What's up, guys? I'm back! Seriously; call me crazy, but while I was coming home from a friend's place (we had been doing school work), I finally got inspired to finish this chapter! In fact, I had just finished reading "Under the Dome" by Stephen King (to anyone who likes reading his books: it's an absolutely brilliant story! I could hardly stop reading, and I thought it was purely exciting from the beginning till the very end! ^_^), and after recovering from having finished that awesome novel, I was suddenly writing like crazy! And since I am the type of person who quickly pushes certain projects aside when being kissed by the muse, I decided to truly finish this chapter and post it before the new year is upon us!

All I can say about this is that I hope I haven't lost my touch. That would be too cruel...! Well, let's see what you think, shall we? ;-)

(Oh, and if you can spare the time: please check out the poll on my profile...)


Sasuke didn't look good at all, Konan thought when she went to him the next morning. He looked tired and distraught – and almost frightened for a moment when she touched his shoulder with the intention of waking him up. Upon getting asked if he would join her for breakfast, Sasuke claimed that he wasn't hungry even though his stomach growled, thus suggesting otherwise. Konan tried to convince him that he needed to eat something in order to get his strength back, and finally – though still looking as if he would rather let it be – Sasuke agreed and followed her to the kitchen.

Breakfast itself was a mostly silent ordeal: Sasuke listlessly pushed the cereal around in his bowl, and despite Konan's repeated, patient reminders for him to eat, most of it became quite soggy by the time it finally found its way into his mouth. Konan took equally long to finish a cup of coffee, watching Sasuke over the rim of the mug as she drank. It pained her to see him like this, especially he had seemed to be recovering well when she had seen him off to bed the other night. Finally, she downed the last of the coffee, then she suggested that Sasuke should take a bath so he would hopefully feel a bit better. A quiet "okay" was all she got in response.

"…How did you sleep, Sasuke?" she asked carefully as they headed for the bathroom.

"Good at first, but then… I had nightmares," Sasuke answered.

Konan was rather glad that Itachi wasn't there to hear that; knowing how worried he was about Sasuke, he might blame himself for that because he had secretly visited Sasuke. "Do you want to talk about it?" she offered.

"I was there again… at home…" Sasuke recalled with a somewhat absent look on his face. "Haha gave me my lunch and said she'd see me after my shuriken practice… then I was at school… but when I got home, she was dead. Chichi was dead too. And everyone else except… except…" Unable to finish, Sasuke swallowed and stared down at the floor, trying to tell himself to get a grip.

Meanwhile, Konan tried to think of something to say, if there was such a thing at all. It would be ridiculous to say that it was "tragic"; Sasuke already knew that, and anyone could see that he was on the verge of loudly despairing. There was no need to push him over that edge. When she was unable to think of something reasonable, she lightly put a hand on his shoulder in a sympathetic gesture so he would know that his words hadn't fallen on deaf ears.

Sasuke took a deep, though somewhat shuddering breath, then he carried on.

"It just makes no sense to me. I don't know what they did that someone would want them dead, especially if –"

Abruptly, he silenced and stopped in his tracks, eyes wide as he stared down the hallway. Puzzled, Konan studied his face for a moment before following his gaze – and when she did, the reason for Sasuke's behavior became perfectly apparent.

Not too far away, a door had opened, and now Itachi stood in the hallway. Of course, he had spotted them instantly, and like Sasuke, he had frozen. He was dressed in the attire that the male members wore beneath their cloaks.

The silence seemed to be very loud as the two brothers watched each other, nearly unblinking and almost like a pair of statues. Konan was left to try and brace herself for whatever might happen. After what seemed to be almost an eternity, Itachi slowly began to approach them. He never took his eyes off Sasuke, and Konan was quite tempted to believe that he was silently trying to tell Sasuke that there was nothing to be afraid of. But with each step he took, Sasuke's expression became more troubled, and he tensed up as if to prepare himself to either run or – if necessary – lash out.

All the sadness, disappointment and anger were boiling within him. He was struggling to find the connection between the brother he had loved and adored for as long as he could remember, and the murderer of his entire family. Where was it? Had he missed something? How long had Itachi been planning it, and why?!

