Chapter 8: The Truth Is

"Better to be true than perfect."

|Sasuke|

"Looking sharp, Toshiaki-kun." Karin complimented me as she patted down my shoulders.

"Arigato." I thanked her as I turned to the mirror and wore the crimson red tie that would make my outfit complete.

Once I was done, I turned to find her holding out a silver snake-design choker. Feeling a bit slow for having not seen it earlier, I quickly took the accessory and nodded for her to turn around, and as I hooked the necklace, I couldn't help but look her over. She had silver earrings and rings to match, both of which complemented the dark red, one-shoulder strap dress she was wearing. The red stilettos she wore added a couple inches that had us almost at the same height.

In terms of makeup, I wouldn't claim to be well-versed in the subject, but even I could recognize some eyeliner paired with a light red eye shadow and dark red lipstick. As she stepped back and turned to face me, I swept my eyes over her complete look once again. I had to admit: Karin was gorgeous, and I told her as much.

"Arigato." She quietly thanked me before handing me the red ring I'd received from Pain, "I'm glad you think so."

I slid it onto my right ring finger, "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because—" Approaching footsteps led her to cut off her thoughts, and she shook her head before placing her arms around my neck and pulling us flush against each other.

"Oi! You two ready?" Deidara barged into the room, "It's time for us to—oh!"

I wasn't so quick to jerk away since I understood that Karin had done this to solidify our stance as a couple, but now that Deidara had seen us, I saw no need for the continued contact. I thought I made that clear when I lifted my hands to her hips, but my actions seemed to have the opposite effect, as she pulled back to look up at my face.

Instead of the cheerful Fujikage Misaki I was supposed to be married to, I found myself staring right into Karin's true self. She seemed to be asking me something, a silent question that I couldn't figure out, much less answer. Thankfully, I didn't have to spend too much time trying to decipher her mute inquiries.

"Ahem." Deidara cleared his throat as Karin's arms fell from me, "Gomen, I see I was interrupting, hm."

I clapped my hands in an effort to change the subject as I turned to him, "We're ready, ne Misaki?"

"Mhm." Karin nodded, shutting her eyes as she forced an almost genuine smile, "Lead the way, Deidara-san."

He laughed quietly as he exited our room, and I made sure the door was locked once everyone was out, "Since you guys don't have your car yet, you're riding with me. A warning: when I first picked you two up, I was being civil so I wouldn't scare you off, hm. Now that we're running late, the pedal's gonna be to the floor."

"As long as you don't kill us." I remarked as Karin slipped her arm through mine.

Without a thought, I interlaced our fingers and squeezed her hand lightly. She wasn't on her A game right now, and although I had no idea why, the least I could do was attempt to distract her from whatever was taking up her thoughts.

We entered the elevator and quickly reached into my left pocket to bring out the wedding rings we had been gifted for this mission. I lifted Karin's hand to slip hers onto her left ring finger and did the same to my own hand before looking at her. She seemed to be a bit unfocused but there was a light smile on her face directed at me, so I returned the gesture only to be confused when her smile waned and she lowered her eyes.

When the elevator dinged, we stepped out onto the first floor and found it filled with other associates, all dressed for the occasion and ready to go. The looks on their faces showed me that they lacked the sense of worry I was feeling. Of course, they weren't worried. They weren't spies who had been tasked with bringing down this organization.

As I followed Deidara through the crowd, I spotted two faces on the far side that I hadn't seen in a long time. I instinctively took a sharp breath before looking away.

"Something wrong?" Karin questioned, and I quickly shook my head.

"No, nothing." I shook my head, not wanting her to see them, "Don't worry about it."

She began to raise her head and for a second I thought she would see them, but she seemed to have considered my words because she returned her attention to the crowded front door.

Deidara looked back at us, "You guys didn't forget anything, did you?"

This time Karin spoke up, "Like Toshiaki-kun said, we're ready to go."

"This is why I love you guys." Deidara grinned, and we left the main house for the parking lot in the back.

