Hello there, everyone! I'm finally back.. I deeply apologize for the LOOOOOOOOONGGGGG hiatus. It had been quite a rough year for me and now finally I'm back on track. Therefore, I want to thank all of those who had shown great support to this story and to my other stories, you guys Rock! Thank you very much to those who had spent their times reading, reviewing, liking, and many more, you guys had made up my day! Let's not waste time anymore, getting back with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Stop it! All of these revenge and avenging things! Face it, Konan. You have lost everything! Your baby, your lover, your friends! Most importantly, you have started losing your life!" Kakashi lost her temper, grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. Konan's eye widened at the piece of news, and wondered why he bowed his face down. Kakashi on the other hand, berated himself for letting it slip just like that. Tsunade told him in his mission scroll that it was supposed to be a secret.

"Wh..What do...you mean, Hatake?".

Kakashi remain silent, wondering if he should tell her or not. Konan was still not satisfied, putting her hand under his chin and made him look at her eyes.

"You better tell me, Hatake!" she said forcefully, half threatening him in the process.

"I'm sorry, Konan. But you have little time left," Kakashi said slowly.

"I don't understand," she said finally, breaking the silence between the two of them. Kakashi lifted his face to look at her and let out a long, heavy sigh. When he saw the look inside her eyes, a pity feeling crept into his heart.

"The jutsu Kabuto used on you had its own side effects. Instead of just extracting the baby from your womb, he had also pulled out some important nerves and blood vessels inside you…," he paused momentarily, assessing her reaction. Konan continued staring at him in anticipation, nodded once as a signal for him to continue.

"Tsunade-sama had fixed some of the injuries, and some organs. But, there's a limit to what humans can do… Some of your injuries are fatal and beyond repair. I'm afraid your time is running out," Kakashi finished telling her the news, and carefully touched her shoulder. "Is it really…." Her voice trailed off, staring off the distance.

Konan knew this moment would come some day, death was inevitable to anyone. But she never thought it would be this fast, and so far away from her fellow Akatsuki members. "I see," she whispered quietly before she lowered her gaze.

Trying her best to remain calm and collected, Konan grasped the ground to draw back any kind of emotions that had threatened to explode inside her. Her actions made Kakashi felt a little bit of worry for her condition. "I didn't mean it to be this harsh, but it is reality," he tried to console her, though somehow it did not sound right.

"I know," to his surprise, Konan replied calmly, looking at him with a somber smile. Seeing her desperate attempt to hide her true feelings, Kakashi began to feel sorrier for her than he had ever been. "It is so thoughtful of you trying to keep it from me," she added, and kept on pasting the forced smile on her face.

Nevertheless, Kakashi thought she was still beautiful. Even in her distraught state, she was still vividly stunning to him. He swore he can sit down for hours just to see her smile, even if it was not a genuine one.

"Maybe we should go home. You really need some rest," he suggested, and for the first time she did not object or refused.

With Akatsuki

Pein looked at all of the members of the Akatsuki one by one. They were currently at the border of Earth Country, taking their own leisure time to reach Konoha. "What else did she said about Konoha?" he asked Kisame, who was sitting on a fallen log, loyally holding the flower in his hand. The shark-like man straightened up and exchanged looks with Itachi who sat next to him.

"She said that the Jinchuuriki will go into a mission in two days time, in the Lightning Country along with someone called Yamato, Sai, and Haruno Sakura," out came the answer. But judging from the tone, Pein knew Kisame was hiding something. "Is that all?" he inquired.

Kisame once again exchanged looks with Itachi. He was hesitant to inform their Leader of Konan's current condition, but Itachi had a different idea. He knew Pein would have to know about it sooner or later. "Konan's dying. And she told us to leave Konoha alone. Just go after the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki," Itachi's words grabbed everybody's attention.

"Leave Konoha alone? Did she mean to stay there?" Pein asked impatiently, to which Itachi and Kisame simultaneously nodded.

"She intended to die there, in Konoha?" again, the shark-man and Uchiha nodded their heads. The others just watched the interaction between the three of them. Pein exhaled harshly and stood up, facing away from the rest of them.

'Konan, what are you playing at right now? I need you by my side,' he thought and closed his powerful eyes. His outstanding abilities suddenly seemed useless without her by his side.

