Reflection of God (Pein Story)

Chapter 6.

Pein, too, hadn’t slept as much as he could have done last night.

For so long he had sat there, wondering simply; where do I go from here? He had been about to kill Kyo, but now he had chosen to keep her—and for a reason he wasn’t entirely sure he could pin point. Not only that, but he had specifically told Kyo that she wouldn’t be working there. Glaring slightly out the window as he remembered those words, Pein put on his cloak roughly, without a clue as to why he had said that. If Kyo wasn’t going to be working here, what was she going to do? He’d only backed himself into a corner. And yet somehow the fact he had gotten himself into this mess wasn’t a surprise in itself. Kyo affected him in a way Pein didn’t understand—he should have known this was how it would turn out. Though shaking it off, he knew he was going to have to come up with an answer to that question at some point, and as such decided to speak with her again. Maybe by finding out a bit more things would become clearer.

So finally ready, Pein left his room and down the corridor, having already gotten something to eat a while beforehand. Considering the time, he doubted Kyo would still be in her room, so passed that completely and went straight towards the kitchen, not giving himself the time to hesitate as he passed through the doorway and into the room, spotting Kyo's hair immediately. She was sitting eating her food, the others doing their own thing, but still twisted slightly so that Kyo was always in their sight. She was new, a woman, and beautiful…obviously they were going to be curious. But brushing that fact aside for the moment, concentrating on Kyo, Pein came forward until everyone looked up, nodding in greeting to her as he said swiftly,

“I’ll need to talk to you, so you will have to come to my office when you’re ready.”

With that, he turned and left, trying to plan what questions he would ask her when she arrived as he walked down the corridor, not noticing Kyo instantly dropping her things, standing up and following him, the rest of the Akatsuki watching in confusion. She’d been in the middle of breakfast when Pein had said that, and had simply walked out without even trying to finish it. Frowning in confusion and concern, Itachi's gaze—along with the others—observed Kyo as she left, but let it be for the moment, none of them knowing exactly what they could do to change things. She might be powerful, sharing similar traits with the likes of Pein and Itachi…but there was definitely something that wasn’t quite right.

Having heard no footsteps, Pein snapped his gaze round as something appeared in the corner of his vision, finding Kyo walking calmly beside him. Narrowing his eyes, he said nothing for a moment; he’d seen she was eating breakfast, and it was why he had said she could come to his office when she was ready. Yet suddenly she was here, and a little surprised at that fact, he stated quietly in confusion,

“I wasn’t expecting you to come right away—you were eating.”

“You asked me to come, sir…so here I am,” Kyo shot back swiftly, and Pein had to force himself to keep a straight face at her words. There might be a lot he didn’t understand about Kyo…but he knew they shared similar traits, and somehow felt they shared similar convictions, too. Quite how he knew was a mystery—but Pein was certain he felt connected to her, and that she was someone he could understand.

Finally arriving at his office, Pein swiftly dismissed that thought and opened the door, allowing them both inside before closing it firmly behind them. Walking over to the table, he sat down, making sure to tell Kyo to do the same when he noticed she remained standing, waiting for him to react. But her actions made him both empathic and uncomfortable regardless of how many times he saw them; not feeling it was necessary to do any of what she was doing, though still uncertain what to do about it. It was like Kyo wouldn’t allow herself to be who she truly was until someone spoke to her; that without something to react off of…she would treat herself as if she didn’t exist and would merely blend into the background. There was so much about her that put her apart from the crowd; that made her special—but Kyo didn’t seem to want any of it, and Pein felt compelled to know more.

Unsure where to start when all that was flicking through Pein's mind was her hesitation, obedience and silence, he eventually managed to pick out the most obvious thing: the fact she possessed the Rinnegan. It was why she was here, after all, so it made sense to begin with that. Glancing up to Kyo's gaze, she simply waited expectantly for whatever Pein wanted to speak to her about, a slight anxiety rising within her. It wasn’t a frightful anxiety, but instead almost excitement. When she had been alone with Pein yesterday, she had been uncertain and worried about what was going to happen, but now she knew more, and felt closer to Pein and much calmer in his presence. As such, Kyo barely blinked as she watched Pein, until eventually he asked simply, getting straight to the point,

“The Rinnegan is a kekkai genkai, as you already know—so you must have inherited it from someone. What about your parents? Could you have got it from them?”

“I wouldn’t know; my parents died when I was young,” Kyo responded casually, not showing any change in emotion as she did so. Her parents had died a long time ago, and it no longer affected her; there was no need to get upset about it when it was merely a fact of her life, even if she wished it was otherwise. Pein said nothing in return to begin with, picking out the fact that that was another thing they shared; Kyo, too, understood the pain of losing her parents when she was young. His distanced demeanour began to slip, not noticing himself relaxing in her presence as he replied,

“Did you grow up on your own then?”

“In a way, yes, but I was actually taken in by a group of ninjas when they saw what I could do…and I’d been with them ever since until now.”    

Pein narrowed his eyes, everything about Kyo's story confusing him. So much of it didn’t make sense, and as such he protested out loud,

“But how come I’ve never noticed; if you were taken in by a group of ninjas for your abilities, then surely they would have wanted you to use your Rinnegan to its highest potential…and yet I never heard any rumours about there being someone else with it.”

“But that’s the thing, sir…it’s only been recently that it turned up in the first place—a couple of weeks at the most.”

“What? So you never even knew you had the Rinnegan until now?” Pein shot back in surprise, his confusion only growing.

It just didn’t make sense. Her abilities had to be powerful in the first place—the reason why those ninjas had recruited her at such a young age. But because of that, she must have been high level when she was young as well, and therefore being sent on missions and doing a lot of difficult tasks. It was at that point that things didn’t quite add up; if she had been in so many different life or death situations, then her Rinnegan should have awakened by now; her chakra should have brought it to the surface. So why hadn’t it done so until she was in her twenties? Had there been something blocking it? And better yet, did the ninjas she had been working for know about it? True, she might not have been able to use it before, but had they known it would turn up eventually? Pein wasn’t sure, and instead focused on what else she could do—with or without the Rinnegan.

His expectations, however, were instantly met as Kyo began to describe the kind of abilities she had. Pein found himself falling silent and listening intently to all that she said, Kyo revealing powers that he had never even imagined possible. His earlier statement that Kyo couldn’t think she was working here seemed even more ridiculous. With those kind of abilities Pein couldn’t just dismiss them; they deserved to be used and used to their full potential. The Akatsuki could always do with that kind of power, anyway. Kyo fell utterly into conversation with him, no hesitation rising within her mind and telling any of this. With him…she felt comfortable, and as if she had nothing to hide. She felt like herself.

Her old life was slipping away a lot quicker than Kyo had ever expected.