As soon as I stepped out, the cold air wasted no time in reminding me of the snow that had fallen, and I turned my gaze to Karin. Without so much as a shawl to cover her arms, I knew the cold would leave her way worse than myself, and so I removed my suit jacket and placed it over her shoulders before continuing to follow Deidara.

"Gomen." Karin mumbled an apology as we walked through the compound, and I relinked our arms.

"Of course, you're my wife." I assured her, also hoping she would get the hint and correct her words.

'Why is she apologizing?'

Glancing at her again out of concern, I wondered what was going on. After a few moments of silence, I felt Karin tug me closer before she leaned her head against my arm. Once we got to the familiar Toyota Camry, I opened the door and ushered her in before climbing in beside her. With a click of our seatbelts, Deidara turned the keys in the ignition, and we were out on the road.

The drive was mostly in silence, what with Deidara focused on going twenty above the speed limit without killing us. I took the chance to try and study the route a little more. We had been here for over ten days and hadn't stepped out once. Now was as good a time as any. Karin too seemed to be focused on something, as she looked out of her window with a hard stare.

All of us were in our own world for roughly forty-five minutes before we arrived.

As Deidara pulled us into a tight spot in a packed parking lot, he announced our location, "Mokuzu Hall in the flesh, hm."

Karin whistled as I exited the car before helping her climb out, "It's so pretty."

I turned to find a familiar massive traditional castle, which was much larger than the center mansion back at the Akatsuki compound. Off to the left I could see a bit of the large lake Zaki that hosted numerous boats during the Summer Festival. It was then that I realized where we were. The name hadn't rung a bell since I'd never been inside or cared much for architecture, but Mokuzu Hall was Northeast of Konoha.

'They've been in our backyard this whole time.' I thought to myself as we entered the castle.

The overhead lights were tinted a shade of red, casting a light glare across the entire floor. As we came further in, I saw that the color scheme for the hall's decorations was a matching red, white, and black. Tables were draped with a black cloth, white candles stood in their center, and red dinner accessories littered the surfaces. For such a devilish color scheme, the hall was quite vibrant, and filled with talkative servers and attendees.

"Not bad for a place put together in a week, right?" Deidara grinned as his phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to check what the notification was.

Karin grabbed my hand, and I turned my head, surprised to find her face pale and ghostly, as if she had seen her worst nightmare.

"What's wrong?" I immediately questioned, placing an arm around her in case she happened to faint.

"I think I just saw Su—"

"Oi, Toshiaki-san!" Deidara called, "The boss wants us to get to our positions; looks like it'll be a while before we can settle down, hm. Misaki-san, you think you can find table seven by yourself?"

"Of course." She nodded to him, her face coming back to life as she slipped back into her role, "I'll see you guys around, ne?"

I stopped her as she began to walk off, looking into her eyes and silently telling her that I didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone. With a slight shake of her head, she planted a light kiss on my cheek before pulling back.

"I'll be fine." She assured me, "After all, I'm your wife."

With that last remark, Karin left us and climbed down the front steps, disappearing into the crowd of people within the hall. I tried to keep my eyes on her for as long as I could, but it became futile as the next wave of guests brushed past me.

"Don't worry too much." Deidara commented, seeing that I was still lingering on her, "Zetsu, Hidan, and Kakuzu are on security; there's no way anything could happen."

Nodding my head, I turned to him, "Right. Let's go."

I followed him outside of the castle and around the back of it. We came to a set of stairs going down and followed it to a faded green door.

"Boss!" Deidara knocked, "Toshiaki-san and I are here for duty."

I couldn't help but remember my early cop days and how I had once uttered those words as a standard patroller. But movement behind the door reminded me that this was no time for reminiscing.

"Come in." Pain's muffled voice called, and Deidara turned the doorknob.

We stepped into what looked like a storage room, what with the large metal file cabinets against the walls as well as the stacks of boxes all around. The only pieces of furniture in the room were a worn-out office desk and a brown swivel chair. Leaning against the office desk was Pain, and in front of him was Konan, helping him to wear his tie.

