Hey guys! Ok, so the last chapter was more of a filler chapter...and this one is too...but the battle with Taidana is in the next chapter! This chapter, though, provides needed insight into Tobi, Zetsu and Yinasni's backgrounds (or at least in my opinion).
So read, review, and enjoy! :D
This chapter is dedicated to rainclawwarriorcat, who wrote an awesome yaoi fanfic for me called "Merry Christmas, teme!" Go! Read it after you are done reading this! But only if you like yaoi. Like me. Yeah.
Sorry if this is too angsty for you…I was in an angsty mood. Hehe…
Flashbacks and thoughts=italicized. So, basically, that means more than half of this chapter...
ATTENTION: Before reading this, go to Youtube and look up "Your Dying Heart" by Adrian von Ziegler. Let it play while you read. Put it on repeat if you must! The piece just fits with the overall mood of the chapter (or at least in my opinion).
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...Got it? Good. Now read.
Edited: May 19, 2012
Tobi walked away from the Erito compound, his hands shoved in his pockets. Darn Yinasni and that stupid genjutsu...why did she have to be a genjutsu prodigy? And how on earth was he best friends with her? She was the princess, the next-in-line for the position of Kuraikage...and what was he? Nothing but an orphaned boy who was hated by everyone for no apparent reason. He laughed bitterly at the irony.
You know the reason, a voice in his head growled.
I don't need your input right now, thank you very much, he thought.
Aw, I thought you liked it when I talked to you, the voice jeered.
Now is not the time, he shot back. Thankfully, the voice decided not to send back a snarky comment.
Tobi mentally sighed. He really did not want to deal with his other half right now. He rubbed his temples in frustration as he headed back to his apartment.
As soon as he arrived, he sighed out loud. His door had been graffitied. Again. This time the words "Demon-child" were sprawled across it in bright orange paint. He felt his anger flare up slightly before he took a deep breath, calmed down, and walked inside.
Thankfully they had not trashed the inside. He let out a breath of relief that he hadn't realized that he'd been holding in.
Not concerning himself with dinner, Tobi headed to his bedroom and flopped down on his futon, feeling utterly exhausted. He didn't even bother to change out of his sweaty clothes before he fell into a deep sleep.
"Mommy!" a three year-old Tobi cried, running with delight toward his mother.
Laughing, she picked him up and swung him around, her green eyes sparkling. "There's my Tobi! Who's a good boy?"
"Tobi is a good boy!" he proclaimed loudly, hugging her.
The scene changed. Tobi was now standing with his face pressed up against a metal fence. His father was right next to him, screaming and crying. It was the first time that Tobi had ever seen him cry.
"Mommy!" Tobi shouted in horror. "Stop hurting mommy!" he yelled to the shinobi surrounding her.
His father Gyakutai yelled, "Tsuki! Goddammit...STOP HURTING MY WIFE, YOU BASTARDS!"
"People of Kagushi," a messenger said, blatantly ignoring the two weeping people in the front, "Fuyo Tsuki has been found guilty of participating in a plot against the Kuraikage, and is sentenced to death..."
"NOOOOO!" Tobi screamed his little lungs out in sorrow as he beat the fence with his fists. "NO NO NO NO NO!"
Tsuki gave a weak laugh as the shinobi around her beat her bloody and bruised. "I have no regrets! None at all. None at all..."
She looked Tobi in the eye. "Tobi...mommy loves you," she whispered as the shinobi to her left raised a katana above her head.
"MOMMY!"
Tobi bolted upright, sweat and tears mixing together and pouring down his face. "Mommy..." He let out a small whimper. The nightmares had returned, and they were more vivid than ever.
He took a minute to calm himself down. Deep breaths, in and out...in and out...in and out...slowly the shaking stopped. He hugged himself and went back to sleep.
Zetsu had split himself again. The Shizen clan elders clapped politely and nodded in approval as his black and white halves separated themselves from each other.
He sighed to himself in exasperation. It may look like it was done effortlessly, but he absolutely hated it.
Zetsu was walking in the greenhouse, smelling the flowers as he went. A smile was on his normally emotionless face. He nodded in recognition when he saw the gardener passing him.
Suddenly he collapsed. He began to dry-heave, and his body felt like it was being torn in two. What's going on? he thought frantically as the gardener freaked out and called for help.
Need...to be...FREE! someone answered in his mind.
No...he pleaded. Please don't, please don't, please don't...
No sooner than his father and the clan elders arrived that he began to split in two. Every nerve felt like it was being stretched to breaking point. Waves of pain rolled through his body like a tsunami as tears poured down his face. His mouth was open in a silent scream as slowly but surely, his black and white halves separated themselves.
His white half collapsed on the ground, utterly exhausted. He panted, drawing in desperate breaths through his half-mouth as the elders gaped and murmured.
His black half, however, immediately stood up. He wobbled a bit, balanced only on one leg, but he managed to steady himself before speaking in a gravelly voice. "It's me."
