Reflection of God (Pein Story)

Chapter 21.

“Nikushimi no danna? What are you doing here?” Kyo burst out, turning to face the group of them with her muscles tensed and eyes narrowed. It had been a while since she had been taken by the Akatsuki, and by now she had thought that they weren’t about to come looking for her—or if they had, it had been unsuccessful. But clearly she had thought wrong, as he stepped forward and greeted softly,

“Kyosei, finally. We’ve been looking for you these past few days; you just disappeared!”

“Things happened, danna. I couldn’t—” She quickly responded, not about to mention the Akatsuki. Although everything was problematic at the moment, she wouldn’t cause them any trouble—they didn’t deserve it. But it seemed like Nikushimi didn’t care, interrupting swiftly,

“I know, Kyosei. But we found you; that’s what the most important part is. Now you can come back with us and join us again.”

With that, he began to turn and walk away, Kyo watching him as he did so, but unable to move—back or forward—for the moment. She knew that when she had been working for him it had been utterly regimented and she had had no say in anything; she merely did as she was told. Being with the Akatsuki had given her so much more freedom and free will, she’d admit it...and she had enjoyed being there. But she still couldn’t dismiss all she had been through and the fact he was here now, leaving her unable to move as Nikushimi finally noticed and turned back round, raising an eyebrow at what she was doing.

“I don’t know if I can, Nikushimi no danna. It’s not so simple.” Kyo finally managed to state bluntly, staring at him as he walked a few paces towards her, a strange look on his face, which Kyo had never seen before as he replied, his voice quiet and almost soft,

“But Kyosei…you’ve worked for me ever since you were young. I gave you a job and a place to stay—the means with which to train and increase your power. You were always loyal to me and did what I asked. I’ve always been your leader, Kyosei. You were taken and forced to remain here…but your obedience will always be towards me.”

Kyo flexed her fingers, swapping her weight from foot to foot and staring at Nikushimi as she thought about it. What he was saying was true. She had spent the majority of her life living and working for him. She had been living and surviving on her own up until she met Nikushimi, and yes, he had given her a job, a place to stay, scrolls to help her train and all the basics that she needed. All she had even known was working for Nikushimi, and as she stared back at him the rules and regulations that had been drilled into her when she first joined flickered back through her mind. That was all so familiar to Kyo. Nikushimi wasn’t looking at her with love, friendship or even neutrally, true, but it was what she had always known.

Though it hadn’t been that way in the Akatsuki.

Some of the rules that Kyo had been taught while working for Nikushimi seemed ridiculous when put into the context of the Akatsuki. When she compared the likes of Hidan and how disrespectful he was to everyone around him to how people were with Nikushimi…it was a huge difference. They had all treated her well; even when they hadn’t really known who she was to start with. They had been allowed to talk to her and allowed to mix, and ultimately meant their teamwork was better than it might have been otherwise. Their organization in general was more flexible and able to adapt. Pein had never looked at her in the way Nikushimi had done, and had treated her with respect even when she had showed up with the Rinnegan out of nowhere.

How things change…

Now Kyo was trying to deal with the fact that not only was she calling her boss by his first name but having had him kiss her in the middle of a training session! She was trying to deal with all these new emotions that were abruptly surfacing without her ever having experienced them before and not having a clue as to what they were! Yes, she had learnt so much from Pein in terms of controlling and mastering the Rinnegan, she knew that…but he had changed everything with how he treated her. From the very beginning with his attitude, to hanging out with her in their spare time, to asking her to call him Pein…to kissing her with that look in his eyes…Kyo had kept up with a lot of things over the time in the Akatsuki…but it appeared her mind hadn’t quite caught up with that yet. And she was torn as to what she was supposed to do.

“Kyosei…come on. We’re going to have to make some changes; after all, you have the Rinnegan now. Something you neglected to tell me before…”

Without even noticing it Kyo looked down in shame, having never been allowed to keep secrets from Nikushimi. Old habits die hard, when it come down to it, and as Nikushimi reprimanded Kyo for never mentioning it when she had been working with him, she automatically began walking towards him, not even noticing as one of his ninjas brought out some shackles. It felt wrong to be leaving the Akatsuki like this; to just walk away when they had done so much for her—but she had known Nikushimi all her life. He had been the one to imprint her current views and beliefs. And no matter how hard she might have tried, it wasn’t possible for her to just drop and leave that all behind. But the Akatsuki were still in her mind—and so was Pein. As such she quickly brought her hands together in handsigns, making sure the Akatsuki would know as the shackles were placed around her wrists and she was led off.

Pein waited an hour or so before he finally decided to talk to Kyo. He wanted her to have some time to herself—walking away from him and going straight to her room indicated she wanted to be alone, and he himself needed time to think about what he was going to be saying to her—which took a lot longer than he had expected. His attitude had changed regularly towards Kyo when he had first met her, going from casual to aggressive, and he didn’t want that to happen again. He needed to stay calm and say what he needed to, without sounding patronizing or making things any worse than they already were. It was particularly hard getting to grips with the idea of ‘I really liked kissing you but I’m still apologizing for it and I shouldn’t have done it’.

But now he had a vague plan of attack, and waiting until most of the Akatsuki had disappeared into their rooms and wouldn’t be trying to listen to what was going on, Pein had left his room and padded silently down the corridor towards Kyo's. Pausing as he reached the door, he took a deep breath to prepare himself, before gently knocking—something else he had spent time debating. He didn’t want to intrude, but he didn’t want her to just refuse; but politeness had won out, and he waited a while, waiting for her to contemplate whether or not to let him in. But as a few minutes passed and he still got no response, he knocked again, harder this time, and called her name out, catching the attention of some of the others.

But once again he got no response.

Narrowing his eyes in concern, Pein opened the door regardless of what she might be doing, and stepped in, halting in his tracks as he did so. There was no one inside, the window open, and for a moment the idea that Kyo had decided to run away flashed through his head—but he immediately shook it off. Kyo had always been taught to obey authority, and even if she was having a lot of issues, there was no way she would abandon those she was working for. So walking over to the window, Pein peered out, gathering she had just gone for a walk—though what he saw completely disproved that. There were signs of a battle and several people having been involved; Pein double taking as he saw a ripped piece of material on the ground. Walking over, he picked it up, staring down at the symbol emblazoned upon it. The one symbol he had been hoping Kyo would be able to forget—before he clenched it in his fist, certain about one thing.

He wasn’t going to let them take her again.