Chapter Two
Konan had nearly finished unpacking when Minerva McGonagall came into the younger woman's room to see if she needed help, keen eyes observed that the woman was feeling discomfort but didn't like to show it. She could understand that, since she was a strong, fairly self-possessed woman herself. However on this count she was both right and wrong.
Konan, like most shinobi did not care for others to see her weakness and discomfort when injured, however she was intentionally struggling to show it to now because she knew that here, among this very strange group of people, she had to look more…human and less shinobi. Furthermore the blue-haired kunoichi was hoping to see one of the teachers here, she had another favor to ask.
"Professor McGonagall?" She said.
"Minerva's fine." The older woman said brusquely.
"I have a favor to ask." Konan said, forcing her features to show that she didn't like asking for favors. "I was wondering if I could have access to a book on how to speak this language? I cannot rely on this translation jut-spell forever."
Minerva blinked, she was not sure what the blue-haired woman had wanted but this was a reasonable request.
"Well of course." She said.
"Also, I am indebted to Dumbledore and I would like to pay that off, since I do not like to leave debts lingering. I know that you have that translation-spell but if there are any students who wish to learn Japanese I would be happy to fill that position." Konan explained in a brisk business-like tone.
"We have not had a foreign language teacher here for quite some time, but this is something that you'll have to discuss with Professor Dumbledore. Preferably before the students are sorted. Come along then."
Albus Dumbledore considered Shiori Nakamura's request thoughtfully, though he already knew that he was going to say yes. The last foreign language teacher had taught Russian but had left to help take care of an ailing relative several years back and they had certainly never had anyone teach Japanese before. Furthermore, who was he to deny someone an earnest chance to repay there debts?
"I don't think it's a bad idea my dear, but I am curious as to how you are going to teach a Japanese course when you are learning English yourself?"
Shiori looked at him slyly and what she said next sealed the deal completely. "I can always bluff and the students will help me to learn English though they will not realize it."
Albus smiled, a hint of mischief twinkling in his blue eyes. "Then the job is yours Ms. Nakamura. I'll have the employment papers waiting for you in your room."
And then Albus turned to business with his students, while Konan paid close attention to everything around her.
There was something about the woman that made many of the teachers uneasy and they instinctively scooted their chairs as far away as they could without, hopefully being too noticeable.
"We also have several new staff changes this year." Dumbledore continued, "Our Groundskeeper Hagrid is going to be teaching Care of Magical Creatures as Professor Kettleburn would like to spend more time with his remaining limbs. I would also like to introduce you to Professor Lupin who will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and Professor Nakamura who will be teaching Japanese for any who wish to learn."
At that Hermione perked up, being fairly fluent in French and Spanish already, she loved learning new languages and would most certainly be interested in mastering the difficult language of Japanese.
After the final announcements were made, food began appearing on the plates before them and Konan had to force herself not to flinch when it appeared suddenly. Her eyes narrowed, wary of the unfamiliar food, she sniffed it delicately, relieved that some of the scents such as beef, chicken and vegetables were familiar but she did not touch it yet. Paranoia insisting that she check it for poisons, placing her hands in her sleeves and she quickly performed a jutsu to check for any signs of taint. When she was satisfied that the food was perfectly alright, she began to put food on her plate that was both the most nourishing and that seemed familiar to her.
As she ate, she subtly began sizing up her fellow teachers, all were suspect and to be treated politely but warily, the tall man with the black hair and the dour face was someone she disliked in an instant. His eyes were too secretive, too shifty, too cold and conniving and she would watch him carefully.
Hagrid, McGonagall and Dumbledore seemed genuinely kind-hearted but she knew she could never trust them completely, she had even been wary of her former lover Deidara. She knew from long painful experience, that friendship could turn into betrayal at any given moment and that she must be on the lookout for signs of the people in her life turning against her.
She turned towards the shabby, wan looking man on her left and stiffened slightly, there was something…off about him. He gave off an energy pulse that seemed similar but somehow different to half demons and she made a mental note to keep a careful eye on him as well as the man with the strange cat. Konan turned to assess the students, many of whom were staring at her with open curiosity. She had a feeling that her new life as Shiori Nakamura wasn't going to be as bleak as she'd originally believed.
After supper, Professor McGonagall lead Konan back to the room, she turned to look at the young woman who's eyes were everywhere and held an intense look of concentration. She did not speak the entire time they were there.
"Shiori. I understand that you went through a very frightening ordeal, if you should ever want to talk about it-"
"Thank you for your kindness Minerva." Said Konan with a slight bow, she went into her room.