'I… I thought I knew him, but… but now I'm not so sure anymore…!'

Itachi was drawing ever closer, and it was only when he stood right in front of them that Sasuke abruptly bowed his head, staring determinedly at the floor. He balled his hands to fists and bit his lower lip to restrain either a sob or a yell. Itachi sighed sadly and ever so softly when Sasuke looked away. This hurt him beyond belief, and he hadn't even heard a word from the boy yet. He could still hear Sasuke's cry of "Murderer! Murderer!" and his declaration that his older brother would never commit such a horrible crime. But the truth was undeniable.

He could tell that Sasuke wished he weren't there. The way he stood there so stiffly, refusing to look at him, his fists trembling with the effort to stay calm… Although he was aware that he didn't deserve any better, it hurt all the same.

"Sasuke…" he murmured.

The sound of his voice made Sasuke flinch and shrink against Konan, grabbing her cloak tightly this time while his eyes darted to and fro as he fitfully tried not to look at his sibling, even if it would only be to spare him a hateful glare.

Konan put an arm around him and gently squeezed him. Just one word had fallen between the brothers, yet that was enough to convince her that the road to repairing the bond between them would be a long and rocky one – perhaps even longer and rockier than she had initially thought it would be.

A movement caught her eye when Itachi shifted, still watching Sasuke in a silent plea for him to look up again. Instead, Sasuke kept staring at the floor as if his very life depended on it. Itachi opened his mouth to speak again, but Konan motioned in time for him to remain silent. The look on his face just then made her feel almost bad for doing that, but she wanted to avoid putting Sasuke under more stress.

"Come on, Sasuke," she prompted the boy, gently forcing him to move on. Still not looking up, he complied. Konan lingered just long enough to whisper:

"Please be patient, Itachi…"

She got no response except for that same lost, rueful look he had sported last night. But it was only visible for a moment until Itachi turned away and shuffled off. Konan, on the other hand, hurried to catch up with Sasuke. He was completely lost in a world of his own; and not a pleasant one, that was for sure. And now he was looking at the floor as if it were to blame for the whole ordeal. If there was a wrong moment to say anything, this was it, therefore Konan remained silent as she guided him to the bathroom.

Once there, Sasuke stayed put like a clockwork toy that needed to get wound up again while Konan turned on the water to fill the tub, also adding a bit of bubble bath to it.

"You'd like a warm bath, wouldn't you, Sasuke? I just hope I'll get this right, otherwise you'll have to tell me if you'd want it warmer or cooler, okay?"

There was a moment of silence. She hadn't expected him to answer right away, but when she continued to wait in vain for an answer, she became really concerned. Just then, a sob sounded out behind her.

Almost hesitantly, she turned around to discover that Sasuke was in tears. His posture was still practically the same, trembling fists and all, but now his cheeks were glistening with tears in the room's light. It was a heartbreaking sight.

"Sasuke…"

Sadness resonated in her voice, for she could barely stand to see him struggle so much to maintain self-control, now actually shaking with the effort to do so. The tears kept leaking steadily out of his tightly closed eyes and cascading down to his chin before dropping to the floor.

"No, Sasuke, please don't cry…"

Konan didn't even bother to actually stand up as she turned away from the tub to comfort Sasuke. She wrapped her arms around him and held the boy as tightly as she dared to without risking to hurt him. With the grasp of someone who was drowning but was now being rescued, he latched onto her, this time not merely clinging to her cloak, but to the arm beneath it. Several sobs escaped his throat, then his grip briefly tightened until it was almost painful… and then he screamed in anguish. Although her cloak muffled the sound a bit, it still set Konan's teeth on edge, making her wince. He cried out anew, first crying for his mother, then for his father.

"Why?!"

Loudly and clearly, in that awful, sorrowful pitch. Konan prayed that he would calm down soon, particularly for his own benefit. Until then, she would do whatever she could to appease him; she began whispering into his ear, the usual things: "Don't cry", "It'll be alright" and so on. She figured it might not mean much to him, but perhaps it meant a little something, and for her, anything was better than to just sit there like a statue when he was in dire need of comfort.

