Eight

The Dawning

A vast lake surrounded Amegakure. Heaven's Gate, Sakura called it.

The waters were dark and tumultuous with broken pipes and half-submerged stone statues breaching the surface; pollution, one might say, though another might argue they had been strategically placed for defense and footholds if there was ever an attack on the village. A long, single stretch of a cement bridge with no barriers cut through it, dark liquid lapping at the sides and leading all the way down to the stone entrance that looked like a castle gatehouse attached to two short watchtowers.

All around them, it rained. By God, did it rain.

The downpour was so strong that it was as if there was a film over their vision, a little misty, a little foggy, but it couldn't hide the view of a thousand neon lights piercing through the sky. All sorts of colors were so blindingly bright from where they burst from the enormous industrial buildings—steel, cement, thick wires, gray.

Kiba tightened his hold around Tenzo as he carried the man on his back as gently as he could. They had to move at a far slower pace as to not jostle him and reopen any wounds, and it had taken them through the night and early morning to finally push through the marshland and dark undergrowth of Storm Country.

"So here we are," Kurenai murmured, peering into the distance from under the heavy hood of her rain cloak. They were dark brown and warm, nothing too fancy, but Sakura had taken all of them and sewed reflective patches of cloth onto the shoulders; simple rectangles of solid white that refracted the rainbow when twisted this way and that.

When she'd asked why they needed something like that, Sakura simply stared down at the patches and frowned.

It's part of the culture, she'd said. It will help convince the gate guards. I can explain everything once we've settled.

Everything. Kurenai hoped that meant she'd learn of her father and his 'management' as well.

And not only had Sakura told them to always have their hoods up and to make sure Kiba's chakra camouflage seals—ones that didn't mask chakra but masked the distinct signature—were in the cloaks' lining so that their identification wouldn't be properly recorded.

Lastly, she cautioned them to never let the rain even skim past their skin unless you wanted God to know where you were.

"Y'know, your warnings are really creeping me the hell out," Kiba said as they slowly descended up on the entrance. Now they were close enough to see five guards waiting upon their arrival, all of whom wore conical hats atop their heads and gripped spears in their hands.

At the head of their group, Sakura nodded. "Good. Then you'll listen."

All too soon they were only a meter away from the armed guards who each took in Tenzo's unconscious, cloak shrouded form, the massive dog at their side, their faces.

Shino noted that their stares lingered on the reflective patches on their shoulders.

"State your business," the middle guard ordered. There was a thick mustache on his face and ice in his eyes, and in that moment Kiba truly realized that his pack mate really did grow up in a place that never embraced the softness Konoha was so notorious for. She had no warm nights eating dango under the stars, just cold rain and cold people with neon lights that mimicked the sun.

And when Kiba looked to where Sakura stood in front of them, he held back the urge to reach out and squeeze her hand.

"We've gone rogue from Konohagakure and are looking for shelter under Tenshi-sama's wings," Sakura replied. Kurenai staved off the questioning look that threatened to rise on her face. It was another one of those custom things, probably, and she would have to start reading up on the histories and traditions here. But at the mention of this Tenshi-sama, the four other guards ducked their heads and murmured amongst each other as Mustache regarded them with intense scrutiny. "We have one injured, four able-bodied shinobi, and a ninken. We ask for asylum and medical care."

Mustache raised his chin.

"And what do you ask of the rain?" he posed.

"That it never ceases to be," Sakura answered smoothly.

The murmurs of the other guards grew louder, Mustache appearing both disgruntled and surprised at the same time as he raised an arm and motioned to one of the guards. The one on his far left stepped through the door of one of the watchtowers, Akamaru's eyes never leaving them until they disappeared.

"And who are you to possess the correct acknowledgements of this village?"

"A former citizen leading non-citizens into the village."

"I see." The guard came back with a book that looked to be made of regular paper, but raindrops slipped right off its pages as Mustache took it and started flipped through. "What was your identification code, sushri?"

It was the first time Sakura hesitated. Her back straightened and her shoulders rolled back to make her even more imposing like she wasn't already towering everyone there. Shino sidled up to her until their shoulders pressed together like an anchor—a reminder that they could still make a break for it, that they still had a chance to go somewhere else, that they were there for whatever decision she made.

She breathed in through her nose. Let it go. "RA-zero-zero-eight."

Mustache froze. So did the four other guards.

A long moment passed where no one said a word; some of the guards had offense painted in their expressions, Kurenai's hand slipped down to her thigh to hover over her kunai pouch, Akamaru bent his legs.

"Sushri," Mustache started slowly. "You do know it's kaand... and a great disrespect to Kami-sama and Tenshi-sama both to falsely claim the RA designation when it does not apply to yourself, don't you? The punishment for this dishonesty is severe."

