…..

Chapter 18: Candle Smoke

…..

Obito woke up with an axe-splitting headache. He gasped for air. His eyes opened. He blinked. He found himself looking at a canopy of branches and leaves.

The pain throbbed behind his eyes. It took a moment of recollection before all the blood drained from his face. Memories flooded back to him. They had long left Sunagakure. They were walking in the forest when it happened. He felt faint. Panic choked him as he dared himself to look over.

There she was. The Fallen Angel. Konan was crumpled on the forest floor, thrown like a cloth doll. Blood trickled from her nose and mouth.

He forced his body to move, despite the sluggishness from the hostile mental takeover. His eyes stung. A familiar reflex lacerated through him. His breathing grew short as his eyes spun, spun into something new and even more sinister than before. His world tilted on its axis.

Not again. Not again. Please, please not again.

He forced his eyes to focus on Konan's body. Focus. He nearly collapsed with relief as his eyes registered her levels. She was alive, but barely. Her chakra network flickered faintly. Madara had done a vicious number on her, but it had worked. He had stopped him just in time before it was too late.

She was alive, but he wasn't sure how long they had both been unconscious. A wrathful, unfettered rage bled into him. He was red. Madara had tried to take her from him.

He couldn't dwell on it, he had to move and find help now or else it was Rin all over again. He gathered himself and moved to pick her up.

Just the night before she was in his arms, beautiful and supple, and now she was a broken bird, wan, and tangled in her Akatsuki robes.

Not again.

Kakashi and Rin entered his mind, stark against the bleakness, their young eyes shining with determination. "Save her Obito!" Rin yelled.

In the past, he would have buried them deep within him. But not right now. Not after what Madara Uchiha did to her, what he did.He was sick.

He was too far from Ame. He needed somewhere closer. He turned back towards the direction of the desert. Lady Chiyo was a medical-nin and seemed to have mutual respect for the young kunoichi. The deal had gone well, they likely will be able to help her.

So he focused on his chakra. He yelled out in grief and pain as his eyes spun a portal open. No matter, he would heal later. He needed to do this for Konan, he owed her. He readjusted his mask over his face and leaped through the dark, back to Suna.

…..

Lady Chiyo was primarily a poisons expert, but her medical-nin status and state of her Village meant she was a force behind their Shinobi health department.

Obito hovered, refusing any offers to wait in the other room, unable to tear his eyes away from Konan's limp form.

It had been some hours past, Lady Chiyo patiently working on her, her hands hovering between Konan's head and heart. "Her chakra network has been disrupted." Lady Chiyo had barked to her assistants.

She had taken Konan no questions asked, though one wouldn't say she was pleased to see them so soon. He was grateful she didn't question it for once in his pathetic life.

At some point, both her assistants left the room-she insisted she was fine by herself. Obito stayed put, refusing to waver as the assistants emphasized their "offer" to leave their master alone with her patient.

It had been some moments of silence until Lady Chiyo said, without breaking her concentration, "She's been stabilized."

He felt his expanded chest release the pressure, he didn't know he had been holding his breath for so long. His exhale was barely audible behind his hardened mask, though a master healer like Lady Chiyo of the Sand did not let such observations escape her.

At last, the old woman pulled her hands away. She checked Konan's vitals, murmuring to herself and nodding, and then stood up straight, regarding Obito. "I've unblocked her chakra paths, but she remains very weak. I'll be back with some medicine I've developed to help rid the lingering traces of the genjutsu."

Obito kept rooted in his spot, watching as the small woman exited the room. He waited until her chakra signature faded down the hall, before approaching a ghostly-looking Konan.

He looked down, his heart squeezing. Seeing her so vulnerable-his eyes shifted red, scrutinizing her state. He winced, his eyes still spent from the whole ordeal. Lady Chiyo was right. Her chakra had nearly been depleted from fighting Madara's genjutsu, but she was still alive.

Absentmindedly he traced her pale lips before trailing his hand gently up her cheek and into her hair. They had cleaned her up, and it was strange to see the paper rose absent from her lavender hair, her face scrubbed clean of makeup. The necklace he gifted her glinted from underneath the hospital gown. His other hand closed into a tight fist, pushing back at the amount of deep indignation that he was the reason she was even like this.

"You're in love with her."

