My Pain is Yours
Chapter 23: Konohagakure Strikes!
Ensnared in an ebony abyss, Pain walked through the unlit halls with Konan strolling calmly by his side. The blue-haired kunoichi was unusually quiet, voice distant when she spoke, and words as lifeless as her peering gaze. He glanced at her shortly before flicking his stare ahead of them; he could sense the angst eating away at her and it was bothering him.
"Konan," Pain tonelessly murmured, "what's wrong?"
She didn't reply; her eyes were locked on the never-ending chamber. "Nothing."
Unable to buy her lie, Pain came to a halt and she continued, picking up her pace. He sighed heavily, leisurely extending his arms and wrapping them around her waist, dragging her back. Konan inhaled a sharp breath when he began breathing down her neck, hands inching towards her chest as he squeezed her against himself.
"Tell me," Pain urged, tightening his grip. "Something is troubling you."
Eyelids tapering over her crystallized orbs, Konan whispered, "It is only that I am thinking of Aiko, Nagato." He stiffened against her and she paused, until she heard him grunt. "And I still cannot believe that she is actually…that she actually came here. This isn't…this isn't what I wanted for her! Not for her, not for you, and not for," her voice softened, "Yahiko."
Nestling his nose in her hair, Pain breathed into her scalp, exciting small tingles to shake the woman's petite figure as she sank farther back into her beloved lord, hands clamping around his as she tilted her head back to kiss his cheek. Pain craned his neck, edging his lips into hers and pressing them so tightly together that Konan whirled herself around, hands resting against his chest as he held her arms. Pain could feel her tears running down her cheeks as he caressed her face with his gentle hands.
"Don't cry, Konan," Pain stroked her soft skin. "It is what it is."
Konan nodded, tone weakened with her sorrow. "I know."
Giving into Pain, Konan relaxed against him for a moment, drying her tears into oblivion with her sleeve and resting against him. His chest rose and fell in steady breaths, his arms wrapped protectively around her. She loved him and knew there was nowhere else she'd rather be than with him; no matter how dangerous or deadly her life became.
"You two what?" Kakuzu exclaimed the next morning, horror-stricken.
"It was part of the conversion," Hidan casually replied, a grin tugging at the corner of his lips.
"That's the most disgusting, immoral, vulgar thing I've ever heard!" Kakuzu growled.
Comfortably seated between Hidan's legs, Aiko shrank farther back into his bare chest, staring at the angered, sleep-deprived Kakuzu. Hidan rested his chin on her shoulder, donning that smirk that managed to irritate the living hell out of Kakuzu. He nuzzled his nose in her hair, inhaling her lilac scent and sighing, lips pressing into the skin on the back of her neck.
The Jashinist snidely retorted, "Yeesh! Oh come on Kakuzu, people do it all the time; it's just sex for crying out loud! Like you've never done it before! Eh? Besides, Aiko's the one who came to me begging for my body last night!" The brunette raised both eyebrows and drove her heels into Hidan's shin, making the silver-haired man yelp in return.
Kakuzu remained aghast. "That is still wrong in so many ways."
Hidan rolled his eyes, snorting. "Yeah? Like what?"
The missing Waterfall ninja's eyes twitched, jaw adjusting beneath his mask to birth a hideous grimace. "Well for the first thing she's what, fifteen maybe even sixteen perhaps? And how old are you? Mentally two and a half at the most, but physically twenty-one; tell me, Hidan, doesn't that strike you as a little, I don't know, twisted?"
Hidan scoffed, shifting around. "The only thing twisted here is your facial expression."
Provoked, Kakuzu resisted his throbbing killing impulse and struggled to keep a firm rein on his temper; it was just getting more and more difficult to do that. He shoved himself away from the table and stomped over to the counter where he seized his map and tore it open, hastily locating the nearest collection office, and striding back out to grab the corpse.
Aiko watched Kakuzu storm about with a blank expression.
Hidan smirked cruelly, devilishly handsome features contorting into a simper. "He's going to go on a rampage later." Aiko shook her head chidingly at Hidan and leaned back to kiss him. When their lips connected, Aiko swiveled around in his lap, her legs sliding past his hips, arms flying around his neck as she slid her tongue into his mouth. He grinned, holding the small of her back with interlocked fingers and tasting her sweet, heavenly flavor tainted by his own.
