AN: So, we're halfway through the Red Dawn Arc! It's going to get bumpy until the end of the arc, so prepare yourselves. It'll also a lot of fluff too so it should cushion the bumps.

EDIT: Spelling errors, sentences reworded and extra line added to ending.

Cat Beats: Haha, it's alright! It's a mystery, no one understands what exactly the Mayfly is which is why there are theories so I'm purposely making things confusing. It'll be straightened out a bit but I'm leaving it indefinite on purpose for later payoff.

rarae aves: I've got a degree in Creative Writing. I did it because I want to be an author, but it can used in everything from writing letters to editing. I'm so sorry but I can't say because anything I say is going to be spoilers! You'll just to wait and find out (it's evil but true, sorry).

Gem Diamondz Kitty: Thank you, thank you, thank you! Nothing make me happier to hear a person in such love with this little, oddball story of mine. I love writing and love that people love reading it too! Thank you again!

Warning(s): Language (Mid), Blood/Violence (Low), Genderbend, OCs

…

Wasteland

Red Dawn Arc

Chapter 30

Kakuzu was standing in the background as he observed Zetsu bobbing and weaving through Rājan's punches then delivering her own like a professional. It was incredible what a few weeks of practice (and threats of physical harm) could do.

Little by little, her tears dried up and the whimpering quieted down. Perhaps because she realized she wasn't getting out of this, or because everytime she started up, he gave her a slap on the head and criticized her. He wanted to kill this habit of hers now because in his opinion, nothing was more pathetic than a crybaby shinobi.

"Sniveling isn't going to garner your enemies' pity, it'll make them take pleasure in hurting you further and killing you." He chided her while she was on her backside, cradling her aching head from failing to duck a punch from Rājan then being struck by Kakuzu for said blunder. Sniffing, she nodded and got back up, wiping away tears. He gone from swatting her perhaps four or five times to once or twice a day. Mainly because she had her nose buried in a book when her break was over.

Day by day, her performance improved too as she ran her laps, mercifully decreased from ten to five, and did her warm-ups. He admitted, he may've influenced it. When he learned Konan purchased a provision of chocolate milk for Zetsu, since it was the only thing the teenager ingested nowadays, he went out and bought protein powder that he secretly laced the bottles with to promote her muscle growth. It was successful as he noticed her twig-like arms developing mass between the supplements and exercise.

Zetsu had gone from a weak crybaby to a not-as-weak crybaby. It was progress, but she had a long way to go yet.

Unfortunately, not everything could be corrected so easily and she a lot of habits he wanted to break. One of which was her terrible concentration. She had the five-second attention span of a goldfish. A twig could snap in the distance or a bug flutter by and suddenly, that was all she wanted to fixate on for the next five minutes. It resulted in a few painful lessons such as, not turning your back to an enemy as Rājan didn't stop in its offense and punched her in the face. Today, that lesson was taught once again because suddenly, Zetsu went from being invested in her training with the creature to turning her back to it as she gaped at something in the thicket. This resulted in Rājan punching her in the back of the head and sending her facedown into the dirt.

"Girl! What have I told you about turning your back to an enemy?" Kakuzu barked at her, feeling like a broken record considering he had told her this at least a dozen times by now.

She pushed herself back up, dusting herself off and rubbing her pounding skull. "Sorry!" She called back then went bouncing towards the treeline. It was then he saw what it was this time that distracted her so as Konan stepped out from between the trees. The woman had little time to prepare herself when the teenager practically launched herself into her arms while happily squeaking her name.

"Hello to you too, Zetsu," Konan greeted her, smiling and affectionately kissing her cheek. Despite having seen her the night previous for teaching, it always brightened her day whenever she got to see the girl.

"What are you doing here? I have the girl until the evening." Kakuzu interrogated the origamitress as he walked up with his muscled arms folded.

Konan put down Zetsu. "I'm not here to take her from you," She said, oozing sarcasm to which he grunted. "I'm here because I spoke with Dr. Ryu and he wanted me to tell you that Sasori is ready to be discharged."

He piqued a brow. "You spoke with Ryu?"

"I went to the hospital to pick up Zetsu's latest MRI results," She held up the folder in her hand as evidence then crouched down to be eyelevel with Zetsu, displaying her perfect teeth in a smile again. "Speaking of which, the Mayfly hasn't gotten worse; your monster is gone, Zetsu!"

