It was still dark when Konan woke up. As soon as she registered that she was awake, all the thoughts and worries from the night before came skittering back into her brain, and she couldn't focus on any single one, but she also couldn't fall asleep again, so she gave up and staggered to the bathroom to have a shower.
She seemed to be the first one awake in the boy's hall, and was too early for breakfast, so she wandered the hallways, chewing anxiously at her thumbnail, still rolling the problem over and over in her head, not seeing a solution.
I can't file a police report without telling dad what happened, and then he'll find out what Pain did, and then who knows what could happen. And he'll send me away, might keep me with him with a tutor again. And he probably wouldn't let me text any of my friends… So I can't file. But if I don't, what if Zaku does something like this again? What if he goes farther next time? What if something awful happened, and it was in the newspaper? I'd feel horrible. So I have to do something, but…
She was so lost in her thoughts she almost walked straight into Ino, who had appeared from around a corner, wearing a baby blue sweater, leggings, and earphones. She looked like she was about to go exercise.
"Sorry," Konan said, backing up a step and smiling automatically.
Ino took out her earphones, smiling back. "No worries, Konan! I'm glad I ran into you, actually."
She leaned closer, a concerned line between her brows. "How are you doing?" she asked in a quiet voice.
Konan looked down. She didn't want to have to answer how she was doing ever again, but Ino had actually been there, and if she was right, had actually told Shizune that it was her who Zaku had attacked…
"I'm okay."
"Yeah?"
Konan gave her a half-smile and shrugged. "I have a load of bruises, but they'll go away. And my head is fine. It's definitely bruised, but the cuts are scabbed over," she said, touching the back of her head reflexively. "And some scratches, but they're fading, too."
Ino tutted sympathetically. "Yikes. Well, please let me know if I can do anything, okay? Like, if you ever need a distraction to get out of class or something, if you're not feeling it, I can just like, jump up and scream there's a huge bee in the corner or something. Just hit me up about it." She winked.
Konan laughed. "Thanks. I mean, same goes." She pulled out her new phone, scrolling to her contacts. "I can give you my number?"
Ino's eyes fell on the phone and she frowned a little. "You got a new phone, hey?"
"You're pretty observant," she said, giving an impressed little laugh.
Ino immediately rolled her eyes, giggling. "It's bright blue, Konan! Anybody with eyes would notice. Wasn't your old one black or something?"
"True," Konan smiled.
Ino pulled out her own phone, which had a glittery periwinkle phone case and a dangling angel charm, and they exchanged numbers.
"Okay, well text me!" Ino said, turning to go with a wave.
Konan bit her lips, thinking, then impulsively reached out and grabbed Ino's hand. "Wait! Could I… talk to you about something? I kind of need some advice."
Ino turned back, looking curious. "Sure," she said. "Want somewhere private?"
Konan nodded, and Ino led her down a few corridors until they reached a bench at the end of a hallway. It was a dead end by two classrooms that weren't being used this term, and the overhead light had gone out. Very private, especially at 7am.
They sat together on the bench, Ino looking curious and expectant, Konan twisting the hem of her skirt in her hands, a bit nervous. She trusted Ino; but she also didn't really know her that well.
"So, on the day that it happened," Konan began, glancing at Ino, who nodded in understanding, "I know you talked to Shizune, right? I wanted to say thanks."
"Yeah, no worries."
"Did you… did you say it was you?"
Ino nodded. "I did."
"Can I ask why?"
Ino paused, pursing her lips, looking like she was considering what to say. "I thought… that it might be helpful. I didn't want you to have to deal with all that unless you wanted to. Like, I can always go back to Shizune with you and say I lied, you can say it was you, no harm done. But…" She shrugged. "I know what it's like to have to deal with school admin shit when you like, can't handle it on top of everything else."
"Weren't your parents freaked out, if Shizune called them?"
Ino grinned. "I called them right before she did to give them a heads up. They're chill. I kind of do this stuff for my friends a lot."
When Konan stared, Ino quickly backtracked. "I mean, not this exact thing, thank god… But like, I cover for Sakura a lot if she's skipping. Or if she has really bad period cramps or something, I'll skip and head to the village to get her pizza and chocolate, that kind of thing. So they're used to getting calls about me missing class, or whatever."
"Aw! You're a really good friend…"
Ino giggled. "Aw, that's nice! Thanks, ladybird." She rolled her shoulders backwards, rubbing at a tense muscle absent-mindedly. "Anyway, you wanted advice?"
