CHAPTER TWELVE

After Nagato had left her apartment earlier that morning, Konan continued to reel with emotion. It felt as if the damned walls were closing in on her as she paced back and forth in her living room like a caged animal, and it was all she could do to call Karui that she was coming around to combat the feeling of claustrophobia that enveloped her. But now, as she sat in the interior of Karui's kitchen, she felt deflated. It was as if her energy seeped out with every word she uttered as she relayed her visit from Nagato, until she felt nothing at all, as if she was numb, and all that had remained was her regret.

So she'd ended her relationship with Nagato. Why had she done that? And her mind grappled with the fact that though he'd been the one to deceive her, she'd still ended up the one that felt like shit, like she was the one in the wrong.

Karui returned to the table from the counter where she sliced a melon with a large knife upon a cutting board. She divvied the pieces between two plates and slid one across the table to Konan before resuming her seat with her own plate before her. "You need to eat something," she instructed. "By the way, it's called guilt."

Konan's eyes blinked. "I didn't realize I said anything."

"You didn't. I can see it all over your face," Karui responded. "Look," she soothed, "you're reading too much into it. Don't. It was just an argument. You were angry with him and blew off some steam, so what? I'm pretty sure Nagato gets that." She shrugged. "Besides, from what you just told me, it doesn't sound to me like he has any intention of going anywhere."

Konan hoped Karui was right, that she hadn't succeeded in driving away the father of her child, the only man she loved. But Karui was right that she had been angry. She'd never had the chance to truly tell Nagato how she felt, and his coming round to her apartment earlier that morning provided the opportunity for her to vent her feelings. She just hoped she hadn't gone too far.

"Do you think I overreacted?" Konan asked.

"Yes," Karui answered simply.

Konan sighed. "Well, it's not like I could help it. What was I supposed to think, Karui? What was I supposed to do?"

"How about believing him," Karui responded. She sighed with exasperation. "You know, Konan, the fact he was even up front with you about her from the get-go has to mean something. So he fucked up," she stated and shrugged. "You were willing to forgive him once before, so what's so different about now?"

"Because there wasn't a pregnancy to deal with before," Konan tossed irritably. And there it was again, she thought, that feeling that Karui was siding with Nagato. And though she knew Karui was guilty of no such thing, she still couldn't help the aura of self-indulgence that pervaded. She rolled her eyes as she sat back in the chair. "Don't make me regret coming here and telling you anything," she stated. She felt a lecture coming on and really hadn't felt in the mood.

Karui clucked her tongue. "As if you had anywhere else to go," she countered. They both knew Konan purposely didn't have many friends. "This is why I was against you and Nagato's little dating arrangement, because I feared this very thing, of you getting hurt. You made that age-old mistake so many women make in relationships, where they settle for whatever a man dishes out without considering their own needs for fear of running the man away, or for fear of appearing selfish. In your case specifically, you believed that if you held out long enough that Nagato would recognize your love and grow to love you in return. Only problem is, it doesn't always happen that way. Men often become too complacent in such situations. You have to set up parameters because if you don't, you may as well hold up a sign over your head that reads doormat, because trust you me you'll get walked on. You're just fortunate Nagato loves you as much as he does."

Konan sat back in the chair and crossed her arms. "I should have set parameters."

"By setting parameters from the start which," Karui pointed at Konan with a slice of fruit, "you failed to do. And also by employing the one detail that defines all successful relationships."

Konan watched as Karui slowly took her time eating the fruit. "Well," she asked pointedly, "which is?"

"A healthy dose of hatred," Karui concluded with a shrug of her shoulders as if it were as obvious as the sky being blue.

Konan scoffed. She loved Karui dearly, but wondered if her friend truly believed in even half the quirky stuff she often spouted. "Yeah," she commented dryly, "because nothing says I love you like a kick in the damned teeth."

