Chapter 13.

20 days later.

As she had predicted, Hazel hates herself for realigning with Kakuzu.

Any fleeting thought would lead back to her incompetence and the morals she betrayed. The process repeated itself more times than she could count. Hazel didn't wish to continue beating herself up about it, but the girl found that this time sleep is her only escape from those intrusive thoughts. Hazel can't tuck them away as she had done previously. Too many times Kakuzu had to force the child out of her sleeping bag before dragging her off to study. Usually this is a figurative occurrence but sometimes he LITERALLY has to wrench Hazel out. If only he could strangle her-

'- No, if only I could SNAP her neck. I was wrong, allowing Hazel to have her fit did nothing to help me. All it did was give her a false sense of entitlement. Damn snot-nosed brat if I must suffer than so shall she.' The girl is attempting to sleep in…AGAIN. The mere sound of her soft snores antagonized the rogue shinobi. Kakuzu stomped over towards her spot within the cave then snatched the end of her sleeping bag near her feet. He then hoisted the whole entire bag into the air. Hazel lifted along with it until the friction keeping her inside slipped. She slid from the sleeping bag headfirst onto the ground. The girl ended up on the back of her head and shoulders with her rear end stuck up towards the cave's ceiling. Kakuzu paused to give the kid a chance to move but she stayed frozen. Hazel reckoned if she could manage to trick Kakuzu into thinking she was knocked out by the fall- he will leave her alone. She remained stiff as a board and unaware of how dumbfounded the pose left Kakuzu.

'…Does she genuinely believe this will fool me?' The whole act is an insult to his intelligence.

"GET UP YOU ACCURSED IDIOT." He kicked her tailbone with enough force to flip her around upright. Hazel's eyes went wide and she cried out.

"OUCH, HURTS!"

"Well stop behaving like a MORON and MOVE." Kakuzu cuffed the back of her head and the child moaned.

"I sleepy!"

"Don't speak like a baby." Kakuzu pointed out. Hazel blushed at her mistake.

"I…I tired!"

"I AM tired."

"I AM TIRED. I SLEEP." Kakuzu clenched his hand into a fist.

"GET YOUR ASS UP. THAT'S AN ORDER."

"P-Please sleep?"

"NO." The girl sneered.

"You JERK. I'm glad they're trying to kill you!"

"What was that?" Kakuzu challenged. Hazel took a stand. She is feeling extra bold today, too bold.

"THE SHINOBI GOOD HUMANS, NOT KAKUZU!" It wasn't a very articulate statement, but the message got through. Did Hazel know if they were really good? Nope, not at all. The girl assumed they are since the Leaf-nin want to kill him. She considers Kakuzu to be true evil, so how could they not be? The logic appeared sound to her but the main reason the child said what she said is only due to her desire to get back at him. She succeeded but maybe a little too well…

"You halfwit- "Kakuzu reprimanded.

"-There are no good people here but you're far too ignorant to realize as much. Still, your attitude is disgusting. Did you understand that? No? I'll say it slowly for you. You. Are. Pathetic. An utter disgrace that we can only thank your incompetent parents for burdening the world with. I would be doing this entire planet a favor by killing you. Something your mother should have done the second she realized you were conceived. If not your mother than your father could have at least thrown your pregnant mother down the largest flight of stairs he could find. Yet here you stand with the audacity to blab on about your useless opinions of others. Good and evil- how naive." Hazel is confounded; Kakuzu's tirade is too complicating at her comprehension level. The child was able to catch a few parts of it but her head hurt trying to listen. She wanted him to stop talking altogether.

"Leave I!" Kakuzu pointed at the books.

"Sit down and shut your mouth."

"NO." He charged over to her and snatched Hazel by her ear. He is still in control of himself, but this girl is about to get launched out of the cave. Instead of throwing her, Kakuzu tugged Hazel's ear and forced the child to walk with him.

"You are going to study- "He dumbed down his words so she can hear what he has to say.

"-If you don't- you will not eat. If you still won't study. I will not get water. You will end." Hazel sat with a dejected look.

"Mean, Kakuzu you mean."

"I DON'T CARE, START STUDYING NOW."

'Over the next week the two would test each other through similar standoffs but Kakuzu would win unanimously without fail. With no chance of victory Hazel gave up entirely and stopped resisting as she had done so before. She just doesn't have his fortitude.'