Kakuzu reappeared with Chiriku's cadaver hanging from his hand. "Get up and let's go."
Not even separating his lips from Aiko's, Hidan continued kissing her, mashing his lips harder against hers and, with a growing smirk, caged her in his arms and slammed both of them onto the table, leaving Kakuzu nauseated. Aiko squirmed beneath Hidan, her hands entangled in her hair as he pressed his body against hers, leaving her unable to restrain the sound collecting in her throat. When she moaned that engaging, craving sound, Kakuzu lost it.
"That is enough!" Kakuzu roared, reaching over and yanking Hidan off Aiko.
Blushing, Aiko sat up with the absence of Hidan only to find him being hauled away with Kakuzu's free hand. She sighed, pulling her messy hair into a bun and hopped to her feet to follow them. Though she couldn't help but to notice that the blood pulsing to her cheeks felt different this time, that her heartbeat felt calmer despite her raging hormones.
I wonder if this has anything to do with…becoming a Jashinist…
She inhaled deeply and walked out the door.
"The secret entrance is in a bathroom? You've got to be kidding me!"
Aiko looked around her surroundings, seeking the clandestine opening to the veiled collection office, both curious and feeling out of place upon entering the men's bathroom behind Hidan and Kakuzu. A bald man appeared from a hidden doorway, beckoning them forward with scarred hands, "This way please."
The brunette assumed that the man was the one they were exchanging the body with the money and cautiously followed Hidan and Kakuzu in. She adjusted her long black gloves, pulling them up just beneath her elbow and self-consciously tugging her fishnet leggings farther down so that they rested just above her knees. She then altered her gray skirt and black tank top accordingly, fingertips brushing against the Jashin necklace. Aiko couldn't help but to glance over at her Jashinist lover.
Hidan began to complain. "It stinks in here, eh."
Aiko couldn't deny this as she glanced around the room littered with storage units for corpses, and shivered; it reeked of rotting decay and urine. She covered her nose with her sleeve and glared at Kakuzu, who returned her stare and Hidan's comments with a steely glower.
"Hurry up so we can go Kakuzu!" Hidan griped.
"Hold on, I have to count the money," Kakuzu grumbled.
Hidan's voice rose, however, lip curling as he turned away from Kakuzu. "Meh! Can't tell what smells worse, the bodies or the urine; just find us when you're done, we'll be outside." He snatched Aiko's shoulder and escorted her out of the bathroom, Kakuzu's furious gaze following them until they disappeared from view.
Walking alongside Hidan, Aiko smiled as he muttered how annoying Kakuzu was. She grazed his hand lightly with hers and he took it, gripping it firmly and smirking smugly as they appeared in the sunlight outside. Hidan heaved out an elongated exhale as he sat down on the stairs, Aiko sitting beside him.
"So," she started, "how much longer until I'm a Jashinist?"
Hidan shrugged, frowning slightly, "Not sure; I can't imagine waiting much longer."
Aiko smiled contentedly. "Well, as soon as I am a Jashinist, we'll be together forever."
Grinning lasciviously back at her, Hidan muttered, "Yeah, I think I can live with that." He cupped her cheek with his hand, drawing her into a kiss. He was alarmed, however, when she suddenly flinched and pulled away upon hearing footsteps behind them. Hidan narrowed his eyes in irritation. "Took you long enough, Kakuzu!"
Aiko's eyes widened. "Hidan!"
Without any other warning, Hidan found himself whipping out his scythe to parry an attack consisting of a barrage of shuriken from a man bearing a Konohagakure headband. He leapt to his feet and tossed his three-bladed weapon at his attacker, Aiko hopping farther back to assess the situation. As soon as she did so, however, two other men appeared and rammed their blades through Hidan. Aiko held back a gasp.
Who are these people? The brunette pulled out a kunai.
"Hidan!" Aiko stayed in her position, noticing a shadow attached to Hidan's from yet another ninja not too far away; she was able to recognize all of them through knowledge of her Bingo Book; Sarutobi Asuma, Hagane Kotetsu, Kamizuki Izumo, and Nara Shikamaru.
"Yeesh! Ow!" Hidan griped. "Quit driving in the points will you? It hurts!"