His hands snapped away, he looked up to see Lady Chiyo had returned with a bag, glass of water in hand, and twinkling dark eyes. He politely stepped back, jilted that the nosy hag had dared to accuse him of something like that. He wanted to deny her but his tongue couldn't procure the words "No I'm not".

She approached Konan, setting the water on the table and dumping in content from a vial. "You were right to bring her to me." She said with a smile. "That attack was lethal. Luckily she is an incredibly strong kunoichi, and she has someone like you to protect her."

Except it was me that harmed her. He wanted to lash out bitterly.

"I have an inkling of who you are, but it's not my business to go there." She looked directly into the oculus of the mask, no doubt picking up on the Sharingan. "I found very curious chakra traces in her network. In all my years as a shinobi, I've become familiar with the effects of having something sinister sealed up inside of you."

"You don't think I did it on purpose?" He challenged her, breaking his silence.

She snorted. "You've been standing here, sweating bullets for hours. It's clear to me she's very important to you."

"The curse was created by someone else, someone wielding a very rare form of genjutsu." He confirmed.

She nodded in understanding and did not press further. Instead, she said, "Help me sit her up will you?"

He bent over, gently sliding his arms around her as if she was a fragile piece of origami she folded. Her face scrunched in pain, but with a slight consciousness, she was able to sit with his help. Lady Chiro then brought the mixture to her lips to drink.

Slowly but surely, with the help of Lady Chiyo's steady hand, Konan drank the medicine. Her pinched expression relaxed, and her head went slack. Obito laid her back down on her pillows.

"We'll watch her closely, but all we can do now is wait. She'll need rest to restore her chakra." Lady Chiyo declared. She took a long look at him as if a concerned grandmother. "I can tell by your posture you're tired. Go get some something to eat and rest up Loverboy, she'll need you healthy and strong when she wakes."

…..

Obito woke to a knock at the door.

He had been so exhausted he passed out as soon as he hit the chair next to Konan's bed. He didn't even have the chance to eat something. He was impressed and annoyed it took extreme exhaustion to make him knock out. At least the pain in his eyes subsided. He rubbed his face and watched a note slide under the door. His body protesting with stiffness, he got off the chair and retrieved it.

You are being summoned to Lady Chiyo's office this morning.

He let out a disgruntled noise. He knew what was coming next. As expected a Sand shinobi in healers clothes knocked at the door moments later.

"Good morning Tobi-san." He bowed politely. "Lady Chiyo would like to see you in her office if you could follow me."

He followed the man through the adobe halls. Everything in Suna was the opposite of Ame, soft, round and warm. Natural. Sunny. It reminded him of summers in Konoha. Though, swapping out earth tones and dry sands for verdant greens and lush forests.

He entered a greenhouse rotunda, somewhere in the shinobi healer department, leaving him and Lady Chiyo who sat at a large desk in the middle of the room. She looked up, pleased to see him. "Tobi-san. Good morning. I would say you look well rested but I can't see your face now can I?"

He shrugged at that. Her face crinkled in a smile. "Konan's conditions have improved."

He remained silent, processing the information. Relief. "What would you want in return?"

"Akatsuki lives up to its reputation for shrewd business but I can see right through you." She hummed.

He debated eliminating her.

"I'm too old to be in the business of blackmailing someone with a curse." She said as if reading his mind. "She made a good impression on me, a very respectable young kunoichi, so of course, I'd help, and discreetly at that."

"What do you want?"

She smiled thinly. "In exchange for my work I want you to pull out of your deal with my Village."

His eyebrows raised.

"My brother and I are dismayed by Sunagakure relying more and more on outside sources. It weakens our Village. It makes our ninja lazy. We believe your involvement will result in dire consequences."

Well yes, that was true from their perspective. "And the Kazekage? What will he think?"

"He will think the Leaf got to your first. Or the Stone. Doesn't matter what the excuse is." She waved her hand. "He will have to turn inwards and rally his people, that's what he has to do." She sighed. "Have we a deal?"

"Consider it done."

…..

Konan opened her eyes to a white hospital room. By the nature of everything looking round, clinical and barren, she knew she was back in Suna.

Thankfully she was alone when she regained consciousness. The absence of anyone else allowed her to silently grieve. Tears flowed down her face without shame. She thought she died. Yet here she was, and she had no idea how it happened. All she remembered was her body being shredded, and her mind torn apart. Her body was sore even though she didn't even put up a physical fight.

She didn't know what to do now that she survived. Was Obito here? Likely not. Perhaps he returned to Ame. Now that she's seen his monster up close, she didn't even know how to deal with him going forward.

