Questionable Loyalty

A/N: Poor Pein, I keep poking fun at him. I can't help it, he just takes himself so damn seriously. XD



CHAPTER 28





For a while after Kakashi left, Pein stared at the closed door in annoyance. First, it was that nosy mutt. And now, his even nosier master. Apparently people were right when they said that dogs and owners resembled each other. His pierced lip curled in distaste at himself for even considering to accept Kakashi’s offer.



The man was arrogant, nosy and a pain in the ass… much like everyone else who worked for him. Come to think about it, he should’ve been used by to it by now. Then again, the rest were also afraid of him, more or less. Kakashi showed no signs of fear – in fact it appeared that he enjoyed trying to push Pein beyond the limits of his patience. He had that in abundance – years of living in squalid conditions had taught him to be patient in order to get his prize but the man was really getting on his nerves, even more so than Hidan usually did. Or Deidara, for that matter.



On the other hand, Kakashi was right about one thing – he was semi-literate. The barebones knowledge on reading and writing he had received from Jiraiya years ago was enough to get by, but he was forced to order all of his subordinates to write their reports in katakana and hiragana alone, without any glyphs. Actually it was Konan who had ordered them that, pretending that she was the one who would read them first and then pass those she deemed important to Pein. She had done that out of loyalty and sheer desire to protect his dignity. Of course, Madara knew the truth and never missed a chance to rub his face in it. It would be good to get one up on that man. That, and it would, indeed, occupy the restless Jounin’s time and hopefully make him a little less insufferable.



It was a late evening when Pein opened the door of Kakashi’s apartment without knocking and walked in as if he owned the place – which he actually did, thought Kakashi with annoyance. He had just been doing sit ups when the man walked in, his shirt long discarded in the corner of the room. They both paused as they stared at each other then Kakashi slowly got back to his feet and grabbed a towel to dry the sweat running down his heated skin. For a moment, Pein’s eyes slid down his muscled chest to his flat stomach, his gaze following a drop of moisture slipping down the Jounin’s flushed skin, then sharply looked up again to the man’s uncovered face.



There was a moment of awkward silence and then Pein drew himself up to his full height and spoke:



“I have decided to accept your offer.” He stated self-importantly.



Kakashi blinked for a moment, thinking ‘That was fast.’



“I can receive you every evening from 6 pm forward. I would be busy with other things before that.”



Kakashi nodded.



“Good. I’ll be there.”



Pein turned on his heel and left without another word.



“Asshole.” Kakashi muttered at the closed door.



On the following day Kakashi left the tower and ventured deep into the city in search for several specific items – namely a textbook and several simple enough books which the Akatsuki leader couldn’t practice his reading skills on. Finding such things wasn’t difficult at all, considering the well-organized Ame education system. However, after browsing through several bookstores, the Jounin reached the conclusion that all textbooks for beginners were made for children. They were bright and colourful and had more pictures than text – most of them being drawings of animals and flowers and all the other things that civilian children loved seeing in their textbooks. Kakashi’s own instruction materials in the Academy had been quite dull and grey in comparison, the subject not lending itself for happy pictures.



In the end, he decided that Pein would simply have to put up with the childish illustrations and picked up a textbook for first grade, along with several children’s books. As he paid them he wasn’t sure if he was to cringe or be amused at the expression he knew the other man would make when he saw them.



As he had suspected, Pein did make a face at the sight of them, raising his strange eyes to Kakashi’s face and saying:



“What is that?”



“The textbook we’ll be using to help your studies.” Kakashi answered cheerfully as he was pulling his chair closer to Pein’s desk. The red-head gingerly opened one of them, holding the cover between two fingers and peering inside.



“It’s for children.” He stated flatly. When Kakashi ignored him, he continued “Do I look like a child to you?”



“You’re talking about your appearance or your personality?” Kakashi asked cheekily, but at the thunderous expression on Pein’s face he said “Alright, alright, I’m sorry. It’s just that those were the only ones I could find. All beginner’s textbooks are written for children.” He pointed the books “And anything above that level would be too difficult for you to read at first.”



“I am a fast learner, Kakashi.” Pein said, but stopped frowning at the books and began to leaf through them curiously. “I didn’t know they sold children’s books in Ame…”



“And I thought you knew everything…” Kakashi muttered, but there was no sting in his words.



“I go down to the village on business, and it happens rarely to begin with. Not to mention that I mostly monitor how the adults follow the policies I’ve set for them. I haven’t had the time to go through each book that is published.”



“How do you know there isn’t any dissent against you then?” Kakashi asked curiously.



“They have no reason to. For a while now, I have largely left them to their own devices.”



“Oh? So before that you did talk to them?”



Pein shook his head and pulled the textbook closer.



“No. I’ve never appeared to the villagers in person, except when I dealt with Hanzou and his lackeys. I’ve always sent another to present me.” He explained.



“I don’t think I’ve seen anyone but you here, ever since I’ve been in the building. Well, and Itachi and Kisame… you didn’t send one of the Akatsuki, did you?”



Pein scoffed.



“Of course not. They have no part in the Ame government. The person I sent down there is dead now.” He said it with a bitter finality that made Kakashi change the subject and say:



“Shall we begin now?”



It turned out that Pein wasn’t bragging when he said that he was a fast learner. He did pick up things very fast, listening and writing intently while Kakashi explained the way each glyph was written, its ways of reading, its complex meaning and the various ways it could be combined with other glyphs in order to create a wholly new word. He corrected the red-head as he wrote them, pointing out mistakes or simply trying to teach him a prettier hand-writing, because his was absolutely dismal.



Finally, when Kakashi finally started yawning and his eyelids began to droop, Pein put a stop to the lesson.



“I think that if we continue, you will keel over my exercise and your drool will make the ink run all over the pages.” The red-head told him with a remarkably straight face.



“Amazing. You grow a sense of humour when you’re tired.” Kakashi muttered sleepily as he got up and began to gather his things. His cramped legs gave out under him for a moment and he swayed dangerously until Pein’s strong hand wrapped itself around his waist for a moment to steady him and keep him in place. Instinctively Kakashi leaned on the strong shoulder for a few seconds before he realized what he was doing and quickly pulled away, feeling distinctly awkward. Pein released him immediately and said:



“It seems you’re more tired than I am, Kakashi.”



“Don’t you ever sleep?” Kakashu asked.



“Rarely.”



The Jounin sighed.



“Whatever. I’ll be going now. Tomorrow at the same time?”



Pein nodded graciously.



“Of course.”