Suteta - (Akatsuki fanfic)

Part 1

Nothing could be worse than winter. It was when the forest hid far within itself and not return until spring. And that was only the life strong enough to withstand the cold while the rest withered and died. A cycle Zetsu despised. The world looked much better during the colorful and fragrant seasons when nature was in full bloom. Winter just looked boring and ugly. Any color only came from snow, mud, and bare trees. Why couldn’t the good seasons stay? Like the plants, he was better suited for those months than this freezing weather. It only drained his energy.

He came near the border of the base. Having just got back from a spying mission and after eleven weeks, nearly three months of working nonstop, Zetsu couldn’t wait to rest. Though he knew it would be impossible for such a luxury. Pein almost always had something, some mission, for him to carry out. If not that, the other members of Akatsuki, save for the shark nin Kisame, tortured him with insults about his appearance and cannibalistic habits. Zetsu wanted to just kill them but that would only prove their point about his temper, now wouldn’t it? Zetsu sighed as he trekked through the deepening night. There was no escaping this tiring and empty existence. He wanted more than anything to have a moment’s peace. Just once, if only once. However, like wishing on stars, it was nothing but silly nonsense to dream of such things.

Zetsu halted mid step. “I smell blood.” Under the smoky scent of the ice and snow was the faint hint of iron.  And it was close by. But where? Zetsu looked around. There was no moon, but the snow glowed with its own light. A small, dark mass stood out from the glow next to a tree roughly six feet away. What is that? How the hell should I know? Find out!

He cautiously stepped toward the motionless figure and crouched in front of it. A thin layer of snow lay over a frame of a head and shoulders, and the surrounding snow was slightly melted away revealing the rest of the body. A child? What’s a brat doing practically sitting on top of the base? True. The border between the Akatsuki base and here was within spitting distance. Literally. Perhaps she is a spy. But he never heard of a child being capable of espionage, so that didn’t make sense. All the more reason to get rid of her, the black side responded anyway. Zetsu brushed the toddler’s hair away from her face with his white hand. She was cold as ice. And didn’t move.

Snowflakes fell to her skin, not melting at the touch like they should. Blood crystallized at the back of her head and slowly streamed around her neck to her arms as it froze. So that was where the scent had come from, but even as close as this it was dull and fading as the snow continued to layer. Dead as a doornail. Let’s eat her. How blunt you are. No, the white side interjected. Why the hell not? Both sides of him knew why, though one would prefer to ignore it.

Far within the frozen body, Zetsu sensed a tiny spark clinging to life by a dissolving thread. The child’s underdeveloped chakra. She’s alive. That has never stopped us before.

Zetsu took the girl, who was surprisingly limp for being frozen, into his arms. And she was light, even for moments from freezing to death. “Well?” he spoke aloud. “Put the brat out of her misery already!”

Zetsu gazed at the toddler he held, thinking briefly. “Is it really in us to kill a flower?” The thought stopped the irritableness of his black half in its tracks and replaced it with curiosity. The girl, without a doubt, seemed to resemble a flower in human form. In the darkness Zetsu saw she wore a pale green, long sleeved gown and her skin had an earthy shade. Even her hair varied in tints of light purple, that of common lilacs.

Only, unlike the lilac which naturally blossomed in large groups, she was alone. And when a flower became separated from an intended group or pairing it died within minutes.

Suddenly the toddler’s eyes opened to little more than slits. They were off-white and stared blankly into space. She had no clue as to whether she was alive or not, unaware of what death was or meant. Zetsu found himself holding his breath as her eyes drifted to him. Whether it was due to the lack of energy or something else, she didn’t react save for trembling with the cold. Her eyes closed again.

He felt a stab of pity. Should we help her? Why? The brat will be dead for real in a minute or two anyway, so I don’t see a point. There was no response as Zetsu knew the true thoughts of his other half. He straightened and started across the border.

The snowfall quickened into a blizzard, seemingly angered Zetsu had taken its prey. No matter. This ugly weather had taken more than its share in one night than it should have for a whole season. It could get over sparing one life.

“I believe,” the black side broke the silence. “the question is not whether we would be willing to destroy a flower or not,” which they wouldn’t, “but rather, what heathen scum was.”