Chapter Nine: A Day in the Life of Maggie

I gently picked a purple azalea from the ground and added it to my gradually growing pile of flowers.

Smiling, I hopped around the field. It was so beautiful here I just couldn't help myself, there were so many flowers! I just hoped Zetsu would like them as much as I did.

I accented the bouquet with white chrysanthemums and tiny pink fairies (1). I noticed blue bells sitting peacefully under the sun and a rose bush off to my left. I sighed in contentment and headed back to the home Kit and I were now living in.

I went inside and immediately was greeted by Zetsu. He gave me a brief, but warm hug, "Look what I made you!"

I held up the flowers and his white side smiled, I think his black half did as well, mentally anyway.

"They're beautiful, like you."

I smiled and I leaned in, I really, really wanted to kiss him right now. He just looked so cute standing there. However, I felt my heart break as he gently pushed me away.

"Oh," was all I said.

Zetsu quickly shook his head, "It's not that Maggie. We would just feel weird about kissing your best friend even though it's really you. That and if Kisame found out we'd be shredded by his stupid sword."

My heart mended itself quickly and I stood up straight, "Oh! Sorry, automatic thought."

"It's fine. Speaking of your friend, where is Kit?"

"She should be right behind-" I turned around and no one was there.

"Did you leave her outside?"

"Ahh!" I screamed and ran all the way back outside, Zetsu following close behind. "Kit?" I screamed, "Kit!" when I received no reply I began to become worried. I clutched my head in confusion.

"Kit, Kit where the hell are you. Kisame is going to have a conniption fit with you gone!"

"Kit! Oh no, no! What could've happened? Is she alright? She'll be ok right Zetsu? Please tell me she'll be ok!"

"Only if you stop shaking us," I stopped, not realizing I was doing that in the first place.

"No, oh no how could I have lost sight of her she's my best friend!"

Zetsu placed a hand on my shoulder and ushered me inside, "Let's get inside. We'll discuss this tomorrow it's getting late."

We walked in and I froze stiff when I heard his voice, "Maggie have you seen Kit around? I've been looking all over for her."

I stood stock still hoping he wouldn't notice me. I didn't want to get killed and I most certainly didn't want to be the blame for losing my best friend, even if she was currently a cat.

"Maggie. Hello, answer me. Is she ok?"

He had turned to Zetsu and I took that opportunity to head for the hills.

Or, I would have if Zetsu didn't have his arm around me. I did one of those mental hands to face things and I sighed audibly.

Quickly I made up a lie, "I'm sorry shark face but I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed."

"My name is still Kisame."

I shrugged, "I still know."

He rolled his eyes and so did I. I was glad he knew I was only joking, or at least I hoped he did.

"Really though, where's Kit? It's getting late."

I slumped to the floor in defeat; I wouldn't be able to have a clear conscious if I didn't tell somebody.

"Uh, I kind of… lost her…"

I then think I went deaf with the amount of shouting he was doing. After my reprimand was over and the couch was broken in two, was I able to leave. Kisame scared me; I have no idea what Kit saw in him.

I retreated with Zetsu to his room and we collapsed together tiredly. I put a hand to my face and I saw that it was shaking.

Zetsu patted my hand gently and I stared at the ceiling. Sighing, I flinched as something loud crashed in another room and someone was shouting.

I managed to hear the words, "I'm going to look for her!" before more various crashes were heard.

"Zetsu is he going to be ok?"

Zetsu shrugged, "He should be. It's been awhile since he's gotten into one of these moods. Well, actually he used to be like this all the time, breaking things and shit. Then Itachi became his partner and logic and reasoning finally entered his mind."

Zetsu placed an arm snugly around me and I cuddled into his warmth. He felt soft like the Earth and he smelled like tulips.

"Happy are we? You're beaming like a madwoman."

I smiled wider, "I am a woman, so therefore I must be mad."