"Yeah, so… I really didn't want my dad to find out what happened, even if Shizune reported that it wasn't me who was like…"
"Yeah."
"But, I still was hurt and everything. If my dad heard anything about that, he'd have taken me out of school, and might have… I dunno… sued, or something. It would have been a really big deal."
Ino nodded. "Sure."
"Pain switched the emergency contact on my file on Shizune's laptop when she wasn't looking to his number instead of my dad's."
"Woah. That was smart."
Konan shook her head with a sigh. "Yeah, but… I can't file a police report, because they'd need to talk to my parents, and if they that, then my dad would know that the school didn't contact him about this, and that would be an even bigger shitshow. And I kind of feel…"
Konan swallowed around a hard lump in her throat. "I feel like I've really fucked up, on top of everything else, because… like, I have to report it, right? What if he does it again? He won't have a record or anything, or anything on his school transcript or whatever, other than like, fighting…"
Konan rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted, and she'd been so easy to cry the whole weekend. She was sick of it, sick of everything.
"I didn't think about it at the time, I was being stupid… I just couldn't… I didn't want to talk about it, and I couldn't even think about dealing with my dad on top of everything else, it would have been a complete nightmare."
"Hmm." Ino nodded, looking sympathetic, but clearly thinking hard. "Okay… I might be able to do something to help."
Konan snorted. "What are you, my fairy godmother? You can't do anything."
Ino gave a dry laugh, her eyes focused in the middle distance, still thinking. "Not a fairy godmother. But my dad knows people in law enforcement, and he probably knows someone at the local station…"
Konan frowned. "Seriously?" When Ino nodded, she shook her head and continued, "Okay, but I'd still have to file the report, and legally my parent would have to be there."
Ino shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. The important thing is the information in your statement, not who you are. We need to get photos of your injuries before they fully heal though. I don't suppose you took pictures on the night, hey?"
Konan shook her head, a little dumbfounded at how quickly Ino had started putting together a plan.
"Okay. Well, take photos today. And think about what you want to do. I'll talk to my dad, see if we could work something out. If you decide to file a report, just text me. I can set it up, no biggie."
Konan smiled. "Okay. Thanks, Ino."
Ino gave her a one-armed hug and got up, putting her earphones back in. "Anytime, chickadee. I'm heading for a run. See you!"
And she headed back down the hall, platinum ponytail swaying behind her.
Konan shook her head, marvelling at how chill Ino had been about the whole thing, and also at how within twenty minutes, her unsolvable problem had become seventy percent more solvable.
Who the hell is Ino's dad, Don Corleone!?
When the cafeteria opened, Konan was one of the first inside, heading over to the coffee machine and filling up one of the big mugs. Problem number one was apparently under control somehow… which meant now she could obsess over problem number two: swimming.
Setting aside the fun she'd had with the boys yesterday, and the fact that the bikini she'd ended up with wasn't half bad, if still not what she'd have chosen for herself… she had barely even worried about the fact that she couldn't swim. At all. She wasn't worried about getting bad grades, after talking to Guy, but she was worried about being made fun of while she sat in the shallow end, splashing around like a baby while everyone else swam like olympians…
She imagined herself sanding in knee-high water, holding an inner tube around herself, watching sadly as Pain, Hidan, Sasori, and the other kids swam in the deep end, a rainbow appearing behind them as they leapt, glittering, out of the water in graceful arcs like a pod of dolphins as harp music played in the background…
She snorted with laughter. What the hell am I imagining!?
"Laughing all by yourself, huh? The first sign of madness…" Sasori's voice said behind her.
She looked around to find her friend pouring himself a coffee, looking up at her with a teasing smile.
"I thought the first sign of madness was being friends with you?" she asked, tossing him a sugar packet.
"Ouch," he said sarcastically. "What are you doing up so early?"
Konan shrugged as they headed to grab trays and get breakfast. "I slept really badly. Just worried about stuff."
"What kind of stuff?"
"Swimming."
"Worried you're gonna drown or something?" Sasori asked, grabbing a slice of banana bread.
Konan frowned. "I mean, I wasn't … there's a lifeguard, right?" she asked, choosing a blueberry muffin.
Sasori snorted. "As if. "
"What do you mean 'as if'!? What the hell am I going to do?"
