A/N: Sissy just got called to help wrap Christmas presents, so I am going to finish her author note for these two chapters. She wants them posted before the end of the day and is afraid she won't be able to do it, so she asked me. I know she totally OOC'd the Akatsuki members, and I told her she did this, but she said she liked certain members and couldn't bring herself to make them evil, so she did this instead. I know she hopes you enjoy it and you better not flame her or you will deal with my wrath. She's enjoying this tory, so be encouraging or don't say shit about it. Peace out and she don't own Naruto or anyone from that world. Also, she doesn't like cursing, but in some cases i told her it was essential so she did.
Chapter 13: Dissension Causes Downfall
Hidan and Tobi arrived at their room and went in. Tobi went straight to the shower while Hidan sat in the bed. He took out his cell phone and called the one person he knew he could trust.
"Hello?" came a sweet voice from the other side. Hidan smiled as he thought of how she talked in front of the others. He knew she was alone just from her tone.
"How's the weather there Hana-hime?" he asked, knowing that she'd know who it was. He heard her giggle and then she spoke again, her smile in her voice.
"Warm as always Aniki. How is Kagure?" She giggled again when she heard his muttered curses. She smiled through the phone and Hidan felt the warmth from his sister's pure soul. It was hard to believe that she was the second strongest member in the whole gang.
"Konan…we have a problem here. Something's off about this situation. Has Deidara and Kakuzu checked in?" Konan heard the forced concern and smiled. She knew that her older brother hated those two and Konan had been working to get them eliminated just so her brother could be at peace. She was actually using her position to both their advantages. She hated being feared and hated by others. She wanted to make the Akatsuki respectable.
"No word as of yet, Aniki…not that you're actually worried. I think we might actually have gotten rid of them this time. As long as Sasori stays in jail, most of the less respectable members are gone. I just need to figure out how to get this all done without Pein finding out." She heard the growl in her brother's voice.
"Aniki…Pein isn't a bad man…he's just confused. I've talked to him many sleepless nights. He's confused, but doesn't know where to start. I did find out that all of this is so he can find something from his past. The money, the connections…he's looking for something over where you are. And…I love him Aniki. I know you don't like him because you think he's using me, but I really do love Pein." Hidan sighed and wiped his face.
"I know you do Hana-chan. That's why I haven't interfered with your relationship with him. And believe it or not, he loves you too. I've seen the way he reacts when new recruits look at you. He gets this possessive aura about him. But you know that if he ever hurts you, I won't hesitate to kill him. You are my baby sister and I will not have him treating you like some slut off the street. If he wants you, he has to marry you…got that?" he said gruffly. He knew she would agree, because she had always done as he told her, with the exception of become Pein's woman.
"Hai, aniki. He knows my views on the matter and he respects that even if he doesn't understand." she giggled whens he recalled their first heavy petting session. He had wanted to take her then, but she had told him that she wouldn't sleep with a man until he was her husband. He had been shocked, but had complied with her wishes regardless.
Hidan heard the water of the shower turn off and lowered his voice. "I need you to withdraw Tobi. There's something not right about this. He's just a kid…he still has time to be turned around. I want you to take him under your wing. Teach him how the gang was before Sasori came along. That devil was the root of all our problems to begin with." He got a grunted response and knew someone was in the room with her.
"Very well…thank you for updating me on the situation. I will talk to Pein-sama and relay your request. Keep up the good work Hidan-san." He smiled at how she was able to turn the situation from being caught in a private phone call to being a business call. He was certain it was not Pein, as she would have just relayed the message right away.
"Konan…" he said quietly over the line. She grunted and he knew she was listening. "Stay away from Zetsu…he bats for both teams and has already made it to home base with Tobi. I'll keep you updated on the situation here." he said louder as Tobi walked out of the bathroom fully clothed.
"Hai…see you after your mission. I'll talk to Pein-sama about what you said." she said loudly, so that even Tobi could hear it. Then, so quiet Hidan had to strain to hear "Be careful Aniki…I do not trust Tobi." Hidan grunted in response and hung up. He scowled at Tobi and threw the phone against the nightstand.
"What was that all about Hidan-san?" Tobi asked, a peculiar glint in the younger man's eyes. Hidan snorted and laid back on the bed.
"Progress report for Leader. Seems that we are taking to long for his taste. He thinks that I'll finish faster on my own. I didn't even have to call and recommend you go back. He has a new mission for you. You leave tomorrow morning at first light. Konan-san said your ticket has been lined up already." Hidan gave Tobi a wicked smirk and stood up, dwarfing the younger man.