Zetsu gasped. "Monster is gone!?"

"Yes!"

The green-haired girl squealed and, in her excitement, threw herself back at Konan who hugged her tightly, borderline squeezing her in her own jubilation with the outstanding news. Meanwhile, Kakuzu observed the two females from the sidelines, the tender moment having little effect on his frigid heart. After a minute of this, his stomach felt ill from the sickly sugary moment, so he decided to take his leave.

"I'll go get the boy." Just saying that made him want to vomit too. If he had his way, he'd just leave Sasori there until he died of old age.

"I already tried to convince Ryu to keep him, but he said he couldn't do that," Konan mentioned, genuine disappointment threaded in her tone, surprising Kakuzu she did such a thing. Given her temperament towards Zetsu because her tender age, he presumed it was the same with Sasori. But he'd be more surprised if the woman did like him considering how horrible a human being he was. For once, they saw eye-to-eye on something. "I'll watch Zetsu until you get back. I have to speak to Sir Leader anyway."

"Fine. But when I get back, we're going back to training, girl. Because you made the idiotic choice of turning your back on an enemy, again, I'm having you start over: one-hundred punches again!"

"No!" Zetsu moaned. It took her hours to get to fifty and her arms felt like ramen noodles!

"You're pushing her too hard." Mother Bear Konan predictably snarled.

"You make her read one-hundred pages for homework. What is the difference?" Kakuzu retaliated.

"She likes reading!"

"She likes training too!"

"No, she doesn't!"

"Umm…" Zetsu peeped in, quietly, twiddling her thumbs. "I like…I like the push-ups…"

"Ha!" Kakuzu barked.

"But you like reading better, right?" Konan asked Zetsu.

"Yes!"

"Ha!" Konan barked back.

Kakuzu grumbled to himself, turning his head up. "Whatever. I'll go get the boy; I'll be back soon so don't get comfortable, girl." His warning fell on deaf ears though as Zetsu was out of earshot, skipping behind Konan as the blue-haired woman walked to the cabin. He just gave it up and started the trek through the Marshlands to Amegakure.

…

When Kakuzu arrived at the hospital and saw Ryu, he'd be forgiven for thinking the doctor walking towards him in the waiting room was someone else. While it was Ryu in appearance with his oversized glasses and stubbled facial hair, their behavior was nothing like him; Ryu was bubbly and had the sunniest disposition while this person was a walking rain cloud. It wasn't until he spoke that Kakuzu realized it was his old friend and not a depressed doppelganger.

"Ryu, what happened to you?" He asked the other man who had the impression of a shinobi which survives the horrors of war with his disheveled appearance of tangled hair and crinkled lab coat.

"Oh…it's been a hard last two weeks," Ryu sighed in a defeated tone, trying to straighten out his crumpled scrubs underneath.

"Sasori?"

"Well…I'm not a person which speaks ill of my patients, but I'll say this…when I was employed for the prison in Takigakure, the prisoners, men who were murderers and rapists, treated me better than Sasori has during his two weeks stay; I've had children with behavioral issues better behaved than him too." As he spoke, frustration leaked into his typically passive tone which he banished by clearing his throat before his happy-go-lucky façade slipped.

Kakuzu didn't experience an ounce of genuine surprise to hear that Sasori was also a little shit to the people who had been labouring night and day to save his pathetic life for the last two weeks. "I'm sorry, Ryu."

"Oh, it's ok, Kakuzu. Anyway," The pediatrician mumbled, and petting down his ruffled locks and correcting his eyeglasses. "The nurses should be bringing Sasori out in a few minutes, if they are lucky. It took us a while just to wrestle him into a wheelchair. I'm going to go back and check on them." With a tremendous sigh, he turned and walked back into the warzone for his next tour.

It was half-an-hour until a shell-shocked Ryu walked out to retrieve his companion from the waiting room. As he walked Kakuzu down the hallway towards Sasori's room, a literal "speak of the devil" moment happened as two nurses turned the corner, pushing said devil child in a wheelchair. The older nurse was red-faced, frustration crinkled in her wrinkled features and teeth so clinched that one could hear them cracking like children's popping candy while the other was franticly eyeballing the windows like she was calculating if the fall out one would be enough to kill her; both showed evidence of their struggle with the teenager like Ryu, perhaps worse so. Meanwhile, Sasori wasn't none too pleased any more than anyone else, pouting so hard his face matched his hair. It could be because he was once again without an arm or leg, or it could be because he was a little shit. Either or.