Pain murmured something to her as she finished helping him, and she nodded her head before dropping her hands and brushing past us. She glanced up at me as she passed, and I was a bit confused at the sadness in her eyes.

I exchanged looks with Deidara and he shook his head, his eyes telling me, "Don't say anything."

Sighing, Pain straightened up off the desk and looked at the two of us, "You two are just arriving?"

"More or less." Deidara answered truthfully, "We didn't miss anything, did we?"

Pain chuckled as he turned to me, "No, no you didn't. Although now that Toshiaki's here, I can begin keeping up appearances."

I nodded as I held my hands behind my back, "I won't disappoint you, Oyabun."

Pain waved his hand, "Of course you won't. I just need you to stand by my side and look scary, which won't be difficult considering your regular face is quite intimidating."

Deidara snickered, and I tried not to take offense at something I had heard many times before.

Pain placed an arm around my shoulder as he tugged us towards the door, "Don't feel bad. Even though you were being nice when we first met, I know you think I'm ugly."

"I don't—"

"Just think of this as payback." Pain winked playfully, "Now, let's begin."

|Sakura|

"Sarada, you've barely touched your plate." I noted as I set down two cans of Coke before taking a seat across from her.

"Yeah." She nodded, "Gomen, I don't mean to waste food, but I don't feel like eating anymore."

She cracked open the can as she got up, and I quickly jumped up beside her.

"T-That's okay," I assured her, "Wanna watch a movie? There's this thing called Stranger Things that everyone's pretty excited over."

"It's a series, not a movie." Sarada corrected me, "And no thanks, I've seen the first episode and it was kind of slow."

My attempts at reconciling with her were being shot down one after another, but I wasn't about to give up now. Ever since that morning when I'd rushed out to get birth control pills, she'd steadily been avoiding or ignoring me all together. Things had been like this for a week, and although it hurt the first couple of times, once I'd been shot down for the eighteenth time in a row, I felt that nothing could stop me.

However, my ways of trying to start a conversation had drastically dwindled, and although I had been avoiding bringing up the cause of this rift, it was evident we would have to talk about it eventually. I grabbed her hand as she began to climb the stairs, and she looked at me, for once her face showing something other than a blank expression.

Annoyance etched on her face, she shook her hand free, "What?"

I stepped back, giving her room, "We need to talk."

"We can talk tomorrow."

"Sarada." As patient as I was trying to be, it seemed she was intent on pushing my buttons.

Sighing, she stepped down and spread her arms, "Well? I'm here, let's talk."

"I want us to sit and talk," I entered the living room and sat on the sofa, patting the empty space beside me, "Come on, we're gonna be up for a while."

She hesitated to enter the room and I knew she had deduced what we were going to be discussing.

"Come on." I encouraged her with the wave of my hand.

Closing her eyes, and possibly resolving herself, she stepped into the room and sat beside me. I placed my arm around her shoulder, brought her close, tucked her head under my chin and held her in a solid embrace for a good moment.

"Um, Mama?" Sarada's head shifted under me.

"Yes?"

"Aren't we gonna talk?"

I straightened up, "Yes, but first I wanted to hug you. We haven't hugged in a while."

She was silent and for a moment I feared I had put her off, but her next words were equally unexpected.

"Could…could we hug again?"

"Of course, my love."

This time, she wrapped both her arms around me, holding me as if I was a piece of paper in the wind and if she let go, I would surely be swept away. I returned the tight hug and felt Sarada's face twitch in a way unique to her, indicating that she was trying not to cry.

"Mama…" Her muffled voice moaned into my shirt, and I rubbed her head softly, patting her back as I did so.

"I'm here, my love. I'm here." I assured her that I was ever-present while wondering what was eating at my daughter.

