QOTC

Always remember that you married a woman for love, not for lust.

- Jiraiya

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I dedicate this to Fujiko's "Kamiko (Paper Girl)", who inspired me to create a Yahiko & Konan love story. Beautiful, really. You guys should read it. Without the book, I wouldn't have written this.

Chapter 73: Early Summer Rain

"P-pervy sage? You're alive?"

"You little knucklehead, did you drink too much?" Jiraiya replied, his hands in his hips. "Of course I am! Idiot. Now get up there and spar with me. We have work to do."

"You never spar with me." Naruto growled, giving him a weird look. "I meditate and you do your peeking job. It's always unfair."

"It's unfair if I sit there all night you watching you pop a water balloon. A man has his needs."

Naruto stood up and pointed a finger at him. "You always go to hot springs without me! You get to peek at girls while I'm training?? Huh? Is that what you want?"

"I didn't train you for three years so you could have your ribs cracked for doing something you know is illegal. You know, the key to a woman's heart is respect."

"But you don't respect women. You peek on them everyday, remember? You even write about them."

Jiraiya laughed. "That is if you have a wife. One day you are going to have one, Naruto. And I wish you the best of luck to survive whatever challenges you may encounter. The most difficult one, perhaps, is the fact that you have to give privacy to the woman at all cause."

Naruto stood up at the mountain confidently. He was shirtless, his body wet and soaked from the heavy waterfall beside them. It was crystal as the color of the white stars. While the place had a similar illusion to what Naruto called "paradise", Mount Myōboku was extremely a beautiful endearing place. It was enchanted with healing waters, green plants sprouting made out of chakra-manifesting herbs. Naruto thought toads were dirty and reckless, but reality had all been wrong. Nothing could beat the mountain's bewilderness. It's as if tiny fairies and little elves grew among the hidden doors.

"Why is that?" He asked, once Jiraiya had placed his book in his pocket.

Jiraiya would always be Naruto's favorite author-despite his extreme delicateness towards women and his awful taste. His hair had reached the bottom of his butt, which Naruto considered funny. There might have been a time he'd tried to cut his hair, a cruel epic failure attempt that might have caused him his life.

"Because when you've had your wife, what part can you possibly not have of her? You can kiss her, touch her, but nowadays people get too attached that it is common to them. You must not live to that practice, Naruto. Always remember that you married a woman for love, not lust."

Naruto was scratching his head heedlessly, his stomach aching. "Why are we talking about this again?"

"Because I know how you feel for her," Jiraiya chuckled, drinking his mini bottle of Sake he'd regularly carried around him. "Sakura. I see how your eyes spark whenever I told you I'd invite her for a hot bath. Not that it's any business of mine, but I just want you to be aware of the person you might want to become someday."

What did Naruto want to become, someday? He always assumed becoming Hokage was that, but there was something else. He wanted to unite the Nations all in all, to crush the Harvest, to not let the same fate happen to the youngsters again. They say it was far from happening, but Naruto doubted that. Jiraiya doubted the Nations-what other reassurance could you get from them, other than a bunch of useless excruciating words of dishonesty? They were the reason the people during Tsunade and his era suffered(including Kakashi and the other specified jonins). He gladly found them difficult to be handed with a liberty of conviction.

Naruto's loyalty and heart was fully pledged to the Leaf. He had swore it upon himself, once, when he was twelve and knew the terms "friends", "faith", "hope" and "love". With the Leaf he found certainty. With the Leaf village that was enough to keep him going, to know that there might be strict odds in the borders, and he never thought of leaving. That was yet the foolishness of him that would be awoken someday, if he were to lose his mind and be no different than the bastard Sasuke.

Sasuke. The name echoed in his ears like needles, giving his neck a large amount of stiffness. Whatever he did was never enough. Getting him back for the sake of the pinkette was not the full payment of his promise, and so was keeping her safe and guarding her. Those were the things Sakura did not seem to appreciate, but Naruto did. He acknowledged the fact that they were best friends, and best friends never leave each other.

Anger throbbed in Naruto's chest. He looked at Jiraiya with antagonizing blue eyes. He wasn't pretty much wearing anything today, giving him the will to do anything he wanted in a clever swiftness. He was still learning on how to control Minato's teleportation, still, and he could not wait to show the entire village of his prowess once he'd return.