Sasori noticed Kakuzu too and threw his head back in a dramatic fashion with nose scrunched like he smelt something disgusting. "You're handen me over to this stinken ol' bastard?"

"Tch, would you prefer to stay here? I'll give you the choice then: a broken neck or coma?" Kakuzu challenged him.

"You threaten me in hospital?"

"I'm making it easier on the staff." Stepping up, the brunet gestured at the nurse handling the wheelchair. "I'll take him now."

"What're goen to do? Wheel me back through the mud an' shit like pushen shit up hill?" Sasori huffed, turning his head in an attempt to watch the elder when he walked behind him as the nurse happily stepped back from the redhead. "What're you? R—?" There was an audible crack and a second later, Sasori crumpled in the chair, eyes white. Kakuzu held up his hand, revealing he had rendered the brat unconscious with a strategic chop to the neck. Ryu cringed while the head nurse beside him clapped her hands together and thanked whatever omnipotent being was listening.

Grabbing the back of the boy's shirt, Kakuzu hoisted him out of the wheelchair and slung the teenager over his shoulder as he did with corpses. He turned to Ryu and held out his hand to shake. "Thank you and sorry for everything, Ryu."

The pediatrician accepted it, obliged by the gratitude and he donated to the other a fatigued smile. "Oh, you're welcome, and it's ok; it's my job, for better or for worse."

"If anything else happens to the little shit, I'll bring him to another hospital and let them deal with him instead."

"Please do!" The head nurse exclaimed, either forgetting or disregarding the fact her superior was standing beside her and he disliked it when any of his staff spoke ill of patients.

Though, Ryu said nothing because for once, he agreed with her and didn't experience an ounce of guilt over it.

…

Despite Sasori being back in the cabin again, it was quiet; quiet as in he wasn't trying to kill Zetsu every five minutes or terrorizing everyone else. Instead, he pestered them from inside his own room as he had turned it into a construction site again and interrupted everyone's sleep with hammering and drilling throughout the night and into the day for days on end. Besides this, Kakuzu didn't involve himself with Sasori as he dedicated all his effort and free time on Zetsu and getting her to the point she couldn't be downed by a sneeze.

She was making progress; slow progress but progress, nonetheless. Though, it wasn't until one day soon, that both Kakuzu and Zetsu could savour the fruits of that labour.

…

"Alright, girl, let's call it a day." Kakuzu called. "You've done good today. You took up the new lesson quickly; quicker than I expected." He snapped his fingers at Rājan so it didn't continue throwing punches at the teenager. Zetsu had punched it more than it had punched her. It bellowed its sentiments at her then lumbered back to its host to take a nap.

Zetsu plunked onto her backside, panting and wiping the sweat off her face. "T-Thank you, sir…"

He huffed a pleased noise and hunched over her, patting her a bit too hard on the head, his glove shielding his hand from her damp hair. "You're improving; you might not notice it, but I have." He stopped himself there and straightened up. Afterall, he didn't want her getting a fat head because he praised her once. "Anyway, I'm going into Ame, so you'll be on your own for the day. Don't do anything to get on Sir Leader's bad side."

"Yes, sir."

After Kakuzu left and a well-deserved breather, Zetsu walked back to the cabin and made a b-line for the kitchen, thirsty after finishing her morning training. With Sir gone and the day to herself, she was going to spend it doing her homework and reading. First though, she wanted an ice cold chocolate milk for her study session. As she opened the fridge and leant inside the ice box, she heard a door shut behind her, presuming it to be Sir Leader—though, admittedly, she never saw him leave the basement much—and didn't think much of it. That was, until the person spoke.

"Oi, bitch!" Immediately, Zetsu straightened up, nearly colliding her head with the inside of the refrigerator.

'The Firefly!?' She internally yelped as she turned around to see Sasori marching towards her with his new, glorified peg leg. She totally forgot him! Rather, she knew he was here but because she hadn't seen him for awhile, it slipped her mind that he was here, until now. Sir wasn't here to protect her either. What was she going to do? Whatwasshegoingtodo?

