Chapter 15: Smile Quest Arc - Peace of the Past

I think this is the longest chapter so far. I had barely any homework yesterday, so here you go, everybody!

Tobi has decided to play hide and seek with everybody, but Konan has something else on her mind at the moment... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Naruto and the Akatsuki are not mine.


Konan's POV

"Are you kidding me, un?" growled Deidara, his hands clenched into fists as if he were getting ready to punch Tobi. "Out of all games you can think of, why hide and seek?"

Tobi continued bouncing up and down, oblivious to Deidara's first comment. "Because Tobi is innocent like Kagami-chan, Deidara-senpai! Playing hide and seek doesn't involve killing, knife-throwing, blood-splattering, or punching, so Kagami-chan and Tobi deemed it safe for everybody!"

"But—" started Deidara, but I cut him off.

"Deidara," I muttered, "let's just play hide and seek to pass the time. The girls will be home in about thirty minutes, anyway."

He opened his mouth to protest, then quickly shook his head. "Fine then, un. Who's going to be the one looking for everybody, then?"

"Not it!" shouted everyone except for Tobi. Instead, he had shouted, "Tobi wants some candy!"

"Tobi," mumbled Kisame, "I believe that you were the only one that did not say 'not it'. Therefore, you shall look for us around the house after you count to fifty."

But before Tobi could begin counting, I remembered that Pein was missing. Although it was likely that he wasn't going to have too much fun, I wanted to have him try playing the game again. "Hold on, Tobi. I'm going to get Pein really quickly."

With that, I walked out of the room, hurrying down the stairs to find Pein. Sure enough, he was still in the same spot as he was when we had gone up to the room to search the internet with Deidara. However, he had fallen asleep on the couch, lying down with his head on a pillow. The manga book laid open on his chest, as if he had fallen asleep while reading it.

Silently, I tiptoed towards his sleeping form, trying my best not to disturb him. No matter who I was to him, a rudely awakened Pein was never a good Pein to be around...for obvious reasons.

His eyes were closed, with no evidence of him having the Rinnegan at all. Aside from his piercings, he looked completely human, like he had been originally, back in the early days of the Akatsuki. He gave off no killing intent like he did while he was awake, which made him seem more like a peaceful being. It was almost as if he wasn't Pein at all: just plain old Nagato. And then, I would be able to see the image of our other best friend — the one that had sacrificed his own life to save mine — Yahiko.

It wasn't the first time that I had noticed this whenever he slept, but looking at him like that made me feel rather...nostalgic. The one time when I wasn't as stern as I usually was consisted of me watching a peaceful Pein sleep, reminiscing about our childhood memories. And even those moments were rare, as Pein was usually more active during the night.

And here I was, staring at his sleeping form. All while trying to imagine what could have been.

Twenty years ago, we had been part of the early Akatsuki. Although rain kept on pouring down our tear-streaked faces, we had smiled together. Although we were confused, lost, and orphaned, we had laughed together. When times were tough, we had cried together.

But the most important thing was that all three of us were still alive.

[FLASHBACK]

The endless rain patterned onto the broken sidewalk, flooding the ground with the wails of helpless dreams that had gone away years too early. Dark clouds of gray secluded what would have been the blue sky, forming a thick, cold blanket over the war-torn village of Amegakure. Cries of battle, death, and terror rang out in the distance as enemy ninja that I couldn't see fired jutsu after jutsu at one another. It was another one of those nights where Yahiko, Nagato, and I had to steal stuff in order to survive. Our feet dragged on the ground feebly, kicking up small puffs of dust in our wake that were immediately smothered by the wind.

Almost a year had passed ever since Jiraiya-sensei had left the village to return to Konohagakure with his team. He had taught us to fend for ourselves and each other, but still, we had barely any money to buy anything. As much as I didn't want to admit it after being taught by Jiraiya-sensei, all three of us were still war orphans of the Village Hidden in the Rain. Nagato's dog was no longer alive. We had no other true friends besides each other.

