AN: Chapter title: Tears.
The six that were collectively known as Pain had separated for the day.
The vast libraries of the Land of Demons were occupied by five of them.
Moryo. The name stirred too many memories for him to leave without knowing more. Memories of long ago, before he had been awakened to the truth of this world, before suffering had enlightened him and shown him the path he needed to walk.
His once teacher had been a wealth of information, had spoken to all of his students on the stories of the past.
On myths and legends.
"Jiraiya-sensei, did all of that really happen?"
"Hard to say. There's…legends all around this world of ours. Good and bad. Even if it seems like there's more bad than good. Legends of powerful creatures, of monsters. The Land of Demons is famous, well infamous, for a few of them. A demon named Moryo, an army of living stone. Sounds a bit outlandish."
"But…You believe them, don't you Jiraiya-sensei?"
"Kid…Some stories have the habit of being true. But that's talk for when you're older. Much older. For now, let's keep training. We'll have plenty of time to talk later."
Pain forced the memories of the past away.
Now was not the time to be distracted. To allow himself to be trapped in the past.
Five continued to search through the vast records of the Land of Demons, of the creature known as Moryo. His mission was clear. To keep this world safe, to teach the inhabitants of it peace, Moryo could not be allowed to roam again. The cult that worshipped the creature as the Great Ruler would need to be eradicated. And, whoever now claimed the name of Yomi, must be the final one to bear such a tile. Everything they embodied, all they strived for, needed to be destroyed.
They could not be allowed in the world he aimed to create.
Peace could not exist with such a poison free to flow.
One remained away from the other five, the Deva Path.
He stood awash in the rain that poured down from the once cloudless skies above.
'There's no more of the cult's Dark Chakra.' The rare use of the Rain Tiger at Will Technique outside of the Hidden Rain Village confirmed such a thing. 'But it's unlikely all their members were killed in my attack.'
"You've interfered with my plan to see Priestess Miroku dead, see her entire line ended, and see my master, the Great Ruler, freed."
He remembered the words of a madman.
'Another attack will take time. Years may pass before they strike again.' Even still, he would allow the rain to continue for the rest of the day. It would give time for the storm to sweep over the Land of Demons and the surrounding countries. If any of the cult remained with their vile Dark Chakra, he would be able to find and eliminate them.
All of them needed to be destroyed before he left.
Still, he remained in silent vigil over the fortress that served as a hive of activity. New defenses were being implemented, towers placed along the walls, and the encroaching forest around them was being chopped down. More guards would be arriving over the next few days as well.
All in a bid to protect the Priestess of the Land of Demons, protect the bloodline with the ability to seal away Moryo.
He felt the void in the rain as a new body stepped out into the downpour.
Miroku didn't seem to mind the way her ceremonial garb was so quickly soaked. She moved to stand by Pain while her eyes took in the hustle below them.
She was glad for this moment alone with Pain more than anything.
Her attendants no doubt were anxious, her guards the same, but they had not been allowed to the top of the fortress with Kisame guarding the way up. He had only allowed her to pass. No one would try to force their way through. Not after they had come upon the grisly sight of the remains of her assassins.
"Has her vision come to pass?"
"I can only pray that it has passed. She spoke to me earlier today."
Pain returned to his watchful silence.
Miroku remained in the rain.
"You've changed so much since the last time I saw you. You carry such a heavy burden on your shoulders now."
"I seek to save this world."
"Can you really do it? This world is such a dark place, filled with so much evil. Even if I've lived my life here in the Land of Demons, I know how awful the world outside can be. And you believe you can change it?"
"I have no choice. This world needs to be guided to a more peaceful age. I have sworn to be that guide."
"And are you going to be here at the end of that path?"
Pain's silence was answer enough. He knew how great of a burden his mission was, how much it would cost him to bring peace to the world. Such a truth brought forth a watery smile from Miroku.
"I can only hope then. You deserve to see the end of your dream after all." The Priestess turned to the Deva Path. "May I see you before you depart?"
Pain was silent once again. Miroku didn't speak, merely waited for an answer from the body of Pain. "I'm not the same as I was when we last met."
"Perhaps outside." A heavy sleeve was lifted, laid over the heart of the body before her. "But you have the same spirit. Even through all the pain you've suffered. I…It's selfish of me, I know, but I have to see you before…"
Shion's vision. Even with his actions now, it still hung over her head.
Had it come to pass?
Had she avoided such a cruel fate?
Had her call to God been enough?
He should deny her. He had already given her too much, allowed himself to be distracted by her.
He had come all the way here for her already.
"Please, I want to see you Nagato."
Far away from her, the man sighed. Even if distant, even after everything he had gone through, he could not deny her.