She desperately searched for an out but by the time she had noticed Sasori, the redhead had succeeded in cornering her in the kitchen, trapping her between him and the counter. She pressed herself into it, praying she could do as she did last time and fall through it.

"You lil' bitch," He snarled, leaning down her to petite height then purposely and literally spitting out each individual word into her face. "Look what you've done to me! I was perfect; I was goen to be perfect with the Hitokugutsu, but then you had to take my arm an' leg! Look at what you've done to me!"

"I-I-I'm s-sorry…I didn't…i-it was a-accident."

"How the bloody hell do you accidently eat a person's arm an' leg!?"

"I-I…" When Zetsu couldn't give him an explanation, Sasori stepped back, giving her breathing room. However, what little easement she may've had was quickly gone as he cocked back his remaining arm and threw his fist directly towards her face in a straight-armed punch.

It was in that moment that everything felt like it went into slow motion as the girl stared at the other teenager's incoming fist. You know in cartoons when characters have an idea and a light bulb goes off over their head? Zetsu was having one of those as she realized that Sir had taught her what to do in this scenario just this morning. She put herself back in her training mindset and imagined Sasori, not as Sasori, but as her training partner Rājan, positioning herself defensively with her arms up. It was like something took her over in that moment.

When his hand was inches from her face, she tilted her head to the side, causing his fist to harmlessly past her by. She then grabbed onto his arm, holding it captive as she folded in her other arm and swung her elbow straight at his face. Sasori wasn't expecting the counterattack and due to his one-armed situation, he couldn't defend himself from it either. He quickly stepped sideways so her elbow couldn't break his jaw. Unfortunately, while she didn't strike him in the face, she hit something else as her arm hit the leftover stump of his right arm; the arm which freshly raw from his preparation for his new prothesis. It was that pain as if he struck his funny bone but amplified a hundred times and it was such a sudden and burning pain that it caused him to hunch over and wheeze, spitting up bile. Zetsu saw a new opportunity with him bent over like he was and brought up her knee, nailing him in the nose. The impact caused the fragile cartilage to crunch and blood to flush out of his skull like a red facet.

She let go of his arm and Sasori fell to the ground, writhing and switching between clenching his arching arm and bleeding nose while shrieking so loudly it could've shattered all the windows in the cabin. "You bitch…you bitch!" He screamed, pointing a bloodied finger at her and breathing so hard through clenched teeth he was foaming at the mouth. "I'll…fucken kill you!"

Zetsu prepared herself for a second round as she put up her arms again but instead of trying to attack, Sasori picked himself off the floor. He made a disgusting, snorting noise and then spat a bloody loogie into the girl's face, narrowly hitting her in the eye. He then turned and staggered back to his room, all while continuing to spit uniquely crafted insults, including calling her a "fuck muppet". Even after he had slammed his door shut, his cursing could be heard. Zetsu was left standing there, caramel orbs large as she stared, awestruck, at the shut door until the screaming behind it quieted down.

Once it was silent, she blinked her dried eyes and used a dish towel to clean the spew off her face. As she did, her lethargic brain tried to process what just happened. The Firefly tried to fight her, but then he ran away. Did she win? "I win?" She asked herself, tilting her head side to side like it was on a swivel with her eyes squinted in compilation at the dated kitchen tiling. The Firefly didn't hit her, but she hit him then he left. Wasn't that how fights went? Whenever Sir hit a bad guy and they ran away, it meant he won so because she did the same with the Firefly, then that meant she won too! "I win!" She gasped excitedly, once the answer hit her, and threw up her arms in a victorious gesture. "I win!" Her first fight, and she won!

She grabbed a bottle chocolate milk from the fridge and ran into her/Sir's room, all while happily chanting to herself "I win! I win!". Wait until she told Sir about this!

…

It wasn't until evening that Kakuzu came back to the cabin after spending the day with Ryu on a rare day off, a bit exhausted after listening to the quack babble on about his patients. Also, his study on the Mayfly and the elder was horrified to learn the man decided to continue feeding the Mayfly sample he had and had to transfer it to a fish tank in his home because it grew too large for the jar. Good thing Kakuzu was the only person invited into his house, so it could be kept out in the open like a trophy; a trophy he was too damned prideful of considering what it was. See, Ryu didn't have much of a social life outside Kakuzu but neither did Kakuzu outside him so what was he to say? Nonetheless, he was relieved to be back "home" and could spend the remainder of the night doing his favourite thing: financials. Hopefully, nothing bad happened the one time he decided to leave Zetsu on her own.

