So, I know it's been un UNBELIEVABLY long time since my last update, but I kept being totally undecisive as to what I wanted to happen in this chapter (you might have noticed that most of my chapters surround holidays, and there isn't that much in January...), but I've finally decided...sort of. I wanted to give Konan more backbone, because as some clever readers have noticed, she's always getting saved by Pain and the others, no matter what comes up. I also think I might be repeating my ideas and stuff...sorry about that ;( Oh, and this chapter has, like, thirty seconds of OCness, or whatever it's called. Malaise is MY character! Anyways, here it is! The long awaited...or not...NEXT CHAPTER!
Ahaha...oh, yeah, to those who were wondering...I'm not dead...believe it or not...:)...just...very, very, VERY sleepy.
oh, and also, I always forget to do this: I don't own Naruto Shippuuden. I wish I did, quite honestly. Then I could kick out characters I hate, and make loads of weird pairings that don't happen and stuff. But I don't, so I can't. *heart shatters*
Aaaaaand...LET'S PLAY!
Hide and Seek
Random side story: One in the bed: Okay, this is just for fun. The real story starts after this, but I really felt like doing this thing, just for fun. :D
There was one in the bed, and the little one said-
Konan was officially awake, but in reality, she was still asleep. She'd been awake for around ten minutes, but she hadn't made any move to 'look alive', as they say. (Seriously? I sometimes hate it when people say that; like, was I looking dead or something?) She moved her hand under the blanket, taking it with her and rubbing her nose, snuggling deeper into her warm pillow. She shifted slightly, her eyelids still firmly closed, and moved to bring her knees closer to her chest, sticking her butt out. As she did so, she felt her boxers-covered butt press up against something. She thought nothing of it, being too entwined in her foggy dreams to comprehend anything in particular. But when something large, warm, and long slid between her legs, she decided that it was time to wake up. She opened her eyes very...very...slowly. Everything was a blur. She raised her hands from under the blankets and rubbed her eyes with a child-like groan. She moved her hands, and looked sleepily to see what was going on. The first thing her eyes fell upon were long, dark eyelashes, resting gently on pale cheeks. She blinked. Her mind took so long to process what was going on, that it was a while before she understood that somebody was in her bed. When she did understand that, she looked and saw messy, slept-on, dark red hair falling over the dreaming boy's forehead. She blinked. Sasori. She frowned slowly; if he was facing her, for whatever reason that he was, how was her butt pressed against him? She turned her head slowly, and blinked again. Dark blonde. Lots and lots of dark blonde hair was spilling over the other pillow, falling away from the beautiful and tanned face of another boy. Deidara.
There were three in the bed, and the little one said; Roll over, roll over.
Oh...interesting...Konan thought sleepily, moving her butt, yawning again, and closing her eyes once more. Sasori...and Deidara...it's like a hug...wait...Deidara...and...Sasori...are...? Are...in...my...bed...? Deidara...Sasori... "IN MY BED!" she shrieked, finishing her thoughts out loud, and at quite a high volume.
So they all rolled over, and one fell out...
There were two shouts, and two loud thumps, as both Sasori and Deidara fell out either side of her bed, and tumbled to the floor. Konan was staring at them, barely realizing that she'd drawn the blanket and her knees up to her chin, or that a large ball of unicorn-patterened pillow was between her teeth. "WHAT THE HECK!" she cried, as she stared at them. They were slightly awake now, and were both crawling back onto the bed, with identical yawns and scowls of 'it's morning and you're yelling...whhhyyyy...?' on thier faces.
"Quiet...princess..." Sasori mumbled, falling back onto the bed, exactly where he'd just been, and wrenching half the blanket out of her hands.
"It's morning...silly...un..." Deidara groaned, collapsing down like Sasori had, and pulling the blanket over himself as well. Konan was in shock. Then, at the exact same time, two arms from opposite sides of her slid around her waist, dragging her back down into the bed.
And he gave a little scream, and he gave a little shout...
She took a deep breath; "Haaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh..." and then- "PAAAAAAAAAAAAIIN!" About twenty seconds later, her door opened slowly, and Pain walked in, rubbing his eyes and yawning. "What's up? What's going on...are you cold or something...?..." he asked sleepily, opening his eyes. "Oh." he said, looking first at Konan, who was sulking, then at Deidara, whose hair was completely away from his face, his mouth open slightly, and his right arm curled around Konan, and finally at Sasori, whose head was tucked onto Konan's shoulder, his left arm circling her waist. "Okay. I know what to do." Pain said with a grin, and left. Konan frowned, confused; whaaaaaat...? Pain returned about fifteen seconds later, brandishing a camera. "Say 'cheese'" he said, and Konan sighed. "Cheese." she said flatly, and the camera flashed. Pain laughed as he put it down on her table, and walked over, running a hand through his messy hair as he walked. "Awwww! It's so cute~~~:3" Pain said with a grin, pretending to fan himself. Konan raised her eyebrows and tried not to laugh. "AWWW!" Pain laughed, pulling her cheeks randomly. She knew he was just having fun, but still. He was now kneeling on her bed, his weight resting on his knees, which were on either side of her, just under Sasori and Deidara's arms, which were still wrapped around her.
