Chapter 11: A Fallen Angel

7:56

Konan. That is all Pein can think as he runs down the spiral staircase. He can't stand it when they're apart so he's desperate to find her. Pein makes it to the central floor and skids to a halt. His eyes dilate in shock as he takes in the water pouring down, the flooded floor and the explosions coming from a room on the right.

He fights the urge to call Konan's name. Instead, Pein slowly advances down the corridor. By the times he reaches the generator door he's soaked through. The door is ajar and Pein stands outside, listening. He can still hear the faint buzz of electricity. The generator must still be intact. Gently, he pushes the door open. Then he sees her. Konan. Lying on the floor. Her blue hair has fallen across her still face and the paper rose she normally wears in her hair is on the floor, saturated with blood.

Every single rational thought flies out of Pein's head. "Konan!" He yells and runs over to her.

"No, no," Pein says shaking, falling to his knees. He lifts up her body. Konan's normally beautiful, warm eyes are glassy and cold. Pein grips Konan so hard he leaves bruises on her skin and he cradles her head.

"You promised," he sobs. "You promised. Don't leave me. Please Konan. I can't do this alone." Tears run down his cheeks and Pein's never cried this much before. Not since Yahiko died. It feels as if someone's ripped out his heart, torn it into two and that Pein's staring at the still beating pieces.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he repeats. "I'm sorry Konan! Please wake up!" She doesn't. She remains motionless.

"It was Orochimaru-sama's orders," a soft voice says. Pein turns his head to see Kimimaro walk over from a shadowy corner. "He knew you would never carry out your task. This is your punishment," Kimimaro continues.

Rage. Pure, undiluted rage starts to course through Pein's veins. A feral snarl erupts from his lips. The rinnegan begins to glow. Kimimaro's eyes widen and he realises that he's made a fatal mistake. At that moment the room explodes.

"What was that?" Sakon says. The hall shakes and the lights shatter, showering glass down on them. Then the sprinklers sputter and the water stops pouring.

Pein and Konan must have done it Kakuzu thinks as he breathes heavily, blinking water from his eyes. He looks at the twin brothers Sakon and Ukon. He could have defeated one of them on their own easily but two makes it pretty hard. The bullet wound in his shoulder makes it impossible for him to move his right arm. Coolly Kakuzu retreats slightly as he tries to think up a plan.

"Jashin curses you fuckers!" A psychotic voice screams. For a comical second Kakuzu, Sakon and Ukon exchange glances with each other as they all think the same thing: what the fuck?

A vicious three bladed scythe sings through the air, slamming into Sakon's back and an albino appears from the back of the hall, a manic grin spread across his face. Sakon cries in agony as Hidan rips the weapon back. The albino's tongue snakes out and he licks some salty blood off the flat of one of the blades.

Taking advantage of Ukon's confusion, Kakuzu's left hand shoots out gripping his neck. Kakuzu slowly retracts his hand back, gripping harder and harder until there's a sickening snap as Ukon's neck breaks. Kakuzu throws away the lifeless body, feeling slightly embarrassed that he'd been having so much trouble earlier with the twins.

Hidan, meanwhile, is having the time of his life. His body has turned black as he transforms into sacrificial mode. "Fuck no sacrifices for an entire fucking year! Fuck that task. Fuck Orochi-fucking-maru. Fuck this fuck-ing tower." Each time Hidan says, "fuck", he stabs a blade into various vital organs as Sakon's screams. So that's what he's been making for most of the year Kakuzu thinks eying the huge scythe.

But Kakuzu smiles anyway. For once he's actually happy to see Hidan. It's been too long since he's seen his crazy friend in person.

"Hey Kakuzu!" Hidan calls over grinning. "I can't believe you were having trouble with these fuckers."

"Shut up Hidan," Kakuzu answers but he can't help but smile. "Hurry up with the sacrifice. We need to meet up with Pein and Konan."

