Author's note: this is getting very confusing, what with new stories and different chapters and whatnot. -sigh- suffice it to say that this is the last chapter of this story and all the extras are now stories of their own. i really wouldn't blame you if you've completely given up on me after this... if you're interested, the other POV's are called "In the eyes of the beholder."
Disclaimer: i'm sure the creators of Naruto make far more sense than we do...
--kyra

"Merely that we of the female species are both subtler and more intelligent than you poor males. I fully intend to douse Konan's supper with something nasty."

"I heard that."

Maddie turned away from Kisame to see Konan coming up the stairs, her arms crossed over her chest. Maddie seemed unconcerned that her plans had been discovered.

"Did you? Well then, I'll just have to think of something else, won't I?"

Konan snorted slightly. There was no way in any of the hells that Maddie could do anything to her. "You can try. But I'm older and more experienced than you are. You don't think you can trick me, do you?"

Maddie's answering smile was all sweetness and light, with no plotting whatsoever. It made Konan exceedingly nervous, though she refused to show it. "Your flaw, Konan, is your overconfidence. Trust me, Sir Leader can't protect you all the time."

Affronted, Konan demanded, "You are implying that I cannot protect myself?"

Maddie's smile didn't fade. "No, just that he has bodies to spare while you don't."

Konan sighed, planting her hands on her hips. "Your point is?"

Maddie's grin only widened. "Be patient. Wait until the men folk have finished attempting to kill each other – again – over their object of mutual affection, and then we can deal with ours."

Konan nodded. "That seems fair. I'll go tell Pein that I will be otherwise occupied this evening."

"You do that. And I didn't think bigamy on the side was tolerated."

"It's not bigamy if you're not married." Not that Pein would care one way or another. Konan had long ago established that, as long as she was there for him when he wanted her, she could do whatever she wanted. Her mistake this time had been in getting caught.

"Good point. Even so, I doubt he'll approve."

"He's tough. He knows I'll come back to him when I've had my fun." She nodded at Maddie, glanced one last time at the dueling specters, and drifted away, going to find Pein and inform him of her plans for the evening. He didn't seem surprised.

"It was only a matter of time," he commented dryly.

"I suppose it was," she agreed. "Am I forgiven yet?"

He shot her a glare, but it wasn't as venomous as they'd been before. He'd had time to recover some of his composure. "Not in the least. You won't be forgiven for a long time, I'm afraid."

"Shame. Does that mean you won't welcome me to your bed until then?"

"I'll think about it. Though I suspect that, were I to enforce such a decree, you would just try and find someone else. I would advise against trying for Kisame again. Maddie can get vicious."

"You are implying that I don't already know that?"

"No, just that you haven't actually seen what she can do yet."

"Oh, and you have?"

"Have you taken a look at Deidara's room lately?"

"I try to avoid it if at all possible."

"I'd suggest you go see. It's well worth the detour."

"I'll keep that in mind."

He looked at her for a moment, then remarked quietly, "I wish you'd reconsider."

Konan scowled. "I'm going to take that as a plea for my company tonight instead of an implication that I cannot defend myself against a ghost."

"Take it as you wish. I just wish you wouldn't do this."

"You can wish all you want. She was the one who issued the challenge."

"And you are within your rights to refuse it."

"And look like a coward before the entire base? I think not."

He sighed. "Fine then. And when you've had your fun, come back and we'll talk, all right?"

She inclined her head towards him. "All right. But why do I have the feeling we won't get much talking done?"

He had no answer to that. She hadn't been expecting one. She waited a beat, then nodded once at him and made her way to her own room to prepare for the confrontation ahead.

Konan stood, her weight balanced, her mind ready to call up her paper form at a moment's notice. Maddie hovered across from her, ribbons floating freely. Neither spoke, both watching the other for any signs of motion. Suddenly, Maddie struck, her fribbons coiling around what appeared to be empty air and jerking upwards. Konan felt the rug she was standing on twitch, and she jumped up, only to see it soar out from under where she had been to settle at Maddie's side.

Konan pulled out a sheet of paper and folded it deftly, shaping it into a katana. Holding it ready, she took a step forward.

"That won't wo-rk," Maddie taunted, skipping away. "I'm insubstantial, remember?"

Konan grimaced. "I am well aware of that fact," she promised the girl.

"Then your paper thing won't hurt me!"

"Oh, it's not destined to hurt you, I assure you."

Confusion flickered briefly across Maddie's face. "Wait, what?"

Konan's grimaced morphed itself into a cold smile. "You heard me."

"Heard, yes. Understood? No. Explain."

Konan whirled, aimed, and shot the paper knife directly at Kisame, who was observing in the background. Maddie's eyes widened, and a large chair rose to block the knife's path. The paper embedded itself into the back of the chair, quivering.

"That's cheating," Maddie screeched, lowering the chair once again. "You're not fighting him, you're fighting me!"

"You are one for stating the obvious, aren't you?"

"And you're one for ignoring the rules!"

Konan laughed. "Rules? What rules? We're criminals, remember? We exist to break the rules!"

"Not our own!"

"Which would be…?"