As he entered his room, said girl was huddled away in the makeshift tent hung over her futon in the corner and doing the math homework due that night. Upon Zetsu noticing him, she pushed aside her paperwork and bounced out of her little hideaway. "Sir!"

Kakuzu paused, quirking a curious eyebrow at her. "Girl." He wasn't used to getting such a warm reception from her. Typically, when he was in and out, she said nothing because she was too fascinated in whatever new book she was reading.

"I win!"

"What did you win?"

"A fight!"

Oh shit. "You had a fight?" He asked her.

She nodded, orbs like glittering topazes. "With the Firefly!"

Oh, fucking shit. "You two had a fight?"

"Yes! And I win!"

"You two had a fight and you won?" He likely sounded like an idiot parroting everything she was saying like this but he wanted to make sure he was hearing everything correctly. Did she seriously just say she got in a fight with Sasori and won?

"Yes!" She squeaked, bouncing in place.

"What happened?"

"I was…I want chocolate milk and the Firefly…he say bad word and fight me. But! But, I fight back and was like…whoosh and bam!" She made the defensive pose he taught her and threw her elbow then kicked up her knee which mirrored the counters she practiced this morning. "And then…and then the Firefly ran away!"

"Is that what happened?"

"Yes!"

Kakuzu wanted to call bullshit on everything she said. Afterall, he was finding it hard to believe she had a fight with Sasori—Sasori—of all people and won. However, Zetsu wasn't person to lie; she wasn't smart enough to lie and he didn't think her smart enough to think of such a scenario either. Also, with Sasori being down and arm and leg like he was currently was, it was plausible that in a one-on-one fight of fisticuffs, Zetsu could overpower him, even with the little taijutsu she knew. It was bullshit, but he believed it.

He sighed. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, Firefly didn't hit me. I was like whoosh!" She said, making a weaving motion while dramatizing it with the "whoosh" sound. "But I hit him!"

"Did you hurt him?"

"A…a little…" Her hesitant answer surprised him. Not because she confirmed to have hurt Sasori, but because she didn't appear guilty over it like past incidents when she "hurt" someone and started sniveling; not a tear in her eye. If anything, it was like she was frightened she might be punished for hurting him. Was a welcomed change starting to happen with her?

"It's fine, girl. Good job." Zetsu gasped exhilaratingly, confirming his suspicious she wasn't conscience-stricken for what she did, but Kakuzu wasn't going to make her either. Little shit got what he deserved.

She stared intensely at him and after a minute, the older man clued in onto what she wanted after staring back, frowning and brow crinkled like an idiot. He extended out his hand, patting it heavily onto her head as reward for her accomplishment, much to her delight as she giggled and smiled. It was borderline adorable as she reminded him of Daora and he wanted to pinch himself.

'Kakuzu,' Sir Leader's voice suddenly echoed through his subconscious, mercifully infringing on the cushy thoughts he was having. 'I'd like to speak with you. Would you kindly enter my office?'

Kakuzu heaved a grand sigh. "Yes." So much for his quiet time. He turned to leave when Zetsu's tiny voice peeped up.

"Is Sir Leader mad at you?"

His frown creased into his bandana as glanced at her over his shoulder. "You heard that?"

She quirked her head sideways like an owl with her sizable, gawking golden orbs to match. "Yes."

He decided not to interrogate the girl on her evident mind reading abilities and left the room, leaving behind the teenager who just shrugged and went back to burning the midnight oil while drinking her weight in chocolate milk.

As Kakuzu walked to the basement, he decided to take a little detour and confirm if Zetsu's tale of defeating Sasori in battle had an ounce of truth to it. The puppeteer's bedroom door was shut, and it was strangely quiet inside, for once that week. He tapped his knuckles on the sad excuse of a door and waited. A second later, he received an answer from the other side in the fashion of an obnoxiously barked, "what!?"

"Boy, is it true you and the girl got in a fight and she kicked your pathetic bushie ass?" Kakuzu asked him, no pussyfooting or hemming or hawing with him.

