Faze Eleven:

For the sixth time that morning, Kaida smashed her fist down into a boulder around the same height as the first one she'd practised on.

She was slowly getting the hang of it, this time the boulder actually split in half, fell apart in a crumpled heap upon the floor by her feet, this was much better than what happened the first time, and she actually smiled in a small triumph-this was at least something, and she was rather proud of herself for her recent achievement.

She glanced over her shoulder at her teacher, she saw him nod in approval, though, he was still wearing that smirk of his, what was so funny?

She couldn't understand, was it because she took great delight in showing how proud she was of her rather meagre talents-compared to his?

She rolled her eyes mentally, well, who cares?

She's going to become the best of the best…or, so she hoped.

"Good, just need to keep practising, and then you can try on a bigger one." Kisame stated, yawning into his hand, he detached his sword, resting it against the tree opposite her, he bent down and leaned against it, ah, it was nice to sit down…

Kaida thought that at least he weren't standing and staring at her, like he'd been doing ever since they'd started, but now, he was sat down, and if she didn't know any better, she'd say that he would fall asleep anytime soon.

This annoyed her, though, she didn't let it show, well, it's alright for him to laze about, but, she had to keep training her butt off.

Well, if he did fall asleep, then she'd just have to focus on achieving her goal-which for the moment, was; finish today's training.

She walked off to another boulder, similar in height to the one which she'd just destroyed, she could see Kisame staring at her through half-lidded eyes, oh, so that's how he's going to be?

How rude of him to fall asleep in someone else's company!

She'd show him!

She focused the chakra into her hand, the blue light bursted around her fist like a flame, it was intense and lifting her fist up like she'd see Kisame do, she smashed her clenched fist into the small-ish boulder.

A huge tremor ran through the ground, causing Kisame's eyes to snap open, he stood up and walked over to Kaida's trembling form, did she end up breaking her fist?

It would be serious if she did, she'd need immediate medical attention, and she'd never be able to fight with that hand ever again, he should've been watching more closely, Pein will have his head for this…

"What have you done now, Girlie?" He asked, a little worried, since it could be his death for the price of this 'accident'.

He got to her side, and stood there, staring down at where the boulder used to be in surprise, it wasn't there anymore, only tiny crumpled pieces of rock remained and a small crater from the impact, she'd actually managed to destroy the rock and make a hole in the ground, not bad…for a rookie.

He glanced at her shivering form, she weren't crying or shocked, she was dead excited, shaking in happiness, and he took a step back from her, just in case she decided to hug or hit something.

Though, as usual, he couldn't suppress the toothy grin as he muttered "Not bad, girlie, you did good, but you've still a long way to go yet,"

Kaida acknowledged this, and felt her good mood sink, her shoulders fell, as her happiness deflated immediately, she hung her head and groaned loudly, it'd taken her this long to get to a 'reasonable' level, well, to the point where she could at least crush a boulder and make a small hole in the ground with her fist, but, it weren't enough, she really wanted to crush bigger boulders than this puny little thing.

"By the way…what made you get so focused all of a sudden?" Kisame couldn't but asking, pursing his lips, he then made a 'popping' sound, before licking his lips.

Kaida felt her embarrassment grow, she really-really didn't want to admit to him that she was trying to prove herself that she wasn't a 'waste-of-space', that he shouldn't feel the need to fall asleep in her presence-especially, when he's supposed to be training her.

She sighed, swallowing her pride, she answered truthfully "I wanted to prove to you that I am a hard-working student…and I guess, when you almost fell asleep back there, it sort of made me a little annoyed…to say the least."

Was that really necessary?

Stop yammering on, he'll get fed-up with you! Kaida scolded herself for letting her mouth run off with her, but, at least, she answered truthfully.

He looked rather taken aback by this statement, he then got a huge smirk across his face, placing a big hand upon her head, he ruffled her hair-much to her annoyance, and stated "Well, you did good, girlie, now you just need to get angry every time you want to hit something,"

Kaida gave a sarcastic "Ha-ha."

His hand dropped away, and clenched into a fist, both his hands met together under his chin and he began smiling creepily, as he stated "Oh, you'll have to think of me every time you want to hit something-I'm so honoured!"

Erm…fan-boy much? And wasn't thinking about someone when hitting something a bad-thing?