"And if you tell anyone of what you learned from me about Konan…What Zetsu did to you will look like child's play compared to what I'll do to you." He saw a flicker in Tobi's eyes. He hated using sexual abuse as a threat, but it was effective when he was so much larger than the younger man. He remembered the whimpering heap Tobi had been when Zetsu had finished with the youth. Seems Zetsu's split personality had a taste for young men and the other half preferred woman and neither could agree with the other, so his partners usually ended up in pretty bad shape.
"Pack your shit kid. I won't hurt you unless you put her in danger. If I hear that anything has happened to her…you will be the next person I hunt." He noticed Tobi stiffen and turn to pack up his bags. Hidan just hoped that Konan could convince Pein to bring Tobi back without either figuring out that they were being manipulated.
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Konan took a deep breath and turned around, looking at Zetsu. Her eyes were cold, like they normally were. "What are you doing in my rooms Zetsu?" she asked with a sneer. She didn't need Hidan telling her to stay away from the schizophrenic monster.
"I just wanted to make sure you were alright, Konan-sama. You seemed to be making lots of noise in here. Is there anything I can help you with?" the white half of the creepy man asked. Konan glared at him. This was the half that preferred women. She growled at him and took one of her origami flowers out of her hair.
"Don't make me hurt you Zetsu. Get out of my room or I will turn you into fertilizer." she hissed at the freaky looking gang member. She didn't know who let this creep in, most likely Sasori, but she was going to make sure he was dead…soon.
"You heard the girl, pervert. Get out of her rooms before Leader comes in and finds us here. I, personally, want to keep this body. If you die, so do I." the black half hissed at the other half. Konan remained in her fighting stance while she watched the emotions play out on the white half's face.
"Very well, Konan-sama. Until we meet again." and the creep disappeared. Konan sunk to the floor as she took huge gulping breaths. She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath. Tears pricked her eyes as she thought of what COULD have happened. She was definitely telling Pein about this little episode.
Konan walked out of her room and towards Pein's 'office'. It was actually just the outer room to his bedroom in the large mansion all the Akatsuki lived in in the Everglades, but that was unimportant. She just wanted comfort and security from the man she loved.
Konan walked into his rooms without even knocking. She heard Pein hissing at something and ran in to find a woman cornering him. She had long black hair and an eye patch. Konan took out her origami flowers and sent them swirling around the woman. The black haired woman screamed as little cuts appeared all over her body. Konan ran and put herself between the woman and Pein.
"I'll kill you for hurting him!" Konan hissed at the woman when she'd seen the woman had stabbed Pein in the shoulder. With a few symbols, the woman was wrapped tightly in what appeared to be a giant origami cat's cradle.
"Who sent you!?" Konan demanded. The woman smiled and looked down at the blue haired woman. She then hissed in pain and looked at both of them.
"Since I won't be getting my payment, I guess it won't hurt to tell you that Sasori hired me to dispatch your beloved leader. He wants control of Akatsuki. Your schizophrenic buddy let me in while he kept you away…but I didn't go undetected by you leader. Seems the freak didn't do his job and now I'm the sacrifice." the woman's breathing became more labored and she looked down at Pein.
"S-Sasori…has…my daughter. Kill…him. She's…probably already…dead…" the woman then passed out. Konan released her and looked at Pein with tears in her eyes.
"Pein-kun…" she hugged him to her, being careful not to hurt his shoulder. She lifted her hands to his wound and a light green glow came from her hands. Pein looked at her with surprise.
"Since when did you learn that, Hana-chan?" he asked, stroking her hair from her eyes. She'd used the flowers that kept her hair out of her eyes to protect him. Her hair now hung down to her waist.
"U-um…I…learned it from a friend. She was teaching me and then she disappeared abruptly. She told me to use it on the ones I loved and only on them. I'm sorry I hid it from you Pein-kun, but I didn't want you to ask me to heal the others. I don't want to touch them…" she looked at the floor, tears falling onto her hands as Pein looked at her.
Pein hugged her to him and rubbed her back. "Hana-chan…I would never ask you to do something you are uncomfortable with. You know that I love you to much to do that." he froze when he realized what he'd said to her. Konan looked up at him and she slowly lifted her face to his. She pressed her lips to his gently and closed her eyes.
"I love you to Pein-kun…more than you will ever know…" she said against his lips before pulling away and going over to the woman. She looked at the woman and realized just who she was.
"Pein-kun…this is…this is Hidan's older sister…" she looked up at Pein, who looked at her in question. She then pulled the wig off. Short, feather-like silver hair was under the long black wig. She pulled the eye patch off and saw the flame birth mark over the eye.
"Pein-kun…this is…my oldest sister…" she said through her tears. Pein's eyes widened in surprise. He thought about the implications and then looked at the floor.
"Why didn't you ever tell me you were related to Hidan?" Pein asked in an emotionless voice. Konan sniffled and looked at him, tears in her eyes.