They were never meant to be just two shinobi, Leaf and Rain, sent on a mission together by their Kages in a peace-keeping world. They would never be able to share long glances between them in the open, or trade jokes with their comrades. A world where she yearned for Madara's death and the Eye of the Moon was chalked up to nothing but a lost legend. She chilled at the thought, she likely would not be in Obito's dream world. Not after what she saw under his genjutsu.

She and him, they who were, are the same no longer.

After most of her tears dried, a small elderly woman entered the room with a medic-nin trailing behind her. Her eyes widened slightly. It was Lady Chiyo, one of the Honored Siblings.

The old woman smiled. "She awakens. Do you know your name?"

"Konan."

"And where you are?"

"Sunagakure."

"Who were you traveling with?"

She swallowed. Her throat felt dry. "Tobi-san."

"Good. How are you feeling?"

Konan remained a little frozen. She didn't like that she was not getting treated in her home territory. Even if they just allied the Sand Village.

Chiyo seemed to sense her trepidation. "Relax, Konan-san. You are safe here."

She hesitated, then "Sore, a little numb. Lightheaded."

The assistant furiously wrote on a clipboard. Chiyo hummed, her hands hovering over Konan's form. They alit green and she felt their familiar cooling sensation flood her body with relief. It's been a long time since she's been healed by anyone but herself.

"You are in amazing shape despite the attack." She said. "You just need to rest, and take care of your emotional state."

"You know what happened?" She breathed.

Chiyo smiled gently, patting Konan's hand. "I've gathered most details. Genjutsu attack. Your ninja is alright, I made him leave and go eat something right now."

Konan gaped. "He's here?"

"Very much so." She side-eyed the assistant who nodded and bowed out of the room, leaving just the two of them. "He's been very worried about you. It took me a lot of convincing to get him away from your bedside. Should I let him know you're up?"

She shook her head. "No, I think I'd like to rest a bit longer before the journey back."

Lady Chiyo's eyebrows knitted together. "Of course."

"What do we owe you?" She asked. "For your care. I'm greatly indebted to you."

Chiyo shook her head. "He's taken care of everything already."

She left Konan with a tray of food and a troubled consciousness. Based on the information the Sand woman gave her, Konan knew the decision she had to make.

Her resolve hardened. It was time to be in control of her life again.

….

Six Weeks Later

Konan poured sake into Pein's glass. His Rinnegan sharpened as he studied her permanently doleful expression.

"Don't let the failure of Sunagakure eat you alive." He rumbled. "You haven't been yourself since the mission."

She sighed. If he only knew. "I just…I don't like being weak."

He pressed his lips together, watching as she knocked back her sake. It was smooth and comforting as it slid down her throat.

"Even gods and angels can be slain. But it will take a lot more than most have to do it."

Her mouth quirked.

"Konoha nin are known to be excelled at genjutsu. You survived the Leaf ambush because we are known for self-preservation. That's all that matters. " He continued wisely. He sipped his sake daintily as if he was not a terrifying force in the shinobi world.

"Tobi-sama would like to meet with you."

She poured another sake, glaring at him scornfully. "He's back?"

"Yes, and rather insistent to speak with you."

Oh, now he wants to give a shit.

"He wants to go on another lovely little mission with me?" Her lip curled in sourness. She poured another sake.

"No." Pein didn't have a great range of facial expressions but she could sense his exasperation. "He's been very adamant about keeping you here."

"Then you are happy about that too." She pointed out.

He sighed. "I understand the mission fell through, but you can't ignore him forever."

She looked at her Friend-Turned-Path squarely. "Promise me you will never send me off with him again."

"You know I can't do that, but I'll do my best to dissuade him. In the meantime, he is still our leader, though you might not have agreed to his tactics, we all have to get on with it. You have to move on." Despite the harsh words, his voice went soft towards the end.

Her last few weeks have been torturous. Nightmares. Strange dreams of some alternate universe with him. Lingering visions of a boy with a dead girl. The phantom pain of a shower of senbon and splitting headaches. His mouth on hers-

No.

She was not allowed those thoughts. For all she cared, Obito was dead to her. He didn't love her. He didn't care about her. As if he could do any of those things. Someone who would let that happen to her-cursed or not-was, not a person she should be with. It was foolish. All so foolish.