So here we were, stealing things yet again. I know, it felt pretty wrong of us to do something like that, but Amegakure was being torn apart by the shinobi world war that was going on. Nearly all of the children around here were desperate, striving for their very survival and ability to live. In order to hold on to life in Amegakure as a war orphan, one needed to work.

"Is it over there, Yahiko?" I heard Nagato ask the orange-haired boy. He pointed towards a small shop in front of us, which had been battered by the rain.

He nodded in reply. "Yup! It's abandoned, but there could be some stuff still in there. It's in a secluded area, so I suspected that nobody had raided it yet."

"I-It looks kind of creepy," I whispered to myself, hoping that nobody had heard me. However, both boys had heard me loud and clear.

"Aw, come on, Konan!" said Yahiko. "We've been to abandoned buildings before! This one is just another one, so there's nothing to be afraid of!"

"I know," I answered. "It's just...this one, in particular, is giving me the creeps for some reason."

Yahiko sighed, putting his arms behind his head as we walked closer and closer to the abandoned shop. "Well, we'll just remember to be careful, then. Stick together at all times, and don't wander off without notifying one of us first. Try not to use any ninjutsu in there, in case the building comes tumbling down."

Nagato and I nodded. "Understood."

Approaching the building, Yahiko made his move and quietly pushed the creaky door open, with us following him.

It was just like a normal trinket shop...except that ever single display area was empty. Nagato pulled a crate off of one of the shelves, only to find them all empty. As I pulled box after box out from each shelf, I was greeted with nothing but vacant space.

"Somebody's already ransacked the place," muttered Yahiko in disappointment, voicing my thoughts. "But let's not give up hope. Maybe there's something that they forgot to take with them somewhere in this shop."

We continued to thoroughly search the place, looking through every single shelf, crate, and even underneath the counters. But in the end, our search for items had been rather unsuccessful.

"I'm sure there's something here, I swear!" Yahiko protested, waving his arms around frantically. "Maybe we...um, missed a box or something! Yeah, we must have missed something!"

Nagato tried to silence him. "Not so loud, Yahiko. Somebody might hear us if they pass by the shop."

The orange-haired boy nodded. "Let's make this quick, then. I'm going to recheck everything, just to make sure."

Suddenly, we felt the ground below us quaking, and all the shelves around us began to rattle.

"What's going on, Yahiko?" I asked him. He shrugged, his eyes beginning to widen as he saw cracks form in the walls of the shop, which were getting bigger and bigger by the second.

"Quick!" he commanded, watching as pieces of the wall began to crumble off. "Evacuate the building!"

All three of us hurried for the door in which we had entered the building, which was luckily still open. Nagano and I dashed out immediately, but as Yahiko was about to make his way out, he tripped on one of the fallen rubble and crashed to the floor.

"Yahiko!" I shouted, quickly extending my hand to him. "Grab on! Hurry!"

Gritting his teeth, he reached out and was about to grab my outstretched hand. Unfortunately, at that moment, a huge pile of bricks fell from the top of the doorframe, preventing him from grabbing on. Yahiko instinctively began climbing over the bricks, but before he could make it over, more debris piled on top, trapping Yahiko inside the building.

"Nooo!" I cried, frantically digging through the debris with my hands and paper. "Hang in there, Yahiko!"

Nagato rushed over to my side, frantically digging through the debris as well. We continued to dig as the rest of the building began to collapse, succumbing to the weather.

I was tired at that point, but I didn't give up at all, and neither did Nagato. Our friend's life was on the line.

Suddenly, when the silence became unbearable, a familiar loud voice rang out from inside the rubble.

"Water Style: Wild Water Wave Jutsu!"

A huge stream of water burst through the debris, quickly sweeping some of the bricks away. The wave quickly discarded all of the debris that was blocking the door, revealing the dusty form of Yahiko.