Sakura's face maintained its chilling inexpression. "X-seven-nine-seven, X-one-four-two, X-three-three-five, X-eight-zero-eight," she rattled off in quick succession. They were codes, though for what, none of the former Konoha-nin were sure. But whatever they meant made two of the guards pale and one of them nervously wring their hands around their spear. "X-zero-one-zero, X-RA." Sakura's gaze swept through the guards. "Believe me or don't. I will see Kami-sama personally and if I am a liar, you know my corpse will be found hanging from the Divine's Pillar with stakes through my heart and my head cut off and cast into Heaven's Gate."

Shino stood close enough for her to hear his buzzing kikai through the rain.

"Mujhe yah pasand nahin hai," one of the guards whispered.

Mustache stared at her for a long time, his grip tight around the book as everyone waited on his answer with bated breath. Then, carefully, he turned the pages until he reached the section he looked for. He stared, truly stared at that one page, before he snapped the book shut and handed it back to the guard he first took it from.

A drop of sweat ran down the side of his face.

"... I will send word to the Divine's Pillar with the message of your arrival. You have one hour to bring yourself to Kami-sama and assert your identity. If you have not shown up by then, you will be hunted and brought to Tenshi-sama's mercy."

He moved to the side, the other guards quick to follow suit.

Sakura strode past them all with a head held high and Akamaru pressed to her heels, Shino and Kurenai drawing back to flank Kiba as he made sure to keep Tenzo dry and breathing. The guards were a mix of unabashed staring or harsh avoidance, and Mustache was one of the ones to stare them head on, colder, though almost afraid.

None of Team Eight knew what to make of that.

Unfortunately, Sakura did, and it made her insides curl.

"Welcome back to Amegakure," Mustache told her. There was no thunder to be heard or lightning to be seen, and it might have been odd to note had it not been something so utterly essential to the village's mystery. "May Tenshi-sama grant you good blessings."

Sakura didn't turn to acknowledge him, but she paused in her step. Her face, shrouded by pink hair and a hood and completely free of rain, never changed. "And may yours never turn to mud in your hands."

The bridge towards the village was long and thin, gray and cement.

'Funny,' she thought idly. 'I always thought the road to hell was paved with good intentions.'

:: ::

The sun didn't bear itself down on this village, but it was one of the most colorful things Shino had ever seen.

He didn't understand.

Each building was tall, dark, uninviting, covered in pipes, and grasping at the murky sky, but he wasn't shrouded by darkness at all. Above his head were neon signs of every shape and color as they flashed the names of shops, restaurants, bars—he even spied some schools and businesses and clinics that displayed their names just the same.

Though none quite compared to the tallest tower in the center of the village. It was an amalgamation of silver pipes and red metal, and on each of the four faces of the building was a metal statue—of demons? Deities? He couldn't tell— melded into the walls as they overlooked the cardinal directions they faced with... ringed eyes?

Directly overhead were paper lanterns strewn in the same sort of brightness with reds and oranges and yellows that danced off his hood and shoulders.The rain slipped off them easily, never once ruining their paper make. Traditional umbrellas hung from those same threads, and while they did nothing to shield the passersby from the harsh rain, they glowed so brightly with intricate designs that they were there to please the eye rather than to utilize their function.

Even looking at the ground was nothing short of amazing. Everything was cement—it had to be with weather like this—but embedded in that gray was art that shone as bright as fire. Cranes, frogs, flowers, battles, ceremonies, tigers, constellations, landscapes, poetry, cartoons, everything lit up the paths they walked on.

"This place is insane," Kiba gaped quietly. His head twisted this way and that, trying to soak up as many details as he could. "How come all the art doesn't wash away?"

"The paint is specialized and activated by the rain," Sakura said. "Years ago, some people started noticing that the weather started affecting people's moods and mental states." She gestured her head at a group of locals laughing with a merchant. "It doesn't rain on Sundays but the sun rarely comes out, so the citizens came together and did this." Her head jerked towards a general convenience store. "It's an unspoken rule to respect the art, and if you want to make your own piece, almost every store sells the paint. As long as you never draw over another person's work or incite violence, you're free to add your own."

"That's... That's actually really cool," Kiba admitted. He shifted Tenzo's position on his back, frowning slightly when he noticed no one seemed to cast them any suspicious glances. "The whole goddamn village is an art museum."

Sakura hummed a bit of amusement at that, but said nothing more as she continued to lead the way. Shino, so focused on the art underfoot, blinked when the art slowly started to contain more and more caricatures of, oddly enough, badgers and snakes alongside each other until Sakura stopped in front of a large building.