"Leader-sama, I think it's best that we follow her wish and concentrate on the Jinchuuriki instead. She's a grown woman, she knew what's best for her and for the rest of us," after a moment of thinking, Kakuzu voiced out his opinion, and did it quite politely. "Yes, I'm afraid I have to agree with Kakuzu on that one," Hidan too gave his decision, without any cursing words. This greatly surprised the other members.

Pein thought for a little while, and looked at Deidara, Zetsu, Tobi, Itachi and Kisame. Four of them seemed to be agreeing with Hidan and Kakuzu, only Kisame appeared reluctant to do so. "If she is really dying, all the best we can do for her is respect her wish,un," Deidara piped in.

"Very well. Itachi and Kisame, you guys are to capture the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The others, you might as well help them, or you may choose to do independent missions for the time being. I'm going for Konan," without waiting for the other's answer to it, he scooped Konan's paper flower from Kisame's palm and disappeared from sight.

With that, the rest of them also got up and went for the different directions in their respective pairs. Everyone except for Kisame and Itachi. The older of the two was still staring blankly on his palms, where her flower had lain before. "Kisame, we have to move now," Itachi reminded him.

Halfheartedly, his partner rose and followed his trail. "Sooner or later you still have to let her go. Even if Sasori is gone and no matter how hard we tried, both of us would never stand a chance to win her heart," Itachi's direct confession shocked the former member of Seven Swordsmen of Mist Village. He had never thought Itachi was secretly in love with the kunoichi too. But the young man was better in controlling his emotions than he did. Deep inside, Kisame realized he should follow Itachi's example and learn to let go off his feelings for her.

With Kakashi and Konan

Kakashi stared up at the ceiling, his left hand propped against the back of his head. Next to him, Konan did almost the same thing except that her free hand was on her stomach. "Ne, Hatake?" she said out of the blue. Kakashi turned his face to look in her direction, not uttering a syllable at all. "When your father died, didn't you felt like you have lost a great part of yourself? Like you're never a whole person anymore," she asked in a quiet voice, still looking straight ahead.

"Of course I did. I bounced back, and regained myself. You should really drop off intentions of revenge whatsoever, and focus on finding other strengths in your life," he offered her a piece of advice, which felt strange especially in their situation right now. Konan closed her eyes and exhaled gently.

"It's a little too late, don't you think?" she smiled weakly, the best she could do to cover her true feelings.

"Yes, I guess," he replied carefully, not a single moment looking away from the sad smile playing in her face.

"I've lost everything by now. I've lost them to my stupid idea of revenge," said Konan. She finally turned her face to look at his masked face. "I wished you have told me that earlier,".

Kakashi wanted nothing more than to hug her and relieve the pain she felt in her heart. Secretly, it pained him too to see her suffering the way she did at that moment. He knew that as a true shinobi, she would refuse to display her emotions, let alone in front of an enemy like him. But judging from the heavy burden she carried, the loss of her child and the prospect of facing death, it must have taken a lot of willpower from her to not cry. To him, Konan was one of the strongest people he had ever known, physically and mentally.

"I thought I would redeem my pleasure and satisfaction from avenging Sasori's death, but it turned out to be the foulest and foolest thing I had ever done," her voice quivered as she said the words, was fighting hard with her inner self.

Without thinking, Kakashi pulled her into his arms, embracing her now trembling body. "Let it all out," he whispered in her right ear. She did not reply. But he could hear her tiny sobs, muffled by his sweatshirt. A woman will always be a woman. No matter how tough and strong they are, there will always be a soft part in her that shines her inner beauty.

As her sobs grew worse, Kakashi began caressing her back to comfort her down. In a daring attempt, he kissed the top of her head and began wiping away the heavy tears flowing freely on her face. It was just like the first time she woke up in the hospital. Again, she bowed her face to hide the tears she was shedding from him. She thought that her tears marked her weakness.

"Ne, Hatake?" she called again, sounding so innocent and scared. "Can you...hold me like this, for the rest of the night?" her request made him look down into her watery eyes. "Just for tonight! That's it," she said quickly, trying to cover up her embarrassment. But there was no way Kakashi could miss the blush that appeared on her face, and he happily complied.

Konan felt more secure as he embraced her closer and rested his chin on top of her head. 'Forgive me, Sasori. I had to break my promise of loving only you,' she thought as her eyelids dropped, drifting into a peaceful sleep.

Phew, another chapter done. It had been along time since I have been writing stories, so forgive me for any mistakes or weakness that you have found. And also, please leave a review to help me improvise my work! Thank you, minna-san! Have a nice day:-D