Cass' POV

I followed behind Kakuzu as he led me out of the hideout, a bit annoyed that he pulled me away from even making breakfast for Bre. I looked around me, focusing on detail of the floor and walls, not bothering to watch in front of me. I barely stopped before running into Kakuzu. "Dude, what the hell?" I looked up at him a little annoyed by his sudden stop. He just glared back and made a gruff "hn" before walking again, making me sigh in annoyance.

We continued our walk into the cold rain and into the woods around us. After a while we ended up in what looked like a fairly large clearing. He stopped again in the middle of it and turned to me, looking me over. I should have brought Zetsu's cloak with me… I was cold from the rain and my overly skimpy outfit wasn't helping. Shivering slightly I tried my best to get used to the cold. Looking at him, still a bit annoyed, I noticed he was holding something just as he tossed it at me. "Put on some real clothes would you…"

He turned his back on me as I caught the item. A bag? Pulling it open I noticed a change of clothes and an actual pair of shoes. Taking it out I quickly got dressed, keeping an eye on Kakuzu to make sure he didn't peek. "I'm done." He turned back around and looked me over again, this time nodding in approval.

"Good. Let's get started." Taking off his cloak and tossing it on the ground he moved over to me. "Have you ever been taught to fight?"

"No… Not really." I chewed my lip slightly as I looked at him and he sighed in annoyance. "Sorry."

"Fine… follow what I do." He stood a few feet in front of me and moved into what I recognized as a fighting stance. I copied his body's stance and he nodded. "This is a basic stance, get used to it. Have you ever hit someone?" I nodded. "Show me." Frowning slightly I shifted a foot forward slightly and swung at him. Before my punch could even land he had me grappled. "Not a bad punch but it still needs a lot of improvement." He let me go and I took a step back. "Watch me and copy." I did as I was told and watched as Kakuzu threw a punch.

Moving back into the basic stance I copied his punch and he nodded. "Give me 20 more." I kept punching at the air and getting scolded by Kakuzu when I was off or a nod if I did well. Once I did twenty I got thirty more and I improved with each punch. "Good. You seem to have that down. Let's move on."

"Um, alright." I stopped and moved back again. Waiting to see what was next. This time he showed me a kick and I watched intently as to how exactly he moved, a little surprised that a man his size had that level of agility and flexibility. He dropped his foot and looked at me expectantly. Moving my stance I swept my leg into the air just as I had seen him do.

"Not bad. You seem more proficient with kicks than punches. Repeat it." I kicked again, and again until I ended up losing my balance and slipping onto my ass. I heard a sigh and looked up to see Kakuzu standing over me. In slight annoyance I moved quickly and swept my leg under his legs, causing him to stumble in surprise. I used my momentum to stand and back away from him. "Hmph… you're faster than I'd expect." His body dropped into a defensive stance. "Attack me."

I didn't wait this time, I only advanced on him. Before he could think of what I would do I dropped down and slid under his legs, thankful that the whole ground was mud. Turning over as I slid I planted a foot and brought myself into a semi good stance as Kakuzu turned towards me. Before he could move his arms around completely to protect him I punched at his face. He moved quickly and side stepped, causing me to miss, before grabbing my arm and throwing me over his shoulder. I landed with a painful thud and winced in pain.

"Hm… I can see how you surprised me before."

I whimpered very softly and lifted myself off the ground. "What do you mean?"

"You're very fast, even for your size."

"Oh… I guess." I gingerly rubbed my hip. That's going to bruise pretty bad…

"Are you alright?"

"Fine enough."

"Good, defend yourself." Before I could even ask Kakuzu advanced on me, moving much slower than before, and punched at me. I quickly took a step to the side to dodge and this continued, him punching and me dodging. As it went on he started to speed up, forcing me to move faster to keep up with him. More time passed and this time he started to add in kicks, making me actually have to block. He sped up again and I didn't move fast enough as one of his kicks connected with my stomach.

Falling down I coughed a few times and wheezed, trying to catch my breath. I heard his steps as he moved closer and growled. Lashing out I managed to catch him off guard and kicked him hard in the stomach. As I kicked I could feel a larger amount of energy move to my limb, adding more power to it. Kakuzu stumbled back and nearly fell, staring at me in both shock and annoyance. I took this chance to scramble up off the ground.

