Itachi was quiet the rest of the day.

He picked at his food before murmuring a soft, "I'm not hungry. Excuse me." and leaving the table. He disappeared into his bedroom, and Kisame couldn't coax him back out for anything. He tried to figure out what was wrong, but Itachi was completely ignoring him. Either that, or he was asleep. Or he jumped out the window and took off…Kisame wouldn't put it past him. Itachi had left before for apparently no reason, often for days on end. But he always came back. Kisame wouldn't be worried until a week passed with no sign of Itachi. But it had been hours, and Itachi hadn't so much as spoken. Kisame had banged on the door quite loudly for the last time. He sharply twisted the knob, shoving at the same time. The latch snapped, and Kisame opened the door.

Itachi was gone.

Shocker, Kisame thought flatly. But it wasn't like Itachi wasn't coming back. He would be back soon, whether it be hours, days, whatever. Usually, Itachi would tell him, though…vaguely, but he would let him know. "I'm going." "I'll be back." "Don't take a mission until I get back." Kisame sighed. Itachi, you can't ever make this easy? His gaze swept across the room, searching for a sign that Itachi may have left. He wouldn't have just up and left, would he…?

On the bed, his cloak and slashed headband.

The window, open and curtains swaying in the gentle breeze.

Pinned by a kunai to the wall, a piece of paper.

Kisame walked over to the wall, yanking the paper off the kunai. Don't come after me. I'm not coming back this time.

Kisame's heart suddenly leapt to his throat. You didn't! he mentally screamed. Itachi, no! Why the hell-? What were you thinking? You can't just…argh, what happened to make you do something so stupid?! I don't care what you say, I am coming after you. Stupid teenager!

OOOOOOOOOOO

Itachi sat on a tree branch, far away from the Akatsuki lair. He was in front of a huge lake, pooling in the ground from a magnificent waterfall about a hundred feet away. Itachi sat against the trunk of the tree, one leg bent up with his arm resting across it. The other leg was stretched out along the course of the thick branch, and Itachi's other arm was resting across his first. He had taken off his usual cloak and headband, discarding also the Akatsuki hat and pants. Instead, Itachi wore three-quarter-length dark gray pants and black shinobi sandals, which he found to be actually more comfortable than what he had formerly worn. The Uchiha's eyes held unshed tears, pain, and infinite sadness. He stared off blankly into space, trying to come to terms with himself. Pein had rejected him, throwing him flat on the ground and kicking him in the ribs. Then, to add insult to injury, did just what he asked: walked out without a word. Itachi sighed and tipped his head back, closing his eyes as softly as he dared. He hoped Kisame hadn't followed him, otherwise soft would be the last thing on the list. Itachi had told Kisame not to follow him for a reason: he wanted to be alone. He wasn't going to do anything stupid, like cut or suicide. Only cowards mutilated themselves to get rid of their pain. Itachi, instead, meditated. He focused his mind instead on his inner coil of chakra, forcing it into a blind fury that he then exhausted in training. And then, he felt much better. His mind was clearer, having done away with the emotions that clouded it, and Itachi could think again. His decisions tended to come out better this way, as well. Itachi had just fallen into himself, plunging deep into the center of his soul to calm himself. He may as well just focus on soothing his aching wounds.

His soul appeared before him, a misty figure of continuous movement and center of emotion. Itachi's life force was generated from this translucent figure, an image of himself that changed colors with emotion. Now, it was a deep, deep, red, for the sorrow and pain in his heart. The dance it performed to keep his life going was a slow, lethargic expression of the deep-rooted sorrow of Itachi's entire being. Itachi knew that the twinges of black at the edges of his outline were dangerous: his figure would only turn black if he died. He took a deep breath, and allowed his mind to come into contact with the figure.

He rocketed into his soul, suddenly taking up his own version of his life-sustaining dance. It was much faster, more aggressive, and Itachi could feel his soul taking on a heady orange color-orange, for aggression. Itachi could feel his body beginning to hum with energy, and it suddenly took on a whole new feel. He separated himself from his soul, retreating to his normal body. His eyes flew open with a gasp, and Itachi stood suddenly. He felt the energy he had created singing through his body, and he reached into his kunai pouch, sitting right behind his hip, taking out several kunai and lacing them between his fingers. He shot upwards into the air, and the kunai began to fly.