My eyes immediately lit up in joy. "You're alright, Yahiko!"

He nodded, his signature grin appearing on his face. "You bet I am! Sorry it took me a while to get out, but I was looking hard for this."

Yahiko opened his left palm to reveal a small golden chain necklace, with a spherical piece of gold serving as the central bead. Handing to Nagato, Yahiko watched as the red-haired boy's eyes widened in surprise.

"What's this, Yahiko?" asked Nagato.

"I found it before we were rudely interrupted by that sudden earthquake," Yahiko explained. "I thought that it would be a pretty cool necklace for you because the circle bead represents the world we're going to bring peace to!"

Nagato smiled. "I really like it, Yahiko. Does it open up?"

He nodded, opening the circular bead to reveal some small but legible engravings.

Best Friend, it read. Although it was simple, I could tell immediately that Nagato loved it. However, I wasn't sure if Yahiko had noticed Nagato's feelings immediately.

"Nagato," said Yahiko. "You can sell the necklace if you don't like it. I mean, the words on the engravings are kind of overused—"

"I'm not going to sell this necklace," declared Nagato, surprising Yahiko slightly. "This is something I'm going to keep until I die, Yahiko. Although it might be better to sell it for money, I'd rather treasure all of the friendship represented with the necklace. After all, that was the reason you gave it to me, right?"

Stunned, Yahiko nodded. "Yeah! Thank you, Nagato!"

"Say, Yahiko," I said, catching his attention. "Why did you pick this shop, out of all the places we could have gone to?"

"I chose to raid this shop for one reason," Yahiko said, turning to me. "When I listened to the passerby, they had said on how many great friends and happy couples went to this shop to buy a piece of jewelry with custom engravings. I thought that it would be pretty cool, since they had also commented that the shop was in a secluded, abandoned place. And I thought that I would be able to find something like this for you, Konan."

He opened his other palm to reveal a heart-shaped locket, which I gasped at in awe. Smiling at me, he carefully opened the locket to reveal an engraving that had been written on the inside. By the penmanship on the locket, I could tell that the necklace was originally going to be a gift to somebody special, but had ended up being forgotten, along with the jewelry shop.

You're my Guardian Angel, it read.

"It's beautiful!" I cried, closing the heart locket and looking at Yahiko with shining eyes. "Thank you so much, Yahiko!"

"You're welcome, Konan," he said, grinning at me. "After all, you and Nagato are my best friends. Nothing will ever change that, and I want you to know that I will be there to protect you until the world ends!"

I smiled genuinely at Yahiko, pulling him into a gentle hug. He blushed, but it faded quickly when Nagato joined the group embrace as well. And that was the moment I realized it.

We would never be the richest or the happiest shinobi in Amegakure. But at the same time, we would never be the poorest or the saddest either. We would always have each other, no matter what obstacles would be thrown at us on our way to achieving world peace. Because no matter what, we would be best friends until the end of time. And that, in my opinion, was practically priceless.

I swore that at that moment, the sun had shined on us for just a few seconds before disappearing into the clouds.

[END FLASHBACK]

I clutched the golden locket sadly, the childhood memories washing over me like a tsunami. Opening the heart locket silently, I stared at the message that was still engraved on it, mentally reading every word over and over.

Where are you now, Yahiko? I mentally said.

Even through my toughest battles, I had never taken off the locket, not even once. It was way too precious to me, and one of the only remnants from our childhood when our lives had actually been happy. Especially since it had been given to me by the boy that had saved my life. Twice...no every day.

Yahiko.

Although I had initially denied it, I had known that I had developed romantic feelings for the charismatic, hyperactive, loud-mouthed boy. The only problem was that we were in the middle of a war, and if I had tried to tell Yahiko that I liked — maybe even loved — him, it would only serve as a weakness. Instead, I had resolved to hold off on my romantic life until we could finish our quest for world peace. Now that I looked back on it, I wasn't exactly sure if that was the best idea.