Kaida shook her head in disapproval, earning another smirk from her gigantic teacher, as he gave her a small push, he turned to walk back to his tree, saying "Okay, now go ahead and try punching a slightly bigger boulder, see how you fair with that."

Kaida frowned when he sat back down again, leaning against the tree-what was with his fixation on a tree?

He's definitely not the enthusiastic teacher she was hoping for! Kaida sighed, feeling rather depressed, but, knew deep-down that he was just toying with her, he was doing this on purpose, and like the 'gullible' person she was, she'd take the bait.

The room was dark, the walls a deep red, though, this time, not in blood, this was the natural wall colour, the grey-ish light was shut out from entering and glistening upon the two naked bodies lain on the bed rocking together in a tight embrace.

A long, loud, breathy moan escaped Konan's lips as her body shook with her sixth orgasm that Pein had been more than generous in allowing her to cum.

He licked his way up her soft neck, nibbling here-and-there, but, clever enough not to leave hickeys anywhere, there was no need to parade their claim upon each other, and it wouldn't be very wise to disgust Madara and Kaida with the proof of their love-making.

It was after a few moments, that Pein too, let out a deep, long moan, he reached his peak and filled his lover with his warmth, before, collapsing next to her, trying to catch his breath, they both lay there, next to each other, drained of energy for some long minutes, before, Pein sits up and stares across at the other side of the room quietly, seeming to be fixated upon the bookcase, full of many genre's and ranges of books, all of which, he'd long-since read many times before in his free-time.

"What's wrong?" Konan asked quietly from where she lay, she noticed his sudden quietness, and the feeling that he'd just grown distant, despite how intimate they were less than ten minutes before-hand.

He didn't answer her immediately, he tried to think of how to arrange the question, without hurting her, the last-thing he needed to do after breaking his only promise to her, was causing her more pain.

Then again, that's what they'd endured, they'd both endured pain together since they were young, they'd learned to embrace it, and eventually work through it, and they wanted to end the pain and suffering, but, in reality, they were causing more pain-this thought, however, never passed Pein, he didn't need to re-think his actions, better yet, he never re-thought on any actions Akatsuki did, he only thought over the consequences, but he didn't need too.

He was a God.

His opinion and word were law in his country, no one defied him or disagreed with him, because, he was simply correct, he was never wrong, he was the best, no one could be better at running a country than he had.

Even Konan would vouch for him-though, that too, was hardly surprising.

He let out a small sigh, then asked "Who is…Kaida's father?"

There was a very long silence, but Pein could wait, he was patient, unlike Madara, he cared for his lover, and would wait, but then, even waiting had it's limits, for now he looked at her with those grey-ringed eyes of his, trying to see if he could read anything in her face-or if perhaps, she'd heard him at all.

But she had, he could tell, by reading the hurt that was written in hr features, were deep, she'd been scarred with the thought, but, even when he'd offered to take Konan away many years ago, he still never knew who the father was.

She avoided his gaze, she didn't know how to answer, or what to say, but she knew if she answered truthfully, Pein would be more than very shocked, and then Madara would have something to laugh about later, he'd always been in the background, snickering at her misfortune-that was Madara altogether.

"What is it? You can tell me…" He muttered, turning to face her, he brushed a hand along her arm, she felt cold to touch, and she was shivering, she looked scared, why was she scared? What was she hiding from him?

He let out a long sigh, placing his arms around her shivering form, he rested his head back against the pillow, he heard her eventually sigh, placing her head upon his chest, relishing in his embrace, she answered in a depressed tone of voice "I will tell you some other time."

He didn't answer her, but, he also didn't press her any further, he knew she'd tell him sometime, he just had to wait, she was still reeling from the shock of the sudden appearance of her long-lost daughter, which he'd been promised was dead.

Then again, accidents happen and stranger things have happened before.

But he will get the truth out of her eventually, that, he'd make sure of.

"Hiyaaa!" Kaida let out a cry as she smashed her fist down into a boulder that was five-times her size and seven times her weight since it was long and very high.

The instant her fist connected with the boulder, it too, crumpled to pieces, and Kisame was stood leaning against another tree, almost speechless.

The day had gone by very quickly, but, Kaida had made tremendous progress, she'd been practising non-stop, except for a drink break, not having anything to eat, she'd pushed herself and her determination, now she had finally pulled through, and intrigued Kisame, he was rather surprised at how serious she'd gotten within the space of half-an-hour, and the difference was obvious.