OOOOOOOOOO

Jiraiya ran.

He ran for his life. He ran for Pein's life. He ran for Nagato's life. Nagato, the forgotten orphan of the Ame, who had suddenly grown up to be its ruler. Nagato, Jiraiya's student. Nagato, Jiraiya's child, almost-! Jiraiya sighed. He had been blind to Nagato's inner darkness, just as Sarutobi had been blind to Orochimaru's inner lust for power. No, he had not been blind: he had tried to suppress it, which might have been worse than ignoring it. Orochimaru was too headstrong: trying to bridle his spirit would be like trying to bridle a wild horse. The horse would rear and try to attack, or run away. Orochimaru was naturally aggressive; he would attack. And so, he did. Sarutobi had tried to put a restraint on his wild, uncontrollable spirit, and it had backfired horribly. Orochimaru had backed out, biting and snapping all the way, and Sarutobi had been the victim.

He had died, trying to bridle Orochimaru's spirit.

Hell, he had even taken some with him to the netherworld, but he could never, ever tame Orochimaru. And so it would be with Nagato-or Pein, at this point. He would never accept a restraint on himself, body or soul. Ibiki had tried, and almost succeeded. But Pein's sheer willpower had pulled him through, as had his faithful ninja. 

And Jiraiya had been the loser of that battle. But he refused to allow himself to be bullied out of his right to at least speak to Pein. Pein might not want to talk to him, but he was going to listen, whether he liked it or not!

Jiraiya got to the Akatsuki's hideout without a hitch, which he thought was odd. Wouldn't there be traps of some kind? Or maybe he had triggered them and didn't realize it? Jiraiya sighed and stared up at the massive rock in front of him. Five-pronged seal. Of course. Jiraiya formed four clones and sent them all off to find the seals and remove them, and sat down against the rock.

"Jiraiya. Get the hell out."

Jiraiya shot to his feet at the sound of Pein's cold voice cutting through the still air like a knife. "Nagato," he said softly. "I came to apologize," he said. "I didn't want to do what I did-I was following orders."

"Oh, everyone is 'just following orders'," Pein spat. "When is someone going to have the guts to say no? When is someone going to realize that there is more to life than just listening to someone else's orders and obeying them? Jiraiya, I'll give you one last chance: for old time's sake. Walk away, and I won't kill you."

Jiraiya could sense the malice in Pein's voice. The hatred. The aggression that never ceased. And the pain that had never gone away. Every waking moment of his life, Pein had suffered. Even when he didn't realize it, he was suffering. Jiraiya couldn't ease that, no matter what he did. He couldn't help Nagato get over the fear in his heart-the pain, that maybe someday, someone could ease. "I'm sorry," he said softly, "but I can't do that. I want you to know what happened, and how it happened. I didn't want it to happen this way, but apparently it needs to happen a certain way. Don't hold that against me."

Pein looked away, a small noise of distaste issuing from his throat. "Do you have a death wish?" he spat disdainfully. "Leave now, before I am forced to kill you!"

Jiraiya smiled. "You're the only one who can," he said mildly. "I have no fear of you, honestly."

"You do not fear death?"

Pein's eyes narrowed, and he bore down on Jiraiya like a demon. He couldn't see why his former mentor was being so insistent on staying. He would certainly die at Pein's hands if he was still there in thirty seconds…Pein settled into a crouch, waiting for the right moment to spring his attack. Jiraiya only seemed disappointed.

"You must think I taught you everything," he said vaguely, setting his hands on his hips and staring up at the cloudless sky. Ironic, he thought, that he fights with rain, and it's such a beautiful day. Nagato…I'm sorry, but I hate everything you've become.

"But I didn't teach you anything."