Please remember to tie a knot in your pyjamas, single beds are only made for one, two, three, four...
She took another deep breath; "Haaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh..." and then- "AAAAAAGGHH! MOLESTION! MOLESTION! PERVERTS! EROTIC PIGS! !" Pain was laughing, and Sasori and Deidara, being the incredibally heavy sleepers that they were, made no sound. There was a moment of relative silence, and then there was a bang.
"KONAN! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT SO EARLY IN THE BITCH-ASS MORNING? I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I JUST HAD A DICK UP MY FUCKING ASS NOT THAT LONG AG-"
"SHUT UP, HIDAN! I SWEAR, I'D KILL YOU IF YOU'D JUST DIE PROPERLY!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOURSELF, 'KUZU! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S THE PERV IN OUR RELATIONSHIP! YEAH, I SAID IT! WHATCHA GONNA DO NOW, BITCH?"
"PERV? DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH OF AN IDIOT YOU ARE? I SWEAR YOU'D BE A CORPSE, GETTING PEED ON BY ALLEY CATS IF I WASN'T AROUND TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T STAB YOURSELF WITH A BALLPOINT PEN!"
"YOU KNOW WHAT, KAKUZU? EAT A DICK!"
"I thought I just did ;P."
"YOU LITTLE-"
There was a loud slamming of a door, six heavy footsteps, then Hidan stormed into Konan room, pulling up his boxers and glaring at them. "Okay, bitches, what's the problem?" he asked, with a totally OOC thumbs-up and pose. Konan sweat-dropped, then spoke, a difficult feat since her mouth was being stretched by her supposedly 'cool, dangerous, romantic and mature' (ha-ha) boyfriend. Hidan put his hands heroically onto his hips, and stared first at Deidara, asleep on the left of Konan, then at Sasori, asleep on the right of Konan, then at Pain, kneeling on top of Konan, then at Konan, taking in her appalled expression, and the unnatural stretchiness of her mouth. Then he laughed loudly.
"Waa oh uh-ee?" Konan asked, annoyed. Hidan sighed, shaking his head.
"You dumbasses. I would say 'get a room', but you're already in one."
"Oh urr ooh" Konan said, (so were you) and Hidan laughed again, before walking over, and slapping Pain's butt. Pain didn't blink, but kept his cat-like expression of amusement in place perfectly, as if nothing had happened, while aiming a violent kick behind him at Hidan, which missed by an inch. "Okay." Hidan said. "I know exactly what this needs." he announced confidently. Konan was in the middle of breathing a rather premature sigh of relief, when Hidan took three running steps and then jumped, landing in a belly-flop position right on top of Pain, who collapsed under his weight into an identical belly-flop position, his hands falling from Konan's face down to her shoulders, and his head squished into what is legally reffered to as...her natural essentials of the upper half of her torso.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!"
I hope there is no need to explain her reaction. Two seconds later, Kakuzu walked in, followed immediately by Kisame and Itachi. Kakuzu was expressionless, Kisame was laughing, and Itachi looked bored. "You're so foolish..." he said calmly, sitting elegantly down in a chair. Kakuzu rolled his eyes, walked over to the still-yelling, soul-coming-out Konan, and poked her. "Shush." he said, but she didn't. He rolled his eyes.
Five in the bed, and the little one said; Roll over, Roll over. So they all rolled over...
"If they paid me to do this, it still wouldn't be worth it. However..." he said, grabbing Hidan around the waist and dragging him off of Pain, who consequently rolled away from Konan's chest onto Sasori, who then woke up (a miracle!), gave him the flashing diamond-eye look, and shoved him back onto Konan, who immediately began yelling again. Pain, to prevent his ears from bleeding out, rolled the other way, onto Deidara, who also woke up, (another miracle!) and kicked out under the blanket. He hit Sasori by mistake, who elbowed Konan in the ribs. Konan, who wasn't 'GONNA TAKE ANY MORE OF THIS!' shoved him out of her bed, and rolled over to where he'd just been, leaving Pain free to fall to where she'd just been. He did, and then shoved Deidara out of the bed. Deidara stood up, grabbed Pain's leg, and pulled him off the bed, too.
"There was one in the bed, and the little one said..." Itachi began with a smile.
Konan grinned and finished; "I got the whooole mattress, to myself! I got the whooooole matress to myself, I got the whole mattress to myself!" she sang, and they all laughed.
Luckily, the first day back after Christmas break is a holiday.
Okay! Back to the story...:3
Pictures of you, Pictures of me
Konan stretched and yawned quietly, before turning her head so her face was buried in Pain's chest. He responded by wrapping his arms around her and rocking back on his heels slightly, smiling absent-mindedly at the middle-distance. It was the second day back at school. It was also the day for the physical exams. The second one of the year; Konan had arrived late, so she'd missed the first ones. At that particular moment, Konan and Pain were leaning against the large stone wall that encircled most of the school grounds; Kakashi had let them have a free block to get into a creative frame of mind for their next project. Sasori and Deidara had retreated long ago to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what. Konan did have an idea of what they were doing, but she didn't say anything, just in case they were closer than she thought. So here she was, hanging out with Pain. No complaints there. After five more minutes, Pain broke the comfortable silence for the first time; "Hey Konan?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you wanna come and visit my family during spring break?" he asked, and Konan could tell by his posture that he was slightly nervous. She drew back, looking at him curiously. "If you don't want to, that's fine, or if you can't go, then that's okay, too, I guess..." he said, backtracking quickly, probably mistaking her curiousity for indesicion.