"I'm serious, Konan," Karui continued. "No matter how noble your intentions may be, to enter an open relationship thinking everything's going to magically work its way out is to doom it from the start. It's unrealistic. And you," she pointed at Konan with the now empty rind, "did just that. It's the nature of a woman to accommodate the man she loves, but see, that's the beauty of hatred. It keeps us from being too accommodating, or from loving our men too much, because our feelings are held in check. And let's face it, though it's in our nature to love our men, we can only love them so much. Real love is being able to look your man in the eye and say, 'you make me sick, but I love you.' That way you won't stand for the bullshit."

Konan's brows rose. "And I stood for the bullshit," she concluded flatly.

"Front and center."

Konan rolled her eyes as her own lips spread into a wry smile. It was difficult to resist the odd humor that was Karui's, and her philosophies regarding love were definitely interesting at best. Omoi was one longsuffering man, she thought as she bit into a slice of melon and chewed softly to savor its taste.

"If nothing else, it's nice to see you smile," Karui stated.

"But it's not a laughing matter, Karui, not knowing I may be single-handedly guilty of ruining my chances of happiness."

"Please," Karui countered, "the only thing you're guilty of is making Nagato fall more in love with you than he already has," she stated. "Trust me, it's like I said, that man isn't going anywhere. Lest you forgot, he didn't break up, you did. That's your bad, and I hate to say I told you so, but I did."

"You told me." Konan sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. How did Karui figure?

"You remember when I talked to you the other night on the phone, and I told you to be patient when you started mentioning raising the baby alone. The results of Ino's paternity test hadn't even come out, and you were already ready to jump ship."

Konan sighed as she pushed the plate back to fold her arms on the table. Okay, so she'd been scared. And though she knew Karui was right, she didn't appreciate having her carelessness handed back to her. She supposed no one did. She regarded Karui thoughtfully for a moment. She wasn't sure, but it almost sounded to her as if Karui wanted her and Nagato to be together. It was often hard to tell with Karui; her tough-as-nails persona was often misleading. She decided to test her theory.

"And here I thought you hated Nagato," she stated.

Karui's head cocked to the side as she looked at her friend seriously. "I never hated Nagato, Konan," she admitted. "I actually like the idea of the two of you together. I actually like him. I just never agreed with that whole open relationship bullshit. It was bad enough you were down with it, but it made absolutely no sense Nagato would be, too, especially when it was so damned obvious to everyone else around you that he's so in love with you."

"It wasn't intentional, Karui, it just…happened," Konan pointed out. It wasn't as if she and Nagato sat and discussed their relationship at length and concluded with a decision to openly see other people.

"Excuse me if I fail to see how that changes anything," Karui responded flatly.

Konan thought for a moment before she spoke again to voice her earlier thought. "Yeah, well, it doesn't matter anyway, because Ino's pregnant for Nagato."

"I'm not so sure about that," Karui stated with a shake of her head.

Konan's interest was piqued. "You doubt she's pregnant?"

Karui's eyes narrowed as she remembered her conversation with Ino at the hotel. "Oh, I don't doubt her being pregnant, but the paternity," she stated. Her eyes assumed a far off gaze. "I don't know, but there was something about her, something off." She shook her head. "I can't put my finger on it, but I could tell when I talked to her that she's not telling the whole truth about herself. Save for a couple snide comments, she seemed guarded."

Konan couldn't help but wish that was the case as well, that Ino wasn't being completely honest about herself, because if she had to choose, she'd wholeheartedly accept Ino as a liar over Ino as a mother of one of Nagato's children any day. Then she and Nagato could go on with their life together. But then something Karui said made her head snap up. Wait, when had Karui talked to Ino? She sighed. "Karui, I thought I told you not to get involved," she stated exasperatedly.

"Whatever," Karui brushed off with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Since when do you know me to do as I'm told?"

Konan decided she had a point.