She had come back covered in hickeys, reeking of alcohol, completely disoriented and with a slight head trauma. What in Kami's name had happened at that party? As she sniffled and calmed down, I knew that if I didn't ask now, the opportunity would never present itself again.

"Sarada," I softly called, "What happened at that party you went to?"

"J-Just party stuff." A slight stutter presenting itself as she came out of her trance.

Not wanting her to brush off the subject, I quickly compromised.

"I'm not mad about the alcohol, although I would prefer it if you didn't drink till you were at least sixteen, but the hickeys? Can I get an explanation for that?"

She sat silent, rubbing her two forefingers together, a nervous tic she had inherited from me no doubt.

"…Sarada?" I tried again unconfidently, hoping she hadn't shut me out.

"Inojin." She blurted out Ino's son's name, "I was with Inojin, and we were both pretty drunk so—"

I held a hand, "Please. Don't lie."

She looked at the floor again and I pursed my lips, waiting for an answer. Her left hand crawled to my right and held it so weakly, I felt a bit of fear as we sat in silence.

"Mama, something…something did happen that night, but before I tell you, you have to promise me you won't do anything, or say anything, or tell anyone."

A thousand thoughts were running through my mind, each one hoping her explanation wasn't my worst fear.

"Mama?"

"I promise." I snapped back to reality, nodding my head, "I promise, so tell me."

She looked at the ground again, taking shaky breaths, "Um, there was a boy at the party who liked me…"

My stomach began to sink.

"He was sixteen, and I'm guessing the party was at his house, since he knew the layout and everything." Sarada continued, "Um, so, I wanted to use the bathroom but the guest one was taken so he told me to use the one in the bedroom."

"Sarada, no." I instinctively commented.

"I know, I know, but I really had to go, and I was drunk, and he seemed nice." Sarada lifted my hand to grasp it firmly, "I-I finished using the bathroom and when I step out, he's asking me if I've ever kissed someone—"

My stomach dropped completely, but I refrained from moving, instead keeping my eyes on her, "Sarada, please don't tell me what I think you're telling me."

"It was my fault." She solemnly admitted, "I sat down on his bed and we started to kiss, and then he gets up to lock his door before we kiss some more. W-When he comes back he's pulling my dress down and he's touching my chest and he's saying that he wants me…"

She shuddered as she took a deep breath, "I told him to stop, I told him that I didn't like it, but he wasn't listening to me…"

I covered my face with my hands as Sarada seemed to have finished sharing, and I forced myself to ask questions in order to confirm my worst nightmare had been realized.

"So he forced himself on you?" I place a hand tenderly on her shoulder, turning her to face me, "Is that how you got the head trauma?"

"N-no." She shook her head, "He didn't…we didn't do anything more than that."

I titled my head to the side, not bothering to hide my confusion, "But you said he wasn't listening?"

"I got him to stop." There was something about the finality of those words that told me Sarada didn't want to go any further into it, and I eased up off the subject.

"Okay." I put my hands up in surrender, "I just want to make sure."

She nodded her head as she leaned against me. Her breath hitched as I rubbed her back in slow circular motions, and we sat in silence again. When I thought that she had been given enough time to rest, I made a move to clear my mind of some things.

"When you first wanted to tell me, that day that I was running out to do something, you were so upset." I reminded her, "Why? Were you still scared?"

"…Kind of." Sarada answered, her voice muffled by my shirt, "I…I've never done anything like that before and it felt so weird…"

"But why did you even sit down with him in the first place?" The question flew out of my mouth before I could think it over.

Thankfully, Sarada seemed open to discussing it.

"Because." She sighed, "He…Mitsuki was treating me like my own person. He heard that I was an Uchiha and didn't even think twice about it. I liked that."

"Sarada…" I shook my head in disagreement, "You can't be ashamed of your family name."

"I know." She quickly answered, "I'm not ashamed of it, I just…I wish people would see me for me."

I nodded slowly at the familiar statement, "I get it, trust me; but that's no excuse to hookup with random boys at parties."

She hummed in agreement, and something dawned on me.