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

Another Naruto appeared next to him through a puff of clouds. It wore the same clothing as he did, shorts and naked chest. He started forming a blue ball out of Naruto's right palm.

Jiraiya smacked his palms together. "That technique never gets out of style, does it?" He was standing on an opposite stone against him, and behind him was a large humongous waterfall. The birds started flying away. "I know it's a little late to say this, but hey, I'm proud of you. I'm proud that whenever you make a giant wind ball, I see myself in you. You know what I see? Courage." He laughed mildly. "That is the strongest asset I may only pass onto you. You should know that after all this training, you're gonna progress into a higher level. I do hope I'm still alive when the time comes that you're about to become a dad. An adult."

Naruto was still wielding his Rasengan. In front of him he did not see a friend-he saw an enemy. He saw a man with a raven black hair, and he couldn't let himself be stuck in a genjutsu. He gritted his teeth, hardly, and lunged into his own sensei.

"RASENGAN!!!"

Tsunade's hand quickly caught his wrist.

"What the hell do you think you're doing??" Tsunade scorned, her clasp tightening. "First the village, now you're trying to damage a Hokage property."

"Granny T-tsunade... Let g-go!!"

"No, Naruto. You need to control yourself, or else the nine-tails will take over you." She said, and brought his hand down. "You're vulnerable. Right now you need to rest. I don't want to put my village in peril anymore. Please, stop this nonsense."

Naruto laughed. He was stumbling as he walked improperly, Sake in a hand. "This isn't non-sense. I'm trying to live my life as a darn teenager. Stuffs like this happen."

"Naruto, you are the only hope Konohagakure sees!" Tsunade pleaded. "Don't let this darkness take away your light. Have you seen what happens to places without hope? Chaos occurs. Rogue-nins take over. Blood flows."

"Blood already flowed yesterday. I've seen enough." Naruto chuckled.

Tsunade stared at Naruto and saw what she had seen in Kakashi once: pain. He just glared back at her and gulped his bottle. He was already sweating; Tsunade could tell when a person has had enough alcohol in their system-Naruto's cheeks were fatally red.

Once, Tsunade was stopping by on a village during her seduction mission. It was a village called Nadeshiko, where endless people were considered to be jolly and joyful as they would usually toast to the delight of many things. Wine and Sake ran in their village. This made Tsunade stop on a local tavern and considered resting, since her mission was due for five days. This had given her the opportunity to delve into outlanders, and stayed in there for the rest of the night.

Tsunade was having an adorable conversation with an honorable old man, originating from the Land of Waters. She was chitchatting as well as investigating a few issues about politics, and the man she was about to seduce. That was when she saw him, the man with a golden blonde hair. He looked so beautiful-not less than ten, the man with those brilliant blue eyes.

Tsunade could never forget that time as she had excused herself to the man she was talking to. She couldn't handle it-could not stand the thought of watching a blonde boy there, for some reason, remind her of someone. It felt like her stomach was running out of her core, or a drizzle just came in by that she had checked herself on an inn instead.

Years went by, and Tsunade had abandoned the Leaf for several reasons-Nawaki was dead, Dan died. She had been addicted to gambling and thought of it as an actual hobby, something to distract her from her treacherous past. Shizune was there to make several appointments to her next game-poker, cards, tongits. She never saw her teammates again. Or if there was a time a Leaf person might want to ask her to come over the village some time, she'd simply laugh at them and leave. She'd heard Hiruzen remained Hokage after the Fourth Hokage died, not that she cared, which was touching. She left at some point when her own sensei was still ruling, and came back only to find out that he had been dead with the hands of Orochimaru. Her former crush (not that she was seriously into him). The world was truly a small and full of surprises.

*P L A Y S O N G* (so sad huhu)

"Grandmother," Naruto started, as he sat down wide-awake. "Have you ever had a child?"

Tsunade was crossing her arms stiffly. She was still wearing her green Hokage coat. "No."

"What about a husband?"

Tsunade breathed heavily, as if she was shivering upon the cold ran outside. "No." Tsunade considered Dan as her first serious lover, though never a husband. It was one of the perks of being in love-once you've carried the burden of falling in the depths of romance, pressing into the future would never be irrelevant.