Sasori patted her on the back as they walked to their usual table. "Hey, don't worry. I'll give you mouth to mouth."
"I might choke on my vomit."
Sasori laughed, sitting down. "You'll be fine! Guy will pencil dive in the water and rescue you. Then he'll give you mouth to mouth. Won't that be nice?"
Konan rolled her eyes. "You're a horrible little man, aren't you?"
" Little!?"
Konan laughed at him. "Did you guys do swimming last year? What's it like?"
Sasori leaned over and took the first bite of her blueberry muffin. "Vengeance," he explained with a full mouth, then swallowed. "Uh, it's fine. We do a lot of laps, different strokes and stuff. Usually we get free time, too."
"Does any of that happen in like… waist-deep water?" Konan asked.
Sasori shook his head. When he saw her disappointed face, he smiled genuinely and ruffled her hair. "It'll be okay. You'll probably have floaties. And we'll swim over to hang out with you."
"Yeah?"
"Of course. You worried about everyone laughing at you as you lie around like a beached whale?"
Konan bit her lips in annoyance. "I mean… not in so many words…"
Sasori winked as Deidara came over to the table, yawning and rubbing a shadowed eye with one hand, carrying his breakfast tray with the other. "It'll be fine," he said reassuringly.
Deidara sat down and immediately put his head on Sasori's shoulder, looking like he was trying very hard to go back to sleep. The other boys filed in slowly in groups. Pain was the last to arrive, looking like he hadn't slept for a week. He didn't get any food, just two full mugs of black coffee.
"Rough night?" Konan asked him, staring as he drained the first mug in one.
He shrugged and muttered something incomprehensible. Konan watched him, slightly concerned. When he looked up and met her gaze, noticing she was still looking at him, he blushed.
What is going on with him?
Also… he's so fucking cute.
All through the morning classes, Konan was thinking about swimming, despite Sasori's reassurances. It wasn't just her inability to swim that was bothering her, or the bikini Sasori had chosen… It was Hidan's reaction when she had come out in a swimsuit, yelling, 'What the hell are those bruises!?'
Everyone's going to see, in the bikini… Ugh.
Even though her uniform covered everything, especially as she was wearing tights with it, Konan couldn't help wishing she was still in the hoodie she had worn all weekend. She didn't want to think about her body, didn't want anybody looking at her body. Trying on swimsuits had been kind of shitty enough, but it was with her friends, not random classmates.
She looked up frequently in class, turning her head as subtly as she could, trying to see if it looked like anybody was looking at her more than was normal. She had been worried about staring, as had happened when Pain and Hidan had punched Zaku a few weeks back. But not even they were getting any weird looks.
It seems like nobody knows what happened… Thank god.
She had been worried that somehow the word could have spread, if anybody had seen her heading to Shizune's office afterwards, or had heard anything outside the bathroom at the time…
She breathed a sigh of relief. Then realized with horror that all of a sudden, everyone was staring at her. Kakashi had apparently asked her a question and she had no idea what the hell it had been.
Fuck.
By the time gym class came around, Konan was ready to call it on the day. She was exhausted.
Instead of heading to the gym as usual, she followed Hidan and the others to the lowest level of the school, where the pool apparently was. She headed into the girl's changeroom with Ino, Sakura, and the others, finding a changing stall and locking the door.
She took off her uniform, preparing herself for the certain doom of having to walk out to the pool in front of everybody… in front of all the boys in the class…
…In this stupid fucking bikini… At least it's not that string nightmare. But I won't even be able to hang out with the others, I'll be all alone in the kiddie pool or something…
She took the bikini out of her bag miserably and started tying it on. It occurred to her that she might as well use the opportunity to take photos of the bruises, like Ino had suggested, just in case. She took out her phone and took some selfies, doing her best to crop her face out, of the large bruises on her arms, the many smaller bruises on her legs, the scratches on her upper thighs which had almost healed, and the scabs and red bruises on her scalp.
When she was finished, she shoved her uniform into her bag, and stuffed it into a locker. She smiled tightly at Ino and Sakura as they passed, Ino in a purple bikini, Sakura in a red one-piece. She followed behind, dragging her feet like she was heading for the gallows.
This is going to fucking suck….
Might Guy was standing right outside, facing the turquoise water, with a whistle around his neck, and a green full-body wetsuit on.
Uh… we're not at the beach…
"Konan. I have your floaties."