"B-because Aniki told me not to. He was afraid Sasori would use me against him if anyone ever found out and you know Sasori was never too far from you until he was put in jail…after that, Zetsu was always around and he answer directly to Sasori, despite what you may think." Big tears were falling down the young woman's face.
Pein felt something clench in his chest. He walked over to Konan, who looked away. "I understand if you hate me Pein-kun…but I will always love you…no matter what." she said as she tried to heal her sister. Pein wrapped his arms around her and she gasped. She looked over her shoulder at him and then felt his lips on hers.
"I'm sorry I let my own goals cloud my vision. We will fix his…together." he said while smiling down at her. She smiled and then looked back at her sister, who was shifting.
"Nee-san…are you feeling okay now?" Konan asked lightly. The woman's eyes snapped open as she stared at the two above her. She looked at Pein first, who looked impassive, then at the crying woman with blue hair and silver-blue eyes. Those eyes rang a bell in the woman's mind.
"K-konan?" she asked while staring at the girl she hadn't seen since Hidan had left. He had taken their youngest sister with him. She had only been two and a half at the time. She noticed Konan smile then look up at Pein.
"Pein-kun…she remembers me!" she hugged the older woman, who just stared at Pein. Pein nodded at Konan and put his hand in her hair. The woman saw this and understood immediately. She smiled and hugged her little sister back.
"It's good to see you again joji. You were still a small child when Hidan left with you. Where is that rotten brother of ours anyways?" she asked, smiling at the youngest child of their mother.
"Aniki is on a mission…he told me to check on Pein-kun. He's had a bad feeling for a few days. He said something wasn't right about what was going on." Konan looked at her sister intently. "Nee-san…before you passed out, you said Sasori had your daughter…how did he get her?" Konan let the older woman sit up and listened intently as the woman recounted what happened.
Pein glared as he heard this. he'd never known how much he hadn't known was going on. He'd thought everything was fine from what Sasori had told him…he'd put too much trust in the red head. He returned to hear the end of the woman's tale. "When I came home, Tsuki was gone and there was a note on my table. It told me to kill Pein if I wanted to see my daughter alive again. Zetsu has her hidden somewhere. She's only sixteen…she's probably so scared…" there were tears in the woman's eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
"I can assure you that we will find her. There is only one place Zetsu would hide a woman. He never goes far from the mansion." Pein said and he concentrated. They all noticed rain clouds beginning to form outside. The woman noticed Konan smiling brightly.
"You are so smart Pein-kun! If you can find her with your rain, I can go retrieve her!" she started, but Pein glared down at her.
"You will not be going anywhere that Zetsu can touch you. You and your sister will stay in my panic room until I come and get you. I am the only one that can get in there. I won't chance these bastards using you against me. Sasori knows how much I love you…he'll kill you to get to me…" Pein said it softly and looked at his love's oldest sister.
"I'm sorry you and your family got dragged into this. Seems my subordinates are acting without my permission. I will end this dissension in my ranks." He looked at Konan then, his eyes softening. "I should have listened to you Hana-chan. I should have turned us legitimate while the Haruno girl was still here. Perhaps she could have helped us turn this around…" he kissed Konan gently and led them into the panic room.
"I'll be back in fifteen minutes. I know where she is and Zetsu is making his way out there. I must hurry." he closed the door and disappeared.
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Zetsu knew that he'd failed and that they would be caught. He was going to dispose of the evidence that linked him. When h finally arrived at the small bunker he called his own, he ran in, only to find his playmate missing. In her spot sat Pein, who was looking at him with deadly eyes. Zetsu backed away from him.
"So…you go behind my back and report to Sasori, you kidnap innocent girls and torture without being ordered to, and you tried to force yourself on MY woman?" Both Zetsu's gulped. The black one spoke up in his, if not his other half's, defense.
"I told him that you would be angry if he kept it up, but I'm not the one in control, he is." the white half growled at the black half to shut up. The black half hissed at the white half that he'd been stupid and this was his entire fault. Pein just watched the two, contemplating. He'd been doing a lot of research on schizophrenia and had developed something that he hoped would work. He like the personality the black half of Zetsu possessed, but despised the white half.
Without warning, Pein struck, his eyes glowing. White Zetsu screamed in pain while black Zetsu cringed. It was like they were being split apart. With a flash, the attack was over. Pein looked down and smiled…he'd done it.
Zetsu opened his eyes and found he was extremely disoriented. He also noticed that there was no voice coming from either side of his mouth. He stared at Pein, who was looking at something else. Zetsu glanced at what Pein was looking at and yelled in surprise.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" he was looking at a clone of himself, only the clone had white hair and yellow eyes. The white haired Zetsu shifted and looked towards Pein, who was now looking at the Zetsu who had yelled.
