Konan: Me? SecretSheik doesn't own us.
Me: My readers want me to write a lemon about you, Konan.
Konan: blush Oh my...
Kisame: I'd rather see some lemonade.
Konan: Kisame-san! I'd love to make some for you! the only problem is that she puts the lemonade inside a fish shaped pitcher
Kisame: ARGH! KONAN! Why do you do this to me??
Me: ...ok anyway... you wanted lemons, I gave you lemonade. Enjoy the fic.
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Part 4 - "That silent night"
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The loss of Itachi had to have been one of the greatest blows to the Akatsuki they had faced yet. His talents were too great, and honestly they had relied on him too much. And now he was dead, Kisame was despondent, Zetsu was badly wounded, and only Tobi, Pein and Konan were left intact. Three would never be enough to even function, much less gain control of the Jinchuuriki. Pein had never considered that his formerly elite group would be reduced to this pathetic excuse of an organization. The few left would need to be protected. He gritted his teeth in frustration.
"All of you... I'm sorry, but until we find more members, we need to stick together. No more teams, we will all report to each other equally. We need to condense, and conserve our forces. As much as I hate saying it... for now, we have to retreat and lay low, buy some time. We can't do anything as we are now."
Kisame, still staring at the ground, nodded in approval. "I don't like it either, but it is the wisest choice." He looked up and stared at Pein directly. "It takes a good leader to know when to pull back and regroup."
Pein seemed surprised at this unexpected compliment, but received it with grace. "Thank you, Kisame. And Tobi...?"
Tobi stepped forward. "Yes, Pein-sama?"
"No use hiding yourself anymore around us. You can quit the act."
His voice dropped into a lower tone that he used only in his Madara state. "Understood. But I am very worried about the other Uchiha, what was his name... Sasuke? If he took Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan, he may be able to learn... that technique too. The more time we spend regrouping and gaining forces, the more time he has to learn more about the Sharingan's true potential. As I am now... I'm not even half of what I used to be. If he learns that technique, neither of us will be able to match him."
"I know. But even if we go after him now, we would be done. We're not in any shape to fight him unless we all did it at the same time. But if he also regroups, and goes back to his village... and finds that ninetails boy... we would be done there too. He might even be there already. All we can do right now is to try to regain whatever power we can to save the organization."
Kisame scoffed and stared back at the floor. "Whatever's left of it. They're getting too strong. There's just not enough time to get all of it done!"
"No, that's the main problem... not enough time. Not even enough choices."
Tobi nodded. "Our only choices aren't very good ones. First is to regroup and wait it out in secret. Not the best idea, but the best way to at least stay alive. Second is to try and capture Sasuke or the Ninetails and kill or incapacitate them. Also not the best idea nor the safest. The third... well, it would never work."
"Probably not, but... let's hear it anyway."
"Alright, but the third would be to incite more war and pick off the nations after they have been weakened. It's not honorable or safe, and not a good idea at all, but... it would be the most effective. Not like we can go into Konoha and unleash hell on our own."
He thought for a second, and an idea came to mind. "Mm... can't we? Zetsu-san, tell me, you watched the ninetails boy fight Orochimaru, right?"
Zetsu nodded. "THAT'S RIGHT, HE WAS FORMIDABLE. I've never seen Orochimaru so hard pressed to win a battle like that."
"Right. And you said that he completely lost himself once the fourth tail formed?"
"Yes, he could no longer distinguish friend from foe. BUT THEN THE ONE WITH THE WOOD JUTSU INTERVENED, AND STOPPED THE TRANSFORMATION."
"So, theoretically, we would only have to stop the wood ninja in order to keep him from sealing the Kyuubi away."
Tobi came closer, excited. "I think I know what you're getting at. If we can stop him, and then anger that boy within his village and then escape, who knows what kind of havoc he would do before he could be stopped...! He would practically do our work for us. As for that copy of the late First... I wouldn't mind dealing with him myself."
Kisame, finally encouraged, joined in. "I could use my chakra to summon dense waves to provide distraction long enough to isolate the wood nin. And if the pink haired one is with them, you better leave her to me. If Samehada can absorb her chakra, she won't be able to do as much damage. Plus if we hurt her, the ninetails boy will definitely get angry."