The color of redness in Naruto cheek's became more dominant. He chuckled. "Then don't for a second think you understand me." He stood up, and threw the bottle of Sake vigorously into the wall. In a quiet moment the glass shattered into a thousand pieces, causing a framed picture of the wall drop.

Atleast it wasn't the window. Just hours ago Tazuna and Inari have come into the village stating no one was in Sakura's boat. Naruto stormed out of the office while Tsunade was rubbing her forehead. The least thing Tazuna did was to fix the broken window in convenience. Tsunade always liked that crystal lunette.

Driblets of blood fell from Naruto's wrist. She stared at the glass and thought of her own Team; how she cried in secrecy when Orochimaru broke into the village's hidden compounds and started taking things out of proportion. Staring at Naruto, it was no different from the generation they faced today.

Sasuke was gone. Sakura abandoned her. He was the only one left, apart from Kakashi. He was that remaining broken glass that was fractured and could not be fixed. Tsunade came closer as Naruto backed away. Naruto's fear did not stop her-she moved closer and closer until she had reached for his bleeding fist. "Don't move. If you want to break every valuable thing in this room,fine. I won't stop you. I just need you to rest and heal." Thanks to the Kyuubi's power, the wound in his skin easily fled. "Naruto, do you see those glass over there?" Tsunade asked. Naruto glared at the picture that had fallen into the cement, lately realizing his reimbursement. "There are things that cannot be fixed. Things that aren't worth bringing back together. If you keep on fighting for something that can't be undone, it's your loss. Better to leave them that way. Or you'll end up hurting yourself."

Naruto didn't say anything. Sitting there as Tsunade's patient regretfully reminded him of Sakura. He brought his head down, and clasped onto his chest and started crying.

"Come here," Tsunade said as she rested her chin against his head, one arm hugging his jaw. "You are sixteen. You are just a boy. You've done nothing wrong. Keep that in mind."

Tsunade had not met Kushina before, and it pained her that neither Naruto might ever get a hold of her. She was squeezing him as her own, her fingers smoothening those delicate spiky blonde lines. "Shh... Grandma is here. Grandma will stay beside you. Grandma will take care of you."

"When I learned I've no family, I promised myself I'd protect mine when the day comes. I promised myself I wouldn't lose them the way I lost my parents to the Ninetails. I was so-stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Quiet yourself! Can't you see the only way around this is to become strong? This isn't you. Stop crying. Crying won't solve anything, and it definitely isn't going to bring Sakura back."

"Stop mentioning her name to me, granny. I'm helpless. It hurts. It freaking hurts like hell." Naruto cried, wiping his tears with a bandaged hand. "She took everything from me. My baby, my family-"

"Not everything." Tsunade said, cupping his chin with both hands. She looked at him the way she gazed down at the boy who was close to death. She gave him her necklace that day, as a badge for his courage and vigor. "I'm still here. Kakashi is still here. Hinata, Neji and your friends are all here. We need you." She couldn't see him anymore, rather she was staring at the bird that flew by the window. It was morning. The rain had stopped, as if somehow it was the end of the mourning. Kakashi and Yamato entered the door without a sound. "I will send you somewhere else. Somewhere I can protect you. One day the Akatsuki will come back for us. Tear us all apart. And I can't promise you we'll all come back alive to see you as Hokage, but trust me when I tell you this-you will become stronger. Just not here."

⍨⍨⍨⍨⍨ ɐɥıɥɔu pɹıɥʇ ǝɥʇ ⍨⍨⍨⍨⍨

DEVILS FROM HELL

Water, fire and ash. He was drowning. He was laying above the seabeds beneathe the ocean. Yahiko opened his eyes and saw a vast amount of monstrous creatures. He couldn't breathe properly since he was underwater, and an anchor was pulling him down. Voices came out of nowhere.

We're leaving to chase our dreams and make them come true. And then, once that happens, even if we're split apart, let's meet back here one day. And we'll all celebrate together.

In that case, we should invite Jiraiya-sensei, too.

Yeah.

Good point.

"Deidara! Kisame! He's waking up!"

You and Nagato will survive... Nomatter what.

Yahiko gasped loudly, spitting out gallons of water.

"Welcome to Hell." A blue-skinned man said.

