Chapter Twenty-Eight - Allegiance
Aiko groaned as she regained consciousness, scrunching her eyes together as she debated knocking her head against the wall to spare her the pain of chakra exhaustion. If there was a wall around here that was. She wasn't quite sure whether the risk of blinding herself with daylight would be worth it quite yet.
"Stop being a baby."
"Shut up."
Kisame smirked at the biting retort from the sixteen year old, picking up the glass of water he had placed at her bedside to throw its contents over the girl's face.
"Mother-" Aiko snarled, wincing at her body snapped up and the light assaulted her eyes, cutting off her words with a long hiss. "You're such a bastard."
Kisame bared his teeth at her as she punched him where he had wrapped bandages around his shoulder and torso.
"You trying to finish me off? Geez kid, I thought you were above offing someone by opening fresh wounds."
"I'm a shinobi. I'm above nothing," she muttered, flicking her eyes up to watch him unwrap the bandages to reveal an ugly wound at his shoulder, that which had seemingly been sutured shut from pure lightning, tendrils of white forks marking the skin around it. "Samehada would have drained me of chakra before the lightning reached your heart."
"The speed of light isn't something to contend with," Kisame admitted, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking the first aid kit from the draw, "but I had options… Samehada sure as hell liked that lightning. No doubt he would have redirected it towards my arm to have it as a meal."
"I see…"
Kisame snapped his teeth at the medical tape as he tried to secure padding to his wound, scowling as he juggled everything in his grasp. An action which caused Aiko to scoff, taking the supplies to patch him up herself.
"So… Tobi really did give you that sword, huh?" Kisame inquired as he watched her work. "Or should I say… Madara did."
"How long have you known?" she murmured, focussing on the rhythmic motions of wrapping bandages around his shoulder and torso.
"I've worked for Madara a long time, but I only found out yesterday that he was Tobi… of all the people," the shark muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
He had married Aiko - Kisame didn't know whether to be impressed at his dedication or sorry for the pseudo-idiot.
"Right… he sent you to train me," she remembered, finishing off her bandaging with a tight knot and sitting back on the bed to hug her knees. "What do you get out of this, Kisame-senpai? Why do you serve Madara?"
"I want to see this world without lies that he's promised."
"Doesn't seem like you… wanting to see a world of peace, or truth as you put it," she sighed, causing the shark to lift an eyebrow at her.
"I'm curious, not some fanatic. I'll believe it when I see it," he scoffed, before nodding his head towards her. "Go on then, why do you serve Madara, kid?"
"I just want to keep everyone that I love, that's left, alive," she whispered into her knees, trying to ignore the watering of her eyes.
Kisame pinned his yellowed eyes on the girl, studying her for a moment before turning away.
"Yeah, well. You got a weird way of showing it," Kisame muttered.
"Maybe I just had to reassure myself… that you wouldn't die on me too," she stated, picking up her chin to look at his back. "You wouldn't, right?"
Kisame stalled in his path to the door.
"What did I tell you in the beginning? When you became my student?"
"You told me to be wary of you," she recalled hesitantly, frowning at his back. "That one day, you might be forced to kill me."
"I tell everyone that - people far stronger than you. When that day came, I was the one left standing," he declared, missing her soft smile as he continued to the door, only to stop once more as he gripped the doorway. "Deidara… he was a good kid."
Silence descended.
"Itachi?"
Kisame only gripped the doorway tighter, waiting for her tears to flow as she realised Itachi's fate, but it never came. Looking over his shoulder, all he saw was a broken shinobi for whom death had become a part of everyday life. Just like breathing.
XxX
Konan and Nagato's orange-haired Path walked side-by-side through their headquarters located in Amegakure, a content silence hanging between them, one that could only be achieved through years of companionship. While Konan had understood her friend's decision to kill their former teacher, she could not help but wish that things had been different. But the reality was that Jiraiya-sensei knew too much and his allegiance would forever be to Konohagakure. Just like the Amegakure-born shinobi's allegiances would forever be to each other. With their old Sensei's death, Nagato had protected that, along with his dreams of peace.
However, the infiltration of a Konohagakure shinobi so close to home made Konan feel uneasy, especially when she thought of the toad that had escaped with what was likely valuable intelligence. Konan had not seen her daughter since she had headed off to train with Haku, the two of them wandering off into the rain, poking fun at each other all the while. Yet Haku had returned alone, prostrating himself before her as he apologised for not being able to protect his friend. It wasn't his fault. It was Uchiha Madara's, and if that man thought he could harbour her daughter for a second longer, then he was deadly mistaken.
"If Madara wishes for us to capture the Nine Tails, then he will return Aiko to Amegakure," she stated, prompting the orange-haired man to focus his Rinnegan eyes on her.
"Is it wise to make such demands?" Nagato questioned. "If she is brought back to Amegakure she will wish to join us in our hunt. Madara has assured me that she is working to become stronger. Surely such a pursuit is preferable to putting her in the line of fire?"
Konan's mouth transformed into a thin line. While Nagato spoke the truth, the Amegakure kunoichi saw nothing 'preferable' about letting Madara go anywhere near Aiko.
"She is a child, and she is vulnerable."
"She's growing up, and beginning to understand true pain."
"She shouldn't have to!" Konan snapped. "I joined you in your endeavours so that Aiko wouldn't have to know the pain that we did. Deidara was her Yahiko, Nagato, and I'm scared to think what she's become with only Madara by her side."
"Very well," Nagato murmured. "I will ask Madara for her to be brought to us to seal the remaining Tailed Beasts. There is no need for her to be a part of this War."
