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Part 2: "Even now, it's Unthinkable"
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A slight patter of rain sprinkled all around, methodically continuing on its mindless path. Through the break in the monsoon, the two hurried to their destination, knowing it was only a matter of time before the small raindrops gave way to the waterfall. Despite the discordance of the rain, there was never such a silence that Konan had ever known. It was difficult, to say the least, to start any kind of conversation without remembering that one weak moment that he had shown in her presence. Maybe he felt ashamed somehow, because he hadn't said anything since. The only sound all around them was the vegetation heaving under the weight of the storm.
Visibility was low, but despite that, he knew where he was going. No matter where he was, he somehow always found his way home. He scoffed for a moment. What was home anyway? That run-down Akatsuki base in the middle of nowhere? In a way, it was home for them now. It was a home to everyone in the Akatsuki, the nin without a village, the rogues and wanderers. Without the organization, where would they be now? He chanced a glance back at Konan, wondering where he would even be without her. Somehow, just her presence was enough to make him more lenient towards the other members, and even soft hearted at times. Although he hated any show of weakness, he couldn't help himself. That strange familiarity between them always made things feel different.
He slowed slightly to walk next to her, hovering closely, protectively. The rain spilled down their wide slick hats, tenting a watery curtain all around. Even with the rain's increasing wrath and visibility plummeting, he could still see her face, her inquisitive blue eyes focused ahead, straining to see anything at all. Soon, even she was barely visible in the rising fog, both of them pacing down into a marsh. They ventured as long as they dared into the dangerously murky bog, taking the fastest route possible. Although they had only made it a few miles towards their destination, the conditions were poor, and they would need to stop again soon. Fortunately, the marsh was littered with dozens of caves formed by the river that used to run through it, and after another mile, the torrential rain started up again and they stopped for the time being.
Konan tapped her hat on the side of the wall, shaking any loose raindrops onto the dirt. She shook out her cloak, then wrapped it tightly around herself, sitting down shakily. "I remember these monsoons. Do you remember that time it rained for two months and ten days? I wondered if it would ever stop raining."
He mirrored her actions, tapping his hat, shaking out his cloak, and shivering on the ground. "I remember that. There was a flood, and a nearby village was completely wiped off the bank of the river."
She nodded and tucked her chin to her knees. "I felt so bad for them. There wasn't even a foundation left, everything was scoured down to silt and mud. But for some reason, when I hear about that sort of thing now, I don't even feel a dull ache."
"No... I don't either. And yet..." He paused, catching himself before he said what he was about to.
But she caught every word he said, and stared up at him. "And yet... what?"
He quickly stuffed his face deep into his cloak, but she could still see that he was blushing. "Ah... nothing really. But sometimes I feel sad, and there's really no reason for it at all. I'll just... suddenly feel it come over me."
She nodded once slowly, thinking carefully. "You can't just decide to make yourself a god amongst your people and expect to suddenly feel no pain. By becoming something like that... maybe we're causing more pain. I remember that we wanted to defend our village, our friends, everything from those attacks that left us alone. I... I think what you're feeling... it might be remorse. I feel it too sometimes, late at night. Sometimes I wake up crying and I don't know why."
"You... you don't think we're doing the right thing?"
"I wonder sometimes. I didn't want to tell you before. It always seemed that you knew what you were doing, and what was best for us. I didn't want to second-guess you."
He stared at her wide-eyed for a moment, wondering about this sudden revelation. "Then tell me now. Tell me what you really think." She hesitated, and he looked at her until she raised her head, and he smiled. "Konan, please."
She paused, then nodded. "We've killed so many people. I never thought anything about it at first, since they were keeping us from our goal. But... they had goals too, and plans, and entire lives to live, and it's like we were... judging them unfit to live. You wanted to become a ninja to protect lives, not throw them away. Even if they are the enemy, in the end everyone wants the exact same thing. We all want to live without war. But bloodshed... only makes more bloodshed in the end."
Ah, female logic. Something the Akatsuki was lacking completely. If not for Konan, he wouldn't have even thought about this. He sighed under his breath, then leaned closer, their sides touching. "I think... you're right about that. But what can we do?"
"I don't know. We've done so much wrong... I can't even think of how to begin to put it right again - if it were ever right in the first place."
He nodded silently, and watched her closely. Her long bangs had drifted in front of her face, hair color and eye color blending together perfectly as she stared at nothing in particular. Oddly, he felt very protective all of a sudden, and he put his hand on her waist cautiously. "It was all wrong long before we were even born. From the beginning, it was all we knew. It's no surprise that it's the only way we know how to act. People still kill to survive. Maybe it's all we'll ever know."
"Maybe. Everyone strives for peace, but they do it through war. Maybe... maybe we need to stop fighting."