Not now and not when they had first met either.
After all, he had come all the way here because she had called for him.
It was futile to try and deny her anything.
Despite his best efforts, a tired smile slowly worked its way onto his face. It brought up memories from so long ago, before Pain. "If you insist."
Even under the downpour, her smile was beautiful.
"Thank you."
'Relegated to guard duty. Again.' If the situation was different, the former Hidden Mist Shinobi would shake his head at his lot in life. He remained sitting on the ground, Samehade leaned against the wall at his side. The sword was still a bit testy, had suffered through some "stomachaches" from the Dark Chakra it had so rabidly consumed.
Consequently, the sword had decided to feast on more of his Chakra than usual.
He wasn't close to running out but Samehade's foul mood was growing irritating.
A handful of guards remained across from him. He could all but smell the fear coming off of them, most of them shaking in their boots even if he had ignored them since they had arrived. They would escort the Priestess back to her quarters once she came down from speaking with Pain.
'Never got that story from him.' There was history between the two, history strong enough that Pain had made it his mission to save her life. 'Is her kid his?'
The girl, Shion, looked more like her mother than anything.
'Looks too young though. Probably, twelve years old. With the way Pain was acting, he hasn't been back in the Land of Demons in a long time. There's no way she's his kid. And that would…complicate things a bit too much.' If she was his kid then Madara would want to know. He would want him to retrieve her before the legendary Shinobi and Pain finally clashed.
'Still, even excluding the kid, I'm impressed she left that much of a mark on him. Wonder how though. We're not even getting paid for this.'
There was a mystery around Pain and Miroku. She knew him, knew about his power, and had asked him to come here. And, most shocking of all, Pain had decided to accept.
He had informed no one else in the Akatsuki either. He had wanted as few people to know as possible.
Kisame was sure he didn't have the full story or the truth from Pain. His story didn't add up. By what Pain said, the Priestess had heard about a God in the Hidden Rain and had sought him out in the past but that was impossible. Pain's leadership of the Hidden Rain Village was one of the village's most protected secrets. None of the major five Hidden Villages even knew.
And the Priestess from the Land of Demons did?
It wasn't believable. It wasn't possible.
But the lie was convenient enough for him not to question why they were here.
There was more to the story. The truth was being hidden from everyone but the two of them, Pain and the Priestess. She knew him in a way maybe only his partner Konan did, maybe even better. And he wanted their relationship to remain hidden from most. Pain had likely only brought the former Hidden Mist Shinobi with him because of the army created by the Kyubi's Jinchuriki. A future target having that much manpower needed to be investigated. If not for that, it was likely Konan would have been brought with him here for what was clearly a personal mission.
The situation had required Konan to partner with Kakuzu to gather intelligence on the Jinchuriki's army, for Sasori to depart with Itachi to investigate the Hidden Sand with the status of the Ichibi's Jinchuriki unknown after the attack.
'For a guy calling himself a God, he ran into some bad luck.' Kisame now knew after all.
He may had been trusted with the true goals of Akatsuki but this was something else entirely. Something much more valuable than knowing the truth of the mercenary group.
Pain was trusting Kisame Hoshigaki with his weakness.
He either thought he was too loyal to betray him or that he could crush him if he ever told anyone else about the Priestess.
The Deva Path escorted Miroku away from the fortress. Even with the increased guard presence, with countless eyes watching the land, it had been a thing done with ease. The Land of Demons was still awash in rain, the downpour unceasing. Miroku remained unbothered by it, hadn't discarded her formalwear as the Priestess of the Land of Demons even as she traveled with Pain.
A barrier, unnoticeable to all, was before them. It concealed the location of the man behind the moniker of Pain.
The Deva Path came to a halt.
"Miroku."
Apprehension.
It was almost impossible to hear but it was in his voice.
"I'm not the same as when you last saw me."
"You already told me that." Miroku looked at the Deva Path, looked beyond him to the man. "I've changed as well." She looked to the barrier. "Let me see you."
The Deva Path said nothing. But a seam opened in the barrier, allowed her inside.
The body of Pain remained outside as the Priestess stepped through.
He had chosen an old fortress, one abandoned after a battle from decades ago. It was one of many that had suffered the same fate in the Land of Demons. A time would come where it would be needed, where it would be restored, only for it to be abandoned once its purpose was served.
It was an endless cycle.
Pain hadn't reconstructed it. He had seen no need to. The central building that served as the heart of the fortress and a great watchtower, the hill the fort rested on, had served his purpose even in such a state of disrepair.
Beneath a covered tunnel that connected the entrance to the central building, he waited for her.
"Miroku." His gaunt face carried an exhaustion beyond the physical. His mechanical walker was still, had carried him down from the top floor to here.
