Taki's POV:
I woke up extra early, around five to get ready for the day.
I looked down to find that Deidara had fallen asleep on my legs. I think that I may have kept him up too long.
I suddenly felt a little bit bad for making Deidara stay up just to hear me talk. Although I did think he looked kinda cute like that.
I slowly got up, making sure that I didn't wake Deidara. I looked over at Tobi, sleeping peacefully.
His back faced me, and I saw that his mask was placed on the night drawer beside him. I wanted so badly to see his face, but I knew better than to look at him while he was sleeping.
I changed into my new clothes, and silently left the room with my bag of food in hand.
I went to the kitchen, finding with relief that I was the only one up.
My jaw dropped once I got in the kitchen. I clasped my hand over my mouth and nose. Dirty dishes were stacked up in the sink. It looked like they haven't been washed.. ever.
The counters were cluttered, and the table was a mess. The floor around me was filled with trash, and the air was foul-smelling.
My nose wrinkled, and I sighed. Well, I know how I'm spending my morning.
I cleaned up the trash on the floor. I took the trash out, and replaced the can. I swept the floor, and wiped it.
I cleaned up the trash on the table and counters, then organized the items strewn across the area. I wiped down the table and counters, even the cabinets, refrigerator, oven, and microwave.
I washed the dishes, dried them with a towel, then put them away. I opened the window up to let out the bad air.
Then I cut a few lemons in half, than left them on the windowsill, to freshen the air.
I made sure to stay quiet as I cleaned. Luckily no one woke up as I worked. I looked over at the clock. 5:57.
I was finally done working, and the kitchen looked beautiful. (Look at the picture) I walked over to my bag of food, and began to put it away.
I opened up the refrigerator, and was relieved to see that it already had basic foods like milk, eggs, and butter.
I decided to make breakfast. I mixed the ingredients, softly whisking them.
Something caught my eye, and I turned around. I saw something coming through the floor.
A man with a Venus fly trap looking object on his shoulders popped out of the ground. I jumped in surprise.
"Who are you?" We both asked each other quietly.
"I'm Harigae Taki. Um, your friends let me live here.."
He cocked his head to the side. "Our name is Zetsu. Uh, welcome, I guess. You really don't know how to talk to ladies without sounding like an idiot. Oh, shut up."
I smiled slightly to avoid an awkward start to the conversation. "Eh.. good morning, Zetsu. I was uh, just making breakfast."
Zetsu pulled himself through the floor all the way. He looked around.
"Wow, you really cleaned up this place.. 'Good morning to you too, Taki'. Oh yeah. Good morning. You're such an idiot. I know.."
Soft chuckles spilled from my lips, and I brought a finger to them. Zetsu was silent. "Oh. Sorry." He whispered.
I went over to him, and brought my hands to his cheeks. I observed the features of his face, and marveled.
Half of his face was white, and half was black. The white seemed to have a more positive personality than the black.
Both of their eyes were a soft golden yellow, just like the setting sun. They had green hair. In its own way, he looked pretty cute.
"You look so cool.." I muttered. My hands were still on his cheeks. He brought up his hands to my wrists, and put my hands off of his face.
White Zetsu blushed. "You think so? Why were your hands on my face?"
"Ah no reason." I turned back to my breakfast batter, and continued to whisk it. Zetsu walked up to me, and looked over my shoulder.
"What are you making?" "Tamagoyaki." I replied. "Sounds good.. Are you good at cooking?"
I hummed, then shrugged. "I don't know." "You look like you are." I couldn't help but smile slightly to myself at the compliment. "Thanks, Zetsu. You're so kind."
He smiled proudly as if he had accomplished something. "We're going to go wake everyone up. See 'ya."
As he was starting to leave, I tugged on his cloak. "Actually, is it possible to let them sleep today, just this once?"
Zetsu's usual hardened expression softened. "Well, I guess we could. No one has any missions today, we all have the day off. We're just used to waking everyone up at this time every day."
