Good day, Minna-san? How are you guys doing? Ready for the latest chapter of The Reason: To Love an Avenger? Here we go, though I might tell you beforehand this chapter contained quite a lot of emotional moments. What to do, I just love mixing all types of genre in my fics! Though I don't know how it will turn out, hope it will be good.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
With Konan and Kakashi
Konan curled up on her bed, her knees pulled close to her chest. "Where is my baby? Did I leave her somewhere? No, last time I checked she's still inside of me," her eyes darted from left to right, as she rocked herself back and forth. Kakashi stood there dumbly, didn't know what to do. "You're sure you Konohans didn't take my baby away from me?" he bolted up straight at her sharp question.
"Of course not. Why would we take a child from her mother?" he answered nervously. "Especially if the mother is an S-rank criminal of the Akatsuki Organization," he mumbled under his breath. Luckily she ignored the remark and continued with her actions earlier. Rocking herself like a scared little girl.
It was at this moment he saw something in her that he had never seen before. Beads of cold sweats began forming on her pale forehead. Her eyes wandering of aimlessly, holding her legs close to her body as though protecting it from something. For the first time, he saw her vulnerability. He sensed her fear of her surrounding, and most of all he saw a glint of weakness in her normally cold eyes. Was that how much losing her baby had caused her? A totally different person?
Kakashi glanced at the glass window and beckoned for the people standing on the other side of it to go away. He knew she felt uncomfortable with people watching them like some sort of exhibition in a zoo. Tsunade gave him an approving nod, Shizune mouthed "Good Luck", and Izumo and Kotetsu flashed their mischievous grins.
When he was sure that there were no longer unwanted spectators, Kakashi stepped next to the bed and sat down. She moved closer to the corner, eyeing him suspiciously. If she had a kunai with her right now, she will surely have ripped him apart. But she had nothing. Konan was just, a plain woman who had lost a part of her self and was left with nothing.
"It hurts isn't it? The feeling when we lose someone dear," he stated, staring blankly at the white wall in front of him. "Like half of our soul was ripped away," he continued and lifted his masked face to look at her. Konan evaded his eye, looking at her painted fingernails instead.
"That's how you feel right? Who knows, maybe you don't feel anything over this matter, being a criminal and all,".
"Leave me alone," she was still not looking at his direction.
"Tsunade-sama locked me in here. It was not like I want to be here. Face it Konan, you are stuck with me until she decided to let me out," he was definitely pulling the strings of the conversation.
"At least stay away from me," she retorted back, and buried her face into her knees. She really needed peace right now. And his presence was not helping at all.
"Look me in the eyes and say that you are sad over your baby," he challenged her. It sounded like a cruel thing to do to her, but Kakashi knew that was the fastest way to break through her tough shell.
Konan ignored him and tightened her hold on her knees, trying to suppress the swirls of emotions inside of her. 'Shinobi principle #25, shinobis do not show emotion. Remember your training, Konan,' she said to herself.
"So, it is proven then. You have not even the slightest regret over-"
"I'm tortured with my baby's death, happy? I lost her; I lost everything that I cared for! Those were the ones you wanted to hear, isn't it? You rather enjoyed hearing this S-rank criminal suffer, you found amusement in her despair! Haven't you done enough already?" she flared up at him, glaring him straight in the eye.
"Well, it is karma right? You make people suffer, you have to face the consequence later on," he had just poured oil on a burning fire.
"Oh right, criminals are bad! So right to let them suffer! Do you think I want to do all the things? Enjoying every moment my hands bathed in blood again? I don't want that, Hatake! Never! You hear me, never!" Konan apparently lost control of her self as she pulled him closer to her by the sweatshirt he was wearing.
"And listen to this, Hatake. I'm not willing to give up just yet," she pushed him roughly and pulled her knees back together.
Her actions were so much confusing and intimidating at the same time. One second she was afraid and vulnerable, the next moment she all riled up and spoke with such fierceness. Kakashi's brain began to work on what-to-do-next lists. "Why even bother trying, Konan? You have got nothing left. Your lover, your child, your freedom, your friends, they are all slowly getting further from your hands. You are alone, Konan. Your fight is over, and you're losing it," he knew that he was being so harsh and brutal with his words, but if it can put the hot-headed woman to submission, he will go on with it.
She covered her ears with her hands and sang out loudly, trying to block out his voice, though his sharp words had already sunken in her soul right now. 'He's right. I'm losing it,' she forced her inner thoughts to fight against it. She wanted nothing more than being away from him right now…
With Pein
The rain had stopped a couple of hours ago, and right now he was standing over the newly-made tombstone that marked his child's grave next to Sasori's. He had carved the words written on the tombstone by himself, though not as neat as Konan's calligraphy. He had written it down, his first and last wish for his child, who didn't make it.
Here lies a Tenshi named Mikomi, whose life was short but brought happiness in our hearts. May rest in peace.
"Guess we'll never meet, huh?" he knelt down and clasped his hands together praying for his Tenshi. He was alone in the area, something he appreciated for the moment. It was not always, scratch that. He never had an emotional break down. He remembered the last time he cried was when his family died in the war back in Amegakure. But that was almost fourteen years ago. Even when Yahiko died, he did not shed a single tear but mourned for him silently instead.