"Oh! Um, thank… you…." Her voice tailed off as her eyes fell on a huge pile of float bands and lifejackets, all covered in a variation of sickeningly cute cartoons. "Are those… for kids?"
"Unisex, unisize. Help yourself, however many you think are necessary to keep you safe in these treacherous waters."
She couldn't tell if he was making fun of her.
"Okay. Uh, is there a shallow end of the pool?" she asked, looking around.
"Yep."
About a dozen other students were already splashing around, laughing and messing about in what looked like the deep end, which had floating lane dividers. An extra-long divider marked a third of the pool as the shallow end. There were wide stairs, a slanting tiled floor, and a mini diving board on one side.
"Should I just sit over there, then?" Konan asked.
"Sit on the side of the deep end, watch the others swim," Guy said. "You can splash around in the shallow end when they do their lengths, but try pick up tips by observing the others."
He blew a whistle, making her jump out of her skin, and marched over to the group of boys who were trying to sit on the dividers to tell them off.
Konan reached glumly for the cutesy arm floaties.
A few minutes later, Konan walked miserably over to Hidan, Pain, and Sasori, who were hanging out by the edge of the deep pool. Sasori and Hidan were treading water and laughing while Pain was standing on the edge, pretending to step on Sasori's head.
Konan bit her lip absentmindedly as her eyes skimmed up Pain's legs, taking in his calves, his surprisingly thick, muscular thighs, the curve of his ass, his shoulders, the lean, graceful lines of his arms…
"You look like such a dad ," Sasori said, dodging Pain's foot and splashing him.
"Fucking Magnum P.I. over here," Hidan said. "What are those, hot pants?"
"You're just jealous, pencil-legs," Pain said.
"How dare you…"
His trunks were endearingly dorky, shorter than usual, ending mid-thigh, cutting across his thick muscle.
Konan turned pink as she walked over to them, as soon as she realized Sasori was watching her check Pain out from behind.
Fuck!
Pain followed Sasori's gaze and turned around, smiling when he saw her, and then really smiling when he saw all her floaties, biting his lip and plainly trying not to laugh.
Konan blushed harder and lowered her gaze — right down the line of his chest piercings to his happy trail, ending in the waistband of his short green trunks…
Damn…
Unlike Pain, Hidan and Sasori didn't bother trying not to laugh when they saw her. They fully lost it, Hidan even pointing at her like someone had just thrown a pie in her face.
"You look so fucking stupid—" he howled before Pain shoved his head below the water with his foot.
"Don't listen to him," he said, "You look cute."
"Yeah fucking right she does," Sasori choked.
"Why thank you," Konan said, rolling her eyes.
She was wearing a light blue life jacket which was covered in pictures of Hello Kitty in scuba gear; she had a pink My Little Pony innertube around her waist, and yellow Caillou armband floaties.
She knew she looked fucking ridiculous… but on the plus side, the arm floaties covered the big bruises on her biceps really effectively.
"Please, Konan, please jump in here," Hidan said, emerging from the water, his voice cracking with how much he was trying not to laugh. "I really wanna see if you even like, touch the water with all that shit on."
Konan looked apprehensively at the water. "I don't know… that's really deep…"
"I promise to save you if you manage to sink even with all that shit on," Sasori said, grinning.
"Jump! Jump! Jump!" Sasori and Hidan started cheering.
"We won't let you drown," Pain said reassuringly when he saw Konan glance around to see that Guy was still yelling at the group of younger boys, not paying attention at all.
"Ugh…. okay…."
Pain patted her on the shoulder and jumped in, joining Sasori and Hidan.
With some difficulty, Konan crouched and then sat down at the edge of the pool, putting her legs in the water. She could barely touch the floor with her hands, what with the floaties and the innertube, and her friends watching silently, all trying so hard not to laugh it looked like they were experiencing intense mental anguish, were not helping.
After a full minute of scooching, Konan's butt slipped off the edge of the pool, and she sank down with a gasp.
And then came to a complete stop; the width of her lifejacket didn't fit inside the innertube, so she hit the innertube and didn't sink lower. The only part of her actually in the water was her legs to her mid-thighs, so she was floating, super top-heavy, for about three seconds, until she abruptly tilted forwards, belly flopping face-down in the water, her butt stuck up in the air because of the inner tube, barely able to paddle her arms because of the life jacket-floatie combo.
Before she had quite realized what was going on, a pair of strong hands pulled her upright again by the loop on the back of her life jacket, and Pain smiled at her as she emerged, coughing. He floated her back to the side of the pool and let her push off against him to get back onto it.
