Author's Note: I only received one review for my previous chapter, but whatever! Here's another one! I hope everyone had a great Christmas!
Konan's POV
You couldn't imagine how I'd felt right now. It was some twisted form of sadness and breakage; something that wanted me gone. I felt as if the world had given me the chance of dying slowly or ending it now.
I'd never broken into tears this easily. In fact, Pein hadn't seen me cry but for a few times in our lives. He was always bawling when we were younger, but I didn't show anyone my emotions this easily. Something had to be wrong.
And so, I cried. I wept like my tears would supply the rain. My face pressed into Pein's shoulder, I sobbed wildly.
It had only been recently that I'd started to have little breakdowns. It was as if my body was trying to kill me. I was always sad, I never ate, and I was constantly hurting.
My Akatsuki cloak felt extremely heavy when soaked in the rain. The thing weighed about five pounds to start with, but now it seemed to weigh a thousand. I thought that perhaps, this was just my stress weighing down on me.
Sighing, I pulled away. I looked up at Pein with teary eyes. "Yes, we did heal." I agreed, flashing a small grin. Perhaps, forgetting would be the right thing to do.
Pein, whose worried eyes looked down at my own, nodded. He smiled too, trying to help. He picked up our soaked Akatsuki hats. "Let's get back to the base." he said.
I nodded. We continued walking, the rain pelting us. Hopefully, we would forget.
_ _ _
The next day, I awoke with another new feeling: guidance. Now I knew that I wasn't fighting this life alone. Pein was still there, even though I only saw Yahiko's face.
I went through my daily routine, folding a new flower for my hair at the end of it. I placed it on the right side of my head, where it always was.
That morning, I made the Akatsuki's breakfast. We sat at our long table, chatting amongst ourselves. Occasionally, you'd see a piece of food fly across the table.
Deidara, whom had been glaring angrily at Tobi for asking him so many useless questions, turned to Pein. "What missions are there to be done today?" he asked.
Pein swallowed the water that he'd taken a drink of. "Considering the fact that winter is coming, we are in a mad rush to get as much done as possible. Today, Itachi, Konan, and I will be hunting down another monster. You and Tobi will be helping with the building of a new set of apartments on the west side of Amegakure." he said.
Deidara nodded. Pein then continued. "Hidan and Kakuzu, you will be helping to dissect some of the bodies found yesterday in the Land of Rice Patties. Zetsu, you are in charge until we return." he said.
Zetsu nodded. Most of the Akatsuki considered it a great privilege to temporarily be in charge of the base in Pein's absence. Some, like Zetsu, didn't care.
Once again, Pein's voice filled the room. "Tomorrow, Konan, Deidara, and I will be on a mission having to do with a murderer in the Land of Tiger Lilies. Zetsu, you and Tobi will be the ones helping with the buildings then. The rest of you will be in charge of the base until our arrival."
_ _ _
"Are you ready?" asked Pein, leaning against my bedroom door. Itachi stood by his side.
I nodded. "Yes. I'm coming." I said, fixing the bun in my hair. I entered the hallway, walking with the two.
_ _ _
The walk hadn't taken us very long. We'd easily made it to the small, insignificant town in around ten minutes. From there, we entered the small forest surrounding the place.
We hopped from tree to tree, scouting the ground below for anything odd. We listened carefully, not wanting to risk being snuck up on. Pein definitely wasn't going to let us split up this time.
Even Itachi, whose sharingan was activated, couldn't see much. After all, the guy was going blind after all. If you asked me, I didn't think he deserved to even be here.
I had very little respect for Itachi. He had killed his entire family, as well as his lover, just because they were power-hungry. That problem could have been solved, but Itachi was too blind to see that. (Pun!)
Life with a family is a blessing. If Itachi was willing to give that all away so easily, then he didn't even deserve to have a family in the first place. I could tell that one day, he was going to die. He was going to die before his brother ever found out about the real reason that he killed the clan.
Suddenly, Pein's hand moved in front of me, as if to tell me to stop. We three stopped on a large tree branch. "Look downward and be quiet." said Pein.
When I looked down, what I saw stunned me. It was a giant spider. It was nearly the size of two queen-sized beds. What really shocked me though was the ice coating it.
Yes, I said "ice". The spider's long, frightening legs were coated with little shards of the stuff. It shook as if it was being tortured.
I looked at Pein, as if asking what to do. He motioned for I and Itachi to stand back. With one swift jump, I was on the highest branch of the tree. Itachi was beside me.
Pein quickly made a few hand seals, jumping down to face the giant arachnid. Instantly, flames went the beast's way. Then something happened.
From the giant, head-sized fangs of the beast, shot water that quickly froze into ice. The spider shot it in a pattern that forced a small ice-made wall to protect the thing from Pein's fire.
The spider let out a loud shriek, the ice wall that it had made melting from the heat that the fire had caused. Its eight eyes looked up into the trees, and then back at Pein. And then it pounced . . .
. . . straight at me.
End of Chapter Quote:
Ichigi, Ichigo,
All alone in Tokyo,
Can't you see?
Don't you know?
They've got nowhere else to go,
Ichigi, Ichigo,
Far away from Tokyo,
They believe in geisha dreams.