"Is that boy, Mitsuki's his name, right? Is he the first person you've…kissed?"

Sarada glanced at me before looking away, "Why does that matter?"

"Because if he's not, and if you've done this kind of stuff with other guys, I want to make sure you're being safe." I cringed at the next words that came out of my mouth, "Have you ever had sex?"

"Mama!" She groaned and covered her face with a hand.

I grabbed her head and shook it lightly, "Don't 'Mama' me! How am I supposed to know if I don't ask?"

"…No." Sarada finally answered, her ears red in embarrassment, "I haven't."

"Have you come close?" I continued the invasive line of questioning.

"Seriously?!"

"Listen to me." I pried her hand from her face and held her in a playful chokehold, "You kids nowadays do anything without knowing whether there could be consequences, so I can't just assume. Alright, I think it's time for the talk."

Sarada clicked her tongue, "Oh Kami."

"When a man and a woman have sexual intercourse after puberty," I continued, ignoring her comment, "It can result in a pregnancy if the mature sperm is ejaculated into the vagina, as it will try and find an egg to fertilize."

"Just kill me." She mumbled while nodding.

"I don't have to tell you that you shouldn't be having sex. Not at your age and especially not unprotected." I crossed my arms, "However, seeing that you have no trouble blatantly disregarding my orders, I'd rather you take the appropriate steps to take care of yourself, rather than come home one day and tell me I'm gonna be a grandma."

At this, Sarada couldn't help but smile, and I joined her.

"Seriously, I will drop dead if you do. That being said, I also don't want you engaging in any kind of sexual activity." I returned to lecture mode, "This includes but isn't limited to groping, grinding, humping, fingering, hand jobs, blowjobs, oral, anal…the whole nine yards, I want you to stay away from it."

"So kissing's allowed?" She raised an eyebrow teasingly.

I flicked her forehead, "Sure, you can kiss whoever you want. But I would advise you not to go into a kissing frenzy because saliva contains a lot of bacteria and the last thing you want is a disease because you couldn't keep track of who your mouth was on."

Sarada waved a hand, "Yeah, like that'll ever happen. But, um, I have some questions about how you're supposed to feel when doing that stuff."

"Ask away!" I put my arm around her shoulder and encouraged her to speak.

|Sasuke|

'Corruption truly is everywhere.' I thought to myself as the head of the National Police Agency (NPA) Commissioner General Watanabe Junya shook Pain's hand.

In the 60s, the Yakuza had the country cowering under their beds. In the 80s, Pablo Escobar had all of Colombia to make his shipments. In the 90s, Bill Clinton was getting friendly with Monica Lewinsky. But none of that could compare to what I've witnessed tonight.

To start, the attendees alone make this a scandal of unimaginable proportions. Aside from the leader of our nation's police being in attendance, the actress that I had seen on the magazine Sakura had read at Ino's place was here: Fujikaze Yukie. I watched as she approached Pain and Watanabe and eased herself into their conversation.

Speaking of conversations, there wasn't much to report in the couple hours that I had been beside Pain. He must have made it a habit not to talk business at a function because all I heard while near him were pleasantries and commonalities being exchanged. The only chance he might've had to talk about more serious matters would have been the one-hour break that he gave me to spend with Karin, but I returned within fifteen minutes once I saw she wasn't at the table.

"If you'll excuse me." Pain's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I uncrossed my arms as we moved again, "What the hell is she doing?"

He said this in a low voice so only my ears could catch it, and I followed his gaze to see who he was referring to. Immediately, my eyes picked out Konan from the crowd ahead, laughing and touching the arm of a younger man. I saw nothing wrong with the exchange, and I considered it Konan playing her part as a host, but Pain's quickening steps led me to believe this couldn't be the case.

Finishing the glass of light green wine in his hand, he approached the two and as Konan noticed us, her eyes flashed an emotion I knew all too well: fear. The young man quickly bowed in respect to Pain, not catching Konan's change in face.

