~Nagato~
Nagato's eyes widened as he processed Aiko's words. 'I can bring him back.' "H-how is that possible?"
"I told you Leader," she replied quietly and looked at her hand. "My Kekkei Genkai gives me the ability to bring people back from the dead."
"But you said the ones you brought back were shortly after their deaths, how will this make a difference?"
"I can sense him in the nether world," Aiko answered and turned her head to face Nagato. "As long as his spirit hasn't moved on, I can still summon him... and put his soul back into his body."
"But..."
"Please Leader," Aiko interrupted as she walked over to the bed where Yahiko was and stood at the foot. "I need silence in order to bring him back."
"Why do you insist in bringing him back?"
Aiko made a hand sign and closed her eyes. "You always looked like something was missing. A friend isn't someone you can simply forget once they're gone, they always stay. They're in your heart. You can try to push them away, but their memories are alive within you. No matter how hard you try, a true friend can never be forgotten."
"You never knew him... I still don't understand why you're trying to bring him back."
Aiko smiled. "I want to get to know him," she said as she made another hand sign.
A smoke cloud of some sort was formed behind her. That smoke turned into a see through fog which soon formed to make the figure of a man. Nagato's eyes widened once more.
"Yahiko..." he murmured. He gasped and tried to stand. "Yahi—ack!"
"Leader, please stay still," Aiko told him as she opened her eyes and lifted her hands over Yahiko's body, hovering over his feet. "He won't be able to hear you. Not yet, not until he wakes up."
"What do you mean?"
"This is merely his soul, his memories are intact. But once summoned, a soul's memories stay in the nether world and await for the soul to return," Aiko explained as the soul floated into the air and slowly came down onto Yahiko's body. "The summoned souls become empty vessels that fight for the one who summoned them. However, once I return the soul to its original body, they will have all their memories back."
"How can you possibly bring him back? He's been dead for years."
"His body is perfectly preserved," Aiko replied. Nagato stared as Yahiko's soul entered the body.
"I see," he murmured and remained silent.
Nagato watched the see through version of Yahiko, Yahiko's soul. Could Aiko truly bring him back? He didn't understand how, but he hoped she would be able to. Not only would he be able to see an old friend again, but Konan wouldn't be stoic and cold anymore. She would be reunited with Yahiko.
And then, team Jiraiya will have returned. The three, inseparable friends, the Ame orphans... they would be together again. The three that grew up together, that stole food to survive together, trained together, created an organization together, fought together... who would have known there was a possibility that they'd see each other in the world of the living again? Nagato knew they'd see each other at one point or another, in the afterlife. But the thought never crossed him that they might have been able to in their time alive again.
Nagato gripped the bedsheets tightly as Yahiko's soul was two thirds back. Memories of them as children flooded into his mind and he got a strong feeling in his stomach. Yahiko was more than a friend to him, he was like a brother. He reached out behind him and pulled a string on the left side of his bed. Konan told him to pull it if he needed anything. Now was a better time than ever to pull it. Konan would rush in only to see Yahiko when he awoke.
The piercing holes began to close themselves and soon, there was no sign of them anywhere. Only Yahiko's head needed to be returned. And Nagato waited, rather impatiently, for the process to be finished. He could sense Konan's chakra as she rushed up the stairs. Aiko stepped away from the bed slightly.
"There, that should do it," she said and looked at Yahiko's chest. Nagato did the same. They waited for a while but nothing happened. Nagato turned toward Aiko. She didn't look worried in the least. "It happens like this sometimes."
~3rd person~
"Nagato, what is it?" Konan asked after she opened the door. She looked from Nagato to Yahiko's body to Aiko. "What's going on? Why are you two staring at me like that?"
Nagato and Aiko both smiled.
"Konan, you're still as caring as I remember."
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Konan's eyes widened and slowly wandered back to Yahiko to find his eyes open and looking at her. Those brown eyes, that tender smile... Konan made her way over to him and placed a hand on his cheek.
"Yahiko...?" she questioned on the verge of tears.
Yahiko's smile widened and he placed a hand over Konan's hand. "It's me."
Konan felt the tears escape her and she threw her arms around Yahiko as she sobbed onto his chest. Yahiko chuckled and rubbed circles on Konan's back.
Aiko helped Nagato out of his hospital bed and toward Yahiko's bed. He sat on the other side and Yahiko wrapped his arms around both of his friends.
"Yahiko," Konan whispered, her eyes were closed in a vain attempt to hold back her tears. She pulled away slightly and wiped her tears away. Aiko handed her a wet paper towel and Konan removed her makeup before it all ran off. "How can you..."
"I'd like to know too," Yahiko said.
"Aiko brought you back, Yahiko," Nagato told him and turned toward Aiko. Yahiko followed his gaze and his eyes landed on the girl standing at the foot of the bed.
"Do I... do I know you?"
The girl shook her head. "No, I'm Aiko. Aiko of the Akatsuki," she informed and bowed her head slightly.
"Aiko of the Akatsuki..." Yahiko repeated. "I don't understand a single thing," he crossed his arms and sighed. "Nagato, you say she brought me back?" Nagato nodded and Konan wiped her tears away and sat on a chair near the bed. "Okay then..." he turned toward the girl and asked the question she knew she couldn't avoid, "How?"
Aiko sighed slightly and told them all about her Kekkei Genkai. Once Yahiko asked more questions, she answered those as well. He wanted to know about her origin, so she told him about her past and how she came across the Akatsuki. Then they filled Yahiko in on the important details that had happened in his absence.
"We strayed form the path you wanted, Yahiko," Konan murmured and looked at the ground.
"The Akatsuki is now an organization of S-ranked criminals wanted nationally, dead or alive," Nagato continued. "But we want to be able to change that, and Aiko has already begun to do so."
"I what?" Aiko looked away from the window and stared back at Nagato.
"You've created a bond with the nine tails' jinchuuriki and the Hidden Leaf," Nagato replied. "That's a start to getting the Akatsuki out of their criminal ways."
~Aiko~
You stared wide eyed at Nagato. "So... you're not mad?"
Nagato smiled and shook his head. "No, you've given us something that no one else had been able to in awhile: hope."
"Hope?" you repeated. "How?"
"You've created an allegiance with the Hidden Leaf, the most powerful of the ninja villages, you've saved every member that was near death up 'til now..."
"And you were able to get all the members to get along with one another," Konan added. "They never would have interacted with another member of the Akatsuki unless it was their partner."
"That means nothing, just that..." you trailed off.
"That you're truly trying to get to your goal," Nagato stated. "If you speak something but don't really mean it, you wouldn't do anything about it. You want to change this world, make the people get along no matter how long it takes you, and you've begun to do so. You're trying your hardest to achieve your goal, Aiko. I can see it in everything you do. Whether it's speaking, your actions, when you disobey, or when you're staring off into space. You want to be able to do something about all the hatred in this world. But you've felt, at times, that there's nothing you can do about it. Everyone feels it at one point: that they're useless because they can't do anything about it. But you... you don't give up. No matter how many times you fall, you get back up and try again. And that determination... it's a virtue greatly needed in this world.
"If you want to achieve a goal but you give up after it fails once, what will become of the people? What will become of the world? And... what will you become? Once there's something you truly wish to achieve, you won't stop trying. So far, that's what you've been proving. That you truly care about the future of this world. You've already started to take steps toward your goal by befriending the nine tails' jinchuuriki and others of the Hidden Leaf.
"Don't you ever stray from that path. Keep holding on to your dream. And one day, you will achieve it. It will take a while, but your work will be paid off."