Pein bit his lip nervously. "Yeah, Deidara told me about that little medic nin. Ridiculous physical strength imbued with chakra to give extra power. You would definitely be the best one of us to outlast her. We need to focus on isolating the Kyuubi boy and luring him back towards a populated area. This might actually work... even if we can't get his Bijuu right now, we can at least force him to unleash it."
Tobi fidgeted and agreed. "It's a desperate measure, but we have to act quickly. They are moving even as we speak, and we can't afford to lose them."
Konan remembered something too. "We also need to be ready to get out of the way once he does unleash the Kyuubi. I can cover our escape with my paper storm, but we need to time things right. But we definitely shouldn't kill either the wood nin or the medic. If we take them as hostages, then the Kyuubi boy will probably remain in that form until he finds us or he dies."
Pein nodded. "Good plan. I can summon my other Aspects to lure him anywhere we need him to go. Though I would hate to lose more of them, they are far more disposable than we are. If they do all get killed, I suppose we could use clones, though from a distance they aren't very reliable."
Zetsu clutched his side, still bleeding. "I need to heal before we do anything. I'm sorry."
"Yes... we need you at your best, since you would do so much scouting. Alright, we'll have to chance waiting until tomorrow morning. I can't give you any longer."
"I WILL BE FINE BY MORNING. Thank you Pein-sama, I understand."
"And Tobi, stick close to Kisame tomorrow, make sure he stays safe. Nothing personal, Kisame, but we can't lose you too."
But Kisame grinned and took this well. "You just want me for my chakra! No problem, Leader."
Though the room was full of visible smiles and a shadow of hope, underneath lay a pang of doubt and uncertainty. It was a desperate, insane plan of action, crazy enough to actually work, but dangerous enough to be the end of them all. Yet, if they kept low and did nothing, it would also be the end of them. Better to go down with the knife in the throat instead of in the back. They weren't ready to die yet. No, not without one last blow to the enemy. He remembered how Deidara had died, suiciding in an attempt to kill Sasuke. Privately, he wished that he could die like that.
Before long, night fell, and Pein was the only one not sleeping. He stared at the ceiling in his room, thinking about his plan. Many people would die, more than those that died in all his previous missions. Why did that bother him so much? Why did he want to avoid destroying too much? That WAS the plan after all - divide and conquer. Which involved destroying as much as possible. It would show everyone what true pain was. And yet... yet somehow, it seemed like too much. Too much blood being shed, too much pain and suffering. Why did he care if they suffered? That was his original plan, he even told that to Jiraiya before he died. Why did he suddenly not want to do this?
He heard a soft tap on his door. Who could still be up at this hour? He muttered for whoever it was to go ahead and let themselves in, and Konan edged into the room quietly. She fidgeted nervously and tilted her head. "Sorry, couldn't sleep."
But he shook his head. "I can't either." He sat up on the edge of his bed, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "Somehow I keep feeling bad about what we intend to do."
She nodded and sat next to him. "You do too...? I hoped it wasn't just me."
"No... I really feel bad about it. I even wish we could just wait it out. I really do, but I wish I knew why! Why do I feel so horrible about this? It... it was my goal from the beginning to destroy everything, everyone... end it all once and for all."
She thought very carefully before saying anything. "Maybe you know, deep inside, that this isn't the only way to solve things. Some part of you is telling you that there are other options besides complete destruction. And... you know what?"
He smiled weakly. She really did look adorable with just the moonlight on her. It made the rest of her as blue as her hair, and she seemed almost ethereal, glowing like that. "What do you think, Konan?"
She smiled an honest smile. "I would agree with that part of you. There must be another way. Something that would end just... just a little bit better." She tilted her head again, that curious look back on her face. Something about the way she looked at him made him believe her, he would have believed anything she told him at that moment. He wanted to believe her, to think that there could be another way, that tomorrow everything would be alright and they wouldn't have to kill anymore. Somehow, deep inside his usual Aspect that looked so much like Yahiko, the true feelings of this Aspect struggled for dominance in his strange composite personalities. Somewhere, the Yahiko Aspect told him that there was another way to end the wars without bloodshed.