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The missing-nin would start the child's lessons bright and early and only stop them for food or sleep. Just as he warned her, he would take meals whenever she didn't work hard enough for him. Yet this was partly out of spite. He wanted to get out of this cave and make money. Not stick around a hole in the wall and teach. Him- a sensei? He never intended on becoming one, EVER. Teaching her wasn't so bad before, but now he's in Hell.

"It's a LION. Not a LEEOAN. Again, LION." Hazel flinched. She's trying her best but with each attempt he became angrier.

"Leeeaaaaooonnneee?"

"Lion,"

"Liiaann?"

"LION. It is a LION." She didn't want to try again but Hazel did it anyways. Food is on the line.

"…Lien?" Kakuzu chucked the book at the cave's wall before storming out. He had to go for a run or something. ANYTHING.

"Stay here Hazel." The child cringed at his seething command and observed her captor rush out of the cave.

'Oh, simply GREAT, this again.' She went over her notes while he was out. Hazel's will-to-live told her to keep herself busy or he may just finally work up the nerve to kill her. To help with the engraining process, Hazel read the words aloud from her notes. Starting with places and people.

"House, Hosupeetaru, shoppu, school, room, lady, man, boyo, girl- "She kept reading and reading but after a while she had nothing left to study without Kakuzu's aid. It had been over an hour and her laziness was getting the best of her. She re-read her notes a few more times before temptation prevailed. After several hours of studying, she started drawing on a fresh page of the notebook to pass time. Hazel scribbled out so many flowers and trees that she ended up with an entire landscape. After the landscape, she drew miscellaneous things such as cars, buildings, some horses, etc. Yet time continued to pass and even drawing began to bore her.

"Where can that jerk be?" Day turned to night, without a fire Hazel had no way to make dinner. Without the light it provided as well, the redhead found herself with nothing to do but rest. It was hard to after his outburst and the uncertainty he left but the child ended up falling asleep. He did return by sunrise and when Hazel woke up to the sight of him, she let out a sigh of relief. It is as embarrassing as ever, but the fact remains Kakuzu's presence is still both a source of fear AND safety for Hazel.

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10 days later.

The sun had long set and night had taken over. Beside the fire there is Kakazu and Hazel preparing to head off. At this time, he was sure the Anbu have moved on. They were here for months and no village in their right mind would send out an Anbu squad for this long during a war. Not for something like this. Squads go missing frequently and you can't waste time. Thanks to their stay in the cave, Hazel is now at a language proficiency that allowed him to warn her of their upcoming departure. Without the distraction of travel, she picked up vocabulary at top notch speed. It made the shinobi consider staying longer but he knew better than to hover around one place more than necessary. There is a prime window of opportunity and if they pass it, he'll only endanger them. Soon enough SOMEONE will be bound to stumble upon the duo or any trace of their existence among the mountains. So, they have to get back to moving and push on before that someone does.

"Kakuzu! Hazel pack done!" The girl raised the bag in front of Kakuzu to show him she spoke the truth.

"Good, we set off in the morning. No complaining." Hazel bit her bottom lip after the comment. She could admit his jab at the end wasn't wrong but she didn't have to like it.

"Ugh, I don't- I don't complain…tomorrow?" She quirked a brow at the masked man to see how she did.

"…Won't." The child rolled her eyes and groaned. Not in a sassy way like usual- only frustrated that she messed up.

"I won't. I. won't complain tomorrow." She searched his face again to see if her grammar was right. Kakuzu didn't comment on it which meant she did good.

"-Jeez this is stupid hard." She hoisted her bag over her shoulder and turned away from Kakuzu. The man returned to organizing his own possessions only to be stopped by the sound of a footstep hitting against stone.

The source had corrected it's form but that one tap blew their cover.

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A/N: HEY AGAIN IT'S BEEN A WHILE! So sorry about the unintentional hiatus but my life got hectic. Felt like shit hit the fan, even lost a family member. I didn't know them that well, but my beloved ones did so I was focused on comforting them. I'll try to get back into the rhythm, but we are still recovering. I do apologize if I'm a bit slow for a while. Again, thank you for taking time to read my stories! I greatly appreciate it and I hope you're enjoying them! That's some plot armor should be getting an update soon!

P.S. Always remember to tell your loved ones how much you care. Even if it's a random text or phone call!