Heart of Ice, Eyes of Fire (Itachi X Reader)

Chapter 25: Zetsu; Secrets of sacred Fire

Itachi kneeled on the ground, his hand touched something. It was slightly dried, but not quite. He rubbed it inbetween his thumb and index finger. His eyes narrowed while he looked at it.

"What did you find?" asked Kisame, standing above Itachi. It took Itachi a while to answer. Finally, he whispered,

"Blood."

Kisame went a little pale around the gills but quickly recovered as Itachi stood up. He looked down some more and saw cut rope lying on the ground. He walked over to a tree and saw what appeared to be a kunai mark in its bark. His eyes trailed across from that and he saw shuriken still caught in the dirt.

"Something had happened here pretty recently," he said softly, stepping towards the shuriken.

"Do you think _______ was involved?" asked Kisame, watching his partner closely. Itachi was silent for a moment.

"I don't know..." he said in almost a whisper, not looking at Kisame. Kisame frowned slightly. He had never seen Itachi so bent out of shape for anything. He could tell that Itachi was getting worried, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"Look Itachi, we should rest. The sun is already back up and we've been searching all night. We should sleep for a while and then search again," said Kisame, stepping towards his partner a little more. Itachi stood rigid at the spot, a shadow covering his eyes.

Itachi didn't reply to Kisame, he just turned on his heel and walked into the woods. Kisame sighed and followed his stubborn partner quietly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A few hours earlier ~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The roots were holding you down tightly. You had your eyes slammed shut, your face near the dirt. Not wanting the thing near you to see you. You felt its presense right next to you, but you still didn't look up.

"_______...." it said your name again, making you shiver, "Why aren't you with Itachi and Kisame?"

You blinked and looked up. You were surprised as you felt the roots release your wrists and ankles. You stared up at the figure and you noticed something familiar about it.

It was wearing the Akatsuki cloak.

You sat up, still looking up at the thing. You stared at it carefully and you could feel it was staring back at you.

"Who are you?" you asked, raising an eyebrow at it slightly.

"...Zetsu..." said the thing softly. You racked your brain, trying to remember where you heard that name before. Then, you remembered when you were first in the Akatsuki headquarters. You had been talking to Deidara at the time.

"Deidara...where are the rest of the members?" you asked, finally sitting up straight so you could have level eye contact with him. He looked at you for a second and then up at the ceiling in thought.

"Hm...Kisame and Itachi went out to go train...Hidan is probably praying...I don't know where Kakuzu is...Leader and his partner are never here...Tobi is off being...Tobi and Zetsu is probably out spying or getting rid of the bodies that Kakuzu is done with, yeah," said Deidara...

You gulped when you remembered what Deidara said about Zetsu. This guy would eat people! You slowly stood up, your legs shaking slightly. Even while you stood up, you were not even close to Zetsu's height. You observed him closely and saw what appeared to be...a huge venus fly trap surronding his head!

You stepped back slightly from surprise, you eyes widening at his appearance. He seemed to notice this and got a slightly irritated look on his face.