He struggled to answer her, his personalities conflicting for the very first time. "I... you're right, Konan. But what should we do?"
"You won't like my answer..."
He shrugged. He really didn't care if he didn't like it anymore. "Tell me anyway."
She paused, then looked away. "The only way we can end this now is to call off the attack."
He nodded thoughtfully, expecting this answer. "Right. It does bother me, but in a way, I was hoping you'd say that." But suddenly his head ached as his other personality threatened to take over. It was a violent personality, wanting no less than utter destruction in every direction. And above all, it wanted to silence his kinder half, and force him to do as it wished. Internally he struggled with it, his hands gripped around his skull in some vain attempt to make that voice stop.
Konan watched this, worried about him. She was aware of his different Aspects, but she had never known they could disagree, or that it would cause him so much pain. And somehow, in the midst of the conflict, she saw the Aspect of Yahiko flash across his face, being dormented by the other, more violent Aspects, and she had to do something. "Y-Yahiko?? You have to fight them!"
His face contorted with the effort of holding all the others back. Even though one was already gone, they still outnumbered him severely. The pain was so horrible, tears started running down his cheeks. He hadn't cried at all in so long... but the sheer agony was enough to make every part of his body feel it. And though he would never explain how it happened, or how it even worked, somehow the Yahiko Aspect pushed the rest of them back into the recesses of his mind, leaving him tormented but clear minded. he shuddered as every nerve protested the exercise, and let himself cry from the terror of the battle. "I... NO! I'm not Pein! I'M NOT! I'm... I'm Yahiko! I can't agree with them anymore!"
Konan instantly held him close to her, hugging him tightly. "No, you're not Pein anymore... you can't listen to them, they'll just make you kill again!" She held his head to her chest, burying her face close to him, desperately trying to say something, ANYthing that might help. "I knew you were still there, Yahiko... all this time they were just suppressing what you really believed."
He then looked at her with his mind finally clear, and finally saw her for what she was to him. "Konan... I'm... what have I been doing all this time? What have I done to you?"
She brushed a tear out of her eye with haste, trying to be strong for his sake. "You haven't done anything to me. I'm... I'm just fine."
"I never meant to hurt you." He stared at her, again putting his hand to her cheek, just like that time before, but now he didn't hesitate to tell her anything. "Believe me, I'd never do that to you. I did it to protect you, because... because I loved you so much. But I didn't know they would make me do this to you."
So he did love her after all. That was why he went to such extremes, that was why he was so protective, keeping her away from everyone else, overreacting when she was hurt. That was why he fought so hard to regain who he really was. He loved her, and she knew that she would always love him in return. "I know you did it for me. But... from now on, just be yourself. I don't want you to be anyone else. Even if you make mistakes, and hurt people, even me, I want you to be who you really are. I love you too, and I only want the real you. Just do that much for me."
He nodded, a smile just grazing his lips. "Alright. No matter what happens tomorrow, I promise you I'll be myself. I-" She put a finger on his lips, and shook her head.
"No, no more about that. Let's not talk anymore." Before he could say anything else, she silenced him forcibly with her own lips, kissing him far deeper than ever before, not caring about what might happen the next day. Though he was still new to this sort of thing, he responded favorably, holding on to her waist, returning her affection as best as he knew how. She was a bit more creative, having the heart of an artist, and whether it was to his pleasure or his disdain - he wasn't quite sure what it was - she insisted on maintaining her dominance, and was a bit more forceful than he expected. No, wait, it wasn't disdain, he liked this. He liked these new emotions that she brought him into. Heck, he didn't mind giving in to her affections, even if it did force him to be submissive. He wanted everything she had to give, though he made sure to return every last bit of it in turn, sharing alike in whatever this sudden passion had to lend to them.
Even as they lost all sense of time, it didn't matter. No, even if he lost his innate sense of place to get lost in this spiral of emotional surges, neither of them minded in the least, glad to be lost in something, anything that kept them from thinking of anything else, lost for what seemed forever in that silent night.
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Next time: What WILL happen tomorrow anyway? Will I finally get more graphic for the sake of my readers? More interesting things are guaranteed to happen, so please read and review, leave feedback. Detailed feedback is always appreciated too, and I read all of them! Be sure to stick around for the next chapter!