Minerva frowned, the way she said and did things, seemed almost mechanical. She was well versed enough in psychology to know that the brain would shut down to properly cope from traumatic experiences and perhaps that was all it really was, but she could not help feel her instincts prickling when she was around her. She had felt it the first time she met Shiori Nakamura in the hospital room and she had felt it all day while escorting her around Hogwarts.
Konan immediately began doing the paperwork, she had it finished quickly to avoid arousing suspicion of deception and stepped out of her room. Her eyes quickly caught the man Filch wandering around.
"Excuse me Mr. Filch, but can you please direct me to Albus Dumbledore's office?" She asked.
Argus eyed her. Her hair was an odd shade of blue, her voice was cool, blank, no emotion behind it whatsoever. He disliked the new teacher for reasons he couldn't explain, it could be she was under an imperious curse? The way she held herself was too bloody confident, despite her nasty encounter. She could be a Trojan Horse for the Death Eaters. Too many suspicions, too many uncertainties with this new teacher.
He mumbled something unintelligible and motioned for her to follow. After delivering her to the headmaster and back to her room, Konan decided to see just how compatible jutsu and magic was. Walking up walls proved no problem, body flicker was fine, teleportation was not. She could not do it and Konan felt panic beginning to well inside her. If she could not teleport she would be at a vast disadvantage to enemy ninja. For if she had found her way here, then hypothetically it was not unreasonable to assume that others had or would as well. She must never assume she was safe from harm and there were many native dangers she was not yet aware of yet.
There was a knock on the door and she found Minerva-san there again with a book in her hand. "Here's the book you requested Shiori, it translates English-to-Japanese, including correct pronunciation, though there may be many things in both languages that may not translate correctly."
Konan allowed her eyes to soften with gratitude and for reasons Minerva could not understand, she softened a bit towards Shiori Nakamura.
"Now, no need to thank me. Goodness knows you've thanked everyone enough. You've got a busy day ahead of you with the students tomorrow and you need your rest."
It was obvious to both of them that Konan saw right through her blustering act. Konan set to work and was up for more then half the night, before climbing into bed at around four am. The sun rose and Konan began preparing for the first class. A group of Third Years from all the houses. There were not many who had signed up for her class, but that suited her perfectly.
Hermione was excited at the prospect of learning a new language and she was very curious about the new teacher, she had to admit she was quite surprised to see Draco Malfoy of all people there and he didn't seem to happy either. Professor Nakamura was sitting at her desk, folding a detailed butterfly from paper when the class entered.
"Good morning students, welcome to my classroom. I am Professor Nakamura and I will let you know right now, that I will not tolerate slackers in my classroom." Professor Nakamura's eyes and voice turned cold. "If you are here because you think this will be an easy way to earn extra credits, or goof around you are sadly mistaken. Anyone not willing to take this class seriously will be weeded out quickly and failed.
One of the Slytherins whispered something to his friend and they snickered, right before a strange-looking paper star embedded itself deep into the wooden desk. The whole class stared as Professor Nakamura walked over as though nothing had happened, removed the paper star and said in an authorative tone. "I will not tolerate disrespectful behavior in my classroom, Mr. Connelly."
"Are you mad? You almost hit my hand!" He yelled.
"Nonsense, my aim was right on target. Consider this your only warning." She said and so the lesson began, her class quickly found out that she was a strict taskmaster but not unfairly so. She may have only had 43 students all in all, but both classes quickly learned to be respectful.
While Konan was busy fulfilling her new role as a Japanese teacher, Zetsu had been busy digging up Hidan, he had also brought a terrified medic with him and on pain of being eaten alive had been busy putting the bitchy priest back together.
"Ow! Fuck! Where did you learn about human anatomy? Quacks R Us?"
Zetsu was not pleased. The medic was all rattled and under pressure in the worst ways possible, she was sure to lose her tenuous grip on concentration if he continued to insult her.
"Hidan. It is not advisable to agitate the medic." Zetsu's lighter half said warningly.
"The hell you say?" Hidan snapped. "Easy for you to talk! You're not the one getting put back together."
"One more complaint out of you Humpty Dumpty and I'm gonna shove a clod of dirt in your mouth!" Zetsu's Darker Half growled menacingly.
"Do it anyways. Then we won't have to listen to him complain." Lighter Zetsu suggested helpfully.
"Best idea you've had all day." Darker Zetsu agreed and without further ado Zetsu did just that.