"So this is what Leader-same would have looked like. I like this kid, Kisame. He doesn't look so fvcked up. Not the bossy type, either."

"You shut your dirty mouths up and find somebody else to annoy." Marked Konan, where Yahiko laid in her lap.

"Woah, I'm just telling the truth, angel." A silver-haired man smirked, carrying his scythe above his muscled shoulder. "Don't call her that." A blue-eyed blonde chimed in, staring at Yahiko as well. "Leader would have killed you if he had the chance."

Yahiko squinted his brown eyes. Everything was quite a blur for him-the humidity. It wasn't raining. Wherever he was, he wasn't in the Hidden Rain. It had always rained in his village and he hadn't seen a rainbow in many years. But he was contented with the life he had, the fact that he had an angel right beside him and a good friend who taught him to never look down when things get knotted.

Nagato. The man with dark purple eyes whom he found together with his beautiful childhood playmate. He was the knight who protected them both, while there was this girl Yahiko could never forget. The face of an angel.

She bore orange eyes-the dye in his hair, the color of sunset, when dawn was rising. Yahiko was staring at them now. "It's you." Yahiko breathed heavily, sliding a weak hand upon her cheek. "Konan. My angel." She smiled as she took it, a white ring wrapped upon her right middle finger. Yahiko touched the rose clipped in her hair. The white paper turned red as blood.

"I have so much more to tell you." Yahiko said. "So much."

"Me too. You have no idea how this world's gotten wrong since you left. I've missed you, Yahiko. I've missed my God."

"I think you missed me too much."

Konan punched Yahiko's shoulder. "Aw," Yahiko snarled. A reanimation paper slip out of his body, and was patched back again. Konan's eyes darkened. She used to wonder sometimes if whatever she did had been what Yahiko would have wanted. He looked so innocent and young, like he had no idea time had passed by since he was gone.

The others were murmuring. Yahiko twitched his eyes and flicked his gaze upon them. "Who are these people?" He asked, making Konan shiver. The Akatsuki's attention all turned down to him. "Oh, I'm Deidara." Deidara bragged, as if his name was strikingly popular. "I'm Kisame." Kisame smirked widely. "And I'm Hidan." Said a superior voice. "They call me Sasori." Said Sasori lowly, who was the shortest of the group. "I go by many names, but Kakuzu is fine." Said an alien-looking foe. A plant-like creature loomed from underground. Yahiko panicked inwardly. "The name's Zetsu. It's good to see Pein's vessel alive than Nagato himself."

Nagato. Yahiko turned to Konan with a questioning look, when a new visitor had arrived.

A man with raven black hair clapped his hands. "Wonderful. Very wonderful. I was beginning to think your reunion would never end." He said. The other side of his face was deformed, as if it had been buried by a giant boulder. Yahiko did not know which part should he be striked; the fact that this man looked more alive than ever or that his face bore a suitably similar resemblance to Madara Uchiha. "Now that's a little rude of you now, Obito." The plant creature, Zetsu, commented. Obito looked surprise. "I was only stating the obvious."

"You take one step near him, I'll kill you again."

"But you never did, did you? I killed you first, love. I thought we talked about this."

"You?" Hidan asked. "You fvcking did that?"

"You underestimate me too much."

Yahiko tried to stand up. He was still weak though, he felt his muscles were filled with sandpaper. As much as Konan lent him a hand, gravity brought him down as he remained in his bed. "I told you to rest. There is nothing to be hasty about." Konan scorned.

Kisame cocked his head. "Maybe he wants to grab a beer. Take him to Requiem, that's what he needs."

"Thank you, Kisame. But I really think he needs an hour of silence. You guys can do whatever you want. I'm staying here."

"Where would we go? We just got back." Kakuzu mumbled angrily.

Hidan laughed. "See? If Kakuzu is going to stay, so are we. Right, shitheads?"

"I'm going back to my room." Sasori sighed, but Deidara's hand caught him fast. "Not so fast, my man. We're here to interrogate our new friend here." He whispered, "I heard this guy found the Akatsuki. Just look at him. He looks normal to me. Normal people scare the bloody hell out of me."

"He's normal because he hasn't killed much. Stain your hands with enough blood, it'll change you. Turn you into someone you never expect you can be."