Despite Sasuke's sobbing, she heard a noise at the doorway and turned her head, fearing the worst – only to breathe a sigh of relief when it was Kisame. His mouth was slightly open, undoubtedly because he had been about to ask her what was going on when he found her kneeling in the bathroom, clutching a shaking form. And Kisame, not dumb, drew the right conclusion to answer his own question. He may have groaned and griped about the whole "babysitting" concept, but now he looked as if he honestly wanted to ask if she needed some help. Konan shook her head, however, signaling that she could handle it. Kisame hesitated, and she briefly let go of Sasuke to beckon the shark-man to move along. Finally, he did as he was told and all but made a beeline for the kitchen, where he would find Itachi sitting at the table, lost in thoughts.

Meanwhile, Sasuke concentrated on calming down; he was starting to feel that uncomfortable pressure just above his eyes, a sure omen of an impending headache. That always happened when he cried like this – although he couldn't recall to have ever felt so lost before – and he wasn't the only one, Mikoto had told him. Thinking about that (and seeing his mother's face in his mind's eye) nearly set him off again, but he gritted his teeth instead, for the sooner he calmed down, the less bad the headache would be and the sooner it would be gone again.

"Nii-san…" he whispered in a voice that was hardly more than a croak. Konan heard it anyhow, but it would be a while before she would hear it again.

Falling silent because Sasuke did seem to be calming down again, she continued to soothingly and gingerly pat his back until even his sobbing subsided to sniffles. Now the atmosphere in the bathroom itself lost its tension.

"…Konan?"

"Yeah?"

"M'sorry," Sasuke mumbled. And he was; he was sorry for crying his eyes out in the arms of a woman he hardly knew.

She fidgeted, and for a moment Sasuke thought she might give him a kiss. It turned out to be a nuzzle instead, but if Sasuke was completely honest, he didn't mind it.

"You don't need to apologize, Sasuke. I…" She lowered her voice, as if she were confiding a secret to him. "I know how you feel, better than you think. Trust me."

With a snuffle, Sasuke looked up at her and blinked questioningly. She merely gave him a small smile in return.

There will be a time and place to talk about that, but not here, and not now.

He decided not to persist, being sure that Konan had a reason why she didn't elaborate right now, and besides, he was feeling rather jaded.

"I think I'll take my bath now," he said flatly.

Konan nodded and offered: "Shall I turn around?"

Sasuke shrugged. She smiled warmly at him, then turned around. And once she did, Sasuke was glad for a reason he couldn't explain. He snuffled heartily again while he undressed, then got into the water, where many but not all of the bubbles had ceased to exist in the meantime. Konan turned around again after a few seconds and sat down beside the tub. Sasuke began to listlessly move the remaining bubbles around, and even though he was staring into space and seemed to be completely out of it, she could tell that he was thinking, hence she didn't say anything. After a while, Sasuke finally asked timidly:

"Konan? What will happen now… you know, with me?"

He had expected her to think up an answer first, but instead she answered promptly: "We'll look after you. I know that this… this new situation is very hard for you, but we'd be willing to do our best to give you everything you need."

This "new situation" being the loss of his parents, of course. It still seemed unreal that he was an orphan now – and it was all Itachi's fault. Like all the other times he had thought about Itachi since the massacre, he wondered once more if he had been a fool to trust him so blindly. Anger resurfaced within him due to this train of thought, but the sorrow overwhelmed it. Nevertheless, he tried to keep a straight face by reminding himself that Fugaku wouldn't have approved of seeing him cry.

Be a man.

That's what their father had told them – not only Itachi, but his other son as well – repeatedly. Sasuke figured that he may still be a boy, but that did not stop him from giving it a try.

Konan watched him ruefully as these thoughts crossed his mind, then she reached out and touched his shoulder, which was still dry.

"Hey," she said softly.

Sasuke looked at her.

"I know that no one can ever replace your parents, but like I said before, we'd give it our very best shot. At least you would have somebody, hmm?" she asked.

"I… I guess…" Sasuke replied slowly, thinking it over, and despite all the sadness, anger and confusion he felt just then, he managed to smile a bit at her. "Thank you, Konan."