Which... Well, which might as well have been its own unique form of art. It was a great-brick building with a grand archway for an entrance and large cylindrical metal beams serving at the supporting pillars. Bright green depictions of vines spiraled up the metal as great, glowing artworks of flowers and trees crawled up the walls; it was the first building he'd seen that had been painted on as if it was a landmark.

Then his eyes landed on the neon blue sign just below the apex of the arch.

Amegakure General Hospital

Oh.

"Will they treat Tenzo-san even if he isn't a citizen?" Shino asked, the consideration quietly surfacing in his mind. "It was regulation for Konoha medics to never treat a foreign individual unless given the direct order."

"Amegakure is a refuge village. The opposite applies here; everyone is to be treated unless there's an order against a specific individual," Sakura replied as she stalked forward and held one of the front doors open for them. She brought up the rear, pulling her hood off the moment the building's heating system hit her in the face. "They'll take care of him here."

It was only a few moments after their entrance that a handful of nurses hurried through the double doors, immediately assisting Kiba in transferring Tenzo onto a gurney.

"What's his status?" one of them asked.

"Unstable; the wounds on his back were shallow, but the gashes in the stomach were healed just enough to stop the bleeding," Shino informed immediately. "All weapons have been removed from his person and there was no poison, but there needs to be extra attention paid to his internal organs. I should have stopped the bleeding and sealed the puncture wounds, but they may have reopened on our journey here." Just as they began to wheel him back in through the double doors and presumably to the critical care ward, he called out, "The insects in his system—they're doing no harm! Please don't remove them!"

He expected looks of confusion or surprise, but the nurses simply nod their heads in assent and disappear deeper into the hospital.

All of Team Eight watched after their friend until the double doors stopped swinging.

"Your friend will be listed as Patient #429 unless another designation is given," the receptionist spoke, jolting them from their silence. "You may wait for an update on his condition in the visitor's lounge at the very end of the south hall and to the right."

Shino didn't move, staring straight at those double doors until Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder and nudged him down the hall.

"Thank you," she bid the receptionist as she ushered her team down the hall.

"I should be there," Shino murmured.

"You're in no condition to be on the hospital floor," she replied firmly. Upon entering the lounge, they quickly absconded themselves into a corner away from the few others that lingered there. "You did your best and kept him alive. Tenzo-san will pull through."

Kiba sagged into one of the chairs and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees and dropping his face into his hands. Shino was slower in lowering himself into a seat and braced himself as he held onto one of Sakura's forearms until he settled into the cushion. He leaned back and rested his head against the back wall, the water from his cloak dripping onto the metal arm rests.

Kurenai, who had been unconsciously holding onto her stomach since arriving at the hospital, took a step closer to Sakura and brushed a lock of pink hair away from her face. "You should take a seat and rest, too. You need it."

She did need it. The anxiety that had built up from the moment they'd step foot into Storm Country had only wheedled through the pores in her skin and pulsed through every vessel, every vein. When they passed the guards and finally entered Ame, she smelt rain and spices and cold brick and it had been so dizzying the only thing keeping her upright had been the constant buzz buzz buzz of Shino's kikai.

Sakura shut her eyes. "I can't. I have to go to the Pillar."

Quick fingers unlatched her cloak and she whipped it off her shoulders and shook off the excess rain before she rolled it up and tossed it into an empty seat. She was dressed in her usual gear: Kubikiribocho's hilt on her back, katana and kusari-fundo on her hips, her kunai pouch fully stocked, and fresh bandages wound tight around her left arm.

"Aight," Kiba sighed as he made a move to stand. "So which one are we going to? That tall ass tower in the middle of the village?"

He blinked when a firm force on his chest pushed him back down into his chair. Sakura's hand held him down and he lifted his head with a furrowed brow. The gleam in her eyes was resolute and she had on that small smile she smiled whenever she told them everything was going to be okay.

He hated that look.

"You're fucking crazy, are you serious right now? I'm not lettin' you go there by yourself, are you fucking kidding me?" he hissed. He glanced around the lounge and lowered his voice. "No way. It's already bad enough we're here." He grasped the hand against his chest. "I'm not gonna let you do this on your own."

"And what would you rather do? Wait in this lounge or be restrained the moment we arrive at the Divine's Pillar?" Her smile dropped. "It's safer for you here."

"Sakura, I'm going to kick. Your. Ass. If you go on about that 'safe' bullshit one more time," he growled. Kiba turned to his right. "Shino, tell her!"

Shino's head lolled to the side.

Sakura's hand shot out to lift the side of his head as Kurenai ducked forward and pressed her hand to his neck to search for a pulse. They pause for a bated breath until a strong thrum beat under the pads of her fingers.