8:32

The tower is in complete chaos now that the third generator has been destroyed. Explosions seem to be going off everywhere and Sasori hurdles over the body of a dead guard. He can't find Itachi anywhere. They where meant to meet up and guide the children out of the tower. Despite this worry Sasori can't help but grin slightly. Looks like he's not turning into a puppet today. He hurtles onto the floor where the dorms are but skids to a halt when he sees a figure standing in the way. Jirobo of the Sound Five blocks the way. Sasori tenses and reaches to a pouch where he'd earlier prepared some lethally poisoned needles.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Before Sasori even gets a chance to throw his poisoned needles a green blur jumps on Jirobo, knocking him out with one swift kick. Stunned, all Sasori can do is stare as Maito Gai flashes his scary smile at him.

"H-h…W-what?" Sasori splutters in an un Sasori-like way.

Gai gives Sasori a thumbs up and says "I decided to take the beautiful race of youth so I can help my brother Lee."

"I…I see," is all Sasori can manage. He joins Gai's side and the two walk to the entrance of the boys' dorm. Yelling something about youth Gai kicks the door down. The children stare, open mouthed at Sasori and Gai.

"W-what?" Naruto says getting up. "What's happening?"

"Gai!" Lee jumps up.

"Lee!" The two charge into a tearful reunion.

Sasori rolls his eyes and moves in front to address the children. "The tower has fallen," he says clearly. "Akatsuki have started a resistance against Orochimaru. Follow me if you want to go home." The children gape at Sasori, and then they begin to cheer. Sasori grimaces at all the attention and says "yeah, yeah." The children gather round Sasori and Gai.

"Is everyone here?" Sasori says. The boys nod. "Ok, we need to fetch the girls then."

"Wait!" Naruto says. Sasori raises an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Sasori says.

"We need to get Sasuke!" Naruto says, his face set. Several of the other boys groan.

"Face it Naruto, he's not coming back," one boy says. That's it, Sasori thinks, and suddenly he realises where Itachi must be.

"Look," Sasori says. He's terrible at talking to children, so he's just going to be blunt. "Itachi's here. Do you think he'll leave Sasuke behind?"

Naruto's blue eyes widen, and he says "Itachi's here?"

Sasori nods then adds, "Kakashi should be somewhere too."

A delighted smile splits across Naruto's face and he exclaims "Kakashi's here?"

"So get moving if you want to see them," Sasori says rolling his eyes. Naruto grins and nods. Maybe he isn't that bad talking to them after all. Sasori turns to Gai and says in his eternally bored voice "let's go."

"With the full power of youth!" Gai cries and the group set off. They make it with ease to the girls dorm with ease. Sasori counts only three girls. That makes ten children altogether, including the boys. `He bites his lip. Right now they're very vulnerable to an attack. Gai and Sasori won't be able to protect all the children if someone powerful appears.

Like the Pied Piper Gai leads the way with Sasori bringing up the rear. It's a good thing these kids are majors. Any normal child would panic if they saw heard the explosions and saw the dead bodies. As it is some of children terrified.

Then Sasori hears it. Faint footsteps behind him. Whirling round Sasori throws several needles but Kabuto dodges them.

"Gai keep moving!" Sasori says as the children stop. "Get them out of here. Kisame should be somewhere on the second floor releasing prisoners. He'll be able to help you."

"Good luck Sasosri! Burn with the flame of youth!" Sasori turns his attention back on Kabuto as Gai and the children escape.

"Scared Sasori-kun?" Kabuto taunts.

Sasori says, "didn't I tell you before? Call me Sasori-kun and I'll turn you into a puppet."

Kabuto smirks, "aren't you at a disadvantage here? You haven't got your puppets with you and you're not a puppet anymore."