She offered him a brighter smile in return. "It's nothing, Sasuke. Really." The smile had encouraged her to try and get his mind off the massacre for a while – he would be thinking about it often enough. "Shall I show you a trick?"

"Trick?" Sasuke repeated.

The blue-haired woman merely nodded, and he watched her reach down… and then she was holding a piece of paper in her hand. He assumed she had pulled it out of her sleeve (he didn't yet exactly how correct this guess was). It wasn't a very big piece of paper, so he was even more amazed when she folded it quite a few times. Somehow, he doubted that he could have copied that, and that could most definitely be said for what happened next: when she held out the paper to him in her palm, it suddenly took flight. On paper wings it flew – almost danced – around the bubbles. Awestruck, Sasuke watched it.

"…Wow…" was all he managed to say just then.

Konan looked pleased.

"How did you do it?" he inquired.

"I'm a specialist when it comes to origami, Sasuke," she answered.

She almost had to be more than just a specialist, Sasuke thought as he raised one hand out of the water in an attempt to touch the paper butterfly. But just like a real butterfly, it cleverly avoided his fingers, for if it landed there now, it wouldn't take flight again. A little paper bird soon joined it, and to Sasuke, it looked as if they were playing a game of tag. When the butterfly's paper wings brushed his nose, he even giggled.

Konan gladly watched this, especially considering what Sasuke was going through. She remembered being skeptical too at first about having a child in their ranks, but those doubts had gotten washed away, and her will to keep the promise she (and Pein) had made to Itachi was stronger than ever.

However, neither she nor Sasuke noticed that they were being watched by someone who preferred to remain in the shadows of the hallway…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Later on, after Sasuke had gotten dressed again (and claiming that he did indeed feel a bit better now), Konan announced that it was time for him to get introduced to the others.

"The odds that they'll all be in one place are very slim, so while we look for them, I might as well show you the rest of the hideout," she said.

Of course, Sasuke agreed to this, and so they set off in search of the other members. Konan knocked on each of their rooms just to make sure nobody was being left out, but surprisingly enough, no one ever answered her. Since they had started out with the rooms, Sasuke really did see pretty much the entire hideout before he saw any of the other members.

After the "tour", they headed back to the kitchen and the only room they hadn't been to so far: the living room. Konan figured that despite the odds being slim for it (at this time of the day), they would all be clustered around the only TV they could afford as long as Kakuzu was in charge of their finances – and sure enough, they were.

"Well, what a coincidence," Konan remarked, sounding mildly surprised. "I suppose they can sacrifice a few minutes to say hello and –"

"Konan, I need to talk to you," a voice suddenly said from the shadows, and she started.

"Pein! Don't creep up on me like that!"

"I wasn't creeping up on you!" he defended himself, but Konan had a feeling that he wasn't being entirely honest about this.

"I was just about to introduce Sasuke to –"

"Just a few moments!"

"Oh… all right. I'll be right with you, Sasuke, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed, then Konan and Pein retreated to the kitchen. They started talking in low voices, so Sasuke understood nothing; not that he had been eavesdropping at all to begin with. Instead, he peeked into the living room and counted a total of four people in front of a small TV. He couldn't possibly have known that they were at least one person short… Judging by their silhouettes, which were illuminated by a simple floor lamp and the light from the TV, Sasuke concluded that his brother wasn't among them, and that was absolutely fine with him. It also gave him some confidence that while he was waiting for Konan, maybe he could get a little bit closer to get a better look, for he was undeniably somewhat curious. Slowly, being careful not to distract them in any way until Konan was done with Pein, he started to make his way across the living room, approaching them from behind.

He had almost gone as far as he dared to go when all of a sudden, he was grabbed by the chin from behind, and his head got turned forcefully. A surprised squeak escaped his lips. Wide-eyed, Sasuke stared up at a man whose face wasn't entirely visible due to a mask. All he could make out were two bright green eyes which inspected him in a positively scrutinizing manner. Suddenly, he was forced to look down, then the other way, straight forward, up again… and was it just him, or was his mouth open so the other man could look into it?! To top it off, he heard something that sounded suspiciously like "Ka-ching!"…

"KAKUZU!" Konan thundered from the doorway.

