The smell of burning flesh clings to their clothes even after Kakashi and Snake leave the mass grave that they had opened up for the ROOT agents with a Doton. Transporting the corpses all the way to the sparse forest at the edge of the city had been time consuming work, but these people were Konoha-nin after all.
The mission is complete now, and both Kakashi and Snake are visibly eager at the prospect of going home. They drop by a bar, one that Konan had pointed out as one of the Akatsuki's contact points. The grizzled barkeeper takes their orders - sake for Snake and warm milk for a sulking Kakashi - and shows them their room upstairs. Their orders double as a code which will alert Konan of their presence. They'll make one last contact with the Akatsuki before leaving, just to wrap things up.
Kakashi has been counting down to Kushina's due date, a silly little smile hidden behind his mask when he informs Snake that the big day is in just one week. Hyaku and Rin are all squeals and giggles (or at least Rin is, at any rate) but all Sakumo can think about is how utterly terrifying it had been when Yoriko gave birth. The realisation that birth wasn't an abstract concept - with motherly halos, sparkles, and peacefully sleeping bundles of joy - had hit him hard. The idea of Yoriko pushing a tiny human being out of her had been enough to make him feel faint, much less seeing it happen, albeit behind the sheet draped over her lower body. She had been lovely throughout it all — only threatening her dear husband's life thrice and his manhood once, from what he could decipher from her increasingly panicked mutters.
It had all turned out well though, resulting in one slightly bloody, squalling baby. The motherly halo kicked in after Yoriko had a good nap, but Kakashi was one cranky infant.
He's grinning like a loon, Sakumo realises, turning to hide from Rin's and Hyaku's twin smirks and clearing his throat awkwardly.
After the earthquake-inducing explosion had occurred, the war between Hanzou and the Akatsuki had suddenly cooled. No more low, eerie howls in the distance, no more shinobi scrambling through the street at midnight. If it's an armistice, it's a much needed gasp of peace.
Konan knocks on the door of their room, polite as can be, three days after they had first arrived. Her golden eyes are like shards of ice, the little warmth that had thawed in her these months frozen solid again. Snake ushers her in and Kakashi offers to take her rain-damp cloak, but she hovers by the doorway, paper peeling from the edges of her sleeves. Yahiko greets the Konoha ghosts with a somber smile, looking far older than he should be.
"I take it that you're done here?" Konan asks. She looks battle-worn.
"Yes, ROOT is gone, thanks to your help. We'll be leaving soon." Observing Konan's darkening expression, Snake ventures a question. "Is something wrong?"
Weariness deepens the faint lines under Konan's eyes. "I have been appealing to your Hokage for military aid for weeks. I thought we were allies of Konoha but he has refused us again and again."
The ANBU's eyes widen. "You must understand," Snake says, her tone cajoling, "that it is difficult for the Hokage to mobilise shinobi like this. How would he be able to explain to the people why we are involving ourselves in another war?"
A laugh escapes the blue-haired woman, short and bitter. "As if that has ever stopped Konoha from waging war before! I have been naïve, I admit. I thought having one of Jiraiya-sensei's students as Hokage would make things different, but this is just another proxy war you're fighting on our land, isn't it? It's just as much Danzou versus Namikaze as it is Hanzou versus the Akatsuki. You're using us," she accuses. Just as her work has left its mark in Ame history, the years of violence have also left their mark on her. "Once we help you solve your ROOT problem, you don't even care if we live or die, don't you?" She bares her teeth in a not-smile, as if reveling in the ANBU's speechlessness. "I know that you worked with Murakami."
Sakumo's whips around to Yahiko, who looks pained. "Sorry," the youth sighs. "They're gone. We tracked them down."
The idea that Sugi must have seen both her daughter and her grandson die... Sakumo swallows against the lump in his throat, shaken despite knowing that the risks had always been high.
