Hi again, everyone! Sorry for not updating for so long. It had been a busy week, but I finally managed to finish this chapter!

Well then, please enjoy, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto, sadly...

With Pein

The hideout had begun to become really dirty since Konan left. Sure, they don't mind living in such a place but after Itachi tripped over rotten meat that Zetsu eat and Deidara's clay countless times, Pein had considered on cleaning all of the mess around the area, by himself.

It was a day that everyone was out on missions, with their respective pairs. Pein threw another piece of meat into the garbage can before sitting down on one of the chairs in their kitchen. Before this it was Konan who did all the chores, occasionally he will help. Just not in the presence of the other members.

He tried to get his mind from thinking of his partner, but failed. Every single thing around him reminded him of his blue haired angel. This can't be, he thought to himself and got up from his seat, continuing picking up the rubbish.

However, Pein halted his movements when he picked up a crumpled paper of what used to be an origami shuriken. He remembered witnessing she threw a handful when Deidara, and the mouths on his hands complaint about her cooking.

His hand shivered slightly, easily unnoticeable but still made him felt weak. He can't bring himself to throw it away; it was as though he will throw her away as well. Heavy breath passed through his mouth as he put the crumpled paper on the dining table and tied the black plastic bag.

With Konan

It was long past midnight, but she was still wide awake. She couldn't sleep at all, even though tiredness overwhelmed her body. She had been transferred into a smaller room in the hospital. It was approximately only a meter wide and three meters in length and only furnished with the bed she was lying on and a small bedside table.

Her mind was still replaying the kiss she shared with Konoha's Copy-Cat Ninja, Hatake Kakashi. How could she fall too easily to him? He was supposed to be the enemy, not someone she should have any close relationship! Konan touched her lips once more on her own accord.

Konan was not a fool. She knew clearly why Kakashi had done all those to her. Toying with her emotions and then offered her comfort, a gesture he had hoped to soften her a bit. She knew from the look on his face and his other comrades. Did they really think she would fall for their game?

Konan finally got up and leaned against the cool wall behind her back, staring at the ceiling. There had to be some weakness in the room, where she could take advantage from. Sure, she can't use her chakra right now, but Konan was grateful she can still use her limbs freely. She wasn't an Akatsuki for nothing, she still have her brain to survive!

She carefully stepped off her bed and looked around once more. Solid rock, with chakra neutralizers implanted inside them, making escape almost impossible. Keyword, almost. If only she can find a weak spot on the wall, maybe she can dig her way out.

The woman got down on her knees and began checking the floor, in case there was any loose piece. So far, her search proved to be futile. In the darkness, she spotted some thick liquid around her. Her hands were soaked in the hot liquid, so she hastily got up and brought her right hand closer to examine the substance.

When the realization hit her, her azure blue eyes widened out of shock. Blood, hot thick blood was dripping from her palms running down her arms. 'What is happening?' she looked at her left hand, praying that all this was just a dream. Her mind seemed to be stopping functioning. A long, shrill scream escaped from her throat as she fall back on her bed, pulling the blanket to cover trembling body.

'Where did the blood come from?' Konan shut her eyes tightly and curled into a fetal position.

With Kakashi

He lay in his bed, wide awake. Something in him felt terribly wrong. After seeing Konan in her vulnerable state, Kakashi noticed a weird feeling crept into him. But he brushed it off. It was nothing more than the occasional small feelings he had on some of the females he met before, right?

And he still had a mission on hand to complete, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had some liking on the blue haired kunoichi, would it?

Still, Kakashi prefer to not think about her at all as it was disturbing him, physically, mentally, and emotionally. He saw how she tried to hide her weakness behind some mask, attempting to appear strong and tough. In one way or another, he felt a strong urge to protect her.

Kakashi thought that he was going crazy. Who will ever think of protecting an enemy who was an S-rank criminal, which of course possess threat to the village and especially to his own student, Naruto?

At the first light of dawn, he had already dressed up and began making his way towards the Konoha hospital. He met with Lee and Tenten on the way, and both of Gai's students stopped by to say hello to him. "Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," they greeted him in unison.