Yahiko stared at the newly recruited members of the Akatsuki. They groveled and grumbled like there was no tomorrow. He counted them all-from a blonde head to a shark man. His brown eyes tensed. Nagato isn't here.

Of all people Nagato had been the one whom Yahiko expected. Despite Konan's wings, Nagato had eyes of a black knight. He was the most powerful man he ever knew, and assumed he could surpass him as his death had come. Yahiko frowned as he paid no attention to the freaks' voice. They looked unhealthy due to their forsaken appearances; blood in their necklace, giant weapons bounded to them, as if they could not live for one. Yahiko thought, he didn't die bringing his swords with him. Atleast that what he'd hoped for when someone had to bury him.

He tried to picture the good old days. As he laid in Konan's lap, he stared at the woman he loved and cherished. The first time he saw her he thought she was angel, and it surprised him that she didn't hesitate to follow him. He was worse than an orphaned boy-no one ever took him in. His parents were dead, slayed by a bunch of Rogue ninjas whose headbands have been crossed. It was then he met her-Konan, "little south", that he saw brighter things coming. Who knew? He was made of scraps and dirt, and an angel saved him. This girl saved him from ending his own misery, because she taught him the beauty of survival.

Sneaking into the Hidden Rain was quite ugly. When he was alone a bunch of street children had taught him how to steal, but tricked him that the food they were robbing from an old man was for themselves only, and they've never given him his share. Life was bloody, but Yahiko never sought out for a world he saw in those years. A world where people lived in fear, poverty and filled with blood. They say in Ame it never stops raining, and it cries for the loss of its people. Yahiko could not agree more, as for the first time, he had taken an umbrella from a dead man. He was freezing cold.

"Yahiko, are you alright?" Konan laughed, when the man whose name was Kisame must have joked something. "Are you hurt? Do you want food? We have all the supplies we need here. We can continue the organization in Taki. If you recover, I promise we'll go visit the Hidden Rain. Is that a deal?"

Yahiko just glared at her. The memory flashed back at him again: his first meeting with Konan.

They were somehow twelve when Yahiko had been walking at the streets near a river, where he'd showered and drank some in his hands. After filling his thirst, his brown eyes caught a girl standing kilometers away. Yahiko tapped her shoulder and asked, "excuse me, are you an angel?" For once he felt ashamed; he must have looked bedraggled and crummy that the alive no longer recognized him as a person.

The girl laughed. "No, my name is Konan." She raised a hand to him. Yahiko stared at it for long. "Oh, you shake it." Yahiko, embarassed, took it and shook it conflictingly. He could feel his heart racing-this had not happened before. He was panicking and completely out of human lines. Not a single ninja had a true conversation with him before, except those he had stolen from. Give that back! Give that back, you little thief!

"So, are you going to tell me your name?"

"O-oh, I'm Yahiko. It's uh, a pleasure to meet you."

Konan smiled. "That's a nice name, Yahiko. Where are you from?" She asked, soon as they've started walking. Yahiko had to pound his head with a hammer several times to catch up with her. "Nowhere. I'm on a book that has a thousand chapters. I've lived a thousand lives, you know." Konan stared at her with those orange eyes, and stared back at the water giggling. She grabbed a little stone from the ground. "You? You must have really nice parents. I haven't seen a pretty girl before, you see." Konan threw the stone into the water. "They're dead." She whispered, but no bitterness sounded. Just a girl walking around the nights with fresh open memories of her family.

"Mine too." Yahiko said. "Guess that makes us orphans, right?" He grabbed a pebble this time, and threw it again into the water. It made ripples out of their faces, something Konan must have find alluring.

Konan smiled at him, and it was the last thing Yahiko remembered. It was like a dream; a surreal vision he never wanted to wake up from. Konan never left his side since then-he offered her that if it was going to be the two of them left against the world, it'd be fine, as long as they'd live for eighteen years. The life of an average Shinobi had gotten more concise as more young ninjas dedicated themselves to their villages. To Yahiko, it was admirable at the same time filled with injustice. He wanted to change the world. He wanted to do something to make things right.

Things have stirred ever since the man from the Uzumaki clan had been added into their team, making them a trio. While Yahiko refused to accept him at first, Konan thought he would be a good use to them as a friend and a family. It's not often you get to be asked by someone who secretly carried the Rinnegan to join your fateful group.