She was barely able to look at him afterward. She let him craft some ridiculous story of a Leaf ambush to cover up what happened. The Sand's elders kept quiet about the incident. She had a feeling the Honored Siblings did their part in mind-erasing the witnesses at the hospital. The Kazekage accepted the deal being called off, now that the "Leaf caught on".

He saved her because of Nagato. That is what made sense to Konan. Why would he care if Madara finished her off? Because if he did, Nagato would go ballistic. The Akatsuki would be upended over her demise. She was relieved to remain precious to one person who mattered, her best friend, her brother, Nagato Uzumaki.

"You are troubled." Nagato broke her train of thought.

She blinked. "I've always been troubled."

He remained silent, he couldn't argue with that. They both have been, for many reasons, for a long time.

She let the sake numb her over.

…..

Konan sighed into her paperwork. She had an issue on her hands, a disruption in the genin ranks. Two of their comrades died in the chunin exams, and now they all wanted to drop in the middle of testing.

"Please call together the board and draft a detailed investigation into the handling of the exams. Have them decide whether we redraft new chunin-level challenges or proceed with caution. We don't want to shake the faith of our future shinobi." She instructed a jounin who was standing patiently in front of her desk.

"Of course my Lady." He vanished away in a poof of smoke.

She stood up. She had to deliver the report to Pein-sama. He was going to be pissed about this. She rushed down the hallway towards his office.

"Konan."

The voice stopped her dead in her tracks. Her hand went to her chest. Her breath shortened.

Please not here. Not now. Gods not now.

She couldn't move her body, no matter how much she wanted to.

"Konan." The voice shifted, raspy, familiar.

It broke the spell on her. She masked her face with impassiveness. Carrying a thundering heart she stormed into the stairwell where the voice came from. The papers in her hands scattered all around her, activated by a burst of chakra as she walked right up to him leaning against the wall. With a threatening gleam in her eyes, she said, "Don't ever do that again."

"Do what?" His voice was cold, still registering low.

The door swung shut and he stood. She backed away, not wanting to be close.

"I've been trying to reach you." He said silkily.

I told you to fuck off.She stayed silent, watching him from under her dark lashes.

"You need to move forward with the Ten-tailed hideout project. You can't just give it to Kisame."

"You had intentions of picking me and none of it had to do with my skills of organizing inventories." She said in a calm monotone voice.

"Unfortunately you are the only one other than Nagato who knows the plan in full detail." He retorted with an equal level of dead calm.

"What are you going to do if I refuse? Trap me with your Sharingan?"

"You know the consequences of disobeying your leader."

She withered at the statement. But outwardly she stood tall. "I would never imagine doing that." She mocked.

The astriction flickered to life between them. Months had passed since everything happened. She hated that he still made her heart race. She hated that he saved her. He stood there, pristine in his black shinobi clothes, his mask now black-looking on at her with indifference.

Her kunai slipped from her sleeve as she stood her ground. "I need you to leave." She hissed.

He tilted his head. "But I just got back."

"Go away again." She fought the stinging threat of tears. But Konan the Paper Angel wasn't some helpless, weak woman. "Leave me alone."

A moment of silence. Pipes in the Tower creaked and groaned. A soft rain pattered the window. Summer was descending on Amegakure.

He stepped forward tentatively, and then he was right in front of her before she could blink. She stumbled but all she found was a wall behind her.

He raised a gloved hand. She trembled with anger as he pressed a thumb on her bottom lip, trailing onto her cheek.

"You always knew I'd endanger you." He said lowly. "Look at who I am."

She looked sullen at that. "I hate you." She whispered.

"Something so pretty with such a sad little heart." He said absently like he was remembering all their times together. He pressed against her and she remembered the blissful way they fit together like they belonged. "Tell me how much you hate me. I want to hear you say it."

"You sure put on a good show for what you are." She spat. "You are nothing but a shell of a human who let himself completely be controlled by some dead, soulless shinobi. You used me and you don't even feel sorry for it. I wish we had never come across you in the war."

He chuckled darkly. Her pulse fluttered against his fingertips. "You are right, I don't have a heart but it's still a shame that's how you feel. At least you were a good fuck."

Funny, wasn't she the one who took his virginity? A paper kunai positioned against his ribs. He chuckled again as she watched it go right through him. "Go away." She glared with all the ire she could muster. "Go away."