"Of course I do, silly." she said, poking him lightly. "I was just surprised; I don't know much about your family." Pain laughed, and abruptly grabbed her around the waist, swinging her up to sit on the stone fence. She looked down at him, her legs dangling over his shoulders. She patted him on the head while he began explaining his request.
"It's just that I know they'd really, really like you. And you might like them, too. Also, my brother said that I wouldn't have to pay him back fifty bucks if I brought a hot girl home with me for spring break." he said with a perfectly naughty grin. Konan laughed loudly, almost losing her balance on the high fence. Pain's neck came to her rescue, however, as she locked her knees around it, steadying herself while simultaniously squishing his face against the rock.
"Oops. Sorry...are you okay?" she asked, trying not to laugh. He laughed for her, and randomly began tracing organic shapes onto her legs. She shivered slightly at his touch. He didn't miss it; he looked up at her mischievously, and a slow grin spread across his handsome face. Konan's stomach tensed slightly, something inside coiling in sync with his slow grin; he knew exactly what slow smiles did to her. She didn't know what was worse: the fact that she had a creepy fetish for slow smiles, or that he knew that she had a creepy fetish for slow smiles. And if she had to add a thrid 'worse', it would be that he smiled slowly...a lot.
"So..." he said, still grinning mischivously, "are you gonna come?" he asked, and Konan bit her lip.
"Okay...but are you sure they'll like me? I get shy super easily, so, just in case, I could bring a book-" she began, and Pain pressed a hand to her mouth to make her be quiet.
"You bring that rant up every time visiting strangers is mentioned." he said, amused. "Is it like a mental speech that you use as a back-up plan if you can't avoid meeting people, or something?" Konan blushed, and Pain's eyes narrowed slightly in a teasing manner. She ignored it, and pushed his hand away regretfully; it had been very warm on her cold face.
"It is not." she insisted, and he shrugged, with an expression that clearly said 'riiiiight...whatever you say...' "I just don't want to get in the way." she said honestly, and he laughed.
"Okay, okay, fine. But I swear, they'll like you. Ask the others. Generally speaking...my brothers are...er...very friendly." he said, struggling to describe them all with one adjective.
"What about your sister?" Konan asked, searching her inner storage cabinet for the meager amount of information Pain had given her about his past and his family. Pain smirked.
"Relax. And just a heads up about her, she uses her right hook a lot, so duck the first one." he said, and Konan stared at him. Pain laughed at her surprised expression, before grinning up at her and asking why she was worried that they might not like her. She blushed and looked at her knees, grumbling slightly over the 'over-stimulated curiousity of boyfriends', making Pain grin's widen.
"Well," she said, looking pointedly at her left boot, "I suppose that it could be because if they really hate me, they might tell you not to...er...be friends with me any more, and then what would I do with myself during free blocks?" she said, chancing a look at him. His expression almost made her topple over in irritation; it was incredibally condescending, kind of like 'Aww! What a cute, unknowing and oblivious child, caught up in this discussion of things she doesn't understand. And yet, and yet, she provides such an adorable opinion. Awww!' It made her feel very un-listened-to. She scowled and crossed her arms. Pain laughed and tugged on her ankles, making her yell slightly and grab his shoulders to stop herself from falling off the wall. She looked down at him, and he gave her an impish smile.
"Relax, silly. They'll like you, and if they don't, there's really not much they can do. I'm sorry to say you're stuck with me." he said with a mischivous smirk. Konan sighed happily.
"Well, that's okay. I have gotten used to having you around." she said honestly, and he snorted, smirking up at her.
"Oh, that's good. The last few times I've kissed you, you didn't have a heart attack, so I'm sure that's a good sign." he said, and Konan laughed awkwardly; sometimes even his slow smile would get her heart rate beating at a rather dangerous pace. Heart attacks were probably iminent in her future.
As they walked back inside, Tsunade suddenly emerged from her office, looking around. When she saw Konan and Pain, her face lit up, as if she'd been looking for them.
"There you are! Why were you outside?" she asked, but before they could think of a more innocent excuse than 'make-out space', she flapped her hand and interrupted. "Nevermind, nevermind, I probably don't want to know. So long as you don't kill anybody, blow anything up, get pregnant, or junk like that, I don't care. More importantly, Konan, you've got a visitor." Konan blinked. And blinked again.
"A...visitor? Who?" she asked, and Tsunade heaved a sigh.
"How do you expect me to know? He just showed up about a half-hour ago with a letter explaining that your father had instructed him to visit you for a while." Konan blinked again, glancing a look up at Pain, who was watching her with an easy grin on his face.
