A/N: Wow, it's been a while, ne? I apologise for not updating sooner, I have terrible writer's block with this story at the moment, I already know what I've got to type for the last 5-10 chapters yet I still can't motivate myself to type them. However, lots of things have happened recently, one of them being a friend of the family and my mentor for my writing died last weekend, it was a massive shock since none of us were expecting it! So it's been really sad at home, plus I've been messed around by the jobcentre with my appointment for Monday. *Sighs* Nothing is ever straightforward in life, ne? Enough of that though, please enjoy this ever-fulfilling chapter!
Disclaimer(wtf, this should've been done AGES ago!): I do NOT own or make any profit from this story, I only own the plot-bunny and my own characters (those being; Shinko Hoshi, Tadashii Hoshi, Jarl and his sisters, the Kinzoku clan, the Youchi clan and the Gekkou clan). Seriously, if I owned Naruto it would make a heck of a lot more sense, in other words; shinobi at the level of Genin and Chuunin wouldn't be able to kill an S-class criminals *glares at Shikamaru and Naruto in the Manga book* and I would also make it shorter, over 500 chapters is fucking ridiculous!
Summary: Tadashii Hoshi, a royal Vampire was in debt to Akatsuki, instead of money, he gave them his granddaughter, begging them to take her away for her safety. Now, 4 years later, Shinko is a subordinate to the criminal organisation, but, something isn't right, as the past of her grandfather and her real parentage catch up to her, who can she turn to for help?
Part Twenty-Five: Time to Break the Silence
The almighty leader of the Akatsuki sat at desk in his small and surprisingly tidy office. It hadn't always been like this, his office had always been messy, beer bottles left over from the many nights he had to stay up-holed in his office shifting through the many pieces of paper that just seemed to never end. It wasn't fun. It'd been all thanks to Konan that the office was cleared up, she'd become disgusted at the smell.
It was very interesting to see his woman kick up such a fuss, she'd never done so before and had always left him alone in peace to do as he wished. Until yesterday...
Every morning like clockwork she would bring him a cup of tea and some biscuits to his office, he would always be working late and starting early the next morning, he often felt bad for neglecting Konan, of course the make-up sex was amazing, but he knew deep-down that she was sad, especially when she would catch glimpses of Hidan and Shinko all over each other like the love-struck fools that they are.
He and Konan had once been like that; in the early days of Akatsuki. Theirs had been a whirlwind romance, undying and powerful, he'd always bought her flowers, took her out to eat when he could get away from the burden of being the leader of a criminal organization, they would watch films together, cook together-they'd done almost everything together.
And now...well, the only time they spent together was in the office and he was working most of the time. Konan hadn't complained once, even when he'd missed Valentine's Day earlier this year, she'd forgiven him. Of course he'd tried to make it up to her, he'd run her a bath, lit candles and was going to give her a massage before swiftly moving onto a heated and passionate love-making, but once again, his plans had been tossed aside when Deidara had somehow succeeded in blowing up the kitchen. There was always something getting in the way of their relationship.
However, once they'd gone to the ball together, he had to admit he hadn't seen her smile and laugh like she'd done that evening in a very long time. He missed that about her. They both rarely smiled and laughed these days as it was, but yesterday...he hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.
/*\*/*\
Konan came into the office as she did every morning, carrying the small tray of tea and biscuits, she knew Pein appreciated the thought and in a way it was her way of showing that she loved him. Though as of late, they hadn't been able to spend much time together, despite that she weren't about to let it dampen her spirits. Her lover was a very busy man and she knew the burden he carried upon his shoulders, she would do almost anything to relieve that tension and instead of bothering him by asking to do stuff together as they once did...as Hidan and Shinko often did together, she would silently stand by his side and be there for him whenever he needed her.
