A/N: I'll just say that this chapter's title is based on the fact that people used to hunt foxes with a special breed of hounds who would enter their burrows and seek them out in general. I hope you like this chapter, it's a … pinch of what Fiona really is. And some other things. Enjoy.

Chapter 46

The Fox and the Hound

Leo woke up covered with cold sweat and shivering, taking in deep breaths of air. His heart was racing and he swore he saw a shadow move away in the darkness.

No. That wasn't the scary part.

There was pretty much always that same shadow there which he had dubbed his own personal Ryuk . It hadn't made contact with him yet and Leo himself wasn't about to stoop as low as actually showing any sort of interest towards his friendly roommate of a shadow.

No. The scary part was the nightmare-vision-something that he just had. After a few more calming breaths, his heart rate was back to normal. They were flashes of an overly delirious looking scene of Fiona humming, dancing and giggling. It was pitch black, the only light about her being sort of…there, with no real source. The ground looked like perfectly mowed green grass.

'Here I come and here we go!

Careful what you reap

Because this is what you sow.

I played a trick

And treated was I not

For my crimes, however,

Payment there'll be not.

Nananananana

I lost my marbles

And I found them

And there were winnings

For the losses

And the fox hid in its hole

And the hound never found it

Because it wasn't a hound at all!

Nananananana

I slip

I fall

I die

Nananananana

I breathe again

I live again

With no payments for my crimes

Nananananana…"

All this bloody clairvoyance crap was grinding on his nerves. Not to mention some things scared the living day lights out of him. Bloody Shinigami and bloody stupid moron gods.

With a sigh, Leo went back to sleep, subconsciously reminding himself that Fiona was probably all right and this was just another bloody crappy payback for that 'What do you think I am? Clairvoyant?' comment when he first spoke directly with the Shinigami. Figures he was to pay for his arrogance. And why couldn't he be like Fia? She rarely had to pay for any trespasses and transgressions. Then again, that was a Fiona thing.

888

'Look, I think she's waking up.'

'Fia, can you hear me?'

Everything was so dark and hazy, including her usually rather clear if chaotic mind. She felt herself in some sort of slowmotion-like debuff and she almost had half a mind about going back to the comfortable calm of darkness. Then again she hated hazy and excruciatingly slowly, she fought off the black spots and haziness and the buzzing in her ears.

It felt like her brain was rebooting itself after a major crash. And she was in a hospital. She hated hospitals. They smelled of detergents. Couldn't they use anything less olfactory violating? And why was she in the hospital in the first place? And MJ smells of tears. Yuk. L-chan is stressed. She could practically chew the tension within her poor Leader-chan.

'Muuhphm.' Was Fiona's first sentient response and she sloppily swatted away the hand that was stroking her cheek. Didn't people know she hated things in front of her face and people touching her face? Sheesh. 'Wuuh. Girrof.'

'Thank God you're awake' MJ whispered, clearly overwhelmed by relief.

Fia was still slowly picking up her marbles, trying to figure out why was she in the hospital. Things were kind of blurry and hazy still, but her sense of smell was working perfectly, for her wonderful discomfort.

'Wuh huh.'she mumbled again. Her body was bloody stiff! Even her facial muscles. Almost like that one time she and Leopold tried to see who would make the bigger bubble gum bubble. She was pretty much trying to ask why she was in the hospital, though she was sure that even MJ and L-chan would be having problems deciphering this one.

Wait.

It was kinda coming back to her now. The yellow flash, the deserted forest in nowhere, Amegakure, Pein, Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori and Deidara….Takeshiro-senpai…training. And then it kind of ended there.

So…

Hazy mind and black spots?

Check.

Buzzing in ears?

Check,

Stiffness all over?

Check.

Smelly hospital?

Check.

Weird ass Naruto related adventures?

Check.

'Wuh muh cuhmuh?' Was I in a coma?

'Fia, you need to take it easy, ok?' MJ started delicately, which was kind of weird looking, and the raven-haired girl shared a quick glance with Rose.' I need to call the doctors to tell them you're awake. Don't get excited or anything, ok?'