Despite being run through two vital spots, blood gushing from his wounds, Hidan was unfazed, perplexing and horrifying Izumo and Kotetsu. He narrowed his glinting eyes as Izumo's jaw hung open, "What is this guy, immortal?" Aiko glanced at the Jashin circle resting on Hidan's chest and touched her own, closing her eyes momentarily.
Jashin-sama…I sacrifice the blood of my victims and the impending carnage to you…
Her hazel eyes flashed open, resentment burning in them.
Before Aiko could attack Shikamaru, Kakuzu appeared behind him, nearly crushing his skull with a blow from his briefcase that the young Nara cleverly avoided. Hidan was set free from the Shadow Possession Technique and the three Akatsuki members regrouped, Izumo, Asuma, Kotetsu and Shikamaru doing the same. Aiko tensed.
"What took you so long Kakuzu?" Hidan whined.
"I was counting the money," Kakuzu returned. "But it looks like you were useful out here."
"Whatever, I want them for my ritual," Hidan announced, ripping the weapons out of him.
As his crimson blood spilled across the ground, Hidan drew the circle of Jashin around himself with his foot. Aiko looked at Kakuzu who was staring rigidly at Asuma, his target. Kakuzu muttered to Aiko, "We'll just wait for Hidan to get impaled or something and then we'll intervene."
Hidan shook his head at Kakuzu's comment. "I've already claimed them Kakuzu! You can have the bodies when I'm done; after all, those who don't understand the pain of others will be punished by the Gods." He licked his lips. "I'll see to that myself." Aiko clenched her fists.
Translation, he wants to do this on his own…
Then, Asuma lashed out at Hidan with his growing chakra blades.
Leaping back, Aiko stood with Kakuzu, watching and waiting as Hidan avoided Asuma's attack, all the while dodging Shikamaru's chasing shadows. Aiko felt her stomach knotting uneasily, wanting to help Hidan more than anything. She found that she could breathe easier when Hidan's scythe finally split open Asuma's cheek and Hidan was able to consume his blood. Her breath caught, however, when Hidan was suddenly consumed by a vortex of ash from Asuma.
Asuma gritted his teeth and discharged a blazing fire to mingle with the ash into a detonation.
"Hidan!" Aiko cried out, held back by Kakuzu who grabbed her shoulder roughly.
The fire exploded around the Jashinist in a violent frenzy of flames, sending debris flying, but when the smoke dissipated, Hidan was revealed, covering his face with his arm. Aiko's heart skipped a beat when his black and white self was revealed; she could already see the burns marring his skin. However, Asuma was also severely burned like Hidan.
Hidan sneered at Asuma's startled expression. "Judgment has been passed."
Aiko breathed out a relieved sigh. "At last…"
Hidan continued, Asuma's growing horror more encouraging. "Now do you finally understand the other person's pain? I have already cursed you; and the ritual shall now begin." He paused to disclose his undaunted, blood-curdling expression followed by a chilling bout of maniac laughter. "Well then! Let's experience the ultimate pain together, shall we?!"
For once, Kakuzu was pleased with his partner.
Hidan howled in laughter. "All the preparations are done! Now we shall share in the ultimate pain!" Asuma gritted his teeth and clamped tightly onto his chakra blades, summoning chakra that took on the form of a dagger as he rushed at the grim-reaper-like Hidan, who merely pulled out his spear and jabbed it into his own leg, disabling Asuma as well.
The Konohagakure Jonin instantly collapsed on the ground, writhing in agony.
"Hurts, eh?" Hidan taunted, laughing sadistically. "And I didn't even hit a vital spot!"
Across from the battle, Aiko noticed the other Konoha ninja making the connections between Hidan and his jutsu, Shikamaru working on taking it apart piece by piece. Aiko narrowed her emerald orbs; he was a clever boy, one that needed to be dealt with immediately.
Kakuzu scowled as Aiko lowered herself into a crouch. "What are you doing Aiko?"
The kunoichi hardened her gaze, sharpening her reflexes. "Attending to the others."
Kakuzu stopped her with a hard hand. "No, stay here. Hidan has this; if we need to intervene, I'll give you the word to and we will strike back; but not right now. If you rush in there now it will only anger him and he will lose focus on what he's doing." Aiko nodded weakly, reluctantly admitting that Kakuzu was right, but she wasn't so sure when she turned back around.