Coolly Sasori reaches into his jacket and pulls out a thin wakizashi from his jacket. Kisame had confiscated it off a citizen a couple of weeks ago when he was on patrol and had given it to Sasori since, without his puppet body Sasori has no weapons. Though, Sasori has made a few customisations to the wakizashi such as the lethal poison dripping off the blade. "Who says I need puppets?" Sasori says raising an eyebrow casually. Kabuto's eyes widen as he realises not to underestimate a puppetless puppet master.

Kakuzu sits on the floor watching Hidan finish up his sacrifice. "Jeez that took you ages," Kakuzu grumbles standing up as Hidan returns to his normal form.

"Fuck you," Hidan responds affectionately as he slings his scythe over his shoulder. The two walk together out of the hall and back into corridor. Then they spot the smoking rubble and the huge hole at the end of the corridor where the generator room used to be. It feels as if they've just walked into the middle of a war zone.

"What the fuck…" Hidan says as they pick their way through the rubble. "I think they went a tad fucking overboard…"

Kakuzu doesn't respond because at that moment they hear a bestial scream. It sounds as if someone's soul is being torn out. Hidan and Kakuzu look at each other and they reach the hole to see-

"Shit," Hidan breathes. Pein's sitting amongst the rubble, covered in blood, still holding onto Konan's body. He's shaking; his eyes wide and the tears don't seem to stop. Kakuzu clenches his fists. This is his entire fault…If only he had stayed with Konan, this wouldn't have happened. It was his job to protect her while Pein was gone.

"This isn't your fault Kakuzu," Pein chokes and through his tears he manages something that may have been an attempt at a smile. "It's mine. I was too fucking weak to do my task."

"Pein," Kakuzu says softly. But Pein shakes his head. He stands up carrying Konan with him. There's something about his eyes that makes Kakuzu and Hidan stand back. Pein's eyes are impossibly cold, impossibly hard. As if something inside him has either been changed or broken. Tenderly, Pein kisses Konan's frozen lips.

He then look at Hidan and says "look after her for me." Hidan gently takes Konan's body. He looks down at her face and is amazed to see that even in death she's still beautiful.

"Where are you going?" Kakuzu says as they watch Pein's retreating back.

"Go back to the base," Pein says.

"Pein!" Hidan shouts, his face creased with worry.

Pein turns around and at the moment Hidan and Kakuzu are truly terrified by the glint in his eyes. "Where am I going?" Pein says, his voice icy. "I'm going to let that snake know the true meaning of pain."

At the same time as Pein sets of to destroy Orochimaru, a boy who's known to his friends as Tobi stands in the Akatsuki's hideout staring at his hands. The boy takes off his mask and runs a hand over his face. Never before has his mind been so clear. The permanent fog seems to have cleared. The boy frowns trying hard to remember where exactly he is and who he is. The last thing he remembers is standing in someone's flat then…nothing. He tries to think further back but that just starts a throbbing somewhere deep inside his brain.

Still clutching the mask, the boy walks out of the living room staring at his surroundings as if seeing them for the first time. Then he spots the Mastermind Room. The boy steps inside the room and he gasps as he sees the walls. He sees the photos of very familiar people. Then it hits him. Memories. His mind becomes a dizzying slideshow as his life fast-forwards by. Zetsu, Pein, Deidara, all his friends. The boy remembers them. Feeling slightly sick, he leans against the table. Then, just he manages to sort those recollections out, the memories take him further back and the boy gasps. How he could have forgotten him? How could he forget his best friend?

Then somewhere he hears inside his head he hears "Kakuzu and I will go with Zetsu," Konan says to a silver haired boy. "You and Deidara ok to take the top generator?"

That silver haired boy…He thinks. I know him. Then it all falls into place. Determined, the boy places the spiral mask back on and with his newly found memories he heads out of the base whispering "Kakashi."

I thought up this story a while ago...So couldn't change the plot because otherwise it would just be lame...Sorry about that...I promise you I don't hate Konan, she's actually possibly one of my favourite female Naruto characters.

Hope you liked the chapter!