Author's Note: NO! I'm not dead! ^_^ I apologize for the late update! I've just been really busy!

There was a long moment of silence. Konan took this as a chance to rest. She closed her eyes, ignoring the stinging in her stomach from her nasty wound.

_ _ _

Pein looked at the snowflake. It was beautiful, even though Konan had probably made a billion in her lifetime. Still, he couldn't help but find it amazing.

It wasn't the type of snowflake that children folded, then cut with scissors. No, this one was pure fold-after-fold of white paper. It had been pressed and twisted until the folds took their shape without unfolding on their own.

Knowing that the snowflake was now his, Pein set it beside his head. He looked to his side, seeing that Konan had closed her eyes. He made sure to be quiet as he sat up, looking around. Boy, was Konan's room a reflection of her true-self.

The place was covered in origami. Her shelves held books, documents, and scrolls. Origami creatures were sitting on a lot of the literature.

Sighing, Pein grabbed his snowflake. He slowly and silently crept out of the room. He made sure that he didn't make any noise when he closed Konan's door.

_ _ _

When Konan awoke, it was already raining. Pein probably hadn't started it. It was just natural rain.

If Pein no longer existed, then you'd find that Amegakure would get about as much rain as any other village. He was the reason why they were called "The Village Hidden in the Rain".

After going through her morning routine, Konan made the Akatsuki's breakfast. She made sure to make some for herself, seeing as how she hadn't eaten at all yesterday. That had become a problem recently.

Konan ate in the dining halls today, seeing as how Pein was eating in there as well. For the first time in a few days, all of the remaining Akatsuki were in the same room.

Surprisingly, the room was much less noisy then Konan had expected. Whenever a member had recently been injured on a mission, the rest of the Akatsuki remained silent for some time. This was something that the group had developed over time.

Konan picked at her breakfast, not very hungry in the first place. Sighing, she unwillingly shoved the food into her mouth little by little. Even though she hadn't eaten at all yesterday, she was still not very hungry.

Konan and Pein had both grown up always being hungry. Now that food was always available to them, Konan didn't eat that much at all. Apparently, her lack of eating in the past had developed into a form of anorexia later on. A lot of the time, Konan simply forgot that she even needed to.

At one point, it had gotten to the point in which Pein wouldn't let her go to sleep at night until she ate dinner. Eventually, she'd stopped that bad habit. She was no longer anorexic, but she still didn't eat that much.

"Deidara," began Tobi, unknowingly breaking the silence in the Akatsuki dining hall. "Is it going to snow today?" he asked the blonde.

The rest of the room turned to Deidara, who was angrily glaring at the masked boy next to him. "How should I know?!" Deidara replied furiously.

Tobi sunk back into his chair. "Tobi was just thinking-" he began, being cut of when Konan spoke.

"It shouldn't snow until next week." said Konan. Unlike Deidara, she was nice when speaking to Tobi.

Even though Tobi was wearing a mask, you could easily tell that he was smiling. When he smiled, his mask would move up a bit, being hung by his cheek bones. "Oh, okay Konan-chan!" he said happily.

Konan smiled back, lighting up the room for a small moment.

Silence

_ _ _

It was mid-day, and most of the Akatsuki were scattered around in the base. Some were in their rooms, others were in the living room, and a few were just walking around. They didn't ever seem to all be doing one thing.

Konan, who'd been quiet for quite some time, was sitting on a small chair in the living room. She was fiddling with a small piece of yellow paper that she'd found in her collecting of random pieces. The room was quiet, seeing as how the only other people in the room were Pein and Hidan.

She looked to Pein, who was simply watching her as she folded her origami. Hidan, who was sitting next to Pein on the couch, was buried in a Jashinist bible. He licked his thumb, sticking it to the page in order to flip it.

Konan sighed, walking over to the two. She sat down on Pein's side of the couch, which was long and round in case the rest of the Akatsuki were to sit with them. She leaned her head back onto the couch pillow, closing her eyes.

There was no need to see when she was folding.

Just as Konan finished, before she was able to show it to anyone, there came a loud and frantic knock at the large door of the base. Pein quickly rose, opening the door.

Konan also opened her eyes, standing up from her position on the couch. When Pein flung the door open, she was surprised to see an ANBU black-op standing there, panting heavily.

"Yes?" asked Pein.

The ANBU stopped panting, looking up at Pein. "There's been a disaster down at the Land of Rice Patties! Leader, you and Konan-sama have been asked by the head of the ANBU to come immediately!" he shouted loudly.

Pein wasted no time. He quickly dashed out the door, leaving Hidan in charge of the Akatsuki until his return. Konan also ran off with him, being forced to drop her origami to the room's floor.

_ _ _

Ten minutes later, when they'd reached their destination, what they saw was not good.

It had been a mass murder. Hundreds of bodies were spread across the ground like they'd grown there. Dozens of ANBU patrolled the area, looking for a sign of life. The ANBU leader walked up to Pein and Konan, bowing respectively.

"What has happened here?" asked Pein.

The ANBU shook his head. "We don't know, Leader-sama. An ANBU black-op was patrolling the area, when he came across this! There are hundreds of them, of all ages too! We've no idea what's happened!" said the man.

Pein sighed, looking around. "Alright. Konan-san and I will investigate some of the bodies and try to decipher what's happened. Have the rest of the ANBU continue what they are doing." ordered Pein.

Konan knew all-too-well that when Pein gave an order, it was done. No one ever disobeyed him, unless it was for a very important reason. Somehow, she found that she could respect him for this.

Pein tapped at Konan's shoulder, leaning his head in the direction he chose to go. He led her to an area with a smaller amount of bodies, crouching down to one of them. It was an adult male, with brown hair and pale skin.

Konan crouched down beside Pein, examining the body herself. "What do you see?" he asked her.

Konan leaned over a bit more, examining the body. She pressed a hand at the bodies neck, right where the pulse was supposed to be. She immediately shot her hand back. "The body is ice cold, but it's not even fifty-degrees out here." she said.

Pein pressed his own hand to the man's neck, also finding that the man was literally ice cold. "You're right. These bodies show little sign of decay also, so it's unlikely that they've been dead for more than a few hours. The man can't possibly have grown this cold simply from staying out here so long." he said.

"Root," called Pein, referring to the ANBU leader that was standing only a few yards away. The man turned to Pein, marching over to the two. He knelt down beside them.

"Yes?" he asked.

Pein looked the man in the eyes, despite the fact that one of them was covered with a patch. "These bodies are nearly-frozen, yet they couldn't have been out here for more than a few hours. Quickly, rive me the sharpest weapon you posses." he ordered.

Root dug in the pack on his back, pulling out an almost-foot-long knife. He turned it around, handing the knife to Pein. "Stand back." he said.

Root immediately stepped away, still watching Amegakure's leader. Knowing what he was about to do, Konan turned her head to the side. She listened to the sickening sound of metal sawing through flesh and bone.

"Well that's odd." said Pein. Konan, hearing the sickening sound stop, turned her attention back to Pein. She was shocked at what he saw.

He held part of the man's right arm in his hands. Strangely though, there was almost no blood leaking through the cut he'd made to break the arm off. Instead, the blood, as well as the rest of the arm, was nearly frozen solid.

End of Chapter Quote:

"I don't have anyone at home to talk to,

And you don't have anything to do,

So I'll spend my Christmas with you."

-The Christmas Song, Owl City