"Nagato... If you just keep crying nothing will happen... Just like the rain!"

Nagato was crying over his pet dog. The dog had been convenient to them as it aided them throughout their methods of stealing and robbery, but his fate killed him. Konan and Yahiko did everything they could to cheer him up, but it seemed some pain was truly inevitable. Nagato cried several times that day, but he learned one important thing though: if you wanted to weep, weep. But promise yourself you would not do it again.

Yahiko had not seen Nagato cry over the years they've grown together. A man named Orochimaru intended to kill them to end their misery, but thanks to the Toad Sage, their lives were spared. Maybe more chapters have yet to come upon their books, Yahiko thought, painful ones. The first time Yahiko had looked up upon the white-haired Sannin he knew they would learn something, and that was the importance of family.

Jiraiya had stayed with them over quite some time, found a hideout where they would eat, pray and train again. They stopped stealing from the innocent and decided to give some of their stuffs back from where they belonged. Jiraiya was uncommonly one of the most perverted, jocular and unique senseis Yahiko had ever known (though the only teacher he ever had). One time he caught a bra in his bag and Jiraiya punished him by making him practice that water jutsu he'd been yearning to wield.

Jiraiya. As Yahiko had observed, Nagato had grown more closer to him. He saw the way they talked to each other, and Yahiko was grateful enough to become his student. Jiraiya had fed them, suited them in their weird bizarre frog costumes as he taught them a code: there were four boxes (three which were in front, one at the back for him), and when they return home they should flip the ones in front with a picture of a toad, and when they are gone, they should flip it back with the color of red. It meant that they should be returning shortly; Yahiko had not come back into their hideout ever since, and boy did he cry when Jiraiya left them to mend for themselves.

"Where's Nagato?" Yahiko asked. The Akatsuki shunned in total silence. "Is Jiraiya-sensei in Konoha?"

Konan smiled at him. "Yahiko... Nagato is currently in the Hidden Rain village. He'll be back here with us. Sensei is with our parents now."

"What an awkward situation." White Zetsu smirked, while Obito was laughing silently with his arms crossed. Apparently he was enjoying this. "Although we would all appreciate it if you could just tell him the truth. Tell all of us, Konan, of the joyful thing you have done."

"Yahiko, Jiraiya sensei is dead." Konan said sadly, looking at the lines of his palms. "When you died, Nagato took your body as his vessel for Nintendo Pein. That's why you've had so many piercings. I took them all out when-when he died." Yahiko felt his heart beating quickly, as if a hurricane was coming at their way. "I lied. I'm sorry. Nagato was dead and he didn't make it at the Reanimation. He must have found peace there. I didn't expect you to come back, though. I thought your misson was already finished. You killed yourself in order to save us both. Nagato did that as well. He died with a smile in his face-he was a hero. He sacrificed himself to save the lives of many."

Yahiko thought of how he had plunged himself into the very end of Nagato's knife. Konan's explanation that his friend didn't die in vain was not enough at all-he thought he would live to see the three of them soon. He was wrong. Konan was the only one left.

What on earth could have possibly happened to Jiraiya? He had stopped thinking about him when he led the Akatsuki, but he still had not come to him to express his grattitude. He wanted to thank him for becoming the teacher and their master, a parent they never had.

"I want to know what happened to Jiraiya." Yahiko said, avoiding Konan's look. "I want to know how he died. Was it a sickness? Did he ever get his book published? Did he have a wife? Children? Something good must have happened to him before he died."

"Well, he did inspire many young people today. He didn't have a biological family of his, but, he was very loyal to his village. Explains why you three have a common sense of loyalty. Sometimes it leads you to your own deaths, just an advice." Obito said.

So many questions, Yahiko thought, but none was answered correctly. He was already sitting against the corner of the bed, away from Konan's lap, away from anyone who had been deliberatey looking at him curiously.

Konan tried to take his hand. Yahiko refused it. She sighed. "Jiraiya was murdered. Nagato and I killed him." She said impassively, making Yahiko cover his eyes in blame. "It was a mistake. We thought it was a will of a God. You were gone and a lot of terrible things have happened. Things we were forced to take down in order to build something we thought was right."

