boy forward again and he sat at the farthest corner away from her, gaze not leaving her as he began to eat hungrily. She watched him quietly for second, brow furrowed contemplatively, before she returned to her gathering, swiping awry strands of blue away from her eyes.

Silence.

AT ANY AND ALL COSTS

And as tears rained from the heavens she cried for me

At any and all cost, she would find him. No- not just find him; save him, save him from himself, from the punishment he'd subject himself to. For if she didn't, if she couldn't save him, he would never come back, and she would be left alone. Again. Her fingers twitched as they slowly curled into a fist. She couldn't be alone again.

Muted sapphire glinted softly in the pale moonlight from the waning moon as she leaned farther forward into her perch on the roof, ignoring the slight prickle of rough thatch scratching at her palms as she focused on the faint footprint. The chakra residue gleamed so very minutely that had she not been a ninja and had not known Nagato for as long as she had, she would never have seen it, or rather felt it, as was the case, and he might have been lost forever. Gone, forever.

Like Yahiko.

She felt the all too familiar burning sensation behind her eyes as the predicted wave of pain and loneliness of her past swept through her one more, and she clenched her teeth, fighting back the tears angrily as she fought against the pain that had plagued her all her life- why, why couldn't she be more like them, why couldn't she fight away these feelings- she couldn't break down now, not now, not when her only family, her only precious someone, slipped through the trees ahead of her, all thoughts and purposes centered on the act of desperate attack, that he knew he, with all his ability, even he, would not come back from.

She couldn't lose him too.

Pale, slightly trembling slender fingers reached out, cut off sleeves already beginning to flake and fall away at the beginning of the jutsu as delicate fingertips touched the residues lightly, light blue, faintly glowing chakra flowing out in response and wrapping itself around them, absorbing their unique fingerprint like trace.

Eyelids fluttering as sapphire orbs dimmed and closed, she grit her teeth against her emotions and forcefully pushed them all away as she emptied her mind, eyebrows creasing slightly in concentration as her elegant fingers moved in a flurry of hand seals- before there was an explosion of paper, and she was gone.

Feet slammed into the ground, the water droplets splintering off at the impact splattering at the collision with burning red as he finally drew to a stop, chest heaving, summoned chakra at his feet spluttering faintly until it was only a faint wisp blown away by the wind.

Crouching down onto the remains of what he assumed was once a house, mind closing to the distraction of wind and rain, he concentrated, the flurry of chakra that dissipated into the air as he extended his senses reporting back not only that he was closer than he thought, but – silver flashed resolutely – they were not unaware of him either, the telltale, but subtle shadows, creeping through his chakra nets on the other side of the border pausing at his sight and disappearing.

A dozen small movements, a flash of silver- his feet flared with chakra again as his eyes flew open, leaping to the side, the barrage of kunai that was sent his way -a feeble attack, but more of a warning shot than anything else- hitting with a dull thud the remains of the buildings support beam directly behind where he had stood a little less than a moment before.

Twisting forwards and to the side, he hit the ground in a roll, fingers sliding into a seal as the fractured slab of foundation he'd ducked behind gave a dull crack under a sudden onslaught of heat, the heat of the flames licking greedily around the outer edges searing the skin of his back.

He turned, focusing his chakra on the central point where he had located them- silver flared unexpectedly in shock amidst the subterranean features of a face-a face that was not his and shouldn't be his- as he recognised the flickering form before him-

The subdued glimmer of blue was the last thing he saw before the world fell out from under him.