Kisame had thought she'd never succeed and would have to meet up with him again to practise, but like Itachi had told him, she was a fast-learner, so fast, that what would've taken three weeks to master, she only took one-day.

She'd mastered super-strength, she was at his level in strength, though, that depended solely on how much chakra was used, but she'd made it, and she'd certainly impressed him, he had to tell Leader of her progress, she was an excellent student, she was never rude, always showed respect to her superiors-even if she didn't want to show it, she was keen to learn and very cooperative, she wasn't difficult at all, she'd actually got on and did it with little fuss possible.

He really liked the Angel.

And that was rare, as seeming as he barely held any interest in women, since he'd always thought they were a deceiving kind of person, but this made him see things differently.

She was a good kid, and with an attitude like hers, she could go quite far and he knew with a deep satisfied sigh, that he meant every word of it.

"How was that?!" She gasped, looking over her shoulder at him, a huge grin on her face, sweat was slowly running down her face and her eyes were shining brightly, he could see that she was exhausted, she'd worked very hard.

He smiled; a genuine smile, and nodded once, muttering "You did good, girlie, you passed."

She turned around and threw her arms up in the air, exclaiming loudly "Yes!"

He smirked at her enthusiasm, but, his smirk soon changed when he saw her sway on her feet, putting a shaky hand to her forehead, she muttered "Oh…I feel…weird…"

And then she fell, he should've seen it coming, but, he'd been too caught up in her obvious victory, that it'd caught him off-guard.

It was just before he could catch her from hitting the ground, a puff of smoke appeared and Pein was there, holding the Angel against him.

Kisame straightened and let out a small breath of air, relaxing now that his student was safe, at least she didn't fall and hit her head on the sharp rocks that'd come out from her crushing so many.

Pein looked down at the weak girl in his arms, seeing her completely drained, pale and sweating like she had a terrible fever made him raise an eyebrow in question, how had she allowed herself to get to such extremes?

He lifted his gaze and gave Kisame a stern stare as he stated "I thought I'd told you not to risk her life?"

Kisame hearing the anger in the question; snorted, half-turning from him, as he went and grabbed his sword, placing it upon his back once more where it always seemed to be, he answered with a casual glance "Actually, you only told me not to kill her."

Leader glared at him, then snapped "And you didn't think to feed her?!"

Kisame shrugged lightly, then lifted a hand and began rubbing it against the back of his neck-as if he'd been the one vigorously training out in the heat, he answered calmly "With what? I didn't bring anything with me, and the nearest river is at least a mile from here, a small town being completely on the other side of this forest, it'd waste time, you should seriously think about her bringing something to eat, we can handle it, but obviously, she's used to stopping for food."

"I don't need you to give me a lecture on that, Kisame, however, I will take it into consideration on her part, we can't have her fainting like this tomorrow or the next, when she'll be learning from Hidan and Kakuzu, they won't give her a chance to pass-out." Leader hissed loudly, before his gaze softened a little, seeing the girl very weak like this almost made him…want to help her, shaking his head mentally, he too half-turned from Kisame, lifting the limp girl into his arms, making it more easier to carry her and then he asked "How did her training go?"

Kisame smacked himself in the head mentally, of all the things he could forget!

He grinned, showing off his sharp teeth in his jaw, his head turning to Leader once more as he answered almost happily "She did very well, considering this was her first time learning how to use super-strength, though, there's something you might want to watch out for…"

Pein glanced up at the blue man from the girl, and raising an eyebrow, he asked "And what would that be?"

"She seems to learn things much more faster than the average Shinobi, what she learned today would've taken her three weeks in the least to master, yet, she got it down right in one day-" Pein cut Kisame off as he stated "She did already have strength before, so perhaps it is nothing to be too surprised about."

"No. I saw her strength, before she mastered super-strength, it was very terrible, untrained, she couldn't even smash a puny rock half her size, but now, she can smash a mountain with her bare fist and it will crack into pieces, she's a fast-learner and is keen to succeed, she's learned a lot today, so I'm not surprised that she fainted, perhaps you should let her have tomorrow off?" Kisame allowed the light question to hang in the air, and he knew as he met Pein's stern gaze once more, that, that wouldn't be happening.

