A few weeks before Tenshi's third birthday, Konan finally went into labor. Amazingly, Pein had actually remembered to get the painkillers this time. Still, they could only help so much, and soon enough Konan was screaming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ten hours later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pein looked like he was going to be sick. "Is it honestly that bad?" he asked.
"Yes," the three ukes chorused.
"Worse, actually, since someone forgot the medicine for us, un!" Deidara snapped.
"Sorry," Pein weakly muttered, stiffening as another scream cut through the air.
Fortunately for the distraught leader, the medic emerged from the room ten minutes later. "Twin boys," she said with a smile. "You're welcome to see them now, if you like."
Pein nodded and walked towards the door. Before entering the room, he turned to Hidan and nodded to the masochist. Hidan grinned and picked up his scythe, walking towards the oblivious medic.
Just as the medic had said, Konan was sitting in bed with two boys in her arms. One had blue peach fuzz; the other, orange. They must have been fraternal twins then. "Now are you happy?" Pein asked, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed with a smile on his face.
"Yes," she affirmed, cuddling the babies to her chest.
"Am I going to get a chance to hold them?"
"My babies!" she growled. "Mine mine mine!"
"You're going to turn into an overly possessive mother, aren't you?"
"Maybe."
"Do I at least get to pick a name for one of them?"
"Fine," she agreed. "But this one," she said, motioning with her head to the orange-haired boy, "is going to be Heki."
"Alright, then you'll be…." The leader frowned. "Um, well, he can be…"
"Yes?" Konan asked.
"…Hakushi?"
"Named for what was going on in your head, no doubt."
"You can be so cruel," Pein muttered.
"I get it from you, honey."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~two years later~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you kidding?!" Hidan demanded angrily, rising to his feet only to be pulled back down onto the couch by Kakuzu.
"Please tell me that this is some kind of sick joke," Sasori begged.
"I'm sorry, but it's not," Pein replied grimly. The entire Akatsuki had been gathered in the living room for an important announcement.
"Pein, there is no way we are all leaving the base at the same time!" Kisame declared. "Who the heck's gonna look after the kids?!"
"Tenshi can't take care of them all, un," Deidara pointed out. "She's not even five, un!"
"I am well aware of that!" Pein said. "But hear me out. Recently, a deal with one of our allies went wrong. The problem is, they know exactly where we are. It's highly probable that they will attack us soon. That puts every one of us at risk, including your children."
There was dead silence as the words sank in. "You have to believe me," Pein went on. "The only way we can guarantee the safety of the Akatsuki as a whole is if we all go out there and fight. We're not safe until every one of them is dead, and the quickest way to get that to happen is for everyone to be involved."
"That still doesn't change the fact that someone needs to stay here with the children," Itachi stated calmly.
"…We can spare Tobi and Zetsu," Pein said. "But that's it. Can you people live with that?"
"Someone's better than no one," Kakuzu said. A few other affirmatives were heard, but as a whole the members weren't sure about leaving their children in the incapable hands of an idiot and a cannibal.
"So help me, Zetsu, if you do anything to Heki or Hakushi," Konan began.
"You'll blow me up, gut me, trap me in the Tsukiyomi, shred me to pieces, sacrifice me, break every bone in my body, or something worse, right? The others got to me first."
"Well here's another thing to add to the list," she hissed. "I'll castrate you with this!" She held up a piece of paper for him to see.
"…Paper?"
"It will be the most painful paper cut you will ever know," she promised him. With that, she walked off to give her sons their goodbye.
"…Why do we let these things happen? I don't know, but I blame you. Tobi, get the chicken wire!"
~~~~~~~~~~one hour and impromptu fencing later~~~~~~~~~~~
"That wasn't too hard," Zetsu said, setting Ahato on the floor. He and Tobi had been able to rig up a crude pen in the middle of the living room, which now housed all the children except for Tenshi.
"Aww, it's like a petting zoo!" Tobi squealed, bending down by the pen and staring inside at the toddlers.