"It's a guy? I don't know any guys..." she said uncertainly, and Pain laughed quietly as she followed Tsunade into her office. "Wait a second, okay?" Konan asked, and when Pain nodded and leaned back, relaxed, against the wall, she turned and looked around to see where this 'visitor' was.
Her eyes quickly fell on a boy who looked to be around her age, maybe slightly younger, with pretty blond hair that was in natural, soft, fluffy curls caressing his head. His skin was quite pale, but he had rather pretty light green eyes. He wore a black sweater with a small gold crest (probably his school's) on it, under which he wore a white shirt, whose collar was starched and sticking straight up. He wore black pants which hit the vamps of his polished dress shoes perfectly, and he was sitting next to what looked like a bag of luggage. As soon as he saw her, he stood up gracefully, bowed, and kissed her hand, making her stomach jolt from freaking out. Tsunade tactfully excused herself, and headed towards her private study. Konan, for once, fervently wished she hadn't.
"My lady Konan. I have heard much about you from your father. I hope you are well?" the boy asked, in a mellow, but desperately formal voice. Konan blinked, her mind feeling too confused to process anything.
"Errr...ah...has he? And uh...yes, I'm well, thanks...but...I'm sorry, who are you?" she asked, staring at him. He was a teensy bit shorter than her, around Sasori's height, and when she asked who he was, he seemed to shrink a little bit more.
"Oh...were you not informed?" he asked awkwardly, despite his formal grammar, and he shook her head. The boy went a bit pink, before retreaving a letter from his pocket. "I believe your letter must have been miscarried in the mail. Here is the copy that your father sent to me, not four weeks ago." he said, pressing thick parchment into her hand. She unfolded the letter, wishing she were still outside with Pain than in here with one of her father's 'ideas'.
"My dear sir...blah blah blah...huh?" her eyes focused in on two sentances half-way down the letter, which was probably written by his secretary; ''It would give me much pleasure if you were to visit my daughter at her school, St Misery's Acadamy. I know that she will be thrilled to make your acquaintance, and that all other matters will fall into place in good time...'
She looked back at the boy before her. Apparently, her father was trying to squeeze a few more thousand dollars out of this poor boy's father by pretending that she would...be friends?...with this random stranger. It occured to her that she didn't know his name. "Er...well..this is awkward. Um, what's your name?" she asked, and he cleared his throat.
"My lady, my name is an unfortunate one, but please allow me to...uh...say it anyways." he said, obviously unable to think of a better way to phrase that. "It's Malaise Chauncey Friday." he said, embarassed, and she grinned.
"It's a great name!" she said, and then remembered that Pain was still outside.
"Er...Malaise, (ha ha, it's the name of the town I was at during Christmas!) I left my friend outside...do you think I could quickly...?" she asked, leaving the question hanging in the air.
"Of course, of course." he said hastily, and she grinned happily to herself, turning and opening the door.
Pain was still leaning up against the wall, hands in his pockets, his eyes closed.
"Pain? Wanna come in?" she asked, looking up at him. She held his gaze for a few long seconds, then looked away with a faint blush after recieving a slow grin.
"Yeah, sure," he said, loping forwards, his long legs taking him across the wide hall in two seconds. "Who's your guest?" he asked after entering the office, nodding at Malaise, who was staring at Pain, taking in his height, his piercings, and his wicked-cool (as Konan described them) eyes.
"Hi," Pain said, grinning and sticking out a hand. "I'm Pain, Konan's boyfriend." Malaise's eyes widened slightly as he reached forwards to grasp Pain's outstretched hand.
"Malaise Chauncey Friday. Pleased to meet you, sir." Malaise said, and Konan couldn't help but notice that some of the bravado that had been seeping out of his voice eariler had slipped. "Um...my lady Konan, I'm terribly to cut this short, but I've got a train to catch..." Malaise was fumbling around with his bag, slinging it up onto his shoulder, and seizing her and Pain's hands in brief handshakes before practically sprinting from the room. "Give your father my regards, please, and...uh...have a nice day!" he all but wailed before disappearing out the door and calling that he'd show himself the door. Konan and Pain were left in the empty office, staring at the door.
"That was weird. I guess he was scared of you, huh?" Konan commented after a brief moment of silence. Pain snorted, shaking his head, before picking up the letter from Konan's father that had fallen to the floor and unfolding it.
"Read this." he said with a grin, handing the page to Konan, pointing to a sentace about three-fourths down the page. She looked at it, frowning.
'My dear sir, I would forever be in your debt if you would consider my daughter as a future possible bride.'
"GAAAAGH!" Konan shrieked, tearing the paper up, tossing it in the trash can, grabbing Pain by his tie (which was already mostly undone anyways), and dragging him out the door. She was fuming inside, ignoring Pain's laughter and the stares from passing maids and workers as she dragged him by the tie all the way to the nearest girl's bathroom.
"Hey, isn't this-" was all he managed to say before she had them both locked in a stall. She looked up at him, her expression somehow blank, glowing, and furious all at the same time, her hand still fisted around his tie. He looked down at her, half-amused, half-uncertain, before she had flung herself at him, forcing him back against the wall of the black stall and crushing her mouth to his.
