Pein x Konan, why can't I quit you? :P

[finnimbrun]

Title: Sōtērion
Author: hieronymousb / finnimbrun
Characters/Pairing: Pein x Konan ♥ [with guest appearances by a few others]
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: R (M), for pretentious and vaguely described literary kinda sexin'.
Summary: A study in faith and transience, in which you define life by its constants, and the present is built on the grave of the evanescent past. What

Comments

[kalliel]

I was going to offer up different comments than the mini-squee I gave you over IM, but uh.

I STILL REALLY LIKE THIS LINE: "He's like that, really. Lost in the background noise. On a different plane from everyone else, you could say. Fascinated by a reality no one else can see."

It's such a lovely description of Pein's character. It comes across as this kind of strange, lost, vulnerability, and yet it also feels like he's on an entirely different plane of existence, which mirrors the continuing conversation between what parts of them are human, and what parts have become something else entirely.

I liked the bit with the moth at the end of the first part, too. It's not a novel image, but it still stands separate from the others, with the "like it must have wanted".

I liked the relationship you set up between Pein and Konan and the Akatsuki members they recruit--or rather, Sasori and Orochimaru, here. Mostly I think of them as seeing their members as things that must be endured rather than welcome company (even if not in Akatsuki crack!land). But I think they can see those people as abstract concepts and ideas--Sasori as someone who also clings to that last vestige of humanity via what now passes for his body--just as the rest of the world likely sees them. That is, what corners of the world ever see them. And then on the other side, there's Orochimaru, who essentially takes the directly opposite approach, with opposite motivations, in aspiring to the same ends.

Your description of Orochimaru makes him sound like the most despicable, grimy thing ever to grace the planet, especially considering how they suckered them into working under them--the irresistible lure of power. It makes me wonder if he ever realized for whom he was working, beyond that one first look. Seeing as I doubt he saw them in any great capacity after the initial recruitment, I'm guessing not, but I can only imagine how very pathetic that would make him feel. XP

The garden scene was sad for a multitude of reasons. Maybe it's just an odd thing for today, I don't know; but all two lines of Deidara in this story gave me massive amounts of grief over his death.

More central are Pein's disbelief in the garden's gradual disintegration, no matter what care he took or what protections he gave it, and the grave site that is kept there. That they have a tangible reminder of that past, along with that memories they care with them, was touching.

And probably my second favorite quote in the entire fic:
"Amegakure is where he has lived and died. Amegakure is his corpse and his beating heart. Amegakure cries his tears and bleeds his blood down into the gutters, washed down by the storms. The architecture frames his bones and the wind is his voice."

Heheheh, a review of nigh unheard-of timeliness!

[hieronymousb]

So now you've written Itachi going through the candy shop and I've written Pein sitting around holding :Flowers. WE R SO AWESUM IN THIS FANDOM. At least Itachi in the candy shop has, you know, a canon basis, though. XD; I HAVE NO EXCUSE FOR MY :FAIL.