Obito was in his room lying on the bed when he felt a freezing sensation run up his spine making him sit up. He saw Renai fall from above, he saw her when she passed the floor he was in; with his Sharingan, he saw the minute details that would have been impossible to be seen by anyone else.

He knew he should have panicked and rushed to see what happened, but he also knew it would be for vain. Sure, his Kamui would be very useful in this situation to save her, but... does he want to?

Things like these no longer affected him the way they should. The only thing that it did was remind him of a situation similar to this one. "How long ago was it?" he mused looking at the ceiling, "Two...three years maybe." He stretched his legs and flexed his fingers, "I never thought I would miss how she felt being pressed against my body." he fell back on the pillows closing his eyes and succumbing to slumber.

***

He waited in the shadows, hidden behind the canopy of the dense forest until she completed her mission. Konan went solo on this extortion mission. It was the kind of lack-luster jobs that were lately becoming a regular for the shady organization that the Akatsuki was now becoming. She didn't like to see the name that once represented Yahiko's strong will and Nagato's gentle heart become tainted with the truth and rumors that were spreading among the people now. But there weren't many places where her opinions mattered when it came to making decisions about Akatsuki anymore. Madara had complete control over Nagato, and his ambitions were part of the game.

She wasn't even least bit exhausted from the downright boring mission. Nagato is now giving her the easiest of the tasks since getting more recruits. She knows that its only because he was so protective of her. It was something that showed that a part of him was still the same, a scared little kid. He lost so much, he couldn't lose her too. But now, it is getting a little over-board. She is a strong woman capable of more than just C rank missions. She deserves better jobs.

He smirked seeing how well she hid her exploding emotions and maintained a neutral façade when she sensed him nearby. She was so sharp; it made him cautious of her. It would have been better for him if she too died that day alongside Yahiko. He even planned so many ways to get rid of her since that day. But each time he failed. And each time, he was intrigued.

***

Shikamaru paced around his office on the intel and interrogation department in the Hokage building trying to decipher the coded message his childhood friend and ex-teammate sent him before going MIA. Ino found something in Amegakure during her undercover mission to spy on the Akatsuki. The Yamanaka girl took it to heart when she found out that her first love, the Uchiha prodigy, has joined the terrorist organization that now controls half of the world and that they had also taken her best friend/rival as a prisoner.

Shikamaru remembers how hard she took it knowing that her bubblegum haired cherry-blossom was a prisoner to the most terrible people who had ever walked on earth. She blamed herself everyday for not going to Sakura's aid after the battle of Tanaka Bridge. Sakura stayed behind to help the injured and Ino got fed up with all the praises the pinkette got for her lifetime achievement of unleashing the Byakugo seal at the young age of sixteen years. She was compared with her mentor, the slug princess Tsunade, in both strength and medical knowledge. Ino Yamanaka, at first appreciated the sheer will her ex-friend showed and admired her determination, but the evergrowing fear of getting behind from her rival reached its limit that night.

A small battalion of Zetsu clones with Itachi Uchiha as their leader attacked their campsite at the dead of the night. The sheer lacking force they had led to Konoha's defeat and loss of many soldiers and medic-nins at that time. Ino had the chance to go to help Sakura who was going against the Uchiha alone, but she instead chose to help the nurses to get the patients to safety. She found her efforts to do so in vain when the enemy forces suddenly started backing out and soon left. She felt proud at that moment but her happiness was short-lived as later the news of Sakura's disappearance came to her. She got what she wanted, to be recognized as someone who can lead the medical unit just as well as Sakura. But at the price of losing the one, she loved so ardently. She never even got to tell Sakura that in all those years she spent belittling her and fighting with her, she unknowing fell for the bubblegum-haired kunoichi. And only when she was taken away did Ino realize what a huge mistake she made by never confessing her feelings to Sakura.

"Now, even Ino is missing." Shikamaru's fist hit the wooden desk, "Why do I keep losing more friends?" Droplets of tears hit the wooden texture of the table flowing down the face of the black-haired genius hunched over the blood-stained open scroll with the secret symbol of Team Asuma on the upper right-hand corner which works as a secret trick to save the information from anyone outside of the current Ino-Shika-Cho formation squad.

***

Konan took her keys from the motels reception desk and went to her room. She kept her things on the bed and took out the storage scroll containing her clothes and other accessories. She wanted to get the smell of that hideous mob-boss and his shit-ass den off her as soon as possible. She double-checked the locks and windows to make sure they were close and nobody could sneak on her while she's in the shower. She placed a little-more-than-necessary protection seals just in case. She knew the person who was following her in the woods. She could recognize that aura anywhere no matter how hard he tried to mask it. It was so distinct, the chill in her spine every time she's around him.

Keeping her sensory chakra active and Jutsu ready, she looked around the room once more and then picked up her towel and robe and went to the bath.

He stepped into the room and heard the sound of the shower running and reveled in the scent of lavender thick in the air. This was a perfect chance for him, like all the ones before. His poison clad weapon ready in hand as he focused on the sound of the movements made by the blue-haired woman inside the bathroom. He was here to complete the job he should have done years ago. Now was the perfect chance like any other. He could kill her and leave her naked body in that very mob-den she was sent here to eradicate. Nagato wouldn't notice his masterful handiwork when he makes it look like she was killed after getting caught and raped repeatedly by the gang that was active here. It would ensure that there would be no one who would distract his pawn from his game or come in his way to ruin his plan to make the world fall asleep in a never-ending slumber.

What is he waiting for then?

He heard the showering water stop and wet footsteps echo on the damp walls. He heard the rustle of fabric as Konan dried her body and wrapped the towel around her form. He heard the silent sound of her hand holding the door-handle, the soft hitch of breath when she pulled on it and the slight sound the bolts made when the door opened. His grip on the blade tightened. And then, he saw her.