Things happened quickly then: one 'Thwack!' later, Sasuke was released, and he hastily retreated a few steps. The TV was temporarily forgotten as the others craned their necks to check out what was going on behind their backs.

"Uh-oh…" one of them muttered when they saw that Konan was positively livid.

"What the devil do you think you were doing, looking in his mouth as if he were a gift horse?!" Konan demanded in all but a shrill voice.

Kakuzu seemed unfazed by the fact that he had just gotten whacked over the head. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect," he commented.

"What's perfect?" Konan asked skeptically.

"You didn't tell me that we would be getting a goldmine as an addition to our ranks," Kakuzu answered. "That, of course, changes things."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Instead of turning tricks, we could just send him out. I mean, look at him! Dress him in rags, mess up that hair a little more, some filth here and there, and people will gladly give him their money!" A faraway expression in his eyes made it quite clear that he could already see himself bathing in a pool of money.

Now utterly confused, Sasuke looked back and forth between Konan – who was actually goggling at Kakuzu – and the penny-pincher himself, who was on the verge of getting lost in space. But before that could happen, the vice leader found her voice again.

"Kakuzu, I want to make one thing quite clear: Sasuke is not a toy, and he is not to be used to make your fantasies become true!"

"Does that only go for Kakuzu?" a voice from the TV corner piped up. Three guesses who.

"You're suicidal, aren't you?" Kisame asked. He was dutifully ignored.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu wasn't willing to back down just yet. "Hey, it's not as if they were bad or anything! He'd just be begging, that's all! Think about the profit –"

"No, Kakuzu! He's not a slave, for crying out loud! I don't care how much profit you're thinking about; it doesn't give you any right to stare down his throat!"

"I beg to differ, Konan," Kakuzu interjected, holding up his index finger and speaking as if he were lecturing a child. "A quality check was absolutely essential here."

Konan twitched, and the glare she directed at her fellow criminal made her look like nothing less than the diabolical spouse of the devil himself. "I'll give you two choices right now: either you drop that idea this instant and try to say hello like a normal person, or beat it. Choose wisely."

Kakuzu contemplated this for a moment, then he turned back to Sasuke, sized him up once again and then said matter-of-factly: "You know, you would make one awesome poor little beggar boy."

"That's it! Out, Kakuzu! Or I'll make you unable to sit down as well!" Konan told him off and pointed to the door. A wince from the TV couch told her that the previous time she had carried out that threat still hadn't lost its effect, which she noted with grim satisfaction.

"Sheesh, did you get enough sleep last night? Alright, I'll go develop better plans – you'll see the greatness of them sometime," Kakuzu vowed, and with a dramatic turn, he exited the living room.

Konan was left behind to fume at so much impertinence. She flexed her fingers as if she was about to run after Kakuzu and strangle him – but fortunately for the latter, she exercised enough self-control to merely hiss angrily.

Pein took his place beside her, albeit keeping a minimal safety distance. "If we could have your attention for a couple of minutes… An introduction is now required."

Needless to say, the remaining Akatsuki members initiated no protest of any kind. In fact, they even lined up neatly – because like Kisame had pointed out earlier, provoking her when she was already aggravated might suggest that one was suicidal…


So, was it up to scratch? I'd be delighted to know what you think - only if you can spare the time, of course. But hell, I couldn't force anyone even if I wanted to! XD

In case anyone is wondering about the timeline: I reckon the story started around July 12th (and if you think something about that is wacko, I blame the calculations I made), and I plan to leap in time... all the way up to Sasuke's birthday, for the sake of plot progression. Also, I can't wait until Deidara and Hidan are in the picture, so would anyone mind if more leaps in time were to follow, possibly fewer, but bigger ones? :3

I'll take a chance and claim that this is my New Year's present to anyone who has been waiting for a new installment of this story! If you were disappointed, I sincerely apologize and hope to do better next year. Which reminds me: I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year! I hope it will be a great year for everyone! Take care, y'all! ^^

Regards,

~devotedtodreams

P.S: There will definitely be no more updates till the end of January, because now that I actually managed to update before that, I can focus on the exams now... so, where's that self-discipline I need so badly? *goes to hunt around for self-discipline*