"Are you going to the hospital, for your mission?" Tenten asked him directly. She was as straightforward as ever. He shifted uneasily and put his hands in his pocket, replying in a small "Yeah,".

"Thought so. Good luck," she casually patted him on the arm and grinned. "Gai-sensei was quite disappointed when you got the mission instead of him. So, he is training hard right now and promised to beat you next time, Kakashi-sensei," Lee said and bowed slightly.

"Just what is he training right now?" Kakashi asked out of curiosity.

"Why, the art of seduction of course!" only Lee found that to be amusing. Tenten cringed and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Good luck to him, I suppose," he said under his breath and quickly waved both of them goodbye.

Five minutes walking and he was already at the counter, asking the receptionist for the number of the room Konan was placed right now. "It's a good thing you arrived in time. Our doctors had been having problems with her and couldn't make her take her prescriptions. We're hoping that you can help us," the brunette said in relief. "I'll try my best," was all he said before walking down the halls.

With Konan

She opened her eyes slowly and looked at her hands once more. Spotless. A small breathe of relief was heard from her, and she pushed down the blanket before sitting up on her bed. Her attention was abruptly grabbed by the sound of the door being opened and shut, a man in dark blue attire stood in front of her.

"Figured you will come," she said in her usual calm voice. "I must when you started to give the doctors problems, mustn't I?" she rolled her eyes. He stepped closer and looked around for a minute before sitting down at the foot of her bed.

"Like hell I'm going to let them near me," she leaned against the wall as usual, trying to look collected.

"But you let me near you," she turned her face slightly to look at him.

"Only if you don't have any of the medicine with you. Try any way you want, but I'm not going to let that terrible pills going down my throat," she glared at him to make her point before looking straight forward again.

"You never know what I had up on my sleeves," he said provocatively.

"So do I," she replied with equal smugness.

Without warning, he spun around and pounced on her, trying to force the pills inside her mouth. She was saved by her quick reflex, effectively stopped Kakashi's effort.

"Hold your horses, Hatake. Don't be so hasty," she tightened her grip on his right hand which was holding several pills and tablets. His left hand was only an inch away from her throat, with her right hand restraining his movement. Konan had bended her right knee so that it kept a distance between Kakashi's body with her own, her left leg however was pinned down by his right leg.

Their faces were just inches apart, with Kakashi on top of her. He had just realized their position began to feel uneasy, while Konan smirked after she found a thing that she can tease him with. "Feeling awkward, Hatake-kun?" his eye visibly widened at this and he wasn't at all ready when she twisted both of them, and she ended up on top of him.

"Like I said, don't be so hasty," she quickly pinned down his movements. Even in her recovery stage and unable to use her chakra, she was exceptionally fast and strong, he noted. "Now I want you to listen carefully," she slowly brought out a senbon needle which she kept hidden in her hair and brought it to a spot on his neck, the spot they both knew will cause fatal if she stab it in there.

With Pein

Pein looked through the scroll again. He had decided to take a mission after being off it for so long. That meant it was his first mission alone. But he couldn't wait anymore. He refused to have his hopes too high right now, thinking that probably right now she was already being interrogated by Konoha.

"Where are you going, Leader-sama?" Tobi asked him innocently just as he stepped into their living room. "Mission, as usual Tobi," he replied shortly and walked past his comrade.

"I thought Leader-sama is going to save Konan-chan. Tobi wants to be a good boy and follow Leader-sama to Konoha," Pein stopped dead in his tracks. Tobi's words hit him like a giant hammer.

Mission can wait, Konan was more important to him. Pein turned to face Tobi and smirked. "Would you like to join then?" Tobi nodded excitedly and began yelling his head off about going to save Konan. This caused every single of Akatsuki member to come out from their respective rooms, trying to find out what was going on.

"Enough of that, Tobi. We will be leaving now!" Pein left their hideout and Tobi scrambled to follow him, not before waving goodbye at the other members.

"Does Leader-sama really serious about taking only Tobi with him, un?" Murmurs of agreement were heard.

With Konan and Kakashi

After a few minutes quarreling with the doctors and another hour enduring the Godaime Hokage's wrath, Kakashi finally arrived at his apartment, with Konan by his side. He looked sadly at the handcuffs that kept them both together.