"Steady," Kurenai said as she lowered herself in the chair beside her student with a shaky breath. Kiba drooped in his seat at the sudden wave of relief that overcame him, and Akamaru slid so far down to the ground that his chin touched the floor. "Looks like the chakra exhaustion finally caught up with him and he couldn't fight it anymore."

Sakura dragged a tired hand over her face. "I'll tell one of the nurses to run a check up on him," she sighed. She turned and got as far as one step towards the exit when something latched onto her pant leg and tugged.

Akamaru clamped the cloth in his jaw, stubborn and determined as timid whines poured out of his mouth.

"He's scared," Kiba translated quietly, "about what'll happen. I'm scared about what'll happen." Kurenai watched on, silent but ever vigilant, bright red eyes darting back and forth between them. "You can't just tell me to sit around here and wait for you to come back. I don't know a damn thing that's going on and—and after you threatened those gate guards with your own death and beheading—" Sakura glanced away— "after all that... you really expect me to believe that when you come back, you'll be okay?"

Still, Sakura couldn't look any of them in the eye. "You have to trust me."

"You're pack, Sakura. Of course I trust you. I trust you with every single fuckin' thing I am," Kiba whispered. His fingers cursed around the unpolished wood armrests. His eyes wouldn't stop watering. "It's them I don't trust. They'll hurt you, they'll—"

"They won't," she cut in.

"Yeah?" An incredulous laugh burst past his lips. "You really think that?"

They locked gazes, terrified black against resigned green, and she forced another smile onto her face. Defeated. He was so tired of seeing her like that; so tired that this one expression stung the back of his eyes.

"No," she admitted. "But I thought saying it would make you feel better."

"Sakura..."

"We're already at the hospital, so the rest of you should get checked. Sensei, an OB-GYN, maybe? Just to make sure everything is alright." Her fingers threaded through the fur on Akamaru's head. "Hey, hey..." she murmured. She ran her thumb under his chin. "Come on, Akamaru. I have to go."

Akamaru pushed his nose against her leg and held on tighter.

But after a few long moments, Kiba patted his partner's back with a mutter to let go.

"Fine. Fine. But if you're not back by the end of the day, no one's gonna stop us from lookin' for you," he relented.

"And please take care," Kurenai added. "I understand that I'm far out of the loop from what's happening, but I trust your decisions. I promise you that this time, you have me. So come back in one piece, alright?"

Sakura could do nothing but nod.

She didn't say anything about how searches never worked out in favor for the ones who looked. The rain was both a wonder and a cage and God had six bodies with the same colored hair and the same ringed eyes, and no one hid. No one escaped. Not for long, anyway.

"I'll be back after I sort everything out," she said instead. "And when I get back... I'm sorry. For everything." She tried for another smile, but it fell flat in the quiet of the hospital's visitor's lounge. "They were the only ones I could think to turn to."

She began her walk back up the hall when Kiba called out to her, holding out her bundled cloak. "Forgettin' somethin'?"

"I'm going to the Pillar," Sakura said. "It would only be insulting if I didn't let him know I was coming."

She strode out with long, measured steps before slowing to a stop under the arch, just below the hospital's neon blue sign.

Once upon a time her mother had worked as a civilian nurse at this hospital, not that Sakura had been around for that, but she'd never had a reason to ever step foot in this building. Dad made sure of it. She'd gotten yearly check ups and shots at the children's clinic closest to the Pillar, and they always went early in the morning or late at night when there were less people to see them and even less people to ask questions.

The rain was mere centimeters from her face.

She breathed in the scent of a village she could never forget.

And she stepped into the downpour, flaring her chakra and letting the rain wash over her skin.

(A small part of her hoped she blinded God.)

:: ::

Pein cut himself off mid-sentence.

There was another meeting in another country in another unnamed cavern that the Akatsuki had used to host their chrome holographics and, by all expectations, it was supposed to run as another standard meeting.

But then Pein had paused out of nowhere, eyes as sharp and ringed as they always were, and everyone else that occupied the cavern stilled at the sudden reaction.

A beat passed, and nothing changed. Worry festered around Konan's heart.

"Leader-sama?" she prompted evenly, her settled tone never once betraying the concern she would never bear to the rest of her comrades.

Pein dragged his eyes to Kisame, the latter responding to the sudden attention with a curious tilt of his head.

"Kisame, return to Amegakure. Itachi will complete the remainder of your mission," he ordered. He scanned the rest of the organization. "The rest of you know what is expected of yourselves. Act accordingly."

Pein's hologram fizzled out of existence just as another bolt of concern shot through Konan's chest. Her old friend always had a certain methodology when handling the Akatsuki, things like always being the first to arrive and the last to leave or expounding on even the smallest of details to make sure he was understood.

There must have been an emergency back in the village. It was the only reasonable explanation.