Ok, so she was in a coma and everything that supposedly happened for months was a coma induced hallucination. What a drag, huh? It felt stupid and her mind was still hazy and it was hard to even concentrate. And she felt so bloody stiff that even if she wanted to move (which she no doubt did) it was so bloody hard and sloppy that it got her even more annoyed. Small tears prickled down the corners of her eyes.

'Hey, it's ok! You'll be fine, I promise.' Rose put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly. ' Try not to overexert yourself. We're here for you, Feefs.'

Rose smiled warmly in a way Fia hadn't seen since Harvard. What had happened there was another story. It was a great thing to have true friends. And Fia felt lucky to have so many of them. To have a sort of family. All of them together. Her second family. Because friends like that were forever. And it was love and understanding that bound them all together.

Bonds.

Pein…

Even though she was now home. A great part of her wished that dream had been real. That those things had really happened. That she had been going every now and then to his office with cup cakes and chocolate chip cookies, and some weird ass exotic French dish, trying to impress him with her awesome house wife skills. Not to mention that time she had glomped him.

Bonds.

And pain.

Couldn't she have been a few more days comatose so that she could've at least professed her undying love for him? The real him. The one whose body was slowly consumed by the great power he was wielding? The longing was killing her.

At first her eyes welled up really fast and then her lower lip started to quiver (as much as it could). And then came the first sob, followed by many more, each more emotional and painful that the last one.

All those months had been a horrible lie. A horrible, wonderful lie, in which she would've wasted away on this bed. A lie she wished to live. A lie far greater that anything else existing so far. The world was a harsh, cold place. And there, in the lie, it was still harsh and cold. But he had been there. Powerful and magnificient, everlasting and unyielding. Majestic.

Nagato.

Her pain…

MJ came back with several doctors to find a troubled Rose trying to calm down an inconsolable Fiona. It made the black-haired girl stiff with something akin to shock, as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on her.

Fiona was crying. As in really crying. A few tears now and then, the more than occasional whine and the undignified yelps were something usual. Not to mention the ever-annoying melodramatical cryfest show-downs when her mom would say no to a family trip to Blizz-con.

This she had never seen before. She looked weak and pathetic. She looked powerless, whimpering like that. It was truly heart-wrenching.

'Shh. It's ok, we're here. We won't leave you.'

The doctors had to wait. This was more bloody important. Had it been really that terrifying?

After half an hour or so, Fiona fell asleep, both physically and emotionally exhausted.

'Why do you think she reacted like that? Do you think-?

'I don't know what to think, Rose. She looked terrified and in anguish. I've never seen her like that…'

'I'm not really surprised…considering what happened…'

'What do you mean?'

Rose gave MJ a significant look with her stormy gray ringed eyes.

'What do you think was the last thing she saw? Before…you know…'

MJ gulped.

'Her dying vision was the Wrath of Pein.'

'Bloody hell. She must be…' MJ's eyes widened in realization.

'Boss-man really messed up this time.' Rose quoted a line of Tifa's on a whim. Her expression grim and slightly angry. 'God or not, he has some making up to do.'

It was a tone of finality and the red headed fury stormed off, her strides long and her expression- murderous. MJ followed, irrationally agreeing with her friend. But her subconscious wisely reminded her that 'Hell hath not seen fury like a woman scorned.'.

The Itachi-cosplayer had the feeling that Pein would receive a taste of his own Wrath.

888

Fia woke up again some hour later, surrounded by two doctors and a nurse, who was , disturbingly enough, changing her catheter bag. She felt a lot less hazy, and her muscles were surprisingly more relaxed and less stiff. She began to wonder how much time had passed and tried to keep track of all of her surroundings, which proved to be an impossible task at this point. The sense of wrongness was slowly creeping up in her especially as one doctor was checking something on her carton while the other was preparing a needle… which he promptly injected into one of the tubes.

The panic alarms sounded.

'Wuh was..that?'she mumbled, a lot more coherent than before, her eyes glaring warily at the accused doctor.

'Merely a pain killer. There is no need to worry, Miss Jon-son.'

Shit. The government was onto her. Double shit.

She jerked away surprisingly swiftly, and by surprising, it was really surprising. The Nurse found herself covered in piss after an unfortunate squeezing of the filled up catheter bag.