"How long was this?"

"A couple of months." Kisame answered.

"Earlier, you thought you were drowning, weren't you? That was Pein. The name Nagato carried all along. That was just one of the events that happened to him. How old are you?"

Yahiko looked at her. "Nineteen." The Akatsuki looked at each other, and Yahiko had a bet to himself he was the youngest. Back in the day Nagato would be the oldest of them all. He wondered how long it had been though; the afterlife was such a nice place to sleep and wander. No blood was spilled, neither a handful of loud tormenting voices. "Yahiko, it's been ten years."

➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳

"You are mad that he is here."

"Zetsu, my brother! Of course not. Why would I be?"

"Because you have a rival who is determined to become a leader. What if the Akatsuki fails to see rectitude in you? What if this boy would turn them all against you?" Black Zetsu said, while Obito was biting a cookie from the bowl. There was a vast of food placed upon a long rectangular table in buffet style. Obito ordered Karin and Suigetsu to go out for rice, sweets and a chocolate fountain specifically for his own daughter, Rin. "Really, Zetsu. I don't know what it is that tickles you, but with a body like that, the boy is weak. He's lost track of time and of the occurences. Not to mention it is I who did the charitable thing to raise him back. He owes me."

"You think the Akatsuki owes you? There are others seeking revenge. Dark forces surround our hideout, Tobi. You ought to be careful." Zetsu said, as both of them glared at the audience. The boys were sitting on the living room playing a guessing game like a bunch of conceited idiots.

Kisame picked a paper from the bowl, a drink in his other hand. He grinned darkly as he read, "the one who has a future of becoming a parlorist because he cuts his own hair." After this, Kisame bursted into a laughter, followed by Hidan, Sasori and surprisingly Kakuzu. "You sick bastards." Deidara snarled, as he moved into the middle. He drew his hand into the bowl. "The one who kissed Hotaru because he thought he was gay." His blue eyes widened as he threw the paper at Hidan. "You better get your tricks straight or I'll plant a dynamite in your clothes! These are all crap!"

"I don't think there's anything to be worried about. Apart from Kabuto possessing control, they're freaks anyway. That's why they died so easily." Obito said, though he couldn't keep the butterflies out of his voice. He glared at Zetsu, almost wanting to pat him. "You have watched after us too much already, my friend. Perhaps it is time for you to get some sleep."

White Zetsu chuckled brightly. Obito remembered what was it like of becoming White Zetsu's vessel, how Madara ordered him for such time. He had stuck with him with ages and kept his secret. The problem with Zetsu is how easily he could harvest an information, how his knowledge would bring him forward into the battlefield. If there was anyone else Obito trust, that would be the man who had seen him from when he was still a boy; lost in despair.

"Sir Zetsu, what happened to the old man? Is he alone?" Obito asked, laying in his bed. It had been a few couple of weeks he'd watched Madara sitting upon his chair, wires injected in his body. It was disgusting at the same time painful in sight. Well, Obito had almost been buried alive with a horde of rocks so he could say he'd seen worse. "Well to say it simply... He wants to get rid of all the bad things in the world and run away to a dreamland full of good things! In a dream you can do whatever you want... even revive the dead."

"Isn't that bad?" Obito frowned.

"Bad? Where is bad when all he wants to see is good?"

"What is sleep? What is closing your eyes for another dark tomorrow?" Black Zetsu answered. "When you're sad and alone..." White Zetsu said, "...the only one you can count on is yourself." Said Black Zetsu. A little girl was running this way. Rin, Wakana, Miyako, Obito was pretty confused of all the names that have been branded to her as if she was someone's toy. Of course Obito preferred to name him Rin, although it hurt, it was her biological one, not the name that was given to her when she was dumb, or when she was experimented on. "Obito!"

Obito turned to Zetsu with a shy smile. "Excuse me." Zetsu was smiling at them both when Rin managed to get close. "Have you not yet been contented with the chocolate fountain that now smears in your mouth?" He scolded, as he shook his head. "Come here," He said, and carried her like a three year old. He wiped the chocolate in her right lip using his bare skin. "I believe Sasuke is awake?"

"Nu-uh. Is his brother here?"

"He never made it."