Kakashi must have deduced the same. Still, he looks at Konan, stone-faced. "We did what was necessary to get rid of ROOT. This operation benefited the Akatsuki just as much as it did us. Is that not enough?"
"Is it?" Konan shoots back. The lines in her cloak are deepening, its edges fraying into loosening sheets of paper. "Konoha is afraid of Ame. Not just of Hanzou, but the Akatsuki as well since Jiraiya-sensei must have spoken of the Rinnegan and its powers. That's why you're playing us against each other, keeping Ame divided and weak. If Konoha had really wanted to help us end the war, you would have been sent to assassinate Hanzou. Yet you kept him alive and did only enough to secure information against Danzou!"
"You know it's not so simple, Konan-san! Hanzou was—" Kakashi protests, frustration marring his brow.
Konan holds up a hand, cutting him off. "I don't care." Her volume had dropped again, her agitation clearing momentarily. "I was foolish to believe that Konoha wouldn't act selfishly just because we happen to call Jiraiya "sensei". Like you said, you have gotten rid of ROOT's operations here. Good. Now get out of Ame and tell your Hokage that any other Konoha-nin that steps foot on our land again will most certainly die."
"If that is what you wish," Snake says carefully.
Kakashi glances at Snake briefly. "We will ask the Hokage again about reinforcements for the Akatsuki—"
"There will be no need for that," Konan interrupts bluntly. "We will figure out a way ourselves." She turns to go, stiff-backed and regal, her cloak snapping around her boots.
Perhaps the signs have always been there — the little fault-lines that they'd thought were inconsequential. It seems that Konan and the Akatsuki had placed much higher hopes on Konoha's interference than Minato had anticipated, and they had expected more than Minato could give. The Konoha Council certainly won't indulge the Akatsuki like Jiraiya does.
"Oh," Konan says, reaching into her pocket to withdraw a slightly crumpled letter. "One last missive for you."
As Snake takes it, Yahiko says goodbye the ghosts, full of apologies for the unfortunate way things have ended. "You all are still welcome to visit Ame, you know?" he assures, putting on an air of cheer. "Ex-Akatsuki leader's prerogative."
"Of course," Rin says, giving his arm a friendly squeeze. Hyaku tries to pinch Yahiko's cheek but he ducks away, growling, and Sakumo gives him a faint smile as he hurries after Konan.
When their attention turns back to the two ANBU crowded around the letter, they find all colour drained from the pair's faces. The coded message is slowly crumpling under Snake's grip.
"What is it?" Rin exclaims, immediately knowing that something has gone terribly wrong. Sakumo and Hyaku are already peering over the ANBU's shoulders, rapidly decoding the letter with sinking hearts.
"They can't be..." Kakashi whispers, anguish straining his voice. His trembling hand hovers over the hastily-formed lines of black ink, his eyes darting rapidly from character to character. "Not like that... Not now..."
Sakumo has just finished reading the letter when Snake stuffs it into her pocket and reaches for Kakashi, pulling his shaking form into her arms and holding him tightly. He stays tense and frozen for a moment before slumping against her, gulping for air like he's drowning.
"What does it say?" Rin's eyes are wide with panic now, her hand clasped tightly around Sakumo's wrist. "Sakumo-san?"
He feels strangely removed from himself when he looks down and meets her anxious stare. "Shock," the shinobi part of his mind supplies automatically.
"I'm sorry, Rin," he murmurs, his voice sounding hollow to his own ears. "Minato and Kushina have passed."
A/N: Ba dum tss~
Jinchuuriki pregnancies are ten months, but I've sped it up a little. Just to warn you guys again, this fic has diverged from the canon timeline and will continue to diverge, although you can also loosely call it an alternative interpretation of canon. You'll see what I mean :) In the following chapters, we'll wrap up with Ame, deal with the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack, then move on to an extended ROOT arc :D
I probably won't be able to post again this week, so happy Lunar New Year to everyone who celebrates it! :)