She was surprised when Pain allowed her domincance of the kiss for a few seconds. But as soon as this thought entered her mind, she suddenly realized what she was doing, and backed away, despite the winning-the-lottery appeal staying right where she was held. She looked away, blushing furiously, an immediately began apologising.
"I'm sorry...I didn't...I didn't mean-" she began, before Pain stepped forwards, a small smile on his face as he closed the distance between them and almost eliminating the space between them. Konan looked up at him, startled. He bent down so his face was just by her ear, his hands coming up and pinning her wrists against the wall of the bathroom stall. In a low, surprisingly seductive voice, he spoke, his words warming her ear and making her cheeks redden even more; "Are you sure you didn't mean that? 'You sure you didn't want that? I think I know what you want..." he said quietly, and she could practically hear him grinning as he spoke. She gasped as he bit her ear gently, tugging on her earlobe, before moving his mouth softly down her neck, kissing and sucking lightly on the skin as he glided down to her collarbone. Konan's knees were wobbling, and she knew that his grip on her wrists was the only thing keeping her from collapsing down to the dirty tiled floor below.
A small moan escaped her as he licked a spot on her neck, right where her pulse was the strongest, hammering under her skin, and began sucking on it, gently at first, and then more insistent after he heard her sigh of pleasure. "St...stop..." she sighed breathlessly, an inner spring inside her beginning to coil as Pain grazed his teeth lightly over her skin. She felt him smirk against her skin, and she knew that he knew as well as she that she didn't want him to stop -ever. She jerked awake again as Pain's mouth, which had been resting just at the corner of hers, slid to the left gently, and kissed her softly, simply. She stopped breathing, her heart thudding very audibly in the small space of the bathroom stall as she waited breathlessly for him to continue. She opened her eyes, looking up at him with large eyes. He was so close, and his eyes met hers in a heated, serious gaze before a dimple surfaced on the left side of his face, and she knew he was smiling at her.
"Kiss me, fool." she mumbled against his lips, and the other dimple emerged below his cheek.
"Fool?" he questioned, his breath warm and his tone teasing. Konan didn't have the chance to reply. His mouth, already gently pressed against hers, claimed her lips in a passionate kiss that shocked Konan's breath away again. Pain bit her bottom lip, drawing blood, and Konan moaned in happiness and eagerly allowed him entrance. His tongue skimmed her own, sending shivers of pleasure down her spine, and turning her knees to water, before stroking the sensitive surface of the roof of her mouth. She kissed him back fiercely, and he forced her back against the wall, eliminating the thin layer of air between them. He crushed his body against hers, and they touched base at several strategic locations down their bodies, Konan only staying on her feet thanks to the tight grip his hands kept on her wrists, pinning them on either side of her head. Pain pushed his leg between her own, and she sighed again, her sigh-slash-moan escaping their kiss to hang in the air like a physical symbol of her want and physical attraction.
Pain released her wrists only to drop his hands to her hips, sliding them down to the hem of her skirt. Still kissing her breathless, he rucked up the sides of her school pinafore, his cool hands skimming the sensitive skin along her curved waist, dancing over her spine, making her tremble with pleasure. As the blood rushed back into her arms, she satisfied her urge to run her hands through his spiky orange hair, and pull his head closer, deepening the angle of the kiss and practically passing out from dizziness and excitement. Konan forced herself away from the wall, and, without breaking the kiss even for a second, walked Pain over and sat him down on the toilet (lid closed!). She sat down on his lap, and crossed her legs around his waist, her arms over his shoulders, one hand still pressing him closer to him as the other one shoved itself up his shirt, rucking it up, exposing his toned stomach and chest.
She bit down on his lip, the blood dripping off of her already-bitten lips down both of their chins as he groaned in pleasure. He fisted her hair into a ponytail, re-angling her head to deepen the kiss even more, grinding his hips against her own, making the coiling feeling inside her stomach recieve a sharp jolt. She sighed happily, feeling very high, when suddenly the bell rang. They didn't stop kissing, but thirty seconds afterwards, a huge cloud of giggles and chatter entered the bathroom. Konan drew away from Pain slowly, sending a death glare through the wood of the bathroom door at the gaggle of girls who had just entered and interrupted them.
"I guess we should go..." Konan murmured reluctanctly, watching Pain, a blush still blotched across her cheeks. He gave her a solemn thumbs-up, which she returned before snorting with laughter. She sighed, stood up, pulled down her dress, and opened the bathroom door, leading Pain out by his hand. She noticed the chatter of the girls stop the minute Pain emerged from the bathroom stall, and then start up again excitedly the second they left the bathroom. Konan snuck a glance sideways at Pain as they walked back to Kakashi's drawing class to fetch their bags before going to the gym for the physical exams. His posture and graceful stride was as relaxed and casual as usual, but she saw that his eyes were almost half-lidded, and as he gave her a sidelong grin, she could see a symphony of desire mixed in under the wicked-coolness of his swirly purple eyes. She blushed, and instinctively squeezed his hand briefly as she looked away, a rush of heat flushing through her.
