Immediately Kyo jumped up to face Pein from her position on the bed, surprised.
It was like she had called something into existence; the moment she began to think about approaching Pein to talk to him about everything, and he appeared in her room a second later. She glanced up at his face, seeing a calm expression on his face, though a firm determination was evident in his eyes; as if he wasn't about to leave this room until he had said what he needed to say and done what he needed to do. She could understand his opinion, though—they needed to get it out into the open if anything was to come to a conclusion. But clearly he had accepted things a lot quicker than Kyo had done, though Kyo had gathered that from the start.
After all, Pein had been the one to ask her to call him by his first name, and when he had kissed her, it was he who had instigated it. When she pulled away and said she wasn't sure it was a good idea, Pein hadn't agreed with it and asked her to forget about it. He had looked confused and almost disappointed at what had happened and how Kyo had turned and walked away from him. It wasn't as if Kyo didn't want to accept all that had gone on, but there had been so many conflicting things in her mind as to how she should act. Her instinct told her to go along with it—but what she had been brought up to believe had consistently got in the way.
Now it had all changed, and it wasn't like that anymore. Kyo could look on the same situation with new eyes, and truly determine how she wanted things to go. The emotions that had been surfacing throughout her time in the Akatsuki—as she adapted to the environment and spent all her time with Pein as she trained and just generally hung out with him—were ones she hadn't understood. They had confused Kyo and ultimately made things harder when she had to make a choice as to what to do about them. But now time had passed and altered things, and Kyo was starting to comprehend them in a way she had never thought she would be able to do before. The feelings she could see and feel coming from Pein were ones she now shared.
Something that he couldn't help but be relieved at.
True, Pein had known something within Kyo had to have changed when she had decided to break out herself and confront Nikushimi on her own. But a battle situation was very different to one like this. Both of them had always been emotionless throughout their lives, and although they had things they would fight for and protect, it had never been openly that they had expressed their feelings. However, that idea and gone out the window as the emotions came more and more to the surface, and to achieve some sort of normality between them both and just generally in themselves, it had to be accepted.
He had seen where his feelings were headed when he started contemplating asking Kyo about dropping the formalities around him. The more time he spent with her, the more Pein understood just what was happening, and he had realised just what he felt for her. But even if he had accepted them quicker than Kyo had done—or even comprehended them—he still had held back. He'd never exactly dealt with it before, and as such he didn't quite know how to react to all of it—which had only brought it out in a more potent form than he probably would have liked. Pein had been slightly concerned as to how Kyo would return his actions when he went to talk to her; whether she would be willing to have this conversation and allow him to speak—to say what she felt herself. But upon seeing her standing there now, Pein knew she was fine with letting this happen, and as such, as Kyo nodded in greeting at his presence, he responded quietly,
"I know this is a little unexpected—and I apologise for not knocking."
But shaking her head, Kyo dismissed it. She would have done the same, and it didn't matter that she hadn't known he was going to be there. She just wanted to hear what he had to say—prompting him to take a slight breath as he went on,
"I feel I should apologise for what I did when we last trained together. I shouldn't have just kissed you like that; it was impulsive and with all that you've been through having to deal with something you weren't prepared for wasn't right. I didn't mean to scare you; to make you leave. I just didn't stop to think—"
"No; I should be apologizing, Pein," Kyo suddenly cut in, calm as anything as she stared back into Pein's eyes while she continued,
"I shouldn't have walked away from you, I know that. You…surprised me. But I wasn't scared, if that's what you're wondering. I just couldn't understand why you were doing it; well, all of it. Asking to call you by your first name and kissing me."
A part of Pein hesitated as he knew how he would have to respond, unsure how it would sound out loud and what Kyo would think of him when he said it. But he had accepted what he felt a while ago, knew that they weren't about to fade anytime soon and understood that he couldn't keep on hiding it. He wasn't about to be ashamed of it, and returning Kyo's gaze without wavering, he stated bluntly in reply,
"I care about you, Kyo. A lot. That's why I did it. Why was that so strange for you to consider—or maybe still is?"
"You are my leader, Pein, even if I do not call you it. You remain my boss, regardless of what happens."
A small silence developed between the two of them with these words. Just like it had been from the start; this issue was the one that had caused all the problems. That had continued to distance them and affected so much between them. It was the reason for so many different things in Kyo's life—but they had reached a milestone. A huge change had occurred, and Pein couldn't help but hope that it wasn't the case anymore.
"I may be your leader, Kyo, but I'm still a person."
"No, I didn't mean for it to sound like—" Kyo tried to protest, but shaking his head Pein interrupted her to reply softly,
"I know. But I know there are a lot of things that separate me from the general population. However…there are things that still connect me. I still get affected by certain things—things even I can't control. Though I may have tried to say they didn't matter before, it still doesn't stop what is happening now. I had just hoped that fact wouldn't get in the way."
For a moment afterwards, Kyo could find nothing to say in return to that. Pein wasn't an emotional person; he remained aloof and phlegmatic throughout the jobs he did and the relationships he formed. Even the emotions that did come to the surface were ones that only those who knew him well could see and understand. He had to remain strong for the things he had to do. So for him to be standing there and saying something like that…Kyo knew it had a lot more meaning than most people would consider it to have. For once he was dismissing all that he was in the ninja world and all that he had worked for—to concentrate on what he felt for Kyo. He was almost remorseful at the idea that what his job and title entailed was what was keeping them apart, and was doing all he can to try and get her to see him in an entirely more intimate way than the rest of the world.
"It shouldn't do;" Kyo abruptly breathed, causing Pein to snap out of his thoughts at her silence, narrowing his eyes at her words as she added with a small smirk,
"And I'm sorry that it ever did. Because it's not that way anymore."
Pein wasted no more time he remaining where he was, padding softly over to Kyo to slide his hand across her cheek, taking one more moment to gaze into her eyes. Somehow, with her Rinnegan activated, it felt like they were more connected than they had ever been, seeing just how many similarities they had reflected in her eyes. This time she did nothing to move away or try and get away from his gaze, merely allowing him to get this close, breathing in his scent and feeling her heartbeat increase as his body heat seeped through his body to hers.
Then slowly he leant in, pressing his lips gently but firmly against hers, and Kyo allowed her instincts to take over, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself closer to him. Their lips moved in perfect symmetry, Pein's tongue snaking out to drag across her bottom lip, already starting to worm inside her mouth. Kyo responded by biting his bottom lip, moving to lick and suck at his lip piercings, smirking as a low groan emitted from Pein's throat, having not been fully prepared for that. He replied by not bothering with asking anymore, ramming his tongue into her mouth to explore, doing the same to her body with his hands. He slid her clothes off as Kyo did the same to him, tracing patterns across his chest, her breathing heavy at the feeling of their bodies against each other; nothing separating them anymore as Pein moved her over to the bed and climbed on top, all problems that might have existed dissipating from their minds.
All that mattered was each other.