"Where do you want to feel pain next? Hmm?" Hidan jeered, pointing his spear at his chest.
Asuma tensed on the ground, Izumo and Kotetsu exchanging frantic glances.
"Or would you just like to end it already? Eh?" Hidan pulled back his arm.
Everyone knew his next move; he was going to drive the spear through himself and take Asuma's life in the process. Izumo gasped, yelling, "Shikamaru! Don't use physical attacks like the shadow-stitching! Just stop his movements using Suffocating Darkness! Hurry!"
Aiko felt a shudder ripple through her veins, making her go rigid; what were they planning?
"I'm already on it!" Shikamaru quickly returned, weaving hand signs.
Both Hidan's hand and Shikamaru's shadow were racing to their destinations, Aiko's heart racing in her chest as Hidan shouted, "Die!" Shikamaru's yell of despair overtook his and the blood began to spurt from Hidan's skin, making the Konoha ninja panic. Aiko held her breath and slammed her eyes shut, refusing to look up until she heard nothing but a chilling silence.
The kunoichi looked up, breath hitching.
Hidan had been stopped by Shikamaru.
Tightening her fists, Aiko dug her nails into the palm of her hand, holding herself back. She listened as Shikamaru began discussing the small details of the way Hidan used his jutsu and was appalled when he was able to dissect it down to its finest aspect to the point where he was beginning to drag Hidan from his circle using his shadow technique.
Aiko felt a cold rush chill her blood and caught her breath; what now?
She watched as Hidan was being yanked out, and when Kakuzu offered to help, Hidan instantly declined. Aiko tried to resist the urge to help him herself, but knew that her involvement would only incense his temper. She was forced to view Hidan leave his circle systematically until he was stepping off the edges, feet scraping against the ground.
"You brat!" Hidan growled over his shoulder at Shikamaru.
Shikamaru shakily got to his feet, struggling for control. "Not my fault…you talk too much!"
Hidan's voice rose. "Enough talk then! I'm going to tear you apart now and kill you later!"
"There won't be a later!" Shikamaru hissed through gritted teeth.
Aiko gasped as the rest of Hidan was helplessly jerked out of his circle.
Asuma picked up a shuriken and thrust it at Hidan, who couldn't avoid it due to his immobility; the blade sliced open his ear. Asuma's was left untouched. Aiko felt fear ebb through her veins as the Jonin wobbled to his feet, weapon pointed at Hidan. She threw her gaze to Kakuzu, who seemed to be ready to let Hidan take punishment for his earlier insolence.
"Kakuzu! Don't just stand there!" Hidan yelled. "Help me! Quick!"
Unable to identify her own movements, Aiko blindly rushed into the fray, alacrity inhumanly imperceptible as she lunged at Asuma, hands aglow. The Jonin didn't see her coming in time to stop his attack, but was unable to finish it as Aiko struck him in the chest with her hands, knocking him over backwards. He clutched his chest and leapt to his feet, Aiko raising her head just in time to see a chakra blade darting to her.
It was aimed directly at her heart.
She couldn't avoid it in time.
The kunoichi gasped as the blue dagger sheathed itself in her chest, piercing her heart.
"AIKO!"
Death lingered over her, blood flooding from her face and gushing from her wound.
She couldn't move; couldn't see.
There was only one thing she could do.
Realization struck her as her world changed to a sea of ebony.
Jashin-sama! Help me!
The sounds around her were dissipating with the swallowing darkness.
Jashin-sama!
Author's Note: That's it. I apologize for taking so long to update, but what do you think? Should Aiko live or die? Hmm? We'll have to find out in the next chapter, no?
But I am so eternally grateful to all of you! ONE-HUNDRED REVIEWS for this story! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I send out thanks to yoyshaia-chan (check out her story Study in Contrasts—this story is pure brilliance!), Iced Phoenix54, cheeky half-demon, werewolfwithaheart, mistress akasha, Unknown, and iLoveThis…thank you so very, very much! Review! Review! Review! Pretty please? ^/.\-
See all of you for the next chapter!
-Aiko of the Akatsuki