"Fighting one person at a time!"

Konan laughed again. "Maybe you can only handle one at a time, but some of us are stronger than you. Most of us are, in fact."

"No you're not! You're underestimating me just because I'm younger than you, aren't you? I'm so sick of people doing that!" With that, she promptly deposited a table on Konan's head.

Konan crawled out from under it, her head aching slightly. She was beginning to see what Pein meant. It wasn't so much that Maddie was dangerous, as that she didn't know when to stop.

"I'm speaking from experience and prior knowledge," Konan snapped, folding another sheet of paper. "You're young and inexperienced and… especially… dead!"

"I seem to be able to work around those, don't I?"

"With people who aren't expecting you. Have you ever actually fought anyone who knew what you were doing?"

"And what am I doing?"

"You're using your environment to your advantage. It's the only advantage you have."

"You mean disregarding the bit about me being able to hurt you and you not being able to touch me?"

"There are ways around that."

"Like what?"

Konan merely grinned again and revealed her paper creation. A small lion sat in the palm of her hand, roaring inaudibly.

"Am I supposed to be impressed or something?"

Konan ignored her and retrieved her paper katana. Folding it back into shape, she murmured a silent apology to the lion and swiftly chopped its head off.

"What are you doing?"

Konan still didn't answer, watching her lion in hopes that her idea had worked. Finally, the lion shuddered and a ghost lion came out of the paper shell. Konan felt a small part of her adjust to this new state of affairs, and she knew that, if she made too many of these, she herself would fade away and become a ghost. Pein wouldn't appreciate that. She would have to be careful.

"What did you do to it?" Maddie demanded in horror.

"I killed it. What does it look like?"

"That's… that's cruel!"

Konan snorted. "It's not like it actually felt anything." She glanced at the lion and the ghost part of her mind sent it off to draw Maddie's blood… or whatever ghosts had instead of blood. It began raking her with its tiny claws, causing the girl to squeak first in surprise, then in pain. The lion continued to do its best to rip her into shreds as Konan watched.

Maddie tried to bat the lion away, but Konan was far more experienced than Maddie, and the lion evaded her every swat. Finally, her face contorted in pain and anger, Maddie turned back to Konan.

"That's it! I'm done playing nicely!"

Konan snorted again. Her snort quickly turned into a slight noise (never would she ever call it a 'squeak,' though Maddie later swore that that's what it was) of surprise as she felt herself being lifted bodily out the window.

Maddie floated before her, her angry expression countered by the light in her eyes.

"Bye bye Konan." And then Maddie dropped her.

Konan's eyes closed on their own volition, and she braced herself for the impact. But a smaller, more rational portion of her brain remained in control and began fabricating paper wings to save her from being crushed on the ground. Mere inches before she hit the afore mentioned ground, the wings burst out, giving her a sudden burst of height. She soared back up to the window, where Maddie was still attempting to deal with her lion.

"Missed me?"

Maddie turned to stare, her eyes narrowing. "Hey! I threw you out the window! You should be dead!"

"I'm not that easy to kill. Besides, if I were dead, then I'd be a ghost too, so that wouldn't be any fun!"

"He wouldn't let you go!"

"Who?"

"The God of Death, of course!"

Konan grimaced. "I can deal with Gods."

"You haven't met this one."

"Probably a good thing."

"He's Eris' brother."

"I care about this why?"

"He hates her."

"That could be a problem."

Maddie nodded.

"It's still your turn."

"What?"

"To try to kill me. It's your turn."

"Oh, right." Maddie glanced around the room, still fending off the lion, which had taken a liking to her fribbons. One of those fribbons reached back and came back pulling a knife. Konan eyed it with respect, and got to work making one of her own.

"Can you even use that thing?" she asked, folding rapidly.

"Of course I can! You wanna try me?"

"I thought that was the entire point of this. Why don't you come out here? Fighting through a window could be… awkward."

Maddie complied, stepping through the window to hover level with Konan. Both leveled their knives, looking each other in the eye. Konan called her lion back, not wanting him to distract either of them. He perched on her shoulder… or tried to. She twitched as his body went through her. It was the oddest feeling. It tried again, and went through her again. With what sounded suspiciously like a sigh – odd, coming from a headless creature – it settled for hovering directly above her shoulder, tail extended and feet spread out for balance. Its head sat at its feet, watching the action with bring eyes.

Maddie moved first again, darting towards Konan. Konan dodged, but her wings didn't, and Maddie sliced through one of them. Not enough to make her fall out of the air, but definitely enough to make a difference. Konan examined the damage, sighing. More than she could fix during a fight. She would have to deal with it later.

"Aren't you going to strike…" Maddie's taunt was cut short as Konan launched herself forwards, paper knife at the ready. She sliced right through Maddie, making no difference. The lion, at her silent command, extended its claws and wracked Maddie's knife arm. The girl winced.

"Hey!"

Konan glanced back. "Going on about the rules again? I thought I told you that they were made to be broken!"

Maddie scowled, not answering. She came towards Konan again, this time only managing to nick the tip of the other wing. Lovely. Now she was handicapped on both sides. At least she wouldn't be lopsided. Much.