"She did not kick my arse! Lil' bitch kicked me in the fucken nose!" Sasori defensively yelled back and that was all the confirmation Kakuzu required. He left the miserable little shit to whatever plotting he was up to as he entered the basement.

It was a few weeks since he last met with Sir Leader and during that time, the ginger had acquired a new Kakuzu-proof desk—as in a metal desk. It was smaller than his last and writing on it felt horrible but it wasn't threatening to fall apart or a file cabinet, so beggars can't be choosers. As Kakuzu trudged down the stairwell, the superior glanced up from his paperwork he was signing to acknowledge the brunet's presence. "Hello, Kakuzu."

"Hmph. You've been quiet." Kakuzu grunted, standing with arms crossed behind the available chair instead of seating himself as he saw no use since this conversation would be over in a matter of minutes. Or, so he prayed.

"That I have. I was waiting for the payment from Shimogakure and it finally arrived yesterday."

"Tch, what took them so long?"

"Well, according to the letter which it was attached to, it took them time to identify a majority of the bodies as they were quote," Sir Leader paused as he fished said letter from a drawer, so he may read it. "'burned beyond recognition', unquote." He glimpsed over the parchment at the other man again, delivering him a questioning gaze of "what did you do?".

Kakuzu granted he might have overdone it a little bit on that mission, but he was having a bad day. "Was the entire payment included at least?"

"Yes, it was. As promised, each bounty was paid to us. The Akatsuki has been hurting finically but with this payment, it'll make future endeavors easier."

Finally, good news. Perhaps whatever curse inflicting them was starting to pass. "Glad to hear. Now, if you excuse me." Kakuzu turned to leave and return back to his bookkeeping but Sir Leader hadn't finished with him or the conversation just yet.

"How is Zetsu?"

It was such an out-of-the-blue question that it succeeded in halting the pennypitcher in his step. Kakuzu turned back to him, quiet for a moment before answering. "She's fine."

Sir Leader nodded, a thoughtful expression etched into his pierced face, setting his elbows on his desk with his chin sat upon his intertwined fingers. "How is her training going?"

"Fine also. She's a quick learner and she can perfect a lesson now within one to two sessions; she's improved a lot."

"Would you say she is prepared to function as a member of the Akatsuki?"

"No." Sir Leader perked an inquisitive eyebrow up to his headband by the outright answer after the elder finished praising the girl, a rare gesture from him. Kakuzu decided to explain himself. "She's learned a lot, yes, but she wouldn't last five minutes by herself or in a fight. Though, she said she got in a fight with Sasori today and won."

The other orange eyebrow went up. "She and Sasori had a fight?"

Kakuzu nodded. "Yes, and according to her, she won it. I confirmed it with the little shit who said she kicked him the nose."

"That is impressive. And yet, you do not believe her readied to be a member?"

"Considering that boy has only one leg and one arm right now, it was a fight with a cripple."

"Noted." Sir Leader pushed himself back in his chair with one leg slung over the other and his hands on his knee. "So, how much longer until you think Zetsu's training complete? I'd like it to be once preparations for the Akatsuki are completed."

"When would you say that'll happened?"

"Approximately? Hmm, perhaps three months."

"Then three months."

"Are you positive on that, Kakuzu?" Sir Leader interrogated him, his Rinnegan dilating eerily as he stared at the larger male. "Do you think, no, do you believe she'll be prepared to be a member of the Akatsuki in three months' time? Once the next step for the Akatsuki is taken, we'll required all the members we can get."

"Yes, I do." Kakuzu replied without a hint of deception in his thunderous tone. "Like I said, she's a quick learner and if she can master a lesson as she had, then I'll have nothing left to teach her in two months."

"You've grown quite sentimental with the girl, Kakuzu."

Kakuzu huffed. "Do not mistake my impatience for praise. I want this girl out of my hair as soon as possible."

"Hmm, well then." Sir Leader muttered. Foolish him thinking the felon had a hint of warmth in any one of his five hearts. "Two months it is. Would you like to shake on it?"

"No, because I know for a fact you're going to remind me of it everytime we meet." Kakuzu grumbled and Sir Leader lowered the hand he had extended over his desk in preparation of said handshake. "Now, if we're finished, I'll be taking my leave."