When my parents had suddenly been killed, I was left to fend for myself, like nearly all of the other war orphans. I disliked having to steal from others, but it was the only way I had known how to survive back then. One day, while I had been stumbling back towards the abandoned rubble of the house where I had been forced to sleep under, Yahiko had found me. When he had approached me, he was smiling — an action I had been certain that a war orphan could never accomplish — with a small umbrella clutched in one hand. I wasn't exactly sure what else to do, so I had attempted to smile back at him. Surprisingly, I had found that I was still able to do it, and he immediately offered me the small umbrella.

From that moment, we had become friends, fighting, struggling, and laughing alongside each other. When Nagato had joined our little group, everything had doubled — no, tripled — good and bad alike.

Whenever I traced my finger over the faint engraving, an image of his grinning face from that day would pop up in my head. If I concentrated hard enough, I could still hear the ghost of his laughter, echoing from the smile that he had etched onto his face from in the jewelry store.

But not even the familiar trace of the heart locket could help me reclaim my lost smile. It had been almost twenty years ever since Yahiko had passed away, and the fact that he would no longer be able to stand by my side — by our side — was too much for me to bear. The day he had sacrificed himself was the same day my smile had been wiped clean off of my face.

Pein did wear his necklace from time to time, but there were times when he did not wear it, donning a spiked necklace around his neck instead. Although I preferred to see him wear it in memory of Yahiko, I understood well that whenever he looked at the necklace Yahiko had given him, he would become upset. However, on Sundays, he usually wore it for Yahiko's sake. It was very true that he still missed Yahiko, even if Pein did not show it. I could tell from the way he took a look at the necklace whenever he had the time, running a silent finger over the engravings.

"Yahiko," I whispered unconsciously, still trapped by my daydream. But before I realized that I had said the name of the boy that had rescued me, Pein's purple eyes had fluttered awake, disrupting me from my flashback to my childhood.

"Konan?" he muttered groggily as he began to yawn. "Did you say something?"

I shook my head. "No, Pein. But still, I came down and wanted to see if you wanted to play hide and seek with everybody—"

"Very well," he grumbled, stretching out his arms. "But only this once."

Silently, both of us walked back upstairs while I unconsciously stroked my locket. Pein did not seem to notice — either that, or he kept everything to himself.

"Senpai!" squealed Tobi as Pein and I walked in. "Konan-chan and Leader-san are here! Tobi wants to begin playing!"

Deidara sighed. "Just count to fifty, and then come and find us, un."

All of a sudden, Tobi panicked. "Is something wrong?" I asked him, but he didn't seem to hear me. Nevertheless, his next response answered my question.

"Tobi doesn't know how to count to fifty!"

Almost all of the members facepalmed, but Zetsu stood up for the little masked man. "I'll help him count! But this is only because I'm not in a bad mood yet."

Tobi hugged Zetsu happily. "Thank you, Zetsu-san!"

"Now hurry up and hide, or I'll just eat you," Zetsu's dark side muttered before counting, covering Tobi's and his own eyes. "One, two, three, four…"

"Let's go," I whispered to Pein. He nodded, and together, we silently followed the other members out of the room. I wasn't exactly sure where to hide, so Pein and I just settled for underneath Kaiya's bed. It wasn't uncomfortable, but at the same time, it wasn't all that cramped either. Somebody had placed carpets underneath the bed, so that was slightly better than just lying down on the hard wood floor.

From the other room, we heard Zetsu assisting Tobi with counting. They seemed to be at thirty already, but paused every now and then when Tobi forgot whatever number came next.

I decided to start a conversation with him, now that we were alone. "You know, Na—"

"Pein," he corrected sternly. "Don't use that name anymore, Konan."