It was around six in the morning, the others would still be sleeping so she had no fear of anyone seeing her walk around the base in her blue shorts, navy vest-top, pale pink bunny slippers and being completely make-up free with her hair hanging down her back. Pein had always said he loved her like that, fresh and normal-looking. She could always see in his eyes the flash of regret, the fact alone that they couldn't be a normal couple in the middle of a bustling village with friendly neighbours, a decent-sized house, a pet bird and just being married.
Konan sighed to herself wistfully, although she would've loved that, she also respected their positions within this organization, besides, it was a well-known fact that Konan couldn't have children. Of course it hadn't always been so; she had been pregnant in the early years of their relationship. Both she and Pein had been excited by this prospect of bringing life into this world, something they'd created together from their love and they would raise it to follow in their footsteps to make this world a better place. It had been a wonderful dream, one they shared together, Pein had said that after their next assignment they'd get married and find somewhere to settle down quietly for a few years, their best friend; Nagato was prepared to take over whilst they were away. But all dreams come to an end. During a mission, their last assignment, they'd been ambushed, the enemy succeeded in splitting Konan away from her comrades and had been seriously injured, the stab wounds to her womb had been irreversible, not only did she lose their child; their hope, but she also lost the ability to reproduce. For a long time, she and Pein had been devastated; it'd taken them years to build-up their relationship once more after such a loss. Now, it doesn't bother them seeing children playing in the streets with their friends. In fact, their goal for cleansing the world of evil had become more important to them and if anything, their love became stronger and deeper, they now had an understanding of the other and could tell what they're thinking and feeling at almost any given moment.
Adoption had never been suggested, they'd already been told bluntly and harshly by the Gods that they were not meant to have children and knew that brining up a child within such a dark and cruel place would only cause more harm than do any good.
Coming out of her thoughts, Konan simply walked into the office, they had nothing to hide from the other, and they each knew their secrets and thoughts, besides, who else in their right mind would need to see Leader at such a ridiculous time in the morning?
His eyes lit up when she entered the room, wearing a small, tired smile in appreciation that swiftly turned to confusion and concern once she'd sniffed the air, almost dropping the tray and gagging, she'd turned tail and almost ran from the room. Rushing back towards the kitchen, she placed the tea and biscuits there, grabbing the newspaper from the table whilst wearing an apron and a flannel on the lower-half of her face as she swiftly appeared before her lover just as he was leaving the office to follow after her.
He took one look and laughed, very hard, the sound was wonderful to hear after all this silence, even so, Konan couldn't bring herself to see the humour as she shoved the newspaper in his arms, grabbing the sleeve of his cloak, she yanked him out of his office and out into the dark corridor, before stating "You will go and drink your tea and read the paper in the kitchen, whilst I clean this office."
To say he looked shocked was an understatement, she'd never told him what to do before, it'd always been him doing all the commanding and her doing most of the running around...and yet, seeing her being so dominant was also a kind of a turn-on.
"I can see what you're thinking, well, you won't be getting any just yet, your office smells as if something died in there, rotted, was eaten and then puked back up and left in a pile of dirty washing that hasn't been cleaned for a month. When was the last time you actually tidied up in there?" Her eyes narrowed on him and almost slapped a hand to her head in exasperation when her lover stood before her looking very thoughtful.
He had to think for the answer.
"Whatever, you're taking the day off, go relax and do some typical male-bonding with the others whilst I clean this room up." Pein had caught her tone of tiredness and longing, he could probably tell that she wished to spend the day with him instead of him going off with the others for some time-out.
He brushed a hand against her cheek gently and murmured "You don't have to do this for me, I can work fine alone, if I need your help, I'll call you, why don't you take the day-off? You're always running around and never have any time to sit down and pamper yourself."
She knew he was trying to be a gentleman, even so, she moved away from his touch before she became too addicted to it and stated "I'll be fine, go on, if I get tired, I'll stop, alright?"
He watched her silently for a few minutes, before releasing a sigh of defeat; he bent towards her and pressed a small kiss to her cheek, answering "Very well. I shall bring you something to eat in a little while."
