COM. Zetsu x Reader - Secrets

You didn't understand why he made himself scarce.

The stream barely moved as you landed on the water, barely disturbing the surface with skill. You looked up at the bright sky, the trees shuffling in the wind.

You looked back down at your hand where you held a note, undoubtedly by the mysterious Akatsuki himself.

"Meet me at the stream where we first met. I have something I must tell you."

The tension was making you nervous. You couldn't understand why.

This was the spot where you, two years ago, wandered off from [favorite village]. You were a shinobi but you didn't have much promise, hence the reason why you left. Then a strange plant shuffled to life, only to reveal a man underneath. He was odd, but somehow captivated you at the same time.

He had introduced himself as Zetsu. He promised you power and greatness and possibly revenge if you went with him. Just the way he offered his hand and the feel of his chakra pulsing was enough to make your heart pound.

You two became close friends. He taught you many things as did the other Akatsuki, but Zetsu was always your favorite to be mentored by. Sometimes you two slacked off and ate some berries found in the forest or watched both small and large creatures crawl over plant life.

But recently he has grown distant. After your training was complete and you were starting to take on missions, Zetsu disappeared. Perhaps he was jealous. Perhaps he was shy. You didn't know, but it twisted your gut every time he turned away or simply avoided you.

You smiled at the memories. But that smile quickly faded as you heard the ground shift behind you. You spun around quickly, immediately taking a defensive stance.

When Zetsu climbed out of the ground, you relaxed.

"Oh," was all you could say.

"Hi," Zetsu replied.

An awkward silence yawned between the two of you. Zetsu had shyly turned his head away from you. You tried to think of something to say. Once you thought you had a sentence formed, you opened your mouth, only to close it again when the words wouldn't come out.

The silence continued for another few minutes, though it felt like hours.

"Thanks for...coming here," Zetsu's soft voice emerged from the plant-like Akatsuki.

"Yeah," you cleared your throat. You shuffled your feet and noticed your feet were getting wet; you were still standing on the water. You made a startled yelp as you leaped toward the shore where Zetsu was.

You lost your balance as your foot hit the edge of the shoreline; you had misinterpreted the distance and was just short.

You fell backwards only to get caught by the arm. You made a startled shout as you were yanked forward and into a pair of warm arms. You look up to see Zetsu staring right back down. You blushed and so did the white side of him. The darker side continued to stare down at you, but you knew that he felt shy, too.

"Uh..." You hesitantly stand back up as Zetsu held your shoulder to help stabilize you.

"Well," Zetsu's soft voice said again.

"We wanted to tell you something," a more gruff voice emerged from the Akatsuki. You looked up at Zetsu, waiting patiently.

"We...wanted to say that we...we are very sorry that we've been avoiding you," the soft voice spoke.

"But we were just too shy," the rough voice said bluntly. "You see, we--"

"I really like you," the soft side finished.

You blushed and so did Zetsu. For a while it was quiet again. You swallowed, unsure how to respond.

"I'm really sorry to have bothered you," Zetsu said after another moment of silence. "Nobody should love a monster as myself...I'm not even really a human. Just a monster." He turned to leave but before he could activate his jutsu, you grabbed his arm.

"No," you say strictly. His eyes widened in surprise. "You're not a monster." You gripped his arm tighter. "Don't...don't ever say that about yourself."

Zetsu looked down at you with surprise, speechless. You slowly let go of his arm but he caught your hand and held it gently. You looked up at him and he suddenly pulled you in and wrapped his arms around you.

For a moment, you were shocked, but you quickly relaxed and wrapped your arms back around him.

Not another word was exchanged even after the embrace was over. But he merely smiled at you and you smiled back.

He gave you a gentle kiss on the forehead and you closed your eyes, feeling his rather warm and soft lips press against your skin.

And from that day on, he no longer ignored you.

The days were spent observing the creatures again and eating berries, but fed the berries to each other.

Even then, the missions were spent together. And you two couldn't be happier.