She held her breath, waiting for his next move. She closed her eyes for a moment. Chakra thrummed in her veins. But then the heat was replaced by the cool chill of the concrete stairwell. She opened her eyes and inhaled sharply. He was gone.

She sunk to her knees, her palms flattening on the concrete landing.

She still couldn't find it within herself to hate him. Instead, she hated herself.

…..

It was easier for her to hate him. And by all means, he deserved every scathing look and snapping remark. He stoked her fire even more. He let himself be the villain she wanted him to be.

But it was far too hard for him to keep away from her.

Obito was losing his mind.

He craved intimacy. He wanted to feel alive. Konan had given that to him. She gave him reason to keep moving forward, to fight the loneliness inside and make him forget the hazy but inevitable future with her amber eyes and infectious spirit.

In another universe, he would brag non-stop about it to the other Akatsuki members. He made love with one of the most powerful kunoichi ever known.

It's no wonder hooking up was rampant in the shinobi world. He now understood why other men say they prefer it over drugs and alcohol to temporarily lift the burden of their ninja ways. When a ninja comes face to face with death multiple times over the years, doing the exact opposite afterward is almost warranted just to get the sensation of being alive back into your body. The adrenaline from a battle still pumping in your veins. Sex meant you were still alive. It made you forget and remember who you are all at once. It was addicting.

Why do drugs when one could indulge in a high from softness and twisting in sheets? And that's what he wanted now as he stalked down the dim underground tunnels of the Tower.

For months he had been perfecting and practicing his craft-suppressing the bond through newly developed seals tattooed onto his core. It had been a long and arduous process but thanks to Zetsu's help, Madara was once again silent in his head. He knew it would not last forever-the ink already fading somewhat-but it was something.

And he did it for her. Because that's what he would've done for Rin if he had the chance. The thought of losing someone precious-even though she detested him-outweighed his cursed fate. He still only strived to complete the Eye of the Moon mission, but he knew he could not do it with Konan vulnerable to the Uchiha's shadow.

He so badly wanted her to know. He fantasized about her lifting his shirt, her amber eyes burning as she drew in his newly made seal.

"Only for you." He would say.

He found himself at her door, perhaps by a twist of fate, while haunting the halls to avoid the persistent nightmares that awaited him in his bed. Konan had locked herself in there as soon as they returned from their unsuccessful mission months earlier.

He knocked.

He had no idea if she would be awake at this hour. He waited patiently, like a fool.

He heard movement in the room.

"Konan." He said quietly, his voice dropping a few registers.

He prayed she would hear the desperation for his voice. It was silent for a few more moments, he imagined her contemplating. She was thinking about the moment in the stairwell no doubt when the energy between them sparked as words of hatred were exchanged but their eyes held something entirely different.

She opened the door a crack so he could only make out her annoyed face in the shadows. "What?"

"Let me in."

Her eyes narrowed but she opened her door wider for him to slip in. He inhaled the familiar scent of her room. With her drawn curtains it was pitch black like a moonless night. There was a single candle, flickering weakly from the corner of the room. They were drowning in the shadows but she made no move to turn on the lights as if their secret would be exposed.

"I don't believe we are finished." He said smoothly. The flames gave away her slight form. She wore a small top and shorts, her hair slightly mussed from sleeping.

She sniffed, folding her arms over her chest as she leaned against her bedpost. "I don't know what you mean, Tobi-san."

Tobi. He didn't like her calling him that.

The candle suddenly went out and they were shrouded in darkness.

He stepped forward finding her body, his hands possessively sliding around her waist. "How convenient for me." He whispered.

"I'm not afraid of the dark. Nor you." She hissed.

"I think you are." He said, pulling her against his chest. He half expected her to fight but was surprised when she melted against him. "And it should stay that way."

"I hate you." She sharply retorted.

"I want to feel your hate." His lips pressed into her soft hair. It was down and long. He loved it like that. "Show me. Punish me."

"Are you sure you want that?" She asked quietly.

"More than anything."

He heard a clink and felt cold metal against his neck.

She smelled of lavender and rain.

Then softly, "Take off your mask."

He obliged. He could not make out her shape in the darkness. Only the warmth of her body.

"Your cloak. And your shirt."

Her kunai drew away to allow him to strip. He peeled off his clothing. Fire thrummed in his veins.

He wanted to take off her clothes. He neared her again, his hands traveling the warm expanse of her soft skin under her shirt. She had her kunai back at his throat and he let it be there. It dug against his skin a little fiercely. Her breath was short but her grip held steady. He let the blade draw blood. It was small, like a paper cut. The mix of pain and pleasure filled his veins.