After that he'd left for the kitchen and sat himself down at the breakfast table, flicking through the newspaper in his hands as he sipped his tea and munched on some biscuits; he almost totally forgot about Konan slaving away in his office.
Later that morning, Itachi, Deidara and Sasori were sat in the kitchen, Pein had already finished reading the newspaper, Itachi read it afterwards and currently Sasori was flicking through the black and white pages with mild interest, Itachi was reading a book he'd brought from his room with him as he sipped his tea and Deidara was busy fiddling with his clay to take notice of why their leader was sat at the table as if it were an everyday occurrence.
It'd only been when Pein had gone to move from his seat to make a cup of tea to make for Konan that Deidara raised his blond head and narrowed his only visible blue eye at his leader in suspicion "Leader? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your office, hmm?"
Pein whirled around and fixed his stern glare on the blond, catching both Itachi and Sasori's attentions as he snapped "And shouldn't you be somewhere else training?"
The blond blushed in embarrassment, for it'd only been the night before that he'd complained that he wished to use one of the four training rooms in the entire base since he never got a chance and he couldn't practise outside since his techniques were flashy and would attract unwanted attention, so Itachi and Sasori had begrudgingly given up their precious training for the day so that Deidara would stop complaining.
"I was just gonna go, yeah!" The blond protested in his defence which caused Sasori to roll his eyes before looking back to his newspaper, no longer interested.
"Good, now leave." Pein commanded as he turned round and walked over to the kettle, the next time he looked back Deidara had vanished from the room completely. Though the stares of the Uchiha hadn't gone unnoticed.
"What is it Itachi?" He asked politely since the Sharingan-user had always been polite to him and never attempted to cause any hassle; he always kept to himself and rarely got into trouble. He was also well-spoken and gave him respect, damn it was hard to get that around here!
The pale man blinked before asking quietly "Why is it that you aren't in your office sir?"
Pein sighed and only replied "Konan is cleaning my office."
He'd been more than surprised when he'd gotten nods of sympathy from both Itachi and Sasori; in a way, he supposed taking the day off hadn't been a bad thing after all.
/*\*/*\
There was a knock at Pein's door signalling the obvious that someone requested his attention. It happened all the time so it rarely fazed him, however, it'd been more frequent as of late since money had been tight.
"Come in." He didn't even look up as the door opened to reveal Hidan, Pein merely continued signing away at various pieces of paperwork that he'd read over at least twice already, it was late afternoon and anytime now Konan will come in with some tea and biscuits again. God, he loved that woman.
The door shut behind his 'guest' and after a few moments of silence an impatient growl escaped the younger male, causing Pein to glance up at him from his desk with tired and rather bored eyes. He'd known it was Hidan even before he'd knocked at the door; the loud-mouth had never been exceptionally good at masking his chakra.
"Yes Hidan, what is it?" He lowered his eyes to his paperwork, his voice sounding extremely tiresome and lacking interest-this annoyed the male albino somewhat.
"Oi, look at me when I'm talking to you dickhead!" Hidan spat, letting his tiny fuse of patience fly out of the window, the male albino really did hate being disrespected, it didn't take much to look at someone whilst they're talking to you, did it? At least that's what Hidan thought. If someone was talking to him, he'd make the bloody effort to turn around and look at the person-it was one of the very few ways to be able to read what the other was thinking.
Pein sent him a piercing glare as he snarled "Do not speak to me in that manner, Hidan, as you can clearly see I've had a very busy day, if you've got something to say; say it and leave."
The younger male opened his mouth to shout a retort back at him, but was stopped as the door to the office was opened and revealed Konan, carrying Pein's saviour (tea) over to his desk, she received a loving glance as their eyes met and she swiftly returned to the filing cabinets and the piles of paperwork that had remained untouched since that morning.
Hidan glared at the woman that interrupted him, but he was otherwise ignored, disgruntled by this fact, he didn't let it get to him, after all, he was here for important business, the last thing he needed was Leader declining his proposition. It was for Shinko's benefit after all.
