iv. Confrontation

(In which Pain has questions and Obito has answers. Sort of.)

Some might describe Slytherin common room as dark and eerie, but after living in a cave with Madara for so long, Tobi found it rather warm and inviting. Satin pillows were piled onto velvet and leather chairs, and antique wooden tables held lamps and artefacts that were no doubt precious heirlooms. Dark and eerie aside, no one could deny it was very lavish.

And hey, it was heated. Common room: 1, dusty old cave: 0.

No one was ready to go to bed after the welcoming feast, even with their first day of school looming ahead of them. There was too much to catching up to do, too many stories to tell, too much gossip to pass around. So while while most of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were wisely turning in for the night, Slytherin was still going strong. (Gryffindor of course, was another story entirely.)

The Malfoy boy was harassing younger students, while two enormous, dull-witted boys stood behind him snickering and providing backup. Not that Malfoy seemed to need backup in the least; the Prefect badge pinned to his brand new robes (and possibly the mention of his surname,) seemed to be enough to scare the first years into submission. Deidara was watching this happen with mild interest, while he fiddled with a quill in an attempt to keep his now mouthless hands busy.

Nearby, Kakuzu was reading a newspaper he had borrowed it from a boy named Blaise. The boy apparently knew something about investing, as Kakuzu was listening intently as Blaise was pointing out different stocks and explaining the market trends of the wizarding world. Hidan was lounging nearby, complaining about how boring this all was, and how Kakuzu didn't have any money here to invest in the first place. The complaints only died down once Kakuzu threatened to make Hidan shut up if Hidan didn't hurry up and do it on his own. Blaise, Hidan noted, had a disparaging look on par with Kakuzu's.

Obito was, well... being Tobi. He was innately more social than the other three, and had already won over a handful of the less stoic Slytherins. He was sitting with a gangly sixth year who was explaining Quidditch to him when he got the message.

'Meet me in the entrance hall.'

Pain. Short and sweet as always. Obito took a minute to let the boy he was talking to finish his sentence before excusing himself and heading for the exit.

His line to the door didn't go unnoticed by the others. Deidara grabbed his arm as he passed, stopping him in his tracks.

"Just where you think you're going, un?"

They were subtle about it, as ninja should be, but Hidan and Kakuzu were paying keen attention to the interaction. Obito pretended he didn't notice them, and answered Deidara with casual ease.

"Leader wants to talk to me alone. Romantic, right?"

Tobi smiled. Deidara sneered. There was a moment of tension, before Deidara loosened his grip and allowed Tobi to pull free. As much as he didn't trust Tobi, it was an order from the Leader, and even if that meant letting Tobi run free and unsupervised in the castle it wasn't Deidara's place to judge.

"I wont be gone long, don't worry. Don't bother asking me to tell you about it when I get back though, I'm not the kind of girl to kiss and tell." And with a saucy wink and a kiss blown right to Deidara, Tobi was gone.

Hogwarts was a maze among mazes, but Obito was a shinobi, and tracing his way back to the entrance hall was no problem at all. Sure enough when he arrived, Konan and Nagato were already there waiting for them.

"And what about dear, sweet Yahiko?" Obito strolled into the scene, commenting on the lack of the Akatsuki's original leader.

"I'm here." Arriving just in time, Yahiko stepped out from behind a tapestry and joined Konan and Nagato where they stood, completing their trio.

Obito smiled, pulling the scars on his face tight. "How nostalgic. It's been a long time since all four of us had a secret meeting like this." Judging by their faces, none of the orphans found it quite as amusing as Obito did.

Nagato's gaze met Obito's, stern and unwavering. "Do you have anything to say?"

An open ended question like that... all it could mean was that the orphan trio had nothing on Obito, and were hoping he'd slip up and give them something to work with. Fat chance of that happening.

"You're the one who called me out here. I assumed that meant you had something you wanted to tell me," responded Obito, turning the question on its head with practiced ease.

"Did you have anything to do with this?"

"No." For once, Obito's answer was completely honest. He had nothing to do with the situation they were in at all, at least that he knew of.

Unsurprisingly, not all were convinced. "I don't trust you," stated Yahiko, taking a step forward. Konan looked mildly disapproving, but said nothing.

"You never did, did you?," was Obito's even reply. "But you have no choice now, Konan and Nagato here have been working together with me for years. I'm good on my word, they can both tell you that. Right?"

Yahiko looked to Konan and Nagato, but both of them remained impassive to Obito's words.

"Then you don't know anything about this."

"Nothing." Yahiko didn't look convinced, so Obito elaborated. "It's in my interests to return home as soon as possible as well. I have nothing to gain by being here, but at the same time I'm not going to waste this opportunity to learn new things. If we're to learn something that would help us to seal the remaining tailed beasts easier, then it would make this whole thing worthwhile. Don't you think?"

Yahiko wasn't buying a word Obito said. He was about to say as much when Nagato spoke.

"I agree."

Yahiko frowned, but Nagato continued. "The magic in this school is an untapped source of power, and we will explore it. If you find anything useful, you will report it to me." That was Nagato's way of saying he had decided to trust Obito, at least for now.

"Of course," responded Obito with a nod.

Now that the other side had laid down their cards, Obito decided to play a few of his own. "Since we're here, I had something to tell you as well. I was going to wait a bit longer, but with Zetsu gone now is as good as ever. I said I would join the Akatsuki officially when the time was right, so as of now I'm taking my position."

It wasn't a request; it was a statement of fact. Both Nagato and Konan understood this well.

"Fine," was Nagato's reply.

Obito allowed himself a hint of a smile. "Take care of me. Or should I say, take care of Tobi. I think we're done for the night, so I'll take my leave. Bye bye, Leader." With that final sarcastic goodbye, Obito allowed himself to be sucked in his right eye's vortex and disappeared from sight.

Yahiko turned to Nagato and Konan, now allowing himself to fully express his hesitance now that the enemy was gone. "I can't believe you're working with him..."

"Things happened after you died," said Konan, her face an unreadable mask, even to the two people who had known her longest. "A lot of things. But right now we both want the same things... As long as our goals remain the same as his, we can rely on him."