Bre's Pov Next morning
I glanced over at Cass' sleeping form as I pulled my braid into a messy bun. The image of her like this made me grit my teeth and a soft growl bubbled up in my chest. I dug my nails into my palm of my hands and took long strides out of the room. The feelings I felt as I stormed out of the base flooded over me, erasing any rational though. It's my fault. I nearly let her die. If I was stronger I would have been able to protect her!
Pushing my way through the woods around the base I felt branches cut me but I couldn't give up. I needed to push forward and get better. If I could get better then she would never need to get hurt again. If I were stronger then no one would ever be able to touch her. I wouldn't let anyone touch her.
Suddenly I was in an opening near the lake, the sound of a waterfall filling my head. This was her place. She'd only showed me it once but I somehow found it again. This is the place that Cass loves the most. Sighing deeply I walked to the lake, and then onto it, using my chakra to keep me on top of the water.
Once I was in the middle of the lake I started to train with taijutsu. I moved slowly at first, trying to remember the moves that I'd learned from Itachi. I filled my head with the movements not paying attention to anything but my training. The more time that passed and the more I started to push myself. I was putting so much of my effort into it that my limbs were starting to burn and I was starting to slip up. I could tell it was messy but I needed to work harder.
I let out shouts as I kept moving harder and faster. The longer I worked the more it felt like my body was burning up. Every breath was making my lungs burn. Slipping suddenly my feet sunk into the water and soon I was completely under. I didn't have time to take a deep breath before my head was under and I ended up inhaling some of the lake water instead. Before I could even panic, I felt a strong hand wrap around my wrist and yank me back out of the water.
It burns. All of me burns. I coughed up the water as whoever saved me lifted me up into their arms before walking towards the shore. "Let go of me. I'm not done yet."
"Don't be an idiot. Like I'd let you keep being reckless." I blinked the water out of my eyes and looked up to see a very pissed off Kakuzu. He gave me a harsh glare and I quickly returned it which only made him even more pissed off.
"I don't care if I'm being reckless. I need to get stronger. Now put me down." I tried to push myself out of his arms but he only tightened his grip.
"Yeah like pulling shit like that is going to make you any stronger." Hidan walked around in front of us and I shifted my glare to him. "Oh get over yourself! Don't get pissy just because you don't like hearing the truth." Kakuzu made a gruff noise of agreement and I slowly started to frown.
I knew they were right, I shouldn't take my anger out on them. Sighing I crossed my arms and looked down at my legs. "Fine..."
When we were back on shore Kakuzu finally set me down before crouching in front of me to inspect the cuts on my arms and legs. They'd already stopped bleeding so all he could do was frown at me and pull out thorns or anything else caught inside. I sighed again and looked over to Hidan who was looking between us with a strange expression. He looks sad... He turned away quickly as he noticed me staring and a small blush tinged my cheeks.
I looked back to Kakuzu as he helped me up onto my feet, then down to my arm where his fingers were lingering. "I'm fine. So can I get back to training now?" They both looked over to me I knew that they could tell it was a lie. I was incredibly exhausted at this point both from the training and the fact I'd still yet to eat.
"No. No you may not! You're going to go back to the base and you're going to take a fucking break!" My eyes widened at Hidan's sudden outburst and he quickly grabbed my hand, yanking me away from Kakuzu before nearly dragging me back towards the base. I gave a quick glance towards Kakuzu, who was staring at us with what I could have sworn was jealousy. He looked at me before looking down and disappearing.
Frowning slightly I looked back where we were going, stumbling to try and keep up. "Hidan... you're hurting my arm, please slow down." He gave me a glance at the complaint but slowed down to more of a walk, and then to a complete stop.
"Do you like him?"
"What?" My jaw dropped slightly at the question. I knew who he meant but it still threw me off.
"Kakuzu... do you like him?"
"I mean... I don't know... I think he's nice. Where's this coming from?"
"What about me?"
"Hidan I don't know what you're asking me." I stared at him, watching him shift around awkwardly as my cheeks started to burn.
"Never mind... Just forget I asked. It was a stupid thing to ask." He didn't even look at me before starting to try and pull me along again. This time though I kept my footing and gripped his hand, refusing to move.
"No. You get back here and explain yourself."
Hidan glanced at me slightly and groaned before turning back to face me. He seemed surprised to see that I was blushing. There was a pause as he just stared at me and I started to get embarrassed. He took a sudden step forward and pulled me to him, crashing his lips to mine. It was messy and awkward and much too hard and it only lasted a few seconds but the kiss still made my chest flutter.
I stared at him in shock as he took a step back. "Oh..."
"I'm sorry... shit..." He ran ran his free hand through his hair as I just stood there in shock. He just kissed me... Hidan just kissed me. Before I could completely process what had happened Hidan pulled his hand away, still muttering apologies as he disappeared as well. I took a little bit to figure out what had happened before walking back to the base in a sort of daze.
Cass' Pov
I woke up slowly, blinking a few times for before starting to sit up. Looking around I rubbed my face and saw that Bre was already gone. Yawning, I slid myself out of bed and used the wall for balance so I could walk over and get some fresh clothes before going into the bathroom to take a long shower. I still had a bit of a headache but it wasn't as bad as yesterday and the shower was really helping to make me feel even better.