I brightened up. "Oh, thank you, Zetsu!" I threw my arms around him. He attempted to hug me back, but stopped.
He began to walk away, when I pulled on his cloak again. "What is it? We were going to go tend to our garden."
I suddenly forgot everything I was about to say, interest piqued. "You have a garden? How sweet! Has anyone ever seen it?"
He shook his head. "No one cares for our garden." I felt bad for him.
"Well, if it's okay with you, could I see it sometime?"
He nodded. "Um, yeah. Maybe after breakfast?" "Sure."
He walked away, with a light smile on his face. "Stop blushing, you're going to make me look bad if someone sees us. I'm not blushing. Yes you are. Be quiet or she'll hear us!"
I put the breakfast on a large plate, and placed a large cloth on top to preserve the heat of the rolled omelettes, Tamagoyaki.
I put the plate on the counter, along with a stack of plates, cups, and chopsticks next to it. I brought out the milk, and set it on the counter to drink.
Then I brought out some of my fruit, and made juice. I put the juice on the counter.
Pretty soon everyone began filing into the kitchen.
"Holy mother of Kami! It smells good as hell in here!" Hidan saw the kitchen and the breakfast and his jaw dropped.
"Oh my Kami! The kitchen! It's so clean! And it actually smells fresh in here for once! And.. and there's breakfast that actually looks edible!"
Most everyone's face represented a mixture of surprise, and just pure happiness at what I had done. It made me feel.. happy, like I was secretly screaming with joy on the inside.
Konan squealed. "Thank you, Taki for cleaning, and freshening the air, and making breakfast, and, and-"
She hugged me. Kisame flashed a toothy smile, all of his little shark teeth showing. "Yeah! That was so nice! We have a kitchen again!" He joked, laughing.
Kakuzu rolled his eyes, but I knew that- in some way- he was happy. "I don't have to pay anyone to clean this kitchen after all.." He muttered. Hm.
Most everyone just smiled. We all took a plate and filled it with food. We grabbed our chopsticks, then filled our glasses with either juice, milk, or water.
We sat down, and before we ate, they shouted, "Itadakimasu!"
Everyone took their first bite, and their eyes widened.
"It's.. so good!" "You're the best at cooking, Taki!" "Delicious!"
I smiled at Tobi's reaction. "Woah, Taki-chan! This is good! You're the best!" Zetsu spoke. "See? I knew that you were good at cooking."
Everyone looked at Zetsu. "Since when did you eat anything else than humans?" Kisame questioned curiously.
Zetsu 'hmphed' in annoyance at the somewhat hurtful and ignorant comment. "Like Sasori, I don't need to eat, but I can if I want to."
I looked over at the redhead, who just rolled his eyes, sighed, and continued to eat.
"And since when do you know anything about our life! We may seem like freaking monsters or lunatics, but that doesn't mean I am, am I? So don't make judgmental comments like that!"
I was a little surprised at Zetsu's outburst. I knew that he was trying to defend himself, but I didn't think that he was sensitive to that kind of stuff.
After breakfast I got up. Everyone went to the living room to watch TV or something. Only Zetsu, Kisame, and I remained.
"Hey." Kisame walked up to Zetsu. Zetsu huffed in anger and looked away from him. "I.. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I didn't mean it, and I didn't expect you to be hurt by it either." He whispered the last part, as if a little surprised about it himself.
"Anyways, I'm sorry, and I hope that you can forgive me." He stated a little awkwardly, as if apologizing to an Akatsuki member was the strangest thing in the world.
I liked this about Kisame. Unlike the others, he was quick to realize what he had done wrong, and- not only that- but he was also willing to forgive, or ask for forgiveness.
Zetsu's eyes softened slightly, still looking away. Kisame sighed, and walked away. Zetsu watched Kisame go out of sight, then turned to me.
"So, um. Would you like to come with us to see our garden?"
Despite feeling awkward by what just happened, I chuckled, and nodded. A look of excitement spread across his face. He suddenly grabbed me by the wrist, and pulled me along with him.