Shizen Kusa, Zetsu's father and the clan head, took a hesitant step forward. "Kuro?" he whispered in shock.
"Well what do you think I am, a chrysanthemum?" he snarled. "But yeah, it is me."
"Kuro! It is you!" Kusa exclaimed, rushing to hug him.
Kuro hopped back. "Whoa whoa. No hugs. Look, I just need some time to stretch, be myself. But I need to merge with Shiro again soon, cuz I'm still a bit weak."
One of the newer elders looked at Kusa. "Who's Shiro? And who is this?"
Another elder elbowed him in the ribs. "Idiot! Weren't you debriefed on this?" She pointed at the black half and then at the white half of Zetsu. "That's Kuro and that's Shiro. Together they are Zetsu."
"But why-"
"I'll explain the rest to you later." She walked off, muttering something about newbies.
Kusa ignored them and put a hand around Kuro's shoulder. "Come, my son. We have much to discuss."
"Yes, father." With Kusa's assistance, he hopped to the door, pausing to sneer down at Shiro. Shiro could only look up at him with wide eyes, unable to speak.
Finally the time came for him to merge with Kuro, but there was one little problem.
He didn't know how.
But, Kuro didn't know either. So that consoled Shiro a little bit. But the half-body was proving difficult to manage, and he was still in a lot of pain. Of course, he didn't know if Kuro was experiencing the same pain that he was.
Eventually he figured it out. All he had to do was touch his half with Kuro's and they would merge together again.*
Into Zetsu.
Into his father's weapon.
Yinasni tossed and turned on her futon, trying to fall asleep. Her attempts to find a comfortable position in which to sleep failed miserably. She eventually settled for lying on her back, staring at the ceiling.
Yinasni found that this was a bad idea as well. She had taped a picture of Tobi and herself on the ceiling above her bed, for reasons that escaped her at the moment. Tobi had some food stuck in his teeth-his mask had been off for the day as the result of a dare-and Yinasni looked like she was in the middle of a sneeze.
"Say cheese!"
"Why 'cheese'? Why not 'bees' or something like that?"
"Tobi! Shut up and smile!" Jab.
"Ow! That hurt, Yin!"
"Smile. NOW!"
"Oh uh...cheese!"
"Wahchoo!"
"Yin, you sneezed!"
"No duh." Sniff.
"Here's your photo. Have a nice day!"
"Look at this! You have food in your teeth! Gross!"
"Yah? Well you're sneezing!"
"Touché, Tobi. Touché."
She smiled. Good times, good times. Geez, I'm sounding like I'm old, she thought disgustedly.
She then pondered Tobi's odd behavior at the end of their training session. What exactly had he seen? Ok, she admitted that the genjutsu that she'd used on him wasn't perfect, but it shouldn't have shaken him so badly. I knew that I should've perfected it before using it! she thought angrily, mentally berating herself.
She turned to her left to stop thinking about Tobi. And found that that was also a bad idea.
On the table standing to the left of her bed was a picture of her mother. She had been caught in the middle of cooking, her blonde hair up in a messy bun. She was laughing, her blue eyes sparkling in delight. Yinasni's mother had seldom smiled, but when she did, Yinasni swore that the sun shone a little brighter and everyone was happier. Even her father.
Then...there was that night.
Yinasni couldn't remember much. She was only six at the time, and was too young to understand anything about politics and violence. So when shouts of "Leaf shinobi!" rang throughout her house, she was at a complete and utter loss as to what to do.
So she did what made sense to her six year-old mind. She went to go find her mommy.
"Mommy!" she called, racing through the many hallways to her parents' bedroom. Mommy will protect me, she thought as she stopped in front of the room. She's Mommy.
She opened the door and gasped at what she saw.
The room was in a complete state of chaos. Fire was licking at the walls, devouring them eagerly like a hungry beast. Clothes were scattered around in the floor. Shouts were coming from outside.
And there was a body on the bed.
Yinasni felt her body freeze up. Her body seemed to move of its own accord as she slowly walked forward and peered over the edge.** Her breath caught in her throat as she recognized the familiar blonde hair, the pale skin, and the open, glassy blue eyes.
Mommy was dead.
No no no...she thought, shaking her mother. Even her skin was cold. "Wake up, mommy, please wake up. Please wake up mommy." Her voice was now in hysterics. "Mommy! You need to wake up! It's scary! Mommy! Wake up now! Mommy! Mommy!"
Yinasni reached up and touched her face. Something wet had landed on them. Were they...tears? She tasted it; yup, the saltiness betrayed them. It had been a while since she had really and truly cried over her mother.
But as she lay on her bed, silent sobs racked her body until she fell asleep.
*I really don't know how Zetsu merges back together. Has Kishimoto told us that yet? I don't know.
**The bed is raised and she is short. 'Nuff said.
Thank you to Tigerfighter98 and rainclawwarriorcat who both reviewed! Thanks so much!
Review please!
Sasuke. Lacks. Hatred.
Later. :D