Chapter 9
Konan waits at the hospital loading docks. Behind the steel, key-coded door is Nagato's corpse; stiff and cold in the mortuary; waiting for the undertaker. Except no funeral home is coming to take him tonight. No, instead she's waiting for a jackal to come steal him and the secrets written in ink on his back. She prepares. She remembers. Madara is not an opponent to underestimate. But she'll be damned if she lets him defile Nagato's body.
Finally, her enemy approaches.
"I told you not to come back here." She says, arming herself with daggers.
Madara plants himself twenty yards from the docks. "Get out of my way, woman." He flicks his wrist, expanding his tactical baton to its full length.
So much for negotiation.
Konan rushes him, readying one dagger to pierce and the other to slash. Madara blocks her first attack with his leg. He crosses it with a gloved fist, no doubt steel plated underneath the leather. She blocks before it connects.
His face twists in frustration. "Why betray me now, when we are so close?" His arm pulls back, about to swing. Konan leaps back and slides a throwing knife from her thigh. She shoots it out towards him. Madara dodges. Two left.
"We?" She spits. "You used us."
The knife behind him explodes, force pushing Madara forward and off-balance. She takes the opportunity, bounding forward with her dagger. He bends backwards just as she makes her cut. Blood trickles down the left side of his face, forcing him to close that eye. Madara's baton connects with her kneecap. Pain splinters through her leg and she bites down. Retreats. He comes quick on her heels, preparing another swing at her affected knee. She kicks him back with her good leg. He coughs and reels, then catches his breath. Konan moves into a defensive stance.
"Akatsuki is over." She says. "It was over when Nagato died. Yahiko–"
He cackles. "Yahiko?! Is THAT who you think started Akatsuki? You really are clueless." Her blank face only encourages him to continue ranting. "I'm the one who told Yahiko to start Akatsuki. I'm the one who sent Nagato to the Uzumaki horishi. You think his secrets belong to him?! I'm merely taking back what I'm owed."
The man is out of his mind. Konan can't expect him to have a rational conversation. But he stirs her rage, inherited from Nagato, and she yells back at him.
"Do you even care about peace?!"
She strikes at him. Madara blocks, whipping his baton at her. It catches her in the ribs.
"Peace?!" He bellows. "Peace only comes at the expense of war." He moves to hit her again, but she rolls out of the way. "Nagato understood this."
She heaves. "Nagato… is the bridge to peace." Repeating an old mantra. "I won't let you interfere with his final decisions."
Konan flings another exploding knife at him, forcing him towards a corner dumpster. She reaches inside her pocket and pushes a button that's connected to the bomb she planted inside. It goes off just in time. She holds her arm up to shield herself from shrapnel; feeling bits of metal ricochet off the concrete. As the smoke clears, a feeling of relief sets in.
But relief is cut short as a sharp pain blasts through her liver. Her lungs seize as she coughs up something wet.
"H-how?!" She asks, blood spilling down her lips. Madara's ragged breath beats in her ear. One hand on the knife in her back; the other wrapped around her neck.
"Do you understand the playing field now?"
Konan's hand moves to guard her side, unsuccessful at easing the pain. With her other hand, she finds her dagger and plunges it into Madara's thigh. He curses at her, tightening the grip on her throat. It's okay. She's still got her last knife-bomb. She'll just have to drag him to hell with her. But before she can slide it out of the pouch, Konan slams on the pavement, pushed out of the way by someone else. She rolls, the pain of Madara's attack spreading through her core. Her eyes shut tightly, trying to fight the injury from entering her brain. Whoever just interfered stopped her from the killing blow. Whoever it is, is Madara's ally. It wouldn't be one of hers because she doesn't have any more allies.
Konan prepares for death.
Instead, she hears the smack of metal on flesh and delicate Uchiha bones shattering. Someone else who wants to see Madara dead. They pummel him again and again, never letting up, never letting him speak. She finds the will to open her eyes to see who it is. Akatsuki colors and a massive shadow. It can only be Kisame. Didn't Kisame hate her? Didn't he say he wanted to kill her? Perhaps he's gone mad too. Perhaps she's next.
But she won't know because Konan loses consciousness while Kisame beats Madara with armored, heavy fists. She enjoys the wonderful silence that comes with the coiling darkness. If Kisame kills her, at least she will be at peace.