White haired Zetsu followed Pein's line of sight and gasped in fear. "THE FUCK!?" the white haired Zetsu tried to get to his feet, but stumbled around. He sat there, staring at himself, only he had flesh colored skin, black hair, and the normal yellow eyes.
Pein smirked and looked over at the white haired Zetsu. "I like the black side of your personality, but I hate the white one. So…I read up on the condition and used a technique I developed to separate the two of you…that way the black Zetsu didn't have to die when I kill you." he said while addressing the white haired Zetsu. Without another word, Pein destroyed the white haired Zetsu and looked at the black haired one.
"From now on, you are known as Zet. You are no longer the same person you were…the voices you heard are now gone. You are now normal…well, as normal as any of us can be." Zet looked at him with awe.
"Why…why did you help me?" the black haired Zet had to adjust to not hearing someone constantly contradicting what he was saying. He watched Pein shrug and look at him again.
"It's like I told Zetsu, I like you, but I hated him. He is no more, so now you are the only half of that original Zetsu left. You are now Zet and you are free from Zetsu." Zet smirked up at his commander.
"Well…I appreciate it. I really didn't want to die cuz he's a bastard that wanted to take over. I'm content in my role. I tried to save that girl, cuz I just don't go for females, but like I said, he was the one in charge most the time. Only time I got any say was when he was sleeping, when I needed to get laid, or we were drunk." He watched Pein's expression turn slightly pale.
"Don't talk about getting laid around me. Let's just go back and get the others. We are going to destroy the mansion and start over…we are going to Kagure." Pein smiled at the mischievous look on Zet's face.
"That's where that yummy new recruit Tobi is…" Pein just shook his head and they both disappeared. They reappeared and let the two women out. The young girl ran over to her mother and cried. They both disappeared then. Konan just stared at Pein and the black haired Zet. She put her hand on his arm.
"I-is that…Zetsu?" she asked and stared at him. Zet winked at her and then handed her a real flower for her hair.
"Name's Zet now. Pein-san was kind enough to rid me of the female chasing half of me, so now I can enjoy myself without having to freak out when a female comes on to me. The other me liked women…not me." Konan smiled and hugged him.
"YAY!! It's just like having another girl in the house!" Zet just chuckled at her. He patted her head and looked at Pein.
"Actually…I'm the seme in my relationships, but you can talk to me any time you need to." Pein arched a brow and Zet just laughed. "Now, shouldn't get our things packed if we are going to leave this hell hole behind?" Zet left to get his things while Konan looked at Pein in confusion.
"What's going on Pein-kun?" she asked him, watching Zet as he left. Pein sighed and looked her in the eyes.
"We are going to destroy the mansion and go to Kagure. We are no longer the Akatsuki. As of today, the Akatsuki is dead. Sasori has no more influence after I spread the rumor that the gang is gone. He may have a steady following, but he won't have our finances and influence to back him up anymore. I've already set it up so that it looks like all three of us are going to die in the fire. I'll collect the insurance money under the pretense that I'm my own twin brother. I'll have Zet do all the electronic configuring to make us all a new life." he cupped Konan's cheek in his hand.
"I don't want to ever put my children through this…and if I want children, I have to get married. But I won't marry as long as I'm the leader of a notorious gang." He saw the hope fade from Konan's eyes. He kissed her lightly on the lips and then looked down at her again.
"As soon as the house burns and our deaths are confirmed…I will no longer be the leader of Akatsuki…I will be just another man in love with a woman…" he said, as if talking to himself. He went down on one knee and looked at Konan. Zet walked in right as he popped his question.
"Hana-chan…will you marry me and be the mother of my children?" he asked her. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked down at him. She fell to her knees in front of him and hugged him, screaming 'yes' over and over again. Zet smirked and looked at them.
"Everything's set. It'll look like a rival gang tied us all up in the basement and burned the house down around our ears. I've got all the important stuff in my bag and all the technology we'll need to make a new life. You two hurry…I don't know how long things are going to take. Pack up Hidan's things Konan and I'll get Tobi's." there was a lecherous look in the man's eyes that made both of them laugh. They hurried about the house and gathered everything they though pertinent.
Konan gathered their money in one of her bags and everything from Kakuzu's, Deidara's, Sasori's rooms, and Hidan's the few personal items in Hidan's room. She took all of Deidara's clothes that she liked and the jewelry and everything she wanted and rest of the stuff to give to charity. They loaded everything personal in an SUV and Zet took it to the bunker while Pein and Konan got their colleagues' belongings and put them in boxes and putting them in the SUV when it returned.
They had just gotten everything out when the house suddenly caught fire and started to burn very quickly. Pein smiled at Konan and kissed her. He then had Zet drive them to the bunker where they created new identities, ordered passports under those identities and all the things that would make their lives easier. They were soon ready for their new lives.