Oneshot: Decomposition:
Disclaimer/Warning! This Fanfic contains references to Cannibilism, kidnap and murder. The Author shares none of these views, and deplores them as evil, but fitting the character of Zetsu rather well! Read ahead at your own risk!
A/N:
My first One-Shot! This is the first in a series of Oneshots about the members of Akatsuki and the seven sins (Yes I know some will overlap.) It should be fairly obvious to see the main sin Zetsu is guilty of in this fic, and there is a second slightly less obvious one. I also discovered whilst writing this how much I like Zetsu as a character, making me glad he's still alive, even if he's done bugger all for quite a while.
All animals are born from the earth – and all will eventually return. That was fact. Men were animals, part of nature, but yet stood apart – saw themselves as more.
Zetsu spared a glance to the quivering hunk of meat at its feet. Not quite dead – that was good. Zetsu preferred its prey alive – fresh. One arm reached out, grabbed a shirt stained with the blood of others. The man howled, mindless fear, and beat at Zetsu's arm ineffectually. Zetsu watched him struggle for a moment, and smiled with two half-pairs of lips.
"Fear produces adrenaline. Adrenaline flavours the meat. You will be delicious." Its second voice finished for him, and a thick tongue licked both half-pairs of lips, as two separate smiles broke out across Zetsu's face. Its prey whimpered, and released his bowels.
Yes… men were truly animals. Once you stripped away their preconceptions, their deluded grandeur, they were as bestial as any other. Zetsu felt half of itself secreting a chemical, and used its free hand to collect the thick, viscous, scarlet liquid. The man screamed even louder, screeched and struggled to extricate himself from Zetsu's grip. Bone creaked and groaned where he wrenched at his shoulder, before he dislocated his arm with a sickening pop.
Before he could damage himself further, Zetsu traced a line under his nostrils, leaving a trail of chemicals. Wide, frightened eyes stared into one glassy, impassive eye and one fixed with a predatory gleam.
"We cannot have you damage yourself – not before we eat," it said. "Sleep now." The man shook his head, mouthing "no, no, no…" but fell limp. Zetsu half-glared at the man – he would not be perfect anymore; his arm was now ruined. With little more than a shrug he tore it from the man's body, and spread a different chemical over the wound. He would regrow his arm, in time for the feast. Zetsu lifted its prey's previous arm to its face – studied the size and shape of the muscle; the lack of scars – indicative of a life of luxury; the soft texture of his palm, opposed to the rough calluses it was used to. It tore a chunk from the arm, tasted, savoured, chewed then swallowed. Magnificent… He even tasted like royalty – rich and juicy, compared to the battered fare it was used to. No… this one would be a feast. Slinging him over one shoulder, along with other choice morsels, it took one look around the room that had once been a prince's bedroom, and then sank into the earth, consuming the rest of the prince's former arm.
--
When its meal awoke, he looked around, confused, at his bamboo-stalk prison, before squawking with fright, and dropping both hands to cover his nudity.
"Men are so foolish… all other animals are naked," "it is natural" – but only man feels shame at his nudity." Harsh, grating laughter from its other half. "How amusing." Zetsu turned from its cook-pot.
"Let me go! My father… he will give you anything! Riches, land… food…" How pathetic. As if it would give up such a feast in lieu of lesser fare.
"We have no need of money." "Or land. And you, prince, are our food." Zetsu grinned, before dipping a ladle into its cook-pot and taking a sip. "Ah, delicious."
"You monster! Where are the others!?" The prince screamed, and gestured, before recoiling, his newly formed stump of an arm disgusting him.
"They are elsewhere. You need not worry about them." He dipped the ladle, filled a bowl, and shuffled towards the former prince, as he tried to recoil against the wall.
"Stay away! Don't come near me!" Zetsu thrust the bowl through the gap between bars.
"Eat." His prey struck at the bowl instead, sending its contents spilling into the earthen floor. Zetsu glanced down at the spilled broth, and knelt, soaking the sleeve of his Akatsuki robe in it before it sank into the earth. He brought it up to the lips of his black half, and sucked at it – dirt and all, before sighing in pleasure, smacking half a pair of lips.
"You pig," Zetsu said to itself, one sharp eye creasing in disapproval. "We do not waste food," it replied, and a pitch half-pair of lips smiled. It took the discarded bowl, and shuffled back to the cook-pot, and refilled it.
"Eat." It repeated, and shuffled back towards its meal.