After a while, and taking care of all my other needs, I headed out of my room and started to stumble towards the kitchen. I could hear the noises of people arguing somewhere in the base making me smile slightly. I didn't realize I missed the sound of that. Peeking into the kitchen I didn't see anyone there to scold me so I made my way over to the fridge.
I ducked down as I opened it and picked through my options, pulling out a few things and setting them on the counter. Humming softly I picked out a few more things and set everything in a pile. "What are you doing out of bed?" I let out startled yelp and jumped at the sudden noise, nearly knocking my head into the top of the fridge.
"Z-Zetsu... Heyyyy..." My voice was a bit shaky as I turned to him, avoiding eye contact. I probably looked like a little kid who'd been caught in the act of doing something wrong. "I didn't hear you come in."
"We followed you from your room."
"What? Then why didn't you say anything?" Moving carefully I stepped out of the way and closed the fridge. He sighed heavily and walked over, gently taking one of my arms and leading me over to a chair. "Zetsu, I'm ok. I promise. I feel a lot better than yesterday."
"Even so you still need to rest. We'll cook for you."
I tried not to look as concerned as I felt before I hesitantly replied. "Are you sure?"
"Well sure. How hard can it be? I mean you do it all the time."
Oh no... that's no good. "But I've been doing it for a long time. I have a lot of practice." He seemed to think it over before walking behind me and just picking the chair up with me still in it, causing me to quickly grip the sides. After situating the weight and lifting me higher Zetsu carried me over to the counter and set me back down. "Um? I could have just walked back over."
"We said you need rest. And so you're going to sit there and walk us through cooking." I sighed heavily and moved my legs under me so I could kneel on the seat.
"Alright, we'll need a cutting board, knife, and a pan." He nodded at me before digging through the cabinets and pulling out the things I told him. "You can leave the pan on the stove and turn it to medium heat. While it gets hot you're going to cut the ham into cubes." I watched him closely as he worked, trying to keep him from messing up the food.
Once Zetsu was done cutting the ham, which he did annoyingly well, he looked back over to me. "What next?"
I glanced down at his look and started to pick at my arm. "Um. Now you need to put the ham into the pan, stirring it every now and then until all of it is warm and it starts to brown a bit." I glanced back up at him as he did as I said. He's being so sweet to me...
"What should we do while it's cooking?"
"Hmm... I think all we can do is wait."
"Well then, what shall we do while we wait?" Zetsu moved closer to me and I looked away again, causing him to stop. "Unless you don't want to do anything with us."
"I'm sorry... It's not you Zetsu. It's just that the last few men who've gotten close to me recently have attacked me, and I keep remembering it." My eyes moved up as he held a hand out to me, palm up. I stared at it for a little bit before slowly reaching out and setting my hand in his.
"We understand Cass. You went through a lot. Do you want to talk about it?" I was rather surprised by Zetsu's offer but I managed to keep it from showing on my face, instead I just smiled softly at him.
"Thank you, but for now I just want to process what happened by myself. I will come talk with you when I'm ready though." He nodded slightly a small smile tugging at his lips. "There was something else I wanted to talk about though." I glanced at my hand as he squeezed it, letting go so he could tend to the food.
"Oh? And what's that?"
"You said before that you would help me with my fear of blood. Will you still do that for me?"
Zetsu paused his stirring for a second, glancing up then over to me. "Are you sure?" I nodded and he looked away again. I still managed to catch a glimpse of his expression as it started to turn almost hungry. "Of course we'll help you Cass. After you eat." I nodded again as he returned to stirring. "The ham looks done."
"Then you'll add 3 eggs and a little bit of milk and garlic, stirring until all of the egg is cooked. Then add salt and pepper and a handful of shredded cheese. Make sure not to add a lot of salt or it'll ruin the taste."
His brows furrowed slightly as he did as I told him. "Cooking is harder than I thought. How do you remember everything you have to do?"
"I used to go off of recipes but after a while I didn't need them for dishes I cooked a lot. I still follow one if I'm making something new though. My parents made sure that me and my brothers knew how to cook from a rather young age. They wanted to make sure that we could take care of ourselves when we moved out."
"You never really talk about your family..."
I tensed for a second and looked down at the counter. I frowned slightly for a second before sighing and looking back up at him. "It makes me sad knowing I'll never see them again... and that I don't even have a picture to remember them by."
"What happened to that device you brought?"
"My phone?" He nodded and I thought about it. Where did I put my phone? "I lost it. It would have been with my cosplay but I haven't seen that in a while either."
"Mmm... that was a really nice outfit."
I rolled my eyes and thought harder about it, trying to remember the last time I'd worn it. All I could remember was I was still wearing it when I first got her and that was the last time I'd seen my phone either, when I showed it to Pein. "The battery is probably dead anyway..."
Zetsu reached into the cabinet above me, pulling out a plate before pushing my food onto it. Pulling out a drawer and grabbing a fork as well he took the food over to the table before walking back over to me as I started trying to climb down from the chair. He gently pushed me back onto it so I was sitting before carrying me over to the table as well.