Adopted Love

  Zetsu whimpered as a raindrop fell onto his face and buried it further into Konan’s chest. He used to really like the rain – or at least he did until the orphanage workers decided that every time it would rain they would lock Zetsu outside in it. It was enough for him to have gained a phobia of water.

  Pein slowed his pace enough to be beside Konan and he looked at Zetsu. He smiled comfortingly at the small boy, but it didn’t seem to be helping any. Pein frowned, motioning for Konan to hand him over to Pein, and when she did, he wrapped the kid in his raincoat with him, gently rubbing the boy's head gently.

  Zetsu leant into the comforting touch, closing his eyes and resting his head on Pein's chest. He didn’t know why, but being with Pein made him feel much better about a lot of things. It was the same feeling he got with Konan, but with Pein it was stronger -- as if he knew that Pein would protect Zetsu from anything.

  "I love you, Pein-sama," Zetsu yawned, smiling up at him.

  Pein smiled back. "... Yeah. Go to sleep, Zetsu; we'll be there in about two more hours, okay?"

  "Okay... Good night."

  “Good night.”  Both Konan and Pein said gently.

  -LINEBREAK-

  The next morning Zetsu woke up to warmth, and for the first time in his entire life he woke up with a smile on his face. Snuggling in closer to the warmth he sighed in content. He could stay like this forever, but the warmth had different plans.  Zetsu had been snuggling in close to Konan, but said woman was now sitting up, smiling down at Zetsu.

  "Zetsu..." Konan said, picking the boy up gently and pulling him onto her lap, hugging him. "Time to get up, now. Pein will have breakfast ready for us so let's not keep him waiting, okay?"

  Zetsu grinned. "Really? B-breakfast? We've never had breakfast before, Konan-chan! We did once but it was stale... so we don’t count that one!"

  Konan laughed at Zetsu's exuberance, patting the child's hair. "You're so adorable."

  Zetsu smiled brightly before hugging Konan. "We... we like hugs..." He said shyly as he pulled back after a few moments. "Do not. Do too!"

  "Zetsu, sweetie, let's go, now, okay?” Konan chuckled.  “We have someone important coming over for lunch we need to get breakfast out of the way and clean up a little."

  Zetsu stiffened at the mention of someone else being at the house – he didn’t know why but the mere thought of someone else being around Pein and Konan -- and, consequently, Zetsu – to be a serious cause for alarm. "S-someone... else?"

  "Yes, he's a... a friend of Pein's, you could say..." Konan bit her lip, knowing that if she told Zetsu what this person was really like, it could have a very severe reaction from the boy, and not a positive one at that.

  Zetsu nodded his head, deciding to trust Konan on this, no matter how terrified he felt. "We... We trust you, Konan-chan..."

  "Please don’t add honorifics to our names, Zetsu-kun." Konan said, rubbing the boy's cheek. "You don’t need them with us, okay?"

  Zetsu frowned before smiling again – no one had ever been so kind to him before.  "Okay."

  Konan smiled.  “Listen – Pein and I have to go out soon on a mission and there is no way we can refuse it or abandon it – it is extremely important, but we cannot tell you why so soon.  Believe me when I say that I don’t want to do this, but you’re going to have to stay here with Madara…”

  Zetsu tilted his head before smiling softly and nodding.  “Okay.  Whatever you want, Konan.”

  Konan sighed softly before smiling back.  “Let’s go and get breakfast now, okay?  C’mon – I’ll make you some eggs on toast.”

  With those words spoken, Zetsu had shot out of bed and into the kitchen in eagerness. 

-LINEBREAK-

  "Pein...?" Zetsu stuck his head around the door of the study just an hour later, finding Pein engrossed in a scroll.

  "What is it, Zetsu-kun?" Pein asked, turning around to face the child.

  "Umm... Your friend... the one coming over... Is he... you know... Nice?"

  Pein frowned, unsure of how to answer the question. "Well... sometimes... I think he will be kind to you because you're only a boy."

  "What do you mean... Sometimes?"

  Pein sighed. "Well... he... he can be a bit on the... nasty side... I was going to talk to you about this before he came but I guess you came to me, hai?"

  Zetsu smiled weakly, feeling butterflies swimming in his stomach. "What's his name?"

  "Madara. Uchiha Madara."

  "We've never heard of him before."

  'Well, that's something to be thankful for,' Pein thought to himself. 'He doesn’t know who'll be coming so that's a good thing... probably...'

  Zetsu walked into the study slowly, pulling himself up onto Pein's lap and looking at the scrolls Pein was working on. Pein didn’t mind – surprisingly -- and continued to go over them all with Zetsu seated firmly on his lap, observing his work.

  They were like that for about an hour or two, and just when Zetsu was starting to drift off on Pein's lap, Konan came in, looking slightly distressed.