"Yes, so you can get Zetsu. I've got a new mission for you."

There was a loud, crunching noise as the back of the metal chair was crumpled in Kakuzu's bruising grasp like paper. Pein frowned. It would appear he would have to petition Konan for a new chair next.

…

In the blink of an eye, two months came and went; Kakuzu spent them juggling between training Zetsu and missions. Zetsu picked up quickly on her lessons and as he told Sir Leader, what would've taken three months took only two. He tried to develop her Mayfly also, but given his knowledge of the Kekkei Genkai was limited, he gave up on it and decided she could learn it herself through trail and error like she had. Besides that, she had the basic training of a shinobi and he trusted she was qualified to be accepted into the Akatsuki and function by herself.

Before he'd tell Sir Leader that though, he had one test left and this would either make or break her.

It was like any other morning: Kakuzu had woken Zetsu up and after bathing and having a breakfast of delicious chocolate milk, she left the cabin for her training. He had told her he'd catch up with her later, so she carried with her a book to read in the meantime. In recent past, she had improved in her reading skills. So much so, Konan gifted her with intermediate reading material, the type adults read that didn't have pictures and was hundreds of pages. This one was about a witch and lion and Zetsu was curious why they were in a wardrobe. She found a sunny spot in the middle of the field and laid herself down.

When she finally glanced up from her novel, approximately twenty minutes later, she realized Sir had yet to arrive. It was peculiar (that was one of her favourite words). Typically, he'd be here ten minutes after, not twice that. She was curious if something happened and she should investigate it but decided not to. Sir was an adult and adults could take care of themselves, especially Sir so she went back to her reading.

It was thirty minutes in when Zetsu at last heard the slamming of the cabin door and felt the faint quakes of Sir marching to her. She sat up, tagging her place in the book with the cute, kitten bookmark Konan had given her and put it to the side as he got up. Immediately, she observed the lack of company Sir had with him as Rājan was nowhere to be seen. She was used to the creature being with him since it was her training partner. With his tardiness and isolation, she suspected something was up and waited for an explanation.

"Girl, you aren't going to be training today." Kakuzu notified her, much to the teenager's perplexity. They never didn't train! Sir trained her even when she was sick or when her arm was casted. It was the first time they skipped out on training. She kind of liked training. It was hard but she liked how big and strong it made her. The Firefly hadn't tried to fight her since she won!

"Why?" She asked him quietly, staring up at him with her natural puppy-dog eyes.

"Because you're having a test today." Instantly, she hated herself for asking.

"A-A test?" She stammered out with lips quivering. She hated tests! They made her nervous. Konan said she was great at tests, and she was because she always got one-hundreds, but she hated them. She hadn't studied either! She didn't know what she was supposed to study but she didn't study!

"Your final test." A final test too? What happened to the other tests? "You've made great process, more so than I thought you would. Because of that, I have nothing left to teach you. So, this test is going to be a battle and in it, you'll demonstrate everything you've learned. If you win, then you'll become a member of the Akatsuki."

"And I lose?"

"Then I'll have to start from scratch and teach you everything again." Kakuzu cringed as he said this as it would be a harder loss for him instead of her.

Zetsu considered it. A fight and if she won, she joined the Akatsuki (she always thought she was part of the Akatsuki because she lived here but apparently not?), and if she lost than she had to do training over again? She wasn't enticed with the spoils of victory or failure but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try and win this fight with everything she had! "Ok!"

"Oh no, I'm not your opponent." He clarified when the girl fell into the defensive stance she practiced with a hundred times now and was like getting dressed in the morning, honey orbs squinted directly at him and a curl to her upper lip that displayed her canines hidden underneath.

Her clenched fists fell a bit as she was disarmed by his answer, but she kept them up at chest level as while her guard wavered, it didn't drop. Just like Sir taught her. "Then who?"

"That'll be me, poppet."

Zetsu turned in the direction of the new voice and gasped. "The Firefly!?"

…

AN: Aye, first chapter of 2019! This chapter was a bit late because of holidays but also, I got a job! And I love it! So, I've been occupied with learning and it's pooped me out a bit, so I put my writing on the back burner. But I'm back and with a new chapter! I'm going to have a lot of fun with writing the next chapter.

Next Chapter: Zetsu vs. Sasori.

Until next time.