"Go away!" the man screamed, eyes bright with fear. Zetsu regarded him; saw hairs standing on end; skin turning pale.
"Eat." "You require sustenance." Pale-skinned Zetsu frowned. Men were so proud… he would rather die than be fed.
He thrust the bowl through the bars of the cage, and glared at the terrified man.
"N-no… Y-you'll eat me!" Zetsu blinked.
"Of course we will. Do all cattle bray so much when they are led to the butcher's?"
"I am n-not cattle!" the man screamed.
"You are prey." "We are a predator. It is natural."
But the man just squealed and cried, backed away from Zetsu. He was going to be difficult. But Zetsu had dealt with people like this before.
"Do you want to save the others?" the man hesitated.
"Before we eat you, you will fight us." "If you win, we will let you and the others go. If you do not eat, you cannot hope to win." Would pride take hold? The foolish pride men labelled as hope?
Tentatively, the man reached out an arm, and took the bowl, before looking at Zetsu questioningly.
"There is no spoon," Zetsu said, as if that solved everything, before moving back to its cook-pot, and stirring, adding a half-pinch of something from a pouch on his belt. He took another sip, and his pitch-black half sighed with pleasure. It heard noisy slurping behind it, and smiled. Animal.
--
There are those in every animal species that eat their own. For some it is out of necessity, for others it simply is.
Zetsu grabbed the re-grown arm of his captive, tested it. It was soft, very much so. It had made certain that its captive enjoyed luxuries: soft baths, comfortable sleep, everything to keep it as perfect as he had first been - physically, at least. Mentally, he had long since given up on dignity. He pretended to pretend to submit, but in all truth, had given himself up the moment he accepted food other than Zetsu's broth. It had been less than a week, but he had demanded dishes that would have been commonplace in his previous life. Zetsu had obliged, to a point. After all, it would only make him taste better in the end.
"It is time," half of it said "Finally. This was taking us too long – we should have eaten him at once." The softly spoken half of Zetsu ignored the other half. It was a connoisseur, and everything had to be perfect.
Their prey was waiting for them to finish their inspection, a grin on his face. The fool did not understand that he had not become stronger – but simply fatter.
"Where are the others, the others you took? I want them to see me kill you, monster." Swaggering arrogance – a feature of humans. He still did not see.
"You may still fight me, prey – but there would be no point." The grin froze, disappeared.
"What do you mean? Are you going back on your word?" The pitch-black half of Zetsu laughed.
"Imbecile! There are none left! We ate them all!" Half of Zetsu's lips split wide apart – a snarling smile, and it nodded. "What do you think was in your meals? 'Roasted pheasants', 'Honey-suckled Boar'… We do not give those delicacies away. They were made from your friends." A second grin to match the first. "The only food you had which was not made from humans was the broth we first offered you." The prince's face dropped – disgust, horror, plastered across his face. Delicious emotions – so passionate! "Ah, but you see, prey, we were right. Human meat is the most delicious."
"You… you…" he struggled to form words, reduced to animal moans.
"Who is the monster?" Zetsu shifted forwards, and the jaws that enclosed it began to open. "Why fight back? This is nature." The creature that was once a man that was once a prince looked at him, mute horror layered over his face, making him seem as an animal.
"What a feast," Zetsu's ivory-skinned half said, and a pair of hands reached down to grip the slack limbs of its prey. It no longer resisted, resigned to its fate. It would pain him even more to live now… Zetsu saw in his hollow eyes the reflection of a gaping maw, all the way until it closed.
Afterwards, as he lay content, Zetsu chuckled to itself. "Delicious. You are truly a gourmet." It picked at its teeth – they needed to be kept pristine, for its next meal.
"And you are a Glutton." Snapped down on a bone, sucked out the marrow. It was sweet.
"A girl, we shall get a girl next time. Do you think she shall taste as good?"
"Perhaps. There is only one way to find out." Two half-pairs of lips smiled, and Zetsu sank into the earth once more.
A/N: Yeah, it's weird, most likely disturbing, but I thought it fit my ideal Zetsu to a tee - with the two seperate, contrasting halves (Glutton and Gourmet, Vulgar and Polite, etc.), and his view of the world. I would have delved even deeper into a semi-philosophical musing about Nature and Mankind's relation to it, but I think I'll save that idea for another fic.
As always, Reviews are appreciated - especially with such a strange character as Zetsu.
Next One-Shot will probably be dealing with Sasori or Kakuzu.