Konan nodded her head to show her gratitude, holding her head high with the confidence that Nagato would always look out for Aiko as if she were his own. However, as the paper-wielder approached the meeting place that had been set with Madara, her gaze fixated on the man in the orange mask with Aiko stood by his side, an icy look in her grey eyes.
Gone was her teasing grin and the devilish glint, leaving behind a girl no longer reminiscent of her smiling father, but what Konan could imagine Yahiko would have become if he had lived long enough for the world to harden him just as it did to herself. A sight which felt like a kunai to her heart. Even her Akatsuki cloak, which was usually folded around her waist at the arms to form a half-skirt was now worn as it had been intended, shattering Konan's illusions that she had always been a half-member, like an apprentice or a Genin equivalent. Now she was Akatsuki, fully-fledged.
"Pain, Konan," Madara greeted, gesturing to the three seats before him. "Shall we?"
Konan slipped into her seat, grey eyes never leaving Madara as he took his own, his body leaning forward to rest an arm on his knee. Meanwhile, Aiko repositioned herself to stand at Madara's left hand side, Konan almost waiting for some playful retort about them sitting down to a tea party. One that never came. She was like the perfect little minion, something which made Konan want to turn Madara into confetti right there and then.
"What kept you?"
"I had an unexpected guest," Nagato admitted, oblivious to the hostility Konan was feeling towards the man before them.
"Someone managed to delay the invincible Pain?" Madara responded with a mocking tone. "The Legendary Sannin Jiraiya certainly lives up to his reputation, eh?"
"At any rate, he's dead." Konan looked towards Aiko, seeing no flicker of reaction from the girl, her face a perfect shinobi mask. "I can start hunting the Nine Tails whenever I want."
Madara picked himself up from his seat, stepping away from it to turn his back to Pain.
"Konohagakure will be looking for you now," Madara warned them. "The longer your wait, the more time they have to plan. Get moving before things get problematic."
"Pain is unbeatable," Konan declared, adding a mental 'even against you'. "He will obtain the Nine Tails, no matter what."
"Only two more Tailed Beasts," Madara mused, turning to look at the kunoichi. "Sasuke is taking care of the Eight Tails."
Konan remained impassive as a flicker of emotion broke through Aiko's mask, her jaw hardening whilst her mouth thinned into a disapproving line.
"Can he handle that?"
"Sasuke will succeed. I guarantee it."
"Clearly, Aiko does not agree," Konan pressed.
Madara looked towards his young subordinate, before looking back to the elder kunoichi.
"We have an understanding. Right now Sasuke is working for us under the illusion that we could offer the power of the Tailed Beast to aid in his goal to destroy Konohagakure, but we all know the Beast is better served towards our goal of peace."
"Uchiha Sasuke will never sacrifice his revenge for peace, and when he seeks out Akatsuki, I will not hesitate to strike him down where he stands," Aiko cut in, voice hollow.
"Are you willing to sacrifice your own revenge for peace, Aiko?" Konan inquired of her with a stern expression.
"You're questioning me?" she growled, her killing intent rising exponentially. "My actions have always been to serve Pain's goals! Don't confuse me with that scum! I'll kill Sasuke because he is a threat to those goals, and nothing else."
"Not because of Deidara?" Konan countered.
Aiko's killing intent spiked to a level that would have caused a Jonin to falter, only to dim as Madara placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Aiko lives to serve Akatsuki's goals, Konan. As her mother, I thought you would have understood that."
On the inside, Konan felt just as enraged as her daughter had been mere moments ago. Her killing intent would have caused even the most powerful S-ranked shinobi of this world, that which were quite coincidentally in this room, to falter. The difference was that she was a grown ass woman, and she would not resort to displaying the temper tantrum her child had just displayed, just to give Madara the satisfaction that he evidently craved.
"You are correct. My apologies, Aiko," Konan murmured softly, causing the teenagers shoulders to drop and gaze to shift elsewhere.
"Good, then I'm sure you'll have no qualms to her assistance in obtaining the Nine Tails."
Konan was going to kill him.
"Konan," Nagato interrupted, shifting himself to stand up from his seat just as she did, his five other Paths emerging from the curtain behind him. "Get ready to move out. Our destination is Konohagakure."
Konan merely nodded, wondering if Nagato was aware he had just saved the life of Uchiha Madara.
XxX
"Aiko, do not stray too far, we're in enemy territory now," Pain reminded the girl as she began to wonder ahead as they approached the outskirts of Konohagakure.
"I'm aware," she muttered, turning back to grant him what Konan called her 'I-know-everything' look.
As her head shifted back, two figures darted out from the expansive forest around them, their hitai-ates and flak jackets indicating them as Konohagakure shinobi of Chunin level or above. Pain charged forward with his Asura and Human Paths, leaving Konan and the remaining Paths to deal with the other two attempting to sneak up on them from behind. He stalled as Aiko crafted her Kirie in the speed it took to lift her hand, a blade of pure lightning erupting from the paper hilt. As the two opponents charged in, she slammed her other palm to the sword's hilt and caused a semi-circle of lightning to erupt from it, sending her opponents flying back and leaving them twitching on the ground.
Aiko stared at them for a moment before looking up to meet his Rinnegan eyes.
"What?"
"That is quite an impressive sword. You have come far," he rewarded her in his usual monotone.
"Oh," she said dismissively, turning her head to hide slightly pink cheeks to murmur, "that was nothing."
"I see," he relented, a smile forming on the lips of a proud oji-san hidden away in a cave not too far from their location, "such as this is, compared to the pain the world will suffer."
Aiko nodded, all eight shinobi looking forward, acknowledging their arrival at their destination of Konohagakure.