His lighter half smiled and we sat in contentment for about twenty minutes before the door was literarily knocked off its hinges. I was roughly grabbed by Kisame who picked me up by the collar and began to shove me out the door.

"You're helping! You lost her; you're in this mess too."

Zetsu popped out of the ground in front of us and I squeaked; that was a new one, "Leave Maggie out of this. It's late we'll find her tomorrow."

"Shut it plant man!" Kisame snapped and I frowned. I opened my mouth to counter his insult but he beat me to it, "you say anything and your dead the moment your back in your body."

I shut my mouth quicker then you could blink.

Kisame moved the giant boulder out of the way and he shoved me outside into the dark night. The air was frigid and cold and I shivered as we searched for Kit.

When no small kitten came forth, Kisame began to venture further and further away from the cave.

"Um K-Kisame?" I asked in a small voice, using his name as to not upset him further.

"What," he said, not even bothering to turn around.

"Please can we go back?"

He groaned, "Fine whatever go back to the base, I'll look for her myself."

I paused for a moment, debating whether or not I should stay. The idea of going back to a nice warm Zetsu was appealing, but finding my friend would be the better option here.

"Alright I'll stay, could I go back and get a jacket or something though?"

"Yeah… wait," we both paused, "I'm sensing something. It's faint, but definitely Kit's."

"What is it?"

"Her chakra signature… so weak and faint but I can tell it's hers. It get's stronger over here though…"

He walked about to paces to the left before stopping completely. He stood frozen and was statue still, "Hello? Kisame? Yo shark-face!" I waved a hand in front of his face.

"Konoha," was all he said before disappearing in a cloud of dust. I saw him run towards the cave and then he came rushing back out in a black cloak and some giant wrapped weapon on his back.

"Kisame what's going on?" I shouted as he ran passed me.

"I'm saving Kit! Tell the other's she's been kidnapped by Konoha. Ask Zetsu about them!"

As his retreating figure began to disappear I sighed and turned around. I then screamed as Zetsu appeared right in front of me.

"Don't do that!" I scolded.

He rolled his eyes, uh eye, and put an arm around my shoulder, "Yeah yeah, don't scare the crap out of poor little Maggie."

I felt my face get red, "Shut up."

He rolled his eye again and ushered me inside just as a drop of rain fell on my head. By the time we reached the entrance Kisame was long gone and it was pouring down rain by the bucketfuls. Steam curled up from the ground but the noise was soothing and I felt myself swaying back and forth to the sound.

It felt almost like dancing really, I was then startled when arms snaked around my waist and held me firmly.

"It looks like your dancing, you like the rain?"

"It's one of my seven favorite elements."
"Seven?"

"I like earth, fire, air, rain, lightning, energy, and plasma."

He nodded his head on my shoulder; how he got it there comfortably with his thing on his head I don't know.

"Interesting."

I closed my eyes and leaned back into Zetsu who supported my weight. We swayed to the rain for a bit at the lip of the cave before going back inside fully.

We got into bed and I smiled lightly. I soon fell asleep staring into Zetsu's eyes.

-9-

When I woke, I saw blonde hair flying everywhere. I blinked and sat up; my head was a bit fuzzy. Looking down I saw my legs tangled up into sheets. I saw no Zetsu anywhere in sight so I hopped out of bed looking for him.

I wandered into the kitchen where I saw him sitting at a table discussing something with someone I didn't know. The other man at the table had a shock of orange hair and multiple facial piercing.

"Oh Maggie your awake, this is our leader, Pein-sama."

Pein stood and bowed his head to me, I bowed slightly back.

Rubbing my head I sat down and cracked my neck, "Continue Zetsu. Anything she hears won't matter in her mind."

Zetsu cleared his throat and continued speaking, "Yes well, all signs point to the fact that Kit has been kidnapped by Konoha ninja. I personally believe that they thought she was an animal wandering the forest and am hoping they merely thought she was a lost nin-cat. Then again, you could smell the jutsu a mile away."