"Speaking of which," Zetsu said, looking at the clock, "it's feeding time." He walked into the kitchen, returning moments later with a box of animal crackers. He quickly tore open the box and began tossing handfuls of crackers into the pen, where they were quickly scooped up by the children within. While they were eating, he grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, flipping to an episode of Teletubbies. Immediately the youth were hypnotized by the disturbing television show. "Parenting's easy," the schizo said. "Wonder why those wimps keep complaining about it."
"You're just lucky they're in a good mood," Tenshi stated.
"How long have you been here?!" the plant man demanded.
"A while," she said. "I wanna make sure you behave like daddy and poppa told you to."
"Oh, a little spy, eh?"
"Zetsu," Tobi called out, "there's some guy crawling around the bushes!"
"Some guy-oh shit!"
BOOOOOOOM
Zetsu barely had time to shield Tenshi before the front door came flying across the room, crashing into the far wall. Immediately the schizo was on his feet, running towards the doorway as he drew a knife. "Tobi, get the kids to the storage room! NOW!"
For once the masked nin obeyed the man without hesitation, and immediately smashed in a side of the pen, grabbing Heki and Amaifuyu. Tenshi was fast on his heels and picked up Boom. They'd have to come back for the other two. Following Tobi as fast as she could, the two bolted down the hall, the sounds of battle already ringing in their ears.
The storage room was about as far from the living room as you could be in the base without actually leaving the building. The room itself was full of wooden crates, and smelled damp and moldy.
Tobi quickly set the two boys he held behind a crate on the far end of the room. "Tenshi, be a good girl and keep everyone quiet, ok?" the girl nodded, hushing the crying children as Tobi left to get the others. Without Tenshi to slow him down, he was able to return moments later, carrying Ahato and Hakushi. "Tobi is going to help Zetsu now," the man explained. "Stay here, and do not come out no matter what. Understand?"
"Don't go!" Tenshi begged.
"Tenshi, Tobi has to, or else Zetsu might get really hurt," he said gently, not wanting to frighten the child.
"Ok," Tenshi finally whispered, sitting down and pulling the children close to her. Tobi patted the girl on the head, then disappeared from sight.
The blue-haired girl sat in the middle of the toddlers, shaking. It felt like an eternity passed, and all she could hear was the sound of the children breathing, and the far-off sounds of a fight taking place.
She gasped and jumped when she heard the sounds of the storage room opening. Tenshi was tempted to call out for Tobi, but held it in. "Is anyone in here?" an unknown male voice asked.
Tenshi's heart began to pound; how had someone gotten past Zetsu and Tobi?! More importantly, what was she supposed to do now? "Hey, if you're hiding, come out now!" another male commanded.
The child's mind was racing. She couldn't fight them; and hiding was out of the question, since that would expose the toddlers.
"We know you're in here," the first man called out. Now Tenshi could hear the sounds of someone walking across the room, footsteps echoing like gunshots each time they moved. She winced as she heard several crates topple to the ground. "Come out now!" the second man ordered.
At that instant, Heki began to cry.
Seconds later, Tenshi was looking up into the eyes of a blood-covered man, grinning and holding a knife. "Hello, kiddies," he said, grinning sadistically at the children.
Pein and Konan were sitting under an oak tree, resting. It was a very good thing the entire group had gone; if even one of them had been missing, they would not have come out of this battle as the victors.
The leader looked up as a shadow crossed over him. He watched as Deidara and Sasori flew down on the back of one of Deidara's clay birds, hopping onto the ground moments later. "No survivors within a ten mile radius," the Akasuna reported as Deidara sent the bird into the air, blowing it up seconds later.
"Can we get back home then?" Itachi asked. "I have a bad feeling."
"Me too," Konan admitted.
"If no one escaped, we have no need to stay around here," Kakuzu pointed out.
"Then let's go," Pein said. Minutes later, all traces of the Akatsuki were gone.