"Had enough yet?" Maddie demanded, panting slightly.

Konan didn't even dignify that with an answer, choosing instead to strike again. Maddie, prepared for the lion, dodged, but not before she received another scratch on the face. She scowled.

"I'm going to kill that thing!"

"That would be cruelty to animals," Konan pointed out. "You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"It's dead."

"So are you."

"That's different. At least I was alive once!"

"So was it. Just because it wasn't made of flesh and blood doesn't mean it wasn't alive. You're getting species-ist in your old age."

"Oh, like you're one to talk about being old! I bet you're at least ten years older than I am!"

Before Konan could answer, a familiar emotionless voice drifted towards them. "Are we interrupting anything?"

Konan and Maddie glanced down to see Michiko and Itachi coming towards them.

"Nothing at all," Konan replied. "We're just about finished here."

Maddie grimaced and came forward again, her knife at the ready. "You're right, we are!"

Konan sighed and folded her wings in, dropping straight down to the ground. Maddie followed, but a tad more slowly, and Konan had already landed and stepped away by the time the girl struck.

"Get back here!"

"Again with the rules. You'll never learn, will you?"

"Rules?" Itachi again, managing to inject the question with absolutely no curiosity. "What rules?"

"Exactly!" Konan looked at Maddie in triumph. "He knows how it works!"

"He's been doing this longer than I have," Maddie muttered rebelliously. "Not my fault!"

"I thought you learned quickly."

"Shut up!"

"Resorting to insults? I thought you were supposed to be killing me, not talking at me."

Maddie glowered and came in again. Suddenly, she stopped, staring at a spot slightly beyond Konan's shoulder. Konan turned to see Eris coming towards them.

"Please," the Goddess said, raising her hands in a gesture of innocence that looked completely out of place, "don't stop on my account."

Maddie's eyes narrowed, clearly putting the pieces together. "It's your fault!" she proclaimed. She turned back to Konan. "It is, isn't it?"

"You could say that, yes," Konan agreed dryly.

"You're going to try to throw that at me, aren't you?" Eris nodded at Maddie's knife.

"That was the plan, yes," Maddie agreed through clenched teeth.

"Sorry dear. Won't work. I'm a Goddess, remember? Your mortal things won't touch me."

"They can do their best," Maddie growled.

"It won't work," Eris repeated. "And I'd rather you not try, if it's all the same to you. But please, go back to trying to slice dear Konan into little pieces. That was entertaining."

"For you, maybe," Konan muttered. She was getting very tired of Eris.

"I am the Goddess of chaos."

"We've noticed," Maddie agreed. "You don't need to keep announcing it."

Eris smiled. "But it's part of who I am! You wouldn't want me to change who I am, would you?"

"Anything but that," Konan commented, her voice dripping with dry sarcasm.

"Nonsense. Life wouldn't be any fun without Eris around!"

"Fun for who?"

"Fun is in the eye of the beholder."

Maddie grimaced. "Which would be you?"

"Of course!"

Konan grimaced. "Can we get this over with please? I'm getting bored here."

"Oh, anything but that."

Maddie scowled at Konan. "You sound like her."

"Oh, anything but that."

Both Eris and Maddie glared at Konan, who shrugged. "Are you done yet?" she asked Eris.

"You think you're funny, do you?"

Konan shrugged again. "Only when I can't avoid it."

Maddie glowered at her and raised the knife again.

"Aren't you getting tired of doing that yet?"

"You wish."

"You're right. I do." Konan looked from Maddie to Eris. "I'm going to leave now."

"No you're not!" Maddie screamed, but Konan had already unfurled her wings. They weren't healed, but they were quite sufficient to propel her off the air and back towards the open window. Maddie followed, but Konan ignored her. She pulled out another sheet of paper and began turning it into a kitten.

Just as Maddie caught up with her, knife at the ready, Konan turned towards her with a bring smile, katana at the ready. Maddie's eyes locked on the kitten, and she gasped.

"You wouldn't…"

"I'm making you a pet."

"You're going to kill it!"

"You won't notice."

"It'll be dead!"

"So are you, yet it doesn't seem to bother you much." Konan leveled her katana and gently flicked it across the kitten's throat. Maddie gasped as it collapsed into Konan's cupped hands.

"You killed it!"

"You are once again stating the obvious."

"But…"

"Watch." They both watched as the specter of the kitten rose out of the paper shell. Konan ushered it towards the girl, who was looking at it with rapt eyes. "Have fun."

"Thank you!" Suddenly, Maddie's eyes narrowed. "What's the catch?"

"You are to stop trying to kill me."

"And you'll stay away from Kisame?"

Konan inclined her head in agreement.

"Good." Maddie turned back to the dead kitten, her eyes melting back into teenage soppiness. Konan drifted through the window, folding her wings back up and assuring herself that she was perfectly content with the role she was assigned within Akatsuki. It was far more trouble than she wanted to break out that role, despite the entertainment factor. After all, she wouldn't want to turn into Eris, would she?

So things went back to what passed for normal, and Konan retreated back to her room, completely unaware of the next crisis brewing just around the corner.