Truthfully, he'd never been so shocked before. Stop fighting? What else was there to do? Was there something he had missed, something else that could solve everything? They couldn't just suddenly stop fighting and have everything be alright again. It was more complicated than that. Even if they stopped fighting, someone else would be more than willing to do it in their place. He mentioned this to her, and worried about how depressed she looked. Heck, he was probably just as depressed, but... war was depressing, and he made a note about that. Yet something needed to be done. What was it? What could possibly work?
She bit her lip nervously, not sure either. For a while nothing could be heard but the thunder of rain on the marsh, but soon her eyes teared up, but not because she was sad. Something was irritating her eyes. And then her throat. She heaved into a fit of coughing, looking around to see what was wrong. He also looked up, keeping his sleeve to his nose, and watched as the fog around them turned a sickly yellow. The heavy rain must have disturbed a pocket of infected air. He managed to tie a cloth around his face in time, but Konan was already immobilized by coughing spasms, and he cursed under his breath and picked her up. Though the rain as thick and heavy, and he could barely see ahead, staying here was folly. He trudged up the muddy cliff, out of the basin of the swamp where the gas was the heaviest. Up here, the air was at least clearer, but Konan was still coughing harshly. And although he saw a small fishing hut at the top of the hill, they couldn't exactly go in with their easily recognized Akatsuki cloaks. Still, he was desperate for Konan's sake. He paused under a wide tree and removed the cloaks, placing them inside his pack, along with his slashed rain village headband, then stared at the house cautiously.
From what he could tell, he was in the middle of nowhere, and so was this fishing family. It was unlikely that they had ever even heard of him, much less be able to recognize his face. True, his multiple piercings would have been hard to miss, but he had to risk it. Neither of them could stay outside after that poisonous gas. Without hesitation, he picked her up again and knocked on the door. A few people inside were laughing at some odd joke, and it stopped when he tapped ever so quietly. A long pause, then a woman answered the door.
"Eh? Visitors? What do you need?" She looked at Pein with wide eyes, wondering how the heck he had acquired so many piercings.
He needed to make something up. Fast. "I'm sorry to bother you, but we were on our way to town and we got lost in the swamp. The storm was so terrible, we tried to stop, but the rain stirred up poisonous gas and... you were the only one around." Well, ok, he didn't make that up. But really, it didn't matter if it was true or not. This sort of thing happened all the time in this country. It could happen to anyone.
"Oh! You know, this happened once last year." She then eyed Konan, who had passed out from the effects of the gas. "Oh dear, she breathed it in... You better come in right away."
"Thank you, miss...? Ah... what was your name?"
"Kumiko." She led them inside, past her other guests, introducing them in turn, and finally had him put Konan onto a guest bed. "Wait here, I'll go and get some medicine for her."
"Thanks."
Who knew how long he waited, it seemed like forever to him. It really hadn't been that long before Miss Kumiko returned, a bottle of clear medicine in hand. She watched Konan with a frown.
She withdrew a spoon from her apron and nodded. "Could you wake her for a moment? She needs to swallow this right away."
"Right." He held her up carefully, waking her as cautiously as he could. She was barely aware of what was going on, but managed to swallow the medicine before falling back asleep. He watched her with concern. "Will she be alright?"
Kumiko nodded, though she looked just as concerned. "Well, as long as she wasn't out there for too long, she'll be fine if you let her sleep it off." She considered something for a moment. "Mm... I don't think I asked your name yet."
Oh crap. He was terrible at making up names. It had taken him a week just to come up with the name for Akatsuki. What was a good name for a man? "Ah... Takumi. Fujiwara Takumi." He grimaced inside. That was a weird name to come up with. And what about Konan? He knew even less female names. And how would he describe their relationship? Well, it didn't really matter. Make something up! "Oh, and her name is Haruka. She... she's my wife. Haven't been together for very long." He grimaced inside again. Well, as long as it worked.
"Oh, I see. Well, she'll sleep for a while yet, how about you come and have something to eat? You look nearly starved to death."
Truthfully, he nearly was. He hadn't eaten in two days. But he wouldn't let hospitality go for free, and he passed a few yen notes to her. "Alright, thank you." He made up his mind to say as little as possible. Of all the people in the world right now, he was one of the most dangerous, and he needed to remember that. His temper needed to remain checked, and his odd comments needed to be left unsaid. Essentially, he needed to become someone completely different. For Konan's sake, he'd do it.
At the table, he sat quietly, watching as everyone else stared at him out of the corners of their eyes. Fine, stare, wonder where all those piercings came from. Wonder what kind of weirdo would be out wandering the swamps in this storm. As long as there was food, who cared what they thought. Instead of getting irritated by their constant surveillance, he waited patiently until a very full plate of food was placed before him. Oh yeah. This was definitely worth putting up with the stares. Then again, he had paid her handsomely. Not like Kakuzu was around to care what he spent his money on anyway. He was hungry, and he wanted to eat as much as possible right now! And although he tried to restrain himself enough to eat in a civil manner, it was quickly apparent that he hadn't eaten well in far too long.