"I think those floaties are actually making things worse ," he said, ignoring Hidan and Sasori, who were laughing their heads off again.
"Maybe," Konan said, wiping her eyes and pushing her wet hair back.
"Girl, you weren't kidding… you can't fucking swim at all , can you!?" Sasori said, wiping his eyes and shaking his head.
"I said I can't!" she said, annoyed. "What the hell happened to 'I promise to save you' !?"
She took the life jacket off; without it, she could float okay in the innertube, her arms over the side for balance, and the arm floaties to cover her bruises. She was still much happier sitting on the side, though.
Guy started the class.
"Alright swimmers," he said, giving a sharp blow on his whistle to get everyone's attention, "And non-swimmer," he said, nodding at Konan as an afterthought, "We're going to do laps! Not you, non-swimmer. You stay here."
"Yeah, yeah," Konan muttered, feeling herself going red as everyone else in the class stared at her, some giggling.
"Swimmers, laps! I'll divide you into groups. One group per lane, two lengths per stroke. Front crawl, back crawl, breaststroke, side stroke. Go, go, go!"
With a lot of whistling and pointing, he got the others organized, and a few minutes later, everyone else was swimming up and down the lanes, bobbing in and out of the water. Konan splashed her legs in front of her, bored.
After about twenty minutes of watching everyone else swimming back and forth, Konan got up and headed for the shallow pool. She entertained herself by spinning around in her innertube, staring up at the ceiling until she got dizzy, then started doggy paddling back and forth slowly.
She was completely bored out of her tree until finally Guy blew his whistle again and announced the start of races. Konan walked over to the deep end to watch.
"Here, non-swimmer," Guy called, tossing a dry-erase marker at Konan, "You can write down the fastest lap times," he said, pointing at a whiteboard by the side of the pool.
So much for learning to swim, Konan thought, but at least she had something to do. She stepped out of the innertube and walked over to the whiteboard.
"Okay everyone. Four swimmers at a time, front stroke. Fastest time of each group will be written down by my non-swimming assistant," Guy announced, pointing at Konan.
"Hey, Vanna White!" Sasori called to her.
Konan laughed and walked back and forth, posing in front of the whiteboard like the letters lady on Wheel of Fortune as he cheered.
"Nice floaties, Vanna!" Hidan called and several others laughed. Konan jokingly gave him the finger.
"Top four fastest times of the class will then swim to determine the ultimate champion of the day!" Guy said, raising his fists in the air. "Who's ready!?"
There was a slightly unenthusiastic cheer from the swimmers. Konan, from the other end of the pool, gave a loud wooo!
"That's what I'm talking about!" Guy said, grinning and pointing at her. "Alrighty , everybody out, and line up by the lanes…"
The next fifteen minutes involved a hell of a lot of shrill whistling from Guy and chaotic splashing up and down the pool. Konan scribbled down times for the winners of each heat, and then erased all but the four fastest when everyone had gone, narrowing it down to Pain, Sasuke, Suigetsu and Sakura.
Guy blew his whistle, and Konan cheered with the others as the top four dove into the pool, emerging fifteen feet later to grab a breath and swimming furiously for the other side, where they flipped over, pushed off the wall, and barrelled back to their starting point. Suigetsu came first, followed by Pain, Sakura, then Sasuke.
Konan wrote the results on the board and went to join the others. Guy blew his whistle again, gave Suigetsu a mini rubber duck wearing sunglasses as a prize, and announced they would have free time for the last half hour of class.
Hidan suggested they play chicken, so they headed to the deeper end of the shallow pool, where Konan climbed on Pain's shoulders, and (after about five minutes of bickering) Sasori climbed on Hidan's shoulders, and they started trying to push each other off, trash talking and laughing over each other. Konan managed to push Sasori off Hidan and Pain spun her around as she cheered.
Then they headed to the deep pool to play Marco Polo. Konan put her innertube on so she didn't sink, but she was so slow that she was Marco for about ten minutes straight until Pain took pity on her and just didn't move for a whole minute until she managed to paddle her way over to him.
In the last couple minutes of class, Hidan suggested a race between himself and Pain, with Konan on Pain's back as a handicap. Konan tossed her innertube to the side and held onto Pain's shoulders, her knees holding his waist. Sasori sat on the edge of the pool, leaning back and cheering them on absent-mindedly. Guy blew his whistle again as Hidan reached the finish line first with room to spare.