They grabbed their bags from the classroom, and fell into step in the swarm of students that were all heading for the gym. "So..." Konan began, leaning closer to Pain (which was hard, seeing as they were kind of squished together by the masses of teenagers around them), "What exactly are the physical exams about?" she asked, and Pain grinned at her.
"Well, basically, they're kind of what you imagine when somebody says 'physical exams'. You run a mile, do so many sit-ups, so many push-ups, so many chin-ups during an alotted time, and then your results show how in shape you are. They weigh you and mesure you, too, in case you need new school uniforms or swimsuits or something." he explained, and Konan nodded. "Oh, yeah, I forgot," Pain continued, "today's also the day that we complete the year-book survey." he said with a sideways glance at Konan, who frowned.
"What's that?" she asked, and he bit back another smile.
"It's for the yearbook. You know how sometimes under each student's picture, they have something like 'Drama Queen', 'Best Smile', 'Braceface', stuff like that? Well here, you have that kind of thing, but also each year the team of seventh years in charge of the yearbook make a survey with questions like 'What's the cutest couple of first-year? Second-year? Third-year? and so on, and things like 'Most likely to be caught streaking on camera', or 'Most likely to meet husband in public bathroom'. You know, stuff like that. Today's the day we answer their questions, and majority rules about what goes in the yearbook." Pain explained, and Konan nodded, grinning.
"That sounds fun!" she said, and he laughed.
"Well, yeah. Actually, remind me later to show you the yearbook from last year. And if you ask Sasori, he can show you pictures of everybody the year they came and stuff. It's pretty cool." Pain said, and Konan grinned, totally believing him. She loved things like these, even though she'd never done them before. After all, when you're in your first year of 'highschool', despite supposedly having gone to highschool since you was thirteen, you miss out on these things.
They entered the gym, parted ways to change, and met up again when the entire school squished into the bleachers facing the gym. Asuma stood facing the whole student body, holding a microphone. Konan noticed that the school physician, Kabuto, was also on hand in case anybody got hurt. Or collapsed from exhaustion. Konan smiled to herself as she listened to Asuma describe what they were going to do for the next forty-five minutes; as long as she stayed on her feet, she would be relatively okay. Most excercise was just fine with her. Except for chin-ups, which she could do one -if she jumped, and long-distance running. Generally speaking, she had no endurance.
"So everybody's got that? Runs, Guns, Buns, and...Pecs. Yeah, don't laugh, not a lot rhymes with run." Asuma said with a grin, rubbing the back of his head.
"What about fun?" a shout came from the audience. Asume grinned.
"You really think you're gonna be having fun? Believe me, I'm paid to basically torture you into a gooey, limp, puddle. Just because I'm currently leaving you to the mercy of your classmates in your gym sessions doesn't mean I'm not gonna run you to the ground today." he said, and whoever had spoken up was clearly feeling a little pressured by their peers; there was a lot of hissing involving 'shut up!' and 'wow, now you've done it'. On Asuma's whistle, they all thundered down the bleachers, and walked out into the cold, freezing cold outside, where a light layer of frost coated everything, and occasional snowflakes cascaded down, making everybody look like they had dandruff.
"What the crap? It's, like, minus ten degrees out here!"
"Asuma, we're wearing shorts!"
"You want us to run in this?"
Various shouts and complaints arose from the students after spilling out the doors into the frigid see-your-breath air. Asuma just grinned, and began handing out whistles.
"These are important," he announced. "If you get too cold, get frostbite, hypothermia, you can't run any more, whatever, you blow this. We record how much you did run (and yes, I mean run), and send you over to Kabuto to check for missing appendages. If there aren't any, and you're perfectly okay physically, then you continue with the rest of the exam, the time it took for us to rescue you deducted from your total score. Any questions?" he asked with a grin.
"Y-Yes!" Naruto sputtered. "Why the hell are you making us do this? We get hypothermia, and then you deduct the time it took you to save our lives from our total score! That's so not fair, believe it!" he said loudly, arms crossed, and most of the students around the huddle nodded vigourously. Or maybe they were shivering so violently their heads bobbed. Each scenario was equally possible.
Asuma chuckled, and dove his hands deep into the pockets of his thick jacket, which was being eyed enviously by each student.
"Why do you think? The yearbook team's here-" he thumb-gestured to a group of bundled-up seventh years who were holding huge black cameras. "-and just think of the wonderful memory this'll be!" he said. "Now, it's once around all the field, following the usual path. Any cheating, walking all the way, and pretending to get frostbite one minute in, will be carefully monitered and prevented. So, GET GOING! Go, go, go, GOOOO!" he roared, and the students all began running. Konan already couldn't feel her feet. Pain was ahead of her, as per usual, and she was runnning in the middle of a group of second-year boys, to stay warm. A run around all the fields (about three miles, give or take) was gonna be hard. Especially in this weather. After the first mile, the number of students running had trickled down to about a hundred. Konan didn't really blame the ones who were shivering on the sides of the paths; points deducted, sure, but at least they'd be warm!
