Title: Missed Opportunity

Author: Fenikkusu Ai

Fandom: Naruto

Characters: Pein, OC, Akatsuki, Itachi

Word Count: 383

Rating: T

Genre: Romance/Humor

Summary: Hinode is in possession of a rare jutsu that the leader of the Akatsuki wants so he captures her. The catch? She must open her heart to the person that she wants to share it with. Pein x OC.

(Kokoro no Setsuzoku) Connection of Hearts- this rare jutsu can only be performed when a powerful love connection is made. It can then be shared with both user and partner.

Hinode couldn't help be disturbed by the man's features as they were face to face. His face was just wrong. He had intentinally disfigured himself with his piercings.

Hinode was distracted by the them as he continued to stared into her soul. She wondered what he could see in it.

But, all Hinode herself could see in front of her was a fight that she could not win.

"Okay," Hinode relented as she winced in pain.

The pressure around her wrist was unrelenting, but at her obvious discomfort, he let her go. Once free, she lurched forward to grab a potato that had rolled away on the floor with a grimace. The juice of the broth was splattered all over the floorboards.

She had barely done any real work in her life. It had not been demanded in her upbringing; she detested it. But she had bigger problems.

"No, Leave that," Pein commanded. "I will send someone in to tidy the room."

He turned his back to her, and suddenly she wanted to know where to direct her ill will. Her anger burned away her fear.

"What is your name?"

The redhead stopped at the door.

"My name is Pein."

Pain?

Seriously.

Okay. That should have been obvious. The man was already pain. A pain in her ass.

Hinode folded her arms and sat back on her bed.

Dick.

Her stomach rumbled in hunger as she silently cursed herself. Her only chance to eat had been wasted.

"There is a mess," Pein reported to his underlings. "Someone here must clean it up."

"Did Hinode-chan throw up?" Tobi asked innocently.

Once more, Tobi was ignored. The others didn't linger too long on wondering how the masked man's brain worked.

"Like hell," Hidan groused. "A maid is what we need."

There was a beat as all members stared at him before regarding Pein.

"Well?" Pein ignored him "Any volunteers?"

All seated at the table knew that they was risking their leader's ire. Even Pein could lose his patience.

The members of the Akatsuki held their breath...

"I will do it." Itachi finally stood up from the chair.

The members of the Akatsuki relaxed in unison. They had yet another opportunity to be lazy.

"Just don't fall in love with her," Kisame joked with a wink. "She's the boss's girl."

Or would be in theory. She wasn't going anywhere. Not for while. Only if it was on a date with Pein.

Still, it didn't matter. Everyone knew that Itachi would be damned near incapable of it. It was as if he carried around his own personal thundercloud.

Hinode probably preferred the sun.