Silence engulfed the cavern for a full ten seconds before Hidan gestured to the now empty spot. "Uh, what the fuck just happened?"

"Aw, I think someone just got called to the principal's office, hm," Deidara taunted. "What did you do? Forgot to bring a hall pass on your way to the bathroom, un?"

Kisame laughed, his teeth flashing clearly even through the squirming static of his projection. "Ah, who's to say? Maybe I accidentally razed down a village in my sleep and he wasn't too happy 'bout it." He looked at his partner, lips quirked up apologetically. "Sorry to ditch you."

"It is of no concern. There's quite a distance between Storm and the middle of Tea Country, and it would be best if you made an immediate departure," Itachi said. "I will meet you back in Ame."

His visage faded out.

Kakuzu's steel gaze flickered once around the cavern before he too flickered out of existence without a word. Hidan sputtered. "Bastard! Hold on!"

He disappeared as well.

"As fun as it is to speculate, I too need to return to my current mission," Zetsu hummed. "Try not to cause to much trouble, even if it's too much to fucking ask."

His hologram dissipated. Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure, blame all the shit on us, un. Damn house plant." He flicked his hair out of his face and glanced at Kisame. "If you are in trouble, though, let me know. Sounds like it'd be fun to watch you get chewed out."

Kisame chuckled as the blond too withdrew from the cavern, leaving him and Konan the only ones remaining.

All things considered, Konan was still surprised that of all the friendships she could have made with her associates, Kisame had been the one she'd forged and followed through with. But she supposed it had all been Sakura's doing; he'd become a father as both a teenager and an active Akatsuki member and there were consequences to that decision that perhaps he hadn't completely thought through. It was then that he started turning to her for help—whether it was the fact of her femininity or her sanity, she wasn't sure—and from there they started to realize they enjoyed each other's company. The quick exchange of Sakura from one of their arms into the other turned into chats over tea and idle pleasantries about missions and orders became conversations about pasts and mistakes and people-watching from roof tops.

She used to do things like this with Nagato, but that was before...

Konan brushed away the thought. Kisame might not have ever met Nagato face to face or treated him with anything other than respect for a leader and maybe the two could not have been any more different, but she enjoyed the former's company. Truly. He always listened, made her laugh, never thought that what she was doing was wrong.

Hoshigaki Kisame was her closest friend, and she would hold onto that for as long as she could.

"You okay?"

She hummed and faced him more fully. "I'm simply concerned about Leader-sama's sudden departure," she replied honestly. "He's always quick to attend to his matters, but cutting the meeting the way he did is... unlike him."

"Then you better check what's up. Without you, I dunno how he can handle everything by himself," Kisame grinned.

Konan smiled minutely, always thankful he always had enough cheer for the both of them. "I will see you upon your return to Ame."

Her hologram flickered and faded.

:: ::

And the real Konan opened her eyes to find herself in the same alcove she'd sequestered herself into before joining the meeting. A few steps to the right and she gazed through one of the openings of the Divine's Tower. Of the four demon statues built into the tower, the Shinigami melded into the east side had always been Pein's favorite.

Its mouth hung wide and its tongue stretched out to meet the rain. One hand of the metal statue held a kiseru pipe and the other was pressed flat over its stomach as a plethora of metal bars ran it through. Pipes protruded from both sides of its painted face, holding it to the tower and showing every citizen of Ame that even a messenger of death would adhere to the hand of God.

(How did we turn out this way?)

But Pein wasn't sitting upon the tip of that curled tongue, overlooking the expanse of his worshipers. Worry burned hotter in Konan's stomach as she strode down the corridor and slipped through the hidden entrance to the main office.

She ought to have been relieved to find him sitting at his pristine desk surrounded by dusted shelves that carried all the scrolls and tomes where none were even half a centimeter out of their place, but instead that worry sunk deeper into her core when his attention was neither on his work or his reports.

Instead, he stared straight ahead at the closed office door with his elbows on his desk and his fingers laced in front of his face.

"Your leave was abrupt," she greeted toneless as she stopped just to his right. "Is everything alright?"

"Someone conversed with the rain," he said. Ringed eyes never strayed from the door. "It appeared, suddenly, at the hospital. One bright flare that was meant to catch my eye as it makes its way to me..." He drifted off thoughtfully. "It was a surprise."

Konan's spine prickled. The rain... Ame was a village of expectation and practicality. Nothing should have happened to surprise him.

Her left side was already dispersed into slips of paper. "An intruder? Should I take care of it?"

Pein's head tilted slightly to the side, his gaze ever unwavering as it kept its latch on the door. "Why?"