Finally the lap was finished, and Konan and fifty others who had made it all the way, returned gratefully to the warmth of the gym. Konan found Pain, who, seeing her furiously pink cheeks and somewhat blue lips and ears, immediately hugged her. Konan gasped in mock-irritation. "You're warm!" she exclaimed indignantly. "How can you be warm?" she asked, looking up, and Pain grinned.
"Well, it is getting harder to be...you're super cold." he told her, and she rolled her eyes then smiled.
"I know, silly." she said, and he laughed.
Next were push-ups; do as many as you can to the beat of a metronome playing through the speakers. Normal push-ups would have been easier; that way you can take a breather in between. But the metronome bleeped every second, so you had to be up-down-up-down-up...ugh. She sighed, grabbed one of the hundred or so purple mats, dumped it onto the floor near Sasori, Hidan, Kisame, and Deidara, and gave a great sigh, assuming the 'push-up position'. Pain gave her a thumbs up from the other side of the room, and she stuck her tongue out at him before smiling. And...go! One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Konan was counting loudly in her head as she pushed up from the floor again and again. However, soon after thirteen, the pace became very difficult to keep up with. She collapsed to the floor at fifteen, and rolled over, wiggling her noodle-like arms.
"Already? Tsk tsk, Konan, I thought you'd do better than that." Sasori said to her with a smirk as he went down. She made a sour face and threatened to poke him. Deidara finished at twenty-three, Sasori at twenty-seven, and Kisame still wasn't finished by the time they started sit-ups.
Good, Konan thought to herself, trying to boost her confidence, I'm better at this. ABS! YAAAAAGH! YAAAAAAGH! YAAAAAGH! Deidara nudged her, and she looked at him. He was trying not to laugh. "You were talking out loud, by the way." he said, and she blushed, realizing that everybody around them was looking at her. With very weirded-out expressions. Except for Sasori and Deidara, who were roaring with laughter. Konan, blushing violently, cleared her throat and rolled onto her back in the sit-up position. Beep, beep, beep, beep...Okay. And...huuup! and down. And...huuuup! and down. And huuuup! and down... this continued for a while, with Konan fighting to keep her arms limp at her sides, but they insisted on assisting her on the way up soon after thirty-two. At thirty-four, she collapsed back onto the mat and sighed, waiting for Sasori and Deidara to finish.
Kisame was still on pushups.
"How many've you done?" Konan asked, very impressed...and more than a little scared.
"Ah...hundred and...two..." he said, panting slightly. Konan's jaw dropped, and Sasori reached over and clicked it closed with a wink and a smirk.
Rope-climbing was next. Konan, Deidara, and Sasori met up with Hidan, Kakuzu, Pain, and Itachi in the long line-up for the rope, where Asuma stood with a timer. Hidan went first, and was up and down the long rope in a minute and thirty seconds. Kakuzu was a minute and ten seconds. Pain went up and down, graceful as a cat, in fifty-two seconds. Itachi was up and down in fifty. Konan swallowed audibly; it was her turn, and she sucked at this; climbing a tree was her absolute limit when it came to heights. Before going up, she warned Asuma that she might not make it all the way up. She jumped onto the huge knot at the bottom of the rope, and took a deep breath.
"Aaaand...GO!" Asuma shouted, and she raised her hands above her head, clutching the rope and moving her feet further up, pressing them together against the rope and holding herself up. She sighed; one foot up. She repeated the movement eight times, each time getting harder, and the swaying of her stomach telling her she was getting higher and higher. She sighed as she reached the top. She gingerly looked down to see how far she had to go, and her stomach clenched unpleasently; she was about fifty feet above the ground. Almost immediately, her eyes locked on the blurry group of students below her, and the room seemed to sway.
"Shit...she's-" she heard voices below her, but she didn't listen.
She was frozen, and then- she lost her grip on the rope. Sliding down impossibly fast, her hands and feet burning from the friction, she plummeted down to the ground. Just before she hit the ground, she felt herself being caught by two strong arms, and then being pulled against somebody's chest. She felt quite ill, but she was glad, in her dizzy and semi-conscious state, that she had never let go of the rope; really, she hadn't fallen, she'd just slid -down fifty feet of rope, resulting in horrible rope burn on her hands, thighs, and feet. She felt herself being carried somewhere, and then round glasses slid into her view, followed by silvery hair. Kabuto's cool fingers probed over the chapped, skinned flesh on her hands, feet, and thighs, and then she felt him rub a cool gel onto the skin before wrapping bandages around her. She closed her eyes when he placed his hand over her lids, and slept.
When she opened her eyes, she was sitting in somebody's lap, their long arms around her. Without even looking, she knew who it was; Pain's familiar grin greeted her as she blinked up at him. "Hey." she said weakly, and he gave her a mocking look of concern.
"You sure know how to give me a heart attack. You were so pale at the top of that, I seriously thought you were gonna let go of the rope. But you didn't! That was awesome!" he praised, and she blushed faintly; he was congratulating her on...not falling to her near-death? Hmm...
"Kabuto said that you should be okay to do the chin-ups, just don't remove the bandages for a week or so, and no more rope-climbing for a while." Konan laughed.
"No fear, trust me. How long was I asleep, anyways?" she asked, shifting so she could see him better. Pain gave her an almost-there smile.