He gently grabbed her chin and placed a ghostly kiss on her mouth. It was followed by another and another. He savored the plushness of her lips that he thought of every fucking minute since he first laid eyes on her. With his other hand, he took her wrist that held the kunai and guided it down and away until she opened her palm and it clattered to the floor.

Her lips opened and he pushed his tongue in. The razing heat traveled straight to his groin and he had to rigidly control his urge to press his hips to hers.

Their soft battle cries are swallowed by teeth and tongue. She scraped at his skin. It burned.

She shoved him into her bed and he let her.

"No intangibility." She commanded.

He tried to sit up as she climbed on top of him, but she shoved him back down and straddled his hips.

"You're in love with her."

Obito pushed the old woman's words away.

His eyes shifted red when as he watched her remove her top. She was kissing him again. His hands gripped her muscled thighs. She was beautiful. So fearsome and beautiful.

His mind conjured an image of Konan ashen and dormant in the thin hospital bed. Then the awe he felt as he watched her paint her enemies red over the years he's worked with her.

"I want a shinobi who won't die easily."

He survived for so long. His body was rebuilt by cultivated cells of Hashirama Senju. He had his Mangekyo Sharingan and Intangibility. If anyone could outlast the turning tides of Shinobi wars and death it was him. And he would prove it to her.

I can outlive our enemies and then some, I can do that for you.

She bit down on his lip and he took the moment to flip her into the mattress. The rest of their clothes were eliminated. He took a moment, tucking his face in the juncture of her shoulder, inhaling deeply.

"I'm sorry for everything." He breathed out.

"Don't make me regret this." Konan remarked, her hand finding his hardness. He closed his eyes and hated the bliss. The flesh of her breasts in his hands. The sweetness of her skin. She was the light in his starless world.

He gritted his teeth and he braced for the tight intoxicating feeling of sliding into her slowly. His teeth sank into her skin. She gasped. He held her firmly in place, roughly pressing her wrists into the mattress and he sank deeper and deeper into her. Their heartbeats and bodies pulsed in synchronization. He felt a bead of sweat down his back. The cold darkness of the dug-out room was chased out by their fire. Love and searing hatred poured from his cracked soul. He was haunted by his long unanswered feelings but they were clear to him now. And Madara was not there to stomp them out.

I'm in love with her.

"Hard." She demanded. His hips snapped to her command. He pounded into her roughly. Again, and again without mercy. Star-crossed lovers. She cried out and he swallowed it with a rough kiss.

They fell into the abyss together. His movements slowed and he collapsed on top of her. Both panted as they lay there contemplating this cruel twist of fate.

I'm in love with her.

And it will end us both.

…..

"This is the most annoying thing that has ever happened." Konan whispered-declared, glaring ahead into the clearing.

"Four Sound shinobi, heading this way from the southeast." She added softly to Zetsu beside her.

The new thorn in the Akatsuki's side. Or perhaps old, in regards to the former Akatsuki member. Orochimaru, an absolute menace and possibly the creepiest human alive, was back. The twisted snake hellbent on creating a soul-sucking utopia found it in a new pet project, The Village Hidden in the Sound. Although by the horrifying intel they've received, calling a giant laboratory with its unwilling participants a Village was very generous.

These rumors warranted the big guns to see it for themselves. And so Konan found herself with Zetsu and Tobi on this forsaken mission. The first one she's been on in…a long time.

Since the Sunagakure Incident last year. Since the incident in the stairwell where Obito's warmth had left and his twisted nature resurfaced. Since that night the candle blew out and she succumbed to her weakness for him.

By this point, all Akatsuki members noticed the wrath formed between the two. Pein was demented to have sent Konan out with both of them. She had a feeling Obito was behind it all anyways. He was a master strategist. He might despise her but he chose her for her S-ranked sensory skills.

"Your work-husband went off to scout the northern side of the Village, figure out whether the entrance to Orochimaru's wormhole is located there."

"For fucks sake please do notcall him my work husband." She hissed.

"What?" White Zetsu giggled. "Trouble in Paradise?"

She kept her eyes trained on the clearing. Waiting. "I hope you shrivel in the sunlight, fucking mushroom."

"There are many secrets kept between the two of you." Zetsu observed. "You've caused Obito great distress these past few years."