"You said—"

"I recognized it," he continued mildly. "Strong, though not as strong as one might think, and expanded to be controlled to an unfathomable degree. I always considered a developed sense of chakra control as an option, but this exceeds me. There were expectations I admittedly forgone considering, but this will bring change." His head righted itself. "A gate guard delivered a report about this just minutes ago, and even I could have never predicted these circumstances." The rinnegan glanced at her once before resuming their watch on the door. "No, this is not an intruder. This is a second chance at a missed opportunity."

Someone who knew they could speak to the rain?

Surely it couldn't be their old teacher. Jiraiya, as much as he enjoyed playing the fool, knew better than to step foot in this country let alone this village would never turn to them lest his desperation served against his betterment. Sensei never came back, never cared after all those years of training them, so they in turn thought nothing more of him.

And if it truly wasn't Jiraiya, then...?

"Enter," Pein announced, and Konan wondered why none of the other Paths led this someone in. The Paths always served as escorts, especially in the tower where no one but the Akatsuki were allowed to freely roam.

The door doesn't swing open; it was pushed, slowly, smoothly, in a single movement. The figure that came through was tall and broad-shouldered, and even with their clothes soaked and cold, not a single goose-bump was raised on their skin. A katana was on one side of the hip, a coil of kusari-fundo on the other, and the left arm was completely bandaged and dripping with rainwater.

Konan's breath caught.

It wasn't from the sight of their hair, pink and short and limp and plastered to pale cheeks.

It wasn't from the ugly, jagged scar that peeked up through their blue shirt and marred the skin all the way to their jaw.

It wasn't from their posture that exuded the strength and confidence of a practiced shinobi, even in the face of Gods and Angels.

It was from meeting the eyes that used to belong to the ball of sunshine of a little girl—eyes that used to shine and crinkle as their owner jumped into puddles and clung to her father's big blue hands whenever she babbled about her books or pointed out small frogs that hopped along the lake.

But that image was quick to stutter and fall, and in its place was the shinobi that Konan feared this little girl would one day grow up to be.

"Leader-sama. Konan-san," the shinobi greeted respectfully. They dipped into a perfect bow, undeterred by the droplets that slid off their skin to pool onto the floor. Pein drew back into his chair and folded his hands over his crossed legs.

"Hoshigaki Sakura."

The syllables rolled off his tongue for the first time in eight years, jarring and sudden, its serrated edges glancing Konan's consciousness as the realization fully hit her. Rooted her to the floor.

'Kisame will be so happy,' was the first thought that came to mind.

'The Akatsuki will never let her go,' was the second, and it flushed away the small lightness in her heart at seeing the child again.

"Sir," Sakura returned. Her face... She had that same heart-shaped face. But gone were those chubby cheeks and gummy smiles that Konan dug through a clear memory of; that little girl with no gravestone whose threadbare red ribbon was still tied around Samehada's hilt to this day. All of that softness of a child raised to know no better was gone, and in its place were strong jaws, stark tattoos, eyes so cold and closed and so like the ones Konan saw every time she looked into a mirror.

'I'm sorry that this was what we made you.'

Pein eyed her searchingly. "You invoked codes X-797, X-142, X-335, X-808, X-010, and X-RA," he listed. MIA To Be Presumed Dead, Survived A Presumed Dead Situation, No In-Ame Contact, Eight Years Absence, Request for Identification Reactivation, and Level RA: a rank only given to members of the Akatsuki, respectively. He gestured towards the girl—no, not a girl, she would be... fifteen years old, wouldn't she—with a slight nod of his head. "Tell me about X-142."

"Yes, sir."

Sakura kept her feet shoulders' width apart as she clamped her hands behind her back. Konan had been the one to teach her that stance; legs straight but not locking knees, the right hand over the left with the palm facing outward as she pressed her knuckles into the small of her back. Sakura had been four or five years old when she first learned, and back then it only looked like a child playing pretend to make her father smile.

She'd always been a good kid. Everything she did she'd done for her father, and Kisame only ever showed his regret of turning her into someone like him when he knew she wasn't looking.

"A sweep was being conducted in Amegakure at the time and, from what I assume, all the Akatsuki members had been ordered to relocate for a few weeks," she started. Calm, collected, succinct. Her eyes were level and her chin stayed raised, and Konan saw nothing of the frightened girl that used to hide behind her cloak. "My father made sure that I memorized a cover story in case I was found with him: my mother died when I was a baby, my father was a merchant that I had not seen in a year, and Hoshigaki Kisame took me because I was a distraction that no one would miss."

Konan glanced at Pein. Bright ringed eyes never left Sakura's expressionless face.

"We stopped for the night in Fire Country while trying to cut through it. It had alerted shinobi to his presence and while my father tried to lead them in a different direction, he told me to hide in an abandoned warehouse and wait until he came to get me." Green eyes flickered with something she couldn't quite catch, but it was gone before she could decipher it. "A shinobi found me and, under the assumption that I had been kidnapped, took me back to Konoha as they blew up the warehouse."

