Rain To Wash The Blood Away (Nagato x reader)

29. Gone

Your eyes fluttered open, looking up at the bright blue sky as birds chirped loudly in the surrounding trees. This left you confused, making you wonder how you had gotten out there. You were laying on the ground, using your Akatsuki cloak as a blanket. Sitting up, you looked around, finding your surroundings to be familiar. The trees which you lay in between were ones you knew you had seen before, but the question was, why you were out there?

Standing, you put your cloak on, looking around for any clue. It was then that you had remembered spending the night in the tree with Nagato, falling asleep after spouting things you hoped not to fall upon his ears. Giving your surroundings another look, you realised exactly where you were. You were exactly where you had fallen asleep, except there was no tree. The place you had visited every day to see Nagato was gone, leaving only a faint circle of dying grass where the paper tree once stood.

It looked like Nagato had completely disappeared, making you wonder where he had gone. He had mentioned nothing about leaving and you hoped that if he had gone somewhere that he would have at least told you. Not having any other clue as to where to go, you decided it would be best to go back to the base and check it out. Immediately, you started running there, arriving soon after.

The base was the same as always, being quiet due to the absence of all of the members. It even seemed that Tobi had gone somewhere since you hadn't seen him for a few days. The base became a void of sound.

Deidara wasn't yelling at Tobi, Sasori wasn't complaining about people taking too long, Hidan wasn't harassing Kakuzu, nor was Kisame laughing at the conflicts the other members had. It was dead quiet, reminding you that no one was there anymore. But despite that, you needed to check anyway.

Running around the base, you checked all the rooms you thought they might be in. Maybe Konan was resting in her room and Nagato was in Pein's office. But when you checked Konan's room, no one was there. The same went for the office, it was empty.

After not finding anyone, you heaved a devastated sigh, falling back onto one of the couches in the living area. Usually, you would have Itachi reading with Kisame next to him. Kakuzu would count his money at one of the tables while Hidan would hover over his shoulder, trying to get him to mess up his counting. Deidara would chase Tobi around the room, only stopping when he used you or someone else as a shield. You chuckled quietly remembering those times, you quite liked them.

It reminded you of the old Akatsuki, the original group. It was bigger with more members but they were all so amazing, you were grateful that you got the chance to work with them. But now you imaged that they were all dead, long gone and forgotten after this new era of the Akatsuki. Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a voice you don't think you had ever heard.

"Looking for Pein and Konan?" it asked in a dry tone. You turned in the direction of the speaker, meeting eyes with Zetsu. It was rare to see him since he only really spoke to Pein and Konan so you had never gotten the chance to see him. Despite him being there, it was only the top of his body that you could see, his venus fly trap-like head protruding from the ground.

"Uh, yes?" you answered after coming to terms with the idea of talking with Zetsu. It stared at you, unblinking, the look at gave you making shivers travel down your spine.

"I thought if anyone knew, it would be you," it commented, this voice sounding different from the other. His appearance made a little more sense to you after hearing that, one side of him was black and the other was white, making you guess that he was two people sharing one body. Thinking over his words, you shook your head.

"I guess so, but they didn't tell me anything," you told him, Zetsu sensing your confusion and finding pleasure in it.

"Well, we know where they are." Those words made you straighten up, putting all of your attention on the plant man.

"Really? Please tell me," you begged, your desperation taking over your reason. They chuckled menacingly before disappearing into the floor. A frown made its way onto your face, making you feel defeated. There was no way Zetsu would tell you, he was a weird person, not that you were sure if he actually was one.

"Konoha," Zetsu snickered. You glanced in the direction of the voice, watching as Zetsu disappeared again into the wall. Hearing and processing what he said, your eyes widened.

"They went after the nine-tails," you thought aloud. Zetsu snickered, his head now protruding from the ceiling.

"Well, what are you gonna do? There's no one to take care of here, you can't play housewife anymore," it mocked. But Zetsu was left without an answer, your body moving on its own. Sprinting to the exit, you left the hideout, running in the direction of Konohagakure.

You had spoken to Nagato early yesterday evening before he had fallen asleep, him telling you about their progress in their mission to capture and extract all nine of the tailed beasts. So far they had all of them except for eight and nine tails, the other seven already in the Akatsuki's possession. It was reassuring, proving just how strong they all were. But now it was just Pein and Konan, the rest of the Akatsuki not being able to provide help. The other members had died or completely disappeared with the exception of Kisame and Itachi.

Knowing this made you worry. You knew that Nagato was strong, but was he strong enough to do this?

We all know what's coming, but don't fear, the story will continue. (Y/n) still has some life in her. Thank you for reading :)