"Listen, I would like permission to take Shinko with me to the bloody Void country to visit her grandfather." Hidan ground his teeth-it took all of his energy to not curse at leader as the man sat in his big chair and sipped his tea calmly as if he hadn't heard a word he'd said, though his statement had satisfactory results to prove that Pein was indeed listening to him, if his splutter on his tea and Konan spinning round to look at them was anything to go by.
Pein cleared his throat and asked "Why do you need to see Tadashii Hoshi?"
Hidan ran a hand through his hair, a small pink tint hitting his cheeks in slight embarrassment as he stated "Well...I've asked Shinko to marry me-"
"You did what?" Leader bellowed standing up as he smashed his fists atop his desk, making it shudder and almost break under his weight, this caused both Hidan and Konan to jump at the swift change to Pein's mood; he seemed plenty tired before...it had to be that tea!
Hidan regained his composure and smirked, pride swelling up that Pein almost sounded a little jealous perhaps? He really hadn't wished to tell the others so soon, but figured there'd be no way of getting to see Tadashii without bringing up a strong and valid argument.
"Just as I fucking said, Shinko and I are engaged...or will be once I have permission from her fucking grandpa." Hidan sighed tiredly at this, for he knew it'd take over a month before they'd return, depending on the Tadashii's answer. Though he certainly hoped it was good news, if not, then he'll steal Shinko away and they'd elope, simple as that-even if he were to be turned into one of her kind, he'd do it willingly for her.
"How dare you. You have the fucking audacity to come in here and tell us what you're doing without any warning?" Leader snarled sounding very much like an angry wolf, Konan shivered to herself at the thought, she'd rarely seen him this angry and each time it truly frightened her, for she knew first-hand what he was capable of...
Hidan raised an eyebrow, he was unsure of whether he'd ever heard Leader swear before, the man was livid, no doubt about it, but for the life of him, Hidan just couldn't understand why. However, he bristled at how leader was talking down to him like some retarded child "How dare I? I don't think you have the fucking right to tell me what to fucking do, you cunt! I may be an arsehole a lot of the time and bitch like some fucking pregnant slut-but I don't need your permission to have a relationship with my mate! She's mine-nobody else's! I certainly don't have any fucking right to tell you how your relationship with Konan should be, so you have no fucking right to interfere in mine, you Jashin-heathen-wanker!"
Konan stared wide-eyed at how Hidan's face became rather red, his eyes turning to a shade of red-magenta she'd never seen before, his eyes sparkling in possessive anger, his brow furrowed as he mouth ran away with him, showing off two pointed fang-like teeth, though she knew that Shinko hadn't changed him. Nevertheless, she could almost see why Shinko had felt so attracted to him; he was possessive, needy, arrogant, spoiled and overprotective-not to mention a complete jerk, but for Shinko he was also gentle, caring, amusing, mildly intelligent and had such life in him!
It almost moved the blue-haired female to tears, seeing such spontaneous energy bursting from the seams, she could tell that Hidan was prepared to die for his lady-love, just as it would be the other way around; these two were inseparable and Konan knew that he'd overstepped the mark, yet the male albino wasn't at all fazed by this prospect. He clearly didn't care whether he looked like a fool, he loved Shinko deeply enough to risk everything. Her and Pein used to be exactly like that.
How? How had they fallen into this generic routine; never-ending, never-changing, of course she believed strongly in their cause and how much they'd sacrificed for it and that she'd stay by his side forever, but was it really worth it to have their lives put on-hold? To never move forward? To forever be stuck in limbo? She didn't want any regrets before she died, she didn't want to be alone and think of the 'what ifs', where had their life gone?
"Stop it with that language! You know that I should be forewarned of any engagements or arrangements, we can't have this base discovered!" Leader shouted back, smashing a clenched fist down on the desk once more for more emphasise.
