World's Devil- Naruto fanfic

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen: Game of the past ...

Konan waits like she said she would. The smile Korosu offers is more genuine this time. She had asked Itachi to keep away while she entertained this image of who she used to be. It isn't because she's afraid of what he might think of her, but because she doesn't want him to associate who she once was to who she is now.

"Those clothes are ... strange." Is all Konan manages to say, unimpressed. "How do they protect you in a fight?"

Korosu snorts dryly. "They don't. In my old world, these types of clothes weren't meant for fighting in."

"Were they ... were they good for anything?" based off Konan's expression she personally doesn't think so. 

Korosu's shrug is entirely one of the streets. "Not really. Didn't have the money to afford the kind of clothes that could do something—well, we did, at times, but it was rarely spent on me." She shrugs again. "If it was a good day, or if they won a lot of money, they'd take me out shopping."

Konan's eyes narrow in anger, but she diplomatically keeps her mouth closed. "Come, Pein-sama doesn't want you in there for too long."

"Will anyone be with me?" she knows their leader doesn't want anyone going in by themselves.

Here, Konan's eyes darken. "No, it will be just you. I don't like it, none of us do, but we all agree this won't work if there's anyone else in the room with you."

Korosu straightens. She pats the other woman's shoulder. Her height hasn't changed much over the years, so she hasn't altered it like she did with her other features. "Leo's devil wasn't present when I looked like this. If he's not aware I'm in the room and Lucifer can distract him long enough, I should be playing to the true Leo that still remains."

Konan nodded, though a crease still furrows her brows. Korosu walks past her, towards the door she knows Leo waits behind. If he's conscious, she's not sure, but she's about to find out.

Don't do anything reckless, Korosu. Lucifer's warning is little more than a hiss in her ear. It seems he still hasn't forgotten her last stunt. Of course not, he growls.

Hands rapidly moving through the required forms to unlock the door, the knot in her stomach intensifies. The door unlocks with a quiet click and Korosu spares one more look in Konan's direction before she hurries inside, before she can second guess what she's about to do.

It's dim inside the room, shadows creeping along the walls in patterns that could easily take shape if she lets her imagination run from her. Leo—and she still has to refer to him by that name—sits pressed against the wall, knees tucked under his arms and chains hanging limp from his wrists. His blue gaze tracks her movements, but they're duller now. She's slow in her approach, letting her shoulders hunch forward; giving her the air of someone far smaller than her already pathetic height provided. Five foot one is not much to crow about.

She wants to call him Leo, to separate the person in front of her from the boy in her memories. But, for this to work, she needs to call him by his real name. "M ... Matsu," his name tumbles haltingly from her lips.

He looks smaller now, curled up against the wall, an unreadable expression on his face, than he did back in the fortress. Korosu licks her lips, throat suddenly dry. Is it weak of her to wish Itachi could be in here with her?

She stops at the head of the bunk, unwilling to get any closer. "Matsu, it's me. Do you remember me?" she drops to her knees, the messy ends of her hair curling around her jaw as she moves. She's forgotten what it's like to have short hair.