But he wouldn't get away without scrutiny. One of the children at the table stared at him accusingly, and raised her finger to point rudely. "You have a lot of things on your face!"
He stopped in mid-bite, noodles hanging from his mouth ridiculously. But he stayed calm, and just shrugged, eating the rest of his bite. "Yeah. I like them. But you be a good kid and don't get any, alright." He grinned at the girl, forcing this smile out. Yet, he did mean what he said. She should grow up to be just as simple and innocent as her mother.
The girl stared with wide eyes. "EW! NO WAY!" She made a face and ran off.
He chuckled softly and shrugged. "Sorry."
But Kumiko laughed too. "No, don't worry, she-" She was interrupted as someone stepped softly into the room, and saw that Konan was awake and looking about curiously.
Pein stood up right away and hurried to her side. "Haruka, you shouldn't be up yet... you need to rest."
She looked up, understanding the name changes right away, but shook her head. "Can't sleep anymore, I'm too hungry."
Kumiko immediately pointed to an empty chair next to Pein's. "If you feel better, then we better get something into your stomach."
She nodded and Pein made sure to politely offer the chair, actng the role of the attentive spouse. It wasn't completely an act, he really was considerate at times. But still, she could tell that this was a direct hint that he had told these strangers that they were a young couple. She caught on fast, and took her chair, taking his hand and clasping their fingers together, making her own show of supposed affection. "Thank you very much, I suppose we should pay you something."
Kumiko shook her head. "Oh no, Takumi-san has already given us more than enough, you just eat whatever you like!"
"Thank you." She released her grip in favor of eating every last bite placed in front of her. Both of them had been forced to live off wild game and plants for weeks, and a full cooked meal like this was a treat.
Kumiko watched with awe as they both stuffed a ridiculously large amount of food down, wondering where it all went. "Goodness, you have quite the appetite! It must have been a long trip for you!"
Konan stayed silent, letting Pein make up the story. He nodded and gestured out the window with his chopsticks. "It's a funny story, actually. We've been wandering around ever since we met, and we got lost in that fog. I do promise to be more careful from now on." Well, not completely true. He never got lost. He had an insanely accurate sense of direction and place, and it was by far his best talent.
She smiled, thinking about that. "Wanderers since you met, how romantic!" The man next to her coughed and frowned, and she scoffed at him. "Kaito, honestly, after all these years... when will we ever go on a nice trip?"
Kaito frowned at her, and Konan decided to cut in. "It's not as grand as it sounds. Sometimes you have to wander through caves and eat nothing but rats and roots for days. You have it much better here in your home. I'm used to this, but I wouldn't suggest it to you."
"Mmm... it still sounds so interesting... where did you meet?"
Inside, she grimaced. She remembered the real first time she met Pein, so long ago, before he became Pein, before anything horrible happened. But she couldn't talk about that. She had to make something up. "We met in the country of Fire long ago, on the outskirts. I guess neither of us really belonged anywhere, so we had no problem leaving." She smiled, but felt very drowsy. Being full of good food and warm air made her tired, she noted. "I'm sorry, I'm really tired."
Pein stood up again, holding out his hand. "You need to rest, then. I know it's early, but I'm sure our hostess doesn't mind."
Kumiko shook her head. "Not at all. Just let me know if you need anything, I'll be right down the hall."
"Thank you." He followed Konan back into the guest room and shut the door, sighing and resting his head on the wall, and whispered to her. "That could have gone better."
But she smiled at him from her spot. "I think you did a pretty good job."
"I guess. It worked, anyway. But you need to rest, alright?" He sat down on a nearby chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose, forcing away a headache.
She nodded, but didn't stop looking at him. "Are you going to stay there all night?"
"I was planning to... I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."
"It's fine. I'd... I'd actually like it if you were here with me."
He looked somewhat surprised, but he nodded. "Alright." She probably just wanted some kind of comfort in this strange place, and he didn't mind. He edged into the space next to her, staying on his back and staring at the ceiling. For a while he just thought about nothing at all, just fixated on that blank stare.
But somehow she felt lonely, and she laid her head on his chest, listening to his heart beating steadily, then increasing as he was startled by this odd affection. But for some reason he liked that, and his hand brushed idly through her hair, loosening any stray tangles, calming her down. For some reason, this calmed him too, and he wondered why in that moment before he calmed enough to fall asleep.
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NEXT TIME: Will interesting things happen? Will I have to change this to mature? Don't want me to? Read and Review, give me your feedback!