'Stop it...' Konan felt her throat tighten as this terrifying scene unfolded in front of her.
"I can say what I fucking want! And so bloody-what if this pissing place is discovered? That's all you ever fucking say!" Hidan retorted, feeling utterly fed-up and sickened with the same statement-almost as if it's a mantra!
'Please...stop it...you have no idea of the burden we carry!' Konan felt the tears welling up in her eyes at this, she was torn between the two, she could see why Hidan was so adamant of fighting for his love, of what he believed in and that he was fed-up with being held back from truly living! She'd desired to do just that for many years, even before she'd fallen pregnant. And yet, she couldn't do it, she loved Pein with all her heart, she knew as he did that they'd given up so much for their cause, all they wanted was peace for the world, to stop the fighting, they only had each other left and she couldn't-wouldn't lose him.
"If this place is discovered then we'll have to move again! We don't have the funds to do that!" Pein snarled as his hands clenched in on themselves upon his desk, his grey-ringed eyes seeming to glow at the male albino from across the other side of the office, almost threatening to use one of his most powerful techniques yet to blast him into orbit.
'Stop it! Enough...I've had...enough!' The tears overflowed now down her cheeks, her make-up no doubt ruined, but she didn't care, her shoulders sagged from the weight of the burden they'd carried for years as a sob escaped her causing the two men to stop their fighting and look to her in surprise. She felt her body shaking and yet couldn't bring herself to move, she couldn't see anyway with all this water blurring her vision.
"Konan...what is wrong, my love?" Pein straightened himself, turning he tentatively approached her, no longer caring that Hidan was still in the room staring at the scene with wide eyes that would be found on an innocent and confused child. Pein reached his hands out to touch her, yet didn't, for she was shaking her head at him, her eyes filled with such anguish that his heart squeezed hard from the sight of it. And hadn't he known? He'd known for a long time that his love was breaking slowly, she'd been a pillar for him, holding everything together for him, even when they'd found that she would no longer have children, even when Nagato had died and even after all the times he'd dismissed her suggestions of spending time together-even just for a couple of hours. She worked hard to make him happy and proud, running all over the place for him and never once complaining; always accepting his final answer with a silent nod.
"This isn't right...Pein, you know what I'm talking about! You can't keep two people from loving each other-just because it reminds you too much of how things used to be between us!" Konan continued sobbing, barely seeing the rather guilty look that'd settled on Pein's face.
"I know it hurts...I want us to go back to the way things used to be...I want to be with you forever and yet, I feel like our goal has taken you from me," his head shot up to stare at her in confusion and wonder, though he too felt hurt by her admission, for it was true, he longed to be young again and do couply-things, the things that Hidan and Shinko were doing for each other and yet, all he'd done was hurt his only love. "Here are two people...despite how horrible the world is...with all the fighting, the killing, the murder, prostitution and the greed...against all odds...they find love, there is still hope! I just...I can't believe that for a long time...I'd almost given up on it..."
Her hands went to her face, hiding her tears and sobs into her hands, no longer wishing to be seen; she felt dirty and weak; pathetic even, she was unworthy of Pein's time, he must be disappointed in her!
Hidan watched from the other side of the room in stunned silence, the insult died upon his lips at how pathetic Konan looked, but the raw emotion in her proclamation had silenced him; she was sticking up for him and Shinko. He hadn't needed her help for that, but in a way, he was glad the shouting had stopped, he knew Shinko must've heard some of that and she would've been in the room within a second to fight at his side should it have escalated any further. Though he couldn't help but stare in wonder as Pein brought his arms around his lover, gently pulling her to him as he stroked her back soothingly, his head leaning down to rest near hers, not speaking a word as his love sobbed relentlessly. It made Hidan humble, the scene was very touching, he wasn't one for romantic displays in public, but seeing this...it was truly heart-warming.