"Wrap it up! Head back to the changerooms, swimmers! And non-swimmer…"
Hidan got out of the pool, cheering loudly, and headed to the boy's changeroom with Sasori.
Pain swam Konan to the edge of the pool, where she slid off him and climbed up onto the side.
"Sorry for slowing you down," she grinned.
"How dare you not be weightless and create no drag."
"Oh, my innertube!" Konan exclaimed, realizing it was still laying on the other side of the pool.
Pain grinned, turning. "Shall we?"
"I can just walk ," she laughed, realizing he was offering to swim her across again.
"Suit yourself. It's not every day you get a ride from the second-fastest swimmer in a mixed-age co-ed art school gym class…" Pain said coolly, teasing her.
"Oh fine. Thank you. " she said, sliding back in the water and sliding her legs either side of him again, her hands on his shoulders. "Mush!"
"I'm not a sled dog, " Pain snorted as he kicked off from the side.
"On Dasher! On Cancer! On, uh, Pietro!" Konan cheered as they streamed through the water towards the other side.
"What the hell is that!?" Pain said laughing.
"Santa's reindeer."
"No it's fucking not!"
"Hey! Less talking, more swimming! We'll be late for dinner!"
"Dinner's an hour away…"
"And yet here we are, still in the middle of the pool…" Konan said, grinning as Pain laughed.
"Trash talk from Konan, huh? Alright, alright…"
He suddenly picked up speed, changing from a leisurely breaststroke to a front crawl. Konan squeaked and tightened her grip on his shoulders as they twisted with each stroke. They were going so fast she could feel the water pulling at her.
Pulling at the strings of her top.
Which were loosening.
Which were undoing, streaming behind her in the water.
Oh my god, oh my god.
"Wait, wait, wait!" she said, letting go of his shoulders with one hand and trying to reach behind her, grab the ties of her bikini top, but the floatie created a four inch block between her arm and her back and she couldn't bend her arm any further.
Pain didn't hear her, continuing his front crawl, hands ripping through the water, legs kicking behind her.
Konan held his waist with her legs and let go of his shoulders with both hands, trying to hold the tie at her neck in place, but this turned out to be a terrible idea – the water resistance hit her waist as her weight shifted back, making her sink backwards and start to slip off him.
Still going fast, the water rushed into her, and the next thing she knew, her bikini top was gone.
Konan slipped off of Pain with a gasp, and started kicking, panicked, as she sunk to her neck, her upper arms floating, but the rest of her definitely not. As she bobbed and splashed, she reached behind herself desperately, trying to feel for her top in the water.
Pain had stopped, turned around, and was swimming back to her.
"Why'd you let go?" he asked, reaching out for her.
"Wait, wait, my top is gone!" she hissed, reaching for Pain's shoulders so she could stop kicking like a drowning rabbit.
"Wait, what!?" he said, staring at her, his eyes flicking down automatically.
" Hey!" Konan whapped him on the shoulder, trying to block his view with a floatie. "This isn't a peep show, it's an emergency!"
Pain was plainly trying not to laugh. "Okay, let's get you to the edge first," he said.
She held his shoulders, pressing against him to try stay covered, and then abruptly raising herself up an inch, realizing she had been pressing her breasts against his back.
Once at the other side, Pain grabbed the edge of the pool, panting.
"Okay, sorry– what happened!?"
"Um, my top came undone and fell off! Can you go get it!?"
Pain slowly turned around, Konan still holding onto him, but keeping distance between her torso and his, until Pain could see the rest of the pool. "I guess it doesn't float, huh?"
"Uh… I guess not…" she said, looking at the empty surface of the water.
"Okay. You… sit on the edge of the pool. Um… cover yourself, I guess," Pain said, "And I'll dive for your top. It might take me a couple tries… I don't have goggles."
"Okay," Konan said. "Thank you!"
She let go of him and lifted herself out of the water.
"All good?" Pain asked after a moment.
"All good," Konan said, her hands pressed to her breasts.
He turned around and looked at her for a second, then snorted with laughter.
"Hey!" she said, laughing, too. "It's not funny!"
"You're ridiculous. How did this happen!?"
"You were swimming too fast!"
"Right, it's my fault," he said, rolling his eyes with a grin as he turned back to face the pool. He kicked off the side and dove beneath the water.