The Priestess couldn't help her tears as her steps carried her towards the man who had burdened himself with such a heavy weight. The state he was in, what he had been reduced to since she had last seen him, was heartbreaking. She no longer questioned why he had constructed the identity of Pain, why he manipulated six bodies instead of using the powers of the Rinnegan on his own.
She stopped in front of the walker. The six mechanical legs had already lowered it as close to the ground as they would allow. She reached out with one heavy sleeve, gently laid it on the front of the device. Her lavender eyes settled ahead of her, on the wooden shell that the man she knew was trapped inside.
"Nagato…"
It had been decades since they're last meeting.
So much had changed since then.
"…You weren't lying…" Miroku's tears continued to fall. "I can hardly imagine what happened to you over the years, what put you in this machine…The pain you've gone through since I last saw you…"
"Don't cry for me Miroku. Pain is what forces us to abandon naive ideals, childish mindsets. Even if it hurts, can be agonizing, it is what allows us to grow into something more than what we were before."
"Then…is this what it took for you to become a God?"
He didn't answer her with words.
His silence was answer enough.
A fresh wave of tears flowed down her face.
She shed her tears for the God in front of her.
For the man who had suffered so much to become such a thing.
"And I doubted you? You've gone through so much, suffered so much, and I doubted that you could do something like save this world of ours? What challenge could it be when you can bear all of this on your shoulders." Miroku could only hang her head. For the first time, she felt weighed down by the heavy robes she wore.
She felt weighed down by the heavy burden she had carried all her life.
She felt weighted down by the sorrow that had consumed her at all that Nagato must've gone through.
Nagato pulled his hands free from his walker only to reach out to Miroku with metal stud laden arms. She could only look up when his hands gently took hold of her own. Even in his emaciated state, he was able to bring her up. She didn't protest, clung to him when she could. It was almost like before.
When they had almost been carefree.
When they had thought the world could be kind.
Before another tragedy had reshaped his life.
Before Pain.
Before her duty had truly begun to consume her.
Before she had truly become the Priestess of the Land of Demons.
When there was only Nagato. And he had met a young woman called Miroku by chance.
He had been searching for meaning.
She had been running from training.
They had met. And spent hours simply talking to one another. She had recognized his Rinnegan and he had been desperate for answers, for what destiny awaited him. That desperation had been part of his reasoning for coming to the Lands of Demons during his wandering after his teacher's departure. She had more answers than anyone else he had met, had told him what his eyes meant according to the records of the Land of Demons. More than that, she could understand so much of the burden he carried.
She knew what it was like to have a great destiny, to carry it for all your life.
Hours had turned into the whole day. She had invited him to travel back with her. A day had turned into days. Days had turned into weeks. Weeks into months.
Companionship had birthed friendship.
Friendship had birthed something more. Something both still held so close to their hearts even now.
"I should've never let you go alone. I should've gone with you." Miroku wished she had discarded the heavy ceremonial garb she wore merely to be able to hold Nagato tighter.
"You were needed here. You couldn't leave the Land of Demons as much as I couldn't stay any longer than I already had. We both knew even then we had to walk separate paths, had different destinies in front of us." Nagato couldn't deny the terror that ripped through him at the idea of Miroku being with him when Hanzo had tricked them all, had orchestrated Yahiko's death. If she had been captured instead of Konan...If Hanzo had dared to hurt her…
He had no idea what he would've done.
Or the destruction he would've unleashed on the rest of the world in his grief. Her lost would break him like no other.
"You always did have a way of throwing my words back at me." She remembered when she had said those same words to him before he had left, when he had come to her to say goodbye for what both had thought was the last time. Miroku drew back only far enough to meet his eyes. Tears still poured freely down her face but she wiped at them with her heavy sleeve. "It broke my heart to see you go. To think we would never meet each other again and I would only have my memories of our time together after you left. You walked the path of a Shinobi after all. Even with the Rinnegan, I was afraid for you."
"The old me wasn't ready for the trials of this world but they shaped me into a God Miroku." He understood so much now.
His pain had forced him to mature, forced him to realize the truth of this world at last.
He had grown through it all.
"A God who dares to care for this painful world." Miroku wanted to wrap him in as fierce of an embrace as she could but the black rods sticking out from his back made it difficult. She settled for pressing herself against him, hearing his steady heartbeat. "Thank you Nagato. Thank you for answering my prayers."
"Even if I wasn't what I am today, if I lost all my strength, I would've found a way to save you Miroku." It was the truth. Even if he was struck blind, had no choice but to crawl upon the ground, he would've come to her.
For the remainder of his time in the Land of Demons, he could share it with the woman who held so much of his heart.
AN: 2/4 chapters for this update.