  "He's here." She said so quietly that Zetsu almost didn’t hear her.

  Pein sighed. "Tell him that I'll be out in a minute." When Konan nodded and left, he turned to Zetsu whom was still on his lap. "I hope that you won’t take this the wrong way, Zetsu, but... when Madara is around, I really, really need you to be quiet, okay? I hope you haven’t taken offence to that..."

  Zetsu shook his head, his smile still bright. "I haven’t."

  "Good... And if Madara talks to you, you need to be quiet and formal in your manners, okay?"

  Zetsu nodded and Pein wished he could tell Zetsu why he had to be so... so un-Zetsu-like around Madara. He knew that he couldn’t -- he would only scare Zetsu off if he told the boy what a monster Madara was.

  "Pein, hurry the fuck up!"

  Zetsu heard an unfamiliar voice shouting from the living room and he flinched in fear.

  Pein noticed this and sighed, his expression somewhat apologetic.  "Come along, Zetsu-kun."

  Zetsu nodded, clambering off of Pein's lap and holding the male's hand tightly as they walked to the living room. When they got there, Zetsu noticed a male -- only a little bit taller than Pein himself -- with long black, spiky hair and red eyes. Zetsu whimpered, hiding behind Pein.

  "Who's this, Pein?" Madara asked thought his voice was disinterested.

  "This is Zetsu," Pein said quietly, trying to shove the boy out front. "Say hi, Zetsu-kun."

  "H-hi, Madara-sama…" Zetsu bowed quickly before scurrying back behind Pein, not liking Madara one bit.

  Madara ignored Zetsu for the most part, instead turning to Konan. "Damnit, Konan, where's our coffees?!"

  Konan didn’t even flinch. "The water's heating, Madara-sama." She spat out the honorific as if it were poison on her tongue.

  Madara glared at the woman. Pein shifted nervously from foot to foot.

  “Madara-sama, are you still taking care of Zetsu-kun…?” The ginger asked warily. 

  Madara smirked. "Sure, I'll still take care of him. We'll have such fun together, won’t we, Zetsu-kun?" Zetsu whimpered quietly before nodding, avoiding all eye contact. "What was that, Zetsu? I didn’t hear you."

  "Y-yes..." Zetsu whispered.

  "Yes, what?"

  "Yes, sir..." Zetsu whispered, eyes welling up in fear.

  Pein shook his head, knowing that nothing good was to come out of this, but he had no other choice. When he had adopted Zetsu he didn’t think that he would have to deal with this so suddenly, but Madara decided to invite himself over so soon to discuss 'their' organisation-in-progress – leaving himself the only plausible option for babysitting, no matter how much Pein and Konan didn’t want to do it.

  "Zetsu-kun," Pein called, seriousness in his voice, "come with me while I get our things ready."

  "Yes, Pein." Zetsu obediently followed Pein without a moment's hesitation -- he was just glad to get away from the scary man.

  Pein was sure to shut their door behind them loud enough for Madara to hear it – an unvoiced command to be left alone -- and turned to Zetsu. He took the boy's face in his hands.

  "Zetsu, listen to me."  He said sternly. "Madara isn’t someone I would trust with you alone but we have no other choice. I'm going to be serious here -- Madara might hurt you -- badly."

  Zetsu whimpered loudly, clutching Pein's hand tightly.  He didn’t want to be left alone with the creepy man – not at all.

  Pein continued, his heart breaking at the uncomfortable look on Zetsu’s face. "If he hurts you I want you to tell me the second we come back home, okay? And if he... touches you in inappropriate places -"

  "Pein, fucking hurry the hell up!" Madara called through the door, voice muffled by the thick wood. "Some of us have lives and want to get back to them ASAP!  I don’t want to be stuck here babysitting for a second longer than I have to!”

  Pein shook his head at Madara’s words.  He didn’t remember what he had been talking about, but he knew that he was out of time to do anything else.  He knew that he couldn’t dawdle any longer -- they had already wasted a lot of time waiting on Madara to make an appearance. 

  Pein quickly shoved his and Konan's clothes into backpacks before hugging Zetsu tightly and leaving the house with Konan.  The ginger had barely even said a word to either Zetsu or Madara before disappearing.

  Zetsu whimpered to himself, running to the bed and throwing himself on it.  He hid under the covers, not wanting to have anything to do with the Uchiha.  His breath hitched just moments later as footsteps walked towards the room.  He screamed when Madara pulled the covers from off of him without warning.

  "P-please, don’t hurt us..." Zetsu whimpered, beginning to shake.

  Madara laughed loudly, amused by Zetsu’s fear. "Such an interesting little toy Pein has left for me... I'm going to have such fun with you, Zetsu."