Konan bit her lips nervously, looking around. She stood up and hurried over to get her innertube, stepping into it and pulling it up so it covered her chest.
She saw Pain's head break the water thirty feet into the pool. He took a breath and dove down again.
I guess it's hard to find, if he doesn't have goggles… Konan thought, drumming her fingers nervously on the inner tube. She walked back over to the edge of the pool.
There were voices echoing from the changerooms. Getting louder. Konan sat down and put her legs in the water, splashing her feet anxiously.
What will I do if someone comes? Classes are over… Wait, do we have a swim team!?
Almost in answer to her question, a stream of boys, all in matching black spandex swim shorts, spilled out of the changeroom. They were laughing and chatting amongst themselves, but they were heading for the opposite end of the pool. A couple of them were looking at her, apparently confused.
Konan immediately slipped down into the water with a squeak to hide herself. If her arms were fully propped over the edges of the innertube, her chest would have been visible, so she slid her arms inside the ring, her hands holding her breasts again, relying on her arm floaties to stop her from sinking, reaching to grab the edge of the pool from underneath the innertube.
She couldn't see anything except the bright pink inside of the innertube, and just had to hope that Pain would find her top soon… if not…
A walk of shame with a huge inflatable bandeau… Fabulous…
But the next minute, she heard splashing and Pain's voice as he swam back towards her.
"Konan?
"Yeah?"
"Are you… where are you?"
"Where do you think ?" she asked, confused, before realizing he probably couldn't see her, as the only thing above water was her head, which was hidden in the My Little Pony floating doughnut.
She kicked upwards as hard as she could until she was able to peer over the top of the tube, and she saw him grinning as he swam over.
"What are you doing?"
"What's it look like I'm doing!?" she asked, a little hysterically.
"It looks like you're trying to drown," Pain said, laughing, his voice getting louder.
"Well, the swim team came out!" she said defensively. "Did you find it?"
"Yeah."
"Hooray!"
The inner tube sank into the water as Pain leaned his arms on it, catching his breath, holding her top in one hand, looking down at her.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Konan exclaimed, shoulders to her ears, hands on her boobs, fucking Caillou floaties squashed into her chin, trying to cover herself.
Pain turned his head so he wasn't looking right at her, biting down on a huge smile.
"Okay, I know you're mad, I know you're struggling…"
"Struggling…" Konan snorted, grabbing her top from him.
"...but you're so fucking cute right now."
Konan blushed, totally unable to think of anything to say back.
She focused on trying to re-tie the strings of her top, but it was completely impossible, wearing the floaties and hiding inside the innertube.
"I can't get this back on," she whispered. "I can't do it with the stupid floaties!"
"Want me to tie it for you?"
Konan could feel her face heating up even more at the thought, but she couldn't think of a better solution, and the voices of the swim team were getting louder, like they were walking to their side of the pool.
"Yes, please!"
Pain guided her back over to the side of the pool, where she lifted the innertube off and turned to face the wall, holding the edge so she didn't sink. Pain took the bikini top back and lifted it over her head, his arms encircling her as he took hold of the halter strings.
"Could you lift your hair?" he asked softly.
She was hardly breathing as his hands brushed her nape as he tied the string up. He lowered his hands, reaching around her to grab the back strings, his arms skimming her waist as he pulled them around her to tie them.
He's so warm…
"All good?"
"Uh-huh," she said, a little breathlessly.
"Okay. Let's get you out of here, huh? Before the bottom half falls off…"
"Oh, shut up..."
—-
Konan headed back to the dorm room, preferring to use her own shower to wash her hair for dinner, rather than use the tiny hotel-sized shampoo they had in the pool showers. By the time she made it down for dinner, her hair towelled dry, the rest of her friends were already at their usual table. She headed for the dinner line, grabbing a bowl of soup and crackers, and went to join them.
Pain was slumped over in front of his tray, head buried in his arms, Deidara and Sasori on either side of him, both grinning wickedly and laughing, very obviously teasing him.
Deidara spotted her; she heard him whispering, "Here she comes, here she comes!"
Konan put her tray down and sat down opposite them, between Hidan and Kakuzu, who were also grinning. By now, Konan was having to work very hard to keep a straight face.
"So… you heard about it, hey?" she asked the group as a whole.
"Girl, have you never heard of a double knot!? " Sasori exclaimed, as Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Kisame, and Itachi all snorted into their plates.