"Oh. That's sad." Rin said, as Obito had carried her outside and brought her down. This would have been better if she was actually an infant-barely talking. "Do you believe in ghosts?" Rin asked, as Obito had laid his eyes up into the stars. He had not seen much of these since he was focusing more on his best laid out plans, what to do next, who to murder by the next twenty-four hours. He didn't realize Rin was talking to him."What?" He asked horribly. "I said, do you believe in ghosts?" She said. "Well, like mermaids, no. They're a bunch of fiction. Don't get your head spinned for some things that aren't real." He took a lighter out of his pocket and lit a cigarette. "You want one?"

"You're asking me if I want to smoke? A ten-year-old girl? Knock yourself off!"

Obito laughed. "It was a test for Kami's sake. At least if you want to, one day, do it in front of your parents. I don't want you doing these teenage things with your friends. It gets worse everyday." They were sitting outside now, near the giant waterfall. There was a rumor mermaids once swam there in the deep. Though like Obito said; fiction, it drives you mad as a March Hare. But sometimes those things could get real any time-he once never believed Hanzo's vampires would rise-impures originally came from the invention of the Great Hanzo the Salamander. "I saw a ghost earlier this morning."

"You sure it wasn't the Akatsukis' doing? Maybe they were trying to scare you."

Wakana smiled as she plucked the grass in the green field where they sat. "I know a ghost when I see one, Obito. I might as well see other dead people. You gave me Madara's eye and I survived it. You knew my chances of surviving were low, still you tried."

"I like that. You speaking so matured, it's as if you've grown. You've grown from your childhood."

"I am a child. It's just I've seen much this early. Now I'm seeing the Reanimated, even ghosts."She glanced at him as he smoked his precious tobacco. His hair looked glossy under the moon, his eyes beaming crystal black. "Would you believe me if I told you I saw one?"

Wakana had little hopes if anyone would believe her, but with Obito he'd understand. Even if he was a serial killer, he was patient when it comes to her. Barely denied her requests, it's like he had taken off his mask yet he remained vulnerable to love. "Of course I would. Describe her to me."

Wakana stared at the waterfall in front of them. That gleaming fresh water, flowing endlessly until it reached the bottom. At mornings it was wondrously blue as the oceans, and at night time its colors would shine into forest green. Wakana grabbed a lotus flower from it. "How'd you know it was a girl?" She asked. "Did I? It must've come off." But Obito was serious, and she was as well. "I saw the girl written in your tattoo." Rin said, and grabbed Obito's arm. "What was she like? She's pretty. She had brown hair. She was wearing some sort of an apron, and she says she wants to play with me."

Obito dropped his cigarette.

"Obito, did she have some mental illness? When she died? What happened to her?"

"Rin." Obito just said. "You saw Rin."

Wakana nodded her head. "I know that my dad is responsible for her death, but what is she doing here? Does she have some unfinished business with you or something?"

"See? That's the problem either." Obito dismissed. "I don't know." He took her hand. "Come on now, time to go." Before Wakana was about to interrupt, Obito had teleported her back to her own room. This was where he spilled his beans about Madara all his story, and where he should be safe by the night. He thought of all his life and the trials he had recovered from, and wondered if Rin Nohara coming back to earth would mean anything.

"You stay here. You sleep. I don't want you spending time with her. It's too dangerous."

"But you said she was good?"

"That was when before she was still alive." Obito smiled, and raised the covers into her chest. "Dead people coming back to life is always a bad sign. If she asks you to play with her, go back to the hideout and look for Zetsu. He'll know what to do."

He brought up a key to her. "As of now, you're having curfew. Have a good night." Obito said. "No, wait-" Wakana teleported to the door, but Obito was faster. She could hear the lock revolving. "Obito! Obito!"

The lights of the Hideout have turned into forest green. It was a sign, to Zetsu and the rest, that there was a rising tide outside, or something else had yet to happen. Obito strutted into the corridor and threw a key to Zetsu. "Rin Nohara is tormenting our house. I expect you to keep an eye on the little girl twenty-four seven, only to release her when the time is not right for her to play hide-and-seek. After all," he smirked, "sleep is the last thing on your mind."

"Of course, Obito." Zetsu responded, and clenched the key in his hand.

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4.29. 15

Yahiko & Konan <3

Thoughts? hehe