"Poor Obito." Mocked Konan. She shot the plant-looking nin a deadpanned look. "Maybe you should bother him about it, hm? I'd prefer to focus on the mission than talk about this."

"Oh, I've tried." White Zetsu piped up. "He gets terribly flustered though. Interesting that you do too. So many secrets to be revealed."

"I am so over this conversation." She said under her breath. She felt one of her sensory papered butterflies go off. "They are nearing."

The shinobi finally emerged. Three men and a woman. Outnumbered by three, but the odds were not bad for Konan.

"Come out, little ninja, we know you are here." Sang the kunoichi, eyes scanning the brush, a toothy smile on her face. For them being supposed Hidden Sound shinobi, they all dressed in the equivalent of rough fabrics and rags, their weapons dull in their shine and a sort of strange off-ness in each of their appearances whether it was grey-tinged skin or a horn protruding from a head.

"I'll take them."

"You sure?" Zetsu sang.

Konan held a hand up to silence him. "Please, look at them. Let me handle it. Go back to scouting for the Snake."

"Tobi-sama is bound to come back any second now, perhaps we should wait for his orders, you are positioned as sensory-nin only." White Zetsu pressed. Clearly, he was under some order from Obito to keep her away from conflict.

"I'm not arguing." At that, she formed a quick series of hand signs.

"She's right. We shouldn't waste time." Black Zetsu preened. "We have more urgent goals than dealing with some second-rate ninja."

"If you brought me here for a reason then let me do my job." As she spoke her final word on it, her form shivered and fell apart in a storm of paper.

The Sound ninja all glanced around, watching as hundreds of origami butterflies descended from the blue sky.

"Cute." Crooned the grey-skinned woman while the men looked around confused.

Their knees bent, silver clinks of ninja stars or swords poised as butterflies all floated to the head of the clearing. Konan was already insulted by Zetsu's insistence to hold her back. The stupid smile on the woman's face irked her even further. There would be no playing with her prey today. She wanted this over and done with.

The butterflies converged and pieced Konan together. She watched the men slightly relax at the sight of a small kunoichi while the grey woman cackled.

"There you are." The nin threw up hand signs and her clones duplicated across the way. Simultaneously they all opened their mouths wider than normal humans could. A sonar pitch at a devastating frequency erupted from their throats and sharpened like a knife to Konan's skull. The Sound Village kept true to their nature, it seemed. She scowled.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll surrender now. No trespassers!" One of the Nin yelled, unaffected. She then noticed it-they wore earplugs. No doubt shinobi-grade.

Paper shredded from Konan's body. Her wings unfurled from her back, wind and paper catching in her lavender tresses. A thrill shot through her as her powerful wings swept her into the air. The Paper Angel had arrived with her own knell of death.

"Aw! You gonna give us paper cuts?" Cackled the kunoichi through the haze of the powerful frequency. Her voice was warped and deranged. That meant her chakra was concentrated in her throat to perform her jutsu.

Slices of paper shot from Konan's wings, so sharp and impenetrable it rained like bullets. Her engineered papers splintered the nearby trees, snapping trunks and branches. Paper drilled into the clones, wiping them out in seconds. She watched in satisfaction as paper pierced into the heart of one of the Sound shinobi, sending him crumpling to the earth. This was the devastating result of years of crafting her wind release and paper techniques.

The shrill sound subsided, just in time to save her from a headache.

"Sonar Jutsu!" A quick series of hand seals and a sonic boom blasted from the kunoichi. Her remaining partner summoned giant ninja stars from a flash of a scroll. Konan inwardly cursed as the blast threw her into a tree trunk. One of the ninja stars came straight to her shoulder but it suddenly vanished before she could knock it off its course. Her blood boiled as she got to her feet. Not a strange phenomenon, the signature was obvious. Fucking Obito.

"What's the matter? Didn't know what you were getting into?" Sneered the woman. "Clever trick but you look like the kind of girl who becomes a ninja just to fuck her way to a famous nin husband."

Konan remained impervious to the uncreative snub, though inwardly her anger was snapping its teeth. She's had an exterior built like a fortress to reflect the slander thrown at her over the years but this entire mission provoked Konan's ruthless side. The Sound ninja did not recognize her Akatsuki cloak and they would regret that mistake.