"Hello, sir!" The young man beamed as he straightened up, "It is an honor to be here."

"Tomaru, was it?" Pain's voice didn't reveal the anger he had just voiced to me, "I'm glad you could make it. I'll need to borrow Konan for a moment but come find me afterwards and we can discuss advancing your acting career."

Tomaru's eyes shined at the suggestion, "Of course! Thank you, sir!"

With another half-smile, Pain grabbed Konan's arm and tugged her along. As we left the main floor for the less congested hallways, I could tell that Pain was aiming for a bathroom, and once we were within two feet of one of the men's bathroom, Pain ordered Konan to stay put while he went inside. After a few seconds, he opened the door and told us to come in.

As I moved forward, I stopped and saw Konan hadn't moved, her eyes glimmering with tears, but one look at Pain's face told me that he was even less than impressed.

He took a threatening step, "Don't make me drag you."

She shook her head, "Not with him."

"Konan—"

"Not in front of him, please." Her voice broke as she shut her eyes, "Please."

With a sigh, Pain turned to me, "Toshiaki, don't let anybody in. This shouldn't take too long."

Wondering what 'this' was, I nodded my head and assumed a guard's stance in front of the door once Konan had stepped in. I was tempted to press my ear against the door and listen, but the thought was quickly dashed away as a man approached me. With a scowl and a wave of my hand, he quickly turned around.

After this, I tried to make sense of Pain and Konan's relationship. Although not married, it was clear they were romantically involved and made no attempt to hide it. But Pain's face when he had seen Konan talking to Tomaru reflected jealousy. It didn't make sense, especially when I considered how focused Konan had been at the Gedō meeting, wanting us to do our best for Pain's sake.

There was a gap missing in this picture, and once I filled it, I would come to understand their dynamic. Before I could continue to ponder the two, the bathroom door opened behind me, and I swiftly moved out of the way before turning to look at them.

Konan's eyes were red and puffy, an obvious indicator that she had been crying, while Pain's face remained virtually unchanged, except for the fact that his face had maybe softened a bit from its previous degree of anger.

"I trust there were no problems out here?" Pain questioned as the bathroom door shut behind him.

I nodded, "Of course."

"Good, good. We should be getting back to—"

The static of a radio interrupted him and Deidara's voice crackled to life from his left side, "Boss? Zetsu found someone…familiar. We're by the docks."

Pain removed the handheld from his side and pressed in a red button on the side, "I've heard, Toshiaki and I are on the way."

Returning his handheld to its previous position, he looked at Konan, "Keep yourself out of trouble. And fix your face, I don't want any murmurings about you."

Not giving Konan a chance to response, he turned to me, "Let's go."

We made for the docks as speedily as we could, but the numerous guests inside and outside of the castle were intent on stopping Pain for a quick chat. His polite attempts to tell them that he was currently busy were being ignored, so I took the liberty of using my face as a weapon and scowling us out of their conversations. Pain slapped me on the back as thanks and I couldn't help but smile.

When we arrived, I saw Hidan on the far side, waving us over to a run-down fisherman's shed. Pain entered before me and I shut the door as I followed him, only to be met with the sight of a tied-up, beaten, dark grey-haired man.

"What are you doing here?" Pain questioned, his violet eyes narrowing as he stared at the man.

His left eye had been punched shut and his left cheek was swelling up, consistent with the effects of a punch.

"I…I'm just—"

"Spying." Zetsu answered from behind me, having slipped into the shed undetected.

My gaze dropped to his side, and I spotted an all-black M1911 in his right hand. He moved forward to grab Jūzō's suit coat and pull it to the side, revealing a wire taped to his shirt.

"Now this is interesting." Pain laughed eerily, "I allowed you to live after your horrendous mix-up two years ago with the condition that you never show your face to us again, and when you decide to break that rule, you do so in order to rat us out."

"Boss, I—"

"Didn't want to. Or maybe the police forced you." Pain took the gun from Zetsu before reaching into his pocket for something, "You're bound to tell me either of those and neither will be true."