"Oh no," Deidara muttered.
"What is it?" Pein demanded.
"I see smoke, un," the blonde replied, pointing to his scope.
"Is it…?" Konan asked softly.
"Why else would he point it out?" Hidan asked.
When they arrived, they found a pile of bodies laying outside the doorway. The door itself was nowhere to be seen. The inside was just as bad; corpses lay all over the ground, and the front room and living room looked like they'd been hit by a hurricane, fire, and earthquake all at once. "Damn, there must have been fifty of them!" Kisame declared, stomping down on a nearby body.
"About time you showed up." The Akatsuki as a whole jerked their heads in the direction of the voice.
Zetsu was lying on the ground, with more than a dozen knives sticking out of him. He was covered in blood (most of which was probably his own) and part of his flytrap had been smashed in.
While the others stared in shock at him, Konan ran over to the man, kneeling down by his side. "Zetsu?!"
"The kids are in the storage room," the schizo murmured, coughing up blood as he spoke. "Do me a favor. Castrate me now, while I can't feel anything."
"Where is Tobi?" Itachi suddenly asked.
"Wait," Pein commanded. "This whole place could be booby-trapped. We need to take things slowly-"
"The hell we do!" Hidan screamed.
"Kakuzu, you start putting Zetsu back together. Kisame, Sasori, spread out and search the outside for any additional enemies. I'll check in here. The rest of you are free to go to the storage room." The words were no sooner out of his mouth than the entire group had split up.
More bodies were laying in the hallway, in slightly better shape than the ones they'd previously encountered. "They really went all out," Konan remarked sadly. "We have to-oh god, Tobi!"
The ninja was laying on the floor, mask badly cracked. His leg was bent at an impossible angle, and his breathing was shallow.
Konan tried to move to the fallen man, only to be held back by Itachi. "Look," he commanded, pointing to the ground past the ninja. Twin trails of blood drops led away from the man, down the hall…
And into the storage room.
Panic rising, the group hurried into the room. "Tenshi, are you guys in here?!" Konan screamed, anxiety apparent in her tone.
Their answer came in the form of soft sobbing.
Turning on the lights, the four spread out, searching for the children. "They're back here, un!" Deidara called out. Instantly the other three converged on him.
Two bodies lay in front of the children, cold and unmoving. The toddlers were asleep, but Tenshi was curled into a ball, sobbing into her hands. "Tenshi," Deidara said, reaching out to the girl-
Only to receive a blood-chilling scream in response.
The adults jumped, and the toddlers awoke, crying. Deidara, Hidan, and Konan set about to hushing them, while Itachi kneeled down in front of his daughter. "Tenshi, it's me," he whispered. The girl continued crying, but didn't scream when Itachi put his hands on her shoulders. "Tenshi, it's alright. We're here now."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Tenshi, you have no reason to be…" the rest of his sentence died when the girl looked up at him.
Her pupils were blood red. "I didn't mean to hurt them," she whispered.
"Tenshi," he murmured, bringing the girl close to him.
"They were gonna hurt us," she whimpered. "I just got mad, and then…" the rest of her explanation was lost in her sobs. Itachi picked the girl up, carrying her out of the room.
He walked down the hallway, eventually running into both Kisame and Pein. "What happened?" Pein demanded.
"The kids are ok," Itachi said, nuzzling his cheek against the top of Tenshi's head.
"Yes, but what happened?" the leader repeated.
Itachi looked to the leader and mouthed the words, "Tenshi used Sharingan."
For a moment, the two men could only stare at the weasel and child. "She's not even five!" Pein finally got out.
"She will be, in a few weeks," Kisame said, holding his head. "Oh my…oh god…"
"She's taking it hard," Itachi said. "We'll be in our room, if you need us, Pein." That said, Itachi walked off, keeping his hand over his daughter's eyes so she wouldn't see the carnage all around her. The poor girl had been through enough already.
--
A.N.: Heki means stab. Hakushi means blank, like a blank piece of paper