Adopted Love

  "Zetsu, will you come here for a minute, please?" Pein called to the boy a few days later.

  Zetsu happily ran to Pein, beaming as he thought of how he could please the man today. "Yes, Pein?"

  Pein chuckled.  He patted Zetsu’s head.  “Well, your birthday is in a couple of days…  What would you like for your birthday?”

  “Can we have anything?”

  “Yes, Zetsu.”

  “Then we want you.” Both voices said simultaneously. 

  Pein frowned.  “Zetsu, we’ve been over this…”

  “B-but…  You said that we could have anything…”

  Pein knelt down next to Zetsu.  He picked the boy up and carried him into his room.  He closed the door behind him and locked it, placing Zetsu on the bed.

  “Zetsu, look…” Pein started, trying to word his sentence properly.  “…I know that I said you can have anything, but…  Zetsu, let’s make a deal, okay?”

  “Deal?”

  “How about… on your birthday, instead of having all of me, you’re happy with a kiss?”

  “A kiss?”

  “Yes.  Zetsu, I know how much you want to have sex, but you’re only a child.  How about this – you can have all of me for your sixteenth birthday present, okay?”

  Zetsu did the maths in his head.  “So… that’s only two years from now?  …We’ll do it!”

  Zetsu hugged Pein, so happy that the elder was finally allowing him to have something he so desperately wanted.

  Pein hugged back.  He couldn’t say that he was happy about agreeing to this, but he wanted Zetsu to be happy.

  “Go to sleep now, Zetsu.” Pein whispered as he kissed Zetsu’s forehead.  “I want you to go on your first mission tomorrow, okay?”

  Zetsu nodded with a yawn.  He squeezed Pein a little tighter before releasing the elder.  He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, allowing the darkness to take over.  He was vaguely aware of Madara entering the room and putting Tobi into bed before he entered the dream world.

  -XX-

  “This doesn’t seem right.” Shiroi said as he went over the mission scroll again.  “I don’t think that this is the right place…  Of course it’s the right place!  Pein wouldn’t like to us – you know that!  I-I know he wouldn’t, but…  Pein gets the missions from Madara, and want if – Pein would know if Madara was up to something!  Don’t speak ill about Pein!”

  Shiroi sighed.  Kuroi had too much faith in Pein and wouldn’t accept the fact that the ginger couldn’t always protect them.

  As Zetsu sat on the ground for a rest, he took some onigiri from his pack.  He munched on it quietly as he surveyed his surroundings.  A familiar chakra spike soon caught his attention.  He jumped to his feet as Madara approached him from behind.

  “M-madara…” Zetsu mumbled.  He didn’t like the fact that he was alone with his rapist.

  Madara pursed his lips, tutting.  “Tsk.  You should be more respectful with your elders, Zetsu…  Pein forgot to give these to you.”

  Madara held out a syringe, but unfortunately, Zetsu only realised that there was a liquid in them when it was too late – when Madara had stabbed him in the neck with the syringe and injected the fluid. 

  Zetsu squealed, trying to jump away, but his body was getting too heavy for him to hold up.  He felt himself fall to the ground, a horrible aching taking over his body.  He heard Madara laugh and felt two more chakra signatures unveil themselves and approach him.  He was even aware of someone picking him up and slinging him over their shoulder.

  “Make sure that it doesn’t fail.” That was the last thing that Zetsu heard Madara say before blacking out.

  -XX-

  Zetsu moaned as he woke with a horrible headache.

  “Awake already, eh?”

  Zetsu jumped at the voice – it didn’t sound familiar at all. 

  “That’s okay – Madara-sama paid us a lot of money to do this…  He would have loved to do it himself, but he said that it would have seemed too suspicious for him to disappear every day once you had gone missing.  Don’t worry – we’re not going to hurt you…  We just want to… show you some stuff…”

  Zetsu growled weakly as he felt hands grab him under his armpits and lift him into the air.  There was laughter, but the dim light prevented him from seeing who was laughing.  He tried to speak but he was still muddled up from the drugging, unable to form a coherent sentence.  He desperately wanted to know what was happening and why he was here, but all he could gather was that it was Madara’s doing.

  The person who was carrying Zetsu unlocked a steel door and entered.  Zetsu was hit with the horrid stench of rotting bodies.  He gagged at the smell, feeling bile rise.  He didn’t even try to stop it as he vomited.  The people who were with him laughed before dropping him to the ground.  Now that there was more sufficient lighting, he could make out that were two people with him – both males and wearing a mask to stop them from smelling the stench.

  “Madara-sama said that his new organisation needed something to get rid of evidence, and he said that a cannibal would be perfect for disposing of bodily evidence.  He chose you, Zetsu, as his little garbage disposal.  Now you’re going to learn to love the taste of humans.  If you don’t…  Well, Madara-sama said to dispose of you.”

  -XX-

  Pein paced around the living room anxiously, almost tripping over Tobi for the fourth time in as many minutes.  It was the seventh day of Zetsu’s absence but the child should have returned three days ago.  No one had been able to find him, either.

  “Pein, are you alright?” Konan whispered, touching Pein on the arm in an attempt to calm him.

  Pein nodded.  He didn’t want to concern Konan more than she already was.  “I’m fine, Konan…  I’m just… thinking of other things…”

  “No, you’re not…” Konan knew that Pein was lying.  “You’re worried about Zetsu, and you’re still hurt from the beating that Madara gave you for losing him…  I can read you like an open book…”

  Pein sighed and nodded.  “You’re right, Konan…  I’m sorry for lying to you…  Forgive me.”

  Konan smiled weakly at Pein.  “We’ll find Zetsu again, Pein – I promise.  I’ve sent my paper butterflies searching for him.  None of them have returned, so there’s no one else in the area.  Perhaps he just got lost…”

  Pein nodded.  He looked down at Tobi who was currently tugging on the hem of his pants.  “What is it, Tobi?”

  “W-when Z-z-zuzu c-come back?” Tobi whimpered.  “T-tobi miss ZuZu.”

  “I’m…  I’m not sure, Tobi…  But he’s okay.” Pein smiled feebly at the child, knowing that he couldn’t understand why Zetsu had suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth.

  If any of them had paid attention to Madara’s chakra signature in the hallway, they would have seen him smirking, a letter and money in hand.