Reflection of God (Pein Story)

Chapter 8.

A few days passed, and nothing much changed.

Kyo continued living there, acting as a member and fitting in with that general atmosphere but never actually doing any missions of any kind. She helped out when things needed to be done in the hideout, busying herself by almost becoming the maid—without getting paid, of course. If any of the members were hungry, Kyo would cook them something, and clean up if anything was messy. It gave her something to do, at least, occupying her while she went about her days in the hideout, only going for walks and going outside when there were a lot of people around to keep an eye on her. Not that Kyo was about to protest; she could understand where Pein was coming from—he couldn’t risk the safety of the hideout or the people within it.

And then, of course, there was Pein himself. His moods were still all over the place, treating Kyo with kindness and looking out for her welfare one minute, and then simply telling her to do something or reminding her of a rule the next. In a way, the constant changing became stable in itself, and Kyo merely came to expect it, accepting the fact that she could never truly be prepared for all of what Pein could say or do to her. Pein knew it, too, but he couldn’t help it. It was an automatic reaction to treat her differently and relax in her presence; somehow she just made him feel like he didn’t need to keep up any standards—that he could be himself and that she would understand regardless of what he said. But she had come out of nowhere after having subordinates find out that she possessed the Rinnegan; an ability Kyo didn’t know the origin of, either! He had been planning on killing her; he couldn’t treat her any different to the rest of the Akatsuki.

That didn’t stop him from doing it, however.

Kyo began to see Pein on a regular basis, finding out more about her general abilities and what she’d been able to do as a ninja before the Rinnegan had come along, and then how she had adapted to having it now. If she had known about it for two weeks, and she had had it activated when the subordinates had found her training, then obviously she had been practicing with it. Pein wanted to know just what she had been training with in terms of the various techniques made available with the Rinnegan and how far along Kyo was in getting it completely under control. He knew himself what it could do when unleashed through emotion, and he couldn’t risk it happening with Kyo.

But he needn’t have worried. When they spoke about it and she fully explained, Pein had to smother a smirk at her words. He had to admit; he was impressed with all that she had done in such a short space of time. Kyo had researched so much into the Rinnegan and made sure that she remained in control of the power at all times. It was clear at that moment just how talented a ninja she was—but whether this was a hereditary thing, Pein was still unsure about. There remained things that made him curious, but Kyo had said before she was an orphan, and talking about his past wasn’t something he ever liked to do—and no doubt Kyo felt the same. Her job was another topic that he tried to tread around carefully, as there was a lot of mystery surrounding it, and when it had come into conversation, Kyo never seemed particularly happy about it. No matter how hard he told himself he would treat her like any other Akatsuki member or subordinate he was interviewing (or interrogating), Pein didn’t want to offend her, and couldn’t shake the feeling when he tried to ask.

He couldn’t help but think about it again, however, when one day as Kyo got up and left as Konan came to talk to him, bowing in respect to both Pein and Konan, only to apologise to Konan when she remembered that Konan had told her she didn’t have to. Once she left, Pein's eyes remained frozen for a moment, clouding over with thought when he finally turned and walked to the window, gazing down at the world outside—even more so when Kyo appeared and wandered through the trees to go for a walk. Konan said nothing as he did so, knowing he was deep in thought—after all, he didn’t get like this normally—until eventually he spoke up, quietly but firmly, to say,

“I don’t know what happened in her past to make her act this way. Always so willing to obey…always so respectful regardless of who that person is in her life…What did her old employers do to her?”

“Sometimes I wonder that myself,” Konan replied quickly, knowing where he was coming from in this train of thought, continuing on afterwards,

“It just seems like there is a constant barrier between Kyo and those around her. There is no distinguishing feature that makes a person her superior, her teammate, her friend…because she treats them all with that same level of respect and obligation to obey. Bonds are unable to form…but in a way that is different to a lot of shinobi out there.”

Pein slowly nodded in agreement with Konan’s words, but when he did not answer, she said a soft goodbye and left the room, knowing he wished to be left alone to think. With what Kyo had been saying to him over the last few days, Pein had figured out that she hadn’t told her employers about her Rinnegan—for a reason he wasn’t about to pursue. Somehow it seemed like it wasn’t something she would allow them to abuse, and with the situation how it was, Pein could contemplate the idea of letting her go; allowing her to continue with her life in the way it had been before. She wasn’t a threat to them, that was clear, and he hadn’t given her enough information to use against them if she was questioned about it.

But still…the idea didn’t feel right.

Kyo had so much potential without the Rinnegan in the first place, and yet Pein had never heard of her position or abilities. It was almost as if she had been kept away from the outside world, away from anyone’s view; but in a sense, Pein could understand. Kyo's power was covetable, and it might have been possible that ninjas would approach her and try to tempt her away. Not that it would work now. Somehow or other they had got her into such a state of submission that there wouldn’t have been anything anyone could have said to get her to leave of her own free will. Her job and purpose in life had been to serve them completely. Though from her personality it was clear that that wasn’t what she truly desired in life. The way she adapted to living with the Akatsuki and being in this atmosphere was proof of that. By letting her go, anyone could come across Kyo—she didn’t know where she was at the moment; and her compliance would simply encourage people to recruit her.

Of course, Pein knew he wasn’t about to kill her, that inner protestation rising within him every time he thought of it. It certainly would be a waste, anyway…Plus, he had already told Kyo she was to be staying with them; even if he had maintained that she wouldn’t be working with them as a member. But technically that wouldn’t be fully true even if she did begin doing missions. Without Orochimaru’s ring for her to wear, it would be a case of her wearing the Akatsuki cloak to show her alliance, but nothing more. Pein couldn’t help but smirk at that thought—it was a clever technicality that he could use to his advantage. He wouldn’t be going against his word and changing his mind, but it would give him a reason to let her do missions and give her a purpose.

But the question about the Rinnegan still remained, however, and Pein paused, the smirk slipping off. What was he going to do about that? Kyo would still possess it, despite the fact she would be doing Akatsuki missions now. She’d made a lot of progress with it, true, but the control wouldn’t be fully developed, and he wanted to tread carefully in terms of letting the knowledge she had it out there. How Kyo had it in the first place remained a mystery. He didn’t want to tell her to hide it away, but starting to use it in every day battle was an uncertainty, too; not to mention she still needed to train it, and Pein couldn’t just give her free reign with that, either. But then suddenly it hit him, and he instantly began to contact her telepathically.

He knew just what to do.