"Seriously, your apartment needed some workout Hatake," she commented with a slumber expression. When he slumped on his couch with a dejected sigh, she was accidentally pulled along, and landed on the same couch, not so gracefully.

She grumbled and adjusted herself, scooting as far as possible from him with her eyes glaring angrily on him. She had threatened him to let her out from the hospital in any way that he could think of and in the end, they both found out that the only way to let her free from the hospital is to have him by her 24/7 to prevent escape.

Konan was far relieved when she found out that Konoha could not put her on trial as she actually did not do anything to the village. That means, she will only be put under surveillance.

One side of her was glad that they had not thought so highly of her and confident that she will be secure under Hatake's supervision, though the other side of her was quite mad that they had underestimated her just because she was a woman, who had just lost her baby and was currently suffering from emotional break down.

True, she was in despair after the loss of the baby. But she was a shinobi, a great one at that and shinobi did not show emotions. She had to suck it up and acted as though nothing had happened and try to escape from Konoha to go back.

But after she had achieved her goal, of course. Eliminate Haruno Sakura.

They had successfully got their showers respectively, with great difficulty. Konan had made sure to make Kakashi put on a paper bag she made from her own paper while she was taking her shower. He however didn't seem to care much about her while he was showering, although once in a while his sharingan trailed to her when he felt something was wrong.

They had quite a simple dinner that she managed to prepare after they spent 5 minutes bickering on what to eat. She refused to eat instant ramen, the only food that he had while he was not going to eat the food she cooked, fearing poison. "I'm not that bad of a cook that can gives you a food poisoning!" she finally huffed angrily and he obeyed, feeling annoyed.

When it was time to dress for bed, she changed from her training attire to looser outfit to sleep with the help of her paper butterflies with ease. In the meantime, he was having a little complication with his own, but finally succeeded with her help.

As soon as his head touched the pillow, Kakashi was fast asleep. Konan looked at him in mild surprise that an elite ninja like himself would sleep that easy in the presence of a known enemy. She finally looked away and sighed lightly.

The ticking clock on the wall failed to keep her interested. Konan just lay there, not knowing what to do. She knew she can easily escape right now, but she found herself to be hesitating. It was a mystery to her.

She turned her attention back to him, studying his features carefully. His even breathing calmed her out. He was on his side, facing her due to the handcuffs that restraint them from being too apart from each other.

Konan inhaled deeply before moving closer to him. But her movement seemed to disturb him that he stirred in his sleep. A second later, he turned away from her with his cuffed hand placed behind him, between her and him.

It was just a reflex but to Konan, it was a sign. He had turned his back to her, just like that. Konan got up and sat up straight. She was reluctant at first, but carried on fixing his arm so that he can sleep comfortably. Even if that means she will have to sit up all night.

Then she noticed that his pillow was slightly out of position and the blanket had slid down to his waist. On instinct, she lifted his head careful enough not to wake him up and fixed his pillow. Then she reached for the blanket and tucked it carefully under his chin. To her disappointment, he didn't turn back to face her but continued sleeping instead.

Before she can stop herself, hot tears made their way to her eyes and began to fall one by one. Her situation reminded her of her days back with the Akatsuki members. She remembered having entered their rooms and watched each of them sleep. She remembered how she fixed their pillows and tucked them in, and sometimes she will caress their hair while singing a lullaby.

It was too painful to her right now. Her emotions were swirling around, losing control. Even though she knew that Kakashi was trying to break her down, and she acted tough in front of him, she was in pain. Konan don't know how much longer can she put up a fight with Kakashi's words but she knew that it was affecting her deeply.

She was feeling alone right now, away from the Akatsuki. And even Kakashi the only person who she had ever talked to in Konoha had turned his back to her. She no longer had her baby in her, nor did she have anyone dear to her anymore. Few minutes into crying silently, Konan wiped away the tears that smeared her face.

She bent her head slowly and kissed his forehead gently, hoping that it will make her feel at least accompanied. Little did she knew, in a dark corner of the room, a shadow clone of him was watching her every move intently.

Thank you for reading and reviews! Have a good day everyone!