"Something felt missing? Don't worry, Mikomi. When the time will come, I'll bring back your mother. And we will be whole again," he spoke quietly, and appeared to be talking to himself. Pein then stood up and left the graves behind, promised that he will drop by again the next day. In his mind, hundreds of plans to retrieve Konan began to be created.
With Konan and Kakashi
"It must be miserable being you. Captured, Isolated, lost, lonely, disappointed," he tried to pull her into his dangerous game.
Konan did not answer. His words pierced through her like anything had never before. Even being hit Hiruko's tail did not hurt this much. The words he used described her position well, a position where she can't escape or turn back to where she started. To make it simple, she was doomed.
"While in the time passing, why don't we introduce ourselves? To know each other better," he suggested but she was just staring at her nails, as if they were more interesting than he was. "Not interested," she muttered. "What is wrong with you? When I talk to you harshly you accused me of not understanding. When I try to be nice, you completely ignore me. What is your problem, woman?".
"My problem is that I am stuck in a room where I can't use my chakra when I need it the most to kill the most annoying person ever walked on this earth! I don't know what I did to you that made you hate me so much that you have the nerve to-" by this point, tears had brimmed to her eyes. "To what actually?" he dared her, his own emotions swirling. "To take my baby away from me!" she spat angrily.
Kakashi stared her down in anger. "Your baby is dead! I repeat, dead! Your fight with Sakura had made her out of the normal position with all your moves. And when Kabuto tried to force her out, she got tangled with the umbilical cord. That was the cause of her death, Konan. She had died even before Kabuto's jutsu. She died while in her mother's womb, your womb," Her eyes went wide hearing this.
"Y…You...Li…Lied," she stuttered, praying that everything he said was a lie. "Sakura made a check up on both you and your baby. She found out that your baby had died from suffocation, while she was still in your uterus," he stopped there, watching her taking the information. Konan's eye were still wide, her nerves were numb. How she wished she had never started talking to him. At least the thought that other people killed her baby wouldn't hurt too much. Her baby, her own child lost her life at her own mother's hands, her hands.
The kunoichi looked down at both her hands. Suddenly, they were covered with hot, thick blood. Her own blood, tainted when she took her daughter's life. 'I killed my own daughter. I killed her, I killed her,' her fingers began to shiver. "What have I done? Lord, what have I done?" she whispered frantically as her whole body shivered. Her breathing became heavier, and her brain was not working properly.
"Konan?" he called finally, after seeing her abrupt transformation. Without warning, she screamed at the top of her lungs, holding her head in his hands. "I didn't mean it! Sweetie, Mummy did not mean it!" he acted according to his instinct. Kakashi climbed up the bed and pulled her dangerously quivering body into his muscular ones, trying to comfort her down.
He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head, powerful yet gentle in the same time. Konan's brain couldn't register what was going on; she just let herself being embraced by the Copy-Cat Ninja. The tears she had been controlling fall freely as though she hadn't cried in a thousand years, as she snuggled closer to him. Her fists clenched the fabric of his cloth and she buried her face in his chest, crying her heart out.
Kakashi tenderly rubbed her back to soothe the girl. Finally, he had been able to make the girl surrender. A pang of guilt hit him when he realized he did that just for the sake of the mission in the first place. He felt like he was taking advantage on her condition when she really needed help. Konan refused to break the embrace even for a second. She really needed the comfort she found in his arms.
It was amazing how she felt so safe in his arms, even though he was a known enemy to her. When in Pein's arms, she felt needed. When she was in Kisame's hug, Konan just felt a little bit comfort that she found in Itachi, Deidara, Kakuzu, Hidan, and Tobi's hugs. Zetsu's hug was a bit different, she had to jump out before he can "have a nip" at her limps. Sasori also offered the same sense of security in his arms, but Kakashi made her feel completely untouchable.
"Kill me now, Hatake," she sobbed into him. He gently pulled her away and held her chin with his finger, making her to look at him. She didn't resist at all and bore her eyes into his. Kakashi sighed inwardly and tucked her loose strand of hair behind her ears. "I would not let you die before you are well enough. Because we have a rematch to get done with," she hiccupped and continued crying. Kakashi knew, if he did not do it right now, he may not be able to do it again.
He leaned down, looked into her eyes for a moment, before brushing his lips against her, emitting an out of character squeak from her. Kakashi then pressed his lips on herm this time firmer and more confidence. She didn't fight, but instead returned it her hands were still on his chest. He put a hand behind her back and his other hand caressing her hair. It wasn't passionate, it wasn't too simple. But it was a gentle kiss, a perfect one for both of them.
Tsunade, Shizune, Izumo and Kotetsu sneaked a peek at both of them. 'One hour we left them and they had gone this far? My, aren't Kakashi dedicated in his mission,' Tsunade thought with a satisfied smirk. Shizune rubbed her eyes several times to make sure what she was seeing right. Izumo and Kotetsu's jaws dropped at the sight.
Kakashi finally pulled away to breathe. He looked at her to study her reaction, but to his slight disappointment, her emotion was blank. The jounin stood up from the bed and straightened out his clothes. "I'll be coming again tomorrow," he whispered in her ears and turned to leave. Maybe, that mission was not so bad, after all.
That's it for the chapter. I just want to inform you, Tenshi means Angel in Japanese, and Mikomi means hope (at least that is what the translator said). Please leave your reviews. Thank you very much for reading my story and it is tenfold thank you if you leave a review, even if it is only a word or two. Please???? Ja ne, see you guys soon!