Pein tapped his finger against the table a few times, "Is it a safe assumption that Kisame went after her."

"Yes, he's on his way there now. The trip shouldn't take long but locating her and getting her out of her current position may or may not be impossible."

"Zetsu, go follow him and make sure the problem doesn't get out of hand. The last thing we need is him getting captured and all our information is leaked. Don't help him though, locate him and come back with information on his whereabouts."

Zetsu nodded.

As he left I fallowed him closely, bumping into his back as he stopped abruptly, "Maggie I'm going to need you to stay her for a bit. I've got a mission and taking it is not optional."

"I can't come with?"

"No, it's far too dangerous. Come on, I'll introduce you to a few people before I leave."

He continued walking and I fallowed. Not believing that there were more people in this nut house.

He introduced me to a girl, which satisfied me. Then, I met a kid with an orange mask and a cute persona; lastly he introduced me to Itachi who I believed was Kisame's co-worker.

He gave me a light kiss on the forehead before disappearing through the floor. I found it fascinating.

It took me a full five seconds for me to realize I was alone here now. No Zetsu to rely on, no Kisame to mess with even though I barely knew him, and no Kit to hide behind.

Sighing, I went go look for Tobi because he scared me the least. I found him down one of the hallways attached to the ceiling.

"Tobi!" I squeaked.

Helping him down he said, "Oh, uh, thank you Kit-sempai! Uh, Tobi doesn't know how he got up there."

I smiled at him, "My name is Maggie, Tobi."

He tilted his head and I found the action puppy-like, "But… huh? I though you were… Tobi is confused!"

"Its fine Tobi, just call me Maggie for a little bit alright?"

"Ok!"

Tobi hugged me and began to skip off, taking my hand and dragging me along with him. He was so cute!

We ran around the cave and I was surprised at how big it was. The place was huge! As we ran about and goofed off we ran into yet another guy and he had silver hair.

I fell over because I had run straight into him, he barely even budged.

"Hey watch where the fuck you're going!"

I looked up at him, "Watch who the fuck you're running into!"

There was a moment of a silence and he eyed me warily, "Oh that's right your not Kisame's bitch right now your just in her fucking body."

I raised an eyebrow; I could tell this was going to become a cussing war real quick, "What in god's fucking name are you fucking on about dickhead? Why don't you shut your gay ass mouth and stop talking about my best friend that way, in case you forget shit head I happened to kick your ass just this fucking morning."

He raised an eyebrow as well. He snorted out a short amused laugh, "Whatever bitch. You're a lot more entertaining then Kit that's for sure," he left and walked around me and I took Tobi's arm and we continued to skip.

Tobi liked me which was a good thing because he seemed to just like to have fun around here, even though he get's stuck to ceilings.

I liked him as well and the two of us ran into someone with long blonde hair in a ponytail, Tobi hid behind me shivering.

"Tobi…" he said in a low voice, I gulped and slowly began to walk backwards with Tobi.

"Tobi didn't mean to do it sempai! It was an accident. Don't kill Tobi Deidara-sempai!"

The aforementioned 'Deidara' looked pissed and his visible eye twitched. He then took out a small clay bird and it looked beautiful, "Here Tobi, a present."

He tossed the object to Tobi, who caught it with ease, and as he walked away I head him say, "katsu!"

And then there was nothing.

The world blurred around me and there was a loud ringing in my ears. Dazed, I reached out to grab something, anything, dust obscured my vision and I searched blindly for someone or something to grab onto.

I eventually just decided to sit down wherever I was and stop moving. If I did that hopefully the ringing will go away. Ugh, what was that though? My head hurts, was that an explosion? What kind of psycho gives someone so sweet an explosive?

Somewhere I heard someone calling my name. It was faint but I could hear it. Tobi came out of the corner of my blurred vision looking wobbly. He took my hand and help me stand up bringing me to a room he put me on my bed and left.

My head still hurt, so I lay down. Within moments, I was asleep.