Pein's eyebrows knitted together in frustration, while Konan stood quietly and awkwardly beside him. "What problem?" he asked, his voice reassuring the frustration painted on his face.
Hidan sighed. "There's another monster attempting to get into the village, but this one is much bigger. It looks like a dragon, and it's using a jutsu. We think it's water-based. We've already got the entire fleet of Anbu and training ninja out, but they're having trouble holding it back. We need your approval to send out anyone else."
Pein cursed under his breath, his hands both forming into dangerous fists. He glanced at Konan, who was worriedly looking back at him. "It's after you," he said.
Hidan and Kakuzu both looked at each other with confused faces. Pein turned back to them. "Alright, send out the rest of the Akatsuki, then go out yourself and fight it. Tell everyone not to be shy on weapons, and make sure you don't let it get into the village.
The two nodded, quickly running off to inform the rest of the Akatsuki. Pein then turned to Konan, grabbing her hand and keeping it between his own. "Stay here. Be careful and don't leave the base," he told her.
Konan took her hand back. "Are you crazy?" she asked violently. She saw Pein's eyes widen at her reaction.
"What?" he asked.
Now, it was Konan's face that showed so much anger. "If it's after me, then all I'm doing is attracting it to Amegakure! I need to get out of the village and take it back into the woods!" she yelled.
Pein was angry too. He took her face in his hands. "I am not losing you like that Konan. It's too big of a risk. Besides, that thing won't get anywhere near Amegakure. I promise that I'll be back before you notice that I'm gone."
Konan's eyes were watering now. "Pein, stop it, damn it!" she shouted, swatting his hands away. She began to walk away, wiping tears from her eyes, but two hands caught her own.
"Konan-," began Pein. Suddenly, Konan's hand became paper, and it quickly flew off. Before the rest of her turned into paper, Pein did something incredibly risky; something that could only result in two things; the same words back, or a good slapping.
"I love you!"
. . .
The words ghostly echoed through the now-almost empty base. Only two people, two confused, lonely, sad people, could hear the three-word phrase that had been the fall of so many people; three words that neither of the two had ever bothered to tell anyone else, and they now repeated themselves over and over again.
Konan slowly and cautiously allowed her body to be built up again, the paper returning to her own curved body. Her back faced Pein, as she stood there, her open jaw and shocked expression unavailable to the ginger-haired man's eyes. Had she heard him correctly?
That woman, that beautiful, weakened, prideful woman, turned slowly on her heel to face that man, that handsome, strong, all-knowing man. "What?"
The word echoed through the base, only, like the last phrase, it didn't linger nearly as much. It shot out and then died within seconds, almost like it forced itself into death in order to keep from ruining whatever crazy moment was happening here.
Pein swallowed the lump in his throat, the one that always seemed to appear in this type of situation, when it liked to choke him and build up uncomfortable pressure in his throat. "I said, I love you," came his voice, slightly less strong and more caring than usual.
Konan's watering eyes now spilled out tears. Black mascara marks rushed down her face in a race to see who could tear her apart first. She wanted to say something, she needed to say something, she had to say something, but she couldn't. Her stomach would rather she puke, her head would rather hurt, her ankles would rather give out, and she'd rather leave.
No!
For the first time in quite a while, Konan refused to listen to her mind. The one that wanted her to curl up in a ball and cry until it killed her. She instead did what her heart told her to do, and performed an unspeakable alliance between two people.
So, she ended every form of displeasure and resentment that they'd known of. She untied all the knots in their relationship, and cut through the web that she'd woven around herself like a spider. "I love you too, Pein. I love your more than you could ever know, but I've got to do this. I'll come back alive, I promise. Just believe me, please! Goodbye."
She regretted speaking the moment her lips delivered their devilish message. Love and hate, regret and sorrow, remorse and affection, all jammed into five sentences that changed the two's lives forever. Before Pein could process what she'd told him, she jumped out the window, and used her Dance of Shikigami jutsu to grow paper wings and fly away before her tiny toes ever touched the snow. She flew away into the treetops, alone and done for.
Little did anyone else know that a stream of tiny papers dropped below, leaving a steady trail. They blended in nicely with the snow, and began to wither away because of the moisture, as well as other snowflakes covering them. Konan knew very well that these papers were useless, but how else was she to feel that she wasn't leaving Pein completely alone?
In the darkness and silence of the empty base, Pein stood there, his mind racing with dark and depressing thoughts, as well as one good one. A hole, one that might as well have been imaginary, was probably forming itself in his chest, the damned chest that didn't even belong to him.
Pein was a ghost. Not the ghost that lived in abandoned buildings and scared those who dared to enter, but a ghost in other ways. He had a body, but it wasn't his. He knew that whenever Konan looked at him, she didn't see him. She saw their dead friend, Yahiko, who had been dragged into his mess.
So now, he knew many things. He knew that he and Konan loved one another with a burning, searing, toiling passion. He knew that she would risk anything to save everyone. Most of all, he knew that Konan was going out to face her attacker.
And her death.
End of Chapter Quote:
"You love him, he loves you, and no one else gets a say in it." –Alexa Massey