Without remorse, Konan stood tall and drew her hand upwards. Paper, endless sheets of it, attached to every inch of the kunoichi's skin. She tried to swat the white slips as if they were pestering flies but found them relentlessly covering every inch of her. Konan furrowed her brows in concentration as the woman began to choke. The paper squeezed in on all sides, mummifying her. Her body was crushed and cleaved in seconds.

The white of the paper that mummified the fallen kunoichi began to stain red as if someone painted her with a red ink brush. Even the way Konan killed was done gracefully and beautifully.

Now left was the angry one horned man who was blindly charging at her with a broad sword. He brought it down in a fell swoop but as the blade passed through her arm it dissolved into thin wisps of white. A move that might or might not have been inspired by Tobi's intangibility. But that's beside the point.

The big ones were the easiest. She cast off origami explosives that engulfed his form, beating her wings to float away from the aftermath. For good measure, she pumped chakra into a paper kunai and sent it signing through the air and straight to his head.

There was a sick thud. The smoke cleared out revealing his lumping form and a kunai embedded in the skull. The last of the Sound nin had been taken out.

Now that was out of the way Obito and Zetsu emerged from their hiding spots. Zetsu grinned pleasingly as he took in the carnage.

Before either of them could say anything Konan marched up to Obito and poked him hard in the chest. "Stop. Interfering. With. My. Battles!" Each poke was sharper that he went intangible to avoid any more stabbing to his sternum. "And let me do my fucking job!"

"I didn't do anything." He blatantly lied.

She huffed, shortening her leash as she realized he couldn't be swayed by her ways outside of their private moments. "Fine, pretend your way out of it. Can we please get a move on before the Sound gets wind of this? I have a feeling they listen better than most ninja." She shot him another pointed glare.

"Oh! Bad mood today." White Zetsu remarked in amusement.

"Shut up." They both said to the spore in unison.

"There it is." Black Zetsu remarked. "The flustering I mentioned earlier."

Obito reached forward at that moment, his gloved finger gently touching her jaw Instantaneously her arm came up to block him.

"Don't you dare fucking touch me." She seethed. Her heart beat at a breakneck speed in her chest.

"You had some blood on your chin." His voice was thick with amusement. She was disgusted.

"I don't care."

Konan turned on her heel and stalked forward before either of them could rile her even more. At this rate, she'd rather have the company of Orochimaru.

Konan found anger to be way easier than sadness. The ending of her relationship with Yahiko hit her in the purest form of grief that to this day she could not quite shake melancholy. Her heart was pulled from her chest and she felt an emptiness inside that could not be filled no matter how hard she tried. With Obito, his inevitable betrayal gave her the chance to bury the lingering sadness with simmering bitterness. It was almost refreshing until she found she could not escape his presence and the conflicting feelings it caused her.

Around him, it was hard for her to breathe. It was like he had control of her fluttering pulse in his hands even after months since the incident. She was walking on glass.

She was trying her hardest to reign in control but it was sand through her fingers. She wanted nothing more than to revert to when she knew him as Tobi and Lord Madara behind closed doors. She longed for the days he spoke to her cold, like a general, and she simply did as he said. When their relationship was simple and emotionless and she never wondered if there was a handsome face between the mask.

That's not true.A voice said from the back of her head.

In the shroud of darkness, their truths emerged. His lips hungrily seeking hers. His arms wrapped tightly around her, enveloping her with the scent of pine and fire. His easy smile when he said something flirtatiously. Snippets of fresh memories that still made her heart flutter.

Discarded feelings, all scattered and misplaced. Konan felt like a traitor to Yahiko and Nagato for finding joy in the shadows of a man who controls their fate.

The rest of the mission was carried out efficiently. They found a husk of Orochimaru's half-built layer but to her relief, he was not there so they departed the ghostly Village to take the new intel back to Ame. Obito had not said another word to her but the tension between them was pulled taught.

As soon as fog and rain spilled into the landscape and the Tower of the Hidden Rain loomed into view Konan surged forward leaving the two behind, wanting nothing more than to soak in a bath in her room and wallow.

…..

Author's Note:

Y'all. I really debated whether or not to dive into a sealed curse theory to explain whatever is going on between Obito and Madara, so apologies if it seems out of pocket? (Maybe it doesn't. I mean this is a fic where I will take any and all nonsensical opportunities for the sake of romance. IDK I'll leave it as is for now).

One more chapter after this :') (Plus, an epilogue!)

Thanks for continuing on this journey with me3

-LL