Pain brought out a dark grey silencer and attached it to the pistol, removing the safety and cocking the gun. Jūzō was practically melting in place as Pain returned to his original standing spot. I shut my eyes and waited for the silent pew of the gun before I felt someone's arm prodding my own. I looked to see Pain was holding out the gun for me to grab.

"Oyabun?" I questioned, looking at him and the pistol in disbelief.

"This is your kill." Pain ordered, "He was also the former holder of your ring, so think of this as a succession process."

I took the pistol from his hands before staring at Jūzō, whose eyes were pleading for mercy. What could I do? There was no other option.

"Please Oyabun, please." Jūzō begged, "I swear, I'll never—"

"Shut up." Pain cut him off coldly, nodding to me, "Do it."

This wouldn't be the first time I had shot and killed someone, although prior instances were more easily justifiable what with those people being gun-wielding criminals who had fired upon me first. But killing this man was akin to killing myself; he had attempt to get some information on the Akatsuki, just as Karin and I were doing.

'You don't have a choice.' I told myself as I lifted the gun to his forehead, "You shouldn't have come back. And if you were going to betray us, you shouldn't have gotten caught."

I pulled the trigger and watched with a bit of sickness as his body fell back. His head made an unnatural sound as it hit the floor, and as the blood trailed out of the exit wound, I lowered my hand and switched the gun's safety back on.

"I'll take that." Zetsu reached out for the gun with a light orange cloth, and I dropped it into his hand.

"You did good, Toshiaki." Pain wrapped his arm around my shoulder and turned me towards the door, "You three have this covered, right?"

He looked back at the three of them and Deidara nodded his head, "Leave it to us, Boss."

Zetsu groaned, "Ah…and I was just about ready to knock out at a table."

"Suck it up!" Deidara snapped before he began barking out orders, "Alright Hidan, help me get his clothes off. And you, Kakuzu! Stop smoking for Kami's sake!"

Pain and I left them to the cleanup and began walking back to the castle.

"So, how did the kill feel?" Pain inquired.

I took a moment to respond, "I took a life. That should make me sick to my stomach, but I don't feel anything. I'm not excited, I'm not sad, I'm just…here."

He nodded, in understanding, "That makes two of us. I was worried you would be like Hidan; he loves violence, and the more gut-wrenching it is, the better."

"But the reason I asked you to kill him was for, call it security purposes." He continued, looking up at the night sky, "I don't know where you or your wife came from, and while the two of you seem nice enough, until now we had nothing on you."

I stopped in my tracks as I processed what he was saying, and he stopped to look back at me.

"You're clearly skillful, with an observant mind, and I'm sure you can remember what you see and hear. While that is an asset to any group, that can also be a threat." Pain's violet eyes were trained on mine, that edge that I had glimpsed in his office during our first meeting making itself known again.

"I can't have people under me that I can't control. Had you turned rogue on us, there would've been no material to blackmail you with. Now, thanks to your help, there's an incentive to get you to behave." He smiled uncannily.

"You…set me up." I found myself chuckling instinctively, realizing I had been played, "Because you didn't trust me."

He shook his head, "I did trust you, just not completely. You understand, don't you, my dear Toshiaki? You don't really think I got to this position with blind faith? I need to keep my subordinates in line. If anything, this helps me trust you even more."

I sighed, "I understand, although I'm a little hurt. I figured this was your way of getting me to prove myself."

Pain walked over to me and clasped his hands on my shoulders, a small smile forming on his lips, "If it's any consolation, you did prove yourself. I half-expected you to turn me down and say you couldn't do it."

I raised an eyebrow, "That is not a consolation. You really think that little of me?"

He laughed as he placed an arm around my shoulders and restarted our walk, "Listen, that was the old truth."

"So what's the new truth?" I questioned, matching his pace.

Pain turned and looked at me with a twinkle in his eye, "The new truth is, we're going to do great things."