"That's where Kisame thought you'd died," Konan said, stepping out from behind the dark wood desk. The teen turned her gaze over to the only other person who'd done more than tolerate her, who'd taught her to fold origami cranes and butterflies and wiped her tears from her cheeks when she cried. "He's hated Konoha-nin ever since, thinking that they'd killed you in the crossfire."

Sakura maintained her posture and tensed up until the woman stopped short a few paces away from her, close enough to reach out and touch. "It... would have been easier if that were the case. Konan-san." She looked back at Pein and squared her shoulders. "I have no desire to upset your plans, sir. I am here on behalf of my team to plead asylum."

Konan blinked. "Asylum?"

"Name your team members and your reason," Pein prompted. The metal bars embedded in his body shone under the soft yellow light of the office. There were lit candles on the corner of his desk and the chill in the room was as suffocating as it always was—

(Corpses had no need for warmth.)

—and the crescendo of rainfall was faint, but constant. A steady reminder.

Sakura drew a quiet breath. "I arrived with Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and his ninken partner, Akamaru, Yuuhi Kurenai, and Tenzo. They are currently in the care of Amegakure General Hospital; Aburame Shino and Tenzo are currently incapacitated, and Inuzuka Kiba, Akamaru, and Yuuhi Kurenai I had last left in the visitor's lounge."

There was no doubt that one of the Paths were currently on their way to the glowing green building.

Konan had a million things to ask, but she found it odd that it was hard for her to come to articulate them. It had been a long time since she'd gone through things like worry and relief and shock so quickly in succession, yet seeing Sakura again had stirred up the warmth she'd thought she'd lost.

"You were the swordswoman in the Konoha back-up team that came to intercept Sasori and Deidara in their acquisition of the Ichibi," Pein announced suddenly. Konan's eyes rounded as she looked at him, then back to the teen whose jaw had strained with the force of her clenched teeth. "You were part of the unknowns as our focus was on the team consisting of Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, Hatake Kakashi, and Advisor Chiyo."

Sakura swallowed. "Yes, sir."

"This was the team that managed to dismantle the Five Seal Barrier set up as a protection and overcame the defense mechanisms put in place."

"Yes, sir."

"But according to Zetsu, there was no swordswoman fighting one of the seal clones when the defense was activated. It had been the Hyuuga." Pein stood from his seat at his own leisurely pace, the wrinkles in his cloak smoothing themselves out as he took slow, deliberate steps towards his visitor. It wasn't until he was directly in front of her, staring up at her blank face, that Konan began to see the quiet terror pulsing just at the edges of green irises. "You were there alongside Advisor Chiyo to fight against Sasori."

"Yes, sir."

"You participated in the battle."

"Yes, sir."

"You were there when Advisor Chiyo killed him."

"No, sir."

"No?"

Konan flexed her fingers at her sides.

Pein and Sakura. She had about half a head in height over him and possessed her father's intimidating quality, but that was nothing compared to the power he exerted by simply standing there. Her presence was physically imposing, but it was like she was a child again when she stood before God. It was said enough in her fear and her unwillingness to speak unless spoken to, and even now soaked in rainwater Konan knew there was sweat beading on her brow.

"Am I incorrect?"

"... Yes, sir." Sakura forced herself to keep their eyes locked as a sudden intensity overcame hers. "Because I was the one who killed Sasori-san."

:: ::

When Nagato first felt her chakra in front of the hospital, he thought it had been a mistake.

For one, why at the hospital and not the front gates? The moment she stepped foot in Amegakure he should have recognized her signature and at their time of entry according to the guards' report, he had detected a few new bodies walking through the streets. They had felt dull and civilian, and he'd figured it must have been the return of non-shinobi citizens or traveling merchants. Yet instead, it had been her and a team of defected Konoha shinobi and surely their chakra would be distinct to each individual body.

Somehow, she circumvented recognition, and he was already thoroughly intrigued.

Then the realization of that chakra's owner started to sink in and he found himself running scenario after scenario in his head.

Hoshigaki Sakura died eight years ago in a warehouse explosion, just as she herself had detailed, where a Konoha-nin had taken her and inducted her into their own ranks.

And did Kisame know about it?

Nagato mused on the possibilities before settling on no, he couldn't have. He'd never been the same since she'd gone and any other person who knew suffering could see how guilt had made a home in his heart, no matter how much he didn't let it show.

But now here she was, breathing and grown and powerful.

She killed one of his most valuable members, and he couldn't bring himself to be angry.

"You?" he pressed.

