Chapter 28
Good
"Tobi! How many times must I tell you? Turn the light off when you leave a room."
"Sorry Zetsu, I forgot again." He spun round and obediently flicked the switch.
"That's better. If only more people did that, global warming wouldn't happen so quickly."
"Global-warming is bad isn't it? Tobi will be a good boy and reduce his carbon foot print, isn't that right Zetsu?"
"Yes it is Tobi. Or the penguins will die…"
"Tobi's a good boy; Tobi won't let the penguins die."
"That's…good…" Zetsu went back to reading his book.
"What book is that Zetsu?" The schizophrenic tilted the book so that Tobi could read the cover. It was a relatively old copy of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punishment'.
"Oh, Tobi has that book too!" He said excitedly, rushing to retrieve it from his drawer in the bedside table.
"What? You've read it? Idiot, of coarse he didn't, Tobi wouldn't read that; he still reads Harry Potter. "
"Madara told Tobi to get it for him. Tobi didn't read it, it looked boring."
"Oh, that makes sense I suppose. I told you so."
"How far has Madara got? I haven't seen him reading it…"
"He hasn't, Tobi only got it for him today, and Tobi hasn't taken his mask off since... Tobi doesn't want Madara to come out; Tobi wants to be a good boy…" Although his expressions were hidden behind the mask, his voice sounded scared.
"Shh, Tobi, don't worry. You are a good boy." For once his dark side stayed quiet.
"What Madara did, It wasn't his fault, lots of people would have done the same thing in his situation. He didn't have much choice; his parent's, they weren't very good people" He stopped suddenly as Tobi suddenly tore his mask off.
"How dare you! How dare you say something like that about my parents! They were Uchihas; it was a family business, they had no choice- they were born into it!"
Zetsu shivered, looking up at Madara, he hadn't meant to say that to him, but it was easy to forget that Tobi and Madara were the same person, they were such complete opposites. The dark haired boy stood at the end of his bed, trembling and glaring at him. Zetsu stayed perfectly still, any small movement could push the other over the edge, and he didn't want to start a fight.
The door knob rattled and Madara spun round and ran to the bathroom, just in time as the door to their room swung open and Deidara rushed into the room, closely followed by Hidan and Kisame.
"What's going on un? Where's Tobi? We thought we heard shouting, yeah, so we came here to see what was happening un?"
"Tobi's in the bathroom."
"But was that him shouting? I didn't think he could even get angry. It sounded fucking scary…"
Zetsu wasn't sure what to say, Madara had always kept quiet before, so that Tobi could keep up the good boy act. Conveniently, at that moment there came a loud crash from the bathroom, followed by a yelp, and everyone's attention was turned towards the bathroom door.
"Sorry Zetsu! Tobi thinks he might have broken the toilet. Tobi's foot hurts."
Zetsu put his book down and rushed to the bathroom.
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, Tobi didn't lock the door, because it might not open again."
The door was indeed unlocked and Zetsu opened it to reveal Tobi, standing in the middle of the small room, having managed to drop the lid of the toilet cistern on his foot. Luckily he had shoes on, but the ceramic lid had smashed into hundreds of pieces across the dirty white linoleum.
"Hi Deidara! You came to visit Tobi!"
"Um, Tobi? How did you manage to do that un?"
"What?" Tobi looked around, having momentarily forgotten the mess he had caused. "Oh… that… Tobi didn't mean to! It was an accident, Tobi wanted to see what the inside of the big white water-toilet thing looked like and the lid just slipped…"
"Idiot."
"Tobi, was that you yelling earlier?" Hidan asked, getting back to the reason they had all come to Tobi's room.
"Oh that? Yeah that was Tobi! Tobi's a good boy, so Tobi wanted to show Zetsu what Hidan said to me earlier, only Mr. Long said in English that when we tell stories or anecdotes we have to use different voices and expressions, so we get better marks."
All eyes turned to Hidan.
"What did you say to him, un?"
"Nothing; it wasn't my fault; he borrowed my fine-liners and when he gave them back the tips were all blunt. All of them. How the hell did he fucking manage to do that by accident?"
"There was no need to be mean to him though un, he may be annoying but Tobi didn't mean to, I'm sure yeah."
"Tobi's a good boy, he said sorry!" Tobi cut in.
"Calm down, man" Kisame said, "I don't think he would have broken them on purpose. He just presses down really hard when he writes."
"I know you're sorry Tobi, but I think it would be better if you didn't borrow Hidan's pens in the future."
"Yes Zetsu, Tobi won't."
"I'm not letting him near any of my shit ever again. Seriously."
"And Tobi,"
"Yes Zetsu?"
"Please don't copy any of the words Hidan says again either, especially not in English lessons."
"Ok, Zetsu."
"Fine, now can all of you piss off. Nothing interesting is happening, so you can mind your own business. Sorry, it's kind of late, he has a point."
As soon as the others had left, Tobi removed his mask again.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shouted like that but they really weren't bad people. They tried their hardest not to let me know about their business, so that I could live normally. They tried so hard… I couldn't betray them…"
"I know, I shouldn't have said that, it's just so difficult to explain things to Tobi. What I meant was… it isn't your fault Madara. You were faced with a decision that no kid should have to make. Most people would have made the same choice you did, they were your family and, like you said, you couldn't betray them."
"But I should have done… Oh well, I don't feel like moaning about shit tonight. I'm going to get ready for bed. Sorry about the mess, Tobi didn't want you to have to come up with an excuse. You can tidy it up in the morning, I can't be arsed now."
"Ok, but it's my turn in the bathroom first tonight."
By the time Zetsu was done in the bathroom, Madara had already changed into his night clothes. Zetsu's dark side couldn't help laughing.
"Shut up. It's not my fault. Why did Tobi have to choose such ridiculous pajamas?" Madara scowled. "They're bright orange for god's sake. And what's with the flowers, I swear they're not even meant for guys…"
"They were in the boy's section. Tobi loved them, the idiot , you really ought to go shopping without your mask on sometime. Shopping with Tobi is embarrassing."
"Not as embarrassing as having to wear what he buys."
"At least nobody but me can see you."
"True, anyway it's my turn in the bathroom now."
Zetsu was already in bed when Madara returned.
"Turn off the light in the bathroom. You can't leave it on during the night! That's a complete waste of…" He stopped as Madara cut in.
"Will you shut up about the fucking environment."
"Ok, I'll do it then. Bastard."