They were both in their thirties-or so everyone guessed, no one would've suspected the weight they carried upon their shoulders; the burden of wanting to protect the world from falling in on itself. Hidan knew there was more to their relationship than his eyes could see, it was some deep pain that'd lingered between them. They both looked exhausted, both tired, about to give in, losing hope and almost losing the love between them. Love is meant to last forever, no matter what the circumstances, this was the perfect example of that. These two had stuck together through thick-and-thin...they had lost each other for so long but it seemed now that they'd finally found each other again.
Who was he to interrupt?
Without another word, Hidan bowed his head, turning away from the touching scene, he silently left the office; closing the door behind him, leaving them to have a well over-due heart-to-heart. But Hidan was surprised to find that he didn't mind so much about having to wait before he'd discuss of visiting Tadashii Hoshi. It could wait; they had all the time in the world after all. No, right now, all he wanted was to hold his girl and forget what'd been said.
With the door to the office shut, signalling that the other male had left, Pein's shoulders collapsed, squeezing his lover tightly to him, he felt something wet slide down his cheeks, but didn't care to look for he knew now that years worth of sorrow and regret was pouring through the cracks, leaving them both unable to do anything else but cry not only for the people they'd lost, but also for themselves and what they'd had to shut away, leave behind and lose.
It went unspoken of the love between them, but they had no doubt in their minds that this would be a fresh start for them; shedding a skin to reveal a pair of beautiful butterflies...
/*\*/*\
Shinko waited for him in the living area, he was rather silent in his walk back to her and she weren't surprised, she'd heard the fight between him and Leader, it'd emotional and bitter, both trying to get their points across and subtly win over the other. The debate had only been postponed, but right now she didn't care about that. It'd gone pretty silent after Konan's muffled sobs, she too had been touched by Konan's raw emotions and although she figured the blue-haired woman would like some female company, she also realised that this was a problem only Konan and Leader could solve together.
Kakuzu had left the living area over an hour before, deciding to go to the kitchen to read the newspaper and grab a snack; it was obvious that he simply wished to get away from the lovebirds, no doubt this lovey-dovey stuff got to him a bit, though she didn't know why, Shinko gathered that Kakuzu was one of those few men that couldn't handle emotions very well. He had always been a private person.
The door to the living area opened, Hidan stepped into the room and closed the door behind him silently. She watched him walk over to her, his eyes clouded and shining with something that Shinko had never seen before, but didn't speak a word, he kneeled down in front of her and wrapped both of his arms around her tightly, pressing his face into her stomach.
Shinko placed a hand upon his head and gently stroked her fingers through the strands, he was shaking a little, but not crying, it made her wonder whether he could cry, even so, she spoke "Hidan...we don't have to see Tadashii if you don't want too...we can go anytime...yes?"
He lifted his head then, his eyes hard as he stated "No, we will go. I said that I wanted to do this the right way and I damn will. I also know that you've been longing to see him, you keep having nightmares..." She saw the concern in his eyes, it went unmistaken, though she smiled in spite of this and replied "Okay, we'll go, but there's no rush is there? Besides, I can handle my...dreams; you don't have to worry about me."
Hidan rolled his eyes at that and mumbled "Stubborn as usual."
Shinko's smiled grew a little bigger and leaned forward to press a kiss to his mouth.
A/N: HOLY CHRIST! This chapter is LONG! Almost four pages longer than it would've been otherwise. Ahem. From here on out the chapter will most likely be longer since the end is in sight-at last! There are certain parts to this chapter that I don't like, but I thought it'd be best to type about the other characters for a bit instead of focusing on Hidan and Shinko all the time. I used Pein and Konan as an example that love can last forever; even through the toughest of times. I'm not sure how many chapters I have left yet-still gotta type them up, but I'm hoping that I can make it to 100 reviews by the end of it!
Anyway, today I'm shouting out a BIG thank you to; 'Aiko of the Akatsuki' and 'Akuma Chi' for their wonderful reviews!
!Reviews are appreciated!