Kisame sighed loudly, and Pein looked down at the girl once more, stating "She needs to learn things as quickly as possible, there will be no exceptions-"

"Sorry to cut in, but, what exactly must she be 'trained for'? The poor girl is exhausted, the least we could do is give her a day to recover-" Kisame was cut off by Leader's snarl as he turned on Kisame with such a glare that he wondered whether looks could really kill.

"I will make the decisions Kisame, she is my subordinate, and she will be trained under everyone to raise her skills, so that as soon as she's ready, I can send her on missions and get her familiarised with the type of work and cooperation I expect from her."

Kisame just stared at Pein, silently, for he knew there was something going on, he knew Leader was reacting strangely, normally, he was rather calm and very poised-especially in front of others, but, this?

This was messed up, Pein was on-edge lately, hard-pressed for results, but, for what?

Who for?

Why couldn't he just let the girl have one meagre day off from training? It's not as if Hidan and Kakuzu would complain…much, but at least it gave her time to be fully rested for the next day.

His Leader could be so confusing at times, that's why he always tried to stay on his good side, but of late, that didn't seem to be working.

Kisame sighed, and muttered in defeat "Yes, of course."

Pein stared at Kisame for a few more moments, then turned, carrying the girl, he called to the blue-man "Thank you for your help, Kisame, it is appreciated, I will be contacting you later for a meeting and I will get in contact with you when I wish for you to train Kaida again."

And then he disappeared.

He re-appeared back outside Kaida's apartment, once again it was raining, but he was in no hurry, especially, when he saw Konan stood outside her daughter's apartment, he knew she'd been waiting for them to return and she rushed to him at once, seeing the unconscious girl in his arms.

"What happened?" She asked, almost in concern, but he shook his head, he should know better, she didn't love her daughter, not like he'd seen so many families in his country act towards each other, she was probably wondering-hoping whether Kaida was dead or not.

"She over-exerted herself and she fainted." Pein answered simply, with a nod of his head, and he continued walking over to Kaida's apartment, this time, with Konan walking alongside him, she kept shooting glances of curiosity at her daughter and then asked "And she will be fine?"

Pein looked once at his lover, but seeing her eyes glued to the wet floor, he looked back in front of him and answered calmly "Yes, she will live."

He stopped outside of the door, nodding towards Konan to open it, she lifted a hand and melded paper together to form that of a key, she knew many locks around Pein's building-he was the Kage after all, and in case of emergency, they could wait and trap their opponent in one of the buildings next to the Kage's building-this, had been done many times before and was very successful.

She unlocked the door and pushed it open for Pein to step in, and he did, not bothering to wipe his feet or take his zori off, instead, he trod on the floorboards with damp shoes that he knew, would leave small puddles since he could hear them squelch upon the wood surface.

He opened the door to her room, seeing that much of it hadn't changed since the Angel had arrived, he went to the bed and placed her down upon it, turning to Konan, he nodded at her and muttered "I'll leave you to look after her."

Konan hesitated before she gave a curt nod, knowing that she really didn't want to do this task, she also knew that Pein couldn't do it, he was a man, and Kaida was a young girl, it wouldn't be right.

What if Kaida woke up whilst he was tending to her?

She felt that over-protectiveness that she'd thought had died years ago well-up within her once more, though, she told herself it was something completely different, like indigestion, not only that, but, she felt jealousy flare as well, she wouldn't allow anyone else to have Pein, especially not her daughter.

Though, in reality, she had nothing to worry about, since Kaida was barely even civil to the older man.

Pein noticed Konan to be deep in thought, ignoring this, he was about to move away, but, something caught his eye, he turned and saw upon the side-table next to the bed what looked to be a journal or diary of some sort, though he weren't to sure…

He leaned over it, wondering whether to pick it up or not, after inspecting the outer cover, he could feel some small chakra emanating from the book itself, and he knew there was a protective barrier on it or something that would ensure that no one would open the book.

He straightened, still staring at the book, he couldn't help but be a little surprised, since it weren't everyday that a girl would put a protective barrier of some sort around her journal, it led him to wonder whether her abilities were more stronger than Konan had made them seen when she'd spoken to Madara.

Motioning to Konan, he nodded towards the book and commanded "Do not touch that book if you value being able to use your muscles effectively. That book has some barrier or jutsu of some kind protecting it, don't touch it."

Konan nodded once, glancing at the book, then back at her daughter, she sighed, and when she looked back up she saw that Pein had disappeared, leaving her alone with her daughter.