Jiraiya suddenly blurred, and, in a second, he was yards away from Pein. The Rinnegan master was doubled over at the same time, clutching at his stomach, where blood was seeping through his cloak around a straight dagger shoved into his midsection. Pein's knees hit the ground, and his eyes squeezed shut in unimaginable pain. Jiraiya gazed upon him sadly, feeling Pein's blood on his fingers.

He decided to ease his suffering.

"Calm down," he whispered, "and I'll make it clean." Pein turned to look over his shoulder, shock registering in his eyes as he recognized the seals Jiraiya was performing.

"Don't," he whispered. "You know it'll backfire-! You can't imagine what'll happen if you try to-!"

But it was too late. Jiraiya initiated his jutsu, and Pein leapt to the side, behind a thick tree. The tree took the brunt of the jutsu, splintering and exploding behind Pein. Pein cried out as his wound was wrenched, and he was thrown into the air with the force of Jiraiya's jutsu.

Well, it seemed it hadn't backfired.

Gamabunta stood before them, flames still smoking from his nostrils. Pein hid himself behind a tree against, panting and whimpering with the pain of his stabbed side. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight like this: it was almost impossible to move, let alone fight a sannin. But at least it wasn't Orochimaru: the snake sannin had a personal vendetta towards Pein-and all of Akatsuki, for that matter. Ever since leaving, Orochimaru had held a grudge against Akatsuki. And then Pein gave out a standing order to drag him back in chains, and things went from bad to worse. On the other hand, Jiraiya loved him, so he should be able to hold his own until Konan could get there. Surely, she sensed his pain by now…

Sure enough, Pein sensed Konan drawing closer, and gave a sigh of relief. She could at least stop the bleeding in this damn wound. Curse Jiraiya for doing this to him-curse him to the lowest, deepest layer of hell!

And then Pein realized: the love, the hate, the wound, the near-deathblow…Jiraiya hadn't done anything to him. He had allowed Jiraiya to wound him. Because he couldn't bear to fight his father.

Pein let out a broken sob as Konan landed next to him, jumping down from the tree above him. She gathered him into her arms, pressing a hand to his wound and healing around the knife. She needed to close the veins around it to stop the bleeding; the knife could be plugging a lot of blood from spewing out. Konan slowly and carefully pulled the knife out, trying as hard as she could to hold back the pain she knew Pein was feeling. Pein buried his face in Kona's shoulder, trying to stifle the scream that burst from his throat. Konan flinched, feeling every ounce of Pein's agony as her own. "I know, I know!" she cried softly. "Just calm down, and I'll get you out of here, okay?" Konan paused, looking down at Pein. She gently reached over and turned his face from her shoulder, gazing into his pain-stricken face and suddenly crumbling. "Hang on," she whispered. "You're going to be okay…Pein, please, stay with me!" Kona struggled to her feet, Pein in her arms, and took off for the Akatsuki's hideout. It wasn't far; Pein had come out to meet Jiraiya drawn him a short distance off. Konan made it in minutes, darting in through the secret entrance on the side of the cave's mouth.

Kisame met her there.

"What happened?!" he barked, seeing Pein injured and Konan frantic. Konan thrust Pein into Kisame's arms, making sure he had a grip on him before running across the entrance chamber and calling back,

"Bring him this way!"

Kisame wasn't about to argue, and ran across the room with Pein. Konan led him down to her room; it wasn't hard to get to. While hers and Pein's rooms were the only rooms on a lower floor, there were also the closest to the entryway. Konan took Pein from Kisame in the doorway of her room, running in and laying him out across her bed. She began scurrying back and forth, in and out of the bathroom and gathering medical supplies. Kisame could hardly keep track of her, she was moving so quickly. Finally, Konan settled in relatively one spot, pressing her hands to Pein's side and allowing green chakra to flare up. Pein's breathing, formerly harsh and uneven gasps, leveled out. His eyes closed, and his body seemed to still. Konan sat back for a moment, taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat from her brow. She then leaned forward over Pein again, hands glowing green once more, and said softly,

"He'll be alright."

A/N: A bit rushed at the end…. Poo. Well, review, por favor. Two more chapters!!