"Just give it some time," Karui advised. "Like I said, Nagato's not going anywhere, that's for damned sure." Her cell phone rang where it lay on the counter. "One sec," she stated as she rose to answer it. It was a call that had originally come to Konan's cell, but she'd silenced the ringer and forgot to change the settings back.

Karui glanced at her caller ID before answering. It was Omoi calling.

Konan turned her attention to the fruit on her plate as Karui took the call. She selected a slice and was making slow work of it when she heard Karui gasp. She turned to face her friend as she held the slice midway to her mouth. Her eyes immediately narrowed when she beheld the alarm in Karui's widened, amber eyes.

"Is everything okay?" Konan asked.

Karui took a deep breath. "Konan…" she started, but her voice trailed away as she slowly turned toward her friend.

Konan dropped the melon slice back onto the plate. In one quick, fluid motion she was instantly up and standing before Karui. She gently placed her hands on Karui's arms. "Is Omoi okay?" She asked softly. Her grey eyes were full of concern as they scanned Karui's face.

" Konan, it's Nagato," Karui stated. "He's at the hospital. He had an accident on his bike."

Upon entering the ER, Konan and Karui immediately made their way to where Omoi and Shiho stood awaiting their arrival. Konan's tears were silent when Shiho was the first to pull her into a silent embrace. But it wasn't until Omoi's arms encompassed her that her hushed tears graduated to outright sobs as she buried her face into his shoulder. Konan continued to allow herself to be comforted by Omoi as he gently swayed side to side with her, and the pressure of his hand was gentle as he stroked her hair at the back of her head.

Karui's heart ached as she momentarily closed her eyes against the tableau of grief Konan presented before turning her attention to Shiho, whose own red-rimmed eyes were now puffy from the stress of her own crying. Karui watched as Nagato's assistant dabbed at her eyes before replacing her glasses and pushing them back into place up the bridge of her nose. Even Shiho had wanted to appear strong for Konan's sake.

At Omoi lead, the party claimed their seats in the waiting area before Omoi excused himself to fetch coffees for them all. He momentarily returned with four Styrofoam cups of steaming coffee in a disposable cup carrier, and a small plastic bag hanging from his wrist that contained sugars and creams. They silently set about preparing their coffee before lapsing into conversation about what had transpired.

Shiho drew a deep breath before she spoke and explained that she had been the one to receive the call from the hospital. She had initially called Konan first, but hadn't been able to get in touch with her as the call had gone straight to voicemail. She then contacted Omoi instead, who had in turn contacted Karui.

"Well, where is Nagato now? Has anyone said anything more," Karui asked as she gripped one of Konan's hands.

Omoi, who sat on the opposite side of Konan with an arm comfortingly draped across the back of her seat, shook his head before he spoke. "When I got here, Nagato was just taken down to x-ray to assess the extent of his injuries. That was about half an hour ago, so we should hear something shortly."

Konan sighed. "But what was he even doing on the road at that time?" That damned bike! She'd never cared for it, and had voiced her concerns numerous times to Nagato, only for them to fall on his deaf ears. She sighed. She offered a silent prayer that he had at least been sensible enough to wear his helmet, which he'd been guilty of not doing more times than she could keep count. She just couldn't understand it. Even though it was still raining after Nagato left her place earlier that morning, it had been slightly stronger than a drizzle. It didn't begin to intensify until almost an hour later, which would imply that he'd stopped someplace else after he left from her apartment. Where was it so important that he had to go, that he'd felt compelled to place himself in harm's way?

It was as if Shiho read her mind when she nodded mutely. "The location where the accident occurred was about a few miles away from your place, heading north."

A few miles north of her place? Konan shook her head. "The only thing remotely of any interest in that direction would be –," Konan was cut off by another voice that spoke.

"Ame Casino and Spa, where I'm staying," the voice chimed in, and Konan, Karui, Omoi, and Shiho turned, their eyes following in the direction from whence it came.

"I'll be damned," Karui bit angrily. "And just what in the hell are you doing here?"