Peaceful Moments
Chapter Two
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Yahiko secretly watched in fascination as Konan quickly manipulated the paper in her hands. Completely focused on the paper, Konan failed to notice Yahiko staring at her. Soon, a rose bloomed from the girl's palms, an orange rose to add to the collection of flowers she had already made that drizzly day.
It had seemed more dismal than usual on that day when the Ame Orphans ate dinner. Their plentiful supply of food was generally supplied by the unfortunate civilians of Amegakure. Yet even as they lived a life possibly more filling stomach-wise than all of the rest of the general population of Amegakure, they all ate in silence and the rain continued to pound.
That was why Nagato and Konan listened even more attentively than they had before when Yahiko shared his dream again, as he had many other times before.
"This war… it's awful," said Yahiko, somehow making the statement repeated many times before just as interesting as the first time. "One day, I'm gonna rule the world! I'm gonna become the god of this world so there won't be any more war or fighting, and there'll be true peace. One day, there'll be true peace in the world. And I'll be the one to change the world into that."
He droned on for the rest of their dinner, the other two still listening, enraptured. Finally, when their dinner ended, the three orphans left to their own little niche in the cave. Once again, Konan gently picked up a leaf of paper and began to make another flower, and, once again, Yahiko watched her intently. She evidently had not noticed that she was missing a sheet of red paper.
The soft crinkle of paper as it was folded was drowned out by the large, crackling flame that flickered softly, providing a large amount of light to the small cave. Again, another rose was born from Konan's palms, and Yahiko stared down at the creation he had made as he attempted to follow along with Konan's speed. It looked rather like a crinkled, red boulder. Sighing, he discreetly threw it into the fire, where it almost immediately burst into flame.
Konan, unnoticing of the sudden burst of heat and light, continued to fold more roses. Yahiko gulped slightly and promised to himself that he would try again tomorrow.
Of course, when that time came, he once again had a piece of red paper in his hands. When Konan was outside, he quickly passed by her bed and slipped a sheet of red paper out of the stack of origami paper that Konan had. She came back soon and began to fold again, smiling as she hummed a little tune.
Yahiko found that it was a little bit easier this time; he remembered the first few steps from last night. Of course, that didn't mean it looked like a rose. It still resembled the squashed boulder that had been formed the night before. Frustrated, he threw the paper into the fire again, where it caught fire and smoldered.
This pattern continued for a few weeks, until Konan finally realized that her supply of colorful paper was dwindling in the red section much faster than any of her other colors. Yahiko almost managed to make the flower the day before, and he was desperate for one last chance.
Once again, when Konan left, he sneaked to her bed and was about to grab a sheet of red paper; unfortunately, Konan chose that moment to start walking back in. Yahiko gulped as he heard the steps and quickly grabbed a sheet, fleeing back to his bed at a speed that could rival any ninja.
She did not seem to notice.
Yahiko breathed a sigh of relief, but then was horrorstruck as he stared at the blue piece of paper he was holding. Blue!
Cursing silently, he folded the paper anyways. After much painful, diligent struggling, the paper took on a form similar to one of Konan's roses. Smiling in triumph, he was prepared to present his masterpiece to Konan, until he realized that she would probably annihilate him when she found out that he had been stealing her origami paper. Gulping, he hid the paper rose in his spot and resolved to get Konan more red paper.
The next morning, Yahiko woke Nagato and Konan eagerly.
"Alright, we're going to get some food!" he said excitedly.
"Again?" muttered Konan sleepily, as she got up, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"What do you mean again?" pouted Yahiko.
"Well… We do have a lot of food," pointed out Nagato calmly, waving his hand at the numerous boxes around them. "I don't know if we need more…"
"Fine!" glared Yahiko. "I'll go by myself!"
"Wait, Yahiko –"
"Don't you dare come after me!" said Yahiko. "You guys should stay here!"
The two other orphans shrugged at Yahiko's behavior, before going about their normal routines.
About two hours later, Yahiko reappeared, looking defeated.
"Well?" prompted the other two.
Yahiko simply shook his head, before slouching off to his bed.
"I'm doomed," he muttered, whimpering slightly. "No paper… stupid market people."
Konan really did not mind that he had taken her paper. True, she did angrily whack him around the head a few times for not telling her, but after that, she was her usual self – until she proposed her solution to her paper stock dwindling.
"I'll ignore you until you get me more red paper!" she told Yahiko cheerfully one rainy morning. "Starting today!"
And with those last words, she abruptly turned and began to chat amiably with a laughing Nagato, leaving Yahiko to moan in despair over where to find the paper he so desperately needed.