My eyes widened slightly, curious about why he was correcting my usage of his name. Sure, I usually called him Pein while we were with the other members of the Akatsuki, but he had never minded me using his real name while we were talking in private. Something was definitely up. "Why not?" I asked, wanting a reason.

"It's nothing," he whispered quickly, but I could detect the hint of grief in his voice. Immediately, I knew exactly who he was thinking of, and decided not to carry the conversation any longer.

Around twenty minutes had passed, and from downstairs, I could hear the protesting yells of the members whose hiding place had been discovered, followed by Tobi squealing in delight. From the angry voices, I could tell that Tobi had found Deidara first, then Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, and then Itachi. However, Itachi had remained silent, the only thing giving the fact that he was found away being Hidan's teasing.

"Where did Leader-sama and Konan-chan go?" I heard Tobi say as he walked back up the stairs.

"Like hell I'd know, un," muttered Deidara. "You are lucky that I didn't kill you for whacking me with that pillow, Tobi."

"But the pillow is soft and not harmful!" protested Tobi, waving his arms. "Kagami-chan said so!"

"Hold on," said Kakuzu, waving around his gray tendrils. "I can sense their chakra from here. I think it's coming from the room over there."

He pointed to our room, and before we could take cover, Tobi ran over, pulled us out from under the bed, and slapped us with a fluffy pillow.

"Tobi found them!" he chanted, jumping up and down.

I sighed, helping Pein up. "Okay, you found us. But where's Kisame? He's the only one left hiding."

Suddenly, we all heard the refrigerator door open downstairs, and His=dan grinned.

"My Uchiha senses are telling me that he's getting a drink," muttered Itachi. "Let's go."

We all rushed downstairs, with Tobi sliding down the steps in order to surprise the shark-man.

Kisame had decided to leave his hiding spot and grab something from the refrigerator...bad idea. Upon seeing the shark-man, Tobi squealed and ran over to the unsuspecting Kisame.

"Tobi found Kisame-san!" the masked boy exclaimed, whacking Kisame's face with the pillow, feathers coming out.

"Stop it, Tobi!" protested Kisame. "I'm allergic to feathers! I think I'm gonna...a-a-a-ah-choo!"

Suddenly, a loud poof was heard, a huge cloud of smoke appearing in front of us. I closed my eyes, summoning paper to fan away the smoke. Off to the side, Pein coughed, and tried to use his Shinra Tensei to blast away all of the smoke, but to no avail.

Once the smoke began to clear, I realized one thing: Kisame was gone.

"Kisame-san?" I heard Tobi ask frantically. "Where did Kisame-san go?"

There was no reply from the shark-man.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, sending some of the members into an extreme panic.

"Oh no!" panicked Deidara. "The children are at the door, un! How do we explain the fact that Kisame is missing, un?"

"Maybe he's not missing," suggested Itachi, standing off to the side. "Perhaps we just need to wait for all of the smoke to clear."

Although Deidara tried to protest, the smoke cleared a few seconds later, revealing a large blue kitten that was squirming around on the floor. He stared at his paws, then his tail, and finally fluffed the fur on his back.

"Mrrow!" he hissed in protest, then launched a blast of water towards Tobi. The poor boy did not have time to see it coming, getting drenched just as the door opened.

"We're home!" squealed Kagami happily, then quickly faded to shock when she noticed Kisame the kitten hissing at Tobi. "Dragon? What happened?"

Looks like we all just found something out...


A/N: I recycled the flashback from last month, when I had tried to vainly write a one-shot for the Ame Orphans. But deciding it wasn't that good, I scrapped it, and put it in here. I'm not sure if I wrote them correctly though...

YahiKonan is one of my OTPs, as you can tell. It's just under ObiRin and maybe MinaKushi, but I really support the two as a great couple.

Anyways, it looks like a simple sneeze can turn them back into cats. The children just got home in time!

Question: Favorite holiday? I love both Easter, Christmas, and Halloween. However, I am scared of V-Day.

Until next time!

— Tenshi —