"You're an ungrateful little bastard. If weren't for Konan, I would have left you to rot." Darker Zetsu told Hidan.
"Now wait a minute-" His Lighter Half began.
"Oh. That's right. This is your fault too!" His Darker Half sneered.
"Konan wanted him back!" His Lighter Half protested, ignoring the muffled sounds of inquiry coming from the priest. He crossed his arms stubbornly and Hidan was reduced to rolling his eyes.
One thing was for sure, the venus fly freak probably never got lonely. He thought.
"So we're going to do what Konan wanted?" His Darker Half asked incredulously.
His Lighter Half grinned and replied. "We already have."
There was nothing to be said to that, signaling the end of the argument.
By this time Hidan had spit out most of the mossy, moist dirt so that he could finally speak.
"Well where the hell is she?" He demanded.
"Scotland." Zetsu muttered in a tone to low for Hidan.
"And how do you know?" Hidan asked. He'd certainly never heard of this place.
"I have an intimate connection with the earth. It comes with being half-demon." Zetsu shrugged.
"Why the hell do you think I was such a damn good spy?" His Darker Half said smugly.
"Where the hell is it? I've never heard of it." Hidan whispered.
"Few shinobi have." Zetsu said matter-of-factly. "I haven't either until recently."
"If you've never heard of it then how-"Hidan began but was quickly cut off.
"I already explained that to you, you thick-headed little bastard. Now sit down, shut up and let the medic do her job!"
Hidan shut his mouth. He'd spent just enough time to know when Zetsu took on his hungry voice. He wasn't keen on finding out what it felt like to get eaten alive.
Several days later Hidan was up and moving again, his Divine Healing Powers were beginning to kick in now that he was whole, well more or less.
He sacrificed the terrified medic nin, while trying to console her that she would go to straight to heaven. After Zetsu had his fill, much to Hidan's disgust the priest was ready to go.
"Where do you think your running off too?" Zetsu demanded. "You're going to help us find Konan!"
"Fuck you! I've had it with this screwed up organization!" Hidan snapped.
Zetsu opened his mouth to argue further but his darker half interrupted. "Just let him go! I'm tired of the little ingrate's bitching. I really don't want to travel with him. We don't need him."
His Lighter Half considered for a moment and Zetsu's Darker Half let out a gusty sigh. The human part of him, courtesy of his deceased human mother had always been hopelessly attached to people who had shown him the slightest bit of kindness and his loyalty to Akatsuki alone had nearly gotten them killed. Now here he was, preparing to go off to the ends of the earth to go find one of the last remaining members. They were going to get killed because of these foolish attachments and at nearly fifty-nine, Zetsu was in no rush to die young and in his prime, considering he would live for three hundred years. Perhaps a little less. He was practically a teenager among his race!
So Akatsuki's Spy master once again set off alone, allowing the gifts of his race to track down the remnant's of his colleague's chakra.
Zetsu moved faster underground then any shinobi alive moved above it and he found himself in the canyons of Hidden Stone where, much to his surprise he saw a ragged, noticeably thinner Kisame battling Stone's Hunter nin.
Kisame, who had had to live with the burden of being born from a whole clan of shark demon ninja had understood Zetsu better then anyone else in the Akatsuki. He had been in fact the only person the plant man could call a friend. So it was only natural that he fight by the shark nin's side.
When the last shinobi had been downed and Zetsu had satisfied his hunger, he asked.
"What are you doing here?"
"The for hire sign was a trap. That damn Daimyo let me fight for a while before he threw me in the dungeon, to collect on a hefty bounty. I busted out of there and killed the little idiot." Kisame said in a disgruntled tone. "I thought you'd been killed." He added as an afterthought.
"I have no intentions of dying yet." Zetsu responded. "I'm been tracking Konan's chakra signature in the earth. It's incredibly strong here so I know I'm getting close."
Kisame nodded, well used to Zetsu's unusual skills. "So she's alive then?"
"Yes, Hidan is back on his feet again too, the little ingrate. Madara's dead."
"Where's she at?" Kisame wondered.
"Scotland?" Zetsu answered.
"Scotland?! Where the hell is Scotland?" Kisame demanded.
Zetsu sighed, getting a sudden sense of déjà vu.
Author's Note:
I know it's not as long as the first chapter.
But I hope you liked it anyways.
To Wrong Light:
Hope this answers your questions,
though Hidan may catch up to them later on.
I'm not quite sure yet.
To AlchemicNinja26844:
As for romances I'm still not sure.
Though you did give me an idea about
a Konan/Zetsu or a Konan/Kisame.