I wobbled off balance and held my stomach as it started to ache, nearly making me sick. "What?" I huffed at him, bugged by his staring.

"You used your chakra."

"Huh?" He advanced on me suddenly and spun, bringing his leg around towards me. I jumped back, pushing the energy into my legs again, and managed to jump back a few feet. Surprised I stumbled over my own feet and fell again, hitting my head. I gasped in shock and blinked a few times as the things around me went out of focus.

"Damnnit." Kakuzu quickly moved over to me and pulled me up into a sitting position as I faded in and out of consciousness. "I need to get Konan…"

"N-no… I'm fine."

"Can you stand?" I tried to get up with his help and managed to keep myself up. "Good. We're done for today. Come on." Kakuzu helped me as I stumbled beside him, walking back to the hideout. Not even a minute later everything went black and I fell forward. I heard him curse and yell for someone to come over before I blacked out.

It's warm… are we back inside? Groaning I brought a hand up to rub my head. "Oh god my head kills!" Slowly opening my eyes I looked up to see Zetsu. I could have sworn I saw relief on his face before it went to the usual unreadable expression. Rain hit my face and I blinked a few times to focus what was around me.

"Oh good, you're not dead." I saw a flicker of a smirk on his face before I glanced around. Kakuzu was staring at me with an expression of relief but I don't think it was because I was alright so much as he wasn't in trouble. "Can we open the door now Kakuzu?" I bit my lip to keep from grinning at Zetsu's sass and he must have noticed because he gave me a small smirk back.

Kakuzu huffed and opened the door, leaving us behind. A minute later I heard a door slam shut and Zetsu rolled his eyes, carrying me inside. "You can set me down now."

"We're fine. I liked your other clothes more." I blinked in surprise and blushed again, still not used to his blatant flirtation. He continued to carry me as he took me further into the base. He opened a door carefully with me in his arms and walked into a room that looked a lot like a hospital room, making me shiver and try to hide into his chest. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not fond of hospitals…"

"Well I promise not to bite." I glanced over to see a beautiful woman standing over by a bed. "You can put her here Zetsu.

He glanced at me and begrudgingly set me on the bed. "I don't promise not to bite." I squeaked and blushed darker at his whispered comment, making him chuckle deeply and smirk. He stood up and started to turn to leave but stopped as I reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

"Can you um…"

"Yeah. Sure." I smiled slightly as he sat in a seat by the bed.

Looking up I saw the woman walk over to me with a clipboard in one of her hands. "Can you sit up for me?" I sat up carefully and watched her as she walked around the bed. "You two seem to have a thing for head injuries."

"Sorry…"

"It's ok. I just have to make sure you don't have a concussion. Watch the light." She lifted up her pin and pressed a button, turning on a light and started to shine it in my eyes, one at a time, before taking note. "Turn away from me." I shifted and turned my back towards her. Soon I could feel her moving my hair out of the way to look at my head. "You're fine. Just a bump. Give me a second." She set the clipboard down beside me and muttered something, a second later I could feel the pain in my head start to fade into a dull ache. "Alright. You should be fine now."

I turned and watched as she walked back around the bed. "Um… I was wondering…" She turned and looked at me. "You're Konan right?" She nodded. "Is there anywhere Bre and I could sleep that had more than a couch?"

"Oh right… you've been in the living room this whole time haven't you?"

"Yeah. It's not that I'm not grateful…"

"Oh no, I understand. I'll talk to Pein about it. I bet you would like some clothes and a nice shower too wouldn't you?"

"That would be nice."

"Alright. I'll come find you later." I nodded. "You can go back into the living room for now." I watched as she walked out and hopped off of the bed, letting Zetsu lead me back to the living room.

"Thank you… for not leaving me."

He glanced back at me. "I can think of a way you can repay me." I gaped at him in surprise making his darker voice start to laugh. "Don't worry, we didn't mind." I scowled at him, embarrassed, a dark blush coming back to my face as we walked into the living room.

"Oy, Cass, why's your face all red, un?"

"It's nothing Deidara!" I covered my face and plopped onto the couch as Zetsu started to chuckle again, walking off.

"Ah man! You're getting mud everywhere!"

"Shut up!" I huffed, shoving him over, making him laugh at me.