Fiona was frantically pulling away all those tubes and needles from herself and in that same span of ten seconds (in which the entire ordeal had transpired) she was sloppily sprinting away from the room, in a bareback paper gown, but quickly gaining speed and coherence in movements. Staff and patients alike were shoved, pushed and punched out of her way. She was running like a mad woman possessed. And wouldn't anyone run the hell like that if they thought 'the government was onto them'?

'Miss! Calm down- wait!'

A group of doctors were moving a patient across Fiona's path. That did not stir her momentum, as she determinately placed her hands on the stretcher and hopped over it, legs spread in a side split. The patient, needless to say, was now a very happy man, as he had observed her neatly styled in a trendy triangle…uh… haircut. Uh…yeah, haircut!

That side split would've made MJ proud.

No time to ponder about it, as the government was right behind her. She needed to find a safe house and lay low for a few weeks and try to then locate some of her contacts which would then get her out of the country. She would then go either in Columbia or in Sudan, where she had personal safe houses with supplies and would then try and find out how the officials caught her trail. And she would also try and delete any possible AFC or other affiliates links to herself and her illegal ministrations. It was a simple plan but right now she needed to run like hell.

Finally! The exit.

It was a bloody downpour outside, which made quick work of her paper hospital gown. She turned to one side and sprinted off, not really caring about the particularly alluring nudeness-streaking display she was giving the several unlucky passer byes (unlucky for being caught in the down pour). Fia took the corner and nearly crashed into a man whose hands went up instinctively in defense.

Dubbing him for 'government' she made quick work of him with a 'Falcon Punch' to the kisser and yet again sped off.

888

'-she's a bloody fucking mess right now and it is all because of you, Pein-sama!' Rose spat his title. Her vehement fury and her stormy gray eyes fit perfectly with the weather outside, though at the time Nagato had not the chance to think of the weird connection. He was busy fighting both a guilt trip, and three nagging women who were arguing both with him and with each other. And Konan asked why she was the only woman in Akatsuki. Cat fights. Go figure. A woman powerful enough to fit Akatsuki requirements would be a complete and utter menace IF there was more than one woman in Akatsuki. It was one of those things that were mandatory about S-class missing- kunoichi. They were all dangerous bitches with no shit attitude. Konan was no exception. But she cared too much about him and their dream of Akatsuki to be anything else than a hen. So to speak that is.

In animal societies, males fought for female attention. In human ninja societies, women fought for the males. Or at least in the missing-nin circles. If there was only one woman, in this case Konan, then she was the alpha female and all men listened to her, not because she was his partner and second in command, but because there wasn't a sane man who would enjoy the bitching of a bitchy PMSing woman with S-rank on a daily basis.

He wasn't even going to mention the head ache he was having right now, thought that might be partially due to the guilt trip thing and, of course, his own male pride.

Ah, the wonders of the male philosophy on female things males don't understand and the male philosophy on male things females don't understand. Like bromance. And the ritual of bonding over sake in bars.

'Silence.'

All three women shut up and glared at him.

'Fiona is out of the hospital.' Pein ignored their glares expertly. He got those pretty often.

'I told you to stay there, MJ.'

MJ glared at Rose with the 'You so did not.' Look, at which Rose immediately apologised, realizing that in her righteous anger, she had failed to mention anything, and that is how they had left a paranoid, legally guilty and hospital hating person all alone in the hands of the doctors.

'Well, bloody shit.'

888

The city, despite the heavy rain looked familiar. Not to mention that it looked exactly like Amegakure. Things like mindfucking meds came to mind and the doctor to nonchalantly nearly injected her with something.

Was this all one big fucking set up, as she had believed in the start? What about MJ or L-chan? It was so bloody strange. The only appropriate explanation that she had was that she was fed some sort of hallucigenic and MJ and Rose were not really MJ and Rose. This was some major mindfuck.

But who would go through all that trouble? Was this some kind of trick to try and break her to reveal secrets she had stored from governments all over the world. Horror splashed her full force. The Bible! They had the bible. And these people weren't government. What if they were terrorists? And she was in the middle of it all, the cause of the Third World war? Fia felt her head swim dangerously and she had to use the cold wet brick wall for support.