"Yes, sir." The rinnegan granted him the ability to note the chakra flow shift that came with speaking lies, and a quick scan of her network proved her truth. "But had it not been Chiyo-sama's help, I—"

"That was not my question."

Sakura's mouth snapped shut and she lowered her chin just so, though not enough for him to consider her chastised. Nagato walked the Deva Path around her in a languid circle, taking note of her weapons, her dress, her stature. She was a close range fighter for sure with her build suggesting a favor of offensive attacks rather than ones that defended or evaded. Her style was taijutsu heavy, perhaps, as her reserves could not sustain the same sort of ninjutsu her father employed.

"How did you kill him?"

"I utilized two puppets he had momentarily forgotten and pierced his heart with his own coated blades, sir," she replied. Nagato stopped directly behind her where his gaze was drawn to the back of her neck.

The mouse brand on her skin was raised and white. Years old, maybe, and looked to be a mark of ownership.

He wondered about her story.

"Why should I grant you and your team asylum?" This was not a time for his intrigue, and that would be a discussion for another time. But now? Now was something else entirely. "You come here claiming you have no desire to disturb my plans, yet you've removed me of one of my subordinates. You, who have broken away from a village like Konoha, thought it best to come to me in your time of need?"

He watched Konan's face contort ever so slightly. Of course. She had always had a soft spot for the girl and he would be a fool to blame her for it, and as long as she didn't interfere, there was nothing erroneous about her concern.

"Konoha has framed us for crimes we did not commit," Sakura spoke suddenly. "We don't know our charges yet and are currently waiting on an updated Bingo Book, but we were set up and we deserted before we could be thrown into another prison cell."

There were multitudes of questions just waiting to slide from the tip of his tongue. He wanted to prod about the framing, what the village thought they deserved it for, how they knew it had been the village itself, the list of crimes, the sudden departure, the fact that she'd implied more than one stint in prison.

It was maddening, compelling, fascinating.

He kept his mouth closed and allowed her to continue from where he could not watch her expression.

"I have no other reasoning behind Sasori-san's death aside from the fact that we were shinobi in battle with one outcome, but if you decide that my actions are unacceptable, then kill me. Hang my body from the Gashadokuro on the west side of the Pillar for my insolence and cut off my head to feed to the creatures in the lake."

That caught his attention quite unlike any of his subordinates could and he waited, and listened, and thought that this Sakura was far more interesting than her younger self had ever been.

"But if you do, I ask only one thing of you, Leader-sama."

"And what is that?"

Straightened spine, shoulders back, chin leveled. Without spying a look at her face, Sakura still stood as the perfect picture of everything she had no choice but to learn.

"When you kill me," she said, "spare my team. They've done nothing wrong."

When, not if.

"And you have?" Konan countered. Her eyes flashed, the indignant look about her face only visible to Nagato from the years and years he'd known her.

"I must have if I've ended up at your mercy," Sakura replied softly, almost in jest.

The corner of Nagato's mouth ticked upwards.

But he wiped back down to a bearing of indifference and completed his circuit around her. He ended up right back in front of her, only a couple paces away.

"Then it is with my mercy that you and your team will be granted sanctuary." Nagato took account of her eyes one last time—green, accepting, determined—before he turned to walk back to his desk. "Konan will discuss your possible living arrangements, procedural registration, and the like. You alone will report to this office in three days' time where you will receive your new orders."

Sakura nodded once. "Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

She bowed at the same perfect angle as she did when she first arrived and retreated towards the door, Konan close behind. For a split second she was a child again, bright-eyed and grinning and her dark cloak fluttering about her as she tottered as far as her short legs could carry her.

"Sakura."

She stopped, her hand hovering over the door handle. She forced herself to turn to acknowledge him fully. "Yes, sir?"

Then, the child was gone. 

All that was left was a composed shinobi with the weight of all the worlds on her shoulders.

Outside, the rain grew heavier, and Nagato couldn't keep the self-satisfied gleam in his eyes at bay as he bid, "Welcome home."

:: ::

The gate guards stared up at the Divine's Pillar, its surface slick with rain and its magnificence ever unmarred. No blood, no carnage, no bodies.

"It's been over an hour," one of them noted nervously.

Mustache's brows knitted together. "... Yes."

"What do we..." Another guard gulped. "What do we do?"

Mustache ripped his eyes away from the grand tower and addressed the rest of the shinobi on this rota. "Spread the word. Let all Ame shinobi and locals know that there is another Akatsuki-affiliate in our ranks who has been blessed by the rain."

:: ::

And here we have some fantastic fanart by 

Kiyo曉妍#7723 on Discord!

Minnami2005!

icejade03 on instagram!

wrensaven on tumblr!

nezukerea on tumblr!

goose_with_a_spoon on instagram!