"Long enough that Kisame finished his push-ups and his sit-ups, but not so long that he's climbed the rope." Konan shook her head in disbelief;
"How the heck does he do that? I mean, sure I knew he was strong, but seriously? He's done at least three hundred push-ups. And one every second? I just don't get it." she said, shaking her head. Pain laughed, and let her stand up so they could walk together over to one of the ten bars that were being used for chin-ups.
"So, how many of these can you do?" Pain asked her with a smirk, and she smirked back, because he already knew; Zero. One at most.
"Oh, you know...an amazing amount." she said vaguely, and once she caught his expression, she burst into laughter.
After both of them had finished their chinups, (Konan amazingly having completed three 'proper' chinups, and Pain doing seventeen), they walked over to the Survey Station, where they both took survey sheets and pencils, and sat down to complete the yearbook surveys."Okay, let's see..." Konan murmured, taking a look at the sheet.
Yearbook: 5th year survey, St Misery's
Please circle answers where neccisary, or PRINT names. All questions must be answered. Survey is anonomous. Voting for yourself is illegal: if you do so your vote will not be counted. ALL ANSWERS MUST BE FOR STUDENTS IN FIFTH YEAR!
1: Most likely to be a millionaire:
2: Most likely to go skinny dipping in the pool of their neighbor:
3: Hottest couple:
4: Most likely to change the world:
5: Most likely to get IDed at 30:
6: Most likely to have 5+ kids:
7: Naturally drunk:
8: Best hair:
9: Most likely to be pregnant before they're 20:
10: Worst attendance:
11: Best dressed:
12: Best at sports (male), best at sports (female):
13: Best ass:
14: Best pick-up lines:
15: Sexiest male teacher/ Sexiest female teacher:
16: Biggest partier
17: Best 'come hither' look
18: Biggest flirt
19: Smartest come-backs
20: Most 'dangerous'
21: Most likely to compete with Tsunade's boobs:
22: Most likely to be a sex offender (in any grade):
23: Most artistic 2D, 3D, oral/written, other:
24: Best eyes:
25: Hottest siblings:
26: Most dazzling smile:
27: Separated at birth:
28: Best halloween costume:
29: I wish he was single:
30: I wish she was single:
Konan grinned at every question, and filled in her answers: Kakuzu would be a millionaire, hands-down, Hidan would probably not give a flying **** if his neighbor found him skinny-dipping in his pool, and Sasori and Deidara were, in Konan's opinion, the hottest couple in fifth year. Konan immediately wrote Pain down as being the one to change the world, and Sasori as most likely to get IDed at thirty, since Itachi insisted that he hadn't changed much for years. Konan grinned as she wrote down Shizaya, Shizune's little sister, as being the most likely to have 5+ kids; she was always giggling over how cute they were.
Naturally drunk had to be Hidan, and Deidara was definately best hair. Konan voted Shizaya again for 'most likely to be pregnant before thirty', and Sasori again for worst attendance. After seriously considering voting for herself for 'best dressed' (as a joke), she eventually voted Sasori again, since he always wore really expensive, designer clothes when not in his uniform. Best at sports male was Pain, and best at sports female was Anko, another girl in Konan's year. Best ass went to (as a joke) Kisame, who had claimed earlier that he could break a table leg with it, best pick-up lines went to Sasori, Sexiest male teacher went to Kakashi, and sexiest female teacher went to Kurenai, (the only one Konan had). Konan voted Hidan the Biggest partier, Sasori the best 'come hither' look, as well as 'biggest flirt', Pain for 'smartest comebacks', and most dangerous.
Konan wrote Shizaya for competing with Tsunade's boobs, just for fun, and Kakuzu for 'most likely to be a sex offender', just because. Konan voted Pain most artistic 2D (his drawings were lovely), Sasori most artistic 3D, Hidan most artistic for oral, and Deidara most artistic for 'other'. I mean, come on, are explosions 3D? really? She voted Pain for best eyes, Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha for hottest siblings, Kisame for most dazzling smile, Ino and Deidara for separated at birth, Kakuzu for best halloween costume, Kisame for I wish he was single (for fun :3), and Anko for I wish she was single...because if she was single, then maybe Kakashi could concentrate on his lessons more...:3 :3 3
She folded the paper up, popped it into the huge box labelled 'VOTES', returned the pencil, and waited for Pain to finish, which he did, thirty seconds after her. They walked back to their room together, discussing who they'd voted for, and wondering what the yearbook would be like this year.
Konan had a funny feeling that the yearbooks from St Misery's were probably a hell of a lot more epic than ones from other highschools...
OKAYYY! I hope you liked the chapter, and if you did TELL ME! I'M BEGGING YOU! Another chapter should definately be up in the next, like, five days or something, because now I can move on to Pain's birthday, and stuff like that ! YAAAAY! Okay, I know this chapter wasn't that great, but hey, It's hard when you've have writers block for, like, three months! YAAAARGH!
Okay, just saying this now, LUV U! luv my reviewers, subscribers, favouriters...whatever you are, if you're reading this with a smile, I LOVE YOU!