No! She needed to pull the reigns of her paranoia. Chances were they might not be able to open her Bible, especially when it required- shit. She was naked. It was a good time to realize that too, out on the streets, with heavy downpour and stuff. How the hell was she supposed to blend in and hide if she was butt naked? And did she mention her little microchip in the form of a small sun pendant? She was butt naked, as in no pendant as well.

The world can go screw itself. She was outta-

'Ack!' she slipped backwards and fell on her butt, as she almost collided with Pein, who had chosen that particular moment to spot her and land next to her. Her surprise and confusion lasted only several milliseconds, as her facial features turned into an outraged murderous scowl. In the next moment, she was back on her feet, adrenaline pumping and ready to power her possible final stand. This just had to be the works of the bloody hallucigenic.

'You are not real.' She hissed dangerously, making Pein's eyes narrow into slits.

Pein was definitely not expecting this. It was yet another surprise, and to be honest, he was not a fan of surprises. This was definitely the same cheerful wacky Fiona who kept creating chaos to his chagrin, and managed to be impossibly cute on the occasions in which he was very close to ordering her to an isolation chamber. As a ninja, he had the experience to tell when one had more potential than they were showing. Indeed, it was the same Fiona, possibly pushed to the very limits of her not very sane psyche.

And she was wet, naked and ready to claw out whatever her hands could get to. Her tanned skin was marred only by the single white scar line just below her ample erect breasts on the right side of her chest. Her cheeks were flushed with the adrenaline rush and he could clearly see the outlines of her powerful leg muscles.

But what really grabbed his attention were her eyes. Her piercing blue eyes which glared at him with all that she was worth. She would not back down. She would never give up. She would keep going for as long as she could take breath. Passionate conviction, stamina and the majestic fury of a lioness all gathered into one hot, incinerating hateful glare.

'You do not exist. You are not what I see. So back off or I will fucking kill you.' She hissed again.

He took a step forward.

'I have no idea how long this mindfuck has been going on, but this ends now. This. Ends. Now. You hear me, you bastard? I might kill you swiftly if you tell me where my friends are, though.' She gave a sinister humorless chuckle.' I hate it when people hurt my friends, you see. And I especially hate people like you, who think they can get away with this. Nobody gets away with anything when I say so.'

Pein took another step forward, his face unreadable and his eyes never leaving hers.

'I commend you on the absurd plan though. I was so smitten with the idea of me in this fictional world; I failed to notice what was going on in reality. But I figured it out, you see? And I will fucking destroy you for what you did.'

She suddenly charged forward only to be pinned to the wall by Pein's lightning reflexes. And even so, she still kept struggling against his grasp, trying to free herself, to harm him.

'You're coming with me back to the office. You are delirious and not in the right state of mind.'

'Let me go, you sick excuse for a fuck!' she growled, and he could feel her hot breath on his skin.

'You will calm down or I will take you by force.' His voice and facial expression were both emotionless, but his eyes were examining her delicate plumb lips which were scrunched up in a dangerous snarl, revealing rather sharp looking teeth and slightly pronounced canines.

He was holding her by the wrists with both hands and her chest was pinned against his, as were her legs against his. He could feel every intake of breath and her erratic heartbeat. She was still pulling and convulsing, and struggling in attempt to free herself. She wasn't like Jessica and Rose. Not by far. While they were furies who cut up in their anger with clean, deep cuts, Fiona was far more chaotic, far more wild. Fiona was not a fury, he realized in that single moment, fascinated by her tenacity, so akin to Yahiko's, that she was a tempest, a real hurricane. Pure, wanton destruction. It did not aim to hurt. It aimed to obliterate, for it could not settle for less.

At that particular moment, Fiona chose to slam her forehead against his, in which he released his hold on her. Instead of running away, which would've been the most obvious choice when he was involved, she defiantly tried to punch him to which he reacted with grabbing her into a hold, her back against his chest.

'I have to other choice.' He stated calmly.

Something pinched her on the